Posts
Well - we have all got our arses in gear over the weekend to bring you the big announcement we promised last week. Whether it'll make you jump for joy or spur you on to at least clench your fist in excitement - we hope you'll join with us in being pretty happy about this news.
Our debut album 'Scarecrow' will be released on Friday June 12th 2009.
It will be released on the Artree Music label and available to buy through both Artree's and our own website, on iTunes and hopefully (although we're still clearing this) through Amazon. You'll also obviously be able to purchase it at gigs.
The album will have 10 tracks, most of which are over 5 minutes long so you'll certainly be getting value for money. We are still in the process of mixing and mastering the music but we're well on course for the 12th June - and on that day, we'll have a nice little album launch party!
Jagz in Ascot will be the venue, where we'll be playing a full set - with a great support card including the blindingly good Naama Hillman (www.myspace.com/naamahillman) and one more act TBC. Your entry ticket for the night will not only get you in to what will hopefully be a very special gig, but also entry to the after show club until 2am - where we all intend to get smashed (if we haven't by the time we get on stage that is).
Tickets for this event will be £6, however we are doing a special deal for this night only of entry to the gig + a copy of the album for £10. Usual price of the album will be £7, so worth taking the deal if you want a copy.
Both entry and entry+album tickets will be available from any of us up until the event, or until we reach capacity (which we hope we do). However, if you won't be seeing any of us before the gig but would like to come, you can buy tickets through our website. Your tickets will then be waiting for you at the box office on the night.
So there you go - I make it about 11 weeks and counting...........better get some work done then.
Monday 30 March 2009
Thursday 26 March 2009
Big news to follow...
We have a big announcement coming regarding the album on Monday (well, we hope we’re not jumping the gun there – if not Monday, definitely Thursday!) so this will be just a short entry to update you about a few gigs.
Tickets are now on sale for our show at The Half Moon in Putney, where we are opening for the fantastic Aussie singer/songwriter Rory Ellis.
It would be great to see you at this legendary London venue, and you can do so for the bargain sum of £5. Tickets for the event can be bought on the door, or to avoid disappointment in advance here.
Also, we’re going to be playing at Bracknell’s free festival day, The Big Day Out on Saturday June 27th, and have also confirmed a date at The Icarus Club in Lewisham on Thursday July 9th.
More news on gigs and festivals as they become available. Remember to check to website and Myspace pages for full details.
Tickets are now on sale for our show at The Half Moon in Putney, where we are opening for the fantastic Aussie singer/songwriter Rory Ellis.
It would be great to see you at this legendary London venue, and you can do so for the bargain sum of £5. Tickets for the event can be bought on the door, or to avoid disappointment in advance here.
Also, we’re going to be playing at Bracknell’s free festival day, The Big Day Out on Saturday June 27th, and have also confirmed a date at The Icarus Club in Lewisham on Thursday July 9th.
More news on gigs and festivals as they become available. Remember to check to website and Myspace pages for full details.
Thursday 19 March 2009
The State of the Industry Post (aka. Ben used his brain today)
Tell you what, even though Phil is the one away sunning himself, this week feels like we have been the ones on a break. No more emails going round at 9:05 exactly detailing what we need to do that day, no more gig, recording and rehearsal schedules organised with military precision, no more phone calls to find out whats wrong if you dare to reply to an email in a less than orgasmically joyous manner...
I'm hard on Phil. I can't help it. Without his tireless efforts, things would fall apart, but he is so much fun to mock.
Apparently, Gethin has been manning the band's email account in Phil's absence and has replied to two emails. He won't tell us just what those emails are though, so I personally thing he just got a the 'Lowest priced viagra on the web!' and sent some bank details over to an African prince who needed his help to get $50m out of the country, and we had been recommended to them through their network of business networks as being trustworthy and reliable. Emma and Adrian are still under the sofa, it appears.
Anyway, today I'm going to break from the norm and offer an intelligent point of view. I know, I know. Bare with me.
If you think about it, these days the business model for record labels has returned to the good old days. Labels aren't pouring their finances into pre-manufactured pop bands or just studio based artists any more. It appears those days are dead and gone. These days, labels are looking back to the guitar based band for their hits. Sure, you do still get all the proper pop durge as per normal, but think back to last year. How many bands popped up, had a top 10 hit then promptly disappeared last year? And how many had names along the lines of “The Whatevers”? Exactly.
But if you think about it, this is just a throwback to the way things were done between the 50's till the end of the 70's. The way hit singles got out, before the electronic music revolution became truly epidemic, was a band wrote and rehearsed and practised their little hearts out, got a single they were proud of and then tried to find anyone in The Biz to listen to it. If they succeeded then a label might take a chance and give that single a push, or they may have to go back to the drawing board.
Now look at today's market. There is a reason no label really has an A&R department any more, and so no more Artist Development. The reason is this – it is more cost effective (and fashionable) for a major label to either recruit new popstars via talent shows and media, or to urge old bands to reform\make new bands out of old members of old pop groups. So where do labels get their proper, guitar based music from? Gethin began the rumblings of this thought a few weeks back.
Recording costs are pretty low these days. You can record, mix and master an album for less than £1,500 these days. And that is if you do it well. Bands can use the internet to generate their own buzz. All labels really need to do if they want one song a band has written is sign them, release it along with an album, push it and then release the band. Sure, the band can bounce back but it is a hard adjustment.
What has gone missing from all of this is labels forgetting where their income comes from – from artists, and long term artists at that. The last band I can think of that went through a few years of A&R were Coldplay. These days labels are so intent on pushing their main cash cows, they forget about developing new talent to replace their older stars. They battle against new distribution channels rather than embrace them, still refusing to believe that its past the year 2002.
What labels need to realise is that rather than signing a flash in the pan band, it is far more benificial to sign bands up and develop them. Get them working with producers to help encourage their sound. Get them understanding the business. Even go as far as to ensure they have music lessons! It is time labels did their job and developed artists.
Of course, some bands still succeed these days. The Darkness, Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen were all signed off the back of some serious underground buzz. Lady GaGa had written hits for pretty much every band in the States before bringing her own unique style to the forefront. Biffy Clyro fans actually sent death threats to reviewers who panned one of Biffy's albums. There are still success stories who thrived under this current state of the industry.
But look at the casualties (and thesea re ones that just popped into my head) – Hundred Reasons and InMe are both without labels. So are The Futureheads. As are Mercury Award nominees The Zutons, despite the fact their track “Valerie” was one of the most annoyingly popular tracks last year. Even Mercury winners The Klaxons had their album thrown back at them by their label for being “too experimental”. Even popstars aren't immune, as Leon Jackson and Ray Quinn have both been dropped quietly after their X Factor fanfare broke down. Rumour even has it was that what finally ended Velvet Revolver wasn't Scott Weiland re-entering crazy-world, it was the fact that their second album made such a small impact they were dropped. Same goes for Audioslave.
Basically, my point is this – with the invent of technology, the music industry is suffering on many fronts. Each time they sort one problem, or think that they have, seven more turn up. What they really need to worry about, though, isn't how to maximise file copy protection whilst minimizing the impact to the end user. The need to concentrate on the bands. Sure, there will always be one hit wonders, flash in the pan bands, but the industry needs to think long term. What it needs is to get scouts back out into local scenes. What it needs is to sign hot bands to A&R contracts instead of looking for finished products only. I don't mean monetary contracts either. I mean just simple bits of papers that give said label first refusal on a recording deal and entitle the band to two industry showcases in the space of 18 months. I know through experience that when rumours emerge that an A&R scout is doing a stint in a town, the whole scene goes nuts. It is a fantastic shot in the arm for local music.
Every industry is suffering. All of them, with the possible exception of debt councillors and bailiffs. What the music industry needs to do is swap their current tendency for flash in the pan acts, who will be out the door 6 months down the line, and start re-investing in grass roots music. The people change the musical world aren't ones who have friends in high places. They aren't the ones who simply make the most noise (Razorlight were signed before even playing a gig...). And they deffinately scene kids, who hang around and brown nose whoever is popular in the local scene at that time trying to pick up some success by osmosis.
The people who change the musical world are the ones who sit at home on Friday nights playing guitar while looking at posters of their heroes. They spend summers in the studio, writing and rehearsing for one gig. They play for free and act as a roadie too just to get onto a good bill. The people who play every gig like they are headlining Glastonbury. What labels need to do is start investing in them, and stop throwing money at glorified karaoke and one hit wonders. They are being their own worst enemy.
I'm hard on Phil. I can't help it. Without his tireless efforts, things would fall apart, but he is so much fun to mock.
Apparently, Gethin has been manning the band's email account in Phil's absence and has replied to two emails. He won't tell us just what those emails are though, so I personally thing he just got a the 'Lowest priced viagra on the web!' and sent some bank details over to an African prince who needed his help to get $50m out of the country, and we had been recommended to them through their network of business networks as being trustworthy and reliable. Emma and Adrian are still under the sofa, it appears.
Anyway, today I'm going to break from the norm and offer an intelligent point of view. I know, I know. Bare with me.
If you think about it, these days the business model for record labels has returned to the good old days. Labels aren't pouring their finances into pre-manufactured pop bands or just studio based artists any more. It appears those days are dead and gone. These days, labels are looking back to the guitar based band for their hits. Sure, you do still get all the proper pop durge as per normal, but think back to last year. How many bands popped up, had a top 10 hit then promptly disappeared last year? And how many had names along the lines of “The Whatevers”? Exactly.
But if you think about it, this is just a throwback to the way things were done between the 50's till the end of the 70's. The way hit singles got out, before the electronic music revolution became truly epidemic, was a band wrote and rehearsed and practised their little hearts out, got a single they were proud of and then tried to find anyone in The Biz to listen to it. If they succeeded then a label might take a chance and give that single a push, or they may have to go back to the drawing board.
Now look at today's market. There is a reason no label really has an A&R department any more, and so no more Artist Development. The reason is this – it is more cost effective (and fashionable) for a major label to either recruit new popstars via talent shows and media, or to urge old bands to reform\make new bands out of old members of old pop groups. So where do labels get their proper, guitar based music from? Gethin began the rumblings of this thought a few weeks back.
Recording costs are pretty low these days. You can record, mix and master an album for less than £1,500 these days. And that is if you do it well. Bands can use the internet to generate their own buzz. All labels really need to do if they want one song a band has written is sign them, release it along with an album, push it and then release the band. Sure, the band can bounce back but it is a hard adjustment.
What has gone missing from all of this is labels forgetting where their income comes from – from artists, and long term artists at that. The last band I can think of that went through a few years of A&R were Coldplay. These days labels are so intent on pushing their main cash cows, they forget about developing new talent to replace their older stars. They battle against new distribution channels rather than embrace them, still refusing to believe that its past the year 2002.
What labels need to realise is that rather than signing a flash in the pan band, it is far more benificial to sign bands up and develop them. Get them working with producers to help encourage their sound. Get them understanding the business. Even go as far as to ensure they have music lessons! It is time labels did their job and developed artists.
Of course, some bands still succeed these days. The Darkness, Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen were all signed off the back of some serious underground buzz. Lady GaGa had written hits for pretty much every band in the States before bringing her own unique style to the forefront. Biffy Clyro fans actually sent death threats to reviewers who panned one of Biffy's albums. There are still success stories who thrived under this current state of the industry.
But look at the casualties (and thesea re ones that just popped into my head) – Hundred Reasons and InMe are both without labels. So are The Futureheads. As are Mercury Award nominees The Zutons, despite the fact their track “Valerie” was one of the most annoyingly popular tracks last year. Even Mercury winners The Klaxons had their album thrown back at them by their label for being “too experimental”. Even popstars aren't immune, as Leon Jackson and Ray Quinn have both been dropped quietly after their X Factor fanfare broke down. Rumour even has it was that what finally ended Velvet Revolver wasn't Scott Weiland re-entering crazy-world, it was the fact that their second album made such a small impact they were dropped. Same goes for Audioslave.
Basically, my point is this – with the invent of technology, the music industry is suffering on many fronts. Each time they sort one problem, or think that they have, seven more turn up. What they really need to worry about, though, isn't how to maximise file copy protection whilst minimizing the impact to the end user. The need to concentrate on the bands. Sure, there will always be one hit wonders, flash in the pan bands, but the industry needs to think long term. What it needs is to get scouts back out into local scenes. What it needs is to sign hot bands to A&R contracts instead of looking for finished products only. I don't mean monetary contracts either. I mean just simple bits of papers that give said label first refusal on a recording deal and entitle the band to two industry showcases in the space of 18 months. I know through experience that when rumours emerge that an A&R scout is doing a stint in a town, the whole scene goes nuts. It is a fantastic shot in the arm for local music.
Every industry is suffering. All of them, with the possible exception of debt councillors and bailiffs. What the music industry needs to do is swap their current tendency for flash in the pan acts, who will be out the door 6 months down the line, and start re-investing in grass roots music. The people change the musical world aren't ones who have friends in high places. They aren't the ones who simply make the most noise (Razorlight were signed before even playing a gig...). And they deffinately scene kids, who hang around and brown nose whoever is popular in the local scene at that time trying to pick up some success by osmosis.
The people who change the musical world are the ones who sit at home on Friday nights playing guitar while looking at posters of their heroes. They spend summers in the studio, writing and rehearsing for one gig. They play for free and act as a roadie too just to get onto a good bill. The people who play every gig like they are headlining Glastonbury. What labels need to do is start investing in them, and stop throwing money at glorified karaoke and one hit wonders. They are being their own worst enemy.
Monday 16 March 2009
It's Monday, so what could possibly go wrong?
It's Monday!!!! Isn't it wonderful? Makes you glad that alarm clocks were invented so you can get up super duper early to get the most out of the day.
All has been a little quiet on the All Things Considered front since our last update. And by “quiet” I mean seven emails and that's about it. Phil is currently away sunning himself by a pool, I've been away taking in the best of the bumpkin countryside and I think the other three have been predominately hiding under the sofa.
That being said, any and all emails have been pretty productive. We have the first mixdown date set for the recordings we have been working on over the last few months in hot anticipation for our album launch. We also figured on dates for the first of our promotional bits and bobs, which is all very exciting. Adrian is getting the artwork together as well, which is hugely promising. We are still suffering from last weeks problem of no solid track listing but, as has been said, 'if you build it, they will come'. Besides, I'm not that worried about it as I will always vote for using a Magic 8-Ball to decide the listing.
I think the only way to describe things at the moment is its like getting a couple of new pieces of a jigsaw each week. Sometimes everything fits in perfectly, sometimes you have to put it to one side to use later and, eventually, after much fiddling and faffing, you get a pretty picture. Except we don't get a pretty picture – we get a good album with a highly successful promotional tour.
Anyway, things are getting very exciting. The time when we will be able to share all of what's going on with you is drawing ever closer, so make sure to keep checking back and finding just what we are getting up to behind closed doors. It will disgust, amaze and intrigue you.
Thursday 12 March 2009
Gigs Round-up
Well, it’s been a busy few days but now we’re taking a much needed week or so away from band stuff before it gets stupidly busy (although we’ll obviously try and keep the blog updated of course!).
We started on Friday night in London at The Spice of Life in Soho, which was an excellent gig. We’ve played a lot of London venues, but have to say this one was probably our favourite so far, at least until we get to the Half Moon in Putney on May 21st! The sound was excellent, we played a good set, got some people interested in our music and enjoyed good conversation with Joe – the ‘music promoter’ who was more than a little worse for wear and wore a suit that was way too big for him…..you get them all in that town!
Sunday we finished recording! We’ve all now got copies of the unmixed album to listen to over the next few weeks and make notes on what needs looking at in the mixing stage – it’s all very exciting, and the songs really are sounding good, which obviously I would say, seeing as this is supposed to promote said fact – although they really are, especially the new one that we wrote in two hours before recording it.
Sundays gig in Reading was cancelled at short notice due to the venue being double booked. Not sure when we’ll get back there – but far too busy to worry about that currently!
Monday we played at Good Intentions, run by our good friends Anthea Neads and Ian Sadler. It was actually the best of all the gigs we did in this run, as the atmosphere was excellent, sound was great (apart from Ben’s bass feeding back as usual….) and we were really up for it. Loads more interest, a few EP’s sold – good work all round.
Yesterday we were in Guildford at Susie Clarke’s night at The Tup. Although most of the people in the place were more interested in the Champions League games being shown on the screen round the corner, the scattering of people up by the stage seemed to enjoy the set – so not all bad.
So there you go – not the most exciting of blog posts, but after our week off this coming week it’s all systems go with mixing and mastering, duplication and getting the album tour all sorted.
Hopefully – we’ll have details of the album and launch party very very soon – we think it’ll be worth the wait.
We started on Friday night in London at The Spice of Life in Soho, which was an excellent gig. We’ve played a lot of London venues, but have to say this one was probably our favourite so far, at least until we get to the Half Moon in Putney on May 21st! The sound was excellent, we played a good set, got some people interested in our music and enjoyed good conversation with Joe – the ‘music promoter’ who was more than a little worse for wear and wore a suit that was way too big for him…..you get them all in that town!
Sunday we finished recording! We’ve all now got copies of the unmixed album to listen to over the next few weeks and make notes on what needs looking at in the mixing stage – it’s all very exciting, and the songs really are sounding good, which obviously I would say, seeing as this is supposed to promote said fact – although they really are, especially the new one that we wrote in two hours before recording it.
Sundays gig in Reading was cancelled at short notice due to the venue being double booked. Not sure when we’ll get back there – but far too busy to worry about that currently!
Monday we played at Good Intentions, run by our good friends Anthea Neads and Ian Sadler. It was actually the best of all the gigs we did in this run, as the atmosphere was excellent, sound was great (apart from Ben’s bass feeding back as usual….) and we were really up for it. Loads more interest, a few EP’s sold – good work all round.
Yesterday we were in Guildford at Susie Clarke’s night at The Tup. Although most of the people in the place were more interested in the Champions League games being shown on the screen round the corner, the scattering of people up by the stage seemed to enjoy the set – so not all bad.
So there you go – not the most exciting of blog posts, but after our week off this coming week it’s all systems go with mixing and mastering, duplication and getting the album tour all sorted.
Hopefully – we’ll have details of the album and launch party very very soon – we think it’ll be worth the wait.
Monday 9 March 2009
Do we need a label?
So, we've finally got to that point that we've been struggling towards for the last few months - the recording for our album is finished! It's not mixed or anything exciting like that yet, but, bar a possible overdub here and there, we have 10 tracks completed. Including a slightly concepty introduction. But it's ok, we promise to wait until album number 3 before we go completely prog on you...
Anyway, this morning I happened to read this post on The Guardian Music Blog. This, along with having finished recording, has had me a-thinking (it's a dangerous thing) about what it means to be recording and releasing our album ourselves. The article highlights a lawsuit being pursued by Eminem against Universal, claiming that he is due extra royalties, as his current agreement allows Universal to take a large chunk of his net sales as payment for manufacturing and packaging. He claims that, due to the widespread use of download sites such as iTunes, their packaging costs are now likely to be significantly lower than when he signed to the label, so he should be receiving a greater percentage of sales.
This brings up the question of what exactly the role of a record company is in this day and age. In the past, the process of recording an album was very costly, as was the associated packaging and distribution mentioned above. However, with the cost of recording equipment constantly falling creating an abundance of small, affordable recording studios, and the popularity of digital downloads always growing, this whole process has become much cheaper. And as we have now (almost) proved, it is entirely possible to record and release an album with no support from a record label. Fair enough, the quality of the recording might not be quite what we would have got had we been able to spend £5,000 on time in a top notch recording studio, although thanks to Al Heslop it's looking like it's going to sound pretty damn good. And we might not be able to afford to get 1000s of CDs duplicated in one go, but to be honest we'll count ourselves pretty lucky if we manage to sell more than a few hundred straight off, and we don't really fancy QUITE that many coasters, however nice Adrian's artwork for them will be!
This, however, is one of the main arguments people give for record labels still existing - the potential to make your album available to thousands rather than hundreds of people. But do we need them for this? We plan to make our album available for download through iTunes and a number of other sites, as well as having CDs for sale through Amazon and our own website, all fairly easily and without any substantial outlay. Fair enough, we might not be able to get it into any record stores, but who actually buys CDs on the high street anymore?
So, the album will be available, but how will we get people to want to buy it? This, unfortunately, is the tricky part. But it's not impossible. Thanks to Phil's incredible hard work we are hopefully going to be playing a number of festivals over the summer, along with gigs up and down the country (well, up to Cambridge and down to Portsmouth anyway, which is a pretty good chunk!). We will also be featured on a number of local radio stations, and should be getting our album reviewed in a number of well-respected music magazines. We might not be able to weasel our way into NME yet, but to be honest we don't think we've got the hair for it!
All this adds up to pretty good prospects for independent artists. Yes, it will cost you a fair amount of money (but by our calculations we should break even somewhere between 100 and 200 sales), and you will have to put in a lot of work, but as you can probably tell from some of our other posts on here, it's great fun at the same time! And it certainly is doable. Plus, if even Eminem doesn't feel that he can get a reasonable deal from the labels then we're glad to put in the effort ourselves rather than being small fish in the big pond of record label sharks!
Anyway, this morning I happened to read this post on The Guardian Music Blog. This, along with having finished recording, has had me a-thinking (it's a dangerous thing) about what it means to be recording and releasing our album ourselves. The article highlights a lawsuit being pursued by Eminem against Universal, claiming that he is due extra royalties, as his current agreement allows Universal to take a large chunk of his net sales as payment for manufacturing and packaging. He claims that, due to the widespread use of download sites such as iTunes, their packaging costs are now likely to be significantly lower than when he signed to the label, so he should be receiving a greater percentage of sales.
This brings up the question of what exactly the role of a record company is in this day and age. In the past, the process of recording an album was very costly, as was the associated packaging and distribution mentioned above. However, with the cost of recording equipment constantly falling creating an abundance of small, affordable recording studios, and the popularity of digital downloads always growing, this whole process has become much cheaper. And as we have now (almost) proved, it is entirely possible to record and release an album with no support from a record label. Fair enough, the quality of the recording might not be quite what we would have got had we been able to spend £5,000 on time in a top notch recording studio, although thanks to Al Heslop it's looking like it's going to sound pretty damn good. And we might not be able to afford to get 1000s of CDs duplicated in one go, but to be honest we'll count ourselves pretty lucky if we manage to sell more than a few hundred straight off, and we don't really fancy QUITE that many coasters, however nice Adrian's artwork for them will be!
This, however, is one of the main arguments people give for record labels still existing - the potential to make your album available to thousands rather than hundreds of people. But do we need them for this? We plan to make our album available for download through iTunes and a number of other sites, as well as having CDs for sale through Amazon and our own website, all fairly easily and without any substantial outlay. Fair enough, we might not be able to get it into any record stores, but who actually buys CDs on the high street anymore?
So, the album will be available, but how will we get people to want to buy it? This, unfortunately, is the tricky part. But it's not impossible. Thanks to Phil's incredible hard work we are hopefully going to be playing a number of festivals over the summer, along with gigs up and down the country (well, up to Cambridge and down to Portsmouth anyway, which is a pretty good chunk!). We will also be featured on a number of local radio stations, and should be getting our album reviewed in a number of well-respected music magazines. We might not be able to weasel our way into NME yet, but to be honest we don't think we've got the hair for it!
All this adds up to pretty good prospects for independent artists. Yes, it will cost you a fair amount of money (but by our calculations we should break even somewhere between 100 and 200 sales), and you will have to put in a lot of work, but as you can probably tell from some of our other posts on here, it's great fun at the same time! And it certainly is doable. Plus, if even Eminem doesn't feel that he can get a reasonable deal from the labels then we're glad to put in the effort ourselves rather than being small fish in the big pond of record label sharks!
Thursday 5 March 2009
Our BIG Mini Tour
Well, we’re getting ready for our most consistent run of gigs for ages, and in fact, our first in 6 weeks. You have to go back to January 25th for our last, which is extremely rare for us. A combination of horrendous weather, work commitments and goon-like promoters has meant our previous two had to be cancelled. So – apologies to the people coming to see us in London tomorrow night, we sounded good in rehearsal the other day so we’ll do our best – but you’ll have to excuse any ring rustiness….
Talking of rehearsal – the big revelation at this weeks merry jamboree is that we found out Ben actually falls out of bed each morning and uncontrollably dribbles before he realises he is something that slightly resembles an adult and shouldn’t actually be doing that at his age……but that’s another story.
So, we have the London date tomorrow night and Reading on Sunday where we’ll be reacquainted with our old guitar playing friend from our Ecouté days (well, all of us bar Gethin who has never had the pleasure of meeting) James Fayers. It’ll be the first time that all 5 of that band have actually been in the same room together for over 18 months – although rumours of a one off reunion have been strongly denied by both camps – more because not one person would actually give a shit if it did happen, as opposed anything more sinister.
We continue with a slot at Good Intentions in a little imaginary village called Puttenham near Guildford on Monday. For this night we generally turn up and the effervescent compare and fellow acoustic musician Anthea Neads proceeds to knick half the band to play her material – although I’m reliably informed that won’t be happening this time around, as she doesn’t want to upset Emma – which is a fair point, as she has one hell of a temper on her.
Finally, next Wednesday we’re at The Tup, having been promoted to the city of Guildford itself. This was the gig that last time we played Ben got stuck in traffic for over two hours and spent the majority of his evening reading Pride and Prejudice, or something equally as unmanly. Little does he know there isn’t actually room for a 5 piece on stage anyway – so even he turns up this time there won’t be any room for him to play. I’d best suggest he brings a good book this time around – maybe Diary Management for Dummies (which is very much an in-joke – sorry).
So – we hope to see some of you on our travels. We’re really looking forward to be getting out gigging again and having a few friendly faces ready to buy us beer (or fruit based alcoholic beverage for the lady) in the crowd!
Talking of rehearsal – the big revelation at this weeks merry jamboree is that we found out Ben actually falls out of bed each morning and uncontrollably dribbles before he realises he is something that slightly resembles an adult and shouldn’t actually be doing that at his age……but that’s another story.
So, we have the London date tomorrow night and Reading on Sunday where we’ll be reacquainted with our old guitar playing friend from our Ecouté days (well, all of us bar Gethin who has never had the pleasure of meeting) James Fayers. It’ll be the first time that all 5 of that band have actually been in the same room together for over 18 months – although rumours of a one off reunion have been strongly denied by both camps – more because not one person would actually give a shit if it did happen, as opposed anything more sinister.
We continue with a slot at Good Intentions in a little imaginary village called Puttenham near Guildford on Monday. For this night we generally turn up and the effervescent compare and fellow acoustic musician Anthea Neads proceeds to knick half the band to play her material – although I’m reliably informed that won’t be happening this time around, as she doesn’t want to upset Emma – which is a fair point, as she has one hell of a temper on her.
Finally, next Wednesday we’re at The Tup, having been promoted to the city of Guildford itself. This was the gig that last time we played Ben got stuck in traffic for over two hours and spent the majority of his evening reading Pride and Prejudice, or something equally as unmanly. Little does he know there isn’t actually room for a 5 piece on stage anyway – so even he turns up this time there won’t be any room for him to play. I’d best suggest he brings a good book this time around – maybe Diary Management for Dummies (which is very much an in-joke – sorry).
So – we hope to see some of you on our travels. We’re really looking forward to be getting out gigging again and having a few friendly faces ready to buy us beer (or fruit based alcoholic beverage for the lady) in the crowd!
Monday 2 March 2009
The Monday Update
Hello all and welcome to a Monday update. I'm frankly not sure why we update on Mondays, seeing as Tuesday is generally the day we all get together and catch up. I'm not going to slate it, as I have an awful feeling that it may in fact of been my idea. If it was my idea, then it is a freaking brilliant one.
Anyway, a few things of import have been going on in All Things Considered land. Phil has been working hard to make sure we have plenty of gigs for when the album comes out, which is a point to be commended. It means that wherever you reside, we will hopefully be near you at some point soon.
Adrian has also started on the mock ups of our album artwork, which are looking rather spectacular. I mean totally dashingly handsome. Apart from Emma, who looks pretty and lady like. I think if I described her as handsome I would be for the chop.
That's it though. Oh sure, between gigs, recording, mastering, checking the album and all other kinds of fun we have a ton coming up, just none of it today. I think that's why they made me to today's update, because they know full well I can ramble and ramble on until I hit a word quota. I'm hard to shut up.
Well this is looking like a good length for a blog post, so I'm going to sign off there. Thursday will hopefully hold some bounty of either rehearsal pics and some debauched stories from our weekends once we have shared them amongst each other, but for now you will have to make do with the anticipation. I'm a proper blog tease...
Anyway, a few things of import have been going on in All Things Considered land. Phil has been working hard to make sure we have plenty of gigs for when the album comes out, which is a point to be commended. It means that wherever you reside, we will hopefully be near you at some point soon.
Adrian has also started on the mock ups of our album artwork, which are looking rather spectacular. I mean totally dashingly handsome. Apart from Emma, who looks pretty and lady like. I think if I described her as handsome I would be for the chop.
That's it though. Oh sure, between gigs, recording, mastering, checking the album and all other kinds of fun we have a ton coming up, just none of it today. I think that's why they made me to today's update, because they know full well I can ramble and ramble on until I hit a word quota. I'm hard to shut up.
Well this is looking like a good length for a blog post, so I'm going to sign off there. Thursday will hopefully hold some bounty of either rehearsal pics and some debauched stories from our weekends once we have shared them amongst each other, but for now you will have to make do with the anticipation. I'm a proper blog tease...
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