Hush, hush, whisper who dares...

"Bit of a random question, mate, but if we give you a fiver could you give us all a lift down to Sainsburys in your van?" Thus spake the boldest of the small knot of emo kids hanging around outside the Griffin in Frome as we drew up.
Well, if we'd known then what we know now, we'd probably have taken them up on it.
The Griffin's a nice little pub (little being the operative word) with it's own (micro)brewery attached (lovely beer, by the way), but is plagued by a neighbour prone to ringing Environmental Health if the milkman whistles too loudly in the morning. As a consequence there's a 82db soundlimit on proceedings,which pretty much sounds the death knell for a 5 piece amplified band. In fact death knells usually peak at around 90db, so even this wouldn't be allowed.
Very frustrating for all concerned, and I think it's safe to say we won't be back - sorry Frome!

The Prom, The Bell, and the firm young carrot.

Two gigs in a week? The engines cannae take it, cap'n!
The Prom was pretty quiet, even for a Wednesday - in fact I think we outnumbered the punters, but it was the night of a World Cup qualifier, which England apparently managed to win, thus prolonging the agony of footy fans up & down the country until they inevitably crash and burn just before the quarter finals.
The venue's new video screens were finally up and working, but according to Ruth, who could see one from her end of the stage, they all seemed to be showing a bunch of middle-aged blokes with beer-bellies playing guitars... clearly still some technical adjustments needed then.

An unusual Sunday lunchtime outing next, to the Bell in Walcot St - something of a legend on the Bath music scene, and one we haven't played since ancient Brew Band days (before I even joined in fact). I awoke in a damp tent in Wales that morning, and had to break camp (and several rules of the road) rather hastily to make it in time, but we made it there even before the pub opened - AND there was a parking space!
It was all going so well... then we discovered that someone (let's mention no names) had left her fiddle behind. Oh dear... a rapid van journey later though we were all set, and it was a terrific gig. I don't think I've ever seen such a varied audience either; folkies, old rockers, indy kids and even a dog on a string - not to mention a deadringer for Uncle Monty (as played by Richard Griffiths in 'Withnail and I'), who after our set proceeded to wow the crowd with his impressive apparatus. I'll say no more than that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFCuMMy7OoA

Frocester Beer Festival

I like beer, me... and I like festivals too, so I've been looking forward to this one, and I wasn't disappointed.
First impressions weren't great though - as Mick & I carried our guitars through the entrance gate, a festival steward strode up to us: "Ah, you must be the shiteheads!" he declared. Steady on, I thought - we've not even had a drink yet, how can you tell? It transpired however that the covers band on after us are called the Shy Teds (see what they did there?). I was still a bit miffed that he thought we were a covers band, though...
We approached the enormous bar (150 different beers! So little time!) and claimed our rider - a nice heavy keg of Old Unspecific ("What is it?" we asked. "Beer." he replied. "We'd guessed that... what sort of beer, exactly?" "Dunno.") and proceeded to get stuck in.
We had a great time for the next two hours - nice big stage, good sound, lots of lights, 5000 punters and free beer too - what's not to like? We still hadn't finished the keg though, and to my chagrin we had to leave it there... even Ruth had some, and she doesn't even like beer.
A splendid little festival, really well run and very friendly; I wish we could have stayed longer - at least long enough to finish that beer...

In other news, we finally finished mixing a 3 track demo, which can be downloaded for free from Last.fm here: http://tinyurl.com/nlc4o7