artrocker/south st/album/single stuff.

Thankyou so much to those of you that came on Saturday to the Reading gig. What an awesome start to the year..sorry to those who couldn't get in (actually we're not sorry at all).

This months Artrocker magazine have just published the first album review, they don't mince their words. This is what they said;


THE RACE. In my head it works.
I wasn't a fan of this band, to be honest (until now). Their anthemic indie harmonisations are excellently executed,but still managing to teeter dangerously close to the Razorshite category, although managing to outshine other bands involved in the self-admiring indie stifle. 'I Get It Wrong' showcases the bands willingness to down tune the guitars and make riff's more akin to Interpol than the Zutons, a blatant improvement from the last album 'Be Your Alibi' subsequently showing that the band have somewhat matured from obvious pop structures and hooks. Dirty, subdued riffs, spindly chords and key tonal changes on tracks like 'Rude Boy', 'Better ship away' and 'Racing Car Game' further proved me wrong as I listened in awe to the transformation- from an underachieving 'comic' sponsored mob to something that may actually be interesting live, its lighter holding, stadium rock contains a dirty penchant for the extrovert and out of tune. Joe Gamp.

You stakeholders got a mention in the NME today, your 'rude boy' singles should be on their way and the albums are being manufactured as we speak although i think you've already been told that.

There's a gig in Aldershot on Friday and we're just waiting to here back on a last minute gig in London next Thursday too. Things are warming up.

dan

Happy New Year and all that jazz.

Woo Woo yeah yeah.. good. Lets get back to being in a band again, I spent the past three weeks waiting for everyone to get back to work. We have some music to release and I'd like to get cracking. This New Years eve I was in bed by 11pm (new baby blah blah) and it was probably my best yet as I have grown tired of the usual fake excitement with a room full of strangers.

The others are back rehearsing today and trying to figure out how to play the whole of Killer live,turning my casiotone into a huge church organ using james' guitar pedals..I have had to stay home. My head is throbbing and it looks like I may have suddenly become prone to migraines, will see what the doctor says later...i tried the nhs direct website but it told me to ring 999 which worried me greatly.

Apparently mr lamacq thinks that shoegaze might make a comeback this year, I spent yesterday doing a japanese interview that wanted to know what we thought about 'shoegazer' and our fellow Reading band Slowdive....???????????????????????? I don't know????!! Maybe i should have a listen to their stuff as similar questions keep coming. Cue a whole load of reviews comparing us to shoegaze bands. Hype/press/buzz/labels are funny old things. We continue to make music we like and remain ignorant of half the bands we get compared too. Sometimes its nice to not be too knowledgable, we shall leave that to others. France are now releasing the album which is good, Tom Robinson played IGIW yesterday and reviews continue to pour in, Rude Boy should be back from the manufacturers this week and we are really excited about this huge Reading gig coming up on Saturday, its set to be busy. Also keep your eyes peeled for some of the COOTMP gigs that are starting to come together, happy new year, i hope it has brought you fresh optimism in whatever you are getting up to,
dan.
ps//having said all of that, I'm going to bite the bullet and listen to some slowdive right now(!)