No Trip to LA this week due to small Icelandic volcanoes emitting massive ash clouds! I rebooked my ticket twice, but no luck, I hope I will be back later this year. A lot of people have been affected and although bad, at least I was in London at home, whereas many people have been stranded abroad desperately trying to get home. At crisis times you see the best and worst of people. So I heard stories about people being offered a place to stay by perfect strangers and ferry and train companies hiking up prices for desperate travellers.
On a happy note I saw Little Fish headlining Club NME at Koko on Friday (with Bleech in support who were also great – woo girls with guitars) I was meant to see Little Fish at the Viper Room in LA on Tuesday well as them supporting Hole in LA on Thursday and Friday – but no luck so instead I will see them when they support Hole at Brixton Academy on May 5th. Juju and Nez were lovely when I met them backstage after their show, as well as their new keyboard player Ben.
One lifetime ambition done and dusted for everyone in the band, as we supported the Levellers at Brixton Jamm this weekend. Brixton Jamm is a very decent sized venue and it was totally packed out – one of the biggest shows we have played so far. Mark Chadwick was great and even talked to us before he went on stage (at 2am – rock n’ roll) – no signs of living legend status going to his head. Of course they played my favourite Levellers song ‘One Way’.
We played with some great bands too Guns of Pig Alley, Kenelis, The Tunics, Henry’s Children, Archie Wah Wah’s and Shakellers. It was a party atmosphere right from soundcheck at 4pm to climax at 4am.
Yeah we will have ‘Out of Control’ in Music Week, on the CD of British music that will be given out at Musexpo in LA at the end of April and will hit the shops in the UK next week, as part of the LA trip I am going on April 18th. Can’t wait for that to happen.
Also we have a confirmed slot for Cityshowcase Rocklands – we will be playing at New Cross Inn Friday May 7th, along with headliners Monsters in the Attic, our friends Edit/Select and up and coming bands The Futurists and Shiva. New Cross Inn is one of our favourite venues and I end up playing there solo or with the band on average at least once a month. South London rocks!
We had our online single release party at Camden Monarch on behalf of Club Fandango last night. Lady Doll from Ireland and The Lost Society supported us and they were great, very different from each other. It was also good having two bands in support instead on hundreds of bands which some promoters put on because the atmosphere is a lot less stressed and cattle-like as you feel you have real time with the audience and time to set up and get off stage.
We also got our first few physical copies of the single ‘Out of Control’, (b-side Nobody’s Fool’), released by Lil Minx Records, which was great. Imagetrance had designed the covers for us and it looked great. It really is an amazing feeling to hold a copy of your debut single in your hands – that and live gigs and meeting people/audience is what it’s all about and why you can make it through all the crap that’s thrown at you.
What can I say about making our debut music video for ‘Out of Control’ it was just an awesome experience I have been wanting to make a music video for abut as long as o can remember – being brought up on MTV I love the mixture of film and music my two favourite media – a mini epic in just 3 minutes. Michael Jackson was the one who started it all off with Thriller and Bad – epic fusion music and film-making, not to mention some very nifty dancing!!p
We shot the live footage in Purple Turtle and I had my own make-up artist all day which was great. I could get used to that!
We shot loads of scenes and gigs footage as well as stage diving and other acrobatics – can’t wait to see the finished product.
All the actor and actresses and extras were brilliant – they were so nice and stayed all day until just the right shots got taken and they told me they loved the song, which is always a bonus. A special thanks to the crew and support as well – they work extremely hard to get the right shots which you may only see for a few seconds but really make the video extra special.
This week I was busy planning our debut music video with Alex Sufit of Lexitricity Productions. She directed Aaron and Mordechai’s song “Chalk” which was nominated for Best Music Video at the Rushes Film Festival and recently made “Bad Penny” for Jarmean? Alex is great fun and on the same wavelength we have a treat in store for the video, which will be based on vampires and humans and unrequited love….
Yeah we played Surface Unsigned Battle of the Bands last night and we got through to the second round. We have never played a Battle of the Bands before and it was lots of fun – I even felt like the finalists in X Factor, when they were reading out the results – (the closest I will ever get to X Factor!!) I felt very nervous as did the boys when they were reading out who got through to the next round – but it ended well and we drank lots to celebrate afterwards. Next round May 21st 9pm at The Bridgehouse II in Canning Town. The Bridgehouse II is another venue where legends have played including regulars The Rolling Stones and Iron Maiden.
OK back in London – yes I missed you. LA was lots of fun and I can’t wait to go back – London is home! And 2 days after I came back Carrie from New Cross Inn invited me to play at the Cariad. I did a solo acoustic show on my own acoustic guitar and it rocked! The New Cross army were out in force and Carrie was still speaking and not passed out on rum.
Other acts to mention were Damien Renouf, Adam Masterton and headliners Bogus Gasman all of whom got rid of any January blues, with hard rocking, both acoustic and electric.
Still in LA – went to the Viper Room this week and saw The Crash Kings – an amazing band – a 3 piece of keyboards, bass and drums. However when you close your eyes you think it’s a dirty rock guitar playing instead of keyboards and they have the energy of a super-charged rock band!! Tony on vocals and keyboard is a dynamic frontman.
I even saw another of my musical heroes Linda Perry in the audience and I discovered later that The Crash Kings are on her record label Custard Records (small world huh!) It was a magical and hot night (very hot in there no ventilation
).
Apart from that I have been hanging out on the beaches, mainly Santa Monica, Malibu and Venice (old haunt of Jim Morrison of The Doors) and learning the lingo including ‘rad’ which means great.
I have also met some amazing, creative and friendly people, including musicians, DJs, comedians, scriptwriters, make-up artists, bar tenders. The people I have met have been really lovely and driven me around (it is all car-based here as public transport has been dismantled) and let me stay with them even though I only just met them!!
Took part in a few of Open Mics at Rainbow Bar and Grill, The Park and Viva Cantina which was lots of fun – borrowing guitars and meeting some ace musicians along the way.
I made a quick stop to San Francisco on my way home and saw Alcatraz and Rasputin music store – pretty cool.
Woo! Got a last minute ticket for the Pink gig at the O2 and it was a real show – she did covers of loads of my fave songs including, Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen), I Touch Myself (The Divinyls), Dazed and Confused (Led Zeppelin) combined with awesome Les Paul solo (I think the guitarist may just be slightly fond of Jimmy Page!!) Highlightt for me included ‘Please Don’t Leave Me’, ‘Glitter in the Air’, ‘Family Portrait’, ‘Funhouse’ combined with a real onstage funhouse with dancers and musicians. What I love about Pink is her effortless ability to combine really sad painful songs, with upbeat dancey numbers and put equal amounts of gusto and sincerity into both. I prefer the sad and rocky songs in general as I love that kind of music – but her voice is awesome whatever she sings. She topped off the night with a mad trapeze revolution and I have not worked out how she managed to get up let alone sing after that!
