29 April 2008

What a cracking gig in the Isle of Wight on Saturday. Our sincere thanks go out to all who made it possible, especially Dave Edwards and his team at the Ventnor Winter Gardens, Lofty and his crew from Codex PA, Mark Lear for doing the lighting, Mick Burrows for driving the band mini bus, Nicki & Terri at the Brunswick B&B, and last but definitely not least, the fantastic audience who came along on the night to see the show. What an atmosphere they created! A lot of effort went into putting the gig on but when you have a night like that it makes it all so worthwhile. Mind you, after a long journey down, loading in, soundchecking, doing the gig, getting to bed at 4.30am after a load of post-gig Beer and Scotch, getting up early for the Full English Breakfast, and then doing another 7 hour door-to-door journey home with all the lugging about of kit that had to be done.... I must confess to feeling a bit knackered since! One other thing to mention about this show is that the filming by IPTV has come out really well apparently. They rang me today to say the 'rushes' looked great and they are now going to proceed with editing etc. This will take about six weeks and at the end of it not only will they have a programme to broadcast, but we'll have a top notch 'DSOTW Live in Concert' DVD! Finally, as one gig finishes another one appears on the horizon, and we're back at one of our very favourite places next month - Stoney Stanton Social Club. The date of the gig is Saturday 17th May (FA Cup Final day to those that know that kind of thing!). Tickets are with the venue now and can be bought or reserved by calling Jim Bunting, the clubs Ents Sec on 01455 272492. We look forward to seeing you there, and to another great gig! Steve DSOTW

23 April 2008

Latest news on our show in the Isle Of Wight this coming Saturday is that an Internet TV station have approached me for permission to film Saturday's show for broadcast in the UK in about 6 months time. The filming will be done using high definition multi-cameras - something we've wanted to do for ages! The company is called IPTV and they run the 'UK Entertainment' channel. They have two centres of operation. One in Barcelona and somewhat bizarrely, another one on the Isle Of Wight! They also run a channel that broadcasts on terrestial TV in Spain called 'Mediterranean International TV' and our concert will be broadcast there first apparently. IPTV will provide us with a finished DVD of the show and hope to do some band member interviews on the Sunday morning (if we get up early enough!) which they can inter-cut with the concert footage. IPTV will launch their new set top boxes in about a months time and firmly believe the way forward in this home entertainment digital age is for a joint internet and television service via broadband onto your tv. They have already done a couple of recordings at the Winter Gardens, including the recent International Jazz Festival, and they came out superbly so fingers crossed we'll have a nice end product to use for ourselves too. All we have to do is a 'levels check' before the doors open - and of course, PLAY EXTREMELY WELL! If you're coming along we look forward to seeing you there! Cheers Steve - DSOTW

08 April 2008

Only a couple of weeks to go until our return to the Isle Of Wight. And we can't wait! We are performing at the Winter Gardens in Ventnor on Saturday 26th April (tickets/details can be had by calling 01983 857581). The doors open at 8.30pm and there's a bar until 1am! We hit the stage at 9.15pm. We're busily trying to arrange all the logistics for the journey down and as usual, we seem thwarted by mini-buses! Every time we book this particular one through a friend something happens to it! We found out last week that some teenagers decided that it would be a cool idea to repeat last year's trick and nick the mini-bus from it's Birmingham compound - and then torch it! No chance of the insurance being sorted in time so we've had to seek more costly options with our singer Mick ringing up everyone he knows in the West Midlands transport industry! With seven in the band, plus a few partners and crew we have to take a mini-bus, a van for the band's gear, plus the PA company's van. Thankfully the venue have a sponsorship deal with Red Funnel Ferries so at least that part of the journey's paid for! Anyway, all being well, and not too much out of pocket, we should be at the venue by around 2.30pm in the afternoon. Plenty of time to get the gear in, soundcheck and book into the B&B! If it's anywhere as near as much fun as last year we should be in for a great weekend. For more locally based people, after this show the next one is back at the Stoney Stanton Social Club on Saturday 17th May. A few people will know, but for those who don't, Jim Bunting, the ever busy and most hard working of promoters we're ever likely to work with, suffered a heart attack a few weeks ago. Anyone who goes to Stoney Stanton Club will know how much effort he puts in to make the venue a success - without him it simply wouldn't happen. I saw him last weekend when I went to take the tickets, posters etc over and though he obviously went through a very scary time, thankfully he's loads better - which is a real relief as he's a top, top bloke. He claims he's now having to "cut back on the bungy jumping and the leaping off wardrobes". I say, "support the club and stop him having another one!" See you soon! Steve DSOTW