a complete history of not very much

horatio dies all over again

2012-01-25T11:28:00.000-08:00

dear boris,

a few years back i wrote a song called 'Horatio Dies'. though i never 'properly' released it, people still liked it and i play it a lot.

during the album recording sessions with Bobby Bloomfield of Does It Offend You, Yeah? back in August which spawned a couple of decent tracks, I had a stab at a new version of 'Horatio Dies', and then donated it to the good people at Engineer Records.

they have THIS to say..

------------------------

All of us at Engineer Records are very proud to be giving the world Lamp Light The Fire: A Compilation of Quiet(ER) songs

Lamp Light The Fire has a theme. No questions or hidden agendas. Simply put, Engineer Records wanted to gather a small array of artists that we´ve loved and worked with in the past, and/or thought would sound great in the environment of an acoustic guitar as the central instrument, and build from there. Don´t let the title fool you though, as there are as many acoustic rockers on here, as much as the intensely subtle, slow burners as you´d expect on such a compilation. Listening to it as a whole you'll hear that this real gem of a project sounds just as dynamic as any ´proper´ album. Although mellow in places, this is not a snoozer of an album only to fall asleep with. Hearing how each artist took the idea and built upon it is certainly the key to the album's inspiration. You´ll find some songs that sound like the artists´ best work yet, and plenty of exclusive material.

You´ll hear the acoustic guitar accompanied by piano, strings, vocal harmonies, and fitting percussion. You´ll hear some artists we´ve worked with in the past, showing off their new material, and some newer bands, or newer solo work, most of which is previously unreleased. Engineer Records and these artists, including Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music), Ryan Mills, Jeff Rowe, The Satellite Year, Her Only Presence, Mikee J Reds (Call Off The Search), Elemae, The Waltz (Penfold/Moirai) and Dan Coutant (Joshua), have created the scenario of a sit down at a camp fire surrounded by good friends. This musical company bring together talent from across the world to warm your heart, sway your soul, and reflect upon the quieter side of life.

PURCHASE FROM THIS LINK (engineer bandcamp)

PHYSICAL CDs AVAILABLE FROM ENGINEER AND INTERPUNK

So there!

happy new ears

2012-01-24T14:16:00.000-08:00

all,

a belated happy new year to you. i would've posted this message earlier, but i had to recover from my experiences this year at the stroke of midnight as me and my girlfriend saw in 2012.. kettled around the back of London Waterloo, able to hear fireworks, somewhere, but more able to hear the shouts of the general public, annoyed that we'd all left it too late to make it to the South Bank.

so, we went home to Reading, shared some champagne and watched Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and made our plans for 2012.

i don't have any plans for 2012, dear reader. well, i do, but they're pretty vague. i have no resolutions, merely plans:

Plan #1: make album #2

this past weekend I visited the good kids at White House for album recording days 8 - 10. it was crunch weekend, because by the time day #11 rolls around it will be over a year since day #1, and i don't want to have a five year gap between first and second albums (though i'd definitely string you along for that amount of time if you let me).

the songs are sounding natural. i have a fear that some are a bit basic, but a second album of puns and smart-alec quips will only cause some of you to punch me in the ego eventually. still, all the music is written, and the next step is to flesh out the twenty-something songs into finished articles. all necessary musicians have been recruited, what we need now is Time.

Plan #2: finally, some t-shirts

i think i've finally tired of being the only musician to sell more than 50 records in a shop who doesn't have a t-shirt with his name on and/or a hilarious statement about how cool/uncool/subversive they are. expect this to be remedied by the time i get out on the road

Plan #3: do some gigs

i know that should be a given that any musician is going to do gigs, but i'm one of the few who could accidentally go a year without really doing very many (see: 2007, 2008, 2010). the reason i'm not doing any at the minute is very simple. number 1: i have nothing to sell, number 2: i have no new set, and i've been playing this current one for a couple of years now. it's time for a change. i have some one-off shows planned in the coming months, as well as a track on a new compilation, and i'll get to those this week.

so, there you go

consider yourself updated. i'm off to grovel to my e-mailing list that i haven't spoken to them for many, many months, and i just (FINALLY) found the mailing list from the Frank Turner/Franz Nicolay tour back in May in a box just now, so i will also have to grovel at them and see if they remember who i am.

YOU, take it easy..

lazy boxing day extravaganza of eating and TV

2011-12-26T03:46:00.000-08:00

HEY KIDS

Look at that, two blog posts in two days, as my actual mailing list lies neglected. I'll sort that out sometime soon, it's just easier to post tiny status updates on Facebook and Twitter than sitting down and engaging my brain and telling you all about things in detail. Especially when there's nothing to tell in detail.

Yep, my plans for 2012 are hazy, but there are couple of nailed-on facts: there'll be a second album (my playlist currently consists of fourteen unmixed songs, and we're just getting started) and there'll be a few smaller releases (EP, singles, free downloads, splits and so on) before the year is out. There'll be a tour when I can, and if I can I'll hopefully be re-pressing some of the older stuff to coincide, given that This Is Not What You Had Planned is sold out, there are only two copies of the Exclamation At Asterisk Hash split left with the distributors as I type this, and until the album is re-pressed (if, indeed, it is) I have limited merch to sell. Plus, you know, people do seem to want it.

Of course, if that's to happen it'll mean a little work; the original label Broken Tail Records has only one release left before it shuts down, so it would involve setting up a new imprint, finding distribution and blahblahblah now I'm thinking out loud.

So there are the plans for 2012, laid out before your very eyes. There'll be a few shows announced before too long which will see the new material start being road-tested. There'll probably (finally) be t-shirts and all that nonsense.

But for now it's me, my parents, and Goodnight Mr Tom. So this is Christmas.

merry christmas, one and all

2011-12-25T15:49:00.001-08:00

Hey all,

So, it's Christmas! The tour is over, we're waving goodbye to 2011, and I have spent a nice relaxing day with the family. In a couple of days my girlfriend flies into Heathrow for new year and I'll be a normal person again for a little while.

Since the tour finished I've been hard at work, either actually at work, or working on new material. I was all prepared to declare that I had finished writing for the new album until I saw Franz Nicolay and Chris T-T at the non-christmas party here in Reading which ended the tour. Since hearing Franz's new material, though, I'm going to feel much better about my own new stuff if I write a couple more new songs just to give me a few more options in terms of good songs that can feature on a new album. So, I'm gearing up already for rehearsals with drummer Jamie Mead in January, leading up to three days at White House and hopefully it'll all be finished and ready to go in time for the summer.

So, merry christmas to you. I hope you've had, and are having, a good one. Keep your eyes peeled for the slow emergence of new sounds as 2012 gets underway, there are certainly some interesting plans afoot. Thanks to everyone who has included me in year end lists and that (especially Moon and Back Music and The Ruckus), and an honourable mention goes to the recent (and, for me, pretty frank) interview with Adverse Camber about life, the universe and, well, everything.

My favourite Christmas video, by the way is this, courtesy of Amateur Transplants.

HO HO HO.

post 101

2011-12-01T14:21:00.000-08:00

i've been meaning to write about a lot of things for the past, uh, forever.

for instance, i really wanted to write a piece about the state of BBC TV in the wake of them selling out Formula 1 fans nationwide with their new partnership, or how they've ordered a third series of Mrs Brown's Boys before the second is even screened. Or how they opted not to renew Psychoville. Or how they cancelled Shooting Stars, with Angelos having to make the switch to Channel 4 for his own show - surely the equivalent of an escort resorting to streetwalking for lack of any other option.

Mind you, Charlie Brooker's latest three-part horror mini-series has also found a home on Channel 4, with his 2011Wipe being relegated to BBC Four, and ITV1 won terrestrial channel of the year recently so perhaps the world is turning upside-fucking-down after all.

Part of me wanted to write about the recent strikes, the Eurozone crisis, the death of Gary Speed or that really no-one has noticed that today is World AIDS Day. A few days after the 20th anniversary of Freddie Mercury's passing, and 20 years after Magic Johnson dropped his HIV bombshell.

But then again another part of me wanted to write about how most things I know about Brazil come from this cartoon.

I also wanted to write a piece about the band CAKE. I saw them at the Roundhouse recently - my second time at a CAKE show this year after a decade and a half of waiting - and wanted to commend them on their general show, their shunning of the general music industry practices, their two-sets-a-night outlook, the fact that they give away a tree to people who, er, want to grow a tree for CAKE and mainly just how I've grown up with this bunch of west coast sarc-rockers.

Instead I'm just going to link you to my first end of year list mention (they all count, folks) and a delightful Q&A I did with a cool girl called Jenny recently.

It might sound lazy, but that's my evening down to a tee. This week has been month end at work, which in the finance world is secret code for "everything is going to holy batshit mental" and, now stuff is done going holy batshit mental, I am enjoying one (just one, i promise) evening off. Sure, I could be planning the next podcast, or polishing off the last two songs I haven't finished writing for the new record, or editing the takes from the recording I did last weekend, but instead I rode around like a cowboy on Red Dead Redemption, watched a bit of the ridiculously harsh Charlie Sheen roast from Comedy Central recently until I couldn't take any more unnecessary jokes and I had my hair cut.

Ahead of me this weekend, beginning tomorrow, are four of the final five shows for this year. People are already knocking on the door for 2012 and to them I'll say, I don't know quite when I'll be out yet. Yes I plan to do Scotland. Yes I'll be back in Bristol. Yes Birmingham. I am also due to swing by Exeter as I have been negligent. First things first though, I plan to spend the first few months of the year finding a(nother!) new house to move into, moving into it, spending some time in February in Florida, and then finishing off the new record.

About the new record: I'm currently recording various different versions of 20 songs, and by the end I anticipate having about 29/30 different takes to choose from. There will be a new album by the end of 2012, there will also be a whole heap of smaller releases and they'll all be sexy. There'll be a new set and new shows, but these things take time. Once I finish the album (or at least get close to it) I'll know more about what my plans will be for 2012, aside from not go to the Olympics.

This weekend should be superb though. Three house shows and an almost-sold-out show at York's Basement Bar at the City Screen picturehouse. People seem to be travelling for the show, though Louise Distras, who I have been looking forward to finally meeting, has had to pull out of the show. Still, that leave a four-act bill which is plenty. Tonight, in that very room, Franz Nicolay and Chris T-T are playing and I cannot wait to see them next weekend for the non-christmas party. I had a dream about Franz last night. We were on a train in the wild west and he was doing some kind of cabaret. That's about it.

End of dream sequence.

toothache 1, antibiotics 0

2011-11-23T12:52:00.000-08:00

Hello bloggers,

Normally when I go six weeks without bidding you hello, it's due mostly to the lack of anything happening to speak of, but it so happens that the last six weeks have been a mess of action and toothache. And whilst it was a little tempting to wait until after the final date of this final tour of 2011 was over - 11th Dec, Rising Sun Arts Centre, Reading etc - I thought I'd fire some quick updates your way.

1. FLORIDA IS STILL A GREAT PLACE

I was there in the middle of October as part of my ongoing drive to make sure my long-suffering other half doesn't dump me on grounds of abandonment, and all I can say is holy crap, that place goes nuts for Hallowe'en. I ate lots of steak and sweets and had a lot of subs, and my first american Bud. Hint for beer fans: it tastes just like the English stuff.

2. MY GUITAR GOT FIXED

The magnificent Mick Johnson fixed the input on my poor abused beast whilst I was away, and I'm happy to announce it's going to at least make the end of the year. The hunt continues apace for a new one after this one spent 2011 largely finding numerous ways to fall apart, but this has held up well for now. In Oxford at the Port Mahon, at what I had failed to recognise as being a speakerless, all-acoustic show, Kurt Hamilton and I teamed up to play 'I Will Breathe You In' together in the same room for the first time ever, whilst I had a storming couple of shows with Kyle Evans of Dawn Chorus/RSP and Mynameisian in London and Portsmouth, with London somehow pulling off the first ever round-robin approach to 'Singalong' - the bar not so much raised, more suspended from the clouds. Other good mentions go to Dave Giles for letting me open the final (and sellout) date of his tour at the Borderline, and thanks also to the Crumblin' Cookie in Leicester (and Dan Wright) for allowing me to attempt to drink my toothache into oblivion.

3. TOOTHACHE

Yeah, it happened. I have been too busy to visit the dentist this year, which is an excuse which is frankly just that. Mind you, until recently I hadn't been to the doctors in more than two years, and the opticians has been a decade. Still, the dentist clearly missed me, because he has announced that we're going to be getting reacquainted. If anyone would like to undergo my root canal for me on the 7th and 21st December I'd be pretty grateful. If album two is called Fuck This or Sweet Jesus of Colgate you'll know why.

4. NEWSFELCH: A ROUNDUP

I have had the delight of talking to a few people recently, all of whom would like you to read about it and all of which are verifiable FACT:

BBC report that I am recording a new album

Valerie made this somehow

A man named Will interviewed me in Portsmouth

And then some poor sap had to watch me actually play (thanks Karen)

.. and then I called into uni radio, Pure FM

Tomorrow I get to go to Swindon. Hopefully see you soon!

b. x

Third time's a charm

2011-10-12T12:55:00.000-07:00

Guys/Girls!

Thanks ever so much to the people who came out to the first leg (proper) of the tour. Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham were all superb shows, each in their own special way.

Manchester being in a bar, on a Saturday, in the capital of the North, led to about as much drinking as the start of that sentence suggested - not so much by me, but to the bunch of friends and fans who cheered us on. It was great to catch up with friends I'd made on the May tour with Frank and Franz as well as some I've known for a while.

The good folk of The Ruckus passed on a big kiss via Ian and Ant of Moon and Back (who promoted the show), which for a while was the hottest guy-on-guy action to be posted to YouTube before I requested it be taken down for fear of affecting our nation's fiercest heterosexuals. We all ended up in a pop-punk club until 3am, complete with faux-crowdsurfing to Toto's 'Hold The Line', before heading back to the lounge of the McNeil family where I unsuccessfully attempted to get some sleep.

We made it to Kidderminster the next day to find it was on fire, but instead of a wicker man, it was instead a furniture store. Turnout was mildly affected but it was an afternoon show so we were not expecting The Swan to have been at capacity anyway. Generous locals helped us make a profit for the weekend to the tune of £1.24, which Barry instantly blew on a timeshare in Basingstoke.

A special mention for Barry/Oxygen Thief - before driving us up to Manchester he played a show just outside London on Thursday night, then a house party on Friday. Both involved drinking/dancing, then Saturday involved driving/drinking/dancing/not much sleep, and Sunday involved driving a lot and trying to recover. I'd be much, much worse off without him, so seek out his debut album Destroy It Yourself post-haste, lest the hounds be released upon you.

Oh, and the ensuing working week? Barry's busiest of the year, he being employed by a University and that week being Fresher's week. Quite how he makes the show on Friday in Bristol i'm not quite sure, but he beats me and Jay Newton (with Sid of Club Velocity as our minder) to the Louisiana and is digging into food by the time we roll up. The Louisiana really treat us well, so it's a shame when my guitar's input gives out midway through 'We Are No Longer 25'. Which is the second song. Again, I have to use Barry's but events add up and I never hit my stride. It's a good show, but I think we can all tell it lacks the electricity of the same show back in January.

I try in vain to fix my guitar once we arrive at Birmingham's Bright House, and it dawns on me that Friday's failure means that my guitar has broken in and around all four of the tours I have undertaken - from a busted battery pack in 2009, to a broken input(!) at the start of 2011, to a perilous unglued bridge during the Turner tour, and now this. Still, well prepared for having to use Sir Thief's guitar this time around, I get things hooked up and we have a great time. Oxygen Thief also slays it, as do Quiet Quiet Band and Neil Morris, who is finally getting his record label Front Room Records into gear.

Then, it's back to Addis's for late night chats. Barry excuses himself due to brainexhaustion (which turns out, in the end, to be real conventional illness) and we sleep top to toe in neighbouring single beds crammed into a spare room like either impoverished little boys or very unhappy spouses.

Still, the sleep is great, and there's even time to squeeze in a trip to Birmingham's PMT to find me a new guitar.. a mission which we fail at. It turns out I'm a pretty picky consumer. By now I've booked my broken beast in with Mick Johnson for Monday, who will turn out to be as jovially frank as ever. He has until October 29th and my show at the Borderline to get it fixed, hopefully once and for all. Two inputs in a year is poor form. I'll pick it up when I return from the break in proceedings which will see me go Stateside tomorrow.

Oh, and a special mention goes to the Pontings, Els and Jon, who give up their afternoon on the Sunday to put us on for a house show where we meet some new friends and have a chat. Thanks for letting us occupy your Sunday, folks!

non-christmas party: supports announced!!

2011-10-01T03:06:00.000-07:00

hey YOU,

yeah, you.

you may remember the other day i posted that i'll be hosting a non-christmas party in conjunction with Club Velocity at the Rising Sun Arts Centre on Sunday, 11th December 2011 with a couple of special guests in tow. well, i'm going to announce those supports right now.

but first, some more about the nature of this party. it happens that this year i turned 30 but any celebrations were overshadowed by tour preparations and it fizzled out (though a fun time was had in a back bar of a club with Oxygen Thief and [edit]'s Kev Lawson performing death metal covers of advertising jingles), so it's a good excuse to have a second attempt at celebration. also this year the album finally came out, then got incinerated in a giant fire, and after the second of two headline tours this year and being present and correct in my 9-5 for the rest of it, I can guarantee i'll be both relieved to make it through 2011 clinging to my sanity, but also eager to draw a line under Outside There's A Curse and look to finishing the second record.

Also i'd really like some sleep.

So in summary, join me from 7pm onwards on Sunday, 11th December at Rising Sun Arts Centre in Reading for a catch-up, a drink, and some live music the likes of which you may never get for as little as £5 ever again as long as you live.

The ticket link is here and the first batch is selling well. A second batch might be possible and there may then be some on the door, but why risk it?

The full line-up is:

FRANZ NICOLAY (NY, USA)

I'm honoured, proud, excited and much more broke to bring one of the world's bestest songwriters to Reading. Hailing from New York and having been on the road in various bands (World/Inferno Friendship Society and The Hold Steady to name but two) since he was but a teenager playing everything from stadiums to squats along the way, Franz has two great solo albums under his belt and is recording a third. He'll be bringing his own unique brand of one-man acoustic-plus-banjo-plus-accordion almost-but-not-quite-gypsy-folk-but-really-what-is-it? directly to you on 11th December, and communicating it to you using the power of his great moustache.

BEN MARWOOD

Yes, ME. I'm so egotistical I'm playing my own damn party.

CHRIS T-T

My Xtra Mile labelmate, friend and a man I hold in very high regard, Chris T-T has recorded twenty billion albums and somehow each one manages to be even more brilliant than the last. Previous album Love Is Not Rescue was easily one of the greatest albums of 2010, and his mini-album 9 Red Songs spawned the wonderful fan favourite protest anthem 'The Hunstman Comes A-Marching'. Oh, and he also recorded a borderline-apocalyptic trilogy of albums about London and used to spin a great line in novelty hits like 'Eminem Is Gay', 'Dreaming of Injured Popstars' and 'Drink Beer'.

What do you say, Reading?

b. x

help franz do the struggle

2011-09-30T13:55:00.000-07:00

Hey friends,

you like good music, right? some of you might have seen the incredible Franz Nicolay on the Frank Turner tour this May, and he's coming back to these shores in November/December for some shows. See him if you can, it's heartily recommended.

Even back in May his new songs alerted people to how good his new album will doubtless be, but (take it from me) funding a new album is not easy if you're not on a label who will throw money at it. Franz has set himself a goal of raising $10,000 to go towards recording his new album through Kickstarter, and given that he's one of the greatest songwriters to ever do writing to a song, it would be just plain rude of me to not encourage you to throw your hard-earned in his direction.

No coins though.

Link:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/625130797/franz-nicolay-do-the-struggle-lp?ref=card

this december: a non-christmas party

2011-09-29T13:32:00.000-07:00

hi all

so i've confirmed gig #20 of my twenty-gig tour to end the year, so we are officially at full capacity. the final gig, on the 11th of december, is something like a party, and it's also in December, but let's make this very clear, this is not a Christmas party. i mean, come in christmas wear if you like, but it's September so don't even begin thinking about that now. you should still all be thinking about what you're going to trick or treat as this year, right?

right.

so anyway, this party is less like a get-drunk-and-throw-up-on-yourself party, and more like an excellent gig-party, at which i'll be joined by a couple of very special guests to be announced this very weekend. the show is on a Sunday night so doors will be at the earlier time of 7pm, and we'll be done by 10.30, so if you're feeling brave enough to trust me that the line up is superb, you can part company with £5 in exchange for a ticket right here:

http://www.wegottickets.com/event/136096

the full list of dates is now like this, and hopefully shall remain so:

SEPTEMBER

17 Glastonbury The King Arthur

OCTOBER

1 Manchester The Garrett

2 Kidderminster The Swan (matinee show)

7 Bristol Louisiana

8 Birmingham Bright House

9 Nr. Swindon House Show

29 London Borderline

NOVEMBER

4 London The Wheelbarrow

6 Portsmouth Edge of the Wedge

9 Oxford Port Mahone

11 Bath Green Park Tavern

12 Leicester Crumblin' Cookie

13 Cheltenham Slak

19 Reading Rising Sun Arts Centre

24 Swindon The Vic

DECEMBER

2 Nr. Kettering House Show

3 York City Screen Basement

4 Leeds House Show

4 Huddersfield House Show

11 Reading Ben Marwood's Non-Christmas Party @ Rising Sun Arts Centre

Obviously you're too late to come to the Glastonbury show, but hopefully I'll see you at some others.

Take care

b. x

one down, nineteen to go

2011-09-26T14:09:00.000-07:00

2011 careers towards winter and, if today is anything to go by, the sky looks set to hang heavy in autumnal grey anytime.. now. Or perhaps it was just because today was Monday, a day when even the brightest tapestry is reduced to the texture of soggy microwaved lasagne.

Actually even that's not as poor as the BBQ Chicken pizza I just attempted to eat. Oh Monday, i'll get you back for this.

As I type this I am one date into the final tour of the year - that one show being a delightful, smalltown show in my new favourite Glastonbury pub, the King Arthur. Friendly hosts, nice locals, and a couple of greatly entertaining supports - and with that out of the way, nineteen dates remain. Originally we were looking at one more, but due to that old enemy Miscommunication, the Oxford house show on 9th October is no longer going ahead. I'll still be at the Port Mahon on November 9th though.

The next leg of the tour takes us to the following places, all of which are with Oxygen Thief, who has been recording a new video this past weekend. More on that when.. he tells us more on that. Dates!

OCTOBER

1 Manchester The Garrett (onstage 8.30pm)

2 Kidderminster The Swan (matinee show, doors 3pm)

7 Bristol Louisiana

8 Birmingham Bright House

9 House Show

Take it easy, kids!

Ben

new song goes Mile High / tour dates confirmed

2011-09-11T12:48:00.001-07:00

Hey all!

Stalkers take note - I've moved house. Alas, this means I'm mostly without internet until later this week, so hello from my parents' lounge with this important news update. My mum is currently down the pub, my dad is.. shortly on his way to the pub. It's good to have a routine.

NEW SONG EXCLUSIVE TO iTUNES

After the warehouse fire that destroyed more or less the entire stock of Xtra Mile Recordings back at the start of August, those cheeky chaps are bouncing straight back into action with a compilation called Xtra Mile High Club Vol. 3 which, would you believe, is the third instalment in the Xtra Mile High Club series and is an iTunes exclusive.

Naturally I'm delighted to be included on such an awesome compilation. The track in question is a solo acoustic version of 'We Are No Longer Twenty-Five', which proved a big hit at shows this year. Also included on the compilation are the likes of Frank Turner, Chris T-T, Dive Dive, Franz Nicolay, Crazy Arm, Fighting Fiction and many, many more.

More information is available here - go see!

ALSO, TOUR DATES CONFIRMED

Yes, at long last, the full list of tour dates have been confirmed for the upcoming tour. Alors!

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

See you out there!

b. x

armchair punditry

2011-08-20T04:11:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-17T12:38:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-16T14:51:00.000-07:00

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

incoming: 2000 Trees

2011-07-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Long time no see, hope your summer's been good so far. This is summer, right? Something about the constant running theme of blue-sky-grey-sky-sun-rain-sun has left Reading and the surrounding area in what seems like perpetual April.

To combat this I've actually been out to gigs to, you know, see them instead of play them. Once the bizarre feeling that i should have been doing something instead of standing and watching had subsided, I finally got to see Death Cab in Brixton last week, and also Bright Eyes at the Albert Hall, plus i caught Tom Williams and the Boat for the first time in too long at Reading's Outside:Inside festival last weekend on a day when the sun actually came out like it was still 2010.

Also, I know it's summer because Seattle's premier online-and-in-the-airs radio station KEXP.org had their summer pledge drive in June, which is a cause I'm always 10002% keen to support. This year they broadcast live from Sasquatch festival in Washington at the end of May, taking in sets from Guided By Voices, Death Cab For Cutie, The Decemberists, Modest Mouse, Wilco, Flaming Lips and more, and if those names mean anything to you, you can still stream the gigs from their archives here. Go crazy!

and this weekend.. 2000Trees!

Indeed, it must have been summer at some point, because everyone's shedding their Glastonbury mudpacks and this weekend is the fantastic2000Trees festival out near Cheltenham, and I couldn't be more excited. For those of you going, you can find me on the Greenhouse stage midway through Friday (15th) and you can also expect storming sets across the weekend from the incredible Dive Dive, Oxygen Thief, Jim Lockey and more, including Exit Ten and Malefice representing the Reading metal scene. My personal highlight this year will be if it doesn't rain.. I don't think I've been to a dry Trees yet.

.. and then a festival warmdown in Reading

Whilst I'd love to be joining the Trees crew all weekend, I have to jet back to Reading on Saturday for a festival warmdown show. There just wasn't enough time for a festival warm-up, as it turns out. So, you can find me at Rising Sun Arts Centre in Reading alongside Aubrey Dye and Dylan Louise this Saturday 16th.

on tour from September!

These are likely to be my only shows of the summer, but I'll be back out on tour in September for a jaunt around the country. So, if you have a night near you that you'd like to see me at, feel free to drop me a line and point me in that direction. Obviously i can't cover everywhere, but i'm hoping to cover as much ground as possible by December. It's sadly not looking likely that i'll be getting to Scotland, but the rest of the country is fair game, and it should be a great end to what has thus far been a great 2011. I'm trying to drag along plenty of friends of mine, including Oxygen Thief, Quiet Quiet Band and more.

Stay well!

Ben

big mixing it up

2011-06-16T15:39:00.001-07:00

just a quick word on The Big Mix festival in London this coming Saturday (18th)..

i've been meaning to write about it for a while but haven't been able to find the time to succinctly write down something substantial enough to give this all-day festival the credit it deserves. it's one of those all-dayer, £20-buys-you-a-wristband-that-you-can-go-to-lots-of-venues-with style festivals that i normally run screaming from the idea of, but it's not just to line someone's pockets, it's in aid of Macmillan, a leading charity in helping to support the victims of cancer. you know, the real C-word. for this reason i'm honoured to be taking part in a day of live music, comedy and more.

and to be honest i'm not sure that 11.50pm on a school night is an ideal time to try and dig deep emotionally and try and do an important cause justice. and then i thought, fuck it.

let's face it, cancer will at some point affect either you or someone you know. it probably already has. depressing? sure. statistically accurate? very. the good people of macmillan, leading cancer care charity and organisers of the Big Mix, dedicate themselves to giving people living with cancer as comfortable a life as they can provide, whether it's through medical support, financial support or otherwise.

you'll find me this Saturday at Spitalfields market, 6.30pm.

b. x

xfm listen again, interviews and more..

2011-06-14T12:37:00.001-07:00

yikes, where did that week go?!

this time last week i was sat here telling you of the xfm session. well, it went well. a good chat about the recent tour, some cool texts in and live versions of 'Singalong' and 'Tell Avril..' can all be listened to right here on the xfm website until Thursday evening (16th). it's about an hour and a quarter into the show, and i'm pleased to report i survived.

in other news, the various interviews I did on the road seem to be seeing the light of day. you can see me looking particularly rough for Moon and Back Music by clicking here, or maybe listen to an interview with the lovely folk of Spark 107 FM and hook up with Audio Apocalypse. i'm sure there are others i've forgotten, but for now, that's your lot.

this weekend i'm playing the Big Mix over in Shoreditch, onstage around 7pm. it's a great value alldayer, and one i'm going to tell you about properly in just a couple of days..

after that, i'll be spending this Sunday NOT with my dad for father's day, because i didn't find out the date until a couple of days ago (this Sunday 19th in the UK, fact fans!), and instead i'll be recording a track for release later on in the summer, as well as working on a new EP/album/whatever my next record ends up being, and generally being a terrible son.

but how are YOU?

xfm live session, radio 2 and how we broke the internet

2011-06-07T12:24:00.000-07:00

hey all

a few things to get through this actually-pretty-okay Tuesday evening:

so we broke the internet

last night's album launch show for Frank Turner's fourth (and greatest) album England Keep My Bones was streamed over the internet, in theory, by the good people at Muzu TV. as it turns out though, high demand left streaming a little sketchy. thanks to those of you who made it through the constant rebuffering and helped me enjoy what was frankly one of the best gigs i've ever played ever, and sorry to those of you who just couldn't get it. for what it's worth, Frank's triumphant ninety-minute set is now available to watch again here - just search for Frank Turner Barfly or some equally simple search term and we'll all be fine. watch out for an extra-special 'District' in the closing stages too, featuring yours truly. having spent the majority of the past month with him, it's going to be a shame to not be seeing FT now until the end of the summer, but i'm sure he'll be okay without me.

xfm live session this thursday

this Thursday the good people of Xposure With John Kennedy have kindly agreed to have me in for a live session sometime between 10pm and 2am (though in reality, i hear it'll be between 11pm and 12.30ish). whilst i'd love to pretend it's because Outside There's A Curse has just gone platinum in French Polynesia, it's actually because i'm one of the lucky artists to be playing The Big Mix festival in Shoreditch on 18th June. i'll be joined by a few other acts as John Kennedy grills us as to who we are, who we're not and then we play some songs at him. believe. more on the Big Mix coming up soon.

steve lamacq is my Radio 2 bitch

Lammo recently commented that his is the only show on Radio 2 to ever play me, which rings frighteningly but hilariously true. on Saturday night, his guest persuaded him to give 'Singalong' a spin alongside other songs from the likes of Franz Nicolay, The Weakerthans and Tim Barry, and i'm sure none of you are surprised that his in-studio guest was, and I swear this is the last time his name will be mentioned in this post, Frank Turner. i'm eternally grateful, obviously, and you can still hear the show right here.

and a host of other things

amongst them, someone asks the question When Does Appreciating Ben Marwood's Music Turn Into Stalking?, i'm Artist of the Week over at Rock Reviews 24/7 and Mr Franz Nicolay and I sat down in Kingston and spoke to one of my favourite indie sites Blagsound for an interview which you can now read right here

there's a whole lot of other things to go through, too, but that's for another day. first: sleep. thanks for your support!

stay hungry (or eat)

b. x

with luck and courage

2011-06-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

"you seemed a bit depressed tonight", declares Mr Franz Nicolay immediately after my stage exit at Brixton's Windmill last night, and why not? the twin blades of THE END OF THE TOUR and YOU'RE GOING BACK TO WORK swing ominously, unseen above the stage.

it's a recognised fact that time is linear, and against my wishes the tour with Franz and Frank was going to end, eventually, given the failure of the rapture to materialise and freeze us all in time and space, and so it is over, but i'd like to reflect on a few points.

POINT 1: i exist in an industry famed for inflated egos and twattish behaviour. to hang out for three weeks with two living, breathing professionals capable of conversation and devoid of alpha male attitudes was both a pleasure and a privilege.

POINT 2: tourbuses are great for sleeping on

sure enough, immediately after my return, my sleep habits that have been absent for the entire tour return as soon as i walk in the door. the first night i collect up all my unsorted post from the past few weeks and, in my sleep, file them inside various books that are dotted around my room in a bid to keep the tour bus tidy.

the night after that i awake around 5am to find that i have dressed myself in my sleep and that all of my m&ms are absent and i feel decidedly full of sweets.

life, then, is already returned to normal. after saying goodbye to Frank on Monday night where at least one person in the road outside the Railway Inn heard us howling 'Tiny Dancer' to a mostly empty room before heading back with an entirely sober Ben Morse, on Wednesday night I bid farewell to an actually-pretty-drunk Franz and accept a ride home from Jacqui despite the fact that Reading is still nowhere near her home of Maidstone.

Speaking of Frank, Franz and Ben Morse, you can find a selection of videos taped backstage at the Railway Inn on the final night of the Frank Turner tour, pre-Brixton:

Felix & Adelita

Yeah Sapphire

District Sleeps Alone Tonight

Oh, another point

POINT 3: it was good to finally get out on tour with Frank and his crew. it's been such a long time coming and it was an appropriate-sized tour for a man such as I. he remains a fucking gentleman and someone i hope to a call a friend until one of us succumbs to gout aged 110.

it's sometimes easy to forget, spending five days a week most weeks behind a desk, that there's more to life than being paid on the 27th of the month and making sure your alarm is set each night before you go to bed, and this has been a pleasing reminder of why i brave the various nights per year playing a Wetherspoons in a town i don't live in to twenty to thirty people.

so thanks to anyone who came out to the shows, obtained free hugs from me, bought my record, or a seasonally-inappropriate beanie hat, sang along, didn't sing along, heckled incomprehensibly, took pictures, took the piss, took themselves home.

photos to follow. i'll see you soon.

b. x

although we've come.. to the ennnnd of the roooad..

2011-05-30T06:54:00.000-07:00

etc.

yes, here i am in winchester and here WE are on the last day of the FT/FN/BM tour of the UK-apart-from-wales-and-northern-ireland. it has been a blast, but more on that some other day, for i have a shock announcement to make.

yesterday, i had a good gig in Portsmouth.

now i know what you're thinking, that i must be lying or dreaming, but last night the Wedgewood Rooms played host to what, for me anyway, has been the gig of the tour so far, exactly the opposite of the last time i visited that place. they were generous, i was happy, these are good times.

tonight, we play Winchester before Frank heads off for rehearsals with the band and then some European shows, and myself and Franz have a day off before reconvening in Brixton on Wednesday night for some hot Windmill action. if you're lucky i will actually do the Windmill. Franz himself pulled it out of the bag last night where, despite fending off illness these past few days and the guitar not working for his set, he played a storming set. Frank, as ever, killed it dead. i joked on Twitter that i should pull the plug on his set to stop him ruling so hard, and i fear the humour was lost on some.

still, we laughed, we cried, one of us coughed, and we'll all live happily ever after.

thanks also go to the New Slang guys who put us on for two shows in one night at Kingston and who continue to do a fucking good job running Banquet Records, clearly the best independent record store the world has ever known. from there, Cambridge were also good hosts, as were the good people of Playfest in Norfolk. so there.

take care you lot

b. x

ben, bus and beyond

2011-05-26T07:25:00.000-07:00

hey warriors

due to lack of internet connection recently i've taken to writing this blog update on the trusty Notepad on my laptop, to be copied and pasted in at a later date whenever the cyberwebs exist again.

i'm currently on the bus to Kingston, where tonight we have two shows at the Hippodrome for New Slang and the good people of Banquet Records. i'm looking forward to tonight, as i'm eager to make amends for last night at Bath's Komedia where i felt i was a little subpar. It was one of those days where loads of tiny errors and disappointments throughout the day built up into one little turdheap, and the best way to get around this is to get back onstage as soon as possible and make some intense noise. it's going to be the musical equivalent of me punching my songs in the face.

not that Bath wasn't lovely. i regret the fact that i didn't get long to take in one of my favourite parts of the country, but these things happen - i had some press i wasn't expecting, it took ages to get a shower, blahblahblah. probably what i feel worse about was that my immediate family were all in attendance and all i could do is grumble and act like a bit of a dick post-show. oops?

but anyway, that aside the tour continues to be wonderful, and it's good to meet a steady flow of people every day. for a start, it's showing me that people aren't that bad after all, so perhaps i should revise my stance as a sociopath. alas, this time next week (thursday 2nd) is the date i will return to my normal working life, and i think i speak from the heart when i say i wish i could delay it indefinitely. but i can't. again, though, anyone near London on the 1st of june can help me commiserate by joining me and Mr Nicolay at Brixton's Windmill on 1st June. go on..

special mentions should also go to Mr Jim Lockey and Oxygen Thief, Kev Lawson of [edit] radio and associated friends of all three who came to the Gloucester and Bristol shows. truly good to catch up with people, and i'm looking forward to hearing new Lockey recordings before too long.

and that's me done. see you all soon

b. x

ben and franz at brixton's windmill - 1st june

2011-05-23T05:03:00.000-07:00

hi guys!

for those of you wondering what rock and roll antics i'm getting up to you, i'm currently next to some refuse bins in Gloucester with Jessop's black-markered on. i know, i know - try not to be too jealous.

anyway, just a quick update - i've been confirmed as support for Franz Nicolay's show at Brixton Windmill on 1st June. be there or be pi r squared

b. x

lemon cake vs. liverpool

2011-05-21T08:44:00.000-07:00

ciao!

how's it going, internet friends? i write to you on the final day off on the Frank Turner tour, back in the rolling hills of County Durham before departing for ten gigs over the next nine nights. people here are gearing up for a party tonight, so it'll be a good way to unwind. to some 80s music. waiting for the fucking Rapture.

only the rapture isn't going to happen (although someone sat opposite me has speculated that zombies might later tonight walk out of the sea, so in some ways it's almost a shame that we'll all be fine) and even if the reign of the antichrist does begin in an hour or so, these shows aren't being cancelled, beginning with Wolverhampton tomorrow and continuing in a southerly direction until we hit Winchester on bank holiday Monday (30th).

since i last spoke to you, i have successfully completed my first ever gigs in Manchester, Liverpool and Stoke, of which the first and last were highly pleasurable experiences made all the better by the lemon cake delivered to me by my cousin Ginny and her husband Gareth in Manchester. the Night & Day, like Stoke's Sugarmill, is a venue cemented into the toilet circuit, especially since Night & Day smells a lot like a toilet. both are on the shortlist for NME's best small venue, and both of which are worthy based on the shows we put on there. also, last night in Stoke, Franz joined myself and Francis on stage for 'District..' on what I hope will be a permanent fixture. special bonus points go to the girl who got herself thrown out of the venue for being a prick during Frank's set.

liverpool, meanwhile, was part of a sound city fiasco that i've never before experienced. a six-band bill and lack of showers coupled with no power for the bus made for a torrid time for most of (if not all of) the acts involved, but the crowd were still good to us. that's all i'm willing to say on the matter. future applicants of sound city be warned. still, i met some great members of the student/community radio and press leading up to the event, plus i'll be back at some point for a proper show, i promise, hopefully before the end of the year.

right now, i have to run. stay well.

b. x

never trust a man without a horror story

2011-05-17T09:46:00.000-07:00

hello, internet!

it's good that you're still around. these days you're mostly limited to being on my little blackberry where life is condensed into a limited battery life.

but, now i'm done getting up to date with the numerous facebook and twitter posts about upcoming tour dates and reactions to the ones so far, i thought i'd try and update people about what's been going down in the world of me.

since last time we spoke, the tour has rolled through Nottingham, Lancaster, Chester and, last night, Leeds. Sorry to anyone i've failed to catch up with in these places, but i did my best. Nottingham's Rescue Rooms was my earliest slot of the tour so far at just after 7, but the crowd were enthusiastic and appreciative and post-show there were many takers of the free hugs i had been offering at the merch table, including Mr Benjamin May, who chastised me for failing to mention him the last time I saw him and has successfully emotionally blackmailed his way onto this here post.

the show itself was so well received I had a small party afterwards with some friends involving shots of something foul dispensed from a teapot, which i washed down with something equally foul whose name i can no longer recall.

we wake up the next morning in Lancaster's market square outside the (real) Library which is tonight's venue. the market traders are not happy but i buy some toffee because that's the kind of sweet-toothed bastard I am, before some chavs offer the worst heckles of my life when we're unpacking the van in the form of "hey you, nice suitcases!".

but, after Lancaster's equivalents of Gillian Duffy have fucked off, we are left to a show in the Library, which is the smallest show of the tour so far and also the most beautiful with its high ceilings and church-like acoustics. i end with my cover of 'No Name #1' so we can play with the acoustics in the high notes, and me and Frank try 'District' together for the first time before we high-tail it quite quickly over to Chester to play in the warmest venue ever built, Telford's Warehouse.

Indeed, i'm quite hungover from watching Shooting Stars on the bus the night before with Frank and Franz, and I'd woke up still clutching the bottle of Jamesons in my clammy hands which is never, ever a good sign. sure enough, i refuse to ditch the suit jacket before I take to the stage and by 'Singalong' it is a task not to projectile vomit over the first two rows. i'm saved by the request of a man named Shaun, who'd earlier asked for 'Tell Avril Lavigne..' from the record. Under the protective wing of this slow, quiet finale I make it through Chester without disgracing myself, before smashing some chips into my face.

It was also good to see some of the Nottingham crowd out in force, and Laura who I'd met in Dundee a few nights previously also put in an appearance with added friends, and as we all headed back to her Travelodge for a Budweiser party in an effort for me to drink away my hangover (which worked), I am sad to be leaving Chester behind so soon.

But we had a Leeds to entertain, and I love Leeds for all its worth. I love it for the fact that there's always someone willing to party, that it's the easiest place in the world to find a Starbucks (ie. everywhere) and that tonight's venue is very, very much like the The Phoenix Club. The crowd are slightly subdued but still appreciative and I meet a lot of people post-show. As a footnote, Franz is continuing to get better with every night I see him..

And that brings us to today, and a day off for me. We've walked some dogs, I had a cup of tea and soon it'll be time for dinner. Sure, I miss my bed, 24/7 internet and creature comforts like you wouldn't believe and not having a permanent base every day drives me mental, but I wouldn't swap this experience for the entire world, and that's a fact.

Sorry world..

To manchester!

b. x

wait, i get days off?

2011-05-12T07:47:00.000-07:00

Good news: we didn't break Scotland.

You find me sat looking out at the rolling hills that surround the mansions and state grounds of the massive castle where the bus is enjoying a day off, and i'd say around 50% of that sentence is a lie. like the castle, for instance. and the mansion bit. and probably the grounds.

We are, however, on a day off - well, most of us, as Frank has flown to Brighton to be part of the Great Escape festivities on what is a punishing schedule - and much time is now being spent recharging phones, mp3 players and having a good cup of tea. i don't think i've had a day off as early as day 4 on a tour before, but i'm more than happy to take one today. some of us have headed into town, Franz has had to service his accordion and me and my guitar are having some time apart. We both like our personal space.

Instead i've been catching up on tweets and wallposts following the two Scotland shows - my first Scottish shows Ever - and the fallout from that. Dundee was a rowdy crowd and I didn't play my best, and was rightly given a lesson in how to give a performance by my tour cohorts, but last night in Dunfermline I feel I was back on form. New friends have been made, old ones reacquainted and plenty of deductions have been made:

True Scottish stereotypes are that it rains there. False Scottish stereotype is that they all dislike the English and they're tight with their cash. I can happily dispel those last two right now. Tell all your friends and whoever is responsible for monitoring sterotypes. For some reason i want it to be Guinness for their World Records, but with a tear in my eye I'm sad to announce a Google search for Guinness Book of Modern Day Stereotypes yields little joy.

Highlights of the tour so far include catching up with jet-setting Scottish personality Dave Hughes, who insisted we join him for a drink before weaving his way into the night clearly well ahead of us, and also reacquainting myself with Mr Kenny Leckie of up-and-comers Carnivores who are well worth checking out.

So, thank you Scotland. The general consensus is that I should return one day, and I'll be happy to.

Next stop: Nottingham.

dun dun dunnnnnn(dee)

2011-05-10T08:34:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, welcome to the tour blog that i'll maintain for a short period of time before forgetting about it and/or running out of things to say.

All is well on the Frank Turner/Franz Nicolay tour. We left London yesterday bound for Stockton and the beacon of hope for all humanity that is the ARC, a beautiful glass-fronted arts centre and the site for last night's all-conquering shows. The people of Stockton and neighbouring places are super-friendly and, in a couple of cases, mental, with general fervour at the merch table and a good reaction to my set, especially when it ended and I gave a rock-star-salute-exit only to find the door offstage was shut and I had to turn back to face the crowd in a manner which clearly said "holy christ, I cannot get off this stage".

Mr Nicolay is a Brooklyn gem, sharing stories of various times spent on the road in previous bands, watching 9/11 on a tiny black and white TV and such. I feel Turner can match him in terms of bizarre gigging stories but, alas, such a head-to-head competition hasn't yet come to fruition.

Post-show we stop off in Stockton's Tesco - which must be responsible for about 40% of all Stockton's missing persons cases such is its ginormitude - and then we're off to Dundee. And here we are in Dundee! The system works.

I blearily share a lunch with Scotland's own Dave Hughes where I try and order stuff from the breakfast menu and he conforms to all Scot stereotypes by drinking Irn Bru and then gives me a tour of Dundee's dual carriageways, whilst later on trying to find a shower me, Franz and tour manager Graham have to traverse the biggest non-mountainous hill in all of Scotland. THE END.

Next: to tonight's show. It's in Dundee.

Thanks!

Ben

the dirty thirty

2011-05-07T10:42:00.001-07:00

Ugh, my head.

Now that's out the way, today is my birthday, and you join me sat on my parents' sofa in the company of my brothers with half an eye on Doctor Who. They're giving Doctor Who a massive push over in the US currently for BBC America, with one column I read recently asking whether Doctor Who is the new Lost (a question which can only be answered with the phrases "no" and "don't be silly").

Anyway, thanks for all the birthday wishes. Several people have called it "dirty thirty", the temptation to rhyme clearly being too much for them to resist, whereas the amount of vodka consumed last night means hurty thirty would be far more appropriate.

This weekend will be now spent recovering and doing all the important pre-tour stuff; rehearsing, laundry, packing ready for the departure to Stockton on Monday. I'm a homebody through and through so I'm nervous to be stepping up to this challenge as the tour bus won't be anywhere near Reading for a good three weeks, but my trepidation is matched by my excitement. And my hangover.

This is due largely to an evening spent in the company of long-standing companion Kev of [edit] radio and Barry aka Oxygen Thief, which began with an intellectual debate on the merits of AV vs. FPTP and soon descended into death metal covers of TV commercial jingles.

For the record, I voted 'No' despite all the hip celebrities going the other way, but honestly, I really don't see how AV would have changed anything. The arguments of those opposed to me are that it would help the smaller parties and help break England out of the two-party system of FPTP, but I'm not convinced by the logic. And so we danced (for not long enough) and drank (for too long) and then watched some Hill Street Blues and other such late-night TV treats, if by 'treats' you actually mean 'shit'. Then I ate some chips.

So that's it. The next time I see some of you, it'll be on tour, and hopefully I'll see some of you there.

Take care

b. x

ben marwood is practically a sellout

2011-05-04T15:41:00.000-07:00

hello, good netpeople,

i hold in my hand the last ten copies of This Is Not What You Had Planned to ever be sent the shops. the well, she runneth dry finally, and no more are to be pressed. evidently it will still be available digitally forevermore, but in terms of buying CDs from the likes of Amazon, HMV et al, if you want to own one, best make your move now.

i see this as both a small victory, and a small shame at the same time. demand finally outstripping supply makes me feel like a popular sellout, but also the idea that people will want it on CD and not be able to get hold of it, especially as i'm about to head out on tour, is a shame.

to all who sailed in her..

b. x

centromatic for the people

2011-05-03T15:11:00.000-07:00

Hi all

At my jetlagged best, all I can currently offer you in terms of words of wisdom is a hearty "hnrggggggggh", but whilst I cross my fingers in silent prayer that tonight I might improve on last night's four hours of sleep to cap off the previous day's three and a half, along the way convincing my brain that Florida was (and is) warmer than this.. er.. I've lost my train of thought.

AH RIGHT. Centromatic. Everyone's (read: my) favourite blues-folk-country-rock drawlin' Texans have decided to give away twenty-four songs from their ridiculously huge back catalogue spanning a humungitude of albums. One of those words is made up.

Typically, demand for this was so high that the yousendit link is constantly expiring due to it breaking the bandwidth limits, perhaps no surprise at 206MB a pop. Still, this blog right here seems to have a working link, so have at it..

I'll be back when i've collected my thoughts in a manner more befitting someone who can not only read and write, but do them both at the same time..

b. x

Singalong is new to Q

2011-04-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

Hi all

Hello from Tampa, and halftime in the Real Madrid vs. Barca champions league match. I've retired from the beating, beating sun to watch some good ol' fashioned soccerball, and am thoroughly enjoying the downtime right now before the UK tour with Frank. So far during my stay i have seen no less than two insects featured on the Top 10 List Of Insects You Wouldn't Want To Be Stung By, which by my reckoning is a good holiday.

My girlfriend is currently sat on the bed not far away faux-dictating a blog entry in which I'm in love with the topless, sweaty and reasonably spare-tyred man we saw running around the park earlier where we were out walking. It's pretty distracting, and barely even the truth.

ANYWAY i digress. To celebrate my absence from the UK, new single 'Singalong' has been added to Q radio's New To Q playlist, and can now be heard at random on the very same station if you're a resident of the UK mainland.

Stay well!

b. x

May 2nd is national Singalong day

2011-04-17T16:01:00.000-07:00

Heyheyhey,

So we're midway through April and time is running down - just a few (three!) weeks now until I leave for the Frank Turner tour and to celebrate, Xtra Mile are giving 'Singalong' a push and releasing it as a single on May 2nd as a digital download. Obviously, it's out already as part of the album so if you're reading this and you have the album, well done you. The idea, though, is to bring me to a new set of ears, such as the lovely blogsite The Ruckus who ran a little piece on it here.

There have been some questions raised regarding my show at Cathedral Crypt in Liverpool, as it's not escaped some people's attention that I'm not officially listed as a support. I've been reliably informed that I am, and if that changes i'll let you know. I'll be there in any event. Maybe I should gig in the car park.

In other fantastic news, I notice I somehow broke the 3,000 listeners barrier on last.fm this week. Thanks to all who continue to recommend and promote what I do. Your musical taste is highly questionable, but your soul is sparkly. Believe. Seriously though, it took me five years to get the first 2,000, and the next 1,000 follows in three months. It's the power of the album..

Meanwhile, if you can't get out and catch me on the Turner tour, I fully recommend you instead go and see Oxygen Thief when he plays near you. His debut album Destroy It Yourself is out May 9th on my label, Broken Tail Records, and he will shortly be calling at the following sexy venues:

MAY

2nd BIRMINGHAM Adam & Eve
3rd OXFORD Café Tarifa
4th BRISTOL Mother's Ruin
5th BRIGHTON The Cobber's Thumb
6th KINGSTON Banquet Records instore, 6pm
8th CHELTENHAM Trees On Fire all dayer @ Frog & Fiddle
13th KINGSTON The Cricketer's
21st DUBLIN Tower Records instore, 3pm
27th BRISTOL Croft (w/Chris T-T)
28th DEVIZES The Lamb

JUNE
2nd KIDDERMINSTER The Swan
4th PLYMOUTH Jack Chams

That's it for now, but you'll be hearing some more from me shortly..

b. x

Spring: Sprung

2011-03-26T08:07:00.001-07:00

I know it's incredibly English, but isn't it nice to not be a frozen, shivering iceblock just for once? There were times in November, December and January (and I guess February) when I thought the only way I'd ever experience a temperature above fifteen degrees Celsius again was if I'd gotten on a damn plane.

For the past couple of weeks since my last blog I've mostly been working on the release of the Oxygen Thief debut album called Destroy It Yourself, which is out on the Broken Tail Records imprint on 9th May 2011 under licence, as ever, to Josaka. This is the last BTR release for the forseeable future; Jay and Paul recently departed leaving me at the helm, and with the sudden upturn in my fortunes regarding the album, the FT tour and future plans (as well as the life I have to lead) I simply can't devote the time I used to be able to.

That said, there's an outside chance of future BTR releases from the likes of Quiet Quiet Band but for now, this is it, and it's a fantastic way to sign off, ironically with the biggest release yet. It's the first long-player Broken Tail have ever been willing to put our (er.. now my) name to, and OT is the hardest working, most proactive musician we have ever encountered. I'll have more news on that soon.

In the meantime, I'm still considering tour merch and working on new material. After the Turner tour I have another recording session to book, and then a few weeks after is 2000 Trees and a hometown show in Reading.

You, meanwhile, can enjoy the temperature.

b. x

South Street reminder..

2011-03-11T15:18:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

Just a quick reminder, I'm playing South Street Arts Centre in Reading tomorrow (saturday 12th) as part of Josaka birthday, sandwiched between SixNationState and Mr Fogg on one side, and MidiMidis and Lights on the other. It's like old school vs new school with me as the referee. An old school one.

Come on down, doors are 7ish and I'm expected on shortly after 8.45pm with a 25 minute set, so it'll be a mad dash through The Hits. Though I do have new material, it's unlike to feature heavily, other than perhaps 'We Are No Longer Twenty-Five', which isn't in my good books this week. Me and Jamie (well, Jamie) put down the drum track for it last weekend at White House, and I left with six takes to choose from and I want bits of three. I've spent the last few days staring at a screen full of drum sounds and wondering how on earth I'm going to make it work.

But, I'm sure in the end it'll work, even if it does mean my next studio session will be the kind of hair-tearing stressfest normally reserved for exams.

Anyway, enough about that, I'll tell you more about it when it's relevant.

See you soon

b. x

with apologies to Brighton and Norwich

2011-03-05T07:43:00.000-08:00

hey all

i know i'm supposed to do my research before i declare my tour dates, but it turns out i don't always manage it. a combination of an advert in the NME and my own dear Mum advise me that I'm not with Frank Turner at Brighton's Great Escape Festival, nor am I at Playfest in Norwich. I believe I'm still playing Liverpool's Sound City That's what I get for taking my tour dates from Frank's gig page without checking.

Also, the rescheduled all-dayer Christmas party for This Is Not Revolution Rock at The Peel in Kingston on 2nd April has also been scuppered, and so is off again. No word as to when this will be rescheduled, but I'm playing twice at the Hippodrome (first for the under-18s and then the legally-adult) in May with Frank so come on down then instead.

The complete gig list is, then:

MARCH

12 READING Josaka Birthday @ 21 South Street

MAY (w/Frank & Franz)

09 STOCKTON ARC

10 DUNDEE Doghouse

11 DUNFERMLINE P J Molloy's

13 NOTTINGHAM Rescue Rooms SOLD OUT

14 LANCASTER Library SOLD OUT

15 CHESTER Telford's Warehouse SOLD OUT

16 LEEDS Brudenell SOLD OUT

18 MANCHESTER Night & Day Cafe SOLD OUT

19 LIVERPOOL Sound City - Cathedral Crypt

20 STOKE Sugarmill SOLD OUT

22 WOLVERHAMPTON Slade Rooms SOLD OUT

23 GLOUCESTER Guildhall SOLD OUT

24 BRISTOL St George's SOLD OUT

25 BATH Komedia

26 KINGSTON New Slang

27 CAMBRIDGE St Paul's Church SOLD OUT

29 PORTSMOUTH Wedgewood Rooms SOLD OUT

30 WINCHESTER Railway Inn SOLD OUT

JULY

15 CHELTENHAM 2000 Trees Festival

Finally, the last of the reviews have trickled in for Outside There's A Curse (but more on that later), including a great review from Rocksound which this month includes a couple of free CDs and a picture of Dave Grohl on just about every page. A snip at £3.99, and a mighty happy Ben

See you soon

b. x

This May: Frank Tourner

2011-02-26T10:06:00.001-08:00

Ahaha. Puns.

Hello from my parents' dining room, where I'm enjoying the rare occasion of a Saturday with little to do. The previous two I spent in Tampa, the one before that I took my Dad to White Hart Lane for a belated Christmas treat, the three before that were spent on tour, the two prior to that involved house guests, the one before that was Christmas Day, and I could go on forever and ever and ever..

Still, at least I'll never say I've not lived life to the full, though at the minute I'm having some down time. The only plans I have coming up involve a trip back to Florida in April, the rescheduled Kingston gig on April 2nd, the Josaka birthday party in Reading on 12th March and the small matter of the first of the recording sessions for the second album next Sunday. I heard from (long-time engineer) Matt Bew the other day, and he seems generally excited. It's always good news when the man behind the desk is enthused.

Oh yes, and then there's the small matter of my 30th birthday in May and, finally, after all these years, me and Frank Turner are hitting the road as part of his An Audience With.. tour spanning 21 days and taking in some intimate venues in the run-up to his just-announced fourth studio album England Keep My Bones. Not only that, but main support is provided by Franz Nicolay, ex of the Hold Steady, and currently of Franz Nicolay. I believe I'm opening all of these shows, and here they are:

MAY

09 STOCKTON ARC

10 DUNDEE Doghouse

11 DUNFERMLINE P J Molloy's

12 BRIGHTON Great Escape Festival

13 NOTTINGHAM Rescue Rooms

14 LANCASTER Library

15 CHESTER Telford's Warehouse

16 LEEDS Brudenell

18 MANCHESTER Night & Day Cafe

19 LIVERPOOL Sound City - Cathedral Crypt

20 STOKE Sugarmill

22 WOLVERHAMPTON Slade Rooms

23 GLOUCESTER Guildhall

24 BRISTOL St George's

25 BATH Komedia

26 KINGSTON New Slang

27 CAMBRIDGE St Paul's Church

28 NORWICH Playfest

29 PORTSMOUTH Wedgewood Rooms

30 WINCHESTER Railway Inn

Tickets go onsale on Monday morning, 28th February, 9am. Get them while they're hot!

Proud,

b. x

tour diary: the final chapter

2011-02-06T16:14:00.000-08:00

It occurs to me, around 6pm on the evening of the 28th of January, that I might have been a bit ambitious regarding the tour scheduling.

I mean, sure, to the outside world it might look like my eleven-plus-one date tour taking place over fifteen days is leisurely, even slack, but the days where there weren't gigs were spent at work at my desk doing stuff. Plus, some of the days where I did have gigs were also spent at work too. In all, from the opening date on the 17th to the last note in Kingston on the 31st is one big blur.

But if I had to have a favourite leg of the tour, this is it, and the reasoning is simple. A sell-out hometown show (though "there's room for at least twenty more at the bar" was apparently uttered by Sid, and if anyone from Health & Safety is listening in, I'm sure it was in jest), a farewell to Addistock in Birmingham the next night, a headline London show that wasn't unattended, and a release-day instore launch at Banquet in Kingston.

And since the weekend was a blur, so will this blog be. Reading was the best possible start, outstripping Bristol (sorry Bristol) for the title of most rambunctious crowd. The Rising Sun was a hive of bodies, so great in number that even as main support Quiet Quiet Band graced the stage, there just wasn't enough room in the venue for those who wanted to watch, a sad fact which eventually led to me restructuring the stage for my own set, and one in which I successfully remembered all the words to 'No Name #1' after my Bristol embarrassment.

Having directed Barry to embroider all the scarves in the world with my name on for this hometown show, the gig passes with me forgetting to ever mention the merch, but aside from that things go swimmingly. Barry fits in so many Nick Clegg jokes into his set that I make a mental note to never make any again lest we all sound like one-track records or painful anti-establishment clichés, which is a shame as I still had about four held in reserve.

Still, good times - nay, great times - are had by most and the afterparty takes us to the After Dark, one of Reading's best kept secrets and my favourite haunt both due to the friendly staff, lack of trouble and proximity to my house, where Barry unleashes some powerful dance moves that earmark him as the next Louie Spence and no mistake.

This joy is not recaptured the next night in Birmingham, as we all bid farewell to the Addistock series of charity shows with a tear in our eye and too much beer in certain people's stomachs. Originally intended to be a one-off gig in aid of Macmillan nurses, it accidentally turned into a regular occurrence which these days is too much of a job to maintain for the one-man show that is Mr James Addis. I'm sure I speak for everyone involved when I say thanks to him for the memories, including the famous Addistock house party on the Lockey/Thief/Marwood tour back in the summer of 09 when I ended up clothed in an empty bath and Barry ended up playing 'Hey Ya' under the stairs. Youtube will not let us forget, no matter how much we want to.

Highlight of the night was.. leaving the city centre. I know it sounds harsh, but there were two FA cup matches in the city that day, plus auditions for Britain's Got Talent the next street over. When we turn up to the pub venue at 6pm the front doors are bolted. Enough said.

To be honest, though, there was more trouble in London than there was in Birmingham, as I accidentally try to run over curfew and attract the attention of the manager and his desire to protect his licence. It's a good day in all, and is attended by enough people to make the place not seem deserted (which, on a Sunday in London, is a pretty decent effort), including Jim Bowes of Josaka and lovely wife Ruth, plus James Ewers of My Luminaries. After the light parties of the previous two nights, my throat has an irritating scratch about it, and with a staggering five acts on the bill we soon run late. I decide to limit damage to my voice by only committing to half an hour from 10 to 10.30, but I run a minute or so late on my own set, so as the soundgirl gives the universal fingersignal for one more song, a bristling figure appears behind the bar to contest and we end up having some discussion/argument over the top of the crowd before some applause ripples out and that is, sadly, the end.

It turns out that it's also the end of my voice, which is a bit of a shame with one date to go, and I head to work on Monday morning - release day, no less - feeling like I've swallowed a claw. Thankfully, the good people at the pharmacy that neighbours my workplace have a secret supply of Vocalzone, and we're back in business for one more night.

And what an end it is. For those nearby Kingston who have never been to a Banquet Records instore: go. Apart from having the most indie-credible staff this side of New York, the actual service this bunch offer to the music scene is something to be marvelled at, with both a record shop, clubnight/venue and a successful webstore at their disposal, they truly know what they're doing and have a faithful following. Kingston itself is like the bright lights of London condensed down into a town that apparently used to house ten record stores including all the chains, with Banquet being one of the few left alive (and locally attributed to killing off the HMV Group).

But joking aside, their finger is on the pulse. Order a record from HMV or Amazon and you eventually get it with a packing slip and a receipt. Order one from Banquet and you get a handwritten note/love letter and sometimes further recommendations of other stuff you'll like. You don't get service like that with Amazon, but hey, everyone loves The Page You Made, right? The instore itself is fun. My throat holds out fine, we roll through just six numbers, and they even let me play 'District' without anyone cutting me off due to a curfew.

And then, it's over. A two year journey finished with the pluck of a note, and we're done. The album's out, many are signed, and then it's time to go home courtesy of a very welcome lift from Mr Richard Sanderson.

Thanks UK.

b. x

tour diary pts 2 & 3 (er.. part 1!)

2011-02-03T13:27:00.000-08:00

Actual fact: my tour finished six whole days ago now, and this is the first time I've been able to bring myself to actually write about it.

Not that it went badly - no, far from it - but the instore at Banquet Records on Monday to mark the final release of 'Outside There's A Curse' brought with it not only massive relief for the end of a two year journey, but also a spate of Catching Up With Stuff, and also a hugely unwelcome bout of post-tour death. Which isn't real death, it's just a bit like a cold whose roots lie in exhaustion and/or just having a cold. There are many names for this; post-tour death, post-tour ills, tour aids..

Anyway, it's Sunday afternoon on the 6th of February, and I've finally recovered enough from my tour-berculosis to complete parts 2 & 3 of the tour diary. But I have shit to do today, so let's just handle Bristol to Swindon - a journey which would normally take about an hour tops, but in our case is going to span five days.

Could I just point out, right now, in front of everyone:

a) I'm not depressed.

b) Or in a bad mood.

I thought I'd put that disclaimer in there, because one of the first things that happens when we arrive at the Bristol venue is Mr I Bum The West Country, Gaz Brookfield, checks I'm alright due to the apparent downhearted nature of part 1 of the tour diary. I reassure him I'm fine, and make a note to put a disclaimer in there.

AND I HAVE.

But really, if your favourite comedians were Stewart Lee, David Mitchell and Charlie Brooker, how about you try writing a happy piece of prose. It's harder than it looks, I tell you, especially when you're not trying at all and you think sarcasm is for winners.

AND I DO.

Anyway, The Louisiana (not to be confused with the city of Bristol in Louisiana in America, geographans) is a top upstairs-room-in-a-pub-type venue and exactly the kind of thing that should be encouraged everywhere. Hand on my heart, I've never much liked going to Bristol, based largely on how I've never had a good gig there, nor have I seen anything other than a lot of grey stuff and some over-fifties belly dancing in the street. Tonight though, we take a walk past famous boat-slash-venue the Thekla and everything seems.. nice. Of course, my overall opinion of Bristol is now governed by the fantastic show itself - a packed venue pindrop silent for 'District' and rowdy as can be for 'Singalong', just the way this should be.

My crowning achievement of the night is, responding to encore suggestions, I decide to tackle Elliott Smith's 'No Name #1' despite knowing full well that it was nowhere on the List Of Songs I Still Know that I made pre-tour, which is why I fuck it up and have to stop. Twice. But it's no matter tonight. I meet Big Jeff, hero of the Bristol music scene for his incredible enthusiasm and continuous support for live music, catch up with Hayley & Huw Willmott-Taylor, champion drinker Sarah Dacombe and pals and see Jodie Haynes, who recently decided to stop office life and go to work on a Portuguese farm. True to form, as you read this, that's where she's gone to. Champion.

The night must end though, and we're all but chased from the venue by the landlady who thinks we might have stolen her 'half-ashtray', despite a) none of us having seen it and b) none of us smoking any half-cigarettes, and whilst Kev and Barry head back to Dolan Towers, I hitch a rock and roll lift home with my Dad in order to go to work the next day, where I'm sure I was next to useless.

The next day heralds a new dawn for Barry, as me and Kev take him to his first Nandos, where we warn him off the Extra Hot piri piri shit and he subsequently embarrasses us by practically drinking it. Nice. Today is Oxford, the most beautiful place I have seen in this fair isle for its history and culture. Again though, a genuinely good show in Oxford has always eluded me, and I'm not expecting tonight to be any different, given that we're playing in a café, cafés being famous venues for talking.

It's no ordinary café though, this is a G&D's Ice Cream Café, with no need for alcohol and an abundance of tea. It's soon clear this is my kind of place. A small crowd but a good one, it's nice to catch up with some familiar faces, including one Hannah Dart who I haven't seen in years and clearly don't see enough even though Oxford is about twenty minutes from Reading on a train. Post-show, Barry runs off to the pub whilst me and Kev catch up with Glorious Jess, who again I haven't seen in far too long. It begs the question, what have I done for all these months? Ah yeah. Everything else.

No trip to Oxford is complete without a late night mission to Hi-Los, a Jamaican bar down the Cowley Road famed for its strict door policy (if they don't like the look of you, you don't stay in) and exclusive membership (if you're an idiot, you don't stay in). It's good to actually get out and relax and chat, and Jan at Hi-Los is soon outlining her music-based plans for this year's Carnival. I don't think we have a Carnival in Reading. Perhaps if we tried one, someone would set it on fire.

We stay with Jack at Alcopop! Records, a thoroughly excellent little indie, but due to him having to get to work early the next day we're out on the street by 7.30 and, after a reconciliatory cup of tea and wake up in front of some breakfast TV, we're on the road to York, feeling a bit grim and only slightly better after a Little Chef breakfast (which in hindsight, isn't really a surprise). Barry remains a driving champion with a tour crash rate of 0%, I do a phone interview with Liz at Reading's The Chronicle from a service station - truly classy - and before long we're in York for the peak of the tour's accommodation luxury, the Travelodge.

Sheesh, how good it feels to have a real shower. If only Travelodge remembered to put heating in these rooms instead of just air conditioning. It's already bloody freezing outside.

Still, it's good to have a good night's sleep, and the show isn't bad either at the Basement Bar underneath the Picturehouse. It's the first venue on the tour to have the classic curt soundman and I'm told off for apparently not knowing how to use a mic stand and how I'll "lose all benefit of having it on the tripod". He's probably right because i dont know the benefit of having it on a tripod, I always just assumed it's a way of getting a single metal pole to stand upright on the floor. Anyway, no-one's hurt and it doesn't come anywhere near the time the idiot in a semi-famous (and small) London venue lectured me for not having a feedback buster in my acoustic guitar despite there being a) no feedback to be heard and b) it being a 150-capacity venue, max. Prick.

Er, anyway.. York. We hang out, watch spectacularly drunken headliners Don't Let Paris Fool You and then retire for private drinks in our rooms with all the hookers. Somewhere along the line I've forgotten that we went out to eat in a lovely pub where they forgot to put any steak in Barry's steak and ale pie and I ate the best bangers and mash of the tour, the whole York experience rounded off nicely the next morning with In The Night Garden, truly the most mesmerising kids TV show since maybe ever.

Friday was supposed to be some kind of day off, perhaps a chance to relax and take in another day of York's sheer beauty (seriously, go), but instead Slavedriver Barry has booked us in a house show with local Nottingham songwriting legend Gerry Trimble and family, where in front of a packed room of about five or six we're their dining room audience's entertainment for the evening. Or are they ours? Gerry grabs a guitar and takes over for 'Singalong' so I don't actually have to do anything, and we all hang out until the early hours of the morning. Thanks to Gerry and the family for having us, and it turns out that on this originally mooted day of rest, we end up with about five hours sleep before having to hit the road again.

Actually, this trip is only brief, just across the city of Nottingham (where I've still never been killed) to catch up with the only person I've really kept in touch with from college, Laura Hickman, and associated boyfriend Matt, for what turns out to be one of the strangest days ever. It starts off pretty standard - a pub lunch and catch-up, the relief of a shower - before gradually descending into madness as tour psychosis sets in.

An actual scientific fact that I made up on tour, Tour Psychosis is the combination of long hours travelling, not many hours sleeping and having little to no routine that renders every innocent movement some colossal conspiracy. Despite any evidence to the contrary, in the few days since I've been away from home, everyone's forgotten me. I take to the stage in Farnsfield in some state of delirium.

The Farnsfield show is where I first properly meet the promoter Mike, clearly an avid music fan and responsible for running the box office for Fairport's Cropredy Convention. He saw me at the Frank Turner show in Derby back in August and booked me shortly afterwards, Farnsfield itself being a tiny village just outside of Nottingham, the kind of night where the village comes out to enjoy some traditional folk music and, tonight, some whining emo shit courtesy of me. It's the kind of night that Barry's set definitely isn't designed for, but Mike graciously lets him play. Main support tonight comes from Inlay, a bunch of twenty-somethings at uni up in Norwich who charm with their trad-folk.

I, meanwhile, play a longer-than-normal set under bright lights which means I can't really see the room. It doesn't help my mental state all that much, but neither does the encore where Inlay join me onstage and, under the direction of Barry, we attempt a spontaneous version of 'Singalong' which I can comfortably say is the worst it's ever sounded (which, in hindsight, it was always going to), we end with a jam (much better) and head on our way where we all collapse in front of Withnail & I. Laura and Matt are fairly drunk by now, we enjoy some Cava which is £4 from the Co-op and talk shit, until we find something on MTV that involves people being kicked in the balls and I head to bed.

And then, the drive to Swindon, to meet Barry's mum and stepdad. Oh, and play a gig. It being the last Sunday before payday in the longest month of the year (given that most people are paid before Christmas), we're not expecting a massive turnout, and nor do we get one. After satnav failure, I manage to direct Barry to the magic roundabout on the way into Swindon, a big 'master' roundabout orbited by five little ones. It truly is a fantastically bad design, but I always marvel at its defiance of tradition. Apparently elsewhere in the country, there's a version of this with more outer roundabouts, so I'll track it down like the white whale.

We go for food courtesy of Mrs Barry, an Italian restaurant with an interesting movement-activated lighting system in the toilet. I don't want to put too fine a point on it, but it might be a good idea if they increased the amount of time between movement and the lights turning off. Just sayin'.

And so we end this leg of the tour, something of a damp fizzle amongst the proud sparklers but a good show nonetheless. The crowd are tough to awaken from their sunday slumber but they're up for it in the end, and I journey home towards Reading comfortable in the knowledge that the next show, Reading on the 28th, would most likely to be one to remember.

I wasn't wrong.

a tour diary (pt 1)

2011-01-17T13:22:00.000-08:00

Is it really a tour if, here, today, on day three, I'm in my house and I've been to work all day?

No, it's not. Exactly. After Leeds and Cheltenham started us off nicely, today really was the bluest day of the year as the papers predicted. Train chaos, little sleep, work. I spend all day at my desk preparing myself for something terrible to happen on this poorest of all Mondays, but the worst that happens is I stray to the cash point and have my drinking plans for the next ten days torn from under me. I text Oxygen Thief to tell him it'll be beans for the rest of the tour. He texts back to say in no way will I be eating just beans due to their legendary, gaseous properties.

I text him to tell him real life is, and I quote, "gash".

I fight for most of the day to prevent myself from smashing my head through my own monitor to inexplicably crunch on some diodes that I imagine are inside. It's not that I'm unhappy with what I'm doing, but post-tour (or in this case, mid-tour) I often have to fight the daily urge to throw myself through a window and run off to live feral somewhere where responsibility and annual leave cannot find me.

Yes. Essex.

It's not always been like this. Before today, for example, it was Saturday and Sunday, the former a bazillion-hour trip North - yes, even North of London - to the North Yorkshires for Suzie's birthday and an evening of poetry and music in a pub whose original inhabitants are no indicator of the night ahead. The pre-club crowd. You know the type. But not the bookish students quaffing dirty cider, but the brand-wearing, preened, all-upper body and eyes. Despite this seeming to be a fairly old-man pub by origin, tonight they're listening to some kind of crazy rave as they watch the sport on the LCD TV and the girls barely move lest the one piece of material across the shoulder holding their dress up might no longer function correctly and give the guys on their way to the country's most run-down toilet something to think about. Truly, we are on the toilet circuit tonight.

But later we're back, and they're nowhere to be seen, the landlady now playing the fruit machine with little company save for the student types in the other bar, a few loiterers here and there and some metal where there previously was dance.

This, it seems, is more my kind of place.

The show is good, the poetry brief but fast-paced. I'm always all too conscious of playing what are essentially birthday parties but the guests are polite. I meet up with Barlow and Frank/Ian of Moon and Back Music for an interview using a video camera in place of a dictaphone. I assume control and point it at the floor and occasionally at the interviewers. This is not quite the way it's supposed to go. We chat about Reuben, my failure as a music journalist, how Frank/Ian once got so drunk he got lost in a forest and, once lost, realised he had more beer in his bag so drank his way back to civilisation. They ask me a question about Frank Turner and I don't thank him enough but then I never fucking do. I pretend Xtra Mile want to break my legs if the album doesn't do well in the hope that they can tell I'm joking.

Then, the after-show. A whirling carousel of dancing and cocaine and prostitutes and the next morning, a crushing sense of disappointment that we forgot to arrange any of the above and instead went to a nice man named Peter's house, drank tea and made sure not to get anything on his pristine cream sofas. Suzie has a migraine but we somehow stay out til 3ish. Me and Barry curl up on the sofas where Barry seems to do okay but i can't sleep. I can never sleep currently.

In the morning, half-stupid from the tired and an almost-hot shower, somebody stumbles across a book, The Mystery Method, a guide to picking up girls in scientific detail with flow charts and acronyms and game plans. It is incredible, hilarious, alarming and sad all at the same time, because it's either the driest piece of comedy ever written or it's.. whisper it.. serious. I do my best to take it in cover to cover. One of us checks the Venusian Arts forum (for indeed, the disciples of the Mystery Method are Venusian Artists, and not just wankers) and regales us with field reports from forum users including one young foreign man who appears to have no experience with women, and so when presented with a scenario not present in the book (ie. a girl in a club taking him to the bathroom and letting him watch her pee), can only freeze up.

There are reasons why this book should never fall into the hands of anyone stupid enough to believe it.

Alas, it's time to go home. Ish. First: Cheltenham, and a catch-up with Mr Jim Lockey, he of the Exclamation at Asterisk Hash EP and these days a married man. We arrange for him to headline the show before he arrives to stop us, and we flip a coin for who goes on first. It's me.

I'm actually fine with this as it's what I wanted. I'm so tired I swear I could sleep anywhere, which is funny to me because I'm well aware that I can't do that. We go out for dinner with Tom George of local record store RISE and him and Lockey play off each other in a surprisingly married fashion. I realise I wasn't present at Jim's wedding and just assumed he's married Daisy and not Tom. It's all a bit surreal, so I pull on a thread on my new striped, practically-made-for-me woollen scarf that my girlfriend got me for Christmas, only for it to pull open into a gaping hole. Kev consoles me with news on how his girlfriend can sew it up, whereas I moan sullenly and feel like I shouldn't ever get it repaired, merely wear it around my neck like so for all to see, a reminder of how I might have a new album out soon but I am, ultimately, still a penis.

Show-time arrives, and so do people much to my delight. The promoters here are savvy and friendly, and Slak itself is an incredible independent bar, the like of which Reading just doesn't have. Good decor, nice lighting, little stage, 100 capacity or so. I take to the stage first and, being tired, concentrate not on what I say nor what I play and it all falls into place like I'm some stand-up pro channelling the spirit of Stewart Lee. No-one buys any merch but the door takings are good. Jim Lockey hates his performance but he sounded fantastic, Oxygen Thief also in fine stomping mood.

With such a warm, friendly crowd, it makes you wonder why a few hours earlier, when we rolled into Cheltenham with the windows wound down low and the volume up high, pumping out the soundtrack from The Karate Kid that not one passer-by raises a smile.

Post-show, it is time for Barry to do what he does best: put his life on the line so that I can make it to work the next morning. We reach Reading about 1am, and he then heads in the other direction back to Bristol where he must also work. He offered to do this. The man's a nutcase. He admits to having to stop for a nap in a service station in order to stop himself from dying on the way back and I feel pretty bad that one day I'm going to flip out and kill him in order to increase his album sales.

So that brings us up to date. Tomorrow: Bristol.

As a side note, I found out today that my favourite TV show, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, isn't just off-air over the festive period, but instead the TV channel More4 have opted to not renew the licence and just buy the weekly round-up, The Global Edition from now on, to be screened late at night. Don't worry, they offer us, Channel 4 have a new satirical TV show called 10 O'Clock Live starting this week, we can watch that instead. It's got Jimmy Carr in it.

I am not long for this country.

tour, instore, pre-or..der

2011-01-12T16:43:00.000-08:00

HI 2011

So it turns out that 2010 was the best year in the history of the world, beating other years like The Year The Internet Was Invented and suchandsuch. Highlights can all be seen on Charlie Brooker's 2010-Wipe or whatever that programme was called where he told us all how great/shit the year was.

But despite my constant pleas, letters to his house and threats to his loved ones, Charles failed to mention that 2010 was not just the year students rioted, Ann Widdecombe descended from the sky on a wire and turd-disguised-as-genius Avatar smashed records at the box office for both ticket sales and most ridiculous name for a hard-to-find-mineral (Unobtainium? Unintelligum), it was also the year I finished my album and somehow convinced Xtra Mile it would be a good idea to release it with a little help from my friends. And a really big knife.

To the important part: Outside There's A Curse is out on January 31st via Xtra Mile Recordings, it has a page on Amazon you can sign up to here and they'll tell you when it's becoming available (surely, people, this is The Future we live in), or..

PRE-ORDER THE ALBUM NOW ON BANQUET RECORDS

I like Banquet, and you should too.

Just FYI, the tracklist is wrong on that webpage due to my uhtardedly long songtitles, and should be thusly:

1. I Will Breathe You In

2. Singalong

3. Toil

4. A Shower of Bastards

5. They Will Float Your Body Out To Sea

6. It's Harder Now To Break Your Stupid Heart

7. Oh My Days

8. JJ Abrams

9. Tell Avril Lavigne I Never Wanted To Be Her Stupid Boyfriend Anyway

10. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight

Go crazy!

To celebrate the album launch, I shall be playing an instore at the very same Banquet Records in Kingston at 6pm on the 31st, which you can find out more about by clicking any of the links in this paragraph as they all point to the same damn page.

Basically it's ticket-only, but tickets are free from Banquet Records, and you can request them when you pre-order the album in the comments box, or you can pick them up by requesting them in store in person. I guess you could also call them up.

JANUARY TOUR!

Sat 15th - Leeds Cardigan Arms

Sun 16th - Cheltenham Slak

Tues 18th - Bristol Louisiana

Weds 19th - Oxford G&D's Cowley Road

Thurs 20th - York City Screen Basement Bar

Sat 22nd - Farnsfield Acoustic (Village Centre)

Sun 23rd - Swindon The Vic

Fri 28th - Reading Rising Sun Arts Centre

Sat 29th - Birmingham Brighthouse

Sun 30th - London Wilmington Arms

------------

Mon 31st - Kingston Banquet Records (6pm start)

Much love

Kingston tonight: postponed

2010-12-18T04:57:00.000-08:00

I know I have recently craved some time off to actually get some sleep, but I didn't tell the weather it was okay to ruin my gig schedule.

Due to the sudden (if expected) snow showers experienced pretty much countrywide overnight, the decision was made early this morning to pull tonight's christmas show with Tubelord, Hold Your Horses et al due to the bad weather in central London.

The decision was made by the promoter earlier today, though for my money it's the right decision due to the travel time involved for some of the band and the treacherous conditions all round. Of course it does mean that my final show of 2010 turned out to be the sadly horrific gig last weekend in Devizes. To banish the end-of-year bad vibes, I'll be recording a 2010 Year In Review podcast for [edit] radio, one of five to be broadcast in the last week of this year (monday 27th - friday 31st), which will include a look back at all the great music that came out this year, and that we expect to be good in 2011. You know, standard fare.

In the meantime, those of you in the UK should stay warm and stay safe (and pray, as I do, that your christmas orders from Amazon actually arrive in time), whilst the rest of the world sits and laughs.

b. x

(ps. I'm sat watching Pixie Lott run down 'her' top 50 christmas songs on TV. someone buy that girl some charisma..)

UK tour: dates confirmed!

2010-12-16T14:47:00.000-08:00

Part of me can't believe it's nearly Christmas, but I'm assured it is. This means two things:

1. the album is out in roughly a month

and

b. it's time i left my house and did a UK tour.

Once again me and my favourite Bristolian, Oxygen Thief, are hitting the road with ten dates across two weeks. I'm led to believe a brand of thanks known as 'Mad Props' should be assigned to OT for booking most of these shows, and I'm pleased to announced the album launch is at the Rising Sun Arts Centre in Reading on Friday, January 28th.

Also on the tour, returns to York, Leeds, Swindon and Cheltenham, a special sit-down show in the tiny village of Farnsfield, my first gig in Oxford in what seems like forever, and the last Addistock for the forseeable future in Birmingham. Exciting times.

Outside There's A Curse UK Tour

all dates with Oxygen Thief

(except *)

JANUARY

15 Leeds Cardigan Arms

16 Cheltenham Slak (w/Jim Lockey)

18 Bristol Louisiana (w/Gaz Brookfield)

19 Oxford G&D's Ice Cream Cafe

20 York City Screen Basement Bar

22 Farnsfield (nr Notts) Farnsfield Acoustic*

23 Swindon The Vic

28 Reading Rising Sun Arts Centre (w/Quiet Quiet Band)

29 Birmingham The Bright House (w/Quiet Quiet Band & more TBC!)

30 London The Wilmington Arms (w/mistakes.in.animation & James Ewers)

Tickets are available for Reading via WeGotTickets, and the London one will also be up shortly. Tickets for the Swindon show are available from The Vic website, and we're currently hunting around for shows around the Notts area on the 21st.

See you on tour.

b. x

photoshop handsome

2010-12-11T06:53:00.001-08:00

Eugh.

You join me today post-Christmas party, pre-tonight's Devizes show. I have to get on a train in less than two hours but I just would quite like to sleep off the whiskey, wine and vodka headache. I refuse to call it a hangover because I can stand.

Indeed already today I sat down with Mr Ben Morse for some press shots. It's the first time I've ever let anyone do a proper photoshoot, and he was full of helpful feedback:

You look angry. Don't.

That's fine but try to look less like you've smelled a fart

That's good but it's still got your face in it

and so on.

Ben Morse is a hero, and one of the lucky few who managed to traverse his twenties without losing vision or being held hostage by other halves.

To Ben.

And so to tonight, where I'll be playing at boisterous front bar at The Lamb in Devizes. I'm assured it will work, but it does rule out the quiet stuff. I've been advised to be 'chunky' so i've eaten nothing but saturated fats for a month. See you there.

pitter patter twitter twatter

2010-12-07T13:42:00.001-08:00

i've finally done it. i've finally bitten the bullet and joined Twitter. come follow me at benmarwoodmusic.

album and tour news next week!

'Outside There's A Curse' out on Xtra Mile this January

2010-11-27T10:38:00.001-08:00

Hi all,

Cut to the chase. It gives me great pleasure to announce that my debut album 'Outside There's A Curse' will be released this January via Xtra Mile Recordings, home to friends and peers Chris T-T, Frank Turner, Dive Dive and others.

The reaction to this news (which arrived at the same time as Midi Midi's BMG publishing deal) has been so overwhelmingly positive, I'm genuinely touched. At the same time, I'm scared, excited, honoured and apprehensive in equal measure. Understand, Xtra Mile are a label who know what they're doing, with a wealth of experience and fantastic drive.. trying to market my album recorded largely on my bedroom floor full of pop culture references and particularly shoddy production values.

Not that I don't think OTAC is a bad album - far from it, it's turned out better than I could have ever anticipated, and I'd happily go to war for eight of its ten offerings (and the other two are bound to be the popular ones, right?) - but if you'd have told me before I started recording that it would be picked up by XMR, I might have taken a different approach. Still, if they're willing to take the risk it just goes to show how much faith some people have in me, and by that I'm talking not just about Xtra Mile, but also Frank Turner and Evan & Dani Cotter who more than had a hand in getting this together. I'm not saying there was any chinese water torture, but there must have been at least a nipple gripple involved.

The album will mix old stuff ('Oh My Days' and 'The District Sleeps Alone Tonight' cover) with newer stuff (those of you attending shows recently might have heard 'Toil' and 'Tell Avril Lavigne I Never Wanted To Be Her Stupid Boyfriend Anyway') and some stuff which is neither old nor new ('JJ Abrams'; 'Singalong'), and I'm aided along the way by everyone's favourite pedalsteel-er-ist Kurt Hamilton, Richard Goodspeed on piano and introducing Reading's (nay, the world's) premier drummer James Mead Esq and a collection of others (Adrian Pearson and Chris Sartin of Dolly & The Clothespegs, Tom Crook of Band of Hope). It's the most ambitious project to date, I almost had some kind of crazy breakdown making it, and there have been times where I've thought if I ever see or hear this album again for as long as I live, that still would not be long enough, but hearing it for the first time when it was mixed made up for it.

But really.. Xtra Mile? I still don't quite believe it. When I think of how many superb records I've owned with that logo on (the first being Reuben's 'Racecar Is Racecar Backwards', the most recent Chris T-T's incredible 'Love Is Not Rescue'), that mine can be counted amongst them is just bonkers.

There are too many thanks to be handed out, so I'll save it for the CD sleeve.

Pre-order links, tracklist, tour dates and artwork nonsense to follow.

b. x

the flowerpot men need new homes

2010-10-21T09:08:00.001-07:00

hi all

has it really been a month since i last got my shit together to write to you all? thats just crazy. i guess in times like these you can say things like "no news is good news" but actually no news is.. well.. no news. the album as far as i can tell is still due for late December 2010/early January 2011, I have about six songs written for a follow-up something (i haven't decided what yet, and frankly the album isn't even out yet so i don't need to, thankyouverymuch) and i'm currently booking shows for January to back up the album.

SHOWS

NOVEMBER

13 Brighton The Caroline of Brunswick

14 Cardiff Koko Gorilaz (free matinee show)

17 Reading Oakford Social Club

19 Goring The Village Hall

DECEMBER

11 Devizes The Lamb

JANUARY

22 Nottingham Farnsfield Acoustic

28 Reading Rising Sun Arts Centre **ALBUM LAUNCH**

29 Birmingham The Brighthouse

In other news, word reaches me (all the way out in Florida) that The Flowerpot is being sold from under the owner's feet. This is a gutting development for what is a neat, friendly venue - something which London (and most places for that matter) sorely lacks. Good luck to all in their quest to get the Flowerpot rehoused. You can count me amongst those who'll be back when it's ready.

In OTHER other news, they've finally repossessed the studios where I worked for five years before an exit in 2008. I loved that place dearly at the time, and have met a lot of good people there. Also, it was where the drums for This Is Not What You Had Planned and Outside, There's A Curse were recorded.

In FINAL other news, hero UK weatherman Tomasz Schafernaker has been axed by the BBC. Shame on you, BBC. I hear he's on his way to 5Live. Perhaps on the radio he won't get caught goofing off so much..

Catch you soon,

b. x

so did you hear the one about..

2010-09-17T15:04:00.000-07:00

.. the 29 year old who awoke one morning with his Dad towering over him telling him to get to work?

no? ok, ok, it was me last Friday. exhausted, i'd left my phone on silent and my alarms off. my dear parents had tried calling me that morning and, getting no answer, dispatched the troops to find me blissfully asleep at 9.20. cue a rude awakening normally reserved for layabout 15-year-olds and much office embarrassment.

my point is, my memory has been decidedly shoddy lately. i've been getting in from Tesco and leaving frozen food out on the side, and then having to eat it all after it defrosts. similarly, my washing machine has forgotten how to wash and spin though, sadly, not how to rinse. everything is falling apart.

BUT all is not lost, dear friends. i have, for example, remembered to book a train ticket to next week's gig in Cheltenham and i've remembered to confirm a slot at the launch party for the debut album of A Genuine Freakshow (it's in Reading, 29th sept, check MySpace for details over the weekend).

i've also remembered to post the links to the following highlights of the Marwood/Turner Reading warm-up shows:

Sinaglong at Derby - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7bwNzYvPzU

Photosynthesis from Kendal - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9AXUAC_86Q

surviving the quiet

2010-09-11T12:07:00.000-07:00

hi all

still not dead. just relaxing. i'm sat in my parents' dining room enjoying a relaxing family day, but more about the family tomorrow as well as some traumatising (and, i'm sure you'll all agree, hotly-anticipated) news on my washing machine.

a review of the derby show has appeared here:

http://fit-for-moshing.blogspot.com/2010/08/frank-turner-venue-derby.html

which essentially says i'm a) good and b) a frank turner wannabe/apprentice. friend will do just fine, thanks. i don't think i could be The Next Frank Turner due to my ineptitude at writing singalongs, aside from.. er.. 'Singalong', though apprentice would be nice if i come out of it at the end with a qualification. I guess in a way, over the past couple of months, I've completed a brief course at Playing Bigger Venues Than Normalology, and Meeting Some People That Rule.. Studies?

more soon, but i think i'm being kicked off the computer..

confirmed: south by north-west

2010-08-07T08:41:00.000-07:00

hi all

i'm sat around in my house rehearsing for tonight's show at the Rising Sun Arts Centre. this is the last show i have booked in Reading for the forseeable, which for a man who likes to play his hometown every couple of months feels a bit remiss. still, tonight should be good.

shows in Derby and Kendal with Frank Turner are now a nailed-on 100% guarantee, so the rest of my august can be summed up in a week you can either term South By North West or A Tale Of No Cities at your leisure.

SOUTH BY NORTH WEST

Saturday August 21st - Oxjam @ The Lamb, Devizes

Wednesday August 25th - The Venue, Derby (w/Frank Turner)

Thursday August 26th - Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal (w/Frank Turner)

Derby's not a city, right?

Bollocks, it is.

listen again // tomorrow morning

2010-08-04T10:24:00.001-07:00

Hi all - just a quick update.

For anyone who missed it and wants to hear it, the BBC Berkshire/Introducing session and interview is available on listen again until this Sunday (8th):

Listen again here

Or maybe here

Also, in relation to the Rising Sun Arts Centre show coming up this Saturday (7th), I'll be on BBC Berkshire's breakfast show tomorrow morning just before 8am to let you all know why a) i love it and b) why your attendance this Saturday is essential if they're going to stay open.

Back to the gig. I'll be gracing (headlining, no less) the Garden Stage around 7 - 7.30ish, it's £5 door charge and events are running all day, including poetry and dance and the like. Kids go in free, and in the evening we'll all be treated to the likes of Damien A Passmore and the Loveable Fraudsters, Sixty Watt Bayonets, Dolly and the Clothespegs and the inimitable Heartwear Process. Come on down, your time is now.

All my love.

b. x

tonight on BBC Berks

2010-08-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

hi all

you join me watching the Hungarian GP, every year without fail a turgid procession on a par only with Bahrain, but this year a twisting and turning tale of excellence due largely to Hamilton's ability to break his own car, Vettel's natural talent at occasionally throwing away any victory no matter how solid it looks, and Jensen Button's amnesia (you're the world champion, have you forgotten the pedal goes all the way to the floor to make car go vroom?).

anyway, forgive me, i'm delirious with Sunday time off, on the verge of confirming shows for Derby and Kendal later in the year and preparing the tracklist for next Tuesday's [edit] podcast. i write today to remind you that i'm in session tonight on BBC Radio Berkshire's The Session with Jenny Minard for an interview in which i sound largely boring (most of the interesting anecdotes i have to tell fall most definitely outside what can be broadcast on BBC Berks, which is a lot less than you'd think) and a live track. i also think it's the exclusive play of a song called 'They Will Float Your Body Out To Sea' from the forthcoming album.

Tune in this evening 7pm - 8pm or catch it on listen again..

the sunday review

2010-07-25T06:05:00.001-07:00

INCEPTION

it's alright.

words: ben marwood

in session: [edit] radio

2010-07-24T14:45:00.000-07:00

post-Trees comedown complete, life is looking up.

i now have everything i need to get the artwork done for the album, i've confirmed a gig in Devizes and there's another one on the way in Derby if luck will have it, and i have a couple of radio sessions lined up in the coming weeks to keep my chin up.

the first indeed, is alone now, in session for Tom Crook's [edit] radio podcast. is it cheating to do a session for a station that i also DJ for? probably, but who cares!

click here for the podcast in mp3 form, it's about halfway in. there's a neat little interview conducted in the confines of my own front room, and then down to business with a version of 'Five Little Secrets' and forthcoming album track 'Tell Avril Lavigne I Never Wanted To Be Her Stupid Boyfriend Anyway'

oh, that Devizes gig by the way, is for Oxjam and is at The Lamb on August 21st. see you there.

.. and oh, i almost forgot

2010-07-18T07:52:00.001-07:00

A radio edit of 'Singalong' from the forthcoming album due November has been posted to the Myspace

2000 Trees and a Bath

2010-07-17T15:35:00.000-07:00

today, i'm taking it easy.

seriously. barely a finger lifted all day. today, you see, is comedown day from 2000 Trees, which i was honoured to play yesterday. one of the only festivals worth its salt on this isle, entirely devoid of irritating chavs and one of the few run from a love of music instead of a love of money.

sure, my hearing's irritatingly shot, and i have no voice left to speak of, but what a day and what a turnout. a touching combination of friends, people still following me from this time last year and a whole bunch of new fans that i didn't even know i had. i hear even Mr Frank Turner himself jumped from a moving van and vaulted the fence to take in some of the set, and when i say 'i hear' i mean 'he told me so'.

i guess the day belonged to that man though. his first major UK festival headline set was incredible, and even managed to beat the Bath Komedia show from a few days before. the Komedia is a beautiful venue, a former playhouse of some description and the kind of old building that is slowly being shut down, demolished, abandoned. but Komedia have given it a home, and it was good to catch up with everyone on Wednesday. my set was okay, plenty of people into 'Oh My Days' and i even managed to scrabble through a new song barely getting any of it right. at 2000 Trees a few days later i get it 5% more right.

but what a day Trees was. for a start, it was the first time i'd ever played on a stage powered by a solar-powered ex-book bus, and it just got better from then on. the 4th annual occurrence of the Cheltenham festival had its wet moments - it has, after all, rained each of the three previous years - but the site held up well. barely a mudslide greeted the likes of Pulled Apart By Horses (rowdy), Future of the Left (sarcastic, sour-faced but brilliant), Chris T-T (overwhelming), Jim Lockey & the Solemn Sun (masterful) and anyone else i saw on the day. i pose for photos, sell a few records and wonder not for the first time this year how the fuck i'm going to sit at my desk on Monday morning.

tonight though, is all about the comedown. i've just got in from a 'run' (i only managed 20 minutes, having decided to run immediately after a cup of tea, and that's a Hazard), i have three films to watch this evening (Walk The Line, the absurdly disappointing Funny Games and Memento) and a pizza to negate the goodness of the exercise (or because of. i'm not sure). to top it off, i even found my copy of The Hold Steady's Stay Positive, which is superb. also on the list of new CDs, alongside the 2000 Trees' compilation Cider Smiles, is Thrill Collins' demo, Death Cab's Something About Airplanes (finally. i'm prepared to be disappointed) and the first Tokyo Police Club EP. considering i went out to buy the Sam Amidon album and a sieve, i'm not entirely sure where it all went wrong. well, not wrong. different.

thanks to Jacqui, who drove me to Bath on Wednesday, and to Richard Sanderson, who obliged for Trees. thanks also to everyone i met in both places, especially the girl who gave me the comic/fanzine/art that is in my bag, just out of reach, the lovely folk i met last year who came with me to Chris T-T this year, and also the crew from Norwich who let me drink their San Miguel and play 'I Know What I Did Last Summer' at them until i ran off into the evening, an evening which ended at the hand of the aforementioned and excellent Thrill Collins, Jim Lockey and Joe Summers near the I Started The Fire stall.

enough reflection on the week though. it's Sunday afternoon now and i forgot to post the above yesterday. i was distracted by Walk The Line, which was great. and the pizza, which was less great. Funny Games, on reflection, is less gutting on the second watch, and is almost an entirely different movie, where allegiances lie elsewhere from the first time. Memento was okay. perhaps an odd way to end, finishing as it did at 3.30am-ish. it made IMDB's Top 250 list if i'm not mistaken, so perhaps i'm just missing something.

i guess now england are out..

2010-06-29T10:30:00.001-07:00

.. it's safe to remind everyone who my World Cup favourites are.

clicky clicky

i power kexp

2010-06-07T14:06:00.000-07:00

i'll be honest: i've never been much of a charitable giver.

i can't think of one point in my life where i've called up a charity and said "hey, i like your cause, count me in". don't get me wrong, i give to numerous charities but this process always begins with being cornered by a lady - and it is always a lady - with a clipboard on a busy high street. i don't know why it's always females, perhaps men are just poor at getting unsuspecting passers-by to give them money. i guess if they bat lashes in the same way it probably wouldn't have the desired effect, and in your more homophobic regions it could even lead to a crowd at the gallows old-school style or the mass exodus of all hetero-penis from the town pursued by some flouncing anti pied piper..

i digressed. back to the point: i'm a tight fisted bastard. but this all changed this week, when i finally got off my butt and, in this time of financial uncertainty, i made the decision to get involved with Seattle-based radio station KEXP for their summer pledge drive.

i do feel a pang of guilt for giving to KEXP when 6Music is facing the axe, but my reasons are simple:

a. you can't give 6Music any money. fale.

b. i pay my licence fee so i already do, technically, give, although i also give to a whole bunch of shit i don't like and don't watch/listen to. just think about that - you're all technically giving over money so they can make The One Show

c. KEXP has to hand a fantastic back catalogue of streaming archives from their live guests, accessible at the touch of a button, and we're talking both the cutting edge and the time-weathered heroes, from Death Cab and MGMT to Bright Eyes and Los Campesinos!. it also run block parties, music festivals and is home to the single best radio show anywhere in the world: Jon Richards' Jon In The Morning, some effortless mix of the old and new alternative, who'll regularly play, on request or otherwise, stuff from Seattle's own Long Winters and Harvey Danger, plus the likes of Black Keys, Arcade Fire, Joy Formidable, Sam Amidon, Future of the Left, The National, Sufjan, Elliott Smith and the list goes on and on.

there is no other site like this, it is truly one of a kind and, in the current financial climate, i think it's about time i stepped in, albeit with a paltry donation.

with the needle currently sat at just under 50% at time of writing (about $300k short of their target), it's not too late to chip in. at the very least, spend an hour with them a week and improve/expand your music taste (yes yes, regardless of how good it is now, i know yours is great already).

http://www.kexp.org

an evening at the ICA

2010-06-06T12:16:00.001-07:00

it's always fascinating, for me at least, to see a songwriter with a band. the endless questions like, how do they write together? do they write together or is that one man responsible for everyone's every move? and which comes first, the song on the record or the song being blasted down into your eardrums at 115dB?

welcome to the ICA. well, not right now but recently. Wednesday night in fact, when i cashed in the ticket given to me by my parents on my 29th birthday to go and watch Matthew Houck's Phosphorescent, famed (in my head at least) for gentle heartbullying country/blues/folk.

but that's deceptive. what that description above doesn't tell you is that your country-blues-folk will be served to you on a platter of psych-rock, elongated with the musical rolling pin that is guitar solos, garnished with the permission of a rather serious-looking curly haired guy from Atlanta. this spindly creature, Houck himself, will wander from centre stage at any opportunity but not forward to bask in any glow, but backwards or sideways to let the band do the work.

i guess for anyone who knows me well the question is simple: you hate drawn-out wig-outs. why the fuck are you there?

simple. Matthew Houck has a voice which, for some reason, i regard to be the perfect voice for the style of music he plays; it breaks, it warps, it sounds out of control but it can't be because he hits the same notes in the same places every time. it's a perfect example of order from chaos, that happens to hit its peak at the most important part of any band: the vocals.

so why the band? in the encore it's clear that a lone Houck can deliver a stunning song himself, as first Pride star 'Wolves' and then Here's To Taking It Easy also-ran 'Heaven, Sittin Down' are given solo treatment, the former taken from its original ukulele-laced slow-burning arrangement, and the latter given new purpose away from its full band country hopalong style, both gleaming in the stage spotlights that night, the lack of any other interference a clear benefit.

but i guess a counter argument can be made, as those two highlights make up only two of the four heart-in-mouth moments at tonight's ICA show (the ICA, incidentally, is a beautiful theatre and venue, albeit one i sadly have little time to explore). a big fan of willie nelson, Houck and band punch out Nelson's 'It's Not Supposed To Be That Way' (released on their Nelson tribute album To Willie) and recent-album highlight 'The Mermaid Parade' to great effect, the main man looking decidedly more relaxed at both these points, taking the microphone from its stand, lead draped over his shoulders, roaming to the front of the stage for once to bask in the sheer heartbreak that, for the Willie Nelson cover at least, just isn't present on the record, and that second verse in 'The Mermaid Parade' gets me at the best of times but tonight it makes for a lump in the throat.

I guess then whatever Houck does, there's always potential for the magic touch. I'll be honest, tonight wasn't the greatest gig ever witnessed by humanity which, given my short attention span isn't surprising when you're dealing with songs forcibly extended to six, seven, eight plus minutes, but Phosphorescent are a band who are more relevant now than at any previous point in its existence, you should check out 'Wolves' and 'The Mermaid Parade' on iTunes and get the free mp3 from KEXP below (more on them soon).

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/phosphorescent

Free MP3: http://blog.kexp.org/blog/2009/05/14/song-of-the-day-phosphorescent-wolves-live-on-kexp/

nearly..

2010-05-16T15:41:00.001-07:00

hi all

further to recent site trauma, the relaunch is nearly complete, though sadly it is at the cost of the forum. nearly six years of embarrassing onstage shots and setlists down the drain, although the traffic had tailed off recently anyway.

in the meantime links should be fixed/updated in the next few days, and hopefully all will be well once more.

i'm playing down at 21 South Street Arts Centre this week, Saturday 22nd, entry about £3 i think, and it's entirely acoustic (no PA at all!) so it'll be one for the Novelty books.

see you soon.
b. x

it's the end of the site as we know it

2010-05-14T14:55:00.000-07:00

.. and i feel fine?

sure as shit, my webhost today announced an unprecedented loss of data.

benmarwood.com will be down until i'm told it's ready to not be down anymore.

i have a backup of most of the site on my laptop, but inevitably in situations like this i'm sure there'll be something i've forgotten to back up.

something like my forum, whose various backups existed on the same server as the original data. you'll have more news when i do.

thanks,
b. x

a change of Heart. wear.

2010-05-02T16:57:00.000-07:00

regardless of whether you're a solo artist or in a 20 piece choir, i still think you need running buddies. people who you can turn to and rely on when you're out and about in foreign towns, when you're sick of the company of your band or, in my case, yourself.

with Turner abroad, Mr T-T enjoying more success than ever before (and rightly so) and Mssrs Lockey and Thief warming up for a UK tour this week, tonight i had to say goodbye to my running buddies as a collective for the last time. tonight, the Heartwear Process refomed for one night only just to properly split up, all under the excuse/umbrella of a 30th birthday party.

not mine i hasten to add.

i think of these people like my music family. i was there at their first show back in 2004, and i was there at there last tonight. in the meantime they've spawned a great offshoot in Quiet Quiet Band, we've formed a record label, destroyed countless stages and, to my knowledge, i've never argued with any of them.

so tonight we gather together friends of the band, most of them shared with me, as well as Damien A Passmore and the Loveable Fraudsters, the three acts present at their first gig, and we went hell for leather until the flanel shirts were sweaty and the tears were in our eyes. and i did see some grown men cry tonight.

i shall miss these people as a band with all my heart.

mp3: Ben Marwood - No Name #1 (Elliott Smith cover)
http://www.benmarwood.com/site2/nn1.mp3

T minus 1

2010-04-16T11:23:00.000-07:00

"Driving one day, a Catholic priest hits a frog hopping across the road.

Horrified at his actions, he pulls over to the side of the road and picks the frog up. Hurt but not seriously, he takes it home with him and feeds it Fly soup.

"You must get your rest", the priest tells the frog, "and in the morning, when you're recovered, I shall take you back to the wild". He turns to leave the frog to rest.

"But", speaks the frog, "I cannot sleep without being tucked in tightly".

The good priest tucks in his injured guest and turns to leave.

"But", speaks the frog, "I cannot sleep without a story".

The priest again honours the frog's request, and reads him a bedtime story until his eyes grow heavy. The kind priest again heads for the door.

"But", speaks the frog, "I cannot sleep without a bedtime kiss".

The humble priest smiles and, after a moment's thought, decides to grant the frog's request, leaning over to kiss him softly.

The frog turns into an 11 year old boy.

And that, your honour, concludes the statement in my defence."

the horror, the horror

2010-04-13T17:10:00.000-07:00

the end of today brought with it a chilling fact - i have three evenings now to tie up the remaining parts of the album.

not three days, three evenings. fifteen hours maximum, not even factoring in time for the optional extras like making dinner. still, things are shaping up okay, i have a couple of minor adjustments to make to 'Toil' and i still have to try and make 'Singalong' sound vaguely good after a couple of grumbles from the crew now affectionately known as Team Grope.

speaking of the Gropers, shame on me for doubting Kev and Jacqui, they had it in hand the whole time. just three more days to go and their work will be done, and their names forever written onto the plaque of gratitude that hangs in some imaginary hall somewhere in a mansion i don't own.

i'm shitting a brick.

so i'm going to distract myself, having just finished for the day at 1am, due to resume tomorrow. if that's not a horror, then consider this:

i recently got a chance to finally watch Paranormal Activity, until recently my brother's choice of shriek-inducing horror. i was excited given the reports. here we go though: film achieves cult status, filmed on a low budget, won some critical awards, mostly video camera footage, a lot of hype, 'human' (read: unlikeable) characters, otherworldly plot, suspense building to six or so seconds of excitem--

i could be talking about the Blair Witch Project, and you can remember how that turned out. yep, shitty. for five seconds of PA i was totally sold, then the credits rolled, all the best bits prior to that being the stuff i knew was going to happen thanks to the trailers.

rather embarrassingly, do you know what the scariest film i've ever seen is? i kid you not, but it's The Grudge 2. no, not even the Japanese one, the Hollywood one, widely regarding as a steaming pile of crap (see IMDB: 4.6/10 - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433386/). the reason for my liking it is probably people's main reason not to like it: it has no point whatsoever.

the first Hollywood Grudge film was a straight (and shit) remake of the japanese film Ju-On - same director, i think, just changed for the mainstream. Grudge 2, meanwhile, was a mixture of bits of Ju-On 2 and the proposed but never completed Ju-On 3 which was sacrificed in order to get G2 done. the result is a plot which makes no sense, starts weird, continues weird, ends weird but scares well. the supernatural beast is the same we got to know in the first one, but in this film it branches out to levels that are just never explained. contrast that with PA's demon and demonology, and at every step there's a clear reason for what's happening. there's no mystery, there's too much reason. since when have demons been reasonable.

also Sarah Michelle Gellar dies in The Grudge 2, which is a fucking brilliant idea that should happen in every single film.

honourable mention then goes to a film i saw shortly afterwards, The Mist. it's based on a Steven King novella, which guarantees nothing. it's a low budget, quite poorly acted b-movie masterpiece again featuring the supernatural, with little explanation at the start as to what the hell is going on, though we're fed a tiny part of what's happened later on. but again, merciless beasts that don't seem to obey reason or have purpose, coupled with an ending that switches from supernatural horror to a much more emotional horror, and then smashes you in the mouth with an ending that would be gutting if it wasn't so hilariously brilliant.

okay, okay, i'm overselling it now, it wasn't brilliant, but it was solid and i like its style. so what have we learned? that sometimes good horror comes from not understanding why the horror exists, what it's up to or what it wants.

which brings me to not a film, but a book: House Of Leaves. i finished reading this recently after it crippled the minds of [edit] radio's Kev Lawson and nu-folk's own Jim Lockey, as well, i found out later, as my buddy Steve Sharman, who works in a mental institute and sees some scary shit. if you look into his eyes you'll see it. once i saw what it did, i had to know why, but half of the book's power is not knowing why. it takes the idea of a supernatural beast and replaces it with a house. yep, a house. no, not a haunted house, as such, but an entity that is a house. maybe. it's never explained, that part.

i'll try and explain, it's a book written from the viewpoint of a character, going through the notes of a deceased old man who is explaining the events captured in a documentary that he claims doesn't exist, which itself documents a house which doesn't obey the laws of basic physical space as we know them, and may or may not be possessed, or serve a purpose. footnotes are scattered everywhere as the tales spin-off onto a tangent, followed by some textbook-like theory, followed by snippets recounting the documentary (which is told like the 'story') which will then give you just enough information about the events which are either about to happen or will eventually happen, only not enough information to piece together a) why this is happening, b) how this event concludes or c) when down the line it occurs.

it's a masterclass in storytelling, and undeniably rewarding, even if the continued
manipulation of space and time will leave you genuinely wondering
about the intentions of your own house, not
to mention incredible art direction
where appropriate descents
are represented
literally

not to mention

disjointed

events

skipping

around

merci

less

all too often leaving you with endless burning questions as to the whys and hows, which quite remarkably by the end you won't mind if they're answered or not, such is the twisting experience along the way.

so:

true horror. it's all about the lack of understanding, the inability to comprehend the nature of its existence and the complete uncertainty as to whether there's a way to master the threat.

which all ties back to my progress with the album quite well, don't you think?
x

the focus grope

2010-04-12T14:43:00.001-07:00

do not mistake silence for slacking.

sure enough, as my posts on here decay slightly, business picks up somewhat. we're now in the final stages of finishing the album, i have just four days now to finish all the parts before final mixing, and then it's off to be mastered.

so the terror has set in somewhat.

it's a weird kind of fear, the Pre-Album Shakes, the kind which paralyses you with love and expectation at the same time. and in the end, i personally have spent so long around it i can't even see it (or objectively hear it) anymore.

and so, i have deployed the Focus Grope, because if i can't use my ears, i may as well borrow some people's who are familiar enough with everything without having it steamroller them into a corner and beat them into a bloody surrender. not that that's what has happened to me. indeed if i've learned anything recently it's that 8-tracks simply aren't that versatile.

and so, i sit with baited breath as the reactions roll in, my small troop/troupe of wunderkids tasked with pointing out a) a bad part, b) the good parts and c) any suggestions about the tracklisting. i have agonised over this bastard, and as i mulled over the possibilities i'm faced with the indeterminate horror of Having To Wait And See How It Goes When You Hear The Final Mixes.

so yes. trusty focus grope, they have so far done me proud, minus the seven or so people who have remained silent on it, some of them surprisingly so given that they include both of my other limbs of Broken Tail and also Jim at Josaka, and uber-fans Jacqui and Kev. so five of the people who should have been chomping at the bit to hear this have so far delivered a no-vote with a few days to go. if i were you i'd run for the fucking hills now (though i will excuse Paul Tail on account of his dodgy internet and incredible apathy at life, and Jim because he said he'd get back to me on it, which is like a virtual note from your mum).

and salvation has arrived in that i've found someone to master the album, but i shan't speak his name lest he hears the album and pulls out. suffice to say, it's a massive relief to get someone at the helm who could have steered the titanic alright.

suffice to say.

actually, suffice to say most of this post is tongue-in-cheek, that i'm Pretty Happy with how things are going and, at the same time, i'm really fucking hungry. but that's just because i haven't eaten for a few hours.

and away i go.
x

falling in love again..

2010-03-16T14:07:00.000-07:00

.. and this time it's with Cheltenham.

sometimes i still wake up in a cold sweat thinking of last october, when i had to cancel the hallowe'en show in Cheltenham due to an unfortunately intense bout of flu, missing one of Sam Isaac's last shows in the process. thankfully, they're forgiving folks, and i'm heading back there to the Frog and Fiddle this Sunday (21st), alongside Oxygen Thief, Jim Lockey and many more. i'll be on early evening (6.30ish), but things kick off as early as 4.30 in an all-dayer manner.

other gigs!: Reading with Chris T-T/2000 Trees
next wednesday (24th), i'll return to the Oakford in Reading alongside Chris T-T, who this week celebrates his album launch, Love Is Not Rescue, which i make his seventh studio outing. mad. pick it up from Banquet Records for just £7.99. The gig itself, meanwhile, is free.
http://www.banquetrecords.com/cttlove;jsessionid=41820C908C6BFED515EBBCE8A3DD0D1E

not only that, i'm also confirmed for this year's 2000 Trees festival just outside of Cheltenham, which runs from Friday 16th to Sunday 18th July. i'll be on early on Friday, and if last year's Thursday night performance is anything to go by, it's going to be a blast. the ticket link is below, and also confirmed for the weekend are the aforementioned Lockey & Thief, plus Chris T-T, Frank Turner, Metronomy, 65daysofstatic, And So I Watch You From Afar, Subways, Bombay Bicycle Club and Xtra Mile's Crazy Arm, plus more TBC.
http://www.twothousandtreesfestival.co.uk/tickets.php

Oh, and the Dawn Chorus too, whose latest single was all over 6Music and is ace. which brings me to..

choose your own adventure: only you can save 6music
yes. i'm hopping on the bandwagon a little late, but there's still time to save BBC's best digital music station, 6Music. if you have something to say about the axeing of what is essentially a good starting point for many new bands around the country (as well as being the only station prepared to give Steve Lamacq more than an hour a week), then please do email through to trust.enquiries@bbc.co.uk and let them know why.

plus: a thanks
i received word a few weeks ago that 2008's mini-album This Is Not What You Had Planned recently sold-out. Thanks to all of you who continue to inexplicably pick it up even eighteen months on. it should be back in stock shortly, if you're waiting. i think that's it.

keep safe.
ben.

don't hold your breath

2010-03-07T06:30:00.000-08:00

so you might have noticed there was no free mp3 in the utter write-off month that February became.

well, notice no more, it's here:

Hold Your Breath (2010 version)

just over three years on from the original's initial release, this is an updated version, originally recorded as a b-side before i realised exactly how many b-sides i have recorded now. so here it is, all yours, to relive days gone by.

Listen/Download here

so i guess that takes care of February.. we are in March though, so it's time to offer something else: an alternative version to the upcoming album version of 'Toil'. three versions of this song exist - the full band version from the upcoming album, the version that starts as a cover of Jay Z's '99 Problems' which will likely never see the light of die for obvious copyright reasons, and this acoustic-only version. it's a little more personal than the 'proper' one, if decidedly no-frills, but it's worth a free punt nonetheless..

Toil (alternative version)

Listen/download here

Love to all.

b. x

february is cancelled

2010-02-26T17:15:00.001-08:00

it's taken nearly four weeks to settle down, and i haven't even settled down.

february was/is a blur of recording action, and tomorrow morning i'll be up with the birds (assuming birds get up at 8am) to head down to White House and mix a few more songs. by my calculations, there'll be just three left to finish by the end of tomorrow, and that's a great feeling. i can't wait to get this record out from under my feet and.. then who knows what i'll do? it all depends on how the record is received and how things pan out in 2010.

i've been confirmed for 2000 Trees on the Friday, the same day as Frank Turner is playing alongside a host of other excellent folk types, so there'll be at least one festival date this year even if you do all have to wait until July. i'm also now playing with Chris T-T at Reading's Oakford in March.

oh, and i finally took a holiday, off to Florida. i have a feeling i'll be seeing a lot more of it, although perhaps in the future i'll refrain from booking gigs on the same day i fly back to the UK. i slept for ten hours on a sofa bed in Brighton which has apparently never been described as 'comfortable', although i swear it was the best night's sleep i've ever had, and ten hours counts as two nights' sleep for me these days. thanks to the lovely people of Stick In A Pot for extending their home to me.

fingers crossed for tomorrow.
x

pre-divorce jitters

2010-01-30T15:50:00.000-08:00

hello from amongst the boxes.

today, my five and a half year tenure at here at what was affectionately own to all - well, most.. ok, at least some - as Marwood HQ comes to a close, memories put into storage, their actual physical presence to be lost forever from the moment the door shuts for the final time.

i have had my best and worst times here, and i'd like to think the former outweighs the latter. i recorded This Is Not What You Had Planned almost in its entirety about twelve feet behind where i lay now, i wiped a tear from my cheek as i finished the final take of 'You Can Hold On Once' ten months later crouched on the floor to my left (i still can't believe, given it was only three tracks of mine, how problematic putting my part of Exclamation At Asterisk Hash together proved to be) and have spent most of the past fortnight cross-legged here, putting together bits of the album slowly. it's all done by the end of March - the dates are in the book. from then on: artwork, mastering, promotion, release, relax.

tomorrow evening i leave here for the final time, away from the intermittently-leaking bathroom ceiling, the paper-thin walls and the shitty boiler, over to a first floor rented room in the house of a friend of a friend. he is nice, the room is nice, the area is.. sketchy, but where around Reading isn't? the past few days were spent measuring the dimensions of all my important stuff, of the corresponding widths and depths of my new home to decide in advance which parts of my life must be given the boot. in fairness, most of it is coming with me by some miracle of feng shui. provided my measurements are right. did i mention i'm shit at it?

but in truth, i'd rather be staying. i hate leaving anywhere, and this is the first place i called mine since i left my parents' ten years ago. to go back to living in someone else's house feels like, and is, a step back, and i have made no secret that i am worse off now financially than when i was working in a supermarket at 16. but, these things must be done. i don't want to leave, but i have to leave. for the greater good, as Inspector Butterman would say.

to all who sailed in her.
x

a midwinter picnic

2010-01-20T15:13:00.000-08:00

just a quick one - this Sunday (24th) is the second Midwinter Picnic, organised by politically-charged super-songwriter Chris T-T, and i'm honoured to be invited to play.

running at West Hill Hall a few minutes walk from the station, it's a charity alldayer which is an organisation well worth your pennies. i think it's seated, i heard a rumour it's BYOB, and at £12 it's a touch more than your normal hard-earned, but for your money you not only get me and Chris, you also get The Singing Adams (ex-Broken Family Band, who i seem to miss more every day for some reason), Dry The River and Thomas White (of Electric Soft Parade & Brakes) amongst others.

the last clutch of tickets are here for your buying pleasure:

http://www.wegottickets.com/event/60152

xx

so this is Christm.. oh, no, wait, it isn't anymore

2010-01-18T14:33:00.000-08:00

heh. sorry. time gets away from you.

happy new year? it's far too late to bid a teary goodbye to 2009 (which turned out to be one of the greatest years in the history of human life, if you're me and/or my immediate life) so i'll just say: thanks to those who came along for the ride, particularly Barry (Oxygen-Thief), Jim (Lockey) and Frank (Turner), everyone who came out to the tour, faces both new and old, and anyone who made the special gigs that much more special, from the decade-closer at the Union Chapel, to the best rainy day ever at 2000 Trees in the summer.

but onwards, and upwards. the past few weeks have seen me neglect everything, ever, in my bid to track down a new place to live at the end of the month. i've found one, it's all on, and business can now resume. after five and a half years, i'll be sad to leave this place. not this place, where the walls are too thin and the heat escapes so readily it's impossible to heat, but the paths i walk every day, and that old guy who has eyes like a teddy bear.

still, the irons are in the fire, the wheels are slowly turning again.

a couple of points to note:

Evening Post's one to watch for 2010
the lovely Jenny at BBC Introducing took it upon herself at the turn of the year to write an article about how 2010 should be my year. it's good to have people fighting my corner without even the need to ask:
http://www.getwokingham.co.uk/entertainment/music/s/2063611_music_bens_looking_forward_to_2010
(yes, the link is from the Wokingham edition, but it's the only one i could find)

the Rising Sun Arts Centre gig on 26th Feb is now not on the 26th
but on Saturday the 20th. Tom Williams couldn't make the 26th after all, so the 20th will have to do.
tickets here: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/68510

hello, you.
x

christmas bonus

2009-12-26T05:09:00.000-08:00

So it turns out I have explosive amnesia, and thus forgot to announce on this blog that 'Horatio Dies' is also available for free download, as of sometime last month.

Fetch it, if you so wish:
http://www.benmarwood.com/site2/horatio.mp3

xx

merry christmas (aka A Lack of Color for free)

2009-12-25T16:46:00.000-08:00

short and sweet, as it's currently balls o'clock on what is now technically Boxing Day in the UK,

the presents have been opened, turkey devoured save for the leftovers to go in sandwiches for the next.. ooh.. fifty-two weeks and bad tv digested (Doctor Who the main culprit, a soul-crushing example of snatching heavy defeat from the jaws of televisual victory - how these scriptwriters can write some of the best and, a few minutes later, the worst tv you'll see in a year beggars belief).

and now i sit, late at night, offering you a present of sorts. technically it's the free mp3 for the month of January, but the time is right. find below the link to the free download of my cover of Death Cab For Cutie's A Lack of Color. I couldn't decide whether this was a correct title to be had in England, so it's now officially A Lack of Colo(u)r.

http://www.benmarwood.com/site2/colo(u)r.mp3

special thanks to Barry/Oxygen Thief who bought me the Cyanide and Happiness book for Christmas, highlights below:

http://www.explosm.net/comics/1101/
http://www.explosm.net/comics/1422/
http://www.explosm.net/comics/1303/

happy (dark humour) yule!
x

all hail: union chapel

2009-12-20T06:15:00.000-08:00

the end of a decade.

a decade that gave us not the Oasis vs Blur intensity of the 90s, but the evolution of Radiohead, the embarrassment of nu-metal and the digital music revolution, which probably did more for intelligent debate, legislation and piracy than two Mancunians and some art school indie kids ever did. shame about Linkin Park though.

and so it is, at the end of this decade, i find my final gig of the year to be Islington's Union Chapel, an 800+ capacity venue and fully-functioning place of worship, albeit one with a fully functioning bar on the first floor. how i got here, i'm still not entirely sure. i know who i have to thank (one Frank Turner, to start with), but the connections and chance encounters that took the me of December 19th, 1999 to the point of stepping onto the stage of one of London's most aesthetically-pleasing and acoustically-brilliant venues ten years later is mind-boggling.

but here i am, and this is how it's happened.

of course, it nearly didn't happen at all. rolling up to the venue at 5pm as instructed to run through the group finale that was 'Last Christmas', it is soon apparent that our headliner tonight is stuck with the Eurostar in Paris. Calais is 'broken' too, and so we leave him booking himself onto a last-minute, probably-really-expensive flight to Heathrow and possibly, probably, perhaps making the venue on time for tonight's show. maybe.

not that this dampened spirits much - a warm crowd, a venue that prefers tea to alcohol and good company on the bill (Mr Adam Killip of The Tailors, Emily Barker and the Red Clay Halo and, of course, Chris T-T) meant this show was destined only to succeed, and despite any nervousness in the days leading up to this event (and trust me, dear reader, there was a lot - ask just about anyone i spoke to in the preceding week), the chaos that greeted me upon arrival and ensued right up until my stage time made me feel strangely at home.

i sign records, catch up with friends and wait for Turner, who eventually bundles himself through the back door at 9.20pm and takes to the stage five minutes later, and apologies to the guy who tried to initiate conversation with me at the merch table over my release plans for 2010 only for me to be distracted about a sentence into my reply and, by the time i had finished tending to matters, he was nowhere to be seen. apologies, Well Meaning Fellow.

and so, post-show, we hit the bar to the clicking of cameras - mostly Jay Newton's, my guest of honour for this evening and owner of one disposable camera, Jay himself having inherited his spot from someone who shall remain nameless herein, but who passed up the opportunity to attend this most excellent show for gratis in order to go to some christmas fancy dress party. with a Star Wars theme.

fuck you, Star Wars.

to 2010. x

from goring to london via bbc berkshire

2009-12-09T13:57:00.000-08:00

as we approach the tail end of the tail end of the tail end of the decade, it'd probably be fitting to recap what the 00s have done for me, where I was at the beginning, how I am now, and thoughts and hopes for the next ten years.

so let's talk about prison
eh, decade schmecade. let's talk about a new project i've been working on. a little while back a man named Jon Potter from Company Paradiso contacted me with news of a project they're calling Ballads of Reading Jail, an arts-council funded project whereby Jon and friends work with prisoners in Reading Jail, where Oscar Wilde wrote his 'Ballad of Reading Jail' and what is these days a young offenders institution, encouraging them to write poetry around their various experiences and, to finish the project, commissioning musicians to write songs using the results.

as someone with a little more experience of the prison system than your average joe and josephine, it was a project i was happy to help out with and an interesting time, despite the utter nightmare we had for the one day we had in the studio, a day only rescued by the sheer heroics of producer extraordinaire Matt Bew. duly, 'The Day I Got Stuck', a shameless if cumbersome pop ditty was born, featuring James Loar (Full Force Gales, Heartwear Process) on drum duties. due to the nature of the project, co-ordinated by Duncan at BBC Berkshire (who looks after, amongst other things, BBC Introducing's The Session), this won't be readily available, but i do have copies if you're a) interested, and b) capable of getting your shit together and dropping me a message over email or MySpace or Facebook or wherever. i'm going to smack it up on the myspace for a little while shortly, too.

to close, I'll be on The Session this Sunday talking about the whole thing, answering questions on the importance of projects like these, my own experiences and why I flat refused to write this song as an actual ballad, but i'm a little apprehensive of how it'll sound as when we recorded the interview I waffled on for what seemed like forever and probably came off sounding like a hippy who believes everyone should be forgiven of their crimes. i don't, okay, every crime has a victim and that shouldn't be forgotten, but i tried my darndest to communicate how prison shouldn't just be about punishment, especially amongst the young, it can also be about rehabilitation, and how (i believe, in my opinion, etc) getting prisoners involved in initiatives like these can benefit them in the long run.

so whilst you listen to me squirm on radio and then hear how I reduced a young man named Peter's pain into three minutes and twenty seconds of uptempo indie-pop, remember that i'm not really trying to get you to buy flowers for the guy who punched your sister.

in the meantime..
provided i've not been branded too left wing for the well-to-do village of Goring, I'll be playing at Goring Unplugged's Christmas Cracker in the quaint setting of Goring Village Hall this Friday (11th) as part of the warm-up for the Union Chapel show in Islington on the 19th alongside all-round star Frank Turner and others. That's to say, they'll be in London, it's just me who'll be in Goring for the BYOB/BYOP (picnic!), entirely-acoustic open-mic style event. Amy's Ghost will be there too, though, so it's all good.

xx

the wait for cheesecake

2009-12-08T13:12:00.000-08:00

it's almost unbearable. two to two-and-a-half hours at room temperature; the glistening blackcurrant masterpiece mocks me from the corner.

so instead i thought i'd write in this blog for some things you might have missed. after all, it has been a while.

ben vs [edit] radio: the return
yes, they let me back on the podcast back in november, and another 75-ish minutes of music is available for download right here:

http://web.me.com/ktal1731/%5Bedit%5D_Radio/Home_files/%5Bedit%5D%20radio%2016.mp3

actually i can't even remember if i was invited to go back to [edit] radio and host another shambles, or whether i just demanded that it happen in the manner of Mariah Carey, but i have indeed succeeded in worming my way onto another podcast. this time, i press play on my mp3 player in honour of such greats as Pavement, Harvey Danger, Biffy and Skee-Lo. yes, Skee-Lo. it's not like 5'10 is the ideal height, kids.

more free mp3s from the summer's split EP!
as part of an ongoing drive which will see a new free mp3 every month from now until the album's release next year, after i recently made 'Friendly Fire' available from the Exclamation At Asterisk Hash EP for free, messrs Lockey and Thief are following suit with a track each from the very same record. okay okay, so perhaps it's because we just sent them out to various music blogs, but it wouldn't make sense to not offer them to you here. alors:

Ben Marwood - Friendly Fire
http://www.benmarwood.com/site2/ff.mp3

Jim Lockey - The Boat Song (EP Version)
http://www.benmarwood.com/site2/jl.mp3

Oxygen Thief - Too Many Trees
http://www.benmarwood.com/site2/ot.mp3

Exclamation At Asterisk Hash is still available and an ideal price to be on all your christmas lists, though i forget what price it actually is. which is weird, because i priced it. Amazon says £4.98!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Exclamation-Asterisk-Hash-Jim-Lockey/dp/B002CPD4YK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1259019986&sr=1-1

it's also available digitally, if you're hip and with the times. and why wouldn't you be? it's better than the Mail.

finally, on the topic of Oxygen Thief and Jim Lockey
i found myself wandering the wastelands of the internet the other night, as part of an ongoing drive to utterly fail at sleeping, and stumbled across the tour videos from the summer. if you get a moment late one night and you're similarly bored, my favourite two by miles are here:

Day 8 (Leeds to Newcastle):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnWGvbC9kjM

Day 9 (Newcastle to Huddersfield):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpwdtplS988

i love them both (and kev) more than words at the end of a blog can express.

b. x

one flu over the cuckoo's nest

2009-11-02T13:52:00.000-08:00

so, after four and a half years of not being very ill, it turns out that this weekend was to be the weekend i stopped being not ill.

yes that sentence took some thinking, but it's okay because i'm on the mend, though frustratingly far away from the places i need to be. i'm at my parents', to be exact, and being monitored with the intensity of an alien crash site (most of this post, you understand, will be a quite massive exaggeration). it is odd how, despite how i know that all this is for my own good, i still feel the same angsty teenage repression that the nineteen year old who left this house did some nine years ago, but i'm grateful for the quality of care, and the fact that i was collected from my deathbed (for i am male, and there is no such thing as a sickbed for us) on Saturday, not really knowing quite where i was, having regretfully cancelled my Cheltenham show for that evening and fiercely radiating heat like some human furnace.

but, just as i identify myself as dying when i'm clearly not, so too will i identify myself as better, prematurely. and, given that in my haste to leave the flat i forgot to pack a single change of clothes - and what i left the house in barely constitutes a set of clothes anyway - let alone any kind of bank card, i'm now at the mercy of my beloved parents as to when i'm allowed back into the real world. i'm adamant that it's now; they're adamant that it's really not.

and so, a stand-off ensues, and i'm placated with provisions of a razor and some shaving gel to get rid of four days of facial hair growth. i retire to this computer - my mum's, no less - with the backdrop of time tick, tick, ticking away.

i'm twenty-eight, dear reader, and i'm grounded
x

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

2009-10-11T13:47:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-10-06T13:13:00.001-07:00

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

another one dites the bust

2009-09-30T15:29:00.000-07:00

apologies for the quiet - but it's full steam ahead in preparation for mixing the forthcoming EP/album combination, most of which needs to be done by friday 9th.

but amongst the chaos, word reaches me that DJ hero Jon Hillcock is once again parting ways with xfm. his second tenure ends this sunday, october 4th for his final new noise show, and all at Camp Marwood would like to wish him the very best. so i did. by email. and he wrote back within the hour.

beat that, terry wogan.

ps. hah, Camp Marwood.

that was the week that was (rubbish)

2009-09-14T12:59:00.000-07:00

so: life, eh?

sometimes it bites you in the butt. or bum, if we're being english about it. alors, behold my Week Of Rubbish, which is a phenomenon that occurs every so often and happens to have happened recently, since you asked.

we begin with the show at the Rising Sun Arts Centre on Friday, September 4th, my first hometown show since coming off tour and the cause of much excitement in my heart and pants, as i play host to Tom Williams & the Boat, originally from Tunbridge Wells and now from all over the shop. we meet up, we chat a bit, i plug my guitar in, little happens.

bugger.

so, my guitar which i fixed twice on tour bit the dust that night, albeit not quite that dramatically, and to reward Tom and the gang for lending me his (new) guitar for my set later that night, I take him and his bandmates out for some top quality alleged food poisoning* at Mr Cod, my fast food outlet of choice. once they'd all finished being horrendously ill, the show was a great one, if slightly quiet, leaving me down on cash by the time I'd waved farewell to Mr Williams and then with the morbid(ly obese) task of checking my guitar in for repair and resuscitation the next day, the very same next day that should have seen me be on a train to Newcastle on a trip that was cancelled at the last minute due to sickness that wasn't even related to Mr Cod, nor I. down on a not particularly cheap train ticket too, I decide the week is out to get me.

and then my guitar comes back with more problems than it left with.

if you're listening, this week, you better be good.

(*i was fine, perhaps they just all had weak, out-of-town stomachs)

stick this in your album

2009-09-07T13:29:00.000-07:00

i am going up the wall, stir-cabin-fever-crazy, call it what you will.

i blame the tour. the sight of so many different places in such quick succession and then, just as quickly, a return to a one-place-one-job routine is at least irritating, and at most depressing. still, the vast open wasteland that passes for my current gig list has at least given me time to work on the album. the date for the first of three mixing sessions is in the diary for 9th october, and things are moving along nicely.

naturally, when i loaded the works in progress onto a CD and blasted it from the stereo it sounded, predictably, like there's a lot of work to be done, but that's exactly why we book these sessions for a whole month away, and not tomorrow. quite why i'm on here and not working away, i have no clue; fear perhaps? or maybe self-sabotage. regardless, before the 9th there is much work to be done - a few extra guitar takes here and there, some vocals to re-do (some of them, would you believe, suffer from not being harsh enough), and numerous percussionisms to contemplate along the way.

enough of my album though, it barely even exists; let's talk about Frank Turner's third album Poetry of the Deed, which is out this week on Xtra Mile in the UK and Epitaph everywhere else. i have it and i love it - it's less a solo record and more a band affair, but for my money Turner could give any pop songwriter on record a run for their money, and live is almost off the radar. his set recently at Reading left me pleasantly shocked, such is the support he received from the gathered thousands. if you can, pick up a copy. if you can't (because, say, you're too poor), at least go halves with an equally-broke friend. do it. DO IT.

of course, none of this insistance that you need this record is returning the favour for FT playing 'I Will Breathe You In' on Huw Stephens' In New Music We Trust show on Radio 1 recently, but that was bloody lovely.

that same week he was album of the week on Zane Lowe's show, and it also heralded the last ever Radio 1 show for Steve Lamacq, given the boot after sixteen-or-so years' service, and to this day a thoroughly humble man who is the exact opposite of the glamourous, swaggering chunderholes that pass for DJs on stations up and down the land. This man just loves music.

of course, none of this praise is returning the favour for Lamacq playing tracks from The Wookies' new EP, Sparks, on his 6Music show, the record being out this very week on Broken Tail Records. plug plug plug:

http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;-1;-1;-1;-1&sku=212165

on his last show, Lamacq did manage to do something I at one point never thought possible - he managed to tip me over the edge into a fully-fledged fan of Fight Like Apes. i was not shy in sharing my feelings as to their inadequacy upon seeing them support Future of the Left in London this past May, nor was i shy of slagging them off to Kev as he played me 'Tie Me Up With Jackets' in his front room, but that hook kept niggling at me, wormed its way into my soul and onto my mp3 player and, eventually, with my guard down on his last Radio 1 show, Lamacq rammed the point home with 'I'm Beginning To Think You Prefer Beverley Hills 90210 To Me'. stunning. i think i'll track her down and steal her.

but.. er.. anyway, steve lamacq. on the Evening Session in the 90s/early 00s he was an essential listen - he did so much for the alternative scene and helped so many bands over the years, i have nothing but respect for the man. without him i'd probably have never heard of Chris T-T, never picked up 'Paul' by the Landspeed Loungers and all the other anthems from my university years. such is the impact, i even still remember the first song of the first Evening Session i ever heard - Grandaddy's 'A.M.180'. that i remember that surely just goes to prove how important he is, was, and shall remain

and at least he's escaped the wheels of the Radio 1 juggernaut before he's in his 70s, a diabetic and presenting shows thrice weekly from his house til 1am.

if you know what i mean.

tour blog: pt.4; the final chapter

2009-08-24T13:00:00.000-07:00

newcastle: i probably owe you an apology.

for too long, to me, you've been some place up north typified by bare-chested manly-men, fiercly-optimistic football fans and, y'know, Ant and Dec.

not so, it seems, not so, for it's here in the city of Newcastle that the tour reaches it's peak, from a poorly attended gig where we make some new friends regardless, to an underground club in the city centre where the rock music mixes with the cheese like we're mixing the champagne with whiskey. they play PJ and Duncan. they play Bowie's Magic Dance. they give us another opportunity to dance to some horrific nu-emo-metal that's right up there with the playlist at the Cockpit a few days previous, only this time with added My Chemical Romance. but more importantly they're nice, friendly, the bar is cheap and the vibe is excellent.

a few hours later - 6.30am, to be precise - i've been spat back out onto empty city streets to wander, and think about what i've done. unable to rouse my sleeping touring buddies, i sit outside the civic centre and watch seemingly oversized rabbits bounding around, wait til Costa opens and find a quiet corner with the Independent for company, and generally fill myself full of caffeine until i start hallucinating, which happens about 10. still, it's great to see the city come to life. i hope to return very soon.

as well as marking the high point though, newcastle also marks the beginning of the end - by now all three of us, and our tour pet Kev, are the worse for wear. not enough sleep, too much alcohol and depleting brain activity has turned us into zombies, which is probably why Huddersfield was so much fun. the Parish is a zombie-themed venue (zombie free since 2006, they advertise), a pub with a venue slung on the side. again, the people are sparse but the goodwill is there, and despite our best intentions to sleep, before long we're dragged out again to Sectioned, some underground rock club which beats our ears in with all manner of punk and ska and rock and.. anything.

we go to bed too late. we get up too early. the drive ahead, from Huddersfield to our overnight stop in Reading, is a big one, and Lockey is by now too rough to drive it. barry manfully takes on the mission - single-handedly defining the tour mantra offered up by myself a few days prior, that "sometimes the only way to get back on the horse is to tie youself to the fucking saddle" - whilst i do my best to keep awake. and fail. still, we reach Reading in one piece for a night of rest, ready for the last date in portsmouth on sunday.

and that, dear reader, is that. we get there, we wander to the arcades, lose some money and i reign supreme at bowling, we play (apart from Jim, who manages a song and a half before his voice gives in for good), and we retire home to junk food and a sleep which isn't anywhere near as long as it should be before we have to get up and part company, home to the same people, past-times and problems we left behind eleven days prior, albeit with the memory of an incredible bonding journey fresh in our minds.

one thing to bear in mind, before the post-tour blues kick in and i forget what this has taught me, and this should not be forgotten as you, like me, sit solemnly in your jobs from monday to friday:

it was Franklin D Roosevelt who said that we have nothing to fear but fear itself, but he was lying. what we actually have to fear is reaching some age where youth has deserted us only to realise we've wasted our lives.

never give up.

tour blog: part 3

2009-08-20T09:30:00.000-07:00

hello, and howay, from newcastle

day eight, and the most northerly point of the tour so far sees me sat in kev's aparthotel with Come Dine With Me on in the background. kev, ever the chef, is pointing out why this particular dish won't work. i, meanwhile, feel like absolute shit.

but this is no bad thing. trust me when i say this - i've earned this. this feeling that someone is standing behind me, pounding at my neck whilst gently kneeing me in the skull is one i've truly earned, having awoken this morning on a floor in Leeds feeling exactly as tired as i was when my eyes closed at 2am. last night was York, a city astounding in its olde worlde beauty home to a compact venue below a late night cinema. the people are - for the most part - quietly appreciative, and whilst the merch hasn't exactly flown out of our hands since we left Cheltenham on Sunday (more on that in a moment), we did at least feel like we'd achieved something.

i was already half-dead before that gig, mind. Tuesday night was Leeds and a mix of music and poetry, in which the writers got fairly drunk fairly quickly and we all ended up - somewhat inevitably, for me - at The Cockpit at Slam Dunk dancing to a whole bunch of emo songs we'd never heard of, and some shameful ones we had (Fallout Boy, Goldfinger, Sublime, Alkaline Trio..). a fantastic night was had by most, i'm sure, and the hip-hop soundtracked cab ride home just drove the point home. i have a lot of time for Leeds, a sprawling, crappy metropolis of a party town, in sharp contrast to the Oxford-like lush feel of York.

oh, but by the time we got to Leeds i was already worse for wear. the night before we'd been in Walsall at James Addis' house party, complete with friends and lovers, where the drink flowed readily and i'm already well, well on my way to a good night in by the time we take to the patio as a trio and run track by track through the EP we're all here to promote.

Then we do a gig in a cupboard under the stairs.

Then we do one in the shower.

Then we do one in Barry's car.

Then apparently we do one in the bedroom, though by now my chances of recalling this are fading fast. All i know is waking up the next morning partially on a bean bag but mostly on the floor, some terrible cramp in my legs and a pain in the brain. I take my guitar to the garden with my mp3 player, lean back and paint my thoughts onto the open sky. Only less pretentious than that sounds. And with a fucking massive hangover.

But i was already feeling a bit rough by the time we even got near Walsall, the previous night having been where i last left you, on the way to Cheltenham. The show at Slak is superb, and whilst my guitar is still playing up, the crowd are responsive and out for a good night. Jim Lockey brings his full band for the hometown show which is a sight worth seeing, and we soon head home to our host, Ed, who is as welcoming to us as old ladies are to royalty. We stay up into the night watching Labyrinth (with shouts of "wang!" where appropriate for Bowie) before drunkenly collapsing in on ourselves.

indeed, Ed isn't the only great host we've had - this tour has been a collection of excellent people and faces almost too numerous to name.

now, all i have to do is make it to huddersfield alive..

tour blog pt 2, or, we're still not dead

2009-08-16T04:24:00.000-07:00

hello once again.

today, you find me holed up in Barry's computer room, the lure of the internet too much for a 21st century boy like i. tired and happy, and in need of a damn good shave, this is day four of the tour, and tonight we go to Cheltenham. but not until i've read some more of the brilliant charlie brooker book that barry hides in his toilet, and i need to change the guitar battery that gave up on me mid-set in bristol last night.

aaah, bristol. that was a weird one. an all-dayer curated by barry himself, we arrive at the venue before 1pm to find the Bristol Bike festival - sorry, this keyboard seems a little picky about what it wants to capitalise - and a lot of bikers milling around. the venue itself - upstairs at the mother's ruin - is less a venue and more a space cleared in a room where some microphones are set up. oh, and it's hotter than a star. naturally, we open a window. naturally, someone knocks a glass out of the window and narrowly misses the bikers. naturally, we nearly get into trouble.

naturally.

but the people are, for the most part, nice and polite, and the food and drink is incredibly cheap. ten hours later, the day is over, but not before some people i randomly know from reading turn up - these days living in bristol, evidently - and my incredibly drunk friend Charlie. we have some nasty shooters and check up on jim Lockey (curse you, shift key!), who departed the gig early as he had another show in somerset, where he wasnt on until 10pm. we dread to think what state he might be in for his home show of Cheltenham tonight.

oh, Devizes, that was alright in the end - more like a gathering of friends rather than the sweaty all-out super-show of Reading the night before. we drink, we shake hands, Jim hugs people who bought our stuff. it's all good.

after cheltenham, it's off to james addis's for an outdoor love-in, and from there it's out into the great unknown - Leeds, where i have been once, then to york, newcastle and huddersfield before we grab a day off. that's truly northern territory, and a long way from home. i do miss it, slightly, the comfortable familiarity of my flat, friends at easy touching distance, lovers at.. only kidding. but this time away is a good opportunity to let my oft-befuddled head settle and have a go at some self-assessment (although, thankfully, not in a tax return way).

naturally.

tour diary: part 1

2009-08-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

hello from Devizes.

i sit on day two of this Exclamation tour, in the function room of a pub in Wiltshire. tonight's show will be two sets of three songs mixed into an open mic style, and if Devizes hits its normal form, there'll be stories today. It is here, after all, in this very venue where I mounted an unsupported monitor and fell butt-first to the concrete floor, inadvertently naming a record label in the process.

Oxygen Thief is here, sat aloft my shoulder, still reveling in the glory of last night's opening show (and what a show) in Reading, where three increasingly buzzing folk musicians gave a lesson in unity. Jim Lockey's Morning Wake Up is a highlight, easily, though his morning today was less comfortable. we're not sure quite where or how it happened, but Lockey opened tour proceedings this morning with a monumental hangover, which was only made worse by the sight of food and some Murder She Wrote. surely he has set the bar for the tour. A kebab didn't help when we got here, some chips set him on the road to recovery shortly after and he has just declared his desire to drink some more.

Tomorrow he has two shows. Jim - good luck.

Back to Reading though, and i'm warmed to my very core for the support i received there. A packed house, a couple of encores and some ridiculous merch sales later, we return to chez Marwood (or Marwoody, if you believe the posters on display at the Oakford) tired and proud. Truly, it was the best show i've had in Reading for a long time, perhaps ever.

Onwards and upwards.

leeds: in

2009-08-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

the musical chairs of tour dates continues:

AUGUST
13 READING Oakford Social Club
14 DEVIZES Bell By The Green
15 BRISTOL Mother's Ruin
16 CHELTENHAM Slak
17 WEDNESBURY Castle Addis BBQ & House Show
18 LEEDS Elbow Room
19 YORK City Screen Basement Bar
20 NEWCASTLE Trillians
21 HUDDERSFIELD The Parish
23 PORTSMOUTH Drift Bar

tour news is poor news

2009-08-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, things aren't just meant to be.

The business of the tiny touring acts - for, along with Jim Lockey and Oxygen Thief that is what we are - is often prone to general drama. This August's Exclamation UK tour is no exception. Over the past week or so, the Devizes Corn Exchange has announced it won't have re-opened in time for the 14th. That gig has been shifted down the road to previous stomping-ground The Bell By The Green. It's by a green, you know.

At almost exactly the same time, the promoter at Homestead in Southampton broke the news that Sonic Boom Six had booked a show nearby that night, so our show was to be pulled so as not to compete for a crowd, and shortly after Birmingham's Island Bar show fell too, a victim of the venue's cutting back of live music, before Stourbridge's Starving Rascal went the same way, although i'd spoken to Pete Stanley of Porpoise the week before who resides in Stourbridge, and he confirmed that he'd never even heard of any live music happening there anyway.

These are the risks we take.

Barry Thief was understandably irked by this cancellation nonsense, such is his desire to gig every day of his life, but I still didn't think eight gigs in ten days is a bad result, and then the king of the Midlands, James Richard Addis of Addistock, opened up his house for a house show/BBQ on the 17th. I'd tell you where it is, but I have no idea the specifics of where his house is. Ask me if you want to know, and I'll make a direct line of enquiry. It's somewhere in the Midlands though.

Those final dates in full:

AUGUST
13 READING Oakford Social Club
14 DEVIZES Bell By The Green
15 BRISTOL Mother's Ruin
16 CHELTENHAM Slak
17 THE MIDLANDS Addis' BBQ Adventure
19 YORK City Screen Basement Bar
20 NEWCASTLE Trillians
21 HUDDERSFIELD The Parish
23 PORTSMOUTH Drift Bar

ben marwood vs edit radio

2009-07-24T12:44:00.000-07:00

i was recently invited by surely my oldest friend - in terms of time that we've been friends, at 28 and a half he's not that old - Kevin Lawson to guest present an episode of new-fangled podcast Edit Radio.

since i was a nipper i enjoyed daydreaming about DJing, and whilst i've guested on various shows, from pirates to the BBC, today marks the first day i've been allowed to do things unsupervised.

the end result is 77 minutes of the best in alt/indie/folk, from new records from Brendan Benson and The Thermals to classics from Grandaddy, Weezer and Dead Prez; from Fight Like Apes to Future of the Left; from Johnny Flynn to Jim Lockey and other things which don't fit into this alliterative theme.

You can download it now, here:

http://web.me.com/ktal1731/%5Bedit%5D_Radio/Home_files/%5Bedit%5D%20radio%209.mp3

One more childhood goal: completed.

drama drama drama

2009-07-23T13:58:00.001-07:00

A quick apology to anyone waiting for their copy of the record: the initial supply of the EP is now officially sold out, but more copies are on the way to the distributor as we speak. It's a shame that your reward for supporting the record is a frustrating delay, but sit tight, if you have an order in place it will be with you before long.

If you've ordered the record online and you're still waiting for it to arrive, forward your order confirmation to me (there's a contact option on benmarwood.com), and i'll get mp3s out to you asap.

See, told you it would be quick.

hey you!! Let's Wrestle!!

2009-07-06T13:54:00.000-07:00

excuse the excalamation marks, i just thought you might like to know i'm supporting Let's Wrestle (suddenly) this Wednesday at the Oakford Social Club. free show, as far as i'm aware, doors 8ish.

they're good friends of Pete and the Pirates, which makes them alright by me.
x

free mp3 with the new EP

2009-07-02T16:13:00.000-07:00

yeah, yeah, another EP reminder.

Exclamation at Asterisk Hash is out on 13th July, and whilst I pointed everyone last month to Amazon and HMV, I neglected to mention my independent friends at Townsend Records, so here's a revised set of buy links..

Townsend: http://www.townsend-records.co.uk/product.php?pType=1&pId=6750130
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Exclamation-Asterisk-Hash-Jim-Lockey/dp/B002CPD4YK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1246486922&sr=8-2
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Exclamation-Asterisk-Hash-Marwood-Lockey/dp/B002CPD4YK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1245281528&sr=1-1
HMV UK: http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;-1;-1;-1;-1&sku=991054

oh yeah, and if you order it you get a free mp3
yep, i've been hard at work finishing demos for The Future, so i'm offering up a free demo of beard-growing, foot-stomping live favourite 'Singalong' to anyone good enough to pick up a copy of the EP between now and the end of August. this is an exclusive deal - it won't make it to last.fm, nor to myspace so you can steal it with your cheeky browser plugins.

great, how do i get it?
easy. once youve ordered, take a screengrab of your order confirmation or account screen or whatever (uninitiated - you probably have a prt scrn button somewhere on your keyboard, the results of which you can bung into Word or Paint or something), and then ping it over to brokentailrecords@gmail.com with the subject line BEARDS. alternatively, wait til it arrives and take a cheesy picture of yourself with it. see, easy. any questions?

june

2009-06-28T14:40:00.000-07:00

Today is a good day. I could feel it was coming in my bones. My first true day off since the month began (did you notice my silence, blogworld?) comes near its close, and is spent duly doing nothing but watching some football, getting up at a disgraceful hour, putting finishing touches to a demo and, as dusk arrives, going for a run in an ongoing attempt to keep the scales from creaking mercy.

But, you have missed a lot. I've been a whirling dervish of activity, trying to promote the new record to all and sundry, making tireless arrangements for the next record (the curse of the musician forced to work within the strictest and smallest of budgets) and going to Real Life Work. In between I did some gigs, and came to the realisation that this summer's Exclamation! tour may well be the best fun ever. In Swindon, Jim Lockey, Oxygen Thief and I meet together in the same room for the first time - a fact which makes our split record even more remarkable, in my eyes - and all goes well. The crowd are warm and fuzzy, and out for both a good time and a post-set celebration. We sign photos, t-shirts and converse with people; I get offered a job teaching guitar to children and wonder if London can top it.

It can. A couple of days later, Lexapalooza 09 is a sweaty gathering in a dimly-lit goth venue, where hardcore bands mix with acoustic wonderment, all in the name of charity. Barry dares the crowd to be better than Swindon in terms of crowd participation for his cover of 'Gold' and they duly oblige, Jim excels with his collection of persistently catchy numbers ('Morning Wake-Up Call' and 'The Boat Song' a real highlight) and I myself am surrounded by friends and stangers. I meet James Richard Addis, general hero and Frank Turner fan, as well as the mighty Phil Makepeace and 'The Chipper' Chris Chip, and Kev and Jay are in attendance too, and later preside over mine and Barry's illegal wedding in the little Lexapalooza chapel of love, with Jim as best man. I also meet Paul Hawkins of Paul Hawkins and Thee Awkward Silences, who I reviewed back when I wrote for DiS. He looks nothing like I imagined. We get lost on the way to the gig after being overexuberant with our celebration of 80s Phil Collins anthem 'Easy Lover' so I manage to miss a lot of Chris T-T's set, but soon all this is forgotten, and I hope Evan's tireless efforts in putting the show together are worth it. Shattered but happy, we arrive back in Reading after midnight.

And so, given the unexpected highs of both Swindon and London, there was always a risk that perhaps the remaining two dates might struggle to match the heady highs of the first shows in this short stint of appearances designed to drag me into the future and August's Exclamation! tour, a solid string of dates which will either be the sole defining point of my musical life foreverandever or reduce me to a husk of a man. Or both.

And they did. Reading was a mess. No, excuse me, Reading was a fucking mess, a shitstorm of anger to make up for the one that didn't arrive (well, here), the culprit a combination of underage drinkers shrieking loudly to each other at stage left endlessly, some sound issues and a four-act night mixed with the humidity meaning the crowd just werent ready to come in and watch acts with such regularity when they could be outside with a cigarette and a beer. I bite my tongue for six or seven songs, and even though they really are just having fun, I have to dispatch the kids with a sharp ultimatum, though I choose to do it at a point where two people who I have no problem with are leaving the room, and they later find me, enquiring as to what they could have done to incurr such wrath from I. Someone at the back mutters "that was harsh" post-dispatch, and earns another slice of rant pie.

But by now, I'm angry at them and at myself for having reacted, and probably at everyone else for not reacting, and whilst I struggle on things lack the magic that I know Club Velocity can provide. I head out on the town afterwards after Oxygen Thief heads home to Bristol, unaware that I'm expected to do a 50-minute set in Bracknell the next day. The all-day family-friendly festival is very, very warm and relentlessly humid, gagging for a storm which still doesn't (and won't) arrive. It soon becomes clear that angsty-folk is not suited to a happy, sunny family festival, but the crowd are generous with polite applause, and what they lack in enthusiasm they make up for in not being a bunch of drunken idiot children. Acknowledging their friendly-faced patience, I cut the set short on thirty five and spend a couple of hours wandering amongst the children with painted faces and the parents pushing buggies, and at least a few people here have the sense to pick up a copy of the mini-album.

But there's a lesson to be learned in here, despite the troughs. It's always good to catch up with Aubrey Dye and I'm never, ever sad to see Oxygen Thief, plus it was good to finally meet opening act Jemma Willard after a few months of on/off Myspace banter. Similarly, Bracknell led me into the path of some young guy in a Funeral for a Friend shirt, and a foreign pair who were genuinely appreciative. As time goes on and the inevitable thoughts creep in - of how long I can keep spending all my time and money on music whilst my friends get married, buy houses and have kids and whether it is, after all, me and not them who is wasting their lives - these people, and the support of the people who constantly give up their time and money to indulge me in this pursuit, are more important than ever.

And now, in front of the Glastonbury highlights, as Lauren Laverne gets on my nerves again for no reason other than she seems to be the next Jo Whiley, and Jo Whiley herself looks more and more like a hippy-witch-cat-lady with every passing year, I bid you farewell. Roll on July; RIP Michael Jackson.

EP pre-order

2009-06-27T12:11:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, the new EP, Exclamation At Asterisk Hash, is now available for pre-order (and, subsequently, actual order) from HMV, Play and Amazon at the following links:

AMAZON UK - £4.89 plus delivery (free for over £5 orders)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Exclamation-Asterisk-Hash-Jim-Lockey/dp/B002CPD4YK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1246130069&sr=8-1

AMAZON US
http://www.amazon.com/Exclamation-Asterisk-Hash-Marwood-Lockey/dp/B002CPD4YK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1245281528&sr=1-1

HMV UK - £4.99 inc delivery
http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;-1;-1;-1;-1&sku=991054

PLAY - £5.99 inc delivery
http://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/10296145/Exclamation-At-Asterisk-Hash/Product.html

Amazon still carry stock of This Is Not What You Had Planned, if you're looking for a reason to take your order over £5. Also, Broken Tail release the Sixty Watt Bayonets debut mini-album Pounding Hearts, Fighting Words on the same day (July 13th), which is well worth a look too.

tinitus maximus

2009-05-30T13:32:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I took to the stage in Oxford with half my hearing and a wrist screaming complaints.

I better explain.

This week I attended the future of the left show at the ULU, unwittingly sans earplugs, which were only missed by the time it was too late to recover them. No real problem there, I've been to gigs unguarded before, but in this instance my ears were blown clean away, standing as I was in front of the guitar amp of the guitarist in a band known for having very loud guitars. (Falco himself these days sporting the kind of short back and sides that a PE teacher would be proud of, and only 4 strings adorning his custom-destroyed 6-string).

After a heroic performance in goal last Sunday I also took a direct hit to the wrist, the very same wrist which, last May, I hurt during a 5-a-side tournament where I was voted man of the tournament and promptly passed out from the pain in a bus lane in Reading town centre later that evening. No such passing out this time around, merely tons more pain as i crushed it and crunched it in various positions at tuesday's gig. Also at the show was Steve Lamacq, though anytime i was anywhere near him he was deep in conversation, whereas Jay (Newton - Full Force Gales, Heartwear Process, Broken Tail) later sauntered up to him and grabbed a few words, thankfully two of which were "thank you". In shame at my failure to talk to him myself, I have since written him a letter which he'll get in triplicate later this week.

Yes, in triplicate.

The gig was of course fantastic, and support Pulled Apart By Horses were great, though Paul (Smith) would later mark them down for looking like they intended to smash their instruments and then not doing it, leading him into the realms of disappointment. Anyway, less fantastic was the complete failure of my hearing to return, leading me to believe I am suffering permanent damage. The damage to my wrist isn't so bad, unless it's carpel tunnel. This entire backstory led me onto the TEAM GAMES stage at Oxford's Thirst Lodge, a bar on a Friday night, to be drowned out by conversationists by the time i'd even struck the first note. Sometimes you can't win, but i can do without the pain and confusion of my own body rebelling against me.

The day, naturally, was rescued by the kindness and generosity of the people who travelled to say hello; Mike and Friend From Work Whose Name I Forgot, Phil Makepeace and Hugh, who gave us a place to sit around post-gig to discuss random things (to, i believe, the dismay of his hall-mates), Jacqui for making the trip down and swinging by Reading on the way home and a couple of members of my family for the same, and to Sky and TEAM GAMES for making me a cake. No promoter has made me a cake before, though Mike did have some made for the crowd once.

As I wander through oxford i realise i am piecing together the geography now, and i can go from A to B to C to D, as long as i do them in that order. It's curious how much i'd like to live there, for the vibrancy of a city that, whilst obviously smaller than London, i think would be able to provide more of a home.

Something to think about perhaps.

If only i could think through this tinitus.

new songs up on myspace..

2009-05-20T15:35:00.000-07:00

friends, romans, country bumpkins.

in honour of the new record, i thought it might be a good idea to let people actually hear some of it, thus there are the three songs from the EP now up on the myspace, for your perusal.

http://www.myspace.com/benmarwoodmusic

keep well,
b.

Exclamation: A Tour

2009-05-11T14:53:00.000-07:00

Date me?

JUNE
20th LONDON Lexapalooza 09 alldayer @ the Gaff *^
26th READING Rising Sun Arts Centre *
27th BRACKNELL Big Day Out Festival @ South Hill Park

JULY
4th READING Rising Sun Arts Centre
CANCELLED 10th LINCOLN The Millers Arms
11th NOTTINGHAM Jam Cafe *
12th SHEFFIELD Mentholmans *

AUGUST
13th READING Oakford Social Club *^
14th DEVIZES Corn Exchange *^
16th CHELTENHAM Slak *^
17th STOURBRIDGE Starving Rascal *^
18th BIRMINGHAM Island Bar *^
19th YORK City Screen Basement Bar *^
20th NEWCASTLE Trillians *^
21st HUDDERSFIELD The Parish *^
22nd SOUTHAMPTON Homestead *^
23rd PORTSMOUTH Drift Bar *^

* denotes the presence of Oxygen Thief
^ denotes the presence of Mr Jim Lockey

so, that new record..

2009-05-10T14:35:00.000-07:00

Jim Lockey, Ben Marwood & the Oxygen Thief - Exclamation at Asterisk Hash EP

1. Jim Lockey - Waitress (EP Version) // 2. Ben Marwood - Friendly Fire // 3. Oxygen Thief - There Can Be Only One // 4. Ben Marwood - I Will Breathe You In // 5. Jim Lockey - The Boat Song (EP Version) // 6. Oxygen Thief - Too Many Trees // 7. Ben Marwood - You Can Hold On Once // 8. Oxygen Thief - Sunclouds // 9. Jim Lockey - Atlases (EP Version)

Released 13th July 2009 on CD/download through Josaka / Broken Tail Records.

A product of sheer coincidence, Exclamation at Asterisk Hash clocks in at 33 minutes and 1 second. That's not the coincidence though.

It came about like this: I met Barry Dolan, herein known for some reason as Oxygen Thief, when we shared a bill in front of about 11 people in a pub in Cambridge last summer. He tipped me off as to a good gig to be had in Cheltenham at the hands of a guy called Jim Lockey, who happened to be the very same Jim Lockey I ran into two days later at the video shoot for Frank Turner's 'Long Live The Queen'. I made it up to Cheltenham that November, and kept in touch with Mr Thief, and it was finally decided around then that a split record would be a good idea.

Thus, we set about separately writing and recording three singles, if you will, to be squished onto one record.

Continuing the prevailing theme of coincidence, the tracks went together pretty easily, thus the finished product weaves in and out like Ricky Hatton recently didn't. In terms of songs, anyone whose caught the live show in the last six months will already have heard 'Friendly Fire', anyone who caught the set in the six months before that had a good chance of hearing 'I Will Breathe You In' and only ten people have heard 'You Can Hold On Once', which is actually quite a nice feeling, but things cannot stay this way forever.

Of course, there's that title. Despite the fact that i don't swear on record, it caused enough cussing for us all. For Jim Lockey, he was trying to do all this stuff whilst studying for his finals and recording his second album (Atlases is out in August), Mr Thief had some kind of computer-based meltdown, and i managed to lose a pedal steel player, find another one and then lose a whole bunch of violin takes and fail to find another violinist. Oops? Still, thanks muchly to Paul Smith and his singing bowl talents, Kurt Hamilton on pedal steel and Chris Sartin for the loan of his trusty glockenspiel.

I am going to point out at this point that the title of the record is Exclamation at Asterisk Hash, and anyone who dares to insist that the title is !@*# is going to feel some wrath of some kind.

Tour dates and pre-order links to follow soon enough, dear people.
x

[edit] radio podcast

2009-05-09T03:59:00.000-07:00

Whilst the sun was out one sunny Saturday, me and good buddy Kevin Lawson locked ourselves in a darkened room and recorded a podcast for Lawson's [edit] radio series, where he learnt quite quickly the danger of saying things like "you can play whatever you like".

With that in mind, you can head over to http://www.editradio.co.uk and hear the resulting podcast, which is essentially two friends sat down having a laugh, albeit without any frustratingly-obtuse, irritating in-jokes. A word of warning though: it was done in one take with a desk microphone, and it is to professionalism what Russell Brand is to modesty, but I guarantee the songs are great; you can even hear one of the Jim Lockey's songs from the new record.

Oh, about that new record..

holy moses, my spinning head..

2009-05-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

I was honestly going to write about the new record today, list all the tour dates and give the spiel about how awesome it's going to be.

I was.

Instead, i can't. My brain is mushy and tender from this bank holiday weekend, so instead of hearing about the new record, you're going to hear about why Oxford is my new favourite place on earth. Sure, it may be picturesque and a city and full of the variety that a town like Reading - where I personally spend my days - lacks, but actually what really swung me was the reckless abandonment at which they threw themselves in Mayday celebrations; fancy dress, bridge jumping, heavy drinking, pubs re-opening at balls o'clock the next morning to allow continued drinking amid fry-ups and complimentary bloody marys..

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, oxford's great. I headed out as a guest of Richard Sanderson to a couple of the Frank Turner oxford residency shows debuting new album material (verdict: pretty fucking sweet), and along the way bumped into all manner of excellent ne'er-do-wells who convinced me that oxford would be a good place to live, and i can't help but agree. Pat from the Young Playthings was out, though I think he might have been slightly alarmed at my Turner fanboy status. TYP have a new record out soon, and this excites me, and Turner in turn talked up the new Future of the Left record vigorously which both made up my mind that this year could be good for records, and that it would be a good idea to get my butt to London for May 26th to see FOTL in action. Meanwhile, I go back to Oxford on the 29th for a gig at the Thirst Lodge, which someone describes as "a bar". At the end of the final night, Ben from Dive Dive tells me he's never heard my stuff but it's okay because he always misses out on the good stuff for ages (slick), and whilst he looks like he'd quite like to make a conversation out of it and I'd like to oblige, I am by now fighting fierce Sambuca-addled dizziness (dizzy) and Richard subsequently joins a surprisingly short list of people who've seen me absolutely, positively wasted once we're out in the open air (fresh), and it dawns on me slowly that food is not something that has been in my vicinity for quite a while (starving).

In preparation for the FOTL shows, and to see whether I feel more at home in Oxford or London (curiously: neither are my home), I head to the capitol city of our fair isle on Sunday to see a whole bunch of people who cancel, and my friend Chloe ("adorable" - Stephen Fry). There's something about warm(ish - we didn't stay outside long) days in the city that trigger a series of romanticisms within my cynical self, and after parting company with Chloe ("adorable" - Stephen Fry), I wander across the city from Kingsway to Covent Garden singing songs to myself that I'm making up as I go along. None of them are any good. None of them will make the next record.

Oh, about that new record..

thomas davies: give the boy a hand

2009-04-22T14:30:00.000-07:00

a complete history of not very much

horatio dies all over again

happy new ears

lazy boxing day extravaganza of eating and TV

merry christmas, one and all

post 101

toothache 1, antibiotics 0

Third time's a charm

**non-christmas party: supports announced!!**

help franz do the struggle

this december: a non-christmas party

one down, nineteen to go

new song goes Mile High / tour dates confirmed

armchair punditry

Something For The Weekends

things i have done in the past month

incoming: 2000 Trees

big mixing it up

xfm listen again, interviews and more..

xfm live session, radio 2 and how we broke the internet

with luck and courage

although we've come.. to the ennnnd of the roooad..

ben, bus and beyond

ben and franz at brixton's windmill - 1st june

lemon cake vs. liverpool

never trust a man without a horror story

wait, i get days off?

dun dun dunnnnnn(dee)

the dirty thirty

ben marwood is practically a sellout

centromatic for the people

Singalong is new to Q

May 2nd is national Singalong day

Spring: Sprung

South Street reminder..

with apologies to Brighton and Norwich

This May: Frank Tourner

tour diary: the final chapter

tour diary pts 2 & 3 (er.. part 1!)

a tour diary (pt 1)

tour, instore, pre-or..der

Kingston tonight: postponed

UK tour: dates confirmed!

photoshop handsome

pitter patter twitter twatter

'Outside There's A Curse' out on Xtra Mile this January

the flowerpot men need new homes

so did you hear the one about..

surviving the quiet

confirmed: south by north-west

listen again // tomorrow morning

tonight on BBC Berks

the sunday review

in session: [edit] radio

.. and oh, i almost forgot

2000 Trees and a Bath

i guess now england are out..

i power kexp

an evening at the ICA

nearly..

it's the end of the site as we know it

a change of Heart. wear.

T minus 1

the horror, the horror

the focus grope

falling in love again..

don't hold your breath

february is cancelled

pre-divorce jitters

a midwinter picnic

so this is Christm.. oh, no, wait, it isn't anymore

christmas bonus

merry christmas (aka A Lack of Color for free)

all hail: union chapel

from goring to london via bbc berkshire

the wait for cheesecake

one flu over the cuckoo's nest

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

(r)oc(k)tober!

another one dites the bust

non-christmas party: supports announced!!