Back for good?

I've just been listening to the splendid new live album 'Triumph Over Adversity' by The Newtown Neurotics. Recorded at Brunel University in Uxbridge back in 1987, The Price supported along with a local band called In Session at a benefit night for Multiple Sclerosis research. Contrary to what the sleeve notes say Steve Lamacq didn't provide the recording of the show - I did. As a big fan of the band I gave the sound engineer a cassette and asked him to record their set - I then copied it for a few friends including Steve (who I don't remember actually being at the gig, despite what the sleeve notes say) who then inadvertently played it to Neurotics singer / songwriter Steve Drewett when he gave him a lift one day. The sleeve notes are correct on that point - although I don't think the bomb scare that occurred after our set was a terrorist threat; I recall it being an animal rights organisation who objected to the use of animal experimentation in MS research. Anyway after hearing it Steve D. asked me if I still had the master tape, which I did and subsequently passed on to him.

So - it's all my fault!   

It really is a great show, every bit as exciting as I remember it being on the night, and although it's been available for official download for quite some time it's wonderful to see it receiving a 'proper' release at last. Highly recommended - even if the final encore of 'I Fought The Law' has gone missing! - and the band gave a fine performance at The Rebellion Festival earlier this month so they're still well worth seeing live if you get the chance.  

It's often a bit weird to think back to earlier times. The past is a funny place isn't it? Musically I've always tried to leave it behind as much as possible - I rarely if ever listen to recordings by previous bands, and have never been one for over-analysing shows. They may have been good, they may have been bad, but they're done and you're only as good as your next show. Still between the above live album and last Friday's gig I've been travelling backwards and forwards in time a fair bit over the last few days, as on Friday evening I played a corporate show with The Amazing Blues Brothers at The Ocean View Hotel in Bournemouth. I worked a lot with Mike and Matt in The Chicago Blues Brothers, which all ended a few years ago amid no little chaos. I've stayed in touch with them and the other good guys in the band since it all ended, and it was a great pleasure to be asked to play with them again. With former CBB bassman Johnny Squirrel also on duty the band was completed by Josh on keyboards and Dion on drums - although everybody was set up and soundchecked by 2 pm we then had a 7 hour wait until stage time (I'd all but forgotten the 'hurry up and wait' aspect of many corporate shows) which might normally have been rather tedious, but with The Bournemouth Air Festival taking place the afternoon literally flew by.  
Although I played any number of shows with the boys back in the day I hadn't played many of the songs since, and so had spent a fair bit of time earlier in the week revising the material. Most of it came back to me surprisingly easily, which was good news from my point of view as they were also playing a batch of songs that I was considerably less familiar with. Basically they lose the Blues Brothers suits and sing a set of what might best be described as 'party music', which includes a few songs that I'd not played at all before. We'd had a bit of time in the soundcheck to look at some of them, but it was all still a bit nerve racking from my point of view. And of course the other thing that I was reminded of is that these sorts of things are not 'gigs' as such i.e. nobody is there to see the band, but are actually there to eat, drink and be merry. All well and good you might think, but it does mean that your performance is often all but ignored by all and sundry. Matt and Mike were having none of that however, and soon had the dance floor full. I'd all but forgotten just how good the pair of them are both as individual singers and as Blues Brothers clones - as we finished our first set with 'Gimme Some Loving' the place was going crazy. This bode well for the second set - however although we only had a short break quite a few people had drifted away by the time we went back on, some to watch the fireworks taking place on the beach and some because they had, shall we say, peaked too early... still after a few songs the dance floor had filled up again and we were even asked to play for an extra 30 minutes. From my point of view I thought it was a good show although if I'm asked to play with them again I'll make sure I've changed the battery in my overdrive pedal - the bloody thing ran out halfway through the set. Bugger! I had a spare, but I really should have checked it first shouldn't I? 

'Twas a very different show last night, when I was invited to play a couple of songs with Department S at The Lexington in King's Cross. Since I played with them in February Eddie the singer and Pete the bass player have put together a new line-up with Phil on guitar and Alex on drums, and having played a few low key shows last month this was to be their first London appearance. Thanks to the rigours of the London Underground I arrived just in time to miss the soundcheck, but did get chance to talk the songs through with the band - they had a new extended arrangement of 'Is Vic There?' but 'I Want' was the same as when I last played with them. From there it was time for a drink and a catch up before first band on Los Pepes opened the evening with an excellently raucous set. Next up were Duncan Reid and The Big Heads, whose blazing power pop performance bought the proverbial house down. A hard act to follow, but Dept. S weren't in the slightest bit intimidated - or if they were they certainly didn't show it. Kicking off with 'Clap Now' and 'Monte Carlo Or Bust' they were clearly in no mood for messing around - new songs mixed with old favourites and the audience loved every minute of it. By the time I fought my way across the packed dance floor to join them for their last two songs the place was going crazy, and my time on stage went by in a blur of pogoing and power chords. A fine evening all round, and the future looks good for the revamped Department S.

So there you have it - a bit of looking back, and a bit of looking forward. And why not?

The early bird catches the worm that turns

Well 'twas indeed a roaringly good night at The 12 Bar Club in Holloway last Friday, with great sets from The Bermondsey Joyriders and The Phobics and The London Sewage Company playing what we all agreed was one of our most enjoyable shows so far. The evening was also notable for the appearance of my old friend Leeson O'Keeffe, who I first met back in the mid-1980s when he was playing in The Shout and I was in The Price. These days he leads 'psycho-ceilidh' band Neck, who I did a stint with 10 or so years ago. During the course of our conversation I found myself taking possession of several CDs and a large number of song sheets - yes, I'm back in Neck for a couple of shows on or around St. Patrick's Day... and in the interests of over-committing myself I'm hoping to team up with some of my old Chicago Blues Brothers buddies (the ones that I still talk to!) for a wedding gig next month; there are also Clash songs to learn for a very special show at Koko in a few weeks time, and rumours abound of The Price making a return to show business - it looks as though I'm in for a busy few weeks. 

Hopefully in the midst of all this mayhem there will still be time for some shows with Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks. Last weekend's gigs in Hillingdon at The Brushwood Inn and at Sally B's in Hoddesdon were both excellent - the Saturday night show in Hillingdon saw my Dad attend his first Buicks gig, and it being his 83rd birthday he was definitely seen as something of a celebrity by the band if not by quite a few of the audience. And continuing the birthday theme the next afternoon's gig had Al's Mum celebrating her 87th birthday; Al often says something along the lines of 'the old lady you see dancing down the front here isn't some sort of nutter, she's my Mum' - and he's right, the old lady you see dancing down the front is his Mum. I hope I'm that fit at her age. Actually I hope I make it to her or indeed my dad's age!

Anyway with lots of songs to learn there is unlikely to be too much blogging time over the next few weeks; I'm not out playing this weekend, but given the amount of work I've got to get through at home this for once might not be a bad thing... still I'll be making my first appearance of the year reviewing new music on Music Scene Investigation this coming Sunday evening, so if you're lurking in Cyberspace at 9 pm I'll see you then. In the meantime it's just gone (gulp!) 6 o'clock in the morning and as I say, after what feels like a relatively quiet time I've got work to do. What's that old saying? No rest for the wicked? I didn't think that I was that bad...

North East Calling

I have just - just! - returned from the first three shows of the twelve that Ruts D.C. will be playing in the month of November, and I'm pleased to say that barring the odd technical hitch they all went very well. Heavy traffic (and indeed heavy rain) meant that we were an hour late arriving at The Wardrobe in Leeds for the first show on Thursday but our new driver / backline man Jon got us all there in one piece - after an excellent support set from The Expelaires (who reminded your humble narrator of early U2, which is never a bad thing in my book) we took to the stage at 9.15 for a splendid 75 minute set with sound man Bob getting everything sounding pretty near perfect. After the show Rhiannon does a roaring trade on the merchandise and we chat many-an audience member, all of whom seemed to enjoy the show which is always good news. And it was great to see Phil from Bug with his wife Annette and my old mate and fellow Chicago Blues Brothers escapee Matt too. From there it was back to the hotel for a drink (ok then, quite a few drinks!) before bringing a long day to a close.

The next morning we breakfasted amid stories of cannibalism on the television news (Dave - 'if you were going to eat someone you wouldn't start with their face would you?') we all agreed that it had been a great gig to start the tour with. With the rain continuing to fall we left for Newcastle not long after checking out at midday, arriving at The Cluny a little after 2pm. I'd not been there before although it's a very well-established venue which has been putting on live music for many years - we'd not been there long before Martin McAloon appears to say hello to Segs and Dave, he's the former bass player in Prefab Sprout, brother of Sprout singer / songwriter Paddy McAloon and an old friend of them both. After setting up and soundchecking there time for me to help Segs solder a couple of leads in one of his bass guitars before we have a meal in the venue bar then head off to The Vermont Hotel to check in and have an hour-and-a-bit off before returning to The Cluny just in time to catch the guitar / vocals / backing tracks duo The Symptoms. Perhaps inevitably they bring Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine to mind, which can't be bad can it? Our sound isn't quite as good as the previous night, with a couple of monitor problems and a microphone failure but none of this bothers the audience, most of whom go crazy from the word go. Once again there's time to speak to some of the crowd afterwards before retiring to our hotel for, you've guessed it, a drink or two. And why not?

Saturday morning's weather was a distinct improvement on the previous couple of days, and with only a relatively short drive in prospect there's a chance to spend a couple of hours in Newcastle before leaving for the next hotel. This can only mean one thing - a visit to Guitar Guitar is in order. Within no time myself and Bob were ensconced in one of the demonstration booths there with a Vox AC30 - I'd wanted to try one for a while as I'd heard great things about the latest model, and I must say that it sounded absolutely tremendous. I've also been told that the AC15 is worth a listen so I'm hoping to find one or those at either the Edinburgh or Glasgow shops this weekend. We also auditioned an Electro Harmonix B9 organ simulator pedal which sounded frankly astonishing - there go the wages I fear... from there it was the afore-mentioned drive up to Stockton-on-Tees where we're returning to The Georgian Theatre around a-year-and-a-half on from our first visit. Steve and Martin of Big Figure Promotions were very helpful, support bands The Iron Hearts and The Filth both played well and we gave a good show despite more microphone problems - in Bob's words, 'I took 'em all of the shelf in the warehouse, and that's where they're going back to!' 

Today it's been the long drive home, and I don't mind admitting that I'm feeling very tired now. Still there are four shows in Scotland on the horizon - now that's something to really look forward to! Mind you, that'll be an even longer drive home...

'Time is a train, makes the future the past...'

'Oi you know 'oo you look like? Vat bloke, oh wattsis name... ver bloke in "Bottom", not ver dead one, ve uvver one...'

The two young ladies that have just sat opposite me are cheery enough but they are a bit, shall we say, rough around the edges. It had clearly been a good Friday night. 'You might want to move' said the taller of the two, smiling as she produced a bottle of vodka, some lime cordial and two cardboard Costa coffee cups. No, no, I'm fine where I am thank you. In fact, I'm rather looking forward to the rest of my journey.
We're on a train travelling from Liverpool Street to Southend. I'm on my way to meet Austin who I'm playing a gig with that evening and up until this point I've only had the latest edition of 'Vive Le Rock' magazine for company. They - well, they're going wherever the action takes them.

'Wassat? Vat fing in the seat next to ya? Are you a musician? I bet you're a right show off aintcha?'

At this point I should say that despite the shorter girl operating at a volume that probably ensured that everybody else in the train could hear her, I was having trouble working out what she was saying. Hay fever has given me bunged up sinuses and ears full of wax, a situation that had conspired against me the previous evening when The Upper Cut had played a short notice gig at The Admiral Nelson in Twickenham. I didn't particularly enjoy the show - nothing to do with the band, it's just that I had real problems hearing what was going on and so missed a few cues. I also couldn't gauge how loud I was playing - from what I'm told I was a bit too loud at the start, too quiet in the middle and more-or-less at the right volume by the end - and it was hard to pitch my vocals. Still people were dancing and everyone that I spoke to after the show said that it had been a good gig so I guess we must have been doing something right. Sadly my ears hadn't improved the next day (they're still bad as I type this, perhaps I'll get some Otex tomorrow) which meant a potentially fraught Saturday night gig in prospect, depping with The Essex Blues Brothers at a 40th birthday party in Maldon. Having spent a fair few years playing in The Chicago Blues Brothers band I was reasonably familiar with the material, but whereas that was generally a full band here the drums, bass and keyboards were on backing tracks with the guitar, horns and vocals being performed live. Austin had sent me the tracks to practice with (I worked with him in his duo Liquid a few years ago, and both he and his fellow Blues Brother Chris both depped with the CBBs) which were a great help, to such an extent that I dread to think what sort of a mess I would have been in if I hadn't heard them first. That said I don't mind admitting that it all gave me the rather odd feeling that I was going back in time. Sort of. A bit. Maybe.
I'd not met Graham (trumpet) or Anita (saxophone) before but they were both very friendly and helpful, going through the music to answer any enquiries that I had, and I hadn't seen Chris (a.k.a. C.J.) for ages so it was good to catch up with him. The gig was in a marquee in a field - we got there to be told that they'd just finished building the stage (!) and that they were ready for us to set up. I was using a Pod rather than an amplifier and so was concerned that I wouldn't be able to hear what I was playing (and given my current plight, whether I would be able to hear anything at all) but by the time we'd run through a couple of songs it all sounded pretty good, even to me. With guests already arriving we retired to our dressing room / portacabin to get changed and to plan the evening - there's a hog roast at 8.15 (there's no vegetarian option so it's a bread roll and some coleslaw for me!) followed by our first set from 9.15 - 10 o'clock and our second from 11 until midnight. I was feeling a bit rough (having hay fever in the middle of a bloody great load of grass is definitely not to be recommended!) so I cowered in Austin's van until showtime, and barring the odd mad moment on guitar our two sets went very well, although how we managed to wind up ending the evening with 'Weather With You' is frankly a bit beyond me. Mind you, it had been that kind of day...  

Ade Edmondson,
earlier today.

Back on the train, the shorter of the two girls won't stop talking. To me.
'You do look like 'im, you really do... so wot sorta music d'you play? We're from Stevenage, it's my birfday, firty five, we're going to Sarfend, d'you know it? 'Ere if 'ee's a musician, 'ee might know where we can get some gear from - 'ere d'you know where we can get some gear from? We done all ours last night...'
No I didn't know where they could get some gear for the weekend, which was a bit of a shame as I was beginning to feel like taking some myself. That said they've now forgotten about me and started on the young lad across the aisle from us, telling him he's got eyes 'like marbles' and that he must 'drive the birds mad' - at which point a burly chap in high-visibility clothing walked through to use the toilet at the end of our carriage. They like him. They like him a lot. He seems to like them too. There are smiles all round, including from me. They're alright really, just out for a good time - and what could be wrong with that? Oh hang on, they've spotted me again...
'You oright vere? Wot? You talk quiet dontcha? Oh yeah you carn't 'ear can ya? Wot you reading? Never 'eard ov it, what's it abaht?'
Well I still couldn't hear her too well but I could certainly hear the shouting and crashing coming from behind the toilet door. 'I'm farking locked in!' roared Mr. Hi-Viz from within, 'I can't farking git aht!' Before anyone else could move the two girls had leapt into action, attempting to open said door by shouting and swearing at it (let's face it, we've all tried that option in this sort of situation haven't we?!?) before kicking at it with all their collective might. 'Oi farking watch it!' bellowed Mr. Hi-Viz - 'we're only tryin' 'oo open it' shrieked the taller girl as a ticket inspector arrived with the words 'Sir? Sir, are you in there sir?'
'Course I'm in 'ere, I'm farking stuck!'
He quietly suggested how the door might be opened - something to do with using the handle correctly if I remember rightly - and a few seconds later Mr. Hi-Viz emerged triumphantly. His phone rang as the shorter girl offered to, shall we say, pleasure him if he could get them some gear for the weekend; meanwhile the inspector and myself smiled at each other as he asked to see my ticket, and normal service was resumed on the 14.35 service from London Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria. 

'Is that too loud? 'Cos I don't care!'

Well I may not be playing any gigs this week, but at least I've had chance to catch up on a few YouTube clips:-

After depping with them on Christmas Eve I've got another gig with The Atlantic Soul Machine next Saturday at Patrick's Bar in Crystal Palace. This is one of Pete Feenstra's venues - I haven't seen him for years so it'll be good to see him if he's there. Some of their material is tricky stuff as this clip demonstrates - still they've asked me to play with them again so I guess I must have done something right!
And with our new album 'Rhythm Collision Vol. 2' about to be released there are Ruts D.C. shows on the horizon - March sees shows in Newport, Bristol, Leeds, Stockton-on-Tees, Dundee and Liverpool along with an album launch party (oh yes!) in Birmingham; there are also appearances coming up at The Bearded Theory Festival in Derbyshire (I'm really looking forward to this one - apparently every year they attempt to break the World Record for the number of people wearing false beards in one place as this story shows; perhaps unsurprisingly every year they succeed!) and a return show at The Rebellion Festival in Blackpool, full details of which can be found on the band's website - in the meantime here's 'Staring At The Rude Boys' from last year's Rebellion Festival which seems to have just surfaced. Is that really me up there with a guitar in my hand? Yes, yes it is...
And it's really me in this footage of The Chicago Blues Brothers at Proms In The Park 2012 too. It's unedited so nothing much happens for the first three minutes or so, then you see us walk out as Tony Blackburn introduces us (yes, you read that bit correctly!) and we play our 25 minute set in front of approximately 50,000 people. That's around 2,000 people a minute! This turned out to be my last public performance with the band (I played a corporate show a few weeks later which if nothing else made me realise that my decision to leave the show was the correct one, sad though it was) and it really is extraordinary for me to see me and my mates all up there on that stage in front of all those people. I believe the show is now continuing with a new band - I don't know what it's like now, but it was pretty good then... 
And here is another clip that's well worth nine minutes of your time - it's Wilko Johnson (seen here demonstrating his guitar technique - very entertaining!) appearing on BBC Breakfast Television last week. I think it's an amazing, inspirational interview - have a look and see if you agree.

In God we trust

...which means that the final word written in these hallowed pages in 2012 was 'paracetamol'. And last year was a headache for many wasn't it? 

I know it may look like it,  but I don't just throw this stuff together you know! 

From the guitar-playing point of view for me it saw some amazing highs - Ruts D.C. gigs rarely if ever fell below very high expectations, it's always great to work with T.V. Smith and I really did play in front of an estimated 40,000 people at Proms In The Park. At the other end of the scale unless things change radically it's unlikely that I'll play for The Chicago Blues Brothers again. I won't go to deeply into the reasons why here (maybe another time!) but suffice to say that whilst I've had some terrific times with the show over the years I've found myself increasingly uncomfortable with the way that it's all been going lately. I should perhaps have finished with the Proms show (you've got to admit, that would have been a laugh!) but at least the gig that I played after that confirmed to me that I was right to be leaving. You could argue that anyone who walks away from paid employment these days has to be either either stupid or mad (and I could very easily be both here - mind you, who hasn't been?) but it got to the stage where I honestly couldn't be part of things anymore. It's a shame, but sadly nothing lasts forever. I'm going to have to get some more work from somewhere though - anybody need a guitarist?

In the meantime with no gigs of my own to play (maybe I have been a bit hasty in leaving The CBBs!) I've been out and about watching four shows in four days - 

Friday night it was off to London's glittering West End to see The Members supported by The Pukes at The Borderline. I received a call from my old mate Tom on Thursday asking (a) if I was going to the show and (b) if I knew anywhere that Chris the bass player could borrow an amplifier from. Apparently his got left behind in Bordeaux after a gig there - ooops! A quick call to Upper Cut bassman Terry and it's all arranged... the next morning Terry called to say that Chris had just been on the phone to say that he'd plugged Terry's amp in and there'd been a flash and the smell of burning. Oh dear! 
I met the afore-mentioned Tom in The Spice Of Life around 8 o'clock; from there it was down to The Royal George to meet Chris before arriving at the venue just in time to miss The Pukes. Bugger! Still I saw most of them making a cameo appearance during 'The Sound Of the Suburbs' which I'm told gave a fairly good idea of the general scheme of things - lots of punky ladies dancing around with a chap strumming a ukulele. Sounds great doesn't it? I believe the ladies play ukuleles too... and The Members were great if a little ramshackle here and there, not least when the Roland Cube combo that Chris had borrowed for the show went wrong. After the show he described his day as 'frazzle Friday' - it certainly wasn't his day was it?

Back to Tropic At Ruislip on Saturday to catch Stranglers tribute band Straighten Out. As I walked towards the venue the unmistakable sound of 'Peaches' could clearly be heard - am I late or have they started early? And are they really as loud as that? 
Well in the first case they had started at half past nine as they were playing a two hour set, and in the second they were obliged to turn down after an hour or so as the council had been called to the club after local residents complained. There's rarely mystery in life is there? I'd missed their first 30-odd minutes but what I did see was undeniably impressive - I've always thought that The Stranglers are one of the great bands of the punk era, and even though I'm not over familiar with their later material their first few albums certainly qualify as classics of the time not least because they established a very distinctive sound. Straighten Out certainly got close, and even managed a bit of Stranglers-style crowd baiting here and there, although I had to smile when the bass player did the 'you're all a bunch of soft Southerners' routine - I always think that roughly translates as 'we're a local band and we don't leave our area much' although I suppose I could be wrong... but my Stranglers-disciple mate Big Andy said they were good and I have to agree - and I found myself being reminded just how many great Stranglers songs there are, which I guess is the mark of a decent tribute band.

Sunday I found myself a couple of stops further along The Metropolitan Line when I went to Champers in Eastcote to see The Power Of Soul. No, I don't spend too much time in places with names like 'Champers' either... but I first saw the band around 25 years ago, and these days they're something of an institution locally. It was Gavin the bass player's birthday, and an enthusiastic audience saw a good show from the band with much good cheer directed at the man himself. The more cynical among me (!) might make the point that as their act has hardly changed in a quarter of a century they should be getting good at it by now, but that would be a little unfair... maybe... but let's face it, things always goes downhill when band members swap instruments. It might make them laugh but it never sounds as good as it should do does it? Stick to what you're good at, that's what I say! Then again they were working and I wasn't so perhaps I should keep my bigoted opinions to myself?!?

And then there was last night, New Year's Eve. It's often a disappointing affair isn't it? As such it's sometimes an odd evening to be gigging on, as the weight of expectation often sinks the whole thing. This year was a bit different though, as thanks to my good friend and Cane Toads guitarist Pete I went to The Woking Leisure Centre to see local lad made good Eric Clapton who does an annual show there in aid of The Guildford Sunday Group (which I believe to be the local branch of Alcoholics Anonymous.) It was an unusual gathering - I've never been to a gig where the audience are encouraged to bring their own food and drink before, the result of which was the feeling that you were at some sort of giant indoor picnic. Interesting! Bags were searched on the way in (presumably for alcoholic drinks, which are fairly obviously banned) and the burly security men and women asked everyone in no uncertain terms not to use cameras including the one on your mobile phone. I was told that there were people queuing as early as 5 pm to get a table, which when there got to it was festooned with party hats, bunting and those neon circle thingies that you can wear around your neck. As I say, an unusual gathering.

Yes, I had to look up the meaning
of the band's name too.

I rambled on about E.C. in these hallowed pages when I saw him at The Albert Hall last year - you can read it here if you like - but the man himself looked to be having a great time playing old rock 'n' roll songs, blues numbers and even starting the show with a song from his Auntie Sylvia. The presence of Steve Winwood seemed to keep him on his toes, and he played brilliantly - then again, he usually does. All good stuff, if a little 'million-dollar-pub-band' in places - and was I the only person that thought Andy Fairweather Low couldn't have chosen a less appropriate song than 'Gin House Blues' at an A.A. event? Mind you after Gary Brooker's comment of 'you all look like you could use a drink' had gone down like the proverbial lead balloon I suppose anything was possible - after all this is the only gig that I've been too where I've been stopped in the toilet and asked if it was my first time at this sort of event. My rather lame reply of 'no, I've been to lots of gigs' was met with a triumphant 'ah, but they're all full of drunks!' I think they call that a 'good point well made'... before the encore Clapton announced that this was to be the last of these shows that he'd be doing and even mentioned possible retirement - if he does decide to stop playing then the world of the electric guitar will be a very different place without him. 

So there we are - 2012 and all that. Let's see what happens next - Happy New Year y'all...

Satellite, Pretty Vacant, Did You No Wrong...

And now for something completely different - The Afton Satellites at The Half Moon in Putney on Wednesday evening. The venue has changed a bit since I was last there; always a great place to see a band, it's still pretty good but it's now brighter, more... touristy if you know what I mean. Then again it nearly closed a few years ago so it's great to see that it's still in business and putting live music on regularly. The Afton Satellites an interesting bunch - formed by ex-Hamsters bassman Andy Billups they feature Gary Fletcher from The Blues Band on guitar and bass, Tom Leary on fiddle, Ray Brown on vocals and Andy's nephew Matt Billups on percussion. They also have Chris Teeder on keyboards who played on the ill-fated Cool Britannia shows earlier this year and who deps with The Chicago Blues Brothers Band on a regular basis (he's playing with The Flying Squad in this clip - now you know what I was doing at the gig!) They reminded me of The Band both musically and because of the amount of instrument swapping going on - plenty of 'this one's from my solo album' moments made for a varied set, and with cover versions as varied (some might say bizarre) as 'What A Wonderful World' and 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick' it was definitely a good first gig for the band. And it was great to see Chris play - I've done many shows with him over the years but hearing him from the audience perspective reminds me that I'm very lucky to play in bands with musicians of his calibre. 

Talking of playing in bands The Upper Cut returned to The Crown and Treaty in Uxbridge on Friday evening for what for me at least was a rather strange show. The previous few days had seen me attempting to clear my right ear of a bout of earwax that had developed around the time of the Ruts D.C. show in York last weekend. Sadly my ear was still blocked throughout the show which made it difficult for me to hear exactly what was going on (obviously!) and which resulted in some rather peculiar guitar work and indeed backing vocals from your humble narrator. There was also the slightly odd situation created when Hughie the D.J. asked me for a setlist so that he wouldn't play anything that we were likely to perform - and he then played several of our songs, and even played 'Babylon's Burning' in the interval. Very strange. As I said to a couple of people after the show 'I just couldn't get hold of that one'. And I couldn't. Still it all went down well with the assembled multitude and we're back there next month (on Friday the 23rd since you've asked) so we must have done something right.

And last night saw the fifth annual Paul Fox tribute night (or 'The Paul Fox Social Club' as it's less formally known) which this year was held at The Ruislip Social Club (also the home of Tropic At Ruislip) in, you've guessed it, Ruislip. A highly enjoyable evening featured The Dirty Strangers, The DubCats, Scabies And James and The Moonstompers and raised a substantial sum for The Michael Sobell Hospice at Mount Vernon Hospital. I must admit that I'd feared that I might get a bit of stick from the Fox fans but the only real incident occurred when I was introduced to a ridiculous hippie who said something like 'so you think you can fill Foxy's shoes then do you?' No, actually I don't, and that's not what I'm trying to do, but I don't think that there's much point in trying to explain that here... still it was good to see The Dirty Strangers again (I don't remember when I last saw them, but it wasn't this century!) but somewhat inevitably the highlight for me was a blistering performance from Scabies and James - Texas Terri great on vocals, Austin rock solid on bass, Rat Scabies as astonishing as ever on drums and Brian James re-affirming his place as one of the definitive punk guitarists - which didn't go down too well with some of the attendees, many of whom seemed shocked and even horrified by the band. It seems that even 30-odd years later punk rock can still offend the hippies. Good!

No gigs for your humble narrator this week. Bad!

Twin towers

Well it's been a busy few days for your humble narrator in mad-guitar-land, but first things first - I was saddened to hear of the death of Andy Williams. His brilliance as a singer is surely beyond dispute - indeed the word 'singer' hardly does him justice - but I remember him from 'The Andy Williams Show' when I was a lad, with The Cookie Bear and him shouting 'NOT NOW, NOT EVER, NEVER!' when the bear asked him for milk and cookies each show. It was funnier than it looks written here, honest! And talking of funny, Herbert Lom died last week - his extraordinary portrayal of Inspector Dreyfus in the 'Pink Panther' films was one of the funniest things that I'd ever seen when I first saw it way back when.

Time for another reunion, and this time a unexpected one. Back in the mid-1980s I did quite a few shows with Pete Turner, then the owner of local musical instrument emporium Thames Valley Guitars, as part of an acoustic guitar duo called The Blue Five. Pete was a bit older than me (he still is!) and liked some very different music to the racket that I usually listened to; one day we were in the shop talking when for no apparent reason Pete handed me an acoustic guitar and began playing some chords on another and I, more by luck than judgement, joined in. We played for several minutes before a customer came in and we obviously had to stop so that Pete could serve them (!) Both of us liked what we heard, and this led to us getting together at his house one afternoon - that same evening we made our way down to The Load Of Hay which at that time was home to Uxbridge Folk Club. If I remember correctly we played one of Pete's compositions called 'Jackie's Tune' and the old classic 'Basin Street Blues' - this began a somewhat unlikely musical alliance that sporadically continues to this day. (Here is a clip of us playing at the L of H back in 2010 - our first gig this century!) He was up in Uxbridge on Thursday morning, and it was great to meet up for some coffee and some 'do you remember when...' moments, not least when we walked around town trying to remember what shops used to be where and what that pub used to be called. Great stuff. Pete mostly plays percussion these days, notably with Silvia Nicolatto and The Anglo-Cornish Project which from what he says seems to be going well. 

It's always good to be gigging with T.V. Smith and Friday's show was no exception, being part of his annual Earthbound gigs which T.V. plays for 'T.V.'s United Tour Supporters', also known as The TUTS. I was lucky enough to be asked to play at the 2010 shows up in Yorkshire, last year's took place in Germany and my show with him this year was in the splendid surroundings of Carshalton Water Tower.
I stumbled out of Carshalton Train Station around quarter to five in the afternoon. After a few minutes attempting to find a friendly passer-by (there wasn't one!) I decided against my better judgement to use my phone to find the venue. I found the postcode on the website - so then, left out of the station, left again then left into West Street... as I walked around the block wondered if I could have just turned right out of the station? As I passed the footpath to the station (bah!) I heard someone call my name - it was Shaun, who told me that the venue was further up the road but that The Hope was only a couple of hundred yards away... there we met up with Tony a.k.a. Fleagle the promoter (well, he organised the weekend's shows!) and various TUTS - T.V. was playing in a marquee in the garden the following evening, and it was obvious why the pub has just been named by CAMRA as one of the best pubs of 2012, it's really friendly and just 'right' if you know what I mean.
After a couple of drinks (only a couple, honest!) Shaun showed me around the Carshalton Ponds (very interesting) before making our way to the Water Tower - as we arrived T.V. was setting up his merchandise and the scene was set for a fine evening. Also on the bill were The Dirty Spoons who theoretically were supporting but were going on after us so that everyone who had travelled over by train (like me!) would be able to get home before the last train went.
After a quick soundcheck we agree to go on at 7.45. Our 26 song set takes in material from all of T.V.'s career, from The Adverts to the present day - I've gushed in these hallowed pages on quite a few occasions about how I feel about playing his songs, so this time I'll just say that every one was a reminder to me that he's simply one of the very best songwriters of them all. (See for yourself, as here we are playing 'Good Times Are Back' - excellent!) And I really enjoyed The Dirty Spoons too - a line up of banjo, mandolin, violin, bass guitar and washboard put on a fine show, and even included a version of T.V.'s 'The Lion And The Lamb'.  

Saturday evening saw The Upper Cut return to The Kings Arms in Harefield, and with my (previously) trusty Blues Deluxe combo still in the menders it was another job for the Blues Deville. Last time I played at the venue was back in July with Big Al Reed and the Cardiac Arrests, when Al's amp (a very expensive Egnater combo) went wrong; this time I thought I heard a few crackles here and there from mine but decided that it was just me getting paranoid... the band were a bit loose to begin with and took a few numbers to get going but by the time we started our second set we had a very active dancefloor, including a rather intoxicated young Irish lady who kept trying to talk to us during the songs. I always find it a bit weird when this happens - don't they realise where all that noise is coming from?

I don't mind admitting that I felt a bit bleary on Sunday morning - it's been a while since I did two late gigs in a row along with a Saturday in Balcony Shirts. Still no time to worry about that, as it's off to The Feathers in Chalfont St. Giles for an afternoon gig with Big Al Reed. When we arrived the pub was all but deserted, and we were told that there'd been 'a bit of trouble'... details were sketchy to say the least, but we decided to delay starting in the hope that a few people would arrive, and to play mainly without backing tracks (i.e. just on two guitars) in the hope that it might suit a 'quieter' venue than we're used to. All in all things went very well, with Ekkie joining in on sax here and there, the unsuspecting Pete from The Cane Toads being pressganged into joining in on a few songs, and even a few people in the audience by the end...

And last night saw that rarest of things -  a short notice Chicago Blues Brothers show. (Come to think of it CBB shows of any type have been pretty rare this year, but maybe we'll talk about that another day...) This one took place at The Guoman Tower Hotel which I last visited back in October 2008 (sometimes this blog comes in really handy, I'd never have remembered that otherwise!) and featured Pete and Matt in the hats and glasses, Dave and Richard on trumpet and saxophone, Squirrel on bass, Steve on drums, Tracy on vocals and, for the first time in quite a while, Roger on keyboards. Overall it was a pretty standard corporate show - it ran late meaning an appointment with the last train home (we - myself and the afore-mentioned Pete from The Cane toads who had come along to check the show out as he's doing some depping for me this Autumn - only just made it!) and I'm convinced that everyone there had forgotten that we'd played a minute or so after we'd finished our last song. Oh well, I guess every show can't be a T.V. Smith show, or indeed a Ruts D.C. show - we're in Birmingham this weekend, which should be a good one...

Parklife

These two photographs show the stages that The Chicago Blues Brothers played on this weekend. The smaller indoor one was the scene of our performance at The Pheasantry in Chelsea, while the outdoor one is in London's Hyde Park and is considerably bigger, although as it turned out we probably had about the same amount of room at both shows... 

Friday evening saw our first show at The Pizza Express on The King's Road. We'd been told that we could get into the basement venue at 4pm but there was a meeting there until 5 o'clock so I dropped my stuff off and walked back to The Saatchi Gallery. Many years ago I went through a period of visiting art galleries on a fairly regular basis (I think I thought it would do me good!?!) and I enjoyed my time here, although just under an hour was long enough for me, if you know what I mean. (Yes, I know, I sound like a complete heathen. Maybe I am!)
Back at the venue the troops were amassing - Matt and Mike as Jake and Elwood, Squirrel on bass, Chris depping for Ian on keyboards, Steve depping for Marc on drums, Richard on tenor saxophone with Ian joining on baritone saxophone, Steve depping for Dave on trumpet and Tracy on vocals. Considering how little we've been together lately (these shows doubled the number for 2012!) it all went very well; we've played at The Pizza Express in Maidstone on quite a few occasions (that's where this year's other shows have been) which is normally good fun, and this one certainly was too although I for one was interested to see that the often-held theory about London audiences being reserved compared to other parts of the country being for want of a better word, 'proven'. Whereas the Maidstone audience is often up on their feet dancing Friday's crowd sat and watched throughout - they joined in here and there and certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves, but you felt as though you were more 'on show' than at the other venue. Well, I certainly did anyway. Still I hopefully don't sound too cynical (ooh imagine that!) when I say that it was a good warm-up for the next day's show.

It's official - I'm an artist. At last!

When we were first told that we were going to be playing at The Proms In The Park I must say that found the whole thing to be 'amusing' in both senses of the word i.e. it made me smile and it was also an extremely unlikely (on the surface at least) place for the band to find themselves at. Actually it all makes a bit more sense when you see that the first part of the day featured theatre and tribute shows (Bjorn Again, the cast of 'Let It Be' etc) which we fairly obviously fitted into, while the latter part of the evening featured Kylie Minogue, Alfie Boe and Il Divo among others. This was pretty much a separate event to our bit and I was very much looking forward to seeing these acts (I'm not likely to see any of them anywhere else!) although as we'll discover things didn't quite go according to plan...
When I arrived around 12.30pm it was already getting very hot. It's often strange to see venues with no people in them, and Hyde Park (or to be more accurate, the part of the park where the shows are held) was no exception. As I walked towards the stage I became aware of the size of the area that we were going to be playing to - it was big. Very big. I've seen The Who here among others. Some bands play places like this all the time. The lucky buggers.

Our gear set up stage right.

Although the stage was the biggest one that I've ever played on (so far - let's be optimistic eh?) we actually only occupied a small part of it; as you look at the picture at the start of this posting we were on the far left hand end. This often happens at events such as these where several acts are set up on the stage at the same time, making for very quick changeovers between shows. We only had a short time to soundcheck, but with the mighty Ian Bond making a welcome reappearance behind the mixing desk things were sounding great in no time. The gates opened at half past two, and by the time Tony Blackburn (oh yes!) introduced us at exactly 5.15 (a good Who-approved time don't you think?) there were an estimated 40,000 people there to witness our 25 minute performance. And what they saw was, even though I say so myself, an absolutely excellent show from band and singers alike, with everybody rising to the occasion and a fine reaction from the audience. And then, suddenly, it was all over. We'd bearly finished 'Gimme Some Loving' before the afore-mentioned Mr. Blackburn had introduced The Gypsy Queens and we were taking our gear offstage. All the band seemed pleased with how it had went - there had definitely been some pre-match nerves floating around although you'd never have known from the performance. And me? I could have played all night!

The view from the stage
 at the start of our set.

Some of the band were off to play other gigs whereas the rest of us were looking forward to seeing the rest of the evening's proceedings. I walked out front to watch Bjorn Again - I was never the biggest Abba fan but was interested to see and hear them as they're one of the most successful tribute acts in the World. I was just attempting to use my phone to take a picture of them to put on this here blog when it rang - it was Big Al Reed. Was I busy? He was gigging in Amersham and Chris the keyboard player hadn't turned up, and he was of the opinion that it'd sound great with me and Bob his 'other' guitarist.

I thought about it for a minute. If I got myself into gear I could be there in an hour or so on the train, or I could stay and watch the rest of the evening's entertainment. So - what do you think I did?

Well it's obvious really isn't it? Three hours after playing to 40,000 people in Hyde Park I was playing to around 1/1000th of that number at a birthday party in a garden in Buckinghamshire with Al and Bob. Strange but true. Oh well - hopefully I'll see Kylie another time.

'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?

'Have you seen who we're on with?!?'

Well I may not have too many gigs at the moment, but at least there's something for The Chicago Blues Brothers to look forward to in September - let's hope this one doesn't get cancelled...

Excellent!