Solo Acoustic Roxbury Gig / LoGOz The Doll Review - AcoustiCalendar Song #23

A busy weekend of Solo/LoGOz activity kicked off in familiar territory at the good old Roxbury in Blyth on Friday night. A warm summers night was just the ticket to get thirsty Friday night revellers in the mood to kick off the weekend in style! I was opening up the nights proceedings with an Anarcoustic set for Vinces Birthday Bash with 3 of the North Easts top punk bands ALL OUT ATTACK, COLLiSiON & DEATH TO iNDiE.

After a swift soundcheck and the clock ticking to 9:20pm I strapped my guitar on and asked the ever expanding room of punters and bands to make their way round to the front of the stage! And to my joy and surprise they did just that! So now with all eyes and ears on me it was time to stand and deliver. I kicked straight in with THE BALLAD OF THE DiSENCHANTED and swiftly onto RiOT ON THE RADiO which after the tremendous reception helped settle the nervous energy that was eating away at me! With this being only my second Solo gig I changed the set around from the last one and slipped in LoGOz favourites UNEASY STREET and LONG TiME DEAD as well as AcoustiCalendar track THiS iS MY ENGLAND which got its Live gig debut. I was just really starting to find my stride when it was my 9th and final song OLD PUNKS NEVER DiE along with my Only Fools/Auf Pet outtro it went down a storm and I was blown away by the response! Cheers everyone who came down and made a noise, you know who you are :) 

But this night wasnt all about me! No. Next up ALL OUT ATTACK quickly stepped up to the plate. Blasting through tracks from their latest Album OKTOBERFEST and a rousing cover of MOTORHEAD's 'No Class' frontman Adam was leaping about the stage like Zebedee on Special Brew! The lads were having way too much fun to notice the concept of time and could've played all night given half the chance :)

After another quick changeover it was the turn of local heroes COLLiSiON to take centre stage. With the charismatic sneer of main man Tony Houghton and the sweet vitriol of Karen Khaos, the dualling vocals were backed by the band on top form! They blasted through a no nonsense 30 minutes of classic punk rock scattered with punchy originals. Top stuff.

To finish off the night it was our old buddies DEATH TO iNDiE with their high energy tongue in cheek punk stompathon! From inviting a refreshed young lass onto the stage to sing lead vocals on one track, to off the wall pop covers, as well as their own hook filled originals, it was a great end to brilliant night! Big thanks again to Vince for putting the show on, and a very Happy Birthday fella :)

So onto Saturday and another welcome return to The Doll at The Black Bull in Gateshead for LoGOz supporting punk veterans DEMOB. But not before the band had gathered at Pulse Studios in Blyth for a cheeky practice. It was almost 2 weeks since we had played together at The Riverside Live Festival so it was good to brush the cobwebs off and blast through tonights set! We didnt half go for it! If we play half as good as we did at practice tonight we're gonna be alright! We rolled up to The Doll just as aptly titled touring  support  band 

BORROWED TiME were soundchecking and slightly over running! But hey this is punk rock kids and nothing ever goes to plan :) Before we knew it were back on that familiar stage and ripping through a quick line check! Theres something about this venue that just makes us sound nastier and heavier. I like that. Even BORROWED TiME's friendly mohawk spouting drummer was visibly impressed at the sheer power we had! Showtime! As we lauched into LONG TiME DEAD the crowd was growing as friendly faces nodded, bustled and sang along as Paul and me kept up the energy levels up with our bassless twin guitar assault! Meanwhile Harry played a blinder behind the kit I'm sure there was smoke coming out of his sticks at one point! I dont think we've ever played TROPiCAL APOCALYPSE as fast as we did on Saturday night haha it really could've been the end of the world! But it wasn't. But not before too long it WAS the end of the set. And a cracking set it was too. The reaction again onstage and off was brilliant so thanks again to everyone who came along to support us!

Gloucester punksters BORROWED TiME quickly followed us and delivered a sound solid set playing tracks from their debut album 'Pushed to the Brink'.  Check them out at www.borrowedtimeband.co.uk

Headliners DEMOB then finished the night off in style tearing through their back catalogue as if their lives depended on it! The main highlight being the fantastic 'Anti-Police' which even had Sound man/Promoter/Owner Mr Shev and his collagues sporting Coppers hats behind the bar, much to everyones amusement! Yet again another successful gig for LoGOz! Thanks again to everyone for the support at both gigs this weekend it really is truly appreciated! Cheerz :)

Monday again and its now AcoustiCalendar Song #23 KEEP YA TiMBER iN AND YA POWDER DRY. What??? I hear you say? Well, let me explain. Apparently this was an old Ashington Miners saying when they used to work down the pit, a kind of warm friendly looking out for each other, take care, watch what you're doing type of camaraderie spirit! I was told this by  a good friend of my Dad, who goes by the nickname Doof! He keeps saying it and earlier this year he challenged me to write a song called KEEP YA TiMBER iN AND YA POWDER DRY.  Its my nod and homage to the brave men and boys who are a huge part of our heritage. As an Ashingtonian myself and have mining history in my family, I feel proud and allowed to write this. So here we are, and what better time than to tie it in the Miners Picnic which takes place this Saturday June 13th at Woodhorn. As always the track will be available to download FREE from www.logozworld.com/52 for 7 days until the next song is uploaded. Just to remind you the first AcoustiCalendar 13.1 CD is available from www.logozworld.com/merch NOW!!!

Cheerz

Peesh