Back in the saddle without so much as a wobble.

We had a good show on Friday. Thanks to all of you who showed up!

The Jug was pretty busy, which is always good. This was our first live show for a while but I think we pulled it off and the crowd seemed to enjoy it, and that's the main thing. We recorded the show so we will stick up some songs over the next day or so. Also, a guy took some really cool photos which he is sending to me today. Watch this space etc….

Chris Tye (pictured above) and his band were great, as ever, and they appear to be going from strength to strength. The have a record coming out on Headwrecker Records sometime in early 2006….It seems that there are a few of us intending to release stuff next year! Anyway, we wish Chris and the lads all the best with it.

Also on Friday’s bill were Shady Bard. They look like this....

Now, this is a band I’ve noticed on flyers and posters around town for a little while but I’d never actually heard. It turns out that they were great and we hope to play with them again in the near future. They have some very interesting and quirky songs, all embellished with cello, violin and a wash of keyboards and underpinned by some solid drums. Their sound is quite individual, although a friend reckoned that she was reminded of the Arcade Fire, which I kind of see, but it’s certainly not a case of Shady Bard apeing them. You can judge for yourself by listening to the tracks below.

Shady Bard - Bobby
Shady Bard - Torch Song

They have a single coming out on Static Caravan Records, although I’m unsure on dates for this. Static is a great label and released one of the best records of 2005, namely "Mothers Daughter and Other Songs.." by Tunng.

The Tunng record came out in January and has done really well by all accounts and will be released in both the US and Japan soon. Here in the UK I'd expect it to feature in quite a few end of year polls when the papers and magazines do their annual dance. I've been banging on about it to anyone who will listen since I first heard it and continue to spread the word. It's a tremendous record. Simple as that. Buy it.

However, it seems to be written in the stars that seeing Tunng play live will not happen for me. I've narrowly missed seeing them 6 times already this year, and I will unhappily make that 7 by missing their upcoming Birmingham show due to prior commitments. One day, though........

So….that’s yer lot. Check back for photos and sounds soon.

A former luddite writes....

Hello there
This is Cam the guitarist posting to let you know I have partially worked out the rudiments of this information and reports ticker service.

As you can see from this graphical representation (left) I worked up in shop*, progress on the album is accelerating

but... strangely


More information updates as and when we get Friday's gig out of the way.

Ever yours

Cam

* - prison, not Photoshop

FotS Recommend: #1 in an Occasional Series

Catherine Feeny








I came across this artist whilst listening to the wonderful Morning Becomes Eclectic radio show on KCRW. The host of that show, Nick Harcourt, apparently hails from Birmingham, although how he ended up in California I’m unsure. Perhaps he got lost on the way to Birmingham's own Hollywood...?

Anyway – Harcourt played a song called 'Mr Blue' from Catherine’s album Hurricane Glass that grabbed me immediately. She has a great voice which is reminiscent of Suzanne Vega, with whom she has toured. That said, it’s a voice that is all her own and the arrangement on this Mr Blue track is great – subtle, gentle and catchy without appearing to have an obvious hook, which is a neat trick indeed.

You can hear more and buy the album at Catherine’s site.

Enjoy...

Weird Weather, Riots, Recording and Rehearsals...

Recording is continuing and the album is, I would say, a little over halfway done. After a few technical glitches and a few schoolboy errors we’re back on track and (we hope) on schedule for an early 2006 release. That said, a small spanner has been thrown in the works for this week as we remembered that we’d booked an acoustic show with Chris Tye some months back and it comes around this Friday 28th. We haven’t played live since supporting Stephen Fretwell in May, so we’re a little ring-rusty so will be spending most of the time this week knocking ourselves back into shape.

We've been having some strange weather here in Birmingham - the strangest of all being our neighbourhood hit by not one, but two tornadoes over the last two months. Nothing on the scale of New Orleans, but nevertheless not what you expect in the middle of a landlocked city in the UK….and even now, deep into October, we continue to experience temperatures in the high teens and low twenties. Odd...

Whilst I’d like to think that the weird weather has something to do with the events seen just up the road at the weekend - People fighting in the streets and a whole cloud of tension and pressure hanging over parts of the city – I suspect that there is more than just odd weather to blame. Calm seems to have returned as I write this and I hope it continues.

However, this isn’t the place to discuss such things but you should know that they, amongst other things, have provided the local backdrop for our recent activities.

We’ll post pictures and sounds from Friday's show in due course.

More soon….