Saturday 18 April 2015

BresSteam & the Vagabond's Ball.

BresSteam & the Vagabond's Ball.

 

A Steampunk Extravaganza!!

    Fair ground rides, steam trains, traction engines and a Dad's Army museum, what more excuse do you need to visit Bressingham Steam and Gardens, well, how about the fantastic BresSteam Steampunk event. The event was hosted by the very talented Myster Crowe of Thy Last Drop and was an enormous success, there were stalls galore selling all kinds of gadgets, trinkets and apparel, a magician, a burlesque dancer (Finesse Tempress) and to top it all there was the Vagabond's Ball.
Metropolis.

    The night kicked off with the retro futuristic space sounds of Metropolis, a superb live band, they played songs from their debut album "Just Killing Time" and the new album "Out of Mind", it was great to see these guys again, it seems an age since we last shared a stage.
Thy Last Drop.

    Next up was us, yes Gladstone hit the stage fast and furious, with not much room to swing his cane Spook took to the floor during Night Creatures, the set went on with the new punk song King Ludd, all the classics from "Tales from the Jago" followed and also included the new Gaslight and for the first time in front of a live audience we played
Essence of Time, ending on a rip roaring version of God Save the Queen, it was soon time to hand over to the awesome purveyors of murder punk Thy Last Drop who's tales of ressurrectionists, hangings, mad monks and a curious trip to the gay bar had us all bouncing all over the place, Thy Last Drop are an amazing band who you must see live, can't wait for the album to make an appearence!!
Many thanks to Myster Crowe for having us, Ben & Andy the sound guys, Eternal Gothic (for my coat) and Tegan for the photos, here's some more.....
Tales from the Jago album download.
Gladstone on Facebook







Tuesday 7 April 2015

Steampunk at the Lab

Steampunk at the Lab

 Gladstone returns home.

    4th April saw Gladstone back on home turf when we returned to the Labour Club legendarylabourclub, a venue we last played on 3rd March 2012!! It has been too long, the Lab is an awesome venue tucked away in darkest Victorian Northampton and a perfect venue for a Steampunk event. Steampunk at the Lab was hosted by Matt Appleby and Bungle Lord, who's other half Heather is proprietor of Heathers THE place for Steampunks (and anyone else for that matter) to go and have tea and cake.
    The event began at 2pm with an array of stalls ranging from Goth clothing to books, which included both Heart's Cog Imperative and Automata Wars (see this blog for there launch events) and the workshop "Starwars: Steampunk'd" by L.M. Cooke and Steven C. Davis, as they say "this is YOUR story, so don't blame us, who were merely your humble conduits".
Nathan Jones

    The evening event was kicked off in great style by the Northampton alternative poet Nathan Jones who was witty, clever and very entertaining as well as thought provoking. Next up was our old mate Dale Rowles of BB Blackdog who did an amazing acoustic set with songs from Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath, Radiohead and many others, it was so good to finally share a stage with him again and to cap it all it was his partner Karin's birthday, happy birthday my dear.
    Next to tread the boards was another bunch of our mates, the wonderful Birthrite, they gave as usual a very tight and powerful set, their energy is as addictive as their songs are catchy, as with Dale if you haven't seen them live then do try, to quote The Jam.....that's entertainment!!
Dale Rowles

    Last up was local boys and gal Gladstone, it is always a pleasure to play Northampton and this time was no exception, with mask and sonic assault we launched into Night Creatures, two of the three new songs got an airing, Gaslight and King Ludd as well as old classics such as The Madness of Tilly Mathews, Curse of Tutankhamun, Twisted Lip and Dr Dexter's Dream.
    The night was fantastic, thanks to Pete the sound man, the audience were amazing and it was so good to see old friends such as Biff Raven-Hill, Michael Sumner, Graham and Heather Hayden, Alex Novak and the lovely Karen who I haven't seen in an age!! There are rumours of another Steampunk at the Lab event, if this happens then please come to Northampton for it, this event deserves to be a must for you all and the beer is very good. Gladstone's album is available for download here; Tales from the Jago, the photos were taken by Spooks daughter Rachel Stoker, here's some more;
Birthrite