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Saturday 18/04/2009 - The Park Inn, Dover How annoying that we finally found a venue in Dover that GETS us and our second gig here is our last one. Ah well, a good crowd of family and friends joined the locals, and we bade our farewells with an excellent all-round performance that was well appreciated. Not a bad way to sign off.
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Saturday 10/04/2009 - The Frenchman, Folkestone Our last gig in Folkestone, and appropriate that this was the venue as its probably been our best gig in the town. Once again it didn't disappoint as the Frenchman's usual crowd of quirky characters gave us a good send off. |
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Saturday 14/03/2009 - The Ocean Inn, Dymchurch A quiet night for our last gig here. It would have been nice to have packed the place for our last gig for our favourite landlady in the Marsh, but it was not to be. |
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Friday 28/02/2009 - The George, Ashford Another of those nights where we had to do without Charlotte as she was sunning herself in Mexico. Which meant far too much work for yours truly, although the guys did rally round on the backing vocals, and there was even the sound of a rare main vocal from Matt. Actually it was a good laugh to dust off some of the tracks we never play and shove in a half rehearsed one as well. A lot of people came down to give us good support and it turned into another good night. |
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Saturday 07/02/2009 - The Railway Club, Folkestone The night was cold and blustery... Err... sounds like the start of a really bad novel! But actually it was, so it was a pleasant surprise to get a reasonable sized audience and a warm reception. Another good gig at a venue where a disciplined performance always seems to pay off. |
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Saturday 17/01/2009 - The Frenchman, Folkestone A blustery January day; usually a recipe for an empty pub and a disappointing gig. Not so this time. The pub was busy from the start and remained so throughout. An appreciative crowd really got behind us and we had a great night. |
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Friday 19/12/2008 - The George, Ashford It's a long time since I've played a pub as packed as this one. They had to shut it at 9:30 and it led to quite a few problems with equipment and, later on, some damage. All accidental of course. Anyway, the band played really well and went down a storm. |
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Saturday 14/11/2008 - The Frenchman, Folkestone Another excellent night here. It was particularly gratifying to have some people follow us down who'd seen us at the Railway Club the previous month. We're here again early in the New Year - Can't wait. |
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Saturday 01/11/2008 - The Park Inn, Dover A night later and another new venue, with much the same result. Some of the older band members were feeling their aching bones after a lively night, the night before (and yes I DO mean me). But once we'd started at the bustling Park Inn, it was impossible not to get swept along by a very enthusiastic audience and all concerned ended up having a great night. Another very happy Landlord and Landlady means we'll certainly be playing here again in the New Year. |
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Friday 31/10/2008 - The White Horse, Willesborough A night of fun and fancy dress, plenty of family and friends came along to cheer us on, and we had a good time. Quite an auspicious start for us at a new venue in the town. Here are some pictures from Sam Bryant; as you can see some of the band wore fancy dress, I'll leave you to work out which ones!!
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Saturday 25/10/2008 - The Railway Club, Folkestone We're still improving our audience reaction at this venue, and I don't think there's much doubt that quite a few of this latest crowd were there to see us and not just whatever band was on. Once again the feedback was most encouraging, and everybody turned in good performances. |
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Saturday 18/10/2008 - The Ocean Inn, Dymchurch The lack of many of the locals here (there was a big wedding on) led to a quiet start. But the evening picked up slowly-but-surely and we ended up having a fairly good night. We'll be re-booked here in the New Year. |
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Friday 17/10/2008 - The George, Ashford Another good night here, though the refit has left us with problems that we hadn't expected. We played in what used to be the front bar and it acted a bit like a box with the sound on stage not getting out to the audience. We're going to have to rethink our approach for next time. Still, we really enjoyed ourselves and are looking forward to playing here again in December. |
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Saturday 13/09/2008 - The Albion, Ashford A much quieter night than on our last appearance here, but those in attendance gave us great support. We soldiered on through losing Charlotte to ill-health around the half-time break, and played pretty well to an ever more appreciative crowd. |
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Saturday 23/08/2008 - The Park Inn, Folkestone Another busy night at a venue where we seem to be building a good following. The band played a couple of goood sets and seemed to be well appreciated. |
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Friday 25/07/2008 - The George, Ashford A great night at one of our favourite venues. Our first Friday here drew a lively and appreciative crowd. Can't wait to see what it's like after the refit. |
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Saturday 12/07/2008 - The Railway Club, Folkestone We continued our good work at this club, playing well to an educated audience with a fair few musicians in attendance. Some good natured banter with a lively audience, and some great feedback from the management and others attending, led to a most enjoyable evening. |
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Thursday 10/07/2008 - The Neptune, Dymchurch Despite starting late through unavoidable circumstances, we put in two good fifty-minute sets and played a deserved encore. |
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Saturday 05/07/2008 - The Mariner Bar, Folkestone A good night at a venue where we usually enjoy ourselves. A lot of the decent-sized audience were clearly there just to see us, and with some old favourites in the crowd the level of banter was good. We went over very well, and hope to be playing here again soon. |
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Friday 04/07/2008 - The Dublin Man 'o' War Another quiet night in River, despite some pals turning up. We played well, but I fear we just don't have the pulling power in Dover at the moment. |
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Saturday 21/06/2008 - The George, Ashford Another excellent night here. An audience full of friends gave us great support. This is turning into a home venue for us. Another pub with a very appreciative landlord; hopefully this is becoming a trend! We're back here in late July and it'll no doubt be just as good, but what we're really looking forward to, is the gigs we have there after the refurbishment creates a lot more space. This is really going to be a venue to be reckoned with then! |
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Friday 20/06/2008 - The Dukes Head, Hamstreet This was a late cancellation “jump-in” at a village pub, and was a bit of a frustrating evening. With little advance knowledge and a well-advertised gig in Ashford town centre the following night, we were only able to drag along a few of our regular supporters. The landlord is leaving shortly and the pub had that air about it; though the pub was busy enough early on, the locals largely ignored us and ultimately we couldn’t get the good reaction we are starting to expect. It was our first low-key gig for a while. We did all we could do in the circumstances and played through professionally. Best wishes to the departing management who were very nice to us. |
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Saturday 07/06/2008 - The Ocean Inn, Dymchurch Charlotte has never had much luck with this venue. She had to fight a bad throat last time, and this time a sudden illness ruled her out completely. We battled on as a five-piece (even if we did have to strain the memory cells over some of our less-often-played material) as we didn't want to cancel at such short notice, letting down anyone who travelled to see us and June, who is the the excellent landlady at the Ocean. And so we played two rockier-than-usual sets to a reasonably appreciative crowd. Its good to know we can soldier on if we have to, but we're still looking forward to our next gig there in October, and fielding a fully-fit team to really rock the joint! |
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Saturday 31/05/2008 - The Woolpack, Smeeth It was well over a year since we'd last gigged here, owing to various circumstances and despite all concerned wanting to give it another go. But sadly, it was looking like it might be a bust with five minutes left before we went on, and the pub just having a few regulars and some of our family and friends in it. But the pub filled up as we got started, with plenty of our favourite people turning up and giving us great support. Despite some early equipment troubles, everyone kept their cool and we found our way to an excellent sound. The crowd really got behind us and it was a pleasure to do a couple of encores. Lets hope its not another year before we get a chance to play again at this excellent venue. |
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Sunday 25/05/2008 - Romney sands holiday camp, BBQ An interesting "extra" gig that cropped up proved we can be versatile when we need to be as we turned in two professional sets in the sweltering heat at this busy event. Feedback from the camps entertainment people was just one word, "superb". Soooo... job done :) Here are some pictures taken by Sharon and co...
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Saturday 24/05/2008 - The George, Ashford A hugely successful night at this popular town-centre venue, even if it did feel disconcertingly like someone's front room when we were setting up! Anyway, a big crowd really got into our sound and when you look up to see people dancing to your songs in the kebab shop across the street, you really know you're going over well!! Back here in July. Here are some pictures taken by Hayley...
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Friday 16/05/2008 - The Ship Inn, Dymchurch We're getting used to quiet nights at the Ship - this was a bit better than previous occasions with the bar reasonably busy for most of the night. The band kept their concentration through some early nonsense, including one of our guitarists having to move his car, and turned in a good performance. Re-booked for August . |
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Saturday 10/05/2008 - Sellindge Sports and Social Club, Sellindge It was good to be offered the chance to be the first band to play a series of musical evenings at this terrific venue which had been mostly used for functions until now. The evening didn't disappoint, plenty of people turning up to watch both from the village and our more usual supporters, mostly from Ashford. A good night and they'd like us back in the Autumn |
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Saturday 26/04/2008 - The Frenchman, Folkestone At five-to-nine we started to get ready to play in an almost empty pub. But by the time we started the place was pretty full and buzzing. It stayed that way all night, a lively crowd really getting into our sound and giving us great support. Good feedback from the management too, which is a bit frustrating as the place is so booked up that we can't get in there again until next year. Still, that'll be an eagerly awaited occasion after this excellent night. |
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Sunday 16/03/2008 - The Village Hotel, Maidstone This really brought us back down to earth after a dynamite Saturday night. It was quiet throughout, though we got respectful applause for everything we did. I like to think not many bands could play two such diverse gigs and carry it off. But we did, because, despite the lack of audience, we impressed the management and they want us back. They agreed with our opinion that the timeslot, 3pm on a Sunday afternoon, didn't help the audience attendance much, so It'll be a different start time next time we play here and probably a different day. |
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Saturday 15/03/2008 - The Albion, Ashford Not sure where to start on this one because it was practically perfect. The place was packed and we really rocked it up, getting great crowd reaction throughout from a crowd with tons of family and friends in it. Made a lot of new friends too. We're back there in September and will be booked into its sister pub, the George in Ashford, before that on the back this great gig. It was the sort of night you hope for when you get into the local band scene Here are a couple of pics taken by Hayley...
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Thursday 13/03/2008 - The Neptune, Dymchurch I was surprised to see it had been eight months since we played the Neptune! We played pretty well to a decent-sized crowd, despite the pouring rain, and got good crowd reaction and feedback afterwards. I really think we're starting to crack this one. A good night all round - the rain even let up a bit as we put the gear into the vans. |
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Friday 07/03/2008 - The Dublin Man 'o' War A quiet night in River meant we just ran through our set for a small audience. We played well and have been invited back for another crack at it in July. |
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Friday 15/02/2008 - The Railway Hotel, Appledore Well the landlord had this one dead right; he said the pub filled up late and so it proved - the first set was played to a few die-hard people which was quite dispiriting in such a large venue. But after the break the pub had filled to a decent sized audience and we went over well, playing on until nearly midnight. |
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Saturday 09/02/2008 - The Ocean Inn, Dymchurch Good fun again at this venue. Nicely busy and we played well with Charlotte battling a bad throat bravely, finishing with a couple of encores. |
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Saturday 02/02/20087 - The Railway Club, Folkestone A quieter night than our first here but still plenty of people in one of our larger venues. We seem to be winning them over here, getting pretty good applause throughout. |
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Saturday 26/01/2008 - The Park Inn, Folkestone A busy night at a venue where we seem to be a bit more appreciated every time we play Some good pictures were taken - this one by Neil Stephen...
And these by Kate Bryant and co....
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Saturday 08/12/2007 - The Railway Club, Folkestone Our first gig in a social club. They expect a lot more material here, two hours or more, so we knew it was going to be a tester. The old heads in the band had warned the younger ones not to expect too much in the way of applause and so it proved. Probably the biggest indoor crowd we'd played for this year and one of the quietest except for a few of our own we smuggled in. We seemed to be playing tightly and had a good overall sound, but it's difficult to gauge how you are going over with a crowd that's not responding. So it wasn't until afterwards when a few of the audience came up and thanked us, and the manager told us so, that we realised we'd gone down well. Re-boooked in the New Year. |
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Friday 07/12/2007 - The Ship Inn, Dymchurch Well if it seemed empty last time, this time took the biscuit! For about a minute the band outnumbered the audience by 3 to 1!!! Admittedly it seemed to be a combined smoking break for the small amount in attendance at the time, but still! Fortunately the pub filled up a bit through the night and we ended up with twenty or thirty to play to. The landlady enjoyed us and wants to re-book us for the New Year, so go figure. |
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Saturday 01/12/2007 - The Park Inn, Folkestone Another good night at this conveniently located venue. An appreciative crowd gave us good support throughout, and the landlord wants to rebook us in the New Year. |
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Friday 30/11/2007 - The Gate Inn, Hythe Another odd sort of gig. Atrocious weather meant we all got soaked getting the gear in and delayed our guitarists enough that we didn't get on stage till 9:10. But the first set went really well including putting a new song in for us. Second set seemed just as good and we were playing well, but it was very quiet when we finished so we didn't do our usual encores. Probably just as well with a gig the next night, but we aim to please. Oh well - the management were happy enough so it sounds like we'll be back at the Gate in the New Year. The landlord really does rate us - nice to be singled out at a well-known venue.
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Saturday 03/11/2007 - The Bailiff's Sergeant, St Mary's Bay A quiet night again here - hopefully more due to all the fireworks displays, rather than us - the landlord said we went down ok and seems keen to have us back |
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Saturday 06/10/2007 - The Park Inn, Folkestone A big pub, with a clientele that has a reputation for enjoying their music. Events seemed to bear that out. We played pretty well to good reactions all night, and even got some of our mates up and dancing at the end. A good start at a new venue for us. Here's a picture, taken by our mate Neil...
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Saturday 22/09/2007 - The Louis Armstrong, Dover See the report from the 14th of July - hardly any difference. |
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Saturday 08/09/2007 - The Fire Station, Ashford A truly worthwhile cause made this Charity gig very rewarding. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and ticket sales and generous bidding on a charity auction raised over £4000 for an infant cerebral palsey sufferer. |
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Friday 17/08/2007 - The Ship Inn, Dymchurch Seemed a bit empty at the Ship this time; enough people to make it worth playing but quieter than on previous visits there. Then I poked my head outside during a number I wasn't needed on and saw a lot of people outside enjoying the warm night and puffing away contentedly. One thing the smoking ban has certainly changed! We played pretty well to an appreciative bunch of non-smokers (presumably). It'll be interesting to see how many people are outside on our next visit to the Ship, in December :) |
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Saturday 28/07/2007 - The Ocean Inn, Dymchurch Another trip to the marsh and more head-scratching. We seemed to go over really well (regularly getting the pub dancing along with the music) but, once again, little in the way of applause until they were demanding an encore. This just seems rude to me, but what do I know? Anyway, we were polite enough to do an encore when asked; my, how I've mellowed. For once we didn't have many of our regulars with us, but the pub started busy and stayed that way all night. So we must have been doing something right? Once again the management liked us and want to re-book us, though it won't be until next year now as they are very booked up.
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Saturday 21/07/2007 - The Bailiff's Sergeant, St Mary's Bay Not quite sure what to say about this one. Well first off it was packed and there were also a lot of people outside enjoying the, at last, fine weather (and no doubt beating the smoking ban). Perhaps due to the heat, we were a little rough in the first set, but seemed to go over OK - we improved in the second set but reactions varied from total indifference to wild enthusiasm; a little unsettling. The landlord certainly liked us - I suspect the crowd in general might have preferred a more conventional rock band, but enough people seemed to enjoy it to make an encore worthwhile. I guess you just have to get used to the different vibes in different pubs. Here are a couple of pictures...
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Saturday 14/07/2007 - The Louis Armstrong, Dover Kind of weird this time at the Louis. The first time we've played there since the smoking ban, and it was... odd - The Louis without smoke is a bit like... err... Laurel without Hardy??? Well, some appropriate metaphor anyway. They say they've dropped a fair amount of audience through the ban, and of course those that are there are often outside smoking, so it did seem a bit empty, probably about 25% down on the last time we played there. It's particularly hard on the landlady Jackie, who loves her ciggies, but I have to say that I was pleased that the air was fresher. Well, we had some pals there, and it was great to hear the whole pub sing happy birthday to Angie's mum Nikki. With Charlotte bravely battling through the early stages of what later turned out to be chicken pox, we played pretty well and the pub gradually filled to a respectable and appreciative audience. Several people who hadn't seen us before made a point of coming up to thank us - and thanks to you guys for giving us great support. We're back in September and may have to take a smoke machine to get back the authentic Louis experience!!! |
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Thursday 05/07/2007 - The Neptune, Dymchurch Sometimes a gig will surprise you. As Charlotte was not available until late, due to an acting commitment, we had to chop the set around so that the first set was a pretty Rocky affair, full of stuff we hadn't played for a while. Despite this the band really got into it and gave a good account of themseves. We were expecting a fairly flat response after the turn-out and reaction we got here last time, but this time the audience was a good-size, plenty of locals as well as family and friends, and they really got into it. Then, when Charlotte arrived, we were able to turn it up a notch and really started cooking. Let hope we get this type of crowd, rather than the one we had in May, the next time we play here, which is in September |
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Saturday 30/06/2007 - Armada midsummer madness, Sellindge and New Romney Open Air Concert A crazy day where we played two gigs during torrential rainstorms. The story of the day - We played the Armada MCC gig over at Sellindge at 3. Just as we got set up, MONSOON!!! Black leather and denim-clad figures running for the beer tent within seconds! Soooooo, we played a pretty good set to an empty field apart from a few of our die-hard mates (including Jon's brother Ian, who was a rock throughout the day, helping out in every department, and Steve from 55% banana).
Quote: Actually it was pretty good fun apart from dodging the odd drops of rain that made it through the tarps, and we got reasonable applause from the tents - even managed to orchestrate a couple of encores. I got back home at 4:20, having thanked God for my 4WD the whole way - the roads were rivers, and immediately phoned the New Romney OAC organiser who couldn't see what the problem was - said they'd had one big downpour early and then some drizzle. I explained what I'd just come through, but they were already set up and going for it. Got down there at 7 - They'd had the weather from the hills (Our van had briefly got bogged down in the field). It was still steadily raining off and on. Everything was running late because of water seepage, the organisers gamely sticking to the task - we eventually got on stage at 8:30 - 45 mins late and chopped our set down to 45 minutes to help them out - played to two or three hundred who seemed to enjoy it - well they stayed anyway, although they were calling the raffle straight after!! Good slot!!! Pete Colley has video'd the whole thing for us and said we sounded OK. Which is a result in the circumstances. As we came off the heavens really opened so I'm afraid I didn't stay to see "Callback". Third or fourth soaking of the day for me - I had an appointment with a hot bath! A rain-sodden day, but peculiarly good fun (for me at least).
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Some stills from a video Pete Colley shot at the New Romney gig -
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Saturday 23/06/2007 - The Ship Inn, Dymchurch - Charity day A bit of a washout if we're honest. Torrential rain early in the day kept the crowds away, and the best organisation in the world can't guarantee the weather. Anyway, the bands all played well, the crowd probably swelled to around three hundred by the end, and it was nice to have a few drinks and take in the excellent "55% Banana" who headlined. |
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Another picture from Aud -
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Friday 22/06/2007 - The Gate Inn, Hythe A good rock venue, but you probably wouldn't have wanted your mum and sister there this particular night! We played pretty well and had good audience response most of the time. Aside from some hastle from some obnoxious drunks well after the gig, a good night. We don't play this area for quite a while now. Have to say the Landlord seems to really rate us - very flattering
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Friday 15/06/2007 - The Mariner Bar, Folkestone Another good gig here. It was very hot but the band played OK for after a long lay off - a medium-sized crowd seemed to get into it. |
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Some pictures taken by our pal Aud -
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Saturday 05/05/2007 - The Bradstow Mill, Broadstairs We quite liked the Bradstow after we got over the freakish habit they have of hardly applauding at all, despite obviously enjoying the music. Fortunately a little posse came over from Ashford and rectified that halfway throught the first set. Eventually the locals got into it as well, and by the end we felt we'd really earned our encore. This gig was helping out some mates who had to cancel, but it sounds like the pub want us back. We'll have to think it over as its a bit of a trek and a tight squeeze. Still, we ended up really enjoying ourselves so let's see. |
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Thursday 03/05/2007 - The Neptune, Dymchurch Probably our first really disappointing night. The fact that it was a Thursday night led to very few of our regulars attending, probably only about 10 including the ubiquitous Mark. It's a big pub, and we played to a crowd of never more than about 40 people so it all felt very flat. Still, the band was professional and did their thing. We are next due to play there in July. Hope its a bit more full. |
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Saturday 28/04/2007 - The Louis Armstrong, Dover Good to be back at the Louis. Thought we might be playing to an empty pub at one point, which would have been a first for us. Just a few die-hards and a smattering of locals in the place when we started. Their enthusuiasm was great though. Slowly the pub started to fill, building to a good-sized crowd by the start of the second set. Throughout, the band played pretty well to an ever-more appreciative audience. Many thanks to all at the Louis for turning it into a great night for us. We next play there in July |
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Saturday 21/04/2007 - The Woolpack, Smeeth Another debut at a venue. Once again we went over well. Plenty of family and friends attended which helped, but the locals seemed to get into it as well. A re-booking has been promised. Details to follow. | ||||
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Some pictures kindly taken by Sharon -
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Friday 13/04/2007 - The Mariner Bar, Folkestone A first gig here for us and they seem to like to rock at this pub. The playing space was tiny, so poor Charlotte had to put up with a lot of accidental digs from my elbows. In the end she started digging back - ouch! The pub was about four-fifths full most of the night, including a lot of our own friends which was cool. Not bad for a first outing. The band played well storming to an encore. Back there again mid-June |
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A picture - note the aforementioned cramped conditions (though parking a purple-headed sofa by the middle microphone probably didn't help!)
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Friday 06/04/2007 - The Ship Inn, Dymchurch Another good (friday - ha!) night at the Ship and great to have Charlotte back. A decent-sized audience, all the new numbers went over well and great demands for encores upon encores. Seriously folks, we have to go home sometime! |
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Friday 30/03/2007 - The Gate Inn, Hythe A cool little venue this. A decent-sized playing area, and nice square-on angle to the audience. Once again we were having to do without Charlotte which is always a bit of a downer. The audience was a bit sparse when we began but the pub was pretty full by the time we got into the meat of the first set, and stayed that way to the end. Now that we have a bit more material we were able to vary the set to satisfy some requests and by the time we finished the band were really cooking. Good to hear the new stuff really going over well. Two encores, and a promise of further bookings from an appreciative landlord completed a good nights work. Back at the Gate June 22nd. |
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Saturday 11/03/2007 - The Britannia, Margate A strange day out in Thanet. The pub asks you to do what they call a 'showcase', effectively a free gig, so that they can check you out. Not a bad idea considering the other option is taking a punt after listening to a demo. The Brit is known to be a pretty good place to play so we want to get in there and gave it a go. It was a Sunday in the early evening and we are definitely out-of-towners, so, predictably perhaps, we played to a crowd that never got above thirty people. When you add to this Charlotte being unavailable it did seem that the evening lacked sparkle. Still, some songs got good applause and there were half-hearted calls for an encore when we finished. More importantly, we seem to have impressed the management enough for them to give us some gigs in a decent slot later in the year. |
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Saturday 17/02/2007 - The Louis Armstrong, Dover A good first gig at this popular Dover venue. Another fair-sized audience seemed very appreciative and we played two encores. Back at the Louis in April |
