Bostin Deal!

Bostin, as you may know, is Black Country for great, good – well, bostin!

Bostin is also the Black Country and Birmingham online store for tee-shirts and other merchandise managed by Donato Esposito.

From his website:

“Bostin Group is about putting smiles on people’s faces!

We hope to spread some smiles and good news about what is good about Birmingham, The Black Country and beyond.

There is enough doom and gloom in the world that it is sometimes hard to see the fun in life, the good things that make us smile.

Our area is full of heritage and pride and we at Bostin Group want to shout about what is good about both the area and the people. We have some factual, ground breaking and humorous articles to bring to you. Stories that you want to share with people, talk about and discuss.

Bostin is all about being positive, after all, it does translate to brilliant, fantastic, great.’

Well now Skidders UK Store is being managed exclusively by Bostin where you can find Tee-shirts, CDs and DVDs online at www.ibostin.com/shop/black-country/skidders/

Mask-Arade

You can see in the title photo of my latest new of my website www.skiddersmusic.com, Skidders Bostin tee-shirts modelledby my good lady wife and I. But you may possibly have noticed us wearing Neil Finn (Crowded House) and Eric Clapton (from the Unplugged era) masks. They particularly come in handy when we do the Claptout and Acoustic gigs with Crowded Out.

But if you should want any masks for parties, stag dos etc, you can simply order these online from Mask-Arade at www.mask-arade.com

And talking of Claptout and Acoustic gigs with Crowded Out, theres a great one coming up 9th October at Cox’s Yard in Stratford on Avon. Tickets are only a fiver in advance and can be ordered online from www.coxsyard.co.uk

Hope to see you there!

More information about Bostin may be found at www.ibostin.com/shop/

For Mask-Arade see www.mask-arade.com

vbr, Skidders

Claptout Unplugged at the Robin 2

A fantastic gig coming up at Midlands’ premier 700 capacity venue, the Robin 2.

Claptout & Acoustic will be playing alongside Crowded Out at this fantastic RnB club near Wolverhampton, 8th July 2010.
Malc & I played there when we supported Family’s, Roger Chapman last year – and what a great gig that was!

Now, as Crowded House tour the UK, and with Eric Clapton also on tour – you can ‘see’ both in the same evening, at the same venue for only £6. To book tickets in advance, please visit – http://www.therobin.co.uk/whats_on/giginfo.asp?gigid=2037

Claptout & Acoustic
As it’s such a special occasion, we’re delighted to announce we have invited Anatasha & Anna Stamp (backing vocals) – and Paul ‘the Ox’ Hogg (bass) to join us – and they’ve accepted!

www.myspace.com/claptoutandacoustic

Crowded Out
They are the UK’s Premier Crowded House tribute band. I have to say (no offence to Crowded House fans), but when I heard Neil Finn singing live on Radio 2 the other week, I honestly thought Crowded Out’s Andy Thomas sounds better!

If you’re a Crowded House and/or Clapton fan, this surely is a ‘must’ date for your diary!
www.myspace.com/crowdedout

We really hope you can come – if you do, please come and say hello to us all.

Claptout and Acoustic with new Busker Guitar

Well, all good things are worth waiting for. And it finally arrived – my custom retro/aged resonator from Busker Guitars, based on their Delta Blues model – a 12-fret brass bodied beauty. And what a fantastic job Robin and Ron made of it.

And it has come just in time for this Thursdays gig at the fantastic Musicians Pub in Leicester, where Claptout and Acoustic will be performing the songs of Eric Claptons MTV unplugged session.

Songs like Rollin and Tumblin, Running on Faith, Walkin Blues will all feature in the new reso first outing. And I cant wait!

Malc Evans (my partner in Claptout and Acoustic) and I, will be playing alongside the countrys premier Crowded House tribute band – Crowded Out.

Check out my gig guide to see all other events we have with Crowded Out around the country for this year, including the fantastic Robin 2 in Wolverhampton and Coxs Yard in Stratford.

Back to the resonator – there is obviously so much care, attention and dare I say, love, put into the making of these beautiful instruments. I cannot recommend them enough for anyone wishing to purchase such a style of guitar. You can find Robin and Ron at www.buskerguitars.co.uk

Also, I have to recommend (no commission for me by the way), the fabulous bottle necks made by Diamond Bottlenecks – www.diamondbottlenecks.com – speak with Ian MacWee there for a superb sounding bottle, customised if necessary.

vbr, Skidders

Happy Mother’s Day!

If you’ve followed the evolution of Skidders website, you’ll see a whole new style and design. After reading Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan’s The DIY Music Manual (www.diymusicmanual.com), I realised a major overhaul was required to provide the right kind of information in the right format.

It’s certainly a big task, and has only just started with much further work required, but a big thank you to the authors, particularly Randy, who gave me feedback. Hopefully youll like the new look and feel, but I’d welcome and feedback good or bad.

I then hope to press on with the dual album and be in a good position to market it. After putting my heart and soul into the production of Bukechi’s Welcome to Suburbia, I am now ready to really get stuck into my rock and blues songs. One of the first I will be recording is Sammi’s Song which I wrote for my musical partner about a year ago.

Talking of which number one daughter, Anatasha, wifey Terryann and I went out with Sammi on Friday night to see Enzio at Cox’s Yard. They are a fab acoustic duo with an incredibly rich live sound.

Malc Evans and I (Claptout and Acoustic) will be playing at Cox’s Yard in October. Joining us will be Crowded Out – and we also have other dates with these great guys, starting 1st April (no jokes please!) at the fantastic Musician Pub in Leicester.

If anyone wants one of the new Skidders’ badges, please drop me an email and I will arrange to get you one.

And finally – Happy Mothers day to all you mums out there!

vbr, Skidders

2010 Skidders News

Many thanks to those who joined my Skidders’ Facebook group – if you haven’t and want to, please click here…

Well, much to do in 2010 – whilst Sammi (my musical partner of Bukechi) is raising her lovely family, I’m involved in several other projects. Firstly though, just to say what a beautiful baby Maddy is – and Sammi’s number one daughter, Joni, is such a fantastic sister and help to Sammi & Nik. I’m so pleased for them. When ever my number one daughter, Anatasha, sees Maddy – you have no chance of holding her!

Gigs

There are some very good gigs lined up for Claptout & Acoustic, starting 2010 with a trip to Ditch the TV whcih was last Friday, then an evening on the Sunday at Kristy Gallacher’s “KG Presents” in Kenilworth. A good time was had by all!

Three gigs that will be even more fantastic, are at the Robin2, Fat Lil’s and Cox’s Yard alongside Crowded Out – Britain’s best Crowded House tribute band. Check out my Tour Dates page for more info.

New Guitar(s)

Wife “How many guitars do you really need?”

Husband “Just one more after the next one”!

Robin Clark of Busker Guitars taught me that one. Great! And I await a new resonator from them, perhaps the end of this week – hopefully in time for the next show.

New Double Album

I’ll be working on my ‘dual’ album throughout 2010. “Friends & Family” is an acoustic album, whereas “Skidderslectric” is a companion Blues/Rock offering.

You can download now for free, the “Bhangra Rock Fusion” song – just go to my home page www.skiddersmusic.com and select the link. If you supply your email for mail updates, you can download for free.

Also available is “Skidders Dance Mix” for only 99c – available now on my Merchandise page.

Take care & best wishes, Skidders x

Skidders music

Hi there. My name is Steve Skidmore, known as Skidders in the music world.

I’ve just opened an account and will be blogging here from now on. So please subscribe if you like Black Country rock & blues!

vbr, Skidders

www.skiddersmusic.com