so did you hear the one about..

.. 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

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..

x

confirmed: south by north-west

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.

x

listen again // tomorrow morning

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

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..

x

the sunday review

INCEPTION

it's alright.

words: ben marwood

in session: [edit] radio

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.

x