2007 was a great year for The Fallen and the Band started 2008 with 25 gigs in the diary and 50 songs to choose from. Nik decided that he wanted to leave Suffolk and so left the Band in January. We recruited local guitar legend Geoff Slater and were soon rocking again.

Geoff has been in many Bands and after playing solo for a few years was keen to get back into a working band. Geoff is a great rock fan listing Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy as his favourites along with guitar masters Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen and Jimmy Page.

Ben injured his back at the end of 2007 so we did not do any gigs at the start of the year. This gave us time to rehearse and get Geoff up to speed and also learn a couple of new songs. Ben's back is still playing up but he is still rocking while the doctors decide how to fix him!

We played The Oak in Sudbury on 23rd February, our first gig for a while and our first with Geoff on lead guitar. A great crowd including loads of our regulars - we played The Cowboy Song and The Boys are Back in Town by Thin Lizzy for the first time - see us back at The Oak in May.

1st March saw us at The Angel in Glemsford - what a rocking night with standing room only - sorry to anyone who could not get it! A great pub and a great crowd - we played a set list of 31 rock songs - back at The Angel in June - see you there.

Below is a copy of the Gig write up from The Angel Website.

"March 1st marked the return of live music to the Angel with the first appearance of the year of The Fallen, a group described in the local press as 'West Suffolk's Heaviest covers Band', an epithet that they are more than happy to live up to. With previous guitarist Nick having gone AWOL latest incumbent into the ever-changing lead guitarist spot is Glemsford axe legend Jeff Slater stepping into breach, musically the lads are now tighter than Roy Porter when it comes to his round and the arrival of Jeff gives them an added dimension in that he is also able to occasionally take over lead vocals in order for singer Andy to finish his pint rest his voice. Over the course of a 2 hour set in front of an enthusiastic crowd(at one point there was a most un-Angel-like mosh pit forming) The Fallen belted out a fast paced, no frills set of classic rock tunes, pausing only for breath with a perfect rendition of 'Freebird' and a pacey run through of Thin Lizzy's 'Dancin' In The Moonlight'. Other set highlights included a couple of Iron Maiden songs(possibly played for the benefit of resident Maiden fiends Kevin and Steve Laz), an inspired thrash through Led Zeppelin's monstrous classic 'Rock and Roll'(a number which provoked some spectacular headbanging from the more hirsute members of the crowd)and Fallen signature tune, their no-hold-barred charge through Don Henley's 'Boys of Summer'. Hell, the boys even managed to pre-empt Science John's calls for 'Freebird' by playing it before he had a chance to start shouting for it, welcome home lads, look forward to seeing you back here in June."

On Saturday 8th March we played our first time at The Swan in Long Melford. This was to celebrate Landlord John's birthday. It was a really great gig with everyone having an excellent time especially us! Geoff is fitting in very well and has added to our sound. A storming set on a rainy night - back at The Swan in July.

April 2008 - Ben's back is now better and he is ready to rock. Adz bought himself a new Flying V guitar and Geoff has changed his amp (again!)

A rocking night at The North Street Tavern, Sudbury on Saturday 12th April. A great pub to play at and a full house for The Fallen. We played a good set and tried a couple of new songs. We are back at The Tavern in July.

Great to play at The Haymakers again. Fun crowd - especially the men playing pool - loved the air guitar!! Ben used his new BC Rich bass for the first time, check out the Gallery for pictures. The second set got the pub jumping - a great night, we'll be back at The Haymakers in June.

May the 10th found us at The Working Mens Club in Long Melford. A welcome return to the Club. A hot evening as we rocked through Thin Lizzy, Metallica and Maiden. We played 'Fool for your Lovin' for the first time and by the time we had played through Ozzy, Led Zeppelin and AC/DC we had the place rocking. Thanks to everyone for coming along - Jude, Lynne, Trudie, Jess, Gary, Lewis, Tracey and Toni! - Cheers guys. Back at The Club in October.

16th May and we are back at The 5 Bells in Cornard. We always enjoy playing here and tonight was a rocking Friday in Cornard. We played a set of 31 songs to a small but lively crowd, the second set going down especially well. Big thanks to the Landlady Wendy. We look forward to our return to The 5 Bells in June.

23rd May - Our first time playing at The Cock in Hadleigh - Tonight we used our brand new powered monitor for the first time (Our last one blew up!!) We had our own room! unusual but it worked well. Not a lot of people to start with but a good crowd by the time we started the second set. We had everyone singing to Livin' on a Prayer, unforuntately did not have enough time to finish our set off with Rock 'n' Roll. We look forward to playing this when we confirm a return gig.

30th May - Another debut, this time at The Highbury Barn in Great Cornard. We now have our second new powered monitor but we had a few sound problems. It was a good gig even though we had to contend with the heat, a small space and a boxing match on the pub tv! We managed to sort the sound out and the pub filled up for the second set which went down very well.

31st May - The Shoulder of Mutton, Assington - Really great gig tonight at our third new venue in a row. Lovely pub full of friendly locals, great landlady who appreciated a good quality rock band! The sound was perfect tonight, thanks to Geoff's mixing desk. We all really enjoyed the gig and played 'Fool for your Lovin' for the first time.

7th June - The Angel, Glemsford - Great to be back at The Angel again, this time for a Charity Gig to raise money for the Spinal Injuries Association. We did a great set and then a few more songs with people putting money into the bucket to keep us playing. Kevin and Paula laid on Chilli and Rice and the evening ended with us playing The Trooper for Kevin for a donation of £20. The event raised £350 for the Charity and a good time was had by all. Thanks to everyone for coming along and for your generous donations. Look out for lots of great photos on the way soon!

BREAKING NEWS

As you probably know Iron Maiden are playing their only UK date at Twickenham on the 5th July. On the 4th July Iron Maiden Fan Club are hosting a Charity Night in London. This event will be headlined by the number one Iron Maiden tribute band, Hi-On Maiden. They will be supported by two bands ONE OF WHICH WILL BE THE FALLEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A return visit to The Railway in Ipswich on Sunday 15th June, not a lot of people and not a lot of fun. We did a good set but will not be returning to The Railway.

Friday 27th June and we are playing at The Haymakers in Cambridge. We enjoyed ourselves and the pub was quite full by the time we started Set 2. We played Jailbreak for the first time.

Friday 4th July travelling down to London to do the Hi-On Maiden gig - decided to spend our earnings on hiring a Chrysler Grand Voyager, kebabs and beer! A really great day, 400 Maiden fans at The Ruskin Arms in East Ham. The pub is where it all began for Maiden. We opened the show followed by the excellent Insaniac and then a storming set from Hi-On Maiden - a cracking band and a great bunch of lads. We arrived home at 3.00am tired and happy. Seen it, done it and got the T-Shirt!

Below is a copy of the gig write up from the Iron Maiden Fan Club Magazine No. 82

"Since we were running a fan club trip to the Twickenham show, mainly to help our American friends who might not have made the trip if they had to organise their own accommodation and transport to the gig etc., we thought it would be a good idea to have a pre-show party at The Ruskin Arms on the Friday before the show.

We had 3 bands playing. Firstly we had a great rock covers band from our local area in Suffolk called The Fallen who played a storming set for the early arrivals at the pub. Next up was Insaniac from Norwich with their own brand of punk/metal for 35 minutes of pure insane in yer face madness. Top of the bill was Hi-On Maiden the closest you will ever get to having Iron Maiden playing in your own pub! Two and a half hours of Maiden - including Alexander the Great. Also in attendance were Dave Sullivan and Terry Rance - Iron Maiden's very first guitarists. It was brilliant to see so many old faces that have been following Iron Maiden for many years and it was also great to meet so many new fans as well"

The following evening we played The Melford Swan. A really good pub with a lively crowd - good to see Sam, Dave, Ben and co at this gig.

We played a private party (wedding) on Saturday 19th July outside in a marquee. Cold and damp but we played a solid set with the groom coming up to sing a couple of songs with the band. Dave did not feel very well but a good dose of Fallen Rock did the trick.

Back at The 5 Bells in Cornard on Friday 25th July - really enjoy playing at The 5 Bells and great to see everyone dancing and enjoying the songs especially Freebird, Sweet Child of Mine and Rock 'n' Roll.

The Fallen are now taking a few weeks off. We need a break! but will be back at the end of August.

23rd August and The Fallen are back with a bang for a gig at a private party in Glemsford. We had support from a local band called 'Monochus Diabolos' We then played a great rocking set to a lively crowd.

On 29th August we were back at The North Street Tavern. Great to play here again and as normal a really good full pub. David tried out his new cymbals.

6th September and we are at The Black Lion in Glemsford. This was a really good gig with everyone having a great evening. Looking forward to coming back to The Black Lion soon.

A new venue on the 20th September - The Royal Standard at Ely. A big pub and an audience of people new to The Fallen. A good night, thanks to everyone who came to see us. Adam used his new wireless link for his guitar and we blew up one of our powered monitors! Hope to be back here next year.

Back at The 5 Bells in Cornard on the 26th September for a good loud rocking gig. Really enjoyed playing here to a great bunch of people.

The band are now playing together really well, enjoying what we are doing and going down well everywhere we play.

We played at The Working Mens Club in Long Melford on the 25th October. Good to be back at The Club again. Geoff has added to his range of guitars and we tried a new set up with our monitors.

1st November at The North Street Tavern in Sudbury. A rainy night in Sudbury but a full house for a great gig in a great pub. We played Burn and Back in Black for the first time. Back at The Tavern next year.

On the 14th November we did a charity gig at The Quay Theatre in Sudbury. This was in support of Breast Cancer Research. The evening had performances from many artists including Robbie Gladwell, Lincoln Grounds and Greg Wright. We played for an hour with a great finale of rock 'n' roll with a stage full of 12 musicians. A good evening and a lot of money raised for a very worthy cause.

GREAT to be back at The Angel in Glemsford on Saturday 15th November. We played a great set to a full house in our favourite pub. We really enjoyed tonight with our mate Jason Roberts doing a couple of songs on drums. Burn and Back in Black now going down very well. Everyone was singing by the time we got to Rosie. Cheers to Paula and Kev for having us back at The Angel, look forward to a return gig in March 2009. Below is some copy from The Cleverest Pub in Britain website (The Angel) www.myaceboozer.blogspot.com

"Never ones to just turn up and play the same old set the boys delivered a special birthday treat for Steve in the form of an Almost Iron Maiden Almost Medley consisting of a faithful rendition of UFO's 'Doctor Doctor', a stirring rendition of 'The Trooper' and a foot-on-the-monitor charge through 'Run To The Hills'.

The band's repertoire has changed since their last trip to the Angel back in summer, with 'Dancin' In The Moonlight' going out to be replaced with another Thin Lizzy song, namely the preposterously lyric'd 'Jailbreak' (for those readers ignorant of such matters the key lyric to this song is '..tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak, somewhere in the town' hmmmmmm...), other standout moments included a highly credible rendition of AC/DC's classic 'Back In Black' with Andy Mac doing a highly passable Bon Scott (yes Ben, I KNOW). Anyway, the usual superlatives can be inserted in here, I think I've written about these lads so many times now, you can only say so much."

22nd November and we are playing a Private Party in Glemsford. This turned out to be a good gig with everyone enjoying the music and having a great time. Happy Birthday Brian!

A return gig at The Working Mens Club in Long Melford on the 6th December. A good gig tonight, everyone playing well. Thanks to all of Dave's mates for coming to see us.

20th December our last gig of 2008 at The Swan in Long Melford. A great pub to play at and a good lively festive crowd. We did a great set and then added a couple of rocked up Christmas songs at the end. Merry Christmas everyone! Back at The Swan next year in April.

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