I was going
to start this blog entry with a warm welcome to anyone
reading this on MySpace. I figured, rather
pompously, that this may count as syndication, if it
were published in two places. As it turns out, it
won't be published on MySpace. You may have seen
on the front page of the blog, that we have been kicked
off that website, for infringing their Terms of
Service. I am still confused as to the
reason. They say that they have received a
credible complaint, but they don't say of what
nature. I assume that since there is no nudity or
sexually offensive material, they must be referring to
copyright infringement. Seeing as they left up the
3 mp3's of our live performances when they originally
warned us that we were in breach, I can only deduce that
their problem lies with the two pastiche photos of With
The Beatles and Beatles For Sale. We
have had no other complaints from any other
sources regarding these two images. The images are
NOT of the Beatles, so I don't see how they can
conflict with anybody's copyright. It's a mystery
that I will try to get to the bottom of. Maybe the
complaint has come from another band who are jealous of
the amount of hits we were receiving on the MySpace
site.
I have to admit that I am a tad pissed off about it
all. The MySpace site was a good way of networking
more people to be aware of our group, after all, that is
what the site is about.....promoting your band. I
am only trying to forge a living. I have no idea
how many people read this blog...well about half a dozen
for definite, so I guess it may all be a complete waste
of time from a promotion point of view.
Publication on MySpace, would have given perhaps a bit
more opportunity to find out, as people can respond to
posts on there. If anyone has a mind to do so, I
guess they could always use our message board.
Anyway.... that is my winge over with for the time
being.....on with the diary:
Summer is definitely here.....I can tell that because
the car's air conditioning system has decided to pack
in. Derek, myself, and a couple of flight cases on
the back seat, make a very sticky and unpleasant journey
south. The windows are open, the windscreen is
covered with bugs and the only saving grace for this
excursion is that the roads are free flowing and we
don't have to sit in any traffic jams.
When we arrive at the Beck, Dave, Ade, Roy and Eddie are
already there. We've traveled separately because
tomorrow we have to fly out to Denmark, with Ade and the
flight cases and we can't all fit in one vehicle.
This date was put in the diary quite late, to give us a
gig on the way to Stansted Airport, which is the only
economic way of getting to Esbjerg. The big
problem with this, is that we missed inclusion in the
Becks brochure which is mailed out to 25,000
people. I would like to think that this was the
largest factor in the poor ticket sales for this
show. Those that did come, seemed to really enjoy
themselves and they gave us a great reception.
Friday
9th June 06
Nord Als
Festival,
Nordborg, Denmark.
I'm not sure
if we vowed never to stay in a Travelodge again, but if
we did we broke it, and stayed in the damp beds at Brentwood.....hey
come on...we're on a budget!.
After a shower and a reasonable attempt to contain our
bewilderment that Eddie was up, dressed and out at the allotted
time, we set off on the 30 minute journey to Stansted.
Travelling from any UK airport these days is a stressful
affair. Never quite sure if you are heading for
the correct car park, and if the bus will get you back
to the terminal on time. Roy and I queued for a
ludicrous length of time to get through the security
control, and then met up with the others who were queuing
for a coffee.
It is just a
short flight across the North Sea, but long enough for
Derek, never shy about speaking his mind, to sell me the idea that if I get rid of a couple
of guitars then I will be able to afford some plastic
surgery. Thanks mate! Eddie casually asked Derek
where he got his trousers from, but Derek refused to let
him in on the information, feeling that Eddie had cloned
him enough in the apparel department.
We amused ourselves by getting Ade to take some band
photographs, while waiting for Fleming to pick us up
from the airport.
We were
collected from the Hotel at 7.00, to be taken to the
Festival for food. After the ritual of the
wristbands and the cringing explanation of who we were,
we were shown to the food tent, where we stuffed
ourselves with two different varieties of sausage, an
unidentifiable piece of very tasty meat and all the
trimmings. Dirk did his customary "wrap some up for
later" routine.
We found out that Slade were also on this Festival,
unfortunately we would miss them...they were playing
Saturday...what a bugger. Also on the bill were
The Jeff Healey
Band, Eddie was very excited about this!
We were hanging round the stage we would be performing
on later that night, watching the Lis Sørensen
Band. There was some back-line at the side of the
stage that had our name on it. I told Roy that we
had apparently been given our exact spec. Roy put his ear to
the tube case that contained the drums, and started
gently tapping and listening. "Hmmm......sounds
more like Yamaha than Ludwig" Of course, he
was joking and was pissing himself at the very idea that
ones ear could be so finely tuned as to recognise a drum
when it was in it's case. As it turned out...the
drums were Yamaha...all a bit spooky!
Our stage
time was not until 11.45 so we had time to go back to
the hotel, squeeze in a shave, a shower another photo
session and watch Life of Brian before the minibus
came back to pick us up.
The sound check was quite a hurried affair, and Dirk
was not at all happy with the monitors. The
back-line on the other hand was superb, the AC30 I'd
been given was the best I've ever had...I wanted to
take it home.
When we finally got on stage, there were only a few
punters in the audience as the other stage was just
finishing. After a couple of songs though, the
audience filled up nicely and we had a gig on our
hands. It was a shame that Eddie was plagued
with tuning problems during the show, but we made it
through.
The post gig wind down was very pleasant, if a little
hurried, with some ice cold lagers and hot sausage
being provided. We have to be up at 8 in the morning
for the 2 hour drive back to Esbjerg. Still, we couldn't
resist the temptation to stand at the edge of the lake
behind the hotel, soaking up the night-time serenity
and the distant sound of a cuckoo.....it was magical.
We are
leaving a bit early for the airport, as Fleming has to
go and pick up The Jeff Healey Band. (did I mention
them, already?) If all airports were like Esbjerg,
it would be a dream. We'd arrived before the
check-in actually opened, but the staff were so
friendly and helpful that they opened it for us
anyway. We were the only passengers in the
terminal. I'm liking Denmark more and more.
Friday
16th June 06
Alnwick
Playhouse, Alnwick.
The fastest
way to the North East from here is M62 - A1.... but we
got caught out with horrendous traffic on our last
journey to Whitley Bay, so we took the scenic option up
the M6 and across the A69.... a good move.
We've never been here before, but Alnwick looks like it
might have quite a lot to offer. There was no time
to explore, but we would like to come back and have a
proper nose round. There is a huge memorial column
on the way into the town, which I found out is known as
the Percy Tenantry
Column, apparently erected in 1816 as thanks to the
Duke of Northumberland for lowering tenant rents after
the Napoleonic Wars. (Well!.... we like all this sort
of stuff)
Eddie and I were in the dressing room when Roy entered
in a bad mood. It seems he had mislaid the ear
defenders, which he sticks in his lugs before he even
looks at a drum set. He was in a bit of a panic in
case he had lost them, they cost him best part of a
hundred nicker. A couple of phone calls confirmed
that he had left them at a session he played on in the
week. He left the dressing room with bits of wet
lavatory paper in his ears, and began beating shit out
of the Ludwig. "That's an angry sound
check" commented Eddie, thoughtfully cradling his
cup of tea.
The Playhouse is only quite a small venue, but it had
sold out. We always seem do well in such
situations. Give us a crowd and we will go down
well. With this in mind, we were quite relaxed
about the gig and really looking forward to playing.
The audience were fab, and really got into it. We
all enjoyed playing for them and I think it was one of
our better shows. The only problem came in the
second half, when my AC30 started behaving badly.
It flickered on and off during It's Only Love, and
completely gave up the ghost on Day Tripper. Dave
and I furiously struggled to get it going again and had
the emergency processor ready to DI into the PA.
Just as we are about to DI...the amp decided to play
ball again and fired back into life and caused no
further problems.
We stuck I've Got A Feeling back in the set
tonight. It's a song that doesn't get the best
response of the night, but we all love playing it and we
know that the die-hards really like it.
I'd just like to thank Steve at the Playhouse, who was
really very helpful and seems to run the place on his
own.
Sunday
18th June 06
Paul
McCartney,
18th June 1942
Birthday
Greetings....... difficult not to feel a
bit sad though....but I don't think I'll go into that.
Saturday
24th June 06
Holmewood
House School, Tunbridge Wells.
We've done
some pretty strange gigs in our time, and I can't say
that this was the strangest, but it is certainly up
there with the honourable mentions.
It is the perfect day for a garden party, no sign of
rain and not ridiculously hot. We arrive at
Holmewood House School to be greeted by one of the PTA
organisers, Lisa, who also claims responsibility for
coming up with this themed idea for the school's Diamond Jubilee
celebration. (that's 60 years for
those who don't know their wood from their crystal.)
Before we
go on stage, 6 groups of children perform 6 Beatle
songs in front of the stage. Perhaps this is
confirmation that these tunes will be timeless
pieces...well we thought that anyway....but when you
see hoards of primary school children be so
enthusiastic about them, it just rubber stamps
it. Pop music! was it ever meant to have this
longevity?
It was
dark when we began our second set, and I think a few
bed-times had been exceeded. There was lots of
enthusiasm from the kids, and it was amazing to see
how many of them knew all the words to the songs.
I'm sure Roy could have done without the firework
display at the end, but it was pretty
spectacular. All in all, a very enjoyable day.
Wednesday
28th June 06
Grosvenor
House, London.
I'd
forgotten my car was due for a MOT, so I had the
annoying inconvenience of having to hire a car to get
down to London.
It's Derek's Birthday
today. We didn't exactly go wild with the
celebrations, but "Many happy returns mate" is
about all we expect from each other...and
sometimes....not even that. Miserable bastards
that we are!
Trying to time our arrival time in London to just after 6.30 to
avoid the congestion charge, we stop at Oxford
Services. It was here that Eddie had a bit of an
incident with the Pick'n'Mix sweets. Somehow,
those Pick'n'Mix look like they are going to be quite
cheap, but once Eddie had loaded up his bag with cola
bottles, white mice and the like, his bill came to about
£8. There was no way Eddie was about to part with
that sort of money and who would blame him. We
left the shop leaving him to start again and be a bit
more selective in his choice.
This is the first of four engagements for us at the
Grosvenor House this summer, all for the same
client. We did these last year as well, and they
were all good shows. Tonight was no different to
last year, a room full of Americans, who were very
responsive to our set.
Friday
30th June 06
Theatre
Brycheiniog, Brecon.
Last time we
came to these parts it was in 6 inches of snow, so the
scene outside the theatre was a total contrast
today. Dave had arrived without Ade and so was
busy completing the set-up, while Dirk and I sat out by
the canal enjoying a refreshing beverage.
There wasn't much time for a sound check, as one of the
monitor speakers had gone down and most of the time was
taken up with fixing that before the doors opened at
7.30.
The show was really quite good from our end. We
played well and the whole thing felt very tight,
although Roy wasn't to keen on it for some reason.
Eddie surprised us all with a solo rendition of Baby
It's You instead of his usual song.
I'm not sure exactly what happened after the last
song. We left the stage after the bow at the end
of Get Back...and waited in the wings to go back on for
an encore. Either we had really left the audience
disappointed, and they all just wanted to go home, or we
had grossly mis-read the situation and they wanted us to
come back for another song. Whichever it was, we
felt a bit stupid going back on stage
when the applause
died away so quickly...so we just looked at each other
with a "what the f...?" expression....and
decided to head for the dressing rooms, wondering what
we had done wrong!
Some great pics. and
videos from
Ash!! - More on the Message Board.
