Sounds in the Grounds happens this Saturday on Stornoway Castle Green. We will be playing 3 new songs, Stornado, Keep your House Tidy and Picasso. These are from a new batch of songs that we have written together and we are really excited about. We will be on stage around 8pm, so, come down and check it out,

Charlie

Hello everyone,

we loved the show in Aberdeen at the weekend so thanks to everyone who came along. We are headlining the seedlings stage at Belladrum this Saturday night at 9.15 so please try and make it along. Also we will be doing the aftershow in Hootanannys after the festival wraps up. We will be playing 2 new songs over the next few shows they are "Stornado" & "Keep your house tidy". For those of you from home listen in on Monday to Drive Time on Isles FM for an exclusive playback of the album.

Charlie

New photos up from some of our recent live shows. take a look, leave a comment, spread the love.

We'll be coming to a town near you stay tuned!!!

review by Ross Gilchrist—

"On the last night of their tour Our Lunar Activities play the brimming Go North Stage with a local following on hand to send them off on holiday. Vocalist Charlie Clark, would make you swear he was American and Brian Molko's brother. It's alternative rock, with the tempo sensibilities of emo, a time capsule from the nineties. When bands like My Vitriol (remember them?) were tipped to be the next big thing. There's a twist though, the song writing is very modern, with influences ranging from the guitars of Pixies, to the harmonies of Jimmy Eat World and Idlewild, mixed with a chordal sensibility that most bands lack. Google them!"

I have never listened to Placebo... not knocking them, just asking to stop comparing us to them. It drives me insane! —Charlie

Hello everyone,

A big thank you to everyone who came to see us on this tour and at Rockness. It was such a great experience for us. We're very proud to have been involved with a number of talented bands and artists who played at Go North this year. What an inspiration! And a special thanks to Jori Kim, all his work for young musicians and aspiring bands from the Western Isles was noted over the last week.

We come from such a small community and our independent music scene has never been so vibrant. Big deals have been done over the last few months with so many different acts and quality of musicianship, it's remarkable. The Boy Who Trapped The Sun, Dotjr, William Campell (The Open Day Rotation), Manor Park Elite, Sean Harrison, Bluefields, Her Voice Resides, Keith Morrison (Face the west) are just a few of the bands doing the business right now. We're very proud to be a part of that.

OK, so loads of us play in each others bands but that in itself is testament to how healthy the scene is at the moment and regardless of the genre we all support each others will to succeed. People in the community like Jori Kim and Morray Weir (ERA) support Stornoway's thriving music scene in so many different ways, providing a platform for young (& old) musicians to reach as many people as possible. This is a really exciting time. There are so many good bands to check out it's up to you guys to go out there and support the island's talent.

James and I will be doing our part, showcasing as many bands as we can over the coming months between tours/single & album releases, at Kiss N Kill in ERA.

We also have some very special guests coming to DJ in September, more on that soon.

Feel the love,
Charlie

Hello Everyone,

I'm sitting on my ass watching a marathon of 'Nothing to Declare' on Living TV. Unloaded the van from the first few nights of the tour this morning and I'm glad to be doing nothing today.

Thanks to everyone who came to see us over the last few nights. It has been some time since we were on the road like this but now we have our live heads on, and we are loving it! A special thanks to the girl who came up from Dundee just to see us at Hootananny, wish we could have said thanks after the gig, but a long day of travel and a ropey first gig didn't make us the best of company.

So, the first single is going to be 'Break My Fall', which will be out in July with UK dates (North & South) to promote it. Our self titled debut will be out shortly after it in late summer.

James did a sterling job of supporting ourselves in Wick and won himself some new Dotjr fans. He stood on that stage in Wick for so long that night his legs still hurt. We really enjoyed Wick and all look forwrard to playing there again very soon.

Another big thank you to Bluefields who supported us last night in Harris, another in the long line of Derek's bands, these guys get better and better everytime I see them (and they blew me away the first time!). Check out their Myspace and look out for 'Dereks Daily Dilema Blog' coming very soon!

The beautiful tour poster on our page was done by Michelle Mondragon (Mitch), she'll be looking after design work for the album, singles and the launch of our various websites as well as t-shirts, badges and all the other good stuff we'll be selling online and at our gigs.

New press photographs were taken in Culver City & Apple Valley by our new friend Corey Seeholzer (Coreyseeholzer.com). We did several different variations from studio to location shoots, with Mitch art directing in the studio and Corey nearly breaking his neck on location. So look out for more soon as we are currently looking through thousands of photos. Cheers Corey!

We're really enjoying playing together and we're looking forward to playing on the next set of shows. We hope to see some of you at Rockness this year, as we are on at 5pm on the GoNorth stage, get your dinner and come along!

Charlie

Hi All,

Kevin and Charles heading to L.A next week to collect the masters of the finished album (about time!!) and for other band related business. O.L.A back in the U.S for shows ect early 2009.

Charles, James and Derek were interveiwed on Beta Records T.V show which was recorded the day after completing the recording. Click the link to watch. More news soon........

http://www.betarecords.com/beta/tv/episodes/

OLA HQ

Holy Shit,

We can confirm that Derek recorded his guitar parts with a broken wrist! We are in Glasgow till we go back to Stornoway tomorrrow, so he went to the Western Hospital to get it x-rayed. They put it in a cast and confirmed that it is very much broken. ( 4 - 6 weeks before the next show then) Thanks to everyone who gave Derek painkillers, they worked even if he did look a little strung out. What a true champ,

 

OLA

Hello Everyone,

we are on our second last day of recording and nearly finished the record. Thank Goodness. We did 3 shows round LA over the weekend, so thanks to everyone who made it along. Mark is currently putting tambourine down on "Keffine" at the time of writing this. Derek had a bit of a fall on Saturday night after the club Spaceland show. He took a tumble off our friend Mitch's driveway, flipped 360o and landed on his wrist. It was the sort of thing I personally have paid to see Stevo from Jackass do, but it turned out to be a little more serious than that. The new songs on the album are: Keffine, In the sun and The Cynicist. We had 6 to record but chose what we thought were the most instant. There are some new videos up youtube from the weekend. The BBC kindly gave us a camera to film this trip, so expect to see that up once we edit it down.

Charles

We were shocked and saddened to hear the horrific news of the crash involving Travis Barker, DJ Am, Lil Chris and Che.

Our deepest sympathies go to the families of all who passed and our prayers are with Travis and Adam wishing them both a speedy recovery.

We also extend our thoughts and prayers to Lil Chris's wife, family and friends. He was a great guy who always brightened up our day. He made us feel so welcome and we were taken with his instant charm, generosity and his funny stories. We all feel very priveliged to have had him touch our lives. He will be sorely missed by all that knew him. 

Charles, Kevin, Derek and James

 

 

It has been a while. We have been in the studio writing 8 new tracks and have now decided the album is not finished. We feel some of the tracks, 3 in particular, are better than anything on the album and just want to release the best debut we can. We are in the process of putting a timescale on this and what to record. Tour dates are being put together for the rest of the year and we are going to play a set of brand new material at this years sounds in the grounds. No oldies unfortunetly, All brand spanking new tunes. Rather than been eager to get what we thought was the finished record out to you folk, which we are, we want to get it right even though it has taken nearly 3 years, 2 producers, various labels and a whole load of other problems. Thankyou all for your support and patience and look forward to seeing you over the coming months,

 

Charles

Hi Everyone,

Put up two new songs "The Fire" and "Swimming Against The Tide".

Let us know your thoughts. Alot happening behind the scenes in O.L.A.

We have been busy writing new material thats sounding great, we

have 9 new songs that we are currently rehearsing. A couple of shows

next month, and a trip to L.A been organised for September all being well.

 

Peace and Love

 

OLA HQ

Hello everyone,

just to let you know, we will not be playing Dundee tomorrow night. Derek is not well enough to do the show. Sorry for the news

OLA HQ

Hi everyone,

It's been a rollercoster of a few weeks since returning from L.A. We are in the process of  sorting out alot of things and will hopefully be returning to the States very soon. This is one of the main reasons we have not been touring. We also have no further updates on a release date for the album yet but you will be the first to know. This is very frustrating for us too! Until the powers that be decide whats happening there is very little we can do.

We were lucky enough to see some footage from the film/computer game that we are doing the soundtrack to out in the U.S, It was cut into live footage of the band from 'House of blues' and looks amazing. More news on that very soon.

Kevin came up for a weeks rehersal to the new studio we have built in Lewis. We now have 3 new tracks which we will be playing live once we get out on the road again.

Derek was taken into hospital last week and had to have a small operation but is ok. James and I went to see him on Thursday night and then took him home on Friday so he has been resting up. We got the call to do this show last Friday so I hope Derek is back to  full health by then , but his health is priority. No Derek, No shows.

OLA HQ

 

Well, we have been exposed to the sun for nearly a week now and are all beginning to look like California Rasins. (Brown and Wrinkly)

Been working very hard over the last few days and just back to our hotel from our
Show in NOCTURNAL in Santa Monica.

Awesome venue and had a great night. We would like to thank everyone who made this possible for us and we have been overwhelmed by the generosity, hospitality and the lengths people have gone to, to make this all happen for us.


House of Blues tomorrow if Charlie and Kevin can walk after plastering Santa Monica with flyers and getting a tad lost on the way back!

Stoked and looking forward to it.

OLA HQ