Santa Blog

Spark it up

2008-04-20T00:27:00.004Z

Hurrah! Our new tracks Spark it Up and Attack Attack have been mixed and mastered and we've set a single release date for 2nd June, on our own label RaRaRa. The tracks are currently streaming on our myspace page and they'll be on LastFM and the website in the next day or so. We're really happy to be moving forward again after a couple of months of relative quietness on the dog front.

I'm glad to report that it's not all been thumb twiddling and yak-hair jumper knitting though - there's been much busyness with other work commitments, and the juggling that that creates.... however, plans are being hatched for lots of shows over the summer. We're planning on heading back over to Europe in July, to Germany and Italy and we're really looking forward to our three upcoming shows next week which kick off with the South West Sound Bristol fringe this coming Wednesday at the Cooler with Countryside, a short hop over to Bath on Thursday with the Hinkley Veltones and then a chilled out set at the Folkhouse in Bristol on Friday with Roger Tarry and the Rosie Taylor project. In May we're delighted to be playing Dot to Dot Festival in Bristol and Nottingham - more details on times and venues to follow.

We sadly said goodbye to our trusty Dogmobile recently. It was never quite the same after its little adventure to Exeter which ended in a motorway services with much steam and RAC action. It limped on for a couple more months but when it started smoking like a kipper, a trip to the garage revealed a split head gasket so it was pretty much beyond repair. I was actually pretty gutted - I loved that van, it was quirky, fun to drive, and most importantly beeped when you put it into reverse. Class. So, we started a proactive search for a new van and picked up a rather darned hot black VW transporter. It's ace, but so far slightly flawed in that it revs like billyho, but we're hoping it'll be sorted in the next couple of days!

Adventures in Europe part III

2008-02-22T01:07:00.005Z

Following on from ace trips to Paris and Austria it seemed logical to explore the other delights that mainland Europe could offer. A sketchy invite to an Italian industry shindig last November put the wheels in motion for our latest trip to Italy but it's safe to say that the subsequent tour planning wasn't plain sailing. The original invite fell through but by that time we'd made friends with Italian band Tiny Tide through myspace and decided to string some dates together. This led to endless days compiling lists of venues, contacts and agents and fruitless attempts to communicate with said people with a mixture of chirpy English and pidgin Italian. The less results I got, the more fervently I pestered and cajoled but it seemed to me after three months of trying that Italy was a closed shop. So, thank goodness for the tireless optimism via myspace of Mark from Tiny Tide who sorted out our first show and to Max at Mattatoio who took a punt on us and offered us a subsequent gig. The plans were set.

When we set off for Pisa on the afternoon before Valentines day I still wasn't quite sure what lay in store for us and had the niggling frustration that still hung around of having only 2 dates booked with 2 days inbetween. (I needn't have worried - by Valentines night those fears had evaporated and we were all grinning like loons, but more of that to come).

The designers at Pisa airport obviously had a thing for pigeons. Sculptures of the little blighters were immortalised in plaster, stone and wood all around the terminal building, flapping their alabaster wings in frozen flight and fixing us with beady eyes as we waited, and waited and waited for a taxi which never seemed to arrive. Finally we got a ride, and surprisingly the driver didn't bat an eyelid at our hefty baggage, guitars and drum paraphanelia, unlike in Paris when the drivers took one look at our garb and worldly goods and drove off into the distance with a shrug and gallic snort. (Our subsequent dealings with Italian taxi-drivers over the next few days were overwhelmingly excellent. One in Modena was reading Dostyovsky's Crime and Punishment and another joked with us in perfect English about the excellent free B&B facilities as we drove past the local jail). Pisa seemed like a nice city from what we saw, small, clean and with the great big leaning tower - more imposing and awesome than I'd imagined from photos and books and dramatic in the moonlight. We found a good local Pizza restaurant, attempted our first Italian words and drank lots of nice Italian wine.... all a good introduction to the next day.

(Martin took some ace pics which we'll hopefully upload soon, these are three crumby pics from my cameraphone)

Our hotel in Pisa was right by the station and it was so straightforward to buy tickets to Cesena. The Italian train system worked for us really well, it was cheap, efficient and no-nonsense. Our Italian friends grumbled about the old rolling-stock and delays but compared to our creaking, vastly overpriced UK rail network it was a joy. We got to Cesena, hung round for a bit, got cold and then went to Lego which was down a pretty cobbled sidestreet. I think I pretty much knew the rest of our time in Italy would be great from the first half hour of being in Lego. It was a lovely friendly place, Ettore the owner welcomed us warmly, gave us directions to the hotel and told us when to come back for soundcheck, after which he cooked us delicious pasta and supplied copious amounts of booze. I really enjoyed the gig - it was a very simple, small set up but the place was packed for Valentines day and we had a ball. By this time we'd said our hellos to Tiny Tide and co, watched their support set and sussed out that they were top blokes. They were our guides and friends for the next couple of days and their kindness and generosity knew no bounds.

We based ourselves in Cesena for the next couple of days, explored the city and had daytrips to Rimini/Bologna. It was a break and thoroughly enjoyed. One thing that struck me was that Italian lunchtimes are a big deal. Rimini was like a ghost town on Saturday at 2pm. We sat and had coffee in one of the squares and there was a sleepy hush about the place but when the clock struck 3.30 people came streaming out onto the streets, the shopped opened and by 4pm the place was packed. It was quite lovely. Saturday night we were taken out to dinner by our Italian friends and then onto a great club about half an hour out of Cesena.

Sunday morning we gathered ourselves together, ate more bread-based products for breakfast (by this point I'd not eaten a fruit or vegetable for four days, apart from a sugar glazed strawberry on top of a pastry) and we got the train to Carpi, via Bologna and Modena. I didn't know much about the venue Mattatoio at this point, just instructions to a hotel and we'd work the rest out when we got there. The hotel was amazing - brand new, luxurious and with wonderfully friendly staff who rustled up some delightful bread-based products for us to eat on arrival. Rested and happy we got a taxi to the venue for early soundcheck and stage time of 8pm which seemed oddly early. Again, I needn't have fretted. The venue was amazing - housed in Carpi's Communist party headquarters, with a great PA and excellent supplied backline. We met up with Tiny Tide who played an ace support set and then by the time we went on at eight the place was really busy. Max, who had booked us explained that everyone went for dinner at 9 so early gigs on Sunday worked well. The gig itself was ace fun, although the pressure was on to put in a good performance it was still exhilarating. The Italian hospitality which up 'til now had been exemplary went into overdrive as we were taken for a slap-up meal and then driven back to the hotel. We made the mistake when back in the hotel lobby of tucking into the Talisker malt whisky that we'd spotted behind the bar and the barman/concierge poured us the most generous measures and insisted on topping up our glasses. We then somehow discovered that each glass was €10 - meaning we'd accumulated an €80 bar bill in the space of half an hour. Yikes.

So, Monday dawned and it was our last day in Italy - time to gather our gear and head to Venice to fly home. The travelling home is usually the worst part..., in our case we were happily stuffed with bread-based products but weary. The train took around three hours with changes and we arrived into the main station with a couple of hours to spare before check-in. I'd been to Venice once before as a student and the memory of it had stayed with me, as a place of incredible light, an unearthly magical city. For some reason though I'd forgotten the entrance from the train station - it was stunning, with steps leading down to one of the main canals, with a beautiful footbridge over the water and the busy hum of a city alive. I went to one of the waterbus booths and booked what I thought was four waterbus tickets to the airport. We were pointed in the general direction of the right place to catch the bus and so we trudged over the bridge and along the canal with our increasingly heavy baggage only to find that the waterbus didn't seem to exist - only a bus station set back from the canal with thronging crowds all queuing for the airport buses. We headed back to the canal and I approached one of the private water taxis to see how much it would be for us to get to the airport. It was quite a lot but we all had a few Euros left - enough to chip in and it was the best decision we made of the whole trip. With all our luggage and guitars precariously loaded onboard we were motoring through the centre of Venice on our very own speedboat as the sun was setting on the city and as soon as the boat left the city limits were were roaring across the open water to the airport. Simply breathtaking.

In conclusion.... an amazing few days. A much-needed boost for us as a band and also a time for reflection and gathering pace for the coming year. We love playing live and travelling together and are really hungry for more experiences like this.

Happy new Year!

2008-01-02T21:19:00.000Z

Had fun at the Cooler in Bristol for NYE - first time we'd played a New Years Eve gig and Rob nearly got to put his foot on the monitor and play Auld Lang Syne but thankfully he resisted. I nearly lost my voice (blaming the dry ice) and got bought (medicinal) brandy by generous souls. Ended up at the Louie after and then staggered back to ours. What a treat to drink after a gig for once... I could get used to it. (insert devil emoticon here).

Who knows what 2008 will bring - we certainly had a good times with the band in 2007 so looking forward to the upcoming months.

wings and things

2007-12-04T02:15:00.000Z

It's all very well furiously downing Red Bulls before playing a gig but in hindsight not the brightest move for a Monday night. Had a lovely time at the Louisiana supporting Hey Gravity tonight (unsurprisingly we whizzed through the set) but now hot-diggity-dang the evening's fiendish caffeine and adrenalined cocktail is raging on and I'm bouncing round the walls. Heck.

I've been pondering an odd fact by a certain Mr H tonight who declared the origins of the necktie were as a food-catching bib. I suspect he may be in Robbie-tall-tale territory but it was a good yarn nonetheless. True/False?

Had fun in London on Saturday at the Notting Hill Arts Club. Sounds XP were curating the weekly RoTA afternoons and kindly invited us to play along with The Hot Puppies and Olympians. Good times.

We're done with Angst

2007-11-24T16:44:00.000Z

So goes the motto of Californian popsters The Little Ones. Until last night I didn't know much about them apart from vaguely recognising the name. They were playing at the Louisiana and as Robbie was the house engineer last night he did the usual pre-work myspace check to see what he was in for. On first listen they sounded great so he promised to text during soundcheck to let me know how it was looking. Two hours later.... 'AWESOME' was the message. He isn't easily impressed, especially after the countless bands he's seen at the Loui over the last couple of years so I duly headed down to catch them at 10.

They were indeed AWESOME. Haven't been so moved by heartfelt pop-tomfoolery since the Changes. Oh please Little Ones, don't play at Exeter Cavern with no Bristol date next time you're in the UK, I beg of you. Actually, there's fat chance of that seeing as they're currently supporting Kaiser Chiefs and We Are Scientists in considerably larger venues. It was a rare chance to see them in a cosy setting.

Star of the show was the smiliest bassplayer I have ever seen - in fact they all looked like they were having a ball, with genuine banter and heartfelt loveliness. Shame on the Guardian for rather acerbically commenting that "on their best songs, they are capable of freakishly infectious guitar pop. Elsewhere, they sound like twee US indie kids doing karaoke versions of Magic Numbers tunes". Twee karaoke? Outrageous! They may be sweet, but pigeon-toed they certainly are not, packing a pop-fuelled punch with delicious understanding of what makes a cracking tune. Also much as I like their Heavenly bedfellows The Magic Numbers, The Little Ones have much less chaff and more lyrical depth.

Anyway, in other news, dog-wise we've had a few nice gigs recently, supporting chirpy Canucks Pony Up at the Louie, Fortune Drive at the Croft and then over at Moles in Bath on Thursday with Emily Breeze and Ill Ease. On the way back from the Moles gig we got stopped by the police. It was round by Temple Meads where the lanes all converge and divide, no one on the road apart from us and a police car that whizzed up behind us, tooted and then flashed the blues and twos. Really, did they have nothing better to do than pull us over to instruct me how to use my indicators? Had I been drinking? Was this my van? Where did I live? Did I have ID? Where had we been this evening? Why was our band called Santa Dog? (yes, really). Once they'd ascertained that I was sober, was who I said I was, and was the owner of the vehicle, they let us go, with the faintest whiff of disappointment I may add.

Prawn of the Dead

2007-11-01T18:07:00.001Z

I blame this little fecker and his grubby little friends for the unholy infarction that happened last weekend. Without going into too much detail, I was really sick and poorly, just a few hours after cooking a yummy prawn stirfry. I loved prawns and now I just don't think I'm going to be able to eat them again for a while. Grrrrr.

It wasn't the greatest timing either as the next day we were recording rhythm tracks for the new tunes. My contribution to the day's events was slack, some feeble guide vocals and then off to bed. The others did a sterling job, a constructive days work. There was the inevitable Spinal tap style squabble but we soon got over that. More tomorrow. (Recording, not squabbling, I hope)

Also, I was having a clear out on the computer and found a photo that Jojo took on his mobile phone at the photo shoot we did with Toby ages ago. Robbie is doing his finest Father Dougal impression.....

lo-fi photo musings

2007-10-21T15:03:00.000Z

There has been a mysterious used roll of 35mm camera film sitting on my desk for at least the last 2 years. Every so often I've added it on my list of things to do, or stuck post-it notes to the canister saying things like 'develop me' but I never seemed to make the effort to get done, especially as I couldn't remember what the heck was on it. Finally my curiosity got the better of me and I took it down to the super cheap Asda lab last week. What a pleasant surprise! It was the last film I'd taken on my 4-lens plastic 'action sampler' Lomo camera about 3 years ago.

It's a really bonky camera which fits four frames into a normal 35mm frame over a slight time delay. Much fun, and I was really happy with this one image in particular, of chive flower heads, with the lovely blurred edges and odd saturated colours that Lomos are so uniquely good at capturing. This whole 'mystery film' experience is one of the fundamental reasons why I still love film. I'm not a luddite, I think digital cameras are amazingly handy and I'm always using my camera phone for quick, cheap and instant snaps but sometimes instant on-demand technology lacks an indefinable quality, a soul maybe. There is something magical about a lost film reel - secrets hidden inside a light proof time capsule. Safe and biding their time, ready to be revealed but equally happy to wait.

Getting this film developed was part of a mini-resurgence I've had the last week or so for lo-fi film based photography, which I had been seriously into several years ago. I dug out some of my old cameras and bid for some out of date polaroid pack film from ebay for this baby:

Polaroid don't make them anymore - I was amazed they made them in the first place as it's such a niche market. They were never available in Europe so I ordered mine from B&H in the States several years ago. At the time I thought was a bit of an extravagance for what is essentially a Polaroid-logo on a cardboard box with a pack film holder on the back but I love it and the results are gorgeous. The longer exposure that pinhole cameras require means the colour chemicals in the polaroid get saturated and the effect can be ethereal and painterly, as in this pic of a flowerhead I took a while ago.

So, the ebay-won polaroid pack film duly arrived. It's way out-of-date stuff, which is fine as I'm not looking for pristine clarity and perfect colour reproduction. Additional blotches, leaks and quirks are all part of the results. Unfortunately it'd been so long since I'd used the polaroid camera that I loaded the pack wrong on both batches of films so my subsequent cussings and swearings about dodgy ebay film was compounded by dumb user error. At several points all the caustic film paste leaked out all over the rollers, the film jammed and only a butter knife and a pair of tweezers saved the day. I have ordered another ebay film, next time I know what to do.
Here's an eccentric result from one of the films - the yellow banding in the middle is the result of knackered colour chemistry in the out-of-date pack.

I've been really pleased by the huge growth and accessibility of polaroid/pinhole/lofi/toy camera blogs and sites since I last properly looked for this stuff on the net. I'm guessing that the rise of blogging and networking sites like Flickr are doing great things, and despite digital cameras wiping out the mainstream trad-film cameras, this lo-fi analogue stuff is getting a new lease of life and I know what I want for Christmas!

Chard is the birthplace of aviation and Honiton is the birthplace of lace doilies (and other such bobbins)

2007-10-10T15:42:00.000Z

Definately cheered since the fug of the weekend - helped in part by a lovely review from Neil at Miwsig which put a stop to my navel-gazing.

I'd bumped into the Miwsig guys at Indietracks in July as they were DJing there and at the time Neil was sporting a slyly tongue-in-cheek Tshirt print lifted straight off a post on the pigeon-toed Bowlie forum that made me chuckle. It was nice to catch up with them again in a quirk of fate with the Decemberists being cancelled on Saturday night, and great they caught Wake the President.

Played the 12 Bar in Swindon last night, really nice venue, all refurbished, great monitoring and nice sounding room. Discovered the joys of the M4 diversions again on the way home - not quite so ridiculous as the last time it happened on the way back from our first gig at the Luminaire. Dogmobile feels slightly grumpy and belligerent at the moment but he got us home.

I'm badgering the guys to start blogging too so it's not just my solo-ramblings into the ether. I'm not sure they are into the idea but considering the amount of guff we talk about on a typical night (as attested by the title of this post) I'm sure some of it could be channelled in this direction.

It's only a gig

2007-10-07T22:55:00.000Z

Sometimes things don't go to plan. I may be a bit of a control freak but I have learned that going with the flow is often all you can do when events conspire. We've been really lucky with our RaRaRa nights over the last year, and last night wasn't a disaster by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a whole lot more stress and hassle in the run-up than we've had in recent times for any homegrown or RaRaRa gig.

The day started as it meant to continue when Danny unfortunately had to cancel his set due to family circumstances. Of course there's no question of chelping on our part, these things happen and most importantly I hope things get sorted out OK for him. We mooted some last minute alternatives and luckily Neil from The Cedar kindly agreed to come along and play a solo set. After lunch I was just gearing up to head to the airport and pick up Wake the President who were flying down from Glasgow to play when Bjorn from the band called to say the flight was delayed. It turned out the poor guys had a seven hour wait at the airport for the delayed flight. They made it just in time - their taxi arrived as Neil started his solo set. Now, I've seen the Cedar (and thoroughly enjoyed them) before but never seen Neil on his own. He's a compelling and talented performer - he held the audience intently with a combination of great songs, lovely banjo playing and a stunning voice. It was a rare treat.

We've been spoiled in our recent Bristol shows - the last few have been really busy and that has given the confidence to offer gig-swaps to bands further away in the knowledge that their trip will be fruitful and hopefully rewarding. Something went a little awry last night. Maybe we don't have the pull, maybe the Croft just isn't our venue (the Louisiana is our true home in Bristol) but when Wake the President took to the stage I felt I'd let them down a little as the place wasn't as full as I'd hoped. They themselves shook off their frustrating airport hassles and hangovers (what else is there to do for 7 hours in a domestic airport lounge with a bar?) with true aplomb. With nothing but a simple line check they proceeded to tear through their set with the same intensity and craft that made me love them at indietracks. They are a fine band and I'm really glad they could make it to Bristol to play. Also, the lovely crowd that were there were appreciative and happy
Wake the President

Our set was OK - glad we got to play new tune 'Spark it up' and I enjoyed myself - all in all it was fine. Looking forward to our Louisiana gig supporting Pony Up on 5th November.

Pretty Polly

2007-09-27T17:12:00.000Z

I didn't realise I was a big enough PJ Harvey fan to be sitting patiently in the Colston hall phone queue when tickets first went on sale for her Bristol show. This surprise enthusiasm for my bank account to be emptied paid off, as the show promptly sold out and we had tickets three rows from the front and a birds-eye view of - er- everything it turned out.

It was quite simply a stunning solo show, and Miss Harvey handled the task of filling the stage and hall with aplomb. The pre-show rumours of a set purely of new songs on piano fell short of the truth. She did air tunes from White Chalk but also breezily ripped through older material with a raw vitality and sensitivity that captivated. Her voice was extraordinary - reaching her very highest register on the new tracks, sometimes missing, but mostly hitting the notes with cut glass intensity.

So all in all it exceeded expectations - a rare treat.

Caverns, Curses & Changes

2007-09-23T17:20:00.000Z

The dogmobile is broken, and it seems we're never destined to make it to the Cavern in Exeter, either as punter or performer. As a performer, it's one of those venues that seems impossible to pin down , it has a speakeasy quality to it - in that you need to knock three times and ask for Harold, or call when there's an R in the month or when the moon is blue. The one time we actually got a confirmed gig there they went and double-booked us, or forgot our booking, or lost our email, or all three. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's a very nice place - you just need to know the correct key combination to enter its hallowed portals.

Despite this, I was delighted to see that ace Chicago band The Changes (who we were fortunate enough to catch at Bristol's inaugural Dot to Dot Festival earlier this year) were playing said venue last Tuesday. Shame there wasn't a Bristol date on this tour but they are one of the few bands around at the moment that I would be willing to drive a distance to go and see. So, me and Lou headed down the M5 in the dogmobile (she'd missed them at Dot to Dot but was generous enough to give me the benefit of the doubt in this musical conviction). Alas, the Cavern Curse kicked in at Collumpton as the van's temperature gauge shot into the red, we limped into the services and watched as steam shot out of the sides of the vehicle. So much that we beat a hasty retreat incase of inferno. At this point I realised that my wistful and rather cheeky reliance on Martin's AA cover should we ever breakdown would be no good to us now. Despite the fact he is in the vehicle for 90% of all journeys, the dogmobile decided to have a hissy-fit on the one occasion he was back in Bristol. I'm not a stranger to joining Recovery companies at the one time you need them. ie, not planning ahead and then getting stung for such tardiness with an almighty joining fee on the spot but ouch, it still hurts! However, the RAC didn't keep us waiting too long - just enough to know that we weren't going to make it to see The Changes, which, considering they had made it all the way over from Chicago, and we had only made it 60 miles, was fairly gutting.

poorly van being towed away

With the van still out of action in Somerset, we made it to Saturday's gig in Farrington Gurney in two cars. After the eccentric gaggle of gigs we've had recently I didn't know what we were getting into, but it exceeded every expectation in a very charming way. For starters, Clint, who put the show on, really cared about putting on a good night and it was immediately apparent on arrival that this was no hickey barn dance. There was a full and professional lighting rig, the venue had great acoustics (thanks to Arts council/lottery funding) there were posters on every pole, signpost and stationary object for miles around. Also, the crowd weren't fashionistas and it was all the better for it. There was a genuine warmth and it was just a very nice night all round.

As for The Changes - as part of their tour they're playing next Monday in Cardiff, so I may get to see them after all. The last train back isn't late enough sofingers crossed there isn't a Cardiff Curse too.

A gaggle of gigs.....

2007-09-17T18:40:00.000Z

New bass player Steve has seen an eccentric gaggle of gigs in the last few weeks as his 'depping' status from June's Luminaire gig has grown into something more permanent. We welcome him on board and feel his initiation (especially after this weekend) must surely be complete.

But first, back to the end of August and our weekend of gigs with Noemi. Huntspilton Festival in Somerset kindly invited them over from Bordeaux so we both headed down there on the Saturday, thankful it was sunny and dry and looking forward to the hospitality and set-up we'd enjoyed the year before. It was all very lovely, the crowds came, the free beer flowed and the hog-roast managed to get wolfed up before I got my greedy mitts on it (I'm stumped as to how that happened). The main point of the event was for the good people of Huntspill and beyond to have a quality knees up and for them to make a profit this year for charity - both of which they achieved magnificently. As an aside, we had a lovely band chelp about the sound, prompting me to wish I had the diva-ish swagger of Katie Sketch, frontwomen from the Organ - who once screeching at a beleagured sound guy mid soundcheck the perfect withering putdown 'it sounds like it's coming outa my ass'. I digress, but our sound was astonishingly inept. Luckily there were more professional singers than I, especially in the shape of one Noemie Brosset who battled through feedback and lack of monitoring with French aplomb and an eye-pleasing catsuit. She's a star - truly, not just in that cute and faintly patronising 'aahh, you're a star' way but in a proper, shit-you-not full-on stardust way. Awesome.

Next day we headed further into the depths of Somerset for the private, invite only, Itchycoo Festival. I'd been a couple of years previously so knew it was pretty special. Small but perfectly formed. As the dogmobile struggled up the never ending rough woodland track, we were stopped by a pony and trap with an assortment of Somerset's finest crustafarian travellers aboard who'd obviously been turned away from the party. "It's cursed!" they declared toothlessly, as we tried to edge past "yeah!" muttered another "You may break your foot or something!". We politely squeezed past and carried on up the track, looking amusedly in the wing mirror as they accosted Martin and Steve in the car behind. "What did they say to you?" asked Noemi, wide-eyed in the backseat, we explained, and they had a conflab amongst themselves in french. "Crazy place!" she announced "Fairies and goblins!". Exactly.

We drove out of the woods into glorious sunshine and the mood was set for the rest of the day. Pete Roe played a perfectly pitched set for summer festival lolling and the crowd were then shaken out of their serence supineness by our French friends - who again played a blinder. We set up in the big top tent next door and despite the heat made complete ammends for the dodgy set the night before. Thoroughly enjoyable, perfect sound, lovely crowd. Drove back home happy and replete, leaving Martin and Steve to party hard and stagger to their tents disgracefully in the early hours.

So now it's September already, nearly October. Frightening how time skips by. The gigs this weekend were definately a game of two halves to nick the dodgy football punditry. Two halves of what exactly? We were braced for Bridgwater on a Saturday night and pretty much escaped unscathed, although I got a tummy upset and sang the whole set wondering if the next burp or head shake would elicit something more productive (that's revolting, I apologise). Sitting weakly in the dressing room (Bridgwater Labour Club's HQ) pre-gig I heard a mighty kerfuffle outside. Apparantly the local youth had turned up to re-arrange the back fencing area outside and two policemen had charged through the club past the stage. priceless, wish it had happened during our set. As it was I felt invisible and ill so was probably more Katie Sketch than usual. Hurrah.
Sunday's show - I'll keep it brief. There could have been more people (and more festival) but the gig was fun. Best to leave it there I think.

We're in a slightly provincial groove at the moment. That sounds sniffy - it's not meant to be at all as the last few gigs have been a lot of fun but there's only so many bread and butter gigs you can do before morale fades. The sparkly gigs are harder to predict and secure but they taste very sweet. There are plans for new recordings in october (two new songs, one re-record) a potential trip to Italy in November and definately some more foreign travel soon. Yippee!

Noemi and Ashton Court

2007-07-18T20:28:00.000Z

Noemi in the garden

Getting the Wigton in at the mighty AC

It's been a busy fortnight. Noemi came over from Bordeaux to record new tracks and it was a pleasure having them to stay for 10 days. It goes without saying (for those that caught them at their Louisiana show in March) that are absolutely fantastic musicians and lovely people to boot. We had a splendid musical, social and gastronomic time. They are moving to Paris in September so we hope there will be much more channel-hopping in the coming months, and they are coming back over in August to play Huntspilton with us. This is a private invite-only party in Somerset but we should be able to bring guests. If last year's event was anything to go by it'll be a top afternoon and evening and the organisers certainly know how to put on a great event.

Which leads me onto Ashton Court Festival, the jewel in Bristols musical calendar, and a festival that has in recent months been under a huge amount of financial and bureaucratic pressure. After hanging in the balance for the preceeding months it finally got its license and we were delighted to be offered a slot on the Saturday. It was a great day - the sun shone and we had a lot of fun. We were planning to go up the next day and see loads of bands but the heavy rain scuppered plans and the event was cancelled. Gutting for everyone - especially the bands scheduled to play. Fair play to the promoters who rallied round and scheduled a lot of acts for the Louie, Croft, Thekla, Lansdown and Cube that afternoon and evening.

Looking forward to Indie Tracks festie at the end of the month. Gert pop and steamtrains. ACE!

Austrian NonStop Weekender

2007-06-19T18:28:00.000Z

Once could be an exception but twice can be no coincidence.... our second trip to Europe has proved that continental music venues, hospitality, and general attitude towards bands and live music is staggeringly excellent. Sidestepping the inevitable finger-wagging at the UK, let's just say it's a whole different ball game and certainly a cultural experience.

After a trawl to Stansted and a night of Travelodge anonimity in the arse end of nowhere, we arrived in Graz (South East Austria) on Friday afternoon and made our way to NonStop. As well as a music venue, NonStop is an arts cinema catering for the adult end of the market, and the sun-bleached 80's airbrushed posters on the panels outside seemed to confirm this, but it was only after we'd all bundled in, said our hellos and dumped our gear that Rob and Duncan took a peek into the darkness of the matinee and came out with suspicions truly confirmed and eyes like saucers. Did we want projections for our set...errrrr, I guess it'd work with 'Big Bang' -euro porn remix anyone?

As it was, by the time we'd gone for some afternoon beers, completed the soundcheck, checked out our accomodation for the night and come back to the venue it'd been transformed into a very funky setup with light projections, v-jays, candles and incense. The main cinema had been partioned off to make it more cosy and the stage looked ace. The projections were abstract. At this point we found out that Austria's biggest music festival was taking place at the same time near Saltzburg. It was bound to have an effect on numbers so we expected a small crowd and made the most of it. We were supported by new Graz band 'Upperclass Shoplifters' who played charming Sonic Youth-esque tuneage with a shambolic indie twist and they kindly let us share their backline, home from home for me with the Jazz Chorus amp. We had a lot of fun in our show, it was a small crowd but they were really enthusiastic - Dunc did a great job with the sound. Afterwards, the heat and tiredness was creeping up on us. So, no extended drinking afterwards, despite repeated attempts by various kind Austrians to go clubbing and ask us why we were going to Innsbruck the next day...... 'it's just mountains!' At this point it was time for excuses and bed.

The apartment was a little way from the venue in Graz, a similar kind of set up to Roya in Paris although a little smaller. We all bunked in one small hot room.... and actually it was fine. There was a little bit of snoring from certain quarters but nothing that a bony finger in the ribs couldn't sort. Up and out early the next day to get the train to Innsbruck. Having done my fair share of long, cramped train journeys in the UK I wasn't looking forward to the six hour train journey from Graz to Innsbruck. I needn't have worried, yet again the Europeans made our Brit system look flawed. Smooth journey, spectacular scenery and it went really quickly.

Martin eating decent grub on Austrian train (probably best meal we had all trip)

We were met at the station by owner Justin and his bus and were whisked to the venue. Now, I'd heard good things about the Weekender venue, I hadn't wanted to get our hopes up too much but was quietly confident it would be good venue. However, it exceeded our expectations on every level and pandered to every pecadillo. They got everything so right it prompted Martin to joke with Justin that he should set up venue/promoter masterclasses in Innsbruck. Firstly there's an apartment above the venue with a door by the stage so you can go right up without going outside. This apartment is clean and fresh with food, drinks, and the Rutles on DVD. Class. The backstage area is big and comfy - with a rider selection so large and varied we never thought we'd get through it all (we did). The venue have a full backline supplied, including Vox AC30 and really decent drum kit. When we came down for soundcheck this was fully set up for us already including guitar stands. There was a faultless PA and stage area with two mini-stage podiums either side for ridiculous stage antics. All this care and attention and generosity was lovely, and quite honestly a contrast to the norm in the UK.

Weekender venue and view from bottom of the street.

Stage time was about 11pm. The venue were worried about numbers (again due to the big Austrian festival - the night before had been very quiet) but as it was we had a good crowd and the atmosphere was lovely. It was one of my favourite ever to play, the onstage sound was perfect and out of the corners of my eyes I could see both Robs gurning and pulling shapes like good 'uns so I knew all was well. Afterwards we had the serious job of working our way through the fridge full of drinks and pratting along to the indie disco - awesome, and such a cheeky little stagger back to the apartment.

Munich was the original plan for Sunday (as was Vienna before that) but both of those gigs hadn't materialised for various reasons so we had a free day. When we got the offer of the aparment for a second night it seemed daft not to stay longer and explore Innsbruck, so the four of us stayed whilst Duncan headed off to Munich to meet up with his brother. Something I forgot to mention in the dribbling hyperbole of the venue is it's stunning location with mountain backdrop and smart town. After a lazy morning and late lunch in the park we tracked down the cable car station via a hairpin taxi ride, just in time for the last car. Stunning views, clear skies and a bar that we didn't quite have time to sample before the last car down again.
Rob half way up mountain.

Now, why does English food get such a bad rep? The Austrian food we savoured was in general a bit rough but I can honestly say I had the worst meal in a long time in Innsbruck on Sunday evening. Beef Goulash with dumplings sounded like a safe bet but the resulting plateful was woeful.... gristly salty meat, nasty sauce, dumplings made from reconstituted stale bread, a deep fried hot dog on the side, sliced so the ends curled up, a sliced gherkin, and an egg on top of the lot. Pure Joy.
Light display along street wall in Innsbruck

Monday was just a day of travelling. Straightforward and efficient on the Austrian/German side (ruthlessly efficient some may say - the German arse-bandit police caused a slight fracas, a story which Martin would need to tell himself) and grim on the M25 from Stansted. In summary though - a top few days. We all seem to relish the experience of travelling further afield and getting out of our comfort zone, and having Duncan along this time doing our sound made things a lot easier and professional. It certainly makes me want to push for more gigs out of the UK. It's a lot more work and planning, especially as we don't have a booking agent or label helping us but the rewards are greater.

Special mention goes to this chap who caught my 'nutter alert' attention as soon as we boarded the train from Munich East to the airport, but there were no other seats so I though what the hell. He started muttering to me in German and smiling and eventually I leaned over and whispered in his ear that I was English. This seemed to please him greatly, his toothy leering increased and he kept saying 'Brigitte Bardot... Eeeenggleeesh'. So, there was nothing more for it than to give him a Santa Dog badge and take his picture.

Club Kute album launch

2007-06-04T23:46:00.001Z

Huge thanks to Masayasu at Quince for sending copies of the album to us from Japan in super-quick time. They arrived the day before and it was great to see the finished product - along with Japanese lyric insert. Hurrah!

The album launch at the Cooler here in Bristol was a top night. Saturday was Club Kute and DJ George made the night really special with a ballooned stage and party atmosphere. (Top 3 pics thanks to Lou, other two sketchy pics from my camera). Had the luxury of Duncan doing our sound again so long soundcheck and attention to detail. So glad Dunc can come out to Austria with us later this month.

We're looking forward to playing the Cooler again later in the year - more info on that soon.

The other week I went to the very last Go Ape at Moles in Bath run by Gareth. Really hope that he will revive the Go Ape format at another club later in the year as he works tirelessly as a promoter putting interesting and eclectic nights on. Also, from a band perspective he really treated us well both times we played there, which makes such a difference. He also put Noemi on for their first UK gig which was ace of him. Anyway, the last Go Ape featured the legendary Frank Sidebottom and so I had to get a pic, I really did.

Single launch last night

2007-05-13T19:28:00.000Z

The vinyl arrived in time - yippeee! Tom (from SoundsXPerience) texted us on the way up to the gig at the Brixton Windmill yesterday to let us know. The consignment had got stuck at a depot in deepest darkest Woolwich and so there was nothing for it but for the SXP guys to go and collect it on the day. They look great! There's something thrilling and tactile about vinyl records that CDs can never capture and it's not just nostalgia.

Getting the vinyl was the icing on the cake for a really lovely evening. The gig had been well planned and organised, the guys running the label couldn't be nicer people and the Buck Brothers, the Tacticians and Friends of the Bride played great sets.

Happy but knackered today.

Thursday looks good to me

2007-05-02T16:56:00.000Z

Aah, the good old Thekla in Bristol, a musical stalwart for a good few years now. From the grubby Candy Club days where shy teenage indie kids shuffled round in a shoegazing fug to, er, now, when not-so-shy teenage indie kids shuffle round in a shoegazing fug - so not much has changed apart from the decor ;)

Actually, that's not quite true. There is not much to bemoan about it these days since Heavenly did a major refit last autumn. There are no dripping pools of sweat falling into your pint anymore, the upstairs bar is lovely and the live space in the hull of the boat makes a lot more sense than it used to now it's been opened up. The sound is still a bit hit and miss though which seems to be it's only weak spot.

We've just confirmed a support slot there next Thursday 10th May, supporting US band Saturday Looks Good To Me. It's the first time Santa Dog have played the Thekla so should be fun. We'll be on early doors. There may possibly be some sneaky copies of the single too......

Woo and Hoo (and boo)

2007-04-29T21:49:00.000Z

Been tardy round here this past month. However, not long now until single/album releases, woo and hoo!

The single will be available from SoundsXPerience and itunes from the 14th May - and Cargo will be distributing the 7" to all good indie stockists by the end of the month.

Discovered tonight that Amazon.jp are now taking pre-orders of Kittyhawk. The downside is that postage to the UK from Japan is more than the album costs. Boo! More details of UK mailorder stockists when we have them. This is the artwork I supplied to Quince so I'm looking forward to seeing how it's been redesigned and packaged.
Really looking forward to the single release party on 12th May at the Brixton Windmill. We're heading up a frankly sparkling line up (no pressure then) and are basically dead chuffed that Friends of the Bride, Tacticians and Buck Brothers are joining us for fun, frolics, tequila and, er possible maypole dancing?

Nice reminders of our Toronto trip this weekend as Mike and Jordan from the Postage Stamps payed a fleeting visit to Bristol as part of their current European travels. Good to see them and catch up.

Tales from Toronto

2007-03-16T14:14:00.002Z

I've been putting off writing this blog. Not because we had a terrible time in Toronto (far from it) but because since we arrived back in the UK on Wednesday I've been wondering how on earth to write it all down as there were so many highlights. However, my overriding feeling is that I couldn't have spent those six days in finer (or funnier) company than Robbie, Rob and Martin and that's a very good place to start.

From the outset our schedule was wildly optimistic. The flight landed on Thursday afternoon and our first gig was booked for the very same evening. As it was the timing worked out fine. A quick snooze at the hotel, some cheeky Red Bulls and off we went to the Boat, on Augusta. This was the first of our nights at the Pitter Patter festival run by Keith Hamilton - demon booker and ace bassist of The Postage Stamps. He kindly let us share his backline (including the big brother of my baby Roland Jazz Chorus - hurrah!) and we played a fun gig. In complete contrast to Paris where the bands were indulged in their soundchecks we noticed in all the shows we played here that the bands just turn up and play, apart from maybe the first band on. I actually quite liked this as it keeps you on your toes and was easy for us as we have a simple set up. Next up on the bill were Fjord Rowboat who I was very much looking forward to seeing after hearing their myspace tracks. They didn't disappoint and played a blinding set. Throughly lovely guys too... more on that later. Diamond Sea from Montreal followed with dreamy My Bloody Valentine-esque rock and the night was headed by the most excellent Postage Stamps, who I sadly couldn't stand up for, for more than a few minutes at a time as I was exhausted but they had a great sound going on. It was a fine night all in all and as we headed out into the cold Toronto night (in the minus region, frickin freezing) we got offered another slot the next night at another Pitter Patter show. Well thank you Keith!

There was no time to rest the next day as we had meetings at the Royal York Hotel - centre of Canada Music Week. The event itself was a media circus and certainly catered for the oily business end of the industry. Some people thrive in that environment but I can't cope with such insincerity - holding conversations with people who are looking over your shoulder to find someone else more interesting to talk to. However, there were of course exceptions to that rule and I did meet some genuine and decent people that day. Most surprisingly, and something that completely threw me was that those people who said they'd come to our show - even those I'd just met - came to our show! I was utterly amazed and heartwarmed and made a mental note not to promise to go to a show again if I didn't mean it.

So, Friday night we showed up at Central Bar as had been hastily arranged the night before. When we arrived at the venue things didn't bode so well. It seemed that none of the other acts had backline and Keith hadn't been able to get through to us to tell us the situation and had booked another act. The night could have gone either way and we could have just cut our losses and left at that point but instead the situation morphed into something quite special. It turned out there was an old drumkit behind the stage and there was a bass amp we could share.... phonecalls were made and set times were shifted. Everybody rallied round and helped everyway they could to get us to play. Special thanks to the sound engineer and to Mickey who we'd met the night before and who headlined the night. We were very touched that people went out of their way to help, especially those who were playing that night. It meant a lot. Highlight was when Craig from Fjord Rowboat and his lovely lady Ann and her friend turned up and danced at the front with a tambourine... it sounds a bit naff now but at the time it was just one of those lovely moments.

Saturday was in a way the big day. It was the reason we'd got the funding to come over from the UK and was the 'main gig' in our minds. It was the official CMW showcase at Clintons and we had a fairly restful day in the run up, I had another meeting at the Royal York and the guys had a wander round town and checked out the venue in the afternoon. They came back pretty chipper - the venue looked fine, the staff were friendly and the engineer was a Canadian carbon copy of a sound guy in Bristol so all was good. We turned up nice and early and hung round for a bit as we knew we weren't getting a soundcheck. The first two bands were charming and friendly, however we had a hard job going on after them as our style of music was so different to theirs and they'd played loooonng sets. Also, the Fender twin backline amp blew up which wasn't great news. Fair play to Dave the stage manager who rustled up another amp before our set and was delighted to hear our set was shorter than the previous bands, getting him back on schedule. We were boosted to meet Bob from itsnotthebandihateitstheirfansblog and Andrew from Scene and Heard and to spot another few friendly faces before we went on. However, it was an odd gig. The crowd was there but we had to work hard and it was the least enjoyable show of the lot for me. I'm lazy - I like it to be easy!

Thanks to Bob for the lovely review. More photos on Bob's Flickr page

Three gigs down, one to go and a change of scenery to Hamilton, an hour's bus journey down the QEW. At this point we'd got the majority of work out of the way, we hadn't disgraced ourselves and we were determined to have fun and let our hair down for the last show. As a treat we'd booked two rooms in the Sheraton and as we bundled into the hotel we met a lady who ended up giving us complimentary tickets for the Canadian Curling Championships which happened to be wrapping up that night at the arena to the back of the hotel. Couldn't pass that up (well, actually Martin passed it up in favour of a snooze on the enormous duck-down quilted hotel bed, fair enough). I'd never been to a curling match before and probably never will again but it was a hoot - the arena was enormous and passions were running high amongst the supporters. We stayed for half an hour and then headed off to the venue.

Absinthe bar was closed when we turned up so we piled in to the pub two doors down, which from the front looked fairly dubious. Half an hour later, with beers lined up, the jukebox stoked, pool table loaded and conversation flowing with the charming old barman we saw locals peering through the door and scuttling on from the scene inside. It was a great bar and we had a ball. Bad toilets though.....

Absinthe finally opened around 8.15 and we wandered in to suss it out. Nice place, wasn't much happening, no sign of the soundman but Nassau turned up and were charming. They were another band I'd heard on myspace beforehand and was looking forward to seeing. They're fronted by the McCann brothers, and one of them's the ex-Guided By Voices drummer, now singer/guitarist. The soundman eventually turned up and we shuffled onstage again without any sort of soundcheck but we were used to that by now and were confident using Nassaus excellent backline. From the first song it was my favourite show of the lot. The place wasn't especially busy but everyone connected immediately and that's the best feeling. Craig and Ann and Sandy turned up too which was gorgeous of them. Nassau went on and rocked after us, I recall dancing like an eejit to them with Sandy, I was on a high.

As is often the case in such situations, things turn on a sixpence. Rob started saying he felt really bad, and by the look on his face I knew I had to get him back to the hotel smartish. We stepped outside and I went to grab a cab when I heard a commotion behind me, turned round and saw Rob lying flatout on the pavement. He'd blacked out before he fell and had hit his head smack on the concrete. Sandy and Craig to the rescue - they drove us to the hospital where Rob got checked out and we got to experience the Canadian Healthcare system first hand. He was fine the next day but it was a bit of a shock at the time.

Monday we headed back to Toronto and with the flight not leaving until Tuesday night we had some time to do the touristy things, CN Tower, Kensington Market, Queen St West. We also met up with our new friends and they took us to some great bars. Toronto is a mighty fine city.

And that was that. We said our goodbyes, our promises to return or to at least return the hospitality in the UK and then to the airport. The less said about the flight home the better - suffice to say it nearly got grounded due to a drunkard sitting behind us, the seats were horribly cramped and it felt like hell.

It was worth it all though, and here comes the Jerry Springer conclusion. It was wonderful we got the funding to make this trip, and that we got selected by Canada Music Week to play. To mix it up with the industry moguls was an insight and we were lucky that our organising and plans came to fruition. However, the overriding and residual warmth from the trip is from the Pitter Patter shows we played where the bands and crowds combined to create very a special and unique atmosphere on each night. We were lucky to be a part of it and I'm very proud we had this experience.

So, this was a real rambler of a post. More than anything it's a reminder to ourselves of what we got up to, although I doubt we'll forget these few days in a hurry. We should have a busy few months ahead too with the single and album release in May/April, live dates in Austria in June and then the planning for Japan. Now that will be an experience!
Rowena

Hot pants, high jinks and punch ups

2007-03-05T02:20:00.000Z

We've just spent a thoroughly excellent three days in the company of electro-pop lovelies Noemi from Bordeaux. They played a blinding set at Fleche D'or in Paris back in December and we've been itching to get them over here to play a couple of gigs ever since.

On Thursday we both played at Moles in Bath at Gareth's ever popular Go Ape night and it was a great night, good crowd and the new PA in the venue has made a world of difference to the sound (helped by Ed's top engineering).

Friday and Saturday were spent in Bristol, seeing the (not so dazzling) sights and gearing up for the Louisiana gig on the Saturday night.

Seeing the sights - the blustery delights of Clifton Suspension bridge

Saturday's gig was probably my favourite at the Louie and we've played there a fair few times now. Great crowd, sparkly atmosphere and both Noemi and Countryside were awesome. It's the best feeling to put a night on and for it to go well for everyone. Jeff was giving it some at the front and I'm guessing he nearly spontaneously combusted at the sight of Noemi in her hotpants.

Blimey, there was even a skuffle at the front during our last song. Things got out of hand between a couple of cider-swilling moshers and punches were thrown over the monitors. Who'd have thought it.

So, our guests left for Bordeaux this morning and luckily there's no time for the usual post-gig slump as we're gearing up for Toronto on Thursday. Can't wait!

Noemi backstage after the gig on Saturday

First brizzle gig of the year

2007-02-19T23:10:00.000Z

It feels like ages since we last played live - we've been rehearsing away and have shifted the set around about a bit. Feel a bit rusty but it should be fun.

Really looking forward to seeing Countryside again too as it's been a while, I was annoyed I missed them when they played at the Thekla recently, they're always fab. Also delighted that Noemi are making their first trip over to the UK from France for 3 gigs. We played with them at Fleche D'or and they were amazing. We're also playing at Moles in Bath with them on the 1st March at Go Ape. Yay! Unfortunately it clashes with Kristsen Hersh at the Thekla, that's one gig I really would have loved to see, but never mind.

Had a great night on Saturday, me and Lou (the 50% of RaRaRa that does all the work!) put on You & the Atom Bomb, Safetyword and SJ Esau at the Louie. T'was ace - one of those perfect nights where the bands were brilliant and lovely to boot, the sound sparkled and everybody turned up - it was capacity in there, absolutely packed. More RaRaRa nights in the pipeline.......

The gert egg has hatched

2007-02-02T15:26:00.000Z

Yippee! These were the scenes last night as we listened to the finished album! Shawn at Optimum did a fantastic job mastering it yesterday and we're chuffed to bits.

So, it gets sent to Japan next week for release on Quince records. It will be available through Darla in the US and over here on import - more details when we have them.

The album title is Kittyhawk and the track listing is:
Big Bang
Are you hot enough
Belle de Jour
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Rosa
Chemical
West Coast Boy Racer
Pop Coloured
Katy
Lucky me
Hey Hey Hey (working title)

Some of the tracks may look familiar from previous EPs but they have all been re-recorded and in some cases tweaked and changed (for the better we hope).

As a sneak preview, SHIFTY DISCO are currently featuring one of the album tracks on their singles download subscription club. Many thanks to fellow Bristolian popstersSeagull Strange for nominating us for this.

Leonards Lair

2007-01-15T23:33:00.000Z

" If you only believe good reviews you're an egotist. If you only believe bad reviews you're a masochist. If you believe both you're a schizophrenic." I can't remember who originally quoted this but it makes me smile.

So, today you'll have to excuse the egotism as I post this really sweet review from leonardslair.co.uk.

"Most years normally produce a batch a bunch of likeable and idiosyncratic British pop bands. Santa Dog aren't a novelty act timed to coincide with the Christmas period but rather a fourpiece whose bright hooks and choruses could melt all but the coldest of hearts. The lead-off and title song to their third EP is typically exuberant fare, thanks largely to a head-spinning chorus whose tagline of "your skin is so soft.. it's too much" manages to sound both innocent and sensual. 'Rosa' employs a superb key change to usher in the chorus. On this song especially, the key elements are the vocals from Rowena Dugdale; lemon fresh and crystal clear and ideally suited for the sweet guitar melodies. To round up the rest of this EP, 'Pop Coloured' exhibits Santa Dog's yearning romantic qualities, not to mention some slightly disquieting shrieking from Dugdale whilst '1000 Cranes' slows the pace down to almost balladry with a slice of sun-kissed melancholia. A refreshing and addictive EP that cries out for a first album (due in Spring 2007) to follow up the good work."

naming and shaming......

2007-01-14T01:02:00.000Z

The album is progressing, Rob laid a big fat bass egg (Robbie's words not mine!) on the last track and the mixing is in progress. Now for the naming ceremony and it's a tricky critter to pin down. Too long, too short, too fey, too folk, too perv, too obscure - how does anyone actually make a decision and give an album a suitable name? Answers on a postcard and in the meantime I'll have to affectionately refer to it as the big fat egg. Give me strength!

New Year, New things......

2007-01-05T01:22:00.000Z

Aaaah, January is crap. Debt, too many chocolates, lack of motivation to do anything about the former and as for the weather......but, mustn't grumble, especially as there are some nice sparkly things around the corner!

The date and time has been confirmed for our official showcase slot at Canada Music Week in Toronto. We're playing at Clinton's (693 Bloor St. West) at 11pm. (below).

Having looked at the official list of bands attending CMW there only looks to be a handful of UK artists so we're really delighted to have been chosen to play and it also gives us the chance to attend the main conference at the Royal York Hotel, the hub of Canadian Music Week activities, and to hang out in Toronto for a few days too.

The album is a third way through mixing.... still a huge amount of work to do on the remaining tracks but we're getting there.
More details about the single and album release when dates have been confirmed. Yippee!

Christmas and all that malarky

2006-12-22T01:34:00.000Z

OK, I know, cheesey pic but it has to be done. Happy Christmas!! It's been an ace year and we're dead excited about all the nice things in the pipeline for next year. The rough album mixes will be our crimbo listening.....

Wishing you an ace one! x

Lovely Luminaire

2006-12-13T22:41:00.000Z

Having recently experienced the loveliness of Parisian venue La Fleche D'or, we were delighted to find that exceptional venues do indeed exist in the UK too. Last Saturday we turned up at Luminaire in London's Kilburn, running late and slightly hassled - only to be calmly greeted, showed round the venue, and generally soothed. It set the tone for a great evening.

London tunesmiths the Tacticians opened proceedings with a fizzy set of of deftly shaped tunes which went down a treat. This was followed by a great set from fellow Bristolians FIRST OF THE GIANTS. We did our thing after that and then Sounds XP DJs Tom and Neil played some mighty fine choons to end the evening. Fun!

Cheers for the pics Miss T:

Backstage beforehand... Rob, Johnny, Beth and Martin.

DJs in the spooky booth - James, Tom and Neil

In other news..... work continues on the album although spirits aren't quite so high this week. It's definately a case of 2 steps forward, 3 steps back. We're looking after a Farfisa for a friend and dusted it off to see if it would be suitable. Sounds gorgeous on its own but is wonky with keys broken and unfortunately is out of concert pitch... also its dodgy electrics may well have sent bad karma to a vital piece of studio gear which now refuses to work. Heavy heartedness and frustration..... but on we plod!

Sparkle-o-matic

2006-12-07T12:34:00.000Z

Ever tried restringing a 12 string rickenbacker? It's a slippery little sucker and that's for sure. Mmmmm, it sounds sparkleomatic though. Here's Rob testing out said properties........

Also, many thanks to Emilie Pinsan for these photos from Fleche D'or last week.

Le Paris blog

2006-12-03T23:39:00.000Z

So here we are, (after several attempts to get all of us plus Eiffel Tower in the frame) the night after playing Fleche D'or in Paris.

24 hours before this pic we were clambering aboard Le Sleazyjet on our first trip out of the UK with Santa Dog, not quite knowing what to expect. The flight was fine although some delicate negotiating was needed to get the guitars in the cabin with us rather than the shredding-to-matchsticks hold. On arrival we got a cab straight to the venue.

La Fleche D'or is a gorgeous converted train station in east Paris. We went in mid-soundcheck and were immediately greeted and offered free beer and juice (nice surprise #1). When we soundchecked we realised the French way is slightly different to the English way in that they give you loads of time and don't hassle you to get on with it. Onstage sound was slightly odd at that point - we'd heard beforehand that noise levels in France are strictly restricted to 104db and the bass felt quiet but we got on with it and were really happy to be using supplied backline (nice surprise #2).

We met some of the other bands (who were all lovely) and nice surprise #3 was being fed a gorgeous evening meal in the restaurant, plus wine, plus great anglo-french banter. Awesome!

La Fleche D'or is a free venue - even for touring acts like The Woodentops and Ben Kweller so by the time the first band went on at 8.30 there was already a good crowd. Nerves kicked in at this point, we had no familiar faces in the crowd and were worried we wouldn't be well received or would fuck up or strings would break (we had no spare guitars). By the time we went on at 9.40 the place was packed, there must have been 500 people in the place.

For me there's always a clicking point in our live set when I either know we can relax and enjoy it or have to work a bit harder. Normally it's when we start playing the chorus of Chemical and by that time I was pretty damn delighted to see heads nodding, people smiling and even some dancing. The rest was easy.... the sound great, we had a ball, and the set flew by.

After that we could all relax. More beers and an amazing set by Bordeaux-based band Noemi - a sparky, sexy mixture of Stereolab and Blondie.

We left shortly after Noemi's set as we'd met up with Roya, whose apartment we were staying in for the weekend. (Oh, and nice surprise #4 was being handed an envelope with more euros than originally agreed.). So, we bundled into Roya's jeep and were greeted by CHi CHi - her crazy and adorable wolf-spitz dog, who proceeded to Tounge Rob hard style for the rest of the trip back to Roya's flat. and what a flat..... a huge loft apartment in the Bagnolet district with funky objets d'art and stuff. We chilled out with tequila and crashed out.

Roya's gaff

Chi Chi the wunder dug

Jesus saves with kitsch

The next day Roya took us for brunch at a local cafe and then we headed into town for a day of touristy treats.

Roya and chi chi at the cafe

Martin & co trying to negotiate the travelator (?!) in the Metro.

Iceskaters at Hotel de Ville

Rob and the gert eiffel tower

Posing gits

Saturday was a lovely combination of Eiffel Tower plus walks by the Seine, shopping and drinking in St. Germaine and then a lovely evening with French friends and great food.

So then Sunday.... a lazy brunch again then a taxi to the airport. More delicate negotiations with security - this time over Martin's drum pedal.... eventually they let us through. Back to rainy Bristol!

Thanks to everyone who made this trip possible - to Stephen who orginally gave us Raphaelle's contact, Raphaelle, Neimo, Popklub Arsenal, Sergei, Doundi and the rest at Fleche D'or, Roya for her hospitality and of course Norris at the DTI.

Roll on Toronto in March!

Rowena
(very tired, not realising how long blogs take to write and needing a good night's sleep!)

this is the blog

2006-11-29T23:53:00.000Z

hey
the santa blog. paris beckons. friday night in paris. have never been to paris before. cool huh?

luv ya
stan

The album..... and Toronto

2006-11-28T02:33:00.000Z

So, we've started the album. It's been a really productive few days - we've done the bulk of the drum and bass tracking already. Of course that's the royal 'we' - I've just been slouching around making tea and smoking fags while the santa-dog-rhythm-section-and engineering-production-machine have done their stuff.... and now having started this project we realise what a mammoth job it is....... word is we'll be hibernating for the next month or so to get it all done. If you see Robbie in February please buy him a pint - he'll be pale, gollum-like and gibbering.

Now then, in other news - we heard on Friday that we've been invited to showcase at Canada Music Week in Toronto in March. Woo-hoo! It's a huge and delightful boost after the disappointment of having to turn down the SXSW fringe party and I for one can't wait.

I've finally dragged myself into the correct decade and shed my ancient mobile phone. Now I can take photos, play music and do all the other stuff that sounds great for the first week but then gets ignored. Please humour me whilst I get it out of my system. here's a pic of Rob and Martin from the weekend and a the holy Amek! Row

Blogging, not podding!

2006-11-20T22:48:00.000Z

Bit of a change round here..... the podcasts were getting more and more infrequent so we've decided to cancel the hipcast storage account for streaming the podcasts and make this a blog instead which the band can all contribute to, post video clips, blether on, etc.

Good news is that Rob's hand is recovering well from the scooter accident last month. We had our first full band rehearsal last week and are really looking forward to the gig at Joe Public's on Thursday. Then we start recording the debut album on Friday. We'll be re-recording some songs from the EP but will also have a batch of new stuff so can't wait for that.

Couple of other things - Paris the week after, our first foray out of the UK and by all accounts La Fleche D'or is an ace venue (Rose Kemp and We Yes You No have recently played there and reported back glowingly).

Also, huge thanks to the DJs at the following stations that have played tracks from Belle de Jour in the last couple of weeks: Kerrang! Radio, Island FM, Radio Ceredigion, BBC Newcastle, Durham FM, Alpha 103.2, BBC Radio Berkshire, BBC Radio Devon, BBC Radio Cleveland, BBC Nan Gaidheal, Maximum FM.

Rowena x