Hello everyone, yes I am still alive and kicking. A few of you have been in touch to say that you haven’t received a blog for a while so had I lost your emails etc. Well the short answer is No, I have just had a lot going on this year which has kept me off the grid but I’m back. Hoping to get back into the regular routine. Can’t believe four months of the year have already gone.
Taking all that into account I think it is best if I start afresh and if anything is repeated well I am sure you can live with it.
As always of course first up – Upcoming Clan gigs
Friday 19th May
The Clwyd Hotel
Shotton
Deeside
North Wales
9:30pm
Saturday 27th May
The Bath Hotel
Northumberland Street
Morecambe
9:30pm.
Both regular gigs although the Bath was closed for a while and is now under new management. It looks like it has been redecorated as well – hopefully some of the old crowd will turn up as well as new folks, we always had good nights there in the past.
If you haven’t been following Facebook or the web site then here’s a quick summary of the year so far: we have played quite a few gigs already in some of our usual venues however we have also done some higher profile and larger venue gigs. For example we played Mearfest at Trillians in Newcastle earlier this year which was an all-day Charity rock festival . Great event, good people and a good cause. £2300 raised I believe. (9 bands including us, Damaj, The Deep, Filth Hounds, Tysondog, Millenium, Spartan Warrior and Avenger). Ok so we were not as heavy as some of the others but we are a rock band and we rocked and ooh guess what – people liked it.
Recently we played a support slot to infamous US Rockers LA Guns and it was another good one for us. All good comments, a very enjoyable gig and yes LA guns were good as well J. Their tour support were Stone Trigger. Not my cup of tea but they went down quite well and good luck to them trying to “make it” whatever that means these days.
We followed all this up with a charity gig in Wales in the company of good friends of ours, The Bite, plus another local band Black Sunrise. First up were a very young band (average age 12) just starting on the rock path, Murder in a Minute, obviously they haven’t played a lot but they were not bad at all and let’s face it they are the future of live music.
Blimey, we actually played a local gig not long ago – April 15th – Stanley’s Cask – Wallasey – A good old home town gig.There are usually a load of musicians in there but hey we do what we do and let’s face it Beethoven it is not but it is fun. It seemed a bit quieter than I hoped for but it was Easter weekend so maybe that was the reason. Anyway for all the people who complain that we don’t play local enough that was your chance. We are not back on Wirral until August so put it in your diaries now. August 18th – Stanley’s Cask – Wallasey.
Actually our diary is looking ok for this year, another 3-4 gigs and it will be enough for us. Will Cambridge Rock Festival be one? Not sure but it does look as though the festival is going to take place at the start of August albeit in a new location. I know FM have been confirmed.
Big news – Well in June we play support to AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd’s band at The Buckley Tivoli – Friday 23rd June. As you would expect it’s fairly straight forward rock and I know he plays some songs by his former employers as well. I bought the album “Head Job” out of interest and courtesy and was pleasantly surprised to find that actually I really like it. It took a few listens but it certainly grew on me. Had it on constant repeat on a couple of 3 hour journeys recently which is more than I can say about quite a few new albums I have bought. Tickets can be bought from our website at a discounted cost.
**Note – As a one off deal as we would love you to come and support us at The Tivoli in Buckley we will also be selling them at our gig in the Clwyd on 19th May at an even more reduced cost. So if you are thinking of going to the Phil Rudd gig then then might be worth popping along. Normal price is £25 but I can guarantee that they will be a lot cheaper than that.
In August we play the 1st Llandudno music festival. It is a charity event being held over two days August 5/6 at Llandudno Football club. 19 bands I believe, all genres. We have been asked to finish the Saturday night off which we are honoured and proud to do. I don’t know who all the other bands are yet but I will post them up on our various sites when I do. We will also sell tickets from our website to help out – all ticket money to the charities.
Later in the year (Nov) we have been asked to support Wishbone Ash again at the Buckley Tivoli. We had a good gig with them last year so hoping it will be even better this time. It clashed with bonfire night last time so crowd would perhaps have been bigger although it was good turnout.
The new album is written and due to other commitments I think the only way it will be recorded is by separate sessions amongst the band. Not the way I would prefer to do it but not a lot of choice due to time constraints. Basically I will provide the basic track and then drums and bass can be added to that. Then I will re-record my parts, vocals, lead guitars etc. on top. The album will be called “Rise Up” and probably have 10-11 tracks.
Rants & Credits
As you know I am really only trying to mention things that impact me or people I know rather than just general moaning but it is sometimes difficult to keep to this.
Hotels that charge you more to allow the option to cancel. Why? Are they paying some cancellation insurance policy with the extra money, I doubt it.
Hotels where my room always seems to be as far from reception as it is possible to be. Do they see me coming or do they think because I appear fit and healthy it is ok to put me there. I don’t really mind if that is the reason but it does seem to happen a lot.
A pub, which shall remain nameless, that blatantly doesn’t have enough staff to service the restaurant and the bar at the same time. The same pub doesn’t even sell Crisps, nuts or any other form of bar snack/nibble so unless you want to eat in the restaurant and wait an hour for food you are stuck. It obviously relies on trade from the nearby premier inn (which is not affiliated and is actually very good) and the fact there is no alternative for some distance roundabout. Very poor and just lazy management in my opinion.
If they haven’t already someone is going to be seriously hurt whilst studying their mobile phone in a car park. I saw a woman the other day walk past two cars that had started reversing, one was actually a transit van, and she never even noticed she was so engrossed. Frightening.
It seems to me there are an awful lot of cars on the roads with indicator faults as they never seem to work.:-)
Not a rant but high praise for the BBC’s Line of Duty, excellent series, had everyone guessing until the end. I also enjoyed Peter Kay’s car share but appreciate it won’t be to everyone’s taste.
How could I not mention Brian Pern “A Tribute”? Hilarious and another stream of cameo appearances (including McCartney) which added to the fun.
Music
Well as I mentioned last time I had ordered a CD by Suzi Quatro, Sweet Guitarist Andy Scott and Slade drummer Don Powell. Well the CD arrived (called QSP). To be honest I am disappointed. 50% of it is pub band quality standard covers and the other 50% is pretty bland. One track shows a glimpse of what could have been for about 30 seconds but that is your lot. Ah well.
I had to dig out my old IPod recently and it doesn’t hold as much as my normal one which has meant being more selective as to what to load on to it (30GB). So a lot of the favourites. Had a long journey recently and listened to a variety of Judas Priest albums from Rocka Rolla to Redeemer of Souls. All great stuff, well perhaps with the exception of Rocka Roller. How they went from that to Sad wings of Destiny I don’t know as many of the songs on Sad Wings are classics.
I’ve seen Priest many times, always a great live show as well.
On the strength of glowing reviews I purchased Thunder’s latest offering “Rip it up”. I should have learnt by now not to listen to reviews or to take them with a pinch of salt. Many people will like this album I am sure but unlike Phil Rudd’s Head job album Rip It up didn’t warrant a third listen to me. In fact I only listed to it twice in case something jumped out at me, it didn’t.
Until next time
Keep rockin’
Craig