Wigan

I’m getting increasingly perplexed by the RAC’s online directions as Craig and I lost in Wigan searching for the Tavern; as it transpires we’re not the only ones. When we arrive, Ben, the bands very own human sat nav is, much to our amazement, still skirting the ring roads. He arrives soon after. This has happened before and I’m sure it’ll happen again. We load in and drink Guinness with Neil the affable Landlord of this busy thriving establishment. He keeps a great pint. The stage is way up in the rafters and acts as a heat trap so we’re knackered just doing the sound check which passes off OK despite the onstage collisions; it’s just a lack of space thing. We eat at a busy Chinese restaurant half a mile down the main street in the midst various work’s nights out and play name that workforce before ambling back in time to catch a few of the bands. The first one we see are doing their first ever gig and are notable for their singer who doesn’t make eye contact with audience throughout the set. We like this gimmick and advise them of such later. I can’t for the life of me remember their name. Karen has rewritten our set order and it works; 45minutes later we’re selling CDs with decent feedback from new and known faces. We’re not gigging much over Christmas and I’m looking forward to the break. I might even go on holiday. We record a new live DVD mid Jan and more gigs are being added through early 2007. The new album gets it’s a US release in Feb so we’re looking at tour possibilities over there in April/May time. The financial logistics are a bit of a nightmare still nothing new there then. We’ll see what happens, VP