Tales from the Road and Rails

HI-ON CANNING TOWN - 26 March 2011

2011-04-06T04:49:00.000-07:00

At last, a gig on my home turf!

Saturday 26 March had loomed large in my calendar for a good few months. It’s not often that we manage to find gigs in our illustrious capital city. There are many reasons for this, but the primary one is that London venues simply won’t pay what it takes to get us all together in one place. We’ve done a few fanclub / special event type shows in recent years at the Ruskin Arms (Iron Maiden’s spiritual home) and just about managed to get ourselves there and back, but this is the first “regular gig” in a long time to take place within the sound of Bow bells.

My day started with a bit of forward planning. A few days previous I had been taken ill with a Devil Bug, and having recently moved it struck me as a grand idea to go and sign up with the local witch doctor. Upon registering with their fine service it became apparent that my passport had expired. With a trip to Nijmegen beckoning in a few short weeks, I was racked with a bout of loud expletives (much to the horror of the poor receptionist at whom they were directed) and went home to ask the internet how one goes about renewing one’s passport. Saturday morning was spent putting that research into practice at the local post office, while also picking up a more suitable dress shirt to match, as best I could, what Dave Murray is wearing on Iron Maiden’s current tour. It was also incumbent on me to pick up an “emergency wig”; rabid readers may recall an unfortunate incident in Plymouth resulting in what Adrian “d’yer want the good news or the bad news?” Swift affectionately summed up as “looks like a fanny on yer head!”. With a brisk jaunt around town on Saturday morning put behind me, I walked home and set about getting my stuff together for the gig.

Arriving at the venue a refreshing 30 minutes or so after leaving home (thank you, TFL!), I came upon various members of our support act for the evening. Ghoad are a Saxon tribute band, who have been together as a classic rock covers act for the better part of a decade but who recently turned their talents to the tribute world. Their genesis sounds awfully familiar – a pre-existing band notice that their beloved band are poorly represented on the tribute circuit and decide to try their hand at it. We wish them the best of luck for the future! Ghoad’s Manager Andy Findley filled me in (as it were!) on the situation – there was no-one to let us in until a bit later. The Bridgehouse II is the relocated spirit twin of The Bridgehouse, a seminal rock venue in the East End throughout the seventies before being shut down in 1982 and razed to the ground in recent years. Iron Maiden themselves played there in the early days, and the Bridgehouse II is there to take it’s place. A small room on an industrial estate in the wastelands of East London, it seems a slightly surreal place to find a venue.

Half an hour later, the Unbranded and Slightly Damaged Selectadrive Sprinter rolled up with the rest of the band aboard. Bruce “I’ve just done a rather awful trump” Dugginson was complaining of cramp, having had a rather uncomfortable journey, while everyone else looked in decidedly chipper moods. Speed “fugg may owld boots!” Haggis wasted no time offering me up as a sexual favour to the support act in order to get me a lift home (charming!), while Nicko “dum de dee dee dum de dee dee” McBrain Jnr was devasted to learn that there were no eateries nearby. Honestly. I don’t know where he puts it all.

We quickly set about lugging all the gear up the stairs (always fun, I can tell you!) ably aided by the Ghoad boys. By this time it was a mere 90 minutes to doors opening, so I tried to set my gear up as quickly as possible. Sound-check duly ensued, and we ran through the two numbers we had prepared especially for the gig (including the rarely performed Purgatory and the never-before performed Back In The Village – oh, you lucky people!). Both went off without a hitch, more or less, and were received raptly by the pre-gig audience! We cleared off to allow Ghoad to sort their stuff out, and I promptly decamped to the bar. By this time the doors were almost ready to open, and punters started trickling in. I escaped to the outside (where it was colder than expected!) to quietly sup on my pint of Guinness. While I waited outside with the lads, various friends and family appeared. As I said, it’s a rare thing that a gig occurs anywhere near my locale, and when it does my nearest and dearest jump at the chance to see me and my be-wigged colleagues knocking out the choons.

Ghoad brought Saxon to the masses, and in no time at all it was our turn in the “dressing cupboard”. Not wanting to waste any time (punters would be wary of the last Tube departing just after the midnight hour) we bounded onstage to “Satellite 15...” and got on with the show. We played a blinder, with the rarities well-received and the classics being greeted with utter joy. I had one or two marvellous personal moments with mates of mine popping up in front of me on stage right singing right along with me, which was a real treat. I had one slight nightmare at the end of “Hallowed...”, trying to go for the crash-ending but finding my fingers seizing up so what actually came out was a flurry of mishits and Brown Notes. Rather embarrassing! Recovering from that, we rounded out the gig with the encores and said our on-stage farewell while Eddie “Mother of Mercy’s me favourite” the ‘Ead couldn’t resist tearing my dying wig from my bonce and giving me a good slice with the blood-soaked knife. A job well done, although let me tell you it was bloody loud. Even with my slightly-less-than-rock-and-roll earplugs in, my ears were buzzing the next day. I hope the punters have recovered!

I packed down my gear and, having missed the last Underground train, was kindly offered a lift home with the departing Andy and Nibs from Ghoad. This, I’m assured, had nothing to do with ‘Aggy’s inferences earlier in the evening! I’m not usually one to wimp out of loading out the gear (with one notable exception at The Brook, though I still maintain I was busy drinking at the bar and no-one told me the load-out was in progress!!!), but it was such a nice feeling to be at home on the night of a gig without the slog of a long journey home the next day. I arrived home and promptly walked round a mate’s house to continue the party! Splendid stuff.

On a personal note, a huge thanks to all the friends and family who came along (with or without ear protection!). Special thanks to Goc for marshalling the Facebook hordes, to Ross and Sasha for providing me with faces to melt down the front, and to Corey for coming along even though he can't stand Maiden! Kev, Beth, Mike, Mum, Dad, it was properly lovely to see you there. Thanks to Eddie, Mrs Eddie et al, and to the fine chaps of Ghoad.

Until next time, UP THE ‘KIN IRONS

Dave “are you pimping me out?” Hurry

HI-ON PLYMOUTH - 25 & 26 February 2011

2011-03-04T16:48:00.000-08:00

Back at The Junction! Ever so slightly less than a year since our last visit, we return to our favourite venue in Plymouth. The journey began far too early for my liking. Train travel these days is becoming more and more extortionate, and in an effort to reduce costs (thereby ensuring everyone else gets that little bit more of a cut after expenses) I opted for the cheapest train. Which arrived in Plymouth about three hours earlier than necessary, and had me out of bed at 8:30am on a day off with one thought on my mind – "Who’s fucking idea was this?"

I met Nicko 'I, er, uh, um, errr' McBrain Jnr at Paddington just as the screens directed us to platform 8. My ticket said "Coach B, seat 82A". The seats in coach B ended at number 80. Well then. Junior quickly located two empty seats in the quiet coach and we parked our behinds. In all it was a slightly surreal journey. The sky slowly turned from bright clear azure to dismal grey as the rain started pelting down around us. The announcement that the coffee shop was open was accompanied by an over-zealous canine passenger, intent on broadcasting his thoughts on the matter to the rest of the train. I managed to reduce the residents of the quiet coach to fits of laughter by advising that they not eat the burgers. In hindsight, a quip about hot dogs would have been better. I believe the relevant internet term is 'lol'.

Normally, when en-route to a gig or just before I leave, I invariably receive a call from Adrian 'no glass, I’m from ‘Ull me' Swift. These calls nearly always start "Er, 'ave you left yet?" which is followed, nine times out of ten, by details of something that’s been left behind or news of some disaster that has befallen another member of the band. Examples of this are littered throughout the gig diaries – anything from a lack of spare guitar strings to Speed 'my entire life was in that car!' Harris' spectacular troubles getting to Plymouth last time. So I was not surprised to get a call when Junior and I were about an hour out of Paddington. He was just winding me up though – everything was a-OK and the lads had stopped for a wee while in Tamworth.

Pulling into Plymouth at 2:30pm, Junior and I immediately went in search of lunch. The lad needed to find a towel for those wet moments onstage, and I was looking out for a suitable grey shirt to match the clobber of my Maiden namesake. Nothing doing, unfortunately – the slightly-too-light granddad shirt would have to do for another gig or two. If anyone reading this has any leads on where Mr Murray gets his gear, give me a shout! Deciding to cut our losses, Nicko whipped out his iPhone and tried to find a route to the venue. After trying (and failing) to get our bearings, we jumped in the nearest cab! Unfortunately there was nobody in at the Junction. I suggested a pint (surprised?). Nicko spotted a friendly looking pub in the distance, so it was into The Fortescue for a pint of SA. This turned out to be the only pint I paid for all weekend!

We headed back to The Junction to find Chris, the proprietor, had arrived. After taking us through the various changes the venue had gone through in recent times, he sorted us both a drink (very kindly!) and we waited for the rest of the band to appear. We weren’t waiting long. While ensconced in my laptop and the quest for a shirt, I heard the dulcet tones of Bruce 'thunderknickers' Dugginson. The Selectadrive van of choice for the weekend had delivered the remaining members, so it was time to load in and make some noise.

The Junction, in my memory, had the smallest stage of 2010 for us. Ever so nice, then, to arrive at the venue and find that the stage has moved to the other side of the venue and become ever-so-slightly larger. I was delighted to discover that this meant that stage right puts me right by the bar.

C---chug-a-chug---D---chug-a-chug---E---chug-a-chug – "GUINNESS PLEASE!".

A very easy soundcheck followed, facilitated by Nathan the Sound Man’s handy mantra of "plug in, turn up, leave the front of house to me!". Chris had told me of some recent woes the venue had encountered with the P.A. system, which had been mitigated for this weekend by hiring certain bits of gear in. Everything sounded fantastic, both onstage and off, and so we ran through a few songs to check that everything from the rehearsals the weekend before had sunk in. We must say a big thank you to Darryl and Pat for once again coming down to take some video footage of our sound check. This proves to be a valuable aid to critiquing our sound and performance, and tweaking anything we feel is not up to scratch.

Video courtesy of Darryl 'Ross Halfinch' Stubbs

We ran off to the Travelodge to book in, and returned just in time for The Journeymen to take the stage. Swifty was on acoustic duty on Friday, leaving Saturday night up to me. The boys went down a storm – it was nice to watch this bit of the show and gauge crowd reaction, which was superlative.

Then in no time at all it was wig o’clock. Therein lay a problem – it seems that Hurry’s syrup had taken something of a waspy! My trusty blond locks now featured a (rather appropriate) bald spot on top! Time to buy a new wig I think. After a few un-PC 'Hurry on chemo' jokes, the intro tape was rolling. This is the first time for us using 'Satellite 15…' as an intro, and as a result none of us knew precisely when to start making our way to the stage. We ended up stood there like lemons for a good minute before having to come in on that first chord. Never mind!

We were bloody good. This was Steve 'don’t open the fridge!' Haggis’ first chance to show us what he’s got onstage, and he didn’t disappoint. Despite a couple of unable to hear the vocals difficulties due to the wobbly monitor system, we played a blinder. The 'Somewhere in Time' album part of the show went down a storm, and I remember particularly enjoying the harmony sections of 'The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner' and 'Déjà Vu'. The atmosphere from both the venue staff and the crowd had put us squarely in our comfort zones, and Eddie 'the new album is great!' the 'Ead put in a fine appearance much to the delight of the audience. Again, thanks go to Kelsey Fox, an up and coming Plymouth-based film-maker, for bringing along her camera to film the entire first night. It was also nice see our good friend Amy George in the front row, camera in hand, belting out the lyrics along with the fine Mr Dugginson!

Post-gig there was a good deal of merry-making and chatter with the punters. A good number of friendly faces from previous gigs here and throughout Devon and Cornwall had returned, and a splendid young chap by the name of Claude had come all the way from Luxembourg for this weekend – what a star! We piled in the van and headed back to the digs for some well deserved kip.

-------------------------------------------

Saturday morning (well, afternoon) came around in no time at all. Bruce 'crash test' Dugginson and Nicko 'every fist I can find' McBrain Jnr had opted to get their own room as the rest of us snore too loudly, disturbing them from their beauty sleep. Divas. Fully rested (and still a bit wired from the excellent night before) we took a wander into the town centre in search of some grub. A functional Wether-lunch was taken, and with Spook from the forums in tow we continued our exploration of the town. Steve 'Ann Summers? Now you’re talking!' Haggis took a tour of the charity shops looking for a replacement buckle for his guitar strap, but all I wanted was a cup of coffee. After a fair bit of wandering about we finally sat down for a coffee and a tasty treat. Then it was back to Mutley Plain in search of a pint. The kind proprietor of the Dog & Duck (over the road from The Junction) gave us a round on the house in praise of our performance the night before – very kind, thank you sir!

Adrian 'smells a bit like crab-paste...and Pedigree Chum' Swift took Junior and Duggers off to collect the van while 'Aggy, Spook and I wandered back to The Junction. A few more casual beverages were consumed and a few songs run through before retiring upstairs to get ready. It was my turn to wield the acoustic, and true to form Duggers and I pleased the crowd with our takes on Still Life, Blood Brothers et al (including, once again, our tribute to the late, great Ronnie James Dio).

We hit the stage just after 10:00pm with the classic 'Live After Death' opening four, and a couple of new ones before performing 'The Number of the Beast' album in it's entirety. This album is chock full of classics we play at near enough every gig, but the inclusion of 'Invaders' and 'Gangland' (as well as 'Total Eclipse', removed from the album at the last minute to the regret of the band) kept things fresh. Eddie 'tag team shit!' the 'Ead had dusted off his prong (ooh err!) and put in a spectacular performance during both The Number of the Beast and Iron Maiden. Again, the punters and the venue were absolutely fantastic. The atmosphere was positively electric – it's so easy to underestimate how much an audience brings to a performance, and far too easy to forget that it's an intrinsically symbiotic relationship. The gig flew by, and I think we all could have quite happily gone on much longer. Still, we must always leave them wanting more!

Video courtesy of Jess 'more cloudy cider please' Tilley

Leisurely packing the gear down with a few drinks after the show, we almost didn't want to leave. Duggers and I managed to get ourselves into a rather advanced state of refreshment, while 'Aggy and Junior (as well as the driving Mister Swift) stayed rather more sensible! After several hours of party and chatter we said our goodbyes and managed to kip down at around about 4:00 A.M.!

In the morning, with 'Aggy complaining that he felt hungover despite having barely touched a drop (old age, mate!) we came to life slowly, divvying up the readies and making our way to the van. Junior and I were dropped off at the train station (about an hour and a half before hour train!) and the rest of them started out on the long journey north. Four and ¾ hours of train later, we pulled into London and went our separate ways. I got home at about 6:00pm, still on an absolute high.

This crowd and this venue reminded us all of how much we love doing this. Thank you The Junction, and thank you to the fans!

Dave 'egg in the nest' Hurry.

HI-ON REHEARSAL……WAIT, WHAT? - 19 & 20 February 2011

2011-02-22T14:29:00.000-08:00

Well well well, boys and girls!

After a sensationally lazy year of not-really-writing-diaries-due-to-general-procrastination-and-disillusionment, Mr Hurry has pulled his socks up, pulled out the stops (and pulled on various other things to salacious to mention in these pages) and is back on the diary writing bandwagon. Or, should I say, tribute bandwagon.

I’m frequently not as witty as I think I am.

Apologies must go to faithful readers (if I had any) and to the rest of the band for the dismal lack of effort on my part last year. I fully intend to make up for it this year! The gig itinerary is looking healthy for 2011 with several special gigs in there already (those pre- and after-show parties are looking particularly tasty to me right now).

So, 2011 has arrived! The first order of business, as those of you who stalk us around the internet will no doubt already be aware, is to announce the temporary absence of one Mr Speed “I Love Frubes!” Harris. Our trusty stage-left-then-stage-right-then-stage-left-again whirlwind is taking a break from the tribute circuit to concentrate on his master’s degree, with which we wish him all the best of British luck. Our stand-in for the year is a veteran of the Scottish tribute scene, having played in Maiden Scotland (and having been in a Marillion tribute as well, much to Mr Hurry’s delight!). We welcome Steve “take my bare arse!” Haggis into the fold.

With a new member to break in and some album-themed gigs in the pipeline, it seemed opportune to have a rehearsal or two. Adrian “fancy a Mr Whippy?” Swift dutifully booked us two days in a rehearsal room in Leeds, which seems to be the most central location for us now (that’s right, we’ve really swapped a bass player in South Wales for one in Glasgow – things in Hi-On Maiden don’t really make all that much geographical sense these days!). After booking my travel I set about refreshing my memory of the songs that were coming up. Our next two gigs feature full album performances of Somewhere In Time and The Number Of The Beast respectively, and certain songs which we don’t regularly play needed a bit of topping up. Wrapping my fingers around songs like Déjà Vu and Invaders reminded me of just how much I love doing this.

And so it came to pass that on a cold February morning I was to meet our esteemed tubthumper Nicko “sex on toast” McBrain Jnr at Kings Cross. Far too early in the morning to reasonably function, we grunted a few incoherents at each other and headed for the platform. Doing some revision en route got us both suitably woken and geared up for the weekend, and in no time at all we’d pulled into Leeds and piled into Swifty’s motor. Mr Swift had managed to leave various near-vital pieces of kit at home (including his amplifier and Nicko’s cymbals), though luckily half of my amp was available and the rehearsal studios could provide splashy splashy bits of metal that go craassssssssssssssh in the night. Splendid.

We first clapped eyes on ‘Aggy (as he will now be known!) in a misty Travelodge car park. The intention had been to check into the room and then naff off to rehearse, but sadly there was no-one about to let us in so it was time to roll. We were already late (I’m still not entirely sure how that happened) and arrived at the rehearsal room to set up somewhere between 2 and 3.

It took us all a good few songs to warm up, but once we’d got going we were on form. ‘Aggy made it look easy, despite professing that his hands were seizing up on him at the beginning. We had all contributed to a list of songs that we felt we had to focus on, but much to our surprise we sailed through damn near all of them. I made plenty of mistakes (it seemed I had been a little over-confident in my memory of some of these songs!), but by and large it was all gelling together very well. At 6pm we downed tools and headed back to check in, before going out on the lovely town of Yeadon for a hearty Italian meal and a glass of soup or two. It was nice to have some time to get to know ‘Aggy, and to introduce him to our particular brand of idiocy!

The next morning, after a disappointing Morrison’s breakfast (I’m sure it was better last time, chaps!) and a brief trek to The Tarn for ice cream on a chilly winter’s morning, we were straight back in the room for more. After a short while we were joined by Bruce “not around long enough to say anything stupid enough for a nickname” Dugginson, who led us through belting renditions of everything on our “Songs To Worry About” list in record time. With an hour to spare, and having run out of songs we weren’t sure about, we packed down and headed off early (some earlier than others, eh?!).

After fond farewells, I was shipped back to Leeds station for my homeward journey (Junior had opted to stick around with Dugginson for the evening). I conked out on the train and woke up just in time to stagger back to Hurry Towers.

And there you have it. Firing on all cylinders for the Plymouth weekender, the Hi-On train keeps rolling.

Until next time,

Up the Irons!

Luv,
Dave “did I leave it in the pub?” Hurry

HI-ON NORWICH - 15 May 2010

2010-06-02T09:47:00.000-07:00

The triumphant tribute to Iron Maiden return to Norwich after a 2 year absence. Our last gig in this neck of the woods was at the Waterfront in February 2008 - a memorable gig, which I believe was our second of that year. We were supported that night by the acoustic stylings of a fine young local lass, and the guitarist from this group had in the meantime formed another band who were supporting us this time. Norwich - it's a small world!

As I set about packing my things, I wondered what would go wrong this time. More often than not on the morning of a gig, I'll get a phonecall from Adrian "he's only there to fill in the gaps between my guitar mastery!" Swift, informing me of some problem or another. The time ticked away, heading relentlessly towards my departure time. I thought I'd gotten away with it.

"Er, chap - have you left home yet?"

Our stage left genius / plonker (delete as appropriate!) had managed to leave both our Rockbags(tm) at home, which meant no easy sound-switching. The horror! Thankfully I had a spare at home. Mr Swift, on the other hand, wasn't quite so lucky. He'd have to use the sounds in his head (the head of his amp, that is!). I shot out the door with my glorified MIDI switcher (in ridiculously heavy flight case) in one hand and my bag in the other and headed for Stratford where I picked up a train to Norwich.

The day was sweltering; a beautiful, sunny Norfolk day. Navigating to the venue from the railway station was a slightly tricky task, as Google's walking map left a little to be desired - in fact it left out several turnings! Consequently I arrived a little later than intended at around 5:30pm. The King Edward VII is a tidy little venue, set back from the road on the leafy outskirts of Norwich town centre. I arrived to find Swifty and Bruce "wobble, wobble" Dugginson had arrived and Swifty had started setting up his gear. In quick succession both Nicko "she looks like me mum" McBrain Jnr and Speed "proper gayface" Harris turned up, the latter with his taller offspring in tow.

Arrival I...

II...

III: To the bar!

After setting up me gear and lamenting the state of my strings (ol' Swifty, who looks after the guitars at his castle in With'un'see, hadn't had the time to replace them as he'd hoped) I shimmied upstairs for a gander at the digs. I'd been told we were kipping at the venue, which can mean anything from "in sleeping bags onstage" to "in caravan out back" (both perfectly acceptable solutions). Not this time however - this time we were being put up in the B&B which had been handily dumped right above the venue! I took room 1, which was like having your own little dressing room. Feeling proper rockstar, I set about getting me gear ready to go onstage.

Wig, ready to pounce...

We ordered food, and Duggers and I plonked down for an Alan Partridge marathon. In no time at all, the support band hit the stage. As they'd borrowed some of our gear we couldn't get ready until they'd done. Once they had finished we set about getting our stuff ready then legged it upstairs to wig up. Doctor Doctor rolled, and the good ship Hi-On steamed onstage. The gig went well, despite my concerns - I didn't play particularly well at soundcheck, as I hadn't really prepared properly in the gap between gigs. No real problems were encountered, and the crowd (although a bit reserved at first) really got into it. All in all a successful performance, although it was a little weird to hear Mister Swift without his usual muscular tone.

After the show I retired upstairs with a pint of the black stuff to decompress. It was very nice to have a room to plonk down in after the gig - normally you're stood around for ages before a bed is anywhere near. i eventually wandered down for a chat with the punters (and another sneaky pint), and in no time at all it was the end of the night's serving. Bugger, thought I, but luckily the venue allowed us a last drink to take upstairs with us. I immediately ordered two and found a much better use for my in-room fridge than the milk and orange juice that previously occupied it!

What's in the fridge, Mister Hurry?..

...surprise, surprise!

The next morning we chucked all the gear in the van and headed off our separate ways. The Van of Quite-Alright-Really dropped me at Norwich station where I'd missed a train by a mere few minutes. This necessitated waiting around for a good hour and a half, which I decided to spend holed up in The Compleat Angler watching the grand prix. Oh, how terrible.

Until next time!

Dave "he's on his sixteenth Guinness by now" Hurry

HI-ON PLYMOUTH - March 26 2010

2010-05-30T11:49:00.001-07:00

This one didn't start well.

I had totally failed to book the day off work to get down to Plymouth, and the powers that be had decided to send my entire office on a 'team building day' in the city. The upshot of this was that I wouldn't be able to get away until 4:00pm to get down to Plymouth. Which is a bit of a long way on the train. Time was against me, but not quite as much as it would be against Speed 'my entire life was in that car' Harris. More of that later.

These 'team-building' exercises were being carried out largely in a basement underneath the Slug & Lettuce on Wardour Street. When I surfaced at lunchtime my mobile phone revealed a worrying number of missed calls from Adrian 'bit of a problem' Swift. Knowing something must have gone wrong (it always does in this band, somehow!), I frantically tried to call him back to no avail. In lieu of Swifty, I called Bruce 'fancy learning the bass?' Dugginson who would be sat next to Swifty in the Van of Wonder and Safe Arrival in Plymouth. Duggers informed me that Mister Harris' motor had decided to throw a wobbler about 40 minutes from home, and that it was unlikely that he would be able to get to Plymouth in time for the gig.

All the equipment was in the van, so it was a matter of finding a bass player just in case. I ran through the songs in my mind to see if I could find any black holes where I didn't know what the bass line was. Having played the part of all three Maiden guitarists (and, on one faithful night, stood in for the singer!), it seemed only right and proper that I should have a go. Thankfully the news soon reached me that Speed was on a bus headed for Swansea, where he would join a train for Brizzle and then another for Plymouth. The sight of Speed Harris on public transport is a rare thing indeed, and the image gave me some giggles for the rest of the day.

I was released from our team-building event (after a bit of haggling with the boss) a little early and found myself on the 4:00pm train out of London Paddington to Plymouth. Four and a half hours, and a few phone calls later, I arrived. A short walk to the venue saw me arrive just as all the gear had been set up - splendid! Eddie 'I hear you're having trouble' the 'Ead was in fine form at the bar as I walked into the venue, which was going to be a rather intimate affair.

The stage is about the size of a postage stamp, surrounded on all sides by a banister-like contraption. Even with myself, the drumkit, Swifty and Duggers on the stage there was no more room. Most of the night would be spent rooted to the spot! Not that this bothers me as I'm not really one for legging it about the stage (unless in spandex....it's just so freeing!).

After checking everything was working alright, we retired to the cellar which doubled as a dressing room. Nicko 'soul brother' McBrain Jnr entertained us with some rather amusing videos while we twiddled our thumbs and waited for the arrival of the bottom-end of the band (as it were!). During this time, Mr Dugginson and me went back upstairs to briefly entertain the crowd with our acoustic machinations. I had made the mistake of playing a Marillion riff in soundcheck, and one fellow prog fan in the audience was rather loudly requesting some more of this. Maybe next time!

Speed eventually arrived with the entire contents of his car in a rucksack. The poor bugger had been cooped up on a train like a battery hen, and didn't look too pleased. Unfortunately we didn't have time to lament, so we quickly wigged up and got ready to hit the stage. Against all odds we played brilliantly. Being restricted in movement has it's positives in terms of your actual musical performance, with no tripping over cables, or being thwacked in the face by errant bass guitar headstocks to worry about you become a little more focussed on the task at hand. The punters seemed to be having a whale of a time, though my thickening dark facial hair provided some amusement when framed by the light blonde wig!

After the show we ended up having a few beverages before packing down the gear and heading off to the Travelodge. Delighted to be back on the 'Manic Cushion', I had a splendid nights sleep. In the morning we were all dropped at the train station, with Mr Speed leaving first while Nicko and I waited patiently for our train back to London.

Thanks Plymouth! At time of writing we're going to be back visiting you for two nights in February 2011, and I for one can't wait. Thanks also to Eddie and Mrs Eddie, along with the friends they brought with them whose names have yet again escaped me!

Until next time...
Dave 'all the beer in the cellar....for me?' Hurry

HI-ON EUROPE - Eindhoven & Antwerp, 19/20 March 2010

2010-05-30T11:26:00.000-07:00

So here we were again! Off to Europe in that wonderful Van Where Nothing Works Except The Engine!

As is usual on these Euro trips the band were converging on Manic Towers. The van rolled up as I was enjoying a splash of wine, and the Speedmobile rolled up a short time later with Eddie in tow. I had stocked up on beer and pizza (the fuel of every band worth their salt) and we dug in while Speed 'it’s all about the sphincter control' Harris entertained us with all the stuff he finds on the internet and Spinal Tap's mighty composition 'Saucy Jack', which was to become the theme tune of the weekend.

Despite needing to get away early in the morning, we still managed to sit up til silly o’clock. I remember Unencyclopedia causing a fair few fits of laughter as we went through the articles on our various locales before coming across the Iron Maiden article. "If the fucking roadies can’t give me a realistic 200-foot manger, then I can’t stand on stage and sing for a little while!" An instant classic, and a line worthy of our splendid frontman Bruce 'basting yourself in your own juice' Dugginson.

Departure from Manic Towers...

Breakfast P&O style...

Up and out in the morning, and fuelled by coffee, we rolled forward for a rare on-time arrival in the port of Dover. This leg of the last trip had featured some utterly appalling accidents in the botty department from one Speed Harris. The air turned brown, faces turned green and the dead of Kent turned in their graves. Thankfully all was quite from that thunderous anus, and for the first time in recent years we actually made it onto the ferry we’d booked. Reeling from the shock of this we joined the queue for P&O's huge, ludicrously expensive, full English breakfast. Adrian 'clotted cream disaster' Swift and I wandered off for a well deserved pint since Speed had agreed to do the driving on the other side of the channel. Top man!

Ten minutes later we arrived in Eindhoven.

The Rambler is a fine looking venue on the corner of the high street opposite Eindhoven railway station. Typical, I thought to myself – my journey to a gig often involves a long train ride and a long walk – this would have been a (very) long train ride but hardly any walk at all! While Nicko “Stumpy Joe” McBrain Jnr and Speed loitered at the front of the venue for a while, the rest of us sauntered over the road for a sneaky stein of ale. Yours truly is not a lager drinker, but on the continent somehow the beer tastes purer. It’s a good job too, as we were there for quite some time waiting for signs of life at the venue. We were three or four pints to the good by the time we saw movement over the road.

The "moody life on the road" shot

Arrival in Eindhoven I...

II: Post-arrival tab time...

III: Post-arrival beer time

After loading in and soundchecking, it appeared there were some problems with the power stage left. This could have made for an interesting night for Mr Swift, whose bells and whistles would reset every time the power fluctuated! Thankfully this was speedily resolved, although we were then informed of a 11:00pm curfew. 11:00pm! The support band didn’t finish soundchecking until 9:30pm, so this curfew was immediately discredited. Said support band, 'Bulldozer Breed', were quite something. Somewhere between Manowar and L. Ron Hubbard.

After the support band were done we came downstairs to find that a horde of friends from Nijmegen had made the journey to come and see us!!! We were all utterly over the moon to see all our pals from Rockcafé Backstage, and we instantly knew this show was going to be a killer.

Onstage at last, the tiredness got the better of me on a couple of occasions (fingers not responding to solo requests, feet not hitting the right pedals etc.) but by and large we played a blinder. The folks from Nijmegen got right up the front and really gave us some much needed energy, which was amazing – it simply wouldn't have been the same without them. Despite my best efforts at saving his life, Eddie 'sorry lads, I’ve got to do a runner' the 'Ead went after Sooty with his knife once again. Poor sod.

2 Minutes to Midnight - Live at The Rambler, Eindhoven

We were very kindly kept in booze by the venue for the evening, and it wasn't until 4:00am that the Jägermeister came out. Hic. There was some other concoction, the name of which has been stolen away from my memory, but whatever it was it wasn't good! We eventually set off for the hotel with our friend Melvin in hot pursuit. Melvin has a tendency to catch up with our Mr Swift on these European trips and causes all sorts of trouble. Thankfully he was left somewhere over the border and we arrived at the hotel intact. There was some argument over who got to sleep with the snorers (Eddie and myself), and I seem to recall there was already someone in one of the rooms we were allocated. Hilarious. I coughed up some funds which allowed us to stay in the hotel until much later than checkout time, which allowed us some precious hours of sleep not usually afforded to us on these trips.

The next morning/afternoon Eddie, Duggers and I went for a walk around to see what we could see. After enjoying a sophisticated luncheon of omelettes and wine it was time to ensure everyone else was fit and ready to naff off. Which of course they weren't! The rest of the lads grabbed a sophisticated luncheon of their own before we took the uneventful journey to Antwerp.

After lunch...

We arrived at De Rots Rock Concern just as a bit of a bar-room brawl was reaching it's conclusion. After humping in the gear (shuffling around the melee and avoiding errant trams as best we could), I buggered off with Swifty and Duggers to find somewhere to park the van. In a dazzling display of intelligence and orienteering, we got spectacularly lost on the way back. It should have been simple, as we only took about two turns out of the venue! On the plus side we did get to see a bit of Antwerp, which is a fine mixture of narrow cobbled streets, main roads and the odd square. The boys nearly lost me as I spied an Irish bar on the other side of one particular square, but I was reigned back in rather sharpish as time was not on our side. All roads lead to the gig, and around a few more corners we found ourselves back at the venue.

Eddie wants more metal...

A big church...

A big statue (thanks to Duggers for perspective...!)

After setting up our gear, we were informed that the curfew here was 10:00pm - a whole hour earlier than the poorly observed restrictions in Eindhoven. This curfew was set in stone, however, so as soon as a tasty dinner of Rice And Stuff had been consumed the support band, Pitched Black, blasted onstage at 7:30pm. Finishing up just after 8:00pm with a rendition of 'Anarchy in the U.K.' (especially for us!), the poor buggers were constantly heckled by one of the brawlers from earlier with shouts of "666!". He'd soon get his wish, and as soon as the stage was clear we wigged up and rolled the intro tape at 8:30pm. We kicked Belgian botty, let me tell you - the crowd really gave us a warm reception and we all played our socks off. Oftentimes on these Europe trips, we don't get a lot of sleep so even by the second gig we can be physically exhausted. Having had a fairly good night's sleep between gigs, this time we were rested up and firing on all cylinders. It rocked.

The venue had provided us with a number of drinks tokens, which were quickly decimated after the gig. We were sleeping upstairs in the hostel above the venue, so the gear got packed down but left onstage in favour of a spot of drinking. I started in on the rum and managed to clean the venue out of Havana Club. A heroic effort, I felt! By the time I moved on to the vodka, only Swifty and Eddie were left standing with me. There may have been some Jäger. There may have been some sausage. There was most definitely some more Sooty abuse. The poor thing is going to need counseling soon. I don't remember going to bed, but I certainly woke up in one.

Sooty goes in for "The Finisher"...

Hanibal Swift & Groucho the 'Ead

The next morning, I led a rather groggy Mr Swift out in search of the van. It's a good job he didn't venture out on his own, he would have gone completely the wrong way down the river! Either that or he would have disappeared into the Marmite Cafe, never to be seen again...

I rode shotgun all the way to Calais, earphones buried in my ears enjoying some Pink Floyd to accompany the rather boring visages of the motorway. Border control at Calais was a complete farce. Our passports were checked no less than four times by four different operatives. I don't know whose passport mugshot looks a bit shady. Messrs Harris and McBrain both look decidedly grumpy, while Duggers is grinning like a loon and the rest of us look decidedly normal. Who knows, but we were all decidedly hacked off by it all by the time we managed to get in the queue for our boat. In no time at all we rolled up outside Manic Towers, where it transpired that Nicko Jnr. had tried to have me sleeping bag away! Cheeky c*nt.

Swifty's new home

Almost home...

Here endeth another story. Thanks to both venues for their kind hospitality, we hope to see you again soon! Extra special amazing thanks to all the folk who made the trip from Nijmegen to see us - words can't express how much it meant to see you all there. I hope it didn't take too long for Carola to recover from filing her Chunder Report!

Until next time...
Dave 'leave Sooty alone!' Hurry

HI-ON RIFFS - 13 March 2010

2010-03-18T13:08:00.000-07:00

The first Hi-On Maiden gig of 2010 was the rescheduled and long-awaited return to Riff's Bar in sunny Greatfield / Wooton Bassett / Swindon (one of those, I'm not sure which). The previous visit to this venue had featured one Simon "Sausage Monthly" Bradley in the place of your humble narrator, who was gigging elsewhere that fateful Thursday night prior to a trip to Nijmegen. By all accounts a splendid time was had, despite a late arrival by Ed Farce One. Hopefully everyone would be a bit more timely this week!

My journey to this gig was via another gig (with the superlative Lee Abraham Band), so no tales of road and rails to be had in this entry folks. I simply sat on the bench outside the venue, scoffed a sarnie and waited for Selectadrive's Selected Drive of the Week to arrive bearing a bandmate or two. I was not disappointed; not twenty minutes later came the familiar sight of orange text on grey van. Adrian "I'm glad I'm a bastard" Swift had been flying solo this week as the other half of Hi-On's Yorkshire contingent had been gigging 'dahn saaf' the night before. Thankfully cabin fever didn't appear to have troubled him too much. Mr Swift had spent the last ten weeks in the good ol US of A, and was looking half refreshed and half jet-lagged. We were let into the venue by the kind proprietor Andy and sat about waiting for the rest of the band. A short while later the cavalry arrived in the form of Bruce "waiter! There's a fly in me blancmange!" Dugginson, who had hitched a ride with young master McBrain and family. After fondly greeting each other, we unloaded the van.

Mister Swift on the pink piano:

Nicko "do you ever have to get your wang going before you have a pee?" McBrain Jnr started setting up his kit, while Duggers and I retired to the back room to run through our acoustic set. You may recall that in Nijmegen last year Mr Dugginson and I opened each night's entertainment with a short set of acoustic numbers featuring Maiden tracks and Bruce Dickinson solo tunes. In light of the coming trip to Eindhoven and Antwerp, Duggers thought it would be a jolly idea to resurrect this tradition and give it a bit of a trial run on the British crowd at the same time. This week's choices were Still Life, Tears of the Dragon, Journeyman and Children of the Damned (Bruce's Jerusalem was also rehearsed but dropped for time). While we were rehearsing, we heard the familiar voice of one Speed "half man, half biscuit" Harris who had just arrived with his lovely wife in tow. It's been four months since we all got together, and it really was like a family reunion. Well, a family reunion without all the drama of Aunt Betty snubbing Aunt Mavis in 1963. Something like that.

Swifty had very kindly done a bit of sound manipulation on my set up, and we had a further play about with lead delay while we soundchecked. Apart from an abortive attempt at Seventh Son (which fell apart when we got to the middle and Speed, Nicko and myself realised we couldn't remember how it went!), the soundcheck songs were tight as a button and put a huge grin on my face. Sometimes you have to be away from something musical for a long time before you remember just how much you love it. If we could gig every weekend, I'd be ever so happy. We could really do without another certain Iron Maiden tribute band (who shall remain nameless, in order that I may preserve the higher moral ground) nicking our gigs in places like Camberley, Wales, India....etc. Still, bygones are bygones, and contracts remain out. As far as I'm concerned (and as far as the fans I talk to are concerned) venues who get them instead of us are being cheated out of the better band. Fuck 'em.

My rig, I missed it:

After soundcheck I retired upstairs for a bit of a lie-down. An early morning and an afternoon gig (and a spot of afternoon drinkies, if truth be told) had left me in need of a bit of a recharge. In no time at all it was ready to go and rock, but first the acoustic set. This went down extremely well; if I'm honest, it went down a lot better than I expected. You really have to play the crowd by ear on things like this - if the venue had been full of bikers (as it so nearly was, given our proximity to Wooton Bassett and the ride taking place there the next day), it may not have gone down so well! However Duggers (being the masterful frontman that he is) had the punters singing along and engaged in the whole show. Feeling very accomplished we left the stage to wig up.

The intro tape rolled, and we were off. I had a bit of a mare with tuning as my new strings were not quite broken in, but by and large we all played a blinder. Speed in particular was very much on the ball this gig, going at the songs like a man possessed - he must have missed it as much as I did. A couple of potential trainwrecks went off with complete success - there's always the danger after a long break that something like Rime of the Ancient Mariner or Infinite Dreams with their slightly unusual structures might throw us off course. Both went smoothly and apart from a dodgy cable on stage left, the gig was unblemished. The punters had an absolute blast - you know it's a good one when the soundman leaves his desk to be at the front of the crowd!!! Highlights for me were Infinite Dreams (which I think we played better than we ever have before), and Hallowed Be Thy Name. It was simply magnificent to be harmonising with Swifty, playing the crowd with Speed and Duggers and locking in with young McBrain on the tubs once more. Absolutely fantastic to be back.

Duggers learns to spell...:

After the gig I packed me gear down and enjoyed a pint or two. Swifty, Duggers and myself had been umming and erring over whether we would take Riffs up on their kind offer of kipping in the caravan out back. Mr Dugginson as ever was keen to get home without losing too much of his Sunday, whereas Mr Swift was very keen on staying and getting absolutely blotto. Happily the lure of the ale got to Duggers and we ended up sat at the bar until at least 3 in the morning. Of particular enjoyment were the pork scratchings and the singing lessons which Duggers and Speed were giving out. Some very kind words were said by audience members as they departed, and we all had the strong sesne of a job well done. Eventually we crawled to our beds, awakening in the morning to an absolutely splendid and generous breakfast from the wonderful owners. Thank you kindly!

On to the next one!

Yours truly,
Dave "salad spew!" Hurry

Lee Abraham and Band - Winter's End Progressive Rock Festival, Stroud - 13 March 2010

2010-03-17T05:36:00.000-07:00

The big day for one Mr Lee Abraham had finally arrived. Since September there had been five rehearsals to cover all the material from Lee's third solo album "Black & White". Written and recorded at Lee's Hampshire home, the album had not really been intended for live performance. However, after some gentle arm-twisting from friends he put a little band together to see if it would work, and by golly-prog it did. The first rehearsal flew beautifully, and they just kept getting better. Two gigs went in the book, and by the penultimate rehearsal we had eschewed the backing track (which until then had provided some extra keys, rhythm guitars and sound effects). The final rehearsal saw a complete (and more-or-less seamless) run-through of the entire album. We were ready to remove the stabilisers and ride off into the heart of the sun.

My own journey into the annals of prog history began at 7am on Saturday 13 March 2010. I'd had a cup of coffee, a shower and a magnificent dump; the wonders of which I contemplated as I left the sleeping inhabitants of Manic Towers behind. The first train of the day, taking me from Dartford to London, was a quiet affair. The smell of stale lager was prevalent in the carriage and it's source - the quite possibly deceased hobo in the corner seat by the carzy - was no great surprise. I did so enjoy the fact that he was slumped under a Kent County Council tourism advertisement which read "BEER - it's inspired some of Kent's greatest architecture". Perfect.

Turning my thoughts to the best way to get to Paddington station, I got off at London Bridge and completely forgot about Jubilee line closures. Cocknobs, thought I. Still, onwards and upwards. Or downwards, as it was. Onto the Northern Line to Moorgate and then the pink one all the way to Paddington. Lines were closed, stations were closed, a fire alarm at Kings Cross had shut that down - I had an eerie sense of foreboding about the journey. However my fears were allayed as I emerged triumphant at Paddington and immediately went in search of breakfast, which was a quite frankly disappointing Upper Crust breakfast baguette type thing. I would have given my arm for a Subway at that point.

The journey to Swindon was fairly uneventful, apart from the fact that I had been booked into a 'Priority' seat. I am neither elderly or disabled (well, at least not physically) - perhaps they knew I was about to become prog rock's hottest guitar commodity. Perhaps they knew I was a fat bastard who needed the extra space. Who knows. At any rate, arrival into Swindon took place on time. I would be here again later in the day on the way to my second gig of the day (with Hi-On Maiden), and as I queued for the next cup of coffee I noticed that Swindon had an aroma all of it's own. This I eventually attributed to the old lady in the queue behind me - there was the distinct air of "Granny's perfume" about her.

Arrival in Stroud I...

II

Half an hour of steel rail away was the lovely town of Stroud. I have sped past this place many times on this line, and like so much of Gloucestershire it don't half look pretty on a sunny day. I ambled through the town towards the venue, where I found young master Abraham resolutely ensconced in his Nintendo thingamiwotsit. The lovely Mrs A soon appeared to inform me that the rest of the lads were having a spot of trouble finding parking spaces. Saturday morning in a small town! Once that mission had been accomplished and the band were all present and correct, it was time to get the backline onstage and soundcheck. Poor Rob had the worst job of this - there really is no mercy on keyboard players in prog, with so much to set up. In future we'll have to hatch a plan to make it a bit easier. Mine was very easy; plug in, turn up, play. To begin with I was way too quiet onstage. I dialled the Line 6 up a notch, and all of a sudden I was louder than the PA. Bostin'!

Setting up I: Rob & Lee...

II: Filkie...

III: Mully

After soundcheck we watched the opening band Eliza Tale check out their sound (which, inevitably, seemed to change ours quite a bit!). The festival was ready to open, and after a short intro from an impromptu compere the proceedings began. Eliza Tale opened with a set of prog-pop; a hint of Blue Öyster Cult and a dash of Star Trek (!) thrown in for good measure. After their set, it was time for the Lee Abraham Band to get ready. Outfits of black and white were donned, and Mully set up the festival kit as best he could to meet his requirements (used to his normal mammoth kit, the Professor would be altering fills on the fly to fit the house drum kit). Lee had brought the intro tape along, but it turned out the venue had no facility to play it. Bugger. Straight in on the big riff then! Rob and I did contemplate fiddling about with some atmospherics to open the show, but this would have sounded a bit unfocussed. As it turned out, punching the crowd in the face with a big fat B5 has quite an effect!

The view from the crowd:

We stormed the stage with opener "Face The Crowd" (or "Face The Stroud"....oh, how witty I am!). A few chords in, I suddenly realised my hands were shaking. This is a bit of a problem when you're playing, though I'm fairly sure it was just the adrenaline. The tune went off without a hitch to thunderous applause from a packed house. What a reception! On to "The Mirror", where I completely forgot the words to the final verse of the first section and mumbled my way through it. That must have sounded coherent! Still, the point got across and one of Lee's most atmospheric and heavy beasts roared towards it's conclusion with Rob chocking out his best solo yet and myself following it up with my own personal best solo attempt to date on that song. "Celebrity Status" went down a storm, and it was time to attack the epics. "Black" was once again a polished masterpiece, and that John Mitchell solo towards the end was a personal high for me with a rapturous reception from the crowd at it's conclusion. I was on cloud nine! "White" is the only real challenge remaining to us, with the "Choir of Thornes" section proving a little flat in a live setting. However I think we pulled it off (despite almost falling over at the start with that tricky rhythm). A great crowd and a fantastic performance. I'm so proud of Lee and the rest of the guys - all of whom are a joy to perform with. As I was packing the gear down after our set I noticed a crowd of folk around the table where Lee's albums were for sale, and felt a hint of pride that I had something to do with all this. Lee later told me that he'd been offered two more gigs as soon as he came off-stage, and I had some very nice comments myself from a warm and appreciative audience. I don't know how the rest of the boys felt about this, but I think we upped our game quite a bit onstage - we played better than ever. Needless to say as soon as I was able to I headed straight to the bar!

Rob had kindly offered me a lift back to Swindon, which I took him up on. After helping Mully and Rob down the stairs with their gear, I said my goodbyes and hopped in the motor. A road closure led to an amusing diversion up and down some rather steep hills, and also took us through Cirencester ("twinned with Itzahoe" !) but we prevailed and in no time at all I had arrived at my next gig.

Black & White was a total pleasure to rehearse and perform. The stuff is solid - in the car on the way back, Rob and I both agreed that this is one of the only musical projects either of us have been involved in where we're not bored of the material after listening to it over and over during the learning and rehearsal process. A fine bunch of musicians and an even finer bunch of people make the undertaking that much more pleasant, and I should take the time to mention them all in turn.

Sean Filkins (vocals, guitar) - a charismatic frontman with a classic prog voice and the sense of humour you can only ever find in vocalists! An absolute joy to share the stage with.

Rob Arnold (keyboards, vocals) - this guy just exudes musicianship. His great ear, smashing voice and some spectacular tinkling of the ivories really brought out the best in Lee's tunes. Special thanks should also go to Rob for keeping us all in Jelly Beans throughout the project.

Gerald "Mully" Mulligan (drums & percussion) - Professor Mullington! I can't really say enough good things about Mully's playing. Technically superb, I've never met a drummer who cares so much about the sound of each individual piece of his kit. You couldn't ask for a more solid backbone to the band. Losing the backing track (along with the click) two rehearsals before the gig and having to adapt his playing to fit the festival kit didn't seem to faze him at all. Easily one of the most gifted drummers I've ever had the pleasure of being in a group with.

Lee Abraham (bass, vocals) - the mastermind of the project, Lee was just as much a pleasure to jam with. I have known Lee for a number of years and from the first session in the studio just prior to the first rehearsal, I wondered "Why the hell haven't we done this before?!". Thanks go to Lee for the opportunity to play in his band.

In short, I absolutely loved the whole project and can't wait to gig it again!

Luv,
Chrissy H

Top Ten Albums of 2009

2009-12-30T12:46:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy year.

I've joined two groups, formed one, continued playing with Hi-On Maiden, been on a lot of trains and played a lot of gigs. Somewhere in there I found the time to listen to some music. Fortunately, some of my favourite groups have been busy this year as well. I thought the 'Top Ten Albums of 2009' would write itself, but there were quite a few surprises this year. 2008 was a bit of a struggle, and the bottom few albums on the list made it there by virtue of being the strongest of a poor bunch. This year, I could have done a top twenty! I'll get to the 'honourable mentions' that didn't make it later. First, here comes the countdown...

Click here for a Spotify playlist featuring three tracks from each top ten album currently featured on their free streaming music service.

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10: Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown

It's been five years since American Idiot came out. That album tapped into the global malaise that seemed to take hold in the early part of this decade, and in doing so it gave Green Day a sorely needed second wind. More than that - it exploded. So how do you follow that?

21st Century Breakdown is, to me, the logical next step. Rather than simply dole out American Idiot II, they cranked the bombast-o-meter and went a little bit further. A brave move, but it paid off. This album is chock full of classic Green Day riffs which, if a little predictable, certainly don't disappoint. Another slightly vague concept, and like it's predecessor runs a little bit too long to successfully make it's point. That said, it's a highly satisfying listen.

H Tunes: 21st Century Breakdown, Before The Lobotomy, Peacemaker

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9: Emmy The Great - First Love

The first of two Latitude Festival discoveries in this list, Emmy The Great is a folk-ish singer-songwriter type young lady. First Love is her debut album and, as the title might suggest, it is full of touching naivety and youthful musings. While her lyrics look wonderfully biting in the insert, sometimes they come off sounding a bit clunky with extra syllables scattered across rhythms which can't quite contain them. That aside, this album is packed with promise for the future. There is a great honesty to the sound of this album, with no frills and not much in the way of studio trickery. This and the well-constructed (but not perhaps entirely unique) eclectic songs save the record from potential obscurity. I thoroughly enjoy this and recommend it to any of my friends with folky leanings.

H Tunes: Absentee, We Almost Had A Baby, First Love

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8: The Mars Volta - Octahedron

I typically give bands two albums good grace if they start to lose my affections. After last year's The Bedlam In Goliath which was utterly, insanely brutal, I must admit I had fallen off the Martian bandwagon. I like their first, I love their second (Frances The Mute - my ultimate Sunday afternoon record). Their third left me a little cold and the fourth, while it was in my top ten last year, marked the end of my TMV love affair. I didn't want more of the same, which seemed to be where they were heading.

Then I heard "Since We've Been Wrong". Turns out I was wrong as well.

Dubbed by the band as "our acoustic album", Octahedron shows much more of the tenderness that sometimes shines through the madness of Rodriguez-Lopez's sound world. By no means is this album unplugged; there are some crushing moments on it. "Desperate Graves" and "Cotopaxi" both have the urgency and sonic turmoil still very much intact. But compared to the last album, this one is painted much more softly with the noisy brush. There's some positively Floyd-ian moments, but Cedric's lyrics soon remind you who you're listening to. All in all this is an absolute belter, and comes highly recommended to anyone who has ears.

H Tunes: Since We've Been Wrong, With Twilight As My Guide, Desperate Graves

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7: Eels - Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire

It's been four years since Blinking Lights and Other Revelations came out. That album had some moments that I absolutely adore, but it's astonishing length and number of songs made it a little bit hit-or-miss. E (aka Mark Oliver Everett, son of physicist Hugh Everett III - look him up) is responsible for penning two of my favourite albums. Electro-Shock Blues is the most haunting collection of songs I've ever heard, dealing with more loss than anyone should ever have to deal with. It's follow-up, the much more light-hearted Daisies of the Galaxy is a wonderful record that has inspired me in a lot of my song-writing and instrumentation choices. So even though Blinking Lights... had it's flaws, I give E the benefit of the doubt every time.

Hombre Lobo is stonking. I had a brief conversation with a pal of mine who hit the nail on the head about why this album is so striking. "It described exactly how I was feeling at the time" said he. "How was that?", I asked innocently.

"Horny."

This record is, essentially, about wanting to get your end away and all the emotion and primal urgency that goes with it. There's some tremendously loud rock songs on this, but the tender side of things is also explored. For example, "The Look You Give That Guy" is a great little tune about jealousy and unrequited love. Following it is "Lilac Breeze", and I quote:

Birds do it, bees do it, I wanna do it
The only thing we need to do is get down to it

Quite.

H Tunes: Tremendous Dynamite, The Longing, My Timing Is Off

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6: Lee Abraham - Black & White

This year my pal Lee put out his third solo effort. It's possibly a little bit cheeky of me to put this album on this list, given that I know the artist and will be part of the band playing this material live! However, it wouldn't be here if I didn't think it was any good. But it is. Oh, but it is!

He's really done it this time. While his last album View From The Bridge was very good indeed, the feedback from fans led Lee to laying out some cash and building himself a pro studio in a specially built out-building in the garden. Otherwise known as a shed! In production terms, he really knocked it out of the park this time. This album sounds stunning, with Lee calling in favours from all the stars of the British progressive rock underworld to brilliant effect. There are great vocal performances from Sean Filkins (ex-Big, Big Train), Simon Godfrey (Tinyfish), Gary Chandler (Jadis) and Steve Thorne (legend!). There are absolutely perfect guitar solos from John Mitchell (Arena, Frost*, It Bites) and a superb synth solo on "The Mirror" from Jem Godfrey (Frost*). A fantastic sounding and unbelievably perfect drum performance from Gerald Mulligan. I've probably forgotten someone. I can't spaff over this one enough. It really is very good.

The centrepiece(s) of the album are the two epic title tracks, "Black" (featuring an emotion-fuelled performance from Filky) and "White" (featuring a choir of Steve Thorne!). Equally stunning are the songs that precede them, with "Face The Crowd" being heavier than a really heavy thing and "The Mirror" (the stand-out track for me) creeping along to it's menacing conclusion. I can't wait to unleash this live. With prog-fests in the pipeline and reviews in industry magazines, the future is shaping up to be quite exciting for Mr A.

(Unfortunately this is unavailable on Spotify - check the website for a sampler:http://www.leeabraham.co.uk/)

H Tunes: The Mirror, Black, White

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5: The Duckworth-Lewis Method - The Duckworth-Lewis Method

Why has no-one done this before? A new genre has been born, ladies and gentlemen, and it's name?

Cricket pop.

Comprising of Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy) and Thomas Walsh (Pugwash), this album manages to be hysterically funny yet oddly nostalgic in it's adoration of the quintessential Britishness of cricket. This was another act I witnessed at the Latitude Festival out in Suffolk during the summer, and it was an utterly joyous occasion. Resplendent in their cricket whites, the band hit the stage and I don't think many in the audience stopped laughing for the entirety of their set. Despite the humour and the potential for making a throwaway novelty concept album, the songs are remarkably good. Not that one should be surprised, given the duo who wrote them. Despite that, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this album and I recommend it to anyone who a) likes a good pop song, b) likes cricket or c) wants to have a bit of a laugh.

H Tunes: Gentlemen and Players, Jiggery Pokery, Meeting Mr. Miandad

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4: Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings

I'm a bit of a fanboy, so please forgive me.

This album is very much Dream Theater-by-numbers, and while there are certainly a few moments I could live without, Dream Theater-by-numbers is good enough for me. Despite the fact that they really need someone to write their lyrics for them (or ask John Myung to have another crack at them), the songs here stand up well against the rest of their catalogue. "A Nightmare to Remember" is particularly pleasing to my ears, even more so upon seeing them live and watching Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth do the Cookie Monster section with them. That was awesome. Also good is the album's short song, "Wither", is a fairly tender yet rousing baritone guitar tune. I don't really enjoy the 12-step epic "The Shattered Fortress" - it's a bit of a laboured monstrosity though it does work well with it's preceding chapters. "The Best Of Times" simply doesn't do it for me, but they really got the long-form writing right with "The Count Of Tuscany". Again, though, the lyrics are utterly terrible! Sort it out boys.

A nice extra with this record was the inclusion of the album in instrumental form, without vocals or solos. I've had a bit of fun with that! A third disc contained six cover versions, with the band chocking out tunes from Queen, Iron Maiden and King Crimson among others. The Queen cover is particularly good.

H Tunes: Wither, The Count Of Tuscany, Tenement Funster / Flick of the Wrist / Lily of the Valley (Queen cover)

-------------------------------------------------

3: Devin Townsend Project - Ki / Addicted

Another slightly cheeky entry, two albums from the same artist in the same slot. I simply couldn't choose.

Mr Townsend, having given up drugs and booze, originally planned to release four albums this year under the moniker "The Devin Townsend Project". Each album to include different personnel and a different approach. He didn't quite make it, only managing two before 2009 reached it's conclusion.

Ki was the first, and is sonically a bit of a departure for Devin. Taking a 'tension and release' approach to the songs, he's created a very pleasing sonic world. A lot of down-tuned guitars but no real distortion or heavy crunch to be heard (except for in a couple of well-chosen places). Devin employed a Vancouver jazz drummer by the name of Duris Maxwell to thump the tubs on the album, and the light touch really accentuates the ambient nature of this music. It's a great listen. The wall-of-sound attack so common in Townsend's music has been replaced with something much more restrained. Another selling point is second-to-last track "Quiet Riot", which is essentially an acoustic version of Slade's "Cum On Feel the Noize" with a lyrical rewrite.

Addicted has only just appeared, but kicks all sorts of bottom. Described by Devy as "melodic" and "danceable", it's a collection of blisteringly heavy songs with pop-like accessible structures. Female vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen (ex-The Gathering) adds another layer to the music, with some fantastic interplay between her and Devin's voices. And helpfully every song has an exclamation mark after it. Brilliant. ! Unfortunately Addicted is unavailable on Spotify and as such isn't on me playlist.

Can't wait to hear what's next.

H Tunes: Coast, Terminal, Quiet Riot (Ki) / Addicted!, Universe in a Ball!, Ih-Ah! (Addicted)

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2: Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions

A lot of my friends disliked Biffy's last album Puzzle. I'm not entirely sure why - I thought it was very good myself! If I ever make an album half as good as that one, I'll be happy. Yes, the meandering angular song structures that made Infinity Land so dense and compelling were gone. The songs that were left, though, were stellar and inventive in their own ways. Interestingly, those same friends who disliked Puzzle seem over-the-moon about Only Revolutions, which is interesting.

I really do like this album quite a lot. From start to finish it is an engaging listen, with riffs as big as your house and some thoroughly complementary string and horn arrangements. However, the comparisons between this album and Puzzle are striking. Almost every song on this album feels like an expansion of a song from the last record. "That Golden Rule" has more than slight echoes of "Living Is A Problem...", and "God & Satan" might as well have been called "Machines, Part 2". "Bubbles" very much typifies the approach to songwriting that makes Biffy so appealing to me, combining simple song structure with the more progressive long-form style - i.e. verse, chorus, verse, chorus, now let's go off on a tangent until the end. That track in particular stands out, with some great guitar acrobatics from Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age). "Whorses" rounds things off with a wonderful rallying call. Good stuff boys.

H Tunes: That Golden Rule, Bubbles, Whorses

-------------------------------------------------

1: Porcupine Tree - The Incident

I don't quite know where to start with this one. Steven Wilson is a bit of a hero of mine, creating the sort of music that I would dearly love to get paid for. In the past decade, Porcupine Tree haven't really put a foot wrong. Lightbulb Sun, In Absentia, Deadwing and Fear of a Blank Planet were all rather good, and all seemed progressively heavier and darker. I must admit to expecting the next record to be their heaviest to date. What we got was something a bit special.

The Incident is a sprawling masterpiece on two CDs. The first CD is a 14-part "song cycle'" detailing the day-to-day horrors that are coldly referred to in media and signage as "incidents", which Wilson rightly points out "is a very detached word for something so destructive and traumatic for the people involved." There are some typically heavy moments on this album but the music is infused with much more of the lighter side of the Porcupine Tree soundworld. The acoustic guitars and piano that permeated Lightbulb Sun and Stupid Dream have been brought back into the fold, adding colour to the bleakness evoked by the lyrics and electronic wizardry. The second CD contains four equally excellent songs which stand apart from the concept.

This album is perfect.

H Tunes: Time Flies, The Seance, Remember Me Lover

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Honourable Mentions (aka "Close, but no cigar!")

In no particular order, here are the other albums that very nearly wound up in the list above but didn't quite cut it.

Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
Broken Records - Until The Earth Begins To Part
Jay Foreman - 20 Songs
Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers
Marmaduke Duke - Duke Pandemonium
Marillion - Less Is More
OSI - Blood
Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
Transatlantic - The Whirlwind

-------------------------------------------------

Things I Was On

Every Other Ones - EP1 (recorded but not released yet!)

I formed this band with my pal David Sharpe in the summer, and since then we've written a dozen tunes and look forward to recording an album next year. Acoustic guitars, vocals, ukulele, piano, all manner of other things in the pipeline. The most fun I've ever had without an amplifier.

Thea Ford - Monkey To The West

I joined up with this young lady as guitarist in May this year. I contribute a guitar solo to "Cat & Mouse", piano and acoustic guitar on "So Long" and acoustic guitar on "Hold You Together".

-------------------------------------------------

And there you have it. Roll on 2010!

Yours with love,

Chrissy H

EVERY OTHER ONES: Recording "EP1" at Delta Studios - 28/29 November 2009

2009-12-29T10:02:00.000-08:00

Every Other Ones recently hit Delta Studios in Chartham, Kent to lay down tracks for their debut E.P., tentatively titled "EP1" (imaginative or what?!).

Sharpey and I had worked very hard to ensure we each had our parts rehearsed up and ready to go, with regular practices throughout November leading up to the recording session. As any followers of our Twitter feed will attest, these rehearsals usually result in a lot of wine being drunk and a lot of other people's songs being played! We always have a lot of fun, but only after we've set out what we intended to do. By the end of the last session, which incidentally was the night before recording was to commence, Sharpey and I knew each other's parts back-to-front and were confident of getting good performances.

The next morning, the Mini de Sharpe picked me up from my humble abode and we shot down the A2 towards Chartham.

The picturesque Delta Studios I...

II...

Just after we pulled up outside the studios, the owner turned up to let us in. Said owner, a lovely chap by the name of Julian, made us a cup of tea while we chatted about the old days. Sharpey and his previous outfit (Half Inch Heroes) had recorded here many moons ago and had fond memories of the experience. I was looking forward to getting going! The rest of the crew duly turned up, comprising Goc, Sasha and Wolf of Kit Kaboodle Company alongside the wise Mr David Riley who had come along to document the weekend on a trusty bit of viddy-oh gear. After Julian had showed audio boffin Wolf the ropes, we settled in and EOO got going! First order of business, destroy the toilet. Eww.

Pro Tools...

We started off with "Same Old", which meant breaking out my splendid Takamine 12-string. I accomplished the tune in what I thought was one take, garnering praise for my metronomic performance. It turned out that I'd missed an entire section. Whoops! Back in the box with me. Sharpey then added his parts, and it was decided we'd leave vocals for Sunday. On to "I Should Have Stayed At Home". I was a little bit concerned about this one as there are some time-signature changes and neither Wolf nor I had any idea how to programme the click-track to match my vision! I bit the bullet and managed to nail it in one take, despite the strong beat being in the wrong place for a little while. "GET IN!", I proclaimed. "Get out!", Sharpey retorted. Sharpey had not one but two guitar parts to lay down for this, and magnificent they are too. "Again & Again" was next, and both guitar parts were laid down without too much fuss. I even had a go at laying down an acoustic bass track!

After that it was time for the other Kaboodles to record some stuff (including the ridiculously talented David Mumford who turned up for a short spell in the afternoon), so I took in a little bit of engineering and quite a bit of drinking! We packed up and headed off around ten, with Mr Sharpe kindly dropping me back home.

Barely hours later, the Mini was back outside Harrison Towers and I was piled in. While shopping for rations in the local Tesco I received word from Sasha that Goc had been afflicted with a migraine and wouldn't be driving him and Wolf to the studio. Sharpey to the rescue! We took a detour to West Kingsdown to pile the smelly boys into the car and shoot back to the studio, arriving only about half an hour later than intended.

We set up the vocal booth and got on with the bit I was dreading. I'm more than confident laying down guitar tracks, but I've never been that enamored with my singing voice which isn't exactly what you'd call consistent! Despite my doubts, I managed to get through with a maximum of two takes. During the "aaah" section in "I Should Have Stayed At Home" I threw in a bit of enunciation that caused quite a lot of giggling from the control room - the name Alan Partridge was mentioned more than once. Needless to say that take got swiftly deleted - or did it?!

David Sharpe is an awesome vocalist, and as such his was a very no-nonsense approach. In, out, done. Win. He even nailed a big Freddie Mercury arrangement with no more than one take per part. What a hero! I can't wait for everyone to hear this.

Once all that work was done and the other Kaboodles had sorted some of their stuff, it was time for some jams. We chocked out a cracking set of tunes that afternoon / evening, including an Every Other Ones 'Live in the Studio' set. As neither myself nor Sharpey were particularly happy with the version of "Again & Again" we'd recorded the previous day it was decided that the version from this live set would go on the EP. Also from those sessions is a new song entitled "You Won't", which can be heard on our MySpace page.

All in all, a cracking weekend. Big thanks to Goc and Sasha for organising the session, to Wolf for engineering, to Julian for the use of the studio, and to all our friends and family for their continued inspiration, love and support.

Look out for "EP1", coming soon! Also check out YouTube for video of "Again & Again (Live in the Studio)" , and keep your eyes on www.everyotherones.com which is soon to go live!

Yours,

Chrissy H: Fat guitarist!

HI-ON SOUTHAMPTON / PONTYPOOL / KETTERING / BIRMINGHAM - November 5/6/7/8

2009-12-22T11:28:00.000-08:00

Well well well, this one may be a bit of en epic! The first four-gig weekend since our visit to Turkey in February 2008 would take us from Southampton to Birmingham via Wales and Kettering. A fair few miles then!

The weekend started for me with a gig in Shoreditch at the 'legendary' BarMusicHall on Curtain Street, just up the road from Old Street tube station playing an acoustic set with Thea Ford and Mark O'Neill. I love playing original music, but there's nothing quite like wigging up and being part of the best tribute to Iron Maiden there ever was. I was on a tight schedule, as the Van of Slightly Less Comfort But Much More Likely To Start Than The Last One was due to arrive at mine between 10 and 11pm. We went on a little bit late but I managed to do a runner and arrive back at Manic Towers just after the two occupants of said van.

I walked into the dining room to find Adrian "shit in a bin" Swift adding the final touches to his rather nifty (and not at all camp) denim jacket, studded up to look just like Adrian Smith's did during Maiden's golden period. Accompanying him was Bruce "show us yer funnel!" Dugginson who was very proudly showing off his new leather gear, crafted by Boba Fett off the forums. A bang-up job he did too, as they looked just like Bruce's rather peculiar fetish gear from the '88 tour. This had been picked up on the way, and I understood from talking to the lads that the journey from Yorkshire to Dartford had taken them via Barnsley and Essex to name but a few places. There was a reason for all this malarkey, but we'll get to that later. We all settled down for a bit of much-needed kip.

Next morning, Duggers finds a hat!

The next morning started off with a brief shopping trip looking to find some stage gear for Hulloween's debut performances. Yes, that's right - Hi-On Maiden are Hulloween. The plan was to unveil Hulloween in Pontypool and Kettering before opening the Music Live "Titans of Tribute" stage at the Birmingham NEC. More on that when we get to it. After a more-or-less successful jaunt to the shops we piled in the van and drove to Reading, where a very nice man had some scaffolding bits and pieces to sell us. Upon arrival, he also agreed to cut down the scaffold poles (collected by Swifty and Duggers in Barnsley the day before) so that they were all of equal length. This was a bit of a relief, as none of us really wanted to muck about with an angle grinder at the venue! "Why the scaffolding?" I hear you cry. Well, faithful reader, you'll see. After all this tubular trickery had clanged to it's conclusion, we set off for Southampton. We arrived a little later than planned, but this was no problem as we'd saved ourselves a couple of tricky hours of cutting poles!

Speed "I love smelly farts - they've got to sound good, and they've got to smell good - you've got to squeeze them out" Harris was already in attendance as we rolled up to the back door. The scaffolding and gear was shifted out the van and I ran off to find a sandwich - having elected not to eat breakfast that morning, I was utterly starving. Putting the scaffolding together for the very first time can only be described as a ballache. I'm utterly useless at such things, and as such sat on the sideline waiting for any heavy lifting that needed doing! Still, once you've set it up once you know where everything goes and what the pitfalls are. Next time would be quicker and less painful. The brand new backdrop was unrolled and hung from the ceiling, turning out to be almost perfect-width for The Brook. The "Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour" stage set was done. And it look bloody spectacular. As this was going up, Jonno "sex pest coat" Lodge turned up. Jonno, star that he is, was filling in for Nicko "oh no!" McBrain Jnr who was out playing with his original band this weekend.

Soundchecking with the title track from Iron Maiden's 1988 opus was a lot of fun. It's one of those songs we've talked about doing for years but never actually attempted, at least not properly. A little bit shaky in places but otherwise successful. We also had a blast through the Hulloween stuff and identified where Swifty and I needed to work on harmonies. I actually enjoyed playing Helloween stuff much more than I thought I would. I'll admit I'm not their biggest fan, but the songs we had chosen were a lot of fun to chock out.

Then it was spandex time! I bought this stage gear over a year ago when we were planning a "Somewhere On Tour" tribute show. Thankfully Mr Murray's outfit didn't change much for the next tour so it was still a valid expenditure. The rest of the band followed suit, as it were, with Mr Dugginson's trousers in particular looking rather fetching. Aieeee!

All in all it was a storming gig. Duggers and I had to entertain with an impromptu 'Children Of The Damned' when Swifty's MIDI gear took a waspie, but that aside all ran to plan. There were a couple of Brown Notes in Seventh Son, but nothing too derailing. The crowd were a fantastic bunch as ever, with some good friends making the trip down. The first of three appearances from our good friend Eddie "spandex, chaps?" the 'Ead, who was making a particularly heroic effort (along with Mrs Eddie and Lord Summerisle) to get to three of our four shows.

Packing down after the show was a typically leisurely affair, with the kind and generous staff at The Brook being as kind and generous as ever. However, there comes a time when one ought to pack one's gear up and fuck off! Which we did. Back to the Travelodge and onto the Manic Cushion (those little triangular cushions at the back of the sofas) for me. Conversation turned to the past, and some revelations about a previous acquaintance were particularly enlightening. I should probably leave it there!

Up earlyish for a Little Thief breakfast before I climbed into the SpeedWagon for the jaunt down to Pontypool. En route we swotted up on our Helloween, listening to both Keeper of the Seven Keys albums and their live set from Donington '88. It seems Helloween were a bit messy that day, which was good news for me as I was fretting slightly (pun intended) about those guitar parts.

Arriving in Ponty in the rain, we loaded in and grabbed a drink or two while poor Mr Lodge had a bit of kip. After the show tonight he was going to need to pack up, drive home to Stafford, sleep, drive to Birmingham, unload, play, load, and drive to Kettering for our next gig! Needless to say we praise his heroism this weekend - we simply couldn't do it without ya mate. After setting up and imbibing Mr Swift and I worked out the intricacies of the guitar harmonies and we had a go at the Helloween tunes - tonight was do or die, as we'd been advertised as the support band! Thankfully someone else was on hand to warm up the crowd before us in the form of Cowboy & The Corpse, a well-received local covers band.

Pie Hansen...

Hulloween hit the stage! It was very enjoyable indeed, and not half bad. There were a couple of song requests from the crowd to deal with, but thankfully they were amongst the four songs we'd learned anyway! Mr Dugginson did a particularly awesome job as Michael Krispe in a wig that, after the weekend, would be donated to me as it was viewed as a more suitable Murray-a-like than Brenda. Splendid! After the Hulloween set it was time to cast aside German power metal and slip into Noooowobbham (that's NWOBHM to you). Once again, another fantastic crowd. With four gigs this weekend, it's hard to pick out highlights / lowlights from the lot, especially considering that the first three were an identical set. I remember another few Brown Notes appearing in Seventh Son, but once again it was met with a roaring reception. Jonno packed down, said his goodbyes and pootled off for home, while the rest of us retired to the bar. That's where it all went a teensy bit wrong.

Let me preface this by proffering some advice: If a Welsh barkeep ever offers you a tot from a bottle of vodka with chillies stuffed in it, kindly decline and then get as far away as you can.

The afore-mentioned offensive weapon was passed in front of my face, to which I immediately said no. It's not like me to refuse a drink (as anyone who knows me will tell you!). However, I knew this to be Wrong. Deeply, deeply wrong. So I continued to pack down my gear and sup my Guinness. While I was off somewhere else, the bottle had been offered to Swifty and Dugginson. Duggers' portion was abruptly removed from his hand by the bartender, who warned him against it - apparently, it was no good for the singing voice. Swifty merrily threw his measure right down his gullet, and then stood there in silent horror as tears ran down his cheek. Mission accomplished, thought the barman. To whit, he turned his attentions back to me. A glass with a trickle of the vile death syrup was placed in front of me at the bar. I refused again, and would have continued to do so had Mr Dugginson not come round to me. "Try it Manic, it's really nice!" said he. Had it been Swifty, I would have not believed him. Had it been Speed, I would have not believed him. Yet I still had some trust for our singer. So down it went.

At first, it was like a rather hot curry. That's fine, I thought. I enjoy a curry that leaves your lips burning. However as it trickled down my throat and made it's way through the rest of my innards, I suddenly felt as if I'd eaten a hand grenade. Roughly thirty seconds later, that hand grenade had been upgraded to a land mine. "GET IT OUT OF ME!", my body screamed, and as such I legged it up to the backstage toilet and attempted to expel the horror. Unfortunately there was no action to be had at either end, and as such I simply balled up and steeled myself. I didn't cry, but I did scream! I suffer from Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, which essentially means I create excess stomach acid and I shouldn't eat anything too spicy. You can imagine that my pain was greater than someone who did not suffer from such an affliction. Eventually Swifty and Matt came looking for me, wondering where I'd gone. They found me in the foetal position! Thankfully the agony didn't last much longer than 10-15 minutes, but the effects would last for some time. I managed to get another Guinness down my neck before calling it a night. I had enough good humour to hide Swifty's pillow and convince him that a poltergeist had nicked it. Oh, the chuckles.

Up in the morning, lamenting the spicy spirit, the three of us that remained loaded out the gear. Speed had already raced off to Kidderminster to see his family. After bidding a fond farewell to all at the Hog we hit the road for Kettering. A bit more Hulloween revision took place while we kept our eye out for the welcoming beacon of KFC. No spicy food for us for a while! We checked in at the Travelodge and made our way to the venue, soundtracked by a bit of Kate Rusby. Lovely!

Hope you're paying attention, Asbury...

Kettering was pretty good. When you have four gigs in as many days, they all tend to blur into one. Hulloween was well received to my memory, though Speed wasn't happy with his performance. The whole thing came off fine and we were fairly confident of doing a good enough job at the NEC the next morning. Hi-On put in their best performance of the weekend thus far, despite poor old Swifty not being able to hear himself onstage at all and my guitar cable being unexpectedly ejaculated from the front of my pre-amp.

The real drama started, as ever, after the gig. Mr Dugginson found a rather amusing Halloween costume which seemed to depict the demise of the Daily Express's favourite maternal figurehead, while Jonno took great joy in noting the similarities between me and "Scott The Rapist", a character adorning the walls of a quite impressively graffiti-laden dressing room.

"Oh! If only Diana was here..."

Knowing we had an early morning start, we packed down with unusual tenacity and the time came to get stuff in the van. Unfortunately, Doctor Swift could not quite locate the van keys. This happened last time at Sawyers, so we turfed out the dressing room where they'd turned up last time. No sign. We combed the debris on stage right. No sign. I was the last man in the van, and while I couldn't recall giving the keys back to Swifty I knew that I had definitely not shut them in the van. I searched my pockets three times, my side of the stage, my bags (twice), and still there was no sign. Even the venue staff joined the hunt, relishing in the idiocy of a band who, let's be honest, couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery. Swifty checked his pockets at least four times, and there was no sign.

Fifth time was the charm.

They were in his jacket pocket the whole time, caught in headphones or something equally innocuous.

Once we'd all beaten him senseless, we piled him bloodied and broken behind the wheel of the van and we limped back to the Travelodge. Duggers was in an understandably black mood, having been looking forward to a good night's sleep before showcasing his awesome vocal talents in front of what was bound to be a large crowd. Speed had gone back to Kiddy, and after dropping our singer at the 'lodge Swifty and I ventured off in search of Ginsters. Returning with snacks we were greeted with the news that Speed was currently racing back home to attend to a family emergency. I won't go into the details in this diary, but our thoughts were all with him and his family.

In the morning, we accepted the state of play that Hulloween would not be opening Titans Of Tribute after all, as we had to focus all our energies on locating a bass player for the headline slot. Rescue was found in the form of Kev, the bass player with Yorkshire-based Iron Maiden tribute Iron-On Maiden. Kev put down his breakfast and raced up the motorway. What a hero!

Our next slap in the face came upon arrival at the NEC. Apparently we weren't allowed to use the stage set that we'd splashed out on. Change-over times didn't allow. Bugger.

At least Southampton got a show!

We took this in our stride as just another piece of bad luck in a year that, for Hi-On, has been riddled with epic failures. We can only hope for better in 2010. After loading all the gear into the backstage area and explaining our predicament to the very understanding organisers, I wandered off with my good friend Eddie's Mum for a look round the exhibition. There was some fantastic gear to be had, and I had to literally tear myself away from the Patrick Eggle stand. I ended up buying some rather silly instruments from Kid's Play music for my nephew. You can give a four month-old a kazoo, can't you? Oh well. He won't know. I returned to our dressing room to find free beer and food. This made me a very happy Hurry. While we munched we were interviewed by Phoenix Radio, a local radio station who were covering the event. Around this time Kev arrived and was greeted as a true hero.

Then it was time to get ready. Time had rolled around ever so fast! The job was to put our gear together so it could simply be rolled onstage by the tech guys, gaffa'd down and ready to go. This was quite an experience - a huge stage, a load of techies doing stuff all around you...it was like being in a proper band playing a proper gig! Fantastic. The intro rolled...

Onstage at the NEC...

...what a gig! Thoroughly enjoyable, with a huge crowd giving it as much vocal as they could and awesome performances from the whole band. During The Trooper we were joined onstage by session drummer extraordinaire Robin Guy, who has played with none other than Bruce Dickinson, Faith No More, Dee Snider, All About Eve and many others. I remember moseying up to him during the previous song (The Prisoner, I think?) and watching him waiting behind Jonno's kit going absolutely mental - he was like a kid at Christmas!!! I couldn't wait. It was awesome to have him join us. Robin, if you're reading this, get in touch - any time we're in the same place, you're welcome to join us again! The rest of the gig went off well, with Eddie putting in a typically spectacular performance. I'll never quite forget him giving the finger to the "Time up!" screen at the side of the stage!

Once the gear was offstage we had to be out sharpish as there was a whole evening of music to be played after the Titans were done laying waste to Brum. After loading the van and saying goodbyes to the band, I ventured to the nearby Wetherspoons to spend some quality time with some great friends who had come along for the ride - brilliant to see you all guys. The whole weekend had been both physically and emotionally draining. We had put in four great gigs, six if you count Hulloween's two shows, and done our job to the best of our abilities in challenging circumstances. And what more could you ask for?

Certainly no bloody chilli vodka.

Thanks again to everyone who aided with the weekend; special mentions for Jonno Lodge and Kev from Iron On for both getting us out of tight spots - you're both utterly tremendous as musicians and people. Also thanks to all the staff at all the venues for making things as smooth as they possibly could be. Huge thanks to all the friends who came out to see us on this mini-tour, your support is appreciated and will not be forgotten!

Personal thanks from me go to the rest of Hi-On Maiden. Bruce Dugginson for simply being the best. Adrian Swift for working so hard to make this year happen in the face of everything that went wrong. Speed Harris for being Steve Harris (though I should point out he needs to change his diet - the rippers experienced in the van to Nijmegen were from the very arse of Beelzebub). Nicko McBrain Jnr for his youthful enthusiasm and for missing more load-outs than I thought possible!

Until 2010,

UP THE 'KIN IRONS!

Dave "don't drink the chilli vodka" Hurry

HI-ON NIJMEGEN - 23 / 24 October 2009

2009-11-22T04:22:00.000-08:00

First off, apologies for the lack of a Stafford diary. Since then I've been phenomenally busy (I'm even writing this Nijmegen diary two weeks after the fact!) and simply can't remember half of what might have happened. I did get as far as nickname generation, the most notable of which were Speed 'cake sex!' Harris and Nicko 'she's got a flap out' McBrain Jnr. Draw your own conclusions as to what sort of a diary that one would have been! Moving on, then...

HI-ON NIJMEGEN 2009

The absolute highlight of the year for us Maiden tribute geeks is the now annual trip down to eastern Holland to play at the Rockcafé Backstage in Nijmegen. This is the third year on the bounce we've piled in the van and driven the long road out of Calais to get up there, and this year we had something a bit special in terms of setlist. But more on that later.

The weekend began for me when this weekend's van of choice, a Mercedes Sprinter kitted out inside with lovely comfy seats, DVD player and Playstation 2, rolled up outside Manic Towers. After marvelling at the interior and making all on board a cup of coffee, I sat down with Bruce "it was raining fanny" Dugginson to work on some arrangements for a short acoustic set that we planned to roll out just prior to the Maiden set on one or both nights. You may recall from the Harlow diary that, with Speed "Nijmegen to Calais in ten minutes" Harris arriving late, Duggers and I took it upon ourselves to entertain the crowd with a hastily thrown together acoustic set. While this was well received, we each knew we could do better with a bit of work. We came up with some cool arrangements, particularly 'Still Life', so look out for more potential acoustic sets in future!

Acoustic rehearsal I...

II

After all this acoustic twiddling we wandered down into the town centre for a spot of grub. A nice cheap Chinese later we were in the pubs for a drink or two. Question Time was on, which I for one have never seen playing in the pub before but it seemed every pub in Dartford was hanging on Nick Griffin's every word. What a lovely town. Still, it didn't help that a couple of his opponents were equally blithering idiots. Back home for a nightcap then off to bed for an early start. I tried to get a bit of kip but knowing Mr Harris was arriving at 4:00am I just couldn't drift off. After letting him in I kipped down for what seemed like 5 minutes before it was time to leave.

----------

Trying to get the rest of the Hi-on boys motivated to move in the morning is a mission. Amd, as such, we missed the ferry! En-route to Dover, Speed's botty was on fine form. The windows steamed up, the seats changed colour and many of us didn't dare breathe in for fear of toxic exposure. Such utter foulness I have not experienced for quite some time. Speed looked very pleased with himself, it has to be said. I've just looked at my Twitter feed from that morning and my one utterance read thus: "Oh God. Speed's arse is the devil. I WANT TO GET OUT."

"Bugger off!"

Hand of Duggers points the way...

Errrr...

The ferry ride went swimmingly, with that holiday feeling sinking in. (I've just noticed I used 'swimmingly' and 'sinking' in a sentence about a ferry trip - what?!). The non-drivers amongst us had a beer while Eddie 'an egg too far' the 'Ead enjoyed a full English and a massage. Luxury! Upon returning to the van we were slightly alarmed to find that the bugger wouldn't start. Some sort of collapse of the starter motor, apparently. A bump start proved successful, and the journey continued until Speed stalled it a little further up the road. Ace! Thankfully it started on it's own volition this time, and we were on the road again. Several driver changes, two countries and some questionable sat nav direction later we arrived at Rockcafé Backstage a bit later than we had intended.

Greeted by the ever bubbly Theo and the wonderful Astrid, it felt like coming home. Last year Mr Dugginson had some issues with the monitors, and the fact that he couldn't hear himself onstage at all over Nicko's noisy tubthumping and the guitar noise necessary to overcome this. This year, however, no problem. In fact, it was quite spooky. We plugged in, turned on and played - somehow it was absolutely perfect!! Duggers looked beside himself in happiness, so that was one worry over with!

After that it was back to the fantastic Carola's place to get some nosh before running back to the venue for the show! Bruce and I opened proceedings with the acoustic set, which I believe included 'Still Life', 'Jerusalem' and 'Journeyman'.

Friday night acoustic set...

Then it was off downstairs to wig up and get on with the Hi-on business. This Friday night in Nijmegen we were treating the punters to a performance of 'Somewhere in Time' from start to finish. This was an idea I was particularly excited about, though slightly daunted as certain songs had turned out to be a little more of a challenge than I thought, particularly 'Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner'. Brown trousers time then!

Friday night I...

II...

III

The whole set went down an absolute storm, with the crowd going utterly mental throughout. I was moderately horrified to see Eddie come out brandishing my pal Sooty, but thankfully he remained unharmed and survived the ordeal. We all came off stage feeling that we'd just done something quite special, so that set list might find itself back on the stage some time soon.

Afterwards we retired to the dressing room to start making inroads into the fridge full of Dommelsch. I wasn't particularly in the party mood, it has to be said, though I did make the effort to get up there and have a word with some of the enraptured public.

Master McBrain about to take a waspie...

I do so love that bar - it always seems to be full of the most wonderfully kind and generous folk. Young Nicko 'Queen of Alpen' McBrain Jnr took a waspy or two after over-indulging in the fabulous cough syrup known as Jägermeister, while I seemed untouchable by booze. I think I was more tired than anything else, though not a patch on Adrian 'Grolsch written everywhere' Swift, who had done a hell of a lot of driving and fallen asleep at the wheel a number of times through Belgium. Whoopsie! Once Astrid had escorted the last of the revellers out of the bar we headed back to Carola's where I promptly headed for the loft (where us snorers are banished to) to get my head down.

--------------

Day Two in Nijmegen began with a hearty European breakfast of bread and meat. Including some meat that you just can't bite into, as I discovered after loading up a sarnie with it. Even more amusing was watching Mr Swift do the same thing even after a warning from Speed! Nicko chowed down on his favourite Slag, while I went for the healthy cracker option. The aforementioned drummer and bassist then went off for a kickabout in a nearby park while myself, Duggers, Swifty, Eddie 'I like the furry stuff' the 'Ead and Carola went wandering around Nijmegen looking for some stage gear for our tall lobotomised friend.

Tonight's gig was to feature a performance of the entire 'The Number of the Beast' album, and as such it was decided that Eddie needed some devil gear for the title track. A trip to a fancy dress shop turned up the campest mask and pitchfork combo ever seen, but not quite as camp as Mr Hurry's specs of choice! Can you say 'Elton John'?

Camp specs...

While out and about we absorbed a little of the history of the town, ate some fish and Swifty even found the time to hump a church (something he rarely gets the chance to do these days, poor thing). We found a nice bar just over the road from our favourite shop in the world, Nijmeegs Jopie Dumphandel, where it appeared to be Manic's round. Happily everyone decided that they wanted a Coke with their beer. And a packet of crisps. That's the last time I offer to buy a drink without giving an upper limit! Another round later (thankfully not mine) it was time to head back to the venue via another Dugginson photo opportunity. I'll let the pictures do the talking in this diary I think!

It's (nearly always) Manic's round...

...and it's goodnight from him...

Back at the venue it was time to run through the tracks on 'The Number of the Beast' that we don't normally cover in the average set. This classic album features many set list staples, so not a massive task. We had to get 'Invaders', 'Gangland' and 'Total Eclipse' up to speed. As much as the average Maiden fan may dislike 'Gangland', it's a hell of a lot of fun to play. Deceptively complicated, it took a little bit of work.

After this it was once again back to Carola's for another slightly rushed dinner (bloody nice though - rice and stuff!). The acoustic set that night featured 'Out of The Shadows' and 'Strange Death in Paradise', amongst others. It's great to play the Bruce solo stuff, as Duggers and myself both love it and it's a nice treat for those in the audience who might know it. Time for 'NoB', as it were!

Saturday night acoustic set

Saturday night I...

II...

III

Another storming gig, with a slightly older audience it seemed (perhaps a result of the older album we were performing). It was never quite going to live up to the night before, which will forever remain in my memory as one of those eeriliy good gigs (right up there with Penzance in early 2008). Nonetheless it was a solid performance and a great reaction. Once again Nijmegen, you are fucking great!

Once I'd come down from the gig, I packed down my gear and proceeded to get utterly rat-arsed. I remember very little of the evening past that point, though I do remember having to jumpstart the van again. Which was quite amusing, given the state of us all!

We all woke up a little later than anticipated the next morning, so again it was a quick exit from Carola's place. Thank you again Carola for all your kind hospitality! Speed floored the van all the way through Europe and we ended up a little early for the ferry which was quite an acheivement! Top stuff. I spent most of the journey there conked out, and when I did awake I couldn't shake the feeling that my insides were very soon to become my outsides. I managed to keep it all down and somehow decided a curry on the ferry would be a good idea. It didn't seem to do me any harm but I certainly felt even more ropey on the ride from Dover to Dartford!

Homeward bound...

Upon the return to Manic Towers, we parted ways and I conked out. Thank God for Mondays off!

Nijmegen just keeps getting better every year. We'll have to think of another quirk for the two-night setlist next year. Until then, UP THE 'KIN IRONS!

Yours,
Dave "just off to pop something on the shelf" Hurry

HI-ON Harlow - 18 September 2009

2009-11-22T04:20:00.000-08:00

HI-ON HARLOW 2009

(apologies for the lack of photos...if you want to see this in it's full glory, visit http://www.hi-onmaiden.com/ where Swifty added some rather splendid photos of our favourite lady!)

A gig I can get to without sacrificing any time off work is a rare thing. Even for a close gig I need to get the train into London and then from there to wherever we’re playing, which means half a day gone. On this occasion, the nice people from our Ipswich office were stuck down in Dartford on training and offered me a lift to the gig on their way home, taking a slight detour. Top shelf!

I should have known something was wrong. The M25 was crawling towards the M11 turn-off, which I knew in my head was simply a typical Friday afternoon on what is the second largest ring road in the world. However there was a sense of foreboding, which I cast aside as the turn-off came and four miles of clear M11 lay before us. I don’t spend a lot of time on the road in this band these days (doing most of my travel on the rails) so traffic jams are thankfully few and far between in my experience. Not so for Speed '1/4 mile an hour' Harris, but more on that later.

I wandered up to the venue entrance and spied Adrian 'sausage squad up the blue end' Swift pulling up in this week’s Selectadrive van of choice, thankfully void of windscreen crack. As it turned out, I had arrived just as the load-in had finished. Bargain! I made my heartless apologies and took a walk inside. Entering through the bar I was delighted to note that The Square had a nice selection of ales! Wychwood’s 'Bountiful' was on the guest tap, alongside a couple of Adnams beers. Mr Hurry was in for a good night! Then it was off to the stage to find Nicko 'they only had the large ketchup' McBrain Jnr setting up his kit. I hopped onstage and did my set-up as quickly as possible. I have a couple of loose jack plates on guitar and amp, which is a sound nightmare onstage but which I’m sure Mr Swift will sort out before the next gig (wink wink, nudge nudge) as I have no access to my Hi-on gear between gigs. Once set up I retired to the bar with Bruce 'I don’t know the words' Dugginson for a cheeky pint and a punt on the jukebox. The folk who work at The Square are a lovely bunch, and so the usually tedious processes of setting up and soundchecking/tweaking were no trouble at all. Given the curfew at this venue isn’t until 3:00am we had time on our side. Quite lucky, really…

Just before we started soundchecking, we called up Mr Harris to find out how his journey was going. We immediately wished we hadn't. The M25, which I believe had been described as 'a car park', was a little bit jammed up. Still, he wasn't far away from the turn-off so we soldiered on with soundcheck with me standing in for Speed to get his volume levels sorted out the PA. We also had a nice jam with one of the staff members on bass, whose name escapes me (sorry pal – rubbish with names and worse with faces!). Perhaps an hour later, we called Speed again. He'd moved forward, yes, but only by about a quarter of a mile. Time was marching on, as we had been slated to appear onstage at around 9:15pm. We wandered off for some grub, came back after another hour and the update was just as bleak.

At this point, Brucey and I started sorting out a short acoustic set to entertain the crowd with for a bit in case the bassist didn’t make it. At about the time we were supposed to go on, Speed had just cleared the motorway (possibly by driving so fast he actually went through everything) and would be there in about 40 minutes barring any other spectacular traffic failures. Brucey and I went on anyway and entertained the crowd with acoustic versions of 'Tears of the Dragon' (a Dickinson solo tune), 'Still Life' and 'Children of the Damned'. Totally unprepared and almost completely unrehearsed, we were certainly both browning the insides of our unmentionables but enjoyed the time onstage. Always handy to have something like that up your sleeve, and with a bit of work it could be something quite special.

I had disappeared off to the bar to say hello to some friends in the audience when, lo and behold, I was given the news that Harris was here. What should have been a four-hour journey had turned into a ten-hour journey, and that, coupled with the prospect of driving back afterwards due to morning work commitments, meant that our Mr Speed was not the happiest of boys. No time to stand around contemplating our misfortunes, however, so we wigged up and legged it out onstage.

A pretty solid performance to my memory, apart from the end of 'Heaven Can Wait'. If music had a smell, that would have smelled quite rotten! It’s all well and good checking out a set list before you go on, but more often than not you find yourself on-stage racing towards a section of a song and suddenly realising you can’t remember how to play the bloody thing! Still, we received high praise from the audience in the bar after the show. Eddie 'metal please!' the ‘Ead was in attendance, and went to town on us with the theatrical blood – I think we all had our arms sliced up. He even threatened poor Sooty!

We didn’t have to pack down the gear until the next morning, so a few drinks were in order. Myself and Swifty found ourselves at the bar quite quickly, ordering a pint and a Jägermeister. I myself rather over-indulged in the latter, and as such from here-on out my memories are very hazy indeed. I remember waking up the next morning in the McBrain guest suite, eating a bacon roll and then the agonizing pain of loading the gear back in the van down a flight or two of stairs. Everything else is a bit of a blur!

An enjoyable gig that almost-nearly didn’t happen. Nothing seems to be going quite to plan this year! Thanks to the crowd in Harlow, thanks to Eddie and a special NO THANKS to the M25!

Until next time,
Dave 'Darth Gers' Hurry

HI-ON YORKSHIRE (or simply HULL) - September 11 2009

2009-11-22T04:12:00.000-08:00

HI-ON YORKSHIRE 2009

Well well well boys and girls. This one is a bit of a tale!

Manic's weekend began with a three-day business trip to Liverpool, which conveniently located me in the right half of the country to travel across the Pennines and find myself in Yorkshire. Wednesday afternoon saw me in the splendid Dolphin Music store just around the corner from Liverpool Lime Street station. I went in for strings. I came out with a new acoustic guitar! Still, you can't win them all. And it's lovely! A three-hour train journey from there to Hull via Manchester followed, and I was duly met at the other end by Mr Adrian "Zippy McBride!" Swift. A trip to Asda was necessary to pick up a bit of dinner, a bit of Jäger and a bottle of unmentionable elixir for Swifty's vanity purposes. I'm sworn not to disclose the exact nature of this potion.

This was to have been a three gig weekend. Upon my arrival in Liverpool I began exchanging emails with Mr Swift to be told that Knaresborough, where we were due to perform on Saturday evening, had been cancelled. Another stroke of the bad luck which has plagued Hi-on this year. This weighed a little heavily on me, but I was still looking forward to the two that remained in the book. My anticipation was revived somewhat when Swifty and I pulled into Withernsea and had a listen to the almost-final mixes of our forthcoming 'Live at the Wharf' CD, recorded at Tavistock in the earlier part of this year. After some dinner and a bottle of the good stuff, we kipped down for the night.

Sooty nicks the Jägermeister!

Next morning we ventured out to pick up the 'Van of Not Quite So Much Terror' from Selectadrive in Hull. This particular LDV is the one van in the fleet not clobbered up in Selectadrive branding, as they've been trying to shift it on. Thankfully that means we get it at a reduced price, which came in quite handy in the end. Once we got the van back to Swift Heights I gave him a hand loading the van. This is a new experience for our Swifty, as he normally has to do this on his tod the day of a gig and drive a long long way. This weekend however, everything was that bit more local. Soon after humping all the gear, a rather unsettling phone call came from the promoter who had organised the gig in Wakefield. "There's no power at the venue", he said. Twenty minutes later a generator had been found and the gig was back on. "Phew", thought I. Hah.

While this was going on, Swifty got hold of Bruce "the finisher" Dugginson to get the number for the chap providing the P.A. for Wakefield. Somehow, Duggers managed to give Swifty the phone number for one Nicko "the lips" McBrain Jnr instead, who's real name is shared with the P.A. chap. "Hello, is that Joe?" said Swifty, The answer being yes, Swifty begins to describe the situation at the venue and says to arrive at 5:00pm. A completely innocuous conversation from our young drummer's end, yet Swifty didn't quite clock that he was talking to a member of his own band! "That sounded rather a lot like our Joe", he proclaimed upon putting the phone back in it's cradle. Numpty!

We set off for Wakey about an hour after we meant to, due to Swifty spending Dugginson-like hours in the shower. Close to the venue, my mobile begins parsnipping like there's no tomorrow - the call sign from Mr McBrain Jnr. Nicko filled us in on the look of the venue. No power. No lights. Not a soul in sight.

Bugger.

Swifty and I arrived shortly after and did find someone home. The power had been cut off that morning and Joe' the P.A. man, had advised that the generator was barely sufficient for the lights, let alone a full Maiden tribute band, P.A. system and the pub. Despite the best efforts of the promoter to find another venue, the gig was pulled there and then. For Speed "you idiot!" Harris, who had driven the 300-odd miles up from south Wales and already had a stressful few weeks, it looked to be almost the final straw. The evening was rescued somewhat by Duggers gee-ing us up and taking us to a charming little pub round the corner where we were met by my local pals Eddie's Mum & Dad. A good time was had by all, even if we were drowning our sorrows - we even happened upon a bingo-style pub quiz! Bread and dripping was served, which looked like more calories than our drummer had consumed in his life! After a skinful four of us drove back to Swifty's for another skinful, while Dugginson retired to his homestead. Good times!

More Jägermeister. We like it you know!

The next morning brought with it a trip into Hull town centre for bass strings, plasters and grub. Wandering through the shopping centre towards a panini which tasted like it had been essentially soaked in lard, we shucked off the despondency and looked forward to a gig that would almost definitely maybe sort of might just go ahead. I wouldn't have minded being at home - it was, after all, my parents 28th wedding anniversary - but we made the most of it. Swifty gave us his history of Hull, including the city hall where Maiden played the first gig of the Piece of Mind tour, ostensibly Nicko McBrain's first gig with the band. That nugget of history dealt with, we dived into Bad Dog Music where I contemplated the second guitar of the weekend, but ultimately decided that it was a bit excessive. Time to go back to Withernsea and generally loaf about until it was time to leave.

Then it was time to leave. Mr Swift's mother was piled in the Speed-mobile with the rabble while Swifty and I commandeered the van. En route, I was enlightened with more of Swifty's local knowledge - apparently folk from West Yorkshire who holiday in sunny Withernsea are known by the locals as "diggers", given their proclivity for building sandcastles. Who knew? Wikipedia does. However, Wiki tells me that "digger" is an affectionate term. This is not the impression I received! Rolling up outside the Springhead, memories of old came upon me. Thursday 4th March 2004 was the first (and last) time I was here, playing my very first gig with Hi-on as a 5 piece. A number of three-guitar gigs had gone before, but this was the first where I was flying solo as Manic without Adrian Swift. As I began to set up my gear on the other side of the stage I reflected on the five-and-a-half years that have elapsed since then. A lot has happened since then. I remember getting a frosty reception into the band from everyone except the lovely Dave Hurry II and Speed. It was a hell of a band to join, largely as they'd been together with that line-up for such a long time. Things got better but I never felt the warmth in that version of the band that I do in this one. After the gig, Duggers said to me "Something magic happens when this line-up gets onstage", and it's an utter delight. Well, it is when the gigs happen!

Pre-show brandy to warm up the vocal folds

Doctor, Doctor please...

This one, however, went off without a hitch. The Springhead has had a hard time of late, but a positive change in ownership and a bit of a spruce-up seem to have turned the corner slightly with everyone who works there much more optimistic about the future. Not a huge crowd, but a bloody loud one. Bruce commented that bigger crowds sometimes don't make as much of a racket. My over-riding memory of my time on stage that night is Swifty waltzing over to inform me the next number was to be "Wratchchild". Just as Bruce announced "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner"!! Splendid. Two different setlists onstage. Makes for a bit of a minefield! Thankfully the two didn't wildly vary. I had a few issues with the lights, as for some reason they seemed to be cancelling out my fretboard markings sending me into a Hurry Flurry of Brown Notes. Despite this, a good night was had by all. After packing down, Mr Harris sped off back home while the rest of us piled back to the coast.

Hi-on Maiden make a new friend

The next morning started with me completely failing to wake up in time to help Swifty unload the van in order to get it back to the lovely people of Selectadrive by 10:00am. Oops. Sorry pal. By the time I did emerge from the bony bed in the back bedroom he had already returned and the coffee was a-brewing. I began to revel in the delights of my new acoustic guitar while Swifty took the other two in the back room to show off one of his new toys. I ventured forth to find Mr Swift at the helm of his flight simulator, attempting to fly from Leeds to Manchester. This was all quite impressive until he attempted to land. Hitting the runway a little bit late and 'forgetting' to brake, he ended by pulling back up into the air and apparently shearing through a plate glass building. Top! It'll be some time before Swifty takes on Bruce's flying schedule, I fear.

We drove back into Hull and dropped young Nicko off for his train home. My train was a couple of hours after, so this trinity of pretend rock meandered into the city centre for a pint or two. Once firmly seated in Ye Olde Black Boy (a rather nice pub to the memory of William Wilberforce, the Hull native who led the movement to abolish the slave trade and who lived just up the road from this establishment), we all got rather too comfortable. I ended up missing my train (what a shame) and the three of us stayed in the boozer (what a shame). After a couple of Hobgoblins Swifty took us on a tour of Hull pubs, of which there are many. Duggers was adamant that we would find a curry house - easier said than done, apparently! After asking half a dozen locals and wandering about for what seemed like a lifetime I took the initiative to ask the internet where to go. We ended up in a restaurant a stone's throw from the train station chowing down on quite a nice curry. Opting not to get the bus we cabbed it back to Withernsea and took up seats in the Alex. All in all, it made for a night out that none of us could really afford after the abortive weekend, but it was a great laugh and a chance to get some quality drinking and socialising done without worrying about gigging or driving.

The next day Swifty drove Duggers and I back into Hull to pick up the car and say our goodbyes. Mr Dugginson kindly dropped me off at Leeds station, knocking about £40 off me train travel, and I was on me way.

We certainly made the best of a crap weekend. Cheers to all who came to The Springhead, sorry to all who came to The Strafford Arms, and a big thanks to Swifty for putting us up for the weekend.

Until next time,
Dave "cabbage crates over the briney!" Hurry.

LEE ABRAHAM - Black & White LIVE - rehearsal number one!

2009-09-05T14:45:00.000-07:00

Two and a bit weeks ago, the text came.

'Mate, would you be interested in playing guitar for some Black & White gigs?"

I was in Cyprus at the time, having just attended my cousin's wedding out there. The text came as a welcome surprise on a searingly hot afternoon, and the answer was an emphatic yes. Three of the tracks were mooted for the initial get-together, and the rehearsal was booked for 5th September, leaving me two weeks to learn half an hour of progressive rock goodness with some nice fat chunky riffs, brooding atmospherics and a nice guitar solo or two. Then I listened to the stuff.

Something approaching mild panic set in.

But first, a bit of background. The text had come from my pal Mr Lee "you can never have too many sheds" Abraham, who released his third solo album 'Black & White' in the middle months of this year. And very good it is too. In fact, you can buy it here: http://www.leeabraham.co.uk/ . I had bought a copy a few weeks before this trip to Cyprus and listened to it a couple of times to high enjoyment. I hadn't, however, listened to it as the guy who was going to be playing it.

Something approaching mild panic set in.

As it turns out, I managed it all perfectly well despite the initial brown-trouser moments. The things that were giving me the most boot-quakes were those tasty John Mitchell solos in 'Black' and 'Face The Crowd', the latter of which still needs some work. But we'll come to that.

I arrvied in Southampton around 7pm on Friday night to be met by Mr A and was immediately whisked off for a curry. This man knows how to treat his visiting artists! One rogan josh to the good we retired to the Abraham homestead for a bit of a run-through of a couple of things in 'Black' which were buried in the mix. Lee seemed impressed with my work so my worries were alleviated somewhat for the next day's rehearsal. The next couple of hours were spent by the iPod docking station playing each other classics and crimes in each other's collection before turning in for the night.

After loading the gear into the motor the next morning we were met by the vocalist for this project, a chap by the name of Sean "he likes a reach-around" Filkins. Any prog fans amongst you might recall his work with Big, Big Train, and alongside this Sean sang on a number of tracks on 'Black & White'. Sean followed Lee & I to the rehearsal space just the other side of the water where the rest of this motley crew appeared. First to arrive was Gerald "Mully" Mulligan, a long-time Abraham collaborator who performed all the drums on the album. Following in quick succession was Rob "usurper piano!" Arnold, an ivory-tickling bandmate of Mully who was suggested for this project.

Sean Filkins...

Rob Arnold...

Lee & Mully...

The rehearsal space was....damp. Damp, damp, damp. The place smelled, as Lee's 8-year old son so beautifully put it, like socks. Old socks. Old socks which have been worn for three weeks, turned inside out and worn for another three weeks. There would need to be frequent breaks for air!

Once we were all set up and ready to go, we launched into 'The Mirror' and it simply clicked. I honestly wasn't expecting it to be anything near as tight as it was. It probably helped that all those present (besides your humble narrator) had played together in some form or another before, but it seemed almost effortless. I was absolutely dumbfounded. We tried the epic. Same thing. A-mazing. Lee was a happy man! We ran everything through twice I think before Mrs Abraham showed up with lunch. After scoffing that down we got straight back to it, with Mrs A filming us on the handy video camera, which surprisingly captured the sound quite well. Check out the videos at the bottom of this 'ere blog. The big rousing solo I was so worried about flew nicely, and the slightly wanky one in 'Face The Crowd' also seemed to fit the bill, albeit with a few flubs. Come on, I only had two weeks!

The Band I...

II...

After parting ways with the rest of the band, and with big smiles on our faces, Lee and I went back to Abraham Heights to knock out the video before dashing off for a cheeky pint. Then it was time for me to get a train homeward bound.

A cracking way to spend 24 hours! I'm now celebrating the success with a rather nifty bottle of red (any excuse) and writing it all down before I forget how magic those few hours were. Proper job!

Til next time
Chris "reminds me of my first shag" Harrison

THEA FORD - "Monkey To The West" album launch show / EVERY OTHER ONES debut gig - Bush Hall, Uxbridge Road W12

2009-08-23T07:41:00.000-07:00

Three or four months ago (time is all relative, isn't it?), I began working with the radiant Miss Thea Ford. This was all leading up to the release of an album, entitled "Monkey To The West", which Thea had been working on for upwards of two years. Emails back and forth prior to my audition revealed that a revolving door of musicians had been the source of much frustration, so I was determined to be the guitarist for the job. After that first meeting (a few hours in a sweaty rehearsal room just under Waterloo East railway station) I received a text message which stated "Chris, you rock!". Which was nice!

Since then we've performed a few gigs for which I haven't written gig diaries, so I will sum them up as succinctly as I can:

Gocstock IV (which I did write about - at great length - on this blog somewhere down below).

22 July - Belushi's, Covent Garden - this was an acoustic gig in the corner of a bar. We performed for half an hour, went down a storm and were offered a gig the next night which we unfortunately had to turn down. A good turn out.

31 July - The Red Room - below The Comedy Pub, Haymarket - A fully electric gig, on the bill with a number of other very talented and / or humourous acts. This was a very enjoyable gig for yours truly. Poor Thea had a bit of a cough and had to leave me to take lead vocal at one point, which was quite amusing! Also, our superb young drummer Richard's bass drum pedal broke it's banjo string (so to speak). Ever the professional he fixed it and joined in on verse two of the next number. Cracking! Lots of fun, especially "Fall Down" which went over very well indeed.

12 August - Bar Music Hall, Shoreditch - A lovely venue just round the corner from Old Street tube. This one was fraught with danger. We had a rehearsal booked in for that night, which we did two hours of then raced to the gig. Richard had pranged his motor en route from Dover and as such couldn't make it. Nevin 'NEVOAH!' Sood stepped in and did a fine job for us, even coping with the unexpected double chorus at the end of Cat & Mouse. Lots of red wine then got me very pissed. Fabulous night.

Which brings us to the album launch show!

Bush Hall I...

II...

III...

I had left home around 1pm, aiming to get there well early and find a cheeky pint of the black stuff somewhere. A smooth journey, despite untold numbers of cancelled trains on the Southeastern network - something unfortunate seemed to be buggering trains going the other way, and for some reason this was cancelling North Kent Line trains going in my direction. How exciting. I jumped on the next train London-bound and arrived in SheBu (a popular contraction of Shepherd's Bush, apparently) around 3pm. A short walk to the venue later and I ran into Mark 'Smarties, but no blue ones' O'Neill and Laurence 'it does make me rather moist' Hodge. Mark jetted off to collect the tubthumper, Laurence retired to his car to listen to the radio and I wandered off in search of sustenance after dumping my gear in the venue. Finding nothing but a pasta snack and a bottle of apple juice I sauntered leisurely back to the venue. I managed to arrive just as Mark pulled up with Richard 'they're not pecs' Gould in tow with his impressive stack o' drums. Then who should walk round the corner but the diva herself, Thea 'look at my impractical bags, aren't they cool?' Ford. Time to set up then!

Keyboard world...

Mark searches for The Brown Note (it's up the other end, mate!)...

Guitar World...

I set up just in front of Keyboard World, having been provided with a Marshall combo by Mister O'Neill. My main gigging amp lives in Hull, and it's about time I bought myself a decent combo. August's shopping list is written! A very agreeable amp it was, and I quickly found my sound and retired backstage for a spot of reading.

MC Sood & The Bass Player...

Mark demands his rider...

Not content with just playing with Thea's band this evening, Bush Hall would also be treated to the debut performance of Every Other Ones, a band comprising of myself and David 'fucking' Sharpe as an acoustic guitar duo. Sharpey arrived just before soundcheck with Thea commenced, which was a joy. I do so love it when the sound man tells the drummer to play quieter! However, Richard is an astoundingly capable young man and is the only drummer I've ever had the privelege of playing with who can actually turn himself down! (Hope you're reading this, Joe...!)

Richard and his Technicolour Drumkit...

Time for a lie down...

Soundcheck with Sharpey was entertaining, as Barney the Soundman wasn't very keen on the idea of mic-ing up acoustic guitars in this room. Tough luck, thought I, and we went ahead. Things sounded fine to me! Sharpey, Richard and I naffed off up The Coningham Arms where we were met by my pal Kev. A nice relaxing pint later and it was time to head back in time to catch the first act, the lovely Rowena Carter and her string section. Beautiful.

Time for Every Other Ones to assault the world. Our set went down very well, and comprised of three originals and two covers as follows:

Again & Again
...Baby One More Time
Same Old
Kid Gloves
I Should Have Stayed At Home

Received to good reviews, Sharpey and I were dead chuffed and will be in the market for more gigs soon. We need to write the rest of the album, old boy!

Another support act followed, whose name escapes me now. I do remember them loftily stating that they would bring between 50-100 fans with them. A likely story, and had I heard this before the night I would have suggested to Thea to drop them! Until the night before I still thought that Mayfly Trio were supporting, and I'm dead disappointed that they weren't. Guys, if you're reading this you were missed!

Then it was time for the gig Thea's been working towards for years. With the band standing onstage like lemons waiting for MC Sood to reappear, the stage was set. Nev did his bit and we started out with the first few bars. The set proceeded thusly:

You Got Me
Your Eyes, My World
22
Intro / Monkey To The West
Made Of You
Dear Bully
Cat & Mouse
You Said
Zombie
Hold You Together
One Day Soon
So Long
Fall Down

A cracking performance all round, and an incredible reception from an impressive crowd. A few mistakes here and there causing giggles onstage, but not a trainwreck in sight. The atmosphere was compelling, and obviously my personal highlight was that guitar solo in Cat & Mouse - it got an amazing reaction and I honestly thought the roof might come off as that song reached it's finale. All in all, a highly enjoyable gig.

Huge thanks to everyone who came along, particularly my family and friends (special mentions for Beth, Kev and Glenn). It meant a lot that you were there, especially to Sharpey and myself. You rock.

The future holds writing sessions, both for Thea Ford and for Every Other Ones. I'm looking forward to being part of the process! Let's get cracking on some new music.

Til next time
Not Chris, not Harrison, but Chrissy H.

HI-ON SOUTHAMPTON / MAIDSTONE - July 25/26

2009-08-22T07:38:00.000-07:00

HI-ON SOUTHAMPTON & MAIDSTONE

July 25 had arrived, and it was time to go back to The Brook! One of my favourite venues on the circuit, this Southampton bastion of rock is always a blast to play with an enthusiastic crowd. This gig would prove no exception. But I race ahead of myself...

After Kettering's head-gear fiasco, I had made a mental note to remember my wig. Packing my bag in the morning before any ablutions had taken place, I suddenly realised that I had NO idea where the bloody hell me syrup was. A frantic scramble around my bombsite of a bedroom resulted in a bigger mess than there was before. Thankfully our blonde friend was found atop the wardrobe. A quick wash later and it was, as they say, in the bag. It was around this time that I looked at my phone (which was on silent - clever, that) and saw that young Nicko "no moon, gay power!" McBrain Jnr had been trying to get in touch. The poor chap had encountered train trouble and was talking about having to go via Cambridge to get to London from Harlow. Several phone-calls later and the sensible lad had found himself a lift to the nearest tube station instead. Good boy. By this time I had already found myself a seat on a train towards Southampton, and arranged to meet our incumbent tub-thumper at Southampton Airport Parkway. Sneaky pint time!

Guinness...

McBrain arrived around 5pm and we were on our way to Das Brook.

Drummer Attached to Phone...

The train which whisked us towards the closest station to the venue (St. Denys) seemed to have arrived replete with Deceased Passenger. A poor chap across the way from us did not seem to be inhaling, exhaling or otherwise stimulated. "One too many cheese rolls?", I posited on our way off the locomotive. After hardly any walk at all we found ourselves at the venue.

Arriving to find that we had completely missed the load-in (what a shame), I proceeded to set up my gear. After the sweat-drenched Kettering gig a few weeks prior, I had asked Mister Adrian "don't forget yer wig!" Swift if he'd be so kind as to re-string my axe. I'd have done it meself but the guitars venture back to 'Ull with Swifty after each gig. Unfortunately, it had slipped his mind as many things do (the whereabouts of his phone, his glasses, his phone, his passport, his phone...), and I would brave the gig with potentially-breakable strings. Not a massive issue as my back-up guitar had brand new strings 'ponst it. With amp set up and ready to rock, I retired upstairs to the dressing room for a cup of coffee with Bruce "nothing to not drink for" Dugginson. We had a chat about wigs - your humble narrator is getting rather fed up of 'Jenny' (or 'Johnny', if you prefer!) and is in the market for a new rug. Let me know if you've any ideas!

Soundcheck I...

II

Soundcheck went well, and afterwards some of my cohorts naffed off to Big George's for a vat of chips. My good pal and local progressive rock leg-end Mr Lee Abraham had finally made it to a Hi-On gig at The Brook. An absolute joy catching up with you sir! After a cheeky pint with Lee it was time to wig up and get going. No Eddie tonight sadly - he was busy terrorizing Germans in a field somewhere!

The gig itself went well. I had several Brown Notes sending my solos spiralling out of control, and thusly didn't enjoy myself very much. Making mistakes is all well and good, but being consistently rubbish all night is not something that's bound to make you feel good!! That said, the performance overall was splendid. Dugginson had an absolute belter, as did the rest of my cohorts. Mr McBrain threw in a couple of interesting fills to keep us on our toes, especially that little unexpected break in the middle of Murders! Highlights of the night for me were The Prisoner, and Rainmaker which we had never played with this line-up before. Speed "womb room" Harris and I had played it previously at some of my very first gigs as Manic Gers back in November 2003, but I don't believe it had been aired since then. Lovely bits from Mr Murray in there! No sound clips from this weekend I'm afraid folks as there were a few technical difficulties with the sound recording we gained on Swifty's trusty minidisc recorder.

After the gig it was time to pack down. Very slowly! I got all me gear squared away and went to join the publican and his crew at the bar. Unfortunately missing the load-out (honest, when I turned around all the gear was gone off the stage.........), I had a good ol' chat to Bryn and the other charming folks of The Brook (including sound man Jake - top job sir). (At least I think it was Jake. It's been two weeks as I write this!). Then it was a two-hour drive back to Manic Towers for a spot of beer and some kip. I jumped in the Harris family bus and sped off with Speed, realising about ten minutes into the journey that I was busting for a piss. The relief at the other end was spectacular!

I awoke the next morning to be greeted with the news that I was now an uncle. I celebrated this with a yawn, an expulsion of gas and a cup of coffee. Once the rest of the lads were awake we ambled down into Dartford town for a slap-up breakfast. Poor Swifty couldn't quite manage his, and he was somewhat bloated for the return journey. In order to avoid him destroying the lav at Manic Towers I suggested a cheeky pint in one of my local watering holes. A pint of wonderous ale in the back garden of The Royal Oak was in order, followed by another in the Rose & Crown at the top of the hill. Whilst Swifty, Dugginson and I supped on our ale, Messrs Harris and McBrain chucked sharp things at a coloured circle.

Jim Bowen just out of shot...

A Swift pint

Upon returning we had a butchers at Flight 666, which I had not seen yet. Highly enjoyable, with McBrain Jnr shouting out the names of just about everybody in it! In no time at all it was 5pm and time to roll out to Maidenstone. Flaming Henry's provided us with a nice gig upon our last visit 2 years ago (check out the diary from that weekend on our forum...somewhere!). The only thing we weren't looking forward to was the upstairs load-in / downstairs load-out. Gritting our teeth we lugged the gear up the stone steps and through the upstairs kitchen towards the concert hall. The public address system looked a little sad, and had apparently been left on all night much to the dismay of the sound-man. As the rest of us wouldn't be mic-ed up, the naff system was causing Mr Dugginson much fluster. It does massively suck knowing that no-one will be able to hear your remarkable talents as a musician. One speaker stack seemed to be working, the other not. The red mist was rising, so I quickly set up and retired to the dressing room not wanting to be Bruce's next victim!!!

Backstage antics I...

II...

III...

IV...

V...

VI

The gig itself was well played by all members, but to a teeny tiny audience. This was the cause of some consternation amongst us Hi-On chaps, as the gig had been rescheduled twice because the venue had apparently not received our posters and thusly couldn't advertise. We arrived to find that they had received our posters, put up a few of their own and assumed people would just turn up. This was a crying shame as the gig last time had been fairly well attended and received rapturously. Such is life, it seems. My personal diary from the evening sums it up thusly: "Good gig, no audience, shit P.A.". Not a lot more to say, really!

We sat around drinking for roughly three weeks before finally giving into our fate and lugging all the gear back downstairs. Not anyone's idea of fun, but at least the load-out wasn't upstairs. That would be killer. Nicko went home with his mother and Mr Harris bid us farewell at the base of the stairs. Swifty, Duggan and I buggered off back to mine and enjoyed a Pink Floyd DVD with some beer before turning in for the night.

That's it from us until September, which sees us doing a mini-tour of Yorkshire. Looking forward to some nice views and some even nicer beer!

Til then, up the irons!

Dave "Uncle Manic" Hurry

HI-ON KETTERING - 4 July 2009 - INCLUDING LIVE TRACKS

2009-07-06T14:17:00.001-07:00

HI-ON KETTERING

From the 1500 to Corby

Back to Sawyers! We had a great time last year at this venue and I expect an even better night this time round.

My day started off easy with a mild hangover thanks to a booze-filled night of music composition the night before. Another scorchingly hot day, made even more onerous by the heavy rucksack and Gibson Les Paul Studio in a hardcase which had to be transported to a luthier in Westbourne Park. Avoid Denmark Street. They ruin guitars. This particular guitar has a tiny hump in the neck, which is not a mssive problem. I'm told this fella can do wonders with gutiars, so I've left my new baby in his hands until Wednesday when I need to pick it up for another rehearsal. Yes, Manic has been a busy boy during Hi-On's downtime! In the last few months I formed another metal covers band, joined a London-based singer-songwriter's group as guitarist and keyboard player, formed a minimalist/post-rock group and continued to write my own material. Music is the best, kids.

Leaving Dartford on the slowest train there is, I started listening to Maiden and making mental notes. It's been a long time since I played any (except The Trooper, which is a song the other covers band do). I'm very nervous about tonight. Will my fingers remember what they're supposed to do? Will it be odd returning to a Fender Stratocaster after months of playing nothing but a Les Paul? I should arrive at around 4pm to meet Bruce "stick it on t'end of yer feller" Dugginson who has been pottering around Northamptonshire on his own this afternoon.

--------------

Later

I arrived at the venue to find Duggers hard at work in the dressing room scribbling lyrics out. Mister Bruce has been busy himself singing with several bands both original and covers. With a voice like that, it's no wonder he's in demand. This man's voice makes me wonder what it would have been like had Hi-On been fronted by him from the off - he's in a different league from just about every other singer I've ever had the privelege to share the stage with (especially that Biggest Dickinson fella....he was rubbish as Swindon fans can testify!!!)

Duggers...

The rest of the band weren't far behind, and soon enough Adrian "would you rather die or have a fish shoved up your arse?" Swift trundled up in the hired Van of No Terror and Quite Acceptable Radio Reception. Having decided to wait for the other two before unloading the gear we settled down for a pint in the sunshine. Sure enough, the bass player arrived next. His nickname needs a line to itself, as it's quite hard to imagine it casually dropped in a sentence somewhere:

Speed "I'm going to get me a big, big, big, big, big car, then I'm gonna drive, drive, drive, I'm gonna drive so far up your boulevard" Harris

After berating me briefly for my recent ironic choices in headwear (flat cap and aviators are not such a good look, it turns out!), we were joined by Nicko "I came on Eileen" McBrain Jnr. Nicko's lovely mum Linda had brought a chaperone in the form of young Jack, a fine upstanding young lad in a rather striking checked shirt. After chatting for a bit we began to haul the noisy things from the back of the van. It's at times like this that I feel for poor Mister Swift, who has to load all this in the van by himself in Hull before setting off to a gig. In no time at all we were set up and ready to go. Big Ginger (forgotten his name again!!) the sound man is a diamond, letting us play as loud as we want (well, as loud as Mr Dugginson will let us!) and even recording the show for us on minidisc, the fruits of which will be spotted throughout this diary in what I hope will become a regular feature. (Note to Swifty - don't lose yer minidisc recorder!)

Gear stage left...

...and stage right.

As much as we love playing these songs, we do need to change it up every now and then and try some songs we haven't done for a long time (or at all). This week's candidate was the climactic Only The Good Die Young from Maiden's seventh studio effort. I had completely forgotten to learn this, but managed to get my fingers round it perfectly well on first go save the solo at the end, which required a quick listen on the ol' iPod. There's a particularly tricky run of notes in Swifty's solo which I must give props to him for pulling off.

It's been quite a while since the last gig. I had spent most of the journey with the strange feeling that I'd left something behind. Maybe I'd forgotten to lock the front door or left the iron on. Then, while loading the Marshall cabs in, it hit me. I'd only gone and left me wig at home! "Oh, bother" you might think. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't that worried. Knowing that a heatwave gig in a packed pub can cause physical problems at the best of times, I knew I'd be much happier without any headgear on this particular evening. There just so happened to be a 'general store' over the road which had, bizarrely, a number of wigs in the window! Lucky for me, it was shut...

After a few rehearsal songs in soundcheck we naffed off for a bite to eat. I was amazed at how tight we were after the two month break between gigs. On the train on the way in, I'd listened to a spot of Maiden and to be honest I wasn't that up for playing it. Of late I've been somewhat musically overworked! However as soon as we launched into 2 Minutes To Midnight in soundcheck I instantly remembered why I love this band so much. There's a unique chemistry to this band now that there never was in the past - we're so much more than the sum of the parts these days. Magic!

Mister Swift likes his dinner, but what's Bellamy selling? Birth to teens?

Moseying back to the venue I did a quick string change on my back-up guitar and got ready to go on. I will admit it felt a little bit weird out onstage without the wig on in this band, but oddly liberating at the same time - I didn't feel nearly as much of a prat as I normally do! The gig was a blinder, despite the sweltering heat we soldiered on. As Big Ginger rightfully pointed out, the LED changer lights were much more welcome than scorching PAR cans would have been! Only The Good... went down well, as did Flash Of The Blade. It's nice to do some slightly more unusual ones that Maiden don't play live, and those songs were definitely highlights for me. Duggers was having a bit of a microphone issue - the man's voice keeps killing his wireless mic! Some sort of deal ought to be made with Shure, methinks - "Build me an indestructible microphone!". Might have to have a word at Music Live in November... Eddie "want me Tina Turner wig?" The 'Ead made an appearance, which is always welcome. Old 'Ed decided to loan me his wig, which caused much hilarity onstage - the words Rod and Stewart were mentioned!

With Sawyers suitably rocked to the core, we went and wrung ourselves out in the changing room. My gig clothes are still not dry, and it's now two days later! An absolutely cracking gig, with some familiar faces in the crowd (lovely to see Kay, John, Carmel and Jason!). After some generously provided beers we carted the gear off and said goodbye to Messrs Harris and McBrain who went off to their respective homesteads, while Swifty, Duggers and I retired to the nearest Travelodge. The next morning we checked out the recording, blew off extensively in the hotel room and enjoyed a Little Chef brekkie. Top hole.

Brilliant to be back at it. Two more gigs this month, August off for holidays then back with a vengeance in September to ride out the year with several trips abroad (and even up north!). Until next time...

Dave "baldy Murray" Hurry

GOCSTOCK IV - Passport to Redwood

2009-06-21T13:30:00.001-07:00

(Photos to be added later)

First, an introduction.

A very lovely friend of mine by the name of Georgina O'Callaghan (otherwise known as Goc) essentially owns a forest. A whole forest. A God-be-praised "Gerroff my laaaand!" forest, with an abundance of trees and insects. Each year Goc holds a festival on the site which usually entails a spot of camping, a lot of drinking and music a-plenty. While it's always a cracking way to spend a weekend, this year was above and beyond.

Not only were the stops pulled out, they were thrown in the flippin' campfire.

My 'Stock experience began on Thursday in the early afternoon. I lugged my stuff to the main stage, which was covered in hippies. Said stage was an enormous Bedouin-style tent, with a raised stage at the front and various crazy cushions strewn about the place. The bearer of my second home (a large-ish tent dubbed "Le Chateau") was to arrive later, so I set my tools down and went for a canter around the site. Goc "dude, I'm f*cking wrecked" O'Callaghan zoomed past in the distance on the phone, no doubt battling with the council. A little further into the woods I found her partner-in-crime taking out a tree with his hammer of justice. Sasha "don't ask me how I'm doing" Zivojinovic was setting up the pathway lighting with a team of two. I helpfully stood about doing very little on the whole while all the hard work went on in front of me. Dave "are you hungover yet?" Hazell and Wolf "ZILTOID!" Alexander were also bashing things about into working condition, and the Psychedeliyurt was also arriving. Things were getting in the swing, so in the spirit of the 'Stock I picked up my ukulele and did my wandering minstrel bit around the forest. In the midst of playing a few songs for the trees, I spotted Dave Hazell on his way to make a deposit. It seems that bears do shit in the woods after all.

The local authority, who had granted Goc and Sasha the license to hold their event months ago, decided to intervene at the last minute. It seems as though the Environmental Health department don't talk to the Entertainment Licenses folk. The phone call had come in earlier on Thursday informing Goc that there would be a health and safety inspection at 11:30am Friday morning. We got together and had a little chat about the whole shebang. I have a few relevant qualifications and invited the organisers to direct the inspectors in my direction if they needed a bit of extra blagging. After a check round the site for anything stupidly obvious and shifting a few nailed planks, I monged out somewhere waiting for the rest of the Thursday 'Stockers to arrive. Ross "better than Communism" Burton arrived with our tent in tow, along with some of the booze we had shopped for that morning. The Biggest-Tent-In-The-World-that-isn't-really-that-enormous had also arrived, courtesy of Beth "I've already vommed twice" Ellard who was not staying that evening due to work commitments in the morning. Beth, Ross and I set about erecting the structure with varying degrees of success and lots of swearing. David "SAMOSAS!" Sharpe lent a hand and we polished off the porch. Ross and I couldn't be arsed to set up our own so we sorted out the air-beds (luxury / deluxe) and elected to squat in Beth's tent that evening. With that done, it was officially Pimms o'clock. The rest of the evening was spent mucking about in the woods and by the campfire, where a good jam session happened (I even brought out the Stylophone - fun, but irritating!). At some point, sleep occurred.

Up early on Friday morning to greet the health and safety inspectors, I had a mosey round picking up rubbish, disposing of / hiding flint and generally tidying up a bit. Goc literally only had an hour to spare for these guys, and they were massively late. And jobsworth-y. They did raise a couple of salient points, but generally I got the impression that they just wanted to lord it over us all. Either that or they wanted an excuse to get out of the office on a Friday morning. At any rate it was a waste of time. Everything reasonably practicable had been done or was being done. The enormous generator arrived, and things started getting hooked up to power. While that was going on, Burton and I made Le Chateau appear. Not the easiest pitch in the world but we managed it without too much swearing. Mr Hazell needed a hand getting some techy bits and bobs, so we made an off-site excursion out of it. Nipping to Sainsburys in Otford for lunch, festival booze and a poo, I ran into a couple of family members unexpectedly doing their shopping 12 miles away from home. I smell a rat. My family are spying on me. Or they're raptors. Or both.

Back on site (after a bit of sat-nav confusing - one of the hippies had pranged his motor and blocked the best route in!) the punters had started arriving. Gocstock had started. I nabbed myself a coffee from the Solar Café, and strolled around getting ready to perform. Sharpey and I were opening with a short acoustic set, so a quick rehearsal in the bell tent ensued. After ironing out a few kinks we were ready to go. Tuning that 12-string is a nightmare - I should have listened to Sharpey and changed the strings. Idiota. C'est la vie. On we went! The music began, and the setlist looked like this:

Again & Again (a Sharpe original)
Hitchin' A Ride
The Kids From Kibble And The Fist Of Light
Kid Gloves
Happy Birthday, Dear Shivani
Rubber Lover

We went down a storm, and even had an offer to open for a certain other artist's album launch show in August! More on that later. After a short break it was my turn to bust out some solo tunes. I had decided to bring a load of instruments with me to distribute amongst the audience so people could play along. Keeping those tunes simple and in C was a must! I had also been given numerous requests beforehand, so most of this setlist was by popular demand and went down very well accordingly. The set ran thusly:

When You Give Your Love To Me
Born To Run
Swing Life Away
Gracie
American Pie
It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
(at this point instruments were dished out)
Five Years Time
Common People
Don't Stop Believing (you know, that Journey song)
Such Great Heights
Cat & Mouse (with Thea Ford)
So Long (with Thea Ford)

The reception was unbelievable - with so many people singing along and some awesome work from those with instruments, I was a very happy camper. But that wasn't it for the evening, not by a long shot. Thursday night's secluded campfire jam with Wolf had included a rather nice version of "Summer of '69", and Wolf had asked me on Friday if I'd get up onstage with him to perform this for the audience. Another great reception, Wolf Alexander is one talented man. I hope to work with him more in future!

The rest of the evening was a success, and I already knew this would turn out to be the best Gocstock ever. There were some insanely talented people onstage, and the atmosphere couldn't be beaten. David "flat battery" Riley turned up late due to a vehicular malfunction, and various other friends turned up throughout the evening. Once music had ceased on the main stage, I was summoned to lead the campfire singalong where I threw out a good hour's worth of crowd-pleasers before passing the buck on. Another gig under the belt, though don't ask me about the setlist for this one as I haven't the foggiest! All I remember is Victoria "PLAY JOURNEY!" Barry demanding that I run through that same song again. Thankfully she didn't ask for it every five seconds this year! After handing over the torch I grabbed some Reggae Reggae dinner and relaxed in the 'yurt, which became my spiritual home over the course of the weekend. At some point, sleep occurred.

Up early again on Saturday morning, my first gig of the day was at noon. Or, I should say, approximately at noon. It got to 11am and it suddenly occurred to me that the drumkit wasn't on-stage. Luckily I knew where Rob "Red Room" Archibald was pitched and went to grab him. Eventually prising him from his tent, the kit started appearing from the car. The first act on was Thea Ford, a stunning singer-songwriter currently based in London town. I auditioned as guitarist a month or two ago without realising that this group were also playing at Gocstock. I'm rather excited to be a part of this project, along with the effervescent Mark O'Neill on bass and Thea's chap Nevin Sood of Balthazaar Mandrake filling in on t'drums. The gig went on more-or-less on time, with the setlist running as follows:

You Got Me
Dear Bully
You Said
So Long
Zombie
Cat & Mouse
Made Of You
One Day Soon
22

Thea's MySpace will soon be updated with finished studio cuts - demos can be heard at http://www.myspace.com/theaford

Another good reception, though not a particularly communicative one as several (scratch that) every single audience member was nursing a hangover! A steadfast performance from all concerned, with one minor smelly moment occurring in Zombie - poor Nev thought we'd finished during the guitar solo, robbing me of my glorious moment. Disgraceful. Bloody drummers! We were followed by the quite frankly amazing Bathroom Sally (http://www.myspace.com/bathroomsally), who blew my mind. Unfortunately I couldn't check out the whole set as I had to get ready for my next (and thankfully last!) gig of the weekend. Curse These Metal Hands were making their debut, and I had stage gear to get into!

Sasha flibbled up to the stage looking as if he might literally drop dead at any second. The poor boy had been working his ass off along with his Kit Kaboodle Kolleagues, and it was certainly taking it's toll. Where he found the energy to rock the gig I have absolutely no idea. Goc later told me it was fruit drops and sugar. Whatever it was, it works - that man plays circles round me as a guitarist. After Rob spent roughly six months setting up his kit, we rocked forth with the following set:

Always & Never
Accident of Birth
The Trooper
Taking The Queen
Metallica Medley - i. Orion ii. Master Of Puppets iii. Creeping Death
There's No Such Thing As A Jaggy Snake (featuring David Sharpe)
Jesus of Suburbia
Welcome Home

I wasn't enamored with the early part of the gig, but we rocked things out sufficiently and by the end we were on top form. A HUGE thanks to the rest of the lads for agreeing to do some silly metal, and a bigger thanks to the audience for putting up with guitar tuning!!! The minute poor Sasha put his guitar down he died a death and was bundled off back home to recharge his batteries.

Mayfly Trio took the stage and I collapsed in a bit of a heap. I think I was a bit burned out myself, having played 5 gigs in under 24 hours. Looking back on it now it was a bit of a marathon! I could quite happily leave the guitar alone for a week or two now. After the Trio I went and had a lie down in my tent for an hour or so. UpCDownC were fun from where I was, but were probably massively too loud at the main stage. I came back recharged and went to grab some Reggae Reggae dinner once again (that stuff is like crack). The wonderful Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring (http://www.myspace.com/theirheartswerefullofspring) had been delayed, so the equally wonderous Green Rock River Band took the stage an hour early to keep us all sated. Check them out here - http://www.myspace.com/thegreenrockriverband. I simply can't say enough good things about these two bands. Pete "better than cannabis" Heaney fell massively in love with one of the young Hearts ladies. I tried to convince him to tell her how he felt, but he was a little bit shy. Kaplick, who had been running the solar cafe by the main stage and plying me with brandy infused coffee all weekend, were the last act on. Very early Porcupine Tree vibe, which I enjoyed immensely. The rest of my evening was spent chilling in the 'Yurt with various people, and enjoying some impromptu jazz at the Gin Palace. I do vaguely remember some card playing with Dave "gorilla" Diedo and Richard "you're for it, you are" Gush, but by that point I'd had the best part of a box of Banrock Station and was therefore a little the worse for wear.

At some point, hideously loud snoring occurred.

The festival was a complete success. The woods, music, my friends, wine, music, Reggae Reggae sauce, wine, music, Psychedeliyurt, gorillas, no rain, wine and music! Love it. Love you!

Chrissy H

HI-ON PONTYPOOL - 25 April 2009

2009-05-02T06:17:00.000-07:00

HI-ON PONTYPOOL

April has been a frustrating month for the Hi-On boys. Four gigs had originally been in the book, but due to factors outside our control this had been whittled down to one. Apologies again to anyone who was planning to venture to High Wycombe, Maidstone or indeed Camberley (including the posse coming from Worcester!) - these are all in the rescheduling phase. The current economic climate is making venues and promoters alike a little more cautious. Thankfully, the recession doesn't seem to have reached as far as South Wales!

Another lengthy journey from Manic Towers has begun, and as I type I am sat aboard the train out of Paddington whisking me towards Newport. It's good to be intentionally en route to Wales - last time I wound up in Newport it was due to drunkenly getting on the wrong train at Swindon!!! No time for the obligatory pint of Guinness at Paddington, in fact barely time for a cup of cheap tasty filter coffee before boarding the train. This particular train seems to have been put together by some illiterate paeon, as the carriages from front to back are lettered A, B, E, D, C, F, G, H! Figure that one out.

Dartford...

...Paddington...

...and cheap coffee!

The first portion of the journey was spent editing together a written history of this band. Look out for this going on the website soon, as soon as Adrian "there's free drink, there's free drink!" Swift can get it up. As it were.

---

Stonkingly, upon arrival at the venue I found a Lord-be-praised Hammond organ upstairs. HALLELUJAH! Mister Hurry was a happy boy. There I sat, armed with nothing but a pint of Guinness and my short chubby fingers, and attacked the beast with what must have been a good hour or so of prog rock keyboard machinations. There I was when Speed "it's good being small" Harris turned up with mini-Speed (no, not Duggers) in tow. Our quarters not only had plastic ivories to tinkle, but was also kitted out with drums. Some of you may note from Mr Harris's bio on the main site that he started out as a drummer, and much of the time between their arrival and the rest of the band rolling up was spent knocking out Hammond and drum arrangements of Maiden classics. We should have recorded the whole thing. As Speed rightly pointed out, it would have made for an awesome Hawkwind album.

Hammond and Guinness...

Speed 'did a Jamie' and wandered off with his little'un just a short while before the Van of Wonder and Not So Much Terror As The Other One turned up with the rest of the group. Adrian "where's the Jäger?" Swift had managed to pinpoint the venue a whole hour-and-a-half after the normal 5pm arrival time, which is in fairness pretty good for him! Around the same time my pal Andy from Caerdydd turned up, who I haven't seen for many years - at least not since Maiden played the Birmingham NEC on the Dance of Death tour! Good to see you mate, don't be a stranger!

Local lads "Bag of Bones" were in the support slot tonight, and patiently waited while we loaded the gear in and set up for a little run-through Flash of the Blade, which didn't even go into the setlist! As we were running a bit late and had a support act, the set had to be truncated slightly to meet the 11pm noise curfew. This isn't a big deal at all, unless you're a mad old bat in Ipswich. No decibel meters in Pontypool however, and once we were set up and checked we headed off upstairs to get ready. The Bones boys warmed up the crowd a treat, and in no time at all it was time to wig up and get on with it.

First off, what a crowd! Lively isn't the word for it. During the first song or two there was a bit of a cat-fight going on in front of Swifty, which I believe resulted in some spillage all over his foot pedals. No user errors occured, so hopefully all is well down there! Yours truly had forgotten his earplugs, and was having trouble hearing himself while trying to stay away from standing in front of his amplifier. In a small place like this, you tend not to mic up the amps. Stand in front of them, and the sound doesn't carry quite so well. Especially when your arse is as big as mine! At any rate, good performances all round. Jonno "text sex!" Lodge was on fine form as our stand-in drummer. Bruce "I love playing with this band" Dugginson was almost knocked into Jonno during last song thanks to some rather over-enthusiastic moshing from the punters, and I nearly had a glass in the face from the same incident. Despite that it was great to see the crowd having a great time and getting into it.

After the show is a bit of a blur. I know there was plenty of Guinness, countless shots of ye olde Jägermeister and probably some other stuff as well. Good times! I'm known as the band member who can hold his drink, but I must admit after drinking as much as I did I had to retire a short while before the rest of the band in order to maintain this illusion! I was awoken a little while later to find a large dog sharing the bed with me, which was most unexpected!

The next morning brought with it the prospect of packing down the gear. The Harris's had naffed off the night before - in fact I think this weekend Speed managed to get away without humping a single piece of equipment! We'll have to do something about that next time.

I waved cheerio to the van as it whisked my pals away, and wandered off to Ponty train station to start the long journey home. A thoroughly enjoyable gig. Thanks again to Jonno for stepping in for this gig, and thanks to the lovely folk at the Hog for putting us up / putting up with us / getting us wrecked. Most enjoyable, get us booked back in soon yeah?!

Homeward bound...

Back at Dartford...

Til next time,

Dave "not enough notes on this thing" Hurry

PS: Jonno, saw this on the way home and thought of you...!!!

HI-ON TAVISTOCK - 21 March 2009

2009-03-23T12:31:00.001-07:00

HI-ON TAVISTOCK - 21 March 2009

12:30pm

On a normal working day, your humble narrator gets himself out of bed at 7am. He attempts to consume some sort of sustenance alongside a cup of tea, normally watching the news or mucking about on the internet. With his hunger satisfied he performs his ablutions, dons his suit and buggers off.

On a Saturday, his usual mantra is: "Don't wake me, I plan on sleeping in." But not this Saturday. This Saturday, which just so happens to be one equinox or the other, his weekday routine is repeated (sans suit). The journey to Tavistock is a lengthy one, and he wants to be there with time to savour a tasty pint of finest Devonshire ale with his Yorkshire bandmates who have already got most of the miles under their belts.

Dartford...

...to Paddington

The trusty interweb tells me that the nearest station to The Wharf is Gunnislake, one of the first villages past the border with Cornwall. Gunnislake is reached via Plymouth, and so I sit speeding to the west on a beautiful sunny day. I really do rather like train travel. When everything is running smoothly (which it is today thus far), it really is the most relaxing way to travel. Miles of green English countryside either side of the steel. I'll stop there before I become a trainspotter.

Looking north...

We're making a recording of tonight's show, and as such the setlist is packed with spectacular slabs of the finest Maiden we can muster. The foreknowledge that your performance is being laid down for posterity is often a daunting bit of information. I vehemently dislike making mistakes on the best of nights, and while the professional in me doesn't let a Brown Note spoil the rest of the show it is often the thing I remember most clearly afterwards. There are also a couple of solos that I nearly always trip up on because, to be honest, I'm not Dave Murray. The wig gives this away somewhat, but the fingers do more of the talking. Confidence in my own performance has never been my strong point, and although I know that I do a more than competent job in this band I do still hope Adrian "a bit of an accident with the ol' Jagermeister" Swift doesn't have to replace too many of my solos with his own more experienced fingerwork!

4:30pm

Gunnislake I...

Gunnislake II - end of the line

I arrived at 4pm to find the rest of the band already here. Thankfully this meant that practically all the gear was out of the van and on the stage, so I set up me gear in record time and fucked off back to the dressing room! Messrs Swift and Speed "your wood vibrates at G sharp?" Harris were concerning themselves with aesthetic matters, while all myself and Bruce "the scaffolders were bastards!" Dugginson wanted to do was have a cheeky pint of Tribute as we had planned to do before settling in. Perhaps time for that later. For now, having only eaten a piece of toast today I have the shakes. Some grub is sorely needed - last time we were on these grounds (which, let me say, are rather spectacular) we were treated to a barbecue. And then an argument about whether we were doing two sets or not.

Backstage I...

Backstage II - with Viz

---

8:30pm

Reading my last sentence back, it seems like a little bit of history repeating (to quote the Propellerheads). We soundchecked, had a bit of barbecue, and then an argument about whether we were doing two sets or not! Needless to say, common sense prevailed and one set was agreed on. Before going on I settled in with a pint of Tribute (found at the bar in the venue - genius!) and had a chat with Daryl and Pat who were kindly filming us from the side of the stage. They've seen most of the tribute bands who come through this venue, so we swapped stories of primadonnas and a certain Geordie c*nt for a brief while until it was time to wig up and rock out. I walked out onto the stage to turn my amplifier on (got to let those valves warm up, boys and girls) and to my astonishment the crowd was HUGE. This was going to be a good night.

A nice pint...

---

Sunday 22 March - 11:00am

Bloody hell, that were a good'un. Running out onstage as the Moonchild intro kicked into gear the crowd went nuts. This is what it should be like every week!! With the current economic climate, venues are dying and people haven't been going out as much. This has been a cause of great frustration for us and other bands of our ilk. Last night was exceptional - Tavistock, you're a fucking noisy bunch! Opening up with Moonchild, I was conscious of the recording and concentrated extra hard on locking in with the rest of the band. Going for that rather splendid tapping solo I found myself nearly knocked over by Mr Dugginson, sending my fingers into a flurry of Brown Notes! Still, never mind - that's what overdubs are for! 2 Minutes followed in fine fashion, though Speed was having a few gear issues - he knocked his wireless transmitter out of his jack, which meant no thunderous bass for a few bars. It's moments like that when you realise how much that enormo-amp contributes to the sound of this band. My sound however was lovely - I don't often get the chance to crank that amp as we play slightly smaller places a lot of the time. When it's up to eleven, it's a heavenly sound that really does make me tingle in my special place. The Prisoner made a welcome repeat appearance, although I right royally ballsed up the first pre-chorus earning me a disparaging glare from Mister Swift. Recording is always a mixed bag - we could have really done with two nights but it didn't pan out that way. Revelations, always one of my favourites, was storming.

Guitar solo from another dimension...

The real treat was to follow - Flash of the Blade is becoming a bit of a speciality. That song is so much fun to play, it almost hurts. A workmanlike Number of the Beast was plowed through before we got to the one I was waiting for - Alexander the Great. When the intro tape rolled I didn't sense much reaction from the punters. However they all went absolutely barmy at the end! Definitely a crowd favourite, and a bit of a highlight for me as well with that splendid melodic middle section. Children of the Damned and Rime of the Ancient Mariner were served up next (that's right, Rime and Alex in the same show), before a classic run-out: Flight of Icarus, The Trooper, Fear of the Dark, Hallowed Be Thy Name & Iron Maiden. Eddie "tchow!" The 'Ead showed up once again, bloody knife et al, throwing the ten ton finger at his helpless Devon victims. We legged it off and waited for the right moment to hit the intro tape for what was a fairly unconventional encore opener, Aces High. Listening to the tape, I was almost convinced I'd imagined the last hour and a half and we were about to start the show! Needless to say it worked really well, as did 22 Acacia Avenue which followed. Fearing we'd be lynched if we didn't, we bunged Phantom of the Opera in at the last minute before closing out with Running Free and Run to the Hills (five song encore - that's almost Turkey-length!). Absolutely cracking. I made plenty of silly mistakes in places I never normally do, which I guess is the curse of recording. Still, should be a reasonable document of a fantastic night.

After a short post-mortem I wandered out to the bar where I was immediately set upon by rabid groupies - spectacular! Lovely bunch of people come out to the shows here, Maiden fans through and through. I remember very few names, but thanks to Clayton (who actually reads this diary - oi oi!) and his ladyfriend Jody, Paul, Andrew, Andy, the tall bloke I was talking to about Pink Floyd and his pals....all of yer! Top people. Bring even more friends next time!!! A couple of sneaky pints later it was time to pack down. I got my gear all put away and then went for a quiet sit down in the dressing room with Dugginson and Harris.

A short drive to the Travelodge, quick bit of Ginsters and it was off to sleep. Poor Mr Harris has been struck with Devil Bug, and so took my mantle as the snorer of the band. I was on the floor, having decided that the backpiece of the sofa (dubbed "The Manic Cushion") had a few too many dubious stains on it. In no time at all it was daylight and time to head off - the Yorkshire contingent have a hell of a drive ahead of them, and myself and Nicko "orrrr that's goooood." McBrain Jnr have a three-hour plus train jaunt back home to Mother's Day.

Homeward...

I will leave you with a selection of photos of Mr Dugginson, utilising a well placed domestic device to demonstrate...well, I'm sure you'll guess. Until next time, Tavistock - you fucking rock!!!

Up the irons
Dave "real ale twat" Hurry

HI-ON DUDLEY - 21 February 2009

2009-02-23T14:20:00.000-08:00

Back to JB's for the first time in 2009! Last time was a bit of a let down, as for various reasons (including Dudley fireworks night and seemingly no advertising at all from the venue) we might as well have played to an empty room. Hopefully this time around would be more fulfilling!

I had another lazy Saturday morning and wandered down to the train station in the early afternoon. I had arranged to meet up with Nicko "...and a hen in it's late forties!" McBrain Jnr at London Euston just before 3pm, so there was no rush.

The journey begins I...

II...

III...

IV...

V

One overground train, one underground train and one cup of coffee later I met with the aforementioned tubthumper by the departure board. According to Multimap.com (endorsed by Dave Hurry) the nearest railway station to the venue was Tipton, though I doubt there's much in it between that and Dudley Port. Nevertheless, Tipton was our final destination. After an uneventful trip to Brum and twenty minutes stuck still at Birmingham New Street (THIS is Birmingham New Street....oh God, that place is a level of the inferno unto itself) we finally arrived at Tipton and summoned a limousine to whisk us to the venue.

The journey continues I...

II...

III...

IV

After being accosted by a hairy drug and booze fuelled hobo (and receiving the news that the rest of the band were some distance away), myself and McBrain wandered up to the nearest drinking hole for a crafty pint. I hadn't managed to have me pint of Guinness en route, so I made up for lost time in The Fellows. Nothing like a glass of the black stuff to cure what ails ya. I love Guinness. Have you ever noticed?

We sauntered back to the venue to find the Yorkshire contingent had just pulled up, and the load in commenced. Adrian "I really am sh*t, aren't I?" Swift had hired another spectacular Selectadrive chariot for the journey. If you're ever in need of a hire vehicle in Hull, there's none finer. As gear was carted to and fro, Mister Bruce "jizz on yer tits" Dugginson regaled us with stories of a recent trip to Ireland (particularly focused on the octogenarian fumblings of the couple in the hotel room next door.....oooh, Matron!). The missing member turned up (with two kids in tow) and soundcheck followed. A quick (and fairly unsuccessful) run through of Innocent Exile ensured it's absence from the setlist, with 22 Acacia Avenue slipping in to take it's place. Support was provided by the boys from Disarm Goliath, quite possibly our favourite support band ever! Have a look on the interweb for 'em - they are so metal, it hurts. We had a chat with bandleader Steve about trips to the United States and what the most inspiring Judas Priest song titles are, and then it was time for a bit of dinner. Four of us selected the pub, while Speed "taking your granny down to Devon" Harris took himself and his clan down to Maccy D's.

Over lasagne, curry and scampi we mused on the evening to come. None of us were hopeful of a good turnout, as the venue had yet again omitted us from their gig list. We're advertised a week before a show these days. There's nothing we can do to stop our venues from shooting themselves in the foot like that, but it's massively frustrating. I personally was quite depressed by the prospect of the audience here at JB's continuing to dwindle, given that it was the site of my first gig with this band and, on that night, was RAMMED. Still, the show must go on and we zoomed back to the dressing room.

Backstage I...

II

Disarm Goliath were already stripping the wallpaper for miles around with their thunderous jams, while us Hi-On's prepared to take the stage. Some more members of the Speed Harris family tree arrived, excited to see their uncle in a wig (well, who wouldn't be?). Brief looks out the stage door revealed a gradually filling room. A bigger audience than last time arrived, which was a bit more inspiring but I was still miserable as sin before we went on. Oddly enough, I always end up enjoying gigs more when I'm massively fed up before I go on. Nowhere to go but up, I suppose!

The first few bars of Moonchild hit, and I realised that I'd left a pleccy wedged between the strings at the end of the neck. Clever! The Evil That Men Do was storming, and The Prisoner also went quite well apart from one Brown Chord from yours truly. I don't believe we've treated JBs to that one in recent years, and it sat quite well in what was a "The Number Of The Beast"-heavy set. Die With Your Boots On followed which is always a joy to play. Flash Of The Blade was absolutely mega, with Children, 22 and Run To The Hills continuing the theme of the evening (there's so many strong songs on that record it's hard not to play half of it at every gig). We even pulled out Alexander The Great for JBs, which is something I remember playing at my first gig there in 2005 but I don't believe it's been vaulted out there since. I had a complete brainfart during the sweet harmony in the middle section, but it didn't make many odds - that section has such a great groove to it. Certainly one of the best musical constructs in the Maiden arsenal, if not a lyrical triumph! Flight of Icarus, The Trooper and Fear of the Dark led us to the usual end of the main set. No Eddie this time sadly, with Mr Eddie "more theatrics?" The 'Ead busy watching Judas Priest somewhere I believe. We encored with Number of the Beast, with Speed's normal count-in replaced with something totally devoid of rhythm that made me crack up and miss me entry. He always tries to throw me off with that one, and for once it worked! Phantom of the Opera was barnstorming as ever, and we rounded off with Hallowed Be Thy Name. Mr Dugginson also suffered from temporary dementia it seemed, as the last line before the instrumental break was replaced by a rather impressive single held note! Superb.

All in all, a damn good performance all round. The temptation is often to sit around and dissect the performance, but on this occasion it was all about relaxing and hanging around. For ages! We all had a pop at the punch machine - having only ever thrown one or two punches in my life my first effort skimmed, but the second was much more respectable. Dugginson decided to attack it with a running headbutt, to the eternal giggle of Nicko Jnr who captured the moment on video.

After grabbing some bevvies to take with us and divvying up the readies, it was goodbye to JBs for the evening. We set off to the Travelodge and parted ways with Mr Harris, who had the drive back to Pembroke ahead of him. Ten minutes later he was the other end of the M4. It's amazing! The remaining quartet settled in the room with a couple of beers and random banter. By this time it was well gone 4am. JB's is an exhausting gig in as much as you're in the venue for around 11 hours, and sometimes more. It goes something like this:

5pm - Arrival and set up (dependent on traffic)
6 or 6.30pm - Soundcheck
7.30pm - Support band arrive and soundcheck
9pm - Doors open
10pm - Support on-stage
11pm - Hi-On Maiden onstage
12.30am ish - Hi-On Maiden offstage
3.30am - Kickout time for punters
4am - Hi-On get paid and leave!

That's usually about how it happens. Not a lot of time for kip, but just about enough to ensure you get home without collapsing from exhaustion. The morning arrived quickly and we resumed our patronage of the Little Chefs that grace our great nation's A roads. Breakfast with afters. Choice!

Tasty dessert I...

II

We said our goodbyes and I accompanied Master McBrain back to the station where a bus was waiting to whisk us towards Brum. A comfy train ride took us back to London Euston and there we said our goodbyes. I arrived home at 5ish and had a lie down. Then got up on Monday for work! Thoroughly enjoyable (despite the pre-gig depression). Good to see a couple of the old guard at JBs, always a pleasure to see Miss Carmel all sober and sensible...!!! We all enjoyed ourselves onstage and you can't really ask for much more than that.

The journey home I...

II...

III - Home!

Until next time, UP THE IRONS!

Dave "someone else do me nickname" Hurry

HI-ON SWINDON - 13 February 2009

2009-02-15T03:53:00.000-08:00

HI-ON SWINDON 2009

Paddington Station - 3pm

At last! Back on the road after two months off for Christmas, the ball starts rolling again.

The day began with a nice lie-in and some incredibly lazy breakfasting. Time got away from me, and before I knew it I had to get my arse in gear and my gear in my bag. Two things occurred to me immediately. One, I had forgotten to buy some things I wanted to kit myself out with fresh for the year (guitar stands, various adaptors etc). Two, I had absolutely no idea where that bloody wig had been hiding. Having apparently gone on a festive holiday of it's own, I discovered it under my bed. After digging it out from all the back issues of "Big & Bouncy", "Soft Tits" and "1001 Things To Do With A Dead Drummer", it was stuffed in the bag along with the rest of the stage gear and I was out the door. Swindon is a fairly easy journey from Manic Towers, and despite my fears of last night's snow settling and disrupting southern train services everything has thus far been smooth. I've installed myself in the pub at Paddington (whatever the one on the concourse is called) for an overpriced Guinness and a spot of contemplation.

This time last year we had just begun our gig cycle with a couple of right barnstormers - Farnborough comes to mind instantly as the one we have recording of. The months apart did nothing to detriment our playing, apart from a few mistakes here and there. The greatest gigs (and takes, in the studio) are the ones that feel like they could go off the rails at any moment but never do. That's pretty much what Farnborough was for me - hopefully this visit to the 12 Bar will be just as successful. It'll be the first time the venue has seen the full and proper line-up of Hi-On Maiden, having been treated to the now legendary "Biggest Dickinson" on vocals for our last visit.

Of course, soon after those first gigs last year we were on our way to Turkey. On behalf of the entire band I would like to apologise to our Turkish fans who are going to have to wait just a while longer for our next trip - unfortunately work commitments have made going out there at the appointed time virtually impossible. However we are in talks with Firat "is in next street!" San and we are confident of a 2009 tour of Turkey.

Wonder if I've got time for another one...

----

12 Bar, Swindon

An uneventful journey to Swindon followed, apart from the screaming child across the way. Fortunately me cheap Senny's did their job and blocked out everything except my choice of musical entertainment.

The venue was only half a mile from the train station, and upon arrival I discovered the car of one Speed "four pound fifty and he gave me a tug job!" Harris parked up. Poor Mr Harris was dying for a wee wee, but relief was some time away as the lights were all off in the venue. No sooner had the keys arrived, Bruce "how's yer big sausage?" Dugginson and Adrian "that's not what you want up you" Swif arrived in Selectadrive's finest. The Van of Doom and Ultimate Terror has run out of MOT privelege, and a serious decision needs to take place regarding it's future. That's a discussion for another day, however. Nicko "how do you sit on this chair?" McBrain Jnr turned up with mother in tow very soon afterwards, and gear began to be carted to and fro.

Soundcheck was an interesting affair, given that most of us hadn't played together for a long long time! I had a few Brown Moments (especially Flash o' t' Blade) but generally all fine except for the soloing side of things - my fingers just weren't moving quick enough! With any luck, a few songs into the set and life will return to my digits. Until then, it's brown trousers time!

---

12 Bar, backstage post-gig

The first gig that I decide to leave my spare guitar backstage is the first gig that I actually need it in five years. Sod's bloody law!

Friday the 13th at the 12 Bar went thus:

Before the gig - Mr Harris realises his trousers are split, resulting in an unobstructed view of his bits. Stuffs hat down there. Rocks on.
1st song - Mr Dugginson swallows his wig. Nearly chokes. Nearly spews. Pulls hair out of throat. Rocks on.
2nd song - Mr Hurry breaks a string. Attempts Swifty's backup guitar. Massively out of tune. Runs upstairs. Gets spare guitar. Tunes spare guitar. Rocks on.
2nd encore - Mr Swift breaks a string. Picks up backup guitar. Tunes backup guitar. Rocks on.
3rd encore - Mr Swift's amp blows up. Attempts backup amp. Realises backup amp is in his imagination. Mr Swift proceeds to make a nuisance of himself on Mr Hurry's side of the stage.

I've never been one for any number-related superstition, but I may be from now on! Despite string snappage and fuse blowouts we played a good strong gig. A few rusty moments here and there from all concerned, but otherwise very well played indeed. The crowd were fantastic, and indulged our gear problems with aplomb - thank you Swindon! Also a big thanks to Eddie "I don't want to ruin your John Smiths..." The 'Ead - with added theatrical blood, guts and weaponry!

Mr McBrain Jnr packed his kit down and departed with minimal blistering, which is rather good considering the rate he hits them tubs. After a chat with some of the punters (good to see Neil, Kev, Spook, and Mrs Eddie again!) and packing the gear away we were on our way. Mr Harris sped off back to Darkest Wales, and the remainder of us headed to the nearest Travelodge.

An enjoyable, and certainly eventful gig. Huge thanks to the 12 Bar staff, friendly as ever. It's not everywhere we get a fridge full of beer!! JB's next week - hopefully they've done some bloody advertising this time.

Until then, UP THE IRONS!

Dave "it's a bit Pierce Brosnan" Hurry

2008 - my top ten albums

2008-12-24T06:57:00.000-08:00

Sat (or rather, standing) in the pub last Saturday with Ross, the inevitable "what's your top ten of the year..." conversation occurred. Last year, this was a real struggle where music was concerned. So many of my favourite artists released jaw-dropping discs in 2007 that ranking them almost became moot. 2008 wasn't nearly as good a year for new music releases as 2007 was, however. So, counting down...

10 - R.E.M.: Accelerate

Rather than being a favourite album of 2008, this is on the list simply because the other four or five 2008 releases I can think of did absolutely nothing for me, whereas this has a couple of really corking songs on it. Lead single "Living Well's The Best Revenge" and the ambivalent "Hollow Man" are the picks for me amongst what is (without a doubt) R.E.M.'s strongest effort since 1997's New Adventures In Hi-Fi. Sadly, that's not saying much.

9 - Nine Inch Nails: The Slip

I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Nine Inch Nails. And this was free!!! Nevertheless, a very good record. I didn't really enjoy With Teeth, and Year Zero seemed too bogged down in it's own concept. This album just punches above the last. "1,000,000", "Discipline" and the expansive "Corona Radiata" are my favourites here.

8 - The Mars Volta: The Bedlam In Goliath

How could you not get into an album about being haunted by something you called forth from a ouija board?! This album is simply the noisiest thing on Earth that isn't a Michael Bay film. There isn't an awful lot of let-up on this, with "Metatron" and "Wax Simulacra" being my choice listens. They still haven't topped Frances The Mute in my affections, but they're close.

7 - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!

Any Nick Cave album is probably going to make my top ten in any given year, because I'm that much of a fan boy. That said, I didn't really enjoy this one nearly as much as I hoped I would. The lingering garage-rock of side-project Grinderman doesn't seem to have worked it's way out of Cave's system, and as such this album is a bit lo-fi. Not entirely a bad thing, as there are some top tunes here. "Albert Goes West" and "Jesus Of The Moon" are grand pieces of work, but nothing else really elevates it above my personal favourites of his (No More Shall We Part and Let Love In, in case you cared!).

6 - Metallica: Death Magnetic

Well, they did it. With an even sillier title than the last one! Let's not talk about St. Anger (or "Stangah" as it's known down the pub). That's been done. This year's record really did surprise me quite spectacularly. There's a couple of dodgy rock-band-in-therapy moments, but it's good to see Hetfield back behind the pen and writing riffs that could peel the face off you if you're not careful. Lars has thankfully gone back to a proper drumkit, and also back to what he does best - follow Hetfield's riffs, and do very little else. I fully expect the next album to be even better.

5 - Death Cab For Cutie: Narrow Stairs

I only really discovered the work of this band in the past year, and having been engrossed in Plans and Transatlanticism for a few months I picked this up fairly recently. A slow grower, this album is a little more harsh-sounding and to-the-point than the other two I currently own. It won't "possess my heart", as Gibbard rather creepily sings in the second track, but there are golden moments here. Closing track "The Ice Is Getting Thinner" certainly struck a chord. If you haven't heard of this band, and you like songs, they're about to become your favourite thing ever.

4 - Steven Wilson: Insurgentes

Although it could be argued that the first few Porcupine Tree albums were Steven Wilson solo albums, this is the first record bearing the chap's name to appear as such. This would win my "packaging of the year", if I could be bothered to think of other things with nice presentation, but that aside it's a great piece of work. This is an album that lulls you into a false sense of security, thinking; 'this reminds me of Porcupine Tree', or 'ah, Blackfield sound like this', Wilson chucks a Nine Inch Nails riff your way and it hits you like a boomerang in the face. This was a limited edition release, but I seem to recall it being for more public consumption early next year in (probably) less lavish packaging. "Venemo Para Las Hadas", "Get All You Deserve" and the title track win this album.

3 - Sigur Ros: Meo Suo I Eyrum Vio Spilum Endalaust

Yet another long-player of luscious beauty. I love this band (even missed a gig of my own to see them live). Every track on this album is slightly over-the-top in it's own way, with the opening "Gobbledigook" being particularly full of beans. The first half of this is fairly pop-tinged, at least as far as this band goes, but they're soon back to their old tricks with sonic landscapes to gape at. Just wonderful.

2 - Opeth: Watershed

The only band utilising the "cookie monster" vocals that I've ever been able to stand listening to have outdone themselves yet again. As far as I'm concerned, they haven't put a foot wrong since 1999's Still Life, although if I'm honest their last effort (Ghost Reveries) was a little too drawn out for my tastes (repeating riffs that many times downgrades them from Brilliant to Just Good). That thought never crossed my mind while listening to this year's output, though it did take me a little while to adapt my ears to the slight direction shift. Whereas the last record seemed a logical progression from the two that preceded it (the heavy Deliverance and the light Damnation), they seem to have taken a B-road here into something that sounds fresher and less doom-laden. "The Lotus Eater" is the stand-out track here - it's absolutely mental. The only track I could have done without (at least initially) was "Burden", which quite frankly is a little more Scorpions than I ever imagined Opeth being. And even that's growing on me. Fuck.

1 - Marillion: Happiness Is The Road

Surprised? Probably not, if you know me at all. This band are responsible for at least two of my favourite albums ever (the heart-wrenching Brave and 2004's simply flawless Marbles), so they're on the automatic purchase list. It can be said that each album a band does is a reaction to the preceding one, for better or worse. Their last album, Somewhere Else, didn't really do it for me - the more stripped-down sound didn't work for the material to my ears. The lush, warm production I loved so much on Marbles is back with a vengeance on this album. "This Train Is My Life", the title track, "The Man From The Planet Marzipan" and "Real Tears For Sale" are the best picks, but the rest of it is just as fantastic. Love it.

HI-ON SOUTHAMPTON - 28 November 2008

2008-12-21T03:57:00.000-08:00

The most recent gig diary to get things rolling (as there won't be another one until February or so!)

After half a day at work, knowing that a particularly vitriolic customer would be attacking me via email in my absence, I was Southampton-bound. I arrived at Waterloo dragging my luggage (which somehow gets heavier every week, despite nearly all my gear being in the van!) and plonked down at Bonapartes for an oversized coffee. I was soon joined by Nicko "would it hurt to get bum-raped by a ghost?" McBrain Jnr, loaded with replacement drum parts after the Nijmegen incident (a snare skin too far, perhaps). After grabbing some grub, we headed off for an earlier than anticipated departure. Our young drummer befriended an old codger en route, while I caught up on Steven Wilson's new record 'Insurgentes' which had arrived that morning in all it's luxurious packaging. I hadn't had the chance to listen to it properly, so unfortunately the first listen was via iPod (not the intended medium, I understand, given all the smashed up iPods in the artwork!). Thoroughly enjoyable none-the-less. In no time at all, we were in Basingstoke. A little while later, we were in Winchester. Finally, Southampton Central was called and we bundled off the train. Adrian "I really couldn't hold it any longer" Swift normally books accomodation for us weary travellers, but this weekend Bruce "who else has got this winter snot thing going on?" Dugginson had to get back for his Saturday morning belly-fighting class so no digs had been sorted. I'd booked a room at the 'Star Hotel' for myself and the tubthumper, but had completely forgotten to include Speed "EXTRA STRONG MINTS" Harris in my plans. Whoops! Mr Harris often just shoots home after gigs, you see. That's my excuse anyway.

A short walk to the high street and the hotel was located. Nicko's first words were of the most likely haunted nature of the building, and worries about spectral penetration soon abounded. I allayed his fears as best I could, and soon we were in a luxurious minicab on our way to the venue. The driver didn't seem quite sure where the gig was, but we only drove past The Brook once, so no major catastrophe there. Speed arrived a little later, with mini-Speed in tow. The Van of Terror was en route, but had struck a little traffic.

Speed regaled us with tales of letters sent to various confectionery manufacturers (my personal favourite was a dispute with Mars bars about their 'work, rest and play' promise - apparently a Mars a day doesn't help you out of unemployment). The van eventually coughed and spluttered it's way to the back of the venue and the load-in commenced. Mr Swift had apparently been caught short, and accidentally added a little of his essence to the miasma of stains already covering the floor of said vehicle. Let's just hope one of his growing number of stalkers doesn't try and nick the thing! Duggers had come straight from work, and looked very dapper indeed as soundcheck rolled around. The sound onstage was very clear, which always aids performance. I always look forward to gigs at The Brook, as the sound is good, the crowd are mad, and there's a proper dressing room with tea / coffee and even little wall bits to hang your guitars on! Top.

The ever-ebullient Eddie "they were the metal Kings!!!" The 'Ead was also in attendance, to the delight of us all - it always feels more of a show when Ed's about. Gig-time rolled around, and it was time to wig up. I was less than up for it, to be honest. The week at work and the excesses of the weekend before had begun to take their toll. However I quickly got into the swing of things and the rest of the performance was storming. The gig was well-played, despite a couple of very dodgy solos early on from yours truly (my mind was elsewhere!). However I quickly got into the swing of things and the rest of the performance was storming. I don't recall any dropped bollocks, though there were some spectacular backing vox from Speed "Woah-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohh...fucking hell" Harris (yes, two nicknames this week!).

I packed down quickly after the gig, knowing that Mr Dugginson wanted to be off at a reasonable time for work in the morning. The rest of the band followed suit, and after a quick beverage we parted ways. Mr Harris kindly dropped myself and the noisy one back at the hotel, where we conked out rather quickly. The next morning, Nicko shot off back home while I enjoyed the breakfast (which I must say was to be savoured) before journeying up to Dudley to show Blaze Bayley a bit of support at his JB's "Big Bash" (or the "Big Bash One Out", depending on who you speak with!).

That's it for 2008 folks! 2009 is shaping up to be another globe-trotting year for us lot, so keep your eye (or eyes, if you want to use both) on the gig list, those of you in foreign lands. We could be coming to your town!

Until then, UP THE IRONS!

Dave "I fuckin' hate this wig" Hurry

A word in your ear...

2008-12-21T03:53:00.000-08:00

This is to serve as a place to post gig diaries whilst on the road with Hi-On Maiden, the only Official Iron Maiden tribute band (www.hi-onmaiden.com).

There'll be some other stuff here too.

There, how's that for a mission statement!!!