17 posts tagged “manchester”

I don’t know about my French (see title), but it was one hell of a big fish that arrived at the diner table on Sunday afternoon, as we sat in a pub in Edale, feet up and smiling with a rosy glow that comes from a day spent in the hills. Let me recount our journey to you. Some of this is true...

Edale is a small village, nay hamlet, which occupies the valley basin of the vale of Edale, marking the start of the Pennine Way and home to a great many more localised rambles and scrambles, hills, vales, bogs and hitherto undescribed natural wonders. Its rolling hills are home to a great many rabbits, hares and sheep, birds and other such creatures existing unspoilt and as nature intended. Water falls in quantity from great slabs of limestone, and legions of Sunday walkers, motivated by the pursuit of large open spaces, trample and climb there way to the top of the valley. Those that survive are greeted by exposed, boggy moorland and impressive views of the surrounding farmland and peaks.

Let me introduce our group. Ahead, walked Mr. Daniel Smith, a one time trumpeter with This Morning Call and infamous northern wit and impresario. To my left, Mr. Lee Marks, wannabe film-maker and critic, and renown purveyor of Tasmanian dark ales. To my right, Ms. Julia Madien, who made a name for herself singing musical numbers to orphans during Vietnam and has seduced her way into some of Manchester’s finest bordellos and boudoirs with only a stocking and a hat box to her name.

The clouds lifted and although the sun tried to warm us, it was to limited effect as we set out from the village car park, boots and waterproofs at the ready.  Although I insisted on travelling “map-free”, we felt no fear as we plunged into the unknown. It wasn’t long before the hills began to close in around us and we felt the firm hand of nature by our sides. Not for the faint hearted are the rough crags and stony precipices of the Grindlebrook. There are tales of goblins and trolls dwelling in them there hills, and the hills themselves have eyes, ready to trap a unsure hiker with a loose stone or sucking bog. Maybe an evil half-breed mutant with a gun and an unhealthy obsession with breast milk hides behind the next Tor. But we didn’t let such thoughts trouble us.

We scrambled our way up the valley, and with each turn the ground rose before us, great boulders were strewn across our path, and soon the time came to forge the stream itself. Ms. Maiden leapt gracefully from stone to stone, while Mr Smith and Mr Marks satisfied their imaginations by regaling our party with tales from Middle Earth. The climb became steeper as we neared the summit, near vertical in parts, and with the ever present danger of slipping and falling we had to take extra care, only allowing ourselves to stop for a few moments before toiling upwards, hearts in mouths.

The summit brought with it a fabulous view across the vale and an opportunity for Mr. Marks to compose a “hero shot” in his head, for his latest “blockbuster in development”, and, of course, with the wonders of modern technology, he received a phone call from the bank on his mobile as we began to traverse the hillock, apparently chasing a bad debt. “Now is not the time for banking”, I remarked, “Not when there are hills to be tamed and pies to be pursued. Onwards!”

The downward passage was blocked, so we had to take a more treacherous route on our return, most of which was conducted via the method of a rolling, or sliding, descent. That’s a technical term first described by Edmund Percival Hillary in 1953 as the best and quickest way to descend from a great height. Luckily, the soft, moorland grass provided an ample opportunity to get a wet bottom, and three dozen pratfalls later the descent was complete. We found ourselves returned safely to the village, and, of course, the local pub.

Upon entry to the pub, it was immediately apparent that we had found a haven. We quickly made ourselves at home. Food was ordered in quantity. We feasted on cooked meats, soup, crusty bread and chipped potatoes. Mr. Marks did indeed order one of the King’s own haddock, and it was a prize catch indeed. At almost fifteen feet long, the young gentleman proved his metal and polished the monster off in record time. He was followed in no uncertain terms by Ms. Maiden and Mr. Smith, who both consumed a whole sheep each. A royal feast!

And so, with a heavy heart and a sore toe, we removed ourselves from the vale and returned to Mancunia. Our heavy eyes and tired limbs sent us quickly to bed, to dream of hill and vale, brook and stream. To wake in the knowledge of a Sunday well spent. God bless this green and bountiful kingdom.

Seems ages since I last did a bit of a blog. Well, as it happens I did put a short one up on VOX but it was only a two line job that read something along the lines of "Why can't I upload music to this site again... b*stards!?"  (see below)

You see, they are rather behind the times over here, because you haven't had the joys of hearing The Observatory or Invisible Man yet, or indeed other stuff that I would like to upload and let you all hear. Quite simply, everytime I try to upload a track I get "computer says no!"

Don't know why and yes, I have contacted their support services and they were pretty helpful but couldn't solve it. Hopefully it will mysteriously come back to life like it did the first time. And then VOX and MySpace can once again live together in perfect harmony (to quote McCartney).

So what news? Well, we have finished our current run of gigs. Its almost like finishing a tour. Well, a tour that went no further than Manchester, London, Glossop, Cheltenham and... er... thats it. We started playing out live ages ago in the current format - (thats Joe on Drums, Mark ..s, Dave on Bass, Jake on Guitar and Nigel part-time due to family commitments) - I couldn't tell you the exact gig now, but it was probably sometime around August 2007 because I definately remember Jake playing with us at Pride 2007. Since then, we have supported a band called "Ghosts" at the Hard Rock Cafe (and drunk the bar dry), played Thriller Killer nightclub, played the MAPS festival, enjoyed two storming London shows especially The Troubadour in spring 2008, and last but not least the Greenbelt Festival, which was the Christian rock festival we attended over the August bank holiday. We also enjoyed playing several live shows at the Enchanted Brave, a lovely acoustic night now sadly no longer running, and some rather dodgy shows at the In The City fringe and Jabez Clegg. By far the hottest show, from a temperature perspective I mean, although I'm sure there were a few hotties in the crowd, was upstairs at the Green Room, where I came off stage looking like I'd just stepped out of shower. No joke. You could have rung me out like a sponge.

Well, what a lot of gigs. Some were good, some were great, and some were shite. And time for a rest. Time to write some new music and hunker down for the winter. I like that word, hunker. It puts me in mind of big, Russian landscapes with warm hats and ice cold vodka, roast mutton and great piles of wood for the fire.

It was quite a contrast, actually, because the day after we came back from Greenbelt at Cheltenham Racecourse, it was time for Pride 2008 in Manchester city centre, which wasn't a gig for us, just a piss up. It was rather disconcerting to go from a very conservative environment to a very liberal environment. No swearing at Greenbelt, every other word was a bit blue (or should I say pink) at Pride. No bare flesh at Greenbelt, unlimited bare flesh at Pride. No booze outside of the beer tent at Greenbelt ("The Jesus Arms!" I did like that...), no end to the beer consumption at Pride and that was just the start of it for some. A unexpectedly large number of young teenagers at Greenbelt (brainwashing?), a totally unavoidable multitude of twinks, queens, bears and lesbos at Pride (dirty minds?). I couldn't possibly comment on where I felt the most at home!

I will be trying to post a little bit more regularly actually, as I do feel the blog has been a little bit neglected. So stay tuned folks. I'm going to start work on a new EP right now. If you haven't downloaded the new tunes yet, please do. The next lot will be going back to the electronic roots and beats a little bit more, I think. But no more to say on that subject right now, its time for a brew.

In the meantime, we are getting ready for our show at this years In The City festival in Mcr.

Laters.

Ben

Its festival season once again, and as usual the City of Manchester manages to serve up a healthy platter of local talent all crammed into the bank holiday weekend in venues around the Northern Quarter.

Its called the MAPS Festival and it’s the brainchild of several local promoters who have all clubbed together to ensure all the major venues in the area are flying the same flag. Basically, it’s “In The City” without the industry bullshit.

We were asked quite along time ago if we wanted to be involved in the festival and since its always nice to be asked, we agreed to participate. We are coming to the end of a run of six or seven gigs, many of which have been in Manchester, and which started with the Thriller Killer gig back in February. We felt it would be nice to be onboard with a well promoted, well organised (I hope) event to bring the campaign to a conclusion. The remaining gigs include a set at The Ruby Lounge on the 21^st June, the Coventry gig at the Kasbah, and a show in Glossop on the 31^st August, if memory serves. The time to retreat, write, record and take stock once again will soon be upon us. So really, if you fancy catching us live, you should get yourself down to MAPS and check it out before its too late. I’m sure it’ll be one of the gigs of the year.

Our exact stage and venue time is: 10pm (ish), The Mint Lounge (Oldham St, a few doors up from the Night and Day Café), on Sunday 25^th May.

And yes, it is a bank holiday weekend, so there’s no excuse not to raise a glass and join us along with pretty much every local band of note, and party.

It’ll be interesting to see how the general public take to the MAPS festival idea. In recent years, Manchester has enjoyed several summer events aimed at promoting local music. Aside from the obvious ITC related activity, we’ve been lucky enough to have enjoyed the D-Percussion Festival, which really was quite a major event and also free. I had the misfortune of being hungover at a previous D-Percussion and I remember it all got rather too busy and hot at about 6pm in the evening and I had to leave. They certainly cram them into the Castlefield arena, that’s for sure. The event is also memorable because Lee was sick after drinking three sips from a can of Stella at 11am in the morning. Although this was a few years ago now, and I trust he knows better! Why were we drinking Stella at that time? Well, you couldn’t take your own beer in so the cans had to be drunk before entry because the price of beer on site was beyond tolerable.

I remember on one occasion, there was a street festival around the Northern Qtr with some large outdoor stages, and the line up included 808 State and Kinesis, amongst others. Mr. Scruff normally gets his tea-stained fingers involved in some capacity at these events, being a local lad. I think I remember seeing him at D-Percussion a few years back. Mr. Scruff had a few years of being the best thing since sliced bread around these parts, but I could help but think he was a little overrated, and certainly when I saw his Glastonbury show last year I was a little disappointed. Too downtempo for the Saturday night.

I know there is no getting away from it, but in the end these “local band” festivals do rely on the band bringing their mates along to generate a bit of atmosphere, and I must admit that it's also rather galling to have to put up with yet another great event where we are not being paid. In fact, with the cost of transport and rehearsals, it is costing us money to do the gig. The whole “get the band to sell tickets and only pay them for ticket stubs returned” thing may make life easier for promoters but it essentially means that the band have to do most of the leg work and frankly that annoys me.

If you are doing a lot of gigs, this becomes impossible to manage. Its not my day job, don't forget. IMO, if the band are willing to play for free, then the gig should be free. Otherwise, they should get a fee, even if it simply covers expenses. I imagine the only people who will be making any money from this shebang will be the bars, because everybody likes a drink. Why don’t the bars put their respective hands in their pockets and help pay for these events? Afterall, we are the people who frequent these establishments and keep them in business week after week. Stop ripping us off. When we were at the Troubadour in London, it cost me £6 for a gin - that was more than the ticket price for the show. How is that justified?

What we need is a hit single then we wont have to worry about this sort of thing…!

MAPS tickets in advance (i.e. the ones that we will get a cut from) are available from the band – just drop us an email – and are priced £6. I know I'm moaning about the ticket thing, but I really do think this will be a great event.

Here’s the full line-up:

We’ve had a real burst of hot weather here in sunny Manchester so predictably nobody has been sitting in front of a computer for longer than they have too. As a result, my blogging has almost died a slow and painful death. But low and behold, it suddenly gone rather muggy and there’s the possibility of rain. I’ve decided to retreat to the safety of the online community for a quick half hour just in case the heavens open.

Now let me see. What has been going on? Well, given that the last entry on the MySpace blog was regarding our lovely gig at The Troubadour, which is now some time ago, quite a lot has happened. We have basically returned to the studio to work on recording some of these new tunes, and I’m pleased that 90% of “The Observatory” is complete and once I’ve lived with the mix for a few weeks, I’ll post it both on MySpace and Vox for some feedback. There’s still a few guitars to put down, but the weather is just so not conducive towards being in the studio that I don’t think its going to happen just yet. Also started doing some drum loops for Invisible Man which I’m hoping will come together quite quickly.

We had a fun time playing Green Bohemia last weekend at The Green Room, Manchester. The Green Room is one of those small, urban, arty theatre spaces for experimental and community based productions. It also has a nice bar and a balcony for afterhours entertainments. It was so hot, I was dripping wet by the end of the gig and it was rather like I’d just stepped out of the shower. I can only assume that the heat was rising from the bar downstairs, as heat is want to do. Thanks to everybody who came down to support us. It was a rather spontaneous show, I don’t think we really knew what we were going to play, and it was fun to just launch into tunes on the spur of the moment. At the end, I really regretted wearing those black skinny jeans, I can tell you!

I should at this point mention that we have a show coming up at the end of the month for the MAPS Festival, which as you may know is an urban festival based in the Northern Qtr across the bank holiday weekend. I think it should be a good do. There are a lot of venues and a lot of quality local bands involved. Tickets are quite expensive unless you get them directly from me or a member of the band, so I would urge you to do so. We are playing in the Mint Lounge on Sunday 25^th May, in a prime time slot (cheers Stuart!), so obviously the powers that be think we can pull a decent crowd. Lets hope so. I think it could be one of the gigs of the year, so do join us.

It should be fairly obvious to you all by now that I have recently turned 30. Now, if I gave a shit about major labels wanting to sign us I shouldn’t really be announcing this fact on the blog, because these days if you are not under 25 you don’t stand a cat in hells chance of getting a major deal, and there might be A+R men reading this. It’s totally discriminatory but such is life. Even so, I couldn’t let this go without mentioning what a fabulous time we all had across my birthday weekend, and you can see the video over on our facebook site. I might post it up here or on VOX if I’m allowed. I’m glad to say that as well as our cultural expedition up Pendle Hill, with the witches and wind and the bleakness, we also partied hard throughout the night and I’m reassured to learn that despite what EMI might have to say about us being too old to rock, we are certainly not too old to party!! (just ask the neighbours!)

And that is, of course, another reason why I’ve not managed to blog as much as I could over the past few weeks, as its been “birthday season central” right here. I’ve lost track of how many birthdays have been upon us recently. Let us have a big happy birthday to all our friends, family and fans who have struggled up another rung of the great ladder of life in recent weeks!! I’m sure 2008/9 will be a fabulous year for all of you.

Manchester in the summer is a great place to be. Less students doesn’t necessarily equal quiet clubs and no atmosphere, and its also the season of outdoor gigs, impromptu street performance and light nights till late. It’s normally a short lived affair, but a worthy one. Everybody at least tries to make the most of it. People float round town wearing vest tops and light dresses, and sit on the grass in Piccadilly Gardens. Children jump about in the water feature. The knackered old houses don’t look quite so knackered. I’ve heard it said that Manchester has such a thriving arts scene because for nine tenths of the year, we are all inside, having to make our own entertainments and create our own little worlds in music or art. This is partially true, for sure. But at least once a year, the party spills out onto the street and if you are willing to embrace it, its one hell of a ride.

I think the possibility of rain has finally passed, so I’m going outside again for more sun. Lets hope it doesn’t storm on me as soon as I cross the threshold.

Ben

Another champion photo of us playing in a sci-fi themed bar at the "Have You Got The Nerve?" Manchester event on the 16th April.

Nerve 1

I think I just stubbed my toe.....!  :) Nice photo, Joseph... (hope you don't mind me sharing it on here.)

Anybody around for the bank holiday can see us live at The Green Room in Manchester doing an intimate show for Green Bohemia vs. Futuresonic 2008. It's free in and it starts at 9pm.

cheers one and all!

Ben

Hello faithful reader,

Last week, we were a "local interest" story, this week we are being podcasted.

Well, anybody interested in hearing some new bands should check this out, as its a new music podcast full of nice tunage handpicked by an artist we've come across through MySpace who I believe is from Leeds, called Penny Broadhurst. Penny writes lovely pop tunes.

Luckily and fantastically, she emailed us recently to say she was going to play a track from "This Morning Call" in the March edition, and would it be OK. Of course it would, I replied.

Penny seems to be really keen on new music and its great to meet someone with an obvious enthusiasm, and great taste!

If anybody would like to check it out, here's a link to Penny's MySpace page, and from there, just go to her blog and follow the link to the most recent podcast download.

http://www.myspace.com/pennybroadhurst.

The written reviews for "This Morning Call" keep coming in thick and fast, and this week we've had another stateside review - if anybody still has a thirst for more TMC hype - then you can follow this link to read it. Its very complimentary, although it does suggest that we've released a debut CD, which of course we haven't. However, I think we've done very well for reviews since Christmas. Keep 'em coming...!

http://indiepoprockmusic.suite101.com/article.cfm/this_morning_call

Lets have a picture to break up the text...punch the sky, Ben, go on!!

Ben-Portraits-001-copy

1 comment

Lots of gigs on the horizon now as well...

12 March 2008  -  Trof, Fallowfield, Manchester "While Other Bands Park Vans" - onstage 8.30pm ACOUSTIC SHOW

3rd April 2008   - The Troubadour, London -  on stage tbc

16th April 2008 - TV21, Northern Qtr, Manchester "Have You Got The Nerve?" TV show launch night - 9pm

04th May 2008 - Green Room, Whitworth St. Mrc. "Green Bohemia vs. Trip Tronic", part of the Futuresonic Festival

23 - 26 May 2008 - MAPS Festival, Northern Qtr, Mcr (time/venue tbc)

31st May 2008 - Moon and Sixpence, Glossop

13th June 2008 - BIG HEADLINE SHOW at The Ruby Lounge, Nr. Market Street, Mcr (followed by a massive party)

best wishes,
Ben

Hello bloggers,

Following our lovely review from channel four last week (which I'm still smiling about...), I can exclusively reveal that we now have some gigs in the diary for 2008.

We tend to go for quality over quantity when it comes to gigs, so catch us while you can...

Up first, its "Thriller Killer" at Charlies nightclub on the 22nd Feb 2008:

They say:
"Its a clubnight for indie kids, gays and gay indie kids, and we are playing a full on, full band live and uptempo set with new tunes - think "homoelectric" but better."

I say:
"Its also rather like a clubnight in Manchester called "Bollox" - isn't Mcr gay village great!!!"

Secondly, we're doing an acoustic set at a night called "While Other Bands Park Vans" at Trof, Fallowfield, Manchester.

Yes, its the heart of the student community and its a lovely, sit down sort of event in one of the smallest rooms going. Expect acoustic guitars, pianos, and poetry. A completely different vibe.

More to follow, but I hope that's wet your whistle for now.

Oh, and by the way, did I mention this review from Channel Four, Its ace! http://www.channel4.com/blogs/page/music?entry=band_of_the_week_this

Ben

Well, I was going to post this imaginatively titled entry into the canon last week but I’ve had a terribly serious case of man flu that has resulted in me loafing around and feeling sorry for myself, and obviously completely incapacitated in every possible way, so much so that I can’t even bring myself to sit at a keyboard and type a few short words for your entertainment.

I think I can safely say that we have arrived at 2008, and today being Monday 7^th January means for most of us its probably the most depressing day of the year as we are all back in work, and also the day when most of us start thinking about new challenges and changes of jobs! I dare say they’ll be a fair few hours in my office spent trawling the internet as various members of staff decide they are fed up of the place and start looking for something else.

I was thinking the other day which records and artists have most impressed me in 2008. It’s always nice to have a little retrospective, so here we go.

In terms of albums, “Attack/Sustain/Decay/Release” by Simian Mobile Disco stands out for me as a great dance album, and I’ve also enjoyed !!! (pronounced chik chik chik I understand) who are on Warp Records, with their album “Myth Takers”. All in all, it’s been a good year for Warp with both the excellent Battles album “Mirrored” and “Our Earthly Pleasures” by Maximo Park being brilliant too. I’d also be keen to mention the new Bjork album, “Volta” which came out this year, and although I don’t think its as good as some of her previous works, there’s a few great tracks on there. I’m a massive Bjork fan. Her set at Glastonbury was one of the highlights of the year for me. A lot of end of year polls have mentioned “Myths of the Near Future” by the Klaxons as being the album of the year, and it’s a record I’ve enjoyed as well, so well done to them. I also liked “Control” by Good Books, which featured their excellent single “Passchendaele”. I haven’t yet heard the new Radiohead album, as I’m not into downloading music I’m afraid, no matter how free it is, but I dare say I’ll be acquiring a copy on CD and hopefully that’ll be good too.

In terms of singles and one-off’s, you can’t go wrong with a bit of Manchester pop, and I think the recent offering from Take That, “Rule the World”, is one of the finest pop records of the decade and fair play to Gary Barlow and chums for having a bit of a renaissance this year, its been brilliant. Slightly more alternative but no less fun was the great single “Lets make love…” from CSS, which is guaranteed to get me dancing. I just love that sine wave analogue synth sound over the bridge. Returning with a heavy, up-tempo sound, the recent offering from Bloc Party is a real winner – unfortunately I can’t remember the title off the top of my head, but it’s been on Radio One a lot. If someone could enlighten me, that would be marvellous. It’s a good record. Good records too from Cold War Kids and Crowded House, who return with a beautiful melancholic single called “Pour Le Monde”.

On a local or unsigned level, this year I’ve been impressed by the acoustic strummings of Becca Williams, Kev Fox and Liz Green, three solo artists with really distinctive sounds, and of course, Vox’s own Suzie Wilkins who we met at “The End Of Camden” gig. I also came across a Manchester band called The Travelling Band during In The City, who I thought were marvellous, playing Crosby, Stills and Nash type folk indie with a ridiculous amount of contributors. Other local treats included Tetchi, who supported us at our Futuresonic gig way back in March doing ambient, trance and paganist dance music, and Ollie Farshi, an old friend who has delighted and impressed me with his output this year in the downtempo electronica vein. I think he's putting an album together for next year. On MySpace, I discovered a band called Elliot Jack from Birmingham, with whom I have a lot in common as we are both Doctor Who addicts. They sent me a copy of their recent DIY album. It was a real treat of sweet, electronic tinged folk, pop and acoustic music. I urge you to get a copy by contacting the band directly on MySpace.

Biggest disappointment to me this year was the realisation that once again, the hype in Manchester seems to be surrounding some real pap, such as The Courteneers and another outfit, Twisted Wheel. I attended a gig by a band called The Children, who apparently went on to become Twisted Wheel, and I thought it was a bit cack although they managed to fill Academy 3, so they must be doing something right, or have a lot of friends. I also saw another band, Air Cav, at the Night and Day and although I thought they were good, I was a bit disappointed with the turn out and it was really lacking in atmosphere. Where are all the music lovers? Pissing about on the internet at home, I dare say! And, of course, The Ting Tings, not a bad band but somewhat overrated IMO.

So there we go, I think 2007 has been a great year for music, and I think there’s going to be some real treats in 2008 as well. Bring it on.

Still trying to work out with the help of vox staff why I can't upload any new music - its a real pisser but I'm working on it. In the meantime, all our up top date mixes of our best tunes are available on MySpace.