Barricades Rise Official Website - Acoustic Folk Rock Duo From The UK

A social Media Update

2012-01-29T19:54:00.004Z

Hey all, hope life is sweet. Just thought I would remind everyone that Barricade Rise can be found in a few places across the web. Obviously if you are reading this then you are on our main website and here you can find out and view just about everything however, if you want to get to know us a little better then here is how. . .

Facebook
Come 'Like' us and interact with us and our fans. We post quite a bit on here about the band and other things.

Twitter
Michael has been tweeting for quite a while and loves it. Follow him here. I (Jonathan) have just jumped on the band wagon (thanks to Michaels constant ranting) and you can follow me here. Twitter is just about the most personal of all the social networks and you can really get to know us both on there.

Ta
Jonathan

You Own My Songs

2012-01-22T18:05:00.001Z

“Once you record it you have to just let it go, because at that point it doesn’t even belong to you . . . as it is now in the world and floating around.”
This is a quote from a video interview with Canadian singer/songwriter Dan Mangan that our friend Stylusboy introduced me to. He is referring to the process of songwriting and is basically saying that once a song is put out for all to hear, it is not no longer the property of the songwriter. The ownership passes to whoever's ears receive it. Mr Mangan uses the analogy of a piece of artwork, that once sold, is gone from the artist and never seen by him/her again and what happens to it will never be known to the artist. It may be passed down through generations or shipped across the world. Essentially it no longer belongs to the artist.

As a songwriter myself, it is a view that I found extremely interesting and one I had never considered before. . I spent last night pondering if what I considered to be ‘my songs’ were in fact not my songs anymore. Obviously in a legal sense the songs belong to me as I own the copyright. However we aren’t talking about binding contracts here, I believe we are discussing a ‘sense of ownership’. Previously I would have said that as I choose to use a particular chord sequence, rhythm, instrumentation and dynamics and the lyrics are from my own experiences/feelings, the song belongs to me. The listener may own a physical CD disk or MP3 file that is legally theirs; but the song is still mine.
Think of it like buying a holiday to Greece. You buy a ticket and that ticket it is physically yours. That ticket allows you to go on a journey to a part of the world, yet you don’t own that part of the world, you experience it. By flying to Greece you don’t take ownership of that country; it still belongs to the Greeks. The CD is the ticket and the music is the holiday. I will come back to this analogy later (stay with me it does make sense).

The more I thought about what Dan Mangan said, the more I started to change the way I thought about ‘ownership’ and more importantly what constitutes ownership.
Music is different to most things as songs themselves are not physical objects. You can’t hold a song in your hand. Yes, they can be put on a physical disk, piece of vinyl or stored on a physical hard drive; but that’s not what we are talking about really, we are talking about the song itself. So, if you can’t physically hold a song, how can you own it?
My interpretation of what Dan is saying is that as a listener you start to form your own meaning to someone else’s song. The song then has a different meaning to you than to anyone else. It may become a soundtrack to your summer, a song that evokes memories of a loved one, help you through a break-up, help you with a make-up, it may bring you closer to someone or it could simply brighten up a sad day. All of a sudden you have attached yourself to the song and you have a connection to it. Ultimately you feel that the song is yours because it is now personal to you, regardless of what feelings or memories I originally wrote about.
How many times have you heard someone say 'This is totally MY song' or a couple stating that it's 'OUR song'? Has ‘Ownership’ now passed to the listener? And does that song still belong to the songwriter? Yes & Yes!

After my night of wonder I have come to the conclusion that ownership doesn’t pass, it is shared. It is shared from the moment the songwriter puts it out to the world. I or any songwriter can’t really take credit for the things I outlined above ‘chord sequence, rhythm, instrumentation, dynamics’. We can take credit for how we use those things and how we fit them together but we didn’t create these things, they are all used in every song ever written. Even the lyrics, we didn’t create the words, we just put them in an order that represented the feeling or experience we wanted to express. Basically the finished product becomes the exact same thing to the songwriter as it is to the listener which is a non-physical piece of music that evokes his/hers own meanings/feelings/experiences. Although the original meaning/feelings/experiences contained in the song are put there by the songwriter, the listeners own meanings/feelings/experiences that he/she creates when listening to the song are as real or as valid as the songwriters original ones. I say ‘As real or as valid’ because they are not ‘more’ than the songwriters, which gets to my point. . . I believe that ownership of the song is now shared. It never passes away from the songwriter to the listener but rather shared between.

Going back to my holiday analogy, we can now look at it in a different light. Yes, the ticket is still physically yours but is that bit of Greece now yours? Yes, you have associated meaning/feelings/experiences with that bit of the world which makes it as much ‘yours’ as anyone else. You can’t alter or steal the land you have staked your flag in as that would be illegal, much like if you steal my lyrics or melodies that would be illegal (and I would hunt you down), but you now have a ‘sense of ownership’ with your special part of the world.

I guess what I am trying to conclude from my night of contemplation is that of near agreement with Dan Mangan. I do believe that once a song has been put out by a songwriter that the listener now has ownership of that song but I don’t believe he has sole ownership or that the songwriter must “let it go” as the ownership never passes, it is shared. The meanings/feeling/experiences are “as real or as valid” to them both. The beauty of music and it’s non-physical form, is that the slice of the ownership pie that is taken by each listener is never ending and no-ones slice gets any smaller.

Go forth and own more

Jonathan

Create our next front cover!

2012-01-17T12:30:00.003Z

We in camp Barricade love making our music, but we also love making the whole design. We thought for the next release or two we'd have you put your two cents in. We have a remix EP and our second 'live, covers and demos' album out in the coming months and need some artwork.

If you fancy having a go at it then simply email us at band@barricadesrise.co.uk with your ideas/photos/artwork/anything you have and we'll consider it. Alternatively, go to our Facebook site and let us know there.

As we are a hard working, dedicated yet skint band, the work will be unpaid but it will be credited on the release and we'll push you to our fans for the rest of our natural lives, then onwards after too.

Here is the artwork for our last releases.

Oh, you will thank me

2012-01-09T23:52:00.002Z

So it's the start of a new year and if you are reading this then you must be hoping for some big Barricades Rise news. Something mega, something huge well . . .. . .We got nothing at the minute. Michael is busy with the baby and although I have been writing new stuff, there is little planned for the next month or so. Don't get me wrong, we have plans and 2012 will see Barricades Rise gigging and releases will happen but just nothing to report this very minute.

So, you are probably asking yourself 'Why blog with nothing to say?'. Well I have got something to tell you about and that is Rice!!!! Not just any rice, but the super wicked rice dinner I made today. Oh yes, it was a sensation of the taste bud variety. I have christened it 'Spicy tomato rice thingy' and this is what you need

Serves 2
White Rice – Three quarters of a mug full
1 x Tin of chopped tomato's
1 x Tin of Chilli beans in a chilli Tomato sauce
6 x Cloves of garlic
2 x Red onions
1 x White Cabbage
1 x Red Cabbage
1 x Jar of Lazy chopped chilli
1 x Carrot

How to prepare

1) Cook rice in saucepan until fluffy

2) Whilst rice is cooking, very (very) finaly chop onions, carrot and garlic. Put this to one side

3) Grate about a handful of raw white cabbage and the same of red cabbage and put with the Onion, carrot and garlic.

4) Once rice is cooked, throw it in to a wok and add the whole tin of chopped tomatoes and chilli beans.

5) Once heated through, throw in the carrot, onions, cabbage, garlic and a tablesspoon of lazy chilli.

6) Heat for about five minute and serve with whatever you like

7) BOOM – Taste buds have a party

Thank me later
Jonathan

ps – will have band news soon, I promise

Baby BR

2012-01-04T21:11:00.003Z

Michael and his wife welcomed their first child in to the world on January 2nd. They are now proud parents to a baby boy who they have named Oscar Joseph McEntee.

I'm sure Michael will post on here soon and tell you all about the joys of fatherhood but for now it's nappies and feeding for a while

Jonathan

ps - As it is our first blog of 2012 - Happy New Year

The Barricades Rise January Sale - Now On

2011-12-28T16:48:00.002Z

Did we all have a good Christmas? Mine was cracking and as usual it was spent with loved ones and too much food was eaten and many presents where shared.

Not to be outdone by the high street sales, us BR boys are having our own January sales. From now through to the end of January our digital download albums will be available for whatever you want to pay? Basically we have adopted a 'Pay What You Want' scheme. If you want to pay £0 then that's fine but if you fancy topping up our band fund to help with future releases then drop in a little cash. Your choice :)

Visit our download store here and fill your boots

Merry Christmas Everybody

2011-12-22T08:52:00.007Z

With Elf, Muppet's Christmas Carol and Die Hard all watched, it's officially Christmas so us boys of the Barricade would like to wish each and eveyone of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Have a look HERE for a tasty Barricades Rise treat

Love

Michael McEntee GCSE, BTEC, HND, BMUS Hons(2.1) and Jonathan Coates Swimming badge Tadpole 2, BMUS Hons (2.2 ie not as good as Michael)

x

***EDIT BY JONATHAN AT 23:11****
I will have you know i was a qualified swimming teacher and that involved me getting all three Tadpole badges and more.

***FURTHER EDIT BY JONATHAN AT 23:12****
I wanted to get a 2.2 for my degree so technically i won

***FINAL EDIT BY JONATHAN AT 23:14****
Merry Christmas

A rant about my home town.

2011-12-14T09:37:00.003Z

This has made me angry. My town, Nuneaton, is in the heart of the country, in Warwickshire no less, home of Shakespeare. George Eliot actually came from this town and there are a few statues of her dotted about, not to mention the local Weatherspoons (Felix Holt) named after one of her novels. You'd think that a place like this is idyllic. WRONG!

We have ONE theatre, thatis so run down and hidden behind a huge (and brand new ) Lidl supermarket, that never attracts ANYONE of notice because Bedworth (town down the road), has it's Civic Hall (another huge monstrosity). That's one problem. It's a joint Borough - Nuneaton & Bedworth. As Bedworth has the Civic Hall that means that Nuneaton has to make do with it's Saturday Matinee Theatre.
A huge building in the heart (practically) of Nuneaton that closed down about 5 years ago is the old Gala Bingo building. Opposite is the old pub the Kingsholme. Opposite the Gala is the massive Co-Op Car Park that is regularly full, especially this time of year, waiting half an hour to find a spot sometimes (luckily I walk in as I live 2 minutes away, hence I guess, the more personal tone of this rant). A few years ago some very close friends had the idea to open a new theatre in the Gala building. The inside is actually listed so it cannot get torn down. They were guided around the pitch black building by the estate agent and came back with a head full of ideas. Plans were drawn up, funding was investigated thoroughly and several emails were sent. Then...Silence. The idea of having another Theatre in Nuneaton went up in a puff of smoke. No replies were received from those in the council. It was sold not long after with rumours of 'new appartments'. This was a while ago now, so what has got me worked up today?

This - http://www.nuneaton-news.co.uk/News/Shoppers-paradise-14122011.htm

For Friggs sake.
In this town we have a very big ASDA, a big SAINSBURY'S, A CO-OP, a brand new LIDL, an ICELAND, and if we drive 2 minutes away we have ANOTHER CO-OP and a FARMFOODS in Horeston Grange. Not to mention several 'express shops' and 'premier shops'. What this town does NOT need, in any sense at all, is another supermarket. The one giant we do not have is a TESCO (apart from the small express stores), but that's ok as 1) Bedworth has just, this week, opened a MASSIVE new store in the centre, 2) The RICOH Arena 10 minutes drive away has the HUGEST store there is and 3) Tesco food is rubbish. So, it's ok to have one, and only one theatre in this identikit town of ours which, again lets stress, has GEORGE ELIOT as it's daughter. You know, the worldwide, Globespanning author of Middlemarch, Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner, Daniel Deronda and more, as Bedoworth has 'our Borough's' Jewel in the crown of live theatre and when asked about it, we are silenced. But when a conglomorate like Morrisons appears, it's smiles all round and get your chequebooks out. We, as a town, have NOTHING to show for our cultural history. A museum in the local park is never advertised or promoted in town, George Eliot might has well have lived in Barnsley.

This is not the first instance either. If you will allow me to go on a little more please. The old Woolworths (another huge space) in town closed and was replaced by...discount store TJ Hughes which subsequantly went bust and left the space open, and that went to...discount store Poundland (even though we already have one). And what will the old Poundland become? This is pure specualation but let me hazard a guess at a charity shop, to add to our large collection of these in the town (I counted 14 so far). Just yesterday it was anounced that the site of the old Graziers Arms is to become...KFC. The old Co-Op building in Queens Road was bulldozed a few years ago to create...Lidl. The area behind Wilkinsons is earmarked for development with a hotel and shops stated. I'm guessing it'll be a Premier Inn with Starbucks, Costa, maybe a Primark (people have been shouting for one of these, as they are 'cheap'. That's what Nuneaton needs isn't it? Cheap clothes shops?) Recently the Marks and Spencer's in town closed. No wonder if the town is full of discount shops, charity shops and phone shops, yet only one bookshop (Waterstones, not exactly independant is it, and freaking expensive too). Why does the council not sit up and realise that, with a little bit of thought, we can make a go at this culture thing.

Recently my wife and I went for a random drive, we do often, just to go somewhere we hadn't before. We ended up in Litchfield half an hour away. I encountered 4 independant bookshops, small boutiques selling handmade crafts, clothes, bags, shoes, paintings, cakes and sweets. It was a revelation. It sparked in me a desire to open my own shop in Nuneaton like this, my idea being a bookshop. Somewhere where the local population had somewhere to meet, chat, have a coffee etc. I'd have reading groups, acoustic nights in the shop, poetry reading, knitting clubs, comedy nights and more. A social hub of the town. The idea is something that will stay with me and might surface again, but in this town the only thing that can survive is the High Street. How can we change this? In this town, we can't. I'd love to get a group of people with the same ideas as me and have a real go at making a cultural, independant area of the town. It'll attract a global population to the town I'm sure, with overweight Americans coming to the 'quaint and idyllic area of George Eliots hometown'. They can then have a drink in the Felix Holt (I'm sure the clientel that frequent that place do not realsie it's an Eliot reference). But it won't happen, we'll get a Morrisons instead.

I apologise for this next bit, but it Fucks me off.

M x

A few rumblings/ramblings.

2011-12-12T11:59:00.002Z

There is very little happening at the moment musically. In fact, anything to do with the band is pretty much on the backburner. A few days ago we were handed the second remix by 'Soundtrack' of Penelope. It's dirty, It's gritty, it's fantastic. With no music being written we won't have any releases of new music from us but the remix EP will be out at the beginning of next year, most likely as a download from our bandcamp store.

Jonathan has only gone and booked our first gig of 2012! The crazy Mofo has us pencilled in at The Maudsley (Official Barricades Rise fave venue) on June/July 20/21/22 something like that. I can't be bothered to switch over to the gig page to see when exactly but it's next summer.

The Christmas CD has gone down a storm, so thank you all for requesting one. Over 100 were sent out all over the world from Nuneaton to Rio! Jonathan has recorded a lovely stripped version of Merry Christmas Everyone that will be on our December mail list. With the reworked songs, covers and originals, being a success, we may investigate rerecording a few tunes and have an 'alternative' EP/Album for when we are ready to gig again. Nothing extensive, but a few songs done differently.

One final thing, around April (approx.) we'll have Repertoire Pt II ready for free release from the website. Like Pt I, it'll contain live recordings, demos of songs that didn't make All I Have Is Here and covers. So even though we are both taking abreather from Barricades Rise, we are still very much on the go.

In the next few days I'll be posting my fave tunes from 2011 with the hope to extend my exquisite taste in music.
M x

I Posted To Soon

2011-12-08T18:47:00.004Z

I think I may have posted my top albums of 2011 a little bit early as in the last week I have discovered an album by a band called 'The Whip” and then an unsigned band from Manchester called 'The Slow Readers Club” released their debut album on Monday which is a stunner.

The Whip sound very much like a cross between 'The Music' (their last album anyway) and just plain good dance music. It's not to everyone's taste but the 'Wired Together' is currently making my hands shoot to the air in a big fish, little fish, cardboard box style. Check it out on Spotify here

The Slow Readers Club are born from another unsigned band called Omerta. I first heard of them around 4 years ago whilst looking at a Puressence forum and fell for their northern downbeat tunes. Omerta became 'The Slow Readers Club' last year and those tunes I fell for, along with new ones, are all on this album. They have a sound similar to the 'Editors' who I have fell for in a big way lately. Check the album out on Spotify here

Jonathan

Music to our ears #3 - Stylusboy

2011-12-03T15:36:00.005Z

Hailing from Coventry, Stylusboy (AKA Steve Jones) supported us at our album launch in June. His tunes have a simplicity to them that I envy. So, so catchy. And he's a great guy too. He very kindly recorded an exclusive video for us here.

BR - How are you? Tell us a wee bit about you.

SB - I am very good thank you. I am a singer songwriter from Coventry and I play folk songs which are inspired by life and all it's twists and turns.

What are you working on right now?

Right now I am working on a Live album which I have recorded at the house shows I have played this year. I also have an EP coming out early next year of all the songs from my 'Whole Picture EP' which have been remixed by various people. I am very excited about both of these releases. I am also working on a number of new songs which will be released next year.

Which one album would you say made you start writing your own songs?

That is a pretty tricky question. When I was growing up I listened to alot of bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam and my musical tastes develop broadly from there. I enjoy The Beatles and The Beach Boys. I think people like Damien Rice really influenced me to start writing quieter acoustic songs.

Any favourite gigs spring to mind that you've played?

About a year ago I support a lady called Nell Bryden at the Hare and Hounds in Birmingham which was part of her UK tour. Nell is a from New York and she invited me to play which was ace. It was a sell out show of about 100 people and you could hear a pin drop during songs which was lovely but equally a little bit scary!

You are an avid tweeter, what's the appeal?

The appeal for me is just getting to know people. Musicians, bloggers, artists and all sorts of other places. Sharing thoughts and ideas and sometimes just funny stories. Alot of people have discovered my music from Twitter and not just things I have tweeted. My 'Whole Picture EP' comes as two copies, one to keep and one to pass on. People have run competitions for people to win their 'pass it on copy'!

You play house gigs, tell us about that.

House gigs are amazing because they are so intimate. I asked my mailing list if anyone would like to host a house show back in May and a number of people got in touch. The idea being the hosts would invite people to their houses to watch me play, they would also cook food and during the gig we enjoy this together. House shows are really great because they are very intimate and the audience are able to ask me questions and make requests.

You hand made each EP. Why not go to a mass supplyer?

I have always enjoyed designing and making the CD covers. I did a fine art degree and so the aesthetics of my releases has always been important to me. I like giving all my releases the personal touch so they are a little bit special.

Is there anyone you'd like to collaborate with, both in the local scene and globally?

Local I am currently working on a song with Wes Finch and I have talked to lots of different people about working together. I would love to write with someone like Laura Marling just to experience how she writes. I would also love to work with people like Faithless because they are just completely different to anything I would normally do. I have another collaboration which is currently happening via the wonders of the internet but I can't tell you more than that at the mo!

You've recently played bass with Atlum Schema, would you drop it all and play with him full time?

No although it was alot of fun to play with Atlum Schema and to return to playing the bass which I haven't done, particularly in a live band situation for a while. It was great to play Andy's songs and sing with him.

Your EP's have a few different instruments on them, do you play band shows?

I have played a couple of band shows and shows with extra people playing with me. I see the recording of my songs completely differently to playing them live. Live the songs are very stripped back and often just me and my acoustic.

What are your plans for 2012?

2012 is going to be a busy year. I have my live house show album being released and my Whole Picture Remixed EP coming out too. I am also writing a number of new songs and working with some film makers. Some interesting gigs are being booked too. It is all very exciting!

You can pull off the hat, how'd you get your 'look'?

Thanks I am glad you like my hat. I guess I like to think a little about what I am wearing and the image I put across. I don't mean that to sound big headed or anything, so I hope it doesn't. My hat often comes with me to gigs, this is true!

13 Quick fires...
Blur or Oasis
Blur
Michael Jackson or Elton John
Michael Jackson
Beer or Wine
Wine (be a different answer tomorrow!)
Salted or Dry Roasted

Sated

Book or Telly
Book
Jeremy Clarkson or Richard Hammond
Richard Hammond
Snes or Mega Drive
Mega Drive
Michael or Jonathan
Michathan
Twitter or Facebook
Twitter
and finally Marmite or no marmite
No Marmite

We here in Barricades Rise both Love the film High Fidelity. So, taken from that what are your all time top 5 cover tunes of all time?

Smell Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana
You got the Love - Candi Staton
Teenage Dream - Katy Perry
One day like this - Elbow
Made Up Lovesong #43 - Guillemots

Where can people get in touch with you?
www.stylusboy.co.uk
mr.stylusboy@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/stylusboy
www.twitter.com/stylusboy
www.stylusboy.tumblr.com
www.stylusboy.bandcamp.com

Anything else you'd like to add
Just to say thank you for featuring me on your site. Do get in touch and come and see me play. I love meeting people and talking about music!

Introducing the first Barricades Rise radio show

2011-12-01T08:50:00.004Z

You may have noticed a new tab at the top of this website that reads 'Radio Show'. Well, there is now something on that page in the form of our very first radio show.

The idea is that every so often we will produce a little radio show thet consists of music we love, some unsigned artists we believe you should listen to and a little Barricades Rise banter.

Take a listen whilst you work or surf here

Best Albums Of 2011

2011-11-26T13:09:00.000Z

It’s that time of year again when all the music magazines and online press share their ‘best albums of the year’. Not to be outdone, us BR boys would like to share our favorite albums of 2011. Like in our 2010 list, these albums where not necessarily released in 2011 but are the albums we were listening to throughout 2011.

Jonathan – His Albums of 2011

I’m going to start by saying 2011 was no 2010. Last year saw me falling head over heels for certain albums, however this year has been a little bit of a let-down for finding new musical treats. I have spent many hours trawling through Spotify and checking out recommendations from friends but have not really had a big album(s) that has dominated my year like all the four I listed last year. Still, a few albums have made a dent in my iPod playlists and they are

Beirut – The Rip Tide (Click to Hear on Spotify)

It’s a 9 track album and I like 5 songs on it. Not the best way to start I know however, Beirut is a strange beast for me. When I like one of his songs, I LOVE it, I cant stop playing it and want it on constantly. This is his most commercial sounding album and songs like ‘Candle’s Fire’, ‘East Harlem’ & ‘Port of Call’ have been on repeat for the latter part of 2011 and the few songs that I weren’t to bothered about are slowly going up in my estimations.

The Devil Makes Three – The Devil Makes Three (Click to Hear on Spotify)

I stumbled across the Devil Makes Three whilst surfing through Spotify and fell for their blend of blues/country/bluegrass/ragtime. They are a three piece acoustic band and have a great energetic feel to their songs. I like to think that if BR were based in the Deep South then this is how we would sound. The one song I have written since ‘All I Have Is Here’ was inspired by these guys. They have three studio albums out and they all sound pretty similar (not a bad thing in my book) but I have chosen their self-titled effort as it has a few more sing along choruses.

The Milk Carton Kids – Prologue (Click to Hear on Spotify)

A relatively late in the year album as I only started listening to it around the start of November. The Milk Carton kids sound very much like Simon & Garfunkel and although the album is still growing on me, there are some real great folky choruses and sound impressive guitar work.

Editors – An End Has A Start (Click to Hear on Spotify)

So for the second year running the Editors make my ‘best album of . . .’ list. This time it’s their second album. After falling in love with their third album last year, I went back and tried out their debut. I must admit, it didn’t hit me. I then went to ‘An End Has A Start’ and had it on repeat one day at work and all of a sudden these melodies started jumping out at me and the album just clicked. There are a few songs that are fillers but overall it's pretty damn sweet.

To be honest I’m starting to struggle now. There have been plenty of individual songs from many artists that I have loved and annoyed people with by playing them everyday. Some from folky bands, some rock, some Rap and some mainstream pop. I won’t list them all but a few key tunes are:

The Pierces – Love You More
Dry The River – No Rest & New Ceremony ( Their debut album is out next year which I am very much looking forward to)
Dylan LeBlanc – Low & Emily Hartly
Rihanna – Only Girl In The World & Te Amo
Lonely Island – Mother Lover & Captain Jack Sparrow

Michael - His albums of 2011

I pretty much agree with Jonathan regarding the quality of albums I've heard this year however, there is one that was an absolute gem and by far my album of 2011

City and Colour - Little Hell (Spotify link)

A find on Spotify, the song Grand Optimist blinded me by its simple brilliance. The guys voice is very unique and I can't fault a song on it. It's been on my stereo since it was released in the middle of the year.

The next three albums have not had a massive impact unlike my fave's last year, but I still think they are a good listen

The Head and The Heart - The Head and The Heart (Spotify link)

A spotify find again. I listened to this because I liked the front cover. I'd never heard of them but put it on and soon found its quirky folk quite pleasant. The song Ghosts is a storming tune and the rest isn't half bad either.

Feist - Metals (Spotify link)

Only recently have I listened to this. Previous Feist songs have left me cold so I don't really know why I even gave this a spin, but I'm glad I did. She seems to have forsaken the artsy side that put me off previously, with a host of great melodies in it's place. It's quite dark and morbid in places, but then suddenly it'll spark into life. I could love this album more in time.

The Pierces - You and I (Spotify link)

Thanks to John from London who had this on in the morning after our house gig, eating his food one song cought Jonathans ear and we investigated more. The album is really good. Pop with great harmonies and some standout tunes. A few fillers but mostly a joy.

Over the year I've been making a playlist of every song that I've loved in 2011, be it a new dance song or a 60's folk tune. There are about 40 songs in this playlist and I'll be picking my top 10 fave's of the year in a week, with a few surprises in the mix.
So not a vintage year for albums, but that City and Colour album is the bees knees.

What are your faves? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter

M and J

Final Gig of 2011 - House Show

2011-11-20T13:56:00.008Z

So there you have it, our last performance together until 2012. Last night saw us playing an intimate house show in Michael's living room to end our 2011 gigging life. It's been a great year of gigging and you can read all about our touring life in the post below.

With a spread put on by Michael, my MP3 player providing the background music and an audience of family, friends and local fans it was the setting for a perfect night. People started arriving from 7pm and after an hour or so of mingling we took to the stage around 8:30, played for about 45mins, took a short break and returned to play for another half hour. We felt we played a great set of songs and the audience seemed to agree. The usual Barricades Rise banter was flowing, a string was broke and a few lyrics were forgotten but hey, it wouldn't be a successful night if that didn't happen :)
Here's some raw video footage of our performance

The drink flowed until around 3am and a great evening was had by all. Thanks to everyone that came.

Jonathan

The end of the 'All I Have Is Here Tour'

2011-11-14T12:07:00.016Z

As I turn on the fire, sit down with a good book (Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky, or JK Rowling) slip my beautifully manicured feet into soft as sheepswool slippers, I’d like to reflect on the past few months, or more specifically what has been known as the ‘All I Have Is Here’ tour. *Glares upwards into the air reflectively*

There was no set starting point of the tour looking back as, even though the album was released on June 24th, we’d been gigging for a good few weeks beforehand to get up to scratch with the new songs. After trawling through our blog to see if I could find a starting place, it’s only now that I realise that the whole experience has come full circle as, on 7th May 2011, after a 2 month break from gigging, we hit the Crumblin’ Cookie Café and 27 weeks later, or 189 days, we ended the tour in exactly the same venue.

With that first gig played, we had

28 booked in front of us (but booked more, cancelled some), just a number at that point, and we had a small inkling that if the new songs (and album) went down as well as they did at that first gig, the tour would be a bloody rewarding one. As Jonathan wrote in the review of the first Cookie gig; “full steam ahead.”

The following gig at The Soak had to be cancelled due to my Nan sadly passing (RIP Nan) but we soon got back on the proverbial horse and rode into the West (near Witherly). The weekend of 15th-16th May was the pivotal point of the album and the weekend was handed over to Team Promo, AKA Rob at Redwood Photography and Chris at Wastral productions. Saturday saw us heading into fields, over and under bridges, on fences and generally being one with nature for our photo shoot. The photos that came out were used in our artwork and promotional material. The same night we completed a final, final mix of the album. It was complete.

Sunday appeared with a cautious optimistic view of the world, with Chris riding on its rays to record a few promo videos of us playing (with Dave Sharpe on percussion) in my back garden.

Check the other videos here and here. Rob also returned to show us the shots from the previous day and to shoot us playing. The weekend was a success!

The gigs came thick and fast for the next few days. Northampton had its very first taste of us at the Bat and Wicket on the 22nd May, and the Sunnyside on the 29th. Sandwiched in between these two was a highly successful showing at Millsy’s Bar in Earlsdon on 23rd May. The first disappointing gig of the tour was played at the Dry Docks in Leicester a few days later on June 2nd, mainly due to the crowd being full of students throwing the rest of their loans on the cheap drink and not really paying attention to the music. Not a disaster but a miss rather than a hit. Around this time we had finalised the artwork featuring Rob's and Emily's (Jonathan’s wife) photos and tracklisting and had the album down pat.

Twice along the tour we played 2 gigs in one day and the first was on the 4th June. Our launch venue and local pub, The Crown, had us on their annual beer festival then we moseyed on to the supportive Cross Counties Radio to play their 2nd birthday shindig. It was a glorious day with varying results, the former a mere background noise to the expansive ale choices, the latter a great chance to chat to fans and play live on the radio!

Our rescheduled gig at The Soak on 11th June was a fruitless affair, with the students yet again deciding that alcohol trumps acoustic tunes. We had a 2 week gap of practicing the new tunes, sorting a set and thinking of how to pull off our launch night. The launch came on June 24th and was a huge success with support from Stylusboy. Over 100 people attended, along with radio personnel and local papers.

The success of the launch night continued into our next few gigs as we made debuts at the Somerville Arms in Leamington on 27th and Rowell Charter in Northampton a few days later on 29th followed by the Godiva Festival in Coventry on 1st July. The festival was great but we just wished we went on later as, opening the festival (which was great) just meant that there were still loads of people mulling around the site and still coming in. We did manage to hit the FRONT PAGE of the Coventry Telegraph though! Another festival followed in the shape of Fuse in Lichfield, which was also a great success, we even got asked back for next year as soon as we left the stage.

The next 3 gigs was a bit of a downer in the tour. The Adam and Eve, Birmingham was pretty deserted as was The Corner House in Cambridge on 13th and 17th July respectively. The lowest point came though at Milton Keynes Living Room (not to be mistaken for actual gigs in people’s living rooms, more of that in a moment) on 20th July.

We travelled the hour and a bit to play 3 songs to a full house interested in talk of the FTSE Index and stock shares. We had a turkey of a gig. To rectify this though we did what we do best, we rocked hard. The following gigs were just sublime.

21st, 22nd and 23rd July saw us play our very first online gig, then play our two favourite venues. We had loads of fun at the online gig at my house and will play more next year. We headed to our favourite venue ever, The Maudsley, and rocked to a jam packed house, selling more albums than ever, and finishing off the weekend with The Crumblin Cookie (again) our second fave venue, it was a joy to be back on top.

A dodgy gig in Derby at Bar One on 28th July was quickly forgotten and followed by a surprise great gig at Katie Fitzgerald’s in Stourbridge on 29th. The tour rumbled on into August with good gigs on 1st at the Market Inn in Kettering, our first journey to the town, and 6th on our return to the Jolly Colliers in Coalville, a great drunken sing-a-long gig. With the despicable riots in full flow our gig in Birmingham was cancelled by the promoter, but not to be defeated, Jonathan played a solo online gig on 10th that the Coventry Telegraph picked up on and gave a good bit of promo. I think the most surprising gig of the tour for me though was the Umbrella festival on the 13th. We both were not up for this, expected to play to 10 people then leave. We could not have been more wrong.

The tent we played in got fuller and fuller the more we played and we ended up selling a sack full of albums and getting over 30 email addresses for our world domination plan. We returned to The Maudsley on 21st but not to play our usual Ditch The TV upstairs. We played a good hour and half to a responsive crowd in the bar downstairs.

We ended August with The Musican on 31st, where we played with some truly original and talented artists. August faded into September with our gigging now becoming a little sporadic than previously but with a long weekend away in London. We played two living room gigs over the 3rd and 4th but totally different. The first living room was actually a fans house who’d asked us to play. It was fantastic with loads of new people, great conversation, home made ales and egg and bacon cooked for us for breakfast, the following day was us at the franchise called The Living Room (same one that we played in Milton Keynes). We hung around from 1 till 8 to play this, where really we should have gone home. We did meet some nice generous fans who we keep in contact with via twitter though. The Sunflower Lounge on the 7th was a bit of a lost cause. On 14th I played my very first solo show online and got great response (again, from the Cov Telegraph who seems to really pick up on us!). The following weekend we headed East to our now annual gig in Norwich. On 21st we played a house gig with my brother at his flat, then 22nd at The Arts Centre which went well. It’s really about getting together with family and friends though and having a good time!

We now had about 2 weeks break from gigging until we returned to local venues in Coventry and Kenilworth. With The Phoenix on Oct 3rd I was full of cold and so played a bit sloppy but at Royal Oak on 9th we nailed it.

The second time we headed to Rowell Charter on our tour saw us take many spoils with a rip-roaring set on 19th. At this point we could see the light at the end of the tunnel and only a handful of gigs remained, and again we now had 2 gigs in 1 day.

On 22nd Oct we headed to Lichfield to play the Folk and Roots fest, snapping 2 strings we thought it was rubbish, til we ended the set and people came rushing to buy albums! The evening gig at Ale Wagon in Leicester was for Oxjam and we absolutely slaughtered it. Another 2 strings broken, a crowd screaming for us to continue (we obliged) it was a fantastic response. A Good Day! We now only had 2 gigs left, the first just a few weeks ago on the Nov 1st at my home studio with an online gig. We both played great and got loads of requests, ending up playing over an hour. With this gig over, and no confirmation of our last gig we thought we might have played our last song but a few days before the 12th we were confirmed as support to Ben Marwood at…The Crumblin Cookie.

The last gig went amazing; the place was rammed, so much so that it took 2 minutes to cram through the bodies to get to the stage. We rocked, we sweated, we messed up (of course we did!) but we gave it our all. It was a truly great moment and a fitting way to end the tour.

Over the course of the tour, taking in 40 gigs, we sold well over half the stock we held, gained over 300 emails, found a capo on the floor, drank way too much, spent way too much, had a blast, had a panic attack, broke around 24 strings and drove Miles. We now take a well earned break to look after our wives, regain our voices and read books by Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky and JK Rowling.

Thanks for the memories. *rides off into the sunset on a stallion of burnt amber*

Michael

Hhhhholidays are coming, Hhhhholidays are coming

2011-11-11T13:30:00.002Z

It's nigh on impossible to watch the telly today without having some C list celeb push frozen prawns into the lens and shout "ONLY £1 THIS CHRISTMAS!". So it's with these annoying yet unavoidable symptoms that I've come to realise that the festivites are upon us, more or less. That, and we've spent the best part of a month recording Christmas classics!.
In previous years we kind of knew which song to tackle, but with the two best ones already notches on our bedpost, we've struggled to find a classic we can make our own. Even after we mixed down the final version of the song we chose, it didn't seem to have the magic of the previous efforts. After a long thought out process (lasting a fairly heavy 1 minute 4 seconds at least) we added the tried and tested Barricades Rise method: Add more stuff till it sounds better, and low and behold, it worked! Not only that, but the back up tune also sounded a Majestic success. Add to these two the previous years Christmas offerings and we have an EP of yuletide joy. An extra tune or two of our own has made the cut too.

Get your free Christmas EP by sending your postal address (anywhere in the world) to barricadesrise@hotmail.com

In other news, our last gig will be tomorrow at the Crumblin Cookie in Leicester supporting Ben Marlow. We'll not be on the road after that until next June too. See our last blog regarding our plans for 2012.

My next blog will be a biggie, wait for it on Sunday or Monday.

M x

The rest of 2011 and into 2012

2011-11-07T09:25:00.008Z

With Heart FM telling me this morning that there are only 50 sleeps to go until Christmas (which is strange as I count 48) I thought I would update you on what Barricades Rise have planned for the rest of the year. To be 100% honest, we don’t have too much set in stone due to factors happening in our personal lives. That being said, this is what will happen pre 2012;

Christmas CD – You know the drill, for the last couple of years we have sent a FREE Christmas CD out to anyone that wants one. No matter your worldwide location, we will send our festive treat to your door in December. So far, we have recorded the tracks and just about to do a mix. All that is left is the mammoth task of printing artwork, burning CDs, writing envelopes, packing everything up together and popping to the post office. Depending on your location, expect yours around the first/second week of December.

Final Real Gig - This Saturday (12/11/11) sees us playing a support slot at our favourite Leicester venue, The Crumbling Cookie. It will be our last 'real' gig of the year and probably our final gig until May/June 2012. Come see us if you can, I expect we will be on stage around 7:30pm/8pm ish

Final House Gig – Our actual final live performance of the year will be at Michael's house on the 19th November. We love the intimacy of the house gig and if you are local, drop us an email at band@barricadesrise.co.uk and we will reserve a slot just for you and your king (early Christmas reference).

Final Online Gig – I have a solo online gig scheduled for 1st December. These are fun to play and I hope you will tune in and watch. The shows start at 7:30pm GMT and you can watch them by going to our gig page and clicking on ‘Online Gigs’.

Blogging – We love blogging and whilst we will not be on the road or in the studio for a good while I’m sure we will blog about what is going on in the personal lives of BR along with the usual end of year round ups and start of year predictions. On average we blog a couple of times a week so keep checking the site.

In terms of what WILL happen, that is it. Now a few things I would LIKE to get done either pre Christmas or early 2012

Radio Show – Using Mixcloud we shall be producing some short radio shows that will have a little BR banter and tunes from our favorite artists and a few unsigned bands we have had the pleasure of knowing. These won’t be a regular once a month thing but rather when we feel like it. I aim to produce the first one before Christmas and see how it sounds. You will find them on this site once they have been done.

Remix EP – We recently had a fan do a remix of Roundabouts (listen here) and he has agreed to remix a selection of BR tunes with the intention of putting out a FREE download EP. The chap who is remixing goes by the name of ‘Soundtrack’ and the aim is to get the EP out at the start of the new year. There is no pressure and if he wants to spend more time on the mixes then it will be put back.

More Online Gigs – As stated above, the real gigs wont happen until part way through 2012, therefore we shall be doing more online gigs to keep us from rusting and to give you your BR fix. We shall announce via this site and via our social sites when these will happen. Very often these may be at short notice.

Repertoire Part 2 - No date yet but talks of early 2012 for another slice of our FREE Repertoire pie. Basically, a collection of the covers we have recorded, some demo’s from the AIHIS sessions and some live recordings. You can download part one here

So there you go. 2012 is going to be a very different year for us BR boys due to amazing things happening in both our personal lives. It is an 'unknown' year really as we just don't know what is in store for Barricades Rise and how these changes will affect the day to day running of BR. We will get back to gigging and we will write new stuff but when that will see the light of day I just don't know. We want to do something different than just releasing another CD/Download album but what that will be we haven't decided. I also doubt that a big release will be out in 2012.

Jonathan

Something a Little Scary

2011-11-02T07:30:00.002Z

I thought I would share with the blog a little something fun we have been doing over at our Facebook page. For the last five days we have been running a competition that we aptly have called

"carve a Pumpkin/Fruit into whatever you want and the winner (picked on Monday) will win a signed album and a T-Shirt, just upload your pic to our facebook page competition"

I think you can guess what it was about and what we wanted you good people to do. Anyway, here are the entrances that we had

It's clear that we have a fine divide of artistic and non-artistic fans (and Band members). After careful consideration, the winner is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Green Carved Swan Apple by Mr Ollie Tooth.

Also, last night saw us perform another online gig together and here is the video from the night

Video streaming by Ustream

Jonathan

Online gig - TONIGHT!! (Tue 1st Nov)

2011-11-01T08:10:00.003Z

Tonight Jonathan and myself will be putting on an entertaining show for you, broadcast over the wonders of the Internet. Click your curser on http://www.barricadesrise.co.uk/p/online-gigs-live-on-your-screen.html and at 7.30pm (gmt, thats UK time deary) like magic we'll appear in your little square of a monitor (mines more a rectangle, widescreen and all that).
We'll be playing the greats and the not so greats, covers and originals, Ukuleles and Banjos, and maybe a bit of beat-box, but probably not.

A new feature for the online gigs is you can now view directly on the life-sucking Megatran that is Facebook. So expect a few messages from 6 onwards tonight if you follow us.
We've no idea how long we'll play for, until we get tired I guess.

Thanks for listening.

M x

Music to our Ears #2 - Hannah Faulkner

2011-10-28T14:25:00.004+01:00

So it's that time again. Whilst out and about gigging we come across great artists and this is the place for us to show you just what is out there. Hannah Faulkner came across us at a gig at the Musician in Leicester a year ago (see the gig review here). Her voice struck us immediately as being not only distinguishable but just bloomin strong. She can belt it out. After chatting it turned out we were to play together again just a week or so later. The second time was just as great. She also runs her own night so we've played with her nearly a dozen times or so since. With her new album out just around the corner (Tomorrow!) we threw some questions her way and she agreed to play a live tune just for us here! See the video below with her song and interview.

You can get loads more info on her own site www.hannahfaulkner.com

She also gigs like no tomorrow so go and catch her when you can!

Two gigs, One day - 22/10/11 Review

2011-10-24T14:38:00.003+01:00

Let me start this blog by asking you - what makes a gig a successful one?

Basically we had two gigs on one day. The first was a Saturday afternoon slot at the Lichfield Roots & Folk festival and the second a slot at the Ale & Wagon in Leicester in aid of Oxjam.

We turned up at a very posh medieval style building in Lichfield around midday ready for our 1pm slot. Although the event had not started yet, we were very worried about the lack of people in the venue. We grabbed a table and chatted away for around 40 mins until the first act of the day took to the stage. It was a full band playing old dancing tunes and they were very easy on the ear. We gathered our gear and took to the stage. The room had filled up a considerable amount and we kicked straight in to The Preacher. No problems at this point. By the second song I had snapped my ‘A’ string but managed to get through to the end of the song. By the third song my ‘D’ String snapped which rendered my guitar useless and at this point we panicked as we had no spare guitar and another 5 or 6 songs left to play. We made a call out for a guitar, but no guitar came. The crowd were not the most talkative and our usual banter didn’t seem to get them loosened up either. With Michael playing chords and myself just singing we played another song and then, as if by magic, a spare guitar appeared. Michael played a solo version of ‘Great White North’ as I tuned and then we blasted through the last couple of songs at full throttle. The string breakages coupled with the unresponsive crowd and no stage sound (despite 5 stage monitors pointing at us) made us leave the stage feeling like failures.

Then, someone came to buy an album, then another, then another and so on. The unresponsive crowd turned into a chatty bunch and full of complements and lapped up our albums. We also nearly filled a sheet with email address and suddenly it felt like this losing battle had been swung around. We said our goodbyes and left the venue to get home for three o'clock. This gave us enough time to recharge the batteries, change some strings and get ready for gig number two.

We arrived at a very full Ale & Wagon pub around 6pm and couldn’t even get to the front to meet the promoter because of the crowds. We sat near the back and listened to the two artists that were on before us and watched the crazy drunk students as they enjoyed a pint or 10. We finally pushed our way to the front and set up our gear . We hit the crowd with the usual set of high energy BR clobber and this time all was grand. There were a few mic issues with myself but we seemed to nail the performance. Maybe we wanted to make amends for the afternoon gig so we rocked just that little harder and enjoy it we did. I did break another two strings though on the last song :)

So, back to my original question of what makes a gig a successful one? Well we played well below par at gig number one yet gained many emails and album sales. I deem that as successful. Now gig number two we played a blinder yet only sold a couple of albums and got less emails however, because of the performance I deem that successful. So to answer my own question, I would suggest that any gig where even a single album or email address is gathered should be classed as successful, regardless of how good we thought we played.

Jonathan

The Rowell Charter, Rothwell, 19/10/11 - Review

2011-10-20T09:04:00.007+01:00

It was a good job that I wasn’t driving to this gig as I would have took us to a pub 40 miles away in Coalville, therefore turning up at the Rowell Charter in Rothwell was a pleasant and welcomed surprise despite it being clearly listed on our gig list for a couple of months.

We arrived at the pub and was greeted by the usual Barricades Rise fans queuing to get in – see below

OK, so the above picture may have been a stock photo of the pub from Google. Anyway, we did turn up to the pub and it pretty packed and decorated out like a haunted crypt in aid of All Hallows Eve (Halloween for the layman). Now I am not talking of a few rubber bats hanging from the ceiling, this pub had gone hardcore and no wall was left un-hallowed.

We grabbed a drink and listened to the open mic before setting up and taking to the stage as the nights featured artist. Kicking off with ‘I Gave Up The World’ I could hear my guitar was not sounding to great. After a battery change things moved on up and we played a solid set. I think we both felt that we didn’t quite hit our peak on the night but a good performance nonetheless was given. The crowd seemed to think so as a small number called for an encore. We left the stage and filled a sheet of email address' and sold a few albums. I seem to rememeber we also got asked to come on a trip to Marrakesh next year!!!!!

As usual the people of the Charter were extremely complementary and a pleasure to play too and all in all it was another great night. We hope to book back in again next year.

Jonathan

A quick blog about our music

2011-10-18T09:08:00.002+01:00

Last night we hooked up for the first time, pretty much since finishing the album, to record some new things. We made a start, a very healthy start, to our Christmas CD. The songs of which will feature are being kept under our hats but if you would like to hear them, give us your postal address and a free Christmas CD will fly over to you just in time for the festivities.
As well as the Christmas song, Jonathan has recorded a glorious version of one of our songs. Spine tingling.
Apart from the Christmas CD, what made me go home with a smile on my face was we showed each other what new stuff we had been working on. The new tune by Coates is so completely different to what we have done before, yet just what you would expect from us. My tune, bizzarely, had the same kind of feel to it that Jonathans did. In no way are they the same, but put them back to back and they slot together like a jigsaw. On the same wavelength.

So with the band rising higher (in our heads at least) we'll be on a roll finishing the Christmas CD and demoing new tunes.

You can catch us tomorrow (Wednesday) at the Rowell Charter (a fantastic little pub) in Rothwell, then just 3 gigs remain.

M x

Jonathan Vs NME - round 3

2011-10-15T13:19:00.003+01:00

For the long time readers of our blog you may remember that for two years running I have had a gripe with the NME and their “best albums of whatever” lists they seem to produce at the end of every year. You can read the two blogs here and here. I must warn you my language was a little harsh but I will put that down to being at least a year younger. Anyway, due to the NME website being 15 years old, they have produced a list of the top 150 songs that have “meant the most” to them over the sites life. It's actually quite an interesting read and you can view it here

To save time here is the list

150 Manic Street Preachers – “Australia”
149 Crystal Castles – “Crimewave”
148 Coldplay – “Clocks”
147 Morrissey – “First Of The Gang To Die”
146 Laura Marling – “My Manic And I”
145 Fever Ray – “If I Had A Heart”
144 The Killers – “Human”
143 Oasis – “The Hindu Times”
142 Foals – “Hummer”
141 Gorillaz – “Clint Eastwood”
140 Arctic Monkeys – “A Certain Romance”
139 Coldplay – “Yellow”
138 Bat For Lashes – “What’s A Girl To Do?”
137 Doves – “There Goes The Fear”
136 Kelis – “Milkshake”
135 Kelly Clarkson – “Since U Been Gone”
134 Antony & The Johnsons – “Hope There’s Someone”
133 The Strokes – “Under Cover Of Darkness”
132 Daft Punk – “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”
131 Radiohead – “Pyramid Song”
130 Belle And Sebastian – “The Boy With The Arab Strap”
129 The Strokes – “Reptilia”
128 Hercules And Love Affair – “Blind”
127 En Vogue – “Don’t Let Go (Love)”
126 Hole – “Celebrity Skin”
125 Klaxons – “Atlantis To Interzone”
124 Supergrass – “Pumping On Your Stereo”
123 Glasvegas – “Daddy’s Gone”
122 Mercury Rev – “Goddess On A Highway”
121 Santogold -“LES Artistes”
120 Pulp – “This Is Hardcore”
119 Aaliyah & Timbaland – “We Need A Resolution”
118 LCD Soundsystem – “All My Friends”
117 Blink-182 – “What’s My Age Again?”
116 Wu-Tang Clan – “Gravel Pit”
115 Kings Of Leon – “Charmer”
114 Primal Scream – “Accelerator”
113 At The Drive-In – “One Armed Scissor”
112 Cee Lo Green – “Fuck You”
111 The Spice Girls – “Wannabe”
110 Sebastien Tellier – “La Ritournelle”
109 Ultrasound – “Stay Young”
108 Kasabian – “Club Foot”
107 Radiohead – “No Surprises”
106 Radiohead – “Let Down”
105 Cornershop – “Brimful Of Asha (Fatboy Slim Remix)”
104 Lily Allen – “Smile”
103 Lady Gaga – “Poker Face”
102 Art Brut – “Formed A Band”
101 The Horrors – “Sea Within A Sea”
100 Mystery Jets – “Two Doors Down”
99 MGMT – “Kids”
98 The Cribs – “Men’s Needs”
97 Klaxons – “Golden Skans”
96 The Horrors – “Sheena Is A Parasite”
95 The Knife – “Heartbeats”
94 CSS – “Let’s Make Love And Listen To Death From Above”
93 Radiohead – “Reckoner”
92 Peter Bjorn & John – “Young Folks”
91 Animal Collective – “My Girls”
90 Yeasayer – “O.N.E.”
89 The Futureheads – “Hounds Of Love”
88 Jeff Buckley – “Everybody Here Wants You”
87 The Streets – “Dry Your Eyes”
86 The Rapture – “House Of Jealous Lovers”
85 The Coral – “Dreaming Of You”
84 The Hives – “Hate To Say I Told You So”
83 Kylie Minogue – “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”
82 Queens Of The Stone Age – “Feel Good Hit Of The Summer”
81 Outkast – “Ms. Jackson”
80 Eminem – “The Real Slim Shady”
79 Blur – “Song 2”
78 The Verve – “The Drugs Don’t Work”
77 Oasis – “D’You Know What I Mean?”
76 Beck – “Where It’s At”
75 Manic Street Preachers – “A Design For Life”
74 Muse – “Supermassive Black Hole”
73 Blur – “Out Of Time”
72 The Big Pink – “Dominos”
71 The Libertines – “Don’t Look Back Into The Sun”
70 M.I.A. – “XXXO”
69 Kanye West – “Jesus Walks”
68 Liars – “Scarecrows On A Killer Slant”
67 Ian Brown – “F.E.A.R.”
66 Super Furry Animals – “The Man Don’t Give A Fuck”
65 Kasabian – “Fire”
64 La Roux – “In For The Kill”
63 Rihanna – “Umbrella”
62 Vampire Weekend – “A-Punk”
61 Arcade Fire – “Keep The Car Running”
60 The Drums – “Let’s Go Surfing”
59 Dizzee Rascal – “Bonkers”
58 Destiny’s Child – “Say My Name”
57 Eminem – “Lose Yourself”
56 The Killers – “All These Things That I’ve Done”
55 Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Maps”
54 Battles – “Atlas”
53 Kanye West – “Monster”
52 The Prodigy – “Firestarter”
51 Sugababes – “Overload”
50 The Chemical Brothers – “Hey Boy Hey Girl”
49 Best Coast – “Boyfriend”
48 Foo Fighters – “Everlong”
47 Friendly Fires – “Paris”
46 TV On The Radio – “Wolf Like Me”
45 Primal Scream – “Swastika Eyes”
44 Muse – “Nights Of Cydonia”
43 Mumford And Sons – “Little Lion Man”
42 Aphex Twin – “Come To Daddy”
41 Elbow – “One Day Like This”
40 LCD Soundsystem – “Losing My Edge”
39 Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Zero”
38 Kings Of Leon – “The Bucket”
37 Coldplay – “The Scientist”
36 The Strokes – “Hard To Explain”
35 Johnny Cash – “Hurt”
34 Gossip – “Standing In The Way Of Control”
33 Florence & The Machine – “Dog Days Are Over”
32 Gnarls Barkley – “Crazy”
31 The Walkmen – “The Rat”
30 Robyn – “With Every Heartbeat”
29 Crystal Castles – “Alice Practice”
28 the xx – “Islands”
27 Franz Ferdinand – “Take Me Out”
26 The Libertines – “Can’t Stand Me Now”
25 Dizzee Rascal – “Fix Up, Look Sharp”
24 Jay-Z – “99 Problems”
23 The White Stripes – “Seven Nation Army”
22 Arcade Fire – “Wake Up”
21 Daft Punk – “Around The World”
20 Bloc Party – “Banquet”
19 Justice Vs. Simian – “We Are Your Friends”
18 Queens Of The Stone Age – “No One Knows”
17 Missy Elliott – “Get Ur Freak On”
16 Beyoncé – “Crazy In Love”
15 M.I.A. – “Paper Planes”
14 Foals – “Spanish Sahara”
13 Jay-Z & Alica Keys – “Empire State Of Mind”
12 MGMT – “Time To Pretend”
11 Arctic Monkeys – “I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor”
10 The Libertines – “Time For Heroes”
09 The Verve – “Bitter Sweet Symphony”
08 Amy Winehouse – “Rehab”
07 Hot Chip – “Over And Over”
06 The White Stripes – “Fell In Love With A Girl”
05 The Killers – “Mr. Brightside”
04 The Strokes – “Last Nite”
03 OutKast – “Hey Ya!”
02 Arcade Fire – “Rebellion (Lies)”
01 Radiohead – “Paranoid Android”

Now it is at this point where I would usually pull out my best swear words and slam the NME for their stupidity and for picking absolute rubbish however, I cant really. There is obviously going to be tunes on the list that I don't rate and I may not put some of the songs in the order they have. There is also going to be a load of songs I think deserve to be on the list that the NME have never and will never give a single column inch to, but there is no doubt about it, the list contains some absolute blinders.

So for once, well done (ish) NME,

Jonathan

Royal Oak, Kenilworth, 9/10/11 - Review

2011-10-10T07:31:00.005+01:00

The Royal Oak in Kenilworth is one of our favourite places to gig. Regardless of whether there is only a handful of people or it is rammed, the audience actually sit and listen, a rarity at a lot of gigs. The smaller more intimate gigs make it an easy way to interact with the audience, and thank God for that last night.

Hitting the stage last there seemed to be something amiss to our playing, literally before a word was spoken, I started 'I Gave Up The World', waited for Jonathan to start, then waited more, then some more, and to continue the overlong introduction, waited some more. When we finally got started (with vocals and everything!) we rocked on as normal. I Gave Up The World is a staple in the set and has been for a good 18 months, practically in every gig we play. The second verse approached and with confidence I hit the notes. It was then that I found out some bugger had moved my notes around, as no matter what I played, I did it wrong. Simply no excuse for a song we know inside out. What is a bit bizzare though is that in our last gig I did pretty much the same with the solo, but I'm putting that down to being full of cold and not thinking straight. Last night, my cold had siminished somewhat so had no real excuse. We muddled through though, giving that big BR charm that gets us through some tough gigs.

Song 2 - We broke a string and ended up singing the last chorus acapella.
song 3 - Tuning up took an age so I played my own song, Great White North
song 4 - I completely forgot which fret the chorus was on
song 5 - Cover of 'Cum on feel the noize' which we had never really practiced so had no idea how to end, and thus made a bit of a mess 'jamming' to finish
song 6 and 7 - Nailed it

From a professional point of view playing, it was a disaster and there was no real reason why. I was slightly still feeling my cold and Jonathan had a late night previous (he won £100 playing poker, I'm sure he would have wanted me to mention it somewhere in the blog) but this is no excuse for playing so foolishly. Not badly though, although the mistakes were frequent, we kept with it and I come back to the 'smaller gigs are better' thing. We chatted constantly with the audience getting them on our side and ended up with several album sales, having actually enjoyed the gig. Lets hope for the last few gigs we tighten up a bit.

M x

Coming to the end of the road

2011-10-07T10:32:00.004+01:00

Not the band, but the tour. We're winding down the tour of All I Have Is Here and overall it's been a resounding success. I'll not go into the tour as a whole just yet as we still have 5 gigs left but a nice little analysis will be in order in a month.

Our last gig will be on November the 12th (90% sure) then we'll be taking a little time off as life takes over. We're not stopping completely however, as we have the Christmas present to give to all our fans (just send us your postal address, anywhere in the world, to band@barricadesrise.co.uk) plus we'll be hitting the studio hard, but not to record new tunes, to record a radio show, or podcast as the kids call them these days. I'm looking forward to this as we get to expose a few of our favourite unsigned musicians, alongside great tracks by our favourite bands today, plus a few BR tunes in for good measure. The first show will be online in a few weeks.

We both have an eye on next year but with no plans set in stone. A few weeks ago we discussed the possibility of recording a new song a month, then releasing a huge project in December next year with demos, an album, a live CD and DVD plus a book. That idea, as much as it excited us both, is a bit too much at this time in both our lives, but it might be something we return to in the future. We have two releases in mind for spring next year, but they are not the usual BR material.

Since we released All I Have Is Here we have spent much of the time honing the songs, so little time has been spent on writing new tunes. A few bits and pieces have been written by both of us, and I actually have a fully fledged song, but no plans are in motion for any 'new' material.

We'll be working hammer and tongues on the 'workings' of Barricades Rise. There is so much we do behind the curtain that many bands and people won't realise the work it takes to run a successful working, gigging band.

Anyway, back to now, and we have 5 gigs left, 4 of them being some of our favourite places to play. The Royal Oak in Kenilworth, The Rowell Charter in Rothwell, The Crumblin' Cookie in Leicester, and Lichfield (in general!). The fifth gig is at a new venue for us but being in Leicester (where we tend to go down a storm) I'm looking forward to ending on a high.

More news regarding podcast and releases will be revealed as and when.

M x

The Phoenix, Coventry, 03/10/11 - Review

2011-10-04T06:00:00.003+01:00

First off . . . . October!!!!! "Tis the season to be Jolly" . . . Too Early? Trust me, it will be in the shops in the next few days :)

Anyway,

The Phoenix is always a mixed bag for us BR boys. The promoter, Emma McGann, is a lovely lady and puts on a very well attended night. The problem is that the majority of the crowd are students. Now we have no problem with students, in fact we were once students ourselves. The problem lies within the fact that students don't seem to dig our stuff as much as the 25+ age group and we tend to leave these types of nights with very little CD sales and only a couple of names on the mailing list.

Turning up to the venue around 8pm we got a drink, discussed our weekends, what we were currently watching and Google chrome and it's speedy benefits (maybe that's why Students don't like us, we are just too hip!). With Michael feeling a little under the weather, we asked to go on early and took to the stage as the first featured artist. It was a little hard to hear my guitar which threw us a little and Michael decided that he would forget a couple of Solo's and jam on the notes nearest to him. Apart from that we played a decent energetic gig, all be it a little sloppy.

With the stage lights beating us down, we left the stage in a pool of sweat and various audience members offered us kind words and signed the mailing list.

Only a couple of gigs left on the All I Have is Here tour now so make sure you catch us before our extended gigging break (more on that soon).

Jonathan

BR Remixed

2011-10-03T08:05:00.002+01:00

About two months ago a chap called Paul emailed us expressing an interest in remixing one of our tunes. There were no charges involved, he simply liked what he had heard and wanted a crack at putting his own spin on a BR tune. He picked 'Roundabouts', we sent him the master files and left him to it. To be honest, I had forgotten all about it until the end of last week when an emailed popped into our inbox labelled “Propulsion Mix of Roundabouts....” I suddenly got very excited.

Paul, or 'Soundtrack' as his remixing name is, has completely made the song his own and made a very creepy and dark dance mix and I for one love the road he has taken. I hope you guys enjoy it too and please send us your comments

Barricades Rise - Roundabouts - Propulsion Mix - by Soundtrack by Barricades Rise

A couple of emails have been passed back and forth and there are even talks of doing a few more of our tracks and releasing an EP of Barricades Rise remixed by 'Soundtrack'. I really hope this comes off.

Jonathan

Music to our ears #1 - Keble Stradling

2011-09-28T15:58:00.002+01:00

Welcome to the newest part of our site. We've been gigging across the UK for the best part of 4 years as Barricades Rise and along the way have been captivated by dozens of wonderful musicians. We thought it's about time we shared with you the great talents that at one point or another have shared the stage with us. Every few weeks we'll be sitting down and having a deep and meaningful with our favourite unsigned acoustic artists and asking them the kind of questions we love being asked, plus a few that no one expects. Alongside the interview will be an exclusive video shot for this site. So before we waffle on too much more, please let us introduce to you our very first Fave artists...KEBLE STRADLING!

We first heard Keble playing at the Bat and Wicket in Northampton and were struck by how strong his vocals were, sounding a little like one of our favourite artists Tallest Man On Earth. Our paths have only crossed once more since then at the Umbrella Festival in Northampton. We caught up with him and delved deep into his music...

BR - How are you? Tell us a wee bit about you
Keble - Very well thank you, I’m a song writer and performer from the East Midlands and I’ve been writing songs all my life and hope to continue. I try to bring a new sound to music with songs that people perhaps haven’t heard, I hope my music inspires people and sparks emotion within themselves.

BR - What are you working on right now?
KS - Right now I’m working towards my first E.P which will be up for grabs very soon.

BR - Which one album would you say made you start writing your own songs?
KS - I wouldn’t say that any music has made me begin writing, I’ve always found it hard to say what I really think through fear of upsetting someone, so I use music as a way of expressing my true feelings.

BR - Any favourite gigs spring to mind that you've played?
KS - I think that my favorite gigs would have to be in my local venue The Ship Inn in Oundle, we always get a warm reception and people know my music and come to see me. I hope to spread this feeling across the world in a few years time.

BR - Gigging can be tough, what keeps you going?
KS - It is a very tough thing to do when you're first coming out on the music scene, the thing that keeps me going are the people who enjoy the music. The best feeling in the world is the one when you finish playing and the audience have clearly enjoyed your music.

BR - What's your hope for 2012?
KS - For 2012 we hope to be gigging twice as much as this year. Plus promoting the new E.P.

BR - Any other local acts that you admire?
KS - Of course Barricades Rise would be top of the list (good answer) but we also enjoy listening to Hannah Faulkner, a singer songwriter from Northampton. She works very hard for her music.

BR - Outside of music what do you get up to?
KS - To be honest I live, breath and eat music, it’s a full time job for me. But of course like everyone I enjoy time with friends and family.

BR - How do you write a Keble song?
KS - Hahaha good question, one I ask my self frequently! To be honest it’s a mystery to me. I write the music then the melody and the lyrics come from somewhere deep inside.

BR - Which 3 albums have you recently listened to that have influenced you now?
KS - Another hard question, I listen to The Kings of Leon but only their first two albums influence me. But only emotionally not musically. I listen to a lot of Jeff Buckley and Ben Howard.

BR - You've kindly recorded a tune for us, tell us why you picked the song you did and a little about it?
KS - I’ve picked Question Mark because it’s a new song which I relate to a lot at the minute.

BR - Which one song do you wish you'd have written?
KS - Hmmmm, well there are lots and lots but I would say at the minute it would have to be Ben Howard “Under the Same Sun”. I love that tune soooo much.

BR - Now to get serious, some quick fires...
Coldplay or Muse? - Muse
Pizza or Curry? - Curry
Guitar or Vocals? - Vocals
Michael or Jonathan? - no comment! (He was leaning towards Michael)
Twitter or Facebook? - Facebook
Friends or Only Fools and Horses? - Only Fools
Star Wars or Star Trek? - Star Wars
Beatles or Stones? - Beatles
and finally the most important, Marmite or no marmite? - NO MARMITE!!!!!!!

BR - High Fidelity is a favourite film of both of ours, so taken from that, what are you top 5...Album Covers of All Time?
KS - 1) Kings of Leaon Aha Shake Heart Break
2) Bob Marley Keep on Moving
3) Bon Iver For Emma
4) Jeff Buckley Grace
5) Muse Show Biz

BR - Where can people get in touch with you?
KS - You can find me on ..
Facebook
Myspace
Twitter
Reverbnation
Youtube

BR - Thanks Keble, anything else you'd like to add?
KS - Big thanks to the Barricades Rise boys for making this possible, it’s a great idea to promote new music. Much love and hope to be sharing a stage in the not too distant future.

Keble has a few gigs coming up...

Oct 1st - The Donkey, Leicester

Oct 15th - The Ship Inn, Oundle

Oct 23rd - Sir Pickering Phipps, Northampton

Oct 29th - Amore Lounge, Northampton

Norwich 3 - Norfolk's Revenge

2011-09-26T10:25:00.007+01:00

This was the third time we had travelled east to Norwich. The general idea is we book a gig on the Saturday afternoon at the Arts Centre and maybe something on the Friday night. The rest of the weekend is then ours to do as we please in the company of Robert (Michael's brother), Marta (his partner) and their friends. This time was no exception and we set off around 2pm on the Friday with Michael's sister occupying our back seat. The usual high calibre of BR conversation was flowing from the moment we hit the main road;

Jonathan: How many pairs of socks have you bought with you
Michael: Five
Jonathan: FIVE, we are only there for tonight, Saturday and Sunday morning. Does that include the pair you are wearing?
Michael: Urrrm, yeah. One for travelling, one pair for tonight, one pair for tomorrow morning, one pair for after the gig and a final pair for Sunday
Jonathan: I suppose that's about right. I've only bought three pairs
Rebecca: You guys are so Rock and Roll
(silence)
Jonathan: How many boxer shorts have you brought?

The backdrop to our riveting conversations was a playlist of music specifically designed to make a long journey fly by. With this pumped up to 11 and after a stop and a little bit of traffic delay, we arrived at Rob and Marta's around 6pm.

Rob had arranged for his band Breakfast With The Snake (now known as BWTS for this blog) and ourselves to put on a little house show to a few friends that night and after freshening up, the guests started to arrive. It was an informal affair and the four members of BWTS took to the floor first and played a blinding set of originals and folk covers. We did a short set afterwards and then we created a 'Super Band' of BR and BWTS and jammed for about 20 mins on a 12 bar blues standard which was a great laugh. The whole gig was filmed on my new camera however I didn't set the mic levels properly and most is too distorted to show. Below is a little taster of the night with as little audio distortion as possible.

After the gig finished we all had a few more drinks before us travellers started to fade from the long day of driving. Rob very kindly moved the party into the kitchen and we, feeling very uncool and old, hit the sofas for rest.

We arose early on Saturday and milled around the house for a while before we headed into the city for our gig at the Arts Centre. Arriving early, we headed down the street in Norwich which has about 6 music shops on and perused the instruments before making a purchase of an accordion. We had a little lunch and made our way to the venue. Meeting up with Colin (a friend originally from Nuneaton) his partner and friends, we caught up over a drink in the bear garden. Michael's dad also made the journey east that morning and we met him at the venue and awaited our slot. Taking to the stage around half two we played a decent set and seemed to win the room over. Apart from a string breakage in 'When We Were Young' that threw me off my stride in the middle of the song, it went pretty much without a hitch. A few albums sold and many names on the mailing list later, we headed home to chill out for a couple of hours before the evenings shenanigans.

We headed back to the city to a nice little Italian restaurant for something to line our stomachs before hitting a party at a Church! As strange and surreal as that was, we then left the party with the intention of a bit of a pub crawl however, the first pub we came to was to be our home for the night. The pub was called the Rumsey Wells and they were having a party to celebrate the pubs third birthday. Upstairs was a band playing what I think was 1920's, 30's and 40's tunes, I say think because I spent all my time downstairs throwing shapes to1950's tunes. We stayed at that pub until they kicked us out for closing and then after a stop in a South American themed pub that couldn't recreate the glory hours of the Rumsey Wells, we headed home. After a couple more beers back at the house, I drank my body weight in water to attempt to avoid a hangover and crashed back on our designated sofas until morning.

Breakfast and goodbyes was the theme of Sunday morning and we got in the car around 12:30 for the long drive home. With the playlist back on the stereo and more conversations that would have you begging to hang with us, we got home around 4.

A great weekend was had by all. Mega thanks to Rob and Marta for giving us a home for the weekend and for everyone that made the weekend a cracker.

Jonathan

Coc's Yard, Stratford, 15/09/11 - Review

2011-09-16T08:33:00.002+01:00

Honesty, that is the best medicine right? Well here it is...

We felt deflated, tired and slightly baffled by last nights gig. The room was full, the crowd a mix of all ages, the weather holding out. We stormed the first 3 songs, the crowd got behind us, we plugged the mail list left at the bar with free badges for everyone, we plugged the album. Then suddenly, a brick wall. After the forth song, no one was interested. We tried to drag them back but our usual banter with the crowd was not resulting in a single peep, bar Matt the promoter. We ended with Dazed as is the norm, and with the super fast ending the crowd gave a nice big clap and a few whistles. Right at the end we'd pulled through. Just.

With not a single sign up on our mail list (free badges people!) we went guerilla style, diving into crowds of people. It turns out, we rocked. We came away with emails in double figures and a night that promised a lot, but that didn't ignite people in the animated way we usually make it, was I guess you could say a mild success.

I think we were both a bit deflated as we've played the place a few times, and even when there was not a lot of people there, the crowd in attendance were chatting to us and singing along. We didn't sell any albums but we gained loads of emails. We find the good in everything.

We're winding down now til the end of our tour, with gigs slowing down rather than 3-4 a week. Our last scheduled gig is October the 22nd (actually 2 in one day) but we may do a send off on the 12th November. Wait and see.

Norwich (NOR-WIIICH!!) awaits next week.

M x

Michael's solo gig

2011-09-15T07:45:00.003+01:00

Last night I played my first ever solo gig. I loved every second of it and if you missed it, you can watch it now! Our next 'scheduled' appearence online is November 1st with us both, but if you go and like us on Facebook, we will play an impromptu gig in the next few weeks off the cuff.

M x

What I'm listening to...
High Violet - The National

Review of Michael's solo album 'Into The Wild'

2011-09-13T13:38:00.003+01:00

In January I wrote and recorded a mini album in 2 days and released it the third day, for 1 month, then it was deleted. To promote my solo show tomorrow night online I decided to release it once more for 1 week only. Well, the Coventry Telegraph have caught the story and reviewed the album. I am over the moon with what they have said seeing as it was a passion project and put all I had into it (even if it was for only a few days). Read the review HERE.
Thanks to Warren Manger (@warrenmanger) and The Music Abyss team (@TheMusicAbyss)

Don't forget to tune into my online gig tomorrow starting at 7.30pm

Til then

M x

Exclusive for SoundsthatMatter.com

2011-09-10T10:54:00.004+01:00

We recently got in touch with Crystal (@stmcrystal) at Soundsthatmatter.com. It's a great site promoting unsigned bands and she agreed to have us record a video.

Well, it's finally been posted. Go and view www.soundsthatmatter.com to see our exclusive live track 'I Gave Up The World'.

Also available is my solo album, but only until next Friday! It's free and can be heard and downloaded by clicking the picture below.
It's available due to my online solo gig happening next Wednesday (14th Sept) live from our online gig page.

Ta

M x

Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham, 7/9/11 - Review

2011-09-08T07:23:00.004+01:00

My solo album is free do listen and download again once more until next Friday (click the picture)

After the high that was London at the weekend I found that by Monday my voice was a little hoarse and I was a bit run down. The last thing I wanted to do was go and play a gig. Jonathan on the other hand was chomping at the bit to play.

The Sunflower Lounge is situated directly where the majority of the riots were last month, however, apart from one shop window, all was back to normal.

The previous few times playing the venue have been in the bar directly from the street, last nights was in the basement venue. It's small which usually suits us, but the people watching were mainly in the other bands waiting their turn to play so the atmosphere was fairly flat. Try as we might with banter, there were few pickings. We played alright and a few emails were given but after the huge success of the weekend in London, a somewhat comedown.

One plus was that the director of our Sleepwalkers video Chris Mogridge made an appearance. We chatted all night regarding future work we could do together and several ideas were exchanged. Hopefully something will come of this.

We have a week off now (from gigs) until my solo online gig next Wednesday. To promote it a little, my solo album I recorded in January (in 8 hours) is being made available from today (after 4pm) til next Friday. Completely free.

M x

Review - London Weekend 2011 - House Gig and The Living Room

2011-09-05T12:09:00.005+01:00

London, The Big Smoke, Londinium, The Metropolis, Augusta, Lundenburg, whatever the kids are calling it these days, that's where we were heading for a House gig on the Saturday eve and then the 15mins club at The Living Room, Tower bridge on the Sunday night. It would be our second time playing for John, his family and his friends and we were excited to return with a new album. John had first saw us play our only other London gig a couple of years ago at The Station, and we impressed him enough to have us come and play his living room in November last year and due to the success of that night, we arranged a second gig.

We left for the South around 4pm on the Saturday and had no problems with traffic so we got to Johns about 6:30pm. We caught up with the gossip of the last 10 months over a coffee before getting our gear set up and rejoined the party. Now, there are many ways you could host a house gig, some people opt for the candles on the table low key soiree, others, like John, opt for the PARTY. Beer, Curry, Music and lots of people all shooting the s**t and having a great night. Both have their charms but a full on party certainly gets you a little more relaxed before taking to the stage.

We played two forty minute sets of old and new, covers and originals and despite the odd knowing glances of mistakes between us, we played well and judging by the album and T-shirt sales we got afterwards, we had impressed the natives. The kids at the party were first in line for autographs that obviously made our heads grow and we went back to mingling. At 4am the hardcore last few of us were slurring round the kitchen table drinking some CRAZY STRONG home brew. A fantastic night and once again we were made to feel extremely welcome by all. We took the hosts invitation to crash on the sofa and drifted off easily with the home brew inside us.

Morning came and a cooked breakfast greeted us. Seriously, house gigs are the future :)
We left just after midday on a high after such a fantastic time at Casa Del Harrolds.

With about 6 hours until our sound check at The Living Room, we thought we would drive and find the venue and then take it as it comes. We had a few problems actually locating the venue as Michael's Satnav decided it couldn't cope with the tall buildings in London however, after a few trips round the block, we located the Living Room which was situated on the St Katherine's Docks. Extremely picturesque and with a few eateries dotted around, we decided to grab some food and relax just where we were. In all honesty, we wasted the day sitting about and just when we realised we had wasted it and could have in fact jumped on the tube to anywhere in London, it was too late to do so. We did meet with Michael's sister in law and enjoyed her company for an hour.

Due to the distance we were travelling back after we played, we requested we took to the stage first. We played about 6 songs and seemed to get the small crowd enjoying themselves however, most of the people there were either playing that night or with someone that was playing. It wasn't a bad gig as we actually played quite well, it was just we both felt like it was an anticlimax after the previous night.

We left our nations capital around 9pm and after a brief Burger King visit we arrived home around midnight. Overall it was a cracking weekend. With today very cleverly booked off work, I plan to spend it on my bum watching films. Perfect

Jonathan (secretly edited by Michael correcting about 354 spelling mistakes)

The Musician, Leicester, 31/8/11 - Review

2011-09-01T07:33:00.003+01:00

Firstly, September. That's right, we are into the 'bers, which means Christmas.

The handful of times we've played The Musician it's been empty but last night it bucked the trend a little. Not exactly brimming but a healthy crowd. I've come away from this gig last night with a renewed interest in local acts. Playing were some truley talented musicians (and us) so really I'd like to go and explore that.

To hit the stage first was Fay Brotherhood. I was tweeting (@barricadesrise) the minute she got on but had to stop the second she opened her mouth. Kate Bush came immediately to mind along with Andrew Lloyd Webber. Interweaving her vocal tones with ye olde folk tunes it set the night up great. I've not had the chance to check her recordings out but if they are as strong as her live music then she has a great thing going on.
We played a pretty storming set too. Taking out all songs that might cause a few mistakes, we opted for the tried and tested, meaning more rocking and stamping. As usual Jonathan broke a string so whilst changing to another guitar (thanks Fay!) I decided to fill the gap with Great White North from our new album. It's the first time it's been aired and went without a hitch. The set rolled on and Jonathan managed to snap another string (sorry Fay!) but we pulled it off with style me thinks. We got a very good reception.
To end the night The Daydream Club (@thedaydreamclub) played their wonderful harmonious, very well written songs. With a set up of guy/girl it could have been fairly whimsical but they managed to hit all the right notes (unlike us most gigs ) and carve out a small niche for themselves. The banter with the crowd from them was A+ too.

Several albums were sold and more emails added to the cause, what could have been a generic acoustic night turned out to be one of the best. The promoter Adam (@bbpromotionss) has oodles of charisma and passion for live music and a congrats should go to him for getting such high calbre artists.

We're off to London this weekend for a house gig followed by a bar gig.

M x

We played
The Preacher
I Gave Up The World
When We Were Young (no, not the Take That song, those cheeky buggers have stolen our song title)
Run
Roundabouts (including string brakage #1)
Great White North
Sleepwalkers
Dazed (including string brakage #2)

Holiday over, back to the grind

2011-08-31T09:20:00.001+01:00

Not much has been happening in our 10 day hiatus. I've been off work for a week decorating my spare room/studio. Exciting. I've finally picked up the guitar for the first time to write new stuff and have written a song currently entitled 'All I Wanted Was A Lover' which may be ready for my solo online gig on Sept 14th. I recorded a quick version live on our Ustream site which is the site that my online gig (and ALL our online gigs) are streamed through. It's even easier now to record a tune in 1 take and have us both able to watch it back wherever we both happen to be. Jonathan watched it later the next evening. Rather than emailing a huge file and spending ages, it really is going to make sharing tunes easier. Anyway...apart from that, no news really.

It's back to the gigging circuit tomorrow in Leicester at The Musician, then this weekend sees us head to London for a house gig then the following day, a gig in a swanky bar.

We are both off to see Dry The River in September thanks to a tip from a fan on our Facebook page. We give you great music and you recommend great music back. Fantastic.

M x

A small but great album review from FATEA

2011-08-29T19:50:00.001+01:00

Some lovely words by the team at FATEA Magazine - http://www.fatea-records.co.uk/

"Barricades Rise are like a troupe of troubadours rolled into a duo and sent out into the world with a mission to entertain. "All I Have Is Here" is an album powered by the spark of life and imbued with a rousing spirit. This is keenly observed poetry served up as acoustic rock. It's as much about life's simple pleasures as it is about the more complicated ones, often in the same song. "Making Faces From Clouds" is a song about one of those things that we've all whiled away time doing, then weave a song about relationships through it. It's an album easy to start, hard to put down."

The Maudsley, Coventry - 21/08/11 - Review

2011-08-22T12:32:00.003+01:00

So last night saw us back at our favourite Coventry venue, The Maudsley. This time we weren't playing the Ditch The TV night upstairs where everyone pays to come in and watch some quality music and also where we'd had many a great gig, this time (off the back of one of those upstairs gigs) we'd been booked by the manager to perform downstairs to the general pub going folk who wanted a last pint or 5 before work in the morning. Essentially, it wasn't the Maudsley we knew, it may as well have been a different pub altogether.

So apart from the above, what else set this gig apart from, not only a Ditch the TV night, but any normal gig was the fact that we were asked to play 2 x 45min sets, which we rarely do on the acoustic circuit (half hour to 40mins top). Also, the manager had asked us to throw in a couple more covers, which we didn't mind as we were prepared to 'sell out' due to the fact that we were getting a couple of quid from the pub to perform.

We arrived with wives in tow about 5 o'clock with our own PA system and set up, sound checked and grabbed a pint. The bar staff ensured us that Sunday nights were usually a busy affair and we could expect some 'dancing' from the locals. At this point, the pub was a quarter full and no one looked like they were about to bust a move on our asses. 6pm came and we kicked off our first set to a sparse gathering. We were playing the tunes well but for the first 25mins the room, bar a few people, seemed a little disinterested. Then, a few people decided to relocate seats from round the many corners towards our general direction and we felt the atmosphere change for the better. We ended the first set with our cover of All Or Nothing (Small Faces) and was greeted with a pint each from a member of the audience.

After a 20min break we took to the stage to perform our final set and stormed it. More people were gathering and stopping their conversations to watch us. Two new covers were slotted in that we had never played all the way through in practice, let alone a gig. The first was the 60's classic 'The Letter' by the Box Tops and we seemed to nail it. The second was a slightly chilled version of Slade's 'Cum on Feel the Noize' which was a personal highlight for me. Ending with Dazed, we had won the room over and a few different people commented that we were the best live music act they had seen at the Maudsley! A few albums were sold and a few more pints were bought for us and drunk by us before we packed down and left on a slightly drunken high.

It was great to perform for 90mins and to have enough songs to do it without resorting to playing songs were not comfortable with. Playing the covers was also fun and now we have a few more to choice from when we need to slot one in. At this gig we covered

1)Come Together – The Beatles
2)Twist and Shout – The Beatles (not sure who actually wrote this?)
3)All or Nothing – The Small Faces
4)The Letter – The Box Tops
5)Cum on Feel The Noize - Slade

Thanks to the Maudsley pub for having us and cheers for everyone's kind words.

Jonathan

Getting ready for Christmas

2011-08-18T14:54:00.004+01:00

A little early we know. The last 2 years we've sent out a free CD to anyone that wants one at Christmas. Containing a Christmas cover, a few other random covers and alternative versions of our songs, we've sent them not only across the UK but across THE WORLD! Sri Lanka, Australia, USA, Russia etc. This year we're starting early due to time constraints so...

IF YOU WANT A CD FOR FREE THIS CHRISTMAS SIMPLY SEND US YOUR ADDRESS AT band@barricadesrise.co.uk

That's it really. Expect a lovely musical present this year.

Umbrella Festival, Northampton and more Review

2011-08-15T07:25:00.004+01:00

ABOVE: The Wall Of Fame @ Northampton

Two gigs were booked for this weekend. Saturday was the Umbrella Festival in Northampton and Sunday Cox's Yard in Stratford. Firstly though, about a week back, after thinking of various venues and locations that would be interesting to film a few live tracks, I came upon the idea of our local chippy. It just so happended that Jonathan plays poker occasionally with the owner, so a time was set up without fuss to come over and record. On Saturday morning we drove the 4 minutes down the road and set up the camara. It was all over in half an hour with around 7 takes of one tune and around 4 of another, we really need to learn our songs better! These videos will appear online at some point, they are in the editing stages still.

Trying his hardest to look like Johnny Cash - Failing

The festival gig was very similar to our Lichfield Fuse Festival gig a few months back. Very family orientated with a few stages. Turning up at 2.45 to go on at 3.05 (NO PARKING!!), originally to get 20 minutes we were allowed to stretch to 30 due to cancellations. Once we took to the stage, the tent was reletively empty, but by the time the first tune, I Gave Up The World, was done it was about half full. It seemed our mix of beautifully crafted melodies and head-banging sweaty stage presence agreed with the Northampton folk. In attendance were a few people who'd come to see us especially, one even came all the way from Nuneaton! At each gig we play now we have an email sign up sheet available on a table somewhere when we play so people can sign up to our mail list.

Umbrella Fest

Nearly 2 pages of emails we gained with ALL the free keyrings and badges being devoured quickly. A queue formed for buying our album after the gig and it took a good 15 minutes to serve and chat to all those that wanted one. We really didn't know what to expect of the gig and if I'm being hosest, didn't feel up for it on the way there, but after seeing the reaction after the first tune, it turned into a storming set. We'd recommend the festival to EVERYONE next year.

Promoter and organiser Hannah Faulkner and Jonathan being slightly offensive

The evening for me was spent relaxing with family from Glasgow that had spent the weekend with us. Then an early night due to doing a Car Boot in the morning.

Sunday arrived far too early at 5.15am. I've been saying now for a good 8 weeks that every Sunday I WILL go and do a car boot, and duely end up not. This weekend was the time though. My wife and I headed to the local Car Boot at 6.15 getting there at ten to 7. All our used wares and, lets face it, crap, was sold to the public and a slither under £100 was made. Result! A 3 hour sleep was needed when I got back though to get myself ready and awake for our gig. We headed off at 7.30, got there at 8.15, paid £3.50 for parking, left the place at 8.25 as it was not on. GUTTED. After checking our emails and facebook messages, no trace of cancellation notices were found. We have been asked back for September the 15th so will hopefully be able to make it then.

So with 1 error filled, yet worthwhile film shoot, 1 absolutely amazing gig and 1 Sunday evening wasted I'd say it was a fairly good weekend. The good outweighs the bad in the end.

Meet the man who made it possible... (Umbrella fest)

Our next gig is next Sunday and will be a super long one. It's just us for 2 45 minute sets, at The Maudsley in Coventry. It's free too!

M x

Jonline gig (see what I did)

2011-08-11T08:12:00.005+01:00

Jonathan played a solo gig last night that was streamed live on t'Internet. He did well seeing as it was last minute (our B'ham gig got cancelled due to the riots). Please skip to about 12 minutes as it's a lot of nonsense at the start. Whilst streaming, the picture was perfect but it's really jerky now, we'll get round that next time.

M x
Follow @barricadesrise

The Riots

2011-08-10T14:30:00.002+01:00

First off we both wish all our freinds, family and fans a safe time over the past few and no doubt next few nights. Although neither of us live directly in a City concerned, it's only 20 miles down the road to Birmingham where it has kicked off big style. We are supposed to be playing a gig at the Island Bar in the centre of Birmingham tonight but unfortunately, and wisely, it has been cancelled by the promotor. Not deterred, us Barricades Boys (well, one of us) will be playing online for you. At 7.30 go to our Online Gigs page and Mr. J. S. Coates will play a few tunes for you. I'll be at my in-laws enjoying a birthday meal, no live feed of this is available.
With the power of social media, Coventry Telegraph have caught our story and featured it on their music blog here.
There is a strange atmosphere around everything I feel. I slight feeling that at anytime, day or night, things could turn, whether it's in a large City or a more local town. But what I must say is that the rioters (really, they are not rioting, simply looting) are severaly outnumbered by those who love and care about their community. The pictures surfacing around the riots are tragic and shocking, but the clean up photos have been inspiring. Whole communites, black, white, asians, all coming together to show the looters that they will not be shaken. Over 1000 people have apparently turned up in Birmingham today to help clean up the mess. Simply WOW.
In the past few weeks I've taken to Tweeting a lot more, and have noticed that there is huge support for the clean up of places affected by the riots on twitter and facebook. Please go visit @Riotcleanup on Twitter as they seem to be in contact with the whole Country organising the clean up! They are also helping people that have lost everything to get clothes, food and shelter.

For up to date info, the BBC has a pretty good site up at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14449675
Thats it from me
Stay safe

Michael (and Jonathan)

Interview and exclusive videos with TheMusicWeLove.net

2011-08-09T15:47:00.003+01:00

A few weeks ago we were contacted via Facebook by a lovely woman, Tara, from the US of A, saying how much she dug us. Turns out she writes her own music blog and being nice gentlemen she'd like to interview us. Alongside the interview we proposed we'd do a short live video for her site exclusively. We ended up recording 2 videos and the interview and both vids are now online. Check out the marvelous www.themusicwelove.net , our interview and videos are about half way down (Currently the third post).

If you are on Twitter follow her on @taperjean_girl8, and while you're at it, follow us too @barricadesrise

M x

The Jolly Colliers, Coalville 06/08/11 - Review

2011-08-07T16:11:00.006+01:00

Us BR boys have one rule when gigging, we call it the 'Two Pint Rule'. Now, you wont have to be a scientist of the rockets to decipher what this rule entails, but for those who may be a little slow on the uptake we have limited ourselves to two pints (larger) before going on stage. The reason for this can be found in previous posts of disaster gigs due to having that one too many. Last night we broke our rule!

The Jolly Colliers is a lovely pub in Coalville and has a real village/local feel to it but in a good way, not a 'Deliverance' way. Everyone is friendly and the previous two times we have made the trip have been great nights. Leaving Nuneaton with one wife in tow (Michael's) we got to the pub around 8pm, met up with Michael's dad and sister and grabbed drinks number one. Drink number two fell into my lap shortly afterwards and after the first two acts had finished, so had drink number three. Rule broken

The promoter took the third slot on the bill and we discussed our set which was to be an hour long. Taking to the stage at around 10:30pm with drink number four in hand, we both felt a little tipsy and eager to please. Now four pints wouldn't normally phase many people but neither Michael or myself have really had many big drinking sessions lately and four was enough to make us a little loose. I would like to say that we played for the whole hour and made no mistakes and loads of people cheered, bought albums and joined to the mailing list however, that's not strictly true. We made quite a few mistakes and silly ones at that and remembered exactly why we have the 'Two Pint Rule'. Despite these mistakes, we did get the cheers, the album sales , sign ups and even drink number five from the land lady = RESULT :)

Another great night on the album tour and another great night in Coalville.

Jonathan

Played to a T were
The Preacher
Aftermath
Come Together
I Gave Up The World
Animals
Twist and Shout
Making Faces From Clouds
If You Were Here
Folk Songs and Jazz Bands
Run
Sleepwalkers
Roundabouts
Dazed

Two exclusive live videos take 1

2011-08-04T08:05:00.002+01:00

Last night we recorded a couple of live videos, exclusively for a few websites. I Gave Up The World was recorded for www.soundsthatmatter.com and Roundabouts for www.tara-themusicilove.blogspot.com .

Recorded in our studio in around half an hour, the sound was ace but the visuals a bit underwhelming. For this reason we'll be taking it on the road this weekend to a few locations and re-recording them both. One upside is we've figured out a really quick and simple (and mobile) way of recording us that sounds fantastic, so we won't be lumping around a load of equipment and may even be able to record a gig or two.

Check the two formentioned sites out as they are really helping us.

M x

The Market Inn, Kettering - 01/08/11 - Review

2011-08-02T08:04:00.001+01:00

The great Emily Coates (my wife and she is great) once said to me “You two shine when you make mistakes”. Now this may seem like a strange thing to say and it was something I never really thought too much about until we came offstage last night.

We’d never gigged Kettering before let alone the Market Inn Pub so we were going in a little blind but in safe company as the promoter, Stevie Jones, had booked us many a time at his various nights across the midlands and fellow friend Hannah Faulkner was also on the bill. Arriving at just after 8 o’clock we noticed an empty pool table and decided to waste some time and money on that. After making Michael feel like half a man and not worthy of being in the same room as me (I beat him twice) we decided that the quiz machine was the next logical thing to throw money at. Deciding after losing a couple of quid that the thing was ‘rigged’, we popped outside for my nicotine top up and met with Hannah for a catch up before stage time.

Me, WINNING

Michael, Forgetting he needs to actually aim at a ball

Stevie Jones, a performer and promoter, took to the stage first to warm the now relatively full room up with some of his originals. He did it well and then welcomed us up to the stage. Kicking into ‘I Gave Up The World’ followed by ‘The Preacher’, we seemed to be on a roll. Then the mistakes started creeping in with newer tunes such as ‘Making Faces From Clouds’ and ‘Folk Songs and Jazz Bands’. Some mistakes were subtle but other blatant and that’s where my wife’s comment comes into play. For us, a mistake is an invitation to up the onstage banter and draw people’s attention to the mistake and our shortcomings but without making excuses and looking for sympathy. Some acts prefer to apologize for mistakes and some prefer to ignore that they happened in the hope that the audience didn’t notice (half the time they don’t) however, we feel more comfortable amplifying these things and getting a laugh out of them and winning over the audience just that extra little bit. Nine times out of ten it works and then you rock through the rest of the set. This is exactly what we did and ended on ‘Roundabouts’ and ‘Dazed’ (see video below taken on Stevie’s phone) to decent applause. Leaving the stage we jumped into salesmen roles and did our thing with the albums and mail sheets and settled back to watch Hannah play a cracking set of tunes.

A very blurry Hannah

Stevie

With the MP3 player burning a hole through the speakers, we zoomed home happy to add another successful show to the ‘All I Have Is Here’ tour. With only about 25 miles to go I realised that I had no petrol in the car and proceeded to panic all the way to nearest petrol station which was 2 minutes from our houses. We just made it via accidentally running a red light

Jonathan

We attempted to play through..
I Gave Up The World
The Preacher
Making Faces From Clouds
This Creation
Folk Songs and Jazz Bands
Roundabouts
Dazed

Katie Fitzgerald's, Stourbridge - 29/7/11 - Review

2011-07-31T11:08:00.006+01:00

This was our second time playing Katies however, the first time was way back in 2009 on the You and Your Adored tour and we were very tired and coming off the back of five straight nights of gigging. This time we felt good and strong and ready to rock the joint.

Turning up around 9 we met the promoters Dale and Sam and they showed us to a completely different part of the pub that we didn't even know was there. A proper little venue hidden in the basement with a stage, it's own bar and it's own little bear garden. With FREE beer behind the stage for the artists, we knew we were on to a winner and dropped our baggage and started to mingle.

It was great to chat with Dale the promoter as he seemed to be a real fan of the band and really fed our egos. He instructed us that we had to play 'Aftermath' and that he had been a big fan since we played back in 2009. It's always great to chat with real fans that love your music as it makes you feel that all the gigs and recording sessions are really worth it. It is still an amazing feeling to know a song you have written has struck a chord (good pun) with someone.

The first chap onstage looked like Christian Bale and played a nice set of rock covers. Then Dale and his friend took to the stage to perform a cracking set of 'Spaghetti Acoustic Rock' original tunes that were reminiscent of the Bookhouse boys who's self titled album I have just got into. To further feed our big heads, Dale announced just before he took to the stage that they hadn't performed together for a couple of years and he only put the duo back together as he wanted to be on the same bill as us. We took to the stage next and banged through half an hour of tunes and seemed to really capture the audiences attention. Coming off stage we sold a few albums and bumped up the mailing list considerably. A few drinks later and after more mingling we hit the road for the hours ride home feeling like the last set of gigs (with the exception of Milton Keynes) had all been good to us and the 'All I Have Is Here' tour has so far been a success.

A big thank you to Dale and Sam for having us and we would love to book in again for round three.

Jonathan

Songs we did
The Preacher
I Gave Up The World
Come Together
Aftermath
Run
Roundabouts
Sleepwalkers
Dazed

Bar One, Derby, 28/7/11 - Review

2011-07-29T07:29:00.005+01:00

It seems we have found the City that takes no prisoners.

Case 1:
We played the Big Blue Coffee Co. gig ages ago. Went OK but travelled 100 miles to essentially play to 5 people. Was it worth it? Well yes as out of it we got ...
Case 2.
Derby Showcase Cinema. An hour and a half set playing to people who want to go to the cinema and watch Spiderman 3 rather than Awesome Acoustic Act 1. We did, however, get paid for this gig. Then there was a large break until last night when...
Case 3.
Derby seemed to have turned into one long one way system directing us every which way apart from towards the venue. We saw it, but it was down the wrong way of the system. Ten minutes of menouvering the roads when we finally decided to just reverse down the one way. Pointless as there was no parking. We found some just down the road and got to the venue at 8.

The venue seemed nice. Small, dark, with a smattering of audience, mainly student folk. Due to go on at 9.20, we didn't hit it til nearly 10. When we did hit it, only 2 people were left in the room (there were several people outside and the PA was coming through there so it wasn't too bad). We got a few of the outsiders in, seemed to storm through the set, playing Always Yours for the first time along the way, then stepped off at about 10.25. The student folk welcomed the free badges and keyrings, and did sign the mail list, but it felt that after the last 3 gigs where we really rocked it and got loads of album sales, it was a downer. We'd be back at the venue again I think, but not one of our best gigs.

Maybe I was harsh with the opening line of the review as on reflexion we enjoyed it, chatted to the audience, got emails to add to our WDP (World Domination Plan) and ate a really nice bag of chilli crisps.

It's Katie Fitzgeralds for us tonight in Stourbridge.

By next weekend we should hopefully have a few live tunes available on the net exclusively to certain sites. More next week.

M x

Set
The Preacher
I Gave Up The World
Run
Aftermath
Always Yours
Roundabouts
When We Were Young

A day in the life of a Barricade

2011-07-26T08:49:00.003+01:00

Seeing as we've been doing so many gigs and the majority of the posts on here are gig reviews, I thought I'd freshen it up with a little bit of blah. So, what has been going on with us then...?

First off, the gigs are coming thick and fast and we love it. With exception of the Milton Keynes gig last week we have sold albums at every gig we have played since the launch. I think a marvelous effort from us! The new songs are sounding more confident on stage and tunes like 'When We Were Young', 'Run' and 'Animals' are very comfortable to play. A few of the tunes are almost there live, and only 'Always Yours' and 'Nod and Smile' are proving a bit tricky, but we'll get it in the end. The set's we play almost always include tunes from all three of our releases.

The mail list is also growing after having a slight rethink of how we gain emails. In the last 2 gigs nearly 25 people have signed it, that's 25 more people who get our free extra song per month. If you want to sign up, put your email in the box on the left hand side.

Coming back from a gig recently, we ended up discussing the 'roles' of Barricades Rise. Without really realising it I have booked 90% of the gigs whilst Jonathan has sorted 90% of the reviews. Because of this we now have decided to designate tasks to each member. This really helps as in the past we've both contacted the same promoter within a day of each other without realising the other had already done so, now that won't happen. This new 'Task sheet' has been ongoing for about a week or two and it's bared a few fruits already. It's the basic's we are getting right - organisation.

Another venture we will be embarking on shortly is our very own radio show. This will be featured on Cross Counties Radio who have been very kind to us this year. The show will predominantly be circled around unsigned acts from the Midlands, with music played, live songs and interviews on all our favourites from the area. We've never attempted anything like this before so we're really looking forward to it. More info available soon.

There are other irons in the fire but nothing set in stone yet so when something comes good, we'll let you know. The best place (and first place) that any news, video, new song etc will feature is on our Facebook site. We've just passed the 350 'likes' mark so help us reach the 400 by liking us or sharing us if you already liked.

Finally, we've upped our game with our tweets too. I run our twitter feed and the important issues such as what am I watching/reading/listening to and what I think of the whole Amy Winehouse saga are revealed. Follow us!

Love and cheese

M x

P.S
For those not on Twitter. I'm watching Pretty Little Liars, reading Labyrinth by Kate Mosse, listening to City and Colour's new album Little Hell, and think that if she was told to go to rehab but said no, no, no then the writing really was on the wall.

Review – Online gig, The Maudsley, The Crumbling Cookie

2011-07-24T12:20:00.004+01:00

Online Screen Gig 21/7/11

After the disaster that was our first attempt at doing an online gig, we changed the venue to Michaels house and Thursday night saw us try again. This time everything went smoothly and we managed to broadcast our session online to anyone who wanted to watch. We intended to play for about 15/20 minutes but that soon extended to about 45 minutes. I must admit, at first it was a little strange finishing a song and having no audible applause, however, after a few songs people started interacting with the chat feature and we felt right at home. In fact, we enjoyed it that much we have booked in Solo shows and plan to do a few last minute shows just for fun. Keep your eyes peeled to the website and Facebook to find out more

The Maudsley, Coventry 22/7/11

We always look forward to playing the Ditch The TV night at the Maudsley for the simple fact that it's the perfect night/venue for acoustic acts. People pay to come in and sit at candle lit tables and actually pay attention to the acts on stage. The running order for the evening was ourselves kicking the night off, a two piece from Liverpool called the Universal on second and Emma McGann with her full band finishing the night off.

Getting there about 8, the wife and I made ourselves comfortable and ordered a mixed grill each from the bar. Michael and Heidi joined us about 15 minutes later and then some family joined our tables for good measure. The room started filling up and some familiar faces started saying hello and it was great to see so many people come down just to see us. With a stage time of 8:40pm my mixed grill hit the table at 8:39pm and I gobbled down some chips and reluctantly left my meat with the vultures that are my family and just preyed it would be there when I returned. By the time we tuned up and was ready, the venue was full and no table was bare. I estimated around 50-60 people had there eyes glued on us and we didn't want to disappoint.

We seemed to storm through the set and had the crowd in our hands. Both the old and new songs sat well with the kind audience and our banter was flowing nicely. A quick change to the last but one song to enable a little audience participation saw us rock through our version of Silence is Easy and the audience played their part to perfection. Dazed ended the scheduled set to rapturous applause and an encore was demanded. With Sleepwalkers waiting in the wings we bashed it out and came off the stage dripping with sweat but extremely happy with the night. There were a few lyrical hiccups but that is to be expected at a Barricades Rise show and to be honest, you wouldn't have it any other way :)

Chatting with some fans outside I unfortunately missed the Universals set but Michael said they were very tight and the harmonies was very sweet. Emma seemed to have a few technical problems but her songs were strong and she played well. Overall, it was a great night with new fans gained, old fans pleased and a few albums sold to boot. As always we will be chatting with Malc to get us booked back in next year.

ps. My mixed grill was still waiting for me when I got back to my table. Maybe I underestimate my family

The Crumbling Cookie 23/7/11

From our favourite venue in Coventry to our favourite venue in Leicester. The Crumbling Cookie is a great looking Café that has bands and comedians playing constantly. It has ground level, upstairs and the owner has big plans for a basement venue also. After playing the gig he took us round the Basement and I must say, if he gets what he wants then this will be THE venue to play in Leicester.

This gig was labelled as 'Barbacoustic', and i'm sure you will have already worked out that it was a BBQ afternoon coupled with acoustic performances. We were given the honour of kicking the day off and getting people to take note and come in from the street. We seemed to do just that as by the time we finished playing we had a small crowd watching and cheering along. Again, I think we gained a few new fans and sold a few more albums.

Leaving the venue at around 5:30pm we left on a high due to the last three gigs and after dropping Michael at home I joined some friends for a 30th Birthday party playing BINGO. Yes, I am just that Rock and Roll :)

Jonathan

We played (I think)
Online Gig
I Gave Up The World
Twist and Shout
Making Faces From Clouds
Just For Tonight
Roundabouts
When We Were Young
Sleepwalkers (requested)
Brakes (requested)
Aftermath (requested)
Dazed (requested)
Run

The Maudsley
I Gave Up The World
Animals
The Preacher
Twist and Shout
Making Faces From Clouds
When We Were Young
Roundabouts
Aftermath
Silence is Easy
Dazed
Sleepwalkers (requested encore)

Crumblin' Cookie
I Gave Up The World
The Preacher
Come Together
Sleepwalkers
When We Were Young
Roundabouts
Aftermath
Seperate Divide
Dazed

The Living Room, Milton Keynes, 20/07/11 - Review

2011-07-21T07:42:00.005+01:00

The Living Room is not what it sounds like. It's not small and cosy with a mish mash of different mugs, selling real ale and Kettle Crisps with a big dog on the floor somewhere. We knew this beforehand, I knew the kind of place it is. Sharp, shiny, swanky, suited-up. The place that makes you feel it's OK to spend £3.85 on a beer as you feel slightly superior for a fraction of a second. The kind of place where no one could care less about the music being played.

So why did we travel the 100+ miles to go and play there? Two reasons really. Firstly, it's a chain bar and we've played a few of them before, and one of them provided a hit (or so I thought, after re-reading the review from 2009 of it this morning, it was actually not good). Maybe we could replicate this? The second being we'd never played in Milton Keynes before so wanted to see if it was worth it. I guess the sorry answers to both questions is no.

For those that have never been to MK, imagine having a dream where you are on holiday, somewhere City-like, American. Now take this dream and mould it with a £99 Spanish holiday resort. This is Milton Keynes.

Anyway, to the actual gig. The compare was doing his best to drum up support for the artists on and to be fair a lot of the people there responded appreciatively. It was full. We headed on stage with the ambition that we normally have. We rocked through all four (yes, 4) songs we were allowed to play, still putting as much energy into the gig as possible but by the time the last tune came around, we both knew we'd got a dud on our hands. Throughout, Jonathan's mic was falling down plus the applause was getting weaker as the bar gradually dispersed. When we finished I think there was a new trend for apathy as no one really batted an eyelid. Either that, or we simply didn't go down that well.

In a way I'm kind of glad we played as we got a feel (again) for the kind of audience we attract. There were no real ale drinkers in there, that much was clear, and if people want to go out after work for a swanky dinner and wine, then who are we to put a big full-on awesome acoustic rock performance in their face? We tried, we failed. We move on to TONIGHT!

Tonight sees us play our Screen Gig at 7.30 from the comfort of My House. Now My House IS the kind of place where there is the mish-mash of different mugs, people drink real ale (most probably tea), eat Kettle Crisps (heck, sometimes pork scratchings too) and even though I don't have a dog lying on the floor, two cats (Sammy and Dean) can be found moulting. Most important, it's less than 100+ miles away seeing as that is where I live. The trip up the stairs won't be that taxing after the long haul last night.
Our Online gig will last about 20-30 minutes and maybe more if you come and chat and request some tunes.

M x

We played
The Preacher
I Gave Up The World
Sleepwalkers
When We Were Young

How not to do a screen gig - Sorry and a new date EDIT! Review of what we DID manage to play.

2011-07-19T20:20:00.006+01:00

Talk about a f@#k up. All the big talk, all the texts, all the Facebook status's, all the tweets and for what....People looking at a blank screen and no screen gig.

First off, we are really sorry this didn't work. We fully tested this a couple of days back and all was good. We had video and we had sound and all was clear. For some reason our Internet connection just died on us tonight and wouldn't connect again for more than 10 seconds at a time. What's more, I've just BLOODY upgraded my Internet to a faster service.

We are going to try again on Thursday at 7:30pm but this time over at Michael's house with a better Internet connection. Please come back then as it WILL work

******EDIT - We finally managed to go live for a little while (about 9 o'clock) and test it all. Michael managed a set from his house and then I cut in from my house. Think the test was sucessful. The Screen Gig on Thursday will be from Michael's studio as we know it works now. Feel happier and going to order a curry ********

Jonathan

****A DAY LATER****

So we did manage somehow to play something last night. After we figured it was a lost cause at Jonathans, I whisked on home, installed the software and got online in 5 minutes. The first 3 minutes online was a lot of chit chat between Jonathan and I whilst I sorted the sound levels but Thursdays gig will be fine from the off, we'd have sorted it by then. Having literally walked in the door and straight on the computer I wasn't prepared at all for what to play. I grabbed a load of lyrics and just picked at random. As I do not play the chords in our songs it was pretty difficult to find some that I would be able to play solo. As it turns out, Jonathan is useless too so he writes the chords on the lyric sheet which was handy. I went for 2 of my own songs for obvious reasons then 2 random ones. Just before I left Jonathans previously I picked up the guitar and worked out Always Yours as it's super simple to play. I decided to go ahead and see if it would work so there, on the spot, I ploughed on through. Jonathan then rang me and stated his net was back up so as soon as I finished playing the last tune and disconnected, the focus shifted 1.2 miles away to his studio where he played 6 songs. One of which his camara fell down and showed behind the magic of the studio which was laugh out loud hilarious! It was a great experience and we'll both be doing solo shows no doubt in the future. We have set it so that THIS THURSDAY we'll be playing like we should be, 2 guys, 2 guitars.

Michael

We played -
Michael
Folk Songs and Jazz Bands
Brakes
Always Yours
This Creation

Jonathan
Roundabouts
Twist And Shout
I Gave Up The World
When We Were Young
Just For Tonight
Making Faces From Clouds

The Corner House, Cambridge 17/07/11 - Review

2011-07-18T07:30:00.003+01:00

This is the second time we have played the Corner House in Cambridge. The first time we played well but to very few people. This time we played well but to even less people. Couple this with the fact that it is about an hour and a half drive, we are wondering whether it is worth the trip!

The Dreaded hour and a half drive. SNAV never lies

The weekend preluding to this gig was a happy affair. I caught the new Potter film on Friday which was ok. Me and the wife only watched the previous films for the first time a couple of months ago so we haven’t had that Harry Mania for the last 8 years or so. A cheeky game of Poker on Saturday led to me cashing and then Sunday morning I proudly watched my Wife and Mum along with Michaels Sister and friend run the 5K Race For Life in Leamington. Also, I managed to snatch a sneaky picture of Emily and me with Ed from the Heart FM breakfast show. We listen to it every morning and just couldn’t resist.

We left for the Gig around 5:30pm and the usual conversations of ‘What is Next’ were banded around the car. It’s exciting times for us and we have a plan of world domination that we intent to keep to. Arriving at the venue around 7:15pm we noticed it was extremely quiet. We also were told that 2 of the four bands had pulled out and we would take to the stage around 9 ish. We had a little sound check and waited for the room to fill. A couple of people took some seats but even by 9 o’clock we were playing to a very small audience. The old Barricades Rise would have given up at this point and tried to get off stage with as little energy spent as possible. The new Barricades Rise played a decent set with minimal mistakes and plenty of sweat. It paid off to a certain extent as we did sell a couple of albums and added some names to the mailing list. Leaving soon after we finished, we listened back to the set (recorded on a little handheld digital recorder) and were pleased with how we had played. The MP3 player then came on and ‘What is Next Part 2’ flowed.

Gigs like this leave you in a bit of a quandary. Are they worth the distance? We felt that traveling so far and playing to pretty much nobody is obviously a bit of a waste however, out of the three people that actually listened to us (there were only about 6 in the whole room), we got their email addresses and sold two albums. Now two albums don’t even cover the petrol costs however, we have never been about making money. In all honesty, I think the only reason this is even being mentioned is because it was school night and we both had to get up early  Maybe Fridays and Saturdays for these types of gigs in the future.

Jonathan

PS - It's our first screen gig tomorrow - Come check it out - http://www.barricadesrise.co.uk/p/online-gigs-live-on-your-screen.html

Set
The Preacher
Animals
Sleepwalkers
Folk Songs and Jazz Bands
Aftermath
Run
I Gave Up The World
When We Were Young
Dazed

Adam and Eve, Birmingham, 13/7/11-Review

2011-07-13T23:12:00.005+01:00

Having literally just walked through my door from this gig, and with the added bonus/annoyance of being wide awake due to Red Bull, I thought I'd plough on with the review.
Turning up at 8 we found a deserted pub, then it got less busy. Thinking we would play to the bar staff we would have, a few months back, sighed and hoped to get it over and done with. The renewed Barricades Rise version 3.0 though held it's head high and thought that said barmaid might actually like us so to play like we owned the joint. By the time we headed on stage there were a few bodies in the room, mainly the other band waiting to play, but a few others amongst the vast spaces. After a rushed first song, we headed into new tune When We Were Young. Things went downhill. Half way through, Jonathan forgot a complete section of the song and went straight to the end practically. I tried to cover the cock up the best I could. A sheepish grin from the cheeky chap tried to restore the faith, but a few more school boy errors on I Gave Up The World and it seemed we were doomed. However, in true Rom Com style we came back from the brink of being bullied by the millionaire ex-boyfriend, stormed through another 5 or 6 tunes and got the girl. We even managed to gain quite a few names to our mass domination plans (email list). A strange one, but overall a fairly succesful one.

The new Barricades box made it's debut too. Containing albums, T shirts, flyers, badges, keyrings and best of all, BLUE LIGHTS!

M x

Set list
The Preacher
When We Were Young
Folk Songs and Jazz Bands
I Gave Up The World
Run
Roundabouts
Aftermath
Dazed

Off-Beat Magazine Album Review

2011-07-12T21:00:00.007+01:00

As you very well know, you can read all our reviews by clicking on the 'Press' tab at the top of the page. You will find links to all the reviews of our new album 'All I have Is Here' and a few we salvaged from the old site for previous releases. Because of this page, we don't post every review on blog section so please keep checking it.

That being said, if a website doesn't have a specific URL for a review they have printed, we find it easier to post it on here as it can get a little lost over time on the original website. This review was given to us by the Off Beat Magazine team from Leicester. They have been avid supporters of our work and we actually felt a little pressure to impress them with this album. See what you think . . .

"This was always going to be one of the toughest reviews to write this year, we have adored every piece of Barricades Rise material and a new album meant one of two things – either we would be disappointed and have to find a way to say it, or we’d have to find more ways to tell you how amazing these guys are. Fortunately with All I Have Is Here, the Barricades boys have given us a brand new direction, which means that there’s a whole bunch of new things to say – so here they come.

Firstly, this is one of the bravest releases I have been aware of for some time, speaking to the boys in the past few months they had told me that the new album was a lot gentler and they were concerned that their audience would be disappointed by the lack of energy there was in the songs. I can reassure them now, having listened to this album a lot over the last week, that there is no chance of that.

Yes the songs are slower on the whole, the album has taken a far folkier angle than their previous material and it is very different, but it is still very Barricades Rise. What they have done with All I Have Is Here is evolve, which is what every good quality act should do – The boys have grown up and so has their music. The subject matter is more optimistic on the whole, with a couple of well deserved exceptions – If You Were Here is a truly heartbreaking song for example, a tough topic handled with exceptional maturity and the class that one has come to expect from Barricades Rise.

Instrumentation has also evolved, heavy use of a banjo is always a risk but as always, the boys have a complete understanding of when and how to use all the instruments at their disposal and the banjo is no exception. Still a mainstay at the centre of the album are Jonathan and Michael’s spectacular vocal harmonies, never so amazing as they are during a chant breakdown in Nod and Smile.

I am a big fan of sections of albums that flow perfectly – Laura Marling’s Alas I Cannot Swim album found its way into my heart due to the back to back awesomeness of My Manic And I, Night Terror and The Captain and the Hourglass, which flow better one after the other than any three songs I’ve ever heard – well, until now. All I Have Is Here ends with the gorgeous folk ridden Folk Songs and jazz Bands, the epic and powerful Roundabouts which conjures up the energy and passion we all know and love from Barricades Rise and the album draws to a close with the majestic Just For Tonight, a love song with the perfect sprinkling of cheese, conjuring up the spirit of Meat Loaf’s early material but, as always, maintaining a completely modern spin on it.

It was difficult to impress me with this album, the pressure that Barricades Rise were under from us were unreal, we have put them on a pedestal and we expect them to stay there (to give you an understanding of how important this album was to us, when I received it, myself and several Off-Beat staff had a listening party followed by a discussion group, that is not our usual way.) With class, style and grace Barricades Rise have not only kept up to our expectations, with the bravery, the evolution and the sheer beauty of this album they have far exceeded it.

After winning last years best recorded material award from us, the boys have made it clear they hope to win next year’s and in all honesty, this album is really going to take some beating. The album is released today, buy it, you need it, an absolutely mind blowing effort from one of the best in the country."

I think we nailed it :)

Fuse Festival, Lichfield 09/07 - Review

2011-07-10T14:38:00.006+01:00

Long term readers of this blog may recall we played Lichfield's Fuse Festival back in 2009. We had a great time, played well and made a few new fans (read the 2009 review here). We even got a song of ours on the Fuse 2009 CD. Needless to say, we were looking forward to coming back and playing again this year.

Due to after gig plans, we made our way to the festival in separate cars with our wives in tow. Strangely, this felt a little weird as we have only ever travelled apart to gigs a handful of times in four years (cue the Arhhhhhs ). Arriving first, me and Emily signed us in, caught up with Rob the organiser, walked around the stalls and grabbed a pint. It was a glorious day for a festival and I reckon the natives knew it as the festival was packed. Michael and Heidi arrived and a little time later and we staked our claim to a little patch of grass just outside of the Acoustic tent.

BOOM – A fight broke out. . . A suspicious looking group of youths challenged each other to a dual only meters from our patch and for about 2 minutes all eyes moved away from the music and towards this show of testosterone. It spilled out into the side of the acoustic tent and some poor fellows guitar got snapped in half. Now I know what you are thinking, being the hero that I am, I must have thrown myself into the middle of it and stopped this war before it breeched our little area where our defenceless wives and friends were. Well I was gonna, but Michael had conveniently gone to the bar and left me as the sole protector and I thought a hands off and a dirty look towards the little scamps was the best approach. It seemed to work as the stewards must have seen my disapproval and then came running over and broke it up. So in a way, I was a hero :)

Anyway, we made our way into the tent to watch the act on before us and was shocked to see a full band setting up to play the ACOUSTIC STAGE. We have ranted about acoustic acts having to follow full bands before so I wont do it again. Anyway, the jingle jangle indie band did fill the tent up with bodies. When they finished we got our instruments together, sorted the set, tuned up, got on stage and saw that the filled tent had emptied to only a third full. Bugger

We were introduced by the compère as Barricades Fire, which we made a joke about, made him re-introduce us and by that time we seemed to have the dwindled audience on our side before we even played a note. We belted through a few originals that got people foot tapping and then got the audience singing along to 'Come Together' which also helped get more bodies in the tent. The crowd participation continued for our own 'Separate Divide' and then after another couple of well received originals, we got the ever growing audience to play their part in our cover of Starsailors 'Silence is Easy'. We were then given a one song extension and 'Dazed' it up for everyone.

A couple of lovely ladies from the audience that grabbed an album

Cheers, claps, album sales and friendly meets and greets followed after. We felt we played well and enjoyed another beer before we decided to leave this land and head off. Michael and Heidi left to spend a romantic evening together in celebration of their one year wedding anniversary (cue the Arhhhhhs again) whereas me and Emily decided to celebrate the fact that it was Saturday and not a work day tomorrow and gatecrashed a friends house for some dinner before moving on to some other friends house for lots of beer and music and then hit McDonlands at 5:30am for a Big Tasty (the greatest of the burgers). A great afternoons gig and a wicked after show night.

Thanks to Rob for having us back, we would love to grace the stage at Fuse 2012

Jonathan

Set List
The Preacher
I Gave Up The World
Come Together
Seperate Divide
Silence is Easy
Dazed

Watch us on the Internet on July 19th

2011-07-07T09:55:00.004+01:00

Just a few bits and pieces.

First off, we have organised an Online gig on the 19th July at 7.30pm (gmt) entitled...
Screen gig episode I: The Fellowship of the Gig (my handywork thank you - M).
The premise is you go to this link here (link will be live at the end of the day when I can be bothered to sort it) at about 7.25pm and it'll all be ready to go. You can watch the gig anywhere in the world what with it being the Internet. Lovely eh. You can 'chat' with us too by using the features of the site. To chat you need to make up a username and password, then input your email and that's it done, but to watch you need do nothing. A little window will appear and you can type away. Our friend Stylusboy has been playing them pretty much bi-weekly and they are great to watch and interact with.

You can ask us to play any of our songs and as long as we can remember them we'll play it. Also if you want us to play a cover, tell us now and we'll try to work it out in time for the gig. (email suggestions to band@barricadesrise.co.uk or facebook us).
We have a few planned (on our gig guide) so even when we are not gigging in the real world we'll still play a few tunes live.

Speaking of Stylusboy, he has blogged himself regarding the support he gave us on our launch gig. Check it here.

There are some lovely words being said about the album so far, every review has been posted to our facebook site. Within a week we have sold a quarter of them which is a lovely feeling. Now to get rid of the other 15...

M x

STOP PRESS!!

2011-07-03T11:06:00.000+01:00

We did indeed rock Godiva

Review below

Godiva Festival 1/7 - review

2011-07-02T10:37:00.007+01:00

Being super busy this last week with gigs, work and more we were unable to get across to Coventry to pick up our performers pass to the festival, thus we had to park a million and one miles away from the stage. The festival opened at 6 and we were on at 7. We comfortably got to the stage at 6.30 to find it absolutely deserted.

A bit downhearted, we headed to the bar to purchase a cup, then the beer to go in the cup (flipping festival prices) and when we got back to the stage there were a few peeps hanging around.

When we hit the stage it very quickly filled up. As for the set, we nailed it. Playing a best of we new the tunes inside out and upside down. By the time Dazed came along the grass in front of us was relitavely half full.

We were both extremely happy with the gig but a little frustrated that by the time the next act came on the crowd was huge. But hey ho, it was a great gig and we sold an album (over a quarter of all our albums have been sold in a week!). We stuck around and wondered the festival for another hour. We headed home about 9.30 with Jonathan a little over tipsy.

Apparently we are on the FRONT PAGE of the Coventry Telegraph today. I'm off to get it now so will see if it says 'BAND OF THE YEAR WOW FESTIVAL CROWD' or 'WHO?'.

Next saturday we take on another free festival at Fuse in Lichfield. We're on at 6.30ish

M x

Rothwell Charter, Northants, 29/6/11 - Review

2011-06-30T08:00:00.001+01:00

Some gigs I come away feeling a little puzzled. Last night we played the Rothwell Charter and to be honest I thought we played well below par and yet we sold a nice number of albums and compliments were being thrown around like confetti.

We left for the pub in our usual way with the MP3 playing kicking out some random tunes and conversations of the band and future plans being had. Arriving at just after 8 we were informed our slot wouldn’t be until about 10, so we grabbed a drink and continued our discussions of world domination.

Eventually getting on stage around 10:20pm we played a set that only consisted of one song from our first album. This may not seem like a big deal to the casual reader however for us it’s quite a big deal. We are now, due to the amount of original songs we have, in a position where we can leave out what we think are some of our best songs and still have a set full of blinders. It’s a great position to be in and this will only get better as more songs get written.
Anyway, we played for about 35mins and as stated, I thought we were a little rough. Too many little mistakes, a string breakage and general tiredness from a long week will be my excuses. But again, as mentioned, we did sell a few albums, gained some email addresses and got some kind words from people in the pub. So I guess it was a success.

The pub and people were really nice and we would be up for coming back and making sure we were on top form next time.

Needing a petrol station ASAP, I started the journey home by mishearing the SATNAV and taking a trip the opposite way to home. Luckily this was a stroke of luck as the neon light of giant ‘M’ came into sight accompanied by an ESSO sign. 50mins, a double cheeseburger, more tunes and a boys talk later, we got home.

SO Tired

Jonathan

We played...
The Preacher
When We Were Young
Come Together
I Gave Up The World
Making Faces From Clouds
Folk Songs and Jazz Bands
Roundabouts
Dazed

Somerville Arms, Leamington, 27/6 - Review

2011-06-28T07:41:00.003+01:00

And so the tour in promotion of 'All I Have Is Here' was a go. The small village-like Somerville Arms held a relatively older crowd than usual and it soon became apparent why. The monthly night had a very bluesy/country twang to it with the resident band constantly swapping instruments between themselves from guitars to banjo's to ukulele's to harmonicas and more. We both felt a twinge of trepidation as to how well, if at all, we would go down. Thankfully from the off the small gathering got what we were about and we really got into it.
Being about 30 degrees outside, and with little ventilation plus a fairly full small pub, onstage we were perspiring quite alarmingly. Comically in 'If You Were Here' I picked up the ukulele then realised the lead would not stretch to my seat so, instead of faffing about changing leads, just huddled 'intimately' close to Jonathan so the lead would reach. After around 40 minutes we headed off stage to sell a good few albums new and old alike. If all our gigs on this tour are like this then it'll be an extremely good summer for us.

It's Rothwell tomorrow for the first time for us, then this Friday see's us playing at 7PM at GODIVA FESTIVAL.

M x

Set List
I Gave Up The World
Animals
Nod And Smile
Come Together
The Preacher
If You Were Here
When We Were Young
Roundabouts
Aftermath
Dazed

The Album Launch - The Crown, Nuneaton - Review

2011-06-25T14:43:00.006+01:00

To quote a classic by the Four Seasons …... “oh What A Night”.

And so it was, our second album officially released yesterday and our launch gig held in our home town, at The Crown Pub. We got to the venue just after midday and along with the wives, set up the room and the PA and then left at three to chill, eat some food, get ready and generally get super nervous.

This picture taken by Stylusboy

Getting back to the venue at around 6 we, along with special guest percussionist David Sharpe, spent an hour sound checking and making sure all was good. Stylusboy turned up around 7 and after his brief sound check we opened the doors. It's always a worry when you put on a night like this that no one will come and all your hard work will be for nothing. We didn't have to wait long as within 5 minutes of the doors being open, we had a half full room. After 15 minutes we had over 80 people in the room and you couldn't move. Result

Stylusboy kicked the night off with a half hour set of his lovely melodic tunes that went down really well with the audience. In fact, it went down that well that he almost sold out of his own recently released EP.

We took to the stage just after 9 o'clock and after a tiny false start on the very first song, we belted through our hour long first set. The audience seemed to get into it and clapped and cheered along. The new songs seemed to fit nicely with our old ones and the few covers we played went down well. Overall It was a successful opening.

After a 15 minute break in which we did a short interview for our friends at Cross Counties Radio, we got back on stage for our raffle that has become a staple part of our launch nights. Amongst the great prizes such as albums and T-shirts, there was our usually standard of booby prizes such as Crocodile Dundee on VHS, a garden gnome, some football handkerchiefs and a 1000 piece cat jigsaw. It was a nice light relief before kicked off our final set of the night.

Personally I think we absolutely nailed the second set with another mix of old and new songs. Again, the crowd were wonderful and joined in keeping the beats and cheering along.

This Picture was taken by Rob Bridge

It truly was a great night that everyone seemed to enjoy it. We would love to thank our wives, Dave Sharpe, Helen, Stylusboy and all who attended and made the night amazing. I hope everyone enjoys the album.

Here is a littlw video i quickly pieced together from some rough footage taken on my digital camera.

Jonathan and Michael

ps, A few more photo's from the night was taken by our friend Rob - View here

All I Have Is Here - OUT NOW

2011-06-24T00:01:00.002+01:00

So here it is, all our hard work comes down to today. We are pleased to announce that our second album 'All I Have Is Here' is now available to buy on CD from here and on digital download from here. As always, you can pick a copy up at one of our many gigs this summer.

We would love your feedback and thoughts on the album, so please drop us an email or Facebook us.

We really hope you like the album. We LOVE it

All I Have Is Here by Barricades Rise

Jonathan and Michael

All I Have Is Nearly Here

2011-06-23T08:58:00.004+01:00

In less than 24 hours our second album 'All I Have Is Here' is released. It's the culmination of 9 months of blood, sweat and beers. Our launch night at The Crown, Nuneaton tomorrow night from 7.30 is selling well but you can still buy tickets on the door. We've spent a few evenings this week playing the whole set (2 of them) and are itching to get on stage.

You can buy the album direct from us at tomorrows gig and all other future gigs, or order a CD online from this site. Alternatively, you can get the album as a digital download with a recording diary from our bandcamp store here

There's a nice little interview at this lovely blog

til the morn

M x

Coventry Evening Telegraph Interview

2011-06-20T16:26:00.001+01:00

Just a short one to say we have an online interview with Coventry Evening news. Take a read here

Less Than A Week

2011-06-19T11:53:00.006+01:00

So it's less than a week until our second album 'All I Have Is Here' is released. Being a DIY band we, and the wives, spent last night putting together 100 goody bags and 200 albums ready for Friday night. We are so excited for the launch and can't wait to start hearing everyones feedback on the album.

Also, we just recieved shipments of our new range of limited edition T-Shirts. They are available in ladies and mens fit so order yours now. They will also be available on the launch night.

Order yours from our store here

A Computer - A Bands Best Friend

2011-06-17T12:23:00.001+01:00

In my 9 to 5 day job I sometimes have to write blogs regarding certain bits of pro audio equipment in the attempt to attract people to buy bits. I was trying to write one the other day regarding recording an album at home and what you would need to do this. Obviously as we have recorded 2 full length albums, an EP and many other demos at my home studio I thought I was qualified to do so. Something that struck me was just how much work regarding the band and our music takes place in our home studio on my computer. The songs get written in there, they get demo’d there, the final recordings are recorded there, the mixing and mastering is done there, the practicing for gigs is done there, contacting people online is done there, designing the artwork is done there, designing and ordering the merchandise to accompany our albums is done there, plus a million other boring things are done from there . . . In fact the only thing about this band that isn’t done in my tiny studio is the gigging and that will soon change as we are about to do some online gigs from there. So you could say the computer is the third member of our band

I know what you are thinking, a pointless blog. I know, I’m just bored

Barricades EYE

2011-06-15T21:53:00.003+01:00

How about this for a new Barricades Rise image . . .

OK, maybe Not. Woke up this morning to find something wierd in my eye. After calling the doctors, they recomended a trip to A&E and after squirting the above crazy orange stuff in my eye (which made my eye luminus), they diagnosed an eye infection. Personally, i think i look like a Goth who ran out of black makeup and only had orange!

Jonathan

First review of 'All I Have Is Here'

2011-06-13T11:30:00.004+01:00

The first review of our second album has been published. Folkwords.com kindly gave You and Your Adored, our debut album, a cracking write up so we were anxious to see what they thought of our follow-up. Well, that anxiety has well and truly been wiped from our faces as they have given it another blindingly fantastic review. Thanks to Tim Carrol and the folks at Folkwords.com for their kind words.

Read the review here

Hopefully this will start the snowball effect and there will be loads more to sift through in the next few days, weeks and months. We won't publish every one in the blog part of our site but rather in the 'press' tab.

M x

The album is here! (plus a review of a gig)

2011-06-12T10:06:00.004+01:00

Regular readers will know by now that we do not go down well with students. It's not that they do not like us, it's that they simple ignore us. Not their fault, I wasn't really into acoustic music when I was at Uni, but none the less we can get a bit downhearted about it. We actually played really well, but after the second tune when some chap came and asked us, in the middle of a song (my solo bit), if he could play a song, we didn't really put the effort in. Our grasp on the crowd got better later as one student asked if we could play Wonderwall so she could sing it. I said no.

We quickly finished our set, got a clap from Paul (promoter) (plus I must add my wife and brother in law, seeing as she just read this and had a little go at me for not including them) whilst the otherwise packed pub, dressed by this point in slutty nurse outfits and Superman costumes, decided which flourescent shot to take next.

It's done though.

The artwork was picked up yesterday too and here it is, completely done!

Video - Part 2 is here

2011-06-09T21:22:00.002+01:00

The second part of our three video series is now online and ready to view below. The video contains two live songs 'Making Faces From Clouds' and 'Great White North' from our upcoming album 'All I Have Is Here'. Hope you like it

2 gigs in 1 day - Reviews

2011-06-05T12:07:00.006+01:00

Two gigs in one day was the agenda for this sunny Saturday. The first at our launch venue in Nuneaton, the Crown. The second over in Leicestershire at the home of Cross Counties Radio. (All Pictures from the latter)

For me the morning started by winning a little game of Russian Roulette by dodging the hangover bullet of Reflex the night before. The previous week I had hit the legendary 80's club and spent the following day crying in pain and wondering why God had chosen me to suffer for the millions of drinkers that graced the dancefloors all over the world. It was bad and sympathy from my wife was nowhere to be seen. This week I changed tactics and stayed off the beer and found that Jagerbombs are the future and this future was bright as no hangover came. In the words of Mr Sheen (The actor not the polish) Winning! Actually, whilst talking about old Charlie, Take a look at this video, it is amazing - http://youtu.be/9QS0q3mGPGg

Gig number one was the beer festival at the Crown and the stage was the back of a lorry in the beer garden. Turning up at 3:30pm with a stage time of 4:30pm, we hung around and chatted to a few fans that had made it down to see us. We took to the stage a little later than advertised and BOOM, panic set in when I couldn't get my tuner to work. The heat of the sun was immense and with around 200 people waiting to hear some music I could feel every ounce of confidence draining from me as I struggled to get tuned. No matter what buttons I pressed or string I plucked, it just wouldn't work. At the brink of tears I then realised that I hadn't plugged my guitar into the tuner, FOOL. We then went on to play a decent set of old and new songs that seemed to go down reasonably well with the tipsy ale drinkers. After leaving the stage we gathered a few kind words the crowd, sold an album or two, had some further chats with existing fans and bolted for the door ready for gig number two.

With the Sat Nav taking us the scenic route, we and the wives took the 40 minute journey over to the central hub of Cross Counties Radio where they were celebrating their stations 2nd birthday. They had asked us personally to come and play a set at this garden party that was filled with presenters, volunteers and friends of the station. As soon as we arrived we were made at home and showed straight to the buffet and drinks table. After exchanging handshakes and smiles we set up for two 20 minutes sets. The set up was similar to a house gig, with Michaels guitar amplified and the rest unplugged. I love this type of gig and want to do more (see here if you want us to come and play in your garden/living room). With the whole night going out live on the airwaves we took the stage on our best behaviour. Both sets seemed to go down well with the audience and we played as many new songs as possible. Afterwards we got all the younglings asking for autographs which went straight to our heads and sold and signed quite a few albums. It was a great afternoon and we were honoured to be asked to be a part of their celebrations.

Leaving tired and longing for bed, we headed home about 10:30pm. With only a handful of gigs left until our launch on the 24th we are starting to get more comfortable with playing the new songs live. Next stop will be the Phoenix in Coventry on Monday night where the plan is to play only new songs.

Jonathan

SET LISTS

The Crown

The Preacher

Aftermath

Come Together

Seperate Divide

Animals

Dazed

Cross Counties Radio set 1

I Gave Up The World

Aftermath

The Preacher

Folk Songs and Jazz Bands

If You Were Here

Brakes

Animals

Cross Counties Radio set 2

Making Faces From Clouds

Run

This Creation

Roundabouts

Sleepwalkers

Dazed

The Dry Dock, Leicester, 02/06/11 - Review

2011-06-03T07:29:00.002+01:00

We used to do loads of gigs with Leicester's Paula Driver but for one reason or another our paths haven't crossed for about 2 years. That changed last night as we played her send off night in Leicester. She is doing a sponsered 500 mile walk across Northern Spain in the Pyrenese for the Rainbow charity. Best of luck to her.

The Dry Dock itself is a converted boat. A few friends had made the trip over which was nice. Before hand we practiced 2 songs, Folk Songs and Jazz Bands and Making Faces From Clouds (but with a banjo) with the idea of debuting them both. This was set back however as our alloted time became 5 songs (although we snuck in a 6th). We managed to stick in Folk Songs and Jazz Bands but no room for Making Faces. The sound was a bit over the place at the start but we soldiered on and we got into it the more we played. Folk Songs seemed to be a mess but after speaking to a few people (Jonathan included) it turned out it wasn't as bad as I thought. The thing with the place though was it was a student venue. Great for cheap drinks, not so great for our tunes. We simply do not go down well with students. They gave us a nice little applause and gave a few compliments but were not really interested that much on the live stuff going on. We hung around for an hour or two after to watch the other acts then mosied on home.

Even though All I Have Is Here is not even out yet, we discussed our next options of a release. What will it be? Many ideas were batted between us but we'll take one thing at a time for now, with All I Have Is Here released 3 WEEKS TODAY!!

2 gigs on Saturday with one in our hometown and launch venue, The Crown, at 4.30, then over to Cross Counties Radio to play a live on air gig.

M x

Set List
The Preacher
I Gave Up The World
Animals
Folk Songs and Jazz Bands
Aftermath
Dazed

Pre Order 'All I Have Is Here' Now

2011-06-01T19:25:00.006+01:00

We are pleased to announce you can now order our new album 'All I Have is Here' on CD or digital download.

The album is released on June 24th 2011 and we are VERY excited to get this out to you. Please remember you can buy the CD on the release day directly from us at our launch gig at the Crown (see gig guide). The CD version will also be available from us at every gig thereafter.

The CD copy can be pre-ordered for £5 (plud £1 delivery) from here
The CD version will be despatched to arrive on the 24th or if you are lucky it might even get to you a day ot two before

The Digital download (includes all artwork) can be pre-ordered for £5 from here.
You will be notified on the 24th that your download is ready.

Hope you like it :)

Barricades Rise

Sunnyside, Northampton, 29/5/11 - Review

2011-05-29T00:44:00.002+01:00

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

'All I Have Is Here' Is Here!

2011-05-28T10:31:00.004+01:00

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

Millsy's Bar, Coventry, 23/5/11 - Review

2011-05-24T08:49:00.003+01:00

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

Bat & Wickets, Northampton, 22/5/11 - Review

2011-05-23T07:21:00.003+01:00

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

All I Have Is Here - Promo Video Part 1

2011-05-21T17:20:00.004+01:00

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.

In the summertime, when the weather is fine...

2011-05-16T21:34:00.005+01:00

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

A Big Weekend For Team BR

2011-05-15T18:21:00.001+01:00

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

The Soak, Birmingham - Gig Cancelled

2011-05-12T08:41:00.000+01:00

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

The Crumbling Cookie, Leicester 7/5/11 - Review

2011-05-08T21:29:00.002+01:00

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

Changes are afoot

2011-05-06T13:30:00.002+01:00

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

Update on all things 'All I Have Is Here'

2011-05-02T15:27:00.005+01:00

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

Stylusboy comes on board

2011-04-27T07:07:00.008+01:00

We're both super pleased that Stylusboy will be supporting us at our launch gig on June 24th at The Crown, Nuneaton.

Please go and see his website and download his music (it's all free!) at www.stylusboy.co.uk

We're off to take some photos today of what will hopefully be our album design.

LAUNCH VENUE CONFIRMED

2011-04-22T10:22:00.004+01:00

Our second album 'All I Have Is Here' is released on June 24th and to celebrate we will be having a great big lovely gig on the same day. The gig will be held at The Crown in Nuneaton which is where you can get your hands on the album for the first time.

Tickets will be available from our website, from us in person (in the street, in the pub, at our gigs, wherever we are, if you spot us come and grab one) and from behind the bar at The Crown. They have not been released yet so don't go asking Julian or Sam (owners) for tickets just yet. We'll put out another blog regarding when they are available and the price, along with what to expect at the gig.

Thats FRIDAY JUNE 24th.

And to keep it in the family, here is my brothers band, Breakfast with the Snake's first recording

http://www.reverbnation.com/artist/song_details/8269311#!/breakfastwiththesnake

Muchas Gracias

Michalos

NEW ALBUM ANNOUNCEMENT

2011-04-17T20:26:00.007+01:00

So the recording of our second album has been completed and we're both pleased to announce that...

'ALL I HAVE IS HERE'

will be released on

FRIDAY 24TH JUNE 2011

We will be having a big launch gig on the night and we are in the final stages of confirming the venue and support acts, so within the next few days we'll share all. We'll be spending the next few weeks mixing and mastering the album, with artwork and tracklisting to be revealed when confirmed.

Updates will be given on our facebook site the second we know about the venue and tracklisting so please go and 'like' us at www.facebook.com/barricadesrise, but those without facebook can get their fix right on this site too.

Whoopdydoodah!

Michael and Jonathan

Cross Counties Radio Interview

2011-04-13T11:09:00.001+01:00

For those people that didn’t get to hear our recent interview on Leicestershires Cross Counties Radio, the here it is in all its edited glory. We were actually on air for two and a half hours but this edit is of just the interview sections and comes in at just under an hour. Sit back and enjoy.

Interview - Cross Counties Radio 07/04/11 by Barricades Rise

It's Crunch Time

2011-04-11T09:50:00.003+01:00

When we started this album in January we both agreed on a certain date for the release. Everything has pretty much gone to plan and we're looking at hitting this date, and fingers crossed by the end of this week we will have a venue and can release the details. A few venues have been banded about between us and we have yet to finalise anything but this week really is crunch time. As well as finalising the venue and confirming the date, the artwork for the album has to be decided. A few ideas have been batted between us but nothing in concrete. This too will be decided within a fortnight, along with a title. Exciting times are ahead and we have to decide on what is right, or what is easy. We hit the 300 'likes' on Facebook this week which was great. If you haven't liked us yet, click on the right hand side of the site. Share and suggest us with your friends too. Gig city is getting larger too M x

All we hear is radio ga ga . . .

2011-04-08T08:48:00.003+01:00

Yesterday we spent the whole evening being interviewed, spinning our recordings and playing a few live tracks on Leicestershires Cross Counties Radio. It was a great night and station owner David and DJ Rob made us feel right at home at their amazing studios. We were only expecting to be on air for about an hour but ended up recording a two and a half hour epic.

In all, three new songs were played on air. We débuted our new song ‘Run’, gave ‘Always Yours’ another outing and took to our guitars for ‘Roundabouts’. Aftermath, This Creation and The Preacher also got the ‘live in the studio’ treatment and the rest of the ‘No Love Lost EP’ got played via the DJ. It was great to have a show that was ours. Even the songs played by other artists were picked by us.

Not only did we get a fun interview out of the evening, we also discussed the possibility of us creating our own half hour show for the station. If it works we could be recording a regular show with our favourite tunes, a little banter and maybe some tune from other unsigned acts we like. We will keep you up to date with that as it happen

Thanks to all that emailed and text in during the show and to those that missed it, we will get a shorter edit online over the weekend.

Jonathan

Ps. Cross Counties Radio airs 24 a day and is a community station and is run entirely by volunteers. Show your support by tuning in at http://www.crosscountiesradio.co.uk/ or on 3G/4G smart phones or even DAB Wi-Fi.

On the radio tonight

2011-04-07T09:10:00.002+01:00

We'll be appearing on Cross Counties Radio tonight from 7pm onwards. We may be playing live, I'm not sure, but we are definately debuting a new tune, maybe 2, alongside old fave's and a good old chin wag regarding the new release. Tune in at www.crosscountiesradio.co.uk. It will also be recorded and replayed I think, and we will try to get a copy of it and stick it on our site for you to listen to at leisure.

The album is taking shape nicely, I'd say about 75% complete.

For more news on the album, tune in tonight!

M x

Friday, Friday, Gotta get down on Friday

2011-04-01T13:33:00.006+01:00

Inspired by the great Rebecca Black song there

So what's the dealio? First off, it's been nice to have a week off recording, secondly, it's been so frustrating to have a week off recording! We were on a roll with the album and unfortunately Studio el Barricados had to have a makeover, so 1 week of twiddling thumbs. It should be back in action by Monday. Although we haven't met up at any point this week, a 10 track album sampler has been in my car and home stereo and I must say 'Flippin heck, it's good'. With the addition of a few more tracks we're hoping it'll be THE album of the summer, it will be for us.

Whilst Jonathan has been tinkering with the studio, he's also been moulding this site too. With the release not too far away we are making an improved effort to grow our online empire and go down several different paths. I also go down paths, but very often get stuck at HTML T-junction and give up, so leave it to the expert.

About 47 thousand and 4 gigs have been booked by us in the past few weeks, which really means we better hit the release date otherwise there will be nothing to promote, and we are constantly looking for more. From June onwards we are looking to play every night, sometimes two or three times a nights, so if you run a night, or know of one that will accept us then email band@barricadesrise.co.uk

On a seperate note, 'Entourage' is fantastic, seriously. Go out and watch the hell out of it.

Finally, here is how to make my famous Chilli

Ingrediants:

500g Mince Meat

3 Onions

3 Tins chopped tomatos

2 Cloves Garlic

1 Green Pepper

1 Tin of Red Kidney Beans

Beef stock cube

Salt and Pepper (Malden Sea Salt is best)

Olive Oil

Cayene Chilli Powder

1. Heat a large pan slowly with a tablespoon of oil. Whilst heating, finely chop the onions and crush and chop the garlic. Add to the pan when hot.

2. Stir and brown the onions until soft, remove and place aside. Add mince to the same pan. Once brown add salt and pepper and beef stock cube. Re-add the onions.

3. Chop the Green pepper into small chunks and add to pan along with the 3 tins of tomatos. Stir well. Add approx half teaspoon (mild), 1 teaspoon (medium) or 4 (I love it HOT HOT HOT) of Cayane chilli powder to the pan. Drain kidney beans and add. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes, stiring occasionally.*

4. Cook rice and serve whilst listening to No Love Lost EP and drinking hearty red wine.

*If it is too watery, add some gravy granuals as this will soak it up, and make it more beefy!

Have a good weekend!

M x

Excuse The changes

2011-03-28T22:13:00.003+01:00

If you are a regular reader of this blog you may notice it is looking a little different at the moment. The reason for this is that we are experimenting with our online empire and seeing where our perminant home is. Our current mainsite is based on Moonfruit but it has limitations (mainly that it is Flashed based) Obviously this is a 'Blogger' site but it now offers us the chance to add extra pages and everything you expect from a website. So in a nutshell, this is a test.

Wow, that must have been a boring read

Jonathan

Our Debut is only £1

2011-03-26T11:22:00.001Z

I'm typing this with a dull thudding in my head or a hangover as some may call it. Michael, myself and our good wifes hit our local last night for a quite drink and whilst the ladies discussed work (they work together) the two of us spent most of the night discussing the new album. As the drink flowed the four us even started singing some of the tunes which must be a good sign we are on to a winner.

Due to the studio being out of action for the next 7 days, we have both been listening to a ten track sampler of what has been recorded so far and barring a few mix issues, we are really proud and excited of what we have. A few possible tracklistings have been banded about and it seems we only have two more songs to record of the ones we are expecting to make the album. After that there are 3 or 4 that we want to record and see if they fit. We could actually have the whole album recorded in about three weeks and completely mixed in 5. We do have a release date in mind but I'm not going to share it yet just in case anything goes wrong and we have to move it.

We are also running a special promo on our debut album 'You and Your Adored'. For the next two weeks you can download it for £1 YES a single pound. Grab yours here - http://barricadesrise.bandcamp.com/album/you-and-your-adored

remember to recommend it to your friends and enemies and spread the word.

Jonathan

Not Somerville Arms, Leamington not 22/3/10, not a review

2011-03-24T07:29:00.003Z

To go hand in hand with our past few non-updates on recording it's quite fitting to have a non-review. We spent Monday practicing 7 new tunes from the new album and picked 5 to play on our Tuesday gig. Tuesday came and on the way to Leamington we were excited about playing them, and with the progress of the album thus far. The problem was though, when we turned up at the venue there was a jazz band just about to start. We wondered in with our guitars and looked around for our contact but no sign. Feeling slightly confused we asked the jazz band if they knew we were playing. "No" was the general consensus. After checking and re-checking our email via phone we had the right date and right venue. Discussions with the bar staff showed light that the band we were looking for plays Mondays. Dag Nam It.

Mistakes do happen in life and we booked the gig way back at the beginning of January and were evidently given the wrong date. I guess the thing that deflated us most was that we now have to wait til May 7th to debut new tunes. If we can get some gigs in beforehand we will.

On a plus note, we now have 8 songs done and dusted and primed for the album. A few draft track listings have flown back and forth between us to try and get the right mix. With 5 possibly 6 songs to still record there will no doubt be casualties. We are taking a break from recording though due to a makeover in the studio. A nice rest from 3 months constant recording. Should be no longer than a week though, then possibly another 4-5 weeks recording then done. Wow, thats fast.

M x

Beer + Band =

2011-03-21T12:03:00.002Z

Now our last few post have all been 'great, album stuff, how's that going?' so thought it's about time for a RANDOM POST.

I say random, it is based on the band, actually about this weekend. Cans and bottles of Stella were free flowing in the eve of Saturday whilst happily (some say forced) listening to the singer mans Spotify playlist. Turned up to 11 the tunes humping from the stereo contained so much synth and beats via the 80's, Cheese and (admitidly likable) dance the roof nearly came off it's hinges. Couple this with the very real competitave nature of both of us in the 'What year was this song' on VH1 at 12am and you have a vintage night in. Not one to brag but after getting 3 in a row correct Coates was throwing years left, right and centre in desperation (even 2012 might have been mentioned). The heated competition was no more alive though even through the adverts, as the highly regarded 'guess the advert' round came into play. I don't think the word TESCO could be shouted at a TV with more certainty (and volume) the amount of times it came from my mouth. Great night.

Now the boring bits. We finished Capture, we have 10 songs, yada, yada, blah,blah.

M x

'If we had more time...

2011-03-18T12:56:00.002Z

...I wouldn't waste anymore with tears.'

Little taster of lyrics for you there.

Several emails and texts were sent flying through space the other day regarding track listings and release dates. Its all very exciting right now, with Jonathan putting the first draft of what could be the album tracklisting out to me. With several great songs not on this list and me not even realising, that to me shows how strong this album will be. Once all 18 tracks are recorded it'll be a very hard practice to pick the right songs to go on the album, only time will tell.

The date of release penciled in is coming faster than first though too so it will soon be time for the fun stuff; creating the artwork. I literally have zero ideas about it as the songwriting and recording is much more important but it's something that will have to get sorted sharpish. When we have completed the final song then the first thing we will do is to announce the release date. Keep your eyes and ears peeled.

More info is updated too on www.facebook.com/barricadesrise so come and 'like' us to get more details.

'There's a million chances for a boy and a girl...'

M x