Faustus Gigs

Saturday 23rd October 2010 : Oxjam festival, Venue TBC, Hanley.





Friday 10th September 2010 : Longton Rugby Club, Longton.





Saturday 25th September 2010 : The Museum, Newcastle.





Bank holiday Monday 30th August 2010 : The Full Moon Festival, Newcastle.





Saturday 17th April 2010 : The Museum, Newcastle.





Tuesday 9th March 2010 : Battle of the Bands, Stafford Uni.





Friday 5th March 2010 : Private 30th Birthday party, Holditch.





Saturday 27th February 2010 : Esporta Gym, Festival Park, Promotion gig.





Friday 19th February 2010: Alton Village Hall, Lourdes Charity Event.





Saturday 17th October 2009 : Mr and Mrs Wakefield's Wedding, Brown Edge.





Saturday 3rd October 2009: Faustus return to The Museum, Newcastle





Saturday 26th September 2009 : The Alsager Arms, Alsager





Saturday 18th July 2009 : Fat Cats, Hanley





Monday 29th June 2009 : The Swan, Stone





'Swan more gig for Faustus!

Faustus travelled to Stone last night to play a gig at the Swan Inn - a nice little pub by the cannal. We headed on at a still warm 9.15 and worked our way through our first set of originals and covers. This first half was good but a hot day at work and a late starting time weren't ideal - but, as Chris carefully puts it, we're Faustus for f***'s sake - so we soldiered on! The crowd (thanks everyone who came to see us!) cheered us on and the band's original material went down really well, notable highlights were The Scene, I hear you calling, She's Got it and In time - Daz's riffs and solos sounded great. Rock n Roll Queen was cleverly disguised by Daz's unusual chord changes but nothing seemed to faze Chris who's vocals shone through. Gaz's vocals sounded great too, as did his bass playing and soon we were hitting our usual stride. Chris' mouth-oragn was used to full effect on Noah and the Whale for some imporvised extended soloing - top tune!

The second half sounded even better and our audience seemed to be enjoying themselves. Rocking in the free world was at its thunderous best and Perfect day stormed to the finish. An encore was called for and the band ripped through Liars and Fools for the second time - a second visit to Rock n Roll Queen was also much appreciated by the crowd! All in all, Faustus trip to the Swan was a memorable gig and should secure them another gig there in the future. Maybe we'll play on a barge next time.......! C u again soon!





Saturday 13th June 2009 : The Museum, Newcastle (support from The Highway ProjectA great performance from the band despite it being a bit of a tight squeeze in the corner we were ask to play in. Tom coped really well although Gaz, Chris and Darren were practically sitting on his drum kit. Overall, we ended up playing for just over two hours with a thirty minute break inbetween from Nick of The Highway project. The crowd were great and enoyed the light banter we had going with them. At the end of the second half we were asked to play some more stuff - there was a quick vote between one of our own "In Time" and The Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody." Although flattered that a few punters voted for our original material the general concensus went in favour of the cover. A good night all round. The Museum have asked us to return at the next opportunity which will probably be in September / October.



What a night! Thanks to all who came and supported us. When the band arrived at this cosy pub in Newcastle we wondered how we�d all fit on stage but we managed! The Faustus flag loomed as a back-drop thanks to Gaz who�s nimble fingers are as at home with a needle and thread as they are with a bass guitar! We went on around 9.15 and soared through a great first set with a professional and well-balanced sound. The audience seemed to enjoy it, with openers Hush and Waking Up setting a rousing pace. Teen Spirit pounded along soon after - the crowd joining in with Chris� excellent singing. Rock n roll queen, Modern Way and Heartbeat were all well-received, proving that the bands repertoire of covers was growing! The Scene, I Hear You Calling and She�s Got IT proved the band�s original material can cut it. In the interval (while the band loosened their ties and cooled off!), Nick Alexander provided some excellent support with a selection of acoustic tunes � he seemed to be a talented player and singer with much potential � cheers Nick! Our second set kicked off with Vertigo and Faustus� own Revolution � two rock-songs which showcased the bands talents: Gaz�s thumping bass giving the songs a backbone to support Chris�s meaty lyrics and Daz�s excellent soloing. The drums weren�t too bad either ;) These were followed with a triplet of covers which the audience variously sang and clapped along with � we were pleased to see our many hours of practice had paid off! Daz�s guitar played up at one point but the axe-man soon had things sorted and ready to go for Rooftops! This and other new material featured in the second set and the band were pleased with the results! Take Me Out was a real crowd pleaser as was Use Somebody. The set was closed in style by a thundering rendition of the band�s own Perfect Day. We even played an encore of Use Somebody. All in all, The Museum was an excellent host and provided a superb atmosphere for Faustus to exhibit (exhibit? At the Museum? �..sorry.) their talent. Fingers crossed, it�ll be Faustus� Night at the Museum 2 - coming soon!

13th April 2009: Tom and Jen's Wedding, Shifnal, Telford

24th January 2009: Chris and Lucy's wedding, Keele Hall, Keele

December 2008: The Bull's Head, Newcastle

June 2008: Cheadle Town Hall, Cheadle

12th June 2007 : The Sugarmill, Hanley At last we played the place we'd always wanted to - and played it well! Get in! A fantastic gig, with excellent sound and great lighting. We went on first and enjoyed the most well-attended part of the night! We played well, Chris was hitting every note, Gaz was getting into his bass which sounded great, Gav was doing a bit of on stage dancing and Tom was enjoying himself on a nice drum kit (thanks! by the way and well done to We Are The Physics too!). was good to see some familiar faces and thanks to everyone that came to see us. It was Daz's first time seeing us and he seemed to like it! We played a set of our favourites including Liars and Fools, and Insomnia. A fond farewell to Gav as he moves onto recording projects.

2nd April 2007 : Fat Cat's, Hanley A top gig at Fat Cats and thanks for the support from friends and collegues! We finally got on stage at 10:30 with our new and improved set list! A mix of new and old, with "She's got it" proving to be particularly popular and bringing back the old favourite "Rocking in a free world" as our second tune!

12th February 2007 : Fat Cat's, Hanley with Quiche Qualm. A great performance by Faustus! Managed to pull of a great selection of tunes including "Liars and Fools", "Waking Up" and "The Importance of being Idol", thanks to everyone that came to see us! We are back at Fatcats in April and looking for support too!

19th December 2006 : The Glebe, Stoke
Support by Colour Riot and Red Eyes Of Russia. For directions, click here. Another good performance by the band, many thanks to friends, collegues and family for supporting us too! Cheers to Darcey for sorting out the sound and well done to Red Eyes of Russia and Colour Riot too!

17th October 2006: Harry's Bar, Stoke
What a promotion! We were originally down to go on first in support of Standard Issue (standard local band) and Ejector Seat (apparantly quite big with an album out on an indie label), but within an hour of getting there we'd been promoted to headliners. They were obviously impressed with our soundcheck ;-) We ran through a standard 8 song set, with the addition of two new songs; When I Look In The Mirror went down really well, arguably slightly better than the other new one, Waking Up. Highlight of the evening without a doubt was the end of the last song, Rocking In The Free World... With the end in sight, Gavin decided to walk off stage and hand his guitar to a rather bemused Alex Ryles standing in the audience, who was an excellent if rather suprised deputy. Gavin meanwhile ordered himself a drink at the bar and watched his bandmates carry on without him. Rock and Roll! All in all, it was a great night, really enjoyable, and nice to see so many of our friends out supporting us. Thanks!

20th July 2006: Lloyd's Bar, Hanley
Waking the dead was how Chris described it... We had a great time, and so did most of what little audience there was, but I'm not convinced Lloyd's is a good place for live music. Most people come in for a cheap drink, and leave to go somewhere else later on; therefore, althogh it was busy at 8pm when we soundchecked, it was distinctly quieter by 10pm when we went on and like a morgue when we finished at just gone 11. Anyway, as Chris always say, "We're Faustus for f**k's sake!". We did the same set as at the Full Moon, and getting paid for playing most definitely made up for the lack of atmosphere. John McCloud did a great job of an acoustic support set, and soundman Guy Spooner did us proud, a big thank you to both of them.

10th July 2006: The Full Moon, Newcastle
A cracking gig, thanks largely to sound and light man extraordinaire Darcey. The mix was spot on, and the flashing lights made a real show of it. We did a longer than usual set, fleshed out with some older tunes and a cover of Oasis' The Importance Of Being Idle. Man of the match was definitely Tom; his powerful and energetic drumming makes us think he's been watching too many Keith Moon videos :-) In fact the only thing missing was the Trent Vale Poet himself (paraphrasing Mark Twain, rumours of his death are hopefully greatly exaggerated) and his Bob Monkhouse poems. They still do acoustic sessions on some Sundays at The Full Moon, maybe we'll have to get along to a few soon...

16th May 2006: Signal One Battle of the Bands Round 2, Yates's, Hanley
Overall this was a difficult gig for Chris as he struggled with a throat infection. Despite that we performed well, although we did lack a bit of our usual spark and energy and confidence. However, we didn't win. But we don't care anyway because we think Yates's is a metaphor for capitalist corruption. And the other bands smell :(

5th May 2006: The Plough, Kidsgrove
Another gig that was excellent fun; it was fuelled by a supportive sound crowd and a solid follow up set by The Donnadays. In fact they were singing along to a few of our tunes (Last Train Home and Your Daddy's Gonna Kill Me)which was encouraging, and even helped Chris remember his words! At one point during the Donnadays' set their manager noticed that Chris knew one of their songs and insisted that he get up and sing with them!He didn't do it in case it put the lads off and ruined their song!How rock and roll eh?! Tom was doing his Animal impression again, Gav kept rocking out those solos like the ghost of Hendrix and Gaz injected in some wonderfully ad-lib fluid ascending bass lines.We got rid of many demos and badges which should help promote us even further!

25th April 2006: Signal 1 Battle Of The Bands Round 1, Yates's, Hanley
We narrowly missed out on a place in the semi-finals of the competition, with the outstanding Kamikaze Pilots winning, Quiche Qualm (they sounded a lot like like Paul Weller) going through as runners up, and us finishing in third place out of five. At least we beat Apogee (see the last gig) into 4th place, yay! Coming third means that we still have a chance of going through by being the higest scoring third placed band, but I won't be holding my breath. The long wait (soundcheck at 7.20, on stage at 11.20) gave us a great chance to get comfortable, watch the Arsenal match and listen to some decent bands before going on ourselves. I personally really really enjoyed it, and by the end of our set, I was having so much fun I didn't care if we came first or last. We raced though the tunes and ended up adding She back in as a filler, but the highlight had to be right at the end; Tom was going for it like Animal out of The Muppets, Chris was singing like he was trying to destroy his throat, and I ended up on my backside after a bit too much jumping around. Ace.

6th April 2006: Bell And Bear, Shelton
Well, an enjoyable night, although it was Apogee and not us or One Room House who progressed through to the final...ORH were on first, and were very Coldplay-esque with their jangly keyboard and guitar laden tracks, we went second, and the much heavier Apogee finished off. Voting from the judges was close, and it turns out we were done over by losing points in one category for them not liking our name! I think we were a bit spolied by the equipment at The Limelight as well; coming back to using the in house PA simply for vocals, with no monitors and no drum mics was quite a shock, and made it incredibly hard to hear each other. Still, a good night, lots more publicity, and maybe a few more people who'll come to our next gig.

20th March 2006: Limelight Club, Crewe (with The DonnaDays)
We had a great time at the Limelight club in Crewe; our set list proved to be popular amongst the visitors to the Limelight, and we played particularly well despite the unforseen hiccup with the microphone. The show began without Chris (who was in the toilet at the time) but then came onto the stage just in time! A good set, and the show ended gracefully with "Rocking in the Freeworld" with Gav flying from the back of the stage, and Chris falling to the floor. We sold over loads of badges, and big thanks those that came to see us, cheers!!

10th March 2006: The Glebe, Stoke (with Blue Origin, The DonnaDays and The Kamikaze Pilots) A fantastic performance at the Glebe. We managed to set up and sound check properly this time, so there were no problems with monitors etc. and without being too bigheaded we felt like we performed really well. We sold loads of demo CDs, and were congratulated by lots of the audience when we finished. Chris pulled a few tricks out of the bag too, with some banter to the audience, and at one point left the stage (as a tune was starting) to stand amongst the audience. Classic. Let's hope the Limelight will be as good as this one.

25th November 2005: Town Hall, Kidsgrove
What a night - a much better performance than our previous outing at the Moorlands, and a fantastic venue to play at. I have to admit I was a bit worried when the soundman admitted he'd never mic'ed up a guitar amp before, but he obviously knew his stuff and got us sounding spot on. We went on first, after everyone else had moaned like old women about playing to a still half empty hall, and whipped through the ten songs in just half an hour. During "The Last Train Home", one of the guys from Flying Colours told us to wrap it up. After what they'd said earlier (more on that later), we though "f**k 'em" and carried on. I think that set the tone for the night really. Gareth managed in one song to do what Gav had failed to do in 6 gigs (ie, snap a guitar string), so big thanks to Fern from Pagan Angel for lending me a very nice sunburst Epiphone to carry on with (I still owe you a beer!). After our set, we stayed to watch the start of the Flying Colours, and the general consensus was that they were, well, arseholes to be polite. At the start of the night, they'd asked us if we minded going on after them as they wanted to get off home early, and then when I accepted, said that they were only asking to be polite, and that they didn't care what we said, they were going on when they liked. Lovely. I thought inbreeding had all but died out, but they obviously proved me wrong. Musically, they weren't bad, but their attituide was more drunken thug on a bad day than a local band at a charity gig. They later started numerous arguments, smashed up the Town Hall toilets and kicked through a locked door. Did I mention they were w**kers? Overall, a good performance from us, and just what we needed to get over last week. However, I'm not so sure the guy organising the charity gig feels the same when he's faced with his repair bill.

17th November 2005: Band Night, Moorlands Sixth Form College, Cheadle
Let's start on a positive - over �1,000 was raised for Children In Need, yeah! The less said about our performance, however, the better. It's fair to say that a video of this particular gig will never be appearing on this site. A set list that changed length like a yo-yo all night, some very rushed preparation, nerves (why?) and the fact that we couldn't hear each other combined to produce what Chris (with all the spinning skills of Alistair Campbell at his prime) called a 6 out of 10 gig. At one point, we started The Last Train Home and Tom (on drums) didn't even notice because he couldn't hear - he had to try and fit in by watching the guitar changes. To be fair, things were going badly from the first 10 seconds when the intro to Insomnia was bodged. Still, back to the practice rooms next week, and then a gig at Kidsgrove Town Hall to get us back up to speed. Everyone has bad gigs - it makes you appreciate the good ones all the more.

14th October 2005: The Plough, Kidsgrove
Well it was on, then off, then on again, all thanks to the lack of a PA which was thankfully solved on the day of the gig. A small place, but the guy behind the bar said it would get busy; we didn't realise that he meant so busy that you couldn't move. Fantastic! The atmosphere was better than at any place we've played at so far, and the songs (the same set as at The Talbot, below) went down well. One woman told us that we were the best band she'd seen at The Plough. Was it her first time we wondered? More pleasing was the sight of the guy doing the sound tapping away during "Round At Jessica's". The DonnaDays went on after us, with our old mate Ollie Davies on vocals, and played a cracking set, mixing their own stuff with covers (lots of Pink Floyd!). Their bass player had said beforehand that they were struggling with getting tight as a band, but to us they sounded as tight as {insert filthy simile here}. Afterwards, their manager offered us a support slot at their gig at The Limelight in Crewe for January. The Limelight? Isn't that where decent bands play? Wow. See you there!

30th September 2005: The Talbot Hotel, Stoke (with Scholar Green)
Our second time playing at The Talbot, and the first homecoming gig for London based Scholar Green (with two thirds of them being born in the Stoke area, but all currently living down in the smoke). The gig went well, Tom didn't drop his drumsticks once, my amp and pedals worked for a change, and even the soundman did a brilliant job (see our last gig at The Talbot). We went on first, and played 12 songs, including new tunes "The Last Train Home", "Nice Guy", and "I Don't Wanna Be Like You". A lot of people commented on "The Last Train Home", which was pleasing seeing as we'd only just written it, and the whole thing went down well. Scholar Green were on second, and they really were brilliant. I even though that "The Hedonists" was a cover it was that catchy (no offence Mike!). Overall, a great night, and definitely one to be repeated soon...Christmas anyone?

15th August 2005 : The Rigger, Newcastle under Lyme
A baptism of fire for Gaz, his first ever gig for anyone, never mind us. In fact, we were all playing our first gig as Faustus after the re-branding exercise of the band formerly known as Penguin Steak (TBFKAPS). The place was pretty busy (although to be honest, they were all our family and friends anyway), and our first experience of the other bands was a huuuuge American guy (the drummer with Ghettobillies) and a shortish American guy with a leather hat (the guitarist / singer with Ghettobillies), neither of whom could understand a word we said. As soon as the soundcheck started it was obvious this was going to be very different from our last gig, the soundman was absolutely spot on with everything he did and it sounded just...well, powerful. We decided to go on first, and ripped through the 8 song set in just under 30 minutes (see the video of the gig). Chris had a few fromage moments, but it all just added to the atmosphere. Ghettobillies were next, and from the moment they started, it was blindingly obvious that we'd made the right choice going on first. Pure showmanship is the only way to describe it. Technically excellent, catchy tunes, and synchronised dancing and high kicking as well! Go see them if you ever get a chance. The Escape finished up, and although they were pretty good, playing after Ghettobillies they didn't stand a chance.