Old Journal
Gary | The Skegness Blues Rock Weekend Festival ‘“ 28-30/1/11 – Part Two |
Our main stage appearance was scheduled as the last slot on Sunday afternoon. We followed two prestigous Bands on stage, The Hamsters and Nine Below Zero. Back stage while the Nine Below Zero boys were overunning we were having a lot of hassle with the organisers over what gear we were allowed to use and put under pressure to reduce our set, to offset other peoples overun. This was the most people we had played to on the massive centre stage, with Though Roger was saddled with an undersized kit, the Band performed really The set was: – Too Tired To Pray – Rainmaker – Swamp Girl – Dark Angel – The Lying Game – The Big Easy – House of the Rising Sun – Telling Lies This was followed by a great cry for an encore which was inevitably, Preacher It was weird watching our faces up on the big screens as we adapted well The girls looked and sounded amazing and Danny, Bill and Roger rocked’¦ Here’s a couple of Youtube links if you want a flavour: Cut and paste these into your browser: Dark Angel Rainmaker (Filmed from the Gallery): http://www.youtube.com/user/SIMMO7TS then select more videos and choose Roadhouse Thanks for the support from all our amazing friends Gary |
06/02/2011 |
Gary | The Skegness Blues Rock Weekend Festival ‘“ 28-30/1/11 – Part One |
Our festival experience opened with an appearance in the 500 cpacity JAKS venue.Traditionally our warm up for the big stage appearance to follow, we played for around an hour to our a good sized turnout. The set was: Working Class Gospel Drinking Blues, Slip Away, No Place to Hide, So Over This was the best ever version of Kelly’s lead song, ‘˜So Over You’. Overall A special thanks for Chris Berthelemy for the production of all our back After the set, I ran the now traditional Skegness festival jam. Fast emerging Jam highlights included, lead vocals from Sharon Colgan (of Blues Cafe in We also loved seeing Carlos again after our great night together in Nottingham. As well as giving loads of young players a platform, it was great to see Playing two blistering songs, Del was on fire and with some great playing, A total of 36 Jammers got the chance to play and no one was dissapointed. Another fantastic Saturday afternoon at JAKS and the 5th year of us running Onto the main stage tomorrow’. Gary |
05/02/2011 |
Gary | The Colourhouse Theatre ‘“ Merton Abbey Mills – 16/1/2011 |
This was a great warm up gig for the forthcoming, massive Skegness Festival.Thanks to all who turned up on a wet night in January. It was a great turnout and a solid gig. Vicky Martin and Diana, performing as the Delta Ladies (rather than in their Buffalo Bill Smith, the promoter and great harp player, joined the Band A good performance from our perspective and probably the best time we have Onto the giant Skegness festival and we will be back at Merton Abbey Mills Gary |
04/02/2011 |
Gary | The Beaverwood Club ‘“ Chislehurst ‘“ 6/1/11 | The first week of the New Year was always going to be a test’¦. The end result was not too bad with nearly fifty people in the room.Overall, this was a great gig with an excellent crowd reaction. With 2 out of the last four shows cancelled due to snow and ice we were Mandie was superb this night and Kelly was on top form. in the first set Overall, Danny was on fire, Bill and Roger were tight, the whole thing rocked’¦..more Gary |
16/01/2011 |
Gary | The Roadhouse Xmas Party Show ‘“ the Bulls Head – Barnes ‘“ 13/12/10 |
We’ve had some great atandances at our annual Xmas bash, but last years was a little quiet. With London doubling as Siberia in the latest ‘˜movie production’ things did not look too good crowd wise’Surprisingly it was a good night, with people coming from as far away as Bournemouth. The audience reaction was stunning, if only all live music crowds could be like the one in the Bull on this night’¦.. First up were some of our special guests. For a start we re-wrote North Next up was a real and historic treat. The amazing Rietta Austin (of INXS We then took the stage as a full Band. With Sammy.C joining Mandie and Kelly A memorable night was concluded by Pete Sargeant and Jthe legenndary John A massive thank you to all that came and the amazing support we received A Happy Xmas to all Gary & The Band Gary |
24/12/2010 |
Gary | The Tropic, Ruislip ‘“ 21/11/10 | Back to the Tropic, which was co-run by the late, lamented George McFall. Phillip who has now completely taken over the venue has decided that Sundays being George’s brainchild, will be wound up. as they have never been a successful as the mega busy Fridays.The Band that hold the record for an attendance on a Sunday is for once – US!’¦. Still on this cold night, even though this was our North West London CD Still, we had a decent enough crowd, thanks to the efforts of some of the With Kelly on sick absence, the vocals were well handled by Sam and Mandie Once more we played the first 4 tracks off of Dark Angel in sequence. I’m Sam solo’d on the ‘˜Lying Game’ and Mandie did both ‘˜House of the Rising and a strong version of ‘˜Play With Fire’ from the new CD. Two encores and then CD sales were once more very strong.. A good night Gary |
04/12/2010 |
Gary | The Boom Boom Club ‘“ Sutton FC ‘“ 7/11/10 | So to the much heralded launch of our new and in many’s opinion (including mine), best ever CD, Dark Angel’We channeled a lot of effort into promo for the gig, as did ace promoter Pete Feenstra. The overall turnout was a bit dissapointing in relation to the size of crowds that we’ve had at past CD launches. However, the Roadhouse die hard supporters were out in force. The crowd We played the first 4 tracks from Dark Angel in sequence, ‘˜Too Tired To Old faves, ‘˜Tellin Lies’ (reincarnated on the new CD), ‘˜Voodoo Queen’ and Support was from the loud but excellent Stone Electric. Thanks to Chris If only more of our friends had been there’¦ Thanks to all who came out Gary |
30/11/2010 |
Gary | The Whetmore Whistle ‘“ Burton Upon Trent ‘“ 31/10/1 | So to the 3rd gig of our Midlands mini tour. A very nice Sunday afternoon venue. A good crowd and we were joined on stage for a couple of numbers by our old friend, Mick Rutherford for a quick jam. Mick certainly had his mojo working.This venue has a great atmosphere. Kelly, Suzie and Mandie doing great on the vocals and Danny blasting it out of the park on guitar’¦. The reaction was so warm, we even had people driving from over 80 miles On the drive back to London, we were reflecting on thanks to Suzie, Kelly We’ll be back in the area next year Gary |
28/11/2010 |
Gary | The Crew Bar ‘“ Nuneaton ‘“ 30/10/11 | A strange night in more ways than one. the Crew Bar run a system of a large concert hall upstairs and more unknown bands playing downwtairs in the actual bar.So as relative unknowns in this area, we were playing in the funky rock and roll styled bar downstairs. The audience made the night as they were in the most outrageous Haloween garb imaginable. Every form of ghoul, ghost and monster was present. And even being of more advanced years I must comment on seing some of the most sexy looking vmpires ever’ As we started the set the audence re-action was muted. This was due to the Still, it was business as usual, with our 3 girl attack we came, we saw The other great aspect was we got to meet Richard, the boss. A great guy, Keep on rocking.. Gary |
28/11/2010 |
Gary | The Roadhouse ‘“ Birmingham ‘“ 29/10/11 | First of 3 dates in the Birmingham/Midlands area.This was our first ever date in Birmingham and at the prestigous Roadhouse too. A massive thanks to our very own Brum lady Suzie.D who worked so hard to The Roadhous is an awesome big stage venue and you really need over 100 Thanks to Suzi’s tireless promotion and the two groups of Roadhouse supporters To celebrate playing Suzie’s hometown we had our much heralded 3 girl line It was a great show and the crowd were 100% behind us. This was the best we’d ever played ‘˜Rainmaker”¦. other fave moments included ‘˜Voodoo Queen’, ‘˜Tellin Lies’ and the encore of ‘˜Preacher Man’, really did Suzie herself sang two lead vocals culminating in a smokey ‘˜Stormy Monday’, Well done Suzie, thanks for a great night Gary Gary |
14/11/2010 |
Gary | The Yardbirds Club ‘“ Grimsby ‘“ 2/10/11 | A long drive, but it was a dissapointing turn out.Mandie did a great job on solo vocal duty. Young Jason from the Brew did a fabulous guest turn with us on two different songs. He really is the best young guitar player I’ve ever seen’¦ All there loved the show’¦..Our first two gigs here were packed’¦.. Is Gary |
14/11/2010 |
Gary | The New Crawdaddy Club ‘“ Essex- 30/9/10 | After headlining a couple of this great venues charity festivals and also holding Jules and Lorna’s farewell gig here, it felt weird that we had been away for 3.5 years.Still Paul who runs this place has a thinkless task, as now one of the Country’s most popular venues, there is an enormous list of quality bands in an giant holding pattern trying to get gigs here. We are used to pulling between 80-120 people here, so the recession driven Support was from the excellent, Paul’s own, The Heaters, who oiled the wheels With Kelly joining Mandie on the vocals, we started with a strong version A double encore and excllent CD sales later another good night was over I hope Paul does not wait another 3.5 years to have us back again’¦ Nice people, nice gig Gary |
24/10/2010 |
Gary | The Red Lion ‘“ Stevenage ‘“ 26/9/10 | A big thanks to legendary Roadie, Ron who brought in the additional transport to make this gig possible.Trevor (The Legendary Man In the Hat) Keeling as promoter brought in his own PA and despite the absence of Bill’s Van, we were on. The Red Lion is famous for the audience being right in your face and for The night gave Sam a chance to experience being part of the full on Roadhouse The Band played stunning versions of , ‘˜Too Tired To Pray’, ‘˜Rainmaker’ Long live Trevor.. Gary |
17/10/2010 |
Gary | East Harling Social & Music Club ‘“ Norfolk – 25/9/10 |
A strange, but in some ways compelling night.The Band were all excited on the way up as we had just found an exciting addition to the team. Her name is Sammy.C.Richards and in one week she had learned and proved worthy on virtually the entire Roadhouse portfolio. Most of the journey up in Roger’s people carrier was spent with her in deep Then fate once more struck a cruel blow. We received a phone call from Bill We were with Bill within 10 minutes and despite all efforts and a good range When we arrived at East Harding the people there were very understanding. God it was hard work but it went really well. Sam on her first night was Some of the songs that worked best in the format included, ‘˜Rainmaker’, We even got an encore.. Thanks to Roger for doing the sound. We’ll all be back next year. Thanks Sandie Gary |
17/10/2010 |
Gary | Charlotte Street Blues ‘“ London ‘“ 16/9/10 | A welcome return to rocking out in Central London and our first time at this prestigous venue..Nice stage and sound set up with mixing coming from the upper gallery. The opening band were classic three peice slide blues, no risks, but good quality. They experienced the donwside of the long thin room, that makes it hard for bands to connect with the audinece. Still, with both Kelly and Mandie on Vocals, we managed to connect with The crowd thinned for the second set as it often does at late night venues Gay |
07/10/2010 |
Gary | Groene Engel ‘“ Oss ‘“ Netherlands ‘“ 3/9/10 | Well onto Liesbeth and Willy’s famous venue. This lovely couple put the Band up at their own house and treated us like royalty during our stay.The venue itself was a surprise. I expected a music pub, but the pub opened up into a large theatre style venue. We were the first gig of the new season, so there was uncertainty with regard The weird thing was that all numbers were only greeted by polite applause. We did not want to leave things there, so in the second set we upped our ‘˜Voodoo Dance’, ‘˜Roadhouse Blues’, ‘˜Tellin Lies’ and ‘˜Preacher Man’. Second It was a sad goodbye (possibly temporarily) for the the lovely and talented We’ll hopefully be back next year and so may she. Thanks to Willy and Liesbeth, the fabulous Hester and the legendary Arnold.. Gary |
25/09/2010 |
Gary | Cafe d’Oude Stoep ‘“ Vlaadingen /Rotterdam – Netherlands 2/9/10 |
Many thanks to Hester, our brilliant Dutch tour manager for sorting out this date.It was a nice trip across on the ferry. Danny asked us ‘œDid I ever tell you that I used to be in the Merchant Navy’. Now he has mentioned this fact a few hundred times before and so earned the nickname of ‘œCap’n Danny’ for the rest of the trip’¦. aaaaarghaaaahhhh me harties. We are now saving up to but him a parrot and send him off for a cruise on the Black Pearl. We were basically on a loss making trip, as the main gig in Belgium had 12 people who saw us at this venue 2 years ago came back and gave us massive With Mandie.G and Rachel in great voice and rocking out big style, this Gary |
19/09/2010 |
Gary | Private Function ‘“ Nottingham ‘“ 28/8/10 | It’s weird for us, as tellers of tales of misery desperation and voodoo, to be asked to play at a private function.Thanks tor seasoned Roadhouse supporters, Mr & Mrs Pete Laplanche for having us for their Silver Wedding anniversary. They really looked after us. With Suzie.D and Mandie.G on vocals, we rocked out in our usual full on The versions of ‘˜Rainmaker’ and ‘˜Too Tired To Pray’ were the pick of the Thanks to all Gary |
19/09/2010 |
Gary | Abbeyfest ‘“ 27/8/10 | After headlining at South London’s biggest open air blues festival for 5 years. we missed out in 2009. A big thanks therefore to Buffalo Bill Smith for getting us back on the Bill (Ok, Bill got us on the Bill)For the first time we were playing in the early (7pm -8.15 slot) in a double header with the excellent Pappa George. Usually Bands who play in that slot perform to about 30-70 people. I’m so proud to report that there was at least 150 people there when we started and by the end of the set well over 600. With our full trinity of female vocalists (Mandie, Kelly and Suzie.D) strutting ‘˜Blues Highway’ brought out a great initial reaction from the crowd and By the time that we trotted out crowd fave, Voodoo Dance, Roadhouse Blues A vintage Abbey fest night’¦.. Long live Blues rock at Merton Abbey Mills We’ll be back next year, headlining on the Saturday night of the August Thanks for all the great support Gary |
18/09/2010 |
Gary | The Rythmn Festival ‘“ Bedford ‘“ 22/8/10 | Unfortunately this is the sad tale of the gig that never was.It had taken me (with the great help of Roadhouse supporter Ray Baldwin) 3 years to get onto the Bill of Jin Driver’s great, large scale festival. Our dreams ended as Bills vans engine blew, in spectacular fashion en route All that hurt was our pride and the fact that we had failed to appear in Jim was brilliant about it and we have been offered a slot at the festival My heart goes out to Bill and his van and a near 2k repair bill. This is Gary |
05/09/2010 |
Gary | The Saltash Rock & Blues Festival ‘“ 21/8/10 | The first of what we had intitally hoped as two big festivals over the course of this weekend.The key festival organiser was our old friend and ace guitar builder/luthier, Tom Anfield. With several stages in operation and The Damned as the headline act in the main hall, we were headlining the main pub stage at The Union. A really friendly but intimate venue, with the crowd virtually standing With 3 girls on duty (Kelly Marie Hobbs, Mandie.G and Rachel Clark) the It was a great gig. Tom had not seen the Band in two years and was amazed Thanks to Tom and the great people of Saltash. Gary |
05/09/2010 |
Gary | The Charlie Butler ‘“ Mortlake ‘“ 16/7/10 | It was weird for the Band to take a step back in time and play at a small pub. However, we owed the Londord, Chris (Crispin Mallet) a great deal.Roadhouse learned their tade about 17 years ago regularly playing at his local (to us) Jolly Gardners venue. He also introduced us to his Barmaid the Roadhouse legend, Lorna Reilly and quite a lot of history happened as a consequence of that meeting. The week before the gig Chris had a visit from the Council ‘˜Noise Police’, As this gig stood in some ways as being contrary to our agreements with As a consequence of problems with the Council, the Band played at a record Still the low music levels allowed the vocals to soar and Kelly and Rachel The first set was played to a relatively small crowd. The biggest reaction It was great to see Chris who is getting good Bands in twice a week and Gary |
15/08/2010 |
Gary | Millers Blues & Snooker Club ‘“ Kirkby In Ashfield – 8/7/10 |
I was initially reluctant to travel up to do a gig near Mansfield on a Thursday night. Firstly, July audiences can be a bit thin on the ground, then there was the hot weather and the World Cup (two live music passion killers!)’¦However, Rob was very persuasive and what a great guy he turned out to be. Lovely music room, good sound, nice big dressing room, food and drink all supplied. If only everyone looked after Bands the way he does. And what a great crowd, to have over 80 people turning up on a Thursday A big thanks to regular supporters, including Pete Laplanche and our jam Also present was the lovely Carol from our label Blues Matters who made Another massive thanks for Steve who filmed the gig. Catch the following on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmHE9htOhKE&feature=email = Too Tired To http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB0zfFwhRWM&feature=channel = Blues Highway Rachel and Mandie were on vocal duties and performed admirably. ‘˜Blues Highway’ The second set really rocked and the ‘˜stomp along’ at the beggining of ‘˜Tellin A great place and a great gig. We should be back next year.Thank you Rob. Gary |
17/07/2010 |
Gary | Glastonbury Festival ‘“ 27/610 | A day to remember as our 20 year career lead us to an appearance at Europe’s biggest music festival.A massive thanks to Andy Fielding and his wife Sue who put us on their excellent Bourbon Street Blues/Jazz stage’¦. The day started badly, as the Englad football team where put to the sword We were placed in a holding compound for the best part of 2 hours, as tempers They truned up hours later in some state of disrepair, after pausing frequently Then began a long wait for our appointed slot’¦.. The Bourbon Street stage, has a capacity of 6-800 hundred with seating outside We went on to about 80 or so people, just as Stevie was finishing up on The Band played really well and early stage monitrpoing and level problems All 3 girls Kelly, Suzie and Mandie sang brilliantly. The crowd went mad The real heros of the night were Roger (playing with his really bad back) A 3 tap finish of ‘˜Tellin Lies’, ‘˜Preacher Man’ and ‘˜No Place To Hide’ (The A million thanks to all Andy Fieldings great Roadhouse Promotions Crew, We waited back stage through another transport embargo, this one due to On this occassion the Landrover turned into the tardis. We put Roger in On the drive home, dawn broke over mist shrouded fields. Rising out of the Gary |
30/06/2010 |
Gary | Music Cafe Gompelhof ‘“ Mol ‘“ Belgium | This is such a great venue, that it felt like coming home..Jo and Annette, the owners are fantastc people. If only all music promoters/venue owners were like them. We were incredibly well looked after’¦ Last time we stayed in a nice modern hotel, this time they provided a bed We spent the afternoon sipping beers in the sun soaked garden. Then Jo and It was another hot night, so Jo had a real concern over crowd numbers. However, A local Chicago style blues band playing their first ever show, opened the So onto the Roadhouse set and we changed things around a bit from the first As ever the Gompelhof crowd were brilliant and they gave us a great response. I recommend this gig to every major touring band as the hospitality and We’ll be back soon Gary |
27/06/2010 |
Gary | The 013 ‘“ Tilburg ‘“ Netherlands ‘“ 4/6/10 | From a great night and an excellent crowd to a gig that in all honesty was painful’¦.Ou orignal gig at great muso venue the Green Angel was cancelled and fatstic promotet, Liesbeth magically booked us into this huge venue/arena’¦ The 013 has 3 halls, and features arttists playng recently like Chris Isaak Unfortunately it was what i expected’¦.. We were so well looked after in our luxurious dressing room, the staff (mainly Three big problems: – We’d never played that aprt of Holland before – I dont think the venue did much promotion for the show – It was boiling hot, still in the 80’²s at 10pm I was proud of the Band as it put on a great performance under the circumstances. To make things worse I starined my voice during the first number as the Still we rocked out and two rpomoters who came to see us were very impressed The people at the 013 were nice and praised us to our faces, shame they Oh well onto Mol and a guaranteed good crwod and then to Glastonbury!!!! You win some (most) other times you take it up the wrong hole (so to speak!) Gary Gary |
19/06/2010 |
Gary | The Podium ‘“ Schiedam/Rotterdam ‘“ Netherlands – 3/6/10 |
Our third time at this atmospheric canal side venue.Our great friend and Dutch promoter Hester cooked us both a great dinner and cooked up a big crowd for this warm summer night. This was the biggest crowd that we had pulled at the Podium so far. The A great version of ‘˜Blues Highway’ prepared the ground for the kicking new There was so many local and cool musicians and artists in the audience, A massive thanks to Hester and hopefully we’ll be back next year. Gary |
15/06/2010 |
Gary | The Colourhouse Theatre ‘“ Merton Abbey Mills – 16/5/10 |
So back to this great local venue run by journalist and ace harp player Buffalo Bill Smith’¦Set opposite to the famous bandstand which plays host to the enormous Merton Abbey Mills Blues (catch us on Friday 27th August, in the open air, playing to the big crowd) and Jazz festivals. This cozy candlelit theatre seats about 50 before they need to bring in extra seating. We had a crowd of around 35 plus, this was better than last time, but still Still full of Roadhouse fans and old friends we still had a fantastic night. The first set for once was superbly well played. According to Danny I was Everyone played well and the crowd response was terrific. The new songs In the break our good friend Jimmy Dublin played a short set alongside Bill Into the second set and Bill joined us for a rousing ‘˜Roadhouse Blues’. Thanks to all those great people who came and supported us on the night. Regards, Gary |
26/05/2010 |
Gary | The Roahouse Jam ‘“ Grove Tevern ‘“ 6/6/10 | Our monthly jam at the Grove (the first Thursday of every month) landed on election night. Unfortunately, this lead to a quieter night than recent jams.The numbers may have been down from about 60 to 30 something but a lot of the jam (and Roadhouse’s) core supporers/friends were in attendance. Danny was missing (The first Roadhouse gig he has missed since joining the Band nearly 3 years ago) and was replaced by a quality dep, in the form of the legendary Robin Bibi. The opener ‘˜Blues Highway’ saw a different approach from Robin, as he augmented The jam had some nice moments. My fave’s were Pete Sargeant’s harp playing, Towards the end of the night Kelly got up to deliver a great reading of Next month the jam will be run by my good friends Mark and Tony of Jam Pact. Gary |
22/05/2010 |
Gary | The Hope Tavern ‘“ Holton Le Moor ‘“ 2/5/1008 | The Hope Tavern has always been a great bastion of Roadhouse support and so it proved once more, on an excellent Sunday afternoon in May.It was a first time here for Rachel and she was rewarded with a visit from 7 of her family, including Grandma (brave woman wasn’t deaf at all ‘“ before the gig anyway!). Atfter enormous Hope Tavern Sunday lunches (thanks to the amazing Graham!) Ther is always something special about playing the Hope. The crowd sits Over 75 paying punters turned up, which was a very big crowd for this small Things went well from the opening ‘˜Blues Highway ‘˜and ‘˜No Place To Hide’. Kelly and Rachel did well together, the only problem being a harmony on Only sad note was that great Roadhouse supporter and a local Ray Baldwin There we go for the for the grace of’¦. Gary |
12/05/2010 |
Gary | The New Inn ‘“ Witney ‘“ 30/4/10 | In this lovely Cotswold town, a really nice landlord called Martin has been on a mission to bing top quality live music to the area. According to Blues Maters own Vicky Martin it was a dream of his to have Roadhouse play thie quaint little pub.We turned up as part of a local beer and memorial/’Heroes’ festival. This was the first time we were ever introduced by a priest, which was quite ironic as a set of songs about blues, voodoo and the devil sent him rushing to the exit. Still the local Mayor stuck it out and decent sized crowd of around a 100 started to really get into the music. Midway through the first set David Cameron turned up (well it is his constituency) Anyway, onto more musical matters. The second set was very well played with A big thanks to Martin for his hospitality and a good night Gary |
08/05/2010 |
Gary | Dove Valley Blues Club ‘“ 24/4/10 ‘“ Derbyshire | A first time at this nice blues club in Derbyshire. Thanks to Fred and Dennis for having us along’¦The club had not been doing that well in the recesion recently and I know the guys would have liked to have pulled in a bigger crowd for our first appearance in this area. However, I think 30 something people paying £8.00 to get in was not a bad turn out for a first time. Great to see a few familiar faces, as some Roadhouse fans ran up a lot of We had Mandie and Rachel out of our squad aof great female vocalists on The crowd were really great and pleasure to play to. the night finished Thanks to all for a great night Gary |
01/05/2010 |
Gary | The Buzz Club ‘“ Barnet F.C ‘“ 18/4/10 | Onto Pete Feenstra’s big stage North London venue.Nice room and a very large deep stage, great acoustics and a superb lighting technician. Recent problem with the bar and owners of the venue lead to this gig beng Still, ace Jounalist and musician (check out the Band, Elephant Shelf) Vicky The Band were on top form and featured strong performances fom all 3 girl Out of the new songs, ‘˜Too Tired to Pray’ really rocked out and ‘˜Dark Angel’ The people there created a great atmosphere and we were able to finish with Upwards and onwards, Gary |
28/04/2010 |
Gary | The Duck & Drake ‘“ Leeds ‘“ 21/3/10 | So our mini tour of the North concluded with this visit to Mandie’s home town.This was a great pub venue.. yet another excellent Simon and Sharon Colgan venue (they are taking over the UK and good job too!). Ian the Manager was a good guy too and this was one of the best and most responsive crowds that we have played to in a long while’¦.. The place was packed and from the off Danny and I’s solo’s were cheered The time flew by, I played as well as I’d probably ever done and while on Sharon Colgan herself got up and did a fine reading of ‘˜Stormy Monday’ (always Mandie’s family came and gave her massive support’¦ A great night, we’ll Gay |
04/04/2010 |
Gary | Redcar Blues Club ‘“ 20/3/10 | Redcar proved to be an interesting place’¦ as I saw the steel works and chemical plants on the outskirts, I sensed the kind of hard work, toil and monotonous existence that force people into strange mechanisms of escape’.would that extend to going to a Roadhouse gig?The centre of town was fairly shuttered and devoid of life, even in the middle of a Saturday afternoon. The wind howled down the seafront, while the mannequin in the sexy underwear store window, suggested that a cross between a ballerina and a bosons mate was the look that guaranteed you place in some twisted sexual nirvana. In the pub under the guest house (how convenient) Rachel ordered the ‘˜mini To the gig’¦. met Alan the promoter ‘. the kind of unsung hero that A nice room’¦.. gets really going when there is about 150 people in it. The atmosphere in the first set was starnge. The crowd re-acted well enough, In the break I felt like a celeb as I was asked to draw the raffle. This In all seriousness the Band really kicked on and totally over the top versions Just a single encore at the end of a very long set, then some excellent Apparently, a handful of die hard Blues Purests has gone home, depressed The Clan Gwilym were there to monitor their sibling Danny’s talent and he And then onto the meanstreets of Redcar and the invetible late night kebab Gary |
04/04/2010 |
Gary | The Blues Cafe ‘“ Harrogate ‘“ 19/3/10 | So the road took us North, back to Simon and Sharon Colgan’s excellent Blues Cafe in Harrogate..An intimate venue, it was crammed with people for this gig. Several groups of Roadhouse supporters came long distances with groups of family and friends for this show and we thank them for their brilliant support. One great guy said he’d spent over £200 pounds on mini bus hire and babysitters to get his party to the gig ‘“ good man!! This gig was notable for it being Rachel Clark, our stunning new female The music itself went really well. However, we struggled with the in house The second set was a stormer. ‘˜Watchtower’ really kicked, as did the killer A great night at a great venue, we’ll be back Gary |
01/04/2010 |
Gary | The Tropic, Ruislip ‘“ 28/2/10 | George Mcfalls’ new venue has an established Friday night music scene, but for Sunday’s it’s still early days for this atmospheric back room at Harow & Wealdstone FC.Aided by fantastic support and promotion from journalist/music afficianado, Darren Wisdom and also from Roadhouse legend Anne Campbell, we managed to draw a reasonable crowd’¦. An interesting night for the band on a number of levels. Firstly we had Secondly we featured 3 new songs for the first time. I chose to open with ‘˜Dark Angel’ was the next of the new songs to get it’s test drive. I’ve In the second set we managed to finally deal with the sound problems caused A guest appearance from Anne Campbell on ‘˜Brooklyn Blues’ and then 2 encores, A good first showing in this new venue, full of true music fans’¦ We’ll Gary |
14/03/2010 |
Gary | The Blues Room, Harry Smith’s Bar, St Albans – 6/2/10 |
From a big stage arena, and a crowd of thousands to a very intimate venue in St Albans’¦.This venue is being promoted by the talented Vicky Martin, front person of the band ‘˜Elephant Shelf’ (check ‘˜em out they’ve got this Berlin, decadent transgendered cabaret, blues thing going on, with female vocals and electric violin ‘“ interesting!), plus journalist and graphic artist. This venue is also being sponsored by our own Blues Matters label’¦. We set up in a fairly cramped space, but our spirits were soon lifted by Overall it was a rocking gig and a decent little venue. The Band’s hot streak We’ll be back in July Gary |
02/03/2010 |
Gary | The Roadhouse Jam ‘“ Grove Tavern ‘“ Sth Wimbledon – 4/2/10 |
After a quiet first two jams at this location, the January jam had been cancelled due to the snow and terrible icy conditions’¦.With tempreatures still around freezing, we turned up expecting another night of ‘˜attendance apathy’. We were pleasantly surpised’ More and more people turned up including loads of faces/freinds from the Roadhouse played a nice opening set with Kelly ‘˜on point’. This was followed Many great musicians then put in an a appearance. Highlights inlcuded 13 We had great performances from Tim Matthewman, Burlesque, Geronimo and an A great crowd, a rocking night and here’s to the next jam on the 4th March’¦ Gary |
01/03/2010 |
Gary | Roadhouse Live At Skegness ‘“ Centre Stage Appearance | So to Centre Stage on Sunday night. We were up against stiff competition in the form of The Deborah Bonham band and Nazareth being on the equally sized, REDS stage.As we stood in the neon twylight, waiting for the curtain to go up, I felt the ‘˜positive tension’ (well some of us were shitting themselves) crackle though the Band. After an age the curtain swung upwards to reveal an enormous crowd and the Band responded by kicking into a rousing version of Tellin Lies’. This was arguably one of our best ever big stage performances. The guitar All 3 Roadhouse ladies then delivered excellent lead vocals. Suzie.D on ‘˜The Answer’ was followed by the Youtube made classic ‘˜Voodoo Dance’. After Preacher Man followed as the iconic and demanded encore”¦ What a crowd, thanks to all there for your marvelous support. On nights On with the deam’¦ Gary |
08/02/2010 |
Gary | Roadhouse Live At Skegness ‘“ JAKS Set & The Skeggy Jam ‘“ 30/1/10 |
So to our 7th consecqutive appearance at the massive, annual Skegness Blues and Rock festival. This year marked a changing of the guard, in terms of many of the Bands who play the festival. A lot of old faves were not on the Bill and there was a rock stage, with likes of Nazareth treading the boards.We opened up on the Saturday aftenoon on the JAKS (500 capacity) stage/venue. Hampered by a misprint in the programme, in terms of start time, we had to wait until about 13.45 instead of the usual 12.30, before kicking off proceedings. We had a great crowd and the opening Roadhouse set really rocked. ‘˜No Place You can check out ‘˜Sea of Souls’ and ‘˜Roadhouse Blues’ on Youtube, by pasting
http://www.youtube.com/user/jumpthegunblues#p/a/u/0/gM27G2Pe9bk Overall it was a great set ,with all 3 of our fabulous female vocalists I then ran arguably the best Jam session, that we’ve ever had at the festival. The crowd were the real stars; this was music by the poeple for the people. Here’s to 2011 Gary |
08/02/2010 |
Gary | Roadhouse & Special Guests Northsyde ‘“ The Hlaf Moon Hearne Hill ‘“ 12/12/09 |
So to our final gig of 2009. After this double bill worked so well in the summer at our 20th anniversary show, it was decided that it was worth giving it another spin.Jules & Lorna Fothergill are an intergral part of the history of Roadhouse. They appear together on 3 Roadhouse CD’s, Blues Highway, Roadhouse & Friends Live and the legendary No Place To Hide. In my view thay played a better set Hearne Hill, then they did at Sutton. Their Band were cooking and produced a really good set. The grim reality of the evening was that for two such ‘˜quality’ Bands it Pete Feenstra our host was on great form, well lubricated for the Xmas period The Roadhouse set was another winner with Kelly in solo mode again, stepping The bands morphed together as the show rolled into the early hours. Jules All time Blues great John O’Leary joined us all on stage and sang and harped An all time great gig, which was partially filmed by top promoter Eric Harvey. Happy Xmas and New Year to all our freinds and followers’¦ We’ll need your Thanks to all that came Gary |
02/01/2010 |
Gary | Roadhouse Xmas Party Gig ‘“ The Bulls Head – Barnes ‘“ 7/12/09 |
The annual Xmas party gig at this great riverside Jazz venue has become a tradition.After a quick set up, most of us indulged in some magical food from the onsite Thai restaurant. The only shae about this fantastic nights music was the relatively low trunout. From around the usual 70 people in the room mark, we were down to 35 (what’s going on ‘“ there were so many reglar faces missing!!!). It was a shame for the people who missed it as this was one of the best The show kicked off with a great set from our special guests Jimmy Dublin The Roadhouse set was one of the best we’ve ever played at The Bulls Head. The evening finished with host/promoter George McFall on the Skins in a It was a great night’¦. but the dwindling crowd numbers makes you wonder, Thanks to all that were a part of this fantastic night. Gary |
27/12/2009 |
Gary | Jam Session ‘“ The Grove Tavern ‘“ South Wimbledon | So to our second night of jamming at The Grove. As people love opening nights, this was always going to be the one to worry about.In the opening set Kelly continued with her superb singing form, nailing both ‘˜Blues Highway’ and ‘˜The Lying Game’. We played a decent version of ‘˜No Place to Hide’ too. Buffalo Bill Smith, the promoter who runs the Colourhouse Theatre and The Late in the day Pete Bedford put in an appearance, along with Jon Griffin The next Jam is on Thursday 7th January’¦ see you there! Gary |
27/12/2009 |
Gary | The Colourhouse Theatre ‘“ Merton Abbey Mills – 29/11/09 |
Our return to the superb Colourhouse theatre. BB’s blues club was forced out of this great venue, due to little men with noise meters being sent down by the council about 10 years ago’¦ Guess who was on that famous night when they closed the Colourhouse down due to excessive volume?? (answers on a postcard to BBC Television Centre, etc, etc)’¦.After the failure of the venue to prosper at GJ’s, despite the occassional good night (and we had a couple of them there)’¦.; Buffalo Bill Smith has brought this venue back to life. The Colourhouse is well laid out with candlelit tables and a really great The good news, it was a fantastic nights music and in the absence of Mandie.G, Jimmy Dublin was our special guest and he played a nice little blues set The only dissapointment of the night was the mid sized crowd. We should Gary |
20/12/2009 |
Gary | Cafe Oud Brabant ‘“ Netherlands ‘“ 15/11/09 | So a Sunday afternoon gig to finish this great little Euro mini tour’¦This highly recommended venue, has superb stage and equipment and is run by the charismatic Jan Schelekens. Jan is a great guy and he and his fantastic wife really looked after us’¦. The 2 late night shows had caught up with us. Voices were affected and it I then started to feel really ill and spent an hour lying in the tour bus So the show went on’.As the gig coincided with the Dutch celebration As we launched into ‘˜Blues Highway’ the vocals were back in operation and This turned into a great gig and we met some excellent people including davidsonmick.squarespace.com www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/artist_profile//10226.html There was just time for a quick round of goodbyes and then a standard Roger A great trip’ Gary |
08/12/2009 |
Gary | Gompelhof Music Cafe ‘“ Mol ‘“ Belgium ‘“ 14/11/09 | The best gig of the tour by far’The rear doors of this venue swung open to reveal a 400 capcity music room with giant stage. The auditorium was surrounded by giant, blow up pictures of us all downloaded for the internet, the Manager had to restrain us from immediately nicking them’¦.. We were then taken to the Roadhouse pre gig dinner, where we sat down with Gig time’¦..and the Band really rocked, the crowd were brilliant. Our 3 A double encore and mass autograph signing then took place, for those typically Thanks to the incredible Jo and his wife Anette We’ll be back next year’ An all time great gig Gary |
06/12/2009 |
Gary | The Abdij ‘“ Briel ‘“ Holland ‘“ 13/11/09 | The first date of the Euro mini tour, with a special thanks to Tim Smith of the Brew, the wonderful Hester of Schiedam and Jo Verboeven for helping to book the whole thing’¦.1st up was this mid sized, traditonal Dutch, ‘˜Brown’ cafe’¦..Thanks to Robb ‘˜Fixerman’ Hendrix and Remko for having us at their atmospheric venue’¦. Good news ‘“ a lovely hotel, based 5 meters across the street allowed us Bad news ‘“ we were booked on techno/house music night and there was mostly The low wooden ceiling gave the whole sound a nasty bass ‘˜rumble’ and the The late night dance music allowed the Band to have a bit of a ‘˜team build’. It was very much have a good time and then let’s get onto the serious business, |
06/12/2009 |
Gary | The First Grove Tavern Jam ‘“ South Wimbledon – 5/11/09 |
So to our new venue, well not exactly new!. Roadhouse in our earlier formats had played at The Grove Tavern for over 12 years’¦..The pub is far more of a rough and ready music venue, with it’s own PA and lighting and good old ‘˜Jumping John’ as the sound engineer’Reponse to the opening Roadhouse set was really positive. We had 2 new girls trying out for a place in our squad, in a move to take Overall about 15 regular punters and 10 musicians made the sojourn to the Special thanks to: – Tim Matthewman – Geronimo – Pete Bedford – Frank Dymore – Jimmy Dublin and others for their great playing and massive support’¦.. Next jam is on Thursday 3rd December, come on down, let’s turn this into Gary |
03/12/2009 |
Gary | The Final Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 22/10/09 | So after 8.5 years of the jam running at The Woodman, the final night before our move to the Grove Tavern (first Thursday of evey month) beckoned’¦..Apparently the jam was not busy enough fo the Brewery to endorse the patheitc £180.00 that Martin would pay for this musical extravaganza (if it wasn’t for the generous jug at this venue we would have gone ages ago)’. All this is weird, because though the jam was not pulling the big crowds Still as it was the last night, everybody came down for the wake’¦ who A massive crowd included players wo had never even played the jam before, Still it was a great night of music, Mandie was as pissed as a rat and loads Thanks to too many people to mention here, but certain people should be When I think back about all those years at the Woodman the ghosts of Jules NOW ALL GO TO THE GROVE TAVERN, 2 MORDEN ROAD ‘“ THE FIRST THURSDAY OF EVERY The show must go on, no surrender! Gary Gary |
28/11/2009 |
Gary | Blakeney Harbour Rooms ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 10/10/09 | Our first time up at this gorgeous ‘˜A’ list venue in Norfolk’.A lovely music hall with a big stage and great PA/Technician, we were made to feel very welcome’¦. Thanks to that good guitarist Gizmo, one of our jammers at the Skegness Things were all looking great, until we realised that Bill had left the Still the soundman came to the rescue with a limited set of cymbals from Onto the show’¦. a massive festival 20 miles away featuring Dr Feelgood Still for the near 50 peple in the room it was a kicking gig. Kelly had a night off and Suzie did a great job singing with Mandie. She Roger took the plaudits of the night however. He played an incredible drum A lovely venue run by a man with a great name (Gary) ‘“ we’ll be back on Gary |
28/11/2009 |
Gary | The Hope Tavern ‘“ Holton Le Moor ‘“ 4/10/09 | Back into business at Holton Le Moor’After Graham and his team completed their usual magical transformation of the venue, from sleepy Sunday eatery to initmate Blues Club, we were ready to rock’¦. We were greeted by a very decent sized crowd, with some people driving over The stage is tiny at The Hope, which leads to the ultimate interactive audience Kelly and Mandie sang well and Danny and I’s trade off section on’Rock Me It was great to see Bill and I’s old school friend Boz and also our staunch A really good gig Gary |
17/11/2009 |
Gary | The Banham Barrell ‘“ 3/10/09 ‘“ Norfolk | A return to Banham, a great place run by the excellent Jonty and his team (dispensrs of some of the worlds most lethal cider).This was probably our 10th time at this venue, where we have always had great support. Unfortunately, this was to prove another quietish night. Still it was a good performance, with pride of place to both the new songs, Roger’s drum solo at the end of Voodoo Queen was particularly venemous, Back into the vans for the drive up towards Lincoln/Holton Le Moor. We had Gary |
17/11/2009 |
Gary | Cafe T’Goor ‘“ Goreeind ‘“ Belgium ‘“ 24/9/08 | The Sunday took us back to this excellent venue promoted by our long time friend and loyal supporter Michele Hofkens’¦.Paul the owner (great guy!!), met us and helped a super smooth set up’¦ Bobje Blues the famous Belgian rock journalist, who used to be our European tour Manager was also waiting for us. It was quite emotional seeing him again. Hester came down from Schiedam and top Belgian rock writer Alfons Maes was Surrounded by these great friends and believers, last night was just a distant Crowd was a medium capacity, which everybody put down to the fantastically Suzie and Kelly combined brilliantly on the afternoon. Their solo singing The second set really ‘˜kicked’ on and my great friend Bobje (who has had After 2 great encores the gig generated some fantastic photos by Bobje and review by Alfons Maes which has already gone to print (we are waiting for A superb high speed drive by Roger onto the last ferry’ Rog and I were out on deck relecting on a good mini tour, yet another financial Gary |
01/11/2009 |
Gary | The Rambler ‘“ Eindhoeven ‘“ Netherlands ‘“ 23/9/08 | A return to this big and atmospheric venue in the centre of Eindhoeven’¦.I love the guys that run this venue and the last time we were there the crowd was good in the first set. However, this time was a major dissapointment. With numerous Dutch Independance Day festivals taking place in the vicinity, the crowd was far too small’.. The small crowd in such a big and prestigous venue sucked the life out of Though the people present were right behind the band and made lots of noise, Lovely venue, lined with coffins, seating from muscle/racing cars ‘“ i love Nights like this make me doubt the point of it all. Good old Danny accompanied The stars were pretty Gary Wrong evening, wrong planet’¦..wrong ‘“ killer version of Preacher Man though’¦. Gary |
23/10/2009 |
Gary | The Podium ‘“ Schiedam/Rotterdam ‘“ Netherlands – 217/9/09 |
Thanks to our great friend in The Netherlands, Hester (what a woman), we returned to The Podium. Last year we were introduced to this great, canal side venue by our good friends, Tim Smith and the Boys in The Brew.Loius was a great sound man and though the place was not packed the Band went down a storm. The crowd were pounding on the tables at the end of each number and it sounded like the final charge in the movie Zulu (not a lot of people know that). No Mandie on this trip, as numerous chest infections had taken thier toll Kelly and Suzie worked wonders on the vocals and as the final blitz of Preacher Hester’s hospitality know no bounds, having already fed, watered and acted Friday was a day off due the closure of a venue and the subsequant gig cancellation. Still thats rock and roll Here’s to people who believe in music and offer up their homes and generosity We came, we saw, we did a little sightseeing Gary |
11/10/2009 |
Gary | The Famous Late Night Blues Club ‘“ Oxford – 14/9/09 |
We returned to this great venue, but in truth it was a mixed night for the Band.This venue run at The Bullingdon in the centre of Oxford, by music promoting ,larger than life legend, Philip Guy Davies, deserves full on support. Unfortunately, word on the street was that attendances were dwindling in The Band have done well in the last year, in the sense that there has only I guess that’s the important thing, isn’t it????????? Gary |
27/09/2009 |
Gary | Colne ‘“ the National R&B Festival ‘“ 30/8/09 | Hopefully you’ve read the journalists review, which can be found under the review section of this Website.Here’s my personal perspective”¦.. It was great to be allocated the peak slot on the big stage at Colne. Our Clad in my brand new US purchased, glittery ‘˜rock and roll’ T Shirt ( a Suzie also had a glittery top on and with a few ‘˜stones’ in Danny’s shirt Our new song ‘˜Swamp Girl’ was given an airing’¦. and no one believed that The room filled up a treat for us and the big crowd (as ever at Colne were The girls put on a great show, compensating for my broken rib (leaving me The ‘˜Big Easy’ went really well (good lead vocal from Suzie) and a killer The 90 minutes blurred by and with the spotlights traversing the crowd ‘˜Preacher Great ovation, CD sales, crowd and more memories’¦. Colne 2009 ‘“ One of our best -If you were there, thank you very much Gary |
24/09/2009 |
Gary | Colne ‘“ the National R&B Festival ‘“ 30/8/09 | See the review by ace ‘˜jorno’ Darren Wisdom under the review section of this site.The Band were so grateful for the support of the full house and the excellent stge crew of this major festival’¦. Gary |
16/09/2009 |
Gary | The Wervick Festival ‘“ Belgium ‘“ 19/7/09 | A massive thank you to our great friend Phillipe Warlop, who arranged for us to play this festival and provided us with pre show hospitality.A beautiful setting, with a big stage and massive PA in the towns main square. The hospitality of the organiseres was superb, as we were very well looked after. The majority of the crowd positioned themselves in the row of bars to the This annual festival where one band plays per weekend, is taking its time The band were on great form in the evening sunshine. All 3 girls sang superbly The sun set over a well lit stage to a great crowd response and a double The people of Wervick were great hosts and a good crowd. CD sales were also A great thanks to Philippe and the organisers and we’ll hopefully be back Gary |
23/08/2009 |
Gary | The Boom Boom Club ‘“ Sutton FC ‘“ 5/7/09 | And now to the 2nd part of our 20 years on the road celebration. There was a planned synergy to this night, as we decided to share it with legendary Roadhouse band members Lorna Reilly and Jules Fothergill.These guys have now chnaged their bands name from Funkydory to Northsyde, a Band to watch out for. Northsyde have just released a great new CD and are gigging at major festivals and internationally. Between them they gave around 10 years service to Roadhouse and it was fantastic to make this night a ‘˜double header’ with them. I was pleased with the fantastic turn out with people making the trip to First up were Northsyde, now stripped down to a 3 peice from their Funkdory A quick turn around and the crowd were with us as we launched into the traditional We cooled it down for Kelly to sing a great version of ‘˜The Lying Game’ ‘˜The Preacher Man’ encore(featuring some excellent Southern frieid shredding Jules and Lorna then joined the 2004 version of Roadhouse (well most of It was like stepping into the tardis!!! Danny was back up at the end, duelling away with Jules, over Mandie and A truly great night, one i’ll personally never forget, thanks to all our Gary |
12/07/2009 |
Gary | The Beaverwood Club ‘“ Chislehurst ‘“ 2/7/09 | As part of the celebration of us beginning our 20th year on the road, we returned to Pete Feenstra’s excellent Real Music club.The last time we had played here, we had only attracted a crowd of around 30 or so people. This was a really hot day in the middle of the heat wave and Wimbledon was in full swing, so crowdwise our expectations were not great. However, this turned into a storming night. With 32 advance bookings and We made a lot of new friends, but it was great seeing so many people singing One loyal supporter came by motorbike from Norfolk and the overall level The band were on great form. a slow and moody start on ‘˜Blues Highway’, The 2nd set was like a rollercoaster as Roger and Bill drove us through CD sales were brilliant (Thanks girls!) A great gig and a night to remember ‘“ thanks Pete Gary |
12/07/2009 |
Gary | The Mitcham Carnival ‘“ 13/6/09 | Having missed out on our iconic, regular headline at the Merton Abbey Mills/South London Blues Festival due to change of booking agent ‘“ as compensation we were offered the headline slot here and a retutn to Merton Abbey next year’Pete Walder does so much for events and live music, as demonstrated by this new event at the Mitcham Carnival . A lovely open air stage in the right hand corner of the canrival site, with excellent PA and crew. We arrived early and could not believe it when we saw Buffalo Bill’s (iconic On to our headline slot at 4pm. By now about 70-100 people lay on the grass, Suzie was down in London, so it was a full strength Roadhouse, with all ‘˜ Telling Lies’, ‘˜House of the Rising Sun’, ‘˜Not Fade Away’, ‘˜Slip Away’, Voodoo Dance’, ‘˜ ‘˜Sacrifice’ , ‘˜Roadhouse Blues’ and then the obvious Preacher Man ,with All in all an enjoyable and appreciated afternoon in the sun’¦.. Gary |
27/06/2009 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 11/6/09 | Back at the Woodman and a relatively quiet night to consolodate my dissapointment over the last few gigs.Still, there was plenty of great music. Geronimo produced a blues number that he had written over 20 years ago and it was magic. Adrian was back on the Drums, Jon Griffin sat in on Bass for Pete Bedford and Burlesque. Funky George Dare was back to drum through the last 3 sets. We had the traditional double finish of Terry Brennan (The Big Boss Man The Roadhouse se was good other than when we attempted ‘˜Lights on Water’. The rest of the set was fantastic. I’m always amazed how limp our perfromances Onto the Mircham Carnival this coming weekend. Gary |
20/06/2009 |
Gary | The Yardbids Club ‘“ Grimsby ‘“ 30/6/09 | Our 3rd time at this great purpose built rock venue, built above the associated bikers club.This was our 3rd visit and on the last 2 we had pulled really good crowds. this time the doorman predicted a bad night. The combination of another really hot day and the cup final buggered things up for us. At the highpoint, there was about 50-60 people in the room (where we usually A really good local support band opened, but were plagued by a wicked buzz We had a good sound guy as usual, but there were loads of PA problems. Monitors There were about 15 Roadhouse supporters down the front. We really went Let’s try again next year if we are all still alive Gary |
13/06/2009 |
Gary | The Highway ‘“ Hull ‘“ 29/11/08 | For the 2nd time we were back on the ‘˜Highway to Hull’ (forgive the Pun)’¦..Terry and Pam run the place and have done great things for the live music scene in that part of the world. This is about the 3rd venue they have had to build from scratch, into a top notch music venue. Last time we played here they were away on hols, but this time it was good to meet them. Last time the crowd was a good size, very appreciative and friendly (which The crowd got to a reasonable size, but were not as appreciative as last We tried really hard and rocked with a vengance and managed to get an encore. It was an ok night, but not what we had hoped for. Met some great people, played some good stuff ‘“ oh well ‘maybe this 1-1 draw Gary |
13/06/2009 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 28/5/09 | Musically a good night at the Woodman’¦..John O’leary was back again with a quality set, Geronimo rocked with some great instrumentals. Jimmy Dublin finished off the night with Adrew Heart on bass and these guys powered out some 60’²s great retro rock classics’¦ Tim Matthewman played 2 great sets on the bass, and as usual blew the crowd Mandie was sidelined with a chest infection so Kelly played the gig on her Gary |
06/06/2009 |
Gary | The Happy Frenchman ‘“ Folkestone ‘“ 16/5/09 | Well our run of 6 hot gigs in a row had to come to end sometime. Here it kind of hit an enormous wall, rather than gently running out of momentum’Researched (badly) as Folkestone’s top venue, we were surprised to find it was basically a pub with a mixture of real music lovers (low percentage) and drunks on a night out (high percentage) . Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve nothing against drunks on a night out (probably sums up Roadhouse on tour)’¦ However, due to some local factors, initial attendance was low. Atmosphere non existant and though we tried hard the whole thing was typical of the Band about 8 years ago playing C list pubs in London. We tried hard in the first set but the re-action was apathetic. We were The pub fillled up in the second half with mixture or drunken soldiers, It got a lot better, but then it really needed to’¦ Not one for the book of memories’¦ Gary Met some nice people |
31/05/2009 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 14/5/09 | A good crowd at this jam and a high standard of music’¦..Mandie’s friends returned with
the excellent Eddie on guitar and vocals leading the way, joined by jam It was good to see John O’Leary back at the jam and the classy bluesman Roadhouse played well and the crowd went home very happy’. This is the 8th year of the jam and its really great that it still alive Nice to see Anne Campbell in the crowd (Roadhouse legends never die) Gary |
31/05/2009 |
Gary | The East Harling Blues Festival ‘“ Norfolk – 2/5/09 |
East Harling’s Blues Club has been a staple stopping place on our circuit for the last few years. This year for the first time they had a ‘˜Blues & Booze’ festival across the bank holiday weekend. With such excellent other bands involved as Egypt (ex Groundhogs) and The Grapevine Blues Band, we were very happy with our Saturday night headline slot.We were the 4th act on in the day and the big room filled up really well for our 10pm start. Our 6th storming gig in a row, this is officially a new record for Roadhouse. Both set’s kicked proverbial arse and every Band member was on top form. We had a lot of friends and fans there and it was great to see so many familiar For a new festival, this one looks a winner. This gig went so well, I didn’t Here’s to next year ‘“ be warned new songs have been written!!!!! Gary |
17/05/2009 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 16/4/09 | An even quieter jam’.Maybe a contributory factor is that thet new jam sessions are popping up around London just like new cases of swine flu. Many of our regulars are now running their own sessions. Best of luck to Still by the start their was a respectable number of people present. We Mandie brought down some new guys she’d met at a jam in Acton and they were Geronimo was back from Spain and belted out some classic rock and both ace For the record Roadhouse performed ‘˜The Lying Game’ (welcoming back Kelly See you in 2 weeks Gary |
10/05/2009 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 16/4/09 | Another Woodman Jam and a quiet one for a chnage. Musicians were as thin on the ground as the hair on my head, not to say they were thin, as most musicians are fat (poor eating and drinking habits and bad nutritional advice, anyway who needs fat hair!)’¦.Andrew Heart is not fat and is not just a bass player, as his 3rd solo rock guitar/60’²s classics vocal performance was very well executed and a real crowd pleaser. Well done Andrew’¦.. James Dublin (of course it’s his real name, Dublin was named after him) And Kelly was on holiday in Costa Coffee (its all she could afford) ‘“ sorry Hope more come down on the 30th May Thanks to all Gary |
29/04/2009 |
Gary | The Blues Cafe ‘“ Harrogate ‘“ 12/4/09 | We arrived in Harrogate at around 02.15am, and then had the rare experience of kicking our heels around town all day, waiting for the nights show.It was a great night at Simon and Sharon Colgan’s intimate but very atmospheric venue. Many of Mandie’s family turned up for quite a touching family re-union, A packed room, a fantastic response and the 6th cracking gig in a row (def By the end I felt like I was running on empty and nearly died when the crowd It was a long, long way back to London, just in time for breakfast”(then Gary |
18/04/2009 |
Gary | Burnley National Blues Festival ‘“ 11/4/09 | We were headlining the smaller Festival/Press Room Stage, with the 22.00 hours slot.After a rapid turn around with the excellent Jay Tamkin Band, we were ready to rock (even though monitor levels were decidedly dodgy). Jay’s band had rocked, but for some strange reason the audience re-action was only lukewarm. We were determined that would not happen to us. As a consequence we opened with a kicking ‘˜Tellin Lies’ and then brought As ever the second set was even better with killer versions of ‘˜Voodoo Dance’, 5th cracking gig in a row and out best appearance at Burnley by a distance. Must be a record Gary |
15/04/2009 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 2/4/09 | A good jam, Roadhouse were at full strength and there was a decent turn out. Overall a good jam.See everyone in 2 weeks Keeping music live, spontaneous and local Gary |
15/04/2009 |
Gary | The Banham Barrell ‘“ 28/3/09 | Our fave venue in Norfolk, we love Jonty and his hard core, music loving staff’¦So many old friends came out for this one’¦ it was great to see Alan Harvey again, a man/jounalist/photographer who’d been such a great early champion of the Band’¦.To many friends to mention really. The overall view from the Band was of some disconnection in the first set The 2nd set was top rate. From ‘˜Voodoo Dance’ to ‘˜The Roadhouse Blues’ and 3rd great gig on the spin Gary |
10/04/2009 |
Gary | The Famous Late Night Blues Club ‘“ Oxford – 23/3/09 |
Monday night and our first gig in Oxford at The Bullingdon’¦.We got to meet the living legend, promoter Philip Guy Davis, what a character and a great guy’¦. It was a worry for him, having any Band for the first time. But the crowd This was the 2nd great performance in a row. The band played really well. Which brings me on to Danny (directional dyslexia) Gwilym. We waited an The two sets shot bye in record time and the audience re-action was first A double encore of ‘˜Preacher Man’ and ‘˜Sacrifice’ ended a classic gig.. Gary |
05/04/2009 |
Gary | The Limelight Theatre ‘“ Aylesbury ‘“ 20/3/09 | Thanks to Derek White for booking us for this great gig. A small Theatre but with great atmosphere, fantastic sound system (and engineers) and alarge playing area. Highly recommended as a music venueThe only dissapointment on a great night, was the relatively low crowd numbers. Pre- bookings were worryingly low at only 26, but on the night the crowd swelled to near 50, but it was still below the promoters break even point. What did the absent people miss: – A decent support Band – An excellent Roadhouse performance – A Fantastic music loving crowd, who were responsive and created a great From the opening ‘˜Blues Highway’ to the double encore including ‘˜Preacher It was one of those times where I truly appreciated all the great people Highlights for me were some of Danny’s guitar solo’s (particualry on ‘˜The Well done all and on to Oxford on Monday Gary |
28/03/2009 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 19/3/09 | While I had been away Pete Bedford and Burlesque has run the last Woodman jam, a major thanks to those guys. Unfortunately they had a poor turnout, so we expected the worst on this night.However, though not packed we had a great jam, with a reasonable crowd and a good number of musicians. The highlight for me was Kelly and Mandie singing for some regular and new See everyone in two weeks time Gary |
28/03/2009 |
Gary | Le Blues Autour Du Zinc Festival ‘“ Beavais, France, 12th & 13/3/09 |
The first festival apearance in France for us.The good stuff first:
– We were really well looked after, hotel was fine and all meals were served Once we turned up at our designated venue we found the organisation to be We were in Wallabies, an Australian bar North of Paris (such is cultural First up were to The Manic R&B driven youngsters in the The Experimantal Tropic Blues Band ‘“ after some crowd surfing, female crwod The Friday night perfromance was a really good one. Starting with a storming Our version of ‘˜Roadhouse Blues/Jim Morrison est Mort en Paris’ was very The only shame about the Friday was that a portion of crowd drfited away By the end of Preacher Man I thought we’d done a great job and all around Come Saturday PM, some more chaotic communication and a no sound, sound We didnt move and the aformentioned lady managed to spoil most of our evening I will not describe Deltahead on this website other than to say they played Good old Fred the owner agreed to let us play past the 1am deadline (well Amazingly we were going down a storm, even better then on the Friday. People geting right behind us. Half way through our 3rd song, ‘˜Sacrifice’ my pedal Around this time I did unusually for me, totally lose my rag and was snapping Somehow we finsished the set and got a better response than on Friday, when An interesting weekend’¦. Gary |
22/03/2009 |
Gary | The Bulls Head ‘“ Barnes ‘“ 2/3/09 | To our annual birthday bash at one of Londond’s top Jazz venues’¦.It was the night of my Birthday and a celebration of Roger reaching 60 (god knows how he’s made it!). If overcoming my health issues to play was not enough of a challange, I It was fantastic to see so many people out supporting us on a cold Monday Jimmy Dublin, Geronimo and Byron Banks (Harp) kicked off the night with The Roadhouse set opened with a very emotional version of ‘˜The Answer’ – Kelly and Mandie nailed versions of ‘˜The Lying Game’ and ‘˜Rising Sun’ (and The failure of Kelly’s mic, lead to some Lesbian style mike sharing antics, Voodoo Dance rocked it up several notches, before an emotional ‘˜Slip Away’ Bill & Roger were rock solid in a great all round Band performance. Personal John O’Leary then played the night out with some great harp driven blues’¦. So fantastic to see people like Darren Wisdom, who has written such great There is life yet’. Off to the big festival in France now Gary |
08/03/2009 |
Gary | Jam Sessions ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 5&19/2/09 | A tale of 2 jam sessions’¦.After the massive crowds and fantastic reponse at Skegness, jam session one was a reality check. A thin night musician wise and with only about 20 loyal supporters.. it We played ‘˜When Mountains Fall’ for the first time for years. the girls Later in the night Danny and I redeemed ourselves with an epic ‘˜Watchtower’ Some nice performances by the jammers but a poor night in my perception. The second jam had a much bigger crowd and the Roadhouse set was re-energised. Nice sets from Jimmy (the tone) Dublin and a great young Band in the new A good night Gary |
08/03/2009 |
Gary | Skegness Festival ‘“ Centre Stage ‘“ 25/1/09 | To possibly our greatest big stage performance’The upside of being the opening act in the 2,000 plus capacity big room/Centre Stage is that you have a lot of time for your set up. The down side is that you could have a poor crowd, as people tend to drift in after dinner. There was a ‘˜healthy’ amount of tension through the dressing room before, We were announced and the Safety Curtain rolled up as Roger hammered into The girls ‘˜danced with the devil’ (very nicely) and the 1st number had gone Second up was ‘˜The Answer’ and as the song opens with me singing and playing It went great, the only dodgy moment being when I glanced stage left and Three songs for the lucious ladies next, Suzie downsizing the Arena into ‘˜Sacrifice’ was given its big stage debut and ‘˜Telling Lies’ provoked an There was no doubt about the encore and Preacher Man took up up to a set What a great crowd response and for me a validation of some very hard times Photo call from the great Alan White, CD’s and Autographs and then the long But surprise, Roger had recorded the whole show (and filmed it). we listened Thanks to the great crew at Skeggy, to Alan Pearce, Pete Barton and the Photos available from: (Girls are looking good) http://flickr.com/photos/cpdigital/sets/72157613015103485/ Group photo from on this page is very nice’¦ http://www.earlyblues.com/Skegness%20Rock%20&%20Blues%20Festival%202009%20Sunday%20Evening.htm Gary |
07/02/2009 |
Gary | Roadhouse Live At Skegness ‘“ JAKS Set & The Skeggy Jam ‘“ 24/1/09 |
At 12.15pm the 450 capacity JAKS room was only at half capacity. But when we kicked off at 12.30 with a storming ‘˜No Place To Hide’, it was nearly full.The crowd were great getting right behind the Band as we played a set from which we would only repeat 2 songs on the main stage on Sunday night. Next up was ‘˜Blues Highway’ where my solo by some strange trick of the acoustics was given an ovation. The girls came into play on ‘˜Help Me’ and then Mandie as usual grabbed the Danny was really enjoying himself, playing great and with Bill and Roger ‘˜Slip Away’ and ‘˜Sea of Souls’ benefitted from both great female vocals On to the jam, what a success. Unlike last years icomic ‘˜Dave Jam’ (where After an opening set of all jammers meeting for the first time, we had a Loads of good visiting players came out of the audience, including people The crowd loved it and JAKS was rammed (the biggest ever Jam crowd). None At the end we closed the afternoon with ‘˜Heavens Door’ and then a rousing An afternoon to remember. Here’s to Tomorrow on Centre Stage Gary |
06/02/2009 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 22/1/09 | A relatively quiet Jam saw the Band complete their final preparation for the giant Skegness festival.It was great to welcome back Suzie.D, as the girls practiced their 3 way vocals on the big dramatic numbers, including ‘˜Slip Away’ and ‘˜The Answer’. It was nice to see Dave Dicks (great harp player) return to the jam. And Next stop Skegness. Gary |
06/02/2009 |
Gary | Walkern Music At Timbers ‘“ Stevenage ‘“ 17/1/09 | A fantastic night at Trevor Keelings great new incarnation of Walkern Music at Timbers.I was really impressed by the lovely galleried room. The night kicked off with a good set from the local Cole House Porter Band (fully equipped with 3 dancing girls and a hell of a boogie piano player). A good crowd of around a hundred was value for a wet and cold evening in We kicked off with ‘˜Telling Lies’, ‘˜Sea of Souls’ and ‘˜Voodoo Dance’. Kelly Passionate versions of ‘˜The Answer’ and ‘˜Voodoo Queen’ brought on a triple Crowd reaction was great & CD sales wonderful. I must apologise to Danny Well played Bill who held the whole thing together A great night and a venue I’d recommend to anybody. Thanks to Trevor and Richard for having us We’d love to come back’¦.. Gary |
18/01/2009 |
Gary | Proud Camden Blues Jam ‘“ 11/1/09 | A bit of history as we fronted the opening night of the ‘˜Proud of The Blues Jam’ at the fabulous gallery space/venue of Proud Camden.First the bad news, the venue has awful access for bands. with a very long carry in through the surrounding market and the throngs of people. It also didn’t help that the afternoon jazz jam had overun, just adding to the confusion adn pandemonium. However, the good news was: – A fabulous room, – A big stage, – A great PA, – Good sound man and overall sound/lighting. A number of our regular jammers had followed us across from South West London, There were some awesome jammers there from central London too and overall Special cerdit to Roger Hunt who jammed for 90% of the night and did a great I’m leaving the next 2 weeks in the hands of Mark and Tony of the brillaint We’ll be back on the 13th February Gary |
18/01/2009 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 8/1/0908 | The New Years Jam at the Woody ‘“ With rumours/predictions that the Brewery were going to stop all music at all their pubs regardless of individual success, tension was high. A lot of poeple turned up to see whether this was going to be the last jam at The Woodman.However, news on the night was good, Martin had not received the predicted ‘˜stop notice’ and we will roll on ( the usual once every two weeks basis). Roadhouse played ‘˜Lights On The Water’ for the first time for ages and other Jimmy Dublin was back again to play the nights stand out set with Jeff Nicholson, See you in 2 weeks Gary |
13/01/2009 |
Gary | Zoom at the Moon ‘“ The Half Moon ‘“ Hearne Hill – 3/1/09 |
Well to 2009 and a Staurday gig at Pete Feenstra’s classy big stage venue was scheduled a little too close to the New Year this time.It was a freezing cold night and early in the evening it looked like we’d be playing to handful of people. However, the crowd grew respectably into the 40’² plus and got right behind Jimmy Dublin was up as first our support act. With Andrew Heart on the bass We played straight through for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Bearing in mind When we came off stage a good number of people said it was the best version What a great way to start the year. Thanks to all the eskimos who came out Happy New Year Gary |
12/01/2009 |
Gary | The Xmas Jam ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 11/12/08 | A large crowd and a great night at the Xmas jam. It was like the old days with so many punters and musicians turning up. I was unable to fit them all the musicians in, even though we overan by 15 minutes (to 11.15) . Special apologies to Terry Brennan as a jam regular I could not fit in.It was lovely to see John O’Leary and Robin Bibi playing together in my ‘˜select set’ of the night, and Joe X provided some great guitar playing in the 2nd set. Roadhouse rounded off 2008 with a rocking 4 song set including The Bands Martin (our landlord) played Santa with his excellent mince pies, but wth After 10 Years could the next jam on the 8th Janaury be the last one, we Happy Xmas and a Happy New Year to all live music lovers, Gary |
04/01/2009 |
Gary | The Lady of the Lake ‘“ Lowestoft ‘“ 6/12/08 | Our 3rd week in a row on the road, promoting the new CD, Sea of Souls.This long journey took us back to ‘˜The Lady’, where Paul the owner has continued to develop this excellent venue. Now along with the nice, big stage is some quality lighting and dressing room facilities. The last time we’d played here had been Sept 2007, for Paul’s birthday and Still the Band played well and as usual the second set was so much better On the way home I reflected on all the great trips/tours/gigs both played We’ve agreed to return here as Paul is such a great guy’¦. Lets hope it rocks the next time Next up for us and last gig of 2008, is the Xmas jam Gary |
13/12/2008 |
Gary | The Yardbirds Club ‘“ Grimsby ‘“ 29/11/08 | So after killing time in a freezing marrket place, in a nice posh place called Beverley, the Roadhouse Tour crossed the fog shrouded Humber Bridge into an icy Grimsby”¦Our great ally Tim Smith of The Brew had got us this great gig orginally. The last time we played there Tim and boys came up and jammed and turned it into a real party night. Tonight Tim’s Mum was ill and we were firmly on our own. The question was, as usual, what kind of turnout would there be on this freezing night???? This is a great rock and roll/biker venue and built for Roadhouse gig. It’s Well tonight was a hands down win with a large turnout, good repsonse and Number wise, ‘˜Heavens Doorr’ is having a new lease of life, with Kelly’s It was one of the longest drives home in Roadhouse history (UK wise). The Gary |
13/12/2008 |
Gary | The Highway ‘“ Hull ‘“ 28/11/08 | Sing it, all together!, I know you want to”¦, here we go, ‘œWere on the Highway to Hull, We’re on the Highway to Hull’. ok, ok, I know it wasn’t that funny’¦This is a relatively new venue, run by the legendary folk who’d established Hulls top venue but had been moved by the Brewery. On arrival we were a little dissapointed to find that The Highway had all However, by showtime the place was full of warm, friendly music lovers. By the time we had rocked out to Voodoo Dance and Preacher Man, we received A great night, good crowd and we hope to be back Gary |
10/12/2008 |
Gary | The Blues Bar ‘“ Harrogate ‘“ 23/11/08 | Roger wanted it put on record that he was actually present at breakfast!!!!!.Usually we watch the larm clocks sail out the window along with anyone else who tries to wake him up before high noon’¦.. More pool followed (with Danny demonstrating his ex Merchant Nany prowess) After giving ourselves a good lubrication so we slipped onto the little After a warm welcome from our host and hostess, Simon and Sharon. We delivered After a a nice chilli (thanks Sharon!), we kicked into the 2nd set with The 4.5 hour sans aches, exhaustion and hangover, drive home beckoned. But We’ll be back to this one. It was once more a long way home. Cheers Simon, Gary |
30/11/2008 |
Gary | Rudi’s Blues Cafe ‘“ Rotherham ‘“ 22/11/08 | A great venue in Rotherham, large stage, PA, a great look and the charismatic Joe, who looks after both PA and the place itself.The trouble is that even with many top names performing, the good folk of Rotherham have not really appreciated the quality of both venue and acts. Attendances had been low ove the lst few weeks and I’m sad to say that on this cold, November Saturday, things were just as bad. A total of about 44 people (about 250 capacty) saw 2 good sets. The second Back to the hotel which to everyone’s surprise was run by a Roadhouse fan |
30/11/2008 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 13/11/08 | A months break from our regular jam and a 3 week holiday from playing, built the aniticpation for Jam night’¦.A good turn out helped us to celebrate Danny.G’s birthday and to see legendary ex-Roadhouse guitarist Drew Barron’s last appearance before his return to Canada (well at least thats one less Tottenhm supporter in the Country). We started with a well sung but ‘˜staleish’ version of ‘˜Brooklyn Blues’. Drew then took the stage for his final bow with Roadhouse. Drew chose ‘˜Preacher Geronimo was on great form in the jam, Tim Matthewman delivering a super Drew then played his own set and featured a tribute to the late Mitch Mitchell It was sad to see Drew go, for over 2 years and over 60 gigs he’d been a Frank then announced the sad passing of Mark Havart, one of the famous jamming Copies of Rock N Reeel were all over the Woodman as the new Roadhouse review It left me at home, dreaming of my private jet and special Limo’s, with Gary |
16/11/2008 |
Gary | O’Neils Bar ‘“ Aylesbury ‘“ 18/10/08 | Not to be confused with O’Neils the pub chain. This was Barry’s warm venue, for this special gig arranged by Kelly.A good turn out, saw the band turn in a good performance on the sizeable stage area. It was great to see so many friends both new and old, especially the folk This was the last performance after a busy schedule, before we grabbed a It was good to go out on a high. Major, thanks to Kelly for arranging. Rock on Gary |
16/11/2008 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 16/10/08 | A great turn out of music lovers, but where were all the musicians?’¦..If we don’t start picking up some extra musicians soon, I might have to re-locate or cancel the jam. For 9 years this jam has been central to the SW London music scene, lets hope it caries on that way. Still everyone had a great time, with nearly all musicians getting 2-3 appearances things. The next jam lead by Roadhouse is on the 13th November .Lets hope for a Gary |
08/11/2008 |
Gary | The Motorcycle News Festival ‘“ Butlins ‘“ Skegness – 5/10/08 |
Performance 1 ‘“ Skyline Stage ‘“ 15.00Tensions dissipated as the Band pulled together, in order to play this challenging set. Playing a mid afternoon slot under the ‘˜Big top’ at Butlins, Skegness can We eased the crowd in with ‘˜Blues Highway’ , ‘˜Not Fade Away’ and ‘˜Help Me’ We were soon rocking out and the guitar duel at the end of the first set, The second set rocked out and went down well with the motorcycling fraternity. Performance 2 ‘“ JAKS Stage -23.00: Onto closing the whole festival on the JAKS stage, late Sunday night into We were following the wnners of the Keraang Batlle of the Bands onto the After the thermo nuclear assault, it was hard to get our sound balanced As we got into the set the sound settled down. ‘˜Slip Away’ carried on the The organisers had asked us to integrate a short jam session. Famous Motorcycle We finished with a blast of Preacher Man’ and then it was a long, long A special thanks to the girls who sold a tremendous amount of CD’s on this Back for the Major Blues & Rock festival in January, bring it on Gary |
21/10/2008 |
Gary | The Cider Shed ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 4/10/08 | Having been kindly asked to play yet another 2 performances at a Motorcycle News Festival at Skegness (our 2nd MCN festival and 3rd Butlins Skegness festival of the year), it was great that we were able to keep this regular venue and play the gig en route to Skegness.Jonty is a good guy and we love playing this friendly venue that oriiginally used to be an old cider factory’¦ On this night expectations were high, as he had a private birthday party On the downside we only achieved a medium sized crowd, which lowered the We saw a number of old friends and supporters and sales of Sea of Souls Jonty said that having bands like us was the main reason he’d taken on the As we drove up to Skegness tension was quite high between some band memebrs. We turned on the heaters in our little Butlin’s chalets at about 3.30am Perhaps it would all look brighter in the morning???? Gary |
19/10/2008 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 2/10/08 | I was expecting the jam to be an anti climax after Europe’¦ but with a good turn out of of our regular friends and local music lovers/Roadhouse fans it wasn’t a bad night at all’¦.We did ‘˜Heavens Door’ (as we’d played it so often in Europe) and I still managed to keep up the new high standard of guitar playing ‘“ but the jam made me reflect that the band is just not the same in the local confines of the Woodman, playing just 3 or 4 numbers. Roadhouse on the road or at a festival is a whole different prospect’¦. Still the jam is so good for local live music, thats why we kill ourselves Gary |
18/10/2008 |
Gary | Cafe T’Goor ‘“ Goreeind ‘“ Belgium | A morning drive across the border, to the last stop on this tour.After the ‘˜Sat Nav’ insisting that we should play in a field full of cows, we finally pulled up at a superb, but relatively new music venue. Promoted by our old and valued friend Michel Hofkens, the venue had a great After a quick set up we were ready to rock, but’.. The new purpose built house PA, would just not work’¦. Paul made a phone call and brought in his ‘˜engineer.’ ‘“ an hour of feedback Outside the venue we spotted some great old muscle cars and a fantastic Paul finally gave up on the PA and Bill and Roger saved the day with an Into the show and amazingly, about 70% of my voice was back, but we asked Amazingly my good guitar form continued and I pulled off another good solo A double encore ensued, followed by a nice meal courtesy of our host Paul. We are dying to come back to this venue ‘“ great place, great people’¦.. A few hours later we were sitting on the Ferry, tired but happy, reflecting Proud of the Band!!!! Gary |
18/10/2008 |
Gary | The Rambler ‘“ Eindhoeven ‘“ Netherlands ‘“ 27/9/08 | This gig marked our first return to central Eindhoeven, for 8 or so years.We were impressed with the venue. The Rambler was a real rock and roll venue. Racing & muscle car seats for seating, walls lined with full sized coffins and rock posters/memerobillia. The whole place reeked of rock and roll, voodoo, metal and the sweat of the 1,000’²s of bands that had played here before us’¦.. A fridgefull of beer (thoughfully supplied by the venue) and a ordered in While talking to Peer, what was left of my voice deteriorated to a cartoon Attendance at the Rambler had been low recently, with a high of 115 and The girls may have struggled with the monitors, but we hit the ground running, To take the pressure off of my voice we reintroduced ‘˜Heavens Door’, giving In fact it was probably the best I have ever played at any gig (ever). With The second set started well after 11pm, with the crowd now a bit thinned There was time for me to talk my way through ‘˜Preacher Man’ until Danny With the venue happy with the news, that I planned to bring my voice with Job done! Gary |
12/10/2008 |
Gary | Cafe d’Oude Stoep ‘“ Vlaadingen /Rotterdam – Netherlands 26/9/08 |
Thnaks to Esther for ararnging this gig, as a last minute ‘˜fill in’ following a cancellation from naother venue.We arrived and met the great Hans and his team at this atmospheric cafe.. This was a late one, after 11.00 pm a stage area was cleared. A quick set We set off with ‘˜Blues Highway ‘˜and ‘˜Not Fade Away. A pretty good reaction After the first 40 or so people in the closest proximity to the stage the Midset we started rocking with ‘˜No Place To Hide’ to great response, but Those of you who have followed my health strugles with my neurological condition, My voice was still on good form, but I noticed that by the end of the night We blasted into the second set with ‘˜Roadhouse Blues’ and were just going Thanks to Esther and Tim for the gig and to Hans for the great food (chicken We also jammed on ‘˜Watchtower’ for the second night running with a great 4am it was finally off to bed, but not for some of the band who went out 2 Down, 2 to go Gary |
11/10/2008 |
Gary | The Podium ‘“ Schiedam/Rotterdam ‘“ Netherlands – 25/9/08 |
Well it had been a while since we played in Europe. The gigs had dried up after that great Blues lover, critic and Website provider Bobje Blues, had retired from being a Tour Manager.Still armed with our best ever CD (Sea of Souls ‘“ oh and by the way did I tell you that we had a new CD out! ‘“ as if!) and with the help of Tim Smith of our great friends The Brew, we put together a mini tour of 4 venues in the Netherlands & Belgium. A big thanks to Tim as it’s the Excellent Brew’s success in Europe that has given us a descent platform for a staggered return to Euro touring’¦.. The Podium in Schiedam was a great medium sized venue, based on the banks We met Ester, Tim’s friend and right hand in Holland, who had been instrumental After Roger had heroically steered the tour bus through a partially open A decent sized crowd (thanks to Tim’s promotion) saw a good performnce from ‘˜Voodoo Dance’ and ‘˜Roadhouse Blues’ provided a storming start to the second The set came to a good climax with members with The Brew coming on stage A great night, a memorable return to Europe and this great venue wants us Gary |
08/10/2008 |
Gary | Real Music Club ‘“ The Beaverwood ‘“ Chislehurst – 11/9/08 |
Pete Feenstra runs’s some great venues and does so much for live music in London.This was our first time at this spacious venue and though the crowd was a little down onr ecent weeks (about 50 paying punters), they were real music lovers and the gig rocked. We made a lot of new friends. The band played great with Mandie and Kelly singing great in combination. After the last echoes of the encore ‘˜Preacher Man’ faded into the night, We’ll look forward to coming back to this excellent gig, Thanks to the real music lovers Gary |
30/09/2008 |
Gary | National R&B Festival ‘“ British Stage ‘“ Colne Lancashire ‘“ 24/8/08 |
From our 6th year at Merton Abbey to our 6 year on the largest stage at the National R&B Festival in Colne.We’d been offered the headline/final slot in line with the launch of our new CD. However, knowing that about 30% of the crowd drift away at that stage we took the second last slot. With a generous turn round times this year, we had a leisurely set up. By If Merton Abbey was one of our greatest ever all round shows, this was probably All 3 girls looked fantastic dressed in black and put great energy and movement On the down side we had some typical big stage sound problems. Monitoring Still the new songs ‘˜landed’ really well. The crowd were right with us and We played for over an hour and 20 minutes, but as usual it just didn’t seem Our great friends the Brew followed us on, with a rocking set. Meanwhile To end the evening I ran a 45 minute jam session. I involved Adrian and It was all recorded live by a Belgian Sound Crew ‘“ Live CD Coming Your Way?? Colne 2008 ‘“ Thank you for the memories” Gary |
06/09/2008 |
Gary | Merton Abbey Mills Blues Festival ‘“ Merton Abbey – 22/808 |
Described by many band members as their favourite night of the year, for the 6th year running, we were playing in the open air on Friday night at South London’s biggest festival.We had the chance to play indoors at the Colourhouse Theatre, which would have earned us some money, but rejected this so that we could play to a massive crowd and to give everyone’s kids a chance to see us (and become prematurely deaf!). The weather was nice, the gods of Blues/Rock smiling on us, providing a Having all 3 girls on duty in our festival line up was another postivie We started to a good sized crowd and by the time we were into the second Bearing in mind we’d just had a 3 week break, I could not believe how well The band kicked off with the title track of the new CD, ‘˜Sea of Souls’ and As Danny and I traded extended guitar licks into the fading of the summer The second set just lifted and lifted, as Voodoo Dance, Tellin Lies and CD sales were our best ever by a long way for this festival. It was one of the nigts were all the pain, effort (and debt) semed worthwhile’¦ Thank you so much for your support, it was like a football team laying at You can see pictures of the show, courtesy of Phil on http://www.flickr.com/photos/philmcelhinney/sets/ Rock on Gary |
27/08/2008 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 21/8/08 | The jam resumed after a 3 week summer break’¦.Compared to recent attendances it was predictably quiet, no doubt due to the Merton Abbey Mills Festival appearance scheduled for the following night. However, with Andrew Heart doing a fine job depping for Bill on the Bass, Voodoo Dance was very full on (Martin had to close all the pub windows and The smaller amount of musicans attending meant no-body needed to rush and Geronimo played a great solo in the first of his 3 songs and the Pete Bedford There was Time for Danny, Andrew and I, joined by the lovely Betty on percussion, There was still time for Syd and his ‘˜magic banjo’ to lay down the msucial Bring on Merton Abbey and Colne’¦. Gary |
23/08/2008 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 24/7/08 | It was good to see the crowd beginning to back to the numbers of last year/early March’Roadhouse were at full strength and after her now traditional false start, Mandie nailed ‘˜Tumbling Down’ (a current radio play in Croatia). Kelly then took on Suzie.D’s ‘˜Tthe Lying Game’ and for a first time and We finished up with Voodoo Dance and I got into some weird rant featuring Fank Dymore was hysterically funny abusing all present (and especially me), Danny played ell with the Pete Bedford Band (the tart!), who also featred Geronimo was on form, as was Joe.X on the guitar. As the crowd thinned out The jam resumes on August the 21st Gary |
27/07/2008 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 10/7/08 | Following the amazing launch night at the weekend, I was both surprirsed and pleased at the amount of people who came out again to support us at The Woodman’¦. thank you our freinds’¦They were rewarded with a good jam session. Kelly had a baptism of fire as with Mandie’s car breaking down on route, she was singing alone with the band for the first time. She did a fine job, even handling the new song Dark of the Sun’s 3 backing parts on her own. Our voices meshed really nicely on Voodoo Queen. That song sounded,great to me as we hadnt played it for a fair while,,, a personal fave. It was great to see Jimmy Dublin back onstage at the end of the night. Playing Gary |
27/07/2008 |
Gary | South London CD Launch ‘“ The Boom Boom Club – Sutton FC ‘“ 6/7/08 |
Every now and then along comes a night where evrything comes together and affirms all the effort and pain you’ve gone through, for the love of your music ‘“ this was such a night.A massive thank you to all our many friends, who came out to launch ‘˜Sea of Souls’, on what proved to be a special night for the Band. Thanks also to Pete Feenstra and George McFall for both keeping faith in Our good friend and Roadhouse legend Drew Barron kicked off proceedings, Onto the Roadhouse set, which featured all 3 of our great female vocalists. We then featured all 3 girls in sequence, Suzie on the radio friendly ‘˜Lying ‘˜Telling Lies’ had the crowd stomping along behind us and the atmosphere The girls were putting on a great show, dressed all in black they looked Preacher Man lead to a great shout for and encore and with timer unning ‘˜ White Water’ finished off the night. I was really proud of everyone in the Band for the qulity of performance We sold over 30 CD’s on the night. A massive thanks to all that came, you Onwards with much more hope and determination, Gary |
12/07/2008 |
Gary | Nth London CD Launch ‘“ The New Bull & Butcher – 4/7/08 |
What anticipation”¦The new CD sounds great, cover and book design are brilliant’¦.and this was our first chance to launch it. What a venue, great stage PA, lighting, effects, lovely room. Good pub with Now the downside ‘“ hardly anybody came. Pete and the band must have sent However, the small crowd (including Roadhouse legend Anne Campbell & partner) A big thanks to all that came ‘¦we wish there were more great music lovers Lets keep our head up and see how Sunday night at The Boom Boom Club turns Gary |
08/07/2008 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 26/6/08 | An improvement on the last jam, with a decent (but not large crowd), there was still a shortage of musicians (compared to the average attendance over the last 5 years).Mandie was on form, being the only one of the Roadhouse girls ‘˜on duty’. Slip Away, Sacrifice and her own rendition of Rising Sun were great. It was more of a struggle on The Answer, where the 3 part harmonies were sorely missed. Still it was a good blast of a new stage favourite. In the ‘˜Jam’ itself there was a good set from the Pete Bedford band and Syd ‘˜banjoed’ us into the night’¦as we all thought of the forthcoming launch Gary |
06/07/2008 |
Gary | The Railway ‘“ Coultishal ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 14/6/08 | We stepped in to do this gig for our good friend Alan Fish of the Groundhogs and Egypt fame.A nice little pub, just past Norwich, it was full a rock and roll memorabilia and a nice revolving LCD display of the good bands playing there. Dave was an engaging and musically knowledgable Landlord, it was good to The venue itself was long and thin in shape and a bit small for us. We were Anyway, it made the band work very hard and have some ‘˜feisty’ altercations At the end we spoke to a load of lovely people, including Dave, who had With the CD a few days from release it was good for the Band to have to It was still along drive home.. Gary |
28/06/2008 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 12/6/08 | An unbalanced night at the Woodman’ a relatively good turn up from music loving punters, but an all time low in terms of musicians present.An historic night for Suzie as it was her last jam before moving back to Birmingham (for a period). Don’t panic, she’ll be back for the launch gigs and will play all major festivals and tours’¦.. Suzie sang the Lying Game from our new (best ever!) CD, Sea of Souls and Mandie gave a debut to ‘˜Tumbling Down’ which was well played and sung for Due to the dearth (not death!!) of musicians we had a few solo acts, with Drew Barron sported his old hollow bodied guitar and generated a mean and Joining Jimmy was an old friend of ours, Bob on the harp, one of the stars At least he could be bothered to turn out (and he came all the way from Musicians let’s be having you -Or I’ll stay at home and do my knitting Gary |
22/06/2008 |
Gary | East Harling Scial & Music Club ‘“ Norfolk – 31/5/08 |
A return to one of our friendliest venue’s’¦.A starnge warm night, with half the crowd being outside on the verandah (in the early stages) made the whole atmosphere feel flatter than usual. However, in our break two great yourngsters (13 years old), on the drums Onto the second set’¦. the band really gelled from the opening ‘˜Watchtower’ Back on the 15th November Gary |
14/06/2008 |
Gary | The Red Lion ‘“ Stevenage ‘“ 18/5/08 | Back to the legendary Red Lion, Trevor (The Man With The Hat) Keelings, grass roots, hard rocking biker style pub/venue’¦Strange thing about this one is that its’ very intimate with the audience being only inches away from the microphones. Good thing is you can feel the repsonse and atmosphere, as it’s totally in your face. This was a first gig for Suzie and Kelly woking together in tandem and they It was great to have a visit from Roadhouse legend Anne Campbell and her The second set Rocked big style and all thoughts of an early finish dissapeared Cheers Trev’¦. Gary |
06/06/2008 |
Gary | The Musician ‘“ Leicester ‘“ 10/5/08 | A nice return to a refurbished Musician. It was always a nice and distinct music venue, but now its a bit bigger and better still.The night was always going to be about fun (not money, as we were never going to cover our costs), as we were performing a double header with our great friends ‘˜The Brew’. The only downside to the Musician is its tendency for variable crowd numbers, The Roadhouse set was very well played. Even though we were on first the Next up The Brew, with Jason Barwick proving he is one of the finest your For the last number I joined The Brew for a rock out on ‘˜Crossroads’ and A great night Gary |
01/06/2008 |
Gary | The Boot & Shoe ‘“ Yorkshire ‘“ 27/4/08 | After most of the band crawled out of their sleeping bags (or off their all night bar stools) at the Crimea Tavern, we wound our way 25 mins down the road to another great gig.The Boot & Shoe has a great stage and sound. Les was another superb host and he laid on a warm greeting and sound. This time the audience (which contained people who had come to see us following A played a well received 2 sets, to a good sized crowd. Highlights included Nice one Les, We’ll be back Gary |
10/05/2008 |
Gary | The Crimea Tavern ‘“ Yorkshire ‘“ 26/4/08 | The first of 2 Yorkshire gigs arranged for us by our good friend Tim Smith of that excellent band, The Brew.We were welcomed and well looked after by our genial host and all round great guy Jimmy. Early problems with monitor level and feedback were dealt with by that awesome soundman and another good guy, Stig. What friendly people, the whole place had a real indivual warm atmosphere. Though we had the sound problems, there was a good crowd for the first set. Just as we were thinking we hadn’t gone down quite as well as usual, we Out host Jimmy held court till 6am, most of the band crashing in sleeping Gary |
10/05/2008 |
Gary | Motorcycle News (MCN) Weekend Festival ‘“ Butlins – Skegness ‘“ 19/4/08 ‘“ Part Two |
Onto our main stage appearance. It was a shame that with this festival alot of proeple go home on the Sunday.We opened at 8pm to a fairly empty, gigantic REDS arena. Also handicapped by being asked to play covers, w decided to go for a 50/50 Opening with ‘˜Heavens Door’ and ‘˜Slip Away’, the crowd began to grow. We kicked into ‘˜Telling Lies’ and our 3 girl festival line up started to Mandie again pulled in a standing ovation, for her stunning Blues Rendition Danny was on top form as we said goodnight with a belting Preacher Man. We drove away to the sound of a Blondie Tribute band cranking up their Drum |
07/05/2008 |
Gary | Motorcycle News (MCN) Weekend Festival ‘“ Butlins – Skegness ‘“ 19/4/08 ‘“ Part One |
It was nice that the impression we made at Januarys Skegness Blues & Rock festival, led us to this prestigous booking.Out first challenge was to run a Jam Session on the cavenous Skylive Stage (under the big top roof) at Butlins’ We didnt know how this would turn out, as we had no idea if there would However, it went rather well. After an opening 3 Roadhouse songs to set Highlights included the 4 ladies (and the drunken guy) who joined us on However, the whole thing was such hard work to organise, we were drained The previous night we had checked out the covers bands that were almost The crowd were in party mood with well over a thousand people were in fancy This lead to some serious Roadhouse partying, climaxing with Kelly in an |
07/05/2008 |
Gary | BB’s Blues Club ‘“ GJ’s ‘“ Colliers Wood ‘“ 30/3/08 | Sorry that this journal entry is out of sequence’¦ health issues, pressure, blah, blah and other excuses’¦..This was a very good night. The concept was to preview some of our new material for the forthcoming CD, ‘˜Sea of Souls’ (released on Blues Matters in June) and to feature our latest female talent Kelly Marie Hobbs. There was a lot of interest in seeing Kelly in one o her first full gigs As a double whammy Roadhouse legend Billi Shaw also turned up and duetted It was great to see that fine old statesman of the blues Bob Bruning, be Kelly herself had a great night. On the first song she let the nerves get The new songs went down well and overall the whole night was a big success’¦.. |
07/05/2008 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 17/4/08 | The only jam for April was a good one. We now resume running this event on a 2 weekly basis, as long as it’s well supported.Roadhouse featured Mandie with Kelly. This is a powerful partnership, but it will need a bit more time and work to blend the vioces to meet the tonal quality we get when Mandie sings with Suzie. I’m also interested in hearing Suzie and Kelly together on stage as a duo. Roadhouse played Blues Highway, Sea of Souls and The Answer. Bearing in The whole night had a Roadhouse theme, with Kelly doing her first solo jam Dr Noel Brown completed the Roadhouse theme by joining John Scott and friends. Pride of place went to Pete Bedford, as it was the night of his 60th Birthday. Well here’s to the Motorcycle News festival to 5,000 peole at the Weekend Gary |
18/04/2008 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 27/3/08 | The last of the ‘˜People’s Jams’, before the Brewery start paying for this local institution again.A big thanks to Andrew, who put up a large sum towards the expenses of this packed night at The Woodman. Roadhouse were on first and did a surprisingly slick set ( A surprise to Mandie’s good friend Mel Jackson (another nice young lady) joined us to Later Mel joined Roadhouse legend Drew Barron, Andrew Heart on Bass and This was one of the busiest ever jams and some people did not even get on New fave Joe.X did a good set and old fave Jimmy Dublin closed the night The Pete Bedford band were as good as usual and then the stage was besieged You never know who’s coming to The Woodman Jams?? Only one jam scheduled for April, due to the school Hols ‘“ then back to See you on the 17th April Gary |
01/04/2008 |
Gary | The Hope Tavern ‘“ Holton Le Moor ‘“ 16/3/08 | Well after a classic Hope Tavern Sunday lunch and the rocking of the night before, energy levels were low, health issues high’¦.Would last nights gig only 25 miles down the road have an effect on the crowd size ‘“ Graham our host was worried. He had no need to be, as this was arguably our best crowd and overall Hope The standing joke was that crowd were so close to us poeple had to manouvre Thier was some great banter and I had one of those rare days where my guitar From a gentle start with ‘˜Brooklyn Blues’, we lifted it with a storming The second set really rocked with Voodoo Dance being the pick of the impact All was set up for Preacher Man, but unfortunately not, as Danny’s amp bit It was funny doing 2 encores without Danny (who’d played so well over the One of the great all time gigs. It was good to see Ray and Nicky again. Gary |
23/03/2008 |
Gary | The Yardbids Club ‘“ Grimsby ‘“ 15/3/08 | First of 2 nights in this area, as arranged by our great friend, Tim Smith from our label mates and great band, The Brew.To our surprise the venue was a cracker, big stage, giant PA, stage, dressing room, sound crew, lighting rig. All we needed was a decent crowd to fill the mid sized room of what is essentially a rocking biker venue. With Tim and loads of the Brew crowd partying with us in our dressing room A initial warm response from the crowd kicked up into overdrive, following The second set belted into action with a double tap of the You Tube fave We then guested that great guitar player, young Jason from the Brew. He Watchtower & Voodoo Queen lead to a mass demand for an encore (and later Gary |
23/03/2008 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 13/3/08 | A welcome return to the Woodman Jam.This Jam was partially funded by Martin, the ace landlord, who is trying to defend the closure of the jam from a cost cutting policy run by the brewery. Thanks Martin! We have been given a green light now to run the jam every 2 weeks for the Still it was a great turnout after such a long break. It was also a chance The new vocal arrangement of Dark River worked a treat, and then band also Highlight of this jam was the 3 song session, where Robin Bibi and Jimmy Lets hope for a good turn out at the next jam on the 27th March Cheers, Gary |
21/03/2008 |
Gary | Stormy Monday Club ‘“ The Bulls Head Barnes – 3/3/08 |
We had a good return to the Classy Stormy Monday Club. A quadruple birthday bash for Roger, Bill, Drew and I, combined with a showcase of our new material for the forthcoming CD release (to be called either Voodoo Dance or Sea of Souls).We had a few carefully chosen special guests, people who have ben a part of the Roadhouse family over the years. First up was a great guitar duet featuring Tim O’ Sullivan and fronted by Roadhouse lagend Drew Barron. Great music and guitar playing (though we were asked to turn it down at that point!). Mark Freeman did a good number and then drummed for cool guitarists Geronimo Roahouse played 2 sets and I featured all 3 of our great girl singers, Skegness We stated with Slip Away, moved into Brooklyn Blues and then to the new The Answer was played with real feeling, though we stuttered going into Suzie sung a killer Big Easy, Kelly sounded great and we belted out Telling Check out this YouTube link thanks to Tim O’Sulivan (poor sound but the And here is the video clip!
Pictures of the night go to: http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r189/tim_caesar/Roadhouse%20Bulls%20Head%20Barnes%20030308/ We finished by welcoming Drew onstage for a classic No Place To Hide and Thanks to George & Pete.F Gary |
08/03/2008 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 7/2/08 | With Martin the landlord not being able to secure funding from his Brewery, who seem financially over extended, this jam looked like being cancelled.However thanks to donations from that great Roadhouse supporter Chris Berthelmy (the producer of much of our advertising and limited edition CD’s) and Martin himself, the jam went ahead with the musicians on half wages. This jam was well attended, despite the fact that we had not appeared at Roadhouse kicked off with 3 new songs, ‘˜The Answer’, follwed by a first This was followed by an appearance from young prodigy Oliva De Souza and Genie then took the stage and did a good set, nice vocals. It was girls Roadhouse layed, Roadhouse blues as er Chris’s request and sets came from We will try to get things re-started on the 13th March, with a view to running Thanks for all the great support Gary |
10/02/2008 |
Gary | Skegness ‘“ Monsters of Blues & Rock Festival – 27/1/08 |
Part 3 ‘“ Main Stage Appearance ‘“ REDS Stage ‘“ 9pmOur label mates the Brew did a fine job before us, but the crowd grew very noticeably in size before we came on at 9pm. From the opening drum intro into ‘˜Tellin Lies’ the big crowd of ace music Slip Away was up next and using all 3 girls together was noticeably giving We then gambled and played the brand new song ‘˜Voodoo Dance’ for only its . Use the following UTube address to view some camcorder footage of the whole http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWOwhbQ Mandy sang a great version of ‘˜House of the Rising Sun’ (which since then For once I nailed my solo on that song and overall it was my best, or 2nd Suzie was up next with ‘˜The Big Easy’ and then we blasted off the stage Against the odds, the tradition of the day and the clock we were given an It was a long way home as the song says, but we were pummped up from playing One of the best Roadhouse gigs ever Gary |
02/02/2008 |
Gary | Skegness ‘“ Monsters of Blues & Rock Festival – 27/1/08 |
Part 2 ‘“ Unplugged Set JAKS Stage ‘“ 2.45-3.50 Sunday:After a good solo from the accomplished Roy Mette, we did one of our rare ‘˜unplugged performances’ A big thanks to the 120 or so people who ignored the lure of John Otway It was dissapointing that we were not offered a full sound check, resulting Still with Roger on the congas and Danny adopting a warm blues/jazz tone, Highlights for me, included a trip back in the songbook to mprovise an acoustic Onto the big, big stage for the evening. Gary |
02/02/2008 |
Gary | Skegness ‘“ Monsters of Blues & Rock Festival – 26/1/08 |
A very, very , very successful and well received trip to the massive Skegness festival this year’Part One ‘“ We had a great warm up hour on the 400 capacity room/Jaks stage. Kicking off with No Place To Hide, the hour flew by. The crowd swelled to We managed to record the whole set and its come out amazingly well, so watch It was Danny.’s first big gig with us and he did a fine job following in After that I/we kicked into the 3rd year of the Skegness jam. It was a great honour to compare this event, which is fast becoming the Special commendations to the incredible talent of the young ‘˜Little Boy The event rose to a crescendo as we mixed members of the Brew, including 4 hours had blurred by, here’s to next year, god and fate willing Gary |
29/01/2008 |
Gary | New Years Jam ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 3/1/08 | A great jam, but bad news as due to financial problems with the Brewery the Jam is suspended until the 7th February’..On the night ‘“ A great version of Risng Sun from Mandie and the most totlly self indulgent Watchtower from Danny & I ever”¦.. Other good performances from 15 year old prodigy Oliva with the legendary Olivia finished the night with a solo perfromance. Just her and an electric Here’s to the 7th February Next stop SKEGNESS !! Gary |
20/01/2008 |
Gary | The Xmas Jam ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 13/12/07 | Well last week turned out to be the ‘˜downdraft’ before a mega turn out for the annual Xmas jam’¦..it was packedSuzie opened the evening with a dazzling ‘˜Stormy Monday’, accompanied by the great Tim Mattthewman on the soloing bass. Danny repeated his strong slide performance on ‘˜Sacrifice’ as Roadhouse legend Drew Barron took up the bass duties. Kelly continued her development on the vocals, then it was into a strong version of the new song ‘˜Lights on the Water’. We finfished off with a top notch vocal from Mandie.G on House of the Rising Sun. A good set, the only dissapointment for me was that I couldnt re-capture the guitar form I demonstrated in Kenley around 10 days ago. Still was the best i’d felt on stage for a while (large crowd or large intake of alcohol ‘“ one or the other!)’¦.. Onto the jam and with musicians stacking up all round the big pub, scheduling With a PA patch up we started with Jeannie on the vocals, repaeting last The Tom Anfield Band then did a set that had a lovely feel. Then its off Then we were onto the feature set for the evening, showcasing the talents Next up a typically strong set from Pete Bedford and his crew. Blues legend stage with Charley, John Scott and Jon Griffin, plus Dave the drummer (the Then I found space for a quick Xmas ‘˜Watchtower’ with Danny.G and Funky Final sets came from the eternal showman Terry Brennan and Syd on the banjo. A happy crowd with a few dissapointed musos who didnt get to play, trudged I reflected on over 5 years of this great jam. From the early days when Ghosts of Xmas’s past and a great Xams jam present Thanks for all the support, I wouldnt have made it to the end of 2007, without Have a great Xmas, look after your health and your families Gary |
16/12/2007 |
Gary | The Woodamn Jam ‘“ 6/12/07 | The quietest jam at the Woodman for a couple of years. I’m hoping that’s becuase everyone is waiting for next weeks Crimbo special extravaganza’¦.Still there was enough regulars there to make it a worthwhile night. It was an easy jam to run as it was so quiet and overall the standard of music was very good. Andrew Heart sat in on the bass in place of Bill and did his best job for It was bye bye to Geronimo for a while, who did a great set before going A quiet but pleasant night’¦ Gary |
16/12/2007 |
Gary | Kenley Sports Club ‘“ 2/12/07 | With Bill still out of action following his shoulder operation (robbing us of both his bass playing and our PA), it would have been the easy option to cancel this gig.However, we couldn’t let that great Roadhouse supporter, Ray Baldwin and his lovely crowd down. 48 hours to go and half the Band had flu and I’d lost my voice completely. Special thanks to Frank Dymore who played percussion and provided the PA The girls were on great form singing, Brooklyn Blues, Stormy Monday, Help This allowed me to focus on my guitar playing. Having a muscle and tendon I mumbled my way through Blues Highway, Slip Away, Voodoo Queen and Preacher What nice people ‘“ a very good band perfromance and a great night all round’¦.. Gary |
09/12/2007 |
Gary | Jam Session ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ Wimbledon Park – 29/11/07 |
A good jam at the Woodman with the music being of an overall high quality.In the Roadhouse set we again featured to legandary Mr Drew Barron on the Bass (in place of the slowly healing, post operative Bill) In the Roadhouse set we gave Kelly another workout with ‘˜Blues Highway’. We gave the new song ‘˜Lights on the Water’ a very good work out and then On to the jam iteslf. Pick of the night was the Isidore Brothers, Gus & Good sets from Geronimo, Pete Bedford and Terry Brennan followed. I enjoyed The jam is on the next 2 weeks running, The Xmas jam (last for December Gary |
02/12/2007 |
Gary | East Harling Social Club ‘“ 24/11/07 | With Bill at home recovering from his shoulder operation this was a difficult and costly gig to arrange and play. However, the wonderful warm crowd at East Harling and the fabulous Sandie made the effort worth while, if only more venues were as appreciative and welcoming.Thanks again to big Ron, who picked up the PA from Bill’s and drove it all the way up to Norfolk and for Mr Drew Barron himself, for sitting in on the bass and doing such a superb job’ Line up wise other than having the Candian version of Mark King on the bass, Many of the crowd said she only looked 16, but I took great delight in telling Set wise Help Me, Rock me and F**ck Me slipped effotlessly off of Suzie What I really like about East Harling are the number of children and families Many of the crowd had really dug the excellent (our good freinds) The Mellotones Drew, Danny and Roger all played a blinder..even I got excited in Preacher 2 dates now in the diary to return next year. Let’s stay alive and or in Nice club, nice people Gary |
28/11/2007 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 15/11/07 | I’m pleased to report that this was a good jam at the ‘˜Woody’For the record, in the Roadhouse set I gave all 3 girls a feature. Suzie did a superb rendition of ‘˜Stormy Monday’, Kelly did good on ‘˜The Big Easy’ and Mandy sang a very nice ‘˜House of the Rising Sun’ (I think the quality in feel of our version takes this song above its usual level of cliche). Danny played well all night and Drew did a good job convering for Bill on bass, as well as delivering a great set himself with a visiting Canadian bass player (For all interested, Bill’s operation seems to have been a success and he is doing well). Onto the jam and good performances from Geronimo, The Pete Bedford Band See you on the 29th Gary |
24/11/2007 |
Gary | Boom Boom Club ‘“ Sutton FC ‘“ Special Guests of Pat Travers -2/11/07 |
Quite a special night really’¦..Pat Travers and his crew arrived an hour late (good to see Manny his Road Manager again, last time was the successful show we did with Joe Bonamassa), so we were up against is set up/sound wise. As ever against adversity, the band played great. It was nearly a full house Starting with Tellin Lies and kicking on with Big Easy, Brooklyn, No Place Danny showed how well he is settling in and Kelly joined us for ‘˜No Place’ During the first 3 songs my muscle disease made every chord/note agony to If we all stay alive I’m determined to record another CD in late spring This is a period for battling and keeping the faith.Stay with us my friends. Gary |
04/11/2007 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 1/11/07 | A good turn out by music loving punters, but a limited turn out from musicians (including only one bass player present other than Bill) created a challenging dynamic.We used the Roadhouse set as a warm up for Friday’s Pat Travers support, at The Boom Boom Club, Sutton FC. We opened with the new song ‘˜Dark River’ which is really showing good potential, and other than the girls being nervous/woried about the monitor levels, went very well. Suzie sang the ‘˜Big Easy’, Kelly joined Mandy in the backing on ‘˜No Place On to the jam and after a couple of good opening sets, including some nice Good sets from Geronimo and a killer version of Rocky Mountain Way from No jam for two weeks, so see everyone on the 15th November Gary |
03/11/2007 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 18/10/07 | Sorry for the late posting of this journal entry. Recently I’ve been told off/taken a lot of flak for posting reviews late and will try to do better. Trouble is with my current health issues, both post gig energy and schedule issues do not always facilitate the chance to post early (especially with the post strike ‘“ Boom Boom!)Well this was a rocking night at the Woodman. A return to form following last weeks bad turn out. This was Kelly’s first ‘˜official’ Roadhouse appearance and lead vocal. She Jammers included Geronimo, Pete Bedford Band, Terry Brennan, Lol Sandford. Following the joys of half term the jam will resume on the 1st November Gary |
28/10/2007 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 11/10/07 | Well it had to happen I suppose, a very quiet jam at the Woodman’After last weeks influx of new blood I was surprised to see it so empty. Maybe we should go back to once a fortnight?? Roadhouse wise, Bill was off on jury service and has his major operation The girls then fronted a line up containing Lol Sandford and other quality Highlight was Monsieur Drew Barron returning to blast us with Robin Trower’s Brilliant! We had good sets from Geronimo and Pete Bedford and a traditional finish So quality music was played throughout and those there had a great time More people please’¦.. Gary |
14/10/2007 |
Gary | Late & Live At the Thomas Tripp ‘“ Christchurch – 6/10/07 |
Our second gig at this big stage venue, thats currently featuring big name acts like Wishbone Ash and Hawkwind.A big thanks to Promoter, Paul Hills and owner Johnnie (who joined us onstage for an insane 8 minute rap on Voodoo Queen ‘“ I loved it, but others found it an acquired taste). We pulled a bigger crowd than last time and the show went down really well. All played well, we just hope that current disagreemnents between vanue A good night Gary |
13/10/2007 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 4/10/07 | Normal service was resumed with a cracking jam at the Woodman.Lots of new blood present as Adam, Pete and Lewis played some rock classics including the first version of a Muse song ever to be performed at the Woodman jam (much cred). Tony a new guitar player excelled and added some ‘˜violin technique’ to the proceedings. Danny.G playing with the worthy Pete Bedford Band did a brilliant solo on Danny.G performed his first version of ‘˜Dark River’ and did a sterling job. Come on down and see what you are missing See you next week Gary |
07/10/2007 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 27/9/07 | The first quiet jam at the Woodman for months. It wasn’t empty and was still a decent night, but by usual standards it was quiet’¦.Kelly continues to sing a new song or 2, each night and is progressing. The Roadhouse set featured Danny.G playing ‘˜Lights on the Water’ for the first time, and it was ok. Drew himself was making a visit as a punter and the possible the hgihlight Lets hope for more folk next week Gary |
05/10/2007 |
Gary | The Lady Of The Lake ‘“ Suffolk ‘“ 22/9/07 | Second night on the road and a great trip to a very scenic part of the world, near Great Yarmouth.It was Paul the landlord’s birthday. The nice big stage was atmospherically lit by the very helpful Steve. We really liked the sizeable room with the poster of the alluring lady herself smouldering behind the kit (the lady not Roger), it was very rock and roll. Though it looked great, the low level lighting meant we struggled to see The first set went well but the audience reaction seemed just ‘˜allright’ By the end we were running out of encores and the audience were singing This lead to the fun of Danny and Suzie doing songs they’d never heard, Even Whiskey Man was brought out of the coffers and dusted down. Another very good one Gary |
28/09/2007 |
Gary | The Banham Barrel ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 21/9/07 | Danny’s first Roadtrip as a full time member took us back to one of our fave regular gigs.The old ‘˜Cider Shed/Factory’ is still a great haven for music lovers. It’s a shame attendances for Jonty’s friendly venue have been up and down over the last 18 months or so. However, tonight was an ‘˜up night’, with a very good crowd. Suzie was alone on vocal duties and revelled in the freedom that gave her. The second set saw the band go into overdrive and a storming Roadhouse Blues The whole gig came to its Voodoo Queen /Preacher Man climax and went down See you next year Banham Gary |
27/09/2007 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 13/9/07 | Back at the jam following our massive festival success.Fortunately there was no sense of downscaling ,as this was a busy night. Suzie was absent, so it gave another chance for young Kelly to try out on the vocals. She did her best job yet (especially on Preacher Man) and is developing nicely. Give the girl a few months and she could become a valuable member of the Roadhouse team. It was also Danny.G’s first official Roadhouse gig after Drew’s had to take Out of all the great jammers, I must give credit to the Isidore brothers See you in 2 weeks, Gary |
27/09/2007 |
Gary | COLNE National R&B Festival ‘“ 26/8/07 | So our run of 4 gigs in 5 days concluded with our appearance on the mega, Super Roadhouse (British) Stage at the Colne R&B Festival. This was our 5th successive Colne and the end of an era, as it marked Drew’s last appearance with us as a full time Band member.This was fittingly one of Roadhouse’s finest ever big stage/festival appearances. When we arrived the Buzz from the stage crew and compere Pete Cuddy was that it had been fairly quiet in the arena all day with no bands really making a big impact. All day people had been asking when were we going to be on stage. Some quick work with the soundcrew faclitated our stage time being upped This was probably the most in control I’d ever felt of a major stage performance No Place to Hide, Slip Away, The Big Easy, Heavens Door, Roadhouse Blues, After the encore the re-action was superb and Mandie and Suzie were besieged Our good friends the Brew (aslo on Blues Matters) did a good job following One of the best all time Roadhouse gigs (check out the pictures on this Gary |
15/09/2007 |
Gary | Merton Abbey Mills Blues Festival ‘“ 24/8/07 | Our 3rd night in a row took us to South London’s very own open air festival. Under the Bandstand down by the river at good old Merton Abbey.This was our 5th consecqutive year at the festival and the 3rd year in a row that we were the headline act. Last year we broke the attendance record for a Friday with over 1,200 people. Well done to Bob Bruning and Pete for keeping this superb event alive.. Brian, his PA and the sound crew were superb. This was by far the best show the band has ever played at Merotn Abbey. For the record, Frank Dymore played percussion, Kelly joined us for Brooklyn A massive night and one for the scrapbook of all time great gigs Gary |
31/08/2007 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 23/8/07 | The second night of our 4 major dates in 5 days ‘˜marathon’ (well it’s a marathon for me anyway!).A good crowd and a good jam at the Woodman as we resumed service after our 4 week summer break. Young Kelly was trying out/auditioning for membership of the Roadhouse female A full strength Roadhouse played the 2 new big songs, Lights On The Water The jam was full of quality with Geronimo, Pete Bedford Band, John O’Leary Pride of place went to the Brothers. Reg Isidore was the legendary drummer Gary |
31/08/2007 |
Gary | Peterborough CAMRA Beer & Music Festival ‘“ 22/8/07 | Well the summer break ended and we were back with a bang, playing on Europe’s largest tent, on a giant stage to a few thousand lovely people.Unlike last years trade show appearance at this ace beer fest, this was a open to the public night. Consequrently there was a very good crowd and a really good atmosphere. Overall the Band played very well after the 4 week break. It was one of The whole band played a stormer and apart from my personal re-writing of So began our 4 gigs in 5 days to conservatively over 6,000 people (With I’ll keep you posted, A very good gig Gary |
24/08/2007 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 19/7/07 | The last jam before our 1 months summer break. I thought that pre break things might be a bit quiet, but the place was rocking.It was a struggle getting all the musicians on and some on stage tuning and really long numbers incurred a late finish. This understandably pissed of Bill, who has to carry the PA all the way home to Thamesmead and gets hardly any sleep anyway. We’ll have to see what we can do about the overuns in the future. However, it was a great jam with a very high standard of musicianship. Lol Roadhouse played Blues Highway, Brooklyn Blues & Telling Lies. Geronimo does an interim gig at the Woodman on the 9th August. We are back on Thursday the 23rd See you then, Gary |
23/07/2007 |
Gary | The Ray Murray Memorial Gig ‘“ The Woodman – Wimbledon Park ‘“ 7/7/07 |
It was nice to be asked to play this memorial gig for the death of my good friend Ray Murray.Ray over the years had been influential in Bills and I’s musical career. He got us into our first Band, helped form Roadhouse and put the jam on at both the Earl of Spencer and The Woodman. All in all he’d been a good friend to me from the age of 14. A lot of tickets were sold and the attendance ended up a tad dissapointing, Roadhouse were at full strength and played 2 excellent sets (we were on Personally I had the best night on the guitar, possibly the best I’ve ever It was weird really as my music career has been a long journey. Now, as The crowd loved the show Ray we won’t forget you mate. Gary |
20/07/2007 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 5/7/07 | At last a return to a traditional busy night at the Woodman. The struggle was back on to get everyone on stage and I appreciate the flexibility of all the later acts for letting me merge line ups.Things started off with a very different version of Roadhouse (Mark 37.5). Bill had the night off (well we all get lucky once a year!) and the band featured Drew on the bass (yes Drew!) and Danny and the guitar. Also featuring Mandie as out solitary white thigh booted female (I tried to find more white thigh booted females, but was thrown out of the lap dancing club)’¦ Roadhouse played Heavens Door, Blues Highway and Voodoo Queen. Things moved on with a wave of youth, Laurie did a 3 piece slot, followed Syd and his legendary banjo played us into the rainy summers night A good one ‘“ next jams in 2 weeks time Gary |
08/07/2007 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 28/6/07 | The quietish spell at the Woodman continued with this jam. There was still some great music and everyone who came had a good time.The show must go on! Gary |
08/07/2007 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 21/6/07 | The attendance had been well down on the last 2 jams. So it was good to see things getting at least on their way back to normal with this one.For the record Roadhouse played Dark River, Brooklyn Blues (well sung girls and happy birthday Mandie for Saturday) and Bob from GJ’s/BB’s joined the girls on the Bv’s as it was also his birthday, for a reasonable White Water. Decent sets from Geronimo, Pete Bedford, Resemary and Terry Brennan. I enjoyed by all concerned.) See ya next week (I hope!) Gary |
25/06/2007 |
Gary | The Boom Boom Club ‘“ Sutton FC ‘“ 10/6/07 | So to our much heralded ‘œ18th Birthday’ party gig at the Boom Boom, Sutton FC.I apologise for the late posting of this gig report and missing out one on the preceeding jam session all together. This is due to combination of increased ill health and our server/site being down for an extended period. I’ve mixed feelings with regard to this gig. On the positive side it was As I reflect on the many years of Roadhouse and all the great people I’ve Thanks to special guests Tim O’Sullivan (dynamite on the encore ‘“ Preacher On the bad side the 60 plus people in the room is just not a worthy return After support band the very capable ‘œSharpees’ , with their Rory Gallagher It was annoying to lose a couple of songs from the set, then by the end Along with that, there was periodic on stage feedback, but bearing mind In the end its a case of thanks to everybody who came, supported and enjoyed.the Gary |
24/06/2007 |
Gary | The New Crawdaddy Club ‘“ The Belvedere ‘“ Essex | Our 4th appearance at this Excellent top quality venue. A big thanks to Paul and Ashwyn for having us back.A massive thanks to Pete Bedford and Big Ron for solving our transport problems by kindly giving Band members a lift and making the gig possible’¦.cheers guys It was a great night with an excellent turn out. First up, house band The We played for around 1 hour and 35 minutes straight and other than my comedy Highlights included the best version yet of the new song Dark River, Telling A fine gig and we’ll back next year (all being well) On a footnote it was great to see Roadhouse legend Anne Campbell at the |
04/06/2007 |
Gary | The Barnard Castle R&B Festival ‘“ Barnard Castle – 27/5/07 |
Well I suppose after 18 years on the road it had to happen, we didn’t make the gig’¦..All was going well until with 160 miles gone and 100 to run, Roger’s top hose (on his engine ‘“ not his underwear) broke. After an hour of nail biting tension in the driving rain on the M1 hard shoulder, the AA man pronounced the head gasket blown and our major festival headline dream over. 6.5 hours later and £620 lighter, Roger, Suzie, Mandie and I we were towed Bill and Drew in the meantime obtained the services of a local drummer and Well done guys’¦. One for history books ‘“ for all the wrong reasons ‘“ shame!!!! Gary |
28/05/2007 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 24/5/07 | A really muggy and hot spring night, kept quite a few punters outside of the Woodman and the overall crowd a little lower than usual.The Jam had an interesting Roadhouse opening with Drew playing the first 2 numbers. The strategy was to play the 2 new songs before Drew had to make an early exit. Planet of Fools was really solid, and then we tried a girls only intro to Dark River and that was brilliant. The rest of the song was going fantastically well untill Drew extended his solo and the whole thing truned into an ‘˜M25 pile up’. Still I have learned that this one is a winner – big style!. Danny.G then joined us for a a solid Big Easy. Next up was my Daughter Rhiannon Later in the jam Lawrence was back for blues guitar frenzied work out on No jam for 2 weeks Gary |
28/05/2007 |
Gary | The District Club ‘“ Pontypridd, Wales ‘“ 18/5/07 | One of the better days on the road. A sunny drive to a really large hall, with friendly staff & cheap drinks.The crowd here varies from 40-150 and it is sometimes tough for bands coming up for the first time. So we were delighted that after 18 years on the road, that there were over 100 people out for our first gig in Wales. What a great crowd, the people were warm and witty and really into their The 2 long sets flashed by. The band played well and the new song ‘˜Lights They want us back next year, shame its not sooner! ‘“ a good one Gary |
28/05/2007 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 17/5/07 | A good crowd and jam at the Woody (an unsually dissapointing jug though ‘“ which is what usually keeps this jam going!)’¦..Another Dep for Danny (I’ve got more hair than Drew) G ‘“ and we responded with one of the best versions of Watchtower ever played at the Woodman (I even enjoyed my own guitar solo ‘“ and thats a rare thing!) Due to everyone coming in quite late, the later slots became truncated. My daughter Rhainnon should make the next jam and maybe she’ll lower herself Gary |
20/05/2007 |
Gary | The Hope Tavern ‘“ Near Lincoln ‘“ 13/5/07 | Our 4th gig at this excellent venue. Graham does a cracking job transforming this nice little pub into a rocking blues venue.We had played here twice with the legendary Jules Fothergill, Lorna Reilly and Anne Campbell line up, then once with Fiona McElroy singing in tandem with Mandie. This however was arguably our best ever gig there. The first set rocked with Suzie on great form in ‘˜The Big Easy’ and Mandie There is great music loving crowd in this venue and they really lift the Drew was on good form and his outro on Voodoo Queen lead to a double encore If we all stay alive, We’ll be back ‘“ a good one ‘“ it’s brought back the Gary |
17/05/2007 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 10/5/07 | Back to another good crowd and excellent jam night at the Woodman.We are getting a nice slection of new faces at the moment augmenting regulars like the excellent Geronimo, Pete Badford Band, Terry Brennan etc’¦. Syd and his banjo played us out into the cold wet night ( a tradition). Here’s to next week Gary |
17/05/2007 |
Gary | The Roxzone at the White Horse ‘“ Bognor ‘“ 5/507 | Well first the good news. What a nice venue, first rate pa, soundmen and stage. And the promoter Paul was a gent. Also we had a great dep performance from Danny.G, stepping in at the last minute for Drew ‘“ he played a stormer’¦..The bad news, this venue though worthy has only been going a few months and has largely featured tribute bands. a good run of attendance was broken by a band not turning up and then a break for Easter. The consequences were that we played to a dismal corwd. If you took away the 11 Roadhouse fans/regulars (including my Mum and Dad ), we were playing to the proverbial 3 men and a dog (it wasn’t quite as bad as that ‘“ but seemed it. The band played well, the people loved it and as usual were full of complements Gary |
16/05/2007 |
Gary | Jam Session ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ Wimbledon Park – 3/5/07 |
A really good jam night at the Woodman. It kind of all passed me by personally as my new Harley Street Doctor gave me some new stuff to take, that as an effect had me considering calling an ambulance by about 5pm’¦.However, at 8 pm Frank Dymore kindly picked me up in his large gas guzzler and plonked me on the stage. Normal service was resumed (or near normal anyway) Danny.G was sitting in for Drew and did a good job. The young base player It was also great to see Julianne Shaw back and doing a nice set with Lol Ah well maybe next week I’ll be back in the game more fully Well done all for putting on such a great show |
11/05/2007 |
Gary | Live & Kicking at the Thomas Tripp ‘“ Chirstchurch – Dorset ‘“ 28/4/07 |
A rare trip to Dorset and an excellent new venue. The Thomas Tripp is Paul Hill’s new promotional venture and is well worhty of support.A nice deep stage (deep enough that the support band could set up all their rig, including drums, in front of our gear) a good sound crew and lighting rig, including effects (excellent!) ‘“ lots of poses from me on the drum riser ‘“ well any chance to look taller) First up was worthy support band Brazen, who did a decent covers set. At By the time we were on there was only about 30-40 in, so we delayed the Overall, it was a great performance as the band nailed most songs and both Well be back to this one Gary |
06/05/2007 |
Gary | Jam Session ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 26/4/07 | The first Jam after our 3 week Easter break and it was a good one. Great sets from the Pete Bedofrd Band, Jim Dublin and Geronimo. Jin brought donw this great young bass player who had been to the Victor Wootton bass school (great solo) Roadhouse did a blinding version of the new song ‘œLights On The Water’ and really rocked out on Roadhouse Blues. Overall it was a good crowd tooThe Jam is back’¦ Gary |
06/05/2007 |
Gary | Burnley National Blues Festival ‘“ Main Stage -8/4/07 |
Well onto our main stage appearance at Burnley and a lovely big stage it was..We were opening the festival at 3pm in the afternoon. Following the 2 plus hours mega set of the night before and only 4 hours However, by the time we hit the half way point a few hundred were in and Overall, we put on a good show and got (according to the organisers) a very However though I sang really well, I couldn’t find the hot guitar form that Still it was a good show, at an excellent well organised festival with a We started with Slip Away, then played Help Me, The Big Easy, Voodoo Queen, I’d like to do this again, ideally further up the Bill/later in the day Gary |
29/04/2007 |
Gary | Burnley National Blues Festival ‘“ Festival Stage – 7/4/07 |
Thanks to some excellent research and dealings by Drew, we checked into some nice accommodation (for a change!). Thanks to Lynne and Peter for looking after us at the Palace guest house (old Majors house/Georgian style) ‘“ very nice.At the venue we set up on the small/cosy festival stage in Oliver’s bar. As the headline act on the smaller stage, we ended up playing a marathon 2 hours and 10 mins (not including the short break we took in the middle). We thought we’d struggle to fill the 2 hours plus, as we haven’t done that In the first set, the PA blew up around the midway point. At one stage we The second half rocked with a vengance. I remember the crowd manically ‘œHaw, Apparently one of the major acts had bombed on the main stage upstairs. Gary |
10/04/2007 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 5/4/07 | A further good warm up for Burnley. Mandy’s friend Mel joined us for a rousing version of the new song ‘˜Dark River’ and it was a good opening set from a full strength Roadhouse.A lot of people at the Jam, but fewer musicians than usual. A good set from Laurie, who came with a band for once. Mandie joined some ace jammers including Lol Sandford and John Scott for a version of ‘˜Mustang’ and there was time for a solo slot for Drew, before Roadhouse finished the night (for once!) See everyone after the Easter break on the 26th April Gary |
10/04/2007 |
Gary | The Red Lion ‘“ Stevenage ‘“ 1/4/07 | So to Trevor (Mr Mayfest/the Man with The Hat) Keelings fabled, ace pub venue. A full on gig where the eclectic audience (bikers, old friends and supporters, sexy lady’s, transexuals you name it) are packed up to your face and rock!!Likened to the bar full of Aliens in the first star Wars movie, this was temendous fun venue and night. It was bit worrying when the over excited crowd demolished the left hand Two blistering sets was an ideal warm up for our appearance at next weeks Gary |
06/04/2007 |
Gary | The Dugout ‘“ Fanrborough FC ‘“ 30/3/07 | On the way to Pete Feenstra’s great new venue, I was really worried about crowd numbers. The rain was bouncing off the M3 on a truly miserable evening and it wasn’t actually encouraging night on which to come out and support live music.On arrival it was great to see that the Dugout was a good venue, warmer and more homely than Sutton, with a nice big stage and friendly people. It was also great to chat to Pete, who has done so much to support the Band and keep live music alive in the South of England/UK (and parts of Europe) It was worrying that with only 10 mins to show time there were only 12 people It was great to see our ace record plugger Golly Gallagher and together The first set suffered from some vocal feedback and a loud backline, but Lovely to see the big party of people who came down for Jill’s bithday and Gary |
04/04/2007 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam -Wimbledon Park ‘“ 29/3/07 | A good opening set by a full strength Roadhouse, as House Band. An improvised and impromptu into to ‘˜Lights On The Water’ worked really well and Planet of Fools rocked.Another good crowd saw a night of varied performances. The multi talented Lewis lead a very good set, which though it suffered vocally, had some nice musical highlights. One of the younger new musicians (who shall remain nameless for his own safety) walked off stage when struggling with his second song, leaving the bass and drums to take out a contract on him. Oh well thats what the jams all about! As usual good sets from Geronimo, Pete Bedford and Jimmy (I didn’t know Here’s to next week Gary |
01/04/2007 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 22/3/07 | Bill sustained a bad eye injury while working, leading to a rare dep appearance from bass soloist supreme, Tim Matthewman.Tim coped well with his first play of some of the Roadhouse songs and came to the fore with his solo in Stormy Monday. This was well sung by Mandie and Suzie (despite Suz struggling with severe throat/laryngitis difficulties at the moment).. We missed Bill’s normal dovetailing with Roger on some sections, but overall Another hero was Pete Bedford who rescued the night by supplying his pa, Overall the music was of good qualityand it was a decent turn out. It was Here’s to next week, which will be followed by a busy weekend for the Band. |
25/03/2007 |
Gary | The Banham Barrell ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 17/3/07 | Well after a ‘˜rest’ from long- haul gigging since our Skegness’ appearances, we were finally back on the road.Jonty’s friendly, warm, ex-cider factory pulls in a good group of enthusiastic music lovers (they are often even more pissed than the band). Support came from our special guests, that ace young band Blitz Screen. Seriously good original music with some superb and very fast guitar playing’¦ To the Roadhouse set ‘“ We managed to play the best ever version yet of our A good gig indeed and it was a long and late way home’¦. never mind ‘“ it was worth it Gary |
23/03/2007 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 15/3/07 | Another good night at the Woodman. Great to see some excellent new faces there like Julian the drummer from 80’²s mega group ABC (he was a great drummer)Following the Roadhouse set we had time for a bit of Drew Barron lead jamming and produced this amazingly sleazy, slow and spacey version of the Stones Satisfaction (everybody said we should do it again ‘“ and maybe we will) Syd played us into the night on his Banjo ‘“ classic ! Thanks for the excellent support See you next week Gary |
23/03/2007 |
Gary | Jules & Lorna’s Wedding Reception ‘“ Putney Boat House ‘“ Putney London |
Well I suppose the first question you are asking your self valued reader, is why am I writing about a wedding reception in the Band Journal?.Well in truth it was a lot more than just a wedding reception. Jules and Lorna were a key part of Roadhouse history. Part of the famous At this excellent wedding reception overlooking the Thames on a gorgeous, Lorna looked great in her wedding dress and she fronted Funkydory as they This left an interstellar, all star jam to take place, which I was very – Robin Bibi playing with Andy Cortes – The great driumming of both Hayden and Joaquim – John O’Leary and Roadhouse’s own Drew Barron being on great form – I sang Roadhouse Blues with Danny.G on the guitar , Bill on the bass, Pete Sargeant ‘“ finishing the night of great live music We met and saw so many special band freinds and family members, it was a For me I was just delighted that Jules and Lona had deservedly had a very Gary |
19/03/2007 |
Gary | Jam Session ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ Wimbledon Park – 8/3/07 |
Following last weeks mega, quad birthday party jam, this was bound to be a quiet night.Funny enough it wasn’t, loads of good musicians and a good appreciative, music loving crowd. I got to play ‘˜Ride on’ with Jim Dublkin and the bits of my guitar solo that were in tune were not bad at all. Mandie and Jim’s comic collaboration on Whole Lotta Love reached an all time high or low (depends which way you want to look at it).. Here’s to next week Gary |
19/03/2007 |
Gary | The Triple 50th BDay Party Jam ‘“ The Woodman – Wimbledon Park -1/3/07 |
A special celebratory night at the ‘˜Woody’. I turned 50 at midnight, Drew a few days before and Bill in a few days time. It was also only a couple of days to Rogers 523rd birthday (or something like that!).A great crowd and some fantastic musicians came out for us, and this turnned into one of the great all time Jams. The Woodman was wedged out and it was hard to fit everybody on a glittering bill. It was particularly great to have Jules Fothergill and Lorna Reilly in attendance Earlier the current Roadhouse did a good set, with Suzie and Mandie and Other highlights before I was totally drunk included the great comedy interplay Thanks for all the great cards, goodwill wishes and the fantastic support, At least I became an even older, old git on a high’¦. Gary |
11/03/2007 |
Gary | BB’s Blues Club at GJ’s Colliers Wood ‘“ 4/2 | Well after the grandeur of the main stage appearance at Skegness (dry ice and all), back to earth with the proverbial bump.This nice candlelit club sponsored bu the great Bob Bruning of Fleetwood Mac fame and run by the passionate Bob and James, deserves more support. Attendances have been bad ther this year, our last appearance their had been an exception. Not this time, only 16 people plus our special guests, Jim Dublin and Laurie, Lol Sandford and John (Harley.D ) Scott mad up the attendance. With the sound bouncing round the room wihtout bodies to soak it up we were At the end of the day its one of the nights that makes you ask yourself Thanks for those of you who did come out to support live music on this winters Gary |
11/03/2007 |
Gary | Jam Sessions ‘“ 1/2, 8/2, 15/2 -The Woodman – Wimbledon |
The jam sessions following Skegness were lower than usual in attendance.For 2 of the 3 nights Drew was away celebrating his birthday in Cuba (now I’m reliably told it’s re-named Druba) and Danny.G did a hell of a job sitting in with Roadhouse in their capcity as the house band. On another night Mandie was poorly and Suzie did a great job on her own. Other than that, despite a healthy turn out of punters/music lovers, there This gave me a chance to give all comers more time and also to be abit undulgent Persistantly good performers included Jim Dublin and Geronimo and the ever |
07/03/2007 |
Gary | Skegness Monsters of Blues & Rock Festival -28/1/07 | Our 4th consecutive appearance on the cavenous Centre Stage at Skegness (quite an achievement!).We had been moved up the bill from 12.00 lunchtime to 20.00 and as a consequence had the day to kill. I wandered round the Butlitz wire perimeter and pulled faces at the security cameras (but still didn’t manage to escape). I spent a lot of time thinking about the bands 17 years and all the great people who have come and gone, broken lives and broken hearts. Also fans and friends that are no longer with us (or anyone else)’¦well it put me in the mood for playing out stuff! The big stage show usually goes bye in a blur ‘“ 50 minutes seeming like We set up while all were at dinner and the empty arena seemed even larger The band kicked off with a stomping Telling Lies which segged into Slip The girls looked great dressed all in black and red (so was I, but no-one The monitoring was great and it was the best big stage show I’ve ever sung. CD sales were excellent ‘“ one of the classic Roadhouse gigs. Thanks to all the great people there. Gary |
25/02/2007 |
Gary | Skegness Monsters of Blues & Rock Festival – 27/1/07 |
Fists day of our 2 Skeggy appearances in 2007 ‘“ Back on the JAKS stage at 12.00 we opened with a one hour set.Bearing in mind the 2 main stages were in operation I was delighted with the crowd of around 300 plus that pitched up for our set. We featured all 3 new songs and Dark River went down a storm. This was probably the best set we’d played on the JAKS stage and we couldn’t Then followed the Skegness jam which I hosted for about 3 hours. This was the festivals best jam yet, with over 60 regsitered jammers who Special thanks to the contributions of Blues Matters own Mick Rutherford Rumour has it that the jam might move to a big stage next year ‘“ and I’ve Gary |
09/02/2007 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 25/1/07 | Well the last jam before our appearance at the major Skegness festival. The 3 new songs got a good airing, though I got lost towards the end of Dark River (I need a new canoe and compass)’¦Keith Grant of the Downliners Sect fame, was back with Stan and the brass section from the Atlantic Soul machine and they did 3 great numbers. Adrian was here for the second week running along with his mate a guitarist from Canada (good vocals!). It was nice to see Tom Anfield back and the rocking set from Mark Freeman/Lol Towards the end I got up with Danny.G and the amazing Tim Matthewman on Onto Skegness Gary |
26/01/2007 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 18/1/07 | A day/night of gale force winds, which kept the crowd away until late then the venue really filled up a treat.The late start meant we were really chasing the clock all night. So apologies to the folk who only got one number. Roadhouse gave a debut to their long awaited 3 new numbers, Lights On the A good quality jam followed, with Laurie excelling on the acoustic and great A good night ‘“ see you next week as the jam becomes our warm up the big Cheers, Gary |
20/01/2007 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 11/1/07 | Less musicians than usual ‘“ but not a bad crowd for Janaury. The standard of the music was very, very high.Maker were a good band in the tradition of the Black Crowes, The Pete Bedford Band rocked on a version of The Who’s ‘˜Won’t Get Fooled Again’ , Jim Dublin excelled and there was even time for Roadhouse to re-take the stage for a version of Voodoo Queen, nicely augmented by Frank Dymore on percussion. See you next week Gary |
14/01/2007 |
Gary | New Years Jam ‘“ The Woodman -Wimbledon Park – 4/1/07 |
Happy New Year to all and with people still away, the fear was that this could be a quiet night. However, as usual it was not the case and a totally rocking jam kicked of 2007’¦..Mandie.G was away with the throat ‘˜lurgie’ but Suzie did great on her own and it was a particualrly good Raodhouse opening set with a killer Big Easy, suitably mournful Slip Away and me being very guitar self indulgent on our epic version nof the Roadhouse Blues. John O’Leary was on top form, I got to play with young Lawrence and the Syd played us into the night, ably assited by Drew and Tim Matthewman – Gary |
11/01/2007 |
Gary | The Xmas Jam ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ Wimbledon Park – 21/12/06 |
Another great festive occassion. A really good crowd and group of musicians at this years Woodman Xmas bash. Fuelled by the much improved menu/quality of food and Martin’s ‘˜freebie’ mince pies, the jam rocked.Lovely to see John O’Leary perform with 2 very young guitar players (Lawrence keeps on progressing). Jim Dublin was a top cowd pleasing form and young Deborah who had flown all the way from Rome to sing was entertaining. Highlight for me was Drew playing an iconinc version of ‘œPunk Floyd’s’ another A good landmark in all ‘“ this being the last gig of the year. Band members Still at the end of 2006 we are still here! ‘“ What will 2007 bring? Next jams on the 4th January Gary |
28/12/2006 |
Gary | Elme Hall ‘“ Wisbech, Norfolk, 17/12/06 | Our fourth gig at Elme Hall, the first since they have come away from the major circuit bands format and now feature a lot of local acts.As this date was also close to Xmas a quiet gig was a real possibility. However, the gods of live music were awake for once and around 70 paying punters gave us a very good afternoon. It was great to see so many freinds who are coming up to Skeggy to see us. Our apologies for the poor sound in the first set, as the pa whined with The second set really kicked. We started with Stormy Monday and Brooklyn Overall a very good afternoons work and we look forward to seeing all our Gary |
22/12/2006 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 7/12/06 | A good crowd and a good jam.Nice to have both Mandie & Suzie singing on top form together. Plus great sets from John O’Leary and Pete Bedford. Lol Sandford and Julie Anne Shaw also did a good set previewing their gig See everyone at the Xmas Jam on the 21/12/06 Gary |
21/12/2006 |
Gary | Roadhouse Xmas Party ‘“ Bulls Head Barnes ‘“ 4/12/06 | What dissapointed me was after 2 great years of attandances of this ‘˜long awaited’ Xmas event, the crowd was a let down.We had over 15 great musicians on display and musically this was one of the finest music club fomat nights ever. Highlights included: – Great vocals from Suzi.D and Mandie.G in a rocking Roadhouse set – Fantastic playing from Jules, Tim O’Sullivan, Danny.G and Geronimo – Lorna & Jules performing I Couldn’t get to sleep with Roadhouse ‘“ ‘˜awesome’ – Tim O’Sullivan joining us for a rocking double guitar blast on Preacher – A classy finish from that greta man of the blues John O’Leary The people who came made shed loads of noise and it meant so much to me Happy Xmas Gary |
19/12/2006 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 30/11/06 | In truth this whole night was a haze. Having been diagnosed with a serious stomach condition on top of my muscle disease, I spent the whole night nearly passing out. My sincere apologies to anyone I was short with, as I struggled to run the jam.At times like this in life, you really appreciate all the great musicians and supporters of live music who turn up week after week at the Woodman. It was a really good jam with great music (apparently) Thank you all ‘“ so much, Gary |
19/12/2006 |
Gary | The Black Horse ‘“ Barnard Castle -26/11/06 | From 45 people in a room for 300, we moved 2 hours cross gorgeous country, to this beautiful village for 65 people in a room suitable for 40.At long last a sell out. Thanks to promoter Mike Walden and to the master of great hospitality, Andy the landlord (rarely have we been so well looked after). The gig was a sell out, had a passionate crowd. and Roadhouse played 4 (yes One of the great nights for the history books and we’ve already been booked Gary |
10/12/2006 |
Gary | Barrow In Furness Blues Club ‘“ 25/11/06 | The long haul to Barrow wasn’t helped by a bit of musical venue chairs, so to speak. Those great (and they should be better supported ) promoters Joyce and Bill, had the well established Duke of Edingburgh close on them for re-furb with just one weeks notice.As a consequence they have tried more than analternative venue with the predicatable drop off in attandance. Tonights venue was the British Legion (shades of Pheonix Nights). However When we kicked off there were just over 20 people in the room and the gig However, the audience were great. they got right behind the band and made It was good to see Joyce and Bill and we hope to come back to a more settled Gary |
10/12/2006 |
Gary | Woodman Jam Session ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 24/11/06 | Thel ong awaited return of ‘œThe Jam’ to the Woody, after it’s 6 week re-furb.It’s now tighter down the front with a resticted view from the bar, but other than that it is warm and cosy and still has a great atmosphere. There was an excellent crowd, but fewer musicians than usual, giving me Geronimo and Terry Brennan delivered their usual iconic performances, before It’s great to be back ‘“ see you next week Gary |
29/11/2006 |
Gary | East Harding Blues Club ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 18/11/06 | Back at the good old East Harding Blues Club, one of the circuits freindliest venues.This was a great night, as a group of young lads who have watched us for a few years had formed a band themselves, so we asked them to do a guest spot. Blitz Screen obliged, with a great 20 minute set, which included me guesting with them on a version of Johnny.B Goode. Keep an eye on these lads they are going to be great’¦Nice of them to get a fair few people along and overall it was a decent crowd It was the end of a weird week for me which started with me collapsing in As a consequence I really enojoyed playing this gig. Drew suggested that It was great to have Mandie and Suzie singing togther again and they excelled Gary |
29/11/2006 |
Gary | Blues Matters Showcase ‘“ The Greenwood Inn – Northolt- 10/11/06 |
Only the 3rd gig at the Greenwood, as promoters Pete Feenstra and George McFall were forced to move their West London venue once more.On a cold and very wet Friday night in Northolt Roadhouse and The Brew were showcasing some of our record labels capability’¦ Negative side ‘“ Only 35 paying punters, surely this great night of music With guests etc there was onlyabout 50 people in the room.. Positive Side ‘“ Both bands played a blinder and the sudience were brilliant And the venue was cool, friendly staff and a great room ‘“ deserving of more Roadhouse again featuring Billi Shaw along with Suzie.D played a short opening The Brews set was a great bit of retro rocking, with a superb version of The Roadhouse closing set opened with White Water and built via other Broken Gary |
12/11/2006 |
Gary | Walter Trout Support ‘“ Sutton FC ‘“ 10/10/06 | It was a great honour for me to be asked to open for one of my personal heroes, especially as this was for the second time.I own 8 Walter Trout CD’s plus the live DVD and love the Band. This gig was only convened with about 10days notice so though it was packed, there was sufficient space to move about and enjoy both bands. I’d like to thank Pete Feenstra the promoter for the opportunity and all With Billi Shaw and Suzie.D on the vocal duties (meeting for the first time In the end ‘˜no worries’, it was a great set and we went down a storm. The It was good to see the guys from Proper records our distributors (for Blues On to Walters set, it was great to hear stuff from his first album and the At the end it was all mutual admiration, high fives and some shots taken A great night ‘“ one for the scrapbook Gary |
15/10/2006 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 6/10/06 | Yet another performance with the band from Billi Shaw, who joined me late in the evening for an improptu version of House of the Rising Sun (great feel, very well sung by her, could well end up in the Roadhouse set). Mandi and Drew were also on form and the whole thing wouldn’t work if Bill and Rog didn’t do such a good job with the PA/backline.It was another mega crowded night, but I managed to fit nearly everybody on. Lawrence was on fire, the Pete Bedford band rocked and for once we had plenty At least one more jam to come before the closure at the Woodman for re-furbishment |
08/10/2006 |
Gary | Digiblues/Crawdday Club ‘“ Hospice Charity Festival -1/10/06 |
Great to play for a good cause and well done to Paul, Ashwyn and both the Crawdaddy and Digital Blues teams for running this great charity festival to benefit a children’s Hospice.After aching like hell throughout our performsnce and East Harling with my nuisance muscle disease (advanced FMS ‘“ look it up if you’ve too much time on your hands!) tonight I was blessed with an ache free performance. It was great to have Suzie.D back and she and Mandie sang really well together. The hour and 10 minute set, as we topped/closed the festival, flashed buy. There was a great pa and sound and I think the Band played really well. Thanks to all you great Essex music lovers who came out and supported such As so many of you said, see you at Skeggy. Gary |
08/10/2006 |
Gary | East Harling Social Club ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 30/9/07 | Back at the very friendly East Harling social club for our 3rd appearance.First time there ws a big crowd, but same as last time there was only about 35 people in the music room. However, what a great, frieindly crowd. It was like playing to 3 times that number and so many friends and local musicians who we just love to catch up with. The second set was a lonnnnnng one, and really came to life as we had some A good night in all’¦. nice to meet Sandy the new Music lady at Easy Harling On the way home we stopped for our ritual late night row with the staff Gary |
05/10/2006 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 28/9/06 | Another great crowd and jam at the Woodman.Building on her performance at GJ’s, Billi Shaw was back in Roadhouse and delivered along with Mandie Slip Away, Sacrifice and a unplugged version of the classic song she wrote with me on the Blues Highway album, Dark Rain’¦. Both girls looked amazing (I’m too old to notice that myself, but quite a few people told me!) Choice performances from Jimmy Dublin and Danny.G and it was great to have Terry Brennan and Syd gave us an iconic ending to the night ‘“ 2 more jams Gary |
01/10/2006 |
Gary | BBs Blues Club at GJ’s ‘“ Colliers Wood ‘“ 24/9/06 | A better than usual crowd at Bob Brunnings intimate little blues club. This night was propped up by some great guest appearances from Lol Sandford, Danny.G, and US John and Mark Havard on bass (lets not forget Drew playing drums ‘“ who could?). They did a nice little set in the break which featured the great Julianne Shaw on vocals.Julianne then did 2 great songs ith Roadhouse, singing with Mandie.G on Telling Lies and Slip Away. Top event of the night was the appearance of Roadhouse legend Billi Shaw Gary |
01/10/2006 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 21/9/06 | A hot September night and the crowd was inititally a bit lower than usual.So we extended the Roadhouse set until some musicians pitched up. I’d been feeling very ill with my muscle disease for the last few days, so was strangeley in the mood for playing and did some half decent stuff in versions of both Backstreets and The Roadhouse Blues. By this point the Woodman was packed out and one of the all time great jams Great sets from Lol Sandford and Julianne Shaw who was in great voice, Lawrence at the end of the night Jimmy Dublin joined Kota, Roger and I, in an overkill Syd and his banjo played us off into the night ‘“ a classic See ya next week Gary |
22/09/2006 |
Gary | Wingate & East Finchley FC ‘“ 17/9/06 | Pete Feenstra’s North London venue had not been functioning for recent months due to the World Cup and summer holidays.As a consequence the crowd was very thin on the ground. But we saw some great old friends and supporters. Ian Cook presented me with an all time great gurning shot (large colour 2 good sets (especailly the second one), with this venue showing enough Gary |
22/09/2006 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbldon Park ‘“ 14/9/06 | Just Mandie on female vocal duties, but she did great with a sensitive rendition of Stormy Monday. Drew was connecting well with my ESP (which he has on extended loan while his Strat is being overhauled) – great solos on Devils Highway and his spirited rendition of ‘˜Howlin for my Darlin’, followed.Another busy jam then commenced and my pick of the sets was Danny Gwillim and Lawrence in a 2 guitar blast session and then Pete Bedford’s Band ‘˜s rendition of Won’t Get Fooled Again. This with Pete’s son Ryan to the fore on keyboards. Here’s to next week, Gary |
21/09/2006 |
Gary | Private Party ‘“ Tring ‘“ 9/9/06 | Weird to do a private party ‘“ after all who wants songs about dark visions, death, depression and voodoo highway women at their Birthday party??, well Mark did ‘“ what a gentlemanThe Band set up in their purpose built marquee and though we froze off our proverbials, on a strangely cool September night, we were looked after a treat. Two sets to a cold but very nice crowd of people, a very nice sit down dinner CD sales were brisk ‘“ Thanks Mark and all for being such a great bunch of Gary |
19/09/2006 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 31/8/06 | From 3 super sized festivals back to the Jam. The good crowds continued as there was a stunning turnout of both musicians and music lovers.A really good jam’¦. Thanks to all for the great support Gary |
19/09/2006 |
Gary | COLNE NATIONAL R&B FESTIVAL ‘“ SUN 27TH August | Well onto Headlining on Colne’s largest stage (The British stage, usually known appropriately as The Super Roadhouse stage).It was great to see all our colleagues from our record company Blues Matters (including Mr Pearce himself). The trouble with headlining was that as we hit the stage at 11pm the crowd Still there was well over the thousand there, as we did a high energy set At the end of our set I featured a short jam involving members of other |
19/09/2006 |
Gary | Friday 25th August ‘“ Merton Abbey Mills Blues Festival |
Well to Bob Brunning’s and South London’s own Blues Festival. this was the bands 4th year here in succession and an all round record night.Usually on the Friday there are 3 Bands and we headline, but tonight we were given the whole night. to ourselves Out in the open air (great for bringing the kids) , under the bandstand with Brians great PA, a massive, record breaking crowd of over 1,200 saw a classic Roadhouse performance. A blistering set of all our classics with best new songs form Brkoen Land Mandie and Fiona were on great form, particularly the Big Easy (Fiona) and Cd sales were great ‘“ here’s to next year. Gary |
13/09/2006 |
Gary | Friday 25th August ‘“ Merton Abbey Mills Blues Festival |
Well to Bob Brunning’s and South London’s own Blues Festival. this was the bands 4th year here in succession and an all round record night.Usually on the Friday there are 3 Bands and we headline, but tonight we were given the whole night. to ourselves Out in the open air (great for bringing the kids) , under the bandstand with Brians great PA, a massive, record breaking crowd of over 1,200 saw a classic Roadhouse performance. A blistering set of all our classics with best new songs form Brkoen Land Mandie and Fiona were on great form, particularly the Big Easy (Fiona) and Cd sales were great ‘“ here’s to next year. Gary |
13/09/2006 |
Gary | Friday 25th August ‘“ Merton Abbey Mills Blues Festival |
Well to Bob Brunning’s and South London’s own Blues Festival. this was the bands 4th year here in succession and an all round record night.Usually on the Friday there are 3 Bands and we headline, but tonight we were given the whole night. to ourselves Out in the open air (great for bringing the kids) , under the bandstand with Brians great PA, a massive, record breaking crowd of over 1,200 saw a classic Roadhouse performance. A blistering set of all our classics with best new songs form Brkoen Land Mandie and Fiona were on great form, particularly the Big Easy (Fiona) and Cd sales were great ‘“ here’s to next year. Gary |
13/09/2006 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 24/8/06 | Another very busy night at the Woody. I was under pressure to get everyone on stage, but in the end the packed house loved it (and I was left with a giant head ache )Keep the head aches coming -support live music Gary |
13/09/2006 |
Gary | CAMRA Beer Festival ‘“ Peterborough ‘“ 23/8/06 | Well a difficult journey for all to the World’s biggest tent (or seemed that way to me)There was an awesome stage and Jules Holland’s sound man with wondeful PA on duty. There was about 3,000 people in the 3 tents, but the audience on trade night Mandie and Fiona were on vocals and depping on guitar it was great to have Jules did an excellent job and by the end of the night the talk was of having Bring it on (thanks to Harry Morton) Gary |
27/08/2006 |
Gary | Banham Barrel ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 19/8/06 | A small initial crowd and pa problems made the first set a little tentative.The guitar trade off in Rock Me was good, but the crowd and Suzie and I struggled to hear the vocals.Bill and Roger did some adjusting in the break and we opened with a sizzling Stormy Monday, with Suzie loud and proud. She sounded great. The crowd filled up a bit to about the 55 mark and it was a truly great A really good Roadhouse performance A brilliant crowd who really got behind us. A big thanks to Jonty and all his staff, we’ll be back next year (I hope) Gary |
27/08/2006 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ 17/8/06 | The Jam resumed after the annual Band holiday.I personally had gone with wife and kids to Spain. Those of you who know that I have been bettling against a neurological/muscle/tendon condition over the past 4 years, will know that it getting more of struggle. In Spain the illness made serious in-roads into my lower back and hips, so I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to perform to standard on this first (and future) gig/gigs At the end of the day it was a great jam ‘“ Suzie sung well on her own with There was loads of great musicians there and it was a really good night. A big thanks to everyone for their support Gary |
27/08/2006 |
Gary | Charlies In The City ‘“ London ‘“ 25/7/06 | Well you have to feel sorry for the promoters including my good freind Grodon ‘˜Geordie’ Carlyle. they needed over100 people to break even at this nice air conditioned (effective against the heatwave venue) and the 40 odd people in the room didn’t come close.We played well enough and some great on stage banter and some guitar and vocal magic sent the crowd home very happy. So why so few people???, the holidays, the heatwave, the backlash from the Gary |
27/08/2006 |
Gary | The Coach & Horses ‘“ Isleworth ‘“ 21/7/06 | This one goes in the record books as the hottest ever gig (from a tempreature perspective unfortunately).About 15 people in the garden and 18 in the pub saw a pretty good performance with Suzie.D doing her first ever ‘˜solo’ spot with the Band. She did a great job, nailing Stormy Monday, Help Me and The Big Easy’¦ With the doors and windows closed for sound insulation, tempreatures rocketed Gary |
24/07/2006 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 20/7/06 | The heat wave made us think this was bound to be a quiet one ‘“ think again ‘“ it was wedged out. both in the gardens and the pub itself.One of the best ever Woodman Jams, takes us into a 4 week break for the Roadhouse annual band holiday. In the meantime the next 3 Thursdays will see live sessions from (in order): – Geronimo – The Pete Bedford Band – The Robin Bibi Band then the jam returns. There were too many great sessions to mention, but a wonderful job from Well done to all and see you on the 17th August, Gary |
24/07/2006 |
6/7/06 | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon – | A late start caused by early low attendance, created a musical traffic jam later in this busy but bright evening.Devils Highway was given a dusting down to comemerate the launch of Chris Berthelemy’s beautifully compiled Roadhouse double CD compilations. Drew turned in a great solo.. Sacrifice and Broken Land both kicked, but due to my early crap solo on To many great performances on the night to mention, though Danny.G and Jim Apologies to all those who either didn’t get to perfreom or only got one Gary |
16/07/2006 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon -22/6/06 | Bearing in mind the World Cup and that Brazil were playing it was a pretty good showing at the Woodman last night. We brought ‘œGet off My Land’ back from the dead and for a first outing it went well (other than one dodgy chord change and the wrong guitar tone on my amp during the hoedown section). It was one of our Regular’s named Bob’s birthday, his ambition was to sing backing with the girls on White Water and so he did ‘“ well done mate!.Mandie and Suzie were on top form and did a great job also singing with young guitar toters Alex and Lyndsay. At the end of the night Mandie and I got to sing backing on Sweet Home Alabama See ya in 2 weeks, Gary |
23/06/2006 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 22/6/06 | Bearing in mind the World Cup and that Brazil were playing it was a pretty good showing at the Woodman last night. We brought ‘œGet off My Land’ back from the dead and for a frist outing other than one dodgy chord change and the wrong guitar tone on my amp during the hoedown section, it went well. It was one of our Regular’s named Bob birthday, his ambition to sing backing with the girls on White Water and so he did – well done mate.Mandie and Suzie were on top form and did a great job also singing with young guitar toters Alex and Lyndsay. At the end of the night Mandie and I got to sing backing on Sweet Home Alabama See ya in 2 weeks, Gary |
23/06/2006 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ 8/6/06 | A very hot night drove many people outside and though the overall attendance was bigger than usual, the conservatory was a bit empty dtracting from the atmosphere.Nice to see Andrew Heart back with Jim Dublin, plus a nice set for John O’Leary and Pete Bedford. Young Alex on the guitar is getting better and better, but Mandie and Suzie No jam for 2 weeks cos of the World Cup, see you then, Gary |
12/06/2006 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ 1/6/06 | And the good times roll on at the Woodman with another top notch jam.Nice to see Jules back in Bass playing garb and Lorna just chilling and enjoying the vibe. Fiona was on good voice and it was another night for young talent with over No let up in the great crowds, roll on next week Gary |
12/06/2006 |
Gary | Stevenage Mayfest ‘“ 28/5/06 | Brilliant to be back after a 3 year break at the Mayfest.A major thank you to Trevor Keeling and Richard, John and the whole Mayfest team for being a part of this brilliantly organised major festival. When we turned up weekend rain had turned the site into a bog and Bill and The one hour set went by in a blur’ Suzie did a great job on The Big Mandie and Suzie’s James Bond style gun toting dancing on Drew’s Mission A great Preacher man topped off afine set and a great audience re-action. It was also grat to see Anne Campbell our ex singer/Manager for the first A good one ‘“ Gary |
05/06/2006 |
Gary | Stevenage Mayfest ‘“ 28/5/06 | Brilliant to be back after a 3 year break at the Mayfest.A major thank you to Trevor Keeling and Richard, John and the whole Mayfest team for being a part of this brilliantly organised major festival. When we turned up weekend rain had turned the site into a bog and Bill and The one hour set went by in a blur’ Suzie did a great job on The Big Mandie and Suzie’s James Bond style gun toting dancing on Drew’s Mission A great Preacher man topped off afine set and a great audience re-action. It was also grat to see Anne Campbell our ex singer/Manager for the first A good one ‘“ Gary |
05/06/2006 |
Gary | Coach & Horses ‘“ Isleworth ‘“ 27/5/06 | A hot bank holiday night in this intimate little venue, developed into a good crowd by the break.Mandie and Suzie were in good voice and the late influx of Roadhouse supporters lifted the second set into top quality rocking. Roadhouse Blues and Telling Lies really kicked arse. The double encore including a storming Preacher Man was a great warm up for Sunday’s Mega Mayfest. Gary |
05/06/2006 |
Gary | Jack Beards ‘“ Tooting ‘“ Live DVD Recording – 20/5/06 |
Well the bad news was the poorish turnout with about mid 30’²s paying and 10 or so guestsAll the rest was good news as the crowd were real freinds and some of our greatest supporters and they made enough noise for 100 people. Roger (Ridley Scott) Hunt had arranged 3 cameras (big thanks to Richard As at the launch gig we had all 3 of our great lady singers present and Favourite for me was the crowd singalong at the end of Voodoo Queen. Thanks to Pete Feenstra and John O’Leary and Les on the PA, a historic night Gary |
22/05/2006 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 18/5/06 | Another packed night at the Woody. we played broken Land again and Fiona was on form with the Big Easy.Nice to play Wtchtower with Saiichi Sugiyama again. The highlight was Danny.G with his Dicky bow height semi acoustic playing Highlight for me was the great set from young Lwrence nd Alex -superb guitar A great night, roll on next week and Saturdays live DVD recording at Jack Gary |
19/05/2006 |
Gary | The King of Diamonds ‘“ Shirebrook/Mansfield – 7/5/06 |
We’d heard great things about this venue and they turned out to be true.We arrived to an excellent meal (good pub fayre) ‘“ well done to Dave and his staff. 2 great sets to a 60 strong responsive crowd, including the first outing Great to see groups travelling from Notingham and other good distances to Also thanks to Les and Alan Fish for making it happen ‘“ roll on December Gary |
19/05/2006 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 4/5/06 | Ladies night in the Roadhouse set as Fiona, Mandie and Suzie took all the lead vocals. A great version of Heavens Door was my personal highlight.More superb young talent on display, as young Alex (what a talent ) and Lyndsay blasted out a great set on guitars with the Crooner from Vancouver (aka Drew on lead vocals) .A great duet with Fiona on Dust My Broom followed – brilliant! Good to see a nice set from Syd on the Banjo and both Mark and Foxy back No jam next week due to hols, see you on the 18th Gary |
06/05/2006 |
Gary | The Shed ‘“ Norwich ‘“ 29/4/06 | A mixed night in truth.Plusses were the large crowd, Suzie’s vocal performance and the number of CD’s sold..(Broken Land has now sold 86 copies at gigs). Negatives were that we set the volume trip off 4 times, as the background Also Drew did the whole thing on his acoustic and this produced some real Best thing was we got to play Mexican Nights with Drew’s great guitar and Never mind nice to see Ryan and some good old and new friends Gary |
04/05/2006 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Pk -27/4/06 | Following the great launch we all expected a quiet jam. But no it was another cracker.Mandie & Suzie were superb in the Roadhouse set and the jam featured a great range of new, young talent, including 4 guitar players under 18 and a good drummer. Here’s to next weeks session Gary |
01/05/2006 |
Gary | The Boom Boom Club ‘“ Sutton FC ‘“ 23/4/06 | So to our long awaited Broken Land CD Launch Party.I’d gone public and said that if we didn’t have a good crowd I’d consider winding the band up. At about 8.15 with around 60 people in the room that was looking a likely scenario. However, by the time Roadhouse went on at 8.50 there was a great crowd. So many old friends, so many people who have stuck by the band through all the changes. I feel both very grateful and humble for that amount of support on our home patch ‘“ thank you to all. Support was from some of our top jammers from the Woodman including Danny.G, Pete Sargeant introduced the Band on behalf of Blues Matters and even the Pete came on to join us for a bit of harp magic on Help Me. We had our 3 lady’s in tandem and Swiss Fred on sax (great playing). The The band played great and it was Suzie.D’s first proper gig with us, she For the records the set was: – White Water – Blues Highway – The Last Train Home – The Big Easy (Fiona was on form) – No Place To Hide – Sacrifice – Help Me – Heavens Door (Mandie rocks) – Slip Away – Watchtower – Tellin Lies – Voodoo Queen – Preacher Man Thanks to Vaughan Oliver for both the great CD cover/artwork and a pint Onto Jack Beards in Tooting for the next launch gig on the 20th May where Gary |
24/04/2006 |
Gary | The Boom Boom Club ‘“ Sutton FC ‘“ 23/4/06 | So to our long awaited Broken Land CD Launch Party.I’d gone public and said that if we didn’t have a good crowd I’d consider winding the band up. At about 8.15 with around 60 people in the room that was looking a likely scenario. However, by the time Roadhouse went on at 8.50 there was a great crowd. So many old friends, so many people who have stuck by the band through all the changes. I feel both very grateful and humble for that amount of support on our home patch ‘“ thank you to all. Support was from some of our top jammers from the Woodman including Danny.G, Pete Sargeant introduced the Band on behalf of Blues Matters and even the Pete came on to join us for a bit of harp magic on Help Me. We had our 3 lady’s in tandem and Swiss Fred on sax (great playing). The The band played great and it was Suzie.D’s first proper gig with us, she For the records the set was: – White Water – Blues Highway – The Last Train Home – The Big Easy (Fiona was on form) – No Place To Hide – Sacrifice – Help Me – Heavens Door (Mandie rocks) – Slip Away – Watchtower – Tellin Lies – Voodoo Queen – Preacher Man Thanks to Vaughan Oliver for both the great CD cover/artwork and a pint Onto Jack Beards in Tooting for the next launch gig on the 20th May where Gary |
24/04/2006 |
The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park | 20/4/06 | A quieter night at the Woody as all await Sundays mega CD Launch Party gig at the Boom Boom Club, Sutton FC.Roadhouse kicked off with a rare outing for Backstreets, then onto the new CD for Fiona blasting out The Big Easy and then a good version of The Last Train Home. It was young player night with 2 young (under 18) duos and a great young – All onto Sutton on Sunday for the PARTY !!! Gary |
21/04/2006 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ 13/4/06 | The Easter jam at the ‘˜Woody’ was an all time classic.A packed house saw the return of Suzie.D, as she superbly augmented Mandie producing a wall of sound on Slip Away, Preacher Man and Telling Lies. She was then assisted by my Daughter Rhiannon on Voodoo Queen. All the girls sounded great (Rhiannon at the ripe old age of 15, was excellent). Next Syd was up for some ace Banjo plucking, then Anne was joined by the James ended up doing another 4 sets as per public demand/request. Pete Bedford had the all time record anount of people on the stage with A big crowd and one of the all time top nights at the Woodman. See ya next week Gary |
14/04/2006 |
Gary | The Hope Tavern ‘“ Lincoln ‘“ 9/4/06 | We turned up for the excellent Sunday lunch served by Colin and his team.Then we watched transfixed as this nice Country pub was turned into an excellent Blues Club, with stage, back drop, lights etc. After some recent dissapointing attendances particulary in London, it was It was wedged out and with great music lovers, many of whom have been Roadhouse A great performance, 2 encores and the the fact we cracked Fiona up while There was a universal agreement that this was the best version of Roadhouse We are looking forward to coming back next year, Sales of Broken Land now stand at 33 (but whose counting) ‘“ Gary |
14/04/2006 |
Gary | The Hope Tavern ‘“ Lincoln ‘“ 9/4/06 | We turned up for the excellent Sunday lunch served by Colin and his team.the we watched tranfixed as this nice Country pub was turned into an excellent Blues Club, with stage, back drop, lights etc. After some recent disspointing attendances particulary in London, it was It was wedged out and with great music lovers, many of whom have been Roadhouse A great performance, 2 encores and the the fact we cracked Fiona up while There was a universal agreement tht this was the best version of Roadhouse We are looking forward to coming back next year, Sales of Broken Land now stand at 33 (but whose counting) ‘“ Gary |
14/04/2006 |
Gary | Charters Bar ‘“ Blues on the Boat ‘“ Peterborough – 8/4/06 |
A good night at Charters. Well fed on the in house restaurants crispy duck, we were lifted by some nifty new positioning of the PA by Drew and Bill.A bigger crowd than usual at this late night venue responded very well to tracks from the new CD and a selection of old faves. Mandie and Fiona did great and the audience and management gave good support, This gig will go down in history as the night we sold the first copy of With pre-orders at 5, the sales score stands at 6 copies sold so far. Wembley arena awaits’ Gary |
12/04/2006 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 6/4/06 | An excellent night at the Woodman.Pumped up by the arrival of out new CD, Broken Land, Roadhouse played a great opening featuring Fiona, Mandie and my 15 year old daughter Rhiannon (Fatherly pride and all that). Later Mandie sung Heavens Door and Fiona Stormy Monday both with the excellent Drew played some cool bass on the night and it was nice to see the return A good crowd and a high standard of playing, well done to all. Gary |
12/04/2006 |
Gary | Mr Jacks R&B Club ‘“ Orpington ‘“ 4/4/06 | A Tuesday night at Pete Feenstra’s new venue in Orpington.The venue is a bit modern cafe bar but shows potential with quite good acoustics.
A mixture of local characters and music lovers made up a patchy/not bad The great Mr John O’Leary was there with his lights and considerable talent, We only had one of our lovely lady singers but Mandie did a fine job. The second set was particularly good, with some good banter and on stage Gary |
12/04/2006 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park -30/3/06 | A good night at the Woodman, crowd figures were up and everyone played well and had a good time.Now the Woodman has a midnight license it’s great to socialise in the hour after the music finishes. Gary |
12/04/2006 |
Gary | Walkern Music Club ‘“ Stevenage ‘“ 25/3/06 | A night of mixed emotions and outcomesWe’d hoped to launch the new CD, but printing delays and coputer art work compatibility, means we are still probebly at least 10 days away from receipt of the new, already critically acclaimed disc. A slow drive through a rain sodden London. I was a passenger in Roger’s On arrival it was great to welcome Drew (his new limp is quite rythmic) A nice set up with the excellent and very loud pa guys par excellence and I then got a nice text from Anne Campbell wishing all her old colleagues We’ve never failed to pull a really good crowd here and my heart went out Mind you it was great to see Trev ‘˜The man in the Hat’ as we sorted out As we got on stage a sudden influx of punters lifted the crowd into the What a nice crowd and the Band played a blinder. The audience were dancing 13 year old David got up and joined Drew for a great performance/number Nice advance orders of the new CD and well done to Mandi & Roger for not So a special thanks to all the great people there. I will be assessing over Gary |
26/03/2006 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 23/3/06 | Another great night at the Woody. Roadhouse were blessed with extra girl power as new vocalist Suzie.D joined Fiona and Mandie to great effect.We had a nice, chilled, mid -section of the Jam with Lol Sandford playing some acoustice guitar to some jazzy vamping from Lelani and then Mandi and Suzi once more doing the vocal only thang. Drew was back up with Fiona and Danny.G and I played with the excellent Mr O’Leary, though I couldn’t find last weeks maigc touch in this set. Geronimo featured sax and harp and second guitar as he played his last set Terry Brennan, resplendant in a new pair of boots, fashionably finished Here’s to next week Gary |
26/03/2006 |
Gary | The Running Horse ‘“ Nottingham ‘“ 18/3/06 | Not a bad crowd in the end as the Runner goes into it’s last few weeks of trading.We were fearful when it was quiet early on but though the crowd only got to the 40 plus stage they were brilliantly receptive. Second night running for Mr O’Sullivan and he gurned alongside me as we A great Watchtower was augmented by a tremendous guitar duel in Rock Me In the second set Fiona sung a great Stormy Monday and in the end the crowd Thanks to all for the mass CD buying frenzy at the end of the night ‘“ we’ll Good to see Barrry, David and laods of old friends, including the DVD film Gary |
19/03/2006 |
Gary | The Banham Barrel ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 17/3/06 | A long haul against the Friday night traffic to this excellent venue opposite Banham Zoo,Jonty is a great host and the crowd are really warm and appreciative. In Drew’s continued absence we were brilliantly augmented by Tim O’Sullivan on guitar and Fred (Swiss Sax Supremo Scmidt). Fiona was also on fine form and the Band played a great couple of sets. Great to see the lads up from East Harding and people driving down from We’ll be back with the new CD Gary |
19/03/2006 |
Gary | Woodamn Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 16/3/06 | One of the finest ever musical jams in the history of the Woodman.First in the Roadhouse set we introduced the world to our new singer Suzie. She did a great job on Blues Highway, Slip Away, Heaven’s Door and White Water. Later Suzi and Mandi brought the house down with a great vocal only version of Just Like A Natural Woman. Great talent and she’s only 18 (and stunning -still I can’t be the only great looking person in the band forever). Danny Gwillim did his first ever turn in the House Band and played a blinder. The rest of the night had a really chilled feel, with a great Moondance I got up and played with John O’Leary and some great solos stuff waere produced Tell the world about the Woody now being open till midnight on a Thursday, Gary |
19/03/2006 |
Gary | Tring Blues Festival ‘“ Pendley Theatre ‘“ 11/3/06 | On to Derek White of Storm Warning’s excellently run festival.Again we were without Drew due to injury, but were joined by the majestic Fred Scmidt on the Sax and Danny Gwillim on the guitar. Only 40 mins on the big stage to the packed house and it flew by’¦ White Water, Slip Away, Blues Highway, Help Me, Voodoo Queen and Telling We were followed by French Band ‘˜Big Des’ (good singer) and the accliamed It was nice to share a dressing room with the legendary Mr Del Bromham of Danny and Fred did great and we all wish Drew a speedy recovery |
17/03/2006 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 9/3/06 | In Drew, Mandie and Fiona’s absence it was great to see Jules & Lorna back in the house band. It was good to play I Couldn’t Get to Sleep again and Sacrifice burned along nicely. They chose to ‘˜wing’ a new song and jammed a along with The Last Train home pretty effecively. Aa good fun opening set it brought back a lot of great memories. The jam itself was quieter than usual, following last weeks epic birthday bash. However the music was of a great quality. A good set with Jules cobining with John O’Leary, Andrew Heart,and Funky George Dare while Lelani and Lol Sandford had their moments (though had a comedy car crash in Joan Osbourne’s ‘œIf God Was One of Us’ ). Good to see John on the harp 2 weeks running and a nice set from Pete Bedford and friends. Finally Terry Brennan stalked us into the night, well up to the bar anyway, with the Woodman’s new open till 12 music licence.Roll on next week. Gary |
12/03/2006 |
Gary | Coach & Horses ‘“ Isleworth ‘“ 3/3/06 | Rogers birthday and a return into the line up for the excellent Tim O’Sullivan on guitar. No Mandi, who is generally unavailable to us on a Friday, but Fiona more than made up for it, singing 5 lead vocals including great versions of Stormy Monday and Serve U Right to Suffer.Tim and faced off for the ‘œGurn off at the OK Coach’, as we indulged our propensities to both be indulgent (Fiona needed a crash cart to revivie her after our extended duel in Rock Me Baby) and pull rather fascinating facial contortions while playing. I again won on the ugliness stakes (well Tim is yournger and more gorgeous ‘“ apprently). He actually beat me in the rapid muted passages this time (but don’t tell him), tapping was a draw, and I managed to find some high end scale inspiration and for about 30 seconds I was in the lead ‘“ damn!. The crowd was a little thinner than usual but got to a decent level by the |
12/03/2006 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park -2/2/06 | My birthday jam, or to be exact the 28th time I’d celbrated my 21st birthday. With Roger’s birthday to follow on the next night and Bill’s the following week, the Piscean element of the band are live and kicking (despite Anne’s departure).I’d like to thank the droves of people who turned up for this night, what a contrast to the quiet night at GJ’s. Robin Bibi played in the house band while Drew was away practising self Lawrence also had a good young line up, 1st song was great, but by playing Thanks to all for making it a birthday to remember’¦ Gary |
12/03/2006 |
Gary | BB’s Blues Club at GJ’s ‘“ Colliers Wood ‘“ 28/2/06 | The pathetically low trune out of 15 people plus guests was the 3rd ever lowest Roadhouse showing in 15 years. Seriously, if people can’t come out for us on our own patch, I ask my self the question ‘œIs it worth it’ . Another couple of nights like this and it won’t be.However, the band played great and the people there including legendary club owner Bob Bruning were marveloulsy appreciative. Our 2 guest musicians Danny Gwillim and Andrew Heart played a great couple of songs with us including a rousing Watchtower and everyone went home saying how great it was and where was everybody ‘“ GOOD QUESTION”¦ |
10/03/2006 |
Gary | Boom Boom Club ‘“ Sutton FC ‘“ 27/2/06 | 3rd time we had opened for the legendary Nine Below Zero. The band without Fiona were well received by a good sized crowd.Made to perch on a few inches of stage by the headliners inflexibility ,we manged to put on a damn good showing and got a great re-action from many punters afterwards. Loads of enquiries with regard to our CD launch gig at this prestigous venue on Sunday 23rd April (please diary it now). White Water and Heavens Door rocked. |
10/03/2006 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 25/2/06 | No Fiona tonight and this gave Mandie the opportunity to reach out on some of the new songs. The opening 4 numbers were acclaimed as the on the best opening sets Roadhouse has ever played at the Woodman (Drew singing Fiona’s part on a belting version of White Water)Time ran out on another good jam and my apologies for all who did not get the opportunity to play. I’ll single out Lawrence again for a great set and because he is developing so quickly. It was nice to see Robin Bibi in advance of his appearance in the house Here’s to my birthday jam next week’.. |
04/03/2006 |
Gary | Music Cafe Willem Tell ‘“ Belgium ‘“ 11/2/06 | Our long awaited return to the excellent Willem Tell was a great success. The promoter, Michel is great guy and strong Roadhouse supporter and the hospitality was fantastic. This was the night after Endhoeven and following a superb dinner and few gallons of red wine, we celebrated Drew’s birthday with one of the new line up’s finest ever performances.Drew and both Fiona and Mandie were on fire.Multiple encores meant we were stretching to find stuff to play, as the clock ticked around to 2am. Finally fiona equalled Mandie’s earlier mass accliamed rendition of Heavens Door with a great reading of Stormy Monday. It was superb to see Michel and many old friends including one of my fave Thanks to Bobje (and to Christine) for arranging this trip. A bigger tour After a couple of hours sleep we were up in order to get a cheap croissing Gary |
04/03/2006 |
Gary | Music Cafe De Kroeg ‘“ Eindhoeven -Netherlands | A entertaining journey on a rickety and leaking tour bus, saw us retun to Eindhoeven for the first time in nearly 5 years.Amazingly enough, people turned up from the last gig we played their and handed us a copy on DVD of our appearance at the legendary Cafe Wilhelmina gig (thank you very much my friends). This was a cracking little music venue and the 70 or so punters were treated We’d love to thank all the great people we met there for the friendship Gary |
04/03/2006 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 2/2/06 | Freezing conditions lead to a quieter jam than usual. However, it was still a good night with a decent crowd.Julianne Shaw was the highlight joining Roadhouse to sing a killer verion of Telling Lies before going on to sing well performing with Lol Sandford. Roadhouse as house band gave some of the newer songs a good run through. Highlights of the night for me were Lawrence playing his blues set with Bring it on next week Gary |
07/02/2006 |
Gary | Earl Of Spencer Staff Party ‘“ Wandsworth ‘“ 30/1/06 | From the big stage arena to the function room of one of London’s finest Gastro Pubs.A private function for long time Roadhouse friend and fan John Cox and his lovely staff. We played some new stuff and party faves and we were well fed and ‘˜watered’. My abiding memory will be of Watchtower morphing into an impromptu version Gary |
07/02/2006 |
Gary | Skegness Festival ‘“ Part Two | So Sunday afternoon and onto the Centre Stage at 14.45. Jim Diamond was on before us and had the crowd singing along (in fact it was a bit like watching Saturday evening telly).There had been a number of tasteful low volume acts, so we decided it was time to give the audience a bit of a change. No other stages were in action and the safety curtain came up to reveal a crammed arena. We blasted into No Place To Hide (appropriate, despite the enormous size Slip Away, Voodoo Queen and Preacher Man followed. Reaction was incredible, CD sales enormous. We have received masses of E Mails saying how much more dynamic the new We’d like to thank all our friends and Roadhouse followers for the incredible Thank you my friends, we will play on for you while there is any life in Gary |
07/02/2006 |
Gary | Skegness ‘“ Monsters of Blues & Rock Festival 28-29/06 ‘“ Part One |
The new look Roadhouse rode into JAKS wild west styled bar to a really good crowd. The buzz was all about could the Band have survived the departure of 3 such talented and key members as Jules, Lorna and Anne.The answer was a reasounding yes. The opening hours set had the crowd (well more like a mass gathering of mates really) going nuts for Drew’s playing. And the new number ‘˜White Water’ went down a storm (or more like a waterfall really). We then had three hours of the jam, with some excellent players. Good to Thanks also to our great mate Alan Fish from Egypt pumping out some excellent Mr Barton says he wants to do it again next year, so all vote with your A big thank you to all the brave and talented muscians and the appreciative Gary |
30/01/2006 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 26/1/06 | The first outing for 3 new Roadhouse songs from the forthcoming CD, Broken Land, scheduled for realease on BM Records on the 31st March.Mexican nights was reasonably well done, while Pulp Fiction 2 suffered timing problems, but showed potential. White Water was simply the strongest ever first play of a Raodhouse song in history. It was nice to see a new South African young lady singer, Lelani, who did Gary |
30/01/2006 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 12/1/06 | A fine new years jam’¦. With Drew Barron away on holiday we had the pleasure of Robin Bibi playing in the house band. A great guitar player and all round good guy, we did a nice little set finishing with a rousing ‘œWatchtower’. It made me reflect on all the great guitar players that have been in, or have depped for Roadhouse, Drew Barron, Jules Fothergill, Robin Bibi, Tommy Allen, Noel Brown, Tim O’Sullivan and Charlie Whitney (of Family fame) . All in all pretty impressive’¦The really good crowd were treated to some fine playing and probably pick of the night for me was the great set Robin did later on in the evening with young Lawrence. Great stuff and here’s to 2 weeks time’¦ Gary |
21/01/2006 |
Gary | Coach & Horses ‘“ Isleworth ‘“ 6/1/06 | This gig was scheduled at the last minute to give the band a chance to play the new material that we had rehearsed in the week, in advance of next months new CD recording. However it was not to be, as Drew left for his hols a day early, due to flight availability. Tim (Ceaser) O’Sullivan sat in on guitar and did a great job.The gig was a slow burner with the band sounding better and better and the pub gradually filling up. Both Tim and I are noted for our tendency to pull facial contortions while playing the guitar and many guitar officianados had long awaited the ‘œGurn off at the OK Coral’. Well according to Tim I won (well I had a head start by being uglier and having the ability to get my bottom lip bahind my ears when playing high notes). Then there was the guitar trade off in ‘œRock Me Baby’ Tim belives he won that one to, but did admit he was ‘œOut tapped’ and defeated in ‘œThe fast muted note phrases’ (which was of course incredibly painful). After these guitar excesses Fiona needed a crash cart to revive her from TA Voodoo Queen, Preacher Man, Mustang Sally finish sent the crowd happyily |
08/01/2006 |
Gary | Xmas Jam ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 22/12/05 | Martin and Jeff got the mince pies out yet again for our 4th Xmas jam at the Woody’¦..Jules was great on bass, Mandie got the entire pub into her handbag and took them home (after effectively fleecing them for the jug). It was very special to meet Blues legend and Californian DJ Mick Martin, Richard did a cool blues thing and Mandie and Danny(The G Force), augmented Tom Anfield band in a superb version of Summertime. A great crowd and a great night ‘“ Happy Xmas to all and a big thank you |
23/12/2005 |
Gary | Roadhouse Music Ckub ‘“ Xmas Party ‘“ Bulls Head – Barnes ‘“ 19/12/05 |
New version amende spelling errors -Success against adversity was the theme of this evening.
With 5 minutes to go before the kick off, Bill had to leave due to family However, a really good crowd was entertained by the power opening from Drew Roadhouse did an old line up/new line up thang, with Drew playing bass for Thanks for the great support and to all the musicians who came played, awesome Gary |
23/12/2005 |
Gary | Roadhouse Music Ckub ‘“ Xmas Party ‘“ Bulls Head – Barnes ‘“ 19/12/05 |
Success against adversity was the theme of this evening.With 5 minutes before the kick off Bill had to leave due to family emergency leaving Roadhouse sans Bass player and Fiona’s cold/flu detriorated to the point that she had to leave’¦. aaaarghh However, a really good crowd was entertained by the oopening from Drew with Raodhouse did an old line up/new line up thang, with Drew playing bass for Thanks for the great support and to all the musicians who came played, awesome Gary |
23/12/2005 |
Gary | The Caoch & Horses ‘“ Isleworth ‘“ 16/12/05 | A great gig at the Coach. We were mob handed with both Fiona and Mandie.G (who were both on brilliant form -vocally and visually the band has never been so strong) and the amazing Fred on the Sax’¦.Good crowd and a great reaction. Mandie brought some lovely people along with her and her friends and many die hard Roadhouse supporters were raving about the new line up, songs and performance. Fiona sang a killer Big Easy which featured some great sax from Fred. It A truly great gig. |
18/12/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 15/12/05 | A very busy and brilliant night at the Woodman.In the Roadhouse set, new song Redemption Street got a tentative but solid first airing. Great performances from Jim and Andrew, Anne, Pete Bedford, Lawrence and Here’s to next weeks Xmas jam. Gary |
18/12/2005 |
Gary | East Harling Social Club ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 10/12/06 | Our return to East Harding saw the return on dep duties of our ex compadres Jules & Lorna.Bearning in mind Jules was full of a very bad lurgy they were superb. This was a really fun gig, the audience were totally up for it and went It was great to play some of the old songs again and Coldn’t Get To Sleep Lorna did a one girl = two girl thang and Stormy Monday was a killer’¦.Nice Roll on next years return to this reallt friendly place full of nice people Gary |
18/12/2005 |
Gary | Charters Bar (Blues on the Boat) Peterborough – 9/12/06 |
Our first ever Friday at Charters and it seemed a little quieter than a Saturday.After some pa positioning and stage claustrophobia problems, the band produced a great rocking set; during which Fiona nailed a blues version of U2’²s ‘˜I still haven’t found what I’m looking for’. At one point the place filled nicely and then the 11pm start and transport Gary |
18/12/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 8/12/06 | Yet another great night at the Woodman’¦.2 members of the pub staff joining in including the excellent Jeff on the drums. Julie Anne sang 2 soings with Roadhouse/Fiona and did a good job, before delivering her own killer version of Runaway with Lol Sandford. A very good night’¦..Gary |
18/12/2005 |
Gary | Blues Matters Annual London Gig ‘“ Boom Boom Club- Sutton FC ‘“ Sutton |
It was an honour to be asked to host our labels London show. Pete Sargeant was the compere and did a great job with his usual ‘˜Dry as the Gobi desert’ wit.What a line up, Sean Webster was brilliant (buy his CD, can that guy sing and write songs!!). Innes Sibun was next and showed his tremendous guitar virtousity. Raodhouse topped and tailed the night, ably assisted by Swiss Sax supremo The second set really kicked and the night ended with Fiona and Mandie duetting The crowd of around 80, were great and 90% comprised of die hard Roadhouse Live music supporters if you give up on the genre it won’t be around for Thanks to those who came, they had a great night |
08/12/2005 |
Gary | The Banham Barrel ‘“ Banham | On from Norwich to Banham for the second of 2 gigs in a day.After a decent pub meal and band social centred around favourite movies (yes Roger’s is Dumbo). We went on to played probably our most visual and energetic ever stage show. The crowd was really responsive and I thought Drew was on fire. Fiona and Mandie were great and the backline held it all together despite blowing a monitor in the sonic onslaught. Thanks to all the old freinds for driving in some instances long distances, |
08/12/2005 |
Gary | The Shed ‘“ Norwidh ‘“ pm ‘“ 3/12/05 | It was great to play a semi acoustic set with the new line up. It’s still early days for Mandie.G singing with Fiona but the potential came through.A small turn out for the first set as live music has normally been stopped on a Sat pm here, but the second set crowd was decent. Some very good stuff was played by all’¦. |
08/12/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Winmbledon Park ‘“ 1/12/05 | Great crowd and night at the Woody.First a tremendous Roadhouse set with Julianne joining us for 2 songs and for a first time, out doing a great job singing with Fiona. A belting Blues version followed of U2’²s ‘˜I still haven’t found what I’m looking for ‘˜(well sung Fiona). Sacrifice just rocked big time’¦.. Then my moment of personal calamity, when I agreed to sing a Bryan Adams The summer of 69 quickly became a vocal nuclear winter of 05 (by my normal Great sets from Riyad’s new band, Jplus im Dublin, Lawrie and Andre Heart. Here’s to next week |
02/12/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 24/11/05 | Another bitterly cold night, but this time it didn’t keep the people away. Not too many musicans (but more than enough) and a load of great music loving punters in the crowd.In the Roadhouse set we featured for the first time Fiona McElroy singing with Mandie.G and it worked really well. Could this be our new top/winning combination?? Fiona and Mandy appeared again later in the evening producing good versions Swiss sax supremo Fred Schmid sat in with us all night and is now a regular Nice set from Lol Sandford and Julie Anne and Pete Bedford and Friends. Syd, Nigel and calrinet/sax playing friend serenaded us out into the cold A great jam as we build towards our big blues Matters gig at Sutton FC/Boom Hope to see everyone back at the Woodman next week Cheers, Gary |
25/11/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 17/11/05 | God it was cold out last night and consequently it was one of the lowest attendances ever for a Woodman jam.However, there was still a decent sized and very appreciative crowd and they got right behind the musicians who produced some great music. First the Roadhouse set, Fiona was back (nice and jet lagged from her trip Broken Land was full of great jazz fills from Drew (who went on to play Great sets from Jim Dublin & a welcome return from Danny.G. Jacks duette Fiona came back and got everyone’s mojo’s working and then Syd cooled the Jim and I played out on ‘˜Ride On’ as I managed to coax a decent solo out |
18/11/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park -10/11/05 | Another great night at the Woody. Roadhouse were amply assisited in their opening set by Mandie.G on vocals and Swiss Fred on the sax. We did a great job with Slip Away (ably assisited by Mandie’s friend Mel Jackson) then repated the Knocking on Heavens Door cover (this time with less success). Finally a spanking and very self indulgent Backstreets, rounded off the house bands set.Later I was delighted to perform some classic rock with Andrew Heart & Jim Dublin. Getting to fullfill a life’s ambition by playing and soloing on A Whole Lotta Love. Great sets from Andy Cortes, Geronimo, Anne, Lol Sandford and his son Riyad, Bring it on next week, Gary |
14/11/2005 |
Gary | Coach & Horses ‘“ Isleworth ‘“ 5/11/05 | Roadhouse mark 37b (well we do like to vary the line up) rolled into the Coach last night. Featuring Swiss Fred on the sax and the return of the prodigal daughter, Mandie.G on the vocals.Would the fireworks keep the crowd away, answer = NO.. A great night, it was magic to perform with Mandie again and hearing that The second set was very good and we played a version of Knocking on Heavens The crowd was brilliant (particularly the group of lads from Glasgow), a |
06/11/2005 |
Gary | The Prince Regent ‘“ sutton -3/11/05 | Well having just come back from an aborted hol in Egypt, where I ended up in hospital on a drip, following the stomach bug from hell, I feared the worst. I’d only started eating 48 hours before this gig after, 6 days of nowt, so I wondered whether I’d last out the course.The first set was ok, but the band sounded a little ring rusty. The second kicked brilliantly and I was delighted to really ‘˜nail’ the solo in Watchtower. It was great to see so many regular Roadhouse friends at the gig and they responded really well to Fiona’s tremendous energy and Drew’s playing. In the end a pretty good gig and I made it through (just) |
04/11/2005 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ 20/10/05 | Another cracking night at the Woody’¦. It was so nice of Jules & Lorna to show their faces and support, really appreciated. Jules playing my strat along with Jim who was camping up the Rock’N’Roll thing with an outrageous version of ‘˜A Whole Lot of Love’In the Roadhouse set, Fiona was away in Ireland and my Daughter Rhiannon and her friend Julia did well on Voodoo Queen. Lots of good music, nice crowd, and I managed a good solo on Jim’s ‘˜Ride 3 weeks to the next jam, then back into the every week format.. thanks for Gary |
21/10/2005 |
Gary | Jack Beards ‘“ Tooting ‘“ 14/10 | Interesting gig in many ways.Firstly Pete Feenstra’s venue usually runs on a Saturday, not a Friday. Secondarily the Northern line closed down on Thursday and was not back in service. This lead to the crowd being a bit thin on the ground. However, by the time we kicked off there was a good number of music lovers in the room and we thank you for your support on a tough night for transport’¦. In the first set the Band was on fire, turning in a great performance. Once Those of you who really know me will understand that I’ve had a lot of emotional We had two special guests, Drew bringing along a superb Swiss sax player In the seond set I made a few structural errors, but the band was playing Thanks to Pete Feenstra for his contnued belief and support’¦. |
17/10/2005 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Pk ‘“ 13/10 | Yet another good night at the Woodman. In the Roadhouse set Fiona is really coming into her own singing the Big Easy, while Drew’s harmony work is really the icing on the cake.I got up with Jim from Trouble for the great Irish epic again, but couldnt replicate last weeks killer solo (instead of venting my tortoured soul, my tortoured soul vented me). The big brass section band were back, with Lawrence on guitar and the great A good set from the Tom Anfield Band who had a great new guitar player and |
16/10/2005 |
Gary | The Full Moon ‘“ Newcastle Under Lyme ‘“ 9th Oct | Paul Cope’s fabulous venue, great stage, decor, pa , lighting, cool sound engineer called Darcy’. guess whats happened, yep, you guessed it crowds have gone down the pan’¦.We thought we’d be playing to 2 men and a dog, but as the word got out that their was a good band on, the place began to fill. By the end we kicked butt to a decent sized crowd and thanks to Anne’s endeavours sold a load of CD’s. A midnight finish on a Sunday and it was (as the song says) a long way home’¦ Drew and Fiona, continue to get better and better within the context of Keep music live Gary |
15/10/2005 |
Gary | The Running Horse ‘“ Nottingham ‘“ 8th Oct | Try as hard as we can we just can’t crack the crowd thang at the Runner. On our last gig the crowd was up to nearly 50, this time we were back down to 30. This all despite reports that we’d played some of the ‘œGigs of the year at the venue’. Maybe people were wary of the new line up, they really shouldn’t be Drew Barron and Fiona McElroy are on fire. The small crowd went nuts over 2 truly good sets by any Roadhouse line ups standards. Barry Middleton the owner said ‘œBrilliant band, really, really exciting and what a new guitar player’.A DVD was made of the nights 2 sets by Steve, the Runners in house guy. If anyone wants to buy a copy fire me an e mail at garyboner@btopenworld.com (it’s a bit dark and the sounds not great, but it rocks’¦.) We’ll give the Runner one more shot next year’¦ Complemetary emails keep pooring in about the new line up and even more |
15/10/2005 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 6th Oct | First jam officially without Jules and Lorna and the first one to be run on the new weekly basis. No surpises then that the audience and number of jammers was a little thin on the ground to start. However, it soon filled up and it turned into a really good jam.First the Roadhouse set. It was quite ambitous really. 1st new line up rendition of Broken Land (without rehearsal) and it was pretty good, with Drew Barron pulling off the harmony lines with some ease. Secondly, Fiona did a great version of the Boner/Reilly composition The Big Easy ‘“ a must for the new CD. Then we rocked out on the new number The Last Train home. Into the jam and the appearance of a full hon section, along with Pete Terry’s Jim did brilliantly jamming with Bill, Roger and I on Watchtower and some The Roadhouse ladies, Anne and Fiona then did a dynamite duette on ‘˜Help Bring it on for next week Gary |
07/10/2005 |
Darren (member of the audience via e mail) | 2nd View of The Rayners Hotel ‘“ 1st Oct | The Rayners is my local venue so there was no way I was going to miss this gig. In summary it was a great night of music with superb performances from both bands. Particularly liked the fact that the bands collaborated so well on the third set to demonstrable audience appreciation. I really like bands that feature multiple vocalists as it adds a lot of textures to the sound. I was so impressed that I bought ‘œNo Place To Hide’ on CD (okay, allowed myself to be sold it by Anne in her inimitable fashion!) and played it last night. Production on the CD sounded very good too!Never been fully able to understand why getting people to attend gigs at The Rayners is such a problem; okay it’s not particularly central but transport links are fine and it’s one of the few pubs left with a decent sized hall for music. A real club venue no less. There’s a hard core of gig goers there but almost any band (apart from the better known tribute outfits) struggle to achieve a very much larger audience numbers. A great shame as I know that both Pete and George work very hard to promote the gigs but unfortunately their enthusiasm doesn’t seem to be matched by that of the current landlord! I also suspect that Mr. Drew Barron might be a world class guitar player’¦ Please come back soon! Yours sincerely, Darren |
03/10/2005 |
Gary | The Rayners Hotel ‘“ Rayners Lane ‘“ 1st Oct | Another historic gig for Roadhouse, the first official gig for the new line up, a double header with our record lable compatriots Egypt. Alan Fish and the boys were rocking as The Groundhogs in the 70’²s and are still a damn good 3 peice unit.I was delighted with the performance of the new line up. Fiona sang really well for us and is now on the way to fulfilling her potential within the band. Drew was on great form and wins my personal man of the man match award (even though he supports Tottenham ‘“ well a Canadian wouldn’t know better). Though we had a few problems with electric shocks coming off the mics (Im Getting people to the Rayners is always a problem for many bands, but I’d |
03/10/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 29th Sept | Well the moment arrived, Jules and Lorna’s last couple of songs as full band members. This was proceeded by them breaking down and nearly not making their own leaving bash, but the AA very nice man used a hair grip or a condom or something from an episode of MCGiver or the A Team to fix (or make a new Jag) and Jules and Lorna were able to make the kick off. The last 2 songs they chose were (Lorna’s very poignant) Slip Away, and Jules’s ‘˜kicking’, Sacrifice. We then got the new line up on stage and a respectable No Place To Hide was followed by the debut of the under rehearsed, but very strong Last Train Home (Boner/Barron).. I was a bit late n on the final chorus, but it showed very good potential in as Jules said ,’A Green Grass and High Tides kind of way’. Anne did a sterling job of keeping the vocal continuity going between the old and new line ups. Before the set Lorna and Jules made a great presentation to Bill, Roger, Anne and I and to say we appreciated it is an understatement. A presentation was then made to them onstage. If those guys knew the real degree of regard and respect I have for their abilities, it would be embarassing, I will miss them as fellow band members. The jam featured some great stuff, and enormous Tom Anfield line up did some great big band stuff and Andy Cortes was on superb form, squaring off with Jules on a ‘œFor a few dollars more’ style 335 trade off, and other highlights to numerous to mention.Now the jam will be on most weeks at the Woodman, the new line up of Roadhouse will need your support as it builds and jells towards the next phse of the now somewhat celebrated Band’s history. |
30/09/2005 |
Gary | The Belvedere/Crawdaddy Blues Club ‘“ Essex – 22nd Sept |
Nice to be back at the Crawdaddy following our very successful Digital Blues festival appearance last year (I’ve talkes to super Ashwyn, and we may be on for doing 2006 )A great looking, large, candleit room and a nice team of freindly sound guys who had to fight against the very low ceiling. Monitoing was a struggle but it (the sound) settled by the second set. This was historically Jules and Lorna’s last full gig as Roadhouse Band Lorna was our only lady of the night (so to speak) and sang all the parts A decent performance, but I was by the end personally overwhelmed by the |
30/09/2005 |
Gary | The Hope Tavern ‘“ Near Lincoln ‘“ 18th Sept | 3rd gig in a row on our last Roadhouse weekend with Jules and Lorna.A great traditional Hope Taven roast lunch paved the way fom the usual transition from cosy Countyr pub, to intimate and passionate private blues/rock venue’¦. Solving some of the tight space issues by setting our front line up on the The second set rally kicked and I was delighted to maintain my positive The whole band played great and the audience were right with us (wot a nice CD sales were very good and it was superb to see so many old freinds like A special thanks to the many people who travelled over 50 miles to catch Here’s to our return in April next year Gary |
25/09/2005 |
Gary | Charters Bar/Blues On the Boat ‘“ Peterborough – 17th Sept ‘“ late pm to am |
On arrival at our 2nd gig in a busy day, we were confronted with a weirdly configured house pa (monitors behind the microphones etc..)However, the sound guy was a geezer and openly confessed to being newish to his trade and with a bit of coaching from Jules the 1st set minor feedback problems were overcome. The second set was a belter and everyone played well. The guitar trade offs The crowd hung around until about 1am, instead of thinning out as usual |
23/09/2005 |
Gary | The Shed ‘“ Norwich ‘“ 17th Sept pm | The start of a 3 gig trip and very poignantly the last mini tour that Jules and Lorna will do with us as full time band members’¦.Follwing bad traffic and late running I thought it would be hard for the band to get into the somewhat chilled vibe required to undertake one of our legendary semi acoustic sessions. Not the case’¦. Two great sets were recorded and captured on DVD by Roger. Both Anne and Thanks to Ryan and all the friendly staff at the Shed for making such a |
23/09/2005 |
Gary | The Blues Bar ‘“ Grays FC- Grays, Essex ‘“ 15th Sept |
Nice foorball stadium; Grays are riding high (second in the Conference) and there is a nice vibe around the place.The hall smacked a little of Pheonix nights, but though not the most voiciferous of crowds, they were well into the music and CD sales were excellent. At the end of the night they wouldn’t let us leave and the place was rocking Thanks to Alan Fish for getting us this gig and to Mark the organiser for Nice One, Gary |
19/09/2005 |
Gary | Grove Tavern ‘“ South Wimbledon ‘“ 10th September | Historically Roadhouse have been playing the Grove Tavern since 1992. It has been a semial venue for the bands development and for transitions between many line ups. Sadly current Roadhouse friends and supporters do not favour the Grove and with very limited walk in trade for the music, it’s I believe time to pull the plug.Lee and Libby are doing a great job re-vitalising the Grove and I think new Bands with their super keen friends and famillies is a good way to go. We wish them well. The night opened with a good support band (covers of course) and then Roadhouse |
15/09/2005 |
Gary | The Prince Regent ‘“ Sutton ‘“ 8th September | Well after another comparatively glamorous trip to Belgiun back we were on home turf, in sunny Sutton.A hot night didn’t help swell a very friendly and responsive, but smaller than usual crowd. Performance wise though, the Band rocked Lorna had a bad cold and bearing that in mind she did brilliantly. It was nice to see some good old friends and shift a few more CD’s as sales Jules and I hit a purple patch in some weird guitar passage during the Roadhouse Quiet but good form Gary |
11/09/2005 |
Gary | PAJO Blues Festival ‘“ Belgium ‘“ 3rd September | A nice journey in the sun for most of the Band travelling in a tour bus , to good to be true (yep)’¦ 1st the DVD player broke, then we got stuck literally in mountains of horse shit while tyring to find the hotel (yep, really, the local horse market was blocking the whole town centre). After checking into the very nice hotel we approached a low bridge, ‘œReckon we’ll get through there Bill’, says Roger, ‘œMmmmm’ says Bill ‘“ Answer = NO! (much reversing and embarassment later)’”’”Then we arrived at the gig at things took a massive turn for the better. A lovely festival in an ancient hall/complex of buildings. We had a first class meal at the local sponsors restaurant in Gaalmarden ‘“ 200 metres from the festival hall and camp grounds (and a speail thanks thanks to the Manager/Owner for comping our guests and Belgium Manager, Bobje’s meals). Then despite an overun by Paul Lamb and the King snakes we produced a great a special thanks to our persoanl helper Ludo, who kept the band well lubricated |
08/09/2005 |
Gary | The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 1st September | A slightly quieter night than usual at the Woodman, as the holliday period enters it’s final phase.Sad to realise that there is only one more of these left for Jules and Lorna before they officially leave, but I hope that on many an occassion they can rock with us again. Weird one was that Danny Gwillim had asked to play Slip Away with Roadhouse Other highlights = the boys from The Subway Sleepers sitting in with Barry Two good turns from Jules on the Bass guitar before Andrew Heart arrived Next jam on the 29th September after our world tour of Sutton and Essex |
02/09/2005 |
Jules | The Navy Club ‘“ Maryport ‘“ 28th August | Well, I must begin by saying that the reward for waking up in time for breakfast at our hotel was perhaps not in proportion with the effort it took! Comedy quote of the trip definitely goes to matey the YTS reject waiter ‘“ ‘œhave you got any breakfast?’ says us ‘“ ‘œer yes’ ‘“ ‘œanything in particular’ ‘“ ‘œer yes, breakfast ‘“ all kinds of things’ ‘“ ‘œhow about a menu?’ ‘“ ‘œoh yeah, I haven’t been here long, sorry’ ‘“ etc etc. Having inevitably had to send back various wrong orders, eventually ours turned up and was quite tasty in a cobbled together kind of way. Anyway, rest of family despatched safely southbound, and we headed north to Maryport to play at the Navy Club, Sandra’s replacement for the Captain Nelson. Despite looking rather Pheonix Nights-y ‘“ this was an awesome gig! I was really happy with my sound and playing, and the band was really cooking. A superb crowd of really nice people (top marks to Leon for randomly taking me on a minor detour to the sadly now defunct town of Fothergill!) ‘“ who made a huge racket at the end of every song ‘“ amazing energy! As expected, we had an excellent time, a quick tear down of gear and then back into one’s jag-war for the 320 mile wearisome journey back to 219SR. |
02/09/2005 |
Gary | Colne National R&B Festival ‘“ Super Roadhouse Stage ‘“ Lancashire ‘“ 27th August |
And so it came to pass ‘“ our 3rd consecutive appearance at the National Festival on the biggest stage. After causing the doors to be closed on the arena last year, by the record crowd of recent times, we were rather strangely rewarded by being pushed into kicking off the Saturday afternoon at the usually dead audience slot of 2pm. We had no time to warm up after Roger (a superb driver but a slave to his GPS ‘“ ‘œThe computer says no’) opted for the M6 which saw some of us gridlocked. While he and I argued re:route in the front, Anne plugged herself into her slendertone while riding in the back of the SUV. Our argument was punctutated by strange cries of ‘œWhat a big one’ coming from the back seat ‘“ surreal stadium gig build up’¦A million thanks to the nearly 400 Roadhouse supporters and friends who came in so early for our set (apparently crowds were down for the rest of the day) We played a blinding set, Jules was actually duck walking, or something An epic Couldn’t Get to Sleep was followed by a great Voodoo Queen, before thanks again to friends new and old and here’s to a more suitable slot next Gary |
29/08/2005 |
Gary | Merton Abbey Mills ‘“ Abbeyfest ‘“ 26th August | Our third consecutive outdoor, Merton Abbey Mills, South London Blues Festival’¦always a pleasure to play for our friend and all round legend Mr Bob Bruning. The skies threatened rain, but for once the gods were on our side. a pretty So come 9pm we kicked into our headline set. The question was how much rust We belted straight into Tellin Lies with the Crowd stomping along and Jules Then 70% of the way through a steaming version of Sacrifice the power blew’¦ Oh well here’s to a powerful appearance next year (thanks to all for your |
29/08/2005 |
Gary | Woodman ‘“ Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park – | Well after the holliday break if there was going to be a quiet Woodman jam this was the one. However, it was yet another packed night.No full Roadhouse as the houseband, because Bill was still on his hollidays, so Pete Bedford and Pete (bass) from Hit and Run provided both PA and excellent cover in the house band. Too many nice perfromance to single anyone out, but it lead to Martin our Great stuff’¦Gary |
29/08/2005 |
Gary | Antwerp R&B Festival ‘“ Belgium ‘“ 24/7 | One of our biggest ever shows.Thanks to our Belgium promoter Bobje Blues fand festival promoter Kid Van Thienen for getting us on such a great stage and bill. On an enormous state of the art stage set up outsides Antwerp’s City Hall Check out the photos in the gallery as this was an enormous gig to thousands In full ‘˜Bon Joviesque stadium mode we kicked a high energy set though from Much acclaim and positive feedback followed including TV interviews, CD The whole band played well and a particular well done to Fiona and Lorna, One for the memory book |
19/08/2005 |
Gary | Finches ‘“ Wimbledon Village -17th July | Nice, nice bar and room, great promoter (Paul) with good ideas, but a landlord who was paranoid following neghbours complaints. This led to severe level restrictions and amps sounding like cheap transistor radios playing in someone’s formica clad kitchen’¦.Low turn out on a hot summer night, but i still enjoyed hearing the vocals as clear as a bell and Jules’s jazzed up playing on very sedate versions of our quietest songs. I must confess to amusing myself with my Anthony Newly (meets David Bowie on the Laughing Gnome) vocal version of All Along the Watchtower . If we go with this again it will be with out semi acoustic set and I think |
19/07/2005 |
Gary | Walken/Stevenage ‘“ 16th July | Great to be back after 4.5 years to one of my fave club venues. It was great for Mike, Richard and Trevor the Hat to see how the Band has developed. They were all very impressed.A great crowd with many dedicated Roadhouse fans present (loved all the ladies dancing to Voodoo Queen). The Band played a blinder with 2 encores’¦.. Hope to back next March and we should now be at next years Mayfest (thanks |
19/07/2005 |
Gary | Red Lion ‘“ High Wycombe -15th July | A welcome return to this lovely venue, well run by Helen and her great and friendly crew of enthusiasts’¦A great crowd with people driving from as far as Oxford to catch the show.. The band played great and sold a load of CDd’s. There was magic in the interplay Rock on and we’ll be back’¦ |
17/07/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam, Wimbledon Pk, -14th July | Last Jam before the summer break, a very hot day, a shortage of bass players but it was a great night.With Drew and Fiona in the house Band, I managed to kick off what was the first of 3 nights of personal guitar strap and string leprosy (don’t let me touch you, your bits might drop off)’¦ Highlights, Drew’s Spanish style solo in Charlie’s latin number (sung in |
17/07/2005 |
Gary | Bulls Head, Barnes ‘“ 11th July | After the fantastic crowd that the Roadhouse Music Club pulled in December and the many requests to run the same night again, we returned to this re-furbished venue with high hopes’¦.It was a night of very high personal dissapointment for me. 10 paying members of the audience!!!!!!!!! The 22 musicians featuring both current and future Roadhosue line ups and The 10 paying people were fabulous. Highlights (if any one cares) included a great set from Drew Barron along Mixed emotions, great performance, but does London care enough about live |
17/07/2005 |
Gary | Charters/Blues on the Boat ‘“ Peterborough -1st July |
A busier night than usual at Charters, an ideal outing for the new look Roadhouse featuring Drew Baron and Fiona McElroy.This was a first, as Fiona was singing with long time member, Anne Campbell. We’ve asked an awful lot of Fiona, singing alone, singing with Lorna and now singing with Anne (and she’s done great). Highlights included Drew having to leave the stage with arms cramps in the Bring your diary for next years bookings said the management at the end |
05/07/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ 30th June | A busy jam night at the Woodman. loads of faces old and new and my apologies to all I let down, by not fitting them on.Please, please all musicians arrive a little earlier’ The crowd were great and Syd’s 2 number slot brought the house down (banjo Well played all’¦Here’s to 2 weeks time and I’ll make it up to those who |
01/07/2005 |
Gary | Elme Hall Stately Home ‘“ Wisbech ‘“ Norfolk- 26/7 |
4th gig, 4th day, feeling very tired’.. A great set up by Jules and Bill lead to a superb perfrormance. A crowd that grew and grew until it soared well over the 100 mark’¦ loads of old friends and supporters’¦. From the ‘˜kick botty’ opener (well we are English) of No Place to Hide, this was a full on gig with plenty of light and shade, great performances from all band members and a superb audience’¦ roll on the next time’¦.. |
01/07/2005 |
Gary | The Shed (Semi Acoustic) ‘“ Norwich ‘“ 25/7 | We faced our first semi acoustic gig in years with some trepidation’¦.However, it was a blinder with Jules achieving superb tone, Roger doing great on percussion. Lorna and Anne soundied brilliant. Their suitably layed back, but emotional vocals, clearly soared over some great and fluid versions of the Roadhouse catalogue’¦. Thanks to Ryan for being a great host and we’ll do it again’¦ Brilliant fun’. |
01/07/2005 |
Gary | The Riverside ‘“ Sutton Bridge ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 24/7 | On to sunny Norfolk,Nice people at this tiny cellar venue’¦.. nice fish and chips outside’¦..
Room was a bit small for us, the consequence being that after the first Crowd were nice with a few old friends and regulars (thank you). Into legend went the unplanned segway into Smoke on the Water in the middle |
01/07/2005 |
Gary | The Prince Regent ‘“ Sutton ‘“ 23/6 | On a hot summer night would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses, probably not and you wouldn’t go to a pub gig with temps above 30c inside’¦.However, loads of people did. A good early run out for the new look, from Oct 1st Line Up featuring Drew Fiona put in a staggering amount of enrgy into her performance and when Crowd re-action superb with 2 great encores of Preacher and whiskey Man |
24/06/2005 |
Gary | Coach & Horses ‘“ Isleworth ‘“ 18/6 | A very hot night and initially a small crowd. However, the numbers built and built The first set was technically great, the second had a superb emotional/driving edge.Nice guest appearances from Marc Le Guerranic and Jon Griffin. A surprisingly good night well played and performed by all |
24/06/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 16/6 | Another great night at the Woodman’Good little Roadhouse set, the Funkydory crew were in top form with Fench Marc winning my guitar accollade of the night with a superb display’¦ nice stuff from Father and Son team Lol Sandford and Riyad, and from Pete Repeat perfromance in 2 weeks time, bring it on’¦.. Once mor a good crowd. |
18/06/2005 |
Gary | Charisma Bar ‘“ South Hoyland/Yorks ‘“ 11/6 | A big thanks to Alan Fish and Rossi the local promoter who put this gig on at short notice to fit with our Barrow appearance. Against expectations another good crowd, not very demonstartive, but still they were with us and at the end very appreciative and friendly. Great to see people who’d seen us at Skeggy again. The performance ranged from adequate to good with the Big Easy getting it’s first gig outing successfully.. Much hand shaking, then into the cars and as the song Said on Radio 2, ‘œIt’s a Long Way Home’ (and it was)’¦. |
18/06/2005 |
Gary | Duke of Edinburgh ‘“ Barrow ‘“ 10/6 | One of Roadhouse’s greatetst gigs of recent times.A big thank you to Joyce and Bill the tireless promoters who do so much for live music in this area. Crowd numbers had been a litle slow in recent weeks, but a newspaper review We played 2 very long sets, Jules and I explored areas of improvisation Great re-action, good CD sales, everyone played and sang great. The double |
18/06/2005 |
Gary | The Boom boom Club, Sutton F.C ‘“ 5/6 | Our ‘˜Big’ pre Radio 2 appearance launch gig was a terrific success.1st young band the Subway sleepers who did a lot of their early work at our Woodman jsam showed they had progressed nicely and played a great set. Then the Drewmeister/groover from Vancouver did a great little set with Then 1 hour 35 mins of Roadhouse. Guest spots from the lovely Fiona McElroy I’d like to thank all out friends who were there that night for their loyal The whole band played great. It was one of those times when I personally |
12/06/2005 |
Gary | The Running Horse ‘“ Nottingham ‘“ 4/6 | Our first Saturday night at the Runner saw our crowd numbers continue to increase.There is a great atmosphere in this venue steeped in the sweat and endeavour of all the great Bands that have played this intimate but very ‘˜rock and roll’ venue. First set wasn’t bad with Sacrifice kicking butt and a reasonable guitar Second set was blistering despite my senile moment in Watchtower when I Also thanks to in house reviewer/writer Dave for joining us for anice bit |
07/06/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam Session ‘“ 2/6 | Another good night at the Woodman. The song that I’ve co-written with Lorna, The Big Easy, is improving and is now virtually ready to be gigged at most venues.Good sets from Lol Sandford, Jules & French Marc and a nice soul digression from Andy Cortes and Lawrence, with Jack from Atlantic Soul machine on vocals instead of drums. Fiona McElroy did well in both Roadhouse sets and doing an impromptu blues Syd and Nigel sent the crowd happily off into the night with the sound of |
07/06/2005 |
Gary inputting Rob White’s Review | Loft Cloub- Green Man ‘“ Barnet -29/5 | Roadhouse Well, this was another excellent evening at The Green Man in Barnet!I’ve had a new-found respect for Roadhouse after their gig at the Rayners supporting Ian Parker, which was just perfect. I had become tired of the self-indulgent ‘œRoadhouse & Friends’ jam sessions, but when they played their own set it was excellent. And so it was tonight. With another new girl singer, Fiona, joining the The material was a mixture of the familiar Roadhouse back catalogue plus Jules told me he was eschewing effects pedals tonight, and I liked the pure Jules told me he was eschewing effects pedals tonight, and I liked the pure The veteran Roadhousers in the background, Bill ‘˜n’ Rog, have been in the The finale Voodoo Queen was really great with Lorna and Fiona belting out So, in summary, a really good, happy, professional show. As I said above, |
01/06/2005 |
Gary | Sportsman ‘“ Part Two | It was great see the audience singing along with the chorus of Voodoo Queen’¦ a double encore and good Cd sales, plus Lorna singing great and having one of her best ever stage outfits, a very nice night. |
29/05/2005 |
Gary | Sportsman ‘“ Croxley/Watford- 28/5 | A long awaited return to the Sportsman, which though a very small venue had lobbied very hard for 18 months to get us back.It was nice to see lots of old friends in the audience and Anne back in tandem with Lorna (Anne has been kept away through various commitments and issues). Jules was experimenting with doing away with his pedals and just using his Tha crowd were totally behind us in the second set with Anne nicely co-ordinating |
29/05/2005 |
Gaz | Jack Beards ‘“ Tooting ‘“ 20/5 | A support to the American guitar god Jo Bonamassa. It was a small stage for those guys who are a real stadium outfit and they were not to happy when they saw the size of this compact (but nice) venue’Still we quickly built good relationships with the band and crew and the sound engineer was a Roadhouse fan (ta-dah, we were in). No Jules and Lorna, but Drew and Fiona were doing a good job’¦.. Set ran Slip Away, No Place to Hide, Backstreets, Help Me and Voodoo Queen |
24/05/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 19/5 | A wild and weird night at the Woodman’¦In the Roadhouse set Broken Land was played best yet due to correct speed and good drumming from Roger (even though Jules lead failed mid song) you could see it had come together. A perfunctory Slip Away followed by lorna doing well on the great new number the Big Easy with new improved mid section (needs to double up on one bit then we are home and dry me -thinks). Sacrifice it ROCKS>>>>>> Into the Jam, memories, Jules and Marc playing Jessica on speed (well sounded Syd went into history by forgetting his words on his second song, allowing |
20/05/2005 |
Gary | BB’s Blues Club at GJ’s ‘“ Colliers Wood ‘“ 15/5 | A superb performance by the Band at this intimate but plush little club. Fiona McElroy was dong vocal duties for us while Drew was on guitar.Result was a very well played night, starting with Slip Away and ending in 2 encores, Preacher Man and Serve U Right. Both Fiona and Drew did great jobs and the sound balance and clartity was very nice. Special guest was Danny Gwillim who did a number with Drew and a rousing Only down side was that though the crowd was very passionate, with some |
19/05/2005 |
Gary | The Grove Tavern ‘“ South Wimbledon | A good night at the Grove, with Fiona making her full debut. Doing a great job on all Roadhouse songs and combining superbly with Lorna on Blues Highway and Voodoo Queen.Tremendous vocal duettes on Rock Me Baby and Stormy Monday were delivered by our twin divas. Geronimo did a guest set with Owen on the drums and the Legendary Danny.G Tim O’Sullivan did a guiness fuelled guest slot and excelled in both gurning A bit of a local party night and v.enjoyable |
08/05/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ 5/5 | A blinding night at the Woodman, new Roadhouse singer Fiona McElroy did a great job on some old faves like Help Me while Lorna sang our new composition The Big Easy to much acclaim.Great sets from Andy Cortes playing with fiery young Lawrence in a blues guitar masterclass’¦.. Helen did a lead vocal and then sang another song while drumming (a bit A great night, Jules did a brill job on the bass (where have all the bass Rocking’¦ |
08/05/2005 |
Gary | Boom Boom Club ‘“ Sutton FC ‘“ 29/4 | Nice to be opening for our old friends Ruthless Blues, a legendary and historic presence on the curcuit (I used to watch Little Stevie Smith when I was 20).This ws the 3rd or 4th time (opinions vary) that the 2 Bands had played together, so there was a nice friendly vibe. A very decent crowd included a lot of regular Roadhouse punters and they Both Broken Land and Sacrifice were given their first big stage airings Jules did well bearing in mind he’d forgot a lot of his equipment (still A stormer, with great CD sales, happy people and much hand shaiking afterwards |
02/05/2005 |
Gary | East Harling Social Club ‘“ 23/4 | A warm, friendly venue with an unfriendly low ceiling. The Band played a very nice gig to some friendly and appreciative people. Lots of old faces from the Cider Shed and the Biker Fest we did last year. I sat down in a crowd of 12-15 year old lads during the start of Jules’s solo in Oye Como Va and they said to me’You are really cool’, I wish they’s tell my 10 year old son, who thinks I’m an embarassment.Great set apart from Rog drumming through the 3rd Chorus of Broken Land and prompting Bill to play a different set of notes, just to keep us on our toes. however redemption was swift with a great perfromance from both the aforemntioned Jules playing on Sacifice ‘˜totalled me’ ,it was so good. Lorns was on form At the end some guys said the guitar trade off in Rock Me Baby was like However, if that was the case I’d be like the SteveVai character, limping |
25/04/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ 21/4 | Woodman Jam ‘“ 21/4Another great night.. tremendous to see Lorna and Jules back and we were treated to great performances by both’¦The Roadhouse set really rocked with Lorna singing 3 and Fiona McElroy singing 2. For a first time out with Roadhouse, Fiona was great’¦.. Reverse running order had Syd on the banjo playing early (how does Jules Very interesting jazz vocalist Carla did a kind of ‘˜Bohemian Rhapsody’ approach |
25/04/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ 7/4 | One of the greatest and most magical jams ever at the Woodman.We discovered a great new female singer (Fiona MCElroy) who has agreed to join the Roadhouse squad. No Jules or Lorna again but Drew was kicking it and on Voodoo Queen we were Andy Cortes and Danny.G were on fire and there were too many great perfromances |
25/04/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ 21/4 | Another great night.. tremendous to see Lorna and Jules back and we were treated to great performances by both’¦The Roadhouse set really rocked with Lorna singing 3 and Fiona McEvoy singing 2. For a first time out with Roadhouse, Fiona was great’¦..Reverse running order had Syd on the banjo playing early (how does Jules solo to that structure ???) and Geronimo on early release from the reservation re-enacting the Battle of the little Big Horn on his guitar. Very interesting jazz vocalist Carla did a kind of ‘˜Bohemian Rhapsody’ approach |
22/04/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ 7/4 | One of the greatest and most magical jams ever at the Woodman.We discovered a great new female singer (Fiona MCEvoy) who has agreed to join the Roadhouse squad. No Jules or Lorna again but Drew was kicking it and on Voodoo Queen we were Andy Cortes and Danny.G were on fire and there were too many great perfromances |
22/04/2005 |
Gary | The Coach & Horses ‘“ Isleworth ‘“ 2/4 | A quiet night at the Coach, with only 60% of the usaul good crowd. No Jules and Lorna, but Canadian guitar maestro and Roadhouse number one dep Monsieur Drew Barron ws on great form’¦Anne performing on her own did a great job with the vocals despite a throat problem. Second set lead to encores as the pub filled up and the night lifted. Higlights Not a bad night |
12/04/2005 |
Gary | The Red Lion ‘“ High Wycombe ‘“ 29/3 | A Tuesday night at a new venue in High Wycombe ‘“ hardy enough to set one’s pulse racing, but race it did.Wonderful hospitality from Helen and her team, as this night has turned into an excellent Blues/Rock club and artists like Papa Goerge and Sam Kelly have already played this venue. To add spice to the evening a camera crew working for the BBC filmed some of the first few numbers. Clips are to be featured in a forthcoming documentary on Lorna being taught by Roger to drive (wonder if it will containg his legendary, ‘œYou get an extra 80 points for an old lady’ steering technique).. A good two sets were very well received by a lovely audience and post gig We’ll be back here very soon. a great night |
12/04/2005 |
Gary | The Hope Tavern ‘“ Lincs ‘“ 27/3 | A superb lunch and great hospitality from the wonderful management and staff at this friendly pub.When I say pub I’m wrong, because within 30 mins in comes a stage and lighting rig and it’s converted into a wonderful little blues club’¦. Two good sets to an appreciative crowd who bought shed loads of CD’s.. Broken Land and The Big Easy were both given good airings and though the A great little gig and we will be back. We met so many great people, a special For officionadoes/desperdoes the 2 encore numbers were Preacher Man and |
28/03/2005 |
Gary | Charters Bar- Peterborough ‘“ 26/3 | Blues on the Boat, our 4th appearance on the modified ex Rhine, working barge.Nice meal in the upstairs Chinese followed by a kicking first set. The audience have been sparse here recently, but not during our first set I was on good guitar form for a change and a notable highlight was the trade Sacrifice is becoming a live set fave with Anne and Lona lifting it into Numbers dwindled for the second set.. but with the clocks coming forward Still the hard core remained and were rewarded by Jules’s great perfroamnce |
28/03/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon -24/3 | Another ace night at the Wooodman. Expectations of a strong turn out were low due to lack of pre bookings and the forthcoming Easter Holliday. Boy was I wrong.a tremandous turn out of both music loving punters and musicians lead to great jam. Shame was I couldn’t get everyone on, how often do I have to tell people In the Roadhouse kick off set we featured a new song, ‘˜The Big Easy’ cowritten A weird lack of bass players lead to great bass depping from both Jules Nice sets from the above mentioned Andy.C and all concerned. It was great to see Pete Sargean there (weightwatchers man Her’es to the next one |
28/03/2005 |
Gary | White Lyon ‘“ Worplesdon ‘“ 19/3 | South of Guildford is not exactly south of Chicago and the A3 is not really Highway 61, and so it proved.New owners at the Whyte Lyon, a plusher interior and a stage (strangely positioned directly facing the bar).. A bright opening from support, The John Brown band, who had a very nice No Jules or Lorna but an appearance from Canadian guitarist extrodinaire, It was the smallest ever crowd we’d had at this venue (about 42 at it’s As a consequence, despite the 2 encores and much crowd support/enthusiasm, |
22/03/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ 10/3 | Started a quiet night for one of our popular jam sessions but by the end was up to a medium attendance.I was personally pleased with both new Roadhouse songs, Broken Land and Sacrifice. Vocally I was personally having a very good night, but don’t know what was going on with my guitar playing. Still I enjoyed doing a late in the evening Watchtower with the excellent Danny Gwillim. Musically the night was very diverse with Tom (I’ve got a big one ) Anfield Marc a la Francias proved he’s total beast by breaking strings on both his |
11/03/2005 |
Gary | Running Horse ‘“ Nottingham ‘“ 4/3 | Last time here we achieved the ‘˜Runners’ smallest ever crowd (8 payers ‘“ 12 people) -but achieved a review that said the performance made it one of the gigs of the year.This time it was still dissapointing (31 payers and a handful of guests pushing attendance up to near 40 people). Thanks to all our friends who saw us on the big stage at Skeggy and came across to this one, on a cold, cold night. The band played a great gig. I must single out Anne for some praise as she Jules was in an especially mischevious mode, with a whole montage of kiddy We love this venue and Barry who runs it is a great guy who does a lot for |
07/03/2005 |
Gary | Aplogiues & Cancellations | Due to the aforementioned viral havoc, we had to cancel our appearances at the Fox & Hounds on the 27/2 and Prince Fegent on the 3/3.Many apologies to all concerned but these were only the 4th and 5th roadhouse cancellations of igs in 13.5 years ‘“ sorry unavoidable’¦. |
07/03/2005 |
Gary | Grove Tavern ‘“ 26/2 | Injury struck, no Roger (nasty chest infection), no Lorna (nasty throat infection) and myself carrying a friendly (must be friendly cos it won’t leave me alone’ ‘˜Stomach and throat virus we retuned to The Grove.To bolster our flagging numbers and bodies I broght in a 3rd guitar in the shape of the excellent Drew Baron. However, Drew didn’t want to be the odd one out and contrated a stomach bug on the way to the gig and spent the night doubled up or in the bog. Sir Richard Pumperloaf came back in to dep for Roger and did his usual superb This was the worst crowd we’d ever had at the Grove and we’ve been playing There was a handful of Roadhouse officinados (like a bandido only they work |
07/03/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ 24/2 | Back to the stage at the Woodman after being relegated last time to the conservatory.Surrounded by the new leather furniture the stage size is greatly reduced. this means no more percussion which is a bummer’¦ Still I thought differently to the views expressed on Jules’s site, that Later on Jules and Lorna returned with French Marc and a ‘˜Funkydoresque’ We fast ran out of time on a busy night that was marked by the beggining Some nice playing again by young lawrence on the guitar, it was also nice |
07/03/2005 |
Gary | Belg/Dutch Tour 4 ‘“ Rotterdam | End of tour, a afternoon large pub gig on the outskirts of Rotterdam. Of course in the spirit of this tour it couldn’t be straightforward.Anne took a PA carrying tumble on the way into the venue (triple pike with a high degree of difficulty ‘“ 9.7) and mulched here knee (don’t know if thats a real word). She did the gig stool bound a la Uncle Val Doonican, but without the nice The audience were strange, the band were playing pretty well but the reponse By the end of the gig they wouldn’t let us stop playing, fog horns blasted The tour bus set off through snow storms and a lack of channel tunnel trains, But what fun and what memories. Thanks too Bobje Blues and all out tremendous |
03/03/2005 |
Gary | Belg/Dutch Tour 3 ‘“ St Lenearts -Willem Tell Blues Club |
Day Three ‘“ My pick of the tour gigs. Nice pre gig food and red wine frenzy led nicely to on stage in front of a packed house, with heated exterior tent (also well attended) while the snow fell quite heavily outside. Michele the promoter was ‘œMoved’ by our performance, while in turn the band were moved by his chilli.The Band were on fire, turning in 2 great sets and the on tour set rotation kept the numbers nice and fresh’¦ Many nice jornos in attendance and many pics taken of a great night’¦.. |
03/03/2005 |
Gary | Belg/Dutch Tour 2 ‘“ Mol | On Day Two we were delighted that Jules and Lorna made a steady recovery.We arrived at a supeb Americana styles venue in Mol (loved the jack daniels lampshades, guitar shaped tables and route 66 backdropped stage)’¦ Our host Loius was a great Biker guy who did the greatest Belgian beer based First set was top notch with Jules ‘˜on fire’ , making a welcome return from Second set not quite as well played, but by then the crowd were having a This was the only night of the tour that wasn’t packed out, but still a |
02/03/2005 |
Gary | Belgium/Holland Tour ‘“ 1 ‘“ Menen | The stuff of legends, forever to be known as the ‘œ10 Green Bottles Gig’.On arrival at Leper/Ypres we were met by our Belgian promoter/manager/Flemish Web supremo Bobje blues. His welcome recption at his home was a lovely bit of hospitality. However, you are not meant to eat the rind on Belgian cheese (not common On arrival at the great venue in Menen (Thanks to both Phillipe’s, Seys We started with Blues Highway to an appreciative full house, but by the Bill and Roger were super, Anne was a trooper (how Abbaesque) and we managed The venue were really undersatnding, we sold Cd’s and most/nearly were happy, |
01/03/2005 |
Gary | Coach & Horses ‘“ Isleworth ‘“ 5/2 | Nice pub, nice people including many roadhouse regulars.Jules had tonal problems, (tone gods on holliday via faulty amp settings) my muscle disease was also in a godless state (though I was very proud of 3 solos). A pre Belgium/Holland tour workman like night. New songs sounding good.. Gary |
01/03/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ 3/3 | Tough night at the Woodman,the stage is now occupied by unmovable leather furniture, so we were relgated back to the rear of the conservatory’¦ The jam functioned successfully here for 18 months, but the lack of sound No Jules, no Lorna, but Mr Drew Baron was on top form (after initial feedback No shortage of good players and not a bad jam under the circumstances. Let’s |
04/02/2005 |
Gary | Earl of Spencer ‘“ Gastro Pub -2/2 | The first of the monthly music and food nights upstairs at the EOS. Great concept, 3 courses of truly superb food, 1st drink and live\music all for £30.00.Shame that a lot of the pre booked punters did not show. Still the 20 plus diners and the handul of ligging Roadhouse fans had a Next months show on Weds 2/3 = Robin Bibi (special guest me), hopefully |
04/02/2005 |
Gary | Skegness ‘“ Festival of Rock (2) | 8pm CENTRE STAGE at Skeggy ‘“ 500 queing before the room opened. Hard to say how many people out there when the safety curtain went up but it was prob more than 3-4 thousand (seemed like 30,000 to me after some of our pub gigs).Having that amount of people clap along to the drum intro to the opener Tellin Lies was a bit special’¦. Great re-action and a great show. We didn’t play as well as in the afternoon, Voodoo Queen brought about the mandatory Preacher Man encore, then it was Here’s to next year if all of us are still alive’. |
01/02/2005 |
Gary | Skegness ‘“ Festival of Blues & Rock | We played 2 slots at Skeggy.2nd only to Colne in it’s sifnificance to the circuit but number one in stage size, we were on the same weekend bill as bands like The Animals, Dr Feelgood, 9 Below Zero, The Sweet, The Hamsters, Eddie & The Hot Rods, John Coughlan’s Quo. Our first appearance was on the 750 capacity venue JAKS (Walt Disney type |
01/02/2005 |
Gary | Woodman Jam ‘“ Thurs 20th | A really busy jam at the Woodman last night. so many players I could not accommodate everybody and had to reduce some great players and favourites to just one song. Other people didn’t even get on, this is so contrary to my personal values and what I try to acheive, that I felt really stressed by the whole experience. I also got a blasting from the venue for the 13 minute over run at the end of the night’¦However, I was pleased with the 1st outing of 2 new Roadhouse songs of which I am particularly proud, Broken Land and Sacrifice’¦ Despite my errors and a dodgy count throwing the beginning of Broken Land, they both went well enough for a first outing. The feedback from punters and musicians was superb.. Great sets from Tom Anfield Band, Masashis and Danny Gwillim and others If only peopl would turn up earlier’¦ oh well here’s to the 3rd Feb |
21/01/2005 |
Gary | Elme Hall ‘“ 19th Dec | After anice Xmas lunch blagged by Jules we played a great gig to the 100 or so patrons of Elme Hall, stately home’¦though thinned out by Xmas shopping this was a great audience who got right behind the band and as a consequence the epics came thick and fast (and very long and very loud) Lorna was back with a vengance and Jules had sold his soul to his tone gods A great time was had by all’¦ Here’s to a retrun next year |
04/01/2005 |
Gary | Coach & Horses ‘“ 18th Dec | Start delayed as I’d stupidly left stuff at home and Jules saved the day with a Saabesque taxi ride to the rescue.Whan we started late I was on very poor form, with the rest of the band trying to compensate and Lorna resting/heckling from the audience (getting over her laryngitis). Anne did a good job on solo female vocals. 2nd set I finally got going and and the band played a blinder, which kicked |
04/01/2005 |
Gary | Xmas Jam ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ 16th Dec | A brilliant Jam at the Woodman. Lorna did a great couple of songs before the laryngitis kicked in, but we then rocked out with fun versions of Watchtower and Oye Como Va.Jules did one of his best ever solos when playing with French Marc, Tim Matthewman took the art of lead bass playing to a new zenith and all round good perfromances and festive cheer to a packed house |
04/01/2005 |
Gary | Tour Of Norfolk ‘“ 10-12th Dec | 3 dates in Norfolk courtesy of Alan Fish of Egypt and The Groundhogs fame.Night 1 at the Vernon Arrms, not a bad little gig livened up by the Bands best ever performance of Lost in Pain and the willy watching alsation that hung around the Gents toilets (down Shep) Night 2, The legendary Hunstanton Social Club was a good gig. Loads of old Day 3, back for a luchtime gig at the excellent Cider Shed in Banham. Ryan |
04/01/2005 |
Gary | Grove Tavern, South Wimbledon ‘“ 27th Nov | This was the best the Band has ever played with Drew Baron.Sitting in for Jules he was on brilliant form. Great perfromance by the band, tremendous vocals from Lorna, rhythm section on the money and best playing from me for over a year’¦. Highlights included a version of All Along the Watchtower, and Drew’s comedy Good crowd and a nice night at the Grove Tavern |
30/11/2004 |
Gary | Woodman, Saiichi Gig/Jam ‘“ 25th Nov | With Jules having those testy tonsils removed, what better time than to play the much promised (over the years) gig with Saiichi Sugiyama.A good friend to the band, Saiichi has supported numerous jams and music clubs over the years. Singer, songwriter, guitarist and international recording artist he has done some good stuff over the years. There was a good turn out fom the Woodman faithful though most jammers weren’t A good opening with Drew Baron sitting in with Roadhouse in order to practice Other great jam performances from Lol Sandford (vocals for once), Danny The Saiichi set went well and featured Bill, Roger and Lorna on great form. |
30/11/2004 |
Gary | Rayners Hotel, Harrow ‘“ 19th Nov | Back to London with a bump.A superb double header with the excellent John O’Leary band was dampened by a realtively small turn out. Though small, in number, the audience were beautifully formed and gave both A double helping of an on form Jules was enjoyed by all and at the end both A good night for music punters |
30/11/2004 |
Gary Boner | The Captain Nelson, Maryport ‘“ 14th Nov | A 2 hour drive across from Darlington lead us to a brilliant, friendly, pub venue on the water front at Maryport.After Sunday lunch was served the place transformed as if by magic into a music venue. A packed house, great performance and re-action form the superb crown (loads of returnees), 2 epic encores and it was along, long, long way home’¦.. Well done Pumperloaf again for the best dep drunning ever’¦mega amount |
30/11/2004 |
Gary | The Forum, Darlington ‘ 13th Nov | A large purpose built hall with fantatsic PA, 3 good sound engineers, and equipped with a large and trendy cafe bar entrance/reception. Lovely big venue, but could we fill it.Answer was ‘ emphatically yes. The room quickly filled with people who had caught our act at Colne or Skeggy and had been fully inducted into the dark world of voodoo women, epic, death driven, blues metal overkill’¦ A fantastic audience, lovely responsive, friendly people. Two epic encores Ceasr’s guest appearance on Oye Como Va got him a standing ovation (wish |
21/11/2004 |
Gary | Charters Bar, Peterborough ‘ 6th Nov | For Norfolk to Peterborough, back to ‘˜blues on the barge’, where a severley hung over Jules likened the gentle rocking on this moored vessel to the death throws of the Titanic.The Band again was on blinding form. Shame about the small audience (number of, not their height). Apparently, there was a big local gig and the weather was foul. However, Jules overcame has delcate state (morale ‘ never drink with Scottish women) to deliver the goods as usual and last night’s hot streek continued. 4 gigs at this great venue in the book for next year’¦result |
21/11/2004 |
Gary | The Cider Shed, Banham ‘ 5th Nov | Nightmare Friday night traffic meant a long haul to Norfolk, but it was well worth it .. A Lovely Country barn styled venue, with a great music loving audience. A superb pre gig dinner in the on complex restaurant was followed by one of the best performances that Raodhouse have delivered in along time. A nice guest apprearnce from Tim ‘˜Ceaser’ O’ Sullivan plus I had some remission from my muslce/tendon disease enabling me to play ‘˜properly’ for once.. Our wonderful host Ryan allowed band members to kip in the bar following a decent post gig drinking session and a re-booking for ‘œOne of, if not the best band ever seen at the Cider Shed’. We’ll be back for a pm gig on Sun the 12th December, excellent |
21/11/2004 |
Gary Boner | Jam Session, Woodman Wimbledon Park ‘ 4th Nov | Last nights jam signalled the end of our ‘œ5 Year Jam Celebration’, featuring weekly instead of fortnightly appearances at the Woodman. As a consequences I was expecting a quieter night, but it was not to be. A massed crowd plus Andy Cortes enormous afro made even basic navigation round the pub difficult.Great guitar playing from Andy, Drew Barron (learn to play fast dude, whats your problem), Saiichi Sugiyama, Jules and Marc A La Appy Francais. Lorna was on tip top form ‘ great stuff from all and her’es to 2 weeks time.. |
05/11/2004 |
Gary Boner | Digital Blues Fest, Crawdaddy Club, Billericay -31st Oct |
Nosebleeds all round as the Band made their first ever appearance in Essex.What a great festival this was, with a warm and appreciative Crawdday crowd, supporting the excellent bill of musicicns and terrific charity cause. Well done to Ashwyn of Blues Matters and Digital Blues fame for the invite Sandwiched betwwen the Guy Tortora Band and New Blues, we manged to fluff Apparently the door is now open for numerous returns to Essex and if this |
05/11/2004 |
Gary Boner 0n 29th October 2004 | Jam Session, Woodman Wimbledon Park, ‘ 28th Oct |
Another great night at the Woodman. Crowd was a little bit thinner after our 6 appearances in 8 weeks, in order to celebrate 5 years of this very succesful session.I was delighted that in the Roadhouse set we managed to ‘˜nail’ both Long Way Home’ and scope down ‘˜I Couldn’t Get to Sleep’ to under 6 mins. This was min order to fir the somewhat inflexible requirements of BBC Radio 2, for our live recording session next week. Overcome with relief I then managed to totally cock up Telling Lies (much to the delight of all the other Band members). Other highlights for me were the re-appearance of Pete French on vocals French Marc (Monsieur Le Guerrannic) then added the total panto, jazz, widdle |
29/10/2004 |
Jules Fothergill | Blues Matters! Festival, Elme Hall, Wisbech – 22nd Oct |
Friday night’s gig was the Blues Matters Festival at Elme Hall in Wisbech. Sadly not too many people there, but those who were had a really good time! The stage sound made the gig pretty heavy going but we got there in the end’¦ looking forward to playing there again in December, it’s a beautiful room! |
25/10/2004 |