Blog Archive: March 2026

Gareth's Birthday Gig
Saturday saw me heading SOUTH on a secret mission, to play a SECRET GIG that wasn't technically very secret but also definitely qualifies as such, for LO! I was off to BRISTOL to play at Mr G Jones's Birthday Party!

Gareth had arranged the gig nearly a year ago, and I have spent the time since then imagining it being a sort of mini-Indietracks, with lots of other bands playing who are ACE and also loads of PALS likely to be there, so I was delighted to be finally on the train and on the way. This feeling lasted just over an hour, at which point the train ground to a halt due to an Incident On The Line, and we were held in the middle of nowhere for over TWO HOURS. It wasn't a hugely fun experience but the train staff were AMAZING and most people on board also were STOICAL. There was one announcement asking people NOT to try and get off the train, but otherwise everyone was surprisingly calm, helped v much by the regular updates. It was all quite moving!

We originally got to Bristol a LOT later than expected. My original plan had been to wander over to my hotel, check-in, loaf around for a bit and then amble over to the venue, but with the new situation I instead LEAPT into a taxi and ZOOMED straight to the venue where, as is the RULE for all-day music events, things were running late so it was all fine. I thus had time to bump into MULTIPLE pals from all over the place, some of whom I hadn't seen for YEARS, before it was time for me to go on and do THIS:

The Peterborough All-Saints Wide Game Team (group B)

Bad Back

20 Things To Do Before You're 30

Sound Of The Underground

It Only Works Because You're here

The Lesson Of The Smiths

Easily Impressed

Boom Shake The Room

Man alive, I had a WHALE of a time! It's been a while since I played with a PA system so that took a bit of getting used to, but otherwise I relaxed fully into it and LOVED the fact that I was doing a gig where the bits in between songs were not the result of many years of research but rather WHATEVER CAME INTO MY HEAD. I thus apologise if I went on a bit, but it seemed to all be OK and I was especially RELIEVED that Sound Of The Underground went down well, as it had been especially requested by the birthday boy.

That all done I sped round to check in at the Premier Inn and then came back to thoroughly enjoy The School (who I had not seen for AGES and were ACE) and similarly Milky Wimpshake. I then relaxed into the best bit of any of this type of gig, which was wandering around going "Oh HELLO how are YOU?!?" to loads of old pals. It was flipping lovely - I now hope Gareth does something like this for ALL his birthdays!

It was thus a tired but happy Hibbett who returned to his room later that night, and a slightly less tired but equally happy one who got his train back next morning WITHOUT massive delays. PHEW!

posted 15/3/2026 by MJ Hibbett
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An Album Launch
I was off to distant Croydon on Wednesday night, there to carry out a duty I had not had the opportunity to do for many years - BEING THE RECORD COMPANY!

For LO! I was at Riff Raffs Bar, there to REPRESENT Artists Against Success at the launch of the new album Life Is Not A Competition by Tim Eveleigh. A couple of years ago, back in the late 90s/early 2000s, rolling up to an album launch by one of our ACTS was a not uncommon occurence, but then our A&R activities slowed somewhat when Mr Whitaker retired, and we spent more of our time concentrating on SHALL WE SAY our LEGACY ACTS i.e. me and Frankie and our own OUVRE.

THUS I was a bit out of practice with what I was meant to actually DO in such a situation. Back in the day I have vague memories of swanking about with a CIGAR, which probably tells you quite what A Different Time it was, but this time I thought probably Turning Up would just about cover it. I was v glad I did though, as it's AGES since I've seen Tim play - I used to do his Freedom Of Expression nights at various places in London and, mostly, Croydon and have played with him MANY times but I don't think I've actually SEEN him to do so for several years, and I've DEFINITELY not seen him with his full band, THUS:



Ooh but it sounded lovely, even in a situation where the band were playing sideways, directly at a blank wall with the audience split at either side in the front of the back of the bar. Both they and the support act coped with the situation, though at times it did feel like The Green Cross Code Man had been round beforehand and sternly told everyone to keep looking both ways. It was one of those occasions where there weren't all that many people on stage but once they all got going it sounded like a whole ORCHESTRA/CHOIR of sound going on.

You can hear it for yourself on The Bandcamp, and I would highly recommend you do, both as a listener AND as a high-powered record company executive!

posted 12/3/2026 by MJ Hibbett
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Farewell To The Funny Comics Fan Club
On Sunday we UNLEASHED the grand finale of The Funny Comics Fan Club, in which John and I discussed wot we had LEARNED over the past 30+ episodes, and also chose what our FAVOURITE bits were. As you'll hear there was quite a bit of CONCURRENCE, not least in our choices of best characters, but also quite a bit of the disagreement that we have delighted in over the course of the three series.

I must admit it felt a bit ODD on Sunday to be going through my fortnightly routine of uploading the episode and then doggedly uploading all of the images to our Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Bluesky accounts. It's always a bit of a JOB to do all that, especially when you add in the time it takes scan the images and EDIT the show (we take out about 10 minutes of us saying "ER" every episode!), but I had got quite ADEPT at it over recent months so, in a weird way, I'm going to miss it.

I'm also going to very much miss sitting in a small room and ARGUING with John every couple of weeks, as it has been a HUGE amount of fun to do so. Similarly it's been lovely to bump into people at various times and places who LISTEN to the show, especially when it's people I don't actually KNOW. If you've been one of those people, or indeed if you have listened to the show and NOT bumped into me, I hope it's been as much fun for you as it very much has for us - and if you HAVEN'T listened to the show yet, there are a whole THIRTY THREE episodes waiting for you to get started on!

posted 2/3/2026 by MJ Hibbett
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