Friends of the Stars

We've moved!

2007-06-13T10:05:00.001Z

We're all grown up and professional now. Here's where we live on the interweb:

http://friendsofthestars.co.uk

See you there.

Them Swinging 1990s

2007-04-20T13:08:00.000Z

Glasgow's got a knack for certain kinds of bands.
Wee knock-kneed indie kittens with striped tights and straight fringes... not so keen on those kind myself. Belle and Sebastian are the acceptable face of this twee substrata of the Glasgow sound and even then, I'd recommend bringing a steak slice with you to their gigs just to stop yourself getting an iron definciency by osmosis.

Another branch of Glasgow's musical tree is made of pure plastic soul - Blue Nile, Orange Juice, Trashcan Sinatras. Got a lot of time for these guys although Paul Buchanan lives on my street and he needs to smile more.

Then there's the wide-eyed, grinning power pop palookas.
Teenage Fanclub and their various friends and allies - BMX Bandits etc. Alex Harvey, I'd even put him in there.
They are my favourite.
And here's the newest version.

The 1990s

Genuine life-affirming band. Best thing at T in the Park in 2006 by a mile and by a mile the best new band I've heard in ages.

This video's fun too - the cute munchkin cartoon versions of the band are actually pretty accurate portraits

CLICK HERE

Everyone say awwww

Oh, by the way, on the album front... if I said tech glitches, illness and other things life can sometimes chuck hard at your head... you'd get the picture.
Good news is it really isn't far off now.

ach, you might well laugh but just you wait and see Gunga Din, just you wait and see!

Love to all
Colonel Cam
Grosvenor Crescent
April 07

Thursday 18th January : Seagal Day

2007-01-18T11:23:00.000Z

Oh yes, today is the day alright.

In a few short hours we will make the short trip to Bilston to see Stephen Seagal and Thunderbox. As Anna quite rightly pointed out on the 'phone last night, "Our lives will never be the same after this. Everything up to this point has been pre-Seagal."

Eagle-eyed readers will remember that we were meant to see him play last September but the show was rescheduled at the 11th hour due to (it says here) 'unprecedented demand'.

Seagal has been all over the media here in the UK promoting the tour. Actually, to be perfectly honest it's more accurate to say that he's been surly, evasive and monosyllabic all over the media as DJ after DJ has taken the piss...Shame on them.

Do we care? Do we fuck.

A FULL report will follow in the next few days.

Whilst I'm here........apologies for the lack of activity thus far in 2007. Things are busy, y'see.....A precis of the year so far....I've had a (very drunked) birthday to celebrate, me and Anna did an acoustic gig with The Village Wakes and we're all in the process of helping Executive Producer Robson move house. Tis all go.

Normal service will be resumed very early in the new Post-Seagal era.

xx

Happy New Year........

2006-12-31T15:36:00.000Z

Ok, so under pain of death from Executuve Producer Robson I am being FORCED to explain why our album has not been available at some point in 2006, as stated in the heading above.

Well...

There are various reasons and quite frankly I'm about to go to the pub to get fucking larruped, so I won't go into them now. Suffice to say, it WON'T be available in 2006. However, it WILL be available in 2007. The current estimate for it's official release is some time in April via iTunes etc, but shortly before that and...erm...exclusively via the Friends of the Stars site.

Anyhoo.........Wishing all 4 of our readers a very happy 2007.

Keep on keeping on

Craig
xxx

(ps...if the spelling and punctuation is out of whack then I apologise. Drinknig has begun already. *Hic*)

Jarvis Cocker driving like Henry Paul

2006-12-20T13:36:00.000Z

I was never a huge Pulp fan, but I always liked Jarvis Cocker. He's a genuine one-off and has a highly developed sense of the obsurd, especially when it comes to his own 'celebrity' status. He had the humility and honesty to admit that after years of chasing fame he found it stupid and hollow when he finally found it. A stance perhaps best illustrated when he famously went head-to-head (or rather Weidro-to-Arsehole) with Michael Jackson at the equally stupid BRIT Awards.

Anyway, here he is mowing down pedestrians, pissing off bike couriers and (of course) offering romantic advice to the down at heart with his new single "Don't Let Him Waste Your Time", taken from the debut solo album, "Jarvis"

Don't think and drive? Maybe.

Ghost Hunting with Girls Aloud

2006-12-18T18:51:00.000Z

Fucking hell.

First of all...What a BRILLIANT idea for a telly programme.

Second of all....What a BRILLIANT telly programme!!!!

Seriously, if you haven't seen it then do yourself a favour and go to You Tube and type in "Girls Aloud, Ghosts". The whole 2-hour show is available in 10 installments.

It's ACE.

It's The Blair Witch Project made with the help of the best UK Girl POP group since Bananarama.

What's not to like?

The long and the short of it is that the Girls are taken to various locations and then petrified beyond their wits. In the dark.

Mostly the girls scream and are generally terrified. In fact, Nadine doesn't even bother joining them in the first place and Nicola might as well not have bothered (she spends most of the time hiding away from the action) so in actual fact we only get 3/5 of the band.... Of those that do stick it out, Kimberley and Sarah are ok and pretty game but Cheryl Tweedy is absolutely fucking NAILS and gets through some Olympic-standard swearing when pushed. She does her best to appear not scared at all and is the closest thing I've ever seen to a real-life Ghostbuster.

Ghosts exist in a strange, scary hinterland between life and the ultimate, unknown beyond; where eveyrone has dead eyes and half-remembered feelings of love are distant memories. Cheryl Tweedy is married to Ashley Cole.

..

Josephine Foster is amazing....so there!

2006-12-16T13:56:00.000Z

On Thursday night we took a trip to Coventry to see Josephine Foster.

Anna drove over and after spending a frustrating 30 minutes negotiating an entirely baffling road system, we parked and found the venue and went inside. Then we were told that the gig was at the 'other' venue. Unable to face getting back on the ringroad horse, we all jumped in a cab and were soon there. I can't remember the name of either venue. Coventry is only 20 miles away from where we live, so I'm always amazed what a monumental pain in the arse it is to actually get there and go about your chosen business. There was a lot of swearing in the car.

Anyway, so I came across Josephine Foster in late 2005 when a friend played me her album "All the Leaves are Gone" which she recorded with a full band and shortly afterwards I heard the solo, acoustic album "Hazel Eyes, I will lead you", both of which were released on the Chicago-based Locust label. Both albums are amazing and whilst they are quite different they are held together by the strength and originality of her voice, which is where the trouble usually starts.

See, I've been eulogising this music pretty much since I first heard it and I've faced wildly different reactions. A handful of people have felt the same was as I do but the majority have ran from the room screaming "Make it stop, make it stop!!". I'll be the first to concede that her voice is out of the ordinary and I can see how it would divide people - Quite simply, you will either love it or hate it and indeed Josephine has described herself as 'a failed opera singer', which is pretty damn accurate.

In terms of our own ranks, Anna absolutely loves it and Cam totally hates it. Ho hum. Despite this internal bun fight the fact remains that the last track on our (yawn!) forthcoming album is inspired by her.

Make your own mind up.

Listen:

From "All The Leaves Are Gone" : Who Will Feel Bitter At The Days End?

From "Hazel Eyes, I Will Lead You" : The Golden Wooden Tone

Mmm?

If you didn't run from the room screaming then there are a couple of other releases to track down. A newer album on Locust called "A Wolf In Sheeps Clothing", on which she sings entirely in German (That's right, I said German) and also an uber-limited seven-song 7" (which my friend managed to get for me off of Ebay!) available from Australian label Art School Drop Out that contains one of my favorite tracks, "Sunny Moony Starry Rainy Cloudy Sky".

So. After defending this music for the last 18 months I was chuffed to finally see her play live. She completely delivered and live her voice is even more astonishing. It is completely flawless and seemingly effortless. In a small, intimate venue in front of about 30 people sprawled on sofas and in armchairs it was all the more special. The horrendous journey was well worth it.

"It's Not Pop. It's History"

2006-12-08T20:36:00.000Z

I was walking somewhere this morning and I started thinking about The Beatles and how it had been ages since I'd listened to them. Then I bought a banana, some tobacco and a newspaper.

I ate the banana, smoked some of the tobacco and am yet to read the newspaper. I also listened to loads of Beatles tunes in my head and I realised that I don't listen to The Beatles very often beacause I don't have to. These tunes are hard-wired in, by and large.

Several hours passed and I didn't think about The Beatles again at all. This is what happens most of the time.

*****

Later on today I went to a friends house for dinner with his family. He asked if I'd heard Love by The Beatles. Considering my earlier thoughts about the band, I nodded politely and said, "No"...which was the truth.

(Secretly, Readers, I thought: "Fuck me. Why so many Beatles things? IN ONE DAY!!!!????")

Anyway.

That thing up there...

...is beautiful.

Their songs are part of the vernacular....there are certain melodies (of thought, harmony etc..) which are human.

I hadn't listened to it...and here's why..

Ok, so a record that's been out a for few weeks already to the naked eye looks like another Beatles cash-in. A Beatles cash-in that started life as an idea dreamt up in a circus, no less. Moreover when it did come out it was beaten to Number 1 in the UK album charts by the evil men behind Westoife, with every little help from the people at Tescos. Frankly, it seems like a fish out of water and deserves to be awful at the same time.

If my punctuation was better I could write that stuff. It's Gobshite Rhetoric, and that's easier than you'd think.

....but.

The thing is.......

It's ace.

I mean The Beatles thing, this "LOVE" rekkid. It's fucking ace.

You get to hear them with BASS

....

In fact, I give it 9.5 'We took a left at Greenland' s out of a possible 10 'We took a left at Greenland' s

They popped into my head and blew my mind

xxxxxxxxxxx

..........

By the way. My friends have a 14-year-old son who reckons that The Beatles aren't ROCK.

He's probably right.

I asked him if they were 'POP, then'?

'No', he said.

"Why aren't they POP?"

...

..

He chewed his food and considered. Then he said,

"It's not POP. It's History".

BINGO!

Guilty Feet ain't got no rhythm...

2006-12-06T12:35:00.000Z

For reasons I'd rather not go into at the moment, I found myself at the George Michael show the other night.

Yes, yes....

Anyway, George is currently packing them in Europe-wide with his 25 Live tour and this was the last of a 3-night sell-out stint here in sunny Birmingham. Essentially a 'Greatest Hits' tour the 2 hour set was, as they say on the wireless, 'All Killer - No Filler'. Anyone with access to a radio over the last 25 years would have known at least three quarters of the songs played and as such there was a 'carnival' atmosphere. Although I did notice that when he did the slower or lesser known tunes a few people took that as their cue to go and have a piss, which is fair enough I suppose.....Oh, and that 'Shoot The Dog' tune is still completely baffling in all respects.

However, even in the sonically atrocious vibe-vacuum that is the NEC (...Imagine a giant biscuit tin full of angry wasps) it has to be said that George sounded pretty good. I'm not a big fan by any stretch of the imagination but there is no denying that the geezer can sure carry a tune and his band were uber slick, as you'd expect I suppose. He doesn't do a great deal on stage - he just kind of smooches his way through the hits as the crowd go utterly fucking barmy, sing along and hang on his every word. He had them in the palm of his hand throughout.

For those of you who are unlikely to see the show (which is most of you, at a guess) I can faithfully report that hearing 10,000 people honking their way through Careless Whisper is a uniquely terrifying yet nevertheless strangely exhilarating experience - a bit like the Nuremburg Rallies, except with housewives and gay men instead of Nazis. It is certainly an image that will stay with me a loooong time.

Anyhow....when the show finished the frenzied crowd stripped the merchandise stalls to their very bones, grabbed their George memorabilia and headed off into the night a great, big happy throng.

One question though: Hey George, why no 'Wake Me Up (Before You Go, Go)'?

Even I would have sung along to that one.

Lull... before the elves..?

2006-12-03T18:58:00.000Z

Hello All,

Long time no post... re: Beyounce, I always thought it was Beyonce but I guess when you have it ALL going on then spelling isn't so important... talking of going on, going on...

You might have noticed the sound of silence, or at least quietness, when it comes to the new reord FotS recently... this is because the finest of fine tuning is going on and the elves are working away behind the scenes to get things ship shape so that when the storm comes theres no sinking anywhere in sight... the elves are very busy at this time of year as you can imagine what with St Nicholas and his ridiculous demands... if the little chaps ever join a union Christmas is going to be a VERY different party...

So bear with the band, and the elves... I can assure you fellow star gazers, this is just the lull before the storm... I say storm, it might be a bit like a squall, a stormy one mind you... stormy elves? sorry for mixing elves and ships and storms... it will all make sense at the final reckoning...

Keep Watching the Stars...

E.P. Robson

Beyounce and Madness..

2006-12-02T21:36:00.000Z

It is early December, 2006 and I've just realised that Beyounce is the best pop star on the planet.

That girl has got the lot. Everything.

BUT!

It's only POP!

....and the beautiful, unexpected thing about POP is that it will pop, spectacularly or otherwise.

The first band I really got into was Madness. I loved their videos.

So....

I played their records.

I was a skinny boy so I always had "Baggy...

Anyway.

Below is a video of some football fans doing the intro to One Step Beyond by Madness.

Here are the real words.

Hey you
Don't watch that
watch this
this is the heavy heavy monster sound
the nuttiest sound around
so
if you've come in the off the street
and you're beginning to feel the heat
well listen buster you better start to move your feet
to the rockinest rock steady beat of madness
ONE STEP BEYOND!!!

??

So.

Madness or Beyonce?

MMm?

Internal Process...

2006-11-15T01:03:00.000Z

Mmmm..

In a shocking (boring) display of honesty, here's the email I sent to every single person involved with the 'Lighting and Electrical' album today..

I should point out that all of the people involved with 'Lighting and Electrical' have thus far received £0. ...and this includes the band.

You should also bear in mind that I'm a stubborn, tyrannical twat.....(c) C. Hamilton, 2006

Outside of the band there are people who have done some fantastic work for us and so far we have paid them nothing. They have done what they have done out of the goodness of their hearts and out of friendship, loyalty and (blind) belief that we can deliver the goods.

God bless 'em.

It therefore makes me feel a little sheepish that we continue to talk-the-internet-talk without actually delivering the goods. BUT...at the same time the whole idea of this 'blog' in the first place was to document the difficulties of an indepedent band making an album available.

*YAWN*

(Are you chewing?!!!)

(Yes! You!)

Anyway...

Here is the email.

*******************************

Hello boys and girls,

Right.

This is a 'Speak now or forever hold your peace' email thread. The album needs to go off to mastering in it's 'final' format. This means that we need an argreement on mixes and tracklisting. If you leave me hanging on opinions I will make my own choices and move forward anyway. I love you all very much, but I'm B.O.R.E.D. with not having this thing ready.

(Please don't think I'm being an arsehole, I'm just trying to get a (very) long-winded job done!)

So...

TWO THINGS:

1: Final Mixes

Having listening intently with Anna, Beth, Cam, Executuve Producer Robson and some trusted outside sources....here is the final analysis:

(Anna, Cam - The things we talked about....e.g. vocal levels, drums...have been addressed by Beth, except where mentioned below)

1) 'Peoples Express' is not going to make the cut. It is the runt of the litter. Anna doesn't rate it, Beth can't do any more with it and frankly it'll let the rest of the ablum down. It's gone.

2) 'Old Souls' sounds weird for some reason.

(Anna - we'll talk about this. BETH - email Anna and tell her why, please...)

3) Beth - I still think you could give the drums some more balls on 'Fork in the Road' . I know it's tricky, but you made it happen on 'Dragonfly' and I think that if you look at those two tunes together you'd make it work twice. It sounds compressed to buggery currently.

2: TRACKLISTING:

This is where the fight starts....

Given that 'Peoples Express' is gone, please give me your suggested tracklisting.

For example, my good friend Dubber suggested that we start the album with:

1) Old Souls
2) Dragonfly
3) Sharpening a Blade

..and then said that no other tune mattered until Track 6)

He also said that we should ditch 'Frequency of The Word Turtle' and have a 'perfect' 10-track album.

What are yor foughts?

Peace love etc
Craigx

*******************************************************

We've been making this record for fucking ages.

The reason we've been making this record for fucking ages is that I'm not very good at being a tyrannical twat.

I have plans for the next record, though...

xxxxx

Friends of the Stars in Podcast volte-face shocker...

2006-11-11T14:41:00.000Z

Some months back I posted that we weren't interested in making a Friends of the Stars podcast. I was totally disdainful of podcasts in that post. In fact, I took the piss a bit.

Hmm.

There's no easy way to say this without looking and sounding like a total hypocrite, so I'll just come right out and say it.

Here goes..

*cough*

We're making some podcasts.

There. I said it.

The plan, such as it is, will mean that this afternoon I will meet Executive Prodcuer Robson and Campbell down the pub. We'll have a few beers then I'll bring them back here, stick 'em in front of a microphone and watch them go.

Oh christ.

..and here's Tom with the Weather.

2006-11-09T20:42:00.000Z

Okay, calm down.

I don't have first hand, exclusive knowledge of why Britney Spears is getting divorced from chancing dancer K-Fed.

I don't have fly-on-the-wall footage of war-wongering twat Donald Rumsfeld resigning

Furthermore, I don't know the reason why reality TV no-mark Jade Goody decided to punch a pensioner in a cinema.

Jesus, I don't even know why a bored squaddie decided to stick a lit firework in his poo-hole with disasterous consequences.....

But...

..but

However...

I did see a local TV weatherperson today!

Yep, that's right folks...In a shocking development this dude walked right past me in a corridor at approximately 3pm.

The weird thing is this:

It's not the first time that Friends of the Stars have rubbed shoulders with the Meteorological.

oh no....

A few years back we did an outdoor gig as part of Birmingham's Artsfest at the then newly opened BullRing shopping centre.

Before we regaled the assembled happy shoppers and festival-goers with our own brand of commercially inviable folk music we were introduced onto the stage by this lady

....

In summary then, the forecast for the coming month is: The album might get finished.

Back to you in the studio...

PS: The first person to correctly identify the musical reference in the title of this post will win something nice. Email info@friendsofthestars.co.uk with your answer. No googlin', y'hear!

Cold........

2006-11-02T23:28:00.000Z

During the last 48 hours it's gone cold here in Birmingham.

REALLY COLD.

We British love it, though.....it gives us something to talk about.

Several times today people have said to me things like, 'Blimey. It's cold, innit'...and I, of course, have responded automatically with, 'Phh!..You're not wrong there!'

The lady who reads the weather on the telly said that it's going to get colder still over the next few days.

Did you watch the weatherlady on the telly, too?

She said it's going to get colder.

Ahhh....New Zealand....

2006-10-31T19:45:00.000Z

3 things you need to know about New Zealand:

1) They take their home-grown music more seriously than any other nation I'm aware of, and I mean that in a good way.

2) They have a uniquely liberal attitude towards the use of vowel sounds.

3) They don't have a Navy.*

*(My sister told me this in the pub. It may not be true)

Here's a fabulous story from that country this week.

Currently the number one song in New Zealand is a cover version of The Kinks' "You Really Got Me". The group who have covered it is a five-piece male pop group called BOYBAND.

BOYBAND are the deliberately cynical, tongue-in-cheek, ratings-week-focused creation of a radio station. They advertised for five guys who would be "Gay Boy, Hot Boy, Bad Boy, Mummy's Boy and Fat Boy", and promised that the winners would get "no big prize, major recording deal or guarantee of fame, just the chance to record a hit single, $500 cash, a 5th share in a 1994 Mazda Bongo van and enjoy a fleeting moment in the 'pop music' limelight."

Read more should you wish

http://secretpassage.livejournal.com/152734.html

Heaven forbid that UK music companies begin cynically putting together deliberately shit bands in order to score cheap chart hits. Imagine also if they did it on live telly and got the general public to not only unwittingly focus-group the whole thing for them, but also line the pockets of the organisers..

.....oh, hang on.

Two Harmonica Players.........

2006-10-29T20:04:00.000Z

(or Saturday pt2)

Sometimes things occur that make you think 'Well, I bet that doesn't happen every day'.

Yesterday was one such day.

After watching X-Factor I went to a house party. It was a lot of fun. At one point, the DJ played Voodoo Ray and I was a very happy man indeed. I love that tune so much and it was a pleasure to hear it played really, really loud to a room full of a happy people.

Later on at the party I was talking to a bloke from Chile. We talked about music for a while and he said that he played the hamonica. He then produced a harmonica from his pocket and began playing it.

He was pretty good, as it goes.

That in itself is not altogether strange, granted. However, in my case it was the 2nd time that this had happened to me within the space of 8 hours.

Earlier on I had been out watching the football and on my way home I had bumped into a mate. We stopped and chatted for a bit, and he introduced me to his friend who was visiting from Manchester.

My mate told his mate that I played music, and the guy said 'I'm a harmonica player'. He then produced a harmonica from his pocket and began playing it. Right there in the street.

That was yesterday...

So far today, I have met NO harmonica players.

Ain't life strange?

Saturday..........

2006-10-28T17:34:00.000Z

So, what do you do whilst you're waiting for your album to be finally, eventually ready?

Sulk? Pine? Moan?

Get motivated?

Ah, motivation....

I could start working on the next album.... but, to be honest, I've already started doing that (more of which soon) but that's another story....

Instead, I found myself at an enjoyable loose end.

Mmm...

What I did on my free Saturday (pt1)

I woke up early and had a breakfast few beers with my sister and her husband. Tomorrow they fly back to Uganda to continue with the project they are working on. Here's a link to their blog (it might look familiar)

http://www.softpowereducationcentre.blogspot.com/

Before they left my house they dumped approximately 100 kilos of childrens football equipment into my basement. The idea being that Nicola and Dave are helping set up a Football League for kids in their region of Africa - There is currently no organised inter-school sport in the region and they hope to change that. My end of the bargain (I'm told) is to raise the necessary funds to ship this bunch of stuff out there at a cost of about £500. I will be calling on the better natures of the residents of Moseley to make this happen.

After that I went and did my recycling. Recycling in Birmingham is a total pain in the arse and it's no wonder that people can't be bothered. This lot used to collect outside my house but now they don't. Ho hum. Anyroad, I spent an unpleasant 15 minutes feeding beer cans and bottles into boxes whilst a wasp tried to sting me.

I don't blame the wasp.

After that I went to meet my friend Andrew Dubber in Jibbering Records for a coffee.

Prior to my arrival he had been joined at his table by a lady who can only be described as a fucking nutter and I found Andrew cowering behind his coffee with a pleading look in his eyes. Mistakenly thinking that the lady was a friend of Andrew, I made the grave error of engaging her in conversation. Her opening gambit was to admire my cigarette papers and to ask whether they were vegetarian (!) before fishing out of her bag a portable version of the classic board game Cleudo. Things went downhill from there.

There was temporary respite when my sister and her husband arrived, shortly followed by Andrew's wife and son. A bloke at the next table (who turned out to be the current tour manager for Mistys Big Adventure) also helped to return some semblance of normailty to procedings..........until we all got on to the subject of vegans.

......the long and the short of it is an entirely sweeping statement. And here it is:

We all agreed that vegans are humourless muthafuckers and that their diet was probably to blame for this.

Eg...

Vegan 1: "What's for dinner?"

Vegan 2: "Brown Rice, Pulses and that"

Vegan 1: "Again?"

Vegan 2: "Yep"

Vegan 1: "I see"

(pause)

Vegan 1: "Would you like to hear a joke?"

Vegan 2: "No"

Vegan 1: "No, me neither"

Anyway...

After the 7 of of us had thouroughly trashed vegans and thier culture for a good 10 or 20 minutes, the long forgotten strange lady spoke for the first time in a while. She said;

"I'm a vegan"

..........

Oh man....

I tried to bite my tongue.

I really did.

But I couldn't help myself, and I desperately wanted to prove the group hypothesis.

So I asked her to tell us a joke.

She obliged.

What followed was an extraordinary stream-of-conciousness anti-catholic rant that involved (if I recall correctly) the new Pope Benedict getting two nuns out of the bath in order to berate Britian's attitude to just about everything. At the point of the joke in which Pope Benedict questioned the Nuns' attire, the lady stopped abruptly and looked at us all expectantly, as if she'd just told the perfect knock-knock joke. She said nothing afterwards. Nothing at all.

We paid for the coffees and left.

Visibly shaken, we retired to the nearest Alehouse to calm ourselves down with a variety of alkyholic drinks.

By 2pm normality had resumed.

At 3pm I went to watch Aston Villa get beaten like a red-headed stepchild by Liverpool. I don't wish to discuss this further.

Then I came home and, as I write this, I'm watching X-Factor....LIVE!

(I'm not going to edit any of this after the fact, I'm writing this with our friend in the record shop earlier in mind - i.e. thoughts, straight off the top of the dome.)

Here's the first...

X-Factor is fucking brilliant.

Here's the second....

The main thing that strikes me about X-Factor is that if Louis Walsh thinks you'll suck his cock in the car park afterwards then you'll probably get through.

That said, if there is any (non-car park blowjob related) justice in this world, then Leona will win. She's so beautiful I'm even prepared to forgive the fact that she's a Mariah-Carey-a-like.

Eton Road are fucking rubbish, by the way. Honestly, they're shit. That lad with the cheekbones should sack the rest of them and carve out a career carving stuff with his cheekbones.

........

Now, after some food, I'm going to have a kip and then later I'm going to a house-warming party.

It's all go!

Saturday Pt 2 will follow.....

The dilema of prostituting Robson for commercial gain..

2006-10-21T20:46:00.000Z

So, I received an email this morning from someone who has been checking the site and enjoying it, and in particular the videos of Executive Producer Robson we've been posting (of which more will follow in due course)

Anyway, the reason this person has been checking the site is because he works for a firm that is involved in some kind of interweb content distrubution and, for whatever reason, he has identified www.friendsofthestars.co.uk as a potential 'channel' of webtertainment. Or whatever it's fucking called these days.

(I'm not making this up)

He closed off his email with the following:

"Personally, I'd pay a tenner to see a blog video of Robson stripping for crisps"

(I'm not making that up, either)

This raises a whole host of moral and ethical questions for us...

Were we able to convince Executive Producer Robson to take all his clothes off in exchange for deep-fried potato shavings then Friends of the Stars PLC would, at a stroke, become £10 cash rich. For the potential investors amongst you, this is approximately £10 richer than we currently are.

On the other hand, are we selling ourselves (and Executive Producer Robson) far too cheaply and should we hold out for a better deal? For example, what if Call-Me-Dave Cameron wanted to use the same video of Robson debasing himself for bar snacks in order to further convince the British people want a throughoughly ordinary bloke he is? And what if he offered £15?

(I am, of course, making that bit up...We'd never endorse the Conservative Party)

It's all a bit weird, to be honest. We thought we were making a commercially inviable country folk record that would be enjoyed by literally dozens of people, but now it seems that there is a potential market for the secondary, peripheral nonsense that has occured as a consequence. As a group of musicians and songwriters we have poured our heart and soul into creating an album yet it's our trusty sidekick and friend who becomes an interweb tv star. How very odd.

For what it's worth, we haven't asked Executive Producer Robson whether indeed he would 'strip for crisps' (or even negotiated his share of the £10) as he is in Cornwall on ugrent Friends of the Stars business and does not return until the middle of next week.

We will keep you posted as to further developments.

Video: "Been Down"

2006-10-16T21:13:00.000Z

Here's a video for one of my fave raves off the LP (which is definately coming soon now, you can believe it this time)

Just in case you are wondering... the sea is Menorcan but the pub shots are pure Moseley. As if there could be any doubt.
Cam
x

Tracklisting

2006-10-10T14:15:00.000Z

Here's the tracklisting for the album

1: Dragonfly
2: The (Out of) Jail Fire
3: Nobody Out There
4: The Peoples Express
5: Monday Morning
6: Sharpening a Blade
7: Frequency of the Word Turtle
8: Been Down
9: Feelin' Blue
10: Why Are The Movies of Jane Seymore
11: Fork in the Road
12: Old Souls

The record goes off to be mastered at the end of next week, so at the moment we're making some last minute changes, topping and tailing all the songs and finally getting ready to send it out into the world....the official release date will follow shortly.

It's been a long process, and we've missed out self-imposed July deadline by a pretty impressive margin, but we're nearly there and we're very proud of it. We hope you like it too!

Ta
x

FotS internet promotional activity approaches warp speed

2006-10-04T19:51:00.000Z

Erm..

We did a gig last night.

Of course, I realise that perhaps we should have used the communications miracle that is the internet to tell those of you who may have been in the area in advance about the gig, but it slipped my mind.

We were pretty good as it goes...and people seemed to like it. The promoter said he'd love to have us back and kept on giving us beer until we agreed (we eventually agreed). To top it off, one very kind person said that when we were singing and the harmonies hit, the whole room fell into 'a reverent hush'. We blushed.

Next time, eh?

Guerilla Marketing Tactics

2006-09-30T17:41:00.000Z

So, after watching Aston Villa beat Chelsea 1-1 this afternoon we decided to pick Executive Producer Robson's brains as to his ideas regarding the marketing strategy for the album.

The results were startling.

The Smiths on kids telly

2006-09-30T00:14:00.000Z

Excuse the mild rant, but here's a thought:

The brilliance and simplicity of YouTube coupled with the exponential pace of digital content delivery means that YouTube will inevitably jump the shark at some point very shortly.

Discuss.

Mmmm?

Well..

...When it does (which it will), you'll miss it. Trust me.

In short, YouTube is free and brilliant telly for the time being...but time moves double-quick these days, as it has done for as long as we've been alive.

Referencing Andy Warhol's famous remark in his wonderful autobiography, 'Experience', the English novelist Martin Amis said;

"It's not the case that in the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes. In the future, everyone will be famous all the time - but only in their own minds"

Which is where the internet - and YouTube, Blogging and, of course, this post - comes in...

So...

Below is a video of The Smiths taken directly from the telly...from a time when if you wished to capture a culturally significant event you needed to be savvy with the workings of a VCR. The video is of poor quality, but that is because it was 'taped' direct from the TV in the midish 80s- a time when such technology was new and clunky.

In hindsight it must be said that VCRs were stubborn, brutal machines and they are not missed. BUT....nostalgia-tinted glasses remind us that the ability to capture 'live' telly onto a format which was then instantly portable was a revelation for all concerned at the time, and the world changed as a consequence.

These days you can capture anything you like, forever, immediately and utterly regardless of it's cultural worth, and maybe this is why these days you don't see uber-hip young bands taking children on day-trips to Kew Gardens and then bumping into Sandie Shaw.

We are living in strange times, kids.....please ensure you make good decisions as to where you lay your ears and eyeballs

xx

(PS: my favourite bit is when Johnny Marr tells a 7-year-old that calling your band The Rolling Stones is daft because it's a bit of a mouthful)

Enjoy

Just because

2006-09-28T01:43:00.000Z

Meet Executive Producer Robson

2006-09-26T21:32:00.000Z

He knows nothing about the music industry but was nevertheless chosen as our Executive Producer...so we grilled him at the time of his appoinment some several months back, trying to find out WHY....

.....

Look at all the Chefs and the Gardeners...

2006-09-24T11:13:00.000Z

So anyway, there was this article in the newspaper the other day about how white people 'blacking up' is on the rise in contempary British culture. Since the article appeared in The Guardian I won't bother you with a precis as you can probably guess the tone of the piece and fill in the blanks all by yourself.

For what it's worth, and as often with opinons in The Guardian, I find myself simultaneously agreeing with the arguement in principle and yet being resolute in my belief that were the writer to personally appear at my front door in the guise of an acquiantance, I would hide behind the sofa and pretend not to be home.

BUT.... it got me thinking about Pitman, which is something I haven't done for a year or so.

Pitman is a miner and a rapper from the East Midlands town of Coleville. He enjoys digging, rapping and cups of tea. He doesn't suffer fools gladly and would probably think that you, yes, you! (and me, for that matter) are 'tossers'.

A couple of years back he released 3 singles on 7" inch vinyl that captured the imagination of Friends of the Stars and our mates. Dorian from Teatowel even ventured to That London in order to see him play live, and I once emailed him asking if he was planning to play in Birmingham. The reply I received said:

"I'm not doing no gigs in Birmingham. I've got coal to dig, mate"

Nuff said.

Pitman is white but Pitman's face is black. Pitman has black stuff on his face because he's been down the mines all day, digging coal. Make of that what you will.

Here's a Pitman video

Enjoy

Terrible 11th hour Seagal news

2006-09-20T10:26:00.000Z

Whilst searching the internet for details of where we were meant to be heading in order to see Mr Seagal and his band Thunderbox this afternoon, I came across this just now.

STEVEN SEAGAL and THUNDERBOX RESCHEDULE WORLD TOUR

Due to overwhelming response throughout the world for Steven Seagal and his band Thunderbox to perform, we are rescheduling dates already booked to a time period which will allow us to add many more. The tour will begin in January of 2007 and run through the month of February. Below are the dates currently scheduled and many more will be added on a daily basis. Please go to www.stevenseagal.com for a complete and official list of all those dates. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. In the meantime, look for Mojo Priest in stores, listen for it on the radio and experience this great show live, when it comes to a city near you. See you then!

A call to the venue confirmed the news to be true.

Gutted. You have no idea how much we were looking forward to today.

To be honest I feel a little bit cheated, and a part of me fears this gig will never happen (unless someone kidnaps the bass player, thus forcing the star into some kind of Blues Rock-related revenge gig)

In the meantime, the countdown begins to January 17th, 2007.

Bonnie Prince Billy's 'The Letting Go' is out today

2006-09-19T18:49:00.000Z

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, a big favourite of ours, has a new record out today. Click here to buy the album 'The Letting Go' direct from label Drag City.

Click below to see the short commercial published on You Tube last night. Additionally, if you browse You Tube for further Drag City videos you'll see all 3 parts of the longer trailers published over the last few months.

Enjoy x

"I can get 'What's Going On' by Marvin Gaye for £2.99"

2006-09-18T19:04:00.000Z

The album is in the late, late stages of completion, the artwork is in the bag, we've got digital distribution sorted out, we know which firm will be pressing the CDs and we've even decided on a publisher and are about to sign with them. All that remains is for us to figure out a way to start selling some bleeding records......

Anyway, when I was having a few beers with Executive Producer Robson at the weekend we bumped into our mate Neville. Our conversation with him was very enlightening.

Neville is in his late 30s, a proud citizen of Birmingham and a self-employed tailor (I actually have one of his shirts....and in it I'm told I look very dapper). Neville enjoys life, likes a few beers at the weekend and, crucially, is a big music fan with a broad spectrum of tastes. He is, therefore, very much in our ..ahem..'target demographic'.

After chatting around a variety of subjects, he asked me how the album was going. I told him it was going great and that it would hopefully be available shortly. I asked him if he'd buy a copy when it came out. Sure thing, he said. Then he told us a story....

Neville: I knew this bloke once, right. He was in a band and he had an album out, so I said 'Ok, I'll support you. I'll buy a copy'.

Executive Producer Robson: So, you bought a copy...

Neville: Well, not quite. Ok, listen. I said to him 'How much?' Do you know how much he wanted?

Executive Producer Robson: I dunno. A tenner?

Neville: Yeah. A fucking tenner! A TENNER!!! Do you know what I said to him?

Executuve Producer Robson: Go on...

Neville: I said, 'Listen mate', I said, 'I can go down the shops and I can get What's Going On by Marvin Gaye for £2.99, and you want a tenner for yours. Why would I pay £10 when I can get Marvin for £2.99?'

Executive Producer Robson: What did he say?

Neville: He said that he had to sell them for a tenner and he wouldn't drop his price

Executive Producer Robson: What did you say?

Neville: I told him 'Bollocks'

Executive Producer Robson: I see. No sale, then.

Neville: [Incredulous at the memory] A tenner, man.

At this point, Neville said his farewells, left us to it and wandered off to another part of the bar....

Anyway, this may or may not be a good time to announce that 'Lighting and Electrical' by Friends of the Stars will go on sale with the price tag of £10.

I'll have Executive Producer Robson continue to work on Neville in the meantime.

Album Artwork....

2006-09-15T17:05:00.000Z

Our good friend Olivia has delivered the artwork for the album.

Here's what the fold out of the CD will look like, the front cover is the van picture in the middle...

You can now listen to our music here

2006-09-07T16:08:00.000Z

We've added a little music doohickey over there >>>>

This doohickey allows you to listen to our songs as you read the site.

If you like what you hear and if you wish, you can also add this player to your own site or blog post or myspace thingum, or email a link to friends. Please feel free to share this music. We'd like as many people to hear it as possible.

We'll continue to add more tunes over the coming weeks and months in the run up to the release of the album.

The first song we've added is a remix of Feelin' Blue by our good friends Teatowel.

Hope you enjoy the song, and continue to enjoy as we add more

xx

Tags: "remix"

Photos from the festival.....

2006-09-04T22:48:00.000Z

I've made a scrapblog of photos we took at the Moseley Folk Festival. It will hopefully lead you to discovering some interesting stuff that's happening in our lovely city.

You can view it here

I'd love to imbed it here so you could view it without having to go elsewhere, but quite frankly I'm not smart enough. If anyone knows how to then please tell me. Your reward will be hugs and kisses.

xx

Tags : Moseley Folk Festival

Festival Hangover

2006-09-04T10:56:00.000Z

Urgh!

We are struggling today.

The Moseley Folk Festival was fantastic and there are many tales to tell and photographs to show.

Once the monumental hangover subsides we'll do just that. For the moment, it's a case of sleeping it off.

In a bit
x

SpiralFrog……and our variation

2006-08-31T11:33:00.000Z

So, as you may have seen on your tellyboxes last night, music on the internet is now going to be FREE thanks to SpiralFrog and their new friends at Universal. Naturally, this will end piracy, stop file sharing and save the music business. How clever!

It’s so crazy and simple it's even given us an idea.

Please feel free to circulate this genuine offer to all and sundry

CALLING ALL INDEPENDENT ONLINE RETAILERS.

Do you sell your niche product to a small but dedicated group of people?

We’re talking about a customer base in the region of 100 people to 20 thousand people.

Nice, niche stuff.

Well we, Friends of the Stars, also have a niche product that we want to sell to a small but dedicated group of people.

Perhaps we could talk? Here’s what we propose.

If you give us $10, we’ll send you 5 tracks from our forthcoming album. You can then distribute these 5 tracks to your small but dedicated group of customers free of charge, free of DRM and with our absolute permission.

You can send these songs as a goodwill gesture to existing clients, or use them as part of an offer for a new product. It's your $10, so it's your call.

Please feel free to tell your small but dedicated group of customers they can do with the music what they wish. They can share it, they can burn it to CD, and they can even ignore and delete it should they wish.

Moreover, if you’d like to send us a sample of your product, then please do so. If we like it, we’ll take a picture of one of the band with your product. We’ll send you this picture and, if you wish, you can distribute it to your small but dedicated group of customers along with the music. We’ll also post the picture here….and (once again if we like it) endorse your product.

Email info@friendsofthestars.co.uk for more information.

x

NOTES:

For further comment and analysis, read Andrew Dubber's blog and follow the links therein

Gentle Reminder

2006-08-30T16:08:00.000Z

Hi....

Just a reminder that this weekend is The Moseley Folk Festival.

Two days of folk old and new (or..erm.. 'nu'?) in the wonderful Moseley private park

We're on the bill at 4pm, Sunday.

See you there...

By way of a taster before they hit the stage at 6pm on Satruday, here's some of the very wonderful Tunng for you...

'I'm the best there is....'

2006-08-24T11:38:00.000Z

Some more hip hop for you....

Here's Timbaland and Jay-Z at work in the studio.

This clip is a great insight into the creative process of a style of music that is a million miles away from ours, but anyone who makes music will certainly relate to the moment when Jay-Z realises that Timabland has come up with 'the one'.

Sometimes you can spend all day getting one tiny thing right, or not getting it right as the case may be. However, if you happen to be someone of Timbaland's abilities then you generally get it right!

Enjoy

This clips is taken from the Jay-Z Fade To Black DVD.
You can buy it here

Snakes?....on a plane?.....

2006-08-20T00:08:00.000Z

Blimey O' muthafucking Reilly!

Snakes!

On a plane!

(Are there any bearded lads from Luton involved?)

Seriously kids, What would you do?

I think I'm with my man Sam on this one; My motherfucking reaction would be defined by my desire to get them motherfucking snakes off my motherfucking plane.

If any motherfuckers got in my way.....well. Those motherfuckers would get dealt with.

Pronto.

Prontomente.

I'll tell you something else as well...If anyone else got in my way, like the Credulity Police for example, I'd have to pop a cap in their ass. The punk-ass motherfuckers. And stuff etc.

Do you see any snakes on this motherfucking blog?

Treadmills in Pop

2006-08-04T09:34:00.000Z

Has anyone ever utilised 8 treadmills in a pop video before?

No, I don't believe anyone ever has...

OK Go....

(This is the bit where I should write something about how MTV is 25 years old, and how back in the day those savvy enough to see it's potential took full advantage and changed the way people consume music. Then I would go on to say something about how we're in the same boat now with 'community sites' such as YouTube, and how there are opportunities for similarly savvy people. Then in accordance with the law I'd be forced to mention Myspace and it's role in the success of Artic Monkeys and Lily Allen. However, there are already 9 million articles about this, so let's just enjoy the video and learn the moves, eh?)

Seagal: An Update

2006-08-02T21:54:00.000Z

So........after the initial exictement of finding out that Steven Seagal was playing here in September we were understandably mortified to find that the show had SOLD OUT.

BUT........it appears that public demand for Steven Seagal and Thunderbox is such that the promoters have seen sense and added a 4pm Matinee show on the very same day, 20th September. I am pleased to announce that we have secured tickets for this show and will be going there all mob handed and stuff. Ridiculous excitement prevents us from further comment at this stage but suffice to say a full report (with photos etc) will appear here in due course.

Incidentally, Under Siege has just started on BBC1. Now that, folks, is proper spooky

xx

Meet the Remixers

2006-07-27T17:56:00.000Z

So as you may know, there are a few folk out there who have agreed to remix songs from the Lighting and Electrical album.

The remix process is exactly the same regardless of the remixer. It all begins with either myself, Anna or Cam drunkenly acosting some poor unsuspecting soul who has made the grave mistake of displaying a modicum of musical talent whilst we happen to be within earshot. After a period of badgering (usually in stereo) the poor buggers are sufficiently weary and tearfully agree to get involved. Ha!

Then, after several weeks of promising faithfully that 'I'll do it tonight!', I eventually get around to burning a CD of badly labelled and hugely disorganised WAV files that (allegedly) contain all the component parts of the songs necessary to construct a remix. After carrying this CD around in my bag for another week or two I eventually send it, accompanied only with a scribbled note that says 'Hi there. New tune to remix. Have fun! Can you have it done by Wednesday? Did I mention there was no money involved? Ok? Byeeeeee!!!!!!!!'

When the CD arrives the remixer gets cracking. Simple, really.

'A remix, yeah? For Friends of the Stars? Micheal Fucking Jackson! I'm in.'

At the moment there are several remix tunes on the boil and it's all very exciting, I must say. TeaTowel have got two cooking, including a stunning 7 minute Krautrock-tastic take on our track "The Frequency of the Word Turtle". Mike Stokes (Bentley Rhythm Ace) is on the case, as is Clutch Daisy (X [isgreaterthan] Y) and there are, of course, a few others who have yet to receive CDs from me. At this stage, only one remix is available to hear on our myspace thingum, and that's from Manchester's finest folktronica twiddlers Lee Andrews & Rob Hyde (Mum & Dad), but there are more in the post!

Anyroad, we thought it might be fun to post some information about these people. The reason being that our main criteria for us asking these people to remix us in the first place was that their music is wildy different to ours and so, by extention, they are probably wildy different people to us, leading wildy different lives.......all of which should lead us to some wildly different remixes. Do you see??

So with a view to providing you said insight, I emailed a remixer last week to find out what they were up to over the coming weekend. Incidentally, the remixer does not wish to be named as he's scared of the internet, but by way of a clue for the more eagle-eyed readers amongst you, I can reveal that he lives in Manchester and his name isn't Lee......Here's the fanstastic, tongue-in-cheek (i think!) Barleytastic response I received:

The weekend starts at 4 this afternoon, when I'll be picking upthe chaz from Kelvin in the new rockabilly electro cafe downstairs. Then some last minute tune-shopping before meeting some DJ mates in the northern quarter to talk about DJing. Then I'll start DJing about 10, in a new members bar exclusively for DJs, by DJs.

Leaving there about 5, I'll flex back home with some chick, also a DJ, and DJ before having rigourous sex (in steady 4/4 time). She'll wake me up with a kick-ass breakbeat set, before taking it downtempo through the afternoon. We'll nip out to pick up a few tunes, perhaps some mild beat-digging if there's time.

Then, on to a party (taking a bag of tunes along, as if people know what kind of music to play at parties! Anyway, I'll be bored otherwise.) After tearing the roof off (of course) it's back home to bed.

Sunday, mainly reordering records alphabetically (Think it's theKompact section's turn) and changing the 'record of the week' on my wall (dudes love that stuff). Bit of banter on the Underground Resistance forum and then probably have some mates over for one of my famous 'Sunday sessions' in the garden. Proper fucking balearic tackle.

Shaping up to be awesome, as ever.

Wow, eh? What exciting lives the Friends of the Stars remixers lead! It's a wonder they find the time to knock our stuff into shape, innit.

xxxx

Some dates......

2006-07-26T17:47:00.000Z

We've booked ourselves a few shows in order to road test our lovely new tunes.

Thursday 3rd August @ Market Tavern, Digbeth

Sunday 27th August @ The Old Moseley Arms, Balsall Heath

These will both be acoustic shows. Hope to see you there!

x

Fuck me! Steven Seagal is touring

2006-07-12T18:42:00.000Z

After Anna and I had rehearsed yesterday we decided to take advantage of a very fine summer evening and go for a pint in the Prince of Wales. Granted, this is hardly a momentous thing to occur and 'Two Musicians Go Drinking' is never likely to attract many headlines. In fact, you're probably wondering why I'm bothering to tell you this.....

BUT WAIT!

.....An innocent and cheeky couple of pints on an otherwise uneventful night was about to become hugely significant for us.

The Prince of Wales, Yesterday

We had been chatting with our friend James for a while and we eventually got on to the subject of gigs and bands we'd seen, swapping tales of bands who had been great and lamentable tales of bands who had been awful. We were having a fine old time of it, I must say. Then James dropped his bombshell....

Casually puffing away on a fag during a brief lull, and completely unaware of the 743 shades of almightly hell he was about to unleash, he said to us, "My brother-in-law is going to see Steven Seagal's band in September".

Now, I don't know what kind of reaction he expected to that statement, but I'd wager that the one he got took him completely by surprise. It may even have scared him a little.

In the immeadiate aftermath of the words hitting us like a juggernaut, James was greeted by Anna screaming with delight and me unable to express my happiness in any other way than to issue a vicious string of swearwords joined together with exclamation marks and incredulous spittle. After this initial explosion subsided James was then faced with a barrage of questions as we launched into him, attempting to garner more information with some kind of demented 'Bad Cop / Bad Cop' routine. On mushrooms.

James clearly had no idea of the level, the depth, the full-fathom-fucking-five-ness of the importance of Seagal to Friends of the Stars. He is our talisman, our guardian angel and the very GLUE that binds us together. To us, he is the greatest movie star to have walked the planet and we have been known to cancel rehearsals, move recording dates and even NOT TURN UP FOR GIGS when there is a Seagal movie on Channel 5. I'm serious, dudes, this devotion borders on obsession.

When things go wrong for us, when things look bleak and we think we're ploughing a lonely, pointless and ultimately doomed furrow, when yet one more thing has gone tits up and we're about to tear it all down, give up and resign ourselves to the thought that we will live out the rest of our days with the stench of faliure and a feeling of regret deep down in our wrethched, twisted and unfulfilled guts, we stop.

We pause.

We take a moment to reflect.

We B-R-E-A-T-H-E.

Then we look at each and a collective thought occurs to us:

'What would Steven Seagal do?'

..and then it's all ok again.

What a day! To find out so casually that the man himself will visit our town and play a gig with his band 'Thunderbox' quite literally made our year. Sod the release of 'Lighting & Electrical', Sod being invited onto the bill of 'Moseley Folk Festival' - THIS is Steven fucking Seagal, man, and the year 2006 was made for us in that moment. The man who brought such gravitas to the role of Sasha Petrosevitch in 2002's 'Half Past Dead' is now going to be here playing songs from his new album Mojo Priest...

For the record, my favourite Seagal movie is the environmental epic 'On Deadly Ground', but Anna disagrees with me. She prefers the classic 'Under Seige' - and in particular the seminal 'Hide in the fridge!' scene. Whilst we both agree that the brief flirtation with black cop / white cop movies some years back was perhaps ill-advised, we see this merely as a BLIP and blame the herd mentality of Hollywood producers rather than the great man himself.

To see a complete list of the Seagal cinematic ouevre click here
To visit the great man's official homepage click here
To buy the album 'Mojo Priest' on CD from Amazon click here
For downloads visit iTunes, innit

Bye for now,
x

Moseley Folk Festival

2006-06-28T18:37:00.000Z

We're pleased to announce that we're on the bill of the inaugural Moseley Folk Festival which is due to take place on the first weekend of September 2006.

That's us there, on Sunday's bill.....

The event has taken some mean feats of organisation from the people involved, not least having to keep things reasonably clandestine until Birmingham City Council approved the license, which they duly did on 19th June meaning that all systems are go.

Carl from the festival is chuffed to bits with the line-up and so he should be. Having began with a 'wish-list' of artists he set about the task of getting them and with very few exceptions the line up pretty much mirrors his original list. Not bad going!

The festival takes place in the marvellous Moseley Park - a sort of 'Worst kept secret' hidden garden bang in the centre of Moseley village that boasts a beautiful lake and hundreds of unspoilt, Victorian-era trees and bushes. Come sunset, when the birds begin to settle in their roosts in the trees for the evening (making a lot of noise in the process) I think it's probably my favourite place in the entire city.

There is more information on both the festival homepage and also on their Myspace thingum

Stage times and final running order are to be confirmed at this stage, but we imagine that we'll be onstage some time in the middle of the afternoon.

All that remains now is to get yourself a ticket, tell your friends and cross your fingers for some decent weather.

See you there

Friends of the Stars
x

Podcasting explained...by a Ninja

2006-06-09T12:58:00.000Z

Over the last year or so the subject of a Friends of the Stars podcast has been floating around. Indeed, certain people have been actively pressing us to make one of our own and to start spitting it out over the interweb.

In truth, the subject will more than likely stay floating for the conceivable future.

There are several reasons for this. By far the most truthful is that it's highly improbable that we'd get around to creating the necessary 'content' in the first place, and far less likely still that we'd generate more of it in a timely-enough fashion to make a FotS podcast any kind of success.

This isn't an off-hand conclusion we've arrived at lightly, by the way. It stems from a deep understanding of the individual and group work ethic of those involved - and you can read into that what you will.

Besides, who's to say we'd any good at it, or indeed have anything of interest to say. Mmm? So, I think we'll stick to making Commercially Inviable tunes for the time being....

However, and for those of you who are equally curious and ignorant about the whole Podcasting thingum, why not let a Ninja take you through the rudiments of this uber modern cultural phenomenon.

If ever things change and we find ourselves in a position to start supplying Apple Pies to Whales we'll let you know

Love,
Friends of the Stars
x

How we (don't) get things done...

2006-06-02T10:03:00.000Z

Here's a brief pictorial interlude...

Today we bring you a rarely seen glimpse into the working processes of Friends of the Stars.

The following exchange is fairly typical. Note also the location. Many of the band's commercial and musical stategy meetings are conducted in such settings.

fig 1: Cam begins talking about drum sounds, or something.

fig 2: Executive Producer Robson listens intently, nodding occasionally etc

fig 3: Cam illustrates his point by listing several records from the last 30 years that contain drum sounds that are similar but not, like, the same, y'know?

fig 4: A clearly despondent Executive Producer Robson privately begins to question his involvment in the entire 'project', shortly before telling Cam, "I'll see what I can do"

******************************************

In other news....There is further progress with mixing of Lighting & Electrical, with 5 tunes down and 7 to go we are nearing the halfway point. Grrrrr.

In addition, remixes are starting to come back and Anna reports that the long awaited TeaTowel remix sounds "Amazing". As soon as we get these final mixes back they will be made available here and on the Myspace thingum.

In other, other news the demos for the next batch of tunes are coming along very nicely indeed.....but that's another story entirely.

Ta for now,

Friends of the Stars

Galatic Greetings from the Stars!

2006-05-30T11:42:00.000Z

Hello.

It Robson here, some of you may know me, some may not. You can sometimes see me talking to Craig often saying 'No! I am NOT getting on the GOD DAM Peoples Express, I have a Bus Pass!'.

I have been politley asked me to contribute the odd 'tuppence worth' here in my role as 'Executive Producer' on the forth coming FRIENDS OF THE STARS album 'Lighting & Electrical'.

I have been involved since the 'start', often annoying band members with requests for rizlas and contributing POSITIVE POSIVITISM, 'Stop moaning about being drunk and have a bloody drink!'. Its been a long, at times REALLY long journey to where they are now, which is further along than they were but not yet near the end, which is where they are going in, er, the end. In that time along the 'country lanes of music making' they have discarded much luggage and picked up the odd and occaisionally REALLY ODD hitch hiker, they have taken wrong turns and laughed at the inclement weather just enough so that their faces didn't hurt. They have coped with the pressures of having 'real jobs' and 'real families' to contend with as well as having weddings and football matches to attend/watch. After all that I think they have put together AN ALBUM THAT YOU WILL WANT TO PLAY TO YOUR FRIENDS!

Be EXCITED and 'unable to wait' although you will have to a little longer.

I may be back soon, I may not, keep visiting the blog and the site, you probably won't regret it.

Remember the Stars ARE your Friends and so are the Friends of the Stars, thats why they wink at you at night...

Excelsior!

The Amen Break

2006-05-27T12:35:00.000Z

Ok, so this isn't about Country, Folk or any kind of music you might associate with what we do but nevertheless this is a facsinating video about how a 6-second drum break on the b-side to a 1960s 7" came to shape much of the greatest new music heard in the last 25 years - from HipHop to Jungle and beyond.

I make no apologies for talking about this as Hip Hop was my first love. I was 14 when I heard 'Bad' by LL Cool J and very soon owned a copy of Public Enemy's '...Nation of Millions..' LP. This music was the first I took seriously, pouring over album sleeves and liner notes, studying lyrics and so on. Music, it seemed, could be about something, rather than just a pleasant noise to sing along or dance to.

Pretty soon after my HipHop epiphany I began working in 2nd hand record stores and my musical horizons broadened....I discovered Metal, Krautrock, Reggae, Dub and, of course, Country and Folk. Still, HipHop stayed with me and certain records that came out in the genre grabbed me just like LL had done all those years ago. For instance, 'Illmatic' by Nas remains, in my opinion, one of the best records ever made in any genre, let alone HipHop

Anyway, enough context. Here's the video.

Enjoy

Interview with Roots Music

2006-05-25T19:00:00.000Z

We recently were interviewed by Roots Music.

The interview can be found on the Roots Music page and has links to a couple of songs from Lighting and Electrical

The new edition of Roots Music also has piece on Tom Petty featuring extracts from his new book

Ta

How To Get Ahead in the Music Business #1: 'Best'

2006-05-16T21:40:00.000Z

Ok, so we're probably the worst people you should ever listen to when it comes to making good choices, informed decisions, the right move etc etc etc

NB: Don't be under any illusions.

Our preternatural ability to shoot ourselves in the foot is and has been quite literally astonishing to date (2000- 2006...and counting)

However, we've noticed a few things in our time, and here's one of them:

Everybody in or around the music business insists on signing off emails with the word 'Best'.

Why this is hasn't escaped us. We've boiled it down to the following....

1) Everyone in the music business does it
2) Therefore everyone wishing to be considered part of the music business does it.
3) See 1)

Best,
Friends of the Stars

Something wicked, weird and wonderful this way comes....

2006-05-07T21:04:00.000Z

Uh-oh! What are these people so scared about?

Well.........Seth from Dufus comes to town, plays a great show and then is press-ganged into remixing Friends of the Stars.

Is Seth happy about it?

Maybe.

Bonnie Prince Billy, No Smoking and the False Economy of Cheap Flights

2006-04-19T20:14:00.000Z

Very, very, very early one morning last week I got myself out of bed, took a cab to Birmingham airport and took a white-knuckle ride on an 'plane to Edinburgh in order to see Bonnie Prince Billy play at The Queens Hall...

The gig was amazing and definately the best I've ever seen from him. He was backed by Harem Scarem, who provided wonderful three-part harmonies and an array of instruments that complimented the songs perfectly. It truly was something else.

Whilst in the venue I was told two things that put the cherry on top of the experience.....Firstly, that the gig was recorded by the BBC for a future broadcast, and secondly that rehearsals for the gigs (part of a mini-tour of Scotland) had been recorded with a view to a possible future release as an album. It's all good..

I also learned two things whilst in Edinburgh......

1) The Smoking Ban ain't all bad. It is about 3 weeks old up in Scotland and in the post down here in England. My 48-hour tour of Edinburgh's pubs tells me I'll cope just fine when it kicks in down here.

2) The phrase 'Cheap Flight' is an oxymoron. Leaving and arriving back in Brum at stupid o'clock meant the expenditure on food, fun and the inevitable beer or 17 totally outweighed the 'saving' on the ticket. You live and learn, eh kids...

That said, it was a great trip and long live Billy.

FotS Recommend: #4 in an Occasional Series

2006-04-11T20:08:00.000Z

JayMay

First of all, before you read this post go and buy JayMay's debut EP.

It seems only fitting that the week in which we confirmed luddites finally joined the MySpace community (or...stampede/revolution/whatever-you-call-it) that I get round to recommending someone whom I discovered entirely via the internet that has really, genuinely floated my musical boat.

It was about 6 months ago that I came across Jaymay's original homepage (now since removed). The honest truth is that I can't actually remember how it was I came across it in the first place - it certainly wasn't via the radio, or a magazine or even a 'tastemaker', or even 'the bloke down the pub' - so often a source of credible information, especially musical.

What's good about her? Well now...She has a turn of phrase that will leave you smiling.......an intuitive rhythm to her delivery that you don't hear often........and the tunes are peachy. Better than peachy, in fact. Of course, then there's the voice. She also plays her arse off seemingly 20 times a week and if you live in New York City and you haven't seen her play then you should sell your TV and re-think your social life.

My only regret is that I didn't get around to posting a link to "What Happened", which was the tune that convinced me that I was listening to something great, before it disappeared from the net. I only hope it surfaces somewhere again soon cos I loved that one.

I won't post a tune cos it seems that the best thing to ask you to do is to check it all out for yourself at her own site. Go on!

My Space

2006-04-08T22:56:00.000Z

We've added a myspace thingum

www.myspace.com/friendsofthestars

Thus far we have 15 friends......this includes generic American 'Tom'

Would *YOU* like to be our *FRIEND*?

Craig
x

Sticking a fork in it....

2006-03-21T19:50:00.000Z

We've finished recording......................Finally.

Last Sunday we handed over all the raw track files to our-friend-who-wishes-to-remain-nameless for mixing.

Here's a photo of Phil adding the final, final, final brushes touches to 'Been Down'

Mixing is a 'how long is a piece of string' process but our friend reports that early progress is good....and she's very good at what she does. We can't wait to hear the results

This weekend I'll be sending out files to all the kind folk who have agreed to do remixes for us.

All being well, we'll have songs and remixes to play to you at some point in early May

Watch this space....

"James Blunt has got to be stopped"

2006-02-15T23:01:00.000Z

This man will clean up at the BRITS Awards this evening.

I met with Cam for a pint over Christmas. When he arrived at the pub he seemed agitated. He went to the bar and came back in a worse mood than he normally would have, having purchased a round. He sat down at the table, set down the two pints and looked at me with a vicious glint in his eye. He said....

"James Blunt has got to be stopped"

Sorry, Cam...It appears he cannot be stopped.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Lighting & Electrical

2006-01-22T18:28:00.000Z

"Lighting &

Electrical"

…the debut album from Friends of the Stars.

Friends of the Stars emerged in 2004 from the fated ashes of John Peel favourites The Toques.
Principal members Anna Russell (vocals, keyboards), Craig Hamilton (vocals, guitars), Cam Docherty (guitars, vocals) and Phil Robinson (percussion, ex-Novak) hail from Birmingham, UK – via Brighton, Northampton and Kilmarnock.
The 12 self-produced songs on “Lighting & Electrical” reflect the band's diverse tastes and influences – from the looping guitar spirals of epic opener Dragonfly to the feather light touch of the heart-stopping country ballad Old Souls.
Friends of the Stars share out song-writing and vocal duties – Anna's awesome, soaring voice on its own or complimenting Craig or Cam's more weather-beaten tones.
Various other artists have agreed to remix tracks for future releases with a view to a possible companion EP for Lighting & Electrical. Details available upon request.
Lighting & Electrical is wholly owned by the band and is available for worldwide licensing in all territories, either entirely or as individual tracks. The band is particularly interested in talking to labels that release limited 7” vinyl singles and will discuss potential free licensing of individual tracks for this purpose.

MIDEM 2006

Craig Hamilton will be in Cannes for the MIDEM music conference and will be based on the BRITISH at MIDEM stand. Ask for him at the reception in order to pick up a sampler CD of ‘Lighting and Electrical’ containing the tracks ‘Feelin’ Blue’, ‘Sharpening a Blade’ plus the L&R Woodcutter Fabulous Remix of ‘Sharpening a Blade’.

Craig will be in Cannes from around 3pm Sunday 22nd January until the evening of Thursday 27th

A brief history of Friends of the Stars...

The history of the band dates back to the late 1990s when Craig, Anna, Phil along with guitarist James Summerfield and bassist Jez Ince first launched a country rock assault from their unlikely West Midlands base.
Buick 6 quickly became the band “you have to see” in Birmingham and their debut single Drunk on My Porch (Winnebago Records) was played by John Peel, a break which lead to them being offered their first Peel session in 2001.
Around this time, an Anglo-Irish Blues outfit with the same name kicked up a fuss and the band were forced to change their name.
However, as The Toques, the band really started to take off; with a second Peel session in 2002 and recording work with key Creation Records cog “Slaughter” Joe Foster. Songs from this session later surfaced as a 7” release on Bearos Records
The second trip to Maida Vale at the invitation of the late, great Radio 1 DJ was a high watermark for the band and the first time they worked with future guitarist Cam Docherty, then ploughing a lone singer-songwriter furrow in Birmingham.
The band took the brave step of eschewing selections from their live set in favour of four esoteric cover versions, ranging from Dinosaur Jr to The Human League. The band recruited Docherty on bass and other friends including Julian Wilson (Grand Drive), Simon Alpin (Teenage Fanclub, Lomax) and Alan McDonald (x[isgreaterthan]y) for the nine-piece band.
Cam Docherty joined on lead guitar in 2004 and the band, now called Friends of the Stars to mark the change, decided to go back to the beginning, with new songs and a new impetus. At this time, the band resigned from a 2002 management deal with Sanctuary Music Management.
They have been working on their debut album “Lighting & Electrical” since summer 2005.

Contact: info@friendsofthestars.co.uk

OK younglings, settle...

2005-11-22T23:36:00.000Z

No news is good news, right?

We have reached the finishing straight with the album. Just wait till you hear Dragonfly, Sharpening A Blade and Old Souls... for starters.

Friends of the Stars drummer and bassist Phil and Jez (respectively, whose fatherly duties have prevented involvement for a while) have been working on the tracks me Craig and Anna have stuck a fat fork in. These guys are just wonderful, instinctive musicians. They get the job done.

The finishing line is definitely in sight. We have taken some roads less traveled to get here but finally it's on the way.

More news will appear soon about the albums endgame... mixing. There's some interesting irons in the fire. We'll also post some MP3s so you get with the programme early.

your pal

Cam

PS - the mic story Craig mentioned below is highly sensitive so I have to boil it down to key phrases.

bloke, shop, mistake, store room, wrong mic, more expensive, doesn't realise, neither do we until a day later, we save £500, "f***ing hell, Craig!"

Progress, our cohorts and what happens next

2005-11-11T18:45:00.000Z

Howdy,

I thought that it may be a good idea to give an overview of how we're going about recording the record, so here goes....

It starts with the fact that myself, Anna & Cam have written a bunch of tunes together...nothing new there, we've been playing and writing together since 2000. The difference this time around is that we've been writing with a pretty clear goal in mind - i.e. that what we write will constitute our debut record.

See, in the past with Buick 6 & then later with The Toques, songs were always written primarily to be played live...if you came up with a good one then it made into the live set, usurping an older tune. Recording was very much a secondary consideration. We'd go into a studio and record when we wanted something to release, or when somebody else wanted us to record something, whether that be a radio session or something to hawk around labels.

So...this approach is a flip on past endeavours and a new experience for us. At this point in time playing live can wait until there's a finsihed record, and the songs on the record have - in the main - been written as we've been recording. Make any sense?

In the past we'd used 4-track recorders to get demos and ideas down and these had worked fine for us but there were always issues of quality. Thats not to say that I'm unhappy with what is in the 'archive', far from it (in fact we will make them available at some stage as there is some good stuff in there) but I guess we had to make the leap from vintage keyboards, battered old microphones and analogue recording devices and into the world of recording with computers....Beleive me, this was a daunting prospect for a bunch of people who were primarily a live band and generally much more excited by pieces of kit that came with valves, dust and the likelihood of malfunction. The idea that you could have a recording studio in the shape of a home computer took a while to sink in...but it eventually did.

Such as it is, and to the best of my ability, here's the TECH bit....

I got hold of a computer from my dad. It's a pretty good one, so I'm told. It certainly runs fast and was capable of running Logic Audio, which was duly installed by a friend. I borrowed an external soundcard from another friend and purchased fine wine and 20 cigarettes in exchange for him coming to my house and making it all work. Once it did (and it didn't at first, which lead to the purchase of more wine and cigarettes on another occasion) we decided that we needed the best microphone that we could afford....

We ended up with an SE Electronics Gemini, which is a VERY good mike and pictured below. However, the story of the microphone and how it came into our possession warrants a post in itself and I shall leave it to Cam to tell that particular tale. He will hopefully change the names in order to protect the innocent....Incidentally we've been told that we're not allowed to smoke in the same room as it. We're not entirely sure why this is but we're doing as we were told. If anyone can shed light on this then please let us know...

Fully equipped with the recquisite kit we began in June 2005. We wrote, we recorded. We re-wrote, we re-recorded. We had a few rows and on certain days we gave up and went to the pub. However, where we are right now is with the bare bones of a pretty fine LP. There are 15 songs. There are more, but they can wait for the next record.

Bye for now......

FotS Recommend: #3 in an Occasional Series

2005-11-04T22:25:00.000Z

MY MORNING JACKET

I can't claim any special talent spotting points here.... you all probably know about MY MORNING JACKET

Old tunes like "The Way That He Sings" are big personal favourites of mine. When MMJ hit their stride, they make music like no other.
I loves 'em but they never made an album that was altogether satisfying... until now.

Z is the most wonderful LP I have heard all year, from first minute until last.

They tamed the riffing... but that makes the riffing even better. They left their Louisville barn and recorded in a proper studio, yet is sounds like the loosest, airiest recording out there. Jim James' high-pitched reverb-drenched vocals are better than ever. The songwriting, for the first time on one of their records, establishes a high watermark and just stays there.

Basically, they got in John Leckie (Stone Roses et al) and he did what a good producer should do: edit the band, not become a fifth wheel.

PARTICULAR TUNES I LIKE:
"Off The Record" is an A+ British new wave punky reggae single.
"Gideon" takes a dump on Coldplay's lawn.
"What A Wonderful Man" rocks dementedly, so does "Anytime" and "Lay Low", just less dementedly.
"Knot Comes Loose" is beautiful.

Trust me, get this record before that fuckface who sits across from you at work starts blethering on about them and they are ruined forever.

PS - MP3s of Friends of the Stars are on their way I swear. Last week's 700mb gig is sitting on my computer like a suet pudding just waiting to be sliced up.

FotS Recommend: #2 in an Occasional Series

2005-11-01T17:18:00.000Z

The DittyBops

A friend recommended this band. I must confess I know nothing about them, but the tunes are great. The band appears to be centred around a duo comprising two girls who play mandolin and guitar respectively and who combine together on some excellent harmony vocals. However, the live section and the album reveals them playing with a backing band at times.

What I like most about this band is the playful nature of the songs – there put me in mind of nursery rhymes, or 1940s and '50s show tunes, and this is the main reason I like the songs so much. Particularly so at this moment in time because we’ve been writing a few along similar lines oursevles, so The Dittybops certainly struck a chord. I’ve always tried to have fun with words, but it’s a new thing for me to have fun with the tune…

I’m unable to post a link to songs on their site but there is a sweet little jukebox thing on there that allows you to hear full length versions and also read the lyrics. I did, however, come across a video for ‘Wishful Thinking’, which is a standout track on the record and was presumably a single.

The Dittybops – Wishful Thinking (Video)

If anyone knows more info on the band then let us know.

Enjoy….

Back in the saddle without so much as a wobble.

2005-10-31T09:59:00.000Z

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....

2005-10-25T19:16:00.000Z

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

2005-10-25T10:59:00.000Z

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...

2005-10-25T08:32:00.000Z

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….