OK, so it’s not called Long Island any more, it’s now the Mosaic Bar, but yes Goodbye Sergeants are doing a gig there on 3rd April. Me and Jules used to live in Sutton, and Jon still does (kind of why we moved away really), so it’ll be great to play somewhere we’ve been turned away from so many times for not having the right shoes on.
Check out the venue’s website or Chog Town, the promoter’s Myspace for more details.
I was just searching for stuff on the band on Google when I should’ve been working and I stumbled across the fact that our ancient demo version of Over So Soon seems to have crept up to Number 1 on The Mag’s download chart for February. Who’d have thought it?
My friend Tony, who got us involved with Help For Heroes, and at one point was having serious talks with us about being our manager, happens to be friends with Al Murray, so he got me a ticket to the filming of his show Happy Hour with a backstage pass. Very funny show, and when I met the man himeself he was very nice, and a bit pissed, although rather disappointingly on red wine rather than beer. I was also informed that the beer he drinks on the show is non-alcoholic. Still, the beer I was drinking that night was free, so who could complain. I made friends with a guy called Tim too, although he hasn’t yet replied to my email, but maybe it went into his junk folder and he thinks that I’m a twat for not emailing him. Who knows.
I also met Glenn Tilbrook from Squeeze, and stood very close to Peter Davison (Dr Who, All Creatures Great and Small) and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen (oh, you know who he is).
There are some photos up now on the Facebook page from the Heatham House gig on 26th Jan. Thanks to all involved! We had a great time, and considering we’d only rehearsed with Matt 3 times beforehand, it couldn’t have gone better.
We’ll be taking some time off doing shows for a while (unless we get asked to do any particularly exciting ones!) to concentrate on new tracks, and rehearsing with new members of course!
We will be playing an ‘all ages’ show once again at Heatham House this Saturday (26th Jan), so if you’re a regular down there and saw us last time, we look forward to seeing you again. This will actually be a very different gig than usual for us because perhaps surprisingly, Matt Jarman (Dissident Sound Industry) will be playing guitar with us, after only a couple of rehearsals. We will even be playing some new material written with him in the last 2 weeks, so it’s gonna be pretty crazy. Check out the venue website for more info.
That’s right, it’s official. Matt Haynes, known to millions all over the globe as “The People’s Guitar Hero”, “Norris”, or just plain old “McCartney” has decided to quit the band to persue other interests like smoking and playing Guitar Hero.
Matt was of course an original member from when the band formed back in late 2005, and will be missed by the many millions of fans he accrued over his 2 year service, who to be honest, probably thought he was actually Paul McCartney.
Matt’s glorious guitar can be heard, of course, all over the Live At The Buffalo Bar EP, and on the (s)hit single Boy Band Kind Of Way (still available to download on iTunes by the way!)
OK, so the first bit of news worth posting on this new site is that on December 17th 2007, we performed at Headley Court, the armed forces rehabilitation centre near Epsom in Surrey, as part of their Christmas Dinner event for Help For Heroes, which is a group which raises funds for wounded servicemen.
Swimming and weight-training is the only way for injured service men and women to build up damaged muscle and regain the strength to use artificial limbs, so Help For Heroes aims to raise £5million to build a swimming pool and gym complex at Headley Court.
The group is supported by a number of celebrities, and is also heavily backed by publications like The Sun. James May from Top Gear is one such celebrity who, as you can see, was over the moon to bump into us. He actually said we were his favourite band!*
here’s the link to the flyer for this Friday’s SINGLE LAUNCH gig! Another Jon Shortt, chimp obsessed classic!
Please print this and bring this along to make sure you get in for free! Don’t forget we’re also filming the whole thing for a video, so we need plenty of people in the crowd pretending to enjoy themselves!
Also, we’ll be playing live and being interviewed on BBC SCR this Sunday night, so check that out if you get a chance too.
The show starts about 19:00 UK time, and you can listen in Brighton on 95.3 FM, in Sussex & Surrey on 104-104.8 FM, Solent & Hampshire on 96.1 FM, and Dorset on 103.8 FM, or just LISTEN ONLINE from wherever you are at www.bbc.co.uk/southerncounties
So, just when you thought it couldn’t any better, with the prospect of a 4 day weekend coming up, let me tell you this: It does get marginally better. Well, I guess it’s subjective.
But anyway, the next Goodbye Sergeants gig is this Friday 6th April at the Watershed in Wimbledon, and it’ll only cost you ONE POUND to get in with our flyer:
We obviously can’t do this very often, so come along even if you wouldn’t normally bother, bring everyone you know, and it’ll be a great night. The headliners are actually quite good as well (for once), and you can drink all day before hand, and then afterwards till 3AM!
We also have some extra musicians on stage this time, so we’re pretty excited that it’s gonna be a great show. Hopefully see you there: http://www.the-watershed.com/