WELSH WALES AWAITS!

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!

THE MILLSTONE - WHERE DO WE START??

I guess the answer to the question above is - nowhere! We turned up quite prepared to play, but ran into a little bit of landlord trouble! Now, having consulted libel lawyers, I have to be very careful what I write here, so let me try and summarise the situation by asking you all a series of multiple choice questions - which, when you have answered them, might help you to understand the frustration we felt last night!

Question 1: If you were to contact a band and agree a date for said band to play (presumably having written it in your diary with a contact name and number) would you:
a) expect the band to turn up on the agreed date and play a gig
b) expect the band to be really unsure whether the gig was going to go ahead, and continually contact you to check that the agreed date was still valid
c) assume that the band were not going to appear

Question 2: If you wanted posters or flyers advertising the band would you:
a) contact the band and ask them to send you some
b) assume the band are psychic, realise that you don't publicise the entertainment you are providing, and send you publicity material to save you looking completely inept
c) rely on the spooky vibes that pervade Macclesfield to draw everyone to your pub when the mighty D&C are due to play

Question 3: If you "lost" the contact number for the band (i.e. the one you used to get in touch with them in the first place) would you:
a) Google "Dazed and Confused" to see if there was a website through which you could contact the band.
b) Go next door to the Nag's Head (where the band have played twice) to get a contact number.
c) Sit on your arse until the band turns up and then say "we didn't think you were coming"

Question 4: If the band turned up anyway (even though you assumed they weren't coming, although you had booked them in and they hadn't said they weren't) and said they were prepared to play, would you:
a) say "No, there is no point, because there will be nobody in" (!)
b) take a punt and say "OK, but if nobody comes in, you won't get paid"
c) say "What's the point, nobody likes you anyway!"

You might have gathered by now that last night's gig didn't happen - the answers to the above questions used by mein host at the Millstone were:

Question 1: c (surely when you book somebody you assume they will turn up?)
Question 2: b - "why would we ask for publicity material, bands just send it to us?" - excuse me, the Nag's Head (next door!) publicise all their bands on a board outside and ask for posters - how amateurish!
Question 3: c (even more bizarre as they contacted us in the first place - presumably they got our number from somewhere then?)
Question 4: a - I'm speechless - especially as we had people coming from all over to see us! In fact Kip at The Baths Hotel told me today that he was extremely grateful to us for not playing as he had a pub full of people who went there when they found out we were not on at the The Millstone!

So -we had a quiet night! We did attempt to find another gig - The Ship were reluctant to evict the band that were booked at short notice (poor form, I thought!) and we decided that hawking ourselves around other venues, like cheap whores, at 7:30pm on a Saturday night would not do our street cred any good at all, so we went home! I can only apologise to everyone who was coming to see us - Dominic and Keda came all the way from Chester (and Surrey actually!) to see us, and went away disappointed! Matt said he had 20 or 30 people coming, and I know that even people who yearned to be there, but couldn't, were ticked off that we didn't play! One thing that is sure is that the Dazed & Confused Massive (check out Facebook!) will be giving The Millstone a wide berth in future!

Onwards and upwards! Next official gig is on 15 October, but we will try and slip something in earlier - in fact, we're doing one of those "secret" gigs this Thursday - can't publicise it because the venue would be overcrowded!

In the interest of trying to remain positive in the face of adversity, the only other things I will say in this posting are:

1. The rest of the weekend was surprisingly good (nice weather and everything)!
2. City were robbed! Just explain to me how a team can score a goal after 95 minutes and 27 seconds when there is only 4 minutes added time????

CARRIED AWAY BY PORTERS!!

The summer certainly dragged - must have been those long hot evenings, you remember them! Anyway, that's all behind us now, and the first gig of the Autumn term took place last Saturday in Porter's Ale House (aka The Prince of Wales) on Roe Street in Macclesfield. This fine hostelry was taken over recently by Michelle (aka Sue!) and John, and our appearance was their first foray into real live music - a tactic that could be interpreted as a master stroke or gross folly, depending on which way you look at it!

We haven't played for nearly 8 weeks, as anyone listening to our practice on Thursday night would have easily guessed, so we were a little concerned about how things would go! It put me a bit in mind of the Morecambe & Wise sketch with Andre Previn - we knew we could play all the notes, but not necessarily in the right order! Add to that the fact that Paul & Chrissie have trouble remembering the lyrics to some of the songs at the best of times, and things could really have gone mammus verticus if we hadn't been careful!

There were only 5 of us on Saturday as, guess what - yep, Dave was on holiday! He was floating around in a becalmed sort of way, in the Irish Sea when we took the stage, and it was probably just as well because if he had been there, one of us would have had to sit on Hugh's knee (not a pleasant thought for either party!) or suspend themself from the ceiling - space was at a premium!

Notwithstanding all these potential banana skins, and buoyed by Manchester City's great win against Arsenal, we went for it with our usual vim and vigour (what a quaint little phrase that is!). The pub was packed, and amongst the familiar faces, there were Terry & Lenny whose wedding we are playing in October (think they wanted to make sure we were still alive!), and we were also being checked out by another gentleman who has booked us for a 40th birthday party also in October - although this particular party is for an organisation, not a person (which is a first for us!)! Added to this were Stella and Andy, who must now hold the record for D&C followers as they came all the way from Doncaster just to see us - we really appreciate it, especially as Andy helped to pack up the gear on Sunday morning!!

The gig seemed to go well - everyone was up and bopping, and Michelle has even asked us to come back and play on the Saturday before Christmas, which should be a riot (not literally, of course)!

Now we've got the taste for it, we're going to go out again next Saturday - to The Millstone at Water's Green! This will be another first for us and, assuming that Dave has managed to catch a bit of wind (never usually a problem for him!) and Chrissie has not drunk herself to oblivion in Puerto Banus (keep her in check, Pete!) we should have a full complement - so get yourselves down there for another night of fun and frivolity - as ever we'd be delighted to see you!

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!

Dear reader - so sorry for the delay in placing this report - access to computers has been at a premium over the last couple of weeks - in fact I've missed a number of things - except the rain, of course!!
The gig at the Nag's was another great night - as usual there was a late start,which enabled the band to get fed and watered beforehand, and the crowd to gather. Andy did the set list again and, for some reason left out heavy rock numbers like Moondance and Ticket to Ride - can't think why! We did toy with the idea of including our Michael Jackson tribute (Beat It) for the first time but, as Paul and Chrissie had both failed to master the lyrics by the night, discretion got the better of valour and we went with Hey Joe instead (not a lot of difference!).
By the time we went on for the second set at 11:15 the place was jumping again, and by the time we came off at 12:45, the crowd were almost as sweaty as us (although it had thinned out a bit, probably as people caught their boats home!). By the time we had wrapped up, it was about 1:40 and the rainy walk up Buxton Road, although not very rock and roll, was actually quite pleasant!
So, we are on our summer break at the moment, and we kick off again in September with a possible private gig at the Windmill on the 5th and then a debut appearance on Saturday 12 September at Porters (The Prince of Wales) on Roe Street in Macclesfield. In fact, I think it's probably the first time any band has played there, so we're hoping for a bumper crowd to celebrate this.
We'll be looking to put several more gigs in for the Autumn and Winter, so keep checking the gig list on the right hand side of this page and, of course, we will be using the medium of Facebook to advertise our whereabouts as well - so if you are a Facebookie keep your eyes skinned!

AT LEAST THEY HAVE SPELT US RIGHT THIS TIME!!

Next Saturday, Nag's Head - it was February when we played there last and it's difficult to believe that 5 months have gone - but they say that absence makes the heart grow fonder and, although I don't always believe it myself, we will put it to the test on Saturday!

What is good is that the NH have spelt our name right on the board outside the pub (those of you with good memories will recall that we were Daze and Conused last time out!), although we do seem to be in a slightly smaller font than some of the others!

Whatever, we are looking forward to playing the Nag's again - last time was a complete blast and, although many of our Facebook pals have not yet said they are coming (playing hard to get, I think!) we are expecting a great crowd to turn out - Paul's sister is coming over from Doncaster with Andy, who is a rock god in his own right, so no pressure!

The last week has seen us recovering from Andy's party, practising on Wednesday night and then playing at Omar & Laura's wedding on Friday night. This event took place at Sandhole Farm near Congleton, and a more perfect setting would be difficult to find. The venue was checked out a few weeks ago, and that was really nice, and the ambience, crowd participation and general bonhomie on Friday was magnificent! The fact that we were able to finish at 11:10pm to allow Andy to make a quick exit for his "civil partnership" appointment in Ipswich was an added bonus (not his, oh it's difficult to explain here!)

So, we will be in full force next Saturday, and then it's a break over the rest of July and August while we have some holiday (not Dave of course!) - we will all try to keep in touch, cos it's not nice to be away from friends!

THE ROCK GOD IS 40!!

Big night tonight - cos it's Andy's 4oth Birthday Party! Yes his age has finally caught up with his hair, and we'll be celebrating it in style!

It's to be hoped that, having reached this estimable age, Andy will now realise that he's supposed to go to bed before 3:00am on at least some days of the week, if he intends to reach 50 (which he probably doesn't!) - live fast, die young is his motto (well, middle aged!).

Last weekend saw us out on the road twice - Friday night at AstraZeneca to bid farewell to a group of folks who are moving on to pastures new, and Saturday night at the Congleton Beer Festival.

Friday was a good night, even if the first set felt like we were playing to people in the next county, as everyone was gathered round the bar! However, a few brave ladies eventually led the gathering to the tables, and there were even people dancing by the end! Sex on Fire and Ever Fallen in Love got their baptisms at the gig and seemed to go down well! Apparently Dave is a dead ringer for Louis Walsh as well - who would have thought it!

So, on to Saturday, and the Congleton BF. Seasoned readers of this twaddle will know that this was the 3rd year we'd been asked to play, and it is always fun - this year turned out to be no different, for a number of reasons!

When we arrived, Nigel (the beer man) said he was convinced that the beer would run out because, due to the nice weather, they had 500 people turn up for the afternoon session, all of them drinking for England! Nigel's view was that, if they ran out it was fine, but we were a bit concerned that, if it ran dry at 9:00pm, it would make for a very quiet second set for us!

However, all worked out well - the beer lasted till the end, the crowd became more and more friendly! Once the punters realised that there wasn't a crocodile infested pond between them and us, the madness began and the night finished on a real high with 3 encores (Delilah almost bringing the marquee down!)!

As ever, the evening was not without its comic moments, the supreme one (in addition to Paul falling all over the stage when he tried to jump on it!) was when an esteemed Round Tabler approached the stage, just as we were building to our big finish, and asked if he could read the raffle prize winners out! Of course, we obliged, thinking it would only be a couple - 21 prizes later he left the stage - we were fully expecting the bingo caller to appear next! It was a bit like coitus interruptus (I believe!)!!

We're expecting some photos from the BF to be posted on Flickr anytime and, when they are, we will post a link on here; in the meantime, here's a link to some video clips from the gig at the Windmill in May - they are only short, but Pete Robinson did a sterling job, and there may be some more from the Nag's Head gig later in the month (more on that to come soon).

Next gig is a wedding next Friday - let's hope the weather's nice again, and we've even had 2 bookings for next April - good God!

ANOTHER BIG WEEKEND IN STORE!

After a couple of weeks of "rest", we're gearing ourselves up for a great weekend - 2 gigs to come, and some good weather to go with it! We've spent the last couple of weeks playing with new choons, and some of them will undoubtedly get an airing in the next few days - obviously not going to say what they are, cos that would spoil the fun - suffice it to say that, in the true D&C style, they will be mainly up tempo, and familiar to most, if not all, of the crowds.

So to this weekend's gigs - Friday sees us at a private gig for AstraZeneca - a nice "loosener" for Saturday, and an opportunity for some of Paul's work colleagues to see what he gets up to in his spare time! Some of them have been threatening to come and see us for ages - let's just hope they are not disappointed! Should be a really good night - it's a leaving party for about 12 people, so I suspect spirits will be high!

Saturday sees the D&C caravan pitching up (for the 3rd successive year) at Hankinson's Field near the Leisure Centre in Congleton for the Round Table's Summer Beer Festival! This is an event that goes from strength to strength and, this year, there will be over 60 ales to sample, and they are expecting 750 or so people on what promises to be a warm and sunny evening so, if you fancy some good beer and great music (2 sets worth!), get yourselves along! The last 2 years have seen a really good atmosphere develop, and the crowds have been fantastic - never being slow to join with singing and dancing - let's hope this year is the same.

To get you in the mood, here's some photos from last year's event, and a map of how to find the "big tent"!

Congleton Beer Festival photos

Map of Beer Festival location