Merry Yuletide Anagram Japery

Hi all

Here's some Merry nonsense to divert you on the run in to Christmas.
I was browsing the other day and came across the website of Rush tribute band Bravado. I'm a big Rush fan you see and was curious . Anyway they had a rather novel way of listing their current set. Each song had a humourous anagram beside it. So as I've got a bit of time on my hands today I thought I'd do the same with our set so here goes! (one or two are a bit rude)

We Will Rock You - Wreck Willy.. Oou!

Tie Your Mother Down - Retired Moth You Own

Play the Game - Lay me the Gap

Death on Two Legs - Eat Wood Lengths

Killer Queen - My Queer Kiln

Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy - Shiny Golfer Love Bad doo doo!

Bicycle Race - Acerbic Lyce

I'm in Love with My Car - My Violin Crime..What?

Another one Bites the Dust - U bother to see Dentist?.. Nah!

Don't Stop me Now - No new MOT d..oops...

You're my Best Friend - Fry, Ye Moribund Tees!

Somebody to Love - Vote Moody Blooes

Fat Bottomed Girls - Bottled Fart Gismo

Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Tell ladz, A love Tricycle Thing!

One Vision - Evi Onions

Seven Seas of Rhye - Fresh easy Ovens

A Kind of Magic - I do Mac Faking

Under Pressure - Red Purse Nurse

Now I'm Here - O Renew Him (Who I'm Neer)

I Want to Break Free - Trite, before a Wank!

Brighton Rock - C.K. Groinbroth

It's A Hard Life - Al, a Tired Fish

Bohemian Rhapsody - Ho! a Mishapen Body! (Ah..Bohemian Dropsy)

Hammer to Fall - Holm-meal Fart (From Meat Hall)

I want it all - In all, A Twit!

Radio Ga Ga - Adagio Rag

Friends will be Friends - Ben Swills Fried Fiends

We are the Champions - We're A Shat on Chimp!

God Save the Queen - Heed One Squat Veg (no I don't know what it means either...)



Yes I've got far too much time on my hands folks!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you all out there in 2011!

Rhodes Rocks and all that

Hello all. It' s been far too long since the last blog and so much has happened since the last one that this can only be a very brief recap so here goes!



This year has panned out very positively for us and our advent into the world of theatre has started very well. Thanks for everyone who has supported us and made our first theatre tour such a success.

I believe we will be foraying up north in the autumn so see you somewhere on the road oop theer.



The main event this summer was Rhodes Rock and what a wonderful experience that was.

I could write reams about this but I'd be here all day so I'll just content myself by saying it was a real joy to work in such a positive atmosphere with so many brilliant bands and to make so many new friends in such a short space of time. Eddie and Elaine deserve nothing but the highest praise for organising this event and Pete and Johhny and the boys did a high class job providing the logistical support to make it all run so smoothly. Also from all the Bohemians, a big thank you to all you Rhodes Rockers out there who breathed life into the whole thing. Long may you Rock.

We are proud to have been part of such a great and noble undertaking. In other words we 'kin loved every minute of it so roll on Rhodes Rock 2011.



Since Rhodes we've also been involved in a couple of crackers. Last saturday we played at the Chalfont St Peter Feast of St Peter to a 5-6 thousand strong crowd and they seemed as pleased to see us as we were to see them! Great show and thanks to Mike for looking after us so well and putting on such a great event. England did us a favour as well by not topping their group and thus not playing on the day but did us no good at all by crashing out on Sunday. Moving on...



Yesterday found us bang in the middle of the capital, just off Oxford street and playing in the Motcomb Street Party with once again a 5000 strong audience. We could get used to this! Well done Paul for putting on such a great lineup. the Amy Winehouse and George Michael tributes were top notch and the real Harry Hill turned up to open the party which was partly in aid of the Household Cavalry charity. In Harry's words 'By the left quick, cheer!' Genius.

Never had bouncers provided by the British army before either, we're obviously going up in the world .



Just a quick mention for the gigs at Colyton and Ashwell before we jetted off to Rhodes. Wonderful shows both especially the St Marys gig which was actually in the church itself and proved one of our most atmospheric shows to date. Maybe we had a little help from on high there..

Next up this weekend the Suffolk crazy gang gig where we will be providing a marathon 2.5 hour set and thence on to the Shamrock festival in Cavan Eire. Also on the bill for that one will be Rhodes Rock compatriots Livewire and Lets Zep so we'll look forward to having a chin wag with them and another chance to enjoy their excellent sets.

Before I go a last mention to all the other Rhodes Rock bands. I loved the ZZ Tops take on ZZ Top. (Billy Bigguns!) John Campbell is so close to Hendrix it's scary. Lovely chap too. Foreigners Journey were spot on and their new singer Jim is quite amazing. I'll put in an early request for Jukebox hero for next time..

Thanks especially to Think Floyd for providing the impeccable soundtrack to my best ever birthday. Thanks to Richard for the spot on solo in Comfortably Numb and to Rob for his frenetic dancing display at Arches! Also to Lewis and John (Livewire) for the politically questionable but fun formation of the Dirty B*stards on the final night. To Pete and the boys for their set on the same night. I particularly enjoyed 'Video Killed the radio Star' I said I'd be here all day didn't I...

Right that's enough for now.

Speak soon!

Rob

Happy Easter!

Hi all

It's been a few weeks since the last post and we've done a few shows in the interim. Two in Wales. Brecon and Aberdare were both cracking shows and two closer to home. Chequer Mead, East Grinstead was a great night made special for me because there were so many familiar faces in the audience, East Grinstead only being a few miles from where I live. Great night and featuring our first screening of the Give Us The World video.

We had a couple of weeks break before the last show which was at Dorking Halls Friday just gone and it was another cracker. We're showing the world cup video every gig now leading up to the download release which is coming up on the 20th of April. I think we missed a trick not waiting another three days and releasing it on St. Geroge's day actually but it's as near as damn it I suppose and the sooner it's out the better.

The vid came out really well and we've been screening it just before the second set. It's had a round of applause every time so far as well which is rather gratifying!

It was nice to get back into the swing of things at Dorking and we had plenty to talk about. Chris was just back from Las Vegas where he and Val celebrated his Birthday. They had a lovely time apparently as did Wayne, Kevin and Kathryn who attended the Queen convention. Some great bands on there including a German outfit who played Barcelona amongst other things. I'd like to have seen that.

Kathryn, by the way, was manning the video camera for the show on Friday and the effect of having a live feed of us projected onto the projector screen was terrific. Well done Kathryn for that and a very successful experiment there so I reckon we'll be doing that again. very effective.

Oh and for the more discerning of you at Dorking, I offer my profuse apologies for getting my fingers in a tangle for the intro to Seven Seas. Bound to happen once in A while I suppose...

Tara for now

Rob (AKA Les Dawson :0( )

PS Don't forget. 20th April download release of Give Us The World

www.giveustheworld.com

Remember it's all for charity and it's only about 70p anyway so go on! You know you want to...

Happy Easter!

Today Welwyn and Tomorrow the World

Hi all

Here's the latest from the last fortnight. Another brace of sellouts at Shearsby Bath and Welwyn Garden City. A great show at the Brecon Theatre the following week (don't ask me to try the Welsh pronounciation!) and a mixed and mastered World Cup song have been our achievments since last we spoke.

We're all very pleased with the way Give Us The World finally turned out. Luke Fellingham at Lunar Sound did a fantastic job of turning our song into a finished product. It kicks bottom as we intended and so we are keenly awaiting it's release which should be sometime in the next few weeks through Red Admiral records. I love the name of the pulishing company, Cringe Music! All proceeds go to Skillnet remember so it 'aint for profit.

So come on people, get ready to download it at www.giveustheworld.com
There we go, that's the plug done!

Seriously it's ripe for a listen at maximum volume. This may be angled on novelty value but it stands up very well as a song in it's own right if you like your epic ballary piled on with a table spoon and lets face it, that's the essence of Queen which is the whole idea. Get on that link and lets celebrate England's inevitable triumph with a number one. Come on Becks, download it.
It'll cheer you up honest!

We also had John-Marc on the case doing a companion video for youtube and the first viewings have come out really well. Basically we filmed in costume on the stage sets of Campus West in Welwyn Garden City and Brecon before those shows. I have to say the set looks great. We also 'borrowed' the audience at Campus West for the Champions style arm waving thing during the gig.
Thanks Campus West you did us proud. Mind you anyone will wave their arms about for a couple of minutes if they think it'll get em on TV, I know I do!

There are a few other ideas we used in the video including footage of our recording session filmed sepia style ah la eighties, and a reconstruction of the Bohrap four faces bit which didn't come out too well first time.

We redid though and it looked great second time round.
My fault that one. For some reason I decided we should be looking up at the camera but of course we later sussed that we should be looking down our noses at it with our faces in shadow. Oh and not grinning like Cheshire cat's either. Sorted!

Anyway, all good fun and something to look forward to when it's finished and ready for release.

An honourable mention for Chris and his brainwave of putting Delila in his solo at the Brecon gig. they nearly took the roof off singing it! A masterstroke which erased the memory of the snapage of a top E during the Welwyn solo a week previously. Cringe music? ooh yes, poor man...
Still he recovered well but needed substantial quantities of Cabernet Savignon for medicinal purposes after the show.

As I said at the time, Life's a bitch, rather him than me!

It comes to us all mate. My turn next I reckon.

That's all for now folks. Off you go then... www.giveustheworld.com :0)

Rob

Onward and upward

Hi folks

just a recap on the last coupla weeks. Our two shows in the west country both went very well. Christchurch was a sellout and a very respectable 350 at weston Supermare on Sunday as well.
Sandwiched in between these two was a One Vision night with Skillnet, the last of the tour. A lovely night was had by all and Louise tells us they're planning a new show in which we have been asked to participate. the heads up is it's based on Fawltey Towers so we're wondering quite how Queen ties up with that but we'll wait and see!
Give us the World got an airing and was very well received which was encouraging. Now we have to mix and master what we've recorded and we'll see how the release goes.
We're doing a remix at Lunar Sound on Tuesday/Wednesday to get a bit more power into the equation and will await the results with interest.

Last weekend saw two more sellouts which makes four sellouts out of the last five shows.
You notice I said sellout twice there. I do like the word sellout, oops there it is again!

Lichfield Garrick on Friday was lovely and Saturday found us in Winslow. Not a theatre show this one but a standing audience of about 350 at the local hall and the place rocked. Theatre shows are more sedate with everyone seated and we like the atmosphere which gives us the chance to perform in a more considered fashion and with a certain degree of finesse. Must admit though, when everone is up it does get the blood pumping harder and creates more excitement so thanks Winslow, I have a feeling we'll be back.
Winslow was a charity event organised by the rotary club and I think we raised a couple of grand for the fight against Polio. Nice to be a part of something like this and I gather Bill Gates pledged twice as much again in dollars for anything raised so that's even better. Well done Don james for organising a very successful evening.

Back to the theatre side of things and promoter Roy Hastings seems happy with our progress so far this tour, in fact I heard the word ecstatic mentioned so I reckon we'll be revisiting all of our recent conquests again. the next lot of dates are on the way for the autumn.

A word then for all of you Queen lovers out there who have come to see us in such large numbers and made so many memorable nights already this year.
We salute you. It's your support that makes the whole thing happen so keep it up and we'll see you out there!

A word also for the boys, Wayne & Kevin who are now as tight a rythm section as a camel's bottom in a sand
storm and Chris who has added so much to our musical capabilities. Well done chaps, we're motoring up the table!
The boy Dan has also given sterling service (when he's awake!) well done that man.

A final honourable mention again for Kevin who is always beavering away behind the scenes organising everything that isn't nailed down. He gets through so much work, sorts out everything from light shows & logistics to promotion and merchandise and perhaps we don't always show how hugely it's all appreciated.

Got something in my eye there... :0)

Speak soon

Rob

A Couple of days in the studio/Chesham & Rotherham

We had an interesting mid week stint in Canterbury. Skillnet very kindly lent us the use of their recording studio for a couple of days and we banged out a version of our World Cup song, 'Give us the World'

Two days isn't much time but we pulled it off ok, recording the music on Wednesday and the lead and harmony vocals next day. Now all we need is a decent mix we can all agree on and it'll be ready for release. So that's that then.
It'll be interesting to see what our Engineer Clive comes up with . He is obviously leaning toward a radio friendly mix with vocals well up and everything sounding a bit dry for our taste and we're torn really between wanting the song to sound current and wanting it to have the obligatory Queenlike hugeness of the eighties which everyone remembers so well.

Time will tell but I suspect Queen hugeness will prevail in the end . It's nice to be doing something we've written ourselves for a change but it's very obviously in the style of Queen and that is the aim of the whole thing so not have the production reflect that would be a bit pointless.

Anyway, that task finished, it was off to the Elgiva theatre Chesham on Friday and a sellout at Rotherham Civic Theatre on Saturday. Two cracking nights crowned for me, by the inclusion of Love of my Life at Rotherham. It's such a simple song but so exposed and I'm always terrified of either forgetting the words or the audience not joining in but we really nailed it on Saturday and Rotherham sang it beautifully. Chris was happy too because he got to sit on his Queen monogrammed stool. Honestly there are no excesses to which this man will not go for the sake of authenticity!
Brighton Rock next. Full album version, which will be a challenge but the boys are all well up for it.

So it's off to Christchurch, Margate and Weston Supermare this weekend and we'll be introducing Chris to the One Vision musical on Saturday at Margate Theatre Royal. I understand they've worked 'Give us the World' into the show so it'll be nice to have a crack at performing it live.

Rock on all. Speak soon

Rob

Still on tour!

Hi Folks

We've had a busy old time of it since the last post. Six theatres and a couple of days recording so here's where we've been and what we've done...

We kicked off February on the 4th at the Wyvern Theatre Swindon. Great night. They've all been great nights so far and we're really settling into our stride now. At the Beck theatre in Hayes next night we had a smaller than average audience (no-one over four foot :o) ) but they made up for lack of numbers with bags of enthusiasm. Felixstowe was a very chilly place to be on Saturday but we were warmed considerably by the lovely audience at the Spa Pavillion. We've had a lot of comments from emails to the site and also at the meet and greets after the shows about the less well known stuff. Almost all of the comments have been positive about the inclusion of 39 and Death On Two Legs so it seems our judgement has been vindicated on that score. Worthing Assembly Hall rounded off the weekend. What a huge stage! We filled it though and John-Marc had a field day with a projector screen roughly the size of Belgium.
Tracy (the Mrs) popped along to see the show and kindly manned the merchandise stall as well, Ta love!)
Merchandise is going very well. the programs are selling like hotcakes and Chris even came up with some plectrums with images of the band on, snazzy eh? Mind you he sulked a bit because everyone wants one with Freddie on it! Tee hee hee...

So that was that weekend. It confirmed what we'd already hoped, that we're settling in well. Ticket sales are good. Audiences are really into what we're doing. Everything on track.

On the minus side, the laptop has not materialised so sadly that was stolen, cheers for that, whoever scumbag was responsible for that. Still, into everyone's life a little rain must fall...

One other thing, we've run out of ammo! No pyros left! Don't worry folks, more ordered and on the way.

More news to follow...

On Tour!

Hi all

What a great weekend we just had! Four shows, starting off at Cheltenham town hall on Thursday. The crowd were great and forgave me for inadvertently calling them Chelmsford at the end of the night, whoops...
Hullbridge Sports club on Friday was a sell out but sadly marred by us losing a rather vital laptop with all our lighting software on it. Probably nicked or hopefully just mislaid but we'd rather like it back so fingers crossed there.
Camberley Theatre on Saturday was a sell out and a truly magical night. We tried out Death on Two Legs again and it went well but we felt it possibly darkened the beginning of the set with Play the Game absent. Food for thought there.
Plenty of food for thought from Jacqui's email (see reviews page on the site)
No fewer than five suggestions for improvements to the set!
Some good points though. I normally do angle the Piano in a bit to face the audience but didn't on Saturday. Shall definitely do so from now on! Freddie was always side on actually bit I know it's an issue. Brian to play God Save the Queen (ah la Buck Place) in his solo. I'm sure he'll be delighted to (the tart) I'll pass that suggestion along.
Show must go on does sometimes come into the set so perhaps next time you see us...
As to numbers well we do try not to have too much obscure stuff in but I reckon the balance is about right. 39 wouldn't really work in a medley and is a nice change of tone. Visually good too with Roger at the front.
Thanks Jacqui for your comments . See you next time we're in Camberley!
Sunday was a great night at Kings' Lynn Corn Exchange although we had a pretty close call getting set up. Just in time! phew... hate it when that happens but the sound was great. Cheers to the boys from Stagecore for their sterling work. An honourable mention as well to John, our new projector man who also did the sound for us at Camberley. Those back projections really add something and plenty of room for expansion there.
At King's Lynn we tried Death on Two Legs after Flash/Play the Game and BINGO IT ROCKS! it sits just fine there so that's good. One of my personal favourites that one.
The voice held up ok over four consecutive nights which is encouraging although I may have to watch it a bit. I don't want to start dropping keys and all that but one has to be sensible. Four more coming up in three days...

Cheers folks. Speak soon.

2010 starts as it means to continue

Hi all

And welcome to the new year. It's going to be a good one this year I can feel it in my bones.

We've already got the first two shows under our belts and they were both crackers! We had a few weather related worries but thank goodness we weren't scuppered by the snow.

Last Friday at Castle Hall Hertford was a great way to get back into proceedings. A lovely hall and a lovely crowd who really entered into the spirit of things. Thanks Hertford for such a warm reception.
Last night we were at the Orchard Theatre in Dartford. Another great night and a good turnout.
We are really happy with the venues we find ourselves in at the moment. Large theatres are definitely the right type of venue for us these days and the audiences are routinely wonderful.

Last night was partucularly enjoyable and we went and did a meet and greet with the audience afterwards which was nice.

The new programmes have arrived and look very smart.

What else? Oh yes we're having a crack at a world cup song. What a laugh! Actually we're quite looking forward to recording it and I think next month is the recording date.
Chris came up with the idea and the music for it and Kevin opined that it wouldn't be a bad thing to record something and release it for a bit of fun and of course some great publicity if we can persuade a few people to buy it. Worth a crack so I penned some suitably bombastic lyrics to go with Chris' riffage and Hey Presto! 'Give us the World' was born.

I'm not sure if this has been officially anounced yet actually but if not you heard it here first!

Now all we'll need is a rampant England to lend dignity to the whole thing and we're all set for a magical summer.

the opening line is : 'A teardrop on a blade of grass' and no doubt England will contrive to continue that familiar trend but we've got Cappelo now and a half decent side so you never know ...

That's all for now folks. Speak soon

Rob

PS Up the Albion at Villa this afternoon. Good luck lads