Of course, since Ginger doesn’t really do ‘time off’, and given that a change is as good as a rest, he’s heading out on tour instead for a thirteen night Rock’n'Roll Christmas party.

Starting in Swansea tonight, Ginger and Friends take in the Hard Rock Hell festival tomorrow before a flying visit to Finland. The band then hits a UK venue near you in the build-up to a two night stay in London for the long sold out Islington Birthday show on December 17th, and a final blow out at the Relentless Garage the night after.

The friends joining Ginger this time around are ‘Random’ Jon Poole, Rich Jones and Denzil for the Hard Rock Hell and Helsinki shows. And meeting them at the airport when they get back will be Chris Catalyst and Victoria Liedtke who will join them for the rest of the tour.

The boys (and girl!) will be performing a fully electrified set, and will be playing a variety of material including many rarely played Wildhearts songs – plus a healthy serving of tracks from Ginger’s solo releases.

The full list of dates, along with ticket links is as follows:

• Thu 01st Dec – Swansea, Sin City (Tickets)
• Fri 02nd Dec – Hard Rock Hell (Tickets)
• Sat 03rd Dec – Helsinki, On The Rocks (Tickets)
• Wed 07th Dec – Manchester, Moho Live (Tickets)
• Thu 08th Dec – Glasgow, Garage (Tickets)
• Fri 09th Dec – Newcastle, Academy (Tickets)
• Sat 10th Dec – Leeds, Cockpit (Tickets)
• Sun 11th Dec – Southampton, Talking Heads (Tickets)
• Mon 12th Dec – Norwich, Waterfront (Tickets)
• Tue 13th Dec – Bristol, Fleece (Tickets)
• Thu 15th Dec – Wolverhampton, Wulfrun (Tickets)
• Sat 17th Dec – London, Islington Academy (Birthday Show) SOLD OUT
• Sun 18th Dec – London, Relentless Garage (Tickets)

Support on all dates is Hawkeyes and Exit_International, except Swansea (supported by Exit_International only) and Helsinki (supported by Stalingrad Cowgirls). Note there will be no support acts at the birthday gig to allow more time for Ginger.

Tickets for the UK shows (excluding Hard Rock Hell) are priced £12.50 (£15 in London).

Ginger & Friends will be heading around the country during December, blowing the roof off a venue near you, and gathering steam in readiness for the long sold-out finale in London on Ginger’s Birthday.

• Wed 07th Dec – Manchester, MoHo Live
• Thu 08th Dec – Glasgow, Garage
• Fri 09th Dec – Newcastle, O2 Academy
• Sat 10th Dec – Leeds, Cockpit
• Sun 11th Dec – Southampton, Talking Heads
• Tue 13th Dec – Bristol, Fleece
• Wed 14th Dec – Buckley, Tivoli
• Thu 15th Dec – Wolverhampton, Wulfrun Hall
• Sat 17th Dec – London, O2 Academy Islington – SOLD OUT
• Sun 18th Dec – London, Relentless Garage

All dates feature the fantastic special guests Hawk Eyes and Exit_International, so make sure to be there early to catch them.

Tickets are available now from the usual places – See the gig pages for links – and event pages are up on Ginger’s Facebook, so let us know if you’re coming.

The new UK Tour dates will take place in August, and are as follows:

• Tue 16 Aug – Wrexham, Central Station – Event Page
• Wed 17 Aug – Stoke, Sugarmill – Event Page
• Thu 18 Aug – Bolton, Dog & Partridge – Event Page
• Fri 19 Aug – Newcastle-upon-Tyne, O2 Academy 2 – Event Page
• Sat 20 Aug – Huddersfield, Parish – Event Page
• Sun 21 Aug – Bedford, Esquires – Event Page
• Mon 22 Aug – Oxford, O2 Academy 2 – Event Page
• Tue 23 Aug – Brighton, The Hydrant – Event Page
• Wed 24 Aug – Exeter, Cavern – Event Page
• Thu 25 Aug – Plymouth, White Rabbit – Event Page

Ginger will be ably assisted, although perhaps aided and abetted would be more accurate, by ‘Random’ Jon Poole and Eureka Machines’ Chris Catalyst, and special guests once again will be Willie Dowling & John Steel of the wonderful Jackdaw4. Anyone who caught the first leg will tell you that this is an evening not to be missed!

There are Facebook Event Pages for each date, so please let us know if you’re coming.

Tickets will be on sale soon. Keep checking the website for links.

This time ’round, Ginger will be accompanied by Jase Edwards and ‘Random’ Jon Poole which is likely to result in an evening’s entertainment you won’t forget in a hurry. Special guests each night will be Willie Dowling & John Steel from the wonderful Jackdaw4.

The dates are:

• Thu 28th Apr – Sheffield, Corporation
• Fri 29th Apr – Tunbridge Wells, Forum
• Sat 30th Apr – London, Borderline
• Sun 01st May – York, Fibbers
• Mon 02nd May – Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach
• Tue 03rd May – Ashton-under-Lyne, The Witchwood
• Wed 04th May – Glasgow, Apollo 23
• Thu 05th May – Reading, Sub89
• Fri 06th May – Leicester, Sub91
• Sat 07th May – Southampton, Talking Heads
• Sun 08th May – Birmingham, HMV Institute

You can find event pages for each gig on Ginger’s Facebook.

Tickets for all shows are £10, except London which is £12.50, and are on sale now from the usual outlets – Please see our gig page for full details and ticket links.

Ginger is looking for someone at each show (not including London) to get on stage and perform Vanilla Radio with the band. You’ll be playing the ‘high’ one string riff in the song. The ‘one string’ guitar will be a specially customised by Rich Jones and Tom Spencer,

At the end of the tour the band will decide which show had the best performance and that person will be given the Ginger and Friends guitar to keep!

So if you’re coming to the shows, and think you can play the one string high riff to Vanilla Radio with Ginger and Friends, get in touch.

The competition will be open until 5pm on the day before each show (so entries for Sheffield on Saturday need to be in by 5pm on Friday, etc.). At that time 5 people will be chosen at random and invited down to audition at soundcheck, with the best performer being asked to get up on stage for the show that night.

Soundcheck will usually take place at around 5pm, so make sure you can blag an early finish if you’re coming from work.

Please send your name, age, email address, phone number and which show you are attending to comp@gingerandfriends.com with the subject line “[show location] Vanilla Radio Comp”.

Or click these links for ready titled mails:

• Sheffield – Enter Competition – Entries by 5pm Friday 17th
• Manchester – Enter Competition – Entries by 5pm Saturday 18th
• Glasgow – Enter Competition – Entries by 5pm Sunday 19th
• Newcastle – Enter Competition – Entries by 5pm Monday 20th
• Wolverhampton – Enter Competition – Entries by 5pm Tuesday 21st
• Southampton – Enter Competition – Entries by 5pm Wednesday 22nd

Good Luck.

• London – Eureka Machines
• Sheffield – The Glitterati + Silverjet
• Manchester – Laika Dog + Eureka Machines
• Glasgow – Baby Chaos + Sluts of Trust
• Newcastle – Supercharger + Eureka Machines
• Wolverhampton – Wolfsbane + Very Special Performance
• Southampton – OAF + Ginger & Hot Steve Acoustic

So it’s well worth getting down there early and catching them all!

Beginning on Friday night with a sold out birthday celebration, he then moves around the country helping to bring some festive cheer to a town (fairly) near you, and dragging some fantastic guests along for the ride – stay tuned for a full list shortly.

Full details are available over at our sister site gingerandfriends.com.

Ginger recently joined up with Michael Monroe (Hanoi Rocks), to play with with him in his new project, along with Sami Yaffa (Hanoi Rocks, New York Dolls), Steve Conte (New York Dolls, Willy DeVille) and Karl Rockfist (Chelsea Smiles, Danzig).

They have already played a successful first tour covering the US, Scandinavia and UK, and now have more dates announced for the summer, including Download Festival at Donington Park:

• 09/05/10 Highline Ballroom, New York, USA
• 05/06/10 Helsinki Live 2010, Helsinki, Finland
• 09/06/10 Sweden Rock, Sölvesborg, Sweden
• 12/06/10 Download Festival, Donington Park, UK
• 03/07/10 Peace & Love Festival, Borlänge, Sweden
• 10/07/10 Ruisrock, Turku, Finland
• 16/07/10 Pakkahuone, Tampere, Finland
• 17/07/10 Simerock, Rovaniemi, Finland
• 07/08/10 Summersonic Festival, Osaka, Japan
• 08/08/10 Summersonic Festival, Tokyo, Japan
• 15/08/10 Ankkarock, Vantaa, Finland

Says Ginger of his current work activities:

“Myself and Steve Conte will be heavily involved in writing the new Michael Monroe album (along with Messrs Monroe and Yaffa – as well as some special guest writers). We definitely don’t want to make a generic Rock ‘n Roll album so expect something great.

Me? I’m just loving my little guitar/side man vacation after 20 years of front man/vocal duties. Everyone deserves a holiday, right?”

As well as Ginger’s appearance with Michael and friends at Download, there is also a petition to get Ginger on the bill with his own band line-up. You can see this and add your support at: http://www.petitiononline.com/gdload10/petition.html – let’s make this happen!

Scott is also still on the road with Sorry And The Sinatras (now featuring Rich Jones on guitar as well), and you can still catch them at:

• 21/04/10 Le Pub, Newport
• 22/04/10 Satan’s Hollow, Manchester
• 23/04/10 Zuu, Bradford
• 24/04/10 Marrs Bar, Worcester
• 25/04/10 Asylum 2, Birmingham

The guys have a Single, Hated Heart, out at the moment, available as a Limited Edition 7″ Picture Disc and a Digital Download. See the band’s Myspace for full details, and check out the video on YouTube right now!

So now summer looks like it’s about to turn up, get out there and enjoy it while it’s around!

The merch guys have done their thing and, for you guys who missed out before, the Xmess tour goodies are available from our Webstore.

All orders over £10 – so near enough all of them – will get a free Santa hat thrown in*. How can you resist…?

* while stocks last