all songs written by a moore.
recorded between 08 july - 16 september 2009 in my bedroom.
© 2009 the tumbledryer babies.
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i played at the ship in leigh at the beginning of may with aquamarina, melodie group and yasmin samadi. it went quite well apart from when i tried playing my keyboard live for the first time which was a bit of a disaster. still, the other acts were all great and i'd like to say thanks to the belle et la bete people for letting me play. here is my setlist and a photograph from that night:



now the geeks have a union
wasted time
just like pigpen
if you see her, give her hell
borrowed tune
#1 hit song
oh, howard
pr machine
marty feldman eyes
a little cloud
my true geology is not stone but fear
there's no smoke without you

a few days after that i saw devo perform q:are we not men? a:we are devo at the forum which was amazing. also i saw ben kweller live for the first time. that was great too. apart from these two gigs (and my own of course) i have had a pretty unexciting, unsatisfactory and draining month. in fact i had an emotionally crippling guitar tragedy - a hairline crack in the head of my guitar. the next morning it was a full on split. i felt sick for days, as though i'd punched a hole in a painting or something. it has now been taken to hastings to be fixed so i will have to use another bass for the foreseeable future. anyway, one welcome break from the tediumdrudgeryfinancialhardship came from preparing for the southend fringe festival, which starts with a craft fair in chalkwell park on the sixth of june. i am running a stall from which i'll be selling cds and other merchandise by many local bands. my third album comes out on the first of june and in lieu of gigs this craft fair will be the first place at which it will be available (you can get it from the online shop from the first of june, but it costs a little more). so come to my stall, browse, buy a couple of cds and support local musicians. incidentally, if you are in a band and you want me to sell your cds or tshirts or whatever, get in touch. it won't cost you anything - you get to keep all the money from your sales. if my stall isn't enough of a draw for you then you should know that there will be lots and lots of stalls selling/displaying/doing cool stuff. and there'll be a brass band. nice sunny saturday in june. and it's free. so please come. also i am putting on an anti-folk night at chinnery's as part of the fringe festival. this will include many great bands and charlot webster's mixtape exchange (full details in my gig listings bit) so come to that one as well if you can.

on saturday night we played at the spring anti-folk festival at the 12 bar on denmark street. i really enjoyed it, i felt that we played very well. i think my favourite was local girl saves planet. thanks to everyone who came along, it is much appreciated.

next blog will be post fringe festival, so expect an even longer entry.

pr machine
for andrew ridgeley
now the geeks have a union
wasted time
#1 hit song
tell me what to do
marty feldman eyes
dirty words & dusty corners
just like pigpen
if you see her, give her hell
i told him it was wrong
there's no smoke without you
-----
tattoo

hi. ... woah, they've change the blog layout on here! ... well, i've had almost three and a half thousand plays on this page now, which i'm pretty pleased about. last week i uploaded 'unkindness of ravens' from my second album and a full band version of 'there's no smoke without you', and now that tom lets us upload ten songs i'll add to that (including songs from my forthcoming album) shortly. anyway, please keep listening.

i just got back from playing at saks in southend with yasmin samadi, the brights and aristocrats (who had a great roackabilly/bluesy type song), all of whom were smashing. it was the first tumbledryer babies gig as a trio and i think it went pretty well. it's a shame there weren't more people there but a core bunch stuck about and that's good enough for me! also thanks to band for life for letting us play. you can read the setlist below, and i'll add pictures to myspace shortly.

i have a gig at the ship on the second of may which i'm very much looking forward to. i will upload the flyer when i next have access to a scanner (i'm too cheap to get my own) but you should know in advance that the lineup is great. melodie group plus sarah russell plus loads more, it's exciting stuff so come along if you can. also i am playing day two of the spring antifolk festival. this will be at the twelve bar on denmark street on the twentythird of may. it's going to be fantastic fun. other bands on the bill include thee intolerable kidd and faceometer, and there will be many more acts throughout the night. visit antifolk.co.uk for some more information about the festival.

my third album, songs from the trade, is out in june. it was originally going to be three themed eps but instead i decided that i might as well put all the songs on one album but divide them into three alliterative parts: self, sound and show (what with showbusiness being a nice topic of discussion). it's not a critique of showbusiness or anything - i had already written a song about marty feldman and orson welles, and when i set about writing one about elizabeth montgomery i realised, "there's a theme emerging here...". simple as that. also this album is potentially notable for the absence of stylophone, but there is a vibraslap. this natty percussive instrument was bought for me by my drumming friend mike. it is something i've wanted ever since hearing tom waits use one on mule variations. i read somewhere that tom waits records his drums in his bathroom; my bathroom lacks the space (and, more importantly, the acoustics) to emulate that sound, but my vibraslap sounds pretty darn good to me.

on the sixth of june i'll be running a stall at the southend fringe festival craft fair, from which i will be selling band merchandise. if you want me to sell your cds/tshirts/whatever i'll happily do so and won't take anything for the privilege - i'll just sell it for whatever price you want it sold at, and after the craft fair i'll send you the money from the merch you sold along with any unsold stuff. if you're interested just send me a message.

on a related note, for the fringe festival i am organising an anti-folk night at chinnery's. acts performing on the night include the tumbledryer babies (obviously), charlot webster, deferred sucess and m j hibbett. it's going to be an amazing evening so please come along. i can't wait. admission is amazingly cheap at three pounds. you can buy a ticket on the door or pay in advance (see the link on my myspace page). and don't forget to bring along a mixtape for charlot webster's mixtape exchange!!

anyway, i hope to see you at the ship on the second of may. until then.


pr machine
for andrew ridgeley
now the geeks have a union
wasted time
marty feldman eyes
tell me what to do
i told him it was wrong
just like pigpen
#1 hit song
there's no smoke without you

hi again. last night i played shangri-la at the railway hotel. amazingly it was the first time i'd been in the railway, yet alone played there. it is a very cool pub downstairs, with an upright piano and what i believed to be a beach boys greatest hits lp (i don't own any of their compilations so i couldn't tell you which one it was) playing in the background, and upstairs has really nice wallpaper, a grand piano and fairy lights. shangri-la is run by very cool and talented people. cusack opened and played an amazing version of femme fatale by the velvet underground, then tom burgess played a few songs which was great. i hadn't heard the peppermint apes before but they are a really strong rock n roll band with a touch of the coral about them. i liked their first song a lot. i gave a few of my songs their first outing; pr machine i wrote that afternoon but i remembered it ok as it is short; i had to abandon tired just after the intro because i realised there was no hope of me remembering all the words. i'll practice that song better for next time. nevertheless i had a great time as some of my favourite people were there to watch and all the music was great, and i got asked to do an encore which is always nice. thanks to the shangri-la people for letting me play, thanks to everyone who came and thanks to everyone who bought a cd (thanks cubed in one case) hope you enjoyed my set.

i began recording my next album leisurely on the fifth of february - in the last four weeks i recorded just two songs - but i intend to get busy with it as of now. i still have some writing to do for it so depending on how that goes it might be available by may. and hopefully you will be able to see the tumbledryer babies as a trio in a bar near you soon. i'll keep you posted obviously.