Orpheum @ Dirty South (BandQuest)

Gig number two for Oprheum tonight. This time in the BandQuest competition. The aim was to impress the promoter with a view to getting more gigs rather than treating it as an aggressive competition although we weren't going to complain if we progressed further in the competition.

ORPHEUM
We played a good set tonight. The nerves from the previous week were gone and we delivered well. We were well received by the audience and received some really positive feedback from fans afterwards.

See all the ORPHEUM photos here: 310312OrpheumDirtySouthBandQuest

Jade very kindly took on film duties and got footage of Porcelain Doll:



OTHROS
These guys delivered some hard hitting technical thrash metal. It was fun to watch a line of guys windmill headbanging together on stage, I've not seen that for a while. They seemed to go down pretty well with the crowd too.

See all the OTHROS pics here: 310312OthrosDirtySouthBandQuest




SON OF TORMENT
The final band in the competition element of the BandQuest line up was another heavy band although less thrashy than Othros were and with a different vocal delivery. A good set that was well received by the audience but then that was to be expected as they were local boys.

See all the SONS OF TORMENT pics here: 310312SonsOfTormentDirtySouthBandQuest


TRAINING ICARUS
This band were pretty awesome! They had a really polished sound with some quality symphonic metal a la Nightwish etc. Most enjoyable and a great wind after the competitions bands were done.

See all the TRAINING ICARUS pics here: 310312TrainingIcarusDirtySouthBandQest


THE FURIOUS HORDE
Proceedings were brought to a loud climax with an assault from The Furious Horde. They play symphonic black metal which reminded me a little of Cradle Of Filth in places (which is no bad thing in my book). The crowd lapped it up and they were a great way to round off the evening!

See all THE FURIOUS HORDE pics here: 310312TheFuriousHordeDirtySouthBandQuest


So with all the fun and games over and done with it was time to announce the winners. Congratulations to Sons Of Torment for making it through to the next round. It was all quite close and it was a pleasant surprise to find that Orpheum had been voted second. We managed to sell some EPs which was wonderful for us. We also impressed the promoter, Unified Sounds, who is having us back to play more gigs with them so it was a good night all round.

Meh, drinks, PCs, Wharfedale & TV

It was a mad day at work today. So much going on, all very chaotic which left everyone feeling a bit meh!

We went out at lunchtime at the request of Nick to whet the baby's head. We went to The Old Bell (end) for a quick drink. I didn't have it bit this looked interesting



Got home and helped Toni set up her new PC and managed to get nine back up and running again. Lots of intermittent issues that I hope I have resolved now (fingers crossed!

I also installed a Wharfedale sound system on the PC. Oh my goodness, what a fantastic sound! It's so loud and the bass is awesome. Recording is going to be such a pleasure!

South Park and Once Upon A Time were the TV choice tonight. Girly time suspended tonight due to general tiredness.


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Grim day, Harry Potter, Orpheum on the radio and plucking!

Today was a bit of a grim day. There were a fair few people who were a bit disappointed with reviews etc and so everything was flat and dark. Will be interesting to see how many people hang around for more than a couple of months!

It was a great relief to go home I can tell you! I got home and thought one of my hard drives had died but thankfully it was just a loose connection so didn't take long to sort and meant that I wasn't grumpy LOL

Chinese food and the first Harry Potter film made for a welcome break from reality.

To round things off nicely Orpheum had a track played on the Metal Mumin Radio show with some additional promotion for our BandQuest gig on Saturday. Big thanks to Caz Mumin for doing that for us!

Final port of call was a bit ouchy as Toni plucked lots of my hairs on my hand out. The minor discomfort is far outweighed by the wonderful sight of no hair!


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Good day (in the end), RAW and girly time

Today started off on a bad note but did improve as things went on. The highlight of the day was actually being acknowledged for the extra work and responsibility that I have taken on over the last year and being rewarded for it. About time too say I LMFAO

Got home and chilled out, roast chicken and wedges was accompanied by WWE RAW and lots of grumbling at Dwayne "The (c)Rock" Johnson. I really hope Cena hands his arse to him on a plate at Wrestlemania 28 on Sunday night!

The final icing on the cake was having some girly time with Toni. Trying on a new outfit and being amazed out how easy it is to build a nice cleavage *grin*. Think we'll have to be doing more of that!

Dinner with Karen at Toby Carvery

It was treat time after work today as we headed off to the Toby Carvery in Bexleyheath to take Karen out for dinner as a belated birthday treat. We were delighted to see that they now do a king size version of the carvery meal, OMG!

It was a cracking night out that left us all completely stuffed.

Orpheum @ Camden Rock

Tonight was Orpheum's debut gig. We kicked off our live experience at Camden Rock in Camden. There were four bands on the bill tonight as the first act didn't show up.

THE ACCENTS

These guys delivered a sort of funky jazz sound that was a million miles from the rest of the bands on the bill. 

See all THE ACCENTS pics here: 250312TheAccentsCamdenRock


PRIMAL REBELS
Primal Rebels were a lot of fun. It is clear they like to drink and get a real kick out of performing live. We were treated to some uptempo metal and rock by a bunch of guys who don't take themselves too seriously.

See all the PRIMAL REBELS pics here: 250312PrimalRebelsCamdenRock


ORPHEUM
It was a good first outing for us and we had a great time. Everything went almost to plan and we got a really good reception from the crowd which is more than we could have asked for really. It certainly set us in good stead for moving things onwards!

See all the ORPHEUM pics here: 250312OrpheumCamdenRock


THE GREMLINS
Having swapped places with Orpheum on the bill these cheeky chappy did an extended set of cover versions. Another bunch of guys who don't take themselves too seriously but obviously really enjoy what they do! Just one question though, why oh why did you feel the need to end on U2's With Or Without You? LOL

See all THE GREMLINS pics here: 250312TheGremlinsCamdenRock

A day with Sophie and the babies

We had a lovely day in South Woodham Ferrers today. After a quick breakfast in Coffee Town we headed off to SWF in The Beast. First thing was to meet Stu and Nic for a quick catch up and to pick up some New Rock shoes for Sam that Toni had bought from Stu. We then picked up Sophie, Scarlett and Kenzie. We headed out to Chelmer Village and treated them to a meal in Pizza Hut which was much appreciated by Sophie.

We then had a chill back at Sophie's before we loaded up The Beast with all my bass gear ready for the Orpheum gig tomorrow.

With a few tears being shed as we departed we headed back to Eltham. While unloading The Beast I managed to crush my little finger taking one of the seats out. It was a little ouch but fortunately not too serious.

Spring Equinox open ritual

Toni and I met up with Victoria Fenbane at Holborn and trotted off to Conway Hall in Red Lion Square to attend the Spring Equinox open ritual being run by Pagan Federation London.

Awesome stag stamp!:

Despite the somewhat chaotic organisation it was a good event. None of us had ever attended an open ritual before so it was all new to us. The ritual was being run by the Lithuanian group Romuva and it did take me a short while to get past the language barrier but once I did it was all good. There was lots of participation and it was very nice to feel connected with the omniverse.

Based on our first experience we will definitely be attending more events like this. As we were leaving we got chatting to a lovely couple (Reg and Fran) who made us feel very welcome and they told us about various events and bands linked to the pagan path that we will be looking into.

Music to my ears...

...almost!

Toni and I picked up Nick tonight and headed off to Corelli College for a Music Festival that Gemima's school were participating in. Overall it wasn't bad and it was very nice to see so many kids singing in choirs and being encouraged to get involved with music. Big thumbs up to all performers for having the confidence to stand on the stage and perform, it's not an easy thing to do!

There were some hit and miss moments and certainly some off key winces (not to mention a set of kids that played instruments that certainly should not have been allowed to!).

Gemima's school were really good though (as were a couple of others) and she seemed to be having a great time!

Here is most of the performance brought to you in glorious YouTube vision:

Mother's Day round two

As we were away in Stratford-upon-Avon at the weekend and Toni didn't see most of the kids, Sam stepped into the breach and arranged for an additional Mother's Day so that Toni could have a day with everyone around here. Good work on his part getting Jade and Jodie organised to come over so that we could have an extra special event.

Sam cooked a fantastic steak and wedges meal for all of us and Toni had a really enjoyable time and much needed night off!

Orpheum rehearsal: ready to hit the road

It was back to Storm Studios tonight for our last rehearsal before Orpheum hit the road.

Andy showed off this lovely piece of kit!



Rehearsal went well and we are now ready to start gigging. 90 parts exciting mixed with 10 nervousness! Watch out people, here we come!


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Nice colour!

Decided to paint my nails in a colour that I don't normally use the other day. I am thinking that this is actually a very nice colour




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Dinner with Bob

In a refreshing change to the norm Toni and I went over to see Bob tonight. Our mission was to sort out some stuff on his laptop which was a complete success (see, I do have my uses!)

Was good to have a catch up and he made us a lovely dinner as well. It was nice to get out and see him and nice little change to our usual evening routine too.

Four mile walk in an hour

Today was the start of a new exercise regime for me. Lunchtime was spent enjoying the sunshine and some walking between the office and Parliament. Almost two return journeys were completed. In one hour I managed to notch up a rather impressive 4.4 miles. Hope the weather stays good this week so that I can continue my walking. The object of the exercise is to become fitter, lose weight and tone up!

I have a handy little app on my iPhone called RunKeeper that keeps track of distance, the route, calories burned and also allows me to take photos en route while enjoying a playlist of my choice. You can see some of the information that is logged here: http://runkeeper.com/user/442904094/activity/74949361

Here's a few pics from my route today:

 
 
 

New hair!!!

What a fantastic day! Toni and I whizzed over to North London to visit Caz Mumin and Darren Tite to have our hair styled by Sara Petrie.We always have such an amazing time when we are over there and we were joined properly by Darren Law this time as well which was cool.

Toni was up first.
Before:

After:

Sara did such amazing job, Toni looks fantastic!

I was next.
Before:

After:

To say I was delighted is a complete and utter understatement! Another amazing job by Sara!

Toni did a little photo editing for me!

After the hair came the food, courtesy of Kervan's. There was a LOT of it!

The rest of the night was spent listening to music, watching silliness on Youtube and shooting the breeze.

A big big thank you to Caz Mumin and Darrent Tite (he won an award don't you know) for hosting, Sara Petrie for working absolute magic on our hair and Darren Law for being a cool chap! Your friendship means a lot and we both had a really wonderful day!