And so this is Christmas

And so this is Christmas.......well not quite but it approaches fast and so did the end of our touring for this year, our last show being at the Ipswich Corn Exchange on Friday 11th November. Looking back it’s been a mixed year with lots of highs and lows. Speaking to people after the shows is always a plus as we get to listen to feedback and comments in person and we have met some very genuine and friendly people. We still get people assuming that every show we put on will have lasers in it but the sheer cost of using these (£3,000 a show) is just not viable and is something we won’t be repeating unless we win the lotto. We rely on ticket sales to fund the production costs and in this grave economic climate we live in at present we are barely managing to break even. It’s not cheap to stage a Pink Floyd show even at our end of the scale. Maybe if we had a backer things would be different. However, one thing for sure is that we don’t compromise on the music. We don’t claim to be the best of the best etc bla bla bla, but we do put our hearts and souls into it and we hope that comes across. Okay, Les Dawson makes the occasional appearance and sometimes things don’t go as smoothly as you would like them to, but hell, it’s live music....if you want perfection put a CD on.

In general audiences are very kind to us but you do get the occasional nutter that would be more at home in the Star Wars bar. How anyone can turn up regaled in Pink Floyd T – Shirt and not enjoy Echoes ( quote : “Ooh, that last song in the first half was a bit long...I was getting fidgety waiting for it to finish”) is beyond me. We have to start from the basis that we are not going to please everyone and some songs will get left out, otherwise we would be up there all night.

There’s a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes and sometimes it can be a war of attrition just to keep things moving along. Theatres are not blameless in this either as most of them don’t bother promoting the shows, okay they’ll slap a couple of posters up here and there but that’s about it. The amount of print they ask for pre show doesn’t tally with the amount they actually use and you would be surprised at the amount of unused flyers we retrieve on a regular basis from said theatres. Now if they bought your show in....then that would be a totally different thing...they’d promote the arse out of it...why?....because they have to.

We’ve had our problems with personnel this year as well. Pat, our long standing bass player left last November to pursue a career as a Paramedic. We were lucky enough to have Pete Garland stand in with us for a while and that carried us through what was quite a dark period for the band, one which left us feeling uncertain about the future. Following Pete’s departure we were lucky enough to have Alex Tsentides depping for us and more recently we have Mike Taylor depping as well.Getting the personnel issues sorted was a major step forward for us in the latter half of the year and we have now emerged from the dark tunnel we were in and can go forward more positively in 2012

Footnote from the Ipswich show.
Got told off by an irate person after the Ipswich show for playing "that Dirty Woman song" (Young Lust). Due to the Ipswich murders in 2006 he said it was totally insensitive and he parted company from me with a stern "Don’t do it again" leaving me no chance of right of reply. Needless to say I was speechless. The words “Get a grip” sprang to mind.
In our defense we never even thought about any murders and at the end of the day we were just there to perform the songs of Pink Floyd regardless of any connections people might make with the songs. I'm sure Floyd didn't have any such inklings in their minds when they wrote this song.
I did however notice from my vantage point on stage that the audience enjoyed the song.
Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Pink Floyd tribute shows.
Okay....have a great Christmas and hopefully we’ll see you in January.
Steve.

Weston Super Mare - 7th October 2011

This is just a shout out to Geoff and Lynn for their kind message, I cannot reply any other way I'm afraid but wanted you to know I got it!

The Weston gig was a success I hear. No amusing stories to be told I'm afraid, although I think someone traveled over from Ireland to see the show! Mick O'C, the band appreciated the effort!!

Grimsby 6th October - New backing singer!

Hi to all blog followers

Unfortunately this is where I will be leaving you, Chris and I are having a baby so it's time to hang up my singing hat for a while.


In my place we have a wonderful new singer called Meghan Callaghan. If you went to the Grimsby gig then you would have seen her.


Both Fredi and Meghan came to my attention through my theatre classes and both girls have won our singing star competition over the years. They are both highly talented girls and i'm sure you will also agree, far too pretty!!! Ha ha

Fredi on the left, Meghan on the right.
Stolen from Megs facebook from last night in dreesing room I expect !!!

I will ask the rest of the band if they would like to contribute to the blog but not sure they are as into writing as me! Any pictures that come my way I will post however.


I am told the gig in Grimsby went well, Alex Tsentides was dep'ping on bass and he was great I'm told. Here he is in all his floyd dimension glory!!

Breaking news!
If you have seen one of the bands programmes then you will have seen the pictures of all the bands they were in from teenagers.
One of the these bands back in the day was called Dr Frank and it contained 3 of the current in the flesh line up -Chris(vocals) , Jeff (drums) and Ross(sax). I have heard rumours that a new bass player will be with the band soon, called Mikey and yes you've guessed it he was in that same band Dr Frank all those years ago!!! Mikey has been a professional musician for ever as far as I know, touring with shows such as Joseph. It will be great to have 4 of that original band playing together again! What a blast from the past! I as a teenager would go to watch them play all the time and the pubs were packed all the time!

Stevenage - Saturday 9th July 2011

Again, apologies I wasn't there, still felt ill and could not have coped with the drive. Chris tells me it went well.

The band stayed overnight somewhere near London and according to Fredi's facebook status she did not enjoy the travelodge!!!

Here are some guest comments from the website.

John Taylor from St Neots, Cambs. | Sunday July 10, 2011. 17:17

After our seeing the Band in Stevenage on Saturday,we were totally amazed at the presentation and brilliant musical performance. We will always book for your future dates.

Angela from Stevenage | Sunday July 10, 2011. 01:01

This is the second time I've seen you guys and I can honestly say that after listening to Steve's solo during Comfortably Numb, his performance tonight was at least equal if not better than David Kilminster's at The Wall concert in the O2 - no really! All of you are so talented, I wouldn't like to choose a favourite - together you gave a brilliant performance. Thanks for making me happy.

This gig marks the last for a few months, so if they are any updates or pictures to add in I shall be letting you know, keep checking back sporadically, oh and I will get round to finishing off the Guernsey blog!

Bye for now bloggers.

Torquay, Princess Theatre - Thurs 7th July

Well this was our local gig, so I didn't even need to show up til much later in the day. I wasn't feeling my best anyway so was glad that Fredi was taking the lead tonight on great gig. Her family were all coming so that was a nice treat all round. My students from my theatre school arrived at 5.30. There was a bit of hoo ha with my mic not working at the start of sound checking, but then it did so don't know what was going on there.

The choir didn't get to practise til gone 6 I think so a bit of waiting around and then when they were done, they went off to town or the chippy. They watched the show from the back of auditorium, both Fredi's brother and sister were in the choir, Arnie was the one on crutches, having broken his leg while we were in Guernsey.

Show went well, I struggled to get through it to be honest, but tried my hardest. Have no idea how someone like Lady Gaga could pull off a show feeling like I did. Ahh well.

I pretty much went straight home afterwards but briefly went out to see my sister and Michele who were working the merchandise for us. Saw Patch (our old bass player) and Georgia Chris T's niece.

Ciao for now.

Camberley

I'm afraid I wasn't at this gig, but from all reports it went well. Good comments on the guest book. Sorry I can't give any more info. Band are welcome to send some snippits to me to put on here!

Guernsey, Beau Sejour Leisure Centre, Friday 10th June 2011

Ok this may be a long entry so will publish it in stages!!

Our first trip over seas! We started off Thursday 9th at 5.15 am. Holy Mackrel I don't like early mornings. I was in Pauls car with Paul, Fredi, Jeff and we picked up Pete in Exeter. Got to Weymouth Ferry port at 8 ish. Met up with our other van containing Mr & Mrs Loar. So where is Chris T I hear you ask? He was flying over later in day, as he was very ill on the last ferry trip he took. (I have to point out that I feel travel sick more often than him normally)

I got a bit blase and ate my egg sandwich. As the ferry was pulling out me Fredi got seducd by the sweets - 3 bags for 2 of natural confectionary products! So I ate a few of those, an hour or so in I started feeling a bit rough so went outside to sit on the back deck. It was windy and fairly chilly but better than the stuffy heat of inside. I sat staring at the horizon and eventually after my 3rd travel tablet I stated to feel better. Different people came out to see me during the next 2 hours to check on me, Paul was great, he got me sick bags in case and an extra coat. my fingers went completely numb but I wasn't risking going back inside as I had heard reports of people being sick on the floors ! Yukky pukky.

Ferry was 1 engine down so crossing was longer 3 and a quarter hours.

Also on the ferry we met up with Adam and Max our lighting crew from Cornwall who were with us at recent Truro gig and Falmouth. Also met Vasken, who was driving the sound van doing a live recording of the show.

On the other side, the trip really began. We got picked by by Karen the promoter and her brother Colin, they had big hire vehicles for us all to fit in. Some of them drove to the Venue and left their vans there. We went on to the Hotel called La Colinette. It was very nice. Karen (who was a total star the whole way through) had organised a buffet lunch for us at 1.15 so we had a chill in our room them went downstairs. I read all the bumpf in the room and found there was a old German bunker on the grounds of hotel. I didn't know anything much about the history of Guernsey in the 2nd world war until now.

The flying people arrived. Glenn (manager) and Jane (his wife) John (monitor engineer) and Ross (Sax) who all flew in from Gatwick. Chris arrived after them from Exeter.

He took this picture of our home town of Brixham from the air. The southern point is Berry Head and you can see our pier and Marina very clearly jutting out.

(He missed the buffet) he did get here just in time to get changed and meet the other downstairs for our meal on the nearby Island of Herm.

It was a 20 minute crossing, no cars are on Herm which is a lovely island with sand dunes. There are a few restaurants, and some house but not a lot else. you can go camping on Herm. What a tranquil holiday that would be! Lovely flowers and an almost mediterranean feel I felt.

Heres some pics from the trip to Herm

Pete, very smily! and Ross a bit smily.

Max in background, Jeff looking happy! Fredi and Mrs Loar taking pics of themselves and us respectively!!!

Oh my Mrs Loar in a picture my goodness!

Falmouth, Princess Pavilion, 4th June 2011

It was quite a nice day for driving, we had to hire a van as our remaining van could not be fixed in time! I drove my car as we couldn't all fit into Pauls car. I took Chris and Ross and we stopped off in Cornwall for a Mcdonalds, (was this a mistake on Chris' part? - see later in blog!)

The first road to Falmouth was blocked by a police sign so we had to go a different route but we still got there in plenty of time.

It was a smaller venue than our equipment is used to, so the screen had to remain backstage and we projected on a white back screen they had instead.

My camera has a problem! -

it's taking pictures off centre and is making a funny noise. Oh dear!!!

Lots of posters backstage of previous acts.

Here's a pic of a few of them. Cara Dillon has an amazing voice.

Lots of illness going round!

Fredi had tonsillitis and couldn't make this gig. Chris complained of not feeling good before the show. Pete also had a bad cold but the show must go on.

A view from backstage load in, lovely sailing boats!!!

The crew were very helpful, and the guy had a nifty portable 'monitor desk on a screen to walk about with, which meant he could adjust them while standing next to you. Not come across one of those before!

Show went well, people seemed to enjoy it. We couldn't unfortunately meet anyone after as they had shut up the marquee / bar.

I had to do the driving home as Chris wasn't feeling well. Nearer to home he took a turn for the worse and then as we arrived in Torquay to help unload the hire van (at 3.30am!!!!) he was shivering uncontrollably. He ended being really sick, and needed looking after the next day! (Not sure if it was Mcdonalds?)

Norwich UEA, Friday 15th April 2011

A bit of an uncomfortable journey up and I was lucky as I was in front seat. Poor Fredi was very squashed between the boys in the back. After day 1 and current total on blog is .....

8200

That's 97 views - Quite good in one day!

Have found wifi so i'm blogging from the dressing rooms above the UEA union. There's a noise curfew until 5pm so once things are set up everyone must just hang around as we can't fire up the sound system or anything.

Heres some pictures I have just taken from the venue and outside.

Local stage crew helping with the get in.

An array of mic stands, waiting to be set up.

Not a great shot - but here's the stage during set up.

The floor where people will be standing tonight.

A view from inside venue of the student union shops

Outside the front doors of venue, last year we went and sat by the lake that is off to the right...

Pete reading in the dressing room.

If you are coming this evening, see you soon! Come and say hello after the show.

Wimbledon, New Theatre, Thursday 14th April 2011

It's 11.27am and we're well on the way to Wimbledon. This is a new venue for us, so who knows what's in store? We're travelling up in chris' car today as betsy 3 died on our last journey and she has not yet been replaced! Does anyone fancy giving us a free coach? Fredi is currently sat in the back between jeff and Pete- A Rose between 2 thorns as steve quoted at the services stop off.

What is it about travelling that makes me super hungry at 10am!

Out of interest gonna see how many views the blog gets over next 2 gigs. We're on 8103 at the moment!

Drove through Barnes, it had very posh looking houses! Went over the Hammersmith bridge..

Arrived at theatre about 1ish, there's Wifi - hence why i'm typing in my dressing room.

Lovely looking theatre, will go take a picture shortly..

The mirror ball before being hoisted into place.

The full height of the stage

A painting in the backstage corridor

It's now 16.11 and things are going in full swing. I've just heard i'll be trying in ear monitors tonights, so that be very different! Hope they don't fall out!

...Just tried them in sound check and it was ace......Pictures from sound check

A womble as we're in Wimbledon! See if you can spot him if you're coming to watch this evening.

The drums looking smashing! Quite Spacey!

The new addition to the clan on the Hammond Organ. Pig number 2!, Chris is now looking for another different pig, a sheep and dog but he is quite fussy about what it looks like.

Here they are with the flash on!

After the show, we had a few friendly punters chat to us. Here is a few chatting in front of a fetching thomas the tank engine poster! I didn't know he was touring?

Phil and Tim here...

Now Tim (on the right) is from Norwich which is where we are playing tomorrow, so he said he would come and see us there also. If he does, then that will be impressive - 2 shows on 2 consecutive nights, i'm sure that hasn't been done before!

TIM, you'd better come!!

Not too far to go before bed, stayed in heathrow Travelodge.

Wilde theatre, Bracknell, 27th March 2011

Well hello blog readers, it is 3.30 in the morning and I'm writing this from the cab of an AA van while the man loads up betsy 3. The clutch / gearbox finally gave way at the services when we stopped to change over drivers! She was due to see the mechanic tomorrow morning to get her through the MOT but now not sure if she ever drive us again! At least she got us an hour and a half from home. Still it's gonna be a lot later to bed than planned! Last week the other van had to relayed home as the breaks were dodgy. Typical that it would happen to us the very next week I suppose it was good that it happened after the 2 shows and not this morning!

The time of Betsy 3's demise.

The gearstick in question with Chris phoning AA!

Jeffs final sleep in the Betsy.

Eyore, gently weeping at the loss of Betsy 3.

Paul looking altogether too happy in back of AA van.

Back to the show : It was great, a nice full crowd.

Spoke to Tim Bastock, here's a pic of him. - well there will be soon.. oops!

Random fact, a shot of lime at the theatre bar was 61p?? Why was it that expensive and why the extra 1p?

Can't believe it was June 2009 that we last played here! The time goes so fast.
Lovely day and the venue has an arts centre in a nice building next to it, in the middle of a park. Chris and I took a stroll and I took some pics!

Finally the following morning heres Betsy 3 being stripped of al her wares before going to the scrap yard! It's genuinely sad, after all the hard work she's put in.

What will Betsy 4 be like?

The Artrix, Bromsgrove, Sat 26th March 2011

Well here I am sat in the dressing room at Bromsgrove, blogging as we speak! I can hear the drums booming out from downstairs which might mean sound check has started.

When we arrived their youth theatre were on stage, doing oom pah pah from oliver, I instantly felt my teacher mode coming on and wanted to go and shake the young things into giving it a bit of oomph!

The dressing room all to myself where I have been blogging!

The view of a football field out of the window!

Steve on his guitar.

The Artrix Venue

Andy setting up the sound gear!

This chap is one of the in house crew, he's called Tom...I made him smile for the pic!

Chris and Pete going over Fat old sun, which I think is back in the set tonight.

Here's Jeffs buff bins again, Bromsgrove 2010 was my first ever blog

and I mentioned his brand new kit!

Here's the new pig I bought for Chris yesterday, his first show tonight, think he might be a bit nervous! His name shall be Sergeant Pigster. The last 'pink' pig got stolen or misplaced we're not sure, he hasn't turned up since!

The Foyer of Artrix

Me and my mac are now sat on stage after having sound checked my vocals, modern technology hey!!

Hope there's a good crowd tonight, I shall update later.

*****

The show is finished I'm back in the dressing room and as promised an update. Good show, an appreciative crowd. I recognised a young chap in the foyer before the show started and he and his dad came to stoke on trent only 6 weeks ago.

So here's their picture!

Paul (dad), Will and Sophie

We also had two very enthusiastic boys who came out and said can I have your picture to Steve, so I said can I have your picture, so here they are also, the Hake Family, with two boys John and Chris!

Gary and Anna were at show again too, and as Pete on bass said, they must have been to more gigs than him!! I am super dooper tired now, can't wait to get to Hotel!

Ciao!