music, music, music, music....all the time

Back in London after another long weekend of playing and watching music. It's been a bit full-on recently. In Edinburgh I did my first radio session ever, which was...pretty terrifying. I think I did alright, but it does sound like I'm about to break down in tears at any point. This was the first time I'd ever played any of our songs without Bill. Eek!

Interview with me + 16,000 km

It probably didn't help that Dan from Withered Hand did his session just before me...


Interview with Dan (Withered Hand + Cornflake)

I mean...how do you follow that?

On Friday we headed to Newcastle for an all-day music event at the Tyne Bar. It was us, Allo Darlin, Hexicon, The Just Joans and a bunch of local bands. Should have been awesome, but it was a bit weird for a number of reasons. First, I don't think people were really there to see either of us. Then, most of us played before anyone really showed up....I think Allo Darlin did best. They were on late and by then people had had a few drinks.

Paul Hexicon

The Just Joans

Despite the lack of people, it was great seeing the Just Joans again, though. I hadn't seen them since the WeePOP! anniversary show at The Enterprise last summer.

On the Sunday we all headed to Edinburgh for Retreat!, a free all-day event taking place in The Bristo Hall. With an incredible line-up this was one of the musical highlights of the summer.

Both Moustache of Insanity and Allo, Darlin' were invited to do acoustic sessions for offthebeatentracks.tv, an online video series similar to France's Takeaway shows.

Allo, Darlin's session went smoothly (as you'd expect), but the Moustache one was rather chaotic (again, expected). First, we had to climb over a closed gate to get into a city centre nature reserve. When we finally started playing, a rather scary-looking man started waving a giant bottle of White Lightning Cider at us. In the end he didn't kill us, but came out to watch. I'm pretty sure our fear will be reflected in the videos so keep an eye out on the website. They have a bit of a backlog, but it shoudl be up at some point in September.

Enfant Bastard

Enfant Bastard was my musical highlight of the weekend. Apparently, they played a set of songs by singer Cameron's other band, The Love Gestures, rather than Enfant Bastard songs, but having listened to his records the boundaries seem a bit blurred. Anyway, playing gritty anti-folk with quirky and slightly self-depracating lyrics, they came across like a Scottish mixture of Half Japanese and early Jeffrey Lewis. Most excellent stuff. Check them out.

Enfant Bastard myspace

The Love Gestures myspace

ok...that's about it...all musiced out for now.