Reading, working, peddling, jamming...

Well the busy times at Balcony Shirts continue, although I'm 'only' working four days there this week. Part of me is a bit relived - after all at times it's been far too much like having a 'real' job - while the other part of me has enjoyed it immensely. And I'd be lying if I didn't say that it's been great to earn a bit of money too. In a heroic attempt to not squander it all on beer and jollity I've bought myself a reassuringly expensive Carl Martin Quattro multi-effect pedal, the idea being that it should function as both a spare unit for Ruts D.C. gigs as well as being something that should fit into my luggage easier than my existing pedal board does and so should be useful for shows that we fly to. It could also be something that I might be able to use at Big Al and The Blistering Buicks shows, and with this in mind I took it along to our gig at The Battle Of Britain Club in Uxbridge last Friday. With Pete away elsewhere I was the sole guitarist for the weekend's gigs, which in some ways was unfortunate as the onset of hay fever had left me with a left ear full of wax to go along with the inevitable bunged up nose. Perhaps using an unfamiliar piece of kit wasn't the cleverest idea but I did it anyway - under the circumstances I thought that it went well although I don't mind admitting that I stood on the wrong pedal more than a few times. Well that's my excuse for the dreadful mess I made of the 'Whiskey In The Jar' riff anyway… by the time the next night's show at The Misty Moon in Northwood came around my ear had cleared a bit although it was still far from being 100%, which combined with England throwing away their one goal lead against Russia in The European Championships meant that I for one started our show with no little trepidation. Happily this proved to be unfounded - after a few songs people were dancing and our national football team's latest impression of The Keystone Cops seemed to have been all but forgotten by the end of our show.

The next night Big Al and myself ventured across to The Plough in Tilehurst near Reading where Ann and Steve from the covers band Hot Legs run a jam night. They've been badgering Al to attend for a while now so this seemed as good a time as any - when we arrived we were both struck with how friendly everyone was. This is not always the case at these sort of gatherings - they can be very cliquey - but here it bode well for a good evening. I was asked to play on an original 12 bar blues song with a couple of young ladies, after which Al and myself joined the house band for 'Willie And The Hand Jive', 'Sweet Home Chicago' and 'Let's Stick Together', all of which went splendidly well. From there a very varied evening saw performances of material as diverse as 'Ace Of Spades' and 'I Know What I Like' before I was cajoled into joining a couple of young lads for their songs - I'd had a few drinks by then but with Al's words 'what could possibly go wrong?' ringing in my ears I stumbled towards the stage. The two lads were very good - maybe a few too many notes for my liking but they certainly knew what they were doing. I chugged along cheerily on a funky version of 'Rambling On My Mind' hoping not to be given a solo. The guitar man smiled as he pointed at me and nodded - I played a lot less notes than him but it seemed to go down well. (Let's face it, I wouldn't be writing about it here if it hadn't!) Then he asked if I knew 'Little Wing' - yes I do although I've never played it in front of anyone. Then again I'd not met these boys until about 10 minutes ago so… after them the evening ended with a peculiar (and let's face it, very drunk) fellow who for want of a better word, dismantled 'Mustang Sally' and 'Money For Nothing'. I wouldn't have recognised them if he hadn't slurred the titles several times indiscriminately during his frankly astonishing performance. Yes I was on guitar, although I'm not quite sure what I doing there. Judging by the faces of the other musicians they weren't sure what they were there either. A suitably bizarre ending to a very enjoyable evening.

And I completely forgot to mention that at some point in the last few weeks I visited Tropic At Ruislip where I witnessed Stranglers tribute band The Dead Ringers (a last minute substitute for Straighten Out who I believe had to pull out when one of their members injured a hand) roaring through a set of Guildford's finest's songs and in my opinion doing a very good job. But don't take my word for it - the always-worth-reading Elvis In The Clouds blog has written this review of the show, summing the night up well and somehow mentioning me in the process. Strange - but true!

Grin and bear it

Malcolm Owen died 35 years ago today. I'm listening to 'The Crack' by The Ruts even as we speak - maybe you are too? It sounds amazing. It is amazing. There's a nice tribute piece on the band's Facebook page that you can see if you click here - shine on Malcolm, shine on...

In the meantime I had my first nosebleed of this year's hay fever season yesterday - actually to be pedantic I had two of the damn things, one in Balcony Shirts (much to the horror of Erin who had started work experience there that morning - she must have wondered what she'd let herself in for!) and one early evening in The Queen's Head when Al and Pete from The Blistering Buicks did their best to keep the conversation going despite the (ahem!) gallons of blood pouring from my face. It left me feeling pretty rough, to such an extent that (a) I couldn't concentrate on the Who DVD 'Live At Shea Stadium 1982' which I attempted to watch when I got home and (b) I got up after 9.30 this morning which is very late for me. I don't mind admitting that I don't feel too good now either. Summer eh?

Last Thursday Ruts D.C. visited Rough Trade East in Brick Lane to promote the recently-issued 'Love In Vain - The Story Of The Ruts and Ruts D.C.' book by Roland Link. The date had been changed several times over the last few months, so it was rather ironic that it fell on the same day as the biggest train strike for many years. How dare these loony lefties still mad enough to be part of a trade union exercise their right to withdraw their labour on a day of such cultural importance? I mean, they're only being asked to work all day and night for practically no reward - they'll be wanting lunch breaks next...

On a more serious note, good luck to the train TUs - after all, who wants to work for nothing eh?

Anyway all this militant action meant that audience numbers were lower - make that much lower - than expected, but those who were there saw not only an acoustic performance but also took part in a Q&A with Dave, Segs and myself. We sold a good few books, chatted to all those who attended and generally had a great time. Well I certainly did, although my unsuccessful attempt to buy the new album by The Sonics - it was sold out - somehow summed up the day, if you know what I mean.

Friday night saw The Upper Cut return to The Admiral Nelson in Twickenham for the first time in quite a while - a hot and sticky night included several 'new' songs alongside the old favourites (they're new to us, we didn't write any of 'em!) and the obligatory Very Drunk Bloke being, well, very drunk while dancing (ok to be more accurate he was stumbling around waving his arms about, but you get the picture) just a bit too close to the band for comfort and attempting to high five everybody in the building. He failed.

A very hot Saturday in the shop gave way to a Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks gig at The Three Wishes in Eastcote. Again several 'new' songs found their way into the set while a gang of birthday - celebrating young ladies livened up the dancefloor no end and another V. D. B. attempted to attract their collective attention. He also failed.

And on Sunday I rehearsed with Noel and Rob from Menace in preparation for our acoustic set at The Rebellion Festival in August before going to The 12 Bar Club to see the legend that is T.V. Smith - except that I only saw four songs from the great man (in case you were wondering - 'Only One Flavour', 'First One To Sign Up', 'No Time To Be 21' and 'Coming In To Land') before I had to leave to get the last tube train home. If only they ran all night eh? Oh hang on...

Southern man

Well having spent the last few weeks thinking that maybe, just maybe I'll get away with it this year I woke up on Friday morning with itchy eyes, a bunged-up nose and feeling as though I'd done a few rounds with Mike Tyson in his prime - yes, the hay fever season is upon us once again. Bugger! I spent much of the day dosing up with antihistamines and cursing the season that is summer, and much if that evening's Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks gig at The Ox and Gate in Neasden (or Dollis Hill, or Cricklewood, depending on which website you believe!) waiting for my my nose to betray me and make me sneeze at the most inopportune moment. I had bought a box of tissues along for just such an emergency - so in much the same way that if you take an umbrella with you it doesn't rain I of course didn't sneeze once throughout what despite being somewhat under-attended turned out to be a very enjoyable show. I hadn't been to the venue before but they seem to be working hard to make live music work there so let's hope that it's a success for them. 

The next night it was back up to Camden Town for the second Saturday in a row to help Bears guitarist Lionel celebrate his birthday at The Fiddler's Elbow. With entertainment provided by Ed Tudor-Pole, Spizzology (the stripped-down version of Spizzenergi), The Bermondsey Joyriders and X-SLF a splendid time was pretty much guaranteed for all; everybody I saw played well although sadly I arrived too late to see Sarah Pink and indeed The Bears themselves and had to leave during X-SLF's storming set to get the train home. I met ex-SLF drummer Jim Reilly in the Gents toilet - seizing the moment I managed to blurt out 'hello-I'm-Leigh-out-of-Ruts D.C.-and-we've-got-a-mutual-friend-called-Roland Link' while washing my hands. This seemed to amuse my new friend Jim no end, who immediately insisted on taking me to meet his friend and bandmate Henry Cluney - much jollity ensued, especially considering that I'd never met either of them before. Nice chaps, and as I say the band sounded great.

Yesterday's appearance on Music Scene Investigation was a bit of strange one even by my rather obscure standards - much of our time on air involved myself and Ian winding each other up about cheese boards, bread boards and all points in between. Somehow we (Andrea, Ian and myself) also managed to review three songs, all of which were very good and which made of a very interesting show as you can see for yourself if you click here. And maybe I will launch a range of combined cheese and bread boards one day...

On Wednesday night Ruts D.C. played at The Corn Exchange in Devizes as part of The Devizes Festival. Support came from 2 Sick Monkeys whose excellently breathless 30-odd minute set went down well with the early arrivers - and rightly so as they were great. Our show took a while to get off the ground - we were playing well but the audience seemed a bit reticent, although by the time we got to 'West One (Shine On Me)' things were all going in the right direction. A great night, and there are further great nights in prospect this coming November when the band visits Australia and New Zealand for the first time. Oh yes!

'If you see Sid, tell him...'

Another week, and I still can't hear properly thanks to earwax. Bah! June going into July is not a good time of year for us hay fever sufferers... still there have been some good musical goings-on in the last few days, not least the latest 'first-Wednesday-of-every-month' Fallen Leaves show at The 12 Bar Club. Support this time came from Sid Sings who I thought were absolutely excellent, to such an extent that I thought that The Fallen Leaves might have a bit of trouble following them. However halfway through their first number it was clear that they were on top form, with Rob's guitar sounding as mighty as ever and the band with him every step of the way. A fine evening.

Last July I saw Sylvain Sylvain supported by The Duel and The Bears at The 100 Club. This July I saw Sylvain Sylvain supported by The Duel and The Bears at The 100 Club. Both were highly entertaining evenings but this year things had changed... Sylvain appeared in a trio last year whereas this time he played a solo show on acoustic guitar - his triumphant 'hello London!' as he arrived on stage was somewhat tempered by his realisation that he has forgotten it and would therefore have to go back to the dressing room to collect it! Last year I joined The Duel on stage to play 'Babylon's Burning' - no Ruts songs were performed this time (although Segs was DJ-ing between the bands, and making a very fine job of it I must say) and the band played to backing tracks (I never did find out where Pumpy the drummer had got to) which made for a very different show from the band. Indeed the only thing unchanged on both evenings was The Bears, and they may even have played the same set both times. And why not? 

  

On Saturday night The Upper Cut played their first show at The Salmon And Ball in Bethnal Green. We used to play down the road (literally!) at The Misty Moon, and while there was nothing particularly wrong with that venue I must say that I very much preferred playing here, although I was a little disappointed to find that it wasn't a Cannon And Ball theme bar; thinking about it I suppose that if it was it would have been called The Cannon And Ball rather than The Salmon And Ball... 

I made my second appearance of the year on Music Scene Investigation on Sunday evening, participating in an excellent show with Rich, Ian and Tom. You can watch it here if you like - there were some very good songs sent in this time weren't there?

And last night it was time for a London Sewage Company rehearsal - we're playing at The 100 Club next week, which isn't bad for a band that formed to play at a birthday party back in May. And I must say that we're sounding good - we're getting together again before next Thursday's show, after which it's time for some more Ruts D.C. gigs. Busy times... oh yes!

'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. 

Blood on the tracks

I got on a tube train the other day - nothing too unusual about that - and as I sat down I smiled cheerily at the two young ladies who were sitting opposite me. They looked somewhat awkwardly back at me, probably because blood had just started pouring from my nose. Sadly there is nothing too unusual about that either (the nosebleed, not ladies looking awkwardly at me... actually thinking about it... hmmm, maybe it's best that I don't think about that too much!) at this time of year as the hay fever season is once again upon us. Every year I think that I might be lucky and it won't effect me, and every year it does... bah!

In the meantime I have spent much of last week at Jamm in Brixton with house engineer Greg a.k.a Wizard working on, among other things, the upcoming Ruts D.C. live album. We've been reviewing recordings from several shows recorded over the last year or so with a view to compiling the best ones for release - as you might well imagine this is quite a lengthy and time consuming process, not least because the album is being mixed by Lee Groves (an old friend of Dave and Segs) who lives and works in New York. To this end we email a track over to him, he sends us a mix back, we listen and send him comments, he changes the mix accordingly then sends it back, we listen and send him comments... well, you get the idea. However from what I've heard this week it's all going to be worth it, as the tracks are sounding excellent. We're playing at The Concorde 2 in Brighton this coming Friday followed by a show the next night at The BWM Rally at Santa Pod Raceway, and there are more dates coming in all the time - good news all round!

After a day in the studio I travelled across town to The Half Moon in Putney on Friday evening to catch a night promoted by Retro Man blog writer Steve Worrall. I arrived just in time to catch a couple of songs by The Galileo 7, who feature ex - Prisoners bassist Allan Crockford on guitar and vocals. They sounded good enough for me to resolve to catch them again as soon as possible. Next up were The Len Price 3 who delivered a blistering set to the enthusiastic approval of everyone in the by-now sold out room. It was then left to headliners Graham Day and The Forefathers to close a brilliant evening, which they did in fine style. I've been a massive fan of Day's work since I first heard The Prisoners back in the day, and he remains a criminally under-rated singer and songwriter. As I say, a brilliant evening.

I've also played two shows with Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks over the weekend, the first of which was at The Paddington Packet Boat in Cowley. With Pete away for the day I was on solo guitar duties, and with Dave gigging elsewhere Bob Pearce depped on drums for a show that suffered audience-wise at the hands of the England v Honduras game but was nevertheless an enjoyable affair. And I have just - just! - got in from a splendid afternoon show at The Horns in Watford. Dave returned on drums, Pete and myself were both on guitars and everybody in the band gave a fine performance. Great stuff - and there's plenty to look forward to this week, not least the Ruts D.C. gigs at the weekend. Hmmm... I've only played at The Concorde 2 once before, and on that occasion I managed to break to headstock off my Les Paul. Oooo! I intend to be using said instrument for these shows (it has been repaired in the meantime!) and hopefully nothing too untoward will happen this time. Mind you, we are playing on Friday 13th... 

Sing something simple

Since the euphoria of Thursday evening (yeah, sorry for getting a bit carried away but, well, you know how it is...) The Upper Cut have played two very different shows, united by, for want of a better word, 'oddness'...

On Friday night we returned to Patrick's Bar in Crystal Palace a little over a month since our first visit there. When we arrived the atmosphere seemed a bit strange, maybe more serious than last time - upon saying hello to the guv'nor he immediately began telling us not to play too loud. This never gets things off to a good start - joking aside it is very hard to play the type of music we play with conviction when you're worried about the guy in front on you telling you to turn it down every 90 seconds. Actually thinking about it, it's hard to play any type of music under those circumstances. As a result I found our first set to be probably the least enjoyable performance that I've given in absolutely ages. I found my mind wandering at one point to such an extent that I went completely wrong, and can't even recall which song it was in such was my disinterest. This has bothered me ever since - having spent much of the last blog posting blathering on about how lucky I am to do what I do I then spend part of my next gig with my mind somewhere else entirely and as a result play badly. Not good frankly. I went to the bar feeling very low indeed - whereupon three lads told me how great they thought we were sounding, and another chap came over to ask for some Rod Stewart, a lady requested some Free and Bad Company - yes, you've guessed it, the second set was a stormer with a full dancefloor and a great audience reaction. And at the end the guv'nor came over and told me that we were the best band that they'd ever had there, I was the best guitarist that he'd ever seen (!) and if he gave us more money would we play until 1am.

Sometimes I don't think that I will ever understand people.

Saturday it was time for our friend Simon the DJ's birthday bash, at The General Eliott in Uxbridge. Although I've been to quite a few gigs at the pub the band had not played there before - when we arrived (in the pouring rain!) Simon was still setting up his DJ equipment; although we were due to go on at 9.30 we eventually started a quarter of an hour late. Once again our first set wasn't without problems - Terry was suffering from a bad throat meaning that we had to be careful as to which songs we chose, and having had something of a bad hay fever day I suddenly found that couldn't hear out of my right ear. I often get earwax / sinus problems at this time of year, but halfway through a show is not a good time for them to develop! Once again I found myself approaching the bar at halftime with a long face - whereupon Simon played 'Roxette' by Dr. Feelgood and suddenly all was right in my little world. It doesn't take much sometimes does it? Our second set couldn't have been more different from the first - Terry's voice seemed to improve, I found a way to hear through not being able to hear (if you see what I mean!) and the band rose to the occasion to give a fine performance. That's better. And after we'd finished Simon was pressganged into singing 'Baby I Love You' with Terry on bass, Roger on drums and some of his young lady friends on backing vocals. 'Can you make it sound jangly?' said he as I handed him my Gibson SG - I didn't like to tell him that I wasn't really sure how it had sounded during our show so I wasn't much help to him now...

During the course of last Wednesday evening I had mentioned to Pete 'Manic Esso' Haynes that I was intending to attend the open mic / jam session on Sunday at The Crown and Treaty in Uxbridge; as we talked about it he surprised me by expressing an interest in coming along and maybe even playing; I then surprised myself by expressing an interest in singing - yes, singing - a song or two with him... so it was then that I found myself on stage with him and Upper cut bassman Terry playing and indeed singing 'Around And Around' and 'Pills'. Now that's something that I didn't think that would ever type! I must admit that I really enjoyed it - I can't see myself fronting a band but it just goes to show what you can do if you try. And I don't think that the chap who told me that he really liked the band (!) and asked how long we'd been playing together was taking the mickey?

And last night I found myself in what for me were the unfamiliar surroundings of Madame Jo Jo's in Soho for the first in a series of 12 Monday club nights being hosted by The Duel. Broadly speaking the nights will feature reggae and punk (not sure about calling it 'Reggie' though!) and judging by the first night it's going to go very well. Dave and Segs from Ruts D.C. were Dj-ing, The Duel played a great set, and people were still arriving as I was leaving - clearly the night was young, although sadly I'm not and I had decided to leave early enough to get a train home. Ooh, I really do sound old don't I?

'The heat is rising, the past is calling...'

It's Tuesday teatime and we've had rain, thunder and lightning today, the after effects of which are usually a somewhat lighter atmosphere. Sadly not this time - if anything it's even more oppressive at the moment. This weather is so tiring isn't it? I sat down earlier today and woke up two hours later. Mind you that could be the hay fever, or maybe just be me being very old - after all, it is my birthday tomorrow...

It was my 'birthday gig' (if such a thing exists?) on Friday evening, when me and my buddies in The Upper Cut played two sweaty sets to the assembled throng at The Dolphin in Uxbridge. Our good friend Simon the DJ provided some great sixties sounds, and I was amazed that so many people showed up on such a hot night. It really was great to see everybody including my old mate Leeson O'Keeffe who I hadn't seen for absolutely ages. I played in his band Neck around a decade or so ago, and I have a hazy recollection of singing Irish songs with him into the early hours of Saturday morning. That used to happen a fair bit back then too.

All of this drunken tomfoolery meant that Saturday in Balcony Shirts was suitably bleary - then again, 'don't do the crime if you can't do the time' as the old saying goes... I got home and, you've guessed it, sat down and fell asleep. Hmmm... no time to worry about that now, as it's off to West Drayton for a Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks show. We thought the pub we were playing at was called The Rowan Arms, but when we got there we were told it had changed it's name back to it's original name of The Cat And Fiddle. All very confusing for someone in my (ahem!) fragile condition, as was the first set which I just couldn't get hold of if you know what I mean. However things thankfully improved for the second session (I even cut my hand by 'windmilling and being silly') with much dancing and merriment from the enthusiastic audience and a better performance from your (presumably now fully awake) humble narrator. Good!

I managed to get up in time for a Sunday afternoon Upper Cut show at Ye Olde George in Colnbrook. Our three-set show was supposed to finish at 8 o'clock but ran a bit over time, not least as they decided to hold a meat raffle just we were due to begin our second set. 'They like to get their money's worth here don't they?' said a rather rueful Roger in between sets two and three. He had a point... that said it was a thoroughly enjoyable show, with the band playing well and a lot of great comments from people afterwards. One chap told me that it had been one of the best shows that he'd ever seen - it'd be easy to do a 'you should get out more' gag at times such as that (no really, it would be!) but he'd had a great time, and I for one wasn't going to ruin it for him in any way. It's a simple life sometimes isn't it?

And yesterday it was back in to Balcony Shirts during the day then over to The Three Wishes in Edgware in the evening for their regular Monday jam night. Myself, Pete and Big Al joined Andy and Howard for 'Make Me Smile' and 'Baby Please Don't Go', and the whole thing was great fun from start to finish. Maybe it really is a simple life sometimes eh?

More from The Upper Cut this weekend - we're at Patrick's Bar in Crystal Palace on Friday and The General Eliott in Uxbridge on Saturday, with the latter being a new venue for us and a birthday bash for the afore-mentioned Simon who will also be DJing at the event. More hot nights in prospect then - let's hope I can stay awake in the meantime...

Hot in the city

Here's a pop quiz question for you - 

What song title do Wreckless Eric and The Temptations have in common?

Any idea? I have to hurry you... no? It's 'I Wish It Would Rain', five points if you got that one. 

They're both really great songs too, as you can hear here and here...

Actually I for one don't wish it would rain, but it feels as though everyone else does. Aren't people moaning about the hot weather a lot? They'll be complaining that it's cold soon. Mind you my hay fever is approaching new highs - or perhaps that should be new lows? Hmmm... maybe the heat is getting to me...

With no gig of my own on Friday night I decided to catch a couple of local shows, starting with Covered In Skas at The Carpenters Arms in Hayes. I'd heard a fair bit about the band (a couple of their biggest fans Kate and Tony get band shirts printed at the shop) and had been trying to see them play for what feels like ages but their appearances always seemed to coincide with my gigs so it was good to catch them at last. They play everything from original ska classics to material from the Two Tone era and on the evidence of their first set on Friday they play it very well indeed. From there it was off to The Crown in Cowley to see the second set from Tiny Tina. I've known their singer Miri for a while - she's sung a couple of numbers with The Upper Cut from time to time and it's great to see her out with her own band now. As you might expect there are a fair few Tina Turner songs in their set, and the band made a pretty good job of things especially considering that dep drummer Mark only got offered the gig earlier in the day. A good evening all round.

Having seen two bands on Friday it was time for me to play in two bands on Saturday, starting with Back To Zero at The Borderline in London at The 'Summer In The City' all-dayer. We were originally due to play at 4 o'clock in the afternoon but that was changed to 6.40pm earlier in the week - as amps and drums were provided I went up on the tube and got to the venue around half past five in time to see an excellent set from The Aardvarks. Well let's face it, any band that plays 'Run Run Run' can't be bad can they?
I'm pretty sure that the venue had air conditioning although as we went on stage it was so hot that it was difficult to tell. Squirrel's bass cut in and out during the first number - the sound engineer apparently said to him that it was due to vibrations making the lead come out of the back of the amplifier and that it was 'always happening'. Eh? If it's 'always happening' then why not do something to, er, stop it, er, always happening? Or is that just me? Given these sorts of problems I thought that we played very well under the circumstances, with Craig again joining us for several songs (including 'London's Pride') and our encore of 'Land Of 1,000 Dances' bringing the proverbial house down. There was time for a drink after the show (good!) and to see a song and a half from Squire before wending my way to The Dolphin in Uxbridge where Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks were playing a set at guitar dep Pete's wife Elaine's birthday party. Again it was ridiculously hot but again the band played well. It was a long evening though...

I spent a fair bit of Sunday asleep. What with the heat and the hay fever I just couldn't keep my eyes open. Ooh now I'm moaning about the weather... still I made it back up to The West End with John King and Pete 'Manic Esso' Haynes to see The Crows at the 12 Bar Club. We got there at half past eight just as they were starting - Richie from Biteback on acoustic guitar and Jennie (one of the people behind The Rebellion Festival) on vocals (joined for the first time by Sarah Pink on harmony vocals for a few numbers) gave an engaging performance which was well received by all concerned. And afterwards there was time for much drinking and conversation - always a good end to the weekend don't you think?

And there's just time for a quick plug for this Friday's Upper Cut show at the aforementioned Dolphin - it's the Friday before my birthday (that's on the 24th) and in my world is the nearest that I get to a birthday party - if you're in the area then it would be good to see you. The night after that Big Al and co. play at The Rowan Arms in West Drayton and on Sunday The Upper Cut return to Colnbrook for a 5pm show at Ye Olde George Inn - another hot weekend's gigging in prospect then. Good!

Fever pitch

Well I don't know about you (obviously!) but it's been a bit too hot for me lately. I often think that I'm a bit of a miserable old bugger (ooh imagine that!) but once the temperature gets above 70 degrees Fahrenheit (that's 21 in new money) I find it all a bit difficult, not least because I've had hay fever for as long as I can remember. I've been taking some over-the-counter tablets in an attempt to keep it at all bay - they're either not working particularly well or it's really bad this year. I last went to my doctor about it a few years ago, when he cheerily advised me that the only real cure was for me to stop breathing. Yeah, thanks for that doc...

Despite financial woes I went down to Brighton last Wednesday as planned, where I tried a couple of Electro-Harmonix effect pedals. I was so impressed by the Neo Mistress flanger pedal that I found in Eastbourne last month that I decided to track some more of them down, and research revealed that GAK had a good stock of the company's wares - they're made in the U.S.A. and not everyone over here stocks them. I tried a Tone Tattoo multi-effect unit (I thought it might have been useful as something that I could take along as a spare in case my pedalboard went wrong at a Ruts D.C. gig) and a Neo Clone chorus pedal (I've been borrowing a Danelectro Cool Cat pedal from my good friend Paul Cope since I lost my old pedalboard back in November 2011) and ended up buying the latter (which sounded terrific) but not the former (the distortion sound was horrible!) which made the journey more than worthwhile. And it's always good to visit Brighton don't you think? It's impossible for me not to think of 'Quadrophenia' when I'm there - but more about that in a minute.

Last Friday was a very busy day in Balcony Shirts - and when I say busy I mean busy, with people everywhere and the phone all but ringing off the hook. Having a nosebleed is not a particularly pleasant experience at the best of times, but having one behind the counter on a day such as this really isn't recommended. Still there wasn't much that I could do about it other than to hold a tissue to my face amid various pieces of well-meant advice from customers on how to make it stop. 'Pinch the bridge of your nose' said a cheery lady who went on to tell me that her daughter gets them all the time, while another issued a 'don't put your head back' warning in a possibly over-stern manner.In the event it only lasted a short while which was good news - unlike the one I had an hour later which went on for about 20 minutes. Urgh! Whether or not this contributed to my light-headedness upon arriving at Hayes Working Mens Club for a Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks gig that evening is open to debate, but that was certainly how I felt when I got there. We'd had a rehearsal on Monday evening at which several new songs (well they're new to us, we didn't write any of them!) were tried out, all of which made it into the set with a steaming version of 'Baby Please Don't Go' (possibly not quite as steaming as this one, but we had a go!) something of a highlight. Pete joined us on guitar for the whole show (he often gets up for a few numbers but as he's depping for me at a couple of upcoming shows so it was a good chance for him to run through the songs) and although I must admit that by the time our third set ended I was flagging a bit overall it was an enjoyable evening.

Saturday in the shop couldn't have been different to Friday, being quiet without a nosebleed in sight. Well it was quiet right up until the last hour when it went crazy. This always seems to happen when one or more of us has to get away - I think they call it Murphy's Law? Anyway BAR and The BBs (now that saves on typing!) we due to be playing down the road in Iver at 6 o'clock as part of a 'Summer Fun Day' event so I'd hoped to get away on time at 5pm - I eventually left around 5.15 (a good Who reference there - more about them in a minute) which made for a somewhat fraught journey to The Swan, although when I got there the bouncy castle was still in place where we were due to be playing (now that's a line that I didn't think I'd ever type!) meaning that we had more time than than we thought we had. Ah well - it's better than having less time than expected... with the bouncy castle packed away we set up on an area of AstroTurf (now that's another line that I didn't think I'd ever type!) in the pub garden and were playing within a half hour or so of our allotted time. We all agreed that we got a really good sound - not always the case outdoors so maybe it was the AstroTurf? - except for poor old Pete who's amp kept blowing fuses. Bah! With Al on great form up front, Terry and Dave working well on bass and drums and Chris sounding as superb as ever on keyboards we all agreed that it was an even better show than the night before - and it was an early finish too! I was home by 9.30, and with a long Sunday looming it would have been sensible for me to have an early night - so I of course went to The General Eliott in Uxbridge to catch rock covers band Large Portion. I got there just before the interval - Gary the guitarist came up to me with the words 'you always come along when we're trying a Who song for the first time'. Well I don't know about that but sadly 'Who Are You' went wrong in the middle, and Gary broke two strings in the second set. Not a good night for him, and the band sounded as though the heat had got to them a bit. Mind you, it was bloomin' hot in there!

Sunday morning saw your humble narrator wend his weary way (I definitely should have had an early night!) over to Soundlab Studios in Loughton for a Back To Zero rehearsal. We're gigging at The Borderline this coming Saturday (we're on at 6.40pm as part of the 'Summer In the City' all-dayer) and since we'd not played together since the two shows back in May we all wondered if one rehearsal would be enough to get things back on track, but things came together remarkably quickly (it's good when that happens!) and we made such good progress that we finished early (it's good when that happens too!) with us all looking forward to the show. 
From there it was off to Hoddesdon for the third Buicks gig of the weekend. (That saves on typing too!) When Al first told us that we had a gig at a Mexican restaurant that puts on rock 'n' roll bands every Sunday afternoon I for one wondered if the big man was in a bit of trouble, but Sally B's really is a Mexican restaurant that puts on rock 'n' roll bands every Sunday afternoon. Excellent! It's also got air conditioning which was certainly appreciated by the band if not the audience - that said it's been a while since I've started a show to an audience of one solitary onlooker, as everybody else was downstairs watching the Wimbledon Men's Final. I think he felt sorry for us... fortunately people started drifting upstairs during the first couple of songs, although they did ask for the tennis to be put on the upstairs television with the sound turned down. With the third set looking crucial we had a word with Ian the guv'nor and mutually decided that a break from live music was in order - 'it's the first time that I've ever played support to the tennis' said Terry the bass somewhat ruefully. I sat on the edge of the stage feeling tired and none too well. The box of tissues that I'd had with me throughout the three shows was looking a lot emptier than on Friday evening, but at least I'd not had another nosebleed... the next thing I knew Dave's bass drum woke me up. It was time for our second set - like I say, I should have had an early night. Still with the atmosphere suitably lightened by Andy Murray's victory the rest of our show went very well indeed, with a fair bit of dancing and Ian the guv'nor taking to the microphone to announce that in his opinion we were one of the best bands that they'd ever had playing there. A good afternoon's work. And yes, I went home and went to bed! Well, I was working in the shop the next day...

And on Monday evening I saw The Who at The Wembley Arena. I was optimistic that it would be a good show as I've seen them there on several occasions and the venue always seems to suit the band somehow, and I'm pleased to say that I wasn't disappointed - but first things first, as support came once again from the wonderful Vintage Trouble who played a barnstorming show to an increasingly appreciative audience. I can't help thinking that this band is going to be big. Very big. And rightly so, as they are brilliant both vocally and instrumentally, write great songs and have a dynamite stage act - you don't see many bands like that these days. I'll spare you a rant here about the state of the music business at this point and just say check them out as soon as you can. 
And then there was the 'Orrible 'Oo. With Pete Townshend resplendent in a white jacket and stripey t-shirt and Roger Daltery looking as mean as ever they tore through 'Quadrophenia' to give probably the best rendition of it that I've ever seen them play. Townshend was on particularly spiky form (witness his classic ad lib from 1.50 - 1.59 in 'I'm One' from the show) and played wonderfully as did the whole band - a classic Who gig from start to finish. As the man himself put it, 'it's not nostalgia, it's pre-history'. Indeed it is.

Then there was Tuesday and Wednesday as reported in the last posting (I've just about sobered up!) and today I was back in the shop. I've got a day off tomorrow. Good.

Television's over

Another gig-less weekend means another chance to watch television - normally I'd be moaning (as usual!) by now but since this week saw the first screening of a new documentary on one of The Who's finest works 'Quadrophenia' I'm nowhere near as miserable as I might normally be. The show in question was 'Quadrophenia: Can You See The Real Me?' and I'm pleased to say that it more than lived up to expectations, with new interviews from Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey alongside archive contributions from John Entwistle and Keith Moon and some astonishing hitherto unseen footage (by me at least) of the band playing at The Belle Vue in Manchester in 1973 among the highlights of an absolutely excellent programme. It was particularly interesting to hear the multi-track recordings of the original album in isolation, with Entwistle's horns shadowing Townshend's guitar part on '5.15' and Daltery's end-of-the-World scream at the end of 'Love Reign O'er Me' both sounding even more incredible than ever. Around half of the album received a song-by-song analysis - one can only hope that there's a longer Director's Cut of the show that looks at the whole album in the same detailed way. Great stuff, as was the previous weekend's 'David Bowie and the Story Of Ziggy Stardust' which as it's name suggests took a look at Bowie's classic album. Once again contemporary interviews with some of the key contributors sat alongside some fine archive footage, with The Spiders From Mars (featuring the mighty Mick Ronson on lead guitar) sounding as great as ever. Maybe staying in watching television isn't so bad after all?


And maybe things are starting to improve a bit generally, as I managed to get out and about with a guitar in my hand this week - albeit for rehearsals rather than shows, but at least this means that there are some gigs on the horizon. Monday evening saw The Flying Squad get together for the first time this year (well, there's no need to rush into things now is there?) as we have a show coming up supporting The Clashed at Tropic At Ruislip at the end of August. As expected there were a few cobwebs to blow away but all things considered the band sounded good, running through songs from previous sets as well as a few new numbers. And on Wednesday I met up with T.V. Smith to discuss tactics for two festival shows that we're playing this summer (more about them in the not-too-distant future) and to look at possible additions to our repertoire. It was good to be working with both acts again, and it was good to get along to the afore-mentioned Ruislip venue on Friday evening to see Who tribute band Who's Who. Heavy hay fever meant that my eyes and ears weren't at their best (I often get earwax problems when I get a cold or hay fever, and this was one of those times; itchy eyes are of course a more general symptom of the condition) so maybe my thoughts that the band took a bit of time to get going sound-wise are due to me not hearing properly rather than their performance - either way the audience seemed somewhat subdued for the first part of their 2 hour show, although by the end things were suitably raucous all round. An enjoyable evening.


I've got a gig next weekend. Time to play the guitar rather than watching other people playing it on stage or on television. Good.

Let it bleed

Did you want to be old when you were young? I don't mean 'old' old, like your nan or grandad or the people who lived a few doors down, I mean old as in 'grown up' so that you could do the things that the grown ups do, like stay up late. I certainly wanted to stay up late when I was a kid, although thinking back I don't know why I thought that would make things better or more exciting. Strange... maybe one of the differences between being old and young is that when you're young you want to be older and when you're old you want to be younger? Anyway when I was about 8 or 9 I had a nosebleed. It was a Saturday evening and I had really bad hay fever (still have!) I blew my nose rather a lot before I went to bed, and I woke up a little after going to sleep thinking that my nose was running. When I looked down there was blood everywhere. Everywhere. It literally felt like it was pouring out of my face, which I suppose it was if you think about it. My mum screamed when she saw me. She and my dad tried to stop it with all the usual methods - cold flannels, holding the bridge of your nose etc - but to no avail. After about an hour things were getting serious, and mum called the doctor out. He was an old (and therefore allowed to stay up late) chap called Dr. Fenton - when he examined me he said that I'd burst a blood vessel in my nose and that it would eventually stop and that I'd be 'ok in the morning'. I think it finally stopped after just over 2 hours. I still get nosebleeds today, in fact I had one earlier this week. Horrible things.

So - why am I telling you this? Well, by the time the nosebleed had stopped, 'Match Of The Day' was about to start on the television. This was a mythical programme to me as some of my school mates were allowed to stay up late enough to watch it, and they said that it was better than 'The Big Match' which was the Sunday afternoon football programme that I used to watch with great enthusiasm. Anyway because I was still awake (and feeling rather weird as I recall) I was allowed to watch 'Match Of The Day'. It was good, but not worth losing half of the blood in your body for.

I had another nosebleed on Friday morning. It was nearly 6 a.m. and once again I'd woken up thinking that my nose was running; it wasn't anywhere near as bad as the one I've described above but it was still pretty unpleasant. By the time it had stopped I realised I wasn't going to get back to sleep and so decided to go downstairs for a cup of coffee. After I'd made it I decided to put the telly on, which caused a moment of mild panic as the volume was quite high and I had to turn it down quickly so as not to wake anybody up. When the picture came on 'Columbo' was playing - strange, why is that on at this time of day? It's normally shown in the afternoon on one of those weird channels that never seem to work properly. You know the ones. When I was a lad I remember avidly watching 'Columbo' on television, where the scruffy little chap in the raincoat would outwit the bad guy every time. I loved the way that he'd zero in on the murderer, seeming to be naive or even stupid then wearing them down with his peculiar mannerisms and stories of his wife, or his cousin, or his wife's cousin, or Burt who serves him chili, then leaving the murderer (who therefore thought they'd got away with it) before reappearing with the words 'just one more thing...' when they thought they'd seen the last of him. Great stuff. I even enjoyed the later episodes although the '60s and '70s ones are still the best for me. It was and remains one of the best television series ever created, and as such it was sad to turn on Breakfast Television on Friday morning to see a clip of it being played, because that could only mean that Peter Falk had died. Shame.

Last night I depped in The Repertoire Dogs. I'd been looking forward to this gig since I got a call a while back from Good Old Boys / Ali Mac Band guitarist Simon Bishop, who asked me if I'd be interested in playing with said band. Well of course I would, not least because their regular guitarist is none other than Mick Ralphs. Yes, that Mick Ralphs, the bloke out of Mott The Hoople and Bad Company. Strange but true. Anyway not long after this I got a call from Nick the singer who explained the situation - Hud's on drums, Nigel's on bass, Freya and Ann are on vocals and it's a 50th birthday party somewhere near Harlow. 'Simon will go through the set with you as I'm not in the least bit musical' he said cheerily, before going on to be very disparaging about his own vocal abilities. He then revealed that he'd 'started the band for a bet' after going to a Bryan Adams concert with a friend - 'and here we are, 11 years later'. Like I say, I was looking forward to this one...

As we arrived in Hastingwood I realised that this was a rather different area to the one that The Price visited on numerous occasions when we used to play at The Square in Harlow. We're playing in a marquee in the garden - maybe that should be 'grounds' - of a rather large house, and the first thing we notice is that there's a generator humming rather noisily nearby. 'I bet that's a note that's just out of tune with us' says Nigel as we're setting up; we decide that if we play loudly enough then it won't matter. I'd only met Nigel briefly a couple of times before, he's just finished a tour with comedian Rich Hall (where he was known as Horst Furst II - excellent!) and plays regularly with Half A Meal Ticket among others. We run through a few beginnings, middles and ends before the guests start arriving, it's all sounding good and a fine evening is in prospect. There's an acoustic duo on before us, they've both seen us 'playing in local pubs' and really like our version of 'Don't Stop Believing'. No one in the band reacts although I expect they were all thinking roughly the same as me - 'perhaps there's another band with the same name around here then. And they must look like us as well...'

After a search for an appropriate lead Freya's iPod provides some background music as food and drink starts to appear; we're all sitting around a table near the marquee when a loud POP comes from with general direction of the marquee; the music stops, the lights go out and quite a few people make a noise along the lines of 'OOOOH!' Investigation reveals that someone behind the (makeshift) bar had plugged a fridge in, causing a current surge large enough to melt the extention cable. With people complaining that were no lights on in the portaloos things are unplugged, the generator turned back on and everything returns to normal.

We start 'Jumpin Jack Flash' at 9.15 to what might best be described as 'polite indifference' from all concerned - a shame as I thought we were sounding good. When someone comes up to me in the interval as says words to the effect of 'everyone's enjoying it, they're just not dancing' it makes me feel a bit better, and our second set gets a bit more of a reaction although there are no demands for an encore at the end. As we turn our amps off Nigel said 'well played that man' which means a lot to me coming from a player as good as he is; I think I did ok but a few of the songs were in unusual keys which threw me a bit - if I get chance to play with them again I'll make a better job of it. No really, I will. And it was a shame that the audience were a bit subdued as I really had been looking forward to the show. Oh well. You can't win 'em all. Unless you're Columbo of course. 'Oh sir, just one more thing...'