My Bitter Cup My Bitter Cup My Bitter Cup My Bitter Cup My Bitter Cup My Bitter Cup

Tapelove

2010-01-12T01:29:00.000-08:00

visit my new blog, its about tapes, sounds exciting huh?
www.tapelove.blogspot.com

Human Race

2009-11-24T01:32:00.000-08:00

Afro-beat-down

2009-11-24T01:30:00.001-08:00

Halloweenies

2009-11-24T01:29:00.001-08:00

teenage affections

2009-10-07T08:13:00.000-07:00

(i think this picture looks like the upstairs to the worlds end pub in camdem?)

What a burger!

2009-08-30T14:12:00.001-07:00

Turning Old

2009-08-30T14:11:00.001-07:00

Pre - Nodzzz stand up, strange times?

2009-08-30T10:20:00.001-07:00

Watching Nodzzz

2009-08-30T10:19:00.001-07:00

When Bob met Betty!

2009-08-29T08:03:00.001-07:00

We have a new kitten called Betty Summers, she is rad and amazing
addition to the family!

Fist

2009-08-22T07:46:00.000-07:00

Girl Gang

2009-08-22T06:55:00.000-07:00

Tony says yes to Rocky Erickson

2009-08-20T15:22:00.001-07:00

Jodie joined The Horrors

2009-08-20T11:09:00.000-07:00

GG Forever

2009-08-20T05:25:00.000-07:00

new blog

2009-07-17T01:42:00.000-07:00

http://nowthatswhaticalldudeculture.blogspot.com/

with posts from your favourite London/Brighton party dudes!

Enjoy xo

1/2 year best of list....

2009-07-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

It always comes to December and i have great chance to write a good End-Of-Year list but i forget what came out during the year and what i bought? So I'm starting early with a first half of the year run down of the stuff thats been spinning on my stereo and making London's public transport bearable on my ipod.

LP's

The Beets - Spit In The Face (captured tracks)
Billy Childish - Archive From '59 (damaged goods)
Charlie & The Moonhearts - Thunderbeast (red handed)
DOOM - Born Lik eThis (lex)
Eat Skull - Wild & Inside (siltbreeze)
Eddy Current Suppresion Ring - Primary Colours (goner)
Finally Punk - Casual Goths (germs of youth)
Fresh & Onlys - S/T (castleface)
Ganglians - Monster Head Room (weird forest)
Grass Widow - s/t (makes a mess)
The Hospitals - Hairdryer Peace (self)
The Intelligence - Fake Surfers (in the red)
The Intelliegnce - Crepuscle With Pacman (born bad)
Jeff Mangum - Live @ Jittery Joe's (twin orange)
Marked Men - Ghosts (dirtnap)
Mi Ami -Watersports (touch & go)
Narrows - New Distances (deathwish)
Nodzzz - s/t (whats your rupture)
Obits - I Blame You (sub pop)
Pissed Jeans - King of Jeans (subpop)
Sex/Vid - Communal Living (dom america)
Strange Boys - And Girls Club (in the red)
Thee Oh Sees - Help (in the red)
Thee Oh Sees - Dog Poison (captured tracks)
Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death - Bird Songs (teardrops)
Ty Segall - Lemons (goner)
Vaselines - Enter The Vaselines (sub pop)
The Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa (moshi moshi)
Women - s/t (jagjaguwar)
Woods - Songs of Shame (woodsist)
V/A - Worlds Lousy With Ideas Vol 8 (almost ready)
V/A - Legends of Benin (Analog Africa)

E.P's, 7"s and Splits

The Bitters - East 7" (captured tracks)
The Bitters - Wooden Glove 12" E.P (captured tracks)
Brilliant Colours - 2 song 7" (captured tracks) & 4 song 7" (makes a mess)
Christmas Island - 19 / 29 7" (captured tracks)
Cold Pumas / Male Bonding split 7" (faux discx)
Cold Pumas - Jela 12"(hungry for power)
Cult Ritual - all 3 eps (youth attack/drugged conscience)
Dum Dum Girls - 12" ep (captured tracks)
Fucked Up - year of the Rat 12"(whats yr rupture)
Ganglians - 2 song 7" (captured tracks)
German Measles - Wild 12" E.P (captured tracks)
Graffiti Island - s/t 7" (house anxiety)
Grass Widow - 12" E.P(captured tracks)
Jacuzzi Boys - Ghost Ghost 7"
Male Bonding / Eat Skull split 7" (toughlove)
Not Cool - Wonderful Beasts 7"(sleep all day)
Real Estate - Fake Blues 7"(half machine)
Spectrals - 2 song 7" (captured tracks)
Ty Segall / Thee Oh Sees split 7" (castleface)
V/A GG Allin Tribute 7" w/ Fair Ohs, Graffiti Island, Male Bonding & Pens (IBB)
V/A Artfag Split 7" w/ Graffiti Island / Dum Dum Girls / Pens / Crocodiles split (artfag)
V/A PV! #04 7"w/ Graffiti Island / Male Bonding / Old Blood / Rapid youth (paradise vendors)
V/A Worlds Lousy With Ideas Vol #7 w/ Eddy Current Supression Ring / UV Races / Super Wild Horses / Straight Arrows 7"(almost ready)

Tapes

An Emergency - Wrecked Angles (suplex)
Black Time - Greatest Hits (self)
Black Time - Eine Kleine Trashmusik (self)
Black Time - East Bay Rays (self)
Cheaters - Magic Weapons e.p (paradise vendors)
Explode Into Colour - The Sean Rocky Zach and Dekum Tape (self/krs)
German Measles - Demos (captured tracks)
Light Sleepers - 4 track e.p(suplex)
Male Bonding / Fair Ohs - Live in London (IBB)
Nodzzz - Live New Years Eve 12.31.08 (whats yr rupture / self)
Spectrals - 4 track e.p(suplex)
Teen Sheikhs - First 4 Months (suplex)
Traditional Fools - s/t (burger)
Watt Makes a Man Start a Band - v/a (shabeen scene)

The following Mississippi Records Tape Comps (all downloaded as out of print)

House of Broken Hearts 1 & 2 - MRC 1 + 2
We're Gonna Make It - MRC 03
Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven, But Nobody Wants To Die - MRC 04
Death Just Might Be Your Santa - MRC 06
Trust Your Child - MRC 07
Wrong Time To Be Right - MRC 08
Chaabi Music From Al-Maghrib - MRC 09
Way Up The Hill - MRC 10
Black Plastic Singing Flats - MRC 11
A Little Bit Of Hurt - MRC 12
Samba Trist - MRC 14
Afraid Of The Dark - MRC 16
Fables Of Fabulous - MRC 19
It Happened - MRC 33

Old Stuff & Reissues

Abner Jay - The True Story of Abner Jay (mississippi)
Daniel Owino Misiani& Shirati Band - Benga Blast (earthworks)
Dolly Mixture - Demonstration Tapes
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Press Color
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Mambo Nasua
Orchestre Poly Rythmo De Contonou - The Vodoun Effect (analog africa)
Paul Simon - Graceland (warner)
Shangri La's - Best Of
Spiritual Singers - Ntsamina (mississippi)
V/A - Tropicalia: A Revolution In Sound (soul jazz)
V/A - Back from The Graves Comps Vol 2-5 (crypt)
V/A - Love is Love (mississippi)
V/A - Thai Shadow Music (sublime frequencies)

Day #6 - Bangkok Baby

2009-05-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

So we arrived in Bangkok and found ourselves a place to stay on Rhambuttri, just off the Koh San Road, which is pretty much where you head to if you're white, european, like getting corn rows on the street and drinking cheap beer. So its pretty much the Camden market of Bangkok on a saturday night minus the goths (too hot for crushed velvet and trenchcoats)

Even Ronald is polite over here!

This place does some amazing breakfasts, with pancakes, eggs, waffles and frothy coffee for Liane who was suffering on crappy coffee with no real milk. This is where i discovered the joy of lemon iced tea which became a staple diet for the rest of the trip, thank you Ricky's for making each morning awesome.

Walking to the royal palaces through the crazy scooter infested streets, where no one stops and you just walk into the street and people will avoid you. It seems to work, i didn't see too many victims on our walks.

The royal palaces where pretty amazing, apart from having to take clothes to cover up, even though it was scorching and i was dripping with sweat. We put jeans and jumpers on just to go in, then stripped them off to shorts & tees after we got out. I thought it was worth it to see the crazy demons and buildings inside, much more insane than boring Buckingham Palace!

There is a massive mix of Hindu into the majority Buddhist following, with lots of their gods used in the stories, co-opted for amazing visual value. I suppose there is only so many positions you can put Buddha in, which they have stretched to its max, reclining is my favourite, looks like me on the sofa after a good feed.

Above is the Thai Alfred, on his way back to his Batcave, not before he rips of some gullible tourist.

We took a short ferry ride to the amazing Forensic Science museum which is in the middle of the Bangkok public Hospital. This was a highlight of the trip but we couldnt take any pictures, maybe if you look online you'll find some but here are the best things we saw
- recently mummified remains of murderers and rapist in glass cases, with the doors on held together by sellotape
- two headed babies in a jar
- pictures of dead bodies and explanations
- a massive elephantitus infected testicle about 3 x the size of my head!
- multiple jars of brains, livers, lungs etc
This ruled even more because though it was gross out, we were surrounded by visiting school kids and monks!

mmmmmm, pop! mmmmmmm, burp!

Day # 5 - Adios Amigos

2009-04-25T06:50:00.000-07:00

Time to leave the Island, my family and my sister (now mrs lewendon-strutt)

Time to leave the most amazing variety of crisps, this is double cheese pork burger, a favourite of liane's as a pre-bedtime snack attack!

Back to Koh Samui Airport, which is pretty lush as airports come, tropical.

Look out, Bangkok here we come!

Day # 4 - Elephant Ride

2009-04-25T06:15:00.000-07:00

What better way to cure a wedding hangover than to ride in the back of a van around the island and go have an elephant ride, pretty sweet!

The driver only had me and Liane in the back of the truck, so he stopped to let us see the views from the highpoint on the south coast of Koh Samui, pretty spesh.

When we got dropped off at the elephant sanctuary, we were sheparded up a 3 tier wooden structure whilst the 'driver' brought round our elephant for the day, Una. It was like a jungle version of a valet service. The seat had no bar so we were kinda free to fall off if we wanted, but Una was a good host and keep us from eating dirt.

We made our way around the jungle paths with the elephant guy chatting to the elephant the whole time, she didn't talk back to him but she new what he was on about, she even stopped and posed for pictures when he asked her to. Some of the hills going up and down were freakily steep, and i had to hold tight to liane to make sure we both didnt fall off.

We got to hang out and feed her some bananas after, which was rad, she can swallow 3 at once, pretty impressive! Thanks Una for the ride and for spraying us with water in the waterfall, i was getting pretty hot up there!

Holiday - Day #3 'Nice Day For A White Wedding'

2009-04-06T10:20:00.000-07:00

The day of the wedding, which was constantly threatened by rainstorms, but only rained for an hour, letting the wedding go ahead without a hitch! My brother was happy with the result ( and the breakfast).

There is always the chance a beach wedding could look cheesy like the ones you sometimes see on bad late night uncovered programmes, but this was the most amazing set up i have ever seen, far away from the usual wedding, literally raising the bar for all future weddings, so fucking amazing.

Rolf, my new brother in law, maintained a full suit and jacket through the brutality of the heat, and looked awesome walking down to the garden, with a procession of traditional dancing thai girls, and chanting thai warrior type dudes.

I had to sit with my mother, Rolf and his best man in front of the wedding party whilst we watched the traditional thai dancing girls do their stuff. Thankfully it did not include any bangkok shenanigans but kinda went on forever. At least i got a seat, result.

During the ceremony on the beach, it was pretty much perfection, with the two of them giggling at each other and it was miles away from the stiff english trad ceremony, well done mr and mrs strut-lewendon. My sister looked amazing, and i was lucky enough to walk her down the aisle, scary times!

the happy couple, with champers galore!!

And then to complete the day, we had 5 courses of the best food i've had in years, and we all lit these amazing lamps that fly off into the night sky, but the camera died before that point, or the free bar was taken advantage of! I fell in love with the screwdrivers that had grenadine in them. A few of them, some champagne and a load of tequilla sunrise's will always make for a good reception. And yes, ol' softy did well up more than once. I also cried once during home and away, but i'm not proud of that.

My sister calls me matty moo, i call her stinky puff, you decide who comes off worse in a crowded environment.

Holiday - Day # 2 'Summer's Here Kids'

2009-04-05T10:23:00.000-07:00

It was amazing to awake and see the island in its daylight splendour, all tropical beaches, palm trees and fruity cocktails served on the beach! It was mainly a pre-wedding catch up day with lots of sunbathing, swimming and eating good ol' thai curry! It has been years since i had a holiday that didn't include being in a van with stinky boys or sampling the delights of venue car parks and service stations around the world, so this was a much needed respite.

I couldn't get enough of swimming in the water, but occasionally you would get tiny little stings as you swam. We discovered later that the crazy tropical storms a few days before we arrived had obliterated alot of the jellyfish population and their microscopic body parts were the stings. That one nasty bastard creature that will still give you a good pain even after its dead and in a million pieces!

This guy later shouted 'Hey Black Flag (i was wearing, surprise surprise a black flag tee), you wanna buy some weed, real good!' He also loved posing for photos, happy dude was probably high on his own supply. Weed, machetes and motorbikes, good times.

Our breakfast was free every morning and it was real nice, eggs / pancakes / toast / fruit / coffee / juice / tea. I discovered this amazing thai chilli sauce that goes perfectly with scrambled eggs, overnight weekend visitors will be able to sample as i bought back a nice bottle of this red liquid heaven!

Holiday - Day #1 'Leaving on a Jet Plane'

2009-04-04T08:28:00.000-07:00

Said good bye to Mr Bob Harris, he is looking forward to a few weeks with the parents away and with Julia & Conan to look after him.

We strapped on our matching backpacks (we forgot this looked stupid when we ordered them online) and headed off to Heathrow to meet my big sis Dionne and her hubby Matt.
This is us pre - tan/burnt on the 38 bus, fact.

Luckily i got to squeeze in the last Cider before a veritable apple drought in the lovely fake irish pub in terminal 3, with a goodbye meal of scampi and chips, mmmmm!

12 hours on a plane was ok, but still, for anyone over 5"5' it is pretty cramped. To counteract this i locked in to a film marathon on the night flight, managing to watch
- Twighlight (teen vamps who dont bite and hate sex, not so good)
- Four Christmas' (christmas with vince & reese, goodtimes)
- Burn After Reading (also very good, although no seasonal cheer)
- Day the Earth Stood Still (made me fall asleep, first 30 mins ok)

In flight Suduko helped, but made me sleepy.

After landing in Bangkok, we had 6 hours to hang out before we flew to Koh Samui. First stop, cigarette smoking outside in the nice smoggy Bangkok air, nice. I blame this for my limpwristed pose.

Inside the airport, we had our own lounge to hang out in which was strange but comfy. Bangkok Airways had obviously tried to westernise its complimentary food spread, but looks like it was chosen by a disturbed 13 year old sugar addict. The food groups covered for free consumption were:
- salty popcorn, with machine.
- triangles of chocolate brownies
- upside down pineapple cake
- very small croissants that looked like plastic
- ornage sugar water
- coffee

weird, but stangely comforting.

Landing on Koh Samui was awesome, it looked like we had landed on Hawaii with cool straw huts and palm trees, tropical!

The transport from plane to airport was these awesome universal studio style milk floats, hence stupid grins from the 2 matts.

Jet lag hadn't kicked in yet so we went down to the beach and met up with my family for drinks before crashing in our amazingly well air conned room ( we realised the importance of this early on)with a friendly gecko hanging out on the wall. Sweet.

What About Bob?

2009-03-10T04:08:00.000-07:00

This is my new friend, Mr Bob Harris. He is super cute, can eat at an alarmingly crazy speed and is a cheeky boy. I feel the pressure now, having an extra mouth to feed, but i will try to be a good dad for Mr Bob Harris.

this is his eating pose

this is when we just got him, and had to carry him in a dark carry case from Greenwich to Dalston, so he was still pretty scared and wouldnt leave the box

mama is getting her hugs

Physics lists

2009-02-25T01:40:00.000-08:00

when i was at school, my two best friends were Oliver and Dan. We would spend alot of time writing out our Top 10 Lists, mainly of which bands we liked the most that week, and it was generally a big change each week. It would genrally revolve around these bands though;

Jesus Lizard, Shellac, Big Black, Rapemean, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Flipper, Slint, Rodan, June of 44, Scratch Acid, Melvins, Nirvana, Sebadoh, Dinosaur Jr, Joy Division, Fudge Tunnel, Sepultura etc.

This formed the basis to our Physics lessons, as our teacher believed that we would understand some basic laws of said subject if he span a full bucket of water above his head.

Also, Physics and Religious Education both had the same colour and size textbook, so avoiding work was easily acheived by handing in the wrong book to each lesson. In this spirit, and as we are all getting older and getting married and having babies and getting fatter and losing hair, we are restarting the Top 10 Club, changing subjects regulaly, in the interest of where our passions now lie, 15 years down the road. Here is Olivers top 10 for fiction novels and my reply to this, a few similarities are cropping up which is nice to know.

Olivers:
1. John Fante: Ask the Dust - The perfect antithesis of romance, two people attracted yet unbelievably cruel to each other. I always like a tale about a struggling writer!
2. Fydor Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment - I don't think anyone writes like Dostoevsky, so illustrative and meticulously narrated through dialogue. Again, I love the stuggling academic!
3. Fydor Dostoyevsky: The Idiot - More of a warming tale than the grit that is Crime and Punishment, the character of the idiot is how I imagine Jesus to be if noone had ever written about him.
4. Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margharita - The devil visits communist Russia and screws with people's heads while simultaneously telling the story of Jesus as if it has been completely misunderstood by his disciples and the Christian faith. The damn Catholic faith has made me a tad obsessed with Jesus while convincing me of the complete nonsense that is organised religion!
5. Gabriel Garcia Marquez: 100 Years of Solitude - This book is filled with so much detail, and tells a story so intricately without really succumbing to great passages of elaboration.
6. Will Self: The Book of Dave - A taxi driver goes mad due to his divorce and writes a rant that becomes a book addressed to his son, which is then found hundreds of years later and worshipped as the new Bible! Brilliant critique of all religion.
7. George Orwell: 1984 - Brilliant book, which I must admit loses me at the point when the main character reads the handbook about the essential ethos of the regime he wants to resist, but I like it in a doomed romance sense.
8. Roald Dahl: Completely Unexpected Tales - Really dark short stories, great for reading on the bog!
9. Albert Camus: The Outsider - Haven't read this one for a while actually, and I struggle to get into any other Camus books, but I like the idea and the mood of this book.
10. Hubert Selby Jnr: Waiting Period - Another really dark story about a man curious about killing someone and getting away with it. Similar to Crime and Punishment with regards to reasoning killing and then suffering the human consequences, but I love how well researched the method of killing is!

I'm sure I forgot lots of books, and I've got such a long list of books to read, that I'm sure this will change for future physics lessons!

My Reply:

Albert Camus – The Outsider
I couldn’t think about anything else for weeks after I read this, and as Oliver said, which is great, really intense and wrought with tension.

Charles Bukowski – Ham on Rye
My personal pick for Bukowski, which is strange as it his biggest departure from his classic style, which I love, but it sets up his other novels in terms of sowing the seeds of apathy and hatred.

John Fante – Ask the Dust
Almost like a mix of classic Bukowski and Knut Hamson, making me wish I was living in California in the 20’s & 30’s. I think I bought this for you Ollie?? I hope I did as it topped your list.

JG Ballard – Empire of the Sun
What an impact, especially as a young man, and as a set up for his other books, and his fascination as an author with the darker sides of life. I wanted to put sown also the follow on novel ‘The Kindness of Women’ and his short novellas ‘Running Wild’ and ‘Concrete Island’.

Billy Childish – Calling Things by Their Proper Names
Although not one of his awesome novels, this is my favourite volume of his poetry, with an awesome screened / beautifully bound hardback cover.

Henry Miller – Tropic of Cancer
The most intelligent dirty old man, awesome.

Mark Danielewski – House of Leaves
Mind blowing, my only new book on the list, are real strange format which demands a physical inclusion, and probably best not for a bus journey, attention demanding to say the least, but very satisfying and esoteric in equal measures.

Phillip Pullman – His Dark Materials Trilogy
I know, but I loved it, even though we have discussed it faults, but all three ruled my world for a good week or so. I almost wish I could read them again fresh.

Knut Hamson – Hunger
My choice for the starving artist syndrome award, perfect, and almost timeless in that it could be set in any era apart from a few pointers to when it is set.

Truman Capote – Music for Chameleons
Amazing set of short stories, with a pre-cursor to In Cold Blood, with the most amazing picture on the front of the penguin edition, Truman dancing with marilyn, top stuff!

I look forward to Dans reply now!

Pancake day

2009-02-25T01:26:00.000-08:00

my girlfriend took care of my sick man-flu infested ass yesterday by cooking me amazingly thick pancakes which we drizzled with golden syrup and nutella , i say drizzled but in my case poured on. man they were good, nice and thick, slightly browned, mmmmmmmm.
I would have taken a picture but i was hungry and ate too fast so instead i'm posting a picture to give you an idea of how out-of-this-world amazing it was!

not even a one hit wonder # part 1

2009-02-24T14:09:00.000-08:00

i spend a large amount of time listening to 60's garage punk / psych comps with bands that might have had one 45 out,played a few local dances and maybe (in the rare cases) released an album. I wish i was a teenager in the 60's in America when everything seemed possible and being in a band with matching outfits was the rad thing to do so you would cool whilst playing at the local sock hop.

Maybe we'll look back and remember playing every dive in East London and squashing into the old blue for free shows, but none of us have hot rods or garages for us to practice in which sucks.

Here are a few choice selections, some are quite well known and some are not, but they are all essential! This post is all Pebbles or Nuggets based stuff, i will do another one on other comps. such as Back From The Grave / High In The Mid 60's etc.

The Journeymen - 'She's Sorry'
no one has much info on this cut apart from they were from Tampa, Florida and this song kills me everytime. (sorry no vid)

The Litter - 'Action Women'
Raw midwest punk, awesome riffs which stick in my head forever.

The Floyd Dakel Combo - 'Dance Franny Dance'
I can't remember if this was played at Rockabilly Rebels in Hackney before but this is what i want to dance to on my saturday nights, classic texas rockin punk with hints of Eddy Fuller / Buddy Holley. This video is a reformed version of the backing band, its not great but its all you tube has to offer.

The Shadows of Knight - 'Gloria'
This was originally written, weirdly enough by Van Morrison and was made famous by Them, but i prefer this Chicago bands version. Also check their other single 'Oh Yeah' which was a stormer of '66 with an awesome R N B feel.

The Stoics - 'Hate'
Snotty vocals make this as does the backstory for this gem, going that this band from San Antonio, Texas were favourites of local mexican gang called 'Capinch' whose leader Jay Ketira is credited as author of this song although his only band contribution was to pack out their gigs and make sure they one every battle of the band competition they entered!

The Little Boy Blues - 'I Can Only Give You Everything'
So Beck stole this guitar line for Devils haircut and we (Thee Fair Ohs) stole it for our song 'Hospitals', as Dan Reeves once said, "riffs are riffs, cabs are cabs". I don't get the second part, but that riff is so good it needed stealing again.

The Choir - 'Its Cold Outside'
Complete British Invasion love here, with this Cleveland band apparently starting their career covering b-sides of The Beatles/Kinks etc and previously going under the name 'The Mods', but still this songs is not from the Mersey but is good enough to be.

The Thirteenth Floor Elevators - 'You're Gonna Miss Me'
I swear everyone has probably heard this song without realising, but its so good and they even released a few albums, with the first 2 being insanely good, get the re-issued mono version of the debut album on vinyl, its great.

The Standells - 'Dirty Water'
This band gave garage punk one of its best riffs, the boston red sox its signature song, the london club its name and Minor Threat a great song to cover (good guys dont wear white), nuff said.

The Castaways - 'Liar Liar'
Hands down, one of my all time fav's. Again, like the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, alot of people don't realise they know this, but it got revived in that Lock Stock film by Madonnas ex dude who has been remaking the same film for the past decade unsuccesfully. Still this song is beyond good, and written by 18 year kids, fuck!

Yo La Tengo

2009-02-23T07:49:00.000-08:00

i really miss my copy of 'I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One', which has been lost to the numerous house moves or friend lends of time. It makes me sad as this is such a great indie rock record, and although i have a few other Yo La Tengo albums, it just makes it harder as it not the songs i want to listen too.

When i was a teenage in Reading, i didn't steal Cds from HMV like some of my mates, but i did come across this record, inside its cover, ripe for the picking in an un-manned shop who had a rip off merchant for a boss and i went for it, straight out of the 'Y' section, into my pocket, out the shop to glory. Only when i got to the Forbury Park to look at my first 'steal', i realised that in the panic, i had picked up the wrong CD and was now holding in my hand the second Veruca Salt album, and i dint even like the first one! My karma was pretty instant, showing crime = bad times.

If anyone wants to sell their vinyl copy of this album or make me a CD-r version i would be very happy!

Ghost photos!

2009-01-27T07:16:00.000-08:00

i totally stole this from the upset the rhythm blog, but its awesome, and they probably stole it too!

Here's some great tips for taking the perfect snap of some paranormal entity!x

1. Ghosts are not just in haunted old buildings. Ghosts are almost everywhere in one form or another. So don't be afraid to take photos at the mall or out on a busy intersection at night, or anywhere else for that matter.

2. When you take photos at night, let's say in a cemetery etc. make sure you have you camera set for night filming. If your camera has this setting, please use it otherwise your photos might come out to dark or fuzzy.

3. Always take photos of something and not just a clearing. Having a background image such as a tombstone, tree, building etc., It adds to the quality of the photo and allows mild light reflection for best possible results.

4. Take lots of pictures! Takes photos of anything & everything with a good background image. The odds are good that you will capture an anomaly if you take at least 50 pictures on your hunt. Then again, you might just get some great stuff on your first roll, you just never know.

5. When taking your photos, make sure to avoid shinny surfaces. The shine from a glossy tombstone or pane of glass etc. can cause anomalies that can appear to look like ghost mist, fog & orb shapes. Oh, and never try taking photos through a glass window. It's just to easy to create shapes that aren't really there. Not worth wondering if it was created from the glass or not. Old glass is the worst.

6. Make sure your camera lens is clean at all times. Again, this can cause anomaly type images to appear. If the lens has a smudge it can easily show up on several pictures and can look like an anomaly, so look for that sign. Try to always keep your lens spotless.

7. Make sure you know where your camera strap & lens cover are at all times. These can appear as a vortex or other ghostly images if left to dangle free from the camera. If your thumb or finger is in the way of the lens it can cause this same effect.

8. Make sure long hair is tied back. Hair can also appear as a ghostly anomaly. Strains of hair can look like orbs in motion as well as ghost energy.

9. Completely avoid taking photos when conditions are windy, foggy, rainy, dusty and where it's snowing or when moisture is in the air. All of these conditions can cause images to appear that look exactly like orbs and ghostly anomalies.

10. In cold weather make sure your breath is not affecting the photo results. Exhaled air in cold weather can appear in front of the lens to create all sorts of strange elusions including mist & orbs shapes.

11. A condition called "Lens Flair" produces strange effects in your photos. To avoid this do not take photos in the direction of the sun. Also, never take a picture in the direction of any direct light source. Preferably have all light sources away from you or even behind you when snapping your photos.

12. Talk to the ghosts. When you enter an area that you want to photograph, such as a cemetery, follow these steps: Walk around the area for about 15 minutes before doing anything else. As you're walking around, clear your mind and think only good thoughts. (Ghosts can sense your feelings and read your thoughts) After 15 minutes, recite the following statement or something similar. "Hi, my name is ______, We have come here to take some pictures of you as ghosts in order to show & document that there is life after death. We have only the best of intentions. We are not here to do any harm and we will only be here long enough to take our photos and then we will leave. Our only request is to take a picture of you, any of you! Thank you so much. I'll begin taking pictures now......thanks. Take all the pictures you think you need to and start heading back to your car. On the way, stop one last time and say: We are leaving now, just in case I didn't get any pictures of you on film can I take just 5 more pictures of this monument (or whatever) and would one of you mind posing for me in these very last photos? Take five more photos and then say: Thank you so much for putting up with me & my group.....we enjoyed being here in your company and am grateful for any photos you have allowed us to have of you..........thanks again, bye. If you were able to get some good pictures and you proved your good intentions to the ghosts.....then you will be welcomed back on your return visit. :)

13. Most ghost energy will appear in the air from two to ten feet above the ground. So focus a portion of your attention at that level but don't limit yourself totally to it. Ghostly phenomena can and will also appear above your head at times so be sure and snap some random shots up above at times. Note: in a buildings they can appear at any level of the structure and at any height.

14. The odds of encountering an evil spirit are slim to none but here is the counsel concerning them. Don't go hunting for evil spirits and DO NOT dare them to come around. If you hear or see a sign of evil spirits you should leave immediately.

15. Avoid mirrors or even taking photos in the general direction of a mirror. The camera flash can create a flash in the mirror that can produce a variety of effects including vapor, mist & fog.

16. Try following your instincts when taking ghost photos. If you have a particular inclination to snap a photo in a particular direction or at a particular object, do it. Trust your feelings an as you do, your abilities to sense ghosts should increase.

17. Ghosts are quite often attracted to people and will follow them around. So include people in the photos you take. Tip: When taking photos of others try to include enough space to one side of the picture and above the heads of those in the photo to capture any anomalies present. Remember the purpose is to catch anomalies and people together in the same photo. Here's another trick to use when ghosts might be following you around......put the camera over your shoulder and snap a picture behind you. This can be an effective technique at times......trust me.

18. The best time of the year for capturing ghost images on film are in the colder months when electrostatic energy is at it's highest. These months being October through February. You can capture any kind of ghost type on film at any time of the year but the above mentioned months just increase your odds is all. Orbs however, don't seem to be affected by seasons and are by far the easiest anomalies to capture on film.

19. Remember your flash limitations. A flash can only be useful for up to a certain distance. Normally within 15 feet. So if you are in a cemetery at night and take a picture of a mausoleum 30 feet away, the image will be hard to view and a bit washed out, as well as any anomalies present. Important note: The flash will help highlight the anomaly if the background image is within the the range (15 feet). Note: A flash attachment will increase your range if you desire to use one.

20. Best places to take pictures: Some places are more haunted than others. Some typically haunted locations are cemeteries, old buildings, including old hotels, houses, hospitals, schoolhouses, and churches. Other good spots are theaters as well as any historic part of a city. Use your imagination and see what works for you. Just remember the best rule of thumb is to include places that are rich in history on your investigations. That's the basics in a nutshell.......study and know them well and you will be well on your way to capturing strange phenomena on film in the near future. I might add, once you start seeing the fruits of your labor, you will be hooked! And life will no longer be the same for you as it was before. Ghost hunting is a great hobby and can be a truly fulfilling one as well. We wish you the best of luck in your endeavors!

All lovingly supplied by http://www.ghoststudy.com

Stealing Dan's Idea.........

2009-01-26T04:06:00.000-08:00

...........of writing a little of what record he's currently listening to, he wrote about Black Eyes Lp on dischord, good choice Mr Reeves.
I've decided to write about an old band and a new band i'm enjoying right now!

Classic = Shudder To Think

Early Dischord band that not that many people seem to care about, which is a shame as they were the lost classic of early 90's indie rock. My preference is for
Ten Spot (dischord)
Funeral At The Movies (dischord)
Pony Express Record (epic)
I think the operatic voice of Craig Wedren may have put off some people, but it reall works, especially on Pony Express Record where the music became more noisey and off beat. If you're saving yr pennies, then get the tenspot/funeral at the movies Cd, plus it has an amazing Hendrix cover on.

Newie = Violent Minds

Awesome hardcore band, with a slew of records out. I am currently enjoying the 'Eyes of Death', 'Self titled' and 'We Are Nothing'records. Nice gruff vocals, awesome riffs with a mid paced feel, so you can remember the songs!there is even some killer solos on here! im sure everyone has compared the to Negative Approach, but hey, its kinda true, and its a massive compliment. plus they have awesome artwork, bordering on black metal, ticking all the boxes.

Why Don't You Lie

2009-01-16T02:01:00.000-08:00

Thank you Dan reeves for my birthday present of this King Khan & Bar B Q Show Lp, good choice. My particular favourite is 'I'll Never Belong', breaks my heart everytime i hear it.

Genius

2009-01-15T05:06:00.000-08:00

especially Johns Witchfinder General cape. Another great example of why George is my favourite Beatle.

Quiet Storm

2009-01-13T08:16:00.000-08:00

mobb deep feat lil kim - possible contender for best late 90's hip hop track??

Wild

2009-01-12T08:07:00.000-08:00

i have another blog...............

2009-01-07T07:35:00.000-08:00

.......................www.theefairohs.blogspot.com

broke times = crime

2009-01-05T08:02:00.000-08:00

so i discovered a blog that took my download cherry with such style. www.christalmartyr.blogspot.com saved me in a time where i've just survived xmas to be faced with the costs of moving twice in a month and then going to thailand . So to remedy this empty pockets scenario, i downloaded some gems, to make my january noisier & more pleasurable.

love your life my poor friends, and these are some of the nuggets i found on this site:

Agollach, Alters, Annihilation Time, Anti Cimex, Archers of Loaf, Asshole Parade, Aura Noir, Bad Brains, The Beatles, Big Business, Black Cross, Black Flag, Black Heart Procession, Bone Awl, Borknagor, Burial, Burzum, Buzzcocks, Cannabis Corpse, Capalist Casulaties, Botch, Clandestine Blaze, Clipse, Coalesce, Coke Bust, Coliseum, Doomriders, Corrupted, Crebain, Dag Nasty, Danzig, Deathspell Omega, Deathwish Kids, Descendents, Electric Wizard, Eyehategod, Flipper, Fucked Up, Gallhammer, Gayrilla Biscuits, GZA, Ghostface Killah, Goatsnake, Harvey Milk, Hellnation, Husker Du, I Hate Myself, Immortal, Infest, Ink & Dagger, Iron Lung, Issei Sagawa, Jay Reatard, Jimmy Eat World, Kinks, Knife Fight, Left For Dead, Leviathan, Look Back & Laugh, Lurker of Chalice, Mayhem, Melvins, Mind Eraser, Murphys Law, Nachtmystium, Napalm Death, NIN, No Age, NoFX, Noothgrush, Operation Ivy, Pinback, Poison Idea, Rancid, The Reatards, Replacements, Rivers Cuomo, RFTC, Samhain, Sargeist, Satyricon, Saves The Day, Sex Vid, Sic Alps, Sigh, Sleep, Sonic Youth, Small Brown Bike, Strikeforce Diablo, Taake, Teen Cthulu, Times New Viking, 12 Hour Turn, Unbroken, Vampire Weekend, Velvet Cacoon, Violent Minds, Vivian Girls, Watain, White Denim, Wives, Women, Xasthur.

Best Stacks .........

2008-12-24T03:12:00.000-08:00

this is from 'Welcome to Hell' skate vid from Toy Machine. I posted up the Unsane video for 'scrape' that used some of this stuff, but i forgot how brutal this stack section is, absolutely unrelenting! Is this why i stopped skating??

LML Part Deux

2008-12-24T02:29:00.000-08:00

Ian and Billy's theories on which Beatle was the best and why, too good.

LML!!!

2008-12-24T01:47:00.000-08:00

if i'm right then this Bis video is filmed in Rough Trade West and that is Fat Bob from Hard Skin playing the evil major label/corporate 'man'!! Possibly the best music video ever!

Flipper

2008-12-23T06:16:00.000-08:00

When i was a kid we skipped the train from Reading to London to see the Melvins at the garage, with Iron Monkey supporting. During the end of the melvins set, Dale crover (in tour-tired pants)took the guitar and they asked for a drummer to come up. We threw our drummer on the stage, who was asked to keep a steady beat, until Dale and Mark D kicked in with the glorious riff that starts Sacrifice. Lucky for John, it was a staple of our grunge-tastic covers band, King Rib's, set (along with mudhoney/nirvana/melvins) and he slayed his way through this song. We proceeded to go backstage after the show and drink their booze and eat their crisps. defining highlight for the 17 year old me.

Shop Assistants

2008-12-23T06:15:00.000-08:00

I Heart Mono .......................

2008-12-23T04:07:00.000-08:00

This is how Christmas sounds to me, and although there are great Christmas records like the LOW christmas album and BILLY CHILDISH & THE MBE'S 'Christmas 1979', nothing will top this Phil Spector Classic. Plus my mum likes it more than Billy Shouting 'Merry Fuckin Christmas To You All' repeatedly over a dirty garage punk riff!

Merry Christmas Everyone xoxo

I'm a Women, I'm Your Wife

2008-12-19T05:56:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from the first FAIR-OHS gig which was with the amazing Light Sleepers and Gitsome. Enjoy.

Scrape

2008-12-19T04:41:00.001-08:00

When i was growing up, we would spend hours 'round each others house smoking weed and watching skate videos before going out and hitting up the forbury park for some long sessions. the best of these video was always Toy Machines 'Welcome to Hell' which had the most brutal slam section in it, and with 'Jump Off Buildings' and Transworlds 'Feedback' (which had the best soundtrack) inspired a thousand missed nollie kick-flips.

This Unsane video used alot of the stacks from WELCOME TO HELL, but its not as good, track down the video to see the slow mo'd backslide boardslide to brutal face slide on pavement ending to the section, ripping!

Medway Wheelers

2008-12-19T04:23:00.001-08:00

This makes me very happy, i could imagine the neighbours looking over the garden fence, wondering what these chaps in WW 1 uniforms were doing with their guitars in the garden on a nice Kent sunday.

End of an Era

2008-12-19T03:57:00.000-08:00

So i finally finished all the seasons of Buffy, and there is now a sunnydale shaped hole in my life! What can follow in its place?

Angel?

Buffy Comics of Season 8?

Firefly?

I hope Rick is proud of me!

Thee Fair Ohs / Pharoahs......

2008-12-19T03:04:00.000-08:00

.... recorded our first batch of 8 songs last sunday with mr rory attwell in his studio on hoxton square in the fastest session i've ever done! All songs were laid done live to reel to reel tape in 1 take. We also got rory to do some group backing vox with us, good work!

Four of these tracks will be on a 7" early next year released by Andy & James on Sex Is Disgusting Records (www.myspace.com/sexisdisgustingrecords & http://www.sexisdisgustingrecords.blogspot.com/) who are also releasing some amazing 7"s for Human Hair, Graffiti Island, Mazes, Pens & Wavves.

We have also installed our own publicity machine (www.myspace.com/theemightypharoahs) for yr listening and audio pleasure, enjoy!!

Tropics Xmas Party 08

2008-12-19T02:28:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

2008 Best Of's

2008-12-19T02:17:00.000-08:00

I normally do this to while away the time at work when i should be doing session plans and other stuff, so here are the records that made 2008 a better place for my ears to live in! Congratulations to everyone listed below!

xo

ALBUMS RELEASED IN 2008

Abe Vigoda - Skeleton (PPM)
Fucked Up - Chemistry Of Common Life (Matador)
Vivian Girls - S/T (In The Red)
No Age - Nouns (Sub Pop)
Graffiti Island/Male Bonding/Pens Split Cassette (Self Released)
An Emergency - Wrecked Angles (Faux Discx)
The Light Sleepers - We Are Gathering Dust (Faux Discx)
The NightMarchers - See You In Magic (Vagrant)
Gitsome - Cosmic Rock (1234 Go!)
Vampire Weekend - S/T (XL)
Torche - Meanderthal (Hydra Head)

7”s RELEASED IN 2008

Vivian Girls - I Can’t Stay (In The Red)
The NightMarchers - Whose Lady R U? + Tour 7” (Vagrant)
Narrows - S/T (Deathwish)
Sex/Vid - Nests (Doms America)
The Shitty Limits - Espionage (Dire)

NOT RELEASED IN 2008 BUT RULING THE STEREO

Kinks - First 3 Lp’s, The Milkshakes - After School Session + In Germany, The Beatles - White Album, Pebbles Trash Box + Nuggets + High In The Mid 60’s + Back From The Grave Compilations, The Buff Medways - Medway Wheelers + 1914, 13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic Sound Of, Wipers - First 3 Lp’s, King Khan & Bar B Q Show - Whats For Dinner, Fleetwood Mac - Best Of, Wild Billy Childish & The MBE’s - Punk Rock At The British Legion Hall, Daniel A.I.U Higgs - Interdimensional Song Seamstress + Metampsychotic Melodies, Pissed Jeans - Hope For Men, Make Up - I Want Some, Weakling - Dead As Dreams, Velvet Cacoon - Genevieve, Drudkh - Blood In Our Wells, Thee Mighty Ceasers - Surely They Must Be The Sons Of God, Beat Happening - Jamboree + You Turn Me On, The Breeders - Pod, Agnostic Front - Victim In Pain, GG Allin - Always Was, Is And Will Be, Karp - S/T + Suplex, Murder City Devils - Broken Hearts And Empty Bottles, Replacements - Let It Be, Thee HeadCoats - Elementary Headcoats + Beach Bums Must Die.

Divine Hammers in West London

2008-09-05T03:44:00.000-07:00

watching The Breeders play this week made the 16 year old me very happy, especially watching my friends getting way excited and trying to find a conversation starter for Kelly Deal in the bar afterwards. Happiness is a Warm Gun = possibly the best and/or the only good Beatles cover ever.

20 Towers of Fun

2008-01-07T13:57:00.000-08:00

Henry the 8ths suit of armour, obviously enough room to house the crown jewels that kept seven (un)lucky ladies happy!

A Mucky New Year

2008-01-07T13:46:00.000-08:00

New Years @ the Mucky Pup, winner of my favourite London Pub, congrats and well done Angus and Kenny!! Excellent Choice!!

the girls

north - south devide

robins celebrity DJ guest Lily Allen! LML situation!

Jodies influence is scarily annoying

irish carbomb

no one love his life more than this dude

bros

kev penny humouring an enthusiastic mr webb

mint hendrix

how they do 'down under'

kissing before 12

beer

jaegerbombs

black hair - red lips

furious dj -furious dancer

Catch the Christmas Spirit

2008-01-07T13:43:00.000-08:00

shapes

reunion

bones

Belligerent

incest

holding on

New New Massage by a Chocolate - Lady

2008-01-07T13:42:00.000-08:00

Caught By the Fuzz

2008-01-07T13:29:00.000-08:00

Supergrass playing a secret show @ the old blue asa two piece as the bassist had apparently fallen out of a window and broken his back, this left them to play weird cover songs such as 'Thriller' by Jacko??!!

Cherise loves her panda hood and flicking the V, Robin loves pandas and drunk dancing in the style of a moon monkey.

ALTER

2008-01-07T13:10:00.000-08:00

my camera died and all the photos i took were shit, i'm no good at fog filled shots! this is all that was left.

yes, that is attila from mayhem in his tree period, holy blackened fuck!

GZA Performing 'Liquid Swords'

2008-01-07T13:06:00.000-08:00

Fuck yeah, Wu-Tang Clan's GZA doing hid classic record from start to finish!! life loving situation indeed, especially the Wu covers and ODB covers!

KASMS

2008-01-07T13:03:00.000-08:00

No Age / John Maus

2008-01-07T12:57:00.000-08:00

J Maus

No Age

Stage Invasion

Queen of Swords / Sleeping States

2008-01-07T12:50:00.000-08:00

QUEEN OF SWORDS

SLEEPING STATES

SuperSweet Launch

2008-01-07T12:45:00.000-08:00

LIARS

Macedos

2008-01-07T12:43:00.000-08:00

Ottoman Empire

2008-01-07T12:41:00.001-08:00

2nd Mannor House Showw witth Lovvers/Graffiti Island/Blacck Time/Weiird Lovve

2007-12-13T01:39:00.000-08:00

Round #2 of the house shows as opposed to house parties. This time it seems that word has got around from thelast few get togethers and everyman and his dog is trying to give their £2 pounds to whoever is at the front door! I think we counted about 300-350 this time around throughout the night! Highlights of the night included

conan's general behaviour, so drunk he doesn't remember anything, truly Londons last living punk and first crowd surfer in the house!
Lovvers doing a Descendents cover and generally tearing through the best set i've seen them do!
Nina's mix cd when it got to Black Sabbaths 'War Pigs', the whole room raised the roof on that shit.

First up was Weird Nest which is Chrissie from Cuckoos Nest with Philly Kev from Weird Love doing a slightly improv stoner set with the BIGGEST RIFFS of the night.

Next up were Black Time who are on the amazing In the Red Records, and have that stripped down sexy punk rock n roll feel to them with a slight power pop edge, amazing! Matthew even wore sunglasses in true rock spirit even though it was dark inside! Excellent choice.

With their K records baritone drawl and indie punk surf twang Graffiti Island stepped up to slay the increasing crowd, i was slayed enough by pete's amazing jumper!

then lastly we had Lovvers, who had the audience surrounding them ready to be slayed! pretty much my favourite show of the year, it seemed like they played every song in their arsenal with a great Descendents cover, Holy Fuck!!! If you check out the pictures on Neon Party (under the date 24.11.07 Hardcore) you will see pictures of Conans crowd surf, his grabbing of the mic repeatedly and his taking out of henry mid song! Amazing on every level.

casualty of war

In Heaven, Everything is Fine

2007-12-13T01:32:00.000-08:00

Vice Uk 5th Birthday bash, free to everyone but only if you got there early enough to get in. Luckily i was only there for the free whiskey & ginger ale and to watch LlOoVvVvEeRrSs play on a really tall stage that was uninviting and neck cracking to watch, i presume its normal use is for DJ's and club dancers??

Gorgoroth

2007-11-27T15:32:00.000-08:00

the black metal event we'd been waiting for since 1349 came and went. UNHOLY FUCK!!!
Its not often we get such grimness around these parts so excitement is on the menu for this show.

conan shows the fear

jodie shows the grim

tyrant

Enthroned

Gorgoroth absolutely killed it, fast, theatrical, brutal and funny, all what i want from my black metal. As its only King Ov Hell and Gaahl left due to the departure of founder member Infernus, they still made a great show, especially with Teloch of Umoral on lead guitar, sick riffs throughout, the only let down being Nick Barker of Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Burger on drums, he's fast but hits like a small girl rather than the fat corpse painted guy he is. I urge you all to get the new UMORAL 7" on Vendlus records, its sick, has the best artwork ever, tongue in cheek lyrics, teloch on guitar and hellhammer on drums!! fuck, supergroup alert! buy buy buy x

maggie the christmas elf

2007-11-27T15:31:00.000-08:00

Daniel "belteshazzar" Higgs & Chiara Giovando

2007-11-27T15:17:00.000-08:00

As with Daniel A.I.U Higgs solo show at the Mucky Pup earlier this year, this performance left me blown away and mesmorised by his genius, truly face melting stuff.

Antelope & This Aint Vegas

2007-11-27T15:03:00.000-08:00

So Antelope played @ the Metro around 10 ish and This Aint Vegas played the Barfly at around 1ish so we could all go to both shows, making two amazing shows in one night, quite a rarity lately.

antelope drum styles

the line up

this aint vegas and this is vegas??!!

led zeppelin on the truman brewery

2007-11-27T14:41:00.000-08:00

So after being turned away from a sold out Daniel A.I.U Higgs show, we got to meet the good man and discuss the meaning of Guy Fawkes and Norman Meyer, but unfortunately we only had tickets for the sunday show and this was a friday. So we set off down Brick Lane to find a Led Zeppelin show being screened against the truman brewery with amassive soundsystem filling the air with lick after furious lick, truly life loving moment!

Sexy Kid Badges

2007-11-27T14:37:00.000-08:00

sexy kids get drunk and make badges

the start of a new empire! sexy kids badges coming soon....................

Envy

2007-11-27T14:25:00.000-08:00

Envy completly slayed when they played the underworld, excellent choice.

Next Warehouse Gig - Come down....

2007-11-14T12:24:00.000-08:00

2003 & 2004 - The Afterskool Years

2007-11-08T13:47:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Kitty, some old photos have surfaced from our old glory years, at the Quad. Alot of these people have moved to different parts of the world, different parts of the country or have just moved into different circles, but its still nice to see us when we we're still together.

sam & danny

giles & jodie

rachel & giles & chris

rachel & kitty & me

ferry & myself - pulling shapes

me & chris - snakebite love

kickflip jamie & giles - boy smell sweet

me & sally

timmy (northern andy in background)

st bernards

chris & giles (kiri in back)

giles

????

me and miss kitty ow

sam & ferry (intense dudes)

me and rachel

from malden manor to motspur park

hold me up, raise the roof

sam & sally

when we could smoke inside, kickflip and giles

How many freddies does it take to make a party?

2007-11-04T07:39:00.000-08:00

Halloween party @ Nathans art studio, or the empty floor above it.

Found this guy buying beer in the offlicence

found this guy on the 243 bus

kev pennys banjo just out of shot

mercury vs mercury

nigella lawson vs a ghost

dont stop me now........

im having such a good time......

im having a ball.....

loving life everywhere

Kev Dev / Green Dev /Dead Dev vs. Gold Gimp

the ghost of freddie also attended, but kep a lower profile than the other two in attendance.

she's just the girl you want

2007-11-04T07:34:00.000-08:00

This Aint Vegas and Lovvers played together @ Bardens Boudoir, excellent choice.

New Flyer by Silas for Lovvers/This Aint Vegas

2007-10-30T02:46:00.000-07:00

Dans back in town..............

2007-10-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

...........which makes us very happy

starting to lose the plot

aussie rules football

Demians back too

the plot has now been lost

and again

robins hangover didnt really kick in for a while

the hangover starts here, zing x

Lovvers - Spin Spin The Dogs - Danananankroyd

2007-10-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

Spin Spin The Dogs

Lovvers

and at the after party.......

rory heckled danananankroyd, and i expected a funny cheeky glaswegian comeback, instead they all looked like they had never heard a heckle before

leontocephaline rhapsody

2007-10-29T14:52:00.000-07:00

Oi OI Saveloy!

2007-10-29T14:49:00.001-07:00

for some reason, maggie let me cut her hair after she had just given me a nice shave.

step one - bye bye burners

step two - start shaving

step three - punk cut extrodanaire! not quite a chelsea but it still looks hot!

what holds you up, when gravity is corrupted

2007-10-29T14:38:00.000-07:00

two hour que sessions in the cold with awesome people

those cheeky trencher boys, go ziggy......go.

coreys back from san fran and has a new whitechapel flat

back at the manor, a plot is hatched by silas christian to try out all the local house parties

yowza!

1349 - year of the black plague

2007-10-29T14:32:00.000-07:00

my first black metal live experiance, and one of the best gigs i've seen this year, no contest.

i left this gig destroyed, only a month till GORGOROTH now!

you've lost that loving feline

2007-10-29T14:25:00.000-07:00

mothers meeting

happy birthday necrodeath!

Tropical News Flash

2007-10-29T14:18:00.000-07:00

Crystal Visions (the return)

2007-10-29T14:07:00.000-07:00

fanzine makers

film makers

snazzy dressers

party planners

installation art

step dwellers

face painters

and GRAFITTI ISLAND

panda eyes cherise

art crowd

american pete and roy

parting shots

spraypaint/wheatpaste the walls!

2007-10-29T13:59:00.000-07:00

Step 1 get a bag of wheatflour, some paint brushes and boil some water.

select some pics, i like old flyers / maximumrocknroll clippings / posters etc

boil down the mixture of flour and water to a nice paste like wallpaper paste then your ready to go. choose your wall and wack some paste on it.

also spread paste over the picture/flyer. it will show through the revers at first but when its dried it will look rad!

Taaa Daaa!

return of the prodigal friend

2007-10-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

fresh silas pizza base

juggling veronica

squish your head, squish your head

hockney on turner, not turner and hooch

2007-10-29T13:50:00.000-07:00

In the Belly of a Shark

2007-10-29T13:43:00.000-07:00

Old Friends, New Stories, Guitar Hero 3.......

bottle of whiskey, cans of cider, tony hawks, taxi home......

welcome to the rainforest umbrella.......

2007-10-05T03:00:00.000-07:00

So after 5 months of warehouse living and multiple parties, we decided to take the plunge and have our first show. Will it be like all the house shows i saw in picture form as a teenager in punk zines? Will the sense of community survive the onslaught of people wanting to get fucked up? Will the police be called? It was a nervous run up, as it was also a fund raiser for PRE, making some cash to help them along on their tour of N.America. Also on the bill was Look Look Dancing Boys and Queen of Swords.

keex enjoying soundcheck

queen of swords pushing the sound barriers

look look setting up drinks and amp combo, both necessary for a good show.

thank you choltida for being the hard skinned door girl, £2 or your not getting in!

watching from my mountain retreat

laptop + bass + drums = massive sound

i was blown away, as johns explaination was almost like a doom/power electronics jam band but in reality its was like tarantula hawk or something along those lines, mindblowing. the neighbours 3 doors down came down to tell me how much they loved teh drones being made by the queen of swords. i love noise kid neighbours!!

its always awesome to see the merch guy love his life part 1

its always awesome to see the merch guy loving his life part 2

now the room had filled up and it was time for PRE to destroy the place.

this was the culmination of weeks of worrying whether or not this could work, and it did work.

and everyone helped out

working the bar, looking after the door..........

lending the PA, lending equipement.............

cleaning up cans and bottles and most importantly turning up to support us.

some kids really got into the swing of things too!!

old manor kids meeting up again

dapper simon

robin officially wins the best party goer of the night, congratulations, excellent choice!! Rory and Conan are giving him his prize.

amelia/stef/helen took the award for most enthusiastic bar staff, thank you!!!

Fleetwood Mac took the award for best dance floor response

are punks allowed to make money? catholic guilt vs selling out?

the end of the night, people start leaving, stories are already being exchanged and the gossip mill has just begun.

the party cats say goodnight x

this is the captain of your ship, calling.............

2007-10-05T02:47:00.000-07:00

this is my third British Museum visit this month, and im sure its not my last. This time my sister was in London from Australia for 2 days so culture must be caught up on for at least one day.

both my big sisters, looking a cat mummies, realising i know too much about them and have obviously been here before.

it'll be along time till we share another soho hot chocolate in autumn time.

stay foolish and stay hungry

2007-10-05T02:42:00.000-07:00

round two - mixing and mastering the TROPICS 7" with mr bratwell at the helm. Robin also managed to slip a sneaky shaker onto the track for added tropicality.

only dogs hear the jaws of the lion

2007-10-05T02:17:00.000-07:00

sharing vietnamese at tay-do is nicer than chips with burger sauce, although conan will contest this to the end.

summer is coming to a close, the winter jackets are being dusted off and the last enjoyable cigarettes are being had outside, minus complaints.

it also gives Keex her last chance to flash me before it gets too cold.

another old blue gig, this time with the return of SPIN SPIN THE DOGS featuring an impressive luke younger, PRE playing their last weeks worth of shows before they cross the waters to slay the America's and MENEGUAR who everyone has hyped to me as a Dismemberment Plan/Les Savy Fav/Pavement hybrid. SPIN SPIN were really good, Vincent is always such a presence which was nicely offset with mr Youngers guitar display, lets hope they start playing more often, London needs a front man like Vincent.

London has always needed PRE, and now we have it.

i was really excited by watching this show, but it seemed like alot of the crowd was excited by ricks buffy + spike t shirt with heart shaped fireworks.

i think this is the most metal ive ever seen kev

then its back outside, laughing in the face of the ban (till the winter chill sets in)

i didnt take any pictures of MENEGUAR that came out, but this picture is a visual representation by John Webb of what is happening on stage.

BFF

shameless self promotion is having its toll on vincent.

queen of swords

goodbye's and farewells

.....sweet nirvana

2007-10-05T01:47:00.000-07:00

back at the Mucky Pup, and love is all around

PRE house party meeting, ironing over the finer detils with a Seabreeze or two

seems robin has had his fingers stuck in this postion all day, i don't think he realises he's not an archer and john is not French.

just imagine Fleetwood Mac in the background to realise why Robin is so happy

past the place where you were last sick, so a new place to rid yourself of that feeling.

daylight come and me wanna go home.......

2007-10-05T01:11:00.000-07:00

Jodie is obviously very excited about recording the first TROPICS 7", so much so that we celebrated by NOT drinking exotic drinks. The effect is apparent.

Rory claims that when he dies, he will probably go to hell and his eternal punishment will be untangling a never ending stream of audio cables, the Myth of Sisyphus for the modern day sound engineer. Jodie will just carry on watching the show.

Nerves are rife inthe camp, Robins answer is to re-enact the Neutral Milk Hotel Cover.

we are using the room that Blur used for Song 2!

Brattwell using the majick touch

and its all recorded live straight into this anologue bad boy!

and dan reeves likes the cut of its jib

live to tape + no overdubs + chromatic tuner = no bum notes + happy engineer

Really???

pre house party

2007-09-25T07:10:00.000-07:00

come on down!!!

Fuckin', Shitty, Brutal............

2007-09-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

Monday brings Brutal Knights, Shitty Limits and the Fuckin Hate to the Cross Kings. I'd forgotten the last hardcore/punk show i'd been to in a while apart from Fucked Up or maybe Lovvers?? This show definately was a good way back.

there's a lot of places to start, and Seedi is always a good place

top marks always go to the venue that has Tintin posters on the wall, but i couldn't help feel jaded, did the staff like Tintin or is it for recent controversy sake?

for me its just because i love it

conan is in agreement

as is Seedi

strange seeing old friends/bandmates for a band that never split up but has not played/practiced in 13 months. Are we still in a band? Would i remember the lyrics?

thank you Jam for lending me money to buy lots of merch and carry on drinking, it will be paid back

no picture of gaz looks as good as his black metal day in the manor, drinking billybow in the morning and all the way up the motorway.

how long has it been mr chris cut??

grim and frost bitten younger younger

band numero uno - the Fuckin Hate, third and last gig (good h/c bands know when to split). Good to see jimmy play again, especially something a bit more.......hateful.

band numero deux - Shitty Limits - I always forget how good this band is! The singer has the snotty swagger i love kinda part darby crash/mark mccoy/stiv bators. The rock n roll / hardcore/punk mix is really good, sharp, simple and sweet.

and to end it, a cleanly broken bass!!

fag break

jenga break

then came the wall of noise garage punk that was Brutal Knights. Definately one of the best sights i'd seen all year, snotty in your face punk, blazing guitars, no stopping between songs and a singer who stripped off and danced badly, all boxes ticked. plus a drummer with an amazing bathory tee who geeked out on my darkthrone tee, amazing.

he's a good way to end it too........

ACTUAL PAIN

2007-09-19T02:08:00.000-07:00

conan and myself just ordered these bad boys from one of the best tee companys at the moment,ACTUAL PAIN, well done for making awesome black metal styled tees, excellent choice.

i'm the wolf on your shoulder

2007-09-16T14:36:00.000-07:00

another friday evening, london at our feet, Jodie and I take a cursory picture before the storm breaks.

panther, not panthers

keex celebrates infiltrating the merch box

which makes martin happy too

the NO BRA tees made keex happy too

10 X

gossip, the band, so the tee says

old boys back in town

the beginning of the end for the four of us. Angus and Kenny (the landlords for Londons best pub, the Mucky Pup in Angel) took us under their wings and proceded to make us try most of the drinks behind the bar in a variety of guises, big love for A & K.