DODGY hit LIVERPOOL, LEEDS on Back To Back Tour and Dodgy Day in Scotland

OK, we have two biggies this week for Dodgy on the BAck To Back Tour, where we are playing two albums in their entirety; Stand Upright In A cool Place the latest album by Dodgy ("They've just made the record of their career by a country mile" - thank you Word Magazine) and our debut The Dodgy Album.

It's the two big 'L's - LIVERPOOL (oh, Liverpool) @LomaxLiverpool tonight (Thurs May 23rd) and then LEEDS @CockpitLeeds tomorrow.
Liverpool because it's where it all began for Dodgy, certainly our recording career as The Dodgy Album was recorded in Parr Street Studios (@parrststudios) at the tail end of 1992 and early '93 - the studio was called Amazon back then and owned by the band Genesis and Leeds because May 24th is the actual day 20 years ago that The Dodgy Album was released. Please send all cards and flowers to the dressing room please.

DODGY have just returned from the last two Back To BAck dates around Scotland,

Dodgy Day in Greenock on Saturday and then Edinburgh on Sunday and as predicted it was a merry old occasion all round, hence the delayed bloggin here.
We arrived at Word Up (@worduptxt), the venue in GREENOCK at around 4pm in the afternoon and it might be construed that certain members of the local congregation were a little pished as Dodgy Day had been in effect for a few hours - we had some catching up to do. Organiser of the event was our good friend McD and other bands he had chosen to play with us were outstanding and top gents to boot, well certainly the ones we saw - The Soviets (@TheSovietsLive), Knock-On effect (@KnockOnEffect1), The Beat Movement (@BeatMovementThe) and The Method One, who featured a face we remember from a few years ago on bass, Sheer Taft who was signed to Creation. Incredible musicians and musicians being musicians we allowed ourselves to be persuaded by McD to attend the aftershow party.

EDINBURGH was as majestic as usual even though it was grey and cold.

The venue was the Voodoo Rooms (@voodoorooms), a beautiful place above a fantastic pub called the Cafe Royal that served rare single malts - it would have been rude not to. It was great to bump into dear old friend @scottmuldoon from @TheBluetones, who's greatest claim to fame was almost certainly appearing on the sleeve of 'Summer Fayre'  the very first release by Dodgy. Scott looked on fine form and discussed the idea of The Bluetones reforming - our lips are sealed.
We continue to be humbled by the general response out there to us playing these two albums in full, again we are sure there were some tears in the room in Edinburgh and that's not just from Stu who is playing bass with us and mislaid his pint.

We are gutted to here that the venue for our Bangor date on the Back To Back Tour has fallen through and been forced to cancel but hey, this is rock and roll there are bound to be casualties.
LOVE - LIVERPOOL - LEEDS

SCOTLAND - DODGY love you

Last night we hit Glasgow on the Back To Back Tour where DODGY are playing our latest album, Stand Upright In A Cool Place and The Dodgy Album our debut in full.. and yes, Glasgow turned out to be a stupidly ace gig and a very appreciative crowd you were too. There was actually a grown man shedding tears at the front but maybe that was because his wife had left him, we're not sure. It sounded great to us at the time so are looking forward to hearing the recording.

Got to give a shout out to Ripley (@ripleymusic) our opening act last night, they set things up nicely for a great evening.
Generally, we would avoid playing the O2 venues unless there is no alternative - charging £4.50 (FOUR POUNDS LONDON PRICES FIFTY!) a pint isn't our idea of enhancing a good night out and last night the venue management excelled themselves by warning us that if we played beyond their strict NINE THIRTY curfew they would ... fine us - now we know exactly how Bruce must have felt at Hyde Park last year. Playing two albums, in full, before half past nine - referee!
As a result we had to pull a couple of songs from the set - we had no qualms about sending 'As My Time Goes By' to the naughty step as readers of previous posts will appreciate but 'Never Again' had to take one for the team as well - ouch O2, these are our children and it hurts us to leave them behind.
Thanks to those in attendance though, who didn't seem too bothered and in fact a few of you said that you would come to Greenock tonight to hear the full set - that's the spirit.
There were plenty of requests for what we played in the encore last night covering a surprising range from our back catalogue - 'Summer Fayre' and 'Every Single Day' anyone, in fact we did manage a couple of bars of that one and for the first time on this tour we trotted out 'In A Room' and from where we were it sounded immense.

TONIGHT (Saturday 17th May) WORD UP (@worduptxt) GREENOCK
Today, in the lead up to tonight's gig, has been designated DODGY DAY in Greenock, a special place for us, it's not too late, pack your bag and Be there - Back To Back just gets Better and Better

DODGY from Cannock to Dodgy Day in Greenock (remembering '96)

Oh Cannock, Cannock... Cannock (did we slur that last one, sorry). Yes, Cannock on a Friday night and Dodgy rolled into town last Friday with the Back To Back Tour, playing two albums in their entirety; our latest STand Upright In A Cool Place and the debut The Dodgy Album which we delivered to the world 20 years ago - hard to believe eh?

Each new tour is a journey .. of course it is, a silly thing to say, it IS literally a journey but it's also ... a journey, especially when you take on a particular challenge which we have set ourselves on this particular excursion.
Each new gig you learn something new about the songs and yourselves and in Cannock we discovered that even at this point in the proceedings it is sometimes difficult to tame one's exuberance. A big thank you to the promoters for looking after us, this was one of their first gigs and well handled and we wish them all the best with future events.

This coming weekend 17-19th May DODGY say loudly "HELLO SCOTLAND"
Three gigs over three nights Friday (May 17th) in GLASGOW @O2ABC , Saturday (May 18th) (designated Dodgy Day) in GREENOCK @worduptxt and then on Sunday (May 19th) in Edinburgh @voodoorooms
Normally when approaching Scotland we might make sure that we play either Glasgow or Edinburgh and then if it's Glasgow everyone in Edinburgh says "Why didn't you come to Edinburgh?" and if it's Edinburgh the opposite happens - so for the BAck To BAck tour we have thrown caution to the wind and are doing both. Sandwiched between, on Saturday we return to one of our favourite towns on these isles Greenock where we have great memories of bringing our Big Top Tour to Battery Park.

Our Big Top Trip was one of the first of it's kind at the time - previously Ronnie Lane from The Faces had tried touring in a circus tent but it was considered a folly and our promoter was very sceptical but as was typical with Dodgy we wouldn't be told and once we pulled it bands like Radiohead and Primal Scream followed suit.
Each Big Top gig was special in it's own way and we have great memories of each one but there was something that carved Greenock with some special memories. It seems that the same goes for the people of Greenock, so much so that our return on Saturday has been designated Dodgy Day - honoured we are. We are also extremely pleased that we will be catching up with our old friend McD - he was responsible for bringing our original Big Top to Greenock and now the return and has had some enormous recent challenges but he will be there, which brings big smiles and MDV to all of us.
COME ON SCOTLAND - LET'S AV IT! - Who's coming to all three?

An inspiraled gig with Dodgy in Bury - BAck To BAck

So BURY @themet was the second of the BACK TO BACK Tour dates with DODGY and what a night - we are getting to grips with playing all the songs from both our most recent album Stand Upright In A Cool Place and The Dodgy Album and even  'As My Time Goes By' our personal bugbear remains on the set list, stubborn little fella that it is.

Once again Dodgy were quite humbled by the audience reaction, which is proving to make this seem not the mammoth task it appeared when we began. Although we have been painstakingly clear what the Back To Back Tour is all about and how beyond focusing on those two albums we simply don't have the time to play many more songs, we might expect to hear at least one heckle of dissent, a jarring "Grassman!" yelped from the back but as yet the crowds have been lovely, so thank you.

Last night's special guest was Tom Hingley (@tomhingleymusic), a proper gentleman he was too and a great pleasure to have play with us. Tom played an impressive set of his own songs before our first set and then jumped back on and played a few Inspirals hits before our second set of The Dodgy Album songs. Listening to you lot sing along to Tom performing This Is How It Feels To Be Lonely was a special moment - thank you Tom.

After the two albums there was enough time and feedback from the audience for us to play Good Enough and Nige wanted to play If You're Thinking Of Me which we did and an inspired choice as it went down a storm. Song of the night had to be 'Only A Heartbeat' from Stand Upright In A Cool Place though. For those that didn't manage to catch the video for this song when it was released as a single check it out below.

So all in all a great gig in Bury and thanks to Jane Lavender (@janelavvieBN) @TheBoltonNews for the Twitterpic of last nights gig above and this smashing hot off the press REVIEW:
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/leisure/boltonmusic/music_reviews

Tonight (Fri 10th May) we expect even bigger things from Cannock and there's a rumour that  Jon Brookes from @thecharlatans might be popping down, who's new documentary #MountainPicnicBlues about the making of Telling Stories we are looking forward to seeing very much.
This just gets better and better - hope to see you at one of these shows soon

Dodgy Back To Back Tour underway

SO, the Back To Back Tour is underway, with Dodgy playing latest album Stand Upright In A Cool Place in it's entirety along with our debut The Dodgy Album.

AT this very moment knocking this out as we are about to do a live session for @BBCLancashire and then on to BURY @themet for tonight's gig. Here we are soundchecking at the BBC

It was a great tour opener last night in Wales at Theatr @Brycheiniog in Brecon, a few nerves beforehand as the enormity of our self-inflicted epic adventure was realised. We still hadn't quite decided which set of songs to begin with but in the end opted for Stand Upright In A Cool Place and never have those songs sounded so sweet all together and appreciated by you out there in the audience.

We had a couple of rehearsals revisiting the songs on The Dodgy Album but launching into playing them live brought the memories flooding back, not simply because we are playing songs that we haven't played for 20 years but also because an important member of our team at that time Damage, turned up, he used to handle all the merchandising for Dodgy and much much more. Playing these songs is wonderful, fun and only occasionally a bit of  "what were we thinking there?" - If you can be blown away by one of your own tunes then 'Satisfied' gets it from all of us and by the looks and response from the audience, you are going to think so to.
We do have a problem child though and that is the little one we called 'As My Time Goes By'  he's naughty bad and generally wrong - some corporal punishment might be required in the coming nights or might even consider grounding - we will let you know.
We are doing a bit of audience consultation on the Back To Back Tour and last night managed to squeeze in two extra songs 'Good Enough' and 'Staying Out For The Summer' which is enjoying a bit of chart action in this week's @NME at No.72 - NUMBER SEVENTY TWO! in their 100 Greatest Britpop Songs which is ... interesting.

Tom Hingley @tomhingleymusic is joining us tonight in Bury  - should be a stormer
OK back to that radio session - listening 'll
Back To Back - we'll keep you updated x

DODGY play THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL

Hello, it's Math here, I'm reminding myself that I play the drums in a band called Dodgy and tomorrow night we take a step to the left, from promoting our latest album Stand Upright In A Cool Place, because (coughs) Dodgy are playing @RoyalAlbertHall
- yes, that's The Royal Albert Hall in London.
Though one day we would be happy to accept an invite from Roger*, Noel** or Russell*** to play a @TeenageCancer Trust event there, or headline ourselves if the demand arises - our appearance tomorrow has come through a rather different route but this doesn't make the anticipation any less exciting.

The life of a professional musician today requires quite a bit of manoeuvring and multi-tasking but I feel luckier than some as I am occasionally gainfully employed by Dorset Music Services, travelling around the countryside a couple of days a week, delivering drum lessons to kids in tiny villages and remote schools. It's a bit like All Creatures Great and Small, but with drums. And without the need for me to put my hand up a cow's bottom.
Every year Dorset Music Services try to put on a big show where the kids can perform for their families, something to aim towards, only this year the 'big' show is at the Royal Albert Hall, it really doesn't get much bigger or more prestigious. When we first heard about it we, like perhaps a few of you thought 
"crikey, that's a bit ambitious"
knowing a little bit about how putting on these events work, but all credit to the small yet incredibly hard working team at DMS who have made their aspiration a reality.

When it was mentioned that there would be a choir of 1,200 kids and full orchestra, at THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL, Dodgy selflessly and magnanimously offered our services for a couple of numbers. Yes, it's all GIVE with us, just thinking of the kids.
"What a great idea" was their response "the only problem is, that the night is called Dorset's Movie Mash Up music from the movies and you would have to do two film related songs."
"No problem; our song 'Good Enough' by Dodgy is in the @GwynethPaltrow movie Sliding Doors" we reminded ourselves and even vaguely remember attending the premiere
".. and well, we can do 'Live Or Let Die' or something".
OK, sometimes in these situations it might be better to think before opening our mouths, as DMS gave a resounding "YES, that would be magnificent" at the same time we are thinking "but we've never played Live And Let Die" and here's us casually saying we'll play it with a choir of 1,200 in front of a packed Royal Albert Hall, as if we were making a cheese sandwich!

Well, roll on a few months and here we are , on the eve of the big day. We've rehearsed Live and Let Die (our respect for @PaulMcCartney goes even higher - we did get a nice reply from him once when we asked him to pop down and join us onstage for one of our higher billings at Glastonbury Festival ) and the orchestra and choir has rehearsed, check out the video evidence on the link below...... it's bringing an emotional tear to our eye before we've even got there

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151556880995095&set=vb.27035293811&type=2&theater

We have to acknowledge how impressed we are with the talent on display with these musicians and singers, as people in a band who are pretty much self taught, it makes us wish that we might have had a career in music. Oh hang on...
Next week Dodgy begin our own headlining Back To Back Tour where we will be playing two of our albums (most recent and debut) live in their entirety (check www.dodgyology.com for details) - a challenging task in it's own right but in the meantime .... OK it's not entirely under our own steam/backdrop but let's say it again
Tomorrow ( May 3rd ) DODGY ARE PLAYING THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL!!


* Roger Daltry
** Noel Gallagher
*** Russell Brand