Friday 29 June 2012

Two more for the pot

Denty's first contribution to song writing

Another from Mark.

Marmalade au Marseillaise


Carl turned up at last nights practice with a storming new cajun inspired tune. In fact we had raft of new tunes to play with more to follow.



Wednesday 27 June 2012

Country Home pt 2

Had another go at the Country Home riff - getting there.

Tuesday 26 June 2012

Country Home

I've been playing the Ragged Glory album by Neil Young and Crazy Horse a lot recently and I've gotten hooked on Country Home. It's a simple chord progression G,C,D and its quite good one for trying out different chord positions.



Friday 22 June 2012

Springsteen, Stadium of Light 21st June

Despite the finest summer weather the North East has to offer - rain and fog - it was a great gig last night. The guy's in his 60s and still looks like he's enjoying it as much as we did.

Monday 18 June 2012

Open Road


The June tune is taking shape. I've played about with it a little and i'm trying to work out some words.

Hello, isn't one of them!

Sunday 17 June 2012

June Tune

Monday 11 June 2012

Every Band Needs a Logo

Johnathan came up with the idea of naming us after his favourite tractor, the Allis Chalmers, and we've been using a bastardised version of the name ever since. Being predominantly townies, and specifically Boro boys we didn't know how it was spelt, but it seemed to fit naturally with Mark's favorite pub, the 'Princess Alice'.

Once we did a bit of Googling we realised our quaint but seemingly fitting error, so instead of Allis Chalmers, Milwaukee it became...

Sunday 10 June 2012

Fun with the Router

Today we channeled out the cavity for control panel. We drilled the hole connecting the pick ups to the jack socket and control knob. Carl is busting to get a sound out of it but if I learned one thing from Harry it's 'take your time'. Next it's finger board, notching the nut, cutting a control panel to retain the jack socket and soldering the electronics- then we can try some strings! That's Barry, my dad, holding the body steady while I route away.

Tuesday 5 June 2012

The Alice Charmers at the Workhouse Museum

Yesterday turned out to be a great day. It was all very informal sitting round on the lawn and playing, sometimes to an audience sometimes to ourselves. We started out in a lean-to next to a blacksmith, who despite out requests couldn't hammer anything in 4/4 - no sense of rhythm. He also had a bellows which sounded like a 90 year old asthmatic trying to run a marathon.

Eventually, the sun came out and we moved on to the Museum lawn. Everyone was very chilled enjoying the Diamond Jubilee.



Monday 4 June 2012

HeArts Festival

The Alice Charmers will be playing at Ripon Museums Monday 4th June as part of the HeArts Festival.

We'll be at the Workhouse Museum between 1pm and 4pm busking in the great tradition of itinerant musicians. Possibly to no one but who cares as long as the rain holds off we'll have a laugh!

http://riponmuseums.co.uk/museums/workhouse_museum_gardens/