Football.
We've had this problem before (along with many others!). Big screen is playing,
punters sat around tables. Will they move....nah. So we unload all our gear, pile
it up all around them, and still they watch. Finally, after an hour, the match
is over, and they decide that they will slowly vacate their seats..... bands....who'd
'av 'em??
Hope they appreciated our keeping out of their way! Anyway, made the setting up
even more of a dash. Wires everywhere! Got a new PA now, the speakers are powered
so even more leads! Will it ever end?! Finally we are ready to go so we strike
up the band. Typical 3 minute soundcheck....not a great help when trying to play
with the new PA! And as usual, it all sounds good when we're playing softly, so
when the first half gets going, it all sounds sooooo different!
Overall? Not our greatest! Not that too many people probably noticed. It was our
firstgig of the year, and for nearly 3 months, and the nerves were well and truly
there! Even the Oracle himself admitted to a butterfly or two! A shuffle around
with the set, the introduction of All Stand Up and The Oriental from Quos stable
and Born To Be Wild from Steppenwolfs'! Great songs which add a great deal to
the set! Most popular song of the set? Probably Paranoid......great, lurve that
song to...and probably my favourite of the set to! Then we finish at just after
11, switch off, only to be baracked into doing one more.....then another.....then
the nod from the landlord....and do another! Blimey, absolutley knackered, when
we finally ignore the shouts for more and stop at 11.30.
Took a while to get going, but 2nd set seemed to rock bigtime! Lots of punters
enjoying it at the end! Makes doing it worthwhile with responses like this! Even
got asked to do Ace Of Spades....unfortunately we haven't quite got that nailed
yet, but we're working on it!!! Next time! So thanks to the Gibbleswade lot for
another great night, as well as the SP die hards! Cheers! (AA)
Review From The Oracle:
Well first gig of the year, a little later than originally planned but at least
we had a few rehearsals under our belt. With a new-year ahead we decided to radically
overhaul the set list with the introduction of 4 new songs, a new intro tape and
a couple of different arrangements. So it was with a little trepidation that I
entered then Red Lion. Carl was already there unloading his drums, a few people
milling around watching the footie on the large screen. The others arrived and
the gear was slowly set up, seemed to take a while to get everything together.
We've purchased a brand spanking new PA system with mixing desk so I was determined
to try and get the best out of it. The usual quick soundcheck followed and we
managed to scratch together a half decent if a little muddy sound. The vocals
in particular were sounding good through the new speakers. 9.00pm soon arrived
as did our new intro, laydees and mentalmen please put your paws together for…….none
other than………The Sweeney theme tune! Looking around the pub it
seemed to go down pretty well (you had to be there to appreciate it, honest!!)
then it was straight into our new opener, The Way It Goes. Now all you die hard
Parts fans will remember that we used to open with it back in the "Roy days"
of 1999, so it was some time since we had played it. It went down reasonably well,
considering most people don't know it! By the second number in SBYBIL it was clear
that our on stage sound was a bit er…crap to say the least. All I could hear
on my side was Carl and myself with no bass, keys or Mark. Still we ploughed through
regardless until the break. The place was really packed and hot by now The second
half was definitely better, both in terms of sound and crowd. We premiered The
Oriental, and played it damn well as well as Born To Be Wild. Our usual ending
of RAOTW at 11.00pm brought cries from the baying crowd for more, so we obliged!
Each time we ended a song they kept shouting, the end result? Well an 11.30pm
finish and a nice 2 and half-hour set! Highlights of the night for me had to be
The Oriental (along with a nice strobe light effect), BTBW and as ever Paranoid.
The crowd really seems to love that one! Playing wise it certainly wasn't our
best, maybe we concentrated too much on the new numbers in the set and neglected
the old favourites. Anyway thanks to Martin, Dom and his sister, Ben, Julie, Nik
and finally my Mum for coming along. Oh for those interested the set was:
Sweeney intro/TWIG/SBYBIL/BTR/Can't Get Enough/Solid Gold/Jamside down/ All
Over/ Sweet Home Chicago/ All Stand Up/ Caroline/ Roll Over/ Old Time R&R/
Whatever U Want/ BREAK / Paper Plane/ Living on an island (full length)/ The
Oriental/ Comfortably Numb/ Big Fat Mama/ Paranoid / Born to be wild / Roadhouse
/ Summer of '69 / Spinning Wheel / RAOTW / (Encore) Carol/ Bye-bye Johnny/ Don't
Waste My time / The Wanderer / Down The Dustpipe / Sweeney Outro(!) (DW)
After last weeks gig, looking forward to this one to. I've been here before,
seems like a good crowd, and the entertainments secetary (Alan) wanted to give
us a go. It is also very close to where I live, so not far to travel! As it
turned out, last one to arrive! Oh well.
Nice place. First impressions were very good. Good stage area for the band,
well looked after club, and even at this time a fair few people in. A couple
at the table next to us weren't impressed though, when they asked when we were
going to start.....9.30..... and it was only 8! So we take our time setting
up, no rush for a change.
A quick chat with the manager seems he is not too keen on "guests", but says
as long as they're signed in, then it should be OK. Lucky really, since Ben
and Martin had said they'd come over, as well as the missus, a few friends and
a work colleague of Darrens. The club had just had an electronic key card system
fitted, and for the "guests" this meant standing like lemons outside the door,
until someone decided to take pity and open the door! As it was, everyone got
in....(we think!)
Sound check came and went. Good sound here to! PA sounded superb, really impressed with the new
set up. Excellent depth and presence. Maybe the place helped to. Mark, for a change, was actually too quiet, which pleased him no end at being told to turn up for a change! Thought the bass sounded good to. Carl as ever was bleeding loud, and Darrens' sound was also spot on.
So come 9.30.......and we send Ben, our part-time lighting tech, to the bar to request the lights turned off. 5mins later, and down they go, and we finally start.
Thames TV introduces the Sweeney.....followed by Regan with "We're the Sweeney son, and we haven't had any dinner!" BANG....and The Way it Goes is off.
By the 3rd song (Break The Rules) we're in our stride, and our first big "wrong chord" strikes.....but judging by the response, don't think anyone cared! Applause followed every song, the number of punters, well, members, steadily grew to. Guess by the end of the first set, the place was half full (normal apparently),
with probably around a 100 people in. An hour later and we close the first half.
At just before 11, on we go with the 2nd half. Comfortably Numb was moved to 2nd, with comments afterwards along the lines of "best number of the night"
and "best version I've heard". Great praise! Near the end, we finally get some people up and dancing, nice to see! So come 12, and we say our goodnights, after which we
get cheered to do more. As with last week, we end up doing 4 or 5 more numbers, including an impromtue version of In My Chair, a number which is sadly missing from the set at the moment. And judging by the
way I played it, its no surprise! Carl had never really played along to it, so Mark was shouting instructions to him while we played some dodgy chords! Oh well, but at just before 12.30, we really do call it a night. We also had one bloke
asking for Ace of Spades again.....2nd gig in a row now! We've been having a go at it, but it is not in any fit state to play yet, so we politely refused! Well, they can't have everything, can they?!
So overall? Great gig. Bloke that booked us seemed to like it, and will have us back, which is job done! Sound on stage was very good, I could hear everyone clearly and there was no background droning that we seemed to plague us last week...guess the acoustics were better, with a more open room so the sound could be projected, rather than
bounced back into our faces! Monitors worked well to, so we could hear what we were singing! Always usful!! The Oriental was excellent again, strobe effect on Carl during the middle section is very effective!
Looking forward to April now, 4 gigs in a row! Thanks to our "guests", and to the club members for turning out! Cheers! (AA)
Thought this was going to be a good one. Seen it advertised in several places, landlord who I spoke to to book it, even boasted of "I'll advertise it on the local
radio and in the papers". Can't say if he did or not, but if he did....it was a waste of money! We get there, and first up its the usual "shove the band in the worst corner" routine.
Good open space at the other end of the bar, but no! you're at the other end, in the alcove, next to the open fire! Colin couldn't make this one, and lucky for him! If he had, he'd have been warming his cockles
on the open flames!!!
So we move the tables and chairs out of the way and gradually get set up. Apparently Carl was told that it could get busy, and if it did it would be at 10ish (why??), otherwise it would be quiet. Good start to the evening.....
Still very quiet, and at about half 8 we have a sound check, which sees the door to the snooker room next door immediately slam shut! We stop after a few minutes and wait for the crowds......and wait.......and wait......Oh 9.00pm, better get going then.
So, to what......15 people??......we crank up and get going. After the first few songs, it is apparent that there is virtually zero support, but rather than let it get to us, we just get on with it. There is, after all, 10 o'clock to look forward to!!!
Or is there????
Of course not! We do a storming redition of Comfortably Numb, probably one of the best we've done, to the wall of silence. So it goes for the rest of the set. But I'm being too harsh....there was 1 or 2 claps at the far end (but was that for the end of each song, or was it because we'd stopped playing?!?!), and 2 people sat near us who were genuinely appreciative (not sure if they liked us, or felt sorry for us with noone in the pub!) But thanks anyway...doubt you're reading this though!!
So we stop.....silence.....pack up.....get the cash and leave. Can't say anyone from the pub actually spoke to us all eveing, not sure even who the landlord was! Strange...we walk in, do the gig and walk out! As we were leaving, I heard someone say "they were OK, but a little loud"....loud???!.....blimey, it was the quietest we've played in ages!!
Oh well, as you say, take the rough with the smooth. Not un-surprisingly, the phone hasn't rung, and lets not beat around the bush, their's won't be either!!(AA)
I really can't be arsed to waste too much time writing about this place. A few words though....
Lots of people in.....lots of people listen.....lots of people applaude. Best crowd we've had here, including some of the usual suspects (Crappy, Dom, Martin etc). The outcome? We get paid and the rest of the gigs cancelled.
Why? Good question....we're at a bit of a loss to. Landlord said too loud, and we refused to turn down, and he "lost over 30 customers from the bar". What a load of bollocks! Being objective, here is the scene: as Martin said, it is a pub...people come, people go! Not everyone wants to listen to a band! So did the landlord sit at the door, and count them all in then count them all out? Did he interogate each one as they left to find out why they were leaving?!? Of course not!!
And as for being too loud!?!?! Hahahaha!!! This place has a sound monitor on the wall. Granted we (and all the bands) don't use the plugs that it is plugged into, but the lights still flash. Even before we turned down, we were running amber, spiking into the red. Turning down, we were more amber than red i.e. not overly loud. Apparently, other bands that play there tend to be louder and run in the red. Oh well.
Did the crowd not like us then???
Answer......er, no! Applause after each song, I could see alot of people jigging away, a few at the back even singing along to! And the ironic thing about that, was that the landlord was actually standing with these people to!!!
So, begs the question what is going on? Not sure, but we suggest a bit of tit-for-tat manouvering here! We've had to cancel as many as we've played, through circumstances beyond our control (drummer refusing to play a few days before and illness). These obviously did not go down well, but, if we don't have a drummer in the band, we can't do the gig! And if the singer/lead guitarist can't sing or has the flu, we still can't do the gig! You can't plan 6 months ahead and say I am going to be ill can we move the gig?!?!
We have to leave it to the last minute, then make the decision as to whether we can play or not. Otherwise it will be drums guitar and bass, no lead guitar, no vocals.....and us pleading for volunteers for washboard and spoon players for a jamming session!!! But pure conjecture, of course, and we may be totally wrong.
But at the end of the day, people that we spoke to reckoned it was very good, thoroughly enjoyed it, and NOT too loud. Oh well, it was appreciated by the people that matter though!(AA)
At last!!! A decent gig!!!! We all breathe a huge sigh of relief!
Twas a good 'un the last time, although not particularly well populated for a club gig. But Laurie ("entertainments secretary") kept promising that this one would be better. And so it was!!
Punters were coming in from about 7 onwards, and by half 8, all the seating area was actually pretty full. We all got set up well, Mark has a new Line6 SpiderII amp, and new Tele to! Must say, the amp does sound good! We leave a big space stage left for Colin and wait for his arrival......
....and wait.....
Laurie comes over and has a chat. Seems they were selling tickets in advance, so his promise of getting a better night is fullfilled! He is looking forward to it big time, he seems to like us alot! Are you going to sound check , he asks? In a little while we say, just waiting for the keyboardist...
....and waiting.....
Mark finally gives him a call, only to find he isn't going to make it tonight!!!! So, after some....how can I put it....polite comments....we put his plugs away, think about re-arranging the set, forget that quickly, and just get on with it.
Sound check No.1.......I manage 30 secs before I break a bass string......so MiniDisk music back on while string is changed.
Sound check No.2.......it all sounds good, good clarity, guitars coming through well, bass sounds good too! Drums as ever bleeding loud! I think that is part of the reason we play loudly, is to match the volume Carl generates!! Hahaha!!!
First half. Excellent! Loads of energy, good sound (at least on stage!) and much applause! We have my guitar little amp over my side to run Darren through, so we can hear him soloing on our side. 3 or 4 songs in, and can't hear him at all, even with the amp creeping up. Eventually figure out that it would help if I turned it from standby to on!!! THEN it makes a difference! Darren commented at halftime that he did wander why he sounded better later in the set! (Not better as such, I think that means a better dispersion of sound). It all went well, and it really gives us a buzz
to actually have a large, appreciative crowd!
Second set. Much the same as the first (in response, not in songs!). Apparently Martin overheard some punters saying how good it was to hear Comfortably Numb! We are now seeing lotsof people up and dancing, Roadhouse seems to have alot, and weget a large cheer after that one ends! Big Fat Mama gets an outing, this is real heavy song (well, it is when we play it!) so it is surprising to see people still up and dancing to it!!!! And the typical "I don't want to dance, I'm a bloke " routine was spotted at the end when we got inot Rockin....the bloke missus was literally dragging him out of his seat to the
dance floor!!!! But then once there, straight into the shoulders-left-shoulder-right routine!
So 2 hours of excellent giggin ends, but we are asked to do another one.....and lauch into Do You Like Good Music/Carol.Bye Bye Johnny. Oh dear. 4 attempts to start it, and play it, means all 3 of us playing different chords, and different keys! So we prove we are fallible, but then settle into BBJ, and bring the evening to a close.
One of the best bits of the nights, was airing Let Me Entertain You for the first time. We've spent a bit of time getting this right, and I thought it sounded very good! This should become a constant in the set!
So, a big cheers to all who came and supported. At half time I counted roughly 80-90. Not bad, since Laurie said they had a top Queen tribute the weekend before (Monarchy?) and had about 120 people in. So we're not too far behind!! Big thanks to Martin and Ben, why they keep persecuting themselves, we don't know!!!! Your opinions are valued, and hope to keep seeing you in the future! (AA)
On stage The drummer! Bits of stuff picked up over the years! Martin and Ben Asked to pose seriously, this is wht they come up with!
Another one I'd been looking forward to. Seen several bands here, and always gets a good crowd in. Recently, though, landlords have changed, so we were hoping that this wouldn't affect the number of people that come down too much.
Feeling especially nervous, 'cos this is very local to me, so know people that will come along! So onto the evening itself. This is one pub that does not have a car park, so you've got to find parking where-ever. Which means driving round an elaborate one-way system several times, until you spot something! Not good if you're a hundred yards up the road!
Fortunatley for me and Carl, we got a few spaces near to the place. Just as I was going in to speak to the landlord, a space opens up almost in front, so quick turn-round, and sprint back to the car, crank it up and space-hop a hundred yards down the road! Job done!
Pub is not exactly best laid out for bands, facing right onto the bar......and with our recent experience at the Bluebell, it is a concern about volume again. But the area for the bands to play is pretty good, slightly raised and set back, there is actually a good bit of space. So with everything set up, we see we've done it in record time and sit down for 3/4 hours waiting to do a sound check later on.
During this time, the place steadily gets punters in, seems like there will be alot of people in, which is good! Just hope they stay!!
Sound check is carried out. Mark sounds good, at resonable volume, Darren says his end is dull, Carl asks why we are playing so quietly, and I just say general mix is pretty much OK! So come 9.00, the drone is used and Caroline is once again a set opener. Several songs in, and shock horror!! there are still punters left!! Faces appear that I know, and soon the first half is almost over! One geezer that has been watching, comes up to us, and since the others are ignoring him, I go over and see what he wants.
"You do Floyd stuff....it says on your posters?"...."Well, Comfortably Numb..." says I....."Can you do it now, 'cos I got to go to work"......"er.....Darren!!" So over comes our illustrious leader, the request is repeated....Darren simply says NO!! and walks away!!
Bluntness at its funniest and best! What I didn't realise, until I looked at the set list, was last song, Whatever You Want, so Darren had just de-tuned. During the break, though I catch a quick word the guy, who didn't seem to phased. Infact, he was really very praiseworthy! Apparently he was a guitarist/keyboardist, and said how good it sounded and what a very good band we were!! Cheers bloke!
So 2nd half gets underway. Let Me Entertain You is used, which went OK. Good applause, though, so seemed to go OK out front! Oriental went well to, nice strobe effect on Carl! Mark now seems suspiciously louder than set 1, so I have to turn-up just to keep pace...which means Darren follows suit! This half goes pretty well, and at just after 11 we call it a night. But loads of calls for more, mean we do 2 more, then shut down.
Got various people coming up to say very good, and how much they enjoyed it. A friend of mine, first time seeing us, came up saying "awesome!" Apparently, he and his friend used to listen to Quo years ago, and how good it was to hear stuff from that era! They were especially pleased that Big Fat Mama was played...obviously not expecting that one! Also great praise for the sound....spot on!
Always good to hear stuff like that, it shows that what we do and how we do it, is appreciated!
Not sure about the landlords though. For our first time here, I thought the reception was pretty good, and with several encores called for, thought it hit the spot pretty much. But, as ever, we get paid, ask for a return gig, and the usual reply......well....booked up....if/when we start booking again, we'll be ringing around.
OK, so is that a polite "sod off" or the truth? Not sure, but several people in the pub said they should really re-book us, and would tell them so. Cheers for that, lets hope it doesn't fall on deaf ears!
So, for me, I though a good night, a pretty full pub, and pub punters wanting us back, just about says it all! We'll just have to wait and see if we do get the phone call! (AA)
Q1: Set up and sound check......harassment from a Hen party....various male appendage measurement devices....a blow up doll of David Seaman that sat precariously behind Darren....oh the list goes on....and we are "forced" to give them a rendition of Summer of 69, worth it just to keep them happy!!
Q2: Set no. 1......Hen party up for a bit of dancing etc.....keeps the tempo going quite nicely...but then they leave near the end .........
Q3: end of the first half and a bit of the 2nd.....rather quiet, little acknolegement for the playing....sagged a bit.....
Q4: another load of punters do a Mr Ben....appear as if by magic....and the evening storms to a grand finale!!! Headbanging, singing, dancing....a great way to finish. Then comes the shouts for more...ending in a floor stomping exercise that literally shakes the floorboards....means
we make the journey back to the instruments and give 'em another couple. A good gauge of a crowd is whether they will engage in a bit of singing on RAOTW...which they duely did!
Another great night, at this 1st class pub. If only they were all like this place! Best numbers of the night....Comfortably Numb which actually received a cheer from the listeners!!! Paranoid, Born To Be Wild (with singing punters to the chorus), and Let Me Entertain You!!
Back in November......can't wait really!!! And a thanks to the Usual Suspects - Martin and Ben. Cheers for dropping in again!(AA)
With our current playing volume being the loud side of LOUD, we were starting to worry about this one. When we booked it, we were warned about noise levels, and that bands were expected to play reasonably. Fair enough, but when you book a 4 piece rock band, you're going to have to respect that there isn't going to be an acoustic folk rendition of Paranoid!
So, pulling into Greens Norton (the village where the pub was), clouds were metaphorically gathering. If we described it as a quiet, rural, stone built picture-card village, you won't go far wrong! With me, Carl and Darren stood outside, there was the unspoken air of "what have you done?" wafting my way! This really did not look like a place where we would go down particularly well!
So, in we went, announced ourselves, and were told to use the corner of the bar. Oh yes, and move the pool table! We haven't had that for a while, but at least there wasn't anyone using it! Everything was set up quickly, but everywhere was so quiet! Carl got going with his drums, blimey, it sounded like Bush was at it again! We all had the amps turned VERY low, I normally play at about 5ish, I was just under 2......
Mark plays, well whatever he likes!.....but he was restrained to about 2.5........Darren couldn't turn his amp any lower, 'cos the sound would simply cut out! But Carl was the funniest, trying desperately not to hit the drums with any vigour! He managed pretty well, but the look of concentration at not having to hit the kit
was more than interesting!
The sound check.....hmmm.....even with everything turned as low as possible, we try the intro to Juniors Wailin, and like lightning, one of the barstaff came dashing across flapping her arms and mouthing "too loud" and shut the front door! Oh dear......we continued anyway, but no further comments were heard. So we went outside and waited for the 9pm start. Oh how we were looking forward to this one! Thoughts of simply packing up
and going home before we got into trouble we discussed, albeit briefly, and the engines were left running just in case we needed to beat a hastly retreat (although that would be difficult for me and Carl.....those diesel cars....not good for quick getaways!!!!).
The gig: a big surprise! 1) no complaints (phew!). 2nd half, Marks volume as always creeps up ("no I havent turned up"....must be a poltergeist, then!!), and Carl is letting rip a bit more, finally a bit of energy is showing with us! 2) I think every song was applauded, from the smallish crowd. Makes you feel appreciated, rather than ignored. Even a bit of banter from some of the punters, and a request for Paranoid! 3) The whole thing actually went v. well, after all our worrying!
4) Still frightened some punters away though.....others out for a quiet evening drink, opened the door, to be met with the band pounding away, quickly beat a retreat! Oh well....
The pub: a quick mention.....friendly and appreciative punters......first round of drinks free for the band (can't remember when that last happened for us!)......and a first class homebaked pizza at half time!
And to cap it all, rather than here is your cash...goodbye, it was here is your cash....call us for another gig if you want....goodbye! So it can't have been too bad afterall! (AA)
This is 16 hours on, and what a difference! Well, not a lot actually! We were pre-warned that Sunday afternoons are not exactly busy! Er....correct! Anyway, volume isn't an issue here, so we were back to normal! Not alot to say about this one. We played pretty dammed well, enjoyed it loads, the 15-20 people that had come out for a noisey Sunday afternoon
seemed to enjoy it, polite applause with each song etc.
2 interesting points - apparently someone was trying to order a drink, and was (just) overheard saying that they (the band) are bloody loud, but good!! And secondly, when we were finishing the last song, I could see the barmaid (politically incorrect term??!) with her hand on the volume control for the Sky TV.....just waiting for us to finish......almost there.....and they've stopped - and TV volume goes up! Well, I think that means, even with calls for another couple, we aren't going to be doing anymore!!! (AA)
Build up to this had been big, loads of advertising in local and national press. But, and there always seems to be a but, the weather was really quite atrocious during the week before. We arrive Sat morning, since we were the first band on, and are directed to the muddy field that is the parking area, backstage.
We plod through the mud to get to the 2 stages, and eventually find someone who seems to know what is going on! Tales of the previous night were forthcoming - didn't sound like a barrels of larfs! Seems the weather broke to give thunderstorms, lightning, horizontal rain, resulting in the stages lifting off the ground at one point!! Apparently everything was shut down for safety's sake,
and the clean up started this Sat morning. By clean up, I mean mopping down the stages, removing water from the electrics, and blowing water out of the lights! Doesn't make you feel easy when you seen PA gear sitting in pools of water, and drips of water coming from the lights above you!
Anyway, that aside, the techs did a great job of getting the stages operational again, and we were only probably half an hour late in getting going. The amps were all mic'ed up and ready to go, but there were a few problems with the drums mics - apparently a couple were not good, since they were still water logged! Fear not, for we continued anyway! Not a large crwod by any means, at 11.30 on a Sat morning, but we open the day in great style. Eight songs came and went very quickly: Caroline, Roll Over Lay Down, Sharp Dress Man, The Oriental, Paranoid, Big Fat Mama, Juniors Wailin and Born To Be Wild.
Went down well, lots of applause, and even a lone call for more at the end! Didn't hear that for the other bands that I saw afterwards (but then maybe I was playing deaf!)
Job done, and it was over to the other stage for some Audioslave/RATM style musak....while we were ushered off quickly to make way for the next band. More sloshing through mud to get the gear back to cars, and
we are now done!
Must say, it was probably the first gig, where Carl didn't sound too loud!!! ;) Being in the open, he could thrash away to his hearts content, but he couldn't deafen us at all!!!!
I would have liked to have played further down the list, but someone has to open, and this year it was us. I reckon after a series of bands doing original stuff, it might have made
a good break to have some well known covers half way through the day.....but then we're not organising it! There is always next year, though, but it may be all new bands..... so, an enjoyable gig, and at least we can now boast we were one of the support
acts for The Stranglers! (AA)
A while since this gig, so a short write up. From what I can remember, the usual COSP. A few were in the bar, but the footbal was then over, and they soon drifted out. Oh well, we've seen it all before,
so we just get on with setting up anyway. The start was further delayed, 'cos of "lack of punters"....but eventually we had to get on with it! Gig was at a better volume level this time,
the ears were ringing but not quite as before! At last things picked up during the 2nd set, a fair few more punters arriving, made the afternoon worth while.
Guess the guy running the show approved, he gave us a repeat gig in December, and on a Friday night. Fingers crossed, it'll be a little more packed! Looking forward to it! (AA)
What can you say? The usual formula - pretty busy as we arrive and set up.....crank up for a sound check....."TOO LOUD" calls the landlord....the guitarists turn down (apart from Chuckle Bro No1 - with his usual
"I'll turn UP on the amp, but turn down of the guitar"!!).....the drummer just shrugs his shoulders with a "I can't turn down" look....and the punters drift away!
So the gig starts, a few people watching, including Martin and "Crappy"....the usual polite applause ensues after most songs. Things then liven up in the 2nd half...as I said, the usual story! Lots of people filling the limited
space in front of the band sees the evening hot up. Bit of dancing, bit of headbanging.....even a "mosh pit" as our esteemed leader called it, forming infront of him! So much so, the he reported having to bounce in time
with the mic, 'cos of the floorboards moving so much!
From our point of view, another enjoyable gig - esp the 2nd half. Its make the effort worth while with a reception like the 2nd half. Several encores helped to! The heavier stuff went down well near the end of the night,
with crys of Metallica.....Marks obliges with Enter Sandman riff.....then we lauch into 500 miles (Proclaimers)!! Hmmm....a touch different?!? Anyway, the very last song of the night, sees us
have a bash at Ace Of Spades.....not too bad actually, considering it is our first public attempt!
So, another good gig at the Red Lion, with another 4 booked for next year! Looking forward already! (AA)
A cold night, as we huddle around the rear entrance into the club. All locked down and only members can get in with special swipe cards. So....we aren't members
and as such, we can't get in. The intercom is either not working or no-one is answering! So, the choice is, hang around and wait to see if anyone
comes along, or go right the way round the front and try and get access that way. Sods law says that if I hang around here, no-one will ocme, but if I goto the front, then some one will the rest in! Several minutes later, and I make a run to the front,
where I find myself staring at "members" at the bar, through the plate glass door. Someone turns round, I signal to let me in, they ignore me, I knock again,
she then nudges the bloke next to her, and both eye me up suspiciously. A definate "them and us" feeling here! Eventually someone comes to the door, and I finally get inside! Only to find the rest of the band starting to unload their gear! As I said, someone would open the door as soon as I left!!
Gig went OK, a few brave members getting up and having a dance to some of the numbers. The odd cock-up here and there, but then thats normal of course! Nice place to play, good raised area for the band, so we can actually get
the equipment and ourselves in the playing area with no problems. Sound was odd, bass was very loud, so didn't need a high setting, while Mark was deafening,
but couldn't hear Darren at all! Apparently the sound was fine out front though, so thats what matters! Pulled the plug at 12, and it all seemed to have gone
down pretty well. The booking guy (Alan - if you're reading this, but I doubt it very much!!) said more for next year, so he must be pleased with it.
Again, a good 7/10, would be better if there were more people up and getting involved, but them you can't have everything!! (AA)
On stage 
The drummer! 
Bits of stuff picked up over the years! 
Martin and Ben 
Asked to pose seriously, this is wht they come up with!