News... - Friday, 9 February 2007

Crikey. Who'd have thought I'd be so lax as to leave it 6 months between news updates on this site! Well... so much has happened, and there's plenty more exciting things being worked on as well.

Firstly, at long last Lorna and I have moved into our new house. Whoever decided that getting married and moving house in the same two month period was very foolish. Oh, that'll have been me then! We are both happy to be living outside the hustle and bustle of the M25, in our own idyllic Dickensian style. The move also gave me a good opportunity to rebuild my webserver onto a new base, retiring after 5 years of good service the old Pentium II box it was on before. Now it should run much quicker, and my email server has also (at long last) got a spam filter on it. In a week it has caught over 8000 messages! Amazing. Now that we are mostly settled I'm looking forward to hunting out and discovering the music scene around here - the whole feel is very different to Twickenham! The first thing I've noticed is that the music scene is very polarised, it's either acoustic folky type stuff, or very heavy rock. This will be fun!

Funkydory is going well, although I must confess with the house move and imminent wedding plans I have not been working on promoting the band perhaps as hard as I should. There is no time like the present though, and also we have a second album due that really needs finishing up! Meanwhile the John O'Leary Band has benefited enormously from the contributions of new semi-permanent members Jools Grudgings. Yes, it is confusing having two Jules/Jools for John to call solos to on stage, but we're getting there. He is an excellent player and having the Hammond in the mix really fills things up. Gravy indeed! We did record a live album at Mr Kyps down in Poole last year, for which I believe John is working on a distribution deal of some kind. There is some killer stuff on it and I'm firmly of the opinion that it's too good not to be heard.

Alongside the two bands, there are a few other things that have been occupying the last few months. French Marc and I have been doing an acoustic duo type thing in Teddington every now again just for fun. It's been a good opportunity to try songs out although now that we've moved it's hardly a local gig to do every Wednesday! I'm also very much looking forward to a gig planned for next Wednesday at the Half Moon in Bishop's Stortford. It's a sort of Valentine's Day special really - the lineup is Lorna on vox, I'm on guitar, Joachim Greve is on drums, and big man Barry Pethers (from Trafficker) is on bass. It should be an absolute hoot! As well as that gig, I'm planning to do some recording over the coming weeks with Joachim and Roger Inniss too (now that he's moved to Northampton which is only 10 miles up the road!). There's no real aim for it, we just want to get together to see what happens, and also as Joachim says - "it's better than not doing it!"

Alongside this, the recording side of things has been going very well. My favourite job in recent months has to have been the Uncle Junior demo we recorded before Christmas. Have a listen to their myspace site - the results speak for themselves! If you or anyone you know happens to play in a band and want a demo recording, get in touch, I'm always into that side of things.

As I look back on 2006, I have to say it was a superb year. Apart from the obvious joy of our engagement, musically it's been good too. Funkydory had a great time, with some superb gigs and a lot of hard work to "spread the word", so to speak. Particular highlights have to be our trips to Ireland and also the Maryport Festival. Both a lot of fun! The year also marked my transition to being a "professional musician" - a thoroughly worthwhile exercise on a mental health level, although these little niches of the music "industry" in which we gig are a very tough place to continue one's career. Contrasting with Belgium and France, there are no incentives or tax reliefs offered by the British Government to encourage or support artistry or creativity on any level. Still, we do our best and given that I'm here in a beautiful house having just eaten a delicious sandwich means I can't exactly grumble. That said, 2007 will have to see a change in approach of some kind if I am to continue ekeing out a living through my guitar.

In the meantime, gigs are still there - keep an eye on the giglist and come out to support live music (we need you!). With that, I'll be off to go and throw some snowballs around. Bring it on!

What a summer! - Monday, 14 August 2006

Good afternoon everyone out there in internetland - hope you are all well and life is treating you wonderfully! What a fantastic summer it has been so far... I know we've got the rest of August yet to come, but as far as gigging goes, we start to wind down a little for the next few months. Time for some rest and recuperation, to write some new songs, book some more gigs, make plans for next year, and all the rest of it. Highlights of the last few months have been numerous... where to start?

The 25th May down at the Farnham Maltings was a great success - a lot of fun all round, and a surprising turnout - thanks to everyone that supported the gig, it was a good night! Soon after that we headed over to Ireland for the Limavady festival of Jazz and Blues - and what a good time we had there too! Our first time playing in Ireland and definitely not the last. Superb audiences, wonderful treatment from the organisers, good accomodation - everything was spot on. After that I had a mini trip back up to Cumbria with John O'Leary that was great fun as well - more friends made and more new fans won over. It didn't really seem like there was much time to catch my breath before the Maryport festival lept upon us either - and I have to say it's a fantastic festival. Although I sadly didn't get to see many other bands (because we were too busy playing ourself - 4 gigs in 3 days!) I still had a wonderful time and again the hospitality of the Cumbria folk was impeccable. What fun! The next highlight that springs to mind was the Lakeside boogaloo festival in Hayling Island - also a hoot and something which will lead us on to play a few more of those weekends next year. Sorted!

Most recently we have just returned from playing the 10th Anniversary of the Willem Tell blues club in St. Lenaarts, Belgium. It's one of my favourite places to play when we are there, and the festival didn't disappoint. A superb line up, complimented by (again) fantastic organisation, made for a perfect little trip - the icing on the cake of which was a really fun little gig at The Red Lion in Stevenage last night. It's a new venture for Trevor "Mr Mayfest", having just moved from another place called The Royal Oak. To be honest it suited our funkydory stuff perfectly - a good crowd - quasi hippie tendencies which suited our Grateful Dead and Allman indulgances perfectly! I'm looking forward to playing there again!

Other works in progress at the moment are a live DVD that we filmed last week at The Grey Horse in Kingston - it was a fun night and hopefully the finished product will reflect what a good time we had. Thanks again to everyone that came down and made it such fun!

And so, with that I'll be off to do some work "behind the scenes" of this website and the funkydory one - I have a slew of new pictures to add, I hope you enjoy them! In the meantime keep an eye on the gig list; over the next month or so I'll be tremendously busy on the phone booking gigs and with any luck some decent festivals too. Roll on the funkytrain...

Take care, Jules

Life pt. 2! - Wednesday, 17 May 2006

Good afternoon all, how are you doing? Totally fantastically I hope!

It's been a while since my last update, over 2 months in fact, and a huge amount has happened! The first and most significant of all is that, as of last weekend, I'm chuffed to bits to announce that Lorna Reilly and myself are officially engaged to be married! We're yet to set our minds on a date but we think it's likely to be early March next year! Exciting times! So that's the big news!

Everything else sort of pales into insignificance by comparison, but that's life - I'm going to tell you anyway! The next major step I made last month was to leave the safety and security of the regular dayjob, to seek gainful employment in the world of music. My first official job was to record a live album for Papa George which we did on the 27th and 28th of April, at The Ram Jam club in Kingston. It went superbly! George is in the process of selecting tracks at the moment, and I'll be working on the mixes later this month. I'm proud to have been part of it and am looking forward to having the finished article ready!

I've also started teaching regularly now, and have a nice little group of pupils growing. What an enjoyable passtime it is! I wish I'd made this step ages ago really - it's a lot of fun and while nowhere near as lucrative, it's much more fun than stuffing paper into printers and doing crappy data entry work ever was!

So in the future, as well as the gigging, I'm looking to start making more of the recording facilities I have at my disposal - so if, dear reader, you happen to know anyone else that would like a live album done or perhaps some live demos in a studio, point them in my direction! I've started work on a new website at http://www.julesfothergill.com which I can see eventually taking over from this one once it's all up and running. On there I'll be making much more of the musical services I can offer.

I've also had some session work come in which should be handy as well. Anything that involves playing guitar is fun so that has to be a good thing! I'll be reviving my journal again I think as more of a random online diary as time goes on so keep your eyes peeled for more details about those sessions as they happen!

As far as gigs go, we have a busy summer ahead of us, with both funkydory and The John O'Leary Band. Have a look at the gigs page and if you see a local one, come along and say hello! We need your support as much as ever to keep live music a viable entity - so in the meantime, down with sky and playstations (although to be fair I do love my freeview) and see you at a gig soon!

Take care all, Jules

Is it Spring yet? - Friday, 10 March 2006

Hello fellow surfer whoever you may be! Welcome once again to the wacky world of my website and everything that goes with it - get comfortable, kick off your shoes, have a nice stay. Well here we are, nearly halfway through March already, it seems like quite a while since my last update and so much has happened! Although I keep the journal up to date I don't change this front page around very often - maybe it's time to swap them over and do some website jiggerypokery. So - where to begin?

Let's start with funkydory goings on. Since my last update, we've finished making our CD, pressed up 500, sold nearly 100 of them already at just a handful of gigs, and sent a load out for review. With any luck we should start seeing a few reviews appearing over the next month or so (the first has already come in courtesy of Ashwyn over at Digital Blues) - gigs are starting to roll in as well via the feature on us in Blues In Britain as well. All is good! The next step in the plan is that I'm going to start sending copies out to some indie labels and see what comes of it. Although we're making good progress on our own it would be so helpful to have some "official" support!

Over the coming weeks it's nice to see we have some more London based gigs coming up, at The Globe in Brentford on 17th March and then again at The Grey Horse in Kingston on the 31st March. As much fun as we have gallivanting around the country playing gigs, London is still home and it's great to play here. As it goes another step in the plan is for us to do more inside the M25 over the next few months... it's just a case of finding venues that are into our brand of music. Not an easy task!

Last weekend (as you can read in my journal!) we had our first trip to Belgium as well - what a gas that was! An amazing time - truly unbelievable. Although our gig at the Borderline was a little dissapointing on the audience front, those few that were there made all the right noises, and a load of them came to the other 2 gigs in our little tour - driving 70 odd miles across Belgian countryside to do so! A very heartening thing to see happen - a truly nice bunch of people, Les Belgiques. With, of course, the exception of the skroates that diddled all the tyres - but that's another story!

The next big news to relay is that at last I'm undergoing a change in profession! As of the end of April I shall no longer be a deskbound wage slave during the week, but will be concentrating more on playing and generally using things I'm good at to survive! For several years music has been a fun hobby, an evening and weekend diversion to escape the drudgery of working 9-5 (or rather - 7-4 in my case!). But now, it's time for a change. As a result I will be starting work on a new website over the next few weeks to advertise what I'm looking to do - the main driving forces will be a combination of doing live sound at gigs, recording bands live or possibly in studio space for demos etc, and doing cover art and perhaps a little webdesign too. On top of that both French Marc and myself are looking to start teaching from the start of May. We've already begun leafleting our local areas, but will be doing more over the coming weeks. It's an exciting time - nerve-wracking, yes! But exciting nonetheless. This is something I've been wanting to do for close to 5 years now, but am finally in a position to do it. As any professional musicians reading this know - gigging barely even pays for itself, to a whole lifestyle change is imminent to make it worthwhile! Bring it on! Not only am I very much looking forward to actually getting into a practice regime on the guitar (I haven't practiced in years!), this will also free up a lot of time to concentrate on promoting the band and getting us into the kind of venues we think we should be playing. Wish me luck!

And with that, I'll get back to work - all the best and thanks for keeping up your support for live music!

Brrrrrr... - Tuesday, 24 January 2006

Doesn't time fly? It's already nearly the end of January, what a busy month it's been. We're halfway through recording the funkydory cd now - I've got about 3 solos still to do, a couple of acoustic parts, and Lorna's got two songs left to sing. I'm really pleased with how things are going - the finished product is really going to be something for us all to be proud of. I'm having to work pretty hard to keep up! It would have been nice to use the Super & 336 combination to record with, but unfortunately the Super is still at gtek, turns out the volume problem I was feeling was because one of the speakers has gone open circuit... hopefully I'll have it back in a couple of weeks. Anyway for the most part I've used the 335 and the 336 along with my Saab amp for the whole thing. It seems to be working OK - the funny thing I suppose is that since it's a combination I don't gig very often, the guitar sound doesn't record in the same way as it sounds live. But hey, I think it's working in the context of the material. The proof will be in the pudding I suppose!

Anyway, once the CD's sent off I get a couple of weeks to chill out and relax, before we start gigging again. Have a look at the gigs page to see if we're playing anywhere near you anytime soon - come and say hello. I particularly recommend the Joe Bonamassa support gig on Feb 17th at the Boom Boom Club in Sutton, Joe is awesome and it's our privelige to open for him. It'll be fun! After that weekend of fd gigs, we have a week off before heading over for 3 gigs in Belgium. I'm very excited about playing our stuff to a European audience - fingers crossed it will lead to good things in the future!

Also I recommend keeping an eye out for the February issue of Blues In Britain which has an article about funkydory, and Lorna and I on the cover. Marvellous - all good things happening!

And with that... back to work - no rest for the wicked!

A year in review... - Monday, 12 December 2005

Well, here we are! It's December and I'm now done for 2005, gigswise. And what an amazing year it's been. It's seems each year holds something slightly more exciting than the last, ever since I really started gigging often in 2001. And it appears 2006 will be no different! While I think about it, here's my top ten memorable gigs of 2005, in chronological order:

8th January: funkydory at The Grey Horse - funkydory's first gig, the snowball had started rolling! Nice to perform some of our own songs for the first time and to such a friendly crowd. Although we've had better funkydory gigs since, this was a good way to start!
29th January: Roadhouse at Skegness - even better than the year before, an amazing audience and great weekend all round.
19th February: Willem Tell Blues Club, St-Lenaarts, Belgium - the best of the 4-days in a row Belgian tour Roadhouse did. Lorna and I had just got over our rind induced food poisoning, the audience were great and really up for it, it was just a really good gig.
20th May: John O'Leary at The Spectrum Blues Club, Keighley - a thoroughly well organised gig, wonderfully supported, great sound crew, nice people, followed by the nicest curry in the world. The band played great too! We had Winston Delandro on guitar for that one, which made for an interesting night - taking the songs in directions we otherwise wouldn't!
3rd June: funkydory at The Banham Barrel - in the pouring rain we jagged our way up to Norfolk on a Friday night, in the end to play a fantastic gig to a great crowd, young and old, a really nice mixture of people just there to enjoy music. Amazing fun.
6th June: Astoria gig with John O'Leary and playing with Mick Taylor - words fail me at this point. If 2006 is to top 2005, it had better have something quite special planned, as this was a real corker of an experience! Amazing sound on stage, Mick Taylor on good form, a great audience. Hearing a packed Astoria make the sound it did after each song of the night - what a stupendous evening and what a bash to be remembered by. RIP Dick Heckstall-Smith indeed!
24th July: Roadhouse at the Antwerp R'n'B festival, Belgium - a superb crowd and memorable gig. Sadly the tone gods couldn't make it past the passport control and my playing and sound sucked bigtime at this gig, but never mind. It was still fun!
3rd September: Pajot Blues, Galmaarden, Belgium - an excellent festival gig for Roadhouse, superb sound on stage - the 335 was singing, tone gods smiling broad grins, an excellent audience and good reaction to our stuff. Also this set the benchmark for well organised backstage areas at any festival or big gig I've been a part of. All the cogs were very well oiled!
10th October: John O'Leary at The Bullingdon, Oxford - surprisingly well attended gig in the middle of studentville. The gig went down superbly and we all had a great time. File under surprisingly fun!
27-30th October: funkydory tour o' the North - a superb 4 gigs in a row jaunt to up near the arctic circle (not really). We played well, met some nice people, had fun, really everything you could ask for from a little mini tour!
3rd December: funkydory & John O'Leary at The Pumphouse, Watford - memorable mostly because it was funkydory's first gig with Lillian on bass - more about that shortly!

And so there you have it. My 10 top memorable gigs of the year... as it goes I haven't had many real duffers this year, we've been lucky. The licensing law change seemed not to have the cataclysmic effect everyone had feared, the transition from playing in 3 bands to two passed smoothly and without anyone really getting pissed off (remarkable!) - really I have to be happy looking back at it all! Which leaves me now only to leave the past and look to the future - funkydory has some news to relay!

Starting from the beginning of 2006, we've asked Ian "Lillian" Mauracio to be funkydory's new bass player, replacing the inimitable Fox. We've had a great year playing and gigging with Fox and wish him all the best for 2006 and the direction it takes him. We haven't seen the last of him though as I'm sure there'll be the odd dep here and there through our diary!

Swift consultation of my gig archive reveals that I first met Lillian back in June 2001, when I used to play in an originals band called fREAK-1-C (which still gig very occasionally, and host a jam night in West Drayton every Thursday) - we had a ball then, writing and jamming, and of course Hayden is still the fREAK-1-C drummer, so he and Lillian are already *tight* - we are all really excited about the direction this move takes us in, so keep an eye on our giglist, and the separate funkydory website, for demos of new material and more information about gigs etc.

For now, that's it for 2005 - our next gig is on my birthday, the 12th January 2006, which leaves me with a month to chill out, rehearse and write some new songs, teach Lorna how to ski, get all my guitars set up, and at some point do some Christmas shopping!

Happy Christmas everyone!

Jules

Mistletoe and wine... - Friday, 25 November 2005

Hello everyone!

Hope you are all well out there in internetland, enjoying the onset of winter and the threat of the coldest Christmas in 487 years... bring it on says I! Driving in snow is always fun - let's just hope it doesn't keep everyone indoors! So, what's happened in the six weeks since my last update? Plenty!

Firstly, funkydory has had a run of very cool gigs all round - our tour "ooop north" was very succesful, we sold a bunch of CDs and had a great time spreading the word. Also notably fun was our little appearance at The Farnham Maltings festival the week before last - despite an unfeasibly echo-ey room, a tiny stage, the opening slot of the afternoon, and general tiredness from a good gig the night before, this really was a great afternoon! Mainly thanks to such a cool audience that gave us a superb reception, far better than any of us expected! Off the back of that we've had quite a few gigs come in - 2006 looks like it'll shape up to be a *very* busy year all round!

Also we've been writing and recording some more material - the current plan appears to be to re-record everything from scratch in the early part of the new year, mixed and produced properly, so that we have a more professional product to sell at gigs and approach record companies/magazines with. For a sneak preview, have a listen to this and see what you think! We're really progressing in a more rockier and funkier direction which is great! As long as we're playing music that I enjoy listening to, I'm happy.

One notable gig coming up in December is on Saturday 3rd, at The Pump House Theatre in Watford! We've never played there before and so if you fancy coming along to celebrate our last funkydory gig of 2006, we'd love to see you there! It's a beautiful sounding room by all account, and the gig will be a LOT of fun! Hopefully this will also be a chance for anyone out there in NW London to come and see funkydory if they haven't already.

Other than that, December will be quiet on the gigs front - one dep for Roadhouse on the 10th (which will be fun, I'd better start relearning songs!) - more songwriting however, and then Lorna and myself head off to France where I can resume my skiing teacher responsibilities! Excellent.

Hopefully see you on the 3rd December, failing that have a good Christmas all, see you in 2006!

It's a new dawn, it's a new day... - Wednesday, 5 October 2005

Morning all!

And here we are, demi-saison, darkness rolling in to misty winter ornings... plenty more time now afforded to contemplation, living, writing, and just being. Last week was a momentous one - the last jam as an official member of Roadhouse, Pendragon sold (which reminds me, I must update the gear section of this site!), my Jaguar waved off into the distance, all sad things yet indicative of a change for the better all round!

A very productive funkydory rehearsal last night buoyed spirits that had been dampened slightly by the last few very quiet jams and gigs - we are all acutely aware that we don't really fit in on the circuit we know and are comfortable with, and as such a change in approach will be necessary before too long. A change in band name would not be a bad thing, a change in the venues we play also would be good. More London venues perhaps - with the unfortunate issue of non paying gigs however I hope we can stay focused on just playing good music!

With the sale of one's beautiful jag-war, I have had to hunt high and low for a suitable replacement, and ended up buying a Skoda Octavia Estate. It's awesome! 50mpg commutes are not out of the question, 70mpg on the motorway, the boot is huge, it has air conditioning, before too long it will also have cruise control and a cd player. Bonza! Obviously a 1.9 TDI doesn't quite offer the same driving experience of a 370hp supercharged V8, but hey, such is life. One's czech horses also have the added advantage of saving about 500 quid a year in insurance... not to be sneezed or scoffed at! The Skoda has been named Cecil, for not immediately obvious reasons. RIP Geoffrey, RIP Zippy, long live Cecil.

Gigs-wise - plenty to look forward to for October and November - keep an eye on the gigs page and come along to one soon! Keep supporting live music - we need you!

Jules

Goodbye Summer! - Wednesday, 21 September 2005

Good morning all!

Well, it's been a month since my last update, and what a busy month it's been! Gigs aplenty, far and wide, travelled the country North and South - all great fun! The Colne weekend was great (although the festival itself was a little disappointing, our gig the next day up in Maryport more than made up for it!) - and the Roadhouse trip to Belgium the following weekend was equally entertaining.

A replacement for Geoffrey is not forthcoming (yet!), and thanks to the spiralling costs of motoring in the UK, I have had to prepare myself to bid a fond farewell to my beautiful Jaguar XJR. It is a stunning car and I have relished the opportunity to experience such an incredible piece of engineering, however it really isn't the car for a meagrely employed guitarist such as myself to be running... consequently it's now listed in Exchange and Mart and Autotrader too... any buyers out there feel free to get in touch!

Also being sold at the moment (a tough month for the spondoolies this one, can you tell!?!?) is the beautiful Pendragon (the darker of my Les Pauls). A very nice guitar however I haven't gigged it for a few months now, and still have Morganna anyway. It's on ebay if you are interested - you can see the auction here.

So, what is to come in the next few weeks? Firstly - tomorrow is the last opportunity you will have to see a full set by the current line up of Roadhouse. The gig at The Belvedere in Billericay will be the final official gig for myself and Lorna as members of Roadhouse - so if you enjoyed the lineup you'd better come down! Our official goodbye however will be at The Woodman Jam the following Thursday, which should be a fun night!

And on to new things - we're still writing new songs, rehearsing, and working hard with funkydory - our next gig being this Friday (23rd) at The Grey Horse, Kingston, as usual we'd love to see as many of you there as possible! Also after a small hiatus over the summer, things are picking up again with The John O'Leary Band, with a few gigs throughout October and November. All good fun!

And with that, I shall head back to productivity and get on with my work. See you at a gig soon and keep supporting live music!

Jules

Sprint for the finish... - Monday, 22 August 2005

Good afternoon all!

A brief monthly update here to go alongside all the nonsense and trivial gossip in my journal... What's new?

Plenty at this end. The first sad announcement to make is the death of Geoffrey the Crap Rover. In true Blues Brothers style, after 270 miles of trouble free motoring up the M1 and through into Darlington town centre, the water pump exploded quite spectacularly, spitting water, oil and all manner of junk all over the insides of the engine. Freewheeling the last 100 yards into the car park, I think we redefined brinkmanship, however at least the gig in question was good fun! I'm not sure quite what to do now as this leaves me driving one very expensive car for the moment. We shall see...

Gigs wise we've had some great fun with funkydory of late. The odd gig here and there, and a few to look forward to , we're still writing songs left right and centre, and also adding a few more covers into the set to keep the variety up. All good fun and as usual we're having a ball!

Coming up, this weekend is The Great British Blues Festival at Colne! Woohoo! Bring it on - it's always a complete blast, this one - Roadhouse is playing at 2pm on Saturday I think, again at the Super Roadhouse stage - I can't wait to be honest. Sunday we're playing in Maryport as well, to make the weekend worthwhile, before heading back down to ye olde London Town. The following week Roadhouse is playing a nice blues festival in Belgium, appearing just after Paul Lamb on the bill, which again should be fun. Sadly a very early ferry the next day will probably kill the partying, but hey it's Europe and we love playing there!

Meanwhile, gigs keep coming in - there are fewer and fewer chances now to see the current Roadhouse line-up, so come out and clap/stomp your feet/woop if you want to - I hope to see you at a gig soon!

Jules

ps anyone going to see Govt. Mule at the Astoria in a few weeks - see you there!

Sprint for the finish... - Monday, 22 August 2005

Good afternoon all! A brief monthly update here to go alongside all the nonsense and trivial gossip in my journal... What's new? Plenty at this end. The first sad announcement to make is the death of Geoffrey the Crap Rover. In true Blues Brothers style, after 270 miles of trouble free motoring up the M1 and through into Darlington town centre, the water pump exploded quite spectacularly, spitting water, oil and all manner of junk all over the insides of the engine. Freewheeling the last 100 yards into the car park, I think we redefined brinkmanship, however at least the gig in question was good fun! I'm not sure quite what to do now as this leaves me driving one very expensive car for the moment. We shall see... Gigs wise we've had some great fun with funkydory of late. The odd gig here and there, and a few to look forward to , we're still writing songs left right and centre, and also adding a few more covers into the set to keep the variety up. All good fun and as usual we're having a ball! Coming up, this weekend is The Great British Blues Festival at Colne! Woohoo! Bring it on - it's always a complete blast, this one - Roadhouse is playing at 2pm on Saturday I think, again at the Super Roadhouse stage - I can't wait to be honest. Sunday we're playing in Maryport as well, to make the weekend worthwhile, before heading back down to ye olde London Town. The following week Roadhouse is playing a nice blues festival in Belgium, appearing just after Paul Lamb on the bill, which again should be fun. Sadly a very early ferry the next day will probably kill the partying, but hey it's Europe and we love playing there! Meanwhile, gigs keep coming in - there are fewer and fewer chances now to see the current Roadhouse line-up, so come out and clap/stomp your feet/woop if you want to - I hope to see you at a gig soon! Jules ps anyone going to see Govt. Mule at the Astoria in a few weeks - see you there!

Summer happenings - Friday, 22 July 2005

Good morning all of you out there in the inter web net ether distance! How are you all? Good I hope, enjoying the summer, avoiding terrorists, seeing music, having a good time.

As the transition from playing in 3 bands to playing in 2 continues, we still have some exciting things to look forward to over the coming weeks. After tonight's funkydory gig, Roadhouse is heading over to Belgium for the weekend, where on Sunday we are to play at the Antwerp Rhythm'n'Blues festival, which looks like fun! Hopefully I'll have some pictures to share when we come back - straight after us on the bill is John Hammond, who it must be said I'm looking forward to meeting, not least because he played with Duane Allman regularly... so it will be very cool to see him play.

After that, most of Roadhouse disappear on their summer holidays, which leaves August free for lots of funkydory things! A trip up north to play The Forum in Darlington on the 12th August (can't wait) followed by a trip to The Green Man in Barnet on the 14th August - both will be fun. We're having a lot of fun writing and rehearsing with funkydory at the moment, it's building up a nice buzz, and we've been merrily sending out CDs left right and centre over the last couple of weeks. So keep an eye out for some gig dates to come later in the year and into next.

A recurring theme that crops up in our little circle is that of the decreasing popularity of live music. If you are reading this it's a safe bet that you are into live music and have probably seen me playing somewhere - that being the case I'd like to thank you for still supporting and believing in live music. We can't do it without you, and the pub and club circuit relies on punter pleasure to stay alive.

And on that note, I shall be off, and I hope to see you at a gig or jam soon!

Jules

News! - Friday, 17 June 2005

Hello out there in internet land! First things first - an announcement I need to make:

It is with a little sadness that I am relaying the decision made by both myself and Lorna that we are to part with Roadhouse, with effect from the end of September. The main reason for this is down to funkydory, which in 6 months has developed from a fun little diversion at the odd jam here and there, into a band we all feel utterly dovoted to and enthused by. It's now more than 4 years since my first gig with Roadhouse - 19th April 2001, at The Hallsville Tavern over in East London, a gig which (if memory serves) was attended by an audience of perhaps 2? (3 if you include the barmaid?!?) - either way the lack of audience was a useful thing as any cockups I made were totally covered/ignored! I don't really recall when specifically I actually became a member of the band - what started as being the odd dep here and there, covering for the good Dr Noel Brown, seemed to metamorphose into doing all the gigs in the diary before I knew it! Over the last 4 years however there have been many highlights... the Castlebar Blues Festival in 2002, each Skegness appearance, each Colne appearance, our infamous weekends away, the list goes on!

As of the end of September, I will have done exactly 300 gigs in total with Roadhouse, recorded 3 albums, seen several members come and go, seen record deals ruminated, signed, delivered, illnesses overcome (and prevail!), but for each gig the constant has been Gary's perseverance and determination, for which I have great respect. So, to Gary, Roger, Bill and Anne, thank you for a hugely fun and fulfilling four years, good luck, and here's to the future! Both Lorna and I will continue to dep and make the odd appearance here and there, so to all you Roadhouse die hard fans out there, you've not seen the last of us yet!

In the meantime, the next month is a very full one! Next wednesday (22nd June) is the second funkydory jam session - our first was a great success, please (I can't say please enough!) get there early to make my life easier as far as making sure everyone gets a play is concerned! Then next weekend is a Roadhouse weekend away up in Norfolk, playing The Riverside Bar in Sutton Bridge on Friday 24th, The Shed in Norwich on the 25th (assuming the licensing issues are sorted by then!) and then at the Elme Hall Hotel in Wisbech on Sunday 26th. It will be fun, hope to see some of you there! Also rehearsals continue with funkydory, we have more originals to write and finish up!

I would also like to take this opportunity to report about the coolest find I've made in a long time - a 4 disc box set of the Aretha Franklin/King Curtis "Live at the Fillmore West" Sessions! The original albums are absolutely awesome, and this box contains the original unoverdubbed mixes (apparently there were a few edits/overdubbed backing vocals on the first releases) as well as (I believe) all of the other material recorded over that weekend. My copy has been shipped and is due to arrive next week, in the meantime you can read about it here and follow a link through to order it there as well. They're only pressing 5000 copies and I have no idea how many are left, so if it sounds like your thing, you'd better hurry!

Well, that's it from me for now. Until the next time, see you at a gig soon and keep supporting live music! We need you!

Jules

News! - Friday, 17 June 2005

Hello out there in internet land! First things first - an announcement I need to make:

It is with a little sadness that I am relaying the decision made by both myself and Lorna that we are to part with Roadhouse, with effect from the end of September. The main reason for this is down to funkydory, which in 6 months has developed from a fun little diversion at the odd jam here and there, into a band we all feel utterly dovoted to and enthused by. It's now more than 4 years since my first gig with Roadhouse - 19th April 2001, at The Hallsville Tavern over in East London, a gig which (if memory serves) was attended by an audience of perhaps 2? (3 if you include the barmaid?!?) - either way the lack of audience was a useful thing as any cockups I made were totally covered/ignored! I don't really recall when specifically I actually became a member of the band - what started as being the odd dep here and there, covering for the good Dr Noel Brown, seemed to metamorphose into doing all the gigs in the diary before I knew it! Over the last 4 years however there have been many highlights... the Castlebar Blues Festival in 2002, each Skegness appearance, each Colne appearance, our infamous weekends away, the list goes on!

As of the end of September, I will have done exactly 300 gigs in total with Roadhouse, recorded 3 albums, seen several members come and go, seen record deals ruminated, signed, delivered, illnesses overcome (and prevail!), but for each gig the constant has been Gary's perseverance and determination, for which I have great respect. So, to Gary, Roger, Bill and Anne, thank you for a hugely fun and fulfilling four years, good luck, and here's to the future! Both Lorna and I will continue to dep and make the odd appearance here and there, so to all you Roadhouse die hard fans out there, you've not seen the last of us yet!

In the meantime, the next month is a very full one! Next wednesday (22nd June) is the second funkydory jam session - our first was a great success, please (I can't say please enough!) get there early to make my life easier as far as making sure everyone gets a play is concerned! Then next weekend is a Roadhouse weekend away up in Norfolk, playing The Riverside Bar in Sutton Bridge on Friday 24th, The Shed in Norwich on the 25th (assuming the licensing issues are sorted by then!) and then at the Elme Hall Hotel in Wisbech on Sunday 26th. It will be fun, hope to see some of you there! Also rehearsals continue with funkydory, we have more originals to write and finish up!

I would also like to take this opportunity to report about the coolest find I've made in a long time - a 4 disc box set of the Aretha Franklin/King Curtis "Live at the Fillmore West" Sessions! The original albums are absolutely awesome, and this box contains the original unoverdubbed mixes (apparently there were a few edits/overdubbed backing vocals on the first releases) as well as (I believe) all of the other material recorded over that weekend. My copy has been shipped and is due to arrive next week, in the meantime you can read about it here and follow a link through to order it there as well. They're only pressing 5000 copies and I have no idea how many are left, so if it sounds like your thing, you'd better hurry!

Well, that's it from me for now. Until the next time, see you at a gig soon and keep supporting live music! We need you!

Jules

Terry/Telly/Radio and June - Tuesday, 7 June 2005

Good afternoon all! Here we are at June - nearly half way through 2005 already - where is the year going?!?

Time for an update really as it has been a terrifically hectic month! From last night's gig playing with both John O'Leary and then with Mick Taylor at The Astoria (see my journal for more about that!) through to several Roadhouse gigs and a funkydory gig too, it feels like my feet haven't touched the floor for a while!

Several things to look forward to for this month though... firstly is that Roadhouse are going to played on the Paul Jones show on Radio 2 this coming Thursday (9th) at 8pm - if you miss it you can click here and listen to it again. They recorded us playing at their studio up in Maida Vale a few months ago, and while I was woefully unhappy with my playing on the session (a number of reasons - a silly parking ticket argument with an inspector who gave me a ticket literally while I was putting my coins in the meter!, my dislike of playing through cans, rough day at work - you name it!) it's still a huge buzz to be on a national radio station!

Funkydory meanwhile is going from strength to strength. Our gig on Friday the 3rd up in Norfolk was absolutely outstanding - musically an absolutely terrific gig, every gig we do is seeming to be better than the last. We have also started a new jam session at The Grove Tavern in South Wimbledon - literally opposite South Wimbledon tube station. It is hopefully going to run every other wednesday, starting from tomorrow, and the format will be that funkydory play for maybe 30 to 40 minutes, then the jam is open to all comers. if you want to come down and play, please get there early!

Other than that, gigs up and down the country with Roadhouse - heading up to Barrow in Furness this Friday to play at the Duke of Edinburgh, then back down to Hoyland (nr Sheffield) on Saturday. Keep an eye on the gigs page - it's up to date and changes regularly!

So, hopefully see you at a gig soon - take care and thanks for supporting live music!

Jules

Toys, Toys and More Toys - Friday, 6 May 2005

Good morning fellow internetters, welcome to May! Another term for our labour government (resisting the temptation to offer any of my own political opinions!), another summer on the way, more gigs, more news, many wonderful things on the horizon!

So how has April been? Good, as it happens. Pretty quiet on the Roadhouse front, only three gigs and a jam since my last newsletter, and also not terribly busy for the John O'Leary Band either, with two gigs. So what have I been doing with my time? Funkydory, that's what! We've been very busy rehearsing, putting together our website (have a look at http://www.funkyband.com!) and doing some more recording. We have a demo CD recorded now which sounds excellent (even if I do say so myself) and we have started punting it around for gigs. The gig hunting is going well and things are beginning to fill up. Of course with yet another band to find time for, it's making diary keeping even harder! but we are managing for the moment. We have a quite strict rehearsing/recording schedule at the moment and are being very productive, with at least one new song coming out of each rehearsal. Our target to have a full set of originals by the end of the summer is within reach - although it'll be hard work! We love it!

Looking forward, the next months are a bit more crazy however! A few more John O'Leary gigs and a few more Roadhouse gigs too (click here to see what's coming up) - however the really big news is the John O'Leary gig at the London Astoria on June 6th! The occasion is that it's Dick heckstall-Smith's memorial gig, and alongside us will be Mick Taylor (who we're also backing - cool!), Jack Bruce (who I believe is playing with his own band) and Gary Moore (who is playing with a reformed version of Colusseum, Dick's original band). It'll be a very cool night indeed! Tickets are available from the Mean Fiddler website, come along to it!

In other news, myself and Lorna have a bought a new car! A pretty crappy old Rover 420 diesel called Geoffrey. So this means as soon as I've MOT'd it, my beautiful Saab is going on ebay! I will be sad (SAAD) to see it go, however escalating fuel costs combined with an irrational desire to save up enough cash to buy a superfast Jaguar means it has to go! Shame!

And with that, my hard rocking amigos, I bid ye adieu and hope to see you at a gig soon!

Jules

1,2,3 O'Clock Rock... - Thursday, 31 March 2005

Hello everyone out there in Internet-land! And welcome to April... have you been to a Harvester before? My mistake, wrong catchphrase. So what's new for this month?

To begin with, thanks to a few busy weeks in a row, Radio 219SR is still a way off yet. Scripting is in progress thought - you could say we are busy doing the "back end coding" so to speak. It has indeed been a pleasantly hectic month, with four northern trips in a row, each succesful in their own way. Roadhouse's gig at The Running Horse on the 4th went well, albeit quietly, followed by Funkydory's excellent gig at The Duke of Edinburgh (which was a stormer). While on the subject of funkydory - I have started work on a new website devoted to the band, which will be up and running soon at http://www.funkyband.com. Take a look in a couple of weeks and there should be all sorts of things in the offing! We have recorded a demo (a few tracks are on the clips page) and are now beginning to book gigs in earnest. Very exciting! I am looking forward to doing much more with this band, and I think I speak for everyone involved when I say that!

April is actually a pretty quiet month as you can see from the gigs page - which is no bad thing as a relax and recharge of the batteries is just what is called for right now! Time for some writing, some web work, and some more "promotional activity" (!). Before it is entirely quiet however, I have a pair of John O'Leary gigs this weekend, Saturday night being a new place, "Jack Beard's Blues" in Tooting (which I've yet to visit), and then Sunday being a venue called "The Bell at Ash" down in Somerset. Some miles on the motor then! The week after sees a return visit for funkydory to the Grey Horse in Kingston (the 9th April) - we always have a really good time there so if you want to see quite why we are all so fired up by the band, come along and see for yourself! Incidentally, there will be a TV camera crew at this gig, filming Lorna, who is one of the subjects of a new series of "Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre", following learner drivers as they approach their test. So that will be fun if you fancy coming and being on the tv!

The more eagle-eyed observers amongst you might notice the slight changes I've made to the site - not much new really, more of a revamp. Sort of like what they did when they turned the Renault 19 into the Megane. Or perhaps the mini metro when it became the Rover 111. Or something. Anyway, hope you like the new look - I've added some more information to the biog and gear pages too... enjoy!

Until the next time, keep supporting live music and see you at a gig soon!

Jules

Just a funky old shack and I gotta get back... - Friday, 4 March 2005

Glitter on the mattress, glitter on the highway... etc etc! Welcome to March one and all! What's new? You may well ask - plenty as it happens!

Firstly, the palace henceforth to be known as "the Love Shack", aka 219SR, is now the humble abode of myself, Lorna Reilly, and Tim "RMG" O'Sullivan. And what a fantastic shack it is! Complete with german cat Milly, plentiful supplies of all things consumable, broadband internet (at last!), and a garden - it truly is a marvellous place! Featuring a local Sainburies, and a petrol station just opposite, we are planning for many wild and wacky things to happen there. Soon to begin will be "Radio 219SR", an internet only radio station (good for all you similarly unsigned world-domination hungry musicians) - where Tim and I will have a weekly radio show. Tune in soon to hear such beauties as "Lorna's traffic report", "Caesar's hiccup cures" and "Julio's theories". It will be a hoot!

So, what about the music world? Many things - firstly, we have recorded a demo with funkydory in the interest of booking more gigs in the near future. You can hear our versions of Layla and Stormy Monday on the clips page of this very site! It must be said I'm pleased with them!

Last month Roadhouse did a small tour in Belgium and Holland, which was excellent, and would have been perfect had it not been for a small spot of food poisoning - further gruesome details in my journal! Also since the last news entry, we've had a couple of John O'Leary gigs, the Bulls Head in Barnes and also Mr Kyps in Poole. Both great gigs, if dissapointingly attended. Never mind - CD sales for John's album "Sins" are picking up now. Again if you would like to buy a copy, it's available from us at gigs, our online via paypal here: (£12 incl postage)

March has a few interesting gigs to look forward to: this Friday (4th), Roadhouse is heading north to the Running Horse in Nottingham - always a fun gig. Saturday (5th) then sees me back down in Kingston for a John O'Leary Band gig at the Grey Horse in Kingston. The two following weekends see trips up north for Funkydory (11th - Duke of Edinburgh, Barrow) and John O'Leary (17th - Alexander's, Chester). The weekend after again sees some miles being clocked up on the mighty Tardis as Roadhouse head up to Charters on the Boat at Peterborough (26th). So plenty of fun road trips on the way!

In the meantime, keep supporting live music any way you can (we need it!) - see you at a gig soon!

Jules

New things! - Tuesday, 1 February 2005

Hello all! 1st February is here, and I think it's time for a news update! With an imminent house move coming up on Friday, I thought it only fair that my site should have a minor Trisha-style makeover. Hence a new pic at the top, and also for any @slidejules.com email users, you can now log in to your webmail using the entry boxes at the bottom of the page! Hopefully this is helpful!

It has in all honesty been a pretty quiet January for gigs, the most recent of which being the Butlins Festival of Blues and Rock up at Skegness. Once again an incredible experience - have a look at the pictures in the photo gallery (more to come as well!) - plenty of people there, which was very heartening, and a very appreciative crowd they were too! Looking forward to doing that festival again, I can tell you!

Our CD Launch with John O'Leary on 23rd January was an inauspicious affair - the Green Man in Barnet is only a small place really, but that said it was a great gig. I had a whale of a time! On the topic of John O'Leary, our debut CD "Sins" is now available online, via Paypal. If you would like to buy a copy, it's £12 incl postage - available by clicking the following button:

If you want to hear more of this CD, mp3 samples are available online at http://www.johnolearyband.com. You can also read reviews there, a few have started to trickle in!

The 8th Jan also saw the first gig of this new band, Funkydory, which is made up of Lorna Reilly on vocals, myself and Marc Le Guerranic on guitar, Hayden Doyle on drums, and the omnipresent Fox on bass. It's a lot of fun! We're recording a demo CD next tuesday, the 8th Feb, and are hoping to book several more gigs soon. From the back of our performance at the Grey Horse, and the Roadhouse appearance at Skegness, a few gigs are beginning to crop up. I am very much looking forward to doing more work with this band!

So what to look forward to in the next two months? Well, several good gigs actually. Firstly is the John O'Leary Band gig at Mr Kyps in Poole. Again, we'll have Tim "RMG" O'Sullivan on guitar with us, which always bodes for a good time. In a couple of weeks, from the 17th to 20th of February, Roadhouse is doing a small tour of Belgium and Holland, which again from past experiences in Europe, I'm looking forward to hugely! March sees, in addition to the regular pub and club gigs around London, two small trips to the North West - one with Funkydory, and one with The John O'Leary Band. As always, check out the gigs page for more information.

And with that, I will bid ye good day and hope to see you at a gig soon!

Take care and thanks for supporting live music!

Jules

Happy Holidays! - Monday, 27 December 2004

Hello everyone! Well, it's wrestling day and here I am, sat in the alps with a beer in hand and reflecting on a fantastic 2004! 128 marvellous gigs! Well, maybe 100 marvellous ones at 28 duffers perhaps! So here indeed are my top ten memories of 2004, in no particular order. In fact they are just in the order that they hit my altitude addled brain!

1. Colne 2004... two sets on the Saturday afternoon, one with the John O'Leary Band, one with Roadhouse - both excellent! Good audiences, and lots of antics, and much amusement.

2. Roadhouse's mini weekends away. Gave the liver a beating on each, slept on a bar, played some guitar, had some wonderful times. All good! Each weekend seeming better than the last, what fun they have been!

3. Making "Sins" with The John O'Leary Band... it took most of the year to get it done, but we got there in the end! Exceptionally happy with the results, we are getting some good reviews already. As soon as I'm back in the UK I will get some kind of online shop sorted so the cd will be available then!

4. Going on Radio 2 with Roadhouse - despite getting a swanky parking ticket and not being very happy with my playing, this was still ace fun and a very cool moment! Hopefully it will be broadcast soon and we'll be like famous and stuff. Or something.

5. Seeing the Hoff in person while he was acting in Chicago. BRILLIANT! An indescribably fantastic evening.

6. Tonsils. Inflaming, inflaming, going going gone. Fun while they lasted, I suppose (NB note sarcasm) - low quality NHS experiences.

7. Parties that didn't happen. What fun they haven't been. And I must congratulate Busy Mike on his cooking that didn't happen in my mum's kitchen while she was on holiday. Considering he was nowhere nearby, the food that he didn't cook was certainly most delicious. Many seeds were sown for recurring themes of conversation later in the year. Marvellous.

8. Recording "No Place To Hide" with Roadhouse. Although somewhat rushed in comparison with JOL's cd this was still fun and I'm happy with the result and my playing on it. We are "officially" in the shops in a kind of magic unseen unicorn/sasquatch/yeti type fashion. I believe you can buy online at HMV or Virgin Megastore, or from the Atlantis Branch of Our Price. Awesome!

9. The demise of the Acton Late Night Drinking Club. Fun while it lasted although I must be getting old because the 3.30am boozing on a thursday night was not helping friday productivity!

10. Spunking irrational amounts of money that I don't have, on new guitars. Pendragon, Guinevere, new pickups for the Maple Neck G&L, a new amp, etc etc etc, fantastic. Pendragon being the most recent, what a beautiful guitar it is!

And there you have it. It has been a brilliant brilliant year and I can't thank you all enough for the support you have given to us musicians that continue to gig all over the country. So thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

The hurdle of jumping into 2005 is literally just round the corner, and has plenty of good things in store. To begin with, myself, Lorna Reilly, and Tim/Caesar/Rantmaster General O'Sullivan are moving into a new ranch in Twickenham in a few months, which will be utterly awesome (and will feature a variation on Defcon, a lifesize cutout of the hoff, the RMGs bondage bed, uberpace broadband, and a saab in the drive, amongst other wonderful things). There is also the advent of a new band, yet to be titled but probably "LUNACHICK" featuring Lorna on vox, myself and french Marc Le Guerranic on guitar, Fox on bass and Hayden Pumperloaf Doyle on drums, our first gig being the 8th Jan at The Grey Horse in Kingston. I have a good feeling about this band and am looking forward to doing lots of fun work with it in the future! Now that John O'Leary's cd is done I also feel 2005 will see plenty of work coming in for that outfit... so as I sit with my second 1664 in hand, CHEERS and here's to 2005!

Take care and see you at a gig soon,

Jules

News! - Tuesday, 16 November 2004

Hello everyone! Monthly update time... starting with The John O'Leary Band - the cds finally went off to the printers today so will back and in our hands in the next few weeks! John has done a great job booking gigs over the last few years considering the lack of recorded material from the band, and now that we have this album I feel it will a lot easier for us to get our name around. Again I should say I'm very happy with it and how it has come out!

Indeed this Friday (the 19th November) we have our first joint gig with the John O'Leary Band and Roadhouse, at The Rayners Lane Hotel. I'm pleased to say Tim O'Sullivan will be with us on guitar at this gig and so it will be one to look forward to!

In fact that gig is my last for a while as I'm going into hospital to have my tonsils out (at last!) next Tuesday, meaning I've taken a fortnight off after that. Time to relax, maybe write some songs... I can't wait! The first things after that are another trip to Norfolk with Roadhouse (see gigs for more information), which will be a blast!

As soon as that is over, we are into the quiet time of christmas and new year before we hit 2005 in full swing. Something else to look forward to for next year is a new project (as yet unnamed) that will be something fun! Watch this space!

Thanks for your continued support and see you at a gig soon!

Jules

John O'Leary album complete! - Wednesday, 13 October 2004

Hello all! Time for another update I think! First things first, I can at last say that mixing is complete on The John O'Leary Band album. We are decided on the title "Sins", the cover art is as follows:

  

The album has a total running time of 51:08. Suffice to say I am very happy with the outcome of the album, there are many high spots and I feel everyone involved has something to be proud of.

Gig news is slightly quiet at the moment, the recent Blues Matters! gig at the Boom Boom Club was great fun - as expected I loved the Mellotones' set! Those guys really do know about tone... their strats were really singing... the Roadhouse set was fun as well, particularly donating my Les Paul to Yap the roadie for a track at the end.

There are some exciting things in the next month or so which deserve mentioning - namely the Roadhouse gigs at Elme Hall in Wisbech on Friday 22nd October, and also we are playing at Ashwyn Smith's Digital Bluesfest at The Belvedere, Billericay on Sunday 31st October. That one I'm particularly looking forward to as there are loads of other great bands on the bill - namely Nublues (who I love) and the Rocking Armadillos (who I also love!) - I'm hoping there will be a chance for some kind of jam session as there will be plenty of great players there!

Also the first week of november is a good one for Roadhouse - recording for BBC Radio 2 on the 2nd, then another weekend away on the 4th and 5th, at The Cider Shed, Banham, and Charters in Peterborough respectively.

The list of venues to see the axe has seen two new unfortunate additions in the last month. Namely The Torrington in North Finchley, which has I understand been bought to make way for some flats, and also The Cardinal Wolsey in Hampton Court is also having noise complaints. I have mixed feelings about the Torrington, as the last time I played there was an absolute corker of a gig (JOL - 18th July). However of the 13 times I played there with Roadhouse, the lack of promotional support from the venue (eg no signs advertising live music out front etc.) made for some very frustrating shows. The Cardinal Wolsey however is a real shame, I have only played there once, back in March, but it was a great gig. There is still a possibility that gigs may continue there but for the moment they are on hold.

So in light of that, my thanks to those of you who do continue to enjoy and support live music!! See you at a gig soon...

Jules

News updates! - Wednesday, 1 September 2004

Hello all! Fresh back from an incredible weekend at Colne (see my journal!) and I thought I'd give you guys a little update. Progress on John O'Leary's album is going great, I wished I'd had it ready in time to take to Colne, but it was not to be! I can let you know the tracklist and some more details though. Tentatively I rather like the title "Sins" for the album, however we've yet to discuss this! The tracks to be featured are thus:

Black Cat Bone
Blue Water (original)
I'm Tired (old savoy brown track - features Dave Walker on vocals)
Move Away (original - features Tim O'Sullivan on guitar)
Snatch It Back
House of Ice (original)
Untitled (original instrumental)
Waiting For You (original - features Tim O'Sullivan on guitar)
Born In Chicago
And Everything... (original instrumental - features Tim O'Sullivan on guitar)
Who's Been Talking
Save My Soul (original)
Early In The Morning

I'm not going to give you any full track samplers just yet (you'll have to wait for the album to be released!) however you can hear the solo from House Of Ice here if you want a sneak preview! So keep an eye on this site for more information as it becomes available!

Roadhouse also has a busy few months ahead of us - a trip up to the Midlands this weekend sees us at The Musician, Leicester on Saturday, and The Running Horse, Nottingham on Sunday. Also we are appearing in the afternoon of the 25th September at The Point, Cardiff, for the Blues Matters! Festival. Another excellent gig to look forward to is going to be the Blues Matters! Showcase at the Boom Boom Club, Sutton United FC, featuring Roadhouse, Mike and the Mellotones, and Egypt. Can't wait for that one! Roadhouse has also recently sorted some dates in Belgium for February next year, hopefully to be augmented by some dates in Holland. Watch this space!

Thanks again for your support and special thanks to everyone that came to Colne and made so much noise for us, it was totally fantastic! See you at a gig soon!

Jules

ps I forgot to mention, I have an MP3 of the funniest thing I've heard in ages, an interview with David Hasselhoff that is sheer genius. My apologies for whoever owns the copyright but this is too good to sit on!!!

A New Look - Tuesday, 17 August 2004

Hello all! As you can see, I had a busy night last night giving the entire site an overhaul. Fed up with frames, I thought it about time for a spring clean. I hope you like the look. Functionally, not much has changed, however you should find surfing the site a lot faster and clearer now.

There is not a great deal of earth-shattering news to tell you, as July and August have mostly been pretty straightforward on the gig front so far. I can report that the recent Landslide gig was a great success, with special guests making for a very entertaining evening! Once again I came away from the gig thinking "Landslide should gig more often", in the same way that distant relatives say "We must meet up for a barbeque" at funerals and the like. So keep your eye on this site, with any luck we'll have some more gigs in the book soon.

Amongst other recent highlights was Roadhouse's excellent trip to Norfolk for the MRA Festival in Hickling - fantastic, as expected! Good to catch up with Mike and Mellotones again, and to see them playing their unique brand of Texas blues, Dutch style! Also the Walter Trout support gig with Roadhouse was fantastic and very good exposure for the band.

I should mention as well just how rocking last week's Roadhouse gig at The White Lyon in Worplesdon was. Bobtje from Belgium came all the way over to see us and it was a pleasure to put a face to the name! We're all looking forward, fingers crossed, to working in Belgium soon. After I had such a great time there with John last year, I can't wait to visit again!

Looking forward to the next few months, there is plenty to look forward to! Starting this Saturday (21/8) with a trip to The Running Horse in Nottingham with The John O'Leary Band. This will be an extra special trip as my colleague, and fellow Landslider, the Rantmaster General himself, Tim "Caesar" O'Sullivan, will be joining us for this one!

August Bank holiday weekend will also be an incredibly busy one! We have the Woodman Jam on Thursday 26th, Roadhouse performing at the Merton Abbey Mills Blues Festival on Friday 27th, then sets with both John O'Leary (3.30pm) and Roadhouse (9pm) at the Colne Blues Festival, Lancashire, on Saturday 28th, ROUGHSTOCK 2004 all afternoon on Sunday 29th, and the weekend landing gently with Roadhouse at the Bulls Head, Barnes, on Monday 30th!!! Buy shares in Red Bull now!

I should tell you more about ROUGHSTOCK while I'm here! For those of you who remember Rough Justice, Hog - the enigmatic front man stroke singer character - went to America a few years ago, signalling the death of that band. Well, he's back now, so we are doing a one off reunion gig, at our favourite old venue, The Armstrong Gun! Scene of many a quirky RJ gig in the past. The afternoon's festivities will include sets by both Freak-1-c and Landslide, so it promises to be a great day (weatherman permitting!)…

UPDATE: ROUGHSTOCK has been cancelled! Unfortunately due to licensing issues at the Armstrong Gun, Stu the governor has had to cancel the gig. This is a great shame as we were all looking forward to it. Hopefully we should have a replacement venue soon - watch this place for an announcement!

The week after Roughstock sees Roadhouse head north for the weekend of the 4th and 5th September, with gigs at The Musician, Leicester and The Running Horse, Nottingham. The next big gig after that is an appearance at the Cardiff Blues Festival for Blues Matters on the 25th September.

So, plenty to keep an eye on... thanks for supporting live music, keep telling your friends, and see you at a gig soon!

News from Summer Camp - Wednesday, 7 July 2004

Hello everyone! Time for another update I think, it has been a while since the last one… despite another trip into hospital dealing with pesky tonsil trouble, it has been a very productive couple of months! Let me deal with each band one at a time.

Firstly, my fellow Landslider Nick "da bass" Townsend is now officially the bass player in The John O'Leary Band. Nick and I know each others playing very well so recent gigs have been good fun indeed… In particular we had an excellent gig at The Green Man in Bromley last month which was superb. We have quite a few gigs to look forward to with John in the next couple of months, namely Darlington r'n'b Club on 23rd July, and The Great British Blues Festival at Colne on 28th August (more about that later!) - keep an eye on my gig list for more local gigs in London as well! Progress on John's CD has sped up again now slightly, with the only tracking remaining to be the vocals on one track. Everything else is now complete and I will be looking to mix and edit the album hopefully by Colne. It will be worth the wait, I promise!

After the recent Landslide gig in Farnham went so well, I am very much looking forward to our next one down near Brighton on the 14th August! This is a ticket-type affair so drop me an email if you fancy coming along to it!

The London Jam scene sees another one start up next week at The Crown in Morden, being hosted by Andy Cortes. I am playing house guitar on the 28th July and 11th August which will be fun - Andy is operating a sort of "revolving door" of house guitarists to help keep it fresh. There will be a £1 cover charge on the door (not sure whether this includes jammers or not yet, but I shall clarify when I know!). Meanwhile the Roadhouse Jam on alternate Thursday nights continues to be a great source of pleasure for everyone who goes to it - while I think of it, nice to see recently the return of Sid and Nigel who had been conspicuous in their absence for the last couple of months!

Roadhouse is going from strength to strength at the moment, and we seem to be enjoying a good degree of success with No Place To Hide! We have edged onto the playlist in several radio stations worldwide (Holland in fact will rock to the sound of the title track tomorrow night, 107.1FM or 105.7FM if you happen to be in the Rotterdam area at 8pm!), as well as being played on BBC Lancashire recently. The big news for us however is that we have been asked to perform 4 songs live in session for Paul Jones' Thursday night radio show on BBC Radio2 (88-91FM). This is a great privelige and I can't wait! We are to be recorded on 2nd November although I understand the show isn't to be broadcast until 2005. I will keep you posted when I find out exactly when we are to be featured! If you haven't picked up a copy of No Place To Hide yet you can get it here armed with a credit card.

Roadhouse also has several excellent gigs lined up for the next few months, starting with tomorrow night! We will be supporting Walter Trout at the Boom Boom Club in Sutton, and it promises to be a fantastic evening! I have never seen Walter Trout live before and am looking forward to the opportunity to see him at close quarters so to speak! We are also playing at the MRA Hickling Blues Festival up near Norwich on Saturday, sandwiched between Danny Bryant and my favourite blues band on the European circuit, Mike and The Mellotones! Keep an eye on my diary for this one because Mike and Ruben between them have the most awesome guitar tones you'll hear (okay! Super reverbs on 10!!! Okay!). Fantastic stuff! Also Roadhouse are playing at the Colne Festival on the 28th August, indeed I am playing on the same stage (The Super Roadhouse) at 3.30pm with John O'Leary and then again at 9pm with Roadhouse. What fun it will be! In fact if you happen to be going to Colne and will be there early enough, if you go to the International Stage at 1.30pm another superb band, "Nublues", are playing. If you like progressive blues then they are very much worth seeing - their guitarist Ramon in particular is superb and really made me sit up and pay attention (but then I would say that, I'm a guitarist!).

Well, that's more than enough for now. Keep supporting live music and keep telling your friends! See you at a gig soon!

Roadhouse "Resonance FM" MP3s - Thursday, 17 June 2004

Hi all! Last Sunday Roadhouse were guests on Pete Sargeant's excellent show on Resonance FM. I had a wonderful time and have just received some minidiscs of the show courtesy of Pete - since they came out pretty well I thought why not share them here! So here goes…

No Place To Hide
chat (aka Balls In My Hand)
Backstreets
Lost Along The Way
some more chat
What I'd Say (dedicated to Ray Charles)

Hope you enjoy listening to them!

More clips added - Sunday, 16 May 2004

A small update, just to let you know that I have added some MP3's to my clips section. One from the recent session I did for Sue Ballingall, one from Mandy G's material, and also a taster from the forthcoming Roadhouse album, "No Place To Hide". Enjoy!

Happy Easter! - Thursday, 22 April 2004

Well, in keeping with tradition, here's a seasonal update for you to coincide with Easter! Plenty has happened since the last update so there is lots to tell you about! In no particular order…

Firstly we recorded the new Roadhouse studio album "No Place To Hide" at the beginning of March. It has now been sent off to be pressed and we should be receiving our copies in the next few weeks. Look for it to be available both at gigs and through the Roadhouse and Blues Matters websites. I think it is safe to say that the entire band is very proud of the album - it remains to be seen if you the public think we are justified or not! My personal opinion is that it is certainly the most accomplished and eclectic Roadhouse album yet - many of our styles and influences are represented there, but the sound is undeniably Roadhouse. Highlights for me are Killing Time, Couldn't Get To Sleep and Don't Point That Thing At Me, but it's hard to choose! If any gearheads are interested, I recorded the entire album with my Laney LC30 and my Line6 Duoverb, and made a point of using every guitar I own at some point through the CD - I'll leave it to you to guess where!

Secondly, progress has been rather slow of late with John's album, mainly due to time constraints at my end and also due to the news that we have parted company with Dave Hadley. I will very much miss playing with Dave and learning so much about theory and music in general from him, and look forward to jamming with him in the future! I still haven't quite got the hang of playing around the tritone subconsciously despite his drumming it into me at every available opportunity! That said, life goes on and so we will be finishing the album in due course. The material is I believe too good to keep to ourselves so keep your eyes and ears peeled (and keep reading this website of course!).

Thirdly, I recently contributed some slide and a few titbits of lead to the album my old friends Freak-1-C are recording - "Swimming With The Big Fish". Unfortunately I was pretty under the weather during the studio time and felt less than satisfied with my own playing, but that said it was a pleasure to be involved, and from the rough mixes I have heard so far, their album will rock!

I have also been involved with a few other projects recently, namely recording some guitar with former Roadhouse singer Mandy Graham - on a track called "Too Bad". Stylistically it is like nothing I would normally play on, a sort of contemporary Jazz-Funk type thing, very difficult for me to describe. Hopefully I will have an MP3 up on the site soon! I have also contributed some guitar to a few tracks that current Roadhouse singer Sue Ballinghall has written. These were recorded in Pete Townsends studio over in Twickenham, very nice! Again I hope to have some MP3 snippets up soon - I have heard the mixes of the tracks I contributed to and am also very pleased with how they came out. I am not sure what the future holds for either of these projects, but am equally satisfied to have just been involved!

Gig highlights from the last few months have been numerous - in particular gigs with The John O'Leary Band in The Running Horse in Nottingham and at the Rayners in Harrow have been especially good. There is much to look forward to in the next few months as well - Roadhouse have our first CD launch at The Farnham Maltings on May 27th, and the next day I am in Farnham again with Landslide (a rare appearance!) at The Lamb. We are still awaiting confirmation on this but hopefully the weekend after should see Roadhouse at the Cardiff Blues Festival, another Blues Matters do which should prove to be fun! Fingers crossed for that one.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for keeping on with your support for Live Music! With the recent demise of Paul Jones' Blues Show on Jazz FM it seems those of us who enjoy the blues and live music in general are diminishing in number! See you at a gig soon, Jules

Belated Happy New Year! - Friday, 6 February 2004

And what a new year it has been so far… Starting from the beginning of January: Roadhouse played the Boogaloo Blues Festival in Bognor on the 10th and 11th of January. Sadly the larger of the two stages had been downgraded this year and was in a venue called "Echo Beach". Obviously the art of irony has not been lost on the Butlins managers! However, despite terrible acoustics, we played a great set, and the jam nights went very well. I thoroughly enjoyed jamming with the members of Trafficker - what a great band! On the same subject, I visited Tommy's jam session last Tuesday at the Crown and Cushion, near Yately. What fun! I hope to do some work with Tommy in the future - he is a great guitarist and a nice guy, I'm very hopeful that he is doing some good things for the future of British Blues.

Anyway, after Bognor I took a week out to begin recording the next John O'Leary Band album, tentatively titled "Sins". So far we have the drums, bass, and some rhythm guitar down. Next up my plan is to complete the rhythm guitar, then put harmonica and vocals, and finally keyboards. Speaking of keyboards, something to look forward to is our John O'Leary Band gig at The Boom Boom Club, in Sutton, on Sunday 15th February. Dominique Vantomme is coming over from Belgium to play with us, so any keyboard players out there, come along and learn from this guy! He is amazing. Where was I? Yes, John's album. From what we have so far, it is great - a very progressive blues album. There are shades of rock, funk, soul and jazz, all melded together. I like it and hope the finished product reflects our enthusiasm!

Next up was the Festival of Blues and Rock at Skegness, last Sunday, another Butlins do although this time not through Boogaloo! It was a fantastic experience, with a beautiful audience and an amazing stage. You haven't lived until you've had a few thousand people clapping along to the intro of one of your songs! I was buzzing for days after that! If you were there - thank you for being so good to us!!

So that leads us up to today... things worth keeping an eye out for this month. Tomorrow The John O'Leary Band is playing at the 12 bar club in Denmark Street, which will be fun. The place has some history! Next week sees Jagz in Ascot on Tuesday (JOL), Catford Blues Club on Wednesday (Roadhouse), and then on Friday Roadhouse is supporting the Yardbirds at Sutton, which should be fun! Again, they have some history! Then, another weekend of fun and games, Bracknell on Saturday for some valentines day blues (if that's your thing!), and the John O'Leary gig in Sutton on Sunday that I was telling you about.

So, plenty to look forward to! Stay well all of you and thanks for supporting LIVE MUSIC! Keep an eye on the gig list, hope to see you at one soon.

Seeya, Jules

Happy Christmas! - Wednesday, 24 December 2003

Well, a quick update before I go for some christmas relaxation! Is there any news to give before I go? Well, a little! My ebay experiences worked out fine, I sold my Twin and my JBLs - the Twin was worth a little more than I hoped, and the JBLs much less! But that's no problem, someone got a good deal and they were only gathering dust on my floor!

Gigs wise, I have done a few deps recently that have reminded me how much I enjoy playing rock as well as the usual bluesy sort of stuff! So maybe 2004 might bring some more rock to the table… There are some good things in the pipeline to look forward to next year - to begin with there is the Bognor Regis blues festival on 10-11 January (My birthday being the 12th I'm sure I will have a great time!). Roadhouse are playing both on the Saturday (late night Jam session) and on Sunday (proper gig), which will be fun! The week after that is written off entirely to record the rhythm parts for the John O'Leary Band album. Exciting stuff! So please keep checking the gig list, and come to anything near you.

2003 has been an exceptional year for gigs I think - my top 10 highlights of the year have been… in chronological order…

1. The John O'Leary Band "tour of the north" - February 5-9. Great gigs, great venues, great fun!

2. Jazziz trip to Belgium - April 17-18. This little trip opened my eyes and sowed the seeds of an ambition to one day work in Europe professionally. A thoroughly enjoyable trip on every level. It is a shame more didn't happen with this band!

3. Roadhouse's appearance at the Buntingford Mayfest - May 25. What a superb gig! Roadhouse is really suited to those big stages, much more so than pubs… the whole "act" may appear quite contrived in the context of a small smoky pub, but it really comes to life when we all have room (literally!) to stretch out…

4. The John O'Leary Band jam sessions in West Hampstead. These were all great fun, it is a shame the venue died…

5. Roadhouse - the Colne Blues Festival - August 24th. Oh my god what a great stage! As mentioned above, we were all totally in our element on this stage. The audience was absolutely first class for this, I will remember this gig for a long time to come!

6. The John O'Leary Band - trip to Belgium - September 11-13. Another great trip. You can see some video clips on the "clips" section of this site, from one of the stages we played. As with the trip in April I had a great time. The guys are so friendly over there, the most gracious hosts you could hope for!

7. Roadhouse's trip to the Isle of Wight - October 11-12. Despite some negative feedback from a handful of punters of the way Gary ran the jam, this was a really enjoyable weekend. Beautiful scenery, and great people, makes for an incredible experience!

8. Landslide's gig at the Lamb, Farnham, December 5. This was our only gig of the year, and surpassed all of my expectations. For any of you who came to that gig - you made the evening for us! It was quite a gamble doing the gig on the strength of one short rehearsal, but everyone in the band came through and delivered, it was a really great gig!

9. The Guilty Party at Jagz - December 17. This was my last gig with the Guilty Party and as such I'm really mentioning it as it was quite a poignant, if understated, gig. We have played better, to better audiences, but it was a suitable bookend to the 69 gigs I played with that band. Some good, some not so good. But that is life in any band!

10. Roadhouse - Bulls Head - December 22nd. The last gig of the year, and a great one. In every way!

See you all in 2004! Thanks for supporting live music! Jules

Equipment for sale! - Thursday, 13 November 2003

I have just put my Fender Twin amp, and the two JBL speakers that I've been using in it, up for auction on ebay. The Twin is here and the JBLs are here. Unfortunately having just moved house, I really don't have room for the Twin (nor the inclination to carry it up stairs after every gig!). So it's got to go, in favour of Larry the Laney. Happy Bidding! Jules

New Clips added - Thursday, 23 October 2003

Just a quick one - I've put some new video clips up, from our appearance at the moreBluesFestival in Zottegam, Belgium, with the John O'Leary Band from September of this year. I hope you enjoy them!

Touring on the Isle Of Wight! - Friday, 17 October 2003

Hello Everyone!

This month's update sees me fresh back from a weekend on the Isle of Wight with Roadhouse, having played the Blues Festival in the Norton Grange resort. This was another of the Boogaloo Promotions weekends, run by Monica Madgewick. I have to say she did a great job and we all had a great weekend. I look forward to coming to the next weekend, which will be the Bognor Regis Blues Festival at Butlins on January 9th-11th 2004. I think the high sport of my weekend was jamming with Ruben Klabbers, one of the guitar players in the excellent (loud!!!) Mike and the Mellotones (http://www.mellotones.com) - he is a year younger than me and one of the (if not then the) best guitarist I have ever played with. He had an incredibly sweet touch on the guitar, and improvised in a beautifully melodic way, all while using ridiculously heavy strings on the guitar! I was very impressed and had a great time jamming with him. I think the audience enjoyed it too! While I'm here I must also thank Ray and Nicky for looking after us so nicely during the late night jam sessions, and coming all the way from Lincoln to support us!

Other goings on have included making the preparations for the recording of John O'Leary's new album. Our schedule at the moment sees us recording the main rhythm tracks in the second week of January, with the following weeks to be spent concentrating on recording vocals, harmonica, and guitar parts. I'll be going to Belgium early next year to add on Dominique VanTomme's keyboard parts as well - congratulations to Dominique on becoming a father to Robin this week as well!

I am very excited about John's CD for a number of reasons - not only will it be a good chance for me to have a very full involvement with the mixing and production of the CD, but John and I have also been working very hard on writing some original material. We are very determined that the CD should not be an hour of shuffles and slow-blues tracks intermingled, and have so far got 11 tracks of excellent contemporary blues and funk. The direction I'm hoping for the CD to go in is the blues equivalent of how Jimmy Smith's excellent "Dot Com Blues" album approached Jazz, if that means anything! The whole band is excited and I wouldn't be exaggerating if we hope for it to be the best blues album of 2004! So, not aiming high at all then!

Robin Bibi's double live album, "Live Therapy", was also released a few weeks ago, and yours truly recorded and mixed the CD during 2003. Having handed over the masters on CD about 6 months ago, I hadn't listened to it since, and was pleasantly surprised when Robin gave me a copy last week. It's a very exciting set to listen to, and Robin is on good form - it's a really nice representation of the band live and I am very proud to have been part of the project. My particular favourite on that album is "Never Fade Away" - it is such a cool groove! You can buy the CD at Robin's gigs or through his website at http://www.robinbibiband.co.uk.

So what is there to look forward to in the months to come? Firstly I think I should mention that our annual Landslide gig (!) has been booked for Friday the 5th December at The Lamb in Farnham. Since that is our only gig this year it would be great to see some of you there! I can't guarantee that we'll play any new songs since a year ago, but it will be a fun gig and I'm looking forward to playing some of the tracks that I haven't played since last year! Roadhouse has a few gigs worth coming to in the next few months - namely our appearance at The Boom Boom Club in Sutton Football Ground on Sunday 23rd November, and also on Saturday 15th November we are playing the White Lyon in Woking. Both of these are fairly tough venues to draw people to, so we would as ever appreciate the support!

Other than those gigs, it is a fairly perfunctory end to the year - the usual jam sessions and Roadhouse music clubs, with a few functions dotted throughout with the Guilty Party. This is a good thing as it leaves plenty of time left over for us to get our plans in order for both John's new CD and also the forthcoming Roadhouse CD which we are booked to record in March 2004. So, thanks for reading and thanks for your support as ever. See you at a gig!

Jules

Belgian Waffles… - Monday, 15 September 2003

Hello Everyone!

So this is the first update for a while - there are a few things to tell you about! I have just returned from a five day trip to Belgium where The John O'Leary Band played four really fun gigs. It was again a very enlightening trip, and our hosts could not have been more accomodating. I'll leave it at that!

Other highlights of the last few months have been Roadhouse's appearance at the Colne Blues Festival in August, and the short-lived John O'Leary Band weekly jam session at The Inn On The Green, in West Hampstead. Unfortunately, licensing issues have closed down the jam session for the foreseeable future, however we are hunting for an alternative venue - check the giglist to see if it reappears!

While the outlook for smaller venues in the UK continues to appear bleak, there are some good things to look forward to in the next few months. Firstly, Roadhouse are in negotitations to sign a record deal with a small British label run by Blues Matters magazine. While I think it may be a while before you'll find our CDs in HMV, it's definitely a step forward and means we should get some better exposure from putting our albums on the merchandise stalls at the blues festivals etc. - which can only be a good thing! Secondly, Roadhouse are playing the Isle of Wight Blues Festival (run by Boogaloo Promotions) on the weekend of October 10-12. We are continuing to write material for the next Roadhouse CD, which should be out in March of next year. We are already gigging a few of the tracks, of which my favourite is the title track, "Nowhere To Hide" - it's a nice departure from the standard Roadhouse sound. A bit heavier perhaps, and more structured.

We are also working hard towards producing the next John O'Leary Band CD, with several new tracks written. I'm hoping we can polish them up to the stage where we can gig them soon, as they are also pleasingly different from the standard 12-bar fare which makes up the majority of our sets.

Thanks for your continued support and I look forward to seeing you at a gig soon!

Jules

G&L Demos… - Friday, 2 May 2003

Hello Everyone!

I'm sorry for the lack of updates recently, we have all been very busy around here! Last week marked my first professional work for G&L Guitars, doing a demo for them (more specifically for Aria UK, their distributor) at a trade show in Hinkley, near Leicester. I had a wonderful time, and it was nice to be able to "spread the word" a little about G&Ls. So many people tell me they like my strat, it's always fun to tell them that it's not really a strat at all!

April also was marked by an incredible trip to Belgium. It was the inaugural tour of a new project of David Hadley's called Jazziz - David runs the band alongside the keyboard player Dominique Vantomme. What an experience! I must say I was totally out of my depth on the first day, it was incredibly overwhelming! That said, after I managed to "find my space" in the band, it settled into a really great week. We played two good gigs and I'm looking forward to going to Belgium again. My eyes have been opened and I have realised that Europe is really the way forward on so many levels - the standard of musicianship is incredible, the audiences are wonderful, the venues are so much more respectful of musicians - it is a really pleasurable experience.

Things to look forward to in the next few weeks: I have a string of gigs with John O'Leary next week which will be fun - taking in Camberley, Worcester, and North Finchley in one week. This Sunday (4th May) also marks Roadhouse's 12th anniversary (1500 gigs!) and we are playing a special celebration at The Boom Boom Club, Sutton. You can get more details (map etc.) from the gig page!

See you soon!

Jules

Coal and Gravy… - Sunday, 9 February 2003

Hello Everyone,

Back from our mini-tour of the north with John O'Leary, what a kick that was! We were very well taken care of by our hosts (only one hiccup), and John as ever was a very gracious bandleader. I learnt plenty of new things from Dave Hadley, the coolest of which I think was that crazy descending chromatic riff that fits over a cycle of fifths… very nice. Anyway, what is there to look forward to in the coming weeks?

Firstly, anyone that lives locally/surrey area, can tune in to 1566MW and here fREAK-1-C making fools of ourselves by trying to play heavy rock on acoustic guitars (don't get me started!) on February 23rd at 10.30am! Secondly, we're getting back into writing and should have some more tunes for you to hear shortly… Keep your eyes peeled and your ears open!

See you soon!

Jules

p.s. Butlins gig report - check out the gallery to see some great pictures from the weekend!

Almost Famous… - Saturday, 4 January 2003

Hello Everyone,

Happy New Year to you! Highlights of the last few weeks… "Blues Highway" from the new Roadhouse CD was on Jazz FM (The Paul Jones Show) on Saturday 14th December which was a nice thing to wake up to! Also, I can't say enough good things about the new Derek Trucks Band album "Joyful Noise" (Columbia Records) - it's superb and a worthy addition to any record collection.

Things to look forward to… we have a few John O'Leary gigs in January which would be worth a look - 12th Jan we are in GJ's (Colliers Wood) and on the 29th Jan we play the Cambridge Hotel (Camberley). Check this track out to get an idea. Both should be good gigs! Also, Roadhouse play the Boogaloo Blues festival at Butlins in Bognor Regis on Saturday 11th Jan which should be a good laugh...

See you soon!

Jules

A New House! - Saturday, 16 November 2002

Hi All,

Welcome to my updated website - I hope you like it! It's pretty easy to use, up at the top right you can see my next gig, down at the bottom is the menu which I assume you've found because you're reading this! There have been some exciting things happening recently which I want to tell you about. Last Monday saw me in the studio with The John O'Leary Band, recording two tracks hopefully to be featured on an album next year. What a pleasure it was working with professionals in a great atmosphere - I hope to have a sneak preview up soon! We have also finished recording the latest Roadhouse CD, and overall I'm pleased with my contribution to that. You can click here to download a preview track, "One Last Roll". That should give you an idea of what that's all about!

On the Guilty Party side, we have taken several new bookings for 2003, which should all be good fun!