Photos – Page 16 – Ferocious Blog

Newbury revisited..

Aye aye, Capt’n Burns!

Whilst obviously disappointed at missing out on what sounded like an amazing night at Exeter (actually we only partially missed out, Laura was thoughtful enough to video call Ella during the gig so whilst the audio stream was pretty bad we had fun watching the moshpit and the band for three or four songs, including getting the chance to wave to Ken, John and Ellis and watch Dean surfing!), there was a high degree of consolation in making a return visit down to the Arlington Arts Centre just outside Newbury.

On Friday night, clearly sympathetic to my dilemma, Addie had invited Ella and I to go with him, Jane and Tommy to West Midlands Safari Park on Saturday too. Sod it, we thought – it’s practically on the way to Newbury from here so why not make a full day of it – we also considered the logistics in heading into Newbury itself after the gig to catch the end of Gaz Brookfield‘s set in The Monument. That would prove a step too far in a very long day, so sorry Gaz, the minds were willing but our bodies weren’t!

So a fun day was spent of accidental crocodiles, sea lion shows, feeding lorikeets and goats and other general animal fun – followed by the M42-in-rush-hour simulator that is the drive through safari experience. With the added danger of the fuel light coming on part way round, we were genuinely worried we might have to survive for days on a sachet of mayonnaise and some deer food the traffic was so bad – that said, we did see some wild dogs, lions, cheetahs, rhinos and assorted deer-like things before we took advantage of a shortcut to escape.

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Freeborn Al / 10th April 2016 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Lee Bonsall, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

Happy birthday.. Woop and He-lennnn…

… alright, in my head the headline went with Levellers song Happy Birthday Revolution – but that might be a bit of a stretch (I think it’s a Rev Hammer song originally anyway!). Come to think of it, it fits the first line of Ruby Bridges too!

As usual I digress from the start. I love nights like tonight! A bit of a no-brainer thing to say really, I’ve been in a pub watching Gaz Brookfield – but when festival and gig friends have parties it’s ace, because you get to be part of the melting pot of all the different strands of their lives coming together. So it was that Jamie and Helen celebrated their respective birthdays – crossing the streams of family, friends from other areas of their lives and festival weirdos like me in the White Hart in Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

Being a work day – and being near enough directly on my way home from work – I drove up straight from the West Midlands with the thought of grabbing a bite to eat in the pub. The birthday duo were already present, ‘supervising’ Jon setting up the sound. Time for a natter: Helen works for a competitor of my work – but we didn’t bother talking shop, that’s not what nights like this are for! Soon enough Gaz arrived, followed shortly after by Teresa, Simon, Dave, Caroline, John, Angela and Joel – so loads of familiar faces along with the other lovely people heading into the pub.

It’s worth mentioning the pub – a surprisingly roomy heavily beamed drinking den with a stuffed bear in the cellar you could look at through glass. That’s right. A stuffed bear. There’s a picture over there if you don’t believe me. Apparently history would have it the landlord of the pub in days of yore once kept a live bear in his cellar, which come kicking out time he’d set upon reluctant drunks who wouldn’t vacate the premises!

And here’s me getting a bit uppity when you get a surly bouncer asking you to leave a gig venue because they are keen to open a crappy club night!

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Freeborn Al / 8th April 2016 / Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

Finally..

.. the title of the album by Paddy Stratton and Friends, and an apt one for this blog piece too. I’ve been sat on the CD for a good few weeks now and finally had a chance to have a good listen. When Simon sent the CD through his name rang a bell, but it wasn’t until reading through the accompanying press release that I realised I’d probably spotted his name in writing credits on Levellers CDs down the years – he co-wrote Believers and contributed All Your Dreams, Sea of Pain and American Airdo to their musical canon.

Getting CDs to listen to and write about still spins me out a bit – I love music, but I’m not musical in any way – but I guess that’s true of a reasonable number if not most music fans out there. I got the disc just before jetting off on holiday and had a cursory listen and worried it would be one of those occasions that I get something that I don’t get on with, but mentally filed to have a proper go when I got back. Of course once I was back I’d forgotten until I got a gentle reminder (thanks Simon!) so in between a resurgently busy time of gigging and festivals I’ve now had a chance to get to know it.

My first impressions (pre-holiday) were that whilst I could appreciate the craft of songwriting and quality of the production it was a bit too far down the country and western spectrum for me – however on reappraising I was a bit hasty. No, very hasty indeed. It was released back in November 2015 and Paul Fitzgerald shares the writing credit with Paddy – despite enjoying the songs he wrote for the Levellers for many years, he’s never made it onto my radar until now, more’s the pity.

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Freeborn Al / 4th April 2016 / Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

Re-living Rock City..

I’m probably late to the party for anyone who reads this blog – but whilst Rockstock and Rolling out the Festival Barrel was a perfectly justifiable excuse for missing trips to Buckley and Burnley at the weekend with Ferocious Dog, waiting for me when I got home was what might prove to be my salvation when financial and logistics make a trip to Exeter and Newbury highly unlikely next weekend. Yes, the hotly anticipated live CD and DVD from November’s sell out gig at Rock City in Nottingham!

Having got back from Willington Ella and I spent a chilled afternoon airing the tent in the garden listening to the CD – the sound quality is great! Remembering poor croaky Ken just a week before the gig in the rehearsal studio, it’s pretty amazing really. After that the doctor ordered him to cancel the gigs in Stroud and Cardiff right before Rock City – the transformation that rest and recuperation yielded is incredible. Not so much as a lyrical slip either!

If you’re a ‘full contact’ Ferocious Dog spectator frankly quite often nuances either visual or aural can easily be missed in the blur – and on Rock City day, okay – the Hell Hound AGM – it had been a long day! Coupled with a raft of awesome music before the main event, plenty of drink and food (and Ella and I were both feeling ill) – my memories of the night itself are a bit blurry, the amazing atmosphere, getting my surfboard nicked (ha!), being pinballed round the moshpit – but above everything else an amazing homecoming and moment of history, watching them take to that famous stage and frankly own it for an hour and a half.

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Freeborn Al / 4th April 2016 / Band, Hell Hounds, Lee Bonsall, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

Rolling out the festival barrel in style.. (part two)..

A combination of factors had made for a bad night’s sleep – a small degree of being drunk (not too much though), an airbed that deflated itself at an alarming rate, persistent rain and the presumably associated crackling and buzzing from the overhead powerlines. Eventually I deigned to emerge from the tent to find the guy rope from the front had been ripped away from the tent – I’d assumed by a passing early hours reveller in the dark, it’s happened before (and I’ve got the kit to fix it, so no big deal).

First call was one of nature so wandered toward the building – in time to find Steve, Matt and Dave packing up their gear. Then some less good news, it turned out there’d been some opportunist thefts in the night – a couple of vans had had cash and phones taken – whilst folk were asleep in them. This is distressing and unfortunately not unheard of in festivals. I believe that it wasn’t anybody on the site already, but we’ll probably never know. It made me wonder about our torn guy rope and the tent being partially unzipped, but who knows.

It’s a learning for future events – to double-check the security of access to the site from outside, and perhaps have a couple of security guys patrolling in the evening and early hours. And of course, a reminder to all of us to be vigilant with valuables – keep them on your person or locked away in vans (or cars if you’re tenting it), and be a bit paranoid even once you’re in and asleep. I pondered not mentioning this at all, but it’s something to be aware of – but absolutely shouldn’t put people off attending events, poor Debs and Phil were understandably distraught as were all the festival team (not least the folks who’d had things taken too).

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Freeborn Al / 4th April 2016 / Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos

Rolling out the festival barrel in style.. (part one)..

Glancing through my notes this might be better off broken up into two parts – although since it makes sense to write it by day part one will be a nice introduction to the longer part two.

I’d been looking forward to the festival season getting under way – maybe that explains a loss of concentration resulting in me getting into a car accident (and hence the car off the road) on Thursday morning, already more than one eye on the weekend? Friday was spent trying to get a courtesy car sorted in between finishing up the working week (mercifully I am able to work from home pretty easily – which is lucky really, with the office 40+ miles away and me without wheels!). Fortunately the garage called in the afternoon and had sorted out a car for me to use whilst mine gets itself mended.

And so it was we were able to chuck everything in the back and head on over to Willington and get the tent pitched – I’m not a fan of tents, hopefully this is the last time we have to sleep in one! We located a spot that looked flat and not too prone to bogginess should it rain and got camp set up, catching up with folk already there – before heading over to check out the venue. As Ella was recording all the ‘Up Close and Personal’ gigs in the Purrple People Eater we went to check that out, always a risky prospect, but great to have a natter with everyone over some worryingly early shots.

It’s worth noting the transformation the fairly industrial site undergoes – a couple of teepees, a purple bus and the stalls outside bedecked with colourful throws, charming hand-painted signs and the like really brings the place to life. The alluring cheese bar was set up outside too sadly not yet open for business, more on that later! Folks were arriving all the time so that the sparsely populated camp site was filling up nicely, Dave, Caroline, Brian, Karen, Joe and Naomi all parking up near us (and Murphy the Festival Dog of course!) making for some ace neighbours.

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Freeborn Al / 3rd April 2016 / Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos

A bit of bothering on a Sunday..

With work on a Monday morning and travelling logistics to sort out on Sundays it renders Star Bothering on Sunday something I’ve not had the chance to do before. A bank holiday and evening plans with friends in the area made it a distinct possibility this weekend just gone. Albeit one we had to cut a bit short – missing the final act entirely (doubly gutting, as my friend Lynn plays flute and pennywhistle for Last Word Dogs – another time, Bart tells me they were great).

We arrived in sunny Warsop in time for a sneaky visit to the chip shop before making our way into the venue – the remnants of Mac-Stock evident from camper vans still in the car park and a pretty full room. Star Bothering nights happen in the front room, we grabbed ourselves a drink and a seat and watched Dave and Bart grappling with the not inconsiderable amount of electrical stuff Last Word Dogs had with them. In the meantime it was nice to just have a relaxing drink and natter with assorted folks.

Star Botherers were up first, already somewhat later than initially planned. As it was Easter Sunday they introduced themselves as offering up a religious themed set – which comprised a quick run through Just Around the Corner, the song that I’ve yet to divine the title of that’s about ringing in sick at work and finally One Inch Death Punch. Certainly it got the feet tapping around the room – and it was a very full room! We were cautiously keeping an eye on the time.

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Freeborn Al / 29th March 2016 / Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos, Thoughts / 0 Comments

If we fight the good fight then they’re gonna have to fall..

I am terribly sorry but I’ve kinda got to start what will probably prove a lengthy blog post with a bit of self-indulgent navel-gazing and context-setting.

I’ve always thought of myself as a bit politically hamstrung. The only family member of my childhood who would avidly and feverishly impart political discourse to me was my Grandfather who was a rampant conservative who idolised Margaret Thatcher – I quickly learned to disengage from that topic of conversation over the years. Whilst my school years were against a backdrop of strikes by the miners which I mixed up in my head with teachers strikes at the same time, really all I thought was it was good to get a day off from the classrooms.

There were no miners in the family, I was too young to understand the implications of what was occurring – I vaguely recall some of my Dad’s siblings being angry about the Poll Tax, and noting the disparity in how The MIrror my Dad bought talked about political issues of the day compared to the headlines that featured in The Sun which was the staple reading of my childminders house – possibly because of the allure of Samantha Fox as much as any particular political affiliation.

So it’s maybe understandable why as I reflect that I’ve been somewhat politically remiss since writing Ferocious Blog for the last year. Of course, politics are inherent in the bands output, and the world that has opened up to me through following them. I was first politicised at university really – my politics lecturer was an inspirational and cynical Marxist, and just as he revealed a world of corruption and what initially felt like conspiracy theories about ‘the state’ was the time that Tony Blair changed the course of the Labour Party into centrist Conservative Light politics.

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Freeborn Al / 25th March 2016 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Lee Bonsall, Music, Other Bands, Photos, Politics, Thoughts

Alice? Who the Wolf is Alice?

Often my gig-going is centred around the very familiar, it made a nice change tonight to go to a gig almost entirely blind. I’d booked a ticket to see Wolf Alice at Rock City back in October at my brother’s suggestion – and entirely forgotten about it until I glanced at my calendar on Tuesday evening after work. A text to my brother enquired as to whether he’d got the tickets, he replied saying he didn’t think I was coming – a search of my emails revealed an e-ticket. Two e-tickets in fact. Oops!

With Ella down south Rich was able to get my ticket re-homed with Simon, a friend of Ed’s who was also coming to the gig. Perhaps just as excitingly, we decided to pop to Annie’s Burger Shack before the gig – I opted for the current special on offer, the Cannonball – it was delicious. I love Annie’s. Annie came to the UK pursuing music, but found fame for her imaginative music-themed burgers, initially served in The Old Angel, then The Navigation Inn and finally in her own extremely popular restaurant – a real characterful success story.

After eating we waddled up to Rock City deciding to find a spot on the sidelines rather than in the mosh pit – it was pretty much a sell-out, quite a feat on a Wednesday night. We found a good spot on the elevated area to the left of the stage and decided not to move from there for the evening – it seemed a bit strange to be on the sidelines at a gig but I wasn’t keen on the idea of being smashed around the very lively (even for the support acts) mosh pit whilst quite so full of burger!

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Freeborn Al / 24th March 2016 / Band, Gigs, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

Aber-done!

Forgive the delay, but waking with a fuzzy head then a 433 mile drive home left me not exactly feeling like firing up the laptop during the evening before recommencing a working-week! The trip to Aberdeen of course started in Glasgow, I awoke fuzzy-headed with a vague memory of getting back to the hotel – although a walk outside and to the car sorted me out. T’was pleasant enough out, but the air was certainly fresh enough to blast away the cobwebs of the night before.

We hit the road and headed out to Aberdeen – again once out of the built up area appreciating the lovely scenery on offer, and the scores of stately crows and ravens by the roadsides. We did fall foul of the temptation to follow a brown sign promising a scenic route, which promptly stopped being signposted and with limited signal to get the sat nav to help us having been ignoring her for a good few miles, but never mind! It was a pretty drive, and we made decent time to the granite city, eventually finding our hotel.

We’d had a bit of a side mission – we’d got a bit of a battery shortage issue for our electronic cigarettes, and neglected to pack the charger. Despite trips to Maplins and even a Vape Scotland shop (outside which a young lad seemed delighted to shout ‘mohawk!’ repeatedly at me at a traffic crossing) we utterly failed at resolving this, so started rationing our supply of electricity quite severely. A lesson for the future – pack the battery charger, or get more batteries!

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Freeborn Al / 21st March 2016 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Lee Bonsall, Music, Photos / 0 Comments