Diana Stones Blog

Elephant Shelf at Blues at The Farm January 2012 doing a couple of very well known tunes.

I have just about got over Christmas. We were back in the studio in Burnham on Crouch yesterday and I put some accordion on one of the more rootsy tracks, which seemed to work OK.So I shall be doing a bit more of that in future though Phil Cunningham will have nothing to fear from my occasional squeezing and wheezing, mind you Allie Bain has not much to fear from my fiddling either. Due to the ongoing back and ribs problem I can only do a limited amount of playing so my skills are not going to improve that quickly on it. We have about 15 tracks of which about 10 will end on the album I think. The cold is slowly relinquishing its grasp though I felt very tired last night.

We have two gigs this Saturday, one in Billericay in the afternoon at a club called Blues at the Farm as Elephant Shelf. Not the most flattering photo on the website but hey we are quite hale though rather aged and crusty I had never heard of Billericay before that Mr Drury mentioned in one of esteemed songs.

Then one in the evening in our Delta ladies incarnation in the wilds of Barnet at the pub where Elephant Shelf had one of its very first outings (before I joined believe it or not) called the Lord Nelson.

I have it on good authority that at some point this year we will hit the 1000 gigs mark as we have averaged around 140 gigs a year in our various incarnations (Elephant Shelf Jessie Pies Cleavage of Death and the Delta ladies) which I suppose is not bad going really.

Pre-final mix track from the new Elephant Shelf Album recorded at Saint FM studios produced by Pete Crisp who produced the recent Hokie Joint album – the song and the album demonstrates the band’s move to retro style and sound

3 gigs this weekend one on Thursday at Cafe Rouge in Highgate that was mellow but good fun and we have been invited back in January if all go’s well. One up near Baldock which didn’t go quite so well as they normally have 80′s cover bands so a very retro duo was not quite up their street.

On Saturday night we were at one of our favorites, the Belle Vue in High Wycombe with full band. It was a very lively night and good fun.

The live sound of the band has mellowed somewhat though its actually more energetic, and we had some very complimentary comments from the punters who are mad enough to comeback each time we are there, and so must be real gluttons for punishment. It was pretty much a party atmosphere as everyones really getting into the mood for Christmas and the band was in a somewhat joccular mood too

I record most gigs on a small pocket recorder to get a real ldea of what we sound like, thats very revealing too, sometimes when you listen back its good news and sometimes its awfull! Last nights was mostly pretty good. We put audio clips from the live stuff on the website now. We used to do a lot of video, but its impractical in a lot of places, though we should really get some new stuff done for publicity purposes.

I haven’t been working on writing solo stuff  though as I have been doing a lot of studying and practice and I have felt rather uninspired. Some stuff just never seems to sink in. Also I am not a big fan of Christmas though as a child I really enjoyed it a lot. New Years Eve is always a good feeling though and I try to look back at the good things that have happened though the year.

Its nearly September and the year has flown by. My Ancient chariot needs to get an MOT (15 years old but only done just over 100k) and I think so do I as I have had a lot of aches and pains post gig recently. A trip to the docs is indicated me thinks. So far so good as we had a really good gig at the Cambridge Rock festival recently that should have upped our cred a bit. We also have a local london festival appearence tommorow at Abbey Fest at the Colour House Theatre on Bank Holiday Monday. We were up in Nottingham at the Trent Navigation as our duo which went well to a mixed crowd of the local blues club folks and rugby supporters so we will be back there in the not too distant future we hope. We also had recent gigs in Lincoln and a few other places. We have one more festival gig in September which is the Plumpton Beer and Blues Festival near Lewes in Sussex which could be good for us apart from the normal ongoing stuff. We are still waiting on the the rough mixes of the new Elephant Shelf Album to come through,as we we will be down in the studio again to do a bit of over dubbing as soon. We have also started recording a Delta Ladies Album and have a couple of rough tracks down for that which sound promising. I have also still got a rather iritating cough which has now eased of enough for me to get my full voice back on gigs but which nearly left me mute for the Cambridge Rock festival but I got me mojo working sufficiently for that thank goodness.

About the Old Bell Enfield

Elephant Shelf trying out a new number at the Star in Ewell

It’s been an interesting week for both the Shelf & the Deltas.

Elephant Shelf was supporting Chris Farlowe & the Norman Beaker Band, on Sunday the 5th. the evening also featured a short set by Jack Shay & Midnight 36 at the Music Palace 159a Tottenham Lane Crouch End London N8 9BT.

On the Friday we did a Delta Ladies guest appearance at Brooks Blues Bar with the Spike Drivers plus a cast of 1000′s of acoustic roots & blues people. Its the last night of the Brooks Blues at its present venue as its moving house to a new in Fulham for 2012.

Diana being Very-cold-in-Reim

Just been for a few days away in Reim in France  with Vicky Martin & Terry McInerny from Elephant Shelf and Clive Rawlings from Blues Matters and his wife Barbara (who also worked tirelessly to translate for us and smooth our passage)  to meet and also to do a guest spot with top French Blues Band Awek at a blues festival. We are  bringing them to the UK in 2011 for a tour in late spring or early summer. Very enjoyable, though our journey home was rather difficult as we got hung up in the snow in the UK, but we made it in the end. We also called in at one of our favorite hostelry’s the Cats Back in Putney where you will be able to see the Delta Ladies this New Years Eve.

I had a really good night out listening to Albert Lee & Hogans Heroes at the Castle in NW11. It was a mind bending gig. I have of course seen Albert Lee on TV and youtube, so I knew it was going to be good and it was.  It takes a lot to get me going but this gig was really great. Fantastic guitar playing, and a few surprises in the set list too, like ‘The world is waiting for the sunrise’, it couldn’t have been more varied and entertaining. Also the live sound is one of the best I have heard in any venue.

Diana Vicky & Albert Pic by Pete Mariosa

Albert Lee on stage Photo by Pete Mariosa

I was privileged to play there a week or so back with Elephant Shelf to a small but perfectly formed audience and prior to that I saw Georgie Fame, which was also a great gig. So thats the good stuff and it doesn’t get any better than that. Unfortunately the venue like many others is under pressure and is struggling to continue which is a great shame as its one of the really great places to listen to or play live music.  If you do see a gig advertised there its well worth the trip. They also offered me a job behind the bar LOL. I don’t think I would be terribly good at it to be honest, (though there are a few people I know who’s personal fantasy is exactly that, bet lynch eat your heart out) and I might be tempted to drink the profits. They do Real Ales and good food to so that would have been OK.

Today has been mostly involved in working on some web stuff (which I find incredibly tedious these days to be honest) and  running through some stuff on the piano and violin and a bit of tidying up. I am also getting used to using a video camera after a gap of a few years as I intend to start including video as part of this blog too. The camera is a bit flaky at the moment but its starting to behave  so I might be able to start using it properly in a week or too with luck.

Any Les Dawson fans out there? Well there’s a lot going on right now, and most of it is fairly positive for a change.

On  a personal  level things are a little bit more stable now, though there is still a lot to be done. I am amazed at the number of people that actually visit this blog and I wish I had some stunning insights that I could share with you all but unfortunately I don’t. It’s been fairly hectic on the gigs front with the Elephants Shelf  & the Delta Ladies mostly out London which is good but I am suffering from a little bit of motorway fatigue as I have seen quite a bit of the M4 and the M25 in the last couple of months (mostly at about 03:00 in the morning).
It’s refreshing to find so many really good venues providing live music with really enthusiastic audiences, and we seem to have found quite a few lately.

  Rupert Herries and Elephant Shelf at the Fisher Theatre Bungay OCT  3rd::   http://www.fishertheatre.org/programme/October.htm

‘Swinging Blues’ meets’ Gypsy Violin’ meets ‘English Eccentric’
 Two extraordinary acts meet for the first time in double bill at the Fisher Theatre for one night only.
Elephant Shelf performing songs from their new album ‘In trouble Again’ and Rupert Herries performing songs from his Show ‘Tales of Horror Mystery & Suspense’ which was recently performed in Halesworth & Woodbridge.