We played a new venue for us, Cafe Rene in Gloucester.  Plus another first for us was that it was a mid week gig (wednesday night). 

Well stone the crows.  It was absolutely excellent.  The place was totally jumping and you'd think it was some kind of party with loads of dancing, etc, going on all night.  Crazy for a school night for sure.  A load of our friends turned up to pack the place out; the whole of St Paul's Tavern from Cheletenham, one of our regular haunts, which totally delighted us (thanks to Nicky for sorting that out), a squad of Stu's friends from korffball/tennis, vicki & tiffany (we played Vicki's birthday a few weeks back and although totally pissed at the time, they remembered we we're playing again soon in Gloucester), and friends from Paul, Keiron and I.  So we pulled in quite a big crowd.

Well we loved it.  It's a good pub to play in and the crowd/turn out just made it for us.  We're still talking about how much we enjoyed it and it looks like they'll be wanting us back at some point - so we're looking forward to that already.  Ray from St Paul's made our night by turning up with a monkey jam T-shirt !  It had us in fits of laughter anyway.   We had some help on the vocals from Craig on The Beatles I saw her standing there, which was spot on and Polly did a solo spot singing fever.  

To sum it up, our friends turning up in force made the night.  Major thanks from all of us.   

   

We arranged a band practice round at Paul's as we wanted to polish a few things off before our next gig at Cafe Reen in Gloucester.  We we're working on Hey Joe (Jimi Hendrix), Cant explain (The Who), Sex on Fire (kings of Leon), love cats (the cure) and Livin on a prayer (Bon Jovi).  We nailed them all except Bon Jovi, as we didnt have the time.

However the most interesting part of the night was the haircut session we started off with.  When I arrived, Keiron being an ex-hairdresser, had justed started giving Paul a haircut.  I figured I'd have one too.  Although it was a good cut, I was a bit disappointed with the banter, considering he never asked me about my holidays nor offered me something for the weekend.  Stu arrived just after my cut was finished to see me walking around Paul's house bare chested - I think he got worried.  Plus Stu never asked for a cut....hmmm.....he probably saw the state of me and Paul first.

So it was sex, drugs and rock n roll as usual in the band this week. 

We were asked to play a birthday party for Vicki at England's Glory in Gloucester.  It was either an 18th of a 21st, its rude to ask a lady her age, so I'll guess it was her 18th. 

It was our first time playing this pub, which I have to say is pretty good from a band point of view.  Lots of room in the skittle alley, with very easy access for getting the equipment in.  Also, the room had pretty good acoustics, with not too much reflection, etc.  Generally quite a good setup with lots of room and space for those in the pub to do what they want (dance, sit, play pool, get away from the band if they like quiet, etc).  I'd recommend it highly for this sort of thing.  So hopefully we'll get back there again. 
Well I reckon the birthday girl had quite a good time.  I could not tell if it was us or the stripper.  Maybe both.  I have to say the stipper put on quite a good show and went further than I expected.  Vicki seemed fairly happy with it, going by the look on her face.  However, the lady who organised it ran a mile when he went after her, which was well funny.

It was a different line up for us as Stu could not make it due to other commitments.  We just went ahead and played it as a three piece, with Paul covering most of the lead vocals and me on the rest.  That meant changing things around quite a bit which took a fair bit of work during the week previous to the gig.  We also added hey joe by Jimi Hendrix and Cant explain by the Who.  The night went well and the party attendees were up dancing, so we were happy.  We even managed to get them on the dance floor for Pink Floyd's comfortably numb which is a bit of a feat in itself !!

So all in all, it was another good night.  We enjoyed the new venue and Vicki enjoyed her night (minor slurring of words towards the end for her, but thats to be expected on a birthday bash).

Well I thought what with it being the end of Jan, the credit crunch, etc, that it was going to be a bit of a quiet night at St Paul's Tavern.  Man did I predict that wrong.  The place was jumping and we had them bopping all night.  We played well as a band, which was good as we've struggled with practices, etc, due to hols, illness, and the likes, but we were really on form last night. 

We had a guest spot on a few numbers by a guy called Alan who is an Oasis fanatic.  And hats off to him too, he does a bloody good Liam !!!  And he has the pose at the mic stand off pat, excellent.

Quite a few people turned up in fancy dress last night which was a bit of a surprise.  I could not quite figure out the theme as there we're quite a few mexicans and then a few incredible hulks !  A bloke was there from a magazine called afterdark and he took quite a few pics, which you can check out at http://www.afterdarkmagazine.co.uk/main_1.php?page=gallery_page&location=cheltenham&gallery_id=325

Heres a few as a taster:

 
  

All in all though, it was another good night at the Tavern, which never seems to fail to deliver.