New Capricorn Site

December 2009
We had a busy month with a nice variety of gigs, here, there and everywhere, including one on home turf at The Silver Dollar in Longham on the first day of the month.
Also early on in the month we had a cold wet and windy trip to Roddington Forge, at Fair Oak, but were quickly warmed up by the fun and the great atmosphere inside.
Other cold nights found us playing in Kinson, Carterton, Kenton and Hatch Beauchamp, and snow greeted us on our way to High Wycombe and set in quite heavily that night, but we made it home safely.

After Christmas we played at a birthday party in Eastleigh and had the pleasure of sharing the stage with the wonderful Frank Jennings. Great to hear him in such fine voice.

Our last show this year took place close to home when we played our New Year's Eve gig, along with John Permenter, at the Carrington Hotel in Bournemouth.
It has been a good twelve months for Capricorn, so we'd like to say Thank You to all those who have come to our shows in 2009 and may we wish you well in the year ahead. We hope to see you all again sometime, somewhere, in 2010.

November 2009

What a wet, horrible month November was! The journeys to and from all our gigs seemed to be made in howling winds and torrential rain.
It didn't stop us from enjoying the actual gigs though!
At the beginning of the month we had a trip to Hayling Island, just along the coast, for another great "Street Party", and a few days later we were at the H-Bar-C club in Arborfield; Pat forgot to bring his amp that night, (bless him), but we muddled through.
A couple of other good, but rainy, gigs took place mid-month at Sands and at Medstead, and we finished the month with a trip to Woodborough. Again it rained.
The worst journey of all was the night the storm hit us as we headed west to Plymouth, probably the most difficult driving conditions we've ever encountered on the way to a show. But we made it, and we were soon cheered up when we saw Dave Cawse's beaming face greeting us on our arrival! The gig was good fun, but the journey there and back was memorable.
Let's hope for less insane weather in December.

October 2009

Well we finally got our CD finished, and it is now available to purchase.
It is called "Capricorn Live! At The Silver Dollar" and it does exactly what it says on the tin, (or on the CD cover). It is a recording of the band at a typical country music club gig; over an hour of live country music, warts and all. So please buy a copy and hear Capricorn Live! In your own home.
This month we have been playing all over the place - geographically speaking, (musically of course we've been all over the place for years…).
Our gigs included visits to Seavington in Somerset, Staines in Middlesex, Poole in Dorset and Broadbridge Heath in Sussex. Plus, we went on a seaside mystery tour of the West Country, going to Cornwall and back, and taking in such places as Perranporth, St Audrie's Bay and WestwardHo!
A couple of shows coincided with the Hallowe'en weekend, so there were a few more strange looking creatures wandering round the front of the stage than there normally are. And on the stage too!

September 2009

Not very much to report this month, apart from Patrick's birthday, but it has given us the chance to work on some new songs and arrangements.
We also had the opportunity to take part in a live radio interview, broadcast on Bournemouth's Hope FM radio station. We chatted with country music DJ Paul West, and enjoyed listening to and playing some favourite CD tracks.
We had a very enjoyable night at Due South, in Elstead. This is a club that we have visited many times over the years and have never failed to have fun when we're there. Ron, Jill and their team always make their events feel special and their club members invariably make us very welcome.
Our other gigs this month included a good trip to Kenton, and a couple of local bookings in and around Bournemouth. One of these was a gig at Longham, our first return visit to the Silver Dollar since Gerry Hockey's sad demise. His presence there will be missed for a long, long time to come. Mike Pretty has written a touching tribute to Gerry in this month's Southern Country magazine.

August 2009

A fairly quiet month, with more staff holidays intervening. Patrick went camping on the Isle of Wight , and got a thorn in his foot. Serves him right for taking time off!

We started the month off all at sea. Literally. We went on one of Tony Garland’s famed boat trips. Not exactly a Mediterranean cruise, but we did get to sample the salty air of Swanage Bay , and were treated to a firework display for good measure. These boat trips are great fun but you always find that the next day your knees and calves are aching and you still tend to walk with a nautical gait!

This summer’s weather has been inclement to say the least and we feared the worst for our trip to the Broadway Country Music Festival, expecting to find a field full of soggy, disgruntled campers, but in fact it was gloriously sunny day and we had a lovely time. It is a really good festival, just the right size and well organized. Our thanks to Viv and Fred for inviting us.

Closer to home we played the Teamsters CMC in Four Marks and then finished the month with a trip to Kent to play at the Lazy C club’s mini festival. Also on the bill were our old friends Cardy and Coke and it was good to see Ed Pearson back on stage again.

The month ended on a very sad note for us as we lost two good friends of the band, and attended two funerals in the space of three days. Gerry Hockey, who ran the Silver Dollar club at Longham, and Terry Goodchild who played with the band on occasion, both passed away. Our condolences to their families and friends

July 2009

No wallabies this month, only home-grown wildlife (!) and we were on home turf at the start of the month, with a Fourth Of July gig at The Silver Dollar club at Longham. Earlier in the year we had made a live recording at this club and we’re hoping that we will be making it available as a CD very soon.

The day after the Silver Dollar gig we spent a nice sunny afternoon at the Alton Show, playing our music in a tent, jammed cosily between a pipe band and a brass band. It is a great day out for country lovers, and animal fanciers alike. Mike Loft nearly won “Best of Show” award, but as so often happens, he was let down by his rump, and was pipped for the prize by an Aberdeen Angus. Mind you, bearing in mind what lay in store for the Aberdeen Angus, Mike got let off lightly!

July also saw our return to the H-Bar-C club at Arborfield, always a good club to play; well organized, and with an excellent atmosphere; we always enjoy coming here. Nice to see Roland back in good health again.

A new club for us was the Driftway in Littlemoor. We had a very enjoyable evening – and thanks to Kevin and Cora for the photos.

The last gigs this month took us from Poole to Newton Abbott via North Mundham , and at each venue we had good audiences and good fun.

We spent much of this month getting used to our new on-stage monitor system, which comprise small individual speakers fitted to our microphone stands. Takes a bit of getting used to, and club goers might have been bemused to see John just before a show, on his knees on stage, grappling with unfamiliar leads and connectors, while simultaneously trying to read the instruction manual. Hopefully he’ll have grasped it before much longer.

Towards the end of the month we popped down to the recording studio to try and tidy up the Live recording. As we had recorded a whole night’s gig at the Silver Dollar, we were left with the difficult task of trying to condense down nearly two-and-half hours’ worth of playing time onto a single CD. We thought the easiest way would be to just take out all of Mike Pretty’s songs, but we decided in the end that this wouldn’t be fair to his fans, (both of them), so we just cut out all the songs about drinking, cheating, lying, loving, hurting and losing. That soon did the trick!

JUNE 09

Well, June was virtually a non-event as far as Capricorn bookings were concerned. And the reason? Staff holidays!
All members of the Capricorn board of directors took their annual leave. In view of the recent public scandal involving Members Of Parliament and their so-called "expenses", Patrick and Mike Loft felt that they should take their breaks fairly modestly, but Mike Pretty and John had other views and they went off to the USA.
Mike travelled around to a lot of famous and exotic locations, and he even managed to record a song in Memphis' renowned Sun Studio. His highlight though was an evening gig in Nashville where The Time Jumpers were performing. Their set included an impromptu guest spot from Vince Gill. (If they had known that Mike was in the audience, maybe they'd have got him up on stage instead!) Or maybe not.
John's holiday was based in Nashville where the Country Music Association was holding its annual Fan Fair. It seems that virtually every country star was there, plus John! He came back to England full of stories of whom he'd met and the shows he'd been to, and he has all the photos to prove it. His highlight was meeting Charlie Louvin, a particular treat for John as he has always been a great fan of the Louvin Brothers, and has sung their songs for as long as he can remember. Most Capricorn gigs include a Louvin song or two.

The band finally got back together again at the end of the month, and we had a good night at Dumbleton. It had been so long since we had all played together though that there was more eye contact between us than usual! On the way home, in the early hours of the morning, as well as the usual foxes and badgers running in out of the hedgerows, John and Patrick saw a wild wallaby.

Strewth!

MAY 09

Our first booking this month was fairly local to us, when we had a very enjoyable night at Crossways,

but May was a fairly odd month for bookings as Capricorn seemed to have a different line-up for nearly every gig.
Patrick was away for one weekend, (some excuse about taking his family on holiday), so we were in for a special treat as our old friend Graham Walker played lead guitar for us at Headington and at Park Gate. We did try to show Graham all the places in our songs where Patrick usually plays his wrong notes, but Graham didn't listen and put all the right ones back in!
Then Mike Pretty went off for a weekend break when we were playing at Carterton, so his drum seat was filled by Danny Barton, who ably demonstrated his vocal skills as well as his percussive ones. Like Graham, Danny has played with us many times before, and his company is always a pleasure.
Mike Loft's turn to disappear came as we were playing at Westward Ho! on the north Devon coast. His bass guitar duties were taken on by Johnny Ryder, who last played with us at the same venue at Christmas. We suspect that Johnny only took this gig as he was anticipating another Christmas dinner!
The complete band reconvened for just one gig at the end of the month at Corsham, where Patrick brought along his semi-acoustic guitar and spent the night believing that he was Duane Eddy, (we don't think he convinced anyone else).

APRIL 09

A very rare occurrence happened this month as we were on our way to a booking in Bramley. We had nearly arrived when we had a call to say the gig had to be cancelled, due to the hall having been booked for another event. So there was nothing else for us to do, but pull off the motorway, turn around and drive all the way home again.
Our next gig was at the delightfully-named rural Somerset village of Hatch Beauchamp, where we shared the stage with a painted backdrop of a seaside pier - a prop from The End Of The Pier Show. (That's probably the closest we'll ever come to a summer season at Blackpool). Mike Loft chose this night to unveil his brand new Fender Jaguar bass guitar.

Another interesting stage was the one at Sutton Courtney, which is again is a very beautiful location. This stage is huge; we didn't measure it, but seemed about 4' high, just a shade too much for John to dive off from into the audience. The hall had been decorated with dozens of Wanted posters depicting lots of very shady-looking characters, with peculiar names like Black Bart and Lucy Lastic. Oddly enough, many members of the audience bore a strong facial resemblance to these criminals, and we suspect that some of these people were not who they claimed to be!
Also this month we played at Ann Hinder's country music festival held at the the Hotel Grand Burstin, in Folkestone.

A long journey for us, but a very enjoyable evening, and we shared the stage with Spur. Halfway through our set though, John's brand new monitor speaker gave up the ghost, only a week after he bought it. That's disposable technology for you!

MARCH 09

Our first visit to Sand Bay kicked off March. What a fantastic venue. We were on with West Virginia and Texas Gun and had a ball. Great for us to hear other bands and Patrick was pleased (again) to have his second free meal of the year!

The following Sunday we were at Broadbridge Heath…..try saying that when you're drunk! A longstanding club which is very well run and again another favourite of ours. The bonus being that we get lovely sandwiches from the club AND Glynnis (Duncton Girl) brings us rolls for the way home. Aahh……fame!

The H Bar C Aborfield next. A much cosier venue than their last in Bracknell, it has everything you'd want from a CMC. We had a wonderful night and the floor was full throughout. Roland was still recovering from a stint in hospital and we sent him our best wishes.

The following night it was down to Devon. To Babbacome for one of "Strollin' Steves" weekends. A nightmare journey due to the traffic at Newton Abbott but because of Patricks' navigational skills we got there trough a road that was about 2 feet wide!! Okay….4 feet!! The two Mikes' in the other car got there by Sat Nav…. but I bet it wasn't as much fun. We shared the bill with Dave Whitmore and it was good to see him after such a long time. He said it was good to see us too! We enjoyed his set. Before we were on we took a walk into the High St following the smell of vinegar to find the best Fish and Chip shop…EVER. We walked back to the Hotel enjoying every mouthful. Patrick seemed to be taking longer with his….or did he have MORE? Oh yeah…..the gig was great too….really.

The last one in March was back to the Silver Dollar and as usual we had a wonderful evening again. There were people there we hadn't seen for ages and that made the night even more enjoyable.

FEBRUARY 09

Due to John having a holiday, this month was a bit quieter than most. To make matters worse our first gig of the month which was part of a Country Music weekend in Westward Ho! was cancelled due to the snow. Remember that? Luckily the organisers could reschedule the event for a few weeks later…when John was away! Although we couldn't make it we know it was a fantastic weekend. So glad because they're a great bunch down there.

Saturday 14th Feb…I'm sure that date should mean something??…. was our gig at Garsington. A relatively new venue but one that is just right for bands and punters alike. The evening was full of lurvvvvve …and the band was quite well liked too!

Our last gig of the month was at Westbourne Conservative Club in Poole. This is not a Country Club but many of our local supporters come and along with the regular club members make it a good night. We did it last year as an idea of the club and as it was a success we tried it again. The audience had more than doubled this time so we (and the club) hope it will go from strength to strength.

JANUARY 09

We started 2009 on 6th January at our local club, The Silver Dollar in Bournemouth. Although we are the "local" band we are always pleased and grateful to the people who always turn out to support us. Just to make the night more interesting and fun, we decided to ditch our set lists and do the first song that came into our heads as well as requests! The audience and we enjoyed the whole experience.

A charity gig in Bury was our next venture. This was held in Bury and was organised by the "Duncton Girls"…you know who you are! Well done for putting the show on and although the crowd wasn't as big as we'd hoped for various reasons, the night was a success and I believe around £250 was raised.

One of our favourite clubs next….Medstead. Very well run by Peter, Joan and Jean it was a packed hall and we had a great time. The dancers are on the floor all night for every song.

Kenton in London is one of the most difficult journeys for us on a Thursday night but we forget all that, as it's always a good gig. A small venue it may be but the atmosphere is great and the dancers are almost at touching distance. I've told Mike Loft not to try and do it but he insists……..!!

On Sunday 25th January we made our way up to Pewsey to play at Woodborough CMC. With it's photos all around the room, this place is steeped in British Country Music history. We've been going there for years and it's still one of the best places we go to. Just to put some icing on the cake we received the Band of the Year award for 2008. We should have got the award in December 08….but the previous award winning band , who shall remain nameless, hadn't returned it!!! On top of that the glasses we were getting had been broken…so we gladly came back to relive our moment! All had a great night. Thank you for voting for us.

Another local club, Flights CMC was our last gig in January. Not only is the club well run…. the band get a meal!! That always pleases Patrick. Then again, what food doesn't! A great crowd with much dancing…. just the way we like it.