Belated Happy New Year and apologies
for the tardiness in getting this page updated.
First off, let me thank those of you
whove been in contact via either the Glebe Studio
email or the new MySpace page regarding possible gigs
in your area - I appreciate your interest and hope
to meet up with you all at a gig sometime soon. In
the meantime, though, I guess its time to explain
my relative absence from public view recently. A few
years ago I was diagnosed with something they call
COPD, which I initially thought stood for Cant
Organise Piss-up Dept, but apparently means
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease,
which in effect means that although I can still play
and sing,
I cant actually carry my guitar into the building.
This is something Bill Clinton is safe from, because
apparently he didnt inhale.
Anyway, the words tunnel
and light are suddenly looming large and
this month (March) I begin a six week pulmonary rehab
course. Rehab eh! How rock n
roll is that?? However - Im being sprung for
one day on April 11th to sit in with long time compadres
Kimmie Rhodes and Joe Gracey at the Luminaire in Kilburn.
Well be playing a few of the songs weve
done together over the last hundred years or so. BJ
Cole will be along too to add a little steel guitar.
Other than that . well .
me and the band have been working up a whole new thing
we hope to inflict on the world later in the year
new sounds, new songs and Im also still
working on the flamenco project.
PLUS - this year sees Vince and the
Viletones 50th Annual Christmas Rock n
Roll Party and there are going to be a few parties
in December. As weve all been big fans (Vince
Black is one of my guitar heroes (see MySpace)) me
and Barty and some of the other guys are planning
to be at all the gigs - because who knows how much
longer these guys can last?
So check out the new MySpace,
check the Studio News and for sure check the brand
new McTwang Cookery Column
.. And one of these nights .
.. Ill take you to Monterey .
Wes
PONTY BONE - UK SQUEEZE ALERT!
Anyone who was at any of the Ponty
Bone and the Squeezetones gigs in April will tell
you how special they were. If you missed them, heres
a few pics from the Oxford Famous Monday Blues show
- and look out for it all happening again next year!!
Check out Pontys website at
our LINKS page!
Thanks to Famous
Monday Blues for the pics
and check out their website for more!
STEADY FREDDIE READY! The finishing touches
have been added to Freddies new McGhee-produced
CD, including killer accordion and piano from
Geraint Watkins and wild lap steel from BJ Cole.
The album, titled Ten
Dollar Gun, will be released in August in
the US. Freddie is hoping to visit the UK in the
fall to gig with all the guys who appear on the
album.
Check out Freddies
website via our LINKS page!
Staying
with the 'Produced by Wes!' theme.
Theres an unreleased PONTY BONE & the
SQUEEZETONES album still sitting in the
vaults , plus great live recordings from
some of Pontys recent UK gigs with Wes'
band.
'The Luminaire ' in London and 'The Famous
Monday Blues' in Oxford both recorded the
shows and tracks will shortly be put together
for an album, maybe a double!
Hail
Bartycus!
Mr Ian Bartholomew (Barty to you and me),
professional luvvie and long time Barking
vocalist with the McTwangs, is finally making
a record of his own, following the lead
of his McGhee Band vocal partner Patty Vetta,
who has just released her third CD.
Barty, who in a certain
light bears an uncanny resemblance to
Vince Vaccarri of Vince and the Viletones,
only without the hair, obviously, has
an unnerving habit of singing perfectly
in tune. (Never liked him!)
The record promises to
be a choral treat with very sparse accompaniments
and multiple Barty vocals.