04/02/2012

After a considerable break the Motus machine creaked back into life in late January for a gig at the wonderful Duck & Drake in Leeds, one of the best venues around as it has been for so many years now.  As always we had a fantastic turn out for the gig, which was a blast from start to finish.  The Duck faithful lapped up every song and it was one of those gigs where, if we had been allowed to, we would have happily kept on playing in to the early hours.  Tonight we are back in action at the Bull & Fairhouse pub in Wakefield, another top venue that we are looking forward to playing again after a great debut gig there last year.

We have been very busy in the meantime rehearsing and working up a few new songs in to the set.  This has been necessary due to an imminent personnel change within the band - not going to say too much on this subject at this time but as one chapter in the history of Motus draws to an end we are looking forward with total enthusiasm to the next.  We are fortunate to attract the attention of fine musicians who want to be a part of what we do, and we will keep doing this as long as we can, despite the advancing years!

More news on the ‘Motus MK IV’ reincarnation soon.  In the meantime, check out the gig guide and come out to see us soon. Any venues out there that are looking for bands please get in touch with me on 07837 405318, we still have some room in the diary!

Rock on!

Mike

26/11/2011

We have a new gig added for Saturday 10th December which is a new one for the Good Ship Motus - The Coniston in Idle rang us with a cancellation and we are delighted to step/wade in.  The Coniston’s web site (at the time of writing) still shows a Metallica tribute for that night but we are definitely confirmed...

It’s been a while since I updated this blog page, but there have been plenty of gigs, plus a revamp of the set list for the Autumn months which has strengthened the set even more I reckon.  Gig highlights in September were without doubt the Spat Out Of Hull MAG Rally which we ‘headlined’ on the Saturday of this all-weekend event.  The PA system was sublime and run by a really professional crew, and we played a blinder of a gig to a packed house.  Also I would have to mention the gig at the Duck & Drake in Leeds in late September which was just a total madhouse, without doubt one of the craziest gigs we’ve ever done and probably the most fun.  The Duck is one of THE best music pubs around, they have got the magic formula just right there.  Note that we’re back there in January for more fun and games...

October was a busy month with six gigs.  We played our first ever gig a t The Bull & Fairhouse in Wakefield which was fantastic fun and we made plenty new friends there, despite nearly setting fire to the stage lights and stinking the place out with a kind of sick burning rubber smell as the halogens went into meltdown...   We also had a blinder of a gig at The Boot & Shoe in Ackworth, this is another gem of a venue and the house was packed out as usual.  September was concluded by a gig at The Tarn in Yeadon, another good gig marred only by Graham’s amp (aka The Howitzer) blowing the speaker towards the end of the set.  We thought it was game over until we spotted a PA cab in the corner and we used that (with the blessing of the cab’s owner!) and got through the last few songs of the set.  This gig was also memorable for Graham’s viral conjunctivitis.  Ol’ Glue Eyes was struggling to see but he somehow managed to grimace his way through the set.  Not much fun I would imagine, the sacrifices we make, eh?!

November has been good too, with a brilliant gig at the Brewery Tap in Idle packed out with enthusiastic nutters in fine voice.  So all in all, music-wise, it’s been a great latter half of the year so far.  We have a pretty busy run up to Christmas, starting tonight at The Bankhouse in Pudsey.  Hope to see as many of you as possible at these gigs, and if you’re buying our standard round is a bottle of Becks Blue, a Vodka and tonic, a pint of ‘driving’ lager and some kind of obscure real ale.  Cheers!

Mike

05/09/2011

Greetings all. Is summer over or was it ever really here? Well it was (allegedly) and here's a rundown of what we were up to.

Busy run of gigs for MOTUS in August, did a few Charity festivals all of which were well attended and very enthusiastic. Few sound issues at one of them, to say the PA was not up to the task in hand would be like saying the kitchen pots and pans we had to use as drums were quality. NOT!!! All a bit Chad Valley really. Steve was well impressed. No names mentioned to protect the guilty.

Swill’s birthday party was epic and I can honestly say I am 100% sure he will have been feeling the effects of that one for a while. Good one bud.

Tarn Beer fest was awesome. Thanks to Aarron for making the sound happen big time. That rocked mate.

Festival for a friend was very moving, and a touching farewell tribute to one obviously loved and respected by many. We were honoured to play the event and a beyond decent sum was raised for the children's heart hospital in Leeds Infirmary.

Unfortunately a summer cold wiped out the Charmans and 1 gig was lost, sorry about that but we’ll see you back at the Tap in November. All got a bit messy but let’s not get hung up about all that here. We love the Tap and will be back!!!

Another charity festival at the Cross Keys saw us play to what we have always wanted to in the Keys… A full house. Rammed it was and we had a great gig. Once again raising some good cashola for the named charities. It would be great to see all and any back at the Keys when we play our own show there on Sept 30th.

SHOCK!! HORROR!!! MOTUS in rehearsal room scandal. Yes folks we finally got into a rehearsal room and have a few new tunes to subject you too. Quite the thing and we are excited to bump the set around a bit.

Sept and Oct are set to be busy months and we look forward to crossing paths with you all soon enough. Some great gigs in there to ease ourselves through Autumn so get on out of your pits and lets ROCK!!!

Uncle G

20/08/2011

GIG UPDATE - unfortunately we have also had to cancel tonight’s gig at the Brewery Tap in Idle due to Liz’s snotty cold and loss of voice.  Apologies for the late notice, however never fear there is still a band on tonight - Voodoo Soup have stepped in to cover for us so thanks to them and apologies to Spike at the Tap for letting you down tonight.

19/08/2011

GIG UPDATE - tonight’s gig at the Shipley Pride has had to be cancelled and rearranged for Friday next week (26th August) as our Liz has a nasty cold which has robbed her of her dulcet tones... The gig at the Brewery Tap in Idle tomorrow (Saturday 20th) is still on at the moment but Liz will see how she is tomorrow and if she isn’t able to do it then we will have to cancel this one too. If you were thinking of coming along, check this website for updates or ring the venue, or text me on 07837 405318 and I will let you know the score.

Cheers

Mike  

31/07/2011

Time for a round-up of recent gigs, as is customary on this ‘ere page.
July was a pretty steady month with only 5 gigs to look forward to, but each one was a cracker.  Hot, sweaty affairs they were too - on more than one occasion audiences were subjected to the sight of Graham in shorts and trainers, with black socks just to complete the fashion faux pas...

First up was a Friday night gig at the Boot & Shoe, always a highlight of our calendar and as usual the experience did not disappoint us.  Well, there were a bunch of young likely lads at the front during they first set who figured they were more entertaining than the band but they were soon put in their place by my good lady and then landlord Les...they soon decided to go drink elsewhere.  Great gig though as usual, and Graham got the sound spot-on.  Fantastic it was.  The following night we were back at the Victoria in Saltaire, a proper hot and sweaty one and despite a slightly under-par number of punters for the first set due in part to the boxing on TV it turned out, things soon picked up and we played an energetic second set to a full house.  Two late nights and total dehydration, Sunday was a lazy one in the Smikus household I can tell you...

The following Friday we were back at the Cross Keys in Morley.  A pretty good crowd were in and this gig was hugely enjoyable with lots of banter, Liz was on fine form.  The night after we were back at the Bankhouse in Pudsey and yet again we had a fabulous audience in there who made this gig really special, they gave us a huge lift and we played a blinder right there in front of the specials board.  

The following weekend we had a break from things.  Or at least the rest of the band did, I was filling in on bass duties for Hooson again at the Victoria pub in Saltaire while Graham and Liz and a big party of local revelers got completely drunk.  A fun night indeed.  The month of July was finished off with a surprisingly good gig at the New Roscoe in Leeds.  We have been worried about this venue for some time as audiences have dwindled alarmingly over the last 18 months or so, but this night was much more like the Roscoe of old with a brilliant audience who shouted, headbanged and danced away until well after midnight.  Maybe things are picking up here again, I do hope so.

So August looks promising and varied, with no less than FOUR festivals/charity fundraisers that we are involved with.  Check out the gig guide, all of these will be well-organised and highly entertaining with top band line-ups.  Try and get along and support these gigs if you can, bring the family along too.

Cheers, Mike

23/06/2011

Two gigs to look forward to this weekend, the first is a private party which we are looking forward to doing but there’s no need to disclose on here the details! On Saturday however we have another ‘public’ gig at the New Inn in Baildon, if this gig is half as much fun as last time then it will be a cracker!

In other news we are honoured to have been invited to play at the Boot & Shoe in Ackworth on Sunday 14th August in memory of drummer Paul Farey who recently passed away. This is a festival of sorts that is not only in memory of Paul but also to raise money for The Children’s Heart Surgery Fund, it’s free entry and kicks off at 2pm.  There is a fantastic line up of bands due to play including The Erics, Flatliners, Matrix and several acoustic acts too. Motus are due on stage around 8pm.

07/06/2011

So finally the new website is launched!  We did persevere with the old one for far too long, and I have been threatening to do a new one for some time but life has been hectic to say the least... As you can see, the new site is still very much ‘work in progress’.  In time we hope to add some more content and features on here, plus some of the best pictures taken by all you lovely people who bring such expensive cameras to our gigs.  

Facebook has proven a great way of communicating to you what’s happening and where we are playing, plus it’s a fabulous way of staying in touch with the people we meet at gigs.  However, you can’t underestimate the value of having a dedicated band website.  We have had countless booking requests from the previous website over the years and hopefully this new one will make it even easier to get in touch via the ‘Contact Us’ page.  So anybody out there who wants to ask us anything, use the form to send us a message.

I would like to apologise for the recent gig cancellations, all of which were out of our control, but were not publicised on the website.  The old site was inaccessible for a while so updates were not possible, we do hope nobody made a wasted journey to see us.

So, we have plenty of ‘confirmed’ gigs coming up.  The Duke William gig this Saturday is one we are looking forward to, our first gig there a few months back was fantastic, a great audience and we were well looked after by the management.  In addition to our regular venues, we have been asked to play several charity gigs in the Summer, all for good causes, which we hope you can attend.  All these events feature multiple bands and other attractions to raise money and are always great fun.  More info on these gigs will appear on this site soon.  

I will finish this first blog by saying we have new songs in the pipeline which we will be rehearsing up over the coming weeks to keep the set list fresh and varied.  Keep an eye on the Gigs page on this site for current gig listings, this does change all the time!

Rock!

Mike