Karaoke - 22nd Feb 2007

I had a bad head on Friday so I can safely say that I was drunk this night. Not sure how I managed to scribble down all the songs sung and by the look of my writing I had trouble deciphering some of it but still managed it in the end!

Once again, some of my work colleagues descended upon and that made for an interesting night. Sue, who's normal quite reserved at work got up to sing on the karaoke (Robbie Williams - Straighten Up and Fly Right) and she entertained us although it was not so much her singing but her 'elaborate' dancing. You go girl!!



In amongst all that the girls did a new song, Thorn In My Side, which I thought (from what I remember) sounded pretty good, and Scott walked off on not one, but two songs, which shocked me as he normally knows whether or not he can do the song he's doing!!

As for me, I stuck to songs I know and that I can sing even when pissed! I did try one new one, Hot Love by T-Rex but it's very much like the Snow Patrol - Spitting Games song: I can sing it fine at home or in the car but when you get on the mic you find that it's in a low tone that you just can't get right. Ah well. As you can tell, I'm running out of new stuff to sing...

so, the rundown of all the songs sang goes like this (apologies now if I've got the wrong people singing!):

Shaun: Bloodhound Gang - Bad Touch
Tina, Louise & Hayley: Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams
Others: The Commitments - Try A Little Tenderness
Others: Robbie Williams - Angels
Others: Atomic Kitten - Tide Is High
Shaun: Razorlight - In The Morning
Scott: Take That - Shine
Tina, Louise & Hayley: Girls Aloud - Love Machine
Others: Robbie Williams - Straighten Up & Fly Right
Others: Patsy Cline - Crazy
Shaun: Black Eyed Peas - Pump It
Scott: Abba - S.O.S.
Tina, Louise & Hayley: Eurythmics - Thorn In My Side
Others: Bob Marley - Jammin'
Andy: Dire Straits - Money For Nothing
Shaun: Marc Bolan & T.Rex - Hot Love
Others: Abba - Waterloo
Scott: Rolling Stones - Angie
Tina & Lisa: Nikki French - Total Eclipse Of The Heart
Others: Cher - If I Could Turn Back Time
Others: Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars
Tina, Louise & Hayley: Chicago - All That Jazz
Others: Shania Twain - That Don't Impress Me Much
Others: Roxette - Listen To Your Heart

** New Song **
Marc Bolan & T.Rex - Hot Love - I picked this literally the night before as I was searching around for the Fratellis - Ooh La La Goldfrapp cover on YouTube. On one of the sets, the Frats kind of merged the two songs together and it sounded really cool so thought I would have a go. It's a really simple song and I could sing it fine in the house and in the car, but on the mic I really struggled to get the right tone. Won't be doing it again but if you don't try, you never know!

Karaoke - 15th Feb 2007

Another week and another blast on the Dog and Duck karaoke machine though there's definately no stars in my eyes. :)

A fun night to be had with plenty of new songs, some of which were planned and some which were not. Hats off to Tina & Hayley for having a go at 2 new ones tonight: Sweet Dreams by the Eurythmics and Smile by Lily Allen, both of which were very good and they should sing again and also to Scott who really ventured this week and covered S.O.S. by Abba!!!

I also got to sing a song I've longed to do for some time but never dared as I thought I couldn't do it: The Circus by Erasure, and absolutely loved it. I so very nearly chickened out as well when I got to the stand but fortunately Tina, Hayley & Scott are a determined bunch and insisted I do it. Thanks peeps :)

And so, onto this weeks run down:

Shaun: Will Smith - Miami
Others: Cliff Richard - Devil Woman
Others: Chuck Berry - Johnny B Goode
Scott: Spandau Ballet - Fight For Ourselves
Shaun: Kaiser Chiefs - Oh My God
Others: Rita McNeil - Working Man
Scott: Rolling Stones - Honky Tonk Woman
Andy: Dire Straits - Money For Nothing
Shaun: Jack Ingram - Lips Of An Angel
Others: Aqua - Barbie Girl
Scott: Aerosmith - Livin' On The Edge
Others: Busted - Year 3000
Tina & Hayley: Britney Spears - I Love Rock N Roll
Shaun: The Zutons - Why Don't You Give Me Your Love
Scott: Take That - Patience
Tina & Hayley: Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams
Others: Peter Andre - Mysterious Girl
Andy: Sugarhill Gang - Rappers Delight
Shaun: Stereophonics - Dakota
Others: Fleetwood Mac - Little Lies
Scott: Abba - S.O.S.
Tina & Hayley: Lily Allen - Smile
Others: Alannah Myles - Black Velvet
Others: The Kooks - She Moves In Her Own Way
Shaun: Erasure - The Circus

** NEW SONGS **
Jack Ingram - Lips Of An Angel - This was a bit different for me as it's a little bit country but I must admit to liking it. It's a cover of a group called Hinder whose version is a lot more heavier but this almost acoustic version by Jack Ingram is easier to sing and it is a nice song. Will possibly do again when the wife is there as it is she who got me into it and she loves it!

Stereophonics - Dakota - I was browsing through some of my Now collection and came across this about 10 minutes before I left the house. I knew it well enough to give it a go and it went ok.

Erasure - The Circus - As explained above, this was completely unplanned but I loved it and will certainly give it another outing at some point. What I will say is thank god Andy didn't have Chiquitita by Abba in the book else that would have been the song going in!! :o

Roll on next week...

Mon The Fratellis!!!!

It's strange!

You'd think that a 31 year old father of two would be past the days of being 'obsessive' over a band but The Fratellis have me engrossed in their music like no others have ever done. I've seen them as a support act to Kasabian (my first ever live gig), I'm going to see them again later this month as a headline act, I've started playing the guitar because of them and for the first time in my life I actually watched The Brits tonight to see if they would win the best breakthrough act award....

....and they bloody well did!!!!!!!!

Fantastic achievement for the guys and I hope they carry on producing the high-energy, glam-rock style music that is the core of the fantastic debut album 'Costello Music'. If you've not heard it yet then what are you waiting for??

Kicking off with their first official single, Henrietta, you are taken into a world of fast-tempo, catchy-riffs and good old pop/rock at it's best. Chelsea Dagger, a top 10 hit, will have you jumping around for days with it's anthemic 'do-do-do do-do-do do-dodo-dododo' chorus whilst another top 10 hit, Whistle For The Choir' will have you swaying and whistling along to Jon's hypnotic vocals and melodic guitar playing.

But there's more to the album than just the chart hits, in fact, they could have released pretty much any song from this album and it probably would have done well. Their debut EP single, "Creepin Up The Backstairs" epitomises their upbeat tempo and raucous guitar riffs to the extreme, "For The Girl" takes you back to 'sing-a-long' pop-rock in a similar way to "Chelsea Dagger" and "Got Ma Nuts From A Hippy" tells you all about how you lose your virginity in the back of a camper van on a Saturday with an infectious bassline, crazy lyrics and great tempo switch to keep you on your feet.

"Baby Fratelli" is the next single to be released in the UK (mid-march) and although I would have preferred For The Girl, this T-Rex sounding track with it's massive chorus should do well enough. In tandem to that they are also releasing another track from the album, "Flathead" in the states which, if you watch enough tv, you may know as the music to the latest I-Pod (spit!) advert.

All in all, a cracking album bursting with a life and energy that I've not heard for a long time and I tell you now, you will not regret adding this album to your collection.

Mon The Fratellis!!!

Karaoke - 8th Feb 2007

Not as busy as last week but a good night nonetheless. I was a little bit tipsy to say the least towards the end of the night and that'll be to do with the mix of alcohol I was drinking: Carlsberg, Jack Daniels and Sambucca & lemonade!! Loving that sambucca at the moment but I swear it's that that's giving me a bad head the next day. I'll also blame the sambucca for clapping at someone when they got up to leave and said good night :o For some bizarre reason my arms behaved as if I was just clapping them on finishing a karaoke song like some sort of 'clap-o-matic' autopilot. Very embarassing!

Anyway, this weeks songs:

Me: Tenpole Tudor - Swords Of A Thousand Men
Scott: ZZ Top - Legs
Others: Louise - Stuck In The Middle
Andy: Golden Earring - Radar Love
Others: Candi Staton - Young Hearts Run Free
Me: Automatic - Raoul
Scott: The Fratellis - Whistle For The Choir
Tina & Hayley: Blondie - One Way Or Another
Others: Texas - I Don't Want A Lover
Others: Womack & Womack - Teardrops
Me: The View - Same Jeans
Scott: Default - Wasting My Time
Tina & Hayley: Bryan Adams & Mel C - When You're Gone
Andy: Dean Martin - That's Amore
Me: Kaiser Cheifs - Ruby
Scott: Take That - Patience
Others: Madonna - Papa Don't Preach
Me: Mika - Grace Kelly
Scott: James Morrison - The Pieces Don't Fit Anymore
Tina & Hayley: Macy Gray - I Try
Others: Madonna - Like A Virgin
Others: Elvis - In The Ghetto
Others: Alanis Morissette - Ironic
Me & Scott: Spagna - Call Me
Me & Scott: Linkin Park - In The End


Wow, something I'd not particulary noticed before: If you take me, scott, tina, hayley and andy out of the list, then there isn't a whole lot left! I thought at the time my turns were coming around pretty quick. Again, I'll blame the sambucca for not realising sooner :)

** NEW SONGS **

TheView - Same Jeans - Although I'm not overly keen on this band in general, I do like this particular song. I also enjoyed singing it to and 'air-guitaring' that final riff is funny cos it's just mental. Will definately do again. It was pointed out that it has a very heavy 'Brimful of Asha' influence in the track which I think I might just have a go at next week.

Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby - I do like the Kaisers and have sang their songs from the previous album so was fairly confident with this one. Thanks to Scott for letting me do it as I know he had his eye on it too ;) Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby...aha aha ahaaaaaaaaaaaa

Let's Rock!!

Following on from my acoustic guitar that I was gifted for christmas I decided to purchase an electric guitar over the weekend.

Primarily this decision was so that I can practice it at night in the computer room which is located near the kids bedroom without waking them up by having headphones plugged into the amp. Secondly, I can plug the guitar direct into the PC and have the computer generate the effects such as reverb, overdrive and distortion etc with the other added benefit of also begin able to record what I play direct to disc. The long term goal is of course to be able to create instrumentals to tracks that I want to sing on karaoke but that will never appear otherwise, such as album tracks.

Currently I'm using a sequencer called Fruity Loops which is fine for drums, piano, bass etc but there's no substitute other than a real guitar for the tracks that have guitar in them. There's a long way to go yet until I can play full songs but I'm finding that I can play 'snippets' and record them into the pc individually before piecing them all together to make it sound like the whole track was played in one go. I'm still practicing at playing both guitars properly though in the meantime.

Karaoke - 1st Feb 2007

Cracking night tonight, really enjoyed it. A few of my work colleagues came up for a drink and oh boy did they suprise!! Never in a million years would I have thought that Mike & Steve would get up to sing Britney Spears - Baby One More Time, never! I've not laughed so much for ages but fair play to them, they did give it a good go :)

Pub was packed which was unusual as it's been so very quiet since the new year and there were plenty of singers in which made for a varied night.

Songs in order tonight:

Me: Razorlight - Before I Fall To Pieces *
Others: Bobby Vee - Take Good Care Of My Baby
Scott: Kansas - Wayward Son
Others: Carly Simon - You're So Vain
Others: Rolf Harris - Tie Me Kangaroo Down
Hayley & Louise: Britney Spears - I Love Rock & Roll
Others: Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick
Me: Mika - Grace Kelly *
Others: Buddy Holly - Baby, I Don't Care
Others: Neil Diamond - Hello Again
Others: Britney Spears - Baby One More Time
Scott: Take That - Shine
Others: Go West - King Of Wishful Thinking
Others: Animals - House Of The Rising Sun
Hayley & Louise: Rogue Traders - Voodoo Child
Others: The Beatles - Back In The USSR
Others: Don Maclean - American Pie
Others: Cher - Dark Lady
Me: Kaiser Chiefs - Everday I Love You Less & Less *
Others: John Travolta - Greased Lightning
Scott: Queen - Somebody To Love
Others: Cher - Walking In Memphis
Others: Guns N Roses - Paradise City
Hayley & Louise: Steps - Thank Abba For The Music
Others: Kinks - All Day & All Of The Night
Others: Right Said Fred - I'm Too Sexy
Me: Pulp - Common People *
Scott: Take That - Patience

** New Song **
Pulp - Common People - To be honest, I'm not 100% sure that I've not done this before but if I have it was years ago so for now I'm counting it as new song even if it was a 'duet' with Steve!. If I have done it before then I know now why I didn't do it again: it's too bloody low for the first couple of verses. I just can't do low/quiet at all so not one I'll be doing again.