The Boys Are Back In Town

As many of you will know I am a great lover of rock music, and one of my favourite bands is not one of the big well know bands that everyone has heard of, but a band with a much bigger heart than most of the current rock bands knocking about today. They are of course Gun's & Oatcakes. The band is in no way a Gun's & Roses tribute act, as the name would suggest, in fact they are more of a Thin Lizzy tribute act in all fairness as Steve Johnson, the wily old lead vocalist and lead guitarist, was once a great friend of the sadly past away lead singer of Thin Lizzy, Phil Lynott.
The band has been going now for what seems an eternity. I can remember first going to see them back in around 1988 at the Wheatsheaf in Stoke and thinking they were the best thing since sliced bread! I soon became a bit of a groupie, following the band all around the city at all manner of venues such as The Highwayman near Cheadle, The Oxford Arms at May Bank, The Talbot in Stoke and at their regular performances at Yates Wine Lodge in Hanley. I also caught the band at The Limelight Club in Crewe where they played a regular gig, and at Burslems fantastically named pub The Sagger Maker's Bottom Knocker (Saggers for short). The band also used to play at many of the city's working men's clubs such as Norton, Smallthorne, Pits Hill, Longton and of course Fegg Hayes.

Unfortunately, due to the fact Steve could never seem to keep a band line-up for long enough to make a serious run of things as in the past, as they never seemed to have the same drive to perform as Steve has got, he finally decided to give up the ghost and call it a day last year at a benefit gig for local cancer charity's including the Donna Louise Trust on the 16th June 2006. The gig was a huge success, and raised loads of money for the charities concerned, but obviously had a huge tinge of sadness surrounding it as the Oatcakes were to be no more.........

That is until I got wind of a reunion gig in prospect for the band. I eagerly checked out the Gun's & Oatcakes web page and found it to be true! The band were reforming for a few more gig's after a huge response for them to get back together from the public. The gig was scheduled for 31st March 2007 at Fegg Hayes Working Men's Club and I was going to make sure I was there to see the boys rock out again on stage. Now I admit this venue is not exactly the home of rock music, in fact quite the opposite, with three hour games of bingo more likely to be played here than good rock music, but a Guns & Oatcakes reunion does exactly what it says on the tin and I was sure they would rock the joint. Every time you go to see the guys it is more like a huge family gathering, as over the years Steve has made many friends who always seem to turn up for the gigs every time you go to see them. I kind of knew what to expect on the night and the set list was full of the old regular tunes that Steve plays so well. I took with me the wife as usual and G & O newbies Shaun and Lisa. The set list was as follows:

• Thunderstruck by AC/DC
• Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love by Van Halen
• Love Ain't No Stranger by Whitesnake
• Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own by U2
• Since You've Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson
• Strangers In The Night by Saxon
• Don't Believe A Word by Thin Lizzy
• Black Rose by Thin Lizzy
• WORLDS LONGEST BINGO BREAK
• Beautiful Day by U2
• Sweet Child Of Mine by Gun's And Rose's
• Times Like These by The Foo Fighters
• Hysteria by Def Leppard
• Vertigo by U2
• Boys Of Summer/20th Century Boy/My Heart Will Go On by Don Henley/T-Rex/Celine Dion
• In These Arms by Bon Jovi
• First Encore
• One Night Love Affair by Bryan Adams
• Enter Sandman by Metallica
• Second Encore
• Boys Are Back In Town by Thin Lizzy

• It was a rousing end to the set as the boys rounded the night off with the classic Thin Lizzy track, and I'm sure Shaun was impressed by the guitar performance from Steve. It was obvious that the boys had not played together much recently, and the night was tinged with sadness as a close friend of Steve had passed away earlier in the day and it was obvious he was clearly very upset by this. But the consummate professional in him showed through as he carried the band through the set with ease. The new line up includes Steve on Vocals and Lead Guitar, Jack Rowe on Rhythm Guitar and Vocals, Karl Arran Johnson on Bass Guitar and Vocals (Steve's son) and Chris Hayes on Drums.
  I was chuffed to see Steve again on the scene and it was quite apparent that the band was a bit put out at the bingo break which put them off their stride a bit. This is supposed to be just a few gigs put together due to public response, but having known Steve for as long as I have, I'm surprised it's taken him this long to get back on stage again and I'm sure the boys will be back in town again soon rocking as they do with the usual suspects watching them, and hopefully a few new ones too.

Thursday 29th March

Lets Get This Party Started......

No lets just go to the Hotel and sing ourselves stupid again!. Hello all to the weekly dose of karaoke fun. Its that time again when all things karaoke come to a head and I spend all day thinking of what to sing, with a hope of the radio at work giving some inspiration or maybe the release of a new disc to have a go at. It was to prove to be the first week I got to do requests that were put up on the blog this week as well so thanks for that and special mentions will be on the way later.
It appears to have gone back to the non-singers coming into the pub of a Thursday and letting us do all the work. Never mind though, as this is great for an egomaniac like myself to improve myself to a standard of perfection. It just goes to show that even though week after week in the past we took the karaoke for granted a little but now it appears if it wasn't for us no-one would get up to entertain the rest of the pub.
Its been a very busy week this week, what with acquiring the new PS3 and also two other items that blogs will appear on very soon. Firstly, the reforming of one of my good friends bands Guns And Oatcakes. After almost a year the guys have got back together initially to do a few special dates in response to the public begging them to gig again but methinks this will turn out as a full time effort again from the lads. Secondly, myself and Hayley went to the Memorabilia show at the N.E.C. in Birmingham. Its a show dedicated to film and T.V. and allows you to purchase no end of goodies at reasonable prices. My god I sound like a salesman for the thing now! It is a great day out though and I'll fill you in more later in the week.
Tonight's songs include another four new songs for the year although I have sung a couple before, albeit a long time ago. They also include two request from people although they both beat me in the pub for doing an Andy Pipkin impression while they were singing (You know who you are :-)!!!!!!!!!!)
The songs this week were as follows 1. Brown Sugar by The Rolling Stones (SC896412) 2. Modern Love by David Bowie (SC228807) 3. Mr Blue Sky by E.L.O. (SF07901) and finally 4. Bed Of Roses by Bon Jovi (DK07601)

Brown Sugar by The Rolling Stones

Now I have said before that the Stones have had some great rock riffs in the past, but this one is probably one of the most well known. If you don't believe me just click on the title to watch a great live performance to judge for yourself. It is one of the bands truly great songs, and I have heard many people do covers of this song, but none as good as Mick Jagger's vocals. It starts with a great guitar intro and moves into the vocals with ease. My favorite part of the song is the Yeah Yeah Yeah Woo... part at the end, which in the live shows is a crowd participation part which usually sends them potty! Easy to sing and a firm favorite of mine. do again rating: 10/10

Modern Love by David Bowie

Another one from my collection of 80's classics. A great song to sing this one. To be honest I had never of thought of doing this one before and I'm not sure where the inspiration to sing it came from but really enjoyed having a bash at a bit of Bowie for a change, and this one may inspire me to do a few more of his classics. This also has great sing-a-long-ability to it and has a great fast paced beat which is definitely toe-tapping! do again rating: 8/10

Mr Blue Sky by E.L.O.

The first of my requests tonight (thank you Tina) . An absolute classic song by Birmingham band E.L.O. This band is much forgotten by a lot of people, and don't always get the credit they deserve for some truly fantastic tracks it the past. This is one of their most famous tracks from the late 70's and has that retro feel about it. It also, as do most E.L.O. tracks, got that operatic quality that the band brought into their music which made listening to their music more of an experience than the other stuff around at the time. The band has plenty of other stuff out on karaoke and being a fan, I expect to do some more of their stuff soon. If you click on the song title you will see how a more well known, up to date band used the music to their own ends with great results. do again rating: 5/10

Bed Of Roses by Bon Jovi

So finally this year the nagging and constant moaning from the wife has paid off and I get round to singing a Bon Jovi track. As a rock fan the band took my interest firstly due to the Slippery When Wet album in the mid-eighties. I can remember sitting in my bedroom playing air guitar and singing along to the album constantly. The album was full of tracks known by pretty much everyone today, and as a band they are one of the biggest bands in the world today due to that album. This track is from the bands fifth album, the hugely popular Keep The Faith LP, released in 1992, and went on to be a huge hit all over the world. It is a typical rock ballad, which has a great guitar performance by Richie Sambora and a great vocal from JB himself. In my link I have included a version of the song from the now famous "Evening with Bon Jovi" set recorded by MTV in 1992. This prove to be an pivotal moment in the band's history and is regarded by many as their best ever live performance. I'm sure that Hayley wasn't to disappointed in my attempt at the song and with any luck she will get to hear me sing it again. do again rating: 8/10

So there you go then. Another good batch of songs tonight. I hope that you will pop on a few more request for me, it was good not having to think too much this week on what to sing. I also wish to add that I have now given up on trying to beat the Fratelli conspiracy into getting the most sung artist chart title. In fact I am going to help them win it, as this coming Thursday I hope to have a crack at Baby Fratelli, which has just come out on karaoke, and is probably my favourite track off the album, that is if I can beat Shaun into putting the request in. For those of you who haven't figured it out yet, if you click on the song title in my review of each track, you get linked to the You Tube website and get to listen to the track. Shaun has also got this on his list of tracks sang on the night so for all you fans of old videos and classic clips get clicking on the links and enjoy. So onto my Homer quote for this week. I have tried to link a quote to how I feel the week has progressed and this week I have come up with this little gem. See you all soon.

"As I got up in front of them, I felt an intoxication that had nothing to do with alcohol. It was the intoxication of being a public spectacle." Homer J Simpson