Friday, April 24th, 2009
Hi all. I was planning on writing a blog on Wednesday about our Tuesday night Barfly gig, but I sweated soooooo much while playing that it’s taken me until Friday afternoon to re-hydrate myself sufficiently. Now that I can muster the strength to move my fingers I’d like to say thanks to all of you who came along, and a very well played to Nick Evans and Theoretical Girl who opened for us.I hadn’t been to the Barfly before and while it has a nice sounding room, comfortable size stage, seemingly adequate sound system, friendly staff, trendy location and great dressing rooms (and a secret upstairs recording studio which I mistook for the gents…oops), the lack of air conditioning meant we might have all been cooler if the gig was on Mercury ! If I hadn’t been sitting down behind the drum kit I think I may have withered, and possibly expired. But thanks to my trusty throne and the healing powers of lager I managed to get through. How my fellow band mates and our adoring audience coped with it I’m not really sure. Poor Rusty looked like he’d been for a swim fully dressed in his Sunday best.
But enough about the weather, it was a great gig none the less. We had a blast, and judging by the amount of singing, clapping and friendly banter I think the audience did too. Which, after all is what really matters.
There was a lot of new songs in the set, and even a world premier of my current favorite, ‘Ain’t nothing like a shame (to bring it all back home)’. It’s a groover, and reminds me a lil’ bit of an old Paul Simon song, the name of which currently escapes me.
So, our sights are now firmly set on our next London outing which is Saturday the 6th of June at Blow Up @ Bar Rumba.
As I’m not familiar with the average temperature of Bar Rumba on any given Saturday I recommend a strict and regimented training program to help everyone cope with a possible repeat of the tropical micro-climate that was Camden. Begin with the usual type of thing, a few press ups, perhaps a sit up or two, followed by some light jogging in the midday sun wearing either an old fashioned diving suit or a Gorilla costume. A few weeks of this and you’ll be ready and raring to go.Until then ‘Souldiers.
Ciao
Mr Atkins
Friday, April 17th, 2009
I’ve been twittering (tweeting?) a bit lately but this is the place for more in-depth stuff so I just though I’d tell you a) how the album’s coming along and b) how excited we are to be playing again.
So we’ve now completed the recording of the first five tracks as previously mentioned and editing is well underway. If you ain’t heard Woah Billy! (that’s Woah! not Whoa!- my perogative) you can listen on myspace or ruffalane.com etc. Thanks for all the lovely feedback we’ve had so far.
I went to Sweden to record a string quartet for all five. The quartet is part of The Stockholm Strings‘ who played on Brian Wilson’s Smile and That Lucky Old Sun albums and also with Love and Arthur Lee on their final tour (R.I.P. Arthur).
I can’t begin to tell you what a wonderful day it was. The studio was about an hour outside Stockholm next to a river so frozen that cars were drag racing up and down it. It was, as the pilot of my arriving jet said “a nice day outside about -11 degrees C”. Trust me to have had to run through London having finished editing 15 mins after I was supposed to leave, without any kind of winter clothing (light jacket/ no scarf/ one glove). I went through security at Stansted exactly one minute before my gate closed and have never been so relieved to see a queue at the gate before. Phew!
Anyhow, freezing temperatures aside it was unbearably beautiful at the studio and stood outside, after hearing the pastoral strings go down on Upon Hilly Fields I felt so wonderfully lucky to be there. The string players said to me “Yeah…(Swedish pause) you’ve got some really (Swedish pause) great songs. For someone who has played with bona fide geniuses (genii?)to say that, well, for me there is no greater praise and I felt very honoured and very humble. I can’t even read music for goodness sake and most of the time I don’t know what chords I’m playing.
The studio is owned by a top Swedish producer who mixed Britney Spears Toxic I hope some of the desk’s magic rubbed off on us.
Of the other songs, Up In Flames is fast becoming majestic courtesy of some marvellous piano playing from my good friend and possibly the coolest man you will meet: Art Terry. That’s When Trouble Begins really powers along now thanks to a quite brutal lyrical re-jig and White Russian Doll (henceforth WRD) is exactly halfway between The Smiths and Motown.
We’re back in BIG studio next month to do the rest.
So onto to the gig and I’m very excited and ever so slightly nervous about it. Our last gig was in a huge conference hall in the La Coruna back in November, and we havenae played a proper one in the UK since July, so it’ll be great to see all our old friends again but also a little scary for me- back in the day I used have to walk rounf the block for an hour before a gig just to stop me throwing up (I’m much better these days, mind)
We’re gonna play a fair amount of new stuff I think this time, some absolutely brand spanking new. There’s a Sam Cooke meets Edith Piaf one (if you can get your head round that) called Could Be I Don’t Belong Anywhere. Also hot of the press and the band’s current fave Ain’t Nothing Like A Shame (To Bring It All Back Home) which is a we-ird mix of Stax, Talking Heads, Dolly Parton and The Specials. It’s fantastic and so much fun to play. I’d almost go so far as to say it’s got a similar feel to The Violent Femmes Blister In The Sun but that still doesn’t really nail it. Oh, see for your self.
Tickets are here for the last few
So better stop yabbering and start doing some practicing, don’t want no bum notes for you faithful friends and speak to you soon
Love from Andrew
