The uncanny.

Robert noticed the following similarity between us and a "charting artist":




PS. We wrote ours first.

Back on the game.

After a brief haitus during which Lucy went on a boat, Robert came back to Telford, and I remained the Salopian constant, we've regrouped and started working on new material, the first for a long time. New songs currently in the works include a post-punk romp called 'Kill All Doubt' and a slowburning rocker called 'Eastern Promise, Western Compromise.' Hopefully we will be able to debut some of these soon. In the meantime Robert and I intend to withdraw money simultaneously in the hope that something magic will happen.


We played our first gig since August last Saturday, playing a lock-up party with the excellent God Damn (who feature two members of Your Biggest Fanclub). It was good fun, even if we may have been a little rusty at the whole live thing.

On Wednesday we had a band outing to the cinema to watch Easy A. I had a massive (and over priced) Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and Robert and I both picked up on what seemed to be a reference to The Room. "It's bullshit..." And on the subject of The Room, here's a lovely Kodak moment of Decadence in Berlin (and Mike) dressed to impress at the midnight screening of The Room earlier this month at The Electric:

Too tired to riot.

We all went to see Fever Fever play in Birmingham last night. Lucy took some photos. She always takes photos.

PROOF WE MET FAMOUS PEOPLE

Rob told a funny

But seriously, love to Fever Fever. Go buy their record!

Let me take you down...

We're going to be playing at this awesome little festival on Saturday. We are very excited. We will be playing at around 7pm. Come camp with us, drink some beers, and sing/dance/freak-out to a fantastic array of acts from around the region.

More info on the facebook event page.

Would you have liked a present too?

Tickets are now on sale for this exciting show, which sees us play alongside a whole host of amazing bands from around the country. I still can't quite believe we have been asked to play! Not only are Hot Club de Paris topping the bill, there will be performances by Holy State (of Holy Roar records fame), Men, the ever-lovely Fever Fever, Aged Yummy, and good pals Joyous. Tickets are available now at £8 (a steal!) from We Got Tickets, so make sure you get on the case and come on down for this one, it's not to be missed. And if you want to get yourself in the mood you can download both Aged Yummy and Men's albums from BandCamp! What are you waiting for?!

Aged Yummy - Pacific Reactions

Men - Everything So Far

Also, for those of you who check the Out of Step blog often (like myself), you may want to note the change of URL - they are now found at http://weareoutofstep.blogspot.com/

Thankyou please.

There is nothing finer

image via Suicide Girls

Head on over to our Myspace page to hear our latest record of one of our oldest tracks, 'Gothic Dive-Bar Rag', which we recorded a few weeks back with Laura. Hopefully you will like it. We do.

Also, if you are out in Birmingham this evening we will be playing at the Actress & Bishop in the Jewellery Quater with Joyous and Fever Fever - two lovely bands - for a pricely sum of NOTHING. That's right, it's a free gig, put on by Catapult Club. Nice, eh?

Come party like it's 1999.

Fever to tell

As previously mentioned, we are supporting the lovely Fever Fever on the 30th of May at the Actress & Bishop in Birmingham. We are very excited about this one, not just because we are getting to play alongside Norwich's finest a second time, but we are finally playing a show with the Joyous boys! What are the chances, eh? And if that line-up wasn't enough to tempt you, it's a free show too, on a Bank holiday, and there is a Silent Disco afterwards! No excuses, get yourself down for a fun night of troublesome noise-pop and alcohol consumption. Seriously, you won't regret it.

Thanks go out to Rosie Fever Fever for making the poster, she's done a splendid job I'm sure you'll agree.

More info over on the Facebook event page.

Sleep deprivation

As I write this I have just passed the 24 hour mark. That's right, a whole day without sleep. And in the last 12 of those hours Decadence in Berlin made the trip down south to Guildford for a recording session, then came all the way home. It was a journey of lengthy proportions to say the least, but it was worth it as we have sown the musical seeds that will become a nicely recorded 'Gothic Dive-Bar Rag'. It's a bit odd recording this one, as it is an oldie and I don't think we ever thought it would make it to the studio. However, we often pull it out as an encore, and I still like playing it so I'm glad we found an opportunity to record it. The more I head it, the more it turned into the Velvet Underground - not sure why, but I kept thinking of 'Sister Ray' when we were playing it. We also popped our click-track cherry. Well done gang. So after 5 hours in the studio with the calm and patient Laura we had achieved some pleasing sounds which we've left in her capable hands to polish up. We also saw Nick who had just been to see Pavement (lucky git, he tells me they were "rad," obviously) and he played us the latest rough mix of 'Work > Play' which is sounding really great. Very excited to hear the final mix on that one.

Leaving the Guildford campus we got stuck and had to contact the security people a couple of times as we clearly did not understand their barriers. However, some minutes later we did work out a way to escape, and we went off to find food. We failed at this too. So we drove forth to Telford, via Cheltenham to drop off Robert, and ended up driving into daylight. It was a weird experience, watching it get lighter and the street lights turn themselves off. When we left Guildford people were still drinking in the clubs, getting back to Telford people were going to work.

One McDonalds breakfast stop later I'm back at home. I'm in two minds as if to try sleeping or not. May just watch Catterick on DVD as I haven't seen it in ages and I've got the day off work.

In other news we have two very exciting gigs coming up. The first is with Fever Fever who we played with last month, and that will be at The Actress & Bishop in Birmingham. The second is even more mental, as we are going to be playing with Hot Club de Paris. Oh yes!! It's for the Out of Step 1st Birthday party, and there are loads of other ace bands too including Men, Lady Fortune and Fever Fever. More info on that soon!

Now for some downtime.

I am the party

Calling all Recession Kids, don't forget to use your vote.

Everybody in the discotheque

illustration by James Nash - check him out!

Alright folks, just a little call to let you know that I'm going to be playing some rekkids tomorrow night at the Island Bar in Birmingham for this month's Brum edition of Out of Step. There will also be Andy Hall and Dan from Joyous playing some tunes. There are probably other guest DJs too, but I don't know that much. As always there will be a free zine and a chilled out compilation CD on entry. Check out Facey-B for more information.

And to get you in the dancing mood here's Stereo Total with a nice little song about discos:

Is a man who catches owls an Owlerman?

New poster designed by Christopher Wayne for our gig at Out of Step on the 26th. As you can see, we will be playing with Fever Fever which is very exciting. La La Vasquez were unable to make the evening, but not to worry though eh? Fever Fever are well worth checking out, and the line-up for the evening is coming together nicely due to the continued hard work of Rich and Ben coming to fruition with each event they put on. Me and Lucy went down to their latest night at the Island Bar in Birmingham last Thursday which was great fun and I even ended up dancing to The Rapture. Fantastic. The latest issue of the Out of Step zine is also out now and can be picked up at a few different places in the Midlands locale. Pop over to their blog for more. We even got mentioned in the latest issue, which is the first time we have ever been mentioned in any form of print media. Thanks boys!

Next gig is next Sunday at The Flapper in Brum. If you want to come along we got some cheaper tickets, so give us a shout over on Facebook using the link over to the right hand side somewhere.

It also appears we have gained a Twitter. I think Lucy may be updating it. If not, someone must be stalking me.

"Irritating as hell or absolutely brilliant"

So, finally someone has realised our true potential and wrote some rad things about us on their blog. They are actually quite kind and indicate that 'Man-Moth' may be perfect for the ringtone market place, as, like our froggy friend above, we satisfy both the irritating and utter brilliance needed to make it in ringtones at the same time. Just like all the songs on the Crazy Frog's first album, Crazy Hits, I'd have you know! This is what the folks over at Another Form of Relief had to say:

"Holy shit. This is either irritating as hell or absolutely brilliant. It’s loud, aggressive and incredibly shouty. The repeated cries of “man-moth” (god knows) is pushing it a bit, but there’s something in the majority of it that recalls something along the lines of The Young Knives before they went all dull. Whether or not that’s a good thing is obviously down to your own taste, but as someone who enjoyed that bands early stuff quite a bit, this is a nice little throwback. Far from perfect, but there’s certainly enough here that I’d be curious to hear some more."

Just in case you, like us, can't believe it, you can read the article in it's natural habitat here. Or, alternatively, you could go check out the rest of the blog here. It's up to you folks!

Ding ding!

Hold the front page

via Alex Perciville via Plenty of Ants

Thanks to those who came out to watch us last night with Lady Fortune at the Haygate. Much fun was had by all. Tonight I'm recovering from the week that has been by listening to a lot of XTC and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. May even watch a DVD. Watch out, I'm reckless!

Facts of Life

Thank you to everyone who came to watch us play in Aberystwyth on Monday, we all had a fantastic time and really enjoyed playing in the cramped setting of The Angel. Big cheers goes out to Bay Radio for putting us on, as well as doing a fantastic job with lighting, sound, and putting on an eclectic mix of bands. Also, must thank my sister Gill for putting me up for the night and dragging all of her friends along to watch. Nice one!

It's a bit short notice, but we have been asked to step in for Spindle & Wit tomorrow night at Lady Fortune's EP launch show at the Haygate. Of course, when asked by such lovely boys to support them at such an exciting event we couldn't refuse. It also happens to be their monthly indie night, dubbed 'Thursday Night Facts of Life', which we have been asked to play the last couple of months but have had to decline due to shows booked elsewhere, so it's great we are going to finally get to play and with Lady Fortune. Good times. As an added bonus they said some nice things about us on Facebook, like:

"Team Facts of Life are very pleased to announce that the brilliant Decadence in Berlin have offered to step in. What a gang! This local post-punk band are drawing lots of very positive buzz about the area and you're lucky to have 'em so come on down!"

How very kind, eh? So there's no excuses, it's £2 in and there are three bands (Lady Fortune, us, and new kids on the block Arcade Parade). And remember, it's the launch of the new Fortune EP, It Ends and It Starts in a Dark Room, which showcases long-awaited new material!

In other news we have also confirmed that we will be playing at Norbury Fields Forever this summer alongside a host of other awesome local acts as well as some from further, ahem, afield. Headline act has been confirmed as they noisy boys of Your Biggest Fanclub. It's gonna be full of win, but more on that in the future.

He awoke on a beach in Aberystwyth

Tonight we are plying our musical wares across the border in Wales, in Aberystwyth to be exact. We are on with a host of other acts in the Angel (near the castle ruins) at the top of the high street as part of a show put on by Bay Radio, which is the student station. As a matter of fact back in my uni days I used to do quite a bit for Bay, including design the current logo. Really looking forward to this, and if you're in Aber you should come down. It's a pound in and theres 5 or so bands so you can't really lose.

We will also be handing out some special commemorative pamphlets which I've thrown together which are quite exciting and fold out into a very diy poster. That's a poster that I made myself with bits of paper, not a poster about diy. Sorry for the confusion.

Kicks off tonight at around 7.30pm.

x

Captured in a photograph

A very kind gent by the name of Adrian took some photos of us playing at Free Rock & Roll the other night. Take a look at them over on our facebook page here or, alternatively, visit his myspace page and look at some of his other shots whilst you're at it.

They call me Mello Mello

not our crowd, but it was a bit like this!

Had a really great time in Liverpool last night. I can honestly say out of everywhere we have played, Liverpool has been the best city to perform in. The crowd are always responsive and let you know what they thought. There were some familiar faces who had come down to watch which was nice too. Mello Mello is a small cafe/venue pretty much centre of the city and had a really good vibe. By looks of the menu and the range of drinks on offer the venue is proudly independent, serving organic food and drink, serving up homecooked vegetarian and vegan cuisine. Wish I had been able to get there a bit earlier to sample some of it.

We were on first, and went on stage just before 10pm. The place was pretty much packed which was fantastic and we played a very good set which we were all happy with. Everyone we spoke to seemed to be equally supportive, which was fab. One gent went as far as to describe our energy and sound as being like "XTC meets The Skids" which I rather liked... although I doubt it is an accurate description of us in reality!

I was very impressed by the bands we played with last night also, both of whom were Liverpool groups. It makes you realise how depressingly bland most of the music produced in the midlands is when you see these acts who are making interesting and fun music without worrying about falling into any percieved genre. After us was Lisa Locks & The Precious Boys (myspace), which featured Lisa of Bexy Sitch who I was reliably informed by one of the punters (who, coincidentaly, was at our last Liverpool gig) were an amazing group who have now split up into several high calibre groups. I was impressed by Lisa's distinctive guitar style, and musically was put in mind of both Altered Images and Sonic Youth with a hint of the Cocteau Twins for good measure, which I am sure you will agree is an unusual but arousing combination, and it certainly works.

Lovecraft (myspace), the headline act, were a 9 piece which meant the small stage was crammed to capacity. The Free Rock & Roll Pocket Philosophy pamphlet describes them as "Edwardian class English eccentric popsters stalked by the ghost of Vivian Stanshell." I think it's interesting that they mention Stanshall, as the group were eccentric in every sense. However, like Stanshall, there didn't seem to be anything forced about the group: they were just being themselves - and they were deliriously exciting. The had a rockabilly vibe, with a good shot of the macarbe, think Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster but a little more lighthearted - their frontman Craig reminded me a little of Art Brut's Eddie Argos. His general delivery and between song banter was amusing and engaging. All in all, it was a fantastic night of music, and the only downside was having the trek home afterwards and getting lost in Liverpool which seems to be a maze of redeveloped streets which sat-navs just don't know about.

Thanks goes out to Pete Bentham for inviting us to come down and play at Free Rock & Roll, it's a real honour that he gives us the opportunity to play to an interested crowd away from home turf. He has our continued support in all his future endevours and his ongoing mission to provide free rock and roll for all. If you want to find out more about it and Liverpool's great underground music scene check out myspace.com/freerockandroll

Free Rock and Roll

Denizens of Liverpool: Tonight the boys and girl of Decadence in Berlin will be performing a selection of electronically amplified tunes for your enjoyment at the Mello Mello in Liverpool as part of Free Rock & Roll #3, an exciting night of free live music put on by the super amazing Mr Pete Bentham and his Dinner Ladies. We will be playing with two other well-dressed groups who go by the names of Lovecraft and Lisa Locks. The fun kicks off sometime around 8pm, and remember - it's free so there is no excuse not to pop down if Liverpool is your locale.

http://www.blogger.com/www.myspace.com/freerockandroll

It's only a poster (and I like it)

After playing in this band for longer than any band I've played in before I can finally say we are going to be doing a show which actually has a decent poster to advertise it. So many promoters create crappy things that look like they've been knocked-out using word art. However, here we go, a pretty amazing poster for our show with La La Vasquez at Out of Step next month. Pretty flippin' cool, eh? It's been made by a guy called Christopher Wayne who is a graphic design student from London. Check out his work over on his blog, christopherwaynesandall.blogspot.com. I think it's rather special, and this one is my favourite:

Setbacks

Here at Decadence in Berlin HQ we are feeling rather generous and are offering up some of our songs for free download. Why not, eh? They were recorded some time last year at the Smash Rooms in Ketley, and there is a run-down of the track listing somewhere in the past posts. you may want to read up about the songs. But here it is for your listening pleasure.

Decadence in Berlin - Setbacks EP (2009)

1. Atlantic Radio Fire

2. Man-Moth

3. I Am A Camera

In other news, it seems our gig this Sunday in Shrewsbury has been cancelled due to a double booking. But to make up for it we are going to be playing in Aberystwyth in March so keep yr eyes peeled on the myspace for that.

A work of art

Look at these little beauties that came through my door today. My face lit up like a Christmas tree when I opened the bag.

If you're looking to get badges I highly recommend bandstickers.com. Affordable prices, good service, and a really fast turn-around.

Reasons to be cheerful

Well, it turned out I couldn't rationalise which design was the best so I ordered all four. Yes, you read correctly, all four. They should be in some process of creation as I type, and hopefully next week they will arrive on my doorstep. Until the finished product comes however I got around to making some mock-ups.

Tonight Lucy and I are off to see Joyous at the new Little Civic. I'm quite interested to see what they are like as currently their myspace is a little barren (they are in the studio at the mo), so this will be my first taste of what they have to offer. You can read a little more about them and check out their très cool t-shirts over on their myspace or read their amusing blog - link over on the right.

Next gig for us is a week on Sunday at the Source bar in Shrewsbury - a double headline with Is This Paris? It's a tale of two cities, so to speak. Stay tuned for further information.

Pin badge of honour

So this evening has been spent playing around with badge designs which are a long time over due whilst drinking some lovely Jim Beam I bought at Christmas and listening to Yeasayer's new LP and (wait for it...) Ke$ha's album, which is my obligatory pop album of the year. It's actually very enjoyable, although it does sadden me that she has basically ripped Uffie off and made a career of it whilst Uffie... well, what did Uffie do? Did she ever release a record? Who knows.

Anyway, I digress. Above are four badge designs for you to ponder. Which do you like best? Let me know, as I am going to be getting them made during the week. You'll have to use your imagination to think of them as circles, as I couldn't be bothered to spend any more time fighting Paint Shop Pro.

Out of Step

illustration by Abigail Mckenzie

It's seems very rare that I come across someone local that is doing anything remotely different to the same-old, same-old alternative nights that burn out and fade away faster than the NME's latest fad band. However, just when I think that all is lost, along comes Out of Step to provide a breath of fresh air on the stagnant Wolverhampton scene. Promoter Rich Cartwright has been doing a stellar job in creating not only a club night which embraces more experimental and lo-fi outfits rather than mainstream mainstays, but also acknowledges the work of local artists and writers who they work with in the design of their posters, various compilations and, most recently, the Out of Step zine. With plans to bring in up-and-coming buzz bands from out of town and even a tape cassette label, 2010 looks to be a promising year for Wolverhampton's independent scene. The club night runs monthly on the last monday of the month at Alchemy, a couple of doors down from the Old Little Civic. The next night is February 22nd and has a post-hardcore vibe going down with Advantage and Still Bust. Make sure to go support the night and pick up a copy of the current zine which can be found in various locations around the West Midland region (I found mine in The Victoria, Brum). If you do get a copy keep your eyes peeled for my three life changing records.

I can also confirm that we will be playing at Out of Step on April 26th with La La Vasquez, a lo-fi three-piece all-girl noise-pop group. I am looking forward to that immensely. Read more about them here.

You can find out more about Out of Step over at outofstepalchemy.blogspot.com/ or by clicking the link on the sidebar.

The best made plans

So Saturday saw quite a busy day for us. First up was a trip out Walsall way to JJM studios for a meeting with a chappy called Leon for the Surface Unsigned competition which we have unwittingly decided to enter. We got lost on route as A: I was driving, B: I don't have satellite navigation, and C: Walsall is a maze of crazy junctions, traffic lights and multiple lanes. We got there eventually however and watched a motivational video which made me question the true reason people want to be in a band, but still, we booked ourselves into the competition and our first competition gig will be at the Flapper in Brum on April 11th, exciting. We've got tickets so scream if you want to go faster... I mean, holler if you want to come watch us "rock in" (in the words of the man from Copperhead in the video).

After driving home and a couple of hours respite, we headed back out, this time for our gig in Oakengates at the launch of a new rock/alternative night at Eden nightclub. Sadly, nothing seemed to go to plan and it ended up us not playing (or any other acts for that matter) due to the small problem of their being no P.A system. D'oh! Thanks must go to Ol' Man Smash at the Smash Rooms for hooking us up with some mic stands at short notice, but all in vain. We did consider a mime set but decided against it out of common decency. We did however take the opportunity to continue our fast food odyssey earlier in the evening by making a trip into TFC (Tender Fried Chicken, surely not copyright infringement in any way) for some tasty treats. I had chicken nuggets and chips. The nuggets were very hot and were some of the best reconsitituted chicken parts I've had in ages. Can't fault them. Lucy had the same, Robert declined food as he had already eaten. Back at the club it was clear that we weren't going to be able to play so we packed up. Rob and Lucy headed off but I stayed around for my DJ set which was enjoyable and saw me play some old favourites (which may have been a little self-indulgent) like Taking Back Sunday and Hell is for Heroes. It was a busy night, just a shame about the bands not being able to play, so sorry to anyone who came especially for the live music!

Back to the present. Chew Lips released their album (physically) today so I popped into HMV to bag myself a copy, as did the Lucy Brown. It's cracking, image Karen O fronting some minimalist electro and you'd be on the right lines. Here's the video for current single Play Together:

Always the bridesmaid

Well, we didn't get through. I think we came second, which means that is two years running we have came second in the first heat. Anyway, it was a good night and I felt our set was pretty solid (although there was a tiny hiccup with the keyboard during I am a Camera). This is what Dan of Joyous thought:

Their sound is.. like really hard to describe which is a good thing, sound abit like wire/crossed with elements of young knives but abit more like sonic youth but more like pop songs with shout along/sing-along what ever you want to call it. Just go watch them and you will see what i mean.

We had a decent turn out, including the Wednesday night cinema club, Dan from Is This Paris? (with trusty Jack), Dan and Dan from Joyous, Thom from Your Biggest Fanclub (who doesn't like Calories), DJ Dave and Ali, and my mom and dad. Bonza. My mom was particularly verbal about us not winning, which amused Lucy. Dan and Jack also helped us take some photos as I'm bored with our myspace photo. I'll be posting some of the results over the weekend. Thanks boys!

Before I forget I wanted to mention the pizza I ate before we played. It was called Pepperoni Pefection. Robert had a Veggie Burner. They were 2 for the price of 1 and were a whole 9". So, we got 18" for a humble £5.99. Now that's the real deal, and probably one of the best instalments in the Decadence in Berlin fast food odyssey. Sadly I can't remember the name of this pizza palace. It's about two doors up from The Little Civic next to the pool hall. Oh yes, and we also soundchecked sans bass (because I left it at home), so Rob played bass on my guitar and I played on the keyboard. This resulted in a surf version of I am a Camera which was rather splendid.

Props to Dan Joyous for this video link... and if you're wondering this wasn't our inspiration:

Next gig is tomorrow night at Eden Nightclub in Oakengates, with Damaged Gods. We'll be on about 9.30 I believe. Also, DiB DJ set FTW.

First gig of the decade

Tonight we are playing our first gig of the new decade at the new Little Civic (now known by the slightly shocking name, The Slade Rooms) in Wolverhampton. It's the first round of this years Battle of the Bands competition. Last year we came second in our heat which was nice - but meant we didn't get through to the second round. We would really like to get through this year, especially after our success in the Shropshire Star Battle of the Bands (where we came second in the whole competition), however with many of these things it will probably come down to how many people come through the door. So tonight, if you are at a loss for what to do pop on down and watch us play our little hearts out, we promise we will raise a smile.

In other news, I (Graham) checked out my Casio last night and was very happy to find it is still in working order after it pretty much died at our last show in Shrewsbury with Calebra just before Christmas. That was a fun gig, as everything that could go wrong did, I kissed a girl on the cheek (of the face, not ass) and the same girl stroked Lucy's hair (on her head, not pubic), we drew songs out of a hat, and we sang all of the verses in the wrong place on nearly every track. Hilarity indeed.

This weekend we are going to be playing the launch of a new alternative club night in Oakengates. We are playing with Damaged Gods (who look a bit nu metal) and there will also be a Decadence in Berlin DJ set sometime around midnight. It all kicks off around 9pm at Eden (once known as Minnesota Fats apparently) and it costs £5 on the door.

I'm currently working on a new track called 'Runners'. I will probably never finish it.