Well, I’ve really got to say that the Bounty Hounds did a sterling job of folk rocking the socks off the good people of Bury St Edmunds, in St John’s Street on Saturday afternoon! What fun was had by all!

The Bounty Hounds outside Sunrise - June 21st 2008

Despite the persistent morning drizzle, the St John’s Street Fair saw a wide variety of street entertainment with plentiful support from traders’ stalls, local schools, fitness and dance groups, and townsfolk just getting on down there with brollies, pac-a-macs, sou’westers, the lot!
If you’d like a little taste of what was on offer go here >> St John’s Street Fair

As for the Bounty Hounds, we played for an hour and a half (luckily in the dry) to a fabulous audience of friends, family and unsuspecting passers-by, and I can honestly say there is nothing better than watching a whole bunch of people jigging about in time to our music, especially the lovely lady in purple singing “Smugglers” outside the newsagent - word perfect all the way! Way to go!

Highlights for me included the new song, “Wings of a Gull”, a whaling ditty which I like a lot - thanks Steve for suggesting it. John’s vocals had a growly seadog quality, with the off-beat rhythms driving the song along and a wicked twiddly fiddly little tune flying over the top. Most exciting for me though, is that I get to play a gruff accompaniment on the bottom C of my five string fiddle … it shivers me timbers!

Once again Steve didn’t drop a stick, although he did break one this time - my fault apparently for making him play with namby pamby jazz sticks to keep the volume down - hmmm ; ) Other technical difficulties included a wobbly high hat on the St John’s Street pavement, my puzzling loss of sound (easily fixed by a new fiddle battery) and the fact that Andy’s amp was located on the other side of the Sunrise shop entrance. This was all dealt with in a truly professional manner however, and the growing crowd gave us all a huge confidence boost. Thanks folks!

We chopped fairly big chunks out of our set along the way due to a lack of time, we misplaced a couple of verses due to a lack of memory, and the intro to “Raggle Taggle Gypsies” came as a surprise to all of us, not least to me when my left hand fingers decided to go on a little mini-break all by themselves! But on the whole, we played really well, stayed relatively dry, and most importantly, thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. A pile of 50 flyers disappeared to interested passers-by. Come on folks, we’re available for weddings, bar mitzvahs, funerals, festivals, gigs - whatever … well, within reason!

Finally, a big thank you to Sunrise for inviting us to play. We reckon we did you proud and hope we’ll be asked to return next year!

Here’s a little taste of our solstice set, with us playing Matty Groves…

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=44157344

So, the solstice is nearly upon us and the longest day is certainly not going unnoticed round these parts!

The Bounty Hounds are revving up for a massive street gig this Saturday 21st June, at the St John’s Street Fair in Bury St Edmunds. This annual event is organised by all the traders in this fabulous independent shopping street, and promises to be another successful day in the St John’s Street calendar . The road will be closed to vehicles from 8am until 6pm, making room for all sorts of family fun and entertainment, including the famous Benson Blakes BBQ, street stalls and a bouncy castle for the kids.

The running order of events is as follows:

10.00 - County Upper School 60s Band
11.30 - Green Dragon Borders Morris
11.30 - Fighting Fit Martial Arts
12.00 - Bury Starlets Baton Twirlers
12.30 - Green Dragon Borders Morris
12.30 - The Floozies
13.00 - Fighting Fit Martial Arts
14.00 - Bury Starlets Baton Twirlers
15.00 - Westley School Choir & Signing Choir
15.00 - The Bounty Hounds
16.30 - Hardstock 2 - Ten City Nation & Audacity

Let’s hope the weather is clement and that everyone has a brilliant time!
See you there!

2007 St John’s Street Fair with Samboomba

What a great venue for a daytime musical extravaganza!
On Sunday afternoon (1st June 2008), the circular bandstand at Elmhurst Park, Woodbridge was transformed into the perfect platform for showcasing a fine selection of folk musicians and bands as part of the 4th Suffolk Folk Festival.

The entertainment kicked off at midday with Kiss the Mistress, a wonderful trio combining a rare mixture of voice, cello, melodeon and bodhran. Ginny, John & Roy treated the audience to a rich tapestry of songs, tunes and rhythms, each delivered with professionalism and emotion.
Check out their website for dates and more info >> Kiss the Mistress

Next up were Cruel Folk, a multi-instrumented (at least 8 variations of string things on stage) and superbly talented duo, with a penchant for murder ballads, and a general theme of execution, battle and destruction. Paul & Sean delivered the goods (and a stupendous death count) with an immensely entertaining set, comprising traditional songs, original material (with a rude word!) and a whole load of yarns & tales.
Catch them this Summer at a folk festival or venue near you >> Cruel Folk

And so to yours truly - the Bounty Hounds…

The Bounty Hounds “chillin” in the park

As mentioned in a previous post, our set was chosen as an up-beat, sunny Sunday afternoon selection of foot-tapping, sing-a-long, “rock your socks off” tunes and songs. As it turned out, it was really bloody cold, and I have to extend a huge thank you to the hardy Suffolk audience who braved the diminished temperatures with their picnics in the park for the afternoon! Thank goodness for the lovely coffee stall (the ice creams weren’t bad either!)

Despite the temperature, our set went down really well, audience feedback was positive and it provided the perfect opportunity for a nice bit of PR (us being fairly new on the circuit and all…)

Brendan hands out flyers to impressed audience member Uncle Philip!

Highlights included Steve actually starting to drum at the beginning of the set “just in case”. No-one had told him we were starting and he thought it was still the sound check. Oops, sorry Steve!
Apparently, it was also Steve’s first open-air gig ever and, once again, he didn’t drop a single stick - seems to be getting a bit of a habit now! From where I was standing, the rhythms were solid and tight, and so were my knees this time - not too much jelly! A bit of looseness crept in everywhere else but Andy’s rocking guitar solos created a good diversion, and I think we just about got away with it.
So “well done us”, and I hope we get the chance to do it again next year!

Set over, time to relax and kick back to the superb close harmony a’capella delivered by Triangle. I didn’t catch the whole set (sorry folks), but what I saw of Sophie, Mim & Sue, who have been singing together and putting heart and soul into their songs for donkey’s years, made me smile a lot and think what fun they must have rehearsing together and giving such a performance. I was thrown a little by Sue’s voice - she sounds exactly like a friend of mine (Camilla aka “Patsy”) when she speaks, and even more so when she sings (despite never having heard Pats sing!) One of those moments when one can’t help staring!
Well done girls, quality performance!

And last but not least, we were treated to a thought-provoking set by the Simon Hopper Band. This was Simon and Leigh’s second visit to the Woodbridge Festival, performing an original set of Simon’s own songs, comprising a’capella, confident lead & rhythm guitars, combined with strong vocals. They were joined by Ramona on low whistle, fiddle, harp and cajon, aka “the box”. A top quality set of songs, bringing the entertainment to a close with a beautiful encore entitled “A body needs a body to hold”.

All in all, a brilliant afternoon of live music which, combined with the vast number of morris sides performing at various venues across the town on both Saturday & Sunday, made the 4th Suffolk Folk Festival a hugely successful event.
See you there next year?