Our second gig in Northampton in a week and this time we found ourselves in the Sunnyside pub for an afternoon slot in an all-day gig with loads of acoustic artists on the bill. After racing down the motorway in fear of getting their late, we discussed the fact that the album is being released in about four weeks and we have so much to get done. For those that have never had the pleasure of releasing an album without the backing of a label, you may not know that once you have the songs recorded you then have a million and one things to sort out before it actually gets released. I am not complaining, just worrying that we might not have enough hours in the day.
Anyway, I seemed to have digressed. We got to the venue with minutes to spare before our allotted stage time only to be told things were running a little behind. This gave us a time to catch our breath, grab a pint and a sneaky burger. We hit the stage about 6 and played a mixture of old and new which went down reasonably well. We are getting more confident with the new songs and think the cobwebs of not doing regular gigs since before Christmas are well and truly been cleared. I must admit I am not usually a fan of all-dayers, I really don't know why but I prefer an evening gig with just a couple of acts on the bill. That being said, this one seemed to be run well and it was a decent afternoon.
The one beauty of playing an afternoon gig is getting home when the night is still young. I have just had the pleasure of escorting my wife to an Indian restaurant for some top notch Garlic Chilli Masala and come home and settled in for some hardcore Battlestar Galactica, which has become my obsession at the moment.
Jonathan
Set List
The Preacher
Come Together (Beatles Cover)
I Gave Up The World
Animals
Roundabouts
Sleepwalker
Dazed
Sunday, 29 May 2011
Saturday, 28 May 2011
'All I Have Is Here' Is Here!
Well it's finally all done. Below is the front cover and tracklisting for our second album. We've slaved over this for the best part of 6 months and are extremely proud of the end product. The album will be available to pre-order very shortly for the very reasonable price of £5.
1. Animals
2. Always Yours
3. Making Faces From Clouds
4. Run
5. Nod and Smile
6. When We were Young
7. Great White North
8. If You Were Here
9. Folk Songs and Jazz Bands
10. Roundabouts
11. Just For Tonight
Tuesday, 24 May 2011
Millsy's Bar, Coventry, 23/5/11 - Review
It had been about 2 years since we last set foot in Millsy's Bar. The enigmatic promoter (Sam) greated us warmly and had us on about 10ish. We hit the stage and to be honest I wasn't looking forward to it. It's the kind of place where people take little notice in the live music going on. Well, we changed that.
Straght after the opening tune everyone gave rapturous applause. We continued to nail practically every tune. Making Faces From Clouds from our new album was debuted and went ok. By the end we were manhandled by several people wanting to shake our hands, with Sam confidently stating over the mic to the crowd we were "The best act ever to play here", some compliment!
With several sales and emails added to our world domination plan the journey home was a far more pleasant experience than I thought it would have been before the night started.
The only downside was Jonathans hand seriously starting to become a problem. The tendons/muscle/something else is seizing up at several points. A doctors appointment has been made for Friday so lets hope there is no lasting damage.
M x
Set List
The Preacher
I Gave Up The World
Come Together (The Beatles)
Animals
Making Faces From Clouds
Roundabouts
Sleepwalkers
Dazed
Straght after the opening tune everyone gave rapturous applause. We continued to nail practically every tune. Making Faces From Clouds from our new album was debuted and went ok. By the end we were manhandled by several people wanting to shake our hands, with Sam confidently stating over the mic to the crowd we were "The best act ever to play here", some compliment!
With several sales and emails added to our world domination plan the journey home was a far more pleasant experience than I thought it would have been before the night started.
The only downside was Jonathans hand seriously starting to become a problem. The tendons/muscle/something else is seizing up at several points. A doctors appointment has been made for Friday so lets hope there is no lasting damage.
M x
Set List
The Preacher
I Gave Up The World
Come Together (The Beatles)
Animals
Making Faces From Clouds
Roundabouts
Sleepwalkers
Dazed
Monday, 23 May 2011
Bat & Wickets, Northampton, 22/5/11 - Review
The last time both of us had been in Northampton we had both gained riches. Jonathan by winning a 200-odd people poker tournement a year or so ago and me by winning a bronze medal in a gymnastics display that people talk about to this day, when I was 12. With this steady knowledge we were galvanised and ready to rock the world of those awaiting...all 5 of them.
After the long journey we were hoping for a bit of a crowd but unfortunately there was a shindig at another local pub that garnered the attention of the locals more than the thought of seeing the next best rising band (us). Never-the-less we hit the stage about 10pm and, microphone problems aside, played quite well. The audience grew a little to around 9 people and it seemed that each one of them gave their full focus on us and we received great applause.
Jonathan has aquired a Tascam recorder thingy (not the official name) that has great sound quality so we set it up at the front of the stage and recorded the whole gig (just audio). On the journey home we played it and were pleasently surprised at how well we had played. Having this will give us a chance to hear what you hear and to analyse the set.
With only 6 gigs left til our launch (24th June) we are trying to fit all the new songs in a set somewhere. First one tonight at Millsy's Bar in Coventry.
M x
Set List
The Preacher
Aftermath
Animals
Run
Brakes
If You Were Here
I Gave Up The World
Dazed
After the long journey we were hoping for a bit of a crowd but unfortunately there was a shindig at another local pub that garnered the attention of the locals more than the thought of seeing the next best rising band (us). Never-the-less we hit the stage about 10pm and, microphone problems aside, played quite well. The audience grew a little to around 9 people and it seemed that each one of them gave their full focus on us and we received great applause.
Jonathan has aquired a Tascam recorder thingy (not the official name) that has great sound quality so we set it up at the front of the stage and recorded the whole gig (just audio). On the journey home we played it and were pleasently surprised at how well we had played. Having this will give us a chance to hear what you hear and to analyse the set.
With only 6 gigs left til our launch (24th June) we are trying to fit all the new songs in a set somewhere. First one tonight at Millsy's Bar in Coventry.
M x
Set List
The Preacher
Aftermath
Animals
Run
Brakes
If You Were Here
I Gave Up The World
Dazed
Saturday, 21 May 2011
All I Have Is Here - Promo Video Part 1
Last weekend we had the pleasure of filming 6 live versions of tunes from our upcoming album 'All I have Is Here'. Here is part one of three videos. We would love to hear your views so please email/facebook/ or shout loudly so we can here you.
Monday, 16 May 2011
In the summertime, when the weather is fine...
This pic was taken by Rob Bridge at www.redwoodimages.co.uk in my garden on Sunday. It's part of the big change leading up to the release of 'All I Have Is Here' and we'll have loads of other new things coming very, very soon!Michael
P.S Checkout the auidience in the background
Sunday, 15 May 2011
A Big Weekend For Team BR
It has well and truly been a great weekend for us BR boys.
An early start was in order for Saturday morning as we met up with a local photographer Rob Bridge from Redwood Images to take a few promo shots for the album, website etc . . .
We met up at 8am and drove over to the historical hotspot that is Bosworth which, as the well educated among you will know, is famous for a major battle in the old War of the Roses saga. After meeting Rob a week earlier to discuss shots and techniques, we gelled straight away however, we thought things could turn a little 'Deliverance' on us when we heard him randomly say “There is a great film with a big rape scene in it” !!!!!!!!! turns out he was refering to a location and actually said “There is a great field with rapeseed in it” (The yellow fields you see in the countryside) after we cleared that up and dried our eyes, we spent the remainder of the morning taking shots at various locations around Bosworth and left on a high. Rob was great and really knew what he was doing, for any band that wants some pro pictures then please visit http://www.redwoodimages.co.uk
On returning from being male models, we hit the studio to finish the final mixing of the album. Not much to say other than BOOOOOM, it is done. No more recording, mixing or tinkering. 'All I have Is Here' is now a completely finished piece of music.
Sunday saw us making a promo video for our album. The day started with Michael, myself and a percussionist friend (David Sharpe) having a run through the six songs we were filming that day. David had never played with us before and we had only played through some of the songs a few times so it was great to see/hear them come together. After picking up Chris (director/cameraman and all round genius behind our Sleepwalkers video) from the train station, we set up the shoot in Michaels back garden as it is a pretty looking and enclosed area. Rob Bridge then came round to take a few shoots of us playing and we got to see some of the photos from the day before which looked great. We filmed each song with no real problems and generally had a good day doing it. After filming all the live tunes we did a Q&A session which we intend to intersperse with the playing shots.
The aim with the videos is to produce three ten minute films that include two live performances and some talking about the album. The first of which should be online at some point this week. The rest will follow and all will be available to watch before the album is released. The pictures that were taken on both days will be used for the album artwork and to make this web page look a little better. Again, these will be available to see very soon.
We would both like to thank Rob, Chris and Dave for all their hard work and making the last two days great.
Jonathan
An early start was in order for Saturday morning as we met up with a local photographer Rob Bridge from Redwood Images to take a few promo shots for the album, website etc . . .
We met up at 8am and drove over to the historical hotspot that is Bosworth which, as the well educated among you will know, is famous for a major battle in the old War of the Roses saga. After meeting Rob a week earlier to discuss shots and techniques, we gelled straight away however, we thought things could turn a little 'Deliverance' on us when we heard him randomly say “There is a great film with a big rape scene in it” !!!!!!!!! turns out he was refering to a location and actually said “There is a great field with rapeseed in it” (The yellow fields you see in the countryside) after we cleared that up and dried our eyes, we spent the remainder of the morning taking shots at various locations around Bosworth and left on a high. Rob was great and really knew what he was doing, for any band that wants some pro pictures then please visit http://www.redwoodimages.co.uk
On returning from being male models, we hit the studio to finish the final mixing of the album. Not much to say other than BOOOOOM, it is done. No more recording, mixing or tinkering. 'All I have Is Here' is now a completely finished piece of music.
Sunday saw us making a promo video for our album. The day started with Michael, myself and a percussionist friend (David Sharpe) having a run through the six songs we were filming that day. David had never played with us before and we had only played through some of the songs a few times so it was great to see/hear them come together. After picking up Chris (director/cameraman and all round genius behind our Sleepwalkers video) from the train station, we set up the shoot in Michaels back garden as it is a pretty looking and enclosed area. Rob Bridge then came round to take a few shoots of us playing and we got to see some of the photos from the day before which looked great. We filmed each song with no real problems and generally had a good day doing it. After filming all the live tunes we did a Q&A session which we intend to intersperse with the playing shots.
The aim with the videos is to produce three ten minute films that include two live performances and some talking about the album. The first of which should be online at some point this week. The rest will follow and all will be available to watch before the album is released. The pictures that were taken on both days will be used for the album artwork and to make this web page look a little better. Again, these will be available to see very soon.
We would both like to thank Rob, Chris and Dave for all their hard work and making the last two days great.
Jonathan
Thursday, 12 May 2011
The Soak, Birmingham - Gig Cancelled
Hey All
Unfortunately we will not be making a trip to Birmingham this evening to play at The Soak. It cannot be helped and we will re-arrange and get over in the near future. Sorry to anyone that was making a trip out to see us.
Jonathan
Unfortunately we will not be making a trip to Birmingham this evening to play at The Soak. It cannot be helped and we will re-arrange and get over in the near future. Sorry to anyone that was making a trip out to see us.
Jonathan
Sunday, 8 May 2011
The Crumbling Cookie, Leicester 7/5/11 - Review
Being our first gig for two months, we were a little worried we might have been a bit rusty for our friends in Leicester. We have held back from gigs lately due to the recording of our album and last time we had a short break from gigs we played awful. This time, we rocked the show.
The night started with Michael coming round early to have a practice of a few new songs. Obviously with the release of 'All I Have Is Here' just around the corner, we really want to get the new songs in the set and sounding natural. With 'Roundabouts', 'Run', 'Just For Tonight' and 'Animals' in the bag we set off to Leicester with the first mix of the new album on the stereo.
The gig was in aid of 'Off-Beat Magazines Andy's birthday. After giving our birthday wishes and watching the opening acts we hit the stage just before 10. Kicking off with 'The Preacher' we soon realised we were out of shape, not musically but rather physically. The sweat was pouring but we battled on and hit our stride. The new songs went relatively well with just a few mistakes that will vanish after a few times of being played live. We seemed to have the attention of the majority of the crowd and they sounded like they were enjoying our set. We got them involved with some hardcore clapping in 'Seperate Divide' and at the end of 'Dazed' and Michael got a big cheer when it came to his super fast twiddly bit. It was a great feeling to get that type of appreciation from the audience. We left the stage after about 40mins exhausted but feeling good. A few albums sold and some new names for the mailing list made for a good night. With over 28 gigs now booked for the summer we are excited to bring the new album out to everyone.
Gigging aside, we have a big week ahead of us. Tickets for the album launch are to go on sale this week, we are finalising the tracklisting and artwork, finishing the final album mix and at the weekend we are having a photoshoot and recording a promo video. Full steam ahead.
Jonathan
The night started with Michael coming round early to have a practice of a few new songs. Obviously with the release of 'All I Have Is Here' just around the corner, we really want to get the new songs in the set and sounding natural. With 'Roundabouts', 'Run', 'Just For Tonight' and 'Animals' in the bag we set off to Leicester with the first mix of the new album on the stereo.
The gig was in aid of 'Off-Beat Magazines Andy's birthday. After giving our birthday wishes and watching the opening acts we hit the stage just before 10. Kicking off with 'The Preacher' we soon realised we were out of shape, not musically but rather physically. The sweat was pouring but we battled on and hit our stride. The new songs went relatively well with just a few mistakes that will vanish after a few times of being played live. We seemed to have the attention of the majority of the crowd and they sounded like they were enjoying our set. We got them involved with some hardcore clapping in 'Seperate Divide' and at the end of 'Dazed' and Michael got a big cheer when it came to his super fast twiddly bit. It was a great feeling to get that type of appreciation from the audience. We left the stage after about 40mins exhausted but feeling good. A few albums sold and some new names for the mailing list made for a good night. With over 28 gigs now booked for the summer we are excited to bring the new album out to everyone.
Gigging aside, we have a big week ahead of us. Tickets for the album launch are to go on sale this week, we are finalising the tracklisting and artwork, finishing the final album mix and at the weekend we are having a photoshoot and recording a promo video. Full steam ahead.
Jonathan
Friday, 6 May 2011
Changes are afoot
We've now settled on the front artwork for our new album 'All I Have Is Here' out on June 24th. Over the coming weeks we'll be changing this site and all our others (bandcamp, twitter etc) to corrolate with the new artwork. That means new background, new menus and basically a new shiny site.
We think by Monday we can reveal the artwork and tracklisting as last night saw us finalise all the tunes in the first mix form. Next week we'll do the final FINAL mix and have it done, 100%, by Friday the 13th.
So far we've got 26 gigs coming up and we've got our fingers in several pies so expect more to pop up regularly.
That's it from the frontline. A web gig will be added very shortly so keep your eyes peeled.
M x
We think by Monday we can reveal the artwork and tracklisting as last night saw us finalise all the tunes in the first mix form. Next week we'll do the final FINAL mix and have it done, 100%, by Friday the 13th.
So far we've got 26 gigs coming up and we've got our fingers in several pies so expect more to pop up regularly.
That's it from the frontline. A web gig will be added very shortly so keep your eyes peeled.
M x
Monday, 2 May 2011
Update on all things 'All I Have Is Here'
I usually hate writing a recap blog as we have usually told you everything in the last few posts however, I feel there is quite a lot that is happening at the moment and thought it would be good to put it into a single post. Also, it's the last day of my 11 day holiday and want to do something that takes my mind off going back to work tomorrow :(
Both Michael and I have used the bank holidays to our advantage and had a nice break from work. For me personally it has been a welcomed break and the first one since Christmas. I (and the wife) have had the pleasure of many a BBQ and generally eating out, spending time with the sheep in Wales, getting addicted to 30 Rock and Prisoner (Cell Block H) and basically enjoying the sunshine. Me and Michael have hooked up a few times for the band and for pleasure. We had a great mixing session (5 songs in one session), a photo shoot (see below), a group day out to Coombe Abbey park and also manage to shake the wifes for a rare drinking session that ended in memory loss, a potential ban from Mcdonalds, a possible carpet cleaning bill for multiple rooms and two outrageous hangovers from hell.
Album number two or 'All I Have is Here' is so close to being finished. By the end of this week we shall have finished the mixing and then it should literally be tiny tweaks and all will be finished. Once this is done we shall be able to announce the tracklisting. There is still a big decision to be made on one of the tracks as to whether it should make the album. Michael is in favour and I’m not to keen. That being said, the track in question still needs a little re-recording and a lot of mixing so who knows, it could transform into a musical swan.
We have nailed the front cover of the album and we both think it looks great. Last week we spent a day doing some promo pics and one of them stood out so much it is making the cover. The rest of the artwork is in progress and should be finished within weeks.
As you already know, the album will be released on June 24th and we shall be launching it with a gig in our home town that very night. We picked Nuneaton again for the launch for the simple fact that we don't get to play our home town at any other time. There seems to be no scene for acoustic bands in Nuneaton and hence there are no acoustic nights for us to play. Tickets will be available from us, the Crown pub, online etc... They will be on sale as of next week. Support on the night will come from Stylusboy who is a great singer songwriter from Coventry.
Anyway, speak soon
Jonathan
Both Michael and I have used the bank holidays to our advantage and had a nice break from work. For me personally it has been a welcomed break and the first one since Christmas. I (and the wife) have had the pleasure of many a BBQ and generally eating out, spending time with the sheep in Wales, getting addicted to 30 Rock and Prisoner (Cell Block H) and basically enjoying the sunshine. Me and Michael have hooked up a few times for the band and for pleasure. We had a great mixing session (5 songs in one session), a photo shoot (see below), a group day out to Coombe Abbey park and also manage to shake the wifes for a rare drinking session that ended in memory loss, a potential ban from Mcdonalds, a possible carpet cleaning bill for multiple rooms and two outrageous hangovers from hell.
Album number two or 'All I Have is Here' is so close to being finished. By the end of this week we shall have finished the mixing and then it should literally be tiny tweaks and all will be finished. Once this is done we shall be able to announce the tracklisting. There is still a big decision to be made on one of the tracks as to whether it should make the album. Michael is in favour and I’m not to keen. That being said, the track in question still needs a little re-recording and a lot of mixing so who knows, it could transform into a musical swan.
We have nailed the front cover of the album and we both think it looks great. Last week we spent a day doing some promo pics and one of them stood out so much it is making the cover. The rest of the artwork is in progress and should be finished within weeks.
As you already know, the album will be released on June 24th and we shall be launching it with a gig in our home town that very night. We picked Nuneaton again for the launch for the simple fact that we don't get to play our home town at any other time. There seems to be no scene for acoustic bands in Nuneaton and hence there are no acoustic nights for us to play. Tickets will be available from us, the Crown pub, online etc... They will be on sale as of next week. Support on the night will come from Stylusboy who is a great singer songwriter from Coventry.
Anyway, speak soon
Jonathan
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