January 2007

January 2007:

4th:
Steve's killer cold has definitely now migrated through to Ian E..... H had a bad cold a short while ago and Col said he felt quite rough on the phone today. Hopefully all of us will be 'something like' shortly. Our gig this weekend at The Collier's Rest, Leigh was pulled with little warning by the landlady as the bands were not getting enough people in. So don't go - we won't be there. Next weekend is fortunately one of the weekends that we have kept clear so that we get a proper rest every six weeks or so. This is probably just as well, seeing how crap everyone has felt over New Year. Time to recuperate properly.

We are going to be doing a bit more gig hunting shortly, though the year is looking fairly full.. If anyone can suggest venues for us to approach, please do!! We have tried to get on at The Griffin in Earlestown as we are frequently told we are just the kind of muso type guitar band they would love, they don't appear to be having any of it. We have asked a couple of times, but we DON'T beg to play anywhere. Not the end of the world, really, is it, anyway?

8th:
Bang goes the relaxing weekend off. We've been asked to play at a new venue in Wigan town centre - The Boulevard on Wallgate. The venue has it's own lights and PA system and we're looking forward to it. Hope to see some friendly faces there!!!

Our MYSPACE MUSIC thingy now seems to be working. There are two songs up on it and we'll add more. So please visit our other web page at http://www.myspace.com/kerbcrawling for even more fun and enjoyment.

9th:
I am supposed to be lying down at home, as I am off work and feeling quite ill. So...... Lloyds TSB ring me and wake me up trying to get me to come in and see them so they can sell me stuff. Then I am just nodding off again and our agent comes on - He's a really nice chap, so I'll forgive him. The club that we are supposed to be playing at in Preston in March is having a special evening when we are supposed to be playing - The end result being that we now aren't playing.

Oh bugger. We have turned other gigs away for that date. Dammit. As said, we are probably going out one evening next week to do some gig hunting, depending on which ones of us are feeling like casualties at that point.

Cough splutter.... it's not all sex, drugs and rock and roll at the moment - It's more like Lemsips, Soothers and Tunes (I wonder if we could get an endorsement deal?) Aaarrgh.

The phone has gone again!!!!! Our nice agent again. We thankfully now have a replacement show for March 10th in Liverpool.

13th:
With voices slightly more intact, we set off to play a show at a new venue. The Boulevard on Wallgate in Wigan. We didn't take our own PA system, as there are big Bose speakers hanging all over the club so the sound goes everywhere. Apart from monitoring and having to cut the top end to avoid feedback, it worked surprisingly well. The stage lights were great too. Nice to be able to spend some time with our mates from RentACrowd and have a proper chat - the messing about with the PA usually takes up a fair bit of time.

14th:
We were all making our way to The Moses Gate to show a bit of reciprocated support to a mate of ours (from RentACrowd) playing there in his own band, but on arrival, Ian E found the gig was suddenly cancelled. It was therefore quiet in the pub and the landlord, Ray, recognised Ian from his days with The Roadrunners. After a good chat, the diary came out and The Kerbcrawlers are now booked in there for August 11th.

15th:
We are pleased to announce that we have lined up some more shows at The Boulevard in Wigan, where we had a great night on Saturday. We have also lined up shows with a couple of other new venues over Wigan and Accrington way, so we're getting quite close to booked up. See the gigs page for more info. New Year's Eve may now be reserved by a venue. We hope to confirm and announce that date shortly. We already have a number of dates in for 2008 and are happy to provisionally talk diaries with anyone who may have a wedding or bash, or indeed talk to any venue who wants to book us.

17th:
Ian E went to The Academy in Manchester to watch Justin Currie (of Del Amitri fame). He put on a totally inspiring and excellent show. Possibly the best Ian has seen for a good long while... at least since the last time Cheap Trick were around.

18th:
Our gig at Irlam Catholic Club (I played there a while ago with an old cabaret band) has just been pulled by the agent who booked us in, via our own agent, who had to ring and give us the bad news. Funnily enough, the Concert Sec from Irlam Catholic Club spent lot of time and effort coming to watch us and trying to find a free date from us last year - we had none. He will be well and truly p**sed off that this date has gone when Colin (who knows him) lets him know. It will happen at some time, I suppose.

We have now given that date - within 5 minutes - to The Royal, Farnworth, who we now have taken three new dates with. They are looking for bands and I have started the rush by contacting a few mates tonight.

19th:
I'll spare you the gory details, but Colin has been particularly unwell today. We decided during the afternoon to cancel tonight's show at The New Inn, Walkden, as our mate Rick was already gigging and couldn't help us out. We don't take cancelling gigs at all lightly - as many of you will know. We will be making a decision on tomorrow night's gig around lunchtime. If Col is ok, it will be business as usual. If he isn't fit to play, we may either ask Rick again or see if Bad Habits can help out for the night.

20th:
We managed to play our show at the White Lion, Upholland. Col was still nothing at all like 100%, but he was a lot better than yesterday. Still not much happening in the voice dept. We didn't allow him a mic, so he didn't make his throat any worse. Ian E's attempt to cover the vocals on 'Get over it' were (admittedly) hysterically funny, as he was reading the words off a piece of A4 paper just off to his right and there are lots of words to read and then sing, so he ended up struggling and missing a lot of them out. No music stand - tut tut... We got one of our mates from rent-a-crowd up during 'Roadhouse blues' (please send us a pic and we'll put it up).

'Comfortably numb' suffered JUST a bit from the lack of Col's vocals too, but we persevered and got through it in good style. Thanks to the crowd for being so receptive and understanding, just as if we weren't having any problems. We'll be ok next time we're there.

24th:
Ian E was asked about this 'Bay City Rollers' thing: Yes, Ian got on TV on bass with Les McKeown's 70's BCR's at the Big Breakfast some years ago. It exists on video.[Shudders....] Les is a really lovely bloke, though!!!

27th:
Colin was feeling much better for our gig at the Lord Rodney, Warrington. There were a few songs (which Colin normally sings) that we didn't play, so that his voice would be ok for the studio the next day.

28th:
The band was recording in Frog Studios in Warrington, today and - thanks very much indeed to Mark - we managed to get another SEVEN songs finished for the new CD. Can't say much more now than "Lizzy fans will be happy......." We have also reserved two dates with the studio to work on 'the difficult third album' later this year.

More info re the next CD soon.........