old news

September and October

The Mutter Slater Band returned to the Rydall Arms in New Milton, Hampshire on Thursday 9th September. The audience was, er, select, but we had a great night in a lovely venue.

A Broadband/C Sharp Blues supergroup (ahem) played at the Green Shutters in Portland on 17th September to celebrate guv’nor Spud’s 60th birthday. Paul Fancy and I battled manfully behind a barrage of guitars – Tim Broad, Grant Day, Mike Biggs and Smudge Smith. Huge fun.

A 5pm the next morning Ady Milward, Clive Ashley and I headed up to Stanstead Airport to fly out to Faro in Portugal and thence to Val de Lobo in the Algarve, where we met up with Ben Waters for a gig in a restaurant right on the beach. It was my first gig with Ben’s band since I left under a cloud about three years back, and it was a fun way to bury the hatchet. The flight out and back were both lovely, particularly the glorious sunset on the way back, and the weather was glorious out there.

Custer’s Last Blues Band played their customary last Sunday of the month gig at the Hope & Anchor in Bridport on the 26th, with the new material that we’ve been working into the set going down particularly well.

October

I got my rock star head on for two gigs with AC/Beebies, at the Old Ship in Dorchester on Friday 1st October and at the Lord Nelson on Poole Quay on Saturday 2nd. My Manson bass and Ashdown amp suited the Deep Purple, AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, Hendrix etc covers really well, and it was fun to crank up the volume. I even attempted a slide bass solo on Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb. It sounded awful.

On Sunday 3rd Custer’s played at The George in Bridport. We were missing saxophonist Charlie Storey and guitarist Jon Burden, but we still managed to pull off one of the finer Custer’s gigs of recent times. Pete Dixon rose to the occasion as the only horn player, and he was joined by Clive Ashley later on, fresh from a gig with Mutter Slater around the corner at the No.10 Bistro. The audience response was positively rabid, as was guv’nor Mike and his bar staff. Always a good sign.

My great buddy and guitarist/vocalist extraordinaire Tim Broad’s 60th birthday celebrations took place at the Green Shutters on Portland on Saturday 9th October, and Mike Biggs, Grant Day, Danny Wheeler and I got the musical element underway. I then had to leg it to No.6 in Weymouth for Polygenes’ contribution to the Lupus Fest weekend, but it turned out that that was not to be; Robbie McIntosh was taken ill with flu symptoms on the way to the gig, and we had to cancel at the last minute. The wonderful Lucky Bishops played in our place, and Gothic Chicken rounded off the night in superb style with an unscheduled appearance.

Two great gigs with C Sharp Blues on the 16th and 17th October. On Saturday night we played at the Old Ship in Dorchester, with the wonderful Jim Shearman on drums and Marty Wright guesting on harmonica. It went down really well, and the guv’nor gave us two more bookings on the spot. The following afternoon we played at the Royal Portland Arms in Fortuneswell, Portland, with the funky fiend Chris Page on tubs. We had a decent crowd and pulled off a truly rocking set.

I played with Skatmantrio, the 3-piece version of Skatmandu (Andy Matthews, Steve Mutter and I) at the Beach & Barnicott in Bridport on Friday 22nd October. It was a great session – we made a big sound for a trio! On Sunday 24th C Sharp Blues made their début performance at Bar Se7en, a great little gig in Swanage. The classic line-up (Mike Biggs, Smudge Smith, Chris Page and I) was in fine form, and the punters loved it.

October ended for me with a splendid trio of gigs. The Vancoovers, the Van Morrison tribute band, played its second-ever gig at No.6 in Weymouth on Friday 29th October, and we had a tremendous response from the audience. This band has loads of potential, I believe – there’s a huge amount of Van fans out there, and we seem to be getting it right in their eyes (hmm, that phrase could be misinterpreted!)

On Saturday 30th the Skint Imperials Blues Edition (Barbie on vocals, Nick Gomer on harmonica and vocals, Paul Sundt on guitar, with Ady Milward and I in the rhythm section) played at the Grand Hotel in Swanage. Odd gig – we played to a handful of blues aficionados and some hotel residents, including kids in their pyjamas.

My last October gig was an absolute belter, tinged with sadness. The Steamer Ducks, featuring Robbie McIntosh on guitars and vocals, Clive Ashley (sax), Nick Gomer, Steve Smith on keys and Ady and I in the rhythm section (again!), romped through a set of covers from Albert King to Chuck Berry to Blind Faith, plus Robbie’s gem Scarecrow. The McIntosh gave his new old Gibson Flying V a damned good workout, along with a new Rickenbacker-style Duesenberg and his trusty yellow Strat.

The sad bit is that it was almost certainly the last gig at that excellent venue as the economic climate seems to have called time on guv’nor Pete Smith’s attempt to establish a truly excellent music venue in Weymouth.

Chris Lonergan

 

Valid CSS! Valid HTML 4.01!