WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND!!

Almost exactly a year ago, we played Porter's Ale House as our Christmas gig and, just as we were unloading the gear, the heavens opened, a ton of snow landed on our heads, and it stayed like that for about 6 weeks! The picture on the left shows Chrissie trying to get back into her house at 2:00 the following morning - a frozen gate and 18 pints of beer made it more difficult than it needed to be!

The purpose of this trip down memory lane is to point out that we are playing this year's Christmas gig on Saturday at The Old Ship Inn on Beech Lane and, if the weather forecast is to be believed, history is likely to repeat itself! Another shed load of the white stuff is expected on Saturday (if not before) - but don't let that put you off!! There WILL be fires to keep you warm, there WILL be beer (and hot toddies!) to get you in the Christmas spirit and there WILL be great music (of course!) so wrap up warm, unleash the huskies, and get yourselves down there in good time to get a prime position!!

There is, apparently, a Strictly/X-Factor thing going on, since The Injectors have managed to wangle a gig that night as well (not telling you where!), and are touting for business! But, whatever you do, don't think about trying to fit both gigs into your evening - you will more than likely end up marooned in the middle of Macc, so head straight to the Ship and stay there - much better plan!

We're all geared up for it, since it's 3 weeks or so since we were on the road - maybe 3 new songs to share with you as well - we're due to practice tonight and, as long as we can keep the throat lurgy at bay, we should be able to box them off ready for Saturday! Without gving too much away, there might be a bit of Bon Jovi, T Rex and James for your delight (and some tinsel, obviously!).

See you there! Ho, Ho Ho!!

ABBA-MANIA & OTHER STORIES!!

Mad November draws to a close, and there are so many stories to tell - and so little time!!

Since we played the gig at The Ship on the 6th, we've played 3 more (4 gigs in a month is almost unheard of!), and all of them have happened without Dave (or HoliDave, as we know him, affectionately!). The reason Dave has not been with us is that he has been girding what is left of his loins to follow in the footsteps of Vasco de Gama, Christopher Columbus, Chay Blyth and several pods of dolphins to cross the Atlantic! Dave actually left port (in a boat, in case you are wondering!) on the 21st of November (i.e last week) but, for some reason, he had to go to Spain for 4 weeks to prepare! We believe it was to do with polishing his sextant or something but, anyway, he is now well on his way to St Lucia - or maybe that is stretching a point, because latest intelligence suggests that there is so little wind en route that they can't use the sails, and so have had to pull into the petrol station on the Cape Verde islands to fill up with diesel! As well as being somewhat annoying and time-consuming, it must have cost them a fortune - but Dave has Bernard Sumner from New Order on board, he can probably afford it! Even so, if the wind doesn't spring up soon, it will get interesting, because I'm guessing there are not that many petrol stations in the middle of the Atlantic! Anyway, Dave is not due to be back in Blighty until 21 December, so he'll even miss the Christmas Thrash at The Ship (more of that later) - I'm sure he will have a good time, but we all wish we had his holiday card!

The 3 gigs we've played since I last put finger to keyboard have been:

13 November at the Mykita Ballroom in Macc: this was for Carolyn's 60th birthday, and it was a really good night - made all the better by watching people do ballroom dancing to Teenage Kicks!!

18 November at the Beer & Curry Night at The Roebuck in Mobberley: our first time there and, although the early part of the night felt as though we were playing in somebody's dining room, things really picked up towards the end and, after thinking we would be slinking off at 10:00pm while nobody was looking, our planned 10:30 finish stretched to 3 encores and an 11:00pm end! Fortunately, most of the locals were in the pub, so we didn't disturb too many folks on school night! Many thanks also to some of our old friends who journeyed out into the wilds of Cheshire to join in the festivities - Roger, Pete, Ian (and your friends and families), it was very much appreciated, and it was also brilliant to see Paul Gregory (our "old" bassist), who sneaked in to see what he was missing!

20 November at Macc Golf Club: this was Brigid's 50th birthday party, and was a memorable occasions on several levels! Firstly, we turned up to set up at 2:30pm, only to find Andy in the foullest of moods because he'd done the usual Rock God thing, and not gone to bed until 7:30 that morning, and was "most distressed" when Matt knocked on his door at 2:00pm, as previously arranged (Matt being there at all was an achievement in itself!). Anyway, not only did we have to deal with the bear with the sore head that was Andy, we also had to deal with Steve the bar steward! I won't go into detail, other than to say that, for a fleeting (or not so fleeting) moment, I was convinced that he must be related to the ex-landlord of the Millstone pub (see blog post for 20 September 2009!)!

Having sobered Andy up, and set the gear up (and annoyed the Members with an over-loud sound check!), we moved on to the evening itself. We were viewing it with trepidation, as Brigid had asked us to do an ABBA number so that she, and her mate Nat, could join us on stage! Now, ABBA and D&C are not natural bedfellows; in fact Matthew nearly had a cardiac arrest when it was suggested that we do "Does Your Mother Know?" (only the fact that Nat is his next door neighbour convinced him!), and Andy was trying to work out how he could give it a "My Chemical Romance" vibe! However, we had sort of practised it, but did not have the chance for run through with the girls beforehand but, as you 'll see if you scroll through to video 7 in the video link above, it more or less worked, and went down a storm with the crowd! It has to be said that the whole night was a blast, and we finished around 12:40am with everyone baying for more - everyone went home happy!

Surprisingly, we are quiet in December - but it's probably just as well, because our next outing is going to be some sort of a night, as we are back at The Ship for our pre-Christmas party on Saturday 18 December!! Nobody likes to tempt fate, but if it's half as good as the gig at the beginning of November was, it will be a night and a half! Don't just come along to see us - come to experience the unique atmosphere of a great pub (full to the rafters) with great beer and pretty good music - the perfect way to kick off Christmas week!!

One final word; since we put the "hit counter" on the blog in mid-October, traffic has gone mad! I think there were something like 995 hits then but now, just over a month later, it's up to 1700+!! Hopefully, it's a distracting, if not enjoyable read but, if anyone wants to post a comment, or send us an e-mail feel free (we read them all!)

CURRY, BEER AND A BAND - BLISS!!

What do you have planned for this evening then? I know it's going to be miserable and rainy, so what better to warm you on a cold winter's night than a fine curry? Add to that some fine ale, and then sprinkle in some old familiar tunes, and it's starting to sound like a recipe for a brilliant night out - after all, Thursday is the real start to the weekend!!

So where is all this happening, I hear you ask? Well, if you make your way to the sleepy village of Mobberley (see map in the previous post) and ask anyone who happens to be standing around to point you at The Roebuck, all will be revealed! If you log on to their website, you can even have a look at the menu!

All being well, if Paul gets away from the hospital, Andy finishes teaching and we manage to track Matt down, we're due on stage at 8:00pm, so don't hang around - I'm sure we'll be playing till quite late though, so don't worry if you can't be there on the dot - 8:05pm will be fine!

See you there!!

WAKE US UP - WE MUST BE DREAMING!!!

That has to be one of the all-time great gigs!!

Rather than me describe it (which I will anyway!), here's a selection of comments we've received via e-mail, Facebook and even this blog, since we rocked, nay nearly destroyed, The Ship on Saturday night:

"I think you were as good as I've heard you (i.e. magic!), and you all seemed so happy and relaxed - wonderful!" (Ian Gilliver)
"Excellent evening at The Ship tonight - keep it coming!" (EventHorizon 2001)
"Fantastic night - made my 40th! Thanks for doing Kasabian better than Kasabian!" (Toria)
"Fantastic night on Saturday - best yet! Hottest place in Macc - in more ways than one!" (Pete)
"Excellent gig at the Ship on Saturday. In my humble opinion, the Dazed & Confused version of "Fire - Kasabian" is better than the original!" (Roger Thawley)

To say we are flattered and, at the same time humbled, is an understatement - in some ways, however, we are not surprised! Saturday was at another level - for some reason, everything seemed to drop into place. The audience was actually standing waiting for us to start for one thing - none of the usual malarkey of us having to try and catch people's attention by throwing things at them! Things just got better and better after that - a fabulous crowd, great atmosphere and even the set list seemed to work perfectly - our second set (supposedly 1 hour in length) started at 10:30pm and finished at 12:25am!! Probably has to go down as one of the best gigs we've played - to see everyone (and I mean everyone!) bouncing up and down to "Fire" was just incredible - there were even ladies on men's shoulders, for goodness sake - it was like bloody Glastonbury! BIG, BIG thanks to everyone who made it such a great night, and commiserations to those who wanted to come, but couldn't make it - Andy May: you know who you are, and you were missed!

I did suggest to Tony that next time we play there, we'll take a cut of the bar takings, rather than a fee but, for some strange reason, he didn't think that was a good idea - Eee, there were some stuff supped that night!!

So, onwards and upwards - next stop is The Roebuck in Mobberley (post code: WA16 7HX) on Thursday 18 November; they are having a Beer, Curry and a Band night, which sounds just about perfect! I'm sure the locals will be flooding in, but we'll be delighted, as always, to see any familiar faces that fancy a night out in the country. For those who might not know where it is, here's a link to a map (use the zoom controls on the right to change the scale of the map)!

FIREWORKS AT THE SHIP?

Well, probably not fireworks - just fires!

Yes friends, tonight sees us back playing "at home" in The Ship Inn on Beech Lane - for the first time since February (takes that long for us to cool down!); so, if you fancy a bop and some good beer, why not come down? There will be some additional entertainment as well;

• Paul will still be trussed up like a turkey!
• Chrissie will be showing off her newly acquired tan!
• Matt will be giving a long awaited debut to Bertha - his double bass (yes, really!
• There may even be a couple of new tunes!

So, give the X Factor the bums rush, and come and watch some real music - and toast your tootsies by the fire(s) at the same time!

MORE VIDEOS!!

I don't know, just like London buses - you don't get a single video on this blog for 3 years, then 6 come along at once!

2 more vids added to the link above - big thanks to Kevin Tudor at Brandywine Music in Kent, who was up visiting friends and happened to stumble across a night of great live music at The White Lion in Disley. The occasion was ostensibly to celebrate Ray and Sheena's birthdays, but turned into just a good old knees up! Ray was wearing a t-shirt with one of the funniest (and bad taste!) slogans on the front - I have a photo, but daren't put it on here for fear of offending readers of a more delicate disposition! You'll see from the vids that one member was strapped up like The Mummy, and is likely to be for some time - the show must go on, but that's ridiculous!

Chilling after the first half - I thought Andy was calling his agent, but it was his wife!

Next gig is back at The Old Ship Inn in Macclesfield for a post-bonfire night thrash on Saturday 6 November; last time we were there was February, so it will be good to be back "home" again. It's a fair bet that Lucy & Tony will be doing their own impression of Mr & Mrs Guy Fawkes by lighting every fire in the pub, but don't let that deter you from coming down - it's bound to be a good night, as ever!

Not writing much this time, because typing with one finger takes forever - and I've got to go and watch City thrash Arsenal anyway!

VIDEOS - COURTESY OF SILKPETE!!

At last!! Good quality videos with reasonable quality sound!

Look upwards and you will see some snippets from the performance at the East Cheshire Hospice World Cup gig in June - big respect and thanks to Pete (one of our most stalwart supporters) for doing the recording and posting them for me to steal!

Great job Pete - pics and sound good - I'll leave it to others to judge the quality of the performance!

And here's something else from the same gig - a review from the online mag The Word - some nice things said here - especially about The Rock God!; although I'm not so sure about the "...but he's playing in a pub band" bit! We like to think he does it cos he loves us!

THE BEST OF BRITISH AT THE COCK AND PHEASANT!!

Friday 1 October - a day to remember, for a number of reasons, although I'm not sure the guy on the left will - although he was up and bopping his little heart out!!

Members of the band arrived with several stories to tell - Matt was on top of the world because the fabulous games company that he works for had won about a hundred awards in the previous 3 days - including "Best British Business" so he was understandably chuffed - so much so that he even bought the first round! We have, of course, also entered Matt in the "Best British Bassist" competition, but we've not heard back yet!

Dave arrived with the "Best British Hangover", having been out until 6:30 that morning! His defence was spirited, but feeble - apparently he was about to leave the pub around 1:30am, when some hairy arsed contractor shouted "Oi, you can't go yet!" - so he didn't! He then spent the next 5 hours drinking, beer, brandy and the contents of the pub toilet bowl, judging by the look of him! It's a long time since we've seen him drink so much water at one go - or his "survival kit" as he called it!

Paul arrived without part of "Britain's Best Cartilage", having had it removed 2 days before - hopping around in a pub with a low ceiling is not recommended (more of that later)! This was Part 1 of the great body re-build, as Paul returned to hospital last Thursday for further maintenance (more of that later as well)!

Andy arrived having won"Britain's Best Grounding"; now Andy isn't the best flier in the world, and had spent the last week psyching himself up to accompany Pete Robinson (above average drummer with the Average Injectors) on a weekend of drinking and debauchery in Malaga (that's right, Chrissie & Claire weren't going with them!), only to find there were not enough standby seats, so he was grounded! For someone who doesn't like flying, he gave a passable impression of someone who well pi**ed off with not being able to fly!

I think Hugh and Chrissie were OK, so onto the gig itself!

The first time we had played Chez Charles (after a couple of false starts) so we had the usual trepidation with a new venue (and The Spinners debacle loomed large in our minds!); however, from a crowd point of view, there were no worries, as the pub was full when we started, and remained that way throughout - I think we helped them empty 3 casks of ale by the end of the night!

Our location did suffer somewhat, heightwise; neither Chrissie nor Paul were at the front of the queue when tallness was handed out, but there was still a degree of head scraping going on (Andy's cowboy hat saved him from grazing his scalp!) and the light fitting projecting horizontally from the wall at temple height added to Paul's challenges of standing upright on a dicky leg!


Spot the light fitting - behind his head!

Sorting the sound out was also slightly problematic, but sterling efforts from Dave and Matt in the interval, aided by input from the audience fixed that!

Both sets went well, and the debut of "Echo Beach" was almost perfect - better than the original, of course.

As well as new friends made, it was great to see some familar faces - including a member of the now internationally acclaimed VirginMarys - Mr Matt Rose! Seasoned followers will remember that Matt cut his bass guitar teeth with Dazed & Confused, and he remembers his roots! We also like to keep him grounded, so got him roadying for us at the end of the night - while we had a beer! Matt - if you read this, I have that D&C t-shirt for you to wear on the next VM tour!

Matt Rose - our VirginRoady!!

Next gig is up at The White Lion in Disley next Friday (15 October); it's for a birthday party, but we believe the pub is open to anyone - so, if you fancy a walk in the hills, followed by a great night of food, beer and music - you know where we'll be! Paul will still have his arm in a sling, so will make for an interesting evening, from that perspective, if no other!

BYE BYE BABIES, BAND ON A BOAT AND PLAYING (FOR) LUDO!!

OK, OK, OK, it's been a couple of weeks - but it has been an emotional time!! However, I've composed myself enough to give you all a little bit of an update on the crowded happenings of recent days! Where to start..............

Star Date - Saturday 28 August: massive leaving "do" for 3 "children" - Lucy Jane, Nick and Rosie (with total respect to her Mum, Rosie is almost one of the Morrissey family as well!) - Rosie on her way to Welsh Wales to continue her quest to be the best Geographer in the world (PhD in Aberystwyth no less!!); Nick off to Aldershot, not to join HM Forces, but to embark on a "journey" that will see him becoming the youngest CEO in history, while at the same time consuming his own body weight in beer each day, and Lucy on her way to the Antipodes on the first leg of a round the world trip that could see her back here in a year's time or, alternatively, meeting Prince Charming (probably pronounced Chaarmin out there!), settling down and talking the hind leg off every adjacent kangaroo! Notwithstanding all that, we had an absolutely brilliant evening - first time we had played together for about 6 weeks, so we had that lovely warm feeling again (oo-er missus!); Lucy got a chance to sing with us - first time her sis Anna (and her Mum!) had heard her, so there were lumps in several throats (this was before Anna got really tired and emotional!) and all was good. Of course, when everything wrapped up, the youngsters went on to party in Macc until the small hours, while we sloped off for hot chocolate around 02:00! A selection of photos - we'll miss you kids, come back soon! :'((

Star date: Sunday 29 August: Well, that hot chocolate was a good move, because at 09:30 the same day, the mighty D&C embarked on a cruise! Now, before you start getting the wrong idea, this was not in the Med or the Caribbean (even though Dave was there!) - it was a "leisurely" jaunt down the Macclesfield Canal from Bollington to the Fool's Nook at Sutton and back! What a laugh - the Tiller-men varied in ability from the vaguely competent (Dave) to the downright dangerous (Andy)! In fact, whoever let Andy take the helm after several bottles of cava, much beer and other things, ought to be shot - thing is, nobody can remember who it was! The boat was officially sized for 12, but there were 13 of us on it, although our defence was that there were only ever 12 on board at any one time! I'm going to try and post a video of Tweed Meister Matt's attempt to join the merry crew (we arranged to collect him at the Puss in Boots, but it took about an hour longer than we thought, so he started walking towards us!) - let's see how it goes!

Matt's day job is designing web and phone games and, during the day, we came up with a great idea for a new game for all ages - Grand Theft Narrowboat - if you want to leave the game, you just get off! A great day, with great mates - here's some more pics (the last one is our boat after Andy had parked it)!

Finally, Star Date Saturday 4 September: A 60th birthday party for Ludo - we played at his daughter's wedding at the wonderful Sandhole Farm in December and, amazingly, he asked us back! Now, you Latin scholars will know that Ludo means "I play", and he certainly did that night - in fact, I think he's lying about his age! Great audience participation and, thanks to Dave's forward thinking, we split the set into 3, so that the older members didn't run out of puff too early (that's the band, not the crowd!). Finished about 12:30, got home around 2:00am, so must have been a good night!

Next gig is a new one for us - The Cock & Pheasant in Bollington on 1 October, and I'm 100% sure that we will have more people watching us than we did the last time we hit Bolly (anyone remember The Spinners?). So, if you want to see the Autumn in in style, toddle on down to Charlie's gaff, and swing your pants!!

THE ALBUM COVER!

We really do have to get working on the album now - because the album cover has been designed!
This is courtesy of 6 year old Luca, who Andy met while on holiday in France; Andy & Luca are obviously kindred spirits (and it seems like the same mental age!) because they are both raving Dr Who fans, and (of course!) into rock music - so much so that Luca designed the album cover and gave it to Andy (in exchange for a set of Dr Who Top Trumps!)
Party time tonight - the 3rd leg of Lucy's Long Goodbye celebration will be happening, and she's sharing it with Nick (who is off to Aldershot) and Rosie (who is off to Aberystwyth) so, with Lucy going to Australia, there is a spooky "A"-type thing going on! Got to go and put a set list together - which will be a challenge, as I'm not sure how many songs we can remember! More details about the gig later and, as it's "Band on a Boat" day tomorrow (9:30am start!!!), it's a good job I have 2 days off afterwards to recover

ANOTHER LONG HOT SUMMER!

So, August is with us again and, as happened last year (and the year before, and the year before...) the North West of England sunshine has gone on holiday, along with everyone else! Now, I often use this space for a bit of a rant, and I think it's fully justified that I have another one about the bl**dy weather! Surely, it's not too much to ask that, instead of making a token appearance in the middle of June and then buggering off till October, the sun might deign to stay around during the "high summer" months of July and August and warm the cockles of our little hearts? Doesn't look like it's going to happen this year - that global warming has a lot to answer for!

Couple of gigs since we last corresponded - both different, but both excellent, in their own right:

8 July had us doing one of our regular Brewery gigs - it was a Thursday and, as that's what we laughingly call "practice night", it wasn't too much of a stretch to set the gear up and play for a bunch of people that were on a Brewery Tour (which entails a 5 minute squint at the copper, fermenter and cellar, followed by a 4 hour sampling session of several Storm beers and Paddy's Pies!) This particular tour involved the St Alban's School Parents (otherwise known as the Sad Dads!) who were celebrating the departure of a teacher that had been there since the school was built (in fact it seemed as though he had taught most of the assembled gathering!). These are all good Catholic lads, and there was certainly plenty of sampling of Hugh & Dave's holy water that night!

Hugh suggested that we might do an hour or so for them, and then pack up, which would have meant finishing around 10:40 pm (nice early night!) - so, as the clock ticked round to 12:10am, I suggested that it might be a good idea to start wrapping up, as some of us had to go to work the next day!! Notwithstanding that, it was a great night - plenty of laughs, and a couple of contacts for future gigs.

16 July saw us up at Hollin Hall Hotel to celebrate Danute's 40th Birthday. Danute is an old (well she's getting that way now she's 40!) friend of Chrissie (who, incidentally, is over 40!), and she certainly celebrated in style! We arrived to find the room was set out as if for a wedding and, sure enough, there were speeches, a big meal - the full works! The first set was also a bit wedding-esque, in that the floor was not exactly groaning under the weight of dancers; however, cometh the time, cometh the band and the second set was verging on madness - plenty of jumping up and down, plenty of shouts for more, and plenty of people taking our contact details, so no complaints from us!

We've been quiet since then; Matt has embarked on his annual Festival fest, Dave has come back from holiday - for how long, nobody knows, Hugh, Chrissie and Andy are revving up for theirs, so it will be the end of August before we tread the boards again - a happy and sad occasion, because we'll be sending Lucy on her way to Australia on the first leg of her World Tour - she's due back in a year, but who knows.......Either way, we'll make it a night to remember.

The gig list has had some updating recently, so check the details out on the right hand side of the blog --------->

2 other pieces of news before we close:

• I notice that The Millstone in Water's Green has changed hands - oh dear, what a pity, never mind!! Obviously, the previous landlord has got fed up with being grumpy in the middle of Macclesfield and gone off to be grumpy somewhere else - I just hope he let all the bands that he had booked know he was going! If he'd told us, we would have had a party!! If you don't know what all this is about, check the blog entries for last September - it's a date that will remain forever etched in my memory.


• Some photos from the East Cheshire Hospice gig attached below - as you can see, a good time was had by all and there's one interesting shot where Andy seems to be shoving his guitar up James Milner's nose! On reflection, that might not have been a bad idea - might have made him play better (Milner not the Rock God!). The hospice raised over £10,000 that weekend, and we're chuffed to have played a little part in that!

THEY'RE COMING HOME, THEY'RE COMING HOME, THEY'RE COMING......

Ah well, it was good while it lasted! The "boys" played to the best of their capabilities and, guess what? It wasn't good enough - well what do you expect for £100K/week?!

So, the England shirt is packed away until Euro 2012, and we can concentrate on the music! The last couple of weeks has seen us play 3 events that have ranged across the whole spectrum of gigdom - being the "warm-up" act for the England team, a Christening, and a pub gig - all of which were special in their own way!

Number 1: The East Cheshire Game & A Gig, which has been profusely trailed on here, and elsewhere. We kicked off in the "big tent" at 6:30pm, and were scheduled to play right up to the start of the England v USA game at 7:30. A challenge in itself, as folks were still dribbling in when we started, and we knew we had our work cut out to draw them in! However, things got a tad more interesting when we were told that the generator that was to power the 10 foot video screen had gone on the blink, and we might have to finish at 7:10pm so that they could switch generators!! No matter, we carried on regardless, the generator got fixed, we built to a climax with "I Predict A Riot", and finished our set just as the National Anthem struck up - brilliant! Shame about the result!

Big thanks and congratulations to Lara and everyone at the ECH for a fantastic, sell out night - a wonderful event, and for a really worthwhile cause.

Number 2: Gary & Lisa's Christening Event: 3:00pm on a Sunday afternoon, 2 band members on holiday (no prizes for guessing one of them was Dave, the other was Chrissie - again!), so it could have gone either way. Now, I know we say on this blog that we will even play funerals (sometimes it feels like we are - e.g. The Spinners!), but this is the first time we have done a Christening! However, it was BRILLIANT! Lucy stepped in for Chrissie again, and did a wonderful job (I've included her FB picture, to make her feel good!), the atmosphere was great, and we got THREE encores! If any other bands are reading this (yeah, like they would!) we can thoroughly recommend spending your Sunday afternoon playing at a Christening!



Number 3: The White Lion in Disley: Several Big Plus marks for us with this, including the fact that England had failed to top their group so weren't playing in the football, AND we managed to get to the pub without being stopped by the police! Those of you who are frequent readers of this dross, may remember that, on the way to the gig at the White Lion last February, we were pulled up by Cheshire Constabulary for having illegal cargo (i.e Chrissie & Matt) in the back of the van, and a £60 fine was incurred as a consequence! This time, we were much more circumspect, no illegals in the back of the van! Once again, the audience was small but perfectly formed, and we had a really good (if a little hot!) gig - the purchase of the 18" stage fan was a good move, although it did not do the perfect cooling job, because it was absolutley bloody sweltering in there!!

We have a couple of weeks off now, Paul's away for a week, and maybe Dave will be back in time for the next gig (private party in Bolly!) - looks like people still want us as we've had requests to play next January and next NOVEMBER (yes 2011!) already!

ENGERLAND, ENGERLAND, ENGERLAND - AND ALL THAT!

OK, we've given you a bit of a rest on here , for a few weeks, so it's time to disturb you again - and this time it's in a really good cause! If you get yourselves down to The East Cheshire Hospice on Saturday evening, not only will you have the opportunity to jump around with us for an hour, you will also be able to celebrate along with hundreds of other people, as the England's team takes its first steps along the path to what is almost certain World Cup victory! The Hospice are laying on a 10 foot screen so we can all see the national team humble the mighty USA in the first match of Group C. Just be sure to get there early - doors open at 6:00pm, and we'll be on stage by 6:30 - our task being to get the crowd in a right jovial mood before the game starts. There's a bar (of course) selling a wonderful selection of Storm Brewing beers, and there will be barbecue to feast on (whatever the weather). All in all, an ideal opportunity to get some great music in, watch the boys win AND support one of the most worthwhile causes in Macclesfield - I'm sure we all know someone who has benefitted from the care provided by the Hospice, and they need over £6000 PER DAY just to keep going. Tickets are available via the Hospice website



While we are on the subject of good causes, just a few words about our last gig; this was the Time Out Group Spring Ball held at the Belfry hotel a couple of weeks ago and, as last year, it was an absolute joy!

Once everybody had been fed and watered, and the speeches made, the floor was prepared and all hell broke loose! The dance floor was full from the first chords of whatever it was we played first, and it barely cleared at all for the next 2 hours! Not only did we have the patron of the charity, Annabel Tiffin, strutting her stuff, we saw a return appearance on stage, of her husband John - who is a blatantly frustrated rock star - the way he battered that tambourine during "Come Up & See Me" was remarkable, and it was pure chance that he did not injure himself or have somebody else's eye out! We also had brilliant participation from a number of other guests, and special mention must go, once again, to "Uncle Peter" who followed the instructions he was given, for the night, to the letter before unleashing himself on his public at 12:15am with a reprise of his legendary interpretation of "Johnny B Goode"!! I'm pretty sure that neither he, us, nor the populus of Handforth will ever be the same again, after that!!

Here are a selection of photos taken on the night which, hopefully give an idea of the fun that was had

OH WHAT A WEEKEND!!

So, that's another Beer Festival chalked off! Two days gone in the blink of an eye - but what a great 2 days!!

As per the last post, Friday night was a blast - as you would expect going on at 10:00pm when everyone had been drinking for 3 hours!! However, it's probably fair to say that we didn't expect the "early shift" on Saturday to be as brilliant as it was. We took the stage at 8:15pm and found an audience of 2 in front of us (and one of them was Mickey Jones - a bit of a change from Tiger Tiger for him!!); however, never a band to look on the gloomy side, we challenged the "crowd" in the drinking bit of the marquee to join us and, within seconds, we had about 100 people in front of us - and this continued to swell and swell as the moments went by until there was upwards of 500 people srutting their stuff!.
We had put together a set that was designed to break the crowd in slowly, and build them up to a frenzy; the plan worked fine - except the frenzy set in long before we expected it! Within 15 minutes everyone was up and jumping - even Chasing Cars (which we did as the second number) had full audience participation, arm waving, everything! By the time we got to Whole Lotta Rosie, Sweet Child of Mine and Somebody Told Me, the roof was coming off the marquee - and it was still only 9:30!! The only downside of Saturday's set was that we had to drop some songs, so that we finished in time for Monkey Harris to have a go - although we felt we could go on all night!! Double gloom because it meant we couldn't do Delilah - again!!
Anyway, finishing early did give us a chance to sample some of the fine beers, and to relax - by the time we left at 12:30, we were very relaxed!
So, onto next year - perhaps? We have done 5 years in a row, and we know that is something that no other band has been given the privilege to do - but we enjoy it SO much that, if we were asked, I'm sure we would say yes!
Next gig is a private party this Friday (Dave will be missing because he's on holiday!), and then we return to the Time Out Group Ball the following Saturday. Those of you with long memories might recall the great time we had there last year - for those who don't, check out the April 2009 reports on the blog (link on the right).
So, I'll sign off now, leaving you to enjoy some photographic records of the evening, and there is a recording of Saturday's gig on its way, so we'll try and find a way of posting a link to that on here at some stage!
Macclesfield MPs - old and new, sampling the wares!
Bouncers in action to stop the stage being rushed by groupies!!

What's he got to smile about??

Paul (looking like he's lost a piece of his brain) and Matt (looking happy)

A portion of the happy crowd (shame we didn't have a wide angled lens!)

Dave (not on holiday!)

Chrissie (in typical full on Token Bird/Rock Chick mode!)

Look everyone - a crowd!!

SOUNDED BAD BUT SOUNDED GOOD!

Writing this after completing Round 1 of our 5th Macc Beer Festival extravaganza! Last night was an absolutely brilliant night, although it was not all plain sailing!

We went on at 10:00pm, having been well set up by a great set from Monkey Harris - however, the first few numbers were blighted by some horrible sound gremlins! For whatever reason, the microphones made it sound like someone was frying chips in them, the on-stage monitors were giving some horrendous feedback and we had some problems hearing what was going on - very strange considering all had seemed fine about 15 minutes earlier!

Anyway, we persevered and, as ever, everything seemed to fall into place! The organisers had placed the usual plastic "crowd barriers" in front of the stage (a good move as we are renowned for our ability to kick things off!); however, the fact that these barriers were about 10 feet away from the stage created that horrible "shark infested pool" space between us and the audience - never a good situation! So, something had to be done, and the easiest thing seemed to be to ask the crowd to pick up the barriers and move towards us with them! Once this was done, and we could feel the closeness of the hot, sweaty bodies, thing really took off - 24 songs ripped out in an hour and a half (see attached set list), and it was just an incredible feeling to see so many people having such a great time! The fact they they were all drinking for charity was a bonus (and, I'm sure, totally unconnected to the good time they were having!).

We were given 11:45 as our cut-off time (to avoid annoying the neighbours too much) and, I have to say I thought we had timed the set to perfection, as we finished the main set at 11:40, giving us five minutes to deliver the encore that the crowd were salivating for! However, we had not taken account of the fact that the sound man had been told to "pull the plug" at 11:40, so our attempts to launch into a mass crowd-driven version of "Delilah" fell somewhat flat when all the electrics were turned off! A REAL disappointment for us and the punters but, as the saying goes "leave them wanting more", and that was certainly the case last night!

On to Round 2 tonight and, as we want to have the opportunity to enjoy the ambience of the Beer Festival for ourselves, we are kicking the show off at 8:15pm and giving Monkey Harris the chance to try and match what we did last night in the later set! If you have got tickets, make sure you are there in time to see us, as we guarantee that the energy levels will be just as high for the "early shift"! If you haven't got tickets, there may still be some available from the outlets mentioned on the poster (or even on-line). We'd love to see you there.

As an aside, we also attended todays lunch time session at the Beer Fest - as ever, it was a much more laid back event, although the numbers have swelled enormously over the last few years. Made the acquaintance of our new MP (accompanied by Lord Nick of Winterton, of course!) - seems a nice enough guy, and has got the message about making sure he keeps local priorities at the top of his list, irrespective of central party politics - if he does that, he won't go far wrong! By the way, STILL didn't get Nick W to buy me a drink!

Will let you know how tonight goes, in due course!

LOOKS LIKE FRIDAY IS SOLD OUT ALREADY!!

Well - I go away for the weekend, and what happens? They only go and sell all the tickets for Friday night at the Beer Festival don't they!

Actually, that's probably not strictly true, as I think there are still a few available at the retail venues, but the online sales are definitely done and dusted!! No fear, you can still get some for Saturday, which is nearly as good! Just go to the "Tickets" page on the Beer Fest website, and your every wish will be fulfilled!

We're practising again tomorrow night - promises to be a late one, as Paul has to go and watch City beat Spurs first! After that, it's all systems go for Friday night............................!

8 DAYS AND COUNTING!!

Had a great gig at Jane's party last weekend (and even got a new photo out of it!) - guest keyboard player John Wright was with us (in preparation for playing on a round the world cruise ship, would you believe?!), and it was fine preparation for the next one......

Only 8 days to go till the BIG gig of the year - Macclesfield Beer Festival, and everything associated with it! Latest intelligence (if I can use that word in this context) suggests that tickets are selling like hot pints of beer, and if you don't get one for you and your friends, you'll be as popular as Gordon Brown in Rochdale, because everyone wants to be there!

If you have never experienced the BF before, you have missed a real treat - 2 nights (and a lunchtime!) of amazing social interaction, with a vast selection of good real ale, ciders, wine and food, amazing music (of course), and all in 2 huge marquees. The atmosphere is genuinely brilliant - everyone is friendly, there is never any trouble, and the only problems seem to be with people trying to find their friends (or even the exit from the marquee!) at the end of the night! So get your act together, and purchase your tickets (a bargain at only £10) from the outlets mentioned on the poster above (you can even buy them on line this year - see attached link!). It's all in aid of an excellent cause (The Rossendale Trust), and you really do need to be quick about this as, last year, both nights had sold out well beforehand - there are extra tickets this year, but even so........

So how are Dazed & Confused preparing for the delights of entertaining 1600 people on each night, I hear you ask? Well, Dave has gone on holiday (I know, I know, but it has been 3 weeks, so give him a break!), so there was only 5 of us at rehearsal last night; our first task was to put together a set list, and that took up some considerable time in itself. Selecting tunes that go together, keep the momentum rolling, AND that we can remember the words of, is no easy task I can tell you! Anyway, we have managed to cobble together around 25 songs to choose from, and these should see us through the 90 minute set comfortably. Our biggest challenge is to try and stitch them together seamlessly because, as those of you who have seen us know, we do have a tendency to mess about between songs, tell jokes, have a sleep etc., so we have to try and avoid that, if at all possible!

Another practice scheduled for next week (after a cold, wet Bank Holiday weekend in Wales!), and that will be on Wednesday after watching City clinch 4th place by beating Spurs, so at least 1 of us will be up for it!

So, more news next week when, of course, you will all have your BF tickets, and will be as excited as us!!

A VERY ENJOYABLE WEEK - ALL TOLD!

Sitting here on Sunday night, recovering from the disastrous football yesterday, contemplating work tomorrow, and feeling really glad that I missed most of the "Dorothy" rubbish - obviously, it's gone downhill since the Macc Lass was voted off (so much for the "vote for me" poster campaign around town!), so I thought I would bring you up to date with what has been a pretty eventful week for the mighty D&C, and tell you what lies in store over the next few.

As previously trailed, Wednesday was our return date at Canalside Community Radio and, as arranged we met on the banks of the canal at Bollington at 7:30pm, primed and ready to go - well, 5 of us did! I had done my usual ring round to make sure nobody had died since we last met the week before; Andy, Dave, Hugh and Chrissie checked in OK, but there was radio silence from Matt (i.e. his phone was switched off!). Now, bear in mind that this is not unusual, and the volcano cloud had not yet made its presence felt, so we were not unduly alarmed; however, as the minutes ticked by, we thought we had better go for Plan B (as we didn't even know whether he wanted an acoustic or electric bass set up), so Matt's boss (Pikey Jeff) was duly contacted to make sure nothing evil had befallen the hairy one. The conversation between Andy/Chrissie and Jeff went something like this:
Chrissie/Andy: "Jeff, do you know where Matt is?"
Jeff: "Yes, he's sitting here next to me, why?"
C/A: "Well, he's supposed to be on the radio in about 18 minutes time!"
J: "Matt, are you supposed to be on the radio in about 18 minutes?"
Matt (in the background): "Oh S**t, I forgot!!"

Now, maybe it's because I'm not used to this sort of thing, but I would have thought that doing a session on the radio was pretty memorable, but obviously not on Planet Matt! Anyway, cue a mad drive back to Macc by Chrissie to collect the prodigal bassist (and pick his guitar up!), while we stalled for time in the shoebox that masquerades as the CCR studio! Despite this inauspicious start to the evening, the session actually went really well. As ever, we had a few laughs, and the tunes seemed to go down well - got a few plugs in for the Beer Fest as well! This Tuesday sees our mates The Injectors in the shoebox so, if you want to hear about their back story (and who doesn't?!), tune in to 102.8fm (or listen on the web) at 8pm this Tuesday (20th).

Being the gluttons for punishment that we are, we re-convened on Thursday evening to do a bit of practice - actually, we quite enjoy each other's company, so it wasn't too much of a chore! Had some discussion about Beer Fest set lists etc. and a bit of playing about with tunes for the following night - early finish too, we were home for 12:30am!

So, Friday saw us at The Hollins for the first time since Nov 2008, and what a great night it was! The pub was absolutely jammed from start to finish (even Pete Munro stayed till the end!), and Chris recorded record beer sales (that Bombardier went down well, as it always has!), so a good time was had all round. Garry the Hat was there, so we'll see whether we were good enough to merit a mention in next week's Macc Express (depends whether Rough Twist were playing somewhere else I guess!). All we need to do is persuade Andy to keep his volume down in those sort of confined spaces - we were walking around with bleeding ears at the end! Any ways up, we will be back for sure!!

Next week sees us playing a private party on Saturday, and then next stop is the legendary Beer Festival (more of that in a week or so, but get your tickets NOW!) Now is also an opportunity to remind you about the big gig in aid of the East Cheshire Hospice on Saturday 12 June; it's being billed as The Gig & A Game and features ourselves, The Screaming Beavers and the England Football Team!! Copy of the poster and details of how to get tickets in the flyer below:

The Hospice needs about £5000/day to survive, and gets very little money from the government, so it seems an ideal opportunity to see England get off to a flying start in the World Cup, enjoy some great music AND provide a boost to a local facility that I'm sure many of us know people that have benefited from (was that gramatically correct??!)

OK - LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

At least 4 weeks since anything appeared on here, and there's lots to tell you, so let's get to it!

The holiday sheepdogs have been out and rounded up Dave & Chrissie, so everyone is back in the fold now - Dave is mellowed out from his wonderful sail around the British Virgin Islands, and Chrissie is totally knackered from her whistle stop tour of the USA! Not to be outdone, Andy, Hugh and Paul all had a few days in Wales, and Matt had a morning in his Mum's front garden (think he fell over the wall on his way back from the pub!). I also had a week in the US - but that was business (apart from the Bon Jovi gig, that is!)

Thursday night was the first time the 6 of us had been together for about a month, and it was brilliant fun - old numbers, new numbers, bad jokes, good beer - no wonder it was 12:40am when we wrapped up! All of this had a serious purpose of course (several in fact), because we're back in action from next week, and there are loads of things coming up that we need to prepare for. Here's just a sample:


Next Wednesday sees us making a return to CANALSIDE COMMUNITY RADIO for another session on Matt Isaacs' Rock Diversity show. Some of you may remember that we made our maiden appearance there back in November, and either Matt has a very short memory, or he was sufficiently impressed to ask us back again! The show is on from 8:00-10:00pm so, if you are anywhere close to Macclesfield (and a radio, of course) tune in to 102.8fm, and give us a listen.
We've chosen some different numbers from the ones we did last time and, hopefully, Matt will remember to record it this time, so we will have some memories to treasure - starting to sound a bit like Desert Island Discs!


Next Friday (16th April) has us pitching up at The Hollins on Black Road in Macclesfield. It's over a year since we played there, and it will be good to go back, as landlord Chris is building up quite a reputation for his music Fridays, and so it should be a good night. We just hope there is not as much snow around as in the photo above. Facebook invites will be sent out for this to the Dazed & Confused "Massive" (you can join the group if you want!), and you can check The Hollins out on Facebook as well.

And after that? Well, we have a private party to play on 24 April, and then it's flat out, no nonsense, full speed ahead for the Macclesfield Beer Festival on Friday 7th and Saturday 8th May!!


Difficult to believe, but this is our FIFTH consecutive appearance at the BF, and it is still the high spot of our gigging year! This year's event will be even bigger than previous years, with sell-out crowds of 1600 people expected on each night - nervous, us? Never! We had our usual pre-festival meeting with Mickey Jones on Wednesday evening; as well as sorting things out, and meeting members of Monkey Harris, who will be playing with us, it was a good opportunity to have a couple of beers and watch United lose!! We'll talk more about this in the next couple of weeks but, in the meantime, you can get more information (and tickets!) via the Festival website. On the subject of tickets, be sure to get them early, as they really do sell out quickly, and we'd hate you to miss out!

That's all for now - got a football match to go to - I'm sure you will all join me in wishing City all the best as they move towards securing a Champions League spot - sorry Liverpool! If I don't see you at Eastlands, maybe we'll see you at The Hollins next Friday?!