It's been a while since I posted anything....... but thought this was cool enough to make the effort! Somebody came in the studio recently asking about palm tattoos, wanting "high five!" on his palm & I thought it was a perfect opportunity to do some more hand picking work! The customers name is Luke, singer from a local metalcore band (who's name i forget!) & will probably need a bit of a touch up next week (palms are a bitch) but here are some pics:
On friday night my band "LIVE FAST DIE!" played @ a local venue called "Rockschool" (shit, it's been so long since I blogged I dont think I've even mentioned this place yet!) & it was a pretty good night! Will post more about the band soon, had a few gigs recently & a couple of radio interviews I will get around to posting about some time! couple of pics from friday night:
kinda hard to see in these pics but as it was "Friday The 13th" we had an appropriate banner made & I had designed a dumb ass flyer (which got blown up & hung outside the venue) & the whole evening turned out to be the usual drunken mess that is expected from a LIVE FAST DIE! show! heres the banner & flyer, with our faces super-imposed:
So...... just finished watching the last episode of season 3........... & it seems that there will be no more! Wasnt too sure about this one @ first, but by the end of the 1st season it had really grown on me! Seems to have been a success back home, at the point of season 3 ending the production team (impossible pictures) were under the impression that everything was ok for a 4th season & left it with a real cliff hanger, but the bastards @ ITV have since cancelled it! The chances of things continuing look pretty bleak right now, there is a Hollywood film in the pipeline, although this will probably be a re-telling & also a U.S. series, but neither will follow on from this version of the story. Apparently ITV wont be making any pre-watershed dramas, due to budget cuts. Come on BBC, buy this up!
My buddy Stitch in London recently laid his hands on an accordion (his lovely wife Kate bought it for him!) & i said i would postsome stuff for him to listen to....... so here's a start!
1st up....... The truly amazing "Goddamn Gallows"
the accordion is kinda subtle & isnt on every track, but if you listen close it's there! Only just discovered these guys & this album is awesome.
(No accordion when they play live, just thought i'd post a video anyway!) DOWNLOAD LINK
Next up is "Zydepunks" who aint as heavy, but also good, kinda floggin molly but with a yiddish/zydeco twist. these guys mix eastern european & irish folk with zydeco. DOWNLOAD LINK
Last but by no means least for today..... is another "Leningrad" album!
THESE ALBUMS ARE NOT HOSTED BY ME, I AM JUST SUPPLYING LINKS, IF ANYONE HAS A PROBLEM WITH ANY OF THESE ALBUMS BEING LISTED HERE, LET ME KNOW & I WILL REMOVE THEM! IM JUST TRYING TO INTRODUCE SOME PEOPLE TO SOME TRULY AMAZING MUSIC THAT THEY MIGHT NOT HAVE HAD THE CHANCE TO HEAR, IF THEY LIKE IT THEY CAN GO OUT & BUY YOUR ALBUMS!
Ok, thought it was about time i posted some music on here.... so here is something most of you probably havent heard of! Leningrad are one of my favorite bands, i love these guys! This album Hleb (Bread) is one of their best (There is a link @ the bottom, under the album cover, download it, listen to it & let me know what you think!) couldnt be arsed to type a revue/bio, so im posting this, from eastblok music........ dont be put off by the mix of influences, it just works & sounds awesome! They have a real punk attitude & this album also has a bit of a psychobilly influence:
Currently there are 15 members in the band, or rather orchestra Leningrad. This makes their live performance an unforgettable experience. This makes up for the irresistible appeal of Leningrad. The music is a mixture of ska, Cuban salsa and Russian prison chanson, sung with their hearts on their sleeves. Nowadays, there are also rap influences and hard rock guitars in Leningrad's music and the songs always tell stories and little dramas.
Leningrad trespasses against all sorts of rules and breaks with traditions; they swear in public, shoot scandalous video clips and cause mayhem at their concerts. Shnur himself says about his band: 'Leningrad - is like a porno film: with little means you provoke strong emotions.'
That was way too much for Moscow mayor Yuri Lushkov, who prohibited Leningrad ever performing in Moscow again. Still in the rest of the country they perform in front of thousands of frenetic fans.
Hleb is Leningrad's most social album so far. The fancy world of tennis stars or the power of banks - the conflict between poor and rich is one of the most prominent features of post Soviet turbo capitalism. Leningrad manage to describe society problems in a few striking lines.
Within a few years Leningrad turned from a club band into a stadium act without loosing any of its credibility.
Most chart bands in Russia copy their Western counterparts. Leningrad may well be the only Russian top ten band, who is musically and lyrically denying itself to the mainstream. Post modernism meets folk&roll and urban underground in a tasty cocktail. Leningrad's lyrics deal with the Russian every man from the streets, mostly interested in sex and alcohol, but who has the heart in the right place. Shnur's songs use a plethora of swearwords as well as the language of Soviet dissidents' chansons to grab things 'by the balls', similar to Soviet underground writers: rude, but not dumb. This is most likely the reason why Leningrad is loved not only by the common people, but also by the intellectuals, who cannot but grin at this clever poetic swearing. Theirs is a language everyone understands, while pretending not to speak. Their songs are about things, most people in Russia can identify with these days: booze, sex, death, irony, money, love, love for money, no money, no luck, no future.
Just found this revue by one of the judges from Battle of the bands the other night & it made me laugh (although not as hard as i did when it was announced we got thru!) Anyways, here it is:
"The second group was called Live Fast Die! This was their second time playing together, thrash/punk/screaming vocals and you know what? I liked them. Because they could play and their songs were really funny. Plus it was like watching the Three Stooges on stage - during the first song one of the guitarists knocked the singer off the stage. During the second song the two guitarists kind of piled on the singer and almost knocked each other unconscious, all to the tune of a song that sort of reminded me of the Stooges' Search and Destroy."
His name is Spike, you can find his blog here: http://laowai.blogspot.com/ Cheers Spike!
My band "Live Fast Die" entered Global Battle of The Bands on saturday for a laugh....... & we got through to the Hong Kong final! Shit, didnt think about going any further just turned up drunk & did what we do! Dont have any good pic's yet (rob, you suck!) but got a video (should be 2 more soon) & a pic of me chuggin jim beam just as we started!
Julia designed a cheesy logo for my band today & it's pretty fuckin sweet! anyways, here it is: We will be playing global battle of the bands this saturday, it's @ a venue called the cavern where ive always wanted to play! should be pretty cool, not under any illusions that we could win, but it's gonna be a hell of a lot of fun!
Just an average night in the Boozer! Milo the lil' super star chillin out @ the bar! So, Julia bought a new camera & as the drinks flowed, the pics were snapped!
HELLO & WELCOME TO MY NEW BLOG! I will probably be a bit lame with this, dont expect posts everyday (maybe not even every week) but anytime i have any news, or feel the need to rant about something it will be here!
Ok, so I've been thinkjng about this for a while & finally got it done today, my diamond! Actually didnt hurt, just felt a bit scratchy! had a few down the boozer, not many people out but nobody noticed! Anyways, here's a few more pics from London: Nina Kate, Ash & Lee from "The Defiled" (Lee may be a rock star with a model wife now, but ive known him since he was a 15 year old grunge kid!) Andy & his homo drink! Andy's homo shoes! me, Julia & Naresh from Flaming Eight Tattoo Studio AWESOME STEAK! Me & Vinnie (Foo Foo, you my bro man!) & a few from Norwich: my lovely wife Julia Seizure, tattooing @ the Norwich convention Rich & Wink (Wink is an awesome tattoo artist based in Norwich, & his twin Rich has recently got into hand picking!) Wink tattooing My sister Ruth, brother in-law Ben & my neices Grace & Pearl! Julia & some ducks! me Ma an' Pa!
Julia & I jetted off back home to England for a well deserved break!
It wasnt all rest, as we worked the Norwich Body Arts Festival & Julia worked guest spots @ Flaming Eight & Haunted tattoo studios in London.
Two of the many, many, many things I miss about dear old Blighty is the live music scene (obviously) & THE FOOD! One of our first stops was Blackpool for the Rebellion Punk Festival which had both! Awesome bands & awesome fish & chips!
