OUR NEXT SHOW

Tour began on a sunny Thursday with our London and Edinburgh contingents linking in the canny north-east. Our Ska Monkey pals were in their usual good spirits although some of them were worried about their fine football team being relegated (its happened and we're sorry lads). But ska is a good thing to chase the worries away and Bubbles was bouncing to the beat of Big Hand. Post gig we drove over to Tony E's and were entertained by his stories of criminals and peace protesters charging into cesspits. We're still chuckling away at that one Tony!!

We never have enough time to do all that we need to do on tour so it was fitting that Tim scheduled in a practice so we could work on some new material. So, we dashed from Newcastle to the rehearsal studio in Edinburgh first thing in the morning. Morning is not something we usually wake up for when on tour so Tim must've had something going on in his head. We hit the studio and two hours later we'd perfected a new song bouncing around in Tim's head. Its a cracker. It's called 'Ride' and you'll all be seeing it soon we hope.

After rehearsal we were on the move north again. This time to Aberdeen where we had previously been treated to some exhibitionism by the girls in the support band. No such luck this time although there was a cracking ska punk band on whose name escapes me... sorry guys- let us know if you're reading. The venue was looking like a graveyard but filled out nicely by the time we got on. Was good to see you Hen, Dod + Dod but where was Random Bunny again? See you next time we hope!

We drove back from Aberdeen right after the gig and steeled ourselves for Glasgow. Glasgow is a bit of a weird one. An hour's drive away from Edinburgh, where we can pull in 500-700 for a gig, and we struggle to get even a handful of people. Apparently there might be some sort of prejudice to bands outwith Glasgow, especially if you're from Edinburgh? Its news to us but might explain a few things... come on Glasgow you're supposed to famous for your openness and friendliness not for being insular, ignorant and sneering. Please shed some light on this people if you can. We'll be back to play King Tuts in a few weeks with the brilliant Amphetameanies so we'll see how that kicks off but we're starting to take Glasgow ignoring us personally and we don't take things personally lying down. Fight for the free thinking in your life! Anyway the staff at Maggie Mays were all cool and the girls were amazingly cute ;D
Plus it was good to see Jager Paul too.

To ease the frustration of the Glasgow gig we zoomed back to Edinburgh, dropped Philo back home as his wee boy was no feeling well and the rest of us headed to Messenger Sound System at The Bongo Club for a Dub attack. Was good to feel the riddim. Our manager got told off by the Bongo's answer to the Gestapo for being unprofessional which was highly amusing before Pabs was sent home for passing out on a high stool with a massive grin on his face. What were you up to boys?! The remaining band members supped banana beer through the lock in and thanks to Pete for letting us chill.

We wrapped up the weekend with our hometown. Unknown Hagana were the first band on the bill and they get better every time we play with them. Then onto the Skababs who played the big ska tunes big style and warmed up the crowd briliantly for us go mash em up. And the usual skankfest ensued. We then chatted to all the quality people who'd come to the gig including an air traffic controller from London and his mate who'd come to see Big Hand especially for his first post 18th birthday gig. Respect Rudeboys!! Once the gig was done with Luke, Tim and Ingi were away back down the road as Luke had a plane to Australia to catch and Tim had also decided to go on holiday for the thirteenth time this year. Hope you're having fun fellas!

Free thinking, Easy skanking