| individuals run for cover, for the multitudes of thoughtless clones have reached a critical mass... |
[04 Jun 2006|09:52pm] |
Come to Solid Air at The Green Room tomorrow and pick up your free copy of the new zu-bean records sampler:
Tracklist:
01. Janie Jones - Adam Boucher
02. Scene Beside The Sea - Ian Lory
03. Man In The Bathroom (Metal version) - The Poet Hi-Ho
The line-up for The Green Room:
Adam Boucher, Ian Lory, The Poet Hi-Ho... zu-bean possee in full effect plus Matt Collier, Glenn Ross, Safety In Numbers & Luke Oneski.
Entry is a mere £2 and it opens at 8pm. zu-bean merch will be available to buy at the entrance. nice.
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| Thatcher fucked the kids... |
[21 May 2006|07:28pm] |
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music |
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Frank Turner, Minor Threat, Bad Religion & Pearl Jam |
] |
I played at the Opera House last night, opening up for The Waves, Dawn Chorus, Open Room & Rushing With Apathy. They've installed a permanant barricade in front of the stage, which was very odd to play in front of. Made it feel more like a real gig...
My set was ok. I enjoyed it but the crowd were only just warming up (always a problem being the first act on) and I did ramble a lot! Lots of talking bollocks between songs. Note to self: stop talking! Here's the setlist:
To Have And To Have Not (Billy Bragg cover)
Talking Crematorium Blues
Growing Up And Getting Out
Exceptions
When The Huntsman Comes A Marchin' (Chris TT cover)
Yesterday
Somewhere In Between
I think I pissed of the Wave's manager. Oh well, nevermind.
Here's a lovely photo of the crowd:
The slighlty odd setup meant that everyone had to go down a side alley and up some stairs to enter the back room, as there were tribute acts in the main room. This meant that my friends missed most of my set as the doormen had no idea anything other than the tribute acts was going on! Talk about clueless.
Here's Dawn Chorus:
Everyone go and check out their website: thedawnchorus.com
Top blokes and they played an excellent set. Wasn't too keen on the other bands but Dawn Chorus were fantastic.
A lovely photo of some people enjoying Rushing With Apathy (barricade not looking very necessary!):
When the gig was over we (Ian, Matt & Sarah) headed downstairs to catch the end of The Doors tribute... hmm.
They were shit, but then I'm not a big doors fan. The singer was doing a slightly camp version of Jim Morrison. Slighlty depressing to see a much larger crowd downstairs for the tribute acts. To me that sums up the Bournemouth music scene. People would much rather pay money for a tribute act and songs they know than to check out new music.
We bumped into Vinny from Maine Street, who was a wee bit tipsy... Got lots of photos of him dancing which I may use as blackmail material in the future! :-)
Ian & Vinny.. a lovely couple:
A very bizarre end to the night, made all the weirder by meeting Ricardo, who is the cleaner where I work and is also now working at The Opera House... random:
Also bumped into someone I used to see at The Villa years ago. So if you're reading this, hi Dean. Great to see you again.
So overall a good night. I really have to stop talking so much onstage though!
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| A simple scale on an old guitar, and a punk rock sense of honesty... |
[17 May 2006|09:03pm] |
| [ |
music |
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Frank Turner, Pearl Jam, Crusty Records Comp |
] |
It has arrived:
A 28 track antifolk comp... My contribution is a song called 'Corey Feldman's Girlfriend'. Written ages ago and left on the shelf, slighlty unfinished. Dusted off and completed when this comp came up. Recorded at Studio Zu all on my lonesome in January of this year. A slighlty fuller sound with bass, percussion and harmonica on top of the usual acoustic styleee... nice.
I'll have copies for sale soon. Check out crusty records to order a copy direct from the label.
Much shittier news... I'm not playing The Wychwood Festival anymore. Seems things have gone totally tits up with the promoter. Dissapointing, but I saw it coming a mile off so it's not too gutting.
Got Frank Turner's new ep 'Campfire Punk Rock' today and it's excellent. Everyone go out and buy it now!
frank-turner.com
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| And in all the madness thought becomes numb and naive... |
[13 May 2006|07:42pm] |
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music |
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Sepultura, Pearl Jam, Goo Goo Dolls, Smashing Pumpkins |
] |
Yesterday saw the first recording session for The Poet Hi-Ho's 3rd album... Along for the session at Studio Zu was Mr Ian Lory. Not the most productive of sessions but we'll get there eventually!
Click below for a wee video clip of the proceedings...
youtube clip mofo!
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| Your future's in an oblong box... |
[05 May 2006|09:49am] |
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music |
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Pearl Jam, Kneejerk, Misfits |
] |
The Hobbit, Southampton - Saturday 29th April 2006
Oh dear...
They did get my name right on the chalk board in the toilets though. Not a great start. Very Spinal Tap...
Not the best of gigs. Audience reaction was about nil. Pete & John from Twinset seemed to enjoy it though! I was in full on "fuck you lot, I'm gonna have fun even if you aren't" mode. So I had a good time. Didn't play great. There was no room to move around on stage. Twinset's drummer uses a full on Queensryche style drum kit, which took up the whole stage. I was stood on some crates covered over with a board... nice. It definitely seemed like it was about to fall apart when I finished my set.
Got some crowd reaction on 'Somewhere In Between'. Thanks to the guy who freely shouted out that he had diarrhea and syphilis... nice. Ended the set by running into the audience... pulled out my guitar chord along the way and carried on busker style...
Sadly I missed Twinset's set, as they weren't going on until the wee small hours. Didn't think much of Red Glory. Let's just say they're not my cup of tea and leave it at that.
Centre Stage, Westbourne - Tuesday 2nd May 2006
Better gig. Odd venue. Seemed a bit cabaret (it's more known as a comedy club). I went on last at about 10.30ish. I liked the opening act a lot. Can't remember her name though! Reminded me of Hannah Bingman, albeit with a northern English accent. If anyone knows who she is, please let me know.
Here's another act whose name escapes me right now. American Hi-fi style pop punk:
My set went pretty well. Opened with a cover of 'Jerusalem' by Dan Bern, which went great. Had a good anti-southampton bonding with the audience type in between song banter... Got Hi-Ho up for 'Garageland'... by the end I could barely play for laughing so hard and the audience seemed equally affected :-) Lots of fun. Really enjoyable gig.
The lovely audience, a bit thinned out:
Here's Olly doing his best compere impression:
Other news
- Crusty Records comp coming soon... keep em peeled.
- I'm working on a Hi-Ho dvd for release on zu-bean records. Nearly finished.
- Paul plays a mean ukulele
- Pearl Jam's new album is fucking excellent
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| I passed a cow and the cow was brown... |
[10 Apr 2006|10:19am] |
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Went to see Skindred at The Opera House last night. Excellent gig. Support bands bored the hell out of me but Skindred were amazing. Didn't seem to play for very long though... Funny to see the Opera House security trying to keep the pit under control. One of them jumped into it at one point to flex his muscle and ended up getting pushed about by everyone. He then sheepishly moved to the edge of the circle to pretend he was 'overseeing' things before pissing off again! Classic.
Forgot to mention that at my gig the other night, my phone broke. It still recieves calls but the screen has died entirely so I can't read texts or owt... so apologies if I don't reply to people. I'm not being rude, honest!
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| I'm bored of this town, bored of this scene, bored of these people, yeah... |
[09 Apr 2006|10:41am] |
| [ |
music |
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Frank Turner, Hamell On Trial |
] |
So, The Gander on Thursday... I had a great time! Always the way when things have seemd a bit crap. Things haven't been interesting me that much solo-acoustic wise for a while. It kinda feels like I'm just going through the motions mostly. However, I packed up my guitars, merch and camera and headed down to the Gander to play the gig anyway. I've often found that the gigs I can't be fucked to play turn out the best.
Arrived about 8ish and as usual with gigs, things were running late. Lots of standing around... waiting. Everyone was really friendly though rather than the usual standoffish (is that a word?) or plain indifferent that I'm mostly used to.
So I got up and played my set. The crowd reaction wasn't great but they were listening. It felt like Gabby, her band and Frank Turner were the ones really paying attention. That shifted as the set went on and most people were at least watching even if they hated me. I did a lot of leaping off the stage and into where the crowd should be.. y'know... like at proper gigs when people stand at the front rather than sit at tables at the back of the room!
Thank heavens for my long guitar lead! Maybe I should go wireless! It can feel kind of gimmicky to jump off the stage, but it mostly works in getting peoples attention. I've not done it much before. It has to feel right.
I think my setlist went something like this:
To Have And To Have Not
Talking Crematorium Blues
Growing Up And Getting Out
Exceptions
Yesterday
The Ballad Of Rupert Murdoch
The Crowd
Somewhere In Between
Garageland
First time out for The Ballad Of Rupert Murdoch... went down a treat. I asked who in the room didn't have a myspace account... nobody! Every fucking one of us had one! But at least we all made it out of our homes to interact with other human beings in person!
Wasn't going to play The Crowd but Gabby was really cool and just let me play more so I stretched out the set. Always a good thing, someone (Frank) knew who Operation Ivy were!
So all in all it was a fun set for me. Lots of talking bollocks and not one quiet song. Don't know why but I've not played the quieter stuff like Stitch Together for ages now...
Frank Turner's set was fantastic. Really great. I strongly recommend you all check him out. If you like acoustic music with guts (as opposed to pappy James Blunt style shite) you owe it to yourself to take a listen.
The Gabby Young Collective finished up the night and were also fantastic. It's great to play on a bill where the line-up is so good. Gabby was ill and had a dodgy voice but you really wouldn't have known from the way she sang. Faultless. Her band were really on it too. Really tight.
I had a really great night. Swapped cds with Frank (his is amazing, haven't stopped listening to it since) and got a free t-shirt from Gabby, which I will be wearing as much as possible in the future.
To top it all off, just as I was all packed up and ready to go the sound guy played Whiplash by Metallica :-)
Perfect night.
Check out these lovely websites:
gabbyyoung.com
frank-turner.com
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| forgive me while I plaster on a fake smile and plough through this shit one more time... |
[03 Apr 2006|09:48pm] |
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music |
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Led Zeppelin & Therapy? |
] |
Today I dug out my les paul. I was thinking about selling it since I never ever play it. Now I'm not so sure. I may keep it after all!
I also attempted to fix my amp, which has been wonky for ages. It's a little bit less poorly now but not fixed entirely.
I'm pretty down on the solo acoustic thing right now. It varies... most times I'm not interested. After a good gig I'm happy again. Maybe it's time to shake things up a bit... we'll see... music is supposed to be fun after all right?
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| A guy wearing plastic antlers, presses his bum against the glass... |
[18 Mar 2006|01:40pm] |
Update Part 2
The Opera House - 12th March 2006 - Supporting Thomas Truax
So I played the Opera House last week. An odd gig really. Very frustrating. I was working during the day so I ended up rushing around to get ready in time to get to the venue and soundcheck. Got there about 6.30ish and the headliners Perico were only just soundchecking! Always the way... so I pottered around a bit. Chatted to the guys from A+E Line and Thomas Truax. Warmed up on my guitars (It was fucking cold in there and it didn't warm up at all).
Here's a slightly naff photo of Thomas Truax soundchecking. It was quite dark so it didn't come out great!
The doors were meant to open at 7.30 but they didn't, although a few of my friends and also my girlfriend were let in. Lots of waiting around really... Had a quick soundcheck whilst worrying about the proximity of Thomas' one-of-a-kind fragile home made instruments!
Here's me soundchecking. A rare glimpse of me playing my backup guitar:
It was a big gig for me and I had to draw 25 people to get paid. I wasn't aware of this when I booked the gig. I was just told I needed to bring 25 people. Never mind though, I'm used to not being paid! I ended up bringing in 16 people. A few sick notes and usual assorted apologies... a shame, but 16 people is great for me, especially as I was the opening act.
Here's my setlist:
Rockstar Junkyard
Talking Crematorium Blues
The Crowd
Yesterday
Somewhere In Between
Garageland
My set was weird. Practically everyone sat down or took up position along the length of the bar. Big thanks as usual to Paul and Kerrie who stood at the front and the A+E Line and some peeps (I think) from Perico who also came to the front instead of cowering at the back! As such there really wasn't much atmosphere. I got a good response but it was just all a bit weird. It frustrated the hell out of me. I played ok but just couldn't get into it. I spent most of the time in between songs slagging off the audience for showing no signs of life. It was meant in jest, but I'm not sure anyone got that, except Paul & Kerrie, who know me well enough.
At the end of Somewhere In Between I walked off the stage and into the 'crowd'. That seemed to make them pay more attention. My guitar cable got stuck though, so I couldn't head as far out as I wanted.
Got Si Genaro up for an impromptu version of Garageland. This was really the highpoint (usually is). Things just clicked on this song and I started really enjoying myself. Right at the very end of the song I broke a string. Literally the last chord. So I did what anyone else would do and leapt over the monitors and into the crowd to end the set.
It all culminated in me taking off my guitar and hurling it back onto the stage. Never done it before, don't plan on doing it again. However, it worked a treat and was totally spur of the moment. It was the end of the set and I needed some kind of release and the next thing I know I've slung the guitar onto the stage. I think it hit the monitor and bounced off. I'm not sure, it's a big blur. Somewhere in all of this I broke a second string... My guitar now has some lovely dents, but thankfully it's still in one piece!
So, set over I went back out into the crowd to enjoy the rest of the night. It's only in hindsight that my frustration at the gig has come out. It was cool... but annoying. I've played mostly in your face punk sets lately and this seemed to be the culmination. No quiet songs and quite aggressive.
Thomas Truax was fantastic. His set was amazing and made the whole night totally worthwhile. He had the audience in the palm of his had through the whole of his set.
He's also a top bloke. Really friendly and it was great to meet him. Everyone go check out his website:
thomastruax.com
It was a good night overall and great to see so many people come out to see me. Thanks to everyone who came and showed their support. There are loads of pictures of the gig up on the live gallery on my website. Thanks as usual to my lovely girl kerrie and also to Paul for taking the photos. I have some footage of Garageland that I may post at some point. Sadly it cuts off at the third verse so my clichéd rock and roll tantrum at the end will have to enter into folklore without any video or photographic evidence!
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| Civilisation? Ha! I call it as I see it, I call it bullshit, you know, I still cannot believe it... |
[02 Mar 2006|07:44pm] |
Last night's gig at the gander was pretty cool. I played an ok set. Nothing special and a wee bit ropey to say the least. But then I've only played one other gig so far this year.
It was the Gander Re-Launch party. I wasn't expecting much but they seem to have managed to instill some atmosphere into the place. It's starting to feel like a venue again. Still not a patch on the original Gander, but you make do with what you have...
I went on second after Dave Warren, who ended his set with a bit of rock n roll mandolin theatrics. Like I said, my set wasn't great. Here's the setlist:
Train Train
Talking Crematorium Blues
The Crowd
Exceptions
Yesterday
Somewhere In Between
Garageland
Hadn't planned on playing Train Train but I was making the set up as I went. The Crowd is an Operation Ivy song I've been toying around with for awhile now. It went ok. A few forggoten words but the intent was there. I got Si Genaro and The Poet Hi-Ho up for Garageland and that really turned the set around. Hi-Ho's dancing inspired me to ad-lib a line from 'Sex Farm' by Spinal Tap. It was filmed (along with The Crowd and some other bits) so hopefully it may see the light of day eventually.
So not a great set but it served its purpose of a warm up for my gig at The Opera House on March 12th.
Here's some photos from the night:
Hi-Ho enjoying Fearne's set:
Hi-Ho and the guitarist from Voodoo Vegas:
The fantastic Genaro Project with Rikmax:
The Genaro Project were excellent. Everyone head over to their myspace page and have a listen:
myspace.com/thegenaroproject
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| it's just the routine and the repetition... |
[22 Feb 2006|05:35pm] |
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music |
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Less Than Jake |
] |
Yesterday I bought doorstops. The week before last I bought a matress. Does this make me an adult?
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| They call it a scene, I call it disaster. Down here the kids grow up faster... |
[20 Feb 2006|03:19pm] |
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music |
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Ramones, Hamell On Trial, The Clash, Operation Ivy |
] |
Went to see Instill at The Opera House last night. They were really good, though their set was far too short. One of the support bands Cedar Falls was also excellent. Check them out at:
myspace.com/thecedarfallsband
Didn't think much of the other two acts though. The first were tight but didn't move at all and the other act was just bad comedy. Everyone else seemed to like them though, so what do I know?
The venue was way smaller than I remember it but still pretty cool (it was upstairs in Benedicts, not the main room). Reminded me of my days at The Villa. Surrounded by kids, a lot of which had clearly had too much red bull (or vodka red bull if they managed to get hold of some vodka!). Man, I'm getting old! The moment Instill finished the venue cleared as everyone went to call their parents... I assume...
A good night in all. I went with my mate Paul, who played me some of his new riffs afterwards. Someone needs to get him in a band, now!
Anyone who is off in the day, check out BBC 1 at 2.35. They've started showing Monk in the afternoon detective slot! The sharp eyed among you may have spotted I have a Monk sticker on my guitar. Monk kicks ass. It would appear that the BBC are finally realising this too.
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| I believe in this & it's been tested by research, he who fucks nuns will later join the church... |
[16 Feb 2006|10:08am] |
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music |
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The Ramones, The Clash, Billy Bragg, Blink 182, Minor Threat |
] |
Well howdy folks. Just got back from a trip to Amsterdam with my girlfriend. By christ it was fucking cold! Had a great time though.
Saw lots of really cool stuff, and most importantly, met a new donkey friend! They had a city farm, which basically equated to a courtyard with horses, sheep etc surrounded by residential blocks!
Here's a photo of the cool donkey (Goebuss... not sure of the spelling or the pronounciation though! Sounded scarily close to Goebels!):
It snowed on the Saturday, though you can't see it in the photos I took!
It was my birthday yesterday. I turned the grand old age of 26. Got some excellent presents. My girlfriend got me some more records to add to my collection. CDs are great for their lack of faff, but there's nothing like owning albums on vinyl. Here's a selection of my kick ass pressies:
I also got 'It's Alive' by The Ramones on cd from my folks. Bit of a Ramones fest lately!
I dusted off and restrung my SG yesterday. It finally seems to have settled and is in tune for the time being! I always want to play more electric guitar. I never seem to write many songs on it though. We'll see.
Not much else to say at the moment. I've added some video footage to my page on myspace. Everyone go check it out:
myspace.com/adamboucher
A reminder also that I'm playing The Opera House supporting Thomas Truax on March 12th. Tickets are £5. Everyone please come along and support me on this one. It's a big gig for me and it'd be much appreciated.
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| Here comes the future and you can't run from it, If you've got a blacklist I wanna be on it... |
[30 Jan 2006|11:23am] |
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music |
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Ramones, Billy Bragg & Machine Head |
] |
So my gig at The Cobden Club went brilliantly. Nice venue and a nice big empty stage for me to roam around on. Can't say everyone was all that friendly. Most of the other acts were. The Webb Sisters in particular were really cool to me.
The day started at work. I couldn't get the whole day off so I had to work a half day then cycle home, get ready and then head out to catch the coach to London. Thank heavens for the 'funfare' rates on National Express! £1 each way. Fantastic! Made sure to take my minidisc to avoid boredom on the 2 1/2 hour journey. Not the most scenic journey. Lots of concrete, bridges and generally dull stuff:
I was met at Victoria by my host for the night Mr Nevski (Steve). Toddled off to find the venue and arrange meeting up with Katie (Skilling - incredibley talented singer/songwriter who you all should be aware of by now - if not, shame on you!). Steve went off to meet Sarah in a pub near the station and I went into the venue to get ready.
Soundchecked around 7ish. All the other acts were incredibley polished and professional. Asking for a little be more reverb or some such luxury we mostly don't get in Bourenmouth! My soundcheck lasted all of 5 minutes. Plug in... play 'loud mode', play 'quiet mode', sing a bit. End. What more is needed really?!
Then I went and hid backstage in the green room (it was actually green). Called my girlfriend for a chat and to let her know I didn't die on the way (always a good thing!).
Met Katie outside the venue a wee bit after. Hung around inside for a bit before realising we didn't have any money on us and foolishly set off to find a cashpoint in the rather scummy surrounding area. Had no luck whatsover and promptly went back to the venue before we could take a wrong turn and get lost or mugged, whichever happened first.
We discovered how absurdly expensive the drinks were anyway and promptly stayed on tap water the whole night. They must have loved us!. Steve & Sarah arrived and we all ajourned to the seats directly in front of the stage. The nerves started hitting me about then. The first act Katina Kangaris was pretty cool. Very Regina Specktor, although she had never heard of her. At one point I almost saw more than I needed to as she was sat down at a keyboard wearing a skirt. Could have been interesting. The monitors obscured everyone elses view. Katie and I posed for a few photos. I proceeded to look either a)stoned b)pissed or c)extremely tired and ugly in all of them. This was the best of a poor bunch!:
The compere guy managed to fuck up royally and introduce me one act too soon. Twat. I was sat in the audience and suddenly realised his introduction was about me! I raced backstage to get ready/try and tell someone that they'd fucked up. Eventually he realised and stopped slagging me for not be ready and admitted that he'd cocked up, not me! My nerves settled a bit then and I started warming up. Katie came backstage and chatted. Panic over!
I was down to play two sets. Really odd. Never liked the idea of splitting sets. I'm defintley an artist who does better building a pace. Set the tone for my set by saying "Hi my name's Adam and I'm going to say 'fuck' a lot". I played two songs in the first set:
Stitch Together
To Have And To Have Not (Billy Bragg cover)
The audience response was great, particularly after 'To Have And To Have Not'. It's nice to have an audience pay attention, and to every act too. I fucked up a few lines but nothing major then trundled backstage to wait for my next set. Katie came backstage again. My nerves had gone away by this point and I was happily strumming away in the cramped dressing room while Katie took some photos.
My second set closed the night. I played three songs to a slightly depleted audience (most had clearly come for the one act and then fucked off):
Exceptions
Yesterday
Somewhere In Between
I was nice and relaxed. Talked bollocks. Always a good thing. I seemed to be the only act using the whole stage and talking in between songs. The vibe for everyone else was kind of 'mock industry showcase' (I think everyone except me had at least a manager in the audience, if not manager and producer and roadie etc etc).
Then that was it! All done. Good response again and I really hit my stride and was flying by the time I got to 'Somewhere In Between'. Managed to get in a dig at the super inflated bar prices too.
So an odd night. I really enjoyed playing and got a good response. I was definitely the odd one out, which was great for me. Didn't feel overly welcomed, excpet by the Webb Sisters and Katina Kangaris.
Said my goodbyes to Katie. Then Steve, Sarah & I headed off to catch the tube. Big huge thanks to Sarah, Steve and Katie for coming along. Even bigger thanks to Steve for putting me up for the night and for feeding me too!
This has to be the longest blog entry I've ever done! Lot's of gigs in the pipeline, inlcuding some festivals and hopefully, another gig in London. Everyone please remember March 12th at The Opera House! Come along & bring everyone you know! Should be a cool night.
I recently recorded an old song of mine for an antifolk compilation on Crusty Records. Stay tuned for more info as an when I get it.
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| D-U-M-B Everyone's accusing me!... |
[19 Jan 2006|07:49pm] |
| [ |
music |
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Ramones, Phoebe Kreutz & Billy Bragg |
] |
I've just got the poster and info through for my March 12th support slot at the Opera House. BIG BIG gig for me. Everyone please come along and show your support. It'd be hugely appreciated. Here's the Details:
Sunday March 12th 2006 - The Opera House, Bournemouth
THOMAS TRUAX
Perico
A+E Line
ME!!
Doors: 7.30pm
Entry: £5
Here's the poster, please download it and spread it around to your hearts content!
POSTER!!! Right click, save target as
Tickets aren't on sale yet but they should be soon!
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| I'm on a roll. I'm on a cheese roll... |
[01 Jan 2006|07:39pm] |
| [ |
music |
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Less Than Jake, Phil Ochs, Langhorne Slim & Phoebe Kreutz |
] |
Happy new year folks! Hope everyone had a great Crimbo and a tip top new year's eve!
Just a quick update to let you all know that the zu-bean records website is finally up!
It's taken a while and will no doubt need tweaking, but it's all looking spiffing!
Everyone go check it out!
zubeanrecords.co.uk
Lots of stuff for you to look at & why not check out the lovely merch we have for sale too!
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