Last nights gig at the Sportsman on Barnsley road looks like it will be the last gig there for a while, the tenants are struggling to sell enough beer to cover their own costs, let alone the dosh to pay bands. Last night there were about 7 regulars, plus the small crowd of Muttley enthusiasts. They offered to pay us up when we arrived, but of course, we wanted to do the gig anyway, so played to a small but appreciative crowd.
Bless the pub for supporting live music as long as they have and fingers crossed things will improve for them. We simply can’t afford to lose regular gigs like this. I blame the government (of course) – the deregulation of alcohol sales and cheap as chips shit-beer in every corner shop.
Our drummer John (with us from day one) has bowed to the pressures of being in several bands and has reluctantly tendered his resignation to focus on his mod band DB5. His last gig with us was at Chesters last week. We will miss his crazy-ass styling!
The addition of Chris has allowed us to branch out in terms of numbers we can tackle. The keyboards bring an extra dimension and it’s fun to watch Chris play whilst hopping around barefoot on his bass pedals!
I was wandering through town the other day when I noticed a lot of activity at the Nelson Rock Bar on Furnival Gate. I nipped in and spent a happy half hour with Helen and her team. They are mostly “Wapentake veterans” and it was like a trip to my youth when I used to haunt the downstairs Nelson bar, with the screenprints of Hendrix, Alice Cooper Jimmy and Page.
For several years now I’ve been using a Boss v-wah, thinking it was the dogs bollox, but of late, I’ve begun to hanker for my old cry baby again. The v-wah does *everything* – 5 different wahs, several distortions, “vowel” sounds, uni-vibe, 3 foot-switchable presets and an optical mechanism than means no “crackle” ever creeps in.