Every year, xmas barges its way into our lives completely uninvited, derailing whatever shit you've got going on. Capitalism on overdrive. It's more horrifying than Halloween. The crushing inevitability of hearing 'those songs' again, the same bunch of tired, ubiquitous tunes, like a pair of socks with holes in you probably should have thrown away years ago. Then there's the panic and stress, it's such a difficult time for so many, and for what? Maybe it's time to reframe xmas?
The playlist of me playing on songs that are available to listen to on Spotify has been updated, including a couple of new songs off the new Shattercones EP.
I haven't posted on here for an absolute age so I thought it might be nice to do a little 2013 round up. It's mainly a self serving post to remind myself what I've done as my memory is dreadful and t to try and convince myself that I haven't completely wasted another year.
Back in July, this nice chap approached me after a Smoke Fairies show in Chichesterand said"you play to serve the song not your own ego". I'm guessing I'd be fired if I started acting like I was in Towers of London but I do hope that sentiment is at least slightly accurate. In the autumn Smoke Fairies released a double album entitled Ghosts which is effectively a rarities and B-sides record, if you're a details person there's some more stuff about it here. Thankfully they decided to tour the album and what a wonderful little tour it was. The tour video is well worth a look, it was created entirely from stills taken by Ani (the excellent drummer in support band Rasputina - great sharing a stage with them )
I cant say much about the brand new Smoke Fairies album other than it is finished, a new producer was involved, it sounds amazing and I'm all excited about it. The big reveal will be soon.
Other 2013 gig highlights include a couple of shows with performance art/ theatre troupe Tangled Feet -Rammstein would have approved of the ludicrously great pyrotechnics involved in this show, this photo albeit impressive doesn't quite capture the magnitude, that ball at the top for example, at one point it spins whilst fireworks spurt out and a lady is inside doing a hand stand. I'm somewhere in the middle of all that scaffolding with my viola.
I also had the pleasure of playing the Royal Festival Hall again, not once but twice with Viv Albertine in support of Siouxsie's Meltdown show (Siouxsie even played Kaleidoscope in full so it was like a Don't Look Back show but curated by Yoko instead of ATP) It's a magnificent place to play though, it makes The Forum look like a dustbin. Viv has written an autobiography which is out this year, I haven't read it yet but I'm going to recommend it anyway 'cos she has enough witty anecdotes to feed every Best Man's speech forever and a day so it's bound to be a blast. You can pre-order it here if you wish.
I've also put on some shows myself mainly with the fine folk at music webzine SoundsXP, most notably Kelley Deal's new(ish) project R.Ring. Laura J Martin is headlining our next show which takes place at the Sebright Arms on 16th January and it should be a great show. Advance tickets are available here. We'll also be doing one of those legendary Good Bad Friday all-day gig BBQ things at the Windmill again this year.
Firstly, what the hell is up with the weather in Austin, Texas? one day its scorching sun which led to me looking like a burn victim and the next I'm wearing a massive coat and getting frost bite. It was so cold my fingers were like rocks. Karen Elson gets an Everest-sized high five 'cos she performed outside in the bitter cold wearing just a thin peach dress, if my mum were there she's be saying "wrap up warm dear or you'll catch your death!", but no, Karen and her impeccably dressed band didn't let the trivialities of weather dictate their stage persona.
SXSW was a pretty overwhelming affair, literally everywhere you go there’s a cacophony of bands jostling for attention. 6th Street in particular (a stretch of about four miles) had a huge volume of bars and restaurants all with live bands blaring out onto the street, which itself was littered with buskers of all ilk, including proper toothless hillbillies twanging their beaten up four string guitars.
Busking in Texas looked like ramshackle fun so I borrowed a violin from a duo on the street and busked with their banjo player. I earned them one dollar.
Smoke Fairies played four shows at SXSW, the first being a set to a packed out Latitude 30 for the British Embassy showcase with buzz bands Everything Everything and Band of Skulls. It was an ace gig and it was nice to come off stage to greet a free bar. Watch a beating Frozen Heart here.
Our 'showcase' was at The Alehouse. The venue wasn't quite as exciting as the name suggests, in fact, it reminded me of Camden and I had to keep reminding myself that I was five thousand miles away.
There's a pretty dodgy mobile phone video of a potion of the set here - see, it could be Camden if it weren't for the banner.
I also added some viola mayhem to Viv Albertine's gig at Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label showcase - they tried to get me in a nightie but couldn't find one large enough.
With America being the home of the Classic Beef Burger. They certainly know how to make a tasty burger: thick juicy beef patties cooked to perfection with jalapenos, proper cheese and thick smokey bacon - yum. We also went to a seafood restaurant that was a little unconventional in their approach to serving food. They came out with bowls of prawns and crawfish and simply tipped the contents onto your table, luckily I had a bib.
We were also attracted to pizza vans, as you can see, it's the best way to get around in Texas.
We found some great vintage shops in the South Congress, including an awesome shop called Uncommon Objects who were selling Nomadic robes and a frock coat supposedly from the1800s belonging to the Knights Templar. I should have bought it.
Viv Albertine rather nicely asked me to play viola with them at a live session on BBC6 Music later today. It's going to be on Tom Robinson's show which airs at 7pm. Details here. Should be fun!
Following on from the last post; perhaps I should get this T-Shirt:
I’ve been sitting here since New Year’s Day waiting for the impact of the new decade to hit me but it hasn’t yet.
I do have some exciting prospects for the coming year though:
The brand new Monroe Transfer album is now finished and the artwork has been designed and created, all by hand, once again by Consumer Revolt. It looks and feels, and sounds, wonderful. Apparently there will be a series of exciting things happening in the lead up to its release.
The new Fireworks Night album is close to being completed too, finally ... babies have been conceived, born and are riding their first bike in the time it has taken us to mix the damn thing! It'll be worth the wait though.
In complete contrast to Fireworks Night is the lightning speed methods of Braindead Collective who recorded and released that xmas single with Viv Albertine in the space of a week! We plan to do similar collaborative projects with solo acts, the next one being Mat Riviere (Brainlove Records) who we'll be playing with live at the Good Ship this Thursday.
Smoke Fairies now have a new drummer due to the previous drummer wanting a normal life; get married, watch The Bill and walk the dog in the park near his house in Kent, which is probably very wise! good luck Gregory! We're headlining The Lexington on 1st Feb.
Lastly, I layed down some viola parts on a few tracks on the new/debut Eat Lights: Become Lights album which apparently is now finished, so hopefully that will see the light of day at some point this year.
Last weekend I layed down some lush and not so lush viola parts on Viv Albertine's Christmas single 'When It Was Nice' which, despite the fact it was only recorded last weekend, has already been mixed, mastered and is currently skipping it's way around the internet and the radio. You can download it here for free!
And tonight I will be playing a couple of Darlene Love Xmas songs with Slow Club at their chrimbo party at the Union Chapel. I'll be providing the massive Phil Spector strings along with Nicole and Rhiannon from The Monroe Transfer. The awesome thing about this is that Jonny from The Wave Pictures and Jeremy Warmsley are also playing on these songs which means I'll be in an INDIE SUPER BAND! which is totally ridiculous and totally sweet in equally huge measures.
After over a year and a half of putting on shows at the Macbeth I've decided that this one will be the last, in it's current form at least. We've had some marvellous bands on and I'm very excited by our last line up with Viv Albertine from the Slits headlining, I think I'm going to be playing a bit of viola for her too!:
Goodbye, Faithful Kingdom! present
Viv Albertine (ex The Slits)
The Monroe Transfer
The Rayographs
Marcus Corbett
tobywoby spins records from other times & places.
VIV ALBERTINE (ex THE SLITS) http://www.vivalbertine.com/
Viv Albertine used to be in the seminal punk band The Slits and now she has a fab new all-girl band! She has a record out soon on Manimal Vinyl, a cool new label which has released artists such as Bat For Lashes, The Chapin Sisters and more.
THE MONROE TRANSFER http://www.themonroetransfer.co.uk/
London based 7 piece instrumental band have a recently finished forthcoming new album Trials which will be released on Organ Grinder records in January. It will feature typically elaborate packaging.
"At their most beautiful, The Monroe Transfer are able to lightly brush the places that so few other instrumental acts can" Drowned In Sound
THE RAYOGRAPHS http://www.myspace.com/therayographs
The Rayographs are Astrud Steehouder on guitar and vocals, Jessamine Tierney on bass and vocals and Amy Hurst on drums and occasional vocals.
The combination of strong songwriting, dark landscapes and free vocals has led to comparisons with Patti Smith, The Breeders, Nick Cave and Life Without Buildings. November saw the release of their debut limited-edition hand-printed 7" single that was made Single of The Week by Organ, Normans Records and Piccadilly Records, with excellent reviews from Artrocker and The Stool Pigeon who described it as "a simmering blues tattoo enunciated like a hex and sharing not a little in common with Nick Cave's 'Tupelo.'"
***Now with the addition of the mesmeric Marcus Corbett starting the proceedings at 8.15p.m
http://www.marcuscorbett.com/
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