O'Neills, Oxford

Normally I dont like to get involved with spats between people and have silently been sitting back and looking at the current comments on this venue after been told about this arguement. But thought somebody had to put the record straight once and for all.

I am in fact speaking from the Band - Punchmonkey we WERE a long time standing cover band at Oneills Oxford for the past three years and loved every minute of it.

But the idea that we would at all cancel any gigs at this venue is a complete fabrication to make us look in a bad light.

People who have seen our band know we work our socks off and try to give the crowd MORE than what the average cover band. We keep our set as modern as possible and update with current charts.

To that point we have recently been Nominated for Oneills Taverns "Cover Band of the Year 2009" and this has proven haow far this band has come but what I dont like is when people attack this band and say we are no commital and let people down.

The Actual facts are simple the Manager decided to reduce the bands wages plan and simple. PM agreed we could not afford to cover the costs of travelling 100 miles to a venue that obviously didnt think we worth our wages.Yet every time we played 20 - 30 people actually turned up to see us and planned their weekends around our diary Fact !! So I wonder was this the right decision as this has alienated people.

To be clear and honest wE have NEVER cancelled a gig without a mass of notice for the venue and we have always provided a deputy band in our absence - Daft.

The reason they say that we missed gigs is to paint the venue in a good light which is more the fact that in truth they reduced our wages to a point where we would operate on a loss to play this venue - our expenses are considerable as we need a cab to transport an extremely large lights and Pa system.

So in the end we cancelled our entire diary and informed Oxford they would no longer have our services.

The rants are a testiment to how loyal Punchmonkey Fans are and I can only thank them for their support in 2009 and hopefully 2010. I add if you want to see us at Oxford again then request us and we'll see what we can do. Saturday gigs always made better sense as it is and was actually our suggestion.

With over a 100,000 hits on our web-site I love playing in this band and the recent endorsements from Shure Microphones and TC Helicon have only added an extra worth and dimension to this band and the show we provide.

I beg all of you to not argue over this just know that we are loyal to everywhere as long as a venue truly appreciates and values this band and what we do we remain faithful until the very end but when it effects finances a hard decision had to be made.

I personally miss playing at Oxford O'neills but the management made the decision to cut our wages if this hadnt happened we would still be there rocking with you now and for years to come..!!

Have a great Christmas . And New Years Eve we will be at Oneills High Wycombe with a whole host of my "personal" guests so if you have never seen Punchmonkey I cordially invite each and everyone of you to come and see an indie/pop/rock cover band that dares to be different.

Rhys (singer Punchmonkey)

18 Nov 2009 12:34