The first week back after a holiday is always pretty hectic. Try as I might, I never seem to come back home completely relaxed and tend to stumble through the week in a state of confusion. I shouldn't complain that things are so busy really, I was just tired.

There was one PJ Band gig on Friday at a new-to-us venue the High Park in Bradley, Huddersfield. It's more known as an eating place and they just do a band once a month. Eateries never seem to make for very good gig venues so I was pleasantly surprised at how well this one went. We got a good reception and handed out a lot of cards! Even the call and response section in 'All Day & All Night' (which sometimes features a call with no response) went very well indeed!

On Saturday I had a nice local gig with Atlanta Soul in Luton! This gig will go down in history as (I think) the only gig I've ever missed the start of! I encountered two serious hold-ups on the M1, both cases of shutting the motorway and in one case- a complete standstill of over an hour and the surreal sight of everyone getting out of their cars and wandering about. I can now say I've eaten my sandwiches in the middle lane of the M1, on foot. Over 6 hours after setting off, I finally arrived in time to play the 2nd set. Then it was back up the M1, this time in the clear, reaching home at 5am with the sun rising in the sky. Just a typical Saturday when you play in a band.

NEW ALBUM ALERT

Yes, it's that time of the year again....I'm about to release details of my new album to the mailing list this week. In case you're not on the mailing list (shame on you) the album is going to be titled 'Dare To Be Different' and is now nearly finished, hopefully in time for release in the coming months. I say 'hopefully' as you never know what might crop up before then but needless to say I'm excited about it and can't wait to have another batch of songs finished for people to listen to.

This week is even busier than normal with 3 band gigs Thurs, Fri & Saturday followed by my regular solo set at the Abbey festival in Bramley on Sunday afternoon. Details of all that and more in next weeks' exciting edition!