So, Anthony Gormley's One&Other project has finished - 100 days, and 2,400 people later it's all over........I didn't realise I would be ushering in the final 24 hours of the event with my slot yesterday morning at 9am, but I am honoured to have been chosen to participate.
I would like to say a huge thanks to everyone who came along to watch, to everyone who watched the live stream, and to those who had a gander later on.
If you've still not seen it, it's available via http://www.oneandother.co.uk/participants/oxygenthief ........I don't know how long it'll be up there, so enjoy it while it lasts!
I'm pretty knackered now and looking at the next week or so there doesn't seem to be any time to take it easy and recuperate, so if anyone has access to some sort of sleep-based time machine that I could pop myself into tonight & receive the equivalent of a month of early nights then I'm willing to pay you upwards of £30 for the priviledge of borrowing it.
Wednesday 14 October 2009
Wednesday 7 October 2009
Tour video diary parts 10 & 11 - the end!
here it is - the last installment of our tour video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry-DlQe7Hh4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry-DlQe7Hh4
Tuesday 6 October 2009
Monday 5 October 2009
Tour video diary parts 7 & 8
Day 7
Day 8 - in which our racist expectations of the people of Newcastle are all confirmed...
Day 8 - in which our racist expectations of the people of Newcastle are all confirmed...
Thursday 1 October 2009
New guitar?
I've just accidentally started trying to haggle down the price of a sexy new guitar (http://pictures.kyozou.com/pictures/_7/6010/6009019.jpg) that I'm hoping to get from a shop just up the road near Gloucester.
This place has it for around £430, other online stores have it £495. I already thought I was getting a bargain.
However, local shop doesn't have it in stock at the moment...so out of curiosity/boredom I emailed the £495 ones and said "could you beat this other shop?" not really expecting anything.
£495 shop says "ok, how's about £399 delivered"
Well, I'm torn now between the desire to try and buy from a small local dealer (something I believe is especially important considering the current economic climate*) and the desire to save myself enough money for a really nice bottle of whisky.
So, I emailed the £430 one saying "well, this other place will do it for £399 now...what do you reckon?"
They've said they'll see what they can do...
I feel a bit bad now, £430 isn't a bad price and the bloke in the shop seemed really nice......I bet he has little hungry children, and gives a chunk of his profits to a donkey sanctuary and because of my desire to save money they're all going to starve to death.............I'm going to hell.
.
...
.....
.......
.........
Ah sod it there's no such place, and if they match the cheaper price I'll probably spend that money on strings/picks/a cable/a new capo in his shop anyway............so everyone's a winner
*I hate myself for typing these words.
This place has it for around £430, other online stores have it £495. I already thought I was getting a bargain.
However, local shop doesn't have it in stock at the moment...so out of curiosity/boredom I emailed the £495 ones and said "could you beat this other shop?" not really expecting anything.
£495 shop says "ok, how's about £399 delivered"
Well, I'm torn now between the desire to try and buy from a small local dealer (something I believe is especially important considering the current economic climate*) and the desire to save myself enough money for a really nice bottle of whisky.
So, I emailed the £430 one saying "well, this other place will do it for £399 now...what do you reckon?"
They've said they'll see what they can do...
I feel a bit bad now, £430 isn't a bad price and the bloke in the shop seemed really nice......I bet he has little hungry children, and gives a chunk of his profits to a donkey sanctuary and because of my desire to save money they're all going to starve to death.............I'm going to hell.
.
...
.....
.......
.........
Ah sod it there's no such place, and if they match the cheaper price I'll probably spend that money on strings/picks/a cable/a new capo in his shop anyway............so everyone's a winner
*I hate myself for typing these words.
Wednesday 23 September 2009
Sunday 13 September 2009
Thursday 10 September 2009
Monday 7 September 2009
Friday 4 September 2009
Tour video diary pt 1
Day 1 started in the most rocking of all ways : installing a washing machine at home. The dream is being well and truly lived ladies and gentlemen.
DIY done, gear loaded, obsessively checked and rechecked to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything (and then checked again just to be on the safe side) it's road time.
The next 5 hours pass in a blur of Tesco bbq ribs, traffic jams, fruitless hunts for interesting whisky, and lustful browsing through the biggest music shop ever + then it's finally time - gig #1 of the tour.
To say that Reading was a fun night would be like saying that the weather has been a bit changable recently - both totally accurate, but a bit of an understatement : sing-a-longs, stage invasions, Shine 7 being the prime source of dj material (WELL I CAN'T TAKE IT, TOO MUCH TIME'S BEEN WASTED ahh), and hanging around with the progressively more destroyed Josaka crew.
Bonus points also to sir Winship for being possibly the drunkest person in a room packed with really quite drunk folks.
Heading back to Ben's for post mortem whisky and beer, the last 30 minutes of Dracula 2000 (what...it was Judas all along? Vampire necks are made of grass? WHATTHEHELLISGOINGON?) untill we gradually passed out watching someone excitingly swimming lengths on the Big Brother live feed.
Saturday 22 August 2009
We are all dead
Ah man what has happened to us? Anyone would think that 9 days in a row playing gigs+drinking booze until we either fall over or fall asleep is somehow not the best way to maintain a healthy demeanour. Jim is zonked out in the car, whilst Ben and I have a staring competiton with the floor. It's hangovers like this that make me understand why people become religious - never again is the refrain that we're quite tempted to make right now. But we won't of course - we'll drive to Reading for our day off, go to sleep, and then get right back on it again. 'Sometimes the only way to get back on the horse is to tie yourself to the fucking saddle' wise words young Marwood, wise wise horrifying words.
Sunday 16 August 2009
!@*#ing tour diary - day 3
It's so hot here nobodycanbreathe and all we want is some a i r
but there's none, and when we open the windows there are bikers trying to climb in and belly dance at us, and noise from a gazebo of musical happenings that has been set up purely to distract from our fun, and the road is closed so I had to park miles away and then we propped a window open using a pint glass and then BRENT opened it (despite Kev's slow motion "noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!") and it fell down to the ground and smashed in the middle of some hells angels who didn't turn out to be that happy about it.
And then it stayed hot.
But at least we had some music to entertain us (and beer, the more you drink, the less not being able to breathe seems to matter) : thanks to everyone who played, and everyone who listened, and those Hells Angels for not killing us all.
but there's none, and when we open the windows there are bikers trying to climb in and belly dance at us, and noise from a gazebo of musical happenings that has been set up purely to distract from our fun, and the road is closed so I had to park miles away and then we propped a window open using a pint glass and then BRENT opened it (despite Kev's slow motion "noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!") and it fell down to the ground and smashed in the middle of some hells angels who didn't turn out to be that happy about it.
And then it stayed hot.
But at least we had some music to entertain us (and beer, the more you drink, the less not being able to breathe seems to matter) : thanks to everyone who played, and everyone who listened, and those Hells Angels for not killing us all.
Friday 14 August 2009
!@*#ing tour diary - days 1+2
Day 1 started in the most rocking of all ways : installing a washing machine at home. The dream is being well and truly lived ladies and gentlemen.
DIY done, gear loaded, obsessively checked and rechecked to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything (and then checked again just to be on the safe side) it's road time.
The next 5 hours pass in a blur of Tesco bbq ribs, traffic jams, fruitless hunts for interesting whisky, and lustful browsing through the biggest music shop ever + then it's finally time - gig #1 of the tour.
To say that Reading was a fun night would be like saying that the weather has been a bit changable recently - both totally accurate, but a bit of an understatement : sing-a-longs, stage invasions, Shine 7 being the prime source of dj material (WELL I CAN'T TAKE IT, TOO MUCH TIME'S BEEN WASTED ahh), and hanging around with the progressively more destroyed Josaka crew.
Bonus points also to sir Winship for being possibly the drunkest person in a room packed with really quite drunk folks.
Heading back to Ben's for post mortem whisky and beer, the last 30 minutes of Dracula 2000 (what...it was Judas all along? Vampire necks are made of grass? WHATTHEHELLISGOINGON?) untill we gradually passed out watching someone excitingly swimming lengths on the Big Brother live feed.
Andthenitwasday2 - in which Jim felt like death warmed up, frozen, partially thawed out, and then kicked down a spiral staircase...we fed ourselves bacon bought from the proceeds of last night's merch sale (thank you Readingites) and lounged around watching Murder She Wrote (the bus driver did it...twice) and Monk (who said OCD couldn't be fun?).
Our daytime whittled away with detective shows and pig flesh (oh and Jim pausing to give God a quick ring from the big white telephone) we drove the winding roads to Devizes well aided by the skills of DJ Ben "random play all" Marwood, played the most tedious, yet profitable, quiz/fruit machine ever, and then ate fish and chips by the lake. Romantic eh?
The show was an open mic affair, with each of us getting 2 x 3 song sets...I have to admit that I was initially a bit dubious about how that would rank on the awesome scale, but it soon proved itself to be a great way to spend an evening - play some tunes, sit and have a drink and a chat, play some more, repeat.
To add to that, the unparalleled generosity of both sir Boom of FT board fame, and sir Stan of Lockey, deserves a spontaneous standing ovation - you guys are great.
Later we drive home to Bristol after, with a bounty of cans of 6X and a bottle of Bushmills sat waiting patiently in the boot for their chance to entertain us, Ben orders pizza, and we channel hop the night away before reluctantly remembering that some pillock* decided that it'd be clever to set tomorrow's gig up as an all dayer, and so we'd have to be up and out of the house in 7 hours. What a dick.
*ok, it was me
DIY done, gear loaded, obsessively checked and rechecked to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything (and then checked again just to be on the safe side) it's road time.
The next 5 hours pass in a blur of Tesco bbq ribs, traffic jams, fruitless hunts for interesting whisky, and lustful browsing through the biggest music shop ever + then it's finally time - gig #1 of the tour.
To say that Reading was a fun night would be like saying that the weather has been a bit changable recently - both totally accurate, but a bit of an understatement : sing-a-longs, stage invasions, Shine 7 being the prime source of dj material (WELL I CAN'T TAKE IT, TOO MUCH TIME'S BEEN WASTED ahh), and hanging around with the progressively more destroyed Josaka crew.
Bonus points also to sir Winship for being possibly the drunkest person in a room packed with really quite drunk folks.
Heading back to Ben's for post mortem whisky and beer, the last 30 minutes of Dracula 2000 (what...it was Judas all along? Vampire necks are made of grass? WHATTHEHELLISGOINGON?) untill we gradually passed out watching someone excitingly swimming lengths on the Big Brother live feed.
Andthenitwasday2 - in which Jim felt like death warmed up, frozen, partially thawed out, and then kicked down a spiral staircase...we fed ourselves bacon bought from the proceeds of last night's merch sale (thank you Readingites) and lounged around watching Murder She Wrote (the bus driver did it...twice) and Monk (who said OCD couldn't be fun?).
Our daytime whittled away with detective shows and pig flesh (oh and Jim pausing to give God a quick ring from the big white telephone) we drove the winding roads to Devizes well aided by the skills of DJ Ben "random play all" Marwood, played the most tedious, yet profitable, quiz/fruit machine ever, and then ate fish and chips by the lake. Romantic eh?
The show was an open mic affair, with each of us getting 2 x 3 song sets...I have to admit that I was initially a bit dubious about how that would rank on the awesome scale, but it soon proved itself to be a great way to spend an evening - play some tunes, sit and have a drink and a chat, play some more, repeat.
To add to that, the unparalleled generosity of both sir Boom of FT board fame, and sir Stan of Lockey, deserves a spontaneous standing ovation - you guys are great.
Later we drive home to Bristol after, with a bounty of cans of 6X and a bottle of Bushmills sat waiting patiently in the boot for their chance to entertain us, Ben orders pizza, and we channel hop the night away before reluctantly remembering that some pillock* decided that it'd be clever to set tomorrow's gig up as an all dayer, and so we'd have to be up and out of the house in 7 hours. What a dick.
*ok, it was me
Sunday 2 August 2009
Tour soon!
Wow, the tour is starting in just over 1 week. My plans of getting a bit fitter in preparation have fallen a little flat a) by getting really drunk a bunch of times (2000 Trees + the Aftermath being notable cases) and then b) getting swine flu. Balls. Still suffering a bit, but will hopefully get better in time to have another couple of jogs, do a few pressups, and get slightly more in shape, ready for 11 days on the road drinking whisky and making noise. Can't wait, this is going to be awesome
Wednesday 1 July 2009
Tuesday 30 June 2009
Here comes the bride
T minus 4 days till awesome Dr Owen gets married + my coversong learning duties end for the summer. I've really enjoyed doing this + taking part in people's big days, but I'm also itching to get to work on some new songs, polish up + record some older 'new' ones that I've never got round to playing live, and generally throw myself headfirst into rock action for the summer. I'm playing in Bristol on 29th July, which will (as well as being an ace night with some great bands) act as a warm up for the !@*# tour. Think I'll set a target - 3 new songs that night?
Thursday 18 June 2009
Swindon!
Holy crap that was fun - just got in + am enjoying a well deserved beer and one of the several million episodes of Quantum Leap sitting on my Sky+ box. People of Swindon, you sure love yelling the word 'Gold' - sorry for laughing like a cretin each time, it was just too fucking good for words. Brilliant. Couldn't think of a better way to start the Ben/Jim/me tour fun.
Tuesday 2 June 2009
Friday 22 May 2009
Thursday 21 May 2009
OFFICIAL PAGE!
I bloody love it when not-very-good bands add you on Myspace, and it states at the top "THIS IS THE OFFICIAL PAGE OF -notverygoodband-"
As if there's ever going to be an unofficial page ;)
OT*
*officially
As if there's ever going to be an unofficial page ;)
OT*
*officially
Thursday 14 May 2009
Tuesday 21 April 2009
Oxygen Thief supports Johnny Foreigner, releases a cd, and lives happily ever after...
Morning all - exciting times are a-coming, so an action packed update for you all.
Firstly - I'm opening for Johnny Foreigner + Tubelord on 11th May @ The Cooler, Bristol.
For those of you unaware of the JF amazingness, they're pretty much the best UK band around at the moment - huge tunes, big intricate guitars, exciting upbeat songs about going out and getting drunk...just brilliant.
Tickets are 8quid online/more on the door BUT I've bagged a limited number at a mere 5quid each - bargain or what?
If you want in, email back + I'll sort out paypal/cheques/addresses etc. It's gona be ace.
Myspace.com/johnnyforeigner
Myspace.com/tubelord
Go treat your ears.
Next up - my split CD with Ben Marwood and Jim Lockey finally has a release date: Monday 13th July.
It's a bit different the the usual split CDs in that the 9 tracks are all interwoven, rather than having our songs seperated into 3 song batches...so Ben's fragmented folk, Jim's country tinged acoustica, and my demented rantings all intermingle, copulate, and stagger off into the night together to gaze at the stars (and set fire to deserted buildings). It rocks.
It'll be available from download sites, online retailers, and a bunch of shops too (if there are any left by then). Preorder details to follow a bit closer to the time...
Songs will be uploaded to myspace etc soon, and it'll be on the wonderous Spotify as well after release, so keep yr eyes peeled.
Myspace.com/benmarwoodmusic
Myspace.com/jimlockey
Enjoy.
Lastly, there's a bunch of tour dates up at www.myspace.com/oxygenthief - from London's Lexapalooza in June, a few north eastern dates with Ben Marwood in July, to a 13 date UK tour with both Ben + Jim in August, I'll be rocking in a town near you sometime over the next few months.
So to summarise - come see me+JoFo on May 11th, save up yr pennies to buy the split on July 13th, and come to a tour date in the summer.
Ace - cu soon.
OT
Currently listening to:
Johnny Foreigner - Waited Up Til It Was Light
Dananananaykroyd - Hey Everyone
Left Side Brain - Collider
Therapy? - Crooked TImber
Currently watching:
The Smoking Room - Series 1+2
Being Human - Series 1
Spiral - Season 1
Lost
Firstly - I'm opening for Johnny Foreigner + Tubelord on 11th May @ The Cooler, Bristol.
For those of you unaware of the JF amazingness, they're pretty much the best UK band around at the moment - huge tunes, big intricate guitars, exciting upbeat songs about going out and getting drunk...just brilliant.
Tickets are 8quid online/more on the door BUT I've bagged a limited number at a mere 5quid each - bargain or what?
If you want in, email back + I'll sort out paypal/cheques/addresses etc. It's gona be ace.
Myspace.com/johnnyforeigner
Myspace.com/tubelord
Go treat your ears.
Next up - my split CD with Ben Marwood and Jim Lockey finally has a release date: Monday 13th July.
It's a bit different the the usual split CDs in that the 9 tracks are all interwoven, rather than having our songs seperated into 3 song batches...so Ben's fragmented folk, Jim's country tinged acoustica, and my demented rantings all intermingle, copulate, and stagger off into the night together to gaze at the stars (and set fire to deserted buildings). It rocks.
It'll be available from download sites, online retailers, and a bunch of shops too (if there are any left by then). Preorder details to follow a bit closer to the time...
Songs will be uploaded to myspace etc soon, and it'll be on the wonderous Spotify as well after release, so keep yr eyes peeled.
Myspace.com/benmarwoodmusic
Myspace.com/jimlockey
Enjoy.
Lastly, there's a bunch of tour dates up at www.myspace.com/oxygenthief - from London's Lexapalooza in June, a few north eastern dates with Ben Marwood in July, to a 13 date UK tour with both Ben + Jim in August, I'll be rocking in a town near you sometime over the next few months.
So to summarise - come see me+JoFo on May 11th, save up yr pennies to buy the split on July 13th, and come to a tour date in the summer.
Ace - cu soon.
OT
Currently listening to:
Johnny Foreigner - Waited Up Til It Was Light
Dananananaykroyd - Hey Everyone
Left Side Brain - Collider
Therapy? - Crooked TImber
Currently watching:
The Smoking Room - Series 1+2
Being Human - Series 1
Spiral - Season 1
Lost
Friday 17 April 2009
Fuck YEAH
I'm supporting Johnny Foreigner at The Cooler in May. This is good a) because I love JF and b) because you should too. Oh and c) because you can get a ticket from me for a fiver, none of this booking fee shite. Email/myspace/facebook/stop me in the street and get one.
Thursday 2 April 2009
itchy
I've spent the last week putting things into boxes, moving them to another place, then standing in the middle of them all wondering how the hell all this stuff ever used to fit into a 1 bedroom flat...when it's not pretty much filled a 3 bedroom house to the brim.
Now I'm back at work and the weekend seems so far away and I've got what feels like the very beginnings of a minging cold (where did I pack that First Defence?) and I've got that "I really want to be somewhere else" feeling stronger than I've ever had it.
Here's a list of 6 places I'd rather be at this precise moment:
1 - in our new home
2 - on tour (somewhere...anywhere)
3 - New York
4 - New York (so good I included it twice)
5 - Aberystwyth
6 - Lille
All I ever do in this blog is moan. If anyone was actually reading it they'd think I was a right miserable bastard.
Next time I post I'll be in a bouncy excited fun mood, promise!
Now I'm back at work and the weekend seems so far away and I've got what feels like the very beginnings of a minging cold (where did I pack that First Defence?) and I've got that "I really want to be somewhere else" feeling stronger than I've ever had it.
Here's a list of 6 places I'd rather be at this precise moment:
1 - in our new home
2 - on tour (somewhere...anywhere)
3 - New York
4 - New York (so good I included it twice)
5 - Aberystwyth
6 - Lille
All I ever do in this blog is moan. If anyone was actually reading it they'd think I was a right miserable bastard.
Next time I post I'll be in a bouncy excited fun mood, promise!
Sunday 22 March 2009
Think I'll stick to diet+exercise thanks...
Taken from the Daily Fail, the day Mrs Thief was born. Nice
Friday 13 March 2009
Weston / Stourbridge
Two gigs in a row in really chilly rooms to fairly sparse crowds - but lots of fun all the same. Played an epic 45 minute set @ The Hobbit, including an impromptu serenade to Matt Fizzy Milk as he nipped out for a wazz halfway through. Classy. Stourbridge was a good old catch up with fellow Punktastic boarders/compilation friends The Southern Cradle (like Audio Karate + Get Up Kids) and the mighty Addis braving the buses. Im now back at home watching Quizcall and gradually losing my sanity - Water GATE? Water SKI? Water BASTARD? It's all such bullshit...
Oxygen Thief for Comic Relief
Hehe, that rhymes.
Wow, it's Comic Relief already - awesome. I'm playing in Stourbridge tonight, so will miss the live fun....but rest assured my Saturday is going to be spent watching it back on iPlayer, fast forwarding all the depressing bits (and by that, I mean anything with Lenny Henry in) and giggling like a chimp.
As I'm a bit too lazy to do anything proper to try and raise money, I thought I'd wang a free download link up of the 6 songs from my profile..........on the condition that you donate something to Comic Relief and/or buy a red nose (just got mine, spongy).
Sound fair?
It's a YouSendIt link, so it's up for 7 days / 100 downloads - so if 100 people download, donate at least a quid to Comic Relief, then that's enough for 20 malaria nets, or a day's cost to run a Community Cafe for people with mental health problems. Winner.
Click: https://www.yousendit.com/download/UmNJclVORkVubHcwTVE9PQ
to set it downloading, and then go donate here: https://donate.comicrelief.com/donation/
Cheers all.
Wow, it's Comic Relief already - awesome. I'm playing in Stourbridge tonight, so will miss the live fun....but rest assured my Saturday is going to be spent watching it back on iPlayer, fast forwarding all the depressing bits (and by that, I mean anything with Lenny Henry in) and giggling like a chimp.
As I'm a bit too lazy to do anything proper to try and raise money, I thought I'd wang a free download link up of the 6 songs from my profile..........on the condition that you donate something to Comic Relief and/or buy a red nose (just got mine, spongy).
Sound fair?
It's a YouSendIt link, so it's up for 7 days / 100 downloads - so if 100 people download, donate at least a quid to Comic Relief, then that's enough for 20 malaria nets, or a day's cost to run a Community Cafe for people with mental health problems. Winner.
Click: https://www.yousendit.com/download/UmNJclVORkVubHcwTVE9PQ
to set it downloading, and then go donate here: https://donate.comicrelief.com/donation/
Cheers all.
Saturday 7 March 2009
LSB Tour over
Sleeped at 7am last nite, it's almost 4.30am now + im still awake.....Ryan has the right idea I think. 4 days of hard rock goodness, far too much booze, nowhere near enough sleep, and a lot of miles travelled. Massive fun
Friday 6 March 2009
My face...
...looks terrible, what the hell has happened to me? One night up late drinking too much, and all of a sudden I'm paler than Michael Jackson. LSB tour night 2 of my 3 day stint roadie-ing and drinking their beer, massive fun. Last night in Huddersfield absolutely killed, today I feel like I've been killed...they're about to go on in Mexborough - bit of a random town, but the venue is AWESOME. Battery about to fail, laters
Woo, blogging from my phone?
Just found an application that lets me blog from my phone, without having to piss about on the internet for ages. Awesome
Tuesday 10 February 2009
PHiVE : 2 Pigs, Cheltenham w/Still Bust, Rookie/Error & Socken
massive accidental hangovers + motorway driving = NEVER AGAIN.
playing at the 2 Pigs with a bunch of awesome guys = AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN!
Best sandwich ever
Crowd!
me and Jim "Elf King" Lockey
Still Bust..."night portrait" stylee
It could be youuuuuuu
I thought I took more photos than this.......but I obviously didn't.
Things I did do : play through my hangover...........beat someone 10-0 on table football (GET IN)............watch Harry Hill's TV Burp (singing along to the Poetry Corner bit).........sleep on a sofa..........have an ace time. HOORAY
playing at the 2 Pigs with a bunch of awesome guys = AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN!
Best sandwich ever
Crowd!
me and Jim "Elf King" Lockey
Still Bust..."night portrait" stylee
It could be youuuuuuu
I thought I took more photos than this.......but I obviously didn't.
Things I did do : play through my hangover...........beat someone 10-0 on table football (GET IN)............watch Harry Hill's TV Burp (singing along to the Poetry Corner bit).........sleep on a sofa..........have an ace time. HOORAY
Sunday 1 February 2009
FORE! The Junction with Still Bust, Rookie Error, and All Hail
PICTURES SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS (especially when you've left it two weeks before updating blog, and can't be arsed with trying to turn memories into words):
Marty All Hail brushes his teeth, because he rocks that hard that if he doesn't maintain maximum denticular hygiene then those pegs will just get blasted clean out
punters!
Lalala
Big Jeff loving it;
don't know if I'm trying to look "deep" here...or if I've just dropped something
All Hail give it to you in the face;
if you're wondering "hey, what's with all the cool liney photos?" then blame Matt Still Bust for introducing me to the wonders of "night portrait mode" on the camera I've had for, ooh...4 years?
Somehow all the photos came out in the wrong order...oh well
Marty All Hail brushes his teeth, because he rocks that hard that if he doesn't maintain maximum denticular hygiene then those pegs will just get blasted clean out
punters!
Lalala
Big Jeff loving it;
don't know if I'm trying to look "deep" here...or if I've just dropped something
All Hail give it to you in the face;
if you're wondering "hey, what's with all the cool liney photos?" then blame Matt Still Bust for introducing me to the wonders of "night portrait mode" on the camera I've had for, ooh...4 years?
Somehow all the photos came out in the wrong order...oh well
Tuesday 27 January 2009
2009 # 3 - Stourbridge, the M5, and a missed opportunity
Friday hurt - slumping on the sofa to eat before heading out to Stourbridge, I could've quite easily entered hibernation there and then...waking up once the springtime finally broke.
I'm bloody glad I didn't though, as after braving the evils of the M5 in rush hour in a fairly tired state, the gig at Katie Fitzgerald's turned out to be (in purely technical terms) an "absolute fucking blast".
Awesomeness point 1 : They projected Buck Rogers onto the rear wall of the stage for the entire night.
Awesomeness point 2 : Fellow Bristol-type Cat Green Bike was both charming, and excellent to listen to (even if there was a sad lack of Dillinger Escape Plan influence on her uke-tastic tunes - sort it out Xen
Awesomeness point 3 : The utter friendliness of everyone there, and the fact that so many people turned out to a regular Friday night gig at their local.
The only negative was all the lovely and interesting looking beer that I couldn't drink because I had to drive home :( had a solitary pint of Guinness though which was the best I'd had in a good while, and left it at that.
Setlist:
Ours
Camera Shy
Sunclouds
Appetite For Distraction
Pros & Cons
Modesty Is Dead
There Can Be Only One
End of 2009 gig week #1 - have a couple next week, and Left Side Brain @ The Louisiana to look forward to on Saturday.
Rock.
I'm bloody glad I didn't though, as after braving the evils of the M5 in rush hour in a fairly tired state, the gig at Katie Fitzgerald's turned out to be (in purely technical terms) an "absolute fucking blast".
Awesomeness point 1 : They projected Buck Rogers onto the rear wall of the stage for the entire night.
Awesomeness point 2 : Fellow Bristol-type Cat Green Bike was both charming, and excellent to listen to (even if there was a sad lack of Dillinger Escape Plan influence on her uke-tastic tunes - sort it out Xen
Awesomeness point 3 : The utter friendliness of everyone there, and the fact that so many people turned out to a regular Friday night gig at their local.
The only negative was all the lovely and interesting looking beer that I couldn't drink because I had to drive home :( had a solitary pint of Guinness though which was the best I'd had in a good while, and left it at that.
Setlist:
Ours
Camera Shy
Sunclouds
Appetite For Distraction
Pros & Cons
Modesty Is Dead
There Can Be Only One
End of 2009 gig week #1 - have a couple next week, and Left Side Brain @ The Louisiana to look forward to on Saturday.
Rock.
Friday 23 January 2009
2009 # 2 - UWE gig, Kris Roe, and the constant hangover
bloody hell I'm getting behind already - Tuesday was spent in a vaguely sleepy state, my body unhappy with the sudden attack of "staying up late headbanging" after a 4 week break.
Gig #2 of 2009 - Livesoc @ UWE Glenside
Awful weather! Lineup mixup (sorry Jim)! PA semi-failure!
First two acts on were of the, um, easy-listening-blues-rock-persuasion...plus some dude wearing a rugby shirt came on between them and sang a couple of slow mumbly songs about being lonely/sad/bored/a bit peckish...I dunno, I wasn't paying attention.
Little rants about things that annoy me about live music #1
People who say "thank you!" immediately at the end of a song...why not just shout "APPLAUD NOW YOU PEASANTS" and have done with it?
What if people don't want to clap? What about letting the dying notes of your final chord sink into the audience's brainholes for a little while? What about being a little bit sensible and crediting the audience with enough intelligence to be able to tell when a song has ended (and then fuck with their expectations by ending songs in weird and interesting ways, putting little fake end-ettes in sometimes).
Overriding all of these little points of etiquette is the blindingly pedantic fact that saying "Thank you" before having been given something is just wrong on the most fundamental level.
Think about it ; if you said "Thank you" to a cashier at the supermarket before they'd even started serving you...they'd think you were simple.
Despite all that, oh yeah and having a fit of absolute MEGA-NERVE-PANIC for about 25 minutes prior to going on...all was overcome by the pure awesome power of ROCK which resulted in a massively fun set.
Spontaneously getting the room to sing a slightly nervous call and response to my Jim Lockey cover has to be one of my all time favourite gig moments...even if they probably only did it out of my plea to "not make me look like a tit". Gold.
Setlist;
Sunclouds
Modesty Is Dead
Camera Shy
Appetite For Distraction
Pros & Cons
Happy Birthday James Blunt (Jim Lockey cover)
There Can Be Only One
Settling down to get seriously stuck in to my UWE Livesoc donated bar tab, heroically aided by Jim L (only in a student union can two grown men get that wasted on £20) we heartily enjoyed the youthful exhuberance of The Go Pogs' funky punkiness before heading home for a bit more whisky, general chitchat, and to almost fall asleep playing Smash Bros. Brawl.
Nursing an almighty hangover, I somehow made it through a day at the office with enough energy left over to go see Kris Roe (almost wrote "Rock" then) acoustic show @ The Croft...ably supported by the "sorry I got there too late to see you" Following Announcement, the excellent and lovely Attika State (who I quite expertly haggled down the price of a cd to the princely sum of £3.15 and a really nice plectrum), and the "more Green Day than Green Day these days" The Remnants ;)
Pear cider is good. Music is good. Going to gigs is good. Playing gigs is good. Not getting enough sleep...may prove to be less good.
Gig #2 of 2009 - Livesoc @ UWE Glenside
Awful weather! Lineup mixup (sorry Jim)! PA semi-failure!
First two acts on were of the, um, easy-listening-blues-rock-persuasion...plus some dude wearing a rugby shirt came on between them and sang a couple of slow mumbly songs about being lonely/sad/bored/a bit peckish...I dunno, I wasn't paying attention.
Little rants about things that annoy me about live music #1
People who say "thank you!" immediately at the end of a song...why not just shout "APPLAUD NOW YOU PEASANTS" and have done with it?
What if people don't want to clap? What about letting the dying notes of your final chord sink into the audience's brainholes for a little while? What about being a little bit sensible and crediting the audience with enough intelligence to be able to tell when a song has ended (and then fuck with their expectations by ending songs in weird and interesting ways, putting little fake end-ettes in sometimes).
Overriding all of these little points of etiquette is the blindingly pedantic fact that saying "Thank you" before having been given something is just wrong on the most fundamental level.
Think about it ; if you said "Thank you" to a cashier at the supermarket before they'd even started serving you...they'd think you were simple.
Despite all that, oh yeah and having a fit of absolute MEGA-NERVE-PANIC for about 25 minutes prior to going on...all was overcome by the pure awesome power of ROCK which resulted in a massively fun set.
Spontaneously getting the room to sing a slightly nervous call and response to my Jim Lockey cover has to be one of my all time favourite gig moments...even if they probably only did it out of my plea to "not make me look like a tit". Gold.
Setlist;
Sunclouds
Modesty Is Dead
Camera Shy
Appetite For Distraction
Pros & Cons
Happy Birthday James Blunt (Jim Lockey cover)
There Can Be Only One
Settling down to get seriously stuck in to my UWE Livesoc donated bar tab, heroically aided by Jim L (only in a student union can two grown men get that wasted on £20) we heartily enjoyed the youthful exhuberance of The Go Pogs' funky punkiness before heading home for a bit more whisky, general chitchat, and to almost fall asleep playing Smash Bros. Brawl.
Nursing an almighty hangover, I somehow made it through a day at the office with enough energy left over to go see Kris Roe (almost wrote "Rock" then) acoustic show @ The Croft...ably supported by the "sorry I got there too late to see you" Following Announcement, the excellent and lovely Attika State (who I quite expertly haggled down the price of a cd to the princely sum of £3.15 and a really nice plectrum), and the "more Green Day than Green Day these days" The Remnants ;)
Pear cider is good. Music is good. Going to gigs is good. Playing gigs is good. Not getting enough sleep...may prove to be less good.
Tuesday 20 January 2009
Comprehensive 2009 activity blog #1 : Yeah right, like this is ever going to work.
So last year was a fairly epic string of fun and exciting things happening...but you know what it was missing?
I do : a load of random words being spewed out onto the internet at every possible opportunity.
But no longer shall the internet suffer a vague lack of my continuing presence - I'm going to blog everything that ever happens, like...ever! (until I get bored / forget to / told to get lost / a combination of all 3).
First up: gig #1 of 2009 - Freakshow @ Dempsey's, Cardiff.
Note to self : rehearsal is a good thing.
Soundcheck felt ace, confidence riding high & the mistake ratio was almost epically low - tonight was going to be an awesome gig.
Then...for some reason...it just wasn't. I don't know if opening act Sweet Baboo put me off (he was really good, but in a slightly terrifying way)...whether cutting out some of my most played tunes took me just too far out of the old comfort zone... whether being too lazy to restring my main guitar & using my spare instead threw things a bit askew...or maybe I was just rusty after not playing live for over a month & then not really rehearsing enough. Dunno, all of the above?
Fuck it - the "Freakshow" chaps were friendly and full of enthusiasm as always, and headliners The Great Admirers described my set as being "like having an amphetamine enema" which I think is a compliment(?). I also was recommended a comedian on the grounds that he once called someone an Oxygen Thief as part of his show, so hoorah.
Listened to a chunk of the audio book of Christopher Hitchen's "God Is Not Great" (hoorah for atheist literature), some new Ben Marwood demos (ace), and a blast of Botch's "American Nervoso" when I started to get a bit tired behind the wheel on my way home.
Setlist:
Camera Shy
Sunclouds
Appetite For Distraction (formerly known as "The Price Is Right", but renamed due to the emergence of a much better pun)
Too Many Trees
Modesty Is Dead
There Can Be Only One
I do : a load of random words being spewed out onto the internet at every possible opportunity.
But no longer shall the internet suffer a vague lack of my continuing presence - I'm going to blog everything that ever happens, like...ever! (until I get bored / forget to / told to get lost / a combination of all 3).
First up: gig #1 of 2009 - Freakshow @ Dempsey's, Cardiff.
Note to self : rehearsal is a good thing.
Soundcheck felt ace, confidence riding high & the mistake ratio was almost epically low - tonight was going to be an awesome gig.
Then...for some reason...it just wasn't. I don't know if opening act Sweet Baboo put me off (he was really good, but in a slightly terrifying way)...whether cutting out some of my most played tunes took me just too far out of the old comfort zone... whether being too lazy to restring my main guitar & using my spare instead threw things a bit askew...or maybe I was just rusty after not playing live for over a month & then not really rehearsing enough. Dunno, all of the above?
Fuck it - the "Freakshow" chaps were friendly and full of enthusiasm as always, and headliners The Great Admirers described my set as being "like having an amphetamine enema" which I think is a compliment(?). I also was recommended a comedian on the grounds that he once called someone an Oxygen Thief as part of his show, so hoorah.
Listened to a chunk of the audio book of Christopher Hitchen's "God Is Not Great" (hoorah for atheist literature), some new Ben Marwood demos (ace), and a blast of Botch's "American Nervoso" when I started to get a bit tired behind the wheel on my way home.
Setlist:
Camera Shy
Sunclouds
Appetite For Distraction (formerly known as "The Price Is Right", but renamed due to the emergence of a much better pun)
Too Many Trees
Modesty Is Dead
There Can Be Only One
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)