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FOXIE'S BLEEDING BAND NEWS Latest Stuff YUP IT'S 2010...... ERRR..........SO HAPPY NEW YEAR...rather belated I know but I have been busy and mostly drunk. Here's looking forward to 2010! FIRST THO'... A RANT. 2009 is over but was it a great year? Well ‘err no, it was quite mixed. Some good, some bad, some indifferent gigs, but they all played their part in the year, one way or another, in getting us where we are now. Broke! The priority was about getting back up to speed because at the beginning of 2009 we found ourselves back as a 3 piece, just like in the 90’s. There was a funky new website (this one) and come the end of January we had a new guy on fiddle for gigs ‘madfiddler Mark’. Mark had to pick up the ball and run with it, and we soon kicked his notes off stage to help him run a bit faster we can tell you. He’s done well, fitted in a treat, real nice guy we can get on with and party with, we just need to convince him to stick around ha ha. So, all in all, the target for 2009 has been achieved. Job done! Along the way, we have even gained a mandolin player, Ewan, for those acoustic shows. Unfortunately, although he came to Europe with us, the UK hasn’t seen Ewan ‘cus we had to cancel 3 gigs (previously we had only cancelled 1 in 10 years) due to swine flu. We don’t like cancelling gigs, it hurts us. Still, all the venues were cool with us about it. And what of 2010? Well, we’d like to see Mark stick around and maybe even feature on a new album for us. I have a bagful of new songs, plus of course all the newish unrecorded stuff we have been playing since the last album in 2006: ‘Politics & Love’. However, as our old bus blew up on us early in 2009 and we had to purchase a new one (not exactly new but new to us), we is broke! We is in debt! Until that is paid off, it is difficult to set any timescales. Hopefully, we’ll get there towards the end of 2010 with some studio dates for a 2011 release; unless some rich long-lost uncle arrives and helps us out financially before then. Times are hard for everyone of course, and xmas is a troubled financial time for all. Except the Bankers of course, who have had nearly a trillion, yes I said a trillion pounds of our money, that’s Ł1,000,000,000,000. That’s an ‘effin big number (I had to google it ‘cus it’s so big) with a lot of noughts when all the rest of us have only redundancies, pay cuts and freezes, tax rises and public service cuts to look forward to! And then we’ll find ourselves in an election. There’s no doubt that Labour deserve a kicking for their performance in office, especially their pandering to a right wing agenda, PFI, Academy Schools, continuing student loans and fees, outsourcing, privatisation, lack of proper banking regulation, invasive policing, restricted personal freedoms, national insecurity and obsession with fighting pointless wars costing the lives of our soldiers at a huge human and financial cost. Still, we did get the minimum wage, European Social Chapter and a bagful of other much-needed public spending initiatives. But is that enough? On balance, I am not sure but those Blairites have to go but to replace them with a Tory Govt…you have to be joking! The bad stuff I mentioned will only be worse. For those of you old enough to remember 1979 to 1997 get a reality check. The Tories were shite and they haven’t changed…for Christ sake this year they already tried a plot to abolish the minimum wage! When in office they plan to scrap the only remaining piece of consensus workplace legislation they didn’t abolish in the 1980’s…the 1974 Health and Safety At Work Act. Not clever IMHO! You’ll be literally dying to go to work. If they haven’t slashed and burned anything or any jobs that are actually left or cut the crap out of the NHS, Education and other vital services. That and ‘cut red-tape’ which is a euphemism for looking after their rich mates interests - at your expense. They want less banking regulation, like that's really gonna help us innit?! Oh, but it will mean that Banks can carry on pretty much as they were paying those lovely bonuses. Cheers, mines a Bolly! It never ceases to amaze me that when we get in a pickle due to right wing policies, some folks think the answer is a harsher version of what’s already failed. That’s a bit like abusing your car, then when it breaks down, hitting it all over with a sledgehammer in the hope it starts to look great again and might start working. It don’t work, ok! It’s broke, it needs TLC and investment. The Tories ain’t changed, just the frontman, oh yea he’s a better singer than the last guy, but the tunes are still crap, outdated and have their signature key stuck in the 1800’s. Hey, ‘we’re all in this together’ Cameron says, so I hope he passes some of his vast inherited royally connected sir whatsitthingy personal fortune (Ł30 million) on to the Exchequer for the good of the nation in these hard times. Call me a commie if ya like but this bloke is vacuous, has no idea what life on a council estate on income support is like, he’s never needed a real job, or done one and he’s only ever done politics – that’s what Eton and Oxford buy you. You’ll find me in inspired form lyrically, it will intensify as we get to June and I break into a cold sweat at the thought of people who might actually still swallow this one nation Tory bullshit or worse, they go and vote for a nazi party like the BNP. I already have the song to fit the occasion. Hang Parliament is what I say! Whoops, hung Parliament, sorry. Anyway, I digress but I did say this was a rant and there it is. The Blog I hope you guys and gals out there appreciate these little insights into life on the road. It has been fun doing and we’ll try and stick with it for 2010. Gigs See where were at on our "HEARTS ATTACK" page for upcoming gigs. We're now working on stuff for 2010. This year, for the first time ever, we have 2 gigs in January! Nice! Other Stuff Finally, if you have any ideas to help us increase our exposure, please tell us. We are not talking nakedness in cold weather here but stuff to get people listening to us without resorting to extortion or demanding stuff with menace. Let us know if you come across any great venues we could play - here or in Europe providing they feed us, give us beer and some cash to pay off the band van debt! Cheers, Foxie (note these views are my own and in no way represent the official position of the band on anything, unless I say so)
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IN (Gel's) SHORTS (I only wear 'em at gigs you know!) Webmaster comment: Gel really needs to update this bit! He knows it, we know it! Please email him with suggestions gel@bleedinghearts.co.uk Free Joke Service Exceeded maximum bandwidth, inactive account or temporarily suspended. Me Gear Innit' It's an Ampeg! The Trace is dead, long live the Ampeg! intentional space for atmospheric setting.................. Peace, luv & trains; Gel (-; xx
CHEESY BIOGS Foxie Working class poet and proud, son of a car worker from Birmingham who grew up in a struggling family who's dad spent more time on the dole or striking for his principles. This obviously left a great impression upon him so that he has the the biggest gob in the band and is the ringleader of all things angst. A man of protest since his schooldays, rejecting Uni to go on picket lines in industrial disputes from Liverpool to London and thereafter be an active supporter in all things left-wing but pro-environmental. Scoffing at New Labour as a Tory Government in drag and passionate enemy of all things global and corporate. Formed the band after playing too many gigs as a solo performer in folk clubs but with the attitude of a punk which at the time scared the shit out of the tankard brigade. Recorded a brilliant solo album but did not release it because "the world is not really ready yet for such visionary work; maybe when I'm dead" Not really a folkie, more of a punk but with a love of the fucked up countryfolkrockcrossrhythms that gets 'em dancing, Yes, maybe a visionary of sorts, but always out of step with current political and musical thinking and he just happens to be a great songwriter who doesn't care what the music establishment thinks. Yep, definitely a one off and some might say thank Christ for that. Gel Gel is the band's practical joker. He loves talking about anything. He loves spiritual stuff and is about as close to a hippie as any punkfolker could be. This is not a contradiction in terms it is just the complexity that is Gel. On continental tours he has been known to take an extra steering wheel and sit on the (continental) drivers side of the van, gain a drivers attention at high speed and then pull of the wheel - just to see how well the other driver can slalom. (kids please don't do this it is dangerous and you might get arrested) Gel does not have much luck in his lovelife; he got dumped by a supermodel (it's true! every reader of those mags will have seen her pix) because he preferred to take his dog for a walk on the Malvern Hills instead of taking her out once. Of course, being a bloke, he now regrets this course of action but he's too proud to admit it. To help him get over this setback he has been known to don a dress on stage just to show off his supermodel figure to prove that he is just as good as her! This may be another reason why girls run away as their mom's don't like this sort of thing. Gel has an impressive musical C.V. having played with a couple of Brum based cult bands (Ark, Press Darlings) in his past but his real passion is that punkyfolky thing so he is proud to be here. Gaz It could be said of Gaz that he has spent some time seeking perfection. An amazing player of technical skill with a power that makes Sizewell B seem a mere triviality. This we know is not true but if Gaz were plugged into the National Grid whilst playing drums his energy levels could make all those Nuclear Reactors redundant. And good riddance too. Gaz is something of an artist - all that artwork in the band is his doing, quite a creative and he can do it with metal too being something of a not so jolly welder - just look at his kit baby. He first started playing guitar but this was so harmful to his fingers that he turned it over and just hit it; then demanded his parents get him a drum kit and he has not looked back since. Gaz brings experience and stability to the band, he has toured the U.S.A. and Europe as a session drummer before joining Bleeding Hearts and understands perfectly the rigours of life on the road where others would fail before him. More into Skyclad than Fairport Convention he manages to sing and play drums at the same time. A great feat indeed. He may come from Cheltenham?! Why?! He may have rejected gigs with The Albion Band and wished he was Filthy in Motorhead but he knows what he wants. A great singer in his own right but happy in the knowledge that he plays drums in the best punk-folk-rock band in the world. His is pure bliss.
