P.A.F. Blog

Gigs category

Don — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:34:58 +0000

This category is for comments, views & news about gigs P.A.F. have played or are about to play. You generally don’t have to pay to see P.A.F. (we mainly play pubs & clubs that don’t charge admission) so if you’re going to really slag us off please don’t ask for your money back!! Oh and if you libel anyone we might not post your comment. Other than that have fun and tell us what you think.

Don

Band equipment

Don — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:41:25 +0000

Hi all - this is a posting for any thoughts you might have on band equipment. I’ll put some posts in showing what kit we use and we’d love to hear your opinions - especially if you have any better thoughts on kit you prefer.

Don

Autumnal

Don — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:39:37 +0000

Well here we are halfway through October - it’ll soon be Christmas! Our next gig is next week at Elgin’s at Redcar. It’s the second time we’ll have played there recently and we really enjoyed ourselves last time. Most interesting thing about that venue is that they ask us to play a single long set instead of 2 shorter ones. So we’re all deeply knackered by 11pm! We’ve had about 3 weeks since our last gig and have squeezed in a few rehearsals since then, to learn some new songs. Having a big enough set us really important becasue teh band get fed-up with songs after we’ve played them a lot. We need a dynamic set to stay really interested and up-for-it. Plus our audiences must want to hear new numbers too - mustn’t you? I suggested that to someone who chatted to me last time we played The Station at Redcar - I commented that “Whole Lotta Rosie” probably deserved a rest and we might slot in a different AC/DC number to end the night. He was horrified! “You can’t end a rock night without Angus!!” So I guess we might be stuck with it for a while yet. “Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be” is a great song too though, so don’t be surprised if you hear that instead sometime soon… We’d also like to rest a couple of Lizzy songs before long, maybe playing something like “Emerald” instead. All views gratefully accepted.

On the members front, I’ve had a bad back so I’ve been pleased to rest a while (it’s OK again now so I’m all ready to go again). Lee’s suffered with the man-flu (ditto he’s fine again now). We’re enjoying rehearsing but keen to play live again. I’m still experimenting with my drum sounds - I’ve taken to micing my snare from underneath recently but I’m not at all sure it’s got a ballsy enough rock sound to it. Any drummers out there care to comment on how you get your awsome sound? I play a Drum Workshop Pacific EX kit with a Pearl “Ian Paice” signature snare, DW hardware & a mix of Zildjan ZX/ZHT and Sabian B8 cymbals. I think I’ll start a “kit” discussion on here in case anyone would like to chat about it!

OK enough for now - I’m far too busy to chatter on any further, of which more later…

Don

Admin update

Don — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 21:35:55 +0000

Hi P.A.F. Bloggers. Phil tells me that the settings for posting to this blog are putting some people off writing. Specifically the need to supply a name and an email address. So I’ve now changed this and you can happily post and comment anonymously!! To restrict the spambots & zombies who routinely infest blogs with the usual “buy our viagra” rubbish all contributions now have to be approved by me, but you won’t need to supply any personal info in order to post items. So no excuse! Happy blogging and we’re looking forward to reading your gig reviews and general comments about the band and music in general.

Don (P.A.F. Drummer and resident webgeek)

Feeling the strain of the silly season

Don — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 19:04:24 +0000

I’m feeling the strain! 2 weeks since our last gig and the symptoms of withdrawal are really acute. Playing drums with P.A.F. is utterly addictive and I’m going stir-crazy without it. Lee’s still on honeymoon with Rachael, due back at the end of August. I can’t wait to get going again! We are all looking forward to rehearsing some new songs and getting back into the harness. In fact we’ve had to turn down 3 gigs so far in the week or so Lee’s been away.

The last gig we had was the Princess Alice in Middlesbrough. May of our fans were present and we all enjoyed the night. Just before that we had a really good first gig at eh Cat & Bagpipes in East Harlsey. We’d never played there before as a band so had no idea how we’d go down. But what a lovely venue!! Definitely to be recommended as a good music venue. The audience had fun and the beer was like nectar and (most importantly) they supplied pies & mushy peas of the highest quality. A fab place to enjoy music - we can’t wait to visit again in 2008.

Anyway that’s enough for now. Can’t wait to get started again in September, hope to see you at our next gigs. Don

Almost time for Lee to tie the knot!

Don — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 21:11:03 +0000

Seems ages since my last blog entry. Loads has happened in the meantime so let me try making some sense of the madness. First we headlined the Friday evening of the 2-day Cornshed music festival in Hutton Rudby. Fantastic charity event in support of the Great North Air Ambulance. We ended up onstage after midnight, which was novel (!!!) but it was a cool experience for those of us band members who’d never played a big stage before. The lighting rig was really excellent and we got lots of pics to use for promotion, in fact our new gig poster is made from pics from that night. Take a look at www.thecornshed.co.uk for info about the event. Amongst ohter gis we’ve played since the last blog, the one that stands out for us is the other charity event we did, at The Crown Brotton on 21 July, this time for MacMillan Nurses. This was a really fab day, lasting from 2pm right through to midnight. The bands all used P.A.F.s PA and drums so Mike and I were Technicians for a day. Hopefully they were all ahppy with our efforts!! “Heaven Forbid” & “Out After Dark” are our old muckers and they both did brilliant sets in the afternoon to smallish but highly appreciative audiences. “Bedlam” came on at 6pm and did a great stand-in act to cover for the scehduled band who had to pull out at the last minute. They’d played the Crown the previous night and did really well to fill in at shot notice - well done lads! Credit also to the boys in “Out After Dark” who were playing a regular gig later that night but slotted this one in to support the day. Respect! We finished the day off and all really enjoyed ourselves, as hopefully did everyone else. Well done Ray, an enjoyable day! We had naughty nursies, stripping staff (wax-stripping that is) and even topless bar staff too. OK so they were topless male bar staff but so what? Hey don’t forget to check out The Crown’s new website on www.thecrownbrotton.com

So we’ve had busy fun mad time, just a normal month then! We’ve got a couple of gigs coming up at the start of August and then we’ve a break for a couple of weeks while Lee gets married to Rachael!! And goes on honeymoon of course - I dunno some people just have no commitment to the band at all! The break will be nice but we’ve a few plans for some more songs to add to the list (some old ones that end to be revived and some brand new ones too). What songs would you like us to add to the set? Email in any ideas you have and we’ll consider them. Unless they’re by Green Day of course! Would you like to hear any original P.A.F. numbers? Anyway, hope you’re all enjoying the wet summer, looking forward to seeing you all soon. Don’t forget to cogratulate Lee when you see him! Don

Live at the station, Stokesley 26-07-07

vic — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:05:28 +0000

Well this is my first and, probably not my last entry

I have been a fan of P.A.F. and live music in general for a very long time (no not giving my age away !) I have seen P.A.F. many times and never, ever get bored with what they do. I caught them live once more in the Station at Stokesley on Thursday night. As ever Mike was in fine voice and full of fun, with much leg pulling and pi** taking of the lads as the night went along, the acoustics of the room at the Station are very good and suit the band, this venue has a cosy feel, yet large enough to get a good crowd in. The lads sounded as good as ever and played to a full house and even had to play a noisy encore, which kicked off with Phil’s awesome guitar riff for “sweet child of mine” (even though he claims not to look at his guitar much these days !) Phil and Lee gel so well when they play off each other and Lee is getting to be a very good guitarist indeed (he’s still so young !!) Don and John were solid as ever keeping the beat and everyone on track LOL. Once more it was a very good night with all the classics well played, well sang and well received ! Only bad point of the night was the warm, flat and rancid lager, sorry station it’s my opinion and Ainsley, Kev and myself cant all have dodgy taste buds.

Looking forward to seeing you all once more soon

Vic

June gigs

Don — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 09:30:41 +0000

Well June’s half over already and today’s the longest day, so from today the nights start getting longer again! OK depression over… We’re a busy band in June. We played the Penny Black on Friday 15th June to a small very appreciative audience. Saturday night is the normal band night there but since we’ve not played the venue recently they decided to book us for a Friday first, to see how we went down. As a result of the gig we’re now booked to play Saturday October 16th, which we’re really pleased about. Next day we played the Yorkshire Lass in New Marske - a short notice booking because their booked band couldn’t make it at the last minute. Another good night was had by all, with a much bigger crowd having fun there. Our next venture is to Whitby on Friday 22nd June to play the Pier Inn, which is a smashing venue down on the quayside, one we really enjoy doing (although it’s a bit of a trek for me as it’s a 100 mile round trip!) Hope there’s a chip shop open. Mmmmm Whitby fish & chips - heaven! Then on Friday 29th June we are headlining at The Cornshed charity music festival at Sexhow Park Farm in Hutton Rudby, all proceeds to teh Northeast Air Ambulance. Take a look at their website for a flavour of what this is all about - www.thecornshed.co.uk This is a ticket-only party that goes on over 2 days in a fab venue on a farm. We were booked to play last year but had to cancel, so this year we’re doubly determined to have a great time there. We’re onstage at 1130pm approx and wil be playing for about 45 minutes, but the other bands and acts look really good too. Fizzyfish are playing earlier in the evening and they’re always worth a watch. Hope to see you there!

31st May gig at The Station Stokesley

Don — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 13:40:34 +0000

We had a great night at The Station, which is one of our favourite venues. The acoustics in the room are fab and the audience are always appreciative, knowledgeable music fans. John wouldn’t sing any Johnny Cash songs in the breaks though, which is always disappointing. We “rested” a few songs and included the new Cars song “Just What I Needed” and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Freebird” instead. Lee’s new guitar and extremely swanky new amp saw good service and I found myself busking an extended piano solo entitled “Panic in Stokesley” when I began playing ”Freebird” before the other guys were ready, which was . .. er.. interesting. In fact there were a few new features to a couple of songs that their original authors never intended, but we put that down to having fun with a great audience so nobody minded. My favourite bit was when Mike told the audience we were going to play a Free number and I struck up the wrong one - Phil swore a bit and there were a few “Not that one, you idiot!!” comments, which got the crowd chuckling. We love playing The Station and the evening was a blast. Jim’s asked us to play The Station’s 2007 Christmas Party night on Boxing day this year and we had no hesitation about saying we would. Check our website for some pics from gig when they’re available.

Welcome to the P.A.F. Blog !!

Don — Wed, 16 May 2007 17:56:29 +0000

Hiya all, this is Don, P.A.F.’s drummer and resident webgeek. Happy to introduce the P.A.F. blog. You can use this to record anything oul like related to P.A.F. If you’ve been to one of our gigs you can tell the world how wonderful we were and if we “played one you know!” I’ll make the occasional entry with news and updates from the band too. If you want to know anything about P.A.F. stick it in the Blog. Everyone else can see Blog entries of course so careful who you libel ok? Happy Blogging! Don