'Questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself'

Well it seems as though television wasn't quite over after all, as John Lydon made an extraordinary appearance on BBC1's 'Question Time' on Thursday evening. Overall I thought he came over reasonably well, especially his rant against bankers which got probably the most enthusiastic applause of the evening. As I fan I wish he hadn't interrupted people quite as often as he did as I think it turned people who might otherwise have found his point of view interesting against him; I also wish he didn't play to the gallery quite as much (did he really shout 'UP THE PARATROOPERS!' at one point? Yes, amazingly, he did..) although whoever thought of sitting him next to Tory temptress (it says here) Louise Mensch clearly had a good sense of humour. I read somewhere that Morrissey has been approached to appear on the programme - could this be the start of some even less likely appearances in the not-too-distant future? 
And I remember seeing Eric Sykes on telly as a youngster, and indeed even recognised some of the clips shown in the wake of his death this week. As a kid I saw him as a man who could be funny without really doing very much if you know what I mean - and although I don't remember 'The Plank' from when it was first shown I remember my pre-teenage self laughing uncontrollably at it a few years later. Have a look here and see what you think - it might not look as funny as it did to me all those years ago, but I bet you still smile. I've just watched it, and although I'm not laughing uncontrollably, I'm definitely still smiling...


Time for a gig at last, with The F.B.I. Band in their guise as The Blues Brothers Experience at 'Groove At The Grove' in the grounds of The Hall Grove School in Bagshot. In previous postings I might well have ranted and raved about the British class system and all that sail in her, but as all the remaining Cool Britannia gigs have just been cancelled I'm so relieved to be actually playing a show that I can't really find it within myself at the moment. Maybe on another day... well let's face it, definitely on another day...
Given the extraordinary weather that we've been having over the last few weeks an open air event such as this could have gone either way - fortunately the rain held off for most of our set, and as a result we went down well with the assembled multitude of parents, teachers and pupils. Dep drummer Mark coped well with what I believe was his first gig with the band as did Blues Brother Austin (that's the same Austin that I used to work with...) while Chicago Blues Brothers stalwart Dave Land teamed up with F.B.I. regular Ian in the horn section alongside Jon on bass, Richard on keyboards and Tony as always on vocals. As I said above it was something of a relief to be playing a gig again - I've spent much of today putting my accounts in order and filling in my tax return, and have realised that my earnings in the last tax year are my lowest for a very long time. Oh well - it could be worse... just... still there's a rehearsal with The Flying Squad and a gig with Utter Madness this week, then next week Ruts D.C. play a festival in Croatia with The Upper Cut gigging perilously close to my birthday the week after that so hopefully things are about to improve. You have to stay optimistic haven't you? Well - haven't you?

The moon's a balloon

Fantastic news - Keith Moon has been approached to make an appearance with The Who at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games. At last it's the reunion that we fans have been waiting for! I can only hope that doesn't prove to be a rather late April Fool joke, as The Who's manager Bill Curbishley doesn't appear to be taking it very seriously - either that or as this story shows he's trying to ruin everything by suggesting that Moonie has been a little difficult to contact for the last 30-odd years. Surely the Olympics committee concerned wouldn't have made the laughable, tragic, pathetic error of inviting a dead person to participate in their ghastly charade would they? Of course there is always a chance that it's actually an indication of spectacular incompetence on the part of the organisers - after all, it's hard to think that with someone like Jeremy Hunt on the team they could be anything less than excellent isn't it?

Mention of the man they (allegedly) call 'Corrible' remind me that it seems customary for an ill-informed politician or celebrity to put one or more of their feet squarely in their mouth around the anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, and this year it's the turn of 'comedian' Alan Davies who clearly used every last iota of his intellect and wit when he observed that it 'gets on his tits' that Liverpool F.C. choose not to play on April 15th as a mark of respect to the 96 fans who died on that ill-fated day. He then went on to make several other similarly well-argued observations (click here to find out what they were and some of the reactions to them) and was then amazed when some people found them offensive. I don't know very much about him as a person but pretty much every time I've seen him on shows like 'Q.I.' I've thought him to be smug, self-obsessed and above all unfunny (not exactly a career move for somebody who appears to consider themselves to be a comedian) although I suppose that somebody must like him; I also believe that he's something of a football fan which to me make his comments all the more unfathomable. Anyone with even the remotest interest in the game is aware of the ongoing sensitivity of anything to do with Hillsborough; also surely the point here is that Liverpool F.C. choose not to play on that day i.e. it's their way of honouring the people who died and the others who were effected by the tragedy, and as such that should be respected. Apparently Davies has a show booked at The Liverpool Empire in September - now that should be a very interesting evening, and probably quite an easy one to get a ticket for...

In the meantime much evidence of last weekend's Department S show has surfaced by the magic of the Internet - click here for a YouTube interview with guitarist Mike followed by 'My Coo Ca Choo' (the interview explains why that song is in the set!) as well as these four more clips, while the evocatively named 'Peek-A-Boo' magazine features these photos taken at the show. All good stuff, although I might wear a different hat next time!

Time for another F.B.I. Band gig on Saturday night, at Harry and Clemmie's wedding reception at Boodles Club in Central London. With a membership that has included people like The Duke Of Wellington, Sir Winston Churchill and David Niven this is another of those 'they-don't-normally-let-people-like-me-into-places-like-this' gigs that your humble narrator participates in from time to time; these generally end with me uttering oaths and curses in these hallowed pages followed by me suggesting insurrection and class war at the earliest possible opportunity. To be honest as an evening this one went along similar lines to all the other ones (i.e. a bunch of toffs take virtually no notice of us until some of the more drunken among them accidentally start dancing recklessly and a bit too close to the band for comfort; suddenly loads of them start doing the same in case they were missing out on something and the show ends with scenes of general mayhem and them barking their demands for more in the general direction of the band before lurching off in the general direction of the bar) so I don't feel as though there's too much to say that I haven't said on similar occasions. However the band (Tony on vocals, Richard on keyboards, Mark on drums and Jon on bass - more about the horn players in a minute) did manage a drink in the nearby Red Lion before the show which was most enjoyable; at the club I braved a look in the 'Members Requirements' book (essentially suggestions and / or complaints) which regularly featured Henry Blofeld musing on subjects as diverse as digestive biscuits (he wanted McVitie's rather than the non-descript brand that he'd been served) and who he sat next to at breakfast (he wasn't too happy about being seated next to a stranger) among other similarly life-threatening incidents. But probably the oddest incident occurred shortly before 9 pm, the allotted time for our first set - Jim the trumpet player arrived with minutes to spare (as usual! How does he do that?!?) and asked where Ian the Sax man was; when Tony said that he wasn't doing this show and he believed a dep had been arranged Jim sat down with the words 'oh, is this the one that he can't do?', pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket and began dialling. Within a few minutes he said 'Howard will be here around 10.30' than asked if there was any food... with no sign of any guest or indeed the bride or groom we were led down to the staff canteen where food was indeed available, before going back upstairs just as a chap wearing a saxophone strolled in, introduced himself as Howard ('I've been doing ''Singin' In The Rain'' around the corner') before blowing a few notes to check if his microphone was working correctly. We began 'Soul Man' a few minutes later to an empty room; it took 4 or 5 songs before the dangerous dancing started - and you know the rest...

And yesterday saw an all-day Cool Britannia rehearsal at Ruff Rockers in Uxbridge. We'd all been a bit disappointed with last month's Southend session as we felt that we didn't sound as good as we might have, but fortunately it all went better this time with everyone playing well and pretty much all the songs sounding like they should. With not long to go before the opening night this can only be a good thing!

In the meantime I'm off to play 'Live At Leeds' (and indeed to watch the only footage of that incredible show) and to wish that I'd seen The Who with Keith Moon behind the kit. After all, that opening ceremony story surely must have been a not-particularly-good-taste joke - mustn't it?

Sideways promotion?

Time for another mention for something that's getting closer by the day - COOL BRITANNIA. We've got a set list (at last! - although I bet there are still a few changes to be made...) we've got a website, a poster (that's it on the left, sorry it's a bit small but despite Gawd knows how many years doing this blogging lark I still don't know how to make these things different sizes either before they get onto this page of after they've got here. Still, size isn't everything...) and we've even got one of those Facebook pages that everyone apart from me seems to have these days (yeah, I know I 'should' have one, but this takes up enough of my time - and besides, have you seen the unmitigated cobblers some people write? Don't they realise that it's out on the Internet? Don't they realise that people can actually read that stuff? Argh!) so things are getting serious. There's an impressive list of gigs from May through to July, and with that in mind the band convened at Mushroom Studios (which used to be mushroom barns! Really!) near Southend yesterday. We managed to run through around two-thirds of the show, and despite the odd mad moment here and there we sounded pretty good, and I for one can't wait for the shows.

Talking of rehearsals I've spent a fair bit of this week attempting to decipher the bass lines on the excellent new Department S (you remember 'Is Vic There?' don't you? Of course you do!) album 'Mr. Nutley's Strange Delusionarium'. Why? Because I've got two gigs depping on bass with them next month, and I'm due to rehearse with them somewhere in Loughton next weekend. Strange but true - more news as and when I have it.

And talking of rehearsals (again) The Uppercut found themselves re-visiting Bush Studios in Shepherds Bush on Wednesday evening for a 'we-haven't-played-together-for-a-while-so-let's-see-what-we-remember' session, which rapidly turned into a 'actually-why-don't-we-try-some-new-songs?' session. As a result 'How Come', 'Monkey Man' and 'Crossroads' found their way into our set at The Dolphin on Friday evening, a show which I felt was a bit on the scrappy side, but which everybody I spoke to afterwards thought was great. The customer is always right, so I made no attempt to dissuade any of them - after all we were asked to play at a birthday party, Noel the guv'nor loved it and I got told that I'm 'the best guitarist in West London' by Simon of 'Ace!' club fame (that's a weird thought isn't it? I mean, has he seen all the other ones?!?) so I guess we couldn't have been that bad.

Saturday in the shop was one of the busiest ever, good fun but with lots to do (obviously!) and after a fairly late night I was certainly feeling it by the end of the day. No time to worry about that though as I was depping in The F.B.I. Band at Lillebrook Manor near Maidenhead. It was Rebecca and Luke's wedding reception, and it took place in a converted barn which to our collective horror had one of those volume restriction devices fitted - you know, the pnes that cut the power if you're playing too loud. Bah! Still the DJ's soundcheck didn't set it off which gave us all a bit of encouragement; not so encouraging from my point of view was seeing 'Celebration' on the setlist. 'We haven't played that one for a while, we used to play it all the time' said Jon the bass player cheerily; 'I've never played it before in me life' said your humble narrator not-quite-so-cheerily. 'You'd better tell Tony then...' Yes, I better had. He just laughed - 'remind me not to do that one then'. I've worked with less co-operative singers!

Halfway through the first number I looked at the band - everyone was looking up at the volume restriction device up to the left of the stage. We weren't playing loud and everything was working fine - then suddenly the power went off. But we weren't playing loud, honest... thankfully it was the only time that it went off, and despite the band being a little short of match practice our efforts were well received.

After the Cool Britannia rehearsal I made it down to The Load of Hay in time to catch the ever-excellent Kris Dollimore. Sadly one of the best guitarists that any of us will ever see began his performance to a mere five (count 'em, FIVE) people, an audience that would fit comfortably into most people's front room. There were a few more watching him by the end, and the man himself was philosophical about things, even offering to return in the Autumn - but as he left I realised that my time putting gigs on at The Load of Hay was very likely over. It's a shame as I've (mostly) enjoyed my attempts at being a promotor and I'm really proud of the shows that I've been involved with there, but audience apathy means that it's time for a rethink. I might put the odd evening together, but it a lot of work for something that I don't earn anything out of, and hopefully I'm going to be busy gigging from May onwards. Oh well - I guess nothing good lasts forever... mind you nothing bad lasts for ever either, so I'll hopefully be involved in putting gigs on again somewhere at some point in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime you must excuse me - I've got to practise some bass guitar...

Adam raised a Cain

Another rock casualty - Michael Davis of The MC5 has died. Like The Stooges, The New York Dolls and The Velvet Underground the MC5 are a band that were derided when they first appeared in the 1960s but that were later held up as heroes by the punk rock fraternity in the 1970s. One listen to anything from 'Kick Out The Jams', 'Back In The U.S.A.' or 'High Time' will show why their radical politics and their association with the likes of John Sinclair meant that the American establishment marked them out as enemies at the time of their release. Their extraordinary combination of anger, frustration and intelligence make them some of the most remarkable rock records of all time, and Michael Davis made a hugely valuable contribution to them. Click here for an amazing clip of the band playing live in 1970 - that, my friends, is rock 'n' roll...

In the meantime it's been another gig-less weekend for your humble narrator, although I did spend Sunday with F.B.I. Band / Utter Madness keyboard maestro Richard Whennell recording guitars on two tracks for Glee Club UK. There wasn't a lot of rock 'n' roll rebellion in the tracks in question (since you've asked they were 'We Built This City' by Starship and 'You're The Inspiration' by Chicago) but it was still a hugely enjoyable experience, and a real challenge to attempt to recreate the guitar parts on the original recordings. I'm not sure that I was completely accurate but even though I say so myself it sounded pretty good by the end of the session. Let's hope it still does!

Thankfully I've got some gigs this coming weekend (thank Gawd!) so I can't sit here talking to you as I've got songs to learn - but in the meantime it's my Dad's 80th birthday today and I'm off to see him. I've considered writing a hopelessly over-emotional, intensely personal account of our relationship here in these hallowed pages, but have decided to just say that more than ever I realise that I wouldn't be the person that I am today (for better or worse!) if it wasn't for the way he and my Mum bought me (and indeed my brother Terry) up. They could be hard on us sometimes which at the time seemed difficult to understand but nowadays makes a lot more sense. He remains a tough man, albeit with a somewhat softer centre these days, which is no bad thing if you think about it.

I've bought him a framed Heggarty coat of arms - in doing so I've discovered that our family motto is 'they neither bend nor change'. That'll do for me, and I suspect it'll do for him too. Happy birthday Dad.

Ska-diff!

My last gig of 2011 was with Utter Madness in Cardiff headlining The Calennig New Year celebrations. It's a yearly event (obviously!) held outside The City Hall - the band played it back in 2001 when according to Ian the saxman there was 'horizontal rain' and freezing temperatures; he suggested 'a hat, long coat, fingerless gloves if you've got them' as stage wear... in the event the temperature was a lot higher than freezing and the rain had stopped earlier in the evening. Good!

We'd soundchecked at 5 pm - lots of echo from the cold concrete in front of us. 'Don't worry' said Matt the stage manager, 'there should be thousands of people here by midnight'. And there was - when I left the stage with my amp and guitar after the show an impressively long conga line was. er, congaing to 'Enjoy Yourself' by The Specials. And why not?

We were all staying at The Holiday Inn (I dread to think how much 7 rooms on New Year's Eve cost the organisers!) where food was served at 7.30; as I made my way up to room 329 Batman and Robin were haranguing guests in the bar while scantily-clad young ladies mused on the festivities to come. I got changed for the show then met everyone (Tony on vocals, Jon on bass, Dan on drums, Richard on keyboards, Ray on vocals and the afore-mentioned Ian on sax) in the lobby to head back to the City Hall. When we arrived Botown were halfway through their set; they mix soul classics with Bollywood songs which is an interesting idea although the audience reaction generally consisted of recognition for the soul song ('Sex Machine' for example) and confusion for the Bollywood song (sadly I've no idea of the title) that it morphed into. The massed dancing and singing along that accompanied their last number 'Valerie' was all dissipated by 30 or so seconds into the unidentified song that it became. Like I say it's an interesting idea but I'm not sure how it will work in practical terms, although now that I've said that they'll no doubt now sell millions.

'Don't watch that, watch this!' Tony started 'One Step Beyond' to a huge cheer from the rapidly-swelling crowd; I dropped my plectrum a few seconds into the song which suggested that my hands may well have been colder than I thought that they were. I wonder if my moment of madness (sorry!) was seen on the big screens that were either side of the stage? It's probably on YouTube by now... (well if it is I haven't found it yet - but I did find this!) As the clock at the side of the stage showed 6 minutes of 2011 left we swung into 'Baggy Trousers' - when the song ended we downed tools as chap from S4C and the compare (sorry I didn't catch either of their names) came on stage and counted down alternately in English and Welsh; fireworks heralded the start of 2012 as band members made good use of their mobile phone cameras. It all went out live on TV - you can see it here on the S4C website for the next month, we're on from about 16 minutes into the clip and the picture you can see me taking at midnight is the one at the start of this posting. Really!

We came back on to a jammed version of 'Auld Lang Syne' (I found this and the countdown on YouTube too - there are more clips appearing all the time!) and few more songs before 'Our House' ended a great gig. I'm told there were around 10,000 people there at midnight - now that definitely counts as a happy new year! I hope you have one too.

Holiday weekend?

And so it continues to continue - my brother Terry called me just before midnight last night to tell me that Henry Cooper has died. Somewhere there is a photo that I took of my Dad and brother with Mr. Cooper, he seemed to be a nice chap (we'd gone to see him doing a one man show at The Watersmeet Theatre in Rickmansworth and although Dad and Terry had met him other times as well it was the only time that I spoke to him; actually all our family encountered Our 'Enry at some point as my mum met him at Budgens in Uxbridge back in the early '70's when he opened the store!) and judging by what I've read about him on the Internet today he's being well remembered which is good to see.

And Osama Bin Laden is dead as well - but you knew that already didn't you?

I tuned in at the allotted time to hear Voltarol on the radio (or to be pedantic, on my computer) only to be confronted with this track - my first thought was that he'd cracked up completely although I then realised that my clock was a bit fast... in the meantime it's been 3 busy gigs in 3 busy days for your humble narrator:-

The Uppercut made their first appearance at The Anglers Retreat in Staines on Friday night - as we pulled up in the car park Roger remarked that the pub used to be called The Lord Lucan. Interesting! (It's seems that it was actually called The Lucan Arms although locally it was known as The Lord Lucan. He was in the news a fair bit back in the day - whatever happened to him eh?) The two Terrys met us outside with the news that there wasn't much room but 'at least they've moved the sofa'; they'd actually stood it on one end next to the bay window that we were due to play in, it looked splendidly bizarre as did the huge tiger print chair at the other end of said space. I'd hardly got through the door before a young man came over to ask what type of guitar I played; he later spent our first set trying to talk to Terry while he was singing - why oh why do people keep doing that? - then left at half time in search of 'birds'. I doubt that he found any. Electricity came from a cupboard next to the chair via a lethal-looking spaghetti of extention leads, and we'd just about managed to cram ourselves into place when Terry noticed that we'd been billed as a Rod Stewart tribute band on the blackboard behind the bar. Oo-er... in the event we managed to play enough Faces 'n' Rod-related rock to satisfy the people there who had come to hear it, as well as getting through the rest of our act without getting lynched. We're back there in July - the inter-band 'should we play more Rod?' debate has already started...

Saturday it was down to Poole in Dorset for a Blues Brothers show at The Esporta Sports Centre. Originally intended to be an F.B.I. Band show the group personnel eventually became something of a hybrid between our show and theirs, with Marc (drums) Dave (trumpet) Mike (Elwood) and myself from The Chicago Blues Brothers joining Tony (Jake) Ian (sax) Jon (bass) and Jim (regular dep for Richard on keyboards) from The F.B.I.'ers. I travelled down with Jon and Mike for a journey that included spotting an AA breakdown truck with a speedboat on the back and a car with an advert for PSYCHIC FRAN on it's driver door but was otherwise reasonably uneventful; with everyone present and correct we set up in the foyer in front of the fireplace (!) and ran through 'I Can't Turn You Loose' as a somewhat echo-ey soundcheck. After some food (sausage, chips and beans for them, falafel burger for me) we retired to The Dorchester Suite (not as grand as it sounds!) as the guests started to arrive to get ready. It's a 'V.I.P. Event' which seems to be a 'free-to-get-in-if-you're-a-member' evening with food and a live band, there are a fair few in by the time we get to play and the dance floor starts to fill up from the middle of our first set. I thought we were a bit rough to begin with - too many deps maybe? - but by the end we were playing well and there was plenty of dancing and general merriment. A good gig.

I got in sometime around 2 o'clock on Sunday morning - by midday I was meeting Squirrel (C.B.B. bassman) at South Mimms Services on The M25 to journey North to York for a show reminiscent of last July's Sicilians gig. That was a a birthday party, this was at a wedding and both were organised by Matt (Jake in our show) who lives in the area. After a very straightforward 3 hour journey we sat in for an hour in Matt's back yard enjoying the sunshine, discussing tactics and running through songs; his friend and ace drummer Dion arrived (he's currently touring in the 'Jackson Live' show) and we made our way through some spectacular scenery to the venue, The Wood Hall Hotel near Wetherby. As we pulled into the car park a badger wandered out in front of us, completely untroubled by our or indeed anyone else's presence - excellent. It's James and Sarah's wedding and the mood is good - after a (very) quick set-up we got changed in The Scott Room before myself and Matt began our first set with Michael Buble's 'Crazy Love'; We'd been asked to play it although it hadn't really occurred to me that the couple would be having their first dance to it - as I began I realised that not only were half the guests filming it but that the couple had rehearsed a dance routine to it. No pressure then... fortunately it went well (as usual I wouldn't have mentioned it here if it hadn't) and it set the scene for 2 sets of increasingly well-received raucous rocking 'n' rolling, with Matt at his energetic best throughout. Great stuff - we must do it again sometime.

So - 2010 then...

If there's been a reoccurring theme among musicians this year (at least among the ones that I've talked to, although I read in the latest issue of the M.U. magazine 'The Musician' that even neo-legendary function band The Dark Blues have seen their bookings decrease) it's that there aren't as many gigs around these days as there were last year. Maybe the much-vaunted recession has hit us a year later than it hit everyone else? I haven't counted the shows but it certainly feels as though The Chicago Blues Brothers worked less than we ever have. Theatre work has all but dried up at the moment (although there's some in for next year) and corporate work is thinner on the ground; then again it was a great gig last night at The Pizza Express in Maidstone, a riotous show or as Squirrel put it, 'just like the old days'. Again I know a lot of people who didn't have a New Year's Eve gig this year so maybe we're not doing too badly after all?

On the other hand it's been a good year for The Upper Cut. We're playing well and getting gigs although we've got to somehow figure out how to get more - there's talk of doing some recording and getting a website sorted out, both of which should go some way towards getting more work. It's a great band to play in, and judging by the audience reaction we're doing something right - hopefully a good year is in prospect. And The Flying Squad should make a return appearance in the scheme of things at some point in the not-too-distant future - well we've got a gig in July!

On a personal level my most enjoyable gigs have probably been the ones with T.V. Smith. From playing a couple of impromptu numbers at The Load of Hay a couple of years ago we've developed a 90+ minute act that runs more-or-less chronologically through his songwriting career - and what songs they are. I wrote elsewhere in these hallowed pages of standing onstage in Leeds playing 'Borderline' and thinking that it just might be the best song that I'd ever played. Sitting here now it seems like a mad thing to say - there can't ever be a 'best' song can there? - but it was a real 'goose bump moment' if ever there was one. He's about to embark on a 'Best Of The Adverts' tour with The Valentines as well as releasing a new solo album so it's unlikely that we'll perform together until the summer at the earliest, but that's really something to look forward to, as indeed are the new album and the Adverts tour. And I enjoyed depping in The Ali Mac Band, Utter Madness and The F.B.I Band too - all totally different from each other, all good stuff all round.

Talking of The Load of Hay there have been some remarkable shows there in the past year - the ever-amazing Kris Dollimore continues to, well, amaze and Steve Simpson played a great show in November. But the most memorable night has to have been courtesy of John Otway 3 weeks ago, when he delivered his 'Christmas Lecture' to a packed audience, many of whom told me that it was one of the funniest things that they'd ever seen. Otway may have made a career out of (apparent) failure, but he certainly knows how to put a show together. Absolutely brilliant. I don't mind admitting that it often feels like something of a thankless task putting the gigs on there, but when you get nights like these it all feels worthwhile. And it was great to get The Blue Five back together too - we really must do that again sometime!

And then there was The Price. Sadly the word that comes to my mind here is 'disappointment'. It was our 25th birthday this year, and I for one had hoped that we'd have been able to play as many gigs as we could as well as writing some new songs and doing some recording - but it was not to be. In the last few months I've turned down some potentially great gigs and had to attempt to explain to gawd knows how many people why we're not playing at the moment ('but I thought you were going to be gigging a lot this year?') with the words 'have a look on the forum on our website'. I'm not known for quoting from The Bible but in this case something that I remember from one of my favourite ever films comes to mind - the 1980 Boer War film 'Breaker Morant' features an extraordinary performance from the late great Edward Woodwood in the title role; when asked what he'd like for an epitaph the character references Matthew 10:36 - 'and a man's foes shall be they of his own household'. I think I know how he felt... and yet The Price refuse to go away - when I played in Ipswich with T.V. Smith Rikki from Red Flag 77 to told me that we were one of the bands that inspired him to get a band together in the late '80's 'when there wasn't much good stuff around'. It sometimes felt as though no one was listening, but comments like that make you realise that they were, and that's something to be really proud of.

So - 2011 then...

'There were three in the bed, and the little one said...'

So here we are in that weird bit between Christmas and New Year, and it's time for a caption competition. Here are Tony, Jon and Ian of popular music combo The F.B.I. Band pictured earlier this month relaxing on a four poster bed in a castle in Belgium. Can you come up with an amusing or indeed bizarre way to sum up the situation?

Actually 'Tony, Jon and Ian of popular music combo The F.B.I. Band relaxing on a four poster bed in a castle in Belgium' is fairly bizarre in itself isn't it? See what you can do...

Chocks away!

An indication of how quiet it's been on the gigging front lately comes with the news that I've just done my first (and therefore only) gig in Europe this year...

After a late night on Monday (as always I blame East, and as always it's his fault...) I managed an early night on Tuesday in preparation for a very early morning on Wednesday. As my alarm went off at 5 a.m. I realised that I'd woken up every hour more-or-less on the hour throughout the night, and felt more tired than ever. Weird... after a cup of coffee and the usual 'I'm sure I've forgotten something' checks the long-suffering Shirley dropped me at West Ruislip Station (it's a bit easier to go from there rather than from Uxbridge) in time for the 5.47 train into London (that's why I call her long-suffering!) With Will Birch's excellent Ian Dury biography for company the journey passes quickly although I couldn't help noticing how many people are asleep on the train at that time of day. I guess they're just used to it? I could almost have gone to sleep myself if I hadn't bee worried about somebody walking off with my guitar, or in this particular instance, someone else's guitar as I've got Miles's Stratocaster (as mentioned a little while ago) with me - I'll have to buy it now won't I? Well I'm going to anyway as it's a good spare for my Relic Strat which I use for quite a few gigs. Actually that reminds me - I must actually get some gigs...
After an equally easy journey on The DLR I bump into Jon and Stuart on the forecourt outside London City Airport - we're all meeting there for a flight to Belgium where we're playing a Blues Brothers show. 'We' in this case are an amalgam of players from the Chicago Blues Brothers band and The F.B.I. Band - Pete (Jake) Dave (trumpet) Chris (keyboards) and myself (guitar, in case you or indeed I have forgotten) from The CBB-er's alongside Tony (Elwood) Ian (saxophone) Jon (bass) and Stuart (drums) from the F.B.I. boys. We're the first there - Stuart's already checked in online (sensible man!) so Jon and myself make a half-hearted attempt at self service check-in before Pete, Chris and Dave arrive and with Tony and Ian close behind we all check-in by more conventional means.
Jon and I took our instruments to the excess baggage area before going upstairs to make our way through security, which is very tight (I don't know about you but I'm glad it is!) but we're through in time for me to spend £7.40 on a vegetarian sausage sandwich and a cup of coffee (!) before we make our way to Gate 2C where the sight of our aircraft - a Fokker F50 - caused some consternation among group members. I must admit I was a bit nervous myself which is silly if you think about it - I mean, they fly all the time don't they? 'There's gaffa tape holding that propeller together' says Chris cheerily as we all tell ourselves that it's not gaffa tape... overall it turned out to be a fairly uneventful flight even if Dave did describe the take-off as feeling like we were in 'a glider in a catapult', such was the ferocity of our ascent. He also said something about 'a dogfight over the Channel' but I didn't catch the context of that comment, which on reflection may be for the best... we had an amazing view of the wind farm off the Kent coast, and the landing at Antwerp was a bit bumpy but not too bad. After meeting up with our driver (didn't catch his name sadly) and minibus we made the short journey to The Scandic Hotel where we check in. I've got (wait for it!) room 101 (oh yes!) and my door key doesn't work; on my way back to reception I meet Stuart who's got the same problem, and by the time our keys were in working order most of the band had turned up in the lobby with their keys. After successfully gaining access to my room I dropped my stuff off and went out for a stroll - not much of any interest nearby - before coming back to find Pete, Tony Dave and Ian in the bar preparing to leave for the local Christmas market. When their taxi turned up I ordered myself some tomato soup (and very nice it was too) before heading back up to my room. By now I'd realised that my phone wasn't going to work - maybe all the shenanigans earlier in the year when I thought I'd lost it and got a new SIM card as a result have come back to haunt me? - so I messed about with the T.V. for a while, eventually finding BBC1 and 2 (strange how you look for things that you know from home when you're away isn't it?) before indulging in a much-needed shower and some equally much-needed sleep.
2.45 p.m. and it's back down to the lobby to meet up for a 3 o'clock departure for the venue. After about 45 minutes we arrived at Kasteel Van Saffelaere, a castle (yes, you read that bit correctly) which some band members found a little disappointing as it was clearly a rather recent structure - 'I didn't think castles had double glazing' was a typical comment, although there was an astonishing bit of topiary in the garden in the shape (literally!) of a bush cut into the shape of a grand piano complete with pianist, which left Ian and Dave unable to resist the chance for some Red Hornz promotional pictures.
The backline is already set up on stage - I've got the ever popular and indeed ever wonderful Fender Blues Deluxe combo to play through, and Jon's got a Trace Elliot combo which sadly sounds a bit rough so the crew replace it with an Ampeg set-up which brings a smile to Jon's face. After a 'which band's versions do we play?' discussion we decide that we'll go for the F.B.I. arrangements, and soundcheck with 'Midnight Hour', 'Soul Man' and 'My Girl'. With everything sounding good it's off to find our dressing room which is actually The Honeymoon Suite (I'll leave you to do your own punchline!) complete with a four poster bed and a toilet / bathroom that doesn't have a door (again I'll leave you to do your own punchline!) On the way there Ian tells me that his band Swagga have just received some money from Strummerville to put towards recording a single - excellent! They're playing at The Dublin Castle on January 15th which I must try to get along to.
After some food (pasta and tomatoes for me, pasta and prawns for everyone else followed by chocolate pudding) and drink it's back up to The Honeymoon suite to hurry up and wait, or in my case to doze off on 3 giant cushions. 'It looks like you being eaten by 2 giant lips' said Dave as only he can. We're eventually on just before 10 o'clock for 90 minutes of studied indifference, wild acclaim, and all points in between - a classic corporate gig then. Generally it's a good show with the odd mad moment here and there, and we're back at the hotel just in time to discover that the bar had closed. Bugger!

My alarm goes off at 8 a.m. - after a few faltering attempts I get Breakfast T.V. on the telly and reflect on how odd it is to watch British T.V. when you're abroad. It's not that long ago that it would have been unheard of - then again when I got back to my room the previous night I'd found a subtitled 'C.S.I.' and found myself attempting to understand the subtitles rather than listen to the dialog. I think I may have been a little tired... at breakfast Pete, Dave and Chris report on their failed attempts at getting a sauna while I completely failed to see the 'use sliced bread only' sign on the toasting machine and so put some (very) roughly hand sliced bread into it - I don't think too many people smelt the burning...
In the minibus on the way to the airport the radio bursts into life with some accordion music and panic grips the band - 'you hum it, I'll leave' says a clearly disturbed Dave, and Tony says 'it's the sort of music you play when you want your guests to leave' just as a track that Pete thinks sounds like The Mike Sammes Singers comes on. 'We'll Meet Again' is playing as we arrive at the airport and everyone quickly gets out, grabs their things and heads for check-in. There's not much to do at the airport - actually there's pretty much nothing to do at the airport - but there's not too long to wait for our flight. 'There's gaffa tape on these propellers too' says Chris cheerily as a clearly unamused Pete asks Tony if he'll swap seats with him so that he can sit by the window. I spent most of the flight talking to Dave about subjects as diverse as boxing and Stephen Fry (the two weren't linked in case you were wondering) and musing on whether we'd ever see anything other than cloud out of the windows. Back at the airport it's goodbyes to all and sundry although I end up travelling a fair bit of the way home with Jon who I leave at Finchley Road. I was back serving in Balcony Shirts by 1.30 - 3 1/2 hours earlier I was in Antwerp, and my journey from there to London had taken less time than my journey from London to Uxbridge. Back to work eh?

Sorry this posting is a day later than it might have been. As always I blame East, and as always it's his fault...

Lucky town

Coincidences are strange things aren't they? After watching 'Our House' with East and Big Tel (we watched 'Psychoderelict' this week - the plot thickens...) I recieved an offer from The F.B.I. Band to play a Madness tribute set with them in Sunderland this coming weekend. Since the only other time I've played this with them was just over a year ago some fairly serious revision is in order, much of which I've been attempting to do today. Their songs sound simple don't they? Let me assure you - they're not...

On Saturday The Upper Cut played at The Dolphin in Uxbridge at a party to celebrate Horsepower Hairdressing supremo Adam's 40th birthday. I went down to the venue with Adam last Monday evening after a day in the shop - as we sat with our soft drinks explaining to Noel the landlord how we were hoping the evening could go he had the look of a man that couldn't quite believe his luck. Was Adam really going to bring 50 or so of his biker buddies with him? Was he rather than the venue really going to pay the band?

By 9.30 on Saturday it was clear that yes he was and, well, yes he was - the place was well populated and I had an envelope with LEE BAND written on it. As we started with 'Dock Of The Bay' the evening was set to be a memorably excellent one, even if said song was dogged with bursts high-pitched feedback which almost threatened to clear the bar. It transpired that Terry the bass hadn't reset the volume controls from his previous night's gig - once he'd turned it all down a bit we were sounding good, and our first set even saw a bit of dancing from the locals. In addition to Adam's crowd there were a few familiar faces present, some of whom ended up performing with us - versions of 'Hoochie Coochie Man' and 'Sweet Home Chicago' featured Big Al on vocals and Pete from The Cane Toads on guitar (Al's an old mate of Terry the bass who sang in a local band called Midnight for many years, and Pete's depped in The Upper Cut for me and I've depped in The Cane Toads a few times) while 'All Right Now' included Martin on vocals alongside the afore-mentioned Pete (Pete's also in a band called Awaken with Martin - this is getting confusing!) In the meantime we played 'Johnny B. Goode' for Adam who certainly seemed pleased with the way things went, revealing plans for 'something a bit bigger' next year. He's clearly a man who knows how to throw a party so that should be an interesting evening... at the end of the night he wondered if anyone had a car with them as he wouldn't be able to take his present home on his bike - he'd just been given a 'God Save The Queen' print (the infamous 'Swastika Eyes' version) signed by Jamie Reid. Now that's a birthday present! Oh and Noel bought a drink for everyone in the band - looks like his luck was in doesn't it?

I dropped the print off at his shop on Monday morning. I'd grown rather attached to it by then.

Oddjobbing

A couple of interesting (hopefully!) gigs to report on but first things first - Thursday night The Godfathers played a 25th anniversary show (everybody's doing it!) at The 100 Club. When I first saw them back in 1986 the dual guitar attack of Mike Gibson and Kris Dollimore was truly something to behold - these days they feature original Sid Presley Experience guitarist Del Bartle alongside the Coyne brothers (Peter on vocals, Chris on bass) and drummer Grant Nicholas. New songs like 'I Can't Sleep Tonight' and 'Back Into The Future' sat well alongside classics like 'I Want Everything' and the inevitable 'Birth School Work Death', and the audience went suitably mad throughout; they still make a wonderful rock 'n' roll racket although if I've got a criticism then it's that it was all sounding a bit 'samey' by the end, possibly due to the lack of the second guitar - maybe I should put myself up for a job with them?!?

Friday night saw The Chicago Blues Brothers travel down to the wilds of West Sussex for a outdoor show at Wakehurst Place. We were due on stage just as the England vs. Algeria game was starting, a fact which perplexed a few of the band members (not least because we thought that we wouldn't have much of an audience!) although given the nature of England's performance it seems as though we got off lightly by not being able to watch the match. Jeff's in for Marc on drums and Pete's partnering Matt in the hats 'n' glasses but other than that it's the A-team all the way; we're on first with The Magic Of Motown following us, and it's all part of the first Wakehurst Music Festival. Arrangements on site were strict - we were allowed to drive to the backstage area to unload our gear then take our cars back out amid dire warnings of fines if any grass was damaged (£250!) and a 5 m.p.h. speed limit at all times. It's the first outdoor gig for us for a while, and I'm using my Fender Blues DeVille rather than the usual Blues Junior - it sounds great but I'm too loud onstage so I have to turn it down. Bah! After soundcheck it's over to the mess hall for some food (bangers and mash, or in my case, mash as the vegetarian option was cauliflower cheese. Urgh!) before returning backstage to get ready for the show. By the time we go on there's a good crowd gathering although it starts raining just as we start to play - there's no sign of Tracy who's been rehearsing with Boy George all day and has fallen foul of the M25 in all it's glory. She eventually arrives 10 minutes or so into what turns out to be a good, well received show (albeit one that we had to cut short as we ran out of time) which given the adverse weather conditions is something of a relief all round. Ah, the British summer - it's the middle of June and it's freezing cold and raining. Global warming anyone?

And it was time for your humble narrator to do some depping on Saturday, with The F.B.I. Band at Stoke Park. We're in Blues Brothers mode, and there are some familiar faces among the band members (F.B.I. regular saxman Ian is joined by CBB stalwart Dave on trumpet; Carl, Mark and Richard are on bass, drums and keyboards with Tom playing the role of Elwood) but with Tony away the role of Jake is taken by Stuart who hasn't worked with the band before... actually he's not worked with any band before as he usually sings over backing tracks. We're playing at a party (something to do with this I think) that's being held in a marquee that's adjacent to the main building - as everyone arrives they're not ready for us yet so there's time for tea in The Orangery (how middle class is that? Needless to say I gave it a miss!) before the stage is set up and soundchecking can commence. Stuart knows a few songs that the band haven't played for a while ('Messing With The Kid' and 'Hey Bartender' among them) and needs some of the other songs to be in lower keys than usual - after running through a verse and chorus of each everyone seems to be happy. There's time to go out for a look at the site of an extremely famous film scene (this one to be precise) before we go to our allocated room to await further instructions from the very helpful Nicola. Before long some food had arrived - in direct contrast to the previous night I had an enormous bowl of tagliatelle - and with the evening running late (as usual!) our 2 x 45 minute sets became 1 x 75 minute set starting at 10.30. Nicola was a bit worried that no one would take much notice of us (it happens!) but the dancefloor was full by the time we started our third number and stayed that way for the rest of our show. Stuart did well under the circumstances and although there were a few odd moments from our point of view nobody in the audience seemed to be too worried about them which I guess is the main thing.

No gigs this coming week - what will I do with myself?

First things first

It's the first week of the year and it's been snowing. This happened last year and previously rational people lost their minds. It's happened again this year and the same previously rational people have lost their minds again. What can this mean?

I've written a revue of the year for the last couple of years but haven't this year, not least because in thinking about what to write about I've found that the same names are turning up as in previous years. I guess this means that I've not found anything new or watch or listen to, or maybe it's not found me? Hmm... perhaps I should get out more? Mind you, look what (sometimes) happens when I do!

Anyway my first gig to go to this year is a real nostalgia-fest for someone like myself as it's The Rich Kids at The Islington Academy last Thursday. This is a benefit show for guitarist Steve New who is sadly suffering from cancer; this venue is a bit of a strange one for your humble narrator as the Paul Fox benefit and the Wiz memorial shows both took place here which might account for the fact that I find it a rather 'cold' place. It was a highly enjoyable if somewhat chaotic evening- I felt as though it needed a compere or D.J. to keep it moving as between-band changeovers as it lost the atmosphere that each act created once they'd finished. Myself and Big Andy arrived just in time (7 o'clock!) to catch the opening act of the show, the mighty T.V. Smith whose 3 (3!) song set went down excellently well with the rapidly arriving sold out audience. From there the evening wound it's way towards it's climax through a succession of good to great performances, the most controversial of which had to be Beaststellabeast who bewildered much of the audience that I suspect had been looking forward to seeing Steve New's latest band (they were pretty confrontational although I did smile when their singer threw her bottle of water over the first couple of rows of the audience and then complained that she was thirsty a song or two later- very rebellious dear...) whilst Carbon/Silicon turned in an excellent performance with Rusty Egan sitting in on drums (don't know where their regular man was?) and Mick Jones and Tony James both in great form- when Jones sang a few lines from 'Police On My Back' during 'Why Do Men Fight?' the audience intensity leapt so who knows what would have happened if they had played a Clash or Generation X track. There were obviously quite a few people in to see Midge Ure who played a solo acoustic set of hit singles before returning with The Rich Kids to roar through a splendid blast-from-the-past which, though slightly under rehearsed in places went down a storm. I'd always liked their stuff and as expected 'Rich Kids' and 'Ghosts Of Princes In Towers' both sounded brilliant 'though I'd forgotten what a good song 'Marching Men' is- time to get their album out again methinks. Oh and Gary Kemp joined them for a couple of songs and behaved like the punk rock'n'roll guitar hero that I'd guess he'd always wanted to be, which was something to behold I can tell you. An excellent evening.

And I saw some great gigs last year, from the likes of The New York Dolls, Kris Dollimore, Oasis and P.i.L. - and I'm already looking forward to Iggy And The Stooges in May...

My first gig with a guitar in my hand of 2010 was on Saturday with The F.B.I. Band at The Penta Hotel in Reading; it was a Christmas Party (yeah I know- but lots of companies are having them after Christmas these days) for Marc Antoni Hairdressers. Lots of musicians I've spoken to have had gigs cancelled due to the adverse weather conditions so I for one was grateful that this one went ahead, and very good it was too. When we arrived there was already some musical equipment on the stage- a Gibson SG, a Line6 combo and a Freshman acoustic guitar- we were told that there was to be a 'spoof X Factor' before our gig featuring some of the company's employees. Hmm... joining the omnipresent Tony (vocals) and Ian (sax) were regular band members Jon (bass) Richard (keyboards) and Jim (trumpet) with Steve depping on drums who I'd not met before but is the nephew of CBB trumpet supremo Dave Land. After a quick soundcheck of 'Soul Man' we gave way to the X Factor boys- the guitarist had an immediate problem as the jack socket on his amplifier came loose and fell inside, I lent him some pliers but they didn't help so we ended up using a plastic drinks stirrer to hook it out. He played lots of notes with lots of distortion, not a good approach in my not-so-humble opinion but he seemed happy enough. The other lads sang over backing tracks and sounded... well, like X Factor contestants to my old ears, or at least the ones that I've heard.

Out in the lobby bar the guests are arriving- young men who made Julian Clary look like Rambo mingled with very tall and very thin young ladies, all with immaculate hair and clothes, they were all hugging and kissing each other although if there had been a bitch-o-meter on the premises I think it would have melted. With the scene set for a good gig we went through to the dining room where initial attempts at finding some vegetarian food proved disappointing ('how about a prawn sandwich sir?') although when a goat's cheese pastry eventually arrived it was very nice indeed. By the time the X Factor boys are on things are hotting up with the girls (and indeed the boys) in the audience screaming louder than the music before speeches and awards kill the atmosphere totally. As we walk towards the stage to play Jon wonders to me if we're the right band for the occasion- judging by the reaction we received I'd say that we were although as often happens at these sort of events I remain convinced that they'd all forgotten we'd played before we'd left the stage.

And I played some good gigs last year too, especially with The Price in Cowley, The Chicago Blues Brothers in Fribourg and T.V. Smith in Kentish Town- and I'm playing with him again this Friday at The Square in Harlow...

Last night it was time for this year's first Acts Less Ordinary gig at the Load of Hay, featuring the wonderful John Hegley. By 8 p.m. I'd set the P.A. up and by 8.30 we had a good sized audience, but sadly we didn't have John- he eventually arrived just after 10 o'clock ('no trains on the Metropolitan Line') and after a quick introduction from Y.H.N. ('turn your mobile phones off and keep your glasses on- it's John Hegley!') he gave a breathlessly brilliant performance before asking around for a lift back to Ealing from where he could still get a last train home. He was in the building about an hour, and he left without being paid! Amazing!

And there's lots to look forward to at The L of H this year, starting with the splendid Steve Simpson on Sunday 7th February...

So that's how my year started- let's see where it takes us shall we?

Happy holidays!

You join your humble narrator in a post-Christmas (purple) haze of YouTube clips and scribbled chord sequences as he attempts to learn the songs that he's playing on New Year's Eve- I'm guesting with Price bassman Huggy's band Sweeney (isn't there another band called that?!?) at Buckinghamshire Golf Club. They're playing some really good numbers so I want to get them right!

As December arrives people often say things like 'I bet you're getting really busy with gigs now aren't you?' Well you might think so but it's not always the case; I think that with the advent and subsequent popularity of karaoke coupled with the fact that many acts have slimmed down to a duo-with-backing-tracks rather than a band it's now quite a hard time to be a gigging musician; 'though the last thing I'm going to do is sit here complaining- I'll leave that to everyone else... this year your humble narrator has managed to stay reasonably busy (for once!) to such an extent that the last week or so has been a bit of a blur...

Friday 18th I depped with The F.B.I. Band for the first time since September, at a Christmas party for Boehringer Ingelheim at the Bracknell Hilton. It's an event that the band's played at for the past 3 years 'though with upcoming redundancies this might well be the last one; joining the ever-present Tony (vocals) and Ian (sax) are Jon on bass, Paul on drums, Gabriel on trumpet and after a somewhat impassioned phone call from Tony on the previous Tuesday ('you don't know any keyboard players do you?) we've got the excellent Dave Dulake on keyboards. I met Dave several years ago and he struck me as a good person to contact for the gig as we'll be playing a mixture of soul, Blues Brothers and Madness material and Dave scores very highly on all accounts. Oh, and he runs a pub which is always a good sign...

Myself and the long-suffering Shirley made the journey through a snow-covered Windsor Great Park (which looked amazing) and arrived at the venue just as Tony and Ian were setting up the P.A. system- we're playing in The Wentworth Suite and have time to set up, soundcheck and run through a couple of songs before it's time for food. 'Welcome to the F.B.I. Band Christmas party' said Tony waving his lager in the air as Gabriel and Paul blew up those long balloons that fly off into the middle distance when you let go of them- no, I don't know what they're called either but you know the ones that I mean don't you? A suitably festive atmosphere meant for a well-received show that saw Tony battle his way through the set despite has voice gradually giving out ('I had a cold a week ago and it seems to have come back') to such an extent that by the end of the show he could barely speak let alone sing. As we were leaving the alcohol seemed to be taking it's toll on some of the party-goers- one young man appeared agitated as he loudly described himself as being 'like an octopus'- an evocative image I'm sure you'll agree.

Saturday 19th saw a Youngblood gig in The Elizabethan Barn at Ferny Hill Farm near Barnet. We were playing at a horror themed 25th wedding anniversary party (hmm...) and when Terry the bass and myself arrived it was cold, dark and seemingly deserted- calling Terry the singer revealed that we were at the wrong part of the farm which was something of a relief as it looked like the sort of place that gangland executions might have taken place at. Mick had set his drums up underneath a ghostly apparition, I had an upside down hanged man above my head and the bar consisted of cans of beer floating in a bath which also contained a skeleton in a deep sea divers outfit. Excellent! We were due to play 3 30-minute sets and the first one started earlier than expected as the belly dancer was late (yes, you read that bit correctly!) It was cold- so much so that I had to walk around with my hands in my pockets while we were waiting for the heaters to warm the place up for fear of my hands being too cold to be able to play- see how I suffer for my art? It warmed up a bit as people got into the evening with a fair bit of dancing ensuing though this might have been due to some of the cake on offer... a good night all round even though it started snowing just as we were loading our gear back into our vehicles at the end of the evening. Real horrorshow don't you think oh my brothers?

It was Chicago Blues Brothers time again on Monday 21st and Wednesday 23rd, the former being our last visit to The Pizza Express in Maidstone this year. With Ian back from gigging with Ray Davies and Marc returning from panto ('oh yes he is!') it was the first A-team gig for a while; with the weather still pretty rough Shirl and myself set out early, not least as we'd seen on T.V. how Operation Stack had effected traffic in that part of the country. In the event our journey was uneventful until we got to Maidstone itself when an articulated lorry clipped us as we waited to change lanes. When he eventually stopped and got out the driver's first words to us were 'which part of my lorry did you hit?'- when we pointed out that we'd been stationary when the incident occurred and so it was probably him who had hit us he looked disappointed to say the least. Silly boy.

The gig itself was an odd one- it being only a few days before Christmas you might have expected something of a raucous evening but it was probably the most restrained audience that we've ever played to there. That said we played well and there was a fair amount of dancing by the end of our show so maybe I'm being a bit over-critical?

Mind you if that was an odd gig the one in Wolverhampton 2 days later took things to another level. In no lesser venue than The Civic Hall (the 'home of rock' according to the poster at the side of the stage) it was a Christmas party organised by Beacon Radio (more about that in a minute) and it took Richard, Ian and myself (joining us on baritone and alto sax for a rare 3-man horn section with Dave and Richard) a mighty 3 1/2 hours to battle our way up the M1 and M6. We parked in Corporation Street and phoned Pete to come out and let us in- since it had been snowing Richard and Ian readied the snowballs which were duly dispatched as the stage door opened; sadly the first person through the door wasn't Pete but was a burly security man who fortunately saw the funny side... Bootleg Abba were doing their stuff as we loaded our gear in, they sounded ok to my 'I-never-liked-Abba-much' ears. With Marc off elsewhere Paul is back on drums and Pete is in for Mike in the hat and glasses; when Bootleg Abba finished their set I went on to the stage to set my gear up, only to be told that there was another band on, they featured the radio station boss and were called Bad Radio, I said to the stage hand that I'd get off straight away- his reply of 'BOSTIN'!' reminded me which part of the country we were in. (If you're wondering what on Earth I'm going on about click here.) As they began their first song I realised that they were aptly named- then again it's the 'as a matter of fact I do own the company' moment... with things running late we opted to play one set rather than the two that we'd originally planned, and a strange set it was- onstage sound wasn't brilliant (very echoey and indistinct) which contributed to some timing discrepancies here and there although it all went down well with much merriment all round which I guess that's the main thing?

It's rare to have a gig on Boxing Day but this year I depped with The Cane Toads at The Half Moon in Harrow. With regular band members Malcolm (guitar) and Bruce (drums) away elsewhere original drummer Russell joined myself, Pete (guitar) Ken (bass) and Martin (vocals) in two 45 minute sets of rock covers in front of a small but appreciative audience who included my new friend Mick who's in a band called Harmonica Lewinsky (oh yes! I'd put a link here if I could find them; I did however find this chap, this band and indeed this band- I guess it's too good a name to only be used once!) and a Scottish gentleman called Swindell who is a bagpipes instructor. I like this venue!

Incidentally Russell, Ken and Malcolm used to be in a band called The Attendants who were well known in our area when I was a lad; plans are afoot for them to make an appearance with The Price at some point in the not-too-distant future- remember where you heard it first!)

And if that wasn't enough last night The Flying Squad played their final gig of 2009 at The Load Of Hay in Uxbridge. (Sometimes booking gigs at a venue really does have it's advantages! Incidentally the extraordinary John Hegley will be there on Sunday 10th January...) We were a little loose in places- it's been a while since we last played- but all agreed it was a good way to end our year. And it was great to see some friendly faces, not least legendary Price fan Mark Delderfield (a.k.a. 'Mark-from-the-football-club') who bought along a collection of Price videos dating all the way back to 1988-91, most of which I've never seen. It'll be very interesting to see what they look like!

So that was Christmas- well it was from my point of view anyway. I'm sure I had a day off on or around the 25th but can't really remember...