2000 trees and Google Map failure

So, 2000 Trees is upon us and alas we have had some dirty weather warnings. It is to be expected on this rainy Island, so if you’re going, take your wellington boots. It is never cool to not wear wellies and no, plastic bags over shoes doesn’t suffice, I found that out the hard way, trust me.

I am also borrowing my dad’s waterproof jacket too. It has the word ‘Volkswagen’ printed on it, so basically I’m gonna look pretty rad. Also, maybe Volkswagen should sponsor us for endorsing the brand at 2000 Trees? I think that would be fair really. A couple of Volkswagen Touregs should serve the purpose.

We’re all kitted up and ready for the gig which is taking place on the Friday 13th July (ooooo) on the Leaf Longue stage at precisely 12:40pm. We are aware of the downfalls associated with going on so early on the Friday morning. Punters are likely to a) Still be steaming from the night before having not slept or b) Be asleep. Should be interesting.

Putting Trees aside for a moment, I went to pick up a new keyboard the other day that I bought off ebay. It was an interesting trip. From Slough Train station, instead of attempting to book a taxi or hop on a bus, I thought I would walk the 1.6miles to the said house using Google maps on my ‘Trusty’ Iphone. This was supposed to be part of my new, healthy, grown up way of life.

Google Maps took me on a wild goose chase to Eton College, where I ended up in torrential rain, falling down a river bank, being helped by fisherman on private property. How I walked 5 miles in the wrong direction, ending up in a muddy field in Windsor, I will never know. Eventually, I arrived at the seller’s house (about 8 miles of walking later).

On the bright side, the nice Iranian gentleman selling the keyboard had a large set up of instruments and not only did he ask me to stay and ‘jam for a while’, his sweet wife made me dinner, so that was different. I don’t make these stories up or exaggerate. My life is literally a series ridiculous happenings brought on by my own ridiculousness.

Moral: Do not trust Google maps.

Trees will be amazing. Cannot wait to see our amazingly talented  friends, Gaz Brookfield, Goodnight Lenin, A Boat to Row, Jim Lockey and The Solumn Sun, Andy Oliveri, The Cadbury Sisters and Harbour.

Not to mention, we get to share the stage with such greats, Lucy Rose, Alessi’s Ark and Johnny Foreigner and see plenty of other amazing bands including, Summer Camp, Tall Ships and Hundred Reasons…… We will be bringing another batch of our awful, but thoughtful homemade ep’s with us, to be chucked out after our set. Again, please don’t leave them on the floor as that will hurt our feelings and the mud will make them dirty and then the festival cleaners will need to pick them up and then they will be upset to be doing more work and then, there will be less happiness in the world.

 See you there!

Beards Create Better Bands?

Another fun-packed weekend was had. The gig with Dry the River/The Bronze Medal and Andrew Oliveri was great fun and we met so many awesome people.

There were more beards in the room then there were at the last supper. We played with the Bronze Medal last year in London and it seems they have upped their game. I remember thinking that they were fantastic back then, but now they really are in another league – that’s music league, although I’d be forgiven by thinking they’d topped the league of bands with the most facial hair. There seems to be a correlation between beards and good music at the moment. In our case the beard growing will probably need to fall to me, as Dan and Jamie can barely grow bumfluff. I’ll let you know how it comes along.

Firstly, on a serious note we’d like to thank you so much to Lyndsey at Gotherini promotions for not only putting on a great night, but for booking us! The gig itself was our favourite yet. Cheltenhamers are such a great, music-hungry bunch of people. The gig was so packed – so thanks for coming down everyone and for giving our music a chance to get to your ears! It was a busy week last week and me and Dan had stayed up for hours on the Friday making 20 unique EP’s to give away. By ‘Unique’ I mean ‘Uniquely unattractive’ – as we did our own artwork. We may be able to write half decent music – but let me tell you, drawn art is certainly not our forte. The effort was there and I think in the most, punters thought our poor attempt at home-made art was quite endearing (thank god). Thanks to those who took a CD and subsequently thanked us for it – it was indeed nice to see our hard work paid off and our music getting into the hands of people who really appreciate it!

So, I’d like to announce that we are going to keep providing you with these sh**y little CD’s and for the remainder of this week we are going to make a ton more for next weekend’s gig at the Vic in Swindon. This time, we will put different tracks on, so they’re going to work like a collector’s item. All we ask is that you don’t leave them on the floor at gigs. This is our worst nightmare. Why not hand it to a homeless guy? Or sell it for peanuts on ebay? As long as we ‘think’ you like them, we will be happy!

Just another little mention for one of our favourite artists at the moment – Andy Oliveri. The BEARDED (I rest my case), folk genius played with us Saturday night and may I just add what a pleasure it is to play on the same bill as him. Andy created a new way of gauging the audiences’ reaction to his music via a thumbs up and thumbs down approach. Clever tactics and no one pointed their thumb even partially downwards , a safe bet everyone loved him (obviously).

Dry the River were also particularly awesome, with plenty of sweeping vocal harmonies sung through hair covered mouths…such an incredible band to have the pleasure to play with.

The gig this Friday at the Victoria, Swindon is promising to be a gooden again. Back in the hometown, it should be a busy night, full of old friends, booze and sticky venue floors. We will be playing full band once again, with the addition of a new cover song we are yet to unveil. We’re hoping that when we play it, we’ll get a bit of knee bending from the crowd. One can hope.

In other news, this wrist is getting even better. Someone drew an angry bird on my cast, so that’s good. It certainly makes me feel better anyway.

Apparently I look a bit like an angry bird too.

Peace.