Tobe
- Slick 50
- Dixon - Mitch -
Manny
- Steve - Rachel
-
Guitar - Keyboards - Bass - Drums - Violin - Boogie, Blues & R&B
in the
South
East.
No 58 - Medway Bridge Marina - 20.08.10
In
the chandlery this time, we cut down on gear and found we had a great
sound. This is one of our favourite gigs and the audience was up
to their usual standard in the clapping, drinking and sarcasm
departments. We all enjoyed the BBQ [however the chef that I
brought with me has some suggestions as to how to improve some aspects
of the incineration process] and are looking forward to the gig on
October 30th where we expect to see some outrageous costumes.
Announcement:
After his 3rd stint as bass player with the band Mr Slick has decided
to call it a day and go off to do his own thing again. Of all the
bass players we have had he has always been the most dynamic and will
be the one our fans miss the most. He played like a demon at this
gig and we are very sad to lose him. Look out for the 'Goodbye Mr
Slick' party coming up soon, invite only of course.
Cheers, Tobe.
No 57 - Drakes Cork & Cask - Maidstone - 29.07.10
Despite
any missgivings about the acoustics before we played this was a fun gig
and the sound was fine. The audience were there to listen to
music and enjoy themselves. Many thanks to all the dancers and
great to see so many young people getting into our band. Can't
remember how many shirts it was that night for our animal at the back,
several I should say. Looking forward to our return.
No 56 - LDF Charity event at Westleigh Heights - Basildon - 18.07.10
It
was a lovely day despite looking a bit rough weather wise earlier.
We were short of two key members so we cast about for a competent
bass player in order to keep Dix on the keyboards. Unfortunately
we got Dick instead. He was obviously on [heavy duty] medication
and although he played all the right notes they were [for the most
part] not in the right order. Dick billed himself as 'the best
bass player in Kent' but we were playing in Essex where I assume the
standard must be much higher. We had a very fraught time setting
up. Dix lent his P.A. to the guys doing the sound for the dancing
as theirs had packed in. The only part of our P.A. that gave no
trouble was the main power amp. Both monitor systems failed and
so we made the duff decision to switch 2 of the main speaker outputs to
the
out front monitor bins, of course we were deafened and had to change it
all and put the main bins behind us for the 2nd set which then
restricted our overall volume. Dix played most of the bass after
the first set and as the only guitarist I worked really hard for a
change. It was a bit strange playing as a three piece after all
this time but at least we could hear each other. Dick Turpin got
the hump and went to the pub. Poor old Dix had picked him up and
had to take him home again, we left after him and kept a lookout for a
body or a large pool of blood beside the road. When we saw
nothing we assumed that Dix had taken a different route. Mitch
and I did an Amy MacDonald song 'Mr Rock & Roll' acoustic - guitar
and voice. To our surprise we were asked to play an extra set and
invited back for next year. The keyboards kept going off while we
were playing and it turned out that there was nothing wrong with the
gear it was the generator. Lessons learned. The weather
stayed lovely all day and overall it was a great event.
Here is a copy of the letter from Moira regarding the event:
There
are a few missing here due to me allowing my personal life to impinge on band things
- I will try to prevent this happening in future.
No 46 - The Six Bells - Cliffe - 30.04.10
This
is the gig we will always remember as 'the one that Dix forgot'
We were all set up and realised that he was a bit late, very late
in fact. Phone calls were made and he arrived while we were
playing, we kept going while he set up his gear, creeping around trying
not to look conspicuous. It was great when he suddenly came in on
the keys, reminded us of why he is in the band. Great gig, thanks
chaps.
Cheers, Tobe.
No 45 - The Good Intent - Rochester - 03.04.2010
This
was the gig with no Slick, could have been right dodgy especially as I
was as deaf as a post [still got the bloody virus after 15 weeks!] but
it turned out good, after a slightly shaky start. I apologise for
cocking up the first song. Dixon excelled himself on the bass and
everyone loves Rache and her fiddle. Jackson was brilliant and
Mitch really got into Mollys Chambers and of course we forgot the
break, silly us! Steve was bloody awesome again and the 'buggers
at the back' had a fine old time playing on the fact that I couldn't
hear a thing, they still made me laugh though.
Highlights:
Harry and his mate falling over backwards while dancing [or something
close to dancing anyway], Dixons 'Bass Solo' in Baby Jump, Steve
getting up and playing the pub furniture, Mitches boots [both of them],
someones silly giant glasses changing the settings on my amp when
dropped on it, and Dixon playing another makeshift cardboard box after
I forgot the proper one [again].
Thanks to Karen for booking us so many times and thanks to a wonderful audience, love all the dancing.
Cheers, Tobe.
No 44 - The Steampacket - Strood - 13.03.2010
Blindin'
gig, brilliant audience, my band were just fantastic, I'm proud of them
all. Thanks to Fliss for booking us again despite the fact that
she could have had Eric Clapton for only 28 times our fee!
Highlights:
Slicks guitar amp doing a damn good impersonation of a short
wave radio being hit by lightning, one of the staff failing in her
suicide attempt [you need to jump off the roof, not the bar], Steve
Fishers wonderful comment "I really loved the way you did 'Milk & Alcohol' man"......Manny and I looked at each other and I said " wow man! If an imaginary song is that good what were the ones we really did do like?"
Steve was thinking of 'Sex, drugs & rock&roll', Dixon
playing a crisp box 'cause I forgot the proper one and Steve changing
his shirt [3 times!]. We call this a '3 shirt night', thought I'd
mention it just in case anyone gets the wrong idea.
Cheers, Tobe.
Mick Green: 22 February 1944 - 11 January 2010
Mick
Green didn't like to boast about his prowess as an instrumentalist, yet he was
one of the most influential musicians to come out of the British Isles in the
early 1960s.
While The Shadows'
lead guitarist, Hank Marvin, pioneered a clean sound, Green, who joined Johnny
Kidd & the Pirates in 1962, was a gutsier, louder, raunchier, more exciting
kind of guitar hero.
He managed to
simultaneously play blistering lead and staccato rhythm parts on his Fender
Telecaster, a trademark style that would soon be emulated by The Who's Pete
Townshend and Wilko Johnson of pub-rock legends Dr Feelgood, and was greatly admired
by Slade frontman, Noddy Holder. Though Green became a Pirate two years after
Kidd's British No. 1 "Shakin' All Over" – a mainstay of The Who's
repertoire throughout the Sixties and early Seventies – his driving guitar
epitomised the band's high energy, high-octane approach, on stage and on their
subsequent singles, including their storming covers of Arthur Alexander's
"A Shot of Rhythm and Blues" and Bo Diddley's "I Can Tell",
the Top 20 singles "I'll Never Get Over You" and "Hungry for
Love" – all issued in 1963 – and "Always and Ever", their last
chart entry in 1964.
Green subsequently
joined Billy J Kramer & the Dakotas, and later plied his trade backing
Engelbert Humperdinck in Las Vegas. Kidd died in 1966, but Green reunited with
the Pirates mainstays, the bassist and vocalist Johnny Spence and the drummer
Frank Farley, as a back-to-basics trio a decade later. The Pirates proved a
natural fit with the pub rock and the punk generation and enjoyed success with
their own Out of Their Skulls album in November 1977 and the Hope & Anchor
Front Row Festival, a double set documenting a three-week event at the London
pub venue which also featured The Wilko Johnson Band, The Stranglers, XTC,
X-Ray Spex, The Saints, 999 and Dire Straits, which was released in March 1978.
Over the last three decades, Green occasionally performed with The Pirates, but
also recorded and toured with Paul McCartney, Van Morrison and Bryan Ferry, an
indication of the reputation and standing he enjoyed as a sideman.
Born in Matlock,
Derbyshire, he grew up in Wimbledon in the same block of flats as Spence and
Farley. By the mid-Fifties, the three boyhood friends had grown into teenagers,
in thrall to the skiffle craze, and were eagerly trying to figure out the
chords to Lonnie Donegan's chart-topping version of "Cumberland Gap".
They quickly formed their own skiffle group with fanciful names such as the
Wayfaring Strangers and the Ramrods.
Green was the
inquisitive type and backtracked from skiffle to the blues of Leadbelly, Big
Bill Broonzy and Muddy Waters. He also studied classical guitar for 18 months.
His playing was inspired by the American guitarists he admired, Chet Atkins,
the Johnny Burnette sideman Paul Burlison, and especially James Burton, whose
feel and sound he successfully emulated and moved on into a new era.
He was still at
school when Kidd hit with "Please Don't Touch" in 1959 and
"Shakin' All Over" the following year, and became a Pirate when he
replaced Johnny Patto in March 1962, two months after Spence and Farley had
come on board. A stint at the Star Club, the Hamburg venue where The Beatles
had honed their craft, helped the powerhouse trio to develop a near-telepathic
understanding and Green blossomed as they opened with their own 15-minute set
before backing Kidd, the swashbuckling front man, who wore an eye-patch and
used a cutlass on stage.
"We didn't have
a rhythm guitarist and our sound needed filling out," Green said of his
distinctive and pioneering approach to his instrument. "You can only play
that way with a trio, you can't play like that with another guitar or a piano.
It's achieved by bashing out the chords loudly and twiddling around with the
things. It's quite an easy thing to do; there's nothing magical about it."
This line-up lasted
two and a half years and appeared all over the UK, including at the Cavern in
Liverpool, and topped the bill over The Beatles at a Liverpool Riverboat
Shuffle event held aboard the Royal Iris on the Mersey in August 1962. The
Pirates also issued their own single, pairing "My Babe" and
"Casting a Spell", but after the "Jealous Girl" single
flopped in August 1964, Green left for Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas. He
played on their 1965 hit "Trains and Boats and Planes" and co-wrote
its B-side, "That's the Way I Feel", and several more tracks, and
recorded two Kramer-less singles with The Dakotas in 1967 before backing Billy
Fury for a spell.
The guitarist's
lengthy tenure with Humperdinck started in 1968. It brought steady income for
the newly married Green, as well as the occasional side benefit, like meeting
Elvis Presley in Vegas, but it was creatively unfulfilling. In 1974, he formed
the band Shanghai with the Thunderclap Newman songwriter John
"Speedy" Keen, and they released two albums and supported Status Quo
on tour in 1976. By then, Dr Feelgood, named after the Piano Red song covered
by The Pirates, had become all the rage. They had included "Oyeh!",
the Green instrumental first recorded by the Dakotas, on Down by the Jetty,
their 1975 debut. "The first time I heard the Feelgoods on the radio, I
really thought it was us," he remarked in 1977. "Fine, so the
Feelgoods made it by using many of the things that the Pirates developed.
That's great and shows how valid our approach always has been."
Green and Johnson
became friends and co-wrote "Going Back Home" which became a high
point of the Feelgoods' set and was included on both Malpractice, their 1975
follow-up, and Stupidity, their 1976 No. 1 live album. Johnson pestered Green
to reform The Pirates and the guitarist eventually relented. Planned as a
one-off event at Dingwalls in London, the reunion attracted rave reviews and
became permanent as the group upstaged Eddie and the Hot Rods at the
Roundhouse. They signed to Warners, recorded Out of Their Skulls live at the
Nashville in London and at Rockfield Studios in Wales with Feelgoods producer
Vic Maile, and toured the UK and continental Europe. Their mix of the covers
and originals which had constituted their Sixties repertoire, plus new
compositions like "Don't Munchen It" and the guitar ode "Gibson
Martin Fender" went down a storm, and they recorded a second album
entitled Skull Wars. As they had done with Kidd, they wore thigh-high boots and
other piratical garb and inspired the look Adam Ant sported at the dawn of the
Eighties.
Another fallow
period followed and Green made do with accompanying Freddie Starr, getting the
occasional opportunity to shine as the comedian impersonated Presley and other
rock stars.
Given Green's
pedigree as one of the originators of British rock'n'roll, it was fitting that
McCartney recruited the guitarist to make the Ñíîâà â ÑÑÑÐ/CHOBA B CCCP album
of rock'n'roll covers originally conceived as a USSR-only release in 1988.
Eleven years on, when McCartney revived the idea for Run Devil Run, and added
three of his own compositions to another dozen rock'n'roll classics, Green
headed a stellar cast of sidemen including the Pink Floyd guitarist David
Gilmour, Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice, and keyboardist Pete Wingfield of
"Eighteen With a Bullet" fame. In December 1999, they even played a
landmark gig at The Cavern in Liverpool which was webcast and issued on video
and DVD.
Indeed, the last
decade saw Green in great demand, as he toured with Morrison and participated
in the recording of six of the vocalist's studio albums, starting with Back on
Top in 1999 and including the Top Ten albums Down the Road (2002), Magic Time
(2005), Pay the Devil (2006) and Keep it Simple (2008). He also contributed to
the Ferry solo albums Frantic (2002) and Dylanesque (2007), and performed with
him as well, though he suffered a heart attack while in New Zealand in 2004.
Farley retired from The Pirates in 2006, but Green and Spence released the
Skullduggery album the following year.
"I enjoy all
gigs. If I didn't really enjoy the playing, I wouldn't be doing it," Green
said in 2004.
Michael Robert
Green, guitarist and songwriter: born Matlock, Derbyshire 22 February 1944;
married Karen (two sons); died Ilford, Essex 11 January 2010.
No 43 - Medway Bridge Marina - Barbs birthday - 13.02.10
Surprise
birthday party for Barbara - she was surprised. We played
in the chandlery, it was brilliant. The new P.A. played up again,
that's it, it's going back. We have learnt several new songs
recently and did most of them. The crowd were wonderful, at
the end of our three song finale [that never is] the applause was
actually painful to the ears! At first we were meant to stop at
half past ten, I have no idea what time we finished but I did see a
witch on a broomstick through the window shortly after. Thanks to
John and Barbara, the management and especially you the audience for
giving us such a good night.
Highlights - Barbs face when she walked in.
Cheers, Tobe.
Obituary - 02.02.2010
Wichmann
the cat, aka Wicky, Mrs cat and 'that bloody hairball freak!' has
passed away after 10 years of faithful service demonstrating what
perfect killing machines cats are and almost never forgetting to leave
me a nice kidney under my desk [just where I like it] every time she
ate a rat or a mouse. After these 10 years she spent another year
gradually winding down and left the mangling of rodents behind her
preferring instead to take up permanent residence on my office chair.
Many laughs we had as she shot off when I span it round, tee
hee. She was the undisputed boss and one of the funniest things I
have seen was Bob the dog rushing up to his bed and then trying to make
it look like he wasn't going to jump straight into it when he saw Wicky
curled up in the middle. Mrs Cat had her own little bed at the
time and somehow Bob managed to scrunch himself up so small he got in
it.
We are going to bury her down by the sea wall right on top of old Leroy Brown. That'll piss him right off.
No 42 - The Walnut Tree Maidstone.
Thanks
to all the regular CBL9 nutters who came, and nice to
see some of the old crowd from the Beauty of Bath. Great to
see
half of 'One Way Street' at the pub. Shame Rachel couldn't make
it, even tuned up my banjo in readiness for the Irish songs. I
must make an apology for two things: firstly for doing 'Foxy Lady'
unrehearsed and by christ it was rough, and secondly for still not
having fully recovered from bronchitis. Several people said I
sang well but I felt I was struggling at some points. I certainly
had a job to restrain a cough during the harp break in 'Doctors' which
could have led to a very sticky situation of you will pardon the pun.
Apart from that we feel good about the gig and are looking
forward to playing more this year. The new P.A. setup seems to be
settling down as we gain more experience with it and now we are all
using smaller guitar amps the sound is more balanced and easier to
control.
Highlights:-
Steve smashing a pint glass while doing
his solo bit in 'Baby Jump' - Dix and Steve ['the buggers at the back'] both playing part of each
others instruments while still playing their own, at the same time - Dix playing a bass solo [he never
did that before] - Mitch and I singing 'Jackson' with all the
correct words and in the correct order!
All in all not a bad gig especially as it was the first of the year.
Feedback:-
Despite 'Foxy Lady' it seems [according to some] we are the best band to play in there for months. Roll on October.
Cheers, Tobe.
No 41 - New Years Eve 2009 - The Pier Hotel Upnor.
It's
a very long time since my band has played on New Years Eve and we
didn't intend to this year either. Gary asked if we could do it
and to my great surprise only Manny was otherwise committed so we
agreed. Both Mitch and I were suffering from this dreadful cold
and I really struggled to keep it together, sustained as I was by old
Mrs Pointyhats absolutely vile cough mixture, [last used by the Sheriff
of Nottingham] which was ok until I od'd about 11.00hrs. It
doesn't make you any better, you just don't care about being ill.
From what I can remember it was a very enjoyable gig, we made a
few memorable cockups - Mitch and I fell apart on 'Jackson' but we just
laughed about it and carried on and the P.A. played up somewhat but not
as much as last time. It seems you need a special kind of brain
not available round here to understand how the bloody thing works.
We are working on it. Thanks go to all the CBL9
Appreciation Society, Gary, Steve and all at the pub, my band, Paul and
everyone else in the audience. We got some good fotos and
some of the recordings came out not too bad.
We now have video of the event now which you can check out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CufTvuJbWjU
We will be back in the pub some time in the new year with the full band.No 40 - Xmas Bash 2009 - 12.12.09 - Deangate Ridge Golf Club.
I
would like to thank the Golf Club staff for looking after the band
exceptionally well and providing us, and the audience, with such a
pleasant atmosphere. Some people thought that the manager was a
little officious and spikey, but I explained to them that the poor
woman was simply overwhelmed by the charisma of 'Cell Block 9 and Fans'
and the pace of the evenings entertainment. After all, the most
energetic thing to happen at the club this year was the 'Easter Monday Easter Egg Hunt and Bonnet Competition' .
- [taken direct from their website]. The manager was happy
to provide us with a large knife and fork with which to cut up the
turkey as the knobhead who incinerated the bloody thing neglected to
consider whether guests may be unwilling to tear bits of it off with
their fingers. She also waived my offer to pick up the feathers
left after Michelle and I gave our demonstration of perfectly
synchronised modern dance and gave me a lovely kiss goodbye at the end
which really made the evening for me.
As for the gig itself,
firstly, Doves Cry were brilliant considering it was their first ever
live performance. It was a hard thing to warm up our lot, but
they got them at the end. A stroke of genius doing 'Wade in the
Water' I don't know anybody who doesn't love that song.
Max.....you have the most wonderful voice, we all think you should be singing jazz.
Thanks to Max - Geoff - Gilly and Henry - Doves Cry - check them out at www.reverbnation.com/dovescry
Geoff and Henry are both ex founder members of CBL9 - small world innit?
The
CBL9 bit went like any other of our Xmas Bashes....bloody mayhem.
Half of the props disappeared, the P.A didn't overload this
time...it couldn't since I bought a power amp big enough to do
Glastonbury, no...... this time it overloaded the mains power supply.
Band members got lost, both physically and musically, the sound
system went all to ratshit for us despite behaving perfectly for Doves
Cry. Michelle got told off for using the staff bog, bloody good
job they didn't enter while I was in there with my meat & two veg
hanging out trying to get those bleedin' pants on. Yes, tensions
were running high behind the scenes but as usual, we put on a perfectly
seamless, polished and professional performance.......Ho, Ho. The
day we do that I will have a stroke for sure.
All said, the evening
went off fine and we raised a lot of cash for MAGIC and more good news
is that some company is going to match what they raise this year up to
a limit of £5000 !!!
The video has yet to be edited and mastered but
look out for Steve Arbour and myself looking very silly and thanks to
all you people present for not calling the local mental
hospital.....now you all know why I don't dance.
Some people went
away with some great raffle prizes as usual [thanks Gaynor] and it
seems most of you would like to come again next year.
I need to thank a lot more people so here goes:
Paul
for doing so much and so many things I can't list them all here and for
having endless patience with me when I disagree with him.
Michelle
for enormous enthusiasm, making clothes and props, painting things,
choreography, singing and shouting at me when I need it, but most of
all, for daring to try to teach me how to dance and helping me to
conquer one of my greatest fears [and I am not joking here] - cheers
Mitch.
Rachel for joining us and doing so much more than just playing the violin
Pete for his help, support and encouragement in the face of the idiocy of the average musician. [Me]
Food people
- Mr Big - Dix - Manny - Linda - Linda - Lucy - Mitch - Justine - Linzy
- Slickers - John & Barbs - Steve Fisher - Rach & Pete - Gaynor.
Nasty and troublesome people - thank you for staying away this year.
Door people - Linda - Harry and Pete, cheers.
People whos names I do not know - esp. the woman from the garage on Cuxton road who bought several tickets without any real idea of what she was in for.
Tim at Absolute Music for getting our rolling chassis to us on time against all the odds - http://www.absolutemusic.co.uk
All our fans and other people we conned into attending and helping us to celebrate our own band and raise money for charity at the same time
Clive for standing in for Steve on the drums while he was trying to get his belly into and out of that basque and during 'Time Warp'.
Gaynor for the privilege of helping her wonderful charity.
Most of all, my band.
The band which has morphed into the most amazing bunch of
musicians I have ever been in awe of. It keeps growing.
Eight years ago John Monday said he thought the band had about
another two years in it before it ran out of steam. Just shows
how wrong a man can be. Nothing personal John. [He gets a
bit paranoid sometimes].
Look out for our next gig at the Pier at Upnor on New Years Eve.
Cheers from Tobe.....I thank you all.
No 39 - The Trocadero, Gravesend - 31.11.09 [Halloween]
You
can't accuse CBL9 of not getting into the spirit of things, we looked
ridiculous. We weren't intending to go in fancy dress until Manny
informed us he had purchased a dracula outfit...that was it then.
Steve the drummer came in some kind of weird drag setup, Dix was
meant to have a 't' shirt covered in blood but I think they forgot the
blood, however he did have a witches hat on and makeup. Mitch
looked so Gothic we thought she had actually died at one point, and I
had the CBL9 Wizards Cloak on inside out, a monster top hat made out of
cardboard, and makeup. Slickers came as himself which is
frightening enough in any case.
The gig was in two parts:
Part one
- we play for an hour and the pub fills up gradually. During this
period we think 'ooh'... this is good...full venue, and they like
us.
Part two - we stop for a
break, the canned music is so loud that nearly all the audience
piss off elsewhere and at least two members of the band insert ear
plugs until we start again.
Outside, one member of the audience was heard to say to Tobe "get back in there and stop that dreadfull effing row".
We
got back in there but the moment was lost, the remaining crowd were
great, but it stayed thin and the sound was not as good. All in
all we enjoyed ourselves but we feel that 'Devil Man' as he was
christened on the night needs to change his eardrum karma. I have
never heard of a band wearing ear plugs while the disco is on and
removing them for their own set, but perhaps you have?
I must say that Gravesend was very alive that night and we hope to be able to play in the town again.
A message to the lovely young lady who asked us to play a Kings of Leon song:-
Next time you see us we will do one especially for you.
It
was very nice to have so many people appreciate us doing 'Radar Love'.
I'm amazed that it is so popular again. Slick 50 and I went
up to Ipswich earlier in the year to see Golden Earring at one of the
only two gigs they have played here in the last 25 years, they were
awesome. I saw them in 1973 in Plymouth and they blew me away,
that was the year Radar Love came out. Back to Ipswich 2009, when
they played the intro to Radar Love everybody [except the woman in a
wheelchair] stood up and no-one sat down for the rest of the gig.
Apologies for the sound problem at the end, we have not quite got the hang of our new p.a. yet.
I
want to thank all the people who stayed despite an attempt to give them
permanent tinnitus and I thank my band for being themselves despite all
my attempts to make them famous. A special thanks to Mitch for
doing all the makeup and singing with me, particularly, on Radar Love
and Roadhouse Blues.
Cheers for now, Tobe.
No 38 - The best laid plans - 03.10.09
The
gig on the Rochester Queen went well considering the circumstances, [my
arrest for handling stolen goods and Linda doing a runner after I took
the dog back in order to prevent another person from being arrested]
until the fight at the end - spoilt it really. We shall monitor
the situation. As you probably know it is very easy to ruin a
boozer and extremely hard to get it back into shape.
We now have a band without a manager and a singer without a woman, I think we shall worry about the mangement problem first.
Cheers, Tobe.
No 37 - 14.09.09
We were hoping to go to Darnet Island to make
a promotional video in the fort but unfortunately the weather is
against us and I have made the decision to cancel it and we will try to
do it at another more accessible location as soon as we can.
Apologies to all the people who were coming with us, but it was
always dependent on the weather.
Cheers, Tobe.
No 36 - 12 09.09 - Steam Packet, Strood.
What
a difference a few hours can make. We had a blinding gig.
Radar Love was the pinnacle of it. We were all a bit
nervous about doing it after the cockup at lunchtime but it was bloody
awesome. Mitch did so well considering she had the dreaded lurgy
and we love it when Steve does his introducing the band bit in Sweet
Home Chicago. We did a lot of instrument changes and sometimes
Dix and Steve did songs with the wrong gear but it didn't matter.
Thanks to all who attended.
Cheers, Tobe.
No 35 - 12.09.09 - Help For Heroes gig at the Pier, Lower Upnor.
Apologies
for the crap performance and the poor sound. I am not going to
make any excuses. It was a laugh though, especially when I manged
to change into my leathers etc during the last song, ready to ride off
with the rest of them; which would have been fine if they had actually
been ready. This is only the first gig of the day, we have
another at the Steam Packet tonight, hope it goes better than this one.
Cheers, Tobe.
No34 - 24.08.09 - Jackies Party, Cliffe. [Self - Slick 50 -
Manny - Mitch - Peter]
Steve called me at work and he now has the Swine Flue and simply wishes
to go to bed and never wake up again, so I called all the drummers I
know and some I don't and this 'ere geezer Peter [never met him]
agreed to come and do the business. We were a little
concerned that he might be a fantasist or worse but he turned out to be
a truly great drummer and we had a wonderful gig playing in the garden
in the middle of a large housing estate and, had no complaints!
Amazing. The sound with the new P.A. was almost startlingly
clear and, as usual, when playing outside we just had a great sound
overall. Manny and I did a lot of work with the two guitars and
found it very easy to get a good sound as Peter knew when to come down
in volume. Slick 50 has a new bass amp but still uses the IBL
P.A. bin as well which gives him a wicked sound. He played like a
demon and actually looked like he was enjoying himself, smiling and
grinning..... most unusual. All in all, another very enjoyable
gig for the band and what a lovely audience. Special thanks go to
Peter for jumping in and doing such a great job at very short notice.
Thanks to the lady who asked us to play 'Little red Rooster' as
we now have a new song on our set list; Manny grabbed my slide
guitar and got on with it while the rest of us faked the first bit
until we figured out how it actually went, Cheers. Thanks to
Jackie and Mick for inviting us to play and to everybody else there for
enjoying the band.
Cheers, Tobe.
No33 - 23.08.09 - Flower Pot, Maidstone. [Self - Slick 50 - Manny -
Steve Arbour - Mitch]
This was the first gig since the goodbye Emitt party. We were a
little nervous. We have been rehearsing 'Radar Love' and intended
to do it but were a bit worried about it sounding shite. When we
did do it we found our fears were totally unfounded, it was great and
the audience certainly let us know so. The new P.A. had it's
first gig and is incredibly clear, we had not noticed he gradual
deterioration in the old one. The band seems to have morphed into
a kind of chamelion affair which amounts to 'whoever turns up plays'
which is great in one respect as you never know exactly what you are
going to get and so it's not as boring for the audience [hopefully].
We had a good night although Steve was a bit under the weather,
and another gig tomorrow.
Thanks to all the CBL9 fans who attended and made it such a good night.
Cheers, Tobe.
No 32 - 22.07.2009 - general update.
Not too much to report, cancelled Cornwall. There's a first
time for everything I suppose. We are all gutted really but there
was no other way. It may well cost me several hundred quid as we
will only get the deposit for the house back if they manage to let it
to someone else.
On the bright side; things are going really well in the actual music
area. Steve, our new drummer is fitting in really well and is
already singing and putting his own mark on the band. We are
finding that we can do songs with Steve that we struggled with in the
past so look out you lot.
We now find ourselves with a very flexible band which has 5 singers
when at full strength, add to that the ability of the bass player to
play guitar and the keyboard player to play bass and drums and we are
able to approach songs in ways not possible before.
Mitch is coming on well as a singer and we have great fun singing
girlie backing to her 'Duffy' vocals. Look out for her doing Tina
Turner soon.
We should be giving you a bit of twin lead on the guitars soon as Slick
and I are going to learn the guitar work for the Wisbone Ash number
'Blind Eye' together.
We have a new P.A. system now and are hoping it will be at least as
good as the old one which we have retired to the rehearsal studio now.
What a shame you will not be seeing one of us bashing it to stop
that bloody 'orrible noise it used to make while it was warming up ever
again, ahhh.......the good old days eh? I bought it in 1995 and
it has done every gig I have played since then....that's enough
reminiscing.
Funny things from the archives:
Dix was going for it in the rehearsal studio the other night and he
must have slowly worked his way back, suddenly he started to fall over
backwards, still on his chair. The funny bit was that despite
falling over the edge of an 18 inch drop he kept playing by stretching
out his arms further and further as he went. One thing we can say
about this band is that we have had an awful lot of fun.
I have been for quite some time now saving as MP3 some of the funny,
stupid, or just notable things that happen at our gigs in between songs
and intend one of these days to put the best of them together on a
CD.......who can forget the amazing R2 D2 battle at the Royal Function
Rooms between Manny and Mitch, in parts it is difficult to tell which
is her voice and which is his guitar......another time I announced that
Linda and I were to be married and Dix asked "what?.....to each other?"
Anyway we can stick it all on U tube some day.
Cheers for now, Tobe.
No 31 - 17.06.2009 - The search for a drummer.
Auditions are all over thankfully. We have chosen our next
drummer, Steve. This means that we have two members called Steve
in the band again. Looking forward to the future now, as always,
and the old Controller can get on and book some more gigs.
Cheers, Tobe.
No 30 - 14.06.2009 - The bye, bye, Emitt Barbeque.
Slick 50 organised this event and we all brought some grub and booze
and instruments etc. Fortunately the weather was with us and we
had a wonderful afternoon eating and drinking and playing and singing.
We had a small P.A. and one speaker for the keyboards and the
bass. Manny and I plugged our electro acoustic guitars in so we
could play lead and all the warbling was acoustic. It was great
fun and Emitt still managed to do a bloody awesome solo on just the one
drum. Linda and Carol got very emotional [and pissed]. John
brought his guitar along and played some, surprising us as he usually
does. We filmed it with a selection of cameras and have some good
footage to edit. The band got Emitt some quality brushes as a
going away present, it seems he is a serious artist as well as a
phenomenal percussionist. We got some advice from a famous artist
we happen to know and got him some 'Hogs hair' brushes. He was
very happy. It must have been a great night as Slick didn't make
it to work the next day.
Thanks to all who attended and a special thanks to the adults who had a
go on the trampoline and made us all laugh so much.
Cheers, Tobe.
No 29 - 31.05.2009 - Emitts last gig, he is moving to China!
Another great gig at the Good Intent at Rochester. Many thanks to
Karen and Dal for putting up with our eccentric band again, we all had
a good time. During the gig I made an announcement regarding
Linda and I getting married next year and to my surprise it got the
best applause of the night [except for Emitts solo, of course], made me
feel quite humble. Thanks to all you nutters who came to support
us and don't forget to come and see the band next time we are there, in
September.
Hightlights:-
Emitt excelled himself with his solo and we hope the film came out ok
as we had some problems wiht the recording gear.
Just after I announced that Linda and I are getting married Dixon was
heard to ask "what? to each other?"
Carol and Dixon both wearing those T shirts with the functional graphic
equalizer things on.
Me getting a massive shock off the plug on the strobe light, not once,
but twice!
It is sad that Emitt is leaving but as I said to him "life is bigger
than Cell Block 9". Linda then said "not to you of course" and
she may be right. Anyway, we wish him all the best in his new
venture and are hoping that he may be able to organise a CBL9 tour of
China some day.
Cheers, Tobe.
No 28 - 30.05.2009
Played the Steam Packet at Strood last night, brilliant gig. It
was a bit of a squeeze getting us all in but great fun. Wonderful
audience, we started early and finished late. I announced our
forthcoming marriage and got a lovely reaction. Mitch done well,
and Manny played some great guitar. Steve used his new amp
for the first time and it really does sound good, he always plays well
but excelled himself at this gig. Emitt was Emitt as usual,
brilliant. Dix played to his normal standard and made most of the
stupid comments, so no change there. It was great to see Linda at
a gig again.
No 27 - John & Barbs Wedding - Medway Bridge Marina - 23.05.2009
Fantastic gig. Played nearly 3 hours, amazing audience.
It's so nice to play to so many people that really love the band.
We had plenty of room and the sound was great. We didn't
have to pack up till the next day either, luxury.
No 26 - something cheerful for a change
Just played our second gig at the Flower Pot in Maidstone.
Wonderful name for a great little pub. Several people in
the audience said the same thing; along the lines of "we missed your
first gig here so we made sure we came this time". That's the
kind of thing I love to hear. Everyone seemed to enjoy the
evening and no one commented on the fact that we had Manny with us
instead of Dix. I did make a reference to our keyboard player
being a bit older and a bit balder and not having his keyboards with
him. Michelle sang her Duffy song again and really did it well.
She is over the moon to be taking a bigger part in the band and I
want to give her a lot more to do. She has a lot of ideas and is
finding her feet regarding the kind of material she should best do.
Manny was his usual showman self and brought life to 'Black magic
Woman' and 'Red House'. Cocaine was great fun with Manny and I
throwing licks at each other in the break. Michelle and Manny had
a little 'Scat' moment with him doing R2D2 on the guitar and her doing
the same with her voice, amazing. Emitt did a great job as usual
and got thunderous applause for his solos. Steve played great
bass and hid behind a pillar most of the evening only coming out to
berate me for talking too much, so no surprises there. The
audience were fantastic, I salute them. I had a great night
myself and spent half an hour or so being hugged and kissed after the
gig and got paid as well! Apologies to the lady who got thrown at
me by Carol [my No1 fan] who mistakenly thought she would sort of
automatically want to hug me. We managed to avoid close contact;
but only just. It was a lovely surprise to see Lydia, Rachel and
Pete walk in the door, I have some great fans.
No 23 - 25.02.2009 - General stuff
Ello
all
you CBL9 fans wot read all this stuff so avidly. I have been truly
overwhelmed at the sheer volume of responses to my request for feedback
and wish to apologise to any of you who have not received a
reply yet. I must especially congratulate a Mrs Trellis from North
Wales who wrote 'dear Tiger Woods, I had no idea you were in possession
of so many talents, please keep up the good work and when you have
finished over there could you come and clean my brickwork?'. It is very
humbling to find that our little band has reached so many people and
that we seem to appeal to such a wide range of ages. Thank you to all
who attended that Xmas Bash and helped us to raise a record amount of
dosh for 'MAGIC'. We will be doing it again next year but it will be a
little smaller. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome
Michelle to the
band. She has been singing the odd song with us for some while now and
is gradually doing more and more.
Cheers for now, T.
No 22 - 17.02.2009 - First gig of the year, The Flower Pot.
After the hectic time we had last year we had a nice rest, only thing
is, it went on so long that our first rehearsal was at the Flower Pot
in Maidstone. We should have been very apprehensive but none of
us were that I know of and it was a blinding gig. We all enjoyed
ourselves and the audience certainly seemed to like it. We got a
return straight away and are back there in April. It's a great
little venue with good staff and a nice laid back atmosphere. We
have decided to only rehearse new material from now on so look out for
a whole bunch of new numbers.
No 21 - 21.12.2008 - The Christmas Bash
When you do things for charity people seem to be happy to give some of
their time to help out, however, when CBL9 does something for charity
people seem to go crazy about it. I am overwhelmed by the volume
of work that has gone into the Christmas Bash this year. In our
studio we have had carpentry, welding and fabrication, plumbing,
construction of electrical devices, painting, rehearsing, shouting and
swearing and lots and lots of laughter. We had a dress rehearsal
for the cabaret and the first time I came out with my blond wig and my
feather boa the band cracked up. People have been to all kinds of
places and bought all kinds of gear, costumes have been made and all
sorts of props. The food was thankfully well up to our normal
standard and everyone was so kind offering to cook etc.
All kinds of things went wrong but nothing stopped the show. My
radio microphone picked up some kind of interference and was unusable
so I went off and got another which got itself lost. Some of the
lights packed in and we struggled to see what we were doing. The
smoke machine developed a fault and instead of the smoke exiting Mitch
the fairys cleavage it came out of the box. Performers got lost
and unfortunately were found again. The new PA system required a
highly trained technician just to make the simplest adjustments and
gave us no end of hassle. My banjo detuned itself and refused to
allow anybody to return it to concert pitch making me look even dafter
during 'The Streak' Dix decided at the last moment to play
'Smoke gets in your eyes' in a different key which made for an
interesting effect, a kind of war between the piano and the voice, with
any other band it would have been 'off key' or 'out of tune' but hell,
this is the wonderful world of CBL9 and it was after all a comic
interlude.
The grub was great and I must seriously thank all the people who
provided, and or, cooked food for the do - we love you.
We raised lots of money for the charity, not sure of the final amount
yet but I will post it as soon as I am.
Thanks go to all the people who attended, you made a wonderful audience
and we would like to be able to entertain you again some time.
Thanks to Dave and Rose for providing the venue. A special
thanks to Linda, Mitch, and Paul for their dedication to my band and
all it does.
I must mention that my old friend Jean who has known my family for
nearly 20 years failed to recognize Slick 50 at all on the night but
did notice my 'very handsome new bass player'....ho, ho. He did
look good I must say and especially when he played the double bass
which was kindly provided for a very low fee by Thwaites music of
Watford, many thanks. Dix and Emitt also looked very good and
exuded class. We had a whole host of problems mostly technical
but managed to carry on till the end which is better than last year so
the curse of the Christmas bash is gradually waning.
No 20 - 02.11.2008 - The Four Fathoms and the Steam Packet
Two distinctly different gigs.
The Four Fathoms [31.10.08] was hard work, playing to a largely
disinterested
audience [partly our fault I would say, considering our lacklustre
performance here the last time] of 15 to 20 people. The sound is
difficult to manage and the place is not really big enough for the band
to set up in. We have had some good gigs in there but I think we
need new songs for them.
The Steam Packet [01.11.08] was jumping. Jackie brought several
people with
her and they all enjoyed it. The locals were again impressed.
Dixon was not looking forward to the gig as he didn't like the
look of it from the outside but he had a pleasant surprise. The
band played extremely well and I think we all enjoyed the gig very
much. Thanks to the management for booking us and looking after
us very well. I'd like to thank Jackie and everyone who came with
her, Lyn and partner, Harry [get a wash mate] and Steve Fisher for
being at yet another CBL9 gig. Thanks go to my band for being the
best and to the Great Controller for twiddling all the knobs, so to
speak.
Cheers, Tobe.
No 19 - 14.10.2008 - Special announcement
Linda has just had her operation at St
Thomas' hospital to remove one
of her parathyroid glands which had a tumour and was overproducing
hormone making her progressively more and more ill. These glands
are notoriously difficult to locate and the scans showed nothing,
however, the surgeon found it and removed it and her calcium levels are
already back to normal. Recovery from the debilitating effects of
this problem are usually rapid and I am looking forward to having my
wonderful, crazy, woman back to 'normal' quite soon. I must thank
Mr Hubbard for doing a fantastic job, they said he was the best in the
country, he must be. I'd like to thank all the SGI Buddhists who
have been chanting for Linda during this difficult time. It is
her birthday today and I doubt if anyone had a better present than the
good news she has had this morning.
Linda would like to thank the surgeon
Mr Hubbard and the nurses of Nightingale Ward at St Thomas' Hospital
for the fantastic job they have done. In the anaesthetic room
Linda met a woman called Gemma, a paramedic who was observing
anaesthetics being administered. Linda was very frightened and
had a long conversation with Gemma about all kinds of things including
Buddhism. Gemma encouraged Linda to chant to help her over her
fear. Linda says that Nam Myoho Renge Kyo never fails to bring
people out of the environment to support us when we need it.
Thank you Gemma.
No 18 - The Good Intent
First gig in this pub. Lots of people who know me here.
They loved us. Certainly got to do this one again, even old
Relfy was impressed. The old P.A. tried to melt at this gig and I
think, as good as it's been, after 13 years of robust and constant
service it's time to retire it to the rehearsal room. A
replacement is on it's way now. I must thank Karen for booking us
and hope to be back in the new year.
Tobe.
No 17 - Cornwall Tour 2008 - 13th - 21st September
Wadebridge
As usual I was up late the night before having totally underestimated
the time required to get everything ready. We left far earlier
than we needed to as the traffic was very light this time. It
makes quite a day when you drive down, get all your gear into the
caravan and then go and play a gig and this one was an unknown
quantity. The Bridge On Wool. 35 years since I had been in
there. I had found it hard to imagine where the band would set up
in this very small pub but a pleasant surprise was waiting for me; they
had knocked the two bars together. We were more than a little
apprehensive about this gig after all we had really only had a few
rehearsals and played four gigs. It was absolutely packed and
they loved us. It was the best start to a tour ever for me.
Highlights
Emitt bought a chinese and they told him he couldn't eat it in the
pub. He went out in the beer garden and they told him he couldn't
eat it there either.
Some big old bird saw the coffin when we
were setting up and decided to lie down on it and shout to her mates.
Unfortunately she couldn't get back up again and I had to help
her to her feet.
St Columb
We have been playing this gig since the start of the Cornwall thing
only missing one year I believe. Normally there is a small but
slightly nutty audience and we get a few people dancing in the second
half. Not so this time. Dick Gummoe [or however you spell
his name] has finally retired and the place was jumping. I've
never seen so many people there. We had another great gig and
nice to see the hard and fast CBL9 supporters out in force.
Keith
Johnson and Pete Taylor came and I got both of them up to play, it
was great.
Bugle
Down to earth here I'm afraid. Like some rough old dive in the
deep south the audience turned their backs on the band and refused to
clap anything. You could cut the atmosphere with a knife and the
few people who were not part of the local clique were mostly
intimidated out of applauding. I am proud of my band for putting
on a show despite the ridiculous negativity shown by the locals who
obviously would have preferred to listen to some nice Beethoven piano
concertos or perhaps some gentle chamber music, maybe a few Bavarian
folk songs would have suited them much better.
Actually, I lived
there in the 80's and I didn't expect anything much better. They
were a bunch of ignorant inbreds then and they ain't changed much.
What was nice was when my ex wife told me about a woman at work
who said she was at the gig and without any idea that Jan knew me, or
the lads, described to her a great band being treated badly by the
locals.
Don't suppose we will be allowed back in Bugle after I publish
this, but no great loss now especially as Rex has retired from the chip
shop which I have been attending since before most of the inmates of
the pub were born, I might add.
The
Barbeque
It is a habit of ours to have a little get together with people we know
on a night when we have no gig. This year it was on the Monday.
It's great really because it feels like we have 2 days off.
Lots of people attended and we all had a great time assisted by
my tradition of providing the party goers with some slightly illegal
flapjacks. This only happens once a year so I put plenty in.
One member found the plain white ceiling incredibly interesting
for about 3 hours and I eventually became incapable of playing the
guitar. [The year before I made the mistake of licking the bits
of resin out of the cheese grater after I popped the innocent looking
cakes into the oven and oooh was I gone? or what?] Many thanks to
the people who did all the grub, especially Mitch the Fairy, and I'd
like
to thank all the locals who came and made it such a great evening.
Also thanks must go to our neighbours on the site who must have
heard the noise but didn't complain, hope we didn't keep you awake too
late.
Bodmin
This is the second time CBL9 has played in the Garland Ox. We
only just fit in. It's a weird place to play but it actually is a
good sound. Slick 50 had a bit of a shock when a veritable
truckload of his relatives arrived to see him play. I thought
he'd done a runner but he was just out the back talking to his extended
family. Christ, the pub was full of them, his grandmother turned
up, his uncle John and his lovely wife Terri, Steves Auntie Angie, his
maternal mother Janice and all his many half brothers and sisters.
It was mad. Lots of my old mates attended and we had a
wicked gig and really ripped the piss out of the Bugle Inn [or as we
call it now 'The Last Post'].
Highlights:
Dix was talking to his wife, the utterly gorgeous Verity, on the phone,
and he needed a wee wee. Steve and I watched with great delight
as he unwittingly walked into the ladies, unzipping as he entered, and
then kind of wavered about uncertainly when he saw a sink where he
expected the urinals to be; however, due to the fact that he was
talking on
the phone he just couldn't suss what was going on and only made it back
out after Slick told him he was in the wrong bog.
Watching my lovely Linda walking up the path looking at me while my ex
wife and I were in each others arms with her blubbing down my neck and
knowing she wasn't going to be angry at me.
Falmouth
Back at Finn Mc Couls for the third year in a row. It's a strange
gig mainly because it's a transit pub. The crowd changes through
the evening and at some points you look out and there's hardly anyone
in but 30 minutes later it's full. The landlady is a darling and
we always have a nice chat, though I find it awkward after a gig if I'm
talking and the other chaps are all busy packing up, I'm sure they must
talk about me behind my back, you know the sort of thing 'who does he
think he is?' - 'bloody prima donna' etc etc.
During the gig I noticed stuff descending on me, I looked up and a
young woman was up on the next level blowing bubbles down on us, I
smiled and she gave me a wonderfully cheeky smile back, it really made
my night.
On the way back the two vans got separated and as I got to the Par Moor
roundabout from one direction Dix was approaching from the other side.
Highlights
None.
Plymouth
There is usually one during a tour and this was it. We got there
and the Landlord who reminded me of the burnt out old screw in Porridge
tried to make out that he had cancelled the gig not aware that we
manage ourselves. I was in such a good mood that I immediately
decided not to make a big thing out of it and to play the gig for
nothing in view of the fact that we were all already there and we had a
number of people come to see us including members of Dixons family,
members of my family who had travelled from Taunton and a number of SGI
members who had come after a young mens meeting with my son Dan.
We
made it a party. We used the P.A. bins that were there and the
excellent monitor bins and we had a ball.
Highlights
Setting fire to the cigarrette thingy outside; and my brother actually
managing to remove his tongue from his new girlfriends tonsils for long
enough to say 'Hello'.
Polzeath
Not the most welcoming audience but not particularly anti. It's
usually a fairly flat gig in a pub/restaurant and we had to wait ages
for the noshers to vacate the area before we could set up. There
were quite a few feet tapping and I think they liked us but it was hard
to tell. We had a laugh though and it's a nice place.
Highlights
Emmit taking the piss and Dixon looking round and trying to figure out
what was missing till I pointed out that his keyboards were absent.
Then he went out to get them but returned about two minutes later
and asked "what did I go out there for?" He was knackered.
Penryn
What can I say? There was society wedding in the town and
everyone went, even the tourists it seemed. it was the biggest
pub I have ever been in, the lounge is in Penryn and the toilets are in
Falmouth and we had precisely 3 in the audience who did not come with
us! One of them slept the whole gig on a bleedin' sofa and din't
even stir when I turned my guitar up to earsplitting volume and played
the intro to 'Cocaine'. After we finished Paul filmed while I
woke him up and asked him what he thought of the gig, with a bit of
luck I will be posting the result on you tube soon. We made it a
party. During Emitts solo in Summertime Blues he got out his
African finger piano and played it. I came back from the toilet
to hear this incredibly beautiful music, everyone in the place was
transfixed, people were hardly daring to breathe. The band had no
idea he was going to do this.
During 'Dust my Broom' Emitt decided to just get up and go to the
toilet, I gestured to Slick to keep going and to my great delight [and
everybody elses'] Dix jumped on the drums and did a great job. He
finished the song off putting in a great smash and bash ending,
excellent.
We had a race home and despite us getting ahead to start with they just
pipped us, we met at the par moor roundabout again but they got there
first. Verity was driving and they told me she was crazy, now I
believe it.
We had another party after and it was lovely, Emitt played the finger
piano again, I played and sang, we chatted and laughed. Later
Mitch the Fairy threw about a half a hundredweight of left over food up
on top of Dixons abode and I complimented it with a large tin of
pilchards which kept rolling back off the bloody roof at me.
Someone always gets the 'early morning seagull fight alarm call'
and this year it was them.
Conclusion
Best tour ever - need a big house on it's own next time and try to
arrange it so we play Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Thursday, Friday,
Saturday, Sunday.
I must thank my band for being the best I have ever played with and
also the least trouble to organise. The whole week was just full
of people laughing and having a good time. I would like to thank
the management at the Bridge on Wool, the Red Lion, the Bugle Inn, the
Garland Ox, Finn Mc Couls, the Phoenix, the Oyster Catcher and the
Kings Arms for giving us the opportunity to entertain and use their
premises for such a rewarding purpose.
Many thanks to all the absolutely brilliant CBL9 fans who came down
with us and made this such a special week, Carol, Lyn, Geoff, Max,
Dave, Verity [esp for the driving lesson], Linzy, John, Barbara Bob and
Hess the dogs, and Jo. I must thank my sons Dan and Bill, my
brother Benn and his new girlfriend Jill, Roger, Dixons relatives,
Keith Johnson, Pete Taylor, Jimmy Underwood, Johnny Vanderplank, Terri,
Angie, Janice and all her children, Zazz, Tanif, Beryl, and all the
others who came to our gigs. I would like to say thanks to all
the people who did appreciate us at Bugle and bollocks to all those who
forced themselves not to.
Special regards go to the wonderful couple in the Kings Arms at
Penryn who were the entire, conscious, local audience, we hope we gave
you a night to remember.
I would also like to say a very special thank you to our great friends
Paul
and Deb for their steadfast support in so many areas during every tour
since the very beginning in the early 90's.
Cheers to the people at Par Sands Holiday Park for providing the
accommodation and doing a great job of it.
Thanks must go to Paul and Mitch the Fairy for all they have done to
help make this thing work.
Extremely special thanks go to Linda for organising this event and we
hope she
can do it again for next year. I am so impressed that she was
able to do all the work involved in running this rather unusual band
despite being extremely unwell. Thanks Sweetie xxxxx.
Tobe.
No 16 - Medway Bridge Marina - 08.08.08
This is the second time the band have played at the marina. Of
course the lineup has changed to the extent that I am the only one who
played last time.
It
pissed down with rain, the gear got wet, my
guitar packed in, we couldn’t see anything till someone got some
lights sorted,
my pedal filled up with water and made my sound awful, the hog roast
man got greedy and
they cancelled him. Apart from that we
had a great time.
Plenty of grub, the rain after all, was warm. Most people
stayed all night and it stopped raining a bit before we finished.
The band was raw but well received, my playing was certainly not
the best and that is strange as I had just been on holiday and played
guitar every day for at least 2 hours. The rest of the band
however were great. Everybody loves Emmit and it's wonderful to
be able to ask the crowd do they want to hear him and just stop playing
and listen. The first set was a bit wobbly as all those songs
were the ones we had not played live with this line up. Set 2
was a different thing and at the end when we had actually run out
of songs Slick 50 suggested we did 'Baby Jump' and it became the best
song of the evening. Pretty good going considering Slick and I
were the only ones who had ever played it and we hadn't done it for
years. Not only that, it is a very hard song for the drummer to
come in on, and Emmit is one of only two drummers who have ever manged
to come in on the correct beat first time [some never managed it even
after exhaustive rehearsals causing us to develop the ability to
instantly change rhythm to accommodate the error].
The audience were fantastic, they danced in the rain.
At one point we were amazed to see, through the rain, tractors, passing
back and forth in front of us. OK they were plastic tractors but
it was really bizarre.
Later,
after the band finished we had an acoustic blues jam for ages, and then
about three a.m. Barbara started cooking burghers and sausages.
My van was off the road because it had run out of mot. Now,
that does not normally stop me from driving it as it is my habit to
leave it for a few weeks before renewing it but this time the climate
change protesters were in Hoo to attack the power station and the old
bill went right over the top, talk about a knee jerk reaction.
1500 protesters and 1400 police! They stopped everybody,
they had camera vans, they took over the island and tried to block our
access with their toilets. They wanted to know everything.
I felt it would be silly to drive the van until it had it's
ticket. So we had to use two other vehicles, and get drunk people
home. It was hilarious. Stuff got put in one motor and then
taken out again when we found other gear would not fit. I drove
motors up and down and kept parking the wrong way round as I was stoned
off my nut thanks to my friend Steve. Mitch the fairy got in the
back of Johns pajero which he kindly lent us and the seat she was on
had somehow become free floating on its runners, every time I braked
she shot forward and collided with the back of my seat and then flew
back again when I accelerated. It was light by the time we got
back to the marina.
Thanks go to John Reynolds for putting on a great party and inviting us
to play again, to Barbara for cooking above and beyond the call of
duty, to the audience for putting up with the band and the rain, to
Linda for robustly promoting the event and the band, to Mitch the Fairy
for singing and to Paul for being the cement that holds together all
that we do.
We are now looking forward to our forthcoming Cornwall Tour starting on
the 13th of September.
Cheers, Tobe.
No15 - Beer & Steam - 05.07.2008
What a day! Brilliant. We organize the bands for the Saturday of
this wonderful 2 day event. This year we had - The Crawlers -
Cell Block 9 - One way Street - Gator & Co and the amazing Running
on Empty. Two bands dropped out along the way and that is how we
managed to persuade Crow & the boys to come and perform.
Since he got together with Manny Leeman they have made Running on
Empty one of the most Charismatic bands I have seen since the Chili
Peppers. To fill the space left by the other bunch of idle
no-shows we cooked up a kind of CBL9 tribute with 4 old members and
myself. On stage at one time were: - Mr C. Deville - Guitar.
Mr Keith Webb - Bass. The famous, and unflappable Steve Nye
- Drums. John [I sing in the 3rd fuckin' octave] Monday - lead
vocs and harp, and the only surviving founder member of the CBL9 of
today: me. It was very good fun and nice to see Spider having
a good time and being the wonderful happy man I have missed for a
short while. All the bands were good and the high point for me
was to come when my friend Guy rang me after the event to say he had
just seen my band on Meridian TV. Wicked! One way Street
had a good set and Rodger was in fine form, Steve also sang very well
and I love his new guitar, it really needs a few scratches and dents
before it can attain the level of street cred that mine has risen to
and we did volunteer to bring it on a bit but Steve just thought we
were joking.
The railway said that they had a record number through the stile, well
over 700 I understand which is nearly as many as they had over the full
2 days last year, brilliant. I'm sure we can make it at least as
good next year and we at CBL9 Control will be working on it.
Thanks must go to Paul for doing so much to help me and to Mitch for
being brave enough to get up and sing 'The House is a Rockin' for us.
Is there no end to her talents? [dancer, trapeze performer,
painter, painter of boats, dress maker, flag maker, singer,
choreographer, photographer, agony aunt and roadie]. I must also
thank the performers:-
Pete Phillips - Keith Webb - Steve Nye - Pete, from Jumbo Gumbo -
Maxine - Henry - Steve Baldock - Slick 50 - Dix - Emitt - Pete Lewis -
Rodger - Crow - Manny - Guy Colins - Robbie Wright - Geoff Strange and
John Monday.
Thanks to all the people who came to give support and made it such a
great day. Thanks to all those who danced and clapped.
Special thanks to the railway for inviting us and for providing
me with all that bread pudding. I salute you all.
This was the first gig with the new line up and a great opportunity to
show off the latest member of the band, Emitt, our seventh drummer.
Cheers, T.
No14 - High Turnover - 02.07.2008
We had another amazing gig with Emitt bashin' the skins last Saturday.
Totally in contrast to the fairly lacklustre performance we put
on at the Four Fathoms the night before. As a direct result of that we
now have Emitt on the drums in place of Steve. Emitt is a truly
amazing performer, he managed to capture the audience and they went mad
when he got into a solo. The hard and fast fans were bowing down
to him and chanting "we want Emitt" and similar. The atmosphere
was great and I knew that we had to have him in the band. We
talked about it afterwards and as soon as I could speak to Dix [who was
yacht racing down at the Isle of Wight] it was all arranged. I
must apologize to Steve for messing him about but that's rock &
roll and at least he has the record for the shortest period as a member
of CBL9, one week, one rehearsal, one gig.
This band has now had 18 members over 9 years, out of which: one has
been in the band twice and another three times. Emitt is a
showman and we already have plans for some extraordinary performances.
Look out Kent.
Tobe.
No 13 - Unlucky for some - 26.06.2008
I would like to welcome Steve into the band as our drummer.
Thankfully, auditions are now officially over, I hate them.
Steve played a gig with Dix last Saturday, just a scratch band
and Dix described him as 'awesome' At the same time we played a
gig with Manny on guitar and Emitt on drums [Emitt came in at the last
minute as Fred and I made a cockup and at 3.00 pm I found we had no
drummer] and we had a brilliant gig also. Our conversation the
next day went something like this:
Dix "how was the gig last night
old chap?"
T "absolutely brilliant,
best gig I've ever played"
Dix "suppose that means I'm
sacked then does it?
T "yep, and how was your gig
at the barbeque then?"
Dix "fantastic, Steve was
awesome, great gig, didn't want to stop"
T "suppose that means I'm
sacked as well then eh?
Dix "yep"
Christ, this means we now have 2 Steves in the band and sod it, I'm
still the oldest member.
Enough silliness. Steve is fortunately able to play the gig with
us tomorrow night and he can do the Beer and Steam. We are now
looking forward to some stability in the band and the opportunity to
get some serious rehearsals in and smack together some of the new
covers I have on my list and get some originals in the set. Look
out Kent.
Cheers, Tobe.
No 12 - The next stage - 13.06.2008
Fred [the first Buddhist in the band] has decided he must leave, mainly
because he's sick of looking out and seeing my arse. Seriously,
he just lives too far away so we are now about to launch into yet
another bout of auditions. We have a few drummers to check out
and a couple of them seem like the right kind of characters. It
is important with this band to have the right kind of person which
means that playing ability is not the only factor to consider when
looking for a new member. Slick 50 has come back to the band to
replace Mr Spider and we had our first get together, Dixon, Slick and
myself last night down on the boat. It was awesome. No
drums and although we started of with a drum machine we couldn't get
the right beat for the first song so we didn't bother after that and it
was so good being able to hear everything we sang that we have now
decided to look for a dwarf drummer with a little tiny kit and very
short drumsticks.
Cheers, Tobe.
No 11 - The end of an era - 24.05.2008
Mr Spider, our steadfast and lovable bass player, dry humourist and
culinary magician has made the decision to leave the band. Keith
has been a part of CBL9 for four years now, he has done the Cornwall
Bash twice, played around 150 gigs and put up with me all of that time,
without [as far as I know] pchyciatric treatment or an attempt at
suicide. An award is required. I would like to thank Keith
for his time and effort, his friendship, and all the camaraderie he has
injected into proceedings. I have learned a lot from Keith about
music, life, and pasta. I wish him well in all he does. I
would also like to say thank you to Maddy for supporting Keith and the
band through the years; it has always been a pleasure to see her at a
gig.
He is so funny, on the 2006 Cornwall tour Linda was interviewing us and
she asked him "tell me Mr Webb, why do they call you Spider?" he
kept a straight face and said "I think it's because I'm thin and
spindly". When we did our drag act at the 2007 Xmas Bash he got
so into it and kept us laughing by acting very camp while we were
dressed in womens clothes.
Thanks Keith.
Tobe.
No 10 - 27.04.2008 - Dave Hodder
saves the day
Ello,
fans, played the Rochester Queen last night. We had
a great gig and I'd like to thank all of you for turning up and
supporting the
band. During the set Freds bass drum pedal lost a screw and started
misbehaving. We couldn't find the screw and Dave Hodder nicely provided
us with
two small jubilee clips which sorted the problem. Cheers Dave. Anyway,
a good
time was had and thanks also go to Anita [my countrywoman] who had a
birthday
and gave me a lovely note thanking me for making her evening. Thanks to
all the
wonderfully silly people who blew 'happy birthday' on the kazzoos and
I'd like
to apologize to Carol [one of the Glimmer Twins] as I inadvertently
gave her an
out of tune kazzoo. Cheers to all the dancers esp. Mitch the Fairy. And
many
thanks to Paul for his work and keeping me in order.
This music game is entirely strange and you never know what is going to
be
waiting round the corner and 'gawd blimey' we are called CBL9 again.
Back on track, so the only way up is straight down, now.
Cheers, Tobe.
No9
Spoke to Pete. We are now officially Cell Block 9 again, so calm
down Carol. We have lots of
ideas and realise that with Dennis
and Fred in the band we have the potential to cover songs previously
off the list. However, we first need to really get to grips with
the arrangements of the songs we already have. So here goes.
Tobe.
No8
Played the Four Fathoms at Herne Bay. Bit of a test, this one.
They seemed to like the new lineup, it's still a bit raw but we
now have the basis for a cracking band. Some fans are still not
happy with the name change and I have been pressed to talk to Peter
regarding the possibility of retaining Cell Block 9, so I shall.
I will let you all know the outcome.
Tobe.
No7
Played the Beauty of Bath last night with Manny Leeman on guitar.
Dennis couldn't be there as he's on honeymoon. Most
inconsiderate. Manny played guitar in my band 'The Thieves' for
several years during the nineties and we have occasionally played
together since. It was great, Manny was fairly awesome and made
me look like what I am, the apprentice. All four of us were
singing.
Tobe.
No6 - 10.04.08
To keep you up to date with legal happenings we have now received a
cheque from Wheelers Bar at Torpoint for £181 regarding the fee
for the
gig we didn't play on our 2007 tour of Cornwall cause they denied
booking it, minus what we got in
the hat at the other pub and plus our costs. We have spent about
£60 getting this result and so 'MAGIC' [our local charity] will
be in receipt of £120. I have posted a copy of the order
with the cheque stuck to it below. Contrary to what I often feel
there is some justice after all.
We found out after that they had been forced to cut back on bands and
had obviously forgotten to let us know so they tried to front it out
when we arrived but they were obviously lying. Linda went
straight in and asked for the entertainments manager by name and she
was there but still denied booking it. Then they just ignored us
and waited till we went away. We took them to court as we were
sick to death of the way a lot of venues treat bands. As we had
all our advertising on record and they lied to the court and sent a
very obviously faked diary in as evidence we won the case.
Moral is: don't tell lies 'cause they always come back and bite you.
Tobe.
No5 - 03.04.08
Late
breaking news - I asked Bob Hoy if he could play guitar for us
but he chickened out. Shame........could have been a hoot.
Gig 1 - 29.03.08 - British
Pilot - Allhallows
Well, well, you just never know what may happen in this game. We
were all very apprehensive about the gig on the way there. We had
a band that had one rehearsal under it's belt during which we cooked up
several songs that some of the members were not at all familiar with [I
learned the guitar breaks and the vocals for Sweet Home Chicago that
afternoon] With the late edition of Dennis on keyboards much of
the work Spider and myself had done to try to get up to speed as a
three piece outfit was out of the window. Some songs from our old
set which we had rejected in the run up, we hastily resurrected as
Dennis knew them, but there was no time for any proper arrangements.
Dennis and Fred had never played a gig together, Dennis had
played with Spider and myself once and Fred had played one gig with
CBL9. We were nervous.
The Pilot is not the kind of place to put on a crap show and although
CBL9 had in the past gone down fairly well the crowd always made it
obvious if they thought a number was shite.
We had a fantastic gig.
Dennis made the night, the keyboards really filled it out and although
some of the starts were a little vague the rhythm section was wicked
and just what I needed behind me to get busy on the guitar. The
audience were with us all the way, lots of dancing, lots of congrats
and we had enough material. I think the old CBL9 fans enjoyed it;
the only moan I got was about the new name.
Thanks to the faithful for turning up and special thanks to Carol,
Paul, and Mitch the fairy.
Tobe.
No4 - 24.03.08
This is the blog from the Cell Block 9 site. I thought it
important to bung it here as well.
Ello, ello, Tobe here. Thought I might not be doing this again but here
I am. Don't get worried though, the band are not getting back together;
although we are going to have a little bash in the summer at the Beer
& Steam at Kemsley Mill. It's just too good to miss.
No, this
one is to let you know that we won our case against Wheelers Bar in the
small claims court. Last summer during our annual 'who ate all the
pasties tour' we arrived at Wheelers Bar in Torpoint for the appointed
gig and were told in no uncertain terms that there was no gig and they
had not booked us. Linda went in and asked for the manageress by name
and she [very nervously] told her she had not booked the band and that
was that. After this they totally ignored us and went about their
business as if we were not there, the chap I tried to talk to just
looked right through me. It was obvious that they were lying but there
was nothing much we could do there so we re-grouped in the high street
and Linda the great controller of all things human shot into a pub
while I called various friends and relatives to try to stop them
wasting a journey. Some people were already in the town. I was gutted,
and angry. Linda came out of this pub and said "come on get your gear
in, you're playing here tonight"
What a fantastic manager. I'm so
proud of her. We played for nothing in the Standard. We had a great gig
and the landlady was such a darling, we all fell in love with her. She
treated us like royalty and at the end she asked me if we knew 'Need
your love so bad'....we did it and we did it well [the only blinkin'
time] it was fantastic. The hat was thrown around and we got a bit of
dosh, about a tenner each.
When we got back we decided that this
time we would not let it go and sent a bill to Wheelers Bar for the
fee. They refused and sent a lot of trite stuff in return to our
letters. We went to the small claims court and after they tried to lie
their way out of it [they even faked a dairy but made it too obvious]
the court found in our favour. Now they have to pay us the fee minus
what we got in the hat plus our costs and expenses. They also had a
solicitor so we reckon it cost them about a grand and all we wanted was
the £170 we were owed in the first place. When we get the money
it is
going to 'MAGIC' our local charity.
I must say here that if it
wasn't for Linda and her amazing tenacity we would not have got this
result. I would have given up ages ago and I feel we have made a stand
for all the bands that get treated in this way. I'm sure that Wheelers
Bar will think twice before trying a trick like that again.
All the best,
Tobe.
No3 - 23.03.08
Ello all you people with nothing better to do than read this dribble.
Played at the Rochester Queen last night with Dennis & Co, it was
his wedding bash. Awesome. He got several of his musician mates up to
perform and they were good! Mr Spider excelled himself playing stuff he
didn't know. I faked it when I didn't know it. Mark the guitarist was
fantastic and not an egomaniac either. We started off with some swing
stuff with a really great singer but he had to leave early, shame. As
the night progressed it warmed up and we got a bit more up tempo. Mark
and I managed to get a bit of guitar exchange in which was good fun.
The big drummer/singer whose name I can't remember made the night
singing loads of stuff and making sarcastic comment. The atmosphere was
great. This woman got up to sing 'Songbird' unaccompanied, it was spine
tingling and of course the hard disc recorder decided to run out of
disc space just after she started and I only managed to get it
recording again just before the end. We recorded the whole thing, took
loads of fotos and got some video footage. I asked Dennis if he fancied
playing with us next Saturday and he readily agreed, rehearsal next
Thursday!
All in all everyone had a great night and Spider and myself would like
to thank Dennis and Verity for inviting us to their fantastic evening.
Cheers for now, Tobe.
No2 - 07.03.08
Well fans, had the first official Salami rehearsal last night and it's
obvious that I need to do a lot of work to bring my guitar playing up
to scratch. I have fronted a three piece band before but that was a
long time ago and a very different type of music. Only time will tell
now. On the positive side we have got a few songs on the 'sorted' list
already and I am able to spend a lot of time learning licks so
hopefully things will look a lot different in a couple of weeks time.
I shall let you know.
Cheers, Tobe.
No1
Didn't bother with a number 1