The RnR Music Pix & Video Website

The Northampton Band 8 Foot Under appeared at the WC and I was there again to record most of the gig for posterity... a hot and sweaty time was had by all on this D-Day Anniversary. To whet your appetite I will shortly post a sample of one of the Led Zeppelin tracks they do, Livin' Lovin' (sorry in advance about the sound quality but come back later and I will have redone it with hi-fi). 

On these pages I will put up some of the many photo's I have taken at The Pitz gigs from the past couple of years. These are all my own work but if you would like to use them please go ahead.

I have more photo's including those from the 5 Horse Johnson gig and used thumbnails for the big ones I had before so the page should load quicker now.

If you want to watch and hear a fine rendition of the Led Zep classic Black Dog by the best band in Northampton and the surrounding locale, 8 Foot Under live at The Pitz then click here. On the other hand you may want to exult in the fiery rendition of the Motorhead ode to garden implements everywhere 'The Ace of Spades'. By some miracle of technology the Whole Lotta Rosie track is still on the server here. Then I suggest you leave us an go over to their website where you can see some of my pix and other images of this most handsome of combos. These files have been removed for the moment because I have exceeded my webspace limit... if you really must have them and you can accept 5-10 meg files via email or ftp then drop me an email at szweda[at]gmail.com

Second update - Five Horse Johnson were at The Pitz. I had been looking forward to seeing them for ages - they were due to appear a year or so ago but had to cut short their UK tour due to a band member injury I recall. Even this time their tour was hit by some controversy because the support band Gold Cash Gold (also US rockers) left the tour a few gigs before MK. We were not told why but the local paper hinted at some kind of falling out. Maybe had this not happened we would have had one of those special gigs. However, the last minute substitutions were very poor. I am all for giving local bands a chance and I suppose on the face value three bands for a fiver seems good value. But such arguments fall down when the bands in question are so inexperienced. I had seen such bands in the Band Blitz contest. They certainly do not cut it for the 5HJ audience who like their unique blend of dirty blues rock from the good ol' USA. worse still, they took up so much time that 5HJ only player for an hour and we got no encore. This meant we went away without the likes of 'Odella' or my favourite 'Fly Back Home'.

All that said the gig was highly memorable and that hour was worth double the price of admission. A pity that the hall was far from full. With better publicity for their tour I am sure they could sell out given the turn out for other similar bands. Highlights were some new songs (well, ones I had not heard before like Souldigger) and faves like Mississippi King and Medecine. I stood there in open mouthed amazement at Brad's lead guitar playing because I don't think he uses a plectrum! What a powerhouse of a band 5HJ have become and while their flavour of music is not what you might call 'hip' you will not be able to stand still when they crank it up. Plenty of repartee with the audience between songs and commitment which belied the poor turn out and obscure venue. This is a band I will go and see again next time they come to our town. Meanwhile, I suggest you visit their website where you can see them on stage and hear track excerpts from the new album.... I did not recognise the lead singer with his short haircut... the bass player still looks like Neil of the Young Ones! BTW they get their unusual name from a type of outboard motor they saw... can't be many bands with that kind of inspiration!

Click on the thumbnails below to enlarge the image.

They have many fine local bands at the Woughton Centre Sunday lunchtime "drinks 'n' dance extravaganza"... One band were called 'Chord on Blues'. Fun name for a fun band with some fine renditions of blues and soul standards from Dr Feelgood and John Mayall on the blues side to Green Onions and Stormy Monday on the more soulful 'Stax' side.

Here's their logo:

The weekend before we had another soulful performance - the Bedford-based Markus Band have two fine guitarists and an exquisite lady singer, see below. They treated us to some standards like White Room and Back in the USSR alongside original material.

That's Ben Markus on the left with his daughter who sings and plays the flute.

Meanwhile, here are two pix from the The Hamsters tour 2004.

Zsa Zsa's t-shirt says: "A Dog is for Life - Not Just for Friday Night" ho ho!

The latest news is that we went to see another of the lunchtime bands last weekend. Not bad this bunch 'Spaced Out' (no website) but they admitted they were off form thanks to the absence of a guitarist so they were a 4 piece. Barry the Bassist looked familiar - he is from the local covers band 'Full On' who we saw a couple of years ago.. No pix this time but then they were hardly photogenic.... sorry lads.

The other great venue we have in Milton Keynes is The Stables which is a bit of a contrast to The Pitz with its own atmosphere. So far I have only seen two bands at The Stables - the Walter Trout Band and support the Ian Parker Band - no photos or videos for this one owing to management restrictions, shame because it is a nicely intimate place to enjoy some rocking blues. For example, the forthcoming Aynsley Lister band in February.... but we are off to the Ash warm-up gig at The Pitz. It broke the club's record by selling out within 24 hours!

Anyway back up to date and we have just come back from The Hamsters gig at The Pitz on January 30th. We started getting excited when we saw the poster up on the wall when having a drink between sets at the Friday Whole Lotta Led gig on Friday night.

I took some pix and a bit of video from the earlier Hamsters gig which was being filmed by the band for a DVD which will be launched shortly tho the VHS tape was at the gig. You can see the relay screen they used behind the band in this movie clip of The Hamsters Live at the Pitz Milton Keynes 2003.

The Hamsters Live at the Pitz Milton Keynes 2003 a short video movie clip extract of the Hendrix medley showing off the famed Burnin' Vermin guitar - one of several Slim uses in the two-set performance. At the 2004 gig they aired some brand new songs which will be on the new album. These included a song which Slim declared was not a Santana rip-off tho it did have a familiar ring to it. A very memorable song was 'Taxi Driver'...

Let's go back in time for a moment with a photo from the Tuuli gig... we are still awaiting their return.

We have also been spoiled with a couple of great bands at the Woughton Centre Sunday Lunchtime performance - last week it was The Zeds and latterly 8 Foot Under. A nice contrast - blues-rock one weekend and classic 70s rock the next.

If you like LZ then I suggest you try them out. Mind you the three-piece 8 Foot Under did a great Zep cover or two including a nice segue of Whole Lotta Love-Stairway, etc., which is not surprising since the guitarist was in Trampled Underfoot another LZ tribute band.

IMHO the band are great musicians but let down by the vocalist. Maybe it's his band though so no chance of finding a replacement. He sounds like he ought to be in an AC-DC tribute band rather than LZ. But then RP is a very hard act to follow.

The most recent 'big gigs' we have been too is all the way up north to experience live music on an altogether grander scale - Muse Live at the NEC with Elbow and Open as supports.

The best we can do to attract such bands to MK is The Bowl... a mile from The Pitz it is rarely used. I have only been there once - the very first gig, The Police supported by the sublime UB40 and Squeeze et al.

I have photo's from headliners and support bands. For example, on this page is the 'support band' if you want to call him that - long time associate of Mike Peters and the Alarm gang, Kirk Brandon who did an immaculate acoustic set.

First up is The Alarm MMIII Show which came to The Pitz at the Woughton Centre on Wednesday 29th January 2003. It was one of the first gigs on the 2003 tour of the UK and was reasonably well attended though not packed out. Those who were absent missed a great show mixing old favourites with the new stuff.