Well it's really a bit late to wish you all a very happy new year, but it is wished anyway, have a good and healthy one. This is just a short, quick line to let you all know that very shortly we will be uploading some FREE MP3's by The Collectors for you to download. Don't say we never give you anything! In the meantime, why not head over to the Downloads pages and get yourself some FREE funky Power of Ten wallpaper to glorify your computer desktop. Thanks to Tommy Irvine for designing and providing the wallpapers.
And don't forget, come back soon to get those FREE MP3's to add to the ones already on the Music downloads page.

The bass player is never content, always making attempts to upstage real guitarists. It's not enough to have a load of six string instruments that he can't really play, but he has to keep adding more and more to his rather lovely collection.

Paul has only gone and bought another few guitars to make us all jealous and mutter things like 'how many guitars can you play at one time anyway?" and "I'm happy with my Kay Custom Classic...".

And if thats not enough, two of the guitars he added to the collection are, well, guitar collections in their own right. Two Line 6 Variax guitars are now being lovingly wiped with Mr Sheen and a yellow rag, one bass and one real guitar with six strings. as I'm sure you know the Line 6 Variax guitars are modelling jobbies which digitally model some of the worlds greatest guitars (which he already has so what's the flippin' point?..just remember he's a bass player which I suppose is a good enough excuse).

So, instead of adding what would normally be considered 4 guitars, he's basically doubled his collection when you include the dozens of modelled guitars whose souls have been harvested by Line 6. Good stuff.

The other guitar is another Musicman Bongo, this time white, to go with his other Musicman Bongo, that time black. He even drove to Scotland to get the thing from a fellow eBayer (who in actual fact took possesion of one of Paul's other basses in a sort of dodgy, meet you in a car park in Stranraer sort of way. Swapshop was never like this.) This could be a sign that Paul is about to embark on collecting the same model of guitar, only in different colours. Hooray. Can't wait.

Don't be jealous, just go and look at them here if you haven't already.

Tags: Guitar Collection

After taking a very short break, it's all go again for David Irvine, with the re-opening of his Rock Music School. The schools were closed for a couple of weeks during the summer but are now preparing for opening again on 6th August. Teaching kids, young and old, guitar, bass, drums and keyboards, David and his team of tutors are looking forward to preparing the pupils for their next live event (probably around Christmas time) following the success of the summer event in the Stormont Hotel in Belfast. Around 300 parents and friends watched the pupils rock through a set that included songs by Deep Purple, Green Day, The Beatles and Snow Patrol to name but a few and raised nearly £1500 for the Northern Ireland Childrens Hospice.

Now David is also hoping to add a special 'Adults Only' hour in one of the schools so if you are feeling the need to satisfy the urge to learn how to play guitar, bass, drums or keyboards and live in the Belfast and Dundonald areas then visit the main school site at www.clivesmusic.com and go to the schools pages. Then simply click on the big yellow star to book a completely FREE taster session and the schools manager will get back to you to arrange a suitable date and time for the lesson.

Tags: Clive's Easylearn Rock and Pop School

For quite some time now there has been speculation on No Hot Ashes reforming to do a couple of gigs. Well, that ain't happening (not yet anyway), so the next best thing is a collaboration of a couple of ex-No Hot Ashes members, and a couple of ex-Annexxe band members !! Paul Boyd, David Irvine and Stevie Campbell from No Hot Ashes and Eddie Currie, Brendan McCloskey and Stevie Campbell from Annexxe (...hey wait...Stevie!! You're such a tart!! ) got together for a jam and a bit of a laugh. The result is Alliance, a rock band dipping it's toes into the sea of time, playing classic rock covers and some nearly new tunes!

The guys have been loudly putting together a 40 minute set to perform at The Rosetta Bar, Cregagh, on Friday 10th August as part of a charity event. Unfortunately Davey Irvine is unable to make the gig due to other committments but is gutted that he can't be part of it. "I'm gutted not to be parted of it" said Irvine...However, he is hoping to get some time in the future when he can look forward to playing with the rest of the guys.

Word has it the band are sounding really pretty good, and thoroughly enjoying it, looking forward to pulling shapes and rocking The Rosie. Be there on Friday 10th August to bear witness. And come back here to get a review of the gig and hopefully some pics.

Tags: No Hot Ashes - Annexxe - Alliance

We lose all contact with the outside world from tomorrow as we are changing broadband provider. We currently use PIPEX who have been very reliable, but thought we would give Talk Talk a go as the service is free. Problem is that PIPEX account gets closed on the 23rd Feb, but Talk Talk can’t have us up and running until the 2nd of March at the latest. So hopefully all will go to plan and we will be back online before then, but these things aren’t guaranteed so a bit apprehensive to say the least.

Not to worry, it will give us an opportunity to do some offline blogging and other site stuff, and then blast it all live in one go. So keep in touch. AND..we'll be back with some photos and news of an important event !!