2 blogs in a week you say?! - what kind of madness is this? It's almost as if anyone still cares about myspace... Of course we know different, but it's a marker of my boredom this chilly Saturday. Oh, and we have news too. WE ARE RECORDING AN ALBUM. As of January 26th we are in studio again, and this time we mean it. Tommy Dubz is back in charge for our first album proper. (though, don't let this disuade you from purchasing OODFLO; it's a pretty good listen if you like that kinda thing.) The album will be recorded over 2 sessions in the first half of 2010, and we are very arroused. Expect videos of Adam and co. running in Wales, most likely in inappropriate clothing. New songs are coming on nicely. Expect to hear them soon. Amstrad Lions. In the meantime, Of Our Delirious Former Loving Hours is selling well, so if you want a copy you'd be best to order it sharpish - it's a limited run we have available. You wouldn't want to miss out now, would you?! I should probably put some clothes on. Gav x

...all you got was this crappy blog. In my defence, posting a blog from my phone is proving to be particularly difficult. This is attempt 3. I saved all the text though yeah? NO. I'm actually in the festive spirit. I'm watching Christmas tv mainstay "BIG" as we speak. Zoltar FTW. Anyway. I'll subsection this blog accordingly.

CHRISTMAS PAST.
It's kind of a "what we've done" section. I imagine the labarynthine layout is now becoming clearer. Well, this is a tale of two cities. Brighton and Leicester to be specific. Brighton was fun. Pharaohs are as good as ever. Frankly, I didn't even know that the rising price of service station Ginsters Pasties was an appropriate subject on which to base a song. Lessons have been learned. We play, and the kids of Gaytown (TM) go a bit mental. There is very nearly a circle pit. A crescent pit at very least. Everyone ends up covered in various fluids. Some sweat, some "other". Fun was had in earnest. I think that was his name. Funny, yeah?! NO. Leicester next, with Gallops & Autohype. Gallops are late. Gallops are incredible. Gallops are forgiven. Autohype bring with them the type of crowd last seen queueing for a stint on a bearded mans knee at your local shopping centres grotto. I'll call them youngens. They like dancing, and posing for soon-to-be-on-facebook group photos. Both these things happen. Then we play. Again, dancing. It's happening mum, I'm living the dream. Adam dj's between bands. He enjoys it +10 more than anyone else.

CHRISTMAS PRESENT.
The "what we're doing now" section. I hope you're keeping up? Good. Tom Hanks has just started in the IT department at McMillan Toys. I say Tom Hanks, clearly I mean Josh Baskin. Anyway. We are writing new songs. Bad Blood is ready to go, and an as yet untitled new ditty is shaping up nicely. Fingers crossed both should be aired at the next gig. We have stuff for sale. Our shop has had a facelift. A very limited run of our Euro release "Of Our Delirious Former Loving Hours" is available in gatefold glory to the lovely people of the UK. Now. From our shop. While stocks last etc. So go get it. Now. Or in a bit. But get it. Now. In a bid to keep you all warm this winter, we also have tshirts available. There are 2 designs. Buy one of each, wear them both simultaneously, and save on heating bills. U-Switch are recommending us as the sensible choice this season. www.minnaars.com

CHRISTMAS FUTURE.
The "what's to come" bit. Hanks is at the Christmas party in an hilarious tux. What japes! We are writing and recording our first album. The first block of recording will be at the end of January, with the rest to be completed ready for summer. Excitinz. We are also going to be playing some ace shows. Our agent has some killer gigs booked already (details of which will follow as and when) and we will be touring the UK in April. Who will crack first? BET NOW. So that's us up to date I reckon? I mean, I've covered the future, so we must be? Hope you're all well? Don't feel this is a one way conversation...do feel free to contribute. It saves my thumbs if anything. Oh Tom, that's not how you eat baby sweetcorn you crazy, wacky, zaney funster, you!!! Whatever next?! I'm off to see Santa later. I've been good. Bye. Gav xxx

hello all,

how's tricks?... well... the summer is over and we're now in my fave time of year, autumn. i love the trees and all that gay shit... :-)

well... we've found ourselves a new practice room out in the middle of nowhere... and it's freakin' amazing... we've started work on new songs... and have 90% finished one... which as of yet is untitled... but that won't stay like that for long... it sounds quite BIG... and dirty... and suprisingly HEAVY... hmmmmmm.

since the mad hectic summer, we really just wanna take our time... write and record some new stuff... get our merch table looking healthier... glue together our gear... and take full advantage of our new practice room... so things are gonna be a bit quiet till the new year... when we're gonna hit it HARD... like a HARD THING...

untill then... make sure you get to either our VERY RARE leicester show... which is a 16+... gonna be menthol... or our brighton show... gonna be menthol also... then it's work time...

BEGIN MINNAARS PHASE 2... or is it 3?... I dunno... i'm ill.

n.x

Well....Good evening. 

hello myspacers!

how are you all?

i'm writing another blog whilst we wait with baited breath for adam to do the berlin blogs... it's been at least 3 weeks now... maybe next week? hmmm... we'll see.

ok's...

well... first things first... we've lost our practice room... which upsets us somewhat... the building has been condemned unfit or some such crap... fire reg people have shut us down MAAAAN... fight the power!... or just try find somewhere else... bye IQ audio... you treated us well!

we're off to denmark tomorrow... i'm excited... we're doing a instore gig and a festival slot... and we have sunday off to mooch around... i wanna try some weird food... i ask people what type of weird food the danes eat and all i get in response is "carlsberg and pickled fish"... but this sounds good to me... that's basically what i live off anyhoos... BOOM BOOM!...

we've not forgotten about our british fans though... oh no... we're playing the very glitzy "IN THE CITY" in manc-land... that should be good... schmooze fest... we're also playing "HOCKLEY HUSTLE" in robin hood-land, on the BBC stage... good times... and we're playing a headline show at "THE FLY" in cockney-land... scary times... so there's something for everyone there innit... north, midlands and south... no excuse... come see us before we get fat.

new tees are here... they're reet nice... also we have some stickers on the way and even minnaars "M" transferable tattoos... haha... so you can be just as cool as benny, dan, gav and me... excellent times...

we have also booked a very rare leicester show... with our brothers at arms GALLOPS and AUTOHYPE... come down early innit and have a drink with us and we can talk shop... it's at SUMO.

we're debating recording stuff at the mo... and we have new song ideas coming out of our kazoo... but we need to find a new home for all out trinkets and then we're back on form... any ideas?... no?... us neither.

i'm sure there's more to tell... i just can't remember right now... i want a mcdonalds double cheese burger...

with true love

n.x

Now... In my earlier post I mentioned that my memories had become a beer soaked mess... This day off was when things reached new levels... And my swiss cheese brain had a lot to do with this day... It comes back to me like a film I may or may not of seen... Snapshots in my mind of weird things and situations... If you spoke to any of us about this day you will get different stories completely... It was... Uhmmm... Pretty mad... I'll try remember what I can in bullet points...



* We arrived at the hostel... It was called "The Generator"... There's one in London also, which funnily enough i've stayed at before also... It was freakin' crap in London... I thought the Berlin one might be better... Turns out no... It was a freakin' dive...

* We were in seperate rooms... Well... Gallops were staying with one of the promoters friends (more on her later... Hahaha)... Me, Rob, Dan & Adam were in a room... With 4 other people we didn't know... Whilst Shute, Gav and Benny were in a different room... With 4 other people they didn't know...



* We had a splendid quiet drink in the beer garden bit of the hostel... All very pleasent... But... This is where my memory gets a tad hazy... This is what I remember...

1) We met a Scottish girl named Astrid...
2) We found a dirt cheap pizza place
3) We bought bottles of vodka
4) I found a GIANT bottle of Jagermeister in the toilet
5) We met a Scottish bloke (not affiliated with Astrid) who was probably the MOST fucked person i've ever seen in my life... He couldn't talk and was throwing cocaine around everywhere.

* It was around this time I went to bed... Now... I'm probably not the best person to tell the rest of the story as I was tucked up in bed... But the others were out till about 6am arguing and fighting the people whose Jagermeister I had "found" in the toilet... This could've been avoided hadn't it been for Adam coming up to the room and taking the giant bottle back downstairs with him... They were swigging away on it outside the hotel when low and behold the gentlemen who paid for said bottle wandered past... Turns out he was a karate champ or summit... But what he failed to realise was he was dealing with a semi-mental rabble hyped up on stolen Jagermeister and sun stroke... I heard even Gav got quite animated... Hahaha...

I don't recollect anything else of this night... When I personally think back to it... I just remember that wrecked Scottish bloke... Jeeeeeez... He was spannered... Wish we took a photo.

I was informed via email this morning that it was my duty to fulfil the Paderborn leg of the now frankly belated Tour Blog. I'll level with you, I'm at work, so the chance to ignore the sickly of Leicestershire (those who are too poor to go Bupa) for a while was taken with two hands.
Right then. Things we learned upon travelling to Paderborn. Paderborn is a LONG WAY from Lyon. Some would say too far. The fraction of our party that travelled in the (now sadly deceased, but more on that in a later blog...probably) Van, would DEFINITELY say it was too far. More care will be taken when booking the next tour. 14 hours it takes the van. Go Shute. Rob, Paul, Hucky and myself have the infinitely more pleasurable Peugeot 206 (Aubergine / Wine red in colour, for those who are compiling notes) to travel in. This shaves an impressive 2 hours off the journey. We even have time to stop for a very pleasant"assembled on the bonnet" lunch of Salami, Ham and Brie Baguettes. I am keen to paint a mental picture for the tens of you who may be reading this. Hi Mum. Want to know how to cut Brie with no knife? Forget Bear Grylls, Rob "Monster Monster" Crich is your man. Turns out that a health care insurance card not only cuts but spreads the French soft cheese very well indeed. Maybe try it at home if you like. This meal would become a recurring theme over the tour. Those Europeans bloody love their cheese and meat.
 
The drive takes us through Luxembourg. Avid blog followers will note that we have played there before. We do not play there this time. Upon entering Rural Germany, everything starts to look distinctly Saving Private Ryan. (This, in actuality, means Fields. The more imaginative among us visualise many dead. This is all I will say on the contentious issue of the War. Wars.) We arrive at the venue woefully late, to be greeted by what can only be described as an avid Venice Ahoy fan. He is visually distraught at our failure to be them.
The van turns up a full 2 hours later, or 37 seconds prior to Gallops being due onstage to put it another way. Now, I wont go into details, but there is a falling out. Gallops dont play. I think it was Pizza related, but I cant be sure. We however, do play. Gig goes well, despite our well hidden lethargy. Superfan forgives us for not playing Battleships or Fireworks. We then appear to have a free bar. We take full advantage of the Free bar. All of us drink far too much. I can personally say that the resulting hangover was number 1 in my all-time top ten hangovers. Some of us then depart for questionable takeaway, only to meet a group of Geordie Squaddies. Now, if we were in Blighty, these might be the type to stave our effeminate little faces in, but we receive a heroes welcome as they are glad to see some of "Our boys". They are fans of Russell Shute in particular. To be fair, he is rather bawdy.

This is quite a long Blog. We then stay in the apartment of someone affiliated with the Promoter. Its not quite built yet. You know those adverts for Premier Travel Inns with Lenny Henry in? Yeah, it looks nothing like that. It does however look like a room with assorted Mattresses scattered on the floor. They are of varying shapes and sizes, and there are less than half the number of them that would be ideally suited to sleeping 11. A cosy night follows. I cant say for certain that Paul and Dan dont gay it up a little bit. Morning comes, and we find a little kiosk that sells thimbles of good coffee for 1 Euro. We gorge ourselves. Well, we spend the cumulative 7 Euros that we collectively have to our name. Did you know you had to pay extortionate amounts of toll fare to drive through France? No, neither did we. You probably want some visual stimulus now? Yeah, me too. I can't upload from my phone. Myspace iPhone (cr)app. Love you. In a way. Gav x Oh no, turns out I can add pics.

 

Hello everyone!

Long time no speak innit?... Things have been going a bit mad round these parts as of late... We've not really had time to do anything... It's been menthol... But i'm gonna try my hardest to remember some stuff for you... But honestly... It's melted into one big beer soaked mess in my head... Right... Europe... I'll start with Lyon

* We left Leeds Festival on the Sunday (A big thankyou to the Loughborough lads who made the show quite special!) and had to get a ferry at something ridiculous like 5am... So none of us slept, just drank more booze (and some very fucking questionable red wine)... The mental and physical rot set in early... After a MAMMOTH 16 hour drive we finally arrived in Lyon, in what can only be described as one of the most beautiful settings we've ever seen.

The promoter was a lovely chap and after soundcheck we had a veggie pasta thing which was probably the best meal we had all tour... We played on a boat... The heat though was immense... This and the no sleep made for a very weird show... We all just kinda gave each other bitchy looks and at one point I thought I was going to stab my fellow band members in the throat... Merely through heat exhaustion and sleep deprivation... After a good nights sleep (in a hotel that would be best described as a "hooker paradise"), we all awoke in much brighter spirits.

As the old saying goes, never go to a festival without expecting to feel like shit after two days no matter what you do or how good a breakfast you manage to eat. Today we woke up, me and Russ ate breakfast with the bold and beautiful (Hollyoaks cast), awaited for the return of half the band and then played Leeds innit.

Bizarre shiz occurs, listening to Kasms backstage (front woman manages to find even better outfit to wear today) waiting for them to finish so we can set up, they close their excellent set, the compare goes on stage and announces that we're on next, theres a genuinely huge cheer, and then a bizarre Leicestershire, la la la based chant kicks off. Turns out some people from northern Leicestershire like us! Woo.
Anyway, show goes well, weird sense of comedown following Reading, but Neil's in the crowd with his cowbell and all is well. Journey home sucks but thats only the beginning of the suck.

Big drive tomorrow.

So, the journey to Leeds, in relative solitude, was fairly uneventful, and Saturday was fairly cool music wise, lovely stuff from Metronomy, Grammatics, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bloc Party and Radiohead. More importantly we were joined by our Woodhead in his home city (well, loosely in it) and sat in the sun drinking vodka/soft drink combinations and spotting members of the cast of Hollyoaks:

·         Newt

·         Lauren

·         Darren

·         Josh

·         Leila

·         Cheryl

Which was lovely. Russell also was largely ignored by Pancho from Dirty Sanchez once he’d secured a photograph with him, possibly cause of Russell’s superior height stats. Quiet day obvs with Neil and Ben offsite and Gavin leaving us early doors, but it did manage to involve Russ breaking into our own van through a orifice that you may have thought impossible to pass through. My shoulders certainly wouldn’t even pass through. Can only assume there  is some kind of ribcage dislocation power he has that we are unaware of.

Have developed a aerobics based dance that I am very keen on.

Love,

Adam