May 1, 20234 min read

It's a New DAWN, It's a New Day, It's a New Life... And we're feeling good!

Suburbs at The Holroyd Arms, Guildford and our new backing vocalist's debut performance!

Friday was mega!! We had an absolute blast! We were up and out and met up with Andy for the van, and set off for Guildford in comfy clothes and with all the bad backs and snacks. It was very exciting to be spending time with everyone in the van - we all had a good sing along and a chat and Izzy brought one of his keyboards in the back as well.

Our lineup on Friday was the usual suspects along with Izzy on keys, Paul on bass and Harry on drums. Harry had just got back from an absolute adventure in Amsterdam, which sounded amazing and entirely brave. Izzy is getting married this month!! So that's amazing and we're super happy for him!!

Dawn got fully exposed to all our weirdness and didn't jump out the van on the way there, so that's a blessing!

Now, my sister, Saxy Anna, really struggles with travelling. It's related to motion sickness, but it's not motion sickness. She was really brave going in the van, and she really did struggle, but the whole band were so supportive and helped looking after her while she was dying of the motion of it all, and when we had a break, I had a fellow girlie in Dawn to help me guide Anna to the toilet without her falling over. I was super worried about her, but everyone chipped in - Izzy found some whale noises that are supposed to help, we had bottles of cold water on her pulse points to try and cool her down, and everyone really cared about poor Anna.

She's amazing though. Once we arrived in Guildford at The Holroyd Arms, she had a little lie down in the back of the van, pulled herself together and before you knew it she was making everyone's cups of tea and coffee and racing around like her usual energetic self. She was still rather wobbly and discombobulated, but she'd never let on 'cause she's a tough cookie.

Onto Suburbs venue at The Holroyd Arms... Musicians! I cannot stress enough, if you get to play here, these guys are THE BEST for taking care of musicians!! They have accommodation on site, and they gave up a whole hotel room with three beds in for the band to use as a green room, with en-suite bathroom and the whole shebang.

They looked after us from the moment we stepped off the van. Sam, the sound engineer, was really nice to work with and really good at his job. They gave us a massive discount on food so we could all have a hot meal, which we absolutely did, and the food was gorgeous! When we finished the first set, the bar staff were waiting to see if we wanted a drink, so we followed them to the bar and they served us before anyone else so that we could get on and have a break, and that makes the world of difference. They were just really band-orientated and we really appreciated it. The venue is cool as heck as well! They have axe throwing at the back of the beer garden. I mean, we'd be asking for some serious trouble if we did that in Birmingham!

Anyway, we all got dolled up ready to go on stage, and headed over to the venue.

I have got to say, I have never been to Guildford before, but I didn't want to leave by the end of the night. Guildford people are amazing! I met so many genuinely lovely people. Especially Stephen and his step daughter - they were beautiful souls! And they write things, and they better send me what they write, because I adore creative people! Here they are in the picture with us, towards the right, and to the left is Craig that isn't Craig Rutherford, though Craig Rutherford was also there, and it's been a hot minute since we saw him last, so it was great to say HI!

We played the set and it went down REALLY well! Guildford really know their reggae!! Huge praise for our cover of Soldiers by Steel Pulse. And Dawn sang an absolute blinder! She was amazing and we were blown away. We're so excited to take this band to new heights with Dawn's added dimensions for our music. Everything just feels that much higher level! We're just well excited. I mean, we basically gave her the best part of three weeks with a few rehearsals to get ready for the gig and she mashed it up!!

The DJ was superb as well, and we're hoping to catch up with him at OneLove festival in August.

I want to take the time here to thank Suburbs for inviting us down to play in Guildford, because we had a wonderful experience that we won't be forgetting in a hurry. Thank you to the management who booked us, Keith who announced us and ran things on the night, and the wonderful staff who made our experience a great one.

I want to say an absolutely MASSIVE thank you to Andy and Chris for the driving and the use of their van.

And last but not least, the biggest respect to every band member who didn't see their bed till 4am, and who I got to enjoy an extremely long journey and a fantastic gig with. The vibes were UP UP UP and I am still buzzing. Every single band member made the day/night/early morning an amazing experience.

I also dragged them to a 5-hour rehearsal on Sunday to prepare for backing Susan Cadogan, and most of them had other gigs on Saturday! Harry was with his band, RudeSix, alongside Social Ignition in Hinkley. Anna was at work all day Saturday catching up on what she'd moved from Friday. Lloyd drove to Bradford for a gig with Global Reggae. You're all legends in your own bath water. But seriously, thank you.

We have some intense rehearsal time coming up, preparing for backing Susan Cadogan at The Night Owl and Adele Harley and Papa Crook at The Masquerade Ball in Coventry. We also have custom set lists to brush up ready for two weddings in May, and we will finish off May with the return of Suited & Booted festival on 28th May.