Uncle Wally's an Owter Zed

kicking off

2009-02-01T09:49:00.001-08:00

Blinking flip - last night in Thornton there were a bunch of people who had apparently come to see us, but were paralytic when we arrived and after deafening everyone else in the pub, started a fight. Terrific. We also had a case of GFS (gear-forgetting syndrome) and the amp loaned to Jim by the repair man (a nice Trace Elliott) kept cutting out mid-song.

The second set was OK though - drunken fighters kicked out, another bass amp loaned. It's a good job our mates from Three Men and a Bass were there. Thanks chaps.

Sometimes I wonder.....

Bonkers at Batley

2008-12-08T14:49:00.001-08:00

I don't know - I've been doing this for years and still it's surprising sometimes. We had such a weird evening at Batley Frontier last night. It's a cavernous venue which was nearly empty - amazing PA, lights etc, all being used for an unsigned bands night! A bit of a waste of time for us, I think, but we ran through a few tunes and stood on the stage where lots have big stars have strutted their stuff over the years.....

back with Ali for a while

2008-10-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

Ali, who played trombone with the band for years, and was there when I joined, came and rehearsed with us on Wednesday. (Mick, our incumbent boneperson, is away in Holland working for a few months.) It was delightful to hear Ali and Stewart playing together - so mellow and so musical. Chance can bring some lovely surprises.

old...

2008-09-04T04:21:00.000-07:00

Last night we played at the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge for Bridget, the daughter of a couple of acquaintances of mine. It was a good night - and it made me realise that young people keep looking younger and younger to me because I'm getting older and older - not the most brilliant insight, but it felt quite profound for a moment or two when I was skanking away surrounded by lots of teenagers. As it happens, we seem to be developing quite an enthusiastic young audience around Hebden Bridge - just as well really....

jubilado!

2008-09-01T16:02:00.000-07:00

I've been an official pensioner for a day now, having concluded my working life with a gig at the Duck and Drake in Leeds on Sunday evening. What a great place to play. I think it might be my favourite. Nigel, whose Bloozpromos puts the bands on there, as well as some other venues in Leeds, likes what we play. So does the amazingly mixed audience - you never know who's going to turn up, but everyone seems to come because they want to listen to a band - not talk, play cards, watch the big screen - they're into music, and we're there to play. That's why we do it. I love the warm, electric presence we all share when we're playing for an audience that's up for it!

hello neil!

2008-08-17T15:18:00.000-07:00

We just played at a great little venue in Harrogate -the Blues Cafe Bar. A hot afternoon and other top attractions round and about might have meant the place was less full than usual, but we were pleased to see Neil Morrissey, of Men Behaving Badly and Bob the Builder fame, not to mention his successful new life as the owner of country pubs, enjoying the Zeds' music. We had Stevie on drums this afternoon and Rory was elsewhere - a banging gig nevertheless!

squeezing out a new one

2008-08-09T15:04:00.000-07:00

Well - I was going to get things going on this new tune I've got - called When I See Her. This week I went round to Jim's house; we fiddled around with it a little bit and it's beginning to crystallise into a proper song. I was going to get going on it tonight but as usual before I could bring myself to concentrate I got stuck in a two-bar loop - just jamming pointlessly along for hours.

All that happens is I get to improve my playing a bit.

When it comes to new songs, I haven't got very far, but in three weeks I'll be a pensioner. Check me out for new ones in a month!

Kendal called and it was a swamp!

2008-08-03T08:34:00.000-07:00

We played at the Kendal Calling festival on Friday 1 August. It took ages to get into the site and following a couple of days' heavy rain, it was already a giant mudbath. After getting our gear delivered to the stage by quad bike, we played a 45-minute set to a very appreciative crowd. I had already decided that I wasn't going to stay, so Steve the singer and I said our goodbyes to the intrepid other band members who were staying for the whole festival. We found my car and slithered across a couple of fields, ready to head back home. It was then that we found we couldn't get out, because the entrance lane was also the only exit lane - a real treat for the Health and Safety Executive......

After a couple of hours there was finally a gap in the traffic still trying to get in to the (already gridlocked) site, and we were able to escape. My nice new blue car was now blue and brown, and my black walking shoes are now brown, thanks to the lovely festival mud.

Rock'n'roll, eh? I can't imagine what the site's going to be like after 3 days of trudging around by 5000 lucky music fans, or how they're going to manage to get out again - poor things.

good stuff chaps!

2008-07-13T09:10:00.001-07:00

We've had a couple of good gigs lately - someone's 60th, and then a pub outside Halifax where we haven't played before - the Windmill Inn at Shelf. There's a little bit of tension around at the moment - the brass section have formed a new band with some of our other musical mates - it's doing ska covers (which we were considering doing in the Zeds) and it's called Beatswanking - some Zeds are feeling a bit threatened but I say feck it and good luck - it's worked wonders for Mick's soloing for a start!

As planned , we recorded Back Door on Saturday. It was miraculous - despite having done a gig the night before and having abused ourselves in the required fashion, we all turned up on time in the morning (with four children in tow) and, thanks to the wonderful Andy Wells, had the song recorded in under three hours! It sounds great, and we're looking forward to hearing it properly mixed. It's going to be one of the focal points of my Campaign to Finally Get the Zeds Noticed (CFGZN), which will start after my retirement on 29 August!

pedal alert!

2008-06-21T10:06:00.001-07:00

The other week we played at a pub in Bradford that had better remain nameless. It felt a bit threatening, with some very big, slightly pissed, men giving us the eye from the start. We went down OK, though, particularly with one girl of about 20, who must have consumed lots of powder/pills before she arrived. She was bouncing round the room like a spring, quickly crashing into my microphone stand, which promptly whacked me in the eye. As I was recovering from that, she bounced by again, this time kicking a pint of water straight into my pedal board and setting my normally discreet skank/rhythm guitar off on a maximum volume shriek. She continued to make trouble and was eventually booted out and barred. Thanks, love!

Later in the evening, I witnessed a new-to-me phenomenon. In the old days, when pubs were supposed to close at 10.30 or 11 at night, curtains would be drawn and doors would be shut, and drinking would continue into the small hours. At this place, around 11 o'clock, a whole lot of ashtrays were brought out and all the smokers (most of the customers as it happens), who had been going outside to smoke earlier in the evening, were able to light up and sit and drink at the same time, just like the more recent old days. I must say the place began to smell like a proper pub - the smoking ban has revealed some pretty grim odours round and about....

about to record....

2008-06-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

We're going to be part of what sounds like a great compilation album of Calderdale musicians. We're planning to put a song called Back Door on the album - all things being equal it will be recorded on 12 July. As usual, we've been fairly hopeless in getting ourselves organised for this, but at last it's looking promising.

I tell you, this band's like all the others - a sort of mini-zoo, populated by odd, strange, exotic and/or useless creatures. I'm the only sane one (I suppose they all say that....)

The trials of Zedding

2008-06-20T13:13:00.000-07:00

I'm quite new - been in the band for about seven years. It's been going nearly twenty-five years. A bunch of varied reprobates, perhaps ninety or so over the years, but currently eight going on nine.

Today our guitar player takes his young family on holiday, our bass player attends a friend's wedding in Portugal, and we're threatened with exposure to the tax authorities - that's a laugh, since we've never made any money, despite writing our own lovely, catchy songs. Try one by clicking here.