4.3.11
a mumbling fool is interviewed at Judy's Vintage Fair
The Fair was rammed and there was a pitiful selection of men's clothing but I still managed to pick up a delicious paisley tie. No surprise there then.
A Tour In Photos
This post should have happened weeks ago but various dilapidated obstacles got in the way.
Many political manifestos have included the Three 'E's but you only need to attach two 'E's to the Smoke Fairies' UK tour and in this case it isn't the same word lazily repeated three times for dramatic effect. The two words are 'exceded expectations'; one thing you're unlikely to get from a political party. To sell out most venues on a debut headline tour in the desolate month of January is heartwarming and encouraging stuff.
Enough with the rubbish, tenuously linked E words; here is the tour in photos:
as blurry as our heads the next morning
Many political manifestos have included the Three 'E's but you only need to attach two 'E's to the Smoke Fairies' UK tour and in this case it isn't the same word lazily repeated three times for dramatic effect. The two words are 'exceded expectations'; one thing you're unlikely to get from a political party. To sell out most venues on a debut headline tour in the desolate month of January is heartwarming and encouraging stuff.
Enough with the rubbish, tenuously linked E words; here is the tour in photos:
Kaf and Jess doing their 'witch house' poses for NME
Manager extraordinaire Matt utilising his travel printer
Lights
OUCH!
Frequenting haunted pubs
How many candles?
Two peas in a pod
an angel amongst Fairies
How many pedals does one viola player need?
The Smithereens
Marc and Mark proudly in place at BBC Manchester where we went for a session on Marc Riley's show. Marc was refreshingly fanatical about everything as per usual which reminded me how wonderful it is to have him on our airwaves. I also happened to meet Gruff Rhys who's one of my favourite song writers as he was doing a session in the studio next door.
Part of the NME review of the Brighton show. I know I'm a tall chap and probably even a 'cello would look like a violin under my chin but it's not, it's a viola. Everyone called me Frank after that came out, which I rather liked!
Piccadilly records
would you like a Lionel with your hat?
one of the more pleasant dressing room graffiti appearances.
at times the anticipation is unbearable.
Rob is overwhelmed by the tour malaise but as per usual Jules Sea of Bees has such a blazing supply of enthusiasm that it makes you feel dead inside in comparison.
sound will be checked
One of the many pleasingly non-travelodges we stayed in. Thanks Mr Tour Manager. Sorry guests for waking you up at silly o'clock in the morning by setting off the fire alarm.
Kris finds a special poster tucked away.
How many stairs?
Blasts from the past
at Bristol Fleece
Sea of Bees at Bush Hall. Not strictly part of our tour but they kept touring long after we'd returned to normality and overcome the longing to be back on tour....
...and in May we'll be doing it all again but in a slightly different order. Superb. Keep an eye on the Songkick page for details.
24.1.11
Smoke Fairies tour diary part 2
We arrived at The Sage last night to be greeted at load-in by a plethora of helpful chaps that seemingly love putting things on trolleys, which made the arduous daily task of carrying a million and one things into the venue easy as pie. Is pie easy? I guess so. It's such a pleasingly professional venue. We've played The Sage before but in the larger room supporting Richard Hawley, I remember someone saying to us at the time that they've had support acts here before who've gone on to headline the smaller room and it's heartening to actually make the transition. What's more, we very nearly sold out the 400 capacity venue. In Gateshead. In January; surely the quietest of months for gigs. Ridiculous.
The previous night we played the Lancaster Library which seemed like an odd place to house a live gig considering the usual mode of conduct in a library is to be as quiet as humanly possible, but it turned out to be a marvellous setting with book cases framing the audience. The show was performed in the Sci-Fi and Fantasy section and the sound desk was aptly in the Audio Book section.
We had a day off in Lancaster the day before the library show and were planning on having a nice meal for my birthday, followed by the inevitable booze fest, after the long drive from Nottingham. We turned up at this gastro pub and I was lead into this dark room and was hit by a roar of "surprise" by friends and family. It was flabbergasting, completely unexpected and bizarrely disorientating having all these people I've known for years in this room in Lancaster. It was such a lovely surprise. Fun times.
The shows on the 19th and 20th were at Glee. Luba in Birmingham and Nottingham respectively. The Birmingham show ended in disaster when drummer Rob fell down a hole when we were loading out resulting in a tenis ball sized swollen ankle and he spent the rest of the evening with buckets full of ice round his ankle. The Nottingham show would have proved an impossibility had it not been for copious amounts of painkillers a foot strap and Rob's unflappable demeanour of "it'll be fine". If it had happened to me I'd be constantly crying like a little boy who's just witnessed his new bike being crushed by a freak incident with a steam roller.
The show must go on, and it has. Hat's off to Rob.
The previous night we played the Lancaster Library which seemed like an odd place to house a live gig considering the usual mode of conduct in a library is to be as quiet as humanly possible, but it turned out to be a marvellous setting with book cases framing the audience. The show was performed in the Sci-Fi and Fantasy section and the sound desk was aptly in the Audio Book section.
We had a day off in Lancaster the day before the library show and were planning on having a nice meal for my birthday, followed by the inevitable booze fest, after the long drive from Nottingham. We turned up at this gastro pub and I was lead into this dark room and was hit by a roar of "surprise" by friends and family. It was flabbergasting, completely unexpected and bizarrely disorientating having all these people I've known for years in this room in Lancaster. It was such a lovely surprise. Fun times.
The shows on the 19th and 20th were at Glee. Luba in Birmingham and Nottingham respectively. The Birmingham show ended in disaster when drummer Rob fell down a hole when we were loading out resulting in a tenis ball sized swollen ankle and he spent the rest of the evening with buckets full of ice round his ankle. The Nottingham show would have proved an impossibility had it not been for copious amounts of painkillers a foot strap and Rob's unflappable demeanour of "it'll be fine". If it had happened to me I'd be constantly crying like a little boy who's just witnessed his new bike being crushed by a freak incident with a steam roller.
The show must go on, and it has. Hat's off to Rob.
19.1.11
Smoke Fairies tour diary part uno
I'm sitting back stage three days into the tour listening to the luscious sounds of Sea of Bees who are supporting us on this tour, she has a voice that would turn even the sternest of men into cuddly teddy bears.
Brighton Jam was most enjoyable on Monday. The venue itself is clearly built for vertically challenged folk but luckily I didn't knock myself out on the low flying beams. Due to the low ceilings it made viewing from the stage pretty odd cos you could only see the front row but judging by the voluminous applause you could tell there were a lot of appreciative people out there. It was a smashing turn out considering it was a Monday night and in January, the miserable month where people mainly stay at home and sob into their empty wallets.
I've discovered that sushi is literally the best food to have before a gig cos it's light and tasty. We made a bit of an error in Brighton cos we had Italian which was lovely but I wanted a sleep after eating that and not play a gig. It was seriously good risotto though.
"who are the band" was shouted out from the audience last night at the wedgewood rooms in Southsea. It always feels like a proper rock n' roll gig when Kaf and Jess introduce us: "aaaand on the bass is..."
I shouldn't miss out the first night at the shabby but strangely charming venue that is the Forum, a converted toilet in Tunbridge wells. What more can I say about that place? Dodgy are playing there soon, remember them?
Follow me on Twitter if you like @Neil_Estate
Brighton Jam was most enjoyable on Monday. The venue itself is clearly built for vertically challenged folk but luckily I didn't knock myself out on the low flying beams. Due to the low ceilings it made viewing from the stage pretty odd cos you could only see the front row but judging by the voluminous applause you could tell there were a lot of appreciative people out there. It was a smashing turn out considering it was a Monday night and in January, the miserable month where people mainly stay at home and sob into their empty wallets.
I've discovered that sushi is literally the best food to have before a gig cos it's light and tasty. We made a bit of an error in Brighton cos we had Italian which was lovely but I wanted a sleep after eating that and not play a gig. It was seriously good risotto though.
"who are the band" was shouted out from the audience last night at the wedgewood rooms in Southsea. It always feels like a proper rock n' roll gig when Kaf and Jess introduce us: "aaaand on the bass is..."
I shouldn't miss out the first night at the shabby but strangely charming venue that is the Forum, a converted toilet in Tunbridge wells. What more can I say about that place? Dodgy are playing there soon, remember them?
Follow me on Twitter if you like @Neil_Estate
14.1.11
17.12.10
Smoke Ferrys in Ireland
After a particularly long and frustrating wait at (definitely not in London) Luton airport courtesy of Ryan Air we finally arrived in Kerry well into the night to be greeted by this incredibly Irish looking chap brandishing a sign that said 'Smoke Ferrys'. It was most amusing.
The drive from Kerry airport to Dingle took about an hour across small winding roads and we only passed a couple of vehicles the whole journey. Our driver is a tour guide for eight months of the year and he treated us to a few bits of trivia about the surrounding area:
"to the left of you is a beautiful peninsula... glorious mountains all around us... of course you can't see this because it's pitch black outside"
...which was a shame but the stars shone bright so at least we saw something lovely.
Luckily we weren't too late for a few beverages at the local pub, Guinness naturally. After a conversation with one of the regulars about the Other Voices festival and how many acclaimed acts have played there like Elbow, Seasick Steve, Richard Hawley, Jarvis Cocker, The National, *cough* Snow Patrol *splutter* James Blunt, we decide that drinking copious amounts into the wee small hours is probably not the best preparation for an important show that's being filmed in HD in a church. Surprisingly sensible.
We arrived at this little church for soundcheck the following morning at 10am to be met with yet another technical problem, Kaf's guitar not working mainly because it's old, or in other words; vintage and well cool and stuff, ok? so what if it constantly goes out of tune, just listen to that tone maaaaaaaaaaaan. The techies dismantled the guitar and fixed it in a flash.
I found myself lingering around afterwards to catch some of Everything Everything's soundcheck. I do find their frenetic indie pop pretty nifty. I felt like a bit of a saddo fan boy though.
After that we wandered around the lovely little place that is Dingle, had some tasty vegetarian Goulash then sat for a few hours in nervous anticipation... what to wear?... let's have a whisky... oh, it's the most expensive whisky on the earth? ... right then.
The big moment came and after a spot of makeup we headed to the church and in through a side window at which point I smashed my head hard on the window pane and briefly thought I'd pass out before cursing myself for being such a lumbering idiot. The show itself was going fine until half way through Summer Fades when Kaf forgot the lyrics which caused momentary panic before realising it's TV and we can start again! which we did, twice. We played six songs in total, three of which will appear on the TV show at some point in the new year. I'll post it here after it's broadcast. It should look fantastic as they had these wonderfully vibrant blue and violet lights shining brightly on stage, like this:
The following day we set of at ludicrous o'clock in the morning to head to snowy Dublin for a show that had initially been moved to a different venue, as support act to Laura Marling, but then Laura became too sick to play so the show was cancelled leaving us in a bit of a pickle. Many flustered phone calls later and the show is back on at the original venue The Working Man's Club and free entry to boot. There was no support band booked so Kris and Rob valiantly stepped in to do a stripped down version of their band Story Books but they were infected by the Smoke Fairies' something-will-stop-working-on-stage-any-time-now virus and sadly had to cut their set short. More on those tune mongers soon. The Smoke Fairies' set naturally had a technical blip or two but it was a good show and well attended; a few crazies were in tow but you're bound to get that with a free show. And with that you have the last show of 2010 for Smoke Fairies. Bring on 2011.
The drive from Kerry airport to Dingle took about an hour across small winding roads and we only passed a couple of vehicles the whole journey. Our driver is a tour guide for eight months of the year and he treated us to a few bits of trivia about the surrounding area:
"to the left of you is a beautiful peninsula... glorious mountains all around us... of course you can't see this because it's pitch black outside"
...which was a shame but the stars shone bright so at least we saw something lovely.
Luckily we weren't too late for a few beverages at the local pub, Guinness naturally. After a conversation with one of the regulars about the Other Voices festival and how many acclaimed acts have played there like Elbow, Seasick Steve, Richard Hawley, Jarvis Cocker, The National, *cough* Snow Patrol *splutter* James Blunt, we decide that drinking copious amounts into the wee small hours is probably not the best preparation for an important show that's being filmed in HD in a church. Surprisingly sensible.
We arrived at this little church for soundcheck the following morning at 10am to be met with yet another technical problem, Kaf's guitar not working mainly because it's old, or in other words; vintage and well cool and stuff, ok? so what if it constantly goes out of tune, just listen to that tone maaaaaaaaaaaan. The techies dismantled the guitar and fixed it in a flash.
I found myself lingering around afterwards to catch some of Everything Everything's soundcheck. I do find their frenetic indie pop pretty nifty. I felt like a bit of a saddo fan boy though.
After that we wandered around the lovely little place that is Dingle, had some tasty vegetarian Goulash then sat for a few hours in nervous anticipation... what to wear?... let's have a whisky... oh, it's the most expensive whisky on the earth? ... right then.
The big moment came and after a spot of makeup we headed to the church and in through a side window at which point I smashed my head hard on the window pane and briefly thought I'd pass out before cursing myself for being such a lumbering idiot. The show itself was going fine until half way through Summer Fades when Kaf forgot the lyrics which caused momentary panic before realising it's TV and we can start again! which we did, twice. We played six songs in total, three of which will appear on the TV show at some point in the new year. I'll post it here after it's broadcast. It should look fantastic as they had these wonderfully vibrant blue and violet lights shining brightly on stage, like this:
The following day we set of at ludicrous o'clock in the morning to head to snowy Dublin for a show that had initially been moved to a different venue, as support act to Laura Marling, but then Laura became too sick to play so the show was cancelled leaving us in a bit of a pickle. Many flustered phone calls later and the show is back on at the original venue The Working Man's Club and free entry to boot. There was no support band booked so Kris and Rob valiantly stepped in to do a stripped down version of their band Story Books but they were infected by the Smoke Fairies' something-will-stop-working-on-stage-any-time-now virus and sadly had to cut their set short. More on those tune mongers soon. The Smoke Fairies' set naturally had a technical blip or two but it was a good show and well attended; a few crazies were in tow but you're bound to get that with a free show. And with that you have the last show of 2010 for Smoke Fairies. Bring on 2011.
4.12.10
Smoke Fairies - European Tour Diary
I dragged my exhausted body into the lobby of the hotel in Madrid at silly o'clock in the morning and the driver said, “We’re stopping en route to the airport to pick up some people from Edwyn Collins" and for a brief moment I forgot my extreme tiredness and am reminded of what the hell I've been doing for the last week and a half.
Day 1 - Paris
As with most days on tour much of the day is taken up being on a variety of motorways and on this particular day being under the sea in a tunnel for a bit too. I'd never been to Paris before so was looking forward to catching a glimpse of the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. We were travelling along this french motorway when we noticed the Sat Nav claiming we were a mere 5 minutes away which I hoped was all lies but it turned out to be pretty accurate; we arrived at the venue Fleche d' Or and it's like we're in the Willesden of Paris, not an Arc or Tower in site. Despite that, the venue itself was lovely, the decor nicely reflecting its name; Fleche d' Or meaning The Golden Arrow, a defunct train line that ran through the area in the 1920s.We were fed well and the show was well received.
In the van on the way to the hotel after the show someone shouted out "there's the Eiffel Tower!" and the rest of us turned around in different directions and missed it. That pretty much sums up this touring lark.
Day 2 - The long drive to The Hague
What makes a long drive tolerable? Michael Bolton on the stereo that's what. Someone, I think it was Jess, thought it would be a great/silly idea if everyone bought an embarrassing CD with them, hence Michael Bolton. Smooooooth.
We arrived at this nice hostel Den Haag, dumped our stuff then headed over to the Crossing Border Festival. We caught Ed Harcourt playing the Deuite Kerk (German Church) which was the same place we played the following day. His voice sounded ultra luscious in the cavernous church surroundings and Black Dress sounded particularly lovely. He did one song sans amplification and took on the wandering minstrel role, strolled up the aisle of the church and perched on a pew next to Kaf. He dedicated the next song to Smoke Fairies which was sweet.
Day 3 - Still in The Hague
We had a rare opportunity to wander around the city so wander we did and we passed many a cafe that brandished a sign with the words 'Slag Room' on it. We were pretty bemused until we stopped off at a pancake house and discovered the words were Dutch for whipped cream, and what better to go with whipped cream than hot chocolate and lashings of vodka. The dutch certainly know how to treat a hot drink.
Our show in the church that night was a little problematic to say the least. The guitar amps were behaving like they had a particularly bad cold, which incidentally most of the band did have at this point. I turned round on stage one moment and saw one of the coughing and spluttering amps being stretchered off to be replaced by a nice healthy specimen. The next moment Jessica's tuning pedal had been infected and her guitar cut out resulting in a sharp piercing noise when the offending article was replaced. Instead of looking embarrassed Jess wittily remarked "well, that rather destroyed the atmosphere we were creating" and carried on like nothing had happened. It was a valiant show.
After the show Kaf and Jess tootled off to do some kind of promotional radio thing and the rest of us were left with the task of loading the van before Local Natives' show in this impressive theatre round the corner. We also had time for a nice alcoholic beverage but not enough time to fully make use of the ample supplies in the fridge. Drummer Rob happened upon an idea to take a few cans with us for later so he asked this guy in a smashing cowboy hat if he thought the people would mind, unbeknown to Rob that guy was Kurt Wagner of Lambchop fame. In that American-country drawl Kurt simply said "take the whole crate and walk out looking like you know what you're doing" .
Local Natives were incredible, all youthful energy and fervent enthusiasm. They walked on stage and after the first note every single person stood up out of their seats and started dancing. It was one of those moments where it feels like you're witnessing musical history where nothing will be the same again...but then the next day nothing has changed. I think I have a bit of a man crush on the bassist too. He finger picks - on the bass - has one of those 'cool' indie partly shaved haircuts and mid length trousers and still I think this.
Deeper into the night the few that remained somehow found ourselves on a karaoke bus. It was a classic flourish.
Day 4 - Antwerp
Part two of the Crossing Border Festival after handily crossing a border. We arrived at this maze of a venue which had a main auditorium, a couple of other smaller stages and a cafe type place on the ground floor where we were due to be playing. Sound check was going fine until the moment Jess strummed her guitar; the strap fell off and her lovely old Hofner crashed to the ground causing the neck to snap. Tragic. The spare guitar was dug out and we carried on.
The room was packed for the show, Ed Harcourt was in the audience and a song was dedicated to him at which point I thought to myself 'don't mess this up, don't mess this up'
We had to leave straight after the show and drive to this little guest house in Germany. We had to wake up the lady of the house at 2am to let us in and were up early morning to have breakfast, thus continuing our late finish, early start pattern of tiredness.
Day 5 - Copenhagen
After a particularly long drive, some of which was taken up by Kaf and Jess doing a bizarre set of phone interviews with guitar magazines, and a short ferry trip we rolled up to this area where every surface has graffiti and it looks like a Mad Max film with people gathered around burning oil drums and an open hash market. That place is the free town Christiania. It's pretty much an anarchist state and apparently if you run in the main square they set the dogs on you because they think it's a police raid. Setting dogs on the police is totally fine. It's a pretty incredible place.
During sound check I went to tighten my viola bow as per usual but to my dismay realised that the hairs weren't stretching out and despite several frantic attempts to make it tighten I had to concede defeat. Luckily, Kris had a budget 'cello bow with him that he occasionally uses on his bass guitar to mimic the sound of Humpback whales mating. So I used that. It was like playing the viola with a tree trunk.
5 days in: 1 x broken amps, 1 x broken Hofner guitar and 1 x broken viola bow.
Day 6 - Hamburg
The few hours we had spare in Hamburg were mostly taken up with searching for replacement amp valves and a new viola bow. Both things were acquired with surprising ease, mainly due to the incredibly friendly and helpful Germans. Also, as if by magic, a brand new Hofner guitar in the box was waiting for us at the venue. I guess there's a reason why the band is called Smoke Fairies.
The venue, The Molotow, reminded me of the Buffalo Bar with its red lighting and punkish demeanour. My brother and sister in law turned up too which must have amplified the similarities with London.
We opened up the door to our hotel room later on to find what should have been a room for 4 people only had one bunk bed. After a little searching we found another bed in a draw under the bunk and one up in the gods above the top bunk and over the door. Contained.
Day 7 - Berlin
We arrived in Berlin early as Kaf and Jess had numerous promo based things including having their every move filmed by these seemingly anarchic film crew who later on shone bright lights and stuck cameras in our faces as we tried to play the gig. This gave the rest of us enough time to walk around and get lost in the snow and chose ill advised places to eat.
To add to our growing list of broken stuff the other amp died during soundcheck but the support act Miracle Fortress kindly lent us his.
It was a full, attentive crowd at the gig and they were surprisingly vocal too with one guy marvellously exclaiming “you’re not ZZ Top, you’re AA Top!”
The hotel we stayed at (Michelberger Hotel) was ace, I think it's specially designed for arts/ music type people which I think just means it's cheap. There were plasma screens dotted around every corridor all showing The Big Lebowski which prompted a few white russians in the bar later on.
Day 8 - Travel to Barcelona
We left the van in Berlin to be driven back to London and undertook the jet set leg of the tour arriving at the airport for Spain. It was a pleasure to touch down in Barcelona following the bitter cold of Germany. Snow was replaced with sun and palm trees.
We came across this food market which was like Borough Market but much larger and cheaper and not full of middle class people with lots of money.
Day 9 - Barcelona, Primavera Festival
Pleasingly, we had most of the day to soak up Barcelona. We travelled up this steep hill in a cable car to the Castell de Montjuic and the views of the harbour and city were breathtaking, almost as breathtaking as the journey in the cable car which I found embarrassingly terrifying.
We then headed to Gaudi's Sangrada Familia which is an astonishing piece of architecture clearly designed by a lunatic. It's an incredibly imposing gothic structure. Kris took it on himself to test out the acoustics of the place, the results of which you can see here:
The show in the evening was part of Primevera and we were on just before Teenage Fanclub which meant playing in a pretty large venue with a crowd who for the most part were pretty attentive. The Spanish love a good smoke in the venue, something i was looking forward to but when you were faced with the claustrophobic reality I ended up smoking outside most of the time.
It was particularly long but fun evening and I awoke fully clothed with most of the contents of the mini bar scrawled across the floor.
Day 10 - Madrid
After nowhere near enough sleep we took our fragile selves to the train station for the high speed train to Madrid. They showed a film dubbed in Spanish with Spanish subtitles. Helpful.
The show was a similar affair to Barcelona still being Primevera. The venue was this ornate council room where you'd imagine important people making important speeches. We just played a few songs, which was good. This final show was initially a bit of a challenge for me; the combination of lack of sleep, general lingering flu-type thing, hangover, searing heat on stage not helped by this three piece suit I was wearing and the claustrophobic smokey atmosphere meant that at one point I thought I might pass out on stage but luckily that feeling only lasted one song and it went on to be one of the best shows we played.
Day 11 - leave Madrid
...which is back where I started at the top of the page.
I can't finish this piece without mentioning the unflappable manager Matt who not only made sure we got where we were supposed to be but also did a fair chunk of the driving and put up with our constant stream of questions and affably dealt with such problems as us breaking pretty much everything. He is great.
I should also mention Finian the sound man who travelled with us. He had a routine of playing The Rapture's Don Gon Do It at the beginning of every sound check. He'd put it on really loud while we were setting up and walk around the venue to test out the sound system. Always the pro. It also marked our arrival at each show which turned out to be rather reassuring.
18.11.10
Trans Europe Express
The Smoke mobile is en route to the Chanel tunnel for the first leg of the European tour, we're already shattered, it's chucking it down, my shoes are already leaking and I'm considering a nice breakfast whiskey. It's a classic flourish.
27.10.10
Hornets Tour Gruff Riley
I feel it's about time I document various happenings of note before my goldfish like memory does one more lap of the fish bowl before exlaiming "ooh, I haven't been here before".
The photo above was taken after Smoke Fairies' 6 Music session on Marc Riley's splendid radio show a week or so ago. You can't 'listen again' because I was far too slow putting this blog up but, well, it was good and worth the journey up to Manchester on a Thursday night. I've been an avid listener of his show for years now so it was marvellous to finally do a session. In person he's exactly like his radio persona and his unrelenting enthusiasm for new music is wonderfully refreshing: he sits in his radio booth bopping away to all the records he plays and generally looks like he's enjoying every second.
Smoke Fairies play Cecil Sharp House this Sunday then we're hopping over to Europe in November for a tour which is damn exciting!
Before all that though there's a Monroe Transfer show at The Half Moon in Herne Hill. It's a show organised by the webzine Penny Black Music who recently conducted a rather lengthy interview with us.
This here blog was recently mentioned in a particularly unspectacular way on another blog and the only reason it was mentioned was becasue I commented on his blog. It's like blog incest, we're probably going to mate and produce a deformed twitter account. It's worth a mention though only becuase the blog in question (The Hornet) is a blog from this treasure trove of a shop of the same name, but with an 's' on the end and without the 'The'. It's a gents' vintage clothing shop and although it can be a little pricey -well, anything is pricey with me I guess- all their stock is magnificent and of top quality. I bought a 1970s three piece sky blue suit from there a month or so ago and it's just perfect in every way. Pop along if you're in the area.
“A man should look as if he had bought his clothes with intelligence, put them on with care and then forgotten all about them.” Sir Hardy Amies
Back to BBC6 Music now; I heard Gruff Rhys' new single on there the other day and it's a fabulous song. Despite having released nine (consistently good) studio albums with Super Furry Animals, two solo albums and numerous other projects like Neon Neon he's still bursting with ideas and this one is a particular gem. It reminds me of the music of oddball 1960s producer Jean Pierre Massiera who's responsible for one of my favourite compilations, Midnight Massiera on Finders Keepers. That particular record label is mentioned on his site so it's not entirely surprising; also mentioned on Gruff's website is where to get the song, for FREE! so go here for the good stuff.
The photo above was taken after Smoke Fairies' 6 Music session on Marc Riley's splendid radio show a week or so ago. You can't 'listen again' because I was far too slow putting this blog up but, well, it was good and worth the journey up to Manchester on a Thursday night. I've been an avid listener of his show for years now so it was marvellous to finally do a session. In person he's exactly like his radio persona and his unrelenting enthusiasm for new music is wonderfully refreshing: he sits in his radio booth bopping away to all the records he plays and generally looks like he's enjoying every second.
Smoke Fairies play Cecil Sharp House this Sunday then we're hopping over to Europe in November for a tour which is damn exciting!
Before all that though there's a Monroe Transfer show at The Half Moon in Herne Hill. It's a show organised by the webzine Penny Black Music who recently conducted a rather lengthy interview with us.
This here blog was recently mentioned in a particularly unspectacular way on another blog and the only reason it was mentioned was becasue I commented on his blog. It's like blog incest, we're probably going to mate and produce a deformed twitter account. It's worth a mention though only becuase the blog in question (The Hornet) is a blog from this treasure trove of a shop of the same name, but with an 's' on the end and without the 'The'. It's a gents' vintage clothing shop and although it can be a little pricey -well, anything is pricey with me I guess- all their stock is magnificent and of top quality. I bought a 1970s three piece sky blue suit from there a month or so ago and it's just perfect in every way. Pop along if you're in the area.
“A man should look as if he had bought his clothes with intelligence, put them on with care and then forgotten all about them.” Sir Hardy Amies
Back to BBC6 Music now; I heard Gruff Rhys' new single on there the other day and it's a fabulous song. Despite having released nine (consistently good) studio albums with Super Furry Animals, two solo albums and numerous other projects like Neon Neon he's still bursting with ideas and this one is a particular gem. It reminds me of the music of oddball 1960s producer Jean Pierre Massiera who's responsible for one of my favourite compilations, Midnight Massiera on Finders Keepers. That particular record label is mentioned on his site so it's not entirely surprising; also mentioned on Gruff's website is where to get the song, for FREE! so go here for the good stuff.
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