Friday 31 July 2009

Faux Discx - Male Bonding/Cold Pumas Split - Out Now!

Awesome record alert. The first in Faux Discx's CMYK split 7" series. Feature's one song a-piece from London's tropical grunge punks Male Bonding and Brighton's no wave repetition freaks Cold Pumas. Strictly limited edition, strictly exclusive songs from each band.

Release Date: August 2009
Format: 2 tracks on 7" vinyl
Edition Of: 300 hand-numbered
Packaging: Black vinyl in a matt sleeve
A: Male Bonding - Stare At My Problems
AA: Cold Pumas - Altered Yeast

Male Bonding on Myspace
Cold Pumas on Myspace

Order Now!

Pipettes At Nokia Skate Almighty


Yes, you did read that title correctly...it's a slow news day, alright?

We're playing a roller disco next Thursday (August 6) in London, and it's freeeeeeeeeee! Details below about how to get your tickets. We're on stage at 7:30PM.

x

Hosted in a specially created rink, Nokia Skate Almighty will be taking over the nation's capital from Wednesday 5th to Sunday 9th August at Potter's Field, near London's iconic Tower Bridge. Each day of Skate Almighty will give thousands of skaters the chance to dance and skate to live performances and DJ sets from some of the world's leading names, including: Calvin Harris, Raygun, The Pipettes, Example and Queens of Noize.

The Nokia Skate Almighty rink is open to children and families during the day, encouraging even the youngest Brits to have fun and stay fit on skates. Then after 6.00pm each day, it will be for over 18s only to skate the evening away.

To get skating, individuals simply need to visit http://www.nokiamusic.co.uk to secure a free ticket for a one-hour skate time slot. Entrance to Nokia Skate Almighty will be via mobile ticket and requires a simple swipe of your mobile phone onsite.

Thursday 30 July 2009

Uh oh



This was swiftly followed by:



I'd offer to report more about this breaking news but I have my own Sim City 4 addiction to feed.

Tuesday 28 July 2009

LaFaro: In Training

Ahead of the humiliating pasting that will befall Not Squares and The Vinny Club from Dublin's Richter Collective at the hands of the mighty STA - go Calories, go LaFaro - THIS Thursday at The Dockers Club in Belfast, here's footage of LaFaro in training.

Where's Burgess Meredith when you need him?

Calories too looked pretty tasty at Truck at the weekend. Ferris, clean some space in the trophy cabinet for a big shiny belt.

Hooray For Humans / Heathers August Tour Poster

A great poster for a very sweet line-up, get down to one of the 4 shows if you can.

Friday 24 July 2009

LaFaro and Calories for Derry!


Hot on the heels of next Thursday's STA v Richter Collective showdown in Belfast, we're delighted to confirm LaFaro and Calories for a show in Masons bar in Derry next Friday night.

Taking place in the downstairs bar, it's gonna be an intimate, yet rip roaring night.

We kick off at 10pm - come along, bring a friend - it's free!

ASIWYFA October UK Tour Announced

Barfly in association with us lot present And So I Watch You From Afar UK tour at the end of September/beginning of October. Faces, melted... yes!

Ticket links thus:
21.09 London Barfly
24.09 Cardiff Barfly
25.09 Liverpool Masque
26.09 Birmingham The Flapper
28.09 York Fibbers
29.09 Manchester Moho Live
30.09 Dundee Fat Sams
01.10 Aberdeen Tunnels
02.10 Glasgow Twisted Wheel

Facebook is telling us that there are already 172 confirmed guests for the Ulster Hall gig on December 18th. Please buy tickets in advance for this gig to avoid sadness :(

Our Band Could BBQ Your Life Poster

Click to embiggen

Thursday 23 July 2009

Public Service Blogcast Episode 42



This episode: Hip hop poet Wile Man, described by ID Magazine as Derry's answer to Eminem, along with cohort and producer Andrew Munro present the least legal blogcast takeover yet.

Public Service Blogcast Episode 42
39 minutes 56 seconds
Recorded 17/07/09
Tracklisting
01.00 Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby (from To The Extreme album - SBK)
05.45 Funkdoobiest - I'm Shitten On 'Em (from Which Doobie U B? album - Euro Parrot)
08.35 Snoop Doggy Dogg - Tha Shiznit (from Doggystyle album - Death Row)
13.24 The Streets - Empty Cans (from A Grand Don't Come For Free album - 679 Records)
17.23 Re*Source - Fish Eyed Lens
21.38 Wile Man - An I.R.A Man The Story Of
25.52 Wile Man - I Wish E's Didn't Exist
35.30 Wile Man - Broken

If you have any suggestions for future takeovers or want to get a track played on a regular show, get in touch - email blogcast@smalltownamerica.co.uk

Let Our Enemies Beware: Final Fibonacci Download


Medway havoc-bringers and new to the STA family are
Let Our Enemies Beware; in the build-up to the release of their incendiary and epic post-rock/metal hybrid of a debut album Against Karate later in 2009, each week for the next 10 weeks the STA blog will host a series of downloads.

So here's the final download in LOEB's Fibonacci series. The link below will expire after a solitary singular 1 download...1 being the 1st number in the Fibonacci sequence...

F10 = 89 - Fools, Philistines, Heretics and Whores - only a few downloads left!
F9 = 55 - I Am Lono - only a few downloads left!
F8 = 34 - POW! Right in the Kisser - only a few downloads left!
F7 = 21 - (Personal) Space Invaders - only a few downloads left!
F6 = all 13 downloads taken
F5 = all 8 downloads taken
F4 = all 5 downloads taken
F3 = all 3 downloads taken
F2 = all 2 downloads taken
F1 = 1

The very-limited hand-finished single Pow! Right In The Kisser which precedes the album release can be pre-ordered from the STA store right now. But in the meantime, to close the Fibonacci series and for just one lightning-fingered blog reader here's the whole Against Karate album in full...


Download 'Against Karate' by Let Our Enemies Beware

Leonardo of Pisa (c. 1170 – c. 1250), also known as Leonardo Pisano, Leonardo Bonacci, Leonardo Fibonacci, or, most commonly, simply Fibonacci, was an Italian mathematician, considered by some "the most talented mathematician of the Middle Ages"

Wednesday 22 July 2009

New Calories Video

Our best buddy Steve Ingram™ has made a video for Forests of Varg™, we love Steve.

Calories - Forest of vargr from Steven Ingram on Vimeo.

This video actually only took about three hours™ to make.

We've finished most of the recording for the second album now so it shouldn't be too long till we're lightly tapping Steves bedroom door again as Steven is a multifaceted fellow™ and is also the man behind most of our art/design work.
Check him out here.




Pete.

Tuesday 21 July 2009

Public Service Blogcast Episode 41



This episode: stars of our recent Brixton Windmill BBQ show The Patio Set are four young men - Michael on guitar / Sean on bass and vocals / James on drums and Gareth on guitar and vocals - from Medway who "make loud music with funny rhythms and some loud music with normal rhythms and some quiet music that gets loud and then quiet again". They have been described as "a head-on collision between The Cure and Fugazi" and the must-read Devil Has The Best Tuna blog praised their song Highgate Owl Nightmare for "cramming an album's worth of ideas into nearly four minutes of wild and wonderful alt-rock". And here on the STA blogcast you can hear what all the hoo-haa is about from the band themselves as they present three of their own tracks along with other favourites and influences.

Public Service Blogcast Episode 41
46 minutes 13 seconds
Recorded 12/07/09
Tracklisting
01.32 Deerhoof - My Purple Past (from Offend Maggie album - Kill Rock Stars)
06.37 The Patio Set - Highgate Owl Nightmare
11.47 Extra Life - I Don't See It That Way (from Secular Works album - LoAF Records)
22.03 The Patio Set - Then I Vegas
26.42 King Crimson - Red (from Red album - DGM)
34.51 Pageninetynine - The Lonesome Waltz Of Leonard Cohen (from Document #14: Singles - Reptilian Records)
41.47 The Patio Set - Opiates

If you have any suggestions for future takeovers or want to get a track played on a regular show, get in touch - email blogcast@smalltownamerica.co.uk

STA Newsletter - July 2009

Hi STA Friends,

I hope you are all well. Lots of news to report - let's crack on with a roster roundup!

And So I Watch You From Afar

Instrumental juggernauts - And So I Watch You From Afar - are headlining Belfast’s Ulster Hall on December 18th 2009; we will be releasing an EP of brand new material at the show.

Tickets for the Ulster Hall gig are available now, priced at £8 advance, they can be purchased from the Waterfront Hall Box Office on 028 9033 4455 and from The Ulster Hall. Full supporting line up to be announced soon, so keep an eye on the website for more details.

Since the album release, ASI've toured relentlessly around the UK, hit up Germany in support of stoner behemoths Clutch and levelled festivals across Europe (inc. the Oxegen Festival, the largest in Ireland). Next weekend will see the four piece headline Northern Ireland's very own and much loved Glasgowbury Festival in Co. Derry, topping a bill of the best of the Irish rock fraternity including In Case Of Fire, LaFaro and General Fiasco. Tickets are available now, priced at a bargain-like £30 (including camping pass).

Fighting With Wire

Fighting With Wire take a break from writing their future-hits-packed second album to play the Bohemia stage at the Metallica-headlined UK Sonisphere festival in Knebworth, Stevenage over the weekend August 1st and 2nd. Also playing Bohemia are STA faves Rolo Tomassi, Hundred Reasons, Fucked Up and Cancer Bats. It's sure to be a monstrously memorable weekend some tickets are still available.

Let Our Enemies Beware

An album that's sure to be making waves this autumn is 'Against Karate' from our newest signings math/noise/metal experimentalists Let Our Enemies Beware however quick-fingered readers of the STA blog will already have assembled fragments of the album via LOEB's Fibonacci Download Series - head to the blog to grab some of the few remaining free mp3 album tracks and to see if you can understand the un-necessarily complicated maths.

Debut single and of course the album itself will be available for pre-order soon on the store.

Calories

Fresh from the recording of their 2nd album 'Habitations' (yes, already!) Calories take a trip to Belfast and partner up with LaFaro in a sonic smackdown against the best fighters from rival label the Richter Collective's roster - Not Squares and The Vinny Club - Thursday 30th July at The Dockers Club. The smart money's on Team STA - we're gonna crush those Dubliners!

The weekend before Calories join ASIWYFA... and an acoustic Andrew Ferris on the bill for Truck 12 on Hill Farm in Steventon near Oxford; an absolute essential in both the festival and agricultural calendars; it's the strongest Truck line-up in years with Supergrass and Ash headlining.

STA Live
If the above hasn't sated your STA gig appetite, we heartily recommend the 4th Club STA event at Masons in Derry headlined by Bats! and in London you'd do a lot worse than checking out the 4 Or 5 Magicians curated 'Our Band Could BBQ Your Life' weekend at the Brixton Windmill featuring loads of bands covering The Replacements, Black Flag and the other legends profiled in Michael Azzerad's equally-legendary book on 80's American underground music. Watch out for a special blogcast on the event.

23 July - Let Our Enemies Beware - Lewisham - Fox N Firkin
23 July - Ice, Sea, Dead People - London - El Paso
23 July - Bats!, Black Bear Saloon, Comply Or Die & Andrew Ferris - Derry - Mason's Bar
24 July - Calories - London - The Lexington
24 July - 4 Or 5 Magicians - London - The Lexington
25 July - And So I Watch You From Afar - Draperstown - Glasgowbury Festival '09
26 July - And So I Watch You From Afar - Steventon - Truck Festival
26 July - Calories - Steventon - Truck Festival
28 July - And So I Watch You From Afar - London - Fair Play Gigs @ Bull and Gate
30 July - Calories - Belfast - Trans Festival @ The Waterfront
30 July - Ice, Sea, Dead People - Bristol - Thekla
31 July - And So I Watch You From Afar - Dublin - Richter Collective Singles Club @ Twisted Pepper
31 July - Calories & LaFaro - Derry - Mason's Bar

The Young Playthings
The soundtrack to your summer is not complete without such guitar pop gems as 'Y Don't U Like Me?', 'Going Out Staying Out' and 'Some Badness Goes On' which can all be found on the new album from The Young Playthings available now from the STA store, all good retailers and digitally on the iTunes store.

STA Blog
The STA Blog continues to be a hive of news and time-wasting - recent highlights include first word on the STA-curated singer-songwriter line-up for September's City Of Song Festival in Derry and episode 40(!) of Public Service Blogcast with tracks aired from the best new bands around including Youth In Colour, Bola Pear and Illness to name but three. New bands note - the blogcast series ends in the autumn so if you want your music played get in touch quick-like - blogcast@smalltownamerica.co.uk

STA Twitter
Follow as Ferris tweets breaking STA news, puts the world to rights and models the latest merch.

Mailout Soundtrack: Elk / Marnie Stern / Future Of The Left / William / Dinosaur Jr / Fuck Dress / Three Trapped Tigers

Thanks for reading,
Andrew, Ash, Daniel, Brian & Charlene

ASIWYFA Headline Glasbowbury This Saturday

Bateman Blog 005: A Prayer For Owen Meany


A long time ago, eleven or so years when I was just old enough to legally drink, a few of my friends worked in a bar called Smugglers Inn. It was a mock English pub, for expats and tourists, on the waterfront in the village of Stanley, on the south side of Hong Kong Island. It was run by two alcoholic Chinese brothers and frequented by their triad 'friends', teenagers either just old enough or not quite old enough to drink (they didn't discriminate) and the odd, genuine 'regular' - those people destined to wile away a good portion of their lives on a barstool. In the UK, in miserable little drinking holes across towns and cities across the spectrum of prosperity, this is not unusual. But in a very social city like Hong Kong, where drinking is widely regarded as an exercise rather than a habit, people who choose to dress their alcoholism down in such an unflattering way are banished to provincial outposts like Smugglers Inn in Stanley. There was the only Caucasian bus driver in Hong Kong, whose wife had died when he was quite a bit younger and who was surly when he arrived sober and abusive when he was inevitably asked to leave five hours later. There was Paul and Denise Clark, brother and sister in their late 30s/early 40s who, except for the fact that they had been raised in Hong Kong by their now departed parents, were the real life versions of Steve Coogan's Paul and Pauline Carr. There was Nicky, who'd turned her passion for surfing into a reasonably successful business venture, opening a surf shop in Stanley market, but who, at night, seemed determined to piss it away - possibly because she was trapped in a marriage with a particularly unpleasant local triad. And, finally, there was Dilip.

Dilip was half Indian, half English I think, but more English than Indian; mild-mannered and very intelligent, as you'd expect from an accountant. He might've been gay and he might've liked boys only just 'of age'; he might also've just been lonely and had more to talk about with bright, bratty teenagers than his fellow regulars. He was quite patronising and as he became friendlier with us we became less impressed with his smarts and his willingness to buy us drinks. By the end of my friend groups' weird and brief 'friendship' with Dilip I think we were probably just out-and-out rude to him – but during this time he gave me some brand new vinyl – Joy Division's 'Unknown Pleasures' and 'Closer' and New Order's 'Substance' (because he didn't have a record player) – and he recommended I read ‘A Prayer for Owen Meany’ by John Irving. I listened to the records a few times, though I could never properly get into Joy Division, but never read the book. Still, people recommend books to me all the time that I say I'll read and never do and that I then forget about, but ‘A Prayer for Owen Meany’ stuck with me - possibly because it's a great title but I really couldn't say.

Not long after, Dilip got a brain tumour. He survived and had to shave his head and would demonstrate the enormous scar across the top of his head to us when he returned, on occasion and for far fewer drinks, looking much thinner, to Smugglers Inn. He survived a car crash that saw his taxi flipped onto its roof on the winding mountain roads from Stanley to the centre of Hong Kong Island after someone I know hit them from behind, racing drunk round blind turns (it was the son of a prominent judge so he got off with having his license briefly suspended). After we all moved away for university I heard his brain tumour came back and he died in his late thirties.

I never bought ‘A Prayer for Owen Meany’ but a few years after Dilip recommended I read it I bought ‘Let's Talk About Feelings’ by Lagwagon, a record whose final track is called 'Owen Meaney'. I'm not sure if the difference in spelling is deliberate but it kept alive the notion that, if I ever came across it and had the time, maybe I should read the book. I tend not to believe in signs and suchlike, but the enigmatic lyrics to ‘Owen Meaney’ and Dilip’s fate gave the book an air of intrigue and meant that I'd probably have to read it one day, if only to satisfy my curiosity.
Back around the time Dilip gave me the Joy Division records I only really listened to bands that sounded like Lagwagon - fast, melodic punk. Since then, I've come to realise that most bands that sound like this are shit; however, I always had a soft spot for the 'wagon and with time my nostalgic fondness for them has developed into a genuine love. Singer Joey Cape writes modern punk rock like modern country - like all music that follows a formula, when it's done well it ticks all the right boxes and functions just as it says it will on the tin. Not adventurous or overly original - it's better than those things. Words don't really explain music very well but to me it's catchy, triumphant, sorrowful and joyous.

The main reason I love Lagwagon rather than just quite like them though is because of the album 'Resolve'. It's not their best album (that would be 'Blaze' closely followed by 'Hoss') but it's definitely their most meaningful and powerfully resonant record, because it's about the suicide of former Lagwagon drummer, Derrick Plourde. Bands usually get this kind of thing terribly wrong - the 'dedicated to the memory of' genre tends to be nothing of the sort, and finds writers slipping into the most vulgar and self-indulgent solipsism that gives the objective listener/reader no sense of the subject or what their life was like. Plourde's a ghostly presence throughout ‘Resolve’ but Cape brightens the corners of a stranger's life perfectly, touching on the homogenous emptiness that defines sprawling suburban life, and how wide open spaces suggest freedom at the expense of community; he remembers Plourde vicariously through the music and grieves when the music ends; he sympathises with Plourde's family (he shot himself in the face in his parents' bedroom) and rails against the drug addiction that led Plourde to deceive his friends and family, to let them down time and again as he went from rehab to community shelter to relapse. Finally, Cape finds comfort in his own family and acknowledges his friend's greatest influence - Plourde introduced Cape to his future wife. It's emotional but unsentimental and it's this that makes it so moving.

Anyway, I stumbled across a brand new copy of Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany in a cupboard at the London Stock Exchange (funnily enough, I was there to meet Andrew Ferris so what a fitting forum this is for this story) and decided that I should take it. Three years later I got round to reading it. Though the back cover hails it as a 'modern American classic' I was sorely disappointed. It's loosely about faith in God and how faith, regardless of whether one actually believes in God, helps people mourn the hard, absoluteness of death; it's loosely about the Vietnam War and the American psyche. The premise is superb - eleven year old Owen Meany kills his best friend's mum while playing baseball and comes to think of himself as an instrument of God - but the 600+ pages are exceptionally tedious. I didn't like the characters and I didn't like the narrator and I found Owen Meany vile and, worse, disbelievable.

* * *

I read on a Lagwagon fans' website that 'Owen Meaney' is probably about Derrick Plourde and possibly written before his death. That's mildly disconcerting considering Owen Meany's fate, though I suppose not really that exceptional, as one tends to assume that hard drug addiction leads to a grisly end. Still, my curiosity sated after reading it, I found myself wishing I hadn't. Reading fiction is a great form of escapism; but not knowing what this book was about was even better - it fuelled my imagination. It was a personal little mystery that I didn’t know until I’d read it that I didn’t want to solve. There are lots of these little mysteries in the novel that are never unravelled. Faith is a mystery of sorts, but why we believe isn’t; we believe because we’re scared of death – and death is the biggest mystery and yet the hardest fact of all. 'Owen Meaney' is a decent song but, having read the book with the similar name, I can't help thinking it was merely a prototype for the songs on Resolve – better because they’re inspired by a true, not just potential, tragedy. Maybe that's callous. I'll never know why Dilip liked the book so much, but after finishing the book I wondered if he ever thought of the tumour as his own, personal baseball, pitched by some awful instrument of God.

Sunday 19 July 2009

Calories and 4 Or 5 Magicians support Sky Larkin

Calories warm up to play at and 4 Or 5 Magicians warm up for my driving to Truck festival next weekend with a Friday night show supporting the fantastic Sky Larkin at the Lexington in London.

Friday 17 July 2009

Dartz Final Gigs

Singalong-friendly fidgety math-rock wonders Dartz have sadly decided to call it a day and will be playing a pair of farewell shows at the end of September...

Good afternoon.

We have decided to do two final gigs, one in the North and one in the South.

We won't be doing any more gigs, so if you want to see us again, come to one of these:

Thursday 24th September 2009 @ Uncle Alberts in Middlesbrough.
Buy a ticket

Friday 25th September 2009 @ The Peel in Kingston.
Buy a ticket

We will be joined by some of our favourite bands who we've been lucky enough to become good friends with over the past four years.

Hopefully see you at one of the gigs.
Cheerio.


Check out last year's The Sad History Of The Village Of Alnerique mini-album to hear why their demize iz a bad thing.

Thursday 16 July 2009

And So I Watch You From Afar London Show

And So We Announce The Biggest Show Of The Year!


We in Smalltown Towers in association with Trans are proud to present the most exciting show of 2009! Our very own four piece instrumental juggernauts And So I Watch You From Afar will play Belfast’s infamous Ulster Hall on December 18th 2009. Since the
bands sold out Mandela Hall Album launch show in March, this was always the next step for ASIWYFA. With a full support bill which includes some very special guests, this is a show you will not want to miss- fact!!

Tickets are available now and are priced at a very reasonable £8 in advance and can be purchased from the
Waterfront Hall Box Office on 028 9033 4455 and from The Ulster Hall. Full supporting line up to be
announced soon, keep checking back for the details!

Buy Tickets Now

Oxegen 09 - And So I Watch You From Afar

[Words: ATL Blog]

IMRO Stage, Saturday 11th July, 3:20pm

What Happened: In many respects, it's been their year. A storming album and that Mandela Hall gig, it seems only fitting that Portrush boys And So I Watch You From Afar should be effectively headlining the IMRO tent on a very wet and windy Saturday night.

The lights go down, and the next thing we hear is a barrage of feeback; ASIWYFA have arrived. "Set Guitars to Kill' bursts into life, and one is left wondering whether the excessive rain had led to our boys being electrocuted, such is the manic intensity of their movements. Leaping about with wild abandon and scant regard for personal safety, the crushing sound is epic and immense. Alternating between riffs the size of a planet and moments of haunting fragility, ASIWYFA have not come to mess around.

Over the next 30 minutes, we are taken on an emotional journey, elation flowing through our veins. ASIWYFA seem to have limitless supplies of energy and enthusiasm, and the audience reply in kind, their cheers fueling the band to even greater heights.

Then, seemingly, disaster strikes. Rory Friers guitar starts to die a slow and lingering death, spluttering to a halt. Slamming his fist against his guitar pedals, he literally tries to beat the instrument back into life. However, he is unsuccessful, the fading crackle like a lingering afterthought of what might have been.

But the drama is not over, as he places the guitar against the monitors, before theatrically spitting on it. Then he's off, climbing atop the speakers at the front of the stage. The tension is unbelievable...is this the final hurrah of a much recognised musical totem? As if in answer, he leaps from the speakers into the audience, whilst guitarist Tony Wright, bassist Johnny Adger, and drummer Chris Wee thunder on with apocalyptic fury.

They might call it equipment failure. I call it one of the most unforgettable moments in the rise of an incredible band.

Depends on who pays the repair bill, I guess.

Describe in a Tweet: ASIWYFA snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

This Is A High: The electrifying guitar interplay of 'A Little bit of Solidarity Goes a Long Way'.

This Is A Low: Rory spitting on the guitar. This kind of behaviour is neither big, nor clever, kids.

Oxegen Rating: 8.5/10

City Of Song Festival 2009 Line Up

Music55-7 in association with STA and Tennents present the ‘City Of Song Festival 2009’

We've spent a lot more time on this year's line up (basically we've been planning since 2008's event) and I really think that this year's songwriter trail includes the cream of singer/songwriter talent from Ireland and further afield. Notably, Valerie Francis will be making the journey to Derry for some very special sets. We heart VF in the STA office...

If you don't know how City Of Song works - it's in our fine city of Derry - on September 25th & 26th; in six bars through the town and it's all completely free.

Line up includes

D:Ream (seriously)
Tenebrae
Valerie Francis
Autorickshaw
Faduda
Pocket Promise
Clown Parlour
Daveit Ferris
Donal Scullion
Gentry Morris
Jackson Cage
Johanna Fagan
John Shelly & The Creatures
Johnny Black
Kitty&The Can Openers
Matt McGinn
Mel Wiggins
Paul Casey
Paul Herron
Pixie Saytar
Rachel Austin
Ray Dunne
Shauna Tohill
The Lost Brothers
Tom McShane

Myself and Stephen McCauley will be spinning discs at the launch night - more details on that soon.

www.music55-7.com | www.myspace.com/music557 | www.cityofsong.com

Wednesday 15 July 2009

And So I Watch You From Afar Nialler9 Podcast

Nialler 9 are hosting a downloadable podcast interview with ASIWYFA -

Holla folks. This is Aoife Mc here. Below you’ll find a 40 minute podcast for your downloading pleasure. It’s along the theme of my last Irish based Nialler9 podcast, only this time we’re focusing on one band. The almighty And So I Watch You From Afar. The Derry born Belfast based band blew the heads off of myself and Niall when we saw them play a State.ie gig out in The Purty Loft in Dun Laoghaire a month back. They inspired me so much that I thought I’d dedicate this latest Irish podcast fully to them. I really hope you like them as much as myself and Niall do. They’re so playing at our wedding. LOL.

We’re off on our holidays in about three weeks and I’d like to get another Irish only podcast up on the site before we head off, as the last couple of months have been rife with great talent releasing stuff on our wee island. In the meantime though, here’s an insight in to the world of ASIWYFA. Word.


Let Our Enemies Beware: Fibonacci Download #9


Medway havoc-bringers and new to the STA family are
Let Our Enemies Beware; in the build-up to the release of their incendiary and epic post-rock/metal hybrid of a debut album Against Karate later in 2009, each week for the next 10 weeks the STA blog will host a series of downloads.

So here's the 9th and penultimate download in LOEB's Fibonacci series. The link for the track hosted below will expire after 2, yes two, downloads...2 being the 2nd number in the Fibonacci sequence...

F10 = 89 - Fools, Philistines, Heretics and Whores - only a few downloads left!
F9 = 55 - I Am Lono - only a few downloads left!
F8 = 34 - POW! Right in the Kisser - only a few downloads left!
F7 = 21 - (Personal) Space Invaders - only a few downloads left!
F6 = 13 all gone now, sorry
F5 = 8 sorry, too late
F4 = 5 ditto my friend, ditto
F3 = 3 are you kidding?
F2 = 2
F1 = 1

By the time we hit the final download later in the next few days, the debut album can be pre-ordered from the STA store. As always, pre-order customers receive an exclusive limited edition hand finished bonus disc.

Over to Sha (guitar/vocals)...

-----------------

'Inhale_Sleep came about from a jam at the studio when we had some spare time. The sounds over the top were added later withn the help of John Amino (of English Bore fame). The weird chatter may or may not be one Mr Crowley (depending on any legalities that may follow). If it is one Mr Crowley (which it may or may not be) then be sure that we take absolutely NO RESPONSIBILITY if, upon the track's conclusion, a huge whacking great big rabbit demon with scabs for eyes and breath like rust bursts through the living room floor of your house to a choir of twisted angels and proceeds to rape you in the soul hole'

Download 'Inhale_Sleep' by Let Our Enemies Beware

----------------------------

Leonardo of Pisa (c. 1170 – c. 1250), also known as Leonardo Pisano, Leonardo Bonacci, Leonardo Fibonacci, or, most commonly, simply Fibonacci, was an Italian mathematician, considered by some "the most talented mathematician of the Middle Ages"

Tuesday 14 July 2009

It's pretty much a Thursday night for me...

Big news over at the STA site ---------> HERE.

Exciting, huh? FYI: that venue holds something silly like 1800 people. ASIWYFA - officially a big deal.

The subject line is because I'm off to the Latitude Festival on Thursday, thus I only have one more working day left before five days of FESTIVAL FUN. Here's a list of things I am looking forward too, in no particular order:

stalking Nick Cave, 65daysofstatic in the woods, Aiden Moffat's poetry set, Marnie Stern, Luke Haines just being there (he's cancelled at the last minute, WEEP WEEP), Ed Milliband doing a talk after a new film about climate change, Feeling Gloomy in the woods on thursday night, The Daily Edition, living on crepes and red bull for four days, St Vincent, Thom Yorke, of Montreal, The Vaselines, Mew, Spiritualized®, Pulled Apart by Horses, Jeremy Warmsley doing a set of Tom Waits and Daniel Johnston songs, and.... a lot more.

Anything I've missed? Any recommendations?

PS: check out Calories' Spotify playlist as well, it's super fun. Oneida! 4 or 5 Magicians! Even some Distophia!

Sunday 12 July 2009

Calories Off The Cuff Birmingham Weekender

Calories plus 4 Or 5 Magicians and a host of STA favourites such as Shoes And Socks Off, Pulled Apart By Horses and Copy Haho play the Off The Cuff 2-dayer at - or rather outside of - Birmingham's Flapper venue the first weekend of September. Tickets are on sale now for only £18 which surely can't be right as that's nothing.

Friday 10 July 2009

Wednesday 8 July 2009

ASIWYFA To Headline Glasgowbury!

Well, it's official, ASIWYFA will close this year's Glasgowbury Festival!

Taking place on Saturday 25th July at the breathtaking Eagles Rock site in the Sperrin Mountains in Co. Derry, the headlining slot is the latest coup for the band in what has been an unbelievable year so far.

The band are pulling out all the stops to ensure a momentuous performance - so it'll be a must see event!

Previous headliners of the festival include Duke Special and Ash, and is the centre piece of the Northern Irish music calendar.

Personally, Glasgowbury is probably my favourite festival in all of Europe and really deserves your patronage - A laid back family-friendly atmosphere not at all like the cold and unfriendly cattle-herding experience offered at most other music festivals. The setting is absolutely stunning and the lineup is immense as always!

In addition to ASIWYFA, other STA faves such as LaFaro, The Jane Bradfords, General Fiasco, Here Comes the Landed Gentry and In Case of Fire will be performing on the day.

Tickets are available via We Got Tickets and are priced at £25 for a day ticket or £30 for day ticket and camping - An absolute bargain. Tickets are moving fast, so we advise you get in there now!

Where's Alan?

After The Vinny Club threw down the gauntlet to the rest of the lineup for the forthcoming STA V Richter Collective gig, Tragedy has struck the LaFaro camp; Alan has gone missing!

Can the rest of the guys (with the help of a Dog and Tony ASIWYFA) find him in time for the gig on 30th July?

Tuesday 7 July 2009

Let Our Enemies Beware: Fibonacci Download #8


Medway havoc-bringers and new to the STA family are
Let Our Enemies Beware; in the build-up to the release of their incendiary and epic post-rock/metal hybrid of a debut album Against Karate later in 2009, each week for the next 10 weeks the STA blog will host a series of downloads.

So here's the 8th download in LOEB's Fibonacci series. The link for the track hosted below will expire after a eye-wateringly tight 3 downloads...3 being the 3rd number in the Fibonacci sequence (the sum of the 1st and 2nd numbers)...

F10 = 89 - Fools, Philistines, Heretics and Whores - only a few downloads left!
F9 = 55 - I Am Lono - only a few downloads left!
F8 = 34 - POW! Right in the Kisser - only a few downloads left!
F7 = 21 - (Personal) Space Invaders - only a few downloads left!
F6 = 13 all gone now, sorry
F5 = 8 sorry, too late
F4 = 5 ditto my friend, ditto
F3 = 3 you'll be choking if you don't scroll down quick to grab this week's song
F2 = 2
F1 = 1

By the time we hit the final download later in July, the debut album can be pre-ordered from the STA store. As always, pre-order customers receive an exclusive limited edition hand finished bonus disc.

Over to Sha (guitar/vocals)...

-----------------

'I'm Not Laughing, I'm Choking' is a nasty song that took absolutely ages to write. It is a perfect example of our attention defecit approach to music. The title, I think, comes from what our buddy Grenfell (SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT - Grenfell is of 'Ergon Carousel' fame) screamed at Adam when he thought he had made a funny. He could have died, you know.

Sorry, all 3 downloads of 'I'm Not Laughing, I'm Choking' have been taken

----------------------------

Leonardo of Pisa (c. 1170 – c. 1250), also known as Leonardo Pisano, Leonardo Bonacci, Leonardo Fibonacci, or, most commonly, simply Fibonacci, was an Italian mathematician, considered by some "the most talented mathematician of the Middle Ages"

This Thursday!

The AU 6th Birthday Party Tour comes to Masons Bar, Derry on Thursday 9th July 2009.

Celebrating 6 years of publication, AU have invited two of Ireland's top bands to kick off the festivities in style!

Returning to Derry after their triumphant album launch show in April, will be the all conquering And So I Watch You From Afar.

Returning to their home country on the back of a major European tour in support of American rock band Clutch, 'ASIWYFA' are on point to lay waste to all before them! Showcasing new tunes as well as playing material from their hugely successful debut long player - this will be one performance you can't afford to miss

Joining ASIWYFA as co-headliners will be Adebisi Shank. Firm faves on the Derry scene, these Wexford-based instru-punk nutters are a must-see event all of their own!

It's been said before and it will no doubt be said again, but if you've yet to experience the good-time carnage that Adebisi bring to the party - then you are missing out!

Joining that two-headed jauggernaut on the night will be Derry-based melodic hardcore outfit Spectator. Dealing in pummelling riffs reminiscent of mid-90s Helmet, Spectator take the blueprint for lost art of the hard-rocking guitar band and update it for the 21st Century.

Rounding off the bill will be Cork-based post-punkers Elk.

"bashing and bruising itself on the obtuse angles of post punk, the sugary sweet synthetic sing/shout along melodies of modern day indie-pop and the fast, trashy convulsions of hardcore – like Gang of Four, Wolf Parade and Melt Banana sucking down on the same slab of Red Bull. In a word frantic!” (Cork Independent)

Smalltown America DJs will be on hand to spin the tunes before, between and after the bands - OH WHAT A NIGHT!

Doors are at 8pm, Admission is only £5

The Vinny Club in training...

Ahead of the titanic battle between STA and Dublin's Richter Collective at the end of July, Vinny from the Richter Collective's The Vinny Club has been hard in training for this titantic showdown.

Taking place on Thursday 30th July at The Dockers club in Belfast, and including sets (or should that be bouts?) featuring Calories, Not Squares, LaFaro and of course The Vinny Club, it'll be a battle for the ages!

Vinny is the first to throw down the gauntlet to his challengers - who'll pick it up?

Saturday 4 July 2009

Pubic Service Blogcast Episode 40



This episode: a sneak preview of what the STA bands will be writing about in their 'What I Did This Summer' essays that they have to hand in at the beginning of September

Public Service Blogcast Episode 40
24 minutes 17 seconds
Recorded 04/07/09
Tracklisting
00.01 Cold Pumas - Jela (Rory Recordings - Get Free Music at RCRD LBL.com)
05.09 Alaska Pipeline - Seatbelts (from Master Of Puppets album)
07.49 Bola Pear - Sign On
11.50 Swimming - Tigershark (from Fireflow Trade album - Colour School)
15.12 Illness - Three Bridges
16.46 Part Dinosaur - In Contest With The Bright Lights
20.52 Youth In Colour - The Start of Something/The End of Something (June 22nd) (from It's Difficult Sometimes, I Know mini-album)

If you have any suggestions for future takeovers or want to get a track played on a regular show, get in touch - email blogcast@smalltownamerica.co.uk

Friday 3 July 2009

Let Our Enemies Beware: Fibonacci Download #7


Medway havoc-bringers and new to the STA family are
Let Our Enemies Beware; in the build-up to the release of their incendiary and epic post-rock/metal hybrid of a debut album Against Karate later in 2009, each week for the next 10 weeks the STA blog will host a series of downloads.

So here's the 7th download in LOEB's Fibonacci series. The link for the track hosted below will expire after a blink-and-you'll-miss-it 5 downloads...5 being the 4th number in the Fibonacci sequence (the sum of the 2nd and 3rd numbers)...

F10 = 89 - Fools, Philistines, Heretics and Whores - only a few downloads left!
F9 = 55 - I Am Lono - only a few downloads left!
F8 = 34 - POW! Right in the Kisser - only a few downloads left!
F7 = 21 - (Personal) Space Invaders - only a few downloads left!
F6 = 13 all gone now, sorry
F5 = 8 sorry, too late
F4 = 5
F3 = 3
F2 = 2
F1 = 1

By the time we hit the final download later in July, the debut album can be pre-ordered from the STA store. As always, pre-order customers receive an exclusive limited edition hand finished bonus disc.

Over to Sha (guitar/vocals)...

-----------------

‘Memento Mori’ was recorded last minute by Chris and I whilst the other two drank White Russians and moonied us through the divider. That might not be all true. The mental jazz band at the end just happened to be on the DAT reel we were recording onto, whilst the extra noises were provided by UP-C Down-C guitar Maestro Chris Garth and Noise-Nik Life-Guru John Amino. There is a movie quote in their but for legal reasons we can’t say what it is. It’s from Being There – I'm rubbish with secrets.

Sorry, all 5 downloads of 'Memento Mori' have been taken

----------------------------

Leonardo of Pisa (c. 1170 – c. 1250), also known as Leonardo Pisano, Leonardo Bonacci, Leonardo Fibonacci, or, most commonly, simply Fibonacci, was an Italian mathematician, considered by some "the most talented mathematician of the Middle Ages"

Thursday 2 July 2009

STA summmmmmer BBQ - this very weekend

Check it out, we've got a BBQ show going down in London this very weekend. Bands + free BBQ + fun music + DJing until they kick us out. i.e., it should be FUN TIMES. To the max. The poster should be bigger, but I guess blogger doesn't like me (I have made poster big - AF). Sorry internets.

In other news, this week I have enjoyed the following things: the new Future of the Left album, the dam-funk remix of Animal Collective's Summertime Clothes, season 8 of Scrubs, and the entire three hours of Bruce Springsteen's set at Hyde Park last summer. BOBBY JEAN!

And So I Watch You From Afar - Live @ Tower Records



This instore performance was part of the Hard Working Class Heroes Launch event in Dublin, the lads played an exclusive set for Tower Records.

Read more about the festival on the excellent Nialler9 Blog >>

ASIWYFA: Clutch Tour Diary Final Part

Thursday 25th June started off a lot more peaceful and relaxed than previous mornings. The venue we played the night before in Hamburg had provided us with accommodation in the form of a small but comfortable apartment nearby. Having a proper bed, shower and the knowledge that we did not have the usual mammoth journey ahead of us meant everyone had a comfortable night and in the morning and we all felt at ease. We sat outside a nearby coffee shop for a while, watching the world pass by, chatting over the previous nights gig before we once again boarded the van and hit the road for the final date of the tour in Berlin.

After such an amazing tour it was a shame that the final date did not have the same impact. This was for no particular fault of anyone, rather just several small points (such as the band playing very early whilst most of the crowd were still outside) resulted in a good solid show but not a breathtaking one. If this had of happened at the beginning or middle of the tour then it would have been brushed over, but when it is the final night it is difficult not to dwell on it slightly.

Still, with job done we packed up and heading for a nearby hostel for a few hours sleep before we started another epic journey - driving from Berlin to Belfast without stopping.

This could have been another very arduous drive but we got lucky. The band we had been supporting (Clutch) left early in the morning to fly back to America, meaning their very swish double decker sleeper bus was empty for the journey back to England. We had made friends with the bus driver earlier on the tour and he very kindly offered us entry onto the bus for the journey back, where we could eat and drink whatever supplies Clutch had left behind.

We came up with the plan of taking it in turns to drive the van behind the bus, stopping every few hours to swap driver. Having the space to stretch out, drink a beer, watch a film, get some sleep or just stare out the window was quite literally heaven.

Sadly we left the bus behind at Calais and once again crammed into our van (which seemed even less glamorous after the past 10 hours on the moving hotel), went through the Channel Tunnel and then made the final journey through England and Wales, trip on the ferry and drive up Ireland to finally arrive home in Belfast. Happy, tired, battered, proud but mostly excited about the prospect of future European tours we headed home, another tour completed.

In 12 days we drove approximately 2500 miles, across 9 different countries, playing to and meeting many many new people along the way. Our eternal gratitude goes out to anyone who came to see us play and enjoyed the shows even half as much as we did. Thank you and we will see you again very soon!















Photos couresy Graham Smith

Wednesday 1 July 2009

Ferris @ Love Music, Hate Racism festival - 5th July, 2009

Love Music, Hate Racism, in conjunction with SEEDS anti-racism network, have organised a two day music festival at the One World Centre in Derry to promote opposition to racism, following the attacks on Roma families in Belfast. I'll be playing among many others (including Johnny Black from LaFaro) - Johnny is lethal, and not to be missed. I better start practising.

David McAuley, from LMHR, said “We wanted to get this festival together at short notice to send a message that people are opposed to the sort of racist attacks we saw against the Roma people in Belfast in recent weeks. There is an undercurrent of racism in this town as well, and attacks on people and their homes are on the increase, as they are across Northern Ireland."

“We have been taken aback at the enthusiasm of all the musicians we contacted who agreed to play at short notice and there is a fantastic line-up for both the electric sessions on Saturday and the acoustic sessions on Sunday.”

Admission to the festival is free, and it is an alcohol free event. The Love Music Hate Racism Festival is also supported by Derry City Council and Homely Planet.


Saturday 4th July 1-5pm
Our Krypton Son
Future Chaser
Chipzel
Inexistence
Connor Kelly
The Free Radicals
Under Stars and Gutters
Sullem Voe
DJ Stephen McCauley & Dee Dee McAuley
DJ Singh Bangla and DJ Elly

Sunday 5th July 1-5pm
Andrew Ferris
Jonny Black (LaFaro)
Skruff
Junior Johnson
Tim Pot Operation
Jonny Nixon
Paddy Nash
Christopher Norby
plus poets and spoken word