Best thing ever...

For once the time zones of the world was on my side. I thought I'd have to wait another whole night, but I checked one last time before I went to bed last night...and there it was...

Sooooo...

One of the best bands in the world...

...releasing the best video of the year so far...

...for the best song of the year so far...

Math The Band - Four To Six

Awesome!

Soooo AWESOME.....YEAAAAAAAHHHH!

Have a nice weekend peeps.

sooo awesome

This picture will get me through the day...

haha...that tour will be insane...

Top-10 gigs of 2011

Here goes...the ten best/most memorable gigs I've been to this year.

10. Let's Wrestle (26th February 2011, The Victory)
This one was a hard one to decide on. I've been to so many great shows this year...but there can only be ten in a top-10. Maybe it's unfair to pick a gig that I can't really remember much of...all I know is that I had a lot of fun. It was dirty, smelly and hideously cramped but I was too drunk to care. I'm pretty sure it was awesome!

9. The Death Set (13th April 2011, Old Blue Last)
The show that almost didn't happen. The Death Set were meant to play the night before, but had to cancel because of some transport issues. I can't remember happened exactly, but they didn't get to the venue in time for curfew anyway. Luckily, the venue managed to find a slot for them the following night. It was my first time seeing them live and it was just as great as I'd imagined.

8. Withered Hand, Standard Fare and Tigercats (9th February 2011, Catch)
The only show I promoted this year, but it sure was a good one. It didn't matter that it was unbelievably packed, uncomfortable and almost impossible to see anything. All three bands were incredible that night.

7. Allo Darlin' (Greg's garden)
I've seen Allo Darlin' play all sorts of venues this year, but this was probably the one I enjoyed the most. Playing in the garden at a friend's birthday party, the band came alive in a different way than normal. I love how these kind of small shows makes bands relax and just have fun.

6. Half Japanese (31st May 2011, The Scala)
I had seen Half Japanese play an amazing show in Barcelona just a couple of days earlier, but this was even better. Everything was spot on. They played all the the songs I wanted to hear and Jad made full use of his amazing bendy guitar.

And with support from Let's Wrestle and The Lovely Eggs of course this was an awesome evening!

5. Times New Viking, Veronica Falls (3rd May 2011, XOYO)
This was a great night. I hadn't seen Veronica Falls for a long time and was really excited about hearing some new stuff. They certainly didn't disappoint and I rememeber being blown away by how great they were live. Times New Viking are always awesome and this show was no different. To finish off a great set they tried to play Fuck Her Tears (one of my favorite tracks on the new record) twice, before giving up. The guitar strings just couldn't handle it and snapped during the intro both times. Great end to an awesome show.

4. Humousexual (25th February 2011, Andrew's living room in Notting Hill)
Now this is what I'm talking about! It doesn't get much better than a proper bedroom show. Humousexual in a small bedroom, playing to just a handful of people. This was very special indeed.

3. Japanther (14th February 2011, Tufnell Park Dome)

I've seen Japanther five or six times and it's never been less than amazing. This show in North London was one of the best. The atmosphere was just unbelievable. Not many bands can get a London crowd going like these guys can.

2. Math The Band x 3 (Guildford/Harlow/Tunbridge Wells, October 2011)

I'd been wanting to see Math The Band for a looooong time and I never expected to have to thank Wheatus for finally making it happen. Kevin and Justine were invited to join the more-than-just-a-little-older-than-teenage dirtbags on an insane UK tour that lasted something ridiculous like five weeks.

I skipped the London show and instead decided to visit some nearby towns and venues I'd never been to. It was weird and great on so many different levels. Great to see one of my favorite bands play to a packed venue...weird that it was happening in Harlow, Guildford and Tunbridge Wells....and even weirder that they were supporting Wheatus, a band that played my University graduation ball ten years ago!

Anyway, every single show was great and the only thing I regret now is not going to more of them.

Finally...

1. Weezer (6th July 2011, Brixton Academy)
I know Weezer doesn't really need the publicity and in general I tend to prefer smaller gigs, so this might come as a surprise. But, the thing is...Weezer at Brixton Academy was just unbelievably AMAZING!

Just look at the setlist! (from http://lullabyforwayne.blogspot.com)

Reading that makes me want to go to that show again and again and again and again...you get the point. And Male Bonding were supporting! Best gig of 2011. FACT!

That's it. My ten gigs of 2011. Many awesome shows have been left out. Other incredible gigs that spring to mind are Proper Ornaments at Power Lunches, Pulp in Hyde Park, Enfant Bastard in Edinburgh, Cloud Nothings at CAMP Basement, Omi Palone at Duke Of Uke, Best Friends Forever and The Middle Ones at the Old Blue Last, Anguish Sandwich at Indietracks, Spaghetti Tree weekend in Peckham (with Japanther, Please, John Maus etc) and the awesomeness that was Primavera Sound in Barcelona.

Bring on 2012! I noticed on Songkick that my teenage heroes Guttermouth are playing in London in March. I might have to go, just for old times' sake. One of the first big concerts I ever went to was to see them support The Offspring in Gothenburg in 1994. Shit, I feel old.

The night Math The Band brought the awesome to Tunbridge Wells

Third Math The Band picture post in a row. Sorry, but I just haven't really done much else worth writing about recently. Last night, the Wheatus tour party headed to Tunbridge Wells in Kent and it was another packed house. I imagine 95% of the people there would have had no idea of what to expect from MTB, so watching people's reactions as the first song kicks in is rather amusing. The faces in the crowd show a mixture of 'what the fuck is this', 'ouch, this is loud', 'what is happening' and 'wow, AWESOME!'. Personally, I stick to to 'wow, AWESOME!!', although it is also rather loud.

This was the last show I''l be able to go to. I've done three in the last three weeks or so. It's been kind of nice escaping London just to go see a gig, something I haven't really done since my friend's band played in Kingston three years ago.

Anyway, some photos...Kevin is hitting some seriously impressive air in the first one.

Math The Band live at The Square, Harlow (28th September 2011)

Last night I went to Harlow to see Math The Band again. I just figure I have to take these opportunities to see them while they're in the UK. Who knows if and when they'll be able to come back.

I'm glad I went, as it was another great show. Kevin snapped string after string on his guitar and ended up playing the last song with just one left. Guitar strings are overrated anyway, right?

Math The Band (live at Boileroom in Guildford, 23rd September 2011)

I'd been wanting to see Math The Band for aaaaaaaaaaaaaages and last night I finally got the chance. In They're currently over here, supporting Wheatus on their humongous UK tour.

Was it worth the wait? Hell yeah! Sooooooo much energy and sooooooooo much fun! Definitely one the best shows of the year so far!

Help Math The Band fund their next record!

There are numerous ways for bands to raise some extra cash to produce new albums etc, but this has to be one of the best. Math The Band are offering a one-minute live guitar solo via telephone for $2 a pop. How can you go wrong with that? Unfortunately, I can only assume the offer doesn't cover international calls. Personally, I would definitely pay international rates to get my own personal MTB-solo. How about it? Maybe a special skype deal for us on the other side of the Atlantic?

US customers can book their 1 Minute guitar solo here.

And in case you missed it back in April, here's an interview I did with Math The Band

Math The Band Interview!!

Woot! So, since the Christmas Island interview worked out alright I thought I'd try my luck with another band I've been listeneing to aot recently, Math The Band. I was hoping to catch them at South By Southwest, but their shows were always clashing with something else and it just never happened. Anyway, what can be said about them? They play some sort of messy-but-fun-and-mega-fast-electro-bleep-boom-chip-core-pop...yup, that's pretty much it. They're also very productive and have a lot of stuff out there for you to hunt down or buy from their webshop.

Both the below songs are from the record available to buy there, Math The Band Banned The Math.

Were Wolf Fever (Mediafire link, mp3)

Everyone Is Embarrasing (Mediafire link, mp3)

OK, on to the interview....again same rules from me. Anything I could think of without thinking about it too much. All the questions stay, even if they don't want to answer them. Nothing has been edited, apart from the occasional spelling mistake. Again, I can think of loads of other things I should have asked. Maybe next time.

Kevin is answering the questions...

What's the line-up? What software do you use for programming your drums/beats?
Right now, the live setup is I play guitar and sing, and Justine plays keyboard, a floor tom and a crash. We have had a drummer at a fair amount of shows, and are actually looking for a new drummer now.

On the albums, I do all of the work, from writing to recording to mixing and producing. I program/produce the music using the following things:
-a pc running acid, fruity loops, and max msp
-a mac running ableton live
-arp axxe
-yamaha cs15
-moog mg1
-nintendo entertainment system
-gameboy pocket
-commodore 64
-shitty guitars
-shittier drums
-even shittier homemade microphones

How did you come up with your band name? Are/Were you good at maths?
Neither of us were ever good at math at all. The band was named after pin on my backpack actually. I started the band when i was 15 years old, and had a pin on my backpack that just said "math", and had some numbers on it. I named the band after the pin, because that way my band had a pin.

Tell us a bit about your discography. First/best/current releases? Who does the art/videos and stuff?
The number of albums we have is a little bit fuzzy for a few reasons. I started the band when i was a young dude, and when the band was new i would write just about a song a day, put them on a cd when i had 80 minutes worth, and call it an album. At the time i thought it was great, but looking back on it now, ide rather call those demos, and dont really want anyone to have to be exposed to them. All together, I had 2 instrumental albums like this, totaling something around 70 tracks. Then I had 3 full albums with vocals. These 5 albums totaled something like 150 tracks, and were all made within a span of 2 years. After that, I actually made a couple albums that used electronics and acoustic guitars and banjos and things like that. I made 2 full length albums and one EP that got put out in mexico of that kind of music, but sometimes wish i had put it under a different band name, because it sounds dramatically different, and sometimes people get confused. After that point we recorded our first album to be actually pressed, math the band banned the math. for that album we basically took the songs from the old albums that we thought were worth revisiting, added some new songs, and ended up with a greatest hits of sorts. Almost exactly at the time this album came out, we changed the entire concept and lineup of the band. Until 2008, I had been the only member of the band, but after releasing math the band banned the math, we got a drummer and keyboard played, and i started playing guitar, and we started adding these sounds to the songs. If you listen to our last two releases, tour de freinds EP and Dont Worry, you'll notice a pretty big change between them and banned the math. this is mostly because the time span of writing one album to another there is 4 or 5 years. I would say we're most happy with our most current release, "dont worry".

Our artist right now is nick shively - http://nickshively.blogspot.com/
and we have done videos with a few people, check them out here - http://www.paperfortressfilms.com/ and here:



You're playing an insane amount of shows in May. Do you like touring? How do you kill time in between shows? How do you manage to avoid killing each other when you spend so much time together? What's on the Math The Band touring playlist/mix CD? What kind of venues/shows do you prefer playing?
We like touring a lot. We generally tour 100-150 days a year, but might be doing more than that this year. we've done 30-40 shows in 2010 so far, and are going to be on tour from may 1st til the 4th of july also. There isnt really time to kill between shows. any time not spent sleeping or playing a show is spent driving or maybe eating if there is time to eat. we dont really have trouble getting along on tour. its usually just justine and I, and we have been dating for 4 years now and have fun on the road. We have a giant ipod that we just leave of shuffle with the rule that nobody can ever skip a song. we have something like 3 weeks of music on it. We like plying shows in peoples kitchens because stage diving off a refrigerator is cool.

What's "the scene" like where you live. What local bands should I check out?
there is mostly a noise scene where we are from. we have a hard time finding bands we fit in with where we live

Favorite bands in general?
jingle cats

What was the first gig you went to?
mustard plug and big d and the kids table

First record you bought?
mighty mighty bosstones - lets face it

Last record you bought?
"why?" - almost live from elis live room

What was the last gig you went to? (As a fan. Not as a friend or as part of the bill?)
"why?"

Favorite ice cream flavour?
lemon jalapeno

I was hoping to see you at South by South-West and walked all the way to some weird backyard show behind a vintage clothes shop…it was that day when it was absolutely freezing cold….only to find out that you had cancelled. What happened? Did you play any SxSW shows? Was I just unlucky?
that show had a lot of technical difficulties, and the schedule was pushed an hour or two behind. we were playing another show across town that we were going to need to rush to right after our set, so we had to pick one show or the other, and played the other show. Sorry about the mixup! we had to choose one show or the other

What are your thoughts on people "illegally" downloading your music? I confess, I have downloaded a lot of your music and haven't paid for any of it. I do tend to download a lot to find out about new bands and then I try to buy stuff directly from the bands at gigs etc. For example, I actually just bought a t-shirt from your online shop. Who made the artwork? It was a tough choice, but I went for the red one with the little characters on the globe one, rather than the diver. It looks awesome!
I am all for people downloading music. That is how we have gotten any small amount of success. if we didnt put all our music up free to download for a long time, we would most likely not be doing this band anymore. i actually used to pay 100 bucks every christmas to host downloads of all of our albums for a couple weeks.

Have you ever been outside the US? Any plans to?
we have played mexico and canada, and really hope to play europe and asia soon. I have spent time in europe, but never to play music.

Future plans. What can we look forward to from Math The Band?
after our summer touring with mc chris, we will be finishing a new album as fast as we can!

What question(s) do you wish interviewers would ask? Please also provide an answer. Also, what question(s) do you wish they wouldn't ask?

And if you would like to add anything, feel free to. Thanks.


But he didn't, so I assume it must have all been alright. Thanks, Kevin! Woot. Have a listen and if you like what you hear, support the band by at least paying for some stuff. Personally, I just bought a t-shirt.

Math The Band myspace


Hmmmm....who will be the next interview victim?

Austin...here I come

OK, so it's almost time. In about 23 hours or so I'll be on a plane to sunny Texas, home of Dallas the TV series, erm Dallas the city, a bunch of gun nuts and one of the most famous indie music festivals in the world, South by South West or SxSW if you prefer.

SxSW, eh. It's a monster of a festival and navigating the festival website in order to create a schedule is quite a task. There's so much going on and everything seems to clash. But, I guess that's the way of most music festivals.

My SxSW so far:

Sunday 14th March - Tuesday 16th March - I'll just be bumming around the city trying to catch a movie or two at the SxSW Film Festival which is also on.

Wednesday 17th March

The Muffs, back in the days

The music starts! This is the day of Allo Darlin's main showcase show, which takes place at 11:10pm at The Tap Room at Six....so the place is called Six, that's not a time. How confubbling. I have no idea where anything is in Austin, but in an ideal world I'll manage to catch French actress-turned-mega-hyped-then-completely-disappeared-only-to-reappear-this-year-singer-songwriter-songwriter Soko at 8pm. At midnight old-school pop punkers The Muffs are playing. Probably won't make it to that, although it would be awesome.

Thursday 18th March

Math The Band

Busy, busy, busy evening. Trying to catch crazy electro pop loonies The TerrorPigeon Dance Revolt at 7:30 and will most likely hang on in that same venue for some riotous chiptune/8bit pop madness from Math The Band at 10:30. Mega clash follows with Adam Green, Dum Dum Girls, Beach Fossils, Roky Erickson and Man or Astro-Man? all playing at the same time (midnight-ish), but they all might have to be missed in order to ensure I get in to see Japanther at 1am. It's been over two years since I saw those guys and their new album is absolutely amazing, so I really don't want to miss that.

Japanther at Barden's Boudoir, London (March 2008)

Friday 19th March

Grass Widow

Another crazy eveing. A Say Hi solo show at 7:45, followed by Quasi at 11 and Grass Widow at midnight. Hoping to finish off the night with either Les Savy Fav, Liars or The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, who again, all are playing at the same time.

Saturday 20th March

Best Fwends

This will be a tricky day, since Allo Darlin are playing three shows. I might have to sneak away from at least one of those, casue there's alot of other stuff on. Kimya Dawson at 3pm, Best Fwends at 10pm, The Wave Pictures at midnight and Liars or No Age at 1am.

Eek. That's alot of music. I expect to miss most of the planned things and see alot of random things instead, but I feel very organised having a plan. OK...no sleep for eight days.....GO!