GIG GUIDE: Chicken supreme

A total eclipse of the sun, all planets lined up in perfect symmetry, or the launch of the Gothic Chicken album.

Yes, after almost a decade in the making and pontificating, the venerable psychedelic foursome of Marco Rossi, Alan Strawbridge, Thomas Hughes and Luke Adams are ready to unleash Lift The Cobweb Veil on the poor unsuspecting public.

Already receiving rave reviews from the national music press, the Chickens will be performing the entire album live and without a safety net or crash helmets tomorrow night, Saturday, April 2, at The Old Town Hall in Weymouth.

For those not aware, Gothic Chicken were very much an institution on the local live circuit a while back, but have spent more recent years in various other types of institution.

As Marco Rossi tells me: “Despite the fact that circumstances make it difficult for the Chickens to perform on any kind of regular basis, we wanted to stage the launch night as a convivial little get together to thank some of the people who were kind enough to buy our album, and indeed to thank our lovely pals Simon Felton and Stewart Osborne for their encouragement, and enabling the album to be released in the first place.

“We’re going to attempt to perform Lift The Cobweb Veil in its entirety as the first set, which I’ll freely admit is a frankly terrifying prospect as we’ve never played most of those songs live before – and none of us can remember or explain why we wrote such a ludicrously complicated bunch of tunes.

“The second set will consist of a bunch of psychedelic covers that should hopefully be familiar to the beloved faithful who used to come and see us when we were crumbling the plaster in local pubs,” he added.

It has all the making of one of those rather special occasions and tickets, and there are just a handful left I understand, are £10 and available from gothicchicken.bandcamp.com

Moving on, and 80s Two-Tone legends The Beat are bringing their red-hot mixture of ska, reggae and dance back to the Corn Exchange in Dorchester on Thursday, April 7.

Knocking out monster hits such as Mirror In the Bathroom, Too Nice To Talk To and Hands Off She’s Mine, the Brummie band are still front by Ranking Roger and he’s joined by his son Ranking Junior these days.

Their live shows are famously incendiary so get your hands on tickets at £18 from 01305 266926. Support comes from rising Brighton band The RPMs.

And Easter Sunday’s Bowie: An Evening of Sound and Vision from The Kings of Oblivion at the New Vic in Weymouth was an extraordinary success, with well over £2,000 raised for Weldmar Hospicecare Trust.

The Kings of Oblivion have been inundated with requests for another show but should they decide to, you’ll be the first to know, dear reader.

And finally, I’ll be hosting another Hijacked show on AIR 107.2FM this Wednesday, April 6, from 8-10pm. Expect the usual high quality vintage soul and funk and usual low-quality mumbling from me.

Till next time…

NICK HORTON

GIGS

FRI APR 1

Mighty Fine (Finns, Weymouth)

Billy Solo (Wellington, Weymouth)

Acoustic Session (Victoria Inn, Chickerell, Weymouth)

Andy Kennett (Weymouth Working Mens Club, Weymouth)

Du Kane (Belvedere, Weymouth)

Zoe Schwarz and Blue Commotion (Royal Portland Arms, Portland)

Matt Black (Drift Bar, Hope Sq, Weymouth)

Funkathon (Spice Ship, Weymouth)

Total Madness (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

Leanne Jackson (Park, Weymouth)

Mad Hatters (Golden Lion, Weymouth)

Freak Circus (Ropemakers, Bridport)

Mumbomachine (George, Dorchester)

SAT Apr 2

Gothic Chicken (Old Town Hall, Weymouth)

Matt Woosey (DA Blues, Corn Exchange, Dorchester)

Foo Fakers (Finns, Weymouth)

The Dolmen (Golden Lion, Weymouth)

Peacock Suit (Lazy Lizard, Weymouth)

Mama Feelgood (Sailors Return, Weymouth)

Tim Andrews (Conservative Club, Weymouth)

Steve Whale (Weymouth Working Mens Club, Weymouth)

Dr Robert (Market House, Weymouth)

John Stone (Drift Bar, Hope Sq, Weymouth)

BJ McCabe (Bridge Inn, Preston , Weymouth)

Hardy and The Monuments (Tom Browns, Dorchester)

Tommy Crawford (Tides Inn, Weymouth)

Chill (George, Portland)

Jolly Boys Outing (Lugger, Chickerell, Weymouth)

Midnight Express (Centenary Club, Weymouth)

Johnny King as Elvis (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

Replay (Wyke Working Mens Club, Weymouth)

Remix (Park, Weymouth)

SUN APR 3

Amy Mayes and Andy Grant (King’s Arms, Portesham) 3-5pm.

Ricky Solo (Sailor’s Return, St Nicholas St, Weymouth) From 3pm.

Open Mic Surgery (George, Dorchester)

Sheryl Lee’s Sunday Club hosted by Remix (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth) 5pm.

Gut and Steel (Old Ship, Upwey, Weymouth) 2.30pm

Stress with Benny (Three Compasses, Charminster)

Lo Numbers (Park, Weymouth) 5pm.

MONDAY APRIL 4

Songwriters night with George Hall (Boho, Weymouth)

Acoustic session (Belvedere, Weymouth)

Georgie Broad (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

TUESDAY

Singalong with Nigel (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

WEDNESDAY

Jam Night (Lazy Lizard, Weymouth) Hosted by Blazing Strings

Georgie Broad (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

Dave P’s Open Mic Night (Rendezvous, Weymouth) From 8pm.

Wessex Folk Night (Sailors Return, Nicholas Street, Weymouth) Acoustic folk, here every Wednesday.

Open Mic Night (Belvedere, Weymouth)

Open Mic Night (Royal Exchange, Portland)

THURSDAY

The Beat, The RPMs (Corn Exchange, Dorchester)

Leggomen (George, Weymouth)

Ricky Solo (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

Open Mic Surgery (Tom Brown’s, High East St, Dorchester) All backline provided, come on down and have a play.

Open Mic (Drift Bar, Hope Sq, Weymouth) With Aaron Carter

Traditional Tune Session (Cove House Inn, ChiswelI, Portland)

Ukulele Sessions (Sailors Return, St Nicholas St, Weymouth) Strum on down from 8pm.

SoapBox Night (Belvedere, Weymouth) Music, poetry, comedy, whatever Hosted by DuKane.

FRI APR8

Silly Band, Tate, Old Boy plus more (Finns, Weymouth)

Tony England (Weymouth Working Mens Club, Weymouth)

Billy Solo (Wellington, Weymouth)

Sheryl Lee (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

Compass (Park, Weymouth)