Cargo Collective September 2010

Recommends:

The Pipettes
Earth VS. The Pipettes
Fortuna POP! LP / CD
Utterly infectious full-on pop perfection from another galaxy, mixing Seventies disco Studio 54 sounds with the motorik Euro pop of the Eighties.

Calories
Basic Nature
Tough Love LP+CD / CD
Calories 2nd album combines strong melodic hooks with frenetic noise, recalling such underground titans as Hot Snakes, Cap ‘N’ Jazz & No Age.

Calories New Album Available For Pre-Order

We're pleased to announce that the good folk at Tough Love Records have put the amazing 2nd album by STA graduates Calories titled Basic Nature up for pre-order ahead of it's September release. To whet your appetite for this genuine gem of a record, the band have put a new song from the record up on their Myspace. You know what to do.

STA Newsletter - April 2010

Happy Easter from all at STA. Don't eat too much chocolate now, y'hear...

[1] Free MP3: Illness - 'New Song'

Beloved subscribers, last month we gave you a sneak peak at LaFaro's debut album, this month's free MP3 is from STA new boys Illness. For the uninitiated, Illness is an instrumental two-piece from Brighton with a unique line in math-rock guitar/drum jams. This track, entitled 'New Song', is an out-take from the recording sessions for their forthcoming Gifts From God EP. Download it right now and play it loud. Like what you hear? Tweet Spencer and Emilio on @Illnessband. The guys are planning a July tour with Shield Your Eyes, who are awesome too - we're excited!

[2] Free Postage on all UK Orders on New Store

After more than a few trusty years of service, we've finally retired version 2 of the STA site. Our new version is now live, extra features and content will be added steadily over coming months. The webstore is up and running and has had several improvements. Firstly, we can now take direct orders from our international customers. Secondly, we're offering free postage on all orders within the UK (including Northern Ireland). Check out the store and bag yourself a sweet deal.

[3] ASIWYFA/LaFaro Tour Of Power

THE Irish rock tour of the year. Currently running riot across the UK. And So I Watch You From Afar tackle their largest headlining run to date, fresh from the release of The Letters EP and ably assisted at all dates by LaFaro. Please note that the London Borderline on April 8th is completely sold out, and some of the others aren't far behind - so buy tickets in advance or get down to those venues early!

ASIWYFA will head solo to mainland Europe after the UK tour wraps up in Cardiff on April 11th:

3 Apr - Stereo GLASGOW
4 Apr - Bannerman’s EDINBURGH
5 Apr - Academy 2 NEWCASTLE
6 Apr - Ruby Lounge MANCHESTER
7 Apr - Rainbow BIRMINGHAM
8 Apr - Borderline LONDON
9 Apr - Cooler BRISTOL
10 Apr - Cavern EXETER
11 Apr - Barfly CARDIFF
12 Apr - Domino Festival BRUSSELS
14 Apr - La Fleche d’Or PARIS
16 Apr - Mod Club HASSELT
17 Apr - Vera GRONINGEN
18 Apr - Merleyn NIJMEGEN
19 Apr - O13 TILBURG
21 Apr - Underground KOLN
22 Apr - Kleine Frieheit OSNABRUCK
23 Apr - Gruner Jager HAMBURG
24 Apr - Paradiso / London Calling AMSTERDAM
25 Apr - Train AARHUS
26 Apr - Bla OSLO
28 Apr - Privat Club BERLIN
29 Apr - Druckluft OBERHAUSEN

[4] LaFaro Album, Tour & Launch Parties

LaFaro's debut album hits shops on May 10th. Can't wait for it? If you preorder the record directly from us (complete with an exclusive bonus CD of rare and unreleased material) you'll get it w/c April 26th - two weeks early.

Following the conclusion of their support slots with ASIWYFA (see above), the band embarks on a headline tour of the UK and Ireland, including a two-night album launch party in Belfast. The first show sold out so quickly we just had to add a second :)

17 Apr - Cellar Bar (IMRO Showcase) DRAPERSTOWN
26 Apr - Menagerie *SOLD OUT* BELFAST
27 Apr - The Menagerie BELFAST - Buy Tickets Now

[5] Ice, Sea, A Tour

Ice, Sea, Dead People head out on their first headlining tour this month. Their debut album, Teeth Union, will be released in July, catch them now they slay eardrums:

5 Apr - The Freebutt BRIGHTON
8 Apr - The Mother’s Ruin BRISTOL
9 Apr - The Cockpit LEEDS
11 Apr - The Firebug LEICESTER
13 Apr - The 13th Note GLASGOW
14 Apr - The Harley SHEFFIELD
15 Apr - New Slang Rm 2 (w/ Friendship) KINGSTON
17 Apr - The Cellar OXFORD

[6] Calories @ Camden Crawl

Calories head back to London on May 1st & 2nd to play 2010's Camden Crawl, alongside a shedload of other great bands. The full line-up can be found here - STA faves on the bill include: Best Coast; Dead Meadow; Gang of Four; Joe Gideon and The Shark; Pulled Apart By Horses; Slow Club; Teenage Fanclub; Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs; YACHT and about a squillion others.

[7] Let Our Enemies Beware - New Stuff

Let Our Enemies Beware recently unleashed a video of brand-new, lust-ballad '(Who Wants To Ride?) The Gay Horse'. You can check out the video on YouTube. They also got a rather nice live review this month from Rock Sound.

The band have a few dates coming up this month. You can catch them at the following venues:

10 Apr - Command House CHATHAM
24 Apr - The Unicorn LONDON

That's all for April. Thanks for reading and we'll see you next month.

Team STA

Store | Twitter | Blog

April Gig Listings

While our gig listings page is getting a glossy makeover, here's a round-up of April's live shows -

4 Or 5 Magicians
1 Apr The Windmill, Brixton w/ The Muscle Club - this is the final show for 4 Or 5 with their current line-up

And So I Watch You From Afar
26 Mar Andrews Lane Theatre w/ Bats, Jogging DUBLIN
27 Mar Nerve Centre DERRY
1 Apr Masque Liverpool
2 Apr Fibbers YORK
3 Apr Stereo GLASGOW
4 Apr Bannerman’s EDINBURGH
5 Apr Academy 2 NEWCASTLE
6 Apr Ruby Lounge MANCHESTER
7 Apr Rainbow BIRMINGHAM
8 Apr Borderline LONDON
9 Apr Cooler BRISTOL
10 Apr Cavern EXETER
11 Apr Barfly CARDIFF
12 Apr Domino Festival BRUSSELS
14 Apr La Fleche d’Or PARIS
16 Apr Mod Club HASSELT
17 Apr Vera GRONINGEN
18 Apr Merleyn NIJMEGEN
19 Apr O13 TILBURG
21 Apr Underground KOLN
22 Apr Kleine Frieheit OSNABRUCK
23 Apr Gruner Jager HAMBURG
24 Apr Paradiso / London Calling AMSTERDAM
25 Apr Train AARHUS
26 Apr Bla OSLO
28 Apr Privat Club BERLIN
29 Apr Druckluft OBERHAUSEN

Calories
1 May CAMDEN CRAWL LONDON
2 May CAMDEN CRAWL LONDON

Ice, Sea, Dead People
5 Apr The Freebutt Brighton
8 Apr The Mother’s Ruin Bristol
9 Apr The Cockpit Leeds
11 Apr The Firebug Leicester
13 Apr The 13th Note Glasgow
14 Apr The Harley Sheffield
15 Apr New Slang Rm 2 (w/ Friendship) Kingston, London
17 Apr The Cellar Oxford

LaFaro
26 Mar Masons Derry
1 Apr MASQUE / UK TOUR WITH ASIWYFA Liverpool
2 Apr Fibbers/ UK TOUR WITH ASIWYFA YORK
3 Apr STEREO/ UK TOUR WITH ASIWYFA GLASGOW
4 Apr BANNERMANS/ UK TOUR WITH ASIWYFA EDINBURGH
5 Apr ACADEMY2 / UK TOUR WITH ASIWYFA NEWCASTLE
6 Apr RUBY LOUNGE / UK TOUR WITH ASIWYFA MANCHESTER
8 Apr BORDERLINE / UK TOUR WITH ASIWYFA LONDON
9 Apr COOLER / UK TOUR WITH ASIWYFA BRISTOL
10 Apr CAVERN / UK TOUR WITH ASIWYFA EXETER
11 Apr BARFLY / UK TOUR WITH ASIWYFA CARDIFF
17 Apr Cellar Bar (IMRO Showcase) Draperstown
26 Apr Menagerie *SOLD OUT* Belfast, Northern Ireland
27 Apr The Menagerie Belfast, Northern Ireland

Let Our Enemies Beware
2 Apr Watershed, Wimbledon w/ CARS ON FIRE, MUNROE EFFECT, THE 9s
10 Apr Command House, Chatham w/ Up C Down C
24 Apr The Unicorn, London w/ Elephant vs Leopard, Djevara, Pigshackle

Skibunny
27 Mar DJ set @ The Stiff Kitten w/OPTIMO & NOT SQUARES BELFAST

Calories To Play Camden Crawl

Calories have been added to Camden Crawl line-up Saturday 1st/Sunday 2nd May. Tickets on sale now.

Calories Split 7" With William

While we wait for Calories' incredible 2nd album Habitations, the Brum trio have hooked up with our chums Tough Love for a split 7" with the equally great William.

V I L E S T T H U G L O O P

A1: Calories - "Mortal Boys"
A2: Calories - "Drink The Potion"
B1: William - "Dilettante"
B2: William - "Lustreless"
+ free fanzine/poster
7" white vinyl + free download code
Artwork by Gordon Armstrong (Zineswap)
Limited to 500 copies

RELEASED: MONDAY 15th FEBRUARY.
ALL PRE-ORDERS POSTED OUT TWO WEEKS IN ADVANCE

Both bands play at 2 special gigs around the release which are must-go shows.

Next Calories Show: 5th Feb

Calories: Fuck Yule

We haven't made much of a big deal of this but we've made a Christmas disc and we're giving it away tonight at this gig>>>>
if you'reading this after the fact then here's the tracklisting that I forgot to put in with the cd

Fuck Yule: Vol 1
1. Fuck Yule
2. Xmas Marks The Spot
3.Christmas Keeps On Coming

Merry Crispmas

Pedix

Calories on MFM's Best Of 2009 List

Calories clock in at #36 in Music Fan Mic's Top 50 of 2009

A frantic, adolescent take on the highs of youth and life on the edge. “Adventuring is dangerous but danger can be fun” is the reckless motto of the title-track and the music behind is just scavenging and unafraid. Far from slick and professional but quite the start to a potentially fantastic career.

Calories play a hometown show at Birmingham's Island Bar on December 23.

Calories EP Review

Check out this review of the recent Calories EP from Clicky Clicky plus news of future Calories releases.

Calories vs Slow Club

The following are all stolen from Rebecca Slow Club's twitter. Sometimes guys I really like the internets and the wonders it can bring forth.

edit: please note we're not taking this at all seriously, and we certainly don't think Rebecca is a cow. It's just REALLY FUNNY. REALLY REALLY FUNNY. Seriously, I love Slow Club. Their set at Latitude was just to die for. <333333

SO ANGRY the name 'Calories' for a band is taken and they r SHIT. SO UPSET

about 1 hour ago from web

oh ppl are mad cos i said they were shit. maybe they are not but im too bored to listen to anymore. sorry.
39 minutes ago from web

GOD world sorry Calories are great
38 minutes ago from web

oh, now im worried i started band beef. i didn't mean it Calories. i'm a massive cow in a shit band. there i said it for you.
35 minutes ago from web

Its just that your band name is SO GOOD and im jealous. cos im that kinda girl.
32 minutes ago from web

Calories release a new EP through Big Scary Monsters next Monday, and new album Habitations will follow through us early next year. Slow Club are ace and their album Yeah So is out now via Moshi Moshi.

STA BSM Joint Releases Pre-Order-A-Rama

The previously announced new co-releases with Big Scary Monsters - the brand new 4 track CDEP from Calories in limited edition denim sleeve with badge and the ASIWYFA ultra-limited split 3" CD with Talons are now both available for pre-order from the easy-on-the-eye BSM store. Calories is £5 while ASI vs Talons is £3 so with P&P you get change from a tenner for two of November's coolest releases. We're sold!

New Calories EP - 12th November & Free Download

Calories return on November 12th with a new EP - 4 brand new tracks that will NOT be appearing on next year's 2nd album Habitations. This is a super-limited co-release in special denim packaging (huh?) between ourselves and Big Scary Monsters in conjunction with a week of dates for bands from both rosters - joining Calories are BSM's Youves, Holy State and Shapes. You've already seen the tour poster so here's a Monday morning exclusive for you of the EP artwork - which we recommend, for best results, is washed at 30 degrees.


The tracklisting is:
1.Let's Pretend That We're Older (download now as a free MP3)
2.Arm A Leg
3.Expect The Language
4.Hands Off....

The artwork is by a girl called Yvette Young who Calories know from Myspace - befriend them today and who knows where it could take you!

Ordering details will be online in the coming days however the only way to guarantee yourself a copy of the EP is to get it from a show...

The dates are:
04 Nov - York City Screen
05 Nov - Nottingham The Bodega
06 Nov - Brighton The Freebutt buy tickets
07 Nov - Southampton Lennons
08 Nov - Reading Oakford Social Club
09 Nov - Birmingham The Flapper
10 Nov - London Barfly buy tickets

More Shakin' Stevens-friendly propaganda to follow.

BSM Lovefest Part 2: New Calories Single

STA Newsletter - September 2009

I type from a very hot store cupboard where STA Autumn/Winter CD Samplers are being burnt and printed crisply ahead of tonight's (24^th Sep) Club: STA launch in Belfast, you want news… we got news! >>

1. [LIVE] And So I Watch You From Afar, 4 Or 5 Magicians, Calories, The Moi Non Plus, Club:STA (Belfast & London) and City Of Song Festival (Derry)

2. [ONLINE] STA On Spotify

3. [ORDER] Let Our Enemies Beware – ‘Against Karate’ – Debut Album Launch Gig Special Offer!

4. [GOSSIP] ASIWYFA New EP and STA Speaks @ In The City…

(This month's photograph: ASIWYFA @ AU Party, Belfast – Courtesy AU Mag)

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1. [LIVE] And So I Watch You From Afar, 4 Or 5 Magicians, Calories, The Moi Non Plus, Club:STA (Belfast) and City Of Song Festival (Derry)

ASIWYFA back on the road this month ahead of their support tour with This Will Destroy You in October ----- 4 Or 5 Magicians are gearing up for their debut album tour with Times New Viking, Japandroids and Johnny Foreigner support slots ----- fresh from the studio Calories announce a Youves co-headline run of shows ----- new STA signings The Moi Non Plus hit the UK to take on In The City amongst others ----- Winnebago Deal come to our side of the water to launch Club:STA in Belfast ----- Club:STA in London hosts Shapes and Ice Sea Dead People @ The Good Ship ----- STA’s City Of Song Festival kicks off this weekend in Derry >>

SEPTEMBER 2009

24 And So I Watch You From Afar - Cardiff , Barfly

24 4 Or 5 Magicians – Brighton, The Freebutt

24 (CLUB:STA) Winnebago Deal & LaFaro – The Menagerie, Belfast

(FIRST FIFTY IN GET FREE STA 10 TRACK EXCLUSIVE SAMPLER)

25 And So I Watch You From Afar - Liverpool, The Masque

26 And So I Watch You From Afar – Birmingham, The Flapper

26 Let Our Enemies Beware – Lewisham, Fox & Firkin

26 Ice, Sea, Dead People - Brighton, The Hobgoblin

27 And So I Watch You From Afar – Sheffield, The Corporation

28 And So I Watch You From Afar – York, Fibbers

29 And So I Watch You From Afar – Manchester, Moho Live

30 And So I Watch You From Afar – Dundee, Fat Sams

OCTOBER 2009

01 And So I Watch You From Afar – Aberdeen, Tunnels

02 And So I Watch You From Afar – Glasgow, The Twisted Wheel

03 And So I Watch You From Afar – Edinburgh, GRV

03 (CLUB:STA) Shapes, Ice Sea Dead People, Instruments & Illness - London, The Good Ship

03 Ice, Sea, Dead People – London, The Good Ship

07 And So I Watch You From Afar – Preston, The Mad Ferrit

08 And So I Watch You From Afar – Newcastle, WHQ

09 Ice, Sea, Dead People London - Unit 3XXX

10 4 Or 5 Magicians – London, The Garage

11 And So I Watch You From Afar – Dublin, Whelans

12 4 Or 5 Magicians, Brighton - Hectors House

16 And So I Watch You From Afar – Plymouth, White Rabbit

16 The Moi Non Plus – London, White Heat @ the Lexington

17 And So I Watch You From Afar - Milton Keynes, Pitz Club

18 And So I Watch You From Afar - Brighton, Audio

18 The Moi Non Plus - Manchester, In The City

19 And So I Watch You From Afar - Birmingham, Academy

19 4 Or 5 Magicians - Brighton, Oxjam @ Hanbury Club

20 And So I Watch You From Afar - Leicester, Firebug

20 The Moi Non Plus - New York , Cakeshop / Subbacultcha! CMJ Showcase

20 Ice, Sea, Dead People - London Tom Robinson's, 'Fresh On The Net' Festival @ Riverside Studios

21 And So I Watch You From Afar - London, Camden Underworld

21 The Moi Non Plus - New York, Piano's CMJ Dayparty

22 And So I Watch You From Afar - Nottingham, Rock City

23 And So I Watch You From Afar - Glasgow, Ivory Blacks

23 Illness - Southampton, The Hobbit

24 And So I Watch You From Afar - Leeds, Damnation Festival @ University Of Leeds

26 The Moi Non Plus - New York, WFMU Radio / Beastin' The Airwaves CMJ Showcase

27 4 Or 5 Magicians - London, White Heat @ Madame JoJos

27 Calories - London, Scala

28 Calories - Brighton, Audio

29 Illness - Brighton, Caroline Of Brunswick

31 4 Or 5 Magicians - Barnstaple, Inn On The Square

City Of Song Festival 24-26 September – Various Venues, Derry

Lineup includes: Valerie Francis, Pocket Promise, Clown Parlour, Daveit Ferris, Gentry Morris, Jackson Cage, Johanna Fagan, John Shelly & The Creatures, Johnny Black, Kitty & The Can Openers, Matt McGinn, Mel Wiggins, Pixie Saytar, Rachel Austin, Ray Dunn, Shauna Tohill & Tom McShane

Myself and Stephen McCauley (Radio Ulster – Electric Mainline) will be spinning discs at the launch night at The Bound For Boston – Thursday, 24^th September - Visuals by F21. Holy Shit Batman! That’s tonight!

All events are FREE – programme details can be found on the official City Of Song Website – hosted by our festival partners Music 55-7.

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2. [ONLINE] STA On Spotify

You can now stream a large portion of the STA catalogue via Spotify – as well as releases from our peers, friends and influences (Holy Roar, Big Scary Monsters, Ecstatic Peace!, Woodsist, Paw Tracks, Monotreme, Anticon…). A good day indeed for independent listening.

Elsewhere on the interweb this month>>

• [PICS] ASIWYFA secret show shut down by the cops – in pictures…
• [AUDIO] Moi Non Plus/Subbacultcha’s STA Blogcast Takeover
• [FREE DOWNLOAD] 4 Or 5 Magicians’ oxymoronic ‘Nice Little Earner’ free digital download & video
• [VIDEO] STA Presents: The Terrordactyls
  
• [WORDS] Alan MX on the importance of reading books
• [PICS] Fighting With Wire Album 2 News
• [VIDEO] Dan Ormsby on Scott Walker

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3. [ORDER] Let Our Enemies Beware – ‘Against Karate’ – Debut Album Launch Details

Awesome, spine-tingling math-darkcore by Medway quartet LOEB, several years in gestation – the album is finally unleashed on an unsuspecting public. You need this record in your life – it is absolutely fantastic, trust us.

THE ALBUM LAUNCH is tomorrow (Saturday 26th September) at The Fox’n’Firkin in Lewisham. You should be there. If travel is a problem there will be a coach from Medway. Contact STA for the deets:

Album Tracklisting:

1. I Am Lono

2. Pow! Right In The Kisser!

3. Personal Space Invaders

4. Fools! Philistines! Heretics And Whores!

5. Between Us And The Sun

6. Noise Equals Death

7. I'm Not Laughing I'm Choking

8. Inhale: Sleep

9. Momento Mori

All album orders for the next seven days (until October 1^st inclusive) will get a free copy of Daniel’s lovingly handmade, ‘Pow! Right In The Kisser!’ single.

4. [GOSSIP] ASIWYFA New EP and STA Speaks @ In The City…

And So I Watch You From Afar have finished mixing their next release – entitled ‘The Letters EP’ – you will not be disappointed ----- Fighting With Wire have decamped to Nashville to begin work on second album, song titles include ‘Erase’, ‘Graduate’ and ‘Fire Away’ ----- Alan MX has been working with New Yorker Brad Walsh on some new collaborative material ----- Ice, Sea Dead People's debut album is back from Chicago and sounds INCREDIBLE ----- LaFaro are putting finishing touches to their debut album in Bangor, Northern Ireland ----- Calories have recorded a second bunch of songs to conclude their ‘Habitations’ set, according to Tom Calories "it's amazing" ---- Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking, you can hear me talk about running a record label at Oh Yeah – Belfast (25/09/09), Hot Press Music Show – Dublin (04/10/09), BarCamp – Derry (10/10/09) and In The City – Manchester (20/10/09) – please come and say hi!

Thanks for reading,

Andrew, Ash, Daniel, Brian & Charlene

Twitter Blog Myspace Facebook LastFM

Calories Online Car Boot Sale Part 2

Pete Calories is back with more hard-to-resist bargains

We've been busy recording new tracks over the summer for our forthcoming EP with Big Scary Monsters (more details on that to follow) so we thought it was time for a bit of "in with the new and out with the old" style action.

SALE>>>

You, dearest and beloved reader can have a piece of said action in the form of cut price merchendise, we've dashed our prices to £6 a t-shirt and £6 an album or £10 for both, they're both nearly sold out so if want 'em you'd best act fast.

ALBUM STREAMING>>>

We've uploaded the whole of Adventuring for you to stream whilst you browse our store, try before you buy you know? we won't have these tracks up forever as we'll no doubt be adding tracks from the new album in the coming months.

Lots of love

Pete "This time next year we'll be millionaires" Dixon

Calories Online Car Boot Sale Part 1

Getting into the Bank Holiday spirit, Calories have opened the boot and have some fine musical wares on sale if any readers are in the market for guitar and amps. Over to Honest Pete for the patter...

Any of you that know me well enough will know that I really like talking about equipment and being a nerd generally, so this is a bit of a sad time for me, I've decided to let some of my equipment go, I'm selling all this stuff to buy a new bass that will hopefully fill the void left behing from this purging.

If you're interested in buying any of this stuff send us a message or a comment and we'll talk, I can put the item up on our BIG CARTEL page so you could have it in your mitts by the next day. Incase you don't know ono = or nearest offer.

Pete

FENDER TELECASTER (with soft case) £150 (ono)

FOR SALE: Mexican Fender Telecaster Serial Number: MN624710
It's a 1996 model, I've had it since I was at school so obviously there's a few dings and a wear mark at the top, I think it's kinda cool though, two of the saddles have been replaced. I'll take the sticker off and clean it up too obviously.

FENDER ULTIMATE CHORUS £200 (ono)

This amp is great, it's loud and clear with enough options to get the sound your after but not so much it'll give you a headache.
It's the best amp I've used in a band, but I play bass now so I don't really need it anymore.
Specs:2 x12 Fender speakers, Reverb,Stereo chorus,Switchable mid booost,FX send & Return. Stereo or Mono 130 watt RMS Mono or 65 Watt Stereo, Each channel has it's own volume, reverb and tone controls(treble,mid and bass) with the foot switch supplying the chorus effect and channel switching (clean-overdrive)

ASHDOWN MAG 600 £250 (ono)

I've barely used this amp since I bought it last year, I no longer have any use for it.

HERE'S WHAT SOMEONE ELSE SAID ABOUT IT:

Ashdown's MAG Series has been developed for the busy semi pro player who doesn't require all the sophisticated tone shaping and connectivity of Ashdown's flagship ABM range.

Two brand new additions to the MAG Series are being shown at NAMM 2005.
The MAG 600 head provides a massive 600 watts of power and offers a wealth of tonal variation through its simple but effective 5 band EQ section. Rotary Bass, Middle and Treble controls are supplemented by additional rotary controls centred on frequencies of 220Hz and 1.6kHz – each providing 15dB of cut and boost for complete signal contouring.

Further tonal possibilities are possible via front panel push switches for 'Deep' and 'Bright' modes. When engaged, 'Deep' mode provides a warm, rounded quality while 'Bright' mode gives extra bite and attack. Low frequency performance is further enhanced by the onboard sub harmonic generator, which delivers earth-shattering levels of bottom end response.

Passive and Active instrument inputs are standard, along with an effects send and return, tuner/line output and a balanced DI output for direct patching to a mixing console.

The front panel line up is completed by Ashdown's trademark retro style illuminated VU meter, which monitors input level.

Truck 2009

Last weekend was an STA-heavy one for the lucky 5,000 Truckers on lovely Hill Farm in Steventon on the outskirts of Oxford. Much doffing of caps go to Darren, Tim and the rest of the team at Rock Sound for curating the immense barn of rock on the Sunday which saw shred from Calories and also - one of only a couple of bands who aren't called Sky Larkin or who included members of Supergrass in the line-up that still had folks queuing up outside to get in the oversubscribed barn - ASIWYFA, both of whom played new material that went down predictably well, alongside powerhouse sets from Pulled Apart By Horses (at last new songs! one of 'em sounds like Nirvana!) and The Joy Formidable.

Swerving off roster for a moment, anyone who hasn't seen Glasweigan post-electro glitchgroovers Errors on Mogwai's Rock Action imprint are strongly advised to check them out; incredible!

And let's not forget a too-brief Backlash Cop heavy laprock set from Andrew Ferris. Check out the video if it's on YouTube yet to see why a few hundred people left the Village Pub stage wondering if they'd really just witnessed what they thought they had.

A bit late I know but here's the pre-Truck feature that ran in the August issue of Rock Sound.

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.

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!