January the Sixth. Epiphany. Have the band ever played on this date before? Could we get…? No, I’m sure not. But how was this (rare, if not first ever?) visit to Coventry?
January the Sixth. Epiphany. Have the band ever played on this date before? Could we get…? No, I’m sure not. But how was this (rare, if not first ever?) visit to Coventry?
Chris The Siteowner
Cracker. As if it was likely to be anything else. Great start to the day for Dr D and I as the Coventry Museum of Music turned out to be tiny but utterly brilliant – well worth a visit – and then the Twisted Barrel Ale Brewery was quite the find too. In between we’d ended up in a pub where everyone was in Hi Viz; enough said the better. Met up over the course of the day with too many good people to list, but hi to all. We should have an Awareness Day for the HMHB Community. The venue was decent enough, like a scaled-down version of the Kentish Town Forum for anyone who’s been there. Or many other venues, to be honest. Sound was very good, as long as you weren’t at the very front, and the band seemed in high spirits. Numerous references to Coventry (esp. City) throughout the set, which was (deep breath): Hedley V; Fred T; Tonight Matthew; Runningorder; Old Age; Totnes; Bad Review; Joy; San Antonio; Evening Sun; Mountain Bikes; Gubba; DPAK; “Bat Walks”; Bane of C; Lark; Chatteris; Dean F; Bad Wools; Trad. Arr. Tune; AOR; Trumpton; Vatican; NSD; TLATEOTT(ITLOAOT); You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory; Vitas G; Time Flies By;. and JDOG. In ‘Mountain Bikes’ it was when “I first told you Wasps and Coventry City would never work”; in ‘Vitas’ why, it was Steve Ogrizovic all along; and in ‘Lark’ it was of course Jeff Blockley. Rather pleasingly, tweeting ‘TLATEOTT(ITLOAOT)’ caused everyone’s Twitter accounts to offer a translation from the Estonian. A rather good start to the year.
6 January 2017
Twistedkitemike
As an habitual driver, I find myself in the unusual position of riding the last Virgin home in the company of a couple of cans of Magners (other ciders are available).
As such, with due apologies in advance for the aggressive and unsatisfyingly random auto-correct, I can furnish the non-attendees with the set-list: –
Hedley Verity
Fred T
Tonight Matthew
Squabblefest
Old Age
Totnes
Bad Review
Korfball
San Antonio
Evening Sun
Mountain Bike
Gubba
DPAK
Bane
Lark
Chatteris
Dean Friedman
Bad Wools
Trad Arr Tune
AOR
Trumpton
Vatican
NSD
Light Tunnel
Encores
Cover – You can’t put your arms around a memory
Vitas G
Time Flies By
JDOG
A fine evening and a decent turn-out. I believe that the mosh pit was remarkablely well behaved, too.
Mike……………
7 January 2017
bigrobmac
Chris – It was good to meet you and Dr D in Twisted Barrel. The gig was great, although my only disappointment was the lack of Lord Hereford’s Knob (not that I expected it to turn up) and no Problem Chimp or Adam Boyle. Still, it was well worth the trip. Thanks for the bubblewrap – I waved it, albeit in vain!
7 January 2017
Chris The Siteowner
Well behaved moshpit? It was Dr D’s notice (bottom right) wot dun it.
7 January 2017
EXXO
Which in itself seems to perpetuate the myths and exaggerations. Been following them 30 years and never seen anything but a remarkably well behaved moshpit with an occasional drunken idiot, or occasional idiot reacting to moshers.
7 January 2017
WARDEN HODGES
The Twitter picture shows Nigel in his Chrimbo slacks. Nice.
7 January 2017
SIMON P
Great show last night. I do like the Empire (bar the beer situation) and the band seemed to be enjoying it too. Sound qas good after a slightly muddy start. Nice to hear Henley, Gubba and Lark. Mick Coop changed his name by deed poll by dropping the hyphen in his name and no, you wouldn’t get an extended discussion of loft conversion firms at Newton Faulkner, would you?
7 January 2017
SIMON P
Ah thanks autocorrect. HEDLEY.
7 January 2017
MISTER TUBBS
Very enjoyable show last night. Sound was excellent, and having missed the last few gigs, glad to see that there didn’t appear to be any bother in the audience. Nigel’s brown trousers were apparently a nod to the Sky Blues notorious away kit worn by Mick Co-Op amongst others in the late 70’s.
7 January 2017
dr desperate
Excellent gig as first date on the 2017 tour, my own arrival delayed slightly by the numbering system on the M69: Junction 2; Junction 1; Junction 2? Really?
However, managed to meet up with CtSO for a visit to the bijou Coventry Music Museum, where we played a Theremin and discovered that Frank Ifield was born in Cov.
At The Gosford Arms several be-Hi-Vised punters failed to recognise their King, or even buy him a drink chiz, but this was not the case at the Twisted Barrel.
At The Empire local support The Broken Rebels provided half an hour of fine Strat-mastery before the band walked on to a theme tune which I immediately recognised, and just as immediately forgot. Nigel went through that tired old routine of pretending that his guitar wasn’t working, before plugging it in to a round of applause. He’d obviously pre-arranged a set of signals with the sound man, allowing him to ask “Please turn Ken’s guitar up in my monitor, ever so slightly, thank you” without uttering a word.
He also gave plenty of so-called banter, including a continuation of our Dickfest over Channel 4’s impending ‘Electric Dreams’ miniseries, and a discussion on a putative ‘Schnorbitz’ franchise. The plural of ‘Shnorbitz’ remains moot.
We were led to believe that there is an excellent café on the left hand side of the High Street in St Asaph, although the owner wants to move to Anglesey.
A copy of the Coventry Telegraph was thrown into the crowd, providing several news items of local interest.
Ken apparently lives in a bungalow, which he’d asked the builders to ‘bung a low’ roof on. How we laughed.
Celebrity-spot announcements: nil (though Special Sir Horace Gentleman Panter was actually present).
Best jumper: Tim B’s ‘Unknown Pleasures’ knitwear.
Worst speling: Jay’s JDOGs t-shirt.
Brilliant set-list as above, with ‘Tommy Walsh’ pulled off in favour of ‘Mountain Bikes’, ‘Vatican Broadside’ and ‘Time Flies By’, the last seemingly at the request of a red-haired lady who sang the first verse to Nigel when they came back on for the encores. She grudgingly accepted a high-five from me after the show, despite the fact that my own traditional request had once again been ignored.
‘YCPYAAAM’ was once again the cover, and there was a verse of ‘Bat Walks’. We were invited to sing along with the former, but not the latter.
Finally, a word in support of the Sgt Bilko Museum at FarGo Village, which is undescribably brilliant.
On to Bilston!
7 January 2017
Graham Paine
The second Junction 2 referred to the M6; the intro was”Mouldy Old Dough” by Lieutenant Pigeon, a number 1 in 1972 and recorded in a front room less than a mile from the venue. The resident of St Asaph was, according to Nigel, Mick Coop`s sister! Great gig and despite only living two miles from the venue my first visit there since the mid seventies when it was the Paris cinema.
7 January 2017
dr desperate
‘Mouldy Old Dough’, of course ‘Mouldy Old Dough’!
My immediate recognition may have been helped by having heard it only a few hours earlier at COVMM, which has a whole case devoted to Lieutenant Pigeon.
7 January 2017
BOBBY SVARC
Glad you liked Bilko.
7 January 2017
SteVE
Best gig of the year so far. Big happy crowd, seemingly happy band. Sound was good. Support band were very tight.
Was Carl wearing an Argyle shirt? It was very green and they are playing a big game this weekend.
8 January 2017
auto_pilot
Might be of interest:
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=581409
(The new year gets better and better! Off to check it out now. Thanks! – CtSO)
8 January 2017
Bobby svarc
Great to hear that about the Broken Rebels, I recommended them to Mr Davies who then booked them.
8 January 2017
dr desperate
Intro and lyrics to ‘Bat Walks’, from YouTube clip by JC (not that JC).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhPj2apH4wQ
“So there’s this bat walk, 7pm Friday. Ranger-led, the walk is free but booking is essential. Bring your own waterproof clothes. Strictly no dogs. And my response to that was this:
Who the fuck are you, trying to go on everybody’s bat walks?
Who the fuck are you, trying to be the big I Am?
I know this place like the back of my hand
In a way you’ll never understand
So don’t go trying to organise my bat walks
I’ll be going on any-time-I-like walks
Tuesday, 2am. Bollock-o.”
8 January 2017
dr desperate
The writing on Carl’s green shirt looked to be in Arabic, with an oval badge – anyone?
8 January 2017
BOBBY SVARC
Viva Palestine or Riyad Mahrez walks on water….maybe?
8 January 2017
Idiots and pigeons
Was such a lovely night, coupled with a brief moment of despair when I noticed Nigel had procured some new loafers (Sebago Docksides I think he said).
Carl’s top was definitely a Palestine football shirt (not sure if it was official or not though) nice to see uber talented showbiz stars that are aware of the tumultuous nature of life in the middle east.
Good to meet @Chris the siteowner and @Mr Ed, lots of familiar faces and the worst spelled tshirt I’ve ever layed eyes on..
The crowd was very nice, very peaceful. There was moshing and it seemed to be well received as there was no slapping, punching or fondling.
Nigel looked repulsed claiming to ‘not like em’ when I stated if he ever needed a recorder player, I was available. Before realising that Lark Descending used one and that’s what I was referring to..
He clearly/sincerely/really wanted to go to Halfords with me, I’ve (not) got a busy schedule but I’m sure I could fit it in.
Forgot all about the bubblewrap this time as I think most did.
Overall a very good night with some fine shoes, incredible tunes.
Nasty curry mutton from a snack van opposite the venue 40% bone – avoid like The Hague.
Feel I ought tomention that the following day myself and little miss P witnessed a pivotal moment in morris dancing history, with first public performance of ‘Roger Green’. It was truly a sight to behold.
See you all in Bilston, which will be my birthday, so please don’t all queue to buy me drinks at once.
8 January 2017
floreat ultonia
Had to miss this one, so thanks for all the reviews. I was travelling down from Stranraer as it goes, although without the dodgy Italian couture or football ephemera. See yis in Bilston. IaP, I’m the Alan Green soundalike John Prescott lookalike at the bar in the Roy Wood room
8 January 2017
Little miss poundbury
Well there is certainly nothing bad at all to say about the wonderful gig experience at The Empire on Friday 🙂
They played an absolute blinding and varied set and were on top form, it was the best one in a while and the atmosphere in the audience was a happy, lively and friendly one.
So glad to be able to report a well behaved mosh pit this time around and there were no bone heads using it as a excuse to get violent or inappropriate which was really lovely and exactly how it should be – maybe the “cage” won’t be necessary after all or perhaps we could just keep a very small one in reserve for any potential offenders 😉
We (myself and Idiots and Pigeons) had the pleasure of meeting up for a few drinks pre-gig with a few fellow Biscuiteers (Mr Ed and a few others) in The Phoenix and then again in The Twisted Barrel – it was most civilised! 🙂 We also enjoyed a pre-gig dining experience with Dr Desperate and CtSO – was nice to catch up! 🙂
So back to the gig itself – it was indeed superb and the band seemed in high spirits, I was very pleased to hear that Nigel isn’t about to let any Tom, Dick or Harry govern everybody’s bat walks and rightly so! How very dare they even try?
It was interesting to see Nigel sporting a brand new pair of (possible Christmas?) loafers – still opting for the comfort and extended durability offered by the mighty Sebago brand but this time favouring what I believe he said were the “Dockside” variety rather than the “Triton 3 eye”.
So all in all an excellent performance, top notch atmosphere and audience – lovely to catch up with friendly faces before during and after the gig and to round off the weekend beautifully we met up with Tony, Roger, Karen and another friendly Biscuiteer chap (who’s name I’m not certain of) the following day in Birmingham City centre to witness a very special and rather moving morris dancing moment involving Tony and Roger! <3
I feel honoured to have been a witness to such a monumental occasion!
Looking very much forward to Bilston, much love folks 🙂 <3
8 January 2017
Idiots and pigeons
I forgot to mention the lovely Neil kindly gifting us with a setlist, what is the collective noun for a group of setlists? Is 2 even a collection?
8 January 2017
CARRIE ANNE
Review from our very own living legend, and Morris dance muse, Roger Green, as taken from Gez’s website.
Coventry Empire, Fri 6th January 2017 (08/01/17)
Roger Green:
No gigging to report since the Leeds show in the middle of December, but special mention and hearty thanks to Karen for the Serious Drinking CD Christmas present. I look back and see this band as a prototype HMHB. (John Reed, who wrote the sleeve notes, seems to agree: “…The essence of Serious Drinking would later be resurrected by the likes of Half Man Half Biscuit…”) What splendid tunes they made. Hangover, Bobby Moore Was Innocent, Baby I’m Dying A Death, The Revolution Starts At Closing Time. And Young Hearts Run Free, a cover version that even HMHB struggle to match. Only saw them once, at the Harvey Milk bar somewhere in the depths of Leeds Uni. Unfortunately, it was well before the notetaking days. Even more unfortunately, it looks like they have all put their degrees to good use, and there is little sign of recent action from them as a unit.
In return Karen’s Boxing Day treat was to be taken to see Handsworth Parramore v AFC Mansfield in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division. Of course, as HMHB fans, we are well aware of how things are hotting up at the top of The National League. But really, the NCEL is the place to be. Handsworth are currently playing their home games in Worksop. We took the opportunity to walk round the lake near the ground where we spotted tufted ducks, black headed gulls and a solitary swan (we kept a safe distance). The club is sponsored by a food distributor and they were kind enough to distribute mince pies to all in the crowd. You don’t get that at Old Trafford, or even Sincil Bank! Handsworth won 2-1. The highlight of the game was a tremendous Chris Waddlesque penalty miss by Mansfield’s goalkeeper. At least this provided him with plenty of time to run back to his own penalty area before they could start play again.
Well done to Howie for more evangelical work. He takes up the story himself. “So there I was sat on the train to London wearing my Achtung Bono t-shirt when the woman opposite me asked me if I was from Wallasey! Spent the rest of the journey chatting, mainly about music and quite a bit about HMHB, with a parting comment of ‘Get yourself to a gig!’ I told her the dates of the next four gigs.” If that was you, I hope you were able to make it tonight. If not, then at least you have got the dates for the shows in Bilston, Worthing and Oxford.
There is someone else that I hope was able to get there tonight. They had texted Chris Hawkins at 6 Music, to say that they were working in Bridgwater on the Thursday, and were aiming at getting to Coventry on the Friday for their first ever HMHB show. First ever! What? Ever? The Bridgwater connection led to a request for a song from the album featuring the name of that town. It was for Twenty-Four Hour Garage People. Chris didn’t play it, but he said in turn that there were more requests for HMHB songs on 6 Music than for any other band. That will be Karen, then. Anyway, whoever you are, I am sure that you enjoyed the gig.
On the day, Karen and I met up at Birmingham New Street on the Virgin Pendolino train that was running to Euston. These things are supposed to have more of a roll to them, but we didn’t spot anything particularly special about the experience. We got off at Coventry and went on an afternoon reconnaissance, in search of the venue. The Empire was a half-hour walk from the city centre, situated in what we took to be Studentland. We spotted the Frank Whittle statue, and visited the ruins of the original cathedral. With a bit more time we would have visited the Transport Museum. Instead we pigged out at Nandos. We also walked past Godiva News, where her ladyship no doubt used to call in for her morning paper.
Our Media Watch stretched to a copy of the Coventry Telegraph. Absolutely no mention whatsoever of the gig. In fact the only publicity anywhere appeared to the band’s name in big letters above the entrance to the venue. The Telegraph was more bothered about the “jaw-dropping” £850k spent on refurbishing council premises. Nigel referred to this during the gig. As he did to an advert for Fletchers Fascias (“A local family firm you can trust – with no sub-contractors”) He said that where he lives there is a similar company called Grangers. The guy running that used to claim that he was related to Stewart Granger. True, apparently. And apparently the pole that you use to open your loft is called a Granger, because the aforementioned actor was the first person to ever use one . The Telegraph needs to be careful about its use of apostrophes. It mentioned “Kaiser Chief’s new single” in an interview with Ricky Wilson. And they pointed out that Coventry is one of the top ten most dangerous cities in Europe, according to World Atlas. Naturally, Coventry City got plenty of coverage. But no, definitely nothing at all about HMHB being in town.
Ten out of ten to Steve Lamacq for playing Naughty Miranda by Indians In Moscow and Camouflage by Stan Ridgway, just before we set off for the gig. After a brisk walk back to The Empire through the cold early evening air, we arrived stupidly early and then spent half an hour or more waiting for the place to open up. I spotted various members of the HMHB entourage heading to the venue with carrier bags of supplies. That’s as entertaining as it got. Thankfully we were joined in our little queue by Matt from Lancing who was excited about the forthcoming gig in Worthing, which is within walking distance for him. Soon enough, Sally, Jordan, Tony, Andrew and Jay turned up and we were inside. I would guess that this place used to be a cinema, or possibly a theatre. £2 for a bottle of water. Could have been better. Could have been worse.
Jordan showed me that he was wearing his loafers again (as sported by Nigel on previous occasions), but Nigel later pointed out that he was wearing different shoes tonight – a pair of blue Sebago Docksides. It was also the first time I have seen Graham for a few gigs. Moving house, and a tear duct operation were the reasons given. John was also there, fresh from the Coventry Music Museum, and furnishing a sign that he taped to the front barrier. “This Area May Experience Wave Rage During Periods Of Peak Moshing.” Best to be compliant with Health And Safety regulations these days. I’m sure that complied. Just in case we have any of those little incidents. I also briefly exchanged nods with Pete, and chatted with Chris and Tim. No sign of Nigel/Charles/Exxo though. Maybe serving a one-gig ban after indiscretions at Leeds? I think they must have had a copy of Eighties Heaven for the public address system. I heard Mirror Mirror, Young At Heart, Take On Me and Kids In America among others.
There was a slight change from the usual protocol for support bands. This was NOT one from the Probe Plus corporation. I understand that The Broken Rebels are locals. I picked up the title of their opening song, The Ballad Of Johnny Bigcock, and Tony noted part of the lyric of one of their others: “Lightning Strikes Very Rarely Twice”. Or maybe he was just making a general observation. It’s hard to tell. Tony thought they were a bit young and mainstream to be a HMHB support, but good luck to them. They will no doubt be all over 6 Music by the end of the year.
The sound level went up a few notches, and it was Lieutenant Pigeon’s Mouldy Old Dough that accompanied HMHB onto stage. I was slightly puzzled by Carl’s green football shirt, which he confirmed later was the Palestine national one. Howie, Daz and Gomez did their usual last-minute arrival, in time to see Nigel having trouble getting any sound out of his guitar. “I knew something wouldn’t work,” he said. One of the stage crew helped out, twiddled one of the switches on the amp, and everything was solved. “Just keeping you on your toes,” added Nigel. When HMHB opened up with Hedley Verityesque, Tony said to me that this was the first time that they had begun with that song since the show at Roadwater many years ago. I wouldn’t have a clue. I just write stuff down.
There was an unfortunate incident early on. Nigel seemed to try and backheel his packet of crisps and succeeded only in bursting the packet. It left a bit of a mess on the floor. Hope he cleared it up afterwards. He played a bit of the theme to Pointless and announced “Missed that tonight.” Nigel then started talking about Mick Coop, former Coventry City player. “He changed his name by deed poll. He was originally known as Mick Co-Op but decided to get rid of the hyphen.” Nigel explained that he was out cycling and ended up in a cafe in St Asaph where Mick’s sister worked (although she wanted to move to Anglesey). But she wasn’t aware of Mick’s fame.
There were a couple of photographers in the moat. Not too much of a distraction, but at one point I noticed that one of them appeared to be taking photos of the other one. The opening drumming on Totnes Bickering Fair sounds fairly similar to The Sweet’s Ballroom Blitz. Accordingly, Nigel said “Are you ready, Ken?” at the appropriate time.
Gomez asked Nigel if Ken was the first man in Wallasey to go to Grangers. The reply was “No. But he was the first man in Wallasey to get involved in this…” ahead of Joy In Leeuwarden. I only picked up part of a conversation about Philip K Dick. There is a programme coming up on TV, either a documentary or a dramatization or something. “It looks all right does that. It’s a good preview,” replied Nigel. Ahead of San Antonio Foam Party, he said “This one we learnt in February of some year.”
Before the Gods were born in Lock Up Your Mountain Bikes was Nigel saying that Wasps and Coventry City together just wouldn’t work. He then talked about an article in the Telegraph where it said that there were divided loyalties at Hinkley RUFC ahead of the forthcoming clash between Wasps and Leicester Tigers. He also discussed Coventry City’s squad from days gone by, when he could name most of them – Carr, Glazier etc. Tony shouted out “Jeff Blockley”. Nigel agreed, adding that Blockley was a tall guy (and giving the appropriate international sign language gesture for “tall guy”). Nigel also said that his brown trousers tonight were in homage to Coventry City’s brown away kit from years ago.
According to tonight’s rendition of All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit, you could get a 30% discount on dodgy transformers if you got them at Grangers. “Bat Walks” got another airing. Booking essential. Bring waterproofs. As usual, Ken and Neil swapped instruments for Bane Of Constance. The chorus about Midge Ure was particularly vitriolic from the mosh pit. Nigel played an instrumental which Tony recognised as Irish Washerwoman. He then played another, which Tony didn’t recognise and said “You would have known it if Ken had played it.” Jay shouted out that it was Nigel’s gig, so he could therefore play what he wanted. “That’s the best comment I’ve ever heard,” replied Nigel.
Tonight the guest signing into Camber Sands was Jeff Blockley. Jordan asked if he could play the recorder on Lark Descending. Nigel said he didn’t like recorders, but anyway it was a flute on that song. About forty-five years ago, my brother told me a joke about why bungalows are so called. A builder was building a house and was running out of bricks, so decided to bung a low roof on it. Nigel told this one tonight. Took me back. There was a genuine, from the heart, thank you to everyone for turning out tonight on such a cold evening. Just like you get from proper entertainers.
When the band came back for the encore, Nigel asked “Is Mike Winters still alive?” He had been discussing the Schnorbitz franchise with Carl, and this question was raised. Somebody raised the name of Les Dennis. “I quite like him,” said Nigel, “ever since he took the piss out of himself on Extras.” Someone else in the crowd starting singing Time Flies By When You’re A Driver Of A Train. “We have a song that goes like that,” said Nigel, “but we don’t do it anymore because the family of Freddie Phillips would sue us.” However, a couple of songs later, they did perform it. In Outbreak Of Vitas Gerulaitis, the baddie with the ski lodge was Steve Ogrizovic (as predicted by Karen). The night finished with Joy Division Oven Gloves. (We checked later. Mike Winters died in August 2013. Must have been a busy news day.)
The whole set was
Hedley Verityesque
Fuckin’ ‘Ell It’s Fred Titmus
Tonight Matthew I’m Going To Be With Jesus
Running Order Squabble Fest
Old Age Killed My Teenage Bride
Totnes Bickering Fair
Bad Review
Joy In Leeuwarden
San Antonio Foam Party
When The Evening Sun Goes Down
Lock Up Your Mountain Bikes
Gubba Lookalikes
All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit
Bat Walks
Bane Of Constance
Lark Descending
For What Is Chatteris?
The Bastard Son Of Dean Friedman
Rock ‘N’ Roll Is Full Of Bad Wools
We Built This Village On A Trad Arr Tune
Everything’s AOR
Trumpton Riots
Vatican Broadside
National Shite Day
The Light At The End Of The Tunnel Is The Light Of An Oncoming Train
And in the encore
You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory
Outbreak Of Vitas Gerulaitis
Time Flies By When You’re A Driver Of A Train
Joy Division Oven Gloves
Thanks for Tony for lending me the set list which Carl gave to him. From that we can ascertain that Time Flies By and Lock Up Your Mountain Bikes were not originally scheduled. And Tommy Walsh’s Eco House appears on the list, but was not played.
On the way back afterwards, Karen and I wondered if they could have included Epiphany tonight. With it being January 6th and all that. Never mind, eh.
8 January 2017
dr desperate
‘Harvey Milk Bar’ is good.
While we’re back on the subject of Schnorbitz, Harry Hill kept up the franchise for a while with his own St Bernard, also called Schnorbitz “but a different one”. TV funny man Richard de Vere inherited the fourth generation real Schnorbitz, together with its puppy, Schnorbaby.
I informed Nigel that ‘Lassie’ had been played by six different dogs, all of them male.
(In fact, this was true of the TV series, where she was played by Pal, Lassie Junior, Spook, Baby, Mire and Hey Hey; but in the films she was played by Pal, Boy, Howard, Mason and DR Dakota, together with a compilation involving the TV dogs. All in all, don’t you think it’s a good job that I checked?)
8 January 2017
99%
Cheers to everyone for their support of the Coventry Music Museum. Cheers also to everyone who bought tickets and came to the gig. Glad my nagging of one of the venue owners to book HMHB paid off and we saw a cracking gig.
9 January 2017
IAN SMITH
Rather bizarrely I was having a drink with Lt Pigeon’s drummer at the Twisted Barrel before going to the gig. Small world, eh.
9 January 2017
Chris The Siteowner
Hope he was at the gig, so as the band came on he could say: “That’s one of ours…”
9 January 2017
BOBBY Svarc
I was a little disturbed that Jigsaw weren’t acknowledged by N. Blackwell.
9 January 2017
bigrobmac
Carrie Anne – I was the person who wrote in to Chris Hawkins at 6 Music to request 24 Hour Garage People. I had to leave for Bridgwater fairly soon after sending the email that morning, but I checked what was played and it didn’t feature, so I assumed he hadn’t read it out. I’ll go back and listen again now! I had been hoping to find an actual 24-hour garage but my destination was on the outskirts of Bridgwater (not my mind) and I didn’t come across any. I can also confirm that the surrounding airspace appeared to be completely trouble-free.
Anyway, I did make it to the gig. You may have seen me in Twisted Barrel beforehand (and possibly afterwards). I was sat on a table with CtSO and Dr D. Yep, it was indeed my first time! No, I don’t know why it took me so long. It was great. I had been hoping to hear Lord Hereford’s Knob, Problem Chimp and Adam Boyle, though. Maybe next time.
Talking of next time… Here starts my campaign to get HMHB to play in Chippenham! We have a venue (The Neeld Arts Centre), a growing population, and great train access to Bristol, Bath, London and Swindon. I bet they’ve never played here before, either!
10 January 2017
EXXO
@ Roger as ever brilliant stuff to ease the disquieted souls of those who were unable to make it to the gig.
But the ‘indiscretion’ thing about Leeds isn’t funny, given that people read these things who don’t know what happened.
10 January 2017
BOBBY SVARC
@Roger Green: Hinkley??, I for one would be delighted if they decided to build a nuclear power station on Hinckley.
10 January 2017
Purple dunker 42
Can anybody tell me what / where ‘Grangers’ is ?
12 January 2017
dr desperate
I doubt there is a ‘Grangers’, any more than Stewart Granger was the first person to use a pole to open his loft door.
On the other hand, Clive James once described him in a TV review as ‘so wooden you get splinters turning him off’.
12 January 2017
IAN SMITH
In reply to Chris t’Siteowenr, I’m afraid myself and m’colleague couldn’t convince Mr Nigel Fletcher of Lt Pigeon to attend the gig. He had somewhere ‘better’ to be (a strange concept). Play one the drummer the knows…
13 January 2017
bigrobmac
Chris Hawkins of 6 Music read out my mini gig review and played my request at 5.15 this morning. Available now to anyone with an iPlayer!
13 January 2017
hendrix-tattoo
Just found this on YT(Cheers Sean)
CtsO hope you don’t mind me posting this.
Get us in the mood for Bilston.
https://youtu.be/IXpHNAwv6ss
30 January 2017