Hello folks – apologies for the hiatus in blogging – a combination of being busy at our real jobs, the brilliant Sea Sessions Festival, and preparing for our next great adventure, which is heading back to the good ole USA for another wee while. We’re heading back towards New Jersey and hope to be playing plenty of gigs stateside for the next few months. Exciting times for us, so over the next few weeks, we’re doing our favourite local gigs in The Chasin’ Bull & La Sabbia, and getting ready to fly….
Leaving New Jersey breaks our hearts, every time. However, the prospect of a road trip to Memphis was exciting, and so we loaded up our trusty old car, reprogrammed Charlotte (Our GPS, who often was my only friend, when Aine was snoring in the car beside me) and hit the road south. It’s a 14-hour drive from NJ to Tennessee, so on evening one, our aim was to get as far south in Virginia as we could. (That sounds like the title of a country/porn song!) And boy, did we listen to some amount of country music. Ok – lets get this confession made… the radio stations were wall-to-wall pure country shmaltz and cheese…and we loved every minute of it! The drive through Virginia is amazing… purpley cherry blossom-like trees give a blue hue to the landscape (Can anyone tell me the name of these shrubs?) and we also gave a high five to Baltimore on behalf of all our Wire-watching friends. We stopped off at some hairy-looking super8 motel about 5 miles from the Tennessee State line, fell in the door, slept, showered (I did, Aine never does) and back on the road again.
Now, Charlotte, our GPS system has had an uncanny knack of bringing us to the craziest places. We thought it would be nice to stop off in Nashville, and we asked Charlotte to take us somewhere nice. Lordy! She took us up and down backstreets and trailer parks and strange places, as a massive thunderstorm hit, and we thought it was exit stage left for the Surfchixxx. But eventually, after switching herself off, and using old fashioned common sense, we found somewhere to gobble up our lunch and move on to Memphis.
We made it to the Dublin House and met our booker, and gentleman extrordinaire, Malachy. We got all set up in a brilliant apartment, and hit the Dublin House around ten to play the first ever band-gig there. Such a laugh! We were surprised at the number of Irish there- a good representation from Dublin, Meath, Monaghan and Belfast. We also had great support from the Memphis Gay community, and I have a date with the lovely Lara next time I pass through!
Dublin House is a great venue, Malachy and staff are legends, especially Keith From Dublin who gave us his bed, and we will be back!
Next day, we were off again, heading for Pensacola, Florida, and to our wonderful friends, the Bertram family. Tracy, Roy and Mary Willis brought us here last Fall, and we had a super gig at Goatlips. They invited us back, and so we arrived for a very relaxed Sunday evening gig, with a great support band named ‘Company of Ghosts’. There was loads of people back to see us again, and on a balmy Florida evening, where else would you be? Tom, our host supplied us with plenty of beer and mosquito spray, and Ron, our lovely sound man did a great country set during the break. This little bar is filled with photos of superb musicians, and we were pretty chuffed to see our own pictures up on this wall of fame. Brilliant!
The next night, we were off to Florabama, which is right on the border of Florida and Alabama. http://www.florabama.com/ This is a huge and amazing venue, with a great stage, a brilliant sound man, appropriately called Mike, and it’s the home of the bushwhacker cocktail, which proved to be the later undoing of one of the Surfchixxx (Clue, not me!) We had another brilliant gig, and met the very cool Jason Justice, who treated us to an afterparty, and the brilliant culinary skills of guitarist John Seymour. We had a funny late-night conversation about ..ahem…language differences, and we left promising to return to Florabama on our next tour.
We then enjoyed two fabulous days off, hanging out by the pool, and eating Tracy Bertram’s delicious recipes – her Gumbo is to die for! Thanks so much to Tracy, Mary Willis, and Roy for giving over their home to two messy, tired surfchixxx, and for looking after us so well. Mary Willis, Ryan says thanks for picking out the cool shoes!
By thursday, we were ready to gig again, and it was off to Pensacola Beach to meet the lovely Seamus and staff at Paddy O’ Leary’s bar. http://www.paddyolearysirishpub.com/ It’s always nice to see your name up on the venue, and these good people had improvised and made a few extra ‘x’s’ for surfchixxx out of duct tape! When you see that, you know you’re in the right place. Paddy O’ Leary’s was an absolutely terrific gig – our soundman Dennis also doubled as singer and musician, and we were alos joined by Adam and co from the company of ghosts… and Lisa from Ultraviolet, a great local all-chicks band. Aine also got a proposal of marriage from Mr. Kyle Gibbs, and may return for a wedding in the near future. Everyone we met at this bar rocked, and we will definitely be coming back again…maybe paddy’s weekend next year, eh Seamus?
The sadness of leaving Pensacola was tempered with the sheer excitement of moving on to New Orleans- we had never been before, but had heard great things. We were booked into the Kerry Pub http://www.kerryirishpub.com/ on Decatur St in the French Quarter, and folks- OMG, THIS CITY ROCKS! I tend to wax lyrical about many places, but if you have not been to ‘N’awlins’, you need to go. It’s beautiful, cool, friendly, resiliant, proud, music heaven, and full of nice people. We introduced ourselves to Doris, who is the amazing chick running the Kerry, and up we hopped on the stage to entertain the good folks of Decatur Street. We were delighted to be joined by Donegal Man Danny Burns, http://www.myspace.com/dannyburnsmusic who lives there now, and (I found out later) was Aine’s first boyfriend. And at age 11, he dumped her, as he said it was ‘just too much of a commitment’.
Our final night of our tour was in New Orleans – we had pencilled this in as our own little party – I had promised Aine a proper birthday celebration, as we had not gotten a chance to have our own night out with all the fuss before hand. It was also the 7th anniversary of the first ever chixxx gig, which was in Ramelton in 2004. The seven-year itch has not hit us yet, so we took a streetcar to Jaque-Imo’s restaurant (totally amazing!) and enjoyed alligator cheesecake, rabbit and crab, and plenty of fine wine. Then we met up with Danny, who introduced us to the venues all along Frenchman St. We caught Eric Lindell at d.b.a and Alex mc Murray up the road at the Blue Nile. It was a legendary night, thanks so much all…
And so it was, that we returned to Atlanta, amazed that the tour was over, and genuinely delighted that it was all so successful! We agreed that every gig, and every venue, and every day of this trip was a joy and a pleasure. Other than the drama of the driving licence on arrival, everything else went to plan, and we simply cannot thank those that booked us, and helped us along the way. One more time- thanks to Connolly’s, North Carolina, Mc Hales, South Carolina, GetRealNY, Rattle N Hum & Arlene’s Grocery in New York City, Drew University Pub, Hennesseys, Johnny Macs, and Expresso Joe’s in New Jersey, Dublin House, Memphis, Goatslips, Florabama and Paddy O Leary’s, Florida, and The Kerry Pub in New Orleans. A special thanks to Kathy Conlon, Patrick and Roz Donagher, Tracy Bertram and family, Colie Brice and Jim Sickels, Malachy Smyth, Tom at Goatlips, Doris at The Kerry, John at Johnny Macs, Seamus at Paddy O’ Leary’s, George and Brenda Wirth, Todd and Dale, Susan and Peter, Rick and Shannon, Adam Bro, Tony, Keith, Larry, Steven and all the crowd at Asbury Park, Mike, Jason and John at Florabama, Kyle & the lads at Pensacola Beach, Chris Cuzme, Charlotte our GPS system, the really really nice people at Atlanta Airport Car hire (ACE) (without whom we wouldn’t have made it) , everyone who came to the gigs, enjoyed themselves, from Aine Surfchick and Niamh Surfchick, thanks so much and hope to see you again soon xxx
OK folks, if there is overuse of the terms ‘awesome’ and ‘amazing’ here, it’s cos we are now moving to one of our favourite places in the world, the incredible Jersey Shore. Our first visit to Asbury Park was back in 2006, where we played The Saint, and had the good fortune to meet a brilliant singer-songwriter, and man who would become a great friend, Mr. Rick Barry http://www.myspace.com/rickbarrymusic Through Rick, we met Colie Brice, George and Brenda Wirth, Cook Smith, Susan Flaherty, Todd & Dale Goldin, Jim Sickels, and all these people helped us plan a mega-jam on the Jersey Shore which was one of the most amazing, and awesome (See, I told you!) events of the tour…
We kidnapped Kathy Conlon and dragged her to NJ
But first things first. We kidnapped our faithful groupie chick, Kathy, and jumped in the car for two performances in Morristown, the first at the pub in Drew University, and many thanks to Professor William Rogers and his graduate students for coming to a somewhat more respectable gig – let’s put it like this, we had a feckin’ horse outside! But shortly afterwards, we dropped all pretence of being cultured up at Hennesseys Bar, and regressed to our usual despicable me’s, with an acoustic performance to the lovely gathering at this fun bar. We had great craic, and Bill looked after us very well, with a delightful stay in the lovely Madison Hotel, which is far too good for the likes of us.
Next day, we drove to Asbury Park, and popped into Johnny Mac’s for a look. It’s a new venue in Asbury Park, and it’s got a deadly buzz going on…loads of graffiti and words to the wise, brilliant staff and we knew it was going to be a good night. We got all surfchicked up, and when we returned, we were so delighted to see our friends already there- Susan, Todd (in full Irish regalia!), Dale, Jim, Cook, Colie, Rick…these people are incredible!
Our dream-team of friends were there to meet us
We took to the stage for a warm-up set, and got a great response – then up hopped Colie and his band, the brilliant New Age Blues Experience http://www.myspace.com/coliebrice and then the craic started. Musicians started pouring in the door, and hopping up on stage for one of the most incredible jams we’ve ever witnessed…I mean, these guys kicked music ass! James Dalton did a brilliant ‘Mustang Sally’, Adam Bro was up with his harp, Tony Tedesco and Keith Mc Carthy were duelling lead guitars, Steve Romanowsky was up, Jenny Woods, Rick Barry, Larry Alter… we are talking OMG, it was a mind-blowing burst of music, the best we’ve seen. We had the absolute privilege of being called back up on stage to play with all these dudes, and Johnny Macs was rocked to its core, man, I am still drooling on the keyboard as I write this down. The most spectacular finale was a version of ‘Horse Outside’ that you would not believe… guitar solos, thumping bass, – if the Rubber Bandits had seen it, I think they would have been overwhelmed themselves.
Jamming with the best of 'em
We cannot thank Colie & his crew enough for the Asbury Park experience,
Todd, Larry & Cook
everything you hear about the music scene here is true, and it is one of the most generous and welcoming places as far as touring musicians are concerned. We hung around and partied for a while (thanks for your coat, Tony…) bar staff were so great (cheers, Opie!) and Adam not only took care of us, but saw us safely home. Legends, every single one of you! THANK YOU.
It's an Asbury Park/Donegal Love-in!
Rick, who started it all, & Keith, legend.
Meeting new musicians, always nice
The comedown from Tuesday night was tough… what to do? Well, Atlantic City, of course! We hit the road and ended up in Harrahs, for Niamho’s birthday celebration (Thank you so much, Aine!) Winning 115 dollars on the first spin of the wheel was a lucky break,
I won!
happily cashed in in the form of mojitos. Quit while you’re ahead, I say! We trawled AC for some craic, and as luck would have it, the craic was in a Karaoke Bar – strage to end up singing on our night off, but sure you can never keep Miss O’ Doherty away from a microphone. I thought it was cheating for her to go up and sing, so I made a deal – I got to pick the song, and she had to do as bad a version as she possibly could.
Get much attention?
I chose ‘My heart will go on’ from Titanic, and to be fair, she did murder it for a good two minutes. But, ego prevailed, and she stunned everyone in the room (especially the smitten New Jersey Cops) and belted out the last half of it, note perfect. I laughed so much they put me up in the rafters!
Excommunicated for laughing at karaoke
Next night, we went North to meet another music legend, the wonderful George Wirth.
Goerge and Brenda Wirth...legends!
We have been George’s guests at The Twisted Tree, and this time, we were in a new venue in Keyport, NJ, thanks to Sonny and staff. I love this about NJ, it can be a bar, or a coffe shop, but you will always find amazing, awesome (!) musicians. Joe’s Espresso is a coffee shop with a great sense of humour, an explanation of the difference between a latte and a cappucino (I always wondered) and a lovely theatre-style venue with incredible sound.
Espresso Joe's at Keyport, thanks Sonny!
George opened up the show in great form, and his songs just always hit your heart straight away – he is a poet/troubadour with the Tom Waitsian ability to document ordinary life with passion and empathy. Once again, Bruce Springsteen failed to turn up, but George’s version of ‘Sandy’ made such a dream redundant – we had goosebumps and chills listening to George deliver- dare I say it- a better version than his royal Bruceness could have done. Our friends showed up again- Susan and Peter, Dale and Todd, Adam, Brenda (of course) and we met new friends, and had such a nice show. We returned to Asbury Park, elated from the experience, and sad that our stay here was over.
I found a horse outside Atlantic City!
Once again, to all our friends in New Jersey, Aine & I feel so privileged and honoured to move in amongst such good people and brilliant musicians. We have been to many fantastic places, and we went on to more amazing and awesome gigs, but until we jam out again with you guys, nothing beats those Jersey Shore nights, making music, and sharing laughs with you guys. We have to move on to Memphis, but thank you from the bottom of our black hearts xxx
..And so it was on to New York City. After three trips through the Holland Tunnel, we finally made Manhattan, and got our asses into the indescribably cool ‘Bitter End’ venue in Greenwich Village. Here, we were playing a late night Friday with our great friends and awesome musicians, The Frank Stalloners. We were stoked to find lots of friends already there waiting for us, Claire Burke and her gang, Candice Bullock and her gang, and the unfailingly faithful Kathy Conlon, and the wonderfully drunk Deccy in tow. This was a brilliant start, and thanks so much, ladies, for your support!
The Bitter End, New York City.
The Amazing Frank Stalloners
The Stalloners hit the stage around midnight, and warned everyone we were coming along…we got a few beers into us, and jumped up on the wonderful stage about 1am, to a very enthusiastic crowd. Man, what a gig! We had lower Manhattan getting naked, worshipping Johnny Depp, and joining in in an enthusiastic rendition of what was to become the song of the trip, the briliant Rubber Bandits’ ‘Horse Outside’.
The Stalloners got back on the stage with us for the last set, and we had an almighty jam, with Aine and Danny vying for loudest, blusiest vocal. It was a super beginning to the New York visit, and a very memorable gig. Thanks so much, Matt, Danny and all the Stalloners, one of the best we’ve ever done!
Cheers Claire, Candice and Kathy! x
Best gig so far!
That evening, we returned to home in Manhattan, which is always courtesy of the wonderful Donagher family- Roz, Patrick and Jameson. Roz had the sitting room of their to-die-for Manhattan apartment all ready for us (Roz, you are an angel!) and we had a bit of a sleep, and were up early next morning to perform at the ‘Get Real’ Festival on 18th Street. This craft beer & food festival – organised by the entrepeneurial genius that is Patrick, was jaw-droppingly brilliant – at noon on a Saturday, there was a hall full of people sampling craft beers, a great stage fpr musicians and a buzz that was unbelievable. Surfchixxx were introduced by the charming Chris Cuzme, who did a great job with the entertainment. So yes- we had a saturday afternoon gig in lower Manhattan with a selection of 100 beers available, great food and lovely people. Rock and Roll is tough!
Get Real Festival
Get Real, Saturday 1pm
We came back again to do a second show at 6pm, even more people, and more fun! We helped ourselves to a few of the tasty beers, and then scrambled back up to Rattle n Hum in midtown for our third gig of the day, a bar gig with the help of trad band ‘Divilment’. Once again, ‘Horse Outside’ stole the show, and not for the first time, or the last time in this blog, do we humbly thank the Rubber Bandits for writing the best song of the year.
Aine Belting it out at Get Real
Next morning, we had one more show at Get Real. After a startling breakfast of Drambuie and orange, and some spicy jumbalaya (As you do… far cry from the rashers and sausages…) we were up on stage again, to rock 18th street. Thanks to Juren for the great photo shoot, and once again to Chris, Paddy, Roz and the Get Real Crew for inviting us along.
The next gig, later that evening, was one we had been looking forward to for ages. We had a spot at the legendary ‘Arlene’s Grocery’, and in order to adequately prepare, we wandered over to visit guitar legend and bartender extrordinaire, Mr. Tom Clarke, who kindly produced one of his classic Bloody Marys to help us along. We got to Arlenes, and it was all we had hoped for and more – Kathy was there for us at the bar, the sound was perfect, and the extremely complimentary folks there recorded and videod the gig for us – we will post it up soon. We met more class musicians and musos, and had a great time.
Then Kathy introduced us to the Meatball Shop – yes, folks, a restuarant
Meatballs washed down with Tequila!
specialising in meatballs. Sounds a bit daft but OMG gorgeous! We celebrated our final night in New York, and 6 gigs in three days with much more food than we needed, washed down with plenty of wine. Ahhh…delicious!
Arlenes...soon to be on youtube...
New York, as always, you are unforgettable! Once more, thanks to Matt and the Stalloners, and best of luck with new ventures, thanks to Claire, Candice and Kathy, thanks to the amazing Patrick & Roz, thanks to the folks at The Bitter End and Arlene’s Grocery, to Juren, Cuzme, Joe Donagher, and all involved with Get Real and Rattle N Hum, and to the nice man on the tollbooth at the Holland Tunnel who didn’t charge us the second time!
Hi there everyone – so begins our blog to attempt to describe the Tequila Tour, March-April 2011. We are still on the tour as I write this, but fear of forgetfulness and a massive build-up of new friends and fans, stories, photos and videos means that we must start writing things down now! So here goes my faulty and addled attempt to tell the stories of the tour so far…Aine will correct me and fill the gaps so it should be a reasonably lucid account! Our first stop off on the tour was The Crown and Cushion in London. This is a regular haunt of ours, and one facilitated by the wonderful Charlie Chalmers, (who admitted to having a ‘favourite’ surfchixxx….tut tut, Charlie, that’s like admitting to a favourite child!) but Charlie and John & Ruth are brilliant, and regulars Avril and Eddie (who suffered on, despite man-flu) and Fionnuala and Guido, and our resident studs Matt & Copper, legendary barlady Charlene, – thanks to you all for two great nights.
Surfchixxx went on to Charlotte, North Carolina, to play the first two gigs of the USA Tequila Tour at Connolly’s on 5th, – such craic! Getting out of Atlanta Airport was quite the challenge, with Niamh wearing the “stupo crown” for all of the journey. (The Stupo Crown is the imaginary crown of stupidity, which is worn by the person who has most recently done something really stupid. On surfchixxx tours, it alternates pretty evenly between Aine and Niamh. It is a reminder that everyone f***s up from time to time!) Anyway, I wore the crown all the way to Charlotte, for reasons I will tell you when I see you. The first night was great craic, with the magnificent Franco Garcia turning up, with Johnny. Rob Cutwright was in the house too, and we had such a laugh, debuting ‘Horse Outside’ in the USA, and selling some well dodgy CD’s (At this point, the stupo crown was handed over!) For the Wednesday night gig, we were chuffed when we saw our Belmont Abbey Boys already there, waiting for us.
Aine & the Belmont Boys
Another surprise visitor was Aine’s roomie and best Berklee buddy, Livvy, who came all the way from South Carolina. Olivia not only came to the gig, but played an awesome guest spot, and then drove us back home! We also were delighted to see Amanda come in (with her sister & friends) and a whole clatter of Belmont people from the two trips over – also, have to say that the staff at Connollys were really cool- we had two brilliant gigs, Jason’ Bone’ Mitchell got news that his brother got into Columbia that night, Rob came back for more dodgy CDs, and the craic was mighty! Thanks Charlotte.
Special Guest Livvy Connors
A Belmont Boy Sandwich, yum!
And so it was onwards and southwards to Rock Hill, South Carolina and to McHales Pub for St. Patrick’s Day. This was a funny gig- funny in that we were playing outside, in about 80 degrees of heat and no cover, so after about 10 minutes, we could feel ourselves begin to burn up.
Slainte, McHales!
Blisters in the Sun! Paddy's Day, McHales
Stuart and the gang there were really cool, and it was great to see Katie and her peeps come by…thanks Katie! We’ve loads of people to thank for this leg of the tour- Travis Feezell, Tom Timmons, Murph and the crew at Connolly’s, Rob, Liv, Franco, Adam, Amanda, Bones, Tracy, Stuart and the crew at McHales, and (for the Stupo Crown) the people at Atlanta Airport Car Rental…. saved our bacon. After the Carolinas, it was on to New York City, so we hopped in to the Chickmobile, programmed our GPS lady (whom we christened ‘Charlotte’) and began the drive Northwards to New York. The drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains, via Salem, Roanoake and Shenandoah was sublime, and we were making great time, despite a brief and unscheduled detour into the ‘burbs of Newark, and a comical double trip through the Holland Tunnell. One of the regular features of this trip has been finding out that the exit to wherever we wanted to go has been closed, and the detour has been…an education! But so far so good, and New York, we’re coming to get ya!…. to be continued!
Hey everyone! Well, Aine and I are just about to head off on our much-discussed and much-wished-for March tour in the USA. To warm up our wee tonsils, we are going to pop over to London first, to visit our mates Charlie, John & all the regulars at The Crown and Cushion in Westminster. This is where we played last year for St. Patricks’s Day (mayhem!) and we had a tough choice deciding to go back to the USA this year…so compromise is Friday and Saturday night in London, and then on to USA for our first gig there on March 15.
2010 London St. Patrick's Day...
So…this year’s USA tour is probably our biggest and bestest tour so far. It’s pretty hectic, as we are all over the Eastern and Southern USA, and it’s a really cool mix of our favourite venues (Connolly’s, Charlotte, Asbury Park, Rattle n Hum NYC, Drew University NJ, Goatlips Pensacola) and some new venues, The Get Real festival in New York City, a late-night gig with The Frank Stalloners in The Bitter End, Greenwich Village, the incredibly cool Arlene’s Grocery in NYC, McHales Bar, Rock Hill, South Carolina for Paddy’s Day, The Dublin House, Memphis Tennessee, Paddy O’ Learys, Pensacola Beach, Flora-Bama, (between Florida and Alabama!), and (oh the excitement of it) The Kerry Bar in New Orleans. Lots of new places to visit, and lots of new people to meet…we’re very excited!
We also have some new music to bring with us: we have recorded a special CD for this tour with 6 songs – we have Niamho’s ‘Tequila’ recorded live at Peadar Kearney’s pub in Dublin, we have Aine’s tearjerker ‘Zoom’ recorded, we have the upbeat and happy ‘Somebody’, we have the risque ‘Johnny Depp’, we have Aine’s pop tune ‘Green Eyes’ and we have also recorded the ever-popular ‘Let’s Get Naked’. Ok, this is definitely not a CD to give the kids, but a few references to drinking too much and taking your clothes off is always good – By the way, probably the most famous version of ‘Let’s Get Naked’ is here on youtube with Jarvis, lead singer of US band Iglu&Hartly….
We’ll be performing these songs on our tour, and make sure you get your hands on the Tequila Tour CD if you’re at the gigs. OK…so here’s the schedule….
Coming to your town real soon!(Or close enough)
So…we will of course keep the blog updates as we travel and meet our old and new friends… we’d be delighted to see you if we’re coming near to where you are, and if you know people in the areas we are going, tell them to come along too! Thanks and make sure that wherever you are, you enjoy yourself this St. Patrick’s Day! xxx Surfchixxx
Greetings everyone! Surfchixxx have emerged from winter hibernation and are back on the road again with residencies, gigs, new venues and a big fantastic UK/USA road trip. We took time out in January to …defrost ourselves, rearrange some tunes, write some tunes, Aine has been bashing away on the piano doing all sorts of creative things, and Niamh…well, I did a bit of travelling and got a bit of a crush on John Keats, so maybe a few romantic songs will be forthcoming. Probably not though. But February’s here, and as the snowdrops and crocuses push through the earth, and offer some hope of sunny days, so Surfchixxx emerged from the frost and snow to make themselves heard! First off, we begin a great little gig at La Sabbia restaurant every Monday night- ‘The Monday Night Music Club’. We’re going to do some slow, chilled out acoustic songs we haven’t done before, and La Sabbia is a cosy spot: roaring fire, sofas and no cover charge. They have a ridiculously low-priced menu for Monday evenings, and we’re going to have guest musicians and passing-through troubadours join us. So if you’re around Bundoran/Donegal, come along on Mondays, about 8pm and hang out with us! http://www.lasabbia.ie
Our next residency is in Sligo, in the equally cosy Fiddler’s Creek, which is right by the Garavogue river. We play here every Saturday evening, from about 7.30pm, and once again, it’ll be nice chilled out tunes, and easy listening stuff for your pleasure. Fiddler’s Creek is a classy and cosy bar, with great sound and always a crowd who like their music, so if you’re planning an early start to Saturday night, come and join us.
Every Sunday evening, we will be playing in Dublin! We begin a residency in Peadar Kearney’s pub in Dame St, just beside Temple Bar. We are delighted to have gotten a regular spot in Dublin, as people are always asking when we will be up in the big smoke. So we’re really looking forward to entertaining both locals and tourists with the Surfchixxx pub gig. We start off about 6.30pm, so early enough for those of you who gotta get to work on Monday: but if you end up in Coppers at 1am (probably with us!) eh…not our fault !
Our Fridays are in various different places: we are in the Chasin’ Bull for a few nights, and out and about, and all this is a precurser to our annual St. Patrick’s day road trip to UK & USA. Dates have yet to be all confirmed, but so far, it looks like we will be turning up in North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Tennessee, Florida and Louisiana. Surfchixxx both celebrate their birthdays in March, so it’s going to be a great month, and we get to hit most of our favourite places abroad: The Crown & Cushion, Rattle ‘n Hum, The Twisted Tree, Arlene’s Grocery, The Bitter End, Goatlips, as well as new venues in Memphis and New Orleans. So we are highly excited about all this!
We also hope to have a new EP ready for the tour, with popular songs ‘Zoom’ and ‘Tequila’ recorded ( as instructed by popular demand!) We’ve loads of new stuff for the tour, including a really popular cover of The Rubber Bandit’s ‘Horse Outside’ song, which is, for our money, the best Irish song for years. We will have all the Americans singing ‘**** your Mitsubishi’ before you know it! We have also put some of our own songs on a new page on this blog (called, without any sense of irony, ‘listen to our tunes’ and you can have a listen to some Surfchixxx music without having to fork out any money at all. Please listen, and enjoy, and your comments are always welcome, unless they are not nice, in which case I won’t post them
So- lots of fun ahead – as always, we thank everyone who helps us, and there are many, in Sligo & Donegal, in London, in Asbury Park and New York City, in Bergentheim and Amsterdam, in Pensacola, in Los Angeles and San Fran, in Memphis, in New Orleans, and especially at home in Bundoran, where our loved ones keep the home fires burning. Here’s to Spring!
"Spring is nature's way of saying, 'Let's party!" - Robin Williams
Rocking in the New Year at the Chasin' Bull Dec 31 2010
Hey all: Well this blog is now a year old, and we’re delighted with the amount of touring, travelling and fun we managed to pack in this year. We’re finishing up 2010 with an acoustic gig tonight (Dec 30th) in the front stage of the Bull, and we’re gonna sing in 2011 with the home crowd tomorrow night, New Year’s Eve. We can’t wait for next year- some big changes ahead, but in the immediate future, we are looking forward to a trip to Cork in January, and of course, our big USA tour in March. We have not finalised exactly where we will be yet for St. Patrick’s Day, but it’s looking like New York and New Jersey anyway, possibly Texas, North Carolina and maybe California. Florida might get a visit too, we’ll see who wants us the most However, right now, Aine & Niamh (that’s us) would just like to wish all our friends, fans, twitter followers & stalkers a really great 2011 and we hope we will meet you along the road sometime in the future. XXX Aine & Niamh.
Greetings Surfchickettes and surfchaps. We have gone dark for a little while, mainly because of the detox that was necessary after all our touring over the last few months. We’ve been busy doing a few other things: writing new songs, planning a big trip to the USA for March, getting a new Monday Night Music Club ready for 2011, and, as you can see from the photo above, graduating! Niamho finished her MA in American Studies (thanks to all the Americans she has *studied* over the years, and Aine is currently preparing for her 4-year stint in Berklee, MA in 2011. We both think we look surprisingly good in academic garb!
We are winding up the year gigging in Bundoran- and really looking forward to 2011. We shall see the year out on the stage of The Chasin’ Bull – it’s the home gig, and always a fantastic one. It just remains for us to thank EVERYONE who helped us out this year: As always, Superkev Lowery, our stalwart pal, drummer, roadie, groupie, and engineer. Thanks to Alan Cooke, Brian Sweeney and Farah Bogle for all the help with the CD. Thanks to The Chasin Bull, and our families: Winnie, James, Emmet, Sharon, Seamy, Ken, Paddy, Eef, Ryan and welcome to little Annie Mae. Thanks to Shiv, Eimear, Lee & all the Bull regulars. Thanks to Susan, Rick & Shannon, Brenda, George, Jerseys John, Jim & family & Joe & all the gang in Asbury Park, Bill, Carol & Janet in Morristown, Joe Mc Govern & family in Rhode Island, all the crew at Paddy Barry’s in Boston, Trevor, Rachel, Bill and Ciara in Boston, Shirley & Dick, & all the staff at Berklee, Mary Willis, Tracy, Leah Hanna and Roy in Pensacola, Travis, Amanda & all the Belmont Abbey Crew in North Carolina, Charlie Chalmers & all the Crown & Cushion gang in London, Barry and Miriam in Amsterdam, Gerrit, Jeanette & all the lunatics in Holland, Patrick, Roz & Joe in New York, Marion Rose & Kathleen, Trish, Ciara and Nicky back at base, Collie, Hank Wedell in Cork (boy!), Shenanigans staff in Sligo, Deirdre & gang at ‘Sligo Live’, Ken, Daniel and Miles at SeaSessions, The gang at O’ Briens & Finn Mc Cools, Santa Monica, all the people that stopped off to say hello, enjoy the music and have fun with us. THANK YOU ALL! Watch this space- lots of things happening in 2011, will leave you with a little Christmas Tune & our very best wished for a great new year! xxx Aine & Niamh
Surfchixxx are delighted to announce that their CD ‘Craic Addicts’ which includes ‘The Ballad of Sean O’ Malley’, ‘Dublin for the Weekend’ and ’6th St Blues’ is now available to buy on CD Baby. Go on! It would be rude not to! It’s also on iTunes and will be available at all upcoming gigs in the USA, UK & Holland. And if that fails, just email us and we’ll send you a copy. Or steal your friend’s copy.
hey folks, if you’ve either toured with, or been at a Surfchixxx gig, chances are you’re in this video! The tune is called ‘Flight of the Girls’, and it’s a thank you to all those in New York, Cork, Los Angeles, Bergentheim, Ommen, Emmen, Ballyshannon, Bundoran, Dublin, San Diego, Las Vegas, Lyon, London, Leenane, Austria, and anywhere else we found a beer and a bed. This is the final track on our CD ‘Craic Addicts’ which is just gone on sale on iTunes & CDBaby. Enjoy!
Surfchixxx are temporarily separated at the moment, as Aine is studying at Berklee College, MA, and stirring up the music scene all around New England. Aine is, of course, a well known singer-songwriter with her own impressive back catalogue, and many live appearances, TV & radio performances, songwriting awards etc, and while Surfchixxx is a fantastic way to tour, sing and meet y’all, make no mistake, the future will be Aine’s voice and songwriting skills finding its rightful place in the world. You can follow Aine’s adventures right now on http://www.myspace/onyamusic and if you’re anywhere near Boston, please go and shout for her on August 5th at Cafe 939. She’s gigging solo all around the place, so check out her site for details, but this blogger can’t wait to land in Boston on August 27th for the reunion tour! Go Aine! best of luck & check out Aine O Doherty/Onya on youtube & myspace for loads of good stuff! xxx
Hey folks- here is the schedule for Surfchixxx from Aug 27th-Sept 12th. We’re SO excited to be popping around to visit friends and fans! We have all sorts of different gigs – quite a few pub gigs, we have a really nice event at Drew University on Sept 8th, this is a Surfchixxx performance of old and new Irish songs, (not a pub gig folks, so behave!) and we have been invited to play at an italian music festival in Long Island, cos Irish & Italian…we get along! We’re loving that we get to go back to Asbury Park, – that Twisted tree gig is AWESOME, and there’ll be loads of madness in Rattle n Hum on Sat Sept 4th in Manhattan with the Donegal mafia! And also, we get to hook up with all the crazies from Meredith College & Belmont Abbey when we go to Charlotte – not to mention the Boston gigs, where Aine has been working all summer. So hope to see you somewhere! Please call the venues to confirm times, we haven’t quite got all the details yet. THANKS!
FRI 27TH AUGUST BOSTON MA
PADDY BARRYS QUINCY 200
Paddy Barry’s Ales & Spirits
1574 Hancock Street
Quincy, MA 02169 USAhttp://www.paddybarrys.com617 -770 3620
SUN 29TH AUGUST BOSTON MA
THE CENTRE – DORCHESTER 200
1664 Dorchester Ave
Dorchester, MA 02122
617-436-0700
14 East 33rd Street
New York, NY 10016-5013, United States
http://www.rattlenhumbarnyc.com/
212. 481-1586
SUNDAY 5th SEPT ASBURY PARK NJ
Labor Day Party (Private Function)
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 8TH MADISON NJ
DREW UNIVERSITY
7.00 PM # Reception 8.00# Performance
1 hour performance of Irish Music.
Dorothy Young Center for the Arts
Drew University
Madison NJ
This is a ticketed event: General admission tickets to the Surfchixxx’s performance at Drew are $10. Students and faculty is $5 with ID. Admission to the wine and cheese reception in Mead Hall is an additional $10. To purchase tickets, please contact Dawn LoMauro in Drew’s Caspersen School of Graduate Studies at (973) 408-3257 or e-mail dlomauro@drew.edu, or contact Janet Cisco at the Irish American Cultural Institute at (973) 605-1991 or e-mail jcisco@iaci-usa.org.
An evening of chat & song!
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 10th LONG ISLAND NY
THE GRANDE FESTA ITALIANA (with The Frank Stalloners)
'Honorary Jersey Girls' said George Wirth! Wow! We're taking it!
Hey everyone, apologies for the relative silence of this blog while we tour the USA, but it’s been so hectic, each of the stopovers deserves individual mentions, and we have so many photos and videos, it’s better that I put it all together when we get home. But it has been, as they say here, AWESOME! We had a great start in Boston in Aug 27-29 with our surfchixxx reunion gig (after a long 7 weeks!) in Paddy Barrys, then followed by a big celebration of the Boston/Donegal Championship win at The Centre, Dorchester. We then went on to New Jersey via a surf stopover with our dear friends, the McGoverns in Rhode Island – arriving at The Twisted Tree for Sept 1st, and delighted by the usual Asbury Park welcome, and fabulous gig. Then it was off to Charlotte, NC for two nights at Connolly’s, and mad craic with the Belmont Boys & Girls, before returning to Rattle n Hum at Manhattan, and a night out with our pal Patrick. Then it was off to Susan Flaherty’s Labor Day Jam in Wall, NJ, which was amazingly brilliant, (thanks Jim & Fred!) before returning to Madison, NJ for an incredible performance at Drew University, and surprise appearance at Hennessey’s in Morristown. Today, I write from Port Washington, NY where we will later be playing at the Grand Fest Italiana with The Frank Stalloners, before hopping a plane to Pensacola, FLA for a big birthday bash at the Goat Lips Tavern. Then we head back to Boston for the last farewell gig at Paddy Barry’s, and then on Monday we will fly home! So – barely time to take a breath, but I will blog, log and flog all of the stories in much more detail when we return to the relative calm of Donegal. Thanks so much to all the people we’ve met, this has been an amazing, unforgettable tour!
OK, as promised, some tales from our AWESOME road trip! As you know, Aine was in Berklee College all summer, being a good student- in fact, such a good student that she’s been invited to go back for four years to take a degree in Musicianship…so it was with pride and excitment that I (Niamho) flew out from Dublin to reunite The Surfchixxx. I arrived in (Johnny) Logan Airport, and there was Aine, complete with home-made welcome sign, it was brilliant! We collected our little rental car (which was to be put through its paces severely over the following two weeks) and buzzed into Boston, stopping off at Aine’s cutsey Backbay apartment -she had even made me dinner! Then it was a hectic rush of to PADDY BARRY’S in Quincy, for a brilliant gig, a few beers and a giving-out to from Gerry for being from Dublin! On Saturday, we wandered down to a nice fancy restaurant for a big shteak, a bottle of wine (the poor girl had been living on noodles!) and a catchup on all the gossip of Berklee/Bundoran. On Sunday, we found out that the Boston-Donegal GAA had won the final and would be celebrating in Dorchester, and indeed, during our gig at THE CENTRE, we were in the middle of the hilarity. Drink, tears, blood, sweat…laughter, singing, and more than one chorus of ‘The Hills of Donegal’ made for a great night’s craic, and well done, Donegal Boys!
On Monday, we hopped in our wee car – note to self, pay the extra few shillings for a car than can actually move – we were there on the highways like Trotters. Inc. In fairness, Aine will rip the highest speed out of whatever she drives, and when our SatNav decided to die on us, I did my best to co-pilot us to Rhode Island with a map of Massachussetts. We were off to visit our good friends, Joe, MaryEllen and Jennie Mc Govern. Joe is a well-respected surf photographer, and regular Bundoran visitor. I took over the driving as we neared Joes, only to be pulled up by a burly RI police officer, who took issue with my doing a u-turn on a small road. He took one look at my Irish License, and burst out laughing – and insisted on escorting us to Joe’s house. Nice! The wonderful McGoverns spoilt us rotten – stuffies and BBQ salmon for supper, and all day Tuesday at the Beach… thanks so much you guys!
Joe Mc Govern & Aine on Narragansett Beach, RI
Next stop was New Jersey, and yours truly, Niamho was drooling at the thoughts of returning to Bruce-country. In one of those freaky moments, Ryan Adam’s ‘New York’ came on the radio JUST as we drove over the sate line between Connecticut and New York…I mean, just as the song came on, we drove passed the huge big ‘Welcome to New York’ sign, we both went ‘Whoa…’ and sang the song at full volume. On we went to Asbury Park, which just gets nicer and nicer at every visit. We checked in to the Empress Hotel, and down we went to The Twisted Tree to meet George Wirth, Brenda, Susan and of course the wonderful Joey Rosanio. We had another great gig here, -Aine did some of her originals, and then we did a Surfchixxx combo, and I had a little song I wrote about drinking too much Tequila that I decided to sing, as it was that kind of night…I did it for Eithne (My Ma) who would have been 70 years old that day, and I think she would have approved.
Before the gig, Brenda did a wonderful photoshoot for us on the streets of Asbury…and at the gig,
Our Favourite Goodfella, Joey treated us to dinner on the Asbury Park boardwalk after the gig, flashing the cash and being wonderful! The Asbury Park boardwalk is not the scary place it used to be anymore, with gorgeous restaurants and bars, cool people and EVERYONE has a story that they saw Mr. Springsteen there yesterday..or the day before…but so far he hasn’t come out to meet us
Secret Wedding Photo from Asbury Park - don't tell Joey's Ma!
Aine at my favourite venue in the world. Ever.
George Wirth made us honorary Jersey Girls! Yay!
After NJ, we hopped on a plane to Charlotte, NC to meet our friends from Belmont Abbey & do two nights in Connolly’s, -amazing venue & massive craic with everyone. Thanks so much to AMANDA and the girls for putting us up, the handsomest professor in the world, TRAVIS for arranging the gigs, the staff and Connollys and the boys for getting wasted. Jason ‘Bone’ Mitchell promised Aine a Las Vegas wedding, and Franco Garcia promised Niamho three boys, Miguel, Patricio and Santi, (Or Mick, Paddy & Johnny, Irish Style)
What happens in Vegas
We were thrilled when Katie & her folks dropped by, Katie helped us with a brilliant version of ‘Sean O’ Malley’, and Aine learnt the fine art of ‘Corn Hole’…. The second night, Aine’s fellow Berklee student Olivia joined us for tunes and craic, and Kevo, Judgemental Jake and Trisha showed us how to party, Charlotte-style!
Katie does 'Sean O' Malley' with Surfchixxx
Phi Kap Sandwich.
These people know how to PARTY!
After Carolina (Exhausted!) we were back to Rattle n Hum, to visit our old friend and dangerous influence, Patrick, his wonderful missus Roz, our fellow chickette Kathy Conlon and all the Manhattan Crew. Good Times! But all too brief, as we were off then to a fantastic labor-day jam at Susan Flaherty’s back in NJ. What an evening! Big thanks to our newly recruited bandsmen, drummer Jim & Bassist Fred. We not only got the chance to play, but witnessed some fantastic music from the Jersey Shore scene, an awesome night’s craic. After that, our next stop was a performance at Drew University. The good people at the Irish-American Cultural Institute had arranged a wonderful gig for us, in the
The photogenic ones- Aine & Patrick, NYC
appreciative audience immensely. Ellis & Bill, you are legends, thanks also to Janet & Carol for all the PR and CD sales. For a review of the performance, follow this link – and apologies, Bono, I didn’t mean it!
The after-party in Hennessy’s Bar, Morristown was hilarious – big thanks to The Friendly Sons Of St. Patrick, who were indeed, very friendly, and to MariBird for letting us crash the open mic.
The After Party at Hennessey's, NJ
After that, we were back to New York – we spent half a day looking for Port Washington, and an uncomfortable night in a pretty dodgy motel somewhere in Long Island, but it was worth it, as the Grande Italiana Festival with The Frank Stalloners was one of the highlights of our trip.
The Grande Fest Italiana, Port Washington NJ
Rockin' out with The Frank Stalloners
A surprise addition to the road trip was Pensacola, FL, …but it was Mary Willis’ birthday, and her parents (Who are TOO GOOD) flew us down and back just to play at the Goat Lips Restaurant…another terrific night, meeting the lovely people who came to celebrate the birthday and have the craic. Thanks so much to Tracy, Leah Hannah, Roy, Rachel, & everyone there.
The Birthday Girl, Mary Willis singing...another version of Sean O' Malley!
Pensacola welcomes Surfchixxx...it will all come together like Goats Lips!
And then… fog delayed our flight, and we got to JFK to collect our car with only four hours to get back to Paddy Barry’s for our farewell gig. I’ve said this before…not only is Aine a rock superstar, but when it comes to under-pressure-driving, she is the world’s greatest. We tore corners off 95 north as we ripped it up the coast and into Quincy with minutes to spare- and delighted to see The Mc Govern Family in for the night, and also we enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of Ciara O Kelly, who could not have made us more welcome.
On Monday, Sept 13, we boarded the plane home, with truly wonderful memories & a whole bunch of new friends from this road trip. We have been invited to return to Charlotte, Pensacola, Drew, Boston, Rhode Island,… and we will! Thanks SO MUCH to everyone who helped us, came to the gigs, fed us, watered us, photographed us, sheltered us, and shared the music. From Niamh & Aine, Surfchixxx, it was a helluva Vacation! Thanks all xxxxx
rocking out at The Post Office, Friday 15th October, Holland.
Surfchixxx were honoured to be invited to the Irish Day in Crazy Horse, Hardenberg on Sunday October 17th, so we hit the road to Amsterdam (OK, we took a ‘plane, bright and early on Thursday 14th, stopping off in our favourite venue, Mulligans, which is a must for all wandering troubadours who visit Holland. Miriam and Barry were as hospitable as ever, and a troop of Norweigans added to the fun by singing along in top voice. We were accompanied by Mr. Bundoran Tourism, Mr. John O’ Connell from Atlantic Aparthotel, who proved to be an excellent roadie & travelling companion. His decision to cover his suitcase in feckin’ whiskey in Schipol Airport only added to the craic, and there was much dancing and hilarity in Bourbon Street later as we began the tour.
Always an honour to be on the Mulligans line-up.
On Friday, we were collected from Amsterdam by Kurt, and transported at 200 kph across Holland to Neu Amsterdam for the opening of the Post Office pub – brilliant craic here, and we were delighted to be joined by Douwe Sterkenberg, the Olfs, Hans Grondel & Chris for some fantastic tunes. This will be a beautiful venue when it’s finished and we look forward to coming back.
Niamho & Douwe
Hans & Aine at The Post Office
After the gig, we were invited to Cafe t’Geveltje by the Evil Bartje & Helga so that they could inflict serious damage to our livers before the Irish Party. But, lacking in all elements of self-control and responsibility as usual, we went. Result- a Saturday morning hangover to beat all! However, we gathered ourselves and turned up again at Coevorden to greet Rosie Lee and Speir Rua to the tour – and we had a fantastic gig at the Cafe with music from the whole gang.
Rosie rocks it out at Cafe t'Geveltje
Sunday morning dawned sunny and sharp, and we got ourselves to Crazy Horse for a fantastic day – Tourism Ireland were there with all the info for potential visitors, and there was a hall full of vendors, there were set dancers and a Celtic Fashion Show, the bands included Surfchixxx, Speir Rua, Rosie, The Auld Dubs and Rock Band Slainte. Douwe, Robert & Rik went on stage at 7pm and rocked the place for hours with a great set of Irish Rock Sons, and Aine & Rosie doing a wonderful ‘Bobby Mc Gee’ with the band in the middle of the set. Yours truly, Niamho, was busy emptying the fridge of Grolsch in the Green Room, but I did get a photo of the girls rocking out…..
Rosie, Aine & 'Slainte' at Crazy Horse, Holland
Tourism Ireland at Crazy Horse Irish Day.
The evening ended with an afterparty that I really can’t tell you about – I could, but I’d have to kill you. If you know us, you can imagine how it went… if you don’t, just put these elements together – a dancing pole, tequilas, The crazy Dutch, the crazy Irish…
IRISH DAY in Hardenberg was a great success, and we can’t wait to go back again next year- if we’ve recovered by then! Thanks to the organising committee for having us, and all that made it so much fun! See you next year!
Surfchixxx barely drew breath from the Dutch Trip when it was off to The Belfry for the brilliant Sligo Live festival – our gig was at lunchtime, and we had a lovely audience, including Valerie from Switzerland and a lovely young lady named Maggie who was hopping out of her pram with excitement. It was really nice to see some familiar faces there – the Keane family who came in their droves, Roger, Lisa, Ciara & Dee from the festival, and those whom we met on the day. Sligo looked beautiful too – all the little stalls along the river, music pouring out of all the bars & pubs, most of it was free, and the ticketed gigs were awesome & great value for money. So well done Sligo Live!
As it was a nice mellow atmosphere, we were able to play our selection of chilled-out tunes, including a funky ‘When Doves Cry’ by Prince, and ’6th St Blues’ which Aine wrote. Even the comedy song and Niamho’s life story ‘Tequila’ got a hearing, and thankyou kindly for singing along.
At the Chasin' Bull with Rosie for Annie's Auntie Party Sunday 24th
Then it was on to the Bull on Sunday night, to celebrate the arrival of gorgeous Annie-Mae O’ Doherty, who made an Auntie out of our own Annie, and threatens to demote our own princess to second-best….oooh I look forward to seeing how THAT works out! But we had great fun celebrating, and massive congrats to Daddy Emmet and Mummy Sharon, and now we can buy all kinds of cute pink things for SOMEBODY ELSE for a while. Rosie Lee, who has just about recovered from the Holland Trip, joined us on stage, then we continued the party on to Paris (the club, not the city) and then to Eimear & Shivs for a very dirty-minded party. On Monday, we said goodbye to Super Trevor, who was Aine’s roomie in Berklee, and an excellent sound engineer during his few days here- Byeee Trev, hope you caught your plane!
Trevor Alan Paul, aka supertrev!
We now are looking down the barrell of another crazy weekend – we leave on Friday for London to help celebrate the Birthday of the wonderful Mr. Charlie Chalmers- festivities take place in the Crown and Cushion Bar, and we have many friends there, we can’t wait to see. We are bringing the wonderful Superkev Lowery on the road with us- always fun! We play at the Crown on Friday night, and on Saturday night in fancy-dress for the big Birthday- the theme is ‘Monsters and Mojitos’ and I’m not sure how we can interpret that, except to drink loads of monstrous mojitos, and that could be the plan anyway. We’re back for a Halloween gig at Shenanigans, in Sligo, and probably some type of physical breakdown on Monday at least a detox anyway! So- have a great halloween weekend, and I will leave you with my method of keeping Aine under my control, the obedient wee sweetheart! Love Niamh & Ainex
The Surfchixxx are not from California as I first thought, but are a “two-girl duo from Co. Donegal, Ireland”. In just eight songs, the duo covers a few different styles. There are the classic Irish tunes like “Whiskey in the Jar” and “The Ballad of Sean O’Malley” along with some more modern folk originals. “Black Soul” is the prize of this set with its deep strings and slow, deep melody and lyrics. There is also a rocker to finish this set and an odd little ska number called “Flight of the Girls” which brings out their day-to-day trials and tribulations of being an up and coming act playing all the pubs in Ireland, from the tiny holes-in-the-wall to the larger city venues. They are paying their dues and have this nice eclectic little sampler to show you what they can do. Their future looks bright.
Our last trip overseas for 2010 was a very special occasion – we were booked for two gigs into the legendary ‘Crown and Cushion’ in Westminster, London, and we celebrated Halloween and our great friend Charlie’s birthday. We roped in our occasional third surfchick, Superkev Lowery for the trip, and after a the usual almost-missed-the-plane dash to Knock Airport, we departed Ireland’s wild west for wild Westminster. Our first night was a great gig- the C&C had the usual wonderful Friday mix of people – ex-Pats, Austrian Tourists, Londoners, Americans, Tipperary men, Scots dancers, – we had a lovely performance by little Emer Comber, who is now definitely an honorary chick. On day two, Aine and I were concerned about our lack of halloween costume…we meant to bring stuff over, but on the day, we realised we didnt really have anything to London standards…so off we went…to Tesco! I was thinking Medusa, as I found a mad greenish, lacy dress and thought if I got a few snakes, it would look great. Aine found a sexy saloon girl thing tho, which you must agree, looks hot – so I abandoned the idea of the snakes, cut the dress up short and thought I would call it a kind of fairy look? Aine described it like this though…’like a fairy, who had run through a forest, ridin’!
We had a brilliant gig, again – joined at various stages by Connie Murray and Brian Sweeney, Catherine Murray, and of course, birthday-boy himself, Charlie Chalmers.
The craic went on til all hours, with, as usual, excellent hospitality from John and Ruth, from Charlene, best barmaid in the universe, and all our friends in London – shout-out to Matt, Copper, Avril, Eddie, Clodagh & the gang. After we finished up, we took a stroll around the city, – it was incredible, all of London was in costume, it was like the ‘Thriller’ video. London’s a great gig, and if you are ever there, you have to swing by The Crown and Cushion, it has to be one of the most fun pubs ever! You just don’t know what’s gonna happen next!
We returned home, as we had another Halloween party to play at Shenanigan’s in Sligo on Sunday, and we have been recuperating ever since! For December, we’re staying local- there are parties to be had, and played, and done. If you are about the Bundoran-Sligo area over the Christmas period, we’re probably playing somewhere, and will resume international duty in 2011. We do expect to ring in the New Year at the old home venue, THE CHASING BULL. We are also going back to America in March 2011 – if you are reading this and you are in the USA, or have contacts in the USA you think would like us, please email us now at surfchixxx@gmail.com as we’re sorting out where we are going to be!
As always, thanks to all who visit this blog, come to our gigs, buy our music and have the craic with us. xxx Niamh & Aine. PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLIE XXX
