Monday, November 28, 2005

Fame! Can Fortune be far away?

Some of my pictures are now the bio pics for the band Fortune Drive!

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Quireboys at The Fleece, Bristol (again)

Spike @ the Fleece

You'd have though that after twenty years in which they'd played tens
of thousands of people in stadiums and festivals all round the world
that playing to a couple of hundred people in a pokey club in Bristol
would be a chore. Not a bit of it! They blasted through the set with
two encored. Keith tucked away at the back, Pip rock solid as always
and the front guys, Spike, Guy and Paul jumping around as much as the
confines of the Fleece's stage allows.

Afterwards, the guys were really up as Big Things are on the point of
happening again.

Looking forward to the recording of the DVD at the Mean Fiddler on
Friday!

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Oh, dear...


You Are a Henna Gaijin!

You're not Japanese, but you wish you were!
You can use chopsticks with your eyes closed, and you've memorized hundreds of Kanji.
You even answer your phone "moshi moshi."
While the number of anime videos you've seen is way higher than the number of dates you've been on, there's hope.
Play the sexy, mysterous gaijin, and you'll have plenty of Japanese meat.

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Blackbud and Fortune Drive at Moles in Bath.

Having been in a bit of a gig drought pretty much since pigging out at Donnington, I was looking forward to seeing the lovely Blackbud in London this week. Unfortunately, I got called away just as they were about to go on and while the Barfly was briefly hit by a power cut andtoo!

However, they also played Moles in Bath last night so we trolled along to have a good chill. But! It turned out that Fortune Drive were supporting. I'd seen them in Bristol about 18 months ago supporting (or being supported by?!) the lovely Clumsy lads. They were OK, but nothing to write home about.

What a difference a year makes! Last night they were tight, raucous, edgy and downright confident. Their songwriting craft has also taken a major leap forward pulling out every trick to get and keep the audience on their side: tempo changes, dead stops, vocal hooks, the lot. Excellent!

Blackbud's homecoming is always good. Is it really only two years since these callow youths won the battle of the bands there? Moles was compeltely rammed, seemingly with adoring young ladies muttering "I was at school with them you know"! We weren't disappointed. Old songs, new songs, slow songs breaking unexpectedly into longer, faster jams, strains of, dare I say it, Dire Straits, a drum fill nicked from Deep Purple, shades of Stone Roses, Pink Floyd but all mashed into Blackbud's unique style.

Nice.

Saturday, November 05, 2005

WWWAC Hang night - oh the fun, the debauchery, oh no, someone had a camera!