NWB - Community Blog

Hmmmm ..... one for the detectives amongst us!!
Top marks Ben for not penning this anonymously ..... i'm off to look at the gig list for last night!!
DCIWillow

aaaargh! it disappears ..... oh well .... if anyone recognises themselves from the above review please step forward!! .... :0)
(thank fook i was supping not playing last night)

playing D A (Devils Advocate, not District Attorney) ..... may I please call to the blog :
from The Queens, Colne .... Dyehouse
from The Crown, Darwen .... Night Train, and,
(a bit of a slip up in the blog?)
from The Black Horse, Darwen .. Cotton House Shakers

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Only basing all this on Ben;s location, but who knows he may have had a drive out .... I may be back with more!! haha ... better than watching the telly this!
ConstableWillow

Come and see us Ben and do a review for us. We weren't out last night . PM'd you Ben,

Rick.

NOT Dyehouse willow.me old mate.
I was there last night and whilst my review blog may seem a little biased it was an honest review. Besides they certainly ain't blues with drawn out solo's and Hendrix numbers do not feature in the set list.

The bands will know who they are and whilst Ben is more than entitled to his opinion and I respect him for that,It is his opinion and the bands referred too will know who they are and hopefully see this as constructive critism.

An earlier blog might give you a clue D C Willow but I really hope it isn't who I thinking !

Rick.

well were in the clear as we were not playing hahaaha

I can see the reasoning behind this blog, but I would like to point out that Ben did not name names deliberately, so any attempt to bring specific individuals into the spotlight is not appropriate.

Quite right Mick.

sorry Mick you're quite right ... but i'm staying in tonight and bored witless!!

(thinks ... where were Bad Horsie last night??) hahahaaaa

only kidding, right i'm handing in my badge and my piece and going watching x factor. which means i'll be bak in about 10 minutes

DCIWillow (ret'd)

lol! No worries bro. I'm gnawing off my own foot in an attempt to NOT watch X fucktor. My TV doesn't take well to boot prints. lol

I don't mind owning up! We were the first band LOL

However....the drummer was depping at very very short notice, due to our permanent drummer going down with swine flu...and as for the bassist...he was playing with three broken ribs and in agony for both the journey there and back and throughout the entire gig (indeed he had to sit down to play the second set (as well as being on strong prescription drugs!)

We have actually today advertised on here for another bass player as we suspect there is something a little more seriously wrong with him...indeed I suspect he has had a minor stroke...his speech has become very slow and slurred and he keeps falling (indeed he collapsed at the recent Lynnard Skynnard concert!). We have told him to go for a brain scan (seriously!) as we are very concerned about him, but he is refusing. Indeed when we dropped him off after the gig he was literally crying (and people who know him know that that just isn't Pete.).We have noticed this for a few months now (Mr Grooverman can confirm it when he was in the band!)

The sound problem was due to the fact that we didn't actually arrive at the gig till late (we usually get there at 7pm) as the bassist couldn't take the journey. Indeed we should have actually cancelled the gig,any other band would have done in the circumstances..but we know a few people in Darwen and the bassist didn't want to let them down...plus we knew our stand in drummer had got there at 7pm

We shouldn't even have done the gig last night in the first place as we were due to play NEXT week, but due to the landlord being unable to find a band at the last minute he asked us to swap dates and we did so again at very short notice...as a favour.

As for the guitarist, well anyone who knows the name Johnny Rushworth (from countless blues jam sessions and bands around the north west) will tell you that he is one of the finest and most sought after players around.The version of Voodoo Child we do is our version (not a straight lift), however due to problems all round with the stand in drummer/ill bass player he was torn between doing our version and doing the Hendrix one straight ie he started doing ours, but the drummer hadn't heard it and the bassist, like you said, was all over the place.He was also not only struggling with that, but also trying to play bass licks as well to help Pete out
. You may have noticed there were times when the bass actually stopped playing due to the pain.

In our defence though, the second half was 1000% better...we sorted the sound out, Pete sat down to play (and even then he was keeling over!)and we played songs our stand in drummer actually knew! Indeed we got some great encores, the landlord gave us quite a few quid extra and we got a booking for a big biker rally in Hull next year...(and we got loads of kudos points from the punters for actually turning up and putting on a show once they knew the circumstances!

So there ya have it, that's the story behind last night's gig..I agree the first half was a bit ropey to say the least..the second half was a total different ball game...loads more audience rolled up, it was packed...and we came out smelling of roses!

PS The singer was shit hot though, you gotta admit that :o)
PPS And the sax was something else LOL

Cool, excellent response Alec.
honesty can sometimes be the best policy, and sometimes not.
Think you done the right thing in not naming names Ben and allowing Alec to put across his response voluntarily.

I personally don't agree with all of these reviews that are appearing every sat and sun post LQ.

I don't think they are necessary.

Go out and see the band yourself and form you're own opinion.
Because, as we all know, you can have good nights, bad nights, and in some cases, disastrous nights.

We've all had them, and the last thing I would want is to have it broadcast to everyone that I have built up a good rapore with on this site.

The one thing that this site has done to me is show me that other bands are NOT the enemy.

However, it would be hard to keep a friendship with someone who has completely aired your awful gig to the world, no matter how constructively they've done it.

If you have a genuine issue with a band, why not just PM them, then they can act on your recommendations without everyone else seeing it.

Just my opinion :-)

cheers


Scott

Good blog Ben, its good to get some honesty, doesnt do anybody any harm, our bass player is always telling me i'm S&it and that its constructive critism. lol. . . and well done to Night Train for holding their hands high, sounds like you guys had a mare of a night, happens sometimes. It can be difficult to call a gig off sometimes, but it can be the right thing to do.

Keep on with the rock n roll fella's

@ Everyone....When I saw Pete with Night Train a few weeks ago, I had never seen or met him before. That night, he was fully entertainig and played brilliantly as so did big John, another guy who I'd never met.
If you were to be introduced to Keith Richards for the first time and never seen a photo of him beforehand, you would be quite startled to say the least. The impression I got from first seeing Pete was " This guy has seen better days physically ", but he never faultered.- obviously his health has deteriated some what.
I'm so sorry to hear that he is suffering this way and I'm 1000% sure that Ben wouldn't of even mentioned the gig if he was aware of the circumstances.
I personnally don't go watching bands with a view of writing a review but if I'm entertained or asked to do a review I always oblige and up to now haven't been to a bad gig off this site. I've actually played in one though !( or two ) but not through ill health.
I hope Pete gets the help that he so obviously needs .. and quickly !

Rick.

Top marks Alec ... as ever really ... and really sad to hear about Pete, have already read on your other blog about his problems.
Hope things get sorted for him and yourselves.
Agre with BDB too about calling gigs off ... especially as you were booked in there the following week ... you can just be too helpful sometimes!
Willow

I'm off now to watch the recorded X-FUCKTOR !

Yeah right. A few scoops of J D and coke with plenty of ice and that will do me.

God bless Pete from Night Train - GET THE TREATMENT MAN !,

Rick.

Nice one evil Ben Murray... you slate a bloke and it turns out he's seriously ill... you're going to hell!!!

In the words of Roy Walker you can only "say what you see".

Unless it was the time it looked like Mr Chips was w**king on a snake...

LOL - I remember that, really funny !

We like every other band on here are hoping this blog is'nt aimed at us?
Whoever this blog is aimed at! it's "WELL OUT OF ORDER"
Personel likes and dislikes are for PM's not Public Blogs!
Alec should not have to come on here and justify his bands problems like a naughty School boy?
As for bands bigging themselve's up!
Though I try to keep it to a minimum and let others tell the story,
"That's what it's all about isn't it"
no one's gonna knock on yer door and beg you to play for them?
You must sell your selves the best you can!

if people are gonna review bands, you can't just expect people to only put glowing praise all the time...

personally I think it's possibly dodgy ground reviewing other bands anyway... it's just asking for trouble... I don't particularly relish the prospect of other NWB inhabitants turning up at the next Fix gig looking for things to slag off about us as a result of what Ben's put, though i'll try to take it on the chin if they do

there's a very popular north west band who cover a lot of ground who I think are consistently appalling, but i'd never dream of identifying them or even narrowing it down... if their punters like it (and they do), then that's really all that matters

I think Ben should have either named the bands up front, or not said anything (wooo inter band disagreement)... the inevitable 'guess who it is' thing just puts everyone on the defensive

Hmmmm bit of a quandary this one!
Ben chose to write a review of what he'd witnessed ... if you write a review then its going to be somewhat based on your personal opinions.
Gordon I've got to say I don't think it was out of order at all - maybe I was out of order by stirring things up by trying to guess who it was ... but that's all I did - guess on Ben's location.
And Alec didn't HAVE to come on and highlight that one of the bands was NT because the bands weren't named - a silence from any band signifies nothing - but fair play to him by going public. He could have easily just PM'd Ben and no-one would be any the wiser.

I think the only thing misisng from Ben's post was a critique of how the bands were going down with their audience, and not just his own opinions of them, cos at the end of the day if you're entertaining 70%+ of an audience then you're doing OK.

As for bands "bigging themselves up" - and this is truly not aimed at anyone so I'll use the royal "one" - if one's not realistic in one's "bigging" then one must be prepared for a fall if someone decides to come and see one and see what all the fuss is about.

I do love this site for exactly this kind of thing.

WillowTheRoyalWe

p.s. bring back XXXX at least they knew they were shite!! haha

G This blog was deffo not aimed at Dyehouse mate.
There were only 4 young (18-25's) in on Friday. They sat out in the beer garden, shared a vimto and moved on, and Ben did say it was a blues band, which you guys are not.

As most folks on here know I get out to see (or book ALL my bands from this site and to be totally honest, even tho I have my own personal likes and dislikes regarding genres.Its what the punters like that matters. You will always get one or two who will not enjoy the gig (why they stop if they don't like the music is beyond me)/ Couple of weeks ago I had one elderly Irish punter complain to me that he thought the band were shite becaue he didn't know the songs and why could they not play some real music ala Dubliners/Daniel O'Donnell?
I always make a point of talking to the band and ask if they want a review as well as getting their side of how they felt the gig went. Maybe that is the way you should approach a review in future Ben

As an aside Pete(Night Train), I really hope you get your health stuff sorted mate.

Well Said Gordon (DYEHOUSE) AND ALEC,who is well respected on here and also the Northwest gig scene, ehh we have all had nights where fuck all go;s right, and any band or artiste on here wjo says differant is a liar

Trig, Your gonna have to come see me about a new keyboard mate. Yours has gone seriously dyslexic LOL.

I don't think the blog was out of order, in fact I found it fairly refreshing. All of us as bands put our necks out every time we go and play a venue, and irrespective if the crowd is packed with earnest musos, inebriated poppers, metalheads or any mixture of folk we have to do the job to the best of our ability. Some are going to love you, some wont give a monkeys and some will hate you. (no matter how much you love yourself!) We've had our fair share of criticism and much of it has been harsher than Ben's blog! If people are going to get upset and cry injustice at a little bit of honesty, with no malice intended, it's a poor do. If we are among Ben's list then I respect his opinion.

no keef told you b4 dude its me whats fucked not the keys

You 2 should quit before you commit hari kari?

@ Ben.... Fair comment.

Hmmm ! well i for one dont play for other muso;s that may or may not be in the audience on either a night out or checking out the competition trip.

i play for the venue thats booked and paid us for their punters to hiopefully enjoy a night of entertainment not one upmanship,

like i said earlier if you know you have had a good gig and the PUNTERS have enjoyed it ,then job done in my book, and as for opinions , then they should be kept to ourselves and not Aired, thats what an opinion is in my book anyway,
as for my band ,
ehh i knopw we are a good band, but as a seasoned muso i also know we can sometimes have a bad gig , Shit happens !

But you dont let it phase you ,you just try harder next time and hope the Gremlins dont make a return, and believe me we have had our fair share of them over the last month or so.
So fair do's to Alec for his response ( allthough not needed in my book )
but sorry Ben you havent made yourself to popular here mate
Trig
DAKOTA

if i give a review it would be because i enjoyed a band, it takes some balls to be as honest as ben, but, if i did not like a band, i would say nothing, but that is me and not ben, he is entitled to a opinion.

Thats my point exactly Chris, His opinion , not a review !

did he ask any of the bands he didnt care to mention by the way , if they wanted him to post a review ? NO, so as far as i am concerned he expressed His opinion which to me isnt a review mate,

now you are getting silly ,look mate , you keep opinions to yourself unless you are asked for them , whats your band called by the way ?

But you have'nt given a review of anybody?
It's just a general unnessacery slaggin off of unnamed bands?

Ben Murray: "your a contrary buggar you are!! haha ;-)"

puff

oh dearie me....................unless its a slap on the back some people just dont wanna hear it hahaha. I'll be straight up, we're on a triple header this weekend, friday was fantastic, played to around 120 and didnt get off til 1.45am cos they lapped it up, last night we played to a grand total of 12 (an appreciative 12, mind) tonight is anyones guess cos the venue have never tried bands on a sunday. We play consistently well (most of the time) and our set seems to go down well in the majority of places. We never go short of bookings so we must be doing summat right, so I wouldn't let a bit of honest criticism faze me. I don't understand why so many people have taken the hump.................life's too short!

Big Frank

Ben Murray: "in stark contrast to my good friend mr steve dixon, i welcome anybody coming to one of our gigs to review, critique or slate our band."

no, that's fine... I just don't want dozens of big beefy rock covers band members coming down from all over the north west looking to exact their bloodcurdling revenge on us because of your controversial (s**t stirring) posts on here... :)

am happy for anyone to stand in front of me with a clipboard and judge my playing tho :) in fact i'd love to play in front of an audience of nothing but people from North West Bands... unlike some of you guys I value the opinions of other musicians more than yer average audience member (so sue me)...

unless it's Ben Murray.. he knows naff all about naff all :D

You could always play at the 45's Charity Doo - Fancy it ?

Rick.

No you misread what i said Steve, i said i dont play for other Muso's that happen to be there , i play for who is paying the fee m8, aint that what we aere there for or have i been gettin it wrong all these years ?

fair enough... the first person you got to keep happy is the landlord/landlady

but I'd value your opinion as a fellow musician far more than some random punter... you must sometimes get the feeling that 90% of what you do on stage is missed by 90% of 'normal' (i.e. non muso) people... it's nice to think that maybe someone out there is picking up on the little cool higher level musical bits you manage to sneak in there

RE STEVE
no, that's fine... I just don't want dozens of big beefy rock covers band members coming down from all over the north west looking to exact their bloodcurdling revenge on us because of your controversial (s**t stirring) posts on here... :)

So are you tryin to say Im fat like ! lol

Your not as fat as you are wide Trig??

course i do ,we all do, but thats gigging aint it ,in an ideal world we would all have made it and have adoring fans etc etc , but as we havent ,and good luck to you if you are on your way ,but we make the most out of what audience we do have ,

Fuck Off G !

That's friggin charmin that is Trig!

Where's the fuckin rest of you lot in this debate / debacle, i feel like a one legged man here in that arse kickin comp

am happy for anyone to stand in front of me with a clipboard and judge my playing tho :) in fact i'd love to play in front of an audience of nothing but people from North West Bands... unlike some of you guys I value the opinions of other musicians more than yer average audience member (so sue me)...


Do You Fancy Playing At The 45's Charity Doo ? ? ?

Rick.

Well ?

I'm up for it... where and when?

The links at the top of the website steve, i hope Bens coming to !

I have played in front of many NWB'ers and had no problem with it at all in fact reished it!
Maybe I've been fortunate that any negative thoughts they had they kept to themselves, as I would in the same circumstances!
When you start slaggin one another off this great community falls apart, or just for the perpetrator if were lucky?
This blog is certainely gonna make me think again about what bands I recommend [when asked] and to who?

he'd better do, or it'll be a 30 minute bass solo

actually that's not a bad idea :D

that'l do for me lad , and as we are all NWB ers on the day we can all have a jolly good backslapping day of it with no fuckin clipboards tho! lol

Dave - You are like a dog with two dicks today pal. LOL

Rick.

i'll have to see if 'Mr Popularity' himself Ben is up for it :)

It will be a cracking do Steve - let me know if your band are available.

Rick.

Cheers Rick thats good of you mate and i did tell Keef earlier i had it on me today and im gidded out tired etc,
also
Steve
even if he isnt ,ie Ben, its all about the day / charity so it doesnt matter either way mate we can all play together regardless

Yeah Dave, we'll have to mix the bands up a bit. Half of your band with half of ours and come up with daft names ect....

DAKOVERS BAND ! LOL

thats a belter mate lol

What about,
Trig'llfixit?

NOW THEN NOW THEN

Posted by DYEHOUSE - 11/10/2009, 20:11 (GMT)

What about,
Trig'llfixit?


Ha ha ha ha ha ! pmsl

make love not war!
Trig'llfixit

Ha Ha

I've a good mind to get Night Train on at the charity do...in the B room.....when The Fix are on in the other LOL
See who gets the bigger audience LMAO

Well said Alec, but we are bigger than that arent we n8 ?

well it'll be you cos I'll be in there watching you guys :)

need to remember that Ben isn't The Fix... his opinion is personal

we know that steve dont worry dude ,He clearrly EXPRESSED his OPINION earlier, its all about fun on that day anyway

Anyway i hope there isnt any critics as most of us will be pissed by 3 o'clock lol

I'll be there wi the biggest fkin clip board I can find!!
yer buggers!!

lol, im gonna bring a laptop and secretary , ( with stockings and high heels on )

ha ha
We're gonna end up with a fukin panel of judges after each band pmsl

"Well I felt you used the stage really well but your sound just didn't get me in the ear"

"You guys are going to go ALL THE WAY"

"Pish!"

pmsl

Ha Ha !

I aint wearing them high heals again Trig?

GO ON G YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO !

ha ha

Is it just me or does their seem to be a Rock/blues is shit as opposed to Indie undercurrent?
All the bands I see or book are asked at the end if they want a review posting. I personally read other reviews between the lines (it helps me in deciding which bands to book, and Very soon that will be for a lot of venues)

Ben, unlike a lot of reviewers/punters I do have a history in the industry 1976-2001, All you have achieved with this blog is wind up a lot of really nice people who are guilty of nothing more than giving the crowd some evening entertainment.
This is a helpful, fun community Ben, If what you hear ain't what you personally like, say nought and go elsewhere next time.Time to stop slating and either support live music in whatever form or stick with what you know and like.
Rant over

Bagsy being Simon Cowell!

Well I'm regretting clicking on this blog again now. It's turned into a comprehensive pissing contest.

FWIW I invite anyone from this site to come to one of our gigs and give their honest opinion of us. I also have no problem with Ben placing his opinion up here. I genuinely think that it sometimes takes words like this to make us check ourselves and keep our game up.

Gonna jump on me now boys?

Trig will your secretary be at the next gig. Not Sharon is it ny any chance lol

Mick, I will be posting a review following the Waterloo gig so be prepared buddy Haa Haa. And if Ben wants to come along I will be more than happy to rid him of his anghst and review his reviewing technique.

Eyup Keef, I'm really looking forward to meeting you mate. You put a hell of a lot of positive input into this site. 8o)

i just need one more point and then .....

Oooops, youll have LQ and ben after me mate lol.

Just a sad n bad ole git with nowt better to do with me time

Then what Rick? Oh NWB superstar status? No you already have that.

What was he drivin?
Silly bugger I read it wrong

ha ha !

A NWBGT i think

lol keef are you on the jd again

NWBGT?

Flame arch top with genuine mother of pearl inlays?
Think I might have seen him out and about mate

Trig, A litre goes nowwhere on a gig free night buddy. Thank f**k the Offies not far away.

yep gonna have a shower ready foe work and chill wiv a couple of drinks myself , im all typed out today lol

Yer all goin off topic????
come on guys !
Start bitchin again or I'm goin bed!

Many years ago My ole man(after a lot of protests) took me to watch this band I had heard about whilst working in London. They had a promo team that gave them such a massive bigging up. To cut a long story short, after the gig (err show). he looked me in the eye and said "Waste of bloody good money, can't sing, bass Player looked like he was a song behind the others, The drummer must be a stand in for his son, bunch of pretentious wannabee muso's who couldnt hold a note if it had handles on it.

Unlike Ben earlier I will stick my nexk out and name the band It was (Drum Roll).......... The Rolling Stones.
The similarity between Ben and my ole man is they are both Muso's but from totally different generationsto the guys on stage

Over to you Gordon/Trig/Rick

well we can see how good you are Ben at the Charity do in Dec mate ehh ?
listen mate even your own band member says you are full of fuckin shit , now what does that say ehh ?
and for you to come on here and call a well respected band shite , the guys forgot more thanh you will ever fuckin know , as the saying go;s IN DECEMBER PUT UP OR SHUT UP !

Still have no idea which band you put down Ben, and don't really care. I am impressed with your cd rack, some quality bands there.
I look forward to seeing you guys sometime. Not to have a pop or owt, I give EVERY band on here a fair chance at my venues, Ask Frankie (The Kicks).
Ben theres reviews and theres brutally ripping bands apart, You went about it all the wrong way.

Oooooh as an aside I have Muse,Verve,Oasis,Kings of Leon, Opeth, Lamb of God,Porcupine Tree, Stereophonics in my collection so I am not stuck in any 60s time warp.

OK now this is getting fucking silly.

ANYONE who wants to turn the CHARITY bash in December into a put up or shut up match is WAY out of order.

Well i feel really sorry for His Band mate Steve,.

Steve this guy is a loose cannon and believe me mate he is gonna get you guys in some real shitty situations at most of the decent venues you want to be playing around the NW,you know what to do !

Couldnt agree more Mick.
We are (Nearly all) Pals together with a common bond of Friendship coursing through our veins, lets keep it that way eeeeeh?

Hate to get personal, and always want to be the good guy and a senior diplomat on here, But I have to ask the question Is Ben related to LQ?

Hey Mick are you reading what i am here or what ! I WILL GLADLY step down , after all i aint the critic here, he is ,

I think we all need to calm down and take a step back Trig. At the end of the day its one persons attention seeking opinion, that should be ignored.To the Implied Bands, Carry on guys, the rest of the world loves you and what you do !!!!

Ben, I am not your pal !! If I give The Fix a booking at one of my venues, I am employing you !!

Trig, I don't have a real problem with anyone on this thread (I know you from Vera Cruz. We've pinted it in the Glass Barrel together when I was in Renegade. Renmember that?)

I just DO NOT see what everyone is getting so bloody uppity about. We've all been around for a good while and KNOW that there are bands that big themselves up. It's not a rumour. It happens. I've made it a personal mission to keep ego the FUCK away from my band. I'm constantly thinking of ways to make us a more effective entertainment unit.

But people are picking up on the negative points in this and running with them like a fucking knitting circle. It's embarrassing.
I see massive complacency and I'm not keeping my mouth shut about it. I can't believe I'm typing this but the Lizard Queen trolling had a point. There are some fucking SOLID, BRILLIANT bands on here, but as good as any of us are, can we not take criticism without chucking our dummies across the room? Come on.

well make sure it aint at my lads place keef although Steve is more than welcome

so..is this what they mean by battle of the bands? Chill out guys.."peace and love,peace and love"..as Thomas said to the fat controller ..ok one of the bands was us...I am Spartacus !!!

I'm begining to see that by not naming the bands concerned it's causing more rift's than if he did?
If he named them then at least only 3 bands would be pissed with him!
At the moment every band that was playing around Lancashire is feeling a bit pissed with him together with some who were'nt but see it like I do as just plain out of order if not completely unncessary!
So Ben!
Time to come clean,name names and stand up for what your implying!!

To be fair, we weren't at our best last night for the reasons mentioned earlier.....however it must have been apparent that there was something up with the bass player (I announced it throughout the night)and I also mentioned the drummer was a stand in. To say our guitarist 'thought he could play tunes he couldn't' though is bang out of order...as I said before, he is one of the most respected guitarists around.
I know who the second band were..I popped in for a very brief spell, and thought they were good. Remember both them and us are blues bands...we don't go for just copying the single or whatever...think jazz! The remark that the second band all played solo's...well whats wrong with that? Happens all the time in jazz and bands that imrovise.
Anyway, no offence taken...like I said, I'll be the first to admit it wasn't one of our best...however we got loads of congratulations at end (and I am a bit concerned by the derogatory reference to 'pissed up punters...they pay our wages at the end of the day!)
rebooked and a big bike do out of it.Maybe if the reviewer had had the gumption to introduce himself to us before we started we could have explained things to him re the line up that night.
Also there was no reference to me being fucking brilliant on sax/vocals/harp/slide and rhythm..you gotta give us some plus points LOL
Coming soon...the Hitler reads Ben's review video.
Its uploading as I type this...may be available tonight :o)
I'll put it on this thread¬ LOL

I know who the second band is...dont know the 'boring' one....who was on at Marigold's?? LOL

*sigh*

Hey G yr getting in a bit of a Fix about this ... ;-)!!!
They saw us last w/e in Darwen and posted about RR that 'it wasnt our kind of music' so chuck in a 'dont look back in anger' and you'll b fine ......that is if they are relating to you !!! ...ad if the other punters enjoyed it ..wot the hell eh!!!

right, I'm up at half 5 tomorrow so I'm off to bed for a wank, or a shag, if the missus joins me in time

:-D

night night

@ Dakota well make sure it aint at my lads place keef although Steve is more than welcome
Got that venue earmarked for hard hitting Classic Rock and Blues Trig. I think you know which one I am going to be running the more recent genres through?
Be good to meet Steve, comes over as a decent sort of guy.

Your dead right E!
We got rebooked at both our gigs this weekend,
and 2 private party enquiries!
So if he means us he's outvoted by the punters who actually like this type of stuff?

Alec, Look forward to your next epic mate :-)

Hahahahah.

Gordon it aint you mate , and even tho i am the one who is incensed with this it aint us to as we werent even out that nite lol.

I just dont think a so called fellow muso has the right to slag off another band, it wasnt a review ,far fuckin from it, it was a deffo jibe and sorry Mick truely underhand,
Wgy didnt he tell the said bands to their faces on the nite ? if it clearly annoyed him that much ?

Now i have said enough on this shit blog today , in fact i dont even know why Paul as allowed it to carry on, but i wasnt gonna just let this guy carry on spouting shite without some backlash , read what his own band member says about him , that should be enough for anyone on here to see he is a wind up merchant , but ehh , he's a fuckin good one ehh coz he's got me pissed all day

These clips deserve pinning. peed meself!!! Nice one Alec. Begs the question - Who/Whats next Haaa Haaa

we all have our off nights..I dont mind admitting we did one benefit gig for a deafness awareness charity..we were so bad the crowd refused to read our lips :0S

Brilliant M8

I'm calling it a day. far too much typing and stuff for an ole codger like me. See you all on the dark side of wherever later. How lets see, Horlicks, slippers, bath robe, Learn to be a rock god in a day. Bollox wheres me JD Nightcap !! Night all

Nite Keef

Steve you are a sound guy mate , and must have the patience of a saint to, i will look forward to meeting you and the guys on the circuit, but mainly you ! lol
good luck and good gigging
Dave

dunno bout saintliness... more like Derek Smalls being the midway point between fire and ice.... (i.e. lukewarm water)

well whatever it is i hope it rubs off on yer mate steve
G nite

Internet debates are a complete waste of time, an endless carousel of point scoring.

I think the moral of the tale is.. only put nice reviews on!

"# Posted by Viva La Coldplay - 12/10/2009, 01:01 (GMT)

Internet debates are a complete waste of time, an endless carousel of point scoring.

I think the moral of the tale is.. only put nice reviews on!"

lol! How very dare you!

i'm really lookin forward to you guys coming to see The Fix now... should be interesting

I think Ben was tactless and needlessly provocative, but I think some of you over-reacted and jumped on this in a bit of a dogpile

am totally not interested in turning a charity gig into some kind of competition... that's way beneath all concerned... very disrespectful to the organisers and totally pointless... (the fact the fix wouldn't get a fair hearing anyway isn't relevant :) )

although i'll happily take part in a NWB all-star 'bass off' for fun though :) that's different

Hi Steve, that was just a Knee jerk reaction to Bens final comment on certain bands being shite ! his words mate,
The Fix along with all bamds / artistes on the day are more than welcome and everyone is there for the charity and NOT as a lets see who is best ! competition.
This post has as you say , caused a bit of a stir , and so it should have , as he didnt give a review , as he wasnt asked to give a review,
He gave us an opinion , and i still stand by my opinion that opinions are private ,and you dont give them unless asked.
I have seen loads of bands over the years , some great ,some terrible , but i wouldnt dream of publicly Slating any band on a popular website such as this, neither as a punter or a fellow muso ,which in my opinion is even worse. (just my opinion )
As regards the fix doing the charity gig i really do hope that you do attend on the day as it would be a shame not to Steve
Kind regards
Dave

They could if they new who they were???
this blog is just snide!!!

@ mr nwb-"I've seen dyehouse and thought you weren't that good - seen better - but some other folk might love ya"
was that "dyehouse 1/2/3/4 or 5" or the "the new sugababes"?? :-)

Looks like he's deleted that comment Viking?
But thanks for bringing it to my attention!

@ dyehouse-always happy to help promote good community relations, g? ;-P

It's no secret that he prefers the chav scene to the rock scene so was only to be expected really!

@ dyehouse-there y'go-normality resumed!! :-)i love it when a plan comes together!! :-D

Well paul you surprise me more and more each day if you think thgis is a relevant blog ,and whats more you thank Ben,!
for what ?
i hope the Some bands need a reality check , wasnt aimed at me , i have been around a fair bit now ,and i have never needed a reality check.
the post wasnt aimed at me or my band ,but i feel it was unjust to slate a band on here,
Nearly EVERYONE that commented was annoyed at this posting not just me, and after all i did say half way thru it that it should have been deleted and not allowed to offend anyone else
Laughable mate !

normality will be resumed when Ben comes clean so we can take it from there!!!

@ dyehouse-"normality" is pw and yourself sniping-the other matter is not my concern.

yehh well you text me then G coz i cant be arsed anymore mate .

Yep thats my look on life to paul , i love and see the good in everyone .and thats why i wouldnt publicly hurt or offend anyone to !
Sound like my dad now , but
perhaps i am older but i come from a time were you dont slag people off for nothing, and a personal opinion is kept to yourself

wasn't goin to comment on this blog but the more i think about it the more i think it is pure snide, whatever made him do this is beyond me. Upset a lot of people for no good reason. Jumped up gobshite !!!!!!!!!!!

What a blog. Took me 20mins to read. LOLz.
Anywho, if any of you have band reviews, of bands that are unsigned or signed, send me a mail, as i'm doing a website encorporating band reviews, as well as game/film reviews. :)

Feel free to use any of mine from here Bat. For what its worth I talk to the bands before and after, ask them if I can do a review, mingle with the punters and get their take as well as trying to be as honest and subjective as I can.

Rick sends Steve Dixon the requested info ... which is now deleted

LOL - I hope he wrote it down.

why arent more people talking about how hilarious Alec's above video is, ive finally watched this just now and still laughing 10 minutes later!!!!!

The video is brilliant. Funniest thing I have seen for a long time.

Why oh why has this cause so much hassle, is it a review or an opinion? who were they? does it matter. The guy gave an honest opinion of what he saw, take it, listen or ignore, move on.

Just for the record, most of the blogs above were generally, I felt, in support, only a handful seem to have objected to it.. (Thats my opinion by the way)

Rock n Roll fellas . . . .

Hi Keef. Thanks, i will do and will let you know which ones once ive got the site sorted. I'm looking for reviews, giving a general opinion, rather than personal, with contructive critisism. Pretty much like those you described. Pretty much to explain what kind of style the band plays, the songs, who is it aimed at, etc.

Just been reading this review, and some of it is very.... well odd, to say the least...

1. If you're going not name drop bands, then why list one and not the others. I refer of course to The Cottonhouse Shakers. This is my band, and I'm proud of it. I'm at a loss as to why you would state that you are not naming names, yet use ours? That makes no sense. A good reviewer should really list all the details and not hide behind a false and misplaced sense of duty, whatever that might be.

2. No reviewer is really in any position to critique a bands playing potential or capability. Having watched and listened back too some of the band videos for the The Fix for example, it's quite clear that this bands musical competency is not less, or indeed greater than our own. To make judgement on other peoples musical ability is rude, ignorant and above all else arrogant - especially when yours is not greater or worse. Very poor indeed.

3. Regardless of musical style and genre of any band, all bands play live to entertain an audience and for our own enjoyment and musical satisfaction. Whether that form takes on the blues, or pop numbers like The Fix is irrelevant, it's 2 sides to the same coin, and all bands should support each where possible. Live music is, after all, a struggling entity at the moment, and it needs all our support to keep it going.

4. For your information, not every band member takes solos in every songs. As the bassist I only remember taking 2 solos all night, and the drummer 1. Such generalistaion is sloppy and inaccurate. Just becuase the solos didn't hold your attention doesn't mean they weren't enjoyed by any one else. I seem to recall most of the audience staying right to the end of the gig, which was 1am by the way, which says a lot about how much the night was enjoyed by the audience in general.

5. Additionaly the average length of each of our songs in this gig was 5 minutes, I know because I recorded it. The longest was an awful 15 minute jam at the very end, the shortest being 3 minutes. Try doing a proper and informed observation in future, this was a very sloppy over sight and paints an inaccurate picture of the bands performance that night.

6. Having listened back to the bands performance, the night was overall okay. Certainly not our best gig, but not our worst! Every band goes through gigs like that, and you're review will do little to encourage potential viewers to come and listen again. All I would ask is that the review is balanced, well informed and backed up with research, above all else fair and not made up of small 'snap-shots' of gleaned and half remembered information during a bored night out.

Cheers.... Derren (bassist for The Cottonhouse Shakers)

Oh, don't pay attention to what Ben says - he talks out of his arse most of the time

if I wrote a 6 paragraph response every time he said something stupid or annoying, I'd never have time for anything else :)

thanks for spending time watching and judging fix videos... I'd have tried harder to play correctly if I'd known :)

Yeah, but if you're going to write reviews at least do it properly! You can't name one band, then not name the others! Bang out of order really.....

I wasn't actually judging the Fix videos at all, simply making the point that if you're going to critique another bands technically ability, you'd better be shit hot yourself, and on evidence of the videos presented The Fix is no better or worse than most bands on the scene at the moment.

Plus, don't pay attention to me either, late nights and nothing better to do make for bad bed fellows! On reflection it's clear that Ben caught some of our set with Greg Walker from the Armadillo's - and anyone who knows Greg knows that the gig will more than likely go a bit 'south' and 'odd' and will end up in some for as long ten minutes solos ;)

Above all else, I think Ben missed the point in his review. The Cottonhouse Shakers don't take ourselves too seriously - we're just out to have a laugh and have blast while playing live. It is after all, about having fun right?

Nevermind... Cheers. Derren.

@ MR. NWB ..No probs.

How did I miss this? Christ on a bike! A controversial blog with no input from Socialtornado?? Anyway, my two penneth for what it's worth:

Ben makes a valid point. Some reviews on NWB are stretched beyond the credible. However, bands will always put a positive spin on reviews. That's how you promote yourself. It grinds my gears, but it will never change. That's why I try and review bands I go and see and I always discuss with them before the review gets published. That's responsible journalism.

That said, there are no excuses for the antogonistic comments that start the piece. It's not a review. It's just rude.

For example, calling a band boring is not a review. It's not even opinion (it does not qualify why you considered that they were boring). It's a rude throwaway baseless statement written most likely because you couldn't be bothered to write a proper review.

Most bands on here will accept constructive criticism. Most bands on here will brush off negative reviews with a defensive laugh. I can see why some people have reacted to this "review" the way they have.

In summary, the intention may have been good, but the execution has left a bitter taste. I hope that Ben and the Fix can recover from this, they bring mostly good things to the NWB table.

Peace and harmony
ST x

Well responded from Darren The Cottonhouse Shakers and also Socialtornad,
i aint gonna say anymore on this matter as it was prob my tenacious replys that carried this blog along,but i was not gonna let this just go unheard , in fact i am still furious about the whole thing, and some posters comments, but i now refuse to waste anymore of my time with it ,or even the site anymore to the degree that i have in the past.
Annoyed of Croydon

# Posted by Bad Horsie (Mick) - 11/10/2009, 23:18 (GMT)

Trig, I don't have a real problem with anyone on this thread (I know you from Vera Cruz. We've pinted it in the Glass Barrel together when I was in Renegade. Renmember that?)

@mick bad horsie:
just remember mick, we are all gods children ???

I hink the most frustrating aspect of Bens review is that it makes very non specific points , bands were decribed as "piss poor", "average" "a mess" "boring" without quantifying the points made, the review makes very little sense, some people would find Beethovens piano concheros "boring" however no one can deny that Beethoven was a musical genius, why were the bands "boring"?, why were they "piss poor"? were there any positive aspect to any of the bands?
I think the very vague criticism has riled people more than the negitive review, my suggestion to reviewers is that the review is balance between comstructive criticism of the negative aspects and highlight the positives. getting up in front of a pub crowd and playing takes a lot of guts.

he took the words right out of my mouth !

Distinct lack of comment from the venues on this one
What is sad is that the Cotton Town lot have only been on here since August and were asking for gigs...I presume venues have read this thread as well....so lets hear from them as to whether they are more or less likely to book either NT or Cottonhouse because of this 'review'..I'd say less likely.
NT's gigs are pretty bombproof in as much as the venues where we play know us well and we aren't particularly searching for new gigs (although we do like to fill in the odd cancellation advertised on here)...however if one venue has been put off booking the Cottontown lot (or indeed us) because of this, well thats a poor show...and sets a worrying precedent.
I've had a PM from Ben on this, and I aint too worried about it from Night Train point of view...like I said, at our regular venues our reputation is bombproof..to me its water off a duck's back LOL
Venues....what do you think?
PS Ok, we now got two of the bands...so who are the third? I think in the interests of fairness they should be named and given the opportunity to reply, otherwise its gonna tarnish the reputation of virtually every band on here who played that Friday.

I know Night Train et al must be mightily pissed at what's been said, but I for one wouldn't like to see the venues get dragged into it. Nor would I like to see the third band named. The review has been dissected, opinions noted and anyone who decides not to book a band on the back of it; well that's their loss. They should carry out the appropriate research before they book bands.

any venues are more likely to see it the same way most people did - "Ben's shooting his mouth off, what a dick" end of story

I know the 1st thing I did was to try to find audio/video of these 3 bands so I could judge for myself... and I think anyone who was arsed would do the same... why pay attention to one person? the internet's full of people giving their unwanted opinions... in one eyeball and out the other, i reckon...

I don't want to defend Ben just because i'm in the same band as him (i'm my own person and he's big & ugly enough not to need cheerleaders), but I don't think his comments will do anything to change anyone's opinion about any band other than his own... the only band that might come out looking bad from this is The Fix

not that i'm arsed, but if i'm gonna get in trouble, I'd rather it be for something I've done myself :)

ben's opinion won't hurt your musical career any more than whatshisface's threat to 'think twice about recommending certain bands' will hurt The Fix... no-one in the real world cares about some cover band members having an internet tiff

I think this is as much about some of you guys not liking 'indie'... if The Fix were churning out 'Paranoid' every weekend, I bet Ben'd get a slightly easier ride

Some good level headed responses. The matter should now be closed.

Keep music live people, and hope to see you all around... Derren.

Yep!

As someone who books bands, I can say with certainty Bens comments will have zero effect on my wanting to put either Night Train,Cotton Shakers or the other band on at any of my venues. Quite happy consider booking The Fix as well.

I tend not to let others make my mind up for me and book bands very much based on venues they have previously played at and by asking around to get a more comprehensive picture.

Got a question for you Keef.

Ask away Rick

"# Posted by Ride On (AC/DC) - 14/10/2009, 17:30 (GMT)

@mick bad horsie:
just remember mick, we are all gods children ???"

Ain't no such animal matey. Satan took a shit and we just grew from there. ;o)

Mon the Raiders!

AYP