After the previous night's events, we rocked up at the White Wolf Studios to start recording at midday. Ian "White Wolf" Thompson set us up really quickly and over the next 6 hours we recorded tracks for a CD and demos.

So by 6pm, we'd done the business. Ten tracks with all vocals and we start mixing Tuesday. All but one of these was a first take. We're looking forward to the mixing and final product.

The last time we played at the Old Tannery, we had a large and enthusiastic audience. In fact, it was the landlady, Sue, who asked us to play "Bad Case of Loving You" upon our return.

I should have guessed that something might be amiss when I got a call on the Friday from Siobhan (relief for the landlord/landlady who are on holiday) asking if we were playing on the Saturday. As we always do, we'd sent a confirmation letter and posters a month before, on the 10 June.

When we got there, there were no posters or any other indication that we were going to be on. The pub was quite full with sportsmen (cricketers I think) having an after match pint and some food. They had all gone by the time we had the gear out of the car.

Siobhan asked us to start at 9:30 so we just set up and waited. Quite a few people came in and out but moved on to other places long before we started.

First set went well in front of a modest audience but a small group in the other bar thought it was too loud. Bear in mind that we don't have a huge PA or 4 x 12's driven by huge Marshall heads.

No matter. We started the second set at 10:45 as requested by Siobhan, with an expectation of late trade and more people. Almost as soon as we started again, the complainers in the other bar were asking the staff to ask us to turn down. We did that and over the next 5 songs, we were asked a number of times to take it down more.

A few people had come specially to see us having seen us at the Royal or in nearby Acomb (in particular Nigel and Rosa who come to all our gigs in the Hexham area) and they were as gobsmacked as we were. I guess if you don't advertise in the place that live music is on, people may only want a quiet pint.

Eventually, we were so quiet that Mick was singing and playing his sax and harps without benefit of the PA and was perfectly audible above the subdued backline. We just did our 45 minutes ending with "Bad Case of Loving You", at which point the primary complainer was dancing and asked Mick for us to do more. He politely told her, "I'm sorry that's all love". I think that he said it between clenched teeth.

You win some, you lose some. I knew I should have brought the inflatable PA.

What a great venue. We had a really good time playing to what seemed like a group of friends who really appreciated the music. Unfortunately, owing to a big "do" at the Belle Vue Club, the audience was modest but what they lacked in numbers, they made up for in enthusiasm.

There seems to be a bit of a famine as far as audiences are concerned at the moment, if the stories on Riffs are to be believed. However, the punters that were there and the management were very happy and they want to rebook so that can't be bad.

Great response from a mixed crowd. This pub is on the main street in Bishop Auckland and is en-route to the drinking establishments in the market place and further up the town so there are always people coming in and out the place as they go to and fro to the various pubs.

We also had an unusual experience that we've never had before. A really nice lady called Angela B from the Performing Rights Society (PRS) wanted to go through the set list with me. Apparently, years ago all venues had to submit these to the PRS but now they figure out who should get what by conducting random surveys - the PRS fees are paid by all venues. Nobody I know has ever had one of these.

But she was kind enough to email me with the names of all the composers/writers of the songs, a couple of days later. A new one on me but there you go!