The February teaser:
"So here we are boys and girls, with freedom within our sweaty greedy grasps..."
Full marks if you DO know whose song that is a quote from.
1st:
Not much of interest to report yet. The band has an unusual amount of downtime, for a change, during February, as Colin has a couple of weekends where he is unavailable. It will be really nice to have a proper rest, do what other people do at weekends, forget how to play bass and at some point, get a couple of rehearsals in.
As some of you will know and if you don't, SIT DOWN NOW... Ed is leaving the group shortly. This is before he got round to completing the questionnaire on the profiles page. He only had about a year to do that... We have the Quireboys show to do at the start of March, which will be a particularly unique event for us, as we will be doing an (I imagine totally one-off) acoustic show. Mmmm nice.
We have to rehearse about 45-50 minutes of songs from our existing set in an acoustic stylee for that. We won't be replicating this show nearer to home, so we will try to get it filmed and up on Kerbcrawlers TV and YouTube.
The hunt for a replacement is on, but as said last month, we really do enjoy playing as a trio, so we are not desperate to fill the vacancy.
More News As It Happens...
WATCH THIS SPACE.
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January 2010
Band news January 2010:
A Happy New Year to all our readers.
7th:
Well, it's goodbye to 'the naughties'. Off we trundle into a new decade and how does it start? SNOW. That's how it starts. Snow. And lots of it. Too much of it in fact. Hands up if you're sick of it. I thought so. Lots of bands have members snowed in and so they are cancelling gigs all over the place. We fully intend to perform every show that we are booked to do and hope that the weather improves dramatically soon.
A bit of good news is a nice support slot with The Quireboys in March. We will be doing a specially toned down show that night, which will involve a large preponderance of (gulp!) acoustic guitars - which we, of course, firmly believe to be 'The Devil's Work'. No doubt there will be video on the site from that show on Kerbcrawlers TV. We will probably be doing some songs in this style at our gigs in the run-up to the March show. First though, the weather has to get just a wee bit better so we can get together and rehearse.
Speaking of rehearsals, we have a number of new songs lined up that we want to get into the show and Thursday nights up to and through March are going to be spent giving ourselves headaches slavishly putting them together. There are a few that you wouldn't think of as being what we do, which is a good thing. We've had a couple of good requests that quite suit us, so we'll see how we do with those. Our rehearsal tonight had to be cancelled, however, due to snowy weather and resultant road conditions.
8th:
Off we went through the snow to The Plough, Chorley. The roads were mainly ok, though Steve did get stuck at one point on the way and some kind person in a 4x4 helped him out with a tow. The gig itself was a good one with a nice, receptive crowd and we will be back in August.
9th:
Widnes.
A slightly (ahem) different night. After playing 3 sure-fire big hits on the trot, (Sharp dressed man / Doctor doctor, Rain), some *wit shouted out 'Play something we know'. Oh, how we laughed.
I know Widnes is at the other end of the Earth, but surely those three songs from the 70's and 80's have been released there by now. The very same wit shouted for something by Hendrix and went for a long pee while we played 'Red House'. Classic.
The night was distinguished for us entertainment-wise by a couple of girls trying to run off with a disabled chap's motorised wheelchair, while he went for a prolonged dump. Oh how we laughed. Digging our trapped cars out of the snow (after Colin had scuttled off) to come home, paled into mere insignificance in the comedy stakes.
12th:
The Hulton Arms in Bolton is closed. Don't know how long this is for? The number of pubs closing down is ridiculous. It's getting so much of a hassle that it's almost not worth being in a group anymore. I blame the Government for the smoking ban being so restrictive. If pubs had been allowed to have dedicated indoor smoking areas, it would have been a huge help.
23rd:
In response to the queries we have had regarding the YouTube video of 'A Hard Day's Night', we are heartbroken to report that, contrary to popular rumour, John The Fire Hazard is not actually a member of The Kerbcrawlers. A pity.
24th:
This last two weeks the band has been blighted by illness and so on and life has been less than funny. The band has had to go out as a trio, which is less than ideal, but there you go. Ian has been laid up with a sore back a lot of the time, so we've not been able to rehearse. Not much point in rehearsing at the moment anyway, as Ed has given his notice and is going to be leaving the band in the near future. The group is basically 'out of action' (this is totally deliberate, as we didn't take bookings for most of the month) during February. We will, however, probably be seeing a couple of potential new players - there are a couple of strong contenders - and rehearsing some songs with Ed for the acoustic show that we are doing supporting The Quireboys in March.
Quick News Flash - The Hulton Arms, Bolton is back open.
26th:
There will be further updates to the website shortly, when Ian's PC is back from repair. If you have emailed the group, you will get a reply shortly.
29th:
Hooray. Ian's PC is back up and running at last.
Another double bill show to announce: We are playing at the 'HELP FOR HEROES' fundraiser - Freebird will be appearing with us at CARTSHAFT WMC, SHAW (next to The Cricketers) on April 23rd.
30th:
The Duke Of Wellington, Great Harwood. Back up playing on the balcony. This is a transient audience who move from pub to pub on a small circuit. A good, appreciative crowd tonight though. Only a few more gigs to do with Ed now and we are considering our options as to what steps to take next. We have a couple of people in mind who would add a great deal to the band, but at the same time we are also not in any rush, as we really enjoy playing as a trio. More news on that when we have it.
YOU WANT PICTURES?
We got pictures.
A Happy New Year to all our readers.
7th:
Well, it's goodbye to 'the naughties'. Off we trundle into a new decade and how does it start? SNOW. That's how it starts. Snow. And lots of it. Too much of it in fact. Hands up if you're sick of it. I thought so. Lots of bands have members snowed in and so they are cancelling gigs all over the place. We fully intend to perform every show that we are booked to do and hope that the weather improves dramatically soon.
A bit of good news is a nice support slot with The Quireboys in March. We will be doing a specially toned down show that night, which will involve a large preponderance of (gulp!) acoustic guitars - which we, of course, firmly believe to be 'The Devil's Work'. No doubt there will be video on the site from that show on Kerbcrawlers TV. We will probably be doing some songs in this style at our gigs in the run-up to the March show. First though, the weather has to get just a wee bit better so we can get together and rehearse.
Speaking of rehearsals, we have a number of new songs lined up that we want to get into the show and Thursday nights up to and through March are going to be spent giving ourselves headaches slavishly putting them together. There are a few that you wouldn't think of as being what we do, which is a good thing. We've had a couple of good requests that quite suit us, so we'll see how we do with those. Our rehearsal tonight had to be cancelled, however, due to snowy weather and resultant road conditions.
8th:
Off we went through the snow to The Plough, Chorley. The roads were mainly ok, though Steve did get stuck at one point on the way and some kind person in a 4x4 helped him out with a tow. The gig itself was a good one with a nice, receptive crowd and we will be back in August.
9th:
Widnes.
A slightly (ahem) different night. After playing 3 sure-fire big hits on the trot, (Sharp dressed man / Doctor doctor, Rain), some *wit shouted out 'Play something we know'. Oh, how we laughed.
I know Widnes is at the other end of the Earth, but surely those three songs from the 70's and 80's have been released there by now. The very same wit shouted for something by Hendrix and went for a long pee while we played 'Red House'. Classic.
The night was distinguished for us entertainment-wise by a couple of girls trying to run off with a disabled chap's motorised wheelchair, while he went for a prolonged dump. Oh how we laughed. Digging our trapped cars out of the snow (after Colin had scuttled off) to come home, paled into mere insignificance in the comedy stakes.
12th:
The Hulton Arms in Bolton is closed. Don't know how long this is for? The number of pubs closing down is ridiculous. It's getting so much of a hassle that it's almost not worth being in a group anymore. I blame the Government for the smoking ban being so restrictive. If pubs had been allowed to have dedicated indoor smoking areas, it would have been a huge help.
23rd:
In response to the queries we have had regarding the YouTube video of 'A Hard Day's Night', we are heartbroken to report that, contrary to popular rumour, John The Fire Hazard is not actually a member of The Kerbcrawlers. A pity.
24th:
This last two weeks the band has been blighted by illness and so on and life has been less than funny. The band has had to go out as a trio, which is less than ideal, but there you go. Ian has been laid up with a sore back a lot of the time, so we've not been able to rehearse. Not much point in rehearsing at the moment anyway, as Ed has given his notice and is going to be leaving the band in the near future. The group is basically 'out of action' (this is totally deliberate, as we didn't take bookings for most of the month) during February. We will, however, probably be seeing a couple of potential new players - there are a couple of strong contenders - and rehearsing some songs with Ed for the acoustic show that we are doing supporting The Quireboys in March.
Quick News Flash - The Hulton Arms, Bolton is back open.
26th:
There will be further updates to the website shortly, when Ian's PC is back from repair. If you have emailed the group, you will get a reply shortly.
29th:
Hooray. Ian's PC is back up and running at last.
Another double bill show to announce: We are playing at the 'HELP FOR HEROES' fundraiser - Freebird will be appearing with us at CARTSHAFT WMC, SHAW (next to The Cricketers) on April 23rd.
30th:
The Duke Of Wellington, Great Harwood. Back up playing on the balcony. This is a transient audience who move from pub to pub on a small circuit. A good, appreciative crowd tonight though. Only a few more gigs to do with Ed now and we are considering our options as to what steps to take next. We have a couple of people in mind who would add a great deal to the band, but at the same time we are also not in any rush, as we really enjoy playing as a trio. More news on that when we have it.
YOU WANT PICTURES?
We got pictures.
Now... what happened in December 2009?
Now... what happened in December 2009?
1st:
Lots of new videos on the video page!
Hello to Howie, Ian H - who got up with us at Goostrey!!
5th:
Always fun.... A show at OLD ISAAC's, Atherton. One of our very favourite and most rockin' venues. Thank you so very much to the considerate person who caused the landlady to frantically ring and check with us late last night to see if we WERE actually cancelling the show. We aren't cancelling. No way. We take a gig and we do it. We were there with bells on!!
We'd like to thank Ed in particular, who suffered a very close family bereavement in the last few days and it would definitely have been quite understandable if he hadn't felt like playing. Glad you did the gig, Ed - you played a blinder. Despite that and the fact that our lighting control box gave up working last week and we had borrowed a similarly non-functional one from the same supplier to get through the evening with - so we had no lights, the gig itself was a total stormer, with us coming off stage at 1am, having gone down like heroes. An unbelievable reception. Thank you.
6th:
Our gig at The White Lion, Cadishead was abandoned after we failed to contact the venue and various people had told us that it is closed. As per usual, we were lucky that people warned us, as the venue didn't ever let us - or the agency we took the booking through - know anything about the closure.
12th:
Well, there was a good amount of 'big style' going on at The Hulton Arms, but we had hurriedly borrowed a lighting control box (from the shop we bought ours from, while ours is in there for repair) that was set to 'punk rock' and the people who were there may have just been as confused as we were by that! The X Factor final, freezing weather and the Meatloaf tribute across the road meant that a lot of people didn't come in. How did the lovely Stacey get knocked out of the competition when that muppet Olly Murs remained in? I'll never know.
Anyway, back to business: Great to see Alec from the excellent Night Train, who enjoyed us, along with his mate - who always reminds me of Dave Stewart from the eURYTHMICS (to type it properly). Both had a good time. There will hopefully be a new bit of footage on Kerbcrawlers TV shortly. Thanks Alec. Two more shows this year, then a little bit of a rest and then.... roll on 2010.
19th:
The Duke Of Wellington, Great Harwood. The weather was interesting on the way to and from the venue. The main loading door was screwed shut as someone had managed to break the fire door handle the day before, so we had a quite awkward load-in. We had a good crowd at most points in the evening, but the pub is on a pub crawl circuit. We are booked in three times next year.
One more show to go this year, then a week's break with no gigs. We are agreeing on which completely new songs to rehearse in January, February and March of next year. It will gee the group up quite a bit to be working on something new. There is a list we are going to be working our way down. We intend to get two new songs in during January, plus refreshing our memory on a couple we haven't done for an age. February will see another two songs and so will March. Also, it would be nice for Ed to have some more vocals, as he isn't a bad singer. We'd like to wish a Merry Christmas to anyone reading this blog!!
New Year's Eve 2009:
The Fleece, Ashton In Makerfield. We've done New Year's Eve here for the last couple of years and have always had a good time. Tonight was no exception, which was amazing, considering the circumstances.
Steve had toothache and was in a low way about it (you try getting into a dentist's on New Year's Eve if you dare - they're worrying enough when they are sober). Our own lighting controller is still off poorly sick and we are still using the crap borrowed one, which plunges us into complete and unsettling darkness between songs.
Ian managed to nearly take the top of his second finger left hand off while setting up for the show. Plasters and gaffa tape rescued the gig. Brilliant. Thank you to the venue for opening up their first aid box.
Despite all that, we did a good job on a heavily rearranged setlist and threw in a whole bunch of songs we don't play regularly. The first half was mainly 'Get over it', all the Lizzy / Gary Moore stuff and a couple of solid rockers to take us up to the finale for the first half, Floyd's 'Money'.
Andy filmed some of the first half - so watch out for it on Kerbcrawlers TV. The second half had a number of party songs in, as well as the ZZ Top, UFO, Satriani and Floyd's of the world. A cracking night and we brought the New Year in with Caroline / Roadhouse blues and Auld Lang Syne.
Ed debuted his rather nice new Vox speaker cabinets and Colin whacked the Hell out of his 'real' drums. Ian didn't bring either of his 12-string basses (apologies to the people who wanted to see them - another time). A happy new year to all our readers.
GROUP NEWS - NOVEMBER 2009
4th:
Just signing in to say a big hello to anyone who may have the spare time to waste to read these scribbles. While we were away, Spain and Egypt were both severely depleted of their beer supplies by Ian and Steve. You want to see a photo of Ian in a galabaia? I think not, though they definitely DO exist. Also while we were away, a couple more gigs have come in for next year and they will all be on the gigs page on the site soon.
A couple of local venues are remaining stubbornly and foolishly resistant to our charms, even though quite a few people are asking us why we don't play at them. Ian is getting bored rigid of calling in at some places, only to have the landlady hide upstairs, pretending to be dead and of sending emails and messages to places that don't bother to respond.
This next weekend we hit Blackpool. Looking forward to this one. Hope to see some of you there.
7th:
Blackpool. It rained..... as we headed up the M55 motorway. It rained cats and dogs. But, when we arrived at the venue, after the illuminations traffic, it was a nice dry load in to the venue. Thanks to our mate Rob from the great band Last Man Standing, who came to see what Ian is up to these days. Despite a degree of 'rustiness' among the band after two weeks off, he hopefully went away a bit impressed. We have been recommended to some other venues in the area, so we'll see.
14th:
Ian went to The Railway, Bromley Cross and picked up 4 new bookings for 2010.
We played a show at The Boulevard, Wigan, one of our very favourite venues. It's been thru a wee bit of a management shakeup recently, but the turnout was - I have to say - pretty excellent. The place was chock full and they were all very vocal and welcomed us like conquering heroes. Thanks to RentACrowd for your continued support. We worked completely without monitors and the house PA / sound system wasn't playing ball when we were trying to get our soundcheck done, which frazzled the old nerves a bit - but Kevin rescued us (Thank you so much!!) and the sound was apparently mega out front. It almost completely drowned out the drunken donkey of a Scot who kept looming in front of us, shouting that we were 'sh**e' anyway.
We did get the first half filmed, but once again, we were far too loud for the camcorder, so the footage isn't going to be used. We also had gremlins with the stills camera. John The Fire Hazard took about 4 usuable photos out of 100.
21st:
The White Cross, Fartown, Pudsey: First and foremost: Thanks very much to Keef for fixing this one up for us.
Looking at the mileage for the guys from Wigan, it was about the same as a Blackpool trip. It took about 50 minutes from Bolton. On getting there, the load in was fairly ok. The pub was easy to find. It is one of a number on the comically named road 'Fartown'. Quite a nice area. Good car parking.
The 'stage area' was a small corner alcove of the pub, which, though the tables had very thoughtfully been moved out, the locals stayed sat in, until the very nice landlady told them they would have to move. Except for two of them, who only vacated when we had pretty much finished setting up and our guitarist Steve told them 'it was going to get loud now'.
It would be a tight squeeze indeed to get 4 people in the stage area, so it's perhaps a good job one of our number wasn't available on this one occasion, due to unavoidable family business (ironically, not too far away).
Visibility of the band is a bit limited, but we had a decent view of a fair number of the punters, as we played out to the side of the bar. It's only a small pub, so excessive volume isn't really necessary. Just as we were getting started on our first number, a guy dragged his pretty girlfriend along and asked if she could sing a song with us 'as she's really very good'. She looked at our classic rock set list glumly and sat down. I think this is going to happen to a number of bands, until they realise it's not an 'open mic night'.
We went down ok, though a few older customers came in holding their ears and favouring us with withering stares. We were the very first band to play there, so they are going to have to get used to it. I think the type of band that will go down well there will be the easier listening 60's types. Thin Lizzy just baffles them. They went nuts when we went into total pop mode at one point for a few songs, dancers ahoy, etc.
They are looking at having us back, dependent on the fee, etc vs mileage - so it will be scaled down rigs, etc, if it comes off. Thanks again to Keef.
Four songs from this show are on the video page. Thanks to Paul.
25th:
Our show on the 27th at The Saddle, on the outskirts of Preston has been cancelled, as the landlady has moved on and all bookings are being cancelled.
28th:
A packed house at the Red Lion, Goostrey. Great! Videos are below, as we now have the technology! Thanks very much indeed to Ian Hutchings for coming along to this gig and playing a couple of songs with us.
Just signing in to say a big hello to anyone who may have the spare time to waste to read these scribbles. While we were away, Spain and Egypt were both severely depleted of their beer supplies by Ian and Steve. You want to see a photo of Ian in a galabaia? I think not, though they definitely DO exist. Also while we were away, a couple more gigs have come in for next year and they will all be on the gigs page on the site soon.
A couple of local venues are remaining stubbornly and foolishly resistant to our charms, even though quite a few people are asking us why we don't play at them. Ian is getting bored rigid of calling in at some places, only to have the landlady hide upstairs, pretending to be dead and of sending emails and messages to places that don't bother to respond.
This next weekend we hit Blackpool. Looking forward to this one. Hope to see some of you there.
7th:
Blackpool. It rained..... as we headed up the M55 motorway. It rained cats and dogs. But, when we arrived at the venue, after the illuminations traffic, it was a nice dry load in to the venue. Thanks to our mate Rob from the great band Last Man Standing, who came to see what Ian is up to these days. Despite a degree of 'rustiness' among the band after two weeks off, he hopefully went away a bit impressed. We have been recommended to some other venues in the area, so we'll see.
14th:
Ian went to The Railway, Bromley Cross and picked up 4 new bookings for 2010.
We played a show at The Boulevard, Wigan, one of our very favourite venues. It's been thru a wee bit of a management shakeup recently, but the turnout was - I have to say - pretty excellent. The place was chock full and they were all very vocal and welcomed us like conquering heroes. Thanks to RentACrowd for your continued support. We worked completely without monitors and the house PA / sound system wasn't playing ball when we were trying to get our soundcheck done, which frazzled the old nerves a bit - but Kevin rescued us (Thank you so much!!) and the sound was apparently mega out front. It almost completely drowned out the drunken donkey of a Scot who kept looming in front of us, shouting that we were 'sh**e' anyway.
We did get the first half filmed, but once again, we were far too loud for the camcorder, so the footage isn't going to be used. We also had gremlins with the stills camera. John The Fire Hazard took about 4 usuable photos out of 100.
21st:
The White Cross, Fartown, Pudsey: First and foremost: Thanks very much to Keef for fixing this one up for us.
Looking at the mileage for the guys from Wigan, it was about the same as a Blackpool trip. It took about 50 minutes from Bolton. On getting there, the load in was fairly ok. The pub was easy to find. It is one of a number on the comically named road 'Fartown'. Quite a nice area. Good car parking.
The 'stage area' was a small corner alcove of the pub, which, though the tables had very thoughtfully been moved out, the locals stayed sat in, until the very nice landlady told them they would have to move. Except for two of them, who only vacated when we had pretty much finished setting up and our guitarist Steve told them 'it was going to get loud now'.
It would be a tight squeeze indeed to get 4 people in the stage area, so it's perhaps a good job one of our number wasn't available on this one occasion, due to unavoidable family business (ironically, not too far away).
Visibility of the band is a bit limited, but we had a decent view of a fair number of the punters, as we played out to the side of the bar. It's only a small pub, so excessive volume isn't really necessary. Just as we were getting started on our first number, a guy dragged his pretty girlfriend along and asked if she could sing a song with us 'as she's really very good'. She looked at our classic rock set list glumly and sat down. I think this is going to happen to a number of bands, until they realise it's not an 'open mic night'.
We went down ok, though a few older customers came in holding their ears and favouring us with withering stares. We were the very first band to play there, so they are going to have to get used to it. I think the type of band that will go down well there will be the easier listening 60's types. Thin Lizzy just baffles them. They went nuts when we went into total pop mode at one point for a few songs, dancers ahoy, etc.
They are looking at having us back, dependent on the fee, etc vs mileage - so it will be scaled down rigs, etc, if it comes off. Thanks again to Keef.
Four songs from this show are on the video page. Thanks to Paul.
25th:
Our show on the 27th at The Saddle, on the outskirts of Preston has been cancelled, as the landlady has moved on and all bookings are being cancelled.
28th:
A packed house at the Red Lion, Goostrey. Great! Videos are below, as we now have the technology! Thanks very much indeed to Ian Hutchings for coming along to this gig and playing a couple of songs with us.
October 2009
Group news and photos from October 2009:
2nd:
The group played at THE FLEECE, Ashton. Ever noticed that (just about) every group seems to say that they always have a great show on their websites, even if they played to one man and his dog? It turns into an event at Wembley Stadium... Ridiculous. I'm not going to say anything about the gig, except for giving a HUGE thanks to the people who came to see us and especially to Andy from the excellent LAZZY BAND who wrote a really nice review for us on NWB: Read it here.
"Arrived at The Fleece at about 9:30pm, with the band already set up and soundchecked. It was quite quiet (as is the norm early on) until about 10pm, when the regular “Fleecers” have finished their pub crawl around Ashton and head to watch the band!)…
The Kerbcrawlers opened up with an energetic “Boys are Back in Town”. You can’t beat the twin assault of two Les Pauls in perfect harmony! … and being THE Thin Lizzy sound, they also featured “Emerald”, "Are You Ready" and “Rosalie” later in the evening too. Just one thing regarding the mix: During the “Emerald” solo trade-offs, I think the rhythm guitar needs to be a little quieter and the lead lifting slightly on that song, so that the solos really hit the audience in the face, but that’s a minor quibble. The bass from Ian (all 4/5 of em!) and Colin's drums sounded great throughout.
Nice to see the drums being mic’d up, as this gives a much better sound.. The Kerbcrawlers have a good array of both older classic songs (Santana’s “Black Magic Woman” - tasteful solos by Edward & Steven) as well as more modern rock numbers (Foo Fighters’ “Learning To Fly”), and some you don’t hear many live bands do, such as Joe Satriani’s “Surfing With The Alien”, and Prince’s “Purple Rain” (nice and tight boys!), which finished with a lovely harmony guitar part, that I managed to get a short video clip of (see below!). I also enjoyed the less rocky tunes like “29 Palms”, “Behind Blue Eyes” (one of my favourite Who tunes) and “Need Your Love So Bad”. All the members of the band take the lead vocal on different tunes, so people get a “diverse listening experience” (Bloody’ell, that sounds deep doesn’t it!?)
I’ve heard the Kerbcrawlers before, and the last time they played The Fleece, the bass was “too bloody loud”! Ian! ;-) .. but this time it was excellent. Mind you, as you all know, the sound mix will change depending on where you are stood in the room. Standing at the back tends to cancel out the guitar frequencies at some venues… so stand closer!.. to the band, not me! I was going to tell Ian to turn up the vocals slightly in the 1st set…but I couldn’t be arsed, as I was drinking my Boddingtons. lol . However, the vocals were lifted in the 2nd set and sounded great.. and I still hadn’t said anything! Ha ha
The Kerbsters have a really polished and professional sound to them, with a great lighting rig too! (Us Lazzies will need to get some lights pronto cuz it doesn’t half help with the overall quality and feel of the performance. At the moment we will have to get by on multi-coloured energy bulbs stuck into any light fixtures!). I liked the way they messed about with Roadhouse Blues, sticking in various riffs and tunes from other songs, especially The Wombles! ("Orinoco Flow" next time perhaps??) … Guitarist Ed sang on “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)” and also played the solo, which was spot-on! (I’ve heard other people murder that solo, so cheers!)
They finished off with some Pink Floyd, which always goes down well at many classic rock venues. “Wish You Were Here”, “Money” and “Comfortably Numb” being on the musical menu… It was nice to see that they were not afraid to just busk through a tune, (even though they hadn’t rehearsed it) as an audience member shouted for “Whole Lotta Rosie”. They duly obliged and did an admirable job. The thing about all these so called well known classic rock songs, is that we “think” we know them, but then realise, “does everyone know the structure” and the “stops & starts”?. Well hopefully you guys will get it into the set asap, because it sounded excellent, and I would say Steve’s voice suits it down to the ground. I suppose it’s just about finding the right kind of song for each individual to sing, and I can safely say Steve should sing more stuff like “Rosie”!.. It doesn’t matter that the song is in the NWB Top 10, and gets done to death. There are venues that have heard it too many times, but there’ll also be those that want to hear it time and time again, so I’d say it’s really about “the right tool for the right job”. i.e “right song for the right venue….well done chaps. I had a great night. Ta
Later folksters!
Lazzy Andy"
7th:
Our show at Winstons, Wigan later this month is sadly now OFF. The venue has just changed hands and the new guys won't be having bands on. We are still trying to sort out our shows for next year at The Boulevard, Wigan (We're assured we are ok for 4 dates, but we need to get our diaries together) and the dates will be on the site in December. Unless, of course, something goes hideously wrong...
10th:
Off we sailed to Wales. The landlord at The Jolly Masons, Rhosymedre, near Wrexham had been waiting 7 whole months for us to arrive (not that we were late) and couldn't have been more welcoming. Thank you. The pub is normally chock full of enthusiastic locals who are well into their music - luckily loving the stuff we do. Apart from one heckler who stopped us playing one song. He needn't turn up early next time, cos we will start with it! The interesting shouted request of the evening was for us to play some Rage Against The Machine. Mmmm... Yes. No.
We have given the boss three dates for next year, as well as the August Bank Holiday Bash, he wants us to do. Hopefully all will be well with the dates. Meanwhile, A major local venue we play at is about to bite the dust. Very sad.
16th:
Back to the Red Lion, Goostrey. A bit more of a crowd tonight, including a couple of what we used to call 'ravers' back in the (cough splutter, ahem) 70's. More of a crowd made for a better show, definitely. We videoe'd the first half of the show but we were a bit loud for the camcorder. We will have to find a way of working round that for future reference.
25th:
The group are all enjoying our holidays, thanks very much and we will next be back in a geriatric rock and roll stylee in Blackpool on November 7th. If anyone from The Jolly Masons reads this blog, can they please ask the landlord there to get in touch with us? We have offered 3 dates and have heard nothing back. Ta.
2nd:
The group played at THE FLEECE, Ashton. Ever noticed that (just about) every group seems to say that they always have a great show on their websites, even if they played to one man and his dog? It turns into an event at Wembley Stadium... Ridiculous. I'm not going to say anything about the gig, except for giving a HUGE thanks to the people who came to see us and especially to Andy from the excellent LAZZY BAND who wrote a really nice review for us on NWB: Read it here.
"Arrived at The Fleece at about 9:30pm, with the band already set up and soundchecked. It was quite quiet (as is the norm early on) until about 10pm, when the regular “Fleecers” have finished their pub crawl around Ashton and head to watch the band!)…
The Kerbcrawlers opened up with an energetic “Boys are Back in Town”. You can’t beat the twin assault of two Les Pauls in perfect harmony! … and being THE Thin Lizzy sound, they also featured “Emerald”, "Are You Ready" and “Rosalie” later in the evening too. Just one thing regarding the mix: During the “Emerald” solo trade-offs, I think the rhythm guitar needs to be a little quieter and the lead lifting slightly on that song, so that the solos really hit the audience in the face, but that’s a minor quibble. The bass from Ian (all 4/5 of em!) and Colin's drums sounded great throughout.
Nice to see the drums being mic’d up, as this gives a much better sound.. The Kerbcrawlers have a good array of both older classic songs (Santana’s “Black Magic Woman” - tasteful solos by Edward & Steven) as well as more modern rock numbers (Foo Fighters’ “Learning To Fly”), and some you don’t hear many live bands do, such as Joe Satriani’s “Surfing With The Alien”, and Prince’s “Purple Rain” (nice and tight boys!), which finished with a lovely harmony guitar part, that I managed to get a short video clip of (see below!). I also enjoyed the less rocky tunes like “29 Palms”, “Behind Blue Eyes” (one of my favourite Who tunes) and “Need Your Love So Bad”. All the members of the band take the lead vocal on different tunes, so people get a “diverse listening experience” (Bloody’ell, that sounds deep doesn’t it!?)
I’ve heard the Kerbcrawlers before, and the last time they played The Fleece, the bass was “too bloody loud”! Ian! ;-) .. but this time it was excellent. Mind you, as you all know, the sound mix will change depending on where you are stood in the room. Standing at the back tends to cancel out the guitar frequencies at some venues… so stand closer!.. to the band, not me! I was going to tell Ian to turn up the vocals slightly in the 1st set…but I couldn’t be arsed, as I was drinking my Boddingtons. lol . However, the vocals were lifted in the 2nd set and sounded great.. and I still hadn’t said anything! Ha ha
The Kerbsters have a really polished and professional sound to them, with a great lighting rig too! (Us Lazzies will need to get some lights pronto cuz it doesn’t half help with the overall quality and feel of the performance. At the moment we will have to get by on multi-coloured energy bulbs stuck into any light fixtures!). I liked the way they messed about with Roadhouse Blues, sticking in various riffs and tunes from other songs, especially The Wombles! ("Orinoco Flow" next time perhaps??) … Guitarist Ed sang on “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)” and also played the solo, which was spot-on! (I’ve heard other people murder that solo, so cheers!)
They finished off with some Pink Floyd, which always goes down well at many classic rock venues. “Wish You Were Here”, “Money” and “Comfortably Numb” being on the musical menu… It was nice to see that they were not afraid to just busk through a tune, (even though they hadn’t rehearsed it) as an audience member shouted for “Whole Lotta Rosie”. They duly obliged and did an admirable job. The thing about all these so called well known classic rock songs, is that we “think” we know them, but then realise, “does everyone know the structure” and the “stops & starts”?. Well hopefully you guys will get it into the set asap, because it sounded excellent, and I would say Steve’s voice suits it down to the ground. I suppose it’s just about finding the right kind of song for each individual to sing, and I can safely say Steve should sing more stuff like “Rosie”!.. It doesn’t matter that the song is in the NWB Top 10, and gets done to death. There are venues that have heard it too many times, but there’ll also be those that want to hear it time and time again, so I’d say it’s really about “the right tool for the right job”. i.e “right song for the right venue….well done chaps. I had a great night. Ta
Later folksters!
Lazzy Andy"
7th:
Our show at Winstons, Wigan later this month is sadly now OFF. The venue has just changed hands and the new guys won't be having bands on. We are still trying to sort out our shows for next year at The Boulevard, Wigan (We're assured we are ok for 4 dates, but we need to get our diaries together) and the dates will be on the site in December. Unless, of course, something goes hideously wrong...
10th:
Off we sailed to Wales. The landlord at The Jolly Masons, Rhosymedre, near Wrexham had been waiting 7 whole months for us to arrive (not that we were late) and couldn't have been more welcoming. Thank you. The pub is normally chock full of enthusiastic locals who are well into their music - luckily loving the stuff we do. Apart from one heckler who stopped us playing one song. He needn't turn up early next time, cos we will start with it! The interesting shouted request of the evening was for us to play some Rage Against The Machine. Mmmm... Yes. No.
We have given the boss three dates for next year, as well as the August Bank Holiday Bash, he wants us to do. Hopefully all will be well with the dates. Meanwhile, A major local venue we play at is about to bite the dust. Very sad.
16th:
Back to the Red Lion, Goostrey. A bit more of a crowd tonight, including a couple of what we used to call 'ravers' back in the (cough splutter, ahem) 70's. More of a crowd made for a better show, definitely. We videoe'd the first half of the show but we were a bit loud for the camcorder. We will have to find a way of working round that for future reference.
25th:
The group are all enjoying our holidays, thanks very much and we will next be back in a geriatric rock and roll stylee in Blackpool on November 7th. If anyone from The Jolly Masons reads this blog, can they please ask the landlord there to get in touch with us? We have offered 3 dates and have heard nothing back. Ta.
Group news September 2009
Group news September 2009
2nd: The group plays our last show of the year at The Railway, Bromley Cross, Bolton on Saturday.
4th: A last minute gig came in for this evening at The Saddle, Lea, Preston. map Lovely landlady. Nice venue. Some event down the road meant numbers were down. Back later in the year. Thanks to The Lazzy Band, for passing us this one.
5th: The Railway, Bromley Cross, Bolton. We are very pleased to say that trade has picked up nicely at The Railway and it was nice to go to see the gorgeous barmaids and our hosts and play to an enthusiastic crowd. The two gorgeous ladies whose two rather nice bums are the background image to this blog page - they ran off with our camera on a previous visit and it came back with a number of "incriminating" photos on it - were in tonight and they were looking as extremely ravishing as ever. Yum yum. Probably back next year.
7th: Amore, Frodsham. Colin does have some bright ideas.... Let's drive nearly all the way to Chester on a Monday night, play from 10 - 12 and get home at z o'clock in the morning, nearly in time to go to work. Fortunately, it's a very good little venue in a lovely area and there is always a muso crowd, which keeps us on our toes.
11th: The Kings Arms, Clitheroe. Once again, you had to be there. More of a crowd than last time when the BBC were doing something in a field down the road. Good listeners, another cracking venue. looking forward to going back next year.
12th: The rockingest venue in the area has to be Old Isaacs in Atherton. We always have a great night there, even though it has the smallest stage in the world, and we are looking forward to next year's shows, which are already in the diary. Some problems with our PA speakers and an uncharacteristically drunken 'pretend roadie' made the evening more than just a bit stressful for the band, but our spare speakers were promptly collected and installed, before the show started and not a beat was missed. Those of you who were there will notice we didn't play any Beatles songs and probably know exactly why, too!! There was a most welcome return to the set for our version of Pink Floyd's 'Time'.
18th: The Duke of Wellington, Great Harwood. Great to play a new trouble-free venue with a great crowd. Thanks very much to a few people that came especially to see us. Much appreciated. Reinforces the feeling that we are doing something right!
19th: The Spinners Arms, Hindley Green. This is where the band played our first show as a 4 piece after Ian James left to 'grow cabbages'. Nice appreciative crowd. Lovely venue. Very happy landlord and landlady. Back later in the year, we hope.
We made the mistake of feeling hungry, taking quite a detour on the way home and going on to a kebab shop on Market St in Hindley, where we inadvertently got into the boxing ring with two scrapping women and a couple of vicious blokes who all seemed to want to kill each other. We don't mind watching two women rolling on the floor in a frenzy, but in a kebab shop?? Please, no.
25th: The Red Lion, Goostrey: Great venue, great landlord. Not the busiest night they've ever had, but the landlord said that we were the best group that have ever played there and was impressed enough to re-book us for October and November. Looking forward to going back. Next week we are at The Fleece.
The next couple of months have been kept slghtly quieter than normal so we can get some rehearsals in.
28th: Could Ian find the mystery venue in Farnworth that is looking for groups? No. We have successfully moved two shows this evening that were booked for the beginning of December next year, due to other commitments. Thanks very much to the two venues for their help.
August 2009
August 2009
1st:
Thanks very much to everyone who came to see the first of our two shows this month at Winstons, Wigan. For those of you who missed it, we had an excellent guest guitarist up guesting on one song (The boys are back in town). His teacher is of course the best guitar teacher in the area (Steve) and he did an excellent job. A photo will be in the gallery shortly. Ed made his vocal debut, singing 'Come up and see me make me smile' and he too did a great job. A good evening.
The next couple of months look to be quite busy and the group are thinking about our next studio adventure and a possible 'Best of' CD. Early days yet on that one, as the bigwigs at our record company have thoughtfully scheduled the deletion of the first two of our three CD's.
You can't say they didn't support the first disc though:
9th:
Last night we played at The Old Bank Inn, Blackpool and had a great night. Thanks to the audience for being good listeners and to the lovely landlady, who helped us no end with parking spaces and kept our glasses topped up all night (damn that accursed driving!). Looking forward to the next time.
14th:
Thanks very much to Rick from The 45's Covers Band for this review of our show at The Banner, Hindley, which he has very kindly posted on North West Bands:
". . . . Thoroughly entertained yet again from another great band off NWB. Ed - guitars, Steve - guitars, Ian - bass and Colin - drums. Me and the missus entered in our matching brown leather jackets and the guys ripped into "Sharp Dressed Man" - thank you chaps ! Some excellent classic rock played here notably The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes - great vocals by all. Other highlights for us was the Lizzy Set and the Floyd Set at the end. Steve treated us to Joe Sat's Alians showing how fast fingers can move without skipping a note. But for me and Anne it was the man at the back that stole the show, great drumming, great vocals and fun to watch and listen to. I'm still not 100% convinced about V-drums although the start of Black Magic Woman did get me thinking. Thanks for last night guys, we will look you up again soon. Tina, the manager really enjoyed your stuff by the way. Ian, it was nice talking to you and hope you guys have a great gig tonight at the HULTON ARMS tonight.
Cheers, Rick."
We were immediately re-booked for The Banner for the bank holiday Friday this month. It's a really nice venue - so come along on the 28th and say hello.
15th:
The Hulton Arms, Bolton. We played to a fairly full house. Thanks to those people who made the trip especially to see us. Very much appreciated! The landlord seemed very happy with us indeed and re-booked us into next year. It's only July..... The second set was much longer than usual, as we were having a ball and played just about everything we knew and one that we didn't. We were on stage for one and three-quarter hours in the second set. Good going, even for us. Looking forward to our return later in the year.
22nd:
A somewhat quieter night at Durty Gurty's, Bolton. The area set aside for the band to set up wasn't very good size-wise and blocked the fire exit completely, which was completely illegal... so after a while, we sort of spread the band out a wee bit and played into the pub from an area opposite the bottom end of the bar. Nice to see some familiar faces in the pub to see us - thanks for coming. We hope you enjoyed our show. We seemed to go down very well with the punters. We don't have any return bookings there and are undecided about going back.
28th:
A nice return to Tina's pub, The Banner, Hindley. Always an enjoyable night - Thanks to the folks who came down to see us play. Much appreciated. Back there in the New Year. Ian's new bass made an appearance but didn't get used. Steve is going to work his magic on it.
29th:
We finished the month of with a second appearance at Winstons, Wigan. Thanks to Rob and April (send us the pictures!!) and to John (The Fire Hazard) and RentACrowd for coming along. Ed was notable by his absence on the night as he was called to Yorkshire on family business. The mighty trio rocked Wigan anyway.
More news soon.
1st:
Thanks very much to everyone who came to see the first of our two shows this month at Winstons, Wigan. For those of you who missed it, we had an excellent guest guitarist up guesting on one song (The boys are back in town). His teacher is of course the best guitar teacher in the area (Steve) and he did an excellent job. A photo will be in the gallery shortly. Ed made his vocal debut, singing 'Come up and see me make me smile' and he too did a great job. A good evening.
The next couple of months look to be quite busy and the group are thinking about our next studio adventure and a possible 'Best of' CD. Early days yet on that one, as the bigwigs at our record company have thoughtfully scheduled the deletion of the first two of our three CD's.
You can't say they didn't support the first disc though:
9th:
Last night we played at The Old Bank Inn, Blackpool and had a great night. Thanks to the audience for being good listeners and to the lovely landlady, who helped us no end with parking spaces and kept our glasses topped up all night (damn that accursed driving!). Looking forward to the next time.
14th:
Thanks very much to Rick from The 45's Covers Band for this review of our show at The Banner, Hindley, which he has very kindly posted on North West Bands:
". . . . Thoroughly entertained yet again from another great band off NWB. Ed - guitars, Steve - guitars, Ian - bass and Colin - drums. Me and the missus entered in our matching brown leather jackets and the guys ripped into "Sharp Dressed Man" - thank you chaps ! Some excellent classic rock played here notably The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes - great vocals by all. Other highlights for us was the Lizzy Set and the Floyd Set at the end. Steve treated us to Joe Sat's Alians showing how fast fingers can move without skipping a note. But for me and Anne it was the man at the back that stole the show, great drumming, great vocals and fun to watch and listen to. I'm still not 100% convinced about V-drums although the start of Black Magic Woman did get me thinking. Thanks for last night guys, we will look you up again soon. Tina, the manager really enjoyed your stuff by the way. Ian, it was nice talking to you and hope you guys have a great gig tonight at the HULTON ARMS tonight.
Cheers, Rick."
We were immediately re-booked for The Banner for the bank holiday Friday this month. It's a really nice venue - so come along on the 28th and say hello.
15th:
The Hulton Arms, Bolton. We played to a fairly full house. Thanks to those people who made the trip especially to see us. Very much appreciated! The landlord seemed very happy with us indeed and re-booked us into next year. It's only July..... The second set was much longer than usual, as we were having a ball and played just about everything we knew and one that we didn't. We were on stage for one and three-quarter hours in the second set. Good going, even for us. Looking forward to our return later in the year.
22nd:
A somewhat quieter night at Durty Gurty's, Bolton. The area set aside for the band to set up wasn't very good size-wise and blocked the fire exit completely, which was completely illegal... so after a while, we sort of spread the band out a wee bit and played into the pub from an area opposite the bottom end of the bar. Nice to see some familiar faces in the pub to see us - thanks for coming. We hope you enjoyed our show. We seemed to go down very well with the punters. We don't have any return bookings there and are undecided about going back.
28th:
A nice return to Tina's pub, The Banner, Hindley. Always an enjoyable night - Thanks to the folks who came down to see us play. Much appreciated. Back there in the New Year. Ian's new bass made an appearance but didn't get used. Steve is going to work his magic on it.
29th:
We finished the month of with a second appearance at Winstons, Wigan. Thanks to Rob and April (send us the pictures!!) and to John (The Fire Hazard) and RentACrowd for coming along. Ed was notable by his absence on the night as he was called to Yorkshire on family business. The mighty trio rocked Wigan anyway.
More news soon.
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