It Was Fourteen Years Ago Today...

... Macaroni Penguins played their first ever gig, at Piggy's Birthday Party, in his house.

We had just acquired a drummer, Michelle, the previous day, but she declined to play with us at such short notice, so the four of us - Mark, Mike, Jim and Fred (our former keyboard player) - struggled through 11 songs backed by a TR-505 drum machine and a dodgy amp.

The songs played were:

1. Keep Your Hands To Yourself
2. Vampire Blues
3. Is She Really Going Out With Him?
4. Hard To Handle
5. So You Think You're In Love
6. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
7. Walking By Myself
8. R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A.
9. Fearless Heart
10. Future's So Bright
11. Stepping Stone
    

Interestingly we recently played another 11 song set at Snodfest 2008 - due to time constraints - and that set had exactly no songs in common with our first ever set. Although having said that Stepping Stone is still our third most played song (after Another Girl, Another Planet and Make Me Smile) and still the song we traditionally end on, and another two songs (Hard To Handle and Future's So Bright) are among our top ten most played songs, although have been absent from recent sets. And one of the songs from this set (Fearless Heart) went so well that we have never played again. Ever.

But, things have moved on, 14 years and 92 gigs later we have lost a keyboard player and gained a drummer and a backing vocalist, lost a drummer and gained a different one, gained a lot more songs and lost a few as well, gained a lot of experience and lost a lot of nervousness.

Here's to 2009.

"But they're guaranteed to raise a smile"

Park Life

Macaroni Penguins are pleased to be playing the 2008 Upton Snodsbury Music Festival, which takes place on Saturday, 13th September 2008, at Upton Snodsbury Park.

We will be finishing off the festival, playing between 9:30pm and 10:30pm, but there will be over 7 hours of live music over two stages from 3pm, as well as various stalls, crafts and family friendly entertainment. See the festival web site for details.

Advance tickets are £8 (£4 concessions), and are available from the festival web site. This festival is a fund raising event for the charity responsible for the management of the park.

Facebook Event: Upton Snodsbury Music Festival 2008

"B in the Park"

Licence To Chill

The next Macaroni Penguins gig will be the Frocester Chill Out at The Old Spot, Dursley on Sunday, 24th August 2008. We will be playing from 6:30pm ("so we can be louder", apparently), but there will be stuff going on from 2pm until closing time. Entry is free.

We've been rehearsing a few new songs (new to us that is - if we get them right you should be able to recognise them as songs you've heard before), and if you're really lucky we'll try a few at The Old Spot.

Earlier this year The Old Spot was voted National Pub of the Year by CAMRA, and this gig will provide it with another honour. As well as being Gig 90 this performance will enshrine The Old Spot as Macaroni Penguins' most popular venue. Currently it's a tie between The Old Spot and The Prom, having played 13 gigs at each venue.

Come down and enjoy the fun... we hope to see you there...

Facebook Event: Frocester Chill Out at The Old Spot

"If you can stand the cool, get into the chill"

Singing In The Rain

So, now we know why Slimbridge is the home of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. The weather at this years Slimbridge Beer Festival was wild, foul and wet. But we'd like to say a big thank-you to everyone who stayed through the rain to watch our set. We hope you enjoyed it, and have dried out by now.

I'd also like to thank the kind person that lent me an umbrella so I could watch the other two acts without getting completely soaked. I'm afraid I couldn't find you after we came off stage, but the brolly is not lost, if you can get in touch I will get it back to you. Otherwise, I'll bring it along to our next gig at The Old Spot, Dursley on 24th August.

Also, if anyone has any photos of the band playing at the festival, please leave a comment so we can have a look.

"Now it's raining more than ever."

June Tunes

There are two Macaroni Penguins gigs coming up in June...

On 7th June 2008 we will be playing at the Dursley Rugby Club Beer Festival. We are scheduled to be playing between 5pm and 7pm. Tickets are £5, more details from the web site.

Then on 21st June 2008 we will be celebrating midsummer at the Slimbridge Beer Festival. Here we will be on at 9:30pm. Tickets are £6.50, visit the web site for more details.

Facebook Event: Dursley Rugby Club Beer Festival
Facebook Event: Slimbridge Beer Festival

"Don't Drink and Drum."