The Spotted Cow - 5th June, 2009

Well - what to write indeed other than "Rock and f*****g Roll !

All four of us had been looking forward to this gig for ages. The Spotted Cow in Cowplain is the pub to play in the area on a Friday night. It is quite a large pub and is bustin' from wall to wall on a good night. Tonight was no exception.

We arrived quite early and commenced setting up. We knew that it may take a bit longer as we were going to use our new power amp for the first time. Unloading the van was pretty quick as the "Donk" didn't fall asleep in the bath and arrived with the rest of us. Tensions started to get a bit high with setting up all the leads and stuff to the new amp which wasn't going 100% to plan. The technical stuff is best left to Andy and Dan who know what they are doing and Jock, Beanz and Harley are always concious of being in the way and becoming more of a hindrance than a help! Whilst Andy and Dan had a play with setting up the new amp, Beanz and Harley went outside for a bit, both admitting that whilst they had been looking forward to it for ages, actually at the moment, they felt like it was all going tits - up!

Jock on the other hand, refuses to get stressed out and found the ideal excuse to shoot off for a bit. He drove to the pub but as we all know, likes a drink whilst he's playing. Beanz offered him a lift home afterwards which then meant he had to leave his car overnight. Donk was on hand so Jock had the brilliant idea of taking the car home and returning on the back of Donk's 1200 Bandit. Splendid idea but would he make it back on time if at all on such a well looked after machine (that's sarcasm by the way!)

Andy and Dan finally found a workaround for setting up the new amp and Beanz and Harley continued to set up the bits that they knew how to do. Plugging MIC's in mainly. Jock arrived shortly after beaming from ear to ear and processed straight to the bar to get the beers in.

Set-up was almost complete and we ready for the sound check - the pub was heaving already and just to add to the pressure, sat directly in front of us was the lead singer, Darren and guitarist, Murph from Papparrazzi, a very well known and popular band on the circuit!

We sound checked with the usual "Teenage Kicks" and Dan adjusted accordingly. We then had a 20 minute chill out session before going on. The first set as always was slow to start (audience wise) but towards the end of it, they were warming to us - singing along and cheering etc despite some technical difficulties with the new equipment which packed up early on in the set.

During the break, Dan reverted the set-up back to the good old peavey amp - we might be overloading it but hey - tha'ts how we roll baby!

By the time the second set had started, you could hardly move in the place and they were definately on side. No song went without applause - the reaction from this audience was phenomenal and the guys lived for the moment. We had people joining in, dancing, cheering, all you would expect at a live performance and when we had finished, they screamed for more!

Time was against us as we went on a bit late for the second set but we agreed to do all three encores to top the night off. "Baggy Trousers" to start followed by "Born To Be Wild" and then our alltime favourite "Vertigo". The first verse went well and partway through the second there was a "pop" and everything went dead. What a way to finish! Last song and we blew the electrics in the pub - Now that's Rock 'n' Roll !!! Quite a few people were shouting at the landlord, assuming he had switched us off but this wasn't the case. A quick check that everything electrical was now off line comfirmed we blew it - yeah!

It took quite a while to break the gear down and re-load the van this time round as there were so many people wanting to talk to us - congratulating us on a good performance and general chit chat. The Landlord came straight over and shook our hands determined to get another date out of us there and then and the feedback from the guys from Papparrazzi was superb. We were expecting a little critism but they had nothing but praise for us and we thank them for their support and kind comments. That's great showmanship and no doubt we will go and support them sometime!

We'd like to say this was probably the best gig so far, and whilst you are probably bored with hearing this on every blog, it just goes to prove that we are obviously getting better - this comes from the feedback we are getting from the people who watch us and they, at the end of the day are the people that count.

WE SHALL RETURN