Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom!

2011-10-04T16:28:00.001+01:00

Fireworks Night announce release party line-up

– October 4, 2011Posted in: News

5000, Organ Grinder and Brainlove presents A joint release party with:
FIREWORKS NIGHT & BLEEDING HEART NARRATIVE
plus support from BASTARDGEIST
and DJ Rich Thane of The Line of Best Fit
Thursday 17th November 2011, The Wheelbarrow, LondonFireworks Night celebrate the release of their new album ‘One Winter, One Spring’ on Organ Grinder Records (November 7th), which sees the band lovingly embrace two of popular music’s most seductive elements; rhythm and the pleasure of the chorus. The intricate arrangements and compelling lyrical narratives of their previous records still remain but this time they’re played by a band smitten with music as a vehicle for joy as well as sorrow, a combination which has made them an unusually exhilarating band – able at once to move feet, head and heart.
Listen: soundcloud.com/organ-grinder-records/settle-down-by-fireworks-night

“A dizzyingly talented, dash-cutting ensemble trading in claret confessionals and gravel voiced, tobacco-stained drama, all told via nigh-on perfect string accompaniment and fantastic songwriting flair.” – Drowned in Sound

Bleeding Heart Narrative are a London sextet who weave together beautiful sounds with a haunting intensity. You might hear the shimmer of Tortoise or Steve Reich built into a song that could be played on an Arcade Fire-sized stage, or pick out Battles-esque repetition in a Mogwai-sized crescendo – but it’ll always be Bleeding Heart Narrative you’re listening to. ‘Bison’ is their first release on Brainlove Records, and follows their acclaimed 2010 album ‘Tongue Tangled Hair’.

Listen: soundcloud.com/brainlove/shoals

“Musically sumptuous and highly arresting, pulled off with an enviable sense of beauty and inspired musicality” – The Quietus
“Filled with lush instrumentation” – The Line Of Best Fit

Opening proceedings is Bastardgeist, the brainchild of Chicago-based musician Joel Midden. Through layers of kalimba, processed vocals and a handful of circuitous samples and found percussion he has crafted a bedroom opus of singular vision and ambitious design.

Listen: soundcloud.com/brainlove/bastardgeist-cops

“A bed of stimulating sonics… detailed yet uncluttered with a captivating beauty” – Shook Mag
8.00 doors
£4 at WeGotTickets | £6 door
The Wheelbarrow | 55 Camden High Street NW1 7JH

Source: God Is In The TV Zine (http://s.tt/13qv9)

Fireworks Night announce release party line-up

Luke Hannaford

– October 4, 2011Posted in: News

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Source: God Is In The TV Zine (http

Webdoc.com

2011-08-04T13:34:00.000+01:00

I made an Organ Grinder Records 'doc' / 'thing' / 'page' on the futuristic website Webdoc. It might be the new MySpace.

How's my driving?

2011-05-15T00:20:00.000+01:00

Terrible. I haven't driven in over 10 years and the last time I did I wrote off an old Ford Fiesta whilst aptly listening to Blow Out by Radiohead. I don't remember the registration number of that car but I do remember the song I was listening to when I crashed it.

It's a bit of a blessing I don't drive because I won't have to share the epic amount of driving on the Smoke Fairies tour which starts tomorrow. (EDIT: it actually started yesterday but Blogger had gone the same way as a failed Grand National horse. It's back now but I've lost all the nice links, photos and stuff which is a shame - bad Google)

If you have a glance at the last three dates in particular you'll see why I'm quite pleased I'm not driving.

May 13 - Brighton

May 14 - Clitheroe

May 15 - Hebden Bridge

May 16 - Edinburgh

May 18 - York

May 19 - Liverpool

May 20 - London

May 22 - Cardiff

May 23 - Rochester

May 24 - Southampton

May 26 - Barcelona

May 28 - Newcastle

Those last three dates are 2200 miles alone, so yeah, I'll be trying to keep the driver(s) awake so I'll probably blast out the incredible new Tune-Yards album.

Fireworks Night shows & album news in handy flyer format

2011-04-27T14:45:00.001+01:00

My preposterous interview with Sea of Bees

2011-04-08T16:04:00.000+01:00

I interviewed Julie in a luxurious Travelodge room whilst on tour with Smoke Fairies. It's fair to say we were both a little inebriated at the time. Have a listen:

Sea of Bees interview by hells-belles

The hunt for a BACH Bogen

2011-04-04T13:11:00.009+01:00

***the hunt is over see Update 5 at the bottom***

The BACH.Bogen is a cunningly constructed curved bow which enables string players to play all four strings at the same time. It looks like this:

...and here's a video of one in action performed by the guy who invented the thing.

This is an awesomely intriguing invention and I need to get my shovel-like hands on one; but where from?

I've emailed numerous musical instrument shops but haven't had any luck so far. Bridgewood and Neitzert (who recently did a wonderful repair job on my viola after I inadvertently tore a large hole in it) said that they're "sadly not aware of any manufacturers for this bow."

During my online search though I did come across a marvellous site called The Viola Workshop and there's a nice little section on the site entitled 'A Brief History of the Viola' which claims that the viola is entering a 'golden age' with its increasing popularity. I'll certainly raise a glass to that wildly optimistic claim!

I'll be documenting my, probably tedious and non-eventful, progress right here. If you know where I could obtain one or know someone that might be able to offer a lead please get in contact.

UPDATE 1: I've just had an email back from Anton Lukoszevieze who's a superb cellist that uses one of these bows. He gave me the email address for the man who invented it; I just tried emailing him and it bounced back as 'failed to be delivered". Maybe he's given up on his creation. The search goes on.

UPDATE 2. Helpful bow maker Howard Ball has got back to me with a few suggestions of people to try. You can see him in action here

UPDATE 3. Tom Blackburn from Blackburn Stringed Instruments said I should try J. P. Guivier and with a name like that I'm expecting him to brandish a bach bow crafted by wizards. Tom also suggested I should Google 'Bach Bogen'... WHY THE HELL DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT? [/sarcasm] He also seems to share the 'londonviolins' domain with Bridgewood with the simple difference of a .com and .co.uk. I imagine they duel with each other regularly on ferocious steeds wielding huge 'cello bows for lances. The prehistoric-wild goose chase continues.

UPDATE 4. I had such high hopes for the awesomely named JP Guivier but he's crashed out with this reply: "We don't sell the Bach Bogen bows. I am afraid I don't know who does" BUT I also received an email from someone who I think is a supplier of these bows so fingers crossed. Maan, this is as viveting as watching Deal or No Deal with weird beard Edmunds.

UPDATE 5. The hunt is over but the dog hasn't caught the fox; the dogs were close but the fox surrounded himself in a diamond encrusted impenetrable box. The cost of one of these bows ranges from £500 to £1500, which isn't that unreasonable but still way out of my range......for now.

Hear me interview Jeanette Leech on ResonanceFM today

2011-04-02T10:09:00.001+01:00

A few weeks ago I met Jeanette Leech in a probably-far-too-noisy-to-be-conducting-a-radio-interview pub in Crouch Hill and I asked her some questions about her smashing book Seasons they Change and I spent hours and hours editing it into a nice concise quarter of an hour chunk. Listening back to my voice though made me wonder how anyone understands anything I say... ever.

Anyway, you can listen to it on Dexter Bentley's show at noon today, more details here

UPDATE: you can listen again to the show here

Smoke Fairies on XFM

2011-04-01T13:34:00.001+01:00

A week or so ago we popped into the XFM studios in Leicester Square to record a session for John Kennedy's Xposure show. There was something quite pleasing surreal about lugging massive amps and drums through one of London's biggest tourist traps.

We played Storm Song, Devil In My Mind, Summer Fades and Killing Joke's Requiem. It was aired last night and you can listen back to it here I wonder if it's the first time they've ever had a viola solo on XFM?

22 April - all day gig party and BBQ at the Brixton Windmill

2011-03-28T16:03:00.004+01:00

I'm hosting an event under the SoundsXP banner in April and I'm super pleased with the line-up. A couple of weeks ago I thought this show was doomed 'cos after contacting over 75 bands/managers/agents we only had one band confirmed but now our not-very good Friday has turned into VERY good Friday and I'm now looking forward to it muchly, as you can see from my Last.fm page, I've been listening to Hannah Peel's album an awful lot so it's going to be great to see her at one of my favourite London venues with a burger in one hand and an ale in the other. I'll be djing at some point in the evening too.

Go over here for tickets and here's the blurb:

April 22nd isn’t just ‘Good Friday’ anymore, it’s Bloody-Brilliant-Music-And-Grub Friday at the Windmill, with an all-day line up of bands and a BBQ laid on for the Bank Holiday. We’re still adding courses to this banquet but the lip-smacking line up includes Hannah Peel, Laura J Martin, Fuzzy Lights, Dignan Porch, Cheatahs and I Spy with more to be announced shortly.

HANNAH PEEL

Hannah Peel is a strikingly talented multi-instrumentalist, whose debut album Broken Waves (Static Caravan) was produced by Mike Lindsay of Tunng. Uncut described the album as “vibrant folk-pop with a stunning voice to savour (4 stars)” while her brilliant cover of the Cocteau Twin’s ‘Sugar Hiccup’ graces the latest Rough Trade Counter Culture 2010 compilation. Hannah’s playing with a full band at this gig so expect drama!

LAURA J MARTIN

Laura J Martin is a one woman whirling dervish who wraps flute, mandolin and loops around gloriously crafted songs. She’s won over the likes of Marc Riley,,who she recently performed a 6 Music session for, and Rob Da Bank who said "Laura J Martin is one of the freshest out there....musically gifted, addictive and sodding brave please make sure you buy her records and most importantly see her live!'

FUZZY LIGHTS

Fuzzy Lights are Xavier and Rachael from Cambridge plus friends, who play a reverb-soaked mix of psych-folk, Americana and noise-rock. Their first album was described as “gorgeous” by Huw Stephens and second album Twin Feathers (released August 2010), with more prominent vocals, is receiving similar accolades.

DIGNAN PORCH

Dignan Porch are brothers Sam and Joe Walsh plus friends Hayley, Phillippa and Ben from Tooting. Their fuzzy dreampop, recorded on Tascam 8-track, has attracted praise from the likes of Pitchfork and Vice magazine, and they’ve been snapped up by Captured Tracks, for whom they’ve released an album, Tendrils, and a new EP. Rough Trade are also smitten by them: “Dignan Porch are several matches made in heaven…bursting with coolness and melodies to kill or die for”.

CHEATAHS

Cheatahs was originally the solo project of Nathan Hewitt, (also in Little Death) and is now a trio. Their hazy lo-fi tunes have been released by such gurus of cool as Young and Lost, Paradise Vendors and Marshall Teller and they’ve shared bills with Best Coast, Crocodiles, Ariel Pink and Wavves. Rough Trade raved thus: “sounds like a lo-fi Elliott Smith skateboarding with Wavves - it’s totally amazing”.

AFTER SIX (ex-Friends of the Bride / The Fog Band)

This will be the debut performance for Bobby Grindrod's new outfit, entitled After Six. The band are so new they don't even have a MySpace yet but if any of his previous bands Firends of the Bride and The Fog Band are anything to go by they're sure to be a sumptuous treat of a band.

a mumbling fool is interviewed at Judy's Vintage Fair

2011-03-04T08:36:00.001Z

The Fair was rammed and there was a pitiful selection of men's clothing but I still managed to pick up a delicious paisley tie. No surprise there then.

A Tour In Photos

2011-03-04T00:22:00.002Z

This post should have happened weeks ago but various dilapidated obstacles got in the way.

Many political manifestos have included the Three 'E's but you only need to attach two 'E's to the Smoke Fairies' UK tour and in this case it isn't the same word lazily repeated three times for dramatic effect. The two words are 'exceded expectations'; one thing you're unlikely to get from a political party. To sell out most venues on a debut headline tour in the desolate month of January is heartwarming and encouraging stuff.

Enough with the rubbish, tenuously linked E words; here is the tour in photos:

Kaf and Jess doing their 'witch house' poses for NME

Manager extraordinaire Matt utilising his travel printer

Lights

OUCH!

Frequenting haunted pubs

How many candles?

Two peas in a pod

an angel amongst Fairies

How many pedals does one viola player need?

The Smithereens

Marc and Mark proudly in place at BBC Manchester where we went for a session on Marc Riley's show. Marc was refreshingly fanatical about everything as per usual which reminded me how wonderful it is to have him on our airwaves. I also happened to meet Gruff Rhys who's one of my favourite song writers as he was doing a session in the studio next door.

Part of the NME review of the Brighton show. I know I'm a tall chap and probably even a 'cello would look like a violin under my chin but it's not, it's a viola. Everyone called me Frank after that came out, which I rather liked!

Piccadilly records

would you like a Lionel with your hat?

one of the more pleasant dressing room graffiti appearances.

at times the anticipation is unbearable.

as blurry as our heads the next morning

Rob is overwhelmed by the tour malaise but as per usual Jules Sea of Bees has such a blazing supply of enthusiasm that it makes you feel dead inside in comparison.

sound will be checked

One of the many pleasingly non-travelodges we stayed in. Thanks Mr Tour Manager. Sorry guests for waking you up at silly o'clock in the morning by setting off the fire alarm.

Kris finds a special poster tucked away.

How many stairs?

Blasts from the past

at Bristol Fleece

Sea of Bees at Bush Hall. Not strictly part of our tour but they kept touring long after we'd returned to normality and overcome the longing to be back on tour....

...and in May we'll be doing it all again but in a slightly different order. Superb. Keep an eye on the Songkick page for details.

Smoke Fairies tour diary part 2

2011-01-24T19:38:00.001Z

We arrived at The Sage last night to be greeted at load-in by a plethora of helpful chaps that seemingly love putting things on trolleys, which made the arduous daily task of carrying a million and one things into the venue easy as pie. Is pie easy? I guess so. It's such a pleasingly professional venue. We've played The Sage before but in the larger room supporting Richard Hawley, I remember someone saying to us at the time that they've had support acts here before who've gone on to headline the smaller room and it's heartening to actually make the transition. What's more, we very nearly sold out the 400 capacity venue. In Gateshead. In January; surely the quietest of months for gigs. Ridiculous.

The previous night we played the Lancaster Library which seemed like an odd place to house a live gig considering the usual mode of conduct in a library is to be as quiet as humanly possible, but it turned out to be a marvellous setting with book cases framing the audience. The show was performed in the Sci-Fi and Fantasy section and the sound desk was aptly in the Audio Book section.

We had a day off in Lancaster the day before the library show and were planning on having a nice meal for my birthday, followed by the inevitable booze fest, after the long drive from Nottingham. We turned up at this gastro pub and I was lead into this dark room and was hit by a roar of "surprise" by friends and family. It was flabbergasting, completely unexpected and bizarrely disorientating having all these people I've known for years in this room in Lancaster. It was such a lovely surprise. Fun times.

The shows on the 19th and 20th were at Glee. Luba in Birmingham and Nottingham respectively. The Birmingham show ended in disaster when drummer Rob fell down a hole when we were loading out resulting in a tenis ball sized swollen ankle and he spent the rest of the evening with buckets full of ice round his ankle. The Nottingham show would have proved an impossibility had it not been for copious amounts of painkillers a foot strap and Rob's unflappable demeanour of "it'll be fine". If it had happened to me I'd be constantly crying like a little boy who's just witnessed his new bike being crushed by a freak incident with a steam roller.

The show must go on, and it has. Hat's off to Rob.

Smoke Fairies tour diary part uno

2011-01-19T10:53:00.000Z

I'm sitting back stage three days into the tour listening to the luscious sounds of Sea of Bees who are supporting us on this tour, she has a voice that would turn even the sternest of men into cuddly teddy bears.

Brighton Jam was most enjoyable on Monday. The venue itself is clearly built for vertically challenged folk but luckily I didn't knock myself out on the low flying beams. Due to the low ceilings it made viewing from the stage pretty odd cos you could only see the front row but judging by the voluminous applause you could tell there were a lot of appreciative people out there. It was a smashing turn out considering it was a Monday night and in January, the miserable month where people mainly stay at home and sob into their empty wallets.

I've discovered that sushi is literally the best food to have before a gig cos it's light and tasty. We made a bit of an error in Brighton cos we had Italian which was lovely but I wanted a sleep after eating that and not play a gig. It was seriously good risotto though.

"who are the band" was shouted out from the audience last night at the wedgewood rooms in Southsea. It always feels like a proper rock n' roll gig when Kaf and Jess introduce us: "aaaand on the bass is..."

I shouldn't miss out the first night at the shabby but strangely charming venue that is the Forum, a converted toilet in Tunbridge wells. What more can I say about that place? Dodgy are playing there soon, remember them?

Follow me on Twitter if you like @Neil_Estate

London Scala Announcement - European & UK Tour dates - update

2011-01-14T14:21:00.000Z

London Scala Announcement - European & UK Tour dates - update

Smoke Ferrys in Ireland

2010-12-17T12:25:00.001Z

After a particularly long and frustrating wait at (definitely not in London) Luton airport courtesy of Ryan Air we finally arrived in Kerry well into the night to be greeted by this incredibly Irish looking chap brandishing a sign that said 'Smoke Ferrys'. It was most amusing.

The drive from Kerry airport to Dingle took about an hour across small winding roads and we only passed a couple of vehicles the whole journey. Our driver is a tour guide for eight months of the year and he treated us to a few bits of trivia about the surrounding area:

"to the left of you is a beautiful peninsula... glorious mountains all around us... of course you can't see this because it's pitch black outside"

...which was a shame but the stars shone bright so at least we saw something lovely.

Luckily we weren't too late for a few beverages at the local pub, Guinness naturally. After a conversation with one of the regulars about the Other Voices festival and how many acclaimed acts have played there like Elbow, Seasick Steve, Richard Hawley, Jarvis Cocker, The National, *cough* Snow Patrol *splutter* James Blunt, we decide that drinking copious amounts into the wee small hours is probably not the best preparation for an important show that's being filmed in HD in a church. Surprisingly sensible.

We arrived at this little church for soundcheck the following morning at 10am to be met with yet another technical problem, Kaf's guitar not working mainly because it's old, or in other words; vintage and well cool and stuff, ok? so what if it constantly goes out of tune, just listen to that tone maaaaaaaaaaaan. The techies dismantled the guitar and fixed it in a flash.

I found myself lingering around afterwards to catch some of Everything Everything's soundcheck. I do find their frenetic indie pop pretty nifty. I felt like a bit of a saddo fan boy though.

After that we wandered around the lovely little place that is Dingle, had some tasty vegetarian Goulash then sat for a few hours in nervous anticipation... what to wear?... let's have a whisky... oh, it's the most expensive whisky on the earth? ... right then.

The big moment came and after a spot of makeup we headed to the church and in through a side window at which point I smashed my head hard on the window pane and briefly thought I'd pass out before cursing myself for being such a lumbering idiot. The show itself was going fine until half way through Summer Fades when Kaf forgot the lyrics which caused momentary panic before realising it's TV and we can start again! which we did, twice. We played six songs in total, three of which will appear on the TV show at some point in the new year. I'll post it here after it's broadcast. It should look fantastic as they had these wonderfully vibrant blue and violet lights shining brightly on stage, like this:

The following day we set of at ludicrous o'clock in the morning to head to snowy Dublin for a show that had initially been moved to a different venue, as support act to Laura Marling, but then Laura became too sick to play so the show was cancelled leaving us in a bit of a pickle. Many flustered phone calls later and the show is back on at the original venue The Working Man's Club and free entry to boot. There was no support band booked so Kris and Rob valiantly stepped in to do a stripped down version of their band Story Books but they were infected by the Smoke Fairies' something-will-stop-working-on-stage-any-time-now virus and sadly had to cut their set short. More on those tune mongers soon. The Smoke Fairies' set naturally had a technical blip or two but it was a good show and well attended; a few crazies were in tow but you're bound to get that with a free show. And with that you have the last show of 2010 for Smoke Fairies. Bring on 2011.

Smoke Fairies - European Tour Diary

2010-12-04T20:25:00.004Z

I dragged my exhausted body into the lobby of the hotel in Madrid at silly o'clock in the morning and the driver said, “We’re stopping en route to the airport to pick up some people from Edwyn Collins" and for a brief moment I forgot my extreme tiredness and am reminded of what the hell I've been doing for the last week and a half.

Day 1 - Paris

As with most days on tour much of the day is taken up being on a variety of motorways and on this particular day being under the sea in a tunnel for a bit too. I'd never been to Paris before so was looking forward to catching a glimpse of the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. We were travelling along this french motorway when we noticed the Sat Nav claiming we were a mere 5 minutes away which I hoped was all lies but it turned out to be pretty accurate; we arrived at the venue Fleche d' Or and it's like we're in the Willesden of Paris, not an Arc or Tower in site. Despite that, the venue itself was lovely, the decor nicely reflecting its name; Fleche d' Or meaning The Golden Arrow, a defunct train line that ran through the area in the 1920s.We were fed well and the show was well received.

In the van on the way to the hotel after the show someone shouted out "there's the Eiffel Tower!" and the rest of us turned around in different directions and missed it. That pretty much sums up this touring lark.

Day 2 - The long drive to The Hague

What makes a long drive tolerable? Michael Bolton on the stereo that's what. Someone, I think it was Jess, thought it would be a great/silly idea if everyone bought an embarrassing CD with them, hence Michael Bolton. Smooooooth.

We arrived at this nice hostel Den Haag, dumped our stuff then headed over to the Crossing Border Festival. We caught Ed Harcourt playing the Deuite Kerk (German Church) which was the same place we played the following day. His voice sounded ultra luscious in the cavernous church surroundings and Black Dress sounded particularly lovely. He did one song sans amplification and took on the wandering minstrel role, strolled up the aisle of the church and perched on a pew next to Kaf. He dedicated the next song to Smoke Fairies which was sweet.

Day 3 - Still in The Hague

We had a rare opportunity to wander around the city so wander we did and we passed many a cafe that brandished a sign with the words 'Slag Room' on it. We were pretty bemused until we stopped off at a pancake house and discovered the words were Dutch for whipped cream, and what better to go with whipped cream than hot chocolate and lashings of vodka. The dutch certainly know how to treat a hot drink.

Our show in the church that night was a little problematic to say the least. The guitar amps were behaving like they had a particularly bad cold, which incidentally most of the band did have at this point. I turned round on stage one moment and saw one of the coughing and spluttering amps being stretchered off to be replaced by a nice healthy specimen. The next moment Jessica's tuning pedal had been infected and her guitar cut out resulting in a sharp piercing noise when the offending article was replaced. Instead of looking embarrassed Jess wittily remarked "well, that rather destroyed the atmosphere we were creating" and carried on like nothing had happened. It was a valiant show.

After the show Kaf and Jess tootled off to do some kind of promotional radio thing and the rest of us were left with the task of loading the van before Local Natives' show in this impressive theatre round the corner. We also had time for a nice alcoholic beverage but not enough time to fully make use of the ample supplies in the fridge. Drummer Rob happened upon an idea to take a few cans with us for later so he asked this guy in a smashing cowboy hat if he thought the people would mind, unbeknown to Rob that guy was Kurt Wagner of Lambchop fame. In that American-country drawl Kurt simply said "take the whole crate and walk out looking like you know what you're doing" .

Local Natives were incredible, all youthful energy and fervent enthusiasm. They walked on stage and after the first note every single person stood up out of their seats and started dancing. It was one of those moments where it feels like you're witnessing musical history where nothing will be the same again...but then the next day nothing has changed. I think I have a bit of a man crush on the bassist too. He finger picks - on the bass - has one of those 'cool' indie partly shaved haircuts and mid length trousers and still I think this.

Deeper into the night the few that remained somehow found ourselves on a karaoke bus. It was a classic flourish.

Day 4 - Antwerp

Part two of the Crossing Border Festival after handily crossing a border. We arrived at this maze of a venue which had a main auditorium, a couple of other smaller stages and a cafe type place on the ground floor where we were due to be playing. Sound check was going fine until the moment Jess strummed her guitar; the strap fell off and her lovely old Hofner crashed to the ground causing the neck to snap. Tragic. The spare guitar was dug out and we carried on.

The room was packed for the show, Ed Harcourt was in the audience and a song was dedicated to him at which point I thought to myself 'don't mess this up, don't mess this up'

We had to leave straight after the show and drive to this little guest house in Germany. We had to wake up the lady of the house at 2am to let us in and were up early morning to have breakfast, thus continuing our late finish, early start pattern of tiredness.

Day 5 - Copenhagen

After a particularly long drive, some of which was taken up by Kaf and Jess doing a bizarre set of phone interviews with guitar magazines, and a short ferry trip we rolled up to this area where every surface has graffiti and it looks like a Mad Max film with people gathered around burning oil drums and an open hash market. That place is the free town Christiania. It's pretty much an anarchist state and apparently if you run in the main square they set the dogs on you because they think it's a police raid. Setting dogs on the police is totally fine. It's a pretty incredible place.

During sound check I went to tighten my viola bow as per usual but to my dismay realised that the hairs weren't stretching out and despite several frantic attempts to make it tighten I had to concede defeat. Luckily, Kris had a budget 'cello bow with him that he occasionally uses on his bass guitar to mimic the sound of Humpback whales mating. So I used that. It was like playing the viola with a tree trunk.

5 days in: 1 x broken amps, 1 x broken Hofner guitar and 1 x broken viola bow.

Day 6 - Hamburg

The few hours we had spare in Hamburg were mostly taken up with searching for replacement amp valves and a new viola bow. Both things were acquired with surprising ease, mainly due to the incredibly friendly and helpful Germans. Also, as if by magic, a brand new Hofner guitar in the box was waiting for us at the venue. I guess there's a reason why the band is called Smoke Fairies.

The venue, The Molotow, reminded me of the Buffalo Bar with its red lighting and punkish demeanour. My brother and sister in law turned up too which must have amplified the similarities with London.

We opened up the door to our hotel room later on to find what should have been a room for 4 people only had one bunk bed. After a little searching we found another bed in a draw under the bunk and one up in the gods above the top bunk and over the door. Contained.

Day 7 - Berlin

We arrived in Berlin early as Kaf and Jess had numerous promo based things including having their every move filmed by these seemingly anarchic film crew who later on shone bright lights and stuck cameras in our faces as we tried to play the gig. This gave the rest of us enough time to walk around and get lost in the snow and chose ill advised places to eat.

To add to our growing list of broken stuff the other amp died during soundcheck but the support act Miracle Fortress kindly lent us his.

It was a full, attentive crowd at the gig and they were surprisingly vocal too with one guy marvellously exclaiming “you’re not ZZ Top, you’re AA Top!”

The hotel we stayed at (Michelberger Hotel) was ace, I think it's specially designed for arts/ music type people which I think just means it's cheap. There were plasma screens dotted around every corridor all showing The Big Lebowski which prompted a few white russians in the bar later on.

Day 8 - Travel to Barcelona

We left the van in Berlin to be driven back to London and undertook the jet set leg of the tour arriving at the airport for Spain. It was a pleasure to touch down in Barcelona following the bitter cold of Germany. Snow was replaced with sun and palm trees.

We came across this food market which was like Borough Market but much larger and cheaper and not full of middle class people with lots of money.

Day 9 - Barcelona, Primavera Festival

Pleasingly, we had most of the day to soak up Barcelona. We travelled up this steep hill in a cable car to the Castell de Montjuic and the views of the harbour and city were breathtaking, almost as breathtaking as the journey in the cable car which I found embarrassingly terrifying.

We then headed to Gaudi's Sangrada Familia which is an astonishing piece of architecture clearly designed by a lunatic. It's an incredibly imposing gothic structure. Kris took it on himself to test out the acoustics of the place, the results of which you can see here:

The show in the evening was part of Primevera and we were on just before Teenage Fanclub which meant playing in a pretty large venue with a crowd who for the most part were pretty attentive. The Spanish love a good smoke in the venue, something i was looking forward to but when you were faced with the claustrophobic reality I ended up smoking outside most of the time.

It was particularly long but fun evening and I awoke fully clothed with most of the contents of the mini bar scrawled across the floor.

Day 10 - Madrid

After nowhere near enough sleep we took our fragile selves to the train station for the high speed train to Madrid. They showed a film dubbed in Spanish with Spanish subtitles. Helpful.

The show was a similar affair to Barcelona still being Primevera. The venue was this ornate council room where you'd imagine important people making important speeches. We just played a few songs, which was good. This final show was initially a bit of a challenge for me; the combination of lack of sleep, general lingering flu-type thing, hangover, searing heat on stage not helped by this three piece suit I was wearing and the claustrophobic smokey atmosphere meant that at one point I thought I might pass out on stage but luckily that feeling only lasted one song and it went on to be one of the best shows we played.

Day 11 - leave Madrid

...which is back where I started at the top of the page.

I can't finish this piece without mentioning the unflappable manager Matt who not only made sure we got where we were supposed to be but also did a fair chunk of the driving and put up with our constant stream of questions and affably dealt with such problems as us breaking pretty much everything. He is great.

I should also mention Finian the sound man who travelled with us. He had a routine of playing The Rapture's Don Gon Do It at the beginning of every sound check. He'd put it on really loud while we were setting up and walk around the venue to test out the sound system. Always the pro. It also marked our arrival at each show which turned out to be rather reassuring.

Trans Europe Express

2010-11-18T10:03:00.000Z

The Smoke mobile is en route to the Chanel tunnel for the first leg of the European tour, we're already shattered, it's chucking it down, my shoes are already leaking and I'm considering a nice breakfast whiskey. It's a classic flourish.

Hornets Tour Gruff Riley

2010-10-27T18:56:00.004+01:00

I feel it's about time I document various happenings of note before my goldfish like memory does one more lap of the fish bowl before exlaiming "ooh, I haven't been here before".

The photo above was taken after Smoke Fairies' 6 Music session on Marc Riley's splendid radio show a week or so ago. You can't 'listen again' because I was far too slow putting this blog up but, well, it was good and worth the journey up to Manchester on a Thursday night. I've been an avid listener of his show for years now so it was marvellous to finally do a session. In person he's exactly like his radio persona and his unrelenting enthusiasm for new music is wonderfully refreshing: he sits in his radio booth bopping away to all the records he plays and generally looks like he's enjoying every second.

Smoke Fairies play Cecil Sharp House this Sunday then we're hopping over to Europe in November for a tour which is damn exciting!

Before all that though there's a Monroe Transfer show at The Half Moon in Herne Hill. It's a show organised by the webzine Penny Black Music who recently conducted a rather lengthy interview with us.

This here blog was recently mentioned in a particularly unspectacular way on another blog and the only reason it was mentioned was becasue I commented on his blog. It's like blog incest, we're probably going to mate and produce a deformed twitter account. It's worth a mention though only becuase the blog in question (The Hornet) is a blog from this treasure trove of a shop of the same name, but with an 's' on the end and without the 'The'. It's a gents' vintage clothing shop and although it can be a little pricey -well, anything is pricey with me I guess- all their stock is magnificent and of top quality. I bought a 1970s three piece sky blue suit from there a month or so ago and it's just perfect in every way. Pop along if you're in the area.

“A man should look as if he had bought his clothes with intelligence, put them on with care and then forgotten all about them.” Sir Hardy Amies

Back to BBC6 Music now; I heard Gruff Rhys' new single on there the other day and it's a fabulous song. Despite having released nine (consistently good) studio albums with Super Furry Animals, two solo albums and numerous other projects like Neon Neon he's still bursting with ideas and this one is a particular gem. It reminds me of the music of oddball 1960s producer Jean Pierre Massiera who's responsible for one of my favourite compilations, Midnight Massiera on Finders Keepers. That particular record label is mentioned on his site so it's not entirely surprising; also mentioned on Gruff's website is where to get the song, for FREE! so go here for the good stuff.

Most listened to albums in the last 12 months via this handy Last Fm gadget

2010-10-27T14:05:00.001+01:00

Pair of Kraft slices

2010-09-29T16:31:00.000+01:00

Or Kraft singles if you're that way inclined but seeing as it's British Cheese Week I'd advise against it. I was planning to put these reviews up on SoundsXP months ago but then my computer conked out like an old wheezing pensioner.

Flipron
The Coolest Names In Showbiz Tiny Dog

Article written by Neil W - Sep 29, 2010

Those lovable rouges Flipron return galloping on their steeds with candy floss manes and they come baring gifts in the shape of a new single entitled The Coolest Names In Showbiz and look, they’ve brought insanely catchy tunes with them and they’re telling tales of far off lands where the locals stick up colossal letters of the alphabet on the hillside. It’s jolly good to have them back.

Links:
http://www.tinydog.co.uk/
http://www.myspace.com/flipron

*******************************************************************************

Milk White White Teeth
Ingrid Won't Smile Too Pure

Article written by Neil W - Sep 29, 2010

This review finds itself running into class horrendously late but brandishing a rather fine single by Milk White White Teeth. These northern folk have a whopping ten members amongst their ranks playing a luscious collection of instruments which immediately brings to mind the joyous indie-pop of Architecture In Helsinki. They also employ that ubiquitous bouncing bass sound that so many acts have pinched off Paul Simon of late. Such comparisons to those Vampire Weekenders do them a disservice though because Ingrid Won’t Smile is a smashing single and I’ll be licking my lips, and not so white teeth, in anticipation for an album.

Links:
http://milkwhitewhiteteeth.tumblr.com/
http://www.myspace.com/milkwhitewhiteteeth

Tour blog and cheap list for Lexington gig

2010-09-10T14:23:00.000+01:00

The Monroe Transfer guitarist Pete Williams has written a diary of our brief tour with Her Name Is Calla and here it is (If you'd like to be on the £4 entry list for our show at The Lexington on Tuesday email me at: neil@organgrinderrecords.co.uk)

Tour diary:

“Now before I quit Calais,” a travel writer would say, “it would not be amiss to give some account of it.” Now I think it very much amiss that a man cannot go quietly through a town and let it alone when it does not meddle with him, but that he must be turning about and drawing his pen at every kennel he crosses over.

Manchester 30/08

“Let’s get physical, physical”, suggests Olivia Newton John, piping through some small speakers at a tasteful volume while I stand at the urinal.

I can’t imagine how anyone thought it would enhance the experience of being in service station toilets.

We had stopped for the umpteenth time. Each one offers a posh supermarket outlet, a Smiths, a child-baiting fast food place and an uppity overpriced cafeteria designated something like FOOD or BITE in a shouty modern font.

When I was little I used to find these places terribly exciting, mainly because my parents often used to insist on ‘beating the traffic’ by covering ungodly distances at ungodly hours.

I especially liked those that had bridges from one side of the motorway to the other. You could be above the traffic and not in it for a while and, if they only had Burger King on the one side you could still get a Burger King.

They had arcade games with toy machine guns, and smelt of chip salt and soap rather than car upholstery and boiled sweets. There was one near Hungerford that had a mural of a battle from the English civil war painted on the ceiling. If we stopped in a mere lay-by with a burger van, or pulled over so that my sister could be sick, I always felt cheated. Nowadays I would prefer it.

“Let me hear your body talk, body talk,” Olivia cooed, while I tinkled gaily into the porcelain.

I appreciate that it wasn’t entirely her choice, and that I am often accused of having a problem with intimacy, but I still think it was all a little over familiar.

The van had a careworn, shabby retro charm and a laissez-faire approach to motion. Neil seemed very at home in it.

Looking through tinted glass is like turning the brightness down and the contrast up.

Once we got past Birmingham the light got a little kinder, and the view a little prettier. The afternoon sun played kindly on Neil and Jack, and on Nick and Rhiannon playing mum and dad in the front. I thought they all might pass for being in an aspirational cider advert where boho metropolitan types go smug in the country.

In Manchester we spent an interminable period circling the venue, like a really shit vulture. The van and the narrow streets took a severe toll on all the wrong turns we took. About 3 people simultaneously used GPS on their phones to determine that we were a bit lost.

I can’t stand conflict, even if it is only with an inadequate set of directions printed off from the internet, so went to Neil’s bottle of brandy for solace.

The promoter was smiley and nice despite the sparse attendance, and Manchester itself seemed remarkably quiet in any case. We played well I think, Jack especially, and sold a lot of CDs relative to the numbers attending.

The beer was more expensive than the Macbeth in Hoxton. We were billed as The Monroe Trigger.

Afterwards at the Travelodge I kept everyone amused with my ceaselessly diverting and varied Carlsberg and brandy-based repartee, before everyone retired to sleep lest I entertain them too much.

Neil and I decided it would be best to get a drink. We sat in the Travelodge bar while “Robert Webb’s Shit Bloopers” played on the tv.

We ordered the devil’s own pizza from a long-suffering night attendant, and it then took us 20 minutes to find our way back to the room. Jack was still awake, and we spent a while debating the merits of Neil burning the room down. The ‘nos’ to the left had it in the end, but it seemed to take an awfully long time to get there. I woke up on the sofa, modelling one of the more appealing confections in my underwear stable.

Cardiff 31/08

Things were promising when we arrived. It’s a nice little venue, and beside a couple of local philosophers nursing super strength lager there was an ultra friendly chap working as location manager for a BBC shoot taking place that evening. He sorted us out with somewhere to park. We gave him a CD. He thought it was a little slow, but still seemed pleased.

I had a very brief walk around before soundcheck. The pigeons had delivered a scatological critique on the legacy of Aneurin Bevan, although I thought that, for a socialist and founder of the NHS, having one’s statue plonked in such a crapulous vista of chainstores and happy hour bars might be more galling.

I think I was a little tired from the night before, as I developed a vague foreboding that some barrel-chested patriot might leap on me if I did anything too ostentatiously English or Londonish.

Things took a further spiral when the promoter arrived at Clwb Ifor Bach in a little collapsible car with square wheels.

We asked if we could play a little later than 7.15, seeing as the door time advertised on the poster was 7.30, and that our name was spelt wrong. Again. (“The Monroe Transfer Bill”)

‘I can’t believe I’ve booked four bands when there’s a curfew,’ he reiterated over and over, shuffling from oversized shoe to oversized shoe, looking to the middle distance for consolation.

His demeanour implied that it would probably have been better if we hadn’t driven 200 miles in the heat and through shitloads of traffic to be there.

The soundman suggested we start at 8 and cut the support slots down to 20 minutes

‘We’ll have to start at 8 and cut the support slots down to 20 minutes,’ the promoter concluded gravely, squirting water out of the plastic flower in his lapel.

That meant we had to squeeze in a 25 minute piece so, naturally, we played most of it slower than usual. I was feeling nauseous and shaky, and struggling with a coquettish little impulse to stop playing altogether and return to the al-fresco section of the Wetherspoons over the road. I think the brandy was playing its final hand upon my body.

I was feeling better by the time we got to the ending, which we seemed to use to vent our collective frustration. When I looked over great chunks of dust were streaming out of Nick’s bow and swirling around him in the spotlight. It was like he was playing in a high-res photograph.

Behind him, Neil and Nicole were pulling their impossible trick of playing with total commitment and too-cool-for-school detachment at the same time – a skill that I imagine must be the chief benefit of a classical training. We got a lovely hand.

HNIC were also bowel-compromisingly loud, to the bafflement on some early runners for the indie disco that followed.

Some of us stayed for this. Apparently I was one of them. No doubt I was tremendous company. I do remember getting stuck in the bathroom at the hotel, unable to either locate the light switch or the doorhandle.

Leicester 01/09

I woke up beside a half drunk, half spilt bottle of coke, a chicken salad that I had sourced from a local vending machine and Neil. Luckily, I was still drunk so the headaches and self-loathing would have to wait for an hour or two.

In fact, after noting and sampling the affront to taste and decency that constituted many of my colleagues’ service station breakfasts, I felt that my salad and the decision-making skills that lay behind it had came out rather well.

Neil had acquired a glossy, almost pellucid slab of versatile looking matter that was doing a comic turn as a Cumberland sausage. It was somewhat without taste and completely without texture.

We got to Leicester early enough to have a look round. Neil bought a smashing shirt and Nicole and Rhiannon some lovely dresses. There was a pleasant quarter of independent shops. It included an enormous and rather old-fashioned party store that said it wouldn’t admit ‘people in hoods and groups’, so I couldn’t in all conscience go in.

There was also a market that sells actual produce rather than various specimens of overpriced artisan cutseyness.

The venue (Firebug) was great. They gave us food for free that wasn’t in any way pellucid.

Despite what seemed an underwhelming reaction when we finished, there was a flurry of sales and some very giddy compliments. There were even rumours of a woman crying, but in a good way. This is a sentence that I don’t get to use nearly enough.

We had to leave straightaway. I got home at 2.45am, covered in sweat and knackered from lugging my stuff up Telegraph Hill. My biorhythms felt thoroughly compromised, even a little violated.

London 02/09

This doesn’t count as “tour” I don’t think, as some of us came from work and, for my part, I spent the day tidying up my poor little flat and buying lots of healthy, non-vending machine sourced food. It was our own show, under the GFK banner, at the Luminaire, which is like lots of other places in London except infinitely better.

Nicolette Corcoran did some witty, elegant, clever things with loops and lullabies and Yeats that brightened me up no end. Amid a healthy turnout, there was a substantial gaggle of parents in tow. I think we played ok.

Towards the end, my mother gave me some green beans and tomatoes from the garden in a little bag,

This somewhat punctured the air of stubbly, bacchanalian recklessness that I had been cultivating for the past few days. But, really, it was ok. I had a bit of a sore throat and wanted to go home.

Feedme Money

2010-08-26T17:00:00.002+01:00

In the search of finding a decent gig I came across this leech of a promoter, I should have known better really:

On Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 10:39 AM, Feedme Music wrote:

Hi Neil,

Thanks for contacting me. I’ve had a listen to the tracks up on Soundcloud and would be interested in featuring you on the appropriate events. Dates in mind are Wednesday 25th August @ Punk, Friday 27th August @ 100 Club, Sat 4th September @ Purple Turtle Camden, Friday 10th September @ 100 Club.

If you would like to be considered for bookings, Please register your band at http://www.feedmemusic.co.uk/Artist_SignUp_General.aspx where you can upload an image, mp3, press release, quotes, and links to your social networks (myspace, facebook, twitter, etc.). When writing your press release please consider writing in a journalistic style including style, influences, accolades. Please avoid dull rendition of the band’s history and usual clichés (London’s best kept secret, truly unique…etc). There is a field to include/add press quotes. Please ensure you white list Feedme_team@feedmemusic.co.uk as you will receive a registration activation email. If you do not receive it in about 10 minutes, please check your JUNK folder. The band page becomes active once you have confirmed an event with us.

Feedme Music’s artist roster consists of quality bands who are ready for or already attracting industry and press attention. We choose bands who are moving forward professionally and who are ready to step up to playing quality venues. Stylistically we work with a broad range of bands, from acoustic to punk, metal to indie... music that is of a high standard. Each event is tailored to one particular style, and promoted through relevant outlets. Our aim is to broaden your fan base by teaming you up with bands of the same level and higher, who have fans that would most likely enjoy your sound, giving you maximum opportunity to pick up new fans. We also guide newer bands who we feel have potential, and steer them in the right direction.

Feedme Music’s longevity as a leading promoter has allowed us to be become selective with the bands we choose to work with. Our PR network extends from radio and press, to online networking and festival and tour opportunities, as well as offering management consultation and marketing advice. We also provide a range of other beneficial services, making us a ‘one-stop’ organisation for emerging bands. For good bands that are dedicated, professional and motivated, Feedme Music build working relationships, we do not just book you once and forget you exist. Focusing on these details of service is why Feedme Music won the award for Best Promoter at the 2008 Indy Music Awards.

Our booking terms vary based on the level of each band and include either paying bands through a set fee, or a ticket split, or committing to an advance ticket quota. Terms for your specific booking need to be discussed with the Event Manager dealing with your booking. Every band is given focused attention. Feedme Music are selective with bands we choose to work with, and as a result all of our events run at a very high standard. We are not interested in doing a lot of hard work for bands who simply do not help themselves, and our booking terms are indicative of this ethos. Gigs with low attendance are of no benefit to anyone involved in the process. We do our part wholeheartedly, and artists who wish to progress with us must have the same attitude. Feedme Music’s employees have a strong reputation based on word-of-mouth from band to band, so upholding high standards is of upmost importance to us.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind regards

Sent: 10 August 2010 10:41
To: Feedme
Subject: Re: Contact Form Details

Hi, thanks for getting back to me. Glad you like the music!

I'll check with the band to see if they're available for any of those dates.

Just to clarify, do we have to register the band on your site to play a gig? and once we've registered and confirmed a gig with you guys, what are your terms for playing said gig?

Thanks
Neil

On Tue, Aug 10, 2010 at 11:58 AM, Feedme wrote:

Hi Neil,

Registration creates a profile page for the band used as a press landing page. Have you checked our site our yet? I you have a look you will see exactly how we use band information - www.feedmemusic.co.uk. The other private information i.e. name and contact numbers requested during registration are kept private and used to communicate with you via phone/email.

We are working at high profile London concert venues ranging from 200-1,500 capacity (i.e. Punk, 100 Club, IndigO2 at The O2 & more), with an emphasis on paying bands well on a ticket split basis. You would need to be able to generate a good sized crowd to make the right atmosphere for you to gain new fans. It is increasingly difficult for a promoter to be able to pack a venue in London for an unknown band. It has to be a team effort with the artist playing a fully responsible and strategic role in their own promotion to ensure a busy night – one which will gain them new fans. I would welcome a chat about moving forward if are confident that through your network of fans, friends, contacts, etc., that you will easily be able to attract 40+ fans. I’ve attached a PDF about us and our venues and some useful tips in building your fan base, but please don’t hesitate to call if you would like a chat.

Kind regards

To: Feedmemusic
Subject: Re: Contact Form Details

Could you give me some more details about your advance ticket system?

Thanks

On Tue, Aug 10, 2010 at 1:28 PM, Feedme wrote:

Hi Neil,

Here’s a sample gig offer covering ticket price and general terms for each venue. This is not a performance contract. Once an offer is agreed a performance contract is issued by our booking system. This sample covers our general offer terms at each venue.

SAMPLE OFFER
Please note that the Minimum Ticket Sale Requirement is NOT the target amount, but a realistically low figure which is still achieved should things go wrong (i.e. the usual amount of last minute drop outs, and ‘sorry I can’t make it’ texts. We will of course do everything we practically can to promote you and the event and our best to maximise the effect and experience of your performance with us.

Please ensure all band members are aware of all of these terms before moving forward.

OFFER FOR: BAND NAME
Date: xxxxx
Venue: xxxxx
Stage Time: x:xx-x:xxpm (45mins for headliner and 30mins all others)
Sound check: xpm
Line Up: xxxxx
Ticket Price: £6 advance/£8 door. For PUNK, 229 venue 2, Proud Camden
£7 advance/£8 door. For Purple Turtle
£8 advance /£10 door. For 100 Club, 229 venue 1
£10 advance /£15 door. For IndigO2 at The O2
Other:
IndigO2 14+. All other venues are strictly 18+ ONLY. Live music until 11pm. DJ’s ‘til late (EXCEPT 100 CLUB).
Minimum Ticket Sale Requirement: 30 PUNK, 229 v2 (Thursdays only), Proud Camden
40 229 v2 Fridays, 100 Club, Purple Turtle
60 229 v1
70 IndigO2 at The O2

You are required to commit to sell/cause the sale of a minimum number of tickets (‘Minimum Ticket Sale Requirement’)
There is NO money upfront for your tickets, once you agree a performance contract we will send you tickets to sell. Tickets are also made available online through ticketweb.co.uk. You hold onto the money for tickets you have sold until after your performance on the night, then return it so you are paid your split for advance tickets, online ticket sales and door sales.

Your Payment: Once you have reached The Minimum Ticket Sale Requirement you will be paid: 1-30 ticket sales = £1 return to you, 31-50 = £2, 51+ = £3. For example, if you make 40 tickets sales/door sales you receive £50, 50 = £70, 70 = £130, 100 = £220, 200 = £520.

Payment for IndigO2 and 229 Venue 1 are £1 for each of the first 50 tickets sold, £2 for each of the next 25 tickets sold, £3 for each of the next 25 tickets sold, and £4 for all other tickets sold.

You are required to pay the shortfall should you fall short of the allocated minimum ticket sales. THIS IS SOMETHING WE DO NOT WANT. This term is set in place to avoid working with free loading bands that promise 100 ticket sales and turn up with five mates. We cannot run such high standards of shows without this policy. This policy means that if you fall short YOU make it pay-to-play. Do not book with us unless you are 100% certain that getting this amount of people to a gig is easy for your band. If you are unsure, do not book with us, wait 6 months and get back to us when you are ready. We want to pay you, we want to increase your fan base and work with you again. This is the only way to ensure high standards are kept and deter unmotivated bands who treat gigs as free rehearsals. It also means your band will be on a bill with serious artists who have a fan base, it stops freeloaders spoiling the integrity of YOUR night.

You are expected to put 100% effort into ensuring maximum attendance at this event. If you would like some help and suggestions on ways to increase your fan base, please ask us. It is advised you do not book any other London dates too close to this event.

From: neil.a.walsh@gmail.com
Sent: 10 August 2010 15:35

Hi, I'm still a little confused by this. Are you expecting bands to be ticket vendors?

Also, I'm a little concerned by the following statement:

"This policy means that if you fall short YOU make it pay-to-play"

...which pretty much translates as: 'This policy means I won't lose money but you probably will'

So, if I've read this correctly; you're expecting bands to be a ticket vendor, a promoter and presumably be able to perform ably live without crumbling under the immense pressure and financial risk of playing your event?

It seems very unfair that the bands are shouldering all the burden whilst FeedMeMusic take no risk at all.

Are you deliberately trying to put people off playing your night?

On Tue, Aug 10, 2010 at 4:33 PM, Feedme wrote:

Neil,

I am answering this email out a sense of courtesy. However on in my time as a promoter I have met so many bands that take this attitude that it frankly gets tiring. Of course bands MUST play an integral role in their own marketing at this stage. If they do not then they will not be very successful.

You have NO IDEA how much money we spend putting bands on. Have you any idea how much it takes to put bands on professionally at venues like 100 Club, IndigO2 at The O2 etc.

Advance tickets are provided (without any upfront fee) as an additional marketing tool to capitalize on opportunities at other events etc. Online tickets are provided through ticket agencies. Bands receive a generous ticket split based upon advanced and on the door sales. All artists are contracted months in advance, and promoted heavily by Feedme Music staff.

Our artists are given outstanding and well-promoted platforms to perform (indigO2 at The O2, The 100 Club, Proud Camden, 229, Relentless Garage, Scala, Purple Turtle, and Punk) aimed at building on their fan bases and gaining industry attention. We have created festival opportunities (three of our artists played at Download 2010) for artists to play alongside well-known public eye acts. In addition, we are working with key contacts in major publications and have achieved full page features for artists working with us in KERRANG! and plenty of airplay on internet, regional and national radio. We are agents for one band and have achieved live sessions on Ian Camfield’s show on XFM and a great deal of profile press.

Feedme Music provide a service above and beyond that of any other promoter working at this level, and therefore we do not wish to waste our efforts or networks on bands who do not contribute to their own success. We take a great deal of pride in our work, and are proud of the results we have achieved with artists. We are an award winning promotional team – a massive vote from the bands and artists we work with. Our terms are well considered and have been put in place to deter bands who either are not ready for the level of show we put together, or those (OF WHICH THERE ARE PLENTY) who feel it is their divine right to just turn up an play to an audience provided by coordinated hard work by other artists and the promoter.

It is essential for all bands and artists wishing to elevate themselves in the music industry to understand that they are an integral part of the promotional team at this level. In addition, it is worth noting that to provide these services, we need to bring trade to venues and earn sufficient funds to survive as a company and invest in the future of emerging talent.

This is a company formed by musicians and run by musicians. Virtually all those who work for Feedme Music we have met through playing at our shows. Those same musicians book artists, host events, and fulfill a supportive and creative role for unsigned bands and artists.

Give me a call if you want to clarify anything.

Kind regards

On Wed, Aug 11, 2010 at 3:49 PM, Neil Walsh wrote:

Hi

I completely agree that bands should advertise their gigs via the social networks and their mailing lists but they shouldn't be held accountable if the turnout is bad. The promoter books the bands so ultimately it's the promoters responsibility and risk, not the bands. Constantly badgering friends and family to buy tickets off you, like you suggest, isn't going to help the band progress professionally at all. All it's going to do is line the pockets of the promoter and make you less popular than a fox at the chicken Olympics with the people you're harrassing to buy tickets. In sharp contrast to your ethos; friends and family, not too many of course, should be on the guest list out of courtesy not hounded down to buy overpriced tickets.

Your assumption that I have "NO IDEA" how much it costs "putting bands on" is wrong my friend. I am a promoter myself and have put on shows at The Purple Turtle and various other venues in the past so I am well aware of the costs involved. However, I have never demanded a band bring a certain number of people or be liable for damages, because I, as the promoter, am the one who has booked these bands so ultimately the pressure of pushing the night is on my shoulders. Of course I actively encourage bands to help advertise the gig but it's not the integral part of my promotional strategy like it seems to be with you.

I didn't hear anything after that reponse and assumed that was the last I'd be hearing from them, until I received this:

On Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 11:01 AM, feedmemusic wrote:

Hi Neil,

I’m just following up on my previous email as I have had no response. Are you still interested in pursuing an event with us?

Kind regards

On 26 Aug 2010, at 13:10, Neil Walsh <neil@organgrinderrecords.co.uk> wrote:

Hi, can we agree on a £100 guarantee for the band?

Regards
Neil

On Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 2:21 PM, Feedme wrote:

Sorry Neil. I had marked you for follow up from a prior email. Considering our previous dialogues I don't think we will benefit each other.

Best wishes

On Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 3:53 PM, Neil Walsh wrote:

I'd probably be better off just writing you a cheque for £100 than actually playing your gig.

Regards
Neil

Smoke Fairies' new album sampler

2010-08-23T14:28:00.001+01:00

A select few tracks from the new album 'Through Low Light and Trees' can be streamed on Soundcloud, here:

There's a rather splendid review of the album on Holy Moly here that proclaims it to be "what Robert Plant would make if he were young and beautiful again". They also go on to say it's one of the year's best albums too, which is nice.

Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom! present Her Name Is Calla

2010-08-19T09:29:00.000+01:00

Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom! proudly present Her Name Is Calla.

ADVANCE TICKETS HERE

The orchestral rock pioneers return to London following a sell out show at The Lexington to launch new album 'The Quiet Lamb' . This show at The Luminaire forms part of an extensive and no doubt dynamic tour of the UK.

Support comes from The Monroe Transfer and Nicolette Corcoran.
...
Her Name Is Calla
http://www.myspace.com/hernameiscalla

Formed some years ago out of a desire to create music that had a more emotional core, Her Name is Calla have since expanded to a six piece - seven if you include the occasional addition of cello. The music they make is the music they want to make. Encapsulating brass, strings, pianos, oddities and anything else at their disposal, they craft songs and music that have a heart. That heart may not always be the one people are used to - not the bright red shining symbol of love and hope - but a heart that seems somehow more personal than clichéd.

"...there can be no denying that Her Name Is Calla are one of the most daring, unconventional bands the UK has to offer right now. For that alone we should all be exceedingly thankful" Drowned in Sound

"terrific - in terms of both scope and achievement." - The Four

THE MONROE TRANSFER
http://www.themonroetransfer.co.uk/

London based 7 piece instrumental band recently released new album Trials on Organ Grinder records to wide acclaim.

“At their most beautiful, The Monroe Transfer are able to lightly brush the places that so few other instrumental acts can.” – Drowned In Sound

“ an album of stunning beauty, easily the band's best work to date” – The Silent Ballet

“.. with Trials, The Monroe Transfer have shown great imagination in every aspect of their musical venture, whilst also playing up the truly great aspects of the effect that this kind of music can have on your soul” - Line of Best Fit

Opening proceedings is the vocal looping wonders of Nicollete Corcoran: http://www.myspace.com/nicolettecorcoran

Tamesis Dock

2010-07-31T18:14:00.002+01:00

I sauntered along the Thames Path on Wednesday and headed to the Tamesis Dock as Fireworks Night were playing there. I'd never been before so wasn't quite sure where it was or what it looked like but as I approached it I began to wonder if it had ever functioned as a proper boat because it didn't look like the most seaworthy of vessels, ie it looked like it was about to sink, but it all added to its charms. When I set foot on the boat the floor was almost at a 45 degree angle, it felt like I was already three pints down, which is a smashing state to be in!

It was a decent crowd and Left With Pictures were on splendid form and a joy to watch which all added up to a super fun gig. The lovely promoter Mr Chalmers also co-runs a delightfully ramshackle Podcast simply entitled independent Music Podcast, which needs no explanation as to what type of podcast it is. Check it out here.

On Fireworks Night album news: I'll be sticking up a new track from the album every week 'til the end so head here for that.

Through Low Light and Trees

2010-07-12T17:48:00.005+01:00

Smoke Fairies' debut album, which was recorded in this lovely place, is to be released on 6th September; which isn't far away at all!

...and the NME says:

The Monroe Transfer tour with Her Name Is Calla

2010-07-12T17:41:00.001+01:00

The Monroe Transfer will be joining Her Name Is Calla for a nice chunk of their tour of the UK in late August / early September. I'm pleasantly surprised we've managed to organise this albeit short support tour considering it's pretty impossible getting seven busy musicians in the same place just for rehearsal let alone a tour. I'm looking forward to it.

The dates we're playing with them are as follows:

30th Aug - Night and Day Cafe, Manchester

31st Aug - Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff

1st Sept - Firebug, Leicester

2nd Sept - The Luminaire, London

The keen eyed will notice that the London show is being promoted by me, which will be the first Goodbye, Faithful Kingom! presents in a long while - quite exciting it is too!

A few tracks to stream from the forthcoming Fireworks Night album

2010-06-17T13:01:00.002+01:00

Latest tracks by Organ Grinder Records

Royal Festival Hall

2010-06-16T23:34:00.002+01:00

So, I played the Royal Festival Hall yesterday with Smoke Fairies – it’s a rather large venue isn’t it, supposedly seating 2,500 or 3,000 depending which source you believe.

It reminded me of that magnificent chrome wave of a building that is The Sage in Gateshead, interior aesthetics that is, not exterior. Our dressing room was similar to when we were at the Sage too, in that it contained some tasty snacks and a bottle of whiskey, next to the antelope disposal unit. That whiskey served its social lubricant side effect rather well last night by dispelling all that awful self awareness. I mean, I can’t have any more of these situations where you walk on stage, pick up your viola and forget how to play the damn thing, with incessant thoughts popping into your head like:

‘how do I really know I can play this instrument?’
‘I mean, I’m holding a stick of wood with horse hairs on it’
‘and I’m expected to draw that across bits of wire made of cat gut’
‘and assume it’s going to make a nice sound’
‘seems pretty tricky, maybe it can't be done’
'I'm pretty exposed here on stage, are my flies undone?'
‘what if my fingers don’t move’
‘what if they just seize up’
‘oh god, what if I’ve got gout in my fingers’
‘can you even get gout in one’s fingers’
‘what if I drop it?’

....and before long you’re a trembling wreck of a man playing like a ten year old on their first lesson, then you get:

‘come on, don’t be stupid, you can play this’
‘there’s no need to play any different to usual’
‘move your arms properly’
‘you’ve played this umpteen times before’
‘come on, it’s easy’
'did I leave the gas on?'
‘move your arms’
‘shit, it isn’t working’
‘my arm feels like it’s made of rock’
‘it’s just not moving’
‘why isn’t it working properly ?’
‘what the hell is going on’

...then the show ends and you feel like a rotten plum. Thankfully, that doesn’t happen very often thanks to that wonderful invention alcohol.

Talking of ailments, I was sitting patiently waiting for my turn to soundcheck, my legs were crossed in an awkward way, like I’d tied and knotted them together. I sat there through relentless snare hits and "two", "two", "two", "one", "one", "two", waiting patiently, then, when it was time to stand up and play I discovered my foot had fallen asleep and I spent a good few minutes stumbling around like an old drunk. The thing is, my foot still hasn’t restored itself to the usual operational standards I expect from my foot, there’s still numbness there and I’m worried that I’ve caused some serious damaged. I’m afraid to Google the problem because I know what’ll happen, Google will say: “they’re definitely going to have to amputate” .

And here is a photo of a horse:

Fireworks Night news

2010-06-10T12:34:00.003+01:00

Fireworks Night's new album 'One Winter, One Spring' is being mastered as I type and we'll shortly be unveiling a few tracks on the usual streaming sites.

For the time being you can listen and download a live recording from a recent show we did at a lovely little pub called The Gladstone. Click here for that.

Ace rant about the internets

2010-05-19T13:24:00.000+01:00

The Internet: a great tool for reducing art to statistics.

spouting a load of rubbish in The Big Issue

2010-05-12T17:58:00.000+01:00

... and coming off rather naive. Still, nice to have a feature.

ResonanceFM and Dexter Bentley are organising our album launch @ The Miller this Friday, come along if you're free; tix here

Her Name is Calla

2010-05-12T17:51:00.000+01:00

Last night I recorded some viola parts at fellow Monroe Transfer member Nick’s house. Her Name Is Calla asked us to add a few parts to a couple of already massive sounding songs on their new album. We suitably added a whole new level of massiveness and I’m looking forward to hearing the end result!

Camden Trawl

2010-05-05T20:37:00.000+01:00

So, I spent much of the typically rainy bank holiday weekend in Camden for the Camden Crawl because Smoke Fairies' were billed to play both days. The first show was an apparently "well received" set at KOKO; it certainly seemed so judging by the hollering and clapping at inopportune moments by a lagered up bunch at the front. It's always far more entertaining playing to an enthusiastic crowd though even if they are completely hammered. The rest of the evening was spent vaguely attempting to consume copious amounts of sickly Gaymers cider, which clearly contains mostly sugar, with a hint of apple.

Day two was mostly spent at the Chalk Farm end of Camden for our show at The Enterprise. A bottle of Gaymers cider made its treacly presence known by falling off an amp during sound check and emptying its sugary contents all over Kaf's jacket. As if that wasn't bad enough, two bottleneck slides fell off the amp along with the cider and despite fervently searching like pigs sniffing out truffles we couldn't find either one of the slides. Not one to be deterred, Kaf found a shot glass to use instead.

Oh, and apparently I'm one of Camden's Seven. Seven of what I'm not sure, perhaps one of the seven people most likely to get mugged in Camden. The chap sporting the blue man group look is the clear winner though.

RIP Kay Mosley

Trials of the day

2010-05-03T16:09:00.001+01:00

Trials; the new album by The Monroe Transfer is out today. As per usual it comes with preposterous hand made packaging and you have to break it open to listen to it. If you like lies; Orangina nicked their 'shake it to wake it' marketing campaign off us.

You can listen and download the album from our band camp site.

Our next gig is at the Miller of Mansfield on 14th May

Songs in the key of drunk

2010-04-24T14:00:00.000+01:00

Ahem....

Click here to see the video wall

...and here's a sample of Robyn's awesome shirt collection:

Smoke Fairies hit SXSW

2010-04-06T16:39:00.001+01:00

Firstly, what the hell is up with the weather in Austin, Texas? one day its scorching sun which led to me looking like a burn victim and the next I'm wearing a massive coat and getting frost bite. It was so cold my fingers were like rocks. Karen Elson gets an Everest-sized high five 'cos she performed outside in the bitter cold wearing just a thin peach dress, if my mum were there she's be saying "wrap up warm dear or you'll catch your death!", but no, Karen and her impeccably dressed band didn't let the trivialities of weather dictate their stage persona.

SXSW was a pretty overwhelming affair, literally everywhere you go there’s a cacophony of bands jostling for attention. 6th Street in particular (a stretch of about four miles) had a huge volume of bars and restaurants all with live bands blaring out onto the street, which itself was littered with buskers of all ilk, including proper toothless hillbillies twanging their beaten up four string guitars.

Busking in Texas looked like ramshackle fun so I borrowed a violin from a duo on the street and busked with their banjo player. I earned them one dollar.

Smoke Fairies played four shows at SXSW, the first being a set to a packed out Latitude 30 for the British Embassy showcase with buzz bands Everything Everything and Band of Skulls. It was an ace gig and it was nice to come off stage to greet a free bar. Watch a beating Frozen Heart here.

Our 'showcase' was at The Alehouse. The venue wasn't quite as exciting as the name suggests, in fact, it reminded me of Camden and I had to keep reminding myself that I was five thousand miles away.
There's a pretty dodgy mobile phone video of a potion of the set here - see, it could be Camden if it weren't for the banner.

I also added some viola mayhem to Viv Albertine's gig at Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label showcase - they tried to get me in a nightie but couldn't find one large enough.

With America being the home of the Classic Beef Burger. They certainly know how to make a tasty burger: thick juicy beef patties cooked to perfection with jalapenos, proper cheese and thick smokey bacon - yum. We also went to a seafood restaurant that was a little unconventional in their approach to serving food. They came out with bowls of prawns and crawfish and simply tipped the contents onto your table, luckily I had a bib.

We were also attracted to pizza vans, as you can see, it's the best way to get around in Texas.

We found some great vintage shops in the South Congress, including an awesome shop called Uncommon Objects who were selling Nomadic robes and a frock coat supposedly from the1800s belonging to the Knights Templar. I should have bought it.

Lastly, we met some pandas.

RIP Alex Chilton

Smoke Fairies invade Sawmills

2010-03-10T17:32:00.002Z

A flash of lightning shot across us last week; the debut album proper from the Smoke Fairies was recorded. It was recorded in a studio that's a good ten minute walk away from the nearest road in a picturesque area of Cornwall by a river. It's also the place Supergrass recorded I Should Coco and Oasis recorded Definitely Maybe. Sawmills is the studio of dreams, as you can see:

In the producer's chair was a smashing chap named Head. If you have a copy of Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea have a look on the first page of the inlay; he's the dude in the blue t-shirt leaning over that collosal mixing desk. He's refreshingly unpretentious and focused on getting the right take, even if that meant 40 odd takes. I also loved the fact that the first song he put on the stereo in the evening post-recording was mclusky's Lightsabre Cock Sucking Blues. Full blast. Awesomeness smothered in awesome.

He was a smart choice as producer. I've always seen Smoke Fairies more in the PJ Harvey-esque rock camp than the usual generic folk camp. This album will shake off the folk tag with a sand blaster.

All my parts were recorded in THE CAVE, which had two small windows; one where I could peer into the main live room: (and take a rubbish photo)

..and the other view was the lovely river which was my clock 'cos it's governed by the tides. At times the rising tide also acted as a depressing reminder of how many takes you've done.

Take 1:

Take3476849301

I did all my viola parts through a juicy Music Man amp to get a nice interesting tone, I even did one take on my knees in proper \m/ style in front of the amp with the overdrive up to 11 ...sounds unlikely but it happened!

Now, we wait for the thing to be mixed but in the meantime the Fairies take on SXSW! Hella yeah!

The Monroe Transfer need you, yes you....... really.

2010-03-10T13:26:00.000Z

We're doing a project where we need people to record different parts of a song, as Line of Best Fit explain:

The Line of Best Fit can exclusively reveal The Monroe Transfer’s imaginative plans for their next song. The seven piece instrumental band from London is asking as many people as possible to contribute to ‘The Heavens Sleep, Are Sleeping Still’.

The band have already secured contributions from Her Name Is Calla, worriedaboutsatan and Braindead Collective, and now it’s your chance to add something.

Fans can download sheet music, stems and demo recordings from theheavenssleep.com and record themselves performing whichever part they like. The recorded parts can be submitted to the group through their website, and will be mixed by the group to create the final piece.

Those who take part in the project will receive a very limited physical copy of the song, while those who prefer listening to music than making it will be able to get the track when it is released as a free download later in the year.

It’s another of example of the band’s unique approach to creating and packaging music. Past release ‘Vox Humana’ was presented in a home-made wooden box, whilst their next album Trials comes in a delicately crafted cloth bag, that would make any home economics teacher proud.

The deadline for contributions is April 10th so hurry up and dig out any instrument that’s gathering dust!
The band will also be playing a few live shows in the coming weeks. Those dates:

March
31 The Lexington, London
April
20 The Macbeth, London

Finally, the band’s new album Trials will be released via Organ Grinder on 3rd May. Expect a review and an interview with the band on The Line of Best Fit soon.

Spread the word!

viola mayhem on Tom Robinson's show tonight

2010-02-12T12:44:00.001Z

Viv Albertine rather nicely asked me to play viola with them at a live session on BBC6 Music later today. It's going to be on Tom Robinson's show which airs at 7pm. Details here. Should be fun!

Following on from the last post; perhaps I should get this T-Shirt:

What the NME said

2010-02-12T12:35:00.000Z

The NME reviewed Smoke Fairies' gig at The Lexington, as you can see below. I might have to put a sticker on my viola with the words "this is not a violin"

WE'RE THE SUPPORT BAND!

2010-01-26T13:39:00.001Z

I am putting on a single launch at The Windmill on 6th Feb. I, Ludicrous are pretty legendary and they're lots of fun to see live, as you can see from all the glowing press clippings!

I, Ludicrous’ 'We're the Support Band' single launch!

6th Feb @ Brixton Windmill

with The Nuns, The Good Gods! and Kooler Kings

ADVANCE TICKETS HERE

I, LUDICROUS
http://www.myspace.com/iludicrous

"NO ONE SHOULD DIE BEFORE HEARING THIS LEGENDARY OUTFIT" - TIME OUT

"I, LUDICROUS ARE WRY, FUNNY, FROM A DELIGHTFUL CORNER OF ENGLAND, OFF THE BEATEN TRACK" - Q MAGAZINE

"I, LUDICROUS ARE WONDERFULLY SILLY" - LONDON EVENING STANDARD

"I, LUDICROUS ARE LIKE HALF MAN HALF BISCUIT WITH A COLLEGE EDUCATION" - NME

"SUBVERSIVELY TIME WASTING STUFF" - UNCUT

I, Ludicrous have possibly been "the most original band in the world" since they formed in 1986. The band achieved immortality in 1987 when their seminal flexi release "Preposterous Tales" reached the dizzy heights of number 11 in John Peel's Festive 50. This was followed up by the debut album It's Like Everything Else which also found its way into the top ten of the indie charts. Several releases have followed over the years and in 2007 majot label recognition was won when a retrospective of the band 20 years in showbusiness was released on Sanctuary Records. In February 2008 the 5 track cd "Dirty Washing" was released to rave reviews. A tour with The Fall was arranged to promote the CD. In 2008 the band finally expanded the line up to a 3 piece when long time friend & fan Martin Brett joined the band on bass guitar. The bands latest single release "WE'RE THE SUPPORT BAND" has received rave reviews & worldwide radio airplay. Procter, Hung & Brett plan to carry on releasing new material forever & are particularly looking foward to releasing regular singles from the comfort of their nursing home in 25 years time.

THE NUNS
http://www.myspace.com/itsnuntime
This all girl six piece play the songs of the Monks in a way that makes you want to shout “IT’S NUNS TIME!”

THE GOOD GODS
http://www.goodgods.com

Tightly knit three piece that evoke early Talking Heads.
“Tom Hatred’s voice at times nears pitch-perfection, fluttering comfortably between a very British bass and a New York hipster falsetto, and is full of passionate personality that encourages you to take note of his every word.” – You Like We Like

THE KOOLER KINGS
http://www.myspace.com/thekoolerkings

The Kooler Kings are a young new band from South West London. When the band played their first gig at The Watershed in Wimbledon, DJ John Kennedy saw them & immediately played them on his XFM radio show. The band were recently interviewed & filmed playing live for a docu-movie about the Reading festival due out on TV & Cinema in the next few months.

Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom!

2010-01-13T16:13:00.001Z

New year: New nonsense

2010-01-11T16:16:00.002Z

I’ve been sitting here since New Year’s Day waiting for the impact of the new decade to hit me but it hasn’t yet.

I do have some exciting prospects for the coming year though:

The brand new Monroe Transfer album is now finished and the artwork has been designed and created, all by hand, once again by Consumer Revolt. It looks and feels, and sounds, wonderful. Apparently there will be a series of exciting things happening in the lead up to its release.

The new Fireworks Night album is close to being completed too, finally ... babies have been conceived, born and are riding their first bike in the time it has taken us to mix the damn thing! It'll be worth the wait though.

In complete contrast to Fireworks Night is the lightning speed methods of Braindead Collective who recorded and released that xmas single with Viv Albertine in the space of a week! We plan to do similar collaborative projects with solo acts, the next one being Mat Riviere (Brainlove Records) who we'll be playing with live at the Good Ship this Thursday.

Smoke Fairies now have a new drummer due to the previous drummer wanting a normal life; get married, watch The Bill and walk the dog in the park near his house in Kent, which is probably very wise! good luck Gregory! We're headlining The Lexington on 1st Feb.

Lastly, I layed down some viola parts on a few tracks on the new/debut Eat Lights: Become Lights album which apparently is now finished, so hopefully that will see the light of day at some point this year.

FUN

Christmas indie super bands

2009-12-17T13:46:00.000Z

It's getting rather festive round my way.

Last weekend I layed down some lush and not so lush viola parts on Viv Albertine's Christmas single 'When It Was Nice' which, despite the fact it was only recorded last weekend, has already been mixed, mastered and is currently skipping it's way around the internet and the radio. You can download it here for free!

And tonight I will be playing a couple of Darlene Love Xmas songs with Slow Club at their chrimbo party at the Union Chapel. I'll be providing the massive Phil Spector strings along with Nicole and Rhiannon from The Monroe Transfer. The awesome thing about this is that Jonny from The Wave Pictures and Jeremy Warmsley are also playing on these songs which means I'll be in an INDIE SUPER BAND! which is totally ridiculous and totally sweet in equally huge measures.

Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom! TONIGHT!

2009-12-01T13:42:00.000Z

After over a year and a half of putting on shows at the Macbeth I've decided that this one will be the last, in it's current form at least. We've had some marvellous bands on and I'm very excited by our last line up with Viv Albertine from the Slits headlining, I think I'm going to be playing a bit of viola for her too!:

Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom! present

Viv Albertine (ex The Slits)
The Monroe Transfer
The Rayographs
Marcus Corbett
tobywoby spins records from other times & places.

VIV ALBERTINE (ex THE SLITS)
http://www.vivalbertine.com/
Viv Albertine used to be in the seminal punk band The Slits and now she has a fab new all-girl band! She has a record out soon on Manimal Vinyl, a cool new label which has released artists such as Bat For Lashes, The Chapin Sisters and more.

THE MONROE TRANSFER
http://www.themonroetransfer.co.uk/
London based 7 piece instrumental band have a recently finished forthcoming new album Trials which will be released on Organ Grinder records in January. It will feature typically elaborate packaging.
"At their most beautiful, The Monroe Transfer are able to lightly brush the places that so few other instrumental acts can" Drowned In Sound

THE RAYOGRAPHS
http://www.myspace.com/therayographs
The Rayographs are Astrud Steehouder on guitar and vocals, Jessamine Tierney on bass and vocals and Amy Hurst on drums and occasional vocals.

The combination of strong songwriting, dark landscapes and free vocals has led to comparisons with Patti Smith, The Breeders, Nick Cave and Life Without Buildings. November saw the release of their debut limited-edition hand-printed 7" single that was made Single of The Week by Organ, Normans Records and Piccadilly Records, with excellent reviews from Artrocker and The Stool Pigeon who described it as "a simmering blues tattoo enunciated like a hex and sharing not a little in common with Nick Cave's 'Tupelo.'"

***Now with the addition of the mesmeric Marcus Corbett starting the proceedings at 8.15p.m
http://www.marcuscorbett.com/

The Robots Are Taking Over

2009-11-24T14:27:00.002Z

I live in the world's smallest flat but I also own thousands of CDs which is a nightmare when trying to find shelf space for anything other than CDs. I came accross these CD wallets from Maplin that hold over 300 CDs each so I thought I'd purchase a few of those to store the CDs and inlays and chuck away those horrible cases, thus saving loads of space. You may ask why I'm relaying this boring story, well, after I placed my order online I waited and waited but nothing arrived so I decided to contact Maplin and ontop of their utter uselessness I discovered something quite sinister.

I logged in to my account and realised I could get 'live assistance' from their Customer Service Helpdesk which sounded handy so I clicked on it and a pop out box appeared like in a chat room, here's how it went:
Sara entered the room

Sara: Hi, how can I help.

you: hello
you: my order number: YD086129 has been cancelled
you: but the money has been extracted from PayPal
you: just wondering what's going on?

Sara: bear with me i will just check for you

Sara: The order has not be cancelled we have not recieved it through to us. If the payment has been taken then it will get reverted back to your account.

you: So, it's PayPal's error?

Sara: i couldn't say whos part the error was on but we did not recieve the order. You will be receiving the funds back to your account shortly.

you: just checked my PayPal account and no funds have returned to it
you: will my funds be returned to PayPal or my bank?
you: if I have an order number and money came out of my account surely the order was received by Maplin?

Sara: we did not recieve the order here. The funds get reverted back to your paypal account. If paypal put this back into your bank account i am not to know. It does take a couple of days for this to show

you: why wasn't I informed before that my order had been cancelled? I just assumed that it was taking longer to arrive due to the postal strike.
you: I still would like to purchase the product
you: Is there any guarantee this won't happen again if I reorder it?

Sara: we did not inform you becasue we did not recieve the order through to us. If you want to insure the order goes through you may place this by phone on 0844 557 6000

you: I'm a bit confused here. I placed the order online and received an order number of YD086129, money came out of my account and yet you say you didn't receive the order? how?

Sara: no we did not you did not recieve a email confirmation therefore we have not confirmed we had the order.

Through my utter frustration I began to wonder if I was actually talking to a real person so did a bit of research and low and behold, their 'Customer Service Helpdesk' is in fact a TX5 Virtual Help Desk so I hadn't been talking to a 'person' called Sara at all but a virtual person and a virtual person who makes intentional human-like spelling mistakes! Science fiction is ALIVE! they'll be driving our busses next!

I started being a bit silly with my questioning and after a loooong gap between my next question and an answer I think a REAL person intervened:

you: are you a robot?

Sara: no

you: your replies don't sound very human to me.

Sara: well i can assure you sir that i am not a robot i am a person

you: money has come out of my account and all you can say is "we did not receive the order", an apology would be nice.

Sara: I am sorry for that sir but we have not got a order. As i stated previously you the money wil get reverted back into your account

you: what's your favourite film?

Sara: Sir it is not appropriate for me to answer personal questions about my self i am hear to help with queries you have about maplin

you: Well, seeing as I'm not getting any further with my order I thought I'd change the conversation.

Sara: Unfortunatley i cannot advise you any further sir the funds will appear in your account shortly. I cannot advsie any differently

you: have you read War of The Worlds?

Sara: Ok is there any thing else i can help you with? With reagsrd to Maplin?

you: I see you're not much of a conversationalist so I shall say goodbye.
you: Goodbye Ms Sara Robot

Sara: Bye

She IS a robot! ... and my flat is still full of jewel cases, the bastards!

Goodbye, Faithful Interview! with Animal Hospital

2009-11-14T15:50:00.001Z

Kevin Micka is the one man multi-instrumental wizard Animal Hospital. The Boston based musician is currently on an extensive European tour and he played Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom! last month:

How does it differ being a solo artist rather than being part of a band? do you prefer it? ever get lonely?

I prefer it some ways in that it allows me a different type of creativity and flexibility. It all evolved out of those two things; wanting to tour more and have a different type of project that might force me to be more creative in my execution of ideas and performance. I don't really get too lonely, I see someone I know every couple of days on tour and driving doesn't bother me as it's good alone time for me sometimes. I do like the communal aspect of playing with friends and I think I prefer that in a less serious situation without the concerns of touring and organizing all the less fun aspects of playing music.

You've released two albums this year which is very prolific of you! one on Barge Records and the other on Mutable Sound, how did they come about?

Memory on Barge took about 2 or 3 years and for the most part it was a work in progress the whole time. Good or Plenty, Streets and Avenues came when there were lulls in the work I was doing on Memory, so I could take a break and make some potentially less deliberate and serious music. I hope to find some kind of middle ground in the future. It is hard to tell which process is more beneficial.

You're stuck in hospital for 6 months, it's nothing serious don't worry, what 5 albums would you take to listen to?

Hammerhead - Into the Vortex
Beach House - Devotion
Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians
Loscil - Plume
The Great Redneck Hope - Behold the Fuck Thunder

Rolf Harris had a TV series called Animal Hospital, if you had a TV show what would it be about?

It would be heavily influenced by James Burke. Perhaps a history, electronics repair and live music show, maybe a bit a of a Jools Holland type show with and educational aspect to it.

Apart from being a musician you're also an actor, producer and sound engineer. What's your favourite platform?

Ha ha! I 'acted' in a friend's film a few years back but that is about it on the acting front. Most of my regular platfroms in life involve music so I an pretty happy with that. Overall playing and creating music makes me the most content with life.

You've toured over many continents. Do you enjoy the immense travelling or does it ever get tiresome?

Sometimes, I would say it wears me out mostly when it takes time away from writing and recording new music. That and flying, but other than that I like it very much. I don't really know how to travel any other way.

The Jesus lizard can walk on water, do you have any unique atributes, other than playing loads of instruments at the same time on stage?

Hmmmm.... Yeah, I am still trying to decide on what to do to compete when I play with them(Jesus Lizard the band not the animal of the same name; Animal Hospital have an imminent support tour with the band). A friend suggested I take my dick out during the show.

Your stage show relies heavily on electronics and effects pedals, what do you do when the technology goes wrong?

It is so ingrained in me at this point to worry about this and I also work as a repair technician. I usually have some back up plans for when things go wrong. Doing this for 5 years has also helped me to handle and process the unexpected quick enough to work with it on stage... sometimes at least. I also try to take as good care of my stuff as i can and bring extra cables.

Are there any new bands you're fond of?

I am still living in a bubble. I need to work on that some more to get out of it. I keep looking further back than ahead at the moment in regards to what I listen to. Beach House and the Bower Birds are two of the only records I've I bought this year.

The next Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom! is on 1st December and headlining is Viv Libertine who used to be in the Slits! v. exciting!

part 13 - never say goodbye

2009-11-01T23:56:00.000Z

oh dear, ending the tour diary on part 13, good job I'm not superstitious, in fact, I'm one of those idiots who intentionally walks under ladders and opens umbrellas inside just to prove a point.

Anyway, time to reflect before I forget.

A week (and a bit) on from the tour and I find myself listening to Richard Hawley's 'True Love's Gutter' and feeling rather nostalgic, I can hear the crowd clapping and cheering after each song despite the fact I'm on my own. The album was played in it's entirety every night of the tour so it'll always hold fond memories for me. When I listen to it I can picture the band playing with the bright stage lights piercing the foggy darkness of the auditorium and I can almost smell the dry ice and whisky in my glass. It's a good job the tour wasn't a total disaster otherwise I'd feel quite the opposite, akin to Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange, instead of lovingly gazing out of the window I'd be hurling myself out the window.

It was a truly special tour of venues I doubt I'll ever frequent again, a far cry from the usual dingy London toilets with sticky floors I've been playing for the last X number of years.

Sheffield Lyceum

Liverpool Philharmonic

The Sage, Gateshead

Glasgow Fruitmarket

York Opera House

Those are just a hand full of the wonderful places we played. Good job I took those photos before the audience arrived because once the people were in the smoke machines would start up and when that happens you can barely see anything past the edge of the stage which, considering the ornate nature of these places, was a bit of a shame.

Some days we had time to do things other than driving on motorways, trying to park, lugging loads of equipment around and soundchecking.

We walked up the Malvern:

Went to the smallest theatre in the world:

We had cream teas:

I also met a space man:

...and did quite a bit of folding:

and consumed Woodford Reserve!

We also spent many hours at various Travelodges, all of which were exactly the same:

I also got my tour based question answered on the Answer Me This podcast, which you can listen to here.

Our new single Sunshine is out now, you can buy that from here

Part 12 – all good things must come to an end

2009-10-20T16:29:00.000+01:00

And so the tour is already becoming a distant memory albeit a fond memory. Over the last two and a half weeks we covered three countries in the UK and travelled a grand total of 3026 miles. We also consumed many bottles of whisky and now I feel like I’ve been driven over by a fleet of tanks. We rounded off the tour with a headline show at The Borderline last night which was great and we overcame our tiredness with yet more whisky. It got to the point where I had to drink a few glasses of whisky to feel normal again!

It feels strange that I was in Sheffield only yesterday, the day after the final date of the tour at the Edwardian theatre that is the Sheffield Lyceum. It really is a stunning venue and provided a fitting closure to what was a rather special tour. That morning we went out in search of bacon only to discover the pubs of Sheffield heaving with people, it was like the pubs had replaced old people’s homes, might as well call it The Departure Lounge.

I’ll be doing a tour round up in the next day or so with some nice photos so keep your eyes peeled.

Part 11 - the road is long

2009-10-17T14:06:00.001+01:00

We've been travelling for over two and a half hours now on long winding roads through the beautiful welsh countryside. We've passed many towns and villages with names that have an inordinate amount of consonants. We all have mouths like carpets and snake pit stomachs today, which is nice!

Part 10 - the hills are alive

2009-10-16T19:04:00.001+01:00

Im sat in the dressing room in Swansea, the doors open in 10 minutes and we haven't sound checked yet, neither has Richard Hawley's band. Apparently the PA, or maybe even two PAs broke down
and everyone is frantically waiting for the replacement to arrive. Oh, the drama! We arrived pretty late cos we did a little detour to climb up the Malvern hill, which apparently is the highest point in England. Luckily, there was a car park near the top so we only had a 20 minute walk to the very top, i'm not really built for long walls. The views at the top were pretty breathtaking. Anyway, better get on with the hopefully not long wait and theres lots of booze to be consumed.

Part 9 - can the one that looks like Jesus keep away from the pumps

2009-10-15T15:12:00.001+01:00

We set off from Gateshead to Nottingham for a live radio session only to discover the guitars are on Richard Hawley's bus in Swansea, ooops! After a bit of a panic i phone a local guitar shop and manage to convince them to loan us two guitars, phew! I think the words 'we'll give you a cheeky plug on air' helped.

Past 8 - bye bye Scotland

2009-10-14T15:10:00.001+01:00

After our fleeting stay in Scotland we find ourselves once again searching for a nice traditional pub serving nice hearty food, this time in Northumberlandshire. We try various little villages with bizarre names like Morpeth but no cigar, maybe Greene King have bought them all and turned them into flats. We eventually find a pub using a flashy iPhone app. and despite the early promise of log fires and a saliva inducing menu it doesnt quite live up to expectation and we end up going slightly delirious and by attacking each other with numbered wooden spoons. I guess the epic travelling and crippling tiredness, had something to do with that! My bones actually feel like bricks right now. Miles travelled so far: 2103. Oh yeah, that ludicrous dry ice machine caused the fire alarm to go off at the venue in Edinburgh last night. It also prompted a man in the audience at the Glasgow show to ask if they could switch the fog machine off as it was blowing straight at me and turning me into a cloud. They didnt switch it off but well done that man for trying!

Part 7 - Glasgow, haggis, neaps and tatties

2009-10-13T18:46:00.003+01:00

We couldn't come to Scotland without having perhaps their most famous culinary delight: haggis. After much searching down this amazing street that had a pleasingly inordinate number of musical instrument shops and charity/ vintage shops, we found a nice pub that did haggis, and it was truly delicious! The Fruitmarket in Glasgow was ace, all the old endearing features were in tact and pretty coloured lights draped round the perimeter, photos of that will come soon. About to sound check now so must dash, doors in 10 mins! Oh dear. . . .

Part 6 - Nottingham & the M6

2009-10-12T12:50:00.000+01:00

There's a lyric in Moscow State Circus by Eugene McGuinness that goes "I can name all the service stations on the M6 off by heart" and I'm beginning to feel like that. Having said that though, we've just stopped off at a lovely farm tea room in Yorkshire en route to Glasgow. The farm had a rather uncoventional selection of animals with cows, lamas, emus and a camel all sharing the same space in a field. Jessica almost had her fingers nibbled off after petting the animals, which would have been a bit of a disaster for playing guitar tonight but luckily the animals were friendly. I couldn't help but imagine one of those pigs sizzling away in the oven, shoot me!

The Albert Hall in Nottingham was an odd venue, conference centre by day and concert hall by night, the main room was beautiful with a huge pipe organ at the front. We were on stupidly early cos it was a Sunday which apparently means everyone turns into vampires if they stay out later that 10pm, so we ended up playing to a rather sparse room, but it was a good gig all the same.

We've just passed a road sign warning us about potential crossing tanks so I'm going to keep a look out for tanks now and enjoy the wonderful scenery.

Total distance travelled so far: 1816 miles

Part 5 - Shepherds Bush Empire + Bexhill

2009-10-11T11:32:00.000+01:00

I'm never going to call it the O2 Empire, it has too much history to be reduced to the name of a massive corporation. I've been to a lot of great gigs at The Empire and surprisingly it seems a hell of a lot bigger standing in the crowd than on stage. The reason for this might be because you can't really see anything from the stage at all due to the preposterous amount of dry ice being pumped out. Bexhill was the most ridiculous example of this, I remember looking out from the stage and I literally couldn't see anyone at all, I could have lit a cigarette and no one would have noticed. That whole day was a bit of a haze 'cos I couldn't even see the sea due to the blanket of rain and fog covering Bexhill.

Lisa Marie Presley duetted with Richard Hawley at The Empire which made the after show pretty mad 'cos of her entourage surrounding her like a moat round a castle. We decided to stay out of the way and play space invaders whilst drinking bourbon.

must dash, off to see Robin Hood now, maybe I can get a quiver off him for my viola bow.

Part 4 - Ipswich + Birmingham

2009-10-08T12:55:00.000+01:00

The day started off well when we arrived at The Regent in Ipswich to discover the usual sights of Richard Hawley's crew setting up a legion of shiny guitars nowhere to be seen. We were at the wrong venue. After a brief panic where we thought we might not just be in the wrong venue but the wrong city all together it turned out the show had been moved to the Corn Exchange, which was just round the corner. Phew!

The Corn Exchange is a lovely hall, not that you can tell from my typically bad photo below, and the sound was marvellous; Kaf and Jessica's voices really soared in that place.

Birmingham Town Hall, below, was built in 1784 and it's a rather wonderful and imposing building, it also promped the man Hawley to say "who'd have thought Birmingham could be so beautiful"

Tonight: Shepherd's Bush Empire!

Part 3 - Holmfirth, Manchester, York, Bristol

2009-10-05T16:41:00.000+01:00

I'm back in London, albeit very briefly, and now have access to a proper computer which means I can type lots of nonsense about the tour.

Miles travelled so far: 764.5

Four dates in and I'm thoroughly enjoying the experience, everyone on tour is really friendly and Richard Hawley in particular has been very kind to us, even letting us share their dressing room on the first night due to a dressing room shortage.

Smoke Fairies' post Holmfirth, must have been a dismal performance!

Bridgewater Hall in Manchester (pictured below) was a rather swanky establishment, cleverly built by people who clearly know their acoustics 'cos the sound in that place is astonishing. It's usually frequented by massive orchestras, which was made apparent to us when we were told we'd have to pick up all our equipment at a ludicrously early hour the following morning due to the (something) Philharmonic loading in. Following a somewhat late night I woke up fully clothed (brogues, coat, suit and tie) remembering that the entire the band were staying in a one bed Travelodge room. Cosy!

Despite being incredibly picturesque, York was a stressful place to arrive at. It's like a miniature version of London with scores of people buzzing about and no bloody parking spaces, we ended up driving round for over an hour trying to find somewhere, which eventually we did at the cost of SEVEN pounds. Next to that car park was a shop selling TVs for almost the same price! The York Opera house (which we're all standing outside below) was an amazing venue though, it's a lovely old theatre and we played our best set yet.

The Bristol Hippodrome (below) was a marvellous establishment, our set was less than spectacular. Thanks to Rowena for letting us stay at their lovely house, come studio, come farm!

The rider situation is an interesting one, we get a crate of beers between the four of us each evening and at the York Opera House they gave us a bottle of Marker's Mark too which was great! The rider situation is interesting, or dull, because if you have a look at the Government's Guidelines it says that men shouldn't drink more than 4 units a day. By my calculations, given that there are only 3 of us drinking the rider due to the fact that one of us has to drive, that means we're drinking 8 cans each every night, which comes to 17.6 units which is 4 and a half times more than the recommended amount. Considering this rider is provided by the promotions company, that means they're effectively encouraging us to break the Government's Guidelines. Now, that's my kind of business!

Right, off to Ipswich...

Part 2: We Will Rock You

2009-10-04T18:18:00.000+01:00

I'm sitting in a dressing room at the Bristol Hippodrome, sipping Stella and wearing three ties for no apparent reason other than for my own amusement, it feels like im wearing one massive tie. This venue hosted the no doubt ridiculous We Will Rock You musical, which is pretty crazy. The posters are still up and the evidence of Rock is still evident, there's two whole dressing rooms dedicated to wigs! Despite the fact we were a little 'tired and emotional' last night at the amazing York Opera House we played our best gig yet, but more on that and other exciting and less exciting things tomorrow once i have a proper computer in front of me.

Part 1: the tour begins!

2009-10-01T15:00:00.000+01:00

Here we are then, Smoke Fairies are on the road for the first date of the tour. I am literally sat in a car right now on the M1, being disgustingly 21st century and mobile blogging. And yes, we're in a car not plush tour van cos they're way too expensive for the likes of us. There's not much to report on the motorway; a parade of speeding tin cans, War of the Worlds style pylons and huge road signs pointing to uninviting places like Milton Keynes. I wish i'd bought some booze with me. Soon we'll be arriving in Holmfirth, the picturesque town where they filmed the award winning classic series Last of the Summer Wine! Where's my beanie hat?

Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom! present... Mephisto Grande, Years of Rice and Salt , Adam Beattie

2009-09-19T16:48:00.000+01:00

Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom! present:

Mephisto Grande
Years of Rice and Salt
Adam Beattie

DJ Toby Woby

6th October @ The Macbeth, London.

Doors @ 8pm

ADVANCE TICKETS HERE

MEPHISTO GRANDE
http://www.myspace.com/mephistogrande

Formed out of the remnants of revered Oxford band Suitable Case for Treatment, Mephisto Grande tread a dark and magnetic path that evokes the great Tom Waits.

“Blown away ... they are like nothing else around” - Tim Bearder, BBC Introducing

“Welcome to the strange and frightening world of Mephisto Grande, a band of devilish mischief who have chosen their name well” - Oxford Nightshift

YEARS OF RICE AND SALT
http://www.myspace.com/yearsofriceandsalt

Named after an alternative history novel with religious inflections, Years of Rice and Salt’s music mirror that ethereal mood. Despite only forming a year ago, this 5-piece post-rock/folk band have already been signed by American indie label Future Recording.

ADAM BEATTIE (solo set)
http://www.myspace.com/adambeattie

A deep love for the blues, in all its forms, and an affection for folk’s modern margins is all evident in Beatti’s work; his songwriting lurches happily from genre to genre as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Beattie has just released his debut album, Abu Bozy. He Recorded with Hijacked Records at 4th Street studios in Glasgow.

“distinctively rich vocals with carefully crafted lyrics and simple folk-rooted guitar melodies" - Brazen Magazine

Warren Ellis talking beards and wardrobes

2009-09-19T15:46:00.000+01:00

"“Clothes and manners do not make the man; but, when he is made, they greatly improve his appearance.” - Henry Ward Beecher

I recently read a great interview with Warren Ellis where he predominantly talks about clothes. I think Warren Ellis is great and I have a penchant for fancy attire so this was an interview that I was more than a little excited about! It's on Line Of Best Fit.

The next interview is Josh T Pearson, of Lift To Experience and massive beard fame. They both lock beards and have a jolly good natter, as you can see here.

The Tour of Dreams

2009-09-19T14:35:00.000+01:00

Smoke Fairies have been invited on tour with Richard Hawley. We get to play Shepherds Bush Empire and equivalent type of venues up and down the UK for two whole weeks. It is the Tour Of Dreams and I'll probably be writing a lot more mawkish gushing nonsense about it here in the near future, not to mention a no doubt massive tour blog. But for now, here's the poster:

"in 200 years no one's going to care who won"

2009-09-09T08:39:00.000+01:00

great words of encouragement from Jools Holland moments before announcing the winner at the Mercurys.

Son: "I've just won gold at the Olympics!"

Dad: "no one will care about that in a few years son"

Congratulations to Speech

I.U.M.I.

2009-09-03T17:05:00.000+01:00

I thought I’d share my collection of funny little sound making devices. A fair number of people, let's call them 'friends', have commented on these objects saying they make the most annoying sounds known to man, right up there with finger nails down a black board.

Here's a list of the some of these incredibly useless musical instruments:

The Groan Hammer: a plastic hammer shaped object that makes a sound so ridiculous you end up laughing ‘til it hurts, then it becomes incredibly irritating. It’s like the sound you'd get if you kicked a football in the stomach of a drunk who'd just consumed 40 fags and 4 litres of White Lightning. I bought it from one of those sea side shops when I went to All Tomorrow's Parties, along with a fetching pirate disguise. This one scores 9 out of 10 on the Incredibly Useless Musical Instrument Scale.

Stylophone: you know the thing, the small electronic organ you play with a metal prodding thing. Surprisingly, I haven’t yet found the need for a metallic wasp-like sound in any of the songs I play. IUMI Scale 8/10

Wooden Rattle: one of those football type rattles that you spin around and it makes an incredibly loud KRAK-KRAK-KRAK-KRAK sound. IUMI Scale: 9/10

Thunder Tube: a long tube that's open one end and at the closed end hangs a long metal coil, again it requires a shaking motion to release the glorious sound of rolling thunder. It sounds like a drum roll using mallets on a crash cymbal and it scares the cat. IUMI Scale: 7/10

Bamboo Panpipes: when I hear the sound of pan pipes I’m immediately transported to the pharmacy in my home town where they had Pan Pipe Classics constantly on the stereo. I had lots of health problems when I was younger so had to visit the pharmacy on numerous occasions you see. It completely baffles me why anyone would feel the need to re-record songs like Hey Jude on the pan pipes. This one is way off the IUMI Scale. It was an xmas present.

I keep thinking that maybe, just maybe, we'd be sat in the studio listening to a song that doesn’t sound quite right and after I add a carefully placed Groan Hammer to the recording it transforms the song into something wonderful and unique and everyone showers me with praise, aint gonna happen... or maybe one day I’ll create an amazing piece of musique concrète with the instruments, highly unlikely.

Anyway, the main point of this stupid rambling blog post was to declare my love for the glass harmonica. It creates a similar sound to when you rub the rim of a wine glass but considering it’s a ‘harmonica’ you can create multiple notes, i.e. it’s an instrument of dreams! It was invented by American revolutionist Benjamin Franklin, popular in the 18th century and described as having the sound of angels. More recently, artists such as Bjork and Tom Waits have used the instrument and apparently it features on Richard Hawley's new album too. This highlights the fact that it’s an incredibly useful and wonderful instrument and I NEED TO GET ONE. Definitely not an IUMI.

I went to Rome recently and discovered this little museum of musical instruments and in it was a glass harmonica! Unsurprisingly, along with all the other instruments, it was secured behind a see-through plastic box so you could only imagine what the sound would be like. It was an odd experience wandering around this museum in deathly silence, so many amazing instruments yet no sound.

I've had a look online for glass harmonicas to buy and to my joy it seems they're still producing them but sadly they're cripplingly expensive. Oh well, at least it's not as unattainable as this sea organ.

Goodbye, Faithful Interview! with Das Wanderlust

2009-08-26T12:09:00.000+01:00

Das Wanderlust recently released a great debut album full of chaotic charm and they'll be headlining Goodbye, Faithful Kingom! @ The Macbeth on 1st September. I posed a few questions to singer/keyboardist Laura and guitarist Andy and here's what popped out:

I'm enjoying your new album Horses for Courses, it was definitely worth the wait. What took you so long to release it?

Andy: Fannying around trying to get a ‘proper’ label to release it. In retrospect it was a massive waste of time that could have been better spent writing more songs. You live and learn though, eh? We’re really pleased with the way the album itself came out, though.

I was surprised not to see your 'big' hit singles The Orange Shop and Sunday School on the album but pleased to find that the album stands up without them. Why did you decide not include them on the record?

Andy: We wanted to not try and cover too much old ground with the album. We decided that we’d only include tracks on the album that we hadn’t previously released versions of that we felt did the songs justice. There are two re-recorded versions of tracks off our original demo EP from 2005 on there, …Robot and Sherlock Holmes…. The Orange Shop was on that EP too, although much slower, badly played, and called Lenor. Also, we got sick to death of playing that song live, so the last thing we wanted was to continue feeling obligated to play it. Imagine what it must be like having an actual hit!

The album track Celebrate Ourselves covers social networking sites, paranoia and jealousy. Are you opposed to sites like Facebook? Do you think these kinds of sites are turning a generation into self obsessed idiots?

Laura: I recently deleted my Facebook, because who gives a good God damn that I ‘just ate some toast’. Nobody should care, I’m not interesting, I’m totally boring and so is everyone else. MySpace and Facebook are used by loads of people to make their normal lives look totally amazing and like a film, which makes other people feel bad about themselves and sad that they don’t have a film life, and in turn makes them jealous of the film life people. So then everyone just becomes really false and they take loads of stupid posed photographs of themselves and it becomes one sick battle of who’s the coolest, ‘and I’m a photographer’, and ‘I’m in a band’, and ‘I’m a blah blah blah.’ When really nobody is anything other then just a person who does the same stupid stuff that everyone else does; going down the shops; watching telly; and reading magazines. I don’t spend any time on the internet anymore, it makes my head feel funny.

The lyrical content on the album is pretty bleak at times, like in Pyramintro, "my lucky stars, they do not exist" and We're All Doomed, "sometimes I forget that I'm doomed". Are these all personal or character based?

Laura: They are all personal. If I don’t keep myself busy I start to think a lot about things and then I get sad, which is what We’re All Doomed is about. I’m really just a depressed sixth former goth at heart.

I like the way Laura's voice morphs into a robot on the last track I Wish I Was A Robot, no question here, just sayin'

Andy: I like that way that rain makes all the snails come out.

Any current plans for a follow up to Horses... or will there be another agonising wait?

Andy: We’ve already abandoned our first attempt at recording the follow-up! The songs are all finished, we just didn’t play it as well as we could. We’re going to start again in the next few weeks, but in the meantime we’ve written a Christmas song which we need to record as there’s an obvious deadline for that. The second album’s going to be a lot more varied than the first, and with less reliance on the old slow/fast, quiet/loud business. And its going to be longer. The songwriting’s become a little more sophisticated, and we can’t really get away with playing crap any more. Being a crap lo-fi band gets pretty tired pretty quickly!

You've been through more drummers than I've had hot dinners. What's your ideal hot dinner?

Andy: Vegetable dhansak, chana massala, onion pilau, peshwari naan.

Laura: I like sausage and mash with onion gravy and peas. Yeah!

Red sauce or brown sauce?

Andy: Red sauce is good with almost everything. Brown is an acquired taste, and really for far more specific applications (such as cheese on toast). HP is the undisputed king of brown sauce, but for an interesting and exciting alternative to Heinz tomato ketchup I recommend you check out Tiptree.

Laura: I’m allergic to brown sauce, which is why I only sing ‘red sauce’ in that song. I love red sauce. Chips without red sauce are a waste of my time.

The composer Robert Schumann used a finger stretching device in a vain effort to better his wife Clara in the piano playing department. This plan failed dismally and destroyed his fingers rendering him unable to play piano at all; to add insult to injury his wife ran off with Johannes Brahms. Have you ever cheated at anything and got your comeuppance?

Andy: I went through a long phase of being really quite naughty in secondary school, and as a result letters started being sent home to my parents. I hid them all underneath the bottom drawer in my room, thinking that was a brilliant and original hiding place. The longer this went on, the more ridiculous the situation got as more and more letters got sent home, until one day my carefully constructed web of deceit came crashing down around me when my Dad phoned the school to ask why he hadn’t received any letters for such a long time. I came home from the scouts that night to find him in my room surrounded by the letters, and more angry than you’ve ever seen anyone in your life. In hindsight I should have burnt the fuckers. What an idiot.

You win the lottery and experience a strong impulse to travel, or wanderlust if you will. Where are you going?

Andy: Scandinavia, Japan and Canada are top of my list.

Which five albums are you taking on this trip?

Andy: You’d need some decent driving music, so ZZ Top, AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, Quo, and Meatloaf.

Are there any new bands that tickle your fancy?

Andy: An Austrian multi-instrumentalist called Mayr sent us her CD the other day for a pilot radio show we’re putting together – she’s very good.

Smokin' Fairies at Abbey Road

2009-08-22T13:32:00.000+01:00

A few ventures of a musical nature have happened recently, the most notable being a recording session at Abbey Road studio with Smoke Fairies. Abbey Road is obviously best known over the world for its history with the Beatles and that famous album cover where they’re striding across that zebra crossing, which apparently is soon to be moved because according to the council its current location is causing too many accidents. Here’s a theory though: maybe there are so many accidents because it’s a big tourist spot for Beatles fans who no doubt pose for photos on the zebra crossing blissfully unaware in their Beatles-obsessed haze that it is actually a proper road in frequent use. Because it’s situated in the posh area of St Johns Wood it’s populated by people who have far too much money driving fast cars whilst wearing stupid over sized shades and bathing in the glory of their disgustingly vast wealth, blissfully unaware that as they turn the corner they’re going to plough into unsuspecting tourists who are pretty much doing what parents tell their children to do when they’re being overly annoying; playing in the road.

Anyway, I’m not really interested in famous hot spots, The Beatles achieved what they did not because of that photo but because of what’s inside the studio, and what’s inside is quite astonishing. It really is an amazing place full of staggeringly good equipment and clever, interesting people, or as I like to call them: The Orchestrators of Dreams, which actually sounds a bit Harry Potter and funnily enough, the orchestral soundtracks for the Potter films were recorded at Abbey Road in studio one, the largest studio at the complex which has a cavernous live room and that was the room we got to use! This room has the most incredible acoustics that made every note you played sound lusciously boomy. It was such a marvellous experience recording there.

We recorded two songs in the short time we had at the studio Sunshine and new one Devil In My Mind. Sunshine has already been recorded before and will be our next single out in the next month or two I believe but we decided to record a different version because we wanted it to sound like it does when we play it live as a full band. I’m not sure what we’re going to do with the recordings but I’m sure they’ll see the light of day at some point in the not too distant future.

I’ve taken some photos of the studio but considering I’m officially the worst photographer in the world they don’t really do the place justice. I’m sure you can find some better shots online.

The next Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom! is on 1st September and the wonderful Das Wanderlust are headlining. I’ll be putting up the interview with them very soon. Advance tickets are available here.

The internet free for all

2009-08-03T13:33:00.000+01:00

I've decided to document interesting things I've read on t'internet here, mainly because I have a memory like a goldfish and this way I can archive articles and stuff I like, which is nice - who knows, it might be nice for you too.

Here is an interview with Chris Anderson who's just released a book entitled Free: The Future of a Radical Price which looks at industry within a "freeeconomy": getting stuff for free on the internet. As a musician this is a topical subject what with illegal downloading supposedly killing the music industry, which incidentally, I don't necessarily think it is. Obviously the argument being that if people are downloading music for free there's no revenue for the artist. Pre-The Internet there were still countless bands and musicians that were getting paid sod all, like The Nihilist Spasm Band, because very few people were buying their records as they didn't know about them. Bands of that level of popularity are still not getting any money but some, the good ones, are getting considerably more recognition and exposure than bands like The Nihilist Spasm Band ever did. The problem for bands and musicians who hope to make a morsel from music is how to turn that added exposure to their advantage. There's loads more stuff about that in the article and the book.

Another thing I came across was the Small Biz Podcast. I downloaded it completely by accident but found it rather interesting, especially the interview with professional 'thinker' Dr Edward De Bono who has insipred people like Brian Eno. After listening to the podcast I've now added two books to my reading list. Let's raise a glass, or two, to happy accidents!

One more thing that held my interest for FAR too long was this stupid game. Don't try it, you'll get hooked then curse yourself for wasting so much time trying to get fuzzy ball creatures in the boxes. But it was quite a fun waste of time.

Advance tickets for September's Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom! are on sale now here. Das Wanderlust are headlining and after listening to their new album I'm excited to be seeing them again. If you don't know them they sound a bit like a Deerhoof and X-Ray Spex... this is pretty bad comment but I also think the singer, Laura, sounds a bit like how I'd imagine Janet Street Porter to sound if she was in a punk band. There will no doubt be an interview of some description with them on here some time soon.

x

UPDATE: and now, rather ironically, you can get Chris Anderson's book about free stuff for free on iTunes as an audio book. Do a search for 'Free: The Future of a Radical Price'

Goodbye, Faithful Interview! with Codes In The Clouds

2009-07-30T12:54:00.000+01:00

Codes In The Clouds headline Goodbye, faithful Kingdom! on August 4th, advance tickets can be found here.

I bumped into the band whilst staring at the clouds in the sky and asked them a few questions:

The beautiful music of Codes In the Clouds is entirely sans-vocals. What particularly interests you about instrumental music?

With instrumental music the listener can take what they want from it. There's no default reaction for people to have, no set paths for people's emotional response to run down. At gigs we sometimes get different people from the same crowd telling us about two completely different opinions of the songs we've played. The other thing is that we all individually listen to music where lyrics are the focal point, and we enjoy when someone can express what they have to say in a song, but it's important not to fill your material with words just for the sake of it.

You’re sent on a long mission to discover codes within the clouds. What five albums are you going to take with you?

That makes one each.
Stephen = Elliott Smith- Figure 8.
Joe = Beach Boys - Pet Sounds.
Rob = Oceansize - Music For Nurses.
Ciaran = Mogwai - Come On Die Young.
Jack = Radiohead - Kid A.

You’ve been compared to the likes of Mono & Explosions In The Sky. This inevitably leads to writers using the frankly redundant term ‘post-rock’ to describe your music. You ok with that?

We're fine with people calling it whatever they want. If people pay us the compliment of talking about our music then we're happy for them to say what they like. It's nice to even be floating around people's consciousness at all. Anyway, maybe all genre is redundant because it's so subjective. That's why you end up with so many differently tailored sub-genres and so many ineffective catch-all terms like 'indie' or 'urban' music.

You recently worked with US film-maker Mike Hedge, how did that come about?

He got in contact with Erased Tapes and said he was a fan of the label's stuff. We really liked his stuff, so it was perfect to work together. It was really fun to make the video with Mike and MacGregor, even though it involved dancing on a cold beach in December.

There’s an unsubstantiated theory that Schoenberg’s Second Viennese School was set up in order to transmit codes within their serial music to the Nazi’s during the Second World War. Are there any codes or messages hidden within your music?

If anyone can find any codes in there they're welcome to let us know. Take that as a challenge if you like.

There’s a club in existence called The Cloud Appreciation Society who express their love for those fascinating floating fluffy things in the sky. Are you members of any appreciation societies? If not, what society would you set up to celebrate your obsessions?

We're all a little obsessed with the rules and intricacies of social minutia. We like to point out the faux-pas we see around us, and criticise each other's mistakes. So maybe the 'Society for the Enforcement of Faux-Pas Law' ? The S.E.F.P.L ?

You’ve done a lot of touring; where’s the most memorable place you’ve played?

Well, Rough Trade and The Union Chapel in London were incredible. But in terms of atmosphere and energy, the 13th Note in Glasgow and Cafe Zapata in Berlin were really special.

Your ace debut album ‘Paper Crayon’ was released in May this year on the label Erased Tapes. It has gained some great reviews including an (8/10) in Clash Magazine who said “it’s a perfectly presented first statement of their intentions, sending jolts from shoulders to fingertips”. Do you have any current plans for a second ‘statement’ or are you just concentrating on touring at the moment?

We have one grand idea for the second album as a whole, and a couple of songs basically finished, but it's all in the early stages of production right now. We write in and around touring so new stuff creeps into the set when we really like it. There's one song, that will definitely be on the second album, that we play almost every show now.

Are there any new bands you’re particularly fond of?

We really like The Shortwave Set, Rival Consoles and Tubelord. Oh and we're really into Baked Clouds, his EP is awesome. We're really happy because we've managed to get a Baked Clouds Remix on Paper Canyon Recycled.

a week of gigs

2009-07-19T16:13:00.000+01:00

Last Tuesday saw Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom! tear through ear drums in what was perhaps the loudest set of bands we've had. We're back on the 4th August at The Macbeth with the lush Codes In The Clouds headlining, advance tickets are on sale here.

Last week also provided another outing for The Monroe Transfer string section as we were asked to play at Alice Gun's single launch. We've now cunningly named ourselves The String Transfer and are now available for single launches, weddings and Bar Mitzvah's!

Fireworks Night also had a gig last week at The Windmill in support of Cymbals Eat Guitars. It was a fun gig, as pretty much all gigs are at The Windmill - that place is a beacon for all things fun. I even managed to have fun impaling myself on Nick's guitar during a particularly energetic performance of 'Sinnerman'.

I've just arrived back from Latitude where Smoke Fairies played to a surprisingly attentive crowd on Thursday night, apparently my viola was pretty damn loud during my Warren Ellis-style solo at the end of 'Sunshine' - this pleases me greatly! It's a mighty fine festival though, where else would you find a massive pot plant in the dressing room. oh yeah, the 'Frozen Heart' EP is out now, from here and no doubt other Googleable places.

Keep an eye out for forthcoming Codes In the Clouds interview.

x

Goodbye, Faithful Interview! with Artefacts For Space Travel

2009-06-29T13:03:00.000+01:00

Artefacts For Space Travel headline Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom! on Tuesday 7th July @ The Macbeth, advance tickets can be picked up from here.

I caught up with Joe and posed him a few questions.

The band name comes from a William S Burroughs quote that states, "Man is an artefact designed for space travel. He is not designed to remain in his present biologic state any more than a tadpole is designed to remain a tadpole." What are your thoughts on the statement? Are you longing to become that metaphorical frog? or are you happy remaining a tadpole?

Definitely want to be the frog. I’m very impatient about progress and I have a tremendous sense of urgency about everything. I just don’t have enough scientific knowledge to provide any answers, I can bluff a good argument though. For me the name represents an endless frustration, I believe the only things worth knowing can not be understood by the human brain.
I found the quote one night when I was researching stuff, I thought it'd be a cool band name. I’m not actually a Borroughs fan and have only read a few of his books. I basically only read Philip K Dick at the moment.

You're sent into space to start a colony on Mars, what 5 albums are you going to take with you?

Well I would definitely take 5 'best ofs' because everyone knows that a 'best of' is always a band's best album because it has their best songs on it. Anyone who says otherwise is a complete liar. I would also take in to consideration: if I end up meeting an Alien race while I’m on Mars who have never heard music before, what will I play to them to help them understand human music? I guess it'd be something like this:

Best of Beethoven
Best of Michael Jackson
Best of The Kinks
Best of Bob Dylan
Best of The Beach Boys

Not really sure why I left out the Beatles and the Stones, I think Martians prefer the Kinks.

Two of your members share the same surname as me, are we related?

Yes, Sam and I (Joe) are brothers, we have another brother called Luke who plays the drums, we're going to start a family band, we'll be like an uglier version of Hanson. Oh . . . Are we related to you? I don’t know, do you have any money you can lend us? If you do then you can be in our family. But unfortunately there was only three brothers in Hanson so you’ll have to be the manager.

You site West Coast American bands like Melvins, Nirvana and Pavement as influences ... what particularly interests you about those bands?

I was raised on Guns and Roses and Nirvana. Brit pop bored the shit out of me. I liked metal in my early teens, then I started get into weird Rough Trade indie type stuff. Now I just listen to everything. We're not JUST into 90's American stuff, though Sam and I went to see Melvins and Dinosaur Jr concerts recently, I’m a massive Mark E Smith fan, and I like a lot of 60's stuff. I guess bands like Pavement have that laid back, slacker appeal which we relate too, we're really easy going people. We want to make 'stoner indie rock'.

Has anyone written anything wildly inaccurate about the band so far? how do you feel about terms like "toxic punk sludge" being used to describe your music?

It's really dumb. We find it both funny and depressing. Our favourite live review came from Manchester News and said we were 'either really good or really bad', at least make a fucking decision! Jesus. But yeah it's depressing because we want journalists to listen to us and not just say, 'oooh, loud guitars, they must be influenced by the Pixies'. We like noisy, heavy music, it's not because we're trying to bring back grunge.

If Artefacts for Space Travel ever found themselves in a tricky situation, who would have instigated it?

We've had a lot of punch ups after gigs, it's actually normally us standing up for a friend who has come to watch us and ended up getting into a fight. Some of our friends are a bit rowdy. We once had to fight our way out of Southampton University, luckily students are pussys and we beat them all up with ease. Sam also causes a lot of problems, we thought he'd been kidnapped by Mexican coke dealers in Texas, he tends to wander off and find new friends when he's wasted. Alex's car is always getting stolen too, or towed away by gangsters. Everything is always a challenge with our band. If it can go wrong it will. But it’s normally all just down to too much beer. So I guess the answer is beer would've instigated it.

Are there any new bands that you're particularly fond of?

Don’t know if they're new but I’m listening to a lot of Blank Dogs, it's right up my street. We saw lots of cool bands out in SXSW mainly at a bar called Miss Beas. I want to go see a new band called A Grave With No Name, I like the tracks on their myspace. I'm going to see Ariel Pink on Sunday which I’m looking forward to, he's a sexy fellow.

How did the EP 'Power of The Brain' come to fruition? Any reference to popular brain based game shows such as Who Wants to be a Millionaire? or Eggheads?

Power of the brain is the name of one of our songs, it's all about telepathy and transhumanism. I watch Egg heads a lot though, I get really angry at the show. I hate that old lady who knows everything, they're such smug arseholes.

Any plans for a follow up?

We're ready to release more, just waiting for the all clear, we have loads of new songs that we like playing, so ASAP for another EP on Stolen Recordings.

Smoke Fairies: The Big Gig

2009-06-27T11:30:00.000+01:00

I received a most intriguing text on Monday asking if I was free to play a Smoke Fairies gig on Wednesday, the text read: ‘Urgento, could you play BIG gig Weds? Biggest Yet?’ to which I replied ‘yes!’ and carried on with my office job, wondering what this big gig was, assuming that it couldn’t possibly be that big, maybe a support slot for some dead end popular indie act at the Barfly or something.

The second text later that day was quite possibly the best text I’ve ever received, it read: ‘Confirmed – Wed – The Forum – Dead Weather support’. The Forum! Dead Weather! Jack White and Allison Mosshart’s new super band! Damn exciting. I then slip back into assumption mode and figure we’ll be first support, on at 7.30pm whilst most people are queuing up outside to get in the place. Even that though would have been marvellous ‘cos it’s The Forum! the cavernous venue with a capacity of over 2000! It’s also the venue I frequented for my first ever proper pop concert: Manic Street Preachers in 1996. I still remember that gig vividly, everything just seemed larger than life, the inescapable loudness, the sea of happy people that enveloped you and the feelings of intense excitement and anticipation. Now I get the chance to play there!

Once again my assumptions prove wildly inaccurate. It turns out we’re the only support band playing that evening and we’re not due to go on stage until 1 hr 45 mins after the door opening time, which is great news as it means playing to a full house and a pretty gigantic house at that.

I get to the venue to find Dead Weather in full swing performing their new single Hang You From The Heavens to an audience of camera men/women shooting footage for some kind of video. That particular song with its infectious riff has been firmly lodged in my head ever since. The band were LOUD. Jack White’s drum kit was a bit different too, he was surrounded by large flat drums, it looked like a kit The Monks would have used.

Following our sound check (which in itself would have been a the best sound check ever had it not been for techies trying to fix Dead Weather guitarists’ monstrous stack of pedals during it) a few hours of nervous anticipation ensues, which include beers and a little food in the most incompetent Italian Restaurant I have ever been to, “oh, you want drinks?” they nonchalantly ask, ten minutes after saying they’ll be straight over to take our order. Rubbish.

We’re back in the dressing room sipping Jim Beam, waiting for our call to the stage, when Jack White wanders in to wish us good luck, which was tremendously nice of him. I’m sure most other uber-famous musicians in his position wouldn’t even know who the support act were let alone make the effort to wish them luck. The most wonderfully lovely thing though was that he walked on stage with us and introduced us to the crowd! It was such an amazing feeling playing on that stage, especially after such a great introduction, looking out, seeing scores and scores of people stretching out and up into the gods of the balcony. Simply marvellous.

This being Allison Mosshart from the Kills’ gig meant the possibility of gossip magazine royalty Jamie Hince and Kate Moss being in attendance. This hadn’t really crossed my mind until I was having a post-gig cigarette out the side door and noticed a horde of sweaty hyena-like men hurtling towards the door, wielding cameras that were towering, mechanical antennae, brightly, incessantly flashing at Jamie Hince as he was walking towards the door, then Kate Moss appeared and these hyena-like men swarmed like locusts. Such a bizarre sight.

I go back in and drink far too much whiskey and some how end up back home in the small hours with a jar of cockles in my possession.

RIP Steven Wells & Sky Saxon

flyering high

2009-06-15T12:49:00.001+01:00

One of the factors in 'making a gig more of an event' is presentation. The aim is to make an impression which means the flyer design is very important. Luckily I'm not responsible for this, if I was the flyers would probably look like wonky treasure maps drawn by toddlers with ADD. So we're very fortunate to have Consumer Revolt handling the flyer designs, they also design all the artwork for The Monroe Transfer releases, which I think you'll agree looks very special.

Anyway, the reason I'm blithering on about flyers is because I want to show them off here. They only have a short life spam in the public eye so I thought it would be nice to put them up here, in a nice handy slide show. Enjoy!

Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom!

2009-06-13T12:33:00.000+01:00

So, this is it, I’ve entered the Blogosphere! Where’s the champagne? …juice and cigarettes it is then.

I’ll mostly be using this blog to document my monthly club night called Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom! hence the title.

The night has been going for over a year now and we’re coming up to our 17^th GFK! which is on 7^th July at The Macbeth and Artefacts For Space Travel, who are signed to Stolen Recordings, will be headlining. You can purchase cheap advance tickets from here if you so wish.

Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom! came into existence when The Monroe Transfer, who I play viola for, were offered a gig at the marvelous venue The Luminaire in Kilburn. The nice people at the venue used to pick bands to curate nights there and we were the last band they chose to do one, I’m not quite sure why they stopped doing it but it’s probably got something to do with money as most things do these days. The gig itself was excellent, we had Her Name Is Calla and Blanket as support acts, who were great, and people turned up and much fun was had. From there I found a suitable venue to set up a regular night (The Macbeth) and the club has flourished, need proof? Well, popular culture website Flavorpill stated that “Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom! is gaining a granite reputation for presenting meaningful and progressive underground acts”, which pretty much sums up the ethos of the club. Subba-Cultcha called the night “refreshingly different” and the blog Echo’s and Dust pointed out that “with so many little nights on all over London it’s sometimes hard to sort the wood from the tress, but in Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom! we’ve found a little gem”, which was nice of them! We recently put on a nine band summer BBQ spectacular which was ludicrously fun, the headliners Agaskodo Teliverek were simply awesome.

The plan with this club blogging thing is to try and build up a little excitement before each gig by conducting interviews with the bands on the bill, offering free MP3s, videos and other exciting things I haven’t thought of yet. The aim is to try and make each gig more of an event rather than just-another-bog-standard-gig. So yeah, keep your eyes peeled for that.

Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom!

Fireworks Night announce release party line-up

Fireworks Night announce release party line-up

Webdoc.com

How's my driving?

Fireworks Night shows & album news in handy flyer format

My preposterous interview with Sea of Bees

The hunt for a BACH Bogen

Hear me interview Jeanette Leech on ResonanceFM today

Smoke Fairies on XFM

22 April - all day gig party and BBQ at the Brixton Windmill

a mumbling fool is interviewed at Judy's Vintage Fair

A Tour In Photos

Smoke Fairies tour diary part 2

Smoke Fairies tour diary part uno

London Scala Announcement - European & UK Tour dates - update

Smoke Ferrys in Ireland

Smoke Fairies - European Tour Diary

Trans Europe Express

Hornets Tour Gruff Riley

Most listened to albums in the last 12 months via this handy Last Fm gadget

Pair of Kraft slices

FlipronThe Coolest Names In Showbiz Tiny Dog

Milk White White TeethIngrid Won't Smile Too Pure

Tour blog and cheap list for Lexington gig

Feedme Money

Smoke Fairies' new album sampler

Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom! present Her Name Is Calla

Tamesis Dock

Through Low Light and Trees

The Monroe Transfer tour with Her Name Is Calla

A few tracks to stream from the forthcoming Fireworks Night album

Royal Festival Hall

Fireworks Night news

Ace rant about the internets

spouting a load of rubbish in The Big Issue

Her Name is Calla

Camden Trawl

Trials of the day

Songs in the key of drunk

Smoke Fairies hit SXSW

Smoke Fairies invade Sawmills

The Monroe Transfer need you, yes you....... really.

viola mayhem on Tom Robinson's show tonight

What the NME said

WE'RE THE SUPPORT BAND!

Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom!

New year: New nonsense

Christmas indie super bands

Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom! TONIGHT!

The Robots Are Taking Over

Goodbye, Faithful Interview! with Animal Hospital

part 13 - never say goodbye

Part 12 – all good things must come to an end

Part 11 - the road is long

Part 10 - the hills are alive

Part 9 - can the one that looks like Jesus keep away from the pumps

Past 8 - bye bye Scotland

Part 7 - Glasgow, haggis, neaps and tatties

Part 6 - Nottingham & the M6

Part 5 - Shepherds Bush Empire + Bexhill

Part 4 - Ipswich + Birmingham

Part 3 - Holmfirth, Manchester, York, Bristol

Part 2: We Will Rock You

Part 1: the tour begins!

Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom! present... Mephisto Grande, Years of Rice and Salt , Adam Beattie

Warren Ellis talking beards and wardrobes

The Tour of Dreams

"in 200 years no one's going to care who won"

I.U.M.I.

Goodbye, Faithful Interview! with Das Wanderlust

Smokin' Fairies at Abbey Road

The internet free for all

Goodbye, Faithful Interview! with Codes In The Clouds

a week of gigs

Goodbye, Faithful Interview! with Artefacts For Space Travel

Smoke Fairies: The Big Gig

flyering high

Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom!

Flipron
The Coolest Names In Showbiz Tiny Dog

Milk White White Teeth
Ingrid Won't Smile Too Pure