Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in keith_totp's LiveJournal:

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Monday, June 15th, 2009
8:07 am	The Mercury Lounge, New York 05/06/2009 I'm away touring America with Art Brut at the moment. I played at their last New York gig, which was the last night of five nights they played in New York. Also playing after me was Jeffrey Lewis, who is amazing. The gig was ace. And sold out. All of the gigs sold out, and I'm not sure if this one sold out before or after my name was added to the bill, but I like to think I pushed it over the edge :-) James Rocks flew over from England to play in the band and didn't tell his work he was going, but I'm sure it all worked out fine. Especially as he stayed out here to come to Chicago with us for the week after that as well I filled out some more space on the stage with my friend Nathan playing his daughters rattle, and Kip banging two drumsticks together :-) There was a bit of a problem with James' guitar during the first song, meaning I had to fill in for a while with some stand up comedy about the differences between people from New York and LA. After playing I realised I didn't have any merch, so I decided to sign two Primavera vip passes I had in my wallet, write "Keep on keeping on!" on the back and sell them as motivational cards. If you're ever wondering how to handle something, you would think, "What would Keith TOTP do?" turn the card over and think "Ah! He would keep on keeping on. Sound advice." I quite drunkenly priced them at $20 each, or $42 for the pair, as like antiques they're worth more in a set. They didn't sell. I did however get asked to write out the lyrics to Two Of The Beatles Are Dead, and a man gave me $20 for that. Which is ace, and very surprising :-) There are some photos, but I don't have them on the computer, so instead, here's a few videos, This one is about some friends of mine. This about how I'm great This a duet with James Rocks on The rock and Roll Idiots song, Love Is Lethal And here's I Hate Your Band, adapted for New York And because it was ace, here's Jeffrey Lewis doing part 5 of his complete illustrated history of Communism, this time about North Korea My next gig is either in LA in a couple of days, or on a boat on the Thames on the 18th of July. Feel free to come to either :-) Line Up ------------- Me - Guitar & Singing Jasper Future - Guitar & Singing James Rocks - Guitar & Singing Eddie Argos- Bass Mike Brut - Drums Ed Idiot - Guest Bass Nathan - Rattle Kip - Banging sticks together (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, May 25th, 2009
5:08 pm	Gracetonbury II 25/05/2009 Day two of my south London residency. Unlike last night, tonight's band was mostly made up of people who had heard the songs before. Apart from the drummer. But it still went excellently :-) It was an all day gig, with loads of friends bands playing and a free barbeque. I got to join the Helmholtz Resonators on stage to sing "Moonlight Lovely Time" No lab coats this time though, but a gangster hat and some sunglasses :-) I then had to find a drummer, Julia was going to play the drums, but she and Simon couldn't make it. So I drafted in Tim Ten Yen, who was very excited as he'd not played drums in about 15 years. unfortunately, because we were going on almost 2 hours after we were meant to go on, after his set he had to go home. So I got Ben Lambert to play. Ben used to be in Carter USM and Jim's Super Stereoworld. He is however a keyboard player, not a drummer. The thing with drummers not knowing the songs, is that when there are ten or so people on a little stage, they can't see me for when to stop or come back in, meaning I often end up screaming at them "DRUUUM! NOOOWW! and the songs all tend to become extended versions :-) Which I like, because it leaves more time for other to play guitar solos :-) This is quite a short entry, as even though I didn't go on until (I think) 1.30 am or so, I had been there in the pub since about 6, so I can't actually remember too much of it. I do remember it being amazing though :-) Lineup ------------ Me - Guitar & Singing Adie Nunn - Guitar & Singing Fruitbat - Bass & Singing Richie Abdou - Wah Guitar Johnny Fade - Guitar James Rocks - Guitar & Singing Micky Ciccone - Guitar & Singing Naomi - Bassoon Ben Lambert - Drums Crissi Cromer - Singing (Comment on this)
Sunday, May 24th, 2009
2:08 pm	Local Girls album launch 23/05/2009 The first day of my weekend residency at the windmill, and it was ace :-) Even though it was The Local Girls album launch, I was "Headlining" or "Going On Last" to put it another way. A lot of what I loosely call "The Band" were busy, on tour, on holiday, and doing other gigs, so I thought the band would be a bit smaller than usual. Luckily, James Rocks came straight from the airport after flying in from Austria, and I met some people outside who said they would play. Which meant that almost half of the band were people i'd never even met, let alone played them the songs :-) I love my band :-) The Local Girls mentioned halfway through their set that they didn't have their usual drummer, and had only managed to have two rehearsals with him, my heart bleeds :-) My gig was ace, there was more stand up comedy based on the difference between people from Brixton, and people from Clapham. we did a cover of The Rock & Roll Idiots "Love Is Lethal" which only me and James knew, with James screaming the chords. I Hate Your Band turned into a bit of a rant about the eighties revival. All in all, a great night :-) I even got paid. Line up ---------- Me - Guitar & Singing Adie Nunn - Guitar & Singing James Rocks - Guitar & Singing Drums - Stuffy Bass - No Idea Guitar - No Idea Keyboards - No idea Am off to do it again tonight, with some more people :-) (Comment on this)
Saturday, May 23rd, 2009
4:03 pm	Innsbruck, 20/05/2009 This gig was a secret gig, as I didn't tell anyone I was going. Art Brut had a day off in Innsbruck, and Ed, Mike and James Rocks had decided to do a one off gig as The Rock and Roll Idiots, whose last gig was about five years ago. I decided to fly out with James. The flights being to early in the morning to get to the airport by train meant that we kicked off this reunion tour by drinking cans of lager in a bus shelter at Gatwick airport until 3 in the morning when we decided to get some sleep. The hotel were little pod type things owned by Yo Sushi, called YOtels. They were like rooms on spaceships, if all rooms on spaceships were light by a pink neon light. I was meant to sleep, but after failing to turn off the pink neon light, had another can of lager and watched the final of Ladettes To Ladies on telly instead. finally got about half an hour sleep before getting the plane to sunny austria After telling the venue that I'd be playing a few songs, and it wasn't an Art Goblins gig but a Keith TOTP gig, it was off for a lovely walk around Innsbruck, and to eat schnitzel, only to get back to find posters saying "Rock and Roll Idiots VS Art Goblins" on the front door. still, the actual gig was amazing! The Rock and Roll Idiots have four songs, and are ace! This is them soundchecking, and writing their fourth song. Following the classic showbiz trick of always playing your best song twice, they introduced my band, or the extra members of the band as they were in it as well, and as I strummed the first chord I stepped on the lead, pulling it out of the guitar. Luckily, someone scrambled up on stage and plugged it back in. The crowd were ace! there was chanting, a mosh pit, and stage divers :-) For the end of I Hate Your Band, I read out a list of bands from the Weekender Records poster on the wall. Since there was time for an encore, we decided that The Idiots should play their best song for a third time, but with everyone joining in on the last chorus, this went well apart from we all decided to come on in the first verse instead. It turned into an extended version, with the excellent trick of shouting "GIVE ME YOUR HANDS! YOU'RE WONDERFUL!" over the end, which results in the crowd throwing their hands in the air. It's ace :-) I can't really explain exactly how much fun this gig was :-) I'm missing out the bits about the planned stand up comedy, "Hey INNSBRUCK! Have you ever noticed how people from Innsbruck drive their cars like this? While people from Vienna drive their cars like THIS!" Me singing into a mic suspended above my head from a broken mic stand with Ian playing lead guitar over it, James Rock's call and response chant of "I say Inns, you say Bruck! INNS! BRUCK! INNS! BRUCK! NOW JUST THE LADIES!" The game of Buffalo, and the very long after show party which had Jasper djing Caught By The Fuzz three times, and a lot more, because i can't remember too much of them :-) Lineup ------------ Me - Guitar & Singing Mikey Brut - Drums James Rocks - Guitar Ian Catskilkin - Guitar Jasper Future - Bass & Singing Eddie Argos - Bass & Singing (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, May 11th, 2009
2:13 pm	The Camden Head, Foxy's Birthday, 08/05/2009 A gig that I didn't know was really happening until about an hour before it happened :-) After spending the whole day feeling like death thanks to the night before, I'm actually even more surprised when this turns out to be ace :-) This being Foxy's birthday party, we waited for some people to turn up while playing Give Us A Clue. Playing the Camden Head is good. There are no monitors and no mics for the instruments, which means no soundchecks and you can just get up and get on with it :-) Once again I had a drummer who had never heard or played the songs before, but since I think he was mostly hitting a bongo with a tambourine it didn't matter too much :-) My new thing of shouting "GUITAR SOLO!" at band members seemed to work ok with Micky. Not so well with Adie, who decided to just ignore it. And I don't have to say anything to Arec as he mostly solos over everything anyway :-) I was going to finish with I Hate Your Band, but when I said it was our last song someone shouted for Fuck The MSP, and being the crowd pleaser that I am we did that too. I usually only sing half of that song, and never the first line, as I can never remember what it is. Tonight was no different :-) Outside I met a man who said "Your band is amazing! You're like The Velvet Underground taking the piss" Which is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said :-) Line up ------------ Me - Guitar & Singing Adie Nunn - Guitar Micky Ciccone - Guitar & Singing Arec - Sax James Drums - Bongo and tambourine (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, May 9th, 2009
8:14 pm	Art But Aftershow, The Buffalo Bar, 07/05/2009 Another excellent gig. I say that a lot, but I've never done one that has been anything less than loads of fun :-) Wasn't sure who was going to be in the band until the last minute, had to keep it to a minimum as I had no way of sorting enough guitar amps in time, and would be mostly using Glam Chops equipment. Excellent start to the day, Meeting Jasper, Paul and Jimmy, who thanks to his new hat is now the spitting image of Steve Craddock from Ocean Colour Scene, in the pub. There is a self imposed rule on Art Brut, after one too many touring incidents, called Booze O'clock This is a set time, usually 2 hours before the gig, that they can start drinking. So Jasper had a coke, and I had cider, which meant that my Booze O'clock was about 8 hours before my gig, which considering I ended up drinking pints of vodka and coke, turned out ok. Just before the Art Brut gig, I got a message from Paul Guided Missile telling me that Glam Chops would now be going on first due to Mikey being ill. Which is fine by me, as I'm almost as fussed about running orders as I am about soundcheck, which is not fussed at all. So after the amazing Art Brut gig, it was time to get everyone into a taxi and head to the Buffalo Bar. The Glam Chops set went great, then after borrowing Tim Chop's guitar for Jasper, and all their amps, it was time to play. I still had no idea who was drumming for me as Mike couldn't do it. Paul Guided Missile was my original replacement, despite him not being a drummer. Just as I arrived though, Michael Tapper, Ex We Are Scientists and current Bishop Allen member, who I'd not seen in at least a year, turned up, and he IS a drummer, so a quick shout of "Do You Fancy Drumming?" "Yeah!" and I had a drummer. A drummer who had never heard or played the songs before, but a drummer none the less :-) It went amazingly well. I have taken to shouting out the names of band members followed by the words "GUITAR SOLO!" I should probably tell them about this before hand, but it seems more fun not to :-) Here is a photo that Jo took, and then I stole from Facebook as usual. and some more, that I also stole from facebook Line up ------------------------ Me - Guitar & Singing David New Royal Family - Guitar & Singing Adie Nunn - Guitar & Singing Jasper Future - Guitar (for a bit until the amp broke) Eddie Argos - Bass & Singing Fruitbat - Acoustic Guitar & Singing Sue Denim - Violin Arec - Sax Michael Tapper - Drums The next one is at the Windmill in Brixton on the 23rd of May for the Local Girls Album Launch. Then on the 24th of May at The Windmill for Gracetonbury Two. But that one's a secret, so don't tell anyone. But still come. x (Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
11:22 pm	The Camden Head, Camden, 25/04/2009 Another excellent gig This gig is upstairs at one of the few pubs that you don't need a Camden Crawl wristband to get into, which is nice. I decide to start the day with a pop quiz in a pub about 30 seconds from my house. Despite having been up til 4 in the morning, the quiz starting at 1 pm, and there being nobody else in my team until James Rock turns up to answer the last question,, I still come 4th out of about 12 I think this is pretty good. Then me and James head off for lunch and pints and to decide whether to que up to see Billy Bragg in The Dublin Castle, or Tim Ten Yen in The Spread Eagle. Decide to do neither and go straight to The Camden Head for more pints. Then It's off to carry the gear down the road, as the pub the gig is in is also 30 seconds from my house in the opposite direction. Tonight is meant to be an acoustic gig. Lot's of other bands cheat with electric guitars and drumkits, but it's still good. First off was Paul Hawkins, who was actually quite good and didn't cheat. Unfortunately there's only me and four other people or so in the room to see it. Next up was Wojtek, who is always good, and didn't cheat. More people arrive. Then Mr Solo, who was ace, though he cheated, cheated MASSIVELY, but I love Mr Solo, so I'll let him off. :-) Then Black Daniel, who also cheat, but are also amazing, and since they need a synth I'll let them off too. More people arrive. Then it was time for my band, which didn't cheat at all. See Eddie was busy supporting the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in Shepherds Bush, so coudn't make it back in time to play bass, but he did make it back just in time (with a botle of neat vodka in his bag) to see, The Indelicates, Who also didn't cheat, and were amazing as well :-) Though I had to miss one of the new songs as I had to run up the road to let people drop boxes of t-shirts off at my house. It's a sign of how much I love this band that I did actually run. Then the 18 Carat Love Affair, who used an electric guitar, but also covered Daydreamer by Menswear, so I'll forgive them just about anything for that. Then I ran off very quickly to the Purple Turtle to see the Robocop Kraus, who were great as well. All in all, an excellent day :-) I was going to write a lot more about it, but it's totally slipped my maind. It was LOTS of fun though :-) Line up ------------------ Me - Acoustic Guitar & Singing Fruitbat - Acoustic Guitar & Singing Simon Indelicate - Acoustic Guitar & Singing Mr Solo - Acoustic Guitar & Singing Arec - Sax Julia Indelicate - Clarinet Gypsy - Melodica Sara - Saw Sue Denim - Violin Member Of The Audience In The Front Row - Tambourine (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
7:13 pm	Guided Missile Vs The Fans, The Lexington, Angel 21/04/09 What a great day :-) Woke up feeling a bit rubbish due to being up late, but me and Eddie decided to go and see Jeffrey Lewis at the Pure Groove in store at 1.15. An excellent idea, as he was ace. I used to live practically next door to what is now Pure Groove so after the gig, me and Eddie went to what is the best cafe in London. The Travelers Grill. Feeling lots better, it was time to put 10 guitar amps in a taxi and go and meet Paul Guided Missile at the pub. Paul turns up in a taxi with the drum kit. The Buffalo Bar house drum kit. The crappest drum kit in the world with only one leg on the bass drum, and one cymbal stand. Luckily, I'm not a drummer, and hate cymbals, so wasn't worried at all. Load in done, it was off to the all you can eat for £3.95 vegie indian buffet. I tried to eat it all, but there was loads left. Then back to the pub to wait for people to turn up. Paul sweating in his lucky soundcheck hat while we played the "Customer? or Member of Keiths Band" game every time we heard the door open. I was winning for quite a while. Then the gig, I thought it went amazingly well, but you can judge for yourself by watching the whole thing on nme.com here, http://tinyurl.com/dceqcm The second song is dedicated to my friend Caroline as it was her birthday, and it's the only one which isn't spiteful, bitter or full of rage :-) Here is a photo of the left side of my band Here's one of the right side of my band And here's one of the middle, as nobody ever gets to see Mike, and he hates that :-) and one of the whole band :-) (all stolen from other peoples facebooks) I am reminded, as I amevery time I see a picture or video of myself, that I should probably get a haircut. Even though 4 people couldn't make it, we muddled through with the 15 or so of us. After that, I watched the Kabeedies, who were great, and a rare appearance from Englands best Orthodox Glam Band, Glam Chops, who were ace. Line up ------------- Me - Guitar & Singing Adie Nunn - Guitar & Singing Mikey Brut - Drums Eddie Argos - Bass & Singing Vessel - Guitar & Singing Jasper Future - Guitar & Singing Sara - Saw Charley Stone - Guitar & Singing Micky Ciccone - Guitar & Singing The David - Guitar & Singing James Rock - Guitar & Singing Arec - Sax Fruitbat _ Acoustic Guitar & Singing Johnny Fade - Guitar & SInging Not all of the people singing may have had a microphone :-) My Next gig is on Saturday at the Camden Head, with the Indelicates, 18 Carat Love Affair and many more :-) It's a stripped down acoustic affair, so it should just be 3 acoustic guitars, a violin, melodica, glockenspiel, clarinet and maybe one electric guitar for solos, as I can't play them to save my life on electric guitars, let alone acoustics. It'll be ace :-) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, April 18th, 2009
5:59 pm	The Windmill, Bad Friday All Dayer, 10/04/09 If I'm in Brixton, I must be at the Windmill. A last minute replacement for a band that pulled out, again. I'm always up for being a last minute replacement band, I just wish it happened at a pub a lot closer to my house, than it happening in Brixton. The short notice meant that the band was a bit harder to put together. Including phoning Stuffy on the afternoon of the gig to see if he could play drums. Luckily he only lived round the corner. So there was only 4 of us until the last song. It was a great day though :-) I got to join the excellent Helmholtz Resonators on stage, singing about the moon while dressed in a scientists coat, and wearing a fur hat. I think the actual gig went off pretty well, even if I did forget quite a lot of the words. I think this was due to my excellent plan of playing twice as loud as usual to make up for the missing guitars :-) Eddie was playing the bass, usually I tell him at the start of the song which notes to play, but I was a little drunker than usual as I'd been in the pub since 3.30, so for some reason I told him all the notes backwards, leaving it to Adie Nunn to shout out the correct ones from the audience :-) Here's a photo of the last song, when there was a few more people on stage there are actually seven people on stage there, which sounds a lot, but isn't :-) you also can't really see me in it. I think I'm shouting at Stuffy to play faster. Line up ------------- Me- Guitar and Singing Eddie Argos - Bass and Singing Johnny Fade - Guitar Stuffy - Drums Adie Nunn - Singing Foxy - Shouting Ashley Me My Head - Jumping around holding a bass guitar. Next one is on Tuesday at Londons trendy Lexington pub with Let's wrestle, Kabeedies and Johnny Cola & the A Grades. There should be a bigger band, as I've already got eleven guitarists, clarinet and a violin. It's going to be pretty amazing :-) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, March 26th, 2009
7:16 pm	Dublin Castle 10/03/2009 One of my favourite things about playing the Dublin Castle, is that it's thirty seconds from my house. This meant that me and Eddie were able to take all the gear over in 3 trips just before it started to rain :-) The assistant sound guy got a bit of a shocked look on his face when I explained that I wasn't sure of my line up, but it would probably have eight or so electric guitars, a saxophone, and possibly a hoover. There is always such a look of relief on their faces when I tell them the amps won't need micing up. There was meant to be a soundcheck at five, but since nobody in the band could make it, and there's not really much point when I don't know who's going to be playing, we ended up drinking beer at my house instead. Other people started to turn up at the house, and we prepared for the gig in much the same way as I imagine The Killers do it. Which is sitting around drinking Sainsbury Value Wine (£2.50 a bottle) listening to Johnny Fade rating "The Foxes" on Holby City. Got to the venue about 20 minutes before we had to play. We were amazing. each time we play I seem to have more fun :-) This one was made better by acrobatics, as James Rock put his foot on the monitor to do a solo, slipped, and somersaulted off the stage pulling the monitor and two amps over. I look over the edge of the stage to see him still playing the guitar while lying on his back. :-) This was after he and David decided to play each others guitars in a fine display of rock and roll posing. As seen in this photo I stole from Facebook. :-) I Hate Your Band was updated to include more bands, mainly The Airborne Toxic Event, Anyone who just rips off U2, Anyone who just Rips off the Arcade Fire, Anyone who just rips off the Jesus and Mary Chain, and White Lies. The next day, three members of the band got in touch to apologise for being so drunk. I really didn't notice :-) Have another photo stolen from the internet, it very nearly fits us all in :-) Vessel, Charley, Arec and Paul Guided Missile all had to pull out at the last minute, so I was down two guitars, a saxophone, and whatever Paul was going to bring along, which meant I still had, Line-up ---------------- Me - Guitar and Singing Adie Nunn - Guitar Jasper Future - Guitar and Singing Simon Indelicate - Guitar David NRF - Guitar and Singing Johnny Fade - Guitar James Rock - Guitar Eddie Argos - Bass and Singing Julia Indelicate - Various Keys of Harmonica (sometimes even the right one) and Singing Mike Drums - Drums Next one. The Lexington on the 21st of April. I'll be trying to get everyone that's ever been in the band to play at this one :-) (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, February 26th, 2009
5:00 pm	The Bar Academy, Angel. 25/02/2009 An ace gig, easily one my favourites :-) Supporting Sue from Robots In Disguise's solo act Sue and the Unicorn. A situation that's come about purely because at the moment, she lives in my cellar. After turning up at the venue an hour late due to someone stealing my taxi, and because the car park is nearly impossible for taxi drivers to find meaning we had to carry the gear from the corner of a one way street in a sort of relay system, and because none of us could set the drum kit up properly, we decided not to bother with soundcheck. Which is fine by me as I don't particularly like them. So after telling the very nice sound lady that there would be a lot of guitars, but it's ok as they don't need micing up, Me, Eddie and Charley headed off to the all you can eat for £3 indian restaurant for food and to wait for the rest of the band to turn up. Then it was time to smuggle in two bottles of Sainsburys £2.50 red wine and wait to go on. The first band on had a harp and were from Prague, Sue's band is two acoustic guitars, then in the middle there's us :-) Some of the band still hadn't arrived when we got on stage, but turned up in time for the first song, mainly because everyone had been checking Eddies bass amp and couldn't understand why it wasn't working, before noticing that he'd plugged in the wrong lead. That sorted out, it went on to be an excellent gig :-) The new song "Two Of The Beatles Are Dead" went down pretty well, although the fact it doesn't usually have drums threw me a bit, and it turned into some sort of slowed down shoegaze thing :-) Here's some photos, I'd been a bit worried about the gig, as people had been dropping out of the band. In the last 3 days I found out that Johnny Fade, James Rock, David, Gypsy, Jasper and Mr Solo couldn't make it. This had me worried until I actually remembered how many people I can have in the band, due to the whole point of it being the revolving lineup, so Lineup ----------- Me - Guitar and Singing Simon Indelicate - Guitar Fruitbat - Acoustic Guitar and Singing Charley Stone - Guitar Adie Nunn - Guitar Eddie Argos - Bass and Singing Mike Brut - Drums Arec - Saxophone Julia Indelicate - Clarinet (though the reed was broken so it didn't get played, but if you turn up to play, you get on the list :-)) After the gig, I even got people asking to have photos taken with me, which is very nice :-) Next one, Dublin Castle on the 10th of March. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009
2:23 am	Liberites, Camden. 20/02/2009 Not one of my gigs, but instead I was part of "Mr Solo and His Mysterious Wonders" at least I think that's what we were called. Nobody, including Eddie who was introducing the bands was quite sure. It went very well, despite me having to read the chords off pieces of paper, not being able to hear anything on stage as they only had one monitor, and mike having to do the soundcheck by hitting a cardboard box as the drums hadn't arrived :-) A couple of photos. The venue was packed as it's only a 60 capacity, and was quite possibly the hottest place in the world. I missed "The 18 Carat Love Affair" doing their opening set, as I had to rush back to my house, conveniently only about 30 seconds away, and get a melodica. By the time I'd got back and found a bowl to drink some wine from in the pub kitchen, they had finished. Headlining the gig was Fruitbat, playing as his skiffle/sea shanty band "Uncle Fruity" who were great, and obviously responsible for selling ALL the tickets judging by the amount of Carter fans there :-) Here's a photo of them. Note that they all grew beards and got tattoos especially, (though the tattoos may have been fake) that's dedication :-) They also had a double bass, which gave me the perfect opportunity to use the "How are you going to get that under your chin?" joke. It NEVER gets old :-) This was then followed by about half of the crowd coming back to my house for a party, which ended at about 8 in the morning with people waking up in my hall, other people falling down the stairs, and many lovely new stains on my lounge carpet, which is now amazing and changes colour depending on which way you look at it :-) There were also quite a few people wondering why I still had my christmas tree in my front room. Which I don't, as since I've taken the tinsel off, it's just a tree with fancy lights on it, and I don't want to throw it out until it dies as I like it :-) Line up for Mr Solo's Band --------------------- Mr Solo - Singing, Guitar, ukulele Mikey Brut - Drums, Melodica Simon Breed - Electric Guitar Me - Acoustic Guitar, Forgetting What I Was Doing Martin White - Accordian Also, The new Indelicates song about the recession is amazing, and I'm in the video :-) I've also got one of those t-shirts, which is ace :-) On Wednesday I'm playing a gig at the Bar Academy in Angel supporting "Sue & The Unicorn" a situation that came about purely because she's living in my cellar at the moment. It should be good as she and the opening act are both solo acts with acoustic guitars, and then in the middle is me, with 7 or 8 electric guitars etc. :-) I've also just noticed I'm not actually listed as playing, so I should probably phone them in the morning. x (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, January 8th, 2009
12:50 am	New Years Eve/ New Years day, 2009, The Brixton Windmill. Another day, another gig at the Windmill :-) I think I've played there about 6 times in the last year, but I do like and they keep asking me back I wish the Dublin Castle would ask me back more often as it is much, MUCH closer to my house. Anyway, we were the first band to play there in 2009, going on just after midnight, which is actually one of the earliest starts I've had there :-) I also got paid quite It was an excellent gig. I was a bit worried at first when five people couldn't make it along to play due to last minute family/traffic/ going to rubbish parties that they didn't enjoy/being in Germany, situations, but one of the things I like most about the band is that even if five people can't make it, that still leaves about 7 in the band :-) The Indelicates made it to the Windmill just as I finished playing, so too late to be in the band, but just in time to play their own gig afterwards :-) which is quite impressive as they were also playing a gig in Camden just before :-) I also got to play guitar, along with Les on bass, in Mr Solo's band. Which is always ace :-) All in all, a lovely night and probably the most fun New Years Eve I've had in a while :-) I also got paid enough to give everyone who played some money :-) Lineup -------------- Me - Guitar & Singing Adie Nunn - Guitar Vessel - Guitar Arran - Drums Les "Fruitbat" Carter - Bass Arec - Sax Little Dave - Banging two beer bottles together for percussion Crissi Cromer - Tiny Toy Harmonica Some photos Looking at these, I need a haircut. x (Comment on this)
Sunday, December 14th, 2008
4:15 am	Christmas = ACES! I've been doing a brief tour for christmas, and frankly, it's been ace :-) 07/12/2008 The Underbelly in Hoxton This gig was supposed to be at 333 in Hoxton, but got moved. I was a bit sad about that as I was planning on playing an old Rocks/THEFALLINGOVERS! song, the verses of which go "I don't want to take pills this Saturday, I don't want to go to 333" But seeing as how my band was struck by illness, and James Rocks being the only one knew the chords, I wouldn't have been able to do that anyway. The gig was amazing and I got paid in vanilla vodka, which is my favourite method of payment, and I still have the bottle of sherry that came with it :-) It being Hoxton, of course there was a very annoying twat wearing a stupid white tweed suit and cap, who was just being offensive. I told him he was being a rude idiot and he excused it with "BUT I"M DRUNK!" Once I pointed out that everyone else in the bar was drunk but he was the only one being a total dick, he went home. So, he's why I'm never playing Hoxton again. I was going to watch the other bands, but I didn't. I went to the pub instead. Line Up --------- Me - Guitar and Singing Johnny Fades - Guitar Fruitbat - Bass Gypsy - Guitar Adie Nunn - Guitar Arran - Drums Dave Barnett - ILL! and sadly missed James Rocks - ILL! and sadly missed here's a photo in which I seem to be snarling and it looks a bit like we're doing the Shadows dance :-) Next there was The Portland Arms, Cambridge, 11/12/2008 This was a gig that I was supporting The Indelicates at (who are amazing) and they in turn were supporting Miles hunt of Wonderstuff fame. There's not really a nice way to put this, but Miles Hunt is a DICK! After seeing that there were bands with electric guitars playing before him, he went into a massive mood and shouted at the promoter (A lovely fella called Steve) and threatened not to play. Fruitbat tried to cheer him up by talking about the old days, which inevitably led to the present day, and the conversation which went a bit like, Miles: So Les, where have you been playing recently? Les; I've just done two sold out nights at the brixton academy. You? Miles; Erm, here. I don't think it cheered him up. Anyway, The Indelicates played after us, and were their usual amazing selves. doing a lovely Fairy Tale of New York cover, which they managed to remember most of the words to :-) The Line Up ------------ Me - Guitar and Singing Simon Indelicate - Guitar Julia Indelicate - Drums Fruitbat - Bass and Singing Adie nunn - Guitar and Singing A much smaller line up than usual due to me saying yes to gigs without thinking whether or not there's an easy way to get 14 people to play 2 hours away on a week night. After the gig I stayed in a the scummiest, half closed travelodge EVER! As the taxi pulled in I saw a big sign saying there was a Marks & Sparks, Kfc etc. Only to find in the morning that it was all shut and due for demolition. Still, I managed to get through the whole bottle of vodka, and some useless thing called a "Breakfast Bag" which was a cereal bar, some tea and some sort of awful cereal and warm milk in a cup thing. One "Little Chef Olympic Breakfast" (otherwise known as "The Classic") later, I was back on the train to London when Les phoned to see if I would play his birthday gig at the Windmill later that day. Obviously I said yes, which leads on to, Brixton Windmill 12/12/2008 Fruitbats 50th birthday. It was amazing. :-) Jimbob did a one off, never to be repeated birthday song for Les, about how they met and formed Carter, which as well as using an Art Brut lyric, actually brought a tear to my eye, it was lovely :-) This being the Windmill, we didn't get to play until about one in the morning, but the crowd were singing along, which is both nice and weird at the same time. I decided that since I didn't know how to play Happy Birthday, I would do a christmas song. And since Lonely This Christmas by Mud is the only christmas song I know how to play, we did that. Obviously wit the five guitar players it turned into some sort of space rock epic :-) Glasvegas eat your over rated heart out! I even managed to remember the speech in the middle :-) Bearing in mind that i didn't know I was playing this gig until the afternoon, and I didn't decide to do the christmas song until I got there, and didn't tell the rest of the band we were doing it until we were on stage, it went AMAZINGLY well :-) So all in all, an ace few days :-) The Line Up ---------- Me - Guitar and Singing Julia Indelicate - Drums Simon Indelicate - Guitar and Singing Johnny Fades - Guitars Adie Nunn - Guitar and Singing Fruitbat - Bass Arec - Sax Richie Abdou - Not Making It To The Stage Due To Fighting With Bar Staff Who Moved His Guitar Without Telling Him Coming up in February is "The Scotch Tour" Taking in all the hotspots, mainly Glasgow, Aviemore, Gourdon, Aberdeen, and I've just found out there's a place in Scotland called "Keith" So I shall play there. :-) The band shall be made up of me, and at least five Scottish people, maybe more :-) Also, i went to the filming of Glam Chops christmas video, http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=G9nicUkvhuI which oddly enough was filmed for MTV Base (Craig David and miss Dynamite pulled out, leaving them with just Eddie and the Panther Girls dancing about:-) ) and you can even bet on it being christmas number one at William hills bookies, despite it not being chart eligible. 100 to 1 last time I looked, which is pretty good odds for the impossible:-) xx (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, November 24th, 2008
11:49 am	22/11/2008 Carter USM aftershow, Jamm, Brixton On Saturday, I went to see Carter play their last ever gig at the Brixton Academy. It was amazing, even better than the last ever gig they played there last year :-) With a singalong of 4000 people singing happy birthday to Jimbob and cake :-) Then, I went to Jamm to play at their aftershow, on stage at 4.30 in the morning. My gig was also excellent, even if I did play the first song in the wrong key due to me forgetting my capo and not remembering how to play it right without. And also having to ask Arran to play drums for me about an hour before the gig when it turns out I'd forgotten to ask Julia to play. Which turned out ok, seeing as the record for being asked to play drums for me at a gig without notice is shared between Mike and Stuffy at about 25 minutes. :-) Although thinking about it, I've decided that since it's my song I can't play it "wrong" I just played it "Differently" and the rest of the band adapted :-) Still nobody seemed to notice, which is probably one of the perks of playing at half four in the morning. Everyone singing along to "I Hate Your Band" I will take as a compliment :-) After I ran out of songs we played Beerscooter, my favourite Abdou song, with Les on vocals, and me trying to remember the chords. if in doubt, play a D. Then EMF got up to do Unbelievable, at the wrong speed :-) Then I went home and slept through Sunday completely :-) I remember in the taxi back thinking that I never asked if I was getting paid for the gig. Writing this now, I remember that I've NEVER asked if I was getting paid for any of my gigs, which could be why people ask me back. The Line Up -------------- Me - Guitar & singing Johnny Fade - Guitar & Singing Richie Abdou - Guitar Adie Nunn - Guitar Arran - Drums Les "Fruitbat" Carter - Bass, Guitar & Singing Which with only 5 guitarists makes it the third smallest line up ever, after Manchester, and the time it was just me and Mike on drums. (Comment on this)
Monday, November 10th, 2008
2:51 pm	08/11/2008 Guided Missile at The Buffalo Bar An excellent gig, maybe my favourite one ever :-) A lot of that might be because I love The Buffalo Bar and Guided Missile :-) And because the line up for the band was pretty bloody good :_) Line up -------- Me - Guitar and Singing James Rocks - Guitar and Singing Gypsy Popshop - Guitar Jasper Future - Guitar and Singing Adie Nunn - Guitar Johnny Fade - Guitar Eddie Argos - Bass and Singing Ian Caskillkin - Guitar John Yummy Fur - Guitar Mikey Brut - Drums As it was all going so well, even though 2 band members had never played the songs before, I thought it would be a good idea to invite 2 more people up on stage who had never played the songs before, including one who had never heard them before :-) We were frankly amazing :-) Also, Paul Kearneys new band Dream Themes were playing, who just covers TV themes, because of that I've had the theme to Minder stuck in my head ever since :-) x (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, October 31st, 2008
8:59 am	The Boogaloo, 30th of October 2008 Not really a gig this one, more of a guest appearance for the band of Steve 586 and Jim Rhesus. Steve 586 (guitar, piano and singing) Jim Rhesus (guitar and singing) Me (guitar and singing) Adie Nunn (guitar and NO singing) Turned up to the Boogaloo stupidly early as I'd been told the wrong time, to find Halloween decorations everywhere :-) The night started off with a poet, who was a lovely fella but who's name I have forgotten due to drink. And then 2 girls playing harps and pianos and bass drums and violins who amongst their own stuff played "Wait and Bleed" by Slipknot :-) Not really knowing what we were going to be doing, I'd bought my small pink electric guitar with built in amp along, although it didn't get used due to my complete inability to tune it. All guitars plugged straight into the pa and a pub piano :-) After Steve and Jim played a couple of songs, I played guitar on one of Jims songs, Adie Nunn and Steve played a cover of Daydreamer by Menswear, and I did an acoustic version of "I Hate Your Band" with Jim on 2nd guitar and Steve on pub piano, which went down very well and was, I think, the only song of the night to push the "Pub Noise Meter Thing" into the red :-) We ended on that triumphant note, deciding not to do the acapella version of "Suburbia" by The Pet Shop Boys that we'd been told off twice for while practicing it in the beer garden. There was also a giant pumpkin you hit with a stick to get sweets :-) (Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 16th, 2008
12:46 am	I know I said, that I would only use this journal as a record of my own gigs. But I've just been to see The Mountain Goats, and they were AMAZING! So I just thought that if you weren't there, you deserved to know :-) x (Comment on this)
Sunday, September 14th, 2008
6:46 pm	229, 10th of September Bit of a vastly reduced lineup for this one, Me - Guitar & Singing Mikey Brut - Drums and that's it. :-) Mike wasn't mean't to play but phoned me up saying he was coming straight from the airport to the gig as he had just got back from Germany. I think we were ace :-) have a video, Arec was going to play Sax, but didn't get there fast enough so he played recorder with the Indelicates instead. (Comment on this)
Friday, August 29th, 2008
6:49 pm	A wall of (ethical) sound, 28/08/08 Last night I played a gig at my friend Lucys fashion show at Candid Arts in Angel. It was for her fashion label which makes clothes in an ethical way, I won't pretend to know much about it, but take a look, http://tammam.co.uk/ Mr solo played too, and was ace as usual. I think I left my goodie bag with free trade banana, eco-friendly washing powder and orange flavoured chocolate behind. I did have some of the free booze though, so it's all good. I also like the fact the stage was only big enough for me to stand on :-) the line up was, Me - Guitar & singing Mikey Brut - Drums Eddie Argos - Bass Adie Nunn - Guitar Johnny Fade - Guitar Simon Indelicate - Guitar Mr Solo - Guitar Jasper Future - Guitar Dave Barnett - Was Sadly Missed Arec - Sax Seemed to go down well, despite there only being one microphone :-) Also featured the live debut of a song that I wrote with Simon in a dressing room in Germany called "Dogging" I had to make the last verse up on the spot, but I liked it :-) xx (Comment on this)