Sunday, July 16, 2006
Ooooooooops
Well, I was going to tell you about wireless....And how much fun it was...And the people I met, and the things I did...But then I did this festival and it put a lot of it into perspective. It was great to give a little bit back for once: to support kids who have a hard time in whatever they're doing: kids to whom music represents a real form of escape, something to aspire to, something to throw all their energy into. I met a lot of people who feed off the energy of the music business, as opposed to people who end up dragged into a vacuum of cynicism. I've got an awful lot out of music over the last 15 years, and now? It's payback time.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Iain's Wireless.... Part 1.
So, how was it for me?
Great, really. Another year for Wireless (its second) and the organisation, as ever, was impeccable. Peoples main gripe with the festival seems to be that it's somewhat corporate... But the money generated from sponsorship seems to mean that it runs like clockwork, where's the problem in that? Seeing as the first people I bumped into were Michael and Emily Eavis, both with big grins on their faces and clearly enjoying the day, I'd say it's not really an issue (and hey, Glasto has its fair share of big-business involvement now)
So, Wednesday. A beautiful day, bright sunshine, a cold beer and some DJ-ing in the O2 bubble to start the day off. As you'd imagine, I gave the crowd a judicious slice of the Sukpatch CD, as well as a couple of gems from the new Trunk Records compilation "Fuzzy Felt Folk" From there on, the day began a course that was to become familiar over the next few days: namely running between the three main stages, announcing bands. Went to the myspace stage and bumped into White Rose Movement, as I was with Zeb, an old compadre from the days of The Pretenders, his bro Finn is singer in the WRM. Also chatted to Sean McCluskey and his charges Cazals: who put on one of the shows of the day. Ran down to the Xfm stage (pushing to check out the Raconteurs on the main stage) to stand by the monitor desk while Bob Mould was playing. Being that close to one of your heroes when they're playing "Celebrated Summer" was quite awe-inspiring.
Once all of my commitments had been honoured, I obviously started on a course of serious drinking: I left the festival early, about 10-ish, but made the mistake of having a nightcap (or three) when I got back home. Cue: a broken night's sleep and a bleary start to the next day.
Great, really. Another year for Wireless (its second) and the organisation, as ever, was impeccable. Peoples main gripe with the festival seems to be that it's somewhat corporate... But the money generated from sponsorship seems to mean that it runs like clockwork, where's the problem in that? Seeing as the first people I bumped into were Michael and Emily Eavis, both with big grins on their faces and clearly enjoying the day, I'd say it's not really an issue (and hey, Glasto has its fair share of big-business involvement now)
So, Wednesday. A beautiful day, bright sunshine, a cold beer and some DJ-ing in the O2 bubble to start the day off. As you'd imagine, I gave the crowd a judicious slice of the Sukpatch CD, as well as a couple of gems from the new Trunk Records compilation "Fuzzy Felt Folk" From there on, the day began a course that was to become familiar over the next few days: namely running between the three main stages, announcing bands. Went to the myspace stage and bumped into White Rose Movement, as I was with Zeb, an old compadre from the days of The Pretenders, his bro Finn is singer in the WRM. Also chatted to Sean McCluskey and his charges Cazals: who put on one of the shows of the day. Ran down to the Xfm stage (pushing to check out the Raconteurs on the main stage) to stand by the monitor desk while Bob Mould was playing. Being that close to one of your heroes when they're playing "Celebrated Summer" was quite awe-inspiring.
Once all of my commitments had been honoured, I obviously started on a course of serious drinking: I left the festival early, about 10-ish, but made the mistake of having a nightcap (or three) when I got back home. Cue: a broken night's sleep and a bleary start to the next day.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Just back from Wireless (day 2)
Will give it a bit of a complete review soon, but let me just say I had to introduce John Cale on stage tonight. Bloody hell.Founding member of the Velvets....produced the first Stooges album...worked with NICK DRAKE. I nearly fainted. What a hero. Strongest handshake in the music business EVER, it's worth noting, as well.
nunnite all.
nunnite all.
Oh, and some GENIUS for you...
A little NOF, but that's the way (uh-huh) we like it, innit?
Get some Stereolabrat in your life. As I type, it's "Nature =Asshole" that's rocking my world, dood.
Get some Stereolabrat in your life. As I type, it's "Nature =Asshole" that's rocking my world, dood.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Might not mean anything to anyone, but here goes..
When I was a kid, one of the happiest days of my life happened when I went to this place.
(Not the pool, or the bowl next to it)
I spent hours in the reservoir, doing forever kickturns, frontside tailblocks, stalled-out backside blocks...just learning to feel the board beneath my feet. For anyone who cares, it was a 27x8" Sims Superply with Fultracks and Big Red Kryptonics.
(Not the pool, or the bowl next to it)
I spent hours in the reservoir, doing forever kickturns, frontside tailblocks, stalled-out backside blocks...just learning to feel the board beneath my feet. For anyone who cares, it was a 27x8" Sims Superply with Fultracks and Big Red Kryptonics.
Monday, June 12, 2006
*slight aside*
Nick? You listening? Get back on your board! The times have caught up with you! Look!, that's essentially your deck, with a different logo :)
Those Street Rage wheels are a little played out...email me and i'll send you some street wheels for the 21st century, and you can get your muthafuckin swerve on....howzat?
x
Those Street Rage wheels are a little played out...email me and i'll send you some street wheels for the 21st century, and you can get your muthafuckin swerve on....howzat?
x
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Oh Dear.
My apologies. It's been rather a long time hasn't it? I seem to remember that most blogs are composed, in no small part, of groveling posts every now and again, apologising for the lack of updates. I'm no different from everyone else: that's a hard lesson to learn, isn't it?
So, I hear you say, where have you been, Iain? What have you been doing? OK, let me think. There was the Great Escape festival here in Brighton, which was, frankly incredible. So inspiring, as well- it was obviously an attempt to rival the structure and importance of SXSW, and, considering this was it's first year, it was a roaring success. Brighton really lends itself to this sort of thing, there's its faintly bohemian air, its profusion of students, ready to raise merry hell at the earliest opportunity, it's close enough to London for the massed hordes of our wonderful record business to hop on a schmooze train...If there were any minor quibbles it was really only that the queues on the Saturday night were far too long and meant that a lot of people missed out on the chance to see some of the acts on the final night. The night before was completely different, I went from the Pressure Point to The Ocean Rooms, from Zap to Audio, ending up at the Spiegeltent and having seen close to a dozen bands in the process.At this point I should also perhaps point out that it was also a pub crawl with the added attraction of some rather fine bands for many people, and why not? Let them see bands ina state of advanced happiness, that's what I say. Next year it would be rather nice to see a much wider range of venues being welcomed under the umbrella of the festival-and actually, it would also be good to see events attaching themselves to the festival, for the hell of it..I like the idea of gigs springing up in Rounder Records, in Fopp....Just the idea that people could arrive from wherever, plug in a PA and try and attract the attention of A&R men or scouts. Maybe next year, we'll see.
So what of the bands that I saw? Top of the pile has to be Hot Club De Paris, who'd I'd been aware of via the Moshi Moshi compilation CD, but live, they were absolutely entrancing. Want to know what they're like? Hmmm... Like a barbershop version of Primus, like .......Oh, I give up. Suffice to say, they're my new favourite band (still can't quite knock Sukpatch off the top of the perch, but there you go...) The set they played at the Pressure Point was pretty close tp perfection and actually left me gasping for breath at one point. You know that feeling you get when you're seeing a band that's SO good and SO natural and SO funny and the entire thing becomes this all-encompassing concoction that leaves you swooning and you suddenly feel rather light-headed? And you realise that's it's because you've been forgetting to breathe? Bingo. That's Hot Club. There's some stuff for download on the myspace page, but, as ever, do keep abreast of those mp3 blogs: they'll be your favourite band soon too, mark my words. The new single (get ready for the best title EVER) "Sometimesitsbetternottostickbitsofechotherineachotherforeachother" is out soon, buy or die.
That's the good then; sometime soon after the festival, when the gales and storms were not letting May go without a fight, I got zapped by the summer 'flu. Gah. On top of the annual Hayfever, it resulted in a fortnight ruled by painful sinuses, a head full of candyfloss and a hacking cough that seemed as if it would be with me for the rest of my life. As I type, the Sun has won the battle with the rain, the summer has banished spring...The World Cup has begun....Here's hoping things get better from here on in.
finally then, this week to come: what will it bring? AFAIK, a v/o on Monday, The Scream doing an Xfm gig on Wednesday and DJ-ing for the showing of the England game on Thursday. Bring it on.
So, I hear you say, where have you been, Iain? What have you been doing? OK, let me think. There was the Great Escape festival here in Brighton, which was, frankly incredible. So inspiring, as well- it was obviously an attempt to rival the structure and importance of SXSW, and, considering this was it's first year, it was a roaring success. Brighton really lends itself to this sort of thing, there's its faintly bohemian air, its profusion of students, ready to raise merry hell at the earliest opportunity, it's close enough to London for the massed hordes of our wonderful record business to hop on a schmooze train...If there were any minor quibbles it was really only that the queues on the Saturday night were far too long and meant that a lot of people missed out on the chance to see some of the acts on the final night. The night before was completely different, I went from the Pressure Point to The Ocean Rooms, from Zap to Audio, ending up at the Spiegeltent and having seen close to a dozen bands in the process.At this point I should also perhaps point out that it was also a pub crawl with the added attraction of some rather fine bands for many people, and why not? Let them see bands ina state of advanced happiness, that's what I say. Next year it would be rather nice to see a much wider range of venues being welcomed under the umbrella of the festival-and actually, it would also be good to see events attaching themselves to the festival, for the hell of it..I like the idea of gigs springing up in Rounder Records, in Fopp....Just the idea that people could arrive from wherever, plug in a PA and try and attract the attention of A&R men or scouts. Maybe next year, we'll see.
So what of the bands that I saw? Top of the pile has to be Hot Club De Paris, who'd I'd been aware of via the Moshi Moshi compilation CD, but live, they were absolutely entrancing. Want to know what they're like? Hmmm... Like a barbershop version of Primus, like .......Oh, I give up. Suffice to say, they're my new favourite band (still can't quite knock Sukpatch off the top of the perch, but there you go...) The set they played at the Pressure Point was pretty close tp perfection and actually left me gasping for breath at one point. You know that feeling you get when you're seeing a band that's SO good and SO natural and SO funny and the entire thing becomes this all-encompassing concoction that leaves you swooning and you suddenly feel rather light-headed? And you realise that's it's because you've been forgetting to breathe? Bingo. That's Hot Club. There's some stuff for download on the myspace page, but, as ever, do keep abreast of those mp3 blogs: they'll be your favourite band soon too, mark my words. The new single (get ready for the best title EVER) "Sometimesitsbetternottostickbitsofechotherineachotherforeachother" is out soon, buy or die.
That's the good then; sometime soon after the festival, when the gales and storms were not letting May go without a fight, I got zapped by the summer 'flu. Gah. On top of the annual Hayfever, it resulted in a fortnight ruled by painful sinuses, a head full of candyfloss and a hacking cough that seemed as if it would be with me for the rest of my life. As I type, the Sun has won the battle with the rain, the summer has banished spring...The World Cup has begun....Here's hoping things get better from here on in.
finally then, this week to come: what will it bring? AFAIK, a v/o on Monday, The Scream doing an Xfm gig on Wednesday and DJ-ing for the showing of the England game on Thursday. Bring it on.
Friday, May 19, 2006
Needles again..........
Saw them at the Dublin Castle last night, they're shaping up to be a really special band : despite equipment problems, shonky power supplies, wandering microphones and the fact that Big Paul was suffering from some sort of lurgy, it was another belter of a show. The new single is ACE (and is on the NME site at the moment)
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
*points down*
OK, so the photo didn't work....i'm not sure why*. It's the cover of "Skateboard!" issue 19, early 1979, John Sablosky doing an invert at (I think) Arrow skatepark in Wolverhampton. Riding a Sablosky Deck (obv.) with Indy's and Benjy Boots. I'm really coming round to doing some sort of essay on the way the front covers of the mag show how the craze lived and died over an 18-month period. I realise it'll be of no interest to abso-fucking-lutely (Tmesis!!!!!!!) anyone except me, but I don't care. Watch this space.
*I'm sure nobody cares, but if you head here and do some digging, you may find it.
*I'm sure nobody cares, but if you head here and do some digging, you may find it.
Morning all...
Just a quick one to jot down where my head's at. Full of hayfever, full of tunes, full of images of old-school skateboarding. Been buying up copies of all the old mags, marvelling at how the cover shots tell the story: how the light changes over the last six issues before the magazine (and the craze) died at the start of 1979. The shadows encroach, the moves become more desperate, more focussed....as the oxygen ran out. It was the subtext to my youth, and the memories flow like blood from a grazed knee :)
Friday, May 12, 2006
Crikey
Just got back back from DJ-ing in town, for Des from Choice.....his leaving party. Played about an hours worth of dancehall, old soul, classic reggae...you name it. God, it's nice to be let off the leash.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Gah.
They've switched all the computers at work, nothing works, I can't access emails....
Mind you, on my *Hot Desk* station.... I can access blogger! (it had been blocked by a firewall for about 8 weeks)
Will this mean more regular updates? Let's hope so.
:)
Mind you, on my *Hot Desk* station.... I can access blogger! (it had been blocked by a firewall for about 8 weeks)
Will this mean more regular updates? Let's hope so.
:)
Sunday, May 07, 2006
2006? A year of Sad Losses.
RIP Grant McLennan.
To me, the Go-Betweens songs were always suffused with a sense of loss: of longing: of times gone by: of times that are just gone.
"But then the lightning finds us, Burns away our kindness, We can’t find a place to hide. Come the rainy season, Surrender to our treasons, Can we even find our tears? Don’t know where I’m going,Don’t know where it’s flowing, But I know it’s finding you."
("Finding You")
Apart from that, it's been a great weekend: lots of cooking (Gazpacho, Cabbage and Sausage soup, Mango Salsa....not all of these at once, obv.) and some serious relaxation. But I know there'll be some Go-Betweens on the pod when i'm on the 10.49 tomorrow morning. There's been so much loss this year....Martin Gilks, Nikki Sudden....people who were my friends, people who enriched my life, who brightened my thoughts and inspired me. If I do anything this year, it's to try and keep that inspiration alive, even though they're no longer here to do it for me.
On a musical note, today has been filled with "Secondhand Daylight". A constant in my life, returning to give me succour and hope.
To me, the Go-Betweens songs were always suffused with a sense of loss: of longing: of times gone by: of times that are just gone.
"But then the lightning finds us, Burns away our kindness, We can’t find a place to hide. Come the rainy season, Surrender to our treasons, Can we even find our tears? Don’t know where I’m going,Don’t know where it’s flowing, But I know it’s finding you."
("Finding You")
Apart from that, it's been a great weekend: lots of cooking (Gazpacho, Cabbage and Sausage soup, Mango Salsa....not all of these at once, obv.) and some serious relaxation. But I know there'll be some Go-Betweens on the pod when i'm on the 10.49 tomorrow morning. There's been so much loss this year....Martin Gilks, Nikki Sudden....people who were my friends, people who enriched my life, who brightened my thoughts and inspired me. If I do anything this year, it's to try and keep that inspiration alive, even though they're no longer here to do it for me.
On a musical note, today has been filled with "Secondhand Daylight". A constant in my life, returning to give me succour and hope.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Oh bloody hell......
Sorry about the lack of updates, I seem to have been busy :(
But doing what? I hear you cry...well, partying like it's 1999, obv. but also some work as well. DJ sets at Carling Live 24, among others, lots of gigs......um.....
Currently fighting my way through this boxset and also (still) glued to that Sukpatch CD *points down*
Still a little hungover from the weekend, another Championship for CFC and another marathon post-game session...
But doing what? I hear you cry...well, partying like it's 1999, obv. but also some work as well. DJ sets at Carling Live 24, among others, lots of gigs......um.....
Currently fighting my way through this boxset and also (still) glued to that Sukpatch CD *points down*
Still a little hungover from the weekend, another Championship for CFC and another marathon post-game session...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)