Hello ! It’s been while since I last wrote – as you can see from the date of the previous article below !

Well, there have been a few things going on one way or another. Jam Nights are still going well, although numbers are down a little as expected, due to people having the audacity to go off on their holidays.

Meanwhile, what about ‘Riff Raff’ then, eh !?!  Yes, it’s been a bit like when the Fab Four made Sgt. Pepper – low profile with not much happening – seemingly – and then WHOOOOOSH … or if you prefer … BANG – let ’em have it ! !  Unlike the Beatles though , who unleashed their new project on the world, Riff Raff exploded back onto the scene within earshot of the back gardens in a quiet corner of Ashford, and then in Wealdstone High Street. The locals didn’t know what had hit them !

This was illustrated when my amp blew up towards the end of the Wealdstone gig.  Friday night at The Shanakee saw some old friends from past Jam Nights and it was good to do a full ‘electric’ gig with my Riff Raff chums again. Everything seemed to be going pretty well until ten minutes from the end. My now infamous solo in ‘Hey Joe’  went from volume 15 to zero in 0.00000001of a second – I was left in absolute silence – just the plink plink of my pick thrashing against the strings in desperation and disbelief !

So there you have it  – Riff Raff, the band that blow up their amps !  Not really true though is it ?  I was the only one that blew his amp up – all the other Riff Raffs don’t blow theirs up like me – damn lightweights (except Derek of course  as he’s on drums … Hang on !  He uses a monitor !  He’s a lightweight too !) Perhaps Ian can be exempted from the ‘lightweight’ tag as he spent the following afternoon at the hospital with his bleeding swollen ears – bet you never thought you’d see the day when the keyboard player turned up to 15 as well. It goes to show that technology has marched on since ‘Spinal Tap’ – they thought 11 was loud – Huh ! We laugh at 11 in ‘Riff Raff’.

All this of course was preceded a week or so before by the 2008 ‘Robfest’, as mentioned earlier. The success of the annual Robfests continued with the ’08 edition, enjoyed by all present, as in previous years. ‘Riff Raff’ were the main minstrels with their usual blend of pop/rock, played acoustic style specially for Robfest -don’t want to annoy the neighbours with the ‘blow the amps up’ stuff.  Wait a mo – the neighbours weren’t at home – they were all at ‘Robfest’ !  Just goes to show doesn’t it, that all these bands around that people won’t cross the road for … with Riff Raff they do !

Eagle-eyed observers would have noticed that the stage area or gazebo was being filmed throughout. You’ll be pleased to hear that it has been anounced that there will be a DVD and CD out in due course. The forthcoming package looks like being most impressive. Even the press have already described it as “most impressive !”  To this end I’ve been assisting Joel, the project’s official media consultant, recording engineer, cameraman, media editor, webmaster  and publisher etc. in the production of this exclusive memoribilia package. When’s it available in the shops ? – I’ts not available in the shops !  It’s far too good for that. It should be ready for release on … watch this space.

On the subject of websites and Riff Raff, apologies if you’ve been trying to watch Riff Raff playing ‘Oh Pretty Woman’ on YouTube ( via the website or otherwise). Basically, the B@*~#@*S at YouTube have decided that there’s some sort of infringement of some copyright or other, even though there isn’t, so they’ve pulled the plug on it – damned cheek ! ! Don’t they realise they’re risking incurring the wrath of the mighty Riff Raff – not a good idea !  But don’t worry. As someone once said, “I’ll be back !”  And it will !!

The website itself is still in ‘compromise’ mode until Joel carries out some more changes to it. When is this likely to happen ? … not telling you that yet either – not to be cryptic or anything, just haven’t got a clue when Joel can fit it in or how long the process will take.

Oh well, I think that just about covers the recent musical mayhem. Don’t forget to check out ‘Gigs’ and ‘Jam Nights’.

See you soon.   BFN,    Rob.