It's been a hectic few weeks, hence the silence on here - but the band has been back on the road, and is going abroad this weekend, so probably time to update you all!
Following the Millstone debacle, we retired to lick our collective wounds, and were back in action last week - twice in fact! Thursday evening saw us take on the challenge of the A6 and head for the Masonic Guildhall in Stockport where the Johnnie Johnson Housing Association were celebrating thier 40th birthday! Now, the older readers amongst you will remember Johnnie Johnson when he had a bandwagon and was "Breaking down the Walls of Heartache" - spookily that was in 1969, so he obviously absconded with the takings from his chart success, and started building up the walls of houses! What do you mean, it wasn't the same man - not the man who recorded the classic "Blame it On The Pony Express"? I don't believe it!!
Anyway, Johnnie's people had been hard at it celebrating all day but, even so, some of them managed to strut their stuff on the dance floor, and by the time we finished at 11:30, I think we were all ready for a bit of kip! Good result for us, because we normally practice on a Thursday night (yes, that's right, we DO practice!) and we rarely finish before 12:30am - so a relatively early night!
Saturday night saw us back at our old stomping ground - The Old Ship Inn on Beech Lane in Macc! It was actually our first gig there this year, which is astounding but, once we had got over the shock of there only being one fire roaring in the grate (instead of the usual 2!), we soon settled into the old routine. There are some standing jokes about our gigs at the Ship like "Will we be paid?" "There's free beer for the band, but only while you are playing!" and others - oh, how we laugh! Having said that it's always a great night, and Saturday was no exception. As ever, the crowd swelled as the evening went on; Matt had brought a huge entourage with him - celebrating Sarah's birthday and, although none of them looked over 30, we were so pleased that they stayed the whole night, and didn't seem to grimace or put their fingers in their ears once! We gave a debut to the Kasabian favourite "Fire" and it went down really well (only 1 line forgotten!), so that will stay in the set. At Andy's insistence, we also did "Teenagers" by My Chemical Romance! Those of you who are familiar with this song, will know it is not one that you would immediately associate with D&C but, who knows, we might do it again - the line "All teenagers scare the living s**t out of me" resonates with some of us older folks, that's for sure!
An added bonus was that Matt from Canalside Community Radio in Bollington was at the gig and was (I quote) "blown away" by our set! He has asked us to go in and do an acoustic set for them one Wednesday evening and, although an "acoustic" set will be a challenge for us (probably means smaller amps!) we'll keep you posted - probably have to hang Hugh's drums from the ceiling! Who knows - Bollington community radio today, Radio 4 tomorrow?!
This weekend sees us leaving the country; well, I guess it's not exactly abroad - Wales actually! We are heading for the baronial splendour of Ruthin Castle in Denbighshire (see the photo at the top of this post) to play at the wedding of Terry and Lenny (or Andy, depending on how well you know him!). The band will be arriving from various locations, so the first challenge is to get everybody in the right place at the right time - and, with our track record, that is a REAL challenge! Anyway, we'll see how it goes, and report back here - assuming we survive!
Next gig is 14 November - back the Nag's Head! We'll probably pop round the corner and say hello to the landlord of the Millstone, while we're there!
