Sound Files Working Again

I've now transferred the sound files to http://fileave.com and they should be working again.

Click the song name under the "Listen - Music Tracks" heading in the left hand column.

Media Files Unavailable

Sorry to anyone who has been trying to listen to the media files. Mediamax, the website that was hosting them has decided to "upgrade" to something called "The Link Up" and has spectacularly downgraded instead.

I only had a free account and they have decided that anyone with a free account doesn't have their files moved to the new site at all. A disadvantage over paid accounts, but only the very slightest of disadvantages as all the (ignored) screams on the blog of the site seem to suggest that the paid customers' files haven't been moved either...

They are not going to allow seamless linking either so I'm on the lookout for somewhere else to store the files. If anyone has any experience or knowledge (I'm against spending money for this because of the relative unreliability of such services) then I'd be pleased to hear from you!

John

Witton Park Gig

We played a gig at Witton Park, Blackburn on Sunday, setting up in our usual spot in the courtyard which was set out with straw bales for the audience to sit. Quite a number turned up. It was a nice day (until later - see below) and we ran out of straw bales but thankfully not out of songs!

There was a lot going on besides us. There was some chap dressed up in a duck outfit collecting entries for a duck race. I couldn't resist the temptation and called to him over the mic - "Collect a bit for charity, there's a duck..."!

Throughout the morning and into the afternoon it was so sunny I couldn't read the LCD display on the keyboard which led to this rather unfortunate necessity...

From lunchtime, though, we kept hearing thunder rumbling in the far distance, although it remained warm and sunny through the afternoon. Then as we were considering calling it a day and just as we were halfway through the last chorus huge raindrops started to fall. We finished, yelled "Thank you, goodbye!" and yanked plugs from sockets and dragged the equipment into the shelter of the ex-stable that we use as a base.

Almost immediately the Heavens opened and thunder, lightning and hailstones the size of marrowfats were bouncing all over the place.

A great day with none of the usual requests for "just one more", as the audience dived for cover too!

First Gig with New Keyboard

We played a charity gig in aid of Sports Relief last night at Bispham Conservative Club arranged by the ladies from Sainsburys store next door. They raised over two thousand pounds for the charity altogether so a tremendous effort.

We did a couple of spots, starting and finishing the evening and there was a performance by Britain's Got Talent contestant Tom McLeod.

The new keyboard sounded good, but I'm still not totally familiar with it yet and there was a moment's panic when I couldn't find an entire folder of rock and roll songs. It took a while before I realised there were too many folders to show on one page and there was a page 2 button lit up! Duh!

Anyway we got everyone up dancing, which we were told was a most unusual feat!

Carrying all the gear down a very steep fire escape in the dark was a bit hairy!

Trials and Tribulations

We've gained a new backing singer!

David's wife Jeannie joins us for a bit of help on the chorus of Be My Baby. Which is a good thing because my falsetto is not was it used to be...

We were round at John's house last night for another run through of the new stuff and to see if we can revive a couple of numbers that have fallen by the wayside a bit. A good time was had by all, helped by Fran's cubed chicken in white wine and garlic which was just a bit yummy!

At the same time though we've had a gig called off this weekend so are going to console ourselves with a trip out to Frankie & Bennie's!

March Track at Billy Fury Website

This month at http://www.billyfury.com you can listen to one of the tracks from our new album Right On The Line.

The track is called I Try To Think About Elvis and features John on vocals.

The website is devoted to 1960s British idol Billy Fury whose latest album is currently in the album charts 25 years after his untimely death from long-standing health problems.

Rehearse? What's That About?

With another year of gigs about to start at the beginning of March, we decided we had better get together for a bit of a rehearsal.

After all, the last time we all played together was 24 September last year!

We don't do a great deal of rehearsing to be honest - after 6 years together we just fall into it again, but with it having been so long we just wanted to have a bit of a run-through.

In addition I'd put together some new songs on the keyboard and we had our first play of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire, Kenny Rogers' The Gambler, Creedence Clearwater Revival's Have You Ever Seen The Rain, Status Quo's Rockin' All Over The World and one I stuck in as an experiment but it sounded great - er... The Ronettes' Be My Baby!

"Well I thought you wouldn't be able to surprise me any more," David said, "but..."

Christmas Song Downloads

Merry Christmas to all our friends and followers.

We hope to see you soon and wish you all a happy and prosperous 2008!

We recorded these two songs for the Christmas edition of Sounds Special on the Billy Fury website.

We hope you enjoy them!

A Winter's Tale
I Believe In Father Christmas

Right On The Line

It's been a long time coming!

Our new album, Right On The Line is finally ready, the covers are back from the printers and I've started production.

The album has 16 tracks and as a nod to our friends at the Billy Fury website, it has two of Billy's tracks: Last Night Was Made For Love and Somebody Else's Girl.

You can have a free listen to Last Night Was Made For Love. Call it our thanks for being so patient, we hope you enjoy the album.

Have I Told You Yamaha Are Great?

Well in all honesty I have spent a fair few hours on it today but I've found how to do so much stuff it's been a joy!

I can now play all the pre-recorded song backings without bass for when Bob's with us and I've worked out how to split the keyboard to play two lead sounds (which I do on Fields of Athenry) and how to move the split point so I could fit in the required bass note, and I've also spent some time just playing different styles of music and loving the sounds that come from it.

Ahhhhh.... The only thing I've not done yet is work out how to record some new backings but I'm sure it won't be a problem. I've only looked at the manual twice and found what I wanted straight away!

Wonder if I can take it to London with me... Hmmm...perhaps not!