Inn on the Green & Fox 'n' Hounds

Not two gigs on the same night, actually a fortnight apart, but thanks to my ISP I've been offline for over a week - thanks a bunch, guys...

The Inn on the Green is a massive great real ale pub on the Gloucester Rd in Bristol, which has just started dipping it's toe into the murky waters of live music. Nice people & a mouth-watering array of beers, albeit a bit brightly-lit for my tastes - I prefer my pubs dark, seedy & a bit sticky underfoot - and the set-up for music is initially unpromising; no carpets, curtains or soft furnishings coupled with a stone floor and high ceilings ring alarm bells straight away... we needn't have worried though, as there's plenty of bodies, and the sound sorts itself out once we get going.
It's our first time out with our shiny new member Mick too, and he immediately distinguishes himself by not only remembering all the songs (some of them better than me), but by bringing his very own troupe of dancing girls with him - mark my words, this lad will go far...
All in all an excellent gig, I hope we come back - and not just because it's round the corner from my house..!

The Fox & Hounds in Coaley is as usual a much quieter affair, though not for the hapless punters who had to try and eat their dinner while we soundchecked - sorry people, but it had to be done! One of those places where we're lucky if we play to double figures, but it doesn't matter 'cos they're actually listening & they like it. Probably our last time here, as the Guv'nor & his missus are hanging up their hats & retiring - cheers for the free beers, mate!

Where have all the bikers gone?

OK, so we're not as pretty as the Coors (a band once described as "three models who escaped from Laboratoire Garnier and stole a fiddle on the way out"), and our own-brand perfume is unlikely to be as successful as Christina Aguilera's, but surely we're not so scary as to frighten off an entire pub full of bikers? If it wasn't news of our imminent arrival then something had put the wind up Scallys' clientele last Saturday, as we started off playing just to the barstaff & bouncers...
Eventually however a fair few people who weren't actually on the payroll turned up (among them some familiar faces, which is always good to see) and we ended up having a blast - well, I did anyway, and so did Ruth, though she did start to feel a bit queasy on the way home - probably too much excitement.

In other news, we've found our new mandolin player in the form of Mick Stanger, (ex Tribe of Cro), who also plays mandola and lead guitar, which should take our sound in some intriguing new directions. He's keen to get started, so we'll be tactically deploying him in the theatre of operations as soon as possible...