I've got to be honest, I've been writing another blog on my MySpace page and I'm about to launch another blog on Blogger.com that's a bit more, well, focussed. Is this equal to 'seeing other people' in blogging terms and this makes me a big old blogging ho' or do I just have more to say than the average person, perhaps - who knows for sure.
Back to this blog - well, music wise I suffered a heartbreaking tragedy that I'm still only partially-recovered from, my ipod died about a month ago(RIP) & I'm too damned skint to buy a new one for a while so I've resurrected my old Minidisk player in all it's delicious retro glory. It's okay, I fished out such classics as Now That's What I Call Soops I & II, Dance! Laugh! Dance Some More!!(a compilation of tunes & bits from The Mighty Boosh radio series and, um, more tunes) along with various random combinations of albums. It'll do for now.
Gigwise - well, it's been SonyBMG-tastic this past couple of weeks but polar opposites on several levels. Last Friday, I went with my good friends Carla and Alana(sometimes merged to Carlalana after several vodkas)to The Gossip at Shepherds Bush Empire. Much as I LOVE the Empire(I worked there, did I mention this before - it rocks almightily), we were upstairs with the driest Level One crowd I've witnessed in ages. It was The Gossip - what kind of freak doesn't dance to The Gossip? Beth was working her usual brilliance(her announcement of taking off part of her foot with her shoe was particularly endearing)but nope, these crazy non-dancing types weren't moving a muscle until finally, 'Standing In The Way Of Control' comes on - Beth's invited most of West London to join her for a boogie on stage and this lot get it and actually stand up and dance. Thankfully us 3 were stood at the back so proceeded to shimmy with suitable attitude all the way through the gig. Thankfully.
Kelly Clarkson was quite different. Now you may have gathered I'm not what you could class as an archetypical Kelly Clarkson fan. Or even a fan, come to think of it, but my friend Fox LOVES her so we went. I was amazed I recognised 5 whole songs and the crowd, in contrast to the Level One Gossip-giggers were certainly enthusiastic. I've got to be honest, she's got a great voice, etc, etc but the fromage factor was a little too much for me. I did holler along to 'Since You've Been Gone' like the rest of the audience at the end, though - would have been rude not to, quite frankly...
]]>So, has been TIME since I last blogged on here - I feel a bit guilty but to be honest it's been somewhat dry on the gig front of late at Soops Towers.I just moved to 'Cultured' Kilburn so maybe that'll all turn round, you never know.
I did see Manchester Orchestra(or Manchest-oh Orchestr-oh if you wish to pronounce it with a suitably Mancunian accent - even though they're American, oh whatever) last week. They were awesome, kinda hanging out in the Band Of Horses section of guitar-rock-angstynotemo genre which is all good with me. I'd go as far as to describe their performance as 'exquisite', actually. The dudes at the front inappropriate rocking out did kill mine & my gig-buddy's Gummy-Bear & cider buzz(all the rage, dahling) a bit, however. I suspect they were newcomers to GigWorld and weren't initiated.
The second support, Anathallo, were one of the most entertaining bands I've seen, ever. And I worked in music venues for many many years - I've seen A LOT of bands play in my time. Imagine Napoleon Dynamite with a straight-nerd cut(as opposed to the nerd-fro) and a bunch of Drowned In Sound messageboarders doing backing vocals along with 'visual interpretation' of a down-trodden domestic dog fighting back and you may have a snippet of a mental image of the wonder of Anathallo. Go see em if they play near you - they're awesome.
Like you, I don't doubt, I have been utterly brainwashed with the extensive radio play of The Ting Tings single 'Great DJ' (it's all about the jerky shoulder movements on the dancefloor), am scheduled to see them at Koko next Friday so will report back on them undoubtedly.They're supposed to be pretty rockin live so fingers crossed. My little brother puts gigs on at Barden's Boudoir in Dalston so urban-twee it hurts, baby) so most likely will be stopping there at some point between now and next week too so watch this space...
Soops
xxx
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What is the most creative gift you have ever given or received?
Submitted by Nacwolin.
I was particularly poverty stricken a few years ago so for a mate's birthday, I bought them some bottles of Bud and some rubber frogs so they could recreate their own version of the infamous 'Bud' 'Weis' 'Errrr' tv advert. Weird but they loved it so much they didn't shut up about it for years! Was sick of hearing that flamin advert after a while, though...
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Okay, its been a pretty busy 3 weeks(hence the lack of bloggage) so here are the highlights...
Monday April 2nd - turned 30 and in typical Soops-fashion, promptly celebrated for a week rather than the traditional 1 day! Spent actual birthday with my lovely family round and about Camden, going for pizza(what else?) then up Primrose Hill to bask in the sun and take in the view, here's a wonky picture of it just in case you've never had the pleasure!
I then got spoilt rotten by my mates at work the next day which was rather lovely(and a total surprise which made it even better). Wednesday me and some mates from work went to the rather splendid Dirty Boots at Proud Galleries, great venue and great bands(I particularly enjoyed Winterkids and The Natives' sets), get yourselves to the next one on June 6th!
The night after that was meant to be a Finance pub crawl round Putney loosely tied in with my birthday(like Finance need a reason for a piss up)but it just ended up with our lot staying in the Bells all night. Needless to say I stayed in on the Friday to recover. Saturday, finally, was my proper 30th birthday bash at my mate Jamie's night Grimble & Porn. Here's some pictures of loads of people you don't know drunkenly posing, if you're particularly interested...
The following week was spent mostly pubbing or watching dvds over at mate's houses with a picnic on the Sunday on the aforementioned Primrose Hill. When I wasn't doing that I was more than likely watching my beloved Mighty Boosh dvds. Never heard of The Mighty Boosh? Really? Here they are singing a song dedicated to me...
Yeah, okay maybe it's not about me but who cares, they're ace anyway...
Last week was a fairly busy one on the socialising/gig front again, Tuesday I FINALLY got see Feist at Shepherds Bush Empire(I've been wanting to see her play live for ages ever since I heard her last album Let It Die).
We were on Level 3 which all of you that have been to the Empire know aint the best place to be. Didn't matter - she was exquisite. My little brother(who got me into her)is quite possibly the most laid back person on the planet, even he was on the edge of his seat and completely mesmerized! The next night I saw The Stills(whose first album Logic Will Break Your Heart is one of my favourite albums ever - result!)and Kings Of Leon at Hammersmith Apollo. Both bands were great - I always love seeing The Stills(especially as its so rare that they come over from Canada)and KoL were even better than their gig at The Astoria a couple of months back, I thought.
The rest of the week's evening were spent in sticky indie clubs and engaging in impromptu girls-rules pool tournaments with the Royalties birds - good fun all round! Looking like this week could be a quiet one ahead until another weekend of mates' birthdays, but then again, maybe not...
]]>Dunno about you but I've been to see a lot of mate's bands over the years, and much as I have loved them as mates, harsh truth -the bands weren't that amazing. Good - yeah, groundbreaking? Erm, not exactly - no matter how much you want them to be. Tonight I went to see yet ANOTHER mate's band who'd I'd seen before about six months ago. I have to be honest, last time I saw them, I was somewhat preoccupied so hadn't really paid attention. Sort of a, "Yeah they're alright, anyway, your round isn't it?" kind of scenario. What a f*ckwit I felt turning up tonight, bracing myself to lie through my teeth once again with the usual, "Yeah you were BRILLIANT, specially that song, whats it called... yeah, brilliant luv - watch out Kasabian, eh? Blah blah blah...". Yes I'm a two faced whatnot but encouragement is absolutely part of the deal with your mates isn't it? Even if it is a bit half-hearted. So I'm stood there, practicing in my head what line I'll use this week and on Starling come. Well I got that one wrong spectacularly.
You know when you can tell a band's toured and toured and toured because they're that slick, that tight, when they've got it down so well - the sound is just really clean? That's how good Starling are. And they hadn't rehearsed with a drummer for a couple of months apparently. Gits. I've got a good ear but describing bands isn't my forte at all. The best I can do to describe what Starling sound like is imagine The Bluetones(lead singer Alex doesn't sound dissimilar to Mark Morriss)when they were at their peak but more rock and roll with better songs and you'll be halfway there. Here's their page - www.myspace.com/starlingband go see them, listen to them, enjoy them - I've not been this impressed seeing an unsigned band live in years.
Oh and if I haven't bigged them up quite enough - they're so bloody good, I finally set my Vox profile up properly to write about them when I'm knackered and in the middle of bastard half yearly accounting in Royalties(only for the hardcore).
Needless to say I didn't feed my mate the "Watch out Kasabian, eh?" line, I was so gobsmacked I could barely speak to him. NOw THAT is saying something.
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