Order our new single ‘White Russian Doll’

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

You can order the new single from iTunes here: www.itunes.com/luckysoul/whiterussiandoll-single or from all other major digital retailers.

WRD BBC OMG etc / Cryin’ In The Morning

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

We Won!

Big thanks to all who voted for us for the Radcliffe and Maconie show. WRD is now on every night this week here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/the-radcliffe-and-maconie-show/

Cryin’ The Morning

Photo:Pingüino

I was saving this for a dark and bitter post the day after the vote but, seeing as we won, it changes the tone a bit. Never mind though, I’m a miserabilist so I’ll carry on.

Down at the bottom of the page is the b-side to ‘WRD’, ‘Cryin’ In The Morning’. It was the first song written after ‘The Great Unwanted’ album and was this close to being on our new album. Sadly it swopped places with ‘Southern Melancholy’ whilst on a bus ride to play the SWN festival in Cardiff. I was a bit sad about it to be honest as when I wrote it I came out thinking “I’ve just written my first classic”. Still it was only left off the album because it didn’t quite go with the flow, nothing personal, like and it’s dep is also brilliant. It was really important to make the album work as a whole listenable piece, so sorry, ‘Cryin’, I still love you but it’s just never gonna work. Let’s just be friends.

Anyway ‘Cryin’ In The Morning’ paraphrases an old flat mate of some college friends of mine in Liverpool. When asked if would be coming out for a drink that night (most nights) he would invariably reply “No, I’m rowin’ in the morning”. It became his catchphrase after a while and was second only to stories of his mate back home, ‘Shapes’, who would drink 10 pints get into some scrape and come ‘rollin’ downhill’. “And then your man, Shapes, came roooolllin’ down the hill”. I’m surprised the guy had any knees left.

Much as Shapes’ adventures became almost herculean in my imagination as the years went on, the song’s not about him, or Liverpool. As usual about loss and longing and resignation, themes that run heavily through our new album. I wanted to write something like Patsy Cline’s ‘Crazy’, which is a beautiful and paranoid at the same time. The lyrics make me laugh, they’re so fatalistic. It was also the first tune written on Barbara, my honky piano and features the Stockholm strings in all their glory. I believe they call it a torch song.

I hope you enjoy it.

Andrew

Eastern Block Party

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

So now you’ve seen our glorious new video for ‘White Russian Doll’ directed by amazing friend, Mr. James ‘Goodtimes’ Slater (Kaiser Cheifs, Norah Jones, The Coral, Go Team). I thought I’d tell you a little about the shoot, filmed entirely in Berlin at the start of December just gone.

I’ve been promising to go and see James since he moved there last year, as he’s forever going on about how wonderful the city is, how spacious, creatively nourishing and cheap it is. I’ve been to Berlin twice before, once when I was young traveling around Europe on the trains (I can’t remember much about it as I was too interested in the Fräuleins to pay any attention to my surroundings) and also when Lucky Soul played in the Magnet club two and a half years ago. Although we saw virtually none of the city then, the gig was great and we did 3 encores, my preconceptions that the locals would be far to cool for school for us being totally misguided.

So I was really looking forward to going. James had promised a weekend of off the cuff guerrilla filming with a view to a making a really fast paced but non narrative video loosely based on Jean Luc Godard’s classic film ‘Breathless’.


He’s brilliant is our James and although I suspect he never really knows what’s going to happen until he suggests it, his talent for spontaneous creative thinking is unquestionable and his videos always look brilliant and different to anybody else’s.

Friday: It was two coats cold when we got to Berlin and a swift ride with a racist taxi driver got us to Kreuzberg and straight into an eye-wateringly smokey bar for the first of many German beers. It seems to me that in Berlin there is a nice cosy bar or cafe with great music about every fifteen paces – perfect. On the way home I got one of the best pizzas of my life for 3 Euros – double tops. I was happy and safe in the knowledge that I didn’t have to do any filming myself and the hardest work I would be doing was to hold bags and drink coffee – now that’s what I call a good shoot.



Saturday: A respectable start to the day, up at 10, drank some coffee and met up with Violetta, James’s Spanish -in-blood-but-Yorkshire-in-outlook(i.e.Unimpressed and unfazed by anything) cinematographer girlfriend. For the tech fans out there, she was shooting on a digital Canon SLR which took 30fps of high res photographs resulting in great depth of field, a real filmic quality and much better than a digital video camera of similar price.

Firstly we took the U-Bahn to Tiergarten where there’s a large Soviet War Memorial for some Eisenstein-esque low angled shots amongst the heavy and imposing architecture. “It’s a quiet place, no-one ever comes here” James said as 50 Spanish tourists walked in. We got the shots anyway but while we were waiting for the tourists to move out of the way we noticed another film crew filming a Russian soldier. Quick as a flash James was over asking if we could borrow the soldier for a few minutes. Soldier: “I’m not sure. What did you want me to do?” James: “Would you mind dancing with this pretty girl for a minute?” Soldier: “Where do you want me?”.
The Russian soldier turned out to be Sebastian from Frankfurt but he was very accomodating all the same and we left for lunch pleased with a good mornings filming.


After lunch it was over to a dusty hall with gunshot mirrors above Clärchens Ballhaus for some moody shots. It was my job to be lookout and give the shout if anyone was to come up the stairs and chuck us out. A couple of shots of Ali draped across the piano later security came up the stairs and my little brain decided that the alarm code phrase should be “I don’t think the cafeteria is up here” and say in a loud English accent. It sounded absoluetly ridiculous and only half worked too as the rest couldn’t understand why I was looking for a cafeteria when we’d just been to one for lunch and I was rightly and mercilessly ribbed for it the rest of the weekend. I think I’m destined never to be a secret agent.

Off to to the Christmas market at Alexanderplatz next and a trip on the Ferris wheel with some confused South Africans and a nice mug of warming Glühwein.


After that it was home for some food and put the glad rags for a night out in the very camp Monster Ronsons Karaoke Bar. On arrival it was again full of Spanish tourists which was odd until Violetta found out that Spanish disco diva Terremoto de Alcorcón and her enormous bust were performing on stage that night. Violetta said it was a big deal and indeed it was, especially her duet of ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ with a bearded drag queen. Sadly we didn’t see the whole performance as our allotted time in the Freddie Mecury booth arrived (one of five dead rock star themed karaoke booths). It didn’t matter as we could her through the Plexiglas anyway. At the time I thought the stuff we filmed in there might turn out to be a bit naff, but now it’s my favourite bit of the vid. After a few runs through of WRD there was still time for me and James to murder Patti Smith’s ‘Because The Night’ some more beers and then home to bed stopping only for a massive halloumi sandwich on the way

Sunday: As expected it was a late start on Sunday and a sluggish early afternoon of outside cutaways followed by a trip to one of the flea markets I’ve heard so much about (why didn’t I buy that microphone) then back to the Ballhaus, this time downstairs in the beautiful art deco dancehall for some Cha Cha Cha dancing.

An initial aborted hungover dance was cured with more pizza and beer and then it was the surreal sight of Ali dancing on her own in the middle of the dance floor singing a different song to the band whilst a host of couples waltzed and cha cha cha’d around and into her. I think we managed about 3 songs before we were told by the proprietor in no uncertain terms that we’d done enough.

It was decreed that the day had been succesful/hungover enough to warrant and early wrap which meant a night off to have an amazing Lao curry (ordered entirely in German – thanks GCSE’s) a run throught the rain and a night cap in another lovely cosy bar. So pleased at my dinner language skills and convinced I was already passing for a local, I did my best order at the bar. “Sure what size would you like” came the answer in English. Oh well.



Monday: Easy stuff on Monday walking through East Berlin, shooting some cutaways in the Ubahn, outside the old Cafe Mokba and in front of a hairdressers wall just outside the building where they filmed ‘Goodbye Lenin’ (brilliant film if you haven’t seen it). We also persueded some Kurdish accordian buskers to do WRD with Ali but sadly it never made the cut. A shame because it was hilarious. Maybe the dog poo I stood in twice while watching pervaded onto the tape.

Another Soviet freedom statue and that was it, just enough time for more pizza (not much for the vegetarian in Germany) and for me and Ali to visit the Brandenburg Gate (the only time I heard any English accents) and the eerie and moving Holocaust memorial.

Then it was back for the bags and a swift goodbye bier in another lovely wooden bar before heading home to noisy London and immediately hasseled by the crackheads outside Kings Cross station.

I really fell in love with Berlin, it’s a beautiful city which seems to quietly enjoy itself and not be weighed down by it’s traumatic history. I’d move there like a shot if I could. Maybe it’s because there’s so much space you have enough time to collect your thoughts, maybe be it’s the creative buzz, maybe it’s the romantic low street lights or maybe dry humoured nature of the German people so welcoming to us despite their constant and despicable abuse from Brits Abroad (it’s not banter…)maybe it was just a great weekend with friends but it certainly felt special and I think that sense fun seeps into the video.

Hope you enjoy watching it.

Andrew

You can pre-order/order the single HERE