Another busy week has flown by. I did 4 nights last week and there's another 4 coming up this week too.

On Tuesday I went over to the Abbey Inn for their singaround/open night. This was largely in preperation for my gig there on Friday night. I played a new song, Martyn Joseph's 'Between the Raindrops', as well as 2 recent additions to my covers list: Days and Here Comes The Sun. I forgot my bag at this one, and went the wrong way to get there. And I thought I'd woken up a bit too!

Thursday took me back to The Primrose for a fairly decent opening slot. I did 6 songs and managed to get a bit of banter going. As usual it was a sparse crowd containing memebers of the other acts and their friends. I did both of the piano songs from the new album. Gods And Angels and Cold Steel Lover. I really wanted to do both of these as I now have a greater insight into their meaning, all thanks to Sarah's wonderful lyrics. I even got an encore and went through 'Won't Back Down'.

Friday was the aforementioned Abbey solo gig. Not a great turnout, but all thanks to my small but ever-growing following for making it a much better night than it could have been. I played more covers than I would have really liked to, but in the end settled into a nice raport with the audience and had a fairly decent gig.

Saturday night was back to the band. And as with all bands, 4 people means 4 times the potential for something to go wrong! I switched my phone on at dinner time, nice and casually, only to be met by a barrage of messages from our regular drummer Steve who had gone down ill. He'd phoned the night before, which of course was when my battery died! The wonders of technology.
So I had to frantically rush round looking for a drummer, and this is where having stnad-ins has really paid off, as we've had 3 drummers cover the gigs so far. So it's a big thank you to Matt who was available and came and played a blinder.

The pub was an old haunt from my cover band days. Of course it's changed hands since then, as they all have! We played in the bar to a small but very enthusiastic crowd. As the night went on the more enthusiastic they became. This being to the point that we had to play an extra 20 mins 'encore' set, paid of course!

It was an encouraging enjoyable night to round off a fairly tough week for the band. And we nearly had an extra traveller on the way back as a local moggy had found it's way into the van. With the doors closed and the engine running, we heard it just in time before it would have had a free ride back to Brighouse! So there you go, even my band had some pussy in the back of the van.

The other thing that amused me last week, although perhaps it shouldn't have, was the Florence Nightingale Pub in Leeds which met a sticky end thanks to a gas explosion. Luckily it was derelict at the time, but I have it on record that I once played a gig there back in 2003. Now I do hope that isn't starting a trend....Paul Jeffery will play your pub and then it will explode. Could be just the new gimmick I need. Come to think of it, there's a few more I wouldn't have minded blowing up over the years.

Another song mixed on the Paradise Street project last week. That's 3 down 10 to go! The good news is I now have enough material for a myspace page. The bad news is I don't have enough time to make one! Perhaps the blogs will have to get shorter.

I must admit to being completely knackered last week. That's the problem with leading such a hectic life! When I say hectic of course I mean dis-organised. Not hectic as in planes and limos here and there. That's the kind of hectic I need.

I performed at the Kings Arms Open Mic on Wednesday night. After the band's succesful raid there the previous Friday I thought I'd unleash more of my own material. It turned out to be the first night they'd actually run an open mic so as such it wasn't a great success! I played 'Shadow', 'Whiskey', 'One Of Us' and 'These Eyes'. They need to have the night hosted properly otherwise it won't work-the musicians support is there!

On Friday the Band returned to the Snooty Fox at Oakworth for what was one of our first repeat bookings. It was busier and slightly more atmospheric than the first time, which isn't saying much! But at least it's a step in the right direction. Not the easiest of venues, paritcularly for original material, but we had a reasonable night as a band.

That was it for music as I went off to Bristol via Birmingham over the weekend for the Stock Cars. And yes it actually only rained at one of them! Bristol remained dry and sunny which does tend to make all the difference as we belatedly limp into Spring. The shitty weather of late has really got me down.

Still making slow progress with the Paradise Street album, and still building up the myspace page, now to over 20,000 hits!

The Kings Arms at Heaton on Friday was my first time there. The Band's first gig for a couple of weeks too. This time it was Paul and Norm in the line-up. The venue is an interesting blend of people, with a good atmosphere and quite an old-fashioned feel about the place.
The set went down a storm, and we'll be back there in August.

Sunday afternoon was Fernandes Brewery Tap for the 2nd time. This being a pub with an even older feel to it, something quite unique in fact. The first set was better than expected and the 2nd slightly worse, leaving me pretty tired by the end. (I'd worked Saturday night with Atlanta Fuckin' Soul in Northwich). The first had mainly listeners, some good responses and a couple of album sales. The 2nd had less listeners and more of a couldn't-care-less attitude. I'm known for dwelling on the handful of bad gigs I've had rather than the many good ones, so let's approach it 'half-full' rather than 'half-empty' and say it was a good gig based on the first set.

It might not seem much but it was a very busy week. I managed to virtually complete another Paradise Street track (myspace page still to follow!) and follow-up the usual round of printing, phone-calls, gig hustling and twats who run two pubs which host bands in Brighouse and Northowram.

I returned to 2 open mic nights this week on Tuesday and Wednesday. Two that I did many times last year. First up was The Primrose, which has moved to Tuesdays now. The heady days of the Cloth Cat night seem a fair way off at the moment. It was pretty quiet, but as usual the PA was big and full-sounding and the people were very welcoming. I played It Will Pass, The Prisoner and If He Knew You, finished my drink and went home.

The following night was The Grove. This is the one open mic that counts for more than some paying gigs in terms of promotion. It was busy in the little room, and the atmosphere was the usual friendly hostility! I played Chains Around My Heart and also one of Tim Wood's songs: 'Some Religion', which was a novel idea to help promote the Sunday gig, more of which in a minute.

Thursday was a night off, so just for a change I went to a gig. Chris Rea at Newcastle City Hall. I'd only found out about this tour days before, and this was the only place I could find a ticket in. So I set off, and 90 minutes later made it to past Bradford on the M62-another day, another accident on the motorway, and another few thousand pissed off motorists. With over half my journey time completed and set about the simple drive up to Newcastle and got to the venue about 10 minutes before the start. Just as well, as I was in for a treat.

It was one of the best gigs I've been to, possibly ever. Watching a superb band, voice, guitarist and sound, a sat there in amazement and awe at the man who had come back from the dead (almost) playing like a man possessed. Such was the enthusiasm in the performance that I reckon I'd have loved it even if I didn't already dig the music style, which of course I do so it was easy! So after the mother and father of all traffic jams, I had a really good night.

Two full gigs completed the week over the weekend. One bad and one belter here. The bad, well that was Saturday night at the George, King Cross, Halifax. OK, not rough King Cross as in the Junction and the Allan Fold, but dead King Cross a bit further down. What looked like being a fairly useful gig was nothing but another slog through to a dead and unattentive audience. There were 2 types of people: Those in God's Waiting Room who clearly hadn't smiled for 40 years, and those who had smiled but couldn't remember why.
As I got more isolated, I fired back with 'it says no smoking, not no smiling'. I only played 2 originals. Apparently there's normally another 30 people there (and yet again the weather was a big problem) but it remains to be seen whether this will lift the atmosphere sufficiently.

On Sunday things were much much better, as it was the New Inn at Barwick. Here small crowds don't matter as the few that do turn up know my set, like it and listen. I also had the small matter of Tim Wood as support, playing his first gig in over a year. Tim is an associate of Jon Strong, and the 2 go back a long way. Around 6 years ago Tim was gigging more regularly and was one of my favourite songwriters. The album they made together 'The Obvious Rhyme' is a masterpiece and when I listened to it a few weeks ago it still sounded just as good.

So Tim did his set and I loved it. It's such a good feeling to be able to do a gig, and spread the word on behalf of those I respect too. All I need now is to do it on a bigger platform, say Wembley this summer. 'Wembley welcomes Tim Wood and Paul Jeffery'.

My set was another step in the right direction, playing more originals than ever before in one set. I only did a few covers and these were mainly new ones or requests. Arguably the highlight was the first encour where I performed Tim's 'Some Religion' song again.

So not a bad end to the week. I even found time to do a bit of mixing on the Paradise Street project too. The myspace page for said project is iminent now, so I will let you know how it goes.