The Doghouse Skiffle Band - Capenhurst Village Hall

There are moments in your life when you just know that you should have paid more attention to the signs, and this was one of those occasions.

We had spotted the poster outside the hall some weeks earlier, and we had even stopped the car to take note of the date, then we promptly forgot all about it.

And then one Friday night we were looking for something exciting to do (this was before we discovered the local Folk scene) and in desperation I searched for events in Wirral on the internet and there it was - DogHouse Skiffle at Capenhurst! We piled into the car and arrived just in time - for the break! So my abiding first impressions of the DogHouse are of Garry's gyrating hips as he finished off his Elvis spot with a flourish, and then nothing for 20 minutes while we all had a drink.

It was enough to intrigue me though, and as we stood in the car park evesdropping on some old time Skifflers going on about the old days and Radio Merseyside, we wondered what on Earth might follow.

Have you seen the DogHouse? No? You need to see them. We were treated to a storming set of songs old and new, all given the skiffle treatment and all executed with the deft musicianship and perfect comic timing of three men who know how to please a crowd. (Get them to drink a lot!) I was taken aback when they started on "A Day in the Life" from their "Black Album"(!), but it was fantastic and it worked so well - and why shouldn't it given that, as the band pointed out, it was a song by 4 local lads with their own skiffle band?

We laughed and sang and laughed some more, enjoying the slapstick and the subtleties of the act and enjoying the response of the crowd. We left delighted and eager for more.... and boy did we get more!