Bang is 10! - 10 Years of Your New Favourite Club

My club night Bang turned 10 years old a month ago and to celebrate this amazing event we organised a massive Bang Birthday Party with all the fun of the riotous Bang affair plus photo displays, the Bangzine, a Bang Birthday cake and the return of the Bang Band which includes the Bang DJs plus our infamous roadie Steve on drums. Thanks Steve, for your energy, enthusiasm and encouragement (and for being so into it that you want to continue Bang Band!) You Rock!

The big birthday bash took place at our new home upstairs at The Stag and Hounds in Bristol alongside our fellow club night Dirty Casino (downstairs) on Saturday 16 February.

I wouldn't normally appear to boast about something I did but we had worked so hard to plan the event and these comments made me so happy and proud that I had to give them a mention!

Facebook comments on the Bang fanpage http://www.facebook.com/bangbristol after the event included.

'The Bang Band were brilliant'

'What a brilliant night thanks so much for a fantastic time!'

Wow!!! What a night! I love Bang!

'Loved it, the band rocked it. Roll on May! Xx'

'It was amazing, folks. Thank you so much x'

 

Thank you Bangers!!

And as we say at Bang.....It's time to kick out the jams!!

I love the two images of the amazing Bang Birthday cake. The top one where the cake is lovingly displayed and the second taken during the Bang party! The fantastic cake was made by the very talented Naomi (my brother Mike's lovely lady) Thank you Naomi!!!

 

The set list image (taken in what looks like a stable from all the random bits of straw on the floor) shows you the seven tracks we covered in the band these are all Bang favourites from the club night and were received really well, which was fantastic! I sang Decepticon by La Tigre at the end as I pretty much have to scream and it kills my voice! Totally worth it though!! I really enjoyed it!!

 

For the past 10 Years, the Bang DJs have always ended the night with 'Life on Mars - Bowie' which we did on this night too but the atmosphere was amazing and my brother Mike(seen above with Phil, my husband) decided we needed an encore and quickly grabbed - whilst managing to keep hold of his pint - 'Ace of Spades-Motorhead' The room went mad! Bang on!

 

For those who didn't know....Bang play 50s, new wave, northern soul, ska, alternative 80s, 60s garage, glam, underground indie and punk.... It’s time to Kick out the Jams……

 

Join Bang at The Stag and Hounds in Bristol, Uk on the following dates in 2013

 

Saturday 18th May
Saturday 17th August
Saturday 16th November

 

Be there or be square Daddio!

ND xx

 

 

 

The Bang DJs at Hoochie Coochie Christmas Ball

It’s been a long time coming but here are some of my favourite images from The Hoochie Coochie Christmas Ball event which was held in a 100 year old Spiegaltent on the Harbourside, here in Bristol, UK during December 2012. I was lucky enough to play at this amazing event as part of The Bang DJs, who frankly, rocked at the after show party!

The Spiegaltent is constructed from rich mahogany, dappled glass and coloured mirrors, decorated in velvet and brocade, and illuminated with antique lamps this created a vintage, dark and lavish backdrop to the Hoochie Coochie Kabaret show and the atmosphere was electric!

The photographs have a dark, vintage look to them thanks to the reflections from the coloured mirrors and the deep red velvet backdrops (the camera flash turned off also helped!) They are fun images that seemed to capture moments from the evening seen through the Bang DJs eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think we had a good time! Bang on!

ND xx

Bang - Your New Favourite Club

My club night Bang is about to turn 10 years old in a couple of weeks and to celebrate this amazing event we are putting on a massive Birthday Party with all the fun of the riotous Bang affair plus photo displays, the Bangzine and the return of the Bang Band (last seen at the 5th Bang Birthday party back in 2008).

 Here are some photos from the last Bang event back in November 2012 which took place at our new home upstairs at The Stag and Hounds in Bristol alongside our fellow club night Dirty Casino (downstairs).
All images courtesy of Bang and Mark Sewell Photography

As we say at Bang.....It's time to kick out the jams!!

 

BANG ON!

JOIN US AT BANG'S 10TH BIRTHDAY PARTY
AT THE STAG AND HOUNDS, BRISTOL, UK
ON SATURDAY 16TH FEBRUARY

BE THERE OR BE SQUARE DADDIO!

ND XX

Hoochie Coochie Halloween Oct 2012 - Rock and Roll All Night!

Happy New Year and all that.

 I personally did not get to have a very sociable New Year (missing my brothers 1950s NYE Party) due to a random illness, nothing new from me there, if there's an illness to be catching this winter, I seem to catch it! Instead I sat up with my kids and Phil and watched the film - School of Rock, which the boys loved and became inspired, starting an impromptu band rehearsal in the garage (where we so happen to have a set of drums) the next day. It was very cute.

I sadly, do not have any images of the garage band but I do have some images from Hoochie Coochie Halloween that I hadn't shown you yet. I still have another lot of Bang and Hoochie photos to show you, but that will come, in between fashion posts, over the next few weeks!
 Our chosen outfits for the Halloween spectacular were Kiss Zombies.

The event took place in Bristol Museum, if it's good enough for Banksy.......It was a fantastic venue, despite a lack of bar service which unfortunately ruined the night for some, I personally, felt honoured to DJ at such an event with my brother and fellow Bang DJ Mike, and our lovely Bang roadies /ornaments Steve and Naomi. Phil could not attend the event due to a lack of babysitters...boo hoo! There are only a few images to show you and I thought it would be a shame not to post about them, even if they are a little late in coming.

That's where we DJ'd, up there, above the stage on the balcony!! It was soooo surreal! Put it this way, on the opposite platform to us was the best-preserved dinosaur ever found in Britain - the Scelidosaurus....As I said, very surreal!!

Here's to the first of many, many posts in 2013 -One of my new years resolutions is to blog more......We'll see how that goes.......Ahem!...ND xx

No Debutante - A Winters Tale Part 2 -Your hair looks like an easter egg...

Whilst Phil and my sons play Skylanders Giants on the newly received Wii U. I shall ignore what they are doing (and recognise when I am not wanted) and begin the second part of my Winters Tale double bill personal style blog post. I have since been taking many more pics of my Christmas fashion goodies but lets just end with the Nov-Dec fashion moments first! The baby is in bed by the way, she's not just randomly crawling about the house like that baby in Trainspotting...

 

 

I bloody love this Gang of Four tshirt!! I was a bit scared of it when I first got the big, oversized, monstrous bright yellow item but now I get annoyed when it isn't clean! (You can only imagine the clothes washing dilemma in my house with five people including two young boys and a baby) Here it is, my new favourite tshirt, worn with my high waisted H&M skater skirt (which is virtually vintage) and the studded Topshop pumps! This is what I look like at the end of the day after work and school pick ups BTW!

When I have a bit more time on my hands, I pop on some make-up (a little too much make-up on this occasion, some might say) and pop my hair up into cute kiddie bunches and then go hunting for my one year old daughter and do the same to her, Sylvie is clearly loving it!

  Not the bunches again Mummy!!!

Here's a sneak preview of me at the December Hoochie Coochie event, where The Bang DJs are residents, in a Rags to Riches themed outfit. More images of this amazing night to follow over the next few weeks!!

Vikki Mac, my hair stylist was our babysitter for the evening and Vikki kindly quaffed my hair up into and amazing curly mohawk. It's great when your hair stylist is your babysitter, isn't it?

Here's my hair after Vikki Mac got her hands on it again a couple of weeks later, she put on a toner which I would only describe as neon orange, which was terrifying when wet, but I have actually been loving ever since!! It's still in my hair a bit now, two weeks later, which frankly is great for a toner on hair that needs to be washed regularly. I'm tempted to go back and get it done again already!

 

This is the outfit I chose to wear at my work Christmas party. My bodycon tiger print dress with the baseball boot wedges and my neon hair which coincidentally matched the 1970s wallpaper behind me. The party was held at the Big Chill Bar in Bristol (where my club night Bang were resident DJs for two years) this room is the secret 1970s kitchen diner, which looked great and was a pretty intimate space but unfortunately the retro record player couldn't play any of the vinyl as they were all scratched and we only had the tiny speakers to play our ipods instead which were frankly too quiet.......despite this I have many photos proving we were having fun, even though I was apparently ill when i got home and I don't remember the taxi journey at all........I'd say the party was a success!

 

Pour me another Sailor Jerry's and ginger ale Phil! Happy Christmas!! ND xx

 

 

 

The Bang DJs at Hoochie Coochie....and all the clowns have gone to bed....

I am currently getting my latest costume and a collection of vinyl ready for a magnificent Halloween Ball hosted by the Hoochie Coochie at no less than the Bristol Museum tomorrow night....If it's good enough for Banksy, it's good enough for me!!! I still haven't managed to post about the last time the Bang DJs kicked out the jams at Hoochie Coochie so I best get my skates on before I have even more images to show you.

Please click on all images to enlarge.

The below images are from The Hoochie Coochie Circus Child Ball which took place in the Invisible Circus Big Top  in September (this is the second Big Top we have DJ'd in the first being at The Big Chill Festival, but now I'm just name dropping...) It was a great night and I have chosen to show you the more candid or backstage shots taken by myself and Phil as we got ready and roamed the event. Expect clowns, Dr Seuss style bikers, circus performers, strong men and Steampunks.

 

 

The last pics are of me walking home after a night of DJing, dancing and drinking. I am wearing half of my clown suit, carrying the strong men's weights (in one hand no less) and I appear to wearing sunglasses at night..........
My brother was confused that I was actually managing to pull this look off, he the said I was dressed like one of The Slits (kick ass all girl punk band and style icons) I was nothing but complimented by this statement...ND xx

www.hoochiecoochiekabaret.com
www.facebook.com/bangbristol
 



Hoochie Coochie Costumes 2009-2012

On Saturday night I was DJing as part of the Bang DJs for the Hoochie Coochie Circus Child Ball in a brilliant Big Top in the centre of Bristol UK. Bang have been DJing for the Hoochie Coochie for the past three years at various places and spaces including The Big Chill Festival in 2010. The Bang DJs are no strangers to a Big Top venue and Saturday night was the 4th time we have DJ'd in one....dressed as The Bang clowns......We prefer to see it as Art rock or performance art rather than 30 somethings dressing up in fancy dress! Ahem....

Before I edit all the images from Saturday nights Hoochie Coochie show, I'd like to show you some of the wierd and the wonderful outfits that we have worn as The Bang DJs for Hoochie Coochie.

Find out more about the Bang DJs here http://www.facebook.com/bangbristol?ref=hl and for Hoochie Coochie here http://www.hoochiecoochiekabaret.com/

The top images are the infamous Hoochie Coochie clowns that started life as a copy of a Harajuku Girls outfit spotted in Japan on our honeymoon back in 2009. I needed a reason to wear such an outfit and the Hoochie Coochie gave me the excuse. I excitedly knocked these outfits up for me and Phil and a year later I had to make another for the third Bang DJ,  my brother Mike. The clowns were very popular with the Hoochie Coochie creator and host Keda Breeze, who requested we wear them for our performances with the Hoochie Coochie Kaberet at the Big Chill Festival!! Since then we can't seem to shake the clown suits and we wore them again on Saturday (pics to come shortly).

Other outfits are inspired by the theme given for each Hoochie event including Gold (third pic) performing poodle (forth pic) Wild animals (fifth pic), glamourous zombies and bearded ladies (sixth pic) and Alice in Wonderland - Mike and I decided to go as Tweedle dum and Tweedle dee - the indie version (last images). Check out the Invisible Circus photobooth photograph, this was such fun, it was pure luck that my friends and I had managed to come as different characters from Alice in Wonderland, we randomly picked up the Queen of Hearts who was one of the roaming performers on the night. I love it when things work out like that!

 

Clownsuits, my gold outfit and big pink fur poodle coat (very Meadham Kirchhoff I reckon) all handmade by me. I seriously need to get the sewing machine out soon!! Hoochie Coochie Cricus Child Ball images to follow over the next few weeks. NDxx