Introducing the Duo

Well it's now official that Bob will be leaving the band to concentrate on his work with The Old School Band.

David and I wish him every success in the ceilidh band which has become extremely successful and in demand for parties, making it difficult for him to perform with us on Saturday nights!

However David and I are well used to performing as a duo and that is how we are going to continue for the forseeable future. We have a few club bookings coming in and bookings for 2010 are looking as though it will be a good year again for us.

We'll be travelling about a bit too - February sees us up in the Lake District performing for a wedding reception and March sees us back in Northampton at the big Billy Fury gig of the year - Sunnyside. But we hope to see our regulars at the usual regular bookings at Myerscough, Witton Park, Garstang, Heskin Hall, Larbreck etc.

A return to Highfield Road is on the cards too, as apparently club members have been asking when we were to be booked again. Given that David had flu that night (and gave it me too, grrr...) we can't have been too bad! Also clubs in Eccleston and Ormskirk are in the calendar.

The new album will be completed as a duo - it's been a long time coming, but I've released a few tracks from it now - in the left hand column you can download The Gambler, Have You Ever Seen The Rain, Be My Baby, King For Tonight, Forever Autumn and 24 Hours From Tulsa.

The album will be a full hour of music and, of course, I'll let you know when it is available.

A Wet Day at Myerscough

Well we've been playing Myerscough College's open day events for years but yesterday was the wettest one since our very first in 2002!

Despite that a phenomenal number of people braved the weather to come out to see everything that was going on, but understandably not a lot chose to sit on the row of chairs that had been placed in front of our spot! Some brave souls stood and listened, danced, sang and cheered and we thank you for that.

We played The Kink's Sunny Afternoon, but it failed to do the trick and so we resorted to Creedence Clearwater Revival's Have You Ever Seen the Rain which gave us a certain amount of audience participation...

We played it again several hours after the first playing and David related how someone had yelled "Sod off!" as they passed. Then he did a quick "oops!" and apologised for swearing but was then faced by a very indignant 5-year-old who tore him off a strip to the amusement of everyone around us. "There's lots of children here, you know!" she said, hands on hips. I promised to wash his mouth out with soap and she nodded and, with a final stern look, walked off back to her parents who were killing themselves.

The previous night we played out at Heskin Hall for a steam fair in a large marquee. It was good to hear Fran and Jeannie relate that they had heard someone at the entrance saying to his mates "Oh, great! They were here last year and they're fabulous!" A man of taste!

And yes, I know I'm supposed to be taking it easy because of the old ticker, but we cut down the set at Heskin from our usual 4+ hours and David keeps giving me dire threats if I start to set up or carry anything heavy before he's got there to help.

And finally, our thanks to Peter and Shelagh Cooney who came to Myerscough to do a set and give us a bit of a break. I appreciated it as I'd got a huge blister on one finger which burst and needed to dry up a bit before I could carry on. "Can you still play keyboards?" asked David. Relentless...

Album Moves Another Step Closer

Bob came round last night to Burke Studios, to record bass onto a number of the album tracks.

It was a good night and we managed to finish Picture of You, My Life, Dirty Old Town, You're My Best Friend, The Rose, and Constantly.

He brought the old mahogany red mandolin with him to add some mandolin sounds to Dirty Old Town and I commented I hadn't seen that particular instrument for a while.

Apparently he was going to have it re-fretted but the workshop have instead taken a sliver off the frets with a file and Bob has also been sanding down the bridge to get a better action (the distance between the strings and the fretboard). It sounded absolutely terrific and you should be able to hear the results within a few weeks. In fact I'll try to get a bit of that track out in the next few days on the web site as a sample.

There's another 6 tracks to put bass on, so another session is booked for Thursday night. I know there's a lot of interest out there and folks waiting for this, which will be our first album since 2004.

I think we can honestly say we've stepped the sound up a notch or two!

Accoustic Track

The closest on stage we get to being an accoustic band is when I'm playing the keyboard live and Bob is playing either accoustic guitar or mandolin. Even then they are plugged into the PA instead of being microphoned - that's a lot of hassle and usually gives us feedback problems.

But on our albums there's normally at least one track where instruments are recorded the good old way.

This afternoon I've laid down no less than 5 accoustic guitar tracks for the Beatles song "I've Just Seen a Face". We do it live but I'd be playing the Strat and Bob his bass. So - something a little bit different on the way!

I've been incredibly busy at work - the album is taking a long time! But it will be a good one folks, or if not then it won't be through lack of effort!

Witton Park Gig Report

Well the weather forecast was anything but good, but in the event it was quite kind to us!

We took up our usual spot in one of the outbuildings around the courtyard at Witton and were soon joined by an enthusiastic crowd of people as we went through a country set, then folk and Irish before moving onto a few 1960s numbers.

Lunchtime came and it was still fine and most of the crowd stayed put whilst we took a break and came back to let Bob play his mandolin to John's keyboard to get everyone tapping their feet to "Bluebell Polka".

We went back to do a few more country hits then started on the 1960s with the bit between our teeth. "The Young Ones" (our signature tune for obvious reasons!) then "Halfway to Paradise", "I'm a Believer", "The Wonder of You" (gives the audience a chance to go "Whoa-oh-oh-ohhh!"), "Please Please Me", "When You Walk In The Room" and onwards through the afternoon to "The Wanderer", "Johnny B Goode", "That'll Be The Day" before finishing with "The Night Has 1000 Eyes".

Fran and Jeannie were kept busy giving out cards and seling the odd CD although Jeannie found time to wrap a couple of snakes around her neck, perhaps getting a little mixed up? No dear - it was a "feather boa" you were after!

If you were there, then thanks for the support - the rain caught up with us later on in the afternoon but it wasn't going to deter the hardy folk who were sitting listening to us and umbrellas came out, hoods went up and feet kept tapping!

Thanks also to the organisers, to Blackburn Council and Myerscough College, who were instrumental (sorry about the pun!) in getting us there and who were showing some of the animals and other resources used by them in their courses that are held at Witton.

Our next public appearance is another Myerscough Open Day on Sunday 3 June from 10:30 to around 4:00pm, this time at their main campus at Myerscough Hall, St Michael's Road, Bilsborrow, just north of Preston.

Sha-la-la-la-la-la-lee!

A bit of a rushed rehearsal last night as we set out with the best intentions but then all got held up a little!

We finally congregated at John's house and set up to run through a few of the newer songs we have added to the set. "Sha-la-la-la-lee", originally by the Small Faces needed some rearrangement of words - verses and middle 8s may not necessarily be as originally intended but it does now sound quite splendid!

Bob recorded three bass tracks for the album's "Last Night Was Made For Love" and now John has to pick the best one and cut and paste any weak notes or fret noise from the other two then that will be the first track totally finished.

David was struggling a little bit and sounding rather throaty. We had recorded a second main vocal for Westlife's "The Rose" but you could hear his throat a little so that's been scrapped until he gets back to full health! With three old gimmers like us, that can take a while! This throat bug has been passing between John and David for months!

Mr Bassman

This afternoon Bob came round to run through some of our newer stuff as a rehearsal and also to put a bass track on a couple of the album tracks.

We all find it difficult to earmark time to get together other than at weekends and at the moment even weekends are a bit busy!

Bob also introduced us to a couple of new jig instrumentals as we've been playing "Bluebell Polka" for our instrumental spot for the last few years and it's time for a change.

Album Work Continues

It's been a busy Sunday, as I've been preparing a few more tracks for the album. Fran has been at work so I had a clear run at being able to play the same thing over and over without getting on her nerves!

I start off with keyboard tracks - backing, drums and basic chord backing. Then any other keyboard tracks that may be required. That can include strings, brass, synthesizer, choirs or almost any other instrument.

Then I add guitar parts. Normally I add strummed guitars one to either side of the stereo image at the extreme edge, neither guitar audible through the opposite speaker. That creates quite a full sound. Then I might add other guitars closer to the centre with any lead or solo parts coming centre stage. I play both electric (Fender Stratocasters) or accoustic. If playing the accoustic I mic that up and have to turn off the fan on the central heating to ensure no background noise!

At this stage the track is ready for David to add his vocals after which I'll add any harmony parts. Finally Bob will add the bass and possibly extra accoustic guitar or mandolin parts.

Today "You're My Best Friend" has had an electric guitar part added and is now ready for Bob, whilst "Picture of You", "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" and "My Life" have been started from scratch and are ready for vocals to be added.

I was at a party last night and several people came up to say they had heard and enjoyed the band. Thanks for all the kind comments - we hope to firm up some more dates for public gigs soon - keep an eye on our home page.