All posts by Randy

About Randy

Lead singer and founding member of Voodoo Salami

Man down!

the band

Hey gang, Randy here.

I see that the rumour mill has been buzzing in recent weeks, so I guess it is time to put the record into some sort of official order.

Those of you who saw us on the recent tour would have noticed the line-up change that happened in mid-April when Jesus Smith stepped down for the tour citing ill-health.

Well last weekend we were all supposed to have convened at my house to discuss the plans for the up-coming recording sessions. Jesus was a no-show, and after some frantic calls and a personal visit to his home, it became apparent that Jesus was no-longer happy with remaining in the band. Whilst I can’t say I was surprised (as Jesus had been unhappy since bringing Nancy on-board), I am nether-the-less sad to have to announce the news of his departure.

Jesus has been with us for almost 10 years, and has provided an extra dimension to our distinctive sound, and even as recently as the writing sessions we had at the beginning of the year he was making some valuable contributions.

I made a personal plea to him to join us for one last time in the studio, especially as there was at least one of his songs in the mix to record, but unfortunately he did not wish to prolong his membership of the band any longer.

All I can say now is that I am very sorry that he has decided to go. He will be missed by all those involved with Voodoo Salami, and I am sure that he will be missed too by the fans world-over.

I speak on behalf of the entire band to say that we wish you well Jesus Smith, and hope you find happiness and success in whatever you chose to do next.

Regards

Randy

While the cat’s away

general, the band

Greetings!

Chuck has entrusted the keys to the blog to me whilst he goes into rehab away for a short break. As he alluded to in his last missive we have indeed gone ahead and provisionally booked some studio time in May and June to try and exorcise the demons of the current project.

From a personal perspective, I found our writing sessions to be quite intense. Normally I like to bounce my song ideas off of Leroy, and between us we have usually been fairly close to having a finished article before we share with the wider group. So this “all hands together” approach has been a refreshing challenge to one-and-all.

Having Nancy on-board as a full-time band member has changed the dynamic a bit; hopefully for the better. She has always been driven by her own standards of perfection in her song writing and music, and the rest of us have enjoyed the different perspective she brought into the writing sessions. I won’t say that I had been chasing her to join us for a while, but found her very approachable during our last tour and maybe the closeness of the smaller venues meant she got to see us working in a different light. I’m so very glad that she did decide to say Yes.

I’ll reserve judgement on whether things will stay the same with her on-board – I’m not 100% convinced that Jesus has totally taken to us having a 3rd guitar in the line-up. Watch this space I guess!

Well that is enough rambling from me. I’m not such a fluent gossip as Chuck is, so can see why he enjoys keeping this blog going when others don’t show that much interest.
You all have fun, and keep your ears and eyes peeled for more news (and gossip) soon.

Regards

Randy.