Do Nothing at the Belvedere 22/12/2007: Youtube

7th January 2008. OK you got it, FES are no more. We had the offers of more gigs this year, including one with 999 but unfortunately it's not happening. No blaming. Some of us will be back.........thanks to everyone over the years, and especially to Gaz and the Distractions who got us out to play one last time. Everyone else: you know who you are. RIP FES..................

27th November 2007: Sorry about the lack of messages, but there's been nowt to tell. Whamfest of course, was a non FES event, with Rich being unable to play as he lost his voice.....
We are playing again though - 22nd Dec 2007 at the Belvedere in the Mighty Biiish.  We're on at about 8, have nough time for about six or seven songs, so probably the set from the non Wham thing, seeing as we learnt those....you never know, we might give Last Christmas an airing. Ha ha.

26th June 2007: First practise last night, just the guitarists, went well....learned 8 songs, 4 of ours and 4 covers, for Whamfest. I think we're gonna be playing in the afternoon, for about half an hour. More gigs to follow this one though! Buttfakka, West Park Mustard, Bubbletank, F.U., Bad Times, Do Nothing, Oldage Kicks and Blitzkreig Bop. Any requests?

12th June 2007: We're playing Wham Fest 07 at the Malt Shovel at Wham nr Bishop Auckland on 21st July (if the practices go OK!) not sure of any times yet.....
I'll post a Wham Fest web address asap.
Durham FM have played us about 4 times in the last few weeks...bizarre!

15th May 2007: Added another pic from the Summer of Love 1994 (the Barn gig). Durham FM played Older..Budvar again on Sunday after a  text request....
 

7th May 2007: Over the last couple of weeks Durham FM have been playing tracks from the last EP, which started a "where are they now?" frenzy (?) ...The Jinx from the station has been playing it on his Punked show on Sundays (7 till 10)....After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing Gop was interviewed last night live on air....didn't hear it myself, but apparently it went pretty well, and as a result, it looks like we could be playing again.....but don't hold your breath.!!

For more madness please have a look at Richie's Myspace page...

DVD news: The DVD from Christians in 2001 is done, just waiting on Gop to do the sleeves. Any one who wants one can email me and you can have one for a couple of quid (to cover the cost of a DVD and sleeve and p+p)......and the EP is still here...FREE of charge, so that would be a CD EP and a DVD for 2 quid....can't be bad??
 

October 10th 2006:  Myspacepagecreated 

September 18th 2006: The news everyone is waiting to hear.....FES are playing another gig! After a drunken get together at Witton Castle's "Stormin" earlier this month, we decided it was time we had a laugh and played again, so a gig has been booked for 5th December (it's a Tuesday!) at the Cumberland Arms in good old Bish. Who knows, if we enjoy it, there may be more. Don't expect any new songs, just 45 m ins of the old stuff, and some covers....now all we need to do is rehearse! Now where did I put that bass....
 

May 10th 2005:Had a band meeting last week. The Retrospectacles thing is definitely going to happen, as a 2CD/DVD package, with songs going as far back as our first ever rehearsal in January 1992 (Money), right up to a brand new recording of Testicular Fortitude, with other lost classics like Just Like the Film, Tidal Beauty, Soul Mate, A Choice of Three Evils, Waterproof (Felix the Cat), and maybe even some songs we rehearsed as Billy No-Mates when Richie had gone AWOL in 98/99, like Stargazer, and Choose, Please, but we've not found those tapes ......yet....
Other news - looks like there might be a couple of gigs on the horizon - Richie is planning a party for his 40th this year, and want us to retread the boards at that, and we're talking about playing again, but doing songs we've not played for ages, or ones that we only rehearsed. We'll see....

April 2005. Nothing on the gig front, but we have been working on a couple of releases, which may see the light of day eventually. One is a 2CD compilation called Retrospectacles (geddit?) featuring at least one version of almost everything we've ever done, from 92 to 2003/4. Includes demos/live versions and rehearsal tapes. Classics like Sleep Awake Trans Kid, Pirates, Keeping Down With The Jones', and covers like Blitzkrieg Bop, Slack Motherfucker et al.... The second release is a DVD of our gig at Christians Bar in May 2001 (called possibly Ho Ho Let's Go )that turned into a karaoke fest. Guest spots from Snobby, Nev, Hopey, Kev, and of course, the mighty Gus! Also features our Ramones covers in honour of the late, great Joey Ramone, who died earlier that year. Email me for more details.  You never know they might even be available this year!!

November 2004. Bonfire Night gig at the Town Hall went pretty well. Nice to see some new, young faces in the crowd (Sam Hill and friend), but a poor turnout overall. Still everyone enjoyed themselves (I think).Let's not leave it a year next time??

October 28th 2004. Rehearsed tonight for the first time in nearly a year to try and sort out the set list for next week, and all went surprisingly well! We're gonna play a 40 min set, with quite a few of "our" standard covers in there, as it's a punk night. Should be good. See news page for the set list..

October 19th. Everyone has confirmed they can make the Bonfire Night gig, so it looks like we'll be playing a short set there. As it's specifically a punk night I think we might be doing a covers set, but you never know????? Tickets are available at the Town Hall, and I think they are £4.00. Last entry on the night is 9.30 - if any one remembers the Children in Need gig last year, it's strictly 9.30, so better get there early. Plus we'll all want a drink so I think we'll get our bit over by 10.30ish. See ya in the pit (?)
We're rehearsing this Friday (22/10) so I'll report in after that..

October 18th 2004. Short notice, but it looks like we're playing the punk night at the Town Hall on Bonfire Night. Not sure of the details exactly yet. More to follow. Need confirmation from everyone that they can/will do it. Still no news on the Dave tribute gig, but hopefully if we're all together rehearsing for Bonfire Night, we'll get that sorted too.

July 2004. OK, it's been a long time coming. No-one much enjoyed the last Town Hall gig (and that's just the band), so we haven't really had the get up and go to sort anything else out. A few people have asked if we're playing again. Ever. Well I don't think even the rest of FES know that. I think there will be at least one more gig. Our good friend Dave died a few weeks ago (see below), and we want to celebrate his life by having a memorial gig in his honour. Play a few silly songs, get blinding drunk, and try and raise a few quid for cancer research. I know no-one much reads this site, but if you do, and want us to do this, get in touch. Not sure where it will be or when (hopefully September??), but we just want to make sure he goes out with a bang. See ya there..

June 2004. Sad news Dave Johnson, who as well as being our mate, was a supporter of the band, and an all round top, if rather strange, bloke, died on the 15th after a long battle with cancer. He will be missed, and not forgotten. RIP mate. Here he is a few years ago. Anyone who knows him will remember this image: Red lumberjack shirt, cheeky, idiotic grin, and a pile of empty pint glasses in front of him. You can check out more about Dave at this site - www.riffs.8m.com (you have to wait a while for it to load.)

In more sad news, Nicky Mackley, who again supported us in the early days died two days later. She was one of the nicest people you would ever meet. A sad, sad week.
 

November 2003. 2 weeks to go to the Children In Need gig at the Town Hall, and at last FES have been to their home of rehearsals - Henknowle Community Centre. All the old stuff is up and running, as usual, and expect a couple of new covers for the night, as it's supposed to be a party. Maybe we should give Gus his next 15 mins of fame? The BBC have even been in touch asking if we could play at their outside broadcast in the area on that night, but obviously that's impossible, as all our gear will be in the Town Hall. Doh! Anyway at least we've practised, Heza is back up to speed, and all is well. See you there!!

September 2003. New site online with new web address. I know it doesn't look that different yet, but hopefully that will change. Coming soon.... "Ask Richie" for all your problems solved. A Claire Raynor for the 00's.
I'm gonna try (again) to get some MP3s or wav files on the site of the newer songs. Anyone else got any ideas for what they want on here? Let me know........

November 2003. A way ahead I know, but we've just been booked for another punk rock extravaganza at the Town Hall, this time for Children In Need. Don't have any details, I only just found out, but should be good. All being well, we'll have our album ready by then too, but don't hold yer breath, coz it all depends on whether or not Hez is fit and well, after his little accident - he broke his wrist, pretty badly, and it's taking a while to put right. He's undergoing physio at the minute and can play a bit (sitting down!), so fingers crossed we'll be able to play. Looks like it will be the Friday nearest the 22nd November. Support Autonomy and Craggsy's Mobile Disco will be there for your entertainment... Check out the latest issue of Bishop Auckland Town Hall "events"magazine, or go to www.durham.gov.uk/bishopaucklandtownhall for more info.

We're part way through recording the full length CD, but we could be doing a Boston here - 4 years between releases! Hope not. As of 3rd September we're part way through Bubbletank. Only 10 more tracks to go. We do actually have a couple of new tunes almost sorted, but not practised live yet, so once they are done we'll be recording those too.
 

Other News:

Older News:

Town Hall (February) went well, playing to an unknown audience. Chowder Boy premiered a couple of new songs which were excellent...
We played yet another old song - Choice Of Three Evils, which was revamped and sounded good, though it was played at twice the normal speed (go on Gary!!)
We gave away 80 odd CDs (see below) of the new EP, which was good. If anyone actually listens to it that would be even better!!
Should have some photos of this online soon..

We actually/finally have a couple of new songs almost ready. One is probably gonna be called Heavens To Betsy, though that is subject to change as usual. The other don't have no name yet boy. Fingers and all other appendages crossed we'll have these ready for the next gig...
 

We finally have copies of our demo available if anyone is interested. It's a four song thingy called An Ice Cream, Or  A Flake Or... with some live favourites (and it's got some nice photographs on the cover):

Westpark Mustard
Take the Skinheads Bowling
Older..Budvar
I Can't Believe It's Not...(Buttfucker)

It's free!!, just email me for details, or just catch one of us in the pub. (Well possibly not me or Heza coz we're big puffs these days and don't get out much!)
Have alook at the cover - it's on the Discography page