Well, it's been an eventful few days for us.

On Thursday night, myself and Wayneo were at the Playhouse in Norwich to see the comedian Adam Hills. I mentioned on our twitter that we were at the show and Adam read it out on stage, started to talk to us about the band, and then decided to organise a gig for us the following night in the bar.

During the interval I text Ritch to make sure he was available, still not sure whether this was just a joke or whether he was deadly serious. At the same time, Adam tweeted for some song titles, that he would challenge us to write and perform at the gig. Some of the most popular were: “I Lost My Heart To A Girl From Ipswich”, “Shake It Like Shakira”, “There’s No Folk Like Norfolk” and “Don’t KunK With My Heart”. However the clear winner was “I’ve Got A Brand New Combine Harvester” so in the second half of the show, Adam challenged us to perform a rock version at the gig on Friday (this is when panic started to set in).

On our way back from the playhouse on Thursday night, it occurred to us that we had no bass amp, and that our van was booked in to the garage so we had no way of getting our gear to the gig. Oops.

Friday morning and few phone calls later, we'd managed to get our hands on a bass amp (thanks Hannah!) and we had our van back. I then set about trying to work out something for "Combine Harvester". I failed. I find it hard enough to remember my own lyrics, so to learn something that I really I didn't know in a couple of hours wasn't easy. I scribbled a few notes so that I had some reminders for the lines I was struggling with most and hoped for the best.

Friday evening, already about 45 minutes late for soundcheck we arrived at the Playhouse and set ourselves up in the corner of the bar. In our 5 minute soundcheck I tried to give Wayne and Ritch an idea of what I thought we should do for "Combine Harvester". As it got closer to our 6pm start, the bar started to fill up and we had a chat with Adam, who was very complimentary about our music, which he'd downloaded the night before.

The gig itself went pretty well, we'd turned everything down as quiet as we could at the request of the bar staff so that made it a little hard but we still rocked out as best we could. That's until it came to "Combine Harvester". You know how sometimes you have a complete memory blank? Yeah. Well, that's exactly what happened to me. I completely forgot how the song went. I had some words written down, but had no idea at all how the were meant to sound. Bearing in mind that I was the only one that had learnt the song anyway, we were lost. We ended playing one chord and sung the chorus for about 3 minutes. Nevermind.

We'd already made the decision to put it earlyish in the set anyway, because we knew it'd be shit, so that gave us a chance to redeem ourselves with the rest of our set. We even played 'Game Over' and did a mighty fine job of it. First time we've played that since Hannah left.

Before we knew it, it was over. The most bizarre gig we've ever done. We spoke to Adam for a while before he had to get himself ready for his show. Amazingly he absolutely loved it and proudly wore a KunK t-shirt for his gig in the main auditorium.

I have to say thanks to everyone at the playhouse for making the gig happen, and also thanks to Adam Hills for being an absolute legend!! He's a lovely and incredibly funny man. If you get a chance, get yourself to one of the remaining dates on his tour, you won't regret it!

If you want to read Adam's blogs about the gig, go to www.adamhills.com.au

Blimey, didn't expect this!

Myself and Wayne went to the Playhouse last night to see the fantastic comedian Adam Hills (who was fucking excellent, go and see him!).

We happened to mention on our Twitter that we were at the show and Adam picked up on it, spoke to us a bit, and has now organised a gig for us there, before his show tonight! Woo! We have to cover"i've got a brand new combine harvester" though, which isn't gonna be easy. haha.

Sooooooo, you need to get to the Playhouse in Norwich tonight for 6pm!

Read more about it at www.adamhills.com.au/blog/

James

I thought i'd already posted about this, but clearly I haven't. Oops.

We've been reviewed by the lovely people at Organ Magazine, we likey.

SINGLE REVIEW: KUNK – No Way/Game Over (Plastic Sun) – Feisty new single from the spiky band from Norfolk. Released on their own label and well worth your time (again). Pointy indie guitar alt rock energy and spunky punky Pixies verve – yeah, I know that’s a cop out, mentioning Pixies is always the lazy easy option but I got places to be and it is only a signpost, just a vague idea! Quit yer damn complaining, hit the link and find out for yourselves, you don’t need reviews, you just need signposts, go use your own ears, mine are needed elsewhere. Kunk are good, we’ve told you this before, urgent energy, barbed riffs, demented buzz stomping at you, boy/girl vocals, Pixies, McLusky. Spiky, feisty, edgy, lurching goodness, we like Kunk, we played their last single on the radio, we’ll play this one too, got to go, game over, for now...

Visit Organ Magazine here

Also, 'No Way' was played by Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 1 last week. You've got about a day to listen again if you wish to do so, I think we're about 50 minutes in to the show. If you get the urge to send Huw an email to say how much you liked our song, and how much you'd like to hear it again, feel free. (huw.stephens@bbc.co.uk)

As well as that, we've been told that 'Game Over' is going to be played by Tom Robinson on BBC 6 Music, but we're not sure when at the moment. It's all good anyway.

So far, we've been played on XFM, NME Radio, Radio 1, WCR FM, ICR FM, Future Radio, BBC Norfolk, Resonance FM, Xstream East Radio, and Radio K (Switzerland). That's a pretty decent list so far!

That is all for now.

Hi everybody, just thought I'd get a blog in before James changes the password and I'm locked out of the KunK inner circle! Heheh he's prpbably thinking "she never blogged when she was in the band so why's she starting now?".

Anyway I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who's been to gigs and supported us over the last 4 years or so that I've been in the band. I'm now joining the ranks of loyal KunK fans and looking forward to being in the other side of a KunK gig! I've had a fantastic time and achieved things I'd only dreamed of, mainly down to James' hardwork and determination, and Wayne's and Ritch's (and Will's) dedication. Leaving the band was a tough decision but it feels like the right one for me at this moment in time.

I'll always be a KunK at heart! Good luck boys!

Love
Hannah

Today we stumbled across a rather nice little review of our new single on the Tasty Fanzine website.

"KunK – No Way / Game Over (Plastic Sun)

Oh yes yes yes. This is what it is all about folks. Norwich based KunK attack our eardrums like a coked up toddler in a drum shop and then some. Obvious and noted comparisons come with McClusky, Pixies and Husker Du but KunK have their own intricate take on alt-rock and non-more so than in ‘Game Over’ where the girl-boy vocals are lathered in foaming heaps of angry guitars. Album please."

Visit the Tasty Fanzine here!

The rather wonderful Screaming Ground has put together the second volume of the Screaming Ground compilation.

It is a FREE album, filled with 18 tracks from bands who Screaming Ground loves; some from Norwich, some not.

For the tracklisting and full details go to http://www.screaming-ground.tumblr.com and visit the downloads section.

If you can't wait to get your grubby little hands on this free music, download it all right now from here http://www.divshare.com/download/8696775-f71 and feel free to pass the album on to anybody you know who might enjoy it.

Also, while we're on the subject of free music. If you haven't already, head on over to www.reverbnation.com/kunk, sign up to the KunK mailing list, and you'll gain access to lots of free KunK songs!

Bye for now!

Ok. Lots and lots has being going on in the world of KunK.

First things first, i'm sad to say that Hannah has decided to leave the band.

Work commitments and band commitments have been getting in the way of each other and it's been making life difficult for Hannah, something had to give. Although we're sad to see her go, we understand and respect her decision and we'll continue to be good friends.

At the moment, we're not really sure whether we'll be looking for a replacement or not (and thanks to those of you who've already offered your services). It's looking quite likely that we're going to carry on as a three-piece unless someone perfect and outstanding comes along. I should also mention that Hannah will be playing the next couple of gigs with us, so if you want to see her in KunK one last time I suggest you get your arse to B-Fest on Saturday or our single launch party at B2 on October 7th.

On the subject of our single, you may have already noticed that we've uploaded the full tracks to our myspace player for you. Listen to them, they're well good.

Promo copies of the single only went out just over a week or so ago but my (yes, my because i'm the one who sat here burning CD's, printing labels, press releases etc)hard work has already started to pay off. In the last couple of weeks the single has been played on BBC Norfolk Introducing, XFM New Noise by Jon Hillcock (who also put Game Over in his New Noise Top 5 last week), XFM X-Posure by John Kennedy, Future Radio and WCR FM.

Hopefully more reviews and radio play will follow. Also, feel free to email or text the likes of Huw Stephens, Tom Robinson, Steve Lamacq and Zane Lowe, giving them a little nudge to play some KunK.

Soooo, I think that's all of the news that we have for you at the moment.

B Fest on Saturday is going to be fucking fantastic! We're on the Alternate stage at 8pm. Really looking forward to playing with the lovely Ten City Nation again, it seems like ages since we saw them, although I think it's been about a month, and also The Brownies, who are amazing and lovely too! Advance tickets for B Fest have sold out but there will be a limited number of tickets available on the day, so if you do still want to come and don't have a ticket, get there early!

I knew there was something else I was going to talk about, did anyone reading this see BUG with Adam Buxton at the Playhouse in Norwich? It was awesome. If you've not heard of, or seen BUG, do check it out. You get to see some great music videos, have a laugh and maybe discover some cool tunes too, such as 'Prehistoric Dog' by Red Fang.



More blogging soon I reckon!

Jamestown KUNK

Things have been moving quite quickly since my last blog, so i'll try to fit as much as I can in to as few words as I can. Regular readers will know that this isn't going to be easy because I tend to ramble a bit.

First things first, we have a new website! You can find it at www.kunk.co.uk. It's got more info and stuff than you'll find on this here myspace so it's well worth checking out. We also have a messageboard and stuff on there, but nobody really uses it. It'd be good if people did though. But they won't.

Anyway, we also have a single coming out next month, October 12th to be precise. "Wow, KunK. That's not far off!" I hear you say. It's not really is it? On that very day you'll be able to visit one of the many download stores (we'll give you links and stuff nearer the time, don't you worry) and get yourself a copy. The single is a double A-side featuring 'No Way' and 'Game Over', and you can hear previews on our page right now.

Also, if you're in the Norwich area, or fancy visiting the fine city of Norwich, we're having our single launch party at B2 on Wednesday 7th October. It will cost you just £3 to get in and you'll get to see the excellent Rubella, The Lucky Last and Starsexplode as well as ourselves. I expect we'll probably give away some free stuff too because we're nice like that.

Right. I think that's the "important" stuff out of the way.

Friday night we played in Ipswich and it was awesome. We've played at PJ McGinty's a few times now and we've loved it every time. Friday was extra good though. It was the first time we'd played an Ultrazang night and hopefully it won't be the last. Fantastic people, great bands and an amazing crowd, what more could anyone ask for? Our set was a little chaotic because we've hardly practiced recently. We played Sara Wishes She Was A Robot for the first time in aaaaaaages and Wayne managed to fall over on the drum kit mid song, but it was all good fun. I highly recommend going to the next Ultrazang night!

Photo evidence of Wayne trying to play while on the floor surrounded by the remains of the drumkit:


One more thing I wanted to mention, we're headlining the Alternative Stage at B-Fest in Burston, Norfolk on September 26th. Apparently we're going to be playing for an hour, which means we'll be throwing some curveballs in to the set including a brand new song or two. We pretty much finished one on Sunday and it sounds cooooool. It's quite heavy, bit weird in some ways, not weird in others, and it still sounds like us. That is definitely the worst description of a song ever but I can't think of any other way to describe it right now. Anyway, if you come to B-Fest you'll hear it.

I'm done typing now. I've spent all day putting promo packages together for the single.

Seeeeeee ya!

James

We're getting a bit behind on our blogs. The day after Hannah's fantastic BBQ birthday celebrations (see previous blog), weary and slightly hungover, it was time to head off to Leeders Farm Studios to get some serious recording business done. We had three days booked (with the option of a fourth) and planned to record three songs.

I (James, hello) made my way to Spooner Row getting foul mouthed instructions from Mike Strutter on my sat nav. "Jane" was beginning to get on our nerves a bit, so we decided to download some new voices.  Anyway, after getting slightly confused by the intercom on the gate, i finally arrived at the studio. The place is amazing, I want to live there. Check out the website to see just how good it is! http://www.leedersfarm.com/

I did actually consider hiding in one of the bedrooms and hoping that nobody noticed, reckon I could've got away with being there for about a week but decided not to risk it.

As you'd expect, we started with the drums. We decided to record the bass at the same time, with me recording a guide guitar at the same time to give it a nice live feel. The drums sounded fucking great in the live room and Ritchie nailed them. We managed to get all the drum and bass tracks recorded on the first day, had some time to lounge around and nip to Sainsburys. Not a bad day all round!

Got to the studio for the second day, this time taking directions from Hannibal Lecter, and decided it'd be better to call Dave (that's Dave Pye, recording engineer extraordinaire) and get him to let me in. We started to put some guitar tracks down and got a little excited about things sounding nice.

Once all of the guitars were recorded, I decided it might be a good time to finish the lyrics for No Way. I didn't really bank on us getting things done so quickly and by the time i'd written the words, it was time for me to record the vocals. Now, people in bands sometime talk about how they write the lyrics just before the record the vocal and shit like that, that's all well and good. What they don't tell you, is that it's a fucking pain in the arse. I was standing there like a twat with the words in my hand desperately trying to remember which bit was meant to go where. Oops. Got there in the end though. Also, while I was shut away singing, I totally missed Wayne walk straight in to a door which i'm really disappointed about.

Another thing I really have to mention is the amount of flies in the studio. there were swarms of the bastards. A bit annoying when you're sitting in the control room and stuff, really fucking irritating when one is zooming around your head or sitting on the pop shield when you're recording your vocals. It did make for some pretty amazing outtakes. One of my favourites being when Hannah's usual calm manner was totally blown away mid vocal take with her throwing her arms around and shouting like a mad woman. See, this is the good thing about me writing blogs, i can talk about the other guys and their outtakes, they can't talk about mine, some of which were horrendous. In between some of the takes, we also learnt about international superstar Magnet Man, his wife Image, and her minature horses.

Shit, just realised what a massive blog this is. So, recording was all finished in two days, which was gooooood. Dave mixed it all on the third day and all three songs sound awesome. We're making a few little adjustments to the mix, which should be done pretty soon. Then, once the songs are mastered we're going to decide which song/songs to release as a single.

We'll let you lovely people know what our plans are once we actually have some.

All you need to know for now is that Leeders Farm is amazing, Dave Pye is a legend, flies are bastards (as are wasps, although wasps are evil bastards) and we're really excited about getting these songs out.

Bye!

James

What have we been up to lately? I'll tell you...

A couple of weeks ago we all went over Hannah's for her birthday BBQ. Despite the fantastic typical british summer weather, rain, we huddled under a gazebo in the garden and consumed lots of lovely food and lovely alcohol.

Ritchie did a rubbish job of pretending that he actually liked salad, giving a very unconvincing "mmmm yum" when anyone walked past and then getting spotted chucking his food in the bin. Fail.

Many drinks later, it was time to break out the instruments. Armed with a mandolin, viola and acoustic we made some horrendous noise. It was fun!

Wayne learnt about the 'emergency E chord' (no idea what that's all about but it was in a book about the mandolin) and then Hannah and friends played some song.

Video evidence.





That's all for now. Keep checking back though because i'll be posting a studio blog soon as well, bet you can't wait.