BURLYYYYYYYY NAGASAKIIIIIIIIIIIIII !!!!!!!!!

Went to the Burly Nagasaki Album Launch @ the Chameleon last night. It was ace. It helped that they'd chosen 3 bands/artists to play with who I really like and that everyone there seemed full of friendliness and goodwill and cheer.

First up was Matthew Stephen Cooper who I've only seen in the teenytiny space at the Alley Cafe when he played Jumpers For Goalposts. It was really good to see him with a big soundsystem and to hear his playing & singing properly.

THEN came the wonderful Smell of Success, aka the very talented Joe & BD. They played some new tunes which BD told us he'd only learned 1 week ago. It showed a little round the edges, but not in a way that took away from how good the songwriting was and they were still full of heart and melody and sounded great. Plus Joe looked super cool with a sharp suit and shades and an old-school keyboard.

NEXT came the big BURLY NAGASAKI set. Having been lucky enough to hear the album when we made the video for forthcoming single Fools' Gold, I was really excited to hear it live. They opened with a supercool Berlin-influenced underground dance piece with an awesome performance art aspect to it in the shape of an awful ear-splitting electronic feedback-type of noise which prompted some kindly help from a member of 20 Year Hurricane who thought that something was genuinely going wrong. Music where people think something is going wrong is brilliant, like the Tom Tomas Club at the Alley Cafe covering Prince and having a member of the audience genuinely concerned shouting "What's going wrong?"! Anyway, awesome intro over Tez & Joey treated us to a full live album set including the following instruments: guitar, drums, saw, keyboard, sandwiches, scissors, ukelele, a giant cardboard gun, an apron and probably more that I've forgotten. There was a brilliant air of rehearsal about it, with a few false starts and a couple of "who begins the next one?" moments. I was really into that, like this was the rehearsal show and next week the whole night would run again and everyone would be note perfect. We were seeing something special with a few charming, minor imperfections which gave it its heart.

I think my favourite moment was the crowd singalong to "look at all the babies we've killed" and then Joey's explanation story about Elvis. Ask him if you want to know what it is.

LAST but of course not least, were Twenty Year Hurricane. Despite Nick's proclamations that their opener was a new song and was probably going to be rubbish it worked really well. The sound in the chameleon is really good, credit to Simon the sound engineer, and it's so nice to hear bands you like playing there. the Hurricane sounded great and even though the crowd thinned a little they still really created an atmosphere. Gareth is ace on the drums, really playing and smiling and involved, Chris on bass is focused and intense and Nick singing has a charm all of his own. (Nick if you read this i mean that in a good way I promise x).

Anyway, few pics here, more Burly gigs to come, can't wait!

Random layout once again courtesy of Blogger. Well done Blogger team.

Bought a Burly Nagaasaki album for only £4. Haven't looked through it and my goodies properly yet as I'm waiting for Anders to return from a stag weekend. Can't wait though, looks choc-full of fun!

bye for now
x
Bex

FISTS EP Launch gig - 9th April & Fools' Gold Loaves

Hello!

Isn't it nice to have a bit of sunshine? Mmmmmm.

I realised I haven't posted or put up any pics since the Hello Thor/ Fists EP Launch at the Rescue Rooms on the 9th April. What an amazing night. ALL the bands were brilliant. Escapologists had a hard slot being first on, but totally set the tone for a great night with their performance. Pilgrim Fathers killed with a big rock set and lots of great posturing from frontman Shelf. Swimming were brilliant and it was awesome to hear one of my favourite songs (Tigershark) live. Then Fists rocked up and played the best set I think I might've ever seen them play. It was an amazing way to launch the new Fists Olympic Hits EP and lots of people went home with copies. If you didn't get one you can buy them at http://www.hellothor.com/ or on amazon etc.

Here's some pics (apologies for the variable quality - not much light in the Rescue Rooms it turns out):
(*Random order is due to the intensely annoying new Blogspot editing*)

Fool's Gold Loaf? It's what killed Elvis and recently our kitchen turned into a film studio when we helped Burly Nagasaki to try and make a music video for the release of their forthcoming album. We heard the album too, it's GREAT! They recorded it in a month for the RPM challenge, doing it all in February, and it sounds awesome. Can't WAIT for their Launch Party at the Chameleon on the 7th May (I think). Hopefully some of the footage we shot will also be useable so you might get to see the horror that is a FOOLS GOLD LOAF - AKA A jar of peanut butter, a jar of jam, a whole heap of bacon and a massive buttered loaf. It tasted disgusting and was definitely a month's worth of calories in one go. Elvis used to eat them as a midnight snack. Unbelievable. here we are filming:

Fun!

This week: off to see Greenberg at the Broadway on Thursday (part of Screenlit), hopefully just relaxing on Friday then it's Dolly Disco time on Saturday! It's at Moog, Nick (Hello Thor) & Daddy Bones & Abi are DJing, so it should be ace!

Bye!

Bex
x

Brimming over with post-party festive fun

It's been a great run-up to Christmas what with the Christmoustache Party AND the Xmas Covers.

We'll post some pics from the HT Party soon to show the kind of furry fun that ensued. In short though, we were treated to a We Show Up On Radar set that was short but very sweet and a wonderful version of Blue Christmas from Andy (sporting an equally wonderful moustache). Then Fists rampaged all over the stage. They'd been in the studio all day and drinking for at least a few hours so were considerably looser than usual - but all to the good as they tore into their ever-brilliant set (with a couple of new tunes in the shape of Angi's 50s-style swoon, Endlessly and Pete's Cramps-like Squeek Squirl - I'm completely guessing at the titles). James' onstage banter was AWESOME and Dave's rock stances (foot on bass drum, groin uncomfortably close to Tez's eyeline!) was the shizness.

Finally Hot Horizons took to the stage. I was taken aback by just how HUGE and ANTHEMIC they were. This was stadium pop. Bloody brilliant it was too!

After that, me and Bex got on the decks and caused a bit of a commotion to the likes of Passion Pit and Jay Z by way of Ace of Spades and Killing In The Name Of*

It was a great way for Hello Thor to round off a great year.
Even that though couldn't hold a candle to the institution that is the Damn You Christmas Covers Party. Now in its 6th Year (seems like more than that, no?) this is an opportunity for bands to do unlikely and thoroughly entertaining covers in the name of Mr Claus. My brother came along one year and even though Our Gaz doesn't often attend gigs once the Hellset Orchestra got stuck into Eye Of The Tiger he was loving it!

Some of my highlights from this year's Xmas Covers have to include: Wander Phantom's version of ODB's I Got Your Money, Fists' Breaking The Law & Kids In America, Din Din's whole set (gimp-masked electro!) and Burly Nagasaki's Winds Of Change of course

x Anders

* Christmas Number 1 - HELL YEAH!

Hockley Hustle pics!

Hello All,

The Hockley Hustle was a real cracker on Sunday... not that I saw much besides the inside of the Jam Cafe! The Hello Thor boys did an amazing job with their line-up and the place was packed out all day as a result. I'll pop a few pics up below and will give Anders the rest to put on facebook/the HT website etc (including the Hello Thor speech bubble pics - there are some classics).

Also saw the Subism live art/illustration going on at Nash. Some really nice stuff was produced and it's a great setting for a gallery...

Everyone was great, but the highlight for me was definitely Fists. It feels a bit like I'm cheating by picking them, seeing as how they are my friends, but they were just incredible. It helped that the place was packed out after Red Shoe Diaries' set (we were having to move tables & chairs to squeeze more people in), the atmosphere was great. Friendly, happy, fun. Fists played a brilliant set, one of the best I've seen in a while, where every tune punched its weight and each one brought something new. You can read some of my tweets live from the event here.

Pics here:

(Sorry no pic of the wonderful Twenty Year Hurricane - camera problems early on!)

Ali - Bonsai Projects


Joey & Tez - a.k.a. Burly Nagasaki - trying to bring it back by playing the saw after their very questionable pre-song banter with the crowd. I heard Tez isn't allowed to talk in future.

The delightfully well-pressed Rory McCarthy

What's wrong Ash? - Red Shoe Diaries seconds before their first tune to a full house

Fists finishing things off in style

Thanks to everyone who came along and all the bands and everyone who made it SUCH a fun day. I had a brilliant time, hope you did too and hope we all raised a bundle for charity! Well done Hockley Hustle!

Love Bex
x