Here we go!

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….

Greetings TO Asbury Park!

Please enjoy our home-movie of our most amazing tour of the USA in March-April. The details are in the posts below: hope the visuals help.

Thanks again to Connollys on 5th  http://www.connollysirishpub.com/ 

 McHales RockHill http://www.mchalesirishpub.com/ 

The Bitter End http://www.bitterend.com/ 

Get Real NY http://www.getrealny.com/ 

Arlenes Grocery http://www.arlenesgrocery.net/ 

Johnny Mac’s http://www.johnnymacbar.com/ 

The Dublin House, Memphis,  Rattle N Hum, NYC,

Espresso Joe’s http://www.myspace.com/espressojoes 

The Kerry Bar New Orleans http://www.kerryirishpub.com

Thanks to all the venues and the musicians, bar staff and nice people we met in every place. We hope you enjoy this! xxx

Danny Burns & Aine ...It musta been love....

Surfchixxx on the road to the South, y’all!

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.

                            

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

Johnny Macs, Asbury Park

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

her heart WILL go on

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!

Next stop…NEW JERSEY…and the fun goes on!

Crown & Cushion Warm-Up

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!

USA here we come!

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

The Tequila Album (Special Tour Edition)

A good smack into Spring1

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.

http://www.fiddlerscreek.ie                           

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.

HAPPY 2011 FROM THE SURFCHIXXX

Aine, always the scene-stealer!

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