Happy Kristmas

Have I ever turned a colour picture black and white except for the red hats?
Oh, not since last year.

Not that heads seemed to be the most common place for red and white hats...

Something about it being a little hot on stage,

That's Steve, up on stage, singing along, as he always does, Sweet Child of Mine, but I wish he'd change his name, we've got a Steve on guitar and a Steve on the drums, it gets so confusing. And he didn't even have a hat on his head.

Ah, what we need is a man with no sense of shame.
Which would be me...

Talking of which, lack of shame that is, not very Christmasy but...

Have yourself a very Happy Kristmas, and see you for some rock n roll in the New Year.

$34.95

That's what it cost. To fix that technical problem. The one that's rather restricted the supply of photos recently. But now we are back, with some photos, good ol' black and white film, yes Jane, these are some that you took, told you that camera was alright...

Colour film into the scanner when not eating mince pies sometime over the next couple of the days and red and white hats in time for Christmas. I promise. If all goes well!

Coming, promise

I'm sorry, continued technical failures on my behalf, so no pictures yet of rock musicians actually playing in red and white hats, which we did do, celebrating Christmas, most of the time, except in this picture, but it was good, wasn't it. Red and White hats soon. I promise.

red n white hats

Like that little film effect? I know, second time I've used it, won't use it again next time. Trouble is, I have to admit it, the pictures are digital and I did it all in photoshop, which is especially sad because I did actually shoot the hats, and the boys, on film as well. And not wishing them to go to waste...

I've just worked out how to make them big picture versions when you click on them so please do click on them for the big picture versions.

And the really good news is that we have now confirmed, it's...

Saturday December 8th
Little Havana
Changkat Bukit Bintang
8:30pm until late late late

Kristmas with Krude Too

Actually we do it every year, about this time of year, but it's the second time we've called it Kristmas with Krude and the second time when we'll all be wearing red and white hats...

Kristmas with Krude
Saturday December 8th
Little Havana
8:30 until late

sue three

You didn't think they were the only great pictures Sue took did you? Was just saving them for portfolio three...

and in plain black and white...

Wasn't going to be long before I turned one of Sue's pictures into Black and White was it? So I've done it. We'll it's of me. Sort of. And I like Black and White. Sorry Sue.

sue too

Like those pictures? If you've been paying attention you'll have guessed that they come from the lens and camera of Sue. So here's portfolio too...

but it was soo worth it...

Well, we enjoyed ourselves, great to be back on stage,
playing and rockin and rollin...

and watching you all up and dancing...

We promise we won't leave it that long again to the next one.

it's been too long...

We apologize, making you all go so long without the chance to get on up and shake it on down. But a man, a musician, such as our Les the Paul leaving town is always going to cause a few problems.

So we had a bit of a holiday and then did a bit of a search and we bumped into this guy called Steve. He's got a guitar. Or two. And plays them once in a while. More often, recently, because we've had him over, for practice, in the studio, and playing some more and getting in that dancing groove and now, because it's been too long, it's...

Good Things Come In Threes...

Just like that, another camera turns up, Janet this time with her real camera rather than my rubbish, and look, she's done it as well. our third picture of Steve.

And on the lighter side...

How about that for a double dose of hard core rock n roll?
Krude and The Benchmarx

Not that it's got a lot to do with the main theme of this post, except that, after it was suggested that I should be in front of, rather the behind, the lens, I think it was Sue who actually released the shutter. And the real point here is to show what Sue can do with a camera, when it's her own rather than my rather limited excuse for one.

Anyway, picture time, and first up, who else, but me!

It's the Benchmarx T-Shirt I'm sure, ensured lots of pictures of me, so much so that Stew felt that he had to come join me to get in the frame...

mmm...I think it's better he stays behind the keyboard...

It doesn't matter where you are, she's good enough to get the picture.
All the way over stage left...Gavin...

and, yes, even behind the drums, oh the boy won't know what's hit him, two pictures inside a week, it's Steve...

Panning out we have a couple of views of the band...

before we end with what it's really all about, you, the crowd, having a bit of a boogie...

Thanks Sue

Thank You

The final tally for Canada Rocks V is in and the Canadian Association of Malaysia raised RM10,810. The best yet for a Canada Rocks. Which we think means that you drank more beer than last year! Thank you for doing so; your well spent money will be used to support four non-government funded charities:

Home of Peace - a shelter of comfort and stability for girls between the ages of 4 to 17 who have come from squatter's villages.

Tara Bhavan - a home for approximately 30 boys and girls providing them with shelter, food and the hope for a brighter future.

Rumah Shalom - provides shelter for 25 children with tragic pasts who are 15 years of age and younger.

BAKIS - shelter for special needs adults.

The Dark Side...

Sue's brought her (very nice) camera along to a few of our gigs (and has very kindly just handed me a pile of CDs with all the pictures on, so expect to see some them here soon) but for some reason, on this night, she found my little pocket-sized thing lying around and tried to take some pictures with it.

Now Sue doesn't much like using flash and with her camera that's something she can get away with. But with my camera,

well things come out a little dark...

And yet there's something about them I rather like.

OK, even I admit that the last one's a bit of stretch but click on it, get the large version and view it in the right light...

More From The Fantasy Palace...

With the slightly small writing above, and the plethora of good pictures from our last two gigs this would seem like a good time for a reminder that you can click on a picture for a larger version.

This is also the time for me to thank, yet again, Janet and Jane for their sterling work with the camera. And thanks to Sue, who's work will be turning up in a post or two.

Hey, so dedicated to the photographic cause were they that they passed up good dancing to get the shots.

And they achieved the holy grail, the picture of the drummer!

The Hat Is Back...

As a very select few of you can remember and, now, thanks to the previous post (below), all of you can see, Hywel started his stage-life in a hat. A big black cowboy hat.

Why, no-one knows.

Almost as strange is that despite not having worn it in over three years, not a gig goes by without someone asking where it is.

Well last night was a special night, so
The Hat Was Back...


Hywel reports that it doesn't seem to accessorize with his Tintin T-shirts, that it's bloody hot and that it falls off a lot when he jumps up and down.
So it might be a while before it's seen again!

Five Years and a Day...

The first ever gig...

Krude's first ever gig was live at the Shamrock following the England - Argentina game.
And the only Englishman in the band wasn't hiding the fact...

Luckily for him the entire bar--and it was full--Helix were buying the beer--was supporting England as well. All except the two quiet Argentineans in the corner. Even the Welshman on the bass wanted England to win, just so that he'd have a friendly audience for his first ever gig.

Why he chose to wear the hat though, he doesn't remember. But then he doesn't really remember much, what with only dragging his flu-ridden body out of bed two hours before hand.

Which is also his excuse for standing at the back, rooted to the spot, rabbit in the headlights look on his face, all night long. All he can say is that he's not like that now.

To make up for Hywel, Steve looked the part but then he'd done this kind of thing before and, being Canadian, supports an American Hockey team, and doesn't really care about football.

You might have noticed that a week before the gig, when the invite went out, that the band hadn't quite got the name right. Crude. Who'd have thought of that? But by the night itself we'd worked out how to get it right...

And with that simple K, and the minor matter of a gig, Krude was born...

Oh, and England won.