The Blockheads New Album Launch

Waiting for The Blockheads (Mick Gallagher in background of doorway)

25th November 2013

Last Monday The Blockheads launched their new album "Same horse Different jockey" and your's truly was invited to attend by the band! **insert large grin here** To say I was over the moon is an understatement. I was as excited as a teenager going to their first rock concert. :-D As I'm a bit closer to the half century mark than I'd like to admit, that's quite an achievement. ;-) 

Tim Arnold AKA The Soho Hobo outside Madame Jojo's

The launch was held at Madame Jojo's in Soho, London. It just so happened that it lined up with a two day job I was doing in London and wasn't very far away either! So it all worked out perfectly. I would have traveled to London on Monday afternoon anyway and stayed over night as my job started at 8am Tuesday morning. It was like it was all meant to be.

Ben with his father Mick Gallagher outside Madame Jojo's

How did I get this invite? I stayed up half the night one evening doing screen grabs and blogging about a little #LogoWar between New Kids on the Block's 'number one fan' and The Blockheads on Twitter (and on Facebook) (and Barney Bubbles too). The band saw the blog post and were very appreciative of my efforts. Ben who works for The Blockheads, and is the son of Mick Gallagher, contacted me to say thank you. And as a thank you they wanted to give me a copy of their new album (Same Horse Different Jockey) and invite me to come to their new album launch. 

I asked Ben could I bring my camera and take some photos during the evening and he said yes I could. Oh and then I asked could I bring my husband, he said it was OK if I brought him too. ;-)

Jud Charlton, Compere for the evening

 Soon after we arrived for the launch I found Ben Gallagher who started introducing me as the 'lady who wrote the blog' about #LogoWars. Most people had read it and knew who I was which was exciting. Before the evening was over we were introduced to quite a few people, it was great meeting everyone, especially the members of The Blockhead band. 

The Three Belles and The Bevin Boys

 The evening started out with Jud Charlton opening the evening and introducing all the acts of the evening. Jud Charlton even performed and sung a few Blockhead songs later in the evening himself! The first two acts were The Three Belles and The Bevin Boys. Both were delightful, playing 1940's era style swing band songs. Really really enjoyable to listen to and watch. 

Miss Dolly Blow-Up

Next up we were entertained with a bit of burlesque with Miss Dolly Blow-up. My husband Peter particularly enjoyed this performance! 

Jock Scot

Then we had a bit of poetry by Jock Scot, he was very amusing. I tried to find a website for him to link to but I couldn't, so I linked to a page that tells who he is. In my research I did discover that he and actress 'Duck Face' Anna Chancellor fell briefly in love and they had a daughter together. 

The Blockheads!

And then The Blockheads took to the stage! Wow, what a band! They are still going strong! They were very lively and they played a mixture of old favourites and their new songs. The place was packed and people were singing and dancing along with them. 

The Blockheads!

The Blockheads were amazing live. If they ever do a concert within my reach I'll do my best to go, definitely worth it. They actually performed here in Stroud a few years ago and I missed it! Lottie and Miles from The Prince Albert, our local pub, got them to come to Stroud to perform for The Prince Albert but decided that their pub was too small for such a big band and hired The Landsdown Hall for their performance. Wish I'd known! Would have loved to have been there. 

Miss Baby Sol and The Blockheads

After The Blockheads play a few songs, Miss Baby Sol joined them on stage for a song. She has a really powerful voice and is a great singer. We really enjoyed her performance with The Blockheads.

Tim Arnold (The Soho Bobo) and The Blockheads

Next up we had Tim Arnold (The Soho Hobo) joining The Blockheads for a set or two. The crowd loved him. We did too. :-)

Andy Serkis, Tim Arnold & Jud Charlton join The Blockheads on stage!

Then Andy Serkis, Tim Arnold (The Soho Hobo) & Jud Charlton all join The Blockheads on stage! What a fab performance they put on too! Everyone had such a grand time, it was seriously difficult to stand or sit still. What a way to end the day!

I didn't know it at the time....I'm pretty clueless about these things.... but I've seen Andy Serkis before in several movies. Most notably as Gollum in Lord of the Rings, as Kong in King Kong and as Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. He was also Captain Haddock in The Adventures of Tintin, and of course he was Ian Dury (as in The Blockheads) in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (which I've not seen yet, it's now on my 'to do' list!).

After the show I met and talked with most of the band members, what a truly nice bunch of guys. They were all so lovely. Those that I managed to ask agreed to do a station ID sound recording for Stroud FM, (My local community radio station of which I'm a volunteer presenter) but they were all surrounded by their fans and it was quite loud, too loud to do a sound recording, and it was getting quite late. But as we were leaving I caught band member Mick Gallagher outside and he did a quick Stroud FM station ID for me! Yay! I'm looking forward to giving it to the station. Awesomeness. :-)

I made a quick gallery of a few highlights from the evening on my new, work in progress, website. Sadly I missed one of the highlights which was of the Sax player playing two saxes at the same time! Apparently he's famous for this as my husband was pushing  me forward in the crowed and telling me to take his picture, but as I was clueless  to what was going to happen and it was loud and crowded I missed photographing him with his double sax performance. Darn! Shame that, as he was awesome! 

I've made lots of links (in red) in the text of this blog for you to follow and find out more information about everyone involved. Please do check them out! Also do check out The Blockheads' new album, Same Horse Different Jockey. It's really a great album, especially if you like The Blockheads. :-) 

About the album cover, it isn't to everyone's taste, and it's taken me some time to get used to it myself! Though I'm sure most Blockheads fans will love it! It's quite amusing actually, though it is NSFW (Not Safe For Work) previewing. You should have seen me trying to carry the large record album all the way from London to Stroud, through the streets and on a crowded train! Oh and iTunes banned it! Ha ha! The cover, not the album. You can buy the album and the individual songs on iTunes. In both the UK and the US. I highly recommend it! :-D

Oh, here's a link to the band talking about their new album on YouTube.

In case you missed it, you can see a few more photos from this evening by following this link -> quick gallery. :-D

Thank you Ben and The Blockheads for an incredible evening and the new album! x

Oi Oi!