Dan's Blog

Festivals	Blog Date/Time: 01/09/2010 17:57:37

Dear all, Since my last blog, I've played two wonderful festivals. Prior to that, Will and I recorded a track with none other than the mighty Martin Simpson. For those who don't know him, he's a legendary guitarist who I've been listening to for about ten years! Recording with him was a great honour and it may just end up on the Walsh and Pound album... So then the festivals - first up was Solfest. I played this festival a couple of years ago as part of the Christi Andropolis band and it still ranks as one of my more memorable gigs. But this - this was even better!! I looked out from the stage to a sea of people going way back and the reaction was amazing. To play solo and have an audience that size with that kind of reaction was nothing short of an honour. It's a festival I have a big soft spot for and it was great to have my parents there as well, not often they get to see me play! By the way hats off to Johnny Vegas who was on the train! Nice guy. Next up was Towersey (not very near Solfest incidently...) which again was an absolute pleasure. The two gigs again both had big crowds and the reaction seemed to be very good. Somebody took a great shot of me with my welly on the monitor at the end of the set. They showed it to me on their camera - if they could email it to me that would be marvellous! These gigs were with the Pound on harmonica and as always it was a pleasure. By the way some people have been asking me when tickets for the Gatehouse gig with Will go on sale - they are now! They're available online or at the venue or over the phone. Now in the last few days, I have seen a couple of things that have really made me wonder. On the train the other day, this guy was reading a, shall we say, personal magazine. Now don't let me give you the impression this was nuts or loaded which don't get me wrong would still make me remark on this. No, this was a totally explicit magazine cover with many frankly not very nice looking women showing all possible areas of their anatomy. And in the library today where I went to print off some stuff, my attention was unexpectedly distracted by the computer on my right. The person sitting next to me had one internet window open with nude ladies and when he minimised this his other window involved him talking to 'Busty Emma' on some sort of chat thing. The reason I bring these two things up is - don't these people have any sort of self-consciousness?! I'm not trying to start a debate about whether pornography should be allowed or anything - I'll leave to that to others - I'm genuinely just staggered that neither of these people had even the slightest hint of self awareness in the presence of others. I mean I wouldn't exactly say I'm the most self conscious of people. I mean you all know what instrument I play right?! I'm generally quite happy doing what I do and not worrying and read my blog below about watching DVD's on trains. But I'm sure I would feel just a little bit aware if I was on a computer in a public library looking at nude photos and /or chatting explicit material to some woman with apparently inflated objects or on a train exposing a magazine cover with an x-rating. Just a thought.

There is only one Joxer Brady's...and thankfully only one Sky Sports	Blog Date/Time: 24/08/2010 00:38:07

Dear all, Apologies for a bit of a gap in bloggage. It's because...well I haven't done any. Sorry! Should have thought a bit more about that before I started typing really... Anyway since my last entry, good things have happened. I did some playing with the mighty Christi Andropolis, an American fiddler/singer. Not a gig or anything, just some jamming and it was very enjoyable. For those who haven't heard her - she has a huge woman's voice despite being only 5 foot! Amazing talent - we're planning to do more stuff in the future so will keep you posted. Then came a gig at one of my favourite, favourite venues - the wonderful Angel Inn, Wooler. Simma and I have performed here a good few times now and we love it more and more every time. Fantastic people, an audience that sums up everything that's great about pub gigs (see previous blog about this pub - I love it!). The next day we had a rather more forgettable gig. I won't say the name of the pub but it was so lifeless I think I could have walked on stage wearing only a towel and sung 'I'm Merlin the happy pig' and no-one would have noticed... You may regard the next bit of news as scary or happy but - I'VE PASSED MY DRIVING TEST!! I can't actually describe how hyper and ecstatic I was. I must pay tribute here to my instructor Alan Pearson. A total legend and an awfully patient man. VERY patient man. If you're reading Alan - you're a legend! I have already been asked whether this will mean an end to train rants on this blog so allow me to reassure - it won't. For one thing, I'll still use them sometimes and another thing, I'll never run out of things that have already happened to me while using them... A rather random but important thing - I must pay tribute to another very patient man: Dan McBride who is moving out of my house at the end of this month and by the time I return there he will have tootled off. He has tolerated innumerable cracks about his accent from Norn Iron (Northern Ireland) and has been an all round top guy, and indeed still is. I wonder if he'll have surroynd soynd in his hoyse noy... On Saturday, speaking of favourite venues, I played at the greatest of them all - Joxer Brady's, Stafford. For newcomers to my blogs, Joxers is my home from home, the pub where I learnt my trade and remains my favourite place to be. The regulars are an amazing group of people and many were present for Saturday which was, hands down, one of my all time favourite gigs. Special mention at this point must go to Paul and Val who are off to Spain soon - good luck to you all. And a special, special mention must go to the famous three Rick, Johnny and Dennis who make Staffordshire gigs such a joy. Sterling fellows! Well after all that sentiment, I feel I must rant to even things out. I've just watched Man City v Liverpool. No don't worry I'm not going to rant about Liverpool, there isn't room here (summed up briefly - they were @:{{%^&%^&^ing @{}@) I wish to rant about sky sports. Because you know, that's much better. Even if you're not a football fan, I urge you to tune in for the first five minutes or so of Sky's new 'Monday Night Football'. I thought news channels led the way in unneccessary big screens, wondering around and silly gadgets but clearly I was wrong. Instead of simply showing footage and commenting on it, Andy Gray now has to click and drag (with his finger!!) arrows, circles, shading, even whichever clip he wants to comment on onto the screen and we have to watch him to do it! Even he seems bemused by the whole thing, resorting to slapping one of the buttons when pressing it didn't seem to work. Then they wonder into a kind of fake penalty area to demonstrate all kinds of random rubbish. For example, (oh dear I've really started now) the subject of taking penalties came up. So he froze the screen behind the penalty taker and marked out with his magic arrows the areas of the goal to aim a penalty at, and then said that if you get it in that area then even the keeper goes the right way he won't get to it. This took about two minutes for him to explain. Allow me to put it quicker - 'put your penalties in the corner'. THAT'S IT! THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT AND IT'S COMMON KNOWLEDGE TO ANYONE WHETHER THEY LIKE FOOTBALL OR NOT! And finally a non-sky-sports-specific point - when I'm watching football, I want to watch football. So stop cutting away from the game to show me Hugh Grant and Fabio Cappello sitting in the stand. I missed twenty five seconds of the game to look at them. By the time they returned to the action, the ball was at the other end of the field and I'd no idea how it had got there! Hmm maybe I overdid the ranting bit - I'd better redress the balance. La la la happy thoughts la la la... Or maybe I should just stop typing. Yes that's not a bad idea.

Session etiquette	Blog Date/Time: 12/08/2010 14:19:32

Dear all, Many thanks to all concerned for some very enjoyable gigs just lately. Real crackers since my last blog. First up, a welcome return to the Spittal Brook in Stafford which was absolutely delightful as last time. Particular thanks goes to Joel and Jen who travelled from Wales to see it! This was preceded incidently, by a trip to Anfield to watch Liverpool which was absolutely wonderful and happily devoid of the morons referred to in my previous blog... Anyway next up was a trip to Broadstairs Folk Week where I performed with Will in three gigs and also ran a workshop each. Broadstairs, as always, was a delight - a brilliantly run festival in a nice seaside town and lots of great people. Next up was a gig in London at St Thomas Hospital as part of Live Music Now. Will and I had a cracking time - we were both fairly exhausted from festivaling but livened up as we started playing and really enjoyed the gig and the crowd seemed to as well. Now, one of the great great things about the folk world is the way that sessions just break out and go! It's wonderful. Sharing tunes and songs, and because of the nature of acoustic instruments they are..well..acoustic and so there's limited faff involved. A session just happens and it is wonderful. Unfortunately, like all great things it seems, they do seem to have the ability to attract annoying people. A pub I'm very fond of in Newcastle called the Trent House has the slogan 'be nice to people, don't be a tt' and I must say I've always thought it rather sound. Simple perhaps but rather sums up a lot of my rants. And it's just so with sessions. Let's be clear about this - in a pub people talk. Simple as that. So don't get in a strop that people are talking. Because they do. It's what happens in a pub. Deal with it. Also, the very nature of a session is that everyone can join in and it shouldn't be dominated by one person and everyone should have the chance to lead something. So don't try and turn it into a gig for yourself. Because it isn't one. Deal with it. If someone doesn't know the tune that well and wishes to join in with some improvising then that's ok too. Because it's a session. And not everyone will know the exact notes of the tune. Deal with it. Needless to say, there are those who are extreme. For instance some people who play very loud instruments or play in a very intrusive manner. Don't do that either. Because it's not great for other people who want to enjoy the session. Deal with it. And the same with the talking. If someone's doing an unaccompanied song or something and you're talking so loudly that it's getting on people's thrupenny bits then it's probably best you don't. Deal with it. So just to recap - be nice to people. Don't be a tt. Deal with it.

Old and new and football ruiners	Blog Date/Time: 05/08/2010 13:19:14

Good day all, A busy old time since my last blog so time to report back: The Railway, Norton Bridge - well what can I say about this place. One of my very favourite old favourite gigs. The Joxers contingent were out in force again which was of course fantastic but a very full pub all round and a wonderful gig. God bless the Railway! The Bell, Bath - a new gig this one although I've played in Bath several times before at the Bath Banjo Festival. Enjoyed this one too with an attentive, music loving audience and some typically silly antics from myself and the Pound. Sidmouth Folk Festival - another new one for me, though not for Will. My first night there I got spectacularly poisoned by a pizza which was lovely. It wasn't. Then followed running a song and tune session the next night which was good and then two cracking gigs the next day, one of which was with the legendary Jeff Warner, a fellow banjoist. The evening gig was the highlight for me, with a great crowd and one of those performances when things just seem to go well. The whiskey afterwards was also exceedingly pleasant. Urban Fox, Birmingham - a new folk club in the city centre and my first appearance at it (by the way you've probably cottoned on to the old and new bit of the title now I'd imagine) was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed watching the Toy Hearts as well who gave a stirling set. So that just about brings things up to date I think. Next up is another old favourite the Spittal Brook in Stafford and then Broadstairs Folk Week for the third year running, though for the first time with Mr Pound. Now for the remaining bit of my title, this is a topic that I've been thinking of writing about for a long time and I feel the moment has arrived. I am a big football fan - apologies to anyone who disapproves the folk and music worlds seem to be full of anti-football people. I am an avid Liverpool fan courtesy of my Scouse father. I love the sport and following Liverpool is a big thing for me. BUT and it is a big but (hence why I went for capitals...) why is it that football has to be ruined by so many %@~H@D~'s?! For some reason that random selection of keys has turned into a hyperlink. Your guess is as good as mine as to what it links to but I have no idea and take no responsibility if your computer breaks out in a virus. Anyway where was I, yes why?! Why when you're out in town on football day (especially England) is it full of uncouth people. Yes dash it uncouth! People who don't understand that not everyone around them wants to see/hear them vomit/sing (in its broadest possible sense)/clap/fight/be lewd/fight some more/be lewd some more/ok you get the idea. They're just so oblivious to how uncouth, unfunny and intrusive they are and why do they like football damn it?! It's a good sport! And that's all I have to say about that. I'm going to Anfield tonight...

Warwick and excessively rude people	Blog Date/Time: 28/07/2010 15:41:39

Dear all, Since my last blog from Penrith, I've played at Warwick Folk Festival with the Pound on harmonica. It was jolly good! First night we supported the superb Grass Mountain Hobos who played some mean bluegrass, boasting one of the finest fiddle players I've seen. We also did two gigs on the Saturday which were both excellent and ran a pub session on the Friday which was really fantastic and a reminder of just how much I love sessions! One chap there had electric pipes. That's not a metaphor for a great voice, which he may well have had, but I mean actual electric pipes! He plugged in a chanter, set the drone and then played it was rather cool! I'm now back in Newcastle for a bit which has been lovely and there was a cracking set at Bob Trollop's with good old Simma on Monday. Coming up in quick succession are the Railway at Norton Bridge, the Bell in Bath then Sidmouth and Broadstairs folk festivals with a gig at the Urban Fox folk club in Birmingham sandwiched in between! Now, I touched in a previous blog on egyts from Crosscountry trains and the post office and if you'll indulge me, I'd like to continue on that theme in this blog. Excessively rude people are just so..well..excessively rude. If there's one thing that encroaches proverbially on my metaphoricals, it's people who clearly hate their jobs and decide that the way to cure this is to go on a power trip and be awkward and difficult. Well do you know what? You'll still be miserable and hate your job it's just you'll make everyone else's day rubbish as well so you may as well make the most of it! Examples - the other day I got into Leamington Spa station and rather than put my ticket in the ticket barrier (which by the way are so utterly pointless - I'd love to meet the twit who thought they were a good idea) which would have eaten it, I wanted to show my ticket to the ticket person and keep it as a receipt. I assumed this was fairly straightforward. But no I have to encounter some power tripper who tries to take it off me. I explained that I wanted to keep it and his response was 'no, we can't let anyone keep these now'. 'Why is that?' 'It's the rule we can't let you keep this'. 'With all due respect (which wasn't very much but I didn't say so), it has today's date on, has been stamped twice and you've just ripped it in half. What exactly do you think I'm going to do with it now?!'. 'I can't let you keep this'. 'Oh I see you're one of those repeaters!'. I mean to say what?! How exactly does being such an awkward @~^*&� help him? It doesn't it's just being awkward. Sticking with the train related arena, I also recall a bus replacement driver who forbade me from taking my banjo onto the bus and insisted I put it in the hold. I said that I really couldn't do this as I didn't want to risk it being damaged. Whereupon this dialogue took place: 'I'm afraid I can't let you take it on sir' (While on this subject - calling me 'sir' does not alter the fact you're being a total @??&@&?@!€) 'Well I'll put it on my lap it won't take up any seats or gangways' 'I'm sorry sir it's health and safety' 'How exactly?' 'Health and safety' (another repeater you notice) 'I can't see how it won't be safe' 'I'm sorry sir you shouldn't be taking too much luggage when you travel' 'Well I didn't know I was going to be on a ruddy bus replacement did I?!' 'All the same sir' 'Oh we must have our little power trips musn't we SIR?' 'I can't let you travel sir' 'No of course you can't' For goodness sake!

Rain, time travel and bus replacement	Blog Date/Time: 20/07/2010 11:40:09

Dear all, Two remarkable festivals have passed since my last entry. I write from Penrith, where I'm spending a few days with my parents and getting some sleep! I'm also practicing some driving later for my test is imminent. Oh I forgot to mention the previous one didn't I? I didn't pass. That's why I'm taking another one... Anyway...Larmer Tree. That was fantastic! Will and I thoroughly enjoyed our two sets although the weather was fairly dire. So dire in fact that even the legend that is Robert Cray was rendered virtually unwatchable as I was becoming basically pure water. Instead I watched Rich Hall who was extremely funny and impressively improvisory. We also ended up with a mention on 5Live's Simon Mayo show as Mark Kemode was watching us at the time and someone texted in who noticed him! The other event - well remarkable isn't the word. When told we were playing a festival of heritage, I'd assumed there would be plenty of stuff that wasn't music but I rather assumed it would take the form of a few displays. Little did I know that it actually took the form of being able to time travel to any period in history I fancied and watch it in action! I watched the Boer War, the World Wars, Romans, Vikings. Extraordinary. Even more extraordinary was spending the evening dancing with all these actors dressed in costume to a..er..live soul band. I must say the soul band were extremely good and Will and I even joined them for Mustang Sally which was a lot of fun. As a result of all this, I've forgotten to actually mention the gig - it was great! So the remaining bit of my headline - bus replacements. You can guess where this is going. Some sort of problem with the line meant that it was closed just south of Penrith yesterday so my train terminated at Preston and I had to join a queue that stretched out of Preston itself to get on a coach. To be fair, I thought the crisis was extremely well handled and given the sheer numbers waiting to travel I thought the response was very swift indeed. I suppose at this point there's likely to be three crowds: 1) the group used to my train rants who gave up reading this when they got to the bus replacements paragraph for fear of another rant 2) the group who feel the same as 1) but are prepared to read to the end with a kind of resigned feeling 3) people who've never read this blog for and are expecting a train rant that they agree with but haven't read so many times that they're past caring. Well my news for all these groups is this isn't actually a train rant, although this will be said too late for group 1 of course. Group 2 I can hear sighing with relief. Group 3 are probably looking in the yellow pages for the number of various institutions. My actual point, which I have been so staggeringly late in getting to, is what I don't understand - what is the fascination for the theft and/or vandalism of rail equipment? Every time trains go up the creek, it's stolen signal equipment, damage to lines, overhead wires. Sorry - what exactly does one do with rail signalling equipment other than...use it for rail signalling?! I mean what is the point? And the other thing I'm curious about is, how exactly do you damage overhead wires safely and without being spotted?! Of course these aren't the only reasons trains sometimes don't work. I mean the other month...no that's for another blog.

Rewarding Work	Blog Date/Time: 14/07/2010 15:36:12

Hi all, I have always considered myself extremely lucky to have such a fantastic job and to be able to perform for my living. But on occasion there can be rewards from other types of job that I can't quantify. Two of these have arisen since my last entry. Straight after my last blog, I had a first trip to London in a few months and it proved highly enjoyable. The first of two gigs down there was in a hospital. Sound a bit odd? Well that's how it seemed to me too. It was part of the Live Music Now scheme whose aim is to bring live music to places that wouldn't otherwise get it such as hospitals, old people's homes etc. It was with Mr Pound on the harmonica and we had a great time and more importantly, it seemed like the patients did as well! The next night we performed at Cecil Sharp House in Camden as part of the 'Folk Rising' evening along with Tyde, Ruth Theodore and 4Square. We had a great time at the gig and it seemed to go down well so all in all a very enjoyable London trip. Owing to the cancellation of my gig at the Roebuck in Hilderstone, I then had a rare Friday and Saturday off but then played last Sunday at Stafford's Live at the Castle festival which I enjoyed immensely. Photos of this gig are shortly to be added to the photos page. I spent the last two days working at a special school in Staffordshire which was a fantastically rewarding experience. The children seemed to love participating in music and I had a wonderful time. Just a brief little story this time...you know when you find something terribly funny and start laughing but it's in a situation when you really shouldn't? It can be a dashed painful experience but I had this very experience on the train recently. The lady opposite to me tried to put eyedrops in...on the train. I don't know why but it was the funniest thing in the world watching her try and put them in especially when she missed by a country mile and ended up getting the table rather wet. I know I'm easily amused. Maybe you had to be there...

World War III...on youtube apparently	Blog Date/Time: 06/07/2010 14:14:57

Dear all, Thanks to all who came to the various gigs since my last blog, all were excellent. First up was a first gig with Simma in a long time at the Brandling Villa in Gosforth, Newcastle. We did an all original set followed by covers in the second half. Both halves were great and the audience were that right mix of entertaining and enthusiastic without being 'entertaining and enthusiastic' translating as irritating and attention-seeking. Not that that happens very often but it has been known in pubs... Next up was two gigs at National Forest Folk Festival which again were really enjoyable. Resident cameraman Simmo (not to be confused with Simma mentioned above) apparently filmed it all so it may pop up on youtube in the near future! It was great to have a big stage to run about on and CD sales were fantastic which is always welcome... Lastly, I played back in Stafford at Stafford Castle following the 'Fakespeare' act of comedian Russell Kane. I heard this was astonishingly brilliant although I unfortunately had to miss it to set everything up. I gather this even crept into his act as the sound of the soundcheck filtered through to where he was! This was a lovely gig, intimate and entertaining. Next up I'm off to London to do a gig in a hospital as part of the Live Music Now scheme which involves bringing music to those who may not otherwise get it. It's a great scheme to be a part of and I look forward to the gig. Then myself and Will are also at Cecil Sharp House on Thursday night. Now I have been forced to blog previously on my loathing of that cursed invention Facebook (see below). However, one invention that I think is utterly amazing is youtube. I have wasted so many hours when I should be asleep watching comedy, music and football on youtube. It's marvellous! I'm also aware that most or all of you probably use it too (because why wouldn't you?) but have you ever scrolled down to the comments? It can be the most hilarious yet disturbing, intriguing yet downright worrying thing you can do. I recently watched a clip from Harry Enfield's show - one of those sketches in black and white advising women to 'know their limits', i.e. poking fun at the sexist attitude of the past. At least that's what I thought...I scrolled down to find a massive fight (well you know what I mean - a text fight) going on between various people on the subject of feminism, sexism and, I kid you not, women in politics. Remember the name of the video I mentioned - a COMEDY sketch. Even more hilarious/worrying/insert-word-here was when I watched a clip of the Armstrong and Miller show, my favourite sketch show. It was a comic relief sketch they did with Mitchell and Webb. I scrolled down to the comments to find this - 'this is like my worst nightmare, the four least funny comedians I've ever seen sat round a table being themselves'. Now, maybe I've got a faulty internet explorer or an old version of youtube or something, but I was rather under the impression that to view a youtube video you'd have to, you know, CLICK ON IT. What's more, you normally have to consciously search your subject matter in the search box before clicking on it. So I cannot help but wonder - if you don't like Armstrong and Miller or Mitchell and Webb and your worst nightmare is them sitting round a table....WHY CLICK ON A VIDEO ENTITLED 'MITCHELL AND WEBB, ARMSTRONG AND MILLER COMIC RELIEF SKETCH' AND WITH A PREVIEW PICTURE THAT DEPICTS THEM...SITTING ROUND A TABLE! I didn't actually deliberately select caps lock then but it seemed to drive my point home a little. It's even worse when it comes to football. The number of anti-Steven Gerrard comments to be found on videos of goals scored by...Steven Gerrard is quite incredible. Again, if you hate him or Liverpool so much why do you want to watch footage of him scoring for them?! There was even a clip of Alan Hansen's phone going off on Match of the Day that sparked an anti-Mark Lawrenson debate on youtube comments... But I think the all time classic has to be when I watched a clip of Michael McIntyre doing a skit about Geordies. Do you know what the debate sparked into - how good the English or Scottish are or have been at fighting wars! I mean seriously who are these people?!

Gigs and things	Blog Date/Time: 27/06/2010 20:59:52

Dear all, Apologies for a delay in bloggage. I've had gigs galore since my last entry and it's been very enjoyable indeed. First things first, let's report on those: 15th - Midland Arts Centre with Will Pound This was brilliant! It was great to play a longer set with Will and we tried a few new things which is always good to do. We had a great crowd there who seemed to enjoy themselves and it was nice to do an outdoor gig as well. Thanks especially to the various people who I talked to from stage who seemed visibly shocked that I had, and also to Hayley from the venue who looked after us very well particularly when re-ordering my burger for me because I was too polite to say it was a bit tough... 19th - Seahouses Festival with Will Pound Windy conditions meant that our proposed outdoor stage gig was in fact indoors in the end, but it didn't seem to matter. A big crowd were there and in some ways it made for a more focussed gig if I can put it that way. Thoroughly enjoyable set and again thanks to all organisers for being great. 20th - Big Session with Will Pound This really was a highlight for me. It was great to play to hundreds on a big stage to a standing crowd and there was also a drum riser present which I may have felt the need to jump off once or twice...we had a cracking time up there and the audience were fabulous again. 21st - Bridge Folk Club Much though I love the big ones, as I've said I also really enjoy smaller, more intimate gigs and this was no exception. Great to play some more traditional stuff and good to be back at a familiar place. This club hosts a folk degree student night a couple of times a term and I played those a good few times. 25th - Elmfield School with Will Pound, Spinndrift, Matt Price and Dogan Mehmet Speaking of familiar places, this school in Stourbridge hosts what has become an annual folk music week where the children get lessons and workshops all week before the big concert. I was only able to teach for a day and a bit but was glad not to miss this, which is always one of my favourite gigs. It always seems like the whole of Stourbridge comes out for the gig and they always give us such a great reception. And a rare opportunity to jam with Spinndrift and Dogan which was a pleasure as expected. Special thanks also to Caroline Price for her legendary organising and to the Rice family for giving us a place to stay. 26th - Joxers Well it doesn't get any more familiar than this. Home itself was its usual joy although slightly less full than normal but this was no bad thing. An appreciative crowd with some familiar faces - marvellous. So that's how it's all been going. Many exciting gigs await so please check out the gigs page if you fancy coming out to see me in my various combinations. So then the World Cup - England are out. I can't say I'm surprised. I'm an avid football fan as I believe I've mentioned before, but the hype surrounding England is utterly ludicrous. 44 years of tournament failures, countless managers who've apparently done such a bad job, disallowed goals and bad decisions by refs oh the injustice...and clearly the Lampard goal decision was absurd and clearly Cappello had an absolute nightmare with odd decisions. But let's face facts, the reason England don't win stuff is because...they're rubbish. And by convincing ourselves every time that they've got one of the best squads we don't do them any favours because then they're really surprised when they come up against someone decent and go out. Technically, English players are weak in basic skills and cannot keep possession. Yes Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney and co do wonders for their clubs but - 1) half the Premiership is not actually very strong, the top 6 are superb but below that not so much and 2) they are given a free role around very technical and disciplined foreign talents. That's why England don't win stuff - because they're rubbish. That said, the technology in football thing - for me there's no debate. In five seconds the fourth official who currently does **** all could watch a telly, tell the ref the right decision and be done with it. Why not do that? I am currently watching Argentina v Mexico and the first goal was a quite ridiculous offside. The linesman and ref saw a replay on the big screen and even acknowledged that decision was wrong but they had to stick to it. Someone tells me how that makes sense?! One final random thing - have any of you ever tried to get a lift at Birmingham New Street?! It's like a mission into no man's land. My friend and I pressed for the lift at whatever platform it was and it was too full to get in so we waited. When it came back down the poor sods were still in there! Do you know why? I'll explain...the lift goes to this subway that looks like you've ended up in the basement 6,000 feet below sea level of a hideout for wanted terrorists. Quite naturally, the people in the lift didn't know this was where to get out. Anyway we then went with them, me being unfortunately a rather seasoned Birmingham New Street sufferer, sorry traveller. Basically if you want to actually get out of the station, you have to get the lift to platform 6 or 9 and these lifts also go to 'concourse' rather than 'platform' or 'subway'. When you get to concourse you can actually get the hell out of there. So for future reference - avoid getting the lift at Birmingham New Street unless you have two banjos, a guitar and a suitcase.

Home Sweet Home	Blog Date/Time: 14/06/2010 00:13:21

Dear all, Two very good gigs have passed since my last entry, in Woodseaves and Marchington. The former was a high energy affair with lots of crazy banjo as well as a few covers while the latter was a great chance to air much new material which I enjoyed very much indeed and it was nice to have a folk club-type gig inside a pub instead of above it! Return gigs have been mooted so watch the gigs page for details! Other exciting news - next year will see the first ever Dan Walsh band gig, something I've been looking forward to doing for a long time. More details will be posted nearer the time, but this will be the chance to see the album sound live. I'll keep you posted... Since the two gigs were fairly local to Stafford, it's been a good chance for me to be back in my hometown, see old friends and spend many a happy hour in the good old pub Joxers (see bio and previous blogs for details!). It's been really great to be back and I've also had a very productive couple of weeks compositionally (it's a word right?) with some new songs emerging which should get an airing this summer. I feel very fortunate to have what I have in Stafford. I know so many people of my age (22) who have virtually no reason ever to go back to their hometown other than to see their parents. My parents don't even live here anymore! Yet I like nothing more than to be in Stafford, feel at home and see so many familiar people who I still have such a great time with. Wow that was rather sentimental wasn't it...sorry silly story time (try saying that when you've had a few). I'd like to talk to you all about vuvuzelas. For those of you who haven't come across the name or indeed the objects themselves, these are the singularly irritating horn things that have blighted the World Cup thus far (along with the ludicrous hype that always goes with England of course...) with a noise akin to 60million bees inside a pot just big enough to fit them all in. What a racket - and this in a continent as undeniably musical as Africa. What do they see in these blasted things? I accept not all of you may be football fans, I am rather a fanatical one, but part of the magic of watching football is to hear the reactions of the crowd. Well there's none of that at this World Cup because all you can hear are these infernal bees, sorry horns. Please please ban them. And just to finish off, you know I love watching England in major tournaments. I really do find it exciting and it's nice how it brings people together. But honestly - they're not going to win it. And do you know why? Injuries? Mistakes? Bad luck? Red Cards? No it's because...they're not actually that good. Look at Spain, Argentina, Brazil or Germany and honestly ask yourself how many of England players would be in their first team - that would be Cole, Gerrard and Rooney then. I know what someone might say - Greece won Euro 2004 when they weren't that good. It's a fair point - but Greece didn't expect to...maybe that's the answer... I leave you with that thought.

Fishguard is far but worth it!	Blog Date/Time: 03/06/2010 17:34:15

Good day all, Two festivals have proved immensely enjoyable for me since last I blogged. First off was Ireby, Cumbria with Will on his gob iron. Two gigs at that one, both of which went well although both of us particularly enjoyed the longer set on the Saturday in the Globe Hall. The audience at that one were excellent and gave us a great reception while the Friday one was larger and a shorter set but nevertheless although excellent! Next up for me was a solo gig at Fishguard Folk Festival. May I offer a word of advice to anyone - do not take a job in Cumbria one day and Fishguard the next - Fishguard is far! But it was worth it. I had a lovely gig there and enjoyed great hospitality with multiple ales and a hearty fry-up in the morning. What could be better?! Since then I've been in Northampton continuing work on mine and Will's album. Well, not really continuing work in mine or Will's case - we had two fabulous guests recording their parts so we just sat and agreed with the producer that what they were doing was great. Details will follow... I'm now back in my hometown of Stafford, feeling rather ill unfortunately but I'm sure I'll be right as rain for the gigs in nearby Woodseaves and Marchington coming up this week. Now I do wish to share with you a quite ludicrous story - I recently bought a pair of trainers at Sportsdirect.com. Now firstly, could I make clear what a dashed silly name this seems to me. That's a web-site address surely! Anyway...I always viewed buying a pair of trainers as a reasonably elementary task. You go in, have a browse, see a pair of trainers and think one or some of the following - "ooh they look nice" or "they suit my needs" or "they're cheap" or "they are sufficiently expensive so surely my football hero must wear those (this never in my case I might add)". You then choose your pair, ask for the appropriate size, try them on and see if they're right, if they're not you try on a different size, pay for them and leave the shop happy. Apparently at this infernal establishment they regard the above as much too simple. I completed the first part of the usual procedure and asked if I could try my chosen pair in a particular size. I was then astonished to note the member of staff take out some sort of radio controlled equipment and emit the words 'John, 49602376589 size 10 please'. The person at the other end of the contraption replied with a curt 'what?' to which person A repeated his initial announcement. After several exchanges of this sort which were tedious in the extreme, John finally cottoned on to what was required. I was then directed to the opposite end of the store. I not unnaturally asked why but was not given a response merely shoved further in this direction whereupon I arrived into an area of uncomfortable seats and several more teed off people. After 11 and a half years sorry minutes, a gentleman came out of the staff area with an impossibly high pile of shoe boxes. Amongst this somewhere were my chosen trainers and of course the dashed things didn't fit. So I asked for a new size. A foolish thing to do - once more the tedious exchange of whats and numbers took place and after what seemed like an eternity the right size appeared. I tried these on and these fitted. Woo hoo I thought surely that's the end of the process...no no... After I took off the trainers to return them to the box, a member of staff said 'are they alright sir', I replied 'yes' and he then took them from me. 'No - they're fine I want to buy those'. His reply to this was 'yes I'm going to send them to the cash desk for you'. Sorry just a second...I managed to dress myself, choose my trainers, try them on and am about to pay for them but I need you to send them to the cash desk? Why exactly? 'Just make your way to the cash desk please sir?'. I mean to say what?! When I got to said desk the woman behind rooted around among twenty odd pairs of trainers to find mine, getting it wrong twice, before I was finally able to pay for the things and leave. Now am I just grumpy or does that not seem a somewhat circumlocutious process?

Amusing road name and living in Gateshead	Blog Date/Time: 25/05/2010 14:07:39

Hello all, It's been a fun week since my last blog, including two gigs with the awesome Christi Andropolis. The launch of record label Furrow Records at the Sage Gateshead last Monday and then her own album launch the following Friday were both successes and needless to say, her voice was suitably superb. It was a welcome return to playing with her and it was also particularly great to have harmonica maestro Dave Hart on board. Hats off to the Christi band the gigs were much enjoyed! Meanwhile, on Saturday I played at a wedding down in Lincolnshire with the Monster Ceilidh Band (if you haven't heard them yet, do it soon they're fantastic!). My role was to supply the well known covers after they'd done their ceilidh bit. Therefore, I had a lovely time listening to them while leaning on a guitar case, eating a sausage sandwich, drinking a glass of whiskey and reading my book (because that's really cool...). I then actually did some work. I say work...it was very good fun playing the covers and seeing lots of people go crazy dancing and singing along. Particular apologies are due to the gentleman who I criticised for missing his cue to whistle in 'The Joker'! He seemed to take it in the right spirit... On the drive back meanwhile, Jon and I discovered surely the funniest road name left in Britain - Fanny Hands Lane. I'm sorry I don't know why but we both lost all control for about twenty minutes! I then proceeded to text half my phonebook with this information which was met with a mixed response but by and large they seemed to see the funny side - how could you not?! Anyway...I live in Gateshead. I must say there's a lot to be said for living in Gateshead. It's cheaper than living in Newcastle and very close to Newcastle anyway so not being in Newcastle is not a problem. My house is very nice in a very safe and well kept estate, I have conveniences near, I can be in town in 20 minutes and I live practically at a metro station. So the thought occured to me, why on earth is it so cheap to live here? Then I went to Gateshead Town Centre. Ah...this may be why it's quite so cheap. The first seeds of suspicion about living in Gateshead were sewn by the opening hours sign outside Netto. This may seem odd...but this is what it said: Mon-Wed 8-8 Thu-Fri 8-8 Sat 8-8 Sun 10-4 Sorry sorry just one second...Mon-Wed 8-8, Thu-Fri 8-8, Sat 8-8? Does that not roughly equate to...Mon-Sat 8-8? Is it really essential to pinpoint all the different periods of the week?! But nothing could have prepared me for Gateshead Town Centre. At 3 in the afternoon, in the space of 500 yards I had 'you posh **' and 'get your ing hair cut' yelled at me. Now fair enough, both statements probably have an element of truth but I had not said a word! And yet it was instantly possible to sense I was a posh **? Nice. And then there's the pubs... That'd be why Gateshead's cheap to live in I suppose.

Musical Therapy	Blog Date/Time: 16/05/2010 13:00:30

Dear all, Well, last weekend was a rare weekend off but this one was a cramming in of gigs in two days! Still, they were at least in the same place unlike the first weekend in May. Friday night saw me closing the first day of the Brandling Villa Folk Festival while yesterday I performed my folken word commission at the Sage Gateshead with micro-fiction writer Amy Mackelden (whose name I have spelt correctly this time) followed by appearances at the Brandling again with Christi Andropolis and then Kathryn Davidson as well as an unexpected few tunes playing guitar for awesome Shetland fiddler Lois Nicol. All the gigs were highly enjoyable. It was particularly great to play with Christi again after a long time and great to get the folken word commission out there in what was a very interesting concert of words and music. Three hours seems a long length of a concert but there was so much good material there that it seemed to fly by. But pride of place does have to go to my solo gig at the Brandling on Friday. Music, especially in performance, has always been my release and I needed that gig sorely. The crowd were just wonderful and there were so many of them and I enjoyed those two hours more than I can begin to describe, it truly was a very special gig for me. This is where my blog title comes in - I am very sorry to report that I lost a dear friend from Stafford this week and needless to say it has affected me very much. I would take this opportunity to pass on all my sympathies to Jenny's family and friends. I've seldom known a community (I refer to the pub crowd at Joxers in Stafford) more collectively in shock and grief as at this time. As a result, Friday's gig could be termed slightly 'emotionally charged' and I think it accounted for the high energy performance. RIP Jenny. I'm sorry it's a slightly more serious blog than normal without a silly rant or a funny story, but I felt the above was rather more important. Best wishes, Dan

Travelling too much in too little time	Blog Date/Time: 03/05/2010 19:58:48

Dear all, It's been a very, very busy weekend cramming in Stafford, Upton, Clun, Bellingham and Ranton all in the space of four days! Prior to that I was in Northampton continuing work on recording mine and Will's first duo album. It's sounding good and Mark Hutchinson continues to work his magic on the sound desky things. So the gigs – I'm happy to say they were all very enjoyable. After a week in the studio, it's always nice to just play play play for an evening and where better than back in my hometown of Stafford. This was my first ever gig at the Spittal Brook, a fine real ale pub just outside the town centre. Many, many familiar faces were there and it was great to see them all and they created a fantastic atmosphere as ever. As ever, I was daft enough to go out afterwards instead of getting any sleep before my early (for musicians) start the next morning but hey it's home! Next up was Upton-upon-Severn folk festival. What a great festival – I've seldom seen a town so awash with bells and rag costumes. A folk festival in the truest sense of the word! Unfortunately, I wasn't there very long as I had another gig in the evening but my partner in musical crime Will Pound is still there happy to be surrounded by other people who think nothing of wandering round with bells on their legs – hats off to them. I found the sight of nuns doing morris dancing a particular highlight...the gig there was also fun and the great discovery of this gig was that Charlotte Carrivick deserves a knighthood. Her and her sister Laura were on first doing some cracking bluegrass and just before we were due to start, my banjo collapsed! She very kindly lent me hers while she fixed mine and saved the day. I owe her many a drink next time I see her... And so onto the Clun Green Man Festival supporting Adrian Edmonson although the gig was actually held in nearby Knighton in a superb community hall. 400-odd were there I believe and were a great crowd, particularly during what my friend Rob describes as my 'please buy my album' banjo solo. And they did buy albums which was also very nice indeed...It was quite a relief to do the gig and have my banjo in working order thanks to Dame Carrivick. Bellingham was mighty fun and a first Mother's Ruin gig in a long time. It was nice to gig with the band again and the audience were fantastic. It was expletively cold but onstage it was a little warmer! Ranton today was again highly enjoyable and again expletively cold albeit to a greatly lesser extent.. A busy month awaits, with the first airing of my collaborative piece with microfiction writer Amy Mackelden and a welcome return to music with American fiddler-singer Christi Andropolis. If you haven't heard her yet – hear her now she is one hell of a singer. Also, some more festival work at Ireby, Fishguard and more. I am looking forward to it very much although I must add that my thoughts are quite firmly fixed on getting a fairly lengthy sleep tonight and to see precious little if any of tomorrow morning. I must just post a mini-rant if you'll forgive me. Dogs. I know we're supposed to be a nation of dog lovers but aren't they the most almighty pain in the posteria and any other organ you'd care to name sometimes? I mean I'm not saying I don't like them in the fullest sense of the word. And to be fair more often than not, the owner is actually the one who incurs my wrath. I know there will be people reading this gasping in horror but are you really telling me it doesn't encroach proverbially on your whatnots when you're walking down the street in a peaceful state musing on this and that and one of these infernal creatures chooses that moment to bark and yap at the most grating pitches imaginable simply because you had the nerve to...walk down the street? And when you knock on someone's door and one of the blasted creatures takes that as a cue to jump, yap and invade the personal space of whoever enters through the door when it opens? When you leave a house to find you're covered in the dratted thing's hair? When you leave your shoes lying around and the silly twit tries to eat one or both of them? When you go for a run and one of them jumps up and the owner says 'he's only playing'? That brings me on to my main point – owners train your dogs! For instance, the one at Joxers in Stafford – fantastic. Many of them who are quiet, obedient and simply want a little stroke – fantastic. Noisy, yappy disobedient ones – nah.

Back into writing	Blog Date/Time: 18/04/2010 15:30:40

Dear all, Well after quite possibly the most problem-strewn tour I've ever been on, I've been back home in Gateshead quite grateful to just be in the one place although it has not been without the usual busy days. But yes the tour - what with date mix-ups, lost train tickets, missing instruments, hideously early starts and the accidental theft of a hotel room key it was really quite eventful! Still all the gigs were enjoyable although pride of place must go to the phenomenal Grog and Gruel gig in Fortwilliam. Since then, as I say I've been back home and much of my working time has been devoted to the Folken Word commission from the Sage Gateshead. This was a commission for three folk musicians and three poets or poetry-influenced people to work in chosen pairs and write a piece showcasing words and music. So I've been working with Amy MacKelden, an inventive and insightful micro-fiction writer and I can honestly say it has been a delight. We ran the pieces yesterday in a sort of public work in progress session and they're coming along nicely. Amy's writing has had an influence on my own and encouraged me to write songs again (I've not done for a couple of months) and better still write in a different way. There have still been gigs though - appearances at Bob Trollop's and The Bridge Hotel were very enjoyable and a busy, busy May awaits all over the place! I also went to an open mic night in Newcastle at the North Bar and ended up playing for about an hour and a half just on guitar doing songs I hadn't done in years which I enjoyed very much indeed. I know I know...I am a total stage addict...but it could be worse. I must tell you about just how sad my life can be - I spend a good deal of my time waiting at train stations. Don't panic this isn't another train rant, merely an analysis of tannoy systems. Because obviously you'd prefer that... First of all I must comment on the station at my dear old town of Stafford. For starters, what on earth happened to platform 2?! There's platforms 1,3,4,5 and 6! But also, I just love the way the end of the tannoy announcements disappear out of volume. 'The train now standing at platform 1 is the 1020 Virgin trains service to London Eu...' 'Platform alteration this train will not depart from platform ...' Really, these are genuine quotes! And also, Birmingham New Street. Not many things make Birmingham New Street enjoyable but isn't it quite hysterical that some poor sod has bothered to upgrade the robot-tannoy's apology depending on the length of delay?! If the delay is under about half an hour the announcement runs as follows: 'I'm sorry to announce that the 1203 Cross Country service to Newcastle is delayed by approximately seventeen minutes. Please listen for further announcements. I'm very sorry for the delay to this service'. Add an hour and it runs as this: 'I'm sorry to announce that the 1203 Cross Country service to Newcastle is delayed by approximately one hour and seventeen minutes. Please listen for further announcements. I'm EXTREMELY sorry for the SEVERE delay to this service' I'm sorry no matter how many apologies you add - you're still a computer you're not sorry! I also love how when Virgin Voyagers became Cross Country trains and Central Trains became London Midland, the new names were overdubbed onto the Birmingham New Street tannoy recordings but apparently the guy has gone back forty years and gone up three pitches in voice. So the names of the train companies are about four octaves higher than the rest of the announcement. Ah dear...it's a good job I'm not too far from taking my driving test isn't it?

Banjo chants whatever next?	Blog Date/Time: 07/04/2010 14:26:54

Hello to all, Since I last blogged, we played on the Isle of Skye and it was a fun night, particularly just at the end. The next day Simma and I played at the Angel, Wooler which has become an absolute favourite gig of ours. During this one, one of my favourite moments from any gig happened when a group of about ten lads started off the chant (to the tune of 'Bread of Heaven') - Get your banjo, get your banjo, get your banjo for the lads (for the lads), get your banjo for the lads! Fantastic! Following this was an early evening slot at the Quayside music festival in Newcastle which was also very fun indeed. I was to have been travelling to Inverness today for a continuation of the Scottish tourette but the gig was cancelled so I am instead sat at home, feeling quite under the weather, typing away! Tomorrow, we'll be off to the Loch Ness Inn in Drumnadrochit and the Lochcarran Hotel in...Lochcarran. The latter two will be with flute maestro Kieran Szifiris. My rant/random thought for this blog is TV adverts. You would think being a musician and therefore with periods spent at home during the day that I would be a frequent TV watcher/time waster but I'm actually not. This is partly because I spend a good deal of time chasing up work (or pay..but let's not go there) or arranging rehearsals etc. but it is chiefly because I can never watch any blasted TV programme because in this day of multi-channel TV it is scarcely possible to find one amongst the thin quilt of tedium that is adverts. And why are they always the same adverts? Accident helpline adverts with the slogan 'have you had an accident that could have happened anywhere? Fancy some money for it - blame someone and we'll do the rest...'. Beauty product adverts with a voice as patronising as the one dog owners use to their dogs and a silly little noise at the end to mark out their particular brand that is exactly the same as every other brand. I'm sorry how many different types of shampoo does one need exactly? A shampoo for dry, damaged, blonde, flea-ridden, normal, rain-sodden...sorry one second 'NORMAL' hair?! What exactly is NORMAL hair?! And as for those noises - [whisper] take care [SHOUT] GARNIER. And I know this isn't a beauty product advert but is everyone not monumentally teed off with 'mmm...Danone'. Anyway I was saying, the same adverts. The other frequent culprits are computer-related adverts that never know where to put the intel inside noise. I always find it quite hilarious when someone is in the middle of a not-very-convincing-fake speech like 'you mean if I load up this programme onto my computer then... DA...DA DA DA DA....it will do this'. Why not just put it at the end of the advert I ask myself? And of course we have our old friends the insurance adverts and within this category, price comparison web-sites. Again we have ludicrous noises at the end of some of these 'gotravelinsurance.co.uk' - it's not a catchy line. And what puzzles me is why direct line, aviva and others make such a boast about not being on price comparison web-sites? Well why not?! Surely the point of these comparison web-sites is I don't have to trawl individual company's sites. So why are you so proud of the fact that I have to search seperately for you?! So there you have it folks - that's why I don't watch TV anymore. There's two minutes you'll never get back.

The incomparable Grog and Gruel	Blog Date/Time: 03/04/2010 12:58:14

What a gig. What a gig. I mean to say what a gig. Last night will be difficult to top in any setting let alone on this tour. The Grog and Gruel in Fortwilliam was absolutely stunning last night - a packed out pub, packed out with wonderful people who were enthusiastic, loud, dancey and everything else you want in a pub! Throw in a very fine steak and ale pie, a very tasty whisky and it made for rather a good day... Anyway, the isle of Skye awaits tonight. It'll have a job topping last night although I have had some very fine gigs there in the past. But this is really just a brief blog to salute the mighty Grog and Gruel!

Hootenanny's	Blog Date/Time: 02/04/2010 18:06:55

Hi all, I hadn't really intended to write a tour blog, but free wi-fi has cropped in more places than I expected! We (Will and I) are now sat in the mighty Grog and Gruel in Fortwilliam. It is a wonderful place with marvellous pies, ales and, the golden word, whisky. Oh yesh (by the way that isn't a typo, just a really bad impression of the dog from the Churchill adverts). Anyway, to get to the point, we had a wonderful gig at Hootenanny's last night. The second and third sets particularly brought the house down and we met some cracking people from the local area and beyond. Some quirky characters as well - a banjo spotter (really), a serial picture taker (not kidding) and two men engaged in a colossal brawl outside that distracted us totally for a second. I wondered what it was about until I saw a woman come over... But yes the gig, fantastic. Tonight promises likewise based on previous experience but who knows...depending on where there's wi-fi tomorrow you'll be informed!

Change of musician for Scottish gigs!	Blog Date/Time: 01/04/2010 15:53:02

Hi all, This is just a brief note to say that owing to a bizarre series of circumstances too long to explain here, Will Pound will be doing not only Hootenanny's in Inverness but also the gigs in Fortwilliam and Skye tomorrow and on Saturday. Kieran the flute maestro will be doing the highland gigs next week as planned! We have now arrived in Inverness. Given the weather reports we're surprised to find it quite pleasantly sunny. Hootenanny's awaits tonight along with some awesome Thai food. A tip for anyone - the best way to make a musician happy is to feed them! Tomorrow it'll be fry-up time even if it will be a Wetherspoon's one which based on previous experience is about as pleasant as eating soap and Netto value corn flakes. Still, there it is. Best wishes, Dan

Imminent trip to Scotland and a fun game	Blog Date/Time: 31/03/2010 15:13:33

Good day all, I write on the eve of another trip up North (snow permitting...but let's not even go there...IT'S APRIL FOR GOODNESS SAKE!). Kieran (wonderful flute player and 1/4 of the astounding Monster Ceilidh Band) and I have made three or four trips to the highlands before playing pubs, hotels and various places right across the North of Scotland. It's Inverness tomorrow at the wonderful Hootenanny's which is a sort of pub-Thai restaurant-gig venue although this first date is actually with harmonica wizard Will Pound. Following this, Kieran and I will play in Fortwilliam, the Isle of Skye, Inverness, Lochcarran and Drumnadrochit. Exciting stuff and always highly enjoyable. Since I last blogged Will and I played at the Banbury Folk Club which was a very enjoyable gig all round. More gigs have also come in for the rest of the year - check out the gigs page. Now I must tell you about the most awfully fun game. You know the way people only really ring mobiles now and landlines have become almost redundant in many cases? Well my house has a landline but of course no-one really uses it, so the only time it rings is normally automated messages or, oddly, politicians trying to plug themselves without caring to let me say anything. Odd but true...So with this in mind, myself and my housemate Luke tend to answer the phone with something suitably daft, but the odd time it has actually been someone genuinely calling about something. Virgin media, our cable TV/internet suppliers have called once or twice along with a few others but this blog is really to give an apology to the poor man from British gas who has caled four times, and each time hesistated before hanging up the phone in panic. Wherever you are sir, I'm extremely sorry! But it is a very fun game...I've listed a few examples below of our speeches when answering the phone: 'Hello, the Northeast school of erotic dance' 'Look I've told you it's not your baby' [Having previously spoken to a lady hoping to speak to Thomas who was informed it was the wrong number] 'Hello Thomas speaking' 'Hello Saucy Sue's' 'Did you get his wallet?' Awfully fun.

Hats off to the Bergen Philarmonic Orchestra	Blog Date/Time: 23/03/2010 15:44:34

Now here's a blog I really didn't expect to write! Last night I attended Bob Trollop's open mic on the quayside run by the wonderful Simma, a great friend of mine. It nearly always tends to be an open mic until about 11ish and then Simma and I end up doing a covers gig until we/punters/the management get bored. Last night there weren't too many people present until about 11 when who should walk in but a fair few members of the Bergen Philarmonic Orchestra who had just been performing at the Sage Gateshead. They were fantastic! They were an extremely enthusiastic audience and we had a lot of banter with them. How wonderful to meet classical musicians who appreciated other types of music and until we asked them where they were from, what they were here for and all that, wouldn't have mentioned who they were anyway. Apparently they're descending on the quayside tonight as well..another fun night awaits! Anyway, I felt the need to write a quick blog to salute them!

From the ridiculous to the sublime	Blog Date/Time: 19/03/2010 18:00:02

Good day all, Many thanks first of all to those that tuned in to the Janice Long show last night. Will and I had a great time with herself the queen of radio, and enjoyed the experience very much. An eventful journey to where we stayed mind...see story below. The show is on iplayer for a week so if you missed us, please feel free to have a listen! Radio 2 also played 'Hammer and Nail' from my album Tomorrow's Still To Come the night before as well so a decent plug has taken place over the last couple of days! Today I've played at the prestigious Barbican again with a wonderful array of musicians from Greece, India, Austria and Senegal as well as my old buddy Will. It was a great experience once again and as with our last gig there, the real highlight was the collaborative piece at the end and the wonderful mix of so many cultures coming together. What a wonderful thing music is! I'm currently on the train back to Newcastle as I'm playing tonight with Simma in Shields. I'm rather exhausted having played four gigs on St. Patrick's Day before catching the 0600 train to London yesterday and of course didn't sleep too much last night because of the radio. My mind is wandering constantly! However, the aforementioned St Patrick's Day is the reason for the title of this blog! I'm glad so many people seemed to enjoy the gigs I did with various folks on the day don't get me wrong. And I particularly enjoyed playing with my good friends the Coggle sisters, who by the way you must keep your eye out for, an outstanding duo. But 'The Wild Rover', 'Tell Me Ma', 'Dirty Old Town' (which is English by the way, Ewan MacColl), 'Fields of Athenry' can get a little wearing by the end of the day...just a little....still... I must also mention this taxi ride home from the BBC. You know films with car chases in? Well I now know what it's like to be in a real one! As I'm sure you're all aware, London tends to veer on the busy side even late at night, and there was still plenty of traffic around where we were. Yet our driver thought it would be prudent to swerve round all cars that got in his way, in either lane, and no word of a lie I swear we flew through the air at least five times during the journey...An interesting end to the day. Best wishes, Dan

Fantastic gigs and descendancy into grumpiness	Blog Date/Time: 14/03/2010 13:00:24

Good day, Well I must start by saying a big thank you to everyone who made the last two gigs so enjoyable. Both were packed out and both audiences were wonderful. The first was the Railway Inn in Norton Bridge. Norton Bridge is a tiny tiny place in the middle of nowhere in Staffordshire, a fair trek from Stafford. But that didn't stop a whole gang of folks from my dear old pub Joxers in Stafford getting a taxi there and back! It was a brilliant night, a real best of everything gig. I got to play pretty much everything I liked, not a cover in sight for the whole of a ridiculously long first half, simply because I was having such a good time. The second half I played the covers that I like playing anyway, and the audience had a great mix of listening, dancing, banter and a hint of rowdiness! Quite possibly my favourite gig of the year so far, maybe a tie with the Moseley Folk Festival Lunar Society in Birmingham (see earlier blog) and the Barbican. Almost equally great was a return to the Unicorn Folk Club at Ivetsy Bank, again in the Staffordshire region. This was my third visit to the club but probably my favourite gig of the three. This club has been running for 25 years and the organiser Vicky works tirelessly to keep it going and I was as pleased for her as me at the packed house. Like the Railway, there was plenty of banter as well as an attentive audience, helped in no small part by my mentor George being in attendance. There's always a bit more banter when he's there... Now then, I must confess I deliberated greatly before writing this section. I'm aware of being typecast as a grumpy young man, and I'm aware of just how much this next rant is going to make me sound like one. But in truth, regular readers of this blog have contacted me to tell me already how grumpy and ranty I can be alongside my enthusiasm for music. So I'll just carry on... I have been distinctly peeved lately at some appalling customer service. The culprits: the Post Office and Cross Country trains. These are the main culprits anyway. Both have fouled up and inconvenienced me lately, these things happen and the latter of course is a regular 'fouler-upper' in my life. No, what has seriously encroached upon my nerve endings, is the fact that both seemed to want to blame me for it! Let me explain..before I went to New York, I went to a wedding in London to which I was travelling from Stafford. Being a complete fathead, I left my smart shoes in my house in Gateshead and discovered this rather late so my housemate kindly agreed to send them by special delivery for me so they were 'guaranteed' to arrive at 1 o'clock the day before the wedding. The inverted commas probably gave this away...they didn't. And given I had to get an 8.30 train the next day to the wedding this represented somewhat of a problem. So I went to the post office and asked the lady what I might do to check on the item whereupon the following dialogue took place: 'Where's the tracking number'? 'I don't have it unfortunately but..' 'Well I can't do anything without the tracking number can I? 'Well my friend who sent it is currently working so I can't ask him' 'Well why didn't you get the tracking number when he sent it?' 'Well because I assumed it might actually arrive given he paid �8 to send the sodding things!' 'I can't do anything..' '..without the tracking number yes ok I get it. Shall I go to the depot and try there' 'You can try but without the tr..' 'Yes goodbye' I mean to say what?! Who gets a friend to send something special delivery and assumes it's not going to arrive?! And more to the point who is at fault here?! I then went to the depot in Stafford and fortunately this time there was a very helpful gentleman who advised me to ring a customer service number and arrange to pick up the item early in the morning the next day before the postman took it. Any reason she couldn't have done that? Anyway the post office jinx does not end here. I made the arrangement and the customer service lady on the phone gave me a reference number. When I turned up at the depot next morning, there was a sign saying 'back in five minutes'. Fifteen minutes later, a gentle...I'm not even going to honour him by calling him a gentleman. A bloke appeared behind the screen and said 'yeah?'. A good start. This dialogue then took place: 'Ah good morning. No reply righty ho. I'm here to pick up an item that was sent to me by special delivery but didn't arrive..' 'No special deliveries are only to be delivered I cannot help you' 'No sorry allow me to explain, I made an arrangement on the phone...' 'No I don't know what they told you on the phone but I've got it here in black and white, I can't distribute special delivery items from this depot. This is because a few years somebody got hold of something that enabled them to commit fraud' 'I see...it's a pair of shoes. I'll open it in front of you if it helps. I was given a reference number' 'No sorry I...' 'Could you just look at the reference number. The parcel didn't arrive when it was supposed to and I have made arrangements with royal mail. While clearly working at Stafford depot makes you in charge of the post office, this is what I've been told' 'Don't get lippy with me' 'Well give me what I want or I'll have you reported and disciplined, you've got a namebadge' 'One moment I'll ring them up and check' And of course he came back with the parcel. What a *************** The CrossCountry story you'll be relieved to hear isn't quite so long. Simply, my train from Stafford to Manchester was due to leave at 1001 yesterday and leave me plenty of time to get the 1127 from Manchester to Newcastle. It was late. Half an hour late. I spoke to the train manager on board the train and said 'I've got to catch the 1127 to Newcastle' and his response was 'oh you'll be fine for that don't worry'. I wasn't. I knew I wouldn't be. So when I got to Manchester, I queued for a considerable amount of time and asked what I should do. This dialogue took place: 'Hello, my train coming in was late so I have missed my connection which was a booked train only ticket, here are my tickets [I showed my tickets]' 'I'll just check sir' [she checked] 'Thank you' (Polite up to this point you'll notice then...) 'The train you're catching from here is a transpennine train' 'Yes I know' 'Well obviously I can't help you then' 'I'm sorry?' 'I work for CrossCountry not Transpennine I can't authorise this ticket' 'Sorry just to check whose train company made me late again?' 'That's not the point' 'Well I think it is actually' 'It's not' 'What's the name ah yes there's your badge, shall I ring up CrossCountry and check' 'Ok fine, just this once' 'I'm sorry, just this once?! I'm quite clearly right and clearly threatening you with discipline from your employer works so actually I think this may happen again' 'Good day sir, I've authorised it' Honestly.

Jez Lowe Gig Cancelled	Blog Date/Time: 05/03/2010 18:19:18

Apologies to all, but the Jez Lowe gig referred to in my last blog scheduled for 13th March at the Saville Exchange has been unexpectedly cancelled. Particular apologies to those who've already bought tickets. Thanks, Dan

The Big Apple	Blog Date/Time: 05/03/2010 02:09:21

Hello again, The wonderful Railway Inn in Norton Bridge awaits for me on Saturday. Always a favourite gig of mine so I shall look forward to it very much followed by a return to another old favourite the Unicorn Folk Club. Then follows a second appearance supporting the mighty Jez Lowe! For those who don't know him, Jez is my favourite lyric writer in the world bar none. Contentious? Not a bit of it. The man's a genius. A genuine privilige to support him. Other exciting work follows in a busy March which involves me doing some recording work, trying to learn to drive, doing a probable mix of dire and delightful on St Patrick's Day, another trip to the amazing Barbican before a frantic rush back to Newcastle to do a gig with Simma the same night (but there's no need to worry, the trains...ah...). Some exciting news has also come in - I have been commissioned along with two other musicians and three poets to perform at the words and music festival at the Sage Gateshead in May with poet Amy MacKelden. The idea is to combine music and prose. It's something I've never worked on before so I look forward to the challenge. Now then I returned two days ago from New York where I went to visit my uncle and the primary message of this blog is basically...I love New York! The city is truly mesmerising and almost overwhelming when you first arrive. Not because of the number of people - I've done a fair bit of stuff in London and I wouldn't have said the feeling of 'oh my god wherever you go there's people please let me go' is any more pronounced in New York than London. No, what is amazing is the sheer height of the place! The buildings are truly extraordinary. I was lucky enough to go to the top of the rock and the Empire State building and the views are simply astonishing. It really does look like nowhere else I've been. I had a wonderful evening at Terra Blues, a blues club (something tells me you may have guessed that...perhaps I should have started with a blues club called...) on Bleaker Street where I witnessed the superb Saron Crenshaw play an acoustic set which took the breath away. I also made two fantastic discoveries. My uncle lives in an area called Hoboken in New Jersey which has, I swear, a shop devoted entirely...to rice pudding! 35 different flavours of rice pudding! What a genius concept! I tried three which were exceedingly pleasant, but even if they had tasted like the remains of a three-weeks-ago-cooked-fish-paste which wasn't good in the first place, the concept of a cafe devoted entirely to rice pudding was just so wonderfully weird! My other great discovery, which I can claim no credit for as it was recommended to me by my father, was a pub called McSorley's. Yes a whole new paragraph for this place. It was like walking into Ireland in 1920 but with American accents! The question we were greeted with was simply 'what you drinking dark or light?'. Yes that was it - real ale dark or light. That was the entire choice. But with an ale that good it was very hard to give what I believe is called a monkey's (I've often wondered why that is actually). And he went round the pub remembering countless orders and just kept slamming down our drinks on the table whenever we'd finished. Not pints, two sort-of-probably half-pint old style pub glasses. To put it briefly, I used to not drink, then drank far too much for a while and I now drink very much in moderation but I must confess I was tolerably tiddly at this place! What a find! As an aside, I tell you what was wonderful about New York - the 'drunk' thing we get in Britain was simply nowhere to be found. Sure people drink and enjoy the effects of it, but not once over four nights did I see people fighting, being sick, being sleazy, staggering around not knowing what's going on, threatening anyone etc. Quite a contrast to here and I would go as far as to say a sad indictment to what goes on over here. It made for a far nicer atmosphere than some town centres in Britain. I expected to report a travel disaster to you, but the journeys were actually surprisingly trouble-free, contrary to my record with rail. However, a dashed unpleasant feeling I get from travelling on a plane and I don't know whether you get the same thing, is my ears not only pop but actually hurt. For about eight hours at least after each flight I felt quite deaf and as I say the sheer pain I felt on the flight was frightfully crap. Well you all needed to know that. One incident I did find rather amusing was overhearing a girl talking on her mobile down the street (I have to tell you it wasn't difficult to hear her) and hearing this sentence: 'no no I quite like him. Yeah I like him I mean he doesn't disgust me'. Sorry just a minute...'I like him he doesn't disgust me'. Well that's a nice sentiment. Not a basis for a relationship perhaps but a start I guess... I couldn't report on my visit to America without mentioning the food. My word! I visited diners, delis, steak houses and the like and I can't believe the sheer amount of food they fit on a plate, or in a sandwich! I could hardly get my face round it! But outstanding quality - I consumed quite the most appalling amount although I would also add that I did NOT take a resolution of 'the diet starts when I get back' because let's face it...it doesn't. How many people who say that actually stick to it do you think? No exactly not many at all. About as likely as hearing the words 'gee Gordon you really are like well cool and like so interesting' in the house of commons. Therefore my first dinner back in England - chicken and chips. Marvellous. Best wishes, Danjo

'Play us a tune'	Blog Date/Time: 23/02/2010 17:21:29

Dear all, Firstly apologies for a slightly longer absence of bloggage this time. Secondly, I have a few items of good news to report. Janice Long of BBC Radio 2 attended my gig in Birmingham which I reported on in my last blog which was unknown to me at the time! Pleasingly, she seemed to rather enjoy it and gave me a very glowing reference on her show which again I didn't know at the time, but was reported to me later. I contacted her and she was kind enough to repeat her comments so they are now plastered all over my site! Also, recording with Will continues to gather pace. We had an excellent session a couple of weeks ago and it's all sounding good thanks in no small measure to wizard Mark Hutchinson at the controls. Since my last blog there's also been a couple of gigs firstly at the good old Roebuck Inn in Hilderstone which was, as always, highly enjoyable and seemingly never ending (in the best possible way) and then a first gig with Simma for a while at the Brandling Villa in Gosforth, Newcastle which was also terrific fun. Now for my bit of the blog that doesn't really have all that much relevance this week, I wish to comment on two things. The first of which is a little bit of a rant (because you know, I've never done that before on this site) - allow me to say a simple sentence to you. 'Play us a tune'. Are you laughing? No of course you're not. So why the devil do these pesky groups of monumental twits that I encounter on a metro or train or bus when I have a guitar in my hand always say it and laugh in a rather mocking manner. Am I completely thick and missing a really obvious joke? Or are they just nervous people who laugh at anything that's remotely different. Ah.... Anyway quite enough of that. The main thing I wanted to talk about was folk sessions. Much of my February was spent in my dear old town of Stafford and while there I rediscovered a cracking little pub called the Spittal Brook and their Tuesday night folk session. Now folk sessions have become very frequent in my life, attending them as I do every Tuesday that I'm in Newcastle and quite often several other nights of the week during my time on the folk degree. But there it's all 100mph jigs and reels amongst a group of young players with virtuosic ability. And don't get me wrong - I love it! I absolutely love it. But this Spittal session was rather an eye-opener. It reminded me just how nice it can be to have a session with SONGS and not just tunes. To just sit there and almost nonchantly jam along to mid-tempo songs and tunes. To not be in a highly charged, almost pressured environment. It was absolutely cracking, coupled with the fact that I saw a number of old friends I hadn't seen for a long time. I suppose my point here is music is not a competition. It doesn't always have to be about proving one's technical ability. Don't get me wrong that's a big part of what I do when I'm onstage as well as communicating with the audience musically and personally. But you know sometimes it's nice to just sit and jam! Best wishes, Dan

Great times in the two big cities	Blog Date/Time: 09/02/2010 17:52:40

Dear all, What a remarkable two gigs I've had since last I blogged. The Moseley folk gig in Birmingham in particular was stunning and thanks to so many of you for coming out that night, it was wonderful to have the place packed out. As for the gig, it truly was extraordinary. The monthly gig of a folk festival – I had in my head that it was a pretty normal folk club (no bad thing). Instead what I got was more akin to a rock gig! I found myself jumping around the stage without even realising I was doing it and the audience were pleasingly vocal and responsive. All in all a night to remember, it contained all the elements of every type of gig that I like. Then yesterday I was at the Barbican in London for the first of two 'Sounds Around The World' educational gigs with musicians from all over the world. An absolutely stunning venue of course, but also the honour of working with such fantastic musicians from so many different backgrounds was very much an ambition fulfilled. I've always wanted to collaborate in that way and the collaborative piece particularly, where we all played together was absolutely wonderful. I look forward to returning there in March. Before then, I shall be returning to one of my 'regulars', the Roebuck Inn in Hilderstone on Saturday which has long been one of my favourite gigs and somewhere I return to usually twice a year. Before then though I'm also off to record some vocals for my album with harmonica wizard Will Pound which is something I'm looking forward to very much. After the Roebuck I'll also be playing back up in Newcastle at the Brandling Villa before a trip to New York. Now one of the most common things I get asked at gigs and amongst people of my acquaintance is if I'm on facebook. I fear I may seem somewhat grumpy at this juncture, but I was pleased to have this conversation with other people last night who agreed with me which reassured me somewhat and is partly what induced me to blog on the subject. Anyway, before I interrupted myself I was saying I didn't want to seem grumpy, when I say that I consider facebook the most loathsome and tedious invention I have ever come across with the possible exception of TV 'reality' shows (for one thing, why on earth are they called 'reality'!). Fans of this curse of the modern age may wish to stop reading now...I shall try and put as briefly as possible why I hate this cursed thing so much. The 'gossip' element is perhaps my strongest dislike, namely the way people feel the need for 'status updates' three times a day. I can wait a day or two to find out whether Jack has split up with...er...Jill. I can wait until next time I see Herbert to find out whether he enjoyed the festival he went to. But most of all I NEVER have to know that Englebert is lying on his bed hoping someone will bring him a cup of tea! I mean really, that is a genuine example of the breathtaking stupidity of which I have been informed facebook entails. Secondly, I don't need to read the same biography again and again – 'interests – going out with mates'. My word really? Do you know I've never met anyone like that? And photos – I know what all my friends look like I don't need a web-site to find out. And as for this ludicrous thing of looking to see what other people have said to each other – don't even get me started. My hatred of this blight on modern society was rather neatly summed up recently when someone said to me 'the best thing about facebook is that everyone can find you'. This is a good thing?! With all due respect to people who I went to school with, everyone I want to stay in touch with I stay in touch with. I don't actually want everyone to 'find' me. Not even a little bit. People tell me how good facebook is for staying in touch. Well when I'm in a place where my friends live I see them and find out all. If I don't see them for a long time I chat to them on the phone or maybe send them an email. Brilliant. Where's the problem? Best wishes, Dan

A pilgrimage to Dublin	Blog Date/Time: 01/02/2010 14:29:45

I think everyone has their list of bands they wish they'd been able to see. I know for a lot of my generation it's Queen or the Beatles. My list is probably longer than most but one band always headed that list – my Dad's heroes and Irish legends Horslips. I grew up listening to this extraordinary band, and particularly through some interesting times during university I listened to them near enough non-stop and I always consider them the band that helped me through some tough times. However, the band split up in 1980 so as I say I had always placed them sadly at the top of the list of bands I wished I'd been able to see. But then, incredibly, while randomly browsing them on the internet I discovered they were to gig publicly again...in Ireland. Going to see them would cost myself and my dad a fortune given the price of the ticket, flights, hotel etc. But it was something I simply had to do – my favourite band were performing, possibly for the last time ever. I can only compare the experience to someone coming back to life, it really felt that amazing! With all this expectation did the gig live up to the hype? Somehow, it exceeded it. With a band having been apart that long and ageing there was always the danger of them not being able to handle it anymore but I was quite amazed by how great they still were. But having spent my entire life sharing my love of Horslips with my dad, Les from the pub and two friends from school who I introduced them to, the real buzz was singing all those songs with 12,500 other Horslips fanatics! I had not realised just how big they were in Ireland in comparison to the UK where they're invariably met with 'who?' when people ask me who my favourite band are. And given that that is the case, I should probably say a bit about them...the band were a folk-rock band, often using traditional melodies as riffs and hooks for rock songs. Their material is often about aspects of Irish history, including concept albums about an Irish legend called 'The Tain' and, would you believe, the Irish famine. Barry Devlin, the band's bass player even explained this at the gig – 'the record company had fun with us. You want to make a concept album about a potato famine? Ah jaysus lads come on give us a chance!'. I always find the lyrical content of Horslips' material particularly interesting. Rather than the usual 'we're leaving Ireland because of the famine it's so sad' they take a different slant on it during the album 'Aliens', approaching it more from a 'so this is the promised land is it...it's pretty crap really!' angle. From the musical perspective, I just love the blend of influences involved and the sheer out-and-out rocking that goes with the folk influences. To hear Jim Lockhart's fluttering flute followed by a screaming guitar solo from Johnny Fean is simply irresistible! The band's sound is really like no other and I urge anyone reading this to check them out, particularly 'Book of Invasions' or 'Aliens'. But besides the musical aspect, they represent something special in Ireland. A band who defied the self-appointed guardians of traditional music by introducing it to countless young people in Ireland, and better still toured the length and breadth of the country including rural areas and ballrooms making them accessible to numerous people who never got the chance to see live music. What a band! Returning to the gig, there was a really special element to the band's opening 'King of the Fairies' which is a traditional tune. To be rocking out in a crowd of 12,000 people to a tune written four hundred years ago or more, rather summed up half the reason why I'm doing what I do. Many people refer to Horslips as an essential influence on subsequent bands such as U2 and the Pogues and so many people were also out to criticise them for 'disrespecting the tradition' by playing all this music in a rock setting. Both arguments I consider reasonably irrelevant (or in the latter case stupid) and the same applies to traditional music in general. There's no need for all the 'this music's part of our heritage we must preserve it for that reason' or 'if it wasn't for traditional music we wouldn't have all the music we've got now' arguments. It's great music. Simple as that. And music is music. Simple as that.

The attempted robbery of...a banjo	Blog Date/Time: 25/01/2010 01:17:28

Dear all, I have a strange story to relate in this blog - but firstly may I say you've probably noticed all the quotes from Maverick's review scattered around the site! I have to say waiting for a review was one of the most tense things I've ever experienced - I can only compare it to waiting for exam results although I cared about this far more...more reviews to follow but it's nice to know the first one is so positive. I'm also pleased to report that more work is coming in - please keep referring to the gigs page for details. So then this strange story...I had a Friday and Saturday off this weekend so decided to pay my parents a visit in Penrith. On the way down one of the most surreal incidents I've ever had on a train happened. Not even the mid-journey decision to remove my station from the stop list, the coach B mass brawl or the three hours total darkness between Edinburgh and Alnwick incidents can compare to this one (for further information on the above feel free to email). The stop before Carlisle, I noticed a somewhat spaced out man take my banjo from the overhead luggage rack. Naturally I said 'sorry what are you doing?' or words to that effect. He said 'it's my guitar'. I said 'no I don't think it is actually'. 'That's my guitar' he insisted. 'No no - it isn't'. Eventually I said 'I tell you I'll give you �20 and the instrument, if you can tell me the make of instrument, indeed what instrument it actually is and whose CD is in the front pocket'. 'It's mine' he said. I should add at this point that the whole carriage had become rather interested in the incident and I even noticed a girl remove her headphones to hear the details. When I say interested, I mean in fits of laughter - if only amusing audiences of people was always that easy. Fortunately the fat-headed chump left the front of the case facing me so I was able to open the front pocket, whip out my CD and say 'does this look like you?' Finally, he gave in and said 'oh sorry I thought it was mine'....and promptly got off the train! Extraordinary... Anyway I felt the need to share this. More bloggage to come in February, until then best wishes. Dan

The magic of a pub gig	Blog Date/Time: 17/01/2010 22:22:28

Dear all, Key news - February's Maverick magazine has given 'Tomorrow's Still To Come' a 4-star review. I haven't actually read it yet! But 4 stars is good I feel and the banjo newsletter is soon to review the disc as well along with froots and hopefully a few others. I'll keep you all posted. A brief note to say my beloved Liverpool are disastrous at the moment - I'm thinking of writing a tune called 'In The Name of God Go'.... It's been quite a week of more work coming in since I last blogged. The giglist is looking nicely long now! Among the highlights are a festival slot for Will and I at Warwick and a gig with our good friend and now agent Simon Care in Banbury, my own return to the Unicorn Folk Club in Staffordshire now celebrating 25 years of existence, a Scottish tour for flute wizard Kieran Szifiris and I at the start of April, a trip to Bath in August, into new territory in Milford-on-Sea in October and best of all three returns to my dear old Joxer Brady's in Stafford, my favourite of all gigs. The Scottish tour is something I'm particularly looking forward to - Kieran and I always have a cracking time up in the highlands and I'm sure this will be no exception. But as I say Joxers is always the real one for me and that's the subject of this blog. Last night I had the most fantastic gig in Woolar with my good friend Simma. It was at a cracking little pub called the Angel and the people are absolutely great. We started just after 9 and we were still going well past 12 having hardly had a break - and it's because we wanted to as much as them wanting us to! They're a curious thing pub gigs. The more snobbish musicians that I've met will denounce them all day saying how 'they don't take much notice of the music', 'we're better than that' and all that kind of guff. Don't get me wrong, there's no way I could do pub gigs for my whole living. I would tire of the covers, I would tire of the same requests again and again (more below) and I would definitely long for gigs where people were really listening and paying attention to the music and I could play more of what I want to play. And I won't deny there are things that drive me mad about them. 1) The 'music is a machine' crowd - this is the group that gives me the look when I walk onto a train with a guitar as though I'm dragging a baby along by its toe. I've never quite understood it - I mean how exactly do they think that music is created?! There isn't someone at home going 'control, alt, music' - DONE! And this crowd at pubs have a tendency to request a song, then think that when I say I don't know it, they shall achieve making me know it by singing it at me in a tuneless, quite appallingly loud and drunk way. Then when I give up making jokes about this, I play a different song and then lo and behold they request it again! I mean - 'yes I learnt it whilst singing a different song!'. 2) The 'aggressive complimenter' - this I find very puzzling. They tell you how great they are and what a good time they had and yet manage to do it in the most aggressive way imaginable! They tend to hold your hand rather than shake it, and rebuke you strongly when you say thank you for the compliment. I've never quite understood what they want me to say instead - 'you're amazingly talented, I had a great night', 'oh I know'...somehow it just doesn't sound right... 3) The 'I know everything about music and the world' crowd - this is probably the crowd most capable of encroaching upon one's proverbials. To give you an example, someone told me recently 'do you know what you've got to do to get famous'? And before I could explain that fame was not exactly my main intention he proceeded (on that note, this group has an amazing capacity to talk, tune out whilst you're saying anything and then repeat themselves again and again) 'you need to write an anti-war song, just do that and you'll be famous'. Sorry let me just check this...I ring up my friend to tell them what a great anti-war song I've written, turn round and say 'oh my heavens it's the papparazzi'....Right I see... But against all of this, as I say, pubs give me a great deal of pleasure. Real people, real communities who you can actually talk to while performing. Not just staring into a sea of lights and people's heads like at festivals. Don't get me wrong, I love those gigs. But I love that in a pub, I can engage in real conversational banter with the audience. I love how utterly happy you can make them on an evening - I love hearing the words 'I just came in for a pint and you've made my night'. So is it just to inflate my ego then? Who knows, probably on some level. But apart from anything else I love being able to play Paul Simon, the Beatles, the Stones, Oasis and whatever I fancy without some snob looking down going 'that's cheese'. I love rock and pop music and I'm proud of it - and I love the opportunity that pub gigs provide me with to play it. Also, as a player of an instrument associated with one soundtrack in most people's eyes, I think it's important to spread the word about the banjo and its versatility. Again maybe this is part ego inflation, but when someone says 'I had no idea I liked the banjo', I feel I've done my job. At the end of the day, performing is about interaction as much as anything. A great gig is when you feel you've connected with an audience and in a pub, it somehow feels that much more of an achievement, perhaps in part because they're often not there specifically to see you. I am extremely worried about the rate pubs are disappearing. The best ones are wonderful places that are about community, meeting and social interaction every bit as much as having a few drinks. And as a performer, they have given me many many nights that I will savour always. Best wishes, Dan

Leamington Gig, Northampton Recording and Train Decorum	Blog Date/Time: 10/01/2010 16:36:47

Hello again, I must start this entry by saying a massive thank you to everyone who came to the somewhat hastily arranged gig Will and I did at the Somerville in Leamington on Friday. We had an absolute ball and it was the first time I'd done a purely acoustic gig in a pub in a very long time indeed and I'd forgotten just how much I love it! Festivals, folk clubs, theatres and the like are great but there is nothing and I mean nothing that can replace the magic of a pub gig like that. So thanks to one and all! We spent the next day in Northampton doing our first recordings for the album. It was the first time we'd worked with producer Mark Hutchinson and we were extremely impressed. The album's taking shape now – it looks very much like being a duo album in the truest sense of the word, very little else. All kinds of stuff is to be included including a re-working of 'Hammer and Nail' (the first track on my own album), 'Turkish Delight' (a Turkish flavoured tune of Will's), a couple of slow tunes, a jig and reels set, a new song of mine which even for me rather surpasses the depressing nature of many songs, a cover of 'Wrath Of The Rain' by Horslips as well as a new tune of mine that's fairly Eastern European influenced. We're feeling very excited about the album and speaking for myself it's great to be working with Will who really is one hell of a musician! I must say that while on the train down I have discovered that all my sense of social etiquette now disappears while I travel on trains. I am unfortunately not yet able to drive although that will change (hopefully, test pass permitting) soon, so I have for the last four years travelled across the UK on trains to work. Yes I know what you're thinking – 'he has the nerve to call it work travelling across the UK playing a banjo and taking our well earned money for it' – but we'll just call it 'work' because it's shorter than 'doing gigs or teaching or session work or meeting people who I hope are going to give me more 'work''. Anyway where was I, yes, to relieve the boredom of travelling on trains I now watch comedy DVD's. A sound idea in principle but of course with the major drawback that I find myself desperately trying to suppress out-loud laughter which would hardly be the done thing in a carriage full of people. But here's the problem...I now don't try and suppress it! I've given up! I have just watched a stand-up DVD (Michael McIntyre for anyone who's interested) and laughed solidly for an hour and a half. This wasn't such a problem when Will who was sitting next to me was also laughing, but he stopped watching half way through and fell asleep instead. So I was left as the giggling imbecile laughing out loud on his own. I had not realised this until all kinds of 'who on earth is this bloke' type looks were directed at me from behind my laptop. At first I thought 'oh dear, I must look rather a tool' but then I thought 'what do you think I'm laughing at I'm looking at a laptop screen without typing or moving the mouse'! Do you think I'm just sitting there chuckling to myself about random topics that popped into my head?! So I have therefore resolved to continue laughing out loud on board trains as to be honest, it's actually rather diverting noting the facial reactions of these other passengers. This is how much train journeys have warped my mind...this is why it is soon time to start driving... Many thanks for reading and see you soon, Dan Walsh

A new web-site!	Blog Date/Time: 31/12/2009 01:48:31

Hello everyone, Welcome to my new web-site, indeed my first web-site. Here you'll find anything you want to know about me, and if you don't feel free to send us an e-mail! There will be sound clips of the album on the album page very soon - in the meantime if you want a preview have a listen on my myspace (www.myspace.com/danbanjowalsh) or at itunes, CD Baby, Amazon etc. (and while you're there...) This blog meanwhile, shall feature mostly incoherent ramblings such as this. Here I shall keep you updated on latest news and shall blog on any topic that I happen to find interesting at that moment. I shall also be writing about various artists and albums that I like! As for latest news, well an exciting year is ahead. Most of January will be spent recording a new album with the mighty Will Pound (www.willpound.com), an unbelivable harmonica player who features on my solo album too. Tracks will include our 'signature' tune 'Turkish Delight', our version of 'Jolly Beggarman' and some new songs and tunes composed by ourselves. Many gigs with the aforementioned Pound also beckon including an appearance at London's Barbican centre with a multitude of amazing musicians from around the world. Working on the project really has been a fantastic experience - it's been a bit of a dream come true to play with so many different types of musicians. More festivals and folk clubs are also on the horizon and I shall continue to do the extremely enjoyable pub gigs back in Stafford and up in Newcastle. Hope to see you all in the near future. Best wishes, Dan Walsh

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