Shedmen babble

BLOG   2007

15th December 2007

Played two gigs last weekend—a riotous night at The Vaults in Port Erin, and then a charity bash at The Riverside in Laxey. This band gets about a bit, let me tell you. The picture above shows a friend of the band, Paul getting up on stage and helping out on guitar duties—anything that can mask the lead inadequacies of our usual guitarist has to be a good thing. The place was packed (which means there was at least 20 people in there), and a great atmosphere ensued. The Saturday gig, nicknamed Laxabalooza was an odd gig. The sound and set up was great but the turnout, along with the weather was somewhat disappointing. Hey ho, onwards and upwards. Jaks on the night before Christmas Eve—hope to see a few Christmas punters down there

 

27th October 2007

Our next gig should have been at Kennedy’s Bar in Onchan Park. Unfortunately, the organisers have had to pull the gig, due to a change of policy with regard to live music at this venue. A great shame, as we were looking forward to debuting there. We have played that room before, 4 years ago for a private party, but it wasn’t called Kennedy’s in those days. Indeed, back in 1991, when it was called the Shibumi Club, Boz, Stewie & Sean played there with their previous band, Bagawashin - and that night, they certainly were!

 

11th October 2007

As the nights draw in, and the clocks go back, the Sheds are busy rehearsing new material. When we say new, we don’t mean new-new, we mean old-new. So expect a few surprises at the next few gigs. Not sure what yet, although we are particularly taken with Hard-fi and The Fratellis, and there’s always the chance of us resurrecting some of the material we discarded in days gone by. Next stop Kennedy’s bar in Onchan, in November, or as it is abbreviated on Manxbands, KBALLS.

 

8th September 2007

All been a bit quiet on the gig front. We’ve had a succession of holidays and work commitments, but we are back on the chain gang on Saturday 15th at JAKS. We’ve spent a bit of time rehearsing some new material. Interesting challenge when a basic drum/bass/guitar/vocal band like us take on a song normally played live by a band with 6 players on stage. Who needs keyboards or a second guitar anyway? And who would have ever thought a Lost Prophets song would get on the set list - except Jimmy of course!  Additionally, another old punk classic, “New Rose” should finally see the light of day on the 15th. We dropped it from the last gig at the last minute, so bring it on at JAKS.

 

4th August 2007

We played The Creek last night. Always a good atmosphere, and the night came to it’s usual crescendo at about 11.45pm when we crashed into “I bet you look good on the dancefloor”. We have ourselves a little break now, during the rest of this so called summer, and will return at Jaks on 15th September.

 

18th July 2007

How cool is this? Our gig on Friday 20th July 2007 at The Cornerhouse is being video streamed live across the internet. Yes, indeedy, The Shedmen play to their biggest audience ever—THE WORLD. Gigs just don’t get any bigger. This is all down to our friends at 2Poor2Tour who are piloting some bands on the island with their funky new technology. We are all for it, we’ve got friends in Manchester, Birmingham, Totnes, Florida Kenya and New Zealand—even they can’t escape now. It’s gonna be awesome.

 

1st July 2007

Here comes the summer, and a few gigs lined up, particularly Peelstock on 21st July. More details in the Shedule section. Sean is back in the saddle, and we played a private party last night in the wilds of Santon. We had a catalogue of technical issues , including failing footswitches, broken strings, flattened batteries and failing lights. An average night out for this band.

9th June 2007

So, TT over for another year. We had three gigs over the period of race week, and we should start off by thanking our substitute drummer, CLF, who deputised for Sean whilst he was away  -  the boy did well. Tuesday night at The Creek in Peel, which started badly due to our volume being higher than acceptable for the local constabulary, but once we got going, had a great night, and finished on a high. Then back - to - back Bushy gigs, with the beach at Port Erin on Thursday evening, and the climax of the week, Bushy’s tent on Friday night. The Tent was packed, and the atmosphere down the front was brilliant. It reminded me of our past great nights in Bushy’s music room in the early 90’s - people jumping around, singing along to the songs and enjoying a good rapport with the band. We finished with an encore of “Live Forever”  - a nice testament to the TT, and “Pretty Vacant” our tribute to 1970’s punk. Bring it on again - can we have the same spot next year please, Lenny?

 

27th May 2007

Sounds like we broke a record last night. We played the Vaults, at The Bay Hotel, Port Erin, and it would be fair to say that it is not one of the biggest venues we play on the circuit. In fact, once the drum kit is set up, there is little room left for the other band members and equipment, let alone an audience. Somehow, the room became even fuller, and we were advised that this was some kind of record for the number of people that were either in the “music room” or the doorway by the bar. We had a good night, with CLF deputising on drums for Sean, who is away for TT fortnight. Roll on TT Week

 

13th May 2007

Last night we played Jaks for the first time. What a fantastic night! The place was heaving, the atmosphere was great, and every song brought a ripple, at least. Grateful thanks to the top table who dutifully sat right in front of the speakers and sang along to Common People, Boulevard and Ruby. Bring it on again - a fine venue to play on a Saturday night!

 

27th April 2007

What a nightmare. Stewie got stranded in the States, courtesy of US Airways, and didn’t get back in time for the Saturday gig — instead spent most of Saturday in Frankfurt, where he was diverted—best place for him, truth be told, but apologies to all at The Ship, and anyone who turned up for the gig and was disappointed  -  we will re-schedule

 

31st March 2007

We  played a very enjoyable private party last night, with some real funky dancing going on in front of us!  We are taking a break over Easter, but will return on 14th April where we will debut at The Ship in Castletown—if it all goes pear shaped we’ll just blame Johnnie!

 

17th March 2007

A few more gigs now lined up for the spring, including our debut at both The Ship and Jaks. We have been concentrating on introducing some further material into the set, with an original, “Errand Boy,” dug out from 1994, along with some raucous stuff from Stiff Little Fingers and The Kaiser Chiefs. We should see these aired for the first time in public before the end of March

 

4th March 2007

Fantastic night at the Cornerhouse last night, playing at Phil’s 40th Birthday party (pics in the Photobucket). Enjoyed seeing The Chris Flood Band perform, and also an impromptu Weirdo re-union - great fun! Next gig at the all new re-furbished Creek in Peel. Got a sneak preview of the new stage and decorations earlier in the week, watching TUB, and we are looking forward to our gig there on 24th March. We have also secured a booking there on Longboat day on 4th August, which is always a great party atmosphere

 

25th February 2007

Next gig is Saturday the 3rd March, ably supported by The Chris Flood Band. Our old friend Phil Reynolds is hitting the big 40, and we are playing at his birthday party at The Cornerhouse - it’s an open invitation for anyone to come on down and enjoy . We first came across Phil when we shared the bill with The Problem, at Bushy’s music room, back in the early 90’s… Phil was playing bass for them in those days and they were one of the best bands around at the time. Other news, we have secured 3 dates for TT week. With Sean away that week, we have conned CLF in to helping out once again on drums, and we will grace such venues as the beach Port Erin, The Creek Peel and the Bushy’s tent in Douglas. With it being the centenary year for TT, we are hoping for a bumper turn out.

 

11th February 2007

We had our party at the Cornerhouse on the 8th. Good turn out and an enjoyable evening with a number of familiar faces there to help us boogie on down. See pictures on the 15 page (click link on left hand frame) We debuted some new material, including “Common People”  “Islands in the sun” and a re-working of our own song “North and South” . Always nice to churn the set. We were also joined for one song by our old friend “CLF” who had been heckling us all night. He is the drummer from TUB, but has deputised for Sean a couple of times when he has been off island. He powered his way through “Basket Case” before returning to his table full of snakebite and blacks !  More new material on the cards for our next gig on 3rd March!

 

3rd February 2007

So we’ve made the papers! The Manx Indie ran an article about us on Friday 2nd February 2007, with a full page cover page photo and detailed article covering our 15th year anniversary and gig lined up for Thursday 8th February. A big thanks to John and the team at The Indie, for making this happen. We look forward to seeing as many of our friends there as possible

 

6th January 2007

The 15 year anniversary gig is now officially booked with The Cornerhouse for Thursday 8th February. We will be sending out reminders to friends and followers of the band over the next few weeks, as well as promoting the gig through manxbands, posters, and even an article in the Manx Independent!. Come on down and join in the fun. The other big news is that a Shedmen original song was played on the radio for the first time ever. Simon Quine hosted a radio show on Manx Radio on New Year’s Eve afternoon… and there for all to hear was North and South. It has spurred us on to bring the song back into the set, however, you can hear the original version now, by clicking on the sounds shed to the left of this article, and then selecting “North and South” from the track list.

 

1st January 2007

Happy new year, and I’m pleased to advise that the site has been brought up to date. The SHEDule for 2007 looks a bit thread-bare at present. This is partly due to Boz needing to convalesce after his surgery, and then him taking a holiday in February. We are looking forward to our gig at The Cornerhouse on 8th February . This will mark the 15th anniversary of the Shedmen’s first public performance. We hope to see as many our friends there as possible

 

BLOG  -  2006

24th December 2006

You may have noticed a few references on the site to our forthcoming milestone. Well, yes indeed, on the 1st February 2007, it will be 15 years to the day since we made our debut at Bushy’s music room — you will already see pictures of that never-to-be-forgotten night within our Gallery section under “debut”. More details to come on the party we have planned to celebrate our longevity. So this is Christmas, and what have we done? 21 gigs to be precise, with one more to play during 2006 at a private party on the 29th.  From all The Shedmen, to the whole of Cyber-space, may we wish you all a very merry Christmas, and a happy and prosperous new year. God bless us, one and all.

 

16th December 2006

Bit of a shock, the news of the Castle Mona complex closing down. Having played there Saturday night, and then to see the place finished less than a week later is unbelievable. We had some good nights in there, and the room was big enough to crank the sound up and get the punters rocking. We have deepest sympathy for all those poor folks that have lost their jobs just before Christmas. The number of larger venues in Douglas continues to reduce. With The Douglas also out of action, The Cornerhouse and The Traf appear to be the only specialised music venues left in Douglas Town centre. 

 

10th December 2006

What a great night at The Office last night. One of those gigs where we just seemed to get it right in terms of playing, stage sound and timing. Second set was storming, and the dance floor filled up nicely for “Take me out”. The bar staff were a little worried early doors and asked if we could turn down a bit - so we obliged, for one song, and played “Echo Beach” … then we whacked up the volume for “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes” If there’s one thing you need to know before booking The Shedmen, it’s that we are a Punk Band—take a look at the Set List on this website - there’s no sleep til bedtime.

 

1st December 2006

Welcome to our blog page. This is a new item on the website, where we aim to keep you up to date with the news on band members, gigs as they are booked, thoughts and memorable moments on gigs played and a plethora of other stuff that may spout forth from our collective stream of consciousness. So Christmas is nearly here and we have 3 gigs left, this side of Hogmanay. A private party on 2nd December (we love playing parties for friends of the band, always a great atmosphere), a Saturday night at The Office on the 9th, and then another private party on Friday 29th. Tis the season to be jolly, after all. We are taking a sabbatical (which for the uneducated, is a small oriental sword!) in January 2007 (Boz, our sex-on-a-stick lead singer is having some cosmetic surgery to righten his jaw—we offered to do this for him manually at half the price, but he has opted for the professionals). He will need recovery time, although he cannot guarantee that he will come back being able to sing any better, but that’s life. February 2007, the Shedmobile will scream back into action.