April 18, 2008 at 3:31pm
well i don't know about you guys, but we had a blast down in the smoke on the 17th. really great to be a part of the show and fantastic to put faces to names at last.
'course the biggest shout of all goes to Keith, Leigh and Unleaded Clint for their sterling efforts leading up to, and on the day. Anyone who's tried to put together a multi-bill show will know what a stressful task it can be, but from where i was standing the entire thing seemed to run very smoothly. so yeah, very well done guys.
big big thanks and respect to Simon and the Atlantic team, making everyone feel at ease and doing a great job. don't forget folks, we'll be getting a professionally produced video out of the day, and [big thanks to big Rob] some quality pics to do with as you wish; more and more festivals, venues and bookers are requiring video footage of bands and artists these days, rather than just audio cd's, and usually you would have to pay a pretty penny for this kind of thing ya know? so again, a debt of gratitude to Keith and the team for providing this...
a massive massive thank you to Frooty, Plum and Anna Singleton for their fantastic contribution to the show, you guys rock! thanks especially to Froot for going easy on us in our interview!..
anyway, there was some talent knockin about in that room last night - was blown away by opening act Lizzyspit and of course big respect to our boy Matchstick - awesome awesome talent. first ever gig and he reckons he "bottled it", i reckon he rocked it. i remember my first gig, was definitely a pile of old arses, and that was just in a smelly old stoke boozer in front of about five people, with not so much as a box brownie in sight, let alone a full-on TV production crew! no man, Matchstick, you done good dude...
unfortunately didnt get much of a chance to get a good look at most of the other acts but from what i hear it was a great show all round.
and so yeah, thanks for all the support during our set btw, i think it went ok? i was too busy trying to concentrate on attempting to look remotely cool i dont quite know what was goin on hahar! but i did notice some crazy-ass dancin goin on so thanks for that!
and before i close i've just gotta say - huge [with a capital 'hue'], huge thanks and respect to Paul the sound-man of Treacle Studios fame. i guess there's no need for me to elaborate on the love/hate relationships bands have with these guys, suffice to say there's a lot of jokers out there who shouldnt be allowed within 50 feet of a desk and/who give the rest a bad name; anyway yer man Paul [who also happens to be unnecessarily tall] was in complete control and did a, quite frankly, fucking amazing job.
now then Simon, it's all down to you my friend, holed-up in your cutting room - i complimented you on your mastery of the fig-rig, now i dont care what it takes, just make me look handsome, ok?
Friday, 18 April 2008
Tuesday, 8 April 2008
pauly comes out...
April 8, 2008 at 12:11pm
so.
last thursday we piled down to the full moon in newcastle under lyme. thats about all there is to say on the matter, except for another shout to the guys from a thousand wild flowers who opened up for us and were, as ever, absolutely fantastic and destined im sure, for much bigger and better things.
saturday night was a new one for us, at the queens head, situated in the sprawling derbyshire hamlet of belper. ace little venue - the pub itself seemed a cracking little boozer, but the gig itself was held upstairs in a kind of function room/bar-with-stage type affair.
to be honest i personally didnt have a great gig as i was struggling with sound and technical problems for my various strings, but that aside we really enjoyed the gig and hopefully went down ok.
would just like to extend not only our thanks to the queens head/music team but also our deepest sympathy for their loss [an integral member of the organising team had sadly passed away on that very day, and i understand the team had rallied under the adage 'the show must go on']. anyway, muchas respect to the belper crew and punters, thanks very much for having us and we would love to return sometime in the future...
and just to make something perfectly clear: the main man at belper is a charming fella by the name of Dick. some of you may have read a comment from our drummer Cara [who will be slapped], that i "prefer dick". yes, i did say that, HOWEVER, i was talking about my preference of the above individual - Dick, over another peak-district based music promoter [who shall of course remain anonymous] AND NOT my sexual persuasion. OK? OK...
so.
last thursday we piled down to the full moon in newcastle under lyme. thats about all there is to say on the matter, except for another shout to the guys from a thousand wild flowers who opened up for us and were, as ever, absolutely fantastic and destined im sure, for much bigger and better things.
saturday night was a new one for us, at the queens head, situated in the sprawling derbyshire hamlet of belper. ace little venue - the pub itself seemed a cracking little boozer, but the gig itself was held upstairs in a kind of function room/bar-with-stage type affair.
to be honest i personally didnt have a great gig as i was struggling with sound and technical problems for my various strings, but that aside we really enjoyed the gig and hopefully went down ok.
would just like to extend not only our thanks to the queens head/music team but also our deepest sympathy for their loss [an integral member of the organising team had sadly passed away on that very day, and i understand the team had rallied under the adage 'the show must go on']. anyway, muchas respect to the belper crew and punters, thanks very much for having us and we would love to return sometime in the future...
and just to make something perfectly clear: the main man at belper is a charming fella by the name of Dick. some of you may have read a comment from our drummer Cara [who will be slapped], that i "prefer dick". yes, i did say that, HOWEVER, i was talking about my preference of the above individual - Dick, over another peak-district based music promoter [who shall of course remain anonymous] AND NOT my sexual persuasion. OK? OK...
Tuesday, 1 April 2008
i smell toast... is the PA on fire again?..
April 1, 2008 at 1:09pm
sat 29 march - oggy's bar, hanley
oggy oggy oggy
let's just get one thing straight - we don't do, and never will do, the fields of athenry. ok? good.
anyway, yeh, good gig. a rainy saturday night in hanley and, standing having a smoke outside the venue i was reminded of the frame of mind i was in when i wrote 'dark waltz'. yep, stoke on trent is truly one of the shittiest of shit-holes in the country.
however, the craic was getting on for ninety and a fair bit of drinking was performed by all.
the trent vale poet did an interval recital despite appearing several sheets to the wind, some crazy dancing took place, an interesting vocal rendition of 'and the word was' was attempted by our esteemed frontman, i personally was fairly well toasted and, indeed praised by someone for 'my vitriol' following the opening number, when i informed the audience that in fairness, they should have applauded more enthusiastically "because that was fucking brilliant"...
oh, and dave claims that, following an unusually flawless version of 'where the waters meet', he heard a punter exclaim, simply: "wank". which is fair enough.
also deserving of an honourable mention, the dude who told me and dave that we'd done "quite enough tinkering, get on with the show", and the inexplicable smell of toast which manifested halfway through the first set, prompting us to check if the PA was about to explode. again...
but, nice to see y'all, especially those faces from yesteryear, happy birthday to sean, thanks to the oggy's crew and everybody there, see ya next time.
sat 29 march - oggy's bar, hanley
oggy oggy oggy
let's just get one thing straight - we don't do, and never will do, the fields of athenry. ok? good.
anyway, yeh, good gig. a rainy saturday night in hanley and, standing having a smoke outside the venue i was reminded of the frame of mind i was in when i wrote 'dark waltz'. yep, stoke on trent is truly one of the shittiest of shit-holes in the country.
however, the craic was getting on for ninety and a fair bit of drinking was performed by all.
the trent vale poet did an interval recital despite appearing several sheets to the wind, some crazy dancing took place, an interesting vocal rendition of 'and the word was' was attempted by our esteemed frontman, i personally was fairly well toasted and, indeed praised by someone for 'my vitriol' following the opening number, when i informed the audience that in fairness, they should have applauded more enthusiastically "because that was fucking brilliant"...
oh, and dave claims that, following an unusually flawless version of 'where the waters meet', he heard a punter exclaim, simply: "wank". which is fair enough.
also deserving of an honourable mention, the dude who told me and dave that we'd done "quite enough tinkering, get on with the show", and the inexplicable smell of toast which manifested halfway through the first set, prompting us to check if the PA was about to explode. again...
but, nice to see y'all, especially those faces from yesteryear, happy birthday to sean, thanks to the oggy's crew and everybody there, see ya next time.
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