Norwegian Wood...

words can't describe the beauty of central Norway as we travelled from Bergen to Oslo. and neither can photos to be honest. or a video. but here are a few photos and a video to give you an idea.

International Rule of Cheating...

1) Get Away With It Unnoticed

Example:
NONE

2) Get Away With It Noticed
Example:

3) Get Caught

Example:

NYC...

JFK Airport Terminal 3, Tuesday 17th November
06:29am:

GE Building, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, 5th Ave & 50th St, Monday 16th November

High:

The Gutter, N 14th Street, Brooklyn, Sunday 16th November

Bowling:

East River State Park, Kent Ave & 8th St, Brooklyn, Sunday 16th November

Skyline:

Empire state of mind...

Williamsburg, N 11th Street, Tuesday 10th November 2009

Shoes:

Coney Island, Saturday 7th November 2009

Sun, sea & sand:

Times Square, Thursday 12th November 2009

Lights, camera, action:

In the city...

Washington Square, Sunday 8th November 2009
Jazz:


Katz Delicatessan, Wednesday 11th November 2009
Pastrami on Rye:

No matter where you stand, the shit still hits the fan...

Thursday 5th November:

12:30pm GMT. Leave for Heathrow Airport.

4:30pm GMT. Plane leaves Heathrow Airport.

7:30pm EST. Plane arrive at JFK Airport, New York.

9:15pm EST. Taxi drops me off in Williamsburg, where i am staying with Jen.

10pm EST. Go to Daddy's Bar in Williamsburg, bump into Andy from ATO Records, have a few beers, feel a bit drunk.

1:35am EST. Go back to appartment in Williamsburg.

1:44am EST. Get phone call from Chris back in London. Tour with Echo & The Bunnymen is cancelled.

A lot can change in a small space of time, no matter how far away you are.

The Big Adventure...

Today, i go here. For a week.

And then i fly to Atlanta to start our 8 date tour with Echo & The Bunnymen, finishing up in Chicago on November 25th. I shall blog various events / stories / photos as and when i feel the need to share them.

Tachtung baby...

so it all started one night a few weeks ago. a couple of drinks too many, an eyeliner pen and the handy work of Caroline equalled a drawn on moustache.


it got me thinking. could i grow a real one? would it make me more sophisticated? perhaps more intelligent? more attractive to women? perhaps even men? would i be capable of flying a Messerschmitt BF 109? and then i saw the advert for Tacheback on the London Underground. And the idea for a real tache was born. A chance to keep my upper lip warm and possibly raise money for charity.

www.tacheback.com/tachtungbaby

I don't love cricket, oh no...

...I like it.

Having always been an avid football fanatic i never really liked, or even understood, cricket. And then 2005 happened. And i saw how enthralling it could be. Then 2007 happened. And i saw how utterly terrible England could be. Then 2009 happened. And cricket caught my attention again.

For the first time i realised how a 5 day test, and even a five test series, can have all the ups and downs, shocks and realisations, flukes and certainties & heroes and villains as a 10 month football season. Yes, it's a sport for the upper middles class, yes it seems boring, yes it takes all day and then five of them to complete one test, but if you get into it, it's rather like a giant game of chess. Who bowls when? What order should they bat? Who goes in at number 3? How will the weather affect the bowling? Who should stand at silly point? Where the fuck is silly point? Who the fuck named it silly point? You get my silly point.

So let's look at the Ashes 2009:

Cardiff, and England were terrible, Australia fantastic. One nil to them from down under. Except no. England batted out the final afternoon with their tail enders. A draw! Fantastic. Then it was Lords. The Freddie Flintoff show. Having announced he would retire after the Ashes, he produced a superb bowling display to help win the Test, and suddenly England are one up. Third test is at Edgbaston. Here we see England at its best. Not the team, but the weather. Rain leads to the inevitable draw. Things are heating up.


We go to Leeds knowing a win will secure the Ashes once more. Flintoff is out injured. We win the toss and opt to bat first, despite overcast weather implying good conditions for bowling. I blinked, and England are bowled out for 102. The writing's on the wall. It's one all, and all to the Oval for the deciding test.

England post a modest first innings 332 all out. Then a new hero is born. Stuart Broad. Australia are 73 without loss, and then Broad bowls a devastating spell and Australia are 111 for 7, eventually bowled out for 160. Another hero is born. Jonathan Trott gets a century on his debut. By the forth day it's all over. And in his own way Flintoff produced his own bit of magic. A superlative throw to run out Ponting just when Australia looked like they might do the unthinkable and get close to winning. He picks the ball up and throws it in one flowing movement and the stumps and bails are gone. He stands, with his arms aloft, as if he's just scored a 30 yard screamer in the World Cup final. Only this isn't football, this is Cricket, and his equivalent to a stunning strike. It was to be his swan song in Test Match cricket.


And the funny thing is, the much maligned Monty Panesar, who didn't do much in this series and received a lot of critisism, was one of the tail enders who helped secure the draw on that final day of the first test. And whilst the headlines, rightly so, will go to Strauss, Flintoff and Broad, it was that resiliance on the final day by Panesar, and Anderson, that perhaps set England up for this historic victory.

I don't love cricket, oh no. I like it. A lot.

(When the Ashes are on).

Chez moi...

Home (Certificate:15, French with English subtitles)

A strange, perculiar, offbeat comedy set around a family living in a rural home positioned directly next to a newly opened bit of motorway. At times irreverant, at time poignant, it will make you chuckle but also make you think about how to tackle certain situations. Family life, sollitude, perseverance and the urban encroachment onto rural life spring to mind as the main issues covered here. Très bien.

Stabbed with a Bridport dagger...

my favourite band at the moment are called the Bridport Dagger. i first saw them play when we played with them in High Wycombe many moons ago, a strange night but the first i had heard of them. admittedly, i'd not seen them since then until the other night at the Hoxton Bar & Grill, and i was reminded how splendid they are. this is their debut single, Magpie's Nest, which came out last year on Death Records, and their latest single Slipped Disco was released this month and can be heard on their myspace and bought from independant record stores.

DIY video...

surely one of the best DIY videos to a song i have ever seen. (and any band who writes a song called Downloading Porn With Davo is good in my books.)

Down by the river...

Rothiemurchus, "One of the Glories of Wild Scotland", according to Sir David Attenborough.

Other peoples' view...

04/08/09 - The Garage, London


26/07/09 - 1234 Festival, London


18/06/09 - Cake Shop, New York

14/06/09 - Big Top Tent, Isle of Wight


07/06/09 - Ekko, Utrecht

04/05/09 - Opera House, Buxton

20/02/09 - The Scala, London

Ladies and Gentlemen we are Floating in Space...

no such copyright claim so far...

Ladies and Gentlemen we are not Floating in Space...

I do currently have a youtube video entitled Ladies and Gentlemen we are Floating In Space, and it is soundtracked by the song of the exact same name by Spiritualized. Unfortunately, on trying to view the video, youtube states 'This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by WMG.'

Mother F**kers is all i say to that. Shame. The video only really works to that song.

Picture Postcards...

Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm, Sweden

Hultsfred, Sweden

Stockholm, Sweden

Brighton, England

Brighton, England

Brighton, England

Brighton, England

Brighton, England

Jekyll and Hyde...

I ♥ NY (part 2)

I ♥ NY (part 1)

Boats, Bridges and Bikes...

The great advantage of not getting stoned in Amsterdam is that you can take in more of the city. Here's what i took in...

Down in the Tube Station at Midday...

I've seen some wondrous things over the past few months travelling, but i was pleasantly surprised when i came across these buskers in Kings Cross St. Pancras today. Enjoy, and check out the charity Musequality (even if it is just for the great play on words)...

Throw those curtains wide...

Travelling with Hatcham Social, i get to visit many towns and cities, and many of them are pretty dull. However, from time to time i visit places of amazing beauty, and on occasions like that there is only one song i ever listen to on my ipod. The song is On a Day Like This by Elbow, and i urge you to listen to it when in a place of majestic scenery...



ps - whilst you're at it, also listen to Grounds for Divorce and Mirrorball (all off the album The Seldom Seen Kid).

The Tale of Many Cities...

The Hills Are Alive With The Sound of Music...

Have Love? Will Travel...

Featuring: Dave Fineberg, Tobias Kidd, Finnigan Kidd, Jerome Watson, Dan Chatterley, Mark Scurr, Chris Mcilvenny, A Van, The Road.

Short but sweet...

Club NME. Koko. 10/04/09.

Last night i saw two bands at Koko. I am going to write two short reviews of them:

1) Pretty bad.
2) Pretty bad.

That's all i need to say really.

Lights, camera, action...

Sidewalk. Opening Night. The Scala. 04/04/09.

Sex, Drugs and Vauxhall Astras...

It's all about the glamour, eh? The busty blondes, the white lines, the adoration, the screaming fans and the whiskey bottles. That's why you start a band in the first place, right? Just three weeks ago i was in the biggest backstage area i'd ever experienced in Berlin, two weeks ago i was in Austin, Texas, taking a dip in our rooftop pool, and just last week i was playing 3 sold out shows in support of the The Maccabees. So, what lay in wait this week?

First off, i'm hit with a rather asthmatic chest condition, then our van breaks down, and we're due in Sheffield. What now? We have to get there. Mark 'Big In The Game' Scurr has an idea. We'll go in his (champagne coloured) Vauxhall Astra. So, with just enough room for our guitars, keyboard, snare, cymbals and feet, we venture up the M1 in hope that we can borrow some backline. The opening band has pulled out at the last second, but the venue has a drumkit, and the Kabeedies kindly let us use their bass amp and guitar amp. So, we'll have to put the second guitar, the keyboard and the Chaos pad through the PA. Well, i say PA. Not so much a Public Address system, more of a Puny Address system, not a lot for Mark to work with. But he does, i fill up on drugs (Nurofen & Sainsbury's paracetamol) and somehow we pull it all together and play the gig. We've used our Get Out Of Jail Free card, the gig goes quite well, we meet some new faces and maybe make a new fan or two, and then it's back into the (champagne coloured) Vauxhall Astra for the 4 hour drive home. Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll...

If you've got no kind words to say...

The thing about being in a band is you get to see a lot of other bands, and many of the bands i see are at best nondescript, at worst downright terrible. Every now and then i come across bands that hold my attention for more than 5 minutes. This week i came across two. The first was the opening band in Cambridge, a band i had never heard, knew nothing about, and didn't know what to expect. They're from Brighton, are called Lyrebirds, and sound like a combination of Interpol and Echo and the Bunnymen. Live, they were both engaging and unpretencious, had very little interaction with the audience yet still seemed appreciative. Whatever it was, i thoroughly enjoyed the set. Check their myspace where they have 2 tracks, and catch them live if you can.

The second band was The Maccabees themselves, a band i knew of from their early singles X-Ray and Latchmere, but didn't really have an opinion either way. Then i saw them play in Cambridge and realised i was watching one of the best live bands in the UK at the moment. From the very first song, they combine passion, sincerity and thoughtfullness. The song that stuck in my mind was their opening number, taken from their upcoming second album. It was available as a free download on their myspace and as a youtube video but has now been taken down, but here is the footage of the song No Kind Words from the show in Stoke: If you've got no kind words to say, you should say nothing more at all...

Born in the USA...

OK, here are some American bands you should check out if you have 15 minutes:

Crystal Stilts - i heard their album in the UK before we went out, and i wasn't particularly interested, it was all very Jesus & Mary Chain without any added twist. Then i saw them live. They blew me away. Very New York Cool, they tick all the boxes: Paul Simon lookalike on bass, Art Garfunkel lookalike on vocals, cool bespectacled guitarist, female drummer, Beach Boy keyboardist. Will give the album a second chance having seen them live. Here's the end of their set:

Other Lives - our label mates on TBD Records in the States, and sadly didn't get a chance to see them live whilst there, but very much looking forward to hearing their debut album which came out a few weeks ago. Have heard their EP, think melancholy, ballad driven, American folk / indie, from Oklahoma. Nice guys too.


The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - again, i actually missed them at SXSW, but their debut album is fantastic. American Indie Pop with a very British hint of shoegaze, at times even Britpop. New Yorkers.

No Age - had never heard of them before but came recommended from a number of Americans. From Los Angeles, just a drummer and guitarist, they give off such energy i couldn't help but enjoy their ramshackle set. Catchy rhythms, strong guitars, energy in abundance, fat men crowd surfing, power cuts, what more do you want from a set?

Crystal Antlers - again, had never heard of them before, but great live set. Classic wall of sound with melody hidden somewhere within. Think Warlocks and Nirvana with an organ and a Bez type character playing percussion. They hail from Long Beach, California, which in my books sounds like the best location ever.



Black Lips - they played before us on the outside stage at Stubbs, and have listened more intently to their album Good Bad Not Evil since being back, great angular US pop grunge. If that exists? It does now. They have a song titled 'How Do You Tell A Child That Someone Has Died'.

Army Navy - their bassist had a hand in our record deal out there, and only caught their acoustic set on the opening day, but myspace tracks lean towards a very poppy American indie sound. I'm thinking Beach Boys with a hint of Squeeze (is that a pop overload?). Listen to Get Right Back on their myspace. Would love to hear their album in full.

Some other things i saw whilst out there:

Graham Coxon acoustic set in a tent - couldn't fault his awkwardness. Here's a very short snippet:

Primal Scream in a small alleyway - they haven't lost it yet, even though they look like the house band from Fraggle Rock.

Juliette Lewis & the New Romantiques - fun, but shit.

Slow Club - from the UK, great stripped back anthemic indie soul pop (does that exist? It does now).

Finally, this has nothing to do with SXSW, but you can't beat this for rock posturing: