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Blog Archive: July 2003

Those Songs In Full
These are the songs we'll very likely be doing at our forthcoming GIGS... and look, there's a few new ones in there!

Things'll Be Different
The Symbol Of Our Nation
If You're Too Turned On
Make The World Go Blind
You Will Be Hearing From My Solicitor
The Girl Who...
Holdalls
Everything's Turning Out All Right (everything)
Post-Subsonic Bass
Billy Jones Is Dead
Hey Hey 16K
Payday Is The Best Day
Easily Impressed

We also practiced The Merchant Ivory Punks, Where Is My Torch?, Mr Right and Red & White Sockets for possible inclusion, ATTEMPTED Clubbing In The Week (never done by The Validators live... sounded all right), and got as far as the first line of Falling For Trust, then gave up. Only the best for you, Prospective Gig Goer, only the VERY best!

posted 29/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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We ROCK
Off to Leicester, City of Gods, last night for a LENGTHY band practice. After years of him saying it, I finally FELL before Tim's demands, and booked us in for a FOUR HOUR rehearsal. It was bloody KNACKERING!

The first half consisted of me and The Mighty Rhythmn Section making sure we actually knew how to play the chosen songs from start to finish, then practicing doing "The Symbol Of Our Nation" straight after "Things'll Be Different", and then loafing around telling each other Tales of ROCK. It was ACE. We finished off by knocking off a quick version of "Clubbing In The Week", never GIGGED by The Validators before, and, probably, never WILL be.

The second half saw the arrival of Mr McClure and Mrs Pattison, and by GOLLY did we then proceed to ROCK, it was BLOODY GRATE! It was also LOVELY - when the five of us were all together, it really felt like a BAND, a proper BAND. I've not felt that way since the Voon Reunion, the first time we got back together. It might have even been in the same stinky room in Stayfree, actually - I distinctly remember us launching headlong into "Found On The Moon" and then Quite Literally JUMPING UP AND DOWN and YELPING with excitement at the end of it.

That's how it feels with The Validators now (except the leaping and the yelping - we're all a bit older these days), I know we've been together for YEARS, but since we've SOLIDIFIED to these five people (or six, when we're in with Kev) it's felt real, natural, and BEAUTIFUL.

Blimey tho, today my EARS go zing, my KNEES go twang and my voice is a MANLY CROAK. HOORAH! HOORAH for ROCK!

posted 29/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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Those Americans!!!
Another review discovered today, from the BEAUTIFUL people at FAC193. It's really really good! HOORAH!

posted 28/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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Join Me
I did pretty much Sod All over the weekend, it was BRILLIANT. One thing i DID do, however, was read the book "Join Me" by Danny Wallace i.e. the non-Dave Gorman half of the people who wrote "Are You Dave Gorman?" Like that book, it was UTTERLY UTTERLY BRILLIANT and I spent much of my weekend CHUCKLING, and being very moved indeed by the whole thing. It really is rather beautiful, and I urge you, dear reader, to seek it out and BUY it.

That is, unless you haven't bought the album yet, which costs the same price, and honest, it's dead good - the totaliser's been still for nearly a WEEK now, come on Kids!

posted 28/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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Like A Gay Action Man (with an inflated head)
On the final leg of my journey home from Distant Stourbridge on Friday, I was sat quietly minding my own business on the Central Line when, somewhere around Bank, I heard somebody shout "ACTION!" I looked up to see William Hague getting on the train, striding purposefully into the carriage whilst a camera crew filmed him doing it. They then walked past me down the carriage to stand next to where i was sitting, and filmed him waiting around, then reading a book ("Birdsong", which is RUBBISH), and then talking to camera. He was dressed in the kind of Capital "C" Casual Clothes that only men who are NEVER casual wear. With his smartly ironed slightly too short jeans, brand new desert boots and neatly tucked in denim shirt he looked like nothing so much as a Gay Action Man. ESPECIALLY the hair - all he lacked was a big scar, the eagle eyes were there too. His head, however, looked a bit too big for his body, and I was surprised to find that, unlike all other People Off The Telly I've ever seen, he was actually Quite Tall.

This all went on until Mile End, when they got off. The train was full of typical Miserable Sod Central Liners who completely ignored the whole thing, leaving me desperate to find someone to say "Cor - did you see that eh?" to. Next time he's on telly, look out for the bit where he gets on the train - in the background you might see ME, in my AAS t-shirt, trying to look DISAPPROVING at the former leader of the Tories. REVOLUTION!

posted 28/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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And the pope said, to his mate...
Went to distant STOURBRIDGE last night to see Half Man Half Biscuit, and as per they were GRATE. They seemed to do an awful lot of stuff from the very VERY early days, more, I reckon, than I've ever seen them do before (and as Tim pointed out, in Spreadsheet TASTIC detail last night, I've seen them a LOT. Though never as many times as he has...), and there were a couple of songs in there I don't think I've heard live before. Highlights were an EXTRAORDINARY version of "I Hate Nerys Hughes", a brilliant new one about tending the wrong grave ("you wouldn't know - you were 200 metres away") and a version of "Vatican Broadside" that really MEANT it, man. BRILLIANT.

In other news, Mr Lamacq played "You Will Be Hearing From My Solicitor" yesterday (no, honest, our songs just don't seem to come up on the tracklistings), and said it was from an album he'd "really come to love over the last month." Bless you, Mr Lamacq, bless you one and all!

posted 25/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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BBC Switchboard Overload
I rang the BBC yesterday, ooh, it's me and the Prime Minister, we've both got their number. After listening through Steve Lamacq yesterday afternoon and him not playing the record (although, admittedly, playing lots of GRATE other stuff - I may have to continue to "check" whether they play my records for some time to come...) I suddenly PANICKED and thought "What if they have gone OFF the whole album? What if they now DON'T want me to go in?"

So I rang up, obviously, to see. The producer chap was LOVELY, he kept saying "Well done, by the way - good work!" which made me PLEASED. We're still GO for me going on the show next Friday too - ZANG! On the way in to work this morning The Love Of My Life asked whether I'd given any thought to what I'd say to Mr Steve Lamacq? Hmmm... just a little bit, yes!

GIRD THYSELF, Nation, I will soon be speaking!

posted 24/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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That IS an "L" isn't it?
Hooray! I am OFFICALLY a cult! No, I said "cult" (etc etc etc). That's according to the BUMF about next week's gig at Silver Rocket anyway. For some reason this fills me with DELIGHT!

posted 24/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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The Songs Are Back
Last night I had a BRANE ATAK, and got the idea not only for ONE new song, but a whole BUNCH of them, all on the theme of "SCIENCE!" We'll see how this goes, after thinking of it I got as far as writing two lines of the first song I'd thought of "Born Yesterday" and then had to go to bed because I'd hurt my BRANE by using it too hard, but the little bit I DID get worked out made me LARF with pleasure.

In celebration, I am happy to announce that The Songs Are Back! OK, you probably hadn't noticed they'd gone, but if you go to the list of songs you'll see that it's ever so slightly more comprehensive, also up to date, than it used to be. Until a couple of weeks ago most of the lyrics and NOTES on the songs were stored on the server at my old work. Last time I went to my old work I couldn't help but notice that, whenever somebody used this system, it appeared on the server logs, so as it was the last time I'd have the chance, I DELETED the whole lot, before anybody noticed. All that remains of the original site of my Interweb-based ACTIONS is a single page. Somehow it seems fitting.

Anyway, yes, I've worked out a nice way of showing songs and lyrics which, hopefully, will allow people to link to them much more easily, if need be. Take a look, why don't'cha?

posted 23/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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Airplay!
God bless Mr Steve Lamacq, he played "Things'll Be Different" on the Radio 6 afternoon show yesterday, and today he had a whole lot of I,Ludicrous with him live in the studio. I've told the people I work with that I've "got" to listen to it every afternoon, just in case he plays any of our stuff again, but to be honest it's nice to have an excuse to have it on again. Really, Radio 6 is BLOODY GRATE!

posted 22/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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Trepidation
Obviously my BRANE is a bit more worried about the album release than I realised. It was a very troubled night's sleep for me last night, as i variously a) failed to get to several gigs b) was thwarted in my attempts to sell a record to someone c) had to fight my way through several crows d) and so on and so on and so on. I do think it's strange, that your BRANE can have these worries that the "you" in the driver's seat is pretty much unaware of. Obviously, over the weekend, I'd thought "I hope I actually manage to SELL a few copies of the album", and i did listen to it again just to check it sounded all right, but I was nowhere near the PANIC that seems to have been running pell mell through my subconsciousness.

The totaliser has RISEN again this morning though, and the album has been SEEN in a shop, so I think we're going to be OK. All I've got to do now is hope that Mr Lamacq DOES play the record sometime...

posted 21/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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Green Fruits
Also, I was amazed to find that, for the first time in seven months, the nasal fruits had turned GREEN again, rather than the usual London-Black. Aaah, country living!

posted 21/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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A Lovely Weekend
I had a LOVELY weekend, celebrating the second anniversary of Me And My Woman, Getting It ON. We went to a LOT of festivals - first of all to the Respect Festival, which was Quite Nice (good things: Going in the dome, seeing Public Enemy; less good things: not being able to hear much about from idiot MCs, the mass of stalls saying "MUST! ACTION! DEMAND! NOW!" and the general lack of Good Vibes around them), although I did get a bit fed up after three quarters of an hour of people (who had a massive PA, for heaven's sake) SHOUTING at me to ask if I was ready, or not? Personally, I think they might have been better served asking the same question of Mr F.Flav, who patently WASN'T ready, rather than the several thousand of us waiting for him who very obviously WERE. Cuh!

Then it was HO! for Wanstead Park for a very different affair featuring a BAROQUE ENSEMBLE. It was JOLLY posh and middle class and that, and I found that to be rather nice I must confess. However, the Baroque Ensemble seemed to be a bit of a bunch of jessies in the end, as they packed up as soon as the rain started, and we had to rush home - aah, childhood memories a go go when we returned. I got in the shower and emerged REFRESHED, warm and dry and looking out at the rain, with a general feeling of WELLBEING all around, and it reminded me of my mum bringing me and my brother some tuna paste sandwiches to eat whilst we sat in towels watching Blue Peter twenty five years ago...

Anyway, then on Sunday we went to the Cathall GREEN Festival, which was the grooviest thing of the LOT, and not just because they were selling GOLDEN PROMISE BEER - it's organic, it's vegan, it fulfills ALL of Hibbett's Golden Rules Of Beer, and it's GRATE. Also there were loads of stalls, around which I happily wandered whilst filling myself with above mentioned BEER, there was PRECISELY the right sort of MELLOW JAZZ band you want to watch when it's nice and sunny and you've had BEER, and we managed to get away before the bloody Morris Men turned up. ACE!

Then we went home for a SLAP UP FEED - it was the kind of beautiful day that properly celebrates two years of being beautifully in love, it was GRATE!

posted 21/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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Sit Back And Watch
I've got a little stack of envelopes on my desk at the moment, and when those go out that's IT - the promotional campaign is DONE. As planned this occurs just before the anniversary of me and the love of my life's second anniversary, allowing us to LOLL around being soppy all weekend, before THE ROCK commences in full on Monday. Well, hopefully, anyway. It feels a bit strange to finally be here, but now it is time to sit back, and let THE ROCK, COMMENCE!

posted 18/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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HMHB GO!
Although I was sad to have the Winchester gig moved, as it means I don't get to ROCK the nation again for another couple of weeks, it does mean that i get to go to STOURBRIDGE on Thursday night to see Half Man Half Biscuit! HOORAH! It's going to be a torturous journey (try and get out of work early, DASH to St Pancras, expensive train to Leicester, lift to Woodhouse Eaves, then mad dash cross country to get there in time... the journey back will also include the BUS!) but it's always been worth it so far. BEAUTIFULLY i rang the venue to try and order tickets, and got through to a lovely man who just said he'd keep some tickets on the side for us! ACE!

Also, brilliantly, their next gig is at the Astoria, just TEN MINUTES from where I'm sitting right now. ZANG!

posted 18/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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Reviews
In case you're interested, gentle reader, I'm putting together a page of reviews of the album. It looks a bit basic at the moment but I think that's everything so far - I'm going to stick it on the front of the website somewhere, sort of like the reviews you see when you buy stuff from Amazon. Sort of.

Having had a couple of quiet days with nothing much new happening I must say I was RATHER pleased with the whole thing - people seem to LIKE it! HOORAH!

posted 17/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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POPEX
As anyone who has an interweb in their office knows, POPEX is GRATE. Apart from the fact that it teaches the young people that internets can be used for something else APART from pictures of rude ladies and homework, it also BIGS UP the Validators massive. HOORAH!

I mention this now because shares in ME on the site are ROCKETING at the moment like they have never done before, I'm actually at Number 6 in the list of Movers and Shakers at the moment, which is Quite Exciting. Especially as I am nestled between DJ Otzi and Wheatus. Is it me, or does that seem strangely APT?

posted 16/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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One last look...
I got suddenly Slightly Emotional at lunchtime, as I almost COMPLETED my mighty list of Things To Do for the album. A few months ago I wrote up a PLAN for me (and Mr Dresden) to work through, culminating in the release of the album on Monday - I did this because I was getting myself in a RIGHT old tizz about things and PANICKING about ever getting it all done. We've diligently followed this plan throughout the past couple of months, and today, by posting off my forms to the PRS, I did the last but one thing on the list. On Friday Steve's going to email our mighty mailing list, to let them know about the Approved Stockists, the gigs, the radio play and the reviews (and to gently hint that perhaps they might now like to buy the album), and then that's it! All the preparations and attempted hype is pretty much done, and all that's left is to go out and ROCK!

YOINKS!

posted 16/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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Gig Move
Got a SLEW of texts last night from the Marvelous Mr Dann in Winchester re. my gig there - the July 24th gig is OFF, it's GONE, it's NOT happening! HOWEVER, it looks like i WILL be playing a gig in Winchester on August 10th instead - HOORAH! I think it's for Ray's birthday, and I think it's at the Railway Inn, but I don't know for sure. Stay tuned for FACT UPDATES!

posted 16/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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Another Review
There's a really rather lovely review here, at Tangents (at the bottom of the page). I found it rather touching, I must admit, especially because he picks out "Back Of The Sofa", which is one I really like. Hooray!

posted 15/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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The Totaliser
As promised, we now have a TOTALISER! Sexy, isn't it? It now stands at a mighty ELEVEN copies sold, so come on kids, PUMP IT UP!

I am visibly swaying between thinking "Is a target of 100 copies a Vainglorious Dream that will only TAUNT me with it's unreachability forever?" and "I should put it at 100 THOUSAND! Start the machines, REPRESS! REPRESS!"

posted 15/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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Things Occur
Things continue to occur, as we SPRINT towards Release Day. Let's go through the main points, in brief:

  • Radio Play - Lord Litter played "Good Cooking" over the weekend, while that nice Steve Lamacq played "You Will Be Hearing From My Solicitor". HOORAH!

  • Reviews - another review just in HERE on Popex. It's good!

  • Sales Points - Rough Trade joins the list of Approved Stockists for the album, along side Left-Legged Pineapple (Loughborough), Forever Changes (Sheffield) and Reveal (Derby). If you know of any other nice shops who might stock it for us, or indeed RUN such an institution, please let Mr Dresden know about it.

  • Sales Figures - we've just broken through the DOUBLE FIGURES barrier! Expect to see a TOTALISER on these pages, very soon. And don't forget, gentle viewer, if you want to buy a copy of the album NOW you can do so for just 10 quid (and that's INCLUDING p&p) from the MJ Hibbett Online Emporium NOW!

    More news, as it happens!

    posted 14/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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    Live On Radio 6!
    Crikey! We just had a telephone call from the producer of Liz Kershaw's show on Radio 6 (Radio 6 is bloody GRATE, by the way, especially the Liz Kershaw show. When I used to listen to it at My Old Job With Speakers she'd ring up listeners who requested songs to make sure she was listening - ACE!). What a nice man he was - he told me that Steve Lamacq is going to be doing the lunchtime/afternoon show for the last two weeks of this month. Apparently, he really likes the album, and is going to be playing some tracks from it, and wondered whether I'd like to go into the studio one day to do a bit of a chat and maybe some live tracks.

    I said thank you very much, that would be lovely, and we agreed that Friday August 1st would be convenient all round. I thanked him, put the phone down, and then went outside to leap up and down, squeaking. I mean, crikey eh? BLIMEY!

    How exciting! COR!

    posted 11/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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    GOOD REVIEW
    Oh what a DAY it's turning out to be - we got a GOOD REVIEW! It's from the Indigo Flow newsletter, and it goes like this:
    Nearly three years in the making This Is Not A Library has become long awaited by default and the longer time has gone on the higher expectations have become. So has Mr Hibbett managed to deliver? Well, yes. For starters, as well as the 18 great tracks that make up the album you can find another 20 if you put the CD in your computer and access the "futuristic multimedia" (something my aging computer is refusing to do) and it's all painted with MJ's honest and personal take on life.

    Subject matter for the album includes national identity (Things'll Be Different When I'm In Charge, The Symbol Of Our Nation), railway privatisation (Holdalls Is The New Name For Midland Mainline Lost Property), Pubs (Last Orders - with mentions in several other songs too), fashion and health (Fat Was A Feminist Issue, Post-Subsonic Bass) and probably a large proportion of things you can think of in between. Special mentions go to the do-it-yourself nostalgia of (insert title here) and the annoyance that an ex-girlfriend failed to live up to her claims and cease to exist on You Will Be Hearing From My Solicitor. Hey, it's all great and there's too much to talk about. Buy it! (AM)
    HOORAH!
    posted 10/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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    Airplay!
    The lovely KOOBA RADIO have been at it again, they seem to have TAKEN to "The Fairplay Trophy (again)" and have been playing it on their show - go on, get over there and have a listen, it is RIFE with good stuff!

    posted 10/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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    Sales Figures
    PRE-RELEASE sales figures are heading rapidly towards double figures, even as we speak! The old AAS PayPal account is rumbling, gig sales have begun, and even old fashioned payments by cheque are holding their own, as the "This Is Not A Library" sales chart proudly shows EIGHT sales already! If you'd like be part of the PUSH towards the teens, head over the SHOP now and pre-order... Who knows? I might get all excited and send them out BEFORE the official release date! (NB yes, I will)

    posted 10/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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    Nice People In ROCK
    Crumbs, I got an email actually FROM Noted Author Mike Gayle today - next week I'm sending out about 10 copies of the ALBUM to people who i LIKE, but don't KNOW. The idea is that I've already sent out over 70 copies of the album to people I don't know, many of whom I can't STAND, and most of whom will simply ignore it i.e. Music Journalists. In order to BALANCE OUT this bad vibe A RAMA, I thought it'd be a good idea to send it to some people whose books or records or online stuff I really enjoy. I found Mr Gayle's Official Site and emailed to ask about his address, and he HIMSELF wrote back! When I emailed to thank him for details he emailed AGAIN - i know this doesn't sound much, but GOOD LORD with the amount of rude and/or uncommunicative people one deal's with when ONE is a Record Company Executive (hem hem), it's a beautiful thing when someone who really doesn't need to be behaves so nicely - a similar thing occurred a couple of weeks ago with Paul Du Noyer of Word Magazine, who wrote a really nice email to say he probably wouldn't be able to do anything for us. Obviously I'd rather he'd said "Hey! Let's put you on the cover!" but still, it was very POLITE of him to take the time to do so.

    Yeah! MANNERS are the new rock and roll! HOORAH!

    posted 9/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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    Even More Knackerisation
    The ONSLAUGHT on ME continued yesterday, as I had to get up at a time of morning usually considered to be FICTIONAL, in order to get to LEICESTER for 9am, for LO! I was returning to my old job one last time to train someone up a bit in learning how to TEND to my pet project, THE GIANT THROBBING BRANE.

    I had a lovely day - we wrote HTML to facilitate ASP scripts which generated Javascript programs which created SQL queries... and then had to go out for LUNCH. After that I sat in the middle of a BLAZING ROW which, realising I no longer worked there, i JOINED IN with. THEN there was a power cut for an hour, so I got to sit around drinking coffee saying "Yes, London is GRATE" and generally showing off.

    When that was sorted out it was HO! for Mr Whitaker's to drop off some CDs before nipping back in to town to meet Dr Brown and Sorted Supremo Dave Dixey, stopping only to bump into Agent Alice on the way. When I finally arrived, BOOZED UP, at the station, i discovered my train was LATE, and another London train would be coming in before it. I became ENRAGED by a SUPREMELY unhelpful woman in the ticket office, and then CHARMED by an absolutely LOVELY Platform Guard chap who introduced me to a SMASHING Train Manager who let me on to that one instead.

    FINALLY, when i FINALLY got on to the Central Line i got BOTHERED by a Chirpy Midget With No Idea Of Personal Space who REFUSED to stop asking me slightly personal questions and slapped me "playfully" around the face before eventually SCAMPERING off down the train to swing on some bars and BOTHER lots of other people by standing far too close and grabbing bits of their clothes whilst saying "Oh why won't you talk to me?"

    My dears, it was RUM as ANYTHING!

    posted 9/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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    What A Weekend!
    PHEW. You find me KER-KNACKERED, gentle reader, after a weekend whirlwind of ROCK.

    ITEM! Played at The Verge on Friday night, and it turned out GRATE. My set went down pretty well, and when Tom came on to play with me it sounded ACE. I STOOD UP, which is the first time I've done that at a non-band gig for YEARS, and thus got cramp in my feet because I forgot to move around. Oops. I was a little trepidatious about Captain Disco coming on to sing the choruses of "Stan", especially after he asked whether I'd mind if he produced a penis shaped water pistol from his trousers half way through... but in the end he was ACE and even though there was pole-dancing and stuff, he sang the singing bits really nicely, and his mate SNATCHED the water pistol off him before he could utilise it. For some reason it made the whole thing Quite Moving. Then The Lovely Brothers played and were FANTASTIC - they were HILARIOUS, also CHARMING, INVENTIVE and EXCITING and I loved every minute of their set. I want to see them AGAIN! After their massive show of brilliance ANY band would have looked rubbish, but the one after them needed no help... over a "rebelliously" loud tuneless dirge the singer intoned "I'm on a list - a capitalist" and was so pleased to have thought of such a (meaningless) thing to say he repeated it every second line... so we went to the offie for BOOZE, then went home. HOORAH!

    ITEM! On Saturday I went to a PARTY and met a chap who had been to see Teenage Fanclub when we had, agreed with The Love Of My Life and I about "Grand Prix" being one of the best albums EVER, but had been to Glastonbury MORE than I had. GRR! BRILLIANTLY my REVENGE ("Yes, I saw Belle & Sebastian in Glasgow, just after 'Sinister' came out") evened the scores and led to a lengthy chat, only brought to a close by...

    ITEM! I went to see I,Ludicrous at the Bull & Gate. On my own - Tim The Celebrity Drummer wanted me to give them a CD to persuade them to do a gig with us sometime. They seemed very nice, but I got the impression they viewed me as a DERANGED FAN (i did look a bit like one at the time i guess) and so I STOLE AWAY from them as soon as possible. The gig itself was BRILLIANT tho, they did tons of stuff but only seemed to be onstage for five minutes. They were much more DYNAMIC, also ROCK than last time i saw them. It was ACE.

    ITEM! The very next day I went to ANOTHER Party, this time to celebrate my Nan's 90th birthday. As part of the festivities I did a short SET of Music Hall songs, and it was FUN. Alarmingly, during a fevered rendition of "Chick Chick Chick Chick Chicken" I felt that the assembled siblings, cousins, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and residents weren't giving it large enough, so i shouted "LOUDER!" at them. They sang up after that I can tell you, it was SMASHING.

    ITEM! Finally we came home with a large case FULL of about 400 of my singles, to give away at the AAS 5th Birthday Bash. It was KNACKERING.

    posted 7/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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    No Sales: No Sellout
    I spent a happy hour or so last night putting the finishing touches to the Multimedia Aspect of the AAS 5th Birthday Compilation CD. It's looking pretty darned groovy I must say, and it sounds WEIRD. Going back and listening to the lead tracks off the first few singles was a REVELATION - especially hearing how GRATE the Pala track sounds, and how RUM "Clubbing In The Week" is - and I WHOOPED with joy to hear such a SLEW of fantastic songs one after the other. We haven't half released some KER-RAZY TOONS in our time!

    I'm off to the manufacturers' at lunch time to set the ball rolling - copies should be available in a few weeks at the two 5th Birthday gigs. Wahey!

    posted 4/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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    Oh! No! What's To do?
    Look away, gentle children, we've had the first review of the album in... and it's not a RAVE! It's over at Do Something Pretty, and though it doesn't say it's RUBBISH, it does say it's "flat". It also used the word "usurp" in a pretty unsatisfactory way though, so I take consolation from that. And, actually, puts most of the blame for things he doesn't like on Lazarus Clamp and Prolapse - ARF! It's them who done the badness!

    posted 4/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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    Oh what a beautiful inbox
    My email inbox was a LOVELY thing to see this morning. You know some days you get in to work and all you've got waiting for you is a couple of those new "enlrrrge yXr Mmmember" junk emails and one from a message group you haven't got round to unsubscribing from yet? [ this is almost 21st Century BLUES isn't it, Future Kids?] Today was the EXACT OPPOSITE, as it was RAMMED with individudal points of JOY.

    There was an email from Tim The Celebrity Drummer, forwarding a conversation he'd had with WILL HUNG out of "I,Ludicrous"! Various people emailed to say they'd be coming to some of the forthcoming GIGS (including tomorrow night at The Verge)! Eddy from Hull asked when we'd like to go up and do a Validators gig there! Mr Whitaker sent me his Quite Charming THORTS about the AAS back catalogue (which will be appearing on the multimedia section of the 5 Year Celebration Compilation), and finally I got a message from Mr L Christian Lundholm, AAS's very own minimalist composer, saying he might be coming over here to do some gigs!

    PHEW! I tell you this, i was bloody KNACKERED by the time I'd read it all, but jolly CHUFFED.

    posted 3/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
    (click here for permanent link)

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    Sales Points
    As I've doubtless mentioned before, we're going to try and do as much of our SALES for this album ONLINE using PayPal. People have said to me "ooh, isn't that a bit risky, don't they sometimes not pay out everything?" but for as far as i can see a) they've been ACE so far and b) at least it's not like a Distribition Company who NEVER pay you and, in fact, DEMAND you give them money for delivering things to you.

    HOWEVER i do know that some people get a bit scaredy of the whole online purchasing SCENE, and indeed there are a few people left who actually like going into record shops, so I'm trying to find a few LOVELY shops who'll stock it. The idea is that, when I send out my MASS MAILINGS, I will at least be able to say "You can get it in Forever Changes in Sheffield" (for example), "Go there!"

    I'll let you know what happens!

    posted 1/7/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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