Well, the gigs have started again – albeit a trickle for June before restrictions are lifted further. The Oil City Shakers (duo) gig at The Crook Hotel was a belter (with some surprise material!), and this Friday I’m supporting Eli and the Blues Prophets at Darlington’s Forum Music Centre, courtesy of those nice people at the Darlington R’n’B – sold out however…. Next up will be a trip to Sunderland with the OCS duo again – The Peacock, 287 High Street West, Sunderland, SR1 3ES. Might see you there? Check out the rest of the bookings here – July is hotting up!
Stromin’ The Castle 2021, Sat 4th sept, 2pm
Hey me and Ron have sneaked in with our duo, Oil City Shakers, at this year’s Stormin’ The Caslte North East MAG Custom Bike Show. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve played here now in bands (The Rhythm Bandits, The Bandits, Oil City Connection, Ma Kelly’s Boys) and with the OCS duo over the last 25 years or so, and I’m chuffed to be back aftert the COVID break. See you in the beer tent?
Globe Live Stream – thx!!!
Thx to all who watched The Globe livestream on Saturday (15th May). Probably my last live stream for a good long time if all goes well from now on. Thanks to Oil Slick Mick for some harp work on a few numbers, and a bit of harmony vocals too. It all helps.
The Globe is now a fantastic music venue – we must support it going forward. Community owned and just off the famous Scotswood Road.
BBB solo livestream from The Globe, 8pm, Sat 15th May
This is likely to be my last livestream for a while – and it’s from the wonderful community owned The Globe in Newcastle, as part of their livestream series. They’ve been doing fantastic things keeping live music alive so I’m hoping you can support me by subscribing to this event.
Details
Event by The Globe and Bad Bob Bates
Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 8 PM UTC+01
Public Anyone can attend
Bad Bob Bates is a veteran North East England musician and lives on the banks of the Tyne in an old stone house to the west of Newcastle/Gateshead. Fuelled by second hand 70s blues and r+b, topped up with alt country, Americana, psychedelia, punk/new wave and the current mash of garage blues/electronica and rock, he mostly plays across the bars, clubs and festivals of northern England, with occasional forays further south, up to the lowlands of Scotland, and across the water in the USA.
His solo shows involve massive sounding foot drums as well as custom made guitars from 4 to 6 string, and a good dollop of slide to boot, topped by his characteristic gravelly vocals. The songs veer from supercharged garage blues originals and covers to country laments, choc full of rants and observations on life, death, society, happiness and misery – often all rolled together as one.
After years of playing in bands (The Rhythm Bandits, The Bandits, Oil City Con
nection, Oil City Shakers, The Velvets, Ma Kelly’s Boys and more), BBB has been performing and releasing his own solo music since 2013, and you can find it all at https://badbobbates.bandcamp.com/ . As we move towards normality again he’s putting together a 6-piece band to showcase his original recordings to live audiences, but catching him solo will give you the raw, stripped back high energy BBB in full flight.
So, I’m hoping you can join me.
Gigs coming in….
So, maybe there’s light at the end of the tunnel. I’m getting some gigs in the book now for July onwards – great to be asked! Here’s hoping.
Also I have an earlier YouTube live Stream coming up on the 15th May from The Globe in Newcastle – it’ll be a pay to view proper quality production – more info to follow.
I’ve revamped my live set up a little and will be working on songs from the latest album, DeadBeat as well as pullling out some of the old favourites.
Maybe see you there? Check out the dates page for details.
February update – guitars, gigs, albums and stuff
Well, we’re still locked down so no gigs for the forseeable, and, probably like many of you, I’ve lost a few friends alomg the way. I think I’ve built four guitars for Bridge Street Guitars over the last year and completed my latest one for a custom order last weekend, so that was positive. I’ll sell the others when the world opens up again. Here’s a vid of my demoing the most recent one for the buyer. You can keep up to speed with my builds on the Bridge Street Guitars FaceBook page if you’re into that sort of thing.
I might work myself up to doing a couple of livestreams again sometime soon, so keep an eye on my facebook pages – Bob Bates and Bad Bob Bates
The new album, DeadBeat, is selling well and I’ve been doing well in the IBBA charts (Independent Blues Broadcasters). Hoping for a review in Bluesmatters magazine soon – fingers crossed. New songs already coming along for the next one.
I’m seriously considering putting a band together for a couple of DeadBeat full live performances once we get Covid under control and the world opens up again – watch this space. I’ll choose a couple of great venues for it. Any venues fancying a bit of BBB solo or even the full band when things are better, please drop me a line – check out the bookings page for the email contact.
Day job keeping me alive for income – hope you’re all doing OK out there. Stay safe.
New release, DeadBeat, available now!
Well, here it is, available as a download and hard copy CD from my Bandcamp site. I hope you like it….
“This one is for all the deadbeats out there— a collection of delusional rants, hopes and fears, and plaintiff reflections on 2020. There’s plenty of fun stuff in there too, especially if you like guitars and bars… Rock, blues, boogie and alt country to die for. Lots of new songs coming through too so hopefully this album will pay for the next!” BBB Nov 2020
Worldwide digital distribution will kick in sometime in 2021, once I’ve actually sold enough copies for real money rather than the paltry streaming payouts!
New album on the way
I’ve started recording my new album – at last! First day complete at The Old Church Studio in Thropton with Adam Forster on the desk and drums on the 13th August – two tracks in the bag (“Sundown in Santa Cruz” and “The Face In The Mirror”). I’ll be at Mill Studios in Alnwick from the 26th August for three days with Ally Lee at the desk, then back again with Adam in September all being well.
All contributions gratefully received via – paypal.me/BadBobBates
My Big Bedroom Thurs Aug 20th, 8pm UK time
Hey I’m live streaming (high qual vid and audio) from My Big Bedroom on Thursday Aug 30th from 8pm – 45 mins plus. Details here and the event itself will appear here 
It’d be soooo good to see you there, but I’ve have my begging bowl out to help pay for recording the new album. All contributions completely voluntary to paypal.me/BadBobBates It all goes towards the costs of recording the new album. Thx!!!
Tynedale Virtual Beer Festival 19th and 20th June
Friday 19th June, 8.15, Tynedale (virtual) Beer Festival. Starts 7pm and runs through evening. Similar set up Saturday 20th June. https://www.facebook.com/tynedalebeerfestival/
Check out the beer fest FB page for details. I’m on solo live streaming from 8.15 on the Beer Fest FB page, but the event runs on the 19th and 20th from 7pm each night. Local breweries arranging beer pick ups 🙂