NEWS
Click here for older news
We're
back in Sweden! Nov. 17th through 19th at Stockholm
University and 20th at Wirstroms Pub. And we really
are in the process of recording a new album but
the timetabling is proving harder than we thought.
Nov.
2010 GIGS
06-Nov-10
9.30-11.30pm The Piel Castle Pub, Ulverston
09-Nov-10
9-11pm The
Junction, Otley
14-Nov-10
8-11pm The Dalton
Rooms, Lancaster. We're hosting the Lancaster
Funk Club at the Dalton Rooms new Sunday
jazz series
Nov.
17th - 20th. Sweden (see above)
Oct
2010 GIGS
Lancaster
Music Festival as above - rest of the month we're
concentrating on the new recordings. Normal service
resumed Nov.!
Sept
2010 GIGS
10-Sept-10
9pm John O'Gaunt Pub, Market Street, Lancaster
17-Sept-10
7pm Main Stage Smokie
Blues Festival, Arbroath
August
2010 GIGS
15-Aug-10
Sun Fletcher Christians (4-7pm) 55 Main Street,
Cockermouth, Cumbria CA13 9JS
20-Aug-10 Fri Patriots MC Main Street, Crumlin,
S. Wales NP11 4PQ
21-Aug-10 Sat Palladium Lower Gunstone, Bideford,
Devon, EX39 2DE
22-Aug-10 Sun Coopers 39 Ball Rd., Pewsey, Wiltshire,
SN9 5BL
23-Aug-10 Mon Bell Walcot St., Bath, BA1 5BW
24-Aug-10 Tue White Hart Atworth, nr. Melksham,
Wilts, SN12 8JR
25-Aug-10 Wed Old Duke 38 Pickwick, Corsham, Wilts,
SN13 0HY
27-Aug-10 Fri Royal Hotel, Silverdale, LA5 0RA
28-Aug-10 Sat Great
British RnB Festival 4.30pm Rugby Club, Colne
28-Aug-10 Sat Great
British RnB Festival 10pm Colne Legion
July
2010 GIGS
Sat.
July 3rd: Grad Bar Extrav, Lancaster University
8pm
Sun.
July 4th: The John O'Gaunt, Market St.,
Lancaster 9pm
Tues.
July 20th: The
Junction, Otley 9pm
Sat.
July 24th: Dukes
Corner, Dundee 3-5pm (Dundee Blues Bonanza)
Sat.
July 24th: Guager,
Dundee 10-12pm (Dundee Blues Bonanza)
Wed.
July 28th - Mon. Aug. 2nd: Wirstroms Pub,
Stockholm, Sweden
Sat.
July 31st:
Gula Villan, Svante Arrhenius Väg 33, Stockholm,
Sweded (University campus)
May
2010 Ukraine Tour slide show is <here>
June
2010 GIGS
Sat.
June 19th: Charity Bash at Royal Hotel,
Silverdale (5-6pm)
Sat.
June 19th: The Piel Castle Pub, Ulverston
(9pm - late)
The
Meadowlands Festival was wet but what a gig! Released
some of the new material and it went down a storm.
Maybe a bigger stage next year???
May
2010 GIGS
Ben
is running the CME
Spring UK Tour with Red
Gap from Isle of Man and Miss
Quincy from British Columbia May 6th - 15th
but we will be joining both acts Friday May 14th
at Crows
in Lancaster
Fri.
14th, Crows, King St, Lancaster 9.30pm - 1am (with
Red Gap and Miss Quincy)
Sun.
16th, John O'Gaunt, Market St. Lancaster - Honka
Monka Club deep funk jam & vinyl
spin 3pm - 6.30pm
Sun.
23rd, John O'Gaunt, Market St. Lancaster - Honka
Monka Club deep funk jam & vinyl
spin 3pm - 6.30pm
Fri.
28th, A barn party in North Wales (seriously). Contact
us for invite
Sat.
29th, The Meadowlands Festival - see flyer opposite.
2pm
Sun.
30th, The Bassetts Arms (part of the 'Blindhouse
Reject Tour 2010'). Contact us for invite!
April
2010 GIGS
Wed.
April 7th: The
Porter Club, 3-A Mishugi str., Kiev, Ukraine
Thur.
April 8th: Agata
Club, 11 Pevolution str. Kharkov, Ukraine
Fri.
April 9th: The
Liverpool, 131-A Artema str., Donezk, Ukraine
Sat.
April 10th: Dikiy
Club, 66 Preobrazhenskaya str., Odessa, Ukraine
Tues.
April 20th: The Junction, Bond Street, Otley (9pm)
Sun.
April 25th: The John O'Gaunt, Market St., Lancaster
Fri.
April 30th: George & Dragon, The Quay, Lancaster
Sun.
11th, 18th, 25th: John O'Gaunt, Market St. the Honka
Monka Club deep funk jam & vinyl
spin 3pm - 6.30pm
March
2010 GIGS
Sat.
6th: Grad Bar, Lancaster University
Wed.
17th: Penny Bank, Lancaster
Sun.
7th, 14th, 21st, 28th: John O'Gaunt, Market Sq,
Lancaster - the Honka
Monka Club deep funk jam & vinyl
spin 3pm - 6.30pm
January
2010 GIGS
Sun.
Jan. 17th: Hosting Honka
Monka Club Funky Sunday at John
O'Gaunt Pub, 53 Market Street, Lancaster LA1 1JG
(3.30pm - 6.30pm)
Thurs.
Jan. 21st: The Grad Bar, Lancaster University, LA2
0PF (9pm - 11ish+)
Sat.
Jan. 23rd: The Piel Castle, 37 Market Street, Ulverston
LA12 7LG (9pm - late)
Sun.
Jan. 24th: Hosting Honka
Monka Club Funky Sunday at John
O'Gaunt Pub, 53 Market Street, Lancaster LA1 1JG
(3.30pm - 6.30pm)
Thurs.
Jan. 28th: John O'Gaunt Pub, 53 Market Street, Lancaster
LA1 1JG (9pm - 11pm)
Sun.
Jan. 31st: Hosting Honka
Monka Club Funky Sunday at John
O'Gaunt Pub, 53 Market Street, Lancaster LA1 1JG
(3.30pm - 6.30pm)
December
2009 GIGS
7-Dec.
Wed. Grizedale
College Christmas Party
22-Dec.
Tues. The
Junction, Otley 9pm
26-Dec.
Sat. John O'Gaunt, Market Street,
Lancaster 9pm to 12
27-Dec. Sun. Palladium Club, Lower
Gunstone Lane, Bideford. 9.30pm
28-Dec. Mon. Two Pigs, Corsham,
Nr. Bath. 9-11pm
29-Dec. Tue. Queens Head, Box,
Nr. Bath. 9-11.30pm
30-Dec. Wed. Old Duke, Bristol.
9-11pm
31-Dec. Thu. Gregson
Centre New Year's Eve Party with Real Music,
Moorlane, Lancaster. Tickets £10
November
2009 GIGS
14-Nov.
Sat. The
Stonewell Tavern, Lancaster, 9.30pm (free)
21-Nov.
Sat. The
George & Dragon, Lancaster, 9pm (free)
October
2009 GIGS*
03-Oct.
Sat. One
Planet Festival Concert, The
Park Hotel, Bowerham Road, Lancaster, 9.30pm (FREE)
09-Oct.
Fri. Lancaster
Music Festival, The
Park Hotel, Bowerham Road, Lancaster, 9.30pm (FREE)
11-Oct.
Sun. Lancaster Music Festival, The
Gregson Blues Festival, Main Hall, 8-9pm (£5)
11-Oct.
Sun. Fletcher
Christian, Cockermouth, Cumbria, 5pm - 7pm (FREE)
September
2009 GIGS:
02-Sept.
Wed. Penny Bank, 51
Penny Bank, Lancaster. 9.30pm
13-Sept.
Sun. Birmingham
Artsfest 2009, Victoria Stage, 12
noon. Also playing at Rhubarb Radio After Festival
Party Sat. 12th, late night time and venue tba
20-Sept.
Sun. Afternoon Funk Jam with Honka Monka Funk DJs
and band . Penny
Bank, 51
Penny Bank, Lancaster. 4-7pm
August
2009 GIGS:
Sun
- Tues, August 1st - 3rd: Stockholm, Sweden
Fri.
Aug. 7th: Dickie Doodles, Strickland Gate, Kendal
9.30pm - late
Sat.
Aug. 8th: The Central, Egremont
9pm - 11.30pm
Tues.
Aug. 11th: The Junction, Otley
9.15pm - 11.20pm
SW
UK Tour:
17-AuMon.
Aug. 17th: Two Pigs, Corsham, nr. Bath
Tue. Aug. 18th: TBA
Wed. Aug. 19th: The Bell, Wolcott St., Bath
Thurs. Aug. 20th: Old Duke, King St. Bristol
Fri. Aug. 21st: Queens Head, Box, nr. Bath
Sat. Aug. 22nd: Miners Arms, North Molton, Devon
Sun. Aug. 23rd: Coopers Arms, Pewsey, nr. Marlborough
Fri.
Aug. 28th: Peterborough
Beer Festival (see opposite)
Sun.
Aug. 30th: Great British RnB Festival - The Dresser's,
Colne. 9pm - 12
July
2009 GIGS:
Tues.
July 7th, Park Hotel Function Room
- Jam, Rehearsal, Ales -
8pm - Midnight
Tues.
July 14th, Park Hotel Function Room
- Jam, Rehearsal, Ales -
8pm - Midnight
Sat.
July 18th, Piel Castle, Ulverston
9.30 pm - Midnight
Tues.
July 29th - Tues. Aug. 4th Stockholm, Sweden. Thanks
to Big Walker
and the Blues Souls!
June
2009 GIGS:
Fri. June 5th: Keswick Beer Festival
Tuesdays
in June: Rehearsal at the Park Hotel, Lancaster
with gig option after (7-11pm)
Fri.
June 19th: Grad Bar Beer Festival, Lancaster University
(SW Campus)
Wed.
June 24th: Penny Bank Pub, Penny Lane, Lancaster
(9.30pm)
Sat.
June 27th: Dundee
Blues Bonanza - 2-4pm The
Doghouse, 10pm+ Nether Inn
Tues.
June 30th: Junction, Otley, 9pm
Older
News:
We
played at the Lancaster
Music Festival (opposite) both under our own
name (Penny Street Bridge, Sat. Oct. 9th 9-11pm)
and as host of the Lancaster Funk Club jam session
(Crows, Sun. Oct. 10th 2-6pm). Thank you to the
nearly 200 folks who turned up at Penny Street Bridge!
Ukraine
Tour slide show is <here>
And
we're going back 2011 (one of us is going back mid-May)!
Isle
of Man Blues Festival feedback pending - by
heck what a groove!!! Thank you Val and Barry (Red
Gap and Jeceris)
for an unforgettable weekend and superb music! XX
We've
been invited to play the New Year's Eve gig at the
Gregson
Centre, Lancaster which would be our first choice
in this town!
Honka
Monka Club - every Sunday afternoon at the Penny
Bank (4.30-7pm) we get together with other musicians
to play deep funk and 60's garage. Yours truly spins
old funk and soul records in the breaks
We
have a Bluesbunny Review for Lancaster Music Festival!
Click on the the bunnies!!!
Hmm,
we appear to be on Last FM - not sure how that happened!
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Convulsions
One
Planet Festival a blast too! Though knackering as
most of it was powered by bike (by you know who
- with some guest legs the loveliest of which were
Dawn's from One Planet Festival's committee who
managed to power an entire song before we reverted
to mains electricity)
Birmingham
Art Fest a succes. The trio went over there too.
Work
starts on the re-recording of Hole in the Head for
the video. Recording starts in Oct. and hope to
have the video mastered by December.
We
have a spotter looking for a possible deal for us.
Peterborough
Beer Festival - what a superb organisation. Thanks
so much to Mike Lane for being a superb host. We
came, we played, we drank an awful lot of excellent
ale. Hard life, someone has to do it!
SW
Tour. This band keeps getting weirder and weirder.
Wondering why my right arm was a bit stiff today
I remembered it was probably due to swinging from
a lamp post with it while playing gobiron with the
left Sun. 23rd. Then there was the traffic cone
on the head during 'Don't Need No Doctor' (no, just
a psychiatrist) a constant stream of inane babble.
A third of a bottle of port preceeding, two pints
of Twiddly Dike right before then double brandy
redbull and pickled egg during. When in the SW of
this country it's hard not to go native and join
in the exuberant strangeness and good humour that
survived the Celts, the Romans, the Anglo Saxons,
the Danes, Normans and grockles of the twenty first
century in craven caravans.
The
Swedish tour was a revelation. Thanks very much
to Derrick Walker of Big
Walker and the Blues Souls for putting us up
and up with us and the same to the marvelous Wirstroms
Pub in Gamla Stan (Old Town) of Stockholm -
Ian you were a life saver, Royce you're a chef par
excellence (fish and chips in an Irish pub in Sweden
and the fish comes from New Zealand!) and Sigfrid
you are the most sparkle barmaid in northern Europe!
We
also learnt to play a new style. The first night
we had no guitarist (Mo couldn't do the tour so
Derrick was to provide us Diamond Dogs, ex Johnny
Thunder rocker Stevie but was his birthday). It
worked so well, we developed so many on the fly
technique we chose to play the entire week without
a guitarist.
And
it WORKED! Boy, did it work - we even wrote two
new songs on the spot and created a 12 minute funk
medley narrative involving a bit of Memphis Soul
Stew, Money, Shake Your Money Maker and Land of
1000 Dances!!
Lips
are still scarred though!!!
he
last installment of the Bristol video shoot. Very
"sweet and sour experience" (bad pun -
see "China
Gets It" by way of explanation in appalling
taste)
What
next? Re-record the song with the new lineup that's
what (and a few new ones to boot - great that Mo's
actually an engineer)
They
liked us in Dundee (Dundee
Blues Bonanza - June 27th 2009!
"Sat
Late at The Nether Inn
Was recommended by a colleague to drop in to catch
a band called The Convulsions. Am soooooooooo glad
I did. I have never seen anyone playing a harmonica
at that speed or anyone play a Hammond organ at
that speed. But Ben the lead singer did both AT
THE SAME TIME!!!!!.
This
is a band that puts so much effort into their performance,
it simply defies belief. They delivered an astonishing
blues and funk mix in a style that I would describe
as having a large helping of Dr Feelgood and another
of The Ramones. My mate and I both stood there like
the rest of the audience, grinning from ear to ear
at a jaw dropping performance that kept us there
right to the end. The audience were absolutely spellbound
by a band that we sincerely hope will be back next
year.
One
of the biggest highlights for me, simply awesome!!!"
We've been picked out of over 100 acts to perform
at the Peterborough
Beer Festival on August Bank Holiday Friday
(see opposite). And having found the camping bug
at Off the Tracks last month we're bringing the
band tent!
Actually,
beer festivals seem to be a new niche for us. Keswick
Ale Festival June 5th went down really well (as
did the superb ales)!