2 posts tagged “new order”

As regular readers will know, we’ve been hard at work producing and recording a few new songs, some of which have been infiltrating the live set of late, and these are coming on nicely. Nigel and I spent most of Sunday working on some cello parts for the track “The Observatory”, and with a bit of help from Cubase, managed to make one cello sound like the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, which was fun. I think I’m finally happy with the sound of the drums after a lot of fiddling, and I may have to bite the bullet and have a go at the lead vocal at some stage in the near future.

In between all that, last Thursday we were welcomed to a splendid venue near Earls Court in London called "The Troubadour". Having spent the day enjoying the delights of Britain’s motorway network in our trusty minibus, we arrived in good time for the sound check at half six which was concluded with the minimum of fuss and faff. I’ll say now that I thought the sound guy was excellent and really helpful, which is always lucky, as we are not the easiest band to engineer. The venue consists of a busy restaurant upstairs, and a cool, rock and roll club downstairs. It actually reminded me of one or two places in Manchester that have a similar vibe. The layout of the venue was rather like an “L” shape, with the stage in the corner, so you have to sing a bit to the left, and then a bit too the right in order to see the whole audience.

Apparently, The Troubadour has a long history of musical excellence, having seen performances from Hendrix, Joni Mitchell and others. There was a long list on a flyer but I've not got it on me right now. Anyway, nice to be in the company of greats, and makes a change from people banging on about Morrisey/New Order/Joy Division/Happy Mondays and The Smiths which I'm sick to death of.

Troubadour 2

Many thanks to all those who came down, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. It was nice to do a full 45 minutes and therefore actually stands as the longest set we’ve ever played! I could certainly tell because I was gasping for a drink after “giving it some” during the first few songs. A nice person provided me with a gin and tonic half way through the set – I don’t know who this was but many thanks for that! It certainly wet my whistle at the right time. In terms of industry presence at the gig, there was some, and I don’t want to name names here, but I suppose that's good and we must be on the radar finally. I hope they didn't hate it. 

You’ll be able to read a review of the show in next months Sandman Magazine, and I’ll post the feature and links up here when I get my hands on a copy. Lets hope its positive.

Anybody interested in what we actually played, here’s the set list:

Troubadour 1

Orange Glow

Tides

Deserted

Clockworks

Romance

Healing Hands

Invisible Man

Whistle While you Work

The Observatory

Kudos to Liam Bailey who supported us with his excellent roots acoustic set – I would post a link but I can’t find one right now. Many someone could post one if it turns up? He is definitely worth checking out. And also to Inflatable Buddah who provided some light, comic skiffle with a fine selection of wind instruments, including bass clarinet that I haven’t seen in a rock and roll venue for some time.

So onwards and upwards, and its time now for another Manchester show on April 16th, and this one is linked to a thing called “Have You Got The Nerve?”

“What is that?” I hear you cry.

“thenerve.tv” is the world's first crowd sourced TV production company. Mark Bowness, creator of Tribewanted, is looking for ordinary members of the public who will create a new breed of TV and web based programming. “Have you got the nerve?” is the tag line, and we’ve been asked to play at their Manchester launch night which is at the TV21 bar, in the Northern Qtr. I’m not quite sure how this all fits together, but I imagine Wednesday will be some sort of social networking / hobnobbing session with creative types and media people, and they’ll be a lot of drinking involved. Anyway, I think it’s free and we are headlining and possibly trotting out the full 45 minutes again all being well, so if you are around, come down.

Here’s a link: http://thenerve.tv/

Can I also just say thanks to all of you who have been in touch with positive comments and such via MySpace/Facebook/Vox etc, that’s great and we really appreciate it. Keep it coming.

Ben

Hello Voxers and friends:  

We've had one or two reviews recently and overall they've been great. I thought it was time to post a few of them. Here's a choice selection of quotes, with links….

“Is it too late to tip a band for success in 2008? Perhaps we should wait until Adele is crowned the more important person in music and then quietly suggest that This Morning Call are one of the most wonderful bands we have heard this year…. Putting a quiet rocket under the traditional guitar band set-up, This Morning Call have been described as 'Portishead on anti depressants' although ‘LCD Soundsystem with a hangover’ might be more appropriate - although a sense of bleak brilliance applies to both descriptions…” (Michael Baggs, Channel Four)

http://www.channel4.com/blogs/page/music?entry=band_of_the_week_this

A health dose of electronica blended with the soft pop-rock vocals of Ben Heyworth make This Morning Call a wonderful dream-like experience....When I listen to This Morning Call, I cannot help but think they sound a little like The Postal Service. Now I know there are a lot of Ben Gibbard fans (and Gibband haters) out there. I am no way saying that Ben Heyworth sounds identical to his namesake Gibbard...but he sorta does... the similarities do exist.... I am fairly certain that This Morning Call are here to stay and will be appearing on a radio station near you in the future.

(Ryan at WeHeartMusic.com)

http://weheartmusic.vox.com/library/post/this-morning-call.html

Imagine heartfelt vocals set against a backdrop of beeps, loops and crunching samples. An electronic landscape of sound and emotion. If you can picture this then you’re somewhere close to the world of This Morning Call…..   Whistle While You Work is a revelation, by losing the lyrics you are completely drawn into the music, but nothing is missed. The song is so full it is only towards the end you realise the lack of words. You’ll be whistling this tune for days afterwards. (MJ Hardman, Guestlist Manchester)
http://guestlistmusic.blogspot.com/2008/01/this-morning-call-deserted-tides.html

…Helping us ease into the swing of this remarkably familiar yet supposedly 'new' year are downbeat electro band This Morning Call – without doubt one of the most remarkable bands to emerge from the indie dead-zone of Manchester in recent history. Like a restrained and melancholy Hot Chip with the lid screwed on, This Morning Call specialize in soft, haunting electronica. Even when the band reach top speed on standout track 'Deserted', these northern lads are more likely to make you stop for a long, hard think than they are start to dance. Even when they verge towards generic guitar balladry on tracks such as 'Clockworks' and 'Romance' the experimental electronic production stands this unusual quartet from the crowd. In a very short time we've fallen very much in love with This Morning Call but also feel a great sense of appreciation for the band for simply making music so amazing that we had to pull our big lazy finger out and write something explaining this.The most wonderful band we've heard this year and if we were tipping anyone for success in 2008, it would be this lot and not that bloody Adele woman...

Link - unknown

Pop is not a dirty word. It is with some people. Usually I find with people who have no idea what they're talking about. This Morning Call is pop music in it's best sense. Accessible and easy, yet intelligent and sophisticated…..

…'Romance' features the best and most suited vocal music juxtaposition and a catchy chorus. Pick for me however is 'Whistle While You Work', an instrumental not completely dissimilar to Air's 'Alpha Beta Gaga'. I'll be playing this demo again. It's not always the case.

Sandman Magazine – Jan 2008

"If you're a fan of sweeping electronic landscapes, ambient pop-edged melodies and the occasional dark crunchy beat, start paying attention. This Morning Call take the atmospheric aspects of Coldplay which stop them being purely guilty easy listening, channel them through the bleeps and angular squawks of the New Order/Daft Punk school, and produce an experimental, light, electronic pop…. hurry up and check them out before they explode onto the wider scene, because that's looking increasingly likely." (Jennifer at WeHeartMusic.com)

http://weheartmusic.vox.com/library/post/this-morning-call2.html

More to come!

And here's a tune, in case you've not heard it yet!

Tides

This Morning Call

4 comments

best wishes,

Ben

(two posts in one day - bit bored in the office right now...)

(never mind its the weekend in an hour or so)

(thank god)