Hey peeps,
How’s it all going? Big men of 2010? Rode from Hythe to Islington to see Thomas Tantrum, the Moules and Montage Populaire last weekend, brought back some memories of the summer, seems like aaages since i toured then – not for long, read below.. see you at a gig real soon..
New Band, New Years
wow. Mental new years! Basically jimmy shivers, dave wade-brown, and me have got together for a little side-project. It’s called ANN THE ARC and sounds a bit grungy like sonic youth, a bit grungy like pavement, and a bit grungy like nirvana or the replacements.
Ace, basically. so all the fuss at new years was, we went down to cornwall to record some tracks in our friends’ house with Dan Parry (who did the Fresh Legs stuff and also some 6NS stuff, among others). in the end we managed to get through about 12 tracks (and a shitload of booze and leccy on the metre – was reeeeal cold) so whaddya know, there’s an album there! we recorded pretty much 95% of it LIVE too!!! I’m itching like hell to show you the stuff, but there’s a wee bit of mixing left to do so it all sounds really really good. but, remember the band: ANN THE ARC… rest assured i’ll let you all know! loudly…
‘Shanty’ single
Sotones are releasing ‘Shanty’, one of the tracks from the Oxjam EP I did with Jackie Paper last summer. It’s gonna be out on iTunes / Spotify / VERY limited cassette on the 8th March and like the EP, all proceeds will go to Oxjam. As well as the title track, there’s a live version featuring The Moulettes and ‘Mary Rose’ which some of you will remember from like, years ago.. we’ve kind of resurrected it. Or ‘raised’ it, if you will..
To, well, flog records basically, I’ll be on tour in March. We’re still settling the dates but stay tuned for an announcement soon. If you think there’s somewhere cool I / we could play (some dates will be solo, others with the East Street Band) drop me an email to joe@sotones.co.uk huh? like, good club nights but weird interesting stuff too, yeah?
Live Record! 11th Feb at Hamptons
Let’s face it, I’m shit at recording. I’m not very good at playing the guitar, and I even get a bit nervous singing when there’s nothing but a red light to look at, which is weird. I overcook stuff; I take way too many takes, or too few; I try and drink to chill out and get wasted; I redo the lyrics at the last moment, then find I can’t get my tongue around them, or it sounds naff.
No, I prefer playing live by about a million miles and to be honest, most of the time I only really see recording as a way to get you to come to gigs so we can all hang out. cos lord knows records don’t make ANY money, ever! haharrrr!!! (by the way, did i mention i’ve got a bunch of stuff on digital now? buy buy buy, $uckers…)
SO.
The obvious thing to do is try a live record. simple, really. get a load of people down, rehearse loads, maybe even film a little bit, offer everyone who comes a free copy of said record when it’s finished? yeah, that’s what i’m talking about. i’ve been running down the setlist, trying out various guitars for different songs, really getting into it all. it’s going to be quite a quiet / intimate kind of show. maybe even a bit sad here and there. but ultimately good and happy etc.
When is this epic live event taking place, I hear you ask? It so happens I’m playing at Hamptons in Southampton on the 11th of February. I’ll be supporting Polly And The Billets Doux, who are well good, having been all over the radio etc. At the moment they’re doing the whole tour-gig-instore thing.
Because of getting rid of the recording equipment etc (plus no-one gives a shit) we have to do the recording at the start of the night, so make sure you get there at the start of the night – doors are 7.30. it’s £5 and like i said, make sure we get your name and details so w can send you a record when we’re done (we won’t put them on any maillist or anything like that)
The facebook page, if you can be arsed, is: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=307285802081, and make sure you’ve got your best rowdy singing / heckling voice on!
see you,
joe x x
PS: in other unrelated news, some group somewhere have found a way to ask people in comas what they think about stuff using fMRI (kinda). I reckon they think about what we think about, ie highways, sex and bombay mix. or is that just me?
