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Stanley Boots-Up for 2015

Jan 8, 2015
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Happy Noo Year folks…..are we still saying that? Hope you all had a great festive season and are ready to square up toe-to-toe with 2015.

Stanley is preparing to come out of sleep mode and boot-up for the first gig of the year at, appropriately….The Boot, St Albans on Sunday 11th Jan. For those of you who saw us there last time (and it’s been a while) you can expect lots of new songs in the set and, depending on how Friday’s rehearsal goes, maybe even a shiny-brand-new-never-been-played-before one that we got for Xmas!

With a new year ahead it’s probably a good time for us to look back and thank all the venues who have booked us over the last year. We realise that putting on live music is not always the first thing on the agenda for many places in these tough times. And a whole evening of Steely Dan music can be considered a somewhat ‘niche’ prospect for some, but the packed crowds we’ve continued to see have been a revelation! So, massive thanks to all of these places who have supported us and continue to give us and loads of other bands a chance to do our thing on a stage. Keep up the great work guys…

The Half Moon, Putney / The Horns, Watford / Tropic At Ruislip / Jagz in Ascot / The Maltings, Farnham / The Harlequin Theatre, Redhill / The Boot, St Albans / The Farmers Boy, St Albans / Wokingham Music Club / The Oddfellows Arms, Apsley / Dunfest in Tring

Ok, and now on with the task of finishing off the last of the naughty Xmas snacks….

Everything Must Go!

Christmas Time…Out of Mind

Dec 18, 2014
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Ho, Ho, and thrice Ho!

Here we are again then….where did that year go? We’ve had a ball this year and met some lovely new people along the way. 2014 had some great highlights for us, including our expansion to an 11-piece band, playing some great new venues, and getting a load more wonderful Steely Dan tunes into the set.

We’ve already got quite a few dates in the diary for 2015 so hope to catch up with friends old and new at some forthcoming gigs. We’re back out again on 11Jan at the Boot in St Albans so would be great to see some of you there.

The pic attached to this blog (click it to expand) is sadly a fictitious album cover. Being the jolly and un-cynical couple of fellows that they are, I can’t understand why Donald and Walter never got around to a Christmas album! Ah well, maybe next year.

All together now…..”Santa Claus is coming to..Barrytown”.

Have a cool yule, y’all.

Stanley x

with thanks to earcandymag website for some of the content!

Stanley goes on tour……..

Nov 14, 2014
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…well, 3 gigs in a week – that’s just about a ‘tour’ isn’t it?

On Fri 21st Nov we will be driving West on Sunset (aka the M4) to the Wokingham Music Club. This is a new venue for us so we’re very much looking forward to meeting some new Dan-fans – and potential Stan-fans too we hope!

Sun 23rd Nov we’ll be driving East On Sunset…..ok, let’s not push this one any further….over to the riverside music mecca that is the Half Moon Putney. Always a great night at this famous venue, and we can’t wait to go back.

Then the following week on Sun 30th Nov, Stanley comes ‘home’ to the Horns in Watford. It has been quite a while since we played here and as this is our last gig of 2014 it’s bound to be a bit of party.

2014 has been a great year for Stanley Dee so far, so please do come along to one of our forthcoming gigs and join in the fun.

Yes….we’re gonna have a wingding!

The Joy of Sets

Oct 8, 2014
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So, there we all were at rehearsal the other night for our forthcoming return to Jagz in Ascot (Fri 10 Oct, as if you needed reminding), and the tricky topic of what to put in the set-list inevitably came up. The more songs we add to the repertoire, the more challenging it becomes when deciding which ones to leave in, and which to leave out.

With Steely Dan not being particularly renowned for troubling the UK charts much over the years, it makes sense that we tend to always include the BIG SMASH HITS! at every gig (you know who you are…yes, I’m looking at you Rikki and friends) and therefore a certain percentage of the set does tend to pick itself. But the rest of it comes down to keeping a healthy balance of new tunes we’ve just added, a mix of tempos, trying to recall which ones we played the last time we were at a particular venue, ones we’ve not played for a while, and so it goes….

It usually kind of works out ok, but I would guess we all have some of our own personal favourites left out from time to time. However, this must be more of a soul-searching conundrum for Don and Walt before they embark on a new tour, as Dan-fans are generally a knowledgeable bunch and obviously will have great hopes of hearing their favourites given an airing. They don’t tour that often (well definitely not in the UK…..hello guys? we’re still here and waiting you know?!) so to wait several years to see ‘em and then they go and miss out ”fill-in-the-blank-as-personally-applicable” ….well that’s going to be disappointing isn’t it? Solution? Come and see Stanley Dee on a regular basis, and if we aren’t playing the ones you want to hear just request them for next time and we’ll do our best to oblige. Although apologies must go to the regular requester of ‘Show Biz Kids’……we will get there eventually, we promise!

In the meantime, check out the link below to see what Steely Dan have been wowing the crowds with on their recent trek across the USA. Some pretty fine tunes included I’m sure you’ll agree:

http://www.setlist.fm/setlists/steely-dan-7bd6be38.html

Hope to see some of you at Jagz, but ’til next time….Toodle-oo!

Surrey – Part 2

Sep 15, 2014
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So, after July’s trip to Redhill we are now very much looking forward to returning to Surrey again for our second gig at the Maltings in Farnham.

Should be a good gig as the venue has a lovely theatre space and we have some expert sound-techy type guys on hand to hopefully help make it a delight for the ears!

It’ll be great to see some familiar faces at the gig, and hopefully meet some new folks who are checking out Stanley Dee for the first time.

The date for your diary is Saturday 20 September - please take a look at the venue’s website for ticket details and start times etc.

See you there!

Summer…

Jul 31, 2014
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..and Stanley has been on holiday to the exotic destination of Blues Beach. We can thoroughly recommend the Manatee Bar as a good place to chill and enjoy a nice Tropical Cooler. And talking of ridiculously contrived links….

Fri 29 Aug sees Stanley Dee return to Tropic At Ruislip. This is a great venue which hosts dozens of bands throughout the year and is a real supporter of the live music scene. Check the gig list on their website and you can see how booked up they are, even well in to 2015.

We’d love to see lots of you there to support the good work these guys are doing…..oh, and to come see us do our Steely Dan thing too of course. Loads of new songs in the set since our last time there so please come along, sing, drink, dance, and say ‘Hi’.

In other news…

One recent loss to music during the Summer has been that of the jazz pianist Horace Silver. You might not know him, but listen to the opening bars of his ‘Song For My Father’ and I think you’ll soon know he had a big influence on a certain Steely Dan hit.

And for those interested there’s another good collection of facts/musings about Steely Dan on this LINK.

Thanks to those who sent some really nice comments to us after our recent Redhill gig. It’s very much appreciated, and your kind words will join Stanley’s ‘Hall of Fame’ over on the reviews page of this very website.

Ok, that’s about it for now. See you on 29Aug in Ruislip hopefully. If not, then we look forward to seeing the lovely Surrey SD contingent when we go back to the Farnham Maltings on Sat 20 Sep.

Hope you’re having a great Summer…..and enjoy those merciful rays.

Surrey…..

Jul 9, 2014
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…seems to be the hardest word. That was an inexcusable pun – apologies.

However, we are excited to say that Friday 25^th July sees Stanley head off to the Harlequin Theatre in Redhill, Surrey. Yes….a proper theatre, with a big stage, and like, seats and everything! If you’ve only ever seen us in some of the smaller, more spatially-challenged venues, then you really must come along and see the full wide-screen version of the Stanley Dee experience. It’s going to be a lot of fun so we’d really love to have friends old and new join us for this landmark event in the Stan calendar.

Please check out the venue’s website and book your tickets HERE.

So, save that date folks – Fri 25^th July. What a beautiful world this will be…….

Stanley Dee United FC

Jun 20, 2014
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In the spirit of World Cup Fever (soon to be dampened quite a bit for many when the ‘Lions’ make their all too customary early exit) it’s probably appropriate to now formally announce the expansion of Stanley Dee to an 11-piece. With the addition of Paul in the horn section, we now officially have sufficient members to put out a decent side for any upcoming jazz-rock band based football tournaments. What do you mean, there aren’t any?!!

The keen-eyed amongst you would have spied Paul doing his saxy stuff at recent gigs, but we’ve only just got around to updating this on the website…apologies Paul!

Paul’s induction into the band initially came from a desire to beef up the harmonies on some of those lush SD horn arrangements, but also because we noticed at some gigs there was at least a 30sq centimetre gap of floor space on the stage that we felt needed to be filled. You may have noticed we tend to favour the ‘cozy’ formation (at some venues more so than others) and Paul admirably fulfils both the musical-harmony and space-management roles with aplomb. Welcome aboard Paul!

We’ll be playing him in central midfield in our next fixture away at Jagz FC in Ascot on Friday 4^th July – please come along and cheer on the team!

Festival season is almost upon us…

Apr 28, 2014
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…and rather than playing the same old predictable ones such as Glasto, V, Latitude etc, Stanley is pleased and proud to be playing the much more compact and bijou ‘’Dunfest 2014’’ in Tring on Sat 17^th May!! We’ll be opening up the proceedings so keep your fingers crossed for some Saturday afternoon sunshine.

Some event blurb below…

‘’Dunfest 2014 will take place on Saturday 17 May 2014 on The Field, Dundale School, Tring., starting at 2pm till 9pm As well as chilling out and relaxing to the live music we are planning to have a variety of stalls.

Come and join us for a great family day out – an afternoon with live music, great food and stalls to browse and buy something unusual! Again we will have a licensed bar selling beer and cider from Tring Brewery as well as a selection of wine and lager. ‘’

And you can keep up to date with more event info, and details of the other wonderful bands on the line-up, by checking out the Dunfest Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dunfest-2014/267350966779994

See you there!

A Drinking Dictionary..

Apr 15, 2014
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We’re fast approaching the Easter Hols and if you’re anything like Stanley, a cheeky drink or two may be consumed over the long weekend. So what an opportune moment to share this link from Classic Rock magazine, celebrating Steely Dan’s top 10 songs mentioning beverages of various degrees of ‘exoticness’ (if that is indeed a word…….once you’ve drunk enough, it will make sense I assure you)

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/steely-dan-drinking-songs/

I’m pretty sure some of those drink names were unfamiliar, eh? I mean when was the last time any of you drank Kirschwasser from a shell?!

Part of the beauty of Don and Walt’s lyrical landscapes is the obscure references they often throw in to confuse us all. However, help is at hand when you feel the need to dig a bit deeper into the meanings of their songs. This great resource will enable you to uncover the explanations to Squonks, Bodhisattvas, Custerdomes and many more!

http://www.steelydandictionary.com/

Happy reading, and…..Cheers!!

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