Upcoming...

As my website at www.darklordofbarnet.gb.net has been down for a while I haven't been able to post details of upcoming gigs of interest like I used to. So I've decided to try posting them up here instead. Note - I'm not necessarily going to all these gigs myself, so don't go expecting to see me there. Some are local, and most of the others will be in or around the London area. I will include some links to bands or venues, but if I don't - Google is your friend. 😉

  2026 

 OCTOBER 

1st: Marc Valentine + The DeRellas + Glitter Kick @ The Water Rats Kings Cross

2nd: Mauro & The Mob @ Eights & Aces, Tufnell Park

3rd: The Sideshows + Bite Me @ The Barfly Camden

3rd: Paparazzi @ The Barnet South Club

9th: The Empty Page @ Some Weird Sin @ Paper Dress Vintage, Hackney

11th: Hannah Wicklund @ The Lexington

16th: Blues On Fire @ The Butchers Arms High Barnet

17th: Horizon @ The Queens Head Winchmore Hill

17th: Groove Rats @ The Butchers Arms High Barnet

18th: The Quireboys + Soho Dukes @ The Garage Highbury

31st: The Kopy Kats @ The Queens Arms, Barnet

 NOVEMBER 

13th: Courtney Hadwin + MuddiBrooke @ The Lower Third, Soho

14th:  The Dirty Strangers + 🗲Electrics🗲 @ The Spice of Life  Soho

15th: Asomvel + Black Spiders @ The Underworld, Camden

25th: Parker Barrow @ The Black Heart Camden

Things can and do change or get cancelled, so do check if you can before leaving home to make sure an event is still taking place.

STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES!

R.I.P. Frank Beard

Another great drummer gone. 🥁Only Billy Gibbons is left from the original classic ZZ Top lineup now. It's incredible that it was just the same 3 guys in that band continuously from 1969 until only five years ago when we lost Dusty Hill. Their music will always live on in our hearts.

Eclipse

 Well the much media hyped (semi)eclipse turned out to be a massive anti-climax in my humble opinion. 🙄 No doubt some people made a lot of money flogging those hard to come by special glasses - you'd think the media were in on a % of sales for all the hype they made about this.

At the actual time the 'amazing' event took place I'd just left home on my way to a gig - so I didn't have time to stop and watch it all, although I was outdoors while it was going on. I saw lots of people in the street sitting outside their houses and flats - deck chairs and special specs at the ready. I wonder if they thought it was worth it? I couldn't be arsed to be honest.

Everybody waiting for it all to go 'dark' - as the media had been telling us it would. All that fuss and excitement just because it was apparently going to get dark during daytime - when just a couple of hours later it would be getting dark anyway. So What? 😕 Guess what? It didn't even get dark - hardly at all anyway. 😞 I've seen it get a lot darker in daytime just from threatening rainclouds coming over.

What a huge anti-climax after all the hype! Unlike what happened at the gig I went to, although things didn't start too well: 3 band bill, but I'd only heard of the first band Taurus Trakker who I'd seen two or three times before and liked. I left home, and about 3 minutes into my walk to the station I realised that in all the eclipse excitement I'd forgotten my travel pass! 😩 By the time I'd walked back home to get it and left home again I'd missed my train. Next train half an hour later. 🙄 Same length as the band's set. Change of plan and bus/tube to Highbury instead - already knowing I'd probably miss most of the band I particularly wanted to see. Still better than the eclipse though! Got there and realised they were billed as playing for 45 minutes instead of 30. So I'd actually catch maybe half their set after all. But they finished about 15 minutes earlier than billed. 😕 But at least I got to see the last part of their set - and they were good. Maybe the less said about the second band the better. 😐

Although it was a 'school night' and I had to be up at 5 the following morning I stayed the check out the final band. I'd never heard of The Jungles!!! before, but they were fresh from just playing at Rebellion Festival in Blackpool. An all girl punk band from Japan - I'm glad I stayed - they were amazing!

I get quite pissed off hearing people constantly moaning about shit like the are no good new bands any more, or gigs are too expensive. You are looking in the wrong places you idiots! I can often go and see really fantastic and exciting new bands like The Jungles!!!, Deaf Devils, and Karma Guns at small venues like The Hope & Anchor, Dublin Castle or Signature Brew for only a tenner or so. And not have to pay £9 for a beer at these venues either.

Goodbye 2025

Well that was certainly a year of ups and downs. Sadly the downs were more extreme than the ups. There was a odd nice surprise along with the not so good stuff. I apparently regained then relost a friend,  which I found troubling. I enjoyed playing at the Leytonstone Festival again, and the gig highlight for me was playing on the same bill as 🗲Electrics🗲 at Signature Brew. 😎

I only got to one air display instead of around my usual three for various reasons, so not so many good days out on the bike last summer. Could have been worse I guess 🙄 - my friends on 'social' media have only posted stuff about what a bad year they've had and they're glad it's over. My good bits were fleeting, but at least I still have my health and a roof over my head. 😶

Ten years after.... Lemmy

Is it really ten years since we lost him? ♠ It's hard to believe. So much has happened since then, but his presence still feels somehow here - and his music is very much still with us. It always will be. His spirit too - I will carry a tattoo inspired by him for the rest of my life. A lot of people will be thinking about him today, and I guess I will have to put that T-shirt on if I go out tonight. There's a certain tribute band event happening, but I don't know if I can face it the way I'm feeling at the moment - I'm at a pretty low ebb headspace-wise.

If anyone is unaware of the significance of Lemmy and the amazing band he created you can read what I wrote about him ten years ago here. It was hard to write.

Lemmy used to say "Remember us when we're gone"

We still do.

We always will.

♠

Social Media

At a pretty low ebb today, for more than one reason.😟 I'm not finding Social Media very 'social'. 😞 It's always been a double edged sword, but personally much good has come from it. But also some stuff I've found very difficult to understand and deal with - stuff which has given me sleepless nights.

As I said - it's not been very 'social' recently. I try to subtly and quietly express that I am happy for someone I know regarding something nice that happened for them at Christmas - a single friendly and well intentioned click on a 'Like' button and then I am persona non grata. I didn't even say anything - I was trying to keep a low profile as things have been difficult recently, but just one click and the damage was done. 😕 I wish I could just take back that one click. It feels like 'the butterfly effect' - where even the smallest and most insignificant action can have catastrophic consequences.

Daffodils blooming in December now... WTF?

Early this year the daffodils didn't wait for spring like they used to and were flowering in North London in the first week of January. 😮

And now they are coming up before it's even Christmas! 😲

You can see the autumn leaves are still on the ground.

The Global Warming deniers seem a bit quieter these days...