New Years Eve 2013
Walsall
The White Lion
Not sure how we managed to look so sober...
New Year's Eve, Walsall
Just before show time and Bone's Weapons of Mass Creation are looking good.
Jan 2013
Macclesfield
The Swan With Two Necks
Our muso friend comes out of muso retirement.
All was going swimmingly well when suddenly Reggie B caught a frightful cold and
didn't happen.
As you'll have noticed, there was absolutely no reference to cardigans, pullovers, long johns, fleece, scarves or any other kind of 'winter woolly'. It was indeed a cleverly thought out catch line to attract more of the knitting or farming community to join us on our merry journey.
There aren't many places you can hang your flyers these days.
Perhaps that's not such a bad thing.
However, our resident designer couldn't resist working up a poster that without a doubt he'd be pasting up on a multitude of walls if he had half the chance. In his words, "yow man, dance is dance, do it any way you wanna".
And so you have it.
This New Years Eve we're gonna be dancing at none other than The...
hold on, let's think this through.
Ok, for those of you who are into clear cut pub/venue details click here The White Lion where as if you're more into that facebooky, social network kinda ting then click here The White Lion
It's gotta be said, it's both an honour and a privi to get that kinda booking. We're glad to be part of the social flow that says "lets build the future on a foundation of celebration, optimism and hope".
So yeah, we're gonna be dancing in from around 9 til who knows in The White Lion, in Walsall , or should we have said Walsall...or maybe even Walsall depending on what floats your boat.
And we would love to see loads of folk dancing too.
And in celebration of the spirit of 'who gives a monkeys ~ i'm having a good time' we give you our designer's latest venture.
Stone Washed giving it large. They were nice guys. Let us share their bass amp. Had a nice following.
Daz Tong did absolutely no wrong. Well maybe that Spice Girls cover was taking it a bit too far. Just kidding Daz. Great guitarist, bags of soul. And he hung around to check out our set so nuff respect Mr T.
Third time at The Shed in Leicester last night and, as much as we love the venue, the owner, the engineer, the bar staff, and usually the vibe, it has to be said that it didn't feel like our greatest performance of the year. Strange that. On stage felt the best yet - tidied up and with improved lighting - well done to you guys for making that happen. It wasn't the technical vibes, although we didn't get a sound check and all musos know what a good sound check achieves. No, it was just a vibe. We maybe were a little subdued and although we played with gusto, we found it difficult to get into that full, nice and easy flow.
And maybe on this occasion we were affected by the low turnout. It does raise an issue, and not necessarily in relation to our band, but more to do with the club itself.
Why should a purpose built live music venue with more than enough space to fit 300 people upstairs and down, not be full of live music lovers on a Saturday night in Leicester City Centre? Doesn't anyone care about grass roots music or unsigned musicians in that city anymore? Is it a generational thing maybe, young folks going elsewhere and mature gens not bothering unless they are sure they know what they're going to get in return for their hard earned cash? Who knows? It did seem kinda strange though for a club of such musical authenticity (you only have to look around on the walls to see the amount of bands that have passed through the joint) to be closing its doors before midnight on a saturday night.
Anyways, The Vicar knows we'll be back there at the first opportunity. You don't bite the hand that feeds you.
TR Music is the most longstanding music shop in Walsall. It sells guitars, amps, drum kits and a host of other stuff of interest to the muso mind. It also has a dedicated back room where keen technical experts are holed up for days at a time fixing busted amps, speakers and so on. They're great...usually.
So it's not their fault that Peace took his faulty amp there for repair and collected it two weeks later with a mile wide smile, confident that he'd left it in good hands and it was now ready to hit the road by his side, only to find that within minutes of plugging it in and powering it up on stage in Macclesfield it decided that enough was enough and left the party.
Panic mode...
However, the day was saved when trusty "I've got brains coming outta my ass' Super Landlord and Licensee Andy revealed a replacement power amp that he was holding in a back room for an associate.
Panic over...
And so, with eager beaver smiles and some typical Walsillian verve, the swamp rock mercenaries did their thang.
Here's a snippet of the night...
The Swan With Two Necks
Macclesfield
15th September 2012
Notice that despite our best efforts the sound track might be slightly outta sync. Well that's what you get for trying to be Hendrix and Spike Lee at the same time. No matter. Shiny, classy video anyway. Note how Peace comes out of the shadows to bust some groove moves as he gets more into the vibe. Ok there are a couple of Macclesfield lasses who just decide to stroll through the shot as if they got places to go (and they probably did) late on, but it's true that there were some nice ladies celebrating a birthday just outta shot and they was well sweet in their support.
TR Music...all is forgiven, but we do need to see you soon cos we now need a bass amp :-(
Well, well well...
Last weekend we played Artsfest in Birmingham. Not bad considering the organisors put us in exactly the same slot as they did two years ago, which happened to be the opening slot of the day, 2.00pm at The Flapper. Well, sometimes you have to just go with the flow...
All in all Artsfest 2012 was pretty cool!
Peace obviously doesn't like saying cheese...
And hey, whose is that arm to the left??? Looks like the young fiancee is about to get whisked off.
Lamest punchline ever, "Officer, I'd like to report a suspicious looking character..."
This guy keeps people as motionessly looking at him as he is at them during his act/performance.
His missus can't be too pleased washing them garms every week.
Who needs text messaging? The Drums Speak For Us All.
This session turned out to be one of those precious moments during the fest when things could have either gone horribly wrong or beautifully right. Turned out beautifully right ~ everyone had a great time.
Chuckery Festival has real potential. It was great to perform there in association with some really committed community members. The rain held off, for the artists anyway (Felt a bit sorry for Mike and TR Music who must have got soaked whilst we were heading off into the distance after the festival had ended).
Our next venture looks like this...
Bones thinks he's got more chance of getting success as a Donald Pleasance lookalike than as a rock blues artist. You could be right mate. The Halloween franchise does need a pick me up, and the band kinda needs a publicity boost. Go for it!!!
And it would be a rock band crime if we didn't take a mo to wish the guys at The Wheatsheaf in Walsall, good luck in there quest to keep the venue alive and kicking. Good luck guys!!!
The sky is a silvery grey. The ground is wet. It's been snowing but not enough to change the landscape dramatically. There's a church bell ringing in the distance. You can feel the season changing. Summer isn't far away. The sun will be shining soon.
There's a curious biblical teaching that pretty much says, don't live in the world, live above it. Easier said than done. The heart of society is like a magnet to which we are all drawn baby. Everybody wants to feel like they're a part of something. Even better if you can feel like you're part of something good. And even BETTER if you can share that feeling with others.
The industrialists, capitalists and economists have been working together for a long time and made significant contributions to the current shape of society. I'm not blaming them for the bills I've got but I'm sure I'm not alone in wondering from time to time, 'why the heck do I have so many bills to pay?' Shouldn't the purpose of us developing and using such skills and knowledge be to make living in society easier for us all instead of more difficult?
In fact there are times when it's really hard to find a single good thing to say about society. You just have to watch the news and...
I guess what the religious writers were trying to say was that the only way you're gonna get that permanent good good feeling is by abandoning your current take on society and approaching life through a change of vision - perhaps trying to see things the way you think God might see things. I guess that's what you could refer to as seeing things from a heavenly perspective?
The state of things today, we have a long long way to go. Maybe some of those bleak surroundings that we see reflect some of the bleak outlooks that we have. And maybe it's a two way street; which means that if there is no positive vision then we simply absorb and become what we think we see. Stress, misfortune, disadvantge, need, damage, etc.
However,
I think that there are people that already do what those 'Holy Writers' suggested but maybe don't realise that they're doing it. Just nice people who like to see and do nice things just because they like to be a part of good things and they wanna share that with others. As tough and sick as society is, if you search hard and deeply enough you'll find spots where there are some real nice things going on, and some real nice people making really cool things happen. You'll find people that have a positive outlook, a 'yes life can be nice' vision. They're probably the same ones that will smile and say hello to you as you pass them in the street.
That said, last night was great.
The Wheatsheaf in Walsall is a standalone Midlands icon awash with rich musical history. Any artist that performs there today is following a long line of performing artists, over the decades, that have featured at the venue. Anyone who felt the magic of The Overstrand (unfortunately no more in existence) will almost certainly know why The Wheatsheaf and its heritage is at the very centre of the musical spirit that exists within Walsall.
And talking about nice people who make nice things happen, what great company we found there! The staff, the audience, everyone. Like I said, last night was great.
We might not yet be living above the world, but for great company, great spirit and just a generally great time, last night was sky high!
Why didn't someone tell me that Big Stone Culture had split???
Yes, that's right. The same Big Stone Culture that played alongside us as part of the Wikid Walsall gig at the Actress & Bishop in September 2011. (Check our popular posts for more details on that - if you haven't done so already).
Yes, this gig
I only heard about it this weekend. This means that unless someone tells me any different, the Actress & Bishop was the last gig they played. Blessed & Gutted at the same time!!! Peace
To celebrate reaching the milestone of 4000 hits on the journal we figured we could either have;
a) All yelled "High Five !!!" at exactly the same moment. Hit the connection. Laughed. Moved on.
or
b) All yelled "High Five!!!" at slightly different moments within the same instance. Hit the connections (remember - our timings are gonna be slightly outta sync now). Laughed. Moved on.
We did neither. We're not the athletes we used to be (Peace: 'apart from Toad maybe. I think he could work that kit in his sleep. Ha!').
We opted instead for sharing with the peeps that have made 4k hits possible, an extract from a song taken from our Inhouse Collection;
40 Days & 40 Nights. (See above).
The full version is 18 mins long. 13 Minutes longer than we could squeeze outta Podsnack given our current terms with them.
Anyway. Enjoy the extract. Its our way of saying...
Thanx to all readers for following the journey of the original swamp rock mercenaries!!!
A friend of ours once suggested over a pint that in order to gain some publicity we should have some group photos taken whilst trotting into shot on horseback. I guess he may have seen us at the time as three budding rock n roll comencheros, riding our musical steeds into town. Needless to say, that hasn't happened yet and chances are, unless we somehow find ourselves providing the entertainment at a Texas rodeo, it never will. Yeeehaaa to that!!!
One of our fave reporters West Midlands' based Chrissy Symmons came up with a more, let's say, user friendly idea, like, 'How about doing an interview guys?'. Not too much to think about there then. And so, not only did the 19th August edition of The Ticket feature on its front cover the, some might say, absolutely beautiful and tantalizing Rihanna...
but also, the absolutely, and some might say, even more tantalizing (not!!!) swamp rock mercenaries, your very own 'The Illuminations'. (Or Illuninations, as they, for some reason decided to call us - something to do with looney nations maybe? Read our earlier post: Peacifications Part 2; Being An Unknown Artist here ).
Clearly, where Rihanna may be lacking in fashion sense, bling and photogenicity, we're there to pick up the shortfall. Mind you, she certainly knows how to make good use of the coffee table.
The Ticket - Pg 4 & 5 Aug 2011
Obviously, for copyright reasons it would be totally wrong of us to just rip off the page and present it here. Plus, we're kinda lacking in the technical know how department. So the best way to get to read the article itself would be to head on over to the edition yourself.
Just click the link below.
The Ticket And so it gives us great pleasure to announce that, for producing what has to be theHottest Ticket in Town, reporter Chrissy Symmons joins the illustrious list of persons who has now been awarded the honorary accolade of being our 'Unsigned Artists Highlight of the Week'
One of our band members is a huge fan of Hammer Horror.
His favourite HH film is none other than Dracula. It would be a lie to say that he hasn't watched that movie less than 15 times. Indeed, if one were to do a 'Through The Keyhole' type of vibe at his crib, one would be almost certain to find overwhelming evidence of his affinity towards the world of Vampires.
Par example:
The Anita Blake Series. A collection of graphic novels that Walsall just don't provide. Only vamp loving meatloafs are gonna go outta their way to get hold of these issues. (Although you might have to go as far as looking under his auspicious collection of mouldy socks to unearth this colorful treasure).
A worn out, busted dvd player...suffering through the relentless playing of movies like 'The Horror of Dracula' and 'Dracula - Prince of Darkness'. No joke!!!
And...much much more. Stuff that we better not go into just in case he gets vex on us and rounds up some of his poker faced comrades to teach us a blood sucking lesson.
Just imagine his absolute pleasure at learning that Stoke on Trent had produced, through their illustrious and talented movie maker Chris Stone, a Victorian vamp series all of its own. That a Midlands town should be recognised for its contribution to our film making heritage was one thing, for that film series to be an indulgence in the dark world of vampires was absolutely something else. We just couldn't resist posting the introductory chapter here for his and your benefit. Watch and enjoy the series.
If you can guess which of our band has a taste for the 'Undead', let us know so we can have a laugh at your expense.
Seriously though, Chris Stone is a director to watch. He has produced some great pieces of work, including an amazing music video for the band Weak13. It would be an absolute pleasure to work with him in the future. We'll see eh?
Ok. First and foremost this particular post is about saying;
R.I.P Mr Terry Edis MBE
Make absolutely no mistake about it, Mr Edis was an absolute gem of a human being. He unfortunately passed away recently, and has left a hole in the heart of Walsall that will never be filled.
Our sincere condolences to his wife and family. And to his friends and colleagues.
One of our future gigs, in a suitable time and place, will definitely be dedicated to Terry.
Rumour has it that neo-revolutionary singer/songwriting icon Grace Petrie was more than pleased to see one of our very own modeling her merchandise.
Ofcourse some of this journey is always about supporting other great musos. (And especially the ones who want to make a real differance). Naturally; we're family.
To try in your wildest dreams to walk the same road as so many of your heroes have done.
To stand on the same stage.
Swim in the same sea.
We'll play anywhere, anytime and anyplace just to add to the musical heritage.
Playing at the Robin 2 somehow has an extra special feel to it though.
On the night we'll be the first on ~ the opening performers. What an opportunity ~ for us and for our fans, friends and followers (FFnF). Once again Walsall has a chance to be heard ~ just like it was, loud and proud, on 24th September in B'ham at The Actress and Bishop.
We love it when the arts and musical talents that come out of the town we grew up in receives the added bonus of hometown support when its protagonists venture out. And we're no different. We are gonna hit spots when the support of our FFnF is gonna be crucial. Thanx in advance!!! ~ you know we'll be all about putting out good music on a foundation of solid love BABY so, no problem there.
#Lesson 1 ~ Don't leave the matter of getting your name known, in anyone else's hands. (Generally speaking ofcourse!)
Ok. So you form a band. Pretty soon you're thinking, Hey! this could be going somewhere... we could go get some gigs. And you realise that there's now no avoiding the fact that if you gonna go any further ~ the band needs a name.
Welcome to the jungle.
Its hard enough thinking of a name, then you have to go about getting your band's name known...
Live & Loud have been good to us, but if this ain't sabotage, what is ?
Don't go crazy on us guys, we know it was just a mistake. And we are genuinely sorry that we had to pull out of the gig.
