The night is long and full of terrors

The night is quiet, nothing stirred. I had finished watching a crap late night movie with a small glass of Pino before turning in the for the night and now I lay in bed drifting off into the land of nod.

As I slip softly into the arms of Morpheus next to me I can hear the gentle soft breathing of the Lovely L, as she too falls into  a gentle sleep by my side.

My mind starts to tick ever so slightly, as I don’t remember hearing L come in tonight, actually, I now start to recall, I wasn’t even expecting her, but what  a pleasant surprise it is to have her next to me sleeping. 

I smile.

I start to stir a little more as I remember that L isn’t even in the country at the moment, She is abroad. So how can she be here? Yet the soft sound of her gently and dreamily breathing can clearly be heard right next to me.

Delighted with the thought of her surprising me like this I am now fully alert as I turn a sit up. To greet her with a soft kiss upon her brow.

I turn, but there is nobody with me, I am totally alone.

No doubt I was dreaming, I must be imagining that she here with me. Thinking so hard of her soft eyes that I must have imagined I heard her breath.

I smile at myself the return to by dreamy thoughts and finally to sleep again.

But there it is again! This eerie breathing! actually in my bed, but I now know that I am alone. It is the witching hour and now I am awake and the soft rhythmic breath of somebody in a deep sleep is in my bed is both clear and close. So close. So spooky!

Goosebumps send a shiver down my spine and my blood runs cold in my veins, as I feel the icy claw of fear clutch at my beating heart.

It is said the mind can play tricks on us, as I imagine all kinds of horrors the night time brings, dreadful night, the child of hell, and this spirit is laying invisible next to me in my comfortable bed.

I do not move, I cannot move gripped in fear but I can open my eyes to look around the darkened room, lit only in the shadows by the silver moonlight which opaquely dances in the night. I see no other person, nobody, I know the pillow next to me is empty but the sound of breathing so close to me is undeniable and real and getting louder.

I summon up all of my courage and in one fell swoop I sit up and put on the light, reaching for the first world war bayonet I keep next to the bedside cabinet, I turn to face the opposite side of the bed, armed and ready to meet with whatever terror the night may hold, what demonic succubus may be waiting for me in the mad shadows.

The pillow is still empty! There is simply nobody there. I am alone.

As I scan the now illuminated room to try make sense of this eerie phenomenon, the inexplicable breathing in my lonely bed my eyes are drawn a little lower than into the middle of the bed, where I find spread out to his full length, with legs akimbo is my Maine-Coon cat, snoring away in his comfort and bliss! Oblivious to the terror he has wrought.

He goes by the name of EL Pollon he does and the little bugger shook me right up he did.

Zeppelin over Europe

After the UK leg of the tour Europe now beckons at last, over the Easter period we have a 5 show stint, three shows in Germany and one in Switzerland and a return to La Belle France. all arranged by our wonderful German management company. We thank you.

We have brought  few new songs into the set, which is now dangerously approaching two and half hours for a this return to some of our favourite venues and some new ones too.

We arrived at our hotel in Germany just in time to catch the second half of the Champions League Semi Final, and then the highlights of both exciting games.

I afforded myself a small beer at the hotel bar followed by a shot of Jack with Pete 'The Beat' 

The venue Z7 in Switzerland is just fantastic, and our biggest crowd there to date. Once again the in house catering excelled itself once more and kept us very well wined and dined.

We brought enough of our new range of tee shirts to last the tour, however, so popular is the new design proving we actually sold it all out on the first date and have hardly any left for the rest of the shows.

Quite a bit of driving on this leg of the tour, after Switzerland we drove through Austria and Lichtenstein, around Lake Constance and through the town of Friedrichshafen. Where Ferdinand von Zeppelin established his dirigible and the Zeppelin was created quite apt I thought. 

From hence onto our show in the beautiful medieval town of Memmingen in Baveria. The old town has many courtyards, castles, palaces and fortifications is one of the best preserved in all of southern Germany. Simply Stunning.

Peter and myself went out in  search of fridge magnets for his ever-growing collection, and refreshed ourselves with a local beer, well… when in Rome and all that. Known as the town of human rights, this refers to the Twelve Articles, considered to be the first written set of human rights in Europe, which were penned in Memmingen in 1525. With the biggest historical re-enactment in Europe. It commemorates the invasion of Wallenstein and his troops in 1630. We met one of the re-enactors during our restorative beer in the towns old Square. He kindly kept us engaged informing us all about the local history.

Anyway I digress, the show went very well, the eager crowd demanding a full 4 encores. The next day another 4 hour drive to Dresden, our first visit to the venue and the great city. A Sell Out crowd to boot!

We are welcomed to the venue by and old friend and promoter who is the man behind this show, he has a few requests for the set tonight that he would like to hear. As there is no curfew so we can let rip a little. The Rain Song once again brings the house down. We will be flying home for a couple of days before flying out to Paris for a Sold Out theatre show.

Leaving from Londons City Airport for the short hop to the City of Lights.

Thankfully, free booze on the flight, now there is a novelty nowadays, and a reunion with Le Chameau, The Camel, our famous guitar tech.

Chameau is famous in France and has his own fan club with large cheers from the crowd whenever he enters the stage, and rightly so.

Chameau reminded me of the time we were in Geneva, where he bought his lovely lady wife a beautiful turquoise ring as a gift, however, he managed, by deciding to spend his day off in London rather than with his devoted wife, to incur the wrath of his good woman and was not entirely welcomed home with a loving embrace.

The day after our return I had a phone call from Mrs Chameau, I of course, in order to gain some grace with the charming wife of Chameau, enquired as to the reception she gave to the lovely gift from Geneva, ‘Oh’, she replied excitedly ‘he hasn’t given it to me yet’.

The voice of Chameau could be clearly heard in the background shouting from the other room ‘That’s ‘cos you told me to stick it up my arse’.

How I larfed, anyway. also a reunion with Michel, Mr. Rock n Roll

himself, and also a dear friend. We are fortunate to have him as our tour manager and tonight, he will also be utilising his sound engineering skills. There is not a man of more rock n roll on Gods green Earth than Michel, the man they call Le Machette. The Machete.

As we arrived the night before the show give me tme before soundcheck to grab a taxi into the centre of town for lunch in the George V hotel with our lovely latest member of the SKA Music Ltd entourage.

There is a public transport strike in Paris today so stage time is held back to allow for latecomers to get into the magnificent Theatre De L’Allegria.

The sell-out crowd were well up for it from the start and got right behind the band, and the house packed despite the strike. The show is going well and all the songs received with vigour, until Moby Dick, highlighting the skills of our drummer Peter Tulloch. Which was rudely interrupted by the fire alarm going off inexplicably. Bit harsh on the ears, but then I ‘spose it needs to be.

One of the French crew cam flying down the stairs 5 steps per stride!. It took about 10 minutes for the alarm to be turned off and the further 5 minutes for the power to be restored to the stage.

We finished the show to some suprise pyromania from our wonderful French crew, even more of a surprise as we hadn't yet finished the set and still had a good few minutes to go and then still had the encores to play yet! 

Large strips of silver strips still falling from the ceiling as I belt out the opening refrain to 'Immigrant Song', whilst coughing up the tinsel which continues to fall onto the stage,

                                          Standing Ovation

A great evening, thank you to all who came, the band are in a celebratory mood so just time for a few after show drinks before retiring for the night. As we depart the hotel at 9am for our flight home to London. 

Well, meant  to be 9am but our cab driver was a bit of an idiot and parked blocking all the traffic despite there being several loading bays, so we set off to blaring horns and dirty looks from other road users who seemed to think their inconvenience was all my fault. 

Only a short drive to Orly and the quick flight back to Dear Ol' Blighty, and a well-deserved fortnight off.

The Beast from the East

Upon arrival at our bijou hotel in Zaragoza, I am excited to find that my room comes complete with a washing  machine! This is pure manna from Heaven!
With a day off and time to wash some clothes. You have no idea how excited I am at this prospect.

Also by lucky happen-chance, the day we have off is 14th February, St Valentines Day.

Thankfully, for those who take an interest in this annual event,  Zaragoza can be a romantic city, beautiful cathedral on the banks of the river and is full of good restaurants, and we found a small Italian before heading off into the old town in search of the mysteries of the graffiti filled back-streets and the dive bars hidden therein.

After we drank several dive bars out of Jack, we decided time to retire for the evening and head back to our groovy hotel in the old town, the streets are eerily quiet at 4am.

This short walk inexplicably took a lot longer than the expected 5 minutes, more like an hour! The Police even followed us for a short while! God knows why, but we gave them the slip by using the hotel side entrance.

The tour of Spain finished in a blaze of glory, the final four shows culminating in a packed house on a Sunday evening in Terrassa, where I was invited up onstage with our opening act for the evening, Deaf Leppard, for a rousing version of ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’. Despite only knowing 5 words to the song I think I pulled it off?

After which it was the short drive to Barcelona and a well-deserved night off, ok we did drink one or two of the dive bars clean out of Jack again, before and after the essential visit to Caracoles, the best restaurant in this historic city.

                                   Amaretto Darling? Two?

The company in Barcelona was both charming and delightful, and a great pleasure to spend some down time with. 

We have only one day off then 2 more shows after one day in the UK, so it is 16 shows in 23 days with only 3 actual rest days. Of which none were actually spent resting, more like frequenting the many dive bars, well, ain’t they the best?

                                    Then the snow came.

Britain froze, the Beast from the East they so called it.

The biting cold froze the very pits of our souls. Yet it could not stop the Letz Zep juggernaut on its quest to bring the very best of the music of Led Zeppelin to the nation. We drove through the land of the ice and snow and fulfilled all our touring commitments, well done to El Gremlino our driver. He earned his crust those shows.
His gnarly little hands tightly clutching the wheel.

After such a hard-touring schedule the band are on fire! Playing every show with the same vigour and enthusiasm as the first. 

A big thank you to those who braved the inclement weather and attended the shows.

Onto Legends of Rock in Great Yarmouth, so many good bands, so many lovely people. Oh, and Eddie, great accommodation for the band this year! You pulled the stops out there! Please don’t tell me it was in error!

We arrived at Legends as early as we could to enjoy the occasion and meet up with friends old and new. We would like to spend more time checking out many of the great bands they have on the weekend event, but our tour schedule won’t allow that, so we take as much in as possible whilst there. Even found the pool table this year! much to our delight! Andy is a bit of a demon actually.

Nobby Mills our promoter from Spain has flown in to be in attendance too. so a small reunion there! 

We are also delighted to recive an invitation to the wedding of our good friends Jess and Debbie, a wonderful couple and we wish them every happiness.

As always, the band put in a sterling performance. A big thank you to the crew for the seamless running and the excellent sound. With so many bands these guys really knock their pipe out.

Sadly, we have to leave soon after breakfast for our show in Holmfirth tonight, the venue is opposite Sids Cafe from the popularTV series Last of the Summer Wine, Nora Batty house isnt far either. 

If you are consudering going to Legends of Rock, please book early as it regualrly sells out. 

The London show looms large, and the launch of our new range of merch, rather dashing too if I don’t say so myself. Wonderfully designed by Silvia Perett. As always only top quality gear, one of me, one of Andy, and I think one of Peter to follow soon.

Andy tee shirt come in both Black and (Andy) Gray, singer tees only in Black, the colour of my immortal soul.

The show is selling very fast and approaching a sell out on the night, also, by coincidence, the same day Led Zeppelin release the remaster ‘How the West was Won’ on all formats and for the very first time on vinyl. So, this show, being Soho, we name the show ‘How The West End Was Won’.

All went well, packed house, fantastic reaction from the lovely people, and we didn’t have to go far to find a dive bar.

A great night, even if I did manage to lose my keys and couldn’t get into my house ‘til gone 3am!

Next stop…….. Germany