The Stag and Hounds

The Stag & Hounds is a massive pub in Bristol’s busy Old Market, which until recently was a place for suited types to have lunch in whilst barking into mobile phones, but since it was taken over by the people that run Mothers Ruin it’s had a new lease of life.
The place reeks of history, with parts of it going back to the 15^th century, and for a time it was the home of the ‘Pie Poudre’ – a local court where miscreants were tried upstairs, found guilty, and promptly hanged out the front of the pub.

It’s luvverly now though, loads of comfy sofas, good beer and open fires and a refreshing commitment to original music that’s increasingly rare nowadays:
First up tonight was Leo Sampson, a young singer/guitarist who also plays harmonica, which is something I’m always envious of, as I find it difficult enough to play one instrument at a time, let alone two. Excellent songs, well played, but he needs to work on the inbetween bits – 30 seconds of silence while you select the right gob-iron for the next song is a long time in a quiet pub…
Next up is Howlin’ Lord, who, with his full band is well established on the circuit as a purveyor of Country Rock par excellence, but is in acoustic solo form tonight, which works fantastically… if anything his songs are more powerful performed this way, I reckon.
Howly also does the desk duty tonight, so he has the headache of making us sound good, and he did a fine job, but then I would say that, wouldn’t I? ;)
Luckily, everyone else in the place seemed to agree, and this was one of the nicest pub gigs we’ve done this year – great venue, really appreciative audience, good sound… the only fly in the ointment for us was Mick’s dental arrangements – he’d been booked in to have an impacted wisdom tooth removed that afternoon, but after an hours wrestling with pliers had resulted in nothing more than a sweaty Dentist and an extremely irate Guitarist, a date for the rematch has yet to be agreed.
Mick has been advised to take a firm grasp of the dentist’s dangly bits when he leans back in the chair, and remind him that “This isn’t going to hurt… is it?”