The REOFFENDERS

Update on Sound Waves Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Morphy-Richards) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:33:00 +0000

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

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

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

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

New Venues

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Morphy-Richards) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:33:00 +0000

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Express and Echo Review of Haiti Gig

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Morphy-Richards) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:30:00 +0000

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

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

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

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

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

Haiti Benefit Gig

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Morphy-Richards) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:13:00 +0000

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

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

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

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

REOFFFENDERS and Kiss This

Seasons in the Sun:

Videos courtesy of Clive Bellamy. Cheers :-)

It's going to be a Scooterin' 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Hoover) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:34:00 +0000

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best wishes

Hoover

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

Not Bad for a Girl

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Morphy-Richards) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:24:00 +0000

I'm sure most of you remember Katie who used to drum with us? Well, she's been a bit busy lately - writing a punk song no less! Also while she's sat twiddling her thumbs with nothing to do, she writes an article for a website called "People's Republic of South Devon".

So have a read! I believe the song is called 'The REOFFENDERS'. Awwww, bless :-)

People's Republic of South Devon

"Soundwaves Saturday" on Saturday 20th March 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Hoover) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:24:00 +0000

Through Bully, our old bassist, I've been involved with Soundwaves, which is an Exeter group dedicated to helping people with learning difficulties to come together and make music.

Obviously with any charity project one of the main demands on us is to help raise some cash to ensure the group can keep going. So we've joined up with Lemonrock to promote "Soundwaves Saturday".

Rather than have a specific "fundraising gig", bands and venues can sign up to support Soundwaves on the 20th March. Bands will be asked to agree to donate a small percentage of their fee to Soundwaves, the venue will be asked to match that donation, and the audience themselves can also take part in the giving too!

We hope that bands and venues will be supportive, as this small charity is specifically about helping people with learning difficulties gain confidence and real pleasure through music - something I think we all understand.

Soundwaves will be contacting all the bands/venues with gigs listed on Saturday 20th March to give them full details on how they can take part.

What can you do?

If you're in a band or know bands/venues, then help to spread the word and get them involved. All they need to do is get hold of me through The REOFFENDERS website/myspace/facebook/lemonrock or through Soundwaves' own myspace/lemonrock pages. We'll get straight back to them with full details about what they can do to help.

To find out more about Soundwaves, and maybe even get involved with their work, go to their Lemonrock or myspace pages. Soundwaves are always keen to hear from people with and without music skills who are keen to support the project.

http://www.myspace.com/soundwavesmusicproject

http://www.lemonrock.com/soundwavesmusicproject

The Christmas Tree Massacre

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Morphy-Richards) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:55:00 +0000

We were playing the Crawford in Exeter on Saturday night. They do like their punk there so we played a slightly edgier set than normal, and less cheese. Normally by the end of the night, the dancing has got a little inebriated and less co-ordinated. Sadly there was a victim in the midst of this on Saturday.

A poor defenseless Christmas tree stood in the corner of the room, to the side of the band but at floor level. The moshing knocked into it a couple of times before some more Grinch like dancers decided to get more aggressive with it. Ultimately it ended up in the mosh pit! Ah... and oops.

Despite our efforts to get it left alone, it kept being abused. Thankfully its the type that dismantles into three bits so, apart from a couple of baubles, everything was salvageable. The landlady took it in good spirits. Cheers Tina.

An Acoustic Evening with Katie Tefal

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Morphy-Richards) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:50:00 +0000

Paul, John and I went to Totnes last night to see Katie Tefal, our former drummer, performing.

As most of you will know, she's annoyingly talented and writes her own music, sings, plays guitar and bass as well as drums. Lately, she's been playing drums for Dan Crisp but as the support slot at his gigs, gets to play her own music. Ideal!

Last night was at the Barrel House in Totnes, a lovely intimate venue with soft candlelight. Katie played congas whilst Dan sang but did about an hour of her own music. She was joined on some songs by a beat boxer, a stroke of genius. She mixed quiet emotional songs with a Suzanne Vega cover and then 'Jump', a 90s Dance song by Kriss Kross which was genius! I hoping that'll pop up on YouTube soon.

Go to Katie's website and have a listen. A great evening, thanks Katie.

p.s. we're very very chuffed (and actually quite emotional) with the CD liner mention. Cheers kiddo :-)

In a White Room.... With Black Curtains...

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Morphy-Richards) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:42:00 +0000

It doesn't have black curtains (although it is near the station ) but the White Room in Dawlish is a gem of a venue!

The room is at the back of the South Devon Inn on Strand Hill in Dawlish. There's loads of space for the audience, either at tables or dancing. There's a bar at the back and a purpose built stage area for the band. It's all rather nice, I have to say!

It was our first time there and we had a really good gig. It was good to know that people are discovering it and we'll look forward to even more people there next time (probably Spring 2010)

Well done to Scott for transforming the room, and putting so much thought and attention into it. It's great to meet a landlord who is so into supporting live music.

Expect the Unexpected

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Morphy-Richards) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:23:00 +0000

We played at the Crown in Bridport on Saturday. It's probably the smallest 'stage' area that we have at any of our gigs which isn't our preferred option if we're honest. We like lots of room to run around and normally adds to our enjoyment if we have space.

However, sometimes you forget that there are other things that can transform a gig, like an audience as captive (and downright bloody cheeky) as this lot. There was much heckling and joking with the band from the audience and it was really good fun. Thanks guys :-)

Back to Brixham

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Morphy-Richards) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:00:00 +0000

It's been a long time since we've played Brixham, probably about 3 years. Back then, the Bolton was run by Ian who I still reckon is the best pub landlord I've ever met.

A few months ago, Madge bumped into Ian in Brixham and what do you know, he's got a new pub. Last night was our first visit to The Trawler, but definitely not our last.

Ian asked us to start early and have a longer break to accommodate the boxing, so we started at 8.45pm and then took a break at 9.30pm. How long does boxing last? Anything from 2mins to an hour it seems! We went back on at 11.00pm and the long break somehow made me desperate to get back on so I was like a jack in the box, jumping about.

Lots of requests were shouted out but sadly we didn't have time for all of them. Next time guys, I promise! Good to see so many faces, old and new.

Halloween at Branscombe

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Morphy-Richards) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:49:00 +0000

Ourselves and Electric Landlady had been booked to play the Halloween Party at Branscombe Airfield, with a running order of a set by us, then Landlady, the us again to close. This gave us the advantage of wearing two different outfits! Yay! Dressing up time :-)

We played the first set in our normal Reoffenders band clothes and then nipped away and got spookied up. As a result, we missed most of Electric Landlady's set whilst we put on makeup that we weren't used to and the bassist was given hair (which he's definitely not used to!)

Most of the audience were also in fancy dress which gave a great atmosphere. My favourite outfits were the 7' grim reaper and Harold Shipman! I did have a moment where I looked to one side and Death was sitting calmly watching me. Spooked me right out, I've obviously been reading too much Terry Pratchett lately!

The whole evening was a triumph and I was hugely impressed by the way that the hangar had been dressed in cobwebs to make it look the part. Well done David! Your parties are a triumph!

Jersey

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Morphy-Richards) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:20:00 +0000

Friday

We flew at 5pm on Friday which is a lot more civilised than our normal 7am flights. I'd decided to go to work in the morning which proved to be a bad idea - I was knackered before I started!

We got to Chambers for soundcheck at 6.30ish but the mixing desk had been borrowed for another gig so we went off for dinner first. We went to Romanos which we've enjoyed on previous visits to Jersey and then went back to Chambers for 9pm and then went to the hotel to dump our bags and kill a bit of time before the gig.

It's a funny mixture of people at Chambers. Some people love the cheesy silly stuff whilst others want the old school harder edged punk. We try to balance the setlist so that there's something for everyone. I rearranged the setlist to include a song that someone had asked for and rearranged probably the next half an hours worth of music to accommodate, much to the confusion of the rest of the band.

We got back to the hotel at about 2.30am and stayed up talking for a couple of hours before bed.

Saturday

I didn't make it to breakfast but John woke me up with a slice of toast that he'd brought up from the restaurant and a coffee. Good hunter gathering there hun!

We popped our heads through the adjoining door into the boys' room and OH MY GOD! The stench was overpowering. Two horrified faces reported that Indesit had been trumping like a goodun! He didn't help prove his innocence with his sniggering.

John and I got the bus to St Ouen for a wander while the boys watched football in Chambers. We had a couple of pints of real ale (a hard to find commodity) and mooched around the pearl factory where we had a good coffee and saw lots of jewellery that I'd never want to buy.

Back in St Helier, we discovered plaques in the harbour commemorating some crazy people who have swum round the island. We're talking 11 hours of swimming! Nuts!

The guys had been to MacDonalds so John and I went to Bella Italia for pizza. We had a great meal and the best service I've ever had from a waiter who was being impressively efficient yet making it look easy.

We went back to the hotel to chill before the gig. I went into the bathroom to be met by the most unimaginable smell that Satan himself would have been proud of. It seems we hadn't closed the adjoining door and minutes before we arrived back, Rob had nipped in and left a present for us! Bastard! He's still laughing about it now!

I was feeling so tired that I felt a bit unwell so I stuck to water for the rest of the evening. It was also insanely hot as the aircon hadn't been switched on so we were cooking nicely. John asked the audience if anyone had seen us before and two lovely ladies piped up that they'd seen us at Cobo Bay in Guernsey and had in fact flown over especially to see us. Awwwwww :-)

As soon as we got back to the hotel, I went straight to bed, totally pooped.

Sunday

We'd all decided to get out of St Hellier for the day so got a bus to Gorey on what proved to be a lovely sunny day. It's a pretty place with a big castle on the hill but at £10 entry each, we just looked from the outside.

It was Paul's turn to be knackered but there was a general air of weariness in the group. Beers were had and scenic pics taken but before long it was time to go home.

We got back to St Hellier, picked up our cases from Chambers and got a taxi to the airport. It was a quiet journey home but at least I stayed awake this time

All Welcome at Branscombe Airfield for Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Hoover) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:30:00 +0000

We thought that it was a private party initially, but we were wrong. The Halloween show at Branscombe Airfield is open to allcomers and its completely FREE!

We'll be playing the show ably assisted by Electric Landlady, who do 70s Rock Covers. So it's a complete roundup of the 70s, with Electric Landlady starting us off and then us finishing the decade.

There's a big stage and PA and lights and lasers and smoke and maybe we'll get Indy to wear a basque and suspenders too.

Go on. You know you want to...

Hoover x

Jersey in October - Yay!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Hoover) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:10:00 +0000

I just phoned round the band to make sure they're all on target to get round to chez Morph'n'Hoov in time to scoot of to Exeter Airport. Then at 16:10 we'll be taking off for Jersey.

This is the first time Rob and Madge have had the pleasure of visiting the beautiful island. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are all forecast as "Sunny Intervals", with a daytime temp of about 13 degC, so we should have a good chance to check out the island, especially on Saturday.

Last time we were there at Easter, Heather and I hired bikes for the day. This time I think we'll be going for a car hire for the day and really have a good look around.

So, if you live in Jersey, or just happen to be visiting, we'll see you at Chambers in St Helier tonight (Friday) and Saturday. We'll be playing from 11:30 til 01:00.

Most excellent.

Hoover x

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Morphy-Richards) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:20:00 +0000

We now have hoodies available for preorder.

Preordering lets us give you a much wider choice of colours and sizes, so go to the order page and pick a colour!

We'll order them by the end of November, with delivery likely within 14 days of that but definitely in time for Christmas.

Planning? What Planning?

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Morphy-Richards) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:21:00 +0000

Just to show what professional, mild mannered and accepting souls The REOFFENDERS are, have a look at the setlist I gave them at our recent Minehead gig!

You see, we do plan ahead and have a different setlist for each gig. But we do like to respond the venue and the audience as best we can. The York asked us to play one long set followed by an encore which needed 'a bit' of shuffling to get the flow right. One of my jobs in the band is to decide the set and adjust if necessary. Halfway through a gig, there isn't time to discuss it and the band are brilliant at going with whatever I say we're going to do (apart from that time at the Crown in Bridport when Hoover drank Palmers 200!).

It was a fun gig but I do have to apologise to the rest of the band somewhat for making them try to decipher my scribblings, with Hoover squinting through his dark glasses to read what the hell I had in store for them next.

Well done boys!

P.S. to anyone observant...we didn't really do Agadoo, it was just a joke that I had going with DeLonghi

Minehead Gig is ON!

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Morphy-Richards) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:18:00 +0000

We've just had confirmation... October 3rd at the York Inn in Minehead is definitely on! Hope to see you there!

Minehead Gig - On or Off?

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Morphy-Richards) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:47:00 +0000

We were a booked to play at the York in Minehead on October 3rd, however this may now not be happening.

They have something else in the pipeline which will or won't happen so currently, our gig is cancelled as they don't want to mess us about. But we might get rebooked at short notice.

So, if you were thinking about going to this gig, check our website or phone the venue nearer the time. Sorry if that's all a bit vague.

Now for the Soppy Bit...

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Morphy-Richards) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:22:00 +0000

Having updated the blog and uploaded photos onto our facebook, I'm feeling a bit emotional so I'm gonna write just a bit more. If you're squeamish, look away now.

I consider myself incredibly lucky to be in this band. To play to audiences like the ones at the 4 gigs this week, to meet so many people that I'd otherwise not ever meet and to travel to different places is a bonus on top of the fun of playing.

I'm especially honoured to be playing with such nice people. I hear stories of other bands who don't get on, have arguments or just don't ever speak to each other in some cases. I find that unimaginable. My band mates are some of my best friends and I'd trust them with my life. I love you guys!

Right, you can open your eyes now, Oscar speech over!

Crazy Weekend Part Three

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Morphy-Richards) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:26:00 +0000

And as predicted... I did indeed feel like shit later!

The airport was quiet so we breezed through without any drama, had a quick hop over to Guernsey and then grabbed a taxi to Cobo Bay where we were staying and playing the first gig.

The Bay was looking rather beautiful and as our rooms weren't quite ready, we had a wander along the beach. We'd been told to help ourselves to breakfast and so tucked into a full English and croissants, and were joined by Mark, our soundman for the first gig.

The gig is on the balcony of Cobo Bay Hotel. The road is closed and the audience watch from the road and beach. Mine and John's hotel room was one of the ones housing the stage on the balcony so as we had a quick nap, people were clambering around setting up cables.

We had lunch at the Rockmount next door before enjoying the other band who were playing, The Tin Soldiers. Bloody good stuff, my particular favourites being Plug in Baby and Take on Me.

The heat was immense but we got very lucky as we started our gig when a bit of cloud appeared which took the temperature down a smidge. The stage was actually two hotel room balconies with a bar dividing them. We didn't run around quite as much as a result but did manage to duck under and hop over now and then. About two songs into our set, it hit me how bloody lucky we are to do this! It was such an amazing setting and an absolute joy to play.

After the show, we met up with David, the owner of the hotel who invited us to dinner and treated us to a bottle of chilled champagne! Oh I say! We sat outside sipping champers whilst watching the sun set across the bay. Rather civilised!

After dinner, we went next door to the Rockmount to play pool and have a few more drinks. We turned in at about 1am which felt much much later having had pretty much no sleep the previous night.

We met for breakfast the next morning and then caught a bus to St Peter Port. It was beautiful weather again but quite windy at Cobo. Once we were in the capital though, the air was still and nicely warm. We didn't really do a huge amount - mooched around the shops, stopped for a beer and a bite to eat before getting the bus back to Cobo but is was good to get out and about.

Buses in Guernsey are crazily cheap - a flat fee of 60p wherever you're going - so we decided to save the bosses some cash and get the bus to the Doghouse for soundcheck. It also gave us a chance to see a tour of the part of the island. We got to the Doghouse for 4pm and soundchecked before having dinner and a beer.

We weren't really sure how busy it would be. The Doghouse doesn't normally have music on a Tuesday and after two days of bands at Cobo, surely everyone would be knackered and spent up? Not the case. Although it was quieter than a Saturday, we had a really good audience - some new faces and some familiar - and I really felt that the audience was on our side before we even started.

The legs were growing weary and my throat was quite sore but we bounced around and sang our hearts out for over an hour and a half without stopping. David requested that My Way be repeated for his wife, Julie who had missed it the first time round and appealled to our better nature with another bottle of Champagne. You know, we could get used to this!

We got back to Cobo at about 1am and had a coffee in the boys' room before calling it a night.

4 hours sleep later, we were packing to come home. We were all looking well past our best by this point (apart from Madge who is annoyingly chipper and healthy looking first thing in the morning!) and we were all nodding off a bit on the plane. I totally missed take off and was snoring like a goodun by all accounts. Oops.

We had an amazing time in Guernsey. We are treated like royalty there and the people are so friendly, it's an absolute pleasure to be there. We're in talks about going back in April or May... can't wait!

Crazy Weekend Part Two

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Morphy-Richards) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:36:00 +0000

We got back from Watchett Festival about an hour and a half ago. Currently, myself, Madge and DeLonghi have adopted the "what's the point in going to bed" approach. Oooh, that'll bite us in the bum tomorrow I suspect!

We got to Watchett at about 8.30pm, got wristbanded and then went to explore (and perhaps have a beer). We bumped into Andy from Taunton and a guy from Minehead (who's name escapes me, sorry) who has his leather jacket adorned with our name. Very cool it is.

We couldn't move any of our stuff out of the van until the Wurzels started so we enjoyed a beer, watched a few of their opening songs and then got to work. There was a smallish marquee next to the stage where we could unload our gear and get changed. Madge had to construct his drum kit in readiness to carry on stage. There was a half an hour changeover between bands which is normal but there's a lot to do in that half hour and you've got to be as prepared as possible.

We made a conscious effort to not go on stage in gig clothes before we started and as I had more "getting changed" to do than the boys because of makeup, they did all of the putting stuff on the stage.

Showtime came round quickly and we stormed through a set of faves with a couple of newies thrown in for the people who had seen us before. There were a few familiar faces in the audience but it wasn't until Seasons in the Sun that we realised how many people had seen us before as a sea of people bobbed up and down and swayed side to side. Twas an amazing sight!

About a third of the way into the gig, the compere told us that we had to finish fifteen minutes earlier than originally expected so I chopped things out of the set to trim it to fit. The guys are quite accepting with changes that I make in that kind of scenario but sometimes communicating it across a stage can be tricky.

We finished with Should I Stay or Should I go but then came back for an encore of Nellie the Elephant with the audience going nuts. A very happy end to a great gig.

Just checked my watch... its time to wake up the others. Oh I'm gonna feel like shit later...

Crazy Weekend Part One

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Morphy-Richards) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 10:35:00 +0000

This weekend, the REOFFENDERS have 4 gigs back to back with a plane ride in between! Yowser! Exciting stuff and a weekend that promises very little sleep.

We started last night at the Vintage in Wellington. We were expecting to play a hot and sweaty gig inside but because so many people were expected, landlord Dave decided we could play outside seeing as the weather was being well behaved. Normally we'd bring our big PA for this and mic up the drums but we managed to get a good sound with our baby PA and a couple of vocal mics put on the drumkit. Bodge it.. yeah!

Rob, Madge and Indy were struggling with cold limbs as we started but a bit of leaping around sorted that out and we soon warmed through. The Wellington lot responded with leaping around of their own and well behaved carnage ensued. We did have two guys fall over the monitor which Rob brilliantly avoided. I'm actually surprised it hasn't happened before! But it was an accident and the guys picked themselves up and with nothing broken (speakers or bones) they carried on moshing.

Dave arranged for the kebab shop to deliver us a takeaway while we packed up (how awesome is that???) and we scoffed chips on the way home in a tired but happy kinda way.

Next stop.... Watchett Festival

Cornwall Tour 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Morphy-Richards) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:19:00 +0000

Well, we're back! The washing machine is on its second load and we're looking forward to eating a meal on a proper plate with a proper knife and fork!

Rob's girlfriend Debi was with us for the whole week and Claire Magimix joined us for the weekend making a very sociable extended family. So, here's the rundown of what went on:

Tuesday - Setting up Camp

John and I set off at 2ish but had to stop half way down the A30 to check on Iggy who just wasn't driving right. Iggy has weird suspension - instead of springs, he has airbags and these were as flat as pancakes! The gadget that inflates them had given up the ghost and Iggy was trailing his backend very low. We rang Matt (Iggy's maintainer, top mechanic and drummer with Trigger Happy) who found us a VW specialist in Truro. Looks like Iggy's getting springs fitted!

We drove at 50mph for the rest of the journey and got to the campsite at about 4.30pm. It is literally just a field with a shower block at one end. But no kids entertainment, shop or clubhouse. Yay! We parked the furthest away in an effort to reduce noise for the other campers. Paul turned up at about 6pm having already been to the site once, not seen where we were cos we were so far away, and had to drive to St Ives to get mobile signal!

Russell, who owns the campsite where we were, let us unload our stuff into his workshop temporarily. The suspension started working again! Yay! It seems that Iggy had just been grumbling about the exceptionally heavy load. He had a point!

Paul, the bassist from Pondlife, came out for a beer later and took us to the Star Inn in Crowlas. We'd visited the Star last year and know it to be an exceptional place for real ale.

Four pints later, Paul dropped us back off at camp. We sat up chatting for a bit and then shuffled off to bed.

Wednesday - Five go to Falmouth

I woke up at about 9am with a nasty headache (that'd be the beer and gin mixed then!) but thought at least I'd have time to recover before the others arrived. I then looked up to see Mr DeLonghi charging across the campsite! Eh? He and Debi had left Exeter at about 7am!!! Yikes! Once their tent was up, we all trucked off to Lidl for provisions of water, jaffa cakes and smoothies. You can live a long time on jaffa cakes you know! Rob struggled with the choice of Stella or Bishops Finger and diplomatically decided both were required!

We got back to camp in time for Paul Magimix to arrive before we all headed to Falmouth for the gig. It was Falmouth week so the town was ridiculously busy. We got everything setup but the stage area is rather compact so Rob ended up looking at the back of a speaker for the whole evening. Not great for him!

Our mate (and band stalker) Andy Parsons works in Falmouth and had arranged for all his navy colleagues to come to the gig in fancy dress. There were some great punk outfits, and some not so punk! My favourite was the 6'6" penguin that kept bouncing dangerously close to my monitor. I got into trouble because Andy's wife Helen had turned up to surprise him - which I knew about but hadn't let on. Top quote of the night... he walked up to Helen and said "You look like my wife with a wig on!" LOL! He had started drinking 6 hours earlier!

We had a quick pack away and then went back to camp for suppertime beer and leftover bolognese.

Debi had been on the wine all night and spectacularly fell over the firepit which in hindsight had been left in a bloody stupid place for when it was dark. Her arms were bruised really badly but I can't deny laughing when she wandered into the tent attached to the mesh lid which had got snagged on her tshirt. Poor lamb couldn't unattach herself!

Thursday - Day Off

Andy had invited the band to Culdrose for a guide tour. Indesit, Madge and myself aren't big helicopter fans so we went into St Ives while the others went to the Navy base. Can anyone explain how Andy was functioning after the state he was in last night?

It was a beautiful day in Snives. I had three things on my list of things to do: Have a pizza in Sazbah, a beer in the Castle and see a seal.

We wandered along the harbour and almost straight away saw a seal posing for the tourists. There's three that come in every day following the fishing boats so the locals are quite used to them. It doesn't matter how often I see them, I still find them amazing to watch.

Next we went to the Castle Inn for a pint (or four) before John appeared with his sister, brother in law, niece and nephew who were holidaying nearby and had been on the Culdrose tour earlier that day. It was too nice to stay indoors so we went to the beach for a bit. The two Paul's played football with John and the kids whilst I caught up with Karen and Alexa tried to dig to Australia.

Indesit and I have a ritual of shoving each other on stage so it seemed natural to carry on shoving each other on the beach. This degenerated into a wrestling match which I lost badly, only managing to floor him twice. John's nephew asked "are they always like this?". Erm, kind of, yeah!

We went to Sazbah for pizza and were delighted to find Kayne working there! We'd been told he was moving to Kent so it was lovely to catch up with him. Hugs were had and Aftershocks were presented moments later.

Rob and Debi had gone back to the campsite to freshen up and rejoined us for games of pool and beers at the Castle before we got the last bus back to the campsite.

It was a lovely clear sky so we got the firepit going and watched the Perseids (annual shower of shooting stars) which was something else that had been on my list! Tick!

Friday - Praa Sands

We all started surfacing from around 9.30 but for some reason, took a ridiculous length of time to do anything constructive. As a result, the whole day was spent sitting around not really doing anything.

At about 3pm, we went for another trip to Lidl before getting our stuff together for the gig. We got to Praa Sands for about 7pm which gave us loads of time to setup. After Wednesday, it was great to have lots of room. There was a band playing in a small marquee on the beach which was very cool. The Sandbar has an amazing view with windows the full length of the pub overlooking the beach.

The audience were pretty up for it from the very start but the chairs and tables around the outside of the room hampered the dancing a little until people couldn't contain themselves any longer and just pogoed anyway. No More Heroes was mad! It was great to see an audience aged 7 to 67 there, all dancing and enjoying the music. It was also nice that so many people remembered us from last year and had been looking forward to us coming back for so long.

As well as Indesit and I shoving each other, we also stand on each other's feet a lot. I felt somewhat picked on when suddenly I had Indesit standing on my right foot and DeLonghi on my left! No fair!

As we were packing away, Rob gave me a big hug. "Oh how sweet", I thought until I realised he was farting and passing on the vibrations! Urgh! Dirty smelly boy!

It was too damp to get the fire going back at camp so we sat in the tent for a while drinking before bed time. We're averaging 3.30am bedtimes at the moment.

Saturday - Hayle: The Hottest Pub in Cornwall

Indesit and Madge went into Hayle to watch the Chelsea match so the rest of us got a taxi into Snives. I went down to the beach and saw a seal about two feet away from me! It was amazing to see it so close!

We managed to grab a table on the Sundeck at the Sloop and got a couple of drinks in. Madge arrived with Mrs Madge (Claire) who'd got the train down to join up with the group and Kayne called in to catch up with us. The Sloop has a great location and beer garden but just can't compete with the Castle on beer which sadly doesn't have an outdoor area. Boo!

The Copperhouse at Hayle was pretty warm when we were setting up but proved to be insanely hot during the gig. I'd brought a towel to the gig which I never do normally but was very glad of it. Rob, Indy and I all ended up using it and we were all drinking gallons of water. I honestly don't ever recall such a hot pub gig! John literally wrang out his tshirt after we'd finished!

Sophia from Birmingham band, Bitch Mother, sang along to pretty much every song and almost wet herself laughing when we did Seasons in the Sun. That song never fails to impress!

An old guy had been dancing all night (I'd nicknamed him Crazy Legs) but proved himself to be a brilliant bouncer towards the end of the gig when he stopped the moshing from spilling over the monitors.

Once again, it was great that so many people remembered us from last time and had been keeping up with us on the internet.

Back at camp, Paul got the acoustic guitar out and resurrected some songs from our Calling Orson days as we all sat around the firepit.

Sunday - Back in the Lion's Den at St Ives

We had planned to play Pitch and Putt today but time slipped away from us once again! God, we're crap!

We got some food in Hayle and then went back to the campsite to get a taxi into St Ives. Paul went to watch the Liverpool match, John and I went for a walk along the coast path and the others went shopping.

We rendevouzed at the Castle for a couple of beers before getting the bus back to collect the van and gig clothes. Parking in St Ives is tricky so bringing the van down for the whole day wasn't really an option.

Halfway down the hill in the van, we spotted Tony and Bettina so stopped and did hugs through the window, said a quick hello and then carried on before we caused a traffic jam.

Paul and Nigel from Pondlife appeared shortly after we'd started playing and were pogoing madly to White Riot. Paul demonstrated his party trick of throwing beer mats at an alarming velocity and accuracy. One beermat hit Rob's bass and knocked it out of tune. One hit me between the eyes! Hmmmm! We're wondering what Pondlife gig to go to with our own missiles to throw!

Our next obstacle was toilet paper. There had been discussions at the bar about "back in the day" you showed your appreciation for punk bands by throwing toilet paper at them. Apparently. And so Kayne found a couple of bog rolls and we got wrapped up like Andrex puppies! This was proving a most bizarre gig!

Paul had woken up to find his left hand bitten or stung by something during the night and his hand was swollen like a balloon and very painful. He'd tried ice and anti histamines to no avail, so he decided to go for alcoholic anaesthetic. Obviously I had to keep him company, so we hit the Jaegerbombs whilst John went to get the van to pack away.

It was a dry night so when we got back to the campsite, we got the firepit going again and John got stuck into the gin in an effort to catch up. Bedtime was about 5am!

Monday - Time to Go Home!

If I'd thought we had too much stuff on the way down, it felt like even more when it all had to come out of the tents in the morning to pack down! It took ages!

Madge and Claire had to disappear quickly to pick up Mini and Micro Madge from their grandparents'. The rest of us packed away and then drove to Cafe One for lunch before driving back to sunny Devon.

P.S. There's more pics available on our facebook