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...

Euroman cometh home

Well, we did it. Nine gigs in nine days (with nein days off!) organised for us by The Muttis Booking Agency in Germany, Poland and Austria followed by a show with The Cockney Rejects at The Dogtown Streetpunk Weekend Festival in Oslo on Saturday. Highlights were many and varied, and since I wrote (well, scribbled some semi-readable notes as we were going over various bumpy roads) what feels like thousands of words while we were on our travels the full story will hopefully appear in these hallowed pages at some point in the not-too-distant-future. In the meantime Dave and Segs posted daily diary entries on the band's website and Facebook page, and I even managed to put a few bits and pieces on my Facebook page too. It really was a great tour - many thanks to Mutti and Katya for their never-ending help, to Vom who put us up after our Dusseldorf gig (we spent much of the night in his subterranean bar!) and to The Tips who played at the afore-mentioned Dusseldorf show (we did 4 shows with them last year, and it was great to catch up with them again) and who very kindly gave me a copy of their excellent new album 'Trippin'' and the t-shirt that I'm wearing as I type this. Great stuff all round.

Now it's back to Blighty and back to basics, with an Upper Cut gig at The Dolphin in Uxbridge on Friday, while Ruts D.C. play POLYFEST II at The Half Moon in Putney on Sunday. In between those two it's the 7th annual Paul Fox Social Club night at Wealdstone Football Club on Saturday night, and on Wednesday I'm hoping to be at The 12 Bar Club for The Fallen Leaves - as I say, it's back to Blighty and back to basics... but before I go here is a clip of Ruts D.C. in Torun a week ago - enjoy!

Happy talk

Have you ever found that it's possible to look forward to something so much that it's all but inevitable that it's a disappointment when it actually happens? I know that I have... last night at The Forum in Kentish Town had all the makings of just such an occasion - but, thankfully it was no such thing. Captain Sensible's 60th Birthday Party was all that it promised to be and more. Everybody on the bill played a great show - T.V. Smith appeared with Vom on drums for the first time in The U.K. ('TVOM'!) and gave a typically energetic performance to begin the evening; the only annoyance from my point was that when I spoke to them both afterwards they said that if they'd been able to find me before the show then they'd have asked me to join them for a few numbers. Bah! (I of course was in The Assembly House mourning the loss of The Bull and Gate... mind you, have neither of them ever heard of mobile phones?!?) Next up was Johnny Moped, who I first saw supporting The Damned at The Marquee sometime last century - he was bonkers then and he's bonkers now, with 'Panic Button' remaining a neglected classic of the genre. Maybe one day I'll work out what genre it's part of... with the venue getting fuller and fuller (surely there was more people in than there should have been?) Ed Tudor-Pole went down a storm, although you could feel the anticipation for the main attraction building throughout his set. By the time The Damned appeared everybody was in party mood, and The Captain and co. rose to the occasion to give a mighty performance which ended with balloons and silly string everywhere. It couldn't really have ended any other way. All that remained was for Ruts D.C. to close the evening - we battled against collapsing microphone stands and what was probably the worst onstage sound that I've ever experienced (someone said that the monitor engineer was eating his dinner during our show - I don't think that they were joking...) to give what we thought was a below-par show but which everyone that any of us spoke to assured us was fine out front. That's a lot better than us thinking that it was great but that it actually wasn't don't you think? Afterwards there was time for a drink in the upstairs bar where Gaye Advert introduced me to her sister Wendy, I saw Sarah Pink for the first time in a while and Eugene from Vive Le Rock magazine kept asking me when we're going to play some new songs. They're on their way Eugene, they're on their way... and probably strangest of all, Captain Sensible asked me to sign his birthday book. Why is that strange? Well because I never thought that someone like him would ever ask me to do something like that for them. I'm supposed to ask them for autographs, not the other way round! A great night from start to finish. Happy Birthday Captain - here's to many more.

Acoustic alchemy

So how did last week's tube strike effect you? Speaking personally it made me feel quite nauseous - well that's not strictly true, as what actually made me feel nauseous was the amount of television time devoted to the ever-odious Boris Johnson as he attempted to get his photo taken with anybody unfortunate enough to be next to him in a train carriage, all the while banging on about how naughty and horrid those nasty unions are. What a twerp. And then there was all that stuff about Bob Crow being on holiday the week before the strike. The Royal Family are permanently on holiday aren't they - at least they are when they're not out huntin' shootin' and fishin'. Why was nobody having a go at them? Oooo don't get me started...

The downside of the tube strike from my point of view is that I didn't get to a Ruts D.C. rehearsal in Deptford on Thursday, a shame not least because we were due to look at material for both the German gigs at the weekend and the acoustic show on Monday. I also was obliged to leave early from Jamm in Brixton on Tuesday evening where work was continuing on various Ruts and Ruts D.C. recordings, although at least Segs, Dave and myself did get chance to have a short acoustic rehearsal while we were there, which was just as well as this turned out to be our last chance before the shows. I therefore spent much of Thursday running through the songs at home - as I sat playing along with 'The Crack' it struck me that I had learned to play by doing just that (and indeed by playing along with many other records) all those years ago. A very strange thought, although not as strange as some of the thoughts running through my head at 4.30am the next day as I struggled to get myself up in time to catch my cab to Heathrow Airport...
After checking in at Terminal 1 Dave (drums) Segs (bass) Molara (vocals) Nick (sound man) and myself adjourned to The Giraffe Cafe (with Dave triumphantly announcing 'I'll stick my neck out' as we decided to eat there. Ouch!) for breakfast before we headed to Gate 5 for our flight to Dusseldorf, which was reasonably uneventful (good!) until the rather bumpy landing (bad!) We then met up with tour manager Mutti and Freider our driver (that's how I'm going to spell his name - that's certainly how it's pronounced and I can't find anything on the Internet to help me. I knew I should have asked him!) to make our way to The Getaway Club in Solingen where we're headlining The OxFest celebrating 25 years of Ox fanzine. However first we have a planned detour to see Die Toten Hosen drummer Vom at his house where we've been invited for 'tea and biscuits'. Rock 'n' Roll eh? Vom features heavily on many T.V. Smith recordings and I saw him playing many years ago in Doctor And The Medics; he turned out to be a very nice chap who in addition to providing the afore-mentioned refreshments also showed us around his house including the very impressive downstairs bar which we were told was the scene of many misadventures. Somehow we managed to leave before anything too untoward happened.
We arrived at The Getaway mid-afternoon (where there was probably the biggest dog that I have ever seen. Molara's comment that she could 'ride it onto the stage' tells you all that you need to know!) to find everything set up and ready for soundchecking, which was straightforward enough although somewhat enlivened by the presence of a local television crew and a presenter decked out in what I was told (by him) was a traditional hunting outfit. Strange but true. He attempted to interview Dave while he was soundchecking the drums, although Dave was more interested in trying the interviewer's hat on... from there it was off to check in at the nearby Kempe Hotel where I'm sharing room 216 with Nick - we turn the television on to find the footage from the venue already being aired! 

(And here is that footage - that's Nick behind the sound desk, and you can hear Dave and myself soundchecking in the background. Sadly they didn't use the interview with Dave!) 

We returned to the venue around 6.30 for some food (all vegetarian and / or vegan, all excellent) and to check stage times - we're due on at 11.20 so with plenty of time to spare we return to the hotel before Dave, Segs, Nick and myself find ourselves in The Agora Lounge a few doors down form the hotel. After a couple of drinks it's back to the venue where there's a good-sized crowd in attendance and The Generators about to take to the stage. They're all big Ruts fans (good boys!) and have their pictures taken with Dave and Segs before going on to play an excellently energetic show. Our show is a rowdy affair, there are people calling out for songs from the word go (most if not all of which we play) and by the end of our set the place is going crazy. We encore with 'Society' and 'In A Rut' - Segs invites The Generators to join us on stage and Manny the bass player takes up the challenge and indeed Segs's' bass guitar, riffing with relish during my solo. After the show we find ourselves in the upstairs bar where we see Frank and co. who we first met at our Berlin show back in September and who were also at the Bremen show that's currently being prepared for live album release; I also see Faf from The Tips who supported us on last year's German shows and who gave me a (very good) promotional CD of three tracks from their latest album 'Trippin''. Drinks are drunk, stories are told and we make it back to our hotel for around 3am. A splendid evening.

The next morning I make it down for breakfast by 10am, although I'm not sure how. By midday we've left for the evening's show in Stuttgart (pausing only to say goodbye to The Generators who were also staying at our hotel) and I'm asleep again within 15 minutes of us setting off. No surprise there then... we wind our way to Stuttgart (pausing only for an impressive amount of food at a motorway service station) eventually arriving there just as it's getting dark. We check in at The Astoria Hotel (there are some very mixed reviews on the lik - see what you think!) before going to Goldmark's to set up and soundcheck. The club was named after Peter Carl Goldmark, who among his many achievements invented the long-playing record. Top man! Also on the bill are Sumpfpaepste (don't ask me how to say it!) who are soundchecking as we leave to go back to our hotel to pick up some bits and pieces - as we walk towards the van a rat runs out across our path. Oo-er!
When we arrive back at Goldmark's Sumpfpaepste are on stage and the place is packed with people still arriving. The scene is set for a great gig and I'm pleased to say that is exactly what transpires, although speaking personally I wasn't happy with my performance. You get nights where everything goes right and you get nights where everything goes wrong, and for me this was definitely one of the latter. I just couldn't for want of a better term 'get hold' of the gig. Still no one told me that I played badly so I'm going to do my best not to dwell on it... actually thinking about it, I probably shouldn't have mentioned it here! Afterwards there's time for a few drinks (well, quite a few drinks actually) before we return to our hotel for some well-earned sleep.

Sunday starts just a bit too early for some (well, it certainly does for me!) as we've got to be at Stuttgart Airport before 10 o'clock to check in for our flight home. Once again our flight was reasonably uneventful (good!) until the rather bumpy landing (bad!) and after collecting my guitar from outsize baggage I got on the phone to Big Al Reed - he and The Blistering Buicks were playing at Colnbrook at Ye Olde George Inn at 5pm, and before I left for Germany I'd arranged with him that provided my flight wasn't delayed (it wasn't!) I'd meet him at the airport and join the band for the gig. I met him outside Terminal 5 and we made our way to the venue - we were a bit early so decided to have something to eat, but sadly they'd run out of food (!) so we spent the next hour or so attempting to find somewhere locally that wasn't either packed out or not serving meals. By now it was all catching up with me a bit, to the extent that it all felt a bit surreal - by the time the show came around I was feeling rather disorientated (and not from alcohol, I hadn't had any, honest!) although the show went well with everybody on good form throughout. 

I got home around 9 o'clock, and felt grateful for it being an early show as it gave me a chance to catch up on some sleep before spending Monday in Balcony Shirts. At closing time it was straight onto The Metropolitan Line into London (meeting Pete 'Manic Esso' Haynes on the way) for Ruts D.C.'s first ever acoustic show, at The 12 Bar Club in Denmark Street. It's the first of 13 Reggae Punk Monday nights, all of which will feature The Duel (their singer Tara organises the shows) along with different guest bands and artists each week. Segs is resident DJ, and when we arrived he was setting up his gear in anticipation of a busy night. Having had minimal rehearsal time our soundcheck was more along the lines of a 'what songs do you think we need to try?' session than perhaps it should have been, but as always Nick got everything sounding excellent. With Segs staying behind to start the evening's music (and Esso staying behind in the bar!) Dave and myself went off in search of some food, finding the Aziz Mangal Turkish restaurant on Shaftesbury Avenue where we order too much food (well, too much for me anyway - it was really nice though!) and discuss tactics for the months ahead. When we returned to The 12 Bar Club The Duel were playing to a packed room and people were still arriving - we though it would be a busy night but nothing had prepared us for the amount of people that were in attendance. After setting Segs and my guitars up I go to the bar to get myself and Dave a drink - by the time I'm served I can see Dave and Segs ready to play with Dave saying 'LEIGH HEGGARTY TO THE STAGE PLEASE!' in a somewhat exasperated manner down his microphone but the place is so crowded that I physically can't get near to the stage. I eventually manage to fight my way through - I hand Dave his drink and he smiles a big smile. That's a relief, I thought that I'd annoyed him. We start the show with 'Something That I Said' and it feels great - our set goes by in no time and the audience love it. Larry Love from The Alabama 3 and Aynzli Jones join us for 'Smiling Culture' (no rehearsal at all for that one! You can see it here if you like...) and a couple of songs from the end Segs announces that there's no point in us finishing and then doing an encore as we can't get off the stage, so we play 'Society' and 'In A Rut' to finish a terrific gig. Afterwards there are comments a-plenty from audience members, all of whom hope that it's not the only acoustic show that we play. I agree with them - it really was a great thing to be part of, and hopefully we'll be doing more shows like it in the future.

And here is footage of the first few minutes of the show - I told you that I couldn't get to the stage! There are also two reviews of the gig courtesy of the excellent Elvis In the Clouds and Stupefaction blogs -that's my handwriting on the setlist in the second review...

Well what a few days that was - in contrast there is just one gig for your humble narrator this weekend, with Back To Zero at The Gardeners Retreat in Stoke-on-Trent. It should be a relatively quiet weekend compared to the last one - although having just read back through what I've written here this may not be a bad thing...