Dear you
It's true, this is my 50th blog on myspace since I wrote a humble little note in purple italics back in December 2005 I think it was? This one was proving a bit tricky to get my head round, because up until a couple of days ago, I spent the last couple of weeks walking round in a ball of impotent rage, punctuated by decisive time outs to talk or get away with friends.
If I'd written this blog last week it would have been pretty destructive, but I've always been an optimist, albeit one who can see the pitfalls lurking even if they don't stir to the surface for a millennia. When I ignore these, then get a savage bite, it's not cool, but like all all optimists I give life a chance to fix things. And I do actually feel a lot better now, phew!!
Look at that, the first paragraph and I've already gone intense on you ; ) It probably doesn't help that I watched Saw, Saw 2, Saw 3 and Saw 4 over the weekend with the Scorpio. The movies were mostly way better than I expected them to be. He hadn't seen them either, but you know when you've got to stop when you see a bloke screaming and then poking his own eyes out and you're sitting there thinking… 'and?'
We also watched The Prestige with Hugh ' take your shirt off baby, please' Jackman in it, which was a fantastic movie. Christopher Nolan is a great director, he's yet to make a film I don't like. The other film we caught a bit off was this hilariously, bad b-movie called ' Insecticidal' on some horror cable channel - it featured this blonde with the most amazing pneumatic chest that had me in fits of laughter. Here she is:
It was all extremely tongue in cheek, and had this high school kids being pursued around their house by giant bugs. If I hadn't been ready to sleep on my feet by then, I would have given it the benefit of the doubt and waited to see how those bad boy bugs fared.
Since last blogging there's been some quite extreme highs and lows. Some gestures of generosity and kindness that put a huge smile on my face, like my friend Pete getting his mits on some extremely longed for Elemis tartware for me, and then disappointments like telling a friend that I was going to have to go to deal with putting my cat down and there being no reaction whatsoever.
The latter was pretty upsetting, but when I talked to my brother he said some people didn't understand the love a family can have for an animal, but I still find it hard to swallow that you can't just convey compassion for someone who's going to suffer a loss that's clearly a big deal for them. I take things pretty personally I know, but I don't know how else to on this score. I think it tells you something about the person in the context of who they are.
We lost Tigs last October to cancer, which was horrible. And Emma, the cat we lost on March 31st was the cat we got from the RSPCA when I was 17, on the basis of a promise I'd made my dad make when I was 7. Yes, indeed I have a long memory, and I reminded him every year as I got older. So when I hit 17 and I'd got my Maths GCSE resit out of the way ( I'd failed to turn over and spot the last page, ALWAYS turn over the exam paper kids, even if the page questions end half way down the penultimate page) I came home to find this teeny tortie at the top of the stairs with the biggest, greenest emerald eyes looking at me. It was a cool moment I will never forget. She was ferocious, sweet, patient, devious and demanding. We loved her. She would have been twenty years old this year we reckon.
As it was we lost her, due to a genuinely stupid vet standing in for her usual one who was on holiday, who lied in the case notes and provided shitty care. I am not going into the details, but suffice to say, a negligence claim is being pursued. This all happened in three days.
The day after she was put down, Hush The Many headlined their UK Revolve tour at 93 Feet East. I had several friends go along to this. I didn't go. It didn't feel right for several reasons, but again, I was touched by the consideration of some of the sweethearts that are in my life. My friend Helen sent me a recording from the gig, and my friend Fran rang me several times and held her mobile up so I could hear some of the songs. I was wrapped in a scarlet towelling gown, curled up on the bed listening. It was a very sweet thing of her to do. She's a great girl. I didn't go to Tallulah Rendall's EP launch either, I've hibernated a lot lately to be honest, despite all this stuff you're reading about now.
Losing the birthday cat was definitely the worst thing since last blogging. My family were gutted, especially my sister who's room she slept in. For the first time in almost twenty years there isn't a feline between us. Feels very strange.
One of the coolest things by contrast, actually happened the day before I discovered I was going to lose Emma. How's that for a 180 degree turn in emotion? It was going along to support Revere at Glastonbury. That was such a fun, spontaneous thing to do. The call came at a really good time as I needed a massive distraction from a bittersweet migraine, and what better way could there be then going along to cheer my heart out for one of my favourite, favourite bands?
Here are some pix from the night:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33797&l=252ce&id=699005810
Revere had entered a competition with Q magazine to be short listed to open this years festival. Tons of bands entered and they were short listed down to the final 12, which is pretty damn cool in itself. The deal was that all 12 bands/artists then played a short set for listening pleasure of Radio 1's Huw Stephens, Michael and Emily Eavis and some music magazine and broadsheet writers and then a winner would be chosen at the end.
Singer, Stephen Ellis rang me on Sunday morning and said he had a ticket for me, and their manager Tony could collect me from my flat and take me up to Pilton and then the band could bring me home on the way back. Was I up for that? The answer. OF COURSE!!
So I jumped in the bath, got myself together, and me and Tony drove down in his very lovely Jaguar. He played me stuff he wanted me to hear for my opinion, and I played him Hush The Many and F.Lunaire to return the favour.
We got there in good time, in glorious sunshine to find van loads of fans, wide eyed musicians all looking like fetuses to my eyes. Me and Tony went in, found our band, hello's and hugs later we got our tickets and then went to find some sustenance.
We were both starving and found this lovely big pub enroute and I had egg and chips with a squillion sachets of condiments ( I am a total condiment freak, you should see my fridge) and a pint of cider. Then rushed back to the Pilton Working Men's Club to find the night underway. Revere were on second. We headed to the front. An extremely excited Gabby Young was there with her Ma. Ma Young was drawing the band rather than taking pix which was pretty cool. Michael Eavis was stood on the side, arms crossed, clad in courdroy pants, watching on.
Got to say he's not half as cuddly as his media persona makes him out to be. I was talking to Revere's guitarist Jon Fletcher after the gig about him, and he spluttered ' the man is a legend!' Maybe so, I liked his daughter, she's a passionate, friendly, down to earth heart, I would have liked to have talked to her more, but I had a ride with the band and only found her near the end of the night. But the man himself for me at least was a bit of a disappointment.
Why? Well when I spoke to him, he looked at my tits like they were candy when he was talking to me, and asked me if me and Tony were together, and no I don't think I took it the 'wrong' way, and no my top wasn't see through. As soon as I told him no I was a fan and friend of the band and a writer, his eyes glazed over. I told Stephen this later on, and he blushed and said ' he is but a man!' Nonetheless, I still think having this kind of competition was a great, great thing, and it didn't ruin my night or anything, just opened my eyes to how powerful PR is and made me chuckle. It was funny watching him chat to other wide eyed nubile lovelies throughout the night. What a man.
Revere didn't win, but they will be playing Glastonbury as will all the bands that competed. Eavis told me this at the start of the night, but no one else seemed to know this. The winners were announced in a slightly shambolic fashion, two were chosen in the end, both of them played the night before so it was a shame we couldn't congratulate them as they weren't there and Eavis got their names wrong.
But I had a fab time as no one I watched made me want to scream, I got to, talk to tons of folk around me who were there supporting loved ones, or playing in bands. There was a lovely guy who played in a band called The Franks who bore an uncanny resemblance to Florian T who sings under the name of F.Lunaire ( Flo's going to be playing at Koko in May), and a great singer called Rod Thomas who did a genuinely wonderful solo set of sweetly bright, melodic songs and used pedals to create quite a luscious sound. He's played with Revere so knew the band, but it was the first time I'd met him. He came upto me after the set, and gave me his CD and thanked me for wearing a smile throughout when watching him. That really touched me. My emotions when I'm at a gig are incredibly transparent, I don't know, good music when it makes sense first time is an aural pleasure for me. Sometimes I will dance to a whole set and not even know I am doing it.
Later on I spooked Revere's drummer James Garnett by guessing his starsign correct first time, and he, I and Jon watched last years winner Liz Greene together before the winners were announced. She's a bit like Coco Rosie, and later on I told her I liked the song she did when she jumped down from her chair the most.
The person I was most delighted to meet, even if it was only briefly was Huw Stephens who plays wonderful music on BBC Radio. He's got a genuine love for what he does and a supportive ethos for emerging bands. He was one of the judges on the night, and understandably with all those musicians in the house, pretty swamped. But I told him how cool it was that he'd been so supportive of playing Hush The Many and having them in for studio sessions and he looked really pleased at that.
So for me all in all it was a great night, Revere were amazing that night and probably the best I have seen them play. They gave it everything, I came home with Ellie, Nathanial, Eve, Al, Ryan and James at about 3am, and went online and played the winners myspace players, and while they were unique and hooky, in truth they did nothing for me, but music is such a subjective thing.
Anyway, I'm not sure I'd want to win an extra category created for a 'Muse and Coldplay type band' as described so lovingly by Mr Rampant Rabbit. I think Revere are going to have an amazing time whichever stage they play and this year is panning out to be progressive for them. If you want to catch them, they are playing 93 Feet East on Brick Lane on May 1st, which is also Ellie ( plays violin) 's birthday. Go to their page and listen to ' The Escape Artist' I had it on my page all last week, it's just spine tingling as it peaks towards the end. Despite my still humble unemployed status, I donated some cash towards them making the video for this song. As bands go, they've been generous to me, sometimes it's nice to return the favour.
God it is bucketing down outside! I've just closed the sliding doors on my balcony, at least my flowers are happy, and even though it's midday as I write, I am going to have to turn the light on as it's got really dark here!
Yes, work or lack off. This credit crunch thing is partly to blame for how quiet the freelance side of things are I think, and also my own partial inertia. I have been applying for stuff as I see it there, but not been shortlisted which is extremely frustrating, but I do need to put more into it. I've already begun to do so now that my head is straighter. I met a new agency in Baker Street last week, and the consultant Matt Martin, is a drummer in a band called Exit Hero, so we had an unusual start to the meeting with him talking music for a while before we went into the career talk.
I feel extremely guilty that I should have made far more of my 'free' time but I've just had a lot of stuff churning through my mind, but you get to a point where it's out of your hands really, and being a control freak who's afraid of change, this is hard to bear. I did sort out a photo print order of 588 pix though so it hasn't been a complete waste of time : )
I miss my creative rush, I'm not sure where it's gone, but I would like it back. I have been doing some music writing. I was meant to review the wonderful GoldSounds gig I went to at 93 Feet East a few weeks back which F.Lunaire closed, but that whole night ended so weirdly and upset me I didn't want to think about it, and then a few days later my cat died and I lost my train of thought. London Tourdates seemed to be struggling to accommodate what I did give them, so maybe it's for the best I didn't write that piece?
The pieces I have written have left me with mixed feelings. I wrote a review of F.Lunaire's ' Mondestrunken EP' which I truly loved and that was published intact as I wrote it which made me really happy. I am proud of that piece. I went to Punk in Soho to watch him play at the launch with Alex Brown accompanying on bass.
I also reviewed the Fuzzed TV music launch, which featured Hush The Many playing at Cargo on Rivington Street, and was disappointed with how much of it was taken out. For a start all mention of Fuzzed TV went, the release info I'd written about the new Hush single vanished as did some choice adjectives and they didn't use the photo I supplied from Joe Lee, so here it is instead! Isn't it a great photo?
I know as a writer it's down to space constraints, but yes, it does frustrate. As for the Hush gig, I was massively curious as this was the first time I was seeing Jon White play up there filling beautiful boy Byrne's shoes. It was his first gig, on the strength of one proper rehearsal so he was understandably tentative, but I think he did well and told him to play without fear and he would be fine. He seems like a nice guy.
I heard he rocked at the 93 Feet East gig, so I am looking forward to seeing him play tomorrow now that he has the tour under his belt. The cool thing was seeing the animation video for Revolve on a projector and later meeting Angela in the ladies loo who is behind a huge chunk of it, the not so cool thing was the terrible noise emanating from the viola during the actual song. I actually thought Alex was screaming and I couldn't understand why she would do that especially as she was really ill that night and needed to ask a friend to get her a whisky while she was on stage.
For me, it was a fractured performance that got better as it went along, but that's me with my 'I've been to tons of their gigs and can feel the nuances in my blood' head on. The largely virgin audience liked them, went into a respectful silence during Paper Doll and afterwards I had a girl called Sarah come upto me and gush about how she loved the set wanted songs for a film, and so I took her with me and went in search of Dan Mongo Garbers's distinctive mass of curls to pass on that desire. It was also cool to see The Rum Circus's Velibor on drums. It's weird how entwined the London music scene is, as I know both these bands completely independently off one another.
On the same day as Hush's Cargo gig I also saw my lovely friend Nerissa for the first time in ages enroute to Zimbabwe. She lives in Finland so I don't get to see much of her, which is a shame. What has been nice during my 'downtime' is catching up a bit with friends I've not seen in ages or having friends over. I went to Norwood Junction and met my old school friend Miriam, she used to play cello for ' They Came From the Stars ( I Saw Them)' who I still have yet to see live, and met her children for the first time. That was a really good day. Her daughter Phoebe is amazing good at taking photos for a two year old!
Over Easter I was in Oxfordshire and caught up with friends there, had a great meal at a Raymond Blanc restaurant, and explored some beautiful villages with chocolate box cottages, got fed cake and tea in church, and found a house in Great Tew that had a warning sign that read ' look out kittens crossing' which was seriously sweet. I was gutted not to see any kittens though, but yes, Easter was wonderful.
Me and Steve watched Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise and Before Sunset back to back on DVD, and we cooked loads of food and varnished his floors. I like getting out of Hayes to be honest, a lot, even though I love my own flat and love having folk round. My friend Kit came down and I treated her to a legendary onion dosa from the St Josephs Fast Food stand, bit gutted the old man has left though. She gave me the latest Hot Chip CD which features the danceable ' Ready For The Floor.' We had hysterics when this ridiculous buffoon leant out of his car on the way home and bellowed' Hello! Hello!' at us, she gave him the finger, ah the lovely men of Southall, they're a bit special.
Ed Harcourt finally made it onto Later With Jools Holland on BBC2. Me and a lot of other people have been wanting him on this for aeons. He didn't get to sing his own stuff, but accompanied Dawn Kinnard on a duet, resplendent in scarlet cowboy boots and scratchy beard. And he's on again tonight with The Gutter Twins so if you've never seen this boy that I've been writing and enthusing about, then watch the show. I think he's playing guitar. He's on tour with them at the moment, so if you watch them gig, sit up and pay attention to his set, he's great.
Ed hosted another Retreat From The Greek earlier this month at Paradise By Way of Kensal Green. It was actually my first time out in a week or so after losing my beloved puss, and I had a really good time. For Ed it's a friends and family get together as well as a musical extravaganza. His wife Gita and her new band The Langley Sisters played their debut gig with Ed on guitar, which was a bit of a riot near the end.
I enjoyed this one more I think, it was still unbelievably crowded, but I knew what to expect this time. The sound is pretty temperamental though. This venue also hosts a burlesque night during the event calendar, which I want to check out. I watched 'Dawn Porter Gets Naked' on BBC3 and she had a lesson in it, and I've seen bits and pieces about burlesque and of course with Dita Von Teese its gained a lot more widespread attention over the years. So me and my friend Jo are going to go and check out some shows when I've looked into what's happening in London a bit more.
Being a lover of dance and lingerie myself I am supremely intrigued, I've been making myspace friends with burlesque performers too. Helene told me the band For Ramona have a dancer who's accompanied their gigs. Well I've seen them play about 3 times and she's never been there, which is a shame as at least it would have made their sets bearable. Ouch. I know. But true. I don't really like their stuff to be honest, and the last time they gigged at The Green last month, I was shocked at the unbelievably rude way they literally bellowed through their friends The Mooche's headline set. It was crass and distracting. I despise bad manners. If I talk during a gig, it'll be away from the stage, or in a cupped whisper or very bloody brief and it won't be during a quiet song. If I ever become that repulsively selfish, you can slap my butt.
I just had to get that off my chest. I am sure they were just drunk or something, I remember the singer did commit an act of chivalry when I first met them, so I don't hate them or anything, I just didn't like that.
Right, back to Ed Harcourt's Paradise thingie!!
Here's a link to some pix from the night:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33809&l=add1a&id=699005810
This was pretty cool : ) I saw Evi Vine for the first time in ages. I first met her on the same day I met Ed Harcourt actually, three years ago. She was playing with Danny Valentine at the Marie Lloyd bar when Hadrian Garrard launched 'Signed Unsigned'. She has a voice like warm satin and her songs make me think of a velvet night. 'Inside Her' is very sensual. My friend John loved her set, and a few weeks back when I went to visit him I saw he had her flyer on his PC. I've seen her sing a handful of times over the years, and this time met her mum, and caught up with her in the ornate Paradise ladies loos. It was good to see her, and she went down really well.
Actually before that, when me and Fran arrived together the first performer on was Jeremy Warmsley, who was later accompanied by the baby faced Johnny Flynn. I love this guy, I saw him play a gig a couple of years back on a 2Bob night with the now sadly no more Special Benny, and he stuck in my head. He's a doll, but also a multi instrumentalist with a clutch of lyrically eccentric, spirited folk songs up his sleeve. You should listen to 'Tickle Me Pink' on his My Space player, it's fiendishly good. Fran is now a fan.
Both she and I were painfully excited about seeing The Veils. In the past, I'd never got her passion for them. We'd seen them at Koko and I was largely unmoved, then a few weeks back I heard 'Calliope' on her page and something clicked and I had an OH MY GOD moment, and then went onto their page and played that and 'Not Yet' to death, and thought how good it would be to see them, and then lo and behold, literally days later they announce they'll be playing at Paradise, so yes, to say me and Fran were excited would be a sore understatement.
We were right at the very front, and they performed a small clutch of new songs which sound immediately promising and they closed with 'Not Yet', which I have an appallingly distorted recording off, but Finn Andrews looks pretty glorious in it. It was over so fast. Fran had to leave. Ed performed his set and almost fell off his stool, which he tottered on precariously at one point trying to sort out the sound. His mother in law was in the house, a very funky lady indeed.
The big surprise of the night was discovering that Ed's drummer Raife was married to the actress Eva Birthistle. She's a real sweetie, I met her between sets and we were having a really good chat about cinema before her husband came and told us to get in place for The Langley Sisters. I've followed her career since seeing her act in Ken Loach's interracial drama ' Ae Fond Kiss'. It's not often I go out of my way to buy DVDs anymore, but I did with that one. I am still very passionate about good cinema even if I am writing more and more about music these days.
Oh and Paloma Faith was really cool too, she's like a performance artist and spectacle and singer all in one. I literally couldn't take my eyes off her, what a vision. She was dressed in a harlequin catsuit and just ate up the stage. Ed played keyboards while she sang.
The other band I was delighted to see back were The Deadbeats who are now called Ten Bears due to the threat of a lawsuit. They play dirty, sexy rock - is the best way I can describe the music. It's earthy, roots, sleazy beat driven stuff. If I was a stripper with nipple tassles I would take my clothes off to it in some bar in Texas, but I'm not, I'm a nice lapsed Muslim girl from North West London, so I will just dance my ass off instead. But you get the idea ; ) Definitely worth seeing them live again. The stuff on their myspace player doesn't do their live performance justice, but it's definitely worth a listen.
Me, John and Joe Lee (who took not a single photo all night!) left Paradise pretty much after the lovely Langley Sisters rocked the joint. Poor Joe unbeknownst to me ended up having a terrible time getting home. John stayed over with me and the next day we went into Southall as I wanted to shop and treat him to have an onion dosa, only to discover that the streets were eerily deserted, so not like Southall on a Sunday. Turned out the entire Sikh population was focused on the parade route down South Road.
The Sikh new year I was told was coming up in a few days. It was rammed but wonderful, all these lovely people were handing out cups of masala tea, cans, samosas, pecoras, rice and curry, pastries, battered bread. Man it was cool!! I ate so much my stomach went into shock. I love surprises like that. The dosa caravan was shut but it didn't matter, this was pretty special. We headed back into Hayes to get John on a bus, but this weekend was really lovely, didn't get much sleep during it, but it cheered me up a lot after all the other stuff that had been happening leading upto it. I christened my new microwave with it's first cooking task that night too.
John treated me to a lovely, lovely weekend recently in Essex, very sorely needed. This man can cook, he has a real passion for it. Cake, fish, green banana, fried eggs, curry and I so loved his black eyed peas and rice. I've not been to Essex in years, probably the last time was with the Scorpio who hails from Romford. Me and John went to see Retrofin headline at The Bitter End. Ah the Essex girl with her acres of skin on show, come rain or shine and now I noted supplemented with a patchwork of tattoos. But they all looked like they were having a blast which is the main thing.
As the Gourami cancelled, Retrofin headlined on the night, and even though I've not had a love for hard rock in a while, I was genuinely impressed by the passion and energy in their set. If it hadn't been 11.30pm when they went on stage and I hadn't been tired it was jumping up and down music for sure. I can see why John loves them as he does. There's some fresh and classic about them all at the same time. They reminded me of Reef and Red Hot Chili Peppers, and they clearly love engaging with the audience. I told the singer to see about hooking up with a good emerging band like the Mexicolas for a support slot. It's always a bit of a heart in the mouth moment when you're friend is checking out a band you feel so enamoured with. I get that way I guess when friends watch Hush The Many for the first time.
In fact that neatly brings me to the end of yes, another epic blog. Tomorrow they play at Bush Hall on the Uxbridge Road. It's a single launch for their new single Revolve. By the way, the B-side is StoryEnd, which is one of the most beautiful songs in the history of mankind. My friend Trevor went to their 93 Feet East gig on the strength of that song alone. You must hear it.
If you are a fan and you've somehow missed the plethora of bulletins that Nima has been sending out, then I am genuinely shocked, but that's okay, all the info is on their page. Go see. For me it's a gig and a little birthday treat, as yes I WILL BE 35 SOON!! That's just mental. My actual birthday is on May 4th, but this is close enough to it to feel special for me, for that reason too.
So if you're coming, then come and say hello, and if you're sitting on the fence as it's a school night, screw that, life is for living, come. See what the fuss is about and wish me an early happy birthday. Oh and The Rip by Portishead ( see above) what an amazing, hypnotic, jewel of a song. Best new song I've heard all year. You will want to watch this.
Thank you so much for reading this blog. 50 is a good number to stop and reflect at things for a while I think. Hope all is well in your world.
Love and hugs
Yasmin xxxx