Full details will follow, but we’re main support for Andy Mitchell of the Yardbirds, the band that made Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, and to be part of such a show we’re very excited!

See the event and confirm your attendance!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=164786373591823

Sniper at the Gates of Dawn

This week was a stressful one for Yellowgroove.

We haven’t as of yet informed Angela and David Leybourne, but earlier in the week, the apple of their eye and tyrant of tone, lead guitarist Mark Leybourne, was taken out by a sniper during a photoshoot.

Fortunately, Mark was swiftly stabilised when he realised he’d bequeathed me his Fender and Maton if he ever died, a fate no guitar ever wants to suffer. The hunt for the elusive would-be assassin has begun with friends and colleagues offering help where possible. If anyone, anywhere has any information please PLEASE don’t hesitate to contact us, or leave a message below.

In other more positive news we are playing at the Archangel in London, with Trinity Force TV – tftvmusic.co.uk.
The gig will be filmed for national broadcasting, and so we want as many of you there as possible! We’re excited as it’s quite a long time since we played London! Check our gig listings for details, more info to follow! - http://www.yellowgroove.co.uk/gigs/

Simon x

But this is no ordinary LDV Long Wheel Base van, this is the new Yellowgroove bandwagon.

For a band who are supposed to be “upgrading” their vehicle, buying something with cracks all across the roof wouldn’t seem like progress to the untrained eye, but when you have “Fibre-glass” Paul and “Transit-van” Will as parents (they’re two separate parents not a gay couple), this just isn’t the case.

After a couple of weekends of tidying her up, healing her wounds and scrubbing off permanent marker pictures of penises she’s as good as new (the previous owners obviously considered themselves as amateur graffiti artists).

On a more serious note, these kind of things are what hold an unsigned band together. Our new band van is probably our cheapest purchase, its cost pales in comparison to the price of our equipment but without it there is no Yellowgroove. Comparatively, we will spend a lot more time sitting on those faded leather seats than in any studio or on any stage. Driving the van to a gig is like a surfer pushing his board out to find the wave.

That’s why in these days of changes, entrepreneurial bands and, dare I mention, climate change, how we run the van is part of Yellowgroove. Band vans are part of the traffic just like anyone else and we do a lot of commuting. Filling up with recycled chip fat makes a big difference to our state of mind when we’re chugging along in a fully loaded behemoth that probably drinks fuel like Keith Richard drinks…well everything. And it’s easier than we thought, there’s a local guy who produces it – Win – we’re helping someone run their own independent business. It’s also only one pound ten per litre and it goes straight in Diesel vehicles without any issues…

Last but not least, it reeks of a fish and chips shop.

Welcome to the band Vanessa, may the miles be many x x x

We played in a tipi last week, dressed in suits and had promos in front of a Mustang.

My brother’s wedding was great fun. The tipi reception was fantastic, and as the wedding car was an old Mustang, we did a very cliche thing and had promos taken in front of it.

My friend Jon kindly pointed out something. If you cover the left of this photo, leaving only Mark and Ben on show, it looks cool and Californian. If you cover the right, leaving myself and Jack exposed to view, it looks rather James Bond…

Ol' Betsy 1994-2011 - R.I.P.

Our Chariot is breaking up, and pulling us apart…

Saturday Night was a great success, the ‘groove helped in raising £850 for WISH, a Midsomer Norton based charity for disabled children.

An awesome evening overall, the crowd were lovely, and we even enjoyed a good mosh at the end when Jonny’s Day Out covered Johnny B. Goode (Fantastic Harmonica work from Tom by the way!).

However, this week was also marred by a great loss. It’s with sadness and heavy hearts that we announce the death of our beloved Transit, Betsy, who passed away last week, on the way to the Louisiana in Bristol (Bad Timing).

With the help of Jack’s Mum and Dad and a host of other smaller, less manly vans, we still managed to get all the stuff there and had a great gig, teeming with emotion for the Groove Mobile. Thanks to Big Boat promotions for having us, it was a very fun evening!

But don’t worry, we’re already on the lookout for a newer model, whose shinier, sexier gleam will burn away the memory of our rustbucket, dirty, slow…I remember the day when I picked her up, covered in pigeon crap, INSIDE. In fact it was a piece of shit. Good ridance.
(But it was our piece of shit).

Yellowgroove.co.uk is now proudly standing on EcoHosting’s servers. As part of the switch EcoHosting are planting a tree for us to help offset the carbon produced by our website. It’s weird Simon really believed hamsters ran the servers, he was threatening all sorts while Ben tried to switch things over.

We’ll keep you up-to-date as we piece the site back together.

Update 05/05/11: Things are getting back to normal but we are working hard to replace all the old content, but this isn’t looking particularly promising at them moment.