Radio radio

I remember the 1979 Elvis classic with great affection, I was working as a hospital porter at the time, living on soggy toast and brummie tea, delivering laundry bags to isolation wards and getting screamed at by the fat cook who made a pass at me without me noticing till years later. He was pretty scary and I was pretty young but enough of that…I don’t want to scare you off. Last nights BBC radio Manchester session passed off without so much as a hitch. I played ‘A Man Afraid’ from the new album for the first time on radio; in fact it was the first time anywhere since recording it at Joe Fossards Bleak House in the thunderstorms of Blackburn early this year. It’s a funny old song and then it’s not. I think it worked. This was followed by what is best described as chit chat which was nice and warm and respectable. Then I played Confessions of a Sperm Donor. The hosts Phil and Gail were perfectly charming throughout and I was pleasantly surprised by the informality of the occasion and prattled away about psychiatry and infertility and other things I know next to nothing about. This was a last minute event organised by the ever diligent Mr P. Arthurs so thanks Bone for fixing it. Naturally I got lost in the BBC corridors on the way out, it’s becoming something of a habit of mine. Today I’m waiting on car damage estimates and contemplating a new song, they melody I like although I think I’ve ripped it off from SONGDOG but the words seem viable. We need to start thinking about the next band album. I’ve just covered a song by Michael Weston King, recorded and mastered in a day with Tim Browne in his Manley studios for a covers album which is due out next year. More on this and Michaels activities at www.michaelwestonking.com VP.

Copenhagen

We arrive in Denmark equipment intact and taxi on down to the venue, where we are welcomed with beer and cheese as is the custom. Asbyon, who’s name I can never spell, greets us with the news that ‘Playing on the Pier’ from the new record is at number 9 in the Danish indie charts or something that which is nice. The album seems to be doing well here. We sound-check without any notable hitches and get acquainted with Swim tv ish tv who are supporting tonight and loaning us their backline. Their guitar player bares an uncanny resemblance to Mike Mills from REM and I tell him such. He takes it like a man. We leave the venue and set up camp in a well to do flat a short walk away where we freshen up and watch the Danish X factor which is pretty bad in a pretty good way. Ben is exhausted after a sleepless night with his young son, Craig miffed at the airline security for confiscating his hair gel, Karen wants to see some of the city and Mike, just for a change, is on for a party. We are billeted next door to a cemetery that is the final resting place of Hans Christian Anderson. I’m kind of in tour manager mode and trying to organise stuff. We catch the support for a couple of songs and enjoy, the crowd is not quite as large as last time but still decent enough. Swim tv ish tv make Stereolab type waves. Our gig passes off without any technical hitches, a first in recent times. No broken pedals or exploding amplification. In a crowded dressing room we malinger and consume and play travel scrabble with the Danes [well I do…the others are on the dance floor cutting the funk]. Back at the flat I retire hurt and listen through walls to the party at the top of the stairs. More beer and cheese please Louise and then it’s all over. Next morning Karen and I go walkabout in the rain looking for the grave of the king of fairy tales but never manage to find it. Robbie Savage is on the plane home and Mike gets his autograph for his young son. He looks uncannily like General Custer. VP

Saint Helen

I think I saw her as we were leaving the Citadel wearing a little bo peep outfit with micro skirt, suspenders and garter belt; she threw several chips in our direction before vomiting into a shop doorway. In a tried and rather tested tradition we [ Ben Mike and I] spent some time after the saints gig loitering outside the venue watching the nightlife on route from pub to club. Craig meanwhile was engaged in another tired and tested tradition known as avoiding loading the gear. There was a lot of ‘avin it large’ going on, hoards of young people marching through the cobbled streets at the very heart of booze culture [they have opened a lot of new bars here in last year so I’m told]. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people so wasted. The drink business is blooming in St Helens for sure but be warned high spirited youthful ones…with oblivion comes political impotence... bare that in mind dear children of the bottle when you’re complaining about recession and unemployment and the ozone beneath your fridge magnets. The gig was enjoyable, nice to see a few familiar faces from the outreaches of the region; talking about past shows in Widnes and Runcorn I got quite nostalgic for the acoustic days of olde peculiar. It was noticeable during the set that my song story introductions were interrupted by people who’d heard it all before which was as nice a way of ruining a tired story as you could wish for…hence the shorter stories as the hecklers got a few good words in edgeways…something that would have pleased our old bass player no end. Am I having a bitter and twisted day as I wonder to myself ? On Monday night we played four songs live in Deansgate at The Revolution Bar for revolution radio 96.2 FM, Mike was DJing from the venue, there was a decent crowd and we gave it our best punk rock shot playing ‘Pete Shelley’ a song we recorded during the fall and rise sessions but it never made the record as its sonically referenced in 1977 as opposed to the album which is…well…more contemporarily considered in comparison. It’s a bit of a tribute to the joys of Boredom and Nostalgia. Keith…the imaginatively names youngsters who played after us blew us off the stage apparently but I wasn’t there to witness it. I’d gone home to finish my Alan Bennet memoirs. Shame really as they are a wonderful little band with nice haircuts, there will be other times I’m sure, that’ll do for now, VP x

The Melon Bongs

Here's a nice picture of Karen and Geoff [who drives/roadies for us] taken backstage at the recent Luminaire Show...Geoff blames himself for forgetting the spare guitar but really it's nobody's fault and the guitar is on it's way home as we speak...so there, no worries Geoff and thanks for all the help and support you give us, really appreciated. Last nights radio session for Subculture in Stoke was a pleasure give or take the odd parking ticket…always a drag, Bonehead was driving; somehow we managed to park in a disabled space though the signs were barely legible and the lighting in the car park non existent. The session was acoustic, Craig and I played three songs ‘Man about the House’, Jesus Stole my Girlfriend’ and ‘Revolt into Style’and talked a little about the new album, the band and men in dresses. Everyone loves dressing up so we’re no different in that respect although it’s Ben who has actually done the deed, on stage in sarong type number when he worked with World of Twist. I think I’ve mentioned this before so moving on after the session we spent a pleasurable hour in so in the local pub with Stoke band The Town Poets who apparently run an online business in customised smoking paraphernalia and were keen to impress on us the joys of the melon bong as well as the sonic impact a doll baby effects pedal. I like the name Melonbongs better than the Town Poets but I digress...They may well have been having us on still I feel compelled to send a friends request once myspace will let me log in. We spent the late evening at Boneheads drinking tea and drooling over his vintage guitar collection. One last thing...anyone who has bought the new record and feels inspired to review it please go to Amazon and do have your say. Tomorrow we play St Helens, do come along if you can, VP

Let it go

We’re in the middle of album release fever; it’s like an illness, like hyper mania, a bit of an internal wrangler as those Clinic people would say, panicking about all kinds of things that are out of my control like radio reports and reviews that don’t quite appear on time. It’s really not the end of the world, really it’s not, it just feels a bit tense after all the slogging and sending and pestering and grovelling and…well you know what I mean. In theory we are signed to a label…in practice we end up doing much of the leg work ourselves. So… the album should be in the shops by now but there’s been a distribution problem what with Christmas and the reviews being late so sorry if you’ve been unable to get your hands on one. It is however available on several sites, Amazon, iTunes and the like and there are links to such from this site. It should be in the shops eventually; reviews have been positive although I must confess I did have something of an ‘Oh no not the bloody Smiths comparisons again’ moment when I read Simon Goddards Q review but having lived with it for a day or so I feel like I over reacted . It’s a decent enough review. The lyrical swipe that compares me less than favourably to the chisel jawed dame of glum is in truth probably justified but I won’t beat myself up too much about it…I’ll leave that for you to judge so feel free to let me know what you think once you’ve got hold of a copy. I just added the Q review to the main page on the site. This afternoon I was also trying to pimp myspace into action, as you do, but everything sort of crashed and went purple. To my relief I managed to hit refresh and get the old pimp free number back in business. I’ll try again tomorrow. Our gig at The Club Academy this Saturday 4th November has been cancelled…a long story…so apologies to those people who bought tickets which are refundable from the Academy box office. We have scheduled more shows over the next few weeks and the dates pages have the details with more to come. At last nights rehearsal the gear brakedown situation reached new heights as Craigs effects unit died;in recent weeks we've had two amps go down, one came buck but has gone again. Pedal level problems and dodgy valves seem to have us all flumuxxed...oh how the gear gremlins seem to love us. I think it's time to time to get some new equiptment, best VP