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

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

HOCKLEY HUSTLE!

Yay!

It's the Hockley Hustle this Sunday!

There are loads of venues in and around Hockley hosting gigs to raise money for charity. Now, of course I'm biased, but I do reckon the Hello Thor venue looks like one of the best. Come down to the Jam Cafe on Sunday to see:

4:45pm Twenty Year Hurricane
5:30pm Vom Vorton
6:15pm Burly Nagasaki
7:00pm Bonsai Projects
8:00pm Mexican Kids At Home
9:00pm Red Shoe Diaries
10:00pm Fists

What a brilliant line-up. I'd especially recommend looking out for Burly Nagasaki in only their 2nd ever live performance. They are brilliant, and you might get to sing along too.

You can still get advance £5 tickets, or just turn up on the day and pay £7.50 on the door. The money will go to Oxfam and local NSPCC causes. It would be rude not to.

Bex
x

Chameleon Tonight!

Yeah! Going to see Nick's band Twenty Year Hurricane at the Chameleon tonight. I think Cuban Crime Wave & Will Jeffery are the other bands playing. Anders and Tom are DJ-ing, should be great!

Bex
x

Things we've been doing

Hello lovely internet friends (and real life friends who are reading online)

What have we been up to? Allsorts (ish)!

First, let me tell you a little bit about Saturday night, which was ACE. It was Supernight vs Im Not From London at the Maze and it was a cracker. Ox & Lamb played a great set, despite only having had 6 hours to put something together. All the songs sounded fantastic and it was nice to hear a different tone/feel to their Fists work. Plus we got to hear Yr Glove (which I love) live and some new materials too.

Following that we were treated to a noisy set from 20 Year Hurricane who brought energy and comments about being "very porous" to the stage, as well as a child's mexican wrestling mask. Nick (the singer/ex-colleague of mine/friend) later mentioned that Daddy Bones's verdict on the too small wrestling mask was..."burn victim". Harsh, but when I manage to get the pictures up here, you'll see it's also true! They were great, second outing for them and I hope to see them again soon.... Bassist Chris striking a pose, Drummer (and Birthday Boy) Gareth being amazingly into performing and brilliant to watch and Nick playing guitar, singing, being self-deprecating and moving around the stage like a wind-up toy. Brilliant!

If I'm honest I didn't really watch the other two bands. I saw a bit of two guys playing covers which wasn't really my sort of thing and then I got so hot I had to go outside. I heard a bit of Nephu Huzzband from out there and they sounded pretty good. Definitely not what I expected... I've seen the name around before and thought they were some sort of ska/punk/reggae/funk-rock band. Delighted to say they're not! Mainly I just chatted outside to loads of random people and caught up with Ang and James a bit, which I always love.

I'm rambling but I should quickly mention two more things. Firstly, the wrestling, scary, shocking, very well prepared (they had suits and masks and everything!). Secondly, Dan Toporowski made some visuals for the gig which we tried every which way to get projected but technology failed us. Not only am I gutted for Dan that his hard work wasn't seen, but I'm gutted for me that I didn't get to see them and I know they would be amazing. THANKS Dan, hopefully we can persuade you to put them on YouTube? Or will they be a lost classic?

Anyway, what I'm basically rambling about here is that it was a great night, and thanks to everyone who came, hope you enjoyed it?!

Other stuff we've done:

- Exams - for me, in the middle of them and should be revising now. BOO.

- Saw Iron Man - What a preposterous film! I did enjoy this, but seriously, I can't believe it exists in parts. he has his own private jet and the air stewardesses pole dance for him. Who wrote this? A 13 year old boy? It was ludicrous, but fun.

- Watched the Apprentice - Love it as always and very much looking forward to the Interview show tomorrow (when I should be revising again). Who's going to win? Boggle eyed Helene? Gobby Claire? Beret-maniac Lucinda? 3rd Person talker Lee McQueen? Or pouty sulky Alex Wotherspoon (Wotherspoon is a great name!)?

- Saw Indiana Jones - Another preposterous film. Worth seeing, but god it gets silly, be prepared. I won't say more, because I'm not a spoiler, but be aware that there are great bits and there are shit bits. And boy does he look old at times.

- Baked brownies - and did a blind taste test on Anders... mine won, I'll be honourable and not say who I beat!

That's another exciting installment of "things I've been doing"!!!!!!!!!!!!!! a.k.a. ramble ramble blah blah blah


Have lovely weeks everybody, and see you soon!

Bex
xxx

Exciting things

Hello!

Wow, it's been a while! Well, there's lots I could tell you about, but I'll restrict myself to a few key things.

It's been exciting times round our way recently, although things have seemed pretty quiet from the outside. The main things are that the wonderful Fists have been in the studio recording, and Anders has set up a record label with Tom (Whalley from Not In Nottingham) and Nick (from 20 Year Hurricane)called Hello Thor (you might already know that!).

Luckily these two happy things have dovetailed neatly into a plan to release a Fists 7 inch just as soon as they're ready to go! So, keep your eyes peeled for updates!

The boys from Hello Thor have also been busy finding other new acts and planning in some gigs which we will tell you about in the very near future.

I, on the other hand, have not been having quite so much fun! I've just started a new job and I'm studying in the evenings, so time is quite limited and it's usually all I can manage to watch the Apprentice and not be grumpy!

That said, I did go to see the latest production at the Playhouse last night which I'd really recommend. It's "On the Waterfront" and is directed by Stephen Berkoff. The direction's definitely the best thing about it, it's really inventive and stylish and throws in a few surprises. If you go to see it (I would!) then be patient, the accents are a bit shaky at first, but they even out and it's really enjoyable.

I also saw the new Mike Leigh film "Happy Go Lucky", which I quite liked despite Joey Chickenskin's best efforts to ruin it for me! I won't tell you what he said, but Joey (if you're reading) Anna and Anders agreed, but I quite enjoyed it!

I'll leave this rambling post here, just thought I'd drop off a little hello and update. Anyone else been up to anything good? Got anything good coming up? let us know!

Love

Becky
x

Guest Post from Tom @ NotInNottingham... He's all wrong!

SUPERNIGHT / NOT IN NOTTINGHAM CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA

Is anyone feeling as rough as I am? That has to be my favourite christmas party ever and I'm still smiling about it now, even anders from supernight is smiling despite all the dancing leaving him with severe calf problems. I think I'm going to use this post to try and piece together my memories of the night and if any of them are inaccurate then please correct me:

Joey Chickenskin: Joey kicked the evening off in fine style with a brand new song about christmas in nottingham, he seems ever so friendly and only convention stopped me from bursting on stage to hug him. I set off a party popper at the wrong time.

Ashley and the Askins: Ash made a joke about speedboats before playing 'Fairytale of New York'. Someone in the crowd yelled 'too soon', that was funny. Despite the askins being absent and ash having to impersonate a woman I was touched.

Xmas Jazz Corner With Me... Chris Barrett: Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh. That's what I shouted cos that's what you do when Jazz is on. I've now got a ladyboy voice as a result. Chris played a few times but I can't remember which bands he was inbetween or which songs were christmas ones and which were just normal jazz.

Twenty Year Hurricane: I made a heart out of mine and Anders off of Supernight's fingers and showed it to the lead singer Nick. I only like him as a friend really. This was their first gig and they did a little st nick and we all decided they should play for people more often.

Spaceships Are Cool: la la la la la la la. I learned that Santa gets around by using friendship and kindness. The christmas cheer was definitely getting to a peak. Rob was poorly but you couldn't tell.

Yunioshi: It's getting blurry now but they had beards on and did a Run DMC song that rhymed eggnog and something else. It was brilliant. Later on I danced with them but I'll get to that later.

Petebox: He wasn't supposed to play but was filled with christmas cheer so we told him to get up there and do his stuff. He did a beatbox version of 'Jingle Bells' and we all danced. I shouted stupid things like brrrrrrap whilst waving a glowstick. I'm an idiot

Me DJing: I hope you enjoyed the records I was playing... I know I played lots of rock and roll and The Waitresses 'Christmas Wrapping,' I definitely saw plenty of you dancing so thanks.

Polymath: Polymath were definitely as into the spirit of the night as anyone else thanks to several sambucas. They brought a haunting element to the show and Anders from supernight made a face at me whilst mouthing 'these guys are bloody brilliant,' or something. He also suggested that they'd blown his face off in a good way.

Nuclear Family: were they on next? Is any of this in order? They definitely did the nights best version of driving home for christmas.

Fists: I love Fists... They did something about big baby jesus and were as ramshackley brilliant as ever. It's all very blurry at this point. I stopped drinking pints and moved on to whiskey and coke hurrah!

Not in Nottingham Vs Annual Gift Man: like Live Aid if it was in a garage and didn't actually help anyone at all. Not sure who was on stage but if you were then thankyou... I smashed up a £1.50 keyboard right at the end of the song... I'm an idiot. There was a girl dressed as a reindeer

The Supernight Crew: were bloody marvellous, Bex made the place look lovely, James sorted all the bands out and Anders compered like a man possessed (despite me hindering him).

Dancing: At the end of the night Anders and Bex spun some real party tunes and we all had a good dance. I remember Sadie from not in nottingham doing the best dance moves I've ever seen, I can't remember what they were, and I remember Yunioshi were partying like a band should party.

So that was pretty much it. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. We couldn't believe how many of you turned out and would love to thank all of you. Sorry we didn't bring enough mince pies to go round.

Also big thanks to Tim Smith from Fourmost Films and Tom Chaffe from Via Vaudeville! Who put on the visuals, massive thanks to all the bands and to everyone who bought the not in nottingham xmas album. We made enough to buy the sound desk we needed and so we can carry on podcasting next year.

On Sunday I was sick.
Happy Christmas one and all

Tom and the Not in Nottingham team

p.s. The christmas podcast is available now at http://www.notinnottingham.com/

p.p.s. check back in the next few days for photos