Up The Junction

Our first live performance is pencilled in for the end of August 2008. We will be playing in Reading’s finest bar – Up the Junction.

We spend way too much time in here as it is and tell everybody that we are checking it out for sound. At the back of the main bar is a separate room where we will be playing, at a squeeze I reckon it will hold around 80 people.

As it says – Up the Junction

Me and Ian after practice

And again

Alenka and Colin work at Up the Junction, this is them with Ian and Steve.

Even The Murco Dogs get a break

Ian, Miles, Dom, Dan & Dave outside The Cell

More of the same

Potential for the album cover

Dan, Ian and me looking at the floor

I'll put a video of us practicing in the next week or so.

The Murco Dogs Rehearsal

Two or three times a week we practice at The Cell Rehearsal Room at Cemetery Junction. This is me, Dave, Ian and Dan the drummer at the back.

More of the same except Andy was standing in for Ian
Rock and Roll Baby!
The one and only Dan Hazard on drums

In praise of ... the Museum of Reading

There are those who demand that the Bayeux Tapestry be displayed in Britain, where it was (probably) originally sewn. Transporting the frail cloth would be fraught with danger, but it would also be unnecessary: a near-perfect replica can already be seen at the Museum of Reading.

It was produced by 35 Victorian women, led by Elizabeth Wardle, a friend of William Morris who shared his passion for reviving ancient crafts. It runs to the full 70m of the original, and every detail is correct save one - a pair of pants has been added to protect one man's modesty. The doctoring was done to photographs of the original which were used as the source, not by the needlewomen who faithfully reproduced what they saw.

The great embroidery is, perhaps, even better displayed than the original in Normandy - running as a square round the walls of a dedicated gallery, and complemented by Norman remains from Reading's 12th-century abbey. And there is plenty to see besides. There are all the taxidermy and industrial relics that one would expect of a provincial museum, but in addition there is an outstanding collection of Roman pottery, dug up in nearby Silchester. It was one of only two Roman towns in England that was not built on later and so the pottery remains stunningly preserved.

The collection inspired Berkshire potter Alan Caiger-Smith, whose works are shown alongside it. That is a more authentic local link than would be achieved by displaying the Bayeux Tapestry in Canterbury.

New guitar – let’s rock!

Now The Murco Dogs are up and running and ready to rock I bought myself a new guitar. It’s a Fender American Ash Telecaster Honey Blonde Maple.

Based on the ever-popular ’52 model, this premium ash-body Telecaster guitar has all the features true Tele enthusiasts look for. Its modern one-piece, U-shaped maple neck has a 9.5” radius and 22 medium jumbo frets. It also features a string-through-body American Series Tele bridge with steel bridge plate for added sustain and richer tone.

A variety of vintage tones come standard thanks to a pair of vintage spec pickups and three-way switching. The American Series model uses two single-coil pickups with DeltaTone system (featuring a high output bridge pickup and a reverse-wound neck pickup.)

The rest of The Murco Dogs.
We have, Miles on bass, Dangerous Dave the singer, Ian on leadguitar and Dan Hazzard on drums.

This is us hard at work at The Cell rehearsal rooms.

We are now practicing several times a week in preparation of our first live show at Up The Junction in Reading at the end of August.

After that we have a few more shows lined up in Reading and we are starting to plan a European tour next summer.