Jan 2007

Scratchers at the 3 Lions 27th Jan

I was visiting our ailing bass player Maurice in Croydon before Scratchers, Saturday Jan 27, and just as we sat down all the lights in the area went out. I set off for the gig through the dark canyons of Croydon's wastelands. At Scratchers Nigel Stanley and his computerised bass stepped in manfully for Mo and put in plenty of strong playing. The audience were responsive and enjoying it, Nigel turned his bass up and all the bleeding lights in the district went out again! I thought 'The hellhound of darkness is on my trail' (ref. Robert Johnson) .. Mark kept playing though and we sang a load of stuff a cappella - Mona, Let's Dance (??), Mustang Sally - until our throats gave out and Mark took away my drumstick. We then spent hours crawling about finding our picks, leads, amps in the blackness illuminated by useless wind-up torches. Nigel will be booming again at the Jolly Farmers on Friday Feb 2nd. and I hope the fuses in Purley can take it, Spiderfingers. 
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Leigham Arms, Streatham, Saturday 13th January 2007

It's always a challenge at The Leigham Arms to see if we can fit in all the gear, have some room to stand and still leave space for the audience, but we love the intimate, club-like atmosphere and the fact that the audience really come to hear some music and show their appreciation. It's like a small, welcoming country pub tucked away in Streatham and there were good few familiar faces there. We managed to extract some wild sounds from the amps in the first set and one or two yelps from the audience too, with Mark and Maurice thundering away as a rhythm section should, and I finally managed to get the sound I've wanted from my new fuzz pedal - fuzz rules. The second set was a raw maelstrom of blues rock, as Chris and I both played through my amp when his packed up after the break! It's amazing what you can do with a Fender Evil Twin. I especially enjoyed trying out different effects from my foot pedals during Chris's solos. The audience was great and it was good to see so many old friends there. We'll be back on March 10th.
Steve
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