Tag Archives: swindon

Gig Log

13-06-2017 – Whiteboard Affection

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Well hello there, my little inflatables…

And I’m glad to report that we’re now finally up to full strength, and what passes for normality around these parts can be resumed.

As Friday, and Emma’s debut gig with us, loomed large, it was almost inevitable that she’d contract a nasty coldy flu-y chest-infectiony thing, spending most the week poorly off from work, and turning up at rehearsal on Thursday (yes, we do actually rehearse this stuff sometimes, thank you very much) distinctly croaky, and delivering the vocals for some of the more demanding numbers via the medium of interpretive dance… READ MORE

Gig Log

05-06-2017 – New Amp Optimism With Added Singer

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Hola homeys…

Apologies that I didn’t get around to sending one of these out last week, I’ve been feeling a bit poorly. Gifts of flowers, cards, sympathy, and particularly cash, will all be welcome.

I’ve not, however, been as poorly as my equipment, which seems to be taking great delight in letting me down at gigs*, whilst nonchalantly behaving itself at practices and during prolonged fault-finding engineering investigations. Nonetheless, having gone through absolutely every item in the signal chain between my guitar strings and the victim’s ear holes, and replaced a whole bunch of components – connectors, leads, jack sockets, etc, I think that actually I may be on top of things again. READ MORE

Gig Log

18-04-2017 – Easter Chickens

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Well, hello there my little spring chickens!

It’s been a rather fine weekend, all in all – I do wonder why a four-day-weekend isn’t the norm, it’s a far superior working arrangement to the usual two-all-too-brief-days nonsense.

Obviously, on this occasion, we got the benefit thanks to this fine nation’s noble religious heritage, when we all look back and commemorate that day over two thousand years ago, when Our Lord Jesus hopped around the countryside with a basket of treats, distributing chocolate eggs to all the good little children. READ MORE

Gig Log

10-04-2017 – The Lofty Podium, Giraffe Style

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Aloha!

Well, we seem to be getting back into the swing of things. Saturday at the Groves Company Inn, deep in the heart of the throbbing metropolis that is Swindon, turned out rather well in the end.

Not having been there before, but having realised it was deep in the heart of the one-way system, we were relieved to actually find it on the first attempt, and quite pleased to see there was plenty of room for us to set up in – and on our own little podium as well. We were even more pleased when our pals Swindon Al and Helen rolled in, and immediately insisted on buying us a drink. Other friends of ours, please take note – THIS is what you need to do to get a blog namecheck! 🙂 READ MORE

Gig Log

01-02-2017 – Gig Retraction Kitten Blues

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It’s us again…

Just a quick Stop Press Announcement – it seems we won’t be playing in Paulton on Friday after all. It was a last-minute booking that came up, as the pub needed a band… and it was only after moving another pile of paperwork that they found the posters they’d been sent by the band they had in fact previously booked and completely forgotten about…

Well, it made me feel tolerably competent for a bit, anyway.

So, to cheer you up – here’s a nice picture of a kitten, instead. READ MORE

Gig Log

30-01-2017 – Goodbye, Hello

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Hey gang!

Well, that was a sad occasion – Rosa played her last ever gig with us on Friday, over in Bath at the friendly little New Crown Inn. We’re truly sorry to see her go, she’s been an absolute little bundle of fun, a superb musician and brilliant performer, and I think it’s fair to say that we all came to absolutely adore her. In fact, several members of my family petitioned me to allow us to adopt her. Her canny response to immediately enquire about the terms and conditions relating to pocket money… READ MORE

Gig Log

09-01-2017 – Smokin’ Dwarves

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Hey gang

Right, well that’s our 2017 World Tour off to a good start, then.

Saturday night at the Rolleston Arms in Swindon – not a huge crowd, but since the rest of town was apparently completely dead, we didn’t do too badly.

And everyone there seemed to have a good time, so that was all right, then. We even had a night of special effects, courtesy of a very nice chap who was sat peacefully drinking and vaping away, producing clouds of sweet-smelling vapour – which prompted the easily-confused Stuart to ask me if I’d brought a new smoke machine. I hadn’t, but I think we’re going to have to get one now. READ MORE

Gig Log

05-01-2017 – Another Noo Year

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Happy New  Year, folks!

We hope you all had a spanktastic festive season, we certainly did…

Gig reports (as far as I can remember them) are suitably cheery – just before Christmas we played the Farmhouse in Yate, which turned out to be a rather better night than anticipated, thanks to a fairly solid cohort of slightly bonkers locals – including one fine lady, whose name alas I have forgotten, who was something of an urban hairdresser – a “street stylist”, if you will – she spent much of the evening unaccountably weaving plaits into the hair of various other members of the clientèle, and when she spotted Ben’s flowing tresses, her face lit up with an evil grin. READ MORE

Gig Log

07-11-2016 – Yeah, Stuff

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Hey gang

Well, firstly apologies to anybody who fetched up to the Old Neighbourhood in Chalford hoping to catch us – as you’ll have already found out, we weren’t there. This was due to an unfortunate forgot-to-renew-their-music-licence episode from the pub’s head office management – it wasn’t our fault, honest it wasn’t! Still, it could have been worse – my pal Little Ian’s band had had to cancel their gig on Friday – for the second time in a row at the same venue – thanks to their drummer repeatedly falling off things and injuring himself. READ MORE

Gig Log

31-10-2016 – Of Halloween And French Maids

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Well, how do you do,

I see you’ve met my faithful handyman…

If that makes no sense to you, folks, Google it for context…

Friday night, and the New Crown Inn in Bath. Earlier in the week, the landlord had called to let us know they were making it a Halloween fancy dress night, if we fancied joining in.

Do bears poo in the woods?

So, an email was duly sent around all band members, explaining the dress code, with a stern reminder that, as per school PE lessons, anybody who forgets their kit has to play in their pants. I cunningly covered both options by plumbing for a Rocky Horror outfit. READ MORE