We were back in north Northumberland at the very beautiful Doxford Hall near Embleton. Despite being beautiful and the perfect backdrop for wedding photos it has a notoriously tough load in. Just ask any DJ or wedding band. It’s like a stage from the world’s strongest man competition only we are musicians and not the world’s strongest men (some people would say we aren’t even men). Anyway, a lot of puffing, panting and cursing later and we finally got the gear in and played for the wedding of Hamish and Jo. We had a great night made all the worthwhile when we chatted to the lovely couple and were thanked by them at the end of the night. We’d like to wish them all the best for the future and hope to see you at a gig in the not too distant future.

This week we are playing a wedding at Lartingdon Hall in Teesdale, Couny Durham and have our first public gig in what seems like an age. It’s at The Marquis of Granby in Sunniside, Gateshead on Friday. We’ve never played at this venue before so not sure what to expect but we hear it has a good reputation for live music so are looking forward to it! If you find yourself with nothing better to do then come down, we start at nine. We’ve just bought some new lights to add to our collection so if the music doesn’t impress you at least the lights might.

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Earlier in the month we played Doxford Hall, a beautiful venue with a terrible load in that sees you carrying gear from the van, around the back, down some stairs, past the spa, through some double doors into the wrong end of a large function room. Luckily it was all worth it and we went down great! While we are on the subject, any roadies looking for work should get in touch via the contact us page. We offer poor pay, no great benefits and no career development.

We discovered a great little venue when playing a wedding party in the middle of the month. Hidden away in the west side of Newcastle is Summerhill Pavillion, an old bowling green and club house that makes for a great, stylish venue fairly new to the Newcastle wedding and function scene. It won’t be long till this relatively unheard of location is a popular spot as it’s minutes from the city centre. Check out their website here.

From a Victorian bowling green to a Medieval Castle, you certainly can’t accuse us of playing hotel function suits week after week. It’s fair to say that we get around a bit (sadly not in the way Phil would like) Langley Castle is based just outside Hexham on the A686 Alston Road (a great road for biking according to our bassist) around 45 minutes from Newcastle. The Peacock in the picture was strutting around the grounds when we arrived, much to Phil’s delight. He’s been in love with Peacocks ever since meeting one at a wedding at Kirkley Hall, Northumberland last year. He was over the moon to meet this fella but a little annoyed being out strutted by him.

With the party on the third floor of the castle it was a bit of a nightmare getting the gear in. Clearly whoever designed it had selfishly put defensive properties ahead of accommodating bands with speakers and instruments. Getting the gear to the function room was made even harder by having to share the service lift with the kitchen staff but we persevered and despite setting up slightly later than normal the night went great.

Friday gone saw us back at As You Like It, Jesmond, Newcastle. We noticed lots of couples who we think had come to check us out. The giveaway was a coke in one hand and car keys in the other. That and not dancing about off their faces. If you’re reading this, we hope you liked us. Three couples from the night have already been in touch and got us booked for 2014 so if you want to book us please get in touch before your date goes! If you didn’t like us you have incredibly bad taste. Only joking, try our friends at AMV, they have something for everyone.

Saturday night saw us a Seaton Delaval Terrace Club. They say club land is dying which sadly is true in a lot of places. Especially those on which Phoenix nights was based. But for other clubs it’s a lot different and thankfully this was one. Many thanks to Ashley for booking us. We hope you enjoyed The Smiths, it certainly looked like you did.
Yesterday saw us at The Railway Pub in Walkergate for a rare Sunday afternoon gig. We didn’t know what to expect as we didn’t know the venue but we’d heard from other bands that it’s a belting gig and they weren’t wrong. The place was heaving, partly due to the fact that we are really popular but also due to the fact that the pub is pretty small. But let’s not take anything away from what was a good gig. Thanks to Paul, his staff and the regulars, both the drunk and the not so drunk.

Lastly, a special mention to the girls at As You Like It that stood patiently by the side of stage while we finished a song in our second set and then, during the gap between songs tapped our bassist on his side and politely asked “excuse us, may we invade the stage, please”. Your well-mannered take on rock and roll rebellion is still making us chuckle as we write this!

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