European Son

So - the people of Great Britain are to vote on whether or not they think that the country should stay in the European Union. Exciting eh? 
Actually most people that I've spoken to seem to think that 'exciting' is probably the very last word that they'd associate with it. Is it just me or is nobody outside of headbanging right wingers and careerist politicians even the slightest bit interested in it? Nevertheless it gave rise to an amusing start to the week yesterday, when a BBC film crew turned up in Uxbridge to film local shopkeeper's opinions on the upcoming EU referendum. Excellently they started in Balcony Shirts - I managed to keep well out of the way of the camera (do not play, do not give the game away!) while Scott did a splendid job, making a 'EU IN OR EU OUT?' t-shirt while recounting the story of the shop's 'Uxbridge Says Yes To Boris' and 'Uxbridge Says No To Boris' shirts. All good stuff, and lots of publicity for both the t-shirt shop and our friends in Nightfly Records and Horsepower Hairdressing. And why not?

Meanwhile it's been four gigs in four days for your humble narrator, starting on Thursday night with the first visit this year for Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks to The Sunningdale Lounge. A friend of Al's got up and played two songs on bass ('Mustang Sally'  and 'My Babe' since you were wondering - I thought that he crammed in a few too many notes, but that's probably just me) and a similar thing happened next night at The Halfway House in Rickmansworth where another of Al's pals got up and played harmonica (rather well as it happens) on 'Hoochie Coochie Man'. We got through our Saturday night show at The Black Horse in Greenford without any similar incidents and it was probably the best show of the three although none of them were exactly bad gigs. Then on Sunday afternoon The Upper Cut returned to The Queen's Arms in Colnbrook for a boisterous performance which wasn't perhaps our most technically accurate show ever but which certainly had plenty of energy.

This week it's back to Dollis Hill and Harefield for Big Al and the boys. Continuation continues... 

September song

This month begins with the news that GLM - the band formed by ex-Lurkers Pete Stride, Nigel Moore and Pete 'Manic Esso' Haynes - have released a new single (well you can download it for free from their website, I think that's how things work these days?) For what my opinion is worth 'The Future Is Calling' is probably their best work to date, sounding more like The Lurkers of old rather than their recent 'Chemical Landslide' album. And if that wasn't enough the band has a new Facebook page which you can find here - it looks as though things are going well for Ickenham's finest... 

After last weekend's gig frenzy things have backed off a bit this week, with 'three-gigs-in-three-days-with-three-different-bands'; actually they haven't really backed off that much have they? Good!

Big Al Reed And The Blistering Buicks played at The Dolphin in Uxbridge on Friday evening; the show got off to a late start due to the Chelsea match being on the television but the band certainly got straight into the swing of things and gave an energetic performance in front of a small but enthusiastic audience. I'm going to miss some gigs with the band over the next few weeks as I'm off gigging with Ruts D.C. (more about that in a minute) so my good friend Pete Kerr will be depping for me - he joined us for a few songs at this show and it sounded to me as though he'll make a very good job of things. A good gig all round.

Saturday saw Balcony Shirts designer and t-shirt printer Dave get married to Kate in The Four Seasons Room at Uxbridge Register Office. I was trying to remember when I last went to a wedding at this venue - I'm pretty sure that I haven't been to one there this century (!) and I'm absolutely sure that I hadn't been to one like this before, with Dave in his punk rock finery, both bride and groom sporting splendid haircuts courtesy of Horsepower Hairdressing and Dave's brother Mick wearing what might best be described as a 'tuxedo onesie' (it looked something like this and had to be seen to be believed!) among the many highlights. Their reception was held the same evening at The Old Vinyl Factory in Hayes, an extraordinary venue on the site of the EMI record factory. Musical entertainment came from myself and my old mate Matt - between us we came up with a varied selection of material performed on two acoustic guitars and with Matt in fine voice throughout. The unusual nature of proceedings was underlined by the fact that there was coffee, curry and cupcakes but no alcoholic drinks - I'm sure I haven't been to a  reception like that before either!

It was back to Colnbrook on Sunday afternoon for an Upper Cut gig at Ye Olde George Inn. We've played some good shows here over the last few months but this was probably the best so far, with our three sets seeing much dancing and jollity from the assembled throng (no shortage of of alcoholic drinks here!) and a chap in the audience offering us money to play another set. When our drummer Roger declined saying that he had to be elsewhere I couldn't resist asking him if he really had to get away or if he just didn't fancy playing any more - he replied that he did have to leave but that he'd also put so much into the show that he felt that he physically couldn't play any more. I knew how he felt - and believe me, that's a great way to feel at the end of a show.

And to finish the weekend off I went to the jam night at The Three Wishes in Edgware last night. Myself and the afore-mentioned Pete and Big Al played 'My Babe' and 'Born To Run' to the general approval of all concerned, and I was very pleased to be invited to play 'It Hurts Me Too' and 'Natural Born Bugie' with Danny the bass player and some very young and talented chaps and chapesses. All good stuff, and indeed good fun.

This coming weekend sees Ruts D.C. play shows in Preston and Newcastle - there are gigs for the band over the next four weekends, and full details are on the band's website. And if that wasn't enough I'm making an appearance on Music Scene Investigation this Sunday evening - provided of course that I get back from Newcastle in time...

Third time lucky?

What better way for your humble narrator to continue the euphoria of the previous evening than with an impromptu gig at the Load of Hay last Sunday, when I joined Alan (vocals) and Pete (guitar) from The Good Old Boys for a spontaneous acoustic set. Actually it wasn't totally spontaneous - Grant the landlord had been running a weekend in aid of the Help For Heroes campaign, and had asked The 'Boys to play; when only Pete and Alan were available we came up with the idea of trying something a bit different. With no rehearsal possible due to time constraints we met at the bar around 7.30 to see what we could come up with to play - we decided to start with a couple of Good Old Boys numbers then see where it took us, a policy which could have all gone horribly wrong... it turned out to be a really good gig (I wouldn't be writing about it here if it had been terrible!) with us playing for much longer than we were originally supposed to. Alan came up with the name The Ricardo Brothers (or is that Richardo or even Rikardo?) for reasons best known only to himself and Grant offered us a gig at the end of May. Excellent!

Monday evening saw the first Upper Cut rehearsal for some time, at Bush Studios in Shepherds Bush. Our drummer Roger has been out of circulation for a while so it was a chance to get some new songs together as well as running through a few flash points from our standard repertoire. Of the new material 'Hold Back The Night' turned out to be the surprise of the night; we based our version on the Graham Parker and The Rumour recording which features a horn section as well as an introduction played on two harmonised guitars - I managed to find this clip of them playing the song on YouTube the next evening which enabled me to see what Brinsley Schwarz and Martin Belmont were playing, as well as making an attempt at playing something that suggested the horn parts especially in the run-up to the chorus. It turned out well enough for us to try it out at the weekend's gigs, the first of which was on Friday at The Halfway House in Rickmansworth. We were due to play there back in December but it got cancelled because of the snow - judging by Friday's gig it could turn out to be a good venue for us, with Rusty the guv'nor promising us 2 more shows this year after a performance that wasn't without it's shaky moments but that received a good audience reaction and even a fair bit of dancing. When a band hasn't played together for a while there are always going to be a few things that go wrong - we started 'Knock On Wood' before Terry the bass was ready (he was blowing his nose!) and missed a couple of cues here and there but overall it was a good show for Roger to return with.

Saturday saw us brave Sweeneys in Ruislip for a show that was nowhere near as enjoyable as the one the previous evening. We've played there twice before and there's been a fight both times - this time that thankfully didn't happen (or if it did then it happened outside or before we got there) but the atmosphere was as unpleasant as ever. When we got there we were told that '2oo drunks' had just left (it was St. George's Day after all) and most of our first set was played to a sparse but actually quite appreciative audience, although an odd moment occurred during 'Knock On Wood' (again!) when a chap from the audience invited himself up onto the stage to sing a few lines then walked from the stage straight out of the front door. Maybe he had a cab waiting? By the time we started our second set the place was full (and I mean full) of impressively built young ladies looking for a footballer or two to help them start off their modeling career, alongside any number of less impressively built young men anxious to assure them that it actually them that they were looking for. A couple of girls get on to the stage (why do they keep doing that?) during 'Maggie May' - I think it was more of a case that they wanted everyone to see them rather than thinking that they could somehow contribute to the performance - which set the tone for the rest of the gig, with people walking up and talking to Terry while he was trying to sing and a clearly totally out-of-it guy with a rather disturbing Afro hairdo deciding that he knew all the words to 'You Really Got Me' (he didn't) then spending most of 'Hold Back The Night' attempting to remove my glasses from my face. Moments like this are always very difficult - I'm not a violent person (although I've a funny feeling that I'm about to sound as though I am!) but I just felt as though I wanted to flatten him; the problem with that is that his 40-or-so mates who are laughing at his antics will then of course want to flatten me, which is obviously not a good position to be in. I looked across at the bouncers - they weren't even looking at the stage (and of course if I'd have walloped Mr. Afro they'd have clobbered me, not him - funny old life sometimes isn't it?) so I did what I've had to do in every other situation like this - humour him and wait until he gets bored, all the while thinking 'WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF?' Not a good moment, and not a good gig. Our set ended to no audience reaction whatsoever - we packed our gear away then braved the pavements outside, threading our way through young men swearing on their mother's life and young women swearing generally. Roger and myself both declared that we wouldn't care if we never set foot in the Godforsaken place again, and I still feel the same now. This really upsets me as I love to play the guitar and whatever else Sweeneys might be they are a venue for live music at a time when such places are disappearing left, right and centre - but I can't help thinking that the people who go there would still do so whether there was a band on or not... and maybe that's the problem here; in a place like Sweeneys people aren't there to see a band so they consider it to be just something to be toyed with (let's face it, anyone who wears glasses is there to be laughed at, right?) like everything else that magically appears in their little World. And anyway, I'm sitting here agonising over the evening's events whereas they've long since forgotten it all. Perhaps I should do the same?!?

Then again I've just (just!) got back from playing an informal show at a party in Horsepower Hairdressing supremo Adam's back garden - myself and the two Terrys ran through a fair bit of the Upper Cut's material with Adam's mate Steve playing along on a cocktail drum kit. Great fun, friendly people - in short it was everything that Saturday's show wasn't. Ah well - you can't win 'em all, but at least the ones that you do win make up for the ones that you don't. Well, I think they do.

Happy Halloween!

Another blog posting, another death to report - this is getting depressing! However I can't let Reg King of mod legends The Action leave the building without a show of respect in these hallowed pages. I've just played the 'Action Packed' compilation CD and can only join the likes of Monkey Picks in lauding him as one of, if not the greatest, British soul singers. If you're not familiar with him or the band then (a) shame on you from a great height, and (b) have a listen to 'I'll Keep On Holding On' and 'Since I Lost My Baby' and see what you think - you are very unlikely to be disappointed. Another very sad loss to the music world.

Friday evening saw an ever-improving Upper Cut play The Dolphin in Uxbridge. We appeared there back in the summer at Horsepower Hairdressing supremo Adam's birthday party, and reaction among the locals was positive enough for Noel the guv'nor to offer us a date in our own right. In an ongoing quest to decide which is the best guitar for me to use in the band I'd opted for my Relic Stratocaster this time (I've been using the SG for most of our gigs although the FMT Telecaster has made a few appearances) which took a bit of getting used to from my point of view, although by the end of the first set it seemed to be making sense so maybe I've found the right one for the band. I've always tried to avoid changing guitars during gigs if possible especially in small pub gigs - there's often no stage which makes any instrument vulnerable to being knocked over by passing punters, so having more than one out increases the risk - and while it's very difficult to find one guitar that'll cover the material that a band like our plays the Strat seems to be the closest one yet. I'll try it at again at next month's Bethnel Green bash and see how it sounds then. In the meantime our 2 sets caused an increasingly good reaction from the assembled audience, and a euphoric Noel offered us a return date next year. Excellent! And once again Pete from Awaken joined us for a couple of numbers - he's playing there with his band on the 26th of next month so maybe I'll get up and do a couple of songs with them that night.

Back in September a commercial to raise funds and awareness for this year's poppy appeal was filmed in Windsor Street in Uxbridge. Some (actually rather scary) soldiers marched up and down the street as your humble narrator and the rest of the Balcony Shirts team (they were filming right outside the shop) joined the locals in forming a mock-Remembrance Day parade. In a moment of amusement / madness Scott and Dave attempted a high-five (I believe that's what the young people call it - and no I didn't join in, not least because I kept doing it wrong!) every time the camera panned across the shop. It's perhaps for the best that none of these gestures are visible in the finished article, which you can see if you click here - the shop in the background as the main character stand on the mini-roundabout looking around. Which reminds me - I must buy a poppy. Well, you should shouldn't you?

As mentioned last time it was the first anniversary of the Balcony shop opening yesterday, and myself and Scott spent the first hour of our day putting up balloons and the rest of it dispensing cake and Cava to the customers and selling an inordinate amount of stock, much of it at reduced prices. We took delivery of a Danelectro Pro earlier in the week - judging by the amount of attention it's been receiving it won't be in the shop too long, and it's great to see the musical equipment side of the shop developing so quickly. And given the success of the day there's a good chance of mince pies in the shop in the run up to Christmas...

No gigs now for 2 weeks. I wish I was doing the '80's Rocked' shows. Actually I wish I was doing any shows. Boo hoo. Then again Shirley and myself are celebrating 6 years together today - yes I know, on Halloween! We've spent the afternoon at The Westfield Shopping Centre, buying all sorts of things that we didn't know that we needed. Ahhh...

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.

Celebration day

Behold this photograph of the sign above the door at The Bulls Head in Barnes - I thought I'd include it here because (a) I like it and (b) I nearly got run over while I was taking it. Well - there were no cars for miles when I started!

Last Monday saw a return to said venue for The Ali Mac Band, or The AMT Band ('Ali Mac with a Twist') as Ali now calls this larger line-up version of his band. Sadly we couldn't get a full rehearsal for the gig - Ali, Simon, Bob and myself managed a couple of hours together at Simon's house a few days earlier - and that coupled with the low turnout and slightly odd sound (the monitors weren't too good and the overall sound seemed a bit 'muted') meant that overall it wasn't as good a show as our debut there back in March. Still I did get to meet Laurie who was running the gig in place of George who wasn't feeling too well; Laurie used to work as a backstage security man for Led Zeppelin and as you might imagine has quite a story to tell, none of which can be repeated here - suffice to say that in his opinion many if not all of the legendary tales told in books like 'Hammer Of The Gods' and 'Stairway To Heaven' had been as he put it, 'toned down for publication'. Oo-er! Oh and there was a bloke off the telly in the front bar but he didn't come in to watch the band - a bit of a shame, as we could have done with another audience member...

The Upper Cut had an excellent rehearsal on Wednesday, when we spent 3 hours at Bush Studios in Shepherds Bush ironing out a few shaky moments from the current set as well as attempting some additional material - our next gig is at The Dolphin in Uxbridge on Saturday 21st August which I'm looking forward to already, not least as it's Horsepower Hairdressing supremo Adam's birthday; if it's anything like June's 'Loose Goose' event it should be an interesting night... I took everybody copies of Big Tel's recording of last month's Load of Hay gig (and here is a clip from from East's film of the event, it's a bit dark but hopefully you get the idea) so we've all gone away to have a listen and see what else can be done to improve things. It's a good band to play in, which was reflected by Terry the bass's comment afterwards that it was 'great to be at a rehearsal when you're not clockwatching' - how right he is.

And it was an unusual gig last night, at Griddles in Uxbridge. Organised by Jon Davies a.k.a. Jonny Guitar (not sure I'd give myself a nickname like that but there you go!) to celebrate Aden the landlord's birthday it featured THE FRAUD SQUAD - myself and Andy from The Flying Squad with Jon guesting on guitar. After a quick rehearsal (another one!) at Jon's house it was over to the venue to get set up and await further instruction. I'd spoken to Andy 'Chicken Legs' Weaver earlier in the day (he's got a amplifier for sale if anyone's interested) who arrived just as we were about to start; Jon had quite a few friends coming along as did Aden - by the time we went on for our first set at 9 o'clock the place was getting mighty crowded with all the restaurant tables booked (it's a steakhouse-type of place although when they offered us some food it was great to see a vegetarian option of pasta, and very nice it was too) and plenty of people at the bar. Minor panic ensued when Andy's harmonicas fell off the amplifier that he'd left them on (we weren't THAT loud were we?!?) and Jon's guitar started emitting a rather unpleasant crackling noise (he should get that looked at! He also caused some consternation on Andy's part by using a wha wha pedal...) but overall things went well with our second set including the inevitable 'Happy Birthday' and our third (third!) set ending with a somewhat impromptu version of 'Honky Tonk Women' to the general approval of all concerned. A good gig.

At our AMT Band rehearsal Bob had remarked that his daughter's father-in-law had Motor Neurone Disease; when I said that my mum had suffered from it for 18 years he looked shocked and then apologised for having mentioned it. As we were leaving I told him that he didn't have to feel sorry... at the bar in the venue I asked him how things were going and he said that since last week's rehearsal the chap had sadly died. It was my turn to apologise...

It's my mum's birthday today - I really wish that she was still here to celebrate it. Happy birthday mum. Miss you.

Barnet fair

I don't know about you but I used to really like football. As a lifelong fan of the (once) mighty Reds I'm obviously less keen these days (!) but even without their hapless descent into near self-parody I think I'd have lost interest anyway since most major games these days look to me like a bunch of bored millionaires filling in time before making another attempt at getting off with one of their teammate's wives.

Cynical? Me? Imagine that...

On the other hand from a Balcony Shirts point of view I'm bound to say that I'm completely wrong with the above analysis; we should all be supporting England in their attempt to bring The World Cup back to it's rightful home, and of course be wearing an appropriate t-shirt whilst doing so. You know it makes sense!

The opening night of the tournament (Friday in case you're not following it) saw The 4 Faces visit the excellently named After Office Hours in Barnet. Roger (drums) and myself arrived to find Terry and Terry (bass and vocals) on hand to help us carry our gear in, a fortuitous development as we could only get in the back way which was across a yard and up some rather imposing looking iron steps. The Uruguay vs. France match was on the big screen which was on the stage - so no setting up until the end of the game then. It didn't look a very likely venue for us but with the aid of a stag party and some very interesting dancing from some young ladies present it turned out to be a good night. I tried the FMT Telecaster again which coped well with the rockier material as well as the soul stuff (it's got very good pick-ups along with a coil tapping switch) so it definitely looks like Andy's made a sale... oh and Terry the singer suggested that we change the name of the band again; Terry the bass said he'd just seen a shop opposite called The Upper Cut (presumably it's a hairdressers?!?) and that'd be a good name for us, not least as it was a club in London back in the 1960's. Everyone seemed to approve although I for one am not sure if we're now called that or not. Let's see what happens at the next gig.

Saturday it was back up to The Barnham Broom Hotel for what is becoming an annual event for us, The Wishes Ball (organised by trumpeter Dave and his wife Lyn among others) in aid of GOSH and EACH. Ian's back on keyboards (he's been away gigging with Ray Davies) and Ian's on sax in place of Richard; Pete and Mike are running the charity auction as well as fronting the band - originally to be a Blues Brothers show it became a Stacks Of Soul gig somewhere along the way, and very good it was too, with plenty of dancefloor action and even a few gatecrashers who were removed by Dave and Lyn. With the England vs. U.S.A. match on in the nearby sports bar Lyn issued a stern warning that anyone caught sneaking out to watch the match would be fined - Mike and Ian both returned from the bar to find pieces of paper telling them how much they owed the charity on their place mats. Perhaps they should have just watched it on their phones like everybody else did!

A couple of years or so ago I did a gig in what might well be one of the more unusual locations of my (ahem) career - the front window of Horsepower Hairdressing in Uxbridge. Andy and myself made a return appearance there on Sunday afternoon at The Loose Goose, a gathering organised by Horsepower supremo Adam which attracted a bewildering number of like-minded souls, many of which arrived on motorbikes or in hod rods and who provided Uxbridge with one of the most extraordinary gatherings that the High Street has ever seen. As we played through a mixture of old blues numbers and songs from The Flying Squad's repertoire tattooed ladies mingled with impressively bearded bikers and an atmosphere of cheery bonhomie prevailed. Arch Flying Squad fan Keith arrived just as we were joined by Steve (a mate of Adam's) on cajon for 'Down At The Doctors' - when we'd finished that he fetched a double bass from his van (!) which he proved to be equally adept at. We had a break to watch the penny farthing time trials (I'm not making this up, honest) and when we finished playing around 5 p.m. both Andy and myself agreed that it had been one of the most enjoyable afternoon's that we'd had in ages - which was just as well as I'd missed some of Shirley's birthday barbecue to play at it. Sorry Shirl! That's why I call her 'long-suffering'...