Ladyfest Manchester!!!

Nov; After Mina nearly did what Ari Up did at the end of Shoplifting, when she learnt we were playing with The Slits, we took the cheapo sMegabus (complete with broken flush mechanism in the toilet, leaving a permanently-exposed stinkhole) to Manchester. After the first of many chai latte's, K shuffles off to the Zion centre, and Mina to her friend Morag's (where she promptly falls asleep). Helen doesn't get to Manchester til 11pm, So friday's entertainment is all K's. Sophie's Pigeons provide a suitably batty opening, Geek Girl were as great as I remember 'em from our first-ever gig in Brighton, Awesome Mol- no, Amazing Moll- no, AMAZON Molly were a literally-last-minute replacement for Awesome Wells, just 2 of 'em, looking a bit lost on the Zion's huge stage, but endearingly sweet, not to mention mildly eccentric, nonetheless. Hotpants Romance are the Marmite band of the night, but who else could get away with going offstage to tune their guitars? Some people do hate them, but they probably disapprove of all things fun. Yah boo sucks. After Zombina pull out, Das Wanderlust are deservedly elevated to headliners. The normally-effervescent Andy seems to be on a bit of a downer though, after many disappointments this year, not least pitiful reasons to dismiss their single, 'Puzzle'. And he seems to think they didn't go down well tonight.. ..

      Saturday afternoon's highlight was the Counter Culture panel discussion, featuring Prof.Sheila Rowbotham and Amelia Fletcher amongst others, and a bizarre choice of intro music (KC & The Sunshine Band, 'That's The Way I Like It'?! Not exactly appropriate), with opine varying from 'too heavy' to 'not heavy enough', and i'm sure a lot of You-can-think-of-a-thousand-better-things-to-say-after-you've-left-the-room. For the first time this weekend, we all hook up, and go see the Suicidal Birds in the Cabaret room- despite extreme sound problems- on both floors, they run an hour late in the main hall- the 'Birds wow us and should've been on the main stage. We catch a bit of possible future labelmates Kids Love Lies, whose bassist had earlier given Helen wrist burns in the Tai Chi self defence workshop.. Miss The Occupier & Shrag didn't really grab the attention as much as hoped, but The Duloks, aka The Emo PE Teachers, know all about that- Mira can work a crowd, K could learn a lot from her. Having seen Manda Rin, K knew what to expect, and flitted in & out, while plans were made to head to the afterparty at Saki Bar. Or should I say Sticky Bar? The floor's like freshly-laid tarmac, and impedes any efforts at dancing. The extra effort forces Helen & K to give in to tiredness- K can barely talk when chatting to Lowri Hotpants- and K calls out Adam to take him back to Cherryade Towers like a kid ringing his dad.

      Sunday sees us scattered across various workshops, nursing various pains, and getting various soundcheck times.. Despite various stresses, Vic & Ste look relatively calm.. MC Envy, looking like a real life PaRappa The Rapper, has the lyric of the weekend- "I've done too many shots, you're starting to look hot, but oh no, you're not". Hug Party's iPod has sound issues, but they pull it together, and most of the crowd love 'em. We were... alright. K underestimates the crowd's catching abilities and nearly knocks someone out with bags of cola bottles.. he'll never learn. The Lovely Eggs are just that- Lovely, that is, not eggy. Drummer David- Or is it Holly? Ahh, they've dressed up as each other!- has a very impressive contraption with assorted percussion & whistly things. And they decorate the stage with pumpkins! The Bobby Mcgees contend admirably with a Special Brew-swilling heckler, and are deliciously funny as ever. Backstage, Jimmy Mc is severely downhearted about how badly they went down. Rest assured, Jimmy- Not from where we were standing. They were brilliant. Hooker wow an ever-increasing crowd (really surprised they're not bigger than they are), as do Vile Vile Creatures- world domination can't be far away, surely?

      Mina is the first to retire for the night, and K & Helen abscond to refuel with vodka & energy drink combo's- K recommends vodka & blue Powerade- before catching the last euphoric moments of The Slits. We give Viv A. an EP- needless to say, we were elated when she said she liked us!- and help with the cleanup operation.

      K gave his love & farewells to Rachael & Adam Cherryade- not before Adam nearly drove off with K's stuff still in his car boot!!- and said farewell to Manchester with Mina over an Earl Grey. Tea- it's the new rock & roll.

      Massive thanks to EVERYONE involved with Ladyfest Manchester.. We all had a great time.

Merry Christmas & Happy new year...

A year in the life of CPA..

      Jan-May; The EP got a flurry of coverage, thanks to the lovely Huw Stephens playing not one but two tracks off it! And partly due to a delayed Download release, so thanks in hindsight to Cargo.. Also, Resonance FM, Altrok Radio (USA), Raadio 2 (Estonia!), and several podcasts played tracks off it. But unfortunately we couldn't support it with live gigs due to long-term illness...:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

June-July; Dipped a tentative toe back into gigging waters at JAMM in Brixton, where we played with the lovely Prince Katoco (who tried to blag a free EP.. We liked you, but not THAT much :)), and not for the first time this year, some bands didn't turn up.. Kerry- sorry, K* (pretentious twat).. did a DJ set at Betty & The Werewolves single launch at the Old Blue Arse, and finally I get to see Delia Schla/Manic Cough/etc/etc's other-other-band, The Nuns, essentially a Monks tribute bands (For 5 bonus points, what were The Monks formerly known as?- K), and another band, whose name escapes, but K offered the guitarist £20 for his Kenickie t-shirt. Undervaluing, obviously.

      Tom Robinson plays us on his 6Music show! So three times we've been played on BBC national radio now.. After midnight. We'll edge closer to the watershed soon, I hope.

      Queerbash in Camberwell, well, despite being on a different day as Ste McCabe, and Drunk Granny pulling out, much oddness was seen.. And Helen's Evil Twin. Heheh. K learnt a valuable lesson, and won't be eating jaffa cakes just before he has to do backing vocals again. Our efforts in gig promotion proved yet again fruitless- or are we just jinxed? Several bands spurned the opportunity to play our Ladyfest Manchester benefit at the Soho Arts theatre, the Venom Seeds were so desperate not to play, that they split up.. Just kidding. Unfortunate as they were an ace band, but they couldn't go on without a drummer, and a pregnant guitarist I guess. Iraq (The band, not the country) did play, as did the ever-dependable Marie Tueje, and Emily C Smith's new venture, Lorcas. But we did manage to attract people from as far afield as Birmingham (thanks, Steve!). And K made his biggest onstage faux pas yet.

      Aug-Sept; Rhythm Factory, Whitechapel. After spending a weekend in Cornwall in a tent, K learnt another valuable lesson; Ignore West Country weather forecasts. Subsequently, he plays while succumbing to cold symptoms. Another deluge greets us in Leeds, K's beginning to feel like Calamity James in The Beano. The bands at the Cardigan Arms are ace, most of all The Bumblebees and bedroom genius-plus-assistant Exit Flagger. Pity they and about 5 other people are there to see it. At least we don't feel like such failures at gig promotion now.

      Oct; Played Death By Stereo in New Cross, really nice venue, free gig, ace music, good promoters (Emma & Gemma, who also run She Bop)- what could go wrong? How about a flu virus, wiping out most of our invited audience? (not literally- they are all alive and well, this ain't the 13th century) And, seemingly, the third band.. The MiscondŸcters, an Anglo-Hungarian threesome, do make it, along with their extensive drumkit.

      The cartoon video for What's He Got is done! And it looks ace, many many thanks to Jess Cheeseman & David Garrett for all their efforts. And plans are made with Angela Martin of Tiny Tigers for recording..

Who said we were a cartoon band?! Umm, no one actually. But now we are!!

In our own comic strip advenure..

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=eId-F1Z5qeg

..Which came about after K* contacted ace cartoonist (and erstwhile Smack The Pony sketch-writer) David Garrett about doing a comic strip to tie in with the lyrics of What's He Got.. When animator extraordinaire (and erstwhile standin CPA vocalist, for it is she on the Squirrel Records compilation) Jessica Cheeseman said she could bring it to life, like the Grange Hill title sequence.. It was much easier said than done, which is why we wanna give much love, hugs, kudos, baked beans, and alcoholic beverages to Jess who worked real hard what with our (well, K*'s) added hindrances, and David for his pen-skills.

But this ain't the last of our audio-visual presentations...

CPAx

We're having a t-shirt clearout, and the last few- and I mean few, there's only one of each left, all in MEDIUM size, regular or fitted where stated only! For the knockdown price of £4 plus pee & pee!

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u307/candypanicattack/t%20shirts/cpacoverlogo.jpg

 our fancy original logo on Black regular fit..

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u307/candypanicattack/t%20shirts/cparefresh.jpg

The not-uninspired-by-Refreshers logo on Black regular or Pink fitted..

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u307/candypanicattack/t%20shirts/cpacookies.jpg

Mmmmm, coooookie... On yellow fitted.

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u307/candypanicattack/t%20shirts/cpadream.jpg

The one-off Strawberry Dream logo on Black regular.

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u307/candypanicattack/t%20shirts/cpablue.jpg

A brand new one, on Orange regular fit.

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u307/candypanicattack/t%20shirts/cpayell.jpg

Ditto. On Green regular.