St Admiral of Fallow

I've got a wee last minute gig on Saturday in Aberdeen. It's at MUSA, so if you fancy some lovely food and some Brewdog Beer, feel free to pop along. It's free entry, and a much more acousticy folky gig from me.I was hoping to play another gig up that end of the country, but so far it seems like as promising as a last minute gig in  Hereford. If anyone's got any contacts/leads let me know, it would help with the travel.


Then, two weeks later it's the illustrious Beans on Toast tour. I'm dead excited for this and have been planning my set for ages. I need to start playing a couple of the new songs since we're about to go in to a studio to do the new album and so it would be a good idea to know them inside out.
Beans on Toast tour dates:

• Friday 1st April – Tunnels 2, Aberdeen, £4
• Saturday 2nd April – Thomsons Bar, Dundee (just behind The HighSchool of Dundee, near Abertay Union), Free entry
• Sunday 3rd April - 13th Note, Glasgow, £5

As I mentioned, we're starting to record the album at the end of May, and so we're trying to get as much interest drummed up as possible in the run up to release. If you like what we (as in me + Renegade Folk Punk Band) do, please consider 'sharing' us with your friends. It would mean the world to me, and help me feel like less of a Elephant in the Room (tm). If we hit 200 'likes' on Facebook, we'll show you what the album (and by default the title) cover looks like. 


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In the light of petrol stations and cheap corner shops

Where to start with describing how awesome the last week and a half has been? From the quiet start in Aberdeen, to an utterly awesome Glasgow gig, and ending playing a show at The Old Queen's Head in Islington with Frank Turner, Beans on Toast, Mark McCabe, and many, many more at Lexapalooza, it's been a hell of a ride.

This is even without mentioning playing a gig with one of my favourite bands ever, ONSIND, in Lancaster, and hearing Boucher and Bennett play every night. We had a good batting average of 7 out of 8 gigs being good, and the other being a bit meh. Although, that said, the people who came to see us said they had a ball at that one too.

There are many people to thank for helping us out on the road. If you put us on, put us up, came out to see us, bought CD's and merch, or just helped us organise it, consider us very grateful. I'd personally like to thank my band for making the trip all the way to London with me for the Lexapalooza gig. From looking at the pictures, and hopefully the videos when they appear, I'd say we finally looked like a real band.

Some photographs taken by Adam Boucher:

Some photographs from Lexpalooza by Alison Garrett.

It's all quiet now till the Beans on Toast Scottish dates I'm doing, details on the gigs page now!


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Six hundred miles from home.

It was all going so well, the route was planned, gigs were booked, Facebook events were created. And then a gig got pulled. The Brighton gig to be exact, and so I'm on here putting a call out for anyone south of Birmingham who might be able to help us with a gig. We're needing something for the 11th of February, it's Friday night (so, just to clarify, not a Monday!)

Day's off are expensive, especially when you're 600 miles from home and on a completely grass-root tour with no major record label backing. Hell, even with major-record label backing, day's off can be expensive. I would assume.

We're not looking for anything massive, could be a living room show with some of your mates round, or a gig down your local pub. Just anything that can give us a wee bit of petrol money (it's last minute, so we'll take what we can get) and a bed/floor for the night. Leave a comment here, or email me if you can help.

In other news, I've released a free to download single over at Bandcamp. It's called The Replacement, and has a B-side called Midnight Walks. Have a wee listen, and perhaps download it to your portable music playing device.





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Road Ode.

Last night I uploaded a demo of the track The Replacement. Doesn't feature quite the full Renegade Folk Punk Band (only me, Dan and Woody), but it sounds much like what we sound like live when playing that song. You can listen to it at the facebook page. I quite like how it came out. Hopefully the album will be much the same.

As promised, here is where the tour is going to be taking us. Feel free to mark your attendance at the Facebook event page.

• Friday 4th February - MUSA, Aberdeen, Free Entry, 8pm
• Saturday 5th February - Bar Libertine, Ayr, £3, 8pm
• Sunday 6th February -Dakota Rock Bar, Greenock, Free Entry
• Tuesday 8th FEbruary - 13th Note, Glasgow, 8pm, £3
• Wednesday 9th February - Yorkshire House, Lancaster
• Thursday 10th February - The Swan Bar, Kiddiminster, Free Entry
• Friday 11th February - Still looking for a Dann Saff gig (Brighton? Southampton?)
• Saturday 12th February - Lexapalooza Lite @ The Old Queens Head, London

A few notes on what's happening where. The Aberdeen show will be me solo, doing two sets of 45 Minutes, much like the last time at MUSA. Watered down with Brewdog Ale, which is always a winner with me! All other dates except London will be with Adam Boucher and Adam Bennett. And, then the 13th Note show and Lexapalooza Lite will be full band shows from me, but with a slightly longer set at Glasgow.

And, the week before I head out on this tour, I'll be going up to mother-fucking-Thurso to open for Carnivores. That is Saturday 29th January at The Newmarket Bar. It's the most Northern gig I've ever done.


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Better late than never!

Just realised I hadn't mentioned on here that the Christmas Eve gig has been moved from Slanj to The George in Greenock. Kicks off around 8pm, and as far as I know there are only around 10 tickets remaining or so. I'm dead excited about it as it has all the ingredients of a good night (friends, music, Christmas, and drinks). Full details here.

Also, I mentioned on the Facebook page that the Christmas EP has been delayed. Lots of people are releasing EP's around this time (I'm particularly looking forward to #iamsantaclaus by Chris T-T, and currently enjoying Roscoe Vacant's effort). So, instead, I'll be releasing a wee Hogmanay Single on the 31st of December along with (hopefully) the full tour dates.

The tour is shaping up very nicely, more miles than I've ever done before and heading to a couple new towns and venues I've never been before.


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Slangevar

Not much to report at the moment. We started recording the new album last week, including a track for a secret compilation that ended up sounding great. Looking at the track-listing of which, I felt like an utter imposter being included on!

Some of the band and I will be spending Christmas Eve at Slanj in Greenock as part of a very special Reprobates Xmas Party Night. Due to the rail system shutting down early, it'll be a very cut down band consisting of only those with ties to Inverclyde, but we'll make sure it's a hell of a lot of fun. A few surprises planned already. Free entry, will kick off at 9pm.

Also, as you will know from reading previous updates, the band and I are heading to London in February to play Lexpalooza. On the run up to this, I'm going to be going out on tour with the new album. A rough itinery looks like this:

Fri 4th - Dundee
Sat 5th - Edinburgh
Sunday 6th - Glasgow
Mon 7th - Ireland
Tues 8th - Ireland
Wed 9th - Ireland
Thurs 10th - North West England (or Wales)
Fri 11th - SouthWest England (or Wales)
Sat 12th - Lexpalooza

Just cities at the moment as venues are still to be confirmed. If you want to help with organising a show, please get in touch. I'll be travelling with Adam Boucher and Adam Bennet, who are pretty good. I'll be pestering some people I know in the next few days, so go on, pre-empt me.


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Something Corporate

If it's ok with you, I'd rather think that my performance last night didn't happen. Good. Moving on. Did anyone catch Robert Blake, Jinx Lennon and newportSound last night? They were all very good and made for an entertaining evening.

A few bits of news to get through since I haven't updated in a while. The Indelicates gig went well, and I'm eagerly awaiting the Live album with all the comedic banter. After the night ended, I was chatting with the awesome Julia and Simon Indelicate about music and stuff, with the outcome of this being that the next DH&RFPB album is going to be released through their own Corporate Records label, I can't fucking wait!

I started recording the guitars today for it, and so far it's sounding pretty cool. More like my Connections album in the mix of material than stuff that's came afterwards. It's sitting at around 12 tracks, most of them never recorded before, some never even been played live (and a couple that have never been played to the band!). I won't jinx it with posting a track-listing, but I'm sure people will be happy with what's going to be on it.

I'm hoping for it all to be done and dusted for an end of January release, so keep a bit of your Christmas money ready for that!

In terms of gigs, I've got a couple things coming up. Look ahead to next year, on the 12th of February 2011, the band and I are heading to London to play Lexapalooza Lite. This is going to be off the scale with the currently announced acts (and the promise of Special Guests is always exciting with previous events history!). Aye, so 12th February, Renegade Folk Punk Band, Mark McCabe, Ciaren Lenehan, and many, many more at the Old Queen's Head in Islington, for Breast Cancer Charity. See www.lexapalooza.co.uk for full details of tickets going on sale 9am Monday.

Working backwards, I'm heading up to Aberdeen on the 11th of December to play at MUSA. The promise of some Brewdog Beer tempted me for this. And on the 5th of December I am playing at Thomsons in Dundee with the fantastic Don't Let Paris Fool You and Just Another Warning. it's free entry, and going to be dead good.

And finally, please take some time to have a read of this petition and add your name.


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