Belated
New Year's greetings to you all. At last the CrazyFace single is in the shops
and is selling like hot cakes!Belated
New Year's greetings to you all. At last the CrazyFace single is in the shops
and is selling like hot cakes!
I thought I'd include one of my pictures for the J Foundation gig last week. Masked and caped the six-piece took up on a mellow jazz odyssey, gave a great rendition of last year's single, A Pearl for every Girl, and previewed Wraithryders, their Lord of the Rings track.
Here's the full track listing for Journeys without Maps - a tribute to The
lord of the Rings.
1. Dreams of Tall Buildings - Line 26, pg ?
2. The Telescopes (pictured below)- Second Darkness
3. Solway Fifth - Give my regards to Aragorn
4. Owen Tromans - Mr. Butterbur's Lantern
5. Baragon Flag -"There was an eye in the dark tower that did not sleep."
6. Lash Frenzy (featuring Kat Bjelland) - Helm's Deep
7.
Og's Bunkadoo Band - The Reckoning of Boromir
8. KlusterB - The search for Ent-wives in the land that is now brown and barren
9. Simon Fox of Grover - The Great War
10. Dept Noise X Terror - Precious
11. Reavers - Forbidden Views & Pools
12. Rodney Cromwell (featuring members of Saloon)- Radagast the Brown
13. J Foundation - Wraithryders
The reason for the title should be self explanatory to anyone who has read the book or seen the film! They spend the whole time never being sure of where they are - couldn't Elrond have slipped them a couple of ordinance surveys?! The CD's off to the manufacturer soon and myself and Justin Wiggan from Dreams of Tall Buildings have been working on the 5 interchangeable inserts.
Also off to be pressed is the new Baxxter single The girls are looking good
this summer. When the demo was sent to the Org Records website they had
this to say about it:
Urgent spitting angst ridden energy, real punk rock - vitriolic rawness that's
got places to go, people to see, faces to shout at - "you're becoming a
caricature of everything you used to hate," spits the voice.
I think that just about sums it up! Should hit the shops early March - I'll
be back in touch around then.
Still keeping really busy but have found a little time to update the site. I've had a couple of fantastic weekends away; the first with The Starries on their first trip north of the border. Unfortunately I was stuck in a restaurant with old friends and slow service and missed most of the gig at the 13th Note Cafe. The band went on to the 13th Note club afterwards and were still making their way home the following lunchtime! Thanks to Marceline from Discant who organised the gig and to Oxford's Sunnyvale Noise Experiment (please tell me if I have got this right) who also played and arranged the transport. The following weekend saw me in Leeds for "Gojonnygogogogo" at Joseph's Wells. A fantastic line up of indie bands that included Bearsuit, The Regulars, Comet Gain, The Chemistry Experiment and headliners, Milky Wimpshake. Met loads of great people and sold loads of records (hope you are all enjoying them)
Following the success of the Fringe at the Radio One Sound City week we've decided to organise our own. It's going to be in October 2002 and currently goes under the working title of B Live 02. It'll be a week of gigs in the normal venues with a couple of special events thrown in as well. I'll keep you posted and there should be a website soon.
Tonight is the launch party for the new Baxxter single, the unseasonably named, The girls are looking good this summer (just wait for this summer's release of Super A's Winter Splinter!) Both this (Bearos026) and Journeys Without Maps - A tribute to The Lord of the Rings (Bearos027 CD) should be in the shops soon and as usual are available mail order from myself.
Hope to see good crowds at Godspeed you black emperor in March and Acid Mother's temple in April. Look out for the Bearos stall on the Sunday of the first weekend of All Tomorrow's Parties.
And finally - go out NOW and buy the Los Planetos del Agua album that's out on Antenna Records. The new version of Selfish Killers and Patriotic Whores is a real treat.
Congratulations to me! I've just got married - and congratulations to my lovely
wife, Helen, as well. Thanks to everyone who helped out and to Jameson for doing
an excellent set (pictures of my mother dancing might appear later!) It was
most probably the last time Jameson will play together - they delighted us with
a mixture of old and new material as well as a couple of J Foundation tracks
and a finale of The Lady in Red for the bride.
Well hopefully that explains why everything has been a bit slow recently.
The Baxxter single and Lord of the Rings CD are selling well with a variety of reviews and airplay. This Friday (17th) at the Jug of Ale is a Tolkien night to tie in with the weekend of festivities at Sarehole Mill. J Foundation are headlining with Grover, Og's Bunkadoo Band and the first solo performance by Owen Tromans (ex-San Lorenzo). Expect tracks from the Album and a little tomfoolery.
Did you all enjoy All Tomorrow's Parties? We went the first weekend and enjoyed fantasic weather and excellent music - shame we missed Shellac every single day! Various chatrooms were gong on about my strange and rather worrying behaviour on the beach during the early hours of Sunday morning - I don't remember being in danger of drowning and my enduring memory was Simon from Grover getting stuck on one of the rocking horses in the kid's adventure playground! If anyone took any pictures of the record sale outside the Queen Vic on the Sunday can they send me a copy (or any of me being cut of by the tide a few hours earlier!)
Birmingham's having a huge resurgence on the gig front: Godspeed You Black
Emperor, Katastrophy Wife, Butterflies of Love, Acid Mothers Temple, The Telescopes,
Ballboy, Brute Force, Hood, Do Make Say Think and the excellent Dean Friedman
(come on, you must remember Lucky Stars!)
There's a list of upcoming gigs on the first page of the site including:
Tuesday 4th June - Bearos Unplugged at The Academy
Bar
Tuesday 11th June - Fugazi, Electralane & Solway Fifth at the Que Club
Tuesday 18th June - Grover, Epic45 & Los Planetos del Agua at Flapper &
Firkin
Hope to see some of you at one of these.
I'm informed that The Grandscope album is nearing completion, SuperA are busy in the studio and Og's Bunkadoo Band have almost started recording (expect this one when you see it!)
Birmingham
comes alive! There have been so many great gigs recently that I'm "drifting
into the arena of the unwell" as Withnail's friend, Marwood would say.
Best gigs of the year so far must be Electric Wizard and the May show by local
band, Grandscope. Honourable mentions to Dufus, Magnetophone, the many CrazyFace
gigs and last night's show by Circle.
Humerous interlude of the year goes to the Baxxter "acoustic" set at the Bearos Jubilee party (picture left)- the songs were stripped down, slowed down with Greg crooning his way through tracks like The girls are looking good this summer and Blues Murderer, The b-side of Russian Song. An occasional bit of trombone completed the totally surreal but thoroughly enjoyable set! There's also one of my more arty pictures gracing the band interview page Full marks as well to Los Planetos del Agua and Ben Calvert (nice versions of The Queen is Dead and Atmosphere - not the Russ Abbot song!) who completed the mellow evening's entertainment.
Finally got the master CD for the Sally/Mistress split. I've been waiting over 2 years for a Sally track and it's well worth the wait! A solid slab of stonking stoner-rock with the volume turned to 11. The Mistress track is Rebecca which is on their debut album and always on regular rotation at Bearos Mansions. If you get the chance to see either of these bands you'll not be disappointed (unless you're a closet Celine Dion fan - sorry mother!)
I'm
told that the Grandscope album is nearing completion and that Og's Bunkadoo
Band are off into the Calvados Beam Trio studio next week to start work on their
debut. The first few Og's albums will come as a limited double CD pack. Some
of you already know what will be on the second CD and I'll tell the rest of
you a bit nearer the time.
Welcome to Ben Benson, the new CrazyFace guitarist who played his first gig last weekend (he's the one on the right). Ex-guitarist, Matt, is off to join fellow Brummies, Team Rocket (who have also just recruited an ex-member of Twist!) Ben's already written the besuited quintet a new song which I think is called Free Coke and Cheap Women. Sounds fantastic and I'm glad to see the new blood exerting his influences at such an early stage!
Off to Hall Green dog track tomorrow for Simon from Grover's birthday and we're all looking forward to The Oxes this Saturday. I'm supposed to be doing the Sutton Coldfield Fun Run on Sunday but I know it'll be more of a miserable walk if I get there at all!
Just
got back from the States after a road trip from Chicago to New York. Took in
the Appalachian mountains and various Amish communities with stop offs in Pittsburgh
and Cleveland. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland is a fantastic place
- I was particularly taken by the Quicksilver Messenger Service guitar amp.
You were not allowed to take pictures but here's a link to one of the John
Cipollina sites with a great description.
Saw Tender Trap in New York's East Village. It was part of a K Records night
and it was great to see Calvin Johnson performing as well. Tender Trap is the
new project of Amelia Fletcher (ex-Marine Research/Heavenly/Tahula Gosh) More
great tunes and I can't wait to see them again when they play here at the Jug
of Ale with Saloon and The Regulars (20th July)
I hope that anyone within reasonable distance form Birmingham is coming to see SuperA this Friday at the Jug of Ale (12th July). I was invited down to the studio last week to see a run through of the set (picture right). The Winter Splinter demo has been on heavy rotation with the DJs at the Jug since last year with a couple of well received plays at Birmingham's clubs. The band describe themselves as a cross between Beck and The Monkeys. Expect perfect summer pop with a twist! Support comes from Panda Love Unit featuring Alexi, ex-Autolight, and Liz, ex-San Lorenzo, doing their manic pop thrill thing. Owen from San Lorenzo played a solo show at the Jug of Ale a couple of months ago and returns with his new band, After Rome, at the end of the month.
Hopefully will get back to you with all the news of the Bearos Summer releases next month. Going to get working on them once this jet lag wears off!
It's
been a busy couple of weeks so apologies if you've sent a demo and I've not
got back to you.
The "mp3 of the month" site is now operational (a day early as well!)
Over the next 12 months we'll include studio outtakes, deleted singles, live
tracks and various exclusive oddments. A new track will be added the last weekend
of each month and will build to quite an exciting album's worth by this time
next year. Hopefully I will be able to run it all through mp3.com as it allows
you to have a listen before you download and also they will be able to produce
and sell the complete album.
The first track is Jameson's Silverado, live at ArtsFest2000. We were
going to use the sold out and deleted single version but we've all mislaid our
CDR copies! It's a great live recording and is a bit of a treat to those of
you who were lucky enough to get their hands on Bearos001.
Future tracks will include Saloon, Og's Bunkadoo Band, Baxxter and The Starries
with a few surprises along the way.
Had loads of fun at the gigs put in by Marcus Sergeant as part of Birmingham's annual Singer Songwriter Festival. Due to the closure of Ronnie Scotts (actually it's transformation into a lap-dancing bar!) the festival moved to the Glee Club. Normally a comedy venue, it lent itself excellently to the events and in most people's opinion had a far superior atmosphere. Edwin Collins leapt from table to table, Robyn Hitchcock leapt from topic to topic and the support to Lloyd Cole said he'd have played the gig for free just to see his royal dourness perform in front of that huge backdrop with just the word "GLEE" written on it! Congratulations to all involved.
Other
out of town visitors have included Twinkie at Tokyo Lucky Hole (which I unfortunately
missed), Saloon (picture above) and Tender Trap at the Jug of Ale and last night's
visit from After Rome, the new band of Owen Tromans from San Lorenzo (picture
left) Only their second gig but already a really tight act with great new songs.
More driven than his previous work but still enough changes of pace, hooks and
surprises to keep old fans happy.
Really busy couple of month coming up with a few out of town jaunts planned.
The weekend 2nd-4th August sees an unfortunate clash between Happy Robots in
Reading and Ladyfest in London. I'm in Reading for the Friday and Sunday (Dressy
Bessy, Tender Trap, Saloon, Bearsuit etc) but am forgoing Saturday's Catmobile
Records night in favour of Electralaine, Bangs, Sarah Dougher, Tender Trap (again)
and the excellent Mirah (saw her at the K Records night in New York) at The
Garage in London.
Off down to Brighton on 16th August for SuperA's first out of town gig and I
can't wait for Saloon at The Paradiso in Amsterdam on 10th September.
If you're into uncompromising entertainment then put 15th August in your diary.
The Grey Wolves (extreme electronic unit,working in the fields of destroyed
muzik & ritualistic atonal noise since 1984) and Mort (solo electronics
in a Kid 606 vein) will be joined by Grover performing a once in a lifetime
hard-core improvised set. Are you running for the hills or will we see you at
The Hibernian, Pershore Road, Stirchley, Birmingham - you decide!
Enough of that and back to business! Releases for late September/early October:
Bearos028: Sally/Mistress split 7"- two stonking chunks of huge stoner-rock
Bearos029: Jet Johnson 7"- Gavin Baker's awkward pop combo
Bearos030: Meets Guitar/Taunus split 7"- More from Mr. Baker and friends
from Berlin. This time in gentle folky mode.
You are actually finding out this before I can confirm it with Gavin (ex-Billy
Mahonnie) as he's not coming back from holiday until tomorrow!
Still no end in sight for the Grandscope recordings (and no start in sight for the Og's!) SuperA have almost completed an album's worth of material but it looks like this is going to be touted round a few majors before I get my hands on tracks for a single.
At
last I've got a couple more records at the pressing plant that should be with
you early next month - thankfully GZ Digital media escaped the floods that drowned
Prague. As anounced last time the records will be the long awaited Sally/Mistress
split and the new single by Jet Johnson.
The Sally/Mistress split is on red/black multicoloured vinyl. It's part of a
two record project, the other black/white single is released at the same time
on Speedowax Records. Limited numbers will be available through the Bearos mail
order. All the tracks have been or will be on CD albums - These singles might
just be the taster you're looking for.
Perhaps the gentle lilting awkward pop of Jet Johnson is more to your taste?
This single ranks alongside Electron by Saloon as one of the most gorgeous
records i'll ever put out. Jet Johnson will also be the featured artist for
October's mp3 of the month. The track will be a dub remix of 9000 men
done by Dr. Kif.
November will see the release of another of Gavin Baker's projects, Meets Guitar. He's just released a highly recommended debut on Johnny Kane Records (Kane008). The Bearos release will be a split with Berlin's Taunus and there will be an exclusive mp3 track to accompany the release.
I
was upset to hear that Baxxter (picture right) have decided to call it a day.
Relatively new boy Kieran left suddenly at the start of August leaving them
to play their last two gigs as a three piece. This marks the end of three years
of beautiful mahem, bass players knocking themselves out on stage, drummers
playing a whole set not realising they'd broken their ankle earlier that evening
and full frontal nudity at the last Xmas show. Where did they find the time
to record two such brilliant thrash-pop singles!
Russ and Greg will continue working together with a new as yet unnamed band
(several ideas in the pub last night) and Steve's collaborationg with a couple
of the guys from Sally. Not sure on Kieran's plans yet but I wish them all good
luck in their future projects.
Sorry to everyone that turned up to see them at ArtsFest - we tried to put forward
a suitable replacement but the organisers decided on a Chinese dance troup instead.
Treated myself to some real nostalgia the other week when I went over to Derby to see Penetration. They've not toured since 1979 (just missed them on that last tour) but have managed to get the original line up together. Everyone was singing along as they played all my favourites from the two albums and loads of the singles - the place went mad for Don't Dictate! Go out and buy some Penetration (Virgin's Best of Penetration is a good place to start) - they really weren't your run of the mill punk band even in those days when there was so much variety in that early scene - sort of power-prog-punk-pop with a few metal riffs thrown in amongst the varied song structures. I asked the man selling t shirts whether there would be any more dates, he said that would depend on all the band members being able to get baby sitters on the same night again!
Other
really enjoyable shows have been the noise-fest of The Grey Wolves, Mort (turns
text into audio noise files as his basic components) and Grover (including their
one-off rendition of You make me realise! - picture left)), Saloon's
excellent show in Amsterdam and last night's Explosions in the sky gig (which,
being on 11/09, attracted some unfavourable coverage from local press)
Off to In The City in Manchester this wekend armed with a load of posh flyers. Unfortunately the Twisted Nerve night on the battleship has been cancelled as the drummer for most of the bands had disappeared - still should be loads to do and lots of great bands to see.
Next week is the Butterflies of Love/The Microphones in Birmingham (17th) and
the week after Birmingham invades Kentish Town when X is greater than Y, The
Touqes (formerly Buick 6) and Cowboy play a showcase at The Verge (26th)
Again another busy month! the Jet Johnson and Sally/Mistress splits are available
mail order and have gone straight into the Autumn Sale with major discounts
on all Bearos releases! You can't say fairer than that. I'll get them in the
shops ASAP.
I've managed to get to a couple of the Broadcast shows in the last week - absolutely
stunning! Sunday was Manchester supporting St. Etienne (who I thought came across
as Butlin's style entertainment in comparison) and Tuesday was a headline show
at The Social in Nottingham. Amongst old favourites were a few new songs from
the album in progress - not a major departure but a few suprises indicating
that this is a band with still so much to offer. Great to see the band in such
fine spirits as well.
Congratulations to Gavin and Caroline from Jet Johnson who got married last
week and belated congratulations to Justin dOtb who tied the knot back in August.
Short and sweet this month - don't forget the Autumn Sale and the Jet Johnson
mp3 of the month
I've
just added some dates to the November gig list and it looks like it's going
to be an exhausting month!
The Sally/Mistress and Jet Johnson singles are selling well mail order - sorry
they are not in the shops yet, i'm working on it.
Later on this month we've got the Papa November CD and the Meets Guitar/Taunus Split 7". Meets Guitar is a solo project of Gavin Baker of Billy Mahonie/Glider/Jet Johnson. People might be aware of his previous release on Johnny Kane Records (Johnny described the work as "London Pastoral") and theBilly Mahonie cover versions CD that was part of the Day Release subscription series. As a try before you buy deal i've included an exclusive track on the mp3 of the month. I don't know that much about Taunus apart from the fact that it's Jan Thoben and Jochen Briesen, they come from Berlin and they make beautiful Padjoesque guitar music.
The
Papa November CD is a wonderfully atmospheric feast of trip hop beats, haunting
electronics and strong female vocals. Something like Portishead would be a lazy
reference - there's edges of dark experimentation here - but it probably puts
you in the right ball park. A year or so ago you might remember their single
on Static Caravan and a great debut live performance at the BBC Sound City gig.
They've just relocated to Nottingham but can't keep away from Birmingham and
are returning next Saturday (9th) for a one off performance at the Ikon Gallery.
Papa November will perform new work made in response to Ann Veronica Janssens'
exhibition. It's free and it's at 2pm. Here's what the gallery says about the
exhibition:"Belgian artist Ann Veronica Janssens' exhibition conveys a
characteristic fascination with natural phenomena and everyday experience, through
photography, video, sound, light installation and sculpture. Janssens' treatment
of space embodies subtle and poetic oppositions of transparency and opaqueness,
emptiness and fullness. Her off-site project, located by the entrance of Ikon
Gallery, consists of a large greenhouse, with coloured glass panes, filled with
artificial fog. Visitors are invited to enter it for an extraordinary perceptual
experience." It on now and runs until 10th November. More details can be
found on http://www.ikon-gallery.co.uk/
Sad
news as another Birmingham institution calls it a day - The Regulars have split
up. A band that took 4 years to form and at least 18 months to record each of
their singles just went into self destruct overdrive - overnight!
The Regulars formed around the nucleus of Pete Green and Stu Fletcher and started
gigging in 1997. As a pop band they found themselves at odds with the late 90s
local scene that was dominated by electronics, experimentation and dad-rock.
Fiercly anti-fashion and with a pathological passive-agressive stance they were
welcomed with open arms into the the city's Unscene collective and performed
at the now legendary Unscene Festival over three stormy days in January 98.
Riotous gigs and pop manifestos would follow - remember their Blairesque "Five
early pledges"?
"The
Regulars promise that:
- We will write tunes. Melodies. You must remember. Before dreary old dadrock
and Be Here Now, and the tedious indulgencies of grunge, they were quite popular.
- We will write with humour, but without being a novelty band like Space, and
with feeling, but without going on about how tortured we are
- We will allow no gratuitous on-stage exhibitionism or posing whatsoever (except
by our singer), nor any excessive fretwank.
- We will lie down and fight, by evoting our limited energies to undermining
the work ethic in all its insidious manifestations. Well, some of us will. When
we can be arsed.
- If we ever get on Top of the Pops we will wear extravagant wigs, costumes
and sideburns to look loke Slade*
* No we won't"
It
was about this time (1998) that I approached them to do a Bearos single - two
years later (2000) they went into the studio and recorded Lie down and fight.
Commercial success beckoned but seemed like too much effort! The second
single This is the sound was released in late 2001 and was immediately
dropped from the live set to avoid the repeat of any such nonsence again!
Along with Jameson they were the part of the first wave of the Bearos guitar bands. Baxxter and The Starries followed in their footsteps (Steve from The Starries used to say that their set lists looked like a greatest hits album - even though they'd not released their debut single at the time!) We're now almost ready for the third wave as we unleash bands like Distophia on an unsuspecting public.
Always
a local band for local people they only managed three gigs outside the West
Midlands in their whole career! Pete only knows two roads - the one to home-town
Grimsby for football and the one to Sheffield for dancing with the Offbeat kids.
London is a dirty word! (though in reply to this piece Pete tells me that the
band were on the verge of a trip to the capitol!) They let the world come to
them and were delighted when support slots for bands like Saloon, The Butterflies
of Love and Amelia Fletcher's Tender Trap landed on their doorstep.The band
were loved by their loyal fans - I remember Stu's last gig when he came on stage
to be greeted by the whole audience wearing Stu masks!
They will be missed. Whilst we wait for another band to saunter up and pick
up pop's banner and take it home for tea and cake i'll leave you with another
of Pete's calls to inaction:
"If you remember the reason we have indie music - that honesty and melody
matter more than clothes and airplay - then you might be interested in The Regulars.
And if you've ever shivered in a bus queue watching and wondering as a million
cars crawl by, each carrying one person to the next hour of their smoother and
easier life, then you're already a Regulars fan!"
Welcome
to the new look website! Not sure i've got all the gremlins out - time and a
little feedback from yourselves will tell!
Last month was so busy that I didn't get round to half the stuff I wanted to - saw lots of fireworks in the rain and got most of my fence blown down in the gales. Been to a variety of gigs including Hanoi Rocks (big hair), The Damned (big disappointment), Gold Chains (big fun) and the New York anti-folk night with Kimya Dawson, Major Matt Mason etc (big, big hearts!) Last weekend was the last Tokyo Lucky Hole of the year with the ever wonderful Kaito. An arrangement to do two short sets allowed for much drinking inbetween - A couple of them ended up back at Bearos Towers where myself and Dave sat up until the early hours drinking the home-made absinthe. Not the most normal of hangovers but luckily not too unpleasant! Loads left for the Bearos xmas party which this year is on Friday 20th december at the Jug of Ale in Moseley. Distophia have had to pull out leaving us with Grover, CrazyFace, Ben Calvert and some as yet to be announced (or organised) special guests. All the bands will be doing 20-25 minutes each along with carols and Xmas cover versions. Always a great night as our audiences for the last couple of years will agree - hopefully no nudity this year and we won't let Steve Starrie compere again!
Looks like the Papa November album is going to be delayed until the new year due to problems getting the artwork sorted. The Grover album will be ready in January as well - John Peel's already playing a promo copy that Simon sent him. The lead track on the next CrazyFace single will be Free Coke. It'll be backed by Good Cop, Bad Cop, another track and the video of Brickwall on the enhanced CDs.
A
couple of exciting projects for the new year are a limited Jameson retrospective
(we're trying to find the best demo or live recordings all their songs 1997-2002)
and a split single between Katastrophy Wife (Kat Bjelland now with members of
Sally as her backing band) and The Kitchen (Manda Rin from Bis) Manda's track
is dark 80s synth-pop whilst listening to Kat and the boys is akin to wading
through lava.
This month's pick of the gigs must include the Black Heart Procession tour (calling in at Wolverhampton Varsity Saturday 14th with Epic45 supporting) and Mistress supporting Napalm Death in London (18th) and at the Academy in Birmingham on 19th December. Can I also own up to having my ticket for the Here and Now tour at the National Exhibition Centre on 21st December - always a huge Altered Images fan but might be at the bar when Dollar are on!
How are your christmas preparations going? We're all sorted and the port has been hidden so I don't drink it all before Wednesday! Last year it had to be continually replaced throughout December. We've had some storming local gigs in the last couple of weeks; Black Heart Procession were hauntingly beautiful and Napalm Death were a blistering assault on the senses - great to hear tracks from Scum (including a couple of 2-4 second blasts one of which I think was We Suffer!) which they'd not played for about 8 years. Epic45 and Mistress were highly respected support acts (I think you can guess who supported who!) and the Bearos vinyl was flying out both nights.
I guess you want to know about the Bearos Xmas Party. A bittersweet
occasion with The Starries reforming "for one night only" after splitting
up last Friday and Pete Green on stage for the first time since Regulars split
a couple of months ago
Pete opened the night with sterling remditions of Stop the Cavalry and
Blondie's Dreaming as well as acoustic versions of new material he's
working on - he was very proud that he had written a song in under a week when
most Regulars' songs would require18 months gestation. The Starries were up
next with a run through recent material which hopefully will see the light of
day in some form of retrospective (watch this space) I'll attempt some form
of eulogy when I do my round up of the year next week.
Ben Calvert and band did a great version of Slade's Christmas
classic and Grover's versions of Wings' Wonderful Christmas Time and
You make me realise both gradually emerged from delicate webs of math
rock (anyone remember their version of The Starries' After the strap from a
couple of years ago?) CrazyFace closed the evening with a short set culminating
in Mud's It'll be lonely this Christmas.
Generally a mellower night than last year with no incidents of nudity or gross
indecency but well enjoyed by all present (probably because there were no incidents
of nudity or gross indecency!)
Thanks to John Peel for a thoroughly fantastic night at Maida Vale the other week. We'd got tickets for the "10 Minutemen" session, a spin off from Johnson Family Record's Minuteman compilation (10 bands, 10 songs, all a minute long!) Playing were Hirameka Hi-Fi, Cove, Stanton, Reynolds and Billy Mahonie. Upstairs was like a record label reunion party with Matt from Gringo, Phil from Victory Garden and Rachel from Stupid Cat/Silver Rocket who was resplendant in her Bearos t-shirt (without knowing that I was going to be there!) John was feeling a bit guilty that Grover hadn't got a slot but played another track from the album we're releasing early next year and enquiries are being made about a second Peel session at some stage.
More about next year's projects after Christmas - I'll wish you good luck, good health and good cheer for the festive season.
PS If you are around in Birmingham next Saturday (28th) go to
the Flapper and Firkin for the all dayer - Grandscope are top of a very strong
bill that also features
Oddone, Tybalt, Ego So So, Shocked Elevator Family, Yellobelly, The Splendid
and Soni-Quella. £3 and it starts at 3.15.