Keep the flags Flying

OK, so we are all disappointed with England and their performance at the world cup. I must admit that I haven’t taken it as hard as I thought I would. I think given their performance through the whole thing I wasn’t expecting them to get much further anyway. At least now I can forget about it and get on with other things. The saddest part of going out will be all the flags going inside again. It’s a shame that the only way we can show pride in our country is through a sporting match but if that’s what it takes then so be it. I’ve been lucky enough to visit a few countries on holiday in the past and everywhere but England seems to be proud of their country and show it. I suppose we will all now turn our attention to Andy Murray at Wimbledon and maintain he is British and NOT mention he is actually Scottish – Until he loses

On a more personal note I have decided it is time to ditch the bitch tits and lose the tummy by joining a Gym. So come our next gig in August you will see a new me.

Jonathan

It's the freakin weekend baby. I'm about to have me some fun

YEAHHHHHHHHH, It’s the weekend. My day job is not the worst job in the world but it can be very stressful. The other day the almighty Chris “driving home for Christmas” Rea called me up and I sold him some audio recording gear. I would like to say I deal with the stars on a daily basis however usually it is Joe Bloggs from somewhere other there that I deal with. Anyway, this week has been a stressful one and I’m glad I'm now at home with a wind down Stella in my hand.

I'm just about to have a crack at recording some new ideas which may feature on a new EP towards the end of the year. I seem to have a lot of small ideas at the moment but I'm having trouble turning them into full songs. That being said the ideas I have are coming strong and the best I've written.

Whilst Michael is away for a month I plan to do some boring behind the scenes work but also record a few covers for a FREE download album on bandcamp. The idea is to keep adding covers to it as and when we find ones we like the idea of doing. It is only being done for a bit of fun but hopefully you will like our take on some classic and less well know tunes. It will also give us a little extra variety live. Anyone that has seen us live will know we only slip in one or two covers in our set but it would be nice to have a greater pool to choice from.

The rest of my weekend will consist of a haircut, bowling, Chinese food and drinking on Saturday and maybe a sneaky BBQ after the England match on Sunday. Sweet

Jonathan

There once was a Stag called Michael

So I hope you have all had chance to see our video for Sleepwalkers. If not then why? You can see it in the post below or just pop over to our main website.

Whilst filming the video we took our own little camera with us and made a “making of” style video. Here it is

The Making Of Sleepwalkers The Video - kewego
The Making Of Sleepwalkers The Video

Keywords: barricades rise sleepwalkers folk acoustic music

Video from barricadesrise

The gigs are mounting up for August onwards so please take a gander at the gig guide over at http://www.barricadesrise.co.uk

As you may know young Michael is copying me and getting married (different woman) in a couple of weeks. Last weekend saw us hit Leicester along with a select gathering for his Stag do. Take a look at a few pictures from our lads night out at “The Fan Club”

Sleepwalkers The Video is now here

Hi All

Finally we can show to the world our debut music video for Sleepwalker. Enjoy . . .




We loved every moment of making this and our video team were amazing. Please take a look at at the directors website as he knows how to work a camera http://chrismogridge.com

We would love to hear your thoughts so email/comment/shout/message or whatever you kids are doing these days.

Cheers

Jonathan and Michael

Day four in the World Cup house

I've seen or listened to all of the matches so far and today will be keeping tabs on Holland v Denmark via BBC online at work and watch the others at home. The overall impression so far is...s'alright.

Apart from Germany last night, the majority of the teams seem really edgy and nervous, maybe first match nerves, lets hope. Liked Ghanas spirit and also suprised by South Korea. Slovenia vs Algeria was absolutely mind numbing, still watched it all though. And as for England, well, I assume you watched it. I was one of the ones watching on ITV HD which meant that after 3 minutes it cut to an add break and by the time it came back on we had scored. Great, but I had nothing to cheer at! Overall I thought it was a laclustre performance and hope they can pull it out the bag in the next 2. Still loads to play for.

On the band front, tomorrow sees Sleepwalkers the video make its debut at the Electric Cinema in Birmingham, then online that evening or next day. Jonathan will be working overtime to get some more gigs and ventures whilst I am sorting the last 3 and a half weeks before I get married plus 2 and a half weeks on Honeymoon. There will (fingers crossed) be a homecoming gig in August too.

Remember our ep is still available for free from www.barricadesrise.bandcamp.com

M x

WORLD CUP IS ON!!!!

Less than 3 hours til the first match kicks off. I LOVE the world cup. In fact, I love all football. I do not have an England flaf sticking out my window but that is mainly because my misses won't let me. I will be watching as many matches as I can, but have so much wedding stuff to do also. The world cup final is actaully the day after I get married!

Tonight I think will be spent having a few beveradges with the singer plus a few mates while watching France-Uruguay.

I am hoping England will win of course but my money is on Argentina, (and Ivory Coast due to work sweeptake).

Anyway, I'll be off to get 3 crates of beer plus pringles and nuts after work.

M x

So close, so so close

It is less than a week until we can unveil our video for Sleepwalkers. We are so proud of what it looks like and the video team should be too. Along with the official video we have a “behind the scenes” video that will also be available on the 16th.

Michael has started his sabbatical away from gigging until he returns from his honeymoon and we kick back into things come Mid-August. The big question is….what to do whilst the little man is away? I have contemplated doing a few gigs on my own but we write our songs with two guitars in mind and I would rather people hear the tunes in their full glory. That said I have not dismissed it completely. I will be keeping busy contacting people over the next couple of months to get our music out to more and more people. If you can help in anyway then please get in touch.

The No Love Lost EP is still available and is still completely FREE to download so please take the time to visit http://www.barricadesrise.bandcamp.com and get you four tracks of pure bliss :)

On the songwriting front things are going well. I know Michael keeps bringing ideas round and I already have four new tracks that rival anything ive done before.

Anyway – Hit me back, just to chat, truly yours, your biggest fan, this is Stan

Jonathan

The Back to Work Blues

I've only been in work for less than 2 hours and I'm already wilting. After a week off, and getting married in less than 5 weeks, I really can't be doing with this. Here's a list of stuff, anything, right now as I am that zoned out...
1) Criminal Minds still shocking (a good thing)
2) Alice in Wonderland as rubbish as I expected
3) Falling asleep in the day is nice
4) Not falling asleep at night is not
5) Seeing the final video for Sleepwalkers (can see it on 16th June)
6) Seeing the making of stuff we recorded made into a nice little 15 minute vid (also see it on the 16th)
7) Checking out Sri Lanka on the Web, going to be lovely.

Thats it, bye
m

Sorry I Lied

For those checking our site for the new Sleepwalkers video that i promised could be viewed today - I Lied. It turns out that as the video is part of the 2weeks2make it competition it is not allowed to go public until 16th June. Sorry, i didn't know.

We have seen the video and it is amazing. Please check back on the 16th to see it.

In the meantime take a gander through our last few posts for info on the video

"Hola, hemos estado en España" - Yeah

In perfect timing, smack bang in the middle of the two weeks we have to make the Sleepwalkers video us Rise boys jetted off to Spain for a three days. I would love to say we went over to tour the Iberian land however our partners were taking 20 odd students over to do a dance show in Port Aventura and we tagged along.


A lovely time was had by all and a welcome break for me as I haven't had any time off work since Christmas. I am about to call my boss and see what trouble I am in but thought I would prolong it by typing a cheeky blog.


If you don't know, 'Port Aventura' is basically a massive Alton Towers with an added water park and in the Spanish heat. Not really my kind of holiday but make the best of it I did. Food was expensive and drink about English prices and I think both of us (and our companions) spent at least one morning suffering from the effects of the 5.4% Estrella Beer. We both hit the rides and the water park with a vengeance and I finally finished 'Join me' by Danny Wallace which I have been reading on and off for about 6 months.


Whilst shopping in the theme Theme park we bought a 'Maracas Ping-Pong' (see below) which rumour has it will be replacing the Shakey egg and no doubt, like the almighty egg before it, will appear on every single recording we ever do from now on. Michael went crazy and even suggested panning the 'Ping Pong' and Shakey Egg to either side of the mix – Mental

Anyway, enjoy the photo's and get ready for the Sleepwalkers video that should be available to watch tomorrow or over the weekend for sure.