- Tour starts Saturday (see the last post for dates) which will be fun with a capital FUCK YEAH. Ben Marwood and I are playing 10 dates around the country, packed into a rented car with our pal Kevin.
- Digital single is planned for March, which entails getting my writing arse on and working on some new b-sides. Oh and I should be going down to Falmouth to make a video with my friend Rob of www.littlemanfilms.co.uk, coming soon(ish) to a Youtube near you.
- Album is keeping its fingers crossed for an April release, so think it's just artwork to be finished off along with a re-jigging of one of the track's introductions as it's proving pretty much impossible to get in touch with the people who made Withnail & I to ask if it would be ok to use some of Uncle Monty's words of wisdom (if anyone happens to know Richard E. Grant then please let me know).
- NEW MERCH! Which needs to be done before the tour via the third part of my increasingly fractured personality SewFuckingWhat. This consists of a scarf emblazoned with "Oxygen Thief is louder than you" and a special tour-only hat that has "OT FTW" on one side, and "BM FTW" on the other. Ben also has one that reads "Property of Ben Marwood" which most people will probably assume is a clever joke, but in actual fact he will still legally own the scarf after you've paid him money for it, and will pinch it back off you if he gets chilly. Let that be a warning to you. I'll post photos later this week.
- That's all for bullet points.
Monday, 10 January 2011
HAPPY NEW BEER!
2011 seems to be about deadlines and countdowns so far;
Thursday, 16 December 2010
TOUR!
Hello you, I've a question for you: How in the hell is it nearly Christmas?
Honestly, I swear it should only just be approaching September or something......not nearly 2011. I blame that David Cameron, he's probably made sweeping cuts to the amount of time we get in a year now and all. The complete and utter James Hunt (Culture Secretary).
Anyway, looking forward to the new year - here's some dates I'm heading out on tour with the magnificent Ben Marwood, who will be releasing his debut album via Xtra Mile Recordings (home to Frank Turner, Chris T-T, The Xcerts, Beans On Toast) and who was name-checked on track 2 of Mr Turner's new Rock & Roll EP. All together now "HERE'S TO MARWOOOOOOD!":
15th Leeds Cardigan Arms
16th Cheltenham Slak (w/Jim Lockey)
18th Bristol Louisiana
19th Oxford G&D's Ice Cream Cafe
20th York City Screen Basement Bar
22nd Farnsfield (nr Notts) Farnsfield Acoustic
23rd Swindon The Vic
28th Reading Rising Sun Arts Centre (w/Quiet Quiet Band)
29th Birmingham Bright House (w/Quiet Quiet Band and more TBC)
30th London Wilmington Arms
We're still looking for something to do for the 21st in the Nottingham/Derby/Leicester area, so give us a shout if you want us to come and make noise in your venue/pub/lounge/basement yeah? Ace.
Progress on my own album is still trundling ever onwards, with the final stages of audio tweaking underway, and artwork being furiously scribbled as I type. Not by me, obviously, as that would require an extra pair of hands. Not to mention a significant improvement of my ability to draw anything more complex than a stickman. Or a phallus. Or a stickman with a phallus.
Cheers for now, keep warm.
OT
Honestly, I swear it should only just be approaching September or something......not nearly 2011. I blame that David Cameron, he's probably made sweeping cuts to the amount of time we get in a year now and all. The complete and utter James Hunt (Culture Secretary).
Anyway, looking forward to the new year - here's some dates I'm heading out on tour with the magnificent Ben Marwood, who will be releasing his debut album via Xtra Mile Recordings (home to Frank Turner, Chris T-T, The Xcerts, Beans On Toast) and who was name-checked on track 2 of Mr Turner's new Rock & Roll EP. All together now "HERE'S TO MARWOOOOOOD!":
15th Leeds Cardigan Arms
16th Cheltenham Slak (w/Jim Lockey)
18th Bristol Louisiana
19th Oxford G&D's Ice Cream Cafe
20th York City Screen Basement Bar
22nd Farnsfield (nr Notts) Farnsfield Acoustic
23rd Swindon The Vic
28th Reading Rising Sun Arts Centre (w/Quiet Quiet Band)
29th Birmingham Bright House (w/Quiet Quiet Band and more TBC)
30th London Wilmington Arms
We're still looking for something to do for the 21st in the Nottingham/Derby/Leicester area, so give us a shout if you want us to come and make noise in your venue/pub/lounge/basement yeah? Ace.
Progress on my own album is still trundling ever onwards, with the final stages of audio tweaking underway, and artwork being furiously scribbled as I type. Not by me, obviously, as that would require an extra pair of hands. Not to mention a significant improvement of my ability to draw anything more complex than a stickman. Or a phallus. Or a stickman with a phallus.
Cheers for now, keep warm.
OT
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
Destroy It Yourself......99.9% done?
Yeah, let's say that - recording and mixing is finished, mastering is underway, artwork is about to be created, and the route to getting it on sale has been programmed into the SatNav.
Talking of artwork, I've just been typing up the lyrics to see if any particular images leap at me screaming "Get Joe to draw me!" and I've noticed a bunch of references, quotes, and paraphrases that I'd either forgotten about or did entirely by accident (though let's all just pretend that I'm clever and worked them in on purpose yeah?).
These include, in no particular order;
Constantin Stanislavksi
Morrissey - Every Day Is Like Sunday
The Wire
The X-Files
My Dad
Django Reinhart
Home Alone 2
A song by Desaparecidos
Things that look like they might be referenced but aren't:
Star Wars (well, it's a reference of a reference - which isn't as pretentious as that sounds)
That mobile phone advert that uses a song by The Mae Shi
Talking of artwork, I've just been typing up the lyrics to see if any particular images leap at me screaming "Get Joe to draw me!" and I've noticed a bunch of references, quotes, and paraphrases that I'd either forgotten about or did entirely by accident (though let's all just pretend that I'm clever and worked them in on purpose yeah?).
These include, in no particular order;
Constantin Stanislavksi
Morrissey - Every Day Is Like Sunday
The Wire
The X-Files
My Dad
Django Reinhart
Home Alone 2
A song by Desaparecidos
Things that look like they might be referenced but aren't:
Star Wars (well, it's a reference of a reference - which isn't as pretentious as that sounds)
That mobile phone advert that uses a song by The Mae Shi
Saturday, 21 August 2010
Destroy It Yourself: 85% done?
After such a long time since doing any work on the album (19 days?) due to flu, work, and a stag trip to Amsterdam......I didn't think a tweet or two would really do as far as an update was concerned.
It's weird not having listened to it for all that time - the bipolar love/hate that I always feel for anything I'm working on gives way to a sinking dread that it might all be so totally awful that it's beyond rescue.......I keep wondering whether the constant little delays are actually some subconscious insecurities taking hold and putting it off for fear that, shock horror, anyone else should listen to it and realise it's all a pile of crap.
But then I load up the files, flick through, twiddle with some virtual nobs (hehe) and suddenly I start to remember why I thought it would be a good idea to record this in the first place: a riff triggers that little switch off in the back of my neck.......a refrain lodges itself in my brain........I feel my emotions swell in a way that's normally reserved for other people's music.................which makes me feel a whole lot better, if a little arrogant (I suppose Modesty isn't entirely Dead after all).
So back to that figure of 85% - I'm sure I've bandied such things around before, but I feel a lot more justified in putting that on now. I have a few overdubs to do, some vocal corrections here...a guitar improvement there....a mispronunciation to rectify, and then I really think it'll be ready. Gosh.
Just need to sort artwork and mastering, then it's onto the winding road of actually getting it released. Fun times.
Sneaky peaks? Soon, I promise.
It's weird not having listened to it for all that time - the bipolar love/hate that I always feel for anything I'm working on gives way to a sinking dread that it might all be so totally awful that it's beyond rescue.......I keep wondering whether the constant little delays are actually some subconscious insecurities taking hold and putting it off for fear that, shock horror, anyone else should listen to it and realise it's all a pile of crap.
But then I load up the files, flick through, twiddle with some virtual nobs (hehe) and suddenly I start to remember why I thought it would be a good idea to record this in the first place: a riff triggers that little switch off in the back of my neck.......a refrain lodges itself in my brain........I feel my emotions swell in a way that's normally reserved for other people's music.................which makes me feel a whole lot better, if a little arrogant (I suppose Modesty isn't entirely Dead after all).
So back to that figure of 85% - I'm sure I've bandied such things around before, but I feel a lot more justified in putting that on now. I have a few overdubs to do, some vocal corrections here...a guitar improvement there....a mispronunciation to rectify, and then I really think it'll be ready. Gosh.
Just need to sort artwork and mastering, then it's onto the winding road of actually getting it released. Fun times.
Sneaky peaks? Soon, I promise.
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
"Please give me an album that I love straight away, that I don't have to grow into, after constant play"
"See I buy alot of records, but take most of them back, cause I feel they dissapoint me, after just one track"
So sang Jamie Lenman on "Crushed Under The Weight Of The Enormous Bullshit"*
I've been feeling somewhat similar over the past few years - though in not quite such jaded terms as there have been plenty of albums that I've become obsessed by recently* - but it's only really on downloading and listening to the reissued "Understanding Music" by AC Acoustics*** other day and giving it a proper solid listen in the sunshine, and putting it on again just now, that has made me realise why: digital music has made me impatient and fickle in my musical habits.
In the days when I listened to minidisks, or cassettes, I'd have 2 -5 albums on me at any one time, so when walking to uni, driving to work, catching a train, I would have a finite amount of music to listen to; I'd listen to the same album dozens of times in a week. Now I have 32Gb of storage space, and access to a subscription download service where I can legally pluck any album out of the ether at will, listen to it at, and then move onto the next one.
I find myself doing just that - endlessly gorging at an all-you-can-eat buffet, not noticing that I'm getting fat, unfit, and undernourished as I search for an ever greater quantity, and an ever newer flavour, not stopping to savour and thoroughly digest, suffering the ensuing heartburn that such behaviour inevitably incites.****
So I've come to a conclusion: though I will still download***** new albums by the dozen, I'll be more methodical in my listening habits...maybe choosing 3 or 4 albums that I'll listen to per week, repeating on a loop until I've really got something out of them other than the instant gratification from boredom that this musical snacking has provided.
In that spirit then, this week's listening will mainly feature:
AC Acoustics - Understanding Music
Mclusky - Mclusky Do Dallas
Oceansize - Everyone Into Position
Rock on
----------------
* ironically enough considering the reception that album received (especially from someone like me who sorta skim-listened to it, choosing my favourite songs and generally skipping through the rest without much more thought).
**Johnny Foreigner - Waited Up Til It Was Light, Future of the Left - Curses, Alestorm - Black Sails At Sunset (silly I know, but incredible), to name but a few.
***Sorry for all these bits - have been reading Stewart Lee's "How I Escaped My Certain Fate" which possibly contains more footnotes than actual text.
****Part of me wants to take the gastronomic metaphor further to include the other end of the process.......but it's nearly lunchtime and I don't want to put myself off my lunch with talk of the musical equivalent of excreting waste products. Damn, just did.
*****Legally, of course. Or is that taken as read now? It still feels slightly like stealing, even though it's all completely above board.
So sang Jamie Lenman on "Crushed Under The Weight Of The Enormous Bullshit"*
I've been feeling somewhat similar over the past few years - though in not quite such jaded terms as there have been plenty of albums that I've become obsessed by recently* - but it's only really on downloading and listening to the reissued "Understanding Music" by AC Acoustics*** other day and giving it a proper solid listen in the sunshine, and putting it on again just now, that has made me realise why: digital music has made me impatient and fickle in my musical habits.
In the days when I listened to minidisks, or cassettes, I'd have 2 -5 albums on me at any one time, so when walking to uni, driving to work, catching a train, I would have a finite amount of music to listen to; I'd listen to the same album dozens of times in a week. Now I have 32Gb of storage space, and access to a subscription download service where I can legally pluck any album out of the ether at will, listen to it at, and then move onto the next one.
I find myself doing just that - endlessly gorging at an all-you-can-eat buffet, not noticing that I'm getting fat, unfit, and undernourished as I search for an ever greater quantity, and an ever newer flavour, not stopping to savour and thoroughly digest, suffering the ensuing heartburn that such behaviour inevitably incites.****
So I've come to a conclusion: though I will still download***** new albums by the dozen, I'll be more methodical in my listening habits...maybe choosing 3 or 4 albums that I'll listen to per week, repeating on a loop until I've really got something out of them other than the instant gratification from boredom that this musical snacking has provided.
In that spirit then, this week's listening will mainly feature:
AC Acoustics - Understanding Music
Mclusky - Mclusky Do Dallas
Oceansize - Everyone Into Position
Rock on
----------------
* ironically enough considering the reception that album received (especially from someone like me who sorta skim-listened to it, choosing my favourite songs and generally skipping through the rest without much more thought).
**Johnny Foreigner - Waited Up Til It Was Light, Future of the Left - Curses, Alestorm - Black Sails At Sunset (silly I know, but incredible), to name but a few.
***Sorry for all these bits - have been reading Stewart Lee's "How I Escaped My Certain Fate" which possibly contains more footnotes than actual text.
****Part of me wants to take the gastronomic metaphor further to include the other end of the process.......but it's nearly lunchtime and I don't want to put myself off my lunch with talk of the musical equivalent of excreting waste products. Damn, just did.
*****Legally, of course. Or is that taken as read now? It still feels slightly like stealing, even though it's all completely above board.
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