So, Higham. Higham Village club is exactly that, which surprised us a tad, not knowing the area. Somehow the village of Higham has managed not to be completely engulfed by the sprawling metropolis that is the Medway Towns, and still feels like a small village. And the Village Club is...well, it's like a club for the people of the village. Strange but true. As a result, the audience is made up of roughly one third locals who just go there every Saturday night regardless of what's on, about one third from the "rocking" end of the scene, and about one third from the "jivey" end of the same spectrum. The audience equivalent of Woollies Pick'n'Mix, although hopefully run on a more viable economic foundation.

Having set up and sound checked (to the amusement/confusion/annoyance of club members who had come in for a quiet pint and a read of their newspapers), we set off to explore the village and search for sustenance. Our first discovery was a pair of "Eight 'til Late" type convenience stores, situated conveniently opposite each other on the main road. On entering the first one, Kev and Bobby hunted round in vain for a shopkeeper. No sign of anyone. Eventually, calling "hello" in ever-more baffled voices, they walked through into the room behind the shop...and the room behind the room behind the shop... Until finally, as if by magic in true Mr Ben style, the shopkeeper appeared. Meanwhile, the rest of the band were sat outside in the car watching the shop opposite, which also appeared bereft of life. It was only when the two halves of the band came together (and let's be honest, that doesn't happen very often!) that we stumbled across the theory that there was only one shopkeeper, and a tunnel beneath the road connecting the two parts of his business empire...

Upon continuing our world tour of the village, we found the sustenance we needed in the form of a local fish and chip shop. Well, we have no idea if the fish was locally caught, or indeed the chips came from locally grown potatoes, but the venue was local to the other venue...if you see what we mean. Whatever. Large portions of F'n'C for all band members whose names didn't begin with R, a short list which included Bobby as he "needed to leave room for some vodka and Red Bull later". Photos of this part of the evening are available on Phyllis the Phishwife's page.

Back at the venue, a quick change into spandex leotards...no, we made that bit up...and before you could say "I say old boy, where's the shopkeeper chappie disappeared off to?" we were on stage and cracking into "Ice Cold". Sadly it was several hours before we were cracking into ice cold beer, which was a great shame as the stage was a particularly warm and arid environment. Nice to be able to include a few more original songs this time - "Jive Jive Jive" in set 1 and "I Can Dream" in set 2 are two that often get left out in favour of better-known material, but sadly "Don't Come Back" still got left out due to time pressure. We did, however, manage to squeeze in a couple of new (to us) songs this time - Jack Rabbit Slim's belting "Jeeze Louise", and the extremely jive-able Stray Cats song "Cry Baby" (if you don't know them, get hold of them - both great songs), which like much of the rest of the set, went down well, particularly with the jivers.

Erith. What kind of a name is that, anyway? It's like Edith, but spelled wrongly. Is the "e" pronounced "e" as in "edge", or "ee" as in...err..."Edith"? Who knows? Being close to the Thames estuary, maybe it was named by a foreign sailor looking for his long-lost love Edith, but he couldn't quite pronounce her name properly. Maybe not.
However it's pronounced (and whatever the reasons behind it), we arrived earlier than planned to find the other two bands, Kav and Suzy already present and setting up. The WMC (Women Make Cakes) is a decent sized venue - stage perhaps a little on the small size for five of us ad all the various bands' equipment, but as one of the five is Bobby it's not really an issue. Confusion-aplenty with a Kev and a Kav both setting up on stage at the same time. Customary gags about mic leads (275 and 285). Top, top, top marks to Pete of the Rhythm Aces for all his help, letting us use their PA to save time and space setting up our own. Before you knew it we were set up, sound checked and off in search of some fast food establishments. Details of this part of the evening are best covered by Phyllis the Phishwife (see below). In fact, most things to do with Phyllis are best covered...

In the end we were, as expected, first band on, playing one set of about 45 minutes. So in some ways, a gentle re-introduction to playing live. Kev's amp inexplicably packed up one minute into the first song, but the band continued as a four-piece until Kev rejoined us towards the end of the number. Being first on, the audience was still arriving as we played, but by the end of the set they were up and jiving, nicely warmed up for the following two bands. We were joined on stage by a member of the audience ("Delvis"?) for a good version of "Twenty Flight Rock", which went down well. Promised Suzy Q we'd play her some Dale Hawkins - don't think she was expecting "Little Pig"! Good to be back, and indeed asked back for an encore. Kav must have agreed (as long as we don't play "There's a guy works down the chip shop swears he's Elvis" - you had to be there!) - he's booked us to play at one of his other clubs in the not too distant future (see below). All in all a great evening for a great cause, and fantastic to be back in front of a crowd again.

It has a post code, so in theory - with the aid of satellite navigation and Bobby’s map reading - it should be possible to find the place. Yet however many times we go there, we still always manage to get lost either on the way or on the way back. It's as if it keeps moving, so the road you think takes you back to Reading now leads to Farnham... On this particular visit, Dave's sat-nav was only capable of finding a series of roadworks on the way there, and on the return trip Phil, Bobby and the van full of gear somehow ended up in Farnham (but coming into the town from the opposite side to where Crondall is supposed to be). We have a theory (probably originating from Kev, our self-appointed science expert) that aliens may be involved...

Even if you manage to find the village, that's not the end of the surreal goings-on. Crondall appears to be the archetypal English village - lots of quaint old houses, all built before 1910 and all way outside our price bracket. Very picturesque, very rural, very much the perfect picture of English country life... and very empty. We went for a walk after our soundcheck, and didn't see a single person (apart from Andy from "Rockin' The Joint", who'd ridden up to see us - top man!). We did see one local establishment with "free tibet" available; we guessed this must be some kind of local - or possibly inter-galactic - delicacy. We did consider acquiring some to share with Janie as a post-gig snack, but sadly the shop-keeper had also disappeared. In fact the only people you ever see in Crondall are the people who are there for the gigs - all the locals have been abducted by aliens, so that they aren't injured when the aliens move the village around the countryside in the middle of the night. It may sound like a wild theory, but check it out for yourself... the evidence is building, and we expect the national press to pick up on this story any day now. If further proof is needed, just take a look at this photo (above), showing how the front gate outside one of the houses has fallen off during one of the nocturnal village moves, and has then been put back on incorrectly by the aliens (because, as everyone knows, there are no garden gates in outer space). And now we are onto them, we have even started receiving messages on our Guestbook from beings from Alpha Centauri...

Anyway, enough of this (although remember - you heard it here first!). What about the gig itself? Well, first things first, Janie & Adi and their team of helpers made us extremely welcome, with cups of tea and sandwiches for us as we set up. The soundcheck went relatively smoothly, and before we knew it 9:15 came around, and we were up on stage, tearing into "Ice Cold". As we'd expected, not too many jivers up early on, but plenty of strollers (led by Jan), and as the first set drew to a close, plenty of boppers too, as "Long Blonde Hair", "Jeepster" and "Sexy & 17" tempted Aaron and others up onto the floor.

(Photo - left - courtesy of Janie at Crondall Rock'n'Roll Club). At this point we'd like to voice our gratitude and appreciation to all those who came to Crondall to see us. Too many to name everyone, but some old friends we hadn't seen for years (with an interesting line in dance moves!), and some new friends we've made at our gigs this year. You all created a fantastic atmosphere that led to a real fun night for everyone there. Also to the dynamic duo, Adi and Robin on the decks (who else?!), who did a great job keeping the audience happy all evening with some cracking tunes (any DJ who plays the Polecats is AOK by us!).

We changed the start of the second set around and kicked off with a couple of straight rock'n'roll numbers that got some of the teds up jiving, and then straight into "Honey Don't" that added more jivers to the dance floor. Following some helpful feedback from various sources, we'd tweaked the sound during the interval and sorted out one or two problems from the first half, and it seemed to be appreciated by those dancing and watching. Sadly, just when we were all enjoying ourselves, we looked at the clock and suddenly realised we only had five minutes left, and four songs to squeeze into that time! It was never going to work, so reluctantly we dropped a couple of original numbers from our planned set list, and finished up with a full dance floor of energetic boppers to "Long Black Shiny Car" and "Lonesome Train". At least, we thought we were finished, but we were brought back for two encores, so the evening for us finished with "Somethin' Else" and a reprise of "Ice Cold", before handing back to the dynamic duo to play out the evening with - as always - an excellent selection of top rockin' tunes.

Top, top night, loved every minute of it (despite the sound problems in the first half).
Photos from this gig are now loaded up - please click on the "Photo Gallery" button (left).
If you want an alternative view of the gig, read on for selected highlights of a review written by Janie, club organiser. For her full write up, click here.

Janie's Review of the Crondall Gig - June 16th 2007
A five piece band almost arrive in 4 pieces & 2 halves at Crondall when The Predators arrived in the drummer's works van, clearly marked "excellence in construction". Well, with Bobby, the hyperactive barking nutter bass player from Berkshire as the front passenger, I think that DESTRUCTION would be more apt, as he decides to open the door of the van before it's parked! I think that Bobby was just very enthusiastic to get onto that stage. The enthusiasm & excitement just oozes from him, in fact, they all can't wait. That is so noticeably clear. So full of Cheshire cat smiles that remained for the whole of the evening, apart from concentration time!
There's Rob (Singer), Phil (Drums), Kev (Guitar), Dave (Keyboard) & Bobby - you already know about Bobby!
They covered songs such as "Ice Cold", "Long Blond Hair" and Stray Cats' "Sexy & 17". And they actually had people dancing in the 1st set, which is unusual for Crondall. We normally have the crowd drinkin', mingling, enjoyin' themselves and then dancin' during the 2nd set mostly. I must admit, there was a little sound problem during the first set which was rectified in the break. People still had a ball.
The wilder faster songs, like "Rock This Town" and "Jeannie Jeannie Jeannie" where a lot better and went down with the crowd much more impressively than the slower tracks that they covered. The faster songs were enjoyed by the band also, as that meant Rob - lead vocalist - got a chance to bop around on the stage. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and Rob said I should come along to their rehearsals to keep Bobby in check!

So, until the next Rockin' Party at Crondall, please support your local and not so local clubs. They need you!

Janie.

Reproduced with permission