Ahoy there funsters!

Well, we had a lovely time down the Old Mill in Portishead on Saturday. A very lively bunch, there was dancing and singing a-plenty from the get-go, plus all the usual spilling of drinks and stumbling into monitors that go along with it.

I had to draw the line, though, at the young lady who thought she’d be a hilarious comedy genius by fiddling with the mixing desk controls as we were playing – I managed to attract her attention with a delicately placed boot so that I could give her a little advice. READ MORE

Hey gang

We hope you all had a fantastic long weekend, and that the Easter Bunny brought you all your heart’s fondest desires.

In my case, I woke up eagerly on Easter morning, excitedly pulled the curtain aside to peer onto the drive, and – sure enough – there, gleaming in the early morning sunshine, was the unmistakable shape of a 1976 T140 export model Triumph Bonneville, resplendent in all-black custom paint scheme, the reflections from the shining chrome wheel rims almost dazzling me. I gazed in wonder at the slender graceful curves of the fuel tank, the elegant upswept chromed exhaust pipes, and the stentorian functionality of the twin Amal Mark II carburettors, feeding into the inlet ports of the cooling fin-bedecked cylinder head. READ MORE

Hello folks!

Well, this week we have a very entertaining evening to report from the lovely Pack Horse in Stapleton.

As we arrived and started setting up, I was approached by lovely bar manager Angie.

“Ere”, she says, “Did you bring any of them inflatable guitars with you tonight?”

“Er, no, we’ve run out, actually” I tell her.

“What?!” she replies. “Well then, you can bloody well pack up and piss off now…”

“Sorry…”

“We had a lot of fun with them last time, we did…”

“I suppose we’ll just have to rely on our loveable personalities and musical talent, then”, I tell her. READ MORE

Wassup homeys!

We hope you’re all good – I must say we just had the most enormous fun weekend of gigging we have had in ages.

Thursday at the Oak in Sodding Chipbury went really well, lots of singing along and good feedback afterwards – it’s nice to have a really appreciative audience who can spot the subtler nuances of the musicians’ art. (“Can you turn that girl’s mic up a bit, she’s bloody brilliant?”).

Which, of course, she certainly is.

I’d been looking forward to Saturday’s trip to the Queen Vic in Stroud all week – we’ve not been there for a couple of years – Would they still remember us? Would it be as lively as it used to be? Have they finally got rid of the crappy resident DJ?* READ MORE

Hello playmates!

Well, we had an interesting couple of outings recently – lots of fun at the Fire Engine in Redfield, we were delighted to see some old pals (and meet some new ones), and – unusually – although there was much jolly dancing about in confined spaces, nobody fell over. As a bonus, it was gratifying to find that, despite not having played together since December, we managed to sound reasonably coherent. Whatever next, I wonder?

And, this Saturday afternoon we spent a merry afternoon providing pre-match entertainment for the good folks at Bristol Rovers FC. I was particularly amused that the first thing I noticed on entering the ground was this sign… READ MORE

Ahoy there shipmates!

Here’s a quick (and hopefully relatively painless) recap of our latest adventures, and a heads-up for our next outing…

Despite the ‘orrible cold weather (well, ‘orrible by our standards, I assume our chums Oop North were strolling about in vest tops and short skirts complaining of heatstroke – but then again, can you really trust a chap wearing a vest top and short skirt?) Last Saturday saw us venture forth to the lovely Old Mill in Clevedon. And, despite a few technical hitches with broken mic leads and naughty effects pedals, we had a very jolly evening. We were absolutely delighted to see some old chums in there, including our favourite guest vocalist, the young, talented and lovely Paige, who was happy to join us and sing a couple of numbers*, giving Abby a chance to sit down and inhale some cider. READ MORE

Hello chums!

As I write this (the morning of November 5^th) it’s too early to say whether somebody decided to commemorate Guy Fawkes’ Night in a “proper” historically accurate fashion – still, fingers crossed, eh?

Well, onto more pressing local matters…

Friday’s jaunt to the Air Balloon in Filton went off without too many hitches, despite both Stuart and my amp being rather poorly. Stuart has developed (one might say, developed almost to perfection) a heavy cold, but despite having almost no voice and looking really wiped out, he managed to bravely soldier on all the way through the gig; in deference to his condition, we restricted ourselves to just the one encore. READ MORE

Hi there, good to see you – c’mon in, pull up a helicopter and make yourself comfortable…

This week, whilst I was (obviously) supposed to be doing something else, I stumbled across a random word generator – and, as you’ll see from the above, it’s not really as much fun as I expected. Still, let’s give it a go and see how long until I get bored with it.

Dinosaur.

Marimba.

Meringue.

Nope. Bored already.

So – we have a rather satisfactory weekend’s gigging to report; for Friday nights at the Swan in Almondsbury (the nearest thing I have to a local, despite not actually being very local), we were the first band they’ve had in there for many a year, and thus something of an experiment; in the words of Dave the landlord, – “If nothing else, I’m hoping we can at least piss off the woman next door”. READ MORE

Hey gang

It’s been a busy ol’ weekend, so I think it’s only fair to give you just the edited highlights…

Friday night, and we’d been looking forward to a jolly night at the dear ol’ Cat & Wheel on Gloucester Road. We weren’t disappointed; I was very pleased to see my brother and his lovely other half turned up unexpectedly mid-soundcheck, just as I’d managed to sort out my sulky pedalboard and get it into some semblance of working order. Later, they were also joined by a barrage of my favourite nieces, and all was set for a pleasant evening. READ MORE

Aye up!

It was a couple of weeks ago, but I fondly remember our recent outing to the King Billy in Staple Hill – which I am seriously considering adding to our list of favourite Bristol venues.

With regular bass maestro Steve away on something he called a “holiday” – I really must look that up sometime – we were looking forward to having our low end covered by previous incumbent Ben; and to our mutual surprise and delight, he remembered the entire set without a hitch – all the while merrily being a daft bugger. READ MORE