Hello October. The lack of September news was not a reflection on there not being any activity on the music front here at BM Inc., but more that there was no news that would set the world on fire. Any little snippets of info went through Facebook and Twitter, etc.
There have been some show announcements that I'll post up here tomorrow (or you can see now on the gigs page), but I wanted to do a brief post about Seattle radio station KEXP. My guitar case proudly displays KEXP stickers from 2010 and 2011 summer fundraising drives, and when summer 2012 rolled around I didn't have the money to spare. When the "fall" (hah) fundraiser rolled around this week, I still didn't have that much, but I've bitten the bullet and done it. I am proud to power KEXP in 2012.
KEXP 90.3 Seattle is a publically-funded alternative rock station with regular live music sessions, which then are made available through a massive streamable archive. They highlight the very best of the Seattle music scene (who gave us more than their fair share of excellent acts over the years, and anyone who knows me well will know I'm definitely not talking about Nirvana), as well as alternative music from the States and often great music from UK acts who you don't always get to hear, perversely, on UK radio stations.
I'm proud to power KEXP, and not just because I enjoy scrolling through their annual reports to see my name amongst the thousands of donors every year.
(By the way KEXP, if I don't get a 2012 sticker with my donation, I want my money back).
Saturday, 6 October 2012
Thursday, 23 August 2012
saturday stage times PLUS xtra mile tv tomorrow morning
hey everyone
quick news-splurge. for anyone attending this Saturday's free show at the Wheelbarrow, note I'll be on at 10pm, with the excellent Dave Giles opening the show at 9pm. good times.
also, tomorrow morning at 11am there'll be some me-related 2000Trees highlights (as well as stuff from Crazy Arm, Future of the Left, Sonic Boom Six and more) on Xtra Mile TV. the site is www.xtramile.tv, and if you share this on facebook you get entered into a prize draw. i'm not one of the prizes.
as far as i'm aware, the me-related stuff on Xtra Mile TV from tomorrow is a short interview conducted with me by Chris T-T, and also I tried to do a song. we may have been interrupted by quad bikes and nesting birds - i don't quite remember.
quick news-splurge. for anyone attending this Saturday's free show at the Wheelbarrow, note I'll be on at 10pm, with the excellent Dave Giles opening the show at 9pm. good times.
also, tomorrow morning at 11am there'll be some me-related 2000Trees highlights (as well as stuff from Crazy Arm, Future of the Left, Sonic Boom Six and more) on Xtra Mile TV. the site is www.xtramile.tv, and if you share this on facebook you get entered into a prize draw. i'm not one of the prizes.
as far as i'm aware, the me-related stuff on Xtra Mile TV from tomorrow is a short interview conducted with me by Chris T-T, and also I tried to do a song. we may have been interrupted by quad bikes and nesting birds - i don't quite remember.
Monday, 20 August 2012
cursed again
bonjour, bonjour!
hello from my sweaty bedroom (not normally sweaty, but it's tiny, and in this heat it is indeed a hotbox or sauna or somewhere in between depending on what next door are doing) where I bring some great news.
Gigs this fortnight
indeed, the lesser-spotted Ben Marwood is actually leaving his/my damn house and playing some shows for you kids down south the next couple of weekends. there'll be the road test of some new material here and there, but mostly it's just an excuse to make sure you buggers don't forget about me.
The two:
AUGUST Sat 25th
LONDON Wheelbarrow, Camden
w/Dave J Giles, free entry, 18+
SEPTEMBER Sat 1st
READING Rising Sun Arts Centre
w/Aubrey Dye-Welch and band, plus Burnt Tomorrow
£5 entry, £4 adv (ticket link)
The return of the mack, if the mack is my first album
This month we celebrated the first anniversary of the original run of my first album going up in smoke courtesy of youths (yuck, you with your nice hairs and positive outlooks). The first anniversary in the US would've been the paper anniversary, but here in the UK it is the cotton anniversary.
All that has little to do with how Xtra Mile have re-pressed (after a year of selling the 150 super-limited-but-definitely-very-official replacement CD-Rs) the first album Outside There's A Curse, which is now in a very sexy jewel case, and you can own one via all the normal means (the interweb, the big old-fashioned shops desperately trying not to just be DVD and electronics stores) but also they're now in the webshop either as a standalone item or in one of the bundles, including the one where you get a t-shirt, album, mini-album and split EP all for not much money.
AND also since this is the cotton anniversary, I'm pretty sure my t-shirts are made of cotton, and fittingly you can now buy the t-shirt along with a CD-R copy of the album for just £1 extra whilst stocks last. Good link!
So there, all is rosy. Stay positive! See some of you these next few weekends..
b
hello from my sweaty bedroom (not normally sweaty, but it's tiny, and in this heat it is indeed a hotbox or sauna or somewhere in between depending on what next door are doing) where I bring some great news.
Gigs this fortnight
indeed, the lesser-spotted Ben Marwood is actually leaving his/my damn house and playing some shows for you kids down south the next couple of weekends. there'll be the road test of some new material here and there, but mostly it's just an excuse to make sure you buggers don't forget about me.
The two:
AUGUST Sat 25th
LONDON Wheelbarrow, Camden
w/Dave J Giles, free entry, 18+
SEPTEMBER Sat 1st
READING Rising Sun Arts Centre
w/Aubrey Dye-Welch and band, plus Burnt Tomorrow
£5 entry, £4 adv (ticket link)
The return of the mack, if the mack is my first album
This month we celebrated the first anniversary of the original run of my first album going up in smoke courtesy of youths (yuck, you with your nice hairs and positive outlooks). The first anniversary in the US would've been the paper anniversary, but here in the UK it is the cotton anniversary.
All that has little to do with how Xtra Mile have re-pressed (after a year of selling the 150 super-limited-but-definitely-very-official replacement CD-Rs) the first album Outside There's A Curse, which is now in a very sexy jewel case, and you can own one via all the normal means (the interweb, the big old-fashioned shops desperately trying not to just be DVD and electronics stores) but also they're now in the webshop either as a standalone item or in one of the bundles, including the one where you get a t-shirt, album, mini-album and split EP all for not much money.
AND also since this is the cotton anniversary, I'm pretty sure my t-shirts are made of cotton, and fittingly you can now buy the t-shirt along with a CD-R copy of the album for just £1 extra whilst stocks last. Good link!
So there, all is rosy. Stay positive! See some of you these next few weekends..
b
Monday, 13 August 2012
falling asleep standing up.
so the olympics has been and gone, and i feel like now might be the time to break the blogsilence that i maintained whilst it was happening. i don't have a lot to say about it, but i note the following points.
it is possible to fall asleep standing up on trains
on the monday of the very first rehearsal, i got up at 4.45am in order to get to London. after the last rehearsal, I fell asleep around midnight on the train home. standing up. leaning against the border of an open window. thankfully i was blocking the door so someone had to wake me up at Reading in order to get off the train. this is good news because whilst i can't remember where the train was going to, i know it was way beyond Reading.
i can be proud to be British
Danny Boyle's opening ceremony gave me a warm feeling in my soul, and i thought perhaps i was ill or something, but i realised it was actually National Pride and not a disease. this is pretty odd because although this land has a lot going for it, we're reminded of its failures every day. media outlets remind us constantly that the NHS is understaffed and shit and getting worse, police are understaffed and shit, our politicians are rotten, are newspapers will hack your phones, we're unemployed, we're unemployable, and our national football team sucks eggs. Well, fuck off. Aside from Hull, this land is okay by me.
the daily mail is still written mostly for your local UKIP MP
i'm not going to say too much on this, because i think this article sums it up pretty nicely, but really - Britain gives the world some excellence, and the Mail gives it some casual and pretty desperate racism? but screw it, even that didn't dampen the fun.
and that it's good to catch up with friends (duh)
first things first: i'd like to congratulate Frank Turner on his constant hard work earning him the opportunity to play in front of X million people watching at home and the Y thousand people in the stadium. this man works hard, punk-rock hard, and in a decade in the industry i don't think i've met anyone like him. and let's not forget that his, and Xtra Mile's, choice of extended backing band was entirely excellent, because frankly Emily Barker and the Red Clay Halo and Jim Lockey & the Solemn Sun are two bands who deserve a zillion times more plaudits than they earn, but give it time.
me, i accepted this gig entirely blind, with no knowledge that it was the Olympics, just a knowledge of the dates I'd need to be around for, and whose company i'd be keeping. in truth, that's why i accepted it - to hang out with FT, Charlie at Xtra Mile, the cast and crew of Sleeping Souls, Jim Lockey & the Solemn Sun and Emily Barker and friends is one of life's little pleasures for me. I may never tackle this industry, but at least i can show my grandkids this moving gif i made of ben marwood, aged 31, shuffling on a slippery hill in awkward embarrassment:
i'm off to practice my carnivale dancings for Rio 2016.
it is possible to fall asleep standing up on trains
on the monday of the very first rehearsal, i got up at 4.45am in order to get to London. after the last rehearsal, I fell asleep around midnight on the train home. standing up. leaning against the border of an open window. thankfully i was blocking the door so someone had to wake me up at Reading in order to get off the train. this is good news because whilst i can't remember where the train was going to, i know it was way beyond Reading.
i can be proud to be British
Danny Boyle's opening ceremony gave me a warm feeling in my soul, and i thought perhaps i was ill or something, but i realised it was actually National Pride and not a disease. this is pretty odd because although this land has a lot going for it, we're reminded of its failures every day. media outlets remind us constantly that the NHS is understaffed and shit and getting worse, police are understaffed and shit, our politicians are rotten, are newspapers will hack your phones, we're unemployed, we're unemployable, and our national football team sucks eggs. Well, fuck off. Aside from Hull, this land is okay by me.
the daily mail is still written mostly for your local UKIP MP
i'm not going to say too much on this, because i think this article sums it up pretty nicely, but really - Britain gives the world some excellence, and the Mail gives it some casual and pretty desperate racism? but screw it, even that didn't dampen the fun.
and that it's good to catch up with friends (duh)
first things first: i'd like to congratulate Frank Turner on his constant hard work earning him the opportunity to play in front of X million people watching at home and the Y thousand people in the stadium. this man works hard, punk-rock hard, and in a decade in the industry i don't think i've met anyone like him. and let's not forget that his, and Xtra Mile's, choice of extended backing band was entirely excellent, because frankly Emily Barker and the Red Clay Halo and Jim Lockey & the Solemn Sun are two bands who deserve a zillion times more plaudits than they earn, but give it time.
me, i accepted this gig entirely blind, with no knowledge that it was the Olympics, just a knowledge of the dates I'd need to be around for, and whose company i'd be keeping. in truth, that's why i accepted it - to hang out with FT, Charlie at Xtra Mile, the cast and crew of Sleeping Souls, Jim Lockey & the Solemn Sun and Emily Barker and friends is one of life's little pleasures for me. I may never tackle this industry, but at least i can show my grandkids this moving gif i made of ben marwood, aged 31, shuffling on a slippery hill in awkward embarrassment:
i'm off to practice my carnivale dancings for Rio 2016.
Sunday, 15 July 2012
2000Trees 2012 Survivors Club.
A deep breath. I need to write this now before I forget or the emotions dull. Be grateful I did not write this upon my arrival home this morning at 1am.. after my brother had helped me out of my shoes.
For those of you who are looking at the above paragraph with a quizzical look that resembles the same one most people have had listening to the new Muse Olympic anthem, last night I played 2000Trees, in my opinion the best festival that the UK has to offer and a must-play for any good British independent act (by its very nature - 2000Trees is an entirely British festival, in the least Daily Mail, Down With Foreigners way possible).
It's no secret that I love this festival, this is my fourth year there on the trot, but a variety of factors combined this year to remind us all why this festival is so good, and why UK festivals in general - not considering the major, largely bullshit corporate affairs - are so special.
Those of you reading this in the UK will have noticed this already, but for the benefit of those of you abroad I'll mention this anyway: it has been pissing it down here like big, regular mournful tears from the sky. It would be childish of me to blame Nick Clegg, but it's his fault entirely. Hold on, dear reader, get past the initial reaction of "but it's Britain, everyone knows it rains in Britain all the time regardless", but I'll have you know that since some bright spark declared in Spring that the UK was in drought conditions, barely a day has passed without some rainshower, or two rainshowers. In the two weeks before 2000Trees it was declared that April to June in the UK had been the wettest since records began over 100 years ago.
Two weeks before 2000Trees, it began raining heavily and regularly.
One week before 2000Trees, it was still raining.
2000Trees is held on a farm.
Five days ago I looked at the weather report and stopped looking for someone to fill my guestlist spot.
It rained on Monday.
And Tuesday.
And Wednesday.
And Thursday, when the gates opened to early birds, it was raining.
And it rained on Friday, which is the day on which I forgot to buy wellies, walking boots, or even a pair of trainers that do not have a hole in the bottom.
On Saturday, when we arrived on site, it took me about 30 minutes of standing in the ice-cold mud in my shoes before I'd realised the mistake.
And then, standing in front of the GreenHouse stage I would be playing later that day, the heavens opened. Again.
But where were the sad faces? Sure, when we pulled up at midday there were some rain-soaked mud-caked ex-festivalgoers busy throwing in the towel to the British summer, but as far as quitting went, that was it. A man in Speedos belly-flopped down what used to be the hill between the main site and the GreenHouse and people still spent (fancy dress) Saturday in video game costumes - lots of Mario/Luigi pairings, many many Lemmings (some with appropriate tools), some Sims, Tetris shapes, Portal cubes, Bombermen.
I'll say this though. As easy as it is to look back and give a big thumbs-up, the staff of this festival should be lauded for even pulling this together. Expensive extra measures, extra security, re-routing walkways and a lot of crossing of fingers are the real reasons that this even went ahead this year - helped I'm sure by the financial damage faced by pulling it. I'm sure there were crisis meetings, and I'm sure some people will disagree with this statement, but I think it was the right call to go ahead. I'm not sure if I'd have shared this sentiment if everyone had gone to see Hundred Reasons instead of making the considerable journey up Mud Hill.. but they did.
And wow, did they. When I saw the clash with the hotly anticipated main stage HR set, my heart sank a little, but I was ready to draw positives. Before I found out about it, I'd spent a little while worrying about how on Earth we were going to fit everyone into the tent when the rains came. The addition of a big clash with the weekend's most hotly-anticipated set in the end ended up a blessing, in my eyes.
And then the people appeared up mud hill.
On Saturday evening, it did not rain.
I wish I'd taken pictures from the stage, it was good to see faces familiar and not so, and the reception, warmth and vocal support for a guy who hasn't toured in 2012 was the most incredible shock and the best surprise. That it was a set chosen by people almost entirely via social media also meant that I knew at least you guys were getting what you actually wanted.
That set in full:
Question Marks
We Are No Longer Twenty-Five
Five Little Secrets
JJ Abrams
Claire
Friendly Fire
Oh My Days
Tell Avril Lavigne I Never Wanted To Be Her Stupid Boyfriend Anyway
Engine Driver (Decemberists - with Jay Newton of Quiet Quiet Band)
Singalong
District Sleeps Alone Tonight (Postal Service)
-------
Toil
-------
A Lack of Colo(u)r (Death Cab)*
(*belated apologies to anyone who didn't wish for a second encore. including anyone running the stage. i was persuaded back on by a couple of people it turns out are nothing to do with the festival. oops?)
I'm hoping someone captured at least some of it on video, or in pictures. And when I find some decent pictures of the mud, I may well post them here.
And I don't say this very often, drum beating really isn't my thing, but if you would normally have seen me and instead opted for Hundred Reasons, find someone who was there and ask them if you made the right choice.
Special mentions go to the Xtra Mile crew who were busy there all weekend, to the organisers and staff, to Cadbury Sisters whose set was beautiful, and to Future of the Left, whose set was entirely ugly in the very best way. Also, special thanks to Mr Tom Crook, driver extraordinaire, sales assistant and morale booster, without whom yesterday would have been a very, very different experience altogether.
If you needed an example of British stubbornness in action, 2000Trees this year was the place to be. I can honestly say I have never experienced anything like it, even though secretly I hope I don't have to again anytime soon.
Meanwhile, to anyone who now forms part of the 2000Trees 2012 Survivors Club, do get in touch via the email on my Twitter profile, or via the joy of Facebook messaging. We should do t-shirts, right?
xx
For those of you who are looking at the above paragraph with a quizzical look that resembles the same one most people have had listening to the new Muse Olympic anthem, last night I played 2000Trees, in my opinion the best festival that the UK has to offer and a must-play for any good British independent act (by its very nature - 2000Trees is an entirely British festival, in the least Daily Mail, Down With Foreigners way possible).
It's no secret that I love this festival, this is my fourth year there on the trot, but a variety of factors combined this year to remind us all why this festival is so good, and why UK festivals in general - not considering the major, largely bullshit corporate affairs - are so special.
Those of you reading this in the UK will have noticed this already, but for the benefit of those of you abroad I'll mention this anyway: it has been pissing it down here like big, regular mournful tears from the sky. It would be childish of me to blame Nick Clegg, but it's his fault entirely. Hold on, dear reader, get past the initial reaction of "but it's Britain, everyone knows it rains in Britain all the time regardless", but I'll have you know that since some bright spark declared in Spring that the UK was in drought conditions, barely a day has passed without some rainshower, or two rainshowers. In the two weeks before 2000Trees it was declared that April to June in the UK had been the wettest since records began over 100 years ago.
Two weeks before 2000Trees, it began raining heavily and regularly.
One week before 2000Trees, it was still raining.
2000Trees is held on a farm.
Five days ago I looked at the weather report and stopped looking for someone to fill my guestlist spot.
It rained on Monday.
And Tuesday.
And Wednesday.
And Thursday, when the gates opened to early birds, it was raining.
And it rained on Friday, which is the day on which I forgot to buy wellies, walking boots, or even a pair of trainers that do not have a hole in the bottom.
On Saturday, when we arrived on site, it took me about 30 minutes of standing in the ice-cold mud in my shoes before I'd realised the mistake.
And then, standing in front of the GreenHouse stage I would be playing later that day, the heavens opened. Again.
But where were the sad faces? Sure, when we pulled up at midday there were some rain-soaked mud-caked ex-festivalgoers busy throwing in the towel to the British summer, but as far as quitting went, that was it. A man in Speedos belly-flopped down what used to be the hill between the main site and the GreenHouse and people still spent (fancy dress) Saturday in video game costumes - lots of Mario/Luigi pairings, many many Lemmings (some with appropriate tools), some Sims, Tetris shapes, Portal cubes, Bombermen.
I'll say this though. As easy as it is to look back and give a big thumbs-up, the staff of this festival should be lauded for even pulling this together. Expensive extra measures, extra security, re-routing walkways and a lot of crossing of fingers are the real reasons that this even went ahead this year - helped I'm sure by the financial damage faced by pulling it. I'm sure there were crisis meetings, and I'm sure some people will disagree with this statement, but I think it was the right call to go ahead. I'm not sure if I'd have shared this sentiment if everyone had gone to see Hundred Reasons instead of making the considerable journey up Mud Hill.. but they did.
And wow, did they. When I saw the clash with the hotly anticipated main stage HR set, my heart sank a little, but I was ready to draw positives. Before I found out about it, I'd spent a little while worrying about how on Earth we were going to fit everyone into the tent when the rains came. The addition of a big clash with the weekend's most hotly-anticipated set in the end ended up a blessing, in my eyes.
And then the people appeared up mud hill.
On Saturday evening, it did not rain.
I wish I'd taken pictures from the stage, it was good to see faces familiar and not so, and the reception, warmth and vocal support for a guy who hasn't toured in 2012 was the most incredible shock and the best surprise. That it was a set chosen by people almost entirely via social media also meant that I knew at least you guys were getting what you actually wanted.
That set in full:
Question Marks
We Are No Longer Twenty-Five
Five Little Secrets
JJ Abrams
Claire
Friendly Fire
Oh My Days
Tell Avril Lavigne I Never Wanted To Be Her Stupid Boyfriend Anyway
Engine Driver (Decemberists - with Jay Newton of Quiet Quiet Band)
Singalong
District Sleeps Alone Tonight (Postal Service)
-------
Toil
-------
A Lack of Colo(u)r (Death Cab)*
(*belated apologies to anyone who didn't wish for a second encore. including anyone running the stage. i was persuaded back on by a couple of people it turns out are nothing to do with the festival. oops?)
I'm hoping someone captured at least some of it on video, or in pictures. And when I find some decent pictures of the mud, I may well post them here.
And I don't say this very often, drum beating really isn't my thing, but if you would normally have seen me and instead opted for Hundred Reasons, find someone who was there and ask them if you made the right choice.
Special mentions go to the Xtra Mile crew who were busy there all weekend, to the organisers and staff, to Cadbury Sisters whose set was beautiful, and to Future of the Left, whose set was entirely ugly in the very best way. Also, special thanks to Mr Tom Crook, driver extraordinaire, sales assistant and morale booster, without whom yesterday would have been a very, very different experience altogether.
If you needed an example of British stubbornness in action, 2000Trees this year was the place to be. I can honestly say I have never experienced anything like it, even though secretly I hope I don't have to again anytime soon.
Meanwhile, to anyone who now forms part of the 2000Trees 2012 Survivors Club, do get in touch via the email on my Twitter profile, or via the joy of Facebook messaging. We should do t-shirts, right?
xx
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
the lines are closed.
thanks to everyone who helped me choose my 2000trees set. it's done, it's dusted, i'm ready for Saturday.
i have given up on the weather, to be honest, in this darned country, and from the weather forecast for the day i think rather than bring an umbrella i'll just be bringing a canoe. maybe my set should be played in the style of sea shanties from start to finish..
i have given up on the weather, to be honest, in this darned country, and from the weather forecast for the day i think rather than bring an umbrella i'll just be bringing a canoe. maybe my set should be played in the style of sea shanties from start to finish..
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
so, ask me anything..
It's true, Xtra Mile have set up a Q&A at 2000 Trees in a couple of weekends' time.
If you ever wanted to ask me a question, whether it's how many elephants I have ever seen in one place, or why I still wear skater-type shoes at the age of thirty-one, you can start the ball rolling by visiting this link
You can even ask me questions about how Get Cape stole my sound, if you don't mind the answer being SHUT UP YOU GUYS.
Anon.
If you ever wanted to ask me a question, whether it's how many elephants I have ever seen in one place, or why I still wear skater-type shoes at the age of thirty-one, you can start the ball rolling by visiting this link
You can even ask me questions about how Get Cape stole my sound, if you don't mind the answer being SHUT UP YOU GUYS.
Anon.
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