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.

Don't panic!

More recording news

Today we went to a studio at the University of Guildford and recorded some songs with an old friend (his name is Nick) and it was good. After an early start and an evening spent sleeping on Rob's sofa in Cheltenham we hit the road and made good time, arriving at the studio around 10. After setting up in the studio things went a bit wrong (the desk died) and we went to Starbucks and pretended to be students.

When things were fixed we recorded some songs and it was fun. Here's a bit of low-down on the tracks we laid down:

Work > Play:
Been knocking around for awhile this one. We stopped playing it for ages then resurrected it with a new bridge section. Sounds quite nice when it all comes together and after numerous attempts I even managed to play the solo right (which I normally don't). Vocals nearly killed me (there was about a hundred takes of me shouting, I could taste iron in the back of my throat), but when we added the backing vocals from Rob and Luce it sounded pretty mint. I wish we had got some girl vocal action going on in the session we did with Ben now!

The Recession Kids:
Instant classic. Recording this was a nightmare, multiple takes and what-not trying to nail it. In the end I think we just about got it. Rob's vocal was hilariously good. This is going to make people weep.

Residents of Trench:
With about 20 minutes of studio time to go we roughly demoed this bad boy. Not sure how it will turn out but it was quite fun and I did some ridiculous Hulk Hogan voices... by this time my voice was gone.

Looking forward to hearing the fruits of our labour. Bet you are too. x

The dreams of Smith are over now

New song, 'The Recession Kids', at Free Rock & Roll at the Caledonia in Liverpool, 9th July 2009.

We laugh in the face of infectious diseases

We recently played a gig at the Public, a big massive pink building in the middle of West Brom. It was a good night, nice sound system and the staff all helpful. Seemed a shame more people didn't turn up but still. Anyway, the guys at Major Key studios recorded one of our tracks and made a video. It's quite cool really, and in typical Graham fashion I play the solo wrong. Whoops. Enjoy my mistakes!

You can check out more of Major Key's upcoming shows and videos over at their myspace: www.myspace.com/mks_captured

Second best band in Shropshire

Thankyou to everyone who voted for us in the competition, your hard work got us through to the final, where we got to play in front to 150+ people in the Severn Theatre. We had a fantastic evening, which was topped off by us coming second in the competition overall. Not an easy feat, when you consider nearly 50 acts entered.

You can see a little clip of us playing in this video from the Shropshire Stars website:

We also got several mentions in the paper, and you can read a little review of the event over on Shropshirestar.com

Thanks again everyone who voted. Listen to BBC Radio Shropshire on Friday 26th June for a Friday Night Gerbil special on the event which includes a little interview with us as well as some of our tunes hopefully!

Regards, as always,
Graham x