March 25, 2008 at 10:13am
yo.
hope you all had a good easter weekend? ours was a very restful one, no gigs since thursday night at the crown near telford.
ace venue. only small, but a pretty good sound, an audience who are actually there to listen to the music and the ale is probably the best for miles - at the risk of sounding stereotypically northern, a fookin crackin pint of mild! but yeh seriously, a very well kept public house, so hats off to John the gaffer and everyone there at the crown.
we were joined for the last time in march by our dear friends Fola, who played a flawless set [for once ;-)] and went down a storm.
tcf's of course played a blinder also, and it was nice to have a couple of hippies jigging about in front of us, kept me entertained anyway. i believe there is footage of said occurrence so i will endeavour to hunt down the pics...
and following the gig we all adjourned to the curry house next door for a nice slap-up... what more can you ask for?!
last gig of march is @ oggy's bar in hanley on saturday - a new one for us so should be interesting, just don't expect to see any posters for it. 'nuff said...
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
Monday, 17 March 2008
the future, is untrodden ground...
March 17, 2008 at 2:30pm
or: 'pauly's marijuana loop'...
man, what a crazy few days, i hope y'all had a good st patricks weekend of gigs and stuff, i think it's safe to say we had a blast...
i'll try to avoid making this too long a post but there's a hell of a lot to report. i guess i have to start at the middle of last week, and my conversation/interview with podcaster extraordinaire and all round good egg, mr Dave Coroner. Which of course, while it was an absolute pleasure and privelege to do, i must apologise in advance for subjecting you all to my, frankly, utterly inane ramblings, eg "the future, is untrodden ground", come on pauly, what the hell is coming out of your mouth son?. However, our boy Dave has done a hell of a job in the edit room and i come across as only half as twattish as i actually am in real life so, jobs a good 'un! But, i have to say on behalf of us all, a huge and heartfelt thanks to Dave, Keith and everybody on the ukm/unsigned chart team not only for having us, but for always being there bigging us up...
so. thursday night we headed down to the boars head tap house in kidderminster, a venue which we simply love playing - if you ever get the chance, you gotta check it out and i guarantee you won't be disappointed. Joined by our good friends Andy and Kate from Fola, who played a bostin' set and then i think we finished the night off in relatively fine style. massive thanks to the gaffer Andy and all the team - we love yers!
friday night... i think the bridgecross club in burntwood is the only remaining 'folk club' type set-up that we still do; because, frankly, it's one of the only remaining 'folk club' type set-up's in the midlands area that is actually worth doing. Barry, the organiser is a very dear friend and has been a jugopunch/clay faces supporter through thick and thin, so it's always a pleasure to play for the burntwood audience who are simply a cracking bunch and we always appreciate their tolerance of us! joined once again as we were by our 'paddy's-period-sidekicks' Fola [great gig Andy, well done], and a good night was had by hopefully, all.
then the madness began in earnest. Saturday afternoon i headed down to stoke station to meet the legendary mr Ray Heffernan; and following a couple of beers and a chin-wag, headed up to the tytherington club, macclesfield. and a great gig by the cf's and the heff, though unfortunately the room had been set up in such a way that we were unable to make any kind of contact with the audience. there was a perfectly reasonable, natural stage area in one corner, where someone had seen fit to place a large table, meaning the bands were shunted up to the opposite corner, playing to two huge concrete pillars and about 20 feet away from the audience. which was a shame, but you just put it down to experience hey? big thanks to Bryn and Faith for the lift, way above and beyond the call of duty.
but, shit, we made up for it on the sunday.
meself and the heffster strolled down to the brown jug in newcastle, about 4 o clock, did a quick set-up, by which time individuals carrying various instruments were turning up and what ensued was an afternoon/evening showcase of some great local acoustic talent. compered by my boy mark bailey aka the trent vale poet, i think the running order was something like: our buddy Bryn, and his ukelele with a superb opening set, followed by James, one time jugopunch mascot and now all grown up and purveying some fine pink floyd and christy moore covers, followed by our very own crazy davey walker - you should check out dave's myspace, some cracking tunes - head over and listen to 'maybe i'm a fool' and come back to me and tell me that it's not a 'CHOOOON'!; followed by uncle Scotty, doing his fantastic dylan-meets-moore, dulcet belfast style tunes, brilliant; followed and wrapped up by the frighteningly talented mr mark murphy-burke. more on that man in a separate post to follow very soon.
so, come 8 o clock-ish and the first of the bands. A thousand wild flowers kicked off the nights line-up, i think if i do say so meself, i got their sound sweet as a nut and boy these guys put on an impressive show, check 'em.
Fola were next up, and what can i say? belting gig guys really, a cracking show.
cometh the hour, cometh the heff. i was so glad, particularly following saturdays apathetic crowd, that Ray got such a great reception from the brown jug audience, and he didn't disappoint them. a deadly set, great tunes, a big shit-eatin grin on his face and yeah, thats what it's all about. i can't big the guy up enough man, and can't wait for his next visit.
all's i have to do now is persuade him to ditch his bloody facebook profile in favour of getting an RH page going on this very website. a campaign that also ties in with my mission to get Dave Coroner to play some of his own stuff on the podcast; two righteous causes which i'm sure all of us in the unsigned chart family will welcome and support?
oh but yeah, anyway, we finished the night off and were spectacular as always.
massive massive thank you's go to: Nigel and staff at the jug, all our buddies and everyone at the jug gig, everyone, staff and punters alike at the boars head tap house, kidderminster; Barry et al and the crowd at bridgcross club, the trent vale poet, a thousand wild flowers and their crew, Andy and Kate, Bryn, Scotty, James, Mark MB, and anyone who i've forgotten to mention.
and a very happy st patrick's day to all of you reading this!
hare hare krishna
or: 'pauly's marijuana loop'...
man, what a crazy few days, i hope y'all had a good st patricks weekend of gigs and stuff, i think it's safe to say we had a blast...
i'll try to avoid making this too long a post but there's a hell of a lot to report. i guess i have to start at the middle of last week, and my conversation/interview with podcaster extraordinaire and all round good egg, mr Dave Coroner. Which of course, while it was an absolute pleasure and privelege to do, i must apologise in advance for subjecting you all to my, frankly, utterly inane ramblings, eg "the future, is untrodden ground", come on pauly, what the hell is coming out of your mouth son?. However, our boy Dave has done a hell of a job in the edit room and i come across as only half as twattish as i actually am in real life so, jobs a good 'un! But, i have to say on behalf of us all, a huge and heartfelt thanks to Dave, Keith and everybody on the ukm/unsigned chart team not only for having us, but for always being there bigging us up...
so. thursday night we headed down to the boars head tap house in kidderminster, a venue which we simply love playing - if you ever get the chance, you gotta check it out and i guarantee you won't be disappointed. Joined by our good friends Andy and Kate from Fola, who played a bostin' set and then i think we finished the night off in relatively fine style. massive thanks to the gaffer Andy and all the team - we love yers!
friday night... i think the bridgecross club in burntwood is the only remaining 'folk club' type set-up that we still do; because, frankly, it's one of the only remaining 'folk club' type set-up's in the midlands area that is actually worth doing. Barry, the organiser is a very dear friend and has been a jugopunch/clay faces supporter through thick and thin, so it's always a pleasure to play for the burntwood audience who are simply a cracking bunch and we always appreciate their tolerance of us! joined once again as we were by our 'paddy's-period-sidekicks' Fola [great gig Andy, well done], and a good night was had by hopefully, all.
then the madness began in earnest. Saturday afternoon i headed down to stoke station to meet the legendary mr Ray Heffernan; and following a couple of beers and a chin-wag, headed up to the tytherington club, macclesfield. and a great gig by the cf's and the heff, though unfortunately the room had been set up in such a way that we were unable to make any kind of contact with the audience. there was a perfectly reasonable, natural stage area in one corner, where someone had seen fit to place a large table, meaning the bands were shunted up to the opposite corner, playing to two huge concrete pillars and about 20 feet away from the audience. which was a shame, but you just put it down to experience hey? big thanks to Bryn and Faith for the lift, way above and beyond the call of duty.
but, shit, we made up for it on the sunday.
meself and the heffster strolled down to the brown jug in newcastle, about 4 o clock, did a quick set-up, by which time individuals carrying various instruments were turning up and what ensued was an afternoon/evening showcase of some great local acoustic talent. compered by my boy mark bailey aka the trent vale poet, i think the running order was something like: our buddy Bryn, and his ukelele with a superb opening set, followed by James, one time jugopunch mascot and now all grown up and purveying some fine pink floyd and christy moore covers, followed by our very own crazy davey walker - you should check out dave's myspace, some cracking tunes - head over and listen to 'maybe i'm a fool' and come back to me and tell me that it's not a 'CHOOOON'!; followed by uncle Scotty, doing his fantastic dylan-meets-moore, dulcet belfast style tunes, brilliant; followed and wrapped up by the frighteningly talented mr mark murphy-burke. more on that man in a separate post to follow very soon.
so, come 8 o clock-ish and the first of the bands. A thousand wild flowers kicked off the nights line-up, i think if i do say so meself, i got their sound sweet as a nut and boy these guys put on an impressive show, check 'em.
Fola were next up, and what can i say? belting gig guys really, a cracking show.
cometh the hour, cometh the heff. i was so glad, particularly following saturdays apathetic crowd, that Ray got such a great reception from the brown jug audience, and he didn't disappoint them. a deadly set, great tunes, a big shit-eatin grin on his face and yeah, thats what it's all about. i can't big the guy up enough man, and can't wait for his next visit.
all's i have to do now is persuade him to ditch his bloody facebook profile in favour of getting an RH page going on this very website. a campaign that also ties in with my mission to get Dave Coroner to play some of his own stuff on the podcast; two righteous causes which i'm sure all of us in the unsigned chart family will welcome and support?
oh but yeah, anyway, we finished the night off and were spectacular as always.
massive massive thank you's go to: Nigel and staff at the jug, all our buddies and everyone at the jug gig, everyone, staff and punters alike at the boars head tap house, kidderminster; Barry et al and the crowd at bridgcross club, the trent vale poet, a thousand wild flowers and their crew, Andy and Kate, Bryn, Scotty, James, Mark MB, and anyone who i've forgotten to mention.
and a very happy st patrick's day to all of you reading this!
hare hare krishna
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Land of the Tall, home of the Ass, voice of a Turkey...
March 12, 2008 at 12:51pm
yup, so another busy weekend comes and goes in the blink of an eye and, by the time i get round to writing this short post, another gig is looming and we find ourselves topping the unsigned chart once again.
exciting times!
i'm also sitting here practicing my telephone voice in preparation for my interview with our mutual friend Dave Coroner for inclusion on the next UKM podcast. should have thunked about some elecution lessons - i'm trying to iron out my dulcet stokey tones into some semblance of understandable english, only to end up sounding like robbie williams with a mouthful of treacle. ah well, should be fun.
so anyway yeah, the weekend's gigs were a blur, as is my recollection of them - saturday at the Swan in Stone turned out to coincide with the Staffordshire Tall Persons Society AGM. which was nice. i'm pushing 6'3" myself but hell, i didnt get a look in. seriously, what are they putting in the water there in Stone? anyway, pretty good gig although i'm informed that A.] the sound/acoustics in there is a little on the nasty side and, B.] the tall people were distracting the audience
never mind...
big shout and respect must go to Gaz Birtles, the man behind the song club and other great events held at the donkey in leicester. It was a pleasure to be involved in one of the thursday night song club sessions a couple months back, and a great honour to return for our own gig on sunday. anyone catch the webcast? no? good!
check out the song club etc here
peace y'all!
yup, so another busy weekend comes and goes in the blink of an eye and, by the time i get round to writing this short post, another gig is looming and we find ourselves topping the unsigned chart once again.
exciting times!
i'm also sitting here practicing my telephone voice in preparation for my interview with our mutual friend Dave Coroner for inclusion on the next UKM podcast. should have thunked about some elecution lessons - i'm trying to iron out my dulcet stokey tones into some semblance of understandable english, only to end up sounding like robbie williams with a mouthful of treacle. ah well, should be fun.
so anyway yeah, the weekend's gigs were a blur, as is my recollection of them - saturday at the Swan in Stone turned out to coincide with the Staffordshire Tall Persons Society AGM. which was nice. i'm pushing 6'3" myself but hell, i didnt get a look in. seriously, what are they putting in the water there in Stone? anyway, pretty good gig although i'm informed that A.] the sound/acoustics in there is a little on the nasty side and, B.] the tall people were distracting the audience
never mind...
big shout and respect must go to Gaz Birtles, the man behind the song club and other great events held at the donkey in leicester. It was a pleasure to be involved in one of the thursday night song club sessions a couple months back, and a great honour to return for our own gig on sunday. anyone catch the webcast? no? good!
check out the song club etc here
peace y'all!
Friday, 7 March 2008
dart-throwin, punk-rockin son of a gun...
March 7, 2008 at 10:44am
NO TRACKSUIT BOTTOMS!
reads the sign on the door of the imperial hotel in the forgotten town of crewe. anyone who's spent any time in crewe in recent years will appreciate what a bold decision that is for a pub to make. in days of yore, crewe was englands railway nerve centre, the central hub for travellers heading north, south, east and west. those days are gone and nowadays you could be forgiven for thinking that, for it's next claim to fame, crewe is vying for the position of 'chav-opolis'. however, i think you'd be wrong...
though, understandably, the last time we played at 'the imp' it was to a room of around a dozen people. last night however, proved that the "no trackies" stance has paid off. a pretty good turn-out for a week night in crewe, with an audience who defied any kind of demographic pigeon-holing. from punks to oap's to what appeared to be a contingent of fraggles, and not a burberry cap in sight. so fair play to the management and staff of the imp for sticking at it - in a time where venues are closing left, right and centre, i can see this place going from strength to strength.
so yeah, a rather spiffing gig was enjoyed by both band and audience. so cheers to the peeps at the imp for having us and we'll look forward to returning in the not too distant future.
www.myspace.com/theimpcrewe
next post will be following saturdays gig at the swan in stone, from where our annual st paddy's week of madness will begin in earnest...
hare krishna
NO TRACKSUIT BOTTOMS!
reads the sign on the door of the imperial hotel in the forgotten town of crewe. anyone who's spent any time in crewe in recent years will appreciate what a bold decision that is for a pub to make. in days of yore, crewe was englands railway nerve centre, the central hub for travellers heading north, south, east and west. those days are gone and nowadays you could be forgiven for thinking that, for it's next claim to fame, crewe is vying for the position of 'chav-opolis'. however, i think you'd be wrong...
though, understandably, the last time we played at 'the imp' it was to a room of around a dozen people. last night however, proved that the "no trackies" stance has paid off. a pretty good turn-out for a week night in crewe, with an audience who defied any kind of demographic pigeon-holing. from punks to oap's to what appeared to be a contingent of fraggles, and not a burberry cap in sight. so fair play to the management and staff of the imp for sticking at it - in a time where venues are closing left, right and centre, i can see this place going from strength to strength.
so yeah, a rather spiffing gig was enjoyed by both band and audience. so cheers to the peeps at the imp for having us and we'll look forward to returning in the not too distant future.
www.myspace.com/theimpcrewe
next post will be following saturdays gig at the swan in stone, from where our annual st paddy's week of madness will begin in earnest...
hare krishna
Monday, 3 March 2008
gigadee gigadee goo
March 3, 2008 at 9:22am
thought this might be as good a place as any to keep a regular gig diary, 'specially seeing as from here on in, the calendar is pretty full with some interesting stuff
saturday we were up the road in cheshire at a great little country boozer called the fox inn. a couple years ago we played the wedding of the landlord and landlady, so was nice to return and see that they are doing well. good little gig and some very kind comments from a disconcertingly knowledgable audience. so aye, a good night.
sunday night we were up at the sugarmill in hanley supporting 3 daft monkeys who, as well as being lovely people, put on a marvellous show for the stokey punters. massive thanks to all our crowd who came along - we do appreciate it as we know our buddies can see us week-in-week-out for free around the local area so yeah - a big thanks for shelling out the ticket money and coming along to support us.
also a shout to geordie nick for throwing the gig our way, and the sound crew for being the most efficient bunch i've come across [ahem] at a venue like that for quite some time...
best of luck to the monkeys on the remainder of the tour...
thought this might be as good a place as any to keep a regular gig diary, 'specially seeing as from here on in, the calendar is pretty full with some interesting stuff
saturday we were up the road in cheshire at a great little country boozer called the fox inn. a couple years ago we played the wedding of the landlord and landlady, so was nice to return and see that they are doing well. good little gig and some very kind comments from a disconcertingly knowledgable audience. so aye, a good night.
sunday night we were up at the sugarmill in hanley supporting 3 daft monkeys who, as well as being lovely people, put on a marvellous show for the stokey punters. massive thanks to all our crowd who came along - we do appreciate it as we know our buddies can see us week-in-week-out for free around the local area so yeah - a big thanks for shelling out the ticket money and coming along to support us.
also a shout to geordie nick for throwing the gig our way, and the sound crew for being the most efficient bunch i've come across [ahem] at a venue like that for quite some time...
best of luck to the monkeys on the remainder of the tour...
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