Loads of Old Songs

I can see how people find this blog, like I mean what links people click to get here. Usually it's only read by my three or four friends but recently people having been coming here looking for new music. Which is weird cos I never ever really write about that.

Anyway here are five really great songs that I think are great and that readers here should check out by listening to.

Jennifer by RESCUE AID SOCIETY is cute powerpop that changes key a few times. I'm not very good at doing that normally so it makes me proud. I wrote it with The Lauras in mind, but Bert's songs were about a million times better.

The Stupidest Boy Alive by RESCUE AID SOCIETY is, or was, my attempt at a Timbaland production. I think it comes close in some ways, the fizzy synths, the kind of rollicking drums, massive overcompression, but far too twee and I don't shout "ey!" at any point.

Real Life by RESCUE AID SOCIETY is the best thing I have ever done, by a mile, and pretty much got me into uni. Dai, who I think is head of Arts at Brookes, said I sounded like Pete Burns. I couldn't convince him otherwise. God this song is so good. Where did those verse chords come from - heaven?

Right Right Now Now by RESCUE AID SOCIETY uses a Beastie Boys acapella and makes it amazing by putting my music underneath it. I did it probably a couple of months after the first Go! Team album came out, and then stuck the acapella on a bit later. I really think I could probably do this for a living...if I wanted to.

So When You Said by RESCUE AID SOCIETY is when me and Bert had this idea of getting loads of people to write songs every month and make it into some kind of club....or something. The first one was going to be about ghosts, so I did this one.

That's it. Oh and Don't Call It A Comeback by RESCUE AID SOCIETY is also great. With a guitar solo when you least expect it. It shocked me, anyway.

Every song by my favourite new band Rescue Aid Society is available here. They are all more than a year old because I don't have any ideas anymore. And I'm in a real band.

Retro Email Convo

I was searching for something in my emails and I found this gem. It is something DCB Promotions sent out. It is amazing:

If any of you know any good young musicians in Bristol please pass this on to them

---

Hi All,

I need to put together a very specific covers band for an underage club night i am setting up in Bristol.

Read this and please pass it on to other members of your band you think may be interested

The band will play very current indie rock pop songs Arctic Monkeys, Klaxons, Foo Fighters etc

This will not interfere with any other band you are in and should be considered a bit of fun on the side,

the band will get paid and probably only play once a month, rehearsals will be once a week (paid for by me)

Criteria

you must be no older (or look no older) than 21

look cool, funky, sexy with a strong overall image

good musician with own kit

must be able to make your own way to bristol with your gear when needed

Get back to me putting your name, number and personal myspace page against the position you could fill below,

if you haven't got a personal page put your band page pointing out who you are on pics, if you dont have a

website attach a picture, the look of this band is really important so i need to see you.

Lead Vocals -

Lead Guitar -

Rhythm Guitar -

Bass -

Drums -

Keyboards -

If you put Lead vocalist and can also play an instrument put you name against the instrument you play as well

Cheers

Dave Brayley

dave@dcbpromotions.com
dcb Promotions & Management ltd 30a college green, bristol, bs1 5tb 0117 9834503

www.dcbpromotions.com

www.hand2hand.info

I replied to it, and me and Dave Brayley (who I presume imaginatively named DCB Promotions after his own initials) had a little electronic conversation.

Me: WHY are looks so important?

Dave: i said look cool not have good looks

"the look of this band is really important" ...why are looks so important?

yes, the look, whats wrong with a band looking great

nothing, i'm asking why they HAVE to

because for this particular thing i want a band that looks good, why have you got a problem with that

because i think bands look good when they are being themselves, playing original music, not when they are put together solely because someone thinks they can make money out of it.

its quite clear what this if for, a covers band, if its something your not interested in then just ignore it, 99% of what we do is with original bands, this isnt

good point, it's not like you ever book cover bands at the fleece, is it...

www.dcbpromotions.com

oh sweet! hard-fi!

ok, send me a link to your band

myspace.com/rescueaidsociety

really like it

can i have a gig then?

He didn't reply to the last one. Anyway I don't know if this proves much other than I used to be (?) a bit of a knob. It's a shame people like this make a living from music, but it's not the only way.... right?

Old 4

Just a different version of a folky guitar thing I posted before. This was an old recording of it though, which I did for college. It's way nicer. It is called Balloon Disaster.

Still tourbooking, going okay I think. It will be hard to tell until a couple of weeks time.

Hobbits / Century FC / Oldie

On Thursday we played Hobbits which is a rockclub in Weston-Super-Mare. I didn't really enjoy the gig that much. The crowd was quite young (average probably 14 or 15 years) and I don't think they liked us very much. Which I suppose is okay because I don't think I liked them either. They were doing a weird fake-mosh. They did the macarena to Mysterious Guitar. Thinking back, that is quite funny. I spent most of the gig thinking of the sentence that would most devastatingly show them the inane mediocrity of every facet of their lives. I am still thinking.

We don't have any more gigs booked, I don't think we'll do one now until Bert gets back. I confirmed our first gig so far in the tour - a clubnight in Glasgow. I just hope we can play some place somewhere between Bristol and Scotland.

Yesterday Steve and I went to be part of a Feral Choir, a hundred people doing vocal improvisations using signals and stuff. It was good fun. I don't know how fun it would have been to listen to, but some bits sounded really impressive from where I was standing.

Old song called Meter I have put up. Not really a song, just crap electronica/dance. A song, like most of mine, that if someone else had done I would think them a boring talentless hack. Not me, no way.

Classic 2

This song is a guitar instrumental. Probably inspired by Mogwai or something like that, and it is from when I wanted to be Johnny Marr. (I still love Johnny Marr, I just don't actually want to be in his skin.)

The title is a quote from A Hard Day's Night, the best film of all time. It is a scene where George stumbles into an inteview for a TV fashion show, the director of which doesn't recognise him, and proceeds to tell George how unimportant he is (the irony being HE"S IN THE BEATLES!!!). The script is literally amazing:

SIMON
We want you to give us your opinion on some
clothes for teenagers.

GEORGE
Oh, by all means, I'd be quite prepared for
that eventuality.

SIMON
Well, not your real opinion, naturally. It'll
be written out and you'll learn it.
(to secretary)
Can he read?

GEORGE
Of course I can.

SIMON
I mean lines, ducky, can you handle lines?

GEORGE
I'll have a bash.

SIMON
Good. Hart, get him whatever it is they drink,
a cokearama?

GEORGE
Ta.

SIMON
Well, at least he's polite. Show him the
shirts, Adrian.

A collection of shirts are produced and GEORGE looks at them. While he
is doing this SIMON briefs him.

SIMON
Now, you'll like these. You really "dig" them.
They're "fab" and all the other pimply
hyperboles.

GEORGE
I wouldn't be seen dead in them. They're dead
grotty.

SIMON
Grotty?

GEORGE
Yeah, grotesque.

SIMON
(to secretary)
Make a note of that word and give it to Susan.
I think it's rather touching really. Here's
this kid trying to give me his utterly
valueless opinion when I know for a fact within
four weeks he'll be suffering from a violent
inferiority complex and loss of status if he
isn't wearing one of these nasty things. Of
course they're grotty, you wretched nit, that's
why they were designed, but that's what you'll
want.

GEORGE
But I won't.

SIMON
You can be replaced you know, chicky baby.

GEORGE
I don't care.

SIMON
And that pose is out too, Sunny Jim. The new
thing is to care passionately, and be right
wing. Anyway, you won't meet Susan if you don't
cooperate.

GEORGE
And who's this Susan when she's at home?

SIMON
(playing his ace)
Only Susan Campey, our resident teenager.
You'll have to love her. She's your symbol.

GEORGE
Oh, you mean that posh bird who gets
everything wrong?

SIMON
I beg your pardon?

GEORGE
Oh, yes, the lads frequently gather round the
T.V. set to watch her for a giggle. Once we
even all sat down and wrote these letters
saying how gear she was and all that rubbish.

SIMON
She's a trend setter. It's her profession!

GEORGE
She's a drag. A well-known drag. We turn the
sound down on her and say rude things.

SIMON
Get him out of here!!

GEORGE
(genuinely surprised)
Have I said something amiss?

SIMON
Get him out of here. He's knocking the
programme's image!!

The underlings hustle GEORGE to the door.

GEORGE
(smiling)
Sorry about the shirts.

He is ejected through the door.

SIMON
Get him out.
(he stops in mid-shout)
You don't think he's a new phenomenon, do you?

SECRETARY
You mean an early clue to the new direction?

SIMON
(rummaging in his desk)
Where's the calendar?
(he finds it)
No, he's just a trouble maker. The change isn't
due for three weeks. All the same, make a note
not to extend Susan's contract. Let's not take
any unnecessary chances!

Anyway here's the song:

The New Thing Is To Care Passionately

Oldies Classic Time

I got some of my old songs from Roz's old computer. Ones that I lost about two or three computers ago but had sent to her (I still never get round to backing things up because I trust technology too much). So for the next few days I am going to post songs that I have done ages ago.

This first one is called "Maybe I'm Like This All The Time". It was written before Roz and I were going out (which makes it maybe eighteen months old, probably more) and I wrote it to impress her. It is a song about her being a couple of minutes late when we met up one time.

Maybe I'm Like This All The Time

Sandcastle Advice Bureau

I'm blogging on a laptop! I feel like Carrie Bradshaw, only without the stupid rhetorical questions. Anyway it's not even my laptop.

I have done a new song! I started it yesterday and finished it today, which is probably the best order to do it in. It's on the myspace now, I took all of my old songs off because I wanted a fresh start with new songs that I absolutely loved instead of ones that I thought were.....alright. Truth is I don't really love this new song but I can imagine liking it for a while. It's called "Being Me and You" and it's about how Roz and I spend a lot of time together but don't really do very much of note.

The myspace is and has always been at http://www.myspace.com/rescueaidsociety, I'm working up to a Facebook page but I'm not sure I'm quite ready for that level of scrutiny just yet.