Hell Hounds – Page 12 – Ferocious Blog

TV personalities..

Hopefully most of you got to see Notts TV’s hour long Ferocious Dog special which aired last night at 10pm. Those of you that missed the opportunity through geographical constraints or not having Sky will get the chance to catch up online once their systems update (it doesn’t appear to be quite so quick as more established channels at catching up!), but I thought that it was a superb introduction to what Ferocious Dog are all about from presenter Mark Del.

The programme centred around the climax of the tour – the sell out gig at Rock City, the first ever unsigned act to do so. My only pedantic quibble was the repeated claim of them being the first local unsigned act to do it – they are the first act, full stop, in 35 years of the venue to sell it out without the backing of a label. Whilst it is of course nice they’re local, it’s not relevant to the feat at all.

A mixture of interviews from before the gig – constant references to the fans (well, okay, family) – when Anton from Rock City was interviewed before the gig he made some astute references to the relationship between hell hounds and the band being akin to that he’d seen before with the Levellers and New Model Army, and not from other bands since then. He was also pretty on board with the idea of pushing for more national coverage for the band too – good news!

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Freeborn Al / 2nd January 2016 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Interview, Lee Bonsall, Music, Photos / 0 Comments

2015 – The year of the Dog..

Okay, so Ferocious Dog have been around a little longer – but this last year has felt rather like a landmark. And not just because back in February it’s when Ferocious Blog was born, ha! The lead up to a new year is traditionally a time for reflecting back on the year just gone and looking forward to the next one, so I figured it’d be nice to trawl back through the months and pull out a highlight or two for each month of 2015, it will be tough to pick just one or two so feel free to chip in your own in the comments – despite my best efforts I didn’t quite make it to every Ferocious Dog gig in the year!

January 2015 – a light month, Ferocious Blog was yet to be created (although it had been an idea kicking around in my head for at least a couple of years). Checking my calendar and personal blog doesn’t reveal much at all in the way of Ferocious Dog activity – we’d have been still basking in the warm glow of Dogfest back in December – I latterly discovered that a 3 Piece Acoustic performance took place in honour of Ella’s 21st birthday in this month, but alas I didn’t know Snotty at this juncture!

February 2015 – the blog is born after an acoustic appearance by Ken and Dan at the Brown Cow in Mansfield. Seldom has one of Sam’s nights had such a huge crowd packed in. The demand for the event was the perfect excuse to arrive early and chat nonsense with friends for the afternoon. An afternoon of drinking had taken its toll on Dean who for the first time decreed I needed to get up and surf in his place – a great way to start what became a year of extreme ‘dogging’. These smaller intimate gigs are as enjoyable for me as the bigger and bolder shows that are to follow. We were first introduced to Scott at this appearance too.

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Freeborn Al / 30th December 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos, Thoughts

East(wood) bound and down..

My yearly stats tell me this is my hundredth post on Ferocious Blog which of course was born back in March this year – so not a bad rate of updating. It was to Eastwood that Ella and I headed for our last gig of what’s been a very busy year to see Brad Dear supported by Kate Auburn, Joseph Knight and until childcare issues put a spanner in the works a certain Ken Bonsall. Whilst of course it’s always nice to see Ken perform, it didn’t take away from a cracking evening’s music.

Chris organises Roots Acoustic Evenings every tuesday up at the Wellington Inn in Eastwood – normally tuesdays don’t normally work well for me, but in the limbo period between Christmas and New Year gave me the chance to get up there for what turned out to be a splendid gathering of friends to enjoy the musical fayre on offer. With work in the morning I was driving and found a parking space right outside the pub which is always a bonus!

First up was Kate Auburn, she took to the stage with her guitar and launched into Jolene which was a nice way to get the crowd warmed up with something familiar. The bulk of her set was made up of original songs though – lots of delicate guitar picking overlaid with a great voice – she’s already confirmed for Ey Up Mi Duck festival so I’m looking forward to seeing her perform again. Let Me Go, Morning Light and Me and You were stand out tracks then the set was finished up with a cover of Girl from the North Country by Bob Dylan.

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Freeborn Al / 30th December 2015 / Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

It’s all about Drew..

There’s a common phrase that behind every great man there’s a great woman – of course, ignoring the simplistic assumptions around sexuality and dated notions around gender-equality it’s a nice sentiment. The reason it sprang to mind when finally getting around to write about Drew’s 50th birthday bash which happened last weekend is that he and Adele kinda turn that on its head. Whilst Nana is the public face of the kitchen that bears her name, Drew is the ever-dependable dude there too.

Anyway, I digress. For months Adele had been plotting a surprise party for Drew to be hosted at the Black Market Venue in Warsop. Why I’ve felt compelled to write about a private party on here is that every person in the room bar one, indeed, the room itself, were only known to me either directly or indirectly because of Ferocious Dog. Folk met at gigs or festivals all of which I attended because of the spark the band provided and ignited me into a sometimes non-stop gig and festival going machine.

We had arrived in Warsop early – I’d picked up Ella and Dave from Loughborough station and after a tea stop at home we headed straight up there via grabbing Andy in Clifton. So there was time aplenty for chat with the other attendees before we were ushered into the main hall at the back. It’s been lovingly redecorated since I last went and we were soon all clustered behind the curtain in front of the main stage. Drew was ostensibly just being taken for a drink in the bar area with a few local folk ahead of a trip to Nottingham the next day to see The Bar-Steward Sons of Val Doonican.

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Freeborn Al / 22nd December 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

The not so Jingle Bell Ball..

Just how do you follow up a sell-out show these days? Well, two consecutive sell-out shows in Kenny’s case, well – Ken and Dan gave up their time for free to support a charity event set up by Georgi and Heather from Chesterfield College. They were raising money and awareness for FairPlay, who support children and young adults with disabilities or other needs across the North Derbyshire area, as part of their Health and Social Care studies. So far their fundraising total is over £900 – which is awesome, huge well done!

I didn’t think I was going to be able to make it to the event at Chesterfield’s Proact Stadium but as work took me to Leeds on the day it seemed like providence as that made the gig pretty much on the way home. So upon leaving our office just north of Leeds into the mysterious and misty weather it turned out the M1 was a bit of a nightmare – my sat nav came up trumps and diverted me round the back of Meadowhall and through a labyrinthine route around the backstreets of Rotherham and Sheffield to eventually spit me out on the road to Chesterfield past Dronfield.

Now as a proud Stag being asked to play at the home of the Spireites is a big ask for Ken. It’s a new ground so it’s very shiny – and The Spires restaurant is a cracking venue, it was going to be a bit odd being at a Ferocious Dog gig – albeit a two-piece one – and sat in dinner party table arrangements! Whilst Ken and Dan were sound checking I settled on a table with Karen, Bev, Emma, Jamie and Dylan – it was good to have a natter, and coo over Lacey-Lee a bit who was with Leanne and family on the next table.

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Freeborn Al / 16th December 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

True, Fast and (mostly) balanced..

Nights like last night are the kind of occasions that you simply won’t forget – to coin a phrase from one of the acts in question, I can’t stand the thought of lying on my death bed with regrets, but I’m pretty sure this evening’s fun and games will be one that I relive when that time comes. Okay, a bit morbid, sorry. For a mere £8 something Andrea had bagged not just Funke and the Two Tone Baby and Gaz Brookfield, but Maelor Hughes and Ken Bonsall in a Ferocious Dog one-piece guise too.

Any one of those acts in my admittedly slightly biased opinion are worth that fee – throw in a bonus song from Brian Stone, the awesome Rock and Blues venue in Barnsley and friends too numerous to count in attendance and I don’t think I’m exaggerating at all to say it’s one of my favourite gigs of this year. Ella and I headed up to Barnsley from Loughborough and had treated ourselves to an inexpensive Premier Inn room a ten minute stagger down the road, and were soon battling through the wind to get there.

Upon getting into the venue and wrist banded up it was already pretty full of familiar faces, we had plenty of time for mingling and getting a few drinks down us before the doors to the venue proper were opened. Maelor was up first with a slightly poorly throat – it didn’t take away from a top opening set though, Morning Sun was the second song in, by the time he’d moved into Better Day the crowd were already shouting the ‘Oi Oi’ bits without him asking them to, he treated us to Won’t Fight Your War before offering us the bonus of a guest appearance.

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Freeborn Al / 12th December 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos, Videos / 0 Comments

Levelling the Dome..

Of course being in dire need of a rest from a fairly relentless few months of going to gigs, what better way to wind down from the crescendo of last weekend than going to see the Levellers on their Beautiful Nights mini-tour last week? Ha. After finishing up work Ella and I hotfooted it up to Doncaster to check in to the slightly sinister Campanile Hotel which is right next to the venue, and looks a bit like an American motel with the rooms in a block on two levels separate from the reception and bar area.

As well as us numerous friends were also staying there – Dave, Caroline, Dave, Nadine, Naomi, Kev and Magz. Dave and Caroline were already there, and once we’d got ourselves sorted the first order of duty was to head round to nearby Brewers Fayre for some drinks, socialising and food. Eventually everyone had arrived including Becky, Pete, Rachel so we headed on over to the venue shortly after it had opened – and well, frankly it was a riot of people we knew which was great.

The Doncaster Dome is an interesting venue, a multi-functional space you’re assaulted immediately with a chlorine smell from the swimming pool, enticed tantalisingly by a children’s play area as you head to the dome itself and descend to the floor level which housed a bar and the merchandise stall. I resisted a splurge and instead just nattered to the countless friends assembling – the sound insulation was pretty good too as by the time I’d thought to check the time I’d managed to miss Ruts DC which was a bit annoying – I’ve seen highly appreciative comments on Facebook about their set.

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Freeborn Al / 5th December 2015 / Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

Sell outs..

.. in the best possible sense, of course – it took until the day but Ferocious Dog were indeed successful in capping off the tour by selling out home town (ish) venue Rock City in advance – the first unsigned act to do so in the 35 year history of the venue. 28th November 2015 is a day that history was made. For me it felt like a real watershed moment for a band I’ve had the pleasure of following for the last few years.

I spent the evening before making my hair look a bit more silly than normal. It turns out I should’ve probably checked in with Spike and Chris who would end up with the same coloured hair as me for the evening, but never mind, eh? I’ll probably regret it more when it starts to fade out to pink! I even managed to get it spiked into a pretty good mohawk without the assistance I often get from Ella!

Come Saturday morning unusually the postman turned up before midday bringing me Gaz Brookfield‘s new acoustic album to provide the soundtrack to my fairly short drive into Nottingham. More on this at another time, though! I got parked up near Rock City and found Cerebus being unloaded, so time for a few greetings with the band and crew who were all looking suitably excited about what was to come. Simon and Ella arrived which meant for us it was time to head for food.

Dave and Bettina had done a great job in organising the whole of the downstairs of Annie’s Burger Shack to be reserved for a group of fifty or so of us to be fed a fine array of burger goodness in a buffet style. Very filling it was too, handy stomach lining for what was to follow and a chance to have a nice leisurely chat with a section of the wonderful folk we’d be coming into contact with over the course of the day!

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Freeborn Al / 29th November 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Lee Bonsall, Music, Other Bands, Photos, Thoughts

A Grand day out..

A relatively early night and a lateish check-out time saw us exit Manchester around lunchtime for a frankly stunning drive through the wilds of Lancashire up to Clitheroe – I wish I’d taken some photos really, but I didn’t. I’ve never ventured beyond the urban areas of the red rose county before – it really is quite pretty, suddenly I don’t think Maelor Hughes is telling fibs when he extolls its virtues in Milltown Boy!

I must admit I didn’t know much about Clitheroe aside from it being up a bit from Manchester – so it was lovely to discover a scenic town. The hotel was duly located, but without parking – so we eventually found somewhere to dump the car over night and got our stuff up to the hotel. The Swan and Royal is a cracking traditional pub and our room was decent – it even had an extra bed, which would come in handy later…

We had something to eat downstairs (delicious it were too) before heading upstairs for a nap in my case (and accompanying inevitable photo on Facebook) before getting ourselves sorted and downstairs to join Matt and Mick for drinks. In the meantime John called as he and Les had decided to stay over rather than travel on the night, the hotel only had one single room going spare – so after a quick conference we booked it and donated our spare bed to one of ’em. Job’s a good ‘un.

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Freeborn Al / 23rd November 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

Songs for the deaf..

It was a leisurely drive up to Manchester from Telford with no real incident, news of the extent of Gaz’s throat infection filtered through from Facebook so we were feeling a bit glum – and set about researching a bit about Sammy Battle, drafted in to replace him as the support act. It looked promising, so whilst of course we were both gutted to be missing out on some Gaz action, it’s always good to get a chance to take in a new act too.

Checking in at Ibis in Manchester there was a suspicious package waiting for me at reception – highly dubious it turned out to be from the good folk at Laterooms – I hadn’t used Laterooms since the debacle at Stamford earlier in the year, so I guess this is their way of dealing with customer complaints – and well, I quite like it! Clearly they’d had a look at my Twitter bio and picked a few presents compliant with that. Really nice customer service!

Kind of wish I’d complained via my @FerociousBlog account rather than my personal one now to see what kind of gifts that would’ve inspired! In the hotel we caught up on snoozing, as well as exciting news from The Leylines who’ve launched a crowd funding campaign to pay for their new album next year – take a look at the campaign and see if any of the rewards tickle your fancy. I’m a big fan of these ways of raising capital without resorting to begging for record labels.

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Freeborn Al / 23rd November 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos, Videos / 0 Comments