CHANGE OF VENUE AND DATE FOR SWILL'S SOLO GIG!!!

PLEASE NOTE: CHANGE OF VENUE AND DATE HAS BEEN BROUGHT FORWARD BY ONE DAY!

Gig relocated to the LORD NELSON INN
36 Trafalgar Street
Brighton, BN1 4ED
Tel: 01273 695 872
website: www.thelordnelsoninn.co.uk

More information: info@irregularrecords.co.uk

Date changed to THURSDAY 3RD DECEMBER


Well-known as an essential member of The Men They Couldn't Hang, as well as front-man of the Swaggerband, Phil "Swill" Odgers is also a fine solo performer. His influences span a huge range of punk, alternative country, rock and folk. His solo work (always acoustic) lays more stress on the vocals than TMTCH, and Swill's aim is always for the sound to be "simple and lively".

Due to concentrating on writing, recording and touring TMTCH’s latest album ‘Devil On The Wind’ this is Swill’s ONLY solo gig this year. There will also be a couple of very special guests on making surprise appearances throughout Swill’s set. You’d be a fool to miss it.

On this occasion the Hove Folk Club has had to move to a new locale. Here's the info from the promoter:

"Hi everybody,
& it was all going soooo well...
& then the Eclipse gets closed for refurbishment. HOWEVER the good news is we have been very kindly - & happily - rehoused in temporary accommodation, the conservatory of the fabulous Lord Nelson in Trafalgar St (not actually in Hove, more sort of ... very close to Brighton Station which is one stop along from Hove).
We have had to move Swill's gig to Thursday 3rd December. But otherwise - it will be the usual top night out, a fiver minimum, performers welcome, emergency toxic houmous back on the raffle prize list, Friday night a day early, & the Lord Nelson is an utterly superb establishment.
hope to see you there
salud
robb johnson
club disorganiser"

Please remember that the folk club is not organised by the pub, and they will not necessarily have full information about future events - so please direct your enquiry to info@irregularrecords.co.uk, where it will reach people who are knowledgeable, helpful and wise.

Whatever your musical preferences, Swill is gonna knock yer socks off!!!

MySpace: www.myspace.com/swillandtheswaggerband

To celebrate the re-publication of HATER and the forthcoming release of DEVIL ON THE WIND, the new album by The Men They Couldn’t Hang (visit www.tmtch.net for news of  album, EP and tour), we’ve combined forces to run an exclusive competition. Click here (before 30 April) and answer a very simple question for a chance to win one of three copies of the UK hardback edition of HATER, signed by both David Moody and my humble self!

.... For more information on the film release and to check the bullettin
board for news and comments, click here and here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1156187/board

.... OK, that's all for now, next blog will have an update on TMTCH EP (it'll be ready April 10th) and the Album (It'll be released on June 1st but may be up on iTunesbefore then).

Don't forget the competition closes 30th April (Click Here)..

As I mentioned in the previous post, it's been a busy time again. Very busy time. In July The Men They Couldn't Hang all went off to Canada for a few days to play at the Calgary Folk Festival. That's where the new photo on my profile was taken. Thanks to Doug Callow for that (I lifted it off the Calgary Festival website)

This was our first trip to Canada for many years and a fine time was had by all. The Calgary festival rocked, hospitality was full on, we made plenty of new friends and, I could be wrong, but I don't think we made any new enemies - which is nice.

We did a set on the mainstage:

Paul, Cush and I also played 3 'sessions' on various other stages.

Cush Giving It Some at Calgary 2008

Billy made me laugh a lot on the first night as we stood outside the hotel smoking and having a beer - he kept saying how thrilled he was to be in America!!

Another funny thing was Paul getting refused when trying to buy cigarettes from a 7-11 as they said he needed to prove his age first. I think you need to be over 30 to purchase tobacco there or something but still, come on…

We arrived 2 days before we were going to play so we had plenty of time to relax and sample a few bars and meet folk. The people working on the festival, and the other musicians, seemed to be particularly friendly and it puts to shame the prevalent attitude at many of the UK's festivals.

I asked if any of the organisers would know of any fiddle players that might want to join us on stage and busk through a song or two and was soon given a list of about 20 people that might be up for it. First on my list was Aidan O'Rourke who plays Fiddle with Lau (and it turned out comes from my home town of Oban) but they were going to be playing at the same time us so that was a no. No worries though, as next on the list turned out to be the lovely Kendel Carson -

Kendle joined us for 3 songs and did a marvellous job of levelling out the testosterone in the band. She plans to revisit the UK in early 2009 either solo or as part of the band 'Outlaw Social' so if you fancy some cool fiddle playing then you should check her out. Watch this space for details.

We spent a good bit of time hanging out in the backstage bar area (what a surprise) and it was there that we had the pleasure to meet Brett and Rennie Sparks who are better known as the Handsome Family.

Handsome Family at Calgary 2008

I embarrassed myself by saying that the last time we had met was when we were doing a gig together at The Ocean Club in Hackney and they said 'Oh yes' and then I said that Rennie had been heavily pregnant at the time and they said 'Oh no'. Of course it wasn't them at all -God, how many husband and wife Gothic/Alt Country bands can there be??? Anyway, they forgave me my trespasses and for the next couple days the 2 bands seemed to be a semi permanent fixture around that table. It turns out that we have a lot in common - even the coincidence of one of my MySpace friends being a good pal of theirs - a guy called Jon Forrest Little (http://www.myspace.com/jonforrestlittle) who, over a year ago, I'd chatted with about collaborating on some musical projects. This reminded me that I need to get back to that song and see how it turns out. That, in turns reminds me, that I must get on with my musical projects in general!!

New Musical Projects

Ages ago I had planned to put together a list of potential traditional songs or covers that I might do that are maybe a bit more folky or diverse than usual and I had asked for ideas of songs that you might recommend. I've had quite a few suggestions and have found a good, reasonably priced studio in Chiswick W4 called Collabora where I've been putting some tracks down for a possible EP release early next year while we are working on TMTCH's new album. It's been interesting to see some of the suggestions and if you have any more ideas keep them coming, I'm obviously not going to agree with every song that you recommend but there's bound to be 1 or 2 that work well. To give you an idea I've put up a rough, unfinished version of one of the tracks I've started recording. It's called 'Ellan Vannin' and seems appropriate at this moment in time when our postwomen and men are being bullied to speed up in an effort to save money.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Lastly, there are 2 TMTCH gigs this week:

THE MEN THEY COULDN'T HANG will be appearing at a very special Xmas Party at London's groovy 100 Club on Friday 19th December.

Special guests are THE WITCHDOCTORS plus a DJ until midnight.

Tickets are a modest £15 in advance, the party runs from 7.30pm to 12 midnight. Tickets are selling super-fast but can be had from www. rhythmat. com and the 'usual agents'. The 100 Club is located at 100 Oxford Street, London W1D 1LL and is midway between Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road tubes.

www. rhythmat. com

Saturday 20th December 2008. TMTCH will play at Leeds Rios.Tickets are £12.50 advance and available from www.rios-leeds.com

Cheers,

Swill

Ellan Vannin

The Men They Couldn't Hang are heading off to Calgary Folk Festival for the weekend. It's a long way to go for such a short amount of time but we're bound to plough plenty into the 3 days we're there.

We've got the Friday pretty clear so we'll take in the scenery and settle in – I'm sure we'll find plenty to keep us occupied. We usually do!

Then it all kicks off for us on the Saturday.

TMTCH are playing the Mainstage near the end of the night but during the daytime itself Paul, Cush and myself will be doing an acoustic session. Read the following write up by Chumbawamba  to get an idea of what these are like.

Our first session of the weekend is Sat. 3:20 – 4:30 pm Field stage 3 and is with

Lau
Sam Baker
Martyn Joseph is the host.

Then on the Sunday we do 2:15 – 3:20 pm ship stage 1 with

Martyn Joseph
Kobo Town
Mark Erelli is the host.

And a little while later at 4:15 – 5:30 pm mercury stage 4 with 

Joel Fafard
Tim O'Brien
Eliana Cuevas is the host.

We haven't been to Canada for a long, long while so we're very much looking forward to this jaunt, meeting up with old friends and getting a little sunshine.  Come and say hello if you're around.

There are some TMTCH 'Calgary Folk Festival 2008' T-shirts being printed up locally. They're really just to be sold on the day but we may be able to hold back a few if anyone wants us to try and reserve one especially – let us know and we'll see what we can do.

For full details of the Calgary Folk Festival visit the following link:  www.calgaryfolkfest.com

Cheers

Swill

THE MEN THEY COULDN'T HANG – DEMO'S & RARITIES VOL.2

Demo's and Rarities Vol 2 is now all pressed up and ready to slip into your CD player or MP3 player of choice. If you want to order a copy nip over to the mail order section at www.TMTCH.net.

It's only taken 1/3^rd of a year longer than planned  - which, for a TMTCH project, isn't bad for us at all. We're still waiting to go in and record our new album and we'd planned to have that all done months ago!!

D&R V2 is our 2nd collection of TMTCH demo's from the 80's, includes some lost gems that we'd all but forgotten about. 'Broadway Melody', for example, is a recording that we made way back probably around 1985 or 1986. I wouldn't bet on the date for sure but was somewhen around then. The two things I do remember clearly from that session are:

1.  Eating the dodgiest kebab imaginable but being just too hungry not to.

2.  The overwhelming damp smell of the studio (unrelated to the kebab).

We recorded 'Broadway Melody' at Pathway Studios in Islington. This small, 8 Track studio, was run by Mike Finesilver who'd made some money as a co-writer of the 60's one hit wonder 'Fire' by 'The Crazy World of Arthur Brown'. With the royalties he bought the little shed like building that became Pathway Studios.  The walls of this place were not only full of mildew but were also seeped in British new wave music history. Much of the early Stiff Records stuff had been recorded there including Elvis Costello's album 'My Aim is True'. In fact it may well have been Elvis Costello or Nick Lowe that had recommended it to us as we had worked with both of them round about this time (Elvis Costello signing us up to his Imp label and Nick Lowe producing 'Greenback Dollar' and 'Night to Remember'). It could have been encouragement from Andrew Lauder (our champion at Demon Records) or Andrew Cheeseman who was our manager by then and had worked with Elvis Costello for many years and was also manager of The Damned - another band on the Stiff label that had done time at Patway. Other outfits of note who'd recorded there included Ian Dury, Squeeze, Madness, The Police, Dire Straits…

Pathway Studio is now long gone as are most of the establishments named in 'Broadway Melody'.

Listening back to this recording I'm amazed that the song never made it further than demo stage. Demo'd at the same time as 'Shirt Of Blue' and 'Going Back To Coventry' (which are also on D&R Vol 2) it must have been aimed as a track for our 2nd LP – 'How Green Is The Valley' – but perhaps it just got lost in the transition from our indie home with Demon/Imp to the becoming, briefly, a cog in MCA machine. Or maybe it was just thought to be too folky!

This recording is rough but it's got guts. Perhaps it's nostalgic look at a Hammersmith that is gone now but was vibrant then is actually better in hindsight. I don't think we've seen the last of this one yet.

Another song that appears here and never made it any further than a demo is 'More Than Enough'. This would have been intended as a track for our 4th album  - 'The Domino Club' and was written and recorded around 1989. Inspired by characters very close to us in the spit and sawdust days of The Bush Ranger this is a very rough outline -  just a vocal and guitar as an idea of a song I'd hoped we might record as a full band. It wasn't to be.

All rest of the songs were re-recorded and produced to a greater or lesser degree along the way from MCA to arriving back with Andrew Lauder, this time with Silvertone Records, where we were to record our only two consecutive albums on the same label. All, that is, except 'Walking To Wigan Casino'…

The main thing that I remember about this song was trying to go through it as a band in Nomis Rehearsal Studio's in Shepherds Bush circa 1990. Cush really wanted it to have a Northern Soul feel to it but we just weren't getting it and after Jon downed sticks in exasperation we decided to give it a rest. It was temporarily revived in this recording but the only percussion you'll hear here is some handclaps towards the end. Once again this song was dropped. It's a shame cos I reckon this could have been a Cush classic.

The complete track list is as follows:

1. Down All The Days (Demo: Silvertown) 02:45

2. Going Back To Coventry (Demo: How Green Is The Valley) 03:37

3. Broadway Melody (Rarity – Unreleased Early Recording) 02:52

4. Great Expectations (Demo: Domino Club) 03:31

5. Grave Robbing In Gig Harbour (Demo: Domino Club) 04:08

6. More Than Enough (Rarity – Demo: Domino Club Era) 03:22

7. Rain, Steam & Speed (Demo: Silvertown) 03:42

8. Shirt Of Blue (Demo: How Green Is The Valley) 03:33

9. Walking To Wigan Casino (Rarity – Demo: Domino Club Era) 04:09

10. Handyman (Demo: Domino Club) 03:35

11. You're The One (Demo: Domino Club) 02:39

The collection sums up a great time in TMTCH's history. We've dedicated it to Pat the Lock & Andy Briscoe good old friends of ours from those Bush Ranger days who sadly, and coincidently, both passed away this week. But they live on in our hearts and minds and I'll always listen to 'Great Expectations' and think of them in that bar and our crowd of friends and our big dreams.

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PARTY.PARTY

If you can make it along to Brighton on 30^th March I'd like to invite you to a little party at our good mate Roy's pub 'The Duke of Wellington'..– There'll be solo sets from my good self plus Robb Johnson, Paul Simmonds, Naomi Bedford and you never know who else might drop in …? This is a daytime do  - things should get started around 1PM and wind up at about 6PM. The Duke of Wellington is at 386 Brighton Road, West Sussex, BN43 6RE Tel: 01273 389818 (say that Swill invited you). More info at: http://www.small-axe.com/birthday 

Free admission ...of course you could always buy a CD or get one of us struggling artists pint if you insist!!

GIGS.GIGS.GIGS.GIGS.GIGS.GIGS.GIGS.CIGS.GIGS.GIGS.FIGS.GIGS

15^th March – TMTCH with Stiff Little Fingers at Manchester Academy. Details will be at www.manchesteracademy.net

20^th March – Solo with Chumbawumba 100 Club London

21^st March – TMTCH 100 Club London

22^nd March – TMTCH Gosport Folk Festival. Osborn Road, Fareham, Hampshire. Box Of?ce 01329 231942 (With The Oysterband). www.gosportfestival.co.uk

30^th March – The Duke of Wellington, 386 Brighton Road, West Sussex, BN43 6RE Tel: 01273 389818 (SEE 'PARTY' ABOVE).

OK, that's all for now. Let me know what you think of the Demo's and Rarities CDs. Always like to hear what you've got to say. Also, let me know if this blog is too long for ya!!

Cheers for now

Swill

Hi there

It's the 1st of February already! Next week Paul, Ricky and I are gonna get together for the first rehearsal of 2008 and run through acoustic versions of new songs for the TMTCH album that we'll be recording soon. Also, Paul will be picking up a lovely new Mandolin courtesy of Ozark instruments (thought I'd just drop a plug in there for 'em).

Cush won't be able to make that rehearsal so we should be able to get plenty done and the local off license won't have to worry about stocking up on extra bottles of white wine – only joking Cush!! In fact he'll be doing the decent thing and taking care of his new baby. That's right he's just become a Dad again (number 3 and this time it's a girl). Congratulations Cush and Rachael!!


Last night I burned the midnight oil working on a tune to some lyrics that Paul sent me. By the early hours of the morning I'd recorded the following on a small Boss 4 track recorder. It's a rough recording but I'm very pleased with the result and, because it'll no doubt change and evolve further by the time it appears on the album, I wanted to put it up here now so that I can share it with you.

I was also keen for you to see Paul's lyrics. I found them very moving and they were perfect for me to write to. The day Cush's daughter was born I also got a call to say that my Step Mother had died. She had been part of my family for 33 years. Her death was an unexpected shock. The funeral service was last week and it still seems unreal.


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Heartbreak Park

Two boys went down to Heartbreak Park
Two boys went down to Heartbreak Park
Where the knives and the glass they flash like sparks
In Heartbreak Park

Two sons went down to Heartbreak Park
Two sons went down to Heartbreak Park
Where the shirts so white turn red in the dark
In Heartbreak Park

O son what have they done to you?
In the field where we used to run with the football as you grew
It makes your daddy cry, It makes your daddy blue
When you're lying in the stark of Heartbreak Park

Two men went down to Heartbreak Park
Two men went down to Heartbreak Park
To fetch their sons where the dogs do bark
In Heartbreak Park

Two boys went down to Potters Field
Two boys went down to Potters Field
Their families followed and the bells did peal
But the wounds don't heal, in Potters Field
In the silent dark of Heartbreak Park

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Have a listen to the recording on the MySpace music player and let us know what you think. I plan to do a live version of this on Sunday (Feb 3rd) at The Hive. Pop along if you can.

Cheers

Swill