Back @ The Travellers Rest

Welcome Back, John and Karen
It was great to be asked to play at the Travellers Rest again, and being asked to play for John and Karen was the icing on the cake.The have been a big part of the Spartan Army since our very first year, and offered us the chance to play for them following their return to The Travellers Rest.It's great to have them back ,putting music back on the map in Burnopfield.
we also got a chance to use our new , more portable backdrop last night and it saved us so much time, that we could relax a bit more before playing.
We had a great night and would like to say welcome back John and Karen, here's to many more

The Star and The Fellsider

Just a few words about the last two gigs that we have played, We were at the Star on Jan 31st and had another great afternoon of Rock, we were joined on stage for a few songs by a Mystery guest saxophone player and this brought some new 'vibes' to Chance, Dancing in the Moonlight and Alright Now.We had a great time and the Hamster managed to make it on time to the gig after finishing work at 3pm to be onstage at 4pm, his little legs must have been working hard that day....
The 6th saw us at the Fellsider for a return visit, Phil was sporting a new mike stand, but Kev was not so lucky as he had to do the gig topless( well his mike stand had no top)and even after a search of nearly half an hour he still could not find it.
We met some great people at both of these gigs and would also like to thank the managers and all the staff and customers at both gigs for all the support.

Come on Kev.......

Get a Grip..
Market Tavern Dec 31st......
You all know the score you get the car to with in 10 feet of the venue, then loose all grip to the tyres and start to roll back at a very fast speed.Then the trailer jack-knifes and you are left stuck fast wedged into a bank of snow,and that's before you even start playing.
Thanks to the all the customers who helped us take the gear into the Tavern ( up a slippery bank of ice) and after that heart stopping moment it's was a welcome break for Kev to be on solid ground but it was quite fun hearing him swear as we flew backwards down the road..
We had a Fantastic time as usual at the Market Tavern and being invited to play at New Year's Eve was a big thing for us as we love the atmosphere in this place and always feel at home at this great venue.

Spartan would like to say a big
'Thank you to everyone who has supported us in 2009,
and hope to see you all soon in 2010'

Testing..Testing....1..2..3

Alive...Alive...Alive
Spartan back after a brief 4 week absence, and we were at the Black Bull last nite.As you can tell from the above photo we had a bit of trouble with Kev's microphone on the night.We had just started our second song and we hit with a barrage of white noise from the dodgy mic,after a quick 'hamster' intervention and some Gaffa tape, we tried again.
These problems do occur during live gigs, and you never know when these minor things will rear their ugly little heads.But we did not let this hamper the evening and we had a ball( as usual)
We would just like to say thanks for all the support and the kind words over the last 4 weeks, as Kev had been struck down with a mystery illness that caused him to loose his voice, and last night was a very trying time for Kev.But anyone who did n't know this would not have noticed any difference from his usual standard of 110%
Well done Kev, you really did us proud.....again

Poor Kev......

Spartan Singer struck down...
All of us at Spartan Central would like to wish Kev a speedy recovery, not to go into any detail, but he has had a very severe chest infection with caused the loss of his voice.Spartan always try to fulfill every commitment to bookings but Kev was so ill that he lost his voice and was advised to take a complete break from any singing and some talking by his doctor.
I'm sure you will join Gazza, Mick and Phil in wishing him a very speedy recovery
Get Well Soon, Kev.....

Rose and Crown

Back with a Bang
After a brief rest Spartan are back on the road, this was our first gig after our rest period, and we could have not wanted to play anywhere else.The Rose and Crown in Winlaton made us feel so welcome and very much at home.
We had to wait for the match to end before bringing in all the gear and tried to get set up, but after a couple of weeks off you do forget some of the strangest things ?
Spartan would like to thank Karen who's local knowledge was a real blessing due to Kev forgetting his supply of bottled water, she ran off to the local shops to bring some back for him ( and some Hob-nobs too ).
We had a great nite at the Rose and Crown and for those of you who did n't get to the gig you missed three new songs, two of which we had only learnt a week ago, needless to say they will be appearing in the set at future gigs.
We cannot thank the management and staff at the Rose and Crown enough, you made us feel so welcome and it was a pleasure to be able to play for you during your week long anniversary celebrations,and we will see you again soon.

Saturday's Alright for...... Bite - ing

Life is never easy , and gigging is just as difficult..sometimes.
During our welcome return to one of the bands fave pubs The Market Tavern we had a bit of a technical fault with our new smoke machine.We tried to sort out the problem but realised that we had a break in the remote cable , which meant we could n't get it to work...
So in stepped the Spartan Multi tool ( in the form of Kev)who disappeared with the control and returned 2 minutes later after chomping through the cable and re-connecting the offending wires and to our surprise it worked perfectly...till the end of the gig.
We had another great night at the Tavern , and we are really looking forward to celebrating the New Year at the Tavern this coming December 31st.

Thanks once again for another great night...