FEELING HOT HOT HOT!!!

OMG! How hot is it??

I don’t know about you lot but although it looks pretty and happy when it’s sunny it doesn’t half make me grumpy when its this humid and sticky.  Luckily its nice and cool in here due to the wonders of modern technology and our lovely air conditioning.  As I cast my mind back to 13 years ago when we moved in, it seems a distant memory. I recall the packed nights full of hot and sticky bodies all rocking as one with the band and the old Par64 cans shoving out 1000W of energy per bulb. We had 12 of them on that stage at that point.  That is 12,000 Watts of heat created from stage lighting alone. Then the body heat emitted from at least 200 music revellers. That made one hell of a hot and smelly venue, and to top it all off at least 50% of them were smokers so hot sticky, smoky and smelly. Wow – how far we have come!  Since then obviously the biggest thing is the smoking ban, although I do not have anything against anyone smoking, It’s nice to not be forced to smoke alongside them. Before the smoking ban I suffered with illness after illness, mostly respiratory related. Being an asthmatic, the change was totally amazing after the ban.  Touching a lot of wood here, my health drastically improved afterwards.  Then we swapped all the par cans for LED cans. This was huge, it took our wattage output down from 12,000Watts for the whole rig to just 36Watts  (3 Watts per can).  That topped off with the installation of Air Con has made such a lovely comfortable environment not only to watch a gig in but to work in.  So as I sit here and keep moaning that it’s bloody hot, Im reminding myself that it could be a hell of a lot worse, it was, it has been and luckily now its damn good.  So here I go – Im sucking it up and getting on with it lol. There’s so much worse things in life than a beautiful day right?

Anyway, we’ve had a brilliant spring, two great charity days and Brickfest is looming once more. Its getting hectic with organising but its all exciting stuff. We have some amazing acts playing this year.  The line-up is mouth watering and we can’t wait.  It’s the 10th Anniversary of Brickfest this year and to celebrate we are releasing some exciting merch. Included in that is the 10th Anniversary Tee which will feature every band/act that has played Brickfest over the last 10 years.  Lucky for us that means we get to put the awesome Ed Sheeran’s name on our t-shirt along with over 170 other amazing bands. We want to get as many people in them as we can for the day so keep your eyes open for pre-order details.  It’s going to be an awesome day so mark Monday 29ths August in your diaries asap. (You might want to plan the Tuesday off to recover too!)

The second half of the year sees some new acts on our stage, In August alone we have four new acts playing The Brickies for the first time.  We hope you’ll come along and support new music on the scene. Check them out.

EXIT ATARI – Friday 12th August   “Handsome men playing handsome tunes that range from the down right classic to your guilty pleasures through the medium of stringed wooden shapes and things you hit”  Well, thats what they say anyway lol.   These guys will look familiar to you as they all hail from other local bands.  Rest assured, they won’t disappoint you.

MARK ANTHONY & THE FUNK STUFF BAND – Friday 19th August .
Mark Anthony is one of the city’s finest vocalists and his Funky Stuff band is a tribute to all the greatest soul, Motown and disco legends; such as, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, The Jackson 5 and Smokey Robinson.  A great night for a good old fashioned boogie!!!

ADDICTIVE MIX – Thursday 25th August
Another 5-piece band with members that you will recognise. With toes that are regularly tipped in the waters of The Lee Vasey Band, these guys have a wealth of experience of getting you on that dance floor, yes folks – even on a Thursday!! We’re looking forward to seeing this band, they are going to be providing a unique twist on floor-filling songs from the 80s to today. Sounds brilliant!

BLOODSHAKE CHORUS – Friday 26th August
Now here’s somethings more than a little bit different!  The Bloodshake Chorus combine B-movie theatrics with early rock n roll, give it a metaphorical slap around the back of the head, then add fake blood for good measure. Equal parts fun, silly and visceral, the band have been gaining notoriety in venues throughout the region for their noisy live shows, ghost train costumes and their punk edged reconstructions of 50s and 60s rock n roll classics. Definitely not to be missed!!!

So there you have it. Four new acts on our stage and all very diverse and exciting. Around all that we have gigs with Claire Barker, Pure Passion, Black Dogs, Bootleg Boss, Cover Story and so many more. Then of course the big one at the end of the month. How lucky we are in Norwich to have such a thriving music scene. Believe me, there are cities and towns across the land of the United Kingdom full of minds immeasurably superior to ours that regard this Norwich music scene with envious eyes and slowly and surely they drew….(STOP) sorry shouldn’t listen to Jeff Wayne whilst blogging!!!   Anyway, you know what I’m saying, we have the best bands, the best venues a city could want. Make sure you go out there and support them all.

Its so good to see the scene thriving again.  Lucky lucky us!!!!!

Happy Sunday everyone keep cool!

Charley xx