Huw did a bulletin reminding me that we actually have this myspace, I had completely forgotten about it!

Cooties Attack are a lazy bunch, we've been on a massive break lately but are playing a gig as our alter egos Shrieking Shack Disco Gang in July at the Accio festival (check out our Shrieking Shack Disco Gang  page for more news on that.

Other wonderful things are happening this Summer - Cooties are recording some new stuff, yep you heard me *NEW* songs, it's the stuff of dreams.

I also have my zines that I made with silly stories about libraries and interviews with my favourite people. If you send me a trade or a mix tape I will send you a zine in return. Issue 4 is out today - I just got back from the photocopy shop so don't delay email me and we can trade!

1 Cut out and Keep zine is no longer available as I lost the originals in my move to London sorry!
2 Cut out and Keep Zine - the Harry Potter special edition featuring an interview with Harry and the Potters, my views on book 7, knitting patterns, and recipes
3 Cut out and Keep zine - interviews with Uncle Monsterface and Ste Mccabe as well as stuff about pancakes and insomnia
4 Cut out and Keep zine - Interviews with Town Bike, Hug Party and stuff on libraries, being a geek, and mix tapes

And inspired by Huw I thought I would point you in the direction of some of my favourite bands if you are tired of waiting around for us to get off our butts and do something, why not fill your time by checking out these awesome bands! ...

PuzzleJingly jangly indie pop from our liverpool friends

Hug Partyqueer hip hop sexy tunes for geeks and dorks.

The New BloodsPortland's finest that made me have blisters on my feet last week. 

Betty and the Werewolves indie pop that reminds me of the 90s and being obsessed with Sarah Records in a lovely way.

Uncle Monsterface the finest nintendo punk you will ever hear in your life. I'm obsessed with them they make me so happy.

Holly
XXX

I always liked the fact that our band name sounds like the title of a monster B Movie which was nicely pointed out to us by Heena. I'm even happier than now we have reformed, the news of our renunion sounds even more like a monster b-movie.

Yes the Cooties are back. We played what we thought was our last gig last October and rather horibly turned down the last few gigs we had comitted to. We also scrapped plans of releasing our split single with the mighty Ste Mccabe . We were rubbish and we were emo and we sucked.

This will probably not be documented in the same way as the Take That and Spice Girl Reunions, I'm thinking more along the lines of the East 17 reunion , so in a years time expect a documentary showing how me and Huw secretly hate each other and I've gone into hiding in my secret mansion. Or something.

Huw is currently living in the USofA at the moment and won't be back til Spring. We are gonna blow your minds with our new EP featuring some old (to us) songs. Then maybe we can think about gigging again, but not for a while. I'm just so happy to be plugging in my keyboard and drum machine again that I don't care if nobody outside my bedroom hears it. Oh lo-fi diy disco punk , how I have missed thee!

Have a lovely new year!

Holly Cootie

xxx

 

I had an AMAZING weekend. Trevlling on trains was fun. I set a new tetris record (175!) and started to read The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Get me.
London is far too exciting. I went to where Holly lives and it was nice. Everyshop sold mad things. Like...erm...lychee juice. Not that mad, but you know.
Then I went to a disco. Scratch that. In fact, Spiral Scratch that, cos its the best goddamn disco in the world! They played Belle and Sebastian, Bis, Camera Obscura, Jonathan Richman, The Aisler Set and, and AND Cooties Attack! Yep. It was amazing. I managed to lose Holly though and the god sent Marianthi and Christos put me up. The taxi man got totally lost on the way to theirs though and gave us a row. I reckon that counts as a rubbish taxi driver. And he swerved to try and hit a fox. He'll burn in hell for that.
Sunday we sang songs. It was the last time we'll ever sing songs as Cooties Attack! cos I decided that I'd had enough. But it was an excellent way to end cos the gig was brilliant. Ex-Cootette Melisa and the JCs did a great job organising and everyone that played were great. Especially Micachu, who I hadn't even heard before. She had a clapped out little toy guitar and played it like a genius. She sang songs about her life and it was perfect. Like a hip-hop Patrik Fitzgerald.
No one offered me a place to stay so I went to a hotel and watched Brazil V Colombia. Helen from Candy Panic Attack helped me find my way to the hotel, otherwise I would have been mr Lost. Then I went for a walk and saw actual ladies of the night in Kings Cross, then watched baseball (what the hell is Baseball all about?) then fell asleep.
The next day I wasn't a Cootie anymore.

Huw x

In the long list of "things that go wrong at Cootie gigs" me singing into a switched-off mic is pretty high up. What a dumbass! But anyway, we had a lovely time, hanging with the London Indie Kids...actually, I had the best time ever!! They played virtually all my favourite songs including SEVEN Belle and Sebastian classics! Seven! The whole "oh my god how shit are we live!" thing was soon forgotten as we bopped around the room to "Ban Marriage" and "Dirty Dream 2".

Most of the day had been spent lugging Hol's keyboard around. Am I just the weakest boy ever or is that the heaviest keyboard in the world? Still, I saw some amazing things - two Albinos, a shops called Bimms (what did it sell??!!), Millwall FC (including Richard Shaw, who hasn't aged well), Joe from The Adam and Joe Show and a shop that sells cream puffs. It was awe inspiring stuff. London has it all.

Thanks to Ian and the gang for having us down and thanks to all the lovely people I met especially Pete Green (not the Fleetwood Mac one though) Eric from Bunnygrunt (man, he was lovely) and the gorgeous Marianthi (the other reason for dancing).

Huw X

All is well in Cooties land.  Huw has been discovering new Hummus sandwiches and exploring the park opposite our house in the summer evenings looking for foxes and squirrels. I have been discovering new DVD box sets while trying to rest my tendons to stop the pain of my RSI (no thanks to my DS and Super Mario Bros) and eating a lot of cheese.

In our lazyy summer holidays we've written some new songs about Amazing girls, football, playing Nintendo, emo dreams, and a new disco anthem. We are recording these soon so don't fret.

In other news the Cooties are relocating to London, yup the rumours are true. It's an exciting and scary thing, but mostly sad, I'm gonna miss everyone in Manchester so much. I am moving down in a couple of weeks, and Huw moves down in a month, Kabloomers!

But you'll never guess what! There is now actual transport links between The North and London - I shit you not!!!! You can now get on a train or a coach and be in London in a matter of hours. It's CRAZY! And what's more is that it works the other way round too! It's like finding the secret doorway to Narnia. So we may be gone but we are never more than a train/coach journey away. So come see us. Just think you can pack an exciting packed lunch for the journey and amuse yourselves by playing Apples to Apples or Harry Potter top trumps. Visiting the Cooties has never seemed like such an exciting adventure before!

In other (probably more important) news you can now buy tickets online for our super exciting show with Bunnygrunt/Strawberry Story/The Cut-Outs here so I suggest you do.

We are also releasing a split EP with our lovely friend Ste McCabe  courtesy of Cherryade records wooh! We'll let you know more about that later on.

All this blogging is making my tendons hurt.

Holly Casio

X

So today we rocked the best can possibly rock despite my tendonitis in both wrists and arms (RSI - the ultimate geek affliction), and Huw's dislocated knee, because Cooties Attack are professional punk rockers. We aint no amateurs. You wanna give us bad sound guys? Go ahead! You wanna make our drum machine shonky and weird? We don't care! You wanna give both of us crippling pain and damaged limbs on the day of our gig? IN YOUR FACE! WE RULED!

Tonight was a night of awesomeness. After a bad few recent  gigs with super dodgy sound, we had to start to questsion our own amazingness, I know, can you believe it? The last gig we played involved me walking home afterwards as slow as possible in the pouring rain, growling and refusing to talk to Huw as nothing could be said to cheer me up. I was an Emo for the night. But not tonight, we've put our Emo history to rest because tonight we ruled!

We had a lovely sound man who did the unthinkable - he made our drum machine the loudest instrument on stage! I know, it's crazy, he was totally thinking outside the box, but we went with it and surprisingly this bold move paid off and we could actually hear our instruments.

We sang and played and even got our new songs right. My hand seized up to the shape of a claw, Huw's knee gave way a couple of times, but we battle on. The highlight of my life came as our lovely good friend Ste McCabe sang out the backing bits to 'I'm Amazing', I wish he did that at every gig.

We are releasing a split CD with Ste McCabe soon full of the best disco punk songs, including a duet about box sets to make you dance your brains out, so keep your eyes peeled for pop fun.

Cooties are now eating chips and watching Cribs on TV dreaming of the day we can have our own personal chefs too.

Cooties

X

We went to see Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix. It was brilliant.

We went to the Jamboree and saw Ste McCabe sing. He was wonderful.

We went to the Jamboree and saw Puzzle play. They were awesome.

Then we played. We were shit.

Everything went wrong. Sorry to everyone who was there. Next time...

Cootie Huw x

Yesterday was the best!

We went to Stockport and recorded our new record.

Then we went to Toys R Us and I nearly bought a David Beckham but then lost the urge.

Then we went home and ate far too much. God, it was great meal!

Recording is weird. I have the fear of the bum note the like of which I have never had before.

Holly rocked like a riot grrl banshee, it was amazing - A Mazing! I'm so honoured and proud to play with her.

The geezer recording us must have thought us a couple of mentals. We did a super fast number and Holly screamed and shouted and I put my guitar well out of tune and Holly proudly told the geezer "that was another song about Harry Potter". I'm not sure he believed us. Damned Muggles...

You see, we are not just Cooties Attack! anymore, we are also the Shrieking Shack Disco Gang. Oh yes!

But the best part of the day? Definately the doughnuts...

Cootie Huw xx

www.myspace.com/shriekingshackdiscogang

 

Kimya Dawson is Awesome with a captial AWESOME. She rules,  I had so much fun playing last night.

In fine Cooties tradition our sound wasn't too hot, I think this is our destiny from now on. Fate has dealt us a bum deal by making sure that every gig we play is let down slightly by our sound. Well listen up Fate! We, Cooties Attack, accept your challenge. We will defy you and face our doomed sound quality head on. We will rock on regardless, and sometimes (although hardly ever) playing lo-fi accoustic style gigs without drums to combat you and your evil plans. What do you say to that? NOTHING BECAUSE COOTIES WIN HA HA!

We intercepted Fate's evil plan last night after about 3 songs where it looked like we were losing. The drums were non existant to us, we couldn't hear anything and for a few minutes it looked as if we sucked. But now, Huw, the hero of the Cooties defied Fate and ordered us to do our set without the use of drums, and it worked. We played, we danced, we made mistakes, but most imporantly, WE WON. Cooties will always win, never forget that.

One day when we have paid our dues and completed all the challenges Fate has to offer we will be rewarded with a gig where the monitors work and where the drum machine is audible and where we can dance without fear of losing. But until that day we will be brave.

Ange Spencer rocked lots. I like people who can do two things at once like walking and reading, patting your head and rubbing your tummy, and playing guitar and drums at the same time.

Kimya warmed my cockles. She is just the best and we left with the biggest smiles on our faces. I can't say anything about her unless I just write out the word 'Awesome' a billion times.

We are playing tonight as The Shrieking Shack Disco Gang. Come watch us and provide handclaps.

 

Holly

X

Last night we played at Tears on the Golf  Course and it was all kinds of nice.

Huw entertained me by reeling off all 50 billion new Star Wars facts he had learned that day, we got chips from Leo's fish bar, the BEST chip shop in all of Manchester, and I argued that until recently I had never known what indegestion was. For the past 22 years of my life I thought that was the natural feeling you were left with after a meal, I've always had it and never knew it was indegestion. Therefore this makes me tuff as other people have to take tablets for that kind of thing, not me, I'm hardcore.

Cookie Cutterr were just lovely, it was nice to play with a band like that after other gigs with professional musicians and 20 guitar pedals and roadies, ick, it was just nice to hear it. We got their cd and their comic which made me smile.

We played our gig. Huw's microphone wasn't really switched on, I hope the drum machine was, I couldn't hear it. But we managed to muddle through because we are amazing and there is nothing we can't do, we don't let itty bitty things such as musical equipment stand in the way of our brilliance.

We played new songs, I wish I could have heard Huw's voice on them more but I'm sure they sounded more awesome than you can imagine. We played 'Friendly Moments' for the final ever time with Melissa singing on it too. It was sad as she is an original cootie member and is moving down to Londinium tomorrow and 'Friendly Moments' is  the most perfect pop song about how the three of us are friends. It was a sad moment, people in the audience may have shed a tear, it was definitely moving.

Ste McCabe came down to watch and together him and Melissa formed a dancing area. This made me more happy than you can imagine. It's strange when people sit down to watch you, dancing should always be encouraged.