i'll tell you all about how get cape. wear cape. stole my heart

all,

i had hoped, by the time of writing, to have some more news regarding upcoming releases etc, but due to lovely engineer/producer Matt Bew falling victim to some evil (but thankfully brief) virus, things have fallen slightly behind schedule. fear not, children, dates are being rescheduled as we speak, and things are just about on course for the Spring.

but this week has been rescued by the good people of London, specifically those attending Lexapalooza Lite at the Flowerpot yesterday (Saturday 10th), where i was granted an audience with one of the best crowds in the history of crowds, alongside such legendary old hands as Frank Turner, Beans on Toast and Chris T-T and the new ones like Mark McCabe and Elliott Morris.

and then there's Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. there have been several times where he and i have shared the same breathing space, though yesterday was the first time we actually made it to the same bill and the first time we'd properly conversed. i'm delighted to say, i'm not facing court action, and he even picked up a copy of This Is Not What You Had Planned, before disappearing off to a clubnight that only plays songs from now-defunct DIY punk music channel P-Rock. if that's not a sign of a good day, i'm not sure what is, though i guess the defining point of said day was the crowd participation for my set. i didn't even have to sing the last part of 'The District Sleeps Alone Tonight', it was all done for me, and the noise for 'Oh My Days' deafened me.

thanks, then, to everyone who made the trip, and specifically to Evan and Paul, and the rest of the Lexapalooza crew, without whom London would be a far less beautiful place to play.

to life.
x

(r)oc(k)tober!

friends!


you join me for the second month in succession amidst a mess of wires, though this month it's not due to computer failure but instead to the just-as-stressful-but-totally-essential preparations for heading into the studio later this week. on friday, to be exact, myself and Matt Bew head to White House in Reading for the first mix of the upcoming album, albeit without a couple of tracks that need to be addressed seperately at some later date when schedules permit.


i'm excited and nervous in equal measure, as over the past few weeks i've thrown myself headlong into an endless loop of record/edit/delete/despair/watch tv/try again. signs are promising though, and its eventual arrival in spring 2010 will hopefully be worth the wait. i've spent the last few days in a hectic hive of activity, though i did force myself to take a break every now and again. but once i watched a bit of those late-night Hollyoaks specials, though, and that drove me back to work in the blink of an eye.


this saturday: the best london all-dayer in the history of the world
not a word of a lie. this weekend (saturday 10th) sees The Flowerpot in London's Kentish Town play host to Lexapalooza Lite, an all-dayer to end all other all-dayers. as with the other Lex shows, all proceeds go to the selected breast cancer charity of choice, Breast Cancer Campaign, and i'm proud to be involved. also on the bill on the day, the likes of Chris T-T, the superb Emily Barker, Beans On Toast and the you-should-know-him-by-now-really Oxygen Thief playing an afternoon slot. it's just £3 suggested donation and it starts around 1pm-ish and live music finishes at 11pm. oh, and there's two special guests too. not to be sniffed at.

elsewhere in october
the good folk at BBC Introducing have signed me up to play alongside the folktronica stylings of Mr Jeremy Warmsley at the Oakford in Reading on October 22nd as part of his acoustic solo tour. and, in case you're stuck for things to do on Hallowe'en, you could do a lot worse than head to Cheltenham for Walk The Line festival. running on the same kind of idea as the Camden Crawl et al, Walk The Line runs Friday 30th/Saturday 31st October in various venues around Cheltenham, and features the likes of Chris T-T, Broadcast 2000, Tubelord and a whole bunch of others. i have no idea who is playing on my particular bill, but i hear a whisper that Oxygen Thief will make an appearance (seriously, we should just get married or something) and that the venue is a function room in a chinese restaurant. all you can eat first, anyone?


[actually i tried that approach in Wednesbury playing at Addistock last weekend, where i casually swanned into Wetherspoons, clocked their £2.99-priced meals, assumed they were tiny and ordered two. they weren't. the look on the guy's face when he realised that the two plates were just for me was the look normally more suited to shocked guests at some whodunnit finale]



friendly fire for free. ffffffff.
for those of you still undecided on whether to pick up a copy of the Ben Marwood/Jim Lockey/Oxygen Thief split EP Exclamation At Asterisk Hash, i invite you to have your arm twisted by picking up a free mp3 of my lead track from the record, entitled 'Friendly Fire': http://www.benmarwood.com/site2/downloads.htm should be your chosen destination for it.



anyone still interested in picking up a copy, do look here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Exclamation-Asterisk-Hash-Jim-Lockey/dp/B002CPD4YK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1254790854&sr=8-1


right, that's enough from me. join me next month where i'll have word of a new EP, and hopefully one of the year's best christmas gigs to boot.


keep safe,
b
x