Oh Yes!!

Katiefitzgerald's, Stourbridge - 30th October 2010


Ooh I am getting out of practice in many ways. I nearly forgot the view from the stage shot, and in a departure from the usual behind the Hammond vibe (and because the stage was so small - more on that later no doubt) I ended up taking this gem from behind the drum kit - the stage entrance of choice.

Hello you!

How are you all doing? I don't want to come over all Sinead O'Connor but its been quite a few months since we all got together and had a bash and met you all again, and jolly nice it was too. Great to see faces new and old and on this frankly bizarre occasion .

So its was Katie's and it was the Saturday before Halloween - a good combination. Ron was and is still recuperating well and it was time to start the GHM machine up once more after the enforced break. The last time we played together was 3 months ago and we were concerned about rustiness, bum notes, muscle wastage and flatulence. (the latter is an on going concern)


I love the effort the staff put into the gig and they are always so happy and upbeat about their job and meeting us.

Arriving at the Greenwich Mean Time of all gig get ins, 19:00, we entered the tube that is the venue. Instantly we all commented that it was even smaller than we remembered (we had already brought the cut-down kit - no acoustic guitar, smaller bass drum, no piano and only the 2 bass cabs and 2 bass amps)

Getting on the stage is a difficult affair, I need to get the Leslie speaker in at the back before the Guitar amp can go in front of it, the Bass amp needs to be in to show Ron how much space we are working with so its a struggle of an operation. We got it all setup in the end and the only way I could get to the Hammond was either on my hands and knees (presenting as it were to the audience) or from the other side past the bass amps, mind the cables on the floor, tilt the hi hat, over the drum seat (admiring the padding), over the floor lights and into position (Leslie*).What a laugh.

I was pleased also that Canadian Dave brought his stunt keyboard along and managed to wedge it in front and to the side of me.



This machine makes all the difference in our stage show I feel and takes us another step closer to the unique end of the spectrum (probably. Well that's what someone told me on the night anyway!)

Having agreed the set,printed it and then lost it I had spent the previous evening hand writing set lists out that we promptly tore up after 4 songs when it was clear that Ron was going to be able to make it! After so long away I just wanted us to play the first note and then I knew it would be fine and god was it fine. I am continually astonished at what this band can achieve and that the sum of the parts is a million miles away from the whole - but enough of that. Silly.

The set went well it was un-fathomably tight (when the team have their backs against the wall I think we produce our best work), there were moment of brilliance (ahem) and there were straight forward cock-ups but on the whole it seemed to work really well. Its good to have the space to explore on stage and at one point (while Canadian was 'exploring') I had enough time to snap this photo of him (above).

Then, cue the snare drum explosion and an impromptu performance of Gloria (G.L.O.R.I.A), something always explodes at Katies, I don't know why - next time: My Liver!

The set was tight, the buttocks were clenched but we needn't have worried, we pulled off a professional and consummate performance with Ron only losing his stamina on the very last song and cutting it slightly short - very impressive work seeing as he was still in hospital in August!

You guys were great, a lot of you were in fancy dress and had really gone the extra mile, my favourites were Where's Wally and the Mummy but the rest of you were great too.

We are all fired up and we are back. Well ish, November will be spend getting the 3 new and originals firmly in the set after the break and also working on more new ideas that we have and then its onwards and upwards to Bromsgrove and Stourport in December and then The River Rooms in Stourbridge in January.

Come and see us on the road, say hello, ask for a free and exclusive Green Head Man dot com badge and join our Facebook revulsion (sic).

We can't do it without you, well we can but we won't, we'll wait for you, but not too long, don't take the mick now



















* Crap 90's Vic Reeves reference.

Where HAVE you been?

Well nowhere really...well out and about...the odd curry...you know

The holiday period is over and so is the enforced break. I am pleased to say that Ron's operation was a complete success and the boys are rehearsing again. Short rehearsals to start with just building up the stamina for our return gig at Katiefitzgerald's on the 30th October.

The break has allowed us to work on Green Head things that do not involve Live playing and I think this has been beneficial:

Ron and I have been frantically trying to get wider reaching Gigs - more on that later - whilst Timmy and Little Dave and Canadian Dave and Little Dave (still following me? good) have been writing and recording. My piano has been upgraded to firmware release 2 - yes you heard me, release 2 - Wow!!


The recording session we did was a little fraught as it turns out, we really didn't capture what we wanted to capture that day, added to that a few technical recording difficulties unfolded - more on that too later. Still, we persist and work on the recording. In tandem we are trying a recording technique used by many a rock star (!) whilst Ron recuperates. In essence we are in our own studios adding our own parts to a song that starts with a timing click. Little Dave performs his guitar and vocals and emails the tracks to me and Timmy, we add Piano and Bass and forward it on to Canadian who adds guitar, space guitar and backing vocals and then - strangely - we add drums at the end. Only way we could do it timing-wise but lets see how it goes. As far as the acoustic track that it currently is its a killer and the drums are going on this week. Very happy about that.

The object of 2011 is to play bigger and better gigs whilst retaining our feet in the pubs and clubs that continue to support us and live music along the way. We already have a gig on the 28th January 2011 at the River Rooms in Stourbridge (please come, go on please) which is a dedicated gig holding up to 350 people. We can also announce that we now have a gig at the Robin2 Club in Bilston (please come, go on you know you want to) on the 27thy April 2011, yup Easter break. Now, the latter is a 700 seater and we need all the supporters that we can get in order to show the admirable Mike (owner) that people really do want to hear psychedelic rock and soul these days.

So the gig getting is going well, we have 12 or so for 2011 already and with a decent recording of what we do (we have never really hawked our wares to get gigs but usually receive calls asking us to play - which is extremely nice of everyone) but now we are going out for the assault of the festival circuit in 2011. Wish us luck!

Canadian Dave and Friends performed the originally scheduled Green Head Man gig last week at the Black Cross in Bromsgrove and pulled off an excellent tribute to John Lennon's birthday - featuring the great Mike Bannister from Slowburner and Stepping out on guitar (everyone's left handed these days!). Ron got up for two numbers with Timmy and the GHM borg briefly connected for the first time out since July. We really can't wait until the 30th October. (You getting it now? 30th October. I'll slip it in later just in case).

Oh and I went to Cornwall this year for my holidays:



So to recap:

Drummer = Well
Rehearsals = On
Gigs = Oh yeah
Recordings = On Sale soon
Cornwall = Wet
Onwards and, at the very least, sideways = Oh go on then.

Thanks for reading,

Nick x

30th October!!