The Nottingham Beer Festival turned into a rollercoaster ride, but I think we managed to pluck victory from the jaws of defeat in the end. We had a disastrous start, after the traditional shout of “1234” we launched into Blitzkrieg Bop, I was just thinking "Guitar Boy's quiet" and then it dawned on me that he was very very quiet. So we stopped and Guitar Boy played about with his leads, no sniggering at the back please, and he got a satisfying kerrang noise from his speaker, right we're ready to rock now, “1234”, silence from the guitar, ok swap the lead, kerrang from the speaker, “1234”, silence from the guitar, the sound engineer came on stage and they swapped amps, kerrang from the speaker, “1234”, silence from the guitar, I’m standing thinking “bloody hell, there by the grace of God and all that, I’m glad this isn’t happening to me” and even Singer Boy’s running out of things to say. Only one thing left to do swap guitars, kerrang from the speaker, “1234”, for the final time thankfully, and away we went everything firing on all cylinders. Now as you can imagine concentration levels were not good by this time and we made a right pig’s ear of Teenage Kicks, fortunately it didn't get any worse after that, there were one or two more errors but to paraphrase Basil Fawlty “I think we got away with those”. From Should I Stay or Should I Go midway through the first set to the end the place was rocking, when I asked Wendy Verbette what the backing vocals were like she said “Don’t know couldn’t hear them for the crowd singing along” and we got the loudest shout I’ve heard for an encore, finishing off with 500 Miles and Nellie the Elephant. This was probably the biggest crowd we’ve played too, and we like to think we did our bit to make this year’s Nottingham Beer Festival the most successful ever.
See you all at the Greyhound on the 30th October
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
the World of Verbal Warning 28.9.2010
Well we had a 'smash it up' time at the Stumble Inn on Friday night. Our overly enthusiastic Punkette turned up again, she was even dancing to the sound check! No bubble wrap trousers this time though. But she did manage to last the whole gig this time, jumping around and grabbing microphones, unfortunately our equipment doesn't seem to be designed to withstand such treatment, we finished the gig with one PA speaker and one microphone knocked out, nothing serious as it happens, just leads giving way under the strain, you could say it was a proper punk rock gig, and most of the crowd seem to enjoy the extra entertainment that was on offer. In fact we earned ourselves some kudos points for carrying on like the troopers we are, mind you I couldn’t really do anything else after publicly slagging off Jake Burns for throwing a hissy fit because somebody threw some beer over him during a SLF gig at Rock City .I was a little concerned that the Stumble might not have us back again if they thought we were attracting a overly boisterous crowd but Martin the landlord gave us an extra 20 quid and promised to fix us up another date, bless him.
Next gig could be a big one if it doesn’t rain, it’s the Nottingham Beer Festival in the Castle grounds.
Next gig could be a big one if it doesn’t rain, it’s the Nottingham Beer Festival in the Castle grounds.
Monday, 6 September 2010
the World of Verbal Warning 6.9.2010
Phew, that was a busy week, first off, last Saturday we were in Draycott again doing a gig as Fightback’s guests at the Coach and Horses, everything went off smoothly this time, no sharing the bar with a swing covers band as happened last time we did a gig with them at the Melbourne Hotel, our Canadian ‘backing singer’ turned up again, this time in a thong and bubble wrap trousers, which caused something of a stir, very Punk Rock though, Singer Boy got off lightly this time, on this occasion he was only ‘assisted’ on vocals a couple of times. We played the Clash’s Complete Control for the first time, ..Holiday.. in ....Cambodia.... had a rare outing which went down particularly well and Fightback shared the fee with us which was good of them.
On Wednesday we finally did our MFN gig, we thought we would be in the bar, but it was such a pleasant evening and a good turnout of bikers was expected that it was moved to the main ball. Unlike Guitar Boy I have to say I didn’t enjoy it that much, the sound on stage was fine on the sound check but when we did the actual gig my bass was booming all over the place, and Guitar Boy sounded like he was using a phaser to me, but apparently it sounded ok at the back of the room which is where most people were standing. Drummer Boy got a request for a signed drum stick and Guitar Boy got a request for a pick, so we made some new friends. Highlight of the evening was Drummer Boy falling off the drum riser and finishing up flat on his face on the stage, well highlight for the rest of us, not sure about Drummer Boy though, but it did make a pleasant change from me being the fall guy. Dave and Wayne a couple of members of the original Verbal Warning were also there for a bit of reminiscing.
Finally, on Friday night we had an away day at the Cherry Tree in Kettering, I thoroughly enjoyed the gig, got a really good sound where I was standing, and sounded good in the crowd too, according to Wendy Verbette., sold a few CDs and gained some fans on Facebook. Special mention to Adam, who came all the way from Brighton to see us, alright I know his girlfriend lives in Coventry, still a good effort though, and Keith for not going to see Goldblade, and his lad for backing vocals on I Fought the Law.
Few weeks R and R now, next gig at the Stumble in Long Eaton.
On Wednesday we finally did our MFN gig, we thought we would be in the bar, but it was such a pleasant evening and a good turnout of bikers was expected that it was moved to the main ball. Unlike Guitar Boy I have to say I didn’t enjoy it that much, the sound on stage was fine on the sound check but when we did the actual gig my bass was booming all over the place, and Guitar Boy sounded like he was using a phaser to me, but apparently it sounded ok at the back of the room which is where most people were standing. Drummer Boy got a request for a signed drum stick and Guitar Boy got a request for a pick, so we made some new friends. Highlight of the evening was Drummer Boy falling off the drum riser and finishing up flat on his face on the stage, well highlight for the rest of us, not sure about Drummer Boy though, but it did make a pleasant change from me being the fall guy. Dave and Wayne a couple of members of the original Verbal Warning were also there for a bit of reminiscing.
Finally, on Friday night we had an away day at the Cherry Tree in Kettering, I thoroughly enjoyed the gig, got a really good sound where I was standing, and sounded good in the crowd too, according to Wendy Verbette., sold a few CDs and gained some fans on Facebook. Special mention to Adam, who came all the way from Brighton to see us, alright I know his girlfriend lives in Coventry, still a good effort though, and Keith for not going to see Goldblade, and his lad for backing vocals on I Fought the Law.
Few weeks R and R now, next gig at the Stumble in Long Eaton.
Monday, 23 August 2010
the World of Verbal Warning 23.8.2010
Well the Olympic gig at Draycott turned into a cracker, a steaming hot night and a small packed bar meant we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Claire Bear, Janet Verbette's daughter, was back from China and bought along seven pissed up dancing friends, and we had a young lady who seemed determined to become a backing singer for us, I have to say Singer Boy stuck manfully to his task despite being continually assaulted, and was even bit on the lip at one point, a video of his discomfort has been posted on the band facebook site. The gig nearly ended in disaster before it started when I rather stupidly, and even saying to myself "I shouldn't be putting this pint of blackcurrant juice on top of my amp", put a pint of blackcurrant juice on top of my amp and within seconds had knocked it over covering my amp, the PA amp and Drummer Boy's kit in a sticky red mess, I dived to switch the power off as fast as my old bones would take me and mopped up the mess with Guitar Boy's sweat towel as best I could before tentatively switching the power back on just as Drummer Boy was sorting his sticks out which, too me, sounded remarkable like crackling electricity, after a heart stopping moment everything seemed to be ok. We managed to debut 4 new cover versions all of which went well, when you're finishing a gig to a pissed up pub you can't really go wrong with Nellie the Elephant can you? We're back in Draycott this Saturday with Fightback at the Coach and Horses.
Monday, 16 August 2010
the World of Verbal Warning 16.8.2010
We have just returned from our annual trip to the Blyth Power ashes which was this year held in Norfolk .
We arrived after a 6 hour journey thanks to a gridlocked Grantham, a Pub stop, and the usual Kings Lynn traffic mayhem to rather wet weather, but it did improve on Saturday.
I have another holiday tip to go with my “make sure you don’t pack 2 left footed baseball boots ”. If you wake up in the middle of the night and find you’re lying on the floor because the airbed’s got a hole in it, don’t inflate it in the car to keep the noise of the pump from waking everybody up because although it is relatively easy to get a deflated airbed into a car it’s not quite as easy to get it out again once it’s been filled with air.
Helen Verbett and Drummer Boy came to my rescue for the second night as they had a spare airbed for me to use. Helen is the band lifeboat, as whatever you’ve forgotten to bring just ask Helen at it’s produced in an instant, from bottle openers to, err, spare airbeds.
The Goat Inn at Skeyton is a lovely setting with a thatched roof pub, unfortunately the toilet facilities turned rather medieval as well, a brand new toilet/ shower block looked promising but it was fed from a local well which ran out of water by Saturday morning, resulting in no ablutions for 4 hours, causing Singer Boy much distress as he likes to make himself as light as possible before we go on stage if you know what I mean.
The gig itself was bought forward to 12.15pm due to licensing problems, by which time the sun was beating down which meant it was getting a bit sticky in the Marquee where the bands were performing, Guitar Boy decided to wear a black hat for the gig which meant he got hotter than ever, I kept looking across expecting to see a pool of sweat, a black hat and a Gibson SG and not a lot else. Still we got through it, but because of the heat there were as many people outside the tent as in it, don’t blame them, I think I would have probably done the same, we did nearly get an encore, but it was decided there wasn’t enough time, and we did sell a fair amount of merchandise.
We’ve got the Olympic at Draycott this Friday, so it’s all go.
We arrived after a 6 hour journey thanks to a gridlocked Grantham, a Pub stop, and the usual Kings Lynn traffic mayhem to rather wet weather, but it did improve on Saturday.
I have another holiday tip to go with my “make sure you don’t pack 2 left footed baseball boots ”. If you wake up in the middle of the night and find you’re lying on the floor because the airbed’s got a hole in it, don’t inflate it in the car to keep the noise of the pump from waking everybody up because although it is relatively easy to get a deflated airbed into a car it’s not quite as easy to get it out again once it’s been filled with air.
Helen Verbett and Drummer Boy came to my rescue for the second night as they had a spare airbed for me to use. Helen is the band lifeboat, as whatever you’ve forgotten to bring just ask Helen at it’s produced in an instant, from bottle openers to, err, spare airbeds.
The Goat Inn at Skeyton is a lovely setting with a thatched roof pub, unfortunately the toilet facilities turned rather medieval as well, a brand new toilet/ shower block looked promising but it was fed from a local well which ran out of water by Saturday morning, resulting in no ablutions for 4 hours, causing Singer Boy much distress as he likes to make himself as light as possible before we go on stage if you know what I mean.
The gig itself was bought forward to 12.15pm due to licensing problems, by which time the sun was beating down which meant it was getting a bit sticky in the Marquee where the bands were performing, Guitar Boy decided to wear a black hat for the gig which meant he got hotter than ever, I kept looking across expecting to see a pool of sweat, a black hat and a Gibson SG and not a lot else. Still we got through it, but because of the heat there were as many people outside the tent as in it, don’t blame them, I think I would have probably done the same, we did nearly get an encore, but it was decided there wasn’t enough time, and we did sell a fair amount of merchandise.
We’ve got the Olympic at Draycott this Friday, so it’s all go.
Monday, 19 July 2010
the World of Verbal Warning 18.07.2010
Just returned from a cracking weekend at the Rock and Bike festival, but first I'd like to clear up a potential misunderstanding over our none appearance at MFN last Wednesday, we bumped into a couple of fans and they'd gone to see us and were bitterly disappointed to find that NG26 were on and were somehow given the impression that we'd cancelled, this is not the case, we were moved by the venue to September 1st because of a "double booking" about 2 weeks before the gig.
On to Rock and Bike, we were on at 4 o clock on Saturday afternoon, before that a VW first occurred, an unplugged set, well, I say set, we actually had a practice in Drummer Boys tent before the gig, with Drummer Boy on a sort of drum Box, Guitar Boy on acoustic guitar and me using a little battery amp for my bass, it was certainly different, Singer Boy had to sing quietly for a start! the event was filmed on a mobile phone by one of the Verbetts so if the quality's not to bad some of it might get posted on our Facebook page.
The actual gig itself started off quietly but by the end when we finished the set with Jet Plane, My Way and 500 Miles the place was rocking, a memorable gig, as Drummer Boy commented we nearly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory when we decide to do an unscheduled encore, trouble was Guitar Boy, not expecting to have to play anymore had put his guitar down and it got knocked out of tune, so White Riot was, frankly, a bit of a mess, but fortunately it didn't seem to matter. Singer Boy couldn't sell the merch fast enough after the gig and we shifted over a £100 worth of gear in about 10 minutes.
We all enjoyed the rest of the day, as we all had an access all area's pass ( Singer Boy was disappointed when we had to tell him it wasn't those area's) which meant we got into the hospitality tent with free booze and food and we also got to see the night time bands from the hospitality area at the front of the stage. Jimi Hendrix, not the real one silly, was suberb, looked like him and sounded like him, if you're a Hendrix fan I recommend you check out Are You Experienced, you definitely won't get nearer to the real thing. I even enjoyed Toyah's Rock Vampire Show against all expectations, it's hard not to like a show crammed full of rock anthems played well with top notch sound quality when you're full of free booze.
The Rock and Bike festival is brilliant value at only £24 for a ticket, Christ, even a tight arse like me would pay that.
Three weeks off now then a busy schedule in August starting with Blythe Power's Ashes in Norfolk.
On to Rock and Bike, we were on at 4 o clock on Saturday afternoon, before that a VW first occurred, an unplugged set, well, I say set, we actually had a practice in Drummer Boys tent before the gig, with Drummer Boy on a sort of drum Box, Guitar Boy on acoustic guitar and me using a little battery amp for my bass, it was certainly different, Singer Boy had to sing quietly for a start! the event was filmed on a mobile phone by one of the Verbetts so if the quality's not to bad some of it might get posted on our Facebook page.
The actual gig itself started off quietly but by the end when we finished the set with Jet Plane, My Way and 500 Miles the place was rocking, a memorable gig, as Drummer Boy commented we nearly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory when we decide to do an unscheduled encore, trouble was Guitar Boy, not expecting to have to play anymore had put his guitar down and it got knocked out of tune, so White Riot was, frankly, a bit of a mess, but fortunately it didn't seem to matter. Singer Boy couldn't sell the merch fast enough after the gig and we shifted over a £100 worth of gear in about 10 minutes.
We all enjoyed the rest of the day, as we all had an access all area's pass ( Singer Boy was disappointed when we had to tell him it wasn't those area's) which meant we got into the hospitality tent with free booze and food and we also got to see the night time bands from the hospitality area at the front of the stage. Jimi Hendrix, not the real one silly, was suberb, looked like him and sounded like him, if you're a Hendrix fan I recommend you check out Are You Experienced, you definitely won't get nearer to the real thing. I even enjoyed Toyah's Rock Vampire Show against all expectations, it's hard not to like a show crammed full of rock anthems played well with top notch sound quality when you're full of free booze.
The Rock and Bike festival is brilliant value at only £24 for a ticket, Christ, even a tight arse like me would pay that.
Three weeks off now then a busy schedule in August starting with Blythe Power's Ashes in Norfolk.
Sunday, 11 July 2010
the World of Verbal Warning 11.07.2010
We finally got back on the horse last night at the Poet and Castle in Codnor, it's fair to say we were a little bit apprehensive before the gig, especially after somebody pointed out it was the first pub gig, i.e a 2 x 45 minute set, since Kettering back in April, but it all turned out OK, in many ways it was typical VW gig, fast, furious with a sprinkling of mistakes, as somebody once said "you may not be the best, but you're good fun", it was a steaming hot night and the pub was pretty full, songs off the new CD seemed to go down well, the new Red Star Radio T shirts were also in evidence. I don't know who's stupid idea it was to put Jilted John next to Ace of Spades in the set, oh yeah it was me!,
but they went down a storm, the fact that we had to restart Ace of Spades due to us losing the way, didn't seem to matter, in fact some would say it was better because I got to do the bass intro twice, well I would anyway. Due to the heat Drummer Boy finished up doing a Sandie Shaw impression, (the older readers of this blog will know what I'm talking about), by playing in his bare feet and the pub side door next to were we play was left open resulting in singer boy running up down Alfreton Road, all on his own, arms out stretched, during Jet Plane, oh yeah and doing his rock star impression by disappearing outside during the Whole Lotta of Rosie guitar solo only to reappear just in time to start the vocal again, I suppose we should just be grateful that this time he knew when the solo was due to end.
Anyway on to the Rock and Bike festival next week, slots on the indoor stage have been moved forward an hour, so we're on at 4 o clock Saturday afternoon, which just might be good thing because we were up against a Z Z Top tribute originally but now we're on our own, a nice rain shower would be nice as well, and it's not as bad as flying all the way to Japan to find out you're on at 11.30 in the morning (those of you who have seen the Anvil film will get that one)
but they went down a storm, the fact that we had to restart Ace of Spades due to us losing the way, didn't seem to matter, in fact some would say it was better because I got to do the bass intro twice, well I would anyway. Due to the heat Drummer Boy finished up doing a Sandie Shaw impression, (the older readers of this blog will know what I'm talking about), by playing in his bare feet and the pub side door next to were we play was left open resulting in singer boy running up down Alfreton Road, all on his own, arms out stretched, during Jet Plane, oh yeah and doing his rock star impression by disappearing outside during the Whole Lotta of Rosie guitar solo only to reappear just in time to start the vocal again, I suppose we should just be grateful that this time he knew when the solo was due to end.Anyway on to the Rock and Bike festival next week, slots on the indoor stage have been moved forward an hour, so we're on at 4 o clock Saturday afternoon, which just might be good thing because we were up against a Z Z Top tribute originally but now we're on our own, a nice rain shower would be nice as well, and it's not as bad as flying all the way to Japan to find out you're on at 11.30 in the morning (those of you who have seen the Anvil film will get that one)
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