Well, well what a lot I have to tell you! Firstly The Dorset Steam Fair - we had a riot. What a great event this is. So much to see. Those old steam engines are really beautiful and there's a wonderful atmosphere all around the place. State of Undress played for an hour and a half on Stage 5 The Music Marquee and had a great response from the audience. It was our bass player Dave Rivett's last gig with us and it was lovely that it was such a good one. We camped over - well the fellas wimped out but we girls and about 10 kids stayed the course! Dee, Julie, Trish and Georgie cooked spaghetti bolognese and chilli for everyone washed down with cider and wine. We didn't get much sleep though what with Jack Roadnight singing 10,000,000 Green Bottles, Julie Vincent snoring and our tent nearly blowing away! Huge fun. The following morning it was sausage and beans cooked by Trish in the shortest nightie and smallest pair of knickers you've ever seen. (Who's organised enough to take a nightie camping??) I tell you that woke a few people up a bit quickly! We really hope we're invited to play again next year. Great gig! Then it was on to the Wallingford Bunkfest. What a lovely festival this is! A real 'village' feel about it. Great selection of stalls and food bars. We played on the North Kineton stage on the Village Green adjacent to the High Street. There were a few sound problems - at one point it was as if someone had pulled the plug out (they probably had!) and we lost sound completely for a couple of seconds. But I was really proud of us because we kept singing and playing and when the sound kicked in again we were all still in time and in tune - never missed a beat. That's professionalism for you! In addition, it was Malcolm Windett's first gig with us - a bit of an eventful debut - but he was completely unfazed and as usual, we had an excellent time - this is another festival we'd love to play again. The following day, we had a superb time playing in the rain at The Stables Community Fete - such an appreciative audience; and then on to The Central ...Hmmm, let's move on. Then last night, Alan and I, Pete Christie, and Fiona Heyes went up to Bohemian Voices in West Hampstead. Alan and I kicked off the evening with five songs - one from our current album to ease them and us into it then a deep breath and four brand new songs. They went down really well. Pete went on a little later and just completely blew the place apart. This is today's little conundrum: Can anyone tell me why this guy is not internationally famous? He knocks spots off many of the singer/songwriter acts that are prominent at the moment. Check out his website: www.petechristie.co.uk .
Photo: Pete Christie - photo taken by Fiona Heyes
Fiona, Dorset's purple poet, was the penultimate act. She read several of her poems - including a couple of brand new ones - Clapham Junction and a Letter to John Betjamin (not its proper title - that's far too long to remember!) In fact by the end of the evening we felt The Dorset Contingency had held its end up very well! A kebab with loads of chilli sauce on the way home, and then a flat tyre in the forest just to add a touch of drama to the evening, finally arriving back at 3.30am. That's rock n roll for you! For more information about where we playing next check out the gigs page on our website www.stateofundress.com We'd love to see you at one of them.
Cheers for now.
Charlie x