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Newsletter dated December, 2000.
We've now added a couple of new venues to our roster and had some very enjoyable gigs on the way. The first was at Jono's in Ealing where the strong Aussie prescence looked like heading for a proper evening of chundering! We've seen some dancing before but this was the worst case of the rubber men syndrome we've experienced in quite a while - and that was only the girls. Ninny-noing-noing.
We had another enjoyable evening at the Clarendon Arms in Chandlers Cross even though one of the audience tried hard to give the gig an edge of his own by asking for Kevin Barry! Ah well, the way the mind works? Talking of requests, the Wild Rover kept on cropping up from the second number in at the Prince Of Wales in Strood where a contingent of Skinners Rats fans were determined to try and ruin the evening by being funny. They weren't and it wasn't! Unfortunately our special guest singer (a member of Skinner's Rats!) declined the offer to perform for his mates without the aid of a guitar.
The Two Brewers in Croydon was well attended and it was nice to see nurse Tiffany (who looks after my leg following the heart by-pass operation) and her friends having a great time. My ex-Eavesdropper colleague Rob Erselius and his brother Steve also turned up and we were discussing the possibility of producing a Band Of Two Songbook. Watch the next newsletter for more details.
In early December, we teamed up with our mate Jim Bryan and caller Mick Scott for a rather swish affair in London's Knightsbridge. The wedding of one of the Northwood Morris Men (of whom Pete and Mick are past members) was the occasion and a great excuse for something of a reunion. For those who don't know, I recorded some material for a proposed folk-rock band called Celtica, which never unfortunately saw the light of day. The recording however was a great success with Jim contributing bass guitar and his not inconsiderable skills as an arranger. Another contributor to the project was Jim's mate Doug Scarrett who just by chance happens to be a member of the heavy metal band Saxon and the guitar take of the 'Ellen Vannin Tragedy' just has to be heard. Perhaps 2001 will at least see some of the Celtica tracks appearing for the first time on CD. Talking of recording, singer-songwriter Ron Trueman Border is just about to release his latest CD with a launch at The White Hart in Orpington on Thursday 7th December. Pete contributed mandolin on several tracks but unfortunately due to a heavy schedule of work commitments will have to miss performing them live with Ron until the New Year.
On the Shep Woolley front, we had another great couple of evenings playing on HMS Warrior as part of a Honda Civic launch. The following day, Shep was heading to Northampton for a twenty-one day cabaret appearance. We both wonder how we'll get by without our fix of Shep and his great sense of humour. Hopefully we'll be in the studio with Mr Woolley sometime in January to record the first 'Andsome Cabinboys CD.
What a great night we had at the De La Warr Theatre in Bexhill on Saturday 9th December. The thought of a gig outside on the bandstand wasn't exactly what we had in mind but, we played to an enthusiastic and packed crowd who really entered into the Christmas spirit. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank Mike, Brian and Tim the sound engineer for making us feel so welcome - cheers lads!
A couple of days later, we performed four sets at the Conquest Hospital for some of their more senior patients. The audience were as good as ever and we even managed some carols (Away In A Manger, Silent Night and We Wish You A Merry Christmas) along with the usual suspects. This gig is always enjoyable and we hope to return again next year.
The Stag in Hastings Old Town hosted an acoustic evening with Garry and Roger Flack on Friday 15th December. They were later joined by the new guitarist from the Tabs for the last set. Pete and Les Elvin did a floorspot at the Croydon Folksong Club's Christmas Party on Monday 18th gearing up for a few folk club gigs in the New Year.
News just in: Band Of Two have been booked to appear at the 'Folk On The Pier Festival' at Cromer, Norfolk on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th May 2001. In addition to our own sets, we will also be performing with Shep Woolley. For those of you that haven't been, the festival is one of those rare beasts i.e. really nice! The setting is ideal and we had a great time last year performing as The Tabs. You may also be interested to know that the headliners on Saturday will be acid-croft folk band Shooglenifty and on Sunday, the headliners will be Steeleye Span. Box Office telephone number is 01263 512495.
Cheers for now – PETE & GARRY
DIARY
January 2001
7 Jonos, Ealing
12 Private Function
13 Alexanders, Hastings
16 Folk Club, Dartford
19 Stag, Hastings - A special night for the nurses
26 Red Lion, Turners Hill
27 Scruffy Murphys, Guildford
28 Junction, Burgess Hill
30 Private Function
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