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Ian's 2015 blog archive

January 4th:
Last night I played my first show with WIZDOM at The Bluebell in Warrington. One or two very slight hairy moments, due to us being used to playing the songs slightly differently, but nothing anyone watching would notice. Two return shows on the back of the evening's performance. Quietly pleased.

January 10th:
Last night I played another show with WIZDOM and it went better than the first. Four re-bookings taken, so we must actually be doing something right. Tonight is the first Rising Force show of the year - we have just three booked. Tonight's show with Rising Force was eventful and different in that the second half of the show was not us at our best.

January 23rd:
The jam night at The Jolly Nailor has now sadly come to an end. We are looking for another venue to play on selected Sunday nights. Due to my commitments with WIZDOM, I am finding it difficult to agree dates to play with Rising Force. The list of dates I have given as being available all, without exception, disappointingly, seem to clash with Ray going off to Quofests or watching State Of Quo and a host of Quo tribute bands, so I am doing the most honourable thing I can and letting them find another bassist. I will do the two remaining dates in April - The Venue Bar in Bolton and The Phoenix Club in Farnworth - and if I am by any chance still needed for The States Gig (the annual charity event for Bolton Hospice) next year, I will make sure I am available for that.

January 25th:
More shows with WIZDOM and I am getting more comfortable with my playing on the songs. Here's a quick video from one of the shows this weekend.

February 14th:
Still more shows with Wizdom. The band is on the up and we are getting re-booked everywhere that we play. Check out the shows page, which is kept as up to date as is humanly possible. In other news, The Jam Night Band is still considering a few offers and options for alternative venues until we know whether The Jolly Nailor will re-open.

March 4th 2014:
Long time, no blog. Really, it has all been more of the same in my little world. Lots of enjoyable gigs that I feel went well, but I am not going to post that every weekend. The jam night will recommence at The Jolly Nailor as soon as building work there is completed and the new people take over fully.

March 18th 2015:

We lost ace bassist Andy Fraser (formerly of Free) on Monday, aged only 62. Apart from playing on those great records and his being a huge influence on countless bassists ever since, he wrote the classic 'All right now' which every band in the world must have had a go at, at some point.

I met him very briefly, in Bolton last year. He was very generous indeed with his time and was a totally humble gentleman, talking to my friend Mark and myself for about half an hour after his show. He didn't have the high profile in recent years that he had earlier in his career, but he will be mourned by millions. God bless him.

Learn more

Andy Fraser

Ian Andy Mark

March 22nd 2015:
Rising Force have been back in the rehearsal room, in preparation for our two shows in April.

April 13th 2015:

Wizdom in Millom, Cumbria.

Rising Force at The Venue Bar, Bolton.

April 26th 2015:
Last night I played what may be the final Rising Force gig til next year. Possibly ever. What is going to happen with the band remains unclear. I would like to do more, but it really depends on my commitments with my band Wizdom, which I naturally have to put first. Here are two photos from the show:

Ian Edmundson

May 4th 2015:
Some people have asked when Wizdom are playing in Bolton again - We are still waiting to hear back from The Venue Bar, Bolton re Wizdom return dates. They asked us about August, but haven't got back to us.

May 29th 2015:
Wizdom will be returning to The Venue Bar, Bolton on August 7th. That date is now confirmed. I am going to be completely out of action for the next two weeks as I had half of my thyroid gland taken out yesterday. I have bruising around the nerve which controls the left hand side of my vocal cords and need to let that recover properly before attempting any singing again. I also am going to have problems with lifting anything significant for a short while as that area tenses up when carrying things and if I pop the stitches, I will be right back into hospital and back to square one. Wizdom's previous bassist, Malc, is covering the dates that I cannot do, for which I am very grateful. See you back out there soon.

June 18th 2015:
After an enforced lay-off, which I have not enjoyed in the slightest - apart from getting a rare proper rest and the chance of some proper time with Mrs E, I am limping back into geriatric rock and roll action at my local...

July 5th 2015:
Enjoying some time off from work and getting some things done. I have taken the extraordinary step of putting a couple of basses up for sale because I am not getting proper use out of them all. They are advertised on my Facebook profile. I am not bothered if none of them sell though, as I love all my basses, which is why I bought them.

July 17th 2015:
Here's a quite recent recording.

The song 'I'll never get over you' was originally written and performed by the excellent John Hiatt. His version is totally different. I re-recorded the song for the version above. A demo with live vocal and bass is here. The lyric sheet was wrong which made me stumble through the song a bit. I dumped this version in the end.

July 18th 2015:
Do you know what REALLY hacks me off? We take a return booking from a venue early in the year and a couple of weeks before the date in question, we get a random message through Facebook:

Cancelled!!

So. The bar staff could have paid us. Someone incapable of putting a date in a diary and keeping to it is in charge of a pub? THAT'S what REALLY cheeses me off. We pleased to be able to say that we have taken a replacement date at THE ROMILEY ARMS in Romiley, Cheshire, which is a fine venue.

July 27th 2015:
Just to let people know that the Jam Night Band that I've been doing the Sunday Jam Night at the Jolly Nailor with has hit an obstacle. Max has decided he's had enough, after doing it for many years. Now hoping to announce our new guitarist who knows some decent rock tunes and who owns a PA to help us carry on and do it twice a month. It will be GREAT.

July 28th 2015:
A mere two hours after I posted the last blog I had a new guitarist lined up for the jam night. It just goes to show it CAN be done. The most excellent Ian RockRuins will be joining Graham and myself onstage every other Sunday at The Jolly Nailor in Atherton. Onward and upward.
A splendid time is guaranteed for all.

August 8th 2015:
Last night Wizdom played at The Venue Bar in Bolton and it was a blinding show, though I say it myself. The audience were really into it and we went down really well. Tonight we are at The Millstone, Darwen - another fine venue, so that should also be really good. Sunday night sees the first jam night at The Jolly Nailor, Atherton with the new line-up.

August 17th 2015:
This last weekend was a good one for Wizdom. We played at The George IV in Burnley to an enthusiastic crowd and the next night we trekked to The Station in Ilkley and did the same thing all over again. No jam night on the Sunday. Good job, as I was rather exhausted at the end of it all. Last week's first new jam night at The Jolly Nailor was a particularly pleasing one for us. It was one of those nights that could have gone either way. Fortunately it went very much OUR way.

August 29th 2015:
Hello from The Man With No Voice (or very little of one, anyway). Wizdom have three shows this bank holiday weekend and my voice is shot. Catch is if you can, my croaking is quite comical. Mainly it's gone through arguing with BT about their inability to do simple jobs properly and also going to watch Justin Currie in Holmfirth where everyone (except Justin and Stuart) were full of germs.

September 10th 2015:
Evening Cyberstalkers. Just to let you know that Wizdom have now filled up every Saturday and Sunday for the remainder of the year. We could just do with a New Year's Eve gig to round things off. So if you know anyone....

September 20th 2015:
A good weekend's gigging. Video from the Friday show near Burnley below. Thanks to Phil from the Burnley and Pendle bands FB page.
The two gigs were quite good in themselves but the Friday was ruined by my car being vandalised at the Burnley gig. I'm not used to people asking me how good the exhaust is on my car so they can steal it while I am loading out. My front grille was vandalised while my back was turned. I won't use their car park in future. I'd rather park a few streets away and come back to a complete car. Bastards.

October 4th 2015:
Mike is away on holiday so Wizdom are out of action for the next two weekends and my next jam night is on October 25th. This will give me a chance to familiarise myself with the new 24 track recording gear I have just bought for the studio. I still have a song awaiting vocals that I recorded recently, so I will start using it by finishing that off. I will be leaving work shortly, so I will be a full time musician. Any bands who are needing bass help in the studio, get in touch. Next year is looking great so far for the band with 31 dates in the diary already, including Christmas Eve.

October 21st 2015:
Hello Cyberstalkers. Well, it's a happy birthday to me. This week is quite an eventful week. Another birthday - I'm always grateful to reach another of those and also this week I finish with my employer after 36 and a half years. I will be sorry to leave some people behind as the place is getting more and more miserable these days. I will miss them, but not the work. As for what I am going to do in terms of work - I'm going to be a full-time musician, so people will clap when I finish work. Wizdom now have 48 shows in the diary for 2016, plus I will have the fortnightly jam night to do. I am going to have time to devote to recording and have a number of ideas ready to go. Plus I have a book lined up to be released during November.

October 29th 2015:
Hello Cyberstalkers. Always good to see you lurking. Yesterday I brightened up the first week of my 'retirement' from work (I brightened it up for me anyway, don't know about you) by recording a new track on my new 24 track recording set-up.

November 5th 2015:
Hello playmates. Have a great Guy Fawkes day. Stay safe, please. Keep your pets indoors - this is the worst day of the year for them. Also, while I am scribbling, just a quick video to let you hear my recording collaboration yesterday with Mr David Disley.

November 8th 2015:
We regret that we will not be performing at The Boulevard in Wigan later this month, as they are in the process of cancelling 50% of the bands with future bookings there and their axe fell on us for our booking on 21.11.15. However, we are pleased that The Romiley Arms have come to the rescue and we will be playing there instead, which we are very much looking forward to.

November 12th 2015:
My first two Slade photo books are now online to buy at Blurb (and a general photobook, which also includes some Slade photos) - the link to them is below.

http://www.blurb.co.uk/user/store/ianedmundson. Here's the covers of the first three books:

Ian Edmundson

November 14th 2015:
Solidarity to the people of Paris in the aftermath of the senseless attacks on innocent people by crazed murderers, who have achieved nothing but condemnation from those of us in the right-thinking world..

November 21st 2015:
Last night we played in Workington, Cumbria. Out just before 6pm for a two hour drive to reach the venue. One of those where you don't get on stage til 10.45pm. It has a good stage with a riser for the drums. Looks pretty good and we are happy with the sound, though we have to crank it up to sound good around the room. I take my bass rig down off the riser during the soundcheck as it is really hurting my ears.

A very respectable crowd all comes in and assembles watching the stage - just in time for us to kick off our set. We play right through our songs without a break so that they all stay in, then we had a great crowd until they all suddenly drift off as if magicked away to the next place on the pub crawl and so we stop. That song instantly becomes our last of the night. The place empties, apart from the staff.

Out with the gear, I load up my car and drive off and straight away it starts with a bit of snow, which becomes a blizzard. Luckily I found a petrol station before the motorway to fuel up, but my oil light came on a short while after I had filled the car up and I had just got onto the M6. I stop under a motorway bridge on what I imagine is the hard shoulder to avoid being pelted with snow. This is Shap - one of the highest and most exposed areas in the country and the snow is coming down hideously fast and is properly sticking. It's absolutely freezing and the few drops that are left in the oil can in my car boot didn't satisfy the evil light at all. I drove on miserably in a zero visibility nightmare, unable to see any road markings or other traffic, for a few miles with that oil light laughing at me, until I reach the exit for the sanctuary of Tebay services and start to breathe a small sigh of relief.

Despite only doing about 20mph, I nearly wrapped the car up in a bad skid on the slip road, just to add insult to injury. I turn into the bad skid and get control of the car again. My brakes are caked in thick snow. I roll down the really steep hill towards the petrol station as slowly as I possibly can. It would look rather ungrateful to crash right into it. Fortunately, the deserted-looking garage was manned (it didn't look to be open when I got there) and my car glugged the oil down greedily with no sign at all of gratitude, except the oil light went off and the car engine didn't seize up on me.

Leaving the services, I steel myself for even more miles of a total nightmare journey, but the snow just thinned out and disappeared a couple of miles later, as I got away from the higher ground. I got home just before 4am. Rock and roll... Brrrrrrr....

December 6th 2015:
Off to Cumbria again. There were weather warnings for North Cumbria and the area west of Carlisle and to be honest, I thought South Cumbria should be ok. It wasn't. To complicate things further, I got as far as Preston and realised my mobile phone was at home. Stopped at Lancaster services to let Lynda know my phone was at home. Came off the M6 and headed along the A590 in the direction of Barrow. Suddenly hit some deep water on the road which covered my windscreen and took the car off to the left, just grazing a bush to the left. Right hand down and out of the water. A bit shaken up, I decide to carry on to Millom. Going back means going through that water again. The roads were fine all the rest of the way there, but when I arrived at that night's venue, there were frantic phone calls going on between them and our drummer and guitarist who couldn't get off the M6 as all of the roads were being closed. They were forced to turn back. I spoke to my daughter and a family friend on the venue's phone and so I was known to be safe. I got no answer from Lynda.

With no show that night and me being scared to attempt the trip home, the venue most generously gave me a room for the night.
I went straight to bed at 9.30pm.

At 8.15am I set off and while some roads had water on them, generally all was well until I got to the Eastbound A590 again. Trees down and so there was a three hour wait to get going. Still no way to phone home. You realise that things are wrong when men hold up their coats to block the view of their desperate wives squatting and peeing at the edge of a flooded field, just off the road. Two caravans in the same field were half under water.

When the trees were cleared, we were led slowly by a truck though the debris on the road, all the way to the motorway. At Levens, the road is elevated above the fields to either side and to my left was a lake where there had previously been a farm field. To my right were a couple of transit vans nearly covered by flood water and farms with water 3/4 of the way up their front doors. My problems were really nothing in comparison. The Westbound A590 was still under a couple of feet of water and I have never been so relieved as when I finally reached the M6. To mess me around a little more, the Lancaster southbound services were closed, so I still couldn't phone home.

I got home at 2.15pm to a loud chorus of I TOLD YOU NOT TO GO from Lynda, who was once again annoyingly right. I had been scared witless on the way there and am not sure that Cumbria is the place for me to be. The TV has been full of the devastation of Cumbria, caused by a month's worth of rainfall in just one night and my heart goes out to the people who have lost things and whose homes have been damaged.

December 13th 2015:
A story from the recent past.
'I WANT TO SING A COUPLE OF SONGS WITH YOU.' Quite tall, very drunk young lad says to me. He is stood in front of my mic stand and his eyes are not focussing on me properly and he is slurring his words. Trouble.I tell him that we aren't insured for that and if he hurts himself onstage, the insurance claim could close the pub.

'IT'S MY EIGHTEENTH DO AND I WANT TO SING WITH YOU. GO ON..'. He wobbles uncertainly again after having too many first ever legal pints.

He goes away, sulking and wobbles round in a semi-comical manner on the so-called dance floor. He is cross-eyed drunk. We watch him staggering around while we play and fret that the PA speakers might be coming off their stands shortly.

20 minutes later, between songs, he comes up and walks over to my microphone again.'I WANT TO SING WITH YOU..' By this time he is in such a bad way that his mate see it and they come to take him back into the audience. Too late. He isn't having any of it. Neither am I and I say so, but he still goes to grab my microphone.

Down he falls. Predictably. Over my monitor. Onto my mic stand. Knees straight down into my floor pedals.

My microphone stand is now threatening to hit my Rickenbacker bass on its stand. No time to put my bass down, so I square up to him with another bass still hanging around my neck, pushing both him and the dangerously falling microphone stand back. I hope the bass that I am wearing comes out of this in one piece. He crawls all over my work area and I resist the severe temptation to kick the f*** out of him. A couple of his mates pick him up and drag him off.

My basses are luckily unharmed. My mic stand needs setting up again. My pedals are all disconnected from the power supply and ripped out of place from where they have been fixed down on my pedal board. I feel murderous.

A bit of getting down on my knees and re-patching cables and fixing my mic stand for five minutes and then we do the much-practiced 'smile and carry on as if nothing has happened' act. We do what are now certainly going to be the last two songs and then we pack up. The drunken lad is shepherded out of the pub by what is probably his Mum and so he misses them.

The lad's dad comes over when we are done. He apologises. 'No harm done', he says. I scare him by pointing out that I had told his son repeatedly to keep back from the stage and that a new Rickenbacker bass would set his son back £2000. I valued the custom built bass I had on at £3000, just to terrify him. I said he would have needed another student loan after he had paid me up.

'But it's his 18th and he was just having fun' says his dad slinking off, relieved that his waste of sperm hasn't actually broken any of the precious things. He has no idea at all.

The lad's mate then comes over and apologises profusely for him, saying we should come and watch the lad's band. I suddenly picture stage invasions with crossbows, but say nothing."You must have done the same thing when you were his age?" (Says his mate). I am almost speechless. No. I never ever made a prat of myself by falling into another band's gear. That was not something that I have ever wanted to do. Your mate may be just 18 and a good lad etc, but I take a dim view of some drunken **** nearly doing about £5000 worth of damage. His mate is taken aback by my somewhat annoyed tone. No-one seems to get the fact that this clown was a danger to us and the people around him. He kindly offers to buy me a drink which I politely decline. I just want to go home.

The next person who invades my stage will wake up in hospital with surgeons wondering how to get my boot out of his arse.
Promise.

December 26th 2015:
I'd like to say thank you to the guys who I have gigged with this year. It has been a blast. 103 nights on stage for me this year (and I missed a few others, due to having a thryoid op mid-year). I think that's beaten my previous record.

December 29th 2015:
I'd just like to say a thank you to everyone who has come down to one of the shows that I have been part of this year. I hope you enjoyed yourself if you came along and that there are no lasting mental scars or hearing problems. It's always good to see people come along, especially if you come over and say hello at some point. Thanks.

December 31st 2015:
I suppose I should congratulate my former (distant) colleague, Robert DEVEREUX of DWP on getting on the new year's honours list. Looking through 124 pages of the already noble and newly ennobled, it seems he was the only person from DeeDoubleyowPee considered worthy to get any sort of gong or award or decent pay rise....

I can clearly recall him rolling his sleeves up and getting sweaty as he bashed out counter payments like a demon, stopping the customers / claimants (or whatever they called them when he actually did some work, back in the day) from starving at Christmas and New Year.

Oh no I can't - that's a LIE. He is the man we used to have to hide our post-out trays from on his highly supervised visits, so that our desks "didn't look untidy." Management seemed to think that he had never seen paperwork on a desk in his entire life.. It disrupted our work immensely and his coming was always largely pointless and a cause for fear, from the top down to the grunts sat at desks, doing the work, because on his expensive visits he was led to the shiny-looking bits and never even saw the actual workers or actual work being done. He has never paid (or probably spoken to) a claimant in his life. He wasn't even keen on paying the staff a living wage.

It is also surprising that Bobby Davro has ever got sight of a gong, seeing as Iain Duncan Smith cruelly singled him out to take the blame when Universal Credit was initially going slightly 't*ts up'. IDS, of course, wanted a different head than his own to be put on a spike.

IDS also of course pushed for UC to be implemented a long time before it was ready and slimily blamed Robert DEVEREUX and DWP for it not working (possibly something very much to do with him being told a load of guff from a script by the hand-picked staff that he saw that it was working when it very clearly wasn't, but nobody had the guts to say so).

It would probably have been too much to ask for someone who actually cared about the public to get some sort of gong.

I, of course, excuse myself from any sort of honour, as I deserted my rotting post and don't believe in the honours system anyway.

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