Festival of Colours

Here's my brother Gavin in Hampi, India, getting into the spirit of the Festival of Colours, apparently an India-wide celebration where everyone chucks paint-filled balloons at each other until they've had enough.
At least, that's what they told Gavin; seconds after this picture was taken, he was carried off by the local constabulary after the temptation to empty his bottle of yellow paint over the bemused looking officer became too great...

The Prom, Bristol

One of my favourite venues, this one, and not just because it's down the road!
It's got it's own P.A. & sound engineer and everything always sounds great onstage, which gives us a bit of a lift. Place started out pretty empty (well, it was a Thursday night), but a decent crowd by the end, and very appreciative too, which makes up for the fact that it's not exactly the best-paid gig on the circuit. In fact, once my Guinness bill for the night was settled I was operating at a ruinous loss. Mind you, if we were doing this for the money we'd all have starved to death years ago - and a quick glance at us will confirm that we are all very well nourished, thank you very much...
Good to see some familiar faces there too, especially the trio who rushed their prawn curry to get there in time - I just hope they didn't rush the actual cooking part, or they may still be in A & E.
Oh, and cheers for the tequila, lads!
We're off to the studio to do a spot of recording next weekend, so hopefully there'll be some new CDs for Chris to forget to bring to gigs soon...

Kings Arms, Bath

Last time I came here was in the band's previous incarnation about 3 years ago, and I'm happy to report that coming back is much like putting on a comfy pair of slippers. Probably some old tartan ones that the dog has chewed a bit.
All the familiar old fixtures and fittings are there, including several punters who never move from their places at the bar - they are in fact fully plumbed in, with their own connections to the beer pumps and the sewage system. At the end of the night, the landlady drapes beer towels over their heads and they instantly fall asleep. Actually, some of them don't last that long.
We used to play here on a Sunday night, when the place always had a slightly desperate atmosphere as everyone tried to forget they had to work in the morning - Friday night seems a lot busier, and we even managed to perform a miracle: Lo! The lame threw away their crutches and danced! Well, one of 'em anyway - I hope there was no-one from the Social there, or her disability benefit'll be stopped on Monday...

King William, Glastonbury

Ah, Glastonbury. Great place to go if you're feeling a bit short of crystals or in need of a holistic massage, but as one local put it, if you want a pint of milk & some fishfingers you're screwed.
Funny place the King William... nothing seems to have changed from the last time we played here including the punters, who range from toothless local farmers who'd win first prize in a gurning contest to tooth-grinding acid casualties who'd give 'em a good run for their money.
Nice friendly place though, and we even managed to negotiate the air-con being turned on, in exchange for turning down a bit... can't take it, eh? Too much for you eh?

I blame the Council!

This government have a lot to answer for, not least the pernicious liberalisation of our ancient & noble drinking laws. Because of this heinous piece of legislation, I didn't leave the Old Fox until 1.30 on Sunday morning, having consumed more pints of Dublin's finest than I originally intended...
My old mate Alan must also shoulder part of the blame, as I'd gone out to see his band Angel Up Front who were as loud and cheesetastic as ever (I hope me & Patsy didn't put him off his stride by showing each other pictures of our kids - not very Rock'n'Roll I'm afraid!)
Still, at least I proved I can still headbang, even if whilst sitting down...
All this excess took it's toll however, and thus it was in the early hours of Sunday morning that irate motorists driving through Old Market would have seen a huge swath of roadcones blocking off half the road with, apparently, nothing happening.
Some hours later, a stooped, shambling figure in a hi-vis jacket appeared, and with a heavy heart (and even heavier head) I started the work I'd completely forgotten about...

Thomas Tripp Late 'n' Live, Christchurch

A new venue for us, this club, and it turned out nice in the end. The support band, a very friendly bunch called the Monuments, turned up just as we arrived and promptly had both their cars clamped. Luckily the venue owner sorted this out rapidly... it was a late booking for them, and they were missing a couple of their number so Ruth & Nige were rapidly deputized to help out. This they did with a will, and it was a little surreal to watch them, especially as there were more people on stage than off it at this early hour... a pity, 'cos they all did a sterling job. They even took loads of photos & even some film as well, which was very decent of them - I'll put it on here at a later date (assuming it's not totally embarassing).
By the time we came on, the place was filling up and we enjoyed ourselves hugely, especially those of us who didn't have to drive - we'd have done a couple more, but the DJ was so eager to launch into his '80s compilation tape that we didn't get the chance - still, we'll probably be back...



Here's one song they filmed for us - the others will appear on YouTube shortly ( see link on the right). Sound quality is less than brilliant, but at least you get a good view of the band, which may or may not be a good thing depending on your point of view...

http://www.themonuments.co.uk/

The George, Bradford on Avon

The start of a busy weekend for us, this lovely quiet little boozer (I'm talking about the pub) was nicely filled up with most of the population of Broughton Gifford, Chris & Ruth's home village, on Friday night. Despite a horrendous cold, Chris battled his way through to the end with only minor casualties on both sides, then ferried a vanload of drunken neighbours home as the rest of us scuttled off into the night...