Mission Log

2008

Friday February 15th 2008 The Acoustic Spacemen - David, Mick and Jon. The Institute Kelvedon. On Your Planet, Perpetual Insect Choir Part 1, Cosmic Blues, One Step, Everyday Cookbook, Turn the Tide, Brand New day (available for download, visit sounds)

Saturday February 2nd 2008 Cheshunt Classic Rock Club. Rising Light, On Your Planet, Cosmic Blues, Perpetual Insect Choir parts 1 & 2, Taking Control, Everyday Cookbook, Plainsong, Brand New Day, Turn the Tide - Mountain Jam - Turn the Tide (extracts available for download, visit sounds)

2007

Friday September 14th 2007 The Plough Inn Walthamstow. Rising Light, On Your Planet, Cosmic Blues, One Step (debut), Perpetual Insect Choir Parts 1 & 2, Everyday Cookbook, Brand New Day, Plainsong. Encore - Taking Control

Saturday July 7th 2007 Summer of Love 40th Anniversary Party, Kent's Place, Kent. Rising Light, On Your Planet, Cosmic Blues, Dear Mr Fantasy, Perpetual Insect Choir Parts 1 & 2, Taking Control, Everyday Cookbook, Turn the Tide, Brand New Day, Plainsong, Tomorrow Never Knows > 3rd Stone from the Sun. Wonderful, wonderful event featuring a field full of Deadheads in the beautiful, sunny Kent countryside. Also appearing, Silverwood, the Cosmic Charlies, Difford & Tilbrook, Barry Melton and the Green Ray. The only downside was a decidedly dodgy PA. John's first gig as a Spaceman. Reviewed in the Independent newspaper.

2006

2005 And 2006 In Retrospect
2005 was quite a busy year on the live front but the quality of the gigs in terms of venues and audiences left a lot to be desired, we seemed to be working very hard for very little reward. Tribute bands seem to fare OK but its difficult to get people to turn out for original music unless you are a hip young band, something we patently are not. We parted company with bass player Terry Willson in early 2006 and although we didn't particularly intend to take a long break it was October before we reconvened to play as a band, this time with John Starr on bass. The time off and John's playing sparked new enthusiasm and a desire to make an album out of the wealth of new material we have accumulated. Hence we find ourselves active once more in January 2007, with sessions planned to prepare for recording said material and live performances. Stay tuned for further transmissions.

2005

Sunday November 6th 2005 The Forum Tunbridge Wells. On Your Planet, Cosmic Blues, Perpetual Insect Choir Parts 1 & 2, Plainsong.

Tuesday October 4th 2005 The Plough Inn Walthamstow. The Acoustic Spacemen (David and Mick) supporting the Green Ray. On Your Planet, Glad To Be Back Home (debut), Your Eyes Are Looking Down (Help Yourself for Richard and Ken), Perpetual Insect Choir Parts 1 & 2, Cosmic Blues.

Saturday June 11th 2005 Pams Bar Brentwood. Rising Light, Cosmic Blues, Everyday Cookbook, Perpetual Insect Choir Parts 1 & 2, On Your Planet, Turn The Tide, Brand New Day, Plainsong

Friday May 20th 2005 The Twist Colchester. Rising Light, On Your Planet, Cosmic Blues, Everyday Cookbook, Taking Control, Perpetual Insect Choir Parts 1 & 2, City Song, Turn The Tide, Plainsong. Encore - Brand New Day.

Saturday May 14th 2005 Man On The Moon Cambridge. On Your Planet, Brand New Day, Cosmic Blues, Perpetual Insect Choir Parts 1 & 2, City Song, Little Peace At The End > In The Garden.

Friday May 13th 2005 The Standard Walthamstow. Rising Light, Cosmic Blues, On Your Planet, Everyday Cookbook, Perpetual Insect Choir Parts 1 & 2 (debut), Plainsong

Saturday March 26th 2005 North St Hall, Hornchurch. Rising Light, Cosmic Blues, On Your Planet, Everyday Cookbook, Brand New Day, Plainsong. Encore - Taking Control

Tuesday March 1st 2005 The Plough Inn Walthamstow. The Acoustic Spacemen (David and Mick) supporting the Green Ray. On Your Planet, Cosmic Blues, Brand New Day, Lazy Day (debut), Perpetual Insect Choir

Saturday February 19th 2005 The Standard Walthamstow. Rising Light, Cosmic Blues, On Your Planet, Taking Control, Everyday Cookbook, Little Peace At The End > In The Garden, Brand New Day, City Song, Plainsong. Encore - Turn The Tide (debut). Interesting gig. Initially it was supposed to be the Green Ray supporting Man, then US supporting Man when the Green Ray pulled out, then US headlining when Man pulled out at the last minute. In the event enough people still turned up to make the evening a success and what's more they liked us. We got to play our entire original repertoire, including the barely rehearsed new song, Turn The Tide, as an encore. Oh and Terry got to play in front of Man, Green Ray, Help Yourself bassist Ken Whaley who he first saw playing with Man in 1974 at the tender age of something teen.

Friday January 28th 2005 The Plough Inn Walthamstow. Rising Light, Cosmic Blues, On Your Planet, Dear Mr Fantasy (RIP Jim), Everyday Cookbook, Little Peace At The End > In The Garden, Brand New Day, Plainsong.

Saturday January 15th 2005 (Happy Birthday Ron!) The Twist Colchester. Rising Light, Cosmic Blues, On Your Planet, Taking Control, Everyday Cookbook, Little Peace At The End > In The Garden, Brand New Day, Plainsong. Encore - City Song

2004

2004 In Retrospect
The plan was to release Plainsongs and increase the frequency and spread of gigs to promote it. In the event 2004 turned out to be our slowest year to date due to various factors beyond our control that had begun to impact in the autumn of 2003. Still, the album did get finished and we were able to focus some effort on sending promo copies out to likely suspects, receiving some very encouraging reviews in return. Final mixing and mastering was completed in February and the album released on May 1st. Much fun was once again had at Chalk Farm and the Plough gig was a success in musical if not commercial terms. David and Mick tried out the Acoustic Spacemen concept for the first time, which was warmly received by the Green Ray and their audience and also fiddled with a number of new tunes during the year.

August 6th 2004 The Plough Inn Walthamstow. Rising Light, Cosmic Blues, Everyday Cookbook, On Your Planet, The Little Peace At The End > In The Garden, Taking Control, Plainsongs

July 24th 2004 Chalk Farm Cambridge. Set 1 - Rising Light, Cosmic Blues, City Song, Taking Control. Set 2 - Little Peace at the End, Brand New Day, Everyday Cookbook (debut), On Your Planet, Plainsong. Encore - Call Me The Breeze, Strange Light in the Sky

March 12th 2004 The Plough Inn Walthamstow. The Acoustic Spacemen (David and Mick) supporting The Green Ray. On Your Planet, Rising Light, Cosmic Blues, Brand New Day, Perpetual Insect Choir (debut).

2003

2003 In Retrospect
The year begun with recording sessions in the basement of the Croft in Saffron Walden. In a wholly DIY fashion the rhythm tracks for Plainsongs were captured on David's hard disk recorder thanks in large part to sterling work by Mr Ron One-Take Bennett. Improvised sections were captured using our own secret 'make it up as we go along methods' and various overdubs, underdubs and edits were completed over the course of the year. On the live front the year started with a bang, playing to our largest audience to date in support of Man at the Standard in Walthamstow. The Hermit was a big disappointment in audience terms but both the Colchester and Cambridge gigs worked out pretty well and the party at Chalk Farm was a blast. Around September those bad old 'factors beyond our control' reared their ugly head causing a hiatus in live work.

September 27th 2003 Man On The Moon, Cambridge. Rising Light (aborted due to technical problems), On Your Planet, Brand New Day, City Song, Plainsong, Cosmic Blues, Rising Light

July 26th 2003 Chalk Farm, Cambridge. Chalk Farm Groove, Rising Light, Cosmic Blues, City Song, Taking Control, On Your Planet, Brand New Day, Plainsong, Little Peace at the End > In The Garden. Encore - Rising Light, Call Me The Breeze, Brand New Day.

July 4th 2003 The Soundhouse, Colchester. Intro jam > Rising Light, Cosmic Blues, On Your Planet, Taking Control, Plainsong, Brand New Day, Andy's Ambient bit, Little Peace at the end > In The Garden. Encore - City Song

June 14th 2003 The Hermit Club, Brentwood. Intro jam / fixing the bass, Rising Light, Cosmic Blues, City Song, Plainsong, On Your Planet (debut)

February 22nd 2003 The Standard Walthamstow. Noodles > Rising Light, Cosmic Blues, City Song, Taking Control, Plainsong, Penumbra Scena > The Little Peace at the End > In The Garden

2002

2002 In Retrospect (see Background for the band's genesis)
Things all started in a rather haphazard fashion which in retrospect was probably the best way. Following the Standard gig we figured we had a band and were asked if we would like to play at the party in Willingale and Mark Eason's self promoted evenings in Tunbridge Wells, all of which gave us a low key-ish opportunity to figure out what it was we wanted to do. By the time we reached Brentwood in November we had an album's worth of original material and armed with the affordable wonders of hard disk recording technology decided that we might as well go ahead and make one.

November 22nd 2002 Pams Bar Brentwood. Intro jam, Rising Light, City Song, Cosmic Blues, Taking Control, Plainsong, Brand New Day (debut), Ambient Interlude > The Little Peace at the End > In The Garden. Encore - Quark, Strangeness and Charm

September 29th 2002 The Forum, Tunbridge Wells (minus Andy). Plainsong, City Song (debut), Cosmic Blues, The Little Peace at the End, In the Garden

July 28th 2002 The Forum, Tunbridge Wells. Intro jam, The Rising Light, Cosmic Blues, Taking Control, Plainsong, Outro jam

July 6th 2002 Willingale Village Hall. Rising Light, Tore Down, Plainsong > Cosmic Blues, Cocaine, Sunshine of Your Love, Call Me the Breeze

May 30th 2002 The Standard, Walthamstow. Intro jam, The Rising Light, Cosmic Blues, Plainsong > Gnome riff, Taking Control, The Little Peace at the End.

Pre Urban Space History...

 

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