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!