armchair punditry

happy saturday!

further news on the below tourdates soon. but first: sport, or, if you're american, "SPORTS!".

not only did the riots of a few weeks ago send the album up in flames (note to self: flame-retardant second album required), but they also led to the eventual postponement of my beloved Everton FC's first game at Tottenham, in a match which we surely would've won, right? er..

anyway, the good people at This Is Fake DIY recently asked me for my thoughts on the upcoming season and I donned my realistic hat and told them my predictions right here

you can call me up on the last day of the season and tell me i'm wrong (but i won't care because normally football is dead to me again by May).

it's a game of two halves etc

b. x

Something For The Weekends

Hi, cherubs.

You might have noticed that I don't get out on tour very much, and some days this saddens me. Not days when it's pissing down with rain outside; not days when it's snowing a blizzard; not days when there is something good on TV that I don't want to miss. But it's not long before I miss the road trips and adventures associated with playing new places and catching up with people in favourite ones.

Sure, if it wasn't that I have rent to pay and thus a job to hold down, I'd probably have a regularly-increasing list of shows to impress onlookers with, but I do have rent, so I don't live on people's floors and on their sofas and I do go to work.

A challenging scenario reared its head earlier this year: I went out on tour with Frank and Franz and, in doing so, exhausted pretty much all my holiday from work for the rest of my life, amen, and the only time I'm freed from my desk to gig between now and the end of the year have got to be the days when I'm not scheduled to be there.

Yes, the weekend.

Hanging up my touring shoes (which, er, I don't have) until 2012 when I'd have more time to spend on the road simply wasn't an option. So instead, me and some friends have devised a series of weekend shows to keep the people of England entertained. The criteria were simple ones:

1. On a Saturday, we can get as far away from base as we can

2. On Sundays, we play house shows or ones on the way home

3. If we can't fit a gig in on the weekend, we can do ones close to home in the week

The Saturdays filled up almost instantly, and so the past month or so has been spent filling in the gaps where we can. Apologies to Scotland, the East, the South West and Wales - we can only really get to you on a Saturday, and they went pretty fast. I'll be back out in 2012 and we'll get something sorted for then instead.

Also, we're looking to do some house shows (the ones below marked HOUSE SHOW TBC). Essentially, if you'd like to host a house show on a Sunday afternoon, drop me a line on benmarwood@gmail.com and we can get talking. I'm aware that we haven't hit many towns/cities on this fair isle for reasons I've already listed above, so if you're feeling hard done by, put in for a show. Nothing silly though, please. If we have a gig in Manchester and we need to get back to Bristol, we aren't going to play for you in Paris, or Essex, or Dublin. You don't need a PA, just a friendly smile and a cup of tea. Deal?

Anyway, the shows..

BEN MARWOOD: SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND

tour of england, autumn 2011

final list updated 11th September 2011

SEPTEMBER

17 Glastonbury The King Arthur

OCTOBER

1 Manchester The Garrett (OT) - free show

2 Kidderminster The Swan (OT) - matinee show, 3pm, free show

7 Bristol The Louisiana (OT)

8 Birmingham Bright House (OT) - free show

9 House Shows

29 London Borderline (DG)

NOVEMBER

4 London Wheelbarrow (KE)

6 Portsmouth Edge of the Wedge (KE)

9 Oxford Port Mahon

11 Bath Green Park Tavern (OT)

12 Leicester The Crumblin' Cookie (OT)

13 Cheltenham Slak (OT)

19 Reading Rising Sun Arts Centre (OT)

24 Swindon The Vic (OT)

DECEMBER

2 House Show

3 York City Screen Basement Bar (OT)

4 House Shows

(OT) denotes with Oxygen Thief

(DG) as a guest of Dave J Giles

(KE) with Kyle D Evans and Mynameisian

Extra special thanks to Oxygen Thief and Kyle for booking a lot of the above shows. Apologies to those in Scotland and Cornwall where we had to turn down shows due to being unable to fit them in.

See you out there.

B. x

things i have done in the past month

1. i ate a lot of cake

serious amounts, in fact.

2. my album became slightly more limited-edition

you might have heard that rioters/future fathers for justice members torched the Sony distribution warehouse in Enfield at the height of the riots. "no worries", you probably thought, "the world can survive without those unsold PS3 units". but, if you haven't heard, it was the distribution unit shared by Sony and PIAS, and home to the stock of around 100 independent labels (if the stories are true). what i can confirm to be true is that the good folk of Xtra Mile, who have put their nice butts on the line for me this past year, lost all stock past and present in the blaze, including my album. there is/was talk of PIAS fundraisers to help out the labels concerned, as far as i'm aware there are ongoing discussions about who is owed what, but the fact that cannot be escaped is that it has happened, it has been accepted, and people are starting to move on. if you get an opportunity to help, please do.

3. i have been in the studio with Bobby Bloomfield

for the first time since I recorded 'More Good Propaganda' for the original Four By Four Broken Tail compilation back in 2007, I recently went into the studio with Rob (Bobby) Bloomfield, these days of Does It Offend You, Yeah?, to record some new material for a second album that is so far (touch wood) proving to be not-so-difficult.

4. i have been booking a tour of England

.. but more on that tomorrow..

5. i have been searching for a new house and a new job

.. and i've found them both!

So you see, I have been doing things.. expect news on the autumn tour of England tomorrow evening (Wednesday), 10pm, and news of new material by the end of the month.

Update complete.

Ben