AndyfromSpiny

Moving home,,and SPINY are about to break the Sound Barrier

2007-06-16T20:51:00.000+01:00

I haven't posted a blog in 2007..there are a few reasons....1..I was too busy with work.....2....umm there is no 2............3.I just couldn't be arsed....4..I'm too busy trying to keep Delbut off his drugs and away from loose women...it's a lost cause..believe me..But I'll do my best.
I'll be back soon with news/photo's of Spiny's new equipment (VERY LOUD STUFF) and how the mightly Spiny Norman have been doing in 2007.
Watch this space....if not,,,watch Del's....it's far more interesting!! ;-)
I'm also about to move out of my appartment and my new place is a bit smaller,,,so I'm stressed and need to find a place to keep the PA and Sub Wooffers etc..ARGHHHHHHH

broken strings and forgotten words!!!

2006-12-29T12:35:00.000Z

Well, Spiny played a gig last night and I guess it was ok. Here's the venue:
The Butchers Arms in Mountain Ash South Wales.

Not the biggest place in the World but the people are nice and friendly there, we played there about a year ago and it was good then too, trouble is, last year all the posters they put up advertising the gig had our name spelt wrong, they called us Spikey Norman!! This year they got it a little closer but still not quite there!! lol. Here's this years poster! (sorry it's a bit blurred, I'm not used to my new toy yet!!)

We weren't quite sure if it was an advert or a statement!! Next time we'll make the poster ouselves with SPINY spelt correctly and send it too them!!

Here's a photo of the stage, it's a tiny little place so there's wasnt much room for us to move about, plus, the stage had 2 very hot heaters on it wich promted the comment "it's too fucking hot in this fucking place" by our very own Delbut. He wasnt wrong! We turned them off but they did take a while to cool down!

As for the gig, well, we were shite!!!! My bro (Big-Al) bust his E string on his bass guitar (how hard is it to do that???) And I played like a man with severe amnesia for most of the gig!!

I forgot most of my solos and even forgot the opening line to Dancing In the Moonlight (Lizzy) and there was an embarassingly long pause before Big-Al shouted "I passed her in the doorway!!" and then we were away! The punters didnt seem to notice tho, and they gave us some nice applause after each song and we eventually ended up doing 3 encores and the management gave us some extra money too so we must have been doing something right!!

Needless to say this long break inbetween gigs because of my knee operation has made us a little bit rusty! 2007 will be good tho, we're ready to upgrade some of our equipment and soon we'll be rocking South Wales to the rafters!

There was no one at the gig to take photos of us while we played but Delbut did set up a video camera behind his head and got some footage of us playing. Hopefully he'll either send me the footage and I'll post it on here or he'll post it himself on a new Blog he's thinking of starting called "the drummers view" or something like that! Watch this space!

10 years of photos!!! A Photographic History of Spiny Norman.

2006-12-07T10:26:00.000Z

At long last here are some photos of Spiny Norman in action!! I've put some of our very first gig back in 1996 and there are some of the various line-ups we've had over the years. I think it is a very strange phenomenon, but it is obvious to see that whilst all the other band members have aged quite badly, I have remained as beautiful and as charming as ever!! Strange eh?

That's me on the Left, Big-Al in the middle and Egg on the end. There's a drummer in there somewhere too, honest! She was a 16 year old girl!! A good drummer with talent but 16 year olds will be 16 year olds and it didnt quite work out! (Although one of her mates once asked me "what is a groupie?" ooooooh was I tempted!!!!!!!??)

Not so "Big-Al" in the early days! He had hair then too!!

The baby-faced Egg!

And so we'll move forward a few years to a new era and a new drummer. This time it was Pete, another fantastic drummer and he was with us for a few years and it was a good time, alas that relationship didnt quite last but we had a good time while it did. The photo above is the back cover of our only CD!!!!

We recorded a rehearsal session about 5 years ago and burnt some CD's. Here's the front cover.

This is Pete, as you can see, he was a huge WHO fan. Our next drummer turned out to be the same!! ENTER DELBUT!!!!!!!!

Above is the current (and best) line-up during a gig.

Here's the famouse Delbut looking as if he wants to kill someone. Why do ALL drummers have that mad glint in their eyes???)

Here's Big-Al! This gig was a wedding and the theme was an Hawiian one, we all had to wear Hawiian shirts etc.

Now you might think that the look on my face in this photo is your average "face pulled whilst playing a rip-roaring guitar solo" look that some guitarist have when bending dem strings! But NO, I actually leaned against one of the stage lights and burnt my arse!! ;-)

The Egg, always plays with a smile on his face and frog in his throat! We've just given him a microphone for the first time in ten years!! He makes Sid Viscious sound like a choir boy! Bless.

So there you go, Spiny through the ages! The hair styles have changed but the set remains the same!!

Stage fright??

2006-10-25T14:39:00.000+01:00

I bumped into Nigel again last night!!! He was in a much better mood this time! We talked for quite a long time and had a bottle of wine too.
I told him that it had always been an ambition of mine to tread the boards and to do some acting and he said:
"Yes my luvvie, I can see that you'd be a good Puck"

He went on to tell me a lot about his history as a thesbian and about the various acts that he'd been involved in.
At one point in his career he was know as "The Big Cheese" but this was only because his acting stank! He did however improve.
I think there's a pub in Cardiff with an unusual nautical name and Nigel hangs out there a lot I believe,
He asked me:
"Would you like to come up the Rear Admirals Porthole later?"
I declined.

Nigel was a bit flushed in the face when he came into the bar, he told me that he'd just finished a performace and was really hot and so he'd had a fan blowing him under his gown after the show!

One of his favourite perfomances used to include a unicycle act but without the saddle, but he had to stop it because of complaints from some sections of the audience that he seemed to be enjoying it too much.
I think he's into Morris Dancing to cos he's invited me to dance around his Maypole anytime I want.

He told me:
"I was up the Rear Admiral's Porthole the other evening, old thing, and I was telling my chum that I was going trolling round the Greek isles for the summer"
I asked him if that was anything like camping. He said it was the way he did it! He booked online apparently. He's a whiz with new technology. He said he Googled me the other evening to great effect! I never felt a thing!

He's invited me to act in a two man play he's about to start called "A Pant in the Country!" about a butler coming undone below stairs! Nigel plays the important part of the butler and I play the rest of him!! That's the best gag in the show!

Old Nigel seems to have a love of all things Nautical. He told me that he just loves seamen, so I offered to take him to Cardiff Bay to see them unloading the ships, but he lust looked at me with a blank look on his face.

He told me of an act he once did that invlovled nude tight-rope walking but he had to give it up cos he kept slipping and catching his essentials on the rope and he was starting to walk like an extra from "Planet of the Apes". Poor thing.

He also writing the screen-play to a movie that he wants to make. It's a marvellous script all about a fortune-telling boxer, The Clairvoyant Kid. He's good at the old fortune telling lark but not much cop as a boxer. It's called "Crystal Balls and a Glass Jaw". I think it's a goer.

He said:
"I went to have my legs waxed today Andy old thing, you have to be prepared dont you luvvie? I got into the seat and the girl asked me if I wanted a Brazillian, I declined. I cant stand coffee!".
I started to explain but thought better of it!

He told me of an act that used be part of his stage show back in the 40's, they were old Music Hall tumblers, called "The Bouncing Czechs".
He said: "They Sent a chill up me money belt! I've never been a part of this act, but you ask anyone in Show-Biz about Bouncing Czechs and for some reason, they'll think of me!"

He went on: "Apparently their names were Novak & Good. D'you know, people have repeatedly accused me of being both of them! Often I've had to slam a stage door closed or nip off on a borrowed stage manager's bicycle to the cries of "You're Novak & Good!" from the great unwashed."

I'm begining to like Nigel,, although there's this nagging feeling at the back of my mind that tells me there's something I'm missing!
I'll keep you posted.
(I'll write something about Spiny Norman soon, I promise!!!)

Innuendo???? Not Eye!!

2006-10-24T19:41:00.000+01:00

Hi peeps,
I have a new friend (I think!!).
I happen to frequent a Bar in my locality.
Now listen, I live in a rather upmarket part of Cardiff (or, as Delbult would put it..."It's as gay as Liberace on speed in the YMCA"). But I must admit I am begining to think that our Del is on to something!!!! I live very near the Millenium Centre, Wales' premier theatre.
Let's get one thing straight here before we go any further! I am a white, hetrosexual male (we are the only people you can take the piss out of without fear of a lawsuit or a protest rally!!) and I have no hang-ups about people of another race, creed, sexuality or religious preference!! (did I cover everything there??) but I just met a guy in my local bar who seems like a nice chap but is also very wierd!

His name is Nigel (I'll call him that cos I dont want to divulge his real name until I'm sure of him and his intentions). I've made eye contact with him once or twice and nodded the odd silent "hello", but today we actually entered into intercourse! (Del if you say ANYTHING I am gonna tell everybody about you and the the oompaloompa reunion disaster!! ok!!????). What I am saying is.....we had a conversation!!! It went something like this:
Nigel: "Alright old thing?"
Me: "Aye, not bad. You?"
Nigel: "Better now it's over"
Me: "Sorry? now what is over?"
Nigel: "The rehearsal, I am a thesbian you see, an actorrrr my dear. Shakespear is my forte. I've just finished a rehearsal of A Midsummer's Night Dream and you should see my Bottom!"
Me: "You what????"
Nigel: "Bottom!! the character in A Midsummers Night Dream!! He becomes a donkey in a dream,,I am all Ass tonight my luvvie"

It was at this point I started to suspect that something was up!!! So deciding to take a step back from the proceedings. I moved away from the bar and found a secluded seat in which to drink my beer and read my newspaper........He followed me!!

Nigel: "May I join you old thing?" He asked!
Me: "Aye, go on then, take a seat".

He sat down and had a pained look on his face. He was in his fifties, dressed in a blue, brushed velvet suit and a crevat. He was obviously looking to vent his days frustrations.

Nigel: "It's not easy being an actorrrr you know, The stage is an unforgiving place! The eyes are on you all the time and...well....your soul is laid bare... just like my Bottom was tonight! Oh I tried so hard tonight my luvvie...My name's Nigel By the way"
Me: "Andy"
Nigel: "Andy my dear...May I show you my Bottom?"
Me: "Fuck off you pervert!!"
Nigel: "Oh my!!! Whatever must you think? Have you never heard of the Shakesperian character in A Midsummers Night Dream called Bottom?"
Me: "Look mate, I am a guitarist (carefull Del!!), I dont do Sheakspear and I deffinately dont do Bottoms!!" (unless she asks nicely!!! oops!!)

At this point he decided to leave me, his dejected figure got up from his seat and left the bar.

I went to the barman and asked him if he knew anything about Nigel.
He said: "He's a good bloke, works in the theatre around the corner, he's been coming in here for years and is usually full of high spirits. But recently he's been acting a bit wierd and depressed. He keeps telling me that he's been going up to Lovers Leap and tossing himself off...but there's never a scratch on him the next day!!!"

I will go back to the bar tomorrow and try to talk to Nigel and see if he's ok. He seemed like a decent enough chap and in the meantime I'm going to brush up on my William Shakespear (or as he's known in Wales....Billy Waggledagger!)
Wish me luck...and pray for Nigel!!!
Tara
Me.

I've been assimulated!

2006-10-01T13:22:00.000+01:00

Ahhhh, it's been soooooo long since I posted. Actually, it's been sooooooo long since I did anything other than get blind steaming drunk and watch a shed load of movies and generally just sit in a chair doing nothing!!
It's my leg you see! When you have a leg brace that goes all the way from the tips of your toes to the end of your days you'll understand that I've been limited in certain aspects of everyday life!!!!
I'll give you some examples...
1, I cant go to work.
2, I cant gig (although there has been one minor forey onto the stage during my recuperation).
3, I cant shag!!!
4, I cant do any excercise. (see no.3)

Now number 3 is the one playing on my mind the most!!! The subject in question has been attempted on 2 occasions since my operation only to be accompanied by fits of hysterical laughter and a strange rattling sound coming from my right leg!!! It's goin to take a hell of a lot of charm and flowers to get the young lady in question into my appartment ever again!!

Also since my last post Spiny Norman have had 2 gigs! Both quite interesting but in totally different ways.
The first was before my operation and was in a place that will remain nameless to protect the innocent (and to stop the guilty from burning down my appartment!). It was actually in a place not far from where Spiny's drummer (the infamaous Delbut) lives. That says it all really. There were kids at this gig who were snorting cocain off the windowsill of the toilets!!!! Yes, a quality establishment! But, like the true pros that we are we gave it our all and the crowd absolutely loved us (both of them!!). We got out alive and even more surprisingly (according to our agent) we got full pay, which apparently very rarely happens at this particular venue!!

The second gig was for a close personal friend of Delbuts and that is the only reason I did the gig cos it was only 6 days after my operation and it was pure agony for me! It was a good gig tho, the wedding guests really enjoyed themselves and even tho I was in pain throughout the show I really enjoyed it too. This was mainly due to the fact that because I couldn't drive to the gig I was able to drink alcohol during the show!! At one point I had 3 bottles of Champagne at the foot of my mic stand and by the end of the gig I had 3 empty bottles of Champagne at the foot of my mic stand. It was a fun night!! Here's me at the gig:

It was an Hawiian theme, that's why we are dressed like Magnum pi.

Also in the past few weeks I've discoverd ebay!!!!!!!!

I have bought so much crap you wouldnt belive it!! There was one particular piano up for sale recently but I happen to know the seller and I wouldnt trust him as far as I can throw him!!!

I saw a Bon Jovi gig on tv the other day and Johnny boy was wearing a rather fetching suede/leather tan colourd shirt. "Now that's just the garment for me" I suggested to myself. So I went searching for leather shirts on ebay!!!! BIG MISTAKE!!! Now I am in no way homaphobic! "Each to his own and the world will be a better place" is my motto. But you should see the hit's I was getting on there!! There are all sorts of wonderful leather "garments" on there that are shall we say, designed for the more "outgoing" of my fellow men. Then I started to wonder about my old mate John Bon Jovi who I had seen and admired only a few hours earlier?? "NO! Surely not" I screamed!! But when you look at his initials and then see his microphone handling skills it does make one wonder!

Anyway, I have 124 bids on at the moment so keep your fingers crossed for me!!

I'm on a roll now so you might want to go make a cup of coffee and then come back!

Spiny have never been so busy as we have been this year. This is really good for us but it has meant that our set-list has become a bit stuck in it's ways. We just havent had much time to rehearse any new material. Delbut keeps having loads of ideas for songs but when he turns up to rehearsals he has forgotten what they were ( he's getting on in life these days and his memory isnt what it used to be!) Del has a good knowledge of rock music and I'm sure he'll come up with the goods when we all meet up next!!

My brother (big-Al and lead singer with Spiny) has a large repetoir too, but he cant get the strings for it these days!!

(oooh Del, he's also just bought a drum kit too!!!)

Right, time for me to go now, a friend of mine just called to say he saw one of the members of Spiny Norman trying to pick up two men in a pub in Cardiff last night!! This cant be big-Al.....he isn't strong enough!

Later dudes. I have to go now, my Doctor says I mustn't lift anything heavier than a bottle of beer, and I must abide by doctors orders!

Bed bathes and kneecaps

2006-09-04T20:24:00.000+01:00

I'm lazy and havent posted for over 2 weeks.
I have no excuses....other than I was in France for a short while trying to negotiate the release of a person who shall remain annonymous (actually it was Delbut) from some sadistic over-bearing monks who had a terrible effect on the poor boy. He's ok now, we managed to get him through the trauma and he managed to play a gig with his band (SPINY NORMAN) on the weekend and I'll tell you about it in the next post which will follow in the next few days..........................
IF I LIVE!!!!!..............................
I'm goin under the knife tomorrow in an attempt to cure my malfunctioning right knee and hopefully when I return all will be well in the leg department (if a little sore!!).
If there are any of my mates out there who would like to come round to my appartment in the next few days to mother me and take care of me as part of my recuperation (bed baths are essential!!!) then I would be eternally greatfull (this offer is only open to Blackvellvetlace, Ballerinagurl, and Metalchick, so Delbut, Rance, no offers PLEASE!!!)
Wish me luck.
To Knee,,,or not to knee,,,this is the question!!!

Like a Virgin?? Who doesn't??

2006-08-14T19:21:00.000+01:00

You might have noticed that the Spiny Boys (myself and Delbut) have been a bit quiet this last week or so!!
THERE IS A PERFECTLY GOOD REASON FOR THIS!!
We have been preparing for our WORLD TOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After the unprecidented and totally unbelievalble success of our festival gig (read into that what you will!!) we have been asked to join Madonna on the rest of her tour of 2006!!!!

What a total suprise eh????? We were as stunned as you obviously are! Unfortunately the ticket prices of the show have now been increased by 20% because of our inclusion and some sections of the Madonna fan club have decided to ban the shows in protest!
F*ck em I say!! If they were willing to pay the prices she was asking then a few pennies extra wont make a dent in their phsychiatric bills!
We at Spiny will not let this detract us from our goal of bringing our brand of music to the unsuspecting masses!! Madies tour is called "Confessions on the Dancefloor" and as a mark of respect we have called our small part of the show "Confessions of 4 ageing Rock Wannabe's On the Downslope" and we have decided to change the name of the band to "SOLD OUT" just for this one-off tour! Just take a look at the Mad-ones web-site to see how we've been included in the advertising for the tour!!! (she actually personally called me and thanked me for helping her sell tickets!!!)
None of this would have been possible if it wasn't for the success of our festival gig a few weeks ago! Success breeds success as they say!!
Time to get back to rehearsals.......we are trying to do a punk cover of Like A Virgin...but Delbut keeps falling off his stool laughing!!!
Ah well, there's always a chance for us to ruin American Pie just like she did!!
I'm sure Delbut will shed some light on the matter soon? Eh Del?? Over to you!

I Wish

2006-07-29T19:06:00.000+01:00

This was the view from the stage where we played our festival gig on Saturday!!!

These were the nurses from the First-Aid tent at the back of the stage!!! We were 10 minutes late starting our set because Delbut kept coming over all faint and had to go to the First-Aid tent for treatment!! He also went twice after we'd finished the set and three times before we left just to make sure he was in top health!!!

The stage was brilliant!

We were ten times better than the bunch of amatures on before us! The one in the middle kept harrassing Del for his autograph!! So Del told him where to go and tried to insert a drumstick in him! The guitarist on the right plays a Telecaster, the same as me, and he tried to walk off with mine pretending that he didnt know!! I told him to go fall out of a tree! Cheeky bugger!

I wish, I wish, I wish!
The truth will follow after the trauma has passed!!

Shaken, not stirred!

2006-07-22T12:42:00.000+01:00

Two weeks since the last post! Bad innit! But there are reasons!!!
1. I've torn my cartlige in my knee!!! I did it last year too and had an operation which didnt work! It's all James Bonds fault!! Stay with me here ok!!..... I was in the mood to watch a Bond film and went to my shelves to get THUNDERBALL. I bent down to get it off the bottom shelf and POP...out came the old Tibea from the cartlige. The pain of it popping out was not good, the pain of me having to put it back into place was REALLY not good!! Anyway, thats one reason. Number 2 is...We are still having an amazing heatwave here and I took some time off work to make sure my knee was better and to take advantage of the weather. I just couldnt be arsed to sit at the puter and type. So I didnt.
One week after my knee problem Spiny Norman (the band I play in) had our first gig for quite a while. We played for a company party in a place called Sully (just outside Cardiff). It wasnt really our kind of thing, but we had a bit of fun. We actually played outdoors in the glorious sunshine, which was all very nice but the sound was rubbish and I had a hangover which wasnt very proffessional and I made a few mistakes in the first few songs (like singing over Paul's solos and missing my own solos). I was not my finest moment and it wont happen again!! The punters seemed to enjoy themselves tho, and thats the main thing.
We have the biggest gig of our 10 year career next Saturday! We are playing the Welsh Boarders rock Festival!!!! Up until a few days ago I was really bricking it about this gig!! There are a lot of real heavy prog rock bands playing and I thought we would be a bit out of our league, but after seeing the final line-up I am a lot happier about it. There are a few other covers bands playing so we wont be on our own.
We will be playing a 30 min set and choosing which songs we are going to play isnt easy!! It's funny to see what each individual in Spiny sees as our strong/weak songs. Alun (Bass/singer)and myself think that Substitute (yes, the Who song) is one of our strongest songs but Delbut thinks it is weak! Now Del is a true Who perfectionist and Spiny's version is more akin to the Rammones version and so is a bit rockier and faster than the original so it's understandable that he's not 100% for doing it infront of a big crowd. So far we will be playing Rocks (Primal Scream), Hard To Handle (Black Crows), Keep Your Hands to Yourself (Georgia Satallites) and Whatever You Want/Rocking all Over The World (Status Quo). Paul, guitar/bass, is indifferent about the whole thing. He thinks we are going to get bottles of piss thrown at us anyway so he doesnt care what we play!! lol. It will all probably change a couple of times until we get the final list sorted so watch this space!
The Festival is for Charity so we're not getting paid anything. This is not good, I am skint at the moment and need all the money I can get! I have to give the Ducks in the local lake IOU's cos I cant afford bread!
I'm off into Cardiff now to do some shopping with this week's allowance, I was going to get a pet for my appartment but I dont have a good record so far of keeping pets here. I used to have a chameleon but he accidently walked across my tarten rug and died of exhaustion!
Right, time to move all my Bond movies up to the top shelf!!
See ya's later

Stirring things up!

2006-07-07T13:52:00.000+01:00

I'm in work writing this so shhhhhhhhhh!!!
Being a chemist is all good fun but it does have it's boring moments!! Making stuff and occasionally blowing things up can be quite invigorating, but just sitting there watching something stir is as about as exciting as snail racing. So I thought I'd ramble for a bit on here to help the time go quicker until I can go home.
I've been a Blogger for two weeks now! wooohoooo, No longer am I the "new kid on the blog"!!! I dont think I've managed to upset anybody (yet) and it's only Delbut who's threatened me with bodily harm! So all in all it hasn't gone too bad! There are some really nice, fun people out there, this is truely a global thing isnt it!? It's so nice to meet people from the other side of the planet!

Let me go check on my stirring stuff a mo.....

......right, I'm back, sorry about that! My stuff has gone black!! I hope that's supposed to happen!!!
Anyway, unlike a few people I've met on here I'm not big into writing my own music or songs. I am not afraid to admit that I am totally telentless when it comes to that!! I tried writing one a week or so back in honour of the soccer World Cup. It was entitled "Balls Bouncing off the Crossbar" and was quite catchy. I sent it off to the BBC to see if they'd like to use it for their TV coverage and they replied saying that they already has something for the soccer but they would love to use it as the theme tune for their coverage of the Tour De France Cycle Race! We'll see.

My brother and I wrote a song a long time ago that we wanted to use in Spiny, it was about a shepherd boy who has found a world war 2 bomb in the field where he keeps his sheep and he has only 5 minutes to get the sheep out of the field before it blows up. We called it "let's Get The Flock Out of Here" but it never sold! Shame.
Right, back to some chemistry....man, I hope it's supposed to go black!

The good old days?!!

2006-07-06T09:17:00.000+01:00

That's it!! Summer's over!!! We had 2 weeks of sun and now the cloud has returned with a vengance bringing rain and floods!!!! Well that's what you get for living in Wales I guess!! Bugger.
Nevermind. The weekend looms large and it should be a good 'un. We have the 3rd place game in the World Cup between the Germans and the Theatrical Portugese (I say "theatrical" because I cant spell "cheating bastards"!) on Saturday night, then we have the final between the French and the Italians on Sunday night! I have a day off work on Monday so I intend to have a good weekend!
Now in my younger days (a long LONG time ago) a good weekend used to consist of getting home from work, a quick dab of Blue Stratos behind the ears, clean underware and if I was feeling particularly lucky I would have a bath regardless of whether I'd already had one that week or not!! Then it would be out into Cardiff with the lads! It was like 7 Brides for 7 Brothers! We would meander amoungst the night-clubs and bars trying to look cool in a shirt that didnt fit and shoes that were impossible to dance in!
Now, I can dance!!!!! Infact, when I was giving Ricky Martin dance lessons recently he commented on how good a mover I really was!! But back then it was break-dancing that was all the rage, and when I tried doing that I looked like a frog in a blender and I did my back in, so I used to concentrate on the slower, more seductive numbers like Lionel Ritchie's "Hello". This soflty soflty approach was usually a hit with the ladies who by this time of night were so drunk they didnt care who they were dancing with as long as they could get a free drink! (classy company eh??). Then after some smoothe talking (or begging, depending on the girl!) it would be time to invite her back to Chez Andy for coffee and show her my then fledgeling collection of odd socks (I only had three back in those days, but it was a start!!)
Sadly those days are gone now, these days it takes me all night to do what I used to do all night!! The last time I went into a disco some kid got up and offered me a seat!!! Sad innit! Nevermind though! At my age it's more about quality than quantitiy, the exuberance of youth may be just a distant memory these days, but I still have my moments!!

I was going to write something interesting at the beggining of this post, but I've totally forgoten what it was, I got so lost in memories there for a sec that I've gone blank!
That's another sign of getting old, your memory starts playing up!!!!
Only 10 days untill the next Spiny Norman gig!! BRING IT ON!!!!

BETTY SWOLLOCKS?!!

2006-07-03T10:56:00.000+01:00

It's hot! It's 90 degrees plus in Wales! Now, to some of you that might not seem very hot, but for a country where you'll normally find your eye's freezing shut when you blink it's pretty damn hot!! We're just not used to it, not that you'll find me complaining, I love the heat, I am half Jamaican on my Dad's friend's side!
Farmers here are feeding their chickens ice cubes to stop them laying hard boiled eggs!
We've had about 4 or 5 days of it now, which is classed as a major heatwave here. I know that in other parts of the world this is only a minor heat "ripple" but we like to exagerate!
I got bad sunburn yesterday on my legs and on my shoulders, I put moisterising cream on my shoulders but my legs were so bad I had to take a viagra just to keep the sheets off them while I was sleeping! (the old ones are the best eh?? lol).
Enough of this tomfoolery!
Portugal beat England in the World Cup soccer quarter-final! England lost on penalties and had a man sent of!! Deja Vu??!! Portugal now play France in the semi-final on Wednesday and once again my loyalties are torn. I have a few very good French friends plus the guy who owns my local bar is French and he gives me the odd free beer so I dont want to get on the wrong side of him now do I??

Sunday night is usually guitar rehearsal time for me, I usualy practice the Spiny set and try a few new things to see if they are Spinyable! However, cos we dont have a gig for another 2 weeks I gave it a miss last night and had a bit of cooking to do for a "mate" of mine! Earlier in the day I asked her what she wanted and she said "anything". So I made Morrocan Lamb on a bed of spicy rice only to find she didnt like lamb or rice!!! So I ordered Nandos instead and put the lamb in the freezer! Then I tried a new chat-up line that I've been working on for a few months now...I said....."baby, tonight I want to be your ventrilaquist!!" "What do you mean?" she replied. "I want to stick my hand up your skirt and make your lips move!" came my witty retort!
On her way out she told me where to stick my Nandos! :-(

Still, life goes on eh. Next time I'll practice the Spiny set and forget about the cooking! I guess that's why Spiny have taken 10 years to become an overnight success!! I should pracitce more. I've been invited to form a SuperGroup with myself as the frontman, but until David Soul, Nana Miscouri, Barry Manillow and Richard Clayderman are all free I'm not interested!

Right, time for some shade, the heat is getting to me! There are two occasions when an ice cold beer seems like the drink of the gods, one is the very first beer after a gig once all the gear is packed up and I've driven home and just sat down to relax, the other is on a mega-hot day in the sun, sitting outside a bar watching the world (and scantily clad females) go by!
Gimme a beeeeeeer! mmmmmm. Later, hic, hic!

Portugese for the day???

2006-06-30T09:34:00.000+01:00

England play in the Football World Cup Quarter-final tomorrow (that's soccer by the way!!) . They are playing Portugal and I have split loyalties! Now, I am Welsh, and traditionally Welsh people dont support England in anything! I however am not that way inclined. Obviously when it comes to sport I will support my fellow Celts (Scots and Irish) whenever they play the English, but when it come to playing Johnny Foreigner I will back England.......BUT.....I have suddenly developed a huge craving for Nando's Chicken!!!!! Nandos is a chain of restaurants that sells Portugese Piri-Piri Chicken, and, in my humble opinion it is the food of the Gods! It is kinda like the thinking man's KFC!!! You get three choices of heat in yer chicken, Medium, Hot, or Very Hot!! I tend to go for the Hot option!
Now then, the reason I might not support England is due to the fact that there is this rather scrummy waitress in my local Nandos who would frown deeply if I was to support England before her beloved Portugal! I know this particular young lady has the hot's for yours truely cos she keeps giving me extra chicking wings for free when I get a take-away! So I think that just for a few hours tomorrow afternoon I will pop to the local pub with her and show my undying support for that little strip of land just off the Spanish coast! After that I might even treat her to a meal (Nandos of course!!) and then ask her back to my place to show her my collection of odd socks (I might even give her one!!). We'll see how it goes.
In the meantime I thoroughly recommend Nandos, especiaaly if you like hot and spicy chicken, actually, that's all they sell so if you dont like hot and spicy chicken I would suggest you stick to Burger King etc.
I had Extra Hot Chicken Wings last night, just to try it, and I have to say that it was a BIG mistake!! It is definitely "toilet roll in the fridge time" today! My ass iss glowing! If I did a hand-stand you would be able to see me from space!! But dont let that put you off! Go try it for yourself!
C'mon Portugal!!!!

The row behind....grrrrrrrr

2006-06-27T11:29:00.000+01:00

Question: When you are 300 yards from the stage at an Eagles concert, what kind of brain does it take to believe that holding your mobile (cell) phone at arms length will make the slightest goddamned bit of difference to the quality of sound the recipient of the call will hear???
Answer: The brains belonging to the complete set of fuckwits in the row behind mine who kept shoving their phones along side my head when Hotel Cali was being played!!!!

The show was great, the band were the highest quality, the people in the row behind me were top brass morons!
They talked all the way thru the show, well, screamed is more like it. Talking on phones, shouting to each other when there was a song being played that they didnt know, and when Glen Fry was telling the story of a song they'd written on the evening of 9/11 they didnt even have the courtesy to pay attention and appreciate the emotion that the band were obviously trying to instill on the crowd. The people behind me were an embarassement to themselves, really, really sad!
Go to a concert, get stoned, get drunk, laugh, sing and enjoy, whatever turns you on, but not at the expense of everyone within a 10 yard radius of you!! Some people just dont have values anymore, I was brought up to respect others and not to cause trouble. My parents are both honest, caring people and it has rubbed off on me! For 20 years my father faithfully handed his pay-packet over to my Mother every single month! This was all ok until she found out he was paid weekly, then all hell broke loose. Should all married couples be frank and earnest, or should one of them be a woman...
Right, got that off my chest, thanks for listening, lol. I really enjoyed the show tho, those guy's are true pros, no matter if you like their music or not, they are good at what they do.

I've always like the Eagles, but never really wanted to play any of their stuff in my band, with the possible exception of Take It Easy. Spiny are best descibed as being "raw" lol, so the finer tones of Eagles songs wouldnt really fit too well into our set.
Maybe a punked-up version of Desperado??? Maybe not eh.
Later.

A mighty welcome :-)

2006-06-25T10:38:00.000+01:00

After only one post on my new Blog it was nice of our kid Delbut to introduce me to a few of his chums across the pond! Many thanks to Ranceman and Metalchick for a welcome message, cheers guy's, I'll try to meet the required standard but I can't promise to met the giddy heights that Del has reached just yet! Ranceman, I've been to Toronto! Awesome town, I loved it there! Although I was as sick as a dog in the CN tower! Why oh why did they put a glass floor in that thing????
Del, are you trying to tell me that there are more than 3 chords????????????? I am sure that if Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and John Lee Hooker knew that they could have made a name for themselves! Anyway, we have two guitarists in Spiny, I know 3 chords (A, D and E) and Paul knows a few others so where's the problem? Between us we can cope.
I just got back from the 40th birthday bash and am about to have an ice cold shower to try and shift the earthquake in my head, then it's out into Cardiff for another birthday celebration, this time it's my Dad! The whole family is meeting for dinner then it's off to the Millenium Stadium to see the Eagles in concert!!!! It should be a good show, I've seen them once before about 4 or 5 years back and they were top quality. This time they're playing in a 78,000 seater stadium and I actually think my appartment is closer to the stage than our seats, but it should be a good day nonetheless!!

There were some interesting folk at the party last night! One girl was telling us of a dream she keeps having about a snake trying to bite her ass! I tried to tell her that it was all very Freudian but she had no idea what I was going on about, so I got her another pint of vodka and moved on.

My "sister-in-law" (who's birthday it was) had the following presents off her boyfriend (my Brother and lead singer in Spiny Norman!!)
1. Tickets for the Eagles Concert.
2. A criuse around the Ionian and Medeteranian seas visiting the islands of Greece and various other exotic and historical locations from the birthplace of civilisation, starting next Saturday and lasting for 2 weeks!

Do you know what he got me for my birthday a few months back? A guitar lead! I love him really. (joke Al, joke!!)

I also had a small boat with a tiny motor for my bathtub off a girlfriend of mine. She totally misunderstood me! I asked her for a quick tug, but she obviously was thinking on a different level to me!
Oooo my head!
I need a cold shower, pain killers and sleep, but hey, I guess a few more beers and a couple of JD's will have the same effect eh? Here we go then....wish me luck!

In The Beginning........

2006-06-24T11:36:00.000+01:00

So it begins.....My first attempt at a Blog!! My mate Delbut (finest drummer this side of me) has been blogging for many a moon now and so I thought I'd give it a go myself. I am a guitarist/singer in the band Spiny Norman, along with Del, (thats me on the right incase you were wondering!!)
This Blog will give you an insight into what it's like being part of a covers band in South Wales, from rehearsing to gigging!
I have no intention of using a spell checker, so dont even go there ok!!!!
This isnt the best time to actually start a blog about my band cos we have no rehearsals and no gigs lined up for at least 3 weeks so in the meantime here's a brief band history..........
We formed in 1996 and it's now our tenth anniversary!
Was that brief enough for ya?
There's more info on the Spiny website.

Here's a bit about me:
I am 38, I am single, I live in Cardiff Bay in South Wales. I am a chemist and I work with radioactively labelled organic compounds for use in the drug discovery industry, it's all good fun and for those of you who want to know more about nuclea chemisrty but find it difficult to understand, here's an easy guide:

Actually I'm not really allowed to say what my work entails, it's so secret that not even I know what I do! In the secret organization I work for, all identities, for security purposes, have to be kept strictly confidential. For instance, I haven’t the faintest idea who I am, nor do I know what my job is. When I drive myself home from work, I have to wear a blindfold so I don’t find out where I live. I also have to be quite secretive about my real name, as do my coleagues, Now this all-pervading secrecy over names could, of course, be very harmful to the normal smooth running of whatever it is we do in our department, so, in order that we have something to call each other, we simply stick pins at random into a phone book. And this week my name is Slumberland Quilts. But that’s just a cover.

I cant wait till we start gigging again, this Blog writing is harder than it looks (Del, you make it look sooooo easy!!)
Ok, as soon as I can think of something interesting to write I'll be back! I'm off to my sister-in-law's 40th birthday party now up in Abernoname. If I survive the vegetarian buffet I'll post the outcome!