THE SILVER BULLET & WHAT HAPPENED NEXT......

THE SILVER BULLET & WHAT HAPPENED NEXT......

A GREAT NIGHT IN FINSBURY PARK.

     It's taken Sherlock's Dog quite a while to finally write this blog update, having moved two houses and disappearing off to Australia to help run a Goth/Steampunk shop, but more of that later.

     So, we did have a gig at the Phoenix Festival in the Workhouse, Llanfyllin but we had to pull out due to unforseen circumstances, however, Spook and his good lady Jules went along and had a great weekend, BB Blackdog, Dr and the Medics, Metropolis and many, many more were brilliant, Birthrite even dragged a slightly drunk Spook on stage to duet with Erazamus Voss singing "Is There Anybody Out There", great stuff.

Spook and Birthrite

    Back to the 5th September and the awesome event Steampunk at the Silver Bullet which included Gladstone, Metropolis and Ghostfire, (unfortunately The Bram Stokers couldn't make it) the venue filled up fast with lots of friends coming down to see this great gig, not only was this Gladstone's last gig for a while (due to Spook going down under) but it was also Ghostfire's first gig with their new line up.

     First up were your pals Gladstone, we were really looking forward to this gig after sadly having to pull out of the Phoenix festival, joining us on stage was the amazingly talented bassist from Birthrite Mr Mark "Thinsliced" Round. It went superbly well, the audience were very enthusiastic and we enjoyed every minute of it.

   

     The night sped on with Bury St Edmunds own Metropolis, these guys are brilliant, they played a superb tight set, it's always a pleasure playing gigs with them, next up were the headliners Ghostfire, with new material, sound and line up they are a must see.

     Ok, where does this leave us? Well, Gladstone are sadly no more, Spook and Jules are, in the mean time, running Gosling Giftware in Deloraine Tasmania, bringing Goth, Steampunk and splendidness to the masses. (Gosling Giftware). So, Spook has joined a new Steampunk band called 5 or 7, check them out here for more news 5 OR 7.

Photos by the talented Simon Topp, David Ramzen and Ian Hill.

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

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

Heart's Cog Imperative book launch.

Risc Cafe, Reading.

    On Saturday 7th March we found ourselves in the privileged position of taking part in the launch of the Steampunk novel Heart's Cog Imperative by Steven C. Davis and S. J Stewart, in their own words "The Heart's Cog Imperative is the tale of the stolen Royal British empire airship the Herbert George and her crew, headed by bookseller-turned-rogue, Captain Jasper Woods. He is ably assisted & hindered by his crew of Thistle Wales, Fuschine Nagle, Pallograph Smith, Hadron Templeton, Prometheus Jones, Rain Silvermore, and others ...Heart's Cog Imperative FB page

    A donation was also raised for the charity New Futures Nepal who do excellent work raising awareness for orphaned and disadvantaged children in Nepal (New Futures Nepal). The night began with a reading from the novel by Steven C. Davis, Jane Setter and Gladstone's Gordon Stoker, this reading outlined the basic plot of the novel introducing important characters and setting the scene for the next reading which would follow first a tournament of tea dueling, a well fought and courageous clash of wills.

    Following many a fair fought duel came the superb Crimson Clocks, with songs from Celtic mythology to evil geniuses, it was good to see Trevor on good form.

 Sadly as Steve could not make it on this occasion Dave Evil of Gladstone joined the Crimson's for the song Red Violin, the set also included among many others Shadow, Limbo and Crossroads. The set went very well and Linzi, Colin and Jo performed magnificently (Crimson Clocks).

    Another reading from Heart's Cog Imperative followed the Crimson Clocks, this reading expanded on the rebels and described in very exciting detail an airship battle between East Indiaman airships and the Herbert George airship stolen by the rebels, to know more seek out the novel!!

   As the evening drew to a close Gladstone came on in traditional noisy fashion with Night Creatures and carried on in that vein with Bluey, Twisted Lip, The Madness of Tilly Mathews, Dr Dexter's Dream, Purple Reefer, Newgate, Curse of Tutankhamun and the haunting Gaslight.

With still time to thrash a few more songs out Cloud sang For Whom the Bell Tolls, then God Save the Queen followed by Boilerplate Dan, finally finishing on a well received version of Jack Hall (Gladstone). Download the album "Tales from the Jago" here; Tales from the Jago.

    I would like to thank Steven C. Davis and L.M Cooke for the photos, here's a few more;

  

Gladstone at the Purple Turtle, Camden.

Halloween at the Purple Turtle.

    The iconic venue The Purple Turtle hosted the awesome night that was THE Halloween place to be in London, the line up included The Memepunks, Gladstone and Aurelio Voltaire.

The Memepunks

    First up was the super fun mash up band The Memepunks, in a jocular fashion they smashed together songs you will recognise with theme tunes that you will also recognise to produce a heady mix of musical fun.  While dancing, there will also be humming and singing along; catch them if you can.

    Next up were your old mates Gladstone who gave their all despite gremlins in the bass amp!! They kicked off with Night Creatures then Bluey, The Madness of Tilly Matthews, Newgate and Twisted Lip, next was the new song Gaslight which went down a treat, during one of the bassless bits Dave and Spook performed Jack Hall which was followed by Dr Dexter's Dream and The Curse of Tutankhamun, a superb gig which every member of Gladstone hugely enjoyed, it was so good to see Cloud back on guitar after his short break.

    Finally it was over to the headliner Aurelio Voltaire who was, as always, very popular with the crowd with his Gothic folk extravaganza, he was indeed raised by bats!!

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    Many thanks Heather and Graham Hayden for selling so many Gladstone CD's and to the following for the photos Loz Fancourt, Julia Gosling, Gordon spook Stoker and Edmund West, here's some more;

     

Steampunk at The Workhouse.

A Full Steam Metal Racket Miracle!!!

    With the final demise of Alt-Fest after what seemed like an age of rumour a new festival was put together in just 10 days!! This miracle was worked by Dale Rowles, Silver Johnson and Rich Starkie (if I've left anyone out I'm sorry) and it comprised of the Steampunk and parts of the S.O.P.H.I.E stage. The venue was that awesome place The Workhouse in Llanfylin, Wales, where we played nearly exactly two years ago.

 

We left Northampton on the Friday evening and arrived in the middle of the night, we managed to put three tents up by the light of car headlamps, then we were off to the bar for a well earned pint or three. Festivities had started on that Friday night and we were sorry to have missed Montague Jacques Fromage III's opening, Dark Patrick, Needle Poppets, Skreamer and the late night burlesque show, but we really enjoyed ourselves on the Saturday with amazing bands such as Dark Design, King Bains, Mysterious Freakshow, Skorbut, BB Blackdog, The Wattingers (slaughterhouse blues steampunk!! I kid you not), Frenchy and the Punk (so pleased to see them again) and Craig Sheridan all compared fantastically by Mr Montague Jacques Fromage III.

    Gladstone were on at 6pm and we threw ourselves into giving as good a show as we could, this was Captain Joe Sparrowlegs first gig with us on guitar and he proved himself with style, starting off in time honoured tradition with Night Creatures followed by a new song King Ludd, we rattled through Bluey, Newgate, Jack Hall, The Madness of Tilly Matthews, Twisted Lip and another new song Gaslight, Dr Dexter's Dream, Purple Reefer, Mountain King and The Curse of Tutankhamun, finally finishing on Sex Pistols God Save the Queen which saw Spook off into the audience yelling "No Future!!"

    Another drunken night followed with Dale giving us the last bottle of his excellent home made elderflower wine, cheers mate :), songs were sung around the camp fire well into the early hours, we made many new friends and caught up with many old mates, in all it was a fantastic weekend and we look forward to it all happening again next year.

    So, with all this going on what else is there to report, Gladstone are being played regularly on Mick Mercer Radio, for his latest broadcast click here (Mick Mercer Radio broadcast-33-august-24th-2014), the album "Tales from the Jago" is now available on hard copy (at the moment just from gigs) but the bandcamp download is available here Gladstone, Tales from the Jago.for just £6 or individual tracks for £1 each.

    Many, many thanks go to the photographers David Broadbent (DavidBroadbentPhotography), Giles Warhurst (JacklynHyde) and Chris Wolf Deaton (Dark-Wolf-Photography).

Please give us a "like" on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GladstoneUK

    Well that's it for just now, this is Sherlock's Dog signing off, so long, fair well, auf wiedersehen, ta ta ;)