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............................!