Puss and my boots!

Ok now I'm going to possibly upset my Wiccan friends here but I'm not a feline lover at all……now I wouldn't harm one in fact the trigger point for me writing this blog is the fact that I saved a little black cats life the other night …indeedy ..I walked out of the office slammed the door firmly shut behind me in complete deliberate defiance and a stance of I am finished at work and I'm buggering offski . When I saw a young black cat with a day glo yellow collar run into the busy London road ahead of me….foresight told me that car versus cat had only one outcome and it wasn't going to be pretty….
So I raced ahead to press the button on the zebra crossing my face contorted like Sly Stallone in Rocky, as I reached out with my finger hit the button turned the lights red cars came to a halt pussy was safe! The cat wandered off. I was happy that the cat still had all nine lives intact , so skipped down the dark steps to the car park to my van and then on the last step the same little black cat launched itself at me and used my ankle as a scratching post accompanied with a hiss ….I yelped unashamedly like a girl and turned to give it my bestest Johnny Wilkinson !!! But the little black cat was off into the distance and I swear to the gods it was sniggering!!!!!!...! saw it again today in the carpark Sifu Paul Boggie Brighton called it over I grabbed a big stick and hid behind a car like Coyote awaiting Road Runner . To my amazement the cat climbed into Boggie's arms and purred like a goodun ..but it looked at me and I could see the hatred in its eyes I pointed my two fingers at my eyes and then at the cat " I'm watching you Pussy!

Recently I've been called many names ….my new boss ( I have moved back to an office..) called me an enigma…..which I thought was charming …I mean do I really look like a botty wash out?....I was also called "alternative" by a mum on school run….quite like that.... but I've never been called a plonker like we called Mother Dearest the other day when at the B and B in Weymouth she went to leave her room so she opened the door and out she trotted into pitch darkness…..she scrambled along the wall looking for the light …."what a dark corridor" she thought so she went back into her room realising she had actually walked into the ensuite bathroom and not the corridor at all ?!?!?!? duh!!

We were all down in Weymouth for the last gig of the year …The Dolmen Grove Yule Ball.

On the night everything went well….although I had a bingo caller breaking through my bass amp being picked up by my remote bug. Every so often I'd here the numbers being called ..so back on a lead I went. Would like to take this opportunity to thank Taloch and The Dolmen for all the support they have shown the band in 2011....you have been brilliant!

Boozey Bob and Mother Dearest....hmmm!

ok I'm going to let this video open this blog!!!!



Well although we were without our Bex on recorder for this, you can see the energy Sprigs' are generating can't you? It's been a wickwicky (gyrates hand like in a record scratching motion in the air..very 80s but you get the drift)wicked few weeks and I think the new band with only a few gigs into this latest morph have every reason to be very very proud!!! gig requests are coming through nicely , a cd in the planning with the wonderful Josh Elliot from the Dolmen recording and producing, new website a musical project in the offing too phew....Bloody work is getting in the way....in fact I've changed department.... going back to an office it will give me more time off with family and more time for the band.....On a personal note i am very likely to be involved in another radio project too ..but more about that later probably next blog....

So what have I have been doing since the last blog? gigging!!!! working sleeping (sometimes) certainly eating ....but i have also started training...oh yes indeedy need to shed a few pounds ....losing my boots off the top of my van........hey it can happen to anyone!!!!

but enough of this drivel ..you want to know the nitty gritty of what Mother Dearest has been upto don't you? well I can tell you she hasn't failed to dissappoint...we've tried to introduce her to a more pagan way of life....well she has taken to that like a duck to water ....except water is the only liquid that is safe in MD's hands ....like a true Pagan she drinks like fish....she will deny it of course..but Rie our band manager will testify that MD will sink a bottle in the time it takes to say an Awen!!!! it's costing me double the amount of petrol though...well I feel compelled to go back to where we take her the next day to apologise ....as it is I'm shy to show my face in Tesco after she anounced to the store in a loud voice "I'm so tired I've been screwing all day" well she had ...but it was a flatpack nothing to do with a six pack!!!!.

Of course she'll maintain her recent tumbles to the ground...and there have been several are not alcohol induced.....the first of which was an unfortunate chair that gave way under her at Basingstoke gig ...but the second was in her front room whilst on her laptop.. surfing...literally ...she fell off the laptop onto the floor....I kid you not!!!.....I'm considering a Mother Dearest Fan club page on Facebook a bit like Mark Vine's Boozey Bob one...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/52853335364/

In fact she is coming with us to The Dolmen Grove Yule Ball..perfect!!!!! Boozey Bob will be there!!!!now there's a thought

For now I'm going to leave you with Dance yourself Dizzy...no not the Nolans!!! sprigs of course

Dance Yourself Dizzy (Live) by Spriggan Mist

Shaking A Deadman's Hand

words Mark Vine
music Baz Cilia
performed by Spriggan Mist at the Pagan Federation 40th anniversary 08/10/11
At The Archangel Kensington , London.
Sound quality not brilliant as recorded on hand held camcorder

London Calling

So Spriggan Mist marched on London .....in fact contrary to my last blog ..this was the 3rd time we had ventured into the Smoke! Percussionist Andy Wilkin bowed out at a semi acoustic gig in Mortlake last year. The other was a private party in Ruislip where we had Armen Gevorkian guesting on the drums.....ah memories......quickly crushed ....as this London adventure was a different kettle of frogs! This was for The 40th anniversary of the Pagan Federation at the Archangel in Kensington...this was with the new band and in the great company of established folk prog rock band Magic Folk who were headlining! The stage was small but the event huge!..and after suffering threats of having our mixing desk ceremoniously shoved up my nether regions from Rie the Sprigs manager after I remarked how nice it was to get a professional on the desk (she reliably does our desk usually) we finished our sound check and scoffed some food as all sorts of Witches, Druids and teddy bears (yes there was a man in a teddy bear outfit ...said it was a druid thing....??!?!?!) soon filled the club.
The wonderful Kate and Corwen kicked off proceedings ...now I’ve seen them before and they do melancholy medieval atmospheric brilliantly...but on this occasion they went uptempo and had the dance floor packed with robe clad peeps dancing making the whole area look like a medieval banquet....Corwen plays this instrument which looks like a She –wee in fact hands up... Kate referred to it as a she –wee and I didn’t make the connection as to what a she- wee was or is...so I had the honest and genuine belief that he was playing an instrument called a she –wee. Corwen if you are reading this let us know what your she –wee is? And how Maxine can get her hands on one...instrument that is not a she-wee.


I actually wondered if Spriggan Mist’s brand of folk inspired Rock was going to go down quite as well as Katem and Corwen ...and I have to admit during the quiet bit of our set I did wonder as I saw a few gaps in front of us that maybe ...we were the wrong music ......but then Gary looked at me...I looked at Max and there was that face of lets sock it to them... and then we did.... full tilt....Gary teetered on the edge of the stage his remote guitar bug allowing him freedom to get into the crowd ...I could see he was itching to go in so I helped him with a knee up his backside then he was away the crowd were back on the floor (they had only gone to refill their glasses!!!after all they were all Pagan)

it was hot it was sweaty but they were there bouncing up and down with me and the Fluffmeister as Max belted out electric life.......Colin was spanking the kick drum like he hated it Bex with her Cello turned up to 11 bowed away as the closing notes of the song rang out the cheers and whistles got louder ....then on it went... jumping and stomping right to the encore of Gypsy Witch! A great night ....job well done....we sold some CDs and got a few more gigs off the back of that performance so we were all very happy. Even Magic Folk bass player...Ben Glover commented on the set and “What a finish” Magic folk were brilliant I hasten to add, love their music however i just felt they went on a bit too late and after Kate and Corwen and us had got that party vibe going their prog rock brilliance was rather misplaced I did however enjoy their set, Heliopolis a favourite of mine at the moment...must play some on my radio show.

On the way home we had the pleasure of Rie and Fluff in the back of the Sprig mobile and it was about 0045 when we reached the rather rough suburbs of London ...we were all thirsty so Wifey directed me to a garage which was on a night service from the hatch jobby. So out Fluff and I climbed both of us in stage gear me in my black kilt Fluff in his knee high boots, bandana etc...At the hatch were two black Hounslow type geezers buying their rizlas ....

One of them had the trademark jeans around the thighs bases ball cap slightly a skew more bling than Mr T. He took a double take at the pair of us.....
“Hey Man what’s dem den!”
He pointed his ringed finger down at the kilt”
I replied “They is legs innit”
He replied “Yeah you like Vikings or summink.?..it’s like wid da kilt an all dat?” Didn’t want to really correct his lack of history knowledge kilt? Vikings? Etc?
I said “ No we are in a band just been gigging in London...innit” thought get down with the lingo less likely to be rolling around the floor with the chap.
“Awlright like wid da pipes innit ?”
“No I play bass we are a rock band” trying to look as rockstar as I could possibly could.
“Respeck man you is looking cool innit ya I like dat ..looks like Vikings innit...where you like headin now?”
I was going to say to an after gig party full of drugs and page 3 models but checked myself....
“Going home innit....”
He smiled as he strutted off he said “You ave a good one ..”

I jumped back in the Sprig mobile and headed for the safety of the Berkshire border...before you knew it we were home...innit!
Photos on this article were taken by John Steane with whom many a hug was had ....and the chorus of "We love you Johnny "belted out from the Sprig mobile everytime he and Bex drew level at lights in london's streets

Fluffy Cheese off the Leash

“You can’t see it can you?” Mother Dearest looked at Max’s eyebrows intently moving closer.

“See what we enquired?”
“The thread”.....yep you guessed it Max had her eyebrows threaded and Mother Dearest was looking for the thread. I held my head in disbelief.....and with me with pen poised to jot down anything you lot in blog land might find amusing too.....

What a great week last week! The Chicago Rock Cafe gig in Windsor was a great little tester session for us to go on and play two days later at The Dolmen Grove True Spirits gig at the Flying Bull in Liss. Max and Gary were both feeling rather under par through colds but got through these gigs I survived another testing time at work, the band keeps me sane in these strange old times...just wish it paid the mortgage too, but can’t grumble, especially after the rather quiet crowd at Windsor seeing family, friends and punters dancing and whooping to Sprigs at Liss made our latest morphing more and more satisfying. Dare I say it, our Bex on Cello even inspired Dolmen lead singer song writer to come away from the gig to dust off his own cello to add some bits to the new Dolmen album due out soon. Bex however came away with concussion due to an unfortunate incident with a falling speaker and although obviously not too chuffed about heading a falling cabinet it didn’t spoil her overall enjoyment on what was a good night.

It was good to see John again too and we have now invented a new pass time that even the Dolmen’s drummer Spankie enjoyed ...yes John hugging! It’s gotta be done he just needs hugging especially when in mid conversation with someone you don’t know ..march right up, arms out stretched.... fingers flickering in unison beckoning the big man. Was a real moment seeing Spankie tell John “Spread the love ” as we all group hugged ......brings a lump to the throat

So after the two gigs last week we are looking forward to Saturday the 40th anniversary of the Pagan Federation at The Archangel in London. We are sandwiched between the medieval sounds of Kate and Corwen who play an amazing array of traditional and sometimes homemade instruments and Magic Folk who seem to have been around forever! Not quite sure if the organisers realise how rocky we have turned. We are looking forward to the gig only the second time Sprigs have performed in London so should be an adventure .

These blogs do come with a serious health warning....Gary aka the Fluffster our guitarist and king of cheesy rock star poses (my fave the on the one knee with other leg outstretched ram rod straight...kills me every time )

Up until now he has been kept on a tight leash. He could only go as far as his guitar lead allowed..this still hasn’t stopped him jumping off stage into audiences .but after seeing the freedom Max and I have with our remote bugs he bought his own!!!.....the leash is off....this means he will be harder to contain.......Gary can now pop up anywhere ....and rest assured he will with the most cheesy of cheesiest poses imaginable!!

The Brown Stuff

I omitted the new additions to the band's Crew in my last blog…..Rie! She is a bit of a floater! Now I'm not talking of the toilet variety although she has the knack of turning any innocent conversation down said toilet into the drain!!! Especially if Mother Dearest and/or Wifey are in vicinity to encourage her. No, she floats between managing the band , doing the sound desk and making sure her beloved and master of the cheesy poses Gary (step away from the ebay screen ) is kept in check!.....She is especially usefull at organising the new Sprigs rehearsals and keeping us focussed on tasks in hand….and she brings round scrumpy…so she's got the job.

John , is another dual purposes member of the Sprig's family….Roady ….every band needs a few and an amazing live photographer …..I pinched him ..he is definitely alive! He is also Bex 's other half and I totally get his sense of humour..not that the two statements are related at all except Bex doesn't get his sense of humour.

So we have a lot of backing to the band now …I can't however not mention our little Aaron he is probably the best Roady we have ..with his little red cart and his encouragement to his dad with little pet names like "You muppet!" and his favourite saying "what's the point Dad?"
Nurturing and teaching is a natural thing for the father figure in any species isn't it? Wifey and the Wee were off in the New forest playing with Brownies, that is of the girl guiding type and not cakes..or indeed anything else brown one finds in the forest..as everyone knows what bears do there…excrement is becoming bit of a theme in this blog isn't it? .. Why is it called the New Forest.?.hey I'm 40 and it's always been there in my life time..so hardly new...and yep….. .just checked Wiki…. it was there even when Mother Dearest was little …apparently she used to throw rocks at the Terredactyles as they swooped on by! Anyway I digress….I was Windsor bound doing a recce on Chicago Rock café the scene of our next gig so to beat the traffic get some exercise and to take the opportunity to teach Aaron my 10 year old how to ride his bike on the road we decided to cycle .The lad did very well too, only a few hairy moments when as we were going around a roundabout I shouted "hug the island !" to keep him on the outside lane ..to my horror he thought the said " island " was the roundabout and crossed two lanes to get there but apart from that it went relatively without incident and one proud little 10 year old was soon sat enjoying his whippy by the river as I tried to rid myself of a whippy deposited due to the aformentioned story. (That theme again)
So Chicagos was shut but a large poster that Darkmarge had done with a very dark eyed Sebastian in Guard's uniform playing leccy guitar in front of the castle quoting the phrase "Spriggan Mist Live in Windsor" September 28th 2011 was posted up beside the door…..wow! I caught the eye of the cleaner inside the premises , he was intently hovering . Now when I mean I caught his eye I don't mean in my gay icon type of sense…well at least I don't think so…I mean, he may be gay and may have fancied me..but I mean he saw me with face pushed to the glass looking like shrek…..Amazingly he let me in to see the place. Amazingly as I wouldn't let me in if I was inside looking out at me pressing my face through the glass at me…..was that last sentence like a Matrix film? No I couldn't understand me either…..then most people don't. Any way this cleaner chappy tells me that the management are expecting a large crowd on the 28th….and points to the poster….at this point readers I chickened out!!!!!!!! I should of asked the question "Why is that ?" I was afraid he might say …that band look quite proffesional they must have quite a following……then it's ..squeaky bum time….I'm hoping he knows something we don't, like he has sold loads of tickets???? Or maybe Flea from the Chilli Peppers is at a loose end and has decided to musey on in to Windsor and take the bass duties away from me that night…either way it promises to be a good night …can we have a good turn out please we kinda need you
Maybe Marge needs to do a flyer of Sebastian in kitchener mode pointing to get bums on seats!!!!! Or maybe we just play as we did at Tribal Dreams and them bums will just sit…..or jump up and dance ..the latter being preferable

Therapy

hi there blog fans! it's been ages hasn't it.....well I'm back. so what has prompted this return to blog land?

I've ditched my personal facebook page ...why? my firm have been monitoring what I've been doing in my private life..and although i have done nothing outrageous...(or wrong certainly nothing illegal) it bugs me so it had to go. Also because of work related depression I have done a lot of soul searching and I have decided that this blog is a bit of self help therapy. I was getting Gazillions of hits on here too.

So what has changed? three band members for a start ....out went Shaun the drummer, he couldn't commit....truth be known playing to hundreds of Faeries and/or bhuddists in robes was a bit too much for him..but just another day in the office for a hardened Sprig! The Lamberts have gone. Dave has taken his sandals off the Sprig's stage and together they are planning world domination of the prog sort under the name David Jail..currently seeking musicians to launch that. Still good friends and we wish them the best....

So we now have three new members Bex on Recorder and Cello. Yes we wanted to go back to Max's original recorder sound and Bex is the perfect addition as she plays Cello too..really adds texture to the band and translates what Max writes perfectly into the live scenario....

Gary on guitar. tough shoes to fill given Dave Lambert's fret wandering skills ...but Gary never filled that Dave replacement role ...instead he pushed that aside and said "it's Gary time" bringing his own brand of heavy chugging screaming wheeling cheese infested posing ..well Garyness. Has been a breath of fresh air. With his range of ultimately cool guitars.

Then we have Colin, the most low maintenance drummer I have ever played with. Colin is as steady as they come ...really drives Spriggan Mist, adding to that all new rocky outlook

Max does quite a bit more soloing now and is writing some excellent material and i think the Real sound of Spriggan Mist as she envisaged is starting to emerge.

Me? i'm writing a bit more ..singing a bit more and I think the bass playing is a little more driven now....(even use a pick at times) I'm also playing bouzouki on stage now ....

But don't take my word for all this.....check us out....

oh one last thing...we kinda have a manager...Rie.....more about her next blog LOL!!!!!!!

Spriggan mist podcast May 2011

In this episode...
The Dolmen..fresh from their dutch leg of their Storm tour an old fav. of mine
Ghost Town Showdown .. Arguably the most well received band on the Spriggan Mist presents shows
Demios... a live recording of this young band
Scattered Few..the great Reading duo
Poetry by Sandi Mathews
and of course Spriggan Mist

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Some More Dates for your diary

Spriggan Mist Present 4th March 2011

Spriggan Mist Presents Podcast Feb 2011

On this podcast ....

An interview with Savour The Flavour's front Man Hugh Spalding
Poetry from Mark Vine
music by Savour The Flavour , Five ThirtyOne, Bounty Hounds Gentle Italian and of course Spriggan Mist

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Spriggan Mist Presents Podcast Jan 2011

On this Podcast , The Dolmen, Brocc, Devil's Elbow. Electrick Wytch. michael tingle and Russell Davis and a live performance by Spriggan Mist

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A Spiritual Beginning

So my bloggy friends, 2011 is here . in this blog you have seen trials and tribulations. From me picking up the bass one Christmas a few years ago to playing festivals with Spriggan Mist. A few weeks ago whilst being interviewed on the BBC I made reference to a musical journey to the amusement of rory , a long time supporter of Spriggan Mist and indeed one of our crew. I kicked myself for using that corny analogy but find myself using it again unashamedly here in this blog.


It has been a journey, not just musically but spiritually too and it’s that intertwining of music and spirituality that I am blogging about today. I am about to embark on a year long self study on the basics of Bardism. The process of becoming a Bard can take 15 -20 years and I’m not sure to what extent my intentions will take me but I know it will increase my knowledge of Awen –inspiration ,flowing spirit, knowledge of music poetry ,story telling ,performance and it certainly has ticked all the boxes in my spiritual beliefs. I intend to update my progress through this blog. A lot of the progress gets logged in private journal, but I see this as a way of getting out there if you like

One of the first exercises is to write how I started out. This blog contains all the details but an abridged version is called for. Within the year of touching a bass for the first time Maxine and i played in a small put together ensemble to accompany a school production...what a buzz..we formed a band Hot Machero playing covers this morphed into Stone Jesters and musicians came and went as did gigs..some good some ok some awful. Maxine started to write some amazing songs and Spriggan Mist evolved from that song writing. By the time Spriggan mist came along I had already been writing a quite well received blog and my creative writing was coming along we made an EP called Konditions of change. One of the tracks on this CD was Dragut’s Eye , a brief song telling the story of the demise of a Turkish general in the great siege of Malta. I had written these lyrics and for the first time I let someone (Maxine ) look at them the song was re recorded for the Caught in a spell CD we did a year later. With Spriggan Mist I undertook some singing duties and some of the writing. Be it very small parts, the odd poem and lyric and a melody here and there. I have always loved a good story and entertaining ,public speaking is no longer an issue for me. I am writing more and more lyrics ,songs and stories and I see 2011 is going to be an amazing year on that musical journey as my spiritual beliefs ,my love of traditional values ,ancient stories ,myths all seem to be merging.

A few weeks ago I had the blessing of seeing a real life Bard in action Damh the Bard. He was presenting a talk on Ogham at Witchfest and he told a story which completely captivated the audience, his demeanour his voice body movements ...he was skilled in the art of communication. I knew his singing was something special , the lyrics, catchy tunes and humour but he inspired me that day ...enought to have lead me to where I am now at a bottom of another hill on that journey looking up at this long path I want to pass along not knowing really where it leads but know I must take it

So the first year and a day is the basic learning cycle and soon I will be Anruth of the Gwion Grade or an initiate into the Bardic ways ...who knows may be one day I’ll be called a Bard, because only then...and then alone will I have become one.