RKmusic

Riff Raff John at Jam Night

Hi Folks !

John - spotted at Jam Night

Last night’s Jam Night went well – another bumper evening of Rock, Pop, Blues and Funk !  And what’s more there was a very special guest in the audience.  The one and only infamous Johnny Unkempt of mighty Riff Raff fame was spotted in the appreciative Thursday night crowd. He enjoyed it so much, he may come and play next time – might have to make it an all ticket event that week !

So what else has been going on ? Musically, I’ve had a bit of a break from recording. More work on the up and coming Riff raff CD is due to continue in the coming weeks.  Last weekend started with a trip to The Barley Mow in Shepperton to see Ed Hamilton – another enjoyable evening!

Last Sunday I was back on the cricket field. We won a pretty amazing game and I got three wickets – Got battered a bit though !

Going back a bit further to the previous weekend, I spent the Saturday afternoon at The Hogs Back Brewery in Tongham. Didn’t drink anything but I did buy a few bottles.

As mentioned previously, Jam Nights are going well and if you haven’t been before, or of late, then get down there – you don’t know what you’re missing !

Oh well, that’s it for now.

See you soon,   BFN,   Rob.

Robfest 2011

Hello everyone.

Well, in case you didn’t realise it, Robfest 2011 took place last Sunday in downtown Ashford in the searing afternoon sunshine and into a barmy summer’s evening and in front of an appreciative specially invited audience. As in previous years, everyone seemed to enjoy the occasion with a varied cuisine and all manner of drinks, readily consumed. The Riff Raff boys arrived one by one to supply the live music from the gazebo, as arranged by  ’Jools Robfest’ himself.

Riff Raff at Robfest 2011... Ooh look, it's Ian !

But where had Ian got to ?  ’Mr. Keys’ was conspicuous by his absence, and there was a gaping void in the gazebo where the keyboards should have been. Eventually  ’Mr. Fest’ rang  ’El Ton’ only to find him sitting at home, all comfy, watching the cricket on the telly. I have to record at this point how commendable this would be under normal circumstances – watching the Test Match, prioritising it above all else … but we’re talking ‘Robfest’ here, which was by now well underway but lacking the presence of fingers !  Eventually Ian did arrive and the classic Riff Raff line up was complete, unlike the first set of classics, during which there were the predictable mutterings from within the Gazebo concerning Ian’s non-presence, which was all due to him thinking that Robfest was next week, even though it had been moved forward a week because he couldn’t make it the week before. Confused ? !  In the end, he made up for it with his dulcet vocal tones and varied keyboard sounds, as you would expect. So all in all, a lovely afternoon and evening of fun in the sun.

You can relive some of your favourite moments, or if you weren’t there, like Ian nearly wasn’t, you can see highlights on video and photos – just click on  Photos & Videos  above and scroll about a bit and you should find them there somewhere. You might even see yourself !

Oh well that’s about it for now … Till next time … BFN, Rob.

Back from the Isle Of Wight

Hello everyone.

On the IOW showing Hendrix how it's done

Well, Me and Rosie have just returned from a week in the Isle Of Wight, during which time we visited some of our favourite old haunts including the Wednesday Curry Night at The White Lion in Arreton – probably the best Curry Night in the world !  On Friday night we were in Shanklin where we split the evening in two, starting off  at The Crab to see Lewis Berry and later moving on to King Harry’s Bar, where ‘Smokestack’ entertained with an evening of rock covers - nothing flash or pretentious just good standards played well – very good !

On Sunday, having returned home the previous day, it was time to try to resurrect my injury hit cricketing career. I marked my comeback with a couple of overs to ease back into things and picked up a wicket into the bargain – a nice little ‘caught behind’.

This coming Wednesday more recording mayhem is planned at ‘Shabby Road’ when Riff Raff John will be visiting to add more sounds to the CD, and Thursday will see me back at Jam Night – hope they didn’t miss me too much last week ! !

So that’s about it for now – see ya soon,   BFN,   Rob.

New Tuesday Jam Night ends

The new Tuesday Jam Night has come to an abrupt end  !

Unfortunately the new Jam Night at Ruislip Social Club, has ended after a two week trial period, due to low attendance. A shame really, as the venue is comfortable with good acoustics and a stage too !

These things happen, but be assured that Thursdays at The Middlesex Arms is still very much up and running.

So, see you there.

BFN, Rob.

Busy Busy

Hello !

Well, it’s been busy busy just lately, with Jam Night last Thursday, plus the first of the new Jam Nights on Tuesday !

The Riff Raff CD took another step forward when Ian came over on Wednesday to record some more stuff. And I’ve put a few more tracks together on another solo project I’m working on. When will all this be completed ? Who knows – there’s still a way to go yet.

On the sporting front, I played cricket last weekend – my first game since my knee operation last August. Thursday was 5-a-side,  Friday was 7-a-side. I came through it all OK but in truth still struggling a bit. I umpired the second innings of our home league game yesterday. It was an enjoyable game which we won !

So, there we are – a brief round-up of what I’ve been up to lately.

So,until next time,    BFN,    Rob.

New Tuesday Jam Night

Hi folks !

I’m sure you’ll be pleased to hear that there’s a new Jam Night to start very soon.  Thanks to Gavin, this new Tuesday Night extravaganza will be happening at :

Ruislip Social Club, Grosvenor Vale, Ruislip HA4  6JQ

starting Tuesday 28th June,  from  8 till 11 pm

*Everybody welcome    *Musicians of all sorts    *Backline and PA provided

*Free Entry

So don’t just sit there doing nothing on Tuesday evenings – grab your instrument of choice and get down to Ruislip Social Club … or just come and have a listen !

See you there.    BFN, Rob.

John leaves the Russian Caravan at home

John - left the tea at home !

The news today, that QPR had massively hiked up their ticket prices for next season, came as a big enough blow, but what happened last night was even more devastating.  John left the flask of Russian Caravan on the table, and left home for the studio, without it. Calamitous ! !  As you will no doubt have read in my previous item, Russian Caravan is John’s tea of choice for a Riff Raff rehearsal and with the intensity of such sessions, it’s pretty damn crucial. So in the absence of our ‘half-time’ refreshments which John very kindly prepares and shares with his fellow band-mates, we resorted to the in-house Tesco tea ! Not bad actually – Good enough to save John from the ultimate in rock’n'roll punishments .. forcing him to learn a Coldplay number.

Anyway leaving all that to one side, it wasn’t a bad session, especially when you consider that we hadn’t played most of the songs for many a blue moon ( I think that’s a song too, as it happens – not one that we play though – luckily ! )

So, with no gigs on the horizon ( except for the much awaited annual ‘Robfest’, of course ),  it looks like I may soon have a load of Riff Raff coming round, barging into ‘Shabby Road’ to continue the recording of the ‘own stuff’ CD.

Oh well, at least they’ll all  be guaranteed copious cups of PG … It is indeed the taste ! !

BFN,   Rob.

It’s been a long time since the Russian Caravan

It’s been a long time since we rock’n'rolled !

Riff Raff

Last night saw Riff Raff back together in covers band mode for the first time for some months, taking a break from the recording sessions at ‘Shabby Road’. John played host to the practice session, in which we went through some new numbers and refreshed our memories on songs now well established in the Riff Raff set.

All this was sparked by the prospect of two forthcoming gigs ; one at the end of May and one in August.  Sadly, in the space of the last two days, both gigs have fallen by the wayside. Still, at least the annual ‘Robfest’ extravaganza is still a goer.

Anyway, back to last night, the Russian Caravan was flowing too. “What’s Russian Caravan ?”  you may ask.  It’s not the name of a new song we’re doing. It’s not the name of the CD that some of the Riff Raff boys have been recording in the ‘Shabby Road’ sessions … It’s tea.  Russian Caravan has a delicate aroma, with a very palatable flavour to match, thoroughly recommended by all the Riff Raff boys, making a change from my personal favourite, PG Tips.  It’s the taste !

We’ll be rehearsing together again next week too, turning up the volume in the studio.

In the meantime, early preparations for ‘Robfest’ are now underway.

I’ll be at Jam Night on Thursday at The Middlesex Arms, so hope to see you there.

BFN,      Rob.

It’s all go at ‘Shabby Road’

Hi Folks.

Happy Easter. Hope you’re enjoying the weather we’re having at the moment – pretty damn good.  Oh, and it’s St. George’s Day today, so Happy St. George’s Day. A good day for slaying dragons, especially Welsh ones ( a little cryptic QPR joke there ! )

New CD by Rob or Riff Raff ?

Jam Nights at the Middlesex Arms are going well, and thankfully, there seem to be no more rumours doing the rounds about closure or any such rubbish !

I’ve spent quite a lot of time over the past few weeks recording a few tracks on my computer studio, aka GarageBand.  Things are developing into a pretty major project now, although it wasn’t intended as that from the outset.  It seems to have grown into a full 12 track CD project.  From little acorns and all that, eh ! ? !  It all  just started off with me recording a few of my own numbers, written over the course of the last couple of decades or so, as a solo CD.  Having got things under way with my recordings, those Riff Raff boys started jumping on the bandwagon. The cheek of it all.  Tut Tut !  First,  John got wind, and he came round and started to record a few of his songs he’s cobbled together over the last four decades.  When I say John got wind, I don’t mean flatulence, but that he got to hear about it – just thought I’d clear up that rumour ).  Anyway, before you could say Liberace, Ian jumped two footed onto the bandwagon clutching his keyboards and I’ve ended up recording a load of musical gems which have emanated from his pen down the years too.  So, what started off as a solo project,  seems to be quickly turning into a Riff Raff CD, without a cover version in sight and not quite as pre-planned. But, it’s turning out to be an enjoyable project to work on and it’s all good stuff !  As the recording and editing is being done round at my place, which resembles a recording studio much of the time, it’s now been nicknamed  ’Shabby Road’. That may not be original, but who cares !

Anyway, today’s a day off from all this recording and editing stuff. There are more important things to turn my attention to. If QPR beat Cardiff City in today’s tough table-topping encounter in the lunchtime kick-off, promotion will be assured and I’ll have to find some way to celebrate. With the weather as it is as well, it could be a good day. Fingers crossed !

BFN,    Rob.

Jam Night is back

Jamming at Jam Night

Yes friends, the Thursday Jam Night at the Middlesex Arms was back last night after a one week break.

It’s now on every Thursday from now on,  so make sure to get down there and be part of the fun !

See you soon,  BFN,  Rob.