Blog Archive: October 2026

Back in Balham
On Wednesday evening I found myself crossing London to distant SOUTH London, heading to BALHAM and The Bedford where I was due to play my first gig in that vicinity for over a decade.

For LO! Hibbett and Christopher were due to perform at a Freedom of Expression show, a promotion by Mr T Eveleigh who I have done gigs for and with approx 1,000,000 times over the years. I bumped into Tim on the way in and then was astonished when he led me into the big MAIN room (i.e. not one of the smaller ones upstairs) which I'd not been in before but which was GORGEOUS. It was a bit like a theatre and a bit like a courtroom, with a wooden balcony all around the top and tables set out in The Cabaret Style - CLASSY, basically. It also had a PROPER Green Room down in the depths of the basement, created, I assume, because they have a LOT of comedy shows there and comedians seem to prefer to sit in small rooms on their own rather than go out into the actual PUB. They are weird.

Anyway, Chris and I did our soundcheck, which Rich the Soundman made sound ACE, and then went into the actual PUB where we met Jim, Tim, Mark and Neil i.e. a big bunch of Chris's PALS what had v kindly come to see us. After some chat I excused myself to go and see if I could find some TEA and, after being amazed at how much Balham has changed since the very first time I ever went there (on the day when the events of The Gay Train occurred), I was further DELIGHTED to find an ACTUAL CHIPPY. This portended of further good times to come!

Back at the venue things were just kicking off with Adrian Roye, who I'd seen previously at Tim's album launch, and who had (and HAS) a LOVELY singing voice. He was followed by Interiors who were dead good also, but kept REMINDING me of something. It was only when they mentioned that they'd been together for TWENTY YEARS that I realised that they not only had almost the same line-up as THE VALIDATORS but also the same looks on their faces of just being very happy to all be together!

Then it was our turn and, after the usual chat onstage with Tim, we did THIS:

Say It With Words

Chips And Cheese, Pint Of Wine

When You Hear A Bird

The Perfect Love Song

7 Hearts

In The North Stand

Timewasters

It Only Works Because You're here

It felt like a really really good set, possibly helped by the VENUE and the LIGHTS and the SOUND and the way it all felt like we were doing a Proper Thing. There was some discussion about Chris's new glasses, ACTUAL APPLAUSE for my Wooden Robin Solo (the first time I have EVER been applauded for a solo!) and, once again, way more laughs than I expected. You don't have to take my word for any of this though, as once again the gig is available to view HERE:



I must say I MOSTLY like this thing of being able to watch gigs on catch-up, the only slight issue for me is that it does rather spoil bits where my MEMORY says I was singing beautifully and the technology says differently, but otherwise it is rather handy!

Gig done I had a chat with Chris's friend Tim who had some THORTS and also NOTES about the performance which were HUGELY appreciated. "I am still processing it" he said, which is similar to what Guy Lloyd said last week during our interview. I also am still processing it - I spent DECADES working up my usual ACT but suddenly we're doing something DIFFERENT and I've not quite got my head around how it's meant to work, at least with what I'm doing. When I look out at, and also when I listen TO, the audience I'm aware that at the start they're often not quite sure what they're watching, so some of the laughter is a bit nervous. THUS it was great to be able to talk to somebody outside of us about this. Who knew that the creative process could be INTERESTING eh?

After that we said farewells to our visitors, and also to each other, and I went back in to sit with Mr W Pilkington and thoroughly enjoy Anna Tabbush Trio who sounded GORGEOUS. After that all that was left to do was to collect my gear, say some final cheerios and then head off into the night. What a lovely eveing it had been!

posted 8/10/2026 by MJ Hibbett
(click here for permanent link)


Radio Blah Blah
Thursday afternoon found me zooming once more down to sunny BRIGHTON, where Hibbett and Christopher were due to appear LIVE on Radio Blah Blah - our first radio session!

I got to Brighton a bit earlier than necessary so popped to Dave's Comics. I have visited here several times on recent trips and always ended up spending a load of CA$H (as indeed I did this time) but had never before been two doors down to "Dave's BOOKS" which sold back issues and sale items. I didn't buy anything, but I did spend a long time looking through a pile of copies of Marvel UK's "Rampage" monthly from the early 1980s. MY WORD, the RUSH of memories just looking at those covers - I only ever bought one or two issues of this series, as I didn't often see it in the shops and usually couldn't afford it, but OH how I gazed in wonder at those black and white John Byrne X-Men stories!

Having done my bit for the local economy I wandered down to The Actors where I noticed they were having a "Dyke's Night" later that evening. This generated ANOTHER memory of the LAST time I had played in Brighton during a Lesbian Evening, where I had not gone down very well. It was only later, when we'd had a look in the theatre venue upstairs and Chris was telling me some of the venue's history that I realised that THIS WAS THE SAME PLACE, twenty and a bit years later!! LAWKS!

Before then we had a discussion of Chris's VERY NICE new glasses, a BAND MEETING during which many Important Matters were decided and then a SOUNDCHECK during which I tried out my Wooden Robin. No, this is NOT a medical complaint, but rather an amazing device what I bought that allows you to simulate the sound of a robin singing, which I used on When You Hear A Bird. You can see the general idea of how it works from this very serious French gentleman (a descendant of Obleix I think) below:



Following that we went downstairs to find Mr J Walsh and Mrs R Thorpe-Tracey and LO! larks and chat ensued until it was time for the evening itself to begin. The way the night worked was the a band played in the main theatre then they, and the whole audience, went down the corridor to the studio room for an interview. This was repeated for each act, except that the last band stayed on stage for their interview. It seemed a bit weird before it happened but actually worked really well - the whole thing was being broadcast LIVE on the radio, so moving around like this meant that it allowed the NEXT band to set up while the previous one was chatting in the other room.

We were on in the middle, so we watched the first band and then, when everyone else moved, I went and got my SUIT on (having to ask the non-interviewed members of the first act to avert their gaze while I de-trousered), Chris set his keyboard up, and we were very much ready to do the below when everyone came back:

Chips And Cheese, Pint Of Wine

When You Hear A Bird

In The North Stand

Now, normally I would say "it went really well" and you would simply have to take my word for it, but on this occasion you can judge for yourself, for LO! the whole evening is available to listen to online (we're about 50 minutes in), including the INTERVIEW in which Chris was customarily complimentary about ME and I customarily...er... went on about Doctor Doom a bit. It's actually really EXCITING to be able to share this recording as it's the first time I've been able to show off what we SOUND like doing these songs!



The weird thing, still, to me is that people were smiling and laughing at various intervals despite the fact that there is a PIANO on stage and I was wearing a SUIT. I genuinely thought this would mean people would watch in SOMBRE SILENCE so have been constantly amazed that the humour is STILL coming through just as much as the EMOTIONS.

After that there was more CHAT, BEER and generally feeling pretty darn good about the whole thing. It was a lovely evening all round, fantastically managed by Guy and all the Slack City team, and I could have very happily stayed longer and indeed PLAYED longer, but I left safe in the knowledge that there are MORE GIGS TO COME - come and see us if you can, it will be a DELIGHT!

posted 2/10/2026 by MJ Hibbett
(click here for permanent link)