Jules lands at the Dog and Muff!!!

27th of July:

The Dog and Muff was a gig venue I was really looking forward to. That was until the rest of the guys started telling me that I was going to have to either pull my jeans up, or have to suffer the indignity of having my arse pinched continuously the entire time I was there. I was as you can imagine a little apprehensive about turning to a place where by all accounts, we would be paraded around on stage like pieces of meat. I didn't think anyone could enjoy that, but then again, people go to places like liquid every weekend, don't they?

So, we got there, and no one had a clue what was going on.










There was no drum kit waiting for us, and this was when support act panic starts to sink in. As prepared as we had been, it looked like all was going to fail. Then when we'd set up our gear on stage, basically taking it in a bloody coup d'etat, we had no microphones or stands bar the ones we'd brought.....

Oh well. Better late than never. Everything turned up just in time for us to sound-check NSPCC, but not before we were asked to warm up the crowd with instrumental versions of songs.... Which was more than a little weird.

After our sound-check, we performed our per gig ritual with the 'care package', sat down to a drink, and geared ourselves up. By this time, the hall was swarming... it's the only word I can use that accurately describe the activity.... with kids who just wanted to hear a good show.

Ok, that's not actually a picture of the Dog and Muff. Nor are they kids. But you get the idea.

Then.... The gig.

This was a truly magical set. We sounded among the best gigs we've ever played, rivaling the gig with Toast in Ifor Bach, or the TJ's in the park audtion. More importantly, it was the sound of a band that finally.... FINALLY.... hit their groove.

I'm told the highlights included Punk Rock Girl, doing it's usual job of getting the crowd into a party atmosphere, but this time around, it wasn't buried mid-set to revive flagging souls, but played first: From that point, you were in for a wild ride.

The double whammy of Radioactive and Acid Angel also hit the crowd like a hammer, sounding better than I've ever heard them: That's since I joined the band, from CD's I'd heard, from the Andy K and Dan Henly era... They sounded scorching, especially radioactive, with its punky, reworked intro.

New material however were what most of the people were there to see. Even if the Dog and Muff is where most of our fans go, we still had to give them something new. "Gayness," "State of Mind," and "Crimes" served to do that. I'm afraid I didn't do state of mind justice though, by slightly messing up a complicated guitar bit, and totally forgetting the lyrics to the second verse. The recovery was good though, with Mike on my right side to whisper "Don't worry, just carry on. It sounds ok." I suspected he may have been lying, but I loved him all the same for it.

We closed out the set to applause for "crimes," during the outro, which was damn sweet, got a drink, and then, disgusted with the fact that people seemed to cool to dance to the band after us, who were full of enthusiasm and had the most energetic and charismatic frontman, we got up and danced. Thankfully people joined us.

Remember, you're never too cool to dance to music you like!

From the other side,


Jules

Tom's Bar.... And a new beginning!!!

July 20th:


Well, here we are at Tom's bar again. This lovely little rock bar in Trefforest has hosted us a few times, most memorably when I saw a little bit of alcohol rage at youngsters vandalising temporary traffic lights.... Had the rest of the band not threatened to drive off so that I would be walking back to Cardiff, I'm sure four young 'uns that night would have returned home with bloody noses.

I'm not a violent person. The house mates/band members call me "Slopey." See? If I can poke fun at my ethnicity like that when others would see red, then I must not be violent. Right?

(Sounds of bells tolling, wind, and tumbleweed).

Anyway.... To the gig.

This was a first. A rebirth. It was an awesome gig, offered to us by an awesome band (Big love to Venus Elixir - You guys rocked, and had it not been for the broken string, you would have rocked longer), and just an awesome night in general . For it was this night that we introduced our new drummer Lennie. He prefers not to be photographed, so here's his myspace picture:

As you can see, he's something of an eccentric.

We played a half hour set that seemed to fly by that included new tracks "Gayness in your anus" and "Crimes." It's something of an exposition of the guys talent that he'd been learning the songs for about a week, and it felt like he'd always been a part of the band. He fitted in seamlessly, and the energy was completely right.

After that there was the usual post gig hilarity (watching me drink, basically) before we decided to call it a night on an extremely well received gig, not just by the crowd, but by the bands we played with that night. We were extremely pleased, because praise from other musicians... well, it's high praise indeed.

So well done Lennie, you freakish and wonderful guy for being an awesome drummer. Welcome to the band, oddities, masks and all.

See you on the other side guys.

Jules

Spencer's Last Gig.....

Royal Oak, 6th July:














This was something of a sad day because this proved to be Spencer Collin's last day as a member of Girl 13. While taking a brief hiatus from the band, we called him, in fact, from the O'neills gig, directly after we played asking him to fill in so we wouldn't be drummerless for an important paid gig.

Whatever problems and personal issues Spencer might have had within his personal life at this point, he was a consummate professional that night. Despite his not having been an active part of the band for about a month (practicing, gigging and recording), he still managed to play a full hours set... admittedly, not without mistakes. But Spencer pulled us out of a bind, proving that once a member, always a member.

Since this gig did take place sometime ago, many many things have changed since then, and now Spencer is currently completely unavailable... Missing in action, so to speak. These are deeply personal issues, and it is not our place to say either way, despite what local tabloids would have you believe. We will however say he has our full love and support, and will always consider him a member of the band. He will probably be singing our newer song "Gayness in your anus," with renewed vigour now.

From the other side,

Jules

Some updates.... At last!!!!

So.... we had this gig on the 26th of June in O'neills, and it had been arranged for absolutely ages... So of course, we were fully prepared, right?

Er... not exactly.

We sort of forgot it was there until a few days before the gig happened. Then it was upon us. Having taken some time off after recording our new demo and playing out some end of cycle shows, this one slipped under our radar. As a result;

a) We were woefully out of practice.

b) We didn't have anyone to sit behind one of these.


So.... at a gig where everyone was being all metal and stuff, we made a very brave decision.

We went it acoustic.

And we played well. Extremely well considering everything else threatened to stop us playing. Like Mikes bass, being irritating, falling over and nearly snapping its headstock off. It's quite a wound, really it is. It looks like it's being held together with spit and string. (Well, not even the string).

And by the time the gig wound down, we noticed that once it came to the headlining act, there were less people to watch them than there were to watch us. Maybe we tapped into something with these people, a rare layer of emotion that they had hitherto been unaware of in their persons.

Or maybe they had work in the morning and a bus to catch.

Either way, we pulled it off. There were hitches, but true professionals that we are, we made it clean through the other side.

Watch out for more updates in a verbal diarrhoea type barrage,

Jules.

Well.....

It's been quite some time since girl 13 were coming at ya from the ol' blog pages. There's lots to fill you in on, lots of stuff has happened, some departures, some new material, and some new band members.

Basically, here it is in a nutshell.

We were a five piece again for a bit (2 days) to record a new demo, recorded it, slimmed down to a three piece, played a gig as a three piece, had spencers final gig at the royal oak, got a new drummer, played two triumphant gigs with him respectively at Toms bar and then the Dog and Muff, and are now getting back into the swing of things. In case you're wondering, his names Lennie, and he's awesome. And we're now a four piece. And were awesome too.

(deep breath).

Anywhoo, there will be far more detail soon, as in actual dates of stuff happening, and then we'll all be up to speed.

So if you're a fan, keep posted here, and if you ain't, then listen to the stuff and become one!

Til then, we'll see you on the other side.

Jules