They're back!

Yes- it's that time again!

Last night the walls of room 3 at Ruff Rockers Rehearsal Studio reverberated to the sound of 4 middle-aged men grasping desperately at their mis-spent youth- yes, The Price are back! We're playing this Sunday 19th July at The Water's Edge in Cowley at a evening that started off as a surprise birthday party for long-time Price Fan Mark Delderfield (better known to all and sundry in and around the band as 'Uxbridge Mark' or 'Mark from the football club') 'though it's now grown into a gig that also features local up-and-comer's Colour Me Wednesday; we're on first at around 8.30 pm and all the details are on our recently-rejuvenated website. Why not come down?- it should be a good gig...

...and it was a good (if from my point of view rather unexpected) gig on Saturday night with The Ali Mac Band at Stockley Park Golf Course, at a birthday party for Ali's other half Bev. Myself and the long-suffering Shirley were had been invited to attend and were going anyway, but Ali called to say that his regular guitarist Dean had injured his back and could I bring my guitar with me... by the time the gig came along he'd recovered sufficiently to be able to perform but I joined the band for the evening anyway! Excellent! I depped with the band last November (click here for the story) so had a rough idea of the sort of material we were likely to be playing- in the event we played 2 sets (the first one short, the second longer) with more than a bit of busking going on here and there but more than a bit of audience dancing too, so we must have been doing something right. Richard a.k.a. Hud and Bill (drums and bass) gave me plenty of help with the arrangements (good boys!) and Dean played superbly especially considering the pain he was in. After the show I got chatting with Hud who told me an extraordinary story about his time in Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera (yes kids, bands really did have names like that in the 1960's!) when Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck both jammed with the band at one of their gigs at The Speakeasy. 'There isn't a recording, there isn't even a photograph' he said, looking mournfully into his glass of red wine... ah, but what a memory to have eh?

Must go- I've got setlists to write, strings to change, phone calls to make- The Price are indeed back. Hurrah!