Blog Gigs Facts Music Shop Links
Old News: July - December 2001
| < previous | next> |
12th July 2001
As we pass the halfway point of the year, we ask: what have we achieved then? Eh? Well, these past couple of weeks have certainly involved a few EVENTS - not least of which has been me starting the process of Actually Buying A House (NYARGH!), but you don't want to hear about that sort of thing do you? No, you need tales of ROCK! SO! Um... maybe you could try somewhere else?
I jest. Of course. Why, just the other Friday i played a GIG, at the Charlotte to launch the "Havok Junction" album. It was a good night all told, plenty of people there and the Friendly Efficient Staff at the record stall (i.e. me and Dave Dixey Sorted Supremo) did quite a roaring trade, although i didn't think my own bit will be taking up its own chapter in the Biography. It was all OK, and i did have a WEIRD BIT halfway through when some bloke tried to have a CONVERSATION with me - not heckling or anything, he walked up to the front of the stage and stood around saying "So, do you sing, as well as playing guitar?" This was WHILE i was trying to do exactly that, it was WEIRD.
Also felt a bit LESS due to inability to have the full band there, after the recent full band recording SESSION. These will be returning tho - after a few days of me reviving my long dormant SECRETARIAL SKILLS we now have a TWO recording sessions and TWO (2!) practices booked. The first SESSION is for Mr Fleay and i to go in and finish off EVERYTHING that's outstanding, including mixing i hope, so soon we will have the complete EIGHT TRACKS done so far. With this done, we practice the next week a) for BIRMINGHAM (hoorah!) and b) the next batch of recording - about SIX songs are now sort of learnt, with a couple more to go, with ANOTHER practice to iron it all out before we return to The Reverb Cave to LAY IT DOWN. I have made about 15,000,000 lists of IDEAS already, as i am DEAD EXCITED.
I also went in last week for a bit of ACTION of my own, doing vocals and XYLOPHONE for "One Last Party", putting down a couple of BITS for possible later use on the keyboards, and mixing "World Go Blind". After this latter Mr Reverb said "That sounded better than i thought it would"... HIGH PRAISE indeed! It does sound GRATE tho, again, i am EXCITED.
In other news, there's a couple of gigs on the way - top of the agenda is BIRMINGHAM on August 3rd with the mighty REGULARS, then on the 4th i'm playing Somewhere In London, but i don't know where. Also at the Somewhere chain of pubs, i'm playing in TAUNTON on July 25th - again, no idea where, but someone asked if there were any bands spare, so i said "Yes! Me please!" I've asked about gigs elsewhere in those environs too, so MIGHT be doing a mini-summer-mini-tour THING, but details are sketchy at present.
Regular readers (arf!) might also have noticed a distinct lack of New Songs lately - i think this is because my BRANE is awaiting the completion of the existing backlog before dropping any more down the MIND CHUTE. I have PLENTY MUCH ideas for bits of songs tho, so i am GIRDING my SONG BOWEL for a huge delivery in the near future. Also in the future is the vague possibility of MORE gigs, in Leeds and maybe with the FANTASTIC Frightened Prisoners Of The Kraken (whose album is GRATE, and out on AAS in September), but we'll deal with those next time. Until then, do take care, and mind out for that sunshine won't you?
30th July 2001
You find me today full of JOY and HAPPINESS and all that kind of thing - helo burds! helo sky! Does the sun not shine brighter today and is there not LOVE in the very air eh? etc etc?
I shall try to AVOID banging on about All That Sort Of Thing, but do not think it will not LEAK into the songs... in fact, it already has and the one song which has so far managed to BREACH the self-imposed SONG BUNG will doubtless be followed by others. And hey, i don't care, it's BLOODY GRATE!
But to the NEWS - and there very much IS some, as a week and a bit ago we convened chez Kev to FINISH off the last bits of the songs we've done so far, and got them MIXED! HOORAH! Now we have no less than EIGHT songs COMPLETELY finished, and let me tell you this my friends, they are BRILLIANT! And it's not just me who thinks so ... er... the rest of the band like them too. Because they are GRATE. The plan now is to head on back into the studio and a) re-LARN the ones we worked out last month, b) WORK OUT the last remaining to songs, and then c) start RECORDING them! Hooray! Hopefully it won't take ELEVEN MONTHS to get it done like it did with the last lot, but you can't rush QUALITY, and if these ones turn out anything like the first lot then (dropping any vague HINT of modesty) it is going to be FANTASTIC.
I am quite excited by the prospect, in case you hadn't guessed. Other ACTION this past couple of weeks, apart from the afore-mentioned blossoming LOVE (hem hem), have included the wedding of Mr Paul Myland, late of the Durham Ox Singers, to Katherine. That was a SMASHING and a LOVELY LOVELY day out for all concerned, there was much smiling, drinking and DANCING to be done. Eee, it made me quite emotional, so it did. Similarly the next weekend was the Final Ever NO Really This Time Tube Bar, which was much fun and ALSO featured some dancing. All has been DELIGHTFUL.
And over the horizon we have a couple of gigs coming up - unfortunately it looks like I'm going to have to do the BRUM gig all on my lonesome, as the BAND have GROWN-UP stuff to do, which is a shame - we DID consider re-recruiting young Ollie for the occasion, but it really would have been a HASSLE to sort out, and would have put back the NEW stuff quite a bit, so hey, it is all for the good in the long run. I'm also playing at STARSTOCK this weekend, tho i have no idea where, or even IF, this is occurring, so feel free not to keep the date empty in your diary.
And that's your lot! Come back next time for tales of ROCK, and possibly even tales of RECORDING!
17th August 2001
First may i apologise to all those disturbed by the contents of the previous update - rest assured, i shall be conducting myself in a much more STERN and MILITARY FASHION this time (even if my heart does leap and ... NO! STOP IT!). In answer to any questions it raised, the answers are "Yes", "Very Much So" and "Mind Your Own, Cheeky". Thank you.
RIGHT then, let us speak of ROCK. MAIN news is that PHASE TWO of the recording for the next album is very much underway - last night i took my MIGHTY RYTHMN SECTION (i.e. Rob and Tim) into the studio and, under the ever-watchful eye of Mr Reverb, we laid down SIX basic tracks - these were "Post-Subsonic Bass" and "The Symbol Of Our Nation" (these two ROCKING pretty bloody hard i must say), "The Only Thing" and "The Girl Who" (plaintive, then LILTING), "Last Orders" (HIP swaying) and finally the VERY VERY NUTTY "Falling For Trust". It was all GRATE, i think we were all slightly taken aback by the TIGHTNESS (well, ISH anyway) and ROCK nature of it.
This leaves only "The Back Of The Sofa" to be begun, with some drum & bass to go onto "Nothing In Common, Except, Maybe", before we step back to the more SERENE sections of the Validators - we're in AGANE in a couple of weeks, and this should consist of me doing VOCALS and/or Mrs Pattison and/or Mr McClure - stay TUNED kids to find out how this all goes. ONCE that's finished (which HONESTLY i think may be in LESS than the 11 months of PHASE ONE) we go into the DELIGHTS of sequencing and COVER PHOTOGRAPHS. I CAN'T WAIT!
In other news - the gig in Birmingham turned out AMAZINGLY WELL. You know at Proper Gigs where Someone Famous starts playing their HIT, and the audience CLAPS? THAT HAPPENED TO ME!! OK, i did stop and start again so that i could make sure, but STILL it was dead cool, definitely one of the best EVER, so MANY thanks for all those who were there, you made me v.happy. Next gig is POTENTIALLY a RIGHT cracker - if all goes well it'll FINALLY see the Validators Actually Doing A Gig, alongside not just Airport Gurl but also FRANKIE MACHINE - it will, in fact, be a FLEAYATHON. On the other hand i might end up doing it on my tod, but should still be good (is September 2nd at the Lamplighters in Leicester if yr interested). SAME can be said for September 14th in Leeds, when i'm playing with Ricky Spontane at Strangeways - there will be DARNCING and EVERYTHING! It's all jolly exciting.
And that, dear friends, is THE NEWS. Hopefully next time there will be MORE recording to report, possibly some songs, and maybe some more ROCK, but rest assured, whatever happens, you will know the TRUTH.
31st August 2001
Is it really two weeks since last we corresponded? It seems only yesterday, and yet, and yet such a LONG time, for SO much has happened. Some of these things need not concern us here - in brief, a wedding, a beer festival, a couple of Milestones, and a few chunks of skipping about - but some of it DOES.
The most GLOBALLY IMPORTANT thing for the future of our planet or, at least, my postcode, was that last night we returned to the studio to continue work on PHASE TWO of "This Is Not A Library". I'd intended to use this to add to the already started tracks, but through various means it turned out that, bizarrely, everyone could turn up. I started off alone doing some BITS on "Last Orders", and then we spent ages trying to record bass and drums along with the click track and keyboards for "Nothing In Common, Except, Maybe". This sounded RUBBISH, so we DITCHED it and started anew, and kids it sounded GROOVY AS ANYTHING.
EMPOWERED we moved on to do the basic track for "Let it..." no, sorry, "The Back Of The Sofa". Now THAT sounded ACE - i shall ALERT people in advance for if we ever play it live, as LIGHTERS will be required for holding aloft. Full of ZING we then did the best thing ever, i.e. recorded a General Hubbub for the background to "Last Orders" - IN STEREO. Words cannot do justice to the majesty of this particular piece of recording, suffice to say that when the album is finally released people will say "But surely, you didn't do THAT bit did you? It is TOO GRATE to believe!" Really, it was SMASHING. Then we had a couple of photographs, and we were DONE - ALL the basic tracks are now FINISHED. HOORAH!
It's all jolly exciting - hopefully I'll be back in within the next fortnight to do vocals and GTR bits, then I'll get a MIX, distribute it to the Vlads, and then it will be HO! for OVERDUB CITY!
Did i mention that I'm Quite Excited about all this? In other news, we were featured on Mark & Lard yesterday - as part of their MENTIONING of One Big Sunday (the offical end to the summer) in Leicester, they read out an email from someone saying they were going to see us, Frankie Machine and Airport Gurl at the Lamplighters on Sunday, and wondered if anything else was happening in Leicester that day? It was GRATE, and my email box went BOOM as everyone i know (nearly) told me they had just heard it. COOL. Should be a good gig anyway - we are doing ALL NEW MATERIAL of a ROCKING nature, YES, we are Trying Out Songs In A Live Environment.
Also on the gig front, that Leeds gig is IMPENDING, and I'll also hopefully be doing a gig at the International Arts Centre with Hammell On Trial, who was in the newspaper and EVERYTHING. I'm also going to try and persuade someone ELSE to put out "Easily Impressed" as a single (like we did with "Payday") because i REALLY want it to Get Out There, and alas have no CASH. Don't hold yr breath on that one tho, eh kids?
Whatever, that's yer lot for now - come back in two weeks (and a bit), for more recording news, more GIG reports, and a whole slab of ROCK!
17th September 2001
Here we stand in a slightly different world from the last time i wrote - hopefully, for most of us, not THAT different in the long run, tho obviously for some people it'll be utterly changed. As far as all this stuff goes, something I've been saying all week is that if we take one thing away from the horrific events it is this: we are alive, and being alive is pretty bloody GRATE, so why don't we have a go at living it eh?
With that in mind, the last fortnight has seen some ACTION taken - not through force and not through violence, not for long-term ideological reasons nor for money, not in anger nor in revenge, but simply for a LARF. Most largely of all this was the decision NOT to buy a house in the end - i was intending to do so for various valid reasons, all of which ended up dissolving whilst OTHER THINGS cropped up which made me completely NOT want to get into a mortgage right now, so after much THORT i decided NOT to do so. The ROCKING UPSHOT of this is that i now have a load of money (translation: i am not now going to be AS horribly in debt as i thought) so am going to put out a single. HOORAH! If all goes to plan this will be a 6 track CD single with "Easily Impressed" as the lead song, "Graffiti on the Cenotaph" and "Merchant Ivory Punks" to follow, and then three other tracks which we shall go into the studio especially to record. Yes, we shall be Going In To Record Some B-Sides.
This idea fills me with GLEE. But this is not to say that SIGHT has been lost of ALBUM finishing, heavens no! Why, just last week Tom and I visited Mr Reverb for some HEFTY sessions, doing vocals, guitar and violin for "The Symbol of Our Nation" and "Post Subsonic Bass" then just vocals and guitar for "Back of The Sofa". On this latter one Mr Reverb COMPED the vocals, oh yes, this is a dead technical and clever thing which all cool type ROCK types do, and not at all a desperate attempt to cobble together a vocal track that doesn't actively upset the ears. No. MORE of this to come soon KIDS.
GIGS have occurred also - the first was The Lamplighters where, frankly, THE BAND were BLOODY GRATE. It was my dears almost frightening to be at the front of such an ENGINE OF ROCK, and this almost wiped out the Slight Annoyance engendered by the people setting up the PA - apply in writing for the descriptions of these, i shall not sully this page by stating what a couple of tossers they were. Then, more happily, this Friday just gone saw me playing in LEEDS for the first time, it was GOOD. My set wasn't quite as GRATE as i'd've liked, and it wasn't helped by Ricky Spontane coming on afterwards and being FANTASTIC, but the night itself was ACE and it's always nice to go UP NORTH and meet the Gentle Folk of Indie who are a) there and b) LOVELY. So that was all right then.
More VALIDATOR action to come soon as we all travel to Derby to do a Gig For No Other Reason Than That WE WANT TO with MAGOO, and that Hammell On Trial gig (tho that might be moving about). Should be some more recording too, so why not pop back in a fortnight eh? There shall be MOVEMENT.
5th October 2001
Golly, it's been a bit busy this past fortnight and a bit, not least because I am off to JAPAN in a couple of days and have been a) getting ready and b) getting PANICKY about the whole. Yes, that's right - JAPAN! It appears to be a bloody long way away, and i am a bit scared, but I'm sure it'll be OK.
Anyway, let's get on with the ROCK shall we? First of all, since last we spoke we have recorded a NEW SONG - That Nice Man of ROCK Mr Jervis from WYAIWIA records emailed me last week to see if i'd like to do a Christmas song for a compilation album we're doing, and i of course said YES PLEASE. Amazingly everybody was available and two days later we convened with Mr Reverb to record "Give Us A Kiss (for Christmas)" and, garlanded with tinsel and mince pies, we had a FANTASTIC night recording it. I went in a few days later at lunchtime and mixed it, and i must say i am REALLY REALLY REALLY CHUFFED with it as, amazingly, are the rest of the band.
It's gone off to Mr Jervis now, but so pleased with it are we that we're considering putting it onto the Easily Impressed single - if he says it's OK, that is. If he does, then the EP will probably be called "Milk and Baubles", feature those two songs, "Merchant Ivory Punks", "Graffiti on the Cenotaph", and then FIVE (5) other unreleased songs, being "Missing The Misery", "Hell On Earth", "I come From The Fens" (finally!), "Call the Lyric Police" and "Praise The Traffic Warden" (which is the song you can hear in the background at the start of the album, TRIVIA LOONS). Marvellously i have timed these NINE (9) songs as, altogether, filling up just over 18 minutes!
If this was done I'd try and get it out before Christmas and then go and do a HEAP of gigs. If, understandably, Mr Jervis thinks it's NOT OK (and after all we did record it just for his album so hey, FAIR DO's) then we'll return to the studio and record the b-sides as previously planned and put the single out in January, with TOURING to support then - we shall SEE. Whatever, this means that RECORDING PLAN can be a bit more relaxed, as we have a little more time to finish off The Pattisons' contributions before BABY STAFFORD arrives in January.
Phew, it's all DEAD ORGANISED isn't it? Much of the above was decided when we had a MEETING after our Derby gig - we THOROUGHLY enjoyed ourselves, as indeed did the audience (Moo and Anne-Marie) and i was given to thinking what an ACE band we are that we could go all that way, play to two (admittedly lovely) people, and still have a LARF. Cool.
In other news, the vaguely mentioned SONG BUNG seems to have popped out - i have only writ ONE song in the past six months, but a couple of weeks ago i felt MOVEMENT, as if long suppressed URGES were bubbling away, and LO! at the start of this week the pressure grew sufficient to go BANG and force the bung away. Two songs droppped out behind it (as you can see from the New Songs pages), and i am Pretty Chuffed with them both, in different ways. Other than that it has been a case of BRANE WAXING and WANING thinking of convenient means of getting the album finished, and GRATE IDEAS for tours. Come back next time, why don't you, and see what they are?
22nd October 2001
I'm back in Blighty and ready to ROCK! As anybody who has met me in the past three months will know, the week before last i was off to JAPAN, and was BLOODY TERRIFIED at the prospect. I flew out, SCARED WITLESS on the Sunday, and by the following Saturday i had just about calmed down enough to enjoy it. Some people have said "Eh? Why scared?" and i have replied "Apart from the FACT that the day before the Ukranians shot down a passenger jet flying pretty much the same route as we were? And that the assault on Afghanistan started the very day we flew out?" and they have gone "Oh yeah, apart from that..." WELL my friend it was because absolutely EVERYTHING was utterly utterly different.
For example, Ironing Boards only stand a few inches off the ground! KETTLES are diffferent! The toilets are ELECTRIC! They eat SQUID instead of peanuts in bars! And much much more - i will be going on and on about it FOREVER because my dears it was BLOODY INCREDIBLE. It went to Shinjuku, where it is like BLADE RUNNER and they have skyscrapers that i couldn't believe. I saw the Imperial Palace and the HUGE GOLDFISH in the moat. I went to the BUDOKAN! And best of all, i went up Tokyo Tower which is UTTERLY fantastic, being THE FUTURE 1959 style!
Really, it was absolutely astounding, but MY WORD am i ever glad to be back, it is ACE. LIFE and my own possible future has taken some surprising and GRATE turns even since coming back, but hey, you don't want to know about my tweeness do you? GOODNESS knows that'll come out in the songs - NO, you want to hear about tales of ROCK.
WELL, the main news is that the Milk And Baubles EP (as discussed last time) is now provisionally out on November 26th! KERZANG! I'm in with Mr Reverb on Wednesday to sort it all out, and if all goes to PLAN then the whole package will be off to be manufactured by the end of the week. I'll also be trying to sort out a whole STRING of gigs, as well as doing RADIO on it this time, so be ASSURED that there will be vast tracts of NEWS about this still to come.
The other main news is a SLEW of updates here - the discography has been rejigged a bit and also there's some more pictures in the GALLERY. In the next week or so i should also be sticking up some EXCLUSIVE (er... yes, because all the media were after them, honest) pics of the SINGLE COVER, so do check back eh? Otherwise that is ABOUT IT for now - get ready children of the future tho, for be CERTAIN that over the coming month there's a-gonna be a LOT of stuff! HOLA!
5th November 2001
POW! Hot song ACTION this time around, there is not one, not two, but THREE (3!) new songs up now! Yes, the other night i arrived home packed with VIM and DETERMINATION to finish off some of the approx. 4 songs i had lying about half done since before Japan. Listening to my Kitchen Tape i discovered ANOTHER song, so finished that off before moving on to completely DO 2 others. My dears, i was Quite Quite Exhausted and DIZZY by the end, but it was GRATE. I have still to complete "Programming Is The Poetry For Our Time" and "Happy Happy Happy Happy Christmas" (NEXT year's Christmas song, featuring the immortal line "BISH BOSH POW WHAM ZING!"), but they cannot be far off now.
So that's good then - song bung well and truly dosed with epsom salts and flushed away, je danc. In other ROCK NEWS the single, "Milk and Baubles EP", has now very much gone off to the manufacturers and will hopefully be with us soon. I had a jolly time at Mr Reverb's mastering it, or rather, reading his Graphic Novels (NB comics) collection while HE mastered it, and it was only at the end when, listening through, we heard an almighty "FNTCH!" noise that It All Went A Bit Wrong. BRILLIANTLY Kev redid it over the weekend, so all hail him in his MIGHTINESS, it is all good and gone now HOORAH! I am just about to embark on some GIG BOOKING for December now, so if all goes to plan the next few weeks MIGHT see some hefy additions to the ROCK CALENDER.
Album recordings are nearly back on track too - we're booked in again at Memphis next week, when we plan to get Emma and (possibly) my VOCALS all done, after which we shall very much be on the home straight. It's been a LONG journey baby, but i hope it shall be worth the wait. There are also some VERY VERY early ideas about putting out a split single with ANOTHER BAND who i shall not yet name, but are from Sheffield. More news on that another time.
Here in the real world all sorts of things continue to happen, some very EXCITING and LOVE BASED (as ever shall not go further here, but my darlings LOOK TO THE SONGS, THEY SHALL DOUBTLESS COME!) others involving MONSTER HUNTING in LOCH NESS! I shall not spoil it for you, except to say that if you wish to retain yr illusions DO NOT visit "Loch Ness 2000", which has the CHEEK to disabuse you of all monster-based notions and THEN try to flog you fluffy nessies! Cuh! I only bought SOCKS, THAT showed them! ALSO it was the AAS AGM the other week, a GRATE time was had by all with the singing and the laughing and the nutty dancing after, although a markedly LESS GRATE time was had by ME foolishly going into work the next day.
All that's left to say for now is to have a glance round other bits of the site, as things are being ADDED, not least to the discog, and hey, hurry back next time for even MORE news of The December 2001 Tour!
23rd November 2001
Let's GO - there is MUCH NEWS!
FIRST: The SINGLES are HERE! This of course is "The Milk and Baubles EP", featuring Easily Impressed, Give Us A Kiss (for Christmas), The Merchant Ivory Punks, Graffiti on the Cenotaph, Missing The Misery, I Come From The Fens, Call The Lyric Police AND Praise The Traffic Warden! Yes - EIGHT songs! And it's out IN THE SHOPS on December 3rd. And they LOOK bloody BRILLIANT, they really do - they are CD SINGLES and GOSH but they are nice things.
SECONDLY: Some GIGS! Well, TWO gigs really - i tried for NINE but TWO were the only ones that actually occurred. The NICE thing tho is that these are BOTH with The Frightened Prisoners Of The Kraken, so that should be ACE. The first is on December 6th at The Casbah in Sheffield, the second a week later on December 12th (NOT the 13th!) at the Blue Cat Cafe Bar in Stockport. DO come, they will be GRATE.
THIRDLY: The Christmas Album! Well, this is slightly _less_ exciting than expected as it's not actually going to be out in the shops or anything, but you CAN buy a copy if you like DIRECT from SOURCE - 10ukp (cheques payable to wiaiwya) to wiaiwya, 1 bankside, 10 brock lane, maidenhead, berks sl6 1lp. You get a free poster too! SOME copies might be available from Reveal Records in Derby tho, just between you and me.
FOURTHLY: Look, up in the Midlands! Is it a Bird? Is it a Plane? NO! It's SUPER DYNAMIC ACTION! Since last we spoke there has NOT been a recording session for the album - THERE HAVE BEEN TWO! I am EXTREMELY pleased to announce that things have moved on APACE, with pretty much ALL my bits being done, with only some dabs of trumpet, about a third of the violins, and a batch of Emma's vocals to go on top. It's all sounding pretty good tho - i am ESPECIALLY pleased with the way "Falling For Trust" and "Nothing In Common, Except, Maybe" are sounding. Maybe, just maybe, we MIGHT actually get it out before this time next year - can you BELIEVE it?
Meanwhile out here in the Real World various VERY VERY life changing things have occurred, which i look at e'en now and say "Wow! Cor! Who'd've thought it eh?" It is GRATE! LESS GRATE however was David Essex, who i went to see last week - my friends, i was EXCITED about it, but he turned out to be SHIT. Lots of New Songs! Utterly lacklustre versions of The Hits! An audience giving him a REALLY easy time! Prissy ushers objecting to Young People (NB this was us) Drinking Beer! Put it together and what have you got? A DISGUSTED WALKOUT! HA! Really, he was RUBBISH, don't bother kids! Come and see ME instead!
Right you are then - that's it for now, next time - GIG ACTION!
12th December 2001
You find me happy, if slightly BEWILDERED, as last night saw yet ANOTHER mighty RECORDING SESSION. The confusion is simply because these always involve me drinking LAGER, which is very bad for me, but the HAPPINESS is more GROOVILY explained - it was GRATE!
The main THRUST of the night was to record Emma's vocals, and MAN! did we ever do that. PERSONALLY i enjoyed being MR PRODUCER - i had LARFED to see some ponytailed knob "coaching" Mick Jagger's vocals on the telly the other night, but LAST night me, Emma and Mr Reverb all stood in a room discussing different ways of singing the phrase "M-People". For about THIRTY MINUTES. Also, there was EXTREME Motivation Discussion about "The Girl Who..." ending in a SCENE FROM THE MOVIE, where Emma threw away her lyric sheet, did a take that was completely RIGHT, and me and Kev looked at each other and went "Yes." Eee, it was just like the Being In The Studio SCENE in ever ROCK film ... EVER!
All Emma's vocals are DONE now, and so are Tim's - SCARILY we also discovered last night that Tim sings EXACTLY like me. WHo could have guessed that TWO people could be so blessed eh? PLAN now is to get Tom and Rob in early in the New Year, and then these will be FINISHED. I have a lingering feeling that we may need to do a couple MORE songs to make the album, but we shall SEE.
Meanwhile, the single is in the shops and ... er... nobody seems to have noticed. AMAZINGLY, the Music Press, usually SO supportive of independent labels who a) they don't know personally b) don't pay publicists and c) live outside the M25 have COMPLETELY failed to mention it at all - who'd've thought it eh? (NB: SARCASM). Still, Overground are Radio Plugging it LIKE BILLY-OH, so we should get SOME feedback soon. I've also been ROCKING HARD - last week's gig in Sheffield was ACE. I don't think i made many new CONVERTS, but certainly had FUN, and DID get to stay in a Hotel and ACT at least like a ROCK STAR. Tonight me and The Kraken take Stockport, it will doubtless be "the bomb".
In other news, i played one of my STRANGEST gigs this week, when i played at the end of my Department's Research Day, it was a LOT of fun. I may possibly have TAILORED my set a little, playing ALL my songs about work basically, but it was MOST jolly. AND there was free wine, you can't argue with that can you? Meanwhile, plans are AFOOT for some EXCITING new release adventures in the New Year, including a COLLABORATION with the fabulous Francis Albert Machine... more details of this when, well, we've done more than think about how cool we would both look pretending to be The Everly Brothers on the TELLY.
And that's your LOT for now, and possibly for this year! I'd like to take this opportunity, dear reader, to thank you for popping by, and to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Remember, at this time of year, the words of John Lydon. Get pissed and destroy, one and all!
| < previous | next> |
An Artists Against Success Presentation