Friday, 29 January 2010
Saturday, 23 January 2010
John Martyn
A couple of years ago I was in the middle of moving house, and all my stuff was packed into boxes ready to go. It was really late at night, and a documentary about John Martyn came on. He was a lot older, and it was filmed just before he died. It made for quite hard watching because he was, by anyone's standards, not in the greatest state before he died.
Straight after the programme, a live documentary came on of him in 1978, and two tracks in, he played a song called 'Small Hours' which absolutely floored me, a real game changer. I don't honestly remember feeling that about, well, anything really.
"Slick shit, huh?"
No shit John.
Straight after the programme, a live documentary came on of him in 1978, and two tracks in, he played a song called 'Small Hours' which absolutely floored me, a real game changer. I don't honestly remember feeling that about, well, anything really.
"Slick shit, huh?"
No shit John.
Friday, 22 January 2010
London & Cambridge & Oxford
Couple of shows for you in March!
Tuesday March 2nd 2010 - Dublin Castle, London
Friday March 5th 2010 - Portland Arms, Cambridge
Saturday March 6th 2010 - Academy 2, Oxford (supporting Little Fish)
See you there!
(last time we played the Dublin Castle, the road from Oxford got shut because a police car FLIPPED ONTO ITS ROOF in front of us, and we sat still on a motorway for four hours before cabin fever set in - that's when we started panicking, what's the friggin' point, no one will be there, I hate London, godamn industry, what's life all about blah blah and then we got there, no soundcheck (the sound women told me that if I couldn't hear my vocals, "get the drummer to turn down" yes lady I muttered under my breath, whatever) and we absolutely nailed that show, it's become a byword for struggling in the face of adversity, our mountain to climb, our Goliath, such victory in the face of struggle that my Dad text me later that night saying "what a great show, was thinking about it so much on the tube that I missed my stop" which sounds like a cliche but it really really happened)
Current listening: Led Zeppelin 1 (Atlantic Records, 1969)
Tuesday March 2nd 2010 - Dublin Castle, London
Friday March 5th 2010 - Portland Arms, Cambridge
Saturday March 6th 2010 - Academy 2, Oxford (supporting Little Fish)
See you there!
(last time we played the Dublin Castle, the road from Oxford got shut because a police car FLIPPED ONTO ITS ROOF in front of us, and we sat still on a motorway for four hours before cabin fever set in - that's when we started panicking, what's the friggin' point, no one will be there, I hate London, godamn industry, what's life all about blah blah and then we got there, no soundcheck (the sound women told me that if I couldn't hear my vocals, "get the drummer to turn down" yes lady I muttered under my breath, whatever) and we absolutely nailed that show, it's become a byword for struggling in the face of adversity, our mountain to climb, our Goliath, such victory in the face of struggle that my Dad text me later that night saying "what a great show, was thinking about it so much on the tube that I missed my stop" which sounds like a cliche but it really really happened)
Current listening: Led Zeppelin 1 (Atlantic Records, 1969)
Friday, 15 January 2010
Spotify list for a Friday Morning
[Sorry it's so indie today, it's raining outside]
'Future Works' - Idlewild
taken from Make Another World
'Country Feedback (Live)' - REM
taken from Bang & Blame EP
'Whorses' - Biffly Clyro
taken from Only Revolutions
'Shelter' - The XX
taken from The XX
'Rapture' - Deftones
taken from Saturday Night Wrist
'Future Works' - Idlewild
taken from Make Another World
'Country Feedback (Live)' - REM
taken from Bang & Blame EP
'Whorses' - Biffly Clyro
taken from Only Revolutions
'Shelter' - The XX
taken from The XX
'Rapture' - Deftones
taken from Saturday Night Wrist
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Little Fish Support
Little Fish + The Winchell Riots
Saturday March 6th 2010
Oxford O2 Academy
Advance Tickets - http://www.wegottickets.com/event/67750
Saturday March 6th 2010
Oxford O2 Academy
Advance Tickets - http://www.wegottickets.com/event/67750
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
2009-2010
Hi all
Thought I'd start 2010 with a blog that we'll update over the next 12 months. It feels like we'll have a lot to talk about but then maybe it'll just be filled up with lists of books we endorse.
Last year was definitely the best year of being in a band that I've ever had. In January we had three days to get our old friend Nathan up to speed on guitar before we did 4 Academy venues in 5 days starting in Glasgow
and ending in Oxford.
From there we went into the studio with Sam Williams (Supergrass/A Silent Film) to record 'Glasgow Spaceflight' and 'Love, the Great Olympic Sport' which was picked up by Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 1 a few weeks later. He spelt our name live on air, which was a big help.
We took on new management, had some important conversations about important topics with important people, got referred to as a "worldwide proposition" a few times by important people, got told to shave off our beards and our hair, which we failed to do, met some lawyers, talked shit about shit, and generally felt a fair old amount of deja-vu at the state of the world.
We went to Wales to record at the Manic Street Preachers' studio with producer Greg Haver. Cardiff wasn't really the best city I've ever been to, but we got some good tracks/tricks out of the session. We failed to meet the Manic Street Preachers.
Starting in October, we played a three month run of gigs in Oxford that went down like a bomb, in the best way possible. I thought it sort of like suicide doing 3 shows in the same city over 3 months, and I think everyone did actually. But they really paid off, and by the end of the residency, I felt like we had really found our feet as a band. Big props to Caretaker, Phantom Theory, The Half Rabbits, Hunters, The Joff Winks Band and From Light to Sound for playing with us, you are all awesome bands who we hold in the highest regard.
Then we parted ways with our new management and got, well, new management again. We went back into the studio with Sam Williams just last week, and recorded two songs - 'My Young Arms' and 'Red Square'. The latter of these songs is my favourite song that we've ever written and so recording it felt like a big deal for all of us - we've always finished our set with it, and so we recorded it live in 7 takes which was a really different way of working for us. Some bands record live, but bands like us tend to do 'overdubs' and hundreds of takes to achieve the desired results. So for us to record 'Red Square' like that was a huge learning curve for us but one that has really paid off. Anyway, we're putting out a 5 track EP in April on limited 10" vinyl which is about the most excited I've ever been. We're right in the middle of sorting out all the designs for it, and we're working with one of the coolest designers in the world, who we'll introduce in a few weeks. And we did some photos in the pouring rain with our new photographer friend Justin Paget.
Then we played a big show at the Holywell Music Rooms in Oxford that I've talked about elsewhere but it was immense. I left the stage that night, put my guitar down and didn't pick it up again for 6 weeks.
So that was about it really. Have I missed anything out?
Phil x
Current Reading: 'The Collected Stories' by Lorrie Moore (Faber & Faber)
Thought I'd start 2010 with a blog that we'll update over the next 12 months. It feels like we'll have a lot to talk about but then maybe it'll just be filled up with lists of books we endorse.
Last year was definitely the best year of being in a band that I've ever had. In January we had three days to get our old friend Nathan up to speed on guitar before we did 4 Academy venues in 5 days starting in Glasgow
and ending in Oxford.
From there we went into the studio with Sam Williams (Supergrass/A Silent Film) to record 'Glasgow Spaceflight' and 'Love, the Great Olympic Sport' which was picked up by Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 1 a few weeks later. He spelt our name live on air, which was a big help.
We took on new management, had some important conversations about important topics with important people, got referred to as a "worldwide proposition" a few times by important people, got told to shave off our beards and our hair, which we failed to do, met some lawyers, talked shit about shit, and generally felt a fair old amount of deja-vu at the state of the world.
We went to Wales to record at the Manic Street Preachers' studio with producer Greg Haver. Cardiff wasn't really the best city I've ever been to, but we got some good tracks/tricks out of the session. We failed to meet the Manic Street Preachers.
Starting in October, we played a three month run of gigs in Oxford that went down like a bomb, in the best way possible. I thought it sort of like suicide doing 3 shows in the same city over 3 months, and I think everyone did actually. But they really paid off, and by the end of the residency, I felt like we had really found our feet as a band. Big props to Caretaker, Phantom Theory, The Half Rabbits, Hunters, The Joff Winks Band and From Light to Sound for playing with us, you are all awesome bands who we hold in the highest regard.
Then we parted ways with our new management and got, well, new management again. We went back into the studio with Sam Williams just last week, and recorded two songs - 'My Young Arms' and 'Red Square'. The latter of these songs is my favourite song that we've ever written and so recording it felt like a big deal for all of us - we've always finished our set with it, and so we recorded it live in 7 takes which was a really different way of working for us. Some bands record live, but bands like us tend to do 'overdubs' and hundreds of takes to achieve the desired results. So for us to record 'Red Square' like that was a huge learning curve for us but one that has really paid off. Anyway, we're putting out a 5 track EP in April on limited 10" vinyl which is about the most excited I've ever been. We're right in the middle of sorting out all the designs for it, and we're working with one of the coolest designers in the world, who we'll introduce in a few weeks. And we did some photos in the pouring rain with our new photographer friend Justin Paget.
Then we played a big show at the Holywell Music Rooms in Oxford that I've talked about elsewhere but it was immense. I left the stage that night, put my guitar down and didn't pick it up again for 6 weeks.
So that was about it really. Have I missed anything out?
Phil x
Current Reading: 'The Collected Stories' by Lorrie Moore (Faber & Faber)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
