Happy Birthday to us...

Head sorted!
Yes, on the 19th of this month, we celebrated our second birthday with the current line up!
So what did the boys do? Well, there wasn't much we were able to do because of the bombs that plagued Derry city for the day, which was in short; a big pain in the arse. But we mustered onwards, not letting a little hiccup like that stop us (well, not entirely!)

Our new EP (simply called Volume Two) was released and there's no better way to launch it than at an anniversary!

We were due on the Mark Patterson show on BBC Radio Foyle at 4, so we arranged a practice at Big Marty's gaff for a quick acoustic practice at 3:20. I decided that I'd take a quick nap from about 2:40; and got up at 3:50.... Balls. (If you know Rion, he's a stickler for timekeeping!)
I got to the radio station right on the nick of time and got straight too it.
Our good friend Mr Stephen McCauley was on hand with sound, arrangements and two cupboard doors for us to stamp on! He thinks of everything that chap!
Mark welcomed us in, and before we knew it, we were live on air. (On another note, in my head I get such an urge to say a swear word when I find out its live... almost like a controllable tourettes)
We started with 'The Reprisal'; a song that if you haven't been to our gigs, or didn't listen to the show in question; you would never have heard before... Aren't you all very silly! But you lucky ladies and gents can go to the BBC NI website and enjoy it, as its there for another few days!
After the song, we had a great chat with Mark. I always (although I shouldn't) get nervous with Mark doing the interviews, as he always speaks to everyone in the studio; normally when he comes to me, that little swear word is creeping up in the back of my head! And I usually say something silly, mumble my words and fall into a ball crying in the corner saying 'I don't wanna, I don't wanna...' But I seemed to do ok!! Mark made us very welcome on his show and really helped with promoting it, so a big thank you to him, and Stephan McCauley
We played an a cappella rendition of Leadbelly, which went down well in the studio, and then it was time to get ready for the gig.

We got there good and early and got all (ALL) our gear setup. Crazy the amount of guitars we use for one gig! But they're all used, so no waste.

We weren't sure what the night would be like crowd wise; I had a feeling that there'd be a good few heads there, I mean; there was a good bit of promotion involved from places like Facebook, and as you know, I'm not a huge fan of Facebook, but credit where its due. The place was rammed!

John Deery opened proceedings with an imitate acoustic set. The songs were (all original) amazing! Really enjoyed it, although was a bit hard to hear it over the crowd; but the straining was worth it. He announced that he'd be recording in France at the end of April. Well done lad! I strongly recommend you get over to http://www.myspace.com/johndeery and have a good long listen and keep your eyes peeled for some new material. (And; on checking him out online, he's quite the artist! Check out http://www.johndeeryart.com/)

Mr Junior Johnson and the Handsome Bastards were up next. With a voice that the ladies love, and the lads want he got the crowd bouncing! In the words of Cheryl Cole 'I thoroughly enjoyed it'.

We were up next, and with a few beers to settle the ould nerves; on we went. We've sold quite a few of the new LP's, as well as a couple of the first ones (affectionately dubbed 'Volume One') so we're doing something right! After a few technical problems with one of the guitars (and us with so many!) we were ready.
The set was fast and furious, just the way we planned it! I'm learning that a good sign for a good set is not being able to see the floor for people, and all I could see were folks dancing about and enjoying themselves! So a brilliant turnout and overall a brilliant night! So Marty; I was blitzed, so if you have a copy of the set, then insert here!

Unfortunately; I didn't get any snaps on the night! So I have no photos to post!! Nightmare! So if anyone has any pictures of the night, give us a shout!

A big thank you to everyone who helped on the night; too many to mention, and I'd feel like a right bastard if I failed to mention some one (and not a very handsome one at that) , and a big thank you to everyone who turned up! We appreciate the support as always.

If you haven't bought a CD, then you'll have to force yourself to our next gig!

Anyway, cheers for reading.

J

I've got my Ticket.....

There's only a few left online @ wegottickets.com





and a few left in Café Del MOndo, Guildhall Square, Derry

Small, but most certainly massive...

Just a shout out to Paddy, Stella & all those involved in the Glasgowbury music festival. A huge congratulations to you all for winning the following awards at the Irish Festival Awards;

Best Small Festival
Best Lineup
Best Family Festival
Best Service

I'm looking forward to the 10th anniversary of the now legendary noise in the heart of the Sperrin Mountains. Last year was nothing short of breathtaking, and if you missed it; then thats a damn shame.

So once again, I hold my glass up to all the people involved in Glasgowbury. If music be the food of love, then I fucking love you guys!

The festival will be taking place this year on Saturday 24th July. For all information, including lineup, ticket information etc, just click this!

See you on the mountain!



J

The 'Gifted' Empire Music Hall...

Gifted indeed. A venue that has been blessed with beautiful decor, an amazing intimate stage, gorgeous lights and a somewhat sacred reputation for comedy & music.
This isn't all just a coincidence, however... It was a church way back in the day, and has since become a mecca for music and comedy alike.
But enough of the history; I may wear a tweed coat, but I'm not quite there yet!

We got there right on time, and got straight to work; (on a personal note, I'd like to say thanks to Ronnie from The Vals for letting me use his amazing Vox 2x12 cab. It sounded amazing with my Kelly head, and I am currently now sifting through online music stores to try and pick one up!)
The sound was great, and we previewed one of our newest songs to a lucky few during soundcheck!

So, the stage was set, so we went backstage and got ourselves ready for a new radio show on Féile FM (103.2 - http://www.feilefm.com/) with our very own Junior Johnson alongside Eamon Loughlin with 'E & J's Showcase'! We sang the a cappella version of Leadbelly, and chatted to the lads online. Juniors voice? What a smooth guy!



Eamon & Junior hard at it!



So, back to the Empire.

The crowd, although small; were receptive, and seemed to enjoyed it as much as we did. The sound was great onstage and from what I've been told, sounded great out front!
We had a 30 minute set, which sadly; as all bands know, feels like 15 minutes so I didn't jump around as much (It takes me about 30 minutes to go a bit nuts!)

Well, tomorrow is the Cellar Bar in Draperstown (lovingly re-dubbed 'Whiskeytown' by ourselves), and its been a while since we've been down, so looking forward very much to it.

Cheers for reading,

J

Bakebook...!!!

Jesus... is there anything Facebook cannot link upto..? Beginning to get a bit worrying come to think of it.

I just found out how to link our external bogspot up to Facebook. This just means all you FB users can now keep up to date with HCTLG news and Johnny's post gig depictions. Nice!?!

over and out
M.

HCTLG live on Balcony TV

Live Album & DVD penciled in for April!!

This will be shot and recorded on Saturday 24th April 2010 in The Orchard Cinema Derry, a nice retro setting with an intimate feel in front of 100 lucky cool catz!!

In the current cold climate for good music we're swamped with terribly over produced, mindlessly boring money driven plastic bands that all sound the same! So after toying with a few ideas we decided to go for a no-holds barred live album because:

a) Live is what we're all about and this will capture the HCTLG beast in all its raw intensity

b) We like to make things extra difficult for ourselves and planning this and piecing it all together will be our biggest challenge to date

&c) Traditionally a debut album is recorded in a studio, not live in front of an audience and we would like to break that mould and be different

Details of the night and how to get tickets etc will be coming soon as so watch this space!

Keep er country

Wally
HCTLG