Bearos News Archive 2003

01/02/03

Welcome to Bearos 2003! Welcome to www.bearos.co.uk - we've finally taken the plunge and ditched the freeserve tag but those connections will still work.

The mp3 of the month slot is proving popular. This month's offering is a Papa November remix of the Baragon Flag track from Journeys Without Maps (Bearos027). Here's what it says on the site:
Papa November takes Baragon Flag's 2002 aural horror-sculpture and inflicts beats and rhythms. Music kept evil! "There was an eye in the dark tower that did not sleep" was a specially commissioned work from the KlusterB collective for the Bearos Tolkien tribute. The original was a mixture of smothering brutality and licking, lapping abuse as the Dark Lord reaches out to finger young Frodo.
Should be up and ready for free download any day now and The Papa November album From The Start Line is now available mail order (£5). It will be in the shops late February/early March where it will doubtless be much more expensive!
Last month's mp3 was Sunbeam by The Starries. My choice of their 'pop song' was challenged by one of the band last night - had I never heard of "integrity", he asked. "I've never heard that track," I drunkenly replied! Hopefully I've not ruined my chances of releasing the retrospective album I've been promising everybody.

A busy couple of months coming up for Grover. In support of their new album Tiny Blue Sparks (Bearos032 out in March) they play the following dates:

Sunday 16th February - Oxford (some posh hotel - I'm waiting for final details)
Thursday 27th March - Birmingham Hibernian (supporting Blurt)
Saturday 29th March - London Arts Cafe (Johnson Family all day event)
Sunday 30th March - Birmingham Medicine Bar (supporting Shipping News and Billy Mahonnie)
Friday 11th April - Birmingham Jug of Ale (supported by Jet Johnson, Los Planetos Del Agua and Meets Guitar)
Saturday 26th April - London. Headlining Bearos RoTa event at Notting Hill Arts Centre. (Playing with CrazyFace, Meets Guitar and Papa November DJ set)

Waiting for confirmation of Reading and Derby dates and many more in the pipeline.

Yes, here's a date for your diaries. On Saturday 26th April we'll be at the Notting Hill Arts Centre. It runs from 4-8pm and it's free (though please buy the bands a drink as we're not getting paid) Should be a great afternoon - we're all mucking in with DJ duties and I'm sure we'll all be off somewhere posh and swanky afterwards.

The Bearos Showcases are back! We've collaborating with The Catapult Club at The Jug of Ale in Moseley to bring you a monthly mix/match combination of local and out of town bands. In the past we've brought you Saloon, The Telescopes, Epic45 and the live debut of yellow6. We're going to try to run it the last Friday of each month but the first few will be when the opportunity arises:
Friday 21st March: SuperA, out of town band TBC & The Splendid
Friday 11th April: Grover (album launch night), Jet Johnson, Los Planetos Del Agua & Meets Guitar

Loads of great releases already lined up for 2003
As well as the Grover album there are singles by CrazyFace, SuperA and Grandscope as well as a split single between Kat Bjelland's Katastrophy Wife and Manda Rin's The Kitchen.There will also be some ultra limited retrospectives from Baxxter, Jameson and The Starries and some delving into the vaults of Grover and possibly Calvados Beam Trio.
More on these and a bit about the hottest new bands around Birmingham next time (did someone mention The Splendid?)

29/03/03

Busy getting ready for All Tomorrow's Parties next weekend. We'll hopefully be selling stuff outside the Queen Vic on Sunday as usual - if that's not happening we'll be accepting visitors at the chalet. Bit low on the fruit in alcohol this year but we should have something to tickle your taste buds whist you give us all your money!
We hope you will be buying the new Grover album, Tiny Blue Sparks (Bearos032) which should be in the shops in the next couple of weeks. We've also made a limited (only 100 copies) retrospective CD, Past, with Grover tracks from 1993-2000 (Bearos038). 17 tracks including ..Like a bunny and Ed Chigliak from the Bearos singles and a couple of tracks from Husk, the first album released in 1998. All remastered alongside a host of unreleased tracks.
This is the first in a series of limited CDs. Subsequent confirmed releases will feature Jameson (available next week but unfortunately not in time for ATP), Baxxter and The Starries with discussions in progress with The Regulars, Dreams of Tall Buildings and Calvados Beam Trio. Watch out for release details as I don't expect these to stay around for long.

The first of the Bearos Showcases went down really well last week. Thanks to visitors The Wandering Step who found themselves sandwiched between The Splendid and the ever diminishing SuperA who are reduced from a sextet to a compact quartet (Stu & Marie pictured right) The lucky first 50 walked away with a free CD featuring tracks from the Grover and Papa November albums and Ghost Train an unreleased track by SuperA. So great was the interest that we've made it the mp3 of the month so you can all enjoy it.
For those of you around Birmingham SuperA play this Monday (31st) at a Virgin Radio showcase. It's at The Academy 2, it's free and Copter, the Beemen and Misty's Big Adventure are also playing. See you there!

The next Bearos Showcase is at the Jug of Ale, Moseley, Birmingham on 11th April and features Grover, Jet Johnson, Los Planetos del Agua and a short opening set by Meets Guitar so get there early. The following night (12th) we travel convoy style up to the Talbot in Stoke-on-Trent for a repeat performance. After this we're off to London for a Bearos/Rough Trade showcase at the Notting Hill Arts Club on 26th April. This time Grover will be joined by CrazyFace (new single now out in June 2003), Meets Guitar and Papa November (DJ set).

Here's the up to date details on the Grover tour:
Saturday 29th March (today!) The Betsy Trotwood, farringdon, London (all day event)
Sunday 30th March: The Medicine Bar, Birmingham with Billy Mahonie and Solway Fifth
Thursday 3rd April: The Little Civic, Wolverhampton with X is greater than Y, Sundown and Distophia
Friday 11th April: Jug of Ale, Birmingham with Jet Johnson, Los Planetos del Agua and Meets Guitar
Saturday 12th April: The Talbot, Stoke-on-Trent with Jet Johnson, Los Planetos del Agua and Meets Guitar
Thursday 24th April: Hunting for Teeth, Susumi, Derby with Plans and Apologies
Saturday 26th April: RoTa Bearos Showcase Notting Hill Arts Club, London(details above)
Sunday 18th May: Flapper & Firkin, Birmingham. All day event also featuring Econoline, Cove and more

See the Grover website for more details and regular updates

You'll probably notice that the releases are coming a bit out of order at the moment. The Toques and Grandscope singles are off being pressed with release dates of 5th May. The Kitchen/Katastrophy Wife split is just having it's artwork tweaked and also should be in the shops at the start of May. The CrazyFace CD will now be out in June with live dates assuming they survive Glastonbury! There's also a couple of high profile releases in the pipeline, more details when I've got everything confirmed.

And so onto my Top Tips for 2003!
Bands like Grover and CrazyFace will be familiar to Bearos regulars and are ready for that big push that will see them escape out of the confines of the Midlands to national prominence.

GROVER have been part of the Bearos clan since 1998 and have gone from strength to strength. They've just released their second album. They count John Peel as a huge fan. Their deep and meaningful post-rock has seen them likened to Mogwai and Radiohead. They are a dense, rumbling live band , recently bolstered by the addition of Godflesh's old bass player. There's also a lot of humour with an occasional cover version thrown in on special occasions. You never know when it's going to happen but we've had everything from You Make Me Realise by My Bloody Valentine to Wings' Wonderful Christmas Time!

CRAZYFACE: The NME called them "inspirational"; Birmingham University calls them the best live band in Birmingham. Their amalgamation of pop and punk will make them everyone's new favourite band in Birmingham - hardened sceptics have melted once they've given them a chance (I know, I was one of them!)
It's not often Steve Lamaq calls you to ask for another CD ASAP to replace the one he's lost so that he can play it again on the Evening Session. That's what happened with Brick Wall, the debut release. The new single, charmingly titled Free Coke, is out in a couple of months and the band are regulars around Midlands venues.

As far as newer bands are concerned here are some names to look out for:

GRANDSCOPE: Birmingham specialises in bands with racks of keyboards and trestle tables laden with gadgets and gizmos.
Grandscope have all this and then add the traditional drums, bass and guitar over the top. The result is a dancy, trancy, electro-feast of funky pop. The band has likened themselves to bands like Air and they guarantee a great night out whether your leanings are towards either dance or indie.
They've spent the last year in and out of the studio and have now got an album's worth of material that'll be with you sometime soon and a single Tricolere that will be out in May (Bearos036) In the meantime beg, steal or borrow the ultra limited P.E.E.P. CD that came out at the end of 2001 (or just download it from one of their two new websites - see links page).

PAPA NOVEMBER is the name of a 'numbers station'. These short wave transmissions are thought to be one way communications to spies in foreign countries. A female voice repeats "Papa November" over and over with an eerie flute playing in the background. After about five minutes the same voice starts sending messages in five figure groups.
PAPA NOVEMBER is also the name of Midland-based duo who have been creating electronic music since 1997. Their work is divided between CD friendly vocal and rhythm tracks and more abstract fractured pieces for art installations and events. Their debut release was back in 1999 for our friends at Static Caravan Records. Their debut album, From The Start Line, is a wonderfully atmospheric feast of hip-hop beats and electronic soundscapes. Something like Portishead would be a lazy reference - there are edges of dark experimentation here - but it probably puts you in the right ball park.

More next time along with whatever I can remember about All Tomorrow's parties.

25/04/03

Hello to everybody that I met again at All Tomorrow's Parties. I say 'again' as despite this years different musical style it was business as usual with all the usual suspects in attendance! Really enjoyed Public Enemy, EL-P and The Magic Band though felt that other bits, whilst entertaining in small quantities, were rather overrated. Already looking forward to next year - I expect it to be a bit more mainstream but with ATP you can never tell! Thanks to Rachel from Stupid Cat for sending the beach pictures from last year when I was oblivious to the fact that I was getting cut off by the tide as I was dreamily watching the waves.

All I seem to be doing since I came back is seeing Los Planetos Del Agua (Tony Woodall pictured right). They played the Birmingham and Stoke dates which Grover and Jet Johnson took turns to headline, played two dates with Epic45 supporting The Telescopes in Wolverhampton and Below The Sea in Birmingham and play Tokyo Lucky Hole with Twinkie tonight. Good job they are such a fantastic band - and they are playing Mules for the cinema again! Los Planetos Del Agua will have a track on the CD to accompany the next Robots and Electronic Brains (see links page) There's also a Bearos segment on the CD with tracks from the Grover and Papa November albums as well as exclusive tracks by Grandscope and SuperA.

Just a quick message to remind those of you around the London area that this Saturday afternoon (26th) is the Bearos RoTa Showcase in association with Rough Trade Records.
Grover (pictured left), CrazyFace, Meets Guitar & Papa November (DJ set)
Notting Hill Arts Club, 21 Notting Hill Gate, London W11
4-8pm Free entry.
The Grover and Papa November albums are in the shops and available for just £5 each from the Bearos website (PayPal payment system coming soon) There are also exclusive mp3s by Grover (new this month), Papa November and Meets Guitar to download from the site and details of how to get your hands on the very limited, mail order only Grover and Jameson retrospective CDs.

The Toques (Bearos035) and Grandscope (Bearos036) single will be back from the pressing plant soon. Both have got a release date of 19th May though a few copies will be available mail order through the website and at selected promotional gigs. The launch of the Grandscope single is at the Flapper and Firkin, Birmingham on 3rd May. I'll pass on details of further gigs as I get them confirmed.

Still waiting for the finished artwork for The Kitchen/Katastrophy Wife split(Bearos034). More news next time about the LadyFest album I've been asked to release ASAP which features amongst others, Siobhan Fahey, The Kitchen, Hooker, We Start Fires, Katastrophy Wife and Jennifer Finch's new band, The Shocker.

28/04/03

First the good news - The Toques single, Too Tired To Worry, has arrived. Cargo have given it a release date of 19th May but I've got permission from The Toques' management to let you have it now. The Toques (the band formerly known as Buick6) are a harmony-laden, energetic band with the sass of a pop group and a firm nod in the direction of Nashville. They've got the ability to grab at your heart as well as your ears. These recordings were done last summer and sandwiched between their two John Peel sessions. The songs were produced by 'Slaughter' Joe Foster and the three-part harmonies, hooks, melodies and energy of the tracks faithfully capture the live sound. From first listen it's clear that their is much more to come from this band who are currently being courted by major labels.

I was hoping to be able to offer you the Grandscope single as well. Unfortunately it's been misdirected by TNT and is currently somewhere in France trying to find its way home whilst I'm waiting to return 300 slabs of French garage punk to their rightful owner! Rather puts the kibosh on the launch gig at the Flapper & Firkin in Birmingham this Saturday (3rd) but it will still be a great gig. The band are also playing Birmingham Academy 2 on Thursday 15th May and the single should be in the shops on 19th May. Whilst you are waiting I've uploaded Holden Caulfield by the band as mp3 of the month for May 2003.

Thank you to everyone who came to the Bearos RoTa Showcase in London on Saturday and made it such a great success. CrazyFace (right) planned the whole thing with military precision and to celebrate their stunning performance completely lost it, missed the minibus and didn't get back to Birmingham until Sunday evening (and went straight to the pub) Please do not encourage, applaud or appreciate this band in any way - it just goes to their heads and will drive them to an early grave! On no account must you buy their next single, Free Coke, due out in June unless you want their blood on your hands!
Gavin Baker (left)started proceedings with a solo Meets Guitar set. Without drummer, Kevin, the set was much more dominated by his earlier work and was warmly received despite a couple of half forgotten songs. Caroline from Jet Johnson joined him on stage for the last two numbers though needed reminding on some of the accompaniment!
Grover finished up the days proceedings with a magnificently powerful set which rumbled and roared through the basement venue - lots of familiar faces from the Betsy Trotwood gig last month, hope to see you all again on our next visit.
Thanks to Simon from Grover and Helen for helping out with DJ duties when Stuart from Papa November was not able to be there. Big thanks to Matt from Rough Trade for organising the day, Allessandro for squeezing such a great sound out of a minimal PA and Jonathan from Hermana PR for the publicity that so obviously paid off.

Work continues on the LadyFest album (Bearos037), hopefully picking up the artwork tomorrow. The final tracklisting is:

1. Katastrophy Wife - No Thing
2. The Suffrajets - Shy
3. We Start Fires - Bang Bang
4. Little Girl With Cherries - Remove Your Face In The Name Of ROCK
5. The Kitchen - Blind Tease
6. Hooker - Like It My Way
7. Carina Round - Monument
8. Kirby - You're On The Way
9. The Shocker (feat Jennifer Finch)- Smoke Rings
10. Siobhan Fahey - Bitter Pill (Droyds Mix)
11. Gertrude - Remote Control
12. The Flamingo 50 - Shame About Blame
13. Motormark - 212 City Girl
14. Angelica - Evergreen
15. Bis - Protection

It'll be available on CD and as a limited double 10" and is to support the 2003 LadyFest tour which takes place 9th - 25th May. Katastrophy Wife are headlining with Hooker, The Kitchen, Kirby and Carina Round etc etc supporting on various dates. Full details can be found on the Grrrl Band Network website.
Hopefully it'll turn up on the merchandise stall at some stage during the tour and I'll apologise in advance to the good people of Glasgow (9th May) and Birmingham (14th May). I'll confirm the price of the double 10" ASAP and if you want to e mail me and reserve one we'll hold a few back.

Please join the e mailing list and have a listen to a few of the mp3s on offer.
More news as it happens.

08/05/03

Well the Grandscope single finally arrived - thanks to TNT for sorting that out so promptly! Well worth the wait, two great tracks and the vinyl cut is so rich it puts the CDR master to shame! Tricolore is a wash of classy 80s synths with a fuzzed-up pumping backbeat, sort of hypnotic-eurodisco-crunching-Kraftwerk that reminded me of early Magnetophone or some of the Active Suspension bands like Osaka. The B side, You'll find me, is a vocoder vocal track that bears a strong resemblance to Air and Royksopp. They are a band with so many styles to play with; Holden Caulfield, the instrumental mp3 of the month careers carelessly between Broadcast and early Ultravox - have a listen and tell me I'm wrong! Further surprises at the single launch gig last weekend when they played a decidedly "Rock" set that i'd not seen them do the likes of since their very early gigs
There's another couple of free Grandscope tracks available in the next couple of months - Fat Controller is on the next Robots and Electronic Brains CD (along with SuperA, Grover and Papa November) and Traveller is on the 15-track CD I'm giving away to everybody on the e-mailing list and anyone else who wants to sign up. There's a good mixture of old and new stuff on the CD with a couple of unreleased tracks as well. All you need to do is sign up for the mailing list and follow the instructions - those of you already on the mailing list will have already got your details.

We've been graced by some marvelous musical visitors over the last week; The Raveonettes and Stellastar were stunning on Monday and last night Laura Cantrell was an absolute treat. Looking forward to the live slot at Peel Acres tonight. It seems that most of Birmingham was out last night, scattered between Laura Cantrell at the Ceol Castle, Black Dice/Dreams of Tall Buildings at the Medicine Bar and Hot Hot Heat at The Birmingham Academy - like busses, you wait for ages and then three great nights come at once.
Sunday (11th) is the welcome return of The Soledad Brothers at Bar Academy, Tuesday (13th) is Katastrophy Wife headlining the Brum LadyFest date at the Jug of Ale (still no sign of that album artwork!) and Thursday (15th) is Grandscope supporting Alaska at Academy2.

Don't forget the all dayer at the Flapper & Firkin on Sunday 18th May. Reynolds are headlining with Grover second on the bill. Also appearing are Cove, Econoline, Meets Guitar etc etc- I think it all start at 3pm, for further details visit the Grover site. Unfortunately I'll miss what is bound to be a great day. Fortunately I'll be in San Francisco for the start of a much deserved two week break.

16/05/03

From tomorrow i'll be off in San Francisco for a fortnight's well-earned break. As this is a one man show it means that the Bearos empire will temporarily grind to a halt. Never fear! Here's what's happening in June and July.

Bearos033 CrazyFace - Free Coke enhanced CD single (above left) is currently being manufactured. It'll be available from the band and via the Bearos website at the start of June with national distribution through Cargo timed for a clutch of live dates that i'll tell you about as soon as they are confirmed. One of the tracks, No Place Like Home was featured on the recent Birmingham Post/Virgin Radio CD; 40 000 copies were distributed round the West Midlands and on Virgin trains. They said, "A measure of suprise and strength, as well as craftsmanship" as well as mumbling something about sounding like Shaft and Black Sabbath with a touch of soul! The enhanced CD also includes the video of debut single Brick Wall.
Bearos034 The Kitchen/Katastrophy Wife split 7" and enhanced CD (above centre). Just a couple of days ago I saw Katastrophy Wife open their LadyFest headline slot with Sweetheart, their track on this release. It's an increadible assault on the senses which i've described as the sound of wading through lava in the midst of a hurricane! Manda Rin's post-Bis project, The Kitchen, continue to plunder the best of 80s synth-pop whilst injecting a dark undercurrent (as the accompanying video for Here With Me shows) Also on the CD is The Spatula (Kitchen) remix of Sweetheart. Still waiting on the finalised artwork for this one so no definate release date yet.
Bearos037 LadyFest CD and double 10" (above right). At last I can show you the LadyFest cover (artwork arrived three days ago) and assure you that the CD is at the manufacturing plant. Whilst it might not be available on the LadyFest tour it will be available from myself and the Grrrl Band Network website from the start of next month. The vinyl and national distribution will follow before June is out. Track listing is included in the 28/04 news. E mail me if you want to reserve one of the limited vinyl.

As I mentioned above I caught up with the LadyFest tour earlier this week in Birmingham. Carina Round had dropped out so The Suffrajets joined Hooker and Katastrophy Wife. It was a powerful and passionate evening and it's rare to see three such quality bands sharing the same stage. Each band had their very particular take on the Rebel Girl styles of Bikini Kill as well as bands like L7 and Bratmobile - Hooker were very stripped down and punky, The Suffrajets intense and skillfully complex and Katastropy Wife dominated by Kat's facial contortions and vocal style wonderfully demonstrated when on one trach she was just accompanied by guitar and drums (posts now admirably filled by Andy and Darren from Sally)

When I return from the States i'll confirm the final tracklisting of Bearos040, the free CD for those of you on the e mailing list. Just getting final permission for some of the exclusive tracks that I want to include. They should be with you mid June - if you've not signed up do it now! You've still got time.

Mp3 of the month for June will be the first reissue of Bearos013, Electron by Saloon. I've had so many requests for copies of this even though it sold out in record time back in 2000. The band tell me that it will appear on a Saloon singles comilation at some stage this year but this is your first chance if you missed out first time round.

See you all next month!

10/07/03

Must admit that my break went on a little longer than I expected and here we are at the start of July!

The CrazyFace CD (Bearos033) and the Ladyfest UK 2003 CD (Bearos037CD) are now both available mail order with the added bonus of being able to order and pay over the web via PayPal. Just go to their site and follow the instructions. The special Bearos e mail address to give PayPal is payments@bearos.co.uk. Please don't use this for anything else or it'll get confusing - try hello@bearos.co.uk if you just want to chat!

Keep watching this space for details of the Katastrophy Wife/Kitchen split (Bearos034), the Ladyfest vinyl (Bearos037) and The Workhouse album (Bearos041)

Big change of plan for Bearos040, the free CD available to anyone who signs up for the Bearos e mailing list (do it here if you haven't already!) It was going to be a compilation of Bearos releases along with a couple of unreleased tracks. Now it's going to be as many exclusive tracks as possible with The Toques, Dreams of Tall Buildings, Grandscope, Baxxter, The Starries and The Regulars all donating unreleased material - it'll need some organising and a bit of mastering but it will be with you eventually and will be worth the extra wait.

The other compilation that will be available soon is the Bearos mp3 of the month CD. Obviously you've all been downloading those tracks by Jameson, Saloon, Jet Johnson etc etc over the last year (!) but next month you will be able to purchase the whole lot on one CD from the Bearos mp3 site I'll also order some copies to sell locally in Brum and via the website. It's been such a success that i'll certainly start loading tracks for Volume II from September.

Now for the bad news!! 12 months ago I anounced the great Bearos Summer Sale and have been running it ever since! From the end of this month the price for CD albums is going up to £8 with 7" and CD singles is going back to £2.50 (there will still be multi buy discounts)
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! GET THOSE POSTAL ORDERS POSTMARKED BEFORE THE END OF THE MONTH OR DROP ME AN E MAIL PAYMENT VIA PAYPAL
At the end of the day it's still cheaper than the shops!

27/07/03

THE T SHIRTS ARE BACK!! Also got some really nice hooded tops. Check out the product page for the two designs. We've sold so many locally that it's worth e mailing me to see what sizes (from skinny-rib to beer-belly sizes) and colours i've got left! T shirts are £5 and the hooded tops are just £10. Ideal festival wear (apart from the fact they are not waterproof!) or that comfy-comfort wear after a hard day at work.

There are a few gigs coming up in August that i've been asked to mention:
Sunday 3rd The Catapult Club presents Splendid Afternoon at the Custard Factory, Digbeth (The Toques and CrazyFace are both playing)
Wednesday 6th Blaze Promotions presents Grover, Solfar & Burnst at the Flapper & Firkin, Birmingham
Sunday 10th Grandscope support Ian McCulloch (amongst others) at DeMontfort Hall in Leicester
Monday 11th Ben Calvert appears at the "Post-Folk" night at the 12Bar Club in London
Saturday 16th Grandscope are at the Flapper & Firkin (always a great home town gig!)
Wednesday 27th The Toques are at the Jug of Ale (£1 in/£1 selected drinks)
Thursday 28th Wrasse Productions present Con-Dom, Onomatopoeia, Putrefier, Smell & Quim and Mort at Scruffy Murphy's, Dale End, Birmingham.

I'll be at the Birmingham shows and i'd really like to get to the London and Leicester shows if at all possible. The Grover show is their first since the dates in March and April to promote the album, Tiny Blue Sparks (Bearos032) It might be their last for a while as they are back in the studio working on new material and also producing tracks by Baxxter offshoot Palomar13.
If you are tempted by unremitting aural assault of noise and harsh electronics then make sure you are down at Scruffy Murphy's on 28th August. It's only a small place so the event should be intense (if not sold out - so get there early!)

The MP3 OF THE MONTH compillation (Bearos042) is now available via the Bearos mp3 site priced at $8.99. It includes all 13 tracks from the last 12 months (Dreams of Tall Buildings donated two tracks) including the long deleted Saloon single (Bearos013), remixes of Papa November, Grover and Jet Johnson as well as exclusive tracks by Meets Guitar, SuperA, Grandscope and The Starries. We're taking a short break but we'll be starting uploading more tracks from October 2003 as a start to volume 2.

Don't forget that the Summer Sale must end at the end of July - just gives you until the end of the week but i'll accept any orders with a July postmark - there's also PayPal if you really want to leave it until the last moment!

09/08/03

The mp3 of the month album - volume 1 (Bearos042) is back! You can oder it direct from the Bearos mp3 site or if you can wait until the end of the month i'll have copies to sell direct which will work out a little cheaper for non-US customers. We'll start uploading new tracks in September in preparation for volume 2.

Hot of the press (and even hotter out of the CD burner!) is news of the long awaited Og's Bunkadoo album, Mengekai, Muriarte (Bearos043). The Og's combine classic British prog-rock with the virtuoso post-rock strains of Tortoise and Don Cabellero to create a swirling mantra of shifting sounds and rhythms. This album includes rerecordings of The Reckoning of Boromir (original on Bearos027) and Camberwick Tock (original on Bearos042 and free download from Bearos mp3 site) as well as live favourites, Jim Carey and the bizarrely named The boy without a fairy in a jigsaw universe saw the light thicken and the crow make wing in the rooky wood. Completing the CD is Adverse Camber, a 35 minute epic composed in 2002 when the band thought it would be a good idea to all live together. A stunning piece of work that they performed in it's entirity last night at the Jug of Ale (picture right).It was supposed to be the last show with their longstanding drummer but he enjoyed himself so much that he's likely to want a couple more farewell gigs!

It certainly was a Splendid Afternoon last Sunday in the courtyard of The Custard Factory (it's the place where they used to make Bird's custard) It's such a wonderful place, sitting round the big square pond with the stage at one end. Bit difficult for the bands as they play to a huge expanse of water and are faced by a sheer wall on the other side that gives them a rather difficult echo.The Bearos stable was well represented by both CrazyFace (picture left) and The Toques. There were also great performances from Chris Tye and Murdoch. It was the first time i'd seen headliners Murdoch though they have been playing locally for a fair time now. You can hear the Ramones and 1985 My Bloody Valentine in their sound - steers rather close to The Strokes at times but there's still tons of originality from a really exciting band.

The long awaited free 5th Birthday CD (Bearos040) is now compiled and awaiting mastering which means i've got to get on and sort out some artwork. Full track listing next time.

Check out the live dates in the 27/07/03 news. Latest is that Grandscope will be supporting The Toques at The Jug of Ale on Wednesday 27th August (£1 in, £1 selected pints/bottles). Good luck to Grandscope who are playing with Ian McColloch in Leicester tomorrow and Ben Calvert for his London debut at the 12 Bar Club on Monday. This Autumn also sees the return of the Bearos Showcases at the Jug of Ale and i've already booked a rather special Haloween night with the death-metal country of Buick666 and the post-doom-rock of Grrrrrrover.

20/08/03

First things first, we had a fantastic review of the Jameson album, Ways we dreft (Bearos039) on the Drowned In Sound website
Here's an excerpt: "It’s claimed you never know what you’ve got until it’s gone," the review starts. "For a few fleeting years, however, between the mid-nineties to the waking moments of the new millennium, a select band of Midland music fans knew exactly what they’d got. They knew that on the eighth day, God created Jameson." It continues in a similar tone, building to a peak in, "Describing this incredible collection of studio rarities and live favourites in words alone is like describing a sunset to a blind man. It’s neigh on impossible to do it justice but you feel it’s your duty to mankind try your best. Just do yourself a favour and get this record immediately. Please."

You can now buy mp3 of the month album - volume 1 (Bearos042) directly from us for only £8 which is over £2 cheaper for UK customers than getting it from the Bearos mp3 site once you take postage into account. Our postage free in the UK, otherwise add £1.50.

Here's the final track listing for Bearos040. I'd originally planned a compilation of already released tracks but it's ended up over 80% exclusive tracks!
1. Dept Noise X Terror - Intro
2. Owen Tromans - Three (taken from his second album "From a Lost Library" Sacred Geometry002)
3. Baxxter - Shoe
4. Dreams of Tall Buildings - Boyhood Forest
5. Grover - Another Tunnel
6. Grandscope - Traveller
7. Super A - The Zoo
8. KlusterB - Feature 85B
9. Og's Bunkadoo Band - Kerry's Shirt
10. Baker Boys Meets Guitar - Biddy Mulligan
11. The Regulars - Today at last
12. The Starries - Pictured
13. The Toques - High Hopes
14. The Treble Kickers - Trigger Cut (live)
15. The Splendid - No.7
16. Papa November - Still Reaching (taken from the debut album "From the startline " Bearos031)
17. San Lorenzo - Mirror Witch (taken from their second album "The Sea is a Map" Bearos024)
18. Ben Calvert - No Lullaby

The cover sees the long awaited return of Angus, one of the Bearos cats that used to grace the index page of the old style website. If you've not signed up for this CD there's still time: just go to www.topica.com/lists/bearosnews or click the button on the left to join the e mailing list and follow the instructions.

More details next month about the Bearos Showcases and the arrival of The Workhouse album (Bearos041)

09/09/03

The Workhouse album, "The End of the Pier" (Bearps041) arrived at the end of last week. They won't be in the shops until mid October at the earliest but you can buy advance copies direct from us for just £8 (includes P&P in the UK, otherwise add £1.50). Whilst the world went from Grunge to Brit-pop to Pop Idol these four young men kept the beauty of guitar music alive. Taking their influences from 80s bands like The Chameleons, Kitchens of Distinction and The Cocteau Twins they weave sweeping moodscapes full of passion and virtuosity. They've releases records for a veritable Who's Who of record labels (Rocket girl, Livid Meercat, Great Pop Experiment (ex-Earworm), Awkward Silence) and with American bands like Interpol now admitting to similar influences it's a great time for the band return to Bearos Records with their new album.

It's been an exhausting few weeks of gigs. The Rapture and The Locust were fine out of town visitors and the double headline Toques/Grandscope (picture left) gig was a real celebration of great music in Birmingham. Since the last news Grandscope have been played on Steve Lamaq's Evening Session and have a London show at The Verge in Camden on 30th October. The same night we'll be taking Grover, The Workhouse and Ben Calvert down to Po Na Na's in Brighton as one of the Get Involved nights. We're also finalising a similar date in Leicester as well as solo shows for Grover, The Workhouse and Ben. More news as I get it.

This weekend is ArtsFest2003 in Birmingham which is still the biggest free festival in the UK. Look out for The Toques who are playing the newly refurbished Bull Ring square on Sunday afternoon.

27/10/03

Next week sees the release of The Leafy Underground, the debut album by Ben Calvert (Bearos045). Ben's debut (Bearos020) in April 2001 was a series of misty, lonesome travellogues. In 2003 he finds himself a family man. Whilst his post-folk still paints a world of eternal Autumn it's more like Sunday mornings and leafy walks with Nick Drake, Nico and Ben Watt as your quiet companions. Since the summer of 2001 he has been playing with various local musicians and the band has developed arrangements of his solo material. The album includes solo songs, arrangements for piano, as well as for the three-piece band that forms the core of the live act that will be on tour with The Workhouse in October/November 2003 as well as playing several headline shows (see below)

The Ladyfest (Bearos037) and The Workhouse (Bearos041) CDs should be in your local shops now. The Ladyfest CD has been selling so well via myself and Ladyfest Manchester that there's not that many copies left! Earlier days for The Workhouse but I predict another popular release. It's been played by John Peel, Mary Ann Hobbs and John Kennedy (XFM). Last week the band went down to Maida Vale to record their debut session for John Peel.
Peter from the bands e mailed me when they got back and said, "We played four new songs, The Last of the Big Songs, Boxing Day, Aberdeen and Chancers. All sounded great, Chris sings on two of them, Boxing Day and Aberdeen. Boxing Day is amazing, it's like a colder End of The Pier Looks like it will be on 26th November according to John's website, just before the Oxford and Birmingham gigs."

A lot of people have been asking about live dates for The Workhouse. Here are the ones we've arranged so far.
30th October Po Na Nas, Brighton with Grover and Ben Calvert ( BBC Radio One "OneLive" Fringe)
22nd November Lamplighters, Leicester with Grandscope and Ben Calvert
28th November Wheatsheaf, Oxford with Grandscope (tbc)
29th November Jug of Ale, Birmingham with Grandscope and Ben Calvert
There's also another London date awaiting confirmation following on from that great show in September with Jet Johnson.

Here's some other Ben Calvert dates:
7th November The Talbot, Stoke with Glissando & Dragon Rapide
8th November The Rainbow, Birmingham with Dogheads
9th November Telford's Warehouse, Chester (Solo show)
18th November The Cellar, Oxford (TBC)
27th November Manchester (TBC)
8th December 12 Bar, London

Apart from the gig in Brighton Grover also play the Bearos Halloween Show at the Jug of Ale, Birmingham on 1st November (it was going to be on the 31st October until we all realised we'd all be at The Flaming Lips!) They will be appearing as GRRRRRRover, a one-off collaboration with Andy Parker from Sally/Katastrophy Wife. It'll be loud!!
Also playing are Leicester's Mark Hibbert (Artists Against Success) and Palomar13 (punky stuff from ex-members of Baxxter and The Starries)
I'll hopefully have a few pictures of the event for the November update as well as details of The Regulars retrospective Effortless (Bearos046)

Finally November's mp3 of the month is the Turquoise remix of the two KlusterB tracks from Bearos019. Turquoise has worked with GodFlesh, Torque, Cable Regime and more recently Grover. He's done a great job splicing bits of two very different tracks with a ferocious drum 'n'bass beat. Not sure what we've got sorted for December but you can be sure it'll be suitably festive!

8/11/03

Thanks to everone who braved the dreadful weather and came down to the Bearos Showcase in Brighton. Each day we were down for the Radio One week seemed to start fine, gradually cloud over during breakfast with torrential rain by lunchtime. However it was quite nice sitting in the sea front cafes watching the stormy seas! Thanks to Kev from "Getting Involved" and all the staff at the exquisite Po Na Nas for making us so welcome.
The Workhouse played tracks from The End of the Pier (Bearos041) as well as new tracks from this month's John Peel session. Ben Calvert continued the proceedings in a quieter vein with a great set by Grover to finish the night (I know they've got loud guitars but I thought the shout of "The Darkness!!" from the audience was a little out of place!) We've already been invited down for another showcase next year - always a pleasure to visit Brighton and hopefully we'll see a little sunshine.

Two days later we were back in Birmingham and decorating the Jug of Ale for a belated Bearos Halloween Gig. Black drapes, inflatable skeletons, spiders and pumpkin lanterns. Simon from Grover came up with the idea of arranging the lights in a huge inverted cross and the stage was set for a night of fun and nonsense!
I'd not seen Palomar13 before but with Greg (ex-Baxxter) and Geordie (ex-Starries) forming the core of the group it had the potential of being something special (it also ran the risk of descending into a complete shambles!) What we got was a tight professional band, full of energy and great songs (OK they were dressed as GhostBusters and opened with their version of the film's theme but it was Halloween!) The references are punk/grunge/hardcore with a twist of pop, certainly worth keeping an eye on.

Mark Hibbert was the perfect interlude between the walls of sound. His witty and poignant one man show always makes him a welcome guest. He left me with a copy of the new MJ Hibbert and the Validators album This is not a library (AAS036) which leave me hoping he'll bring the band on his next visit. Highly recommended.
Now to the headline act GRRRRRover, a one-off collaboration between Grover and Andy Parker from Katastrophy Wife/Sally. Andy's been a huge Grover fan and would happily join the band permanently if the opportunity arose. Grover have always had the potential to be loud (especially last year's gig with The Grey Wolves) but this was awesome. I've great memories of early Sally gigs where the guitar rumble would make your bowels quake and pints start juddering across the bar. The set was a mixture of very old and recent material including a rendition of Another Tunnel from Bearos040. They closed the night with a very satanic cover of Sabbath's Sweat Leaf that left the audience braying for more.

The Workhouse session for John Peel is going to be broadcast on 26th November 2003. Mark from the band gave me a CD of the tracks in Brighton. They are all new and not on the album. A couple of them have got great vocals which really add to the dark atmosphere of the tracks. The band have also recently recorded a session for BBC World Service. It includes four new recordings of album tracks and i'll try and find out a broadcast date for those of you who want to track it down.
The Workhouse pay their first visit to Birmingham later this month (Jug of Ale Saturday 29th November) as part of their short tour with dates with Grandscope and Ben Calvert (see 27/10/03 news for details) There's now a confirmed London date at 93 Feet east on Monday 8th December and i'm sure there will be more dates in the New Year.

We continue to get some great reviews. Record Collector (November03) writes great things about the Ladyfest CD (bearos037) and this month's Logo gives 4/5 stars to both Ladyfest and the Grover album either follow the links or pick up the free magazine in the London area. Whilst we're mentioning capitocentric mags the NME have taken a shine to The Workhouse and it's listed in their "What's on the NME stereo: sounds that are currently rocking our world". "post-rock loveliness - like Mogwai on tea and sedatives" they say - where's that full review you promised!!?

Another date for the diary is a Twisted Nerve night starring Aidan Smith at The Custard Factory Theatre on Saturday 6th December. There's a strong supporting line up including Willis - more news later this month.

3/12/03

"When it comes to post rock, Mogwai have got a lot to answer for," starts Anthony Thornton in the 22nd November's NME. "However, for their debut album Oxford's The Workhouse have seized on the genre's potential and delivered an album of twinkling beauty." Thanks mate, I could not have put it better myself!
Great to see the album in HMV but Virgin need to do a bit of catching up (it's still cheaper if you get it direct from us though!)
The John Peel session went down a storm though some e mail correspondents were a bit taken aback by the presence of vocals on a couple of tracks - all I can say is that you only have to see the power of the live performance to be an instant believer. This is a band with so much potential.
John Kennedy's invited them to do a session for his show on XFM in the New Year. There's also plans for them to play one of the XFM 10th Aniversary Shows in London and they are tipped to support a rather explosive act on Bella Union Records.

As if I wasn't busy enough, we're trying to get another couple of limited releases out before Christmas. The Regulars retrospective Effortless (Bearos046)is all pressed and just waiting artwork. Pete from the band says he's designing a mini Regulars fanzine to go with the release. In true 80s indie style we'll photocopy it as badly as possible, cut off the end of words and staple half the pages upsidedown - actually it'll be less effort to do it properly! The CD spans the band's whole career and whilst not exhaustive of their sporadic demos and releases it paints a pasionate picture of their love for great tunes, loud guitars and classic indie-pop.

The other release is one i've wanted to do for ages. Bearos047 is Dreams of Tall Buildings live at ArtsFest 2001. A wonderful performance of their work around the time of the double 7" release (Bearos021) about which The Wire recently wrote: "The mood rages from Japanese underwater samba instructions, to a kind of stately music for sick babies, to monkeys with harmonicas. Its crafty ass thing." (November 2003) The performance was in the rehersal room of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. They'd visited the venue some weeks before and come up with a collection of material that would fit the wonderful acoustics and pannelled surroundings as well as incorporating the grand piano. I've not got any good pictures of DOTB so thanks to Jenny from Capsule for the use of the picture of Justin doing his stuff.
In true DOTB style this release is going to be beautifully packaged - individually drawn card sleeves, typed track lists, wrapped, stamped and tied by hand...and tragically limited. Might be one to reserve.

In the January we'll get The Starries and Baxxter retrospectives sorted and there's also a couple of more major releases being negotiated for early next year.

Back to the gigs! Apart from The Workhouse we've also seen Grandscope and Ben Calvert hitting the road.
Grandscope followed our footsteps down to Brighton and played an excellent gig at The Hanbury Arms. Their three dates with The Workhouse just got better and better finishing with a storming headline show in Birmingham last weekend. I've just noticed that I've taken the picture (below left) from the same spot as in September (News 9/9/03) - how long's the hair going to be Dave? Auditioning for The Darkness?!!

Ben Calvert's really found his soul-mates with drummer Kieran and guitarist John-Paul (above right). The addition of slide guitar to Rollin' City makes it a haunting opener to the set and the tracks from the new album The Leafy Underground (Bearos045) have a real richness to them. Great gigs in Birmingham and Leicester with The Workhouse and Ben also went down as well as ever at The Talbot in Stoke-on-Trent. Sad news from John of "The Music Room" in Stoke; he's cancelled his gigs leading up to Christmas as the management at The Talbot are putting on discos upstairs and it's proving hard to hear yourself think, let alone enjoy the bands. It's a real shame and I wish him all the best in finding an alternative venue in 2004.

Just enough time to tell you about the Bearos Christmas gig: It's at The Jug of Ale, Moseley, Birmingham on Friday 19th December. Headlining a night of festive cheer will be CrazyFace which unfortunately will be singer Simon's last gig with the band. In order not to let this dampen the fun too much we've arranged CrazyOke where a selection of familiar faces will, with the help of the rest of the band, be demonstrating why they might be the most "suited" (or most "unsuited") replacement. Jameson are the very, very special guests with their first gig in almost two years and Simon (Grover) Fox and Clair Horton will open the evening with a few gentle acoustic numbers to get you in that good-will-to-all-men mood.
Hope to see you there and don't forget Aidan Smith headlining the Twisted Nerve night at the Custard Factory, Digbeth this Saturday (6th)