Old Journal

The Skegness Blues Rock Weekend Festival ‘“ 28-30/1/11
Our main stage appearance was scheduled as the
last slot on Sunday afternoon. We followed two prestigous Bands on stage,
The Hamsters and Nine Below Zero. Back stage while the Nine Below Zero boys were overunning we were having
a lot of hassle with the organisers over what gear we were allowed to use
and put under pressure to reduce our set, to offset other peoples overun.

This was the most people we had played to on the massive centre stage, with
the crowd only dropping a little from the doors being sealed due to overcrowding
for Nine Below’s set’

Though Roger was saddled with an undersized kit, the Band performed really
well. I had a choice of playing an hour of crowd pleasers or to showcase
the new CD. Even though we went for the tougher option I’m delighted with
the excellent crowd reaction, both in terms of cheers and the following
CD sales, that were of record proportions.

The set was:Too Tired To Pray
Rainmaker

Swamp Girl

Dark Angel

The Lying Game The Big Easy

House of the Rising Sun

Telling Lies

This was followed by a great cry for an encore which was inevitably, Preacher
Man. It was weird watching our faces up on the big screens as we adapted well
to the giant stage (at one point it looked like my bald spot was acting
like a giant glitter ball in the ace light show).The girls looked and sounded amazing and Danny, Bill and Roger rocked’

Here’s a couple of Youtube links if you want a flavour:

Cut and paste these into your browser:

Dark AngelRainmaker (Filmed from the Gallery):

http://www.youtube.com/user/SIMMO7TS then select more videos and choose Roadhouse

Thanks for the support from all our amazing friends

Gary The Skegness Blues Rock Weekend Festival ‘“ 28-30/1/11
– Part One 05/02/2011 Gary The Colourhouse Theatre ‘“ Merton Abbey Mills
– 16/1/2011 This was a great warm up gig for the forthcoming, massive
Skegness Festival.Thanks to all who turned up on a wet night in January. It was a great turnout
and a solid gig.

Vicky Martin and Diana, performing as the Delta Ladies (rather than in their
full band ‘“ Elephant Shelf), provided the guest slot music in the break.
A nice mix of roots blues with cajum style fiddle playing. Loved the ‘˜Swamp
noir’ version of House of the Rising Sun ‘“ so different from ours.

Buffalo Bill Smith, the promoter and great harp player, joined the Band
for a great version of ‘˜Roadhouse Blues’..

A good performance from our perspective and probably the best time we have
performed Mandie’s lead vocal song from Dark Angel, ‘˜Play with Fire’.. Well
sung Mands and well performed by the Band.

Onto the giant Skegness festival and we will be back at Merton Abbey Mills
to headline the Blues festival on Saturday the 27th August.

Gary 04/02/2011 Gary The Beaverwood Club ‘“ Chislehurst ‘“ 6/1/11 The first week of the New Year was always going to be a test’¦.
The end result was not too bad with nearly fifty people in the room.Overall, this was a great gig with an excellent crowd reaction.

With 2 out of the last four shows cancelled due to snow and ice we were
worried about being a little rusty. However, the opening of the set was
my fave part pf the night as we nailed 4 consequtive songs from Dark Angel,
including the title track in a row.

Mandie was superb this night and Kelly was on top form. in the first set
they nailed there opening songs, ‘˜Rising Sun’ and ‘˜The Lying Game’. The
second set produced worthy versions of their great songs from Dark Angel,
‘˜So Over You’ (Kelly) and ‘˜Play With Fire’ (Mandie). In truth the band are
still in ‘˜early days mode’ with both these songs and they ‘˜wobbled’ a little.
It should not be long though however, before they reach their full potential.

Overall, Danny was on fire, Bill and Roger were tight, the whole thing rocked’¦..more
copies of Dark Angel flew out of the door (demonic possesion obviously)
and thanks to Pete Feenstra for another great night’¦.

Gary 16/01/2011 Gary The Roadhouse Xmas Party Show ‘“ the Bulls Head
– Barnes ‘“ 13/12/10 We’ve had some great atandances at our annual Xmas bash,
but last years was a little quiet. With London doubling as Siberia in the
latest ‘˜movie production’ things did not look too good crowd wise’Surprisingly it was a good night, with people coming from as far away as
Bournemouth. The audience reaction was stunning, if only all live music
crowds could be like the one in the Bull on this night’¦..

First up were some of our special guests. For a start we re-wrote North
American history by pairing Geronimo (The Guitar Player) with Buffalo Bill
(Smith, the harp player. These great players were backed by our very own
rythmn section of Bill and Roger. These guys in truth are our largely unsung
heroes and were as solid as a rock all night. Though the first number was
a rather ill advised verions of Led Zep’s ‘˜Rock & Roll’, this was well redeemed
by the remainder of their set. Mandie’s mate Mel, then had a sing, but problems
with the key of the number conspired against her’¦

Next up was a real and historic treat. The amazing Rietta Austin (of INXS
and opening the O2 Arena fame) joined Roadhouse for a spine tingling version
of Stormy Monday. Truly brilliant, this achieved the first standing ovation
of the night.

We then took the stage as a full Band. With Sammy.C joining Mandie and Kelly
on the vocals, we blasted into a selection of new songs from Dark Angel.
‘˜Too Tired To Pray’, Rainmaker’, ‘˜Swamp Girl’ and a fabulous ‘˜ Dark Angel’,
followed. Sam solo’d on ‘˜The Lying Game’, ‘˜Mandie on’ Play With Fire’ and
Kelly brought the Roadhouse set to an end with a storming ‘˜Big Easy’, from
The Broken Land album. These songs received a truly amazing crowd re-action’¦well
played Danny.G (you rocked mate!)

A memorable night was concluded by Pete Sargeant and Jthe legenndary John
O’Leary jamming through some great songs. Robin Bibi joined them on sensational
lead guitar and our very own Mandie was back on stage, layering on some
cool backing vocals. Funky George Dare (of ex- Roadhouse and The Foundations
fame) got behind the drums for the last number and even played them right
handed (it must have been Xmas)’.

A massive thank you to all that came and the amazing support we received
in sub zero tempreatures.

A Happy Xmas to all

Gary & The Band

Gary 24/12/2010 Gary The Tropic, Ruislip ‘“ 21/11/10 Back to the Tropic, which was co-run by the late, lamented
George McFall. Phillip who has now completely taken over the venue has decided
that Sundays being George’s brainchild, will be wound up. as they have never
been a successful as the mega busy Fridays.The Band that hold the record for an attendance on a Sunday is for once
– US!’¦.

Still on this cold night, even though this was our North West London CD
launch, we did not pull as many people as last time.

Still, we had a decent enough crowd, thanks to the efforts of some of the
locals and ace Roadhouse supporter Darren Wisdom.

With Kelly on sick absence, the vocals were well handled by Sam and Mandie
(until Mandie got a bit worse for wear in Preacher Man and it did not matter
too much by then,as it was an encore).

Once more we played the first 4 tracks off of Dark Angel in sequence. I’m
personally really enjoying playing both ‘˜Rainmaker’ and ‘˜Dark Angel’ at
the moment, those songs are all about feel, precision and power.

Sam solo’d on the ‘˜Lying Game’ and Mandie did both ‘˜House of the Rising
Sun’

and a strong version of ‘˜Play With Fire’ from the new CD.

Two encores and then CD sales were once more very strong..

A good night

Gary 04/12/2010 Gary The Boom Boom Club ‘“ Sutton FC ‘“ 7/11/10 So to the much heralded launch of our new and in many’s opinion
(including mine), best ever CD, Dark Angel’We channeled a lot of effort into promo for the gig, as did ace promoter
Pete Feenstra. The overall turnout was a bit dissapointing in relation to
the size of crowds that we’ve had at past CD launches.

However, the Roadhouse die hard supporters were out in force. The crowd
were amazing and we blasted through the 1 hour and 40 minute set (it felt
like a quarter of an hour).

We played the first 4 tracks from Dark Angel in sequence, ‘˜Too Tired To
Pray’, ‘˜Rainmaker’, ‘˜Dark Angel’ and Swamp Girl. Samy.C.Richards joining
Kelly and Mandie on the night, to deliver some great 3 part harmonies. I
was personally delighted with both the crowd re-action and the level of
performance.

Old faves, ‘˜Tellin Lies’ (reincarnated on the new CD), ‘˜Voodoo Queen’ and
‘˜Preacher Man’, brought the night to an end (encore and all). Roger and
Bill were rock solid and Danny was superb (apart from the two comedy moments,
(a) when he started the wrong song, (b) When he tried to play with his lead
unplugged ‘“ but whatever, he’s Danny and he’s genius!!)

Support was from the loud but excellent Stone Electric. Thanks to Chris
for doing the merchandising and I’m pleased to annouce that we sold 26 copies
of Dark Angel on this very first evening’¦..

If only more of our friends had been there’¦ Thanks to all who came out
on a cold Sunday..We carry on because of you

Gary 30/11/2010 Gary The Whetmore Whistle ‘“ Burton Upon Trent ‘“ 31/10/1 So to the 3rd gig of our Midlands mini tour. A very nice
Sunday afternoon venue. A good crowd and we were joined on stage for a couple
of numbers by our old friend, Mick Rutherford for a quick jam. Mick certainly
had his mojo working.This venue has a great atmosphere. Kelly, Suzie and Mandie doing great on
the vocals and Danny blasting it out of the park on guitar’¦.

The reaction was so warm, we even had people driving from over 80 miles
to catch this show ‘“ many thanks to you!!!!. I shagged up the beginning
of ‘˜Preacher Man’ (sorry, new medication ‘“ strange but true!), but then
the number picked up it’s usual epic feel and structure.

On the drive back to London, we were reflecting on thanks to Suzie, Kelly
and John for their help in putting a very enjoyable mini tour together..

We’ll be back in the area next year

Gary 28/11/2010 Gary The Crew Bar ‘“ Nuneaton ‘“ 30/10/11 A strange night in more ways than one. the Crew Bar run a
system of a large concert hall upstairs and more unknown bands playing downwtairs
in the actual bar.So as relative unknowns in this area, we were playing in the funky rock
and roll styled bar downstairs. The audience made the night as they were
in the most outrageous Haloween garb imaginable. Every form of ghoul, ghost
and monster was present. And even being of more advanced years I must comment
on seing some of the most sexy looking vmpires ever’

As we started the set the audence re-action was muted. This was due to the
fact that, (a) creatures of the night are not big on applause, (b) They
usually have covers bands on downstairs, where there is little re-action
anyway.

Still, it was business as usual, with our 3 girl attack we came, we saw
and we made a lot of friends. One pocket of the crowd went mad for the girls
and watched avidly, while another did some close guitar technique observation.
By the end the handful of Roadhouse fans down the front lead them to a decent
re-action and even an encore. As a conesequence of the good reaction we
were not eaten or impaled, which in hindsight, I think was a good thing’¦.

The other great aspect was we got to meet Richard, the boss. A great guy,
he loved the Band and we are trying to find a date/arrangment where we can
play the large concert hall upstairs’¦

Keep on rocking..

Gary 28/11/2010 Gary The Roadhouse ‘“ Birmingham ‘“ 29/10/11 First of 3 dates in the Birmingham/Midlands area.This was our first ever date in Birmingham and at the prestigous Roadhouse
too.

A massive thanks to our very own Brum lady Suzie.D who worked so hard to
promote this gig.

The Roadhous is an awesome big stage venue and you really need over 100
people to make the most of it. However, I guess we are a bit of an unknown
quantity up this way, as there were very few of the Roahouse’s regulars
present this night.

Thanks to Suzi’s tireless promotion and the two groups of Roadhouse supporters
who drove down from up North we had 58 paying punters. This was not bad
for the first time at a new venue, in a new city.

To celebrate playing Suzie’s hometown we had our much heralded 3 girl line
up on duty.

It was a great show and the crowd were 100% behind us.

This was the best we’d ever played ‘˜Rainmaker”¦. other fave moments included
a killer ‘˜Roadhouse Blues’, being played by Roadhouse in the Roadhouse (sort
that out

‘˜Voodoo Queen’, ‘˜Tellin Lies’ and the encore of ‘˜Preacher Man’, really did
the job. The sound crew and door staff weere all well impressed, maybe we’ll
come back to this great venue’¦

Suzie herself sang two lead vocals culminating in a smokey ‘˜Stormy Monday’,
just as she sings it on the new CD. The crowd went crazy..

Well done Suzie, thanks for a great night

Gary

Gary 14/11/2010 Gary The Yardbirds Club ‘“ Grimsby ‘“ 2/10/11 A long drive, but it was a dissapointing turn out.Mandie did a great job on solo vocal duty. Young Jason from the Brew did
a fabulous guest turn with us on two different songs. He really is the best
young guitar player I’ve ever seen’¦

All there loved the show’¦..Our first two gigs here were packed’¦.. Is
it us or is live music on a bit more of a down???

Gary 14/11/2010 Gary The New Crawdaddy Club ‘“ Essex- 30/9/10 After headlining a couple of this great venues charity festivals
and also holding Jules and Lorna’s farewell gig here, it felt weird that
we had been away for 3.5 years.Still Paul who runs this place has a thinkless task, as now one of the Country’s
most popular venues, there is an enormous list of quality bands in an giant
holding pattern trying to get gigs here.

We are used to pulling between 80-120 people here, so the recession driven
turnout of nearly 60 was quite dissapointing. But the people at thsi venue
love their music and the PA guys know there stuff. The crowd are massively
responsive and they got behind us from the off.

Support was from the excellent, Paul’s own, The Heaters, who oiled the wheels
in readyness for our set, very nicely.

With Kelly joining Mandie on the vocals, we started with a strong version
of ‘˜Blues Highway’. Kelly solo’d on ‘˜The ‘˜Lying Game’ and Mandie on ‘˜House
of the Rising Sun’. We played ‘˜Too Tired Too Pray’, ‘˜Working Class Gospel
Drinking Blues’ and great versions of both Rainmaker and Swamp Girl’, from
the forthcoming CD, Dark Angel.

A double encore and excllent CD sales later another good night was over
(far too quickly)’¦

I hope Paul does not wait another 3.5 years to have us back again’¦

Nice people, nice gig

Gary 24/10/2010 Gary The Red Lion ‘“ Stevenage ‘“ 26/9/10 A big thanks to legendary Roadie, Ron who brought in the
additional transport to make this gig possible.Trevor (The Legendary Man In the Hat) Keeling as promoter brought in his
own PA and despite the absence of Bill’s Van, we were on.

The Red Lion is famous for the audience being right in your face and for
musicians gaining an instant and full on re-action to their performance.

The night gave Sam a chance to experience being part of the full on Roadhouse
entity for the first time. A good 20 hard core Roadhouse supporters/CD collectors
were in the crowd and she achieved excellent feedback with her performance.

The Band played stunning versions of , ‘˜Too Tired To Pray’, ‘˜Rainmaker’
and ‘˜Dark Angel’ itself from the new CD of that name. A local girl singer
called Megan joined in on a version of ‘˜Stormy Monday’ in the second set.
Then we were at ‘˜Tellin Lies’ and ‘˜Preacher Man’ and the night was over
(it passed by in a blink). ‘œYou’re too good for here’ said Trev (kindly),
I don’t personally think we are ever too good to play to people who care
and really want to hear us.

Long live Trevor..

Gary 17/10/2010 Gary East Harling Social & Music Club ‘“ Norfolk –
25/9/10 A strange, but in some ways compelling night.The Band were all excited on the way up as we had just found an exciting
addition to the team. Her name is Sammy.C.Richards and in one week she had
learned and proved worthy on virtually the entire Roadhouse portfolio.

Most of the journey up in Roger’s people carrier was spent with her in deep
discussion with Mandie, arranging harmonies etc.

Then fate once more struck a cruel blow. We received a phone call from Bill
who after spending 2k on a service and then 1.8k on the breakdown that stopped
us from playing at this years Rythmn Festival, had broken down (yet) again.

We were with Bill within 10 minutes and despite all efforts and a good range
of ‘˜Baldrick style cunning ideas’ Bill and his van (full of most of our
equiment) was beng towed back to London.

When we arrived at East Harding the people there were very understanding.
They helped us locate a local PA and then we committed to doing something
that we had never done before. Danny and I would play guitars and the girls
and I would sing. The show would go on (after all who needs bass and drums!!!!!!!!).

God it was hard work but it went really well. Sam on her first night was
unbelievable, showing great vocal technique and performing well on all the
songs.

Some of the songs that worked best in the format included, ‘˜Rainmaker’,
‘˜Slip Away’ and the revisted ‘˜Not Fade Away’, where the percussive elements
of the guitar held the song together.

We even got an encore..

Thanks to Roger for doing the sound.

We’ll all be back next year.

Thanks Sandie

Gary 17/10/2010 Gary Charlotte Street Blues ‘“ London ‘“ 16/9/10 A welcome return to rocking out in Central London and our
first time at this prestigous venue..Nice stage and sound set up with mixing coming from the upper gallery. The
opening band were classic three peice slide blues, no risks, but good quality.
They experienced the donwside of the long thin room, that makes it hard
for bands to connect with the audinece.

Still, with both Kelly and Mandie on Vocals, we managed to connect with
the audience from the off. ‘˜Blues Highway’ was followed by ‘˜Too Tired To
Pray’ from the new CD, Dark Angel. Both girls brought the house down with
their individual solo performances and overall the long first set really
kicked.

The crowd thinned for the second set as it often does at late night venues
in the City. People start to think about the last train home. So though
it still rocked, the crowd was a little bit thinner on the Ground. Well
done the party of Americans from Alaska, who had all up and dancing to ‘˜Roadhouse
Blues’. Encore was of course ‘˜Preacher Man’ and we hope to be back.

Gay 07/10/2010 Gary Groene Engel ‘“ Oss ‘“ Netherlands ‘“ 3/9/10 Well onto Liesbeth and Willy’s famous venue. This lovely
couple put the Band up at their own house and treated us like royalty during
our stay.The venue itself was a surprise. I expected a music pub, but the pub opened
up into a large theatre style venue.

We were the first gig of the new season, so there was uncertainty with regard
to crowd numbers. With 5 minutes to show time there was no one there other
than PA crew, bar staff and security. I was amazed that we went on to about
50 people, it had begun to fill so quickly. By the time we were on the 3rd
number the crowd was over 100 and there were more then 200 present by the
end of the 1st set..

The weird thing was that all numbers were only greeted by polite applause.
By the time we came off for the break I was sure we were ‘˜bombing’ badly.
I was then told that the audience was notriously quiet and that had been
one of the best re-actions ever.

We did not want to leave things there, so in the second set we upped our
game and smashed into our rockier material. There was even more people there
and now he place was heaving. The crowd went crazy and there was people
dancing and generally behaving moe like a typicel Roadhouse audience.

‘˜Voodoo Dance’, ‘˜Roadhouse Blues’, ‘˜Tellin Lies’ and ‘˜Preacher Man’. Second
encore went to Mandie with ‘˜Heavens Door’.

It was a sad goodbye (possibly temporarily) for the the lovely and talented
Rachel Clark. She had done around 30 gigs for us, but has now been recruited
for a girl band’s 6 month tour of India (Chapti’s over for her)

We’ll hopefully be back next year and so may she.

Thanks to Willy and Liesbeth, the fabulous Hester and the legendary Arnold..

Gary 25/09/2010 Gary Cafe d’Oude Stoep ‘“ Vlaadingen /Rotterdam –
Netherlands 2/9/10 Many thanks to Hester, our brilliant Dutch tour manager for
sorting out this date.It was a nice trip across on the ferry. Danny asked us ‘œDid I ever tell
you that I used to be in the Merchant Navy’. Now he has mentioned this fact
a few hundred times before and so earned the nickname of ‘œCap’n Danny’ for
the rest of the trip’¦. aaaaarghaaaahhhh me harties. We are now saving
up to but him a parrot and send him off for a cruise on the Black Pearl.

We were basically on a loss making trip, as the main gig in Belgium had
been cancelled due to the promoter having serious health problems. Still
it was nice to return to this nice little music cafe.

12 people who saw us at this venue 2 years ago came back and gave us massive
support. Some great students bought up the remainder of the Roadhouse CD
collection, depsite not exactly being affluent. I loved the guys headbanging
in font of Cap’n Danny’s amp.

With Mandie.G and Rachel in great voice and rocking out big style, this
was a nice little gig to about 50 people. A good warm up fo the forthcoming
recording sessions for the new CD, Dark Angel.

Gary 19/09/2010 Gary Private Function ‘“ Nottingham ‘“ 28/8/10 It’s weird for us, as tellers of tales of misery desperation
and voodoo, to be asked to play at a private function.Thanks tor seasoned Roadhouse supporters, Mr & Mrs Pete Laplanche for having
us for their Silver Wedding anniversary. They really looked after us.

With Suzie.D and Mandie.G on vocals, we rocked out in our usual full on
basis and the crowd was brilliant. This was a real Roadhouse show in every
sense of the word.

The versions of ‘˜Rainmaker’ and ‘˜Too Tired To Pray’ were the pick of the
night’¦..

Thanks to all

Gary 19/09/2010 Gary Abbeyfest ‘“ 27/8/10 After headlining at South London’s biggest open air blues
festival for 5 years. we missed out in 2009. A big thanks therefore to Buffalo
Bill Smith for getting us back on the Bill (Ok, Bill got us on the Bill)For the first time we were playing in the early (7pm -8.15 slot) in a double
header with the excellent Pappa George. Usually Bands who play in that slot
perform to about 30-70 people. I’m so proud to report that there was at
least 150 people there when we started and by the end of the set well over
600.

With our full trinity of female vocalists (Mandie, Kelly and Suzie.D) strutting
their stuff, we previewed a lot of material from the forthcoming CD, Dark
Angel (to be launched at the Boom Boom Club, Sutton FC on Sunday 7th Nov).

‘˜Blues Highway’ brought out a great initial reaction from the crowd and
then we followed up with ‘˜Too Tired To Pray’ and ‘˜Rainmaker’ from the new
CD. Another highlight was Kelly singing the great new song she wrote with
Danny and I, ‘˜So Over You’. This is by far the most commercial and contemporary
song we’ve ever written.

By the time that we trotted out crowd fave, Voodoo Dance, Roadhouse Blues
and Tellin Lies the crowd was totally with us and we had a blast’¦..

A vintage Abbey fest night’¦.. Long live Blues rock at Merton Abbey Mills

We’ll be back next year, headlining on the Saturday night of the August
bank hol..

Thanks for all the great support

Gary 18/09/2010 Gary The Rythmn Festival ‘“ Bedford ‘“ 22/8/10 Unfortunately this is the sad tale of the gig that never
was.It had taken me (with the great help of Roadhouse supporter Ray Baldwin)
3 years to get onto the Bill of Jin Driver’s great, large scale festival.

Our dreams ended as Bills vans engine blew, in spectacular fashion en route
to the gig on the M5. Rumours at the festival that Band members were hurt,
were fortunately this was not true’¦

All that hurt was our pride and the fact that we had failed to appear in
front of so many people. Loads of great Roadhouse friends/fans texted mailed
and phoned their good wishes through following our failure to appear.

Jim was brilliant about it and we have been offered a slot at the festival
next year’¦.good man.

My heart goes out to Bill and his van and a near 2k repair bill. This is
all we need, as we are only a couple of weeks away from recording the new
CD.

Gary 05/09/2010 Gary The Saltash Rock & Blues Festival ‘“ 21/8/10 The first of what we had intitally hoped as two big festivals
over the course of this weekend.The key festival organiser was our old friend and ace guitar builder/luthier,
Tom Anfield. With several stages in operation and The Damned as the headline
act in the main hall, we were headlining the main pub stage at The Union.

A really friendly but intimate venue, with the crowd virtually standing
in our face. The Band were really on form following the mid week rehearsal.
The crowd really rose to the new, sing along style number ‘˜The Gospel Working
Class Drinking Blues’.

With 3 girls on duty (Kelly Marie Hobbs, Mandie.G and Rachel Clark) the
band really kicked into life in the second set, as we achieved a better
vocal sound balance in this relatively confined space.

It was a great gig. Tom had not seen the Band in two years and was amazed
by how much things have grown/improved. The crowd and the festival organisers
brilliant reaction, mean that we will be back hopfully on the main stage
next year.

Thanks to Tom and the great people of Saltash.

Gary 05/09/2010 Gary The Charlie Butler ‘“ Mortlake ‘“ 16/7/10 It was weird for the Band to take a step back in time and
play at a small pub. However, we owed the Londord, Chris (Crispin Mallet)
a great deal.Roadhouse learned their tade about 17 years ago regularly playing at his
local (to us) Jolly Gardners venue. He also introduced us to his Barmaid
the Roadhouse legend, Lorna Reilly and quite a lot of history happened as
a consequence of that meeting.

The week before the gig Chris had a visit from the Council ‘˜Noise Police’,
so as a consequence temporary soundproofing was in place. However, rumours
were rife across the music scene that gigs had been suspended at the CB.

As this gig stood in some ways as being contrary to our agreements with
our main promoter, Pete Feenstra and with the strategy of our record Company
I could not afford to promote it that heavily.

As a consequence of problems with the Council, the Band played at a record
breaking low volume. visiting journalist Darren Wisidom complained that
though he was standing only 6 feet from Danny, he was struggling to hear
him.

Still the low music levels allowed the vocals to soar and Kelly and Rachel
revelled in being able to hear themselves much more clearly than usual.
They sang brilliantly.

The first set was played to a relatively small crowd. The biggest reaction
was given to the title track of the new (forthcoming) CD, The epic, ‘˜Dark
Angel’. By the start of the second set a good sized crowd had mustered and
we rocked out a fair bit more. Reaction was great and we ran into some people
who had seen us at Glastonbury (small world!)’¦

It was great to see Chris who is getting good Bands in twice a week and
has the Jam Pact boys running a good jam session every Tuesday ‘“ check it
out’¦.

Gary 15/08/2010 Gary Millers Blues & Snooker Club ‘“ Kirkby In Ashfield
– 8/7/10 I was initially reluctant to travel up to do a gig near Mansfield
on a Thursday night. Firstly, July audiences can be a bit thin on the ground,
then there was the hot weather and the World Cup (two live music passion
killers!)’¦However, Rob was very persuasive and what a great guy he turned out to be.
Lovely music room, good sound, nice big dressing room, food and drink all
supplied. If only everyone looked after Bands the way he does.

And what a great crowd, to have over 80 people turning up on a Thursday
night, all paying £7, is some acheivement in the current recession.

A big thanks to regular supporters, including Pete Laplanche and our jam
buddy Mick Rutherford for turning up.

Also present was the lovely Carol from our label Blues Matters who made
a great speech introducing the Band. Another notable attendee was that ace
photographer Tony Winfield.

Another massive thanks for Steve who filmed the gig.

Catch the following on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmHE9htOhKE&feature=email = Too Tired To
Pray

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB0zfFwhRWM&feature=channel = Blues Highway

Rachel and Mandie were on vocal duties and performed admirably. ‘˜Blues Highway’
got as off to a good start and by the end of ‘˜Too Tired To Pray’ the crowd
seemed to be 100% behind us. ‘˜Dark Angel’ received a massive ovation which
bodes well for the new CD of the same name.

The second set really rocked and the ‘˜stomp along’ at the beggining of ‘˜Tellin
Lies’ made the stage shake.

A great place and a great gig. We should be back next year.Thank you Rob.

Gary 17/07/2010 Gary Glastonbury Festival ‘“ 27/610 A day to remember as our 20 year career lead us to an appearance
at Europe’s biggest music festival.A massive thanks to Andy Fielding and his wife Sue who put us on their excellent
Bourbon Street Blues/Jazz stage’¦.

The day started badly, as the Englad football team where put to the sword
by a tactically superior German side (augmented by the biggest refereeing
blunder of all time), we were shut out of the festival. All approaches into
the festival were closed due to the massive crowds watching the game.

We were placed in a holding compound for the best part of 2 hours, as tempers
and nerves became more and more fraught on a hot and humid day. Finally
Artist Transport whiz Dave found us in his magic Land Rover. The girls and
I were then driven to the stage, while poor Danny, Bill and Roger (and his
bad back), were left with a 3 mile walk in boiling conditions.

They truned up hours later in some state of disrepair, after pausing frequently
to let Rogers back manage to take the strain.

Then began a long wait for our appointed slot’¦..

The Bourbon Street stage, has a capacity of 6-800 hundred with seating outside
on the grass for around another 1-2,000. There was relatively few people
there all day, as people stuck with some big hitters on the main stages,
like Slash and Stevie Wonder.

We went on to about 80 or so people, just as Stevie was finishing up on
the Pyramid Stage. We started quietly with ‘˜Blues Highway’ and by the time
we hit a rocking ‘˜Too Tired To Pray’ as a second number people statrted
to flood into the tent and onro the grass embankment.

The Band played really well and early stage monitrpoing and level problems
were quickly overcome by the competent stage manager and sound crew.

All 3 girls Kelly, Suzie and Mandie sang brilliantly. The crowd went mad
for their 3 solo performances of ‘˜The Lying game’, ‘˜House of the Rising
Sun’ (which had been part played by Muse on the Pyramid on Friday night)
and ‘˜The Big Easy’. I managed to get a big ovation for my solo in ‘˜House’,
so thanks to all the rest of the Band for making me sound so good. By the
mid point of the set, the crowd were chanting Kelly’s name (super star in
the making?)

The real heros of the night were Roger (playing with his really bad back)
and Danny who used the house backline and did a great job of producing a
killer sound.

A 3 tap finish of ‘˜Tellin Lies’, ‘˜Preacher Man’ and ‘˜No Place To Hide’ (The
well deserved and cheered for encore), produced a rocking set to a fantasic
reaction from the big crowd. A few punters came up and said it was he best
thing they had seen all weekend (I’ll settle for it just being bloody good!).

A million thanks to all Andy Fieldings great Roadhouse Promotions Crew,
including Nails and Joe.

We waited back stage through another transport embargo, this one due to
the large amount of drunk/high people on the site. At around 3 in the morning
Dave turned up in the magic Landrover.

On this occassion the Landrover turned into the tardis. We put Roger in
the front, all the equiment in the back and then fitted six Band members
in the normal space that would be occupied by two people. This ws a simlar
experience to being laoded onto a crowded Tokyo commuter train. I’d like
to apologise to Suzie for eating quite a large quantity of her hair. The
30 minute journey over bumpy ground will pass into legend.

On the drive home, dawn broke over mist shrouded fields. Rising out of the
mist, a few hundred yards to my right rose the majesty of Stonehenge. I
reflected that, that construction had been around longer then Roger and
it put the whole thing into context for me’¦..

Gary 30/06/2010 Gary Music Cafe Gompelhof ‘“ Mol ‘“ Belgium This is such a great venue, that it felt like coming home..Jo and Annette, the owners are fantastc people. If only all music promoters/venue
owners were like them. We were incredibly well looked after’¦

Last time we stayed in a nice modern hotel, this time they provided a bed
and breakfast in an amazing stately home ‘“ luxury!!!.

We spent the afternoon sipping beers in the sun soaked garden. Then Jo and
Annette took Kelly and I to a local football tournament (with much associated
drinking)’¦

It was another hot night, so Jo had a real concern over crowd numbers. However,
though a bit down on last time there was still a good sized crowd.

A local Chicago style blues band playing their first ever show, opened the
night. They did a fine job.

So onto the Roadhouse set and we changed things around a bit from the first
two shows. ‘˜Slip Away’ got an airing and ‘˜Voodoo Queen ‘˜ returned to it’s
usual slot as the penultimate song in the set.

As ever the Gompelhof crowd were brilliant and they gave us a great response.
after 2 Encores, there was time for a lot of CD signing and drinking with
the local music lovers.

I recommend this gig to every major touring band as the hospitality and
Crowd are truly remarkable’¦

We’ll be back soon

Gary 27/06/2010 Gary The 013 ‘“ Tilburg ‘“ Netherlands ‘“ 4/6/10 From a great night and an excellent crowd to a gig that in
all honesty was painful’¦.Ou orignal gig at great muso venue the Green Angel was cancelled and fatstic
promotet, Liesbeth magically booked us into this huge venue/arena’¦

The 013 has 3 halls, and features arttists playng recently like Chris Isaak
and Marc Almond and Pappa Roach’¦.

Unfortunately it was what i expected’¦..

We were so well looked after in our luxurious dressing room, the staff (mainly
volunteers could not have been nicer)’¦.

Three big problems:

– We’d never played that aprt of Holland before

– I dont think the venue did much promotion for the show

– It was boiling hot, still in the 80’²s at 10pm

I was proud of the Band as it put on a great performance under the circumstances.
Playing to an all time record low (in 19 years) of 8 people (plus 16 staff)..
it was hot and hard work’

To make things worse I starined my voice during the first number as the
engineer had turned the mntors virtually off and lost the top 3rd of my
vocal range for the rest of the night’¦

Still we rocked out and two rpomoters who came to see us were very impressed
and have booked us for their venue in September.

The people at the 013 were nice and praised us to our faces, shame they
have been sarcastic on their website about the small crowd’

Oh well onto Mol and a guaranteed good crwod and then to Glastonbury!!!!

You win some (most) other times you take it up the wrong hole (so to speak!)

Gary

Gary 19/06/2010 Gary The Podium ‘“ Schiedam/Rotterdam ‘“ Netherlands
– 3/6/10 Our third time at this atmospheric canal side venue.Our great friend and Dutch promoter Hester cooked us both a great dinner
and cooked up a big crowd for this warm summer night.

This was the biggest crowd that we had pulled at the Podium so far. The
Band were on great form with Suzie.D sharing vocal duties wih Kelly Marie
Hobbs.

A great version of ‘˜Blues Highway’ prepared the ground for the kicking new
number ‘˜Too Tired to Pray’. This night also featured the best version of
‘˜Dark Angel’ that we have played so far, the crowd reaction was fantastic.

There was so many local and cool musicians and artists in the audience,
that we had to play well. The Band delivered and ‘˜Preacher Man’ was the
appropriate encore..

A massive thanks to Hester and hopefully we’ll be back next year.

Gary 15/06/2010 Gary The Colourhouse Theatre ‘“ Merton Abbey Mills
– 16/5/10 So back to this great local venue run by journalist and ace
harp player Buffalo Bill Smith’¦Set opposite to the famous bandstand which plays host to the enormous Merton
Abbey Mills Blues (catch us on Friday 27th August, in the open air, playing
to the big crowd) and Jazz festivals. This cozy candlelit theatre seats
about 50 before they need to bring in extra seating.

We had a crowd of around 35 plus, this was better than last time, but still
not enough local support for my liking.

Still full of Roadhouse fans and old friends we still had a fantastic night.

The first set for once was superbly well played. According to Danny I was
bit loud in his mix, but checking with quite a few people out front the
balance was spot on. From the opener, ‘˜Blues Highway’, Kelly and Mandie’s
vocals combined superbly.

Everyone played well and the crowd response was terrific. The new songs
‘˜Too Tired To Pray’, ‘˜Dark Angel’ and ‘˜Swamp Girl’, all went down a treat.

In the break our good friend Jimmy Dublin played a short set alongside Bill
on the harp. As usual this was punctuated with alternative comedy and the
standard public altercation with Mandie routine, that just cracks everybody
up.

Into the second set and Bill joined us for a rousing ‘˜Roadhouse Blues’.
Soon we were at ‘˜Preacher Man’ and then another great gig was over.

Thanks to all those great people who came and supported us on the night.

Regards,

Gary 26/05/2010 Gary The Roahouse Jam ‘“ Grove Tevern ‘“ 6/6/10 Our monthly jam at the Grove (the first Thursday of every
month) landed on election night. Unfortunately, this lead to a quieter night
than recent jams.The numbers may have been down from about 60 to 30 something but a lot of
the jam (and Roadhouse’s) core supporers/friends were in attendance. Danny
was missing (The first Roadhouse gig he has missed since joining the Band
nearly 3 years ago) and was replaced by a quality dep, in the form of the
legendary Robin Bibi.

The opener ‘˜Blues Highway’ saw a different approach from Robin, as he augmented
the song wih some great blues slide and even added a touch of wah wah to
the progrression. We finished the set with the new song ‘˜Too Tired Too Pray’
and Robin managed to produce the main riff, after just having it hummed
to him 5 mins before the start of the show (Quality!). Kelly and Rachel’s
vocals were right on point as this song really kicked.

The jam had some nice moments. My fave’s were Pete Sargeant’s harp playing,
as he joined Robin for a set along with the great Tim Matthewman on bass.There
was some really nice interplay between them. Geronimo was also on good guitar
form.

Towards the end of the night Kelly got up to deliver a great reading of
‘˜Stormy Monday’. Then it was over to Grove soundman and Ozric Tentacles
fluteplayer extrodinaire, Jumping John. John finished the night with a great
acoustic guiter instrumental, very new world, but with a raw edge’¦.

Next month the jam will be run by my good friends Mark and Tony of Jam Pact.
Roadhouse will be on tour in Holland and Belgium. We’ll be back running
the jam on the 1st July.

Gary 22/05/2010 Gary The Hope Tavern ‘“ Holton Le Moor ‘“ 2/5/1008 The Hope Tavern has always been a great bastion of Roadhouse
support and so it proved once more, on an excellent Sunday afternoon in
May.It was a first time here for Rachel and she was rewarded with a visit from
7 of her family, including Grandma (brave woman wasn’t deaf at all ‘“ before
the gig anyway!).

Atfter enormous Hope Tavern Sunday lunches (thanks to the amazing Graham!)
we had some volunteers to roll us nto the stage.

Ther is always something special about playing the Hope. The crowd sits
virtually on top of you and you can see everyone;s faces as they react to
both your successes (and to any mistakes). A lot of this crowd knew the
songs better than we did, so the pressure was on to do them justice.

Over 75 paying punters turned up, which was a very big crowd for this small
venue. And what lovely people, as we sold a lot of CD’s and 5 copies of
our new limited edition DVD.

Things went well from the opening ‘˜Blues Highway ‘˜and ‘˜No Place To Hide’.
The 3 new songs ‘˜Swamp Girl’, ‘˜Too Tired Too Pray’ and ‘˜Dark Angel’ were
also big hits with the crowd.

Kelly and Rachel did well together, the only problem being a harmony on
‘˜The Answer’ which was otherwise well performed. Great drum and even Bass
solo from Roger and Bill repsctively, in ‘˜Voodoo Queen’ . ‘˜Preacher Man’
rocked and then it was over for another year at The Hope’¦. what a great
venue!!!.

Only sad note was that great Roadhouse supporter and a local Ray Baldwin
was not in attendance. He was looking very ill last year and it broke my
heart not to see him in his rightful place at the bar’¦..

There we go for the for the grace of’¦.

Gary 12/05/2010 Gary The New Inn ‘“ Witney ‘“ 30/4/10 In this lovely Cotswold town, a really nice landlord called
Martin has been on a mission to bing top quality live music to the area.
According to Blues Maters own Vicky Martin it was a dream of his to have
Roadhouse play thie quaint little pub.We turned up as part of a local beer and memorial/’Heroes’ festival. This
was the first time we were ever introduced by a priest, which was quite
ironic as a set of songs about blues, voodoo and the devil sent him rushing
to the exit. Still the local Mayor stuck it out and decent sized crowd of
around a 100 started to really get into the music.

Midway through the first set David Cameron turned up (well it is his constituency)
and the whole evening became progressively more surreal. According to Martin
he said, ‘œThey are not bad at all, are they’, which I guess is a quote that
will now go down in Roadhouse history. I’m sure David is now regretting
asking the magic Genie that he can become well hung ‘“ ho, ho’¦ sorry!.

Anyway, onto more musical matters. The second set was very well played with
Kelly and Rachel working well in tandem. Kelly sang a nice ‘˜Stormy Monday’
and once more the new songs ‘˜Too Tired To Pray’ and ‘˜Dark Angel’ went down
a storm.

A big thanks to Martin for his hospitality and a good night

Gary 08/05/2010 Gary Dove Valley Blues Club ‘“ 24/4/10 ‘“ Derbyshire A first time at this nice blues club in Derbyshire. Thanks
to Fred and Dennis for having us along’¦The club had not been doing that well in the recesion recently and I know
the guys would have liked to have pulled in a bigger crowd for our first
appearance in this area. However, I think 30 something people paying £8.00
to get in was not a bad turn out for a first time.

Great to see a few familiar faces, as some Roadhouse fans ran up a lot of
mileage to come and give their support (god bless em).

We had Mandie and Rachel out of our squad aof great female vocalists on
duty this night. The Band put on a great performance. To me this night was
notable for the new, epic song ‘˜Dark Angel’, really coming of age. We have
halved the chorus structure and it’s really improved the dynamic (and duration)
of the song. Also Rachel was really brave as she took on another 2 songs
that were brand new to her and she did well with both of them.

The crowd were really great and pleasure to play to. the night finished
with ‘˜Tellin Lies’ and ‘˜Preacher Man’.

Thanks to all for a great night

Gary 01/05/2010 Gary The Buzz Club ‘“ Barnet F.C ‘“ 18/4/10 Onto Pete Feenstra’s big stage North London venue.Nice room and a very large deep stage, great acoustics and a superb lighting
technician.

Recent problem with the bar and owners of the venue lead to this gig beng
poorly attended. I’d like to thank the 15 or so Roadhouse supporters who
turned up, but they were only augmented by 7 or so locals/regulars.

Still, ace Jounalist and musician (check out the Band, Elephant Shelf) Vicky
Martin was present ‘“ so expect a review of the gig in Blues Matters. This
is in advance of the in depth interview with me, which will be going into
the magazine just prior to the launch of our new CD Dark Angel, in October.

The Band were on top form and featured strong performances fom all 3 girl
singers, Mandie, Kelly and our new start turn, Rachel Clark. Roadhouse legend
Anne Campbell was in attendance and performed a guest slot, with a nice
version of ‘˜Brooklyn Blues”¦

Out of the new songs, ‘˜Too Tired to Pray’ really rocked out and ‘˜Dark Angel’
is developing superbly and the cut down version of this epic worked a treat
(despite an intonation problem with my guitar).

The people there created a great atmosphere and we were able to finish with
a belting version of ‘˜Preacher Man’.

Upwards and onwards,

Gary 28/04/2010 Gary The Duck & Drake ‘“ Leeds ‘“ 21/3/10 So our mini tour of the North concluded with this visit to
Mandie’s home town.This was a great pub venue.. yet another excellent Simon and Sharon Colgan
venue (they are taking over the UK and good job too!). Ian the Manager was
a good guy too and this was one of the best and most responsive crowds that
we have played to in a long while’¦..

The place was packed and from the off Danny and I’s solo’s were cheered
and Mandie and Rachel given ovations for their vocal prowess. This was one
of the best gigs of the year so far, the second set alone lasting in excess
of 90 minutes.

The time flew by, I played as well as I’d probably ever done and while on
stage felt fit and well and years younger. Within an hour of the journey
down the motorway it was back to feling 95 again (and I’m not talking about
Roger speeding).

Sharon Colgan herself got up and did a fine reading of ‘˜Stormy Monday’ (always
loved her voice)’¦. I think that this was the night that the new song ‘˜Too
Tired To Pray’ realy emerged as a winner.

Mandie’s family came and gave her massive support’¦ A great night, we’ll
be back’¦..I hope!

Gay 04/04/2010 Gary Redcar Blues Club ‘“ 20/3/10 Redcar proved to be an interesting place’¦ as I saw the
steel works and chemical plants on the outskirts, I sensed the kind of hard
work, toil and monotonous existence that force people into strange mechanisms
of escape’.would that extend to going to a Roadhouse gig?The centre of town was fairly shuttered and devoid of life, even in the
middle of a Saturday afternoon. The wind howled down the seafront, while
the mannequin in the sexy underwear store window, suggested that a cross
between a ballerina and a bosons mate was the look that guaranteed you place
in some twisted sexual nirvana.

In the pub under the guest house (how convenient) Rachel ordered the ‘˜mini
‘˜mixed gril and we then watched in awe ,as she munched her way through 5
times her body weight in meat. I ordered the chicken and bacon salad which
ended up being a pile of steaming kebab meet on 4 lettuce leaves ‘“ unusual!.

To the gig’¦. met Alan the promoter ‘. the kind of unsung hero that
keeps live music going in this country. John the PA man (it’s not heavy
metal but I like it!) was also a real gent.

A nice room’¦.. gets really going when there is about 150 people in it.
Recent averages have been around 95. We probabaly did about 85-90, which
was good paying crowd, but I would liked to have done better.

The atmosphere in the first set was starnge. The crowd re-acted well enough,
but it felt like there was something missing. Our new epic, ‘˜Dark Angel’
was given its 3rd outing and went well enough ( all 4 hours of it ‘“ ).
I still think it needs some judicous editing, but it’s a classic in the
making.

In the break I felt like a celeb as I was asked to draw the raffle. This
hall of fame acknowledgement of my undoubted talent led to a vastly improved
second set’¦.

In all seriousness the Band really kicked on and totally over the top versions
of ‘˜Watchtower’ , Voodoo Dance, ‘˜Roadhouse Blues ‘˜ and a great drum solo
in ‘˜Voodoo Queen’, won the day’

Just a single encore at the end of a very long set, then some excellent
CD sales followed’¦

Apparently, a handful of die hard Blues Purests has gone home, depressed
by our ‘˜Rock leanings’, however for many it was some of the best music that
they had heard for some years (and I quote about 10 of the lovely people
we met there).

The Clan Gwilym were there to monitor their sibling Danny’s talent and he
of course blew them (and the whole crowd) away. Well played mate.

And then onto the meanstreets of Redcar and the invetible late night kebab
shop full of fat girls in mini lycra party dresses and corned beef legs..
pass the hot sauce’¦..

Gary 04/04/2010 Gary The Blues Cafe ‘“ Harrogate ‘“ 19/3/10 So the road took us North, back to Simon and Sharon Colgan’s
excellent Blues Cafe in Harrogate..An intimate venue, it was crammed with people for this gig. Several groups
of Roadhouse supporters came long distances with groups of family and friends
for this show and we thank them for their brilliant support. One great guy
said he’d spent over £200 pounds on mini bus hire and babysitters to get
his party to the gig ‘“ good man!!

This gig was notable for it being Rachel Clark, our stunning new female
vocalists first tour with the Band. Also there was official Roadhouse Band
photographer and journalist Alan White (www.earlyblues), who travelled from
Lancaster to photograph the gig.

The music itself went really well. However, we struggled with the in house
PA in the first set. The main casualty was the new song ‘˜Tornado’, which
lost it’s vocal edge. But with Rachel and Mandie in fine voice (great version
of the ‘˜Lying Game’ by Rachel), the guitar trade off in ‘˜Rock Me’ was magical
and brought the first set to a fine climax.

The second set was a stormer. ‘˜Watchtower’ really kicked, as did the killer
new song’Too Tired Too Pray’. The two encores were ‘˜Preacher Man’ and ‘˜Sacrfice’

A great night at a great venue, we’ll be back

Gary 01/04/2010 Gary The Tropic, Ruislip ‘“ 28/2/10 George Mcfalls’ new venue has an established Friday night
music scene, but for Sunday’s it’s still early days for this atmospheric
back room at Harow & Wealdstone FC.Aided by fantastic support and promotion from journalist/music afficianado,
Darren Wisdom and also from Roadhouse legend Anne Campbell, we managed to
draw a reasonable crowd’¦.

An interesting night for the band on a number of levels. Firstly we had
an appearance from Rachel Clark .Rachel is a great young talent who has
decided to join the Roadhouse squad and at this gig she joined Mandie and
Kelly on 4 numbers.

Secondly we featured 3 new songs for the first time. I chose to open with
the stomping ‘˜Too Tired To Pray’, but this turned out to be a poor decision.
Though the song was great in rehearsal the band were hesitant in delivery.
This hesitancy spilled into the second number, ‘˜Slip Away’ and it was song
three before we hit our stride’¦.

‘˜Dark Angel’ was the next of the new songs to get it’s test drive. I’ve
great hopes for this song and it did not dissapoint. The girls sounded amazing
on a chorus that manages to sound gothic, dark and commercial all at the
same time (somehow!).. The song recieved a great reaction. Danny and I had
not been on top form in the first set, but managed to hit our stride during
the trade off section in ‘˜Rock Me Baby’.

In the second set we managed to finally deal with the sound problems caused
by the low ceiling. Things really rocked, as we ploughed through songs like
‘˜Voodoo Dance’ and ‘˜Tellin Lies’ and another new rocker, ‘˜Tornado’.

A guest appearance from Anne Campbell on ‘˜Brooklyn Blues’ and then 2 encores,
‘˜Preacher Man’ and ‘˜Sacrifice’ ended the night.

A good first showing in this new venue, full of true music fans’¦ We’ll
be back

Gary 14/03/2010 Gary The Blues Room, Harry Smith’s Bar, St Albans
– 6/2/10 From a big stage arena, and a crowd of thousands to a very
intimate venue in St Albans’¦.This venue is being promoted by the talented Vicky Martin, front person
of the band ‘˜Elephant Shelf’ (check ‘˜em out they’ve got this Berlin, decadent
transgendered cabaret, blues thing going on, with female vocals and electric
violin ‘“ interesting!), plus journalist and graphic artist. This venue is
also being sponsored by our own Blues Matters label’¦.

We set up in a fairly cramped space, but our spirits were soon lifted by
an excellent turn out, including loads of people who’d seen us on the big
stage at Skegness the previous weekend.

Overall it was a rocking gig and a decent little venue. The Band’s hot streak
in terms of both performance and crowd pulling power continued. It’s great
to have Manide back on a regular basis and both Kelly and Mandie were on
great vocal form. All rose to Roger’s mighty dum solo and there was even
a second encore as we extlled the virtue of Human ‘˜Sacrifice’ to the good
people of St Albans (I bet that livened up a few after show parties! ‘“ mind
you finding a virgin in St Albans can be an issue ‘“ apparently!)

We’ll be back in July

Gary 02/03/2010 Gary The Roadhouse Jam ‘“ Grove Tavern ‘“ Sth Wimbledon
– 4/2/10 After a quiet first two jams at this location, the January
jam had been cancelled due to the snow and terrible icy conditions’¦.With tempreatures still around freezing, we turned up expecting another
night of ‘˜attendance apathy’. We were pleasantly surpised’

More and more people turned up including loads of faces/freinds from the
Woodman days and by the time the music started there was a great crowd.

Roadhouse played a nice opening set with Kelly ‘˜on point’. This was followed
by great, young singer, Rachel Clark auditioning for a role in the Roadhouse
ladies squad. She did a fine job and as a consequence will be working with
the Band this year.

Many great musicians then put in an a appearance. Highlights inlcuded 13
year old Chloe singing with the great Robin Bibi. She did a fine version
of ‘˜House of the Rising Sun’, on which Robin’s slide playing was outstanding.

We had great performances from Tim Matthewman, Burlesque, Geronimo and an
excellent finish from Jimmy Dublin playing with the superb Andrew Heart
on the bass.

A great crowd, a rocking night and here’s to the next jam on the 4th March’¦

Gary 01/03/2010 Gary Roadhouse Live At Skegness ‘“ Centre Stage Appearance So to Centre Stage on Sunday night. We were up against stiff
competition in the form of The Deborah Bonham band and Nazareth being on
the equally sized, REDS stage.As we stood in the neon twylight, waiting for the curtain to go up, I felt
the ‘˜positive tension’ (well some of us were shitting themselves) crackle
though the Band. After an age the curtain swung upwards to reveal an enormous
crowd and the Band responded by kicking into a rousing version of Tellin
Lies’.

This was arguably one of our best ever big stage performances. The guitar
solos on ‘˜Blues Highway’ drew ovations and the new song ‘˜Swamp Girl’ achieved
a great response from the superb crowd.

All 3 Roadhouse ladies then delivered excellent lead vocals. Suzie.D on
the Lying Game (she really owned that stage), Kelly Marie Hobbs (looking
and sounding amazing) on ‘˜The Big Easy’ and finally Mandie getting her usual
standing ovation for our blues flavoured version of ‘˜House Of The Rising
Sun’.

‘˜The Answer’ was followed by the Youtube made classic ‘˜Voodoo Dance’. After
the girls had carried out their normal samba with Satan the crowd went crazy’¦.

Preacher Man followed as the iconic and demanded encore”¦

What a crowd, thanks to all there for your marvelous support. On nights
like this you can almost believe in the future of live music’¦

On with the deam’¦

Gary 08/02/2010 Gary Roadhouse Live At Skegness ‘“ JAKS Set & The
Skeggy Jam ‘“ 30/1/10 So to our 7th consecqutive appearance at the massive, annual
Skegness Blues and Rock festival. This year marked a changing of the guard,
in terms of many of the Bands who play the festival. A lot of old faves
were not on the Bill and there was a rock stage, with likes of Nazareth
treading the boards.We opened up on the Saturday aftenoon on the JAKS (500 capacity) stage/venue.
Hampered by a misprint in the programme, in terms of start time, we had
to wait until about 13.45 instead of the usual 12.30, before kicking off
proceedings.

We had a great crowd and the opening Roadhouse set really rocked. ‘˜No Place
To Hide’ was followed by ‘˜Slip Away’ and an extended version of Roadhouse
Blues. The hour passed by in a blink and we finished up with great renditions
of both ‘˜Sacrifice’ and Voodoo Queen, with Roger getting an ovation for
his excellent drum solo.

You can check out ‘˜Sea of Souls’ and ‘˜Roadhouse Blues’ on Youtube, by pasting
the following links into your browser:

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/jumpthegunblues#p/a/u/0/gM27G2Pe9bk

Overall it was a great set ,with all 3 of our fabulous female vocalists
strutting their stuff. The set was probably notable for the return of Mandie
(just when you thought it was safe!).

I then ran arguably the best Jam session, that we’ve ever had at the festival.
Highlights for me were the set from top young guitarist Jason Barwick (of
the Amazing Brew), who played with our own Danny Gwilym, along with Mick
Rutherford on the bass. Sharon from the Blues bar Harrogate, then delivered
a fabulous vocal, followed by the amazing Maggie who achieved such rave
reviews last year. Gizmo was also on form on the guitar and overall we featured
over 40 musicians and 4 different Bands.

The crowd were the real stars; this was music by the poeple for the people.
The crowd supported, stamped and cheered for everyone, no matter their level,
confidence, or ability. All rose to the challenge and the whole afternoon
was a massive high’¦..

Here’s to 2011

Gary 08/02/2010 Gary Roadhouse & Special Guests Northsyde ‘“ The Hlaf
Moon Hearne Hill ‘“ 12/12/09 So to our final gig of 2009. After this double bill worked
so well in the summer at our 20th anniversary show, it was decided that
it was worth giving it another spin.Jules & Lorna Fothergill are an intergral part of the history of Roadhouse.
They appear together on 3 Roadhouse CD’s, Blues Highway, Roadhouse & Friends
Live and the legendary No Place To Hide. In my view thay played a better
set Hearne Hill, then they did at Sutton. Their Band were cooking and produced
a really good set.

The grim reality of the evening was that for two such ‘˜quality’ Bands it
was another poor turnout. Still we saw loads of good friends and the people
there made such a great noise, the atmosphere was terrific.

Pete Feenstra our host was on great form, well lubricated for the Xmas period
his banter between sets was top quality entertainment’¦.

The Roadhouse set was another winner with Kelly in solo mode again, stepping
up to the plate and delivering big time. My fave songs/performances of the
night were ‘˜Swamp Girl’, ‘˜Blues Highway’ and when Jules joined us for the
double encore of ‘˜Voodoo Queen’ and ‘˜Preacher Man’. The triple guitar harmony
was a killer, top notch!.

The bands morphed together as the show rolled into the early hours. Jules
and Lorna joining Roadhouse for a killer version of ‘˜I Couldn’t Get To Sleep’.
The song was played so well it sounded as if it had been lifted directly
off of the No Place To Hide CD!

All time Blues great John O’Leary joined us all on stage and sang and harped
us out on a closing, classic ‘˜Rock Me Baby”¦..

An all time great gig, which was partially filmed by top promoter Eric Harvey.
We are trying to get footage from Eric. I’ll keep you posted.

Happy Xmas and New Year to all our freinds and followers’¦ We’ll need your
support in the New Year in order to take the Band forward in these tough
times.

Thanks to all that came

Gary 02/01/2010 Gary Roadhouse Xmas Party Gig ‘“ The Bulls Head –
Barnes ‘“ 7/12/09 The annual Xmas party gig at this great riverside Jazz venue
has become a tradition.After a quick set up, most of us indulged in some magical food from the
onsite Thai restaurant. The only shae about this fantastic nights music
was the relatively low trunout. From around the usual 70 people in the room
mark, we were down to 35 (what’s going on ‘“ there were so many reglar faces
missing!!!).

It was a shame for the people who missed it as this was one of the best
ever Bulls Head extravanganzas’¦

The show kicked off with a great set from our special guests Jimmy Dublin
and Geronimo, who were backed by Bill and Roger.

The Roadhouse set was one of the best we’ve ever played at The Bulls Head.
A soaring ‘˜Blues Highway’ and rocking versions of ‘˜No Place To Hide’ and
‘˜Tellin Lies’, were highlights. With the continued absence of a very poorly
Mandie, we still managed to produce worthy versions of both the 2 new songs,
‘˜Swamp Girl’ kicked and ‘˜Rainmaker’ worked in a 2 vocal format (well done
Kelly again’¦. An epic ‘˜Watchtower’ and then ‘˜Voodoo Queen’ brought the
set to an end. What a great response from the people there.

The evening finished with host/promoter George McFall on the Skins in a
great set ,fronted by our other special guest, musician, writer, DJ and
all round talent, the excellent Mr Peter Sargeant.

It was a great night’¦. but the dwindling crowd numbers makes you wonder,
what do you have to do, to get people to come out for live music any more???

Thanks to all that were a part of this fantastic night.

Gary 27/12/2009 Gary Jam Session ‘“ The Grove Tavern ‘“ South Wimbledon So to our second night of jamming at The Grove. As people
love opening nights, this was always going to be the one to worry about.In the opening set Kelly continued with her superb singing form, nailing
both ‘˜Blues Highway’ and ‘˜The Lying Game’. We played a decent version of
‘˜No Place to Hide’ too.

Buffalo Bill Smith, the promoter who runs the Colourhouse Theatre and The
Merton Abbey Mills Festival, put in a welcome appearance. We were able to
offer an all time first of Buffallo Bill onstage with Geronimo. No blows
or arrows flying, just a great guitar and harp interchange’¦..

Late in the day Pete Bedford put in an appearance, along with Jon Griffin
and Nicollette. Musically it was solid night, with just enough support to
proivde optimism for the jam taking root at this new venue in 2010.

The next Jam is on Thursday 7th January’¦ see you there!

Gary 27/12/2009 Gary The Colourhouse Theatre ‘“ Merton Abbey Mills
– 29/11/09 Our return to the superb Colourhouse theatre. BB’s blues
club was forced out of this great venue, due to little men with noise meters
being sent down by the council about 10 years ago’¦ Guess who was on that
famous night when they closed the Colourhouse down due to excessive volume??
(answers on a postcard to BBC Television Centre, etc, etc)’¦.After the failure of the venue to prosper at GJ’s, despite the occassional
good night (and we had a couple of them there)’¦.; Buffalo Bill Smith has
brought this venue back to life.

The Colourhouse is well laid out with candlelit tables and a really great
young sound crew. This produced a superb sound balance and there was a magical
atmosphere about the night.

The good news, it was a fantastic nights music and in the absence of Mandie.G,
Kelly rose to the challenge superbly. Most of the crowd could not believe
how well she sang, as our voices belnded really well, especially on a very
atmospheric ‘˜Blues Highway’. It was really Kelly’s night as she belted her
way through the ‘˜Lying Game’ and a great version of ‘˜Stormy Monday’ ‘“ brilliant!

Jimmy Dublin was our special guest and he played a nice little blues set
in our break. Buffalo Bill himself joined us on stage for the ‘˜Roadhouse
Blues’ and a fine harp player he is. I love the way he never overplays’.

The only dissapointment of the night was the mid sized crowd. We should
be pulling better numbers on our own patch, so to speak. Many key regular
supporters were missing. In the end it was their loss as this was one of
the best gigs of the year.

Gary 20/12/2009 Gary Cafe Oud Brabant ‘“ Netherlands ‘“ 15/11/09 So a Sunday afternoon gig to finish this great little Euro
mini tour’¦This highly recommended venue, has superb stage and equipment and is run
by the charismatic Jan Schelekens. Jan is a great guy and he and his fantastic
wife really looked after us’¦.

The 2 late night shows had caught up with us. Voices were affected and it
led to a lame soundcheck with us vocally murdering Slip Away (if I’d been
Jan I’d have wondered about who I’d booked)’

I then started to feel really ill and spent an hour lying in the tour bus
thinking i was going to die’¦. but I don’t think the devil will let me
off that easy’¦.

So the show went on’.As the gig coincided with the Dutch celebration
of Xmas, the crowd was a bit thin to start. It filled up nicely by the end
though.

As we launched into ‘˜Blues Highway’ the vocals were back in operation and
a good crowd re-action allowed us to really rock it up in the second set’

This turned into a great gig and we met some excellent people including
a British photogapher called Mick Davidson. Check him out and his great
shots of the gig at

davidsonmick.squarespace.com www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/artist_profile//10226.html

There was just time for a quick round of goodbyes and then a standard Roger
Hunt Formula One style drive, to make the midnight ferry’¦.

A great trip’

Gary 08/12/2009 Gary Gompelhof Music Cafe ‘“ Mol ‘“ Belgium ‘“ 14/11/09 The best gig of the tour by far’The rear doors of this venue swung open to reveal a 400 capcity music room
with giant stage. The auditorium was surrounded by giant, blow up pictures
of us all downloaded for the internet, the Manager had to restrain us from
immediately nicking them’¦..

We were then taken to the Roadhouse pre gig dinner, where we sat down with
it seemed most of the town to a festival of muscles and frites, all under
under canvas..magic

Gig time’¦..and the Band really rocked, the crowd were brilliant. Our 3
girl format was working a treat, with Suzie on great form. The new song
, ‘˜Swamp Girl’ was a real stormer’

A double encore and mass autograph signing then took place, for those typically
fantastic Belgian people..We met so many great folk on the night.

Thanks to the incredible Jo and his wife Anette We’ll be back next year’

An all time great gig

Gary 06/12/2009 Gary The Abdij ‘“ Briel ‘“ Holland ‘“ 13/11/09 The first date of the Euro mini tour, with a special thanks
to Tim Smith of the Brew, the wonderful Hester of Schiedam and Jo Verboeven
for helping to book the whole thing’¦.1st up was this mid sized, traditonal Dutch, ‘˜Brown’ cafe’¦..Thanks to
Robb ‘˜Fixerman’ Hendrix and Remko for having us at their atmospheric venue’¦.

Good news ‘“ a lovely hotel, based 5 meters across the street allowed us
to stagger home. The hospitality was great, good meal drinks, nice staff.
All the people who like live music loved the band ‘“ the trouble was their
was just not many of them there’¦

Bad news ‘“ we were booked on techno/house music night and there was mostly
a young crowd there for that. The different genre of music played either
side of our sets did not help the mood or the perception of what the night
was about’¦..

The low wooden ceiling gave the whole sound a nasty bass ‘˜rumble’ and the
lack of audeince response was dispiriting. However, instead of hiding the
Band powered out a great second set.

The late night dance music allowed the Band to have a bit of a ‘˜team build’.
And Suzie, Kelly and Mand’s truned the whole thing into a roaring night
out’.. pics on cyberspace via Hester..

It was very much have a good time and then let’s get onto the serious business,
in the form of a major gig scheduled for the next day in Belgium’¦. 06/12/2009 Gary The First Grove Tavern Jam ‘“ South Wimbledon
– 5/11/09 So to our new venue, well not exactly new!. Roadhouse in
our earlier formats had played at The Grove Tavern for over 12 years’¦..The pub is far more of a rough and ready music venue, with it’s own PA and
lighting and good old ‘˜Jumping John’ as the sound engineer’Reponse
to the opening Roadhouse set was really positive.

We had 2 new girls trying out for a place in our squad, in a move to take
the pressure off of our 3 current ladies. Both girls Ashlyn and Michelle,
sang great.

Overall about 15 regular punters and 10 musicians made the sojourn to the
new jam. This made it a decent opening night.

Special thanks to:

– Tim Matthewman

– Geronimo

– Pete Bedford

– Frank Dymore

– Jimmy Dublin

and others for their great playing and massive support’¦..

Next jam is on Thursday 3rd December, come on down, let’s turn this into
a success story.

Gary 03/12/2009 Gary The Final Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 22/10/09 So after 8.5 years of the jam running at The Woodman, the
final night before our move to the Grove Tavern (first Thursday of evey
month) beckoned’¦..Apparently the jam was not busy enough fo the Brewery to endorse the patheitc
£180.00 that Martin would pay for this musical extravaganza (if it wasn’t
for the generous jug at this venue we would have gone ages ago)’.

All this is weird, because though the jam was not pulling the big crowds
of old their was still a regular crowd of at least 70 people to see it though
a quiet night..

Still as it was the last night, everybody came down for the wake’¦ who
can’t resist staring at a corpse????

A massive crowd included players wo had never even played the jam before,
like John Iden of Yardbirds fame’¦

Still it was a great night of music, Mandie was as pissed as a rat and loads
of the old regulars played their hearts out’all very rock and roll!!

Thanks to too many people to mention here, but certain people should be
thanked for their regular contribution, including Frank Dymore, Geronimo,
Jimmy Dublin, Andrew Heart, Tim Matthewman and John O’Leary to name but
a few’¦.

When I think back about all those years at the Woodman the ghosts of Jules
Fothergill, Andy Cortes and Andy Thompson will be forever slugging it out
under the conservatory’¦memories!

NOW ALL GO TO THE GROVE TAVERN, 2 MORDEN ROAD ‘“ THE FIRST THURSDAY OF EVERY
MONTH

The show must go on, no surrender!

Gary

Gary 28/11/2009 Gary Blakeney Harbour Rooms ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 10/10/09 Our first time up at this gorgeous ‘˜A’ list venue in Norfolk’.A lovely music hall with a big stage and great PA/Technician, we were made
to feel very welcome’¦.

Thanks to that good guitarist Gizmo, one of our jammers at the Skegness
festival, who took the time and trouble to broker us into this venue

Things were all looking great, until we realised that Bill had left the
cymbals behind in his garage!!!!. Roger’s drums looked somewhat like a Xmas
tree without the decorations’¦. and the cheerful chappie himself looked
more than a tad more dour than usual (ok, he looked SCAREY!!)’¦

Still the soundman came to the rescue with a limited set of cymbals from
the local music class’¦.. well done that man!!

Onto the show’¦. a massive festival 20 miles away featuring Dr Feelgood
and Wishbne Ash led o it being a quietish night.

Still for the near 50 peple in the room it was a kicking gig.

Kelly had a night off and Suzie did a great job singing with Mandie. She
also performed a lovely reading of ‘˜Stormy Monday’, as well as doing the
job on the new song, ‘˜Swamp Girl’.

Roger took the plaudits of the night however. He played an incredible drum
solo in ‘˜Voodood Queen’ that made a nonsense of the fact that he was playing
with ‘˜toy’ cymbals.

A lovely venue run by a man with a great name (Gary) ‘“ we’ll be back on
the 18/6/2010

Gary 28/11/2009 Gary The Hope Tavern ‘“ Holton Le Moor ‘“ 4/10/09 Back into business at Holton Le Moor’After Graham and his team completed their usual magical transformation of
the venue, from sleepy Sunday eatery to initmate Blues Club, we were ready
to rock’¦.

We were greeted by a very decent sized crowd, with some people driving over
80 miles to see thier fave band (you are nuts, but we love you!)’

The stage is tiny at The Hope, which leads to the ultimate interactive audience
experience (i.e. getting knocked over as people try to reach the toilets).
Most of the crowd have all the CD’s and the interactive banter was fantastic.

Kelly and Mandie sang well and Danny and I’s trade off section on’Rock Me
Baby’ , really caught fire. Other than that it was ‘˜The Answer’ that provided
the afternoon’s goosebump moment.

It was great to see Bill and I’s old school friend Boz and also our staunch
supporters Nicky and Ray (get well Ray ‘“ we are thinking of you!).

A really good gig

Gary 17/11/2009 Gary The Banham Barrell ‘“ 3/10/09 ‘“ Norfolk A return to Banham, a great place run by the excellent Jonty
and his team (dispensrs of some of the worlds most lethal cider).This was probably our 10th time at this venue, where we have always had
great support. Unfortunately, this was to prove another quietish night.

Still it was a good performance, with pride of place to both the new songs,
‘˜Swamp Girl’ and ‘˜Rainmaker’. The crowd re-action to the girls gospel section
at the end of Rainmaker was fantastic.

Roger’s drum solo at the end of Voodoo Queen was particularly venemous,
leading to the band crying out for a drugs test!!

Back into the vans for the drive up towards Lincoln/Holton Le Moor. We had
rooms in Peterborough City Centre Travel Lodge and emerged into scenes of
an alternative universe/drunken carnage, as Peterborough’s late night revellers
poured out of the clubs and into the back of waiting ‘˜meat wagons’. Made
me feel old and just like a Daily Mail reader’¦

Gary 17/11/2009 Gary Cafe T’Goor ‘“ Goreeind ‘“ Belgium ‘“ 24/9/08 The Sunday took us back to this excellent venue promoted
by our long time friend and loyal supporter Michele Hofkens’¦.Paul the owner (great guy!!), met us and helped a super smooth set up’¦
Bobje Blues the famous Belgian rock journalist, who used to be our European
tour Manager was also waiting for us. It was quite emotional seeing him
again.

Hester came down from Schiedam and top Belgian rock writer Alfons Maes was
also in the crowd.

Surrounded by these great friends and believers, last night was just a distant
memory.

Crowd was a medium capacity, which everybody put down to the fantastically
hot afternoon for the time of year (temp was still in the 80’²s when we kicked
off at 16.30). But it was still a good crowd, both in numbers and in spirit.
They lifted the Band into delivering an excellent peformance.

Suzie and Kelly combined brilliantly on the afternoon. Their solo singing
and harmonies really hit the spot (A great reading of Stormy Monday by Suzie
in the 2nd set)’¦.

The second set really ‘˜kicked’ on and my great friend Bobje (who has had
it tough recently!) was moved by both ‘˜Slip Away’ and ‘˜The Answer’

After 2 great encores the gig generated some fantastic photos by Bobje and
a great

review by Alfons Maes which has already gone to print (we are waiting for
the full translation)’¦

A superb high speed drive by Roger onto the last ferry’

Rog and I were out on deck relecting on a good mini tour, yet another financial
loss. Still the Channel was calm and the stars were bright’¦ and played
3, won ,was a pretty good score for the weekend’¦.

Gary 01/11/2009 Gary The Rambler ‘“ Eindhoeven ‘“ Netherlands ‘“ 23/9/08 A return to this big and atmospheric venue in the centre
of Eindhoeven’¦.I love the guys that run this venue and the last time we were there the
crowd was good in the first set. However, this time was a major dissapointment.
With numerous Dutch Independance Day festivals taking place in the vicinity,
the crowd was far too small’..

The small crowd in such a big and prestigous venue sucked the life out of
the Band. We hit the ground running with Telling Lies as a kind of act of
defiance and it rocked.

Though the people present were right behind the band and made lots of noise,
band members were all miserable by the break and moaning about the sound
(I thought the sound was good ‘“ ace soundman in Walter!), the lack of connection,
that fact that they weren’t immortal ‘“ you name it!. I spent the whole break
on emotional damage control!’¦

Lovely venue, lined with coffins, seating from muscle/racing cars ‘“ i love
it; and when The Cult play there next month, i think it might be packed’¦

Nights like this make me doubt the point of it all. Good old Danny accompanied
me as I opted to walk back to the hotel (rather than ride the misery bus)’¦

The stars were pretty

Gary

Wrong evening, wrong planet’¦..wrong ‘“ killer version of Preacher Man though’¦.

Gary 23/10/2009 Gary The Podium ‘“ Schiedam/Rotterdam ‘“ Netherlands
– 217/9/09 Thanks to our great friend in The Netherlands, Hester (what
a woman), we returned to The Podium. Last year we were introduced to this
great, canal side venue by our good friends, Tim Smith and the Boys in The
Brew.Loius was a great sound man and though the place was not packed the Band
went down a storm. The crowd were pounding on the tables at the end of each
number and it sounded like the final charge in the movie Zulu (not a lot
of people know that).

No Mandie on this trip, as numerous chest infections had taken thier toll
(and no shortage of fans wanting to rub the vic in for her).

Kelly and Suzie worked wonders on the vocals and as the final blitz of Preacher
Man rippled across the canal it was time for us to retire to a variety of
sleeping arrangements.

Hester’s hospitality know no bounds, having already fed, watered and acted
as agent, manager and tour guide. she also put up Kelly and Suzie overnight.
Bill and Danny went to an all night Nazi, Rockabilly marching concert but
that is another starnge and twisted story.

Friday was a day off due the closure of a venue and the subsequant gig cancellation.
We did the tourist thing aourn the canals and windmills of Scheidam. The
weather was hot and as a group the vibe was terrific, such a shame we were
burning money and plunging further into debt’¦

Still thats rock and roll

Here’s to people who believe in music and offer up their homes and generosity
beyond belief, in the name of keeping ‘˜it’ live. Thanks to Hester and all
those great people we met in Schiedam

We came, we saw, we did a little sightseeing

Gary 11/10/2009 Gary The Famous Late Night Blues Club ‘“ Oxford –
14/9/09 We returned to this great venue, but in truth it was a mixed
night for the Band.This venue run at The Bullingdon in the centre of Oxford, by music promoting
,larger than life legend, Philip Guy Davies, deserves full on support.

Unfortunately, word on the street was that attendances were dwindling in
recent weeks. This proved to be the case, with only around 20 something
people tunring up’¦

The Band have done well in the last year, in the sense that there has only
been and handful of poorly attended gigs up to this point. Still band morale
was down and I was dissapointed with the moans and groans I received from
some band members. Still we put on a cracking show, sold a good few CD’s
(honestly) and the people present had a great time’¦

I guess that’s the important thing, isn’t it?????????

Gary 27/09/2009 Gary Colne ‘“ the National R&B Festival ‘“ 30/8/09 Hopefully you’ve read the journalists review, which can be
found under the review section of this Website.Here’s my personal perspective”¦..

It was great to be allocated the peak slot on the big stage at Colne. Our
7th year in a row., on this stage..and I have so many good memories of the
different performances. The spirits of all the great players that have been
in Roadhouse, felt really close to me as we played a record 93 minute set’¦

Clad in my brand new US purchased, glittery ‘˜rock and roll’ T Shirt ( a
perusal of which on the post gig camcorder footage, showed me looking like
an oversized glitterball at a gay disco). I launched the Band into ‘˜Tellin
Lies’.

Suzie also had a glittery top on and with a few ‘˜stones’ in Danny’s shirt
too, we were throwing light into the audience at a kind of poor mans Pink
Floyd level (who needs lasers)’

Our new song ‘˜Swamp Girl’ was given an airing’¦. and no one believed that
was only the 2nd time it had ever been played. This song is now cemented
as a mainstay of the set’¦.listen out for it.

The room filled up a treat for us and the big crowd (as ever at Colne were
maginficent), a pleasure to playe to.

The girls put on a great show, compensating for my broken rib (leaving me
with turning circle and manouverability of an oil tanker) and Bill and Roger
were rock solid (from the neck upwards, of course)

The ‘˜Big Easy’ went really well (good lead vocal from Suzie) and a killer
solo from Danny.

The 90 minutes blurred by and with the spotlights traversing the crowd ‘˜Preacher
Man’ hit the sweet spot’¦..

Great ovation, CD sales, crowd and more memories’¦.

Colne 2009 ‘“ One of our best -If you were there, thank you very much

Gary 24/09/2009 Gary Colne ‘“ the National R&B Festival ‘“ 30/8/09 See the review by ace ‘˜jorno’ Darren Wisdom under the review
section of this site.The Band were so grateful for the support of the full house and the excellent
stge crew of this major festival’¦.

Gary 16/09/2009 Gary The Wervick Festival ‘“ Belgium ‘“ 19/7/09 A massive thank you to our great friend Phillipe Warlop,
who arranged for us to play this festival and provided us with pre show
hospitality.A beautiful setting, with a big stage and massive PA in the towns main square.
The hospitality of the organiseres was superb, as we were very well looked
after.

The majority of the crowd positioned themselves in the row of bars to the
right and left of the stage, leaving a bit of a gap centre square which
was a little hard to play to.

This annual festival where one band plays per weekend, is taking its time
to take off. Attendances last year were around the 200 mark, but by the
time we had finished this nights show there was between 350-400 people there.

The band were on great form in the evening sunshine. All 3 girls sang superbly
and Roger and Bill niled the beat. Due to the family element we played a
few more covers than usual, but all the Roadhouse classics were given an
airing including Blues Highway, Slip Away, Telling Lies, Preacher Man, The
Answer, Sacrifice, and Voodoo Dance’¦..

The sun set over a well lit stage to a great crowd response and a double
encore.

The people of Wervick were great hosts and a good crowd. CD sales were also
very good. At the end we were offered the chance to come back in 2010 to
play the major rock festival that the town is famous for. That festival
pulls in excess of 4,000 people.

A great thanks to Philippe and the organisers and we’ll hopefully be back
for the big one next year.

Gary 23/08/2009 Gary The Boom Boom Club ‘“ Sutton FC ‘“ 5/7/09 And now to the 2nd part of our 20 years on the road celebration.
There was a planned synergy to this night, as we decided to share it with
legendary Roadhouse band members Lorna Reilly and Jules Fothergill.These guys have now chnaged their bands name from Funkydory to Northsyde,
a Band to watch out for. Northsyde have just released a great new CD and
are gigging at major festivals and internationally. Between them they gave
around 10 years service to Roadhouse and it was fantastic to make this night
a ‘˜double header’ with them.

I was pleased with the fantastic turn out with people making the trip to
Sutton from as far away as Dorset, to be part of our celebrations. I could
name check so many of the approx 120 people in the room, but then this review
would go on for ever (just like us).

First up were Northsyde, now stripped down to a 3 peice from their Funkdory
days. Jules’s rich tone brought back a lot of memories, as did Lorna’s emotional,
funky and soulful delivery. A great set, which was topped off by their excellent
and clever version of ‘˜Whipping Post’. Losing the extra guitar and stripping
the music back a notch has given them a much rawer and emotional edge –
catch them!

A quick turn around and the crowd were with us as we launched into the traditional
‘˜stomp along’ intro to ‘˜Tellin Lies’. The crowd reaction was great throughout
our 1 hour plus set.

We cooled it down for Kelly to sing a great version of ‘˜The Lying Game’
and Mandie to ‘˜nail it’ on ‘˜House of the Rising Sun’.

‘˜The Preacher Man’ encore(featuring some excellent Southern frieid shredding
from Danny) was followed by Mr Feenstra himself coming on stage and saying
some very generous words about the Band (good man Pete).

Jules and Lorna then joined the 2004 version of Roadhouse (well most of
it) on stage, for an amazingly polished version of ‘˜I Couldnt Get To Sleep’
.

It was like stepping into the tardis!!!

Danny was back up at the end, duelling away with Jules, over Mandie and
Kelly blasting out ‘˜Rock Me Baby’

A truly great night, one i’ll personally never forget, thanks to all our
family and friends, members present and past’¦..

Gary 12/07/2009 Gary The Beaverwood Club ‘“ Chislehurst ‘“ 2/7/09 As part of the celebration of us beginning our 20th year
on the road, we returned to Pete Feenstra’s excellent Real Music club.The last time we had played here, we had only attracted a crowd of around
30 or so people. This was a really hot day in the middle of the heat wave
and Wimbledon was in full swing, so crowdwise our expectations were not
great.

However, this turned into a storming night. With 32 advance bookings and
over 90 people in the smallish (but very nice) room, there was a great atmosphere.

We made a lot of new friends, but it was great seeing so many people singing
along to the songs and demanding requests from numbers spread across the
10 albums.

One loyal supporter came by motorbike from Norfolk and the overall level
of backing we received that night made me feel very humble.

The band were on great form. a slow and moody start on ‘˜Blues Highway’,
kicked into ‘˜No Place To Hide’ and then the title track of the new CD, ‘˜Sea
of Souls’. Danny played an awesome solo on ‘˜Slip Away’ and the girls were
feeding off the energy we were getting from the crowd, with both some great
vocals and on stage ‘˜getting down to it’ antics.

The 2nd set was like a rollercoaster as Roger and Bill drove us through
‘˜Voodoo Dance’, ‘˜Roadhouse Blues’, ‘˜Tellin Lies’ and a double encore of
‘˜Preacher Man’ and ‘˜Sacrifice’.

CD sales were brilliant (Thanks girls!)

A great gig and a night to remember ‘“ thanks Pete

Gary 12/07/2009 Gary The Mitcham Carnival ‘“ 13/6/09 Having missed out on our iconic, regular headline at the
Merton Abbey Mills/South London Blues Festival due to change of booking
agent ‘“ as compensation we were offered the headline slot here and a retutn
to Merton Abbey next year’Pete Walder does so much for events and live music, as demonstrated by this
new event at the Mitcham Carnival . A lovely open air stage in the right
hand corner of the canrival site, with excellent PA and crew.

We arrived early and could not believe it when we saw Buffalo Bill’s (iconic
harp player) Band only be seen by a handful of people.

On to our headline slot at 4pm. By now about 70-100 people lay on the grass,
in the afternoon sun in front of the stage area, including aroiund 30 or
so Roadhouse fans (special thanks to Kelly for the promotion)’¦mind you
around 1,000 or so people in close proximity would have heard the music.

Suzie was down in London, so it was a full strength Roadhouse, with all
3 girl singers that hit the stage.. We had a ball, played the full festival
set plus encore. Great stage prefromance and the crowd loved it ‘“ fun for
all, and the end of a run of a few dodgy gigs for us’..

‘˜ Telling Lies’, ‘˜House of the Rising Sun’, ‘˜Not Fade Away’,

‘˜Slip Away’, Voodoo Dance’, ‘˜

‘˜Sacrifice’ , ‘˜Roadhouse Blues’ and then the obvious Preacher Man ,with
Suzie and Kelly swapping killer vocal lines to great effect. Bill and Roger
were as solid as a rock and Danny had return to form.

All in all an enjoyable and appreciated afternoon in the sun’¦..

Gary 27/06/2009 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 11/6/09 Back at the Woodman and a relatively quiet night to consolodate
my dissapointment over the last few gigs.Still, there was plenty of great music. Geronimo produced a blues number
that he had written over 20 years ago and it was magic. Adrian was back
on the Drums, Jon Griffin sat in on Bass for Pete Bedford and Burlesque.
Funky George Dare was back to drum through the last 3 sets.

We had the traditional double finish of Terry Brennan (The Big Boss Man
Himself!) and the amzing Syd on the Banjo.

The Roadhouse se was good other than when we attempted ‘˜Lights on Water’.
This song has always had backing vocal problems since Mandie & Kelly became
our most regular singers. Harmonies have wandered ( a bit like going for
walk down to the corner shop and then ending up in Bejing). 2 weeks ago
Kelly did this song superbly on her own. This time the errant vocals combined
with Danny trying a complete alternative to the normal guitar lines/style,
left me and the song to die a death’¦.never again!!!!

The rest of the set was fantastic. I’m always amazed how limp our perfromances
are at the jam, like we can’t be botherered to get out of first gear. But
not on this night. ‘˜Brooklyn Blues’ kicked off with Mandie and Kelly’s voices
combining beautifully. The version of ‘˜Sacrifice’ was a killer, with Danny
superb on the slide and Kels and Mandie producing a wall of sound that gave
me chills. Frank Dymore joined in on percussion and the whole thing was
one of the best versions of this great number I’ve ever played.

Onto the Mircham Carnival this coming weekend.

Gary 20/06/2009 Gary The Yardbids Club ‘“ Grimsby ‘“ 30/6/09 Our 3rd time at this great purpose built rock venue, built
above the associated bikers club.This was our 3rd visit and on the last 2 we had pulled really good crowds.
this time the doorman predicted a bad night. The combination of another
really hot day and the cup final buggered things up for us.

At the highpoint, there was about 50-60 people in the room (where we usually
get around 120-150). I apologised to the excellent Robbo, who runs the place.
He was ok with things, especially as only around 10 people had turned up
for a good band the night before.

A really good local support band opened, but were plagued by a wicked buzz
coming off the stage. The same buzz was to be ever present throughout our
set.

We had a good sound guy as usual, but there were loads of PA problems. Monitors
were cutting in and out, feedback and levels changing, added to our frustration.
The stage configuration had changed leaving Danny Sardined into the corner
like a Japanese commuter.

There were about 15 Roadhouse supporters down the front. We really went
for it, and some of the solos and numbers were inspired. Robbo wants us
back but I still think we lost this one 2-1

Let’s try again next year if we are all still alive

Gary 13/06/2009 Gary The Highway ‘“ Hull ‘“ 29/11/08 For the 2nd time we were back on the ‘˜Highway to Hull’ (forgive
the Pun)’¦..Terry and Pam run the place and have done great things for the live music
scene in that part of the world. This is about the 3rd venue they have had
to build from scratch, into a top notch music venue. Last time we played
here they were away on hols, but this time it was good to meet them.

Last time the crowd was a good size, very appreciative and friendly (which
is basically why we came back). This time a really hot day put paid to that.
the amount of barbacue fires visible in the steets around the venue made
me feel like ‘˜General Custer at the Little Big Horn”¦..

The crowd got to a reasonable size, but were not as appreciative as last
time. Mandie was very brave singing on a nasty chest and throat infection.
As a consequence the vocals were not at their best, even Kelly seemed to
be slightly off form.

We tried really hard and rocked with a vengance and managed to get an encore.

It was an ok night, but not what we had hoped for.

Met some great people, played some good stuff ‘“ oh well ‘maybe this
was a

1-1 draw

Gary 13/06/2009 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 28/5/09 Musically a good night at the Woodman’¦..John O’leary was back again with a quality set, Geronimo rocked with some
great instrumentals. Jimmy Dublin finished off the night with Adrew Heart
on bass and these guys powered out some 60’²s great retro rock classics’¦

Tim Matthewman played 2 great sets on the bass, and as usual blew the crowd
away with his soloing.

Mandie was sidelined with a chest infection so Kelly played the gig on her
own. This enabled Roadhouse to play ‘˜Lights on the Water’ for the first
time in ages (we’d stopped playing the song due to problems with the backing
harmonies). As well as doing great on ‘˜Lights’ , Kel sang the ‘˜Lying Game’
and we experimented with a slow version of ‘˜Rock Me Baby’. This enabled
Danny and I to indulge in some slower than usual guitar trade offs’¦..fun

Gary 06/06/2009 Gary The Happy Frenchman ‘“ Folkestone ‘“ 16/5/09 Well our run of 6 hot gigs in a row had to come to end sometime.
Here it kind of hit an enormous wall, rather than gently running out of
momentum’Researched (badly) as Folkestone’s top venue, we were surprised to find
it was basically a pub with a mixture of real music lovers (low percentage)
and drunks on a night out (high percentage) . Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve
nothing against drunks on a night out (probably sums up Roadhouse on tour)’¦
However, due to some local factors, initial attendance was low. Atmosphere
non existant and though we tried hard the whole thing was typical of the
Band about 8 years ago playing C list pubs in London.

We tried hard in the first set but the re-action was apathetic. We were
supported by the managements half time pep talk, that we were brilliant
and everybody loved us, they were just a bit ‘˜shy’ and we just needed to
change the lighting by removing a couple of light bulbs.

The pub fillled up in the second half with mixture or drunken soldiers,
bikers (hooray to see them) and some strange, predatory looking women in
their late 50’²s, fresh out of a Wim Wenders movie (hold onto your Gerbils).
We and they rocked quite a bit more in the second set. An encore was played
and the girls had to be surgically extracted from the pub’¦

It got a lot better, but then it really needed to’¦

Not one for the book of memories’¦

Gary

Met some nice people 31/05/2009 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 14/5/09 A good crowd at this jam and a high standard of music’¦..Mandie’s friends returned with

the excellent Eddie on guitar and vocals leading the way, joined by jam
regular Byron Banks, for duelling harps great stuff ‘¦..

It was good to see John O’Leary back at the jam and the classy bluesman
delivered a great set joined by Eddie on the guitar.

Roadhouse played well and the crowd went home very happy’.

This is the 8th year of the jam and its really great that it still alive
and providing a showcase for live music in South West London’¦

Nice to see Anne Campbell in the crowd (Roadhouse legends never die)

Gary 31/05/2009 Gary The East Harling Blues Festival ‘“ Norfolk –
2/5/09 East Harling’s Blues Club has been a staple stopping place
on our circuit for the last few years. This year for the first time they
had a ‘˜Blues & Booze’ festival across the bank holiday weekend. With such
excellent other bands involved as Egypt (ex Groundhogs) and The Grapevine
Blues Band, we were very happy with our Saturday night headline slot.We were the 4th act on in the day and the big room filled up really well
for our 10pm start. Our 6th storming gig in a row, this is officially a
new record for Roadhouse. Both set’s kicked proverbial arse and every Band
member was on top form.

We had a lot of friends and fans there and it was great to see so many familiar
faces.

For a new festival, this one looks a winner. This gig went so well, I didn’t
start to feel exhausted until the 2nd encore’..a reord for this year.
Maybe there is hope for the old git yet. well done to Bill and Roger, solid
as a rock all night’¦..

Here’s to next year ‘“ be warned new songs have been written!!!!!

Gary 17/05/2009 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 16/4/09 An even quieter jam’.Maybe a contributory factor is that thet new jam sessions are popping up
around London just like new cases of swine flu.

Many of our regulars are now running their own sessions. Best of luck to
all, wouldn’t it be a miracle if live music grew in popularity’

Still by the start their was a respectable number of people present. We
had no problem filling the running order with some ace musicians and some
quality music.

Mandie brought down some new guys she’d met at a jam in Acton and they were
great as we kicked off with duelling harps (a la Alabama 3). Then superb
guitarist Eddie sang a song and impressed all with his great technique.

Geronimo was back from Spain and belted out some classic rock and both ace
bass players, Tim Matthewman and Andrew Heart were on form. The night finished
with the traditional sexual interplay between Jimmy Dublin and Mandie on
‘˜Whole Lot of Love’ (Watch out for the trade descriptions act) and Syd on
his banjo, plonking us iconically into the night.

For the record Roadhouse performed ‘˜The Lying Game’ (welcoming back Kelly
from her hols in Columbia), ‘˜House of the Rising Sun’ , ‘˜Sacrifice’ and
‘˜The Answer’.

See you in 2 weeks

Gary 10/05/2009 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 16/4/09 Another Woodman Jam and a quiet one for a chnage. Musicians
were as thin on the ground as the hair on my head, not to say they were
thin, as most musicians are fat (poor eating and drinking habits and bad
nutritional advice, anyway who needs fat hair!)’¦.Andrew Heart is not fat and is not just a bass player, as his 3rd solo rock
guitar/60’²s classics vocal performance was very well executed and a real
crowd pleaser. Well done Andrew’¦..

James Dublin (of course it’s his real name, Dublin was named after him)
climaxed the night with his great tone and a superb performance. Then Terry
Brennan rolled back the years (a la HG.Wells) for a performance classic
of 2 songs that ended with the words ‘˜man’ ‘“ well done mate, a table of
ladies luvved it all up

And Kelly was on holiday in Costa Coffee (its all she could afford) ‘“ sorry
Costa Rica ‘“ memories a funny thing at my age’¦

Hope more come down on the 30th May

Thanks to all

Gary 29/04/2009 Gary The Blues Cafe ‘“ Harrogate ‘“ 12/4/09 We arrived in Harrogate at around 02.15am, and then had the
rare experience of kicking our heels around town all day, waiting for the
nights show.It was a great night at Simon and Sharon Colgan’s intimate but very atmospheric
venue.

Many of Mandie’s family turned up for quite a touching family re-union,
while we were paid a big complement by a lot of people, who left the Burnley
Festival and drove to Harrogate to catch the show.

A packed room, a fantastic response and the 6th cracking gig in a row (def
an all time record). Highlights included Sharon herself singing ‘˜Stormy
Monday’, Suzie back on ‘˜The Big Easy’ and Mandie wrapping her tonsils round
‘˜Heavens Door’.

By the end I felt like I was running on empty and nearly died when the crowd
would not let us away with a single encore’¦..

It was a long, long way back to London, just in time for breakfast”(then
I nearly did die)

Gary 18/04/2009 Gary Burnley National Blues Festival ‘“ 11/4/09 We were headlining the smaller Festival/Press Room Stage,
with the 22.00 hours slot.After a rapid turn around with the excellent Jay Tamkin Band, we were ready
to rock (even though monitor levels were decidedly dodgy). Jay’s band had
rocked, but for some strange reason the audience re-action was only lukewarm.
We were determined that would not happen to us.

As a consequence we opened with a kicking ‘˜Tellin Lies’ and then brought
the level down with a epic version of ‘˜Blues Highway’. With Kelly on holiday
it was great to be working with Suzie again and she was on great form. Both
girls nailed their showcase numbers, Suzie on ‘˜The Lying Game’ and Mandie
on ‘˜House of The Rising Sun’. The repsonse was great’¦

As ever the second set was even better with killer versions of ‘˜Voodoo Dance’,
‘˜All Along The Watchtower’, ‘˜Slip Away’ & ‘˜Voodoo Queen’
After the encore the feedback was fantastic, the stage manager and bar staff
said they ‘œWanted us to keep playing and playing’ and we had a number of
approaches for gigs and tours.

5th cracking gig in a row and out best appearance at Burnley by a distance.

Must be a record

Gary 15/04/2009 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 2/4/09 A good jam, Roadhouse were at full strength and there was
a decent turn out. Overall a good jam.See everyone in 2 weeks

Keeping music live, spontaneous and local

Gary 15/04/2009 Gary The Banham Barrell ‘“ 28/3/09 Our fave venue in Norfolk, we love Jonty and his hard core,
music loving staff’¦So many old friends came out for this one’¦ it was great to see Alan Harvey
again, a man/jounalist/photographer who’d been such a great early champion
of the Band’¦.To many friends to mention really.

The overall view from the Band was of some disconnection in the first set
(though I enjoyed it). We’d brought back the duelling guitars on ‘˜Rock Me
Baby’ and the crowd lapped it up’¦I enjoyed opening with ‘˜The Amswer’ for
a change

The 2nd set was top rate. From ‘˜Voodoo Dance’ to ‘˜The Roadhouse Blues’ and
‘˜Slip Away’ played as a tribute to heart attack victim and top drummer at
our Jam, Reg Isidore (of Robin Trower fame).

3rd great gig on the spin

Gary 10/04/2009 Gary The Famous Late Night Blues Club ‘“ Oxford –
23/3/09 Monday night and our first gig in Oxford at The Bullingdon’¦.We got to meet the living legend, promoter Philip Guy Davis, what a character
and a great guy’¦.

It was a worry for him, having any Band for the first time. But the crowd
was a good size and according to the punters nearly double what he’d had
for Kent Du Chane on the previous gig. We’ll pull more for him next time’¦.

This was the 2nd great performance in a row. The band played really well.
Mandie was in a good mood and on top, top form’¦.

Which brings me on to Danny (directional dyslexia) Gwilym. We waited an
hour for the soundcheck as Danny was bringing Kelly and overshot the motorway
exit by four entire junctions’ A record, even for this Band.

The two sets shot bye in record time and the audience re-action was first
rate. a number of CD collectors were there looking to augment their Roadhouse
back catalogue and CD sales went over the £200 mark.

A double encore of ‘˜Preacher Man’ and ‘˜Sacrifice’ ended a classic gig..
We hope to return’¦

Gary 05/04/2009 Gary The Limelight Theatre ‘“ Aylesbury ‘“ 20/3/09 Thanks to Derek White for booking us for this great gig.
A small Theatre but with great atmosphere, fantastic sound system (and engineers)
and alarge playing area. Highly recommended as a music venueThe only dissapointment on a great night, was the relatively low crowd numbers.
Pre- bookings were worryingly low at only 26, but on the night the crowd
swelled to near 50, but it was still below the promoters break even point.

What did the absent people miss:

– A decent support Band

– An excellent Roadhouse performance

– A Fantastic music loving crowd, who were responsive and created a great
atmosphere.

From the opening ‘˜Blues Highway’ to the double encore including ‘˜Preacher
Man’ the Band were on top form both vocally and musically.

It was one of those times where I truly appreciated all the great people
currently in the Band (I usually hate the fuckers); their friendship, trust
and support that has enabelled us to achieve so much in our 19th year’

Highlights for me were some of Danny’s guitar solo’s (particualry on ‘˜The
Answer’ and ‘˜Voodoo Queen’), Rogers Drum solo and a killer vocal by Mandie
on ‘˜Rising Sun’. But everyone played great (including me ‘“ a good guitar
night for yours truly!) so it’s wrong to single out individual contributions’¦

Well done all and on to Oxford on Monday

Gary 28/03/2009 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 19/3/09 While I had been away Pete Bedford and Burlesque has run
the last Woodman jam, a major thanks to those guys. Unfortunately they had
a poor turnout, so we expected the worst on this night.However, though not packed we had a great jam, with a reasonable crowd and
a good number of musicians.

The highlight for me was Kelly and Mandie singing for some regular and new
Jammers, and sounding great’¦.Geronimo continues his return with a damn
fine version of ‘˜Freebird’ with Andrew Heart playing some great bass.

See everyone in two weeks time

Gary 28/03/2009 Gary Le Blues Autour Du Zinc Festival ‘“ Beavais,
France, 12th & 13/3/09 The first festival apearance in France for us.The good stuff first:

– We were really well looked after, hotel was fine and all meals were served
for all the musicians under the big top, main stage arena, at set times.
Bands had been sourced from all over Europe, so this was great for Networking
and seeing friends like label mates The Brew and The Mustangs. The food
and red wine, went down very well.

Once we turned up at our designated venue we found the organisation to be
more laid back/chaotic.

We were in Wallabies, an Australian bar North of Paris (such is cultural
diversity these days!). We were 3rd on the Bill both nights with some very
strange Bands in the opening/supporting slots.

First up were to The Manic R&B driven youngsters in the

The Experimantal Tropic Blues Band ‘“ after some crowd surfing, female crwod
memeber stalking antics the front man ‘˜climaxed’ by dropping his pants and
trousers and flagellating his willy with his guitar lead’¦ ‘˜electric’ and
of course ‘˜experimental’. The 2nd band wer also young and had attitude and
other than being repetitive were not bad; and then after a delay (as no
turn arounds had been tmetabled for ), we were on.

The Friday night perfromance was a really good one. Starting with a storming
clap along with ‘˜Tellin Lies’ and ‘˜Voodoo Dance’, Suzie, Kels and Mandie
laid down there 3 solo slots to great acclaim’¦

Our version of ‘˜Roadhouse Blues/Jim Morrison est Mort en Paris’ was very
well played

The only shame about the Friday was that a portion of crowd drfited away
as we went past midnight, in order to get their positions for the late night
events in the main arena.

By the end of Preacher Man I thought we’d done a great job and all around
us were very complementary.

Come Saturday PM, some more chaotic communication and a no sound, sound
check. The local organizers at Waalabies were inviting us to go on first
due to the ‘˜alternative nature’ of the 2 other Bands ‘“ which in my mind
was a thinly disguised ploy the female orgainser to get her Faves, Deltahead
who she’d imported from Sweden further up the Bill.

We didnt move and the aformentioned lady managed to spoil most of our evening
by encouraging Deltahead to overplay by 15 minutes and then to sell their
CD’s and not bother to pack their gear down for another 20 minutes.

I will not describe Deltahead on this website other than to say they played
15 minutes of intro music via a ‘˜His Masters voice’ style gramaphone, had
all their faces painted white like clowns, and played a punk alternative
style that only Suzie and Kelly ‘˜got’. They were of course from Sweden (the
Worlds highest rate of suicide also comes from Sweden)

Good old Fred the owner agreed to let us play past the 1am deadline (well
done Mandie, for her ‘˜influencing’ skills). By the time we got on (past
midnight) a screaming monitor (right in my face) and sound balance issues
had taken my patience to the limit.

Amazingly we were going down a storm, even better then on the Friday. People
were dancing on the bar and

geting right behind us. Half way through our 3rd song, ‘˜Sacrifice’ my pedal
board blew up and in the 5 mins it took good old Bill to solve the problem
about a 3rd of the big crowd had drfited away.

Around this time I did unusually for me, totally lose my rag and was snapping
at fellow band members, left right and centre. I think if someone had told
me I’d never have to play another gig agan at this time I would have celebrated..

Somehow we finsished the set and got a better response than on Friday, when
we had played so much better.

An interesting weekend’¦.

Gary 22/03/2009 Gary The Bulls Head ‘“ Barnes ‘“ 2/3/09 To our annual birthday bash at one of Londond’s top Jazz
venues’¦.It was the night of my Birthday and a celebration of Roger reaching 60 (god
knows how he’s made it!).

If overcoming my health issues to play was not enough of a challange, I
stuck a bread knife through my left index finger at lunch time, just to
give myself a reasonable level of challenge for the night’.

It was fantastic to see so many people out supporting us on a cold Monday
night during the ‘˜credit crunch’. So many people who are special to the
Band. Both old friends and new.

Jimmy Dublin, Geronimo and Byron Banks (Harp) kicked off the night with
3 blues grooved songs. Next up was Pete Sargeant (a great friend to, and
supporter of the Band) on bass and vocals joined by our host, promoter George
Mcfall on the drums.

The Roadhouse set opened with a very emotional version of ‘˜The Answer’ –
it hurt, but I was playing the guitar pretty well (just leaking a bit!).

Kelly and Mandie nailed versions of ‘˜The Lying Game’ and ‘˜Rising Sun’ (and
were on all round top form).

The failure of Kelly’s mic, lead to some Lesbian style mike sharing antics,
that certainly ‘˜warmed’ the crowd up..

Voodoo Dance rocked it up several notches, before an emotional ‘˜Slip Away’
(great solo Danny!) segged into a stomping ‘˜Telling Lies’.

Bill & Roger were rock solid in a great all round Band performance. Personal
intros with much onstage birthday banter, punctuated Voodoo Queen, before
Preacher Man gave the set a ‘˜stadium’ style finale’¦.

John O’Leary then played the night out with some great harp driven blues’¦.

So fantastic to see people like Darren Wisdom, who has written such great
national reviews of the Band and Roadhouse legend Anne Campbell, whose efforts
drove the Band forwards for years..

There is life yet’.

Off to the big festival in France now

Gary 08/03/2009 Gary Jam Sessions ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 5&19/2/09 A tale of 2 jam sessions’¦.After the massive crowds and fantastic reponse at Skegness, jam session
one was a reality check.

A thin night musician wise and with only about 20 loyal supporters.. it
was hard for the Band to produce any energy in their opening set.

We played ‘˜When Mountains Fall’ for the first time for years. the girls
did great with the vocals but Danny and I’s solos did not cut the mustard.

Later in the night Danny and I redeemed ourselves with an epic ‘˜Watchtower’
(longest one yet i reckon’¦).

Some nice performances by the jammers but a poor night in my perception.

The second jam had a much bigger crowd and the Roadhouse set was re-energised.
‘˜We played ‘˜Mountains Fall’ again and this time the guitars were good and
the vocals all over the place (we’ll get it right sooner or later!)’

Nice sets from Jimmy (the tone) Dublin and a great young Band in the new
Band slot’¦.

A good night

Gary 08/03/2009 Gary Skegness Festival ‘“ Centre Stage ‘“ 25/1/09 To possibly our greatest big stage performance’The upside of being the opening act in the 2,000 plus capacity big room/Centre
Stage is that you have a lot of time for your set up. The down side is that
you could have a poor crowd, as people tend to drift in after dinner.

There was a ‘˜healthy’ amount of tension through the dressing room before,
which for Kelly meant vocal warm up exercises and for the rest of us meant
drinking and or worrying. We stuck our head round the curtains with 10 minutes
to go and there was only about 3-400, in a well deserted room. Still we
had to tackle the show ‘˜Full on’, or it just would not work’¦.

We were announced and the Safety Curtain rolled up as Roger hammered into
the drum intro for ‘˜Voodoo Dance’ . My first thought was ‘˜Where did all
the people come from’¦.’

The girls ‘˜danced with the devil’ (very nicely) and the 1st number had gone
down great.

Second up was ‘˜The Answer’ and as the song opens with me singing and playing
a difficut set of guitar arpeggios on my own, a tester. Bearing in mind
my continuing decline in health and the battles still to come, this was
lyrically and emotionaly a big song for me personally.

It went great, the only dodgy moment being when I glanced stage left and
saw my my face up on the giant screen, in close up (sporting more chins
than the Hong Kong phone directory ‘“ ghastly!)’¦ Danny was getting into
his stride the girls sounded great and I even managed a half decent solo’¦

Three songs for the lucious ladies next, Suzie downsizing the Arena into
a smokey, intimate club, with her stylish reading of the ‘˜Lying Game’. Kelly
comfortably belting out ‘˜The Big Easy’ and Mandie reapeating yesterdays
epic Success with ‘˜House of the Rising Sun’. She got a standing ovation
from a room that was now very full (amazing as we were up against The Rats
in the other Big Room = members of the Boomtown Rats without Bob Geldorf,
who apparently had a poor crowd).

‘˜Sacrifice’ was given its big stage debut and ‘˜Telling Lies’ provoked an
outbreak of air guitar playing. Then came Voodoo Queen. First I totally
went blank on how to play the intro and then we regained some cred by getting
a good portion of the crowd to sing along in true ‘˜stadium style’ (thanks
peeps ‘“ very kind of you). Rogers strobe lit drum solo was the highlight
of the Band introductions and overall the Skegness crew did a great job
with both the sound and a top light show.

There was no doubt about the encore and Preacher Man took up up to a set
time of around an hour and 5 minutes.

What a great crowd response and for me a validation of some very hard times
and shed loads of pain, to get to this point’¦

Photo call from the great Alan White, CD’s and Autographs and then the long
road home.

But surprise, Roger had recorded the whole show (and filmed it). we listened
and were quiet impressed’¦.. wonder what the DVd will look like

Thanks to the great crew at Skeggy, to Alan Pearce, Pete Barton and the
amazing crowd.

Photos available from:

(Girls are looking good)

Group photo from on this page is very nice’¦

http://www.earlyblues.com/Skegness%20Rock%20&%20Blues%20Festival%202009%20Sunday%20Evening.htm

Gary 07/02/2009 Gary Roadhouse Live At Skegness ‘“ JAKS Set & The
Skeggy Jam ‘“ 24/1/09 At 12.15pm the 450 capacity JAKS room was only at half capacity.
But when we kicked off at 12.30 with a storming ‘˜No Place To Hide’, it was
nearly full.The crowd were great getting right behind the Band as we played a set from
which we would only repeat 2 songs on the main stage on Sunday night. Next
up was ‘˜Blues Highway’ where my solo by some strange trick of the acoustics
was given an ovation.

The girls came into play on ‘˜Help Me’ and then Mandie as usual grabbed the
limelight with her killer version of ‘˜Rising Sun’.

Danny was really enjoying himself, playing great and with Bill and Roger
totally in the groove, it was a very good performance.

‘˜Slip Away’ and ‘˜Sea of Souls’ benefitted from both great female vocals
and amazing solos from Danny and we resolved our first set with a cool version
of ‘˜Roadhouse Blues’ .

On to the jam, what a success. Unlike last years icomic ‘˜Dave Jam’ (where
13 of the performing musicians were named Dave), we only had 3 Dave’s on
the play list.

After an opening set of all jammers meeting for the first time, we had a
killer set featuring Tim & Kurt Smith and Jason Barwick (my fave young guitarist
) from The Brew, playing with our own Danny.G and with Mick Rutherford on
the vocals. A great set by any standards.

Loads of good visiting players came out of the audience, including people
like Gizmo on the guitar, Bob on the Harp and John and Dave on the drums.
But many Bands joined in, including The Mick Rutherford Band , The Sugar
Bee’s and Green.M.

The crowd loved it and JAKS was rammed (the biggest ever Jam crowd). None
of the players and singers let the crowd down (well done Maggie on the vocals
– great voice!)’¦

At the end we closed the afternoon with ‘˜Heavens Door’ and then a rousing
‘˜Preacher Man’.

An afternoon to remember. Here’s to Tomorrow on Centre Stage

Gary 06/02/2009 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 22/1/09 A relatively quiet Jam saw the Band complete their final
preparation for the giant Skegness festival.It was great to welcome back Suzie.D, as the girls practiced their 3 way
vocals on the big dramatic numbers, including ‘˜Slip Away’ and ‘˜The Answer’.

It was nice to see Dave Dicks (great harp player) return to the jam. And
overall it was a good, bluesy evening.

Next stop Skegness.

Gary 06/02/2009 Gary Walkern Music At Timbers ‘“ Stevenage ‘“ 17/1/09 A fantastic night at Trevor Keelings great new incarnation
of Walkern Music at Timbers.I was really impressed by the lovely galleried room. The night kicked off
with a good set from the local Cole House Porter Band (fully equipped with
3 dancing girls and a hell of a boogie piano player).

A good crowd of around a hundred was value for a wet and cold evening in
mid January.

We kicked off with ‘˜Telling Lies’, ‘˜Sea of Souls’ and ‘˜Voodoo Dance’. Kelly
and Mandie weighed in with ‘˜Help Me’, ‘˜The Big Easy’ and ‘˜House of The Rising
Sun’ (again bringing the ‘˜house’ down so to speak).

Passionate versions of ‘˜The Answer’ and ‘˜Voodoo Queen’ brought on a triple
encore of ‘˜Preacher Man’, ‘˜Heavens Door’ & ‘˜Sacrifice’ (the set lasted 110
minutes).

Crowd reaction was great & CD sales wonderful. I must apologise to Danny
and Roger, as due to the fact that I was having a rare low pain night from
my muscle disease and consequently had as good a night as gets for me on
the guitar, I was a ‘˜tad loud’ on stage (sorry guys!).

Well played Bill who held the whole thing together

A great night and a venue I’d recommend to anybody.

Thanks to Trevor and Richard for having us

We’d love to come back’¦..

Gary 18/01/2009 Gary Proud Camden Blues Jam ‘“ 11/1/09 A bit of history as we fronted the opening night of the ‘˜Proud
of The Blues Jam’ at the fabulous gallery space/venue of Proud Camden.First the bad news, the venue has awful access for bands. with a very long
carry in through the surrounding market and the throngs of people. It also
didn’t help that the afternoon jazz jam had overun, just adding to the confusion
adn pandemonium.

However, the good news was:

– A fabulous room,

– A big stage,

– A great PA,

– Good sound man and overall sound/lighting.

A number of our regular jammers had followed us across from South West London,
including Byron Blake on harp, John Griffin and Nicollete on guitars and
vocals and the great Jimmy Dublin (who the crowd loved!).

There were some awesome jammers there from central London too and overall
for an opeining night, it was very good. At one point there was about 75
people in the room getting right behind Roadhouse and then the jammers.

Special cerdit to Roger Hunt who jammed for 90% of the night and did a great
job.

I’m leaving the next 2 weeks in the hands of Mark and Tony of the brillaint
‘˜Jam Pact’ and then one Sunday from Jimmy Dublin. This one could catch fire
as a regular event.

We’ll be back on the 13th February

Gary 18/01/2009 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 8/1/0908 The New Years Jam at the Woody ‘“ With rumours/predictions
that the Brewery were going to stop all music at all their pubs regardless
of individual success, tension was high. A lot of poeple turned up to see
whether this was going to be the last jam at The Woodman.However, news on the night was good, Martin had not received the predicted
‘˜stop notice’ and we will roll on ( the usual once every two weeks basis).

Roadhouse played ‘˜Lights On The Water’ for the first time for ages and other
than some dodgy ‘˜oooohhh sections’, Kelly and Mandie had worked out the
harmony problems. Mandie was shortly up with some young guitarists to sing
a very sweet blues. ~ when it was Kelly’s turn she did great with ‘˜Sweet
Home Chicago’ (after a false start with Proud Mary ‘“ they didnt know it!)

Jimmy Dublin was back again to play the nights stand out set with Jeff Nicholson,
including a great Bass solo from Tim Matthewman. A good night.

See you in 2 weeks

Gary 13/01/2009 Gary Zoom at the Moon ‘“ The Half Moon ‘“ Hearne Hill
– 3/1/09 Well to 2009 and a Staurday gig at Pete Feenstra’s classy
big stage venue was scheduled a little too close to the New Year this time.It was a freezing cold night and early in the evening it looked like we’d
be playing to handful of people.

However, the crowd grew respectably into the 40’² plus and got right behind
the Band.

Jimmy Dublin was up as first our support act. With Andrew Heart on the bass
and our very own Rog on the drums Jimmy got the evening off to a great and
very well appreciated start. His tone was full and rich and choice of material
spot on.

We played straight through for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Bearing in mind
we’d had a 2 week break we were remarkably on form. ‘˜Voodoo Dance ‘˜and ‘˜Sea
of Souls’ kicked us off. Mandie and Kelly brough the house down respectively
with ‘˜House of the Rising Sun’ and ‘˜The Lying Game’. Sacrifice was given
a rare outing and powerfully delivered, with Danny playing some tasty slide.

When we came off stage a good number of people said it was the best version
of ‘˜Slip Away’ ever. I don’t know about that, but the song itself rolled
nicely along in all its depressing, monolithic majesty.

What a great way to start the year. Thanks to all the eskimos who came out
for the gig and to Mr Feenstra himself.

Happy New Year

Gary 12/01/2009 Gary The Xmas Jam ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 11/12/08 A large crowd and a great night at the Xmas jam. It was like
the old days with so many punters and musicians turning up. I was unable
to fit them all the musicians in, even though we overan by 15 minutes (to
11.15) . Special apologies to Terry Brennan as a jam regular I could not
fit in.It was lovely to see John O’Leary and Robin Bibi playing together in my
‘˜select set’ of the night, and Joe X provided some great guitar playing
in the 2nd set.

Roadhouse rounded off 2008 with a rocking 4 song set including The Bands
current fave Voodoo Dance.

Martin (our landlord) played Santa with his excellent mince pies, but wth
talk of the Brewery either cutting back on all live music including the
jam, from early next year onwards, there was a sad nip in the air.

After 10 Years could the next jam on the 8th Janaury be the last one, we
shall see’¦..

Happy Xmas and a Happy New Year to all live music lovers,

Gary 04/01/2009 Gary The Lady of the Lake ‘“ Lowestoft ‘“ 6/12/08 Our 3rd week in a row on the road, promoting the new CD,
Sea of Souls.This long journey took us back to ‘˜The Lady’, where Paul the owner has continued
to develop this excellent venue. Now along with the nice, big stage is some
quality lighting and dressing room facilities.

The last time we’d played here had been Sept 2007, for Paul’s birthday and
the place had been packed. So we were diaapointed to travel such a long
way for the relatively small turn out. We played to around 0-40 people in
the first set and 70-100 were in te Venue for the 2nd.

Still the Band played well and as usual the second set was so much better
than the first. The re-action was good, sales were OK and both the owner
& the local music lovers were full of praise’¦..

On the way home I reflected on all the great trips/tours/gigs both played
and achieved this year, aginst a background of declining market and medical
and personal adversity, well done to the whole Band.

We’ve agreed to return here as Paul is such a great guy’¦.

Lets hope it rocks the next time

Next up for us and last gig of 2008, is the Xmas jam

Gary 13/12/2008 Gary The Yardbirds Club ‘“ Grimsby ‘“ 29/11/08 So after killing time in a freezing marrket place, in a nice
posh place called Beverley, the Roadhouse Tour crossed the fog shrouded
Humber Bridge into an icy Grimsby”¦Our great ally Tim Smith of The Brew had got us this great gig orginally.
The last time we played there Tim and boys came up and jammed and turned
it into a real party night. Tonight Tim’s Mum was ill and we were firmly
on our own. The question was, as usual, what kind of turnout would there
be on this freezing night????

This is a great rock and roll/biker venue and built for Roadhouse gig. It’s
great to have a nice sized dressing room with Kitchen and TV etc and we
entertianed an old school friend of Bill and I’s who’d driven up from Lincoln
for the show.

Well tonight was a hands down win with a large turnout, good repsonse and
health CD sales. The band kicked, after being honed by 2 weeks on the Road.
Danny was really enjoying himself, revelling in the large stage, big PA
environment, carving out huge chunks of tasty rock guitar. We also saw the
beginning of fruition of Mandie’s new Partnership with Kelly,as both girls
rocked out nicely.

Number wise, ‘˜Heavens Doorr’ is having a new lease of life, with Kelly’s
backing vocal giving Mandie a solid platform to work her magic from. ‘˜Sacrifice’
is back in set with Danny making nonsense of his lack of experience on the
slide guitar. My faves of the night were, ‘˜ The Answer’ and ‘˜Voodoo Dance’,
which really rocked. Bill’s new bass rig has also given him a massive shot
in the arm and would you believe he is now playing solo sections????

It was one of the longest drives home in Roadhouse history (UK wise). The
long drive gave me time to reflect on how proud I was of everyone and so
honoured that these great people were prepared to play my music”¦I’ts
now about health battles and finding strength for the longer haul ‘“ worth
it ‘“ big time

Gary 13/12/2008 Gary The Highway ‘“ Hull ‘“ 28/11/08 Sing it, all together!, I know you want to”¦, here
we go, ‘œWere on the Highway to Hull, We’re on the Highway to Hull’.
ok, ok, I know it wasn’t that funny’¦This is a relatively new venue, run by the legendary folk who’d established
Hulls top venue but had been moved by the Brewery.

On arrival we were a little dissapointed to find that The Highway had all
the rock ambience of a Beefeater’¦

However, by showtime the place was full of warm, friendly music lovers.
The crowd were with us from the opening ‘˜Blues Highway’ and then as we hit
the rocking ‘˜No Place To Hide’ we knew we were on a winner’¦..

By the time we had rocked out to Voodoo Dance and Preacher Man, we received
a double encore in which we gave ‘˜White Water’ a rare but enjoyable outing’¦

A great night, good crowd and we hope to be back

Gary 10/12/2008 Gary The Blues Bar ‘“ Harrogate ‘“ 23/11/08 Roger wanted it put on record that he was actually present
at breakfast!!!!!.Usually we watch the larm clocks sail out the window along with anyone else
who tries to wake him up before high noon’¦..

More pool followed (with Danny demonstrating his ex Merchant Nany prowess)
and a leisurely day, before driving up to a very ‘˜Christmassy ‘˜ Harrogate
and the both atmospheric and intimate Blues Bar.

After giving ourselves a good lubrication so we slipped onto the little
stage, we had the chance to meet members of the Northern Branch of Band
Members families, as well as a great group of Roadhouse fans who’d driven
from various places, such as Preston.

After a warm welcome from our host and hostess, Simon and Sharon. We delivered
a good first set, with ‘˜Blues Highway’, ‘˜House OfThe Rising Sun’ and ‘˜The
Answer’, being the standout tracks.

After a a nice chilli (thanks Sharon!), we kicked into the 2nd set with
‘˜Voodoo Dance’. Sharon, who we had intitally met when she sang at our Jam
session at Skegness 2008, joined us for a joplinesque, ‘˜Stormy Monday’.

The 4.5 hour sans aches, exhaustion and hangover, drive home beckoned. But
it was so great to watch groups of people singing along to all the words
to our songs. It’s moments like that and the Blues Bar’s mighty fine Wolf
Blass Chardonnay, that make it all worthwhile. Time for ‘˜Preacher Man”

We’ll be back to this one.

It was once more a long way home.

Cheers Simon,

Gary 30/11/2008 Gary Rudi’s Blues Cafe ‘“ Rotherham ‘“ 22/11/08 A great venue in Rotherham, large stage, PA, a great look
and the charismatic Joe, who looks after both PA and the place itself.The trouble is that even with many top names performing, the good folk of
Rotherham have not really appreciated the quality of both venue and acts.
Attendances had been low ove the lst few weeks and I’m sad to say that on
this cold, November Saturday, things were just as bad.

A total of about 44 people (about 250 capacty) saw 2 good sets. The second
one (as usual) dwarfing the first in both energy and quality. Still Joe
loved the Band, we sold quite a few CD’s and saw some old freinds and supporters
who’d driven a long way to see us on the night.

Back to the hotel which to everyone’s surprise was run by a Roadhouse fan
(complete with CD collection) . For the majority of the Band it was a good
late pool tournament/social and a very big nightcap’. 30/11/2008 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 13/11/08 A months break from our regular jam and a 3 week holiday
from playing, built the aniticpation for Jam night’¦.A good turn out helped us to celebrate Danny.G’s birthday and to see legendary
ex-Roadhouse guitarist Drew Barron’s last appearance before his return to
Canada (well at least thats one less Tottenhm supporter in the Country).

We started with a well sung but ‘˜staleish’ version of ‘˜Brooklyn Blues’.
‘˜Sea of Souls’ saw us get back in the Groove and then we managed to deliver
a cracking version of ‘˜The Answer’ before a spirited version of Voodoo Dance
saw Bill christen his new bass rig with a Solo (shock ‘“ News of The World
expose!). Sylvie then brough the Birthday cake on stage for a resounding
happy beirthday to Danny!!!.

Drew then took the stage for his final bow with Roadhouse. Drew chose ‘˜Preacher
Man’ for his ‘˜Last meal’ and I just love the way he harmonises the bass
run, making that whole phrase monolithically fat (so to speak!). By the
time we’d finished this 5th number, we felt lke we’d played a whole gig
(unfit or what!).

Geronimo was on great form in the jam, Tim Matthewman delivering a super
bass solo.

Drew then played his own set and featured a tribute to the late Mitch Mitchell
with a ‘˜Hedrixian frenzy’ including fantastic speed phrases and scat singing
in harmony with his twisitng guitar lines. He finfshed he set off by giving
his guitar a good tounging and applying his mouth quite vigorously to the
hot, on stage, axe action (believe me mate dental floss is cheaper and safer!)
.

It was sad to see Drew go, for over 2 years and over 60 gigs he’d been a
Roadhouse mainstay on both guitar and while Bill was in hospital, on bass.
As he walked off into the snow of a Canadian winter, I reflected on the
amount of friends who’s left the band over the 18 years of our Tenure –
sad and proud!!!

Frank then announced the sad passing of Mark Havart, one of the famous jamming
Havart twins ‘“ mate we’ll miss you/ Our personal legion of dead friends
is recruiting at an increasing speed ‘“ mate, we’ll miss you!

Copies of Rock N Reeel were all over the Woodman as the new Roadhouse review
of Sea of Souls, with giant Ad and a track on their new artists to listen
to CD (Preacher Man ‘“ over 30,000 copies) hit the ‘˜high street’ at both
W.H.Smiths and Borders.

It left me at home, dreaming of my private jet and special Limo’s, with
interior swimming pools (and then I woke up with the usual hang over)

Gary 16/11/2008 Gary O’Neils Bar ‘“ Aylesbury ‘“ 18/10/08 Not to be confused with O’Neils the pub chain. This was Barry’s
warm venue, for this special gig arranged by Kelly.A good turn out, saw the band turn in a good performance on the sizeable
stage area.

It was great to see so many friends both new and old, especially the folk
who’s last seen us at Skegness.

This was the last performance after a busy schedule, before we grabbed a
well deserved break.

It was good to go out on a high. Major, thanks to Kelly for arranging.

Rock on

Gary 16/11/2008 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 16/10/08 A great turn out of music lovers, but where were all the
musicians?’¦..If we don’t start picking up some extra musicians soon, I might have to
re-locate or cancel the jam. For 9 years this jam has been central to the
SW London music scene, lets hope it caries on that way.

Still everyone had a great time, with nearly all musicians getting 2-3 appearances
on stage .It was good to see Mandie and Kelly totally making up songs (complete
improvisation). While there was a mixture of the brilliant, avarage and
terrible , we all had fun improvising and trying new

things.

The next jam lead by Roadhouse is on the 13th November .Lets hope for a
better turn out of musicians’¦

Gary 08/11/2008 Gary The Motorcycle News Festival ‘“ Butlins ‘“ Skegness
– 5/10/08 Performance 1 ‘“ Skyline Stage ‘“ 15.00Tensions dissipated as the Band pulled together, in order to play this challenging
set.

Playing a mid afternoon slot under the ‘˜Big top’ at Butlins, Skegness can
be very daunting. There were about 200 people in front of the stage area,
with maybe another countless hord distributed across the cafes, bars and
amusement arcades that make up the big top. So with a constant flow of people
through the central walkway, I’ve no idea just how many people heard this
show’¦.

We eased the crowd in with ‘˜Blues Highway’ , ‘˜Not Fade Away’ and ‘˜Help Me’
(introducing our fab 3 girls). The response was really good and a number
of pople who had seen us at MCN’s last festival came to the front and gave
us some support.

We were soon rocking out and the guitar duel at the end of the first set,
seemed both good and appropriate.

The second set rocked out and went down well with the motorcycling fraternity.
‘˜Roadhouse Blues’ struck that ‘5th gear’ motorcycling chord and the band
intros flowed really well in ‘˜Voodoo Queen’. Roger’s drum solo was a cracker
and the girls just oozed vampiric, sultry sexuality on their individual
vocal segments. Danny, stole the show with a Joe Satriani style shred, followed
by the sailors hornpipe (he nearly earned a Butlins Redcoat with that one)

Performance 2 ‘“ JAKS Stage -23.00:

Onto closing the whole festival on the JAKS stage, late Sunday night into
Monday morning.

We were following the wnners of the Keraang Batlle of the Bands onto the
stage. Their set sounded like the screams of a million damned souls, descending
into a black vortex of eternal torture ( you get the idea ‘“ it was f****ing
loud!)

After the thermo nuclear assault, it was hard to get our sound balanced
properly. As we kicked into ‘˜Voodoo Dance’ Roger was deafened by white noise
coming out of his monitor and I don’t know how he got through the song.

As we got into the set the sound settled down. ‘˜Slip Away’ carried on the
soul in torment theme of the night (quite nicely I thought) and ‘˜Rising
Sun’ had a strong impact.

The organisers had asked us to integrate a short jam session. Famous Motorcycle
and Red Bull air racing comentator Barry joined us for good quality harp
and vocals on ‘˜Mustang Sally’ with aguest bass player who’s name escapes
me.

We finished with a blast of Preacher Man’ and then it was a long, long
way home (as the song goes) and the end of a health sapping 8 shows in 11
days.

A special thanks to the girls who sold a tremendous amount of CD’s on this
trip. Well done ladies’

Back for the Major Blues & Rock festival in January, bring it on

Gary 21/10/2008 Gary The Cider Shed ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 4/10/08 Having been kindly asked to play yet another 2 performances
at a Motorcycle News Festival at Skegness (our 2nd MCN festival and 3rd
Butlins Skegness festival of the year), it was great that we were able to
keep this regular venue and play the gig en route to Skegness.Jonty is a good guy and we love playing this friendly venue that oriiginally
used to be an old cider factory’¦

On this night expectations were high, as he had a private birthday party
in a hall at the back of the venue, for a guy who was a Roadhouse fan .
A lot of the party goers were expected to come front of house, for the show.
Our last appearance at the Cider Shed pulled a great crowd, so we were hoping
for a good turn out.

On the downside we only achieved a medium sized crowd, which lowered the
door taking. On the plus side the crowd were really up for it (especially
in the second set). In the first half the stage sound was a little loud,
once modified the Euro Tour form cam flooding back and from the opening
‘˜Voodoo Dance’ it was a kick arse performance, with a good encore.

We saw a number of old friends and supporters and sales of Sea of Souls
were decent.

Jonty said that having bands like us was the main reason he’d taken on the
venue, and with flattery like that, we can only agree to return next year.

As we drove up to Skegness tension was quite high between some band memebrs.
This was due to the unexpectedly low door money and the fact that it takes
around 4-5 weeks for gig money to come through from a major festival. The
band debt incurred from making and marketing Sea of Souls is pretty daunting
(as it mainly hangs on me ‘“ I can tell you it’s quite a weight). For some
band members the hard work for for little, or even negative financial return,
was starting to bite. For others the musical vision, live perfromance and
level of Global artistic achievement is enough ‘“ this is not an easy game’¦..

We turned on the heaters in our little Butlin’s chalets at about 3.30am
and hoped for some semblance of sleep.

Perhaps it would all look brighter in the morning????

Gary 19/10/2008 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 2/10/08 I was expecting the jam to be an anti climax after Europe’¦
but with a good turn out of of our regular friends and local music lovers/Roadhouse
fans it wasn’t a bad night at all’¦.We did ‘˜Heavens Door’ (as we’d played it so often in Europe) and I still
managed to keep up the new high standard of guitar playing ‘“ but the jam
made me reflect that the band is just not the same in the local confines
of the Woodman, playing just 3 or 4 numbers. Roadhouse on the road or at
a festival is a whole different prospect’¦.

Still the jam is so good for local live music, thats why we kill ourselves
keeping it going -musicians are always warmly welcomed, come on down to
London’s freindliest jam (probably!)’¦

Gary 18/10/2008 Gary Cafe T’Goor ‘“ Goreeind ‘“ Belgium A morning drive across the border, to the last stop on this
tour.After the ‘˜Sat Nav’ insisting that we should play in a field full of cows,
we finally pulled up at a superb, but relatively new music venue.

Promoted by our old and valued friend Michel Hofkens, the venue had a great
set, superb stage and lighting. This great new place was run by a great
music enthusiast, Paul (what a terrific guy!)’¦.

After a quick set up we were ready to rock, but’..

The new purpose built house PA, would just not work’¦.

Paul made a phone call and brought in his ‘˜engineer.’ ‘“ an hour of feedback
noises later’¦.we and the crowd were still waiting, but we’d all had a
few beers together and it built anticipation for the gigi, rather than raise
the stress levels.

Outside the venue we spotted some great old muscle cars and a fantastic
old Harley mounted with full on, ‘˜Broken Land’ style cow horns’¦ On meeting
the biker himself we discovered he’d rode this beast to Russia and back.
Que the shy and retiring Kelly to volunteer herself for a ride on pillion
– and we watched her blast off into the distance (hoping she wasn’t en route
to Russia)’¦

Paul finally gave up on the PA and Bill and Roger saved the day with an
ace and perfect 20 minute set up of the Roadhouse PA’¦

Into the show and amazingly, about 70% of my voice was back, but we asked
the girls to ‘˜step up to the plate’ again and they did a great job. After
‘˜Blues Highway’ provided a slick entry to the set, the girls powered out
‘˜Help Me’, ‘˜The Lying Game’, ‘˜House of the Rising Sun’ and ‘˜The Big Easy’
to great acclaim. Another good guitar trade off (and gurn off) in ‘˜Rock
Me Baby’ was followed by a blitz of a second set.

Amazingly my good guitar form continued and I pulled off another good solo
as Mandie belted out ‘˜ Heavens Door’ en route to a ‘˜Tellin Lies’, ‘˜Voodoo
Queen’ finale’¦.

A double encore ensued, followed by a nice meal courtesy of our host Paul.

We are dying to come back to this venue ‘“ great place, great people’¦..

A few hours later we were sitting on the Ferry, tired but happy, reflecting
on a fantasic trip’.even though we’d sold a shed load of CD’s, overall
we had still lost money ‘“ but so what ‘“ are we in this to get rich, or to
enjoy rocking out live? ‘“ answers by text to Roadhouse competition)

Proud of the Band!!!!

Gary 18/10/2008 Gary The Rambler ‘“ Eindhoeven ‘“ Netherlands ‘“ 27/9/08 This gig marked our first return to central Eindhoeven, for
8 or so years.We were impressed with the venue. The Rambler was a real rock and roll venue.
Racing & muscle car seats for seating, walls lined with full sized coffins
and rock posters/memerobillia. The whole place reeked of rock and roll,
voodoo, metal and the sweat of the 1,000’²s of bands that had played here
before us’¦..

A fridgefull of beer (thoughfully supplied by the venue) and a ordered in
Chinese later, we were ready to take the stage. However, not before talking
to the great Manager Peer and the couple of die hard Roadhouse supporters,
that had moved from Wimbledon to Eindhoeven and made this gig possible.

While talking to Peer, what was left of my voice deteriorated to a cartoon
squeek and I knew the girls would be working hard tonight. Richard the paranoid
sound guy patrolled the front of the stage, like a stalker on heat, as he
strove to turn the guitars down, and let the girls hear the monitors.

Attendance at the Rambler had been low recently, with a high of 115 and
a low of 18 in recent weeks. So we were ok with the 80 or so people in the
audience.

The girls may have struggled with the monitors, but we hit the ground running,
My goal was to sing as many rockers as I could, before my voice gave out
completely. This ws also an excuse for the venue to give me lots of free
brandy (which didn’t help my voice, but boy did it make me feel good).

To take the pressure off of my voice we reintroduced ‘˜Heavens Door’, giving
Mandie a 2nd Power Ballad/Roots Song and she gave it the full treatment.
Strangely my guitar playing went to a whole new level, from that song onward.

In fact it was probably the best I have ever played at any gig (ever). With
Danny matching me blow by blow and Bill and Roger keeping it tight, the
first set was a triumph of energy and great singing (by the girls anyway)
over a strangely variable mix.

The second set started well after 11pm, with the crowd now a bit thinned
out. Never mind, ‘˜Voodoo Dance’, ‘˜Telling Lies’, ‘˜Slip Away’ all hit the
spot. Roger’s drum solo in’Voodoo Queen’, began a run of hot solos for him
that would be seen to continue over the next few gigs.

There was time for me to talk my way through ‘˜Preacher Man’ until Danny
and both Mandie and Suzie did the main ‘˜talking’ on the end section.

With the venue happy with the news, that I planned to bring my voice with
me on our return, we limped off for anther late night.

Job done!

Gary 12/10/2008 Gary Cafe d’Oude Stoep ‘“ Vlaadingen /Rotterdam –
Netherlands 26/9/08 Thnaks to Esther for ararnging this gig, as a last minute
‘˜fill in’ following a cancellation from naother venue.We arrived and met the great Hans and his team at this atmospheric cafe..

This was a late one, after 11.00 pm a stage area was cleared. A quick set
up. was the required as suddenly the the place filled up rapdily until it
was packed out. Converting nicely from an eatery to a funky live music joint.

We set off with ‘˜Blues Highway ‘˜and ‘˜Not Fade Away. A pretty good reaction
from the crowd. We had Tim and boys from the Brew down the front with a
lot of musos and the first (closest) half of the crowd were really with
us’.

After the first 40 or so people in the closest proximity to the stage the
wedge of folk behind that, including about another 50 outside, were less
re-active.

Midset we started rocking with ‘˜No Place To Hide’ to great response, but
then as we slowed it down the set lost impetus. The guitar battle at the
the end of Rock Me Baby won the crowd back. My guitar playing seemed to
have gone up a notch on this trip, so Danny and I had a notably good trade
off.

Those of you who have followed my health strugles with my neurological condition,
would question my sanity at doing these 4 consequtive shows (as did I) ,
but I was feeling remarkably full of energy and a problem came from an unexpected
source.

My voice was still on good form, but I noticed that by the end of the night
it had a ‘˜growlier’ aspect to it.Little did not know that most of my voice
would be gone by morning.

We blasted into the second set with ‘˜Roadhouse Blues’ and were just going
into overdrive on ‘˜Voodoo Dance’ when Bill had to come off stage with seized
tendons in his arm . Tim Smith rom the Brew bravely stepped up and added
some bass. Bill returned and we were able to get a good jam number going
with the boys from the Brew, before a classic ‘˜Voodoo Queen/Preacher Man’
encore, finish.

Thanks to Esther and Tim for the gig and to Hans for the great food (chicken
and fish to die for ).We also met some great musos, and musicians including
a great yourng guitar player called Arnold who has offered to help us get
more Euro gigs.

We also jammed on ‘˜Watchtower’ for the second night running with a great
local sax player who’s name was I think ‘˜Ando’.

4am it was finally off to bed, but not for some of the band who went out
to party (the indentities of the band members concerned will remain a secret!
– (read about their antics in the News Of The World)

2 Down, 2 to go

Gary 11/10/2008 Gary The Podium ‘“ Schiedam/Rotterdam ‘“ Netherlands
– 25/9/08 Well it had been a while since we played in Europe. The gigs
had dried up after that great Blues lover, critic and Website provider Bobje
Blues, had retired from being a Tour Manager.Still armed with our best ever CD (Sea of Souls ‘“ oh and by the way did
I tell you that we had a new CD out! ‘“ as if!) and with the help of Tim
Smith of our great friends The Brew, we put together a mini tour of 4 venues
in the Netherlands & Belgium. A big thanks to Tim as it’s the Excellent
Brew’s success in Europe that has given us a descent platform for a staggered
return to Euro touring’¦..

The Podium in Schiedam was a great medium sized venue, based on the banks
of a scenic canal. It reminded me a lot of the times I used to work, gig
and jam in Amsterdam (some of the best times of my life).

We met Ester, Tim’s friend and right hand in Holland, who had been instrumental
in putting the Rotterdam segment of the tour together. A massive thanks
to her .

After Roger had heroically steered the tour bus through a partially open
channel tunnel, we snatched some dodgy burgers, satay and chips before kicking
off. the show

A decent sized crowd (thanks to Tim’s promotion) saw a good performnce from
the Band. It was great having all 3 girls on the tour and on this night
they really looked the part. Halfway through the first set we now had our
traditional Ladies segment, with Suzie singing ‘˜The Lying Game’, Mandie
‘˜House of the Rising Sun’ and Kelly, ‘˜The Big Easy’. All were on good form
as was Danny, who relished the whole tour. The guitar duel in the middle
of ‘˜Rock Me’ really seemed to resonate with the audience, many of whom were
local musicians or artists, in this wonderfully bohemian venue.

‘˜Voodoo Dance’ and ‘˜Roadhouse Blues’ provided a storming start to the second
set. There was then a great moment when I went into the audience to play
the intro to ‘˜Telling Lies’ and realised that the my legs weren’t long enough
to get onto the closest stool (shouldnt have been surprised should I?)

The set came to a good climax with members with The Brew coming on stage
to jam with us. First Mandie sang ‘˜Whole Lotta Love’, which featured the
amazing Jason on the lead guitar. The night finished with a rocking version
of ‘˜Crossroads’ with Kurt on the drums, Tim on the bass, Danny and Jason
on guitars and amazingly enough I was really pleased with my lead vocal
(This was to come back to haunt me on the rest of the tour)

A great night, a memorable return to Europe and this great venue wants us
back!

Gary 08/10/2008 Gary Real Music Club ‘“ The Beaverwood ‘“ Chislehurst
– 11/9/08 Pete Feenstra runs’s some great venues and does so much for
live music in London.This was our first time at this spacious venue and though the crowd was
a little down onr ecent weeks (about 50 paying punters), they were real
music lovers and the gig rocked.

We made a lot of new friends.

The band played great with Mandie and Kelly singing great in combination.

After the last echoes of the encore ‘˜Preacher Man’ faded into the night,
we sold a lot of the new CD. Sea of Souls is going great guns, both in terms
of sales and airplay around the world.

We’ll look forward to coming back to this excellent gig,

Thanks to the real music lovers

Gary 30/09/2008 Gary National R&B Festival ‘“ British Stage ‘“ Colne
Lancashire ‘“ 24/8/08 From our 6th year at Merton Abbey to our 6 year on the largest
stage at the National R&B Festival in Colne.We’d been offered the headline/final slot in line with the launch of our
new CD. However, knowing that about 30% of the crowd drift away at that
stage we took the second last slot.

With a generous turn round times this year, we had a leisurely set up. By
the time we hit the stage at around 9.15 the auditorium was rammed full
of people.

If Merton Abbey was one of our greatest ever all round shows, this was probably
the best ever Roadhouse visual, big stage performance.

All 3 girls looked fantastic dressed in black and put great energy and movement
into the show. So many of the crowd came up afterwards and said it was the
best they’d ever seen the band look and sound.

On the down side we had some typical big stage sound problems. Monitoring
issues lead to one or two timing errors, Danny’s guitar rig cut in and out
a few times and the gods of guitar refused to sprinkle any fairy dust on
my solos.

Still the new songs ‘˜landed’ really well. The crowd were right with us and
seized the chance of keeping us on for a encore. Preacher Man ‘“ no surpise!!

We played for over an hour and 20 minutes, but as usual it just didn’t seem
long enough. The return of Voodoo Queen to the set gave a chance for me
to introduce the Band and the cowd gave all 3 girls and Danny much respect.
Honours went to Roger though, who generated a damn fine drum solo

Our great friends the Brew followed us on, with a rocking set. Meanwhile
we were stil signing copies of Sea of Souls and chatting to a lot of the
great people who had travelled such along way to come and support us.

To end the evening I ran a 45 minute jam session. I involved Adrian and
his harp player from the Mustangs.Kurt, the awesome drummer from the Brew
was a constant in the jam, as the line up morphed into Mandie.G being bellting
out a fine version of ‘˜A Whole Lotta Love’ while being backed by the guys
from the Brew. The evening finished with a 3 guitars blazing version of
‘˜Crossroads’, featuring Tim Smith on vocals. I enjoyed my final solo players
(and nice guys).

It was all recorded live by a Belgian Sound Crew ‘“ Live CD Coming Your Way??

Colne 2008 ‘“ Thank you for the memories”

Gary 06/09/2008 Gary Merton Abbey Mills Blues Festival ‘“ Merton Abbey
– 22/808 Described by many band members as their favourite night of
the year, for the 6th year running, we were playing in the open air on Friday
night at South London’s biggest festival.We had the chance to play indoors at the Colourhouse Theatre, which would
have earned us some money, but rejected this so that we could play to a
massive crowd and to give everyone’s kids a chance to see us (and become
prematurely deaf!).

The weather was nice, the gods of Blues/Rock smiling on us, providing a
window in the sludgy greyness that has been yet another apology for an English
summer. With the expert Brian and his crew managing the massive PA and with
a whole 2 hour slot to fill, the stage was set for one of the finest ever
Roadhouse gigs’¦.

Having all 3 girls on duty in our festival line up was another postivie
and they looked amazing in black. They put on an awesome vocal and visual
show.

We started to a good sized crowd and by the time we were into the second
set, it must have been one of the largest ever Merton Abbey Blues Festival
crowds. The crowd were also very, very responsive. With so many Roadhouse
suporters there, we were able to play a ‘˜full on’ show rather than resorting
to the occassional less than stellar cover version, in order to keep the
interest of the uninitiated.

Bearing in mind we’d just had a 3 week break, I could not believe how well
the whole band played. We were augmented by Frank Dymore on percussion,
who did a fine job and Andrew Heart guested on Bass in a roaring second
set ‘˜Wachtower’, providing a slick little solo.

The band kicked off with the title track of the new CD, ‘˜Sea of Souls’ and
rocked through all girls having a feature as we blasted through, ‘˜The Lying
Game’ -Suzie, ‘˜House of The Rising Sun’ ‘“ Mandie and ‘˜The Big Easy’ ‘“ Kelly..

As Danny and I traded extended guitar licks into the fading of the summer
light the first set finished to a tremendous reaction.

The second set just lifted and lifted, as Voodoo Dance, Tellin Lies and
Preacher Man (Encore) took it to a whole new level’¦

CD sales were our best ever by a long way for this festival.

It was one of the nigts were all the pain, effort (and debt) semed worthwhile’¦

Thank you so much for your support, it was like a football team laying at
home to well over a 1,000 loyal supporters. Please don’t leave it another
year before coming to see us..

You can see pictures of the show, courtesy of Phil on http://www.flickr.com/photos/philmcelhinney/sets/

Rock on

Gary 27/08/2008 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 21/8/08 The jam resumed after a 3 week summer break’¦.Compared to recent attendances it was predictably quiet, no doubt due to
the Merton Abbey Mills Festival appearance scheduled for the following night.

However, with Andrew Heart doing a fine job depping for Bill on the Bass,
it was a good warm up gig for the band’¦..

Voodoo Dance was very full on (Martin had to close all the pub windows and
doors quickly before the noise police tunred on the sirens). Kelly did a
good Lying Game and Mandie as ever was on top form with The House of The
Rising Sun.

The smaller amount of musicans attending meant no-body needed to rush and
people could musically stretch out.

Geronimo played a great solo in the first of his 3 songs and the Pete Bedford
Band produced a superb set ,which climaxed with a storming version of The
Who’s, Won’t Get Fooled Again.

There was Time for Danny, Andrew and I, joined by the lovely Betty on percussion,
to blast out a typically indulgent ‘˜Watchtower’. I was pleased to connect
well with the solo, particularly after being away from playing for 3 weeks.
This song probabaly received the best re-action of the night.

There was still time for Syd and his ‘˜magic banjo’ to lay down the msucial
version of the Epiogue (remember that?) ‘“ as he adeptly ‘˜plonked us’ into
the damp summer night’

Bring on Merton Abbey and Colne’¦.

Gary 23/08/2008 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 24/7/08 It was good to see the crowd beginning to back to the numbers
of last year/early March’Roadhouse were at full strength and after her now traditional false start,
Mandie nailed ‘˜Tumbling Down’ (a current radio play in Croatia).

Kelly then took on Suzie.D’s ‘˜Tthe Lying Game’ and for a first time and
being fairly unrehearsed, she did a great job’¦.

We finished up with Voodoo Dance and I got into some weird rant featuring
parts of Meatloafs ‘˜On a hot summer night (would you offer your throat to
the Wolf with the red roses’, meshed in with will you risk it for a biscuit.
I need help ‘“ honest!.

Fank Dymore was hysterically funny abusing all present (and especially me),
which was pretty rich from a guy wearing a giant tablecloth instead of a
shirt.

Danny played ell with the Pete Bedford Band (the tart!), who also featred
the great Tim Matthewman on the bass. The Isidore brothers (of Seal and
Robin Trower fame) and Andrew Heart were beset by technical (guitar lead
problems) and when Gus ovecame that, he popped his E string (painful!) –
for the first time it wasn’t their night.

Geronimo was on form, as was Joe.X on the guitar. As the crowd thinned out
(to match the most common hairstyle present) Syd played us into the summer
break on his amazing banjo’¦

The jam resumes on August the 21st

Gary 27/07/2008 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 10/7/08 Following the amazing launch night at the weekend, I was
both surprirsed and pleased at the amount of people who came out again to
support us at The Woodman’¦. thank you our freinds’¦They were rewarded with a good jam session. Kelly had a baptism of fire
as with Mandie’s car breaking down on route, she was singing alone with
the band for the first time. She did a fine job, even handling the new song
Dark of the Sun’s 3 backing parts on her own. Our voices meshed really nicely
on Voodoo Queen. That song sounded,great to me as we hadnt played it for
a fair while,,, a personal fave.

It was great to see Jimmy Dublin back onstage at the end of the night. Playing
great despite his season ticket for the hospital’¦.good man!

Gary 27/07/2008 Gary South London CD Launch ‘“ The Boom Boom Club
– Sutton FC ‘“ 6/7/08 Every now and then along comes a night where evrything comes
together and affirms all the effort and pain you’ve gone through, for the
love of your music ‘“ this was such a night.A massive thank you to all our many friends, who came out to launch ‘˜Sea
of Souls’, on what proved to be a special night for the Band.

Thanks also to Pete Feenstra and George McFall for both keeping faith in
us and all that they do for live music in London’¦.

Our good friend and Roadhouse legend Drew Barron kicked off proceedings,
with Frank Dymore on the drums and Pete on the bass. Drew played a cool
opening set and was joined by that great guitar player Tim O’Sullivan for
the final 2 songs. My personal fave was the jazz flavoured rendition of
‘˜Summertime’, which featured some tasty guitar trade offs.

Onto the Roadhouse set, which featured all 3 of our great female vocalists.
We kicked off with ‘˜Sea of Souls’, then played Lights On The Water’. These
were shortly followed by ‘˜No Place to Hide’ and ‘˜Slip Away’ from the No
Place To Hide album.

We then featured all 3 girls in sequence, Suzie on the radio friendly ‘˜Lying
Game’ and Mandie bringing the house down with her smokey blues version of
‘˜House of The Rising Sun’. Kelly rounded off the hot, ‘3 girl action’ with
‘˜The Big Easy’ from Broken Land.

‘˜Telling Lies’ had the crowd stomping along behind us and the atmosphere
was so warm and supportive, it was like a being in a football team playing
at home.

The girls were putting on a great show, dressed all in black they looked
totally cool (in my humble opinion)’¦

Preacher Man lead to a great shout for and encore and with timer unning
out on us,

‘˜ White Water’ finished off the night.

I was really proud of everyone in the Band for the qulity of performance
(but don’t tell them, or they will think I’m getting soft!)

We sold over 30 CD’s on the night. A massive thanks to all that came, you
made up a vey good crowd. It ws especially nice to see Pete Sargeant there
(whose review of the new CD graces this site) and special thanks to Darren
Wisdom (another good writer) who was the only person to come to both North
London and South London launches (and spent hours travelling to so so).

Onwards with much more hope and determination,

Gary 12/07/2008 Gary Nth London CD Launch ‘“ The New Bull & Butcher
– 4/7/08 What anticipation”¦The new CD sounds great, cover and book design are brilliant’¦.and this
was our first chance to launch it.

What a venue, great stage PA, lighting, effects, lovely room. Good pub with
nice food ‘“ dressing room ‘“ the works ‘“ Well done Pete Feenstra!!

Now the downside ‘“ hardly anybody came. Pete and the band must have sent
a mailshot to over 500 people and countless ‘˜e’ reminders ‘“ but that was
the reality’

However, the small crowd (including Roadhouse legend Anne Campbell & partner)
were right behind the band. The actual performance was excellent with some
scorching renditions off the new songs and sme old lassica blended in’¦..

A big thanks to all that came ‘¦we wish there were more great music lovers
like you’We sold 10 CD’s between less then 20 people, which is some
result in the circumstances.

Lets keep our head up and see how Sunday night at The Boom Boom Club turns
out.

Gary 08/07/2008 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 26/6/08 An improvement on the last jam, with a decent (but not large
crowd), there was still a shortage of musicians (compared to the average
attendance over the last 5 years).Mandie was on form, being the only one of the Roadhouse girls ‘˜on duty’.
Slip Away, Sacrifice and her own rendition of Rising Sun were great. It
was more of a struggle on The Answer, where the 3 part harmonies were sorely
missed. Still it was a good blast of a new stage favourite.

In the ‘˜Jam’ itself there was a good set from the Pete Bedford band and
it was nice to hear Jeff Nicholson (of East of Eden Fame and tonight’s Birthday
Boy) on such great from on the pedal steel’¦

Syd ‘˜banjoed’ us into the night’¦as we all thought of the forthcoming launch
gigs and the release of the new CD Sea of Souls ‘“ just 6 days to go’¦.

Gary 06/07/2008 Gary The Railway ‘“ Coultishal ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 14/6/08 We stepped in to do this gig for our good friend Alan Fish
of the Groundhogs and Egypt fame.A nice little pub, just past Norwich, it was full a rock and roll memorabilia
and a nice revolving LCD display of the good bands playing there.

Dave was an engaging and musically knowledgable Landlord, it was good to
work with him.

The venue itself was long and thin in shape and a bit small for us. We were
wedeged down the far end ,with the majority of the audinece over half the
pub away. It was all a bit surreal and hard to gain connection. Things were
not helped by a perfect sound out front, but a stage sound that boomed around
the alcoves and was deafening Roger (hang on I though he was deaf already!!)

Anyway, it made the band work very hard and have some ‘˜feisty’ altercations
at the break. We pulled together, altered our stage positions and delivered
a much more cohesive and powerful second set. We even got a reaction from
the famously passive audience.

At the end we spoke to a load of lovely people, including Dave, who had
really enjoyed it and we sold a lot of CD’s.

With the CD a few days from release it was good for the Band to have to
work so hard.

It was still along drive home..

Gary 28/06/2008 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 12/6/08 An unbalanced night at the Woodman’ a relatively good
turn up from music loving punters, but an all time low in terms of musicians
present.An historic night for Suzie as it was her last jam before moving back to
Birmingham (for a period). Don’t panic, she’ll be back for the launch gigs
and will play all major festivals and tours’¦..

Suzie sang the Lying Game from our new (best ever!) CD, Sea of Souls and
later returned to sing her own composition ‘˜Don’t Let Go’, as a temporary
goodbye to all her friends and supporters’¦

Mandie gave a debut to ‘˜Tumbling Down’ which was well played and sung for
a first outing (again on the new CD). Also we gave a very first aring to
‘˜The Dark Of The Sun’, which the band played well, but would have benfeitted
from me remembering one chord change and getting all the words right on
the bridge (duuurgh, still, not bad)’¦..

Due to the dearth (not death!!) of musicians we had a few solo acts, with
Laurie starting us off ,before there was a few songs from that great singer
songwriter Micheal Ray Jr’

Drew Barron sported his old hollow bodied guitar and generated a mean and
tasty tone, as he blasted through some great rock blues. The end of the
night saw the return the Woodman stage of Jimmy Dublin, after a recent spate
of hospital torment. Welcome back Jim, keep fighting the good fight mate.

Joining Jimmy was an old friend of ours, Bob on the harp, one of the stars
of our legendary Skegness Festival jam sessions.

At least he could be bothered to turn out (and he came all the way from
Lincoln)..

Musicians let’s be having you -Or I’ll stay at home and do my knitting

Gary 22/06/2008 Gary East Harling Scial & Music Club ‘“ Norfolk –
31/5/08 A return to one of our friendliest venue’s’¦.A starnge warm night, with half the crowd being outside on the verandah
(in the early stages) made the whole atmosphere feel flatter than usual.

However, in our break two great yourngsters (13 years old), on the drums
and guitar, called the Peppercorns, played a stonking little set. Original
music with a variety of flavours incluing blues/ modern rock and reggae,
warmed everybody up. I hope the lads keep going with it, they could do well’

Onto the second set’¦. the band really gelled from the opening ‘˜Watchtower’
into a great version of ‘˜Voodoo Dance’, followed by ‘˜The Answer’. A double
encore and comments around best band, perfromance and Roadhouse line up
sent us happily onto the long drive home’¦

Back on the 15th November

Gary 14/06/2008 Gary The Red Lion ‘“ Stevenage ‘“ 18/5/08 Back to the legendary Red Lion, Trevor (The Man With The
Hat) Keelings, grass roots, hard rocking biker style pub/venue’¦Strange thing about this one is that its’ very intimate with the audience
being only inches away from the microphones. Good thing is you can feel
the repsonse and atmosphere, as it’s totally in your face.

This was a first gig for Suzie and Kelly woking together in tandem and they
did a good job. Kelly taking lead on The ‘˜Big Easy’ and Suzie delivering
her new song ‘˜The Lying Game’ (as featured on the new CD Sea of Souls)

It was great to have a visit from Roadhouse legend Anne Campbell and her
new man John. She is still a great supporter of the Band and its always
good to see her at a gig.

The second set Rocked big style and all thoughts of an early finish dissapeared
with a double emcore and Danny shreeding into the night at the end of Preacher
Man’¦..

Cheers Trev’¦.

Gary 06/06/2008 Gary The Musician ‘“ Leicester ‘“ 10/5/08 A nice return to a refurbished Musician. It was always a
nice and distinct music venue, but now its a bit bigger and better still.The night was always going to be about fun (not money, as we were never
going to cover our costs), as we were performing a double header with our
great friends ‘˜The Brew’.

The only downside to the Musician is its tendency for variable crowd numbers,
which is dependant on what’s going on in the surrounding area. Unfortunatly
the crowd was smaller than we both band would have liked, but they were
passionate, both bands attracting a core of loyal supporters.

The Roadhouse set was very well played. Even though we were on first the
crowd were totally behind the band. The new numbers went down well especially,
‘˜Lights on the Water’, ‘˜The Answer’ and Mandie’s ‘˜House of The Rising Sun’.
Suzie powered out a rocking ‘˜Big Easy’ and Danny burned up the fretboard
on the encore, ‘˜Preacher Man’.

Next up The Brew, with Jason Barwick proving he is one of the finest your
guitar players in the country, great set guys’¦..Tim Smith has helped us
so much and had Mandie join him for a retro ‘˜Whole Lotta Love’, at the end
of the set.

For the last number I joined The Brew for a rock out on ‘˜Crossroads’ and
loved trading licks and solos with Jason, fronting Kurt and Tim’s thundering
rythmn section’¦

A great night

Gary 01/06/2008 Gary The Boot & Shoe ‘“ Yorkshire ‘“ 27/4/08 After most of the band crawled out of their sleeping bags
(or off their all night bar stools) at the Crimea Tavern, we wound our way
25 mins down the road to another great gig.The Boot & Shoe has a great stage and sound. Les was another superb host
and he laid on a warm greeting and sound.

This time the audience (which contained people who had come to see us following
our appearance at The Burnley Blues festival) were totally with us from
shortly after the off.

A played a well received 2 sets, to a good sized crowd. Highlights included
Mandie’s ‘˜House of The Rising Sun’, ‘˜Tellin Lies’, ‘˜Slip Away’ and a rousing
‘˜Watchtower”¦

Nice one Les, We’ll be back

Gary 10/05/2008 Gary The Crimea Tavern ‘“ Yorkshire ‘“ 26/4/08 The first of 2 Yorkshire gigs arranged for us by our good
friend Tim Smith of that excellent band, The Brew.We were welcomed and well looked after by our genial host and all round
great guy Jimmy. Early problems with monitor level and feedback were dealt
with by that awesome soundman and another good guy, Stig.

What friendly people, the whole place had a real indivual warm atmosphere.
With the high stage, good lighting and PA, I’d recommend this gig to other
touring bands’¦

Though we had the sound problems, there was a good crowd for the first set.
However, the audience reaction though positive, was not at the high level
we are used to. In the second set, the corwd thinned out due to the late
timing, but conversly the reaction improved as we turned up the heat and
rocked it up a bit.. Preacher Man ‘˜kicked’ as the usual encore.

Just as we were thinking we hadn’t gone down quite as well as usual, we
were besieged by loads of friendly people telling us how much they they
had appreciated original music and improvisation. This after a standard
diet of mainly covers and tribute bands performing in the area.

Out host Jimmy held court till 6am, most of the band crashing in sleeping
bags. While the 2 most decrepid and unheathy of us (including me!), blew
our gig money and more on a hotel bed for the night (what a happened to
the spirit of rock and roll?)

Gary 10/05/2008 Gary Motorcycle News (MCN) Weekend Festival ‘“ Butlins
– Skegness ‘“ 19/4/08 ‘“ Part Two Onto our main stage appearance. It was a shame that with
this festival alot of proeple go home on the Sunday.We opened at 8pm to a fairly empty, gigantic REDS arena.

Also handicapped by being asked to play covers, w decided to go for a 50/50
split.

Opening with ‘˜Heavens Door’ and ‘˜Slip Away’, the crowd began to grow.

We kicked into ‘˜Telling Lies’ and our 3 girl festival line up started to
make its presence felt as people started racing to the front.

Mandie again pulled in a standing ovation, for her stunning Blues Rendition
of ‘˜House of the Rising Sun’. Additionally, Voodoo Dance was another great
preview of the new CD, which will be rleased in June (as featured on YouTube).

Danny was on top form as we said goodnight with a belting Preacher Man.
The much bigger crowd were now totally with us. CD sales were amazing, bearing
in mind that we were selling original music to anon music festival’¦

We drove away to the sound of a Blondie Tribute band cranking up their Drum
machine. We’d love to replace Roger, but cant find a machine with a capability
for extensive moaning’. 07/05/2008 Gary Motorcycle News (MCN) Weekend Festival ‘“ Butlins
– Skegness ‘“ 19/4/08 ‘“ Part One It was nice that the impression we made at Januarys Skegness
Blues & Rock festival, led us to this prestigous booking.Out first challenge was to run a Jam Session on the cavenous Skylive Stage
(under the big top roof) at Butlins’

We didnt know how this would turn out, as we had no idea if there would
be any musicians present at this rocking weekend.

However, it went rather well. After an opening 3 Roadhouse songs to set
the tone (including a nice ‘˜Blues Highway’) we involved 2 bass players,
4 drummers, a guitarist and about 14 vocalists.

Highlights included the 4 ladies (and the drunken guy) who joined us on
backing vocals for ‘˜Mustang Sally’. Also the female bass player who’d only
had 3 lessons and was coached by Bill through a whole number, on this largre
stage in front of about 500 people’¦.brave and happy lady!

However, the whole thing was such hard work to organise, we were drained
(especially me!) and we had to get ourselves ready for the main stage at
8pm’¦.

The previous night we had checked out the covers bands that were almost
exclusively playing the festival, including X Factor 3rd placer Ben (and
his flowing locks). Great voice and band’. but, why did so many people
leave???

The crowd were in party mood with well over a thousand people were in fancy
dress. Star Wars characters mixed with the Cast of St Trinians, Smurfs,
Romans and enough fetish clad women (and the occassional tranny) to make
most mens pulse race (but not if your as old as me and are missing a pulse)’¦

This lead to some serious Roadhouse partying, climaxing with Kelly in an
inflatable Penis outift (but thats another story!)’¦.. 07/05/2008 Gary BB’s Blues Club ‘“ GJ’s ‘“ Colliers Wood ‘“ 30/3/08 Sorry that this journal entry is out of sequence’¦ health
issues, pressure, blah, blah and other excuses’¦..This was a very good night. The concept was to preview some of our new material
for the forthcoming CD, ‘˜Sea of Souls’ (released on Blues Matters in June)
and to feature our latest female talent Kelly Marie Hobbs.

There was a lot of interest in seeing Kelly in one o her first full gigs
and as a consequence it was the best crowd that BB’s club has seen for years’¦

As a double whammy Roadhouse legend Billi Shaw also turned up and duetted
with Mandie on ‘˜Rising Sun’ and ‘˜Rock Me Baby.’ Standing ovations all round’¦

It was great to see that fine old statesman of the blues Bob Bruning, be
delighted with the atmosphere and turn out of this nice blues club.

Kelly herself had a great night. On the first song she let the nerves get
to her and was ‘˜A little pitchy’. After that she rocked, delivering an excellent
lead vocal on ‘˜The Big Easy’

The new songs went down well and overall the whole night was a big success’¦.. 07/05/2008 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 17/4/08 The only jam for April was a good one. We now resume running
this event on a 2 weekly basis, as long as it’s well supported.Roadhouse featured Mandie with Kelly. This is a powerful partnership, but
it will need a bit more time and work to blend the vioces to meet the tonal
quality we get when Mandie sings with Suzie. I’m also interested in hearing
Suzie and Kelly together on stage as a duo.

Roadhouse played Blues Highway, Sea of Souls and The Answer. Bearing in
mind Danny and I hadnt touched our guitars for over a week, the playing
was pretty damn good.

The whole night had a Roadhouse theme, with Kelly doing her first solo jam
song (and learning the lesson of getting the band to play in the right key
for her ‘“ she still did a good job). Mandie followed on with Summertime
and Roadhouse legend Drew Barron did a great set with Bill & Roger, including
an ace version of ‘˜Gloria’. Drew also joined Bill, Funky Goerge and I for
a stoming ‘˜Watchtower’ towards the end of the evening.

Dr Noel Brown completed the Roadhouse theme by joining John Scott and friends.
New fave Joe.X on the guitar played an ace set and Syd played us out on
the Banjo.

Pride of place went to Pete Bedford, as it was the night of his 60th Birthday.
Despite a good set he had the piss appropriately ripped out of him all night’Keep
on rocking Pete

Well here’s to the Motorcycle News festival to 5,000 peole at the Weekend
and then the next jam on May 1st

Gary 18/04/2008 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 27/3/08 The last of the ‘˜People’s Jams’, before the Brewery start
paying for this local institution again.A big thanks to Andrew, who put up a large sum towards the expenses of this
packed night at The Woodman.

Roadhouse were on first and did a surprisingly slick set ( A surprise to
me!) of new material. The Answer, Sea of Souls & Lights on The Water were
all well played . Kelly was working with Mandie for a change with Suzie
off sick. As the 2 girls hadn’t worked together before there were some rough
patches on Lights and The Answer. However, enough quality came through to
see that with work, they are going to be an excellent partnership.

Mandie’s good friend Mel Jackson (another nice young lady) joined us to
Sing on Voodoo Dance and demonstrated that her voice has come on leaps and
bounds (one for the future perhaps?)

Later Mel joined Roadhouse legend Drew Barron, Andrew Heart on Bass and
Robin Trower band drummer, Reg Isidore to hammer out another good number
before Drew rocked out on Mr Trowers own Too Rolling Stoned

This was one of the busiest ever jams and some people did not even get on
the play list ‘“ apologies, but please arrive early/earlier.

New fave Joe.X did a good set and old fave Jimmy Dublin closed the night
out by having a ‘˜Whole Lotta Love’ with Mandie (if you know what I mean?)

The Pete Bedford band were as good as usual and then the stage was besieged
by an army of photographers for the appearance of 80’²s superstar Rick Astley,
who proved to be a competent drummer for Arwel and his Band’¦

You never know who’s coming to The Woodman Jams??

Only one jam scheduled for April, due to the school Hols ‘“ then back to
every 2 weeks

See you on the 17th April

Gary 01/04/2008 Gary The Hope Tavern ‘“ Holton Le Moor ‘“ 16/3/08 Well after a classic Hope Tavern Sunday lunch and the rocking
of the night before, energy levels were low, health issues high’¦.Would last nights gig only 25 miles down the road have an effect on the
crowd size ‘“ Graham our host was worried.

He had no need to be, as this was arguably our best crowd and overall Hope
Tavern gig ever’.

The standing joke was that crowd were so close to us poeple had to manouvre
round my mikestand to get to the toilet. This was ok until the afternoons
drinking stated to take effect, which resulted in mye getting battered in
the mouth by the microphone on at least 5 occassions (much to the crowds
increasing hilarity)’¦..

Thier was some great banter and I had one of those rare days where my guitar
playing just came together and I went up to that higher level (probably
the best I’ve played in memory)’¦.. the rest of band were snoring as I
droned on and on, but the cheers of the crowd perked me up no end (real
music lovers in my view)’¦.

From a gentle start with ‘˜Brooklyn Blues’, we lifted it with a storming
No Place To Hide’ and a great vrsion of ‘˜Dark River’ which features an improved
vocal arrangement. ‘˜Lights OnThe Water’ was suitably atmospheric and then
Mandie and Suzie brought the house down with their versions of ‘˜Rising Sun’
and ‘˜Big Easy’, respectively.

The second set really rocked with Voodoo Dance being the pick of the impact
numbers.

All was set up for Preacher Man, but unfortunately not, as Danny’s amp bit
the dust at the end of Voodoo Queen.

It was funny doing 2 encores without Danny (who’d played so well over the
weekend ‘“ as had Bill and Roger, our legendary rhythmn section), but it
allowed me to branch out on Whiskey Man, which we dusted down and pulled
out of the archives.

One of the great all time gigs. It was good to see Ray and Nicky again.
A big thanks to Graham for having us back and John the Baldingbloke McGuire
for filming the whole thing. Great CD sales and more YouTube posts to hopefully
follow

Gary 23/03/2008 Gary The Yardbids Club ‘“ Grimsby ‘“ 15/3/08 First of 2 nights in this area, as arranged by our great
friend, Tim Smith from our label mates and great band, The Brew.To our surprise the venue was a cracker, big stage, giant PA, stage, dressing
room, sound crew, lighting rig. All we needed was a decent crowd to fill
the mid sized room of what is essentially a rocking biker venue.

With Tim and loads of the Brew crowd partying with us in our dressing room
before show time, the main room filled up to a good level and it was game
on.

A initial warm response from the crowd kicked up into overdrive, following
Mandie’s now legendary version of ‘˜Rising Sun’. ‘˜The Answer’ was on the
money and the first set finished with a good trade off betwwen Danny and
I on ‘˜Rock Me Baby’

The second set belted into action with a double tap of the You Tube fave
‘˜Voodoo Dance’ and ‘˜Roadhouse Blues’, followed by a kicking ‘˜Telling Lies’.

We then guested that great guitar player, young Jason from the Brew. He
joined Suzie and Danny for an atmospheric Stormy Monday and his playing
soared. The crowd went nuts fo this talented young player, who was so obviously
enjoying this excursion into the Blues. He stuck with it for Help Me and
delivered another blinding solo (Go seeThe Brew, they are a great Band!)’¦

Watchtower & Voodoo Queen lead to a mass demand for an encore (and later
CD’s). Preacher Man sent us off into the night’ A really good gig at
a great venue ‘“ We’ll be back!!! (health and life permitting)

Gary 23/03/2008 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 13/3/08 A welcome return to the Woodman Jam.This Jam was partially funded by Martin, the ace landlord, who is trying
to defend the closure of the jam from a cost cutting policy run by the brewery.
Thanks Martin!

We have been given a green light now to run the jam every 2 weeks for the
next 3 months (with one 3 week break for the school Easter Holidays). We
need more people to come out and support the jam or it will die!

Still it was a great turnout after such a long break. It was also a chance
for Roadhouse to work on and showcase their new material.

The new vocal arrangement of Dark River worked a treat, and then band also
played Sea of Souls, The Answer & Voodoo Dance (the latter 3 allowing us
to include to fast developing vocal talent of Kelly Marie Hobbs.

Highlight of this jam was the 3 song session, where Robin Bibi and Jimmy
Dublin traded off some great licks and were backed by the ace bass playing
of Tim Mathewman.

Lets hope for a good turn out at the next jam on the 27th March

Cheers,

Gary 21/03/2008 Gary Stormy Monday Club ‘“ The Bulls Head Barnes –
3/3/08 We had a good return to the Classy Stormy Monday Club. A
quadruple birthday bash for Roger, Bill, Drew and I, combined with a showcase
of our new material for the forthcoming CD release (to be called either
Voodoo Dance or Sea of Souls).We had a few carefully chosen special guests, people who have ben a part
of the Roadhouse family over the years. First up was a great guitar duet
featuring Tim O’ Sullivan and fronted by Roadhouse lagend Drew Barron. Great
music and guitar playing (though we were asked to turn it down at that point!).

Mark Freeman did a good number and then drummed for cool guitarists Geronimo
and Lol Sandford, ably assisted by the legendary Pete Sargent. Pete did
a moving tribute to Jeff Healey who had died the previuos weekend, by playing
an excellent version of Confidence Man.

Roahouse played 2 sets and I featured all 3 of our great girl singers, Skegness
style.

We stated with Slip Away, moved into Brooklyn Blues and then to the new
numbers.

The Answer was played with real feeling, though we stuttered going into
the fast section at the end, while Lights On the Water hit he spot. Mandie’s
blues flavoured rendition of House of the Rsing Sun brought the house down
and Voodoo Dance is fast becoming a Roadhouse classic.

Suzie sung a killer Big Easy, Kelly sounded great and we belted out Telling
Lies (with my usual table dancing routine)

Check out this YouTube link thanks to Tim O’Sulivan (poor sound but the
visuals give you an idea of the night

And here is the video clip!

 

Pictures of the night go to:

http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r189/tim_caesar/Roadhouse%20Bulls%20Head%20Barnes%20030308/

We finished by welcoming Drew onstage for a classic No Place To Hide and
then Tim for a guitars raised to the heavens epic Preacher Man. A very decent
crowd for a Monday night and somehow this bandwagon rolls onwards”¦

Thanks to George & Pete.F

Gary 08/03/2008 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 7/2/08 With Martin the landlord not being able to secure funding
from his Brewery, who seem financially over extended, this jam looked like
being cancelled.However thanks to donations from that great Roadhouse supporter Chris Berthelmy
(the producer of much of our advertising and limited edition CD’s) and Martin
himself, the jam went ahead with the musicians on half wages.

This jam was well attended, despite the fact that we had not appeared at
the ‘˜Woody’ for a month.

Roadhouse kicked off with 3 new songs, ‘˜The Answer’, follwed by a first
outing for the blues rocker ‘˜Sea of Souls’. we finished the set with our
most succesful song judged from the Skegness fstival feedback, ‘˜Voodoo Dance’.
Kelly joined Mandie and Suzie for all 3 numbers and the 3 girls appraoch
worked a treat (just as it did on the big stage in Skeggy). The 3 songs
went donw really well and received great feedback from the crowd.

This was followed by an appearance from young prodigy Oliva De Souza and
her band (including the great Tim Matthewman on bass, who amazed everybody
with a falsetto backing vocal ‘“ if we ever need a new girl Tim ‘“ your on
mate!)

Genie then took the stage and did a good set, nice vocals. It was girls
night with Fiona McElroy, the Roadhouse legend ,then taking the stage .
She was in good voice (to be sure, to be sure!). During this set Danny produced
a mega solo that impressed me to death.

Roadhouse layed, Roadhouse blues as er Chris’s request and sets came from
Gronimo, Pete Bedford, John Griffin and Syd and his magic banjo.

We will try to get things re-started on the 13th March, with a view to running
2 jams a month ‘“ lets wish Martin luck.!

Thanks for all the great support

Gary 10/02/2008 Gary Skegness ‘“ Monsters of Blues & Rock Festival
– 27/1/08 Part 3 ‘“ Main Stage Appearance ‘“ REDS Stage ‘“ 9pmOur label mates the Brew did a fine job before us, but the crowd grew very
noticeably in size before we came on at 9pm.

From the opening drum intro into ‘˜Tellin Lies’ the big crowd of ace music
lovers were well wth us’

Slip Away was up next and using all 3 girls together was noticeably giving
us a strong visual presence.

We then gambled and played the brand new song ‘˜Voodoo Dance’ for only its
second airing (we learned it only 3 days before and its already a firm band
favourite).

.

Use the following UTube address to view some camcorder footage of the whole
song (forgive the dodgy sound ‘“ it was clearer on the night, but thanks
to whoever filmed and posted):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWOwhbQ

Mandy sang a great version of ‘˜House of the Rising Sun’ (which since then
many people have said was their highlight of the whole festival).

For once I nailed my solo on that song and overall it was my best, or 2nd
best personal big stage performance

Suzie was up next with ‘˜The Big Easy’ and then we blasted off the stage
with Preacher Man, Danny doing a grand job in his first big stage appearnce
with the band..

Against the odds, the tradition of the day and the clock we were given an
encore. Voodoo Queen took us into a strong finale followed by a frenzied
session of mass CD buyng where we shifted neary £500 pounds worth in 20
minutes.

It was a long way home as the song says, but we were pummped up from playing
so well on that big stage to a crowd of great music lovers.

One of the best Roadhouse gigs ever

Gary 02/02/2008 Gary Skegness ‘“ Monsters of Blues & Rock Festival
– 27/1/08 Part 2 ‘“ Unplugged Set JAKS Stage ‘“ 2.45-3.50 Sunday:After a good solo from the accomplished Roy Mette, we did one of our rare
‘˜unplugged performances’

A big thanks to the 120 or so people who ignored the lure of John Otway
and The Hamsters, to catch us in a different mode.

It was dissapointing that we were not offered a full sound check, resulting
in Danny’s acoustic not working and the lack of any monitoring at the back
of the stage. This lead to Danny playing the electric and some timing issues
caused by Bill and Roger not being able to her note that I was playing.

Still with Roger on the congas and Danny adopting a warm blues/jazz tone,
things went quite nicely. All 3 girls were also performing and did a fine
job.

Highlights for me, included a trip back in the songbook to mprovise an acoustic
version of ‘˜When Mountains Fall’. Additionally, Voodoo Queen sat in a nice
groove wth excellent vocals and by the end the crowd were well involved.

Onto the big, big stage for the evening.

Gary 02/02/2008 Gary Skegness ‘“ Monsters of Blues & Rock Festival
– 26/1/08 A very, very , very successful and well received trip to
the massive Skegness festival this year’Part One ‘“ We had a great warm up hour on the 400 capacity room/Jaks stage.

Kicking off with No Place To Hide, the hour flew by. The crowd swelled to
a new high and by the time Mandie sung our Blues version of House of the
Rising Sun (which somehow manages to transcend cliche) the crowd were totally
into it. We gave debuts to 2 new songs, The Answer and Voodoo Dance and
both worked really well.

We managed to record the whole set and its come out amazingly well, so watch
out for a collectors run of 1-200 hundred live CD’s, coming out soon (mail
or phone me to avoid dissapointment)’¦.

It was Danny.’s first big gig with us and he did a fine job following in
the tradition of great guitar players in Roadhouse, rreally stepping up
to the Mark. The success of the weekend was our 3rd new Voodoo Queenette
(is that a word?) Kelly Marie Hobbs who added great, additional vocal and
visual power to the band. Everyone enjoyed the ‘3 girl on stage action’,
so to speak.

After that I/we kicked into the 3rd year of the Skegness jam.

It was a great honour to compare this event, which is fast becoming the
highlight of the festival. The arena was packed, the great crowd got right
behing the musicians and the standard of musicanship was great.

Special commendations to the incredible talent of the young ‘˜Little Boy
Blue’ on meteoric guitar and vocals, Gizmo on the guitar and the amazing
Sharon from The Blue Cafe Bar in Harrogate, on the vocals.

The event rose to a crescendo as we mixed members of the Brew, including
Tim himself and the incredible Jason on lead guitar, with members of Roadhouse.
It all finished nicely with a resounding Watchtower.

4 hours had blurred by, here’s to next year, god and fate willing

Gary 29/01/2008 Gary New Years Jam ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 3/1/08 A great jam, but bad news as due to financial problems with
the Brewery the Jam is suspended until the 7th February’..On the night ‘“ A great version of Risng Sun from Mandie and the most totlly
self indulgent Watchtower from Danny & I ever”¦..

Other good performances from 15 year old prodigy Oliva with the legendary
Tim Matthewman as her bass player. The Pete Bedford Band were also on good
form. Earlier Lol Sandford ha delivered a rare, but accomplished vocal performance.

Olivia finished the night with a solo perfromance. Just her and an electric
guitar, her own song, her voice. The audience were transfixed by this 15
yer old’¦.

Here’s to the 7th February

Next stop SKEGNESS !!

Gary 20/01/2008 Gary The Xmas Jam ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 13/12/07 Well last week turned out to be the ‘˜downdraft’ before a
mega turn out for the annual Xmas jam’¦..it was packedSuzie opened the evening with a dazzling ‘˜Stormy Monday’, accompanied by
the great Tim Mattthewman on the soloing bass. Danny repeated his strong
slide performance on ‘˜Sacrifice’ as Roadhouse legend Drew Barron took up
the bass duties. Kelly continued her development on the vocals, then it
was into a strong version of the new song ‘˜Lights on the Water’. We finfished
off with a top notch vocal from Mandie.G on House of the Rising Sun. A good
set, the only dissapointment for me was that I couldnt re-capture the guitar
form I demonstrated in Kenley around 10 days ago. Still was the best i’d
felt on stage for a while (large crowd or large intake of alcohol ‘“ one
or the other!)’¦..

Onto the jam and with musicians stacking up all round the big pub, scheduling
was going to be a challenge. his was not helped by a total PA failure –
which cost us 12 minutes.

With a PA patch up we started with Jeannie on the vocals, repaeting last
weeks performance of ‘˜Another Peice of my Heart’. She did a fine job with
a gravelly vocal, backed by our very own Mandie.

The Tom Anfield Band then did a set that had a lovely feel. Then its off
to Australia for Tom for 6 months (most people who want to be big down under
just take Viagra ‘“ but Tom’s serious about it!).

Then we were onto the feature set for the evening, showcasing the talents
of Jimmy Dublin alongside Roadhouse guitar legend (and bass dep!) Drew Barron.
Drew’s tone was superb and it was great to see Jimmy back.

Next up a typically strong set from Pete Bedford and his crew. Blues legend
John O’Leary then shared the

stage with Charley, John Scott and Jon Griffin, plus Dave the drummer (the
drummer with no surname ‘“ cos i dont know it). For an eclectic mix of players,
this cocktail was pretty tasty.

Then I found space for a quick Xmas ‘˜Watchtower’ with Danny.G and Funky
Goerge on the Drums. And at last I found some guitar form (hurrah!)

Final sets came from the eternal showman Terry Brennan and Syd on the banjo.

A happy crowd with a few dissapointed musos who didnt get to play, trudged
off into the chilly night’¦

I reflected on over 5 years of this great jam. From the early days when
we were hosted at BOFS/The Earl of Spencer by Colin and Andrea, where strang
memories include the awesome vocals of Lorna Reilly and the cigar chomping
presence of Noel Brown. In those days you couldn’t keep Keith Grant and
Little Rusty off the stage.. Onto the Woodman, with our present host Martin
(and his magic mince pies). I recalled the early days down at the conservatory
end and hearing Andy Cortes play with a young Jules Fothergill for the first
times and them ‘˜blowing me away’. The giant sax majesty of Andy Thompson
and the organisational work and vocals of Anne Campbell completely holding
it together until the return of Mandie.G to the fold’¦..

Ghosts of Xmas’s past and a great Xams jam present

Thanks for all the support, I wouldnt have made it to the end of 2007, without
the incredible help and support I’ve been given,

Have a great Xmas, look after your health and your families

Gary 16/12/2007 Gary The Woodamn Jam ‘“ 6/12/07 The quietest jam at the Woodman for a couple of years. I’m
hoping that’s becuase everyone is waiting for next weeks Crimbo special
extravaganza’¦.Still there was enough regulars there to make it a worthwhile night. It
was an easy jam to run as it was so quiet and overall the standard of music
was very good.

Andrew Heart sat in on the bass in place of Bill and did his best job for
us yet. A decent set from us based around some old Roadhouse classics including
‘˜Blues Highway’. Danny.G played ‘˜Sacrifice’ for the first time and did a
great job as he continues to develop playing slide guitar.

It was bye bye to Geronimo for a while, who did a great set before going
back home to Espana.

A quiet but pleasant night’¦

Gary 16/12/2007 Gary Kenley Sports Club ‘“ 2/12/07 With Bill still out of action following his shoulder operation
(robbing us of both his bass playing and our PA), it would have been the
easy option to cancel this gig.However, we couldn’t let that great Roadhouse supporter, Ray Baldwin and
his lovely crowd down.

48 hours to go and half the Band had flu and I’d lost my voice completely.
A shed load of vocal zone lozenges later I could croak for England. So we
gave the girls and Drew (playing a superb dep role on the bass) a vocal
feature (it probably gave a nice change from a typical growl along with
Gary night, anyway!)

Special thanks to Frank Dymore who played percussion and provided the PA
and that legendary Roadie Big Ron, who transported the monitors’¦.

The girls were on great form singing, Brooklyn Blues, Stormy Monday, Help
Me, Big Easy, Heavens Door, Rising Sun and Drew weighing in with Howlin
for My Darlin & Watchtower.

This allowed me to focus on my guitar playing. Having a muscle and tendon
disease likes mine really adds fun and a sense of achievement to the rudiments
of guitar playing. With different muscles, nerves and tendons playing up
every night, you have to adapt your style. Tonight thanks to the girls and
Drew ,I was in the zone and was genuinely surpirsed by my own standard of
playing (if only I could do it evey night!).

I mumbled my way through Blues Highway, Slip Away, Voodoo Queen and Preacher
Man. The crowd were great and by the end the atmosphere was superb, as they
were totally ‘˜with us’ though the last 4-5 songs.

What nice people ‘“ a very good band perfromance and a great night all round’¦..

Gary 09/12/2007 Gary Jam Session ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ Wimbledon Park –
29/11/07 A good jam at the Woodman with the music being of an overall
high quality.In the Roadhouse set we again featured to legandary Mr Drew Barron on the
Bass (in place of the slowly healing, post operative Bill)

In the Roadhouse set we gave Kelly another workout with ‘˜Blues Highway’.
Although pitchy at first she did well by the end of the song and followed
up with a credible vocal on ‘˜White Water’.

We gave the new song ‘˜Lights on the Water’ a very good work out and then
concluded with Mandie’s version of ‘˜Heavens Door’.

On to the jam iteslf. Pick of the night was the Isidore Brothers, Gus &
Reg. First off they played an Osibisa song song with Osibisa’sown Mr Greg
Brown on bass and vocals (excellent). they were then joined on the bass
by Andrew Heart and played a great bit of hendrix and then a high quality
original. Gus’s guitat playing (strung uoside dwon al la Handrix) was outstanding
and you could see why world class acts, like Seal, had him in their bands.

Good sets from Geronimo, Pete Bedford and Terry Brennan followed. I enjoyed
an chance to play with John O’Leary again and Lol Sandford, stetching out
some classic blues.

The jam is on the next 2 weeks running, The Xmas jam (last for December
is on the 13th)

Gary 02/12/2007 Gary East Harling Social Club ‘“ 24/11/07 With Bill at home recovering from his shoulder operation
this was a difficult and costly gig to arrange and play. However, the wonderful
warm crowd at East Harling and the fabulous Sandie made the effort worth
while, if only more venues were as appreciative and welcoming.Thanks again to big Ron, who picked up the PA from Bill’s and drove it all
the way up to Norfolk and for Mr Drew Barron himself, for sitting in on
the bass and doing such a superb job’

Line up wise other than having the Candian version of Mark King on the bass,
we had a full line up. Kelly was also there continuing her developmental
path (with the emphasis on ‘˜mental’ for wanting to join Roadhouse in the
fist place). Kel sang backing on No Place to Hide and Brooklyn, lead on
Big Easy and indulged in a bit of 3 girl (vocal) action on Slip Away (next
up a gospel choir!)

Many of the crowd said she only looked 16, but I took great delight in telling
them she was really 74 and has had £1.8 mil of reconstructive surgery’¦..

Set wise Help Me, Rock me and F**ck Me slipped effotlessly off of Suzie
and Mandie’s tongues as they were on great form. Suzie really nailed Stormy
Monday

What I really like about East Harling are the number of children and families
there, really getting into the live music. Thanks to my 9 year old little
buddy who helped me play my tremelo arm in Watchtower.

Many of the crowd had really dug the excellent (our good freinds) The Mellotones
(all the way from Holland), but apparently for some strange reason Roadhouse
still top the East Harding popularity stakes’¦..

Drew, Danny and Roger all played a blinder..even I got excited in Preacher
Man.

2 dates now in the diary to return next year. Let’s stay alive and or in
the game that long’¦..

Nice club, nice people

Gary 28/11/2007 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 15/11/07 I’m pleased to report that this was a good jam at the ‘˜Woody’For the record, in the Roadhouse set I gave all 3 girls a feature. Suzie
did a superb rendition of ‘˜Stormy Monday’, Kelly did good on ‘˜The Big Easy’
and Mandy sang a very nice ‘˜House of the Rising Sun’ (I think the quality
in feel of our version takes this song above its usual level of cliche).
Danny played well all night and Drew did a good job convering for Bill on
bass, as well as delivering a great set himself with a visiting Canadian
bass player (For all interested, Bill’s operation seems to have been a success
and he is doing well).

Onto the jam and good performances from Geronimo, The Pete Bedford Band
and Lol Sandford. It was good to see more new blood and a nice welcome back
to drummers Dave and Jerry

See you on the 29th

Gary 24/11/2007 Gary Boom Boom Club ‘“ Sutton FC ‘“ Special Guests
of Pat Travers -2/11/07 Quite a special night really’¦..Pat Travers and his crew arrived an hour late (good to see Manny his Road
Manager again, last time was the successful show we did with

Joe Bonamassa), so we were up against is set up/sound wise.

As ever against adversity, the band played great. It was nearly a full house
and we won the crowd over big time.

Starting with Tellin Lies and kicking on with Big Easy, Brooklyn, No Place
To Hide, Slip Away, Watchtower and then the band intros on Voodoo Queen.
We had enough time and audience response for Preacher Man, but the Travers
Road team were gettting twitchy and we had to go off to very decent applause
and CD sales.

Danny showed how well he is settling in and Kelly joined us for ‘˜No Place’
and ‘˜Slip Away’ and the girl did good.

During the first 3 songs my muscle disease made every chord/note agony to
play, but as we hit ‘˜No Place To Hide’ I got enough adrenalin to get above
it . This was Bill’s last gig before his major shoulder operation on Tuesday.
Our thoughts go with him, hopfully he’ll be back in the ‘˜saddle’ by mid
January. in the meantime we’ll only do a few shows.

If we all stay alive I’m determined to record another CD in late spring
(Big if!). Our thoughts also go out to Alan Pearce, Head of our record label
Blues Matters and his fight with cancer.

This is a period for battling and keeping the faith.Stay with us my friends.

Gary 04/11/2007 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 1/11/07 A good turn out by music loving punters, but a limited turn
out from musicians (including only one bass player present other than Bill)
created a challenging dynamic.We used the Roadhouse set as a warm up for Friday’s Pat Travers support,
at The Boom Boom Club, Sutton FC. We opened with the new song ‘˜Dark River’
which is really showing good potential, and other than the girls being nervous/woried
about the monitor levels, went very well.

Suzie sang the ‘˜Big Easy’, Kelly joined Mandy in the backing on ‘˜No Place
to Hide’. Once again we did our version of ‘˜Rising Sun’. I liked the fact
that Mandie missed her power verse out (by accident) as it added to the
blues feel and subtlety that the version needs. Audinece reaction was great.

On to the jam and after a couple of good opening sets, including some nice
guitar playing/singing from Tony Quinta, I was plased to play a set with
the legendary John O’Leary (also the world record holder for losing mobile
phones) and Lol Sandford. Basically Lol held it together while I pissed
around with the riffs and structure. Nice feel on the songs.

Good sets from Geronimo and a killer version of Rocky Mountain Way from
the Pete Bedford Band followed . The night finished with Suzie & Mandie
singing a strong version of ‘˜Help Me’ with John Griffin and Lol on the guitars.

No jam for two weeks, so see everyone on the 15th November

Gary 03/11/2007 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 18/10/07 Sorry for the late posting of this journal entry. Recently
I’ve been told off/taken a lot of flak for posting reviews late and will
try to do better. Trouble is with my current health issues, both post gig
energy and schedule issues do not always facilitate the chance to post early
(especially with the post strike ‘“ Boom Boom!)Well this was a rocking night at the Woodman. A return to form following
last weeks bad turn out.

This was Kelly’s first ‘˜official’ Roadhouse appearance and lead vocal. She
nailed ‘˜The Big Easy’ (I was very impressed). Mandie did a great job singing
our ‘˜blues feel’ version of ‘˜The House of the Rising Sun. This also featured
a good solo from Danny and gained superb feedback from the crowd ‘“ one for
the new Album?

Jammers included Geronimo, Pete Bedford Band, Terry Brennan, Lol Sandford.
But pride of place, on a great musical night went to Drew and his Canadian
3 peice (and I’m not talking about his crown jewels). They were great and
with a bit of luck his Candian freinds will be back again next year.

Following the joys of half term the jam will resume on the 1st November

Gary 28/10/2007 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 11/10/07 Well it had to happen I suppose, a very quiet jam at the
Woodman’After last weeks influx of new blood I was surprised to see it so empty.

Maybe we should go back to once a fortnight??

Roadhouse wise, Bill was off on jury service and has his major operation
pending in the immediate future. Andrew Heart did a fine job of deputising.
Kelly joined us again for Blues Highway and Slip Away was typically epic,
featuring a fine solo from Danny.

The girls then fronted a line up containing Lol Sandford and other quality
players. Mandie and Suzie were on great form on both ‘˜Sweet Home Chicago’
and ‘˜Help Me’

Highlight was Monsieur Drew Barron returning to blast us with Robin Trower’s
‘˜Too Rollin Stoned’. It must have been great to do that with the original
drummer from that band, Reg Isidore banging the skins. Drew followed up
with his legendary Pink Floyd medley, including demented and accurate Scottish
schoolteacher rant (mind you his English accent on the rest of it sounded
like shades of Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins) on ‘˜Another Brick In the Wall’.

Brilliant!

We had good sets from Geronimo and Pete Bedford and a traditional finish
from Syd on the banjo.

So quality music was played throughout and those there had a great time

More people please’¦..

Gary 14/10/2007 Gary Late & Live At the Thomas Tripp ‘“ Christchurch
– 6/10/07 Our second gig at this big stage venue, thats currently featuring
big name acts like Wishbone Ash and Hawkwind.A big thanks to Promoter, Paul Hills and owner Johnnie (who joined us onstage
for an insane 8 minute rap on Voodoo Queen ‘“ I loved it, but others found
it an acquired taste).

We pulled a bigger crowd than last time and the show went down really well.
Danny seems to be growing nicely into the role and Dark Water got an excellent
first full gig outing.

All played well, we just hope that current disagreemnents between vanue
management the promoter do not get in the way of us coming back’¦.

A good night

Gary 13/10/2007 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 4/10/07 Normal service was resumed with a cracking jam at the Woodman.Lots of new blood present as Adam, Pete and Lewis played some rock classics
including the first version of a Muse song ever to be performed at the Woodman
jam (much cred).
Tony a new guitar player excelled and added some ‘˜violin technique’ to the
proceedings.

Danny.G playing with the worthy Pete Bedford Band did a brilliant solo on
‘˜Heart of the City’, only to totally detroy the last and simplest line of
it. ‘œMy jazz note’ shouted Daz, hilarious’¦..

Danny.G performed his first version of ‘˜Dark River’ and did a sterling job.
We returned to a 3 vocal opening harmony to this new and unrecorded number
and it really improved the song. Kelly was back and the 3 girl ‘˜action’
on Brooklyn Blues was impressive.

Come on down and see what you are missing

See you next week

Gary 07/10/2007 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 27/9/07 The first quiet jam at the Woodman for months. It wasn’t
empty and was still a decent night, but by usual standards it was quiet’¦.Kelly continues to sing a new song or 2, each night and is progressing.
The Roadhouse set featured Danny.G playing ‘˜Lights on the Water’ for the
first time, and it was ok.

Drew himself was making a visit as a punter and the possible the hgihlight
of the night was his solo set ,which featured some pretty tasty playing.

Lets hope for more folk next week

Gary 05/10/2007 Gary The Lady Of The Lake ‘“ Suffolk ‘“ 22/9/07 Second night on the road and a great trip to a very scenic
part of the world, near Great Yarmouth.It was Paul the landlord’s birthday. The nice big stage was atmospherically
lit by the very helpful Steve. We really liked the sizeable room with the
poster of the alluring lady herself smouldering behind the kit (the lady
not Roger), it was very rock and roll.

Though it looked great, the low level lighting meant we struggled to see
what we were playing. This lead to my playing of some comedy chords during
the opening ‘˜Blues Highway’ before help from a guidedog aided me in me finding
the fretboard’¦

The first set went well but the audience reaction seemed just ‘˜allright’
and we wondered if we were cracking it.

By the end we were running out of encores and the audience were singing
and chanting (honestly!) for us to continue.

This lead to the fun of Danny and Suzie doing songs they’d never heard,
let alone played.

Even Whiskey Man was brought out of the coffers and dusted down.

Another very good one

Gary 28/09/2007 Gary The Banham Barrel ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 21/9/07 Danny’s first Roadtrip as a full time member took us back
to one of our fave regular gigs.The old ‘˜Cider Shed/Factory’ is still a great haven for music lovers. It’s
a shame attendances for Jonty’s friendly venue have been up and down over
the last 18 months or so. However, tonight was an ‘˜up night’, with a very
good crowd.

Suzie was alone on vocal duties and revelled in the freedom that gave her.
She was in great voice and performed superb versions of Stormy Monday and
her trademark epic ‘˜The Big Easy’.

The second set saw the band go into overdrive and a storming Roadhouse Blues
and Watchtower gave the guitar buffs their dose of over the top antics.

The whole gig came to its Voodoo Queen /Preacher Man climax and went down
a storm.

See you next year Banham

Gary 27/09/2007 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 13/9/07 Back at the jam following our massive festival success.Fortunately there was no sense of downscaling ,as this was a busy night.
Suzie was absent, so it gave another chance for young Kelly to try out on
the vocals. She did her best job yet (especially on Preacher Man) and is
developing nicely. Give the girl a few months and she could become a valuable
member of the Roadhouse team.

It was also Danny.G’s first official Roadhouse gig after Drew’s had to take
a step back to our dep list. Again Danny is making a good start.

Out of all the great jammers, I must give credit to the Isidore brothers
(with Andrew Heart on bass), who played some quality original material.
There was a nice range of new faces present at this jam to.

See you in 2 weeks,

Gary 27/09/2007 Gary COLNE National R&B Festival ‘“ 26/8/07 So our run of 4 gigs in 5 days concluded with our appearance
on the mega, Super Roadhouse (British) Stage at the Colne R&B Festival.
This was our 5th successive Colne and the end of an era, as it marked Drew’s
last appearance with us as a full time Band member.This was fittingly one of Roadhouse’s finest ever big stage/festival appearances.
When we arrived the Buzz from the stage crew and compere Pete Cuddy was
that it had been fairly quiet in the arena all day with no bands really
making a big impact. All day people had been asking when were we going to
be on stage.

Some quick work with the soundcrew faclitated our stage time being upped
to an hour. As we launched into the intro to Telling Lies, the place started
to fillig up rapidly and the crowd went with us from the moment the first
guitar riff cut loose. As the lights went up at the end of the first number,
the arena was nearly full and the atmosphere was outstanding.

This was probably the most in control I’d ever felt of a major stage performance
and the Band were on top form.

No Place to Hide, Slip Away, The Big Easy, Heavens Door, Roadhouse Blues,
Voodoo Queen blurred by.

After the encore the re-action was superb and Mandie and Suzie were besieged
for CD sales.

Our good friends the Brew (aslo on Blues Matters) did a good job following
our set (check out the work we intend to do with those guys next year).
At the end of the night its a massive thanks to the 2 years of class guitar
perfromances from the Candian maestro, monsieur Barron ‘“ here’s to him depping
and playing with us in future.

One of the best all time Roadhouse gigs (check out the pictures on this
site)

Gary 15/09/2007 Gary Merton Abbey Mills Blues Festival ‘“ 24/8/07 Our 3rd night in a row took us to South London’s very own
open air festival. Under the Bandstand down by the river at good old Merton
Abbey.This was our 5th consecqutive year at the festival and the 3rd year in a
row that we were the headline act.

Last year we broke the attendance record for a Friday with over 1,200 people.
This year started slowly with around 4-500, but by the end was around the
800 plus mark.

Well done to Bob Bruning and Pete for keeping this superb event alive..
By the time we encored with ‘˜Preacher Man’ the whole place was jumping and
CD sales breached all past Merton Abbey records.

Brian, his PA and the sound crew were superb.

This was by far the best show the band has ever played at Merotn Abbey.
The crowd and the atmosphere was great

For the record, Frank Dymore played percussion, Kelly joined us for Brooklyn
Blues and Slip Away. Danny.G joined us for a guest slot .Playing with me
on a strong version of ‘˜Watchtower’ and then a kick arse ‘˜Tellin Lies’.
Drew then invited him onstage for a bit of ‘˜Freebird’ 3 guitar style overkill
on Preacher Man.

A massive night and one for the scrapbook of all time great gigs

Gary 31/08/2007 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 23/8/07 The second night of our 4 major dates in 5 days ‘˜marathon’
(well it’s a marathon for me anyway!).A good crowd and a good jam at the Woodman as we resumed service after our
4 week summer break.

Young Kelly was trying out/auditioning for membership of the Roadhouse female
backing vocalist squad. She did quite well, (very good volume and power,
just needs to work on her tone and blending).

A full strength Roadhouse played the 2 new big songs, Lights On The Water
& Dark River. Also played were No Place To Hide (correctly, after last nights
jazz interpretaion), Brooklyn Blues & Slip Away.

The jam was full of quality with Geronimo, Pete Bedford Band, John O’Leary
and Mark Freeman all doing the business. However, it’s weird with the crowd
ebbing and flowing, as the new smoking law leads to 30% of the audience
being out in the garden all night.

Pride of place went to the Brothers. Reg Isidore was the legendary drummer
on Robin Trowers famous ‘˜Bridge of Sighs’ album (my copy is well worn) while
his brother Gus has played guitar for Seal, as well as many other major
acts. Their Hendrix interpretations were superb, top notch playing.

Gary 31/08/2007 Gary Peterborough CAMRA Beer & Music Festival ‘“ 22/8/07 Well the summer break ended and we were back with a bang,
playing on Europe’s largest tent, on a giant stage to a few thousand lovely
people.Unlike last years trade show appearance at this ace beer fest, this was
a open to the public night. Consequrently there was a very good crowd and
a really good atmosphere.

Overall the Band played very well after the 4 week break. It was one of
the most energetic and best ever visual performances that we’ve ever staged.
This spectacle was aided by Mandie and Suzie disovering the home made wine
stall, which in turn lead to on stage dancing, miming, simulated ‘˜guitar
jobs’ and small children (well a lovely and very young lady called Molly)
being paraded/danced with on stage. The crowd ‘˜luvved’ our girls ‘“ who put
on a great show and for the first 80% of the set were on top vocal form.

The whole band played a stormer and apart from my personal re-writing of
No Place to Hide (and believe me on that big stage I couldn’t find one –
what a cock up!) did a great job

So began our 4 gigs in 5 days to conservatively over 6,000 people (With
my forthcoming surgery it will interesting to see how I cope with this schedule)

I’ll keep you posted,

A very good gig

Gary 24/08/2007 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 19/7/07 The last jam before our 1 months summer break. I thought
that pre break things might be a bit quiet, but the place was rocking.It was a struggle getting all the musicians on and some on stage tuning
and really long numbers incurred a late finish. This understandably pissed
of Bill, who has to carry the PA all the way home to Thamesmead and gets
hardly any sleep anyway. We’ll have to see what we can do about the overuns
in the future.

However, it was a great jam with a very high standard of musicianship. Lol
Sandfords’s Solo on I Shot the Sheriff) (John, Kyle and Billy’s set) was
pic of the night for me. A strong first appearance/Woodman debut from Robin
Trower Band drummer , Reg Isidore, was another highlight.

Roadhouse played Blues Highway, Brooklyn Blues & Telling Lies.

Geronimo does an interim gig at the Woodman on the 9th August.

We are back on Thursday the 23rd

See you then,

Gary 23/07/2007 Gary The Ray Murray Memorial Gig ‘“ The Woodman –
Wimbledon Park ‘“ 7/7/07 It was nice to be asked to play this memorial gig for the
death of my good friend Ray Murray.Ray over the years had been influential in Bills and I’s musical career.
He got us into our first Band, helped form Roadhouse and put the jam on
at both the Earl of Spencer and The Woodman. All in all he’d been a good
friend to me from the age of 14.

A lot of tickets were sold and the attendance ended up a tad dissapointing,
in the mid 70’²s. It was lovely to see Ray’s widow Jenny and his family really
enjoy the night. A big thanks to Martin at the Woodman for putting on the
show and guest musicians, John Scott, Tim Havard, Danny G and Pete Bedford
and friends. Ray’s old friend and rated international photographer Laurie
Asprey also did a nice couple of Acoustic tunes.

Roadhouse were at full strength and played 2 excellent sets (we were on
top form for some reason).

Personally I had the best night on the guitar, possibly the best I’ve ever
had (Ray must have been smiling down on me).

It was weird really as my music career has been a long journey. Now, as
my physiacl/medical problems mount, I finaly seem to be reaching the standards
I’ve always strived for (quite ironic really!).

The crowd loved the show

Ray we won’t forget you mate.

Gary 20/07/2007 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 5/7/07 At last a return to a traditional busy night at the Woodman.
The struggle was back on to get everyone on stage and I appreciate the flexibility
of all the later acts for letting me merge line ups.Things started off with a very different version of Roadhouse (Mark 37.5).
Bill had the night off (well we all get lucky once a year!) and the band
featured Drew on the bass (yes Drew!) and Danny and the guitar. Also featuring
Mandie as out solitary white thigh booted female (I tried to find more white
thigh booted females, but was thrown out of the lap dancing club)’¦ Roadhouse
played Heavens Door, Blues Highway and Voodoo Queen.

Things moved on with a wave of youth, Laurie did a 3 piece slot, followed
by Lyndsays first ever vocal and 3 piece performance. Later on it was the
turn of the over 30’²s (sic), with Danny.G and Jim Dublin leading the way,
rocking us through to an excellent conclusion.

Syd and his legendary banjo played us into the rainy summers night

A good one ‘“ next jams in 2 weeks time

Gary 08/07/2007 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 28/6/07 The quietish spell at the Woodman continued with this jam.
There was still some great music and everyone who came had a good time.The show must go on!

Gary 08/07/2007 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 21/6/07 The attendance had been well down on the last 2 jams. So
it was good to see things getting at least on their way back to normal with
this one.For the record Roadhouse played Dark River, Brooklyn Blues (well sung girls
and happy birthday Mandie for Saturday) and Bob from GJ’s/BB’s joined the
girls on the Bv’s as it was also his birthday, for a reasonable White Water.

Decent sets from Geronimo, Pete Bedford, Resemary and Terry Brennan. I enjoyed
joining up with Danny.G for an excellent Watchtower and Mandie duetted with
me on House of The Rising Sun (nice feel on our version and some excellent
playing as well

by all concerned.)

See ya next week (I hope!)

Gary 25/06/2007 Gary The Boom Boom Club ‘“ Sutton FC ‘“ 10/6/07 So to our much heralded ‘œ18th Birthday’ party gig at the
Boom Boom, Sutton FC.I apologise for the late posting of this gig report and missing out one
on the preceeding jam session all together. This is due to combination of
increased ill health and our server/site being down for an extended period.

I’ve mixed feelings with regard to this gig. On the positive side it was
great to have over 45 paying friends and family present at the gig. Many
of our most loyal friends and supporters were there and your belief and
help means so much to both me and the Band.
Big thanks to promoter Pete Feenstra, who gave us our 5th headline at this
major venue. Pete and George’s support has been vital throughout the Bands
most successful years.

As I reflect on the many years of Roadhouse and all the great people I’ve
worked with (over 35 different Band members and 9 CD’s released), I must
take pride and delight from such a long and relatively successful journey.
When we formed to play one gig at a friends wedding, we didnt know what
we were starting’¦
As many of the mainstream monolithic monsters of rock have bitten the dust,
we on our own small scale have remained.

Thanks to special guests Tim O’Sullivan (dynamite on the encore ‘“ Preacher
Man, Robin Bibi adding class on Voodoo Queen and Pete Bedford and Lol Sandford
playing on Help Me. Our very own percussion player Frank Dymore joined us
for Voodoo, Sacrifice and the best perfromance of the night with Danny.G
joining us on Watchtower.
Crowd reaction overall was brilliant

On the bad side the 60 plus people in the room is just not a worthy return
for either Pete or for us.

After support band the very capable ‘œSharpees’ , with their Rory Gallagher
roots had blasted evryone with extreme volume and overun their time slot,
we did a quick turn around and took to the stage as quickly as possible.

It was annoying to lose a couple of songs from the set, then by the end
of the opener Blues Highway, the main power monitor blew. the consequence
was that my voice was blasted across the stage like an exploding, constipated
Dalek (no change there then, I hear some of you saying). It was difficult
to sing, and though the out front sound wasn’t bad at all(though it was
mainly Drew and the Drums that dominated the mix) I had to play with the
worst stage sound I’ve ever experienced.

Along with that, there was periodic on stage feedback, but bearing mind
all the problems the standard of vocals was really good.

In the end its a case of thanks to everybody who came, supported and enjoyed.the
night. I know Pete promoted it hard, but in the final analysis maybe 18
years is long enough??????

Gary 24/06/2007 Gary The New Crawdaddy Club ‘“ The Belvedere ‘“ Essex Our 4th appearance at this Excellent top quality venue. A
big thanks to Paul and Ashwyn for having us back.A massive thanks to Pete Bedford and Big Ron for solving our transport problems
by kindly giving Band members a lift and making the gig possible’¦.cheers
guys

It was a great night with an excellent turn out. First up, house band The
Heaters (Paul’s own band ), played a solid set. Highlight for me was their
version of Garry Moore’s ‘˜ I still got the Blues for You’.

We played for around 1 hour and 35 minutes straight and other than my comedy
error in White Water and Suzi’s attack of Alzheimer’s in the Big Easy, it
went well.

Highlights included the best version yet of the new song Dark River, Telling
Lies, Slip Away and the double encore of Preacher Man & Sacrifice

A fine gig and we’ll back next year (all being well)

On a footnote it was great to see Roadhouse legend Anne Campbell at the
gig, as well as many other valued friends and long term fans’¦ 04/06/2007 Gary The Barnard Castle R&B Festival ‘“ Barnard Castle
– 27/5/07 Well I suppose after 18 years on the road it had to happen,
we didn’t make the gig’¦..All was going well until with 160 miles gone and 100 to run, Roger’s top
hose (on his engine ‘“ not his underwear) broke. After an hour of nail biting
tension in the driving rain on the M1 hard shoulder, the AA man pronounced
the head gasket blown and our major festival headline dream over.

6.5 hours later and £620 lighter, Roger, Suzie, Mandie and I we were towed
back into London at around 10pm, depressed and cleaned out’¦

Bill and Drew in the meantime obtained the services of a local drummer and
as a 3 peice successfully ended this major festival ‘“ rocking for an hour.
A period of rain and very low tempretures and taken the crowd down for its
earlier level of around 1,000, but there was enough people there to help
Drew and Bill on their very cold and damp way.

Well done guys’¦.

One for history books ‘“ for all the wrong reasons ‘“ shame!!!!

Gary 28/05/2007 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 24/5/07 A really muggy and hot spring night, kept quite a few punters
outside of the Woodman and the overall crowd a little lower than usual.The Jam had an interesting Roadhouse opening with Drew playing the first
2 numbers. The strategy was to play the 2 new songs before Drew had to make
an early exit. Planet of Fools was really solid, and then we tried a girls
only intro to Dark River and that was brilliant. The rest of the song was
going fantastically well untill Drew extended his solo and the whole thing
truned into an ‘˜M25 pile up’. Still I have learned that this one is a winner
– big style!.

Danny.G then joined us for a a solid Big Easy. Next up was my Daughter Rhiannon
who sang the first half of Slip Away alone and the second half in great
harmony with Mandie and Suzie. I was as Proud as an old Dad could be ‘¦.the
girl did good.

Later in the jam Lawrence was back for blues guitar frenzied work out on
Watchtower. John, Kyle and Bill (Dad, Son and Uncle) did a great ‘˜I Shot
The Sheriff’ and The Pete Bedford Band got their kicks on ‘˜Route 66’² very
nicely. Awesome Tony was the pick of the nights drummers for me ‘“ Awesome
((did what he said on the tin)

No jam for 2 weeks

Gary 28/05/2007 Gary The District Club ‘“ Pontypridd, Wales ‘“ 18/5/07 One of the better days on the road. A sunny drive to a really
large hall, with friendly staff & cheap drinks.The crowd here varies from 40-150 and it is sometimes tough for bands coming
up for the first time. So we were delighted that after 18 years on the road,
that there were over 100 people out for our first gig in Wales.

What a great crowd, the people were warm and witty and really into their
music, giving the band great encouragement and support.

The 2 long sets flashed by. The band played well and the new song ‘˜Lights
On the Water’ went down great. The encore had a quite a few of Pontypridd’s
very attractive ladies up and on the dance floor, as we rocked out on ‘˜Voodoo
Queen and Preacher Man’.

They want us back next year, shame its not sooner! ‘“ a good one

Gary 28/05/2007 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 17/5/07 A good crowd and jam at the Woody (an unsually dissapointing
jug though ‘“ which is what usually keeps this jam going!)’¦..Another Dep for Danny (I’ve got more hair than Drew) G ‘“ and we responded
with one of the best versions of Watchtower ever played at the Woodman (I
even enjoyed my own guitar solo ‘“ and thats a rare thing!)

Due to everyone coming in quite late, the later slots became truncated.
Jimmy Dublin and Geronimo both did well, playing short but punchy sets.
Julianne Shaw was in good voice as were Suzie and Mandie, who did some incredible
harmonies on Sweet Home Chicago with an early line up.

My daughter Rhainnon should make the next jam and maybe she’ll lower herself
to sing with the oldies?

Gary 20/05/2007 Gary The Hope Tavern ‘“ Near Lincoln ‘“ 13/5/07 Our 4th gig at this excellent venue. Graham does a cracking
job transforming this nice little pub into a rocking blues venue.We had played here twice with the legendary Jules Fothergill, Lorna Reilly
and Anne Campbell line up, then once with Fiona McElroy singing in tandem
with Mandie.

This however was arguably our best ever gig there.

The first set rocked with Suzie on great form in ‘˜The Big Easy’ and Mandie
really brought home her version of ‘˜Heavens Door’. The guitar battle/trade
off really gelled during ‘˜Rock Me’

There is great music loving crowd in this venue and they really lift the
band (It was great seeing Ray and Nicky and other old friends). The second
set kicked on and the crowd loved Drew’s impromptu version of Pink Floyd’s,
Another Brick In the Wall ‘“ Part Two.

Drew was on good form and his outro on Voodoo Queen lead to a double encore
of Preacher Man and Sacrifice (Subtitled sometimes its hard to find a virgin).

If we all stay alive, We’ll be back ‘“ a good one ‘“ it’s brought back the
faith ( well a bit anyway)

Gary 17/05/2007 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 10/5/07 Back to another good crowd and excellent jam night at the
Woodman.We are getting a nice slection of new faces at the moment augmenting regulars
like the excellent Geronimo, Pete Badford Band, Terry Brennan etc’¦.

Syd and his banjo played us out into the cold wet night ( a tradition).

Here’s to next week

Gary 17/05/2007 Gary The Roxzone at the White Horse ‘“ Bognor ‘“ 5/507 Well first the good news. What a nice venue, first rate pa,
soundmen and stage. And the promoter Paul was a gent. Also we had a great
dep
performance from Danny.G, stepping in at the last minute for Drew ‘“ he played
a stormer’¦..The bad news, this venue though worthy has only been going a few months
and has largely featured tribute bands. a good run of attendance was broken
by a band not turning up and then a break for Easter. The consequences were
that we played to a dismal corwd. If you took away the 11 Roadhouse fans/regulars
(including my Mum and Dad ), we were playing to the proverbial 3 men and
a dog (it wasn’t quite as bad as that ‘“ but seemed it.

The band played well, the people loved it and as usual were full of complements
– ‘œBest band etc’ ‘” but can live music keep going in the UK with this lack
of support??

Gary 16/05/2007 Gary Jam Session ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ Wimbledon Park –
3/5/07 A really good jam night at the Woodman. It kind of all passed
me by personally as my new Harley Street Doctor gave me some new stuff to
take, that as an effect had me considering calling an ambulance by about
5pm’¦.However, at 8 pm Frank Dymore kindly picked me up in his large gas guzzler
and plonked me on the stage. Normal service was resumed (or near normal
anyway)

Danny.G was sitting in for Drew and did a good job. The young base player
and his Dad John, were back with a great singing drummer (like the singing
detective only hae plays the drums). Their version of superstition was tremendous
and the highlight of a night that was all a bit of a blur to me.

It was also great to see Julianne Shaw back and doing a nice set with Lol
Sandford

Ah well maybe next week I’ll be back in the game more fully

Well done all for putting on such a great show 11/05/2007 Gary Live & Kicking at the Thomas Tripp ‘“ Chirstchurch
– Dorset ‘“ 28/4/07 A rare trip to Dorset and an excellent new venue. The Thomas
Tripp is Paul Hill’s new promotional venture and is well worhty of support.A nice deep stage (deep enough that the support band could set up all their
rig, including drums, in front of our gear) a good sound crew and lighting
rig, including effects (excellent!) ‘“ lots of poses from me on the drum
riser ‘“ well any chance to look taller)

First up was worthy support band Brazen, who did a decent covers set. At
this point the venue which has a late license and long standing rep as a
very late watering hole was a ghost town’¦

By the time we were on there was only about 30-40 in, so we delayed the
start of the second set and by the end of the night it was very busy

Overall, it was a great performance as the band nailed most songs and both
sets got a very good response. The Roadhouse ladies sang well and the encore
Preacher Man (as usual) rocked the joint. Unusually even I was top form!!!

Well be back to this one

Gary 06/05/2007 Gary Jam Session ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 26/4/07 The first Jam after our 3 week Easter break and it was a
good one.
Great sets from the Pete Bedofrd Band, Jim Dublin and Geronimo. Jin brought
donw this great young bass player who had been to the Victor Wootton bass
school (great solo)
Roadhouse did a blinding version of the new song ‘œLights On The Water’ and
really rocked out on Roadhouse Blues. Overall it was a good crowd tooThe Jam is back’¦

Gary 06/05/2007 Gary Burnley National Blues Festival ‘“ Main Stage
-8/4/07 Well onto our main stage appearance at Burnley and a lovely
big stage it was..We were opening the festival at 3pm in the afternoon.

Following the 2 plus hours mega set of the night before and only 4 hours
sleep I was feeling more than a little achey, tired and jaded. This wasn’t
helped by there only being about 120 people in the arena when we kicked
off early at 14.50.

However, by the time we hit the half way point a few hundred were in and
we were getting into the big numbers of attendees by the time we concluded
our set.

Overall, we put on a good show and got (according to the organisers) a very
good opening set crowd and re-action. This was also reflected in CD sales

However though I sang really well, I couldn’t find the hot guitar form that
I was in the previous night. The stage sound was very weird and added to
an early Sunday afternoon feeling of surrealism

Still it was a good show, at an excellent well organised festival with a
capable Stage Manager and crew.

We started with Slip Away, then played Help Me, The Big Easy, Voodoo Queen,
White Water, No Place To Hide and encored with Preacher Man (apparently
a first set encore was a rare accolade)

I’d like to do this again, ideally further up the Bill/later in the day

Gary 29/04/2007 Gary Burnley National Blues Festival ‘“ Festival Stage
– 7/4/07 Thanks to some excellent research and dealings by Drew, we
checked into some nice accommodation (for a change!). Thanks to Lynne and
Peter for looking after us at the Palace guest house (old Majors house/Georgian
style) ‘“ very nice.At the venue we set up on the small/cosy festival stage in Oliver’s bar.
As the headline act on the smaller stage, we ended up playing a marathon
2 hours and 10 mins (not including the short break we took in the middle).

We thought we’d struggle to fill the 2 hours plus, as we haven’t done that
length of set for ages. Truth was it flew by and we didn’t play stacks of
stuff including 2 or the new 3 songs and Watchtower, even though we had
numerous requests for it.

In the first set, the PA blew up around the midway point. At one stage we
played on, with half the sound crew on stage working around us to rectify
the problems. However, the audience were great and totally into it and the
set rocked out nicely.

The second half rocked with a vengance. I remember the crowd manically ‘œHaw,
haw hawing’along with Drew on his Howling Wolf ditty and they wouldn’t let
us go without a big cry for ‘˜Preacher Man’. There was even a decent sing
along with it at the end.

Apparently one of the major acts had bombed on the main stage upstairs.
The majority of the crowd walking out and then coming down to catch us.
Oh well thats showbiz!

Gary 10/04/2007 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 5/4/07 A further good warm up for Burnley. Mandy’s friend Mel joined
us for a rousing version of the new song ‘˜Dark River’ and it was a good
opening set from a full strength Roadhouse.A lot of people at the Jam, but fewer musicians than usual. A good set from
Laurie, who came with a band for once. Mandie joined some ace jammers including
Lol Sandford and John Scott for a version of ‘˜Mustang’ and there was time
for a solo slot for Drew, before Roadhouse finished the night (for once!)

See everyone after the Easter break on the 26th April

Gary 10/04/2007 Gary The Red Lion ‘“ Stevenage ‘“ 1/4/07 So to Trevor (Mr Mayfest/the Man with The Hat) Keelings fabled,
ace pub venue. A full on gig where the eclectic audience (bikers, old friends
and supporters, sexy lady’s, transexuals you name it) are packed up to your
face and rock!!Likened to the bar full of Aliens in the first star Wars movie, this was
temendous fun venue and night.

It was bit worrying when the over excited crowd demolished the left hand
PA column and sent 2 of my guitars flying, but it was all in the spirit’¦

Two blistering sets was an ideal warm up for our appearance at next weeks
National Blues festival in Burnley. The encores went down a storm ‘“ see
you next year and at Mayfest 2008, Thanks Trev

Gary 06/04/2007 Gary The Dugout ‘“ Fanrborough FC ‘“ 30/3/07 On the way to Pete Feenstra’s great new venue, I was really
worried about crowd numbers. The rain was bouncing off the M3 on a truly
miserable evening and it wasn’t actually encouraging night on which to come
out and support live music.On arrival it was great to see that the Dugout was a good venue, warmer
and more homely than Sutton, with a nice big stage and friendly people.
It was also great to chat to Pete, who has done so much to support the Band
and keep live music alive in the South of England/UK (and parts of Europe)

It was worrying that with only 10 mins to show time there were only 12 people
in the audience. However, by the end of the 1st set we were up to well over
30 (on a foul night) and by the second set the night really rocked.

It was great to see our ace record plugger Golly Gallagher and together
we began to hatch our marketing strategy for the next Roadhouse CD, due
out in 2008 motality and health permitting).

The first set suffered from some vocal feedback and a loud backline, but
the band was rocking and both No Place To Hide and newbie ‘˜Lights On The
Water’ went down a storm. The second set saw the sound imporve and the Band
went into overdrive. This lead to a double encore of Preacher Man and a
requested reprise of No Place to Hide (great to see so many dancing and
singing along)’¦

Lovely to see the big party of people who came down for Jill’s bithday and
had seen us before at Sutton (its folk like you that keep live music going)

Gary 04/04/2007 Gary The Woodman Jam -Wimbledon Park ‘“ 29/3/07 A good opening set by a full strength Roadhouse, as House
Band. An improvised and impromptu into to ‘˜Lights On The Water’ worked really
well and Planet of Fools rocked.Another good crowd saw a night of varied performances. The multi talented
Lewis lead a very good set, which though it suffered vocally, had some nice
musical highlights. One of the younger new musicians (who shall remain nameless
for his own safety) walked off stage when struggling with his second song,
leaving the bass and drums to take out a contract on him. Oh well thats
what the jams all about!

As usual good sets from Geronimo, Pete Bedford and Jimmy (I didn’t know
he was Irish) Dublin.

Here’s to next week

Gary 01/04/2007 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 22/3/07 Bill sustained a bad eye injury while working, leading to
a rare dep appearance from bass soloist supreme, Tim Matthewman.Tim coped well with his first play of some of the Roadhouse songs and came
to the fore with his solo in Stormy Monday. This was well sung by Mandie
and Suzie (despite Suz struggling with severe throat/laryngitis difficulties
at the moment)..

We missed Bill’s normal dovetailing with Roger on some sections, but overall
it wasn’t a bad opening set.

Another hero was Pete Bedford who rescued the night by supplying his pa,
as Bill had his eye on ours (groan)’¦ Good set and keyboard and hap playing
to Pete (you just need a jews harp a gargling solos for the versatility
set )

Overall the music was of good qualityand it was a decent turn out. It was
good to see John O’leary back and I was delighted to do a set with him.
Unfortunately my solo in the first song, stank (one of my worst this year
– I’m amazed that some people clapped it !!), still the second one was ok.

Here’s to next week, which will be followed by a busy weekend for the Band. 25/03/2007 Gary The Banham Barrell ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 17/3/07 Well after a ‘˜rest’ from long- haul gigging since our Skegness’
appearances, we were finally back on the road.Jonty’s friendly, warm, ex-cider factory pulls in a good group of enthusiastic
music lovers (they are often even more pissed than the band).

Support came from our special guests, that ace young band Blitz Screen.
These guys used to watch us at East Harling and did a guest slot the last
time we were there.

Seriously good original music with some superb and very fast guitar playing’¦
keep it going lads’¦

To the Roadhouse set ‘“ We managed to play the best ever version yet of our
killer new song Lights on The Water, and the other newbie, Planet of Fools
rocked along nicely. With Mandie singing U2’²s ‘˜I Still Haven’t Found’ (to
commeorate St Paddy’s night) and Drew’s sleazy version of Satisfaction,
the set had a fresh/new feel.

A good gig indeed and it was a long and late way home’¦.

never mind ‘“ it was worth it

Gary 23/03/2007 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 15/3/07 Another good night at the Woodman. Great to see some excellent
new faces there like Julian the drummer from 80’²s mega group ABC (he was
a great drummer)Following the Roadhouse set we had time for a bit of Drew Barron lead jamming
and produced this amazingly sleazy, slow and spacey version of the Stones
Satisfaction (everybody said we should do it again ‘“ and maybe we will)

Syd played us into the night on his Banjo ‘“ classic !

Thanks for the excellent support

See you next week

Gary 23/03/2007 Gary Jules & Lorna’s Wedding Reception ‘“ Putney Boat
House ‘“ Putney London Well I suppose the first question you are asking your self
valued reader, is why am I writing about a wedding reception in the Band
Journal?.Well in truth it was a lot more than just a wedding reception.

Jules and Lorna were a key part of Roadhouse history. Part of the famous
line up that many consider one of our finest, that produced the superb No
Place To Hide CD and some of our finest ever festival appearances. Since
leaving to form the popular and successful Funkydory they have continued
to guest/dep and will always be part of the Roadhouse family.

At this excellent wedding reception overlooking the Thames on a gorgeous,
globally warmed, March evening, even the speeches were good value.

Lorna looked great in her wedding dress and she fronted Funkydory as they
played a rousing set , complete with wedding dress (very Evanesence and
now de rigeur for all future gigs ‘“ I don’t think ‘“ looked cool though).
Jules played a blinder both as host and on the guitar.

This left an interstellar, all star jam to take place, which I was very
flattered to be asked to run. Highlights for me included:

– Robin Bibi playing with Andy Cortes

– The great driumming of both Hayden and Joaquim

– John O’Leary and Roadhouse’s own Drew Barron being on great form

– I sang Roadhouse Blues with Danny.G on the guitar , Bill on the bass,
Owen on drums and with Anne Campbell on the BV’s = Another Roadhouse re-union
for the history books.

Pete Sargeant ‘“ finishing the night of great live music

We met and saw so many special band freinds and family members, it was a
great night.

For me I was just delighted that Jules and Lona had deservedly had a very
special day

Gary 19/03/2007 Gary Jam Session ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ Wimbledon Park –
8/3/07 Following last weeks mega, quad birthday party jam, this
was bound to be a quiet night.Funny enough it wasn’t, loads of good musicians and a good appreciative,
music loving crowd. I got to play ‘˜Ride on’ with Jim Dublkin and the bits
of my guitar solo that were in tune were not bad at all. Mandie and Jim’s
comic collaboration on Whole Lotta Love reached an all time high or low
(depends which way you want to look at it)..

Here’s to next week

Gary 19/03/2007 Gary The Triple 50th BDay Party Jam ‘“ The Woodman
– Wimbledon Park -1/3/07 A special celebratory night at the ‘˜Woody’. I turned 50 at
midnight, Drew a few days before and Bill in a few days time. It was also
only a couple of days to Rogers 523rd birthday (or something like that!).A great crowd and some fantastic musicians came out for us, and this turnned
into one of the great all time Jams.
The Woodman was wedged out and it was hard to fit everybody on a glittering
bill.

It was particularly great to have Jules Fothergill and Lorna Reilly in attendance
just a few days before their wedding. We celebrated with them joining Bill,
Roger and I for a blinding version of ‘œI Couldn’t Get to Sleep’, a song
which was synonimous with the last great line up of Roadhouse. That one
blew everyone away and left a lot of people tearful with nostalgia.

Earlier the current Roadhouse did a good set, with Suzie and Mandie and
Drew all on great form. Bill and Roger were as solid as ever, through The
Big Easy, Heavens Door, No place to Hide and the new song, Lights On The
Water.

Other highlights before I was totally drunk included the great comedy interplay
between Jim Dublin and Mandie.G on Whole Lotta Love (way down inside will
never be the same again)

Thanks for all the great cards, goodwill wishes and the fantastic support,
both I and the band get collectively at the Woodman. Thanks to you all”¦

At least I became an even older, old git on a high’¦.

Gary 11/03/2007 Gary BB’s Blues Club at GJ’s Colliers Wood ‘“ 4/2 Well after the grandeur of the main stage appearance at Skegness
(dry ice and all), back to earth with the proverbial bump.This nice candlelit club sponsored bu the great Bob Bruning of Fleetwood
Mac fame and run by the passionate Bob and James, deserves more support.
Attendances have been bad ther this year, our last appearance their had
been an exception. Not this time, only 16 people plus our special guests,
Jim Dublin and Laurie, Lol Sandford and John (Harley.D ) Scott mad up the
attendance.

With the sound bouncing round the room wihtout bodies to soak it up we were
asked to play at a ridiculously low volume level, which led to a loss of
feel and emotion. there was some great moments and our guests did a great
job.

At the end of the day its one of the nights that makes you ask yourself
that ‘œAfter 17 years and 8 succesful CD’s is it worth carrying on???’

Thanks for those of you who did come out to support live music on this winters
night in February

Gary 11/03/2007 Gary Jam Sessions ‘“ 1/2, 8/2, 15/2 -The Woodman –
Wimbledon The jam sessions following Skegness were lower than usual
in attendance.For 2 of the 3 nights Drew was away celebrating his birthday in Cuba (now
I’m reliably told it’s re-named Druba) and Danny.G did a hell of a job sitting
in with Roadhouse in their capcity as the house band.

On another night Mandie was poorly and Suzie did a great job on her own.

Other than that, despite a healthy turn out of punters/music lovers, there
were generally less musicians present than usual.

This gave me a chance to give all comers more time and also to be abit undulgent
and play some Roadhouse back catalogue (i.e. The Dealer) and overall the
standard of music was higher than it’s been for ages.

Persistantly good performers included Jim Dublin and Geronimo and the ever
excellent Peter Bedford and his Band. 07/03/2007 Gary Skegness Monsters of Blues & Rock Festival -28/1/07 Our 4th consecutive appearance on the cavenous Centre Stage
at Skegness (quite an achievement!).We had been moved up the bill from 12.00 lunchtime to 20.00 and as a consequence
had the day to kill. I wandered round the Butlitz wire perimeter and pulled
faces at the security cameras (but still didn’t manage to escape). I spent
a lot of time thinking about the bands 17 years and all the great people
who have come and gone, broken lives and broken hearts. Also fans and friends
that are no longer with us (or anyone else)’¦well it put me in the mood
for playing out stuff!

The big stage show usually goes bye in a blur ‘“ 50 minutes seeming like
5, this time I was determined to savour it.

We set up while all were at dinner and the empty arena seemed even larger
than usual. Amazingly it filled wthin the space of about 15 minutes (leaving
our Suzie with a mild bought of stage fright ‘“ it didn’t matter though cos
she was great)

The band kicked off with a stomping Telling Lies which segged into Slip
Away (sans dry ice and great light show). Drew was on good form and not
at all put of by his enormous rock star sunglasses.

The girls looked great dressed all in black and red (so was I, but no-one
was looking at me!), and Suzie nailed a great version of Big Easy.

The monitoring was great and it was the best big stage show I’ve ever sung.
I indulged myself with a bit of harmonicy, strange scale widdly guitar work
on Roadhouse Blues before we timed out on Voodoo Queen (great drum solo
from jolly uncle Roger). But they wouldn’t let us go without Preacher Man
– and big parts of the crowd gave us a standing ovation after Drew’s Freebird
like crescendo’¦

CD sales were excellent ‘“ one of the classic Roadhouse gigs.

Thanks to all the great people there.

Gary 25/02/2007 Gary Skegness Monsters of Blues & Rock Festival –
27/1/07 Fists day of our 2 Skeggy appearances in 2007 ‘“ Back on the
JAKS stage at 12.00 we opened with a one hour set.Bearing in mind the 2 main stages were in operation I was delighted with
the crowd of around 300 plus that pitched up for our set. We featured all
3 new songs and Dark River went down a storm.

This was probably the best set we’d played on the JAKS stage and we couldn’t
get away from the screams for Preacher Man at the end. So though we wanted
to save our final anthem for the Centre stage on Sunday, it got the first
of 2 airings.

Then followed the Skegness jam which I hosted for about 3 hours.

This was the festivals best jam yet, with over 60 regsitered jammers who
all got the chance to play. The overall standard was very HIGH. The audience
were right behind the jammers and relative beginners mixed in with main
stage heroes in what was in all, a great celbration of music’¦

Special thanks to the contributions of Blues Matters own Mick Rutherford
on bass and vocals and the amazing Jason from The Brew on the guitar (I
enjoyed our trade off towards the end of the jam, in a storming version
of Watchtower)

Rumour has it that the jam might move to a big stage next year ‘“ and I’ve
already been asked to host it ‘“ bring it on

Gary 09/02/2007 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 25/1/07 Well the last jam before our appearance at the major Skegness
festival. The 3 new songs got a good airing, though I got lost towards the
end of Dark River (I need a new canoe and compass)’¦Keith Grant of the Downliners Sect fame, was back with Stan and the brass
section from the Atlantic Soul machine and they did 3 great numbers. Adrian
was here for the second week running along with his mate a guitarist from
Canada (good vocals!).

It was nice to see Tom Anfield back and the rocking set from Mark Freeman/Lol
Sandford.

Towards the end I got up with Danny.G and the amazing Tim Matthewman on
the bass and we rocked out on Watchtower.

Onto Skegness

Gary 26/01/2007 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 18/1/07 A day/night of gale force winds, which kept the crowd away
until late then the venue really filled up a treat.The late start meant we were really chasing the clock all night. So apologies
to the folk who only got one number.

Roadhouse gave a debut to their long awaited 3 new numbers, Lights On the
Water (co-written with ace bass player Tim Matthewman), Planet of Fools
and the ‘˜heavy metal bluegrass’ of Dark River ‘“ not bad for a first outing
with ‘˜Lights’ showing all the signs of becoming a Roadhouse classic.We then
had to play Roadhouse Blues for Chris Berthelemy’s B’Day.

A good quality jam followed, with Laurie excelling on the acoustic and great
stuff from John O’Leary with Alan Vincent on the guitar. Danny.G was also
on good form.

A good night ‘“ see you next week as the jam becomes our warm up the big
appearances at Skegness.

Cheers,

Gary 20/01/2007 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 11/1/07 Less musicians than usual ‘“ but not a bad crowd for Janaury.
The standard of the music was very, very high.Maker were a good band in the tradition of the Black Crowes, The Pete Bedford
Band rocked on a version of The Who’s ‘˜Won’t Get Fooled Again’ , Jim Dublin
excelled and there was even time for Roadhouse to re-take the stage for
a version of Voodoo Queen, nicely augmented by Frank Dymore on percussion.

See you next week

Gary 14/01/2007 Gary New Years Jam ‘“ The Woodman -Wimbledon Park
– 4/1/07 Happy New Year to all and with people still away, the fear
was that this could be a quiet night. However, as usual it was not the case
and a totally rocking jam kicked of 2007’¦..Mandie.G was away with the throat ‘˜lurgie’ but Suzie did great on her own
and it was a particualrly good Raodhouse opening set with a killer Big Easy,
suitably mournful Slip Away and me being very guitar self indulgent on our
epic version nof the Roadhouse Blues.

John O’Leary was on top form, I got to play with young Lawrence and the
Pete Bedford Band were great as usual with young Ryan excelling on the keybords.

Syd played us into the night, ably assited by Drew and Tim Matthewman –
roll on 2007 and see you next week,

Gary 11/01/2007 Gary The Xmas Jam ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ Wimbledon Park
– 21/12/06 Another great festive occassion. A really good crowd and
group of musicians at this years Woodman Xmas bash. Fuelled by the much
improved menu/quality of food and Martin’s ‘˜freebie’ mince pies, the jam
rocked.Lovely to see John O’Leary perform with 2 very young guitar players (Lawrence
keeps on progressing). Jim Dublin was a top cowd pleasing form and young
Deborah who had flown all the way from Rome to sing was entertaining.

Highlight for me was Drew playing an iconinc version of ‘œPunk Floyd’s’ another
Brick in The Wall’ ‘“ his mid song South London accent rivalled Dick Van
Dyke in Mary Poppins ‘“ but his Glaswegian was spot on an I shall forever
rememeber him dementedly screaming ‘œHow can you have your pudding when you
can’t eat your meat’ ‘“ superb!

A good landmark in all ‘“ this being the last gig of the year. Band members
delivering in summary a great album, many top festivals and performances.
Crowds varied from the biggest ever to the worst. Band members had to overcome
terrible health and personal issues, including bereavements, personal betrayals,
financial issues and a whole soap opera of bad luck and adversity.

Still at the end of 2006 we are still here! ‘“ What will 2007 bring?

Next jams on the 4th January

Gary 28/12/2006 Gary Elme Hall ‘“ Wisbech, Norfolk, 17/12/06 Our fourth gig at Elme Hall, the first since they have come
away from the major circuit bands format and now feature a lot of local
acts.As this date was also close to Xmas a quiet gig was a real possibility.
However, the gods of live music were awake for once and around 70 paying
punters gave us a very good afternoon.

It was great to see so many freinds who are coming up to Skeggy to see us.
For many attendees it was their 4th or 5th Roadhouse gig ‘“ well done, we
need your support.

Our apologies for the poor sound in the first set, as the pa whined with
occassional feedback and the vocals struggled underneath the thunder of
the miked up drums and Drew’s death ray emitting Fender amp. The difficult
room and the changing dynamics of the increased crowd threw the pa a bit,
but this was rectified in the break.

The second set really kicked. We started with Stormy Monday and Brooklyn
Blues , with the backline scaled down and the girls (Mandie & Suzi) in great
voice. Telling Lies was a scorcher with Drew burning up the fret board and
Suzie excelling on the call and answer vocal section.

Overall a very good afternoons work and we look forward to seeing all our
friends at Skegness.

Gary 22/12/2006 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 7/12/06 A good crowd and a good jam.Nice to have both Mandie & Suzie singing on top form together. Plus great
sets from John O’Leary and Pete Bedford.

Lol Sandford and Julie Anne Shaw also did a good set previewing their gig
next Thursday (14/12/06), as Vibe.

See everyone at the Xmas Jam on the 21/12/06

Gary 21/12/2006 Gary Roadhouse Xmas Party ‘“ Bulls Head Barnes ‘“ 4/12/06 What dissapointed me was after 2 great years of attandances
of this ‘˜long awaited’ Xmas event, the crowd was a let down.We had over 15 great musicians on display and musically this was one of
the finest music club fomat nights ever.

Highlights included:

– Great vocals from Suzi.D and Mandie.G in a rocking Roadhouse set

– Fantastic playing from Jules, Tim O’Sullivan, Danny.G and Geronimo

– Lorna & Jules performing I Couldn’t get to sleep with Roadhouse ‘“ ‘˜awesome’

– Tim O’Sullivan joining us for a rocking double guitar blast on Preacher
Man, to finish the Roadhouse festivities

– A classy finish from that greta man of the blues John O’Leary

The people who came made shed loads of noise and it meant so much to me
to play with and listen to, so many close and special friends ‘“ Thanks to
all that were present

Happy Xmas

Gary 19/12/2006 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 30/11/06 In truth this whole night was a haze. Having been diagnosed
with a serious stomach condition on top of my muscle disease, I spent the
whole night nearly passing out. My sincere apologies to anyone I was short
with, as I struggled to run the jam.At times like this in life, you really appreciate all the great musicians
and supporters of live music who turn up week after week at the Woodman.

It was a really good jam with great music (apparently)

Thank you all ‘“ so much,

Gary 19/12/2006 Gary The Black Horse ‘“ Barnard Castle -26/11/06 From 45 people in a room for 300, we moved 2 hours cross
gorgeous country, to this beautiful village for 65 people in a room suitable
for 40.At long last a sell out. Thanks to promoter Mike Walden and to the master
of great hospitality, Andy the landlord (rarely have we been so well looked
after).

The gig was a sell out, had a passionate crowd. and Roadhouse played 4 (yes
4 sets), culminating in 4 encores and a mammoth drinking session.

One of the great nights for the history books and we’ve already been booked
for their much acclaimed festival in late May ‘“ result !

Gary 10/12/2006 Gary Barrow In Furness Blues Club ‘“ 25/11/06 The long haul to Barrow wasn’t helped by a bit of musical
venue chairs, so to speak. Those great (and they should be better supported
) promoters Joyce and Bill, had the well established Duke of Edingburgh
close on them for re-furb with just one weeks notice.As a consequence they have tried more than analternative venue with the
predicatable drop off in attandance.

Tonights venue was the British Legion (shades of Pheonix Nights). However
the manager and staff were brilliant and real music lovers (thanks Adrian).

When we kicked off there were just over 20 people in the room and the gig
peaked in the mid 40’²s (would have been nigh on 200 at the Duke).

However, the audience were great. they got right behind the band and made
shed loads of noise. The band with Suzi singing alone, played a blinder
and the 2 encores were followed by brisk CD and DVD sales.

It was good to see Joyce and Bill and we hope to come back to a more settled
venue.

Gary 10/12/2006 Gary Woodman Jam Session ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 24/11/06 Thel ong awaited return of ‘œThe Jam’ to the Woody, after
it’s 6 week re-furb.It’s now tighter down the front with a resticted view from the bar, but
other than that it is warm and cosy and still has a great atmosphere.

There was an excellent crowd, but fewer musicians than usual, giving me
a chance to get back up and punch out a version of Watchtower with the blinding
Danny.G on guitar (depping for Drew), and Pete Sargeant on the bass. Suzie.D
did a nice version of Stormy Monday and both Tom Anfield and Pete Bedford
Bands delivered great sets.

Geronimo and Terry Brennan delivered their usual iconic performances, before
Syd and his banjo played us into the night.

It’s great to be back ‘“ see you next week

Gary 29/11/2006 Gary East Harding Blues Club ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 18/11/06 Back at the good old East Harding Blues Club, one of the
circuits freindliest venues.This was a great night, as a group of young lads who have watched us for
a few years had formed a band themselves, so we asked them to do a guest
spot. Blitz Screen obliged, with a great 20 minute set, which included me
guesting with them on a version of Johnny.B Goode. Keep an eye on these
lads they are going to be great’¦Nice of them to get a fair few people
along and overall it was a decent crowd

It was the end of a weird week for me which started with me collapsing in
Aberdeen and being rushed to hospital in an ambulance. Health issues abound,
but after some intial panic and unplesantness I was glad to get out of the
hospital.

As a consequence I really enojoyed playing this gig. Drew suggested that
if I was gong to play that well, I should be taken to hospital every week.

It was great to have Mandie and Suzie singing togther again and they excelled
– alltogether a good night on the road

Gary 29/11/2006 Gary Blues Matters Showcase ‘“ The Greenwood Inn –
Northolt- 10/11/06 Only the 3rd gig at the Greenwood, as promoters Pete Feenstra
and George McFall were forced to move their West London venue once more.On a cold and very wet Friday night in Northolt Roadhouse and The Brew were
showcasing some of our record labels capability’¦

Negative side ‘“ Only 35 paying punters, surely this great night of music
deserved more ‘“ said all present!

With guests etc there was onlyabout 50 people in the room..

Positive Side ‘“ Both bands played a blinder and the sudience were brilliant
suporting the acts on anice wave through to the Bands coming together for
a ‘˜Preacher Man’ climax ‘“ so to speak!

And the venue was cool, friendly staff and a great room ‘“ deserving of more
support

Roadhouse again featuring Billi Shaw along with Suzie.D played a short opening
set, kicked off with CD title tracks Blues Highway and No Place To Hide
and concluded with an impromptu, but sleazy and epic version on House of
The Rising Sun (fabulous vocals from Billi Shaw)

The Brews set was a great bit of retro rocking, with a superb version of
Moby Dick, along with violin bow guitar solo (took me back to Earls Court
in the 70’²s) and fist pounding drum solos (sans sticks)

The Roadhouse closing set opened with White Water and built via other Broken
Land staples, The Big Easy (nice vocal Suzie.D) and All Along the Watchtower
to the climatic ‘˜double tap’ of Voodoo Queen & Preacher Man (shame so many
missed the musical boat on a great night)

Gary 12/11/2006 Gary Walter Trout Support ‘“ Sutton FC ‘“ 10/10/06 It was a great honour for me to be asked to open for one
of my personal heroes, especially as this was for the second time.I own 8 Walter Trout CD’s plus the live DVD and love the Band. This gig
was only convened with about 10days notice so though it was packed, there
was sufficient space to move about and enjoy both bands.

I’d like to thank Pete Feenstra the promoter for the opportunity and all
our staunch supporters from the Woodman for being down there at the front
for us.

With Billi Shaw and Suzie.D on the vocal duties (meeting for the first time
on the night) and us perched precariously on the edge of the stage due to
the mountain of Walter Trout Band gear, we new it would be tough to deliver
to this big and partisan crowd.

In the end ‘˜no worries’, it was a great set and we went down a storm. The
Walter Trout Band loved us 2 years ago and this time both Joey (what a drummer)
and Waler himself were very complementary. We were delighted to get such
a strong audience re-action.

It was good to see the guys from Proper records our distributors (for Blues
Matters) along with our ace record plugger Golly Gallagher (check out his
website). Come on fellas we want our CD’s in even more shops.

On to Walters set, it was great to hear stuff from his first album and the
version of ‘˜Life in the Jungle’ was a killer. My 11 year old son Matthew
was down the front right under Walters fretboard and mid solo the great
man gave my son his guitar pic.

At the end it was all mutual admiration, high fives and some shots taken
of Walter and Joey shaking hands with me, which we will get on this site
asap

A great night ‘“ one for the scrapbook

Gary 15/10/2006 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 6/10/06 Yet another performance with the band from Billi Shaw, who
joined me late in the evening for an improptu version of House of the Rising
Sun (great feel, very well sung by her, could well end up in the Roadhouse
set). Mandi and Drew were also on form and the whole thing wouldn’t work
if Bill and Rog didn’t do such a good job with the PA/backline.It was another mega crowded night, but I managed to fit nearly everybody
on.

Lawrence was on fire, the Pete Bedford band rocked and for once we had plenty
of bass players, including the excellent Foxy. Lewis had a whole lot of
ladies dancing on his version of Boys of Summer.

At least one more jam to come before the closure at the Woodman for re-furbishment 08/10/2006 Gary Digiblues/Crawdday Club ‘“ Hospice Charity Festival
-1/10/06 Great to play for a good cause and well done to Paul, Ashwyn
and both the Crawdaddy and Digital Blues teams for running this great charity
festival to benefit a children’s Hospice.After aching like hell throughout our performsnce and East Harling with
my nuisance muscle disease (advanced FMS ‘“ look it up if you’ve too much
time on your hands!) tonight I was blessed with an ache free performance.

It was great to have Suzie.D back and she and Mandie sang really well together.

The hour and 10 minute set, as we topped/closed the festival, flashed buy.

There was a great pa and sound and I think the Band played really well.

Thanks to all you great Essex music lovers who came out and supported such
a good cause, as well as live music.

As so many of you said, see you at Skeggy.

Gary 08/10/2006 Gary East Harling Social Club ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 30/9/07 Back at the very friendly East Harling social club for our
3rd appearance.First time there ws a big crowd, but same as last time there was only about
35 people in the music room. However, what a great, frieindly crowd. It
was like playing to 3 times that number and so many friends and local musicians
who we just love to catch up with.

The second set was a lonnnnnng one, and really came to life as we had some
fun. Drew was on his Howling Wolf thang, Mandie was Mustang Sally and I
found it a bit windy on All Along the Watchtower.

A good night in all’¦. nice to meet Sandy the new Music lady at Easy Harling

On the way home we stopped for our ritual late night row with the staff
at (any ) Wild Bean Cafe, but this time they actually agreed to serve us,
we were gutted,

Gary 05/10/2006 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 28/9/06 Another great crowd and jam at the Woodman.Building on her performance at GJ’s, Billi Shaw was back in Roadhouse and
delivered along with Mandie Slip Away, Sacrifice and a unplugged version
of the classic song she wrote with me on the Blues Highway album, Dark Rain’¦.
Both girls looked amazing (I’m too old to notice that myself, but quite
a few people told me!)

Choice performances from Jimmy Dublin and Danny.G and it was great to have
The Atlantic Soul Machine band playing ‘“ a great set. Wecome back John O’Leary
and it was superb to see/hear Alan Vincent on the guitar again.

Terry Brennan and Syd gave us an iconic ending to the night ‘“ 2 more jams
before the Woodman closes for a refurb

Gary 01/10/2006 Gary BBs Blues Club at GJ’s ‘“ Colliers Wood ‘“ 24/9/06 A better than usual crowd at Bob Brunnings intimate little
blues club. This night was propped up by some great guest appearances from
Lol Sandford, Danny.G, and US John and Mark Havard on bass (lets not forget
Drew playing drums ‘“ who could?). They did a nice little set in the break
which featured the great Julianne Shaw on vocals.Julianne then did 2 great songs ith Roadhouse, singing with Mandie.G on
Telling Lies and Slip Away.

Top event of the night was the appearance of Roadhouse legend Billi Shaw
of Blues Highway fame. Billi was in great voice and helped deliver a storming
Voddoo Queen and Preacher Man finale. Her and Mandie’s voices dovetailing
nicely ‘“ a good night

Gary 01/10/2006 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 21/9/06 A hot September night and the crowd was inititally a bit
lower than usual.So we extended the Roadhouse set until some musicians pitched up. I’d been
feeling very ill with my muscle disease for the last few days, so was strangeley
in the mood for playing and did some half decent stuff in versions of both
Backstreets and The Roadhouse Blues.

By this point the Woodman was packed out and one of the all time great jams
got into full swing.

Great sets from Lol Sandford and Julianne Shaw who was in great voice, Lawrence
& Lyndsay, Mark Freeman, Pet Bedford band with Danny. G.

at the end of the night Jimmy Dublin joined Kota, Roger and I, in an overkill
version of Watchtower, as requested by some of the folk who caught the big
show at Merton Abbey Mills.

Syd and his banjo played us off into the night ‘“ a classic

See ya next week

Gary 22/09/2006 Gary Wingate & East Finchley FC ‘“ 17/9/06 Pete Feenstra’s North London venue had not been functioning
for recent months due to the World Cup and summer holidays.As a consequence the crowd was very thin on the ground.

But we saw some great old friends and supporters.

Ian Cook presented me with an all time great gurning shot (large colour
print) of me in a state of typical extreme ugliness.

2 good sets (especailly the second one), with this venue showing enough
potential to suggest it will be in full swing and well worth playing before
the end of the year.

Gary 22/09/2006 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbldon Park ‘“ 14/9/06 Just Mandie on female vocal duties, but she did great with
a sensitive rendition of Stormy Monday. Drew was connecting well with my
ESP (which he has on extended loan while his Strat is being overhauled)
– great solos on Devils Highway and his spirited rendition of ‘˜Howlin for
my Darlin’, followed.Another busy jam then commenced and my pick of the sets was Danny Gwillim
and Lawrence in a 2 guitar blast session and then Pete Bedford’s Band ‘˜s
rendition of Won’t Get Fooled Again. This with Pete’s son Ryan to the fore
on keyboards.

Here’s to next week,

Gary 21/09/2006 Gary Private Party ‘“ Tring ‘“ 9/9/06 Weird to do a private party ‘“ after all who wants songs about
dark visions, death, depression and voodoo highway women at their Birthday
party??, well Mark did ‘“ what a gentlemanThe Band set up in their purpose built marquee and though we froze off our
proverbials, on a strangely cool September night, we were looked after a
treat.

Two sets to a cold but very nice crowd of people, a very nice sit down dinner
and loads of bottles of Oyster Bay.

CD sales were brisk ‘“ Thanks Mark and all for being such a great bunch of
music lovers

Gary 19/09/2006 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 31/8/06 From 3 super sized festivals back to the Jam. The good crowds
continued as there was a stunning turnout of both musicians and music lovers.A really good jam’¦.

Thanks to all for the great support

Gary 19/09/2006 Gary COLNE NATIONAL R&B FESTIVAL ‘“ SUN 27TH August Well onto Headlining on Colne’s largest stage (The British
stage, usually known appropriately as The Super Roadhouse stage).It was great to see all our colleagues from our record company Blues Matters
(including Mr Pearce himself).

The trouble with headlining was that as we hit the stage at 11pm the crowd
had been partying all day and had thinned out a llitle.

Still there was well over the thousand there, as we did a high energy set
which went down a storm and has already achieved some great reviews.

At the end of our set I featured a short jam involving members of other
Blues Matters Bands, The Brew and the Roach Twins were both heavily involved.
Some great vocals from Mandie & Fiona and then finally Drew Barron himsef
(that cool Canadian crooner) finshed a very succesful day ‘“ next years already
in the book ‘“ Gary 19/09/2006 Gary Friday 25th August ‘“ Merton Abbey Mills Blues
Festival Well to Bob Brunning’s and South London’s own Blues Festival.
this was the bands 4th year here in succession and an all round record night.Usually on the Friday there are 3 Bands and we headline, but tonight we
were given the whole night. to ourselves Out in the open air (great for
bringing the kids) , under the bandstand with Brians great PA, a massive,
record breaking crowd of over 1,200 saw a classic Roadhouse performance.

A blistering set of all our classics with best new songs form Brkoen Land
we wll and trult rocked the riverbank.

Mandie and Fiona were on great form, particularly the Big Easy (Fiona) and
Knocking on Heavens Door .

Cd sales were great ‘“ here’s to next year.

Gary 13/09/2006 Gary Friday 25th August ‘“ Merton Abbey Mills Blues
Festival Well to Bob Brunning’s and South London’s own Blues Festival.
this was the bands 4th year here in succession and an all round record night.Usually on the Friday there are 3 Bands and we headline, but tonight we
were given the whole night. to ourselves Out in the open air (great for
bringing the kids) , under the bandstand with Brians great PA, a massive,
record breaking crowd of over 1,200 saw a classic Roadhouse performance.

A blistering set of all our classics with best new songs form Brkoen Land
we wll and trult rocked the riverbank.

Mandie and Fiona were on great form, particularly the Big Easy (Fiona) and
Knocking on Heavens Door .

Cd sales were great ‘“ here’s to next year.

Gary 13/09/2006 Gary Friday 25th August ‘“ Merton Abbey Mills Blues
Festival Well to Bob Brunning’s and South London’s own Blues Festival.
this was the bands 4th year here in succession and an all round record night.Usually on the Friday there are 3 Bands and we headline, but tonight we
were given the whole night. to ourselves Out in the open air (great for
bringing the kids) , under the bandstand with Brians great PA, a massive,
record breaking crowd of over 1,200 saw a classic Roadhouse performance.

A blistering set of all our classics with best new songs form Brkoen Land
we wll and trult rocked the riverbank.

Mandie and Fiona were on great form, particularly the Big Easy (Fiona) and
Knocking on Heavens Door .

Cd sales were great ‘“ here’s to next year.

Gary 13/09/2006 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 24/8/06 Another very busy night at the Woody. I was under pressure
to get everyone on stage, but in the end the packed house loved it (and
I was left with a giant head ache )Keep the head aches coming -support live music

Gary 13/09/2006 Gary CAMRA Beer Festival ‘“ Peterborough ‘“ 23/8/06 Well a difficult journey for all to the World’s biggest tent
(or seemed that way to me)There was an awesome stage and Jules Holland’s sound man with wondeful PA
on duty.

There was about 3,000 people in the 3 tents, but the audience on trade night
was transient, checking out the band for a while then back to one of the
hundreds of bars.

Mandie and Fiona were on vocals and depping on guitar it was great to have
Jules Fothergill back with us. The band put on a really good big stage show
and got one of the best reactions from a trade night crowd at this festival.

Jules did an excellent job and by the end of the night the talk was of having
us back for a Friday or Saturday next year for a crowd of 5,0000.

Bring it on (thanks to Harry Morton)

Gary 27/08/2006 Gary Banham Barrel ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 19/8/06 A small initial crowd and pa problems made the first set
a little tentative.The guitar trade off in Rock Me was good, but the crowd
and Suzie and I struggled to hear the vocals.Bill and Roger did some adjusting in the break and we opened with a sizzling
Stormy Monday, with Suzie loud and proud. She sounded great.

The crowd filled up a bit to about the 55 mark and it was a truly great
high energy set and for once my guitar playing was really on form.

A really good Roadhouse performance

A brilliant crowd who really got behind us.

A big thanks to Jonty and all his staff, we’ll be back next year (I hope)

Gary 27/08/2006 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ 17/8/06 The Jam resumed after the annual Band holiday.I personally had gone with wife and kids to Spain. Those of you who know
that I have been bettling against a neurological/muscle/tendon condition
over the past 4 years, will know that it getting more of struggle. In Spain
the illness made serious in-roads into my lower back and hips, so I was
worried that I wouldn’t be able to perform to standard on this first (and
future) gig/gigs

At the end of the day it was a great jam ‘“ Suzie sung well on her own with
us for the first time and though I wasn’t on great form it was more through
‘˜ring rustiness’ as I manged to beat off the new level of pain.

There was loads of great musicians there and it was a really good night.

A big thanks to everyone for their support

Gary 27/08/2006 Gary Charlies In The City ‘“ London ‘“ 25/7/06 Well you have to feel sorry for the promoters including my
good freind Grodon ‘˜Geordie’ Carlyle. they needed over100 people to break
even at this nice air conditioned (effective against the heatwave venue)
and the 40 odd people in the room didn’t come close.We played well enough and some great on stage banter and some guitar and
vocal magic sent the crowd home very happy.

So why so few people???, the holidays, the heatwave, the backlash from the
World Cup, the stiff door fee ‘“ who knows -Does the UKstill need quality
live music ‘“ I don’t know the answer ‘“ a night for reflection

Gary 27/08/2006 Gary The Coach & Horses ‘“ Isleworth ‘“ 21/7/06 This one goes in the record books as the hottest ever gig
(from a tempreature perspective unfortunately).About 15 people in the garden and 18 in the pub saw a pretty good performance
with Suzie.D doing her first ever ‘˜solo’ spot with the Band.

She did a great job, nailing Stormy Monday, Help Me and The Big Easy’¦

With the doors and windows closed for sound insulation, tempreatures rocketed
into the 100’²s. Still at least we lost weight,

Gary 24/07/2006 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 20/7/06 The heat wave made us think this was bound to be a quiet
one ‘“ think again ‘“ it was wedged out. both in the gardens and the pub itself.One of the best ever Woodman Jams, takes us into a 4 week break for the
Roadhouse annual band holiday.

In the meantime the next 3 Thursdays will see live sessions from (in order):

– Geronimo

– The Pete Bedford Band

– The Robin Bibi Band

then the jam returns.

There were too many great sessions to mention, but a wonderful job from
all present with some truly great performances.

Well done to all and see you on the 17th August,

Gary 24/07/2006 6/7/06 The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon – A late start caused by early low attendance, created a musical
traffic jam later in this busy but bright evening.Devils Highway was given a dusting down to comemerate the launch of Chris
Berthelemy’s beautifully compiled Roadhouse double CD compilations. Drew
turned in a great solo..

Sacrifice and Broken Land both kicked, but due to my early crap solo on
Devil’s, I needed the good trade off with Drew on Rock Me Baby to at least
partially redeem myself. Other than on Devils Highway, Mandi and Suzi sounded
great’¦

To many great performances on the night to mention, though Danny.G and Jim
Dublin probably stole the show and it was great to see John O’Leary back.

Apologies to all those who either didn’t get to perfreom or only got one
number. I’ll make it up to you ‘“ promise

Gary 16/07/2006 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon -22/6/06 Bearing in mind the World Cup and that Brazil were playing
it was a pretty good showing at the Woodman last night.
We brought ‘œGet off My Land’ back from the dead and for a first outing it
went well (other than one dodgy chord change and the wrong guitar tone on
my amp during the hoedown section). It was one of our Regular’s named Bob’s
birthday, his ambition was to sing backing with the girls on White Water
and so he did ‘“ well done mate!.Mandie and Suzie were on top form and did a great job also singing with
young guitar toters Alex and Lyndsay.

At the end of the night Mandie and I got to sing backing on Sweet Home Alabama
with Pete Bedford, so Jim fixed it for me.

See ya in 2 weeks,

Gary 23/06/2006 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 22/6/06 Bearing in mind the World Cup and that Brazil were playing
it was a pretty good showing at the Woodman last night.
We brought ‘œGet off My Land’ back from the dead and for a frist outing other
than one dodgy chord change and the wrong guitar tone on my amp during the
hoedown section, it went well. It was one of our Regular’s named Bob birthday,
his ambition to sing backing with the girls on White Water and so he did
– well done mate.Mandie and Suzie were on top form and did a great job also singing with
young guitar toters Alex and Lyndsay.

At the end of the night Mandie and I got to sing backing on Sweet Home Alabama
with Pete Bedford, so Jim fixed it for me.

See ya in 2 weeks,

Gary 23/06/2006 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ 8/6/06 A very hot night drove many people outside and though the
overall attendance was bigger than usual, the conservatory was a bit empty
dtracting from the atmosphere.Nice to see Andrew Heart back with Jim Dublin, plus a nice set for John
O’Leary and Pete Bedford.

Young Alex on the guitar is getting better and better, but Mandie and Suzie
our very own ‘˜Roadettes’, stole the show for me.

No jam for 2 weeks cos of the World Cup, see you then,

Gary 12/06/2006 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ 1/6/06 And the good times roll on at the Woodman with another top
notch jam.Nice to see Jules back in Bass playing garb and Lorna just chilling and
enjoying the vibe.

Fiona was on good voice and it was another night for young talent with over
7 guitar players under 25.

No let up in the great crowds, roll on next week

Gary 12/06/2006 Gary Stevenage Mayfest ‘“ 28/5/06 Brilliant to be back after a 3 year break at the Mayfest.A major thank you to Trevor Keeling and Richard, John and the whole Mayfest
team for being a part of this brilliantly organised major festival.

When we turned up weekend rain had turned the site into a bog and Bill and
the equipment van had to be towed a quarter of a mile to the main stage.
Once there a nice quick set up from the very competent pa team, left us
with time to visit the hospitality tent and get in the required ‘œRock and
Roll mode’ before hitting the stage.

The one hour set went by in a blur’ Suzie did a great job on The Big
Easy, Mandy lunged it out on Heavens Door and it was great to watch big
sections of the crowd sing along to new songs like White Water & Sacrifice.
The new singalong section on Voodoo Queen made up for me leaping to the
dance floor on Telling Lies and then finding myself stuck there (stage too
high ‘“ Mandie nearly got a hernia lifting me back on!).

Mandie and Suzie’s James Bond style gun toting dancing on Drew’s Mission
Imposible excursion, was brilliant (and very funny)

A great Preacher man topped off afine set and a great audience re-action.
So many old freinds, including Tracey Knight and loads of guys from both
Butlins and Charlie’s in the city.

It was also grat to see Anne Campbell our ex singer/Manager for the first
time in ages. Anne took some great shots of the band and we hope to get
them on the Website soon.

A good one ‘“ Gary 05/06/2006 Gary Stevenage Mayfest ‘“ 28/5/06 Brilliant to be back after a 3 year break at the Mayfest.A major thank you to Trevor Keeling and Richard, John and the whole Mayfest
team for being a part of this brilliantly organised major festival.

When we turned up weekend rain had turned the site into a bog and Bill and
the equipment van had to be towed a quarter of a mile to the main stage.
Once there a nice quick set up from the very competent pa team, left us
with time to visit the hospitality tent and get in the required ‘œRock and
Roll mode’ before hitting the stage.

The one hour set went by in a blur’ Suzie did a great job on The Big
Easy, Mandy lunged it out on Heavens Door and it was great to watch big
sections of the crowd sing along to new songs like White Water & Sacrifice.
The new singalong section on Voodoo Queen made up for me leaping to the
dance floor on Telling Lies and then finding myself stuck there (stage too
high ‘“ Mandie nearly got a hernia lifting me back on!).

Mandie and Suzie’s James Bond style gun toting dancing on Drew’s Mission
Imposible excursion, was brilliant (and very funny)

A great Preacher man topped off afine set and a great audience re-action.
So many old freinds, including Tracey Knight and loads of guys from both
Butlins and Charlie’s in the city.

It was also grat to see Anne Campbell our ex singer/Manager for the first
time in ages. Anne took some great shots of the band and we hope to get
them on the Website soon.

A good one ‘“ Gary 05/06/2006 Gary Coach & Horses ‘“ Isleworth ‘“ 27/5/06 A hot bank holiday night in this intimate little venue, developed
into a good crowd by the break.Mandie and Suzie were in good voice and the late influx of Roadhouse supporters
lifted the second set into top quality rocking. Roadhouse Blues and Telling
Lies really kicked arse. The double encore including a storming Preacher
Man was a great warm up for Sunday’s Mega Mayfest.

Gary 05/06/2006 Gary Jack Beards ‘“ Tooting ‘“ Live DVD Recording –
20/5/06 Well the bad news was the poorish turnout with about mid
30’²s paying and 10 or so guestsAll the rest was good news as the crowd were real freinds and some of our
greatest supporters and they made enough noise for 100 people.

Roger (Ridley Scott) Hunt had arranged 3 cameras (big thanks to Richard
and Marianne for operating) and the DVD should be edited and ready/available
within 2 months, with a live CD of the night being more readily available
within the next few weeks.

As at the launch gig we had all 3 of our great lady singers present and
used them in rotation. Fiona, Mandi and Suzi were all on top form and the
Band played a blinder.

Favourite for me was the crowd singalong at the end of Voodoo Queen.

Thanks to Pete Feenstra and John O’Leary and Les on the PA, a historic night
– we’ll let you know ehn the DVD is ready

Gary 22/05/2006 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 18/5/06 Another packed night at the Woody. we played broken Land
again and Fiona was on form with the Big Easy.Nice to play Wtchtower with Saiichi Sugiyama again.

The highlight was Danny.G with his Dicky bow height semi acoustic playing
with Charlie (spin it gain Dan).

Highlight for me was the great set from young Lwrence nd Alex -superb guitar
playing at an ege where I couldn’t even work out how to get one out of a
box.

A great night, roll on next week and Saturdays live DVD recording at Jack
Beards in Tooting

Gary 19/05/2006 Gary The King of Diamonds ‘“ Shirebrook/Mansfield
– 7/5/06 We’d heard great things about this venue and they turned
out to be true.We arrived to an excellent meal (good pub fayre) ‘“ well done to Dave and
his staff.

2 great sets to a 60 strong responsive crowd, including the first outing
for a while for title track, Broken Land. a great re-action, 3 encores and
a planned return on the 2nd December.

Great to see groups travelling from Notingham and other good distances to
catch the show ‘“ many thanks

Also thanks to Les and Alan Fish for making it happen ‘“ roll on December

Gary 19/05/2006 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 4/5/06 Ladies night in the Roadhouse set as Fiona, Mandie and Suzie
took all the lead vocals. A great version of Heavens Door was my personal
highlight.More superb young talent on display, as young Alex (what a talent ) and
Lyndsay blasted out a great set on guitars with the Crooner from Vancouver
(aka Drew on lead vocals) .A great duet with Fiona on Dust My Broom followed
– brilliant!

Good to see a nice set from Syd on the Banjo and both Mark and Foxy back
on the Bass as well as Awesome Tony on the drums

No jam next week due to hols, see you on the 18th

Gary 06/05/2006 Gary The Shed ‘“ Norwich ‘“ 29/4/06 A mixed night in truth.Plusses were the large crowd, Suzie’s vocal performance and the number of
CD’s sold..(Broken Land has now sold 86 copies at gigs).

Negatives were that we set the volume trip off 4 times, as the background
noise of the large crowd made it hard to get a reasonable playing volume.
Consquently everytime we got into something with real emotion, the music
tripped off.

Also Drew did the whole thing on his acoustic and this produced some real
highs but other songs were very different to normal (maybe a good thing?)

Best thing was we got to play Mexican Nights with Drew’s great guitar and
Mandie’s classic Mexican Eartha Kitt impersonation. The song was just rocking
into the bridge when the volume tripped out (it was that kind of night –
a bad connection in my peddle board added to the fun).

Never mind nice to see Ryan and some good old and new friends

Gary 04/05/2006 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Pk -27/4/06 Following the great launch we all expected a quiet jam. But
no it was another cracker.Mandie & Suzie were superb in the Roadhouse set and the jam featured a great
range of new, young talent, including 4 guitar players under 18 and a good
drummer.

Here’s to next weeks session

Gary 01/05/2006 Gary The Boom Boom Club ‘“ Sutton FC ‘“ 23/4/06 So to our long awaited Broken Land CD Launch Party.I’d gone public and said that if we didn’t have a good crowd I’d consider
winding the band up. At about 8.15 with around 60 people in the room that
was looking a likely scenario. However, by the time Roadhouse went on at
8.50 there was a great crowd. So many old friends, so many people who have
stuck by the band through all the changes. I feel both very grateful and
humble for that amount of support on our home patch ‘“ thank you to all.

Support was from some of our top jammers from the Woodman including Danny.G,
Lol Sandford, Roadhouse percussion player Frank Dymore, Geronimno, Tim Havard
and Pete Bedford. These guys gave us a great opening set. Special thankjs
to Blues Legend and our great friend John O’Leary who fronted the whole
support performance.

Pete Sargeant introduced the Band on behalf of Blues Matters and even the
public jibes re: Chelsea’s FA cup defeat could not take the gloss of the
night for me (Bill’s busy blowing bubbles).

Pete came on to join us for a bit of harp magic on Help Me.

We had our 3 lady’s in tandem and Swiss Fred on sax (great playing). The
long set blurred by and we nearly ran out of time for the encore. However,
we managed to slip in a truncated Preacher Man, which rounded the night
off nicely.

The band played great and it was Suzie.D’s first proper gig with us, she
was superb.

For the records the set was:

– White Water

– Blues Highway

– The Last Train Home

– The Big Easy (Fiona was

on form)

– No Place To Hide

– Sacrifice

– Help Me

– Heavens Door (Mandie

rocks)

– Slip Away

– Watchtower

– Tellin Lies

– Voodoo Queen

– Preacher Man

Thanks to Vaughan Oliver for both the great CD cover/artwork and a pint
of guinness, Pete Feenstra and George McFall for making the night possible
(where would the London scene be without those guys)?, all at Sutton FC
and magic Mikey the PA man.

Onto Jack Beards in Tooting for the next launch gig on the 20th May where
we intend to MAKE THE ROADHOUSE DVD ‘“ SEE YOU THERE!

Gary 24/04/2006 Gary The Boom Boom Club ‘“ Sutton FC ‘“ 23/4/06 So to our long awaited Broken Land CD Launch Party.I’d gone public and said that if we didn’t have a good crowd I’d consider
winding the band up. At about 8.15 with around 60 people in the room that
was looking a likely scenario. However, by the time Roadhouse went on at
8.50 there was a great crowd. So many old friends, so many people who have
stuck by the band through all the changes. I feel both very grateful and
humble for that amount of support on our home patch ‘“ thank you to all.

Support was from some of our top jammers from the Woodman including Danny.G,
Lol Sandford, Roadhouse percussion player Frank Dymore, Geronimno, Tim Havard
and Pete Bedford. These guys gave us a great opening set.

Pete Sargeant introduced the Band on behalf of Blues Matters and even the
public jibes re: Chelsea’s FA cup defeat could not take the gloss of the
night for me (Bill’s busy blowing bubbles).

Pete came on to join us for a bit of harp magic on Help Me.

We had our 3 lady’s in tandem and Swiss Fred on sax (great playing). The
long set blurred by and we nearly ran out of time for the encore. However,
we managed to slip in a truncated Preacher Man, which rounded the night
off nicely.

The band played great and it was Suzie.D’s first proper gig with us, she
was superb.

For the records the set was:

– White Water

– Blues Highway

– The Last Train Home

– The Big Easy (Fiona was

on form)

– No Place To Hide

– Sacrifice

– Help Me

– Heavens Door (Mandie

rocks)

– Slip Away

– Watchtower

– Tellin Lies

– Voodoo Queen

– Preacher Man

Thanks to Vaughan Oliver for both the great CD cover/artwork and a pint
of guinness, Pete Feenstra and George McFall for making the night possible
(where would the London scene be without those guys)?, all at Sutton FC
and magic Mikey the PA man.

Onto Jack Beards in Tooting for the next launch gig on the 20th May where
we intend to MAKE THE ROADHOUSE DVD ‘“ SEE YOU THERE!

Gary 24/04/2006 The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park 20/4/06 A quieter night at the Woody as all await Sundays mega CD
Launch Party gig at the Boom Boom Club, Sutton FC.Roadhouse kicked off with a rare outing for Backstreets, then onto the new
CD for Fiona blasting out The Big Easy and then a good version of The Last
Train Home.

It was young player night with 2 young (under 18) duos and a great young
guitar player called Alex. Good sets from John O’Leary playing with Drew
and Jules Fothergill (who was in cool ace of bass mode ‘“ and acting like
Gary in the movie Team America). Followed by Geronimo and a good close from
Pete Bedford & Friends

– All onto Sutton on Sunday for the PARTY !!!

Gary 21/04/2006 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ 13/4/06 The Easter jam at the ‘˜Woody’ was an all time classic.A packed house saw the return of Suzie.D, as she superbly augmented Mandie
producing a wall of sound on Slip Away, Preacher Man and Telling Lies. She
was then assisted by my Daughter Rhiannon on Voodoo Queen. All the girls
sounded great (Rhiannon at the ripe old age of 15, was excellent).

Next Syd was up for some ace Banjo plucking, then Anne was joined by the
best sax player I’ve seen for years, James (ex Stevie Wonder Band ).

James ended up doing another 4 sets as per public demand/request.

Pete Bedford had the all time record anount of people on the stage with
5 vocalists alone at one point. Mandie did a brill Too Hot To Handle and
John O’Leary’s set was great with Danny.G and Lol Sandford excelling on
the guitar.

A big crowd and one of the all time top nights at the Woodman.

See ya next week

Gary 14/04/2006 Gary The Hope Tavern ‘“ Lincoln ‘“ 9/4/06 We turned up for the excellent Sunday lunch served by Colin
and his team.Then we watched transfixed as this nice Country pub was turned into an excellent
Blues Club, with stage, back drop, lights etc.

After some recent dissapointing attendances particulary in London, it was
great and very affiirming to play to a fantastic crowd.

It was wedged out and with great music lovers, many of whom have been Roadhouse
fans for years (great to see Ray & Nicky among so many old friends).

A great performance, 2 encores and the the fact we cracked Fiona up while
she was mid song, all added up to a great gig to remember.

There was a universal agreement that this was the best version of Roadhouse
yet and we shifted nearly £250 worth of CD’s

We are looking forward to coming back next year,

Sales of Broken Land now stand at 33 (but whose counting) ‘“ Gary 14/04/2006 Gary The Hope Tavern ‘“ Lincoln ‘“ 9/4/06 We turned up for the excellent Sunday lunch served by Colin
and his team.the we watched tranfixed as this nice Country pub was turned into an excellent
Blues Club, with stage, back drop, lights etc.

After some recent disspointing attendances particulary in London, it was
great and very affiirming to play to a fantastic crowd.

It was wedged out and with great music lovers, many of whom have been Roadhouse
fans for years (great to see Ray & Nicky among so many old friends).

A great performance, 2 encores and the the fact we cracked Fiona up while
she was mid song, all added up to a great gig to remember.

There was a universal agreement tht this was the best version of Roadhouse
yet and we shifted nearly £250 worth of CD’s

We are looking forward to coming back next year,

Sales of Broken Land now stand at 33 (but whose counting) ‘“ Gary 14/04/2006 Gary Charters Bar ‘“ Blues on the Boat ‘“ Peterborough
– 8/4/06 A good night at Charters. Well fed on the in house restaurants
crispy duck, we were lifted by some nifty new positioning of the PA by Drew
and Bill.A bigger crowd than usual at this late night venue responded very well to
tracks from the new CD and a selection of old faves.

Mandie and Fiona did great and the audience and management gave good support,
as they encountered the full new line up for the first time.

This gig will go down in history as the night we sold the first copy of
‘˜Broken Land’

With pre-orders at 5, the sales score stands at 6 copies sold so far.

Wembley arena awaits’

Gary 12/04/2006 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 6/4/06 An excellent night at the Woodman.Pumped up by the arrival of out new CD, Broken Land, Roadhouse played a
great opening featuring Fiona, Mandie and my 15 year old daughter Rhiannon
(Fatherly pride and all that).

Later Mandie sung Heavens Door and Fiona Stormy Monday both with the excellent
Danny Gwillim on guitar.

Drew played some cool bass on the night and it was nice to see the return
of Syd and his acclaimed banjo.

A good crowd and a high standard of playing, well done to all.

Gary 12/04/2006 Gary Mr Jacks R&B Club ‘“ Orpington ‘“ 4/4/06 A Tuesday night at Pete Feenstra’s new venue in Orpington.The venue is a bit modern cafe bar but shows potential with quite good acoustics.

A mixture of local characters and music lovers made up a patchy/not bad
crowd. Still had me thinking that with this degree of apathy in turnout
and my health issues, will this be Roadhouse’s last year?

The great Mr John O’Leary was there with his lights and considerable talent,
adding great harp to 3 numbers.

We only had one of our lovely lady singers but Mandie did a fine job.

The second set was particularly good, with some good banter and on stage
impro. This goes in the record book as the longest delay before an encore,
as we had all sat down and ordered drinks before staff and punters decided
we wern’t going anywhere without just one more’..well if we must

Gary 12/04/2006 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park -30/3/06 A good night at the Woodman, crowd figures were up and everyone
played well and had a good time.Now the Woodman has a midnight license it’s great to socialise in the hour
after the music finishes.

Gary 12/04/2006 Gary Walkern Music Club ‘“ Stevenage ‘“ 25/3/06 A night of mixed emotions and outcomesWe’d hoped to launch the new CD, but printing delays and coputer art work
compatibility, means we are still probebly at least 10 days away from receipt
of the new, already critically acclaimed disc.

A slow drive through a rain sodden London. I was a passenger in Roger’s
‘˜Mr Angry’ 4 wheel drive beast along with flu infested Roger and Mandi.
So I can look forward to another layer of suffering on top of my current
muscle disease, as their germs vie for who’s going to nuke me first.

On arrival it was great to welcome Drew (his new limp is quite rythmic)
back from hospital and into the Band.

A nice set up with the excellent and very loud pa guys par excellence and
then off for a Chinese with Drew and Fiona. There I got further depressed
by dialogue about record and publishing deals and the whole mush of keeping
Roadhouse alive in the currently depressed UK music scene (if MY current
depression contnues much longer we might even get a new song out of it).

I then got a nice text from Anne Campbell wishing all her old colleagues
well, which was jolly decent of her. As we arrived back at Walkern my heart
sank to find the venue nearly deserted (all bar 18 punters).

We’ve never failed to pull a really good crowd here and my heart went out
to Mike and Richard, the promoters who work their socks off to keep this
nice club alive.

Mind you it was great to see Trev ‘˜The man in the Hat’ as we sorted out
arrangements for our appearance at the mega Stevenage, Mayfest Festival
on the 28th May.

As we got on stage a sudden influx of punters lifted the crowd into the
30’²s.

What a nice crowd and the Band played a blinder. The audience were dancing
most of the night and it ended with a blinding Preacher Man encore. All
the usual feedback stuff, greatest ever Roadhouse, one of the greatest ever
Walkern gigs (so where were the people ???)

13 year old David got up and joined Drew for a great performance/number
on my Strat in the second (I didn’t know what a Strat was when I was 13
– some people might say I still don’t)’¦

Nice advance orders of the new CD and well done to Mandi & Roger for not
passing out on stage as their respective fevers added to the heat generated
by the lighting.

So a special thanks to all the great people there. I will be assessing over
the next few months via attedances, just how much people are willing to
support the Band ‘”- We shall see what the future holds

Gary 26/03/2006 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 23/3/06 Another great night at the Woody. Roadhouse were blessed
with extra girl power as new vocalist Suzie.D joined Fiona and Mandie to
great effect.We had a nice, chilled, mid -section of the Jam with Lol Sandford playing
some acoustice guitar to some jazzy vamping from Lelani and then Mandi and
Suzi once more doing the vocal only thang. Drew was back up with Fiona and
Danny.G and I played with the excellent Mr O’Leary, though I couldn’t find
last weeks maigc touch in this set.

Geronimo featured sax and harp and second guitar as he played his last set
before Easter as he’s back home to Spain.

Terry Brennan, resplendant in a new pair of boots, fashionably finished
off another great evening. Good to see the Tom Anfield Band back.

Here’s to next week

Gary 26/03/2006 Gary The Running Horse ‘“ Nottingham ‘“ 18/3/06 Not a bad crowd in the end as the Runner goes into it’s last
few weeks of trading.We were fearful when it was quiet early on but though the crowd only got
to the 40 plus stage they were brilliantly receptive.

Second night running for Mr O’Sullivan and he gurned alongside me as we
slugged it out in a blaze of high gain (and camped up guitar playing glory).

A great Watchtower was augmented by a tremendous guitar duel in Rock Me
Baby, where ‘˜Ceaser’ had the nerve to out tap me. So I had to produce a
killer decending open D string line over some G string riffing grandeur
and for 30 seconds it was a case of ‘˜Et Tu Ceaser’, but the bugger came
back at me.

In the second set Fiona sung a great Stormy Monday and in the end the crowd
just wouldn’t let us away, as Tim shredded his way through Preacher Man
and blues cruised up a Fiona led Serve U Right 2 Suffer.

Thanks to all for the mass CD buying frenzy at the end of the night ‘“ we’ll
be back at Barry’s new venue in about 6 months time.

Good to see Barrry, David and laods of old friends, including the DVD film
crew ‘“ looking forward to studying the guitsar gurning in slow motion

Gary 19/03/2006 Gary The Banham Barrel ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 17/3/06 A long haul against the Friday night traffic to this excellent
venue opposite Banham Zoo,Jonty is a great host and the crowd are really warm and appreciative. In
Drew’s continued absence we were brilliantly augmented by Tim O’Sullivan
on guitar and Fred (Swiss Sax Supremo Scmidt).

Fiona was also on fine form and the Band played a great couple of sets.
Fred went into overdrive on Slip Away and Tim’s playing on Voodoo Queen
and Telling Lies was a revelation

Great to see the lads up from East Harding and people driving down from
Norwich to see us ‘“ thanks for your friendship and support.

We’ll be back with the new CD

Gary 19/03/2006 Gary Woodamn Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 16/3/06 One of the finest ever musical jams in the history of the
Woodman.First in the Roadhouse set we introduced the world to our new singer Suzie.
She did a great job on Blues Highway, Slip Away, Heaven’s Door and White
Water. Later Suzi and Mandi brought the house down with a great vocal only
version of Just Like A Natural Woman. Great talent and she’s only 18 (and
stunning -still I can’t be the only great looking person in the band forever).
Danny Gwillim did his first ever turn in the House Band and played a blinder.

The rest of the night had a really chilled feel, with a great Moondance
from Pete Bedford and Crew, and more jazz/blues orientation from Lelani
and Lol Sandford.

I got up and played with John O’Leary and some great solos stuff waere produced
in that set. Finally Masachi powered us out into the night with some blistering
guitar work.

Tell the world about the Woody now being open till midnight on a Thursday,
come on down’¦

Gary 19/03/2006 Gary Tring Blues Festival ‘“ Pendley Theatre ‘“ 11/3/06 On to Derek White of Storm Warning’s excellently run festival.Again we were without Drew due to injury, but were joined by the majestic
Fred Scmidt on the Sax and Danny Gwillim on the guitar.

Only 40 mins on the big stage to the packed house and it flew by’¦

White Water, Slip Away, Blues Highway, Help Me, Voodoo Queen and Telling
Lies. All well received by a nice crowd with great resulting CD sales.

We were followed by French Band ‘˜Big Des’ (good singer) and the accliamed
Paul Lamb and the Kingsnakes.

It was nice to share a dressing room with the legendary Mr Del Bromham of
stray fame, who was playing some excellent semi acousitc side stage blues
between acts (nice guy and an old hero of Bill and I’s).

Danny and Fred did great and we all wish Drew a speedy recovery 17/03/2006 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 9/3/06 In Drew, Mandie and Fiona’s absence it was great to see Jules
& Lorna back in the house band. It was good to play I Couldn’t Get to Sleep
again and Sacrifice burned along nicely. They chose to ‘˜wing’ a new song
and jammed a along with The Last Train home pretty effecively. Aa good fun
opening set it brought back a lot of great memories.
The jam itself was quieter than usual, following last weeks epic birthday
bash.
However the music was of a great quality. A good set with Jules cobining
with John O’Leary, Andrew Heart,and Funky George Dare while Lelani and Lol
Sandford had their moments (though had a comedy car crash in Joan Osbourne’s
‘œIf God Was One of Us’ ). Good to see John on the harp 2 weeks running and
a nice set from Pete Bedford and friends. Finally Terry Brennan stalked
us into the night, well up to the bar anyway, with the Woodman’s new open
till 12 music licence.Roll on next week.

Gary 12/03/2006 Gary Coach & Horses ‘“ Isleworth ‘“ 3/3/06 Rogers birthday and a return into the line up for the excellent
Tim O’Sullivan on guitar. No Mandi, who is generally unavailable to us on
a Friday, but Fiona more than made up for it, singing 5 lead vocals including
great versions of Stormy Monday and Serve U Right to Suffer.Tim and faced off for the ‘œGurn off at the OK Coach’, as we indulged our
propensities to both be indulgent (Fiona needed a crash cart to revivie
her after our extended duel in Rock Me Baby) and pull rather fascinating
facial contortions while playing. I again won on the ugliness stakes (well
Tim is yournger and more gorgeous ‘“ apprently). He actually beat me in the
rapid muted passages this time (but don’t tell him), tapping was a draw,
and I managed to find some high end scale inspiration and for about 30 seconds
I was in the lead ‘“ damn!.

The crowd was a little thinner than usual but got to a decent level by the
end of the night. Telling Lies and Preacher man kicked butt. About 5 memebers
of the audience told me my playing ‘œWas on fire’ this night and I must confess
to having a rare hot bust of guitar form. However, my abiding memeory was
the great pleasure of playing with Tim and what a good job he did AGAIN’¦Gary 12/03/2006 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park -2/2/06 My birthday jam, or to be exact the 28th time I’d celbrated
my 21st birthday. With Roger’s birthday to follow on the next night and
Bill’s the following week, the Piscean element of the band are live and
kicking (despite Anne’s departure).I’d like to thank the droves of people who turned up for this night, what
a contrast to the quiet night at GJ’s.

Robin Bibi played in the house band while Drew was away practising self
muitlation on the ski slopes of Switzerland. Robin played great, his haunting
slide work facilitated us playing a great version of the old Roadhouse classic
Devil’s Highway. Fiona and Mandi both sang great. Highlight of the jam for
me was Robin playing with John O’Leary in a great late night blues set’¦

Lawrence also had a good young line up, 1st song was great, but by playing
a reasonable (if patchy) version of Watchtower they robbed us of the chance
of us playing our current Tour De Force

Thanks to all for making it a birthday to remember’¦

Gary 12/03/2006 Gary BB’s Blues Club at GJ’s ‘“ Colliers Wood ‘“ 28/2/06 The pathetically low trune out of 15 people plus guests was
the 3rd ever lowest Roadhouse showing in 15 years.
Seriously, if people can’t come out for us on our own patch, I ask my self
the question ‘œIs it worth it’ . Another couple of nights like this and it
won’t be.However, the band played great and the people there including legendary
club owner Bob Bruning were marveloulsy appreciative. Our 2 guest musicians
Danny Gwillim and Andrew Heart played a great couple of songs with us including
a rousing Watchtower and everyone went home saying how great it was and
where was everybody ‘“ GOOD QUESTION”¦ 10/03/2006 Gary Boom Boom Club ‘“ Sutton FC ‘“ 27/2/06 3rd time we had opened for the legendary Nine Below Zero.
The band without Fiona were well received by a good sized crowd.Made to perch on a few inches of stage by the headliners inflexibility ,we
manged to put on a damn good showing and got a great re-action from many
punters afterwards. Loads of enquiries with regard to our CD launch gig
at this prestigous venue on Sunday 23rd April (please diary it now).

White Water and Heavens Door rocked. 10/03/2006 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 25/2/06 No Fiona tonight and this gave Mandie the opportunity to
reach out on some of the new songs. The opening 4 numbers were acclaimed
as the on the best opening sets Roadhouse has ever played at the Woodman
(Drew singing Fiona’s part on a belting version of White Water)Time ran out on another good jam and my apologies for all who did not get
the opportunity to play. I’ll single out Lawrence again for a great set
and because he is developing so quickly.

It was nice to see Robin Bibi in advance of his appearance in the house
band next week. He was joined by South African Chanteuse Lelani, who is
fast becoming a part of the Woodman key group of players.

Here’s to my birthday jam next week’.. 04/03/2006 Gary Music Cafe Willem Tell ‘“ Belgium ‘“ 11/2/06 Our long awaited return to the excellent Willem Tell was
a great success. The promoter, Michel is great guy and strong Roadhouse
supporter and the hospitality was fantastic. This was the night after Endhoeven
and following a superb dinner and few gallons of red wine, we celebrated
Drew’s birthday with one of the new line up’s finest ever performances.Drew
and both Fiona and Mandie were on fire.Multiple encores meant we were stretching to find stuff to play, as the
clock ticked around to 2am. Finally fiona equalled Mandie’s earlier mass
accliamed rendition of Heavens Door with a great reading of Stormy Monday.

It was superb to see Michel and many old friends including one of my fave
journalists and photographers Steven Verhoeven.

Thanks to Bobje (and to Christine) for arranging this trip. A bigger tour
and festivals will hopefully take place later this year.

After a couple of hours sleep we were up in order to get a cheap croissing
home. Feeling dreadful, we just about managed to keep a smile on our faces
as the bus finally started to breakdown on the outskirts of Wandsworth (well
thats rock and Roll )

Gary 04/03/2006 Gary Music Cafe De Kroeg ‘“ Eindhoeven -Netherlands A entertaining journey on a rickety and leaking tour bus,
saw us retun to Eindhoeven for the first time in nearly 5 years.Amazingly enough, people turned up from the last gig we played their and
handed us a copy on DVD of our appearance at the legendary Cafe Wilhelmina
gig (thank you very much my friends).

This was a cracking little music venue and the 70 or so punters were treated
to a strong performance, partuclarly in the second set.

We’d love to thank all the great people we met there for the friendship
and help/support. Great hospitality and a nice plac. thanks Theo and Bobje,
we’ll be back. Check out the pics in the photo gallery

Gary 04/03/2006 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 2/2/06 Freezing conditions lead to a quieter jam than usual. However,
it was still a good night with a decent crowd.Julianne Shaw was the highlight joining Roadhouse to sing a killer verion
of Telling Lies before going on to sing well performing with Lol Sandford.

Roadhouse as house band gave some of the newer songs a good run through.

Highlights of the night for me were Lawrence playing his blues set with
Danny.G and Geronimo’s superb version of If I Was A Carpenter.

Bring it on next week

Gary 07/02/2006 Gary Earl Of Spencer Staff Party ‘“ Wandsworth ‘“ 30/1/06 From the big stage arena to the function room of one of London’s
finest Gastro Pubs.A private function for long time Roadhouse friend and fan John Cox and his
lovely staff.

We played some new stuff and party faves and we were well fed and ‘˜watered’.
Fiona was on top form dancing with the crowd and Drew and I for some reason
reached a higher guitar plateau than we manged at Skeggy (and it was pretty
high there).

My abiding memory will be of Watchtower morphing into an impromptu version
of Bob Marley’s Exodus, surreal’¦.and fun

Gary 07/02/2006 Gary Skegness Festival ‘“ Part Two So Sunday afternoon and onto the Centre Stage at 14.45. Jim
Diamond was on before us and had the crowd singing along (in fact it was
a bit like watching Saturday evening telly).There had been a number of tasteful low volume acts, so we decided it was
time to give the audience a bit of a change. No other stages were in action
and the safety curtain came up to reveal a crammed arena.

We blasted into No Place To Hide (appropriate, despite the enormous size
of the stage area (I tried to run over to trade licks with Drew but ran
out of wind and needed a St Bernard half way across the stage), then Sacrifice
and a Fiona feature on The Big Easy, both from the forthcoming CD, Broken
Land on Blues Matters records.

Slip Away, Voodoo Queen and Preacher Man followed.

Reaction was incredible, CD sales enormous.

We have received masses of E Mails saying how much more dynamic the new
line up is and just how much people thought the set kicked arse/rocked.
Drew and Fiona made a big impression, offering both talent and really strong
stage performances.

We’d like to thank all our friends and Roadhouse followers for the incredible
support they have given us through this time of transition and now they
can see that a positive future is well and truly here.

Thank you my friends, we will play on for you while there is any life in
my/our bodies’¦

Gary 07/02/2006 Gary Skegness ‘“ Monsters of Blues & Rock Festival
28-29/06 ‘“ Part One The new look Roadhouse rode into JAKS wild west styled bar
to a really good crowd. The buzz was all about could the Band have survived
the departure of 3 such talented and key members as Jules, Lorna and Anne.The answer was a reasounding yes. The opening hours set had the crowd (well
more like a mass gathering of mates really) going nuts for Drew’s playing.
And the new number ‘˜White Water’ went down a storm (or more like a waterfall
really).

We then had three hours of the jam, with some excellent players. Good to
see the excellent Henry up with Barry Middleton from the Running Horse,
playing some of the best boogie piano I’ve ever heard. Bob was great on
the harp and their was some sax and other playing to die for.

Thanks also to our great mate Alan Fish from Egypt pumping out some excellent
bass

Mr Barton says he wants to do it again next year, so all vote with your
feet and phone/mail Pete and or Butlins and demand the return of Roadhouse
and the jam.

A big thank you to all the brave and talented muscians and the appreciative
crowd for truly great 3 hour session

Gary 30/01/2006 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 26/1/06 The first outing for 3 new Roadhouse songs from the forthcoming
CD, Broken Land, scheduled for realease on BM Records on the 31st March.Mexican nights was reasonably well done, while Pulp Fiction 2 suffered timing
problems, but showed potential. White Water was simply the strongest ever
first play of a Raodhouse song in history.

It was nice to see a new South African young lady singer, Lelani, who did
a great job. It was a great jam all round with the usual brilliant and loyal
crowd. Good to see young George Watkins back on the skins and playing well.

Gary 30/01/2006 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 12/1/06 A fine new years jam’¦.
With Drew Barron away on holiday we had the pleasure of Robin Bibi playing
in the house band.
A great guitar player and all round good guy, we did a nice little set finishing
with a rousing ‘œWatchtower’. It made me reflect on all the great guitar
players that have been in, or have depped for Roadhouse, Drew Barron, Jules
Fothergill, Robin Bibi, Tommy Allen, Noel Brown, Tim O’Sullivan and Charlie
Whitney (of Family fame) . All in all pretty impressive’¦The really good crowd were treated to some fine playing and probably pick
of the night for me was the great set Robin did later on in the evening
with young Lawrence.

Great stuff and here’s to 2 weeks time’¦

Gary 21/01/2006 Gary Coach & Horses ‘“ Isleworth ‘“ 6/1/06 This gig was scheduled at the last minute to give the band
a chance to play the new material that we had rehearsed in the week, in
advance of next months new CD recording.
However it was not to be, as Drew left for his hols a day early, due to
flight availability.
Tim (Ceaser) O’Sullivan sat in on guitar and did a great job.The gig was a slow burner with the band sounding better and better and the
pub gradually filling up.
Both Tim and I are noted for our tendency to pull facial contortions while
playing the guitar and many guitar officianados had long awaited the ‘œGurn
off at the OK Coral’. Well according to Tim I won (well I had a head start
by being uglier and having the ability to get my bottom lip bahind my ears
when playing high notes).
Then there was the guitar trade off in ‘œRock Me Baby’ Tim belives he won
that one to, but did admit he was ‘œOut tapped’ and defeated in ‘œThe fast
muted note phrases’ (which was of course incredibly painful).

After these guitar excesses Fiona needed a crash cart to revive her from
the resulting coma. She came back strongly to sing 3 powerful numbers in
the 2nd set.

TA Voodoo Queen, Preacher Man, Mustang Sally finish sent the crowd happyily
(and with total loss of hearing) into the night and left everyone aware
that we have another great dep guitar player in Tim. 08/01/2006 Gary Xmas Jam ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 22/12/05 Martin and Jeff got the mince pies out yet again for our
4th Xmas jam at the Woody’¦..Jules was great on bass, Mandie got the entire pub into her handbag and
took them home (after effectively fleecing them for the jug).

It was very special to meet Blues legend and Californian DJ Mick Martin,
who did an awesome set with his host Mr Pete Sargeant. Thanks for all the
airplay in the States Mick, the new CD is on the way’¦.

Richard did a cool blues thing and Mandie and Danny(The G Force), augmented
the

Tom Anfield band in a superb version of Summertime.

A great crowd and a great night ‘“ Happy Xmas to all and a big thank you
for the superb support throughout 2005 ‘“ Gary 23/12/2005 Gary Roadhouse Music Ckub ‘“ Xmas Party ‘“ Bulls Head
– Barnes ‘“ 19/12/05 New version amende spelling errors -Success against adversity was the theme of this evening.

With 5 minutes to go before the kick off, Bill had to leave due to family
emergency leaving Roadhouse sans Bass player. Additionally, Fiona’s cold/flu
detriorated to the point that she had to leave’¦. aaaarghh

However, a really good crowd was entertained by the power opening from Drew
with Jules on impressive bass. Further performances from Geronimo and Danny.G
and Saiichi’s new Band, Creamy, plus BM’s own Mr Pete Sargeant, were great.

Roadhouse did an old line up/new line up thang, with Drew playing bass for
Jules and Lorna. The dynamic duo re-joined the line up and an epic Couldn’t
Get to Sleep and Stormy Monday were dusted down. Jules then played bass
for Drew as Mandie.G sung Heavens Door and then we did a bit of Xmas Voodoo
to send everyone into a cold but festive night.

Thanks for the great support and to all the musicians who came played, awesome
–

Gary 23/12/2005 Gary Roadhouse Music Ckub ‘“ Xmas Party ‘“ Bulls Head
– Barnes ‘“ 19/12/05 Success against adversity was the theme of this evening.With 5 minutes before the kick off Bill had to leave due to family emergency
leaving Roadhouse sans Bass player and Fiona’s cold/flu detriorated to the
point that she had to leave’¦. aaaarghh

However, a really good crowd was entertained by the oopening from Drew with
Jules on impressive bass. Further perfroamnces from Geronimo and Danny.G
and Saiichi’s new Band, Creamy, plus BM’s own Mr Pete Sargeant, were great.

Raodhouse did an old line up/new line up thang, with Drew playing bass for
Jules and Lorna. The synamic duo re-joined the line up and an epic Couldn’t
Get to Sleep and Stormy Monday were dusted down. Jules then played bass
for Drew as Mandie.G sung Heavens Door and then we did a bit of Xmas Voodoo
to send everyone into a cold but festive night.

Thanks for the great support and to all the musicians who came played, awesome
–

Gary 23/12/2005 Gary The Caoch & Horses ‘“ Isleworth ‘“ 16/12/05 A great gig at the Coach. We were mob handed with both Fiona
and Mandie.G (who were both on brilliant form -vocally and visually the
band has never been so strong) and the amazing Fred on the Sax’¦.Good crowd and a great reaction. Mandie brought some lovely people along
with her and her friends and many die hard Roadhouse supporters were raving
about the new line up, songs and performance.

Fiona sang a killer Big Easy which featured some great sax from Fred. It
was one of the best times that Drew and I have played off of each other.
Mandie did a great Knocking on Heavens Door and the night finished with
what many said was the best version of Voodoo Queen ever performed.

A truly great gig. 18/12/2005 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 15/12/05 A very busy and brilliant night at the Woodman.In the Roadhouse set, new song Redemption Street got a tentative but solid
first airing.

Great performances from Jim and Andrew, Anne, Pete Bedford, Lawrence and
Danny.G. Tim Matthewman excelled on his fretless bass and it was great to
both see and play with Saaichi again. All Along The Watchtower had some
very nice moments.

Here’s to next weeks Xmas jam.

Gary 18/12/2005 Gary East Harling Social Club ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 10/12/06 Our return to East Harding saw the return on dep duties of
our ex compadres Jules & Lorna.Bearning in mind Jules was full of a very bad lurgy they were superb.

This was a really fun gig, the audience were totally up for it and went
nuts for the music.

It was great to play some of the old songs again and Coldn’t Get To Sleep
rocked (as did many others)’¦.

Lorna did a one girl = two girl thang and Stormy Monday was a killer’¦.Nice
to support Jules on Oye Como Va again, in a kind if Santa meets Santana
kind of way.

Roll on next years return to this reallt friendly place full of nice people
and to Jules and Lorna’s next dep session.

Gary 18/12/2005 Gary Charters Bar (Blues on the Boat) Peterborough
– 9/12/06 Our first ever Friday at Charters and it seemed a little
quieter than a Saturday.After some pa positioning and stage claustrophobia problems, the band produced
a great rocking set; during which Fiona nailed a blues version of U2’²s ‘˜I
still haven’t found what I’m looking for’.

At one point the place filled nicely and then the 11pm start and transport
difficulties began to whittle down the numbers’¦ However, a strong core
crowd hung around to support us through a very strong second set.

Gary 18/12/2005 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 8/12/06 Yet another great night at the Woodman’¦.2 members of the
pub staff joining in including the excellent Jeff on the drums. Julie Anne
sang 2 soings with Roadhouse/Fiona and did a good job, before delivering
her own killer version of Runaway with Lol Sandford. A very good night’¦..Gary 18/12/2005 Gary Blues Matters Annual London Gig ‘“ Boom Boom
Club- Sutton FC ‘“ Sutton It was an honour to be asked to host our labels London show.
Pete Sargeant was the compere and did a great job with his usual ‘˜Dry as
the Gobi desert’ wit.What a line up, Sean Webster was brilliant (buy his CD, can that guy sing
and write songs!!). Innes Sibun was next and showed his tremendous guitar
virtousity.

Raodhouse topped and tailed the night, ably assisted by Swiss Sax supremo
Fred Scwhartz

The second set really kicked and the night ended with Fiona and Mandie duetting
on Rock Me Baby, as we were joined on stage by both Sean and Innes, in a
mega Blues Matters jam.

The crowd of around 80, were great and 90% comprised of die hard Roadhouse
supporters. I was a more than little dissapointed that we did not get at
least 150 for such a great line up!!!!!.

Live music supporters if you give up on the genre it won’t be around for
you that much longer.

Thanks to those who came, they had a great night 08/12/2005 Gary The Banham Barrel ‘“ Banham On from Norwich to Banham for the second of 2 gigs in a day.After a decent pub meal and band social centred around favourite movies
(yes Roger’s is Dumbo). We went on to played probably our most visual and
energetic ever stage show. The crowd was really responsive and I thought
Drew was on fire. Fiona and Mandie were great and the backline held it all
together despite blowing a monitor in the sonic onslaught.

Thanks to all the old freinds for driving in some instances long distances,
to show thier support and keep the band on the road 08/12/2005 Gary The Shed ‘“ Norwidh ‘“ pm ‘“ 3/12/05 It was great to play a semi acoustic set with the new line
up. It’s still early days for Mandie.G singing with Fiona but the potential
came through.A small turn out for the first set as live music has normally been stopped
on a Sat pm here, but the second set crowd was decent.

Some very good stuff was played by all’¦. 08/12/2005 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Winmbledon Park ‘“ 1/12/05 Great crowd and night at the Woody.First a tremendous Roadhouse set with Julianne joining us for 2 songs and
for a first time, out doing a great job singing with Fiona. A belting Blues
version followed of U2’²s ‘˜I still haven’t found what I’m looking for ‘˜(well
sung Fiona). Sacrifice just rocked big time’¦..

Then my moment of personal calamity, when I agreed to sing a Bryan Adams
song for the lads from In Your Face. 5 seconds in to realise that it was
so the wrong key for me.

The summer of 69 quickly became a vocal nuclear winter of 05 (by my normal
standards) and I was suitably crucified by Fona for my hilarious efforts
(sorry boys)..

Great sets from Riyad’s new band, Jplus im Dublin, Lawrie and Andre Heart.
Specail guest were Drew’s Friends and greta musicians (all the way from
Canada ), Cheryl and Kevin, they rocked. and Danny.G played some great guitar
with them

Here’s to next week 02/12/2005 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 24/11/05 Another bitterly cold night, but this time it didn’t keep
the people away. Not too many musicans (but more than enough) and a load
of great music loving punters in the crowd.In the Roadhouse set we featured for the first time Fiona McElroy singing
with Mandie.G and it worked really well. Could this be our new top/winning
combination??

Fiona and Mandy appeared again later in the evening producing good versions
of Proud Mary and a blues rendition of U2’²s ‘˜I Still Haven’t Found What
I’m Looking For’ .

Swiss sax supremo Fred Schmid sat in with us all night and is now a regular
member of the Roadhouse playing squad.

Nice set from Lol Sandford and Julie Anne and Pete Bedford and Friends.
Decent harp player pitched up too called John and we’ll hope to see him
again.

Syd, Nigel and calrinet/sax playing friend serenaded us out into the cold
winters night.

A great jam as we build towards our big blues Matters gig at Sutton FC/Boom
Boom club on Sunday 4th December.

Hope to see everyone back at the Woodman next week

Cheers,

Gary 25/11/2005 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 17/11/05 God it was cold out last night and consequently it was one
of the lowest attendances ever for a Woodman jam.However, there was still a decent sized and very appreciative crowd and
they got right behind the musicians who produced some great music.

First the Roadhouse set, Fiona was back (nice and jet lagged from her trip
to the US) and I was sporting my white & gold telecaster for the first time
in years (doesn’t show your dandruff & that guitar has deep significance
– for those of you who know me)

Broken Land was full of great jazz fills from Drew (who went on to play
some nice bass for most of the night), Fiona did a decent Help Me and then
the Last Train home really kicked (my muscle disease was at it’s worst ever
last night and the song seemed very appropriate).

Great sets from Jim Dublin & a welcome return from Danny.G. Jacks duette
with Pete Bedford was outstanding, Geronimo and Lawrence both played some
great guitar.

Fiona came back and got everyone’s mojo’s working and then Syd cooled the
frenzy down with some reflective banjoing of the plunkiest order.

Jim and I played out on ‘˜Ride On’ as I managed to coax a decent solo out
of my cramping and aching hands (thanks to all there for the SO) ‘“ I reckon
it will warm up for next week’. Come on down ‘“ Gary 18/11/2005 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park -10/11/05 Another great night at the Woody. Roadhouse were amply assisited
in their opening set by Mandie.G on vocals and Swiss Fred on the sax. We
did a great job with Slip Away (ably assisited by Mandie’s friend Mel Jackson)
then repated the Knocking on Heavens Door cover (this time with less success).
Finally a spanking and very self indulgent Backstreets, rounded off the
house bands set.Later I was delighted to perform some classic rock with Andrew Heart & Jim
Dublin. Getting to fullfill a life’s ambition by playing and soloing on
A Whole Lotta Love.

Great sets from Andy Cortes, Geronimo, Anne, Lol Sandford and his son Riyad,
Pete Bedford and friends. Lawrence is really coming on awith the Hendrix
Blues style guitar and everyone is loving Jack’s vocals at the moment.

Bring it on next week,

Gary 14/11/2005 Gary Coach & Horses ‘“ Isleworth ‘“ 5/11/05 Roadhouse mark 37b (well we do like to vary the line up)
rolled into the Coach last night. Featuring Swiss Fred on the sax and the
return of the prodigal daughter, Mandie.G on the vocals.Would the fireworks keep the crowd away, answer = NO..

A great night, it was magic to perform with Mandie again and hearing that
original female vocal on Preacher Man brought shivers down my spine. Fred’s
soloing was superb and some of the interplay with Drew Barron, breathtaking.
It was great to hear some fine sax in the line up. The first since Andy
Thompson’s departure a couple of years ago.

The second set was very good and we played a version of Knocking on Heavens
Door, for the first time, without rehearsal. Mandie was on vocals and it
kicked. I got to be 18 all over again by being in spammy power chord mode..

The crowd was brilliant (particularly the group of lads from Glasgow), a
great night 06/11/2005 Gary The Prince Regent ‘“ sutton -3/11/05 Well having just come back from an aborted hol in Egypt,
where I ended up in hospital on a drip, following the stomach bug from hell,
I feared the worst. I’d only started eating 48 hours before this gig after,
6 days of nowt, so I wondered whether I’d last out the course.The first set was ok, but the band sounded a little ring rusty. The second
kicked brilliantly and I was delighted to really ‘˜nail’ the solo in Watchtower.
It was great to see so many regular Roadhouse friends at the gig and they
responded really well to Fiona’s tremendous energy and Drew’s playing.

In the end a pretty good gig and I made it through (just) 04/11/2005 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ 20/10/05 Another cracking night at the Woody’¦. It was so nice of
Jules & Lorna to show their faces and support, really appreciated. Jules
playing my strat along with Jim who was camping up the Rock’N’Roll thing
with an outrageous version of ‘˜A Whole Lot of Love’In the Roadhouse set, Fiona was away in Ireland and my Daughter Rhiannon
and her friend Julia did well on Voodoo Queen.

Lots of good music, nice crowd, and I managed a good solo on Jim’s ‘˜Ride
On’ (Thats 3 jams in a row we’ve done that now, so time to give it a rest).
Some nice bass on numerous sessions from Andrew Heart and apologies to Syd
for giving him just one number at the end of the night, but boy that banjo
sounded good’

3 weeks to the next jam, then back into the every week format.. thanks for
your great support.

Gary 21/10/2005 Gary Jack Beards ‘“ Tooting ‘“ 14/10 Interesting gig in many ways.Firstly Pete Feenstra’s venue usually runs on a Saturday, not a Friday.
Secondarily the Northern line closed down on Thursday and was not back in
service. This lead to the crowd being a bit thin on the ground. However,
by the time we kicked off there was a good number of music lovers in the
room and we thank you for your support on a tough night for transport’¦.

In the first set the Band was on fire, turning in a great performance. Once
more Fiona did a great version of the Big Easy and coped well with singing
on her own . Drew was also on very good form.

Those of you who really know me will understand that I’ve had a lot of emotional
and physical pressure in my life recently and I was delighted to be able
to channel a lot of that emotion into my personal performance. It was weird
feeling tears in my eyes as I sang some of the lyirics.

We had two special guests, Drew bringing along a superb Swiss sax player
called Fred who played great stuff on both Backstreets and Help Me (we’ll
be playing with Fred again I hope) and John Oleary gurested on Whiskey Man
and sang one of his own reptoire, which the audience loved.

In the seond set I made a few structural errors, but the band was playing
with great emotion. Bill and Roger combining well in their party peice on
Voddoo Queen. A night that provided great hope for the future of Roadhouse.

Thanks to Pete Feenstra for his contnued belief and support’¦. 17/10/2005 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Pk ‘“ 13/10 Yet another good night at the Woodman. In the Roadhouse set
Fiona is really coming into her own singing the Big Easy, while Drew’s harmony
work is really the icing on the cake.I got up with Jim from Trouble for the great Irish epic again, but couldnt
replicate last weeks killer solo (instead of venting my tortoured soul,
my tortoured soul vented me).

The big brass section band were back, with Lawrence on guitar and the great
vocal talent of young Jack from Atalntic Soul Machine..

A good set from the Tom Anfield Band who had a great new guitar player and
Masashi, Lol Sandford and Geronimo all played some great guitar. Here’s
to next week where appearances from Jules Fothergill and even my daughter
Rhiannon are anticipated. 16/10/2005 Gary The Full Moon ‘“ Newcastle Under Lyme ‘“ 9th Oct Paul Cope’s fabulous venue, great stage, decor, pa , lighting,
cool sound engineer called Darcy’. guess whats happened, yep, you guessed
it crowds have gone down the pan’¦.We thought we’d be playing to 2 men and a dog, but as the word got out that
their was a good band on, the place began to fill. By the end we kicked
butt to a decent sized crowd and thanks to Anne’s endeavours sold a load
of CD’s.

A midnight finish on a Sunday

and it was (as the song says) a long way home’¦

Drew and Fiona, continue to get better and better within the context of
both the band and the material’¦..Anne as ever was the unsung hero filling
gaps and adding rich vocal textures

Keep music live

Gary 15/10/2005 Gary The Running Horse ‘“ Nottingham ‘“ 8th Oct Try as hard as we can we just can’t crack the crowd thang
at the Runner. On our last gig the crowd was up to nearly 50, this time
we were back down to 30. This all despite reports that we’d played some
of the ‘œGigs of the year at the venue’.
Maybe people were wary of the new line up, they really shouldn’t be Drew
Barron and Fiona McElroy are on fire. The small crowd went nuts over 2 truly
good sets by any Roadhouse line ups standards. Barry Middleton the owner
said ‘œBrilliant band, really, really exciting and what a new guitar player’.A DVD was made of the nights 2 sets by Steve, the Runners in house guy.
If anyone wants to buy a copy fire me an e mail at garyboner@btopenworld.com
(it’s a bit dark and the sounds not great, but it rocks’¦.)

We’ll give the Runner one more shot next year’¦

Complemetary emails keep pooring in about the new line up and even more
followed this gig. 15/10/2005 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 6th Oct First jam officially without Jules and Lorna and the first
one to be run on the new weekly basis. No surpises then that the audience
and number of jammers was a little thin on the ground to start. However,
it soon filled up and it turned into a really good jam.First the Roadhouse set. It was quite ambitous really. 1st new line up rendition
of Broken Land (without rehearsal) and it was pretty good, with Drew Barron
pulling off the harmony lines with some ease. Secondly, Fiona did a great
version of the Boner/Reilly composition The Big Easy ‘“ a must for the new
CD. Then we rocked out on the new number The Last Train home.

Into the jam and the appearance of a full hon section, along with Pete Terry’s
accomplished squeeze box playing gave wonderful life to sets by Jack (from
Atlantic Soul Machine and Pete Bedford).

Jim did brilliantly jamming with Bill, Roger and I on Watchtower and some
Irish epic that ended up being ‘˜tune of the night’. Geronimo backed by Funky
George Dare and the versatile bass playing of Mr Drew Barron played some
mean guitar.

The Roadhouse ladies, Anne and Fiona then did a dynamite duette on ‘˜Help
Me’ and the night concluded with Terry Brennan stalking the audience, with
a very scary version of Hotchie Cootchie Man (pure voodoo)

Bring it on for next week

Gary 07/10/2005 Darren (member of the audience via e mail) 2nd View of The Rayners Hotel ‘“ 1st Oct The Rayners is my local venue so there was no way I was going
to miss this gig. In summary it was a great night of music with superb performances
from both bands. Particularly liked the fact that the bands collaborated
so well on the third set to demonstrable audience appreciation. I really
like bands that feature multiple vocalists as it adds a lot of textures
to the sound. I was so impressed that I bought ‘œNo Place To Hide’ on CD
(okay, allowed myself to be sold it by Anne in her inimitable fashion!)
and played it last night. Production on the CD sounded very good too!Never been fully able to understand why getting people to attend gigs at
The Rayners is such a problem; okay it’s not particularly central but transport
links are fine and it’s one of the few pubs left with a decent sized hall
for music. A real club venue no less. There’s a hard core of gig goers there
but almost any band (apart from the better known tribute outfits) struggle
to achieve a very much larger audience numbers. A great shame as I know
that both Pete and George work very hard to promote the gigs but unfortunately
their enthusiasm doesn’t seem to be matched by that of the current landlord!

I also suspect that Mr. Drew Barron might be a world class guitar player’¦

Please come back soon!

Yours sincerely,

Darren 03/10/2005 Gary The Rayners Hotel ‘“ Rayners Lane ‘“ 1st Oct Another historic gig for Roadhouse, the first official gig
for the new line up, a double header with our record lable compatriots Egypt.
Alan Fish and the boys were rocking as The Groundhogs in the 70’²s and are
still a damn good 3 peice unit.I was delighted with the performance of the new line up. Fiona sang really
well for us and is now on the way to fulfilling her potential within the
band. Drew was on great form and wins my personal man of the man match award
(even though he supports Tottenham ‘“ well a Canadian wouldn’t know better).

Though we had a few problems with electric shocks coming off the mics (Im
still glowing in the dark ‘“ very handy for those middle of the night trips
to the loo) we produced 2 good sets. The new songs Sacrifice and Long Train
Home producing the biggest re-action. The boys from Egypt getting up and
helping us rock out the night on jamming versions of Whiskey and Preacher
man.

Getting people to the Rayners is always a problem for many bands, but I’d
like to thank the 50 or so people in the room for being such a great audience 03/10/2005 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 29th Sept Well the moment arrived, Jules and Lorna’s last couple of
songs as full band members.
This was proceeded by them breaking down and nearly not making their own
leaving bash, but the AA very nice man used a hair grip or a condom or something
from an episode of MCGiver or the A Team to fix (or make a new Jag) and
Jules and Lorna were able to make the kick off.
The last 2 songs they chose were (Lorna’s very poignant) Slip Away, and
Jules’s ‘˜kicking’, Sacrifice.
We then got the new line up on stage and a respectable No Place To Hide
was followed by the debut of the under rehearsed, but very strong Last Train
Home (Boner/Barron).. I was a bit late n on the final chorus, but it showed
very good potential in as Jules said ,’A Green Grass and High Tides kind
of way’.
Anne did a sterling job of keeping the vocal continuity going between the
old and new line ups.
Before the set Lorna and Jules made a great presentation to Bill, Roger,
Anne and I and to say we appreciated it is an understatement. A presentation
was then made to them onstage. If those guys knew the real degree of regard
and respect I have for their abilities, it would be embarassing, I will
miss them as fellow band members.
The jam featured some great stuff, and enormous Tom Anfield line up did
some great big band stuff and Andy Cortes was on superb form, squaring off
with Jules on a ‘œFor a few dollars more’ style 335 trade off, and other
highlights to numerous to mention.Now the jam will be on most weeks at the Woodman, the new line up of Roadhouse
will need your support as it builds and jells towards the next phse of the
now somewhat celebrated Band’s history. 30/09/2005 Gary The Belvedere/Crawdaddy Blues Club ‘“ Essex –
22nd Sept Nice to be back at the Crawdaddy following our very successful
Digital Blues festival appearance last year (I’ve talkes to super Ashwyn,
and we may be on for doing 2006 )A great looking, large, candleit room and a nice team of freindly sound
guys who had to fight against the very low ceiling. Monitoing was a struggle
but it (the sound) settled by the second set.

This was historically Jules and Lorna’s last full gig as Roadhouse Band
Members.

Lorna was our only lady of the night (so to speak) and sang all the parts
with expected ease and assurance.

A decent performance, but I was by the end personally overwhelmed by the
sadness and emotion of the occassion. Roger and I grunted at each other
twice on the drive home as the focus was on introspection (Well at least
something good came out of it). 30/09/2005 Gary The Hope Tavern ‘“ Near Lincoln ‘“ 18th Sept 3rd gig in a row on our last Roadhouse weekend with Jules
and Lorna.A great traditional Hope Taven roast lunch paved the way fom the usual transition
from cosy Countyr pub, to intimate and passionate private blues/rock venue’¦.

Solving some of the tight space issues by setting our front line up on the
floor, the first set went quite well.

The second set rally kicked and I was delighted to maintain my positive
form from the night before.

The whole band played great and the audience were right with us (wot a nice
bunch of people).

CD sales were very good and it was superb to see so many old freinds like
Ray and Nicky.

A special thanks to the many people who travelled over 50 miles to catch
a Roadhouse gig ‘“ Your the reason why we keep on rolling

Here’s to our return in April next year

Gary 25/09/2005 Gary Charters Bar/Blues On the Boat ‘“ Peterborough
– 17th Sept ‘“ late pm to am On arrival at our 2nd gig in a busy day, we were confronted
with a weirdly configured house pa (monitors behind the microphones etc..)However, the sound guy was a geezer and openly confessed to being newish
to his trade and with a bit of coaching from Jules the 1st set minor feedback
problems were overcome.

The second set was a belter and everyone played well. The guitar trade offs
in both sets worked a treat and for once I was personally on good form (mind
you I would advise anyone with my type of muscle problems not do 4 sets
in one day ‘“ agony!)

The crowd hung around until about 1am, instead of thinning out as usual
and rocked it out with us..probably the best Charters gig yet 23/09/2005 Gary The Shed ‘“ Norwich ‘“ 17th Sept pm The start of a 3 gig trip and very poignantly the last mini
tour that Jules and Lorna will do with us as full time band members’¦.Follwing bad traffic and late running I thought it would be hard for the
band to get into the somewhat chilled vibe required to undertake one of
our legendary semi acoustic sessions. Not the case’¦.

Two great sets were recorded and captured on DVD by Roger. Both Anne and
Lorna sang superbly, Roger was great on percussion and Bill held it together
with some straight and pumping bass lines. Jules treated us to a jazz fest
(he was in super cool, expressive mode) and some of the guitar interplay
was very nice indeed.

Thanks to Ryan and all the friendly staff at the Shed for making such a
good gig possible. 23/09/2005 Gary The Blues Bar ‘“ Grays FC- Grays, Essex ‘“ 15th
Sept Nice foorball stadium; Grays are riding high (second in the
Conference) and there is a nice vibe around the place.The hall smacked a little of Pheonix nights, but though not the most voiciferous
of crowds, they were well into the music and CD sales were excellent.

At the end of the night they wouldn’t let us leave and the place was rocking
to Preacher Man’..

Thanks to Alan Fish for getting us this gig and to Mark the organiser for
having us.

Nice One,

Gary 19/09/2005 Gary Grove Tavern ‘“ South Wimbledon ‘“ 10th September Historically Roadhouse have been playing the Grove Tavern
since 1992. It has been a semial venue for the bands development and for
transitions between many line ups. Sadly current Roadhouse friends and supporters
do not favour the Grove and with very limited walk in trade for the music,
it’s I believe time to pull the plug.Lee and Libby are doing a great job re-vitalising the Grove and I think
new Bands with their super keen friends and famillies is a good way to go.
We wish them well.

The night opened with a good support band (covers of course) and then Roadhouse
played a nice if somewhat loud couple of sets. It was great to see John
O’Leary again (1st time since his movie to the land of dodgiest midland
accents) and he played a very nice guest slot. 15/09/2005 Gary The Prince Regent ‘“ Sutton ‘“ 8th September Well after another comparatively glamorous trip to Belgiun
back we were on home turf, in sunny Sutton.A hot night didn’t help swell a very friendly and responsive, but smaller
than usual crowd.

Performance wise though, the Band rocked

Lorna had a bad cold and bearing that in mind she did brilliantly.

It was nice to see some good old friends and shift a few more CD’s as sales
for No Place to Hide rapidly approach the 1,000 mark

Jules and I hit a purple patch in some weird guitar passage during the Roadhouse
Blues.

Quiet but good form

Gary 11/09/2005 Gary PAJO Blues Festival ‘“ Belgium ‘“ 3rd September A nice journey in the sun for most of the Band travelling
in a tour bus , to good to be true (yep)’¦
1st the DVD player broke, then we got stuck literally in mountains of horse
shit while tyring to find the hotel (yep, really, the local horse market
was blocking the whole town centre).
After checking into the very nice hotel we approached a low bridge, ‘œReckon
we’ll get through there Bill’, says Roger, ‘œMmmmm’ says Bill ‘“ Answer =
NO! (much reversing and embarassment later)’”’”Then we arrived at the gig at things took a massive turn for the better.
A lovely festival in an ancient hall/complex of buildings. We had a first
class meal at the local sponsors restaurant in Gaalmarden ‘“ 200 metres from
the festival hall and camp grounds (and a speail thanks thanks to the Manager/Owner
for comping our guests and Belgium Manager, Bobje’s meals).

Then despite an overun by Paul Lamb and the King snakes we produced a great
performance, in front of a packed house. We achieved a great response and
were delighted with the stage and overall sound. Everuone in the Band played
a blinder..

a special thanks to our persoanl helper Ludo, who kept the band well lubricated
and fed both before and during such a slick perfromance. 08/09/2005 Gary The Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 1st September A slightly quieter night than usual at the Woodman, as the
holliday period enters it’s final phase.Sad to realise that there is only one more of these left for Jules and Lorna
before they officially leave, but I hope that on many an occassion they
can rock with us again.

Weird one was that Danny Gwillim had asked to play Slip Away with Roadhouse
and strangely just preceeding this event the song (sans Danny) was played
on Radio 2 by Paul Jones (around 21.00). Danny is therefore officially god
of the radio waves and can microwave your pot noodles on request. Incidently
Danny played the song very well..

Other highlights = the boys from The Subway Sleepers sitting in with Barry
and Anne in a nice set (great trumpet).

Two good turns from Jules on the Bass guitar before Andrew Heart arrived
to add his quality playing to the proceedings. Finally well done Lawrence
for developing a pretty good voice to go with the quality bluesy playing.

Next jam on the 29th September after our world tour of Sutton and Essex 02/09/2005 Jules The Navy Club ‘“ Maryport ‘“ 28th August Well, I must begin by saying that the reward for waking up
in time for breakfast at our hotel was perhaps not in proportion with the
effort it took! Comedy quote of the trip definitely goes to matey the YTS
reject waiter ‘“ ‘œhave you got any breakfast?’ says us ‘“ ‘œer yes’ ‘“ ‘œanything
in particular’ ‘“ ‘œer yes, breakfast ‘“ all kinds of things’ ‘“ ‘œhow about
a menu?’ ‘“ ‘œoh yeah, I haven’t been here long, sorry’ ‘“ etc etc. Having
inevitably had to send back various wrong orders, eventually ours turned
up and was quite tasty in a cobbled together kind of way. Anyway, rest of
family despatched safely southbound, and we headed north to Maryport to
play at the Navy Club, Sandra’s replacement for the Captain Nelson. Despite
looking rather Pheonix Nights-y ‘“ this was an awesome gig! I was really
happy with my sound and playing, and the band was really cooking. A superb
crowd of really nice people (top marks to Leon for randomly taking me on
a minor detour to the sadly now defunct town of Fothergill!) ‘“ who made
a huge racket at the end of every song ‘“ amazing energy! As expected, we
had an excellent time, a quick tear down of gear and then back into one’s
jag-war for the 320 mile wearisome journey back to 219SR. 02/09/2005 Gary Colne National R&B Festival ‘“ Super Roadhouse
Stage ‘“ Lancashire ‘“ 27th August And so it came to pass ‘“ our 3rd consecutive appearance at
the National Festival on the biggest stage. After causing the doors to be
closed on the arena last year, by the record crowd of recent times, we were
rather strangely rewarded by being pushed into kicking off the Saturday
afternoon at the usually dead audience slot of 2pm.
We had no time to warm up after Roger (a superb driver but a slave to his
GPS ‘“ ‘œThe computer says no’) opted for the M6 which saw some of us gridlocked.
While he and I argued re:route in the front, Anne plugged herself into her
slendertone while riding in the back of the SUV. Our argument was punctutated
by strange cries of ‘œWhat a big one’ coming from the back seat ‘“ surreal
stadium gig build up’¦A million thanks to the nearly 400 Roadhouse supporters and friends who
came in so early for our set (apparently crowds were down for the rest of
the day)

We played a blinding set, Jules was actually duck walking, or something
like it, while his 335 was dismembering all in it’s path.

An epic Couldn’t Get to Sleep was followed by a great Voodoo Queen, before
the stage manager wouldn’t let us encore, despite there being 5.5 mins left
on our slot !!(crowd was going nuts for it)

thanks again to friends new and old and here’s to a more suitable slot next
year.

Gary 29/08/2005 Gary Merton Abbey Mills ‘“ Abbeyfest ‘“ 26th August Our third consecutive outdoor, Merton Abbey Mills, South
London Blues Festival’¦always a pleasure to play for our friend and all round legend Mr Bob Bruning.

The skies threatened rain, but for once the gods were on our side. a pretty
decent crowd of around the 3-400 hundred mark, saw a nice opening set from
our good friends So Long Angel (nice vocals Fran).

So come 9pm we kicked into our headline set. The question was how much rust
would be present from the holdiay break??

We belted straight into Tellin Lies with the Crowd stomping along and Jules
boasting a sound as fat as Mr Creosote on his Gibson 335. There was a few
screams of protrst from the pa as the sound crew struggled with going from1-3
voacals without sound check, but we were rocking and things settled down
after a couple of songs’¦

Then 70% of the way through a steaming version of Sacrifice the power blew’¦
leaving us miming (a minority of the band stil managed to look attractive).
Power was restored, Lorna and Anne sang well and everyone did their party
peices nicely on Voodoo Queen. The crowd were well into it and then as we
went into the last solo the power blew again!!!!!

Oh well here’s to a powerful appearance next year (thanks to all for your
support and the great CD sales) ‘“ Gary 29/08/2005 Gary Woodman ‘“ Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park – Well after the holliday break if there was going to be a
quiet Woodman jam this was the one. However, it was yet another packed night.No full Roadhouse as the houseband, because Bill was still on his hollidays,
so Pete Bedford and Pete (bass) from Hit and Run provided both PA and excellent
cover in the house band.

Too many nice perfromance to single anyone out, but it lead to Martin our
host, increasing the number of jams at the Woodman for 2005. So from October
we will be running nearly every week..

Great stuff’¦Gary 29/08/2005 Gary Antwerp R&B Festival ‘“ Belgium ‘“ 24/7 One of our biggest ever shows.Thanks to our Belgium promoter Bobje Blues fand festival promoter Kid Van
Thienen for getting us on such a great stage and bill.

On an enormous state of the art stage set up outsides Antwerp’s City Hall
in the main squuare, surrounded by stunniung Flemish architecture the band
kicked proverbial (and non proverbial) arse.

Check out the photos in the gallery as this was an enormous gig to thousands
of people in the most picturesque of settings.

In full ‘˜Bon Joviesque stadium mode we kicked a high energy set though from
Tellin Lies to the closing Voodoo Queen. I managed stadium guitar hero poses
1-437 (damn I only got half way through the book before running out of time)

Much acclaim and positive feedback followed including TV interviews, CD
sales and autograph signing.

The whole band played well and a particular well done to Fiona and Lorna,
singing so well together.

One for the memory book 19/08/2005 Gary Finches ‘“ Wimbledon Village -17th July Nice, nice bar and room, great promoter (Paul) with good
ideas, but a landlord who was paranoid following neghbours complaints. This
led to severe level restrictions and amps sounding like cheap transistor
radios playing in someone’s formica clad kitchen’¦.Low turn out on a hot summer night, but i still enjoyed hearing the vocals
as clear as a bell and Jules’s jazzed up playing on very sedate versions
of our quietest songs. I must confess to amusing myself with my Anthony
Newly (meets David Bowie on the Laughing Gnome) vocal version of All Along
the Watchtower .

If we go with this again it will be with out semi acoustic set and I think
that would work a treat at this venue.. 19/07/2005 Gary Walken/Stevenage ‘“ 16th July Great to be back after 4.5 years to one of my fave club venues.
It was great for Mike, Richard and Trevor the Hat to see how the Band has
developed. They were all very impressed.A great crowd with many dedicated Roadhouse fans present (loved all the
ladies dancing to Voodoo Queen).

The Band played a blinder with 2 encores’¦..

Hope to back next March and we should now be at next years Mayfest (thanks
to Trev) 19/07/2005 Gary Red Lion ‘“ High Wycombe -15th July A welcome return to this lovely venue, well run by Helen
and her great and friendly crew of enthusiasts’¦A great crowd with people driving from as far as Oxford to catch the show..

The band played great and sold a load of CDd’s. There was magic in the interplay
on Roadhouse blues (though Jules couldn’t hear me clearly through the in
pub stadium onslaught). Couldn’t Get To sleep nearly brought the house down
and built nicely to the double Preacher /Whiskey encore, man

Rock on and we’ll be back’¦ 17/07/2005 Gary Woodman Jam, Wimbledon Pk, -14th July Last Jam before the summer break, a very hot day, a shortage
of bass players but it was a great night.With Drew and Fiona in the house Band, I managed to kick off what was the
first of 3 nights of personal guitar strap and string leprosy (don’t let
me touch you, your bits might drop off)’¦

Highlights, Drew’s Spanish style solo in Charlie’s latin number (sung in
Spanish ‘“ I’m sure the accent was authentic!). Julie Anne with Lol Sandford,
Masashi playing like a powerhouse (and demonstarting poses 1-279 of the
guitar hero manual -my fave was number 37). I personally love rock and roll
theatre and on that note after a good set from Geronimo, Terry sang us into
the night. His emaciated frame emanating a kind of indiscribable menace,
as he prowled the stage looking for some kind of rock and blues revelation’¦ 17/07/2005 Gary Bulls Head, Barnes ‘“ 11th July After the fantastic crowd that the Roadhouse Music Club pulled
in December and the many requests to run the same night again, we returned
to this re-furbished venue with high hopes’¦.It was a night of very high personal dissapointment for me. 10 paying members
of the audience!!!!!!!!!

The 22 musicians featuring both current and future Roadhosue line ups and
most of Funkdory played a blinder.

The 10 paying people were fabulous.

Highlights (if any one cares) included a great set from Drew Barron along
with the tripytechal Haringay horns. Oliveir on the Sax sat in on a grest
versio of backstreets which featured Fiona McElroy. Also some great playing
from Tim O’ Sullivan. I also got my first earful of a great self penned
original by Jules and Lorna’¦.

Mixed emotions, great performance, but does London care enough about live
music any more??? 17/07/2005 Gary Charters/Blues on the Boat ‘“ Peterborough -1st
July A busier night than usual at Charters, an ideal outing for
the new look Roadhouse featuring Drew Baron and Fiona McElroy.This was a first, as Fiona was singing with long time member, Anne Campbell.
We’ve asked an awful lot of Fiona, singing alone, singing with Lorna and
now singing with Anne (and she’s done great).

Highlights included Drew having to leave the stage with arms cramps in the
first set leaving Fiona and I to do a top notch Rock Me Baby with some of
the best guitar I’ve personally played for a long time. Secondly, at the
end of the night Drew took Jules’s ‘˜Sing along note for note with the guitar’
section during the intros of Voodoo Queen and then doubled the speed and
complexity.

Bring your diary for next years bookings said the management at the end
of the night, nuff said’¦. 05/07/2005 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ 30th June A busy jam night at the Woodman. loads of faces old and new
and my apologies to all I let down, by not fitting them on.Please, please all musicians arrive a little earlier’

The crowd were great and Syd’s 2 number slot brought the house down (banjo
and slide, that looks like a wiining formula’¦

Well played all’¦Here’s to 2 weeks time and I’ll make it up to those who
didin’t get a full feature/slot 01/07/2005 Gary Elme Hall Stately Home ‘“ Wisbech ‘“ Norfolk-
26/7 4th gig, 4th day, feeling very tired’..
A great set up by Jules and Bill lead to a superb perfrormance.
A crowd that grew and grew until it soared well over the 100 mark’¦ loads
of old friends and supporters’¦.
From the ‘˜kick botty’ opener (well we are English) of No Place to Hide,
this was a full on gig with plenty of light and shade, great performances
from all band members and a superb audience’¦ roll on the next time’¦.. 01/07/2005 Gary The Shed (Semi Acoustic) ‘“ Norwich ‘“ 25/7 We faced our first semi acoustic gig in years with some trepidation’¦.However, it was a blinder with Jules achieving superb tone, Roger doing
great on percussion. Lorna and Anne soundied brilliant. Their suitably layed
back, but emotional vocals, clearly soared over some great and fluid versions
of the Roadhouse catalogue’¦.

Thanks to Ryan for being a great host and we’ll do it again’¦

Brilliant fun’. 01/07/2005 Gary The Riverside ‘“ Sutton Bridge ‘“ Norfolk ‘“ 24/7 On to sunny Norfolk,Nice people at this tiny cellar venue’¦.. nice fish and chips outside’¦..

Room was a bit small for us, the consequence being that after the first
few no’s the usual level of death metal blues rock exuberance made it v.hard
for the vocals’¦

Crowd were nice with a few old friends and regulars (thank you).

Into legend went the unplanned segway into Smoke on the Water in the middle
of Telling Lies’¦ 01/07/2005 Gary The Prince Regent ‘“ Sutton ‘“ 23/6 On a hot summer night would you offer your throat to the
wolf with the red roses, probably not and you wouldn’t go to a pub gig with
temps above 30c inside’¦.However, loads of people did.

A good early run out for the new look, from Oct 1st Line Up featuring Drew
and Fiona.

Fiona put in a staggering amount of enrgy into her performance and when
we build famliarisation, it’s obvious this line up will be a winning formula.
Just a bit more work to do.

Crowd re-action superb with 2 great encores of Preacher and whiskey Man
, man’¦. if that makes sense 24/06/2005 Gary Coach & Horses ‘“ Isleworth ‘“ 18/6 A very hot night and initially a small crowd. However, the
numbers built and built The first set was technically great, the second
had a superb emotional/driving edge.Nice guest appearances from Marc Le Guerranic and Jon Griffin.

A surprisingly good night well played and performed by all 24/06/2005 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon ‘“ 16/6 Another great night at the Woodman’Good little Roadhouse set, the Funkydory crew were in top form with Fench
Marc winning my guitar accollade of the night with a superb display’¦

nice stuff from Father and Son team Lol Sandford and Riyad, and from Pete
Bedford singing with Martin and his blues team. Also a lady harp player
all the way from the USA, Karin, checking out our little scene’

Repeat perfromance in 2 weeks time, bring it on’¦..

Once mor a good crowd. 18/06/2005 Gary Charisma Bar ‘“ South Hoyland/Yorks ‘“ 11/6 A big thanks to Alan Fish and Rossi the local promoter who
put this gig on at short notice to fit with our Barrow appearance.
Against expectations another good crowd, not very demonstartive, but still
they were with us and at the end very appreciative and friendly. Great to
see people who’d seen us at Skeggy again.
The performance ranged from adequate to good with the Big Easy getting it’s
first gig outing successfully..
Much hand shaking, then into the cars and as the song Said on Radio 2, ‘œIt’s
a Long Way Home’ (and it was)’¦. 18/06/2005 Gary Duke of Edinburgh ‘“ Barrow ‘“ 10/6 One of Roadhouse’s greatetst gigs of recent times.A big thank you to Joyce and Bill the tireless promoters who do so much
for live music in this area.

Crowd numbers had been a litle slow in recent weeks, but a newspaper review
and tie in to our appearance on BBC Radio 2 last night helped the place
to develop a really good crowd.

We played 2 very long sets, Jules and I explored areas of improvisation
in some songs that had not been investigated before (I even manged to stay
with him once or twice)’¦

Great re-action, good CD sales, everyone played and sang great. The double
encore of Preacher Man and Couldn’t Get to Sleep sent a jubilant crowd into
the night searching for their local hearing aid centre. If only all gigs
were ike this’. 18/06/2005 Gary The Boom boom Club, Sutton F.C ‘“ 5/6 Our ‘˜Big’ pre Radio 2 appearance launch gig was a terrific
success.1st young band the Subway sleepers who did a lot of their early work at
our Woodman jsam showed they had progressed nicely and played a great set.

Then the Drewmeister/groover from Vancouver did a great little set with
Bill and Rog and Danny Gwillimj on guitar, with some great sax playing from
Drew’s French mate Olivier (great player, love to see him at the jam and
the Barnes Music Club).

Then 1 hour 35 mins of Roadhouse. Guest spots from the lovely Fiona McElroy
who had a successful debut in front of the die hard Roadhouse fans, Mr Pete
Sargeant who added dark velvet tones and harp to Help Me (without Pete we
wouldn’t be on radio 2 anyway). Drew returned for a triple harmony in Voodoo
Queen and some typical guitar overkill on the encore Preacher Man’¦

I’d like to thank all out friends who were there that night for their loyal
support (lump in my throat time)

The whole band played great. It was one of those times when I personally
reflected over the 14 years and 8 Cd’s of Roadhouse. I am proud to have
played on stage with all in the Band Sunday night, life’s too short and
we all have our trials to overcome (as in recent times I’ve really discovered
– big style). I am proud to have played with everyone who performed in Roadhouse
this night and deeply grateful and flattered that such fantastically talented
musicians and singers are prepared to play the songs I write ‘“ thank you.
One for the memory books’ 12/06/2005 Gary The Running Horse ‘“ Nottingham ‘“ 4/6 Our first Saturday night at the Runner saw our crowd numbers
continue to increase.There is a great atmosphere in this venue steeped in the sweat and endeavour
of all the great Bands that have played this intimate but very ‘˜rock and
roll’ venue.

First set wasn’t bad with Sacrifice kicking butt and a reasonable guitar
interchange tween Jules and I in Rock Me (but not as good as the cracker
last week at the Loft Club).

Second set was blistering despite my senile moment in Watchtower when I
went blank on the vocals and had to spend 30 seconds moodily shagging the
mic stand before mumbling something inane and getting by. Killer versions
of I Couldn’t Get to Sleep and Stormy, followed by a particualrly aggresive
and deafening Preacher Man rounded off a very good and acclaimed (by crowd
and mgt) performance.

Also thanks to in house reviewer/writer Dave for joining us for anice bit
of harp on Help Me 07/06/2005 Gary Woodman Jam Session ‘“ 2/6 Another good night at the Woodman. The song that I’ve co-written
with Lorna, The Big Easy, is improving and is now virtually ready to be
gigged at most venues.Good sets from Lol Sandford, Jules & French Marc and a nice soul digression
from Andy Cortes and Lawrence, with Jack from Atlantic Soul machine on vocals
instead of drums.

Fiona McElroy did well in both Roadhouse sets and doing an impromptu blues
set with Martin, Paul and the boys.

Syd and Nigel sent the crowd happily off into the night with the sound of
Suzaphone and banjo solos ringing in their ears. Eclectic and quality’¦ 07/06/2005 Gary inputting Rob White’s Review Loft Cloub- Green Man ‘“ Barnet -29/5 Roadhouse
Well, this was another excellent evening at The Green Man in Barnet!I’ve had a new-found respect for Roadhouse after their gig at the Rayners
supporting Ian Parker, which was just perfect. I had become tired of the
self-indulgent ‘œRoadhouse & Friends’ jam sessions, but when they played
their own set it was excellent.

And so it was tonight. With another new girl singer, Fiona, joining the
excellent Lorna on vocals, the audiovisual show was spot on! Gary treats
his harem very fairly, giving them all a share of the spotlight, he even
recalled Anne to sing on few numbers. Where else could you see a fine band
like this with not one, not two, but three great girl singers?

The material was a mixture of the familiar Roadhouse back catalogue plus
some recent winners from their new CD ‘“ ‘œSacrifice’ was particularly good
– and even some tired old standards like ‘œStormy Monday’ were given a great
workout by Lorna.

Jules told me he was eschewing effects pedals tonight, and I liked the pure
tone he achieved, along with the brilliant slide work for which he has become
renowned. And at times the interplay between Jules and Gary worked really
well, I just love that twin-guitar sound.

Jules told me he was eschewing effects pedals tonight, and I liked the pure
tone he achieved, along with the brilliant slide work for which he has become
renowned. And at times the interplay between Jules and Gary worked really
well, I just love that twin-guitar sound.

The veteran Roadhousers in the background, Bill ‘˜n’ Rog, have been in the
band for going on fourteen years, Gary informed us. And their great professionalism
is a joy to witness ‘“ in fact the whole band, old and new seem to get on
so well it really works like a dream.

The finale Voodoo Queen was really great with Lorna and Fiona belting out
the lyrics and Jules and Gary doing some great duelling. We demanded an
encore, and got it, Gary showing great respect for the pub management and
politely asking if it was really OK to do another song.

So, in summary, a really good, happy, professional show. As I said above,
an excellent evening. 01/06/2005 Gary Sportsman ‘“ Part Two It was great see the audience singing along with the chorus
of Voodoo Queen’¦ a double encore and good Cd sales, plus Lorna singing
great and having one of her best ever stage outfits, a very nice night. 29/05/2005 Gary Sportsman ‘“ Croxley/Watford- 28/5 A long awaited return to the Sportsman, which though a very
small venue had lobbied very hard for 18 months to get us back.It was nice to see lots of old friends in the audience and Anne back in
tandem with Lorna (Anne has been kept away through various commitments and
issues).

Jules was experimenting with doing away with his pedals and just using his
amp sound. This contributed to a shakey start, but by the middle of the
first set was cooking. the last 3 songs of the first set including Sacrifice
and Rock Me Baby were blistering.

Tha crowd were totally behind us in the second set with Anne nicely co-ordinating
their input in Jules’s stonking version of Santana’s Oye Como Va 29/05/2005 Gaz Jack Beards ‘“ Tooting ‘“ 20/5 A support to the American guitar god Jo Bonamassa. It was
a small stage for those guys who are a real stadium outfit and they were
not to happy when they saw the size of this compact (but nice) venue’Still we quickly built good relationships with the band and crew and the
sound engineer was a Roadhouse fan (ta-dah, we were in).

No Jules and Lorna, but Drew and Fiona were doing a good job’¦..

Set ran Slip Away, No Place to Hide, Backstreets, Help Me and Voodoo Queen
(Time ran out so quickly while we were having fun- ’43 mins’)’¦.A good
response from the audience but only medium CD Sales as Jo’s multi CD merchandising
operation was in full swing. A nice chat and exchange of CD’s with Jo at
the end, with the promise of further work between the bands in the future 24/05/2005 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon Park ‘“ 19/5 A wild and weird night at the Woodman’¦In the Roadhouse set Broken Land was played best yet due to correct speed
and good drumming from Roger (even though Jules lead failed mid song) you
could see it had come together. A perfunctory Slip Away followed by lorna
doing well on the great new number the Big Easy with new improved mid section
(needs to double up on one bit then we are home and dry me -thinks). Sacrifice
it ROCKS>>>>>>

Into the Jam, memories, Jules and Marc playing Jessica on speed (well sounded
ike it and was excellent entertainment), a nice sax player called John,
a great melange of sound from Geronimo playing with Danny ‘˜Van’ Gwillim
(2nd song was bitching), and stadium rock from Georgie Pie alias Masashi
(killer riff on second song) ‘“ strike the pose.

Syd went into history by forgetting his words on his second song, allowing
me to bore th audience into leaving on time with a mega Gary stage waffle 20/05/2005 Gary BB’s Blues Club at GJ’s ‘“ Colliers Wood ‘“ 15/5 A superb performance by the Band at this intimate but plush
little club. Fiona McElroy was dong vocal duties for us while Drew was on
guitar.Result was a very well played night, starting with Slip Away and ending
in 2 encores, Preacher Man and Serve U Right. Both Fiona and Drew did great
jobs and the sound balance and clartity was very nice.

Special guest was Danny Gwillim who did a number with Drew and a rousing
‘˜Watchtower’ with me.

Only down side was that though the crowd was very passionate, with some
great loyal, roadhouse supporters; surely this great club deserves a better
turnout??? 19/05/2005 Gary The Grove Tavern ‘“ South Wimbledon A good night at the Grove, with Fiona making her full debut.
Doing a great job on all Roadhouse songs and combining superbly with Lorna
on Blues Highway and Voodoo Queen.Tremendous vocal duettes on Rock Me Baby and Stormy Monday were delivered
by our twin divas.

Geronimo did a guest set with Owen on the drums and the Legendary Danny.G
played a stonking Watchtower with me (despite me singing the first verse
twice ‘“ still there must be some way out of it ‘“ shite I’ve done it again).

Tim O’Sullivan did a guiness fuelled guest slot and excelled in both gurning
and blistering guitar duties.

A bit of a local party night and v.enjoyable 08/05/2005 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ 5/5 A blinding night at the Woodman, new Roadhouse singer Fiona
McElroy did a great job on some old faves like Help Me while Lorna sang
our new composition The Big Easy to much acclaim.Great sets from Andy Cortes playing with fiery young Lawrence in a blues
guitar masterclass’¦..

Helen did a lead vocal and then sang another song while drumming (a bit
like making love while reading the financial times (I couldn’t do it and
according to some people I can’t do either)’¦.

A great night, Jules did a brill job on the bass (where have all the bass
players gone) only Syd didn’t get up to deliver(ance) on his banjo into
the night and I will Make it up to him.

Rocking’¦ 08/05/2005 Gary Boom Boom Club ‘“ Sutton FC ‘“ 29/4 Nice to be opening for our old friends Ruthless Blues, a
legendary and historic presence on the curcuit (I used to watch Little Stevie
Smith when I was 20).This ws the 3rd or 4th time (opinions vary) that the 2 Bands had played
together, so there was a nice friendly vibe.

A very decent crowd included a lot of regular Roadhouse punters and they
were well behind a rocking, if quite different to usual set.

Both Broken Land and Sacrifice were given their first big stage airings
and went down a storm.

Jules did well bearing in mind he’d forgot a lot of his equipment (still
he had is guitar and his trousers, which for him is more than enough)

A stormer, with great CD sales, happy people and much hand shaiking afterwards
(well at least until I got to the Southern Comfort) 02/05/2005 Gary East Harling Social Club ‘“ 23/4 A warm, friendly venue with an unfriendly low ceiling. The
Band played a very nice gig to some friendly and appreciative people.
Lots of old faces from the Cider Shed and the Biker Fest we did last year.
I sat down in a crowd of 12-15 year old lads during the start of Jules’s
solo in Oye Como Va and they said to me’You are really cool’, I wish they’s
tell my 10 year old son, who thinks I’m an embarassment.Great set apart from Rog drumming through the 3rd Chorus of Broken Land
and prompting Bill to play a different set of notes, just to keep us on
our toes.

however redemption was swift with a great perfromance from both the aforemntioned
on Watchtower.

Jules playing on Sacifice ‘˜totalled me’ ,it was so good. Lorns was on form
and it was great to have the 3 part vocal ‘˜thang’ going again, with Anne
rounding the sound nicely.

At the end some guys said the guitar trade off in Rock Me Baby was like
the one at the end of the movie Crossroads (required watching dear reader)’¦

However, if that was the case I’d be like the SteveVai character, limping
away with a scowl on my face (hey I just likened myself to Steve Vai -call
in the Trading Standards Commision) ‘“ good gig 25/04/2005 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ 21/4 Woodman Jam ‘“ 21/4Another great night.. tremendous to see Lorna and Jules back and we were
treated to great performances by both’¦The Roadhouse set really rocked
with Lorna singing 3 and Fiona McElroy singing 2. For a first time out with
Roadhouse, Fiona was great’¦..

Reverse running order had Syd on the banjo playing early (how does Jules
solo to that structure ???) and Geronimo on early release from the reservation
re-enacting the Battle of the little Big Horn on his guitar.

Very interesting jazz vocalist Carla did a kind of ‘˜Bohemian Rhapsody’ approach
to Route 66, and the crowd were well up for it. Very, very enjoyable.. 25/04/2005 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ 7/4 One of the greatest and most magical jams ever at the Woodman.We discovered a great new female singer (Fiona MCElroy) who has agreed to
join the Roadhouse squad.

No Jules or Lorna again but Drew was kicking it and on Voodoo Queen we were
joined by Rhiannon, my 14 year old daughter on backing vocals and she stormed
it, receiving a great ovation (made me a proud, but old, man).

Andy Cortes and Danny.G were on fire and there were too many great perfromances
to mention ‘“ big crowd to 25/04/2005 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ 21/4 Another great night.. tremendous to see Lorna and Jules back
and we were treated to great performances by both’¦The Roadhouse set really
rocked with Lorna singing 3 and Fiona McEvoy singing 2. For a first time
out with Roadhouse, Fiona was great’¦..Reverse running order had Syd on the banjo playing early (how does Jules
solo to that structure ???) and Geronimo on early release from the reservation
re-enacting the Battle of the little Big Horn on his guitar.

Very interesting jazz vocalist Carla did a kind of ‘˜Bohemian Rhapsody’ approach
to Route 66, and the crowd were well up for it. Very, very enjoyable.. 22/04/2005 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ 7/4 One of the greatest and most magical jams ever at the Woodman.We discovered a great new female singer (Fiona MCEvoy) who has agreed to
join the Roadhouse squad.

No Jules or Lorna again but Drew was kicking it and on Voodoo Queen we were
joined by Rhiannon, my 14 year old daughter on backing vocals and she stormed
it, receiving a great ovation (made me a proud, but old, man).

Andy Cortes and Danny.G were on fire and there were too many great perfromances
to mention ‘“ big crowd to 22/04/2005 Gary The Coach & Horses ‘“ Isleworth ‘“ 2/4 A quiet night at the Coach, with only 60% of the usaul good
crowd. No Jules and Lorna, but Canadian guitar maestro and Roadhouse number
one dep Monsieur Drew Barron ws on great form’¦Anne performing on her own did a great job with the vocals despite a throat
problem.

Second set lead to encores as the pub filled up and the night lifted. Higlights
for me were the climatic All Along the Watchtower and Voodoo Queen in which
Drew pummled his fretboard into complete submission’¦..

Not a bad night 12/04/2005 Gary The Red Lion ‘“ High Wycombe ‘“ 29/3 A Tuesday night at a new venue in High Wycombe ‘“ hardy enough
to set one’s pulse racing, but race it did.Wonderful hospitality from Helen and her team, as this night has turned
into an excellent Blues/Rock club and artists like Papa Goerge and Sam Kelly
have already played this venue.
To add spice to the evening a camera crew working for the BBC filmed some
of the first few numbers. Clips are to be featured in a forthcoming documentary
on Lorna being taught by Roger to drive (wonder if it will containg his
legendary, ‘œYou get an extra 80 points for an old lady’ steering technique)..

A good two sets were very well received by a lovely audience and post gig
CD sales were brisk to say the least

We’ll be back here very soon. a great night 12/04/2005 Gary The Hope Tavern ‘“ Lincs ‘“ 27/3 A superb lunch and great hospitality from the wonderful management
and staff at this friendly pub.When I say pub I’m wrong, because within 30 mins in comes a stage and lighting
rig and it’s converted into a wonderful little blues club’¦.

Two good sets to an appreciative crowd who bought shed loads of CD’s..

Broken Land and The Big Easy were both given good airings and though the
on stage banter at times was unpro it was often very, very funny (especially
the bit about when Roger stops Bill needs to fill him up the back)’¦

A great little gig and we will be back. We met so many great people, a special
thanks to Bob Reid for a guest harp appearance and ace writer/photographer
Iain Young who was reviewing for Blues Matters.

For officionadoes/desperdoes the 2 encore numbers were Preacher Man and
I Couldn’t Get To Sleep 28/03/2005 Gary Charters Bar- Peterborough ‘“ 26/3 Blues on the Boat, our 4th appearance on the modified ex
Rhine, working barge.Nice meal in the upstairs Chinese followed by a kicking first set.

The audience have been sparse here recently, but not during our first set
where the usual high levels of famous Charters apathy were overcome with
a vengeance.

I was on good guitar form for a change and a notable highlight was the trade
off with Jules in Rock Me Baby, as well as a fun version of ‘˜Watchtower’

Sacrifice is becoming a live set fave with Anne and Lona lifting it into
a new great (Dr Who) dimension

Numbers dwindled for the second set.. but with the clocks coming forward
and the 1-2 am finish it was understandable.

Still the hard core remained and were rewarded by Jules’s great perfroamnce
of Oye Como Va.. A good one 28/03/2005 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Wimbledon -24/3 Another ace night at the Wooodman. Expectations of a strong
turn out were low due to lack of pre bookings and the forthcoming Easter
Holliday. Boy was I wrong.a tremandous turn out of both music loving punters and musicians lead to
great jam.

Shame was I couldn’t get everyone on, how often do I have to tell people
to turn up early, so we can start at 20.30????

In the Roadhouse kick off set we featured a new song, ‘˜The Big Easy’ cowritten
by Lorna and I (great melody Lorns) and it went down a storm and was reasonably
well played for a first outing, well sung too’¦

A weird lack of bass players lead to great bass depping from both Jules
‘˜Pastorious’ Fothergill and Andy ‘˜Bassman’ Cortes.

Nice sets from the above mentioned Andy.C and

all concerned. It was great to see Pete Sargean there (weightwatchers man
of the month) and all round great music jorno and player,

Her’es to the next one 28/03/2005 Gary White Lyon ‘“ Worplesdon ‘“ 19/3 South of Guildford is not exactly south of Chicago and the
A3 is not really Highway 61, and so it proved.New owners at the Whyte Lyon, a plusher interior and a stage (strangely
positioned directly facing the bar)..

A bright opening from support, The John Brown band, who had a very nice
Dutch guitar player (who knew loads of Dutch people we knew) and then into
a straight 1 hour 35 minute Roadhouse set.

No Jules or Lorna but an appearance from Canadian guitarist extrodinaire,
Drew Barron, who played great.

It was the smallest ever crowd we’d had at this venue (about 42 at it’s
heady zenith), which is a pity because this is the worst paying of any of
Roadhouse’s regular gigs and CD sales and bar take percentage make up the
feeble band wages.

As a consequence, despite the 2 encores and much crowd support/enthusiasm,
we won’t be back again. Onto bigger and beter things (I hope) ‘“ Gary 22/03/2005 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ 10/3 Started a quiet night for one of our popular jam sessions
but by the end was up to a medium attendance.I was personally pleased with both new Roadhouse songs, Broken Land and
Sacrifice. Vocally I was personally having a very good night, but don’t
know what was going on with my guitar playing. Still I enjoyed doing a late
in the evening Watchtower with the excellent Danny Gwillim.

Musically the night was very diverse with Tom (I’ve got a big one ) Anfield
giving the worlds seemeingly largest didgereedoo a stonking BJ, and both
flute and saxaphone came into play as well.

Marc a la Francias proved he’s total beast by breaking strings on both his
own and Jules’s guitars before continuing to play on 5 strings more effetively
than most people could ever hope to on 6 (hope it made him Apee) ‘“ We made
a bit more room amongst the soft furnishings on the woodman stage and here’s
to the next one in a fortnight’s time 11/03/2005 Gary Running Horse ‘“ Nottingham ‘“ 4/3 Last time here we achieved the ‘˜Runners’ smallest ever crowd
(8 payers ‘“ 12 people) -but achieved a review that said the performance
made it one of the gigs of the year.This time it was still dissapointing (31 payers and a handful of guests
pushing attendance up to near 40 people). Thanks to all our friends who
saw us on the big stage at Skeggy and came across to this one, on a cold,
cold night.

The band played a great gig. I must single out Anne for some praise as she
sang great and come midnight it was her Birthday.

Jules was in an especially mischevious mode, with a whole montage of kiddy
themes in the middle of Telling Lies being just the tip of his wind up frivolity
(great playing).

We love this venue and Barry who runs it is a great guy who does a lot for
live music, so we will be back on the 4th June and maybe this time it’ll
be a sell out 07/03/2005 Gary Aplogiues & Cancellations Due to the aforementioned viral havoc, we had to cancel our
appearances at the Fox & Hounds on the 27/2 and Prince Fegent on the 3/3.Many apologies to all concerned but these were only the 4th and 5th roadhouse
cancellations of igs in 13.5 years ‘“ sorry unavoidable’¦. 07/03/2005 Gary Grove Tavern ‘“ 26/2 Injury struck, no Roger (nasty chest infection), no Lorna
(nasty throat infection) and myself carrying a friendly (must be friendly
cos it won’t leave me alone’ ‘˜Stomach and throat virus we retuned to The
Grove.To bolster our flagging numbers and bodies I broght in a 3rd guitar in the
shape of the excellent Drew Baron. However, Drew didn’t want to be the odd
one out and contrated a stomach bug on the way to the gig and spent the
night doubled up or in the bog.

Sir Richard Pumperloaf came back in to dep for Roger and did his usual superb
job though it included his usual too slow apprach to No Place to Hide. He
is an awesome drummer.

This was the worst crowd we’d ever had at the Grove and we’ve been playing
there since 92, so it was far cry from the glory of Skegness and La Belgique.

There was a handful of Roadhouse officinados (like a bandido only they work
in offices ‘“ i think) and they were rewarded with amixture of wobbly moments,
mulchy moments with 3 guitar overkill, but some absolute magical guitar
playing and great bits of music ‘“ but who cared???? 07/03/2005 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ 24/2 Back to the stage at the Woodman after being relegated last
time to the conservatory.Surrounded by the new leather furniture the stage size is greatly reduced.
this means no more percussion which is a bummer’¦

Still I thought differently to the views expressed on Jules’s site, that
the tone was very nice and warm and got a lot of positive feedback on the
Roadhouse set.

Later on Jules and Lorna returned with French Marc and a ‘˜Funkydoresque’
line up and the tone gods were smiling on both Jules playing and Lorna’s
voice.

We fast ran out of time on a busy night that was marked by the beggining
of a nasty stomach bug for me (the vie from the tiolet in the Woodman is
not recommended).

Some nice playing again by young lawrence on the guitar, it was also nice
to here a rock three peice with a girl singer’¦. 07/03/2005 Gary Belg/Dutch Tour 4 ‘“ Rotterdam End of tour, a afternoon large pub gig on the outskirts of
Rotterdam. Of course in the spirit of this tour it couldn’t be straightforward.Anne took a PA carrying tumble on the way into the venue (triple pike with
a high degree of difficulty ‘“ 9.7) and mulched here knee (don’t know if
thats a real word).

She did the gig stool bound a la Uncle Val Doonican, but without the nice
sweater.

The audience were strange, the band were playing pretty well but the reponse
was muted. The crowd swelled (well they were drinking alot of beer), but
still they were unsure until the end of the first set, where a rocking No
Place To Hide pulled them ‘˜on side’.

By the end of the gig they wouldn’t let us stop playing, fog horns blasted
from the bar in approval (either that or someone was strangling a bison
in order to make the satay) we did a triple encore’¦.

The tour bus set off through snow storms and a lack of channel tunnel trains,
to get us all home in time for post gig viruses and middle aged collapse
(for the Band oldies).

But what fun and what memories. Thanks too Bobje Blues and all out tremendous
Belgian friends 03/03/2005 Gary Belg/Dutch Tour 3 ‘“ St Lenearts -Willem Tell
Blues Club Day Three ‘“ My pick of the tour gigs. Nice pre gig food and
red wine frenzy led nicely to on stage in front of a packed house, with
heated exterior tent (also well attended) while the snow fell quite heavily
outside.
Michele the promoter was ‘œMoved’ by our performance, while in turn the band
were moved by his chilli.The Band were on fire, turning in 2 great sets and the on tour set rotation
kept the numbers nice and fresh’¦

Many nice jornos in attendance and many pics taken of a great night’¦.. 03/03/2005 Gary Belg/Dutch Tour 2 ‘“ Mol On Day Two we were delighted that Jules and Lorna made a
steady recovery.We arrived at a supeb Americana styles venue in Mol (loved the jack daniels
lampshades, guitar shaped tables and route 66 backdropped stage)’¦

Our host Loius was a great Biker guy who did the greatest Belgian beer based
stew, ever. Big thanks to Jo Verboven and friends for helping to make this
gig happen.

First set was top notch with Jules ‘˜on fire’ , making a welcome return from
John Carpenter Zombie state to The Full Monty (with his clothes on of course)’¦.

Second set not quite as well played, but by then the crowd were having a
great time and post gig CD sales were frantic.

This was the only night of the tour that wasn’t packed out, but still a
decent enough crowd. 02/03/2005 Gary Belgium/Holland Tour ‘“ 1 ‘“ Menen The stuff of legends, forever to be known as the ‘œ10 Green
Bottles Gig’.On arrival at Leper/Ypres we were met by our Belgian promoter/manager/Flemish
Web supremo Bobje blues.

His welcome recption at his home was a lovely bit of hospitality.

However, you are not meant to eat the rind on Belgian cheese (not common
knowledge in Roadhouse circles). Jules in fact thought we were on a tour
of the Rind (ho, ho, boom, boom) and set about devouring slabs of the stuff.

On arrival at the great venue in Menen (Thanks to both Phillipe’s, Seys
and Warlop), Jules and Lorna became very ill and Anne only had medium vomiting
and shits.

We started with Blues Highway to an appreciative full house, but by the
4th song Lorna left the stage (very ill), by the 5th it was bye bye Jules.
Anne also periodically dissapeared and it felt to me like i was starring
in a personal episode of the Twighlight Zone (only I wanted to dissapear
but for some reason I couldn’t ).

Bill and Roger were super, Anne was a trooper (how Abbaesque) and we managed
the power trio, guitar hero thing (if you were drunk enough) pretty well,
including stonking versions of the Dealer and Serve U Right to Suffer. Jules
retruned (bravely) for one song just to prove that he couldn’t stand up.

The venue were really undersatnding, we sold Cd’s and most/nearly were happy,
but mainly we were just worried about Jules and Lorna who continued to be
very ill into the early hours’¦. 01/03/2005 Gary Coach & Horses ‘“ Isleworth ‘“ 5/2 Nice pub, nice people including many roadhouse regulars.Jules had tonal problems, (tone gods on holliday via faulty amp settings)
my muscle disease was also in a godless state (though I was very proud of
3 solos).

A pre Belgium/Holland tour workman like night.

New songs sounding good..

Gary 01/03/2005 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ 3/3 Tough night at the Woodman,the stage is now occupied by unmovable leather furniture, so we were relgated
back to the rear of the conservatory’¦

The jam functioned successfully here for 18 months, but the lack of sound
insulation causes noise complaints and sure enough the police were on the
phone twice in the 1st hour (funny that, cos I thought they’d disbanded?)’¦.

No Jules, no Lorna, but Mr Drew Baron was on top form (after initial feedback
probs) and Anne was in very good voice (nice to see her back at the jam).

No shortage of good players and not a bad jam under the circumstances. Let’s
see what the future brings’¦ 04/02/2005 Gary Earl of Spencer ‘“ Gastro Pub -2/2 The first of the monthly music and food nights upstairs at
the EOS. Great concept, 3 courses of truly superb food, 1st drink and live\music
all for £30.00.Shame that a lot of the pre booked punters did not show.

Still the 20 plus diners and the handul of ligging Roadhouse fans had a
great time. Overall the set went well and the re-action was great.

Next months show on Weds 2/3 = Robin Bibi (special guest me), hopefully
this great monthly idea will take off big style’ 04/02/2005 Gary Skegness ‘“ Festival of Rock (2) 8pm CENTRE STAGE at Skeggy ‘“ 500 queing before the room opened.
Hard to say how many people out there when the safety curtain went up but
it was prob more than 3-4 thousand (seemed like 30,000 to me after some
of our pub gigs).Having that amount of people clap along to the drum intro to the opener
Tellin Lies was a bit special’¦.

Great re-action and a great show. We didn’t play as well as in the afternoon,
but rocked the place in a wonderfully Bon Joviesque way (without as much
gag factor ‘“ I hope).

Voodoo Queen brought about the mandatory Preacher Man encore, then it was
Team hug and a thanks to a wonderful audience (so many friends out there)
and then some healthy Cd sales’¦

Here’s to next year if all of us are still alive’. 01/02/2005 Gary Skegness ‘“ Festival of Blues & Rock We played 2 slots at Skeggy.2nd only to Colne in it’s sifnificance to the circuit but number one in
stage size, we were on the same weekend bill as bands like The Animals,
Dr Feelgood, 9 Below Zero, The Sweet, The Hamsters, Eddie & The Hot Rods,
John Coughlan’s Quo.

Our first appearance was on the 750 capacity venue JAKS (Walt Disney type
version of a cheesey wils west bar). We had a healthy 500 strong crowd for
our first (and best playede set of the day) and then ran a very nice jam
session. Due to lack of advertising we had to loan people instruments, but
their was some nice players and the whole thing went well. 01/02/2005 Gary Woodman Jam ‘“ Thurs 20th A really busy jam at the Woodman last night. so many players
I could not accommodate everybody and had to reduce some great players and
favourites to just one song. Other people didn’t even get on, this is so
contrary to my personal values and what I try to acheive, that I felt really
stressed by the whole experience. I also got a blasting from the venue for
the 13 minute over run at the end of the night’¦However, I was pleased with the 1st outing of 2 new Roadhouse songs of which
I am particularly proud, Broken Land and Sacrifice’¦ Despite my errors
and a dodgy count throwing the beginning of Broken Land, they both went
well enough for a first outing. The feedback from punters and musicians
was superb..

Great sets from Tom Anfield Band, Masashis and Danny Gwillim and others
and first Woodman timer Alex’¦

If only peopl would turn up earlier’¦ oh well here’s to the 3rd Feb 21/01/2005 Gary Elme Hall ‘“ 19th Dec After anice Xmas lunch blagged by Jules we played a great
gig to the 100 or so patrons of Elme Hall, stately home’¦though thinned out by Xmas shopping this was a great audience who got right
behind the band and as a consequence the epics came thick and fast (and
very long and very loud)

Lorna was back with a vengance and Jules had sold his soul to his tone gods
(again!)

A great time was had by all’¦

Here’s to a retrun next year 04/01/2005 Gary Coach & Horses ‘“ 18th Dec Start delayed as I’d stupidly left stuff at home and Jules
saved the day with a Saabesque taxi ride to the rescue.Whan we started late I was on very poor form, with the rest of the band
trying to compensate and Lorna resting/heckling from the audience (getting
over her laryngitis). Anne did a good job on solo female vocals.

2nd set I finally got going and and the band played a blinder, which kicked
off a CD buying frenzy atr the end of the night (loads of people must have
manic depressives to buy for) 04/01/2005 Gary Xmas Jam ‘“ The Woodman ‘“ 16th Dec A brilliant Jam at the Woodman. Lorna did a great couple
of songs before the laryngitis kicked in, but we then rocked out with fun
versions of Watchtower and Oye Como Va.Jules did one of his best ever solos when playing with French Marc, Tim
Matthewman took the art of lead bass playing to a new zenith and all round
good perfromances and festive cheer to a packed house 04/01/2005 Gary Tour Of Norfolk ‘“ 10-12th Dec 3 dates in Norfolk courtesy of Alan Fish of Egypt and The
Groundhogs fame.Night 1 at the Vernon Arrms, not a bad little gig livened up by the Bands
best ever performance of Lost in Pain and the willy watching alsation that
hung around the Gents toilets (down Shep)

Night 2, The legendary Hunstanton Social Club was a good gig. Loads of old
fiends and a very enthusaistic audience, as the band tried to thaw out (quite
successfully) from a night in sub zero accommodation. Love to do this one
again in the warmth of spring or summer

Day 3, back for a luchtime gig at the excellent Cider Shed in Banham. Ryan
our host was again on top form and we rocked a very decent crowd, with a
full frontal set. Looking forward to viisiting the Cider Sheds new home
in Norwich next year 04/01/2005 Gary Grove Tavern, South Wimbledon ‘“ 27th Nov This was the best the Band has ever played with Drew Baron.Sitting in for Jules he was on brilliant form. Great perfromance by the
band, tremendous vocals from Lorna, rhythm section on the money and best
playing from me for over a year’¦.

Highlights included a version of All Along the Watchtower, and Drew’s comedy
La Bamba/Twist and Shout Segway (for a minute I was a Spanish Beatle ‘“ then
someone trod on me..)

Good crowd and a nice night at the Grove Tavern 30/11/2004 Gary Woodman, Saiichi Gig/Jam ‘“ 25th Nov With Jules having those testy tonsils removed, what better
time than to play the much promised (over the years) gig with Saiichi Sugiyama.A good friend to the band, Saiichi has supported numerous jams and music
clubs over the years. Singer, songwriter, guitarist and international recording
artist he has done some good stuff over the years.

There was a good turn out fom the Woodman faithful though most jammers weren’t
there bringing the overall attendance down a tad.

A good opening with Drew Baron sitting in with Roadhouse in order to practice
for Satrudays set at the Grove. Drew blew people away with hid slide playing
(without a slide) on No place to Hide.

Other great jam performances from Lol Sandford (vocals for once), Danny
Gwillim and the Tom Anfield Band

The Saiichi set went well and featured Bill, Roger and Lorna on great form.
Best numbers were probably Watchtower and Some Where Down The Road’ 30/11/2004 Gary Rayners Hotel, Harrow ‘“ 19th Nov Back to London with a bump.A superb double header with the excellent John O’Leary band was dampened
by a realtively small turn out.

Though small, in number, the audience were beautifully formed and gave both
bands great encouragement.

A double helping of an on form Jules was enjoyed by all and at the end both
bands merged for some effective jamming’¦..

A good night for music punters 30/11/2004 Gary Boner The Captain Nelson, Maryport ‘“ 14th Nov A 2 hour drive across from Darlington lead us to a brilliant,
friendly, pub venue on the water front at Maryport.After Sunday lunch was served the place transformed as if by magic into
a music venue. A packed house, great performance and re-action form the
superb crown (loads of returnees), 2 epic encores and it was along, long,
long way home’¦..

Well done Pumperloaf again for the best dep drunning ever’¦mega amount
of Cd’s sold 30/11/2004 Gary The Forum, Darlington ‘ 13th Nov A large purpose built hall with fantatsic PA, 3 good sound
engineers, and equipped with a large and trendy cafe bar entrance/reception.
Lovely big venue, but could we fill it.Answer was ‘ emphatically yes. The room quickly filled with people who had
caught our act at Colne or Skeggy and had been fully inducted into the dark
world of voodoo women, epic, death driven, blues metal overkill’¦

A fantastic audience, lovely responsive, friendly people. Two epic encores
and the whole thing made possible by Richard Pumperloaf (sittting in for
the bereaved Roger Hunt) on the drums. What a player’¦And well done to
Mike Prendergast the promoter (good guy)

Ceasr’s guest appearance on Oye Como Va got him a standing ovation (wish
i could make my PRS sound like that). back to the guest house where the
Scottish first lady of the tardis (well it is a long scarf) wiped the floor
with everybody in the drinking competition 21/11/2004 Gary Charters Bar, Peterborough ‘ 6th Nov For Norfolk to Peterborough, back to ‘˜blues on the barge’,
where a severley hung over Jules likened the gentle rocking on this moored
vessel to the death throws of the Titanic.The Band again was on blinding form. Shame about the small audience (number
of, not their height). Apparently, there was a big local gig and the weather
was foul. However, Jules overcame has delcate state (morale ‘ never drink
with Scottish women) to deliver the goods as usual and last night’s hot
streek continued. 4 gigs at this great venue in the book for next year’¦result 21/11/2004 Gary The Cider Shed, Banham ‘ 5th Nov Nightmare Friday night traffic meant a long haul to Norfolk,
but it was well worth it ..
A Lovely Country barn styled venue, with a great music loving audience.
A superb pre gig dinner in the on complex restaurant was followed by one
of the best performances that Raodhouse have delivered in along time.
A nice guest apprearnce from Tim ‘˜Ceaser’ O’ Sullivan plus I had some remission
from my muslce/tendon disease enabling me to play ‘˜properly’ for once..
Our wonderful host Ryan allowed band members to kip in the bar following
a decent post gig drinking session and a re-booking for ‘œOne of, if not
the best band ever seen at the Cider Shed’. We’ll be back for a pm gig on
Sun the 12th December, excellent 21/11/2004 Gary Boner Jam Session, Woodman Wimbledon Park ‘ 4th Nov Last nights jam signalled the end of our ‘œ5 Year Jam Celebration’,
featuring weekly instead of fortnightly appearances at the Woodman. As a
consequences I was expecting a quieter night, but it was not to be. A massed
crowd plus Andy Cortes enormous afro made even basic navigation round the
pub difficult.Great guitar playing from Andy, Drew Barron (learn to play fast dude, whats
your problem), Saiichi Sugiyama, Jules and Marc A La Appy Francais. Lorna
was on tip top form ‘ great stuff from all and her’es to 2 weeks time.. 05/11/2004 Gary Boner Digital Blues Fest, Crawdaddy Club, Billericay
-31st Oct Nosebleeds all round as the Band made their first ever appearance
in Essex.What a great festival this was, with a warm and appreciative Crawdday crowd,
supporting the excellent bill of musicicns and terrific charity cause.

Well done to Ashwyn of Blues Matters and Digital Blues fame for the invite
and organisation.

Sandwiched betwwen the Guy Tortora Band and New Blues, we manged to fluff
the crowd up into a nicely responsive state. this was all despite the sound
of a heard of ghostly elephants stampeding through the monitors (well it
was halloween).

Apparently the door is now open for numerous returns to Essex and if this
is the kind of event and crowd, then thats very good news, ‘ Gaz 05/11/2004 Gary Boner 0n 29th October 2004 Jam Session, Woodman Wimbledon Park, ‘ 28th
Oct Another great night at the Woodman. Crowd was a little bit
thinner after our 6 appearances in 8 weeks, in order to celebrate 5 years
of this very succesful session.I was delighted that in the Roadhouse set we managed to ‘˜nail’ both Long
Way Home’ and scope down ‘˜I Couldn’t Get to Sleep’ to under 6 mins. This
was min order to fir the somewhat inflexible requirements of BBC Radio 2,
for our live recording session next week. Overcome with relief I then managed
to totally cock up Telling Lies (much to the delight of all the other Band
members).

Other highlights for me were the re-appearance of Pete French on vocals
(of Ronnie Wood and Cozy Powell fame) who did a blinding set with Jules
and Danny Gwillim on twin guitar overkill..

French Marc (Monsieur Le Guerrannic) then added the total panto, jazz, widdle
madness for which they are famous ‘ All musicians did well and here’s to
next week ‘ Gary 29/10/2004 Jules Fothergill Blues Matters! Festival, Elme Hall, Wisbech
– 22nd Oct Friday night’s gig was the Blues Matters Festival at Elme
Hall in Wisbech. Sadly not too many people there, but those who were had
a really good time! The stage sound made the gig pretty heavy going but
we got there in the end’¦ looking forward to playing there again in December,
it’s a beautiful room! 25/10/2004