LaFaro Jan/Feb Tour

We had a 'moment of clarity'/'epiphany' recently and realised that all good old fashioned rock-your-socks-off ear-raping rock bands need to tour.

Being the cocky little shits that we are, we like to belive that we are one of those bands.

And you, reading this, being a fan of our disgracefully kick-ass band probably believe the same thing.

So we booked some shows -

14th Jan- Edinburgh - Bannermans
15th Jan- Glasgow - 13th note
16th Jan- TBC - Help!
17th Jan- Durham w/ Knuckledragger
18th Jan- Sunderland w/ Knuckledragger
19th Jan- TBC - Help!
20th Jan- Leicester - Firebug
21st Jan- London - Bull & gate
22nd Jan- TBC - Help!
23rd Jan- TBC - Help!
24th Jan- TBC - Help!
25th Jan- Southampton - Hamptons w/Chew Lips
26th Jan- Portsmouth - TBC
27th Jan - TBC - Help!
28th Jan - TBC - Help!
29th Jan - Newcastle - World Headquarters

Once we've done those shows we're hoping we'll have a few more to bridge the gap (30th Jan - 11th Feb - If you think you can help, let us know!) before we do the following shows in February with a kick-ass band called Helsinki Seven -

12th – The Chimes, Salt City
13th – The Parish, Huddersfield
14th – The Junction, York
15th – City Bar, Chester
16th – The Retro Bar, Manchester
17th – Royal Park Cellars, Leeds
18th – The Pickwick, Scarborough
19th – 13th Note, Glasgow
20th - Henry's Cellar Bar, Edinburgh
21st – Harrys Bar, Stoke

Phew!

It's going to be a busy year for us LaFaro boys. We're going to be playing as much as we possibly can so if you want to give us a gig somewhere or just want to see us, get in touch and let us know! We're nice boys really........................................

Did we mention our gig in Stiff Kitten on Friday 20th November? No? Well get your sexy self down and shake it for all it's worth!


Mucho amore,

LaFaro xx

And So I Watch You From Afar Say Hello From Budapest

At the time of writing, I am presently sitting in the foyer of the venue in Budapest, Hungary, eagerly awaiting soundcheck.

We've had the past two days off, one for travel purposes and one genuine day off, so we're gagging to play again tonight, as always. A brief round up of the tour so far is generally completely fucking mind blowing.

From the first show in Druisberg, Germany, through the Austrian shows in Graz, Vienna, and Innsbruck have been nothing short of phenomenal. We've been treated so amazingly by the promoters and punters alike and for this we salute every last one of you and thank you from the pits of our hearts and stomachs for the incredible journey you have contributed to thus far.

Obviously we had some Van problems that really tested ourselves, our Tour Manager Wunderkid Graham, and the fantastic Maybeshewill's mettle but we seem to have come come out of it tighter and more hungry (no pun intended) than ever. Tour videos (by the incomparable Captain Andrew Coles, Soundman extroadinaire) are linked below and you'll get a real sense of our saga so far! So, as I said before, Budapest tonight before moving on to the final stretch, of this tour, in Poland. Good fucking shit people.

When we get home for a little while its intensive rehearsals in prep for Album number two, before boosting off again for the Oceansize tour and a gig of our own in Belgium. We just had to get back there after the amazing time we had at Pukkelpop and see all you awesome people again!

As I'm sure you're all aware we have a new EP (The Letters EP) coming out soon (early 2010) and it's gonna get a sneaky early release at a gig in Belfast on the 18th of December in a venue you may have heard of, THE ULSTER HALL! Understandably we are all super extra mega hyper bonus excited about this show as we all grew up seeing some of our favourite bands there, as did all our (and your) parents. Hell, my parents actually met at a gig in the Ulster Hall!

We're really going to be pulling out all the stops for this show, the support line up is totally fucking stellar, Cashier No.9 (hell yeah!), Adebisi Shank (fuck yeah!) and Lafaro (fucking hell yeah!), not to mention the size of the soundsystem, lighting rig and huge stage we get to hurl ourselves about for however long we can.

We've got buses booked to bring you eager comrades from Derry, Draperstown and Coleraine (for booking details contact Charlene) and we're officially giving you awesome guys the opportunity to get involved in the show of our lives.

If you wanna take on the task of getting a bus organised from your town, whether it be Enniskillen, Omagh, Downpatrick or wherever, you'll be the recipient of two complimentary tickets for the gig and two EPs, gratis (kinda).

More news will follow shortly, check out all the links and email address below for further info, right now we gotta go and soundcheck...

All the best always

Tony

STOP PRESS!!!

Vote for ASI's album as your favourite of 2009!

TOUR DIARIES!!!

Watch this

Then this

Zikotown Vs Niketown? Raccoonify Your Feet!

Matt Littler of Zikotown and album cover/gig poster/all-round-artwork fame has launched a range of designed shoes featuring some characters that will be familiar to longtime STA followers. The shoes come in sizes up to 11 and importantly cost pretty much the same price as your regular Cons/plimsols do in the shops...but they don't have raccoons on them, pah!

Music Managers Forum - Dublin Sat 28th November

"Record Companies & Agreements 2009" Saturday 28th November 2009 11.30am - 6.00pm

What does a record company do? What does a recording contract look like? What’s the future of the recorded music industry in the digital age?

In fact are record companies still really record companies at all?

Our 3rd training session is on Saturday 28th November and will answer these questions and many more. This session is not to be missed whether you’re a music manager, self-managed artist or industry watcher.

There will be expert discussion and advice from some of the industry’s most respected professionals. MMF’s training guru, STUART WORTHINGTON will be joined by a panel of four varied and experienced industry voices:

SAFTA JAFFERY AIM board member & MD of Taste Music and a veteran of the industry - from A&R at Decca and Magnet Records through producer management to artist development most notably with the worldwide success of MUSE.

ALAN COFFEY Head of Sales at UNIVERSAL IRELAND with over 18 years of experience in Ireland and the US at award winning record company Six Degrees Records, HMV New York, Warner Music Ireland and now Universal – the biggest record company in the world.

ANDREW FERRIS the tireless champion of Independent music in Northern Ireland – boss of SMALLTOWN AMERICA – an Indie label and management company synonymous with a truly modern approach to the industry and most notably a key player in the development of two of Northern Ireland’s hottest new acts, Fighting With Wire and …And So I Watch You From Afar.

RUPERT SPRAWSON a solicitor joining the panel for a second time to share a wealth of experience gathered over 10 years at UK ENTERTAINMENT LAW PRACTICE DAVENPORT LYONS. Rupert now runs his own outfit specialising in advice to a wide range of clients in the music, live, distribution, retail and games software sectors.

The record company has for decades been the driving force in the music industry and the cornerstone of most artists' career development – but the business reality for recorded music has changed more in the last ten years than anyone could have ever imagined. From the basic building blocks of this crucial part of the music industry - such as RECORD COMPANY STRUCTURES & DEPARTMENTS, INCOME STREAMS, RECORDING CONTRACTS, SETTING UP AND RUNNING A LABEL - to the burning questions facing the future of recorded music, the session is indispensable to artists, those wishing to release music independently, and of course those seeking record deals and collaborations with record companies big and small.

THIS EVENT IS A MUST FOR ANYONE WITH A SERIOUS INTEREST OR INVOLVEMENT IN THE IRISH MUSIC INDUSTRY!

TICKETS FOR THIS EVENT ARE €32 FOR MEMBERS AND €70 FOR NON-MEMBERS – TICKETS ARE LIMITED SO REGISTER EARLY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT... Venue: Offices of Irish Music Rights Organisation, Copyright House, Pembroke Row, Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2

Warpsichord : first sighting

The first copies of Alan MX's Warpsichord album came back from the printers this week. Check out the ace shots below of Alan getting his first look at them:







Warpsichord can be preorder NOW at sta.co.uk - anyone who buys it from us will get an exclusive bonus EP. Alan has a lot of songs and we want to get as many out there as we can. Yeah? YEAH!

Things To Write To Guarantee Your Email Will Be Deleted #1

We receive a lot of emails from new and unsigned bands looking to work with STA or merely to get some advice and we encourage you if you're thinking of doing the same not to hesitate to get in touch. Some of the bands we've released have started their relationship with the label that way! However with the smooth also comes the rough and today we start an ongoing series that will share with you some of the less well thought-out communications we receive. Today we had an email that simply said with no band details whatsoever (drum roll please) -

Do you have any record deals on offer?

4 Or 5 Magicians on Journalism

We played a pretty standard, raucous show at the Hobgoblin in Brighton tonight, and having nipped out the back to get something from the van, I overheard this rather hilarious analysis from some hoorah henry with short blonde dreadlocks in a bandana that looked like his name was Nathaniel and his favourite album was Blood Sugar Sex Magick or Toots and The Maytals let rip a couple of absolute gems to his lah di dah sycophant friends :

"that band, you know, they had a couple of really good intros, but when the guy started singing, it sounded like they had handed the microphone to a member of the crowd"

...and...

"the guitarist was trying to do all these harmonics while he was playing and it just sounded ridiculous - just play the songs!"

It is quite possible he was talking about someone else. Maybe The Muscle Club. But I reckon having just played it was probably about us.

In other news we have received some rather good reviews from real journalists ...

The Irish Times, apparently the biggest broadsheet in Ireland, gave our album 9/10 and a glowing review; Rock Sound magazine gave our album 8/10, featured us on their cover CD, and hosted a brief interview / feature (with the words "dan ormsby" and "creative genius" without the word "not" in the same sentence), and listed us as the top band on their office stereo section, and BBC Music shared this rather awesome piece.

Expecting some more reviews to come in this week.

My dad, the biggest supporter of the band, suddenly died on Friday, and it is the biggest comfort to know that the "experts", if you will, are digging this album.

RIP Dad, I'm doing the business!

Dan xx

Fighting With Wire: Album 2 Studio Diary Part 1

4 Or 5 Magicians Vs Shirley Bassey

Let's call it a draw.

4 Or 5 Magicians Tour Begins Today

Tour begins today!! I haven't been to bed yet but I'm going to hit the hay shortly, and get a good 9 hours in before we head off to Cardiff, the first time we have actually rented a van, and hit the road with another band for (almost) every show!

Once again, the tour calls at :

5th : Cardiff Buffalo Bar
6th : Bath Moles
7th : Coventry Taylor John's House (afternoon show - on at 3:40pm)
8th : Camden The Flowerpot
9th : Portsmouth Cellars
10th : Brighton Hobgoblin
11th : Southampton Hamptons
12th : Bristol Start The Bus
13th : Newport Le Pub
14th : Oxford The Cellar
15th : Reading Oakford Social Club

All shows are with The Muscle Club, except Coventry and Reading, and all shows are headlined by either us or The Muscle Club, apart from Coventry which is an all dayer, Bath which is headlined by Cold Cave who are an American electro band (gonna be a bit odd that one!), and Reading which is headlined by Violet Violet - a band whose drummer once screamed "AMERICAN HI-FI!!!" at me at a show we did in Norwich, quite unexpectedly.

I highly recommend the show at The Flowerpot in Camden, which is a free entry show, from 6:00pm to 10:30pm, featuring a brilliant bill I have myself curated - Us, The Muscle Club, Stagecoach, Lola And The Clic, and Eelectricity and Lust (their debut gig!).

I'm also putting on the Brighton show which is also free (though we are heavily suggesting a £2 donation to cover tour expenses) with the totally rocking Everyone To The Anderson, and the splendidly spooky Spacenoid.

Lets hope we make it round in one piece eh? I've got a Blue Roses gig to get back for on the 16th!

In other news, we have received some awesome coverage in Rock Sound magazine this month, which I believe came out today.

Not only are we the top band in editor Darren Taylor's 'Decks Of Death' (hehe!), there is also a little feature on us, with spliced bits of an interview I did, and 'Forever On The Edge' is featured on the covermount CD.

The main news though is that they awarded 'Empty, Derivative Pop Songs' a grand score of 8/10, and a nice write up. Hopefully the first of a string of good reports!

To read all this, go and buy a copy, or if you can't wait to see what they wrote, there are cuttings of the article hosted here on the smalltown america blog.

See you on tour,

Dan xx