You should probably take note: we’re no longer playing on Saturday with Sparrow And The Workshop. Sadly this is not because we have been considered too radical for the event (which we are) nor has our recent behaviour been too ungentlemanly for polite company (it most certainly has). This leaves the month of June currently clear for us to rewrite, rehearse and record existing and new material.
Thank you to the promoters and patrons of the Bristol leg of the Dot To Dot Festival. It was a little sloppy but we hope you enjoyed it. If you weren’t there, then you missed our latest retort in the ongoing beef with Gareth from Los Campesinos and the return of a summer hit.
LD turned 24 last week. He received the Eurovision 2011 album from yrs truly and we have taken great enjoyment in hearing the entries for Denmark and Germany again.
And that is everything that there is to say right now.
I genuinely felt the urge to get a “No Future” tattoo yesterday.
It’s nice to know that Canada is still making great bands after the big indie explosion of the early 00s.
Bravestation were excellent last week. Local Natives with less harmonies but more samples, possibly even an SP-404. You know a band is going to be good if they use(d) a Dr. Sample.
In tribute to their homeland, here are some other great Canadien* bands who have nothing to do with Broken Social Scene - which is an excuse to post a video of the 2001 - 2008 DB Best Band, Constantines:
The world never deserved the Cons. Brutal and heartfelt. When yr done crying, they shred yr face. Their last album got the lowest review scores of their career and yet is their second-best album (behind their perfect self-titled début). Isn’t indie rock stupid?
Mogwai are probably the only post-rock band I listen to with any regularity anymore but GY!BE were my gateway into that whole scene and I listened to Skinny Fists all the time.
Will Schaff, the guy who does all the Okkervil River art, did the artwork for this. I once emailed him about something and we shared a laugh. That is one of my indie rock anecdotes. Others anecdotes feature Zak Sally (formerly of Low) and Travis Morrison (of the Dismemberment Plan).
16 minutes into the 2008 Champions League final, I left the bar where I was watching Manchester United play Chelsea, in order to go to the Thekla and watch Sunset Rubdown. There was a girl there who looked like Cat Power but this time I didn’t give her my number. SR were ridiculously good and I walked home, stopping only to see John Terry miss a penalty.
This Saturday, we’re playing Dot To Dot at a time when the 2011 Champions League final (starring Manchester United again) won’t be showing. You can’t just drop football for a life of indie punk. Unless yr offering that life, in which case, we’ll drop anything you want. We’re rehearsing hard to get our stadium songs ready for the masses.
The last two years, LD has played it solo acoustic so it’ll be nice to take amplifiers. Fingers crossed we’ll receive the first critical review since our inception and it will be good. Maybe the journalists have been ignoring us for a reason.
You can buy “cheaper tickets” using this link which may or may not influence our standing in the community. We’re playing at 6PM at the Louisiana.
There has been something of a breakdown in band protocol in the response to our lovelorn friend. Whilst DB did a fine job in his response, there is a very clear understanding that myself and Barny are the resident Love Doctors of the LV support group. With that said, I advise you all to ignore DB’s response and take this as the official party line:
Dear Anonymous,
You have to ask yourself ‘what is my long term goal with this girl? What am I hoping will come out of my message to her?’ If you’re just looking for a bit of fun, then I advise you to take up paintballing or go for a long walk. These casual things almost always end badly.
If you’re looking for something a bit more serious, maybe even ‘Love’, then I advise you to go away and listen to your entire music collection. Notice a theme? Yep. Love sucks. Avoid.
Alternatively, if you are just looking for some inspiration for writing your own pop ballad then there are plenty of places you can go to first before resorting to actual relations. I reccomend you visit your local library - with over 1000 years of English Literature to choose from, you can find any number of examples of heartbreak without actually having to experience it yourself
I’m not sure how many ‘collectives’ would be unaware that they have been booked to play the venerable Dot To Dot (or D2D) Festival at the end of this month but LVFC are certainly one of them. All of our rhetoric about invitations lost in the post seems ill-advised when that is exactly what happened.
The line-up seems strong throughout. Maybe not as good as the Hold Steady/Titus Andronicus year (which I didn’t go to) but there’s some good acts there. Guy I know said the singer of Cults is a cutie so maybe they’ll be good. Either way, you can just crush on her. And hopefully Trail of Dead will play Baudelaire.
None of that is as interesting as Eurovision though, which was definitely watched by the LV guitar corps and was possibly watched by everyone else. Azerbaijan was a fairly good choice for winner with a strong chorus and nice backing vocals but there were two outstanding choices.
I’m disappointed that this isn’t the performance from the final because the Springsteen-esque run into the audience was something to behold. Any time Denmark was mentioned, we’d start singing the chorus. An absolute joy of a song.
This was on a different level from the other songs. An example of wonderfully sophisticated pop that Britain simply doesn’t do. Contrast and compare with Cheryl Cole (whose Three Words and Parachutes are very good) and it’s illuminating. Maybe it’s all will.i.am’s fault.
Also, Lena is the most perfect human being in the world.
In other news, Barny injured himself at the weekend but I don’t think any shows are being cancelled; we’ve got one or two new songs that maybe we’ll play at some point not-soon and we might get some new gear because we’ve been using my brother’s bass stuff for about 4 years and that is no way to live.
Anonymous asked: I think I might find this girl attractive. Should I message her and tell her on Facebook?
Anonymous
Absolutely.
Unfortunately, yr shroud of anonymity will be erased by Facebook’s draconian insistence on using full names. I can pass along the sentiment if you so wish.
This is a serious, “behind the curtain” entry about facets of the music industry so please forgive my self-importance. I have utilised the “read more” feature so those who wish to read it can, and those who do not can listen to the best song of the decade and enjoy the sunshine.
An official website EXCLUSIVE. Well, EXCLUSIVE to anyone who didn’t see on Facebook or wasn’t checking YouTube accounts last night. The song once and forever known as ‘Bojangles’ is now known as ‘Future Tides’. I was as upset as anyone to discover that my #1 choice of ‘Moonlight Sinatra’ was already taken by Ol’ Blue Eyes himself.
We’re pretty much playing into those Los Campesinos! comparisons now. A special thanks to Jenna Jameson and the casts of Naughty Vacation 2 and Emmanuelle for providing additional visuals; and Mr Myxxx for recording. SG made a delicious chick pea curry on the day to keep our energy up.
And thanks to everyone who saw us at The Naturals single launch and the Simple Things Festival. We had a blast at both of them. There seems to be a gradual curve when practicing/playing shows where you go from making sure you simply play the songs correctly to being comfortable enough to start thinking about performance more and I feel like we’ve hit the latter stage - now I’m anxious to play more shows, it makes sense that we’re not playing for another couple of weeks.
Game 3 of our indie rock El Clásico takes place later this month, with the scoreline at 1-1. The Naturals were absolutely incredible last time around. We’ve been fortunate to see them play and grow over the past couple of years and that show was on another level entirely so the onus is on us to go one better now.
And at the start of next month, we’re playing with Sparrow And The Workshop. I saw them play at the highest pub in Britain a few years ago when I had the best time of my life watching British Sea Power. Then, I thought they were like Cat Power and the singer was cute and couldn’t tune her guitar but now they sound professional and on point. Their new song is pretty fun.
We recorded another video on the same day as the one at the top, but that is not being pushed right now. It is viewable somewhere on the Internet though. We’ve also named nearly all of our remaining songs so, one day, you’ll be able to request yr favourite by title.
I can’t bring myself to write a full match report for last week’s gig so: we played pretty well, got 30 minutes under our belt, had a flat tire, were saved by our hero Joe and met two nice Wales-based bands, including Canadian/Cymru keyboard septet Sleepy Panda Club. Their new stuff sounds like The Sundays.
Here are some songs that I am thinking about right now.
There’s a song on the 6music playlist that absolutely rips this off. I can list on one hand all of the songs written about Winona Ryder and none of them are bad. What a girl.
For years, I had convinced myself that I disliked The Cranberries but then the music channels kept playing this song and I heard another song from their first demo and suddenly they’re a pretty good band.
Undeniable.
Greatest tragedy in my life is that I will never marry Chan Marshall.
We are definitely playing this Thursday with The ‘Nats. Dedication through light. Here’s a Facebook event page for you to say “Attending” out of politeness.
