Practice: Pre-Recording

Present: Ad, Fea, Tom

Gi not present due to an interview the next day, Eg not present due to him needing to wear a tie in another foreign country.

Songs were practised with a view to recording them next week. 2 new songs jammed into a better shape. Work done on Secrets and Lies, Gallery of You, 21, Wild End, Sparkle, Take On Me, Hearts Pumping.

Post-Practice Pint Topics of Conversation: Job Interviews, Fea's new word that he almost doesn't know how to pronounce - it means being a headmaster when you're not a headmaster. The releasing of small mini-albums being better than traditional ones. Tom on Jonathan Ross's Radio Show on Saturday. Lots of website hits. He urges the others to do the same.

Full Practice

Present: Ad, Eg, Fea, Gi, Tom

Fea turned up in his £10 suit that he wears for work and Tom had to read out the 'Thank You' note from the Bride of the wedding from the previous gig to each of us as we turned up.

Hearts Pumping, Secrets and Lies, Gallery of You, Take On Me, 21, Wild End.

Fea learns the correct way to pronounce 'Flautist',

Post-Practice Pint: Much self-congratulatory back-slapping over the last gig's conditions with which the band marvellously coped. Gigs from the past; St Cross College, The Jericho Tavern. How many tracks make an Album as opposed to an E.P. Eg thinks 7. This Year's Band Christmas Do. The blog being A Good Thing. The Sziget Hungarian Festival next year where Tom will try and get us a slot. New covers to do. WOrking 9 till 5 and Morning Train being particularly good ones.

The Jeremy Irons Gig

Venue: Barn, in the middle of nowhere somewhere perhaps around Winchester.

Well, it was when Tom confessed that it wasn't actually Jeremy Irons's Niece that was to marry, it was his Step-Niece, if there is such a thing. So, no, Jeremy was not there. Everyone booed Tom.

The Sound's the Limit

Now in the past, the band has played venues with sound limiters. Where once the noise levels have reached a certain point the power for the band cuts out. Usually, these sound limiters come in the form of a small 'traffic light' box in the roof or on the wall. Once it hits red, you know you have a few seconds before the power will be cut off. Well, at this venue the power cut off without warning. All of the time. The limiter was set to 60dB. Even the bride apologised to the band.

The rest of the evening was spent with the amps sometimes being off, sometimes being on but the Loopy show carried on regardless. Gi's drumming could be heard throughout and the crowd were drunk enough to just sing along and not really notice that our amps had stopped working every now and then.

Girls who suddenly think it's a Karaoke

And talking of drunk crowds. Ad had to suffer, yet again, a determined stage 'presence' grabbing at his microphone. This time Eg had his hands full too with another one. But she wasn't as drunk. And neither was she an oddly shaped Irish girl [or was it the way she was standing/just about the fall over backwards]. Her hips deadened the bass strings, and her saliva splattered over the cheek, but, like real pros, the band carried on.

Gi wasn't too chuffed with the sandwiches and lack of Champagne making it stealthily into his bass drum.

The Catering Staff. The Sandwiches. Big Red. The Girl with her iPod. Mike Davis and his new Girlfriend. Fea and Eg borrowing Ad's jackets. A ukulele session out of the boot of Ad's car while awaiting the start of the show. Man falling over. The full moon. Fea's chocolate chewing gum. Cokes for the way home.

Set
included

Mustang Sally
Best Friend's Girl
Happy Days
All About You
Tainted Love
Meet Me In The Corner
Too Late
Saw Her Stand there
Shakin All Over
So Lonely
I'm a Believer

Practice for the 'Jeremy Irons Gig'

Present: All

And the winner of the "Who Can Keep Their Woolfire Festival Artists' Wristband On The Longest" competition is won by Ad.

The practice was dedicated to preparing for the Jeremy Irons Gig.  Plenty of the usual covers and Loopy's very own pop classics.

Ad splits his nail.

Post Practice Pint Topics of Conversation: What TV/Home Phone/Broadband package Gi should sign up for.  Humax [the joys of] and Eg's inability to download and install the latest software for his.  Why the Live Popcast idea just wouldn't work.  The forthcoming album was also mentioned at some point.

The Woolfire Festival

Present: All

Venue: Woolfire Farm, Somewhere off the A33 in the Hampshire Countryside about 15 minutes from Winchester.

A few rain drops and a cloudy sky did not dampen the new experience of playing at a proper festival on a well equipped stage, with tents in the distance, and a handful of audience members.

Eg's earring. Fea's earring. Ad's leather trousers. Tom's weather map cloud T-shirt. Gi's nice Marks & Sparks sweater that he probably got for Christmas one year. The Liars from Stoke. Gi casting a critical eye over the catering facilities [two old ladies and a BBQ] and judging that they would have been far better off with a buffet. The Shed with the instruments in it. Daphne legging it for the free CD that Ad had tossed onto the empty grass in front of the stage. Eg using a Penguin wrapper that he found at his feet on stage as a link to the Found By You song. Then discovering it had belonged to the Sound Engineers behind us. An interesting start to The Smile by Fea and Ad. Eg using the stage. The woman doing the crossword in the picnic chair. The two ladies massaging each other's heads. Ad implying they were lesbians. One of them was Daphne.


An overall sense that perhaps more practice might have been better.

Set List:
Somersaults
Some Summer's Day
Ordinary Life
Evel Knievel
The Smile
Meet Me In The Corner
Found By You
Too Late
Teenage Kicks [not on set list -wooo]