Right, Christmas and New Year done and dusted and most people are back into the routine of everyday life.
Hope you all had good ones. How long will you keep those resolutions?
Apologies for the short posting last week but we take time off as well you know. I am making up for it now though by providing an epic. I may even have to index it so you can skip some bits
Sections so far are
Next Gig
General
Rants
Lemmy
Music
Reading
Next Gig
Right for those who simply want to know where we are appearing, you can catch us this week at:
Saturday 9th January
The Griffin
Earlestown/Newton-Le Willows
9:30pm
Been a while since we played the Griffin actually, a nice rock venue so we are looking forward to the return.
General
Let’s have a quick look back over the last couple of weeks.
We played the Bretton M.C.C. Charity Christmas gig on Dec 19th and from our point of view it went well. We did a forty five minute set which was well received and then it was good to see our old friends Sack Sabbath do their thing to a large enthusiastic crowd. The whole thing was very well organised by Gary Lewis, Lee Brooker and Russel Campbell so a big thumbs up to them and I understand nearly £3000 was raised for charity. All in all an excellent evening.
We then took a break for Christmas and reconvened on 30th at Sky Hammer studio to do some recording with our friend and producer extraordinaire Mr Russell Cottier.
As usual the best laid plans went out of the window and a last minute change was made to the song choice! We ended up recording a what I had envisaged as a 4:30 rock song and it morphed into a 7 minute epic. Still, there you go and the mixes I have heard so far sound really good to my ears. Just a few final tweaks and job done. I think there will be a shorter edited “Radio Mix” version as well.
Next decision is really around whether it will be released as a “single” or held back for inclusion on the album which we really hope to finish this year.
Watch this space.
Speaking of things to be completed this year we still have no T-shirts which is a major disappointment and source of frustration to me. I really need some help on this to produce the vision but none has really been forthcoming to date. Looks like I may have to try and do it myself. Hmm, art and graphics are really not my strong point. Maybe it is time to learn.
Last Saturday we played our first gig of the year at the Witton Chimes in Northwich. It’s a great crowd and we love to play there. Unbeknown to us there was a slight hiccup with their new in house PA however it was still a great gig and a good start to the year. The PA issue will be addressed next time around (July) and it certainly didn’t stop people’s enjoyment as far as we could tell. We decided at the last minute to do a tribute to Lemmy who died unexpectedly over the Christmas period and rather than the obvious “Ace of Spades” we went back to the song that introduced him to the public at large, Hawkwind’s “Silver Machine” He did the vocals and played bass on that track. Considering that we were basically doing it on the fly, although I had obtained and printed out the lyrics, it went down a storm. Great way to finish the gig.
A little disappointed to find out some of this year’s festivals are already fully booked up in respect to bands but will keep trying to see if we can get on at least a couple. There are always drop outs and cancellations to be filled. Just got to be around when they need to find someone.
We are playing the second Rock & Blues Night at Alexander’s in Chester on February 4th. As before there are three bands on each playing original material for an hour or so, this time it is us, Bourbon Toulouse and Savage Outlaw. All Wirral based bands. Seems a shame actually that nowhere on Wirral is willing to try this as an alternative to the usual tributes and covers bands. People might actually be surprised and it does make a bit of a change to the same old same old. Again, a thumbs up to Alexander’s and HB promotions for giving it a try.
Later this year (April 9th) we are playing the Snooty Fox in Wakefield. Three bands on and we are co-headlining with “The Darker my Horizon”. TDMH is my good friend Paul Stead’s band. Basically Paul changed the band name from Sacred Heart to the Darker my Horizon to give the band a fresh start but fans of Sacred Heart won’t be disappointed. Looking forward to that one. The third band will probably be a local Wakefield band although this is still to be confirmed.
I believe the show may be able to be streamed over the internet but I will be checking that as well closer to the time.
Oh, forgot to mention we are also playing with Bourbon Toulouse at the Pilgrim in Liverpool on Feb 27th. First time The Clan have played in Central Liverpool and the Pilgrim is a great pub.
Jim helped out some other good friends of ours “Toxic Moth” just before Christmas as well, he sat in on the drums for them at the launch of their new album in Barnsley (Civic Hall). I couldn’t get there myself but it sounded like a good show and it went well. I think they are arranging a few more shows but whether they will still require Jim I don’t know? I think there is some footage on YouTube although the sound is actually from the album so it’s not Jim drumming although he is in the visuals.
If you like Prog Rock then check them out.
Rants
I have to say I do think it is really unfair and unnecessary for shops to be open the day on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. Ok so actually a lot were closed New Year’s day although I think the big supermarket chains were open. Have we really reached the stage now where people are incapable of planning two days ahead to allow shop workers two days off? Almost seems a bit Dickensian forcing people to work for no real reason.
I know when I was younger the shops were closed for more than a day and everyone seemed to survive.
Petrol and diesel prices have gone down recently, not sure how this can happen really unless it is a government Tax/duty related decrease which it is not. I would have thought that any finite resource which is in constant or growing demand would only go up whatever happens.
I know they are very clever and actually when you start watching them you almost forget but there did seem to be an awful lot of animated CGI films on this year. I suppose they are the modern day equivalent of cartoons like the Jungle book.
I see the government is expecting all children to know their times tables up to 12*12 by the time they leave primary school. I didn’t realise this wasn’t a requirement. I am sure it was when I was 11. Seems to me that they don’t half mess about with education yet they always end up going back to the standards. Is it just a ploy to keep some education “experts” employed? I am all for progress and change if it is logical and it works but not just for the sake of it.
Usual round of 50 best of this and 100 greatest of that programs on over the festive period. Don’t mind them but I really hate the way they have celebrities and experts talking about the greatest this or that in-between the clips. The reasons I hate them are either because I have no idea who the people talking are or they really don’t look old enough to remember the people in the clip let alone be qualified to pass an opinion.
When will people realise that as useful as it is having a Facebook “page” it is in no way the same as having a proper website. Fine for individuals but is running a business, any kind of business and relying on the whims, limitations and constraints of Mr Zuckerberg really a good idea. At least with your own website you are in control as to how it works and what you put on it. So by all means have both but just FB? No!
Lemmy
I couldn’t publish this blog without a special tribute to Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister who sadly passed away unexpectedly (certainly to the public at large anyway) in Dec at the age of 70.
For me and I suspect like many people he first came to notice via a promotional film on Top of the Pops in 1972 in which he sang the vocals and played bass on Hawkwind’s surprise hit Silver Machine. Slightly bizarre as he generally didn’t do the vocals in Hawkwind but apparently he was the only one in the band who could manage a reasonable vocal for Silver machine?
I followed Hawkwind for the next few years only to lose my interest in them after Lemmy was fired following the release of the (not very good) Warrior on the Edge of Time album. He was arrested for suspected possession of Cocaine at the Canadian border on a tour which turned out to be not the case and was set free however the band sacked him due to the incident? As far as I am concerned if you want to hear the real classic Hawkwind then listen to The Space Ritual, it’s all you really need to know.
After a few false starts and line-up changes his newly formed band Motorhead arrived at the same time as Punk in ‘76 and were actually classed as such by some people. I remember buying the 12” single Motorhead/City Kids (The song Motorhead being a song Lemmy wrote for Hawkwind) from the legendary Skeleton records in Birkenhead and everything about it was loud, the music, the production, the mastering.
They then brought out their first album simply called Motorhead which was more of the same including a couple more revamped Hawkwind songs (Lost Johnny, the Watcher).
I finally got to see them live when they played in the Hamilton Club in Birkenhead (January ’77 I believe) on the tour for the album. I wandered in with my mates (all of us underage obviously) and Phil “filthy animal” Taylor and “Fast” Eddie Clarke were at the bar drinking and signing autographs. Over at the fruit machine was Lemmy, happily signing autographs and accepting drinks in-between spins on the machine. Dressed as he always was in black. I had a poster signed by all the band on my wall for a long time.
Come showtime, Lemmy simply left the fruit machine and wandered onto the stage with the others where they then proceeded to batter everyone’s eardrums with some no frills balls out rock for an hour or so. For the encore Lemmy informed us they had no more songs so they simply played Motorhead again. They then left the stage, Lemmy went back to the fruit machine whilst Phil and Eddie returned to the bar once again all making themselves available to sign autographs in-between spins and drinks.
I’ve seen Motorhead many times since then and they became a bit slicker in their presentation, although the music didn’t alter very much, but that first gig was the most memorable.
I was in the Rainbow in LA a couple of years ago and was hoping to catch up with him but Motorhead must have been on tour as that is the only reason I can think of why Lemmy wouldn’t have been there. It’s a well-known fact that he lived around the corner and virtually lived in the Rainbow every day. Basically the same guy I met in ’77, sitting at the bar, playing video games and happy to talk to people and fans.
What aren’t well known facts are that the guy had been playing guitar from an early age and absolutely loved Rock & Roll. He was a roadie for Jimi Hendrix at one point and despite what people may think he was an extremely well read, clever articulate guy. He wrote lyrics for many other bands including Ozzy Osbourne and was always helpful and polite to his support acts (ask Saxon, Girlschool, Twisted Sister and others) which is not always the case with headline bands.
Incidentally the popular explanation for his nickname Lemmy is that he was always asking people to lend him money: Lem me a fiver, lem me a quid etc. True or not, it stuck and it’s a good story.
Whilst taking playing music seriously as a professional job he definitely realised that it was simply entertainment to make you feel good for a couple of hours and nothing else. He certainly didn’t think he would be changing the world and he certainly didn’t think he was producing concertos or symphonies but he loved doing what he did. He played his bass more like a rhythm guitar than a bass which is pretty much why Motorhead sound like they do.
The fact that Motorhead had a tour booked and were planning another new album (their 23rd?) shows that he certainly had no intentions of stopping and he was never going to until he dropped.
Rock has lost one of its great characters and much loved true rockers no matter whether you like the music or not. Irreplaceable. R.I.P. Lemmy and thanks for wrecking my ears, in a good way.
Music
Well you would think being Christmas and all I would have stocked up on a few new albums. Actually I suppose I have.
Talk of Paul Kossoff recently inspired me to acquire his post free solo album “Back Street Crawler” which for some unknown reason I have never actually heard. Somewhat of an oversight on my part. Only had it on in the background so far so too early to give my opinion really. First track seemed to be a 17 minute instrumental jam but I may be mistaken.
I also reacquainted myself with Uriah Heep live in Moscow which I had on a cassette tape back circa 1990. For some reason the download has been renamed Access all areas –Live in Moscow but it is the same album. I like Heep although they can blow a bit hot and cold. I saw them live around the time this album was originally released and they were really good.
The Wizard, Stealin’, Gypsy and of course Easy Livin’ are all classics and all on this album although being honest there are better versions of them elsewhere.
Another band I always liked and I have a large number of vinyl albums to prove it were Bachman-Turner-Overdrive. There was always so much more to them than “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” although that is a great track. It is just a shame that people could never see past that and listen to their other output such as the magnificent Not Fragile album for instance.
I was therefore really pleased when Randy Bachman and Fred (C.F.) Turner got back together in 2010 and made a new album as Bachman & Turner. **The Bachman-Turner-Overdrive name now belongs to Rob Bachman and Blair Thornton who have continued to tour under that name since the 70s.
I heard a few tracks on a sampler at the time but didn’t think they were anything special. Anyway I decided to take the plunge and use an iTunes voucher I received for Christmas for the outrageously overpriced (£15) Concert album Bachman & Turner live in New York.
I am glad I did, it is brilliant. Pretty much every BTO song you want to hear including Sledgehammer, Rock is my life, Not Fragile, takin’ care of business, Four wheel drive, Let it Ride, Roll on down the highway , a version of American Woman (originally by Bachman’s’ former band The Guess Who) and a take it or leave it reasonable version of Johnny Kidd’s Shakin’ all over. There are also some of the new B&T Songs which actually sound really good and fit seamlessly alongside the older songs.
As you would expect the playing is faultless, tasteful and it sounds like classic BTO.
There is a video available I believe and I was thinking of purchasing it however it looks as though it has been uploaded to YouTube so I will save my cash on that one.
If I get the chance I will be trying to catch them live however I suspect that this is unlikely to happen in the UK anytime soon.
Just found out that Michael Schenker (ex Scorpions, UFO and Michael Schenker Group) is playing locally this month so will probably pop along to that, I have seen him many times before but it is a small venue and should be a good night out. I think Graham Bonnet (Ex Rainbow vocalist – Since you’ve been gone) is on at the same venue soon afterwards as well so that may be another night out. Obviously I have tried for support slots at both gigs but I think they have been arranged already.
Reading
Managed to read a couple of books during my downtime so here is an additional section.
The first one was Chrissie Hynde’s biography. Not a big fan of her or the Pretenders really although I won’t deny a couple of the singles are quite good. I just like to read about what makes other musicians tick and see what their drivers were for getting into music.
Having read the book there is nothing in it which endears Ms Hynde to me really, I don’t think I would particularly be interested in meeting or talking to her not that the opportunity is likely to present itself. The book also seemed to stop in the early eighties which kind of left me feeling 30 years short changed. Has she done nothing in the last 30 years or is she saving it for volume 2?
My second book was the Hairy Bikers autobiography. Not a music biography but actually an excellent read and unlike Chrissie Hynde these are two people I would be more than happy to meet and talk to. Both Si and Dave come across as genuine guys who are interested in people and “stuff” and realise how fortunate they are to be in their current position. They have both worked hard to get to where they are though and both have had their share of troubles on the way. Good luck to them I say. A crackin’ read.
Will I guess I had better stop now before this blog/update itself turns into a book.
Looking forward to a great year in 2016 and hope everyone else is happy and healthy. Catch as many of you as I can this year somewhere sometime.
Keep Rockin’
Craig