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Well.
This is getting ridiculous.
Blame Facebook. Well, that's what I'm blaming anyway. After all, it can't possibly be my fault can it?
In the good old days - 'old' days are always 'good' aren't they? - if I'd wanted to bang on about myself in Cyberspace I would have to find a computer (usually in a house, maybe even the one that I lived in) before logging onto this here blog and spending ages humming and harring, writing and rewriting, editing and re-editing... whereas now it just takes a few seconds on a mobile phone or laptop and my self-centred ramblings are there for all to see. Progress? Maybe. Of a sort.
When I last found my way onto these hallowed pages Ruts D.C. were about to embark on their '40 Years Of The Crack' Tour. That was three months - a quarter of a year - ago. It all went wonderfully well as I regularly reported on my Facebook page (see what I mean!) and we're currently gigging sporadically over the next couple of months including Camden Rocks tomorrow, The Rebellion Festival in August and more - full details can as always be found on, you've guessed it, the band's Facebook page. We're also putting together some new songs which will hopefully form the basis of a new album to be released next year, and planning several other outings before 2019 is over. Exciting times!
I've also been gigging with the excellent Punky Reggae Party (I bet you can guess they do, and indeed where this link takes you) as well as starting a new band with some old friends playing new wave covers - we're called The Slogans, there's no Facebook page yet (or if there is then I haven't seen it!) but you can bet your trousers that there will be...
And I'm pleased to say that I'm about go on tour with Alvin Gibbs And The Disobedient Servants. I was very pleased to be asked to play on two tracks on the U.K. Subs's bassman's debut solo album 'Your Disobedient Servant' which came out earlier this year to rave reviews, and I'm even more excited to be asked to play in the live band, which also features the Subs's drummer Jamie Oliver (yes, that really is his name!) and Godfathers guitar slinger Steve Crittall (he's not on all the gigs on this tour sadly but hopefully will be more involved long term) along with various other guest guitarists (all of whom play on the album) at some of the shows along the way. I will no doubt be reporting as often as I can on you-know-where, and if I've got any sense I'll keep some sort of tour diary which I'll write up here in due course. Just like I used to do in the good old days eh?
Let's hope so.
As the '40 Years Of The Crack' tour gets ever nearer Ruts D.C. have been rehearsing. And rehearsing. And rehearsing. Well - failure is not an option; this can't be good, it has to be great, and it can't be great, it has to be brilliant... without wishing to sound too complacent, it's all going well although there's still a lot of work to do. But do it we will!
After one such rehearsal Dave, Segs and myself found ourselves in the hallowed confines of The Little Crown in Deptford drinking Guinness (which is excellent there, and well worth trying if you find yourself in the area!) and signing posters (like you do - well, like we do these days, there's a tour coming up you know!) when Sinead the barmaid (first name terms and everything!) asked if we'd play a show there one day. Well said Dave, we could maybe do an acoustic show - at which point someone (me!) suggested that we play there to mark the 40th anniversary of the first Ruts single 'In A Rut'. We could invite some friends, stream it live on the band's Facebook page, it'd be great... and so at 7 pm on Friday 11th January 2019 we did indeed play an acoustic show at The Little Crown in Deptford to mark the 40th anniversary of the release of 'In A Rut'. We invited some friends (including Ali McMordie of Stiff Little Fingers and MC Spee from Dreadzone - celebrity mates ahoy!) streamed it live on Facebook and it was great. I'd tell you more but details are necessarily sketchy.. well, remember how I good I said that their Guinness is...
Besides rehearsing and drinking I managed to get along to a couple of shows from this year's Resolution Festival at The 100 Club - The Vibrators give a boisterous performance while The U.K. Subs played their first album 'Another Kind Of Blues' to the riotous approval of all concerned. And I've played my first gig of the year last night with Punky Reggae Party, at The Bread And Roses in Clapham where the heat inside contrasted with the cold outside and a fine time was had by all. I'm at The Cavern in Raynes Park with them on Saturday 2nd February, after which all roads lead to the Ruts D.C. tour, if they don't already. Not a bad start to the year then.
And in case you missed it, you can see the Deptford performance from soundcheck to gig and beyond here. Enjoy!
So. 2018 then. Not a bad year?
No, not a bad year. Well, I didn't think that it was.
Then again considering that it began for me with my Dad catching The Flu then developing pneumonia I suppose I was rather hoping for it to improve... within a couple of weeks of that (and with him thankfully at home recovering) Ruts D.C. were gigging in Japan and Hong Kong then touring Australia and New Zealand before embarking on a British tour supporting Stiff Little Fingers. If that was all we'd done I'd be saying that it had been a good year, but we went on to play many more memorable shows - The Rebellion Festival in Blackpool is always a highlight, but the Rebellion Amsterdam weekend was wonderful; we also made our first visit to Denmark, played a tattoo festival in France, gigged on a boat up and down the River Spree in Berlin and more including a visit to Abbey Road Studios - little if any of which got reported here. It's all been on my Facebook page - which is a somewhat woolly excuse for this being only the twelfth blog posting of the year. There was a time when used to do that in a month. But I guess times change... maybe there'll be more here next year?
Talking of 2019, I'm hoping to play some more shows with Punky Reggae Party. Having first gigged with them back in the summer (an incident that incredibly is reported somewhere in these hallowed pages!) I've since played a couple more gigs with them including a fine show at The Cavern in Raynes Park just before Christmas - hopefully they will be many more to come, the first of which is at The Bread And Roses in Clapham on Saturday 19th January. I'm also putting another band together with some old friends, but more news on that as and when I have it. And Ruts D.C. are heading out on the '40 Years Of The Crack' tour in February, with (hopefully) more to come after that.
So hopefully 2019 will be a good year for me and my guitar - and I hope it is for you too.
Forwards!
