"One of Southern England's most exciting Celt style folk/rock outfits"
-Traditional Music Maker, November 2000"Very exciting.." Folk in Kent 2000
Gigs coming up: 
Here's the latest info on what's happening in Rat Land!!
OSTEND AT ANCHOR was again a wonderful long weekend.Although the weather was crap the opening concert in the pavilion must rate as one of the Hot Rats' best ever gigs.
The audience were dancing from the word 'go' and it was an incredible atmosphere!
At the end of the gig, the traditional world famous spoons player joined the Hot Rats on stage.
As a result, organiser Hubert Rubens has booked the band to play for Belgium's Navy Days in Zeebrugge on the 8th and 9th July.
The Hot Rats returned from Cromer a few weeks' ago in North Norfolk where they were on the bill of Folk on the Pier festival.
As well as performing to 500 in the final concert along with the Cromer Smugglers and Waterson-Carthy 
the band also played at Giovannis, the White Horse and The Wellington.
A busy time for the band but a great reception from the people of Cromer and excellent hospitality in the Hotel de Paris on the seafront.
Well done to Scott Butler for another good festival!
VIDEO SALE!!!!!!
There are a limited number of orginal Hot Rats videos 'Live at the Oast' now available at the knock down price of £5.
This includes footage of the five piece band with Tony Rico and Tim Constable in the ranks.
Repertiore includes Woman or a Man and Creole Girl.
Call Dougie on 01634-574837 if you want one (plus £1 post and packing.
And still a few Doug Hudson - The Video.
Recorded on the same night is the famed one man show with the Twelve Drinks routine on video.
Check out the hair styles, too!
Same price for this rare collector's item.
The Hot Rats have just been confirmed for the Citadelle en Bordees Festival in Dunkerque.
It's on Friday 30th June.
Also, the venues at Broadstairs will be the Barnaby Rudge on Sunday 13th August,the Neptune's Hall on Monday, the Tartar Frigate on Tuesday, the Dolphin on Wednesday, Dougie's comedy show on the Friday and the bandstand (instead of the jetty) at 5pm on Friday.
The Hot Rats played on the Grand Turk twice in May! Firstly, for a corporate 'do' in Ramsgate and then again in Ostend at the end of the month.
Music Day in Calais is on Wednesday 21st June - the day before Ian's 'Slaughterhouse' gig at the Brook Theatre in Chatham.
Join the Hot Rats on Seafrance. They will be playing on the Rodin in the evening.
The Rats were in the Gordon Hotel marquee on Monday lunchtime (May Day!) and had a packed house for over two hours.
Support from the excellent harmony group, Kimber's Men.
Other Rat's favourites at the festival were Chiens D'Mer, The Singing Loins, Colin Reece and a great band from Germany called Geyers.
They pulled in 800 people to the new marquee with Chiens D'Mer.
Ritchie Blackmore is a big fan of theirs and trhey made a few more at Rochester!
Mike was unavailable and so Maartin, who was recording the music for TV's Distant Shores in Sunbury, filled the gap and played a memorable bass solo in the Orange Blossom Special!!!
The Hot Rats have returned from a highly succesful French tour with sell out performances at Un Singe en Hiver in Calais and the new Theatre Les Insolites in St Georges Sur L'Aa where they were still playing at quarter to two in the morning!
Onto Etaples Sur Mer for the Hareng Roi Festival celebrating everything about the herring.
The festival stage saw Hot Rats taking the audience by storm and virtually selling out of CDs.
Renewed friendships with Breton band Skrijadenn whom they met in Ostend in May and with the organiser, Bernard Capet who booked the Rats after seeing them perform at the Ostend at Anchor event.
The Rats played Fremantle's Fly By Night club and J.B.O'Reillys and the Irish Club in Perth to enthusiastic crowds and hope to go back for festival gigs next year.They met a lot of talented musicians and saw plenty of wildlife along the way!
In one of the venues an ecstatic local Aussie gave immense praise to Ian with the immortal words "Fiddle player deserves a clap - one of the better ones".
Thanks to Ruth and Gren for organising it and to Tay Chee Wai of De Claffer Music in Singapore for his hospitality on the way back.
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| HOT RATS IN THE HAM MARQUEE; |
SIDMOUTH 2005; |
RATS IN SIDMOUTH; |
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| WOLVERTON CEILIDH; |
RATS IN SIDMOUTH |
HOT RATS DANCE |
Here's a review of the above concert in October's Folk on Tap magazine: HOT RATS - Ham Marquee, Sidmouth Thursday 4th August, 8pm Pic taken by Sam Satyandhan Although I had seen Doug Hudson's amazingly funny solo act many years ago, (I remember well crying with laughter at his version of the '12 drinks of Christmas'), I had never seen him in band formation so I was looking forward to my introduction to Hot Rats. Doug's guitar and vocals were joined on stage by Ian Cutler on electric violin and Mike Peters on electric bass and vocals. They opend with a Klezmer piece, 'Arabesque' which led seamlessly into a wonderful version of 'Havah Nagila'. They had my attention from the outset. This was followed by a Red Army recruiting song (sung in Russian!) and 'Troika Ride'. We were informed that 'Swallows Tails' threaded its way throughout the piece, but I have to admit that I didn't spot it. Next came a lovely song written by Doug, 'Mira Dreams of England'. Doug told us that as the fare was more than two year's wages for the Russian Mira, the dreams had faded away. A Celtic tune set followed and next on the agenda was a speeded up version of 'January Man' followed by a pizzicato intro into the Irish tune 'Paddy Ryan's Dream'. Doug kept us laughing between the numbers with his own special brand of humour and all too soon it was time for their final rendition, a fantastic 'Orange Blossom Special' with some very realistic train sounds from the violin. I just loved the versatility of this talented trio and so did the rest of the audience for the applause which followed was wild and long as they were called back for another number. This may have been my first outing with Hot Rats but it certainly won't be my last!
As ever, with January and February, it started fairly quietly with a couple of French gigs, Dougie's One Man Show in Broadstairs and then March took off with the usual run of St Patrick's Week 'do's'.
Easter was spent in Norfolk with a couple of gigs at Cromer and Weasenham and then the Rochester Sweeps came with plenty of good music and fun.
May had some great festival gigs at Cromer on the Pier and Ostend at Anchor with Sowerby Bridge the following month. July was French influenced with Dunkerque festival and Gravelines before a trip down to Dorset and back to France again.
August was triumphal with packed concerts at Sidmouth and Broadstairs festivals, September had the beer tent rocking at Faversham Hop Festival and in October the band left for Australia.
Great fun down under before sailing off to the Herring Festival in Etaples and the usual Christmas run at Leeds Castle culminating with Ian and Doug exhausting the champagne in a Caledonian spree on New Year's Eve.
Not a bad one!
Copies are available at £10.
Christmas saw the SWAG Minstrels featuring almost all their stunts on the Channel 5 show being broadcast on ITV's 'Best Ever Hidden Camera Stunts' programme.We're told we were number 4 out of the 50 best ever stunts!!!
There's more about SWAG below.
Doug and Ian playing on the Arena Stage for Albion Morris.The band included John Watcham, Tom Leary, Guido Rincon and Tim on banjo and they lead the musical finale of a show called 'Leap'to around 2000 people.
Back at Dougie's bed and breakfast, the newly styled morris musician found himelf in a bathroom converted for the disabled. After using the toilet he was curious to see the effectiveness of the flushing mechanism when a metallic pipe swung around from under the rim and squirted a jet of water into his face.
Was this the only automatic bidet in Sidmouth?
Despite strong winds and the Tour de France A Voile, the Citadelle en Bordees was another successful one.The Hot Rats played at the Seaman's Club and later on the big stage with TV screen! (Not of them unfortunately!).
Mind you, can you imagine after a night of playing and a couple of beers, going down to breakfast and hearing a banjo being played - then an impromptu sea shanty session, followed by a kazoo workshop. All at the same time - 9am.
The Hot Rats had a really fantastic time at Ostend - wonderful response from the public, the organisers and the crews to make a truly memorable trip!A return is virtually certain next year and the Rats made many new friends including an impromptu percussion set from Galician Band, A Contrabanda.
Promises, too, of similar festivals in Liverpool and Holland.
Also seen in Ostend was Belgian singer, Kate Janssen, who lived and worked as a vet in Gravesend for some years.
She did the support for some of Dougie's One Man Shows in the early 90s.
The second series of SWAG has been filmed and Doug and Ian featured at the Whitfift Centre in Croydon trapping unsuspecting punters into running off with mobile phones and wallets, only to be confronted by singing minstrels and jesters.Ludicrous behaviour and the new series began on Tuesday 29th June with Doug & Ian appearing on July 7th and 14th's editions.
As mentioned, they won 4th out of the 100 Best Hidden Camera Stunts on ITV.
Dougie Hudson is the musical director for the festival and he also makes a musical contribution with Hot Rats who feature the amazing Ian Cutler on fiddle and Mick Peters on a very tidy and exciting bass. I promise you I have now heard the definitive version of Orange Blossom Special!"
She wrote "I'm always keen to listen to new music so I jumped at the chance to see the Hot Rats play in Gillingham...what made this gig such a change was the live experience Doug Hudson and Ian Cutler bought (sic) to their performance...I couldn't fault tonight's performance and left feeling smug I hadn't talked myself out of coming."
Roger Allston of the Pier in Lower Upnor said: Hi Doug
Very many thanks for an absolutely fantastic evening. Yours was one of the best folk gigs we have ever staged. Well done to you & for his electrifying fiddle work, please pass on our warmest regards to Ian.<
Below you can see former Hot Rats members and what they are doing now, but occasionally the Rats augment to four with a special artist.
Last summer saw Kiwi sensation Brendan Power playing with the Rats for a wedding function.
Brendan was the featured soloist in Riverdance for some years and has provided music for Love Actually, Shanghai Noon, Auf Weidersehn Pet and now the Hot Rats.
Dave Mattacks famously played at the Woodville Halls barn dance a couple of years ago.
Now resident in the US he rarely comes to the UK, although Ian's Feast of Fiddles tour is one such gig!
Guido Rincon from the lamented Shave The Monkey is another occasional player.
He's a multi instrumentalist and singer who also features in Ian's Slaughterhouse line-up.
Finally, the phenomenally gifted Tim Edey is a regular occasional player with the Rats.
Equally brilliant on guitar or melodeon he is also guesting with the Sharon Shannon Band, Capercaillie and currently Afro-Celt Sound System.
Catch him when you can cos he's increasingly globe trotting.
Big apologies to all those people who left messages and were told they were recorded. We now have another guestbook set up, so please feel free to leave your comments.
Incidentally, if you want to look at how many people visit this site, click on 'AddFree Stats' at the bottom of the page and there's some interesting info to be had.
The third album featuring the three Hot Rats is now available!!!!!.Tracks are Jig of Slurs, Santy Anna, Monti Czardas, Step It Out Mary, Last Night's Fun/Hardiman the Fiddler, Katusha, Bulgaro, January Man/Paddy Ryan's Dream, Salmontails Up the Water/Flowers of Edinburgh and Rehradice/A Walk in Brevnov.
This album features just the three Hot Rats and is great representation of their live act.
Ian and Dougie play each month at the Central Theatre in Chatham as support to the Medway Folk Cellar's special guests.So far this year they have hosted Spiers & Boden, Jeremy Taylor, Quicksilver, Les Barker and the Amazing Mr Smith.
Doug, Just a quick note to say thanks to yourself, Ian and Mike for the gigs at the Broadstairs Folk Festival last week. Having seen the Jetty gig last year it was great to see the band doing the tour of the pubs. I was at the Dolphin and went to see other bands during the week but generally ended up catching the last half hour of your evening sets in each of the other pubs.
This may sound a bit over the top but Hot Rats are way, way ahead of anything else that I saw. The energy generated with Ian in "manic" mode, the heavy rhythm guitar and the thumping bass is a great combination.
Song mix was excellent and got everyone moving...really liked "Mercedes in the Drive".
Two other things that I noticed about your gigs; firstly, you seem to attract some people with very "individual" styles of dancing; secondly (and more importantly !) you seem to attract all the most attractive women in town !
I live in Berkshire so your gigs are not normally that accessible but we do have a place in Broadstairs so will try and catch you when you play there.
Once again, thanks and may Hot Rats go from strength to strength !!!
Hi to Ray who introduced himself at this year's Folk Week!
Doug Hudson started this merry little band
to provide the music for his sell out comedy stage show in 1992.
The band was so well rehearsed that they decided to carry on
and ever since their popularity has grown.
Dougie has his own website now and if you want to check it out,
go to the links section below.
OTHER BITSDougie is also involved in programming some different folk acts into the Brook Theatre in Chatham.
Here you could have seen an array of artists including Shave the Monkey, Bully Wee Band, Waterson-Carthy, Richard Digance and the Strawbs.
Further artists booked in 2005/2006 are Vin Garbutt, Chris Newman & Maire Ni Chathasaigh, Keith James' Tribute to Nick Drake, Steve Ashley, Ashley Hutching's Rainbow Chasers, ColvinQuarmby and of course Bully Wee.
The cost of the CD is £12
and it includes some excellent tunes and songs that the band
play at live gigs.
The Jezreels Ceilidh Band has been going for some years and have had many musicians in their ranks over the years, some illustrious, some not!!!
The band is currently completed by
violin player Steve Moreham and multi instrumentalist, Chris
Taylor (ex Fiddlers Dram).
Ceilidh bands, folk artists, medieval entertainers, jazz musicians and people like Serguei Pachnine.
Serguei is a wonderful accordion player - he tours with bands like the Kremlinaires and Mukka - but is also available for solo work, either with his one man show of Russian music, or as an accordionist in his own right!
Doug Hudson's solo album has taken five years to complete and contains some great new songs
You can hear some samples of Ian's new album by going to the sound clip page.ALSO IF YOU WANT TO BUY ALBUMS YOU CAN ORDER FROM GAIL EVERETT'S CELTIC CRAFTS SITE ONLINE (see below) - OR SEND A CHEQUE WITH ORDER BY POST TO DOUG.
