The REOFFENDERS

Friday, March 05, 2010

Update on Sound Waves Saturday

8 bands are already signed up to support Soundwaves! They are:

The Reoffenders and Slightly Shirley - Coaver Club, Exeter (launch event on the Friday)
The Bobkatz - The Bowling Green, Exeter
The Barracoodas - The Junction, Plymouth
The Cadence - Berry Head Hotel, Brixham
Trigger Happy - The Longbrooke, Exeter
Dirty Money - The Beach, Exmouth
Thick as Thieves - The Weary Traveller, Cullompton

Come and see The Reoffenders and Slightly Shirley on Friday. The evening promises to be a lot of fun...2 live bands, bar, car parking, disabled facilities and no doubt some nosh, all for the small charge of a fiver... BARGAIN. And great fun music to boot! Come along, bring your friends, an all ages event. Email the box office on soundwavesmusic@hotmail.co.uk to reserve your tickets. £5 each.

Then on Saturday, get out again to support one of the Soundwaves Saturday bands, all of who are donating a proportion of their gig fee to the charity.

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New Venues

We're always on the lookout for new venues, something about not knowing what to expect from the venue or the audience gives that little buzz. And there's always the hope that its going to turn into a favourite haunt.

We've got four new venues coming up. First up is the Village Inn at Exwick. It's a regular in most bands gig lists but for whatever reason, we've never played there despite years of comparing diaries.

Then on Easter Saturday, we're at the Whipton & Pinhoe Labour Club. There is a charge for non-members but I'm assured that the cheap bar will make up for that! Its a side of town that we haven't played at before so hopefully we can make some new friends there. It's a big room so plenty of room for jumping about... Hadrian (chief jumper up and downer) has already said that he's going ;-)

A week later, we're at the Centre Spot at Exeter City FC. There are quite a few people who come to watch us are ECFC fans and I was stunned when I looked on the Exeweb forums by how many of our gigs have been mentioned on there in the last few years! We've had some gentle pestering from those people about playing the Centre Spot and we're delighted to announce our first gig there on Friday 9th April.

In May, we play Ilminster for the first time. I've heard a lot of good things about this place, mainly that it has a huge freezer full of icecream! WTF? And they have a stage with lights, lasers, smoke machine and bubbles. Bubbles you say? I'm there! It will end quite a hairy bank holiday weekend for us in May where we play Newton Abbot on the Thursday, Llandudno on Saturday, Wellington on Sunday and Ilminster on the Monday. I may take the Tuesday off work!

July takes us to Montecute, near Yeovil. It's a cosy venue with potential for a great atmosphere. Should be a goodun.

But I'm wishing the year away already so I'm not going to look beyond the summer just yet.... I could get used to seeing that yellow ball in the sky again, it's been so long!

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Thursday, February 25, 2010

Express and Echo Review of Haiti Gig

"THIS gig was to raise money for Haiti but the ticketholders also benefited from a chance to see three of the city's best live bands in one night.

The Reoffenders, hyperactive in red and black stage gear, raced through numbers by the Sex Pistols, The Vapors, Blink 182 and Green Day with two singers and loads of cheekiness and charisma. The male vocalist also deserves credit for managing to pogo in the tightest pair of red drainpipes in Exeter.

El Cojones was a change of pace with its funky rock and blues covers of BB King, The Stray Cats, Doobie Brothers and sizzling versions of ZZ Top's Rough Boy and Steve Wonder's Superstition. Singer-songwriter Stephen James, also known locally as Steve Watts, had a solo spot as a special guest at the gig, including performing his Haiti fundraising single New Friends.

Kiss This had everyone dancing with a feisty female singer backed by a strong band playing pop classics by Gary Numan, Blondie and Dexy's Midnight Runners.

The crowd was still partying to Queen's Don't Stop Me Now, well after the lights were switched back on."

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Saturday, February 20, 2010

Haiti Benefit Gig

We were asked by Big Norm of Kiss This and Mike from El Cojones if we'd like to join them in this charity event at The Corn Exchange in Exeter and what a great night it was!

Three very different bands giving the audience a good mix of crowd pleasers from the last 4 decades. There were people there that I always see dancing at our gigs, but I don't normally get the chance to join in. This was my chance :-)

There were some expenses that had to be paid for (tickets, PA hire, doorstaff) but after expenses, we raised £1,356.80 which went straight to Unicef to help the children of the Haiti Earthquake disaster

Well done everyone, bands and audience alike, for making this such a great night

REOFFFENDERS and Kiss This

Seasons in the Sun:

Videos courtesy of Clive Bellamy. Cheers :-)

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Thursday, February 11, 2010

It's going to be a Scooterin' 2010

Warwickshire Scooter Alliance Flyer

To top off our booking with The Warwickshire Scooter Alliance (27 March, Coventry) we've now also been booked to play the Llandudno National Scooter Rally on 1 May.

Both gigs will be highlights of great weekends. For the March weekend we'll be playing The Criterion in Leicester on Friday 26th before pointing the VW towards Coventry for the WSA Do. The Criterion is a Camra award-winning pub that specialises in Real Ales and Pizzas. In an uncanny coincidence, The REOFFENDERS also specialise in Real Ale and Pizzas. I suspect this one will be a late one!

Then we'll be off to Coventry, where we'll be in a really nicely-sized venue for the band. I've had a look at The Jolly Beggars Club on the web and I'm expecting it to be a great night.

For the Mayday weekend, we'll be trucking up to Llandudno for our first National Scooter Rally. The artwork's not out for this one yet, but you'll find it at www.vfmscoot.co.uk when it appears.

And if a National Scooter Rally isn't enough, we'll be wrapping up the weekend on Sunday with the first outside gig of the year at The Vintage in Wellington for much jumping up and down and climbing of lamp-posts.

...and I haven't even mentioned the two beer festivals we're doing this year. It's shaping up to be a great year :o))

Best wishes

Hoover

ps. watch this space for possibly a third Scooter Rally to be added to the list!

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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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