WE ARE SAILING.......AGAIN!!

Thursday night sees us back at The Jolly Sailor - practice night for us, but we'll try not to practice too much!

Some new numbers to try - as ever, they're not really new - just new to us! They might include "Tobacco Road", "Substitute" and even "Wishing Well" that rose from the grave like Lazarus at last week's practice - Matt and Andy haven't done this with us, so it sounds quite fresh!

Saturday night at The Chain & Gate was a reasonably good night, although only about half of the expected 200 people turned up - Ian and Dawn also have a huge dance floor, which is a big expanse to play across when nobody's dancing! We did get home for 1:00am (which, of course, immediately became 2:00am!), so bleary eyes all round on Sunday morning!

After this gig, we'll probably have a rest, so that we can put in some quality rehearsal time for the Beer Festival - only a month to go, so we need it! We will have done 7 gigs already this year, which is something of a record, considering we normally work on doing one a month!

BEER FESTIVAL SEASON APPROACHES!

The clocks go forward tonight and, as well as it meaning that we get almost no sleep at all, because we're playing at The Chain & Gate for the official opening of their new "Function Room" and probably won't get home until 2:00am (which will actually be 3:00am!), it also means that summer is rapidly approaching, and that can only mean one thing - BEER FESTIVALS!

Obviously, for Hugh & Dave, this is great news, because it means they sell loads of their fine ales (even more than usual); for the rest of us it's great news as well, because we get to make great music in front of really happy crowds AND we get to sample plenty of fine ale as well!

We met with Mickey Jones and James Coley from the Macclesfield Round Table, and several Screaming Beavers, to sort out the details for the Macclesfield Beer Festival entertainment - we've agreed to share the billing rights so, on Friday 9 May, the Beavers will be kicking the evening off at around 8:15pm and playing until around 9:45pm. We will then come on at about 10:00pm and play until the death (of the evening or ourselves!). On the Saturday evening the roles will be reversed.

It promises to be a great weekend; details are in the poster above (click to enlarge) and we advise you to get your tickets early - they are only a tenner and, believe me, they sell out really quickly.

As mentioned above, we're on at the Chain & Gate near Congleton tonight - it'll be the usual nonsense, and we believe it's open to anyone who wants to come. For those who don't know where it is, a link to a map is attached

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=387445&y=367293&z=5&sv=387445,367293&st=4&ar=Y&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf&ax=387445&ay=367293

21ST PHOTOS

Here are some "amateur" photos from Saturday night to be going on with - thanks to Xanthe and Sally for these - professional ones to follow.....

ALBUM COVER?!

Thanks to Colin for this photo that he took after the gig at The Jolly Sailor in February - obviously, we'll be using it on the cover of our next CD when it is released! Mean and moody, or what?

By the way, we only play places that offer bed and breakfast, just in case!

A BUSY 2 WEEKS!

Lots has happened since I last updated on here - we've played 2 gigs for a start!

No.1: At The Old Ship Inn in aid of The Stroke Association - this went off really well; the pub was packed, and loads of money was collected for the charity. Again, I won't go into details but, hopefully, what we did will help to help people who find themselves in need of help from the SA.

No.2: Last night we played the most surreal gig of my life - we entertained fifty or so 21 year olds at the birthday party for my 2 daughters!! Not only did this seem to be totally the wrong way round, but also they all seemed to have the time of their lives!





We played at HQ (i.e. the Storm Brewing Company premises in Macclesfield, where we practice each week!), and converted the place into a veritable den of iniquity - although I'm not sure Lucy and Anna appreciated the slideshow of photos from their lives!





Dave wasn't able to be with us, but we played 2 great sets, and we were joined by Mr Hambley for the second set - everyone had a fantastic time and, although there were some sore heads amongst the younger members this morning, we have now achieved legendary status with students from Sheffield, London, Leeds, Loughborough.........etc., and will, no doubt, be "Facebooked" across the country (already tagged as "Lucy and Anna's pissup in a Brewery" - thanks Xanthe!)!

Surprisingly, I remember my own 21st party - Ray's Place in Fallowfield, Manchester actually, 1974 - but my Dad certainly didn't provide the entertainment!

More photos to follow, when Gordon puts them onto CD!!