Spain 2016

Happy New Year to you all, may you all be prosperous and safe.

Sad to hear the news of the death of Lemmy. I used to talk to him as he played on the fruit machine down the St Moritz Club in Wardour Street.

He was always good company and the heartbeat of rock and roll.

A real Gent.
The St Moritz was the best club on Earth back then. All the bands that played at The Marquee had their after show party there.
A well as all the faces on the London scene.
Some riotous nights there.
Someone had an after show party there one night, and there was equipment for a jam. I got up for a version of Rock and Roll, by Zeppelin of course.
Who walks through the crowd in none other than Jason Bonham himself, who throws the drummer of the kit and sits down and starts the song again. Fantastic to perform Rock and Roll with Jason Bonham.

I took Guns 'n' Roses there one night, after their show at The Marquee, The doorman wouldn't let then in as Slash had a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale in his hand. so Slash threw it through the window of the club.
We went to another bar instead!

We start the 2016 world tour in Spain, it’s where we tend to start our tours.

And we have been very successful out there due to our constant touring. We have been just about everywhere now. From the Basque region, Catalonia, from the islands to Ceuta in North Africa.

Many, many great tales to tell, where to start is the question and which are actually suitable!

The first time I went to Spain was as support to Saxon, in Barcelona, Madrid and Bilbao, wherein lies a tale! But maybe another day.

I liked Spain the minute I got off the plane, the food, the wine, the people who came the shows, they really know how to rock.

We were out ‘til 6am after the shows, and then the locals would go to work.

A couple of years ago, our drummer Simon Jeffrey, needed some time off, he was starting a family.

So we needed a temporary dep drummer for  a short while.

Finding a drummer of the calibre of our Simon wasn’t gonna be easy, we did, however, have this Canadian drummer recommended to us.

A decent drummer, or so we were told, but came with some ‘baggage’ but hey, it’s only temporary after all.

Turned out to be more than just a little baggage. Name of Merkin.

He was not up to the task being a full time band member but could fill the space until Simon could come back.

He would often start the set with ‘Rock and Roll’, despite the set list saying ‘Good Times Bad Times’,

His first time out with us was in Spain.

As Simon was my room-mate on tour, it made sense that Merkin would too.

Big mistake……

The very first time I shared a room with him. I was straight to bed after the gig, but Merkin, in what was to become a usual occurrence, was out drinking, and other things!

It wasn’t ‘til 5am he made it back to the hotel room, laying on the bed fully clothed with boots still on.

I got up at 8am for breakfast, and went into the bathroom, not that I am squeamish, but the sight I was to witness was enough to question the wisdom of sharing with him.

Perhaps not as well travelled as the rest of the band, he had obviously never seen a bidet before, or had any clue what it was used for.

He had sat on the bidet for a dump, he must have noticed mid-crap that he was not actually on the toilet, so he shifted his arse, still crapping, across the bathroom floor to the toilet.

Seems he wasn’t to experienced in using the flush either.

Somethings once seen, cannot be unseen.

He is not too fondly remembered as The Turd, and was quickly thanked for his deputising and retired.

Welcome back Simon Jeffrey!

We are really looking forward to Spain 2016, 18 gigs in 24 days, including, by popular demand,  for the very first time, some special acoustic shows.

Looking forward also to meeting up with some old friends, and meeting many new ones

I’ll keep you updated