The All New Blues Brothers Revue – Blues Brothers Tribute Band

So how do you follow up a trip to Africa in 2010, followed by a short visit to Germany, and then a support gig to The Commitments in 2011? The answer is simple; hard work, dedication and an ongoing battle to acheive the unofficial title of ‘best in class’ for the show.
So often, we, as an act, read and hear about other acts of all genres, who carry poor equipment, aren’t safety tested or insured, arrive late, use cheap karaoke tracks as backing tracks (or even worse and UNBELIEVABLY) tracks which still have the original vocal on them (!!!!!!!!!!), and generally leave their customers feeling let down and out of pocket, having paid a large sum for a second rate show. Unfortunately, there is no equivalentof ‘OFSTED’ for the entertainment industry when it comes to acts, however, we can offer some great advice to potential clients as to how to sift through the poor quality acts reasonably quickly,ensuring that you book a quality show that will leave you with the happy feeling of having had a fantastic day / event / evening every time. Here are some simple steps which will no doubt help you find the right act for your event, and also some myths exposed.

So, let’s say you have a wedding / club night / corporate event [insert your event type here etc] coming up, and you want to book an act that is professional, entertaining, reliable and safeguards you. Where do you start looking? Here are a few pointers.

Firstly, and most importantly, make sure your act have the following measures in place EVERY TIME:
1: Public Liability Insurance (if someone trips over a cable etc, the act needs to be covered. If they have Musician’s Union or Equity Membership, this is included and they will be insured.)
2: PAT tested equipment (this is done annually, and is a test for electrical safety. Many venues ask for this as standard; if an act doesn’t have PAT tested equipment, they obviously don’t play in that many quality venues!)
3. A contract between you and the act – without this, you don’t know where you stand, and you could lose out financially, or even have an event whereby the act does’t even show up; then what do you do?? A good act will set out the contract terms for you to read long before you sign it. We have it available on our site so you can see it before you even do so much as make an enquiry. It is as legally binding and protective as the contract any agency would provide, for your reassurance.

Flexibility! All quality acts should be capable of working around you, the client; for events such as weddings, we recommend highly that you speak to us about timings etc; our experience can really help things run fluidly!

Client Testimonials – These are statements given by genuine previous clientele, saying how they feel about their experience of the act you are about to book!

Something we haven’t mentioned is a demo (Mp3 or video clip), because all too often it doesn’t give a TRUE impression of what the act is like. In our case, although we have a few clips on the site, we believe they don’t really do our show justice, as our ad-lib comedy and audience participation is different every time and a video clip cannot demonstrate this in any way! Similarly, some demos are ‘studio polished’ to improve the act’s performance, and don’t reflect the real thing – you could end up disappointed!

Entertainments Agencies can be a very good way of choosing an act, however; there are as many poor agents as there are good ones; and many who have never even seen / heard the acts they are selling! Tread Carefully! Again, we offer a contract which has the same re-assurances of those of an agent – why pay a third party for this service?

THE ALL NEW BLUES BROTHERS REVUE offer all of the above and a whole lot more. Shop around, but don’t be tempted to always go for the cheapest – it’s very rarely the best, and can leave you quite disappointed.

If you have any doubts, any requests, any special requirements, anything at all, we can and will help you. And every assurance is in place to ensure that nothing goes wrong for your event. So book us today and panic no more.

If the Mayans were right, it all ends this year at some point in December. For us, it is all just beginning; bigger, better, further, fresher, and all together more exciting! What will 2012 hold for this particular Blues Brothers Tribute? Who knows; but with the shows we already have booked, and some AMAZING potential news on the horizon, we will keep you posted, so watch this space!

Jake and Elwood x

In August we had the great pleasure of working with an icon of American culture and a global brand name, that of Chevrolet UK, in a promotional gig at London’s Famous Ace Cafe on the North Circular Road.
Here is the full review in Chevrolet’s own words:
The Cruze Brothers – For you, for me, for everybody…
2011-08-30

Chevroletcelebrates its centenary with a one-off special edition ‘Cruzer’
Unveiledat Ace Cafe party night
Celebrationof American cultural icons
In life, not everything is black and white – but for one night only at London’s famous Ace Cafe, it was. The car, the band, the venue, in a glorious celebration of Americana that marked the iconic American brand’s 100th anniversary.

Chevrolet pulled the wraps off a very special one-off model of its Cruze, which paid tribute to one of America’s most iconic movies of all time.

The ‘Cruzemobile’ echoes the look of the famous ‘Bluesmobile’, made famous by John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd in The Blues Brothers, a film with one of the most famous movie soundtracks of all time.

And to further add to the celebratory theme, Chevrolet’s own Cruze Brothers band performed a live set to a crowd of over 500 guests at the Ace Cafe, the world’s most famous car, bike and music venue on London’s famous North Circular Road.

The cafe was opened in 1938 & post war, with the British motorcycle industry at its peak, became the place to meet until its closure in 1969. It was reopened in 2001 on the original site by current owner Mark Wilsmore.

Since then, it has grown to once again be the foremost venue for car and bike fans across Europe, with meetings for various types of vehicle on every night of the week. The Cruze Brothers act was the highlight of the late summer all-American Cruise-in, which attracts fans of US metal from all over the continent.

“We were delighted to have the support of Chevrolet at our American cruise-in night,” said Wilsmore. “The brand is celebrating its centenary and is as much a cultural icon as the Ace Cafe itself. We’ve a number of Chevy owners who are regulars here, so it was great to welcome them and their unique car and entertainment.”

Chevrolet UK Managing Director, Mark Terry, added: “As we celebrate 100 years of Chevrolet, it’s right that we should mark this by celebrating other elements of American culture – we’re the only US brand to truly establish a foothold across all segments of the UK and European car market, and much of that is down to the proud heritage and cultural associations that people make with our brand. The Blues Brothers is an all-time American classic, much like Chevrolet itself.”

The Cruze Brothers themselves are a pair of music teachers from St Neots, Cambridgeshire. Dave Wiggins (Joliet Jake) and James Proctor (Elwood) have been touring together as a tribute band for the past two years, and perform a two-hour set that includes re-enacting scenes and dances from the movie – often referred to as Grease for blokes – as well as a live soul, rock and blues act. For more information on the band, visit www.blues-brothers-tribute-band.co.uk

As for the future of the Cruzemobile – who knows. “We’re hoping it’ll be popular enough to go on tour itself,” said Mark Terry. “But one thing’s for sure, and it’s that we won’t be making it available as an option pack!”

Contact
Craig Cheetham
PR Manager, Chevrolet UK
Phone: +44(0)1582 427612
Mobile: +44(0)7775 825334
craig.cheetham@gm.com

El Teatro Municipal is not a venue to be sniffed at! with a 600 seat capacity, and 500 tickets sold, it’e tiered seating arrangement can be quite intimidating, so it’s just as well it was dark and we were wearing sunglasses! Shortly after landing at Alicante airport, we realised we had been sharing our flight, and also our transfer to the apartment, with Dave Finnegan himself; for anyone who has seen The Commitments, you will remember Dave as psychotic bouncer / drummer Mickah ‘don’t f*** with me’ Wallace in the original moviue. Now the frontman of his own Commitments band, Dave is a lovely guy and kept us amused with anecdotes and storied of re-unions of the original cast from the word go.
A slightly surreal situation, as The Commitments is probably my favourite film of all time!

Once we were settled in our luxurious apartment, it was off out for a few beers with the gig looming on The Saturday.
Soundcheck went not without a few hiccups, both for us and for Dave’s guys; technical issues being the main problem of the day, and these continued to be a problem for Susie G, the compere, who had to share a radio mic with her Spanish counterpart as with 5 minutes until we were on, only one of the two radio mics were working! In the nick of time, however, the second mic came to life and we were off, into a new set which contained of course NO Commitments’ material as it would normally. Because of that, our intro was longer than usual and timings were all-the-more important. The hour-long set went by in record time (yes, I know it was an hour but it felt like 20 minutes!), and even though the temperature on stage helped us lose a couple of stone, aided by the presence of a throat-drying smoke machine, we were soon off and ready to get changed and enjoy Dave’s band. We were over the moon as the crowd had really enjoyed the show, and our job as ‘support’ or ‘warm-up’ act had been well and truly accomplished, The sound was great, we had more energy than usual and the applause spoke for itself. Note to self: Audience members are less likely to get up on the stage in a big venue than they are in a club! (man, that bit was hard work!)
Dave Finnegan is an old hand at this entertaining buisiness. His band are familiar and work smoothly like a big family, every musician knowing each other and incredibly professional.
All the hits from both Commitments Soundtrack albums featured in their 2 and a half hour set, as well as additional soul classics from the likes of Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding. The crowd were still up and dancing when the show finally finished at 1am (this is Spain, remember) and we celebrated a great gig until around 5am with the promoter and his colleagues.
We could get used to this touring lark, I highly recommend it !

Amazing news! Today we have received confirmation that we WILL be supporting The Commitments in Torrevieja on April 23rd. Featuring original cast member Dave Finnegan, from the smash hit movie (my favourite film of all time by the way) who played psychotic drummer Mickah Wallace, this is sure to be one HOT HOT HOT gig!

We can’t wait to get over there and play in such an amazing venue as Torrevieja’s Municipal Theatre (Teatro Municipal), what a great addition to the CV for The All New Blues Brothers Revue!

The gig is being hosted by Heatwave Promotions, who have already brought The Drifters, Alexander O’Neal and The Real Thing to the Costa Blanca, and this year are also bringing Peter Andre and The Temptations as well as The Commitments out to Spain. Please visit their site for further details.

Following trips to Malawi, Zambia, Germany, Wales and Scotland last year, we are loving the continuation of our world tour! If anyone else should wish to book us, please get in touch, regardless of which corner of the globe you are in!

Jake and Elwood

Saturday 26th February 2010, and finally we return to Poole in Dorset, Darby’s Corner being the venue that we unfortunately had to cancel in December due to the snow.

This time we arrived nice and early; early enough in fact to watch England dismiss The French in the Rugby, so a good start was abound.

You get a feeling about a gig from the minute you arrive, the appearance of the clientele gives you some idea of what to expect that evening, even though the afternoon drinkers are rarely the ones who stay for the evening entertainment anyway.

The two guys in pirate costume, complete with ‘real’ swords, to whom no-one was really batting an eyelid, was our marker for the evening ahead; although not all that busy, there were enough in to make it a thoroughly enjoyable gig all round, everybody being up for the audience participation and banter from the word go – just what we needed really!

The downside was that we were stuffed into the tiniest of corners to perform, nowhere to put the speakers, and that meant our dancing area was limited too, and the cartwheels and flips were definitely a no-go.

Just the amount of requests we had for business cards was enough to tell us that everyone had had a great night, and Elwood and myself were suitably content too. The evening at Darby’s Corner ended with a guy falling backwards off of a barstool and cracking his head on the floor, ambulance called and off to casualty, but he was ok (we think!)

Then the nightmare journey home began. The van had a new head gasket in December, and it chose Poole to be the place where it was going to go wrong again. And so it ended that we finally arrived home at 6.15am, after an hour spent waiting for recovery truck number 1, who couldn’t fix us by the roadside after a good attempt, and then another hour waiting for recovery truck number 2 to get us home from the M25 (at a cost of £200 – make sure you check your breakdown cover now everybody, don’t get stung like that!)

http://www.blues-brothers-tribute-band.co.uk

So now the old reliable Astra awaits it’s destiny in the garage where it has spent so much time recently…. and I write this whilst awaiting to hear it’s fate.

March 12th sees us re-visit:

Lock, Stock and Barrel, Locks Heath, Southampton

I will keep you all posted with further news of our travels and gigs. Stilll waiting final confirmation on The Commitments gig in Spain, fingers crossed!!!

Peace and out for now

Jake and Elwood

We are currently in talks with a promotions company in Spain, regarding a possible gig with The Commitments (official) from the blockbuster movie from the early 1990′s.
The line-up features Dave Finnegan who played Mickah Wallace in the film, and the show is in a big theatre in Torrevieja.

As soon as we have confirmation, we will update our blog accordingly!

Best of Blues to you all for now

J and E

Following a mediocre November, and a disastrous December, Elwood and I were beginning to question ourselves as to what exactly we were doing wrong. We arrived at one  gig in Southampton to find the power had been out since 3.30 that same afternoon; and after waiting around till 9.30pm the power hadn’t come back on and the gig was subsequently cancelled. Once this was confirmed, we checked into a Holiday Inn and headed straight for the nearest bar by way of consolation, only to be told that they were not going to serve us as we were drunk! I kid you not!

The next day we jumped in the van and headed back on the road, taking the picturesque route to Cardiff, to get to a venue which would comfortably hold 300 people or more,with a big stage area. Fantastic, we thought, this will make up for it! By 9.05pm there were 5, yes 5 people in the place, we were about 5 minutes away from pulling the plug on that one too when another 20 people walked through the door to witness what I can only now consider to be a ‘live rehearsal’. this was a do for a football club, who’s players couldn’t even be bothered to support it.

Later on in December we headed to Dorset, got as far as Milton Keynes when we hit a blizzard. Even if we had managed to make the gig, we would never have got home again. Gig cancelled.

Christmas eve, surely this would be a good one? Well, if ONE SINGLE TICKET had been sold, yes, it probably would have been! Not a single, solitary person in the place, tickets overpriced and us left once again standing until 11pm, when the owner finally pulled the plug.

The gigs we did manage to do in December were ok, but the crowds have been incredibly hard work of late; it’s such a mission to get people out of their seats these days; surely our return trip to The Rivermill on January 7th would be a good one?

Well, a big thanks to those of you who came down to support it, but again it was really hard work; Post Christmas Blues perhaps?

Therefore it was with great relief that Saturday just gone we got back into the ‘zone’ and blew the  roof off  The Rose and Crown in Somersham, where landlady and good friend Helen was celebrating her birthday. Both the staff and the customers were in high spirits, the dancefloor packed, the Bluesettes were really up for having great fun, the alcohol was flowing like the River Ouse has been this week, and the compliments we received post gig were exceptional. So thank you very much and we will definitely be back to rock the roof off of you mad bunch again soon!

This whole blogging thing is somewhat new to us, so sorry if I rambled on a bit, going to try to keep them short and sweet from now on, updating about once a week!

So the next time you seeus, don’t just sit there, get up and shake your tailfeathers!

Jake x