WEST DRAYTON JAM SESSION

Dear one and all,

Its is with great sadness that I am writing to you to say that this Thursday, the 3rd of April, will be the last jam session at the Fox & Pheasant in West Drayton. (223, Station Rd, West Drayton, Middlesex, UB7 7JF - 01895 446033)

As many of your know, the pub has been sold, and for one reason or another, our regular Thursday jamming festivities is not part of the new owners plans. After 7 years its shame to see it end. Whilst it was not totally unexpected, it really will be the end of an era.

All is not lost! We are currently trying to find a new venue to host the jam session, and as soon as we have something sorted out I will be letting everybody know via this site.
So, just for old time sake, it would be great to see as many of you as possible this week. Lets go out with a bang!

Once again, thanks to all of your for your continued support over the years!

Caesar and the fREAKJam band.

Mo'Rockan Soul - Coach & Horses

Friday nights gig was with Europe's number one pardy band at the Coach & Horses in Isleworth. Now being familiar with company policy, I arrived at the venue at 8.30pm, joined by text champion Dion, with the other members of the merry band arriving shortly thereafter. Our monthly gig at this venue is really working out for us. As this is more of a low-key type venue, it means that we can try out some of the new material in the first set. Unfortunately some of it was a tad too new, and could have been a bit tighter! That said, by the 2nd set, the place was pretty much packed out, with people crying out for an encore! Hog, back on vocal-ular form performed a stunning RJ style Who medley stroke Freebird! Linda was also on top form for many reasons! To summarise, the gig was good - the view was excellent and here's to more company policy!

fREAKJAM West Drayton

Thursday nights gig was at our beautiful jam session in West Drayton, with Ian Jam and his friends. Once again I must applaud and thank everyone who comes out to support us. Tonight was a great night! First off, I must welcome back to the 'fold' PAPOS, who after 3 months away from the Drayton Suite made a magnificent return! He also bought the whole family PAPOS with him which is a delight to behold! This magnificent return means that the jam was Hog's penultimate jam session as sound man. I understand his redundancy letter is being typed and signed, and will be on its way to him very shortly. The evening was also the night of the amp! As the Mighty Mammal said, it was like a LAN party! Everyone was brining amps down left, right and centre! My thanks to The Hardest Working Man in Rock for bringing the nuclear powered Sessionette down. Its power is so great that Gary did not even need to take it out of his car! Talking of the Hardest Working Man in Rock, it was a pleasure to do a set with Gary, and indeed we even did a Caesar / Stoner style guitar swap! This was done to show solidarity with PAPOS who earlier on in the evening has to endure playing through a very bad brand of guitar. Pretend Pop Star Mark Chudley was in attendance, and was doing his tricks with a new found fluidity! Mr Andy Bradley was also in attendance, with his freshly set up Ivebeenhad guitar. All in all, a good night, and Bruce was quite happy I understand. Ronnie Laff was in excellent form too.

And for no other reason than I can, I would like to show a picture taken at the jam on the 15th of July 2003.

Rough Justice - The Armstrong Gun

Saturday nights gig was with Rough Justice at the Gun in Englefield Green. As I have described before, this pub really is the spiritual home of Rough Justice, and we have been playing here for many years! These library pictures were taken in November 2001.

We normally attract a great crowd at the Gun, and tonight was no exception. Whilst the reg-ular ladies of Rough Justice were not in attendance, there seemed to be some new faces enjoying our tasty rock that we had cooked up good and proper! Thanks to a forgotten set list, we played a set that was over a year old which meant some different songs were unleashed into the 'fold'. The pub was packed almost from the off, and they stayed with us until lour Freebird guitar swap finale! I must rant about the Filipino lady who accidentally head-butted me in the eye mid audience walk. One minute I was doing one of our signature audience walks, next minute I was experiencing large amounts of pain in my eye - in fact, over a week later, it still hurts a bit!

I must also commend Stu for 'sitting in' with us on 'Don't Look Back in Anger' on bass, which whipped the assembled into a real frenzy!

As we packed up our hearts into our Sprinters and Spritzers we headed all home, though poor old Terry got left behind! Only a keen eyed Stu saved him from a fate worse than death. Luckily he is all home now - safe and sound!

fREAKJAM West Drayton

Thursday nights gig was at the jam in West Drayton. Luckily we are still rocking away each week, and my thanks to each and every one of you who come to support us! Tonight was a great night! Bruce was happy and it was the world début of my new Les Paul! As many of you know, I had a Les Paul a few years ago:

And what a beautiful guitar it was! But sadly due to its weight, the damn thing put me in hospital! My poor feeble 'girls back' snapped in two so it had to be sold so as it was cursed! Luckily I have found a lighter weight one which I shall enjoy using on an occasional basis!

The other début was Hogs beautiful reading of the Alanis Morrisette number 'You Oughta Know'. One to watch out for on the live scene! The fabulous Steph was also in attendance, and so was her brother Steve, of rants fame. The Evans sisters were on top drunken form, and it was nice to see Owl da Bass and indeed the very passionate Leon from Television fame. Pretend Pop Star Mark Chudley was most definitely not in attendance, though we did all think about him and miss him greatly. A great night!

DJ Caesar on the Mo'Rockan Soul Wheels of Steel

Saturday nights gig was a rare solus appearance of DJ Caesar on the Mo'Rockan Soul wheels of steel. The event was held at Chobham Golf 'Club', where the full band type line up had only been the previous week. As these events go, the evening was a success! I had people dancing all night, Borough powered, and with some iPod action thrown in for good measure! Highlights of the evening was watching 2 episodes of the 2nd series of I'm Alan Partridge whilst the dinner was happening, a literally dance floor explosion when the Scissor Sisters was played, and the happy go lucky chat over a slow dance. I must also mention the sneaky fox that ran out of the kitchen when I was packing up, and my disappointment not leaving a box of mic's behind, which I understand is customary at these events.

fREAKJAM West Drayton

Thursday nights gig was at the Jam session-cum-Chinese restaurant in that beautiful setting of The Fox & Pheasant in West Drayton. Tonight our reg-ular sticksmith Rob 'The Mighty Mammal' Owens was busy with his charity work (which he does not like to talk about), so we were graced with the pure metal skills of Rob 'Metal' Utley. After arriving and setting up it was the usual faire, and luckily Bruce was not trying any funny business this week. Pretend Pop Star Mark Chudley was in attendance and so was Gary Reece, who as we all know is the worlds hardest working man in rock. Yet again, I must personally thank everyone who is currently supporting our jam session in a time of change, and prawn balls. As my memory seems a bit flaky to remember what actually happened, I will instead present some pictorial evidence, provided by Dangerous industries

Roadhouse Music Club

Monday nights gig was at the Roadhouse Bulls Head Music 'Club' in Barnes. This is a semi reg-ular gig-cum-jam session featuring lots of local talent associated with the Roadhouse group of companies. Its an honour and a pleasure to be asked to play by Gary and the Roadhouse band, and its always fun too. I played first off with the excellent Drew Baron, with my Purple Axis guitar set to Blues/Rock, and even Rock/Blues! A great set indeed! There were many other great sets, and this gig was extra special as it featured the festival only '3 Girl' line up, to great effect! As the evening drew to a close, I was invited up to finish the evening with the stadium classic, heard all over US radio, 'Preacher Man'. Apart from a comedic and most out of character tuning issue it literally rocked a fat one! My personal highlight of the evening was standing shoulder to shoulder with Gary Boner, guitars aloft! A great night indeed!

Lee Aaron Band - Red Lion Theale

Saturday nights gig was with The Mighty Lee Aaron band in the Red Lion Public House in Theale, near Reading, Bershire. After a nice jaunt down the M4 in my Spritzer, and literally driving 'Bareback' without the aid of GPS, I surprisingly arrived in the right place ready for Bal and the boys to arrive. This pub has a very special place in our hearts, and indeed fills us with a great deal of sediment, as this was the place where the Lee Aaron band did its first ever gig. Stretch, the publican in charge, has been nothing but helpful towards the band, and he has supported us all along the way. So we unpacked our Sprinters / Spritzers and set about. I was very disappointed to see that Luke O'Connel yet again decided not to join us for the evenings festivities. To be honest this is becoming quite reg-ular, and will simply not do! Any more behaviour like this, he will be made to face the wall, hands on his head, and think about what he has done!

For the first time in living memory, we played in a different part of the pub, which was on top of a bowling alley. Thanks to this genius location we were blessed with the most level surface to set up on known to man. Using my spirit level I in fact noticed it was a 'straight as a die', creating happy and jovial memories all round. So level was the stage area, I celebrated the fact with writing LEVEL on the front of Gary with a fancy marker pen!

Sadly, the gig was not that well attended, with the old 'two room' problem that has plagued many gigs over the years. Despite this, the band sounded excellent! Every gig Lee, Bal and the boys get tighter and really its a shame that Mr Jenkins was not on board with his VHSc Handycam to capture the evening for all to see. Another highlight of the night was Lee's custom light show, incorporating both static and flashing lights. What a lucky drummer he is to have both kinds lights!

As we ended the evening with about 4 encores, with 'Stretch' joining us for a number or two, we packed up our 'gear' and all disappeared into the night, happy and safe in the knowledge of a job well done. Bal, on the other hand, smoked a cigar, had a foot spa and sacked some staff for being unloyal.

Mo'Rockan Soul - Chobham Golf Club

Friday nights gig was with the Earth and the South East's premier function stroke party band at Chobham Golf 'Club' in Chobham. After popping by LW to collect Mrs J, it was a short Liza fuelled journey to the 'Club', we were all soon lugging equipment up a goods lift and preparing for one serious pardy! The occasion was a birthday party, and unusually for these kind of events it seemed to be riddled with running children, literally running 'amock', almost tripping on equipment and the like. Despite a Guilty Party esque 'all in black then Barry' rule, 'members' of the band decided to shun it, wearing a rather fetching Hawaiian shirt in one case!

The band played well. After last weeks 'reverse cowgirl' experiment, we were back to the usual setup arrangement and luckily this did not create too many problems. I was especially pleased with the jazz-ular nature of Owl's playing this evening, creating some dynamic cross-key overtones and occasional 'blue notes' in the pardy stroke rock mix.

The first set was especially well received, and sadly by the 2nd set a lot of people had already gone home thanks to tired children who had previously run 'amock', as a result, we ended the set slightly early and handed the reins to my wheels of steel. All was going swimmingly until the 'Come on Eileen' incident. Despite this sounding like a title for a gentleman's artistic special interest videogram, it was in fact a well used disco pardy song. Sadly it turned the full dance floor into an empty dance floor in seconds flat! Thoroughly entertaining indeed....

I am also pleased to report that a CD of very low quality seemed to fall down the back of the DJ table.

With the last strains of Abba ringing out for Christmas day, we packed up our respective Sprinters, Spritzers and Vauxhall flagships and headed home into the night, safe and happy in the knowledge.

fREAKJAM West Drayton

Thursday nights gig was with Ian Jam and his merry band of gypsies at the Fox & Pheasant Chinese Restaurant in West Drayton. This was the first official jam session since the corporate buyout of West London's #1 live music venue / pub / carvery. With the new managers feet fully under the table, we wanted to make a good impression so I can only thank all the jammers came to support us this evening. Lots of sets from our regular friends, and it was a really great turn out! I would say probably 3/4 full from the 2004 classic era of the jam session. Dave Bryce came down with his Son and treated us to some Spider tracks on a fantastic new Ibanez guitar! Gary Reece kindly supplied us with his nuclear powered Sessionette and engaged into some blues type action, of which I was honoured to be a part of. Pretend Pop Star Mark Chudley was in attendance and yet again entered into the Drayton suite to entertain us with his popular and non educational tunes. With a great night and a score discrepancy under our belts, we all hopped into our Sprinters and headed home safe in the knowledge.

Rough Justice - O'Neil's Woking

Saturday nights gig was with Rough Justice at O'Neil's in Woking. The Rough Justice group of companies have a long association with this partic-ular venue, so its nice to re-tread some of these venues time and again. Thanks to to parking issues at Woking, I always like to arrive early, and so does my birthday pardner in crime, The Stoner, so I enjoyed some banter and the like in my Spritzer before the fun and games began. As the other members of the band arrived, it became apparent that there was some kind of sports thing going on, displayed on the television, which for some reason that escapes me, people wanted to watch. Dangerous informed me that it was like the normal hooligan dross but with less fights, or something. As a result, we only had a short period of time to set up and get sound checked and the like. But thanks to the slick rock machine that Rough Justice are, we we soon ready - cocked and loaded and ready to rock!

The pub tonight was packed! With The Stoner and I with his and hers matching Duoverb Rigs set to 'stun' we began gunning people down with a blaze of high gain glory! The first set was excellent, and the second set was better than excellent! Sadly Hogs 'testicle' banter did not go down as well as usual, but Stoner Stomps and guitars aloft manoeuvre's sure made up for it! My thanks must go to drunk dancing bloke and I am pleased to report STABS compliance was at an all time high - 7.33 index of 5. As ever, the evening ended with a stupendous Freebird audience walk, though I must publically apologise to The Mighty Mammal for the 'volume boost' through this solo. A great night for all the family, and after seeing drunk teenagers dressed like prostitutes vomiting in the road, I headed to a warm and happy home.

Mo'Rockan Soul - The Coach & Horses

Friday nights gig was with London and the South East's #1 pardy band Mo'Rockan Soul at the Coach and Horse in Isleworth. After a short jaunt along the highways and byways of Western London, I arrived with plenty of time to spare. Hog was the next to arrive and then each member of the band parked their respective Sprinters, and prepared to rock. It must be said that this venue is unique. You are given approx 13 minutes to unload, set up, soundcheck, perform, pack up and go home. In fact the restaurant was so busy in the pub when we arrived I was surprised that they would even let us through the door! After setting up in 36 seconds, the festivities began and we started to play. After some sound dispersion issues at the last gig, we set up in the 'reverse cowgirl' position to allow Owl da Aluminium a better 'position'. It must be said that the pub went from moderate to 'packed' very quickly, and the family Mark were in full effect! It was originally planned that we would 'chuck in' some rockier numbers in the 2nd set, but as the whole place was up for one serious 'pardy' we opted for the cheeseboard selection incorporating dance based classics. As we finished our set, the assembled were literally begging for more, and we played am encore that I think was that tired classic 'Sweet Child 'o' Mine' though I cannot be sure. Sadly, no strings were broken and no monitor tumbles were happening, though I did throw lots of picks about, which is one of my favourite things to do. All in all, a great gig with some of our new numbers chucked in for good measure!