We found out a couple of days ago that unfortunately, we’re no longer going to be playing at the Welsh National Motorbike Show next weekend.
Apparently, the Dyfed-Powys Police decided that the risk of “Violence between Rival Biker Gangs” (you can read into that the Hells Angels and Outlaws) was too great and as a result, the show’s organisers have had their license revoked one week before the show was due to start.
Well, I have a personal message to the ‘authorities’ and that’s basically, “You’re full of it!”. I have attended the Welsh National Motorcycle Show (being a ‘biker’ myself) for 6 of the last 7 years, and I can honestly say that I have never seen a single incident of violence of any kind there. Despite everyone enjoying copious amounts of alcohol (and whatever recreationals might take their fancy). All I have ever experienced at this wonderful annual event is friendliness, a genuine family atmosphere and a lot of fun.
Steve Bennett, the show’s organiser is quite rightly considering legal action against these bureaucrats as his company, Welsh Motorcycle Shows Ltd (which organises the event) were not included in the discussions and were only told after a decision had been made. Hardly a free country then…
In my personal opinion, you’ve got more chance of being the victim of violence, or even witnessing violence of any kind, in any major UK town or city every single weekend evening as the pubs kick out than you have at a bike show and what really riles me, is that the decision ‘appears’ to have been made on the back of a single incident at the Bulldog Bash last year (which is actually run by and for Hells Angels apparently) and yet that event’s license for this year does not appear to be in jeopardy at all - so where’s the consistency.
We would like to offer our support to Mr Bennett and Welsh Motorcycle Shows Ltd and if there is anything that we can do to aid them in their legal action then we will gladly stand up and be counted.
Anyway - we look forward to the next time we get an opportunity to do a show for them as they’re all a great bunch of guys and gals and we love them all!
If you want to read more about this story, here’s some links from around the web:
And a couple of stories about the completely ridiculous (and contradictory) decision about the Bulldog Bash being allowed to go ahead - remember that this is the event that preceded a murder of a biker, by a rival gang, on a British motorway:
OK, it’s been too long - especially as it’s over a week since our most important event so far this year.
In case you haven’t heard already, we performed at the Live & Unsigned Regional Semi-Finals on March 29 at St George’s, Bristol. We all had a really cool time, especially as we were joined by around 25 faithful friends, family and supporters on a coach for the evening. Beer was dispensed, laughter was heard and we did our thing on stage to the sound of cheering and people singing along.
Following a mention from the judges during an unscheduled pause in the show (that unfortunately we didn’t hear directly but fortunately did hear about a lot on the way home!), we waited backstage with the 14 other acts to await our fate.
Knowing we had done our best, we weren’t dreading or anticipating - we were just there, waiting until we heard our name called first by the presenters on stage… and after a split second as it sunk in, there were four cries of YES! from the humble members of The Knott as we bounded down the stairs to take our place in the Finalist line-up on stage.
We’ve already written new song for the final, called ‘Live In Doubt’, which we debuted on Saturday in the Town Centre - more on that in a minute. But basically we’re just so excited for the next stage now and we’re hoping we can better the supporter figures on 20th April this month. We’re doing well already having sold just over a third of the coach seats already. If you want tickets, email us using the address on our contact page. Tickets are just £15 including the coach and we may even chuck in some beer as well (should you wish to partake - it’s not obligatory). You can get tickets from us without the coach as well, just £7.50.
If you DO want to catch the coach though, please contact us quickly, these tickets are going fast. Especially since we found out on 3 April that Sky TV have just commissioned the rest of the competition to be broadcast in a series on Red TV (Sky 186) starting on April 22, 2 days after our Final.
We are only 1 performance standing between us and the National Finals, we can’t wait and it would mean a lot to us if you were there too!
OK, so what else has been going on? Well on Saturday 5 April, we performed outside The Parade as part of Frequently in Swindon. Swindonweb.com were there too, filming each band’s performance.
A video of our performance of Gone Fishing is below…
as well as the interview that we did with SwindonWeb…
And then, yesterday (Sunday, 6th) we went back into Brunel FM for a chat with them about the L&U competition, the results of which (in case you missed it) can be heard in their podcast on the website, although, again, I’m just waiting to receive an mp3 and I’ll be posting it here when I do. Also, make sure you listen during the evenings this week on 107.7FM in the Swindon area as you may just hear a couple of Knotty mentions during the prime-time shows - as well as a possible play of Gone Fishing.
Ultimately, we think the motto of this post is that we are blessed with great fans, great family and friends, great friends in the local media all of whom genuinely want to suppport what we’re doing and we can’t thank you all enough!
Don’t forget - it’s an INCREDIBLE VALUE FOR MONEY night. The ticket’s are only costing ?Ǭ£3 - that’s ?Ǭ£1/band - and the beer’s only ?Ǭ£1.50 a pint. Now you can’t say better than that!
We’re going to Neath in South Wales to do a gig to help raise money for Families with a child or young adult between 14 & 21 who require any form of wheelchair. (full details here)
The event is being put together by Nik “Dolphin” Royale, a resident of Neath, at The Windsor Club, Windsor Road, Neath on 6th December.
Nik is in a wheelchair himself and being a father, understands the unique challenges that families in a similar position face. Nik suffers from a rare form of Cerebral Palsy called Progressive Cerebral Palsy that over the last 4 years has seen him lose almost all of the use of his legs and is causing greater and greater problems with one of his arms.
We met Nik when we played in Angelesy in the Summer, where he was marshalling and struck up a friendship with him. So when he asked if we’d help support his fund-raiser we jumped at the chance.
Tickets are ?Ǭ£5 each and available from The Windsor Club, Windsor Road, Neath or directly from Nik by emailing dolphin2603@hotmail.co.uk
Donations are welcome if you can’t make the gig itself (or if you just want to give a little more) by contacting Nik at the email address above.
Everyone who was at Riff’s Bar last night was treated to a total of 5 acts, all performing acoustically, in the end following Teabo’s last minute cancellation as a result of a sore throat. The poor guys have been gigging so hard lately it must have really taken it out of them for them not to show. Hope you’re feeling better soon buddy. But the remaining 5 acts didn’t disappoint at all taking the patrons of Riff’s through an eclectic mix of acoustic music that really did delight and in some cases surprise! Read more about this post
Sorry to announce, but the gig has been cancelled. The Evening Advertiser (our local newspaper and event organiser) has pulled the plug at the eleventh hour. Full details are unknown at the moment, but we’ll update you as soon as we get them.
We’ve been promised that the gig will be rescheduled. As soon as we know more - you’ll know. Keep coming back or subscribe to our RSS feed to keep up to date.
Original Post The Knott are returning to “The 12 Bar in Swindon” for the 2nd time in a week! This time, it’s as part of a massive event organised and sponsored by the Evening Advertiser, Swindon’s local “rag” ;o). We’ve been told there’s loads of bands playing… who, we don’t know and a Google for the event didn’t highlight anything I’m afraid. Read more about this post
After a break of about 4 months , we actually played a gig last night! With me being away getting shot and rocketed at in Afghanistan ,we didn’t really get time to play lol!
But with being back , the band been practising and sounding better than ever , we sound tighter and no worse for our break .
The gig last night was awesome , I have never been so comfortable playing live , it felt just like a practise , and the audience was great and was enthusiastic about our sound and performance .
Overall it was a great feeeling to be doing it all again , and I’m looking forward to the next one on the 21st in the 12 Bar .
Got some stuff coming up with the website etc , but I’ll let Matt tell you more about them!
Just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone involved in last nights gig at The Royal Oak in Swindon.
We were joined at our return to the venue where we made our debut by two bands, Bombay Sapphire, and The Arbiters. Both bands are fronted by amazing singer/songwriters who really entertained the rather large crowd. The pub was filled to bursting and Will, the landlord did at one point mention that this was his busiest night since taking the place over. Which we’re glad we could help achieve.
The Knott were joined by Sam Bailey who made a comeback as our skin-basher for one night only in the absence of a replacement since his departure a few weeks ago. Thank you Sam, you pulled us out of a hole last night and we are extremely grateful.
So, we’re psyched for the next gig now on 21 July at The Bedroom in Swindon. If the turnout and response is in any way comparitive to last night, we (and you, should you come) are in for another good one!
On top of that, we’re off doing some initial shots for the video for Politics For Lunch today (sans Drummer). Quite looking forward to it in one way, but as I HATE having my picture taken, it’s probably my least favourite part of this whole quest for Stardom thing that we appear to be undertaking!
Will take my camera with me and try and get some pics of the process to post here later.
OK, it’s been too long - especially as it’s over a week since our most important event so far this year.
And then, yesterday (Sunday, 6th) we went back into Brunel FM for a chat with them about the L&U competition, the results of which (in case you missed it) can be heard in their podcast on the website, although, again, I’m just waiting to receive an mp3 and I’ll be posting it here when I do. Also, make sure you listen during the evenings this week on 107.7FM in the Swindon area as you may just hear a couple of Knotty mentions during the prime-time shows - as well as a possible play of Gone Fishing.
