BAIL-BOND basement gig

Next weekend we are putting our new (old) UK Hardcore band into action. With various members residing at opposite ends of the country, it's both costly and difficult to get together on a regular basis...any get-together needs to be exploited to the hilt!
We organised a weekend of activity:
Saturday afternoon/evening... rehearsing and band photoshoot.
Sunday afternoon...a low-key basement gig with a small 'invite-only' crowd at a secret location.
We plan to videotape this performance and use the footage to help promote the band.
Date is Sunday 8th July from 2pm-5.30pm. ALL AGES
If  you dig Hardcore and you fancy attending, get in touch and I will forward the info you will need. Super limited capacity (30 peeps max)
Band is comprised  of former members of JAILCELL RECIPES, SLEEP, KNOW NOTHING, BURN ALL FLAGS, LIE CYCLE and MASS OF BASTARDS.

UPDATE: Just confirmed..... S.S.S. added to the bill

No pictures please!!!

Been recuperating from my hernia surgery for the last 10 days. Staples are coming out tomorrow so snapped a picture. Once they are out I can work on getting back to normal... I'm told 6 weeks but aiming for sooner.

OXFORD ROUGH 'N' TUMBLE......

Round 3 of the UK flat track GNC took place at Oxford on Friday night. It was a very eventful race. It was raining everywhere else but we had dust and sunshine. Wilky #99 went down in the first turn of the first heat and hurt his wrist. Drogo #27 also had a big crash early on but managed to walk away relatively unscathed. I had fuel problems in my first heat (just happened to be my front row start) and after a strong start limped home in next to last place...not that I'm complaining in view of what was to come in the short track final....a horrible 6 bike accident on the back straight resulting in young Tim Neave #14 getting badly hurt. The fence was destroyed and bikes and bodies were everywhere. the final was cancelled as there was no chance of a restart. It was very sobering to witness and really drives home how much risk is involved with such high speed, close racing.
Anyway despite the crashes and mechanical problems, both me and Wilky scraped into the THUNDERBIKES final....personally I was just happy to not be hurt seeing I was due to have hernia surgery on Monday morning!
Thanks to Matt Davis and Anthony Brown for the pics........

PISTONHEAD RUN, FINLAND....part three

The show was held on a local camp-site close to Mala's house. It was a small and intimate gathering with some interesting people turning up. Friday night, a 2 piece band SPOON HILL played (bass drum, tuba, acoustic guitar and harmonica) I ended up joining them on percussion. Oddly enough ....a guy from Lancaster rolled up....it turns out we share the same barber!

PISTONHEAD RUN, FINLAND....part two

I woke up to a warm, sunny day. Mala cooked a tasty breakfast of scrambled eggs with 4 different Scandinavian cheeses and the local wholemeal flatbread. This was washed down with cinnamon tea.
I spent the morning mooching around the house and yard, absorbing the ambience. Hese from ROAD-WEIRDOES, who I met the last time I came to Finland, showed up with his buddy to work on one of the various trucks parked up. Mala hooked me up with some wheels for the weekend... a brand new 'Retro' 125cc scooter from India with only 280km's on the clock. It was great to have some independence and not be reliant on anybody to get around. In the afternoon Eski and Masa arrived and I pitched in and helped load the vans and trucks with musical equipment, merch and camping stuff for the show.

PISTONHEAD RUN, FINLAND....part one

Just back from a 5 day trip to Somero, Finland representing Sideburn Magazine at The Pistonhead Run.

I was shown some warm Finnish hospitality from Mala Malk, boss of KOPTERI, Finland's best chopper mag!

He picked me up at Helsinki airport and we drove 100 kms to Somero. We stopped on the way to buy sleeping bags etc. The first thing I saw was a pensioner in a THRASHER hoody followed by a monochrome, floppy-mohawked punk sporting TAMPERE SS, DISFEAR and GISM patches.

Mala resides in a huge converted dairy factory, built in 1928 and closed in the mid 70's. Downstairs is an open plan garage/workshop/storage space with living quarters on the second floor. Mala has spent his adult life collecting Americana, so that's cars, trucks, motorcycles, pinball machines, musical equipment, buses, clothing, hats, boots, food products, hair products, gas station ephemera, beer, toys and records....oh and a crane (though technically, that's English). The factory sits way out in the countryside and the surrounding sprawling plot is full of outhouses bursting with the aforementioned stuff.