Mr Wolfs, Bristol

A benefit this one, for the Rainbow Centre for children - nice to feel that a night of loud music & vile debauchery is actually doing someone good for a change. Nearly didn't get off the ground though, as the house PA is strewn all over the floor in bits when we arrive... happily the PA equivalent of a paramedic is on the case, and quickly has it back together again with only a few bits left over.

The support band (whose name I didn't catch) are a lovely bunch of young chaps - about ten of them I think, but it was difficult to count as they wouldn't stop moving - and they certainly made a lot of noise. Really a lot.

When they'd done their thing (and we'd retrieved Nick from the pub down the road), we set to with a will and took the opportunity to try out some new stuff we've been working on, which seemed to go down well. As always in this venue, it doesn't fill up until late, but by the time we're done the joint is, if not exactly jumping, at least hopping from one foot to the other - not bad for a Thursday night.

Thanks again to Grekken for the photos, which as ever we fell upon greedily in the hope of finding any that make us look younger... any chance of smearing a bit of vaseline on the lens next time?! Either that, or it's time to break out the Grecian 2000...

http://www.rainbowcentre.org/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17644302@N00/sets/72157604036135251/

The Chough, Salisbury

Just to clear this up, a chough (pronounced chuff) is a crow-like bird that loves fishing grubs out of cowpats. Oh yes it is.

A completely foul night weatherwise last Thursday - flashfloods all over Somerset, and raining so hard I drove all the way down the A36 with my nose pressed against the windscreen, trying to stay to the left of the oncoming headlights. This had better be worth it...

The pub turns out to be an enormous sagging Tudor mansion of a place, with a bewildering number of rooms, antechambers, vestibules and corridors, plus several staircases that move around by themselves like the ones in Hogwarts, making every visit to the Gents an adventure. Despite all this ample space, we have to set up in a tiny alcove by the door, partially blocked by a pillar. Nige & I nearly disembowel each other whilst trying to tune up in 4 square feet of floorspace. Never mind, the place apparently "gets heaving" on a Thursday night...

Well, whaddya know - it doesn't. In fact, after we finish our first set (to the sound of some desultory clapping from some unseen punter in the furthermost reaches of the pub), the guv'nor tells us we might as well call it a night and pays us off! First time this has happened in 18 years! As we load the last of the gear back into the van, hundreds of punters materialise from nowhere and stream into the place, lured by the Now That's What I Call Happy Hardcore 58 that plays on a continuous loop... we make a quick exit before the guv'nor changes his mind.

Still, the Tesco over the road was open, so we could still get a few beers to take home - which just goes to prove that every cowpat has a nice juicy grub in it if you look hard enough...

Salisbury Arms, Christchurch

First time at this place, so we have the obligatory detour to fully explore all the backstreets of Christchurch before we stumble across it. One of these days we'll get a SatNav. There's a bus stop right outside, so we get a bit mixed up with the queue whilst unloading the van - a couple of us nearly end up in Bournemouth, but eventually we're all in.
Nice, comfortable place with good acoustics, a low ceiling & Ringwoods beer - Hooray! Unfortunately, hanging from that ceiling is our nemesis: a Noise Limiter - Boo!
We've had untold problems with these hellish devices in the past, particularly with old drummer Mark, who could set one off with one thwack on his snare, but happily after 2 or 3 songs are cut off in their prime we find a level it can cope with. Bit offputting though, as you can't help but keep looking at the infernal machine & wincing in anticipation every time you get to a loud bit...
A good appreciative crowd in here too, though I'm not sure whether we'll be back since the sign outside said: "A one-off event! Not to be missed!" Time will tell...

Midsomer Norton Cricket Club

I've just noticed I haven't mentioned our gig at the Prom a couple of weeks ago - not a deliberate omission, I was away for a week or so & forgot all about it. As far as I can remember it was a perfectly decent gig, as they tend to be in there, but feel free to disagree as my memory's not what it was. Also, my memory's not what it was.
And so to Midsomer Norton Cricket Club, an odd little venue for us, and thanks to that day's match being cancelled, a distinctly empty one too. Never mind, the (very apologetic) people who did show up liked us, so we didn't really need the cricket boxes & shinpads. And we even got a free pint & a burger at halftime - result! And I was relieved (though secretly a little disappointed) that no-one attempted to tamper with our balls.
We'll be back on Sunday 24th August though, for their music all-dayer (top of the bill: Suzi Quatro & the Wurzels - seperately, I assume), which should be a good 'un. Last time we supported the Wurzels was at the Cheese & Grain in Frome a few years back, and I still remember their roadie's reply to our query about the length of their set: "They only do an hour," he confirmed, "Any more'n that, they'll 'ave to call a f***in' ambulance..."

The Plough, Manston

A welcome return to this little gem of a pub last Friday, and amazingly we even managed to find it with no bother. After the last time Nige had wisely left early, and was just tucking into a big plate of dinner when we arrived, so was unfortunately unable to help lug all the gear in. The man's a genius.
A welcome return also to my beloved Laney bass amp, finally free of snaps & crackles after long weeks of toil by the elves of Malmesbury! Until just after the soundcheck anyway, when the thrice-cursed thing exploded like Krakatoa... back to the elves it goes, leaving me to muddle through with my titchy little practise amp. Ruthie reassures me that "size doesn't matter" - well, it bloody does when it comes to bass amps..!
Never mind, a few pints are a sovereign cure for all ills, even expensive ones that smell like burnt insulation, and the gig goes splendidly - we even get 2 or 3 new gigs out of it, which can't be bad.

In Hell they give you Rum

Here's another animoto video, using one of our oldest songs, In Hell they give you Rum. This version was recorded on Food for Thought in '95. I used mostly old photos in this one - blimey don't we look young...

Jagerbar, Melksham

We nearly ran over a deer on the way here - spooky...
Actually part of the Bear in Melksham, this new venue was only finished the day before, and we played the opening night on Good Friday. The landlord & his family had obviously worked like trojans to get everything finished in time, with a lot of sponsorship help from Jagermeister (favourite tipple of folk-metallers Korpiklaani and good ol' Metallica, by all accounts). It tastes like a (very) alcoholic cough mixture, and comes in test-tubes at -15c. Yum.
The place itself is vast & cathedral-like, with a cavernously high ceiling & a stone floor - in other words, it's an acoustic nightmare, as rapidly becomes apparent as we try to soundcheck. Oh well, let's hope some bodies will soak up the cacophony; off to the bar we go, just to do a bit more quality testing on that Jagermeister...
In the end we needn't have worried - most of the population of Melksham have turned out to check the place out, and a fair proportion of them even stay when we start playing, so the sound ends up pretty good. We are even treated to a unique display of Traditional Dancing, which involves rolling your trousers up to the knee and scuttling about like a crab. I got an unprofessional fit of the giggles at this point, and corpsed completely in the middle of a song...
By the end of the night we were all a bit hoarse, but luckily the Landlord was on hand with more of his special cough medicine. It did make me a bit drowsy, though... on balance, think I'll stick to Guinness.