We've already been booked for a few shows next year! They include The British Wildlife Festival 6 in Leeds, The Caretaker Album Launch, The ArmaGedd'on! Festival in Plymouth and a one off show in Paris. We are also booking a tour of UK and Ireland with Love Among The Mannequins for 30th March to 8th April.
The split with Clean Kitchen is coming along nicely, we found another label to put it out [Count Your Troubles Count Your Blessings Records]. We are just finalising artwork and waiting for the masters. Not long now...
Death Pedals recently released an EP, it comes as a poster with a download code. It's a shit idea but it is great poster and the EP itself is mint. The download can be bought from here - http://deathpedals.bandcamp.com We got asked last minute to play their launch show at Scar Studios in Camden, Yokozuna drummer Russell Taylor videoed it
Tour starts this Wednesday at the Unicorn in Camden. It's also, and mainly, Nitkowski's album launch show. Death Pedals are also playing at this. The rest of the tour will take place in Europe Mainland, we will be visiting France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany.
I'll write another diary, and maybe publish the last one I did of our time in Ireland. I wrote it ages ago but as it is being used in Molten Magazine I thought I'd hold back in publishing it on our tour diaries page.
A massive thanks to those that attended our show at The Unicorn in Camden. Weird Menace, Lupins, and Genetiks were all ace. It was great to have so many in attendance for Genetiks, who rarely tour these parts.
We've hit a slight snag with the release of our split with Clean Kitchen, we are just waiting to see who is interested in putting it out [one label has pulled out due to financial reasons]. It seems to have taken forever and should have been out months ago! I'll put up more news once we have it.
We've added a date to the tour of Europe with Nitkowski! It's Nitkowski's album launch show and will take place on Wednesday 23rd November at the Unicorn in Camden! It's free too. Won.
Next Friday 4th November we [Triple Jump] are putting on and playing at the Unicorn in Camden. It's our first North London show in a few months and the other bands are mint. The venue is at 227 Camden road, NW1 9AA
We were interviewed for the Irish music website Thumped.com a couple of weeks back and we had a page published about us in a recent edition of Molten Magazine in Northern Ireland. Gareth also wrote a double page spread on how actions speak louder than words in music, which was also published in Molten Magazine. You can see the Thumped interview here or you can buy a copy of Molten Magazine here. A big thanks to Ross Hunter and Ian Maleney for these. We get ignored by the press and fanzines in our home country so it was nice to be asked.
Right, Kim and Thurston have split up, I'm off to brush my hair and have a shave.
The Triple Jump Records all-dayer went extremely well and we had a wonderful time. We nearly broke even too. Thanks Shield Your Eyes, Nitkowski, Econo, Caretaker, Sweet Williams, Kong, Shoes and Socks Off, Alex Robertson [Sound], Chris White and his friend [Posters], Julie Kane [Zines] Al Bailey [Distro] and everyone who came. And anyone I've forgotten. It was shit that Bad Guys had to pull out but it couldn't be avoided.
If you enjoyed our all-dayer, why not follow us on this social network site <---Click there.
This Saturday is the Triple Jump Records all-dayer at The Fighting Cocks. As we have organised it we are going on first. You can buy tickets or view the facebook or songkick pages by clicking the relevant word [I know you're not thick but I feel more comfortable explaining properly].
Line up
KONG SHIELD YOUR EYES SWEET WILLIAMS (ex-charlottefield) NITKOWSKI BAD GUYS SHOES AND SOCKS OFF SILENT FRONT CARETAKER ECONO + ZINES + ART + OTHER RAD STUFF!
DOOR TAX: £6
Bands will start at 2:30pm and finish by 11pm (as the cocks' strict curfew dictates) to allow anyone travelling down form central london to get the last train back in time.
September 3rd 2011 I Hate The Kids All-Dayer - The Victoria, Mile End.
There have been some great all-dayers this year, and we have been lucky enough to be a part of some of them. We played the Big Horse Party 2 in Leeds, the British Wildlife Records Festival 5.5 also in Leeds, the Nice Weather For Air Strikes Festival in Brighton, Sausagefest VII in Fleet, the Feliciano All-Dayer in Kingston, and today, the I Hate The Kids All-Dayer in Mile End.
We left at around 2pm to get there in time to catch Death Pedals. The journey should take forty five minutes to an hour, but a bunch of knuckle dragging gobshites decided to go on a march through London and block the roads. The English Defence League had taken it upon themselves to defend this nation from… er… I dunno, people willing to do the jobs they can’t be arsed to do? Apparently, later in the day, a coach load of EDL members broke down on the Mile End Road and got pelted with rocks by a gang of youths. Seriously, don’t fuck with the East End, especially if you’re a fascist. History has proved this;
Our journey took four and a half hours meaning that we not only missed Death Pedals, we missed Primo Leviathan and November Fleet too. November Fleet later got us back and left before we played, not out of spite, they had a genuine excuse and we didn’t mind as Nic [November Fleet and Solomon Grundy] had lent Gareth some sticks because he had forgot to bring his. Elks, Throwing Up, Holy State and Gum Takes Tooth played before us and I was especially impressed with Elks. Dan of the Math Jazz band Nitkowski described them as a mix of ZZ Top, Joy Division and someone else whom I can’t remember, but I did agree with him.
Just before Gum Takes Tooth played, about sixty girls from a roller disco group arrived, and the already busy venue was now heaving and had become very hot and humid. I had the honour of picking one of the women up off the floor after she came crashing through a door onto the pavement beside me. She didn’t say thank you, but I wasn’t going to say anything because she was built like a brick shithouse and had tattoos instead of hair. This was one of the hottest shows I can remember ever playing. I was so wet that my fingers kept slipping off of the intended fret and sweat was dripping into my eyes making it hard to see. In a weird way, I quite enjoy playing shows like that. One Unique Signal played last and were as incredible as they always are. I used to hate all-dayers but I’ve had such good experiences over the last couple of years that I now quite enjoy them.
After some drunken chat with Will [Lupins] and Wayne [Death Pedals] about weight loss, and how Wayne once ran the hundred metres in twenty six seconds, we drove back to Kingston, getting a kebab on the way. I woke up in the morning fully clothed with the light on and everything still in my pockets.
September 4th 2011 Malcfest - In a Field, Kent
Recently I have been listening a lot to “The Who Sell Out” and as we had a bit of a journey ahead of us, I thought it’d be the perfect opportunity to play it to Phil and Gareth. Our tape converter only plays one side of the recording so everything panned to the left was missing. The Who pan all the drums to the left, making it un-listenable, so I stuck on the other record I’ve been listening to a lot recently - The Slider by T. Rex. I understand that it’s probably not the coolest of records but I like it. I suppose it’s one of those records people would describe as a guilty pleasure. Personally, I wouldn’t. Eating crisps at a funeral or masturbating in the changing rooms at the local swimming pool would be a guilty pleasure, not listening to something you like.
Malcfest is an outdoor festival set over the weekend nearest to Malc’s birthday. He has been doing it for a few years in his garden in Catford, but this year, found a field attached to a pub miles from anything else. It’s pretty much a festival for his friends and a few friends of friends. When we arrived we set about having a look around, She Makes War was playing on one of the stages and in the field next to it people were doing some Morris dancing. We’re not really keen on Morris dancing so we didn’t join in. I did however have the urge to borrow one of the sticks and have a stick fight with Phil. We didn’t, but if we had, we’d have both enjoyed that.
The show was fun to play and the response from the crowd was great. I was starting to wish I’d been there the whole weekend because the atmosphere was perfect and the people were very friendly. Maybe next year. Another band played after us on a different stage, but because we were busy chatting to some people and packing our equipment back into the van, we missed them. We did catch Andy K and Thumpermonkey Lives! Andy K was brilliant and had the crowd in hysterics, I’ve not seen anything quite like it and if you ever see him on a bill, go check him out. Thumpermonkey Lives! were the headliners. They play a mix of metal and prog and are an incredible bunch of musicians.
On the way back home our van lost power and we had to pull over onto the hard shoulder and wait for a mechanic. He arrived after about an hour but didn’t know what was wrong. The mechanic put the van onto the back of the recovery vehicle and we all got a lift home to Kingston.
Thanks to Alex, Wayne, Stu, Tom, Bass and Malc for inviting us to play these two great shows.
I've completed the tour diary of our May tour of Europe. This time It's got pictures. It took a while because I had to figure out how to save it from my hard drive after my computer wouldn't start up. Click here to see it!
The first I Hate The Kids All-Dayer will be taking place next Saturday in Mile End at a pub called The Victoria. It's going to be mint. No need for an advance ticket, just turn up - it's £5 entry for 10 hours of great music!
On the Sunday we are playing Malcfest. There has been no official running order or a proper announcement as to who is playing. So yeah, that's all the details I have! All other info is here.
We have finished the mixing of our two tracks for our forthcoming split! It took a while because of a few issues with the bass guitar but we are all happy with how it sounds now and can press on with getting it out. The two songs will be exclusive to the split and won't appear on a future album (we are four songs into that). The songs are; Tactic A and Plunder.
We have also just printed up some more t-shirts, of which I'll post up a picture soon.
Friday night we are playing [and putting the show on] at The Unicorn in Camden with Falenizza Horsepower (Jersey), Hands Up Who Wants To Die (Ireland) and Shield Your Eyes. We are on first for this one so if you want to catch us then you'll have to be there for 8pm.
Saturday we are in Fleet, Hampshire at The Links for Sausagefest VII. I don't know what the running order is but I do know that the day will be lots of fun as we have played this festival for the past two years and they were both great. The bands playing are; Nope, Shield Your Eyes, Falenizza Horsepower, Cuss Words, Hold Your Horse Is, Mine Our Arc + a few others.
Last weekends show with Death Pedals and Battery Men was immense fun, thanks to those who came and contributed to the brilliant atmosphere. I definitely drank too much after we played.
The mixing of the recordings we did are coming along nicely, we have sent it back a few times for some tweaks here and there but we are not too far off. It's pretty much me holding everything up because I don't think the bass guitar is prominent! Apart from that, it's sounding great.
Tonight is our show at the Constitution in Camden and we are joint hosting the evening with Death Pedals. It's a three band bill and the other band to play are Battery Men [ex Monkey Boy Mark Warren on bass/vox]. As usual it is £2 entry with all the money going to the bands. Hope you can make it, it's going to be a banger.
Thanks to all those who signed the petition that I posted. It means a lot to us and will mean more to the future generations of kids with nothing to do.
Also, recording last Sunday went well. We are very much looking forward to hearing the first mix, getting it finished and finally releasing it!
In short... Richmond council want to sell the house and turn it into a hotel and so far, have not proposed, in any detail, a replacement. Richmond council's track record for this sort of thing isn't great either; in the 1970s they shut down the swimming pool - it still hasn't been properly redeveloped, in the late 80s they shut down the Ice Rink with the promise that it would be rebuilt - still no Ice Rink has been built and more recently they took control of a community hall with the promise they'd refurbish it and turn it into a Children's Centre - The playground is unfinished, they built the wrong things inside two of the rooms and they failed to deliver on the promised IT suite and the play managers office is still without a phone line!
The reason it's so great... Phil and I attended Heatham House as angst ridden yoofs. It provided us [and other youth's] with the opportunity to be creative, gain confidence and mature into the ace adults we've become. In our friend group alone people like Loz from Hundred Reasons, Kiera Knightley, Laura from Blood Red Shoes, DJ Basher and Anna Calvi all benefited from it's existence. I know that sounds like it was some sort of school of arts or something horrific like that but what it did was allow these people the chance to explore, be creative and gain confidence in their art. Heatham House is a unique place and offers so much to the young people in Richmond and surrounding boroughs. Other than the recording studio, rehearsal rooms and a large venue Heatham house also offers facilities such as skateboarding, a football pitch, a sexual health clinic and most importantly, a place where the youth can be free to express themselves and develop social skills. It's fucking mint.
Richmond borough isn't the only wealthy borough in London yet it has by far the lowest youth crime rates - It also has the greatest youth club - coincidence?
I owe a lot to Heatham House and its workers. We should be building more Heatham House's, not taking them away. Please sign the petition.
We are going back again to re-record the two songs for the forthcoming split that we had planned to have out by now! Gareth and Umair [the recording man] aren't entirely happy with the original recording [Phil and I like it] so we have agreed to do it again. We are recording it on Sunday and I'll let you know how it turns out.
Tonights show is no longer at the victory in dalston. It has been moved to The Urban Bar in Whitechapel - across the road from Whitechapel tube station.
Nitkowski have had to pull out of this weekends London and Brighton shows because Dan can't leave the house due to his broken ankle. Ed has said that if he catches the driver he is going to kill him. Plague Sermon are not playing the Brighton show either as the venue is being petty and won't let them play. The shows now look like this
Saturday, Brighton; 9.45 - 10.15 Lamp! 9.00 - 9.30 Silent Front 8.15 - 8.45 It Often Takes a War 7.30 - 8.00 Fat Bicth 6.45 - 7.15 replacement band
Sunday, Brixton; 9.30 - 10.15 Silent Front 8.30 - 9.15 Fat Bicth 7.30 - 8.15 Plague Sermon BBQ Break 5.30 - 6.00 It Often Takes a War 4.45 - 5.15 Lamp! 4.00 - 4.30 replacement band
At least, that is the running order that I read in an email. It's gonna be a banger, just a shame that Nitkowski can't play it.
I remember when the bicycle was safe and it was fun, but next time I cycle I'm gonna bring a gun - Leslie George Carter
Phil and Gareth were involved in a bus crash last Friday night, Phil broke Gareth's fall and Phil got a cut on his head which required some stitches. Gareth has a sore arm. I would have been on the bus too but I stayed home as I couldn't walk after sustaining an injury to my left foot whilst walking. Nothing hit it, I didn't turn my ankle or anything like that, just walking at normal pace for five hours. Also, Dan from Nitkowski broke his ankle in a cycling accident earlier the same day and had to stay in hospital for a few days. He's had some pins inserted to hold the ankle together and we wish him a speedy recovery.
Just to summarise, I've made a league table of the injuries.
Dan [broken ankle, required metal pins to hold the ankle together] 10pts
Phil [massive gash on his head requiring stitches] 8pts
This week has turned into something resembling a tour with six shows in nine days! The only difference is we are still going to work.
Saturday night in Halifax was a banger and the crowd, Cuss Words, Juffage, Andy, Tom and Jay [the promoters] were ace. Tom [Cuss Words, not promoter] showed us his little fella. Sunday night was also very good despite the rain. It was good to see Common Deflection Problems and Cutthroat Convention again and have a bit of a chin wag with them. Also, Bogong in Action were brilliant and very nice people too.
The four shows left are Guildford - The Backline w/ Clean Kitchen & Poino, Kingston - The Fighting Cocks w/ Nitkowski, Clean Kitchen & Poino. Then we have a London to Brighton [and then back again] six band weekender. First show is in Brighton at The Green Door Store then it's back to London for the Brixton Windmill show [includes BBQ]. The bands on the weekender are Nitkowski, It Often Takes a War, Fat Bicth, Lamp, Plague Sermon and us.
Solomon Grundy have finally made the EP Rutting Season available on Bandcamp. What's more, it is free! There is also an option for making a donation. It's a great record so if you have the disc space, do it! Here
Mayors of Miyazaki have a blog page now too. If you didn't know, Mayors are a band that Gareth is in with his sister [Claire] and friend [Tom]. Gareth sings and plays Guitar. Do that too. Here
The last week has been incredible for us. We met lots of great bands and great people and partied hard whilst not getting much sleep. Thanks to everyone who was a part of it. I'll maybe elaborate more on it when my brain starts working again.
We are going back to Mainland Europe tomorrow morning to complete what should have been an uninterrupted two week tour. First stop will be Trier in Germany then to Reims, Lyon, Koln, Paris then back to the UK for the final date in Kingston Upon Thames. See you in the next few days!
And if anyone is interested, I've updated the tour diary blog with the two shows we did in France a week ago.
Over the weekend we played a couple of shows in France, one in Metz and one in Hazebrouck. A big thanks to the promoters, the people who came to the shows, Fall Of Messiah, Theme of Laura, No Metal In This Battle, Lifeless Hope, the people who said nice things to us and bought a record and the people that made the food. We had a fantastic time and look forward to going back out to Europe next week! I've made my notes so hopefully I'll have it written up for the tour diary page by the end of the week.
We are off this weekend to play a couple of shows in Metz and Hazebrouck in the North of France. This was suppose to be the beginning of a two week tour but is now the first of two short stints across the English Channel. Once again I'll keep a diary of events and post them on our tour diary blog sometime in the near future.
We have had another tour date cancelled. That makes it six cancelled shows in total. It's become a bit silly and it's not even likely now that we'll have the happy ending in Japan like in Spinal Tap.
On a brighter note, the tour diary is up to date as I've added the February tour with Solomon Grundy to it. Have a read here
Today we are heading to Gareth's bedroom to put the finishing touches to two more new songs that we've been writing. These two have taken a while so it will be nice to have them finished and ready for a proper rehearsal room and eventually integrated into the set.
At our last show at Scar Studios Fear of DIY recorded our set for a video project they are doing to document their favourite bands (and us). Below is the audio track for Across The River And Into The Trees.
Tour news... We had a few shows cancelled (five altogether) so we have had to have a little shuffle about. Now we will be heading out for a weekend then coming home for a few days and heading back out for the rest of it. We have added a show in Kingston for the Sunday [the day after the Paris show].
This weekend we are playing three shows in and around London. The first show is In New Cross with Black Heart Orchestra, Hedoniacs, Rent Boys and Suicide Party it's at the New Cross Inn in New Cross. The Second of the shows is at the Zenith Bar in Angel with Dogs and Cats Living Together and The Sailplanes. It's a fundraiser so all of your money goes straight to charity. All of it. It will also be a year since Dead Lake was released! On Sunday we will be in Reading at The Butler playing with Poino and Toddlers.
Last weekend was lot's of fun. We were added to two shows at short notice due to bands pulling out, the first was in Kingston and the second was in Leeds replacing That Fucking Tank on an amazing bill of bands. A massive thanks to Rebecca and Owain for thinking of us and asking us to play. Also a thanks to False Flags and Jogging for being both great bands and nice lads and also Nodders for putting us up for the night and Stacey for joining us for breakfast!
This weekend was going to be dedicated to writing as we had no gigs lined up. That plan has changed because on Tuesday we got offered a show for this Friday at the Fighting Cocks in Kingston and on Thursday evening we got an offer to play THE BIG HORSE PARTY MK. II in Leeds as a replacement for That Fucking Tank.
The Friday show at The Cocks is with March Of The Raptors & Burn The Fleet http://tinyurl.com/fridaysshowatthecocks
Saturday is a festival at the Packhorse Leeds with lots of great bands; Sky Larkin, Jogging, Tangled Hair, Canaya, Double Muscle, Wet Nuns, Paul Thomas Saunders, Loose Talk Costs Lives, Shields, Just Handshakes (We're British), Yonderboy, Aviaries, False Flags and Smokescreen. http://tinyurl.com/Saturdaysshowatthepackhorse
Sam Edwards, Top lass and co inventor of the anti rape beard, will be gunning it at the Edinburgh Half Marathon on May 22nd in aid of Macmillan cancer support. She is trying to raise £400 so if you can spare a few quid then go here to do so. Even if you don't know her, you'll still feel great once you've handed over your cash.
Chick Peas have split up, it's pretty sad news as they were one of my favourite bands. We toured with them back in 2008 around Europe and the UK. Have a listen to them here is you've never heard them before. I'd highly recommend you buy the record too, either buy it from that link or email us as I'm trying to get a few copies of it to sell in our distro. And if they don't send me any I'll just bootleg it.
...but at least Lupins were excellent. They don't appear to have much of a web presence and last night was only their fourth show. They have a recording up here.
Last night's show with Bottlenose Dolphins and Guns or Knives was a banger. Bottlenose Dolphins were excellent and so were Guns or Knives. I was a bit worried about the attendance as it was a Monday but loads of people still came out for it, so thank you. Sorry for the stupidly high beer prices, I mentioned it in a previous post but I didn't realise it was going to be quite that much. An inflation of about 40 pence since I was last there. I bought my own beer and hid it from the staff and although they might of been cool with it I was too scared to ask. I also knocked Phil's Amp head off the cab but my shin broke its fall. The amp works fine and my shin is healing nicely.
A long time ago I promised a tour diary of our tour of England, Ireland and Northern Ireland. I've finally got around to finishing it so here it is. In the next week or so I will be up to date and there will also be an account of our recent tour with Solomon Grundy.Here is the Diary.
The split single with Ivy's Itch has been recorded and we are in the final stages of mixing it. We are very happy with the recording and hopefully Ivy's Itch are near completion of their tracks so we can get it out sooner rather than later.
Our May tour of Europe is shaping up nicely but still have a few holes that need filling. We have lot's of London shows coming up before then and tomorrow we are playing with Bottlenose Dolphins and Guns or Knives at the Old Blue Last in trendy Shoreditch. I might shave one side of my head for it. It's free entry but you pay that back with expensive drinks.
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
Tour Video
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
The Sundance Kids
Saturday, 19 February 2011
Pictures Of Walls
This was on this website, well worth a few moments of your life.
Thursday, 17 February 2011
It Leaked and Leaked and Leaked
We only have a few Brown and White T-shirts left so if you would like to own one then now is the time to buy one! This is where they are.
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
Tour Photo - SF & SG
Sunday, 13 February 2011
Crafty Sonar
Tour was amazing. Great attendances, sick bands and lots of lovely people. Solomon Grundy smashed it every night and I can't recommend their record enough. Once it becomes available on the interweb, I'll post up a link.
Thanks to everyone who cooked for us, let us sleep in their home, put on a show or came to a show.
Now it's back to work Monday. At least we have next weekend to look forward to. We are going to be recording two new songs for our split w/ Ivy's Itch!
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Oh Maggie, I Wish I'd Never Seen Your Face
We are on first tomorrow [Friday 4th at the Fighting Cocks, Kingston] which will be 8pm. It's only £2 too. Ale is £3 a pint.
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
UK tour with Solomon Grundy
|Friday 04.02.11| Kingston at The Fighting Cocks w/ HAG and Palehorse Only £2!
|Saturday 05.02.11| Liverpool at Don't Drop The Dumbells
|Sunday 06.02.11| Middlesborough at The Tavern |Monday 07.02.11| Leeds at Nation of Shopkeepers |Tuesday 08.02.11| Edinburgh at Henry's Cellar Bar |Wednesday 09.02.11| - Newcastle at The Northumberland Arms |Thursday 10.02.11| Nottingham at The Chameleon |Friday 11.02.11| Brighton at The Hobgoblin |Saturday 12.02.11| London [Camden] at The Unicorn
Sunday, 30 January 2011
Grew Worse On Friday
Tour starts Friday! Here is a free download of Solomon Grundy's Demo. I'm going to keep a diary of the tour and not post it on here like last time. Dates are on the right.
Sunday, 16 January 2011
Hag and Palehorse
The start of our tour will now be on Friday 4th February at the Fighting Cocks in Kingston. We've managed to get HAG and Palehorse on the bill too! We will open the evening so if you want to catch us then get down for eight.
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Plans For The Year
We have had a few writing sessions recently and are putting the finishing touches to four new songs, of which two will end up on the forthcoming split with Ivy's Itch. We will be recording them at the end of February after our UK tour with Solomon Grundy. The tour starts on the 5th of February in Liverpool but there is a possibility of a date on the 4th at the Fighting Cocks in Kingston. The plan after that is to keep writing for an album and finish booking our tour of Europe in May. There are also plans to release the past records that you can't get anymore on a cassette. With tote bags and tapes on the merch table we'll get the acceptance we crave from hip indie kids.
