It had been a while since we had gigged as most of our free Monkey time was spent recording with our friends at Mooncalf. So it was with great anticipation we gathered for the re-scheduled Landsdowne session.

We set up clearly a bit ring rusty with organisation taking much longer than usual and the team arriving from various work and other commitments in dribs and drabs. After much chair and bench moving Hitty Monkey was at last happy with the stage set up and we prepared for our night of loudness.

We were due on at 9pm and some of our ever faithful and merry fans had travelled far for a chance to hear our new set list and re-acquaint themselves with some old faves. We infact hit the stage at around 9.30pm and launched into our solid 'sound checkers'. We also had pleasure in announcing once or twice the upcoming Monkey mini Album in the name of "Munken Drunky" which was met with the appropriate enthusiasm. 

The fun really started with the second set and after far too much beer it became apparent to most of us that Hitty was at half pace. Despite this and a few jokes about Red Bull's and rockets up thingys we laid into the much requested Radio You and Feelin' Good.

A great night was had by all especially my posse who ended up the evening sharing a lovely chilli kebab with our Afghan Taxi Driver!! Yep, thats right, you dont want to know....!

Shouty XXX

HOORAY!!! A heyooge event has taken place for the Monkeys this weekend past. We finally made it into Mooncalf Studios in Wiltshire, to record some tracks for an upcoming mini album/EP.

After much time and debate we decided to try to lay down the basics of 3 of our best loved covers, (White Shadows, Feelin' Good and Take Me Out), and an ambitious 4 of our own (original) tracks.  

We arranged to meet (at a civilised 11am) our Engineer, Nick at a local garage as the studio is very hard to find. Indeed it was, however fully coffee'd and tea'd up, we accustomed ourselves to the surroundings and settled into the comfy sofa.

The plan was to record drums, keys and bass on all tracks 'live' with guide vocals and guitar. This was an ambitious plan given the 7 songs we hoped to get down and the work required. However, Macca and BasSi did an amazing job of working really, really hard and concentrating even harder to lay fantastic takes down in one day. Considering the songs are so varied and individual, the focus needed to be top notch from them both and incredibly, it was! Even naturally nervy and shaky Bass Boy nailed the rhythm section and was delighted how good his guitar sounded! Come Sat evening the drummer had a headache and Si was falling asleep......!

.......However, we managed to drag them out to the pub for an exquisite meal at the world renowned Landsdowne Arms in Derry Hill. We all decided that staying up late and drinking too much was not going to be the plan (for once) considering the amount of graft and stamina we would need the next day (Sunday). Si and I ignored that though and came back to mine and decided to chat about the world and life in general whilst sipping red and scotchuntil the small hours! Not to worry, we had a late start at 11am and after a high fat brekkie cooked by me (smugness), we felt as good as Badgers.

After some fiddling about, and Nick feeling a bit jaded after a heavier than planned night, we set about the guiter, keys clean ups and vox. Given the amount of work we needed to do, we managed to get all of four songs completed (more or less) and demo mixed. We need to get back to the studio asap to finish off the other 3 songs and mix everything properly. Given that Macca had pretty much finished his hard work on the Sat it left him with idle hands and mind! This was the cue for a new monkey 'twitter' page that you will see at the front of this site, and a lot of hilarity with photo's etc that are both here (Gig Pic's) and maybe on the new album cover somewhere.

Needless to say, we are delighted with the first 'cut' and can't wait to get the rest finished and completed ready for the year's gig getting!

Enormous thanks (so far) to the ever patient and overworked (for two days anyway), Nick at Mooncalf for putting up with us and telling us we sounded good (even when we really didn't!) and to all the extremely patient ladies in the background who allow such ridiculous ambitions free rein and without whom etc etc.The experience is amazing and hopefully you will agree, the result equally so! Keep watching for the final product.

Rock on

ShoutyXXXXX

This one was an early start and meant that we we were one Monkey light due to work commitments! Poor old Goffer Monkey!!  I mean, I had to be picked by the van and the man and the trailer and everything at 1.15pm.........Sheesh, I had to get up early.

Anyway, Andy the main driver man and our now must have van arrived on time and looking very plush indeed. We crammed my gear in and headed off for Chippers and other such like hickey villages. After managing (just) to get all of our gear in the back and leaving the annoying trailer behind we headed off for rainy Eton!

And wow, what a trip. To say we had luxury was an understatement. We had  PS2, films, videos music vids etc on a Hard Drive, a radio/CD/MP3 AND WiFi leather reclining seats etc etc!!! We also most importantly, had a driver. He was Andy and HEYOOOGE thanks go to him and the guys at Vans For Bands in Oxford for looking after us so well. We had a breeze. Beer, sweets, sandwiches and video games. I was good at rallying on the way out, not so hot on the way back! Not sure why.....

Anyway, we arrived to meet up with Sound Monkey and set up in the prestigious Eton Rowing Club. First floor and all that so much lifting etc needed. We then went to our green room after a not too easy sound check (Eh Nick? Our secret yeah??). The chicken was loverly and so was the free booze!

Anyway - we got our call and proceeded to run through our 1.5hr set. All went well and but for a few dancers it would have been a perfect night! We got the few remaining up at the end and then proceeded to finish off our beer and pack down. Having done that we fell back into the Monkey van and challenged each other to racing PS2 games all the way back down the M4.

Ho Hum - now we always have a van from VFB, our prices have to go up don't they guys? Guys??

Hugs and see ya next time

ShoutyXXXX

Hey

So after a too long break and nearly playing gigs and having bad throats and stuff, we had a gig! We were playing in Trowbridge for a cracking charity and a delicious lady called Claire who had also lined up a small band called The Wurzels. Dunno if you've heard of 'em? Quite fun they are! Anyway, we were to be playing at 8ish and had to be up and sound checking by 6pm! It took Manager/Goffer Monkey ages to put up our new and very impressive and sexy backdrop! What do ya all think?

As always, the ever brilliant and fantastically sound meastro Sound Monkey AKA Nick had made his way there and was assisting the non-too experienced sound crew with the set-up. We got to check late as there were troubles but nontheless, Sound Monkey got us sounding terrific when all else were losing their heads!!!

We kicked off our set and debuted our sexy new song Muse/Nina Simone's 'Feelin' Good' and boy we almost nailed it. We played for an hour having leapt up the road for the proverbial Burger and cheesy chips. Considering we were slightly under rehearsed due to holidays etc we played well and seemed to go down well.

After a quick change around The Wurzels hit the stage and boy they know how to get a crowd going. We stayed and had a few piccies taken with the lovely Hostess and then we headed off to the mighty Derry Hill for a Halloween sing song!! As usual we had to visit the kebab van on Bumpers in the early hours to make sure they dont go short of trade and headed wearily home for a well earned rest.

Looking forward to Eton soon!!!

Shouty XXXXXX

North Newton, Nr Bridgwater in Somerset. Quite simply, you have to go next year if you weren't there this year. Wowee..........What a gig, what a place, what people, am-az-ing!

Unusually for us, we all arrived at different times, Sound Monkey got the wrong end of somebody's stick and turned up at mid-day. Others of the band arrived mid-afternoon, and some of us stumbled down in the late afternoon sun! Yes - sun. However, it wasn't to last too long. Arrival was interesting as back stage passes were like rocking horse doo-da and security was solid!

Eventually we got in and we were faced with the 'yard of ale' contest. Cool. Respect to all those that took part. I hope you made it through to the next morning. We sampled some of the million beers on display at the beer festival, (I have never in my life seen so many under one roof, well, canvas). I didn't realise at all why the bar seemed much less busy on the right hand side. I seemed to get served much quicker up there. It is only now, a week later, that it has been pointed out that the beers were lined up in strength order, weakest to the left! Mmmmm...... no wonder....

We settled back stage and prepared ourselves. Nerves were running high amongst a few with much standing in the now foul and heavy rain, easing nerves with nicotine and ale. 2,500 thousand happy, well oiled punters were listening to a quite brilliant funk band by the name of Freshly Squeezed.

Our time arrived and we set up and as always, before we realised it, we were playing. We kicked off with 'Take me out' and we were away with the rock kings.

The crowd were awesome. They loved absolutely every minute of our set and were there for some serious fun and frenzy. If we are honest, we didn't play our best with a few schoolboy errors occuring (latter confession session has resulted in the discovery of a rather over zealous sampling of the many and varied tipples on show by a couple of us!). However, did anyone care, did it matter? Well we were going to have a ball and so were the audience which makes for a top gig and brilliant atmosphere. Chelsea Dagger saw the whole crowd joining in with the chorus and Chasing Cars nearly brought the marquee down. Radio You again got a great response. We tried to get somebody on stage during 'Big Spender', and while successful, it had escaped their notice as to what they were supposed to do once up there! We encored and got off to enjoy the other excellent bands and a couple more pints of the gentle stuff.  

Quite simply brilliant guys. North Newton rocks and we love you! It would simply be a priviledge to be invited back next year. You rock.

Love as always

RichXXXXXXXX

We were due to be playing down at Lapford at their infamous 'Lapstock' festival at 2.50pm! Now, we have a full cast of seven members, and can you imagine the chances of getting seven guys down to deepest Devon well on time to set-up and play? Well no, neither do I, but believe it or not, despite the Lions 2nd test being on, we ALL made it, and even met up for a coffee at Taunton Deane Services we were that well organised! 

I did get us slightly lost due to a queue avoidance measure that as normal cost us around 35 mins. We were uncertain what to expect to be honest as details were hard to come by and our local knowledge down in sunny Dorset equally scarce. However, we were greeted by a very jolly gathering that was both well organised and very friendly and welcoming. The site was compact but perfect and due to the weather (Scorchio!) the event was well attended. We quickly enjoyed a quick pint (or two eh Ro?) of the excellent 'Yellow Hammer' that was new to me but gorgeous and easy to drink(!!). The burgers were also lovely but a shame we missed out on the mystical Chilli ?..... We were a little apprehensive of the sound rig a) cos we always are at festivals and b) cos we always are! but Sound Monkey was present (with the gorgeous Emily) and soon had us on our way. We only had a 35min set to play and we were a little bit loud and full on for early afternoon after some very pleasant folk and C&W music  - but we went for it anyway and enjoyed ourselves.

I think it fair to say that we played our very own 'Radio You' really well and were totally pleased with how it went down and sounded. It rocks and we love it!

We finished off the set with the anthemic Chasing Cars and a puddle of sweat - boy was it hot in that tent - and decided we needed a few beers to cool down. Cool down we did with much revelrie and giggles before all too soon it was time to head home. Funny how it always seems a shorter drive back when you have had a couple of cooling beers. Anyway, Thumpy Monkey, Fingers Monkey and Shouty Monkey all decided to just round the evening off in the local for one more cooling beer, it was still hot and then it was home to watch the Sky+ recorded Lions travesty!!

Oh well, we had a great time and are really looking forward to our upcoming gigs which we no-doubt will be much more sensible on and they will be cooler affairs anyway.

Hugs and love to all

Shouty Monkey XXX    (PS See 'Gig Pics' above for more photo's of the day)

(PPS - Love from all of us to Nicky Swan too - she is an excellent singer/songwriter - check her out and buy her CD's too - XX)

(Thanks to Brian and the team for a great day - See you next year eh???)

WooHoo!! We did it! We have now gigged with our new line-up and it rocked!

We rolled up at the Olympiad in Chippers at around 5pm to drop off our gear and have an impromptu sound check. We met the wonderful people from Midas Sound who were engineering for the night. Wow! What a sound it was too. As soon as Thumpy Monkey heard the power of the kick drum he was in seventh heaven. At around 7.30pm we had arrived at the venue with better halves etc. We all pretty much admitted to having nerves - new and super Bass Monkey confessed to having been nervous all week and the rest of us suffering a bit with a mixture of excitement and the all important tension!!

The first excellent band, King Rat and the Desperados completed their set and before we knew what had hit us - we were being introduced and on stage at 8.20pm. We kicked of steadily with Somebody Told Me and then proceeded to relax into the whole Namfest thing. We completed our set with our own debuted song, Radio You (which we officially love!) and Chasing Cars. No time for an encore and off we went, happy and buzzing with the result of several months of hard graft and fun practices! Bass Monkey has now been fully initiated (watch out for the official ceremony though Si!!) and grinned the whole night through.

Ten minutes after we left the stage, half of Chippers, including the venue blacked out power wise and we all had to leave the building. We kept our spirits up with a quick run to the offy (thanks Boss Monkey) and a sing song before proceedings continued again post power outage. Bad Lizard were incredibly tight as usual (we love you guys) and Miss Vickery set the Fest alight with a brill session. The evening was concluded with the Halagoogoo boys which was original and exciting too! Loved the Bass player's pants! What a guy!!!

Things became a little blurry for the rest of the night as we seemed to lose Boss Monkey and MWT in some bar and Sound Monkey and me stayed up into the small hours importantly putting the world, the music industry and our lives to rights before eventually retiring, tired but happy to our warm snuggly beds.

Quick massive thanks and congratulations to Ben and Laurence for the whole Namfest thing and we hope you raised tons of cash for your extremely worthy cause 'Make a Wish'. We had a blast and hope you enjoyed it too.

Loads of love and hugs

Shouty Monkey xXxXx

Good to be back in the groove again after a few months off, Many thank to the great folks of Seend for making us welcome, especially Richard and the team, who kept us fed and watered, a great night.

Well, there we were again, rocking and rolling like we had never been away! Been a strange few months all in all but hey - were we all glad to be back? Due to a fantastic stroke of luck, Steve was able and willing to play a farewell gig for us here at Seend. He is a true pro and we love him so much for it. He played the gig like it was our first and most importantly - loved every minute of it!!

Whilst saying goodbye to our top guitar man on the one hand, we also said 'Hello' to our new Tour Manager - Ian (Fixit) Else! Welcome aboard the crazy machine man and good luck with all the fun stuff we have to do.

Ian got the first thing right and managed to get us a van that fitted all the gear in - well......Just, with a squeeze, and a prod etc etc. Fully loaded we arrived at the venue and they had a proper stage with curtains and all. Plenty of power, Sound Monkey could set up front of house - all was cooking. We kicked off early cos there was a fear that due to great weather, the Beer Festival might run out of beer!

Off we went, and wow - we got a great reaction from the off. In fact, we had to do a little juggle as the crowd started dancing in the first set before our indulgent slow numbers. The band were a bit ring rusty and we decided to slow it down when the guys were complaining of arm ache!!! More practice required methinks!

We broke for a well earned breather and enjoyed the beer on offer, then rocked on with the final set. We played, and played, basically until we had run out of songs and I couldn't even speak. Shouty Monkey was also ring rusty (or is it always like that?)

We collapsed in a heap, the fantastic crowd got off the tables (Robert??) where they had been singing and dancing during our set (seriously brilliant crowd) and we packed up. Ian and I enjoyed the obligatory kebab alone as we had the fun task of dropping all the gear off.

A brilliant night, a great farewell and Seend sold out of beer. Must have been a good night!

See you all in a few weeks at Namfest!!!

RichXXX

Well this gig promised much. Chis and Chris' local, tickets sold out and a whole host of people feeling the need to dress up like scary things(see pics)! As we hoped, the night warmed up well with excellent food and beer provided by all the lovely people at the Landsdown pub (as always) and many familiar faces.

We kicked off at around 9.30pm and played a normal kick ass rock set including a new home grown Monkey song. It seemed to go well and we were practising it for our recording session in Dec! Chris B on keys decided it would be funny to dress in full cloak and 'Scream' mask, Herr Munch would have been proud as he did not take the mask off for the whole of Set 1. He did look an ass but whats new there huh? After he had cooled down we played Set 2 and that went even better. Dancers danced and Steve rocked on guitar, we were encoured enough to even drag out 'Big Spender' for the finale but nobody got naked which was a disappointment to Ro! We debuted Quo's Little Lady that we almost nailed but by then nobody cared anyway, Mac was hitting anything in his sight and my voice had long since given up the ghost! haha, see what i did there???!!!...........................

Hi All - Well this gig had been one that was made for us and we were all looking forward to - big stage, outdoors and lots of people! I guess it also reminds us why so many Brits holiday and move abroad!!! The weather summed up the Summer really, it hammered it down all day and all night. We were headlining this show and were really up for it. The gear had arrived in one van - thanks again to Remstor, ably piloted by Steve. We were well looked after by the backstage Chef churning out Burgers for Sound Monkey like they were the last food he was gonna consume for weeks - oh, I forgot - it was the last food................

Anyway, we got on stage after some other cool bands and strutted our stuff, just as the heavens really let loose like we were at Glasto or something. It didn't seem to put off the revellers that were already soaked and enjoying the music. We rocked out to our new(ish) set and felt we had done pretty well considering. The highlight for all of us was playing Chasing Cars while the fireworks went off behind and over the stage. As we hit the rock-out bit, the REALLY big fireworks went off like we had choreographed them to do so (we had hadn't we?).  

We really look forward to next year when we hopefully can lift the spirits of so many more people in the sun this time!!

Hugs to all who went and big love to all the volunteers that make this sorta gig possible. We salute you.

Shouty MonkeyXXX

(PS Steve can drive a big van so well that if anyone ever needs a driver with tight maneuvers required then Steve is yer Man! He only had a whole field to spin the thing round in and boy -o-boy did he show us how it should be done.............HeeHee, only teasing mate!)