Blog: Radio Blah Blah

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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

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