Rebellion continues

So - Prince dies on the Queen's birthday. Weird. Mind you so much that is associated with Prince is 'weird' isn't it? I can't pretend to have been his biggest fan or even to have known much of his work - I've got a compilation album that I bought for a couple of pounds in a sale, I doubt that I've played it more than half a dozen times - but there's no denying that he was a very talented man. And there have been far too many well-known people leaving the building this year haven't there? And we're only (gulp!) a third of the way through 2016...

Anyway this will be a fairly short post as there is much to do - Ruts D.C. return to the stage next Saturday at The 'Scotland Calling' Festival in Glasgow so we're rehearsing for that this week as well as filming a promotional video for our upcoming 'Psychic Attack' single and continuing work on the 'Music Must Destroy' album. Exciting times - and I'm pleased to say that we've been added to this year's Rebellion Festival line-up which is more good news. In the meantime The Upper Cut played what is becoming an annual show for us at Buckinghamshire Golf Club on Friday night - we'd been in a room just off from the bar in previous years but this time we'd graduated to what might best be described as a bloomin' great marquee near the main building. Our first set saw repeated requests for 'Johnny B. Goode' - the dance floor was completely empty until we played it when it instantly filled up. Am I the only person who thinks that Chuck Berry wrote many better songs? Oh well - it certainly did the trick as our second set saw dancing and cavorting on a serious scale. A good gig.

The next night night I journeyed up to The Lexington in King's Cross to catch a splendid evening of punk rock that featured Johnny Moped supported by T.V. Smith and The Bored Teenagers. I arrived just in time to miss first-band-on The Weird Things - a shame since I heard good reports about their show so I must catch them in the future. T.V. and co went on just before 9 o'clock - playing a set mostly consisting of old Adverts songs they bought the proverbial house down with a show that was as good as anything that I will see this year. And Johnny Moped were terrific too, with the man himself as unhinged as ever and the new material sitting well next to the old classics. A top evening all round. 

Right - a quiet night tonight methinks. It's going to be a long week...

New Year's Resolution revisited

Nothing ever really changes does it?

2015 began with your humble narrator watching Martin Turner in Ruislip, playing a Sunday afternoon gig in Colnbrook with The Upper Cut and spending rather a lot of time at The Resolution Festival at The 100 Club. 

2016 began with your humble narrator watching Martin Turner in Ruislip, playing a Sunday afternoon gig in Colnbrook with The Upper Cut and spending rather a lot of time at The Resolution Festival at The 100 Club.

As I say, nothing ever really changes does it?

I hadn't been to Tropic At Ruislip for a while; having now seen two shows there within a week of each other (I saw The Rollin' Stoned there last Friday in addition to the former Wishbone Ash man the previous Saturday) it's great to see so many people at what clearly is a thriving venue. I know that some people locally criticise the booking policy - mostly tribute acts with the 'first Friday of the month' show featuring an artist or band performing original material - but if it attracts the sort of audience numbers that these shows did it surely can't be a bad thing. And both the shows were excellent, with Martin Turner and his band sounding every bit as classy as they did last year and The Rollin' Stoned playing a great set of songs from every era of the Stones's long career to a sold out crowd.

My first gig of the year as a musician as opposed to as a spectator was with The Upper Cut at The Queen's Arms in Colnbrook. I'd not played at this pub before although the band played a short notice gig there with Pete depping on guitar last month; it being the first Sunday of the New Year it wasn't as busy as it might have been but there were still more than enough people there to make it work. That said although it was by no means a bad show the band wasn't as tight as it can be so it might well be time for a rehearsal or two before our next gig.

The Resolution Festival opened at The 100 Club last Monday with spirited sets from The Ramonas and The Duel - booked by The Crucial Talent Agency and featuring artists and bands from right across the punk rock spectrum highlights have been many and varied, although I have to say that last night's U.K. Subs show and The Members gig on Tuesday night stood out for me. I joined T.V. Smith and Vom for a few songs during their excellent performance supporting the afore-mentioned Members, and Segs joined us for the set closer 'Gary Gilmore's Eyes' - with Gaye Advert in the audience he confessed to being nervous before the show, but it all went brilliantly well as this short clip shows. All in all a great event which will hopefully take place again next year.

And tomorrow Segs and myself will be in the studio at Jamm in Brixton reviewing and working on last month's Ruts D.C. recordings. 2016 then...