BB BlackDog

Music Promo video by BB BlackDog to "Low Blow" from our new album "No Two" NOW AVAILABLE! Download, CD and Budget CD from our Record Label shop http://www.steampunkrecords.com as well as itunes, Amazon, Spotify, Nokia store and many more. Music by BB BlackDog

                               So what is occurring in the world of The BlackDog?            When this blog was begun yesterday, the answer was a little different, some unexpected news having just broken leading to the insertion of this paragraph, so having wetted appetites, please read on.         Well it has been a farrow period as a full band, however Dale has been playing some solo slots,including a first solo tour in Europe.    In the UK Molly has been joining him upon occasions supplying some vocals and pounding a Cajon Drum,       Molly has also been playing and singing locally with members of Matlock's Little Dog. We have a little travelouge of Dale's Continental exploits to recount, before that though a quick gander into the next couple of weeks.       This coming Saturday the 13th Dale and Molly will be making the lengthy jaunt down to Exeter with Lord Montagues Jaques Fromage III, who joined Dale in Germany after his sojourn back in The US.      The

With The Loony Party Conference This weekend (BB BlackDogs Playing Saturday) at The Ridgebourne Inn, Wellington Rd,  Llandrindod Wells, Powys LD1 5NH, Here's a little Video from Last Year :-) http://youtu.be/bggcNuaspz4 http://www.omrlp.com/

          Yes, it's conference time again for The Official Monster Raving Loony Party, this time they are off to the picturesque town of Llandrindod Wells in Powys.          The venue is The Hampton Hotel on Temple Street and will run from September 26th to the 28th.         Llandrindod Wells is reasonably well served by rail to it's own station.         There will be entertainment on the Friday and Saturday nights, featuring BB, The Big Fibbers, Buster and The Gonads, The Hurricanes and a morris group by the title of  The b.u.m.s.!          Should be an interesting weekend as BB have acquired the services of Gripper and The Gurnards drummer John Ferguson, whom many of you will remember fondly as a previous member of BB.         In a reciprocal arrangement both Dale and Molly will be joining members of The Gurnards to play as Buster and The Gonads, confused yet!        Those of you who were lucky enough to have been at The Brothers Over The Hill bike rally a co

          After an extremely intense period, it is almost time to sit back and enjoy the fruits of the last fortnight's labours.          Yes, just a couple of days now until the curtain raises on "Full Steam Metal Racket". All the venue, travel and ticketing details were on the last blog, so we'll move swiftly on to what is occurring over the weekend.         The venue is open for registration from midday on Friday the 15th, by which time the market place will be in full swing, as it will also be from 10am on Saturday and Sunday.          Entertainment will be spread over two stages and your host for the weekend will be The USA's favourite Steampunk Son, Lord Montague Jaques Fromage III.          Opening act for Friday at 7pm on the indoor stage is the highly versatile Ash Mandrake, featuring is personally designed twin necked guitar who regale with songs and humorous tales, many involving his extensive collection of hats.          First up in the

       It is said, that what does kill something makes it stronger and at least a portion of Alt Fest is still alive, which must therefore bode well for "Full Steam Metal Racket", which is taking it's phoenix like shape as this blog is penned.        A week of rumours, waiting, concern and ultimately an obvious disappointment at Alt Fest's demise can now be replaced with an optimistic air and hasty arrangements for the new venture.        No mileage in dwelling upon what went wrong. Suffice to say that if nothing more malicious than a degree of naivety was involved, we probably should move swiftly on.       It appears that the varying ticketing agencies used are making preparations for refunds and hopefully, most people who  spent more than £100 on their Kickstarter pledges should be entitled to recompense from their credit card companies under something by the title of Section 75. So hoping all goes well on that score.      A quick mention before moving

Music Promo video by BB BlackDog to "Women" from our new album "No Two" NOW AVAILABLE! Download, CD and Budget CD from our Record Label shop http://www.steampunkrecords.com as well as itunes, Amazon, Spotify, Nokia store and many more.

            The initial reason for this week's blog was to start previewing the upcoming Steampunk Experience at Alt Fest set for August 15th-17th. However due to recent developments we will refrain for now.            However unless you were holidaying on Ganymede yesterday and the laservid service was down, you will no doubt have seen the media activity suggesting the whole event is cancelled.            Whilst it would be both imprudent and unproductive to enter into any further rhetoric it is clear that at least some problem exists,which has not been conveyed to the organisers of "The Steampunk Experience"          Suffice to say that all we know for certain is, that we know nothing for certain.          The rumors, however unsubstantiated they maybe, are strong enough, that Dale and the other Steampunk organisers are looking at alternatives to ensure that at least "The Steampunk Experience" element remains alive.         One can remain fairly

          For anyone who was at The George and Dragon last Friday and wondered who joined in for a few tunes after Dale and Monty had strut their stuff, it was Mike from the Monday sessions at The Bulls Head.   Molly being absent due to a trip over to Belgium.          Dale has been putting in a lot of solo slots recently, including a run of shows with Ash Mandrake, who rather marvelously describes himself as traveling showman/minstrel/milliner/story teller/techno-jester/bard.          Continuing in his solo vein, Dale will be playing at the Twenty Ten acoustic night this Friday, the 18th and The Black Country Steam-O-Rama event at The Griffin in Dudley on Sunday        . If the event lives up to the fabulous poster above, it should be a good one. Nice to catch up with Crimson Clocks again too.         The acoustic/open mic nights that Dale organises at The Bulls Head, Belper Lane End are gaining a good following on Monday nights, more still welcome though if wish to contri

       So we come around to Steampunk Solstice time again. This year reverting to it's original one day format and with the barometers still set fair in The Derbyshire Dales, a repeat of that first yea'rs torrential rain will definitely be avoided.       The venue is the usual one, of The Grand Pavilion in Matlock Bath and the date is this coming Saturday, June 28th.       A couple of pluses for this year are, that the event runs from 10am through until 6pm, to enable people get home more easily and that there is no admission charge.                  https://www.facebook.com/events/1435289860044441/  The market will run all day and stage performances will run from midday  featuring BB, Acoustic BlackDog, Lord Montague Jaques Fromage III's Steampunk Funk Bizarre, Kai Swarvett and others.       Moving into July, BB head to another Steampunk event, The Black Country Steam-O-Rama at The Griffin in Dudley on Sunday the 20th.      The event also features music f

     If you went down to the woods at Bearded Theory  i am sure you were pleasantly surprised.                                      For BB's  stage show has morphed again.      A resplendent stage company of seven. Axel, Dale, Molly and Sven sharing the low bass, the new addition of Sue and Nansy from Red Ruff, providing backing vocals and the indomitable Lord Montague assuming the role of ringmaster to this positive Steampunk Rock Circus. All adding their on stage antics to a musical programme , full of power, subtlety and mischief.           For more about Red Ruff, check out their website  http://www.redruff.co.uk/ , they also appear fairly regularly at the Monday night sessions which Dale runs at The Bulls Head, Belper Lane End.        Credit also to the festival organisers for creating a the superb "Locked In The Woods" stage setting.   Great vibes and receptions at both Steampunk events last weekend in Frome and Morecambe too and the summer season off

           Hard to believe that it's festival time again. With the mercury set to rise this week in the UK, it could not be better timing though.           For BB the season kicks off at Bearded Theory over the coming Bank Holiday weekend.            It will be hard to match the scorching temperature at last year's Bearded Theory, when BB brought the curtain down on the entire proceedings on the "Locked Inn" stage, just maybe that was too hot!           There is a venue change for the 2014 event, moving a few miles down the A38 to Catton Hall, also home to Bloodstock, later in the year. It remains Derbyshire, although if someone pointed you in the right direction, you could probably flight a false beard into Staffs from the site.          BB are set to play "The Locked In The Woods" stage this year, at a time as yet to be confirmed on the Saturday. They share the stage with a mixed genre line up from the psychedelic Electric Brains to the new w

                                           BB in full flow at "The Pav" last weekend.         Apologies for the lack of a blog last week leading up to the Matlock Bath event, unfortunately some gremlins managed to infiltrate the cogs of the machine, resulting in a trip to the local steambotics centre for some remedial activities beyond the ken of mere humans.        All good now though and upon reflection a good day last Saturday. Nice to have Lord Montague Jaques, recently returned from his native US and making his first appearance. A nice selection of burlesque artists filled the rest of the evening and  as they say "a splendid time was had by all".          Activities for next week turn to Northern Germany, with appearances spread over three events.         The first show is at the excellent looking Gut Goertz venue just outside Axel's home village of Heringsdorf, for The May Fire Party on Wednesday April 30th.         Bands, food and i sup

Bit of Psychedelic BB BlackDog Live :-)

             Yes, " No. Two" now available as a download from all self respecting on line stores.             If you are holding out for the cd,  in all it's tactile and visual glory, i am afraid the wait goes on a little longer. Due to a small glitch concerning the "steambots" at the manufacturing plant, it appears a very late April, most likely May launch is on the cards.             On the recorded material front, as i have eluded to previously, the third and fourth albums were laid down on last years trip to Germany and it is still planned to release No. 3 within the calendar year. Three being the album where the cover is being montaged from all those portrait shots that many of you contributed.            Another productive visit to Holstein last month now see's the raw material for No. 5 written and recorded and hopefully we may get the odd one dropped into the summer's live shows.           Inevitably the delay in the cd's producti

          Two great gigs last weekend at The Victorian Valentine's Ball in Hanley in support of The s.o.p.h.i.e. foundation and fantastic to catch up with old friends Gladstone on Friday.          Then with something of a contrast at The Dog and Doublet on Saturday with some of the space rock fraternity.  Dale not only playing with BB, also with a resurrection of "Captain Starfighter  and The Lockheeds" who first saw the light of day at the same venue over Christmas.          On the back of this, the project, which looks to play space rock classics with a smile, has turned into an actual entity as a side venture for Dale and the others, who include members of Dr Hasbeen and Red Electra 69.         Look out for a few gigs from the collaborators in the near future and check out the new facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CaptainStarfighter?fref=ts.       Axel and Dale are off to Germany again on the 26th for a couple of weeks writing and recording with

               You may have already caught up with the new video for "Naive Common Sense" along the way. If not, it is well worth a viewing on You Tube or access via https://www.facebook.com/BBBLACKDOG?fref=ts.              It has been cut by Karin at LuneCat Films, from some really atmospheric footage she found in a 1908 film entitled "Hotel Electrica". I find it really appealing and it works well with the track.              Hope it gets some good viewing before the new vids. for the No. 2 tunes see the light of day. Still no release date, not long now though!              At time of writing we have just broken the 3000 likes mark on the facebook page. Feels like quite a landmark to reach that point. Freebies in the offing again, for some randomly selected recipients celebrate the event.             The weekly acoustic/open mic sessions with Dale at The Bulls Head, Belper Lane End have made the switch to a regular Monday night slot now and the first

It feels like high time we said hello to the new year, so felicitations to you all and hoping that 2014 brings to you all, that which you desire. Here in BB land it has been, at least in outwards appearance, a quiet start to the year. Like the ducks though, whilst serene on top, there is much going on beneath. The artwork for the physical release of the No. 2 album is being for-mated and expectations are high for a February release date, so hopefully details of a launch party soon. Karin is working on several new vids. in support of this along with a brace featuring tracks from the first album, which are again looking to see the light of day soon. Also behind the scenes Dale is working on the festival schedule for the year.   The weekly acoustic open mic. sessions are already back, Tuesday nights at The Bulls Head, Belper Lane End, so if you fancy joining in or just checking out what's on, you know where we are. I understand that Molly was exercising her no