SUMMER SESSIONS! Part 1

Yo Yo!
Hows it going?

Apologies again for the lengthy gap since the last blog, but my lap top shat its pants and It was then left in the less than capable hands of a gentleman that claimed he could fix it.
He could not!
So i've got it back a month down the line and the buggar still wont charge, should any body know some one that can fix a "vintage" Mac book (as described to me by one of them genius dudes at Apple) please do not hesitate to put them in touch.

Thanks!

So a lots been going down.
Pickle got a new set of shiny bumpers so she doesn't look like such poom ting now.

 don't know why there's a dog pissing in shot.

The VW shows are in full swing, there have been a few spanners in the works but now all seems to be ticking over sweet.

Lets fill ya in.

The "Boy From Slough" EP launch at Islington O2 Academy was a write giggle, Thanks to Nick Pinchbeck, and George Golding for joining me on stage that night and The Sass of course (Josh Roberts) it was a pleasure to play alongside you clowns.

Here's a few shots of the jolly.

 Mr Nick Pinchbeck

 Intoducing The Sass

George grooving on the left

 George, Sass, Nick, Me

 You Lot

Thank you to all that made it along to support and to the bar for the party after, I had a good time. The EP is available to download from here https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/boy-from-slough-ep/id849122145 or hard copy from here http://www.musicglue.com/tom-dibb/shop/ 

It was only a couple of weeks then till I was heading Shropshire way for the first of my VW shows Bus Types.

It was my first time at Bus Types but what a great start to season, it was just a shame I could only do friday eve and the saturday, but in true veedub fest style I met some awesome people and had a great hang. Dean, thanks for having me.

 Bus Types set up

The reason I could only do the saturday was I had a Charity do with my friends Dan and Jess at The Steamer in Old Welwyn, cracking pub! hospitable and wicked curry of an evening. http://thesteamerwelwyn.co.uk/ 

It turned out to be quite an eventful day as we were all due to be playing on an open truck stage in the pub garden, bbq, pimms and all that jazz but the weather wasn't having any of it. So after Roxy Searle https://www.facebook.com/RoxySearleMusician and Abi https://www.facebook.com/abimusicuk

had done a blinding set each I went and set up the PA inside as I still had all the gear in the van from Bustypes and it was raining so much now some one wouldve got fried had we carried on in the garden.

I had the pleasure again of having Nick join me again, Oscar took up the bass for it and Nicks mate Dave Pitman, a sax player from Canada was over and got involved and we all got very, very drunk. Ha! resulting in knee slides and a perforated ear drum. (sorry nick)

I do believe we have george on bass in this shot, cheers for jumping up man.

Pitman you are a scholar and a gent and I am delighted to have hung out with you, Pinchy your an animal!

Next stop T.O.M.I.E

T.O.M.I.E was a first for me and a first for them, and a first for Abi https://www.facebook.com/abimusicuk a real honour to be involved. Abi had come along to play some tunes as well, mixes it up for the festival a bit and gives Ab's a chance to play to a different crowd. It was held the first weekend in may on Orsett show ground in Essex, and hosted by Jason and Caroline and what hosts.

I don't think I've felt that so welcome at a vw show since Grill n Chill last year.

 Abi at the T.O.M.I.E set up

Friday the show was pretty quiet and and we'd not had much chance to do any playing as people were still arriving and in the eve Jason was due for a DJ set, but given the chill in the air the night stayed pretty thin too so Jason cut his DJ set short, brought his fire pit over and every one came to sit round the van and a have a listen to the tunes, such a cool vibe.

Afterwards Abi and I were invited for a hang over at Jason and Carolines camp of which we happily accepted and we continued to have a wicked night.

I think Ab's had fun getting me back to the van, bearing in mind i'd got lost trying to get to the porter loo round the corner a couple of hours before this and had now assumed the forward lean whilst trying to figure out the concept of walking. well done that girl.

Next day bright and earlier off we went expecting The Sass to come join us but in true Roberts fashion he rocked up just in time to play the last half hour. Knob!

Jason, Caroline Legends! hope to see you again next year x

Next stop Vanjamboree!

Vanjamboree at Lincolnshire show ground is one of the festivals I did last year. It was a bloody good laugh then and this year was no Less.

Although a solo mission this time, where as the previous I had a team of misfits with me, a grand and successful occasion. The Lincoln lot are awesome, Pete Senneck and the team put on a well organised show, the traders are diamond including Spence from http://sgpercussion.co.uk/
a mean cajon maker, and Eliza and Steve from https://www.facebook.com/Scrumdubbly

whom I met for the first time this year have a dub cafe serving coffee's and cakes and quiches made be Eliza herself, Security believe it or not are a dream and the festival goers are awesome.

This event being a solo voyage I have very few photos but some of the guys that were there manage to grab a shot or 2 of that they kindly shared. 

This is one of my favourites by Richard.

 What do we do with the drunken song writer?

On the other hand I did feel we were well over due a Camper van recipe so I whipped up a favourite of mine.

Now this may well go down like a pint of cold puke to most but my old dear used to make this for us when we were kids and I've given it my own twist. One for the Offal lovers...

Liver and Onions:

Your gonna need a pack of lambs liver, avoid pigs cos its just nasty.

1 fair sized onion

2 chilli's

3 cloves of garlic

rice

half a cup of flour

tsp all spice

2 tsp all purpose seasoning

pinch of thyme

salt and pepper

2 beef oxo cubes

a bottle of red

and a dash of Worcester sauce 

What ya gonna do:

This meals great cos its well cheap, really good for you, there's not a lot of prep and its easy.

Rinse the liver and pat it down in some kitchen roll, then cover it an put to the side.

Get a bowl and put all your dries in, flour, seasoning's, thyme ect

finely chop the garlic and chilli and just slice up the onion in to strips.

Now get the liver and coat each piece in the flour mix, place on a plate, wash your hands and pour a glass of wine.

Prep done.

Heat a pan with a drizzle of oil and start to fry the chilli and garlic.

Once they've softened a touch and starting to smell good put your liver strips in and fry for about 3 mins on each side.

All the seasoning is gonna be sticking to the pan by now if not before, so add a drop of wine, and some worcester sauce, drop the heat a bit and put the onions in, as the onions start to cook they'll release a bit of moisture to.

keep stirring and adding wine as you need to, you'll see gravy forming and dont panic about adding too much booze cause the alcohol will cook off and youll be left with a rich bang tidy sauce.

I think I used about a third of a bottle in this one but there's no harm in adding good old h2o as well.

Best way to judge on amounts I've always found is to taste through out.

When your happy with your gravy flavour and consistency take of the heat and leave to sit while you boil up some rice.

If you've seen any of my camper van recipes before you'll know they're all made on a single hob and I find giving your main event the time to sit while you cook your side really helps the flavours set in.

With rice I find leaving it alone gets best results. Rinse it, stick it in the pan, pour double and a bit water over it and let it cook, stirring ends in sticky tears.

Once the rice is cooked put the liver back on a low heat and stir through.

Ready to serve.

Liver and onions with a jerky kick.

I'm gonna leave it at that for now as there's a lot of catching up to do.

hope you've enjoyed the journey so far and I'll fill you in with next stretch in a couple of days.

Peace

Tom x

Festivities!

Wow!
Bloody interesting old time this last month or so, up's, down's, and all rounds.
Where'd we leave off?

"My Inspiration" Video is out! Had a cool little sesh down at the Dog and Whistle in Hertford (http://www.dogandwhistlepub.co.uk) on the 15th December to screen it. I felt like crap and could barely growl a note, neither of the artists that were due to play rocked up and we had a right old time trying to set up the projector. None the less ABI (http://www.abiofficial.com) stepped up and played a last minute set for us, saving the eve, Janet (http://www.janetdevlin.com) jumped up and sang a track for us to, the video was well received, and I managed to grunt out a few tunes before totally loosing all vocal ability. It turned out to be a well cool jaunt and thanks to all who made it down and if you've not caught "My Inspiration" yet here it is, share about!

Shortly after I headed of to do The Winter Inspiration Tour and this was when it got real fruity.

On the eve of the 17th I busted one across to Abbergavenny so I'd be there in plenty of time for the show at Caffe Nero in the morning. Took a good 3 and a half hours as pickle was running like a buggered badger, but got there and got settled in what was a quiet lay bye at midnight, proved not so quiet at the crack of dawn when the vans shaking with all the heavy duty traffic storming passed.
I chugged my way in to town and parked up to load in.
It started to piss it down (I later established it does this an awful lot in the valleys)
There was a nice festive vibe in the Caffe and the staff were cool, it wasn't the busiest store in britain but the tunes were well received and Steve from BRFM had come down to say hi as after the show I was heading up to his studios to have a chat and a play.
Caffe Nero Abbergavenny, Taa very much for having me!

Next stop was BRfm Studios, I loaded up the old banger and slowly, really slowly climbed in to the valley's whilst being blown left right and centre by gales and wipers on full blast desperately attempting to regain some visibility through a waterfall of a windscreen.

I eventually I arrived at BRfm lakeside studio's and the best way to describe it is The Boat that Rocked, minus the boat. A really awesome bunch of guys all having a jolly and running a station for the love of it, I felt well at home and would highly recommend any artists, bands to call in if your ever that way, you'll be greeted with a brew and a smile.

http://www.brfm.co.uk/ 

Here's the pod cast of my chat with Stephen http://podcast.canstream.co.uk/brfm/audio/brfm_18-12-13_3-17_1387386001.mp3

I was gonna be crashing in the studio car park that night but as the wind and rain was relentless Angel, another DJ at BRfm invited me to come back to his mrs place and have a feed, a warm bed for the night and a shower in the morn which I gladly accepted and off we went to chill and drink whiskey till the early hours. This was to be my first experience of the legendary Welsh hospitality!

  Me and Angel, thanks for every thing man!

The view in the morning

After Angel dropping me back at Pickle I got going on day 2 of the tour, next stop Cardiff. Or not!

I got about 15 mins in to my journey and hit a pretty long hill, the heating light came on, Pickle was pissing out coolant all over the road.

I called the AA of which after this year they probably all know me by name and visa versa, made a sandwich and waited.

Derrick came to the rescue, wicked cool gent but unfortunately couldn't assist at road side but tightened my fan belt as it was whistling and towed me to Pontypridd to the nearest Halfords repair centre.

The guys faces sunk when Pickle arrived to be saved and I'm not surprised, how ever they said that they would have a look asap and figure out what we could do but I wasn't going any where fast. I called the next couple of Caffe's to make my apologies and Derrick asked if I needed a lift any where, As I had no where to go we bundled my busking gear in to his van and he dropped me in town to make my self useful.

A couple of hours and a few quid later Julian (halfords manager) gave me a holler to head back and see what's what.

what's what, was the bloody coolant flange had shat its self and this is a part that cant be sourced by any of halfords contractors. Balls!

Julian then goes and finds the part number, says that if I order the part they'll fit it, and He'll put my number plate on their car park register and I can stay there till we get it sorted (welsh hospitality). I went to the local Pub, Bunch Of Grapes, http://www.bunchofgrapes.org.uk/ just on the other side of my car park, to use the internet and have a jar, and what a local I had acquired.

8 or more local real ales, log burner, awesome staff, and patrons. 

It wasn't long before I'd got chatting away to Gareth at the bar and landed a gig for the following evening for the satisfying fee of beer and food.

The next day I ordered the part I needed from Just Kampers www.justkampers.com, thanks again dudes you've not let me down yet, then headed in to town again for a bit of a busk before the gig.

If your unfamiliar with Ponty its not a big town but is full of generosity, history, and character. The people are real friendly, often stopping for a chat, and there's a wicked indoor market with all kinds of jazz going.

I rocked up to the Bunch Of Grapes around 8 to set up and then played from 9 through the evening. The tunes were well recieved by a merry bunch of locals warming up for the fast approaching festivities, especially by a young student teacher who had some wonderful moves with my mic stand, Ha! she was funny.

I was fed a massive lamb burger and watered with jug upon jug of Otley ales only to then be handed a small brown envelope with a nifty inside. That night I met John and Julie who had recently moved in to the cottage down by the old Glamorganshire canal. During my set I'd been explaining why I was there and what had been going down so John and Julie have cone over after the show and offered up a proper roof over my head and a shower in the morning even though they had a house full already for the Christmas period and didn't know me from Adam (welsh hospitality).

I took them up on the shower alone as I was happy enough in the van overnight, I'd had more than a skin full and was well equipped with a top of the range booze blanket.

The next day I popped over to Johns for a shower and a coffee, and was then invited for Christmas day in the event I couldn't get the van sorted. A truly wonderful family! Thank you so much.
As I didn't make it to the Cardiff Nero's I thought I'd grab the busking bag hop on a train and go check out what goes down in Cardiff and try do a bit of christmas shopping.
Cardiff is awesome!
You've got old and new, its not too big nor too small and I made £120 in just over an hour so I will definitely be heading back that way.
After playing the rain set in and it really set in.
I headed back to the van and attempted to dry off and warm up when Rhodri came knocking. Rhodri is one of the guys that works at The Bunch, and had come by to see if I fancied going for a jar or 10.
Through out the night I discovered Rhodri is an independent film maker and is due to be releasing "The Valley of the Demon"later this year, so keep an eye out. Here's links to the trailer and the face book page.
https://www.facebook.com/ValleyofTheDemon?fref=ts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiXrNt4Y1dw
We had a cracking night discussing Ponty's history, film making and potential new productions before heading back out in to the storms and heading our separate ways with a belly full of beer providing disillusioned comfort in the cold wet early hours. 

The rain kept coming and the gales blowing, I found my self not only stranded in Wales but confined to a leaky van as well. It just wouldn't let up and I was getting fed up.
Every one had been awesome and I'd been able to keep busy but the weather was getting progressively more violent, I could see power cuts occurring and was really starting to question whether my part would arrive at all.
Sunday became Monday but fuck knows when as it barely got brighter and there was still no sign of  my delivery.
I spent most the day sat in the Halfords reception room drinking coffee and chatting to Julian about the hopes for the New year and future in general, waiting for the part to arrive and to see if there was a chance the guys may get Pickle up on the ramp that day.
The parcel came, it had been delivered to the Halfords store on the other side of the building, never the less it seemed everyone wanted their vehicles sorting before Christmas and the boys were to busy to sort the van.
I went to The Bunch for what was potentially my last night in Pontypridd to try and dry some of my gear by the fire.

This turned in to another Jolly!
It only seemed appropriate as it was with a bit of luck my last eve, rude not to right?
Then the power went... in the whole valley. It was off for about a half hour and the remaining three of us in the pub were starting to make ourselves comfortable with the acceptance that we may as well ride it through there as it may not be resolved before Christmas in which case I was gonna be taking John and Julie up on their invite.
The power came back on after an hour or so, still hope.

First thing Carl came to put the van on the ramp and away he went,with in a bout 40 minutes he'd demolished the old flange, as it and all the bolts were so corroded, and got the new one in and all hosed up.
He bled the cooling system, checked tyre pressure, and made sure all was cool to hit the road. It appeared we had won!
I went to see Julian to sort out paperwork and see what I owed and whether any of it could be covered by the AA repair cover. Julian presented me with an invoice totalling a whopping £0 with a message from him and the boys wishing me a Merry Christmas and all success with my music in the future.
Bugger almost had me in tears!

Carl, Julian, me, Mike, and Alan

Dudes I can not thank you enough!

The bad news is that some little fucker nicked my skate board from under the van on the Sunday and when I got to Harpenden the heating light came on again, Pickle sounds like a whining tractor and I need a new water pump.

 

I would like to state this had nothing what so ever to do with Halfords, just a fan belt that was too tight.

The good news is that I made it to Abi's https://www.facebook.com/abimusicuk for Christmas and met some of the most genuinely good, generous, and hospitable people I have ever come across!

Happy New Year every one! I've got some great stuff to come this year and I'm really stoked!
Firstly me and the band have got our first London gig on the 31st January at The Brixton Jamm supporting the awesome Finley Quay! Get your tickets soon cos its gonna be a sick night.
Heres the facebook event share it about.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1405720716339920/

Here' a couple of other things to check out:
My new online shop  http://www.musicglue.com/tom-dibb/shop/
Me accompanying Janet Devlin singing "Delicate" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJrQMXheAyo

A massive thank you to all for your support in 2013, it was a big jump for me and could have been a lot more difficult if I'd not had the help I have from the people I've met.
Solid blessings x

Special thanks to Derrick from the AA, Gareth and the team at The Bunch Of Grapes, John and Julie, Rhodri, Steve, Angel and all at BRfm, and Julian, Carl, Mike, and Alan at Pontypridd Halfords.

Peace x

 

 

 

SUP?

Right where we at?.... 
As explained in the previous post Pickles Northern Adventure didn't happen, and yes the old slag is still having her gears tickled three and a half months later.
Never the less I did make a micro tour up north at the beginning of the month starting in Sunderland with an interview and a few tunes with the dudes from Spark FM.

Then heading to do a show at Ye Old Yard Tapas Bar in Darlington http://www.tapasbar.co.uk This is a great little place, quality food and drink, friendly staff and just a nice crowd passing through. Pete the Owner is a diamond bloke with a love for music so if your ever in town pop your head in for a bit and say hi.
Tying in with the show was the presentation of the new Tom Dibb Custom Cajon from my good friend Spence, director of SGPercussion, who kindly accompanied me for a load of the set as Sass (josh) was fannying about in New York.

Bang tidy bit of kit! Mums, Dads, and lovers get your Christmas presents here http://www.sgpercussion.co.uk/

I then rounded up with a show at a joint called The Royal Standard. A music pub in Sheffield run by an awesome bunch of guys also known as The Velcro Teddy Bears, an acoustic Rock and Roll band well worth a look up at https://www.facebook.com/velcroteddybears they also do a bloody good pizza at their place for a most affordable price.
Look forward to hopefully catching up with them again in the festival season.

That was about it, like I said pretty micro but met some cool people with some ideas on other venues to tap up, so next year (Pickle providing) we'll give it another shot.

In the last couple of weeks I made a visit to Tropical FM in Luton for a bit of a play and a chinwag about the VW festival Tour in the summer past and the Lost EP which I believe should be available for viewing at some point soon from http://www.tropicalfm.co.uk/pastshows

Went to do a Balcony TV sesh with Janet Devlin, Whose single "Wonderful" is out today so go score your copy at  https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/wonderful-single/id734421995 Now!
But yea cool session that'll be available to see soon, so watch this space, and got to watch Turin Brakes perform their new single "We Were Here"

Then go watch them at Shepherds Bush a few days later. Sick!

And thats whats gone down really.

Currently finishing up a recording of a cover that I'm gonna be putting out as a free download very soon and I know its been bloody ages again but the "My Inspiration" video is done and ready to go out its just we gotta wait a little longer before release as there are a few other forces potentially intertwining with the whole thing.

I'm planning a cafe nero cristmas tour from London BBC studios through to and around wales the week before christmas so if there is any where in particular you would like me to call through then please give me a holler via the website, facebook, or twitter and I would love to come see you.The dates will be confirmed by the end of next week.

Finally If any ones in the Hertfordshire area this weekend I will be playing at The Steamer in Old Welwyn on Saturday the 30th so come get involved https://www.facebook.com/events/753609751319437/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular&source=1

Peace x

Where we at?

Yo!
That's it, days are shortening, degrees and leaves are dropping, winter is setting in and I'm feeling it. Happens every year and I dont know why I'm surprised when it does, I've written songs about it, poems about it, and moaned about it for many a cycle.
Bring on the Winter blues!
Had to take my self for a stroll last night to reflect on the past season and pull out the good bits and turns out there's very little negative to filter out, a bit of rough but generally been a sick summer.
Loads of vw shows and music festivals, video release, EP launch,  bang tidy weather leading to some great days playing to the streets and meeting folks up and down the country.
I cant complain.

Since the last post I rocked up and played my last vw show of the year at Grillnchill and have to say definitely one of my favourites. Hosted by the PaintScrapers vw club and located at Hop Farm, an awesome vibe created by a really cool bunch of people.
Already booked in for next year so get involved.
Shortly after Josh (Sass) and I supported Janet Devlin at Camdens Jazz Cafe, A real honour and a giggle.
Probably the nicest sound guy I've ever come across and a great crowd.

                                                                The Paint Scrapers

                                                             
                                                       Me and The Sass at The Jazz Cafe

Pickle is still having transmission issues which is really getting on my tits now as I've been attempting to rectify this issue since the beginning of august.
If any one wants to help or can recommend some vw t25 genius then give me a holler.

So what's coming up?
Got another video due for release at the end of this week with a little luck.
It' for a track called "My Inspiration" from the "Repeat What I See" EP, A kind of fight club meets raging bull style video that I'm really stoked for and hope you guys will be too. Head to https://www.facebook.com/TomDibbMusic for a look at some still shots to get the vibe and there is a free download of the track available from www.tomdibb.com

                                                                My Inspiration shot

Pickles Northern adventure tour has gone down the crapper a bit I'm afraid as there was a bit of a change in management and with the state of the van I'm not sure she'd make the 5000 mile round trip we were originally intending. How ever the dates booked are still going ahead and are listed on the website so fear not.

Here's a little something the Sass and I threw together for ya the other day, enjoy!

Peace xx

Whats going down!

Yo Dudes!
Apologies for being off the radar a bit the last month but its been a whole load of crazy jazz all at once and I've just been trying to sort each bit as it came.
There's been weddings galore, a whole season of loving going on. attended some as guest, some to play, and one as best man, Yea sorry ladies the Sass has been snatched.

On top of the hitching there's been birthdays, gigs, festivals, guitar shows, moving out of flats I've not even lived in for 6 months and all whilst the vans been out of action, pretty much since white noise festival. So massive thank you to all the people, new and old friends that have put me up over the last few weeks, I am for ever grateful.
So Pickle is currently up on the ramps again with no gearbox in and her engine being held in by a claw jack.

The plan is now to forge some kind of hybrid gear box from the old one and this other piece of crap we found.

I'll let you know how it goes, I really want my home back now.
After all the craziness I'm seeing a light again, starting to focus a little better again and as soon as the vans alive I'm gonna have some more campervan sessions coming and recipes.
Still sorting dates for the proposed "pickles northern adventure" tour. If there is any where you would like me to hit or if you'd like to have a bit of a jaunt at your place and you'd like me to come play some tune I'd be stoked. Just get in touch through twitter or face book.


Got an exciting last minute London show coming up too but I'll shout about that tomorrow.

Peace x