Pointer to journal entries! - Tuesday, 26 September 2006

Just a quick reminder - looking through the logs there's still quite a few people looking at this page - I'm doing all my random gig reporting and journalling on the funkydory forum, which you can read here: http://www.funkyband.com/forum - come over and have a read. You don't need to sign up to read it, it's all public. Sorted!

Limavady Festival of Jazz and Blues, NI - Tuesday, 13 June 2006

Gig report here!

future journal entries - Tuesday, 11 April 2006

All future journal entries will be on the funkydory forum:

http://www.funkyband.com/forum/

Enjoy!

future journal entries - Wednesday, 22 March 2006

Afternoon all! I'm happy to say that last night's scholarly geekness has resulted in a new forum on the funkydory site! Marvellous! The upshot of that's going to be that I'm going to be retiring this journal in favour of posting gig reports and the like over there. I'll still keep this website up to date for giglists etc., but all this journal stuff will work much better over there. The link if you want to have a look is:

http://www.funkyband.com/forum/

Excellent!

Red Lion Jam, Twickenham - Monday, 20 March 2006

So after a bright and breezy morning going to the supermarket, rubbish dump, back to 219SR, all round the houses, the Jam was upon us and the lunachick and I trundled down the road at about 4ish. Hooked up with Marc and Darby, set the gear up, and got started. The jam was a little quiet for the first hour or so, then picked up bigtime. Awesome it was, in fact - the general standard of jammers was very good - again the yoof contingent was very much in force and again a good time was had by all. Have to say, the closing(ish) jam we had with Marc and Andy Cortes on guitar, yours truly on bass, and Darby on drums, was an absolute peach - lots of fun. Roll on next week!

funkydory - The Royal Oak, Ipswich - Monday, 20 March 2006

Saturday's medium-to-long scale jaunt was over to Ipswich to play a pub called The Royal Oak for the first time. Having Tetris-King'd all the gear into Cecil the Skoda and Pumperloaf's mighty Mondeo, we had an easy motor round the M25 and up the A12 all the way to Ipswich, where we hooked up at Harvey towers with Alan and his wife Sue, who'd cooked up an absolute storm for us - great stuff! I felt a bit bad that we were in such a rush (roadworks and associated jams had meant what I thought would take 2 hrs ended up taking nearer 3!) - but it was great nosh, cheers Alan and cheers Sue! Then on to the venue where although greeted with a good LOF, punters were a little thin on the ground. In fact had it not been for Gaz and his two mates, and the Alan H. posse, we would have been playing to about 10 people! Never mind, those that were there were pretty enthusiastic, the sound wasn't bad (squashed as we were on the diddy stage!) and we played several orders of magnitude better than we had on Friday. Musically, a very good gig, followed by a long slog back home... in time for an early start sunday to get all manner of chores done in time for the Jam!

funkydory - The Globe, Brentford - Saturday, 18 March 2006

A funny old gig down at the Globe last night. All the ingredients were in place for it to be a corker - nice venue, nice people, friendly audience, band all up for it. But for whatever reason it was just one of those gigs that didn't quite "click" - who can say why, some gigs cook, some don't. There were some really cool moments where everyone was flying but also some moments that just didn't quite hit the spot. I've gone back to putting 9s on my guitars to give the old wrists a break which was a good idea, tho I think it'll take a while before the tone gods get used to it! Anyway, still a fun night and a gazillion billion times better than staying in of an evening. Looking forward to playing in Ipswich tonight - first time at a new venue, bring it on!

Red Lion Jam, Twickenham - Monday, 13 March 2006

In a word - outstanding! What a great jam...

Darby, myself, Lorna and Marc kicked it off, played 4 songs, then got the jam started. The best thing about the jam for me was that there were as many players under 20 as there were over - and some pretty good playing too - Great stuff! - nice to see an influx of "new blood" into the blues jam scene. No better place to learn and pick up things from people. Too many new names for my atrocious memory to list everyone that was there, but a top afternoon had by all... especially nice to see Robin Bibi and Andy Cortes jamming together, something you don't get to see too often.

Most importantly - packed pub, swift turnover from act to act, house band not playing too long = great atmosphere, happy landlord, happy punters, happy jammers, happy house band - "A splendid time is guaranteed for all..."

"And tonight, Henry the Horse dances the Waltz!!!!!!"

JOL - The Running Horse, Nottingham - Monday, 13 March 2006

Saturday night's long distance jaunt was a trip up to witness the last rites of The Running Horse in Nottingham. It's with great sadness that I learnt the venue is shortly to change ownership - the future of live music being uncertain. The new owners don't like blues and want to turn it into a jazz venue! Given it's location in not the friendliest part of town, I'll be interested to see how it goes down...

Back to the gig - after a long but relaxed drive up the M1, listening to the entire Allman Bros "Fillmore Concerts" double CD (what a fantastic set...), we arrived at the venue at about 7pm, in time to set the PA up and chill for an hour or so upstairs, watching an advance copy of this DVD that John is sorting out from a gig we did a while back. It's OK tho not the best gig we've ever played - a decent soundmix might salvage it into something cool, we shall see! Tonight we had a support duo, Clive? on vox and Henry playing Piano. Very nice people and a very nice trad blues opening. Henry left his piano set up in anticipation of sitting in later on in our set, all good! The gig itself for us was a corker. The band played great, there was a superb atmosphere in the audience (shame about the numbers but hey there were enough people there for us to have a good time nonetheless) - the tone gods were definitely in attendance (for the first time in a little while it must be said) and the gig was a cracker. Lots of fun.

Post gig, the usual natter with Barry the guv'nor, and then it was time to hit the M1 south again, getting home at 4.30am and practically falling into bed zzz zzz zzz zzz zzz zzz zz zz zz zz.......

I forgot to mention, apparently LOF was a localised 9, tho courtesy of stage lights and looking the wrong way it might as well have been a 5!

Roadhouse - Woodman Jam - Friday, 10 March 2006

Last night's random jaunt was over to Wimbledon where Lorna and I sat in with Roadhouse to cover for an injured Drew and ill Fiona - what a fun evening! We played Sacrifice (popped a string - what a surprise, the first time in ages I've only take one guitar out - schoolboy error!), Couldn't Get To Sleep, a new one that I can't remember the name of (White Water?), and that was about it I think. The jam was a bit quiet but still fun. Playing possibly the "loosest" version freebird with Geronimo and funky George playing quite unfunkily was also a laugh... Post gig, a quick natter with Danny PHM and then into the car, clutching our pre-release copy of the new Roadhouse CD, at which point the lunachick drove us home. Pukka Mukka!

funkydory - Belgian Tour report - Tuesday, 7 March 2006

Well! The first thing I have to say here is that whatever your thoughts may be on finishing reading this, it's all true! You couldn't make this up! What an amazing weekend... The festivities kicked off on Thursday night with the arrival of Pumperloaf and Marc to drop their gear round, in time for an early getaway on Friday morning. Some pizza/dvd/beer combination later, Hayden asleep on the sofa, Marc despatched back to Le Guerrannic towers, Lorna and I tucked up snug as bugs in rugs, and the next thing you know it's Friday! Of course, the lunachick and myself overslept (as usual) and so were slightly frazzled by the rushed wakeup call, Lillian arriving bang on time and putting all his gear into the Pumperloafmobile. The funkydory train was travelling light this time, with myself, Marc and Lorna using the Mama F. kindly donated Touran-Tourbus, filled with PA, guitar amps, guitars, luggage in the roofbox, and then Lillian and Hayden in the Mighty Mondeo, carrying the drumkit and bass gear. It all fitted perfectly and the drive round the M25 and down to the Eurotunnel terminal was utterly uneventful. Surprisingly empty roads meaning we were there in plenty of time, walkie talkies providing much entertainment as you'd expect. Whisky Wanky Two One Niner coming through 30,000 heavy requesting permission to land etc etc etc. Boys will be boys however grown up we claim to be!

This was the first time either Marc, Lillian or Hayden had used the Eurostar and very impressed they all were - it really is a pukka service, I never want to go on a ferry again if I can help it! 40 minutes after joining the queue at Folkestone and we were already on the Motorway across France - fantastic.

With some spare time in hand I thought it only fair that we drop into the mystical magical world that is the Piens Music Store in Deinze - many a pointless mission has been had to those hallowed walls by myself and Caesar in the past, so it was an appropriate deviation to make! A few chuckles with Luc (Mr Guitarman), ruining Marc's train of thought by introducing him to a Gibson SG '61 Reissue, Lillian and Hayden awed, the Lunachick loving a new mic (280 Euros... it'll have to wait...) - it is an incredible shop. Incredibly expensive too, but still a cool place to visit. Half an hour was up though, and it was time to fire up Nelly once again and head off, this time in the direction of Diest - location of our gig for the night, at The Borderline. Only a paltry 70 miles to go, around Brussels and then heading off into the countryside, and there we were! Arriving at about 5pm meant we had a little time to chill out, grab a beer, get set up and have a very thorough soundcheck, not to mention enjoy a delicious meal of beef (if they were cajones then it was a HUGE animal) before showtime. Jean the promotor was an absolute diamond bloke, we were treated very nicely, all boded well! Unfortunately tho, the gig itself didn't quite live up to our self-created hype! Thanks to sub zero temperatures, flurries of snow every 20 minutes, and some rather uninviting fog, it seems most punters stayed at home - more's the pity! The atmosphere therefore wasn't terribly energetic, and although the 25 or so people there certainly had smiles on their faces, I really didn't think it was the most engaging of gigs we've done. Although we sold a few cds and had some really good feedback, I know we could have played better. Mama F and Phil, our official tour photographers, who had by this point checked into their hotel and had dinner in the centre of Diest, got some great shots though, shortly to be added to this site!

After the gig, everything started to lighten up a little, we got chatting to some punters and made some new friends, indulged in some ridiculously strong Jack Daniels concotions (The language barrier hindering things perhaps? No, it's a pint of coke and a shot of JD, *not* the other way around!), packed the gear away and headed up to the Hotel that Jean had gratiously arranged for the night. Very nice it was too - Nelly proving itself invaluable while we negotiated the foggy lanes into the countryside! Comedy banter aplenty, a delicious bottle of red wine shared, before we all sank exhausted into the comfort of our warm beds. It is so nice to be cosy while touring!

Saturday morning (I use the term "morning" loosely) and we all convened, showered and refreshed, down at the cars ready to head over to the Cafe Meulenberg in Mol. Now this one I was really looking forward to - Lorna and I had played there before with Roadhouse and we both have fond memories of that gig - things were looking up after the mild downer of our playing on Friday! Fortunately Mol was only 30 miles from Diest so a short and pleasant motor up hill and down dale (well, ok, along the flat and very straight road) and we were back in town! Actually a little early as the Meulenberg wasn't open yet - much tomfoolery and argument over where to eat lead to us finding ourself in an absolutely delicious Italian restaurant in the centre of Mol. As it goes, all 5 of us had left both our Italian and Flemish phrasebooks behind, and so with no command of either English or French, the waiter and waitress in the restaurant really had their work cut out in explaining the menu... Luckily the international language of Pizza came to the rescue (as it is often known to) and 5 stacked plates were placed in front of us. You would have thought we'd never eaten before by the time it took to finish the lot... Truly friendly staff too as despite the barrier we almost managed to invite them to the gigs! It was worth a try...

Back to the venue, by now Louis (the legendary guv'nor and former rally driver amongst other things) had arrived, the place was open, we could start unpacking the gear and indulging ourselves in the local beer (delicious) and coffee (equally so) - such generosity as we experience in Belgium is really hard to top. As a general bunch of people they are the nicest, most welcoming and friendly, and again I say generous, collection of people you'll ever meet. Even Mama F and Phil were catered for in style all evening. Perfect. A better soundmix on stage during soundcheck, a little more laidback groove, a fantastic dinner, larger audience - showtime! Particularly nice to see my mate Wouter who had driven all the way from Deinze and who I'd not seen for at least 18 months!

The gig itself was really happening. This is more like it! Lorna really rocking out, a good PA mix both on and offstage, Hayden and Lillian pumping, Marc and I widdling - really it was a superlative gig. Excellent fun. Again we sold a bunch of CDs, made some new friends, and had a really good laugh. Post gig a few drinks were shared before Marc, Lillian and Hayden disappeared with Mama F and Phil back to their hotel, meanwhile Lorna and I eventually retired to Louis' campervan that he had arranged for us to sleep in. Pure luxury - this was a winnebago style truck that was just awesome! Hot water, satellite tv, cooker, shower, the works - unbelievable! I want one! It is surely the ultimate gigging transport... Top marks once again for hospitality!

And so this is where the weekend took a turn for the surreal - a test of patience unlike any I've ever experienced!

I'm woken at about 11am by voices outside the window - Lorna peeking out to see Louis and a friend of his poking around the Tourbus - two flat tyres visible! Damn! I throw some clothes on and go outside to see that in fact *all four* tyres are flat! You have to be joking! And then, Hayden's Mondeo next to it - both front tyres flat! You have to be joking! We then turn to see all four tyres on the Camper are flat as well! You have to be joking! Walking around the side of the Meulenberg we see a bicycle - you guess it, two flat tyres!

Disbelief suspended for a second, Louis makes a few frantic phone calls - it turns out that nearly *every car* in this small suburb of Mol has flat tyres! You have to be joking! Fortunately the next door neighbour of the club had his own air compressor, so we tried pumping up the tyres on the VW - woosh, flat again. Feel around each tyre and there they are. Small spiked holes. Unbelievable! Someone must really hate that town! So now the next thing you need to understand is that it's Sunday morning - in Belgium, the only things open on a Sunday are the Cafe's - no garages, nothing. At this point, panic is beginning to settle in a little. We only have 5 hours before we are due to play the afternoon gig over in St Lenaarts, which fortunately is only 30 miles away. A call to the RAC - no good, the European cover does not cover vandalism (You have to be joking!) - calls to local garages on the off chance they are open - no good. In the end Louis has a friend in Antwerp (50 miles away) who arrives 90 nervous minutes later and saves the day! With some clever little gunky stuff and a rather enthusiastic stabbing motion he manages to plug the holes! Although not ideal (the cars are all laden to the brim) it will at least get us to the next gig... Mama F and Phil set off in one's Jag-war, going to the Hotel first and aiming to meet us at The Willem Tell bluesclub later.

So with the Pumperloafmobile glued to our tail, Lorna, Lillian (double take) and myself set off in the quick-fix-fer-noo Touran. 15 miles of country roads, no problem... 5 miles of motorway, no problem... come off the motorway - Hayden's voice rather shakily comes from the Walkie Talkie - "errr mate my car's handling like a wet sponge" (or words to that effect). So I check the mirror - nothing remiss - "mate stop being a wimp it's just the crosswind" says I. Helpful or what? We plough on for another 5 miles but with 4.6 miles to go, something is obviously very wrong with Hayden's car. Turns out the ne'er-do-wells had only gone and punctured his back tyres too - but they hadn't gone flat yet!!!!

You have to be joking!

So here we are, stranded 5 miles from the venue, with 2 flat tyres on Hayden's car. Hmmmm. Having painted the air a suitable shade of Blue, we eventually decided that we in the Tourbus should press on and unload the gear, then go back and pick up the bass rig and drumkit, and leave the car there, just to be dealt with in the morning. As it transpires, by the time Lorna, Lillian and myself had reached St Lenaarts, the ever fantastic Jo had phoned ahead and arranged for Michel, the guvnor of the Willem Tell, had set off in a van to find Hayden and bring him to the gig already! A helpful neighbour had agreed to let Hayden leave the Mondeo in their front garden (literally!) and the game was back on. Marvellous!

So, more than a little stressed, but relieved to be at the venue, and it was showtime before you knew it. We were starting an hour late but the sympathetic audience didn't seem to mind one bit - as I told you, nice people these Belgians!

Now this was more like it, it really was time to wash the blues away and this was one hell of a set. Putting Northside and Stormy in the first set meant the bluesers in the crowd were completely onside, a masterstroke by the lunachick I think, and really eating out of our hands by the interval. It was just a superb fun gig. Using our own PA was a nice comforter - 100% comfortable with the sound and mix onstage, a terrific group of punters in front of us, friends old and new from our last gig there with Roadhouse - wow. What a great afternoon's gig! We were really firing on all cylinders and the gig was a *big* success. So much so in fact that we were asked on the spot to play at their festival in August that they are putting on to celebrate 10 years of live music! Yes please we'd love to do it! Awesome.

Post gig, again many CDs to sign and bevvies to quaff, also a delicious meal presented to us by Michel and Eddy the birthday boy, many a toast raised to three great gigs and wonderful way to spend a weekend. As it was an afternoon gig, and on a Sunday too, the place started to quieten down and by 11pm it was really time to head back to the hotel. A swift band back-slapping nightcap session, a few rather nice beers shared, and it was time for bed, a plan firmly in place for an early start to find the nearest tyre place and fix all the tyres up.

Well.

Monday morning, we check out of the hotel, wave Mama F and Phil off into the distance, and go back to the Willem Tell where we drop Marc, Lillian and Lorna off. Hayden and I then go to find the tyre place - mission Fix Tourbus firmly in operation first. Donckers Tyre Emporium duly found, 4 new goodyears put on the VW! Awesome!

Part two, mission Fix Pumperloafmobile. Having put the tyres on the Tourbus, the plan was then to borrow a pair of wheeljacks from the tyre place, drive back to the Mondeo, jack it up, remove the two back tyres and take them to the tyre place to be fixed, then go back, fit them, and bring the car back to the tyre place where they could fit two new front tyres. Genius or what? Feeling rather like Samuel L Jackson and Bruce Willis, we left my passport as a guarantee, and gallantly set off to find the Mondeo...

...to find the Mondeo clamped, with a piece of paper in the window for the local police office!

You
have
to
be
joking!!!!

So, we knock on Mr Friendly Bloke's door to ask him if he knows anything about it? As it goes, he speaks no English, and once again Jo comes to the rescue with his Babelfish services - it turns out the guy doesn't know anything about it, but suggests we go to the Police station as it is after all only a mile away. OK, so off we go to the police station. Bearing in mind at this point it was coming up to about 11.30am, and with a 3pm shuttle we knew time was of the essence. It has to be said that by now both Hayden and I were feeling more than a little stressed - and were probably not the best people to be sent into a police station with the express purpose of chivvying them along. It also has to be said that Mr Belgian Policeman was the least helpful human being I have ever met! Not only did he ask for my passport, and stare at me dumbly as I tried to explain that it was at a tyre shop 5 miles up the road - but he also refused to tell us what the problem was until he'd spent 15 minutes on the phone to a colleague!!! Unbelievable!

Eventually another colleague appeared, came out with a rather scary looking collection of pistols on his belt, and got in the car apparently to take the clamp off. So, off we go, heading out back to the road that Hayden's car was on, the Politia in front in their Primera, us behind in the Touran. A mile down the road, Hayden's car is on the left in the garden with a clamp on, we slow down - but does the Primera? Oh no! It keeps going - despite much flashing of lights and beeping of the horn from me! What kind of driving school do these policemen go to?!?

As I said before... you couldn't make this stuff up!

A phone call to the police station again, baffling the chief inspector's pigeon english with our attempt to explain the situation - and ten minutes later the Primera reappeared, the two officers coming out looking slightly baffled. Anyhow, no problem to take the clamp off - a brief explanation given that "something" had happened in the next door town, and they had put out an APB on a Mondeo matching Hayden's. And that was that... they were off! Having been delayed by nearly an hour by this pointless exercise, we finally got the car jacked up and set about our relay mission to get 4 new tyres on. Hurry hurry rush rush, it was done in the end, spanking new Goodyears fitted, all our potential profit from CD sales now used up, and we were finally on our way back to the Willem Tell to load up and (in the sanitised words of Kim Jong Il) get the hell out of there!

By now of course it was nearly 3 O'clock and with several hundred miles of snowstorm infested motorway to cover, it was pretty obvious that we wouldn't make our 3.30 crossing! Or in fact 4.30 or 5.30, or probably even 6.30! At this point, all urgency in the situation left us, and with Nelly programmed we got the journey started. Fortunately an easy drive to Calais, minimal queuing at the Eurotunnel, and we were back in Blighty.

A long journey indeed, eventually arriving home in time to grab a couple of hours sleep, satisfied that we'd all had an amazing weekend and couldn't wait to go back! It says a lot I think that despite all the crap thrown at us by the powers that be this weekend, we were still smiling and had a good time. Of course I can't wait to hear that the police have caught whoever the sub-human scum that did the tyres in, and made them pay back the money they have cost everyone in the town - but I am not holding my breath!

Roll on the next little tour - my goodness I love being in funkydory! Life is never dull!

Red Lion Jam, Twickenham - Monday, 27 February 2006

The 2nd part of our little two day stand at The Red Lion, saw Marc, Lorna and myself running the jam with a friend of Darby Todd's, Paul, playing drums. Again this was a really cool jam - doing our best to capture the spirit of "the olden days" - it was really happening! A nice broad spectrum of players and punters like made for a fun afternoon - all good. Lots of smiles all round. Bingo - roll on a fortnight's time!

funkydory - The Red Lion, Twickenham - Sunday, 26 February 2006

First time down the Red Lion last night and what a fun night it was. Two really pukka things about playing the RL - one, it's about 90 seconds up the road, and two, there is an in house PA so minimal set up time needed too - sorted! A really good gig really, a good turnout audiencewise, we played well, everyone had a good time. Tone gods smiling, Jackocaster singing, lots of fun. Especially I had a cool time with this new wah-wah and slide combination thing I've been experimenting with for the last few gigs. Cool sound indeed! We'll definitely be back (well, in a couple of hours actually as Lorna, Marc and I are running the jam there this afternoon!) - in the meantime, time to book some more gigs and get ready for going to Belgium on Friday... To quote my brother - "BIATCHO!!!!"

JOL - The Roadhouse, Birmingham - Saturday, 25 February 2006

Last night's jaunt was a merry chilled affair up to Birmingham to play at a nice little venue called The Roadhouse. Now firstly I must say that this place has absolutely the best in house PA I've ever heard *in my life*. It's a custom made rig by a mate of the owners, all custom made cabs etc, and it is awesome. It's not a huge room, capacity 250 perhaps, but the sound is just killer.

Anyhoo - leaving work a bit early I had a nice easy jaunt up the M40, taking my time, listening to some ABBA, generally feeling very jovial (see last journal entry!) - met up with the guys at the venue, also present were Adam and Rob, friends of Joachim that were to film the gig for some kind of live DVD promo thing (or something). To be honest it wasn't really the best idea to film the gig in that we hadn't played together for a few weeks, and it was definitely a rough around the edges type affair. As happy as I was with the odd solo here and there (and duoverb fuelled tone gods beaming broadly), I didn't feel like we didn't play that well together, full stop. It'll be interesting to see how the finished product comes out but in all seriousness it didn't feel like we were happening at all on stage. If it comes out OK tho I'll put some clips up on this site! Also the audience, tho noisy and friendly, weren't very numerous, so it was also a spectacularly un-lucrative gig! Never mind.

Post gig it was a very swift tear down of the gear and a weary drive back down the M40, stopping for a quick coffee + red bull at Cherwell Valley to keep myself awake. Bingo. Home at 3am - straight to bed! A fun, if frustrating, evening.

news... - Thursday, 23 February 2006

Time to update the front page of this site I think! I'm extremely happy to say I've just handed in my 2 months notice at work, so I'll be finishing the dayjob at the end of April! This'll let me concentrate more on pushing funkydory in the direction we need to be going, as well as teaching guitar to make up the income. As well as this I'm looking to start up some other services too - namely mobile recording for bands that want to record gigs live or to record demo discs. Also I'm looking to make a bit more of the album cover design work I've started doing of late. I'm very pleased with both the funkydory album and the John O'Leary album, so I think they're a good starting point from which to build something. Bring it on says I... really feels like a turning point in life. Awesome.

funkydory - The Banham Barrel, Norfolk - Monday, 20 February 2006

So, a nice lie in followed by fry up on Saturday morning, then off to swap cars with la mama (Wheel bearings are shot on my Skoda - don't trust it on the motorway at the moment!) - we all met at 219SR at 4pm, squashed all the gear into the Le Tourbus and Hayden's mighty Mondeo, and off we set. Easy drive up there (incorporating a comedy detour for H who missed the A11 turning), easy set up, easy gig really! A little quiet on the audience front (local band playing up the road apparently!) but still it's always fun when we play there. Good acoustics, we can play loud (although it did get a bit bombastic towards the end!), everyone always plays great there. First time we played Dreamtime live, too - it wasn't bad tho needs a few more gigs before it starts coming to life I think. Pre-gig we'd had a natter with Alan Harvey that he recorded for a feature in a forthcoming issue of Blues Matters, and having been so engrossed in chit chat we didn't have time to put a setlist together - it was a "call-out-the-songs" type gig. In the end it worked ok - we did some cool covers we'd not done for a while - Don't Change Horses, Stormy, Drowning in a Sea of Love, Take me to the River, I wish, as well as some of our own stuff too. Everyone was on fire. Good gig! Also I used my duoverb for the first time in months - crikey what I've been missing out on in my desire to love the Super! The line6 sounded killer and had more than enough balls to cut into the mix. Smooooth sound. Happy tone gods once again! And once again also top marks and kudos to Gaz for his merch duty! Thanks to him and everyone who bought cds on friday and saturday we're already halfway into paying our production costs for the cd! Awesome!

Post gig and post teardown of the gear, we sat around and chatted (certainly against our better judgement) until the best part of 2am - meaning a very weary drive home before collapsing into bed at half four! zzzzzzz! A great gig tho and looking forward to going back.

funkydory - Joe Bonamassa support, Boom Boom - Monday, 20 February 2006

Friday night's gig was a fun support for Joe Bonamassa at the Boom Boom club in Sutton. Thanks to Pete Feenstra for getting us involved with this - it was an awesome night! The first thing that I have to say are that Joe's road crew and his new drummer and bassist are all really nice, very friendly people. They couldn't have been more accomodating and down to earth with us, we had a great time talking to them.

Joe is an unbelievable guitar player. To see someone play for over 2 hours, with that degree of control over their instrument, was quite amazing. Great tone, too. I must confess to getting a little bit weary after two hours though, I personally think I would enjoy his set a fair amount more if he had someone else in the band to share the soloing limelight with (eg keyboards/sax).

Our set was fun, marred only by a lack of tone gods from where I was. Still not really happy with the Super in a full on gigging situtation. It sounds unbelievable on 3 but lame on 6 or 7 - it really can't cut through against Hayden's drumming. Anyway, a fun night all round - first time we ever played Sugar live as well! Good crack. Gaz was absolutely outstanding running our merch table, did a sterling job - top geezah!

Post gig, it was back home and straight to bed, but only after admiring the rather special bump on Lorna's head that she sustained after a head/guitar case collision while packing down the gear!

Something quite cool - Tuesday, 14 February 2006

Click here!

Red Lion Jam, Twickenham - Monday, 13 February 2006

Yesterday afternoon, the lunachick, Marc, myself and Darby hosted the Red Lion Jam in Twickenham. It was great! Like "the olden days" - decent sized crowd, good turnover, everyone got a good play, I even played drums! (Sorry Chris, you still sang great despite my thrashings!) - altogether a top laugh, really nice to see some old friends again and just have a fun time. Great! Fingers crossed we'll be doing it again in a fortnight! Woohoo!

chilling weekend - Sunday, 12 February 2006

What a top weekend so far. Updated the funkydory website with a behind the scenes look at us making our CD, sorted out some more gigs for the diary, solved a mindreading conundrum, learnt the bass part to layla for our jam this afternoon, ate a hearty meal of beans on toast, watched the hollyoaks omnibus, averted disaster by finding Hobo, one of our cats who went missing on his first day out int he garden (he was hiding behind the shed 3 doors down poor little thing!), all is good with the world!

JOL - Sunday - The Navy Club, Maryport - Monday, 6 February 2006

"Good old Sunday morning, Bells are ringing everywhere" - I can't help but quote the allman brothers! A delicious (if a tad early) fry up + fruit + yoghurt + muesli for breakfast - followed by a relaxing wallow in the bath with the radio on for a while. Abluted, packed, and ready to go - we set off. It's about 80 or so miles from Lancaster to Maryport, but the last 40 or so are spent fannying about on the twistys and hills - I know it was going to hurt the economy as poor Cecil struggled to lift all the gear up the slopes! Still did ok though, 58mpg driving at 50mph all the way, not bad. Arrived at Maryport about 1 o'clock, set the gear up at a very sedate pace, and then sat about talking vast quantities of nothing with the assembled punters - all the usual characters were there and on superb form - Leon, Livy and the rest, not forgetting the birthday "WPC" clan of course! Tip top. I *wish* there were gigs like this nearer home!!! Such a fun audience to play to, "salt of the earth mate, salt of the earth". Love it!

The gig itself was cool though musically not quite as happening as the previous night's was. We fumbled a few ending's which was annoying, and John's voice was beginning to tire a little after 4 daysworth of gigs on the trot (with a cold too). Tone gods, hmmmm. They were trying but with so much carpet about it's hard for them to get comfortable.

Post gig we had to tear down the gig super fast to allow the navy band to do their evening bit - punters happily dispersed into the night (or rather, into the navy club bar rather than music room!) - and then time to set off! Joachim's car again giving a few hiccups to being with but then settling down.

What a long drive it is on your own! 335 miles, 70mph all the way, 58mpg average, 4 abba albums played in their entirety (amongst other things!), home at 1.45am, time to stealthily creep into bed and get some well deserved zzz!!!

All in all a great way to spend a few days. Roll on the next little trip!

JOL - Saturday - The Gregson, Lancaster - Monday, 6 February 2006

After a surprisingly good night's sleep, I woke up and came downstairs to find John already tearing down the gear, Joachim and Roger not far behind me. So we got loaded up and decided to head straight to Lancaster, since it's only 40 or so miles up the road. The fantastic, utterly amazing Volvo only hiccuping now and again fortunately - and we arrived at the Greave Hotel about 1pm. And what a nice hotel it was! Comfy beds, nice bath and shower, *heating* (what a luxury!) - it really was very pleasant. Hunger was overpowering us all though, having had no breakfast yet, so we wandered down into town and found a rather nice lunch at The Greave Park restaurant. It was rather like a Beefeater type thing but set in a really nice old stone building and perched on the side of the hill with plenty of grass and trees all round. Very enjoyable and inspiring enough to appeal to our cultured edge, so we shared a bottle of rather tasty Merlot between us. Bingo. Good food, good chat, all good! A slow wander back to the hotel (I should at this point mention that Lancaster town centre, rather dissapointingly, was the only place on our trip to offer anything above a very average LOF) where a few more hours shut-eye were indulged in.

BRRR BRRRR alarm bells ringing - time to get up and head over to the venue. Convoy established, Nelly programmed, less than a mile to go, and there we are. The Gregson is rather a nice little Arts Centre type thing - despite my initial misgivings about the acoustics of the room it actually turned out to be great. I had a good feeling about this gig already - it's safe to say we all did. The initial rustiness (having not gigged much in January) had worn off, I had put a new set of strings on the 336, put the action up a smidge and raised the tailpiece too (in an effort to reduce string tension slightly) - the tone gods had ARRIVED and the axe felt great. Truly this was an excellent gig. Everyone was in a good mood and ready to play, and really attack their instruments - it was fun! It was also the first night the Gregson has tried their hand at live Blues, so the crowd wasn't quite as thick as one would hope (40 or so people I think) - but still the crowd that *were* there made all the right noises, and as far as the venue goes I think they will certainly be back for more. Suffice to say I'm already looking forward to coming back in the future. I should especially mention Roger's bass solo in Who's Been Talking that was sublimely poetic - a really beautiful thing to hear. Great stuff!

Post gig I chatted with a very nice keyboard player bloke called Bill about gear and nonsense, before tearing down the gear (again special mention should go to the staff at the Gregson who were all top geezers for helping us load the gear out at the end of the night) and heading back to the hotel. Another whiskey fuelled barrage of nonsense chitchat with John and it was time to visit the land of nod again, this time in complete comfort!

JOL - Friday - The Duke of Edinburgh, Barrow - Monday, 6 February 2006

So Friday morning rolls around, and I'm woken at 11am by my mobile phone, and a new RAC driver coming to look at the car to try and get it going. This guy was great! Got it started in about 15 seconds and then (result) confirming my initial diagnosis that it was something to do with the fuel pump relay. Who's the daddy!?!?!?! Yes, I must confess I was feeling quite rockingly mechanic-ular at this point. So with the local Volvo dealer discovered courtesy of the internet, we drive over to Ryebrook Volvo on the other side of Chester. Helpful guys but no luck, no relay in stock - but apparently they have 3 in stock at Warrington Volvo - 20 miles up the road! (result number two!) - so we set up our mighty convoy and trucked up to Warrington to seek the holy grail of fuel pump relays. Nelly did great and we got the part, drove up to the workshop to get some help off a friendly mechanic to find it - only to find that Joachim's car is non standard! Some scheister has done a "quick fix fer noo" on his ECU which has clearly involved changing the relay circuitry for non-standard parts. Bollocks. So 60 quid wasted on a new relay that won't fit. Doh! But, the car had been behaving itself (ish) all day so far, so we decided to chance it, grab some lunch at a nearby Tesco, and drive up to Barrow for the evening's gig.

The gig was quite hard work really, but still good fun. Joachim being a bit sore about his car, and unhappy about the rooms and stuff (we should have bought some electric heaters because there is no heating in the Duke of Edinburgh - the rooms are COLD!!!!) - myself being a bit tired after the long drive and late night the night before - although it was a fun gig (it's always a great crowd there) it still felt like it was just dragging out a bit. The second set seemed to go on forever - although on the plus side I was lucky enough to break a string on my 336 on the second to last number! Marvellous! The tone gods were still absent from the tour so far, I was beginning to regret packing the car so full! Maybe they just didn't have room to tag along for the ride? Plus I was still having problems with the reverb cutting in and out (although I have narrowed it down to just being the cable to the reverb tank, I think it needs some TLC). So, on a 1 to 10 scale I'd give the show about a 6 or 7.

Post gig, a quick beer and call to the Lunachick darn sarf, and I was snuggling down in my rather damp and cold duvet, then falling asleep before you could say jimmeny jackrabbit!

JOL - Thursday - Alexander's, Chester - Monday, 6 February 2006

Diary catchup time! 4 days-worth of gigs and entertainment to get down... still with a rather tired fogged up brain working on overdrive to remember details! Let's begin:

And so, Thursday morning I set off for the solitary drive up to Chester (the Lunachick unfortunately unable to join us for this jaunt!) - a full to the brim Cecil the Skoda, laden with PA, Super Reverb, 335 & 336 combination pack, Saab amp for John, the works! Hills were going to be a struggle! Anyhow, with the joys of my new-second-hand-courtesy-of-Caesar MP3 cd player, I had one wonderful disc to get me all the way there. Running the whole gamut from Abba to AC-DC, Jacqueline du Pre to Jack Pearson, Bob Berg to Buzzy Feinten - it was an awesome journey! And it seemed to last about 10 minutes! Miraculously there were no accidents on the M6 at all - first time *ever* for me - and so with cruise control at 56 mph I sat all the way from the M4 to Chester without touching the pedals once! Result! And, more's the better, averaged 74.8mpg for the journey! Once again I will (over)use the word *AWESOME*!!! On arrival in Chester I hooked up with Roger Inniss and we made our way to the Hotel. No sooner had I switched Neighbours on (as an aside - what an anticlimax the whole "walking into his own funeral" storyline was!!!! No shreiks or gasps or anything!!! It was completely flat! I was most dissapointed) that John and Joachim arrived too, having travelled up at lightspeed in "zee best car in the world" ie his Volvo 240. Bingo! Some witty banter and earthy hilarity later and we headed over to the venue to get set up and grab a (very tasty) bite to eat.

We've played Alexander's several times before, and to be honest this gig was pretty much standard fayre. Being even more honest I wasn't terribly happy with my playing - my fingers felt rusty, I couldn't get a tone I was happy with, the reverb kept cutting out on the Super, the strings on the 336 felt like they were covered with glue - it just wasn't really happening. That said, the audience were great (not huge in number but a little better than last time) and made for a really nice atmosphere. Top fun!

As soon as we stopped playing, there wasn't much time to fanny about and we tore down the gear in record time - loaded up, and then...

...and then, "the best car in the world" refused to start. Bollocks. Or rather, it would start, but only idle for 2-3 seconds before conking out. It was obviously getting fuel so my initial diagnosis was that it's something to do with the fuel pump relay switch - the pump itself was obviously working ok since the engine fired, but something was wrong with the controller or switching. One hasty call to the RAC later and a helpful-ish lad turned up with a recovery truck about an hour later. Bollocks pt2 - no attempt to fix the problem (I think he was only equipped with a spanner and jump leads!) - instead he eventually (it was 4am at this point!) got the swedish beast loaded up onto the back of his lorry and towed to the hotel...

A nice whiskey in my tea and some more witty banter with John and it was time for bed... Zzzzzz

Oh and I forgot to say... - Monday, 30 January 2006

...wait until you hear Marc's solo in Still. It's mind numbingly brilliant - runs the whole gamut from clean bebop jazz licks to hendrixy overbend screaming craziness, all in the space of about 2 minutes. Awesome!

HUBBA HUBBA! Finished in the nick of time! - Monday, 30 January 2006

Well, fuelled by the 25 minutes sleep that I had last night between 5:45 and ten past six this morning, in order to get this cd all done and off to the printers today - I can now confirm that it's finished - 57 minutes 16 seconds of pure funky joy! For any gearheads reading this - here's the guitars I used for each song:

Push It - 4:08
rhythm: 336, slide solo: jackocaster

Mercy - 5:01
336 throughout

Long Time Coming - 4:53
rhythm: 336, slide solo: jackocaster

Same Train Home - 3:45
336 throughout

Good To Be Free - 4:31
336 throughout

Still - 7:32
336 throughout - comedy Crafter acoustic for intro

Northside - 6:58
rhythm and slide solo 336

Free and Easy - 3:11
rhythm 335, slide 336

Cherry Picking - 5:40
rhythm and solo 336

Dreamtime - 6:25
rhythm arpeggios: 335, slide solo: jackocaster, slide harmony at end: 336, comedy Crafter acoustic in the background

Sugar - 5:07
rhythm and feedback part: 336, harmony solo: jackocaster

Marc used his Les Paul throughout, except for the clean solo parts in Still which he used his Ibanez for! I'm dead chuffed with the cd as a whole - it sounds great! All the more so given the resources we had at our disposal to make it (ie one rehearsal room, my awesome Roland VS-2480, and a load of vanilla mic's 57s and 58s). Bingo, as you might say! Look for some mp3 snippets and the cover art etc on the funkydory website over the next few days!

where are they now? - Tuesday, 17 January 2006

Here's something random. I was bored and, with no corby trouserpress to dismantle, thought I'd list all the members of all the bands I've ever been an official member off, since I was about 15. Didn't realise there'd be so many!!!

southern cross - my first band at school!
dan wheatley - bass - now playing with Kidney Riddler
berkeley edwards - keys/vocals - currently studying Music Law (I think!)
chris bartlett - drums - I have no idea where chris is these days!
bruce mackinnon - occasionally guitars - nor any idea where bruce is although I saw him fleeting on tv in "the office" which was funny
mike pearce - occasionally keys - now playing with Kidney Riddler
andy staples - vox - no idea, I think he's living up in the cambridge area?
limousine - cooking functiony type soul band during my short and ill-fated university period
jamie minoprio - vocals - the last I head he is writing comedies for the bbc!
berkeley edwards - keys/vocals - see above
ian paterson - bass - now playing with keiretsu
robin peel - drums - no idea!
james firmin - sax - now playing with keiretsu
tom sapsford - trumpet - if I recall tom's studying to become a doctor!

rough justice - heavy rock, far too loud! my first pub rock band! still going strong!
tim "caesar" o'sullivan - guitars - fellow 219SR resident and now playing in morockan soul as well as RJ
paul "hog" summerton - vocals - still rocking!
keith "pogo" tice - bass - last heard of playing in a band called The Passion with Leon "How Clean Is Your House".
william "weasel" land - drums - still wheeling and dealing in the hanworth area...

landslide - my first and only attempt at fronting a band...
tim "caesar" o'sullivan - guitars - see above!
mike pearce - keys - see above
nick townsend - bass - now an accountant!
dion walters - drums - now playing in morockan soul and the guilty party

freak-1-c - first originals band I was ever in! still host a fortnightly jam in West Drayton
tim o'sullivan - guitars - see above
ian husbands - vox - still in the band
ian mauracio - bass - still in the band
bertie - drums - was fired and replace by pumperloaf who is the drummer in funkydory!
steph lamoureaux - vox - now plays in red rocket

the guilty party - function band, not bad but I didn't enjoy playing nothing but covers a whole lot!
barry browning - vocals - still in the band
ian freedman - keys - still in the band
richard kirschner - bass - still in the band
dion walters - drums - still in the band
tim "caesar" o'sullivan - guitars- kfc'd, see above
otto zaletnik - sax - RIP!
martin todd - sax - left, I think he plays in a band called the Chain Gang now!
mark ? trumpet - not sure what he's up to thesedays!
warren ringham - trumpet - still in the band (I think!) but he does his own thing too - "The London Showband"
will? - trombone - still in the band (I think!)

collette wilkinson band - good singer, we only did a handful of gigs...
collette wilkinson - vox - now fronting a band called Malarkey
sam kelly - drums - doing all sorts of stuff! sam-kelly.com
marion dalton - bass - no idea what she's up to these days
nick townsend - bass - see above
winston delandro - guitars - plays with everyone, notably Andy Cortes thesedays
john ? - keys - no idea although I bumped into him about 6 months ago up in London somewhere I think - terrible memory I've got!
mike pearce - keys - see above!

roadhouse - first really busy band I've been in
gary boner - guitar/vox - still in the band
anne campbell - vox - left, now studying alternative medicines
mandy graham - vox - left, had a sprog, has sort of rejoined now
lorna reilly - vox - the lunachick!
billi shaw - vox - left, got signed to Halo, released an album under the pseudonym Rayne, not sure what she's up to now!
roger hunt - drums - still in the band
bill hobley - bass - still in the band

the john o'leary band - fun blues band, I'm still a part of
john o'leary - vox/harmonica - still in the band
joachim greve - drums - still in the band
dominique vantomme - keys - lives in belgium, still does the very occasional gig with us
dave hadley - bass - played with Saiichi for a while, is now producing and stuff although I'm not sure who
malcolm bruce - keys - not sure what he's up to these days!
sylvio galasso - bass - has his own site at purebass.com - seems to have changed his name to Ray Silva!
dave clarke - bass - plays all over the place, usually with Station House alongside Sam Kelly (see above)
roger inniss - bass - still in the band
nick townsend - bass - see above!
marc le guerrannic - guitars - now funkydory
tim o'sullivan - guitars - see above!

phew!!! and now there's funkydory, of course...

holiday stuff - Friday, 13 January 2006

Remember how I said I was going to be teaching Lorna how to ski?!?!?

Click here!!!

funkydory - New Crawdaddy Club, Billericay - Friday, 13 January 2006

And lo I doth verily declare unto thee that last night was the first gig of 2006, and what a corker it was! Despite an absolute royal copper bee-hatch of a drive over there (M25 chocka all the way from the M4 to the M10 - ouch) we all made it there in time, just! Overall this was just a really top night - plenty of people there (really nice to see Steph, Mel and Mark too - hadn't seen them for ages!) - an into it crowd that bought all our cds, and a decent sound on stage (after a few initial feedback niggles were sorted...). Everything you could ask for really. The tone gods weren't really there though, I'm really struggling to get any really punch out of the Super - it's set to break up quite early which is great for recording but in a live situation it doesn't quite fly above Hayden's drumkit like I'd prefer. And so - off to gtek with it today for a once over! Bingo. Last night was also Lillian's first official gig on bass with us - he played his socks off and a really serious groove going with Hayden. Lorna was on top form vocally too - it was ace to blow the cobwebs away after a month off gigging. So... next weekend we start recording and re-recording for our new CD - bring it on!!

holidays! - Sunday, 8 January 2006

No journal for a while, I've been on holiday (innit!) - teaching Lorna how to ski (video clips forthcoming... watch out Jeremy Beadle) - sorting gigs out, writing songs, all sorts! Have a look at the funkydory website - we were on the radio last night in California! In fact, not just funkydory but they played some tracks by Roadhouse and the John O'Leary band too... I got all big headed there for a bit! A fun listen, mp3 clips are already there and online now. Bingo! And now, time to head out to the Red Lion jam session, haven't been for ages, before going to welcome Mama F back from her travels. Marvellous. And tomorrow Andy Cortes is playing at the Bulls Head in Barnes - marvellous squared!

Roadhouse @ The Bulls Head, Barnes - Tuesday, 20 December 2005

Last night the lunachick, myself and Mama F all went to Gary's Christmas do at the Bulls Head in Barnes. What an entertaining evening - although in unfortunate circumstances. Due to a family emergency, Bill had to set off home as soon as his gear was set up, leaving myself and Drew to cover the low frequencies all night! As it turns out, I rather enjoyed playing the bass, you don't have to be tasteful at all, and it sounds great! I just gave it a load of welly and dug in. Top fun. Also there was Saiichi, who did a few Cream songs with a new sideline project tribute band type thing. It sounded great - he's found a spot on rhythm section for the Cream stuff, they were really playing great! Danny PHM was also there, and played a cool set with Geronimo, also Pete Sargeant, Pete Bedford, Mandie G, it was a fun night in the end. I partook of a taxi de Luna service which means my head is a little on the weary side this morning, so if I missed any details out, sorry about that! A fun night, and better than watching eastenders. Especially since I can now catch up on the BBC website anyway!

Roadhouse - East Harling Social Club - Monday, 12 December 2005

Saturday night's gig was a medium-distance jaunt up to The East Harling Social Club, quite close to the Banham Barrel up near Norwich. Since it's Monday and early this'll be a brief gig report! Quite a fun gig really, remembering songs that in 2 months had been sort of flushed from immediate memory - both myself and the lunachick stricken with cough splutter cough rather horrible colds at the moment - tone gods beaming with pride (I ran the Saab amp into the front end of the Super - it sounded divine!) - a small but enthusiastic crowd of punters - all in all a fun night. Rather a tiring drive home, got there in the end. Bonza! Roll on 2006...

Papa George @ The Red Lion, High Wycombe - Thursday, 8 December 2005

Continuing December's theme of going to see other people's gigs, on Tuesday night myself and the lunachick hopped down to High Wycombe to see Papa George playing The Red Lion. What a fantastic gig! He had Pete Rees on bass, and Sam Kelly on drums. A full and funky sound all round really, good songs well played and with a lot of enthusiasm. Nice to see Jon E and the boys again, and also Gaz rocking his socks off too! I happened to still have my gear in the car following a rehearsal of sorts and, feeling rather cheeky, asked George if I could sit in for a song or two. In the end it was three, and what fun they were! I Wish (in A!), Dangerous Mood (sans intro - funny chord changes) and a totally cool version of Oh Well (I really must learn how that riff actually *goes*) - what fun indeed and what nice people there are at that pub to hang out with of an evening. Cool.

funkydory/JOL - Pump House, Watford - Monday, 5 December 2005

Saturday night's gig was a kind of double headed hydra shebang with The John O'Leary Band and funkydory. As it goes, both Joachim and Roger were otherwise indisposed on the continent, and fox was also away at another gig. So we made good use of an available Ian on bass for funkydory (my old mate from freak-1-C), and for the JOL set Marc played bass (very well I must say!) and Pumperloaf stayed behind the kit. What an entertaining evening it was all round! A nice room (if a little Pheonix-nightsy with the crimbo decorations up already!) with good acoustics, an attentive and energetic audience - it was a fun gig. I wasn't sure how busy it would be but in the end it was pretty healthy, with quite a few cds sold too. Ace! Mama F and Phil had another SLR showdown, resulting in some very cool photos to add to the collection (which will be up on the site soon - maybe even tonight).

It was also the first gig I've done with my new amp, a 1968 Super Reverb that I bought from Matt Schofield the other week. It sounded great! The 335 especially really cooked through it. So, one happy Julio. And a happy everyone else by the sounds of it too! The lunachick was in fine voice and fine headbanging form, Marc was rocking nicely, Pumperloaf hitting on all cylinders, and Lillian fitted in perfectly.

Gig score? 8.6/10 +- 6%

Station House @ The Red Lion, High Wycombe - Wednesday, 30 November 2005

Once again we had a quasi-funkydory night out last night, this time to see Sam Kelly's Station House playing at The Red Lion. What a fantastic night out! Once the lunachick and I had picked the happy frenchman up from Chateaux Le Guerrannic, we hoofed it up to the M40 and into High Wycombe just in time to be greeted by the Pumperloaf and then to grab a (far too large) pizza at the conveniently located Pizza Hut just over the road from the Red Lion. I really did eat far too much and 12 hours later I still feel stuffed! Bonza. On with the gig - excellent. 2 good gigs in 4 days! The line up was the usual Station House affair, Sam Kelly, TJ and Winston on guitars, Root Jackson on (unique!) vocals - this time also they had Paul Jobson on keys (who was pukka even though his amp was tucked round the corner from us, which killed the mix somewhat) and Michael Bailey on bass. This was the first time I'd seen him play with them, I'd only ever seen him up in Kilburn at Joachim's sunday thing before. He did an outstanding job though - the whole band is amazing. An interesting comparison with Matt's band from Saturday - both gigs were absolutely superb, but while Matt's band certainly has the stronger emphasis on musicianship, Station House places the emphasis more on groove and atmosphere than melody. The vibe created is really something to witness... or just close your eyes, sit back and enjoy. A top night altogether, lots of fun all round... and a nice reminder of those nights back in 99/2000 (seems like yesterday but it's 6 yrs ago now!) that we used to head up to the Crown in Cricklewood Broadway. Such fun!

Matt Schofield @ Beards in Tooting - Monday, 28 November 2005

So, on Saturday night, myself, the lunachick, french marc and pumperloaf all went over to Beards to see the Matt Schofield trio. It's fair to say we all had our collective backsides wupped! I was also there in a review-ular capacity. This was my review, submitted to Blues Matters!

Matt Schofield Trio – 26th November 2005 – Beards Blues, Tooting

Set 1: Djam / On The Way / Big Legged Woman / Nobody Home / Uncle Jr
Set 2: Cissy Strut / Sitting On Top Of The World / Black Cat Bone / Travelling South / It’s Your Thing
Encore: Same Old Blues / Loving Cup

I may as well get straight to the point. Let me begin this review by stating that, quite simply, this trio are the most compelling mixture of poise, technique and ability currently on offer on the UK blues scene. With a recent feature in Guitarist magazine, Matt himself is gaining popularity and exposure that are entirely deserved, and has just come to the end of the first round of gigs promoting his new album – “Siftin’ Thru Ashes”. Where its forerunners were a pair of live albums, this is the trio’s first studio release, and shows more emphasis on original material than covers. Perhaps I would have liked to have heard a few more songs from the album featured at the show – but that’s a really small niggle!

As it goes the first two songs of the night were originals from the new album - kicking off with the angular instrumental Djam, and following up with On The Way (a medium tempo shuffle). Both songs featured solos from Johnny Henderson on Hammond first and then Matt – a format that was to be repeated in most of the material; perhaps for the best as despite Johnny’s excellent soloing, it was during Matt’s that the group dynamic seemed to shift up a notch, being met with rapturous applause from all corners of the room. Each of his solos would be hard if not impossible to follow! I haven’t mentioned Evan Jenkins yet – right off the bat he serves up a groove ten miles wide for the two soloists to bounce off – surely there can’t be many drummers on our scene with such control over their snare? Also evident, primarily from Evan but spreading to the other two, is the amount of fun they have on stage together. Clearly these three individuals have found the perfect outlet for their musical inclinations – although staying inside a pretty well defined style from tune to tune, the style is definitely their own, and above all – it works.

It would be hard to pick out individual highlights from either set; my hastily scribbled notes are littered with superlatives and exclamation marks. I will try, however – their reading of Black Cat Bone (revolving around a pleasingly “Shakey Ground”-esque riff) featured a particularly outstanding guitar solo. Matt’s influences are plain to see, all the best bits of Albert Collins stirred in with a healthy dose of Robben Ford – but the result is an instantly identifiable mix that is all his own. The ideas come thick and fast, and if the mastery of one’s instrument comes from how the ideas are strung together, then Matt surely is a master. During the subsequent shuffle (the aforementioned Collins’ “Travelling South”) his brand new amp went down, bemused smiles all round as a replacement Fender (fortuitously brought along so I could try it out!) was brought on stage and powered up – as Matt’s solo resumed more proof was presented, if needed, that good tone really is “all in the fingers”. Meanwhile Johnny and Evan filled in admirably – my notes drawing attention to just how fat the sound was for those few minutes, just the two of them pushing out a beefy pulse with all frequencies catered for.

After an inspired version of It’s Your Thing, translated into a more minor instrumental orientated feel than the original, we were left hollering for more – our shouts rewarded with two encores, the last song of the night being a strong take on the Robben Ford standard, Loving Cup. It was a treat to hear the song being played by someone with so much clear respect for the original, but fearless confidence to take it in his own direction.

Ultimately, that sentiment would work well as a description for the trio as an ensemble unit. Their respect is so clear for the blues, jazz, and funk leanings that underpin every song in their set – but still the eagerness to play “outside the box”, to hell with the pentatonic, leads me to opine that there are few (if any) other outfits on the circuit that would be as exciting to watch or as exciting to listen to. In the interest of giving a well rounded review, I’ve had to think long and hard to find any potential criticism – really the only I can think of is in the proportion of 12-bar stock blues progressions in the set (7 songs of 12). That said, their repertoire is expanding – at the risk of diluting their appeal to the blues purists, I like to dream that with time, as originals outnumber covers, the chord structures of their own songs will begin to reflect the inventiveness of their collective melodic imagination.

To sum up - I personally very much enjoy seeing open minded musicians really going for it of an evening – this gig gave me that luxury in spades. Truly awe-inspiring.

Jules Fothergill – 27nov05

funkydory - Dusty's, Holmer Green - Thursday, 24 November 2005

Last night's celebratory gig was a return visit to Dusty's up near High Wycombe - what a fun night! Being both the lunachicks birthday and also Dusty the proprietor's too, everything was in place for it to be a splendid evening, and a splendid evening it was too! Lots of friends in attendance, fun playing (excusing the struggle with an incredibly sore wrist I was having - courtesy of a day of too much typing, not warming up properly, cold weather, and a glass of red wine before playing... magnesium overload tendonitis inflamed muscles ouch ouch ouch) - tone gods "sort of" in attendance (rather like chinese dolls) - and a good set all round. Fun to play Mission Impossible again, it's been ages since we've played that - plus a cooking Free and Easy to encore. Bonza, job done, a rocking night done and dusted, leaving time to convoy home and enjoy some Wild Bean Cafe based 1am entertainment. Yawn!

JOL - The Green Man, Barnet - Monday, 14 November 2005

And so, Chinese takeout devoured, a knackered lunachick bubbyhutched on the sofa, and off I set for Barnet. What a disastrous journey! Strike one, takout induced jippy tummy/stomach ache within about half an hour of setting up; Strike two, such terrible traffic! The M25 was absolutely chocka from the minute I got on it from the M3 all the way around to Barnet - it took me close to 2 hours to get to the gig, by which time I really was feeling pretty rotten! Ho hum. One of those nights really! After such an awesome pair of gigs on Saturday night and then that afternoon, this gig was really going to have to be something to keep up, and to be honest it didn't really put up much of a fight. It was really nice to see Gaz there and a few others of the Barnet regulars - but really the audience (who weren't especially great in number) were really rather muted. A funny atmosphere that made the gig really quite hard work for all concerned. Roger Inniss as usual on great form, Joachim playing very well (although with him being round the corner a bit and struggling to hear my amp we didn't really lock in terribly well - the acoustics of the Green Man just don't lend themselves to group improvisation to be honest!) - JOL played through my Saab amp and I thought he got a really nice Harmonica sound too. Also kudos and thanks are due to Roger Bentley for stepping in at the last minute to do the sound, for some reason there was no sound guy present at the venue - no idea who's omission that was!?! We were struggling a bit with feedback through the wedges but given a bit more time and less concrete innards I would've been able to "sort something out" but on this occasion it was not to be.

Not a "bad" gig really, but just rather hard work and it felt a little like we were going through the motions. Perhaps it's because the set is getting stale; maybe the acoustics didn't help; maybe I was just tired/felt rubbish/gigged out; maybe the audience just weren't the noisiest and vocal of types; maybe it was God's punishment for me not changing the shirt into which I'd sweated so profusely earlier - who knows? Any number of reasons. Either way on my own sliding scale of random measures I would give this gig about a 5.5/10 rating for personal fun factor. Oh and before I forget, this also marked a first for me of breaking 2 strings in the same solo! Early In The Morning - popped both the D and G strings! Any guitarists reading this - think about that - all it leaves you is the top 2 and the bottom 2 strings! What a challenge it was to finish that solo!

Anyway, a mad bog-dash combined with strict 10.30pm curfew induced lack of encore meant we were packed up really quite early, and what felt like a shortish set was soon consigned to the memory banks. Windows defrosted, I settled down into Cecil's comfy and warm seats, turned on Classic FM's "smooth hour" or whatever it was - which proved to be exactly what the doctor ordered to be honest - stuck the cruise on at 56mph and drove home, grinning wildly (and to be honest quite disproportionately) at getting 74.8mpg average for the entire day's motoring. Bonza!

funkydory - The Farnham Maltings Festival - Monday, 14 November 2005

And so, Sunday morning 9am, after an indecently short amount of sleep, it was time to get up and start "sorting things out" for the day. Although I was looking forward to the gig, I didn't have huge hopes that it would add up to much to be honest - mainly after our Billericay gig a few weeks ago where we played to about 10 people at the start of the fest - I had thought that perhaps for a new band, getting the opening slot at a festival, that's your lot! How wrong could I be!

Having waved tara to Alan Harvey, who we left pondering the meaning of Macdonalds Breakfasts, we all arrived at pretty much the same time to find "the load in from hell". Carrying heavy equipment from the car park to the stage is never fun - wheeze cough splutter sit-down-for-breath - but once accomplished we found a nice drum riser upstairs, plenty of room for Pumperloaf to stretch out on, and a nice live acoustic sounding room. We wouldn't have to play very loud that's for sure! It was round about this point that I noticed how close the monitors and PA speakers seemed to be to the drum riser - er... hang on... that's not just a drum riser is it? No - it was the stage! Well, with the kit set up, volume levels checked and approved, and some kind of "offstage amp" arrangement engaged, some minor faffing later and on with the gig.

When we left the room and they opened the doors, obviously it was empty; walking back in I was pleasantly surprised to see a really quite healthy crowd forming - this will be fun! Top marks to Monica and her punters for getting there early - a decent, attentive, appreciative, happy to boogie along to our stuff, smiley audience - absolutely perfect. Again I thought the band played great - Marc and I had a really good fun guitar-off during PIWYWI - I'm pleased to have started playing my jackocaster again, there's more of a tonal contrast between my sound and Marc's now, his more overdriven (tubescreamer) mine a bit thicker and gooey (timtone) - the whole thing is coming together nicely. Lorna pulled an absolute blinder out of the bag (bearing in mind when she woke up she sounded like Kathleen Turner with a cold!) and rocked it up a storm, Pumperloaf and Fox too really pushed it along. Tip top!

I can't say enough how pleased we were with the audience reaction - being a blues festival I'm still a little wary at times of how we will be received - but any worries I had were really not necessary. The highlight was of course Stormy which got a huge cheer - a nice touch by the lunachick of putting that one in the middle of the set, a quick reminder if needed that although we rock and funk it up big time, the pure blues is still there percolating around like a nice little undercurrent. It's there if you look for it, in all of our songs. Opening the afternoon as we did actually worked out very well for us - a packed room of people, not too tired from a whole day of music, not too skint from spunking their money on cds yet, not too drunk from boozing all afternoon - a really great audience. Anyway, by far the biggest surprise of the gig goes to my mum for putting in a surprise appearance despite only flying back from India on Saturday night - totally unexpected and very cool, welcome home! Evidently the live music scene in India needs a little to be desired!

Once our set was over, the stage was literally mobbed - the queue to buy CDs far outstripped supply (my fault entirely for only bringing 20 - I honestly thought it would be another 1 man and his dog type audience!) and I gave out a load of flyers and things! Great fun, a great start to the festival and no better way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Eastenders omnibus, F1 Grand Prix - shove it!

Unfortunately due to last night's gig with JOL over in Barnet (more of that in a moment!) I couldn't stay until the end, but with an audience like that and a line up like the one Monica had in place (lots of "new blood" - I really thought she'd put together a rocking lineup for the day) it couldn't fail to be a success. I would've liked to stick around to see Nicky Moore, Trafficker, and of course the mighty Station House, but it was not to be. A drive home, brief powerkip, chinese takeout, and then on to Barnet...

To be continued...

funkydory - The Red Lion, High Wycombe - Monday, 14 November 2005

Saturday night was a second-time-in-a-week shebang at The Red Lion in High Wycombe. I must say, this trumped even tuesday's gig for me. A very healthy crowd (check), a bunch of CDs sold (check), some new friends made (check), pretty good LOF (check), everyone played great (check), the lunachick in fine voice (check), tone gods all present and correct (check) - yes all boxes ticked and it made for a superb night. Nice to see "the strawhead posse" in attendance, as well as Photographer Richard and clan, Alan Harvey on top form, plus Jon E. and the guys as well!A great atmosphere and top night - as I write this 4 days later there aren't any particular highlights material-wise - the whole thing was just great. Time we put a different instrumental back in tho - we've played Put it where you want it for about the last 5 gigs in a row - time to get Jessica or Mission Impossible back in, we've not done them for ages!

Post gig, some fun banter with Helen the friendly landlady and her staff, before heading back to Chateaux 219SR where we were also putting up Dr Harvey for the night - sorted! Goodnight Jim-Bob - Goodnight Mary-Lou!

funkydory - Jam Night, Grove Tavern - Friday, 11 November 2005

Wednesday night's jaunt was a merry little trippe to yonder olde southe wimbledone for our fortnightly Jam Night. It must be said, it was really a disproportionately entertaining evening. A complete cacophony in places, nice harmony in others - as I opined mid song to Dave Dix it would best be described as the sort of jam that makes me listen to Classic FM on the way home again. A bit low on attendance really but c'est la vie. It must be said, in comparison to The Woodman it's easy to see why The Grove Tavern has traditionally not been the best attended of jams (harking back to the days when I first started jamming and used to go and see Robin Bibi's jam there) - it's just a bit dark and uncomfortable, with pretty poor acoustics. Although I enjoy the theory of hosting a jam night, and it's a good way of meeting new punters and turning them on to your music, at the end of the day you still need to have a pub that has the sort of clientele that are likely to be interested in the music. I'm not 100% convinced the GT is really the pub for us to do this in (although am open to suggestions!). So, the evening was really a good provider of food for thought... watch this space.

John O'Leary - The Red Lion, High Wycombe - Wednesday, 9 November 2005

Last night saw the first of my double helping of Red Lion based gigs for this week (the second being of course Saturday's funkydory outing) - and what a fun night it was indeed! Perhaps a little quiet on the attendance front (our cause of course not helped by crappy traffic in the entire South East, courtesy of the M3 closure, and also not exactly helped by the "pissing down" nature of the weather last night) but nevertheless a fun gig. I wasn't especially happy with my playing however, tone gods nowhere to be seen and tired fingers refusing to cash the cheques my brain was sending it (to quote top gun), neither 335 or Jackocaster really kicking it, but any lacklustreness playing or soundwise was really made-up-for by the small but well formed crowd who were really up for it. Nice to see Gaz, and Jon and the fellas too - thank goodness for friendly faces! Post gig it was a very swift tear down of the PA before driving back to Clapham to drop a car-less JOL off at his house, and then heading home to just go to sleep and stay out of trouble indeed. A far more enjoyable night than staying in watching tv!

funkydory - The Waterman's Arms, Hersham - Sunday, 6 November 2005

Last night's firework storm in a teacup was the first outing for funkydory at The Waterman's Arms in Hersham. Some of you guys may recall I depped a comedically mal-attended jam night for Tommy Allen there a few months ago. Well, the friendly landlord was interested in funkydory and so we made a booking - funnily enough for the 5th November. Had the full implications of bonfire night weighed a little more strongly on my imagination I would have realised that this meant most people would have things to do and wouldn't be up for trying a new venue. Ho hum! And so with not terrible high hopes myself and the lunachick drove over at 7 and started setting up the gear, to a more or less deserted pub! Crikey. 8.45pm rolled around and by this time emergency measures needed to be taken - in this case an SOS-SMS to everyone in my mobile - sure enough, a bunch of folks clearly were bored where they were, and a small but perfectly formed crowd began to amass. When all was said and done, this really was a decent gig - if I hadn't run out of CDs we'd have sold more than the 2 that went (my fault - silly!) - and with the added benefit of 4 gigs in the row, we played a very tight pair of sets, including a rather fun Statesboro'-esque take on Help Me (dedicated to the one and only PPSMC) and a really kicking Still in the first set too. Everyone on top form and a good time had by all.

Post gig - a swift tear down of the gear (by everyone I might add! bonza!) and it was back to 219SR for debrief and cocktails. Final score - 8.64/10 - good gig really!

JOL - Tawe Delta Blues Club, Swansea - Friday, 4 November 2005

Tuesday night's gig was a real corker down in Wales. Having gone to see my granny and twin aunts on Monday night I had a very pleasant drive through the hills indeed, very scenic! Having seen the sun set over the hills I pulled into Swansea just as it was getting dark, and beginning to rain. Ho hum thinks I, perhaps this bodes for a bit of a mal-attended washout! But no - in the end the gig really was fantastic. Tone gods grinning from ear to ear, a polite and hugely attentive audience, a big fat dollop of pukka rhythm section action courtesy of Roger Inniss and Joachim, it really was a fantastic gig. Now if only John will start doing some original stuff in the set, then he'll really be onto something. It's in danger of getting stale and although it's still great fun to play with a rhythm section of the calibre of Joachim and Roger, there's only so long that quality of musicianship will sustain an act - he really needs to play some *songs*... then the act really will be world class.

All in all, great fun, and a top night. A monstrously sleepy drive home before I eventually crawled into bed just before 5am.

yaaaaaawwwwwnnnnn!

funkydory UK mini-tour! - Friday, 4 November 2005

Well, our little mini tour deserves something more than mere journal-ness - so I've done a quasi photographic recount of the tale - click here to have a read!

Funkydory Jam - Grove Tavern - Thursday, 3 November 2005

Last wednesday's Jam was the first stop on a rather fantastic week of gigs, that I'm only just now catching up on writing my reports for! Sadly Professor Pumperloaf was otherwise indisposed (read - driving down the M1 from Newcastle) so Marc's mate Andy happily sat in on drums with us. And what a good job he did! A very cool bluesy set kicked off the jam - since we couldn't play our own songs really we stuck to some 12 bars and just had a laugh. All good fun - the tone gods were really shining I must say, having had something of a temporary retirement the old Jackocaster sounded great again. A pretty well attended jam really as well, nice to see PPSMC in attendance, appearing as is his wont at about 10.45pm, just in time to see things drawing to a close. Bonza! Also nice to see Dave Dix and Neil guitary bloke as well who did a kicking job on my 335 too. A very cool jam indeed, a lot of fun and a great start to the weekend.

Still in love with Pandora.

My rocking weekend - Monday, 24 October 2005

More blogging here - reflecting on a very cool weekend all round. Went to see the new Wallace and Gromit film on friday - superb; had a breakthrough non-crying and non-scared-of-beards moment with my soon to be 1yr old nephew - fab; treated Cecil to new discs and pads all round - bingo; ate a delicious roast dinner courtesy of the lunachick in the company of my brother+sis-in-law+nephew while firmly ensconced in Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail - marvellous; laid down some more demo tracks with funkdory - ace (have a listen for yourself!); went to see Dave Dix and his new band play at the Grey Horse - blues par excellence and a lot of fun - mint; got everything ready for our little tour with funkydory this week - sorted!

All in all an absolutely tip top weekend!

JOL - The Running Horse, Nottingham - Monday, 17 October 2005

Saturday night's gig was a medium scale jaunt up the M1 to Nottingham, to play once again The Running Horse. Having waved Mama F + Grandad off to India for a month, the lunachick and I set off and had a very easy drive up, no traffic, complete doddle! Cecil the Skoda currently doesn't have a CD player, which limited our listening somewhat, however it did mean that while rummaging around for tapes I came across an old bootleg of Larry Carlton and Robben Ford jamming together in 1977! Young guns really going for it! A very cool tape indeed and very inspirational it was too. The journey seemed to last minutes! No sooner had we arrived and set up, chilled and chatted with the assembled, and it was showtime.

The gig was great - it's been a while since we did a set as a 4 piece, just JOL, myself, Roger Inniss and Joachim on drums - and it really did cook. I normally hate playing without another guitarist there to bounce off, but it has to be said Roger made it as easy as could be - making full use of his assortment of pedals to fill out the sound and keep it interesting. The tone gods were smiling, the crowd were clapping, the drums throbbing out with their incessant animal beat... let me have it! Lorna sat in on a couple of numbers and sounded great, the whole thing was a complete pleasure from start to finish. Marvellous!

Post gig, it was basically just time to drink and have a good venue-based debrief - Barry let us kip over as usual, leading us to wake up with foggy heads and foggier demeanours at 9.30am the next day. Just in time to pack the gear down, head to Northampton, have cruise control fitted to Cecil, and then head back to Chateaux 14BR for a joyous 70s themed birthday party for my sister-in-law. A complete riot of a weekend... brilliant!!!!

funkydory - The Globe, Brentford - Friday, 14 October 2005

Now that's what I'm talking about Ladies and Gentlemen! Last night really was a totally cooking funkydory gig at The Globe in Brentford. A top night all round - very good audience (being a mid weeker I was expecting a quiet one - wrong!), tone gods smiling (I used the jackocaster for the first time in about 3 months last night and it was really singing), the band played great, we winged a new song that we only wrote on Tuesday and it cooked - everything was utterly superlative. And to top it all off, Dave Dix came down and sat in on Lovelight, which was rocking! All things considered an utterly fantastic gig and a good reminder of why we all do it in the first place. We've been rebooked for 6 gigs there through next year, so thanks for those Charlie - looking forward to them already!

JOL - The Bullingdon, Oxford - Tuesday, 11 October 2005

It seems, dear reader, that my theory of "gigorhythms" was last night proved correct, demonstrated ably by a fantastic gig at a new venue to me, The Bullingdon in Oxford. Almost eradicating the memory of Saturday's debacle entirely, it has to be said it was the best gig I've had in a good long while. An easy and uber-economical drive up (confirming once again that Skoda Estate + Nelly really is the zenith form of gig transport...) and the whole band was set up by 8pm, in time for us all to go for a quick chinese just up the road. Exactly what the doctor ordered! Returning back to the venue we found it filling up nicely, and especially pleasing was that the average age of the punters was really not too far from my own. Awesome! And suffice to say, everyone there loved the gig - the energy from the crowd was great, the tone gods were grinning like plump cheshire cats, the music was happening, there was a good LOF (if localised!), the sound system was top notch and run by a friendly sound guy, literally everything was in order!

Post gig, tear down the gear and then all into my sprinter and back to London, on a round the houses trip taking in Chiswick (dropping off Mama F), Putney (dropping off John's mate Richard who regaled us with some very entertaining tales from his days as the Rolling Stones' manager), Hampton (dropping off French Marc) and finally getting home, waking up a poorly-but-recovering lunachick, and hitting the sack at about half three. A top night and perfect antidote to weekend of rantworthy nonsense... Marvellous!

JOL - Cardinal Wolsey, Hampton Court - appendix - Sunday, 9 October 2005

It's not often I feel sufficiently vitriolic to add something to my gig report - but a small detail I forgot about! During the set break last night a very nice chap and very good acoustic player by the name of Matt Ord (I think!) came down and played a few songs between our sets. Very good indeed they were - and then he stuck around to listen to the rest of the set. Cool enough - after we were done however, all the gear packed away and waiting to be doshed up, Matt and Marc were chatting and discussing guitars/licks etc. (as we are all wont!) - within 15 seconds of Matt retrieving his acoustic to show Marc a particular lick - along comes the landlady and one of her "minions" - "sorry, no more live music, put the guitar away" in about a menacing tone as I remember the Matron from school! A nice way to finish the gig, wouldn't you say?!?

JOL - Cardinal Wolsey, Hampton Court - Sunday, 9 October 2005

Last night's gig was a frustratingly pointless affair at The Cardinal Wolsey in Hampton Court. I should imagine this gig report will probably end up with me being barred from the pub if anyone from there ever reads it, but so be it. I'm not sure I'd mind in the slightest to be honest!

I'm sure venues have the best interests of their patrons at heart when it comes to noise restrictions... at the end of the day, they want to put on music, and if a local resident complains, the best they can do is ask a band to play quietly and to a level that will not result in complaints. However, some understanding of music and musicianship would not go amiss here. You would not expect a ballerina to dance with eggshells on her soles. You would equally not expect a drummer to play with candy floss. The best you can do is ask a band to play as quietly as they can, given their need to expend energy, or to inject some degree of passion into their playing. And yes, all you noise police out there, volume does play a part here. Anyone that thinks differently is, in my book, just plain ignorant I'm afraid. So - once you are resolved to ask a band to play as quietly as they can - there are ways to do this, and then there are *ways to do this*. Raising your voice in front of paying punters, getting angry with the band, wagging your fingers, treating the bandleader with no respect whatsoever, and then walking around the venue all night with quite possibly the grumpiest, most miserable expression on one's face, is absolutely not the way to do it. In fact, it does nothing but create an atmosphere of anger, irritation, frustration, and tension - and not only for the band. Not the best way to be creative and not the best way for either band or punters to have a good time, which is, at the end of the day, what it is all about. So, despite the best intentions of the venue's owners, I will say outright that they are barking up the wrong tree, and would be better served by putting on solely acoustic singer songwriter nights. Electric instrumentation, or even drumkits, it appears, are no longer welcome at the Cardinal Wolsey. "Fare thee well and good riddance..."

And also while I remember, this is yet another venue that despite delivering posters in a fortnight previously, none had been put up, and all knowledge of them being there was denied. Rarrrrrgggghhh!

For those of us that gig for the enjoyment of it, for the fun of making music, to seek some degree of escapism from the trials and tribulations of daily life, to forget about taxes, bills, mortgages, traffic jams - gigs like last night really make me wonder why we bother. Frustrating in the extreme, all the more so considering the last time I was there (trafficker dep) was a good night, and didn't feature tone gods trussed and handcuffed in the corner.

Fingers crossed for a good one in Oxford on Monday...

(Last PS - compare and contrast the rude and offensive attitude the band was met with last night, with the genial, understanding, and ultimately more effective approach taken by Dusty's in High Wycombe - another venue with noise restrictions in place... worlds apart...)

Rant over. I feel better for that, thanks for reading!

JOL - Dusty's, Holmer Green - Thursday, 6 October 2005

Last night was the second time I've played up at Dusty's in less than a month - and what a good gig it was! A monstrously economic drive over to the gig, Nelly providing the all seeing traffic evasion route, to find a slightly sore throated John O'Leary awaiting both the band and someone from the venue to let us in! An easy set up and nice socialising (lots of friendly faces in the audience!) and it was on with the gig. Roger Inniss was rocking as usual on bass, Joachim on top form, French Marc wailing away, John playing some very nice sounding harp through my rarely-used Saab amp - it was all good! We played Chicken to start with which was fun - I must brush up on that song as my memory for the chord changes wasn't quite spot on to begin with! Mama F was in attendance and took some very cool photos too - shortly to be added to this site and John's too... all in all a very good gig - to cap it all off, 67mpg average on the way home! Unbelievable!

Funkydory - Digital Bluesfest - Tuesday, 4 October 2005

And so, Sunday lunchtime indeed was the 2005 Digital Bluesfest over in Billericay. It is a shame this was such a malattended event really, as Ashwyn the organiser's heart is definitely in the right place. Never mind, nearly a grand was raised for charity, and we played a nice 50 minute set to kick the afternoon off. I think the 10 or so people in attendance had a very good time!!! Never mind... on with the next one!

Roadhouse - Woodman Jam - Friday, 30 September 2005

The Final Show!!!! It's official... last night's jam at the Woodman was the last gig for myself and Lorna with the guys. It was really quite an emotional night but a good laugh too... Slip Away and Sacrifice were our last too songs - and pretty cool they were too. After that, Drew and Fiona got up and did a thoroughly decent No Place To Hide (Drew playing my slide lines sans slide!) and then a new song called Last Train Home. Roadhouse old meets Roadhouse new! Good fun indeed! Later on in the night, Andy Cortes and I had a really cool 335 off. I like the way Andy's playing is developing and it was a nice nod to "yonder olden days" when a very much younger Mr Cortes and myself used to get up and jam (which is actually how I first met Gary and osmosed myself into Roadhouse!) - cool fun indeed. All in all a top night, and a good bookend to a 4 year stint in the band. What fun memories I have to take with me on to wherever I go next! Bring it all on!!!!

Funkydory - Grove Tavern Jam - Thursday, 29 September 2005

A woefully attended jam last night at the Grove Tavern unfortunately - big props to Dave Dix and Jumping John who were the only jammers! Actually the evening had something of a downward twist thanks to the football which meant we couldn't kick off the jam (pun intended) until 9.45pm - ho hum! Never mind. And on to tonight - the last Roadhouse Jam featuring the current lineup! Onward rocking soldiers, onward...

Funkydory - The Grey Horse, Kingston - Saturday, 24 September 2005

Last night's marvellous gig was another funkydory outing at The Grey Horse. Just a tip top gig from start to finish really - perhaps a bit thin on the ground punterwise, but hey, musically it was a winner. Tone gods smiling, friendly faces too - everything you could want really. Half a new song debuted as well, and a very decent debrief chez 219SR too... fantastic! Roll on the next one...

Roadhouse - The Belvedere, Billericay - Friday, 23 September 2005

Last night's jaunt was marked out by being the last official Roadhouse gig for myself and Lorna. It was a quite bittersweet emotion to be playing some of the songs and knowing that it might be the last time for some of them, however here's to new beginnings and all that! Quite fitting perhaps that we should have a funkydory gig tonight!

Anyway, the gig itself was not bad, though let down slightly by an attendance that wasn't the greatest, and a stage sound that left a lot to be desired... with a low ceiling over the stage it felt very boxy, lots of standing waves bouncing around (especially on E notes) which didn't really make for the best gig, musically. Never mind, on the plus side we did just have a terrific weekend away which makes up for it really! So, one more engagement, the jam next Thursday, and then that's it...

The end of an era!

Still in love with Pandora.

Roadhouse - The Hope Tavern, Holton Le Moor - Monday, 19 September 2005

After a pretty nervy, broken, and stressful night's sleep, 10am really was very bloody early to be getting up! Never mind, we packed our little overnight bag and began to make some headway up the A1. A brief Little Chef detour was made, and eventually we rolled up to The Hope Tavern at about 1.30, just in time to read a little more Harry Potter, have a delicious pint, and wait for the others to arrive. And, arrive they did! No suspense here, I know - sorry!

One of the delights of this place is it's free roast dinner thrown into the bargain. Ace! A complete blowout - really tasty stuff that would make a nice forerunner to an afternoon spent asleep in front of the fire! But that's not to be - because everyone get's ejected from the place at about 3pm, much shuffling and gnashing of teeth happens, and then half an hour later doors open to a rather nice and quite quaint little live venue. A small but appreciative crowd do a good job of packing the pub out (nice to see Ray and Nicky again Hello to you two!) and the show begins!

Now, the tone gods were definitely *not* in attendance for the first set - leading me to opine that last night's scary Merc hoods were clearly attempting to hijack them from the boot - or suchlike. One broken string later however, I played a few songs on Morganna - which sounded dreadful! And then set 2, the 335 came alive! Tone gods back with a vengeance, was feeling pretty inspired, some good commentary from Gaz, top singing from the girls, Rog and Bill rocking out, a very good and very high energy second set. For the last but one major Roadhouse gig before the lunachick and myself step out into the great wide open, this was a real corker. Top fun!

Post gig, pull down the gear, and set off. Top marks for the lunachick for driving the last 130 miles, I was falling asleep by the end of it! Zzzzzz! What a fun weekend. I love gigging!

And Pandora.

Roadhouse - Blues on the Boat, Peterborough - Monday, 19 September 2005

Memories stoked by Nelly's announcement that we should "continue for 77 miles" in her wonderfully unsoothing synthetic robovoice, we headed onto the windy A-roads that twist and turn across Norfolk. Destination Peterborough, where once again we were booked to play Blues on The Boat at Charters. The drive was an absolute hoot - I am currently facing the very real problem that at my stage in life, and slogging away as I do for a meagre pittance during the week, I am not really qualified to be a bona-fide Jaguar driver yet, and can't really afford it - that said, the overtaking ability given by having a 370 horsepower supercharged 4 litre V8 engine waiting to be unleashed at the flick of the throttle - it really is something awesome to experience. I will certainly miss it when I eventually find a buyer for her!

Anyhow, I digress. Prior to the gig we headed over to check in to our hotel (more about that later!) and have a quick bite to eat before resolving the evening for it's best tidings and making our way to the barge. Standard fare for Charters, it must be said - arrive and the place is packed, set up and it begins to thing slightly - although I must say that of all the times I've gigged there, this was easily the best in terms of the audience energy. Terrific, a really good crowd. The new in house PA is not really ideal (at the admittance to be fair of the engineer who installed it, his experience being more in the DJ side of things) - two huge no no's being the monitors and cabs installed behind the mic's etc. - that said, tactful Julio made an appearance and said sound engineer was an absolutely top geezer who had no problems with me twiddling with the EQ. The second set seemed much better than the first (less feedback problems) though still not quite ideal. They'll get there in the end though, I'm sure!

The tone gods had clung on for dear life to the boot of one's jaguar and crept stealthily into the boat - the 335 really upping it's game tonight. Totally awesome! All things considered an absolutely stonking gig.

Post gig we had a pretty traumatic stalker moment when we were followed from Charter's by a Merc C-class all the way back to the hotel car park - at which point, when I played the stealth card and tried to hide the jag behind a lorry, a rather surly and mean looking asian guy got out of the Merc and started wandering around the car park to find us, giving us a really dirty scowl as I switched on the engine and drove past him! Scary indeed! So we headed over to the petrol station, safe under the view of a bunch of CCTV cameras. While I filled up, the Merc guys got the message and drove off - leaving us pretty shaken and therefore relegated to a slightly nervous night of ralking to security guys, listening for break in attempts, and repeated jumps to the window at the slightest noise. It must be said, when you actually start paying attention to what goes on in car parks at night (bearing in mind, this was coming up to 3am!) you realise there are some strange folk around!!!! ZZzzzzs in the end though... and on to Sunday!

Roadhouse - The Shed, Norwich - Monday, 19 September 2005

OK, saddle up ladies and gentleman, the first of three quick fire gig reports comin' atcha!

After a refreshingly early night on Friday, Saturday morning saw the lunachick and I set off at the crack of dawn (via 14BR) up to Norwich in order to play a chilled out "semi-acoustic" set at Ryan's Shed. I say semi acoustic because I wasn't in fact playing an acoustic at all - the only difference between this gig and a usual set would really just be that Roger plays congas instead of full drumkit! Thanks to stroppy neighbours the music has to be played at a very reduced level - on the surface it's frustrating but once again this time it actually worked very well. A good audience (including a train riding Alan Harvey!) and nice pint of beer combined well with the laid back vibe to soothe the nerves that had been frayed slightly by a rather hectic drive up there. That M11 really is a bee-hatch of a motorway!

Once again I should say that the tone gods really have a whale of a time in the Shed - probably to do with the tiles on stage which contribute to a nice natural reverb. The whole gig was an expected pleasure - after which a mad tear down of gear was necessitated by a broken headlight. One short trip to Halfords later and all was in order. On with the show... time to head over to Peterborough!

Roadhouse - The Sports Bar, Gray's, Essex - Friday, 16 September 2005

A funny old gig last night over in Essex really - a totally lame M25 rush hour trip after work (more or less the exact opposite to what the doctor ordered) probably didn't set me up for a great gig, and combined with a huge amount of hunger and more weariness, it never really did have great prospects. Despite not really reaching "critical mass" it was still not a bad night really, and the largely apathetic audience did a good job of making a load of racket while chivvying us for an encore, which was a surprise. Tone gods definitely not in attendance (low ceiling, amp sitting on a padded chair etc etc etc) - trip home marked out by the lunachicks first experience of driving at night, undertaken in pouring rain on the M25 with the street lights out! Lots of fun, this driving lark... she did great tho and we got home safe and sound! Zzzzzzzzzz

Funkydory - Grove Tavern Jam Session - Friday, 16 September 2005

Wednesday night was another jam night down at the Grove Tavern in Wimbledon. Lots of fun! Lorna's turn to run it, so run it she did, not a huge amount of jammers there but everyone who was there had a good time (I think!) - nice to see Andy Cortes down there, been a while. All things considered a fun night even if I was feeling a little wearisome towards the end!

Roadhouse - Grove Tavern, South Wimbledon - Sunday, 11 September 2005

And lo verily the heavens doth open and lo behold a drenched Roadhouse!!! After a somewhat "damp" load in, last night's Grove Tavern escapades were not bad at all! There was another band playing at the other side of the room (the fd jam side!) - who were a pretty tight covers band, notable really for their vocal harmonies which were spot on (especially the drummer) - and then when they were done it was on with the show. The tone gods were definitely back, smiling, and writ large as if they had been living in a New York sewer! Marvellous. I felt like a 335 toting maniac through most of the show, it was a lot of fun. A nice guest spot by JOL was a cool mid spot - all things considered a decent gig and a much better way to spend a saturday night than watching tv (although at least one plus side to the late start is that it allowed the lunachick and myself to sit glued to the x-factor again... fantastic!).

LOF not bad. Still in love with Pandora!

Roadhouse - Prince Regent, Sutton - Friday, 9 September 2005

V quick gig report here thanks to a busy day! Not a bad night last night tho a little on the quiet side perhaps audience-wise - pretty much a standard rhse gig, nothing really out of the ordinary to report!

funkydory - Dusty's Music Club, Holmer Green - Thursday, 8 September 2005

Last night (shhhhh!) funkydory strummed very gently at Dusty's Music Club in Holmer Green, which is just outside High Wycombe. Unfortunately due to neighbourhood noise complaints, we were playing so quietly that (for the first set at least) I found it really hard to enjoy myself. Volume is I suppose one of those tricky things to deal with - I know how unpleasant high volume gigs are, but there really is a threshold below which you really have to tap into something new in order to have a good time. Playing an electric guitar, I personally get off on feeling the guitar talk back to me, it's literally like a conversation... However when the amp is set so quietly, you inevitably and subconsciously end up hitting the strings harder in an effort to be heard, which kills all the touch, fluidity and dynamics that we work so hard to acheive. On some occasions (eg the acoustic set we did with Roadhouse up in Norwich a few months ago) a whole new approach is necessary - last night we didn't really go that far, just tried to play our normal set as quietly as we could. Man of the match has to be Hayden, who thanks to Fox's ingenuity, found a whole new use for celery sticks!

The tone gods were unfortunately nowhere to be seen; actually they were probably trussed and tied up in the basement... and the whole evening had a very relaxed and chilled atmosphere, really more suited to jazz than amplified electric funky rocky blues. But, that said, in the end it was a very succesfull night, and somehow, the band pulled a good gig out of the bag. We sold many CDs, which hopefully will give those that bought them an idea of what we really sound like when given a free reign to put some energy into the performance!

Many thanks to Geoff and Dusty however for persevering despite the complaints of noise, their hard work has resulted in a well loved and well supported blues club. I would love for us to play there again (and in fact, I am, with John O'Leary, in a few weeks time) however if the opportunity arose I think I would do the whole thing differently. Perhaps an acoustic set? Perhaps get pumperloaf to play percussion rather than drums? Who knows. A bridge to cross when we come to it!

In the meantime, bring on the JOL gig!

Roadhouse - Pajot Blues Festival, Galmaarden, BE - Monday, 5 September 2005

Well, to get it out of the way early - this weekend started a little on the ropy side courtesy of some no-idea-what inspired illness on Friday night, resulting in a very weary and green looking Lorna and I travelling over to Belgium with Mama F and Phil in the Mamamobile on Saturday morning! This food poisoning nonsense seems to be becoming the norm with our belgian trips at the moment - something to be stopped before it gets too late I feel. Or perhaps it wasn't food poisoning at all, but more something to do with the copious amounts of red wine consumed. Who can say?

Either way, a swift and very efficient trip across the channel using the Eurostar meant we arrived in Belgium with plenty of time to spare, and despite the best efforts of the Geraardsbergen (I think that's right?!?) townfolk - who used all manner of things to put us off the scent, including closed roads, one way streets, markets, horse shows, cow markets- the Nelly and Bertha combination pack prevailed and we were settled in the Hotel at 5ish. Just in time, in fact, to head off into town to sample the local delights (ie monster hot dog followed by possibly the nicest coconut macaroons in the world) and see what was to be found in the market. The short answer - not a whole lot - certainly they were appealing more to the female market than the male; consequently, no new gigging garb for me. Never mind though - the internet "sorted me aaahhht" last night!

A quick hour's kip and then off to the venue, where we hooked up with the rest of the Roadhouse posse, while having a delicious meal provided by the very nice guys at the Kameleon. Fantastic! Post nosh, we headed back, set the gear up - enjoyed some awesome hospitality (big props to Ludo - assigned to be our "buddy" he took care of all of our thirst requirements, helped lug gear, and was generally a legend) - and then on with the gig. Well, sort of on with the gig - first we had to wait for Paul Lamb to finish his set (which, at 22 minutes longer than the alloted slot, meant ours and the band after ours were slightly curtailed, surely not terribly good decorum!)

And, it must be said, a very good gig it was too. The sound on stage was superb, the audience better than you could possibly hope for, and the band played great. Especially Roger's "jazz" time signature escapades during his solo... Either way, the 335 sounded huge, I gave away a load of signature picks and a bunch of people came up at the end to talk shit about equipment ("Line 6 - no?!?! They suck but that sounds awesome!!!!") - all in all a fantastic gig.

After we were done, and all the gear loaded away, some more complimentary stuff was consumed, more nonsense talked, and general tomfoolery ensued, before we headed back to the hotel and got some well deserved sleep at about 2am. A very nice early start followed by a tasty breakfast led into a stop start drive, through beautiful weather and traffic jams galore, up to Calais, where an overstressed and overbooked Eurotunnel port greeted us. Eventually we got through, heading home to have a nice chilled evening and reflect on a top weekend's gigging. Marvellous!

Still in love with Pandora (not the ISP).

Roadhouse - Woodman Jam - Friday, 2 September 2005

Last night was the penultimate jam as official members of Roadhouse for Lorna and I - the last being 29th September (which also marks our last official engagement as Roadhouse bandmembers!). Various cigarette quitting shenanigans meant tensions were raised a little however in the end the music was really very good. A load of jammers in attendance, the tone gods smiling on all and sundry, the lunachick in fine voice, Danny "PHSM" lucky enough to break a string (again!) while playing Slip Away with Gary, all was in order! One more to go...

funkydory - Grove Tavern Jam - Thursday, 1 September 2005

Last night's theme I think was "hard work" - once again a very surreal night, this time we had only guitar players in attendance! And with the exception of Sam Hare (nice tone from the telecaster mate), none wanted to sing either! Anyway, a few volume issues notwithstanding, lots of fun was had, we could just do with all the drummers and bassists coming back...

Roadhouse - The Navy Club, Maryport - Monday, 29 August 2005

Well, I must begin by saying that the reward for waking up in time for breakfast at our hotel was perhaps not in proportion with the effort it took! Comedy quote of the trip definitely goes to matey the YTS reject waiter - "have you got any breakfast?" says us - "er yes" - "anything in particular" - "er yes, breakfast - all kinds of things" - "how about a menu?" - "oh yeah, I haven't been here long, sorry" - etc etc. Having inevitably had to send back various wrong orders, eventually ours turned up and was quite tasty in a cobbled together kind of way. Anyway, rest of family despatched safely southbound, and we headed north to Maryport to play at the Navy Club, Sandra's replacement for the Captain Nelson. Despite looking rather Pheonix Nights-y - this was an awesome gig! I was really happy with my sound and playing, and the band was really cooking. A superb crowd of really nice people (top marks to Leon for randomly taking me on a minor detour to the sadly now defunct town of Fothergill!) - who made a huge racket at the end of every song - amazing energy! As expected, we had an excellent time, a quick tear down of gear and then back into one's jag-war for the 320 mile wearisome journey back to 219SR.

Thank goodness for bank holidays!

Roadhouse - Colne - Monday, 29 August 2005

So, a 6.30am start and myself and the lunachick set off in zippy the marvellous Jag-war. An uneventful and easy drive (for us) up the M1 and then across some beautiful countryside for the last 100 miles - truly stunning - finally rolling into the town at about noon. We were both surprised to see the town so quiet, but set about the task in hand straight away; pick up the stage passes and get the gear set up. An hour or so later the rest of the Roadhouse posse appeared - stressed after some sat-nav inspired tomfoolery and resulted in them sitting in "a major bastard of a traffic jam" on the M6. Never mind - all nerves calmed, equipment set up, lunch found, audience (small) appeared - and on with the show. After last year's really decent time slot, I can safely say that it was something of a disappointment to be opening the afternoon, and when we started our gig to a very quiet and more or less empty auditorium, I was beginning to feel a little down about the afternoon. However, after a few minutes of racket we had drawn quite a few people in and the place began to fill up nicely - huge props to the hardcore Roadhouse followers that had made the effort to be there early!

The set itself was good, the sound was excellent on stage, the tone gods were certainly smiling, and thanks to some tubescreamer tweakage, the beautiful 335 feedback machine was tamed, and we were cruising again. A very strong and seemingly brief hour later and our time was up - curtailed somewhat by poorly synchronised watches, but never mind, we acquitted ourselves well and the crowd really seemed up for it. Courtesy of the Mama F. and Phil photographic empire, there will be some cool shots from this set online shortly!

Post gig, myself and Lorna piled into the jag-war and headed back to meet the aforementioned family group at our hotel in Burnley, a mere 6 miles up the road (more about the hotel in Sunday's gig report!!!!). Check in, and then back to Colne for some drinking and musical appreciation!

Now, to be a little controversial, I must say that my jonesing to appreciate some decent music really did go unsatisfied. The other bands I saw on the Saturday afternoon were really poor. Plodding straight 12 bars, no stage communication or excitement, not even a whole lot of talent, it was really very depressing. I would have thought that something marketed as the Great British Blues Festival would have been able to muster something better than a poor SRV tribute act to play at 8pm on a stage as big as the Roadhouse. Very disappointing indeed, and in that light it wasn't really a surprise to see the attendance so quiet during the afternoon's programme. In the absence of any really major world class "names" to draw people, the festival (or rather, the part that I saw of it) seemed to be suffering from a lack of direction and consequently a lack of support... sad, but from my perspective, all too true. Another band, Do$ch, at least had some energy and talent to back it up, although I felt they had even less "blues" in their style than even Roadhouse (which is really saying something!) - not a dig at them at all, but certainly if the festival wants to continue as a Blues Festival (and one of prestige, too) then I am strongly of the opinion that the organisers will need to think a little harder about the acts they are putting on. There are quality acts across the country (Matt Schofield, Trafficker etc.) who clearly should have been playing the larger stages at places like this, but were shunned in favour of several second rate cover bands... not good. I was also not the only person to express surprise that Blues Matters had no presence at the festival whatsoever - no merchandise stall or similar - come on guys! Sort it out! Even Andy Ford - a freelance photographer of note (see his Blues Images website) - had a huge and very impressive looking banner up in the Super Roadhouse hall, advertising his website for all to see... Perhaps the fact that even BM! has shunned Colne is indicative of it's opinions regarding the line-up? Who knows.

Rant over, back to the story, and off we went in search of Curry based satisfaction - finding it in the end at the east end of town in what was clearly a comedically temporary unit - no credit card facilities, no alcohol licence... not really the best of curries either, but it did the trick at the time!

Then back for some more gawping at bands that didn't really hit the spot, drink some more, and head back to the hotel to simply stay out of trouble! All in all a fun, if exasperating, day.

Roadhouse - Merton Abbey Mills Blues Festival - Monday, 29 August 2005

Friday night's gig was a reappearance at the Merton Abbey Mills Blues Festival for the third year running. After a very cool opening set by So Long Angel (the first time I'd seen the full band after Fran their singer had sat in with JOL a few times) - we took to the stage at about 9pm. Thankfully the rain gods had scarpered after a threatening afternoon, however unfortunately they also took the tone gods with them. Perhaps some kind of sacrifice needed to be made? Anyway, I used the 335 and was to be honest not very happy with it - although it is perfectly suited to JOL gigs and some of the funkydory material, it wasn't really working too well in the Roadhouse context. Never mind... the problems were to be fixed later (coming up in my next gig report!) - the main thing about this gig though was the ropey power supply! The first outage came slap bang in the middle of my slide solo in Sacrifice - maybe I was just playing too hard? On with the show however, a couple of numbers later and there we are in the outro to Voodoo Queen... widdly widdly wank on the guitar, and boom out it goes again! Never mind, I think they were trying to tell me something - it was a Blues festival after all! Ho hum. Post gig, tear down the gear and head back to 219SR in order to pack and get ready for the weekend's trip!

JOL - The Courthouse, Rugby - Sunday, 21 August 2005

Well, a woefully small attendance didn't stop this being musically a top gig. Roger again played some of the coolest bass you've ever heard, and Marc was on form. I was playing pretty hard and ended up being lucky enough to break a D on Mr 335. Shame as playing the Les Paul for the rest of the set made me realise just what an awesome tone the 335 really has - especially in that context. Post gig, a sleepy ride back under Yaris power again... not sure if/when we'll be back to play there again but hopefully there'll be a few more people there if we do!

JOL - My Kyps, Poole - Friday, 19 August 2005

It's fair to say last night was probably the best JOL gig in recent times for me - absolutely outstanding in fact. Under Yaris-power, Marc and I set off at about 5 and fought through crappy rush hour traffic all the way down to the coast. Got to the gig just in time to do a brief soundcheck, before floating around backstage and having fun yacking rubbish to the friendly guys from the support band. This'll only be a brief gig report but there's not much to say other than that the sound guy was a legend (as usual), great stage mix, the tone gods were really throwing a party (god I love this 335 with John's band!), everyone played their socks off, and John hasn't been in better voice for a long while. A totally thrilling way to spend 2 hours on stage, honestly. Post gig, it was more yacking rubbish before finally setting off at about quarter to two (!) for a long and quite sleepy drive back. And here I am dazed in front of my computer! Marvellous...

Funkydory - Grove Tavern Jam - Thursday, 18 August 2005

I think there was something funny in the air yesterday - if last night's truly surreal jam is anything to go buy... Firstly, we were unfortunately missing the lunachick courtesy of a sore throat, meaning I was on vox duty, and secondly we arrived at the venue to some kind of football related debacle. What in devil's name was that all about?! Anyhow, once the jam kicked off it's fair to say the theme was "quiet" - few punters and few musicians to begin with. Never mind, it was after all the height of summer! As it happens, musically the jam was excellent top to tail. Pete S. sang a few in trademark fashion, all entertaining and dealing well with the archetypal stage invading drunk bird... Keith on bass was also on good form, as was the late entering PHM. And we were also lucky enough to have PPSMC down and on good form on guitar! Thinking of things being lucky enough, French Marc was also lucky enough to break two strings through the night.

The tone gods were smiling very much on the Duoverb + 335 combination - especially during Put It Where You Want It which was absolutely ripping!

All things considered a fun and very different night, shame it wasn't busier, but good nonetheless - back to normal service in a couple of weeks!

Funkydory - The Green Man, Barnet - Monday, 15 August 2005

Last night saw funkydory play at The Green Man for the first time - all things considered this was a really good fun gig - everyone still a little weary from friday's jaunt and saturday's gigs perhaps, but nonetheless a really fun night. Prior to the gig starting I had a really cool chat with Andy S. and his mate Jeff over a pint, meanwhile Marc was getting held up and stressed out by an overcrowded M25 - arriving just in time for us to start rocking!

It's fair to say that during these funkydory gigs it really is nothing but a pleasure. Fun all the way, I love playing our own songs and can't wait to keep adding more into the set... A good time was had by all, not a bad turn out for a first gig with an unheard of band, and then home to go straight to bed and stay right out of trouble. Marvellous!!! Bring on the jam on Wednesday!

Funkydory - The Forum in Darlington - Monday, 15 August 2005

After Thursday night's festivities, Friday saw us take a trip up north to Darlington, to play The Forum, a very nice room that we played with Roadhouse back in November last year. Mike Prendergast the promotor is an absolute diamond and one of the nicest guys in that line of business that you'll ever meet - with accomodation sorted it really is a hassle-free gig which for a musician (and one at the end of a 7 hour drive) is a wonderful thing.

We set off at about 11am and enjoyed a more or less utterly woeful trip up the M1, terrible traffic and rather too hot in an un-air-conned Geoffrey the rover. In fact, Geoffrey was struggling a little bit to the extent that about 200 yards from the gig he quite literally gave up the ghost! RIP Geoffrey!!! Definitely something to rant about...

Once into the venue however, and we were met by the same sound guy as last year. I didn't think the sound copped up to much (on stage at least) at our last gig, but this one was completely different. The stage sound was perfect, the tone gods were very much in attendance, and quite literally the stage was set for a good gig... Sadly the numbers weren't great, but those who were there definitely had a good time and made up for their numbers by making a big old racket at the end of each song! I was pleased to nail Layla on the Les Paul for the first time (it has sucked pretty much every time I've played it on anything other than the Jackocaster!) and also Still was an absolute corker. An honourable mention should go to pumperloaf for his "brain-fug" regression therapy womb moment where all experience and taste left him in the middle of Oye Como Va - courtesy of a dodgy shoulder and trapped nerve type thing. Crikey! In all honesty though this was an absolute corker of a gig for us - I'm sure the size, setup, and quality of stage sound played a huge part in that. Everyone played great and the lunachick was in outstanding vocal form!

Post gig we retreated back to a Nelson inspired wonderland (aka hotel) where after a pizza based blowout it was time for bed, for sleep/panic/surreal 3.30am bedroom invasion by a boxer short wielding weirdo! Odd!

Saturday morning, car death ceremonies were the order of the day, and after an amazing feat of level 43 tetris master ingenuity, Pumperloaf earned his car true "Sprinter" status by accomodating not only Lorna and I, but also his entire drumkit, all my guitar gear, and a suitcase too - all in one Mondeo! Quite literally awesome! After dropping some bits off with his family we set off for the south and watched vintage Whose Line Is It Anyway on his car computer, all the way down the M1. Ace!

A pukka (but tinged with sadness) way of spending a Friday night!

Traf(unky)ficker - The Cardinal Wolsey - Monday, 15 August 2005

Catch up on the gig report time! Thursday night's gig was a last minute dep-ular affair at the Cardinal Wolsey in Hampton Court. Due to unforseen airline delays, Tommy Allen was held up in Dublin all day on Thursday, and consequently the excellent Trafficker found themselves without a guitarist for the night! A quick phone call to Barry later and my services were secured - along with French Marc and the lunachick too we decided to host a sort of pirates of the caribbean style funkydory-me-hearties style takeover of the gig. Barry and Craig are an awesome rhythm section, and in the end we just busked a whole night of blues standards and roughly jammed versions of some other bits and bobs. Tip top moment of the night for me was a really cool 335 inspired take on "Put it where you want it" - a tune I'd wanted to play for donkey's years but never got round to. Also it was fun to sing for more or less an entire gig, a bit rusty but good for a laugh nonetheless. All in all a top night, sorry you couldn't do the gig Tommy but we had fun anyway!

Funkydory - "Laughingstock Festival" - Monday, 8 August 2005

What a fantastic shebang we had yesterday afternoon over chez jagger in Walton! The afternoon was, it transpired, a celebratory affair - a joint birthday for Linda and Sammy, their garden was packed, the sun was shining, and the music was beating out over the glistening Thames. Fun! Hog was present as ever in top MC mode - very entertaining - and the afternoon was kicked off by Caesar doing his best "I am Brian May" impersonation on the roof. Awesome! Tricky sound issues notwithstanding, everyone played great, a trippy first set by "the Experiment" being followed by Morockan Soul themselves, then a minor jam session and quasi Rough Justice reunion (Heavy Rock played, as usual, Far Too Loud - memories brought back and punctuated by some severe ringing afterwards!). The Tone Gods weren't really smiling for me, tho Caesar had them sandbagged and firmly cornered, not to be released! After that, we played for about an hour with funkydory - lots of fun although our originals-heavy set didn't quite get the crowd on their feet in the same way that Brown Eyed Girl did. Ho hum - a tough crowd although very complimentary afterwards! Post gig it was a swift tear down of the gear and then heading home to stay right out of trouble. All good and a nice end to a hectic weekend. Bring on the next one!

Funkydory Jam - The Grove Tavern - Friday, 5 August 2005

Wednesday night was another jam down the Grove Tavern. A bit quiet really - summer and everyone's on holidays I suppose! But fun still - it was Pumperloaf's time to run it, and run it indeed he did! A couple of randoms came in and played guitar, both very very well I must say! Especially the one that played Marc's Ibanez. Should've got their names really! Tone gods sort of there but popped in and out and smuggled the playability gods with them. Ho hum! Anyway a good night all round, lots of fun...

Trafficker Jam - The Waterman's Arms, Hersham - Tuesday, 2 August 2005

What a funny old night it was last night. I was covering for a honeymooning Tommy Allen at the new Trafficker jam session down in Hersham, near Esher. Now, it's fair to say, this was a truly surreal evening! Craig and Barry from Trafficker had driven down during the day from Maryport and were, consequently, utterly shagged by the time they had got to London - also there were at most 10 people in attendance, which gave the room something of a "vacuous" atmosphere! Never mind - the few jammers that there were all had a good time, and I got to play some drums with some of them, which was obviously fun. The lunachick sang a couple of rocking tunes in a most soulfully rockular fashion, and le happy frenchman was also playing very funkily - and lucky enough indeed to break a string as well! All in all a most entertaining evening in a comedy fashion, topped off by Darby appearing in a very Weasel-like fashion, just after we'd finished playing, with his newly acquired Saaaaaam in tow...

On the plus side, the landlord did book us for a funkydory gig on November 5th, which can't be a bad thing!

Still in love with Pandora.

JOL - Jack Beard's Blues, Tooting - Sunday, 31 July 2005

Last night we had a John O'Leary gig at Jack Beard's, and firstly I have to say this gig was much better than the last time we played there. Firstly the venue had hired it's own sound system so we didn't need to use John's, secondly there was a lighting rig there (courtesy of Blackout Sound) which was very effective and really added to the evening. It was nice to have light's reflecting the mood and feel of each song - it gave the stage much more atmosphere.

We had Marc on guitar, playing Guinevere, and I played the 335 again - and it sounded really good. It's really well suited to the JOL set, and was a very nice contrast to Marc's tone on the Les Paul. The seeds of semi acoustic desire are getting stronger...

Also Nick T was on Bass, and the whole band played really well. John was on great form too - more relaxed and into the music than I've seen him for a long time. Musically, the gig was marked by two things for me - firstly working out "Chicken" and secondly busking a version of "East West" which was actually pretty good in the end. The evening was marketed as a Paul Butterfield tribute night, but since I don't own any Paul Butterfield albums at all I'm not sure I was best equipped to make any tribute really! But we all had a brief listen to East West in my car prior to the gig, and then did our own take on it - and it sort of worked really. Perhaps I should bother to learn it properly now! Does it even have a main melody?!?

A good gig, lots of fun, followed by a very late night de brief in the company of Alan Harvey who got to experience the 219SR hospitality tent as well! Fabulous!

Still in love with Pandora.

Funkydory - The Grove Tavern, South Wimbledon - Sunday, 31 July 2005

Friday night's festivities were based at The Grove Tavern in South Wimbledon - the theme of the night being "French Marc's Parents". As they hadn't seen Marc play for years, we had rushed around to find a last minute gig to play for them, and Lee at the Grove accomodated us very graciously to play at one end of the pub from 8-10 before another band, The Mojo Killers, played at the other. This was a great gig! We had lots of friends down to see us, some of whom I hadn't seen for donkey's years, which was very cool, and the band played great. I was playing a very tasty 335 on a tryout courtesy of my friend Richard. What a beautiful sounding guitar - I'm not totally convinced by the look but the sound and feel are perfect. But sweetie blonde unfinished is so not my colour... We shall see! I keep getting abuse for being obsessed by the appearance of my guitars as well as the sound but so be it. If I end up buying it, I could always get it refinned later I suppose. Anyway, the tone was really beautiful, especially for the blues stuff, so we shall see!

All things considered an absolutely top night, looking forward to the jam session there on Wednesday coming as well!

LOF high although highly concentrated.

Still in love with Pandora.

Roadhouse - Antwerp Rhythm'n'Blues Festival - Monday, 25 July 2005

So, saturday morning, we woke up, loaded up one's jag-war, and set off for the Channel Tunnel. Arriving in plenty of time for our 3pm crossing, we fought our way past the assembled masses and met up with the rest of Roadhouse in the terminal. Under Roger's guidance and clearly soothing pan pipe mood CDs, everyone seemed in good spirits, and so we all dealt with the 90 minute delay to eurotunnel services with top decorum and minimal swearing. Of course.

Once into France, we had a very easy cruise control assisted journey across les autoroutes, arriving in Antwerp at about 8pm - I have to once again thank the Good Lord for Nelly as without her there is no way we would have found our way to the hotel! As it was, we did find it with no problems, and unpacked very swiftly before heading out to the middle of town for a bite to eat. One delicious meal and far too much to drink later and it was back to the hotel, where the lunachick and I created something of a bloodbath, using the raw ingredients of blood, a bath, and approximately 30 mosquitoes. Bastards. I'm still scratching now. Ouch. Anyway, Sunday morning, woke up and then it was straight away time to head out to the show. It must be said, that the Europeans really now how to do things properly as regards gigging. Space provided to park the cars (although down an impossible to get to, nelly defying, invisible sidestreet - the finding of which necessitated a comedic "driving the wrong way down a one way street" moment), food and drink, very helpful stage hands, all was great.

Once the playing was underway, it was really a good outdoor gig to a great crowd, marred only by a poor choice in amplifier (I picked one of the Fender Twins from the hire truck "out back" - it sounded terrible and had the nastiest most beamy speakers I'd played through in ages - or at least since selling my own Fender Twin 2 years ago!) and also by the onset of some pretty savage rain during our set. Never mind - all things considered a good festival have done, and a nice way to spend an afternoon catching up with old friends that we hadn't seen since Roadhouse was there before. Great fun!

funkdory - The Grey Horse, Kingston - Monday, 25 July 2005

Friday night saw the funkydory train roll into the Grey Horse again, for a totally fantastic night! We all got there pretty early thanks to plans to record the night, a million xlr cables to plug in a mics to set up - job duly done and on with the gig! There were lots of people that came to the gig and so, to them I send a big thank you! I didn't really think the tone gods were there, but according to audience anecdote, and also the video footage and recording, they weren't bad - just in disguise maybe. Everyone was in good form and despite a couple of rough edges it was generally a good fun gig. Phil got some excellent photos too so we should have quite a multimedia frenzy over the next few weeks! Fantastic! Once again we sold all 10 of the cds we had with us, so time to make some more! Bring it on! Here's to funkydory and here's to more gigs...

Post gig, it was back to 219 SR for debrief and cocktails, before hitting the sack in sleepy delirium. What better way to spend a Friday night?

funkydory - Grove Tavern Jam Session - Thursday, 21 July 2005

Last night - what a totally awesome Jam! Loads of musos, quite a few punters, we did well in the jug, and all was great! It was Captain Fox's turn to run the evening and it's fair to say he wins the crown so far for being the least stressed jam-runner-er, it all went very smoothly. All things considered a top night, all the more so thanks to the wonderful taxi de mama service which I availed myself of most thoroughly! Marvellous!

Roadhouse - Finch's, Wimbledon - Monday, 18 July 2005

Good intentions and surprisingly lucrative, however this just wasn't the night, or venue, for a loud blues rock band. Finch's is a sizeable wine-bar in Wimbledon Village, just on the mini roundabout on the High Street. Volume constraints therefore made it a little difficult to "dig in" during the gig (if only it were possible to express the degree of sarcasm just used...) - but that said, a fun time was had by all, and thanks to an early finish it was once again time to go straight home and stay out of trouble. Wimbledon Village LOF, it must be said, was pretty high.

Roadhouse - Walkern Blues Club, Stevenage - Monday, 18 July 2005

Playing catch up after a long weekend! Saturday night's gig was with Roadhouse at the Walkern Blues Club, just outside Stevenage. A surprisingly fun gig, far exceeding my expectations given the attendance at our last gig there with John O'Leary. The sound was good, Morganna the Les Paul (more about her later!) felt good, and all was rosy. Good to see Alan Harvey in attendance in top paparazzi mode, and also nice to see Trevor the Hat again, it's been a while since that last mayfest! Post gig, straight home to stay out of trouble.

Roadhouse - The Bulls Head, Barnes - Tuesday, 12 July 2005

Last night was the first Roadhouse Bulls Head gig in a while, and to be honest it was like stepping into a newly refurbished Tardis. At last, they have soundproofed the venue (and done a good job too) with steel doors, all the windows blocked up, etc etc etc. They have also got rid of all the carpet and the place now has wooden floors, and no more tables and chairs, but a few rows of (not especially comfortable) chairs instead. I think it's probably perfect for a nice jazz recital now - the acoustics are very different - the room really feels loud! But for what we were doing last night, the atmosphere didn't really work. An audience numbering in the single figures didn't really help much. Anyway - aside from that, a totally tip top night - really good to catch up with a couple of old friends that I hadn't seen in donkey's years - some nice thai dinner - some fun music and sparkling wit and repartee. All things considered an excellent evening and far better than watching eastenders would have been. Although that said I am quite curious to find out what happened to the Moon brothers. bbc.co.uk here I come!

Funkydory - Grove Tavern Jam - Thursday, 7 July 2005

Last night was the third Funkydory jam night, and it was a good'un! Once again we availed ourself of the taxi de mama offer and swanned into the venue in very efficient german style. It was a somewhat quiet night (my fault really for forgetting to send out a reminder email!) but still rock a lot. Marc and I had our amps facing each other and it made a big difference; last night was the first GT jam where I actually thought we kicked some arse while opening. Lots of our own stuff, one new song we only wrote last week, it was rocking along nicely! Plenty of people in attendance by the end though, including Caesar rocking out with custom made amp rig already at his disposal... Also PPSMC was in attendance. It was cool, every group of musos that got up was very accomplished and sounded superb. All in all a top night, I'm looking forward to the next one! LOF pretty good too, tho quite localised.

Funkydory - The Globe, Brentford - Sunday, 3 July 2005

So I wake up on Saturday morning, mildly hungover, bleary eyed, and it's time to hit the road jack! But what's this? Damn and botheration! Some bastard cad and bounder has clobbered the wingmirror on my jag-war! Piss. That made for an annoying drive home as the mirror was flapping about all over the place in my peripheral vision. Never mind, the traffic was clear, and I made it from Barrow back to 219SR in four and a half hours. A quick pit stop half way to find out how the lunachick had done in her driving test (she passed!!!!) and that was that. In fact it seemed a lot less, I was listening to (and cursing at) live8 on radio 2 all the way back. Fun to listen to but Pete Doherty... what?!? Elton John introducing him as a shining talent? Hello? The guy was wasted and am embarrasment to anyone that wants to give their craft any dignity whatsoever. It's rare that I shout at my radio, but that really pickled my goat!

Anyway, back at 219SR, it was time for a quick restring of Pendragon, load up the PA and head off to The Globe in Brentford, where Funkydory was to play a cancellation, standing in for Ian Hunt. To be honest I had a tiny bit of trepidation in this because Ian Hunt plays pretty chilled out stuff, and we jump around a bit and play a little louder really. So I imagined that anyone coming to expect Ian probably wouldn't enjoy us!Also due to the aforementioned live8, I didn't really think anyone would be watching us. But, I was surprised! A good turnout in the pub, the band played great (nice captain dep blagularity from Nick who stepped in for an otherwise engaged Fox at the last minute) and it was a great gig. John O'Leary was in attendance too and sat in on a strong version of Rock Me Baby which was fun. We sold a load of CDs too which was a result, I really think we're onto something with our demo CD sales idea. Roll on the next funkydory gig - we can't get enough of them!

JOL - The Duke of Edinburgh, Barrow in Furness - Sunday, 3 July 2005

Friday saw an early rising me head off up to the grim north in beautiful Jaguar comfort. Due to a driving test/sore throat combination pack on the lunachick's behalf, I was driving up on my own, and what a hellish journey it was! The M6 truly is the worst motorway in the UK on a friday afternoon. This is maybe the 10th or 11th time I've hat to drive up for gigs in that neck of the woods on a friday, whether in Barrow or Chester or Liverpool etc. - and literally every time, there has been complete traffic chaos between junctions 14 and 18. I met up with Joachim, John and Roger at Knutsford City Limit Services, and we travelled the rest of the journey in efficient convoy. So, left at 11 o'clock, got there at 7pm. 8 hours! 300 miles! Motorway all the way and I only averaged 37 miles an hour. Terrible. Anyway, set the gear up, popped out for a quick pizza, got back and it was straight on with the gig! To be honest this was one of the best John O'Leary gigs in a while - Roger Innis' bass playing is just superb, the atmosphere on stage was great, and I do like the acoustics in that pub. Joyce and Bill do a great job and in my eyes the gig was a big success. The usual drill, of course, with a quiet-ish first set, and then packed house for the second, but all things considered a totally fantastic gig.

Afterwards I drank too much and talked utter rubbish until about 3am before shooting off upstairs and hitting the sack. A great night!

LOF was high quality, exceptionally low in quantity, and very localised.

Pandora was in for a beating.

Roadhouse - Woodman Jam - Sunday, 3 July 2005

A bit behind on the gig reports here due to many busy days in a row - Thursday's jam at the Woodman was again a corker! I can't recall many specific things but highlights for me were probably a totally rocking take on Sacrifice with Roadhouse, a really nice (and early) set with Sid on the banjo, some nice funky widdling, and saying hello to lots of people. A fun night!

Roadhouse - Elme Hall Hotel, Wisbech - Monday, 27 June 2005

And so it came to pass that a bleary eyed Julio and a bleary eyed Lunachick did henceforth hop into the supercharged beast and set sail from Norwich over to Wisbech, where we were booked to play once again at Elme Hall for the afternoon. Arriving a little early, and still quite hungry, we took a minor detour into the centre of Wisbech to see what we could see. And the answer, dear reader, was absolutely nothing! The only shops open of a Sunday morning were Woolworths (which sufficed in the comedy purchases department... Darth Vader shower gel accompanied by Water Bomb maker stroke launcher accompanied by glow in the dark slime... all clearly essential), Argos (kids toys are so BORING compared to when I was a kid!) and Somerfield (lame). Failing completely to find anything munchworth for breakfast, we wound up back at a burger bar in the co-op car park, which did a great line in pre-cooked budget burgers which, will perched precariously in a slimy greasy dripping pile, did in fact taste marvellous and hit the spot good and proper. On with the gig and again it was a good one. We experimented with monitor positioning and, with a few kinks (eg slaving monitors with the wrong impedances) ironed out I think this will work out well for the band. I hope they don't stop doing it as soon as the lunachick and I have left as it's totally the best way to set up your vocal foldbacks! The sound wasn't bad, the band played great, the audience were superb, it was a really good gig. The little bit of interplay we had on Roadhouse Blues was perhaps the happiest I've been with our call and response stuff in a long time - and I should also mention that the Lunachick was in fine voice after the previous afternoon's gig (which had given her a chance to recover from friday's ubermetal onslaught!). All things considered, a top evening, and on the off chance that matey from Hair of the Dog and his mates (that were sitting up the front and we were talking to at the end of the gig) are reading this - the album I was decreeing that you should get is The Fillmore Concerts by The Allman Brothers. Get it! Now!

All gear torn down and packed up and it was again time to hit the road - A47 over to Peterborough and then A1 down to London. Finally rolled into 219SR at about 11 o'clock, just in time to fall asleep again very happy with a wonderful weekend!

Adrian Mole is still in love with Pandora, I'm pleased to report.

Roadhouse - The Shed, Norwich - Monday, 27 June 2005

And so, on to Saturday morning. Life on the road... a nice lie in, greasy fry up (Complete with black pudding - absolutely delicious! Smothered in ketchup in the approved method), pack up the gear, and then hit the road, jack, on to Norwich! Fifty miles later and we cruised into the car park of Ryan's new joint - "The Shed" - which was to be the venue for an interesting afternoon acoustic gig. I saw acoustic in the best tradition of MTV unplugged, in that the only real concession from the previous night to this afternoon was that Roger played congas rather than a full drumkit, and Gary played his acoustic on a couple of songs. That said, the level came down, the tone gods welcomed themselves to the party (in a big way!) and the afternoon resolved itself for its best tidings - all was rosy! In fact this was the surprise of the weekend for me, we had all been dreading this gig, but in the end it was a good one. The assembled enjoyed us, we enjoyed playing, we weren't deaf, and all in all the afternoon was a success. Post gig, a nice chat with Ryan the landlord, a few hours sleep, a take out chinese, and a few more hours sleep... goodbye Saturday, next stop Sunday!

Roadhouse - The Riverside Bar, Sutton Bridge - Monday, 27 June 2005

So there we were, Friday afternoon, poised and ready to set off from London for Norfolk. Setting off in ultimate comfort at about 4pm, the lunachick and I did our best to hit rush hour smack in the middle of it - BULLSEYE indeed, isn't the M25 a beautiful thing? Either way, a sedate yet obscenely fast drive up the country lanes and we arrived in plenty of time to set up, put on some new strings, have a quick shower, and on with the show! Not a bad gig really, although we were really a bit too loud. A little basement bar such as the Riverside is, struggles to adequately deal with the sheer sound pressure levels that a full on band create... never mind however, I think we contributed well to the structural instability of the place, and did our bit. The tone gods were still asleep around about huntingdon somewhere (we must have left them behind on a fuel pitstop) and the audience, though lacking in numbers, did well in spirit. Post gig, several beers were drunk, Pandora was spotted propping up a wall, accomodation was inhabited, and before I knew it, Friday night had become Saturday morning!

funkydory - Grove Tavern Jam Session - Thursday, 23 June 2005

Last night was the second funkydory Jam Session over at the Grove Tavern in South Wimbledon - and what an excellent night it was! The funkydory set we kicked off with was OK, tho my choices of songs to call were pretty unpopular, and we had a few "guitarists-couldn't-hear-each-other" issues. Other than that it was rocking! And at a much better volume level compared to the last one by all account. Curiously we found ourselves in the company of a great many drummers and a great many bass players, but few guitarists and even fewer vocalists; surely the wrong way around? Yes rhythm sections do indeed appear to be like buses... This rendered managing the evening quite tricky for the lunachick (for it was her turn to do it!) but she did a great job, and we had some pretty cool lineups through the night. Blue Relic (minus their singer) kicked it off having come from all over the country - nice guys and basically the sort of people that jam nights are for, a good chance to try things out and play just for the fun of it. All good. Nice to see an assortment of musician folks from all sorts of different circuits in attendance - from Pete Bedford and Pointy Headstock Man to Pretend Pop Star Mark Chudley (PPSMC) and Lillian, from Owen and Mark to EVS and Red Rocket Steph. Not to mention Red Rocket Mike, Drew, Barry Pethers, Craig, all the rest - it was a packed night of musos! Nice to see Masachi down too tho thanks to some houdini style vanishing act he wasn't able to get a spot on stage - never mind, next time gadget, next time! All in all a fun night!

Roadhouse - Coach and Horses, Isleworth - Sunday, 19 June 2005

A hot and sweaty night in Isleworth last night - far too hot in fact and sweaty like I wouldn't have believed! I was expecting this to keep a lot of punters away (that and the fact that we were in direct competition with U2 playing Twickenham stadium last night!) - but it was not to be. In fact this was one of the better Coach and Horses gigs of recent times, the band played well and the sound was for once not bad from my side of the stage (usually the tone gods are notable by the absence - last night that wasn't the case!). We also had French Marc (who sat in on Oye Como Va) and Jon Griffin (who sang and played a funky little number). A good gig and excellent night all round!

Royal Festival Hall, Mick Jones and Rachid Taha - Saturday, 18 June 2005

Last night I went to see Rachid Taha play at the RFH with the lunachick, Pete Sargeant and "the boy" - an interesting gig! It was part of Patti Smith's series of concerts there, and featured Mick Jones (of the Clash) opening. To be fair, I thought Mick Jones' set was diabolically bad - his whole act is all about "the attitude" and seemingly nothing about the music he plays - which to me defeats the object of playing music in the first place. He does also love himself to the point of being quite offputting to watch (quote of the night "if he were made out of chocolate he'd eat himself" © lunachick). But, different people go to see concerts for different things, and a large proportion of the audience were totally enthralled and entertained by his posturing, which in a sense must be a good thing. Perhaps I'm being picky but I prefer to hear two guitars in tune with each other? Also the quasi-miming backing tape harmonies/synth parts were a total cop-out I thought. Curmudgeonly? Moi? His set was sort of redeemed (in a kind of I suppose I should pay attention this is perhaps history? moment) by Patti Smith joining in their encore, a pretty woeful version of Hey Joe. Although Hendrix was 75% about "the act" and "the flamboyance" of the era, he at least had chops and ability to back it up. I wasn't really sure what kind of statement was being made by their covering it but if there was one, it pretty much went over my head. Anyway the sound in the RFH was also pretty poor for his set which was quite frustrating (and that was sat right behind the sound desk as well) - anyway the ying to his yang was Rachid Taha's set which followed. I had no idea what to expect being not even remotely familiar with his name or music - even in retrospect I'm not sure how you'd describe it?! Imagine a non-jokey version of the macarena, long, groovy, and not hugely structured song forms, and you'd probably be close. His drummer and percussionist were outstanding (and probably the highlight for me) as well as his absurdly tall looking bass player (Idris?) - and they made for a very compelling groove which had most of the audience in the lower stalls dancing away! The only slight drawback for me as someone completely uninitiated in his music was that I had no idea it would be a "world music" thing, and wasn't really prepared to not be able to understand a word he was saying/singing - I wonder what any of the songs were about?! The peak of the night was definitely their encore, a kicking version of Rock the Casbah with Mick Jones back on (probably harmonica inspired widdle over everything even while they are trying to speak) Lead Guitar and Patti Smith on Clarinet and occasional huh-vocals. All in all a top night, very unusual but very entertaining! So thanks to PS for the initiating and again opening me up to a new (to me at least) sort of music!!

Roadhouse - Woodman Jam - Friday, 17 June 2005

Last night's Jam was, it's far to say, a corker! The lunachick and I Geoffreyed our way there via Senor Le Guerrannic's UK Residence, in utmost discomfort and noisiness, enjoying scintillating conversation and hon-he-hon. Oui Oui! Roadhouse opened with three songs that went really nicely, then it was on with the Jam! I thought everyone there played great - we did a little funkydory-lite set that was lots of fun, plus Marc showed what a bastardly good guitarist he actually is by playing with Sid at the end of the night. Where I just bluff it and struggle through the changes, Marc was soloing around it like Django at his finest. Absolutely superb stuff! All in all a very good jam and a lot of fun... Next stop, Coach and Horses Isleworth on Saturday! Bring it on!

Roadhouse - The Charisma Bar, Hoyland - Sunday, 12 June 2005

Following a nice lie in and fry up on Saturday morning, it was time to drive over to Sheffield for the gig which was to be in a bar called "Charisma" up in Hoyland. The drive over was absolutely beautiful - the A628 I think? Either way, cross country from Manchester to Sheffield, truly stunning scenery! Once at the gig, we all got the gear set up pretty quick, and then went on an "all round the houses" trip to find some food. Eventually we found The Tavern that we'd pointed at - and personally my dinner was delicious - in fact there was far too much of it! Never mind. Gary and Anne's food was forgotten about and then microwave blitzed so was boiling on outside, frozen on the inside - not good enough! And thus warranted being sent back, much to-ing and fro-ing and eventually Gaz halfed the bill. Management-speak-mind-control-a-go-go! The gig itself wasn't bad although I think everyone was a bit tired, we didn't feel to have much energy after so much driving over the weekend, and the audience - though massively appreciative after the gig - weren't the most lively bunch while we played. Funny! Anyway, plenty of folk from Skeggy and generally nice people. Post gig it was a record time tear down of the gear and then hit the road. Some DIY heater fixing/communication breakdowns/mobile phone issues later and the lunachick and I eventually got back to 219SR at about 4am. Yawn!

Still in love with Pandora. Oh and geoffrey did 617 miles on 40 quidsworth of diesel! 55 mpg average... awesome!

Roadhouse - The Duke of Edinburgh, Barrow - Sunday, 12 June 2005

Friday saw Roadhouse take a long trip up the M6 to play at The Duke of Edinburgh, Joyce and Bill's gig up in Barrow in Furness. After what could best be described as a long, hot, generally unpleasant drive across England in Geoffrey, we eventually got there at about 6ish, in time to get set up and ready to play. As with our funkydory gig here back in February, this was an excellent gig. The first few songs were a little quiet but as the pub packed out, it really picked up the pace, and by the end the place was rocking. A totally enjoyable evening, nice people and I thought the band played great. Lots of fun! Post gig it was pretty much hit the sack, the drive had pretty much zonked us all!

Funkydory - Grove Tavern Jam Night - Thursday, 9 June 2005

Last night was the inaugural funkydory jam session at The Grove Tavern in Wimbledon. Apart from a few sound/volume issues, this was an awesome evening! Plenty of people down (not sure if wednesday is usually a quiet night but there weren't many non muso punters in the house... shame as I think they would have liked it!). My first experience of running a jam and fair to say it's a lot of work - top respect to Gary, Robin Bibi etc who have been doing it for years! There's probably a knack to it but if there is, I didn't discover it last night! Anyway, everyone had a good time and the whole thing seemed to last about 10 minutes. Mint!

Astoria gig - addition! - Tuesday, 7 June 2005

I forgot to mention the lineup for Mick Taylor! It was:

Mick Taylor (guitar and vocals)
yours truly (guitar)
Dave "Munch" Moore (keyboards)
Michael C. Ruiz (bass)
Godfrey Maclean (drums)

Also I forgot to mention that Munch played keyboards with John O'Leary as well! Actually while I think about it, he did a pretty ripping piano solo during Can't You Hear Me Knocking!

JOL and Mick Taylor - The Astoria, London - Tuesday, 7 June 2005

Words can't really do last night's gig justice... originally I was thinking I should just put nothing but pictures as the gig report, but then there are so many things I would like to remember that I figured I should at least keep a record of some of the things that happened! If I come even halfway close to describing how amazing the night was, I'll be happy!

Lorna and I set off from Chiswick on the train at about 3 o'clock, and made it to the Astoria for about 4pm - just in time to be greeted by a smiling Yuki on the door who ushered us in and up to our dressing room. Rock and roll myth #1 dispelled: Dressing Rooms are glamourous. No, they're not. They smell, are overheated, overpopulated, and over-rated! We squeezed ourselves in with the Eddie Martin band, and settled in for a few drinks. I thought it would probably be worth going and getting myself used to the amp I was to be using later on. Sadly no duoverb for me, I had a really crappy Mesa Boogie Mk4 1x12 combo. What a horrible little amp! Never mind - I should also mention at this point how amusingly stressful it was that literally noone was in charge. Having been told most certainly not to bring an amp, to have to hassle the crew for half an hour before one gets "found" is quite bizarre! Never mind - a brief soundcheck with Mick Taylor, and we were done... retreat back to the dressing room.

At this point the doors opened and the audience were allowed to come into the room - not so many at first, I think when the first band went one there were perhaps 200 people there. I went to find family Fothergill, in a loopy loopy finally armed with VIP passes type way, who then firmly lodged themselves dead centre at the front of the balcony. Probably the best place to be in I should think! Once again it was time to head back up to the room, where we typically efficiently discussed our set. Sadly, with only 10 minutes to fill, we were limited to two songs, so we decided on Born In Chicago (during which Lorna would sing a couple of verses) and Snatch It Back. A pint and a half of mirth later, and that was it, we were off down the stairs and standing backstage waiting to go on...

We were preceded by Pete Brown, who unfortunately overran slightly from the alloted time, but who played a perfunctory set which was entertaining to listen to from behind! The minute they were done, we were on, in quite possibly the quickest gear changeover I've ever experienced. Probably about 2 minutes all in all... and then we were away. We had Roger Inniss on bass who was excellent as usual, and also Winston Delandro on unexpected second guitar. Opening with Born in Chicago, everyone was in fine form and it felt good. In fact, it felt really good! After some excellent lick-inspired eurping from family Fothergill, we did a pretty swift run through Snatch It Back, during which I widdled and diddled a bit on slide, which got a really nice reception. I have to say, the buzz from that would be tough to repeat!

As quickly as the set had started, it was finished, and Joachim, Roger and Winston left the stage, leaving Mick Taylor to get on with it... and get on with it he did. The 20 minute set afforded us time to play three songs, Losing My Faith (which is a very pretty tune from a recent Mick solo album), No Expectations and Can't You Hear Me Knocking. After the one solitary rehearsal on Friday afternoon, I was pretty nervous about this to be honest, but after a few bars of the opening tune, everything seemed to just fall into place. 20 minutes felt like 2, and before I knew it, it was time to go! I must confess that during No Expectations, when Mick gave me a solo, I wasn't really sure how to play it - whether to sit back and play a bit relaxed (you know, I'd already had "my bit" during John's set - this was his time!) - then I figured what the heck and just went for it. Lots of fun although I felt a tinge of "shouldn't have done that" just as it was winding up! Turns out he didn't mind at all!

Once we were all done, it was backstage for debriefing and cocktails, before going back out front to mill around for a while... By the time we had made it out front, Gary Moore and Jack Bruce were doing their thing, and they were awesome! It really made me not feel so bad about being unable to afford to justify spunking 60 quid plus on Cream tickets! Gary Moore's tone and playing was superb, and Jack Bruce really was great. I feel free especially was good, as well as Sunshine of Your Love, which I really enjoyed! I took quite a few pictures during their set, you can see the best ones here.

As well as watching some of the Colusseum set, which was very good indeed (and certainly better than I'd expected) Lorna and I "hung out at the bar" for a bit, went on some comedic and not especially successful "celebtrity spotting" routine, had drinks bought for us, gave out picks, and generally had a really enjoyable evening. Too much fun!

Overall, LOF was very high (although quite localised), and there really aren't enough good things I can write about the whole experience. It was unbelievable - To DH-S wherever you are - I hope this evening made you proud!

Still in love with Pandora!

Roadhouse - Boom Boom Club, Sutton - Monday, 6 June 2005

After a comfy night's sleep at the Running Horse, and a pretty easy (if long) drive down the M1, our next gig was Roadhouse's night at the Boom Boom Club in Sutton. Not a bad turnout at all, lots of our regulars there, and a surprisingly good opening set from a band called the Subway Sleepers - who for a band of mid teenagers, did a pretty good job I must say! Then Dan The Pointy Headstock Man (who was lucky enough to break a string) did a pretty cool set with Drew Barron, and Drew's mate Olivier played Sax too. Roadhouse went on at maybe 9 o'clock, and played for an hour and half. The standard "and guests" format prevailed, so Pete Sargeant sat in on Help Me, Drew on Voodoo Queen and Preacher Man, and Fiona sang Serves You Right and a couple of others. Despite the onset of some quite major yawns towards the end of the night, all in all this was a good way to spend an evening. Everyone played or sang well, the tone gods smiled, it was a good end to a very busy weekend of good music! LOF good (first time in a while) and post gig, it was straight home to just stay out of trouble, in anticipation of tonight's big Astoria gig!

Perfect!

Roadhouse - The Running Horse, Nottingham - Monday, 6 June 2005

So, on waking from the travelodge, Ms Reilly and myself set off for Nottingham, where we were coincidentally to see my Uncle's wedding - an excellent afternoon later and we pitched up at the Running Horse. It's been a few months since we played there, but not much changes - again the atmosphere was great. The gig certainly had it's moments, though didn't quite reach the peaks that some Roadhouse gigs do. The tone gods certainly didn't feel like they were shining, but they did pop their heads in and out the door now and again. Strange! Post gig, lots of natterings with the assembled, a nice chat with Dave Kingsbury, who also sat in on harp with us, and then putting the world to rights with Barry until something like 3am - and then off to bed. Badumph and hit the sack, zzzzzzzz...

Funkydory - The Banham Barrel, Norfolk - Monday, 6 June 2005

Friday night's gig was at the Banham Barrel up near Norwich. Formerly known as the Cider Shed, this was the venue for the infamous "sleeping on the bar" incident of 2004 - now run by a friendly chap called Jonty, I'm pleased to report that the atmosphere for which Ryan was responsible has remained completely intact! It was a fantastic evening!

Following a rehearsal with Mick Taylor (friendly chap, nice tone!) in the afternoon, the Lunachick and I set off in british style up the M11, through possibly the worst rain I have experienced in my life! In fact, after a stimulating pit stop in Thetford, the last 20 miles of the journey took nearly an hour, as we drove through 6 inch thick standing water! Not very good for one's jag-war I'm sure, and certainly not very good for an optimistic outlook on the gig! To be honest, I didn't expect anyone to come out at all... perhaps this was to be the first duff Funkydory gig? Either way, on arrival we ushered ourselves into the shed garage and set up the new funkyPA © 2005. Sadly no time to eat, as soon as we set up, it was time to play.

Unfortunately having been away all weekend (more reports later) the fineries of this report shall no doubt be a little vague... I shall do my best though! In no particular order, the highlights of this gig for me were the outstanding audience - happy to dance to the funky stuff, and close their eyes and sway to the cerebral "thinking man's funk" as we put it, also it was really nice to see so many young people into the set we did, especially the bluesier numbers, which I'd thought would go a bit flat! Also, Lorna sang her socks off on all the originals, Still and Same Train Home especially sounded really nice. Marc played Guinevere on and off, before being lucky enough to break a top E string, but special mention should be made of his solo in Stormy Monday, which was to be honest totally awesome - a really beautiful tone. The last highlight would definitely be closing the first set with as tight a version of Jessica as I could possibly imagine. It sounded and felt great from the stage, and the guys in the audience loved it! Nice place to put it in the set too, I'll have to remember that. So, we sold a whole load of CDs, had a great time, the tone gods were definitely smiling, and LOF was not bad in a Britney video kind of way! Marvellous!

Post gig, we tore down the PA and headed back to the travelodge - meanwhile Marc, Pumperloaf and Fox set off in convoy back to the A11, got lost at a detour, and had some comedy fish and chips at Stansted at 3.30 in the morning! Result! A thoroughly brilliant night.

Roadhouse - Woodman Jam - Friday, 3 June 2005

Last night was another Woodman Jam over in Wimbledon. At the end of the day, a good fun jam, although the tone gods were definitely not in attendance - my duoverb sounded dreadful! In fact I think one of the speakers may have blown. Not sure, either way it sounded most decidedly rubbish which doesn't bode well for rehearsals this afternoon with Mick Taylor (who's famous for his nice tone - embarrasing to turn up with a shagged amp! doh!) or for tonight's funkydory gig! Double doh!

Anyway, a good night all told, an absolutely packed out pub and "improving" lof. Still not quite norwich scale though! Post jam, an all round the houses drive home, followed by packing one's jag-war until 2am, then up at 5.30am for work this morning. Boo hiss! Roll on funkydory!

Roadhouse - Green Man, Barnet - Tuesday, 31 May 2005

Sunday night saw Roadhouse trundle up to The Loft Club at the Green Man in Barnet, which was host to the Joe Bonamassa gig I went to see the week before. Suffice to say the night was not quite as packed out as it had been for Joe, but it was by no means an empty night. The experimental "no pedals" approach continued - getting there but not quite there yet - and the evening went by pretty quick. We had Fiona and Lorna on vocals as well as Anne on a few songs, with much swipping and swapping between numbers giving the evening something of a merry go round feel to the front line. It was a funny night in that the songs and solos I was most happy with got the most muted reaction, whereas the ones that I thought lacked a bit of energy and generally felt a bit lacklustre, seemed to get the assembled roaring! Very bizarre! But it was indeed "one of those nights"! Roll on the jam on thursday...

Roadhouse - Sportsman, Croxley Green - Sunday, 29 May 2005

Last night's gig was a return to The Sportsman in Croxley Green, a pub Roadhouse last played at in July 2003. In the intervening two years, it's fair to say nothing has changed, apart from as Gaz put it "most of our local fans have forgotten about us"! Consequently a pretty muted start, although it filled up later on. I undertook an experiment of playing with no pedals whatsoever, straight into the Duoverb, and it had mixed results. The tone gods were definitely there, although you know how when you see the Joker in the original Batman film, and he's been transformed, but still has his bandages on? That's what it was like. The potential is there for it to improve my playing and sound quite a bit, I think, but it will take some work! All in all a pretty average gig really, too loud in too small a place perhaps. Tonight I will definitely be wearing my plugs! Low LOF, tho Lorna loves Pandora.

JOL - Spectrum Blues Club, Keighley - Sunday, 22 May 2005

Friday night's long distance jaunt was a trip up to Keighley in Yorkshire, to play with The John O'Leary Band. A cursory glance at multimap had shown this to be about 225 miles from the hallowed terraces of 219SR, so I deemed this a job for Geoffrey! Leaving work at lunchtime I met up with Caesar and the Lunachick, scoffed a delicious fried luncheon, and then we were off! Once again, trucking long distance clara style...

Breaking with tradition, we attempted to get a dedication on the way up there, however our request for Love Shack clearly fell on deaf ears as Johnny Walker stubbornly refused to even mention us! Terrible news! All in all the journey north was pretty woeful, with several traffic jams meaning my backside was most well acquainted with Geoffrey's seats by the time we got there! Rolling into the venue at about 7ish, we were greeted by the venue organisers, who were later to double as the support band. Top Geezers every one of them, it must be said!

Once again we had Roger Innes on bass, who was absolutely outstanding as usual, but tonight we had a slightly different twist due to the presence of Winston Delandro on guitar! It has been ages since I played with Winston so I relished the opportunity - he's an incredibly good guitar player and a total inspiration (especially in his rhythm playing - such ideas!) - and a top bloke too! Consequently Caesar was on Guiness duty again, which made for much comedy, in particular the 0-6 contrary motion scale of pints vs playing ability. Lorna again sat in on a few songs and sang very well - the PA mix on stage (and apparently off as well) was superb, which always helps! Caesar's guest spot on Lovelight was tip top as well, he literally did go "Brutally F*cking Ballistic" to quote Zakk Wylde. The post gig ego-stroking was very entertaining, thinking of that, with Caesar being described as a "Young Hendrix", despite being older than hendrix was when he died! Funny!

Overall the gig itself was great, everyone played well and had a good time - lots of smiles on stage and off. The audience had a lot of energy and really seemed into the music, they made a hell of a racket after each song! Once we'd torn down the gear, we went over the road for a complementary curry at Moghuls, the local curry house and sponsors of the night, which was I must say absolutely delicious! Possibly the nicest Chicken Tikka Massala I've had for ages. Come 2am, curries were finished, yawns were coming, and it was time to head on down the M1 and cruise back to London, so set off we did... another moribund attempt at a dedication was literally greeted with radio silence, and since I was beginning to get a bit tired we pulled into Tibshelf services (with 148 miles still to go) and got a few hours sleep in the car park. Back up again at 6am and we resolved the morning for its best tidings. Home at about 8.30 am in the end! Pleasingly, despite clearly having very uncomfortable seats, and being very slow, and having a broken door seal that means you get an annoying woosh in your ear as you drive, we still averaged 57mpg on the whole trip! Very impressive! 450 miles on 30 quidsworth of diesel!

To sum up, a good night in a good new venue that I wish the best of luck. I'm looking forward to playing there again - very much!

LOF low, still in love with Pandora.

Roadhouse - Woodman Jam - Friday, 20 May 2005

Last night was a somewhat cold-ridden snivelling Jam fest down at the woodman. Feeling a bit poorly I didn't particularly pay much attention to my own playing in the opening roadhouse set (despite a lead failure that meant a rare Julio mid song bail out in the middle of Broken Land) - tone gods certainly not in attendance!

Anyway a fun night, all the regulars down, a small one song funkydory instrumental blast at Jessica (not bad - too fast tho - fun tune, would definitely be worth rehearsing up I think!), a little nonsense with Sid at the end, RIPPER!

Post gig I dropped my mum off (taxi de Julio in one's Jag-war!) and then it was back home to just stay out of trouble and get some sleep in anticipation of tonight's festivities up in Keighley!

JOL - "Blues Is The News", Hampton in Arden - Wednesday, 18 May 2005

Saturday's gig was an expanded John O'Leary night, featuring Caesar and the Lunachick, a return visit to "Blues is the News" at Hampton in Arden, which is just outside Solihull. An early start to pick up one's new jag-war meant all were bright eyed and breezy when we hopped into Caesar's mighty Sprinter at lunchtime. Why the early departure? Well that lesser spotted beast - a John O'Leary Band rehearsal - had been spotted in Birmingham that afternoon. A fairly productive, and yet almost totally pointless get together, led onto a brief and almost catastrophic Liza-fuelled convoy from the studios to the venue. Omitting to mention to Caesar that he's only the second slowest driver in the UK was perhaps a mistake. It was however all OK in the end and we set up in almost record time!

On with the gig! All the key elements were in place for this to be a corker of a gig - the crowd was excellent and really into it, the tone gods were sort of smiling, the cold that's now striking me down had yet to surface, and everything was cooking! Sadly the PA gods weren't smiling and the levels seemed a bit "wonky" - which meant from my perspective I couldn't really hear the lunachick too well, but that said, Roger's bass was superb as ever, and Caesar was rocking particularly hard with his Les Paul. All in all a top night, tho sadly our efforts at getting a dediction on radio 2 while driving home at silly o'clock in the morning were somewhat moribund!

Still in love with Pandora!

Roadhouse - Grove Tavern, South Wimbledon - Sunday, 8 May 2005

Last night Roadhouse played at the Grove Tavern in South Wimbledon - all things considered this was a fun night, with something of a shebang and jamboree atmosphere. There were tons of people there, from PointyHeadstockMan to Geronimo, OwenDrummerBloke to Caesar the RMG, and lo verily the gig was fun. As well as the lunachick, we had Fiona on vocals as well, which made for a few interesting renditions of songs that I'm used to hearing with only one vocalist. Oh and also Jumping John from the Ozrics sat in on Roadhouse Blues and played some deeply cool flute with us - very inspiring!

True to form, Caesar had about 5 1/2 pints of Guiness, and his playing had quite a "sleepy" quality to it, rocking hard and languishing in an alcofuzz backbeat in equal measure! Much fun! LOF greatly improved since our last gig thanks to the addition of some new barmaids, of whom a mad baron frankencaesar (with a cellar full of pickled barmaids) concoction would in fact be the RMG's ideal woman. A top night out!

Roadhouse - Woodman - Friday, 6 May 2005

What a corking jam at the woodman last night! Lots of fun all round and a generally top night. We kicked off on a three song jaunt with Fiona singing, which went great, and then the lunachick hopped aboard for a new song Big Easy (which I struggled to remember, again! Think it needs some work, this one) and a really kicking Sacrifice. The tone gods were really smiling and I was having one of those really cool nights where everything I was thinking just came out of the guitar exactly as I wanted to. It'd be nice if every night was like this but usually there are too many other things distracting (like sound/tone/whether I've got clean socks on/whether I had a nice dinner/whether the traffic was rubbish on the way to the gig) to make that possible. Anyway it was nice to be in a really focused frame of mind. I suppose I should practice more to be at that point more often! Anyway, no french marc or fox tonight so not much in the funkydory happenings, although we did do a couple of songs with the lunachick again later on with Gaz on guitar and Andy Cortes on bass (and very good he was too). Thinking of bass I also got to squiddle a load of gibberish on the bass as well (obviously with a pick!) - much fun. A superb evening's entertainment, ended with a very economical drive home in the new luna-julio mobile, a beautifully old and cheap rover diesel (that does 75 mpg!!!!). Clunk click home james and don't spare any of the horses (actually do, there aren't many of them and they're probably quite frail). Bonza!

Roadhouse - Ruthless Blues Support, Boom Boom - Saturday, 30 April 2005

Last night was an early-rocking evening down at the Boom Boom Club at Sutton FC, supporting those erstwhile bluesers Ruthless Blues. An uneventful journey down to the gig, and then an easy setup, the evening was then marked out by being told to turn down before the drums were soundchecked! OK, so I like to play loud, but not irrationally so and certainly not out of context. Roger is a loud drummer... To any sound engineers reading this: Wait until you have a feel for how the band sounds and what sort of stage mix they are comfortable with, before you start hassling them to turn down! OK!?!? I was also in a somewhat forgetful frame of mind, forgetting to bring my floorboard, tuner, any PP3 batters, and my favourite dunlop slide. Ho hum! The theme continued during the set when I choked royally on broken land, forgetting entirely how the melody goes. Never mind indeed! A good and responsive crowd seemed into our music which made for a fun evening. Post gig it was a quick tear down and then off to New Malden where myself and the lunachick caught the last half of Mike and Lise's first gig with their new band Kidney Riddler. It was a very entertaining evening all round!

Still in love with Pandora.

Roadhouse - East Harling Social Club, Norfolk - Sunday, 24 April 2005

Last night was a merry olde jaunte up to merry Norfolk where Roadhouse was playing at the East Harling Social Club. The lunachick and myself set off about 4ish and, powered by the hallowed gods that are Tenacious D, had a very quick and comfy motor up the M11. No traffic, good weather, good choons, a very pleasant journey indeed. Actually, I should make a correction - Tenacious D are not gods, they "are but men - ROCK!!!"

Since we were running a bit early we took a minor detour over to what was formerly the Cider Shed, in Banham, since it was only a few miles away. It's now been renamed The Banham Barrel and is being run by a top bloke called Jonty! Quick pint there and then back to the venue for the gig. The gig itself wasn't bad although I was woefully unhappy with my own playing in places, and very happy in others. The tone gods were definitely there but my attention was wandering for no good reason. Never mind!

Post gig, retreat back to London, set the cruise control for the heart of the sun, and bob's your uncle! Rolled into 219SR about 3 o'clock, just in time to hit the sack for a nice lie in!

Bonza...

Roadhouse - Woodman Jam - Friday, 22 April 2005

Last night was the first musical exploration for a couple of weeks, with the resumption of the Woodman Jam. Actually it wa only a resumption for me because a fortnight ago I was off seeing Govt Mule with the lunachick and family etc. (you can see some pics that I took here) - anyway, what a belter of a jam it was! Having had a little break from the guitar for a couple of weeks I was feeling pretty refreshed and into it - the tone gods were definitely smiling (actually, they were a bit grumpy at first but a first half tubescreamer/timtone substitution acted as a worthy sacrifice). We did a couple of Roadhouse songs with Lorna to kick the night off, and then "new girl" Fiona McElroy did a few - she's coming on board to cover the gigs that Lorna can't do, much as Drew helps me out from time to time! A good job she did too, and then it was on to the jam. Not before a couple more roadhouse songs tho, not before a nice bit of Stormy action, and a totally bitchin' Preacher Man for Chris. Marvellous! The Surgeon General of Rock (© The D) would definitely have had to issue a warning had he been present.

The jam itself had something of an off-kilter topsy-turvy affair - I got up again with Sid on banjo straight away, rather than his usual last song of the night type shebang, and that was very entertaining (if a little confusing at times eg when dropping the chord chart woops). Lots of friendly faces in attendance, as usual, and everyone played their socks off. Sadly the end of the jam was a little rushed - again due to a large influx of jammers near the end. As much as I feel quite guilty getting to play for several songs of the night, when some people only get one (jamband perks I guess) - it remains one of the facts of jam life that people will turn up at 9 o'clock when the jam has already been going for half an hour, and expect to get a decent play. Shame really as it makes Gaz's job a total nightmare to get everyone on. Never mind - all in all a tip top night and a fun way to say hello back to Pendragon. Bonjour indeed.

LOF started well but had tailed off by the end of the night sadly. Still in love with Pandora...

Funkydory - The Grey Horse, Kingston - Monday, 11 April 2005

Another barnstorming gig for Funkydory on Saturday at the Grey Horse - what a fantastic night! For starters, the crowd was great, plenty of people along (nice to see so many friendly faces, thank you all for coming along!) and very appreciative they were too. We had a mini film crew down to film us playing during the first set (again for Lorna's driving test shebang!) - which was really cool, although it meant we put most of our strongest material in the first set, which gave the gig something of a lop-sided feel. That said, opening with two originals back to back was a good buzz, and everyone in the band played great! I think highlights for me were all the originals (we've recorded some of these, keep an eye on the forthcoming funkydory website towards the end of the week for mp3 downloads!) - also Layla and Stormy Monday went down well - Drowning in a Sea of Love was also pretty good. Above all, this was just a really good fun gig and a very pleasant way to spend an evening. Difficult to top!

LOF was excellent (both quantity and quality), Pendragon felt beautiful, the tone gods had some kind of short-sighted spectacles on (sounded crap on stage but apparently great out front), and also thanks to Red Rocket Mike we were using some nice powered cabs which to be honest sound much better than our regular ones. A while until the next funkydory gig in the diary, so we'll be busy making calls and booking more shortly. In the meantime, we've got several rehearsals booked, lots of ideas for new material, and a website to build. Bring it on!

Still in love with Pandora...

JOL - The Bell at Ash, Somerset - Tuesday, 5 April 2005

Sunday's merry olde jaunte was down into the deep south of somerset, or summerset as it shud be spelt, for another new gig with John O'Weary, this time at a pub called The Bell, in a delightful little town called Ash. Since this was situated in close proximity to Yeovil Aerodrome (which was properly policed, fortunately) we had the good fortune of being able to drive past Stonehenge, which any informed readers will know is only a mile or so away from Woodhenge (deceased). A fantastic hawaiian shirt fuelled drive down through the summer (aka spring) sun with cruise control set to stun, the lunachick engrossed in her book in the back, us talking crap in the front, and another joyous disc of comedy tunes courtesy of DJ Cearar (© PD Enterprises) made for high spirits by the time we arrived at the venue...

The pub itself, being quite literally "the only pub in the village", was a very nice little place out in the countryside, and being another do with a music room "out back" I wasn't really sure how the evening would go. In the end it was something of a ying to saturday's yang - we had Roger Innis on bass for the first time, who was absolutely awesome as it turned out, and also thanks to a speaker based issue we used John's powered monitors as the FOH, and one of the regular cabs as a monitor. Although this inspired some stress induced flapping, in reality this had the combined effect of two good things - firstly we weren't deafened by the monitors (result) and secondly the sound quality out front was greatly improved (result) - good enough that a few people commented on how good the sound was... (result squared!). Actually the sound for the whole room was superb - the tone gods were smiling on both Duoverbs on stage, everyone played really well, both John and Lorna's voices sounded superb, and it wasn't too loud either. All in all an absolutely blinding gig really!

Post gig we settled down for some hearty sausage sandwhiches, and some efficient humour and biology lessons, before jumping bum-long into my wagon and setting sail up the A303. To be honest, it being nearly 2 am when we set off, I was flagging big time, and it was a pretty wearysome drive back. Consequently we set about getting the regulation dedication on Radio 2 - this time from Janice Long, who I should mention also got an ironic "man of the match" medal for playing love shack right after our dedication! Perfect! As my fellow travellers drifted off to snoozeland, Classic FM it was, cruise control at 90, and we rolled into 219SR at about 3.40am - just in time to splutter and cough to sleep before getting up for work at 7am. A fun, if candle-burning-at-both-ends-ular, way to spend a sunday night!

Still in love with Pandora!

JOL - Jack Beard's Blues, Tooting - Sunday, 3 April 2005

Last night, the JOL express made a passing stop in Tooting at new venue, Jack Beard's Blues Bar. Actually, It's not really a blues bar per se, more of a standard PF production type thing, a pub with a music room "out back", door deal type thing. Myself and my esteemed colleague French Marc set off from 219SR at about 7ish, a nice easy drive to the venue, and we were set up by 8.30pm - bonza! Cut forward a few hours and when I got home, I asked Caesar how many people were at his Punchmonkey gig in Windsor... 60 was his reply. Well, that's 58 more than we had at the start of the night! To be fair, both members of the audience clapped enthusiastically at the end of our first number, so all was not lost... And also in fairness, it did "fill up" slightly towards the end of the night, perhaps 15 or 20 people? Either way, I thought the band played pretty well, French Marc in particular (in new "I don't use a pick any more" mode), although I didn't feel particularly happy with or inspired by my own playing. Number of reasons I suppose - could be this cold and sore throat I have at the moment, perhaps because I felt we could do with some more material to add to the set? Who knows? Anyhoo, post gig a leisurely tear down and we were on our merry way! Home James! And don't spare any of those beautiful swedish horses!

LOF zero (nul points) sadly...

fREAK-1-C - Fox & Pheasant Jam Session - Friday, 1 April 2005

Last night's wondrous venture out west was a trip to The Fox and Pheasant in West Drayton, to stand in for Caesar and play guitar with local goat farmers, fREAK-1-C. After a probably red ken induced traffic jam on the A4, and a late one at work, it was one of those "straight to the jam" nights. This wasn't so much of a problem thanks to the lunachick and french marc, who arrived fresh from 219SR, with SAAAM2, a fresh shirt, and a bowl of chicken wings. And delicious ones at that...

Getting to impersonate Caesar was fun although I had some kind of Pendragon based tuning issue, largely because I changed the strings on it, not the RMG himself. Never mind! It's fair to say that, other than the freak songs and the quasi funkydory mini set, I was utterly lost all night and played the guitar quite literally like a bag of spanners. I found out (the hard way) that no, black velvet isn't "just a blues", and that no, I don't know any madonna songs, or maroon 5, or tracey chapman. Sorry about that Holly and sorry Cindi... come back RMG the human jukebox! All is forgiven! Other than that the evening was great. The tone gods were sort of in attendance although it was all so loud it was a bit hard to tell really. PPSMC was in attendance, along with some fillies whose names escape me, but who played at the end. If we were in on the other side of the world, some businessman would probably buy my guitar off me now for sniffing purposes, now that it's been played by a 17yr old blonde. Fortunately for me, we're not, so I get to keep the guitar. Result! Also in attendance were the usual band of merry funsters, aka Rob, Toni, EVS, Andy etc etc etc having much mirthular entertainment. All in all a fun night! LOF definitely better than the woodman.

Roadhouse - The Red Lion, High Wycombe - Wednesday, 30 March 2005

Last night was Roadhouse's inaugural gig at The Red Lion in High Wycombe - a nice looking pub really, with very friendly staff and a nice atmosphere. Considering it was a dingy wet tuesday night, and our first night in a new venue, I must be honest and say I wasn't expecting the gig to add up to much really... However, as usual I was bang wrong, and it turned out great! There was a film crew in attendance to catch the lunachick, who is currently being filmed learning to drive for a forthcoming BBC series... they needed some extra curric-ular footage, and so along they trotted to the gig! Deeply entertaining all round, and prompting much posing and antics from all concerned. I even brushed my hair "and everything" - despite the fact that they only filmed the first few songs, I hope they got some decent footage! Fortunately there was more room at this gig than Sunday's and Gaz luckily had plenty of room to move back and forth, meaning we weren't completely lost (along the way etc etc etc) in No Place To Hide. Result and much backslapping all round. I made the most of my additional square foot of stage space by tapdancing along to Roger's drum solo, although I don't think anyone noticed. Post gig, we sold a few CDs, hopped in my Saab and literally chipped off home. A surprisingly good night and wouldn't be surprised if we play there again!

In attendance was Photographer Richard and co. (nice to see you), Alan Harvey (!) (nice to see you), RISO salesman John who unsuccesfully tried selling the company I work for a new RISO machine the other week (nice to see you), and a few other people with familiar faces but forgotten names. Great! Special commiserations should go to Alan Harvey in particular who I understand is considering swapping his beautiful Saab 9-5 in PX for a Ford Mondeo! For heaven's sake man! What are you thinking?!?! But by way of contradiction, Ford Mondeo's are quite good and probably cost less to maintain, insure, and more importantly refuel. Good move Alan!

LOF straight down the middle on a 5, still in love with Pandora. Cha-ching!

Roadhouse, The Hope Tavern, Holton-le-moor - Monday, 28 March 2005

So, a nice lie in gave way to a lunchtime and exceptionally hungry drive from Peterborough up to Holton Le Moor, where we were due to play from 4 until 6. We got there at about 1.30, and ate quite possibly the nicest roast lunch I have had in donkeys years! It's fair to say, once again the diet shot through the window and I indulged myself literally like Henry VIII (but without the wives) - delicious!

Once the band had finished chowing down, it dawned on me just how small the stage setup area was... Smaller in fact than Peterborough, which I had previously thought impossible. Roger's drumkit took up more or less the entire stage, with myself acting as a bookend, tripping over my amp and set up right in front of Bill. Lorna and Anne squeezed into a space about 18 inches deep in front of Roger (Lorna making a point of "accidentally" headbutting any object available... my headstock, Roger's cymbals, her mic, all fair game...) - leaving Gary, as bandleader, to wallow as usual in relative luxury, having as usual staked an early and efficient claim to the entire right hand side of the stage. It's fair to say that standing on top of your amp like that makes adjusting your tone nigh on impossible, as all the top end response gets lost as you move away to the side of the speaker. Never mind... I was happy with my playing (notewise) really, it was just like looking at the tone gods in soft focus, or as if you'd left your contact lenses at home. Ho hum!

The pub itself had a nice ambience, a good audience, and tasty fruit juice. No taxi de mama service on this occasion, so J2O it was... a fine gig really, and would enjoy playing there again. Although next time I might get there really early and set up on the other side of the stage, just for once, both to irritate Gaz and to "see how the other half live"... LOF was like watching a potentially not bad film in 16:9 when it should have been in 4:3... if you catch my drift. Still in love with Pandora.

Roadhouse, Charters Bar, Peterborough - Monday, 28 March 2005

Saturday night was another trip up to sunny Peterborough for another giglet at the Blues on the Boat. You may recall last time we played there was the night after the infamous Cider Shed "sleeping on the bar" night, where myself, Caesar and the Lunachick had stayed up silly late indulging in much silly drinking and general tomfoolery, causing immense hangover distress and wobbliness. Well, I can report that even while sober as a judge, the barge still seems to have a few "staying still" issues, and was rocking and rolling quite literally like a ship on high seas. We arrived at about 8pm having had a nice trip up the A1, and once again found the place absolutely packed. Good initial LOF too - however in true Charters style, since you don't start playing until 11pm, the audience had dwindled somewhat by showtime! Nevertheless we set about the task in hand and played a rather perfunctory set. The tone gods were notable in their absence, and I was not happy with my playing "at all", but we got there in the end. Both Gary and myself were lucky enough to break strings during the gig, which rendered Pendragon's performance brief but nevertheless notable. Nice guitar. It was nice to see Ray and Nicky who had come along with a bunch of their mates, all the way from Lincoln, in fact all the way from within 8 miles of Sunday's venue! Sorry about that! I will have to deputise my LOF judgement to Lorna who spied a clear 9, however due to playing with my eyes closed, and being unaided by a bright stage light in my face, I cannot confirm the actual exact LOFness. Never mind eh. Post gig, pack down and head to the nearest travelodge for late night debrief, dancing and cocktails before hitting the sack in anticipation of the next day's gig up in Holton Le Moor. Bring it on!

Roadhouse, Woodman Jam - Friday, 25 March 2005

Last night was a jamtastic easter celebration at the Woodman - another random "expect it to be quiet and it turns out to be boshed" kind of affairs! Brilliant! I played the jackocaster for the first time in a while which was pretty cool, and due to a shortage of rhythm section jammers got to play some bass too! A hasty funkydory-esque song with the lunachick and french marc, with Andy Cortes on bass too (!) was fun! Post jam, back for a fantastic all night debrief featuring such luminaries as Russ and Miranda, Hog, Ladies-man Mike Stoner, Lou and Phil, French Marc and Nicole, Lise, Selinageek, and honky tonk "pointy headstock matey" Danny Gwilym too! What a great night all round! Jam LOF exceptional as well, 8 perhaps. Still in love with Pandora.

fREAK-1-C, The Archway Tavern, Highgate - Tuesday, 22 March 2005

Last night I had a deeply enjoyable Ian Jam Production shebang up in Highgate. Pretending to be sound engineer for the night, myself and Caesar took off into the rush hour traffic, nelly beeping and buzzing and dictating to us all the way. It's fair to say I was only really "going along for the crack" - the state of the original music scene in London is such that these 4 band on a night, no money, no audience, expensive drinks, nightmare to park, generally unpleasant affairs seem to be the norm rather than the exception. Rather depressing to be honest, but that said the evening was not without redemption. Namely in the form of "Planet of Women", one of the other support bands who elevated the LOF from a zero to a highly localised 9. Marvellous entertainment to be sure although I wasn't wholly convinced by their singing ability. For my money, Nadie does a much better job of the Joplin-esque rock stuff! The headline band were called Tigerstripe or Thunderbadger or something, and had come all the way from Ireland. The soundcheck wasn't bad, and they had nice gear (not that Caesar approved), and I was looking forward to their set, having been assured that they had a big following and therefore the joint would be packed. As it was, I was ultimately the winner of the 219SR sweepstake, my audience guess of 12 being the most accurate (vs 5, Caesar, and 8, Lunachick). I will be careful not to spend my £3 winnings all at once!

I should also say that for the size of the venue, the PA was pretty much overkill - although that said I had a great time when I got to steer the ship... Warp Factor 9 Mr Sulu!!! Indeed it was great, all going swimmingly until the ultra-EQ dishwasher digitizer ultra-curve FX1 unit in the rack decided to crash (FATAL ERROR FATAL ERROR) resulting in a moment of PA death for all concerned. Never mind, it came back online shortly and all was rosy... Thanks and kudos to friendly Irish matey who owned the PA anyway.

Again some minor letchery and the RMG accompanied me back in my beautiful Saab to literally get the hell out of there, to go home and stay out of trouble, have an early night etc etc etc

All things considered, it was really a largely entertaining, if utterly pointless, evening. Tonight, the Robin Bibi Jam at the Grey Horse! Fantastic!

JOL, Wallasey Private Party - Sunday, 20 March 2005

Last night was another long distance jaunt, this time to New Brighton, which is past Birkenhead right at the top bit by Liverpool but on the other side of the river. A beautiful morning greeted London and myself, Caesar and the Lunachick hopped in the mighty tardis and began nellying our way north at about noon (after some minor mog retrieval mission) - with the sun beating down we laughed at "crystal ball Caesar" insisting to bring his coat... well it might be snowing in the north etc etc.

Lunch at Cherwell Valley, as usual, then M42 M6 toll road (snigger) M6, and then a minor detour via liverpool to see PENNY LANE! The world famous Penny Lane! According to nelly there are actually two penny lanes in liverpool, so it was quite a result that we found the right one. To be honest it's just a lane, there were no pennies on it, and nary a barber showing photographs in sight! Rubbish! And also no signs to Strawberry fields either. But never mind, we did our bit, and played Paperback Writer (the origin of Heavy Rock © Caesar 5150) at top volume with the windows down. Marvellous!

On to the gig, where we arrived in uber efficient time at about 6pm to find all the PA already set up! Nice one John! All the better since the load in was a complete bastard! The occasion was Neil's 50th Birthday party, and to be honest I was not entirely sure what to expect from the gig... After setting up (and being amused by Caesar's "out-knowledging" Joachim about Queen, we went for a wander to the sea front to admire the cormorants and local nature etc - very nice it was indeed, I must say. We can only imagine the turmoil the community will be in if evil Morrisons get their way! Crikey!

Anyway, a brisk walk back and we were ready to play at 8pm. It's fair to say the assembled masses were not really interested in much of what we had to do for the first set, apart from a few hardcore listeners. It was a funny experience - I like bouncing off the energy from an audience and there wasn't a whole lot happening at first. Harking back to the days of the South's Premiere Show Band © really... Lorna hopped aboard and we did I Wish, It's Your Thing, and something else the eludes me - and it was great! She was in top voice and was doing a great job of whipping the audience into a frenzy, so to be honest I was a little surprised to end the first set with Who's Been Talking followed by Little by Little (by little bit more). Never mind though, we won them over in the end! A spot of dinner (actually, way too much, 100,000 calories worth or something, like an Elvis Superburger) and then it was back on.

Now ladies and gentlemen, the 2nd set was officially a roller coaster for the audience. Perhaps not The Pepsi Big One at Blackpool, but certainly the Runaway Train at Chessington. From quick to slow, up to down, all tastes were catered for. Highlight of the night I'm afraid must however be awarded to Caesar, who along with Lorna performed yet another authoritative take on Love Shack. Fantastic it was! Well, it roused the ladyyyyy contingent from their seats, definitely, so that is clearly a good thing! Also worth mention was Joachim's drum solo which again had the crowd barking like dogs. Marvellous!

Post gig, we packed the gear down, jostled around a bit, then set off finally at about 12.30am. Now ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I must confess, I was quite sleepy. With the Lunachick drifting off to nodland pretty sharpish, and Classic FM playing on the stereo, cruise at 88 (libyans, see if you can do 90 etc etc etc), Caesar (who was also periodically flirting with zzzz's (not unsorted)) decided it would be a good idea to text in Radio 2. We needed a dedication dammit! And that's what we got! Fantastic. Also pleased to note that Radio 2's entire listenership to Helen Mayhew at 3.30am on a Sunday morning consists of gigging musicians on their way home! Brilliant!

Finally arrived home at about 5.15am - a nice JD and coke and then hit the sack. Reesult and what a fun night! LOPJBF 8, still in love with Pandora.

JOL, Alexander's, Chester - Friday, 18 March 2005

Last night's long distance jamboree was the John O'Leary Band's third appearance at Alexanders in Chester. I set off with French Marc at about 2 from 219SR, in the taxi de mama vw tourbus, and we had a pretty easy drive up, Big Bertha style, arriving at the venue at about 7ish to find John had already done the PA and was settled in. Das efficientkab was not far behind us, with Nick the Accountant and Joachim the Drummer quite literally "bringing up the rear". The actual gig got underway at about 9.30, by which time the initial audience of zero had swelled to about 30 - including Nina G who had come all the way from Chorlton Cum Hardy! Fantastic! It's fair to say that both myself and french marc were making good use of the facilities available to us (ie the bar) and were quite well oiled before we started playing. This made for very entertaining playing indeed, I really thought everyone was on good form and almost literally played their socks off. The tone gods were smiling and Pendragon sounded great!

Post gig, thanks to self elimination, my mum was official taxi driver which was ace! Despite some minor illness from Marc, and a brief stop for the de rigeur 4.45am fry up at Cherwell Valley services, we pulled up at 219SR at 6am on the nose. Marvellous! Yawn! Which leaves me here after about 3 and a half hours sleep, gig reporting at my leisure, about to chow some fruit juice and then back to bed for a bit. Morockan Soul tonight at the Red Lion, Twickenham, then a trip up to Merseyside tomorrow! Reeesult! Still in love with Pandora.

Funkydory, Duke of Edinburgh, Barrow in Furness - Saturday, 12 March 2005

Last night was Funkydory's SECOND EVER GIG! And what a corker it was too. In fact, it was so corking, I've only just got home and it's 8 o'clock!!! Not that that's such a great indicator of how good the gig was but you get the idea. Myself, Lorna and Marc set off in convoy, Long Distance Clara style, up the M40 to hook up with Fox and Pumperloaf at Oxford Services. The journey was great up to this point although it'd be fair to say the quality dropped off quite considerably once we hit the M6! A very exuberant Hayden shot off into the distance (showing off max power like flared wheelarches on his top gun mondeo), literally not to be seen again for a long time! The sedate group of convoyeurs (ie the rest of us) overtook him on the M6 toll road, and got a phone call an hour later saying he had a flat tyre! Doh! Some lunachick/phone/AA/rescue shenanigans later and he was on the road. Albeit 2 hours behind the rest of us, who had merrily (or not so) been cruising up from jam to jam, playing spot the traffic cone and I spy etc etc etc "are we nearly there yet" etc etc etc "need to go pee" etc etc etc. We arrived in record time (hmmm) in Barrow at something like 7.30pm having left at 10.45am. Niiiice! It must be said that on arrival, a small distant corner of my brain was wondering whether the gig would really be worth driving all this way for?

In the end though, the answer was a very big neon lit YES, as it was superb! All the more so considering it was our second ever gig. We dropped a couple of songs since the first one, and added another new one called Long Time Coming which is ace, and I think we need to record soon (are you actually interested in all this detail?!!?!?!) - overall the sound was great (for the 1st set at least) and everyone was in really good form. As we commented heartily to each other post gig, like the civil individuals we so clearly are, perhaps the biggest buzz of the night was that our original material seemed to get a better response than the covers... great!

Post gig, it was refreshing to have accomodation provided (refreshing both in a living in a fridge type manner and also because it's unusual) - and after much tasty JD and coke-ular fuelled shenanigans and stitch ups, it was off to the land of nod. Rock and roll indeed!

Wake up saturday, load up, greasy spoon, hightail it darn sarfffff and here I am! Fantastique!!!! LOF better than thursday, perhaps a 6.5, have suspicions Pandora is having an affair with the tone gods. They were both blushing.

Roadhouse, Woodman Jam - Saturday, 12 March 2005

In keeping with my current office environment in dayjob-world, thursday night's theme for me was "grumpy". A tough and hectic day at work, followed by a rubbish drive over to staines to pick up the famous Rough Justice PA, followed by a rubbish drive to 219SR to pick up my gear, followed by a rubbish drive to the Woodman, meant that by the time I got there I would to be honest have rather been at home watching Eastenders. To then get to the pub and find the "helpful" furniture removal people had left a chair in front of where my amp normally goes was just the icing on the top of the cherry bakewell, but without the cherry. So I was a grumpy miserable ole' bastard for a bit, and then we started playing. Not a bad little roadhouse set really, I quite enjoyed Sacrifice, I must say. The tone gods were definitely in attendance (I had them on loan from Caesar, I understand) and all was going great. We had a mini funkydory moment with French Marc and Fox joining the lunachick and myself. I can't remember what we played but I imagine it was probably funky! Hang on, we played I wish and It's your thing, I've just been reliably informed. Special mention must be made of Marc's incredible amazing string breaking technique, which resulted in both myself and Gary going home feeling slightly one-string-deficient. Ho hum! Good excuse for new ones on Friday! Late night Sid on the banjo moment was entertaining and then it was off into the night for a spoonful of sugar chim chiminee chim chineee etc etc etc. Lof v low due to no non-musicians in attendance, still in love with Pandora.

JOL - Grey Horse, Kingston - Monday, 7 March 2005

Saturday was a JOL gig in Kingston. I was feeling a bit ropy by showtime if we're being honest, tho still I thought the band played well. A slightly more quiet night than recent gigs at the Grey Horse, maybe 35 or so people there, but still the band played well. Silvio especially played a blinder, love his playing! LOF low sadly tho tone gods were smiling. Volume gods had sort of barged the party which is a shame!

Roadhouse - Running Horse, Nottingham - Monday, 7 March 2005

Friday night saw Roadhouse hit the Running Horse in Nottingham. Lorna and I joined Bill in his mighty billmobile transit at busy mike's house, and arrived at the venue at something like 6ish, a nice relaxed set up followed by a lovely bit of chicken was great. Sadly there was an accomodation snafu via the gift of a communication breakdown between myself, Gary and Barry the landlord, so the usual staying in the flat above the venue wasn't a goer! Bummer although later on it did make for much amusement and antics. I did the usual mixing my drinks nonsense and coupled with the late night and what I am sure was a dodgy chicken burger (not having much luck with food lately!) meant I was something of an ill wreck throughout the following day! Musically the gig was great - I played Merlin again and am getting more used to it. Still wish I'd bought it with 22 frets though instead of 24... Everyone was in good form and we had a blast! Looking forward to playing there again. barLOF good tho Lorna held in better favour than I from the away perspective! Still in love with Pandora.

John O'Leary - Bulls Head Barnes - Tuesday, 1 March 2005

Last night's gig was the Bulls Head in Barnes, with Uncle Jonas of O'Learyshire and his band of merry men. We had a great time, thanks to the Taxi de Caesar service I was reasonably well oiled by "showtime" - having had a delicious thai dinner (mild? right...) and a couple of glasses of nice, if overpriced, merlot. Tonight I once again played Merlin (because it's got all the strings on it!) and it sounded lovely! A marked difference to saturdays gig! The tone gods were definitely in attendance. Once again Sylvio played a blinder, and Joachim was on top very efficient form. The Rantmaster General was playing as well and had a very fluid sound, and played lots of nice guitar, although his slow blues solo while good did not quite reach the giddy heights of his slow blues in G solo in Belgium back in 2003 (did I ever tell you about that?). I believe John to have been in good voice as well. I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't say that the gig was woefully malattended (although actually that's not quite the case, there were a few people there, my mum, the lunachick, lou, george perkins plus family, joe hollywood's dad who I hadn't seen for ages, bean from never the bride, a few others, it wasn't that bad) - also the usual bulls head volume throttling was pretty annoying, although actually onec we'd got into the swing of things, it wasn't that bad. Post gig, a minor JD-ular debrief back at 219SR, an early breakfast snack, and straight to bed to try and stay out of trouble. A marvellous monday night out!

Roadhouse - Grove Tavern - Tuesday, 1 March 2005

I seem to have inadvertantly deleted my gig report for Saturday's gig... so in brief, we had pumperloaf on drums sitting in for a poorly Roger, no Lorna (poorly at home), and Drew Barron sitting in to supplement a poorly Gaz. The theme: "poorly"! Caesar came down, drank 5 pints of guiness, nearly fell asleep, joined us for a particularly ropy version of Oye Como Va, then fell asleep on the way home, but not before confusing the man in the petrol station by running in and asking for some "marlboro silver" for the lunachick, then running out again at pace... Danny G was in attendance as were Mama F and Phil. The music was not bad, occasionally a bit of a mush with 3 guitars to be honest, but we got there in the end. The tone gods were in attendance although Merlin wasn't feeling very vocal and just didn't want to sustain at all... Lof zero (sadly), gig met with muted appreciation at best from the largely apathetic locals! If I find my original gig report I will repost it here!

Roadhouse - Fox and Hounds, Carshalton - Monday, 28 February 2005

Cancelled at last minute due to illness! So pootled on my computer, drank JD and coke, and had an early night instead! Marvellous!

Roadhouse - Woodman Jam - Friday, 25 February 2005

Last night's winter wonderland jam was the first in a while, but good fun indeed it was! I can't say I'm a big fan of having all the furniture on stage while we play, it makes it a lot more crowded and has put the kybosh on us ever having keyboards or percussion there again. Bummer! But on the plus side, it does mean our infamous toga jam (where we recline in comfort and get fed grapes) now has a green light... Rog had flu sadly so Frank Dymore stepped in at the last minute to cover the drum chair - to be honest I didn't think our opening roadhouse set was really happening; the acoustics of the stage have changed dramatically with all the soft furniture stacked either side of it, so the tone gods were (I can only presume) snowed under in kent or something, at least to begin with. Also Lorna was on top choketastic form during stormy! Later on though French Marc, who had sold us a dummy due to having been booked for a double booked gig, joined us for some pretend Funkydory action. Much fun indeed! A good time was had by all! We played I wish and Ain't no sunshine, which were both ace! The tone gods had happily put chains on their wheels and scaled the giddy heights of wimbledon moor, just in time to make an appearance here. Pendragon sounded nice! I should also mention here that the draft 1664 was very very off indeed, yet scottish matey that runs the bar wasn't having any of it, insisting it was a new barrel and so was fine, leaving me no choice but to move to bud from a bottle. Methinks it's pretty poor form to have a bar manager that can't even tell if his drinks are off or not!!!! So, sorry Woodman, you lose, big minus points there!!! Lots of people in attendance, Awesome Tony and a posse of friends of his (including barbarella on vox!), Danny G (on top shredtastic form), Terry "scares me" Brennan, Nick the accountant, all the regulars really! Top night all round, followed by some quality Partridge action back at 219SR! LOF 7.5 - still in love with Pandora.

Roadhouse - belgian/dutch tour pt4 - Spijkenisse - Monday, 21 February 2005

The last day of tour, a lazy morning wake up and delicious breakfast at the hotel (Lemon Tea - how nice is that!?!? Hadn't had any for ages!), and then we set off, convoy style, for our afternoon gig at the Cafe De Keizer, in Spijkenisse, Holland. A mere 48 miles away, our drive was uneventful! For those in TWVOD, however, it was another matter altogether. When Lorna and I pulled up after an hour, we were aware that our "we're overtaking you and tuning off so follow us" maneuvre had been somewhat misunderstood by Rog the Bus Driver, and so after an hour and a bit of trying to contact them by phone, it's fair to see we were a little concerned! All over nothing as it turns out, it was all because "the exit lanes on dutch motorways are too long" (@copy 2005 R. Hunt Enterprises) - aka a mild GPS error! Anyway, they arrived in the end, and we set about getting the gear set up. The health jinx once again reared it's ugly head as due to a photographic pose slash carrying equipment juxtaposition resulted in Anne taking a tumble and hurting her knees pretty badly. Consequently for the gig she assumed a storytelling pose on a stool (ie Vallerie Hooligan style) - anyway despite a no show from the promotor (curious!), and a pretty empty pub to begin with, the gig actually turned into a belter.

The tone gods were late in arriving however a Tubescreamer/Timtone swapout (in TT's favour) resulted in some screaming Jackocaster action, and for the first time all weekend I was lucky enough to break a string! Result! Pendragon it was for the second set, and she was really singing! 3 Encores later and we were finally allowed to leave the stage, load the van, and munch on some fantastic Chicken Satay skewers (along with regulation chips and mayo since we were in the netherlands!). It was really cool again to see Jo (friday's promotor) and Robin, who was showing off a number trophy most proudly (congratulations on the bet mate!) - all in all a top top gig!

And so with that, we headed off, under Nelly guidance, for the Channel Tunnel port... 148 miles, and I must say I think Nelly had been smoking the funny stuff as her route was very odd! She seemed to develop an odd aversion to motorways, and with the dutch speed limits being comedically slow, it meant the journey took a little longer than perhaps it needed to. Never mind, it meant more time to listen to BB King live at Cook County Jail (awesome), Miles Davis Kind of Blue (awesome), the Allman Brothers first album (awesome) - and we pitched up in Calais at 11pm exactly, to find that there were no trains before our booked one at 1.40am - doh! So, coffee, pain aux raisins, some sleep, and there we were... on board and heading back to Blighty. Classic FM did the trick and I was home and tucked up by 3am - not quite early enough for me to classify as "staying out of trouble", but yet once again I found myself falling asleep with a big grin on my face and reflecting on a succesful and fun tour!

Still in love with Pandora!

Roadhouse - belgian tour pt3 - St Lenaarts - Monday, 21 February 2005

Good old Saturday morning, bells were ringing everywhere (except on my door, for some reason unbeknownst to me!?), and I woke up at about noon, to once again hear the sweet sounds of Bill "roomie-ish" Hobley's favourite new band "Busted" reverberating throughout the hotel. It turns out, the rest of Roadhouse are now in on the act and were chanting along to one of their hits when balance was restored to the Roadhouse camp over in St Lenaarts. The drive over was indeed uneventful, and after a very delicious Omelette in a local restaurant, where the lunachick got to indulge her vandalistic fantasies, we headed back to the hotel to recharge a few more batteries and freshen up.

After slipping into something a bit more comfortable for the show, we loaded up the tour bus and hopped along in St Lenaarts, where we had been booked to play the Willem Tell Blues Club. A very cosy little place, not much bigger than the Bulls Head, but marked during set up by an exceptionally helpful in-house sound engineer, and also the complete absence of any spirits or wine from the menu, apart from something called Geneva (?) which appears to be a strange vodka substitute. I can however confirm that it goes very well with coke, and when mixed with red wine, and later on some beer, it is much better and holding back the hangover than vodka or perhaps JD would be. Given the nod by the friendly guy who owned the joint, we retired to the kitchen where once again a fantastic feast was provided. This time, delicious soup to start (which I can also confirm, utterly spanks pot noodle minestrone) followed by a kind of mince and veg and things main course. Lovely! Also, we managed to barter for 2 bottles of red wine from the owners own collection, which was tasty as could be! A very nice merlot with a very "snazzy bouquet", as you might put it (were you a poncy poet).

It's always a joy emerging from backstage (or the kitchen in this instance) to find a venue has transformed from an empty bar with a load of expensive gear in it, into an excellent smoky juke joint, complete with many bearded scary biker types, and a tent erected outside with a barbeque in it. Awesome!

As soon as we started playing I noticed that my friends Helski and Jenski, who I met at new year, had made it to the gig! Awesome and nice to see you there (so now you know, I'm not *really* a pissed skiing idiot joker)! The gig itself was not bad - the tone gods weren't really happening, which was curious, and once again the second set was marred slightly by feeling a tiny bit sleepy, but it was certainly better than Friday's had been. The thing that really sticks out for me about this gig was just how many guys there were there taking photos! Many! Click click snap snap all the way through the gig! Hopefully some of them will be sent to me so I can put them up here on the site... but for a fleeting moment I almost felt like I was being watched by the musical papparazzi hoi polloi! It was great! Anyway we did a decent Oye Como Va tonight, and a good Couldn't Get To Sleep as well. Not a bad Slip Away either, and if I recall we did a quite happening version of Lost Along The Way, that had los belgiques tapping their toes by the dozen! I opined that Lorna's voice was certainly on the mend tonight, I thought she did a really good job. Thinking of that, I forgot to mention actually how well Anne did, covering Lorna's parts as well as her own, on Thursday night while we were all ill! Kudos!

Post gig, a very efficient tear down of the gear, go outside to get the van, to see about 4 inches of snow had settled! What a beautiful sight it was! And quite by surprise too! The red wine however was a great insulator and we braved the cold (unheated) seats to head back to the hotel, where quite literally I did fall straight to sleep and "stay out of trouble"...

Roadhouse - belgian tour pt2 - Mol - Monday, 21 February 2005

Friday morning, and I was met with a greatly improved state of mind! Whatever ailments the cheese rind horror had inflicted on my belly were turning to memory quicker than I could say antidisestablishmentareanism - and so, a quick shower and then to breakfast. It's fair to say that Lorna, with her slighter frame, had taken a bit more of a beating from the illness, and was still pretty rough on friday morning. Some ill advised chasing of a dog, in a kind of sock retrieval mission, wasn't doing the best for her either! That said, a nice breakfast of hard boiled egg, toast, and hot chocolate, set us up nicely for the day. Once Mr Grumpy had risen from his chamber of grumpiness and grumpily chowed down his breakfast, we headed over to the hall and began packing the gear down... My heart leapt with joy at being reunited with my beautiful Saab, safe and sound despite being left outside the venue overnight, and she bore us gracefully on Deinze, were Lorna and I had arranged to say hi to Dominique Vantomme, excellent keyboard player on the John's album. We dropped off some CDs and had a mirthful chat, all too briefly sadly, before Dominique had to head out of town. Then on to Piens, that genius music shop which is now complete with spangly car park, lots of expensive guitars, and blonde shop attendants that ignore you at the counter! Marvellous! I bought two XLR cables, and Lorna picked up a tambourine... A quick hi to Luc, aka "Mr Guitar Department", and we were literally on the road again.

The gig was, again thanks to Nelly, simple to find, and was a music bar called Cafe Meulenberg, in a little town called Mol, close to halfway between Antwerp and Eindhoven. One of the many things that struck me during this journey was just how brilliant GPS units are (when they work properly!) - I don't know how people get by without them! I suppose you could always read a map.

Once we'd set up, as is the usual manner abroad we were provided with a generous meal, starting with a potato croquette and some viciously spicy red stuff (cunningly disguised as thousand island dressing), followed by a really nice beef stew... delicious indeed! It's fair to say that, still feeling a bit jaded and poorly, the post meal waiting around would normally have been punctuated by some nonsense and typical touring "antics" - usually to be ascribed to the first few beers of the night. As it goes, we were rather sad and sat around talking about inconsequential drivel, in between wondering with the Lunachick if we were actually better "at all", and was the returning queasiness due to another dodgy and supposedly obvious food blunder (ie "no of course you're not supposed to eat the lettuce, it's plastic") - or was it just that we were still ill and not fully recovered yet? Who knows. Anyway, on with the gig - and the first set was a corker. Musically I recall a good version of Sacrifice, that was a hit with Bobtje straight away, and also a good Not Fade Away. I was pretty happy with my playing during this set, the tone gods were happy to be seeing somewhere new and were even taking a few snapshots for the family albums back on Tone Boulevard, Mt Olympus. Second set however, the red wine and beers were beginning to flow, and everyone was happy, particularly the audience, but I didn't think the playing was too good. To be honest I was feeling pretty tired at this point, and just in need of a shower and early night - it would have been a good night to just "stay out of trouble". We did an OK Stormy Monday tho, along with a pretty lacklustre Oye Como Va, but a fun Preacher Man encore that seemed even to rouse the most hardcore of hardcore blues lovers into appreciation. All in all, a good gig given the circumstances of the previous night.

Once we'd stopped playing, sold CDs, packed down the gear, and had a few more drinks, it was straight back to the hotel, where once again we had some sterling accomodation provided. The saggiest beds known to man, and also the crappiest mist shower you have ever seen as well. Considering how good the showers were in Menen, this one was a poor substitute! ZZZZZZZZZZ

Roadhouse - belgian tour pt1 - Menen - Monday, 21 February 2005

Well, here I am - it's Monday morning and once again I am reflecting on a superb weekend of gigs with Roadhouse, this time over in Europe. The adventure began at 10am on Thursday when my compadre Ms Reilly and myself set off from the hallowed grounds of 219 Staines Road, under nelly-guidance, for the Channel Tunnel. An easy peasy drive there meant spirits were high when we were joined by the rest of Roadhouse, in The White Van of Doom (henceforth to be known as TWVOD) - aka a well appointed Mercedes Sprinter 313 CDI Long Wheelbase (yah the TDI, dis is good engine yah etc etc). Complete with crewcab and non-working DVD player and playstation, it was quite a sight to behold. Obviously Roger's HGV experience from years gone by had helped him because he was manoevring it with all the dexterity of an essex boy in his XR2. A quick coffee and stock up on mildly entertaining music rags, and we hit the tunnel. Actually, we didn't, we queued up - and due to some kind of overbooking shenanigans - watched as TWVOD sailed off into the sunset, leaving us with "priority placement" on the next train. So much for the convoy! Never mind, our trip was as smooth as expected, special props go of course to the smily french train operator who dropped her keys between the carriages.

As we disembarked at Calais, it was a swift drive to the house of our promotor - Bobtje of Bobtje Blues fame - who lives in Ieper, just inside the Belgian border. He and his wife were most friendly and laid on a fantastic spread of cheese and cold meats for us - this was great as myself and the lunachick had eaten nothing since the day before, and so we fell upon the food like the starved musicians we were!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I can now let you into a little secret. You're not supposed to eat the rind on Belgian Cheese. Seriously! As it goes, it's actually not such a secret "apparently", although it must be secret enough that neither myself or Lorna realised! Chomp chomp and within two minutes of getting in the car, I made the observation that I wasn't feeling too good. Nor was my co-traveller... so with much grimacing and general unpleasantness, we drove in convoy up to the venue of our first gig, The Culture Centre "de Steiger" in Menen. Fortunately it was only 10 or so miles up the road - a few minutes and we were there. Now, in the past, I have gigged through illnesses on several occasions - tonsillitis, the odd cold here and there, but I will always try and do the gig. This was the first occasion where mid gig I had to pull the ripcord (and the same for Lorna).

So, the gig went on, with the band as a pure 3 piece + Anne (who was also not feeling great due to a small bit of rind-ular munching). I have to say, from the comfortable reverberations of my toilet bowl, the guys did a great job covering for us! It was a shame as it was a good venue, despite poor choice of PA placement, with a pretty much capacity crowd of perhaps 250 people. I think "quote of the night", except it's not really a quote, has to go to the belgian matey who seemed to be of the opinion that, having just heard me chucking my guts up, and enquiring about my well being, it would be a good time to start asking me about my guitars. My good man, many humble apologies if I appeared vacant, I was grieving the loss of my stomach lining...

Post gig, several more visits to the china gods, then hit the sack for a deeply unpleasant nights sleep, in what was admittedly a very comfortable hotel!

fREAK-1-C Jam, Blues Bar, West Drayton - Monday, 7 February 2005

Sunday afternoon's jam was with local taxman impersonators fREAK-1-C at the gay bar in West Drayton. I say the gay bar not because it literally is a gay bar but because I played the song at the jam and to be honest it's the first thing that springs to mind. All things considered this was a bog standard afternoon jam at this place, and I would agree with Caesar's assessment that it is something of a miracle that they continue hosting the jam each week. 5 punters in all, I think, of which 3 were stoned looking chav-types (burberry caps etc etc) and 2 were a couple having a "I'm leaving you, you cow" "waaaaa waaaa waaaa waaaaa" type exchange. For the best part of 4 hours. Hmmm. Also the major highspot of the jam was playing Buckethead's drumkit for a hamsters style "swap the instruments about" bash through Mustang Sally. Great! I am now smitten by the drums and want to get a kit for our conservatory! In fact, the lunachick has already enlisted a pumperloaf tutorial so I might piggyback my way into a corner for that! Awesome!

What else to report. Not much. I played lots of songs and French Marc was in attendance. Being happy and playing funkily through my preferred guinevere/duoverb combo. Sadly this left me with jackocaster playing through PA Paul's heap of garbage JCM900. Yuk. Tone gods turned their noses up at this extreme sign of disrespect and promptly left. I think I might need to sacrifice a Squier Combo or something later to win them back. Nice. Roll on Belgium!!!!

Roadhouse, Coach & Horses, Isleworth - Monday, 7 February 2005

Sat night was a Coach and Horses based evening. Fair to say, not a spectacularly memorable gig - tone gods on holiday, fingers not working, not feeling particularly sparky or creative, a bit of a duffer in all honesty. That said, we earnt a bit of cash and by way of contradiction again it was only a short drive home. La di da.

Morockan Soul, Red Lion - Monday, 7 February 2005

Then on to Friday night. House move day (nominally) and so was a bit sleepy by showtime. It's been ages since I went to the Red Lion and it's fair to say nothing has changed. As the RMG points out, I believe it to be the case that jam session is still cryogenically frozen in an I wish Superstition 1998-era type manner. And in keeping with that, the gig still featured regulation east-european lesbian dancing, regulation pissed idiot who knew Hendrix, regulation friendly barman bloke who bought the band a drink each, regulation (I understand) faffing from Linda pre-2nd set, and a morockan soul regulation Freebird closer that was quite cramp inducingly stonking. It's fair to say playingwise the gig was a bit crap, in my eagerness to occupy the RMG's position on stage I was wearing a similar caesar-style black shirt, and in an eery "tonight matthew I will be..." manner I had phoned him amp for his amp settings. Since we are both now dyed in the wool duoverb-lovers, and I was playing guinevere, I figured it'd be good for a laugh (even using the zakk wylde overdrive pedal). Well, try as I might to "go brutally fucking ballistic" (© 1993 Zakk Wylde) it wasn't really happening for me tonewise. Thin wafer reedy bollocks gay crap tone really. So not very happy with that. Even French Marc (who was in attendance) noted the unhappiness in his trademark style. Nick the Accountant was there, entertaining all and sundry with his dazzling wit, conversational skills, and repartee. Not to mention entertaining anecdotes. Actually that might have been Fox doing all that, I can't recall. Post gig, I jibbed on my debrief-ular commitments and headed down the atlanta highway (read: Staines Rd) to the love shack. Pleasingly, 'twas only 90 seconds to get home! Great! All in all, a fun diversion for a friday night!

JOL, Mr Kyps, Poole - Monday, 7 February 2005

Catching up on my gig reports here - last Thursday's expedition was a very happy trip to Poole for Mr Kyps' wild fandango rodeo joint with The Pope, L'Angelo Mysterioso and lots of other liggers in attendance. Riding down in my mum's mighty peoplewagon we left London at about 5 and had a RUBBISH drive. Well it wasn't that rubbish but the traffic and rain etc were a bit camp. In the end we got there at about 7.30pm (only an hour late) to find friendly matey the sound guy just setting up, and a very precise Joachim setting his drums up. Some mild chomping on onions and discussing world peace (or lack thereof) combined with a nice tasty Chinese meal, made for good pre-gig-ular entertainment. The support band (name can't remember) were not bad in a straight 12 bars kind of way, but they had loads of mates there which meant we weren't playing to an empty house! In the end our set was OK. The Pope in particular played his socks off, and Silvio on bass also played an absolutely outstanding solo, the likes of which I haven't heard played live for donkey-yonks! Post gig was a taxi-based-cab-de-mama ride up hill and down dale (again Long Distance Clara style) before finally crashing out at about 4am. We sold quite a few CDs, and also special mention must go to brown dress lapdancing bird who provided much mirth / sniggering to the stagebound hormones. As such, LOF was pretty average to be honest. Pandora was off cavorting with the Tone Gods. Bastards. A theme which was to be repeated later in the course of the weekend!

Roadhouse, Earl Spencer, Wandsworth - Thursday, 3 February 2005

A surprisingly good gig last night, as it goes. The Earl Spencer is a modern spangly "gastro-pub" (I believe that's the term) - and to be perfectly honest again I had low expectations for this gig. The last time I played an eatery was The Riverside with John O'Leary, which to be honest was a complete waste of time as the clientele were there to eat, not to listen to music. I think we gave most of them indigestion. Last night however was different, there is a restaurant downstairs as well as the music section upstairs, so anyone wishing only to eat could obviously go downstairs should they wish. In the end, we played at a pretty controlled volume (for a Roadhouse gig!), and the 20 or so people that were there all seemed to have a good time! Obviously it would have been nice to see a few more people there but such is life - the meals there were expensive (and delicious!) which I suppose attracts "a certain level of clientele" so to speak. On that subject, Bijou-minquette, 7/10 - all in all a fun night!

Roadhouse, Skegness Festival of Blues and Rock - Monday, 31 January 2005

So here we are at Monday morning and once again I am sat at my desk reflecting on an utterly superb Roadhouse weekend jaunt! Friday afternoon post work I convened with my co performer Lorna, engaged in some pizza orientated refreshment, and then hit the road. Pleasingly we managed to miss most of the Friday night silly traffic and nellyed our way cross country up hill and down dale in a long-distance clara type manner, arriving at Skeggy at 11ish. Not bad! Check in with roomie Hobley, some drinks at chateaux Gibson, the first of three viewings of Team America, and then hit the sack.

Saturday morning woke up bleary and boggle eyed to hear Bill playing some Busted on the stereo. Most entertaining! Silence was requested and thanks to hangover, observed. Straight then out the door to Jaks, the first of our two venues of the day, which was to play host to a hotly mooted Jam session. I must confess that due to a complete lack of prior advertising by the festival organisers, I expected the Jam to be an utter waste of time and something of a washout. In fact that wasn't the case "at all" - we played a set for a bit over an hour, and then there was no shortage of jammers to get up and play. A good quality jam session is a pleasure to witness when it works, and this one did indeed. Especially high points go to jumping around bass player bloke who was a total legend! I should also say that I was really pleased with the Roadhouse set, I thought we all played very well, the tone gods were certainly smiling (A freshly repotted Pendragon sounded great to my ears, and the duoverb was really singing) - Lorna's Stormy Monday moment was complete bliss, and the audience were also really into it. I was also surprised by how well attended this part of the night was - I didn't have terribly high expectations, but the place was packed. A lot of fun!

The jam ceased at 3pm and it's fair to say I was pretty well oiled at this point. Continuing the entertainment theme, we packed down the gear, headed off for a schoolboy-esque pizza, and went back to our chalet. Once again inappropriate music was played, this time The White Stripes. None of their talent rubbed off on me I'm afraid and I was asleep on the sofa in seconds. Woke up at about 6ish in time to saunter over to the Centre Stage, sneak my mum in through the backstage entrance, and being setting up the gear.

I was really looking forward to our set on this big stage, as the queue was already 500 or so strong, an hour before we were due to start playing! By showtime, the place was packed, between 2.5 and 3k people in there!!! Opening with Telling Lies as the curtain rises, I have to say the buzz of hearing that many people clapping along, it's really something I recommend everyone experience once in their lives! To be perfectly honest I wasn't particularly happy with our set on the big stage, the tone gods were still pissed in the corner at Jaks and hadn't made it passed security, the monitor engineer was playing "irritant" by switching my foldback on and off at random intervals, and I really should have made the effort to restring Pendragon, it felt very "sticky" to say the least. It has been a long time since I felt that I had genuinely played a load of crap in several songs in a row, but that said, the audience reaction and energy was completely out of this world!

After we played, I watched the whole of Viva Santana's set, and they were awesome! In partic-ular, both percussion mateys were outstanding. Of all the tribute bands I've seen, they have to be one of the best. Also nice to see brummy John on keys, who I hadn't seen since the Collette Wilkinson days, a few years ago! His playing was superb!

After that it's fair to say I was feeling a little weary so headed back for a spoonful of JD and joke, watched Team America (again), and fell asleep with a big fat smile on my face! Still riding the buzz of that crowd! Woke up at lunchtime on Sunday, caught up again with the Gibson crowd, and took off under turbo power for a sedate drive home. We didn't do badly in the end, home about 8.30ish were a curry and third viewing of Team America were on the cards. A good nights sleep and a nice walk in the sun past all the traffic this morning... a good end to a really fun weekend! Still in love with Pandora.

John O'Leary Band, Green Man Barnet - Monday, 24 January 2005

I can't say I really like the concept of a specially announced "CD Launch gig" really - never have with Roadhouse and didn't with this one; at the end of the day it's just another pub gig, the only difference being a new album to sell! That said, it was a really great gig, a nice (and numbersome) audience, the band playing well - it's been a while since our last one so I think everyone in the band was hungry for it and just eager to play. We had caesar on guitar with us which made the gig all the more entertaining, with the two of us playing identical guitar rigs and also all-in-black-barry as is of course de rigeur for any self respecting musician. I thought Joachim's drum solo was especially good tonight, he was exorcising demons of some kind I believe, and he was very succesful in this precise endeavour! Also I thought the tone gods were smiling on us for the night, shining on caesar especially like a super trouper, lights are gonna find me, shining like the sun etc etc, they said a cursory hello to me but I felt that guinevere was a little bright and toppy. A small contrast to Caesar's tone I suppose! Nice to see Busy Mike and Lise popped along too, and nice to see Rob White and Pretend Pop Star Mark Chudley, along with friendly Rob torrington door bloke too. All in all a marvellous evening's entertainment, CD launch or not! LOF varied, still in love with Pandora.

Roadhouse, Woodman Jam - Friday, 21 January 2005

Last night was the second woodman jam of the year, and what a fun one it was! It was the most attendance of players I think I've seen there for a long time - there were people who didn't get a chance to play which is a first (and unfortunate!) - with Roadhouse we played a couple of new tracks which went pretty well. I'd also restrung king Jackocaster with 10-46's (up from 9s) earlier, and it is a great improvement! A little uncomfortable at first, but after a while they settled and it felt and sounded great! Especially for slide! Also got to play a little bit with Sid on the banjo at the end of the jam, which was fun as ever, playing inappropriate blues and rock licks with a clean sound and passing it off as bluegrass... imposter? me? never! LOF 7.6 - a tip top night which seemed to fly by very swiftly... marvellous!

Tsunami Benefit Jam, Grey Horse - Thursday, 20 January 2005

Last night I went to the Tsunami relief fundraiser that Lord Robin of Bibishire had organised at the Grey Horse. Fair to say I have never seen the pub so packed!!! I should imagine that given the number of musicians there, arranging the thing was probably a complete nightmare!! But that said, it was all for a good cause. After a little while I played a couple of songs with Tim Hain, a struggling to hear themselves and play in tune horn section, Sam Kelly on drums, and some random rapping guys who hopped aboard the stage with rucksacks and hoodies on. It's fair to say I was pretty bemused by the experience, and to be honest felt totally superfluous to the proceedings, one of those pork chop / jewish wedding feelings (to quote john the bass). That said, it was all for a good cause. John O'Leary was there and played a set with Caesar, who played some really nice things, first time in ages I'd seen him play without a second guitarist! Come the end of the night I was rather well oiled (again courtesy of the first taxi-de-mama incident of the year) and so we performed a rather loose version of It's Your Thing with good old Hans Ferrao on drums - and the lunachick singing great despite my doing the best I could to contribute some kind of accidental farcical humour quality by boshing her hand with my headstock at the end of the song. Nice! A fun, surreal and bizarre evening that was (did I mention?) all for a good cause! LOF swinging between 5 and 8.

Funkydory, Grey Horse - Sunday, 9 January 2005

Last night was the inaugoral gig for the currently-monikered-funkydory band! And I can honestly say my cheeks still hurt from smiling! An absolutely outstanding gig, which on the strength of two rehearsals, provided much mirth and amusement to all concerned. The audience was great, it was nice to see so many people there who I hadn't seen for a while, and nice to see so many that I had! Everyone in the band played their socks off and the lunachick was in fine voice, I think my fave tracks we played were Layla (never thought I'd play that one live), Drowning in a sea of love, Mission Impossible, and also our take on ye olde Landslide version of Take Me To The River was a really funky opener. The Grey Horse is a cool place to do gigs in the first place, let alone debut outings etc, and Richard is a top guvnor, so last night was all in all an excellent one! We didn't do badly on the money front either, which was good! Looking forward to doing another gig soon and also getting some more originals into the set - we did two last night of which one, Mercy, was also really fun and went down very well! Again let me say my cheeks still hurt from grinning!!!! Anyone who was there - tell your friends!

Roadhouse, Woodman Jam - Friday, 7 January 2005

Happy new year one and all, first jam of the year, first gig of the year, what fun it was! Played Merlin the Eggle for a change and it sounded pretty cool! The tone gods popped in and out of the evening, they were there at the start but had eloped by the time I got up again with Danny G and John O'Leary! Anyway the roadhouse set was much fun to start the night, really got into it. Again especially the slide call and response with the lunachick, was ace! A fun night, nice to see Andy "dissin ma hood" no longer afro Cortes play with Drew Barron, lots of fun things. Followed by a brief Ocean's 11 DVD visitation, an excellent night all round! LOF 8.2 as well, v good for a first gig of the year!

Roadhouse, Bulls Head, Barnes - Tuesday, 21 December 2004

Last night's beeeayutiful gig was the Roadhouse christmas jamboree shebang event. What fun it was! Lots of musicians there, a nice audience of punters too, much fun! I played for ages, with lots of people, and lots of notes. Especially good fun to play with Dave Dog again who I haven't seen for years! Very chilled out and good crack... All things considered, a fun gig and fun night out, followed by a late night pizza repetition service. It was fantastic, and a good last gig for 2004!!! See you my dear reader in 2005!

Roadhouse, Elme Hall Hotel, Wisbech - Monday, 20 December 2004

Sunday's gig was an afternoon sojourn at the Elme Hall Hotel in Wisbech. An early rise, a spine tingling cold shower, and we set off under nelly guidance to a glorious frosty morning! An easy drive and we convened at the Hotel about 1ish... all bandmembers arriving eerily close together. Some brief blagging led to a very nice (and free) turkey lunch for every member of the band, followed by a regulation "sitting around doing nothing" period. The gig itself was really good, much better than Saturday I thought - the Tone Gods were back with a vengeance and had even put up some beautiful christmas decorations courtesy of the use of the Tubescreamer instead of Timtone. Guinevere was singing. The lunachicks voice held up outstandingly despite her sore throat, my favourite part of the gig was probably the back end of Couldn't Get To Sleep which, if I were American, I would describe as being "bitching". But I'm not so I'll just leave it as being really "hot". I also enjoyed the fun version of All Along The Watchtower that we did, 'twas nice! Post gig an easy armchair crusing ABBA-punctuated journey with a brief last-orders style stop off at Busy Mike's local pub to catch up with my old mate Sam, and then it was hometime, where once again I drifted off to the land of nod with a brain full of percolating happy thoughts of a fun weekend gigging, and a few slightly frustrating concepts such as monday being literally just a short distance around the corner, and it therefore not being the weekend any more. Speaking of which, JULES GET ON WITH SOME WORK. Indeed!! Bulls Head tonight, bring it on...

Roadhouse, Coach and Horses Isleworth - Monday, 20 December 2004

Saturday night's gig was a nice local one for me, being at the Coach and Horses in Isleworth, a few miles up the road. Due to some lapdancing christmas party antics the night before combined with an afternoon in the Grovel it's fair to say I was a little "weary" by gig time, with Busy Mike and a sore-throated Lorna in tow, who was joining in the gig in a purely spectate-ular and heckle-ular capacity. The pre-gig festivities were somewhat curtailed by a swift mercy dash to chateaux Gary on a pedalboard retrieval mission... On with the gig post haste though and to be honest I thought our first set was somewhat lacking - the Tone Gods seemed to be having their christmas party and were thus absent from the pub, Jackocaster sounded pretty lame. Gave Guinevere an outing for the second set which broke the ice somewhat but still wasn't great... Despite this we played with a little more energy in the second set I felt, helped by the crowd filling up a bit. Post gig was a marvellous debrief - 14BR style. Essentially consisting of red wine and some speciality KFC rivalling "finger licking good" chicken cheese and tomato ciabattas... Then fell asleep happy with the prospect of having to shoot off pretty early for the next day's Wisbech gig. LOF 5, still in love with Pandora.

Roadhouse, Woodman Jam - Friday, 17 December 2004

Last night's carpentry nightclass was the fabled woodman jam, my first for a while, and what a belter it was! Axe of choice was the jackocaster, and thanks to my new discovery of adding a tinge of Super Reverb to the traditional JTM45 model on lord duoverb, I felt like I'd invited the tone gods to bring their partners, dogs, children to the party. What a difference! Sounded great! A feast to my ears! The lunachick's throat was not quite 100% hunkydory so the lady vocal part of our mini set was somewhat abated... Thanks once again to the taxi de mama service I enjoyed my fortnightly red wine bender. Aaaa what fun... a brief set with french marc which "allegedly" lasted 16 mins (maybe if you include us dicking about setting our amps up, but that one song was no way 16 mins... we recorded it last week in exactly the same format and it only lasted 9...), some nonsense chitchat and then hop into the sprinter and head home to hit the sack and "stay out of trouble". Fun indeed! LOF 6.5 and deeply enamoured by Pandora.

Roadhouse, Norfolk Tour Pt3 - Tuesday, 14 December 2004

Early start… Well, ok so 9am isn't technically all that early, but it surely felt like it. Clean up pack up "f*ck off" set off "hobbit feet" dancing shoes tapping toes and we were off, nellying our way to the Cider Shed for our Sunday afternoon gig. Once again a christmas tree based gig (this time with several odd christmas monkeys in it, none of which were ours for the the taking which was a shame). The Cider Shed is a great venue and Ryan and Diane once again excelled themselves with their hospitality. Really nice people, a nice atmosphere, and a nice gig all round. Perhaps not as good as the last one we played there, but not bad. It was very nice to be reunited with my bar again, however. Peanuts, Sausage rolls, Garlic Bread. Nothing was spared! I will certainly miss this place when it goes in February. A big shame! It was also nice again to see lots of friendly faces there, including Alan H. who had again made the trip up from Ipswich! An exceptionally entertaining post gig statue viewing people watching wind up session led to an easy cruising autopilot trip home… back to a comfy bed and an equally exceptional night's sleep, happy memories tugging at my sleepy head. A good weekend all round!!!

Roadhouse, Norfolk Tour Pt2 - Tuesday, 14 December 2004

Woke up at about noon... oooo groggy head! But a good night's sleep either way, followed by an easy day. More DVDs watched, wrote a rocking song with Lorna, before heading out to pick up some chairs. As you do. Discovery of the weekend was that the 767 I shared a room with is in fact a master of the fry up, perfect recovery nosh! He is also a top diamond geezer as we did some swift gear transfer and I managed to negotiate a lift to the venue - The Old Town Social Club, Hunstanton. Ace! Tonight's gig wasn't bad - quite perfunctory really, I can't say anything immediately jumps into my 3 days later consciousness - but nice to see lots of friendly and familiar faces there. Also nice to do a gig next to a christmas tree, I felt that the spirits were really getting into us all. Good stuff! Post gig we waved goodbye to the management and headed back to Wells where much more band tomfoolery was embarked upon. More DVDs watched (I have never seen Reservoir Dogs before! "No" I haven't! "No". "No". "No". "No"one told me Churchill was in it. "No".) and more red wine jazzily consumed. This was good as it was very very nipply cold indeed. Although to be honest that wasn't such a bad thing as the JD+coffee booze jimmies (the night time equivalent of a beer fleece, I have decided) being worn were of the warm elasticated waistband full comfort peppergrinder variety. I feel compelled to point out that I did rather enjoy topping up the Whiskey tank courtesy of the black label this weekend. Nice flavour, it's not something I tend to drink at home very often. Although that said the concept of JD+sofa+fire would I think make the winter fly by. Retire to bed again about 5ish, 767 only idling now. Result! ZZZZZZZZZZ.

Roadhouse, Norfolk Tour Pt1 - Tuesday, 14 December 2004

Back to the world of gigging! Ace! This throat induced break has been the longest patch with no gigs for years, it must be said I am clearly addicted to it. Perhaps that's what all that tonsil pain was about - cold turkey gig withdrawal symptoms?!? Perhaps! Anyway, Friday night's gig was the first of three for Roadhouse, playing at The Vernon Arms in Southrepps. The lesser-spotted Lunachick and I set off at about noon, and with a quick stop at Busy Mike's mansion (where we chanced upon a very tasty fry up courtesy of Mr and Mrs Busy Mike!) we had a surprisingly easy drive up - arrived at the pub roundabout 6ish, to find ourselves almost the only people there. Quote of the weekend I'm afraid has to be awarded to matey the landlord, who declared that sadly since they "don't pay much" they "can't afford any decent bands"... good to know that we have discovered a third tropic... Capricorn/Cancer/Tact. The latter appearing to be aroundabout Norwich. Nice food mind you! Also nice to say hello to my sister in law aka Bucket who popped in for a pint while on a brief baby break! The gig itself was not bad - I felt a little ropy having not played my electric for a while, but Pendragon made a nice sound, and all was well with the band. Gaz had something of a Richard Whiteley moment during No Place To Hide but other than that, we were flying. Nice Stormy Monday tonight courtesy of Lorna, and an entertaining Preacher Man as well. With the pub being so small, the assembled mass of 20 people appeared to quite literally double in size once we'd started playing, although that may have just been my eyes. Thinking of that, this gig did demonstrate to me that perhaps I could do with a new prescription for the contact lenses. My up close vision certainly differs from long distance, or at least it did on friday anyway. But that's another story. It would seem "inappropriate" not to mention here that the LOF must have been -10 or possibly even lower. Several other comedic incidents peppered this evening for me, namely being told by an 11yr old girl (hello Lauren) that I have a funny shaped head, don't blink very often, and apparently if she was a boy she'd fancy me; matey dancing bloke; matey's soggy fish finger comment; idea for a film "riding miss daisy"; and several other theories which were also "believed to be the case" etc etc. A sedate post gig convoy from Southrepps up to Wells-next-the-sea and we were settled into our domicile for the weekend, my bro and his wife's lovely little cottage up by the sea. A somewhat nippy theme to these evening, it took a while for the heating to get to work, and the lunachick was somewhat stitched by the plastic sheets on the sofa, but again many topics were discussed, dvds watched, top of the pops slagged off, and new drinks discovered (is coffee and JD new?). Sadly I didn't make the dawn, retiring instead at 5ish to find an full throttle 767 in my room... sweet dreams indeed!

tonsillectomy-blog - day 10 after op - Saturday, 4 December 2004

I think this will be the last of my depressing tonsil blogs. 10 days have gone by since the op and it's fair to say I now feel totally on the road to recovery (at last!). I wouldn't classify the feeling in my throat as pain any more, rather it's just strong discomfort. No more painkillers etc necessary, although eating occasionally chafes a bit. Cold things are bad - as are spices - but generic (as bland as possible) food is beginning to go down a treat. Result. So if my tonsillectomy has been anything close to average, their estimate of 10 days to 2 weeks to make a 90% recovery is about right. I should imagine by tuesday things should start feeling ok. Great! Not an enjoyable episode by any stretch of the imagination but I now feel that at least the light at the end of the tunnel is visible, and sooner or later I will realise that this has all been worth it. Result!

tonsillectomy-blog - day 9 after op - Friday, 3 December 2004

What an incredible difference today has been from yesterday. Last night was the first full night's sleep since the op - midnight - 8am - such a sweet relief! Also got through entire day with no painkillers, which was great. Close to normal service resumed on food... weetabix again for breakfast, steady salt gargles through morning, sausage and BBQ sauce sandwich for lunch, KFC (sorry unhealthy I know) for dinner. Marvellous. Watched School of Rock, laughed my socks off, and here I am about to hit the sack. Not far to go now!

tonsillectomy-blog - day 8 after op - Wednesday, 1 December 2004

Today, once again, a day of ups downs. 3.20am wake up, back to sleep at 5am - getting quite bored of this now! through until 8.45 though which was a decent stretch. Again weetabix for breakfast, lips are mostly healed now thank god so I can see down my throat - Result! Actually, not a result at all as it's a pretty minging sight. Never mind. Felt pretty rubbish for most of the day, plenty of salt water gargling, honey water drinking, got by with only one dose of painkillers though which is a good thing! Noodles at lunchtime (big mistake, curry noodles. Don't walk before you can crawl. Curry powder = spicy food = bad! Hurt quite a bit sadly!) - chicken risotto at dinner time. Watched a great film, Shanghai Knights, Owen Wilson and Jackie Chan, good old fashioned low brow action entertainment... marvellous. And here we are. Funnily enough, most recent salt gargle has done a good job of something, as pain seems to have dulled slightly. Quick, go to sleep! Roadhouse Jam tomorrow, wish I could make it. Prob not a good idea just yet...

tonsillectomy-blog - day 7 after op - Tuesday, 30 November 2004

Woohoo! I've made it! A week! Today was sadly not as pain-free as yesterday, woke at about 3.45 craving liquid and relief... usual drill really. Have settled into something of a routine with my mornings now! Didn't eat much at lunch time, a load of unhealthy chocolate raisins and that was about it! Yeah I know, not good. Anyway some relaxing sleep on the afternoon and a visit from the RMG (saw his new Les Paul, lovely! Just like Guinevere, bit heavier) - a delicious pasta dinner and I thought it was home and dry. Sadly after dinner the throat has been getting progressively more sore... oh well... painkillers and duvet here I come!

tonsillectomy-blog - day 6 after op - Tuesday, 30 November 2004

My god what a difference a day makes... today has been 100% more bearable than yesterday. Due to lips still be knackered I still can't see all the way to the back og my throat, so I have no idea what actually happened yesterday, all I know is that it hurt unbelievably, and today hasn't been as bad.

Woke at 4.20am as seems to be the norm thesedays, very sore mouth, salt gargle + painkiller + ice cream + honey water. Seems to be effective pretty quickly, ie about an hour, so back to bed at 5.45am, then sleep straight through until 9am. Again painful so repeat process. From that point today has mostly been a breeze! Noodles followed by jelly for lunch, tiny bit of watching supergirl, on with my literary assignment for the afternoon, omelette again for dinner, and then a bit more creativity before here we are at 12.45am and it's time for some sleep. Tomorrow marks a week since the op and it's a hurdle I'm looking forward to. They say two weeks is the recovery time, so the thought of being halfway through is really encouraging. I am a strong believer (yes I know I probably shouldn't be) that recovery time/pain levels etc from this are in the main very psychosymatic (not sure if that's spelt right!) - ie your mood and brain affect perceived pain levels significantly. I was so surprised by how quickly the pain felt to abate this morning that I'm sure that had something to do with how drastically reduced the pain level was through the rest of the day. Certain targets I had for myself, eg driving up to herefordshire next weekend to see my Granny, suddenly don't seem so inachievable! Today has been a good day.

tonsillectomy-blog - day 5 after op - Sunday, 28 November 2004

I apologise in advance/retrospect for the doom and gloom nature of this blog. There is light at the end of the tunnel... sooner or later I will be back gigging/giggling and having fun, I'm just mentally focusing on that! Last night was a really poor night - I'm not sure why but the back of the throat pain was really severe - I slept through until about 4am but then woke with an excruciatingly sharp pain around the roof and back of my throat. Words cannot describe! So I spent 2 hrs eating 1/2 pint of jelly and a pint of cold water, and had another pain killer. Probably shouldn't have as it means I went over the maximum dosage, but there you go. Yay what fun this is! Back to sleep at about 6am, through until 9am, still in severe pain when I woke up, ate a weetabix for breakfast... compared to just 24hrs ago, eating is very painful! Thanks to the broken lips I mentioned the other day, infuriatingly I can't open my mouth very far so am unable to see to the back of my throat to find out exactly what is going on back there. At this point, I would have to say, I really don't recommend this operation. Tonsillitis was painful... but... was it this painful? Through the fog my brain is in at the moment I can't recall. By way of contradiction at least this *will* be over soon, and then I'll never have tonsillitis again. Thank god! Anyway, the rest of today was easily the most painful since op day - lunch was a couple of sausages and some baked beans, which took very many painful minutes to eat, the afternoon consisted of moping and surfing and feeling rubbish, supper was an omelette and peas. To be honest eating that omelette was literally torture, felt like it was made out of crushed glass! Thanks to the advice of lady nadie ransalot I gargled some saltwater after that, which I must say, worked like a charm! Stung a bit but then did the trick. Now I find myself having run out of painkillers, using some of the cocodamol I have left over from the June bout of tonsillitis. Seems to work like a charm! And here I am this evening, sitting on my bed and feeling slightly groggy but a great deal better and more cheerful than I did this morning. Also this evening I played a bit of guitar for the first time since the op. Felt good!

tonsillectomy-blog - day 4 after op - Sunday, 28 November 2004

Actually not a terrible nights sleep last night, one interruption at about 3am where I got up to have a jelly and some ice cream. Waking up at 7.45am I noticed one problem though... rock/hard place etc. The longer you sleep, the more dry your throat is, and the more painful it is when you wake up. Consequently, best nights sleep since op = most painful throat since op. Last day of codeine pills supplied today as well so I think I will need to go out tomorrow morning and find some more as I definitely still need them! Breakast was weetabix again, very hard to eat this time though. day 4 blues indeed! ate loads at lunch in an attempt to soothe things... more mince ham scrambled egg bread jelly all good. I must have put on a stone since the op! can't wait to do some exercise again! Anyway an allman brothers dvd based afternoon, chicken and potatoes for dinner, and a surprisingly painful evening (no idea why!) and here I am in bed at 12:50am. Today was the last day of the prescribed codeine and my throat still feels like I'm gargling pieces of glass. Quite what the doc expected me to do now I have no idea, but have a few nurofen lying around the house so we'll see how we do then. From my "research" of others experiences, most people seem to think the worst patch is days 8-10. Well bearing in mind I'm just starting day 5, and today was definitely a significant step up in ow factor to yesterday (scabs solidifying in my throat perhaps? stitches falling out maybe? who can say) - I'm not sure whether that's just me being a wuss, or maybe I'm healing ahead of schedule. Oh please please please let it be the latter!!! I repeat... when the doctor said "you know, this will be a painful experience, it's not a walk in the park for adults" - I really wish I hadn't given that naiively invincible laugh. He meant it!

Also this evening has been especially tough because I know that Roadhouse are playing over at the Grove Tavern this evening. In a parallel universe I'm feeling great and am doing the gig with them at this precise moment!

tonsillectomy-blog - day 3 after op - Friday, 26 November 2004

woke up at 9.30am today after a night split into four parts of about an hours sleep each. Drank plenty of water through the night and a couple of coolish cups of tea as well... today for the most part wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. Weetabix for breakfast, went to visit my nephew all morning, then chicken and sweetcorn noodles for lunch. An afternoon watching alan partridge (fantastic) all afternoon, with a couple of jellies through the afternoon. Again it seems that eating solid but soft foods is the only time my throat is really comfortable. Mince and mash for dinner, followed by more jelly, and here we are at 11.20pm and another attempt at sleep. The evening has been slightly marred by a runny nose which means much more build up at the back of my throat. Clearing that is proving to be very painful indeed! So fingers crossed for a less interrupted night than last night... am getting pretty tired now! Not 100% hopeful as lying here in bed, with painkillers taken 20 minutes ago, I still feel like there are a pair of antlers stuck the wrong way round in my throat. We shall see!

Also forgot to mention hospital LOF was generally poor with the exception of the anaesthatist's assistant who was very easy on the 100-99-98-97-zonk eye...

tonsillectomy-blog - day 2 after op - Friday, 26 November 2004

OK so this is nothing to do with gigging, however I thought I'd make a record of my ongoing tonsillectomy experiences... mostly for my own benefit so I can look back and laugh in a few weeks time. But also perhaps to inform anyone willing to listen about just exactly what an adult tonsillectomy is like. To begin with, the op was on tuesday 23rd nov at about noon. So, approx 60 hours ago. About 6 hrs after the op I had a pretty horrific incident of vomiting blood over my hospital bed, although I gather from the night nurses that helped clean up that it's a natural and common reaction to being put under general anaesthetic. Well, that's not much comfort I can tell you! Pretty damn scary and also very painful to be throwing up through a recently operated on throat, but there you go.

Thanks to some exceptional painkillers and a rather painful injection into my right buttcheek, I was able to eat my first solid food about an hour after the blood-puke incident. A sandwhich (corned beef of all things. corned beef! I ask you) and jelly. Despite the initial fear, eating wasn't actually as hard as I'd thought (honestly!) and for a second the pain almost went away entirely. Relief! So off to sleep and some more horrible dreams about blood/gore etc. Ugh.

Wednesday morning I actually left hospital pretty early - about 10ish, and headed home. The only prescribed drugs I've been given are some kind of codeine (I think) painkiller, 2 tablets 4 times a day - 2 week course, and diclofenac (painkiller and anti-inflammatory) - 1 tablet 3 times a day for 10 days. Irritating how the two don't line up isn't it?!? The way I'm doing it is having the pills in four sets, 8am, 1pm, 6pm and 11pm, but not having the diclofenac at 6pm. Still leaves a big gap from 11pm until 8am but there you go. May need some fine tuning there. To be honest already at day two I'm still in quite a lot of pain (sore throat/difficulty swallowing etc.) from which the pills only seem to give respite for perhaps a couple of hours, tops.

Now with most ops, I guess things just get better gradually from op time to full recovery. However in naturally curious Julio-style I have been doing some reading up on the internet about adult tonsillectomy's. It's fair to say that wasn't a wise move as I have scared myself by reading nothing but horror stories with one general consensus. The first 3 days are a breeze, then it gets steadily worse, reaching a peak at days 8-10, from which it gets steadily better over another 10 days. Grrrr! So my first two days have been "a breeze" eh? I think I must be even more wuss-like than I feared before as I haven't enjoyed this one bit so far. Where's the eject button?

Anyway, wednesday I ate a sandwhich at lunchtime, a muffin and another sandwhich during the afternoon, and some pasta and bolognaise for dinner. It must be said again that the act of swallowing solid food (either warm or cold, but not extremes of other) is extremely comforting for some reason. Wednesday night I slept from about 10pm through until 3.45am, which wasn't bad going; having woken up with a very dry and sore throat I gargled some Difflam (green anti-inflammatory liquid) and ate about 5 mouthfuls of ice cream. Did the trick as I then went back to bed and, with one coughing fit interruption at 5.30am (unpleasant), slept through until 8am.

Thursday has again been a roller coaster of pain levels, usually at best a mild discomfort, experienced usually about 20 mins after taking painkillers and while chewing gum (which has a surprisingly profound effect on the throat - presumably because although saliva builds up in your throat while you're chewing, it takes your mind off swallowing? Try it!). Breakfast was some mini wheats (left to go soggy for a while in the milk!), lunch was leftover pasta and bolognaise warmed in the microwave, followed by some choccy covered raisins and a scotch pancake. Dinner (approx 8pm) was an omelette and peas, with some bread and butter... delicious although pain levels were v high at that point for some reason. The yo-yo affect of the soreness of my throat is really very surprising and nothing like I expected... at times I am unable to speak at all and then at other times I can speak in something approaching normal speaking voice. While the concept of ever singing again seems a tad unlikely, at least I feel it's not impossible I'll be able to speak soon.

I should mention two other issues related to this surgery which I haven't read mentioned elsewhere in my web trawlings. Firstly is that my left (fretting) hand still feels incredible odd where I had the drip inserted for the general anaesthetic to be administered. The best way I can describe it is as if I have a plaster wrapped around my hand, hindering the fingers movement slightly. I tried playing my guitar for a bit today but it just felt awkward. A bit like wearing a watch on the wrong arm? I hope that sorts itself out soon. The second thing to mention is that whatever they used to keep my mouth open during surgery, it was clearly open very wide as not only was my jaw exceptionally sore yesterday (better today though), my lips appear cut and bruised at either end. The scabs here are particularly irritating as they set overnight while my mouth is shut, and then don't get a chance to form properly during the day, as I try to keep my mouth moving (chewing gum etc.). Deeply irritating but I guess they'll sort themselves out soon enough.

So that brings us up to date, it's 1:20am and despite the makings of a very sore throat, I'm going to attempt some sleep. 4 pillows and an elevated head... fingers crossed for a smooth run at it. Over and out!

JOL and Roadhouse, The Rayners, Harrow - Saturday, 20 November 2004

Last night was a fun double header escapade involving The John O'Leary Band and Roadhouse. A double dollop of my squiddly diddly guitar playing indeed! It was kinda like Colne but without the audience... in fact without much of an audience "at all" - but in their defence the few people that came out were absolutely great and were very vocal in their appreciation! So thank you guys and gals for supporting live music!!! Nina G came all the way from manchester for the gig and even Busy Mike found a few spare moments in his busy schedule to pop along. Great! JOL played first and it was a great set... again with the RMG on guitar, we really did gun each other down in a blaze of high gain glory, shoot out at the six string corale etc etc a good laugh! Silvio on bass was a great pleasure to play with as usual... I also enjoyed the Roadhouse set, having made a conscious effort to use a different guitar for each set (Jackocaster for JOL, Pendragon for Roadhouse) to keep things spiced up. And spiced up it was! Thinking of that, my towel came in handy as well (it was very hot, come on come on mind out of the gutter). After that set was over Joachim and Silvio got back up and we did a great version of I'm Tired with Dave "jesus/cat stevens" Duckmenton on vox, who did a sterling job! Lastly a perfunctory Rock Me Baby with John and Lorna both in fine voice... all in all a good gig! Followed by much drinking tomfoolery with Lorna Caesar and Nina, plus I made it to the dawn! Still in love with pandora.

Roadhouse, Woodman Jam - Friday, 19 November 2004

Now ladies and gentlemen of the jury; last night's jam was an absolutely fantastic affair, once again proving that the jam can and is going from strength to strength! Utilising the taxi de mama service, once again a contributing factor to the corking nature of the jam was the decorkingular (see what I did there?) activity that went on behind the bar. Merlot. Lovely. Anyway the tone gods smiled on one and all I felt, we had lots of punters down, everyone played and sang great, and more importantly the LOF was the best I have seen at the woodman in ages! At least a high 8. Nice dancing to Sid and Nigel at the end which I think has to be a first. Quite literally "didn't know where to look". Also nice to see JOL in attendance, he hasn't been to that jam for a while!!! A happeeee chauffeur experience home, some brief literary entertainment and off to zzzzzz. A great night and nice walk to work combined with bottle of lucozade to ditch the hangover this morning. Sorted!

Roadhouse, Tour of the north pt2 - Monday, 15 November 2004

While I can think of a few things more disappointing than waking up to realise that, despite your best efforts, you've missed the dawn and it's already daylight, I can think of few things worse than waking up in those circumstances to a "good old sunday morning, bells are ringing everywhere" wedding style ding dong ding dong session that must have gone on for at least an hour. In the words of pumperloaf "Quasimodo's gonna bloody get it". OK so I know (now) what the bells are for, but come on churchy people that is no way to treat the unconverted?!? Oh all right then for heavens sake I'll come to church if you just turn the bells off. Also I made a mental observation that you can't tap your feet to a morning bellringing session. It would be fair to say that powered by a few hours sleep I was having a few synapse misfires for most of the morning, and I must say nothing jumps to mind as I sit here typing of any note. Oh except for pissed up dancing geordie bloke appearing in the hotel!!! Aye you's a killer band man!!! Aye peeps thinks i's geh or summat!!! Fantastic! I hitched a ride in the pumperloaf-mobile, and our journey could be simplified to a few salient points: discussing certain chavvy topics as max power style fuel caps etc etc and how easy it is to fall in love with Nelly, listening to some rough mixes from lady nadie rantsalots NEW ALBUM (which I have to say is most rock-ular), and feeling queesy (continuing themes pt2 etc etc etc). We arrived at the venue, The Captain Nelson in Maryport, at about 1pm, and I must confess I felt most underdressed for the occasion. In fact as it happens I was underdressed but since I'd neglected to take my gig clothes out of Caesar's Cavern (who by the way had departed from Darlington in a homeward bound manner due to really needing to sort out some prior world domination commitments closer to home), I was stranded with two choices: my save the puppies t-shirt given to me by my granny, or bright blue www.ddmanuf.com freebie. Puppies won out (as they tend to) for a while, and we had a delicious lunch stroke passing the time game of word association. Mallet's Mallet if you will but with something of a more adult feel, beeing as we are now (in body at least) more grown up than in those halcyon days of wacaday. Soon after we'd finished eating I observed the pub had emptied more or less entirely (which we took as our cue to get the gear in) and once again I should confess that I suspected this gig would end up being the ying to Darlington's yang. BZZZZZ wrong!!!! One minute the pub was literally devoid of punters, I looked down to tune my guitar, looked up and they were like sardines! Marvellous! The gig got underway and once again I should say that pumperloaf was really cooking on gas, playing similarly "righteous" passages as he did the night before... also stormy monday was really good fun as usual with some pleasing call and response with Lorna's vocal... much fun. For some reason I'm having a mental block at this point unfortunately as there was an incident involving a towel during the second set and I can't really recall much else about the actual playing part of the gig other than that bit. It's kind of like a black hole for memories, they all come back to the towel. That eric prydz has a lot to answer for!!! A confusingly large amount of Skeggy-based punters in attendance as well, I think that if you are a robber, go to maryport in the last weekend of january it must be a ghost town!!! LOF middle-ish, BOTRJB (think wishbone ash song) high. Post gig, we packed our gear down, signed a gazillion cds, partook of certain freebie punter gifts, hopped in Bill's transit, sorry, sprinter, and headed back south! Now the journey, it must be sad, was traumatic. There's only so long you can drag "I spy" and "mallet's mullet" out for, before your body starts telling you it's time for the land of nod. But my discovery of the weekend was that transit passenger seats are not designed for sleeping! Oh no! one sore botty and 6hrs later and at 2.30am we rolled up to chateaux Pearce in the sunny climes of Harpenden. coffee/orange juice/chit chat/amusement we're on the road again. Drop the lunachick off at Reilly mansions at 4am... back home 4.40am... dizzy zzzzzzzzzz and happy memories of a great weekend!!!!! Last out of town gig for a while thanks to imminent tonsil removal! Roll on the jam on thursday!!!

Roadhouse, Tour of the north pt1 - Monday, 15 November 2004

Where to begin?!? If last week's weekend away in Norfolk away was a prototype, then this weekend was like the more sorted version... certain kinks ironed out so to speak. The shebang kicked off on Saturday morning with an early trip to chandlers with the RMG, then back to 14BR studios to meet up with the lunachick, before setting off on the high seas. Well, the M4 anyway. First stop, Busy Mike's house where I trusted him with my beautiful saab, and some swift gear transfer into Caesar's Cavern. It's fair to say that his skoda excelled itself on this trip... not only did it do a good job of being the nelly custodian, but it swallowed Lorna, Caesar and Me, and all our paraphernalia, with minimum hassle... AND we reached an unprecedented (and nelly-verified) top speed! The 65 lame czech camels were trotting on all hooves, it's fair to say. We also got to listen to all of our favourite abba songs (and there's quite a lot of them) in amongst reading some low grade not really pornographic tawdry publications... a quick stop at newport pagnell (where I believe there's a judy's pantry) to hook up with Sir Richard Pumperloaf (our drum dep for the weekend), and the trip seemed over before it had begun! 6.15pm clicked up on the clock and we pulled in to the Forum Music Centre at Darlington. Now dear reader if you are familiar with The Blues Brothers you will remember a scene where a guitar is dumped on stage and the immortal phrase "it's a forking barn, we'll never fill it" is uttered. Well... that was pretty much it. To be honest I didn't think we stood a chance in there, nice big room, and considering how few times we've played up north with Roadhouse I did have slightly pessimistic visions of it being a washout. Soundcheck/kebab/pumperloaf-cramming-session... walk back in, and it was boshed to the rafters!!!! Fantastic!!!! The gig itself was great, the audience were superb and the stage sound (after a shaky start) was good. The RMG joined us for a stonking Oye Como Va and went (I feel it appropriate to quote Zakk Wylde here) "totally brutally f***ing ballistic". It was fantastic and he rightfully got a standing O for it. Superb! Once again he did a good job of hiding the 3 1/2 pints of guiness already consumed!!!! (continuing themes etc. etc. etc.). Pumperloaf I should add did a storming job, no drastic hiccups at all... in fact his playing on our stalwarts like Couldn't Get To Sleep, Voodoo Queen etc was totally righteous!!! I can't think of a better word for it!!! Lorna quite literally sang her socks off on CGTS as well, the coda must've been about 10 mins long! comedy double time jam, "and everything"!!! Superb fun. Post gig our appeeee audience left (I should make mention of just how many of the audience came to this gig that had seen us at Skeggy back in January! marvellous it was!) and we were left to pack down the gear and head over to the accomodation (kindly provided by Mike Prendergast the promotor who is also a total star!). Once again I think we excelled ourselves on the late night debrief (to steal a Mo'Soul phrase) - amusing incidents aplenty, mostly involving a combination of bluegrass/acdc/lying on the bar/percussion on a wooden goats head/red wine/caesar/caesar wearing lorna's clothes/caesar going "to put his bag on his bed"/fire alarm going off/random hermit silent nightporter appearing/chit chat/caesar making a reappearance an hour later/hermit leaving us to it/gary's 5am loo visit/my insistence on seeing the dawn/lorna's retreat/my eyelid letdown service/and that's it. somewhere between 5:58:32AM and 6:19:58AM (approximately) I fell asleep on the lobby sofa... and that was that!!! Roll on Sunday... parp parp!!

Roadhouse, Charters Bar, Peterborough - Sunday, 7 November 2004

Saturday was pt2 of the Roadhouse / East Anglia battle ground. After the hour and bit's sleep the night before, I was a bit tired, and feeling a bit queesy... so Caesar lept at this opportunity to motor in my saab and we headed (down the atlantaaa highway) off to the nearest little chef for breakfast. The sign did indeed say "stay away fools coz love rules and the looove shack" and under Caesar stroke Nelly guidance we found ourselves at the nearest little chef after only about 10 minutes. Looking rather addled the three of us sat down to breakfast, to some odd looks from those around us. Bonnie And Two Clydes was probably about the best summary I could make of our "look". The breakfast was delicious and exactly what the doctor would probably have ordered, however sadly mid meal the RMG became very apparently poorly! And had to retire to the comfort of my Saab! Given he consumed only 3 pints the night before we came to the conclusion that something else was up, as we made many stops (far more than 3 pints worth!) to redecorate Norfolk! I forgot to tell you actually why we set off so early, it was so that we could head off to Great Yarmouth to see Caesar's mate Lucy, who he hadn't seen for 2 years. We had an excellent visit to see her, sort of recuperational-ular, however the RMG's visit to McD to get some more food down him clearly didn't work... our drive over from Gt Yarmouth to Peterborough was, I am reliably informed, the low tide mark for Caesar's car based experiences... 105 miles later (yes, I misjudged the situation) and we got to Peterborough. More RMG based illness and he stayed in the car while myself and LORNA went to Peterborough to meet her mate Celica Keith. A very nice dinner later (although I felt v guilty because I couldn't make a dent in it let alone finish it!) and we were back at the venue. I swift glance at my gig archive informs that I've played there twice before last night, and I don't recall the boat swaying at either of those times! Last night though it was at high sea! This prompted another retreat by caesar back to the comfort of my car... sadly he missed the gig! Mini rant here though, we didn't start playing until 11, despite arriving there at 8, which meant not only was I bushwhacked and close to turning green, but 90% of the potential audience had left before we even started playing! Bummer but never mind, we got on with the job in hand and again somehow pulled a good gig out of the bag. Also in the intervening two hours the LOF dropped from a hopeful 8 to a woeful 3. However it was really nice to see Ray and Nicky had come over from Lincoln, so thanks guys for coming to the gig! Post playing it was a swift teardown of the gear and then cruise control / fog / roadworks / heated seats / classic FM were all that was on my brain for the next 3 hours as I dropped caesar off back at his house and then headed home. Where, dear reader, I flopped into bed eventually at about 4.30am. A great weekend gigging!

Roadhouse, The Cider Shed, Banham, Norfolk - Sunday, 7 November 2004

I learnt a valuable lesson at Roadhouse's gig on Friday night. Cider, Kronenbourg, Red Wine, and Jack Daniels, do not mix! Actually it's now sunday morning and part of me is still "learning this lesson". Never mind. As a result of that some of the minutiae might be lost from friday's gig, please forgive me! Our little mini tour of norfolk started at lunchtime on Friday with an 8896 2896 fuelled lunch at 14BR studios in the company of the lunachick. A sedate journey up the M11 and across to Banham saw us arriving at The Cider Shed at about 6.30pm - perfect timing! And what a cool venue! The name wasn't (I'm pleased to report) a lame attempt at irony, it actually was a gig in a cider shed. We met Ryan and Diane the guv'nor and guv'ness who were complete legends, and informed us that not only were drinks on the house (or rather, on the shed) for the night, but we would also be sleeping in said shed! Fantastic! Post setting up the gear I nellied myself over to Diss station where I perchanced to meet the Rantmaster General, fresh from his bi-decade-ular trip on public transport. Despite the odd delay here and there it was apparently not as terrible as you might expect! So I stopped at the offie, picked up some beer and wine, and we were away, back to the venue! Once there we enjoyed something of a challenge anneka theme to sorting out our dinner, before eventually ending up back at the venue for a delicious thai curry courtesy of Gary. Great! The gig was, from my perspective, fantastic. Maybe 50 people or so there, not a huge turnout (remember, this was bonfire night hence a lot of the regulars were elsewhere), but those who were there more than made up for their numbers by having a great time and hollering at the tops of their voices all the way through! Nice to see Alan Harvey there too and also his mate (Chris? I'm terrible with names) who had made the drive up from Ipswich. I felt the band played really well and the acoustics were surprisingly good on stage. So nice to do a roadhouse gig and not have it cocked up by lame sound engineers! What a relief! The tone gods had definitely tailed us all the way up the M11. Caesar also got up and jammed with us on Oye Como Va and I thought he did a grand job of masking the 3 pints of guiness he'd consumed by this point. Post gig nonsense inevitably ensued but unfortunately due to the aforementioned alcohol consumption I have only fuzzy recollections of what earth shattering things we talked about. I should imagine every topic under the sun from buddhism to onanism to club class commuting was likely to have been mentioned. Eventually sleep overcame me at 6.45am and I woke up an hour and a bit later, snug as a bug, having slept on the bar. What a fantastic night and one that will be tough to top!!! LOF 5, bang down the middle.

Roadhouse, Woodman Jam - Friday, 5 November 2004

The last of our weekly jam sessions (before returning to the preferred fortnightly format) was last night in wimbledon, and I'm pleased to report it was a good one! After meeting my nephew earlier in the afternoon, and then spending a few hours waiting in my local hospital, I was in high spirits nellying my way to the jam, and the evening didn't dissapoint! Due to a slightly numb dead arm thing going on I thought I'd play my jackocaster since it's a little easier on the hands than the les pauls are, and it was great! The tone gods were having a sort of homecoming rejoicement party, I felt like I was sitting on "high table". Marvellous. Danny G and Drew B did a very cool set together, as did Andy "SM58 head" Cortes and Saiichi. I must say I am being outpaced on the hair growth by young Mr Cortes, which is something of a concern, however he did have a head start so I don't feel so bad about it. Several other things were pleasing about this jam... one was seeing Caz and her housemates as it has been a long time! two was playing some more funky froth and widdle with fox french marc and LORNA. LORNA sang it's your thing again which is becoming a really strong song. Very nice singing by LORNA indeed. The third thing was the exceptional LOF given the venue and time of year. Fourthly I especially enjoyed handing out my slidejules.com "house brand" picks to all and sundry, while talking rubbish to the world. So hello to any visitors that have come here via the gift of a plectrum! Ultimately a very fun jam indeed! Roll on tonight... the Cider Shed in Norfolk!!!

Roadhouse, BBC Radio 2 Session, Maida Vale - Wednesday, 3 November 2004

And lo verily Tuesday the 2nd November heralded a trip to Maida Vale for Roadhouse to record a few songs to be broadcast on the Paul Jones blues show in a few months. What an experience!!! Those BBC guys really know their stuff and this was reflected in the exceptional surroundings in which we recorded this session. The gear was good, the people friendly, the sound quality was good, it was all fun! We recorded 4 songs, No Place To Hide, Brooklyn Blues, Slip Away, Couldn't Get to Sleep (an abridged version - minus slide guitar solo) and Long Way Home. I'm not sure if Long Way Home is actually going to get played or not - it's not a terrifically good song so it might be waived, but for me that would be a shame as I thought I played the best on that one! Never mind! I wasn't especially happy with my playing on the rest of the set, but c'est la vie, it was live and we had a good time. The only black cloud over the afternoon was both myself and Rog being given £50 parking tickets by the bastard ticket attendant outside, when we were 1 minute over our alloted time (and on our way to pay for another 2 hours as well!) but never mind, it was still a good time. LOF zero but without an audience there's no surprise there then!

Roadhouse, Digital Bluesfest, Billericay - Monday, 1 November 2004

Yesterday afternoon saw a rare convening of all the roadhouse members in Essex! This was for Ashwyn Smith's digital bluesfest, in aid of a charity for (if I recall) that lady newsreader who died of cancer a few years ago. I forget her name which is somewhat heartless of me. Sorry! Anyway nelly got me there nice and early and I got stuck in to watching the Swampnobs (not really my cup of tea but mildly entertaining nonetheless... good bass player), who were followed by Guy Tortora. Now the afternoon was arranged such that there were two stages next to each other, an "electric stage" and an "unplugged stage", with two separate sound desks for each. As soon as Guy's set began, the theme of the evening became obvious: "clueless engineering". If you stood to the side of the stage, the mix and balance of the instruments was fine, Guys playing and tone was impeccable. Having heard so many things about his playing it was nice to see them confirmed. However, out front the mix was terrible! Do these sound engineers drive around in their cars with the bass control on full?!? Why the insistance on having everything in the mix buried by the bass drum? Why is the bass guitar an inaudible woofle? Why the constant feedback? I was (as you can tell!) very unimpressed. Anyway from that point I didn't really have high hopes for our set, unfortunately, my irritation later to be vindicated by the ridiculous and constant feedback throughout our set (caused by the entire drumkit being fed through the front monitors, at ear splitting volume, instead of the vocals). This was the second "out of town" roadhouse gig in a row to be marred by poor stage sound... Frustrating in the extreme and I hope should we ever be booked to play there again we are allowed to bring our own PA (or at least, our own engineer). THAT SAID, the rest of the evening was a delight! After we played I chatted to Owen from Rocking Armadillos for a bit, also Ramon from Nublues. I also just discovered last night that Ed the bass player is leaving Nublues! Very sad as I really like his playing a lot. Speaking of Nublues, their set was excellent, they really do get better each time I see them, and once again Ramon's playing, licks and tone, were all exemplary. Unfortunately I left just before they finished, so was unable to tell them how much I enjoyed it! However, a last minute dash to Kilburn seemed on the cards to catch the end of Joachim's band playing at the Southern K. Much testosterone fuelled nonsense later involving LORNA and her mate Keith, (I can confirm that my 170,000 miles old beautiful N plate Saab is faster than a '51 plate Toyota Celica VVT sport... hoohaa the look on his face!!! saab one toyota nil) and we got sabotaged by roadworks on the North Circular... this meant nul points on the Kilburn front, however it did prompt more high octane tomfoolery and then a KFC and beer at 14BR studios. All good fun and an entertaining evening despite earlier rantworthy issues!

JOL, Blues Is The News, Hampton in Arden - Sunday, 31 October 2004

Last night was a merry jaunt up north (ish - well it was the top of the M40 anyway) to Hampton in Arden, where The John O'Leary Band had an absolutely top notch gig! Myself and Joachim powered ourselves up there in the preferred swedish motor (ie my beautiful saab, not his horrible old volvo) under guidance of Nelly, and got there to find the venue was a sports club up a muddy hill. NtB had obviously wimped on the all terrain capabilities of his mondeo and had carried his bass rig about 100 yards up the hill (respect), and JoL was smuggly smirking about his Land Rover's 4x4'ness. Not to be outdone, on the third attempt I "did it my way" and got a decent run up - sorted. My car is a bit of a messy state now though and I did crack the plastic cover for the tow hook but never mind. ROCK AND ROLL and at least I look like a farmer while driving down the road. Anyway on to the gig, at first glance I didn't think the venue would add up to much, they were busy watching some low quality sporting event on the TV while we set the gear up, but how wrong could I be! As seems to be the trend with most out of london venues (ignore my last trip to Wisbech) this was an incredibly well supported and friendly blues club. Despite it being half term, there were perhaps 70-80 people in there by the time we started going. The atmosphere was great! People dancing to shuffles, dogs and cats living in harmony, it was excellent! NtB played very nicely, and Joachim was very efficient as usual. John was in good voice as well and the customary harmonica feedback gods were poking their heads in every now and again. Luckily (for me) they also bought the tone gods with them, although I ended up wishing they hadn't worn their toobscreamer fancy dres costumes again. Timtone use may have been more appropriate. Anyhow I was also lucky enough to break a B string in the last song (again?!?) but that was not to stop the mighty pendragon! I finished the gig with 5 strings, reminding myself of the old days of Formula 1 where occasionally a car would finish the race with 3 wheels, or having just run out of petrol or something. All in all a cracking gig, and I'm looking forward very much to hopefully playing there again next year! LOF 4/10. Pandora's not having an affair, it was just the milkman.

Roadhouse, Woodman Jam - Friday, 29 October 2004

Another corker last night at the Woodman... the pub was somewhat devoid of non-musician punters which gave the night a sort of Marie Celeste feel. This theme was carried through into the roadhouse set during which Gary's brain cells took a bit of a wander during Telling Lies. Highly entertaining indeed, but the most worrying thing was that mine followed and I had a complete moment of "widdler's cramp" where I couldn't remember how the theme to Knight Rider went. Never mind, got there in the end. Other high spots of the evening were the Tone Gods smiling on Danny through the medium of Gary's magic Peavey, which was most entertaining. They sort of smiled on me although they invited me to some kind of fancy dress party due to the use of my toobscreamer (cool da who kinda like da hot rod marshall) instead of the regulation timtone. French Marc happily made a late entrance to the fray, and so we played a quite funky version of it's your thing with LORNA on vocals. then LORNA also sang a verse of Ain't No Sunshine. FM then played a solo, then LORNA sang another verse, then I widdled a bit, then LORNA sang another verse. LORNA sang lots with us in that set! Did I mention that LORNA was on stage with us?!???? (that's for the haircut comment!). Still in love with pandora although I think she is having an affair. LOF lowish.

JOL, Grove Tavern - Sunday, 24 October 2004

A somewhat weird night down the Grove Tavern last night for The John O'Leary Band. Once again featuring Caesar and this time with Sylvio on bass, I had high hopes for this gig as the last time we played there was a blinder. Sadly however the pub was very quiet (football to blame perhaps?) and there was a funny atmosphere around. Nearly halloween or something! Unfortunately this meant there wasn't much creative spark in the air and the gig was themed "perfunctory". Shame really as the line up had really good potential to make some good "choons". Never mind, I had a very nice turkey steak beforehand.

Roadhouse, Elme Hall Hotel, Wisbech - Saturday, 23 October 2004

"Almost the polar opposite of Colne!" - just about sums up last night's Roadhouse gig up in the fens! This being a Blues Matters! production, myself and Lorna set off in saab style for a pleasurable jaunt through friday afternoon traffic on the preffered M4/M25/M11 combination pack. A dead easy (thanks Nelly) drive meant we were there at about 6.30, to find the venue empty. I disturbed Gary for a bit on the phone and then we set about finding some beers and nosh for the late night entertainment that would surely follow! on to the gig and it's fair to say that despite the lowly audience figures (last count was approx 8 although the lighting made it tricky to count) I had a good time. Holding court on a massive and very red leather chair, I had a nice chat with matey Bruce the DJ bloke, and matey who had seen lots of bands in the 60s and 70s and was full of entertaining stories and sage career advice! There are a number of other things that I could fairly say about this gig... firstly, the on stage sound was simply dreadful! I haven't experienced such a lousy (and far too loud!!!) mix for ages! I couldn't hear myself "at all". secondly, I drank "like a fish" (except without the gasping for air) for much of the evening, which meant one of the themes of the night was "oiled". I am pleased also to say that Caesar battled through the friday night traffic to be there as well, and sat in on two songs, voodoo queen and preacher man, using his approved slidejules.com sponsored amp setup. I think the RMG will agree with me that the tone gods were on holiday, and hadn't even left a forwarding address (see stage sound mini rant above). Post gig, much tomfoolery and antics at our hotel room that I blagged us for free, and therefore a bumper party size hangover and two half eaten mince pies greeted me this morning. It must also be henceforth and herewith formally noted that bill hobley, roadhouse bass player, snores like a poorly 747, again resulting in much 4am mirth. I would also as custodian of the milk sachet stroke mini cartons like to proclaim myself the winner of the lobbing competition. LOF low low low although with only 8 in attendance the expectation was low to begin with!!! Pandora has a training bra.

Roadhouse, Woodman Jam - Friday, 22 October 2004

In a word, stonking!!! Last night's jam at the woodman was un melange tres belle de lots of different styles and people! many great players in attendance, nice to see Drew Barron back in action, playing some sweet wibbly wobbly arm licks. All good fun! Danny G played through my amp and the tone gods were definitely smiling for him - for me thought they were almost wearing an eyepatch. Me hearties! The world debut of our "awesome" arrangement of the mission impossible theme made certain members of the musical fraternity so 'appeeeee, and made for an outstanding display of squiddly diddliness. Marvellous... and once again making use of the taxi de mama service I played the game of self elimination relatively early on and therefore had a very hazy and wonderful night! The best thing of all was that thanks to tonights gig in norfolk, I have the day off work today and am therefore writing this, dear reader, from the comfort of home! Result! LOF low low low and back in love with Pandora...

Roadhouse, The Coach and Horses, Isleworth - Sunday, 17 October 2004

Despite this bastard cough maintaining it's hold, not really a bad gig last night. We played well, sold a few CDs and had a good time. Nothing of huge consequence to report however, the gig was followed by cheese on toast and a snivellingly early night. LOF high!

Roadhouse, The Prince Regent, Sutton - Friday, 15 October 2004

Last night's gig was far better than the last time we played at this pub on Sutton High Street, in just about every way. I think the band played better, I personally played better, and also due to Anne not being able to make it, there was more room to play - and consequently I didn't have to get quite so well acquainted with the face of the jukebox. Result! LOF low low low unfortunately although there were plenty of friendly punters buying CDs which was great. All in all a fun night... marred only by the onset of the bastard of a cough which I woke up with this morning!!!

Roadhouse, Boom Boom Club Sutton (Blues Matters) - Monday, 11 October 2004

okayyyy of courshe last night was for sure the Blues Matters night at the Boom Boom club in Sutton, featuring us, Egypt, and (hey big guy) The Mellotones all the way over from Holland. And what a brilliant geniotic night it was! Everything was in alignment, from the brand new stylish taxi de mama (Touran TDI, good car!), to the one man comedy show being put on by the tone gods, to the fantastic Mellotones set, to the "comedically" late night debrief 14BR style, to the fact that busy mike managed to make it. It was all good! I really do love the Mellotones and can't say enough about them, a great set indeed. The funny thing is that as with the time I saw Nublues at Colne, the audience seemed to be far less into them than I was! Maybe they're on a different wavelength or something, who knows, but I thought they kicked arse as usual. And did a sort of stomping poor man's dance routine to show it! Anyway a great night all round. LOF 1, still in love with Pandora.

Roadhouse, Woodman Jam - Friday, 8 October 2004

Fun and frolics last night in Wimbledon, with another superb jam night. Our theme was "away" as in "home and away" and so we kicked off the jam with Not Fade Away, Slip Away, Lost Along The (a)Way, and Telling Lies as a contradiction at the end. It must be said that the tone gods were smiling although they had sunglasses on and were reading page 3, which had the combined effect of cutting a lot of the top out of my sound. That said it sounded great if you were stood right in front of it (shame that was only me!). Another pantomime jazz set with me and french Marc and our band of merry frenchmen, and it's fair to say we ruled the roost! We sadly repeated ourselves with a mission impossible theme, and then we played a seriously funky tune called It's Your Thing, which got me hopping and bopping big time! Also got to do the requisite set with Sid on banjo set at the end and we did Lonesome Road... which pleased me no end as it was the first time in donkey's years I'd managed to keep tabs on the chords during the song! Marvellous. LOF low although if it's any consolation the heated seats in my car were a total result on the way home. Still in love with Pandora.

Roadhouse, GJs - Monday, 4 October 2004

Last night was Roadhouse pt 2 and it was a gig at GJ's. The more astute observers might notice I already put some pictures up from this gig, as they feature pendragon again looking lovely! The tone gods were definitely smiling, partly I think due to my insistence again of playing with the duoverb on its side. I have no idea what (if any) difference this makes, scientifically, but in my head it makes it sound much better. I've probably said all this before though. A nice stormy monday with an appearance by "pointy headstock bloke" (sorry Danny!!!!) was a fun moment, as was the greasy wah wah workout in Voodoo Queen. Shame about the attendance, once again a very quiet night at GJs lending itself to a rather un-lucrative-ular evening. Some frayed tempers later and it was back to 14BR for some omelette savoyarde and red wine. Oui oui bon bon tres francais. A bientot!

Roadhouse, Mandy's Party - Monday, 4 October 2004

Saturday night was the first of a two-pack of full contact roadhouse, with us playing a short set at Bill's wife Mandy's birthday party. A soaking M25 helped us on our way as we nellied our way to east London, a brief soundcheck and some nibbles, and on with the gig. Pendragon sounded great, the tone gods were sort of smirking although due to some bad DJ induced ear bashing I couldn't really hear myself too well, despite playing quite loud. It was all a bit soft focus really. Post gig was a headache induced earlyish night following a wet wet wet drive through the middle of london featuring a brief KFC stop! Still in love with Pandora.

JOL, Alexander's, Chester - Friday, 1 October 2004

An absolutely corking gig last night up in Chester... a totally top night in every way! After a decent drive up the M40 and M6 toll road, getting caught in the regulation J15-J16 accident that seems to happen every time I'm on that road, and then nellying my way cross country, I hooked up with my mate Nick and we "hit the town" or more specifically went for a burger in a pub in the town centre. It must be said that the hollyoaks LOF is not really a true representation of real life Chester. 9/10 -vs- 3/10 I would say. With both pendragon and guinevere in attendance, it would be fair to say that all the Gibsons were in the building! And ironically true as well because Nina Gibson who had seen us at Colne came to the gig as well! Mr and Mrs Gibson were also in attendance and there may have been a few more different Gibsons although sadly I didn't have time to find out everyone's surname in the place. More irony there actually because with an audience of approx 30 it wouldn't have taken that long if I'd wanted to do that. Anyway while mentioning the audience I should say that, although small, they made a bloody great racket and were a pleasure to play to! It was also our first gig with Sylvio on bass and I must say the feel was spot on. I do hope we can do more gigs with him as the musical chemistry was really happening last night. Everyone was on good form! The tone gods were smiling as well, obviously pleased with the peace offering I'd made them earlier by listening to Mike and Mellotones and Whitesnake really loud all the way up the M40.

Post gig, some nattering with Eric the promotor, some entertaining banter with the barman and his merry maids, a few more glasses of red wine, and then a merry jaunt back to the holiday inn for a marvellous night's sleep. Great! Still in love with Pandora.

Roadhouse, The Bulls Head, Barnes - Tuesday, 28 September 2004

An excellent send off last night for the Stormy Monday Club at the Bulls Head. Throwing caution (and all previous noise complaints) to the wind, we kicked off the evening with the RMG and myself playing our stock combo of songs, although not particularly classic renditions they were pleasing nonetheless. The tone gods were certainly cooking the RMG up a slap up meal, and I felt they sent me their "warmest regards" as well. Marvellous. Amongst other sets were John O'Leary with Lorna O'Reilly and Tim O'Sullivan in an appropriately irish themed bluesy set (with Danny playing guitar as well), Saiichi was there too playing some beatlesy bits and bobs, and also we had a funktastic pantomime jazz appearance by Putain-salope, the new band featuring myself, french Marc, Fox and awesome Tony. We squiddled and lo verily did we diddle all over the mission impossible theme tune (4/4 mind you none of this 5/4 nonsense) to rapturous indifference from some quarters and huge joy from others! Other highlights of the evening were another delicious mild curry (top right back page of the menu), the surprise appearance of Mr and Mrs V, and also the fact that I self eliminated my driving ability in a kinda of mama taxi style. Consequently the end of the night was something of a blur although I do recall being lucky enough to pop a B string on Guinevere towards the end of the night, leading into an eggle based freebird-fretwank finale. All in all a top night and a good note to go out on. Stormy Monday Club RIP! Still in love with Pandora.

Roadhouse, The Fox and Hounds, Carshalton - Monday, 27 September 2004

The theme for last night's gig in Carshalton was, I think, "perfunctory". Not really a gig for the annals of history, but not bad at all by any stretch of the imagination. There weren't a great deal of people there however the shape of the room means that even 30 seems like a big crowd. I played Guinevere all night and the tone gods were, I think, probably asleep - although I think as well they were having nice dreams about something or another. LOF 2. Still in love with Pandora.

"The London Showband", Wedding @ Faversham, Kent - Monday, 27 September 2004

One of the more surreal gigs of recent history occured on saturday night, as I did a dep with "The London Showband" at a wedding in Kent. Basically this band was a sort of Guilty Party / Royal Scam halfway house, and a most entertaining evening it was. To be honest, functions aren't really much fun anyway, you are more acting than playing as you are supposed to play someone else's guitar parts by the note. Tonight however was still good fun, as the depping itself was really quite pointless since Shredder Pete's gig was canned, and so he was there in the end as well. Basically meaning that all I did was play froth and widdle all night, my favourite sort of gig! Highlights of the evening were the extreme comfort in which I travelled down there, thanks to my orthopaedic seats (or something), the exceptional LOF (especially LO-sax playing-F), and the financial recompense, which was decent. All in all a fun night although I can't say it did anything to sway my opinion of doing functions. Dirty job, but someone's gotta do it. Oh and I forgot to mention the comedic size of the stage... an 11 piece band in a room smaller than my bedroom... nice!!!

Roadhouse, Woodman Jam - Friday, 24 September 2004

Yet another fantastic jam last night, a truly enjoyable soiree. Pendragon once again proved to sound fantastic although it will be even better once it's had a setup - I keep knocking the strings off the saddles, I think the grooves could come down a bit. The Roadhouse set was great and featured both Lorna and Anne, singing harmoniously like angels as usual! I must confess the high spot of the evening for me was once again our "Pantomime Fusion" set (phrase © 2004 Gary Boner) with Me, French Marc, Awesome Tony and Fox. This time also Frank Dymore joined in the festivities on some percussion. And on we went, tonight's theme being The Marseillaise (not sure how to spell that)... squiddly-diddly-wanky-guitar-tastic! We just need a name now for this unit and we'll be away. Proposed suggestions by Marc's housemates were Salope, Putain, Zut, Spearhead, and some others that I can't recall right now. I think we might need to keep thinking. LOF was superb, altogether a fantastic evening...

Roadhouse, The Grove Tavern, Wimbledon - Sunday, 19 September 2004

What a truly great gig at the GT last night! The theme was, I think, "heavy". I have, dear readers, bought a new Les Paul - photos and info forthcoming but suffice to say, it's a beauty! However it is also quite "heavy". Also last night we had Joachim on drums depping for an absent Rog, and it'd be fair to say he played "heavily". It put a really cool and interesting twist on some of the songs eg Voodoo Queen which was played with a much more authentic New Orleans groove than the usual straight way we play it. I have to say Joachim did a great job considering the time he had to learn the material, and the gig was great. LOF was superb with some excellent post gig drinking. At the end of the night I left with a pleasing "max power" moment involving lots of chavvy blokes and Mandy G and all of her mates, put on my taxi cap, and went on a whistle stop tour of west london and harrow before heading home at last at 3.30am with a quick stop at West's Kebab. Any Chiswick based readers will know that this is the Zenith Kebaberie in W4. A great night from which I shall take a few hours and glasses of OJ to recover!

Roadhouse, The Coach and Horses, Isleworth - Sunday, 12 September 2004

I think I can comfortably say that last night's gig at The Coach and Horses was the best gig we have had there by miles! An absolutely cracking audience in a nice local pub, which is usually somewhat devoid of punters, made for a fantastic evening. For the third gig in a row I was lucky enough to break a string on my Jackocaster as well, meaning a second set that was Guinevere based. The Tone Gods were literally splitting their sides with laughter as well, I think it was party time on mount olympus! LOF minimal sadly...

Roadhouse, Woodman Jam - Friday, 10 September 2004

A literally "awesome" night at the Woodman last night - it started off a bit quiet, leading us to decide this really is the doldrums for gigging... however after a late kick off the pub suddenly got packed! We had Frank Dymore subbing on drums which made for a slightly different feel to the evening - also I had an excellent time playing a quite special guitar that Tom Anfield made for Gary. It's fantastic! I am sorely tempted to ask Tom to build me one... let's see! Also sowed the seeds for an idea for a new band after playing a funky fusion workout on Frere Jacques with French Marc (who it must be said was not as happeeee as usual), Fox (who was leaping about like a maniac) and Awesome Tony on drums (who was also leaping about like a maniac). I think a band playing novelty tv themes or childrens nursery rhymes etc., but in a chops ahoy kind of way, would make for an entertaining project!!! LOF 6 perhaps on average with a large standard deviation...

Roadhouse, Catford Blues Club - Thursday, 9 September 2004

A buoyant appearance for Roadhouse last night at The Green Man, home of the Catford Blues Club. The Green Man, incidentally, does a very nice green salad which it calls "The Jolly Green Caesar" which the RMG would obviously approve of. Sadly however due to a red ken induced traffic jam, I was literally rushing through rush hour to try and get to the gig in time, which meant my dinner had to be delayed until a petrol station after the gig (and even then was sadly not the zenith Ginsters BLT). All was not lost however after I managed to fill up with Optimax. Excellent. The gig itself was good fun, although again slightly quiet on the audience front (19!) - not terrible for a wednesday I suppose. Tonight's theme was "different" and so we had some slight variations eg Bill and Rog played a *different solo* woooooo which was fun. Also I did some scatting (not of the ohno.mpg kind) which I don't think gave George Benson anything to worry about, and ended Voodoo Queen with a literal "greasy wah wah workout". I was also lucky enough to pop a top E on my jackocaster during Oye Como Va - curiously enough not even during my solo, it was while playing rhythm! Very strange. Since Gary made the observation that reading my diary paints the picture of an Adrian Mole type character (something I take exception to!) I should point out that having measured "thing length" it's no different to yesterday. I bid ye good morrow!

Roadhouse, The Running Horse, Nottingham - Monday, 6 September 2004

Tour of the midlands, part two!!! Sunday morning, wake up about 11.30, danish and coffee, and time to go. Wave goodbye to chateaux cuz and off in search of some river to go and pop my fishing cherry with Bill, an experienced fisherman! I was looking forward to literally being a fisherman's friend! Sadly however it was not to be. It appears that every single accessible stretch of river or lake or pond or puddle in the whole of leicestershire or nottinghamshire is owned by Wreake AC (whoever they are) and consequently without a special licence, fishing is prohibited! Bummer! We'd spent £7 each on a regular fishing licence "and everything"!!! Doh! So instead we went to a lovely pub in Hoton - The Packe Arms - thoroughly recommended! Great food and exceptionally high LOF!!! A marvellous place to be when a couple of hundred miles from home and armed with a largely useless fishing rod! On to the gig (with a full stomach) and we arrived in plenty of time. Followed closely by the rest of my roadhouse compadres we were all set up in the pub by about 8pm, plenty of time for a 9pm start... 8.30pm and the pub is still empty... 9pm and the pub is still empty... 9.15pm and one game of pool later (I beat the lunachick although sadly only on a technicality as she fouled in the same shot as potting the black mwah ha ha ha ha) and we go on stage, to an all time low record of attendance at the Running Horse, of 8 people. Fast forward to the end of the gig however we have sold 5 cds, not bad considering there were 3 couples in those 8 people! (do the math!) The gig was great fun, everyone played well and I think I was having some kind of E number related energy reaction to the full fat cola I'd drunk. For some reason I played a lot of squiddly diddly gibberish! And came to the conclusion that this website would be better if I had a domain alias of http://www.wankysolos.com - much more memorable! Anyway, the night culminated in a spectacular lock in, where I got a copy of roadhouse's no place to hide album and ticked off the things I like which I'd been luckily enough to experience over the course of the weekend. I am pleased to announce that I managed all apart from lazy mornings, the french alps, mallet's mallet, the late night acton drinking club, and walking to work. All the others featured at some point over the weekend. Great! LOF was high quality, in the low single digits quantity. Shame! Looking forward to playing there again though because Barry loves the music, the room has a nice sound, and also it is so nice not to have to pack up the gear until the next day!!! A great gig despite the inevitable financial woes and a nice end to a great weekend!!! What fun!

Roadhouse, The Musician, Leicester - Monday, 6 September 2004

Tour of the midlands, part one!!! A hungover me got up comically and inappropriately early on saturday morning and I headed over to Bill's house, in time for an early lunch and stately drive up to Leicester, where we were to play at The Musician. Sadly however I had a language barrier mix up and when Bill had said, come over for an early dinner, I thought he meant dinner as in dinner ladies as in lunch. Sadly he meant dinner as in dinner as in supper as in I turned up at 10.45am and he didn't think I was going to be there until 5pm. Nice! So I spent the day watching dvd's and talking rubbish with Bill's kids. Excellent! Then headed up in non air conditioned but quite comfortable transit power... merrily merrily merrily merrily up the M1, life is but a dream etc! Got the gig at approximately 8.15 to find it slightly devoid of an audience, but at least the beer was cold, the PA set up, and the chairs comfortable. One swift set up, followed by hooking up with my cousin Andrea and her boyfriend Darren, and we were off at about 9.30pm! To all of 15 people! Never mind, we played well considering and had a good time. The tone gods were smiling and wearing fancy dress, as my jackocaster was doing a convincing guinevere impersonation. All good fun! Post gig, a swift pull down of gear and we headed off to chateaux cuz where much vinyl was spun and much wine was drunk before proverbially hitting the sack with a delirious smile on my face. A fun day!

Roadhouse, Bulls Head, Barnes - Tuesday, 31 August 2004

Back to earth with a bang last night, 7 paying punters at The Bulls Head, of which 4 were my family! The line up was Roadhouse featuring Nick on bass, John O'Leary, Caesar, the Vermeers, and the indescribably brilliant 59 deVille, with my favourite local blues player Alan Vincent, this time playing a Strat and once again having the sweetest tone imaginable. Orange Amp... hmmm... excellent! A delicious Thai meal (note to self, the curry at the top right of the back page of the menu is delicious and quite mild and most tasty) before the gig set me up most nicely and hit the spot. I do enjoy the meals at that place! Sadly however that's just about the only enjoyable thing about that venue; considering the heritage enjoyed by The Bulls Head (it has had musical entertainment for I believe close to 60 years) it has to be the most musician unfriendly bar known to man!!!!! For example, despite continuous noise complaints from locals, the management still insist on gigs taking place with the doors open!?!? What's that all about?!?! Of course you'll be able to hear the music from outside if you leave the doors open! So, an almost sarcastically quiet gig to begin with, although it settled at a comfortable (ie probably "too loud") level after a few songs. Also, the cinema style seating arrangement does nothing for the atmosphere - with so few people it would be much better to have it like ronnie scotts style, couple of tables and chairs, rather than sitting in rather sterile rows etc. Anyway, enough trying to be constructive, all in all a rather depressing end to an otherwise brilliant weekend!

Roadhouse, Colne Blues Festival - Tuesday, 31 August 2004

After John's set was done, we hooked up with Bill the Bass and headed over to our place of residence for the evening, Skipton Travelodge. It has to be said that our experiences there were more or less entirely woeful! To begin, with the lady behind the "reception" requested we be quiet and hush our (not even remotely bawdy) conversation because she was trying to serve the (slightly bemused) gentleman in front of us in the queue! So therefore in true schoolchildren style we felt compelled to shush each other exceptionally loudly even when whispering. Aaaa the joys of acting like a 10 year old again. The rooms were also pleasingly identical to the rooms at the last travelodge I stayed in (at Peterborough) even down to the sheets curtains and valance (skirting round the side of the beeddd). Post settle, we decided on some dinner at the Little Chef next door. It must be again said that if you ever decide to eat a Little Chef fry up, I heartily recommend going anywhere you like EXCEPT Skipton. Comedic levels of service, incorporating frowning and stroppiness, cold food arriving, incorrect food arriving, forgetfulness, incorrect addition on the bill, more stroppiness, made for what could best be described as a debacle-ular experience. That said, my cheeseburger was delicious. Shame they forgot my chips but there you go. One taxi-ride later and we were back in Colne to find Gary, Anne and Roger, eagerly milling about backstage...

Having been for a little wander into the audience, it must be said I was buzzed and really looking forward to the set. There were a few more people there than there had been earlier in the afternoon, and from the sound out front the engineers had really sorted the PA by then. Again a very efficient load onto the stage, and we took off! Using a prototype version of our new festival opener, Telling Lies, the crowd were really behind us from the off. In contrast with John's set earlier I was much happier with the mix on stage, and I felt the tone gods had shaken off their frowns and ripped forth a loud and beaming smile stroke belly laugh. The set was an absolute corker... once again inappropriateness leads to the highlight for me - if you haven't effectively stolen the solo from Freebird and played it in front of 2,000 bemused hardcore blues lovers, with your foot on the monitor, you haven't lived!!! I also was pleased to note to myself that I had a rock and roll moment where I shook my head and a load of sweat splashed everywhere. Pretty minging if you think about it really but it was quite cool at the time!

After the gig I hooked back up with "the home crowd" and was most entertained by Caesar who after 4 pints was, it's fair to say, hammered and talking bollocks to anyone within earshot. Marvellous! Several stock stories and Alan Partridge quotes later and we were once again taxi-bound for Skipton. I should add that our rock and roll credentials were pulled into question seriously though when we realised that we had no alcoholic beverages whatsoever and our post gig de-brief would consist of some coffee and amusing anecdotes stroke joke telling. No throwing of TVs out the window for us! Although that said, the RMG did dispose of a milk carton in a very rock and roll manner.

Sunday morning and a mum-on-the-phone-induced early start prompted yet another entertainingly dismal encounter with the Little Chef. For more details I would urge you read Caesar's Rants where the RMG felt compelled to rant about the experience! Once again I should offer contradiction by saying that my fry up was delicious despite the absence of baked beans as requested. At least they remembered the no mushroom rule!

Back into the SAAB, hit cruise control, program Nelly, and home time, just in time to dress up as Carlos Santana and go to my brother's birthday party and engage in more silly antics, although those, dear reader, are beyond the remit of this site!!!

JOL, Colne Blues Festival - Tuesday, 31 August 2004

Saturday morning, 7am, a bright and breezy start to our Lancashire based weekend! In optimax fuelled comfort we took off up the M1, destination Colne! With a brief stop off at Leicester Forest East for some overpriced service station fry up (with a distressing lack of Black Pudding!) our drive was pleasantly free of controversy. I also had the good fortune of driving down the steepest road I have ever been on! Marvellous. We arrived in Colne at about 1pm, perfectly timed to pick up the stage passes and head up to the "International Stage" to see Nublues! We caught about 45 minutes of their set, and despite a comedic amount of bass guitar in the mix, it was very enjoyable! In fact we literally did "jump up" and then "get down"! Once again I was thoroughly entertained by their guitarist Ramon's playing - he is a great blues player with some very "cool" jazz inflections. They didn't seem to be quite winning over the crowd as much as I thought they deserved to - perhaps because their modernised brand of blues just didn't cut it with the more straight-laced members of the blues audience? I don't know. Either way, I hoped it didn't bode to badly for either John O'Leary or Roadhouse, neither of which play particularly "straight" blues!

By 2pm it was time for us to wander over to the "Super Roadhouse" stage to hook up with the rest of The John O'Leary Band, who had driven up slightly later than us, in similar (but slightly different and perhaps more efficient) Swedish style. An extremely quick load in to the stage (aided and abetted by the very helpful stage hands) and we were off! The stage sound was at best mediocre, and both myself and Caesar felt that the tone gods were really frowning on us. I'm not sure whether perhaps the monitors were out of phase with our amps, or maybe the crew just hadn't quite sorted themselves out yet, but to be honest it didn't stop us from rocking our proverbial socks off. The set was perfunctory, with one standout however being a fantastic and utterly inappropriate rendition of Love Shack featuring the luscious Lorna Reilly from north of the border on guest vocals. Caesar was obviously "feeling the blues" as I felt his vocals on this were especially bluesy and plaintive, for want of a better (and perhaps more appropriate) word. The latter half of the set struggled to reach the giddy Shack-ular heights, with my last solo of the gig being especially average, and again cut short in the same frustrating way as the director of a gentleman's special interest video might perhaps call time before the natural culmination, nay climax, of a day's filming. After the JOL set was over, an exceptionally quick and efficient tear down of the gear, and the rest of the band once again set off for the land of prosperity in Volvostyle! For Caesar and I however the Colne experience had only just begun!!!

Roadhouse, Merton Abbey Mills Blues Festival - Tuesday, 31 August 2004

Well Ladies and Gentlemen, the first gig of this busy weekend was an appearance at Bob Brunning's most enjoyable Merton Abbey Mills Blues Festival. An outdoor affair in the bandstand, this was a nicely presented and pretty well attended do. I didn't really think there'd be many people there after it had been solidly pissing down with rain all day, it being outside and all, but in the end all was OK. The stage was not particularly "stomp friendly" and the on stage sound wasn't very good "at all" (leaving the distinct taste that the tone gods were not smiling but were in fact grimacing), but the band played well and it was a good warm-up for the Colne gig to follow! A splendid pizza prior to and some deliciously cold beer after the gig were the icing on the cake! Or perhaps, the cream bit between the layers on a battenburg cake. Tasty! LOF 7/10

Roadhouse, Woodman Jam - Friday, 27 August 2004

Last night was a "crowning achievement" for me as Gary deemed me worthy of the reigning "king of widdle" at the Jam. This was in response to a particularly widdlesome exchange between myself and French "So happpyyy Yesssss!!!" Marc, during a partic-ularly debacle-ular arrangement of So What, the Miles Davis tune. To be fair, I don't know why I got the crown as I was outgunned in a blaze of high(ish) gain glory! Great fun to play with my old mate Dan again, it had been 5 yrs! We were both schoolkids last time we played together! So that was a good giggle. Plenty of good jammers there tonight, including a comedy trombone section during Andy "SM58 head" Cortes' section. I was also most impressed with Danny G.'s playing as he played a phrase which I play sometimes as well, kinda buzzing like a bumblebee around one note - however he phrased it in a completely different way which was very interesting/enlightening/refreshing! All good fun and I hereby apologise for boring everyone senseless about how pleased I was with one partic-ular solo on the (nearly finished) John O'Leary album. A thoroughly joyous evening all round!!! LOF 3/10.

JOL, The Running Horse, Nottingham - Monday, 23 August 2004

On Saturday night The John O'Leary Band feat. Caesar appeared "on tour" at the Running Horse in Nottingham. Musically this was a top evening, everyone played a blinder, and the tone gods were most certainly grinning from ear to ear like a gaggle of large 100W cheshire cats. The Running Horse is a nice room, with very friendly staff running it, and it makes a change to have accomodation offered to the band. It is so nice to be able to play a gig and not have to worry about ripping the gear down straight away the minute you stop playing. The evening was only slightly marred by a fairly low turnout, which combined with this being a door deal meant that financially the trip didn't work out in our favour, "at all". LOF zero as well. That said, and by way of contradiction, I drank a bit too much after the gig, had a very enlightening chat with John, was amused by the RMG talking bollocks to anyone within earshot, and woke up sunday morning to a large party-size hangover. I love our little tours!!!

Roadhouse, The Prince Regent, Sutton - Friday, 20 August 2004

Last night's gig was at The Prince Regent, where I played like a proverbial "bag of spanners". It used to be called The Fielder and Firkin, and is certainly all the better for the facelift. Unfortunately the layout is still the same resulting in a minimal stage space issue, the upshot of which was that old favourite of Capt. Julio stuck behind a pillar and playing to a a PA speaker and jukebox. Consequently eye contact with anyone other than the cover of the Robbie Williams CD on the jukebox was nigh on impossible. Shame. As I already mentioned, the moons were not aligned guitarwise for me, every song felt like it was about 10bpm too fast, which is very unusual!! Nothing seemed to quite "groove" properly if you catch my drift, and on some of the songs I had a really tough time keeping up. Also it was difficult to tell if the tone gods were smiling due to my having to stand right on top of my guitar amp - perhaps they were smiling but they certainly had a balaclava on at the same time. Not a particularly pleasant experience at all and certainly not a gig worth remembering. Bring on next week though when we will have room to stretch out a bit, and it will be a different story!!!

Landslide, Waterhall Golf Club, Brighton - Sunday, 15 August 2004

On paper, last night's gig certainly didn't promise to be really great - a long way to ago, perhaps a slightly older audience than I might agistly deem appropriate, not guaranteed to be a good earner - but a good excuse to get together and have a blast! Imagine my surprise then when this turned out to be a scorcher!!! A first set comprising all of our favourite Landslide numbers in one hastily cobbled power-set, followed by a second set jamboree with an all star line up of female singers to take the lead. From Lorna's "stormy monday/help me/love shack" combination, via Lise's "spooky", through to EVS's "i believe in a thing called love", this was a total cracker of a gig. Everyone played a blinder, even Busy Mike who surprisingly had time to stay for a hurried pint after the gig, and the tone gods were smiling. Actually they were screaming as I rechristened the band loudslide for the encore. Nice to see some guys had come a long way to see us play as well!!! Thank you friends you know who you are!!! A great gig with decent LOF and good playing all round. Marvellous!!!

Roadhouse, White Lyon, Worplesdon - Saturday, 14 August 2004

Last night Roadhouse played a quite toasty charity benefit for the Macmillan Nurses at the White Lyon in Worplesdon. What a totally rocking gig!!! And in complete contrast to our last appearance there! The audience were really into the band, the atmosphere was superb, and the band was firing on all cylinders (with optimax). The tone gods were smiling on uncle Jackocaster, although I had my amp on it's side, with one speaker above the other... perhaps that is the way forward and I've just discovered something new? Who knows! Either way it sounded great and I was happy with it all. LOF low (could see no nurses in the building at all from my vantagepoint. grrr!)

Roadhouse, Woodman Jam - Friday, 13 August 2004

A fine night last night at the Woodman, the first jam in a while and what a good one it was too! Chopswise I was struggling with my Eggle somewhat, complete with a comedy "what chord is next" choke in the middle of one of the Roadhouse songs, but that said the tone gods were certainly smiling (on everyone that played through my amp in fact). A reminder to myself though that I should restring my Jackocaster for tonights gig, I haven't played it for a bit! Plenty of fine folk in attendance last night, all the woodman reg-ular-s were there with a few additions eg French Marc who was on very entertaining form, and also the first time I'd seen my old mate Dan from school in years and years! Marvellous! Lots of fun all round and I'm glad the jam has started up again. LOF 9 if butch sporty short haired ladies with bigger muscles than you are your thing.

Andy Cortes Band Jam Session, Crown Morden - Thursday, 12 August 2004

The second time myself and Nick da bass Townsend have played in the house band at Andy Cortes' jam in Morden. Sadly once again a chronically underattended affair although as I said before the situation of the jam (in a darkened and large nightclub above the pub) does it no favours, coupled with the door charge and lack of financial support from the pub. A shame really but there you go. Nice to see Lord Bibi on top form amongst the other jamming faithful. LOF zero (again!).

John O'Leary - Boom Boom Club, Sutton - Monday, 9 August 2004

Last night The John O'Leary Band played a hot and very sweaty gig at the Boom Boom Club in Sutton. We were supported by Simon Hickling and the DTs, and consequently played a relatively short 70 min set. It was a shame that it was such a mal-attended affair as the band played quite well. It was one of those odd "greater than the sum of its parts" type gigs as none of us were partic-ular-ly happy with our own playing, however the whole ensemble sound was good. Personally I was really rather too hot for comfort and sweated like the proverbial paedophile in a kindergarten. This meant that unfortunately my fingers slipped off the strings of my guitar about 20 times through the gig, which made me feel pretty amateur and not very good "at all". On the other hand the audience enjoyed us, SH&DTs were great, and the comically small HK PA rig sounded superb. The tone gods weren't really smiling, once again more of a smirk really, although this might again have had something to do with my feeling pretty washed out and overheated. LOF zero (sadly).

Morockan Soul dep, Maidenhead - Monday, 9 August 2004

Saturday night the MRS Express chugged into Maidenhead for Kelli's 30th Birthday party. I was depping for the RMG and consequently was nominally in command of the Wheel's of Steel jukebox as well. In fact the RMG was still fully in control as he'd made some ready prepared boil in the bag party CDs (pre faded too!) which enabled one to hit play and then retire to the dressing room aka back garden. The gig itself was in a marquee in the back garden of their very smart house (complete with 3 mercs outside all with personal plates cough cough ahem cough) which alongside the swedish flag in the garden led to all sorts of debatular activity regarding the dad's profession. My bet is on Mercedes Dealer. Or maybe president of the Merc Fan Club. Anyway the gig was quite fun in a "tonight matthew" kind of way although the tone gods weren't smiling on us at all. In fact they'd spited us by giving us a comical "tectonic plate" style stage which was hollow and consequently rendered mine and Al da bass's amps very muffled-ular. Fortunately there were no earthquakes or volcanos though and Dion's drumkit didn't vanish into the middle of the stage like something out of lord of the rings. Which was a relief. I must admit that the evening was relatively faff-free for Linda which must mean that JJ's planning was spot on as the faff-window was evidently reduced from it's normal faffular amount. In fact the only faffing of the evening was probably related to my own little "leave the hazards on and drain the battery" incident which meant our getaway wasn't quite as quick as it could have been. Musically I wasn't overly happy with my playing or sound although I don't think it was really the kind of audience that would have cared... The band played very tightly though and at a pretty restrained volume, which was nice. LOF was also quite fan(ny)tastic, which was a pleasant surprise. Contradiction of the evening however was that due to extreme sleep deprivation I skipped any attempt at debriefing, preferring instead to drive home at a medium pace and promptly fall asleep very quickly.

Charlie's Fundraiser, Grove Tavern Morden - Tuesday, 3 August 2004

Well, Sunday afternoon was a fundraiser to buy Charlie an Electric Wheelchair. It was a fantastic afternoon all round, and for one time only I'm allowing a celebrity contribution to my diary pages by stealing the Rantmaster General's Report thus:

"Sunday afternoons gig was a charity fundraising affair at the Grove Tavern in Wimbledon to raise money for an electric wheelchair. It has to be said, basically everyone on the West London jam scene was there in some shape or another. Even Busy Boy Mike Pearce managed to spare a few minutes of his busy schedule to pop down briefly. I played 2 sets with firstly John O’Leary and then as Landslide. The JOL set was great, with matey Dave on drums who we pleasingly found out played with an Abba tribute band. Also it was great to play with David Hadley on the bass, who I could tell was enjoying entertaining the folks. 2nd set was with Landslide, and we played our usual brand of 2 guitar based widdle. Busy Boy Mike Pearce (who managed to spare a few minutes of his busy schedule to pop down briefly) played an outstanding solo during the set! A rip roaring masterpiece. I also was incredibly pleased with my slow G blues solo which allowed me to vent some pent up frustration incorporating spite and anger, and minimal loathing. It was also dedicated to the master of the slow blues, Jon Griffin, who enjoyed it with a huge grin! I was also especially pleased with my tone from the house Sessionette, and I felt I was able to coax an outstanding tone from it using the regulation Tim Tone box. I also noticed it coaxed a smile from the bar personnel too! Also during the Landslide widdlefest Jules lived out one of his life long ambitions by playing ‘Love Shack’ at a serious blues type affair with the lovely Lorna Reilly on ‘bird part’ vocals. It was a blast! After I played I got mildly drunk on 3 pints of Guinness, spoke bollocks to anyone who was in earshot, and had a Dutch lesson from Nicolette. In fact it was probably the most valuable linguistic lesson I have ever had, and I gleaned that the Dutch for ‘Fat Lady’ is ‘Dik Suck’."

© 2004 COBI

Andy Cortes Band Jam Session, Crown Morden - Thursday, 29 July 2004

Last night myself and Nick Townsend were in the house band at Andy Cortes' recently started jam session above the Crown in Morden. A pretty strange evening all things considered - I must confess to not being totally enamoured with the room. Acoustically it's strange - it's an incredibly large kidney bean stroke L shaped type thing with a very low ceiling over the stage. Consequently although it sounds OK out front, the stage sound is boomy as can be. As a result of that (and also as a result of the fact that non musician punters pay a nominal entry fee) the excitement coming from the stage, and the rapport with the audience, was quite minimal. Nevertheless I had fun, and particularly enjoyed jamming with Dave Hadley who was there. So yes, an interesting night all round... I'll be back in 2 weeks.

John O'Leary, Darlington R'n'B Club - Sunday, 25 July 2004

Friday night was a trip up north for the JoL band, playing at the good old Darlington R'n'B club. I drove up a bit early so I could catch up with me old mate Dodgy Ian from Keiretsu in Durham, had a nice afternoon. Got to the gig as appointed at 5.30, fell asleep in the car with my phone on the charger thus running the battery flat. First comical blunder. Both John and Joachim (travelling in swedish stroke german style) weren't very efficient and got held up in traffic, as did Nick the Bass who had a terrible drive up incorporating phones running out of battery and traffic jams and not turning up until 8.15pm. *That said* once we got into the swing of it, the gig was great! Although I wasn't 100% happy with my playing, the band sound was great and the sound engineer was helpful and good at his job. A superb audience and comfy accomodation (aided by a couple of bottles of nice red wine after the gig) meant that this was another good gig for the band. Looking forward to playing there again! LOF 7/10

fREAK-1-C Jam, Fox & Pheasant West Drayton - Sunday, 25 July 2004

Last Thursday due to a radio appearance fREAK-1-C surrendered their jam to the quirky troupe of lucky jammers myself, Adrian on singing, Red Rocket Mike on Drums, Kerrie's dad Dave on Bass, and Mark Laigue on guitar! It was great! Captain blagtastic and a thoroughly great time had by all. Loads of people were in attendance whos names I don't know, amongst those I did know were JJ, Sammy, EVS, Toni, John t' Hair, Bill and Rog from Roadhouse, Awesome Tony, usual fREAK-1-C posse incorporating Mellymelmel etc, and some other people that I recognise but don't know. Marvellous! A totally widdlingly fun evening although normal service *will* be resumed next week! Had children been allowed into the pub the pram:teenager ratio would have been high.

An Audience With David Hasselhoff, The Adelphi - Wednesday, 21 July 2004

This evening I had an epiphany! Myself and The RMG went to The Adelphi Theatre on the Strand, to see Chicago, featuring the Knight Rider himself! David Hasselhoff!!! One man can make a difference! It was brilliant. Highlights were the exceptionally talented dance troupe and the entertaining storyline (in that order), with the creme de la creme being the curtain call which featured The Hoff doing The Hoff (for the unitiated this involves some kind of howdy pardner pistol motion). An utterly brilliant evening all round and an ideal way to spend a gigless wednesday!!!

John O'Leary, The Torrington - Monday, 19 July 2004

Last night the John O'Leary Band + RMG played an absolute corker at the Torrington in Finchley. I must admit that I thought this gig was going to be a stinker - the last few Torry gigs we did were pretty quiet turnout-wise, but tonight was an exception. Not exactly packed, but nevertheless much better than expected, and those that were there made one hell of a din after every song! It made for a marvellous gig! It has been a long time since I've had that much fun on stage, and felt that much musical intuition, during a gig - I can't really remember a gig being as much fun as that in a long time. I was pretty hungry having not eaten much all day, and so myself and the RMG enjoyed a fantastic MaccyD session with Rog the door guy. All things considered a bloody marvellous gig and totally superb end to an excellent weekend. Roll on the next one!

John O'Leary, Jagz @ Ascot - Wednesday, 14 July 2004

Last night the John O'Leary Band played at Jagz in Ascot. Actually to be honest this was more of a John O'Landslide gig as both Busy Mike and the Rantmaster General were in attendance in a musicular capacity. Consequently there was much froth and widdle from all concerned, and a great time was had by all. Thinking of attendance, it was a shame that there were so few punters at the gig (resulting in a rather unfortunate zero gig equity situation) - however those that were there made up for it by hooting and a-hollering! That said, it was marvellous to see so many mates there coming down and having a good time! All things considered a fantastic evening and I must admit that after the evening's activity I was quite hungry for a bowl of cereal or perhaps muesli. LOF high.

Roadhouse, MRA Festival, Norfolk - Monday, 12 July 2004

On Saturday, a slightly hungover me set off with a more sprightly Lorna in tow for the giddy heights of the Norfolk broads. Well maybe not the broads but it was certainly Partridge country. After a delicious Little Chef breakfast, and seeing plenty of floating swans and smoking pigs, we Nelly'd ourself to the venue in plenty of time. A large tent outside the Sutton Staithe Hotel, with a very "monsters of rock" PA - very pleasant indeed! Danny Bryant played before us and his performance was perfunctory and pretty much as expected. Then the Roadhouse set which wasn't bad, although slightly marred by the trademark "on the brink of feeding back" monitor system over on my side of the stage. That said, Guin+DV sounded great! And then the high spot of the day, okay big guy, was a set by the fantastic Mike and the Mellotones. I have had the pleasure of seeing these guys perform 3 times now, and they are just ridiculously cool. Both Ruben and Mike were playing Plexi's + Super Reverbs (of courshe) on 10. Staggeringly loud! Favourite part of the day for me? "guys those amps are too loud I won't be having any of it in the PA" "good, the volume is not an issue. don't have us in the PA then!". Marvellous. Followed by what promised to be an exceptionally late night debrief and drive home combination pack. LOF was pretty low although, given the event, it did match my expectations. A fantastic day.

Roadhouse, Sutton FC supporting Walter Trout - Friday, 9 July 2004

Well last night's regular Football Stadium gig was at Sutton FC, supporting the LEGENDARY Walter Trout. Actually to be precise it was the bar underneath the football stadium, and Walter Trout's drummer completely stole the show. A thoroughly enjoyable evening all round, despite early indications of a total lack of common sense or good humour in the mixing desk area, and I felt roadhouse played very well and gave a good show of ourselves. A superb and packed crowd meant there was plenty of energy to feed off in the room. A "power set" of nothing but rockers, including the zenith telling lies/preacher man combination pack encore! LOF 5 (barLOF 9 tho)

John O'Leary Band, Clowne Blues Club - Monday, 5 July 2004

Answerphone message, 6pm Sunday 4th July 2004: "Hello Jules, yes it's Joachim here. I'm in Clowne. It doesn't seem very funny at all." And right he was! After saturday night's gigular activity in Peterborough, myself and Nick "Da" Bass drove up from our travelodge to Sheffield to pass the time. Our day should be described I think as a pure joy! Thinking of that I was surprised it wasn't snowing in Sheffield as it is quite a long way north. Anyway after a few hours of trying to convince saab dealers to let me test drive a shiny new 9-5 estate (unsuccessfully, I think they saw through my winning the lottery story), sitting in traffic jams on the ring road (going nowhere lynn! 2nd time round!), going to meadowhall shopping centre (chav central, burberry caps everywhere, fantastic!), going to the cinema to see shrek 2 (tawdry), eating an ironic Clowne Burger (better than BK), we finally got to the gig! A good gig it was too, Joachim's drum solo especially was a stand out for me! LOF minimal all day (not helped by the pram:teenager ratio in sheffield). What a great weekend!

"Fine Dining With Roadhouse" @ Charters - Monday, 5 July 2004

On Saturday night the Roadhouse Entertaining Troupe swung by at "Blues On the Boat" - Charters Bar, Peterborough. This is one of my favourite venues to play and tonight served only to confirm that... free (and delicious) thai food, free drinks, good audiences, nice acoustics, and above all, it's on a boat! An old dutch barge, to be precise. What more could you ask for as a musician? I felt the band played a blinder, making up for the lack of fluffers, and the songs went down a treat - all in all two very nicely paced sets. Guinevere sounded exquisite through Lord DV, "oooooooooo", and LOF was highly reasonable. The gig was then followed by a comical overnight stay in a "sordid little grief hole", sorry, Travel Tavern, about 20 miles north of Peterborough. A suitable end to a very entertaining evening!

Roadhouse, Woodman Jam - Friday, 2 July 2004

Dear Reader, What a marvellous evening last night at the Woodman Jam! The last one for a month and what a good one it was. LOF was a strong and justified 10 for the first time in ages, and I played the most beautiful guitar I have ever touched - Alan Vincent's vintage '62 ES335. To have played such an incredible piece of craftsmanship, and set up so beautifully as Alan has it, made Guinevere feel so inferior when picking it up again! This guitar just wanted to play itself! I almost wish I'd not played it since it is so far outside my price range, but that said the seeds have been sown and I know that at some point in my life, I really want to own one of these! So a million public thank you's to Alan, you made my night! In other news, the turnout for the jam was good, and the quality of musicians was superb, including a return of Sid and Nigel to the fold who we'd not seen for a while! A tiptop evening all round.

Roadhouse, GJs Colliers Wood - Monday, 28 June 2004

A particularly entertaining Roadhouse gig down in a rain soaked Colliers Wood last night, ladies and gentlemen. Despite a small but hardcore turnout, we had a great time playing requests from the Roadhouse back catalogue. Nice to play Firewalking again, I love that song, Mountains Fall and Devil's Highway were good as well although I didn't really "hit the groove" on them particularly well! Guinevere was pretty average tonight (I never really get on with the acoustics of that room) however the barLOF more than made up for it. Outstanding as usual.

JOL, Walkern Sports Club, Stevenage - Sunday, 27 June 2004

Last night the John O'Leary band played at the Walkern Sports Club, a funny little blues club just outside Stevenage. Sadly the attendance was at best minimal, however we played well and Guinevere sounded superb as ever. LOF mediocre although to balance that we had a really nice chinese meal before the gig with Nick'da'Bass, Joachim, Caesar and EVS who were also there. What a pleasant evening!

Roadhouse, Boom Boom Club, Sutton - Tuesday, 22 June 2004

This gig will go down in history for me as "the gig I shouldn't have done". Despite wimping out of playing the saturday, and a continued decline in health throughout sunday, I decided I didn't really have much choice but to play the Sutton gig, since it was a CD launch and it was also to be filmed for a Roger Hunt Industries limited edition DVD. Unfortunately my inability to talk at all, or stand for more than about 30 seconds without wanting to vomit, rendered me seated in my "jazz corner" on the stage and rather quiet throughout the gig. In fact I have very little recollection of playing any music at this gig, those memories instead having been erased and replaced with ones of a bloody great green stage light shining in my face helping me to avoid dehydration no end. Sweet. Can't wait to see the video though! On the plus side, lots of friendly faces in attendance, I *think* the band played a blinder under the circumstances, and it was an ironically suitable final launch for No Place To Hide I feel (it should incidentally be in the shops in 6 to 8 to 10 to 12 to 6 weeks as well). LOF was pretty average with one oustanding exception to the positive.

Postscript being that I was in a hospital bed with a drip in my arm within 5 hours of coming off stage, from where I have just returned. A truly rock and roll experience, granted, although preferably not one to be repeated if I can help it.

JOL, Cardinal Wolsey - Tuesday, 22 June 2004

Unfortunately due to sore throat's movement up the "anxiety chart" from position 2 to 1 (just for you Adrian Mole fans) I had to at the last minute cry off sick for this gig. Legend of the night was Saiichi who stood in at the last minute and covered the set from me. I understand a good time was had by all and we have been offered some more gigs back there in the future. Watch this space (or rather another space on this site) for details!

Roadhouse, Rayners supporting Ian Parker - Tuesday, 22 June 2004

Last Friday, 18th June, Roadhouse played a short 45 minute set supporting The Ian Parker Band in the excellent Rayners Lane Hotel. Great stuff although a burgeoning sore throat (see later gig reports) was a major dampener on proceedings and meant I scooted off home within about 5 minutes of coming off stage. A terrible shame as I would have loved to see Ian Parker play! I was totally blown away by the soundcheck and have heard great things back after the gig. What fun! LOF zero.

Roadhouse, Woodman Jam - Friday, 18 June 2004

Not a bad jam last night at the woodman - plus points where that the tone gods were smiling on the mighty Jackocaster, and also I had a great play with French Marc on guitar, Dave Dix singing and playing Harp, the almighty Barry Pethers on bass, and Rog on drums, which was fantastic! I always feel quite inspired when playing with French Marc, he has some tasty licks that I really enjoy stealing! Only slight downer on the night was the slightly "unfettered" volume issues towards the end of the proceedings, but such is life. When the relationship with the neighbours is as fragile as it is at the Woodman, some degree of restraint is needed. But there you go, as if I can talk. Good contradiction though for anyone from the Caesar's Rants crowd. LOF -2/10.

Roadhouse, Resonance FM, Denmark St, London - Sunday, 13 June 2004

This afternoon we played an acoustic set with Pete Sargeant on Resonance FM which was really good fun! Pete's philosophy is "don't plan anything" and the show was fantastic as a result! We played sound dominoes which involved taking a load of tracks with 1,2,3,4,5 and 6 in the song titles. Sadly the CDR I'd burnt refused to play in any of their CD players. DOH! But Pete's magic bag came to the rescue and we were salvaged! We played 3 acoustic tracks in all and played and sang great I think, and also had a really nice pizza afterwards. What fun! London LOF 10+.

Roadhouse, The Coach & Horses, Isleworth - Sunday, 13 June 2004

After the woodstock large stage large crowd antics I drove back home and had a fun gig at the coach and horses in Isleworth - again utilising the taxi de mama service. Excellent! So a slightly oiled evening, combined with a long break in between sets, meant that the specifics of this gig eg setlist are slightly hazy! Jon Griffin and Nicolette came down, and played you don't love me, junior wells' style. What fun! Notes sprayed all over the pub! Sadly the tone gods weren't really smiling on me tonight, although I think it may have been relative after using the same rig a few hours earlier in front of the happy and fragrant hippy crowd. LOF 7 perhaps.

fREAK-1-C, VW Woodstock, Herts County Showground - Sunday, 13 June 2004

Yesterday I followed on from Thursday's jam by randomly pitching up and sitting in with fREAK-1-C at the VW Woodstock festival. This was essentially a massive group of entertaining VW drivers dressed up in 60s gear and driving excellently decorated old beetles and camper vans. Brill! The PA rig was "awesome" and the stage sound was "bitching" - top marks go to the Beatles tribute band for their performance as well. If they are the zenith, then the Oasis tribute band were definitely the nadir! Although in a CR style contradiction, they seemed nice people off stage! To be fair though they weren't terrifically authentic, since the guitar solos appeared to be in tune. Anyway the less said about them the better! A marvellous day, and in a rock and roll fashion I bled all over my guitar. Then I stopped. Ace! LOF 6.7

fREAK-1-C Jam Session, West Drayton - Friday, 11 June 2004

Although it wasn't a gig for me per se, I feel compelled to mention what a good time I had down at the Fox and Pheasant jam in West Drayton last night. For those of you who don't know, I used to play in a band called fREAK-1-C a while back, and they host an outstanding jam session every thursday (see their website for more information). Last night it was boshed to the rafters, with the usual large contingent of the Caesar's Rants community in attendance as well. I played a load of stuff throughout the evening including a comedy half time lovelight with Ian Jam, a version of oye como va which seemed to slow down to about half speed by the end, sweet home chicago, rocks off and a WMG-fest freebird with JJ, Awesome Tony and Urban Mammal, back in black and the darkness song with Lady Nadie Rantsalot, Lillian, and Pumperloaf, and I will survive with someone who I didn't recognise!? I also got to play Les Paul Bloke Mark's Les Paul recently come from chandlers which despite a comedy low action also had a beautiful fret-job and nice pickups in it too. Excellent! So a totally superb night all round! LOF average 7.5/10

Roadhouse, Eel Pie Club - Thursday, 10 June 2004

Last night that classic blues combo, the "Roadhouse Blues Band", played at the beautifully refurbished Eel Pie Club in Twickenham. A surprisingly good evening to be honest! We had 7 (count 'em) noise warnings before we'd even started, thanks in part to some rather nonsensical lack of soundproofing combined with putting the stage right next to the not-particularly-tight-fitting fire escape door. So we began the night at a rather muted pace, but everything picked up and then some! It soon settled to a comfortable volume. The tone gods were smiling at my jackocaster and Lord DV, although slightly grumpy at his shackles to begin with, still managed to sound nice. Saiichi played a song in the interval as well, his vintage firebird sounded very vintage and very firebird-ular as well! LOF was as anticipated only just above zero in quantity but exceptional in quality. A marvellous evening!

Roadhouse, Grove Tavern Morden - Sunday, 6 June 2004

Saturday night saw Roadhouse rumble into the Grove Tavern in south wimbledon. I have to say that this is fast becoming one of my favourite venues to play on the local pub circuit. Lee and Abby are as good hosts as any gigging musician could hope for and are very supportive of local bands. Add to this some great value chinese food, some extremely friendly bar staff, and a late license, and you have a winner! I played my jackocaster for the first time in ages and, were I an eng-er-lund supporter, I would say it sounded "mint". Lord DV was in good form too, and all was excellent. An unexpected appearance by Saiichi Sugiyama merits mention as well since he did two songs both called something along the lines of "I want to make love to you". His gibson and marshall combination pack sounded suitably "gibson and marshally" as well. A great set by roadhouse unfettered by noise inhibition complaints meant a good time was had by all. LOF 7/10

Roadhouse, Woodman Jam - Friday, 4 June 2004

Normal service has resumed at the woodman! A fantastic night had by all, many regular punters there, and also nice to see the Butch and Sporty contingent in attendance. Sadly no Busy Mike (too busy I think) and no Nick the Bass (probably busy with Mike), but that said there were plenty of other people to make up for it! I had a fun jam with Andy "SM58 hair" Cortes and a rhythm section I'd never met before who were exceptionally funky! (Italian bass player Languino? Allesandro? Linguistini? and v entertaining drummer again whose name I can't recall) - I was also blessed with a broken string which meant I got to play Gary's strat, which has an even more "toys-r-us" setup than mine does! Fantastic! Oh and I nearly forgot, I sprayed the pub with some highly widdly but extremely low frequency bass (courtesy of Bill's bass loan services) along with Jon Griffin et al! LOF high water mark 10, average 2.

Roadhouse, Bulls Head, Barnes - Tuesday, 1 June 2004

Musical high spots of last night's Stormy Monday Club: the excellent Grovel based dinner I had before the gig, seeing Busy Mike's shiny new Pug 306 Diesel (in blood red), looking lovingly at my Les Paul as it stood on its stand, staring at the word abercrombie on a particular member of the barstaff's attire, and watching Hendrix at Rainbow Bridge on DVD when I got home after the gig. Marvellous!

Landslide, The Lamb - Saturday, 29 May 2004

What a fantastic gig! Last night marked our biannual Landslide gig and what a festival it was too. Plenty of guests, pretty good LOF, nice beer, excellent audience (including smurf franky mal mal's wife my mum phil bro anne-marie her mate ali entire-morockan-soul the lye's charlie rudeboy lise fox paul helen owen etc.!!!!!) and we played great! It's been a while since caesar and I had a good old six string shoot out in a blaze of high gain glory, and what fun it was! I was most pleased with my Les Paul, it sounded fantastic, and my Duoverb was great too. Only low spot was a pissed idiot pushing the PA onto me in the middle of Belgian Tom - but we kept going! Also we had a "mo'soul" based second set featuring love shack, the darkness, freebird, just wanna make love to you, etc etc etc. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and I can't wait for the next landslide gig!

Roadhouse, CD Launch @ Farnham Maltings - Friday, 28 May 2004

Last night was our CD launch for "No Place To Hide" at the Farnham Maltings. An evening of ying and yang ladies and gentlemen - due to continued pressure to curb our volume (or rather mine specifically) I was finding it difficult to "get into the music" and left the night feeling utterly underwhelmed by my own playing. However, the crowd were totally fantastic, I must say. It was really nice to see so many friendly faces from the recent Boogaloo Blues festivals, and also Dion "buckethead" popped along too in anticipation of tonight's Landslide-ular festivities! LOF 0 / G+DV 75%

Roadhouse, Woodman Jam - Friday, 21 May 2004

Last night was the first Woodman Jam in a while. The theme of the evening, for me, was "lacklustre". Since Bill was away Nick the bass stood in and wowed us all with his purified low range from his ying/yang bass rig. Consequently I was on PA duty and I must say that extracating the PA from the rubbish that was burying it in my bedroom, combined with loading it all up into my mum's mighty passat, combined with unloading it at the venue, combined with getting a flat tyre on the way there, combined with the prospect of loading it all up again at the end of the night, left me really not quite in the right frame of mind for the jam. The tone gods weren't smiling either. However, by way of contradiction, Gary gave me a fantastic new shiny necklace from Buffalo Bill's Graveyard Shiny Things Emporium. LOF 2 (call it 8 if you like butch sporty types).

JOL, The Grove Tavern, Morden - Sunday, 16 May 2004

A fun night last night over in the Grove Tavern. A purely depular festival from a rhythm section point of view, with Nick the bass on bass and Roger Jones on drums. I'm not sure quite why but this was a totally splendid gig! Everyone just played great and the audience (against the odds) enjoyed our stuff. Guinevere was on top les-paulular form and my line6 sounded great. A poke in the eye to all the valve purists! The LOF was average although for the mathmaticians amongst you the standard deviation was very high.

Roadhouse, The White Hart, Gosport - Sunday, 2 May 2004

New territory for Roadhouse last night as we headed down to Portsmouth. I think it would be fair to say we rocked the joint, although the crowd could best be described as "enthusiastically indifferent". Despite chanting for sweet child of mine/rod stewart/robbie williams etc., they appeared to enjoy our particular brand of widdly wanky guitar solos etc. and songs about voodoo whiskey highway women etc. Which was nice! Think short skirts, cakes of make-up, oasis uniforms and burberry caps and you get the gist. There were three good things about this gig: 1) Guinevere sounded great, 2) I averaged 39mpg on the way home via the gift of cruise control at 60mph and 3) LOF was a high 8. Oh and I had a really nice greasy burger from Al Makthoum's Greasy Burger Emporium just before the gig. Fantastic!

JOL, Alexanders, Chester - Friday, 30 April 2004

Last night we went up to the north for a visit to Alexander's Jazz Club in Chester... and what a fine visit it was too! A fine and appreciative audience made for a good gig. Once again Guinevere sounded glorious! I think I have finally been bitten by the Les Paul bug, it felt so good and sounded so thick! Lovely. LOF was perhaps 5, disappointing considering Chester's Hollyoaks-fuelled reputation. I also got to enjoy german efficiency at work as Joachim timed our journey to perfection.

Roadhouse, Bulls Head, Barnes - Tuesday, 27 April 2004

What a fun night! Via the gift of chateaux mama taxi services the theme of last night's bulls head appearance was "well oiled". More people than expected there, it was great! Nice to see French Marc, my brother Alan Deviant, Mandy G, YM Sarah and the rest all in attendance! We had a Landslide-esque-ular moment on stage with a bit of classicish lovelight and oye como va stock pair of songs. Also John O'Leary was there and we did a big greasy slow blues, during which Caesar played with wild abandon! Although perhaps not as fluidly as a few months ago would have been for example. LOF was a steady 7.5 and the Les Paul/Duoverb combination pack once again sounded like a nice thick and creamy tone yoghurt. Wonderful!

Roadhouse, Fox and Hounds, Carshalton - Monday, 26 April 2004

I'm not sure what it is about this place but we always have a good time there! Last night's gig was no exception, and the band was firing on all cylinders. Another good night for Guinevere (2 in a row!) and I felt that the tone gods were smiling down from their little cloudy perches. We had Lorna and Sue singing with us, and a sore-throated-Anne in the audience. Speaking of that, the audience were superb (both quality and quantity) and really into the music. Nice to see dec29th birthday bloke in attendance and shouting for santana. Either that or santa or satan or something. All things considered a really good gig and a good end to a nice sunny weekend. LOF 5.

Roadhouse, Catford Blues Club - Thursday, 22 April 2004

Last night saw Roadhouse return to the Green Man in Bromley, home of the Catford Blues Club. I had quite low expectations for this gig after the last time we were there was a bit quiet. In the end though it was a superb evening! We had a great crowd, the tone gods were smiling, I am just getting over being ill and we all felt up for it and ready for action. Pleasingly I should add that in more than a year of ownership last night marked the first gig where I have been totally happy with the sound and feel of my Les Paul all night. Guinevere was singing! LOF low.

JOL, Eel Pie - Thursday, 15 April 2004

Last night Robin Bibi stood in for me at the Eel Pie club in twickenham as I was in hospital! Was a bit gutted really as I'd not had a chance to check out the redecorated club since we last played there about a year ago! In case anyone's interested, hospital LOF was a firm zero. Sadly.

Roadhouse, Coach and Horses, Isleworth - Sunday, 11 April 2004

Last night Roadhouse was at ye olde Coach and Horses in Isleworth. Very nice pub indeed and a good gig really! Despite a few technical gremlins (which got sorted thanks to the Lorna Reilly Roadie Course) we had a good gig, my Duoverb sounded majestic for want of a better word. Also I nearly managed to convince my new local fanclub that I am in fact columbian despite my broad chiswick accent and lack of "bling". This gig also marked an isleworth first for us of being requested to play two encores, which was nice. Thanks also to light operating matey and his fantastic abilities with the on-off switch which made for a spectacularly zenithular climax to our Oye Como Va rendition. My friends in attendance notwithstanding, LOF was a low 1. Disappointing.

Roadhouse, Bulls Head, Barnes - Tuesday, 30 March 2004

Last night the legendary Roadhouse Music Club rumbled in Barnes for our monthly residency at the Bulls Head. Once again a somewhat quiet night, musically it didn't quite reach the giddy heights of Sunday. On the bill was Pete Sargeant and his my blue heaven compadres, Alan Vincent who is the best guitarist I have seen on the london circuit for donkey's years, and Little Rusty. And consequently it was the first Bulls Head in ages where we got back up at the end! Would have been great if I hadn't taken advantage of the 14BR Taxi de Mama service and had 4 pints (of ridiculously expensive lager but that is another story, perhaps one for Caesar's Rants). Consequently I could only describe my performance at the end as "ropy". LOF 0 tonight sadly, with localised cloud cover in the bar area and a westerly breeze.

Roadhouse, The Torrington - Monday, 29 March 2004

Well a somewhat sad occasion as I suspect this will probably have been the last Roadhouse Music Club at the Torrington. Despite everyone's efforts at pushing the nights, the turnout has been pretty low for the last few months, and so I'm not sure if we'll be back there. That said, tonights gig was superb, featuring a mini set with me and caesar doing a charity gurnathon (both of us playing quite fluidly for some reason), then sue ballinghall, saiichi, the jj evans (?) band, who had a great bass player, saiichi, storm warning (GREAT band! Noone told me david coverdale had cut all his hair off?!?), robin bibi feat. caesar, and then two songs from roadhouse to finish the night. Wonderfull! LOF 0 sadly.

JOL, The Running Horse, Nottingham - Monday, 29 March 2004

On Saturday night, we played the Running Horse in Nottingham. The second night in a row we had a superb gig - it was really nice to have the support of the Nottingham contingent of my family!! The enue was nice, a pretty cosy pub but with all the pre-requisites for a good gig. Good value beer, good acoustics, a good audience, and a comfy dressing room. All good! Nice to meet birthday girl as well! LOF moderate 7. Duoverb sounded great.

JOL, Rayners Lane Hotel - Saturday, 27 March 2004

Last night the JOL band played at the Rayners Lane Hotel near Harrow. It's a really nice room, probably holds a couple of hundred comfortably, with a nice atmosphere. Due to I believe a diary cockup by the promotor, we had a joint billing with Ruthless Blues, who have been on the circuit for yonks and were a very tight professional band. We opened for them with an hours set, and it was all good fun. The joint billing thing worked out for us pretty well I think because just on our own, we wouldn't have pulled in so many punters yet, and also musically we were a good pairing I think - their audience certainly enjoyed what we did. We had Dave Clarke on Bass and he was on good overnet-tastic form. A fun night all round! And Mike and Nick B appeared in the audience too!

JOL, The Torrington, North Finchley - Monday, 22 March 2004

Tonight we played at the Torrington in North Finchley. Well. I will say two things about this gig: firstly, 0 LOF, literally. Secondly, I am usually quite a tactful person and have learnt two things in my time on this planet. If you can't say something nice, say nothing. And, always be willing to accept the possibility that you may be wrong about anything you have done, or think you have done. Tonight I witnessed the breaking of both of these rules to live by.

On the plus side, I find it unlikely that the problems which beset tonight's gig will be a problem again. I will let you know what happens in my next gig report!

Roadhouse, Grove Tavern Morden - Monday, 22 March 2004

Last night we were once again at the Grove Tavern in South Wimbledon. Strangely a slightly quiet night at this usually rather raucous venue. But we still rocked! The Havard twins were there and played a really nice set with Pete Bedford and also ossie Owen and the lady whose name I can never remember on drums, who all did a mini set in the interval that was really nice. I must say Mark Havard did a really nice job and got a great tone from his Tele! He played Need Your Love So Bad and his tone sounded much more like Greeny's Les Paul than my Les Paul does! Great stuff! Also good to see a high LOF count and also a brief post gig beerlet as well. All good fun and I can't wait to play there again!

Roadhouse, Tring Blues Festival - Sunday, 14 March 2004

On saturday afternoon, Roadhouse hosted the Jam Session at the Tring Blues Festival. It was quite a good afternoon really. Again I wasn't so happy with the tone from my amp, but these things come and go in waves so that is to be expected! The turnout was surprisingly good (up on last year by 10 times) and it was also the first time my grandad saw me play! Nice food on the lunch buffet as well... LOF minimal with one exception.

JOL, The Cardinal Wolsey, Hampton Court - Sunday, 14 March 2004

Friday night's venue was a pretty small pub in Hampton Court called the Cardinal Wolsey. A good turn out and a mini set in the middle by Sue Balingall made for a great evening! Not so happy with the tone out of my duoverb tonight, the tone gods weren't smiling. Maybe more of a smirk. Anyway lof was an average 6 with some extreme moments. At both extremes.

JOL, Lambeth - Friday, 12 March 2004

Since last night's JOL gig at Lambeth got canned at the last minute, I went to the royal Freak-1-C jam in West Drayton. A fun evening! Played the Darkness song, Superstition, and Need Your Love To Bad, a nice mixture! Followed by some boundary pushing banter, it was all things considered an exemplary jam!

JOL, The Grove Tavern, Morden - Wednesday, 10 March 2004

Last Friday saw us at the Grove Tavern in Wimbledon. A fantastic gig! Against all the odds, I must admit I thought it would be a bit of a washout. In the end we played a great gig, and the audience were really into it. Dave's motown medley came in very handy, as did a spot of impromptu cold sweat. The post gig drinking activities and subsequent sofa-sleeping-moment were a great end to a great night. Oh and my Line6 sounded exactly like I wanted it to. LOF moderate but enthusiastic.

JOL, The Musician, Leicester - Monday, 1 March 2004

Yup, definitely a "trough" in the gig biorhythms at the moment. The "audience attandance" gods weren't smiling on Leicester tonight. However during the course of the evening I: chomped on bacon and cheese and onion bread to my hearts content, drank a couple of pints, played a few songs, shouted at my duoverb pedalboard which has packed up, irritatingly, and also had a nice relaxing drive back home after the gig, and was also pleased with my tone, and listened to classic fm, in no particular order.

Great!

Roadhouse Music Club, The Bulls Head, Barnes - Tuesday, 24 February 2004

I think it must be the doldrum season for live music gigs! Another very quiet night at the Bulls Head. A shame really as the musical line up was really quite good, certainly better than many recent more well attended evenings. Please keep supporting live music everyone! Of special note was the first public appearance of Caesar's new sparkly blue musicman guitar, which wowed the crowd with it's sparkliness! Also had a delicious Thai dinner in some very nice company. A good night again!

JOL, The Crown, Morden - Sunday, 22 February 2004

From one Crown to another - this time with a full band though. A rather quiet gig, and the mood on stage was somewhat "under the weather" compared to most other recent gigs. We played well though and the small audience were most appreciative. Popped into the Grove Tavern in Wimbledon for a cheeky pint on the way home, it was great! Boshed to the rafters and a quite entertaining band on to boot. All things considered, a fun night! And we spannered the scots in the rugby as well!

JOL, The Crown, Ley Hill - Friday, 20 February 2004

Last night we did what was nominally a duo gig at the Crown in Ley Hill, which was basically just John, myself, and Dave Hadley. The Crown is a nice pub out in the countryside north west of the M25. By the looks of Dave's burger they did nice food as well. Musically, I can't say I really enjoyed the gig at all, playing without a drummer is something I do so infrequently that on the occasion it does happen, I find it very difficult to "get into the groove" and do all the things I enjoy doing e.g. building solos, creating ethereal noises etc... But that said, the people that were there were a very nice chilled out crowd, who evidently enjoyed the format. I'd rather not do it again, but then again I'll cross that bridge when I come to it!

JOL, Sutton - Monday, 16 February 2004

Last night The John O'Leary Band played at Sutton (it's like my home ground now!) - what a great night! Again a somewhat quiet night which was a shame, but also once again it was really nice to have support from some friendly faces down to see us. Three State Blues opened for us and were great as ever (I must get down to one of their jam sessions soon!) and then we were lucky enough to have Dominique Vantomme over to do the gig with us. What a treat! He was amazing and we have spent all day today recording the keyboard parts to John's new CD. First-take-tastic! He has done some amazing things which you will all be able to hear soon once the disc is finished!

Roadhouse, Bracknell - Sunday, 15 February 2004

Last night Roadhouse played at The Bridge in Bracknell. Audience slightly down on the last time we played there, but due to no advertising at all, it's not surprising. I thought we played very well, the new songs we are to record in a few weeks are shaping up nicely. I played my Jackocaster with fresh gold strings on it and didn't seem to break a top-E at all! Which was a bonus!

Roadhouse, Sutton, Supporting the Yardbirds - Saturday, 14 February 2004

Last night's short gig was a support slot for the Yardbirds at the Boom Boom Club in Sutton. Due to wednesday's unresolved E-string breakage issue, I played my Les Paul for the first time in a while. It looks great but isn't much fun to play, but encouragingly some people came up to me afterwards to say they liked the sound of it, so that was good! It was nice to see a few of our usual supporters there - thanks for coming to all of you! It was pretty cool to get a three girl harmony thing going on during some of the songs as well, due to Gary's slightly ambitious booking scheme! LOF 9+/10 quality, 3-/10 quantity. Oh, and the Yardbirds were great!

Roadhouse, Catford Blues Club - Thursday, 12 February 2004

Last night's gig was with Roadhouse at the Catford Blues Club, at the Green Man pub in Bromley. A somewhat muted affair compared to last week's shenanigans with John O'Leary, but we still had a good time. It was nice to see some people come again from the week before and enjoy the gig, and I must say thanks to lighting bloke for bringing his lights down too! It made all the difference.

Off stage LOF was zero which was a shame, and also I broke yet another top E-string in the middle of Couldn't Get To Sleep. It's one of three things. I think either my sweat has become super toxic, the saddles need replacing on my guitar, or the flipper technique was just too powerful. We shall see. Next stop Charlie Chandler's Guitar Experience!

JOL, Jagz, Ascot - Wednesday, 11 February 2004

Last night's gig was at Jagz in Ascot. This was another good gig for the John O'Leary Band... after a few lacklustre ones since the new year it has been nice to have a run of great gigs in succession. Tonight we were joined by a friend of John's called Dominic on keyboards - you may have seen him if you've seen The Rolling Stoned - he's their keyboard player. He did a great job, despite Dave's best efforts at intimidation!

We also played an impromptu version of Footprints in the middle of Lovelight, which was uncharted territory (literally!) for me. A lot of fun, and again my duoverb sounded fantastic. No broken strings tonight though. In fact, the only low spot of the night was my tubescreamer packing up. But that was OK... Timtone to the rescue!

For any visitors over here from Caesar's Rants, the LOF was a high 8 behind the bar.

JOL, 12 Bar Club, Denmark Street - Monday, 9 February 2004

Saturday's gig was the 12 Bar Club in Denmark Street, with the John O'Leary Band. Despite looking worringly like this would be a terrible gig (i.e. tiny stage, expensive beer, small room, trouble parking etc. etc.) it was in fact superb! Met loads of friendly people before during and after the gig, and John the sound guy was superb. It was so refreshing to play what is basically straight blues music, but to a funky young good looking audience. I worry sometimes that people my age don't really like it! Keeping up with recent tradition, I broke my top E in Lovelight. What a surprise!

Oh and the duoverb turned a few heads by sounding great again! I'm looking forward to playing there again.