This week is kind of busy. Tuesday, Wednesday (yesterday), Thursday (today) and Friday I am/have going/gone to a gig. My ears are hurting already. Tuesday was Lands End / Fringes / Dressed In Wires. Fringes are really quite good I think. They are my favourite band with a saxophone in.
Yesterday we (The Lauras) played the Thekla, supporting Oh No! Oh My! I think we did pretty well, I probably enjoyed it the most of our gigs so far. We have a new song that is really fun to play. They all are really though, once you get into them. I was really amazed by how good Oh No! Oh My! sounded. Not that they were life-changing, but they were much better than what I'd heard before,
Today is Creationism, but we haven't done much promoting of it because it always shuts early. So we are just going to rely on Turbowolf bringing lots of people, and hope that we can keep them there with our wicked tunes.
Tomorrow is The Jelas in Bath. It will probably be brilliant, but I can't say for sure yet.
I have to write a story to send to Manchester Met, if I want to go there next year. So I've started that. It's quite good but I don't think it will be finished in time, so I will just have to send a poem that I wrote ages ago. Like most things I have ever written, it's about not being able to write very well (or at all). Hopefully it will be good enough to get me in.
There is always loads of stuff I want to do and I get round to doing about 10% of it. But I have even more stuff I want to do at the moment, so even if I do 10% of it, I will consider it a massive triumph.
Showing posts with label creationism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creationism. Show all posts
Thursday, 6 March 2008
Monday, 11 February 2008
Quantity Street
Eurgh. Somehow, without trying very hard, I have found myself working 9 t'5 at an office. I sort of needed a job, but not badly enough to actually get one. But then the agency phoned with work and I found myself saying 'okay then'. So for the next few weeks I am ADMIN ASSISTANT first, musician second. Probably tea-maker third. I am in a Loss Adjusters, which is the most boring work in the world (no offence Jon- I'm sure it depends which office you happen to be in - mine is a dull one). It will last for a couple of weeks, which will pay for Andorra in April, and maybe some treats for the two of us.
Still, I didn't mean to start on a DULL NOTE - the last few days have been generally really good, some of the best in ages. Thursday was our club night, and despite it closing early, I still enjoyed it. But we need to sort out how much control we actually have over closing time, because if we really pull out all the stops to get people to come and it still shuts at half twelve then we'll have been wasting our time and more importantly our friends and 'punters' money. People were coming around the time it was shutting, which just added to the annoyance. Matthew and Mike (Milky Way DJs) arrived just as they stopped letting people in and, having finished up, we met the Jelas on Park Street on their way to our now non-existent night. We wandered round with them a bit, and they gave us a lift home.
Friday, Roz and I went to a Pancake Party at Cafe Kino, with Daisy and Oli and Steve, who are all really nice. It was ALL YOU CAN EAT. The only problem was you could only order one pancake at a time, and supply was substantially outweighed by ferocious, ferocious demand. We got through a selection of toppings, sweet and savoury. Us two and Daisy and Oli went on to Start The Bus, which is new. The music was a bit loud. I thought I saw the bassist from Kotki Dwa. It was like:
"Hey are you the bassist from Kotki Dwa?!"
"No, but I am a bassist!"
"Don't lie! I know you are....what's your name then?"
"What should my name be?"
"Umm. I think it was Tom, or Tristan..."
"Nah, it's Ian."
"Oh alright. Someone thought I was in Munch Munch once."
A friend for life. Anyway we didn't love the place but the decor is kinda alright. We'd like to play there. We went on to Renato's and I did some jammin' blues piano with someone wearing a waistcoat (I think). It was a really nice night. We don't really go out very much but with the right people it's fun.
Went swimmin' on the weekend, it was like welcome to exerciseville. I think it is the sort of thing we (or everybody) should do regularly, so we'll try to. We also did a bit of work on the new Bumblebees' songs, they sound much better than before. I don't think they are worldbeaters (or as good as some of the old ones) but they are workable and I more excited less nervous about our next gig now, and less worried that I'll never be able to finish another song.
Anyway I'm writing here only because I've made myself, and it shows. So BYE.
Still, I didn't mean to start on a DULL NOTE - the last few days have been generally really good, some of the best in ages. Thursday was our club night, and despite it closing early, I still enjoyed it. But we need to sort out how much control we actually have over closing time, because if we really pull out all the stops to get people to come and it still shuts at half twelve then we'll have been wasting our time and more importantly our friends and 'punters' money. People were coming around the time it was shutting, which just added to the annoyance. Matthew and Mike (Milky Way DJs) arrived just as they stopped letting people in and, having finished up, we met the Jelas on Park Street on their way to our now non-existent night. We wandered round with them a bit, and they gave us a lift home.
Friday, Roz and I went to a Pancake Party at Cafe Kino, with Daisy and Oli and Steve, who are all really nice. It was ALL YOU CAN EAT. The only problem was you could only order one pancake at a time, and supply was substantially outweighed by ferocious, ferocious demand. We got through a selection of toppings, sweet and savoury. Us two and Daisy and Oli went on to Start The Bus, which is new. The music was a bit loud. I thought I saw the bassist from Kotki Dwa. It was like:
"Hey are you the bassist from Kotki Dwa?!"
"No, but I am a bassist!"
"Don't lie! I know you are....what's your name then?"
"What should my name be?"
"Umm. I think it was Tom, or Tristan..."
"Nah, it's Ian."
"Oh alright. Someone thought I was in Munch Munch once."
A friend for life. Anyway we didn't love the place but the decor is kinda alright. We'd like to play there. We went on to Renato's and I did some jammin' blues piano with someone wearing a waistcoat (I think). It was a really nice night. We don't really go out very much but with the right people it's fun.
Went swimmin' on the weekend, it was like welcome to exerciseville. I think it is the sort of thing we (or everybody) should do regularly, so we'll try to. We also did a bit of work on the new Bumblebees' songs, they sound much better than before. I don't think they are worldbeaters (or as good as some of the old ones) but they are workable and I more excited less nervous about our next gig now, and less worried that I'll never be able to finish another song.
Anyway I'm writing here only because I've made myself, and it shows. So BYE.
Wednesday, 6 February 2008
Bouncebackability
Brrrr. I am still not feeling very great. I have felt much worse, but I have never felt so consistently low for this long. I have forced myself to finish some Bumblebees songs because we have a gig quite soon. They are okay. I have to keep telling myself that there is no way I would peak as a songwriter aged eighteen. I just have to relax a bit and be patient.
Roz and me have Creationism tomorrow. I really hope that some people come, and that those people enjoy it, because I really like doing it, and I feel like we've put enough effort in to deserve to have people there. It would be a bit much to say that doing a clubnight is difficult, but I wouldn't say that it is easy. Roz took about three days doing the poster (I spent about ten minutes making it FLASH in an extremely garish manner), we spent a day putting posters up around Bristol, and an evening handing out flyers to anyone who looked even mildly 'indie'. Since then we have been practising, worrying, and trying to find new bands that aren't Vampire Weekend. (I don't mind them, but c'mon, overhyped much? Paul Simon rinsed that hi-life shit years ago...)
p.s. If America really has to have a President, I want it to be Barack Obama.
Roz and me have Creationism tomorrow. I really hope that some people come, and that those people enjoy it, because I really like doing it, and I feel like we've put enough effort in to deserve to have people there. It would be a bit much to say that doing a clubnight is difficult, but I wouldn't say that it is easy. Roz took about three days doing the poster (I spent about ten minutes making it FLASH in an extremely garish manner), we spent a day putting posters up around Bristol, and an evening handing out flyers to anyone who looked even mildly 'indie'. Since then we have been practising, worrying, and trying to find new bands that aren't Vampire Weekend. (I don't mind them, but c'mon, overhyped much? Paul Simon rinsed that hi-life shit years ago...)
p.s. If America really has to have a President, I want it to be Barack Obama.
Saturday, 22 December 2007
I Am What I Play
Club Creationism, Roz and I's shambolic venture into Playing Records For People, continued on Thursday with our first night at The Cooler. Dean from Off Beat Promotions has said we can do this after all his gigs there, which means every 1st and 3rd Thursday, and this one was special because it was his special Christmas Party special. Roz couldn't do it though because she wasn't feeling good, and so I had to do it by myself because both my other friends were busy.
Dean had warned that people have a habit of not sticking around after the bands (as evidenced by the last time the Lauras played there, when literally no-one stayed for the DJing), so I was getting a bit worried when as Brandon Steep announced their last song, half the crowd began looking for their bags and coats. I did have a couple of friends there though, as well as Big Jeff, so in persuading him to stay, I figured at least people would know what they were supposed to be doing - DANCING!
The clubnight that used to be on after Dean's gigs was called 'Beat Surrender', and was run by someone called John The Mod. So I took a risk and kicked off with The Jam. No-one danced, which perhaps explains why John The Mod now finds himself minus a clubnight, I thought to myself. So I played basically what I wanted to play, new and old, and it actually went quite well. From an empty dancefloor it slowly filled up until the majority of people were involved in some sort of pile-on to "Sound And Vision". The best bit was when someone recognised "I Was Born (A Unicorn)" from the drum intro. The second best bit was when I told someone No, I don't have any JOE LEAN, fucking hell. Bizarrely they were both the same person (I think it was Brandon Steep's keyboardist). Someone took my number and said that he does a lot of parties and he wanted me to DJ or something.
It started to wane about quarter to one and everyone went home. I got paid some money that will go towards Christmas presents. I felt a bit lonely being the last person to leave (except the bar-people, a race of their own), and more lonely again as I walked home with a very heavy CD case. But it was a pretty good night, I didn't fuck up really at all, and Roz and I have the chance to work on making this a Real and Established Clubnight, rather than an afterthought for people who aren't drunk enough to go home yet.
Dean had warned that people have a habit of not sticking around after the bands (as evidenced by the last time the Lauras played there, when literally no-one stayed for the DJing), so I was getting a bit worried when as Brandon Steep announced their last song, half the crowd began looking for their bags and coats. I did have a couple of friends there though, as well as Big Jeff, so in persuading him to stay, I figured at least people would know what they were supposed to be doing - DANCING!
The clubnight that used to be on after Dean's gigs was called 'Beat Surrender', and was run by someone called John The Mod. So I took a risk and kicked off with The Jam. No-one danced, which perhaps explains why John The Mod now finds himself minus a clubnight, I thought to myself. So I played basically what I wanted to play, new and old, and it actually went quite well. From an empty dancefloor it slowly filled up until the majority of people were involved in some sort of pile-on to "Sound And Vision". The best bit was when someone recognised "I Was Born (A Unicorn)" from the drum intro. The second best bit was when I told someone No, I don't have any JOE LEAN, fucking hell. Bizarrely they were both the same person (I think it was Brandon Steep's keyboardist). Someone took my number and said that he does a lot of parties and he wanted me to DJ or something.
It started to wane about quarter to one and everyone went home. I got paid some money that will go towards Christmas presents. I felt a bit lonely being the last person to leave (except the bar-people, a race of their own), and more lonely again as I walked home with a very heavy CD case. But it was a pretty good night, I didn't fuck up really at all, and Roz and I have the chance to work on making this a Real and Established Clubnight, rather than an afterthought for people who aren't drunk enough to go home yet.
Sunday, 2 December 2007
We Benefit Kino
Thursday night was great fun, cause me and Roz did what I like to call "inter-band-DJing" at a Cafe Kino benefit (as previously mentioned) held at Cube Cinema. In truth it was more like inter-band-iPoding and only involved sitting around whilst occasionally adding to our On-The-Go playlist. It wasn't the sort of night that involved lots of dancing, but no-one said anything bad about our choices and some people complimented certain tracks, which was nice.
It felt nice just to be at the Cube doing something rather than viewing or listening. Not that we were an integral part of the night or anything, but it meant that if someone asked who I was I could say "I'm Ellis, we're DJing tonight", rather than "I'm Roz's boyfriend", which is how I usually sort of feel. Anyway all the bands that played between our songs (we paused the playlist) were fun to watch, especially I Know I Have No Collar, who made managed to make a whole show fun based on one gimmick (the pre-recorded "satelite link" to an absent band member).
At the end of the night when the bands had finished and the tidying up had begun, there was a cute moment where four of us danced quite vigourously to Le Tigre, then sort of absent mindedly wandered off to other duties. It was like a really aimless, poorly-attended flash mob (in the best possible way), and if I were the central role in an over-aspiring indie film, I might have thought to myself that our lives are but a series of moments; created by circumstance and destroyed by time. But I'm not and they aren't so I didn't, and we stopped off in the 24-hour supermarket for Bourbons on the way home.
It felt nice just to be at the Cube doing something rather than viewing or listening. Not that we were an integral part of the night or anything, but it meant that if someone asked who I was I could say "I'm Ellis, we're DJing tonight", rather than "I'm Roz's boyfriend", which is how I usually sort of feel. Anyway all the bands that played between our songs (we paused the playlist) were fun to watch, especially I Know I Have No Collar, who made managed to make a whole show fun based on one gimmick (the pre-recorded "satelite link" to an absent band member).
At the end of the night when the bands had finished and the tidying up had begun, there was a cute moment where four of us danced quite vigourously to Le Tigre, then sort of absent mindedly wandered off to other duties. It was like a really aimless, poorly-attended flash mob (in the best possible way), and if I were the central role in an over-aspiring indie film, I might have thought to myself that our lives are but a series of moments; created by circumstance and destroyed by time. But I'm not and they aren't so I didn't, and we stopped off in the 24-hour supermarket for Bourbons on the way home.
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