Wednesday, June 14th
MJ HIBBETT AND THE VALIDATORS
On tour to promote their wonderful new album, We Validate!, MJ Hibbett and the Validators are a delightful live act. Fabulous pop-prose which mixes Bragg, Weddoes & Half-Man Half-Biscuit, they've had a Record Of The Year in Rolling Stone, regularly perform live on Lamacq and had a million + download with Hey Hey 64k.
WE VALIDATE! is released on July 10th.
www.mjhibbett.com
www.myspace.com/mjhibbett
LAZARUS CLAMP
Although very rare to catch live, Lazaurus Clamp perform somewhere between Slint, Fugazi and the Go-Betweens to wonderful effect. At once loud, angry and distorted to sweet, melody driven pop beauty, if they were from America we’d be demanding they perform here more often.
'A rare case of a band who live up to the inevitable Slint comparisons.' - Norman Records
'Shades of REM's more fractured side emerge as the vocals shape the tortured chorus. Genuinely powerful stuff... Compelling.' (Record Collector – single of the month).
www.lazarusclamp.co.uk
www.myspace.com/lazarusclamp
LARDPONY
From Derby’s burgeoning music scene, Lardpony are riding the waves set out by bands like Plans and Apologies. Innocent, infectious and joyous indie pop reeling you in with glorious hooks. Grown men have been seen to dance and weep to such top tracks as Post-Apocalyptic Love Song & My Portable Friend.
www.lardpony.co.uk
www.myspace.com/lardponyband
More info:
www.letsgobaboon.org.uk
ADVANCE TICKETS:
www.wegottickets.com/event/11044
exciting!
Tom on 06.14.06 @ 06:33 PM GMT [link]ENTER the NEWS ARCHIVES!
New London Gig!
It's at BRIXTON WINDMILL, on JULY 26th.MJ HIBBETT AND THE VALIDATORS
On tour to promote their wonderful new album, We Validate!, MJ Hibbett and the Validators are a delightful live act. Fabulous pop-prose which mixes Bragg, Weddoes & Half-Man Half-Biscuit, they've had a Record Of The Year in Rolling Stone, regularly perform live on Lamacq and had a million + download with Hey Hey 64k.
WE VALIDATE! is released on July 10th.
www.mjhibbett.com
www.myspace.com/mjhibbett
LAZARUS CLAMP
Although very rare to catch live, Lazaurus Clamp perform somewhere between Slint, Fugazi and the Go-Betweens to wonderful effect. At once loud, angry and distorted to sweet, melody driven pop beauty, if they were from America we’d be demanding they perform here more often.
'A rare case of a band who live up to the inevitable Slint comparisons.' - Norman Records
'Shades of REM's more fractured side emerge as the vocals shape the tortured chorus. Genuinely powerful stuff... Compelling.' (Record Collector – single of the month).
www.lazarusclamp.co.uk
www.myspace.com/lazarusclamp
LARDPONY
From Derby’s burgeoning music scene, Lardpony are riding the waves set out by bands like Plans and Apologies. Innocent, infectious and joyous indie pop reeling you in with glorious hooks. Grown men have been seen to dance and weep to such top tracks as Post-Apocalyptic Love Song & My Portable Friend.
www.lardpony.co.uk
www.myspace.com/lardponyband
More info:
www.letsgobaboon.org.uk
ADVANCE TICKETS:
www.wegottickets.com/event/11044
exciting!
Tom on 06.14.06 @ 06:33 PM GMT [link]
Monday, June 5th
Lardpony – This is Lardcore
Apart from having the best name this side of Trowell Services, Lardpony have grown over the last 18 months into the East Midlands’ premier POP outfit. ‘This is Lardcore’ merely enforces their progression from a back bedroom wankfest to a fully fledged, popcore behemoth. And if you disagree with me, well, you’re wrong my child.
This album is compilation of all the songs us Lardpony fans have come to know and love over the past two or three years, from a fleshed out version of the mighty, ‘I’m in Love With a Noxious Gas’, to more recent, accomplished tunes such as Catwatching and ‘Scene But Not Heard’ – still the best anti-haircut band song I’ve yet to hear.
If Derby isn’t crawling the walls to say ‘I saw them first!’ within a year then I want to know why. For ‘This is Lardcore’ may not sell a million albums, but, given time, it should – if I have my way – get Lardpony the recognition they deserve. Bravo.
Sam Metcalf
Tom on 06.05.06 @ 06:18 PM GMT [link]
London - Buffalo Bar
With The Scarlet Tuesday, Stuffy and the Fuses
Setlist:
To The Power of Love
Contains Mild Peril
Super Bonus
Trance Anthem
Teenwolf
The Girl Who Loved Slaughter
My Portable Friend
Zombie Bride
We finished the tour the same way we started it - with one of the best gigs we've ever played. We arrived at the venue and were quickly asked if we'd like to be interviewed by Sky News (!) about "Sandi Thom and the internet promotion revolution", or something. Obviously we agreed, so this should be on tonight at 7pm. Hopefully we'll be able to find some way to record it and get it onto Youtube or something, but I have no idea how to do this so it may never happen. They also recorded some footage of us playing Teenwolf in the soundcheck, but this will doubtlessly be edited down to about 15 seconds of cymbal crashes.
The soundman put some delay on the vocals for the HOWWWWWWWWWWLS in Teenwolf which was inspired. Great soundman, great venue, decent crowd - we now fully recommend the Buffalo Bar as being "GOOD LONDON".
The actual set went fantastically well, the Scarlet Tuesday's last ever gig was magnificent, and Stuffy and the Fuses were great fun as well. There was another guy set to play afterwards but we had to dash, as half of the band have work today (not me though, hooray).
GIG RATING: 10/10
AMOUNT OF MONEY SPENT IN SERVICE STATIONS THROUGHOUT TOUR: £3.4 billion
PHOTOGRAPHS!
some new names for familiar songs?
a stunt car we saw in birmingham, whilst lost.
mandy and nathan in the bullring, birmingham. not pictured behind: some kind of reverse bungee chaos.
the angel of the north! also pictured: large metal piece of art in background.
whitby!
nathan laughs in the face of danger.
the band, minus tom, on whitby beach. FOOTBALL was played.
a face, on a lorry. it inspires terror!
the humber bridge.
see you next time!
Tom on 06.05.06 @ 09:45 AM GMT [link]
album review from sandman!
oh! the updates, they come thick and fast.Lardpony – This is Lardcore
Apart from having the best name this side of Trowell Services, Lardpony have grown over the last 18 months into the East Midlands’ premier POP outfit. ‘This is Lardcore’ merely enforces their progression from a back bedroom wankfest to a fully fledged, popcore behemoth. And if you disagree with me, well, you’re wrong my child.
This album is compilation of all the songs us Lardpony fans have come to know and love over the past two or three years, from a fleshed out version of the mighty, ‘I’m in Love With a Noxious Gas’, to more recent, accomplished tunes such as Catwatching and ‘Scene But Not Heard’ – still the best anti-haircut band song I’ve yet to hear.
If Derby isn’t crawling the walls to say ‘I saw them first!’ within a year then I want to know why. For ‘This is Lardcore’ may not sell a million albums, but, given time, it should – if I have my way – get Lardpony the recognition they deserve. Bravo.
Sam Metcalf
Tom on 06.05.06 @ 06:18 PM GMT [link]
Tour Diary - Days Nine and Ten
Well, Day Nine didn't happen, so we all did various non-band-related things. I went to a barbecue.London - Buffalo Bar
With The Scarlet Tuesday, Stuffy and the Fuses
Setlist:
To The Power of Love
Contains Mild Peril
Super Bonus
Trance Anthem
Teenwolf
The Girl Who Loved Slaughter
My Portable Friend
Zombie Bride
We finished the tour the same way we started it - with one of the best gigs we've ever played. We arrived at the venue and were quickly asked if we'd like to be interviewed by Sky News (!) about "Sandi Thom and the internet promotion revolution", or something. Obviously we agreed, so this should be on tonight at 7pm. Hopefully we'll be able to find some way to record it and get it onto Youtube or something, but I have no idea how to do this so it may never happen. They also recorded some footage of us playing Teenwolf in the soundcheck, but this will doubtlessly be edited down to about 15 seconds of cymbal crashes.
The soundman put some delay on the vocals for the HOWWWWWWWWWWLS in Teenwolf which was inspired. Great soundman, great venue, decent crowd - we now fully recommend the Buffalo Bar as being "GOOD LONDON".
The actual set went fantastically well, the Scarlet Tuesday's last ever gig was magnificent, and Stuffy and the Fuses were great fun as well. There was another guy set to play afterwards but we had to dash, as half of the band have work today (not me though, hooray).
GIG RATING: 10/10
AMOUNT OF MONEY SPENT IN SERVICE STATIONS THROUGHOUT TOUR: £3.4 billion
PHOTOGRAPHS!
some new names for familiar songs?
a stunt car we saw in birmingham, whilst lost.
mandy and nathan in the bullring, birmingham. not pictured behind: some kind of reverse bungee chaos.
the angel of the north! also pictured: large metal piece of art in background.
whitby!
nathan laughs in the face of danger.
the band, minus tom, on whitby beach. FOOTBALL was played.
a face, on a lorry. it inspires terror!
the humber bridge.
see you next time!
Tom on 06.05.06 @ 09:45 AM GMT [link]
Saturday, June 3rd
With The Blackflash and System Trap
Setlist:
Yesterday's Technologies
When The Tape Stops
Super Bonus
Contains Mild Peril
To The Power of Love
Teenwolf
The New TV Song
Zombie Bride
For some reason, this gig made me more nervous than I've ever been at a gig before, and I don't understand why. It all disappeared as soon as we hit the stage though. There was a good crowd, and a bizarrely eclectic lineup - The Blackflash play dirty sort of BRMC-style rock and roll, and System Trap were some kind of out-of-place kind of Pearl Jam-esque hard rock thing that seemed to leave most of the crowd a bit baffled. Nice venue, but the nearby parking cost £10! Ten pounds. Outrage!
GIG RATING: 7/10
Newcastle - Tanner's Arms
With Pillow
Setlist:
Finding Emo
To The Power of Love
Straight Out of the Crompton
Contains Mild Peril
Catwatching
Teenwolf
My Portable Friend
Trance Anthem
Zombie Bride
This was the gig where "technical difficulties" kicked in. I guess we'd have been lucky to get through the whole tour without ANY problems. Nathan's bass was utterly out of tune for the first song, so he stopped playing. He tried to retune it for the second song but we had to have two goes at the intro anyway. Argh! Also I kicked a drink over, and my distortion pedals set themselves to a volume of ZERO despite being fine in soundcheck. Bizarre! After we got through these assorted WOES, it was a good gig - not particularly busy, but better than LEEDS. The other band were really good post-rock stuff with female vocals, very nice. We've been invited back in November, if any Northerners fancy seeing us play BETTER.
GIG RATING: 5.5/10
Hull - Ringside
with NOBODY as this gig DIDN'T HAPPEN
Setlist:
NONE as this gig DIDN'T HAPPEN
We only found out that this gig had been cancelled when we turned up at the venue. Great! Thanks, Hull! Luckily the day wasn't a COMPLETE waste of time, as we went to Whitby on the way down from Newcastle and played football on the beach, and lost money on the slot machines. The sun was shining and it was lovely and warm.
After we discovered the gig wasn't happening, me and Pod went and investigated the Humber Bridge and had a burger king. It would have been a great day if it weren't for HULL!
GIG RATING: 0/10
BEACH RATING: 10/10
There are many photos, but I need to SORT and RESIZE and I can't be bothered, so they'll probably appear as a "retrospective" in a couple of days time. No gig tonight, but at least Manchester told us it was cancelled in advance rather than just letting us turn up!
The last date: LONDON on SUNDAY!
Tom on 06.03.06 @ 11:24 AM GMT [link]
Tour Diary - Days Six to Eight
Birmingham - Sunflower LoungeWith The Blackflash and System Trap
Setlist:
Yesterday's Technologies
When The Tape Stops
Super Bonus
Contains Mild Peril
To The Power of Love
Teenwolf
The New TV Song
Zombie Bride
For some reason, this gig made me more nervous than I've ever been at a gig before, and I don't understand why. It all disappeared as soon as we hit the stage though. There was a good crowd, and a bizarrely eclectic lineup - The Blackflash play dirty sort of BRMC-style rock and roll, and System Trap were some kind of out-of-place kind of Pearl Jam-esque hard rock thing that seemed to leave most of the crowd a bit baffled. Nice venue, but the nearby parking cost £10! Ten pounds. Outrage!
GIG RATING: 7/10
Newcastle - Tanner's Arms
With Pillow
Setlist:
Finding Emo
To The Power of Love
Straight Out of the Crompton
Contains Mild Peril
Catwatching
Teenwolf
My Portable Friend
Trance Anthem
Zombie Bride
This was the gig where "technical difficulties" kicked in. I guess we'd have been lucky to get through the whole tour without ANY problems. Nathan's bass was utterly out of tune for the first song, so he stopped playing. He tried to retune it for the second song but we had to have two goes at the intro anyway. Argh! Also I kicked a drink over, and my distortion pedals set themselves to a volume of ZERO despite being fine in soundcheck. Bizarre! After we got through these assorted WOES, it was a good gig - not particularly busy, but better than LEEDS. The other band were really good post-rock stuff with female vocals, very nice. We've been invited back in November, if any Northerners fancy seeing us play BETTER.
GIG RATING: 5.5/10
Hull - Ringside
with NOBODY as this gig DIDN'T HAPPEN
Setlist:
NONE as this gig DIDN'T HAPPEN
We only found out that this gig had been cancelled when we turned up at the venue. Great! Thanks, Hull! Luckily the day wasn't a COMPLETE waste of time, as we went to Whitby on the way down from Newcastle and played football on the beach, and lost money on the slot machines. The sun was shining and it was lovely and warm.
After we discovered the gig wasn't happening, me and Pod went and investigated the Humber Bridge and had a burger king. It would have been a great day if it weren't for HULL!
GIG RATING: 0/10
BEACH RATING: 10/10
There are many photos, but I need to SORT and RESIZE and I can't be bothered, so they'll probably appear as a "retrospective" in a couple of days time. No gig tonight, but at least Manchester told us it was cancelled in advance rather than just letting us turn up!
The last date: LONDON on SUNDAY!
Tom on 06.03.06 @ 11:24 AM GMT [link]