And....... relax ..... and then some

Well that was a busy month, which is why there were no blog posts. Now I am going to have a few weeks off to learn another chord and maybe another chord change and possibly write another song before the end of civilisation as we know it . . .  also known as Christmas.

So what has been going on - I have played three more gigs - two in Canterbury and one in Ramsgate, all three were very different from each other
The first was at the New Inn in Canterbury at a beer festival on a very wet and rainy bank holiday Monday as part of the support for a spoken word tour by Chris Clavin. Interesting night to say the least as this was another of the split sets with DeKadanCe and the set list just sort of happened but these were the songs that were played ... I think ... as copiuous amounts of alcohol had been consumed and I cant remember much and the set list doesnt help:

You're A Terrorist

This Means War

Drip By Drip

Race To The Bottom

Pissing In The Wind

Generation Idiot

DeKadanCe

They Shoot Children Don't They

Knight Of A 1000 Knives

Just One Life

Power & The Glory

When The Lights Go Out

Identity

The next one was the following Saturday at Churchills in Ramsgate supporting a covers band called The Shammed - they were rather good and the reason I turned up to the New Inn gig six  days before a bit worse for wear. The evening  with them was bloody good fun and those that were there said it was possibly the best gig I had done.

You're A Terrorist
Still Called Scum
Go Back To Sleep
Pissing In The Wind
This Means War
Race To The Bottom
Drip By Drip
Generation Idiot

And the gigs got wierder, the following Friday and now into September I had to open the musical proceedings at Konrad and Annies wedding reception. It was also the first gig that I was going to open for my old band The Warriors, Also on the bill were Konrads band The Half Wits as well as Sheppy punks -  All Flags Burn. The Commited were originally going to play but had to pull out of it and I know that they wanted to play it so as a suprise for Konrad and Annie I organised with Daz to do a Commited song directly after They Shoot Children with Kay - here is the video of both tracks. Conratulations Mr & Mrs Harris

And here is the set list:
 

You're A Terrorist

Still Called Scum

Pissing In The Wind

They Shoot Children (with Kay from Decadent Few / DeKadanCe / PCF)

Fast Lane (with Daz from The Commited / Betty Swallox)

Drip By Drip

Generation Idiot 

Identity  (with Kay)

The DeKadanCe CD has been selling well considering that we have never done a full gig on our own as DeKadanCe but all that is going to remedied next year when we open the Davee Wild Memorial Weekender at The Lady Luck in Canterbury, Kent on the Thursday. I am opening the proceedings on my own on the Saturday at the Maidens Head with so many awesome bands that the best idea is to go and have a look at the facebook events page here.

 DAVEE WILD MEMORIAL WEEKENDER

 I am so very honoured to be playing this as Davee told me a while back before his sad and very untimely death that I was the person who had played the Maidens Head the most in all the gigs he had put on there. I questioned this as I was quite surprised and he said it was true, he could show me the list of gigs I had done and with who and reminded me that I had played in three different bands (The Warriors, Surgery Without Research &  Crimewave) numerous times and was looking forward to seeing my solo stuff live. Sadly he never did and now I play every gig I do in Canterbury for Davee and I will remember that conversation forever, I will miss one of the loveliest, honest and geniune blokes I have ever met.
This is a very short poem I wrote for Davee the night of his funeral.

For Davee
Rest In Punk my friend
May the party never end
Keep it going til we meet again
Rest In Punk my friend.

Here are a couple of pictures of Davee that I took on a very dodgy camera phone in 2011 - this was at Nottingham Rock City when Davee had come in the van with The Warriors when we supported Old Firm Casuals and The Last Resort. The first picture is Davee having a beer and a chat with Lars Frederickson (OFC / Rancid) and Tosh (Section 5) and the second is Davee deliberately walking past while I was trying to take a picture of Lars dancing to The Last Resort

Im an Urban Guerilla ...

Things are moving pretty fast after the second gig so this is a bit of an update as I have been way busy.

I'm very excited to announce a couple of releases coming up. First off I have a track coming out on a compilation album of Kent punk bands, this will be released on vinyl and CD round about September time.
More exciting is that I am about three quarters of the way thru recording a few tracks with a singer, who will go nameless for the moment as we haven't finalised what we are going to be doing but all will be revealed very soon and to say it's a bit different for me is a bit of an understatement. Saying that, playing acoustic guitar is a bit different for me as I am used to playing bass not guitar. I will say I am well pleased with the way these tracks are turning out and the whole thing is going to surprise a few people. We are looking at releasing two of the tracks as a vinyl single if anyone out there can help with this we would very much appreciate it.

I also have another gig booked, this time in Canterbury with anarcho punk legends Anthrax UK, The Commited who I did the first gig with and Snide on the 6th June at The Lady Luck Bar. This should be a packed gig so get there early as I will be playing a song I have never played before and may not play again we shall see what happens.

And lastly, I decided to record a cover version and no it's not a punk cover. Many years ago I had the priviledge of playing with the very talented and sadly missed Robert Calvert, he wrote this song in 1974 with the band he was with at the time, namely Hawkwind. The track was banned by the BBC and withdrawn as a single due to a spate of IRA bombings at the time. I have always loved this song so decided to record my version of it as a tribute to Bob and without knowing it released it as a download on what would have been  his 69th birthday.



Please feel free to download this or any other track from the soundcloud page. If you use this in a radio show or podcast - please credit me and and let me know - Thanks Russ Crimewave.

First Gig - Review

So the first gig is out of the way - always a nightmare but even more so when you are not used to doing everything on your own. Everything was going smoothly, too smoothly, I was going up on the train to Sheerness with a few mates then I get that call, you know the one, train cancelled, wrong type of wind or some such crap. Turned out there was a landslide and all the trains were cancelled and there was a bus service that was going to make the jorney nearly three hours - really? its three o clock and I have to be there between six and seven and there is no way I am going to make it. Luckily I get a call from Kay from Decadent Few, do I want a lift to Sheerness, yeah I do, that would be lovely, so thats what I did - got a lift.
Packed everything in one bag and off we went to Sheerness.

So how did the gig go??
Well, I got there with a bit of time to spare so had a chat with a few people while Swampstomper & The Commited were sound checking and then as time was getting on, it was a quick line check for me and on I go. Nervous as hell, quick bit of banter then into the first tune. Fifteen minutes and five tunes later its all over and I'm buzzing from the fantastic response I got despite being out of tune for three of the five and messing up a fair few lyrics, then amazingly got asked back for an encore, so after a quick tune up I did one more.

Set List:
1. You're A Terrorist
2. Still Called Scum
3. R.I.P (Riot In Progress)
4. Race To The Bottom
5. Generation iDiot
6. Question Authority (encore)

Gutterpunk  took some fantastic photos for GIGglepics which can be found along with a review of the rest of the gig  here.

First Gig

Bloody hell I have got a gig in Sheerness and what a cracker it is too. I'm supporting Kent legends The Commited at their album release party for their new CD "Older & Faster" and reasonably new boys Swampstomper Here is the flyer, come along if ya can - I will only be doing about 15 minutes but thats enough for an old bloke with an acoustic guitar shouting things down a mic. If everyone pisses off outside for a cigarette I shall go and annoy them out there.