Tubesnake

The Mill House, Birtley. Sunday 20th December 2009. Quiet as hell when we first turned up but then patrons, Carl & Deanne McDonald, brought the girls from their other pub just around the corner, The Ship Inn. It was their staff night out and they were dressed to the hilt. As our set played on, they even prompted an instrumental snippet of Molly’s Chambers by Kings of Leon, led by Tom, and a blast of Hot Stuff by Donna Summer. Amazing what a few pretty smiles can drag out of a band. One of the barmaids from The Ship, Laura Kerry, stepped up and did the full version of Black Velvet by Alannah Myles with the band. For an off the cuff request, the lads really pulled it off, and she had a great voice too. More bods turned up as the night went on and the end result was another cracking night at The Mill House! … Lenny

Friday 18th December 2009. Our first gig in The Stables Pub & Brewery which is set in the grounds of Beamish Hall, near Stanley. Opened in May 2009 as a bar-restaurant with its’ own brewery, it also hosts live bands every Friday night and has done for a few months now. Hell of a setting for a gig and, due to the festive season, we found our gig shortened to fit in with a pre-booked Christmas feasting party and consequently shared our slot with a DJ who let us make use of his lights and very powerful smoke machine. We still had a blast in this very classy joint and we’ve been promised a return when we can have the place to ourselves so keep an eye on our gig list for next year!

The Star Inn, Newcastle, Sunday 29th November 2009. We’ve already played a couple of Saturday nights at this pub over the last year or so but this was our first Sunday afternoon slot which kicked off at 4pm. It’s a really neat venue at the bottom of Westgate Road, directly opposite The O2 Academy, and we love it. We kicked off with Suffragette City and an audience of about 25 in the room, which was a little disappointing considering the excellent attendance we’d had at our previous two Saturday night gigs. We put this down to the atrocious weather outside but we were really up for this gig and went for it anyway. Whatever! Towards the end of the first set the number of bods had ballooned and the place had really filled up. The crowd swell was helped not least by a large bunch of girl/boy youth from Maryport who had a gig to attend at The Academy over the road later that night. Many thanks to them for their enthusiastic participation. The pub remained packed and we ended with a couple of blistering encores and a feeling that all involved had a great afternoon! … Lenny

Light My Fire (2009)

TUBESNAKE Ninth Line-Up: Lenny (Vocals), Woody (Drums), Chris (Bass), Tom Atkinson (Guitar)

Recorded live at The Star Inn, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Sunday 29th November 2009.

thanks to Brian Baty for this video

Friday 13th November, 2009 at The New Inn, Hetton-le-Hole. This was a new venue to us and despite the Tsunami outside it turned out to be well worth the visit. It was a class night with an audience that ranged from 18 to much older. We thought we’d lose a few of the pretty youth but the room remained full for the duration and the audience seemed to have a blast. Quite a bit of dancing went on and we chucked in a musical (ish!) birthday tribute to one of the girls. Lots of after gig complimentaries about our Doors stuff, again from a predominately younger age group. The sound in the gig room was great and basically the whole pub has a really good ambience about it. Glad to say that we’ve since secured two more gigs there next year in March and August. Thanks to Lee who invited us in the first place! … Lenny

The Office, South Shields, Friday 6th November 2009. After playing here so many times in the past it seemed unbelievable that we hadn’t played this venue since September 2006. Woody missed it and we had Waka, from The Glammed, standing in for him on the drums. Not a massive audience, but a keen one, and we really enjoyed the gig after such a time away. Must say many thanks to Colin Smoult (Shovelmouth) for lending his expert ear and directing the set up of our slightly beefed up, partly hired, P.A. arrangement as well as controlling the venue’s new lasers. Cheers! … Lenny

photo by richard avedon (The Doors style Tubesnake logo added by lenny)

The Daisy Hill, Sacriston, Friday 30th October 2009. Just a word to say thanks to everyone who made the effort and turned up to the Daisy Hill tonight. First Tubesnake gig for almost three weeks and a damned good night. The crowd were behind us from song one. As well as the regulars, would like to say a special thanks to the peeps who taxied themselves over from Newton Hall and Pity Me to catch us in a bigger than your average venue. From where we were standing it looked and sounded like everyone had a good night. Dance on fire! … Lenny

The rumours were rife about the possible closure of The Egypt Cottage in Newcastle-upon-Tyne but we all hoped it wouldn’t happen. The three gigs we did there in January, April and July 2009 were all excellent and we loved this intimate, unique venue. Another one bites the dust!

Last orders at legendary Egypt Cottage pub
SUNDAY SUN Sunday 27th September 2009 … Coreena Ford

Campaigners fighting to save one of the North’s oldest pubs from demolition have told of their sorrow following the bar’s closure. The Egypt Cottage in Newcastle called last orders for a final time last Sunday, after a valiant battle to remain open amid developers’ plans to demolish the site, together with the neighbouring Tyne Tees TV studio.

The pub has long been associated with The Tube, which was beamed live from Tyne Tees in the 1980s and featured a raft of rock and pop legends, many of whom spent time in the adjoining Egypt Cottage which became dubbed “studio six”. Now, the Sunday Sun understands bulldozers working for owners Buccleuch Property will start levelling the buildings as early as next month.

The 18th “Heart ‘n’ Soul Rally”, Friday 18th to Sunday 20th September 2009 featured camping, Custom Bike Show & Prizes, Ride Out, Late Bar & Food Facilities, Trade Stands, Rally Pin, Bike Games plus 9 live bands and disco. JIAB, Bruder, The Whole Hog and Bessie & The Zinc Buckets appeared on Friday with E-Men-City, Gig Fear, Mugshot, Tubesnake and finally Tommy & The Oddballs covering the Saturday slots. We played a straight 90 minutes set on the main stage on Saturday 19th at 8.15pm. At last year’s rally we played in the Silver Ring Bar, lugging in all our own gear, but this year we were invited to play the main stage with full PA and lights already set up. We had no idea what the rest of the running order was until we turned up around 5pm and managed to grab hold of a programme while gratefully sampling the free beers in the ‘green room’ behind the stage, which we totally missed out on last year. There was an excellent crowd in with all seats taken, plenty standing and a quite a few bods up for dancing. We really enjoyed our set and were pleased to have a most excellent view, from side of stage, of the ‘exotic dancers’ who strutted their stuff straight after us and before Tommy & The Oddballs closed the show. Cracking event where the organisers really do put their heart ‘n’ soul into getting it right! … Lenny

Our website is two years old today. Many thanks from all of us in Tubesnake for your continued support. Cheers!

The Lambton Hounds Open Air Rock Festival, Sunday 30th August 2009.
This was a fundraiser for St.Cuthbert’s Hospice in Durham which featured Real Ales – Bouncy Castle – BBQ – Live Bands
1.15pm – Ha’Waysis (Oasis tribute), 2.45pm – Bad Lashes (Vocal-Heavy Girl Indie Band),
4.15pm – Victims Of The Fury (Cream, Trower, Hendrix). 5.45pm – Diamond Dogs (Glam, Punk), 7.15pm – Tubesnake

The Masons Arms, Easington Village on Saturday 22nd August 2009. We ain’t played here since June last year and it was good to be back. This gig was like Masons Arms gigs of old with basically a full house and a tremendous crowd. Waka stood in on drums and managed to put a hole in the bass drum of one of Woody’s older kits which he had on loan. This led to us performing drum-free versions of People Are Strange and Riders On The Storm back to back while he grappled with a roll of gaffa tape. New song, Play With Fire by The Rolling Stones was aired for the first time! … Lenny

Friday 31st July 2009 at The Red Star, Seaham. This is a new venue on the circuit and I believe we were only the third band to play there on their new Friday Rock Night slot. Consequently, there weren’t many punters but those who attended gave us a very enthusiastic reception. In our opinion the venue is excellent for both audiences and bands with a very tidy interior featuring a good stage and great room layout. Get along and give your support to Ken, formerly of The Pemberton Arms, and any forthcoming acts and help get this venue established! … Lenny

Excellent night at Buffalos Rock Night at The Buffs Social Club in Houghton-le-Spring, Friday 10th July 2009. We had a great crowd who applauded well, made a lot of supportive noise and put the dance floor to good use. This gig exceeded all our expectations since the turn-out and audience response far surpassed our experiences at other club gigs we’ve been asked to do. At this venue, the audience pay good money to gain entrance so you know they’ve turned up specifically to see and hear the live act. They’re in it for the musical experience and there’s no bingo getting in the way. Plus, the stage and room size allowed us to connect with the audience since they didn’t appear to be miles away as in some sprawling club rooms. Definitely a venue we’d like to return to! … Lenny

The Egypt Cottage, Newcastle, Saturday 4th July 2009. Another great gig with our favourite stand-in drummer, Waka. We love this venue but whispers of its’ impending closure are rife! … Lenny

Thanks to all the peeps and freaks who made our gig at The Lambton Hounds, Pity Me, on Saturday 20th June 2009 a memorable evening. A great crowd which included mega party animals who danced like demons, fell over, flashed lingerie and feminine body parts (if you were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time) all to our back drop of heartfelt, sweaty, rock ‘n roll man! Damn good! The earth dies screaming! … Lenny

Sunday 14th June 2009 at The Mill House, Birtley. Rearranged the set and did the first half acoustic, second half full electric. Made a nice change for a Sunday night (the only Sunday night we still do) at a venue which has moved from a full-on party ambience in years gone by to a more sedate affair as of the last year or so. Quite enjoyed sitting on a chair for most of the first set, Tom and Chris included, and first outing of Back Door Man by The Doors following an audience request. The acoustic approach certainly makes you focus but sounded sweet as a nut. Dancing Days and Crackerman done acoustically filled my head with thoughts of Stone Temple Pilots doing unplugged sessions, thanks to Tom’s spot-on interpretations. A different, but good gig with a laid back element that we certainly enjoyed! … Lenny

Two excellent gigs over the weekend after four weeks off due to holidays which found Chris cruisin’ the Caribbean and me doing the Spanish stroll in Calpe, about an hour from Alicante. Cracking gig at Crook F.C. on Saturday 6th June and an even more intense gig at The Clarendon in Sunderland at 5pm on Sunday afternoon 7th June. Both audiences were excellent but the Clara crowd truly went for it. Back to life, back to reality! … Lenny

Things are gonna be a little quiet on this site for the next couple of weeks due to holidays but we’ll be bursting back on the scene with six gigs in June. Out here we is stoned, immaculate. Check our Gigs page for details!