levellers – Ferocious Blog

Can you hear the bells?

I’ve been procrastinating writing this for ages, maybe it was seeing Paul over the weekend that reminded me, as well as one of those meetings being at Warren’s album launch last night adding another essential thing to muse upon being added to my queue of things to ponder about on here!

So, long overdue – musings on the new(ish) album from Shanks’ Pony, evocatively titled Whispers of Arcane and bedecked with beautiful artwork by Kezia Parsons perfectly incapsulating the contemporary folk whimsy the CD enclosed promises. It’s hard to believe it was way back in 2017 we were treated to the debut album A Song For Everyone, which has remained in regular rotation on my playlist!

The band of course have evolved since then, Pete has arrived to beef up the sound with bass, and Rob has picked up fiddle duties from Helen – so whilst undoubtedly there’s a more fulsome soundscape here, they’ve lost none of their inherent charm and earnest storytelling. What was it that the BBC were set up to do? Inform, Educate and Entertain – maybe they should be taking a leaf out of the Shanks’ Pony playbook these days!

The Bells of St Martin opens, lonely strings before the bass and percussion kick in we’re transported to Dunwich, Britain’s answer to Atlantis, a town lost to sea in medieval times. There’s local legend that the bells of St. Martin’s can still be heard which provides the hook to the song. Despite the sombre topic, it’s an upbeat song and a perfect album opener to set the tone, fading out to haunting bells chiming and sounds of the sea.

Mickey’s Bag of Tricks is probably my favourite – it’s wonderfully sleazy sounding, ponderous in rhythm and perfect in tone to evoke a bar full of folk of ill-repute, ne’erdowells who probably aren’t all that bad – the chorus lifts to another level, as does the soaring fiddle instrumentation whilst the dirty dirgy guitar, bass and cajon keep the song grounded and gritty. I wondered how this slight departure from what I’m used to would translate live, I’m happy to say it does so perfectly!

One Way Ticket feels more familiar territory, and in a very good way (I should clarify, I bloody love the diversions into new songs too!) – co-written with long time collaborator Amy Hill, it’s a charming folksy song lifted by lovely backing vocals to compliment the catchy melodies and sing-along-able choruses. Another than translates excellently to a live setting (which is kinda the point of recording songs, isn’t it, it seems like a silly thing to point out – but it’s not always something that works!).

Downtown starts with a gut punch of guitar, bass and cajon – I did as Paul if he’d used different guitars, maybe a 12 string but apparently not – but it might be one of those where he’s tuned down the low E. Thematically a sequel or continuation of High Street Sell Out from the first album – much grittier and harder hitting, with Rob finding the perfect spaces to overlay a pretty melody to lift the mood. Maybe it’s just me that gets drawn to Petunia Clark’s more optimistic song of the same name during the chorus! This one was, according to the album notes, inspired by a poem by Nick Foulds.

Park Bench Pete brings the pace and mood down, a heartfelt lament to person down on their luck – a casualty of the dreadful state of the nation. Anyone involved in our music scene would draw obvious comparisons at least in theme with Slow Motion Suicide by Ferocious Dog, but this slow paced song with plaintive and emotional fiddle throughout doesn’t reach that gig finishing climax, it remains appropriately sombre. I don’t like the term ‘album track’ – but short of full-length gigs I don’t imagine it will get many airings at festival slots. For someone like me that loves a maudlin song, that’s not always a good thing!

Self Taught is a bouncing pile of festival fun, cheerful mandolin kicks things off – you’d do well to singalong to the very wordy verses, but then you’re rewarded with a spectacularly catchy chorus you can join in with! Irresistible to have a dance to, with lovely bass climbs and fiddle melodies all underpinned with Bob’s relentless rhythm and those mandolin sections picked through it. I love it!

Rise for Revolution is darker – launching energetically will full band, the soaring fiddle taking centre stage, before it slows and quietens for the vocals, then back to intense instrumentation, then quiet then a rousing chorus. The revolution of Pentrich is the topic – which again we’ve heard documented before, this has a different slant – delving into the motivations and underlying causes. This is such a multi-textured track in terms of tone and pace. I notice something different each time I listen, which I love!

Rotherham’s Lament / Lanigan’s Ball takes us to the immediately preceding time period – Napoleonic wars and joining up to fight, as was the want of the working classes at the time, the ‘making of a man’ – it’s emotive, it’s sad – but still tunefully uplifting as you’d expect before leaping into a traditional jig which fits beautifully to the end of the song, and would definitely be difficult to resist a good stomp to!

The Green Children of Wolfpit starts with more moody drop-D guitar, I love it. It puts me in mind of 3 Daft Monkeys and Levellers, which is a high compliment indeed! It starts out ponderous and atmospheric, then a third of the way in builds in relentless instrumental intensity before dropping back to continue a frankly fascinating backstory of two children who appeared in the Suffolk village Woolpit with pale green skin, a brother and sister who spoke an unknown language and only ate green beans! Maybe it’s the ‘and they danced’ refrain that reminds me of 3 Daft Monkeys but I bloody love songs with stories attached to them. Excuse me whilst I disappear down a Wikipedia wormhole!

Special Brew ’22 is a reboot of a Shanks’ classic, so will be familiar but more fulsome territory for anyone who’s ever seen them or heard them before. A mash-up of a cautionary or celebratory tale depending on your point of view, documenting many of the pitfalls of over-indulging in festivals. A firm favourite during their live sets for many years now, although the last few times I’ve seen them the cans of the infamous brew are no longer there for folk to claim as their past festival crimes are revealed in the lyrics – so maybe as time has worn on it’s more of a cautionary tale!

Which brings us to Raise a Glass, I can remember Paul posting an early version of this possibly even during lockdown. It’s an emotional and lovely tribute to the legend that is David Bowie. It’s poignant and uplifting, riddled with references to lyrics and songs from Bowie’s back catalogue – personally I’d have liked some more Labyrinth references but perhaps that betrays my own niche interests. A fabulous way to sign off this collection of songs.

I don’t think that you’ll find the album on streaming platforms (but do have a look and prove me wrong in case!), but get in touch with them to get a copy via their Facebook page – and you shan’t be disappointed!

Freeborn Al / 18th November 2024 / Music, Other Bands, Photos

Kleptocracy

Well, since I found the password to the blog it seems rude not to mark the auspicious occasion of a new album from the band that kickstarted this whole venture, doesn’t it? I’ve had a few previous tracks for a while but thought it worth waiting ’til release before committing type to box.

It feels like this album’s been a long time coming, it arrived on streaming platforms yesterday and the postman brought me my pre-order this morning – idiot me bought two black LPs rather than a red and a black one. D’oh! My chimpish oversight gladdened slightly by the inclusion of THREE signed postcards.

In digital or CD format there’s a smorgasbord of sixteen tracks, stripped back to ten for the vinyl format. The latest generation of Ferocious Dog feels more at home with the rabble-rouser anthems than some of the more poetic elements thrown into the mix of previous albums. With the political landscape as it is, and political luminaries like Ben Bradley and Lee Anderson looming large in their area of the country it’s perhaps not a surprise there’s a more overt protest feel for this collection of songs.

Launching into Witch Hunt sets the tone quite nicely, fast folk punk issues an immediate call to the mosh put with a chugging beat and bass overlaid with intricate instrumentals and rasping vocals from Ken. We’ve already heard SUS Laws as it was released – it grabbed me straight away because of the stunning fiddle arrangement – which I realised I’d heard before, Jamie has repurposed the strings from Montagu’s Harrier from his past life with The Silk Road – it’s a beautiful composition and fits well into a full song rather than a pure instrumental.

Ferocious Dog – SUS Laws

Title track Kleptocracy has more than a whiff of Levellers about the instrumentation (which is certainly no bad thing!) before Ken’s distinctive vocals kick in to make it unmistakably Ferocious Dog albeit with some nice electric guitar licks giving it a rocky undertone. I wondered if Iron Mike Malloy might be the traditional cover FD usually throw in to their albums – I’m not sure it is though, it’s a tub-thumping tale of a real character – an Irishman living in New York with a fascinating back story, worth reading up on. There’s shades of Pogues about the sound here, which is deeply appropriate!

What kind of albums would this be without a song about rebellion, Merthyr Rising provides this – whistles and percussion with bouncing lyrics give an almost medieval feel before the song kicks in to a full on dervish. We do get some respite from the energy that maybe the influx of youth into the band of late has brought, A Place We Called Home is a charming duet ballad talking of love through the hardest of times, with a stunning contribution from Lizzey Ross providing the other half of the story. A real highlight for me, but then I always crave a bit of melancholy. This is lovely.

Ferocious Dog – A Place We Call Home

Blood Soaked Shores brings us back into protest mode – acoustic guitar and vocals start before the band joins in to another mosh pit stomper. Darker Side of Town sees Kyle take the vocals and judging by the electric guitar lead probably the songwriting too – as a huge fan of Pocket of Madness and his work with The Outlines, this is a very welcome addition! It brings a different dynamic to the album which I really like. Matty Groves is the traditional cover inclusion – probably best known from Fairport Convention‘s version – this is predictably on steroids and a few grammes of something probably more illicit!

Running with the Hounds is almost a reprise of Hell Hounds that of course fans of Ferocious Dog took their nickname – starting slow with guitar and light percussion, then lighter fiddle-driven instrumentation to give a little respite from the pace and heaviness – I really like this little break, we get a little build in intensity towards the end of course, but just in depth of tone rather than pace, then a faster instrumental reel built from the track melody at the end.

We have another slow starter in Moby Dick, string melodies almost evoking images of Tetris and gull calls kick into a lively telling of Herman Melville’s famous novel. Unusually for FD there’s some ‘la la la’ type singalongs here, and that’s most definitely no bad thing! Anger on the Streets kicks in with heavy guitar and instrumentation and properly angry vocals – it’s quick and to the point, and evocative I’m sure of how many feel with the state of politics both home and abroad at the moment.

Brixton’s Burning is back to a folkier sound – albeit still with the anger, but soaring instrumentals and pauses. You get two choices for The Protest Singer, a bluesy harmonica-infused Americana version that would be great for a ho-down, or a slower paced folksy version – they both work really well! I like the Voltaire quote in there – “it’s dangerous to be right, when your government is wrong” – indeed! (Don’t think that makes me well-read, my main knowledge of Voltaire comes from watching Sharpe, haha!

Which leaves us with Tell God and the Devil, starting with some banjo before kicking in with drum, bass and soaring fiddle at pace with vocals describing the trials and tribulations of working in the mines, something I’m in awe of that people used to do – it’s hard to imagine that kind of endurance when you’re an office-softened numpty like me!

As I write the band will have just rocked out the 100 Club in London and will be preparing to unleash an all day event at Rock City in Nottingham – it’s sure to be a high energy show. I do hope Ken’s got his ‘I can’t talk lots’ sign ready as it promises to be hard work on his voice!

Freeborn Al / 18th May 2024 / Band, Music, Photos, Videos

We’re just Lost Folk..

Unusually for a Wednesday night I was unfeasibly excited on 21st November in 2012. Despite being full of cold and feeling rotten, I was off to Rock City to see the mighty Levellers, and by virtue of winning a charity auction I’d been handed a backstage pass to go and collect my swag directly from the band. My love of live music had been reignited by Ferocious Dog, and looking back made me once again more receptive to new music that I’d struggled to find in the mainstream.

Nestled under the righthand staircase (which has subsequently moved in a remodel of the venue) nursing a Diet Coke and sporting a ridiculous Movember moustache was where my enduring love affair with Gaz Brookfield began – and it was love at first sight. I couldn’t even tell you the set list he chose that night, I definitely remember The Ballad of Elizabeth Duke being in there, and either Thin or The West Country Song (or maybe both – I definitely remember a singalongy song).

Whilst awkwardly hanging around the dressing room door after the gig I mumbled something incoherent about how much I enjoyed his set to him as he was presumably gearing up to depart (as we now know, from Land Pirate’s Life, the promised lift on the tourbus went unutilised due to the rubbishness of our rail network) for the next leg of the tour in Leeds at the O2 Academy. I then captured a series of awkward selfies with the Levs – ridiculous moustache instantly regretted!

Citizen Fish followed Gaz and didn’t really do it for me, so I popped downstairs to the merchandise stand and availed myself of the CDs he had on offer – either Trial or Error or Tell it to the Beer, again, possibly both. Since then I’ve avidly consumed his prodigious output and taken in as many live shows as I can – aided not least by his hooking up with Ferocious Dog on their From Without tour.

That love blossomed for a solo acoustic guy, but his incisive lyrics and catchy songs don’t get lost when backed by a band and incrementally flashy production or extras as we step through the albums. I remember Gaz posting that he was ‘throwing everything’ into this recording – and here we’ve got loads of layers, there’s brass, piano, synthy sounding things and more guitar effects along with the more customary acoustic guitar, percussion and fiddle.

Whilst this might be an album for the Lost Folk, you can easily navigate your way through the complexity of layers – the songs cut through loud and clear. The depth and layers of instruments might be considered the mirrors and the smoke of this recording – to steal a line from the title track – but you certainly don’t get lost in it.

Like in his homage to Loudon Wainwright III, Gaz’s semi-autobiographical tendancy either through charting his musical career, personal life or topical musings without getting preachy is both brave and poignant, and I guess being in a very similar age bracket there’s a lot of resonance in those musings for me – perhaps not so much in the musical career musings – but ultimately as humans we’re all fragile with the same kind of life concerns.

Title track Lost Folk opens up the album at pace, I love the addition of brass and chugging bass with swirling keys in the background. Typically catchy lyrics – creating or maybe defining in a demographic grouping I’m sure lots can relate to. Not quite old, definitely not young, politically marginalised in an increasingly polarised world and not interested in the sanitised and saccharine mainstream musical offerings. I’ve been in a few fields full of those kinds of people. It’s more of an attitudinal grouping I suppsoe than a demographic one!

The promise of bigger and more ambitious is delivered without comproming the essence of Gaz’s music. IOU is an uplifting tribute of thanks, The Glorious Adventure Co. slows the pace but doesn’t dull the mood – a bit of googling suggests it’s charting a motorcycle based tour given Gaz’s love of his two-wheeled conveyance – imagery of getting lost for the sake of it is always appealing to me, I do that quite a lot albeit usually walking rather than on a motorbike. I’m far too clumsy for that!

Afterthought has swirling fiddle and brings the pace back up to a bounce – a supportive anthem of how we need to look after each other and it’s really important to not be afraid to talk about your problems. Sage advice – did you know in 2018 there were more than 6,000 suicides in the UK? Men are three times more likely to make up that statistic – and most likely to be in the 45-49 age bracket. Awareness of mental ill health is becoming less stigmatised – but there’s still a way to go, it’s a good subject to address.

We’ve heard Aged Revolt before – an anagram of a popular hotel chain who wouldn’t give Gaz and Jake permission to use their name for their collaborative album. It’s given a facelift here – Ben’s fiddle in particular is rather spectacular! Given the overall theme and feel of the album it does make a lot of sense to revisit it here, and it’s a banging tune he and Jake collaborated on.

Any excuse to use Ella’s awesome shot from Farmer Phil’s a few years back!

Whilst I’ve talked a lot about the layers and complexities – it’s nice to take a break in the middle of the album with just Gaz and his guitar for Pen to Paper – you might’ve seen him open recent shows with this songwriters block lament with two chords and no chorus (although as the lyrics suggest he does sneak some E minors in amongst the Gs and the Cs!).

Snakes and Ladders kickstarts us back into high energy territory with electric guitar, robot-trumping synthy noises and – once of those gently nearly-political ones that ultimately concludes we might just take life a bit too seriously. Oalaego has a swaying feel to it, with an almost country feel to it – I have a nagging feeling I’ve heard Gaz explain the backstory to this song but I’ll be damned if I can remember it – googling or anagram hunting hasn’t helped, I’m sure it’ll come to me!

Uneducated Guess has a much rockier feel musically and notably in vocal delivery – machine-gunned at you over chugging guitars. It works really well for me, unusually for Gaz might prove a tricky one to sing along to (the verses at least).

Another reprise from Aged Revolt is the charming Great Minds Drink Alike with Jake Martin, a bromance of a duet with a bit of a facelift – most notably the piano giving it a pub knees-up feel which is very fitting, with the crowd at the Beehive in Swindon providing backing vocals as the track builds (I was gutted I couldn’t make the logistics work to join in with this – I’m sure I can hear Jamie Westwood on there though!).

Which leaves the finish of Just Another Day, starting with just vocals and guitar and again picking up the themes of ageing but ultimately acceptance as bass, percussion and keyboard joins the mix. The preference of a local pub to a noisy club is something I’ve been able to relate to since my early twenties, so this is definitely up my street – the brass section starts to come into the mix as the track builds and ultimately is simply faded out to bring us to the end.

Another awesome album – and reflecting on looking at the array of talent involved, it brings be back to the start of the post on discovering new acts through old favourites. There’s the likes of Chris Webb, Jake Martin, Nick Parker involved who of course are all songwriters and performers in their own right who through osmosis I’ve subsequently discovered through following Gaz. Supporting the support is the gift that keeps on giving!

Now I really need to get my arse into gear and work out which of Gaz’s tour dates I can make!

Freeborn Al / 28th September 2019 / Music, Other Bands, Photos

Fake News and Propaganda..

The final artwork is still in progress so have a gig flyer instead!

I never ask to get sneaky peaks of recordings Ferocious Dog are working on – when people ask I truthfully say there’s an appeal to waiting for the big reveal when the CD arrives in the post.

Funnily enough the latest person to ask was Ken – Ella and I had popped to see him a few weeks ago for some tattoos – he was surprised, and once he’d navigated the labyrinthine band and crew WhatsApp group admittedly we did hear a few songs through a tinny phone speaker whilst he kept tabs on Mansfield Town surprisingly failing to beat local rivals Notts County.

Fast-forward a couple of weeks and a Facebook message pops up from Dan with a link to a Google Drive with ten mp3 files. The only accompanying explanation was ‘nearly mixed’ – no matter how much part of me might want to wait for the big reveal, it’s not like anyone is going to resist that opportunity, now is it? So of course I fired up the laptop and got downloading, eager as a kid on Christmas Eve to get stuck in.

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Freeborn Al / 3rd March 2019 / Band, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos, Videos

Besieged..

Whilst I’ve worked out how to do this here blogging lark I’ve got another album I’ve been hammering lately to muse upon. It’s one I’ve been waiting to hear for what feels like ages.

I’ve made no secret of my love of McDermott’s 2 Hours in the past – so relatively new release Besieged was a very exciting prospect and it’s not disappointed. A collaboration with the aforementioned along with Levellers and Oysterband, it’s a long overdue sequel to excellent similar co-creations – the last one I think was Disorder way back in 2004… gosh, that makes me feel old! This could well be the full-stop for McDermott’s 2 Hours.

And sure enough, it’s a fitting epitaph (of sorts – I don’t think Nick is hanging up his metaphorical creative boots for other projects).

It kicks off with the barnstorming Firebird, fiddle-driven and bouncing from the off with Nick Burbridge‘s inimitable vocal delivery setting down a strong marker. I absolutely adore both Nick’s lyrical skill (and Jeremy’s in the case of this song) and his delivery. This is a great example of both working in wonderful harmony with the expert instrumentation from the band – drenched in themes of some kind of renewal, characterised of course by a firebird, which is a phoenix, innit?

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Freeborn Al / 2nd March 2019 / Music, Other Bands, Photos

We the Collective..

There’s always that extra bit of excitement at the prospect of a new Levellers album dropping through the letterbox – unfortunately for me the postie arrived when I wasn’t in over the bank holiday weekend, so impatient I had to resort to iTunes to have a listen before picking up my goodies this morning. Reading reactions online has been a bit like those irritating Marmite adverts on TV (for the record, I definitely fall into the hate camp for Marmite) – with fans seemingly either loving it or hating it.

Having not made it so far to the live tour – my postponed date in Milton Keynes has been rescheduled for when I’m at a wedding, sadly – so I’m going to have to peruse the fixtures for another suitable date to check it out. The new arrangements of familiar songs were a surprise to me, and I’d say a very pleasant surprise! Recorded in the famous Abbey Road under supervision from John Leckie, and some musical assistance from The wonderful Moulettes and Tobias May this is the familiar (mostly) rendered in a very different way.

I can kind of understand people’s cognitive dissonance – the Levellers music has lived with many of us for years, a comfort blanket replete with meaning both in the merit of their own lyrics and melodies or through life events they provided a soundtrack to (or in mosh pits they’ve been danced to in). I’ll be honest, I struggled when ‘wrestled with our’ became ‘whispered all our’ fears on the 1998 re-release of One Way. I still bristle a bit when they still sing it that way now (I wonder if they did on the Levelling the Land anniversary tours? I’ll have to check on the Live CD!).

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Freeborn Al / 3rd April 2018 / Music, Other Bands, Photos, Videos

Travelling along the (longer) ancient road!

My list of releases to write about never seems to get any shorter! But that’s no bad thing, and The Silk Road are the next on my list – with a self-titled album to follow up from their EP released in the summer last year. Back then when I wrote about it I drew parallels with both Levellers and Ferocious Dog in their sound – and that still stands. As an aside, one of my friends once described FD quite disparagingly I thought at the time as ‘Levelling the Clash’. To be fair, back then they probably had a few Levs covers in their set.

I’ve subsequently mentally reappropriated the description to be a badge of honour (maybe that’s how it was intended, to be fair!). So if Ferocious Dog are ‘Levelling the Clash’ then I reckon The Silk Road are more like ‘Levelling the Pistols’. And much like the former, the latter belies some of the intricacy and individuality on offer – but with the music often tending to the punk end of the folk-punk spectrum (although not always), and Tich’s visceral sneering vocals (although not always) it feels like a suitable pithy description.

All the tracks from the EP are reprised, along with eight companions – here we have a much more polished (without losing the bite) and varied collection of songs. So whilst I might have suggested that The Silk Road are more punk than folk, there’s plenty of glimpses at their softer underbelly in here too – with traditional energetic instrumentals like Montagu’s Harrier which featured on the EP, and the frankly lovely Elizabeth Rose which almost sounds like it could morph into a McDermott’s 2 Hours song.

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Freeborn Al / 15th March 2017 / Other Bands, Photos

It’s a two Dogfest kinda year..

With Dogfest having had a break in 2015, we got to have the bonus of a double-Dogfest year in 2016 – the fifth one (or certainly the fifth one I’ve been to) – it’s amazing to see how much it’s grown from! In the past it’s always been a race to get to Warsop for the start – no such problem here, I poked my head out of a cosy sleeping bag to face the winter temperatures in my van. Brr! At least I’d remembered to sleep the other way around from normal owing to the slope I’d parked on!

First things first was a trip down to the Co-op to buy some supplies to donate to Framework later in the day. Once bag there were more stirrings in the urban campsite, a chance to chat with Darren for a bit before Wez and I headed out for a very hearty breakfast at The Tea Cosy on the High Street – recommended, a big ol’ breakfast with plenty of tea was just the fuel needed for a day as relentless as what was to follow. By the time we headed back the doors were open and wristband acquired courtesy of Rich.

On the main stage the show was opened by Jimmy Carroll, I’ve only found a personal page on Facebook rather than a page so far – so I won’t link to that, but an ideal act to open the day – two chaps, acoustic guitars, relaxed vibe. As is oft the problem for early acts they fall foul of the ooh! people are arriving! curse that means they get a little relegated to background music – it sounded like great background music to me though. Just before setting up on stage Sam was excited to see his new band on the t-shirts!

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Freeborn Al / 19th December 2016 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Lee Bonsall, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

Dream gig?

By a considerable margin I’ve not seen any live act as much as I’ve seen Levellers, Ferocious Dog and Gaz Brookfield – but I’ve never seen them all on the same bill, much less one after the other in the cozy confines of Rock City. It’s doubly fitting as if it weren’t for my enduring love of the headliners, I wouldn’t have discovered the other two (well, maybe I would eventually) – so Sunday’s trip to Rock City felt like a poignant and fitting way to close a circle of sorts.

Being a geeky data mangler by profession I couldn’t resist a cheeky Venn Diagram!

Unfortunately a season of festivalling and gallivanting off around Europe meant I didn’t have holiday from work to spare for the day after – coupled with a bit of mosh pit flu starting to kick in, driving to and from the gig seemed the way forward for Ella and I. That said, we were keen to get into Nottingham early enough to join the socialising in the Tap n’ Tumbler – immediately faced with Mark Chadwick surveying the swelling crowd of other familiar faces. It’s funny, I still find it really difficult to go and chat with members of Levellers unlike the other two acts on the bill. No reflection on them, just me being a starstruck wuss!

Elsewhere in the pub it became increasingly packed with countless gigging and festival friends – it was great to see Wez back amongst us in particular. Being in non-drinking mode and mindful of an early start I’d planned on spending the gig further back and taking in the show – until Dean beckoned me over. “I need a word with you, Al” he said, looking a bit stern – after last year’s Rock City mix up he was insistent I needed to surf on him for Freeborn John to make amends – not that it was necessary, it’s a signal honour though. Looks like I’m in the mosh pit then!

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

They did the mash.. it was the Münster mash!

We set off early for Münster, it was a pretty quiet bus all told, all the more reason to appreciate the Herculean efforts of Dean and Stu who got us from place to place whilst we either messed around or slept. On arriving in town we spotted gig posters on the walls, and soon enough we were pulling into the car park of the hotel (hurrah!), which was right next to the venue – Jovel (double hurrah!).

They had a few rooms ready, so we were able to drop bags off and freshen up and await the rest whilst grabbing a quick drink from the hotel bar. Once everyone was ready we decided to risk public transport again and grab the bus into the town, this went much more smoothly than the tram in Amsterdam, and was really reasonably priced too – we’d got ourselves to the centre in no time at all and off the bus.

Münster is a very scenic place – markets bedecked the streets and we had a nice wander around, having failed dismally in Duisburg to eat anything of note I was dead excited to get myself some currywurst, and very nice it was too before heading to a local pub to sink a few beers (and assorted local spirits). We went back via the market again, Mick bought a soap which he thought was a lump of cheese (ha!), whilst Jacquie and I found some stagewear for The Star Copiers.

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Freeborn Al / 24th November 2016 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments