Post by Jon on Dec 22, 2010 7:52:02 GMT -5
Well, it’s been a pretty monumental year in the life of the Woods. After spending the first three plus months honing the set and firmly bedding in the 5 piece line up, it turned out to be an extremely busy year. Lots of great gigs and we also helped raise a lot of money for charity along the way (what nice people we are! 
). Many highlights and all kinds of shenanigans to look back on but first here are some stats for you:
Gigs Played: 15
Number of different songs performed: 56
Total number of songs performed: 420 (an average of 28 songs per show!
)
So, on to the review of the year…
January – March
Although there were no gigs we did a hell of a lot of work practising and recording. We also completely overhauled the website and re-branded as a 50s/60s events band. The result – seven new songs put on the site, a video, loads of new songs added to the repertoire, and lots of bookings for the rest of the year…
April
First gig of the year (and the first as a 5 piece band) was at the Bristol Hotel on the 17th April. This was the annual dinner dance for the Old Bristolians Hockey Club - a black tie event and to say we hit the ground running is an understatement. I had only just recovered from breaking my nose a month before (playing 5-a-side football, honest) and had been a little bit anxious. No need – this was a belter, winding up at 1am after 4 encores!
May
Next up was a charity festival in Pilning on the 2nd May. We had a 30 mins or so slot towards the end of the night. It was bitterly cold and the bands were playing on the back of a lorry in the carpark! I had also managed to go deaf in one ear (thankfully sorted by getting them syringed a couple of weeks later). Well, by the time we hit the stage the PA had all but packed up and technical difficulties made any sort of performance impossible. We soldiered on though and had people dancing by the end of a very frustrating show
. Luckily, this was to be the only really disappointing point of the year. It was certainly a stark to contrast to the next gig at the Thistle Grand Hotel on the 29th. By now we had dusted ourselves down and were all fitting fit again. However, due to the last minute nature of this booking, Martin couldn’t make this one and we played as 4 piece. It was another black tie do in aid of the CLIC charity. We pretty much played it by ear and had an absolute blast. The audience was superb and forced us to play what was pretty much a third set, as we did a 9 song encore! By the end of the night the audience had joined us on the stage – brilliant stuff! ;D
June
Two gigs in June. First up, a wedding on the 5th. It was a beautiful Saturday evening in Wraxall, which is just as well because we were playing outside in a marquee! A lovely venue for a wedding reception, set up in a field alongside the Old Barn country pub. Big congratulations to John and Remie and thanks to all the great people we met – I think a good time was had by all. I should also give a shout out to the photographers, ‘PhotoDabek’ (www.photodabek.co.uk/), who were really nice people and we agreed to promote each other in the future. We fully recommend using them for your event. Next up was the summer ball for Tetbury Rugby Club on the 12th. Another outside marquee event and another good one. It fell on England’s first World Cup game against the USA and I think we’ll leave that there
. We played a hell of a lot of songs here, if memory serves, and I believe it all went down pretty well. We weren’t helped by the bar being located in the clubhouse, so the crowd size varied from song to song until the mass dance marathon at the end. We (ok, I) particularly enjoyed sharing the mic with a reveller during ‘Whole lotta Shakin’ – you know who you are! Actually, maybe not as I believe alcohol may have played a major part in that incident!
July
The month started with another wedding on the 10th – congratulations to Lee and Karl! A bit closer to home this one, at Beeses Tea Gardens. For those who don’t know, Beeses is in South Bristol and is a riverside pub/venue boasting its very own ferry service! Once again, a great setting for a wedding reception and happily the sun firmly had it’s hat on. The biggest challenge was navigating the dangerous dirt track that leads down into a small, poorly laid out car park. Then there was more fun transporting all the kit down another narrow dirt track and into a marquee. There was a rockabilly theme to the night and we adjusted the set accordingly. We enjoyed this one although we were exhausted by the time we finally loaded the cars and headed off. Kudos to the kids playing plastic air guitars throughout! The next week saw us play the Crosshands pub in Fishponds on the 17th. First pub gig since last October and it’s fair to say we rocked the joint. Must have gone down well, coz the Landlord booked us back for his farewell do in September.
August
Sadly, we had to take a break in August due to various commitments and, more importantly, Martin’s missus having a baby! It was a bit of a shame as we had to turn down quite a few bookings – sorry.
September
After the best part of two months off we played the Drawbridge on the 24th. This was an event organised by BUPA (Champs’s employers) and was in aid of the Sue Ryder Foundation charity. We were one of three acts on the bill and played for an hour. ‘Peacock Soup’ (an interesting acoustic duo) were on first and then we turned in what was arguably our best performance of the year. It was fantastic that Martin was able to make it, as his son was only a week old! We gave Champs a new song to sing – ‘Brown Sugar’ – and we also got his boss up at the end to sing and play the tambourine on ‘Rocking all over the World’. We were followed by the Manchester based band ‘The Blame’ who ensured that the night smoked to the end. Fabulous stuff. Also got a couple of future bookings as a result of this one. Sadly Martin was absent from the next one – our return to the Crosshands. As previously said, this was a farewell party for the Landlord and was on the very next day (25th)! We were a little bit knackered from the night before but delivered a decent show. Both gigs certainly blew the cobwebs away!
October
Three gigs in October, starting on the 1st at the Walls Social Club in Gloucester. This was one of a number of events around the country for Age Awareness Week and this was the International Day for Older People. Nice venue and we got a free roast dinner (though sadly no ice cream)! Great gig – the old folks seemed to enjoy it and there was much dancing. Maybe too much – apparantly one poor lady had to have a long sit down at the end. Had us worried for a bit. All a bit surreal too, all the organisers and carers were dressed in 50s/60s garb and it was compered by a guy in an Elvis costume! Got to get me one of them… Anyways, the next gig saw us back at the Bristol Hotel for another charity black tie job on the 16th. The causes this time were ‘Facing Africa’ and ‘Action on Addiction’. The boys from ‘PhotoDabek’ (www.photodabek.co.uk/) were back and very kindly took lots of great shots of the band, which you will see on the website in the New Year. Actually, one of the shots is already featured on our banner. Cheers guys. Bizarrely, the opening act for the night was a belly dancer – a tough act to follow! However, we were very happy to see the dance floor full to capacity and it was a great night all round. I especially enjoyed the audience’s tambourine playing skills! The third gig was four days later on the 20th and saw us supporting the legendary fifties group ‘The Tornados’. A real highlight this and certainly the biggest gig we’ve done. It was fairly late notice and I believe we filled in for ‘The Dakotas’. I have written a full report on this in a previous blog (thewoodsband.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=gigs&action=display&thread=11) so I’ll just leave it by saying that we loved playing Sand Bay Holliday Villiage and would love to do a summer season!
November
Just the one gig – Mike and Emily’s engagement party on the 13th. Congratulations to you both! Last gig as a 5 piece this year as Martin needed a break to get used to being a dad! Hopefully, he’ll be able to stay onboard in 2011 but it’s difficult juggling band, work and new baby commitments. He’ll be back for the January gigs. Fingers crossed for after that. Anyway, Filwood Community Centre was the venue for this one and we were joint entertainment with a DJ (top guy). Nice stage, if a bit high up, but we should have boxed a bit more clever on the lighting – couldn’t see them and, sadly, they couldn’t see us well either! Lessons learnt, more lights bought…
December
Nice to play some Christmas shows! The final two gigs of the year could not have been more different from each other. We played an end of term Christmas party for Knowle Park Primary School on the 17th. This was a belter and it was great to meet the kids and teachers. They sang along, danced and even asked for our autographs at the end (they naturally identified us as the stars we are
). We also wheeled out our rocking cover of ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’, the band replete in Santa hats (except for Mike – bah humbug!). The kids had also learned the words (and some actions!) to ‘Rocking all over the World’, so we finished with that with them taking over the vocals! Ok, we did play one more – ‘Jump’ by Van Halen. Our 4 piece version of this song shouldn’t really work, as there’s no guitar on it, but weirdly does. The finally gig of the year took place the next night on the 18th at the Rhubarb Tavern. Super Christmas atmosphere and I’ve never seen so many Santa decorations outside of a grotto! Obviously, we had to finish the show with ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’. It was an incredibly cold night and the driving conditions were bad. To be honest, I did think there was a chance of us not being able to get there. But, hey, we’ve never cancelled a gig and weren’t about to start now! The show went well and I dusted off my Telecaster for this one, making for a loud and noisy slice of rock ‘n’ roll. Nice finish to the year and, you never know, we may return there next summer to play in the beer garden!
So, we played to the old, the young and every age in between. We played weddings, charities, parties, pubs, holiday parks and even schools. Without fear of contradiction, we can safely say that we are a band for any event!
On behalf of the band, I’d like to thank everyone who saw us, booked us and supported us this year. Have a great Christmas, stay healthy and we hope to see you in 2011! ;D Jon
). Many highlights and all kinds of shenanigans to look back on but first here are some stats for you:Gigs Played: 15
Number of different songs performed: 56
Total number of songs performed: 420 (an average of 28 songs per show!
)So, on to the review of the year…
January – March
Although there were no gigs we did a hell of a lot of work practising and recording. We also completely overhauled the website and re-branded as a 50s/60s events band. The result – seven new songs put on the site, a video, loads of new songs added to the repertoire, and lots of bookings for the rest of the year…
April
First gig of the year (and the first as a 5 piece band) was at the Bristol Hotel on the 17th April. This was the annual dinner dance for the Old Bristolians Hockey Club - a black tie event and to say we hit the ground running is an understatement. I had only just recovered from breaking my nose a month before (playing 5-a-side football, honest) and had been a little bit anxious. No need – this was a belter, winding up at 1am after 4 encores!
May
Next up was a charity festival in Pilning on the 2nd May. We had a 30 mins or so slot towards the end of the night. It was bitterly cold and the bands were playing on the back of a lorry in the carpark! I had also managed to go deaf in one ear (thankfully sorted by getting them syringed a couple of weeks later). Well, by the time we hit the stage the PA had all but packed up and technical difficulties made any sort of performance impossible. We soldiered on though and had people dancing by the end of a very frustrating show
. Luckily, this was to be the only really disappointing point of the year. It was certainly a stark to contrast to the next gig at the Thistle Grand Hotel on the 29th. By now we had dusted ourselves down and were all fitting fit again. However, due to the last minute nature of this booking, Martin couldn’t make this one and we played as 4 piece. It was another black tie do in aid of the CLIC charity. We pretty much played it by ear and had an absolute blast. The audience was superb and forced us to play what was pretty much a third set, as we did a 9 song encore! By the end of the night the audience had joined us on the stage – brilliant stuff! ;DJune
Two gigs in June. First up, a wedding on the 5th. It was a beautiful Saturday evening in Wraxall, which is just as well because we were playing outside in a marquee! A lovely venue for a wedding reception, set up in a field alongside the Old Barn country pub. Big congratulations to John and Remie and thanks to all the great people we met – I think a good time was had by all. I should also give a shout out to the photographers, ‘PhotoDabek’ (www.photodabek.co.uk/), who were really nice people and we agreed to promote each other in the future. We fully recommend using them for your event. Next up was the summer ball for Tetbury Rugby Club on the 12th. Another outside marquee event and another good one. It fell on England’s first World Cup game against the USA and I think we’ll leave that there
. We played a hell of a lot of songs here, if memory serves, and I believe it all went down pretty well. We weren’t helped by the bar being located in the clubhouse, so the crowd size varied from song to song until the mass dance marathon at the end. We (ok, I) particularly enjoyed sharing the mic with a reveller during ‘Whole lotta Shakin’ – you know who you are! Actually, maybe not as I believe alcohol may have played a major part in that incident!July
The month started with another wedding on the 10th – congratulations to Lee and Karl! A bit closer to home this one, at Beeses Tea Gardens. For those who don’t know, Beeses is in South Bristol and is a riverside pub/venue boasting its very own ferry service! Once again, a great setting for a wedding reception and happily the sun firmly had it’s hat on. The biggest challenge was navigating the dangerous dirt track that leads down into a small, poorly laid out car park. Then there was more fun transporting all the kit down another narrow dirt track and into a marquee. There was a rockabilly theme to the night and we adjusted the set accordingly. We enjoyed this one although we were exhausted by the time we finally loaded the cars and headed off. Kudos to the kids playing plastic air guitars throughout! The next week saw us play the Crosshands pub in Fishponds on the 17th. First pub gig since last October and it’s fair to say we rocked the joint. Must have gone down well, coz the Landlord booked us back for his farewell do in September.
August
Sadly, we had to take a break in August due to various commitments and, more importantly, Martin’s missus having a baby! It was a bit of a shame as we had to turn down quite a few bookings – sorry.
September
After the best part of two months off we played the Drawbridge on the 24th. This was an event organised by BUPA (Champs’s employers) and was in aid of the Sue Ryder Foundation charity. We were one of three acts on the bill and played for an hour. ‘Peacock Soup’ (an interesting acoustic duo) were on first and then we turned in what was arguably our best performance of the year. It was fantastic that Martin was able to make it, as his son was only a week old! We gave Champs a new song to sing – ‘Brown Sugar’ – and we also got his boss up at the end to sing and play the tambourine on ‘Rocking all over the World’. We were followed by the Manchester based band ‘The Blame’ who ensured that the night smoked to the end. Fabulous stuff. Also got a couple of future bookings as a result of this one. Sadly Martin was absent from the next one – our return to the Crosshands. As previously said, this was a farewell party for the Landlord and was on the very next day (25th)! We were a little bit knackered from the night before but delivered a decent show. Both gigs certainly blew the cobwebs away!
October
Three gigs in October, starting on the 1st at the Walls Social Club in Gloucester. This was one of a number of events around the country for Age Awareness Week and this was the International Day for Older People. Nice venue and we got a free roast dinner (though sadly no ice cream)! Great gig – the old folks seemed to enjoy it and there was much dancing. Maybe too much – apparantly one poor lady had to have a long sit down at the end. Had us worried for a bit. All a bit surreal too, all the organisers and carers were dressed in 50s/60s garb and it was compered by a guy in an Elvis costume! Got to get me one of them… Anyways, the next gig saw us back at the Bristol Hotel for another charity black tie job on the 16th. The causes this time were ‘Facing Africa’ and ‘Action on Addiction’. The boys from ‘PhotoDabek’ (www.photodabek.co.uk/) were back and very kindly took lots of great shots of the band, which you will see on the website in the New Year. Actually, one of the shots is already featured on our banner. Cheers guys. Bizarrely, the opening act for the night was a belly dancer – a tough act to follow! However, we were very happy to see the dance floor full to capacity and it was a great night all round. I especially enjoyed the audience’s tambourine playing skills! The third gig was four days later on the 20th and saw us supporting the legendary fifties group ‘The Tornados’. A real highlight this and certainly the biggest gig we’ve done. It was fairly late notice and I believe we filled in for ‘The Dakotas’. I have written a full report on this in a previous blog (thewoodsband.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=gigs&action=display&thread=11) so I’ll just leave it by saying that we loved playing Sand Bay Holliday Villiage and would love to do a summer season!
November
Just the one gig – Mike and Emily’s engagement party on the 13th. Congratulations to you both! Last gig as a 5 piece this year as Martin needed a break to get used to being a dad! Hopefully, he’ll be able to stay onboard in 2011 but it’s difficult juggling band, work and new baby commitments. He’ll be back for the January gigs. Fingers crossed for after that. Anyway, Filwood Community Centre was the venue for this one and we were joint entertainment with a DJ (top guy). Nice stage, if a bit high up, but we should have boxed a bit more clever on the lighting – couldn’t see them and, sadly, they couldn’t see us well either! Lessons learnt, more lights bought…
December
Nice to play some Christmas shows! The final two gigs of the year could not have been more different from each other. We played an end of term Christmas party for Knowle Park Primary School on the 17th. This was a belter and it was great to meet the kids and teachers. They sang along, danced and even asked for our autographs at the end (they naturally identified us as the stars we are
). We also wheeled out our rocking cover of ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’, the band replete in Santa hats (except for Mike – bah humbug!). The kids had also learned the words (and some actions!) to ‘Rocking all over the World’, so we finished with that with them taking over the vocals! Ok, we did play one more – ‘Jump’ by Van Halen. Our 4 piece version of this song shouldn’t really work, as there’s no guitar on it, but weirdly does. The finally gig of the year took place the next night on the 18th at the Rhubarb Tavern. Super Christmas atmosphere and I’ve never seen so many Santa decorations outside of a grotto! Obviously, we had to finish the show with ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’. It was an incredibly cold night and the driving conditions were bad. To be honest, I did think there was a chance of us not being able to get there. But, hey, we’ve never cancelled a gig and weren’t about to start now! The show went well and I dusted off my Telecaster for this one, making for a loud and noisy slice of rock ‘n’ roll. Nice finish to the year and, you never know, we may return there next summer to play in the beer garden!So, we played to the old, the young and every age in between. We played weddings, charities, parties, pubs, holiday parks and even schools. Without fear of contradiction, we can safely say that we are a band for any event!
On behalf of the band, I’d like to thank everyone who saw us, booked us and supported us this year. Have a great Christmas, stay healthy and we hope to see you in 2011! ;D Jon