Merry Xmas!

It has been a big year for King Biscuit Time and it is time to review that year.

In January, Animal rejoined the band after a minor hiatuswich he took to work out some stuff. At that point, we worked on a very short set of six songs which we would eventually commit to CD: a demo set to hand out to venue owners and booking managers. Those six quickly grew to nine!

In April, after 3 months of concentrated rehearsal, we recorded those six, er...nine, songs to CD. The recording session was quite an experience for us. We got an insight into the recording process. We will definitely make use ofthat knowledge in our next recording venture: hopefully next year. We were so well rehearsed, that the time it took to setup in the recording studio wasover three times what it took to record the nine songs! The recording was quickly cut down to the best four tracks which were then committed to CD. (I also learned a bit about licensing too as a result!).

The next big step for us was to enter the Killing Floor Blues Challenge. KFBC is conducted as a lead up to the Juke Joint At Queens: Adelaide Blues Festival. This year being the second year of the Juke Joint and the KFBC. So we honed and refined our original 6 blues songs from the recording session set over the months that followed.

August saw us compete in Heat #1 of the Killing Floor Blues Challenge which was held at the Blackwood RSL. On the bill for heat #1 were, Mick Kidd, Abby Howlett, and King Biscuit Time. The competition was certainly diverse with Mick laying down very nice acoustic slide style country blues and Abby presenting a selection of her own original compositions. We played last and we "layed them in the aisles", even if I say so myself. This is not a complete boast on my part. As it turned out, the Functions Manager of the Blackwood RSL was present and she heard us play. More importantly, she heard the audience reaction. Now it is true that the audience was mainly full of friends, family and fans of the three acts that were playing. However, we managed to get most of them to react to our music in an eager and vigorous manner. The end result was that although we did not win the heat, we did get personal commendations and encouragements from the Juke Joint organisers, Rob Eyers Andrew Dundon and Chris Jennings. Thanks Guys! Besides that, and more importantly, we scored a gig at the Blackwood RSL...

August would also be a watershed for the band for another reason. Tommy "Mott" Hunter resigned from the band after suffering a personal crisis. This left the band without a Harp player right before the KFBC. So we went to the comp down one man but we forged on regardless, exhibiting two of King Biscuit Time's greatest strengths: flexibility and versatility.

In October, we played that gig in the front bar of the Blackwood RSL. A gig that would become one in a series over the next few months, that would be called "Live at the RSL featuring King Biscuit Time". This first gig, opened with an acoustic set by Karl and Lefty and finished with 3 solid sets with the full band. The audience started strong then thinned out over the course of the evening. But it was a good first gig as the only band on the bill and with that line-up. The management were impressed and pleased with our effort. Thanks goes out to Mark Stewart-Jones of the Brompton Blues Band who sat in with us on Harmonica's that night. Cheers mate.

November started out with our second gig at the RSL. The functions manager told me that we did an excellent job the previous month. If we kept up the good work this night, then more work would likely be forthcoming. We dropped the acoustic set and just played three sets this time. The audience was once more strong at the beginning then thinned out once more over the course of the evening. This time we had about 5 more people left at the end that were not related to the band or the bar staff! So we figured we're developing some amount of crowd appeal. Before the month ended, I received a call from the RSL Function Manager: the band that was booked ould not make it; Would we like to play in their place this coming Friday? YES! "Oh, and do you want to play New Years Eve?" Buh..Buh..Y..Y..YES!!! "And your booked in for the 4th December as well." Well you could have rolled me in maple syruip and called me dessert! 3 gigs in one phone call.

We played the November emergency gig and we played December 4th. Both gigs went very well with more and more people staying to the end. December saw a change in our lineup. We returned to being a 5 piece. I handed the bass over to our newest member Stephen "Mr Cool" Rees. And I took up guitar, harmonica's, slide guitar and still doing vocals too.

That brings us to New Year's Eve. That gig is just 7 days away. Animal is having that gig off and celebrating the New Year with his family. So we have enlisted Terry Strand of Lost In Bass to play drums for us that night. It is going to be a great way to finish off the first 10 years of the 21st Century and kick off the next 10. I hope you will come and see us on New Years Eve 2009 at the Blackwood RSL starting at 9pm.

Finally, on behalf of the band, I would like to send out thanks to our wives: Lynn, Darla, & Jo; to our friends and fans who have supported us this year; and the Blackwood RSL for giving us the opportunity to show what we can do.

cheers for now,

Lefty.