Tag Archives: music

Feb 15

From The Coalface

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In brief:

  • The Obvious Pseudonym Escobar gig on 6th February went OK – I tried to record it but forgot to flip the switch to ‘Line In’ on the recorder so it’s a bit of a crap recording complete with another band (‘Marmalade Sun’) heckling us. Too bad, I’ve sampled their jibes and they’ll be on the album. If you’re really wanting to listen (and I don’t recommend it) you can pick up an MP3 from my MP3 dump. Still, lovely to see friends we’ve not seen in years and if you didn’t make it across then shame on you.
  • I’ve started the process of cutting down my work at Pace, and will be taking more work on in London because it’s more exciting and pays more. Yay capitalism. Also means I’m back to working at home a couple of days a week.
  • Ellie had a lovely birthday last weekend and now has a bike without stabilisers, although Nicky had the patience of an angel trying to get her to ride it… will take some getting used to I guess, and plenty of scuffed knees.
  • With my ill-gotten gains from the Calumet Canon roadshow I bought a 15mm f/2.8 fish-eye lens. It’s quite good fun – I did my first gig shoot using it last Friday at Escobar, but not something I should use all the time as the effect can be quite overpowering.
  • Very pleased to see The Buggles have finally got round to releasing a remastered version of Adventures In Modern Recording. W00t.

C’est ca.

Jan 29

Pete Waterman Does Eurovision

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Alright, so I’m not so annoyed any more after I’ve just found out from the BBC Eurovision twitter feed that Pete Waterman will be producing the UK’s entry this year.

I guess we can look forward to something dance-y then, I really hope it’s not a ballad!

(Personally, I’d have quite liked to work with him, but t’was not to be…)

Edit: BBC’s got a proper announcement here.

Edit2: There’s been some confusion as to whether he’s producing or writing the entry – even @bbceurovision don’t seem to know, stating ‘The press release says “Pete Waterman to write the UK entry” and Pete “…will produce” as well. So it seems he’ll do both!’. Not so sure about that…!

Jan 25

Eurovision 2010: Hype… But Too Late As Usual

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The Eurovision Song Contest 2010 is around the corner: between the heats on 25th-27th May and the subsequent final on 29th May, 39 different countries will be participating in Oslo.

Song selection processes are very much in swing across the European Broadcasting Union, with the major exception being the entry from our own fair isle. We usually arrive at the party late and badly prepared, which in my opinion is why we don’t have the support we normally do.

Are we complacent because (as funding members of the EBU) we automatically get a ‘bye’ to the final? Is it just bad management at the BBC? Last November Jayne Collins Casting announced they were looking for acts to potentially represent the UK (*cough*) and more recently the BBC Eurovision team twittered that “the date and format is yet to be announced” in the selection process (adding there would be “an announcement soon”, echoed by their micro-site). I’ve had word from ‘the underground’ that the BBC team have u-turned on several ideas and the ESC fansites are rife with whinges about it.

But this is not what should be happening! Straight after Christmas the selection process should be started and hyped! By mid to late February we should have an act attempting to hit the charts with a pre-Eurovision song, and then the contest itself! There is plenty of time under the contest rules to have all this sorted, especially as the time limit for the entrant song is that it must not have been written or released prior to 1st October of the previous year. Gah. As one fan put it on the ESCtoday.com site, “seeing as the BBC are a little bit late this year to do a multi-week contest, signs are pointing to a more traditional selection for us this year”.

In any case, Nicky and myself won’t be in Oslo – we’ll be in Wakefield, doing our usual Eurovision party. Best get thinking about costumes!

Jan 03

New Year’s Desolation

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So I’m sitting in my office, sipping a fairly reasonable 2005 Bordeaux and listening to Air on the stereo. It’s a new year – a new decade even – and the thought’s been tumbling around regarding resolutions and aims for the new year.

A simple one to start with – I need to learn to play the guitar. I’m finding it increasingly hard to explain to other musicians how I envisage a particular part in the songs I write (both personally and for Obvious Pseudonym) and the best way of fixing that is to understand their own terms of reference or even better, play some of the parts myself. So I’m in the process of acquiring another electric guitar (given a former friend ruined my cheap Squier Telecaster by leaving it in his damp garage for months) and will teach myself. There.

The second one relates to my (mostly) successful aims from last year involving the band, and the resolution is this: During 2010, Obvious Pseudonym must chart in a top 100 somewhere in the world. That one’s a bit harder but I’m sure we can do it, especially considering some of the (cough) ‘hustling’ I’m doing. Oh yeah baby.

Any questions? No? Then let’s get on with it.

Dec 28

Public Image Ltd at O2 Academy, Leeds

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Dan and I pootled over to Leeds on Wednesday 16th December to see John Lydon’s band Public Image Ltd, recently reunited for a short tour. After a little confusion as to where the O2 Academy actually was (and eventually realising it’s what used to be Leeds Town & Country Club) we managed to get there and got a decent spot on the floor.

For a bunch of old gits, they were pretty good although Jah Wobble on bass was definitely missed. Lydon started off by launching into the title song from 1979 then played for a solid 2.5 hours soothing his throat by alternately swigging from a large bottle of brandy, cough medicine, orange juice and water – I say swigging, I actually mean gobbing it back out on the floor.

Most of Metal Box was performed, and the only omission I could think of was Seattle (arguably one of their best songs). Still, after Rise and with the comment ‘well if that lot hasn’t fucked me, this will positively kill me’ he launched into an absolutely blistering rendition of Open Up (not a PiL song, but they gave it a hell of a stab). Two days later my hearing came back in my right ear.

At £35 a ticket I was a bit concerned it would be overpriced for what it was (filthy lucre indeed, John) but it was worth it.

(Oh and as a bonus, Dan and I got recognised in the pub next door as members of Obvious Pseudonym – notoriety breeds notoriety!).

Photos here.

Dec 28

Pet Shop Boys at MEN Arena, Manchester

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Cast your mind back to Sunday 20th December, when we went to see Pet Shop Boys at Manchester’s MEN Arena.

We’d already seen the Pandemonium tour back in June, but of course as a die-hard PSB fan I didn’t want to miss what would be their biggest gig to date, plus the extra songs promised by the Christmas EP had me all excited. I booked the tickets as soon as they went on sale back in July so it had been a long time coming. There was a bit of a bonus to this appearance too: the support band was Bad Lieutenant, led by Bernard Sumner (he of New Order and Electronic). Colour me absolutely bloody excited, this could be the gig of the year (especially when I heard they’d been performing Love Will Tear Us Apart).

(The following paragraph epitomises stupidity and is relevant to the story, so bear with me…)

Soooo. Sunday came, Nicky and I pottered into Wakefield, filled the car up with petrol, and headed to Leeds to do a little bit of last-minute Christmas shopping. Two junctions up the M1 the car starts stuttering, power loss, little ‘engine failure’ light comes on. Realisation dawns, I’ve filled the bloody diesel car with unleaded – I mean, I don’t really use this car but even so it’s no excuse. Cue sheer panic as the AA guy says it’ll take up to 6 hours to get to us because of the snow, followed by relief when a flatbed shows up to take us back home, followed by an empty feeling when it costs me £200 to have the engine pumped. Still, impressively it only took 3 hours to get fixed leaving us plenty of time to get to Manchester.

Nicky has been very good about it. On the other hand I have been dining on sack-cloth and ashes.

(…stupidity over.)

We began the journey to Manchester in the abysmal weather – probably not the best of ideas to drive across the highest motorway in Britain (M62 Saddleworth Moor since you didn’t ask). It took us almost 3 hours to drive what normally takes 50 minutes… really rather pleased we set off early, all told. The Arena itself was really very quiet until 7:30pm-ish, and showtime was 7:40pm.

Bad Lieutenant appeared on stage. Lots of guitars, very much the same sound as New Order (and little new ideas brought to the party). Barney’s a real control freak isn’t he? And the interminable wolf-whistling during songs which echoed around the stadium much like tumbleweed. The word ‘Disappointed’ describes it well (and is really quite appropriate). The band finished off with a version of the aforementioned Love Will Tear Us Apart which would have been great but for Barney screaming ‘COME ON!’ periodically, it utterly ruined what is one of the most enduring songs of the 20th century. Sack of arse, but I did buy a CD just in case.

Pet Shop Boys came on with the usual pomp and circumstance – there were a couple of video screens this time so we could see sorta what was going on behind Chris’s keyboard kitchenette, interesting to see him using a Kaoss PAD and a few other bits and bobs I hadn’t clocked on to. Our position was about 18ft away from stage-centre, we got a smashing view save for the retard nearby who was doing poppers and dancing like a mentalist, arms flailing and punching anyone who got close… one chunky bloke subdued him, managed to get him out of the way and it was great after that!

The extra songs had been added to the setlist, including the cover of My Girl and Viva La Vida which were performed pretty well. Finally with an apologetic Neil pointing out “erm, we did say it doesn’t often snow at Christmas” they launched into their Christmas single which had just about touched the charts that day going in at no. 40. Lo and behold, snow falling from above the stage, dancing Christmas trees, Chris Lowe in a furry hat and parka. Very camp, very good fun, flashbacks to dancing Christmas trees from our local school’s nativity.

Photos are here.

We ambled back across the Pennines, a much easier return journey owing to the gritters and snowploughs actually showing up this time. Huzzah!

Dec 10

The Final Gig Of The Year: 14th Dec, Wakefield

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It’s Obvious Pseudonym’s final gig of the year next Monday, at Escobar in Wakefield. There’s a Facebook event if you happen to like that stuff.

We’re pretty used to the whole Escobar setup now, and looking forward to an excellent night. Having been bumped up the running order we’re going on at 9:45pm and are preceded by rock outfit Goggle Eyed Psycho, with the night being drawn to a close by girl-with-a-keyboard Sarah Mac. Wide, eclectic, varied music for a great night out.

Also, if you come along and get a ticket from us we’ve got a giveaway. I’m not telling you what yet (principally cos they’re all still in the post) but you never know, they might become collector’s items in the future when we’re rich and famous and have been on telly and stuff.

Our setlist comprises some new songs and some old songs – definitely stuff you can sing along to, and most importantly it’s got the Obvious Pseudonym groove behind it. This is going to be our last live performance for a while because after that we’re off into the studio to record the album, hurrah! Not heard us yet? Check out our website or bugger off to MySpace, see if we care.

So, that’s next Monday 14th December 2009 at Escobar in Wakefield (just round the side of Argos), doors at 9pm and we’re on at 9:45pm. 18+ gig, reasonably stocked bar and we’re totally blissed out about it (as the kids say). £3 in which gets you two fab acts other than ourselves (plus a prezzie). Bring cameras if you like, but whatever you do don’t forget your banana.

See you there?

Nov 20

Westgate Run (And Other Band Adventures)

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As has been blogged on the band website, we’ve just released a new song out into the wild.

Entitled Westgate Run, it’s a stomping disco track reminiscent of the output of Dan Hartman, Chic, Pet Shop Boys and Donna Summer (with perhaps a little Scissor Sisters and Chumbawamba in there too). It’s been recorded for a demo CD which will go out in our promo pack and that thing I mentioned last weekend but didn’t really.

The MP3 is free, you can share it, please do give it to your friends and tell everyone about it. It’s DRM-free, strictly speaking released under a Creative Commons non-derivative attribution licence.

If you like something more down-tempo our friend Ryan Mitchell-Smith (aka ‘Gobiron Ryan’) of Shrood put a bit of harmonica onto Sex Noises which seems to really round it off. And yes, those are new vocals on there as well.

Last Monday we ended up in a studio doing some shots for the selfsame promo pack – you can see one of the pics on the front of the band website, perhaps I was a little too camp. There’s a video on our Youtube channel documenting the experience as well.

So in short, we’ve been busy. Gosh.

Nov 12

That Thing…

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A quick explanation (or not) since there’s a lot of “what’s going on??!”, er, going on, especially on Facebook and Twitter regarding something big which may be happening regarding Obvious Pseudonym and something next year. So big so good so ace I’m trying to think straight and can’t.

I can’t make it public, I’m not allowed to, but to allay the top rumours please note we’d not touch X-Factor or Britain’s Got Talent with a barge-pole – way too humiliating and way too silly. Oh no, this is bigger, this is better, this is scaring the pants off me and we’re just at the first stage BUT we’ve been accepted onto it.

I really wish I could be more specific, but I can’t and it’s killing me! Arrrrrrrrrrrgh!

Nov 12

Obvious Pseudonym Website Changes

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Given I wibble about general band experiences on blog.joel.co.uk which excludes other OP bandmates from contributing, I’ve added a blogging system to the Obvious Pseudonym band website.

As well as on the web, you can get it in RSS format and articles are crossposted to the OP Facebook page. I’ll link it up to the MySpace page when I work out how, as well.

Additionally we’ve started a gig guide on there which, although rudimentary, will let you know where we’re playing next. Stuff won’t always make it into my own blog so following that is probably a good idea if you don’t want to miss owt :)