Great night at the Kings Arms

The first week back has been and gone, and so has the last bank holiday weekend. I normally feel low at this time of year, but seeing as we've had such a shit summer with the weather I don't suppose it really matters. It's felt like we've been permenently in Autumn anyway. Still, plenty of time to go before the end of the year, and last week really wasn't so bad at all.

The middle part of the week saw (finally) some forward process on the Paradise Street album. This being my 'side project' for female songs. There's six songs already posted on the above link and I'm now beginning to round things up towards finishing the album off. When completed it will have 13 songs on and lately I've been doing my best to spend at least a little time each day in the studio working through things. I'll keep you posted as to how things go.

Friday brought great relief in that we had a brilliant night with the band. This was at the Kings Arms Heaton and whilst the last show was merely very good, this one was exceptional! Oh yes, I kid you not, a full pub, an appreciative audience, and altogether a great gig. It was one of the best of this year, with the original material flowing nicely against the covers. It was one of the latter that brought about my highlight of the night, with 'I Won't Back Down' finally sounding like I wanted it to. It's one of my favourite songs, and as the band chugged along, I could see people moving and just for a fleeting moment, a single moment, there was a glimpse of what I envisaged in forming the band. And a glimpse of what could be in the future if all goes well. It was one of those moments of satisfaction that seem all too rare these days. Here's to more good gigs at the Kings Arms and fingers crossed the noise problems don't develop further. So get behind the venue and support what they are doing, believe me it's one of the best at the moment.

Sunday afternoon was the Owl beer festival and whilst there were the expected cock-ups with the programme luckily my set was bang on time. I'd like to thank Simon (the PA man who looks like Jeremy Clarkson) for a)working hard to keep things organised in the absence of anyone from the pub and b) for getting a superb sound for me onstage.
It also was lucky in that the sun made an appearence (do you remember what it looks like?) and I played for about 40 minutes. Not much response but some connections were made, and the crowd was still growing at this point. I reckon if I'd had the numbers Silverlode played to I'd have had a much better response. Still, looking back it wasn't too bad.

Speaking of the Owl, I was quite relieved to hear that I've not been the only one to fall victim of the bookings cock-ups. I can't complain about my slot on Sunday but many others had problems, and the saga of the regular band bookings has seen some people really pissed off. As always, it's a shame as it's potentially a good venue and my band gig in January was first class. Let's hope they get it sorted before it's too late, because musicians get blamed for far too much but they will eventually vote with their feet.

This Friday the PJ Band will be back at the Cricketers Arms, Horbury, at 9pm, so please come and support live music, it's another good venue. I may also be present at a couple of open mics in Leeds so may see some of you there!

Holidays, back to work, back in business

It's always refreshing to go away for a couple of weeks and then come back and get stuck into work. Especially in this industry where you can find yourself very quickly in the scenario of 'running fast just to stand still'.

I've had a wonderful time, thanks for asking. I won't bore you with any holiday photos, suffice to say that over the past 2 weeks I've been to Vienna, Budapest and Prague. All very lovely places, and I did it all by train too, so got to see more of the world. I'm back now for my first full day, knackered but mentally more refreshed.

There was a week missing from here which was the week before I went away. There was one band gig on the Friday (Aug 1st) which was at the Snooty Fox. It was terrible! One of the 2 worst gigs so far, simply because there weren't enough people there. There was this awfully hollow atmosphere as we played songs, got no applause, then played the next one. I do hope it won't be so bad on our next visit in December. It will have to be better.

That said, I'm really looking forward to getting back into things with the band and gigs in general. The PJ Band will be back at the KINGS ARMS, HEATON this Friday Aug 22nd at 9pm. I'm also doing a slot at the OWL RODLEY BEER & MUSIC FESTIVAL on Sunday Aug 24th at 2pm. Please see below for a little statement regarding the Owl at Rodley.

I'm also very keen to crack on with some recording, firstly finishing the Paradise Street album and then marketing that, and everything else, to a higher level. I make no secret of the desire to really move forwards at the moment, I always feel like this first day back! The trick is to ask me again in a week's time!

OFFICIAL STATEMENT REGARDING THE OWL AT RODLEY

Paul Jeffery and The Paul Jeffery Band would like to make it clear that we had no record whatsoever of any booking on Friday 1st August at the Owl, Rodley. In addition whoever phoned the pub to cancel this booking was in no way connected with our band. It is a mystery to all of us who phoned the venue to cancel a gig that never existed in the first place. I have since cleared this matter up with the bookings manager and am assured there is no problem. The Paul Jeffery Band will be back to play at the Owl on Saturday December 20th, as originally intended. I would be grateful if nobody would spread malicious rumours to the effect that we renaged on a booking with the venue. This is simply not the case.