Tubesnake

Sympathy For The Devil (2017)

TUBESNAKE Tenth & Current Line-Up: Lenny (Vocals), Woody (Drums), Chris (Bass), Martin Craggs (Guitar)

Recorded live at The Cluny, Ouseburn, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Sunday 19th March 2017.

thanks to Jules Gilroy for this video

David Bowie 8th January 1947 – 10th January 2016.

artwork by lenny

50 years to the day of the release of their debut album, January 4 will be proclaimed “Day Of The Doors” in the city of Los Angeles. The proclamation will be made by Los Angeles City Council member Mike Bonin during a public event at the intersection of Pacific and Windward Avenues, the location of the iconic “Venice” sign.

The Doors are quite possibly the most legendary Los Angeles band of all time. Formed in Venice, The Doors went on to become the definitive sound and voice of the 1960s and influence countless generations to come with classic songs such as “Light My Fire,” “Break On Through” and, of course, “L.A. Woman.” The Doors are celebrating their 50th Anniversary in 2017, as their eponymous debut album was released on January 4, 1967 and is still considered to be one of the all-time-great rock and roll debuts.

“Venice is a place where many have chased their pleasures or dug their treasures. It is a place that birthed The Doors and taught us all to cherish the funky, weird, and world-renowned vibe that Jim, Ray, Robby, and John helped make famous,” said City Council member Bonin. “I am very happy to be amongst the feast of friends celebrating The Doors’ 50th anniversary, and I thank the band, their management, and the Venice Chamber of Commerce for making this celebration possible.”

… extract posted by Eric Garcetti at www.thedoors.com

The full line-up of bands has been announced for the event which features live music on Friday 2nd September and Saturday 3rd September 2016.

You can catch us on the ‘Main Stage’ on Saturday 3rd September at 7.45pm.

Historically we are no strangers to Stormin’ …

At Stormin’ 2005 we were the first band up on the ‘Main Stage’ on Friday 2nd September.

At Stormin’ 2010, we were the second band up on the ‘Main Stage’ on Friday 3rd September.

We can’t wait for Stormin’ 2016.

Tonight we received an email inviting us to play Stormin’ The Castle 2016 on Saturday 3rd September. We’re over the moon and of course we accepted immediately. The finer details of which stage we’re playing on and in which time slot will follow shortly, although we have been told we’ll probably be on the Main Stage. Excellent news!

Ziggy Stardust (1972)

Recorded live at The Civic Hall, Dunstable, Wednesday 21st June 1972.

Silent film synced to ‘same year’ live audio.

David Bowie 8th January 1947 – 10th January 2016.

There’s many of us out there who are gutted and deeply saddened by this news and countless tributes have been paid from all around the world. Thanks to North East publication ‘NE Love Magazine’ for highlighting this particular quote.

“If you’re sad today just remember the world is over 4 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist the same time as David Bowie.” … Simon Pegg

artwork by lenny

Saturday 19th December saw us finish our last gig of 2015. Despite the intermittent lashing down of rain outside it was more than cosy inside with a good turnout at The Red Lion in Coxhoe. You really do have to squeeze yourself in with a shoehorn at this venue but it makes for a great atmosphere. In total we put out 58 gigs in 2015. An additional three gigs were lost due to the venue either closing or ceasing live music, one gig was lost to a double booking mix up and one very recently had to be cancelled due to very bad weather conditions and traffic delays. As for the venues themselves, we revisited three pubs we hadn’t played at in four years or more and, more interestingly, made our very first appearance at no less than nine brand new venues to us. Our first time at Trillians in Newcastle back in July had to be a highlight. All in all, a great year with old and new venues, new songs introduced to the set and some bloody good gigs. Thanks to everyone for being there. We hope you’ve all had a great Christmas and we’d like to wish you a very Happy New Year for 2016 … Tubesnake (Lenny, Woody, Chris, Martin)

Well that was downright dirty, hot and sweaty and as the midnight hour approaches it’s time for us to unwind in our seperate abodes with a beer or a glass of red and reflect on what has just taken place.

It has to be said we’ve had two great gigs this weekend. Firstly, The Market Tavern in Chester-le-Street last night, Friday 18th September, was very well attended by a crowd who certainly were ‘into it’. A great vibe pulsed through the room all night generated from a mixture of old and new faces and left us feeling we’d all had a great gig. Cheers, Chester-le-Street!

Tonight, Saturday 19th September, we’ve just played The Angel in Durham City. Last night was great but tonight was tremendous. From 9pm through to our encore at 11pm with a short break in the middle, the atmosphere was excellent. We juggled the set so it wasn’t just a repeat of The Market Tavern gig. The place was packed and we had them dancing from song number one.

We always enjoy performing but having audiences like that is what takes us to another level. We know it’s only Rock n’ Roll but we like it!

Spanish Caravan / People Are Strange (2015)

TUBESNAKE Tenth & Current Line-Up: Lenny (Vocals), Woody (Drums), Chris (Bass), Martin Craggs (Guitar)

Recorded live at The Queen Vic, South Shields, Saturday 29th August 2015.

thanks to Colin Smoult for this video

TV Broadcast (2015)

TUBESNAKE featured on tv channel Made in Tyne & Wear, Thursday 27th August 2015.

We get mentioned in the Gig Guide section of their programme ‘The Lowdown’, announcing our two gigs coming up on the weekend. They include a very short video clip of the band performing ‘Paint It Black’ at The Station, Killingworth, Newcastle-upon-Tyne on Friday 31st October 2014.

The Moorcock, Peterlee, Friday 28th August.
The Queen Vic, South Shields, Saturday 29th August.

thanks to Made in Tyne & Wear

Over the last few weeks our advertisement for a full time guitarist drew interest from around a dozen players and led to a couple of house meets and a four song audition at our gig at The Angel in Durham on Saturday 22nd March. Our dep guitarist, Stuart Dawson, stood down at the start of the second set to allow one Martin Craggs to show us his stuff in a ‘live’ situation by playing on four of the songs currently in our set. Guess that could be classed as a baptism of fire for Martin rather than holding the audition in a practice hall but it gave us all the ‘real feel’ and we were very happy to ask Martin to join the band. Martin has played in folk, rock, pop, jazz and blues bands at venues and festivals across the UK and Europe and was a member of the award winning Maggie Ross Band. He is classically trained and works as a freelance guitarist and teacher at NMC (Northern Music Centre) in Newcastle. In the four weeks since that audition at The Angel, Martin has been getting up to speed with a list of forty songs we currently still use in our set and played his debut gig with us yesterday at the ‘Easter Takeover’ Rock Event. This was hosted by The Hut Rock Venue at Crook FC where we shared the billing with Black Rose and The Kieran Johnson Band. The new line-up is officially on the road and although, for now, it’s all about settling in and tightening up what we currently run with you can expect new material to be introduced in the near future to cement and define this tenth line-up of Tubesnake.

Having spotted gig posters in the pub window it still took us quite a while to sort this gig out, but with the help of some of our friends in the know who live North of The Tyne, we eventually managed to get a booking at this venue. Late this Sunday afternoon we played at The Railway Hotel in Walkergate, Newcastle for the first time. This was guitar dep Stuart Dawson’s 5th gig with us. He’s been extremely quick to learn our set and is doing a first class job for Tubesnake. Tom returned from Abu Dhabi on Friday and attended this gig, drank copious amounts of lager and stayed for the whole set. It was great to see him and we all had a good catch up but he has plans for further travel and a different direction. Tom, now 24, has been with us since he was 17 and it looks like it’s time for him to fly the Tubesnake nest. This has always been on the cards to happen at some point and we quite simply wish him all the best in all of his future musical endeavours. He’s a cracking lad and a cracking guitarist and we know we’ll all keep in touch. So, seeing as our guitar dep Stuart is only with us for another month or so it’s now time for us to advertise for a new guitarist taking Tubesnake to the Tenth Line-Up.

January has been a pretty quiet month for us with just two dates in the diary. We were happy to leave it that way so we had plenty of breathing space to consider the auditions we held for a guitar dep to take us through the next two or three months. We do have a result but firstly we’d like to say thanks to Steve Gilroy for playing his ‘Birthday’ gig with us at The Star Inn, Newcastle on Friday 3rd January and to Tony Cawson for playing at The John Duck, Durham City on Friday 31st January. Both gigs were excellent and very well attended. Back to our search for a dep. We drew the line at just two auditions and in the end settled on our first applicant who played for us in late December. A very competent 31 year old Stuart Dawson from Newcastle is our choice. Stuart also plays bass and drums, builds his own guitar pedals and is involved in two other bands. Stuart has happily agreed to play with us for up to three months if needed. By that time he expects his involvement in his own projects will take precedence. In the last few weeks Stu has learnt not only our set but also another twenty plus songs we listed. Stuart’s depping stint with Tubesnake begins Saturday 15th February at The Station, Langley Moor, Durham.

Happy New Year Everyone. It’s early days yet as far as our guitarist Tom’s future plans are concerned but it’s looking like he’s gonna be out of the country longer than a month, maybe two or three months in fact. Tony Cawson and Steve Gilroy are still helping us out on guitar. Tony has just covered our Beamish Mary Inn gig in Stanley on Saturday 28th December and our New Year’s Eve gig at The Bonny Moorhen in Stanhope last night. However, we’ve taken the decision to look for a more permanent guitar dep. If Tom is going to be away for another three months we feel it would be better to have a stable line-up over that period with just the one dep in order to maintain some form of continuity at our gigs. We’ve already had a very positive audition a couple of weeks ago and have one more to check out in the next week. Both lads are aware that we’re looking for someone who is a quick learner and can commit to a good two or three months with us until we suss out what’s happening with Tom. We’ll keep you posted.

Teatime slot at The Free Trade Inn in Byker, Newcastle on Sunday 22nd December 2013. The spirit of Christmas was undoubtedly in the air today as what seemed like a never-ending stream of punters continued to squeeze themselves into this pretty small venue. It wasn’t long before the audience was packed in like a tin of sardines which, of course, created a tremendous atmosphere for the gig. Even the pubcat, Craig David, who normally has the run of the place, had to resort to hiding in the bass drum. Well done to pub regular Alan Gordon for getting that photo! Guitar dep, Steve Gilroy (SGB and The Dirty South), once again stood in on guitar since Tom is still gigging in Abu Dhabi at the moment. You did a great job Steve and everyone was suitably impressed with your Santa hat by the way. That’s the spirit! This was a brilliant gig at The Free Trade with a fantastic crowd who still found room to dance and smash a few pint glasses in the process. Merry Christmas, one and all, from Tubesnake.

After some deliberation, our guitarist Tom Atkinson boarded a plane today to begin another bout of gigs abroad. This time he’s starting in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. We say “starting” since we are unsure when, or if, he will be coming back. We’ll have to wait and see. We are pretty impressed by his sense of adventure though! Once again, Tubesnake will continue to meet all gig commitments with the help of guitar deps Tony Cawson (a founder member of Tubesnake) and Steve Gilroy (SGB and The Dirty South) who both performed depping duties for us earlier this year through May/June while Tom was gigging in Eilat, Israel. This coming Friday, 20th December we have Tony on guitar when we play The Saltgrass in Sunderland. Two days later, at 5pm on Sunday 22nd December, Steve steps up when we play The Free Trade, Byker, Ouseburn. Exciting stuff!