Dec 28, 20226 min read

2022: A Reggae Odyssey

Our year in pictures, words and numbers. What a journey.

We wanted to take a trip to look back over 2022, and to start with I was going to arrange it by month, but I think some figures and general facts would do quite nicely. So, here goes...

In 2022, the areas we played were:

· Sutton Coldfield

· Stourbridge

· Derby

· Cheltenham

· Hereford

· Digbeth

· Swindon

· Wombourne

· Great Barr

· Himley, Dudley

· Cannock

· Wolverhampton

· Worcester

· Banbury

· Burton on Trent

· Stevenage

· Bradford

· Sheldon

· Tewkesbury

· Bristol

· Nechells

· Ashbourne

· Leicester

· Shrewsbury

· Solihull

· Boldmere

· Rugby

· Frankwell

That’s a total of 28 different areas!

We played 38 gigs.

In June and July, we played 7 different events each month.

We travelled a total of 2611.6 miles this year to gigs.

Our furthest gig was Tickles Music Hall in Bradford. July was the most travelled month, resulting in 788.2 miles, with 442 miles across 2 consecutive days.

We spent a total of 110 hours of this year rehearsing. Our most rehearsed month was June.

We added 12 new songs to our repertoire, with the most recent being added for December. Dennis arranged a unique Reggulites cover version of Almaz by Randy Crawford for us and we added two massive medleys: Ska and Dancehall.

We launched our website in June!

We had an entire photo shoot in Digbeth, done by Alan de Marco Photography!

We ran two competitions!

We launched our logo t shirts, polos and vests and Anna created the suitcase of Reggu-wares so we could travel with our merch more easily and obviously extremely stylishly.

We played with 5 different drummers, 4 different bass players and 2 keyboard players.

The People

We played 5, not 4, weddings and a funeral this year! Hugest thanks and congratulations on your first Christmas as a married couple to:

Charlotte and Mihai Eve and Millie Helen and Graham Abby and Teebs Lydia and Paul

Our biggest thanks and blessings to the management of each of the venues that we played at: Sarah and Sean at Claptrap the Venue

Nico at Babar’s Café Mazzy and Clare at The Night Owl Paul at The Blue Monkey Scott at The Premier Suite Alex at Soul Medicine Laura and Bryan at The Wyggeston Ellen at Tickles Music Hall Simone at The Musketeer Vijai at 2FUNKY Andy at The Lounge at Boldmere Ellen at The Wheatsheaf

Our thanks as well for the 3 private events we were booked for in 2022:

Nic’s birthday party Luke’s birthday party Helen’s birthday party

Thank you to those who booked us for the 4 festivals we played at:

Todd in the Hole Festival Becky at Tewkesbury Live Martin at Regfest Jonathan at Reggae Skeggae (even though we couldn’t make it in the end!)

Thank you to those who booked us for the 4 fundraisers we took part in:

Clive (Yes, our Clive) at Sickle Cell Awareness and Windrush Celebration Katie for the Fundrasier in Solihull in memory of Reece Hipwood, to raise money for Warwickshire and Solihull Blood Bikes Jim for the Arden Angel’s Skalloween Fundraiser Emer for Tom Kirwan’s Memorial

And to the 2 promoters who booked us for events in the year:

Roger Rocksteady at Rocksteady Promotions Marcus Copesta (our now go-to DJ) with TC Promotions

A very special mention of those band members who support us when our usual suspects aren’t available, because so many shows wouldn’t be able to go ahead without them. Our superheroes with capes and pants on the outside:

Tom Teebs Bryan who has joined us on keys in the year, following his guest spot appearance in the band on his wedding. We’ve had the opportunity to get to know Teebs before his wedding as we kept in touch when the wedding had to be postponed due to Covid. Following his amazing feature at his wedding, we couldn’t just leave him there!

James Yllavation Crosdale who has joined us on bass on more than one occasion. His playing, his personality and his vibes just make us feel so creative and lovely.

Harry Bryan (not related to Teebs!) who is always there to step in when we need a drummer. He selflessly steps in for rehearsals and gigs whenever he’s available to do so, when he’s not playing with his own band, of course. He’s a lovely boy.

Angus Sharpe who is a genius on the bass and has stepped in across the year to support us for gigs. He's such a talented addition and we love having him down.

BossMan Bosco who supported us earlier on in the year. What a geeza! Man has the nicest cars as well! Rowan who joined us in the earlier months of the year. It was a pleasure to meet you and see how much you have going for you. A truly wonderful girl.

We’d like to thank Will, Grandad and mainly Brendon, our long-suffering and forever amazing sound crew at dB Acoustics, who make us sound the best that we can. We’ve dragged you all over the place this year and we can’t imagine doing it without you. You are a special part of everything that we do and we love having you as part of our team.

2022 has brought us close to some of the people who’ve booked us, watched us and supported us, and so we’d like to give the greatest thanks to Helen and Graham, for booking us for your wedding vow renewal and for Helen’s 50th Birthday party this year, attended Helen on Trumpet’s Graduation Party and joined us at the Night Owl’s Very Reggae Christmas Party.

We're truly privileged to have found you guys and to be able to call you our friends.

A special thank you to Jane Guest, who has joined us for so many gigs, interacted with almost everything on social media, joined in on competitions, sent the most thoughtful collection of gifts in the post when last minute things got in the way of Helen’s Graduation party, takes pictures and videos and sends them on for us to use in promotions and is just a wonderful and kind human being.

Huge love and hugs to Teebs who went from a wedding booking to a much-loved and integral part of our team, and his wife Abby, who somehow puts up with him! Only joking, he’s a wonderful man.

The biggest love to Marcus, his beautiful lady Riss, and his two boys Kingsley and Jae, who went from being a booking to the best family we know.

The warmest love to Katie Hipwood, her husband Dave, and of course Mom and Dad, who booked us for one of the most emotional fundraisers we’ve ever played at and who we saw regularly throughout the year as well. Your family are an inspiration. Your friends are a blessing. Your loss is felt in the heart of this band.

We sincerely hope that 2023 has as much to offer as 2022 has given us. I am personally so proud of each and every single member of our band, whether you played all the gigs or one of the gigs. We couldn’t do it without you. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and onwards and upwards, Reggufam.

We’ve got so much planned for you in 2023!