Chris Dale is a very silly rock bass player

A very good diary	1st January 2007 New Year's Resolution.... try to update my diary page here a little more often. Sorry diary!
Leffe	31st December 2006 Me and Dawn and Archie went over to Bruce's house for New Year's Eve. Unfortunately he knows me too well and had Erdinger and Leffe stocked. I thought we'd just have a quick beer or two and leave early but oh no! It turned into a long and messy night with me talking more baby talk than Archie by the end of it....
Archie with his GMT album	25th December 2006 Christmas... My mate Archie got the new GMT album from Robin. I think it's a really good listen, Archie thinks it tastes nice. It's also the first time Archie's ever been on the thanks list of an album....
Maiden!	23rd December 2006 Went to see Maiden at Earl's Court playing their Matter of Life and Death album. I must say it was top! They played the whole new album and what a new album it is! Lots of funny time signatures and tempo changes, really something quite exciting and new. Funnily enough I was at the end of my laundry cycle so I was wearing a Sack Trick T-shirt when some guy came up and asked me if I'd seen them live. "Err, yes, a couple of times," I said. I wasn't sure if he was joking or not. Then he told me how good "they" were and how I should check out the Skunkworks album if I get a chance. Nice guy, good taste in music!
Roly Bailey	21st December 2006 Popped over to see Roly and Robin (but Robin wasn't in, well at first he wasn't in, then when he was in he hid upstairs in his room for the rest of the evening. Maybe he was playing hide and seek and I was supposed to go look for him but I can't count past 24 so I never got to the point of searching). Anyway me and Roly went through an idea for a Sack Trick song that he's been working on. Actually it's probably going to be part two of a three part song that's going to be part of the bonus tracks for the next album... it's very funny. I won't give too much away right now or it'll spoil the surprise.
Me drinking two beers onstage	8th December 2006 Sack Trick's annual Christmas gig in Denmark. I don't know why Denmark likes us, but then they don't know why we like them.... it's a mutual mysterious love affair. Every time we go there it just gets better and more fun.... and we filmed a video for our new single "Pølser" there. Then found out singles were passé and nobody does them anymore. When you see the video on our DVD coming out sometime in the next decade, you'll know why we like Denmark.
Great albums of 2006	5th December 2006 I got to choose my favourite albums of 2006 for the Brazilian Imhotep Heavy Metal website. Click here to see what me and 155 other metal musicians (mostly really famous ones) liked most last year!
Me playing bass for Go West	2nd December 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Redhill today. As it was the last night of their tour and as me and Roo had been such loyal followers they got us up onstage in the encores to play one of their big hit singles, "King of Wishful Thing". We made it sound like proper metal and so they were very happy... sort of.
Go West	1st December 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Worthing today. They were really good again.
Go West	30th November 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Weymouth today. They were really good again.
Archie in goal	29th November 2006 Me and my mate Archie played football today. He was in goal. He's got the potential to be very good at football maybe he'll be a professional sportsman when he grows up a bit (not that he's not good now, but he'd be better if he could stand and run and stuff).
Beer... not my friend!	27th November 2006 So a month into my adventure in MySpace and I find out the following people don't want to be my friend.... Robin Guy (why not? Haven't I been his friend before?)..... James Jirgens (well I was initially surprised here but then I thought back to the time I said I thought he was just Cheeseman's lapdog in Pillow Talk. OK I understand).... Snakedog (now we've not kept in touch admittedly- but me and snakedog have been mates since he was a puppy/egg).... ...and last and most gutting.... BEER! (Yes Beer, has not approved my friendship. That's gutting. I thought we were bosom buddies, me and beer. I thought I could tell him everything.... and now on MySpace he won't approve my friendship.... and I can't even say I'll avoid him in future. No, I'll always be his little lapdog, coming when he calls... a one way friendship. Well if that's the way it's to be, that's the way it'll have to be).
Go West	26th November 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Halifax today. They were really good again.
Go West	25th November 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Billlingham today. They were really good again.
Go West	24th November 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Durham today. They were really good again.
Go West	23rd November 2006 Me, Roo and Cheeseman went to see Go West in Buxton today. Cheeseman loves Go West too. Go West were really good again.
Go West	18th November 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Wolverhampton again today. They were really good again.
Go West	17th November 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Wolverhampton today. They were really good again.
Sack Trick in Camden	20th November 2006 Sack Trick gig in Camden.... do you know I'd almost forgotten how much fun a sack trick gig was? Maybe I'm a bit of a masochist but I just love watching people laugh at us (just as well really being as we were really quite laughable). And the heckling's getting better too- there were some top quality heckles tonight. I was almost wetting myself with laughter (which would have been a very bad thing as I was wearing my new Kiss pyjama bottoms). Thank you to everyone who came along and made it so funny for us....
Go West	16th November 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Ilfracombe today. They were really good again.
Al and Mr Brown	13th November 2006 Went to hang out with Al(ex Dickson) and Damon(ski) Wilson today.... they were doing a top gig playing for the Godfather of Soul, Mr James Brown. As if Al needed a better CV, Mr Brown liked his playing and told him so too.... and said he liked the way Al moves! Little did he know Al stole all his best moves from Jake E Lee.... Mr Brown was very cool. Like so cool he seemed like a character from Pulp Fiction (except half the characters there were probably based on Mr Brown in the first place).... sadly James Brown died a month after.
Go West	11th November 2006 Me and Roo went to see go west in Lowestoft today. They were really good again but I was still a bit icky.
Go West Go West	10th November 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Aylesbury today. They were really good again. After the gig everything seemed fine, I had a couple of beers, went to bed on the tour bus (yes, me and Roo are full-on Go West stalkers we even travel on their tourbus- but we hide in corners and only really come out at night so they don't see us). Anyway I woke up in the middle of the night with the most awful sicky feeling, all horror-show like. Now you know it's a bit bad if you're ill at home and you have to find the bathroom, well it's a bit worse on a tourbus, for a start you're stuck in a coffin-like bunk bed in which you have to find some clothes in the dark and get half dressed inside the coffin. Then of course you can't be sick actually on the bus or in its toilet or that would stink the place out and block the toilet (then Go West would guess they had stowaways on the bus and start hunting us down). So I opened the side door of the bus and let the contents of my guts spill though my mouth (and nose) onto the street below. The thing is we were travelling quite fast at this point so it was a) difficult b) chilly c) really dangerous. When they make a movie of my life, I bet they'll get a stunt man to do this bit.
Archie singing!	9th November 2006 Me and my mate Archie were in the kitchen singing along with Paul Stanley's excellent new solo album today. I was doing the singing bit and he was doing little excited "yips" every now and then.... just like Paul Stanley does. He's going to be a really good singer one day.
Go West	8th November 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Leamington Spa today. They were really good again.
Go West	7th November 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Swindon today. They were really good again.
Go West	4th November 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Birkenhead today. They were really good again.
Go West	8th November 2006 Me and Ant Forbini went to see go west in Leamington Spa today. Roo went to play with Johnny Truant instead. He missed a good one because Go West were really on form again.
Go West	2nd and 3rd November 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Milton Keynes twice. They were really good both times.
Go West	1st November 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Manchester today. They were really good again.
MySpace	28th October I set up a MySpace page for myself. It seems all the kids have got one these days. It's at www.myspace.com/chrispaulodale , drop me a message if you want to be my friend!
Go West	27th October 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Aberdare today. They were really good again.
Go West	26th October 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Weston Super Mare today. They were really good again.
Go West	25th October 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Peterborough today. They were really good again.
Go West	21st October 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Kings Lynn today. They were really good again but then I got told I'd missed "Lapsed Catholic" (that's a band with Mikee from Sixth, Matt Backer from ABC, Metal Jay Graham and me) playing our track "President Evil" on "Cops on Camera" on TV's Bravo channel that night..... never mind it's not every night of the week you get to see Go West (well I guess it almost is for me and Roo).
Go West	20th October 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Cannock today. They were really good again.
Go West	19th October 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Chatham today. They were really good again.
Go West	16th October 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Worcester today. They were really good again.
Paul Stanley	15th October 2006 Paul Stanley's solo tour kicked off the the US this week, I kind of wish I'd gone but instead me and Roo went to see go west in High Wycombe today. They were really good again. Besides I caught up with the highlights of Paul Stanley's tour on You Tube. He's playing Magic Touch and A Million to One. Very cool.
Go West	14th October 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Basingstoke today. They were really good again.
Go West	13th October 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Newark today. They were really good again.
Go West	7th October 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Skegness today. They were really good again.
Go West	5th October 2006 Me and Roo went to see Go West in Fareham today. They were really good again.
Go West	4th October 2006 Me and Roo were talking about bands we liked. I like Kiss and he likes Isis. It's odd there's not many faves we've got in common. The only one we could think of off the top of our flat heads, that we both thought were fab were the eighties sensations, Go West. Remember "King of Wishful Thinking" and "We Close Our Eyes" and "Don't Look Down" and "South of Heaven" (no, sorry that wasn't them was it?). So we've decided to go to 36 of their gigs in a row to see if we still liked them after that. We started by going to see them in Rhyl today. They were really good.
Marty Friedman	1st October 2006 I saw the best TV program ever today on You Tube. Even though it was in Japanese with no subtitles it was still the best program ever. It was Paul Gilbert Vs Marty Friedman in guitar duels where they had to name and play different Kiss songs..... I won't give the whole plot away but go watch it here. Please let UK Channel 4 get the rights to this show....
30 Years of the Beast	25th September 2006 I got sent a copy of the new Iron Maiden book. It's an unofficial biography called "Thirty Years of the Beast" by Paul Stenning. I think it's really good, but then I would say that because a) it's about heavy metal and I like most things that are about heavy metal and b) because I'm in it loads. I did an interview for it and tried to deflect all Bruce related questions onto the topic of Sack Trick....
Gary Moore	21st September 2006 Gary Moore popped into my Total Rock show for a giggle. Now Gary's not a man known for having a giggle (he's probably best known for playing guitar), in fact some people had warned me he could be a tad on the miserable side. But we had a great laugh, he was top fun we giggled about Monty Python bits in his songs, him being like Madonna (I thought and told him so anyway) and he told me all about Eddie Van Halen and him being buddies at Donington 1984, when I just a nipper in the crowd.
Matt Willis	20th September 2006 I went to see Al's supergroup playing in Newcastle. The supergroup is Al on guitar (Alex Dickson- Sack Trick/Gun/Skunkworks), Dan on Bass (ex-"A"), Damonski on drums (Sack Trick/Busted/TAT/Vegastones), Tim on guitar (TAT/Vegastones) and Matt Willis (Busted/Celebrities in the Jungle show) singing. It's really Matt Willis' band 'cos he's proper famous with the girlies but what a metal band. Al was headbanging his way through the whole thing. I've not seen him headbanging like that since Wacken! He called me a few days later to say he still had neck ache. That's when you know you've had a good gig.
A Duck	17th September 2006 Me and my mate Archie went to see the ducks today. We like the ducks.
The Elder	14th September 2006 My recommended album of the week on Total Rock was the Elder today (you know I'm working my way though the Kiss album chronologically on the show don't you?). I couldn't really present the Elder without my cohort on "Sheep In Kiss Make-up", Alex Dickson. He came on and played "Fanfare" with a recorder live on air. I think that's radio history being made there kids! I bet nobody has ever played a Kiss song live on radio with a woodwind instrument before (or wanted to probably?).
Paul Stanley	12th September 2006 I got an advance copy of the new Paul Stanley solo album. It's his first solo album since 1978 and boy is it worth the wait! It's an amazing album with top songs all over it.... you're not listening are you? How come everyone goes to sleep when I talk about Kiss? Do you think I talk about them too much? Really? I think you're wrong. I don't talk about them half as much as I'd like to. It's just that you go to sleep or change the subject whenever I do. Anyway, it's honestly an amazing album. Think Crazy Nights and Hot in the Shade without any Gene songs.
The Isle of Wight	10th September 2006 Went to the Isle of Wight Festival with Rich Baker and Breaks Co-op. They're a cool little band, and Baker as I've probably mentioned before is a funny guy to be with. But also I do like to go to small islands. Don't know why really. Anyway that rather random plan worked out into a nice little holiday.
Robin half naked	5th September 2006 We did the final Sack Trick recording for the new album (it still won't be out for ages 'cos we've got to mix it and master it and finish the bonus tracks oh and then do some more recording- and we're in no hurry). When I say the final bits of the recording were Robin Guy's vocals it's going to sound like we were dreading doing Robin's vocals and left them till last, but in fact it's more like they were the icing on the cake.... that is if you like half-naked, leopard-spotted, sweaty icing...
Ricky Gervais	4th September 2006 My birthday today! Quite a good birthday actually, I spent it in a BBC studio recording bass parts for the new Ricky Gervais series "Extras". I did the bass on the theme tune for "When the Whistle Blows", if you know the program. If you don't know it you can hear the bit I'm on about here. Ricky Gervias was there and my old mates Edwin and Glyn from school in Lampeter were there too. Ed was playing some guitar and Glyn was producing!
Roo	1st September 2006 I went to Roo's exclusive party... so exclusive nobody else came. We had a great party, except that the marshmallows were off. I still ate them though.
Another long and boring story	26th August 2006 I tried buying a computer from Curry's. I know, everyone told me "don't buy a computer from Curry's", and now I know why.... it's a really long boring story full of disappointment so I won't bore you with the details.
Nick Oliveri	24th August 2006 Nick Oliveri from Queens of the Stone and Mondo Generator came on my Total Rock show today to talk about his new album or tour or something. Anyway we ended up having a really good laugh and talking about Kiss. His favourite Kiss member is Gene, mine used to be Gene, but it changes so often these days. Then Joey Vera from Armored Saint emailed into the show to tell me he wanted a pizza and to ask "Can U Deliver?". (That last bit will only make any sense of you're an Armored Saint fan- the rest of this whole page will only make sense if you're a Kiss fan).
On the Sark Tractor-Bus home	Sunday 13th August 2006 Came back from Sark, to find that Gatwick hadn't stolen all out equipment they'd just hidden it for a laugh and we could have it back now, if we laughed along like we got the joke. So we did. "Hahahaha..." we said with no outward sign of crying.
Sark	Saturday 12th August 2006 We got on a little plane to Guernsey today with all out guitars and stuff. Then got off without all out guitars and stuff. Yes, Gatwick had lost them all for us so we borrowed some equipment to do a gig on Sark (it's a really tiny Channel Island- so small that we were the first mainland band to play there ever, they said...). It was quite funny/desperate trying to play a metal gig with a Takamine acoustic bass, Jay had no double pedal, Roo had a guitar with strings older then him and Cheese had a keyboard everybody else could hear but not him... and Roly the Bagpipist had to play bagpipes without any bagpipes... how do you do that? The answer is very well if you're Rockin' Roly Bailey. Yes, we rose above it all like professionals (not THE Professionals with Bodie and Doyle, just like some professionals). We had a top gig playing to about half of the island's 600 population. It really is incredible there, so amazing and beautiful that I'm not going to tell you any more about it. You can just wait for the Sack Trick DVD which will feature a documentary we filmed while out there.
Jay and Roo arguing	Thursday August 10th 2006 We had a Sack Trick rehearsal today! We don't do many of them, they're like an annual event, just to check if we still know the songs. Guess what? We did! Sort of. But guess who knew them best? New boy Jay Graham had written them all out in proper drum score like a little Beethoven concerto for drums in the key of Penguins.... amazing!
A diary upside down	Wednesday 26th July 2006 Finally updated my diary page after ages... if you've not heard what's going on for a while you might be better off scrolling down to late February (somewhere near the Kiss- Rock'nRoll Over album cover) and reading upwards. It probably won't make a lot of sense whichever way you read it but having a bit of background may help out.
A sunny holiday	Friday 21st July 2006 As it was such a nice hot sunny day, me and Jay (ex-Skyclad and formerly of Sabbat) thought we'd spend it sat in stationary traffic on the M25 for three and a half hours. It was kind of like one of those nice sunny holidays you get in the Mediterranean (but with some of the perks missing). Straight away I could see why the M25 was so popular. There were loads of people hanging around there enjoying the weather.
Bob Kulick	Thursday 20th July 2006 Another chance to spin the discs of metal at Total Rock. Remember ages ago I said I was doing one Kiss album a week chronologically as my "Recommended Album of the Week", well this week it was the turn of Paul Stanley's 1978 solo album. What an album! It truly is great. Did I say that before about another Kiss album? Well, never mind this one is really great. So I thought I'd ring up Bob Kulick (the guitarist on the album) to see what he thought. He confirmed I was right, it is a great album. He was really nice about it too, chatted away, told me about his new projects, asked how I was and stuff.... and all this considering it was 9am over there in LA when I called him. Top guy! You can download the interview from the Radio Page of this website.
Twin Zero Live!	Wednesday 19th July 2006 Went to see Twin Zero live at the Water Rats in London. They were pretty cool in a "slam a big fat metal riff in your face and see if you like that" type of way. I filmed a bit too and put a clip on You Tube so you can see how cool they were, just go to www.youtube.com and search for "drummers that look and play like monkeys" and you should find it.
Robin Guy	Thursday 13th July 2006 The legendary Robin Guy was the special guest on my Total Rock show this week- the drum whore's just got back from a long tour of the states and it was also a good excuse to get him to tell us all about the GMT (Guy/McCoy/Tormé) album he's recorded and play a few tracks (I needn't bother to tell you how much of a rocking album it is had I?). Robin also bought Archie a Kiss T-shirt. Can you believe Archie's got three Kiss T-shirts already? He's such a Kiss fan. But this is one says "Rock'n'Roll All Nite... Potty Every Day", I'm a sucker for a poor pun on a good song.
Horses racing	Saturday 8th July 2006 Went to Carlisle for a spin with Metal Jay Graham (ex-Skyclad and formerly of Sabbat)... thought we'd go horse racing... bad idea. No mater how fast a runner you think you are, you just can't compete with horses. Just no way, they're really, really fast.
Skyclad with Jay Graham	Thursday 6th July 2006 Jay Graham ex-Skyclad and former Sabbat drummer was my special guest on Total Rock today. He told us about his various new bands (he's been playing with Twin Zero, Princess, has a new band called Ravenscreed... and may be doing some Sack Trick gigs). Then he told me off for not playing my metal heavy enough- whoops! Then Rockin' Roly Bailey also popped into the show later with his new Bittersweet EP... it was all systems go (as Vinnie Vincent once said) on Total Rock.
New Bruce Dickinson DVD	Wednesday 5th July 2006 The new Bruce Dickinson DVD arrived (thanks, Dave).... well, it's newly released but has loads of old footage. It's three DVDs with all the promo vids (including the one where I fall over while running in circles- not my strong point) and three whole gigs (one with me on bass, one with my mate Andy Carr and one with big Eddie). It's always fun to look back at stuff like that. I don't think we did too bad a job at the time. And Archie had a good dance to it. He's such a groovy dancer!
Me, Phil (from the 'Saint) & Carlo	Saturday 1st July 2006 Armored Saint in London at the Underworld. Last night of tour so we had a little party. Well I got drunk in the street, while they laughed at me actually, but that's a kind of Camden all over isn't it? I know Camden's supposed to be really cool and have all these cool clubs but there's nothing cooler than getting drunk in the street on a hot evening with your mates is there? Or is there? Well, OK, yeah, maybe you're right....
Joey Vera	Thursday 29th June 2006 Glasgow... in the evening I went with my new Dutch mate, Carlo, to see Armored Saint (well they're really good- why wouldn't I want to see them seven times in a row?). On the long drive back down to London I sat up late with Joey Vera (Armored Saint's very talented bassist and a legend in metal), had a few beers and swapped metal stories. Joey's got some of the best metal stories in the world. Him and Tommy Lee were mates as teenagers, he was nearly in Metallica, he was really in Anthrax. I'm going to have to get Joey on my Total Rock show at some point...
Belfast in the Summer	Wednesday 27th June 2006 Belfast- a beautiful, beautiful city. I went there ages ago, back in the early nineties with Atom Seed to a derelict part of town in the rain and really didn't like it much- or at least I felt it didn't like me much. But now it's beautiful, sunny and very friendly a different place altogether. I met up with my mate Marty (who plays Paul in Kiss tribute Hotter than Hell) and he pointed out about five different former "Gene"s in the room. If you're looking for a part time Gene for your Kiss tribute band, Belfast is a good place to start looking.
Graspop	Sunday 25th June 2006 Then we (Armored Saint and me) went to Graspop Festival in Belgium. I'd not been there since we played there with Bruce Dickinson back in 2002 (Robin's just got a bootleg DVD of that show- I'd forgotten how "fist in the air-foot on monitor" metal were were on that tour!). Graspop hasn't changed much since then, still loads and loads of metal. So I watched a bunch of bands. Dragonforce were having a really fun time while shredding at full speed, Helloween were really funny (though I thought it best if I didn't tell them), Saxon weren't so funny, Motörhead were Motörhead- what you see is what you get with Motörhead. But band of the day has to go to... Armored Saint- try going to You Tube and searching for Armored Saint and Graspop.... they ROCKED!
Mat Sinner	Saturday 24th June 2006 Then I went to Ballingen in Germany for the Bang your Head festival with Armored Saint. They properly rocked. You know a minute a go I said Level 42 rocked, well this was like that but a hell of a lot more, ie proper metal. In fact the whole festival was proper metal. Germany has this thing with metal where they love it so much it becomes really serious with them and sacred. I mean I love metal, we all love metal right? But nobody loves metal like the Germans. They are very good at loving metal. Then I met my old friend Mat Sinner from Primal Fear. I'd not seen him since the Tribuzy gigs in Brazil last year, top guy (he loves his metal too!), then Whitesnake played then I had a fresh Weissbier with a Bratwurst mit Senf- well you're not in Germany everyday, you've got to make the most of these things.
John Bush and me	Thursday 22nd June 2006 So, after Denmark with Level 42 where else do you go for inspiration for writing a solo album and who do you go with? How about Amsterdam with Armored Saint? Amsterdam, as in drugs, hookers and late bars? Yup! Armored Saint, as in "Can U Deliver" with John Bush and Joey Vera? Yeah, that's Armored Saint! We actually had a very pleasant and civilised night out. Me and John Bush got an ice cream each and discussed our babies while strolling through the red light district.
Mark King	Saturday 17th June 2006 While in Denmark sitting in a hotel strumming aimless chords I noticed Level 42 were in the same hotel. What better inspiration for a bass solo album could there be than a Level 42 concert. No, hang on they're terrible aren't they? So I went along... and they were really good. Not like, oh they're OK, but really, really good. Absolutely pumping a really aggressive groove, Mark King honestly slappin' the shit out of his bass. I thought it was gong to be all pretty and smiley but no, he rocked hard and the whole band vibed with him. I was shocked in a very happy way.
A metal chick in Denmark	Friday 16th June 2006 Woke up early (5.30am) with a bit of a hangover and remembered Roo had told me to write a solo album. Well I could hardly just sit around here and write one could I? So I went to the airport and got on a plane to Esbjerg in Denmark to write one instead.
Weissbier	Thursday 15th June 2006 Swiss Roo Gotto came on Total Rock as my five star special guest of the week to tell everyone about the new Twin Zero album "Tomb to Every Hope" (it's really rather good, as I may have mentioned before). Then we went out for a quiet pint (bit tricky in central London as England were playing a footie game and everyone was shouting). Eventually we went to the Crobar where after a lot of Weissbier Roo talked me into writing a solo album. He said it would be good fun and I could do lots of bass solos on it. With all the Weissbier everything anyone said sounded like a good idea, so I said yes. Well actually I said "uuurr" but was nodding my head in an affirmative style. There's a clever get out clause here if I need it. I only said I'd write a solo album- I never said I'd record it or release it at people (I mean "for people" or "to people", actually no, go back to "at people").
Archie in his Brazil suit	Tuesday 13th June 2006 Brazil's first game in the World Cup. Archie's a big Brazil fan. Ever since Renato Tribuzy bought him a Brazil suit he's been obsessed with them, and I must say he's a better judge of teams than me. They're a class or two above Togo. That Ronaldino chap, he's very good at kicking the ball and stuff isn't he? Archie also got his picture on a Brazilian Heavy Metal website for his support of Brazil see the Whiplash Website... and test your Portuguese while you're there!
C'mon Togo!	June 2006 The World Cup gets underway in Germany! I'm not a football fan usually but every four years I do get a bit caught up. As Wales have yet again failed to qualify, this year I'll be supporting underdogs Togo. What a team! Sorry that should be "What, a team?". The Sack Trick Chat Forum is also going World Cup crazy with me, Jussy and Nando as regular pundits with all the latest ill-advised views on football's biggest championship since the last big championship that there was.
Consume and Die	For it is a human number 6.6.06 I just heard some of my bass playing is getting used in a movie called "Keeping up with the Steins" at the cinemas. It's a track called "Best Day of you Life" from the AntiProduct album "Consume and Die...". The same song was also used in that quite funny comedy "Teachers" on Channel 4 a while ago. I guess people must really like that track. I like the song because I got away with playing the bass riff from Kiss' Sure Know Something off Dynasty at one point halfway through the song. I don't think anyone noticed- if you've got the album see if you can spot it. Bit naughty really but it fit so well I just couldn't resist....
The Sun	Saturday 3rd June 2006 "ROO KICKS BALL!" was the headline in the Sun newspaper I saw today with a blurred photo of some chap in an England football shirt kicking a ball. It can't be true, I thought. Roo's been a bit secretive recently, so this is why. He's only gone and joined the England football team! For a couple of minutes I was really proud of him, then I read the article a bit further. No, they were talking about the well known whoremongerer Wayne "Roo"ney! What's the big deal there? He's a professional footballer, of course he can kick a ball. Very dull story Sun, please try harder next time! I'm off to put some money on Togo.
Kiss tiles...great album covers!	Friday 2nd June 2006 I heard they're now making Kiss bathroom and kitchen tiles, each with a different album cover on. That's got to be worth a try hasn't it? Now the thing is to make it look like a couple of kitchen tiles have broken by accident (perhaps in the hot weather) and need replacing....
Joe Clancy outside Hammy O	Thursday 1st June 2006 My old mate, Joe Clancy formerly of Black Orchid (now progressed onto the very cool Zero Cipher) called up to see if I fancied going to see Whitesnake with him. I must admit I wasn't expecting too much from them, as of course it's not the old Moody/Galley/Murray Whitesnake of years back that we grew to know and love. But no, it was a top rocking night! They really did do very well. Great setlist with lots of old tunes and really paying some attention to how they're supposed to go not trying to re-invent them too much (like naughty Mr Vai did a while back). The band were great (Reb Beach and Tommy Aldridge especially) and Mr Coverdale was in excellent voice and spirits. Thank you Joe for this one!
Archie's good looks	Tuesday 30th May 2006 Although Archie is destined to be a world class bassist, he's also good looking enough to be a movie star when he grows up. Now here's the rub... I don't want him cheapening his career as a bassist by becoming a world famous movie star (see "Dogstar"). Then again Renato Tribuzy has also pointed out to me that Archie might be talented enough to become a comic book artist. That's a very real possibility as he's already shown artistic tendencies in the patterns of milky drool he makes on himself (and me). Bruce Dickinson told me Archie looked like he might be an astronaut one day, Bruce is usually a pretty good judge of character... who knows what's in store for this already very talented little chap?
Spandau Ballet	Sunday 28th May 2006 So I was hanging around in Norfolk at a Tony Hadley gig (as you do... well, as I seem to do a lot anyway) and P-dub, the very talented bass player with Tone's band shows me the setlist and says to me "Which one do you want to play?". Well, I've often thought Gold by Spandau Ballet was just a victim of mis-production. If Beau Hill or Tom Werman had done it, it would be known as a metal anthem in the style of Shout At The Devil. As it was, I think it was let down, so I picked Gold, and got up onstage with Tone, and John Keeble and Richie the B and rocked Gold as I thought it should have been rocked ie. in the style of Shout At The Devil....
Archie's little feet	Monday 15th May 2006 Day 2 and Archie decides to become a bassist with his little big hands (or maybe a goalie, though he's got small feet). Of course he can't really say much yet (he's just practising vowels first) but I could see that look in his eye saying "I'm gonna be a very groovy little bass boy". Then again he showed particularly poor musical taste today by puking all down my Kiss T-shirt. They do say babies can't focus very well at first so maybe he couldn't read the logo and mistook it for another band. It was quite small Kiss Logo, must remember to only wear shirts with big Kiss logos in future...
Me and Archie!	Sunday 14th May 2006 Dawn and me (well, mainly Dawn) had a little baby boy today. He's called Archie. He's amazing. So cute and so small. He came out all confused, blinking his eyes and looking up at us.... he's a great little chap! I feel so happy, like a kind of weird happiness I never felt before. Now that was what all the goats, carrots and plums talk was about the other week, although I guess they were metaphorical goats as I didn't see any real ones around, just as well really. Goats are well meaning chaps- bit thick- but they just don't know when to stop eating.
Me Asleep under a telephone	Mid-April to May 2006 Everyone told me, if you're gong to have a baby (and Dawn seems certain we are) you won't get much sleep. So I decided to stock up in advance and went to sleep for four weeks.
Advert for a Shark Circus	Saturday 8th April 2006 Walking round Treviso, in Northern Italy looking for something to do, then I see an advert for a Shark Circus. Now I remember even as a kid in Wales going to the circus was never quite as thrilling as it was supposed to be, but here was a real thrill advertised. Have a look at the advert to the left (click on it and see it bigger), it's a Circus where women get thrown in with Great White Sharks, isn't it? How cool is that? Unfortunately the circus wasn't in town tonight so I'd have to miss it.... can anyone tell me what happens in a shark circus? Do people really just swim around then get eaten? That's so cool.
Naples, a rubbish tip	Tuesday 4th April 2006 I went over to Napoli. I've been around a lot of Italy before (and loved it) but never seen Naples. So I thought, let's find out what it's all about.... well, basically it's a rubbish tip. The people chuck rubbish in the streets, nobody picks it up, it piles up, it stinks. Oh, and Vesuvius towers majestically over the whole city (but it's still a rubbish tip).
Roo and me Singing	Wednesday 29th March 2006 Me and Roo recorded some vocals for this new Sack Trick stuff. We really carefully set up an expensive microphone we'd borrowed from Pillow Talk, with a pop shield and everything. We took our time setting up some sounds, fiddled with compression and EQ, put cushions in strategic places to deaden the room sound. Then when it was all sounding really crystal clear we got drunk and shouted till out throats hurt and it was bed time.
A goat	Tuesday 21st March 2006 Went to hospital with Dawn for some kind of lecture. I missed the title of it, but it was something about goats, carrots and plums. Now I like a bit of euphemism to hide the nasty facts of life as much as anyone else, but this time I really had no clue what was going on here at all. Nice people though. Hope it's nothing serious. They said we should pop back in a few weeks.
Tomb to Every Hope	Tuesday 14th March 2006 Roo let me hear the new Twin Zero album he's been making with Hutchby, Cheeseman and Karl. It's really, really good. Pretty heavy and top tunes. What more could you want from an album? A great title that's what, and it's got one too, it's called "The Tomb to Every Hope". If they were gong to make a new Raiders of the Lost Ark film it would be called "Raiders of the Lost Ark IV- The Tomb to Every Hope".
Mark Knopfler	Thursday 9th March 2006 As some of you might know I occasionally do what's known as "guitar teching" for bands (ie. tune their guitars, then sit around looking concerned for a bit). Tonight my chance for the big time came, I was out lounging around at some posh do at the Hilton and they told me Mark "Dire Straits" Knopfler was going to play a song and they needed someone to "tech" for him. So I tuned his guitar! Mark Knopfler's actual Fender guitar! Unfortunately no-one had told Mark that he was supposed to play a song, so he just walked straight past it and sat down for the evening. He didn't even touch it. I'd just tuned his guitar for no reason at all- quite literally money for nothing (and the drinks were free).
Alex Dickson	Friday 24th February 2006 (or maybe another date entirely) Me and Doogie went to see Al's new band. It's a bit of a supergroup- I mean they sound super but it's got lots of great players from different bands in it like Whitesnake '87. That kind of supergroup. It's got Al and Tim (who was in TAT with Robin and also Vegastones) on guitar, the guy from "A" on bass and Damonski (from Sack Trick and also Vegastones) on drums. Oh, and there's some kid from Busted singing along with them too. I missed his name though. Great band- Super-group!
Rock And Roll Over	Thursday 23rd February 2006 My last Total Rock show for a little while. I made the most of it by celebrating "Kiss- Rock And Roll Over" as my recommended album of the week. That's a great album. Really, I know I've said that about a few Kiss albums before but this time....
Vinnie Vincent Invasion	Monday 20th February 2006 Found You Tube. It's a website where you can watch videos. Videos of anything, I suppose but it's got millions of old metal videos. I stayed up all night watching Keel, Hear'n'Aid, Dio, Rough Cutt, Ratt, Mötley, Vinnie Vincent Invasion, Scorpions, Dokken, WASP, Van Halen, ....and a whole Kiss gig... and a Quiet Riot gig.... then I started watching another Kiss gig.... It's too good to be true this website.
Kiss on the UK Animalize Tour	Wednesday 15th February 2006 Me and Dawnie went on a little holiday to Brighton. She thought it was a honeymoon but for me it was a pilgrimage to one of Britain's foremost Kiss shrines. We booked into a hotel right next to the Brighton Centre where Bruce Kulick played his first ever gig with Kiss back on the Animalize Tour. I barely slept a wink, it was that exciting!
Me and Dawnie get married	Tuesday 14th February 2006 What's the most romantic thing you can do for your girlfriend on Valentine's day? Yes, that's right marry her! So that's what I did. And a few friends from all my old bands turned up for a drink up later- Mach4, Black Orchid, Atom Seed, Skunkworks, I Play Rock and Sack Trick were all represented. The traditional "Last Man Drinking" Award went to Jef Streatfield who woke up in Burger King later that night. How romantic can you get?
Dodgems- very scary!	Monday 13th February 2006 First day of driving lessons. It may seem odd that I've never learned to drive but when I was told don't drink and drive I thought they were life-time options. Now, I've found I was mistaken (again) and have decided it's time to learn. I wasn't going to start in at the deep end on roads or in cars so I asked some of my best driving friends (Al Upton, Robin Guy, Roo Gotto, Roly Bailey and John Keeble) to accompany me on the dodgems for a day. I learned a few things about driving, but mainly how scary and careless other drivers can be. I shan't be trying that again in a hurry!
Kiss DVD	Friday 10th February 2006 I got the Kiss Rock The Nation DVD today. I was sort of dreading what would happen with Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer but I have to say they do rock and they do play well and they do sing well (although it looks over dubbed- but everyone does that these days). The set list is near perfect, the best set list ever. If only they'd come and play in Europe now.
Keel	Monday 23rd January 2006 I tuned into Total Rock today and the DJ was none other than Ron Keel of Keel! Amazing! He's a hero. I might not have mentioned it before but the Keel song Final Frontier was the inspiration behind Sack Trick's Penguins on the Moon album (we just added the penguins). Funnily enough me and Ron played almost the same playlist on our shows (Kiss, WASP, Motley Crue, Scorpions and even Vinnie Vincent Invasion!) it shows I'm doing good work on the radio. Great show Ron!
A Whale in London (a sketch I drew based on eyewitness reports)	Friday 20th January 2006 A whale has come to visit London today, to celebrate Paul Stanley's birthday! A real sea-whale like in the David Attenborough movies. Whales are really intelligent fish, that's why he didn't swim to Wolverhampton or anything. He swam all the way up the Thames to visit our great city and did we invite him in? No, our so-called "rescue workers" tried to shove him back out to sea! Rescue workers? Big bully-boy-bouncers more like- he was probably wearing trainers or wasn't trendy enough or something! I hope that's not the way we're planning on greeting visitors to the Olympics in 2012. What's this country coming too?
Uncle Jack	Thursday 19th January 2006 I chatted to Uncle Jack Endino on Total Rock today. In case you don't know he's a really famous producer who did Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and that kind of thing. He also did the Skunkworks album years ago. I'd not spoken to him since then (except by email, but then you don't get to hear the timbre of his voice). It was so much fun doing this interview that I thought I'd put it up for you to hear in case you missed the show (although the bit where he admitted Kiss were one of the big influences behind the whole grunge movement was missing from the recording. He did say it, honestly and he'd know- he's the Godfather of Grunge). Then I put a few other interviews I'd done on Total Rock up on this site too. Just click on "Radio DJ" in the menu above for the list of MP3s.
First Kiss album	Thursday 12th January 2006 Back on Total Rock DJ Duty! (Thursday 3-6pm UK time www.totalrock.com) And there's a new special feature to the show! It's something the producers are getting all the DJs to do, we've got to pick a featured album of the week, play 3 or 4 tracks from it and talk about it a bit. So I picked the first Kiss album for the first week, then I'm picking the second one for week two... and on from there. This is going to be great fun. We can work through all the Kiss back catalogue together on air! Beware Peter Criss' solo album week will be in March sometime...
Hoegaarden Blanche	Friday 6th January 2006 I went to see rock god Doogie White apply some rock to a pub in Chiswick with his rock covers band... and while there I bumped into two of my old favourite mates.... Alex Dickson and Hoegaarden Blanche! The three of us had a right good time together while Doogie sung his heart out onstage.
Toilet Paper	Sunday 1st January 2006 First thing in the morning I bought some toilet paper. New Year's resolution 100% successful. How many other people can say that?