The 2012 studio release from UFO,
which includes the track WONDERLAND
which is released as a single
on 22nd February 2013

You can now keep up to date
with UFO announcements on

UFO Tourdates online HERE

Diary Update - 17th May 2013 - The tornado in Granbury I would like to thank everyone for their concern after an EF4 tornado hit my hometown of Granbury, Texas on May 15th. We were personally very lucky – the tornado hit a mile and half away from our house, and my wife, dogs and home are all fine. As you may know, I am currently on tour in Brazil, but I will be returning home soon. Our hearts and prayers go out to our neighbors who lost their loved ones and their homes in this terrible occurrence. But we live in a great community, and we know that together we can help rebuild the Rancho Brazos Estates neighborhood and the lives that have been so badly affected. Again, thanks for your concern. If you would like to help in the rebuilding process, here are several links: Habitat for Humanity, Hood County - Mission Granbury - Red Cross Thank you, Andy

Diary Update - 18th February 2013 Hey All! Once again I am starting with an apology. I am sorry that it has been so long since my last news, but once again Chez Parker took over my home life to the point of distraction. Between trying to evict angry squirrels from the attic, keeping the possums from infesting the back yard with fleas, and collecting this year’s bounteous pecan harvest, I have been kept buzzing around like the proverbial blue ar**d fly. On a brighter note, the massive bathroom renovation is finally finished, and it came out rather well if I do say so myself (see pics, below, along with a photo of our three bathing-belles... or should I say a bathing-Belle, a bathing-Bonnie, and a bathing Poppy!) I am hoping to move on to the exterior this summer, weather and budget permitting! I will keep you posted on my progress. Having got my excuses out of the way, I would like to thank all the die-hards who came out to the USA shows last year. It was great to see so many familiar faces, and I thank you all for your continued support. It was a fairly short run, four shows in the mid-west, and a couple of weeks on the west coast, but you really made it a big success. I hope we will be stateside again later this year. There’s nothing like leaving things to the last minute, and I am writing this between doing laundry and packing my bag. I will be on a plane tomorrow heading for the UK. I'm going from one bath to another, as our next tour begins on the 21st February - this Thursday - in Bath, England. I will be leaving wife, dogs and the Texas sunshine for five weeks in Europe, although, according to the missus, not until I have put up the curtain rods in the bedroom. No rest for the wicked! Bye for now and all the best. Andy

Diary Update - 11th June 2012 So, having completed the UK tour in fine style (see below for the UK diary update) I headed home for a few days R&R. It seemed like I just had enough time to walk the dogs - I now have three - do my laundry, and kiss the missus - before I was back on a plane again heading for Hannover. The journey was pretty uneventful, the usual four-hour layover at Frankfurt Airport prompting bemused stares from passing travellers as I read my latest copy of Guns & Ammo magazine to pass the time. I arrived at our home-from-home hotel in Hannover around 4pm, only to discover that it was fully booked, and that I would have to check out of my room by 5.30pm. This is not the most welcome news when you have been travelling for the best part of twenty hours, plus I found out that my usual room was already occupied and they'd put me in the annex. Six flights up, no elevator, and the world's heaviest bag... man, I thought I was going to bust a gusset! In hindsight I probably should have seen it as an omen, but I took a quick shower, set my alarm and lay down for a nap. After what seemed like a few minutes I was woken from a deep sleep by the sound of the maid out in the hallway. 6pm, shit! I had slept right through my alarm - another portent of the future, as that was to happen at least four more times during the tour. In a daze I dressed, packed and dragged my bag back down the stairs, stumbling out into the street like a zombie. Fortunately our manager Peter had the foresight to send our tourbus to the hotel, so I climbed aboard, found my bunk, stowed my gear and grabbed a cold beer from the fridge. Things were looking up. Our first show was in Prague, and I had chosen to ride in the bus rather than fly. I was soon joined by Rob, Kate, Eric, Hille (drum'n'keys tech) and Mark (FOH). After an excellent meal with more beer at our favourite restaurant, Salentino, we set off for an overnight drive to the Czech Republic. The first gig went very well, a great crowd and a few familiar faces. Rodruigo (Chico) our Brazilian promoter made a surprise appearance, along with Lea (a facebook friend of Vinnie's) and her brother, both of whom live in Prague. With the sun shining and full of the joys of spring, we left the next morning, heading back to Germany for our second show. This too went without a hitch and everything seemed to be going just fine... until we got to Malchin... The venue was a Biker Festival, and we were scheduled to play at 11.45 pm, after the fireworks. As we had another overnighter to Warsaw after the show, the bus dropped the bandmembers at the hotel so we could catch up on some sleep, and the crew headed for the gig. When we arrived at the festival site during the evening our tour bus was nowhere to be seen. Tonio explained why. It seems that the so called 'stage manager' at Malchin had directed our driver to the backstage area via a field. Unfortunately it had been raining earlier, and as nobody bothered to check the condition of the ground, the bus sunk up to its axles in the mud. The situation was so bad that at one point it looked as if the bus might tip right over, so the East German Fire Service ordered everyone out, and cordoned off the area. Long story short, try as they might, they couldn't free the bus from the mud so we ended up waiting until 5am for a replacement to arrive from Hannover. By this time the bus had sunk even deeper into the mud, about half as much again as in the above photo. With the area out-of-bounds for safety reasons, we were forbidden from collecting our belongings. But... We are the boys, we've got nothing to lose. Well, we had a lot to lose actually - essentials such as passports, suitcases, computers etc. So a volunteer amongst us climbed in under cover of darkness and searched through every bunk to rescue all our stuff. This un-named hero (thanks Rob!) managed to open one of the doors and pass everything out to the crew, who formed a human chain to deliver it all - even our dirty laundry and the Haribo mix - safely to our new bus. Luckily we had a day off before the next show in Warsaw, so the delay didn't affect us too badly. The Warsaw show went well, along with the added fun of Eric's birthday and things seemed to be back on track. Because the next show in Metzingen was more than 1200 kilometres away we broke the journey in Erfurt. While checking into the hotel we ran into Michael Voss and his band Mad Max who were playing there that evening - what are the chances of that! We had just enough time to exchange a couple of Pete Way stories before they headed off to their show. Priceless! The next few days went without incident, although the long overnight drives were beginning to take their toll. The longest single drive of the tour was fast approaching, a 1050 kilometre overnight trek from Detmold in Germany to Mantova in Italy, where we were supporting Judas Priest. Because our stage time in Italy was to be quite early, it was *very* important that we made a prompt departure after the Detmold show. A huge thunderstorm kicked in, with thunder on top of lightning on top of more thunder. We waited and waited and waited until we were way past our departure time. It turned out that the automatic gates at the venue had stopped working and the bus was stuck in the parking lot. We were trapped! Unbelievable - you couldn't make this stuff up. A locksmith eventually showed up and sprung the bus, but it was touch and go as to whether we would reach the Priest show in time to play. Fortunately, luck was on our side for once and we made the gig by the skin of our teeth. Bravo to Ilja, the replacement bus-driver who'd joined us at Hannover (Ilja, you were magnificent from start to finish!) for getting us there safely, and to our hardworking crew for putting the gear up in record time. It was great to see the guys from Priest again - we go way back as you know, and I probably haven't seen them in thirty years or more, Scary! I think it's time for me to wrap this up so I will finish by giving a mention to our friend and colleague Martin Leissner who we saw in Pratteln along with his wife Melanie, and to Greg T. Walker who was at the Paris show (another blast from the past). Also to Tom "what's he building in there?" Waits and Withnail, who seemed to invade our every waking moment on the bus, (thanks Phil!) and of course as always my fellow band members - Phil, Paul, Vinnie and Rob - and our fabulous crew, Tonio, Eric, Hille, Mark and last but by no means least, Kate. You really are the best. A big thanks to all of you who came out to the shows and dug deep in your pockets to make the whole thing happen. Take care and I will see you all again very soon. Cheers! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Diary Update - 8th June 2012 Once again I must begin with an apology. It's been almost five months since my last update and I'm very sorry for the delay. It seems like there is never enough time to fit in all the things that need to be done, but on the plus side my bathroom re-model project is coming along very nicely! Anyway here I am finally, to bring you up to speed on all things UFO. So much has happened during the last two tours, but I will do my best to recall some of the highlights (no, not the ones in Paul's hair). First off I want to thank all of our UK fans for making the last run such a success. You guys never cease to amaze. The whole tour was pretty much sold out and the reception better than ever. I was particularly pleased at your reaction to the new songs from Seven Deadly. It can sometimes be difficult introducing new material, but not so this time. We added Fight Night, Wonderland, Mojo Town and Burn Your House Down to the set list, and not only did they receive a warm welcome but a great many of you seemed to already know the words. I will avoid the temptation of adding "better than Phil" to that last statement as I'm sure you'll all agree that the man did one hell of a job once again, as did Paul, Vinnie and Rob. You can probably tell by my face onstage that it is a pure pleasure to play with these guys, and in my opinion the band is sounding better than ever. The tour kicked off at The Junction in Cambridge, which being close to my old stomping ground had more than its fair share of friends and family. Good to see both of my brothers and their wives, my good friends Colin and Val Poppleton, plus a couple of my buddies from 'Jack of Herts' and my old pal Mike Lodge (bass player in Aurora Borealis) who I hadn't seen in at least ten years. It was an excellent show, especially for a first night and we were in great spirits as we headed north to the wilds of Edinburgh. Saint Paddy's day was spent in Newcastle, I swear I have never seen so many drunk girls in short skirts in my life! On to Leeds (good to see Nom and Liz again), Dublin and then Belfast, where yours truly spent his birthday at the Spring & Airbrake. I'm not saying which birthday it was but it was a biggie, complete with birthday cake on stage and a decorated lounge on the tour bus. As I mentioned before, all the shows were really well attended, including Phil's adopted home town of Brighton where he was treated to some monkey-related antics during Wonderland. Strangely, no footage of this has surfaced yet, so if any of you have pics of me in the monkey mask or better still Eric (our guitar tech) in the gorilla suit, please let me know. The next morning started just like any other as we headed for London and our last UK show at The Forum. Unfortunately our German bus driver decided to ignore the large sign saying LONDON ROAD, and trust his dodgy satnav instead. The result of this gross error of judgment was a sixty foot bus and trailer stuck up a narrow one way street in 'The Lanes' in Brighton - a mainly pedestrianised walkway, lined with bistro tables and chairs. The next fifty minutes were acutely embarassing... Luckily the others were all asleep and spared the fiasco, as Tonio worked valiantly to extricate us from our predicament. Judging by the amount of curtains moving, windows opening, people pointing and laughing and scratching their heads, the locals enjoyed the show. Anyway, we finally made it out and back to the highway, and with Phil taking over for the satnav we not only took the correct road to London but made it across the city in record time. Our London hotel (hostel?) left a lot to be desired. The wall in my room looked like it had witnessed a Mafia-style execution, but we were only there for one night and I was going home the next day, YEA!! Needless to say, the Forum show was a blast, with all the usual suspects in attendance. Nice to see Dave Ling and Neil Jeffries, also the infamous Denny Godber, Leon Lawson and a host of others including Tristan Greatrex who works so diligently and tirelessly on the UFO artwork etc. Thanks to all of you, and of course our wonderful crew, Tonio, Eric, Danny, Jerry, and the lovely Kate, for making it such a success, and I look forward to seeing you all again very soon. Andy. p.s. A round-up of highlights from our European tour will follow soon, including news of the deep impression we made in East Germany, and how we nearly didn't reach Italy in time to play the Judas Priest gig.

Diary Update - 24th January 2012 Ok, I know that it has been eons since I last penned an update and those of you who read them probably thought that I had fallen off the planet or something similar, but not so. The truth is that Andy has been seriously involved in the ongoing renovation of the money sponge which is 'Casa Parker'. Latest project on the never-ending list is bathroom #2, and as nothing I do with this house is ever easy, it has had me totally occupied since mid October when we finished the last U.S. tour. Now I'm sure that some of you D.I.Y. types are saying "fix up a bathroom, big deal" and normally I would agree with you, but when it involves removing the entire floor and digging out crumbling water pipes and root infested sewer lines buried a foot below the ground, it gets a little more complicated. Add, just for good measure, the impending arrival of Christmas guests, and the fact that ol' Andy does all the work himself, you start to understand why I have been silent for so long. Fact is that three days before my daughter and her husband were due to arrive for the holidays, entering that room would have resulted in a three foot fall onto dirt. Fortunately I managed to get the floor put back and the toilet and bathtub installed, albeit temporarily, before they showed up, so a good time was had by all. I trust that everyone had a most enjoyable holiday season and that the new year is proving to be all you had hoped for. I would like to thank each of you for your support on the last tour and say how much I enjoyed seeing you all. I was going to give my usual run down of the shows, but having read Paul's excellent account of the last run on his website it seems a bit redundant. So I will finish up by saying that the new album, Seven Deadly will be released very soon. It's getting some great reviews so give it a listen. I look forward to seeing you all in the very near future, until then, stay safe and 'Keep on Rocking'. All the best. Andy

Quick Diary Update - 30th March 2011 Hi everyone - just want to share some wonderful family news with you. My daughter Lindsay is getting married on Saturday 2nd April to her fiancé Michael. A full diary update will follow when this proud old dad gets back from the celebrations!

Diary Update - 17th November 2010

Hey all

I'm currently home in Texas for a couple of weeks before heading back to the UK for some pre-Christmas shows, so I thought that I would take this opportunity to catch you up with recent events. This has been kind of a tough year for me both professionally and personally. In my last update I told you about the ash cloud debacle and the sad situation with Barry and his mother. One would have thought that this was enough bad stuff for one year but it appears that the gods had other ideas. Case in point, our appearance at the High Voltage Festival. What should have been a perfect day was spoiled by equipment failure. Those of you who saw the performance will understand just how frustrating the whole affair was - poor Vinnie is still having nightmares! On the up side however, I have to thank the press, and all of you, for the positive reviews that we received. You guys rock!

Just when you think things can't get any worse is usually when they do, as I was soon to find out. I lost my beloved dog Daisy just after Labor Day. She died from a very aggresive form of canine cancer which took her so quickly that my wife and I were in complete shock for weeks. She was such a special creature and the love of my life, I miss her terribly. For those of you who haven't seen her on the SITN website's No Heavy Petting page, there are pictures of her in the tribute here.

Anyway, back to the music stuff. Last month saw us touring in Europe again and wouldn't you know it, more bad crap! We started off losing a show in Melle in Germany because the promoter had gone bankrupt, and this was quickly followed by me coming down with some kind of bug. Wheezing and coughing my way across Germany, I soon managed to infect the rest of the band. First Vinnie, then Paul and Barry and finally Phil. This thing seemed to mutate into some kind of 'super sickness' that just wouldn't go away. By the time we made it to Kiel for the Classic Rock Cruise we were all well and truly ailing, and Phil had almost completely lost his voice. Knowing that you can't exactly cancel the show and send people home when you are miles out at sea, Mr. Mogg rose to the occasion and went on with the show. To say that it was one of the bravest things that I have ever seen is an understatement. Where he found what voice he did I will never know, but he managed to struggle through the set. Those in attendance were very kind, and we did the best that we could under the circumstances. Our apologies to the folks in Helsinki for cancelling our show there, which was due to Phil being under doctor's orders to rest his voice for a few days. We'll make it up to you in the future.

Fortunately, that concludes my tale of woe for the time being. As I said earlier, we are heading to the UK soon for some shows, and fingers crossed, all the bad luck is over. I Iook forward to seeing you at the concerts, and to all who have supported us this year have a safe and joyous holiday season and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

One more thing before I go. They say every cloud has a silver lining, but in my case it is blue (merle). Check out the pictures of our new babies Belle and Bonnie, below.

Andy

Belle and Bonnie at 11 weeks

Belle and Bonnie - Double Trouble

Tug o' War

Belle and Bonnie at 13 weeks with Poppy

An interview with Andy - HERE

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Daisy Parker
R.I.P. 10th September 2010

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5th August 2010
Andy took part in an interview with Michael Pursche on the Adelaide Rock Show
Listen to it HERE

Diary Update - 25th June 2010

Hey everyone

Just a quick update on what's been going on since I last put finger to keyboard. I say quick because I have been so overwhelmed on the home front lately that now I am finally getting down to writing about our exploits I am having difficulty remembering a lot of what happened! Still I will do my best to fill you in on recent events and I apologise in advance for anything that I might leave out.

The last run of European dates started out normally enough. We all met in Hannover, mid April, for a day of rehearsal before the start of the tour. Barry (Sparks) joined us on bass once again, and along with his lovely wife Allessandra we also had the pleasure of meeting his beautiful new baby daughter Serena. Apart from that it was pretty much the usual suspects - Tonio, Martin, Andre, Kate and Dave. Eric was absent this time, having also just become a new dad. Congratulations to him and Trish on the birth of their son Logan! The guitar tech position was masterfully filled by Niclas Mellander, alias 'The Swede', a colleague of Andre's and now a fully fledged member of the UFO family.

The first show at the Blues Garage in Hannover went without a hitch, then it was an overnight drive to Berlin airport to catch a plane to Greece. As we were only playing Athens and Thessaloniki, the plan was for us to use rented gear for those shows, then fly back to Frankfurt where we would meet up with our bus, the suitcases with all our clothes etc for the rest of the roadtrip, and the trailer full of our backline gear, and continue the tour. Unfortunately this was not what happened. While we were busy entertaining the good citizens of the aforementioned cities, a volcanic ash cloud from the Icelandic eruption was spreading across Europe like the plague. First thing you know, Frankfurt airport is closed down. But no matter, Tonio leaps into action. He books us tickets to Belgrade and instructs the bus driver to meet us there. Problem solved - or so we thought. That was until they closed Belgrade airport too. At this point our options were rapidly decreasing so it was decided that we should stay put and have the bus come to us. Long story short, after several relief drivers, thousands of litres of diesel, and a thirty five hour journey through half the countries of Eastern Europe, we finally made it back to Germany. Our apologies to the folks in Nurenburg for missing the show, we will see you on July 21st and do our best to make it up to you.

Anyway, after the show in Oberhausen we set off by bus again for the journey to jolly old England. I must say that this was one of the most enjoyable UK tours that we have done in a while. The shows were pretty well all sold out and the audiences just fantastic. A big thanks to the guys from Voodoo Six for doing such a great job in supporting us. To anyone who hasn't caught them, they are well worth seeing! After a whirlwind week, taking in England, Scotland and Wales, it was back on the boat to Belgium, then Holland, France and finally Germany again where we finished off the tour in Dresden. One sad note however. Three days before the end of the tour Barry received word from his family that his mother was very ill. He immediately flew back to Arizona to be with her and we sincerely thank Peter Pichl for stepping in at the last minute and helping us out with the remaining shows. I have since learnt that Barry's mum passed away and I'm sure you all join me in sending condolences to Barry and his family.

After all that you would think it was time for a bit of a rest, but as they say, "there's no rest for the wicked" so a little more than a week later I found myself on a plane once again this time heading for Brazil. This was UFO's first time in South America and as such we weren't sure what to expect. Turns out that it was a blast. We played four shows, this time with Rob DeLuca on bass. Sao Paulo, Goiania, Belo Horizonte and Recife. The reception was brilliant, those people really know how to party! Much thanks to Rodrigo (Chico) and Milton from A.W.O. for all their hard work, and I hope we can do it again very soon. Some of Milton's photos can be found HERE.

As always, thanks to all our fans everywhere for their continued support and for making us feel so welcome wherever we go. I look forward to seeing you all very soon. Cheers!

Andy

Diary Update - 25th December 2009

Hey y'all! Seasons Greetings from Texas!

It's Christmas day and the house is filled with the smell of cooking turkey. In typical Texas fashion, mother nature provided us with a blizzard yesterday to make this only the ninth 'White Christmas' in recorded Texas history. Oddly enough it was seventy five degrees and sunny the day before, but as they told me when I moved here, "If you don't like the weather in Texas, just wait half an hour". Never a truer word spoken and the one thing that you can say about the weather here is that it is never boring!

Anyway, enough about the weather, time for me to update you all on the happenings in UFO land. It's been some time since my last entry (September, I believe) and needless to say a lot has transpired in the last three months. We took to the road at the beginning of October for the 2009 U.S. tour and I had fully intended to fill you in on our exploits when I returned home in early November. Unfortunately, the usual asortment of domestic disasters, burst water pipes, malfunctioning tumble driers and the like just seemed to eat up the short amount of time between tours, and before I knew it I was heading off to Germany to start the European run. It is hard now for me to separate the two, they seem to have blended into ten weeks of continuous touring. Because of this, I won't be going into great detail about each show, but instead will just try and give you more of an overview and a few highlights.

Before the tour started, we (the band) were very much aware of the current economic crisis. With all the job losses, home foreclosures etc., we weren't too sure what to expect with regards to ticket sales. 'Do people still have the money to go to concerts?' Well, as always, you guys came through with flying colours, the shows were well attended both in the U.S. and Europe. In reading some of the recent guest book postings, I know that it wasn't easy. Entries like, "I spent my rent money" and "I overdrew my bank account to buy tickets" make it very clear that times are tough for a lot of you. On behalf of the whole band I want to personally thank you all for your continued support and encouragement. You guys rock!!

As usual we started with a couple of days rehearsal in Wilmington, DE, being joined once again by the excellent Mr Rob DeLuca on bass guitar. Many thanks to Don and co. at Sabion Rehearsal Studio and to the manageress at Chili's for returning my mislaid credit card. We then spent the next two weeks criss-crossing the eastern part of the country, Springfield, Akron, and then Milwaukee. Here I hooked up with friend and drum maker extraordinaire Jim Beier, and took posession of my new snare drum (see the gear page). Then on to Pittsburgh, where after a well-deserved night off in a local restaurant, Vinnie, Rob, Batttttty and myself waited *three* hours for a cab to take us back to the hotel. Zzzzzzzzzzz!! If there are any out-of-work cabbies reading this, Pittsburgh's the place to be! Next stop Poughkeepsie, Sayreville, then B.B. Kings in NYC. Nice to see Steve Lobmeier from D'Addario and our good pal Mr. Eddie Trunk at the show. Then Sellersville, where Rob entertained his entire family and I got to meet Vinnie's close friends and neighbours, the lovely Hillary and her husband Jeff, and eat one of the best steaks I've ever had into the bargain. Many thanks to Dan and Alyson at the Sellersville Theatre for their hospitality.

It was at this point that we headed west, and temporarily parted company with our opening act, The Travis Larson Band. Jennifer, Dale and Travis are not only exceptional musicians but as we say in these parts,"real nice folks" also, and it was a pleasure having them along.

October 15th saw us in St. Charles, MO, at the Ameristar Casino. It was here that I was re-united with the Morris brothers, Jerry and Don. I hadn't seen them since 1986 when we worked together at Hollywood Centre Studios and we had a lot of fun catching up. It was also here that Batttttty single-handedly took on the buffet - and won. In all my years I've never seen such a performance, the way the plates of grub and glasses of White Zinfandel disappeared. It was like watching David Copperfield in Vegas! Onward then to Chicago and The House of Blues. Over the years the windy city has always been a special place for UFO and I'm pleased to say that it still is. The place was rockin' to the rafters thanks in part I'm sure to our good friend 'The Byrd' at 97.9 The Loop. Vinnie and I got to visit him at the studio on the morning of the show and we had a blast. He joined us later backstage after the show along with Kirk Hammett of Metallica, our hard working agent Mark Hyman and Sergeant Mark Evans who runs Pizza for Patriots, an organisation that provides pizzas to American troops serving in Iraq and Afganistan. A worthy cause gentlemen, keep up the good work!

After Chicago we worked our way through Hamel, Minnesota (thanks to Steve and Becky Byland for the great pics) and Des Moines, Iowa to the west coast. First up The Catalyst in Santa Cruz where we were supported by Zen Vendetta, a great band and a great bunch of guys. My sincere thanks to their drummer Anthony Bettencourt for his most generous gift (see gear page) Then on to Redondo Beach, San Juan Capistrano, Las Vegas, Ventura, Los Angeles, Modesto, Portland - where we had a suprise visit from our long time producer Ron Nevison - Seattle, Medford, and finally San Francisco. Many thanks to Rick Reed, his mum Glenda and friends, for once again providing us with a magnificent array of food and drinks both in Portland and Seattle. We look forward to seeing you again next year.

That concludes the U.S. dates, now on to Europe. As I mentioned earlier the brief gap between the U.S. and Europe seemed non-existent and November 16th saw us conducting 'business as usual' in Germany. Thanks to the fact that we had just finished the U.S. run, and we could now play the set in our sleep, no rehearsals were needed and we went straight into the tour. Not wishing to subject you all to Parker's version of 'War and Peace' I will try and be brief. In the space of twenty-three days, we played nineteen shows in seven different countries. Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Italy, France, Spain and Switzerland. They were all very well attended and the crowds really enthusiastic, especially the Spanish shows where the venues sounded more akin to soccer stadiums than rock clubs. We were backed on these shows by a couple of outstanding bands, The Bulletmonks and Pump. Nice job guys! All in all the European travelling was fairly uneventful. Other than getting stuck in a snowdrift on our way to Milan and getting locked out of our hotel in Switzerland on the last night of the tour, things went reasonably well. Thanks to some first rate driving by Armand our bus driver, and some nifty work with a butter knife by Vinnie, these problems were quickly solved. We did seem to see an awful lot of Berlin this time round, however. I'm not sure if this had any thing to do with the fact that our tour manager Tonio lives there.... If it did, he's not saying!

Thanks to all of you who came to the shows both in Europe and the U.S. You really made us feel welcome once again and I hope to see you all again very soon. In the meantime, check out some photos from the roadtrip HERE. I wish you all a Peaceful and Prosperous New Year. Cheers!

Andy

Diary Update - 9th September 2009

Hello all!

Andy here once again with a quick couple of lines just to keep you up to date on recent events.

As you know it's been festival season in Europe and this year UFO were fortunate enough to land a couple of blinders. July 31st saw us at the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany. This is probably the biggest outdoor festival in Europe and this year marked their 20th anniversary, so as you can imagine it was very well attended. We were scheduled to perform on the 'True Metal Stage' at 11:45am, and to be honest when I saw the itinery I was more than a little concerned. Firstly, I have never really considered UFO as a 'True Metal" band, secondly, were any true metal fans likely to be awake at 11:45 in the morning? There was also the question of whether or not yours truly would still be in his jammies clutching his toothbrush at stage time! No need to worry, the audience was massive, wide awake and totally awesome. A huge thanks to all who turned out to see us, and made us so welcome. Danke!

The next day we hopped on a plane and headed for Italy. First stop, the Baloma Bikers Fest. To say that this was one of the noisiest shows ever would be an understatement. It had nothing to do with the music however, more to do with a bunch of Italian bikers pouring hi octane fuel into stationary bike engines and revving them up until they backfire. This procedure being followed by much hugging, cheering and backslapping. Mmmmm, interesting! Our stage time being sometime after midnight, I was once again left thinking about pyjamas and toothbrush, but all went well and the small but appreciative crowd seemed to enjoy themselves. The next couple of days saw us in L'Aquila and Massingnano. The shows were fine, but unfortunately the promoter had chosen to place us in a 'Holiday' hotel for five days. The extremely late show times coupled with the 9am poolside disco, extra hot weather and lack of air conditioning started to take its toll. I think I speak for all (band and crew) when I say we were more than a bit relieved when we finally boarded the plane and headed back to England. Nice to run into Uli Jon Roth and Mike Terrano though - good seeing you guys!

Friday August 7th, Stratford on Avon, Bulldog Bash Festival. What can I say? We had an absolute blast. This event is now in its 23rd year and although there has been a lot of talk in the press about shutting it down, I for one hope it continues for another 23. The crowd were great and the organisation flawless. Lovely to see so many old friends. My nephew Luke all the way from New Zealand, Nom and Liz, Leah (a pleasure as always - say hi to Spike), Martin Nicholas and Dave 'Lights' Beazley... excellent job sweetie! Last but by no means least, a special thanks to 'Big Chris" for sorting me out with a t shirt. Thanks mate!!

As always my thanks to Phil, Paul, Vinnie and Rob for making it so much fun. To our crew, Tonio, Martin, Eric and Hille for all their hard work. To Matthias for getting the gear there safe and sound with no missing toms. To our manager Peter Knorn, our agent Nick Peel and of course the fabulous and indispensible Kate Moore.

Next stop U.S.A. Check the tourdates page for details. All the best.

Andy

Diary Update - 17th July 2009

Hey all, Andy here.

It's that time once again when I attempt to bring you all up to speed on the latest happenings in the UFO camp. I apologise in advance for all the references here to tracks from The Visitor but I promised the webmistress that I would name-check as many of the songs as possible, so here goes.

As most of you probably already know we have just finished a five week run of shows in Europe including twelve in the U.K. To say that I had an absolute blast would be a total understatement and judging by the comments in the guestbook it would appear that most of you did too. For those of you who don't know, we had a Stranger In Town, the amazing blonde haired bass player who's been filling in for Pete - Mr. Barry Sparks. This was my first time getting to play with Barry and from the day we started rehearsals I could tell that it was going to be a real pleasure. Not only is he an awesome musician and a great guy but he is also a huge UFO fan - in fact I challenge anyone to come up with a UFO song that he doesn't know. Believe me I've tried and failed - the man is a walking UFO juke box! I'm sure you will all agree that he was undeniably Rock Ready and did a magnificent job. Along with my thanks I would also like to extend my congratulations to Barry and his lovely wife Alex on the upcoming birth of 'Baby Sparks', later this year. It's their first, a girl, and we wish them all the best.

The next run of shows will feature Mr Rob De Luca on bass. Those of you who caught any shows on the last U.S. tour will already know that Rob is an outstanding musician and we are very pleased to welcome him back. He already hit the ground running playing the Mossingen show on July 4th and he will be with us at Wacken and the Bulldog Bash in a couple of weeks.

Back to the recent tour.... The first few shows went very well, even the Rock Hard festival in Gelsenkirchen where I thought we might seem rather out of place among bands like Sacred Reich and Children of Bodom. There was no need to worry however, the audience were very appreciative, Saving Me from any trepidations, and we had a mammoth signing session after the show. Good to see our old mates Saxon too, who were topping the bill.

On then to Solvesborg and Sweden Rock Festival, another great show although Vinnie reckons it was the coldest gig he's ever played. Cheers to our tour manager Tonio who kept the boys' fingers from freezing by supplying them with bottles of hot water throughout the show. Me, I was having too much fun to feel the cold but I do have some words of advice. If you are heading to Scandinavia you had better take plenty of money, it has to be one of the most expensive places I've ever been. You certainly Can't Buy A Thrill at those prices - at least not on our expenses! As you can imagine we were all very happy to reach the U.K. where you can still buy a Full English Breakfast without having to take out a mortgage. I was particularly happy that the ferry crossings went smoothly, being the world's worst sailor. Hell I can get seasick just standing On The Waterfront.

The U.K. shows were fantastic, you guys really did us proud. The venues were all well sold and the crowds were really enthusiastic. It was great to see so many old friends show up. Special thanks to Dave 'Lights' Beazley and Tris Geatrex for all their hard work. Also a special Stop Breaking Down mention to our bus driver Costa who got us out of trouble when our bus decided to shed all its fan belts and we were Forsaken  by roadside assistance. Thanks to his ingenuity we made it to the Cambridge show on time and intact. Thanks buddy, we owe you one. While I am on the subject of drivers some of you at the Belfast show may have noticed a character with an uncanny resemblance to a certain German guitar player. If you did, don't worry it wasn't Michael moonlighting, just our relief bus driver Robert or Hell Driver as he became known. While I think of it, a big THANK YOU to the chaps in Belfast who gave us the commemorative glass plaque, we really appreciate it fellas - and also a big thank you to Paul Chug, who saved our bacon by topping us up with milk and tea-bags. THANK YOU!

Also many thanks to the crew from the A1 Bus Company who, unlike the many Villains & Thieves out there, did a great job repairing our bus. Well done lads! The rest of the tour went pretty smoothly after that. All in all we had some fantastic shows with some great supports. Dirty Shoes in Brighton (hope your drummer is doing ok!), Raven Vandelle on several shows, great to see you guys again, Toxic Federation in Wolverhampton, Rolling Thunder in Manchester, Axxis in Speyer and anyone else I have missed.... great job, all of you!

I guess that just about wraps things up, except for me to thank all of you who came to the shows and made them so successful - we really couldn't do it without you - and to thank our management and crew, Peter Knorn, Tonio Neuhaus, the recently married Mr. Martin Leissner (congratulations!), Eric Holzhauser, Hille, Daniel, Rob, Andre and of course Kate - we definitely couldn't do it without you guys. And last but by no means least the rest of the band Phil, Paul, Vinnie and Barry, thanks guys for one of the most enjoyable tours ever, and if you want to see a drummer having way too much fun just look for me, I'm the Living Proof.

Catch you on the next leg, till then, keep on rockin!

Cheers. Andy

p.s. Here are some behind-the-scenes photos from our recent roadtrip.

It's THUMBS UP from Andy!

Tom... Tom... where are you Tom?

Details HERE