Bad Friday / Love Letters / Firestations

Not sure how this is the first blog post of the year but that's where we're at. 

Our Bad Friday all-dayer has been announced and this year features an incredible mix of bands from Bristol, Belfast, Brighton, Liverpool, Cambridge and Hastings - details below, be a part of it! 

I also played some viola on James Pickering's new band Love Letters' new EP which is out now! It's full of life.

Firestations have a new album on the way but it's not the album that we recorded at Otterhead in January it's actually a Mike solo record, something he craftily crafted on his own whilst away in Scotland last Summer and it was made with half broken instruments and field recordings and is quite a beautiful thing. 

Bad Friday is a bbq all-dayer featuring eight electrifying bands - from Belfast's garage punk trio Jock, channeling the energy of riot grrrl icons, to the feminist garage-rock of The Baby Seals, and the math-rock-made-sexy sounds of Brighton's SLAG. Also joining the bill are the alt-rock energy of alright (okay), the raucous alt-rock of Bristol’s Deadheading, the gothic darkwave pop of Border Widow (featuring ex-members of Big Joanie), the powerful storytelling of Dogviolet, and the fuzzy, nostalgic indie rock of woon.

18 April, Windmill Brixton

Dice or WeGotTickets

Wild Winter 10 year anniversary gigs

I'm not usually a fan of the looming irritant that is the festive period, however when it involves gigs (like the Slow Club Xmas gigs I was lucky enough to be a part of way back) it lightens the load and this year there are gigs! Smoke Fairies Xmas gigs. 

Firestations have been added to the Jill Lorean gig at the Old Library which is cool, Jill's new album is incredible, you should listen to it right now, and come along to the gigs.

And here's a playlist of some hot new tunes

Jill Lorean at the Old Library

Sonic Tonic proudly presents Jill Lorean at the Old Library, New Cross - 7th Dec

Tickets £8 plus booking from WeGotTickets & Dice

bit.ly/sonictonictickets

Doors: 19.30

On debut album This Rock Jill Lorean captured her musical sketches in a three-day burst of

inspiration – mics hung from the ceiling, cracks showing, a document of that exact time and place. It’s follow-up, the sprawling Peace Cult, finds the same trio of Jill Lorean, Andy Monaghan (Frightened Rabbit) and Pete Kelly working with far more space and control, Jill’s fragmented ideas brought together over time, with very deliberate care and attention, with a generous focus on the finer details. 

Formed of eleven new songs, Peace Cult is once again released via Monohands Records, and it makes for a bold new step in Jill Lorean’s career,one that has seen her develop from early success with her band Sparrow & The Workshop, through various projects including Three Queens In Mourning (with Alex Neilson and Alasdair Roberts), Scottish collective Hen Hoose, as well as a rich body of theatre and soundtrack work.

Wych Elm at Goldsmiths

 

Tickets are on sale now!

Laura J Martin at the Old Library

 

Tickets are on sale now! 

Laura J Martin returns with her forthcoming fourth solo album Prepared following the collaborative project 'Wyndow' written with Lavinia Blackwall of Trembling Bells,  released in 2021.  Her previous solo album, On The Never Never, was recorded in Nashville with members of Lambchop, Silver Jews and Jesus Lizard and for Prepared the sonic canvas changes again.  Building her own studio after moving back to Liverpool, Laura found herself drawn to drum machines that wouldn’t stay in time, and a piano with a tuning mind of its own. Prepared is in Laura's words "my composted scrapbook of the last couple of years. I followed where the sounds took me, the sonic train left the station and led me on its merry way.”

A mercurial and bewitching live performer who interweaves layers of vocals, flute, mandolin and electronics; Laura has toured regularly across the UK and Europe and supported acts such as PJ Harvey, Teenage Fanclub, Cate Le Bon and performed and collaborated extensively with Euros Childs. Consistently played and supported by BBC Radio 6 Music DJs such as Marc Riley, Craig Charles, Cerys Matthews, Lauren Laverne, Gideon Coe and Stuart Maconie; 

“An understated marvel” Uncut

“Beautiful and intelligent stuff” The Quietus

"An extremely unique sound, I love the combinations of textures she puts together" 

BBC Radio 6 Music, Lauren Laverne

Bad Friday

 

Carried in Sound

Carried in Sound, the 6th (maybe the 8th?) album by Smoke Fairies was released in 17th November 2023. The album making process was very much a DIY aesthetic, they would phone me up every so often and say they'd worked on some tracks and would like me to come over to record some viola... and drink some beer. It was a beautiful thing to be involved with and the album made it to number 16 in the actual real charts! 

TOUR(S)!

 As ever, I've been incredibly slack at updating this blog. 

I forgot to mention that Firestations were supporting legendary New York musician come comic book artist come all-round genius Jeffrey Lewis at Bedford Esquires who was brilliant as ever and Bedford is so lucky to have such a fabulous venue in the Bedford Esquires, thanks to all at Esquires for being friendly, professional and all-round excellent people.

I've probably forgotten some other things too but I wanted to come here and mention two upcoming tours I'm playing, one of which is a tour split into manageable portions, certainly one way of prolonging a tour and there are fewer things worse than the end of  a tour; the passing of a pet rabbit maybe? you should come to some shows 'cos god knows how long any of us will be able to keep doing this stuff! We would appreciate you being there. 

///  FIRESTATIONS TICKETS   ///  SMOKE FAIRIES TICKETS  /// 

If you're looking for some other stuff to listen to, I'd recommend Sweeping Promises' new(ish) album, which is bursting full of energy and more hooks than a fisherman's bag. In a similar vein, but even more bonkers is Snooper's album, it makes you feel alive and even 6Music have picked up on it! Pale Blue Eyes's new album This House has also just landed and is unbelievably great.

See you on tour!

Thick Terrain by Firestations OUT NOW

I am one of the apparently dwindling numbers of people who still really value the album as a format for expressing the thing(s) you want to express. 

Today is an exciting day because our album Thick Terrain is out via Lost Map records, it's an eclectic mix of dream-pop, indie-rock and electronica, it's an album that imho flows beautifully, and an album I'm proud to be a part of with the good people of Firestations. 

The album is out now via all the usual streaming places.

We're also playing a show at the Shacklewell on Saturday. 

Thanks for listening.

Tape Runs Out at the Old Library

Cambridge's Tape Runs Out have made one of my favourite albums of the year so far and the Old Library is fast becoming one of my favourite venues in London, so it's going to be a special one!

TICKETS

Tape Runs Out: a 6-piece band based in Cambridge. Their sound inventively weaves electronic and acoustic, with the unusual addition of violin and hammered dulcimer alongside the more familiar guitars, keys and drums. Their distinctive style has variously been described as psych, shoegaze, post-rock and alt-folk.

...support from Hypsoline and Barbican Estate.