News, gigs, pics.

Sweeney Astray playing at Cloudspotting Festival 2013.

Here's a copy of our e mail which was sent out to our mailing list this week. To join the mailing list sign up to reverbnation http://www.reverbnation.com/sweeneyastray or send an e mail to milltowncafe@gmail.com and request to join and I'll sort it for you.

Hi there again.

Just to let you all know that Adam from the Travelling Band has given us another Sweeney Astray gig at the Odd Bar on August 3rd, 2014. That's myself, Hannah on double bass and Anna (so far). So all say - wooo!!!

It had a good audience last time, an engaged audience that liked new music, and it's a nice atmosphere upstairs with the northern quarter on a Sunday night having a little buzz all of it's own. We did it last year and it was one of my favourite gigs without a doubt.

I myself, monsieur Mike Kneafsey, am playing When The Whistle Blows, in the foyer at the Guild Hall Preston at 1.45 this Friday. June the 13th,as part of the World War One commemorative Preston Remembers - a big council thingy do. I might do it to a backing track of Katie on the piano and in synch with a film - weird. Looking forward to that.

Plus it's going to be used as part of an educational film in schools so I'm pleased that I wrote it and it's being used for something positive and historical.

I wrote a blog on that song on the Sweeney Astray/Industrial hedgerows blog site. Hope you like it if you read it. We've had over 5,000 page views on that site since I started putting up posts. I'll keep posting during the summer. Sticking up pics, web links and songs. When summer starts...that is.

Sweeney play a busy support slot at the New Conti in Preston last Autumn

http://sweeneyastray1.blogspot.co.uk/

Plus I'm doing some private gigs on a pro basis, you understand, to add to the guitar teaching and keep myself in Chorley Cakes and Guinness, so it's time to brush up the covers that I love and hopefully the punters love too.

I put a couple of them up on soundcloud for a free listen  https://soundcloud.com/mike-kneafsey-songwriter/anna-go-with-him-cover . I also put them on fandalism which has proved decent for getting your music listened to. Over 7000 listens on that too. Not complaining.

Plus you get to listen to other songwriters and get that sparse online communication which is not up to real life for me but, well you know, it's the world we're in and it's something. Check out Stephanie O'Brien, great voice https://soundcloud.com/stephanieobrienofficial/crying-and-sleeping

and if you like folk, this has a nice sound...it all keeps you rolling as you put up with the semi pants experience of browsing (give me people any day). https://soundcloud.com/salt-house/little-birdie

Ok so finally I'm recording on Sunday with Elliott Dryden of the Remedy and Anna to try and complete an EP or album that I've been hoping to do since last October. So far we're working on Sketches of Elvis, Two people, Tales from Kawau, The Best Mistake, Without Your Love and History but I've got two new songs I'd like to add to that. We'll see.

Wish me luck.

PS would you mind inviting your friends to "Like" our facebook page. You can do it by visiting the page itself and going to the "invite friends" bit. It helps us roll.

https://www.facebook.com/SweeneyAstray

http://www.sweeneyastray.co.uk/

https://plus.google.com/+SweeneyAstray/posts

Sweeney playing at the Odd Bar in Manchester last summer.

Song to be used as part of WWI commemoration.

I WROTE this song about World War One. And when I wrote it I didn't really think about the fact that it was the centenary year of WWI and I didn't realise that the public was about to be bombarded with a media onslaught of rewritten history. History with 21st century anti-foreign patriot mentality, media products with a positive entertainment-pride spin and somewhere some sense of  genuine empathy for the mass slaughter of human beings in the name of barbaric power hungry Empires.

I just had the simple and perhaps over used idea of telling my grandad's story mixed in with snapshot lines about my own dad and a best friend's grandad's experiences. And I wrote it for the sake of writing a song as good and sincere as I could manage. The song is called "When The Whistle Blows" and is focused on contemplating your last moments alive before going over the top in the WWI trenches.

I also wanted to confront my own feelings about death and the loss of close relatives. How I still picture them and see them in dreams. What would they say to me now?

It turned out that it was topical and now it's been used as one song among others as part of a WWI Centenary "Preston Remembers" described in local council literature as a

 a partnership project that will join together the activities, exhibitions and events that are happening from 2014 – 2018 in Preston to mark the centenary of the First World War.

 http://www.prestonremembers.org.uk/about/find-out-more/

I will be playing this song live in the Guild Hall Foyer in Preston this Friday the 13th June, between 1.45 and 2.45pm.It will also be used as part of a historical film to be shown at a live performance and later in schools.

(to listen to a song click on the link for free streaming...https://soundcloud.com/mike-kneafsey-songwriter
or visit this site http://www.reverbnation.com/musician/mikekneafsey)

Ironically I ended up rewriting it to take out the word "shit" and to have the song take the perspective of a Lancashire soldier not an Irish man fighting as someone recruited from a country run by the British Empire.

I didn't have to think long about agreeing to these changes as I'm born in Lancashire of Irish extract and wrote those words as a fictional story based around my own relatives experience. I'll change it back when I sing it anywhere else. Plus I have a soft spot for the work of local councils with an ethos of providing educational services as part of a democratically elected body paid for by the taxpayer. It's part of our communal life and part of our shared wealth.

When The Whistle Blows, written by Mike Kneafsey

Out in the wind and the weather
Trying to find the feeling in my face
Digging a hole for my body
To keep it in one piece

I was a boy from the village
Press ganged and made to stand in line
Swimming in oceans of madness
I pray that it's not my time

PRE CHORUS: When you're facing a ll your fear
And a second takes your life
I say to myself, what do I know,
who am I? To take my one last look at the sky?

You were a mad Jack the captain
Fighting for the English against the Hun
In mud and bombs and clouds of yellow poison
Which way should a man run?

So put up the ladders get ready
Hold onto your rifles if you can
A million may die on this day today
For a piece of land

CHORUS: 

So think on all you know
And when that whistle blows ...it's over we go.

Running from Leyland to London
A man with no armistice in mind
The police and the priests they cannot catch you
If you make yourself hard to find

Gave up all my children to their future
Scattered all their lives and blew them free
Here's to good whiskey and the crucifix
Long may they carry me

So think on all you know and when that whistle blows
it's over we go...

And when you made it home
The town band played you in
Took you from the trenches to the mill
They teach us to serve
Put us to work
And then they train us to kill.

So put up the ladders get ready
Hold onto your rifle if you can
A million may die on this day today
For a piece of land.

So think on who you know
When that whistle blows
It's over we go...

 http://youtu.be/RYpeMWSfVLE  

Here's a youtube link to a live performance of the song When The Whistle Blows taken last summer at the Picnic In The Park open air gig run by Preston City Council in Avenham Park.

My grandfather Jack Kneafsey  was photographed in full officer uniform though I don't know whether its the Irish or British Army as I've been told he was an officer in both. Maybe he served in the new Irish army after the Irish Free State (26 of Ireland's 32 counties) became liberated from Britain in 1922. He was definitely, previously, a captain in the Royal West Kents in WWI. 

 http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D4383858

I'd never seen what he looked like before. And I don't know anything like the full truth of it.

I was also told by relatives that he won medals, served in the trenches and earned himself the nickname "Mad Jack." By all accounts he was quite a ferocious, hard drinking chap.

I wrote the song based on my imagined scenarios and my own knowledge of history combined with hearsay and family stories. It is not intended as more than an emotional interpretation with my own experiences of life providing any real feelings of a real fear of death. I'm using my imagination.

Plus my other grandfather on my mother's side of the family, ended up as soldier and then a mill worker. Along with other relatives from Yorkshire who also served in the military or worked in mills. My own father served in World War Two and my friend's Irish grandfather served in WW1 claiming he'd been press ganged from his village. He also took part in a mutiny. I used their stories as inspiration as well.

The main thrust of the song - the chorus itself was really about me finding a photograph of my grandfather and wondering what it was that he lived through. What made him the man he was? What was it like to face up to the likelihood of your death, steel yourself and force yourself to stand up and run into a living nightmare of destroyed flesh and bone in mud and violence.

What would it do to a man to come out the other side of that having witnessed so much bloodshed? How could you live after that? And how did it effect your children and their children? The generations to come brutalised by a war over imperial territory, where human beings were nothing more than fodder for the ambitions of a few.

I also felt that it was inspirational. 

If a man could be prepared to stand up and be killed then he might be prepared for anything in life. The chorus is also intended as a general digging deep for courage in the face of death.

But since I wrote the song and the feelings are mine first and foremost I can honestly says it also makes feel the bitter anger of knowing that the ruling classes would happily treat us, the millworkers and soldiers, the grandchildren of millworkers and soldiers as fodder. Military fodder or low wage fodder. As part of a big plan which shows no compassion for our humanity or our rights to a free and meaningful existence and a real wage. And a German soldier or an Irish soldier is no different to an English soldier. They are all just people being used as fodder to fight for the territorial ambitions and egos of our rulers.

We're either cheap labour to be grateful or expendable hardware to be used in a war. 

(a scene taken from the film version of Friday Night, Saturday Morning - very apt - don't let the bastards grind you down).

Incidentally....

I will be doing some solo sets at private functions this July as well as playing at Cloudspotting Festival.

Please click on the links and like our Facebook Page. https://www.facebook.com/SweeneyAstray

We also have an EP for sale - http://sweeneyastray.bandcamp.com/releases

Free music to stream and listen to...http://www.reverbnation.com/sweeneyastray

And an official website...http://www.sweeneyastray.co.uk/

Sweeney Astray (double bass/vocals - Hannah Dacey; drums  - Anna Ashworth; lead vocals/guitar - Mike Kneafsey) will play their next live gig at the Oddbar in the northern quarter Manchester on August the 3rd. 2014.

Here we are playing the Oddbar in 2013.

Meaning of the Song (lyrics and links): When The Whistle Blows

When The Whistle Blows.

Taken from a BBC archive.

Chorus - 

So think on all you know

for when that whistle blows, it's over we go.

I didn't write the song "When The Whistle Blows" for WWI Remembrance. I wrote it because a relative gave me a photograph of my grandfather in full officers uniform with my grandmother. I started to wonder what it was like to be a captain in the West Kents and how he earned the nickname "Mad Jack Kneafsey" in the trenches of WWI.

To see Sweeney Astray playing this live at Preston's Picnic in the Park summer 2013 click on the youtube link below (an amateur recording, it features Rob Kentell of the Susie Jones Band on mandolin).

http://youtu.be/RYpeMWSfVLE

A version was recorded by Rob Kentell at Sunnybank Studio around January 2014 and is available for a free listen on soundclound (click on the link below). This version features Katie Ritson on second vocal and piano and was commissioned by South Ribble Borough Council and Lancashire County Council for use in an educational film.

 https://soundcloud.com/mike-kneafsey…/when-the-whistle-blows

A Description of Going Over the Top:

An offensive would start with a huge onslaught of artillery fire on the enemy line. This was designed to break down barbed wire defences, blow gaps in the opposing trenches and kill enemy soldiers. On the commanding officer's whistle soldiers in the front line climbed 'over-the-top' and with bayonets at the ready they advanced into no-man's land, facing a heavy barrage of shells and machine gun fire as they went.

'...the Order comes down, 'Cigarettes Out and no noise' and then you know you have not many minutes to go before the terrible clang starts to assist you in that terrible task you have before you and behold it is hard! Every man for himself, and not one must shirk his duty, but no never a man thinks of doing such a thing as that. He knows what he has to do and leave it to him, he will do it with all his heart. And would you think for one minute that there is a smile on his face? "Yes, there is," and the words come from his mouth, "Best of luck to you old mate, let's hope you will make a good job of it."'

Pte G Ward, 1916

(Taken from BBC Schools Online World War One - still a public service which provides free information for educational purposes).

"In World War One an estimated 68 million men were mobilized by the warring powers. Of these, an estimated 10 million died in battle and a further 21 million suffered wounds."

http://youtu.be/Xa9EK-PfyF8 youtube link to film of WWI soldiers going over the top.

When The Whistle Blows, written by Mike Kneafsey performed by Sweeney Astray.

Out in the wind and the weather
Trying to find the feeling in my face
Digging a hole for my body
To keep it in one piece

I was a boy from the village
Press ganged and made to stand in line
Swimming in oceans of madness
I pray that it's not my time

PRE CHORUS: When you're facing a ll your fear
And a second takes your life
I say to myself, what do I know,
who am I? To take my one last look at the sky?

You were a mad Jack the captain
Fighting for the English against the Hun
In shit and mud and bombs and yellow poison
Which way should a man run?

So put up the ladders get ready
Hold onto your rifles if you can
A million may die on this day today
For a piece of land

CHORUS: 

So think on all you know
And when that whistle blows ...it's over we go.

Running from Dublin to London
A man with no armistice in mind
The police and the priests they cannot catch you
If you make yourself hard to find

Gave up all my children to their future
Scattered all their lives and blew them free
Here's to good whiskey and the crucifix
Long may they carry me

So think on all you know and when that whistle blows
it's over we go...

And the town played you home
And you crossed the Irish sea
Took us from the trenches to the mill
Taught us to serve
Put us to work
And then they train us to kill.

So put up the ladders get ready
Hold onto your rifle if you can
A million may die on this day today
For a piece of land.

So think on who you know
When that whistle blows
It's over we go...

Full Meaning of the Lyrics

My grandfather Jack Kneafsey  was photographed in full officer uniform though I don't know whether its the Irish or British Army as I've been told he was an officer in both. He served in the new Irish army after the Irish Free State (26 of Ireland's 32 counties) liberated itself from the British Empire in 1922. He was definitely, previously, a captain in the Royal West Kents in WWI. 

 http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D4383858

I was told by relatives that he won medals, served in the trenches and earned himself the nickname "Mad Jack." By all accounts he was quite a ferocious, hard drinking chap.

The third verse is based on knowledge of how my dad, uncles and aunties ended up scattered over Ireland as children growing up. Along with the story that when Jack Kneafsey was finally knocked over in London and killed, his body was found with a set of rosary beads and a quart bottle of whiskey. 

The middle eight is also true, apparently, about the town band being paid to play an  inebriated Jack home after a mighty drinking session (again I'm not certain of the facts). 

Plus my other grandfather on my mother's side of the family, served as a soldier and later worked in the mills. Along with my Irish great grandmother,  my nan, uncles and aunties.

My own father (who left Dublin when he was 16) served in World War Two and my best friend at primary school had an  Irish grandfather who served  in WWI. His grandfather, an O'Hanlon, claimed he'd been press ganged from his village by British soldiers. He also took part in a mutiny and ended up serving in India.

I used their stories as inspiration as well.

The main thrust of the chorus - what was it like to face up to the likelihood of your death, steel yourself and force yourself to stand up and run into a living nightmare of destroyed flesh and bone in mud and violence?

What would it do to a man to come out the other side of that having witnessed so much bloodshed? How could you live after that? And how did it effect your children and their children?

 The generations to come brutalised by a war over imperial territory, where human beings were nothing more than fodder for the ambitions of a few.

I also felt that it was inspirational for everyone in the general sense.

If a man could be prepared to stand up and be killed then he might be prepared for anything in life.

I also makes feel the anger of knowing that the ruling classes would happily treat us, the millworkers and soldiers, the grandchildren of millworkers and soldiers as fodder. Military fodder or low wage fodder. As part of a big plan which shows no compassion for our humanity or our rights to a free and meaningful existence and a real wage.

Mike Kneafsey (Nov.2015)

Sweeney Astray plan to launch their new double A sided single Sunshine and Swimming/The Rooks of Kathmandu this Christmas.

I also have two solo gigs coming up on Friday 21st November and Saturday November the 22nd when I will perform When The Whistle Blows live. And also plan to bring out this recording as part of a CD single/EP available to buy at gigs and online as a download. Very soon.

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 21st Mike Kneafsey (of Sweeney Astray) plays live with Marta Canellas (cello) at Gregson Lane Folk Club, Lancashire.

Click on the link below for the facebook event.

Mike Kneafsey with Marta Canellas Live at Gregson Lane

Tickets £5.
Support tba (tickets available by clicking the link below)
https://www.wegottickets.com/event/296982

Mike Kneafsey will also be playing a live solo set at the Rock Out For Africa gig at Korova Arts Bar & Cafe on Saturday November the 22nd (click on the link below for more details)

https://www.facebook.com/events/1480641182198384/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming

Musical Reflections: January 2014

Preston city centre, Lancashire, England. View from the bus station roof.

OK so we've made it into 2014!

Sweeney Astray: Trying to kick out those January Winter blues and head for the magic of gigs and more live performances in the north of England. More songs to sing, people to meet and those elusive recordings I feel so desperate to get out there into the world. As everything, it all depends on how busy all the full time musicians are and when can they make it into the studio. Eventually you'll be able to buy a better quality double A side single at least and have a free download.

Here's what we're up to, gigwise and recording wise. A few bits and pieces to start us rolling, keep us playing,  before we start planning for the summer. Expect these to be the first of many gigs in 2014.

Liverpool February the 13th (Thursday)

First new gig of the year is in the city of Liverpool, home of the Beatles and all that palava, at a venue called the Lomax...http://www.lomaxliverpool.com/ courtesy of our friend Mr George Borowksi. A charismatic and well known north west musician and songwriter. This will either be a solo or duo gig with myself (Mike Kneafsey) and Katie Ritson on vocals, piano or guitar.

Chipping Village February the 27th (Thursday)

Beer, the sound of sheep and another solo performance in the back room of a village pub with a lot of special Lancashire friends that we've known for years. Cellist Marat Canellas, over from Barcelona, may join me on a couple. At the Tillotson pub.

Chipping, Lancashire and a bunch of sheep.

Support gig for Midge Ure of Ultravox, February 28th (Friday)

I'm proud to say Sweeney Astray will be supporting Midge Ure of Ultravox fame in Hurst Green on Friday the 28th February. That's brilliant because after all he did play to a 100,000 people at Live Aid (televised to billions over 150 different countries) - what an opportunity for us to play with someone with so much experience of international success. It's happily completely sold out.

Sadly for our drummer Anna Ashworth, Midge didn't want a full band support act so myself and Elliott Dryden (bass) will be performing our live set.

Blackburn, March 2nd (Sunday)

Again we're hoping for a full band performance with Elliott on bass and Anna on drums possibly joined by Katie Ritson inside the enormous Reidy's Guitar Shop on their stage. The set will be filmed so you'll be able to see it afterwards. Starts at 3pm. Free entry.

Manchester, the northern quarter, March 22nd (Saturday)

Live at the Ducie Bridge pub, on Corporation Street: a full band performance (with our Rubi Records friends also playing on the night, the Susie Jones Band). We're on late, finishing the  night at 11pm  which suits me fine being a little bit nocturnal anyway.

Ducie Bridge, Manchester

Acoustic Village April 26th (Saturday)

A full band performance sharing the night with the Gren Bartley Band and more at the Grand venue Clitheroe. Another chance to play on that great stage.

Stonyhurst College March 27th (Thursday)

Doing a solo charity gig at the nationally famous college with Marta Canellas joining me on cello for some tracks.

 Check out the new Rubi Records website, Sweeney Astray gigs are also listed on our reverbnation site and please can you like our facebook pages as it helps us to know there are people out there who like our music and connect us. Just click on the links below. See if you like our music.


http://www.reverbnation.com/sweeneyastray

https://www.facebook.com/SweeneyAstray

http://rubirecords.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/SusieJonesBand

Sweeney Astray is...

Mike Kneafsey - songwriter/vocals/guitar

Katie Ritson - vocals/guitar

Hannah Dacey - double bass/vocals

Anna Ashworth - drums/percussion

Elliott Dryden - electric bass

Sweeney Astray playing support for Mad Dog McRea at the New Conti, Preston.

Sweeney Astray played at the New Continental pub in Preston as support for Mad Dog McRea in November 2013, as support for George Borowski and the Fabulous Wonderfuls at the Middle Earth Beer and Music Festival and as the main act at an Acoustic Saturday at Korova Arts Cafe and Bar in Preston.

The last session of recording on No Tomorrow with myself, engineer/producer Rob Kentell and Katie Ritson on the piano felt magical. Looking forward to the finished versions of that song along When The Whistle Blows. Hannah Dacey plays double bass on both tracks and Katie sings the harmonies. The combination was exciting and moving to listen to.

Overall I've had months of struggling to keep it all rolling with so many obstacles in the way including a lack of money, sometimes lack of sleep and food even. And that's aside from the hard work of getting everybody together for gigs and recordings with their commitments and lack of cash, time and transport.

Sometimes it's poor sound equipment, other times just spiteful rivalry and the sheer difficulty of engaging an audience of jaded strangers burnt out by the bombardment of sales and noise generally. When we have had the chance to play a good gig it's been a fantastic experience which makes it all worth while.



That's how it goes sometimes.

OOver the years George's association with an ever-growing list of artistes as diverse as PIXIES MEATLOAF PAUL BRADY SAD CAFE THE WATER BOYS TEENAGE FANCLUB BONNIE RAITT RADIOHEAD the list goes on, has earned him the highest level of respect from those on the 'inside' whilst also being able to reach and appeal to those on the 'outside' with his rarefied combination of presence, performance and beautifully crafted words of art. Music with a message for all, delivered with a passion - George's songwriting winds it's way through pop, rock, country, blue suede tunes in true rock 'n roll style, socially aware masterpieces with haunting lyrics and those lump-in-the-throat power ballads which carry that definitive GB stamp.

But let's face it we've not started looking for gigs yet. These are just the ones we already had. So we'll keep you all posted as we go along. Once we have an official press package sorted and a double A sided single then things may turn out differently on the gig front. We are planning to get beyond the North West of England much as we love it, rain an all. So wish us luck.

http://youtu.be/lmtryivTLNE (recent clip of Midge Ure)

http://www.reidys.com/p/events/

double bass player Hannah Dacey

(left to right: Anna, Rob Kentell, Susie Jones, myself, Elliott, Katie)

I like to wear these jeans, these kind of boots and a black coat until they fall off me and then replace them like for like.

Incidentally...

So how do you survive the fake 21st century world of marketing and intense self promotion as a musician? How do you preserve the soul in all that manipulation and ruthless dishonesty? The ridiculous vanity and delusional ego greed for a mythical fame and fortune. 

For me it's a hybrid of an Irish catholic conscience in the humanist sense, a belief in social democracy, social planning, education and public service, buddhist mediation practice, and a full blown Marxist view of the media, marketing and advertising as serving the requirements of maintaining the unearned wealth and power of elites.

Obviously the corporate ideal, prevalent in the music industry, of profit as the bottom line is one which kills the integrity of art, stifles talent in favour of short term, risk free mediocrity and helps kill the planet too.

I prefer deferred gratification to dumb entertainment in all music and art for the sake of cultural evolution and progress. And I'm not convinced that indvidualist not-being-told-what-to-do materialist pleasure seeking is nothing more than unrestrained self seeking greed. The mainstream path we're encouraged to take and rewarded for taking. The personalised version of corporate behaviour as it were. Presented as the smart and realistic option.

In a different society or even in this one, I'd like to earn better money through merit and work (any work not necessarily through music) then pay my taxes in a progressive tax system. Or put it another way - play fair, be honest and love one another - it makes the world go round.

Given a chance, I'd do a proper job preferably in the public sector or education if it existed for me.

Can't say it clearer than that.

Rolling news...forthcoming single, Midge Ure support, gig this Saturday!

Where to start? I need a brew first.

A lunch time trip to the corner shop for a tin of beans, a loaf of sticky white bread, toilet roll, pint of milk and the Guardian newspaper, is all part of the rugged glamour of urban living in the north of England. Rock n'roll.

Plus I'm raring up for a trip to Manchester's Academy 2 to see the Levellers tonight. A heroic musical inspiration for all the soul survivors of the 21st century intent on resisting the daily economic inequality drive and its planet killing side effects. Good tunes and fierce comradery for all.

And of Sweeney!

Hannah Dacey is back from London with her double bass, she's borrowed an even better one from the Royal College of Music and has trained more intensely in the art of playing and performing, with some new experimental string sounds lurking in her repertoire which fairly blew my mind.

She made it into the studio to lay down tracks for three Sweeney songs at Sunnyside last night with the help of producer Rob Kentell and musician with the Susie Jones Band at Rubi Records. I'm very happy with the sound and feel of them and we're hoping to realease a double sided downloaded online/radio single by early 2014.

This is before we even record the now EP Hope In Exile. Again with a target date of Easter. There's no shortagage of songs it's all about making time between scrapping for cash. It's about organising Katie, Hannah, Anna and myself into sessions when we live such busy musical lives.

Tomorrow we'll be meeting up in my Preston flat, all four of us, for a pre gig practice of the new set. Thankfully, a friend has brought me a Christmas Tree and I have hoovered the rug already, so we should feel jovial up here. (can't say I've decorated it like).

Because we're performing live at the Korova Arts Cafe & Bar at 9pm on Saturday December the 21st in Preston as part of the Saturday Acoustic night. It's going to be followed by a Christmas Party involving shovel loads of local musicians. The gig will also follow on from a theatre performance upstairs - so expect it to be busy, busy, as there is a chance that actors and musicians will mingle and bolster the crowd with extra creativity and winter body heat!

At this point I have to mention  our last fantastic night at the Middle Earth Beer and Music Festival last Saturday at a large village hall in the deep of Lancashire hobbit countryside. Apart from seeing so many friends we've been organising gigs, playing for  and drinking beer with (well I have) for years. Apart from enjoying a really fired up, much tighter set with Elliott Dryden of The Remedy standing in for Hannah (very cool player - and thank you Elliott) , Katie Ritson and Anna on full kit. I have to mention Manchester's George Borowksi and his band, the Fabulous Wonderfuls.

George is well known among the most famous of Manchester musicians for being a charismatic force for musical soul and once again truly inspired the audience not just to enjoy the music but to care about each other as human beings. And then proceeded to give my songwriting some massive public praise on the microphone, which meant a lot to me. It took about two days to sink in but it really helps to have such warm hearted encouragement from someone you admire and respect. Thanks George.

He gave me permission to use a similar online quote on the Sweeney Astray sites and along with the support from Rob and Susie at Rubi Records, it's the kind of boost which makes us all feel more opitimistic about our gigs and recordings than ever before.

Finally we are happy to say we've been offered a support slot with Midge Ure of Ultravox in February 2014 plus another bunch of gigs - so watch this space - as they say.

Mike Kneafsey

Can you please like our facebook page... https://www.facebook.com/SweeneyAstray

free downloads from http://www.reverbnation.com/sweeneyastray

visit our homepage http://www.sweeneyastray.co.uk/

and youtubes...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoMM36l3Xsc