21st October
Haaallo!!
Wow, two entries in as many days! Just to say, finally got round to updating some more pages to the current style. Meester Woodhall, he say NO! But oh well!!

GIG TONIGHT!! The Mulberry Bush.
GIG TOMORROW BIGHT!! The George and Dragon!

Anyone coming?

Hallo? Anyone there? No, really. Is there? (AA)

19th October
Hmmm, I guess someones' got to write something! Well, what news? Let's have a look, shall we...
- the 2 songs recorded for the Status Quo tribute album have now been finished and sent off. If you check out Per Rannugs site, you will see we were one of the first 3 bands to have the songs delivered to the producer! Phew!! Job done, lets hope he likes the versions! Some pictures are on Tony Marles' site, but we will post some more when I have time.

- several new gigs posted. Check the gigs page for details.

- all our CDs have now gone, so if anyone would like one, let us know and we'll get some more cut.

Ta-ra (AA)

24th August:

Well hellooo, a few things are occuring at the moment the most important one is that we have more gigs!!! Chuckle number two (or is he one?) has once again come good, so check the gig dates page. The recording session has been put back to the first weekend in September, we've found a studio tucked away in a beautiful old village just outside of Bedford. The guy who's going to have the honour/horrendous task of producing us is Dave Greenfield. The break in gigging has given us time to work on the 2 songs, with Junios Wailin' recieving a slight change on the intro. For you Quoies out there is kinda like a mix of the '76 live version intro and the Ma Kelly's intro.....nice!!See's ya soon (DW)
ps. I've finally persuaded Mark to part with his Les Paul Junior!!



26th July:

A few notable pieces of news from SPland. The CD is proving very popular, with almost the first batch completely sold out, in fact we've had orders from Japan, Germany and Holland. The second piece of news is theat we have been asked to perform at a forthcoming Quo convention, more news about that soon.

The last two gigs went very well(see reviews section), and now we've had time to put a few more numbers in the set, notably (my word of the month) Pictures of Matchstickmen and Sweet Home Chicago. Chuckle number one (or is he two???), Mark has just purchased a sparkling new axe (or Fender Tele to you and I)so taking his guitar total to 5000.

Tribute CD news: we are checking out a studio on Saturday so we should have the tracks ready by the end of August.
Anyway thanks to everyone who has ordered/bought the CD, and all you that haven't lets see those orders please. (DW)

3rd June:

Bonjour, mon ami! (or if we are lucky, stick an "s" on the end!)
Just a quicky, to keep our fan up to date on what been going on over the last month. Well where do you start? If only we had this much choice, we may not be stuck in (cough) great jobs, and would be out on the road! Oh well!! Aaaaanyway, a couple of things to highlight, so here goes:

1) Our wonderful CD is just about ready. Mac has done a bit of fettling to it, and is ready to be pressed. The art work is all complete, and is looking rather fine. All we are waiting for is for the CD to be copied and the labels to be stuck on, in a correct, central fashion! Then its up for grabs! 18 songs of pure SPARE PARTS thrash and bash! Maybe one day, we'll let you hear the ones that didn't make the cut (but only if we can pinch the original tape from Mac!)

2) As any Quo fan will be aware, there is a move to make a tribute CD, where Quo cover bands have been invited to submit upto 3 songs for inclusion. There is also talk of maybe pulling together some kind of event next year, where bands in various countries get together to perform the songs. We have were asked to contribute, and have suggested Juniors Wailin, Roadhouse Blues, and a bit more up-to-date, The Way It Goes. There is now a lot of bands on the list, so it may be that we all only do one song instead of 2 or 3, but we will just have to see how it goes.

3) GIGS!!!

Have a look at the gigs page, and it has grown, OK only very slightly, but I’m sure it will have a rush of blood soon!

4) The Maestro is back, looking like The Man Of Bronze, from 2 weeks of sun, sea and San Miguel. My turn next, followed by Chuckle No.2, so the 8th/9th July gigs will be, shall we say, interesting! Must start practising again soon!

That’s your lot for now, and lets be ‘aving your orders please! (AA)

May:

I'm standing in for the usual newshound Andrew. So what's new I hear you screaming. Well my friends all is well in land of Parts, the gig at The Woughton gig proved to be resounding success (see the reviews page for more info), with the DAT/Mini disc being mixed and fiddled about with by Mac at a secret location somewhere in deepest Buckinghamshire!! The aim is to have a CD ready in the next couple of weeks. All is quiet on the gigs front with myself and the Chuckle Brothers going off on holiday (not together I must add). Special mention to the older bass playing Chuckle, or Andrew as he's known to us,for his tireless search for new gigs. He's phoned loads of grumpy Landlords (and believe me they have been grumpy, must be something in the job description)to ask for gigs
most to no avail, also he's been sending out rough mixes of the Woughton gig to prospective clubs/pubs. So anyone who's looked at the gig list lately and thinks it's a bit empty this is the reason, most pubs want a tape (fair eanough they're now gonna get one!!), or they want to see us play. Now as we are trying to play a little bit further afield how the hell can they come and see us?? Chicken egg anyone?? Anyway we're not to pissed off, we've got a bit of time to rehearse some new material. By the way if you want a copy of the CD/tape please e:mail us at the usual address. Bye for now (DW)

14th March:

Well, haven’t been writing much recently. Time to just put a few comments down, to keep things up to date.
Still practicing and still not getting any easier! Our “original” practice room, at Thor and Odins pub was re-opened, and we had to make a forced return, since the arty people at the Milk-and-Beans place (Westbury – I’ve just remembered the name) turfed us out, for some kind of nude modelling with a turnip, or something similar. Anyway, its good to be in a large room, with space to move around etc. But, it served a purpose. Still no return of Odin and Thor though.
Last week saw us back to Westbury. It really is a great to practice, with a tremendous sound quality. This is greatly helped with Marks purchase of a Marshall combo. At last spending money sensibly! OK, it is on one occasion, but at least we all benefit!! “Wall of Death” now resides down at the local Cash Converters!
During this week, Mac rings us up, saying would we be prepared to play at the Fox and Hounds in Stony (no-e) Stratford on Saturday! Gulp!. Anyway, lets look at the facts. I’m my usual self, can play most of the songs, but not all (as ever), and Mac is still learning. Mark has been off work ill, now recovering, while Darren has just caught something and has a sore throat and cold. So, we can’t play 100%, can’t sing, and don’t feel well. Hmmm….lets not do the gig! As it happens, while we start to practice, Mac is heard to say “maybe it was a good idea not to accept the gig!”. ‘Nuff said.
A lot of hard graft later, and we finish the first half of the set, Mac is nearly there now. Next week, we’ll do the second half, then the week after pull it all together ready to start the gigs again! At last!

10/2/00:

Back to the art college, for more interesting pieces of art, and…of yes…. some music!

2 pieces of news!
1) Mac was playing at The Woughton Centre in one of his other bands the weekend before. This place is a 4-500 person standing hall, where many top bands have graced the stageboards! After a major gig, the gear is usually left up, for smaller, local bands to play on. And Mac has now managed to get us a gig in there! Apparently it was booked up for the year, but a cancellation came along, into which Mac signed us up! So, Sunday 30th April is going to be one scarey day!!
2) And even bigger news….Mark got his “wall of sound” fixed!! Yes, he took it down the local music shop, and had it looked at. And after all the trouble, they only replaced a volume pot!
But armed with his “new” sound, Mark even found time to restring his 2nd guitar. He plugs in and, hey, it sounded pretty good! So we ploughed on during the practice, which again sounded very good.
But wait! The week wouldn’t be the same without a story from the Walsh boy. So, during the set, Marks’ amp starts making thumps, like Macs’ bass drum. I actually thought it was, until Mac got up and walked away from his kit, only to hear the noises carry on! Hmmm, interesting.
Mark! When will you save your beer and fag money up to buy some good equipment?!?!
So Mac wonders over to have a look, and immediately spots the wrong type of lead running from his amp to the speaker cab. That comes out straight away, to be replaced with a proper lead! But the problem was still there, so the “wall of sound” is to be returned! The story continues…
So now its ring around and see if we can find some gigs before the 30th April. Lets hope pubs will be open to bookings!

3/2/00:

Well, here we are again.!

And time to confess! Along the way, we have picked up another drummer! Yes, number…. well I’m not sure really. We bumped into “Mac” last year, and, as you do, got talking, and seemed pretty keen to have a go at this type of music, which is somewhat different to the styles he is also playing in his other bands. But of course we were still playing with Roy, so couldn’t really do much.

And over the Christmas break, we basically broke the band. We weren’t too sure what we were going to do in 2000, if anything. And so we ended up into February, and decided to …. continue! And with Roy getting a load of gigs with his other band, we thought Mac might want to have a bash for a while, and see how it goes.

So Thursday was on, and we were all fired up again! Until “The Curse Of Walsh” strikes again! Having supposedly booked the practice room, he finally checks the weekend before, only to find the place is shut! A “bit of trouble” from last weekend had meant that the place had been shut down. Great! So quick phone call to Mac, and straight away he comes up trumps! Yes he knew of a place he’d used before, and it was free.
So off we trundled, to the great city of Milton Keynes, to an art college’s drawing room! Hmm, interesting. When we eventually found it, you have to drive past 2 Metros piled ontop of each other (art!!) and a Shove-it (Chevette) hatchback, dressed up as a hedgehog! The room itself is pretty good though, with a superb sound quality. The items of art keep us amused during the usual gaps of “what shall we play now?”. For example… a large white fish with chicken legs and pigeons wings! There must be some meaning in this, but what it is, who knows?!?!
Anyway, what an excellent practice! We played for just under 2 hours, I had cramp (which is just about all the time), Darren got a blister and Mark… well he just got better! Mac played a blinder, picking up the songs (most of which he hadn’t heard of) a bit too quick for comfort! This blokes goooood!!
And during this, Mac’s mate (an Australian hippy called Steve) was recording it. The outcome of this, see the next weeks review.
So, after this bash, Mac was even more up-for-it! So we continue next week...

20/1/00

Well, not much going on at the moment. If all things go to plan, we should be rehearsing (read: Andrew to start remembering the songs again!) at the begining of Feb.. Keep checking this page for details of what we are doing. We will post them as soon as we have any!