The REOFFENDERS

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Not Bad for a Girl

I'm sure most of you remember Katie who used to drum with us? Well, she's been a bit busy lately - writing a punk song no less! Also while she's sat twiddling her thumbs with nothing to do, she writes an article for a website called "People's Republic of South Devon".

So have a read! I believe the song is called 'The REOFFENDERS'. Awwww, bless :-)

People's Republic of South Devon

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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

"Soundwaves Saturday" on Saturday 20th March 2010

Soundwaves

Through Bully, our old bassist, I've been involved with Soundwaves, which is an Exeter group dedicated to helping people with learning difficulties to come together and make music.

Obviously with any charity project one of the main demands on us is to help raise some cash to ensure the group can keep going. So we've joined up with Lemonrock to promote "Soundwaves Saturday".

Rather than have a specific "fundraising gig", bands and venues can sign up to support Soundwaves on the 20th March. Bands will be asked to agree to donate a small percentage of their fee to Soundwaves, the venue will be asked to match that donation, and the audience themselves can also take part in the giving too!

We hope that bands and venues will be supportive, as this small charity is specifically about helping people with learning difficulties gain confidence and real pleasure through music - something I think we all understand.

Soundwaves will be contacting all the bands/venues with gigs listed on Saturday 20th March to give them full details on how they can take part.

What can you do?

If you're in a band or know bands/venues, then help to spread the word and get them involved. All they need to do is get hold of me through The REOFFENDERS website/myspace/facebook/lemonrock or through Soundwaves' own myspace/lemonrock pages. We'll get straight back to them with full details about what they can do to help.

To find out more about Soundwaves, and maybe even get involved with their work, go to their Lemonrock or myspace pages. Soundwaves are always keen to hear from people with and without music skills who are keen to support the project.

http://www.myspace.com/soundwavesmusicproject

http://www.lemonrock.com/soundwavesmusicproject

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Monday, December 14, 2009

The Christmas Tree Massacre

We were playing the Crawford in Exeter on Saturday night. They do like their punk there so we played a slightly edgier set than normal, and less cheese. Normally by the end of the night, the dancing has got a little inebriated and less co-ordinated. Sadly there was a victim in the midst of this on Saturday.

A poor defenseless Christmas tree stood in the corner of the room, to the side of the band but at floor level. The moshing knocked into it a couple of times before some more Grinch like dancers decided to get more aggressive with it. Ultimately it ended up in the mosh pit! Ah... and oops.

Despite our efforts to get it left alone, it kept being abused. Thankfully its the type that dismantles into three bits so, apart from a couple of baubles, everything was salvageable. The landlady took it in good spirits. Cheers Tina.

1 Comments:

But it was the funniest thing i had ever seen from any stage. Delonghi

By rob.mccullagh, at 3:02 AM, December 15, 2009

Monday, November 23, 2009

An Acoustic Evening with Katie Tefal

Paul, John and I went to Totnes last night to see Katie Tefal, our former drummer, performing.

As most of you will know, she's annoyingly talented and writes her own music, sings, plays guitar and bass as well as drums. Lately, she's been playing drums for Dan Crisp but as the support slot at his gigs, gets to play her own music. Ideal!

Last night was at the Barrel House in Totnes, a lovely intimate venue with soft candlelight. Katie played congas whilst Dan sang but did about an hour of her own music. She was joined on some songs by a beat boxer, a stroke of genius. She mixed quiet emotional songs with a Suzanne Vega cover and then 'Jump', a 90s Dance song by Kriss Kross which was genius! I hoping that'll pop up on YouTube soon.

Go to Katie's website and have a listen. A great evening, thanks Katie.

p.s. we're very very chuffed (and actually quite emotional) with the CD liner mention. Cheers kiddo :-)

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Sunday, November 22, 2009

In a White Room.... With Black Curtains...

It doesn't have black curtains (although it is near the station ) but the White Room in Dawlish is a gem of a venue!

The room is at the back of the South Devon Inn on Strand Hill in Dawlish. There's loads of space for the audience, either at tables or dancing. There's a bar at the back and a purpose built stage area for the band. It's all rather nice, I have to say!

It was our first time there and we had a really good gig. It was good to know that people are discovering it and we'll look forward to even more people there next time (probably Spring 2010)

Well done to Scott for transforming the room, and putting so much thought and attention into it. It's great to meet a landlord who is so into supporting live music.

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Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Expect the Unexpected

We played at the Crown in Bridport on Saturday. It's probably the smallest 'stage' area that we have at any of our gigs which isn't our preferred option if we're honest. We like lots of room to run around and normally adds to our enjoyment if we have space.

However, sometimes you forget that there are other things that can transform a gig, like an audience as captive (and downright bloody cheeky) as this lot. There was much heckling and joking with the band from the audience and it was really good fun. Thanks guys :-)

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Sunday, November 08, 2009

Back to Brixham

It's been a long time since we've played Brixham, probably about 3 years. Back then, the Bolton was run by Ian who I still reckon is the best pub landlord I've ever met.

A few months ago, Madge bumped into Ian in Brixham and what do you know, he's got a new pub. Last night was our first visit to The Trawler, but definitely not our last.

Ian asked us to start early and have a longer break to accommodate the boxing, so we started at 8.45pm and then took a break at 9.30pm. How long does boxing last? Anything from 2mins to an hour it seems! We went back on at 11.00pm and the long break somehow made me desperate to get back on so I was like a jack in the box, jumping about.

Lots of requests were shouted out but sadly we didn't have time for all of them. Next time guys, I promise! Good to see so many faces, old and new.

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Thursday, November 05, 2009

Halloween at Branscombe

Ourselves and Electric Landlady had been booked to play the Halloween Party at Branscombe Airfield, with a running order of a set by us, then Landlady, the us again to close. This gave us the advantage of wearing two different outfits! Yay! Dressing up time :-)

We played the first set in our normal Reoffenders band clothes and then nipped away and got spookied up. As a result, we missed most of Electric Landlady's set whilst we put on makeup that we weren't used to and the bassist was given hair (which he's definitely not used to!)

Most of the audience were also in fancy dress which gave a great atmosphere. My favourite outfits were the 7' grim reaper and Harold Shipman! I did have a moment where I looked to one side and Death was sitting calmly watching me. Spooked me right out, I've obviously been reading too much Terry Pratchett lately!

The whole evening was a triumph and I was hugely impressed by the way that the hangar had been dressed in cobwebs to make it look the part. Well done David! Your parties are a triumph!

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Friday, October 23, 2009

Jersey

Friday

We flew at 5pm on Friday which is a lot more civilised than our normal 7am flights. I'd decided to go to work in the morning which proved to be a bad idea - I was knackered before I started!

We got to Chambers for soundcheck at 6.30ish but the mixing desk had been borrowed for another gig so we went off for dinner first. We went to Romanos which we've enjoyed on previous visits to Jersey and then went back to Chambers for 9pm and then went to the hotel to dump our bags and kill a bit of time before the gig.

It's a funny mixture of people at Chambers. Some people love the cheesy silly stuff whilst others want the old school harder edged punk. We try to balance the setlist so that there's something for everyone. I rearranged the setlist to include a song that someone had asked for and rearranged probably the next half an hours worth of music to accommodate, much to the confusion of the rest of the band.

We got back to the hotel at about 2.30am and stayed up talking for a couple of hours before bed.

Saturday

I didn't make it to breakfast but John woke me up with a slice of toast that he'd brought up from the restaurant and a coffee. Good hunter gathering there hun!

We popped our heads through the adjoining door into the boys' room and OH MY GOD! The stench was overpowering. Two horrified faces reported that Indesit had been trumping like a goodun! He didn't help prove his innocence with his sniggering.

John and I got the bus to St Ouen for a wander while the boys watched football in Chambers. We had a couple of pints of real ale (a hard to find commodity) and mooched around the pearl factory where we had a good coffee and saw lots of jewellery that I'd never want to buy.

Back in St Helier, we discovered plaques in the harbour commemorating some crazy people who have swum round the island. We're talking 11 hours of swimming! Nuts!

The guys had been to MacDonalds so John and I went to Bella Italia for pizza. We had a great meal and the best service I've ever had from a waiter who was being impressively efficient yet making it look easy.

We went back to the hotel to chill before the gig. I went into the bathroom to be met by the most unimaginable smell that Satan himself would have been proud of. It seems we hadn't closed the adjoining door and minutes before we arrived back, Rob had nipped in and left a present for us! Bastard! He's still laughing about it now!

I was feeling so tired that I felt a bit unwell so I stuck to water for the rest of the evening. It was also insanely hot as the aircon hadn't been switched on so we were cooking nicely. John asked the audience if anyone had seen us before and two lovely ladies piped up that they'd seen us at Cobo Bay in Guernsey and had in fact flown over especially to see us. Awwwwww :-)

As soon as we got back to the hotel, I went straight to bed, totally pooped.

Sunday

We'd all decided to get out of St Hellier for the day so got a bus to Gorey on what proved to be a lovely sunny day. It's a pretty place with a big castle on the hill but at £10 entry each, we just looked from the outside.

It was Paul's turn to be knackered but there was a general air of weariness in the group. Beers were had and scenic pics taken but before long it was time to go home.

We got back to St Hellier, picked up our cases from Chambers and got a taxi to the airport. It was a quiet journey home but at least I stayed awake this time

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Friday, October 16, 2009

All Welcome at Branscombe Airfield for Halloween

We thought that it was a private party initially, but we were wrong. The Halloween show at Branscombe Airfield is open to allcomers and its completely FREE!

We'll be playing the show ably assisted by Electric Landlady, who do 70s Rock Covers. So it's a complete roundup of the 70s, with Electric Landlady starting us off and then us finishing the decade.

There's a big stage and PA and lights and lasers and smoke and maybe we'll get Indy to wear a basque and suspenders too.

Go on. You know you want to...

Hoover x

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Jersey in October - Yay!

I just phoned round the band to make sure they're all on target to get round to chez Morph'n'Hoov in time to scoot of to Exeter Airport. Then at 16:10 we'll be taking off for Jersey.

This is the first time Rob and Madge have had the pleasure of visiting the beautiful island. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are all forecast as "Sunny Intervals", with a daytime temp of about 13 degC, so we should have a good chance to check out the island, especially on Saturday.

Last time we were there at Easter, Heather and I hired bikes for the day. This time I think we'll be going for a car hire for the day and really have a good look around.

So, if you live in Jersey, or just happen to be visiting, we'll see you at Chambers in St Helier tonight (Friday) and Saturday. We'll be playing from 11:30 til 01:00.

Most excellent.

Hoover x

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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

We now have hoodies available for preorder.

Preordering lets us give you a much wider choice of colours and sizes, so go to the order page and pick a colour!

We'll order them by the end of November, with delivery likely within 14 days of that but definitely in time for Christmas.

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Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Planning? What Planning?

A setlist after Heather has changed things around!

Just to show what professional, mild mannered and accepting souls The REOFFENDERS are, have a look at the setlist I gave them at our recent Minehead gig!

You see, we do plan ahead and have a different setlist for each gig. But we do like to respond the venue and the audience as best we can. The York asked us to play one long set followed by an encore which needed 'a bit' of shuffling to get the flow right. One of my jobs in the band is to decide the set and adjust if necessary. Halfway through a gig, there isn't time to discuss it and the band are brilliant at going with whatever I say we're going to do (apart from that time at the Crown in Bridport when Hoover drank Palmers 200!).

It was a fun gig but I do have to apologise to the rest of the band somewhat for making them try to decipher my scribblings, with Hoover squinting through his dark glasses to read what the hell I had in store for them next.

Well done boys!

P.S. to anyone observant...we didn't really do Agadoo, it was just a joke that I had going with DeLonghi

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Sunday, September 20, 2009

Minehead Gig is ON!

We've just had confirmation... October 3rd at the York Inn in Minehead is definitely on! Hope to see you there!

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Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Minehead Gig - On or Off?

We were a booked to play at the York in Minehead on October 3rd, however this may now not be happening.

They have something else in the pipeline which will or won't happen so currently, our gig is cancelled as they don't want to mess us about. But we might get rebooked at short notice.

So, if you were thinking about going to this gig, check our website or phone the venue nearer the time. Sorry if that's all a bit vague.

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