Saturday’s update focused on the Caldas beer festival and on Sunday, Suzy Starlite and I returned to see our friend Jamie Hutchinson perform with his band, Blow Out.

While we typically prefer bands that play original music, we made an exception since we've played with Jamie before. We're glad we did! The power trio delivered a diverse set of well-known songs, notably without a single blues number.

Jamie's rhythm guitar work was excellent. He created thoughtful and melodic parts that effectively filled out songs originally written for larger ensembles. The solid drumming and bass provided a strong foundation for his playing. His impeccable timing, honed through years of solo acoustic performances, was evident.

If you're a guitarist, I highly recommend checking out Blow Out. You might just learn something—I certainly did.

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When going out, we do like to be soigńe—it’s a fun thing to do. Suzy’s vinyl dress and my top hat generally attract attention. Tonight, we were approached by César Franco and his wife Regina Franco, who offered us a caricature. They took a picture and 20 minutes later the drawing arrived. Cool people. Good artist.

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The guy organising the festivals music was Richard Allen, who also programs for the Prohibition in Óbidos where we will be playing shortly. He is also a vocalist with The Four Horsemen, who played at 1430 in the afternoon. Sadly, we missed their set—next time.

We also bumped into musician and artist Jessica Antunes Martins who we met at Prohibition a few weeks ago and Oz the Foz, who seems to be everywhere.

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If you read our posts or articles, you will know we love our hounds and took all four to the festival—it was Françoise and Edith’s first live gig.

We were approached twice by members of the audience and once by a security guard criticising us for having them close to the stage as it was too loud for their ears.

We know one or two things about sound and all four are Labrador Retrievers—gun dogs.

If you have even been to a shoot all the people wear ear defenders as a shotgun is very fucking loud. Also, it’s unexpected, and the ear has no time to attenuate itself, unlike music is much more even.

“A shotgun can produce sound levels ranging from around 150 to 160 decibels, which is considered extremely loud and can cause immediate hearing damage if not protected against with proper ear protection; a typical 12-gauge shotgun can reach up to 162.7 decibels.” 

I subsequently measured the volume of the gig with a meter on my phone and recorded a maximum of 105 dB(A).

We have an analogue recording studio and are touring musicians.

Hummock and Bob hang around in the studio all the time. Fiendishly loud guitars and drums are their thing.

Bob loves drums and Hummock regularly sticks her head in the open back of my 1963 VOX AC30 when on full tilt as she likes the smell of it—who doesn’t?

They have been on stage and in rehearsals with us. They are hounds of ROCK.

Good people of Caldas, you may have good intentions but please shut the fuck up.