Wee-goyt-woto-Ciber - Obviously

With Michael’s hugely successful and extremely catchy WGOITWOOOTCFBR blogs ('What's going on in the world of one of the chaps from Barricades Rise') I thought I would be as original as ever and compliment these blogs with WGOITWOTOCIBR ('What's going on in the world of one the other chap from Barricades Rise') I like to think people will be pronouncing it as Wee-goyt-woto-Ciber in pubs across the world.

Music News
So as I type this, I’m listening to The Enemy’s new album on Spotify. I’m not what you call a fan, but they have had some catchy singles on their last two albums. I must admit, this album is very easy on the ears and I’m enjoying it. I think a few tunes will be making their way to my ‘Tunes I Have Found in 2012’ Spotify playlist. So far in 2012 I have found four new albums that have been on heavy rotation. The first is First Aid Kit’s ‘The Lions Roar. It’s a Folk album with 10 beautiful songs. I’m not usually a fan of the female vocal (sorry ladies) but this album has some sweet melodies and the singer has a nice edge to her voice. Album number two is from Simon Fowler (Ocean Colour Scene singer) and his first solo outing with the album ‘Merrymouth’. Now I was a massive OCS fan and think they have produced some amazing albums. The last time I saw them live was on a special acoustic gig that was recorded and put out as a live album and I loved the new songs they debuted at that gig. There was a folk edge to them and I was hoping their next album would move in that direction however, it never did and consequently I haven’t really got in to their last two studio albums. This Merrymouth album by Simon is exactly where I wanted OCS to go and I love it. Born to Die by Lana Del Ray has been a number one album across the world and these edgy pop tunes are so catchy. I suggest a listen if you haven’t heard it yet. Finally and going back to the folk, Dry The River’s Shallow Bed is the forth album on my 2012 ‘so far’ list. It’s folky, it’s Rocky, it’s catchy’ it’s just damn good.

Films and TV
Under Michael’s guidance, the wife and I have been hooked to America’s Next Top Model. Maybe it’s the budding photographer in me, but I am glued to the show and shout at Tara Banks and Co for sending my favorite models home. I even hunted down one of my fav models that was sent home and tweeter her some love. It’s not sad people, it’s the future of TV.
I’m getting excited for a few films that will be soon gracing the big screen. Prometheus or ‘The Alien prequel that doesn’t actually feature the Alien and has the most scary music in trailer history’ as it is also known in this boys mind, will be watched so hard by me. I was brought up on the Alien films by my older brother and really looking forward to this. Batman 3 is also on my radar, Batman Begins was stunning (potentially in my top 5 films of all time), The Dark Knight was a sweet watch and the trailer for the new one looks epic. Finally Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom looks like a typical Wes Anderson film, which suits me to the ground as I love the humor and the look of all his films, He can do no wrong in my eyes.

Baby Front
My awesome son has started to smile and it is the best feeling. I can’t believe he is now 6 weeks old. It has gone so quick, yet despite this, It also feels like he has always been here. Very strange!
We had a Barricades Rise social the other night and decided the best thing to do with our babies would be to fight them. It started with standard boxing, then moved to full contact mixed martial arts, we then strapped weapons to their arms and finally streamed it online and took bets. Alex held his own against Oscar but as you can see from the picture below, there was a size difference. Here's a picture from the opening round.

Other things
I’m halfway through a photography course at the local college and still love snapping away. I have spent many a weekend afternoon driving around looking for things to snap. You can see some of my pictures here. Hope you like them and I would love some feedback. I have booked some time in the photography studio and going try my hand a family portraits etc . . .

As of today, I have quit smoking. It's is extremely early days however, I had a chat with the Doctor and I'm patched up and ready to kick this bitch of an addiction. The doctor also told me that I had put on a stone in weight in the last 12 month :( NOT COOL. in all honestly I knew I had and need to do something about it fast.

Band Front
Gigs are approaching and practices are a happening. So far we have hooked up three times and each time we are getting back to the tight unit we were last year. A few new song ideas are floating around but nothing even close to being finished.



Speak soon
Jonathan

Ps- If anyone from the social services read this blog. I was joking about the baby fighting. It was purely boxing, no weapons.

Encore Magazine feature

The beautiful people at Yorkshire's Encore magazine(@encoremagazine2) have featured us this week, written by the wonderful Jen Grimble. You can read the full piece HERE

It's just over 3 weeks til our first gig back since November. The practice last night was very successful, with our voices going round about the hour mark so we'll easily be ready for it. Hope to see you at a gig this summer!

Next gig is Coventry - The Phoenix on Monday 11th June, it's free entry.

Avengers, Illuminated & West Wing

Time for another installment of WGOITWOOOTCFBR ('What's going on in the world of one of the chaps from Barricades Rise', isn't it obvious?)
At the weekend I took my wife (she paid) to see The Avengers Assemble on the big screen. I saw it in 3D, but only due to the fact we have a 4 month old, and he loves 3D. No, really we saw it in 3D as there were loads of times available and only 3 times in the useless 3rd world version (2D) and needed to get back in time to make sure our 4 month old had taken care of his grandad ok.
The film started slowly I thought and I was actually really bored after 15 minutes. But then...BAM! Stuff explodes and people fly and look sexy. By the end I would say it was a hoot and a half. It's really funny too as Wheden (Joss, the director and writer, also made Buffy, Angel, Firefly - All top draw) has his stamp all over it. There will be a sequal. I'd give it a Twister on the lollypop scale (8/10)

I've just finished Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. The way it's written is baffling to start but once it's clear what's going on, it is so touching. It's written from the point of 2 people; Jonathan himself, writing a story of his relatives and where he came from in Ukraine in the 1700's, then another charactor called Alex, who is Jonathan's Ukranian translator. Alex writes in 2 ways, one as a letter direct to Jonathan, and another as what happens when Jonathan came to visit Ukraine. It sounds pretty hefty stuff but it's so light and funny and it's the first book I laughed out loud to for a very long time. Towards the end it gets very dry and serious but I loved it all the way through. Plus there is a dog called Sammy Davies Jnr, Jnr. Brilliant read. 9/10. I started to read the bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey after but it was damn awful, I read about a third of it and gave up, so now I'm on my first Lee Child book. I don't know what it's called. They're all the same anyway right?

The West Wing is my favourite show ever on TV. I've seen the first 3 seasons and never got round to watching the rest so I was over the moon when my wife bought me the whole set for my birthday! We started watching it from the start last night and I'm still loving it from episode 1. To tell you what it's about, to write it down, it sounds so dull and boring, but to see it; the writing is the best and it's so fast. 10/10

On the band front we're hooking up tomorrow to get on down to the music. We really need to step it up as we have our first gig in under 4 weeks. No doubt we'll blog about it on Friday.

M x

Best Of British - BR Skype Interview

A couple of weeks ago we gave a Skype interview for the team at @BOBunsigned . The interview is now online for all to hear as part of their weekly Radio/Podcasts series. Take a listen to show 7 here. Our interview kicks off around 36mins and 25 seconds in to the show and you can skip directly to it if you please however, the whole show is worth a listen as it features some cracking unsigned music. In fact, the link above will take you to a page where you can hear all 7 of the shows that have currently been produced.

The team at 'Best Of British Unsigned' produce weekly radio shows that go out all over the world to 70 different radio stations, one week later, they post them as Podcasts for you all to hear. The team are great and we hope to feature on the show as much as possible. Take a look at their website here.

Hunger Games, Goon Squad & Battlestar

Time for a 'What's going on in the world of one of the chaps from Barricades Rise' or WGOITWOOOTCFBR for short. I might rethink that title.
Recently I went to see The Hunger Games on the big screen. I was lucky enough to know absolutely nothing about it and was really taken in with it. Although based on YA fiction and is essentially a 'Kids film' I loved it from the start and am now waiting patiently for the second film to arrive. I may have to purchase the trilogy and read them all before though as I want to know what happens! 9/10 from me

I also finished a book entitled A Visit from the Goon Squad which is a collection of short stories, all connected via several characters popping up in each story, in different time frames. After the first few chapters I got into it and really enjoyed it, all the stories were well written with one written as a story in a newspaper and one even written as a powerpoint presentation! Seek it out, it's by Jennifer Egan. 7/10. Now I'm reading Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. It's a delight

On the telly front I've just finished watching season 1 and 2 of Battlestar Galactica on the advice of Jonathan. I love Sci-Fi stuff and really love the way any one of the characters can be a Cylon (AKA baddies). I reckon a few main characters will be shown as this in the next few seasons. It centers around 47,000 surviving humans aboard the Battlestar Galactica, trying to escape, survive and defeat the evil Cylons, who look exactly like humans. The end of season 2 had me gripped and I want to watch the rest RIGHT NOW! So far it's an 8/10 but can see it getting higher if it keeps up the game.

Finally some BR news, once again we've been heralded as 'Really Good' by the online press, this time at Canadian site Vandala Concepts (@vandalaconcepts). Read the review of our DEBUT album You and Your Adored by clicking RIGHT HERE

M x

More Net Love For BR

Doing my monthly google check for BR, I stumbled upon a blog that has posted some extremely kind words about us. Take a read of the full article here - http://notjustanotherblog.co.uk/2012/04/27/hidden-gems-barricades-rise/ It is worth the read, the gentleman who's site it is used words like 'unique', 'excelent', 'energy' & 'the'.

We are currently streaming accross 70 worldwide radio stations with our Skype interview for BOBunsigned. Once it has done it's rounds of the radio stations, it will be available as a Podcast from http://www.bestofbritishunsigned.com/ I believe we are on 'Show 7'. You can hear some other quality unsigned music on show 6 which is streaming live now.

In other news, after 6 months of not getting his guitar out of the case, Michael will be once again donning the 6 string steel horse as we have our first practice of 2012 this Thursday. With gigs looming on the horizon, it's time to remember how to play our songs.

Anyhow, time to feed the boy (Alex, not Michael)

Jonathan