gig 2: Hayling Island (Trio)

After Trecco Bay we drove a few hours to Bournemouth to stay at Andrea's parents' house because it's closer to Hampshire than Trecco Bay is. We got in at about 5am (this happens lots when we don't get accommodation on site!) and BLESS Andrea's parents! They'd made our beds up, got us NEW towels, left a bottle of water each and even a torch on the side of my bed for emergencies...awwwwww. And in the morning (afternoon actually, by the time we got up!) they'd spent ages making us a lovely brunch with eggs, bacon, sausages, etc. They made our stay so lovely :)
We set off for Hayling Island after brunch and got there at about 5pm. It was a teeeeny venue! I would guess not even 300 people. Maybe even 200! It was a mini stage too and we had a bit of trouble setting up but not too bad. The gig didn't seem to go amazing at the time but once we were off stage people kept coming up to us saying how great we were, so it's all good! As long as they enjoy themselves! Their team was only 2 people, ents manager and assistant ents manager called Gemma aka "Tigger" who knew my EX best friend Jade and actually had heard lots about me! lol. SO weird. there's always someone you know! The General Manager at Hayling Island knew my Dad from Devon Cliffs 10 years ago, and was a Haven Mate there when I was in the Tiger Club (Kids club)!

Gig 1: Trecco Bay, Wales

Our first gig of the season was as a trio at Trecco Bay in Porthcawl, south Wales. Me on the Keys/vocals, Andrea as lead vocalist and Matt on the drums. It was the beginning of a three-gig run which meant we were at Trecco on the Friday, then Hayling Island (Hampshire) and then back to Trecco on the Sunday. Matt was having a van customised for him and us to tour with but it wasn't ready so we hired a van from Enterprise....oh dear!!! This gross van had NO heating, no steel bulkhead(the separator between the front and the back)...everything was wrong with it! It would have been ok for a short journey but we were gonna be in this thing for 16 hours. So we sat in our coats, scarves, gloves, blankets and pillows, ha! PHOTOs to follow. Matt did end up getting all his money back and 50% off his next rental, which worked out well.
Anyways, about the gig... Once we got to Trecco and loaded all our stuff (Up 2 flights of stairs...no chance of getting our P.A up there so we used theirs!) we soundchecked and chilled our before the gig for a while. The venue at Trecco is quite big, about 800 people I would say. We were all quite nervous but not too bad, just first night nerves. The gig went well, not an amazing audience for the first set (As a trio we do a 70s First set of 45 mins and a party set in the second set for another 45...PHOTO) but they LOVED the second set. This has become a regular occurence. People usually just sit and watch our first set but dance for our second set. We love it when they dance!
The team seems to be really big there, and changes all the time. Our friend Ali from Warmwell last year is there this year and that made it sooo much nicer for us :) I think that's why we weren't as nervous as we thought we would be. Oh and as it's a West Star Parkdean Park, they're famous for doing great in-house productions and shows. And they deserve it because they are absolutely amaaaazing! They can all dance fantastically and sing well. I was impressed!
Also...the other cabaret was Andrea's friend Rob Underwood who we all knew from last year. There's always someone you know! xoxoxx

Touring!!!

On Tour!!
Oh my goshhh it's been so long since I last wrote in here. I haven't had the internet because we've been touring but I just had the bright idea that I could write this on my laptop in the Van (I'm on my way from Cornwall to Somerset) and then just post it when I get home!
I could have written in between the gigs last week but I was SO tired I didn't get around to it. Our band is called "Demand" and we switch between a trio and a four-piece band depending on whether the venues want a guitar player or not. We have a new guitar player this year called Lewis who's really sweet and a lil bit shy but great on stage :)...Ok So, what I'm gonna do is post a few separate posts to make them a bit easier to read.

Ooops!

Uh oh, I didn't realise how long it'd been since I last posted in here. I've been putting it off cos I find it really hard to write when i'm not in the mood, and not many people read this anyway! I'm trying to figure out how I get notified when I have comments etc, because I don't think I receive emails about it. I also wanna know how to monitor my blog traffic...does anyone know?

Obviously stuff has happened since my last post, but not that much surprisingly! I went out last Tuesday to Source Bar in Maidstone and (as usual) got myself into a bit of trouble, this time though it was at the expense of others and I felt really bad. We were having a fab time, out for Jenny's (a girl I know from work) birthday. I saw a few people I know from years ago - one being a bit of an old flame of mine (that makes me sound old..ha!). Anyway, I left my bag with my friends from work and asked if they'd look after it, and I went outside with the guy for a chat/catch up, and ended up in a taxi on the way back to his house, as you do (Not to *DO* anything like that!). But I completely forgot about my bag and my phone, and my shoes in fact (which were my faves but are now lost :( !) and stayed over at my ex's house...because I was V drunk and irresponsible! This caused SO much trouble.
They looked for me EVERYWHERE! Called my parents, even had the police out looking for me. I felt so awful, and haven't even known these guys that long, what must they think of me?! Gah. Well they've all been fine with me since, thank god, and my parents are fine. Except this guy who works in the Kitchen but I think he's rude anyway! I just bug myself sometimes, because I'm like two different people, and one of me just loves doing bad things and getting in trouble, and the other is the one who has to pick up all the pieces the next day....GRR! Also, I WANT MY SHOES! If anyone has a spare pair of dark silver-heeled shoes from New Look in a size 8, I'd love to hear from ya! hahaha.

Nothing much else has happened, I've been working...learning to drive (Have another lesson tomorrow). We had a lovely mothers' day. I set up a little display with gifts and balloons ready for my mum when she got back from Spain, and we made a welcome home banner for her and my dad (awwww :P). It's great to have them back, and they found a Villa they like...fingers crossed that they get it! I don't know why but the kids seem to be a lot naughtier when my parents are around. Especially Peter, maybe it's because he has ADHD and craves their attention more. Hmm....

The band and I start gigging on Friday! We start off at Trecco Bay in Wales as a three piece, and then go up to a 4 piece with our New Guitar Player Lewis in April! Can't wait!

Me and Andrea went to see the film Untraceable the other day, which was quite good but could have been scarier! Click Here for a cool website relating to the film...don't worry - it's not real!


I'm going to bed now, gotta get up and drive tomorrow! (Well, not til 1)...I have actually managed to get my bedtime down to between 10pm and 12:30am for the last week or so, rather than 3, 4 or even 5am like before. And my getting up time has been about 9 or 10 because of work - that's great for a musician! Lol, no offence to those musos who get up at the crack of dawn. Anyways, if my Dad's snoring doesn't keep me up forever, I'm gonna catch some Zs....nite nite!

xoxoxx

Be Kind, Rewind! (And other movies)

I just thought I'd add a post about the Movie "Be Kind, Rewind" because me and Andrea went to see it the other day and I thought it was fantastic! It was SO laugh out loud funny for ages from the beginning. It did end a little abruptly but it almost made up for that by being so funny. I'd recommend it to anyone! The film is basically about two guys who accidentally erase all the videos in a video store one of them works in, and attempt to remake all the movies to save the store and the building it's in from being demolished. I'm not a huge fan of Jack Black, and can find him a little annoying but in this movie he was just hilarious! A must see :D


A couple of other movies I watched recently were Evan Almighty and The Last Mimzy.


Evan Almighty was good, but not as good as its predecessor Bruce Almighty. That's most likely because Jim Carrey wasn't in it! It's quite funny, end especially good for children. It's not believable but then it is a movie about a man building a HUGE ark almost entirely by himself with a little help from his three sons. The special effects were quite good too.




The Last Mimzy was wayyy more farfetched but it's a kids' fantasy movie so it was right up my street. It's about a genetically engineered toy rabbit, basically, lol. And also a set of 'toys' from the future. I can't really explain it well so you will have to watch it but again, it's fantastic for children, especially the younger age groups, and has the most adorable little girl playing one of the main characters.

:)
xoxoxx

Family, Bands and my stupid scatterbrain!

I'm laying in bed writing this post! Can't get back to sleep....I know, I know, it's gone 9am but I'm a musician and we're not built for early mornings! Lol, I've had to get up at 7 the last few days to get my youngest brother off to School and it really doesn't agree with me (I go to bed at the earliest 2am...last night it was 3). He's 15 but has ADHD and slight Autism, and he goes to an amazing special school called Bower Grove. Bless him, he was telling me this morning how he's excited because he's doing his work placement today at Poppy's Pre-School, helping with the little kids...he's so cute! I can't believe he's doing 'work'. He may be 15 but he's tiny - not even 5ft tall, and definitely hasn't hit puberty yet. It doesn't seem like he ever will but when it does happen I don't think it's going to be a quiet time for our family (it never is with Peter!). He can be a handful sometimes - most of the time in fact, lol - but sometimes he is so lovely to be around. I've been playing Uno with him the past few mornings, and it gets him in a great mood before school, I love that. My mum's been ringing like 4 times a day every day...she's so paranoid! I'm not neglecting my little sister Yasmine(14) by the way, but she's so adult she more or less looks after herself! You would never know peter was younger than her! Here's a pic of them both, but Peter's wearing a wig and actually looks like a really pretty girl I think! lol, he does do strange things sometimes.



I went to my friend's brother's gig last night (Not til late - it finished at 11:30pm) and it was really good. His band are called Les Valentine and I like their music lots :) Had a great time. I went with Matt and Andrea (it was Matt's brother's band) and Matt's family. I love going places with Andrea, and people usually think we're completely mental! We were dancing quite crazily...haha. There was another band there called Rubylux, and they were great and had a GORGEOUS bass player. They came off stage and I proceeded to tell him that I thought he was gorgeous, I didn't mince my words either, what a fool! I'm such a dork sometimes I really am. I mean, who goes up to someone they don't even know and tells him he's gorgeous?! Me, and probably my mum! Hehe. He wasn't even interested, ha! He just wanted to sell me his band's CD, and I bought 2! What an idiot! Their music is good though.

I've still not had my other phone back after losing it with my purse on a night out. I have another phone, but I miss the old one mostly for the camera! I can't stand not having a camera with me wherever I go. I had a sony Ericsson K800i and while not being the best cameraphone out at the moment, it was really good for me! It had 3.2mp camera too which isn't half bad. I'm saving up right now for a Canon Digital Rebel camera. I saw it on This Blog and she has some amazing photos, I recommend checking her blog out too it's a great read and I'm hooked!

Ohh, P.S It's a leap year day isn't it! I wanna do something crazy but I'm not sure what! I should propose to someone...but who?! haha

xoxoxx

Update

Well...I didn't walk to maidstone but I did go swimming! I did over 30 lengths which made me feel great even if my legs ached a bit.
I did go out on Saturday but not with Andrea or Hayley...I went with the guys from work because Hayley ended up going out in Gillingham. It was fun at first but I wish I didn't go because I got my phone and purse stolen!!! How annoying :(
So unfortunately that means no photos for a good while. Especially seeing as I can't find my old digital camera either! :( Gotta have a look for that cos we can't have a decent blog without photos can we??

At the moment I'm at home looking after my youngest brother and sister because my parents went to Spain today to look at some Villas they might want to buy. Lucky them! :P
It's been a good day today, they're all tucked up in bed now. I made them dinner, put a movie on and gave them stuff to eat, then played pool with Peter while Yasmine watched TV. Tomorrow I was gonna put a film on for them but we watched Evan Almighty tonight so they might be all filmed out! Hopefully the week will go OK :)
I'm not working tomorrow or Thursday, but I am on Friday night and Saturday Lunch time. Have been invited to Matt's brother Steve's gig in Brighton on Thursday night so my Sister Lintie is going to Babysit for me bless her.

Tomorrow should be a fun packed day of house tidying but for now I'm gonna go soak in the bath and then go to bed in my mum's VERY comfy double bed (Can't wait!). Night! xoxoxx

P.S You can read about my troubled weight loss efforts in my diet diary...not for the feint hearted!