So, part two. In terms of my own music this has easily been the worst year since I started playing. Not that it was all that bad, just that it feels like I spent a shitload of time planning and organising and very little time doing stuff. Seriously, you can piss away so much time with a band and have almost nothing to show for it. I’ve been fairly busy, but only played a few gigs. I must rectify this in 2012.

In late January/early February I went out on tour with Dave Hughes and Adam Bennett. Here’s a lovely video I made to document the tour:

I won’t bore you with a write up of it. I think the video shows that a good time was had by all. Easily my most successful tour to date and a great start to the year.

The band started the year existing only in theory after I fired Jon and Steve for being disloyal, and for joining in fun in a way that excluded their employer. In January I had two people lined up to replace them and by February we’d had our first practice and already nailed four songs. So, The Dead Set became Naomi (of Naomi Hates Humans/Mothers Opposed To The Occult and er Jesus & Tequila fame) on bass and new guy Johnny Yeates on drums (thanks to Mike Only and Johnny’s impressive totally shitfaced networking skills).

After only a few practices we played our first gig in Brighton:

Plans were then afoot for more gigs and some recording. Sadly though things slowed to a crawl, with Johnny unable to practice for a few months and then Naomi announcing that she was moving to New York. What is it with me and bass players feeling the need to leave the country rather than play in a band with me?

Anyhoo, so knowing the band was in limbo again, I set about recording, ultimately having Naomi, Johnny, Jon and Steve all helping out. Despite planning to have stuff done by now, what was meant to be a demo massively ballooned once I realised I could get a fairly decent sound from my DIY home studio set-up. Add to this learning everything as I go, and it’s dragged on. But it’ll be completed soon and most likely be a full album. Just my vocals to go now and hopefully I’ll have something ready for release early in the new year.

In between the recording, there was one more band gig. Naomi couldn’t make it and so I got Jon to step in on bass:

Not bad for a band that hadn’t rehearsed together at all.

So at the end of the year, the band has become a sort of loose group of musicians. Essentially, whoever’s around and willing to help. Fuck knows what’ll happen next year beyond releasing the recordings, but fingers crossed for a bit of stability in the line-up so we can gig and possibly do some more recording, maybe in a real studio.

That’s pretty much it. One more year. A few gigs and recording. Funny how easy it is to do a lot and have nothing to show for it! Honestly, I have been busy!

Obligatory albums of the year post:

So, 2011 has been an odd year. I’m not much for looking back on stuff at the end of a year, but I thought it’d be good to do a brief catch up. I’m starting with the legally required ‘favourite albums of the year’ post.

These are only some of the albums that have soundtracked the year for me, in no particular order and oddly almost all of which I bought on vinyl, in an attempt to get back to sitting down with an album without all the modern day distractions.

Los Campesinos! – Hello Sadness

If I could pick a favourite album of the year, I think it’s this. I uterly loved their last album ‘Romance Is Boring’ and wondered what they would come up with next, especially with new members. This is a really concise album, devoid of any filler. Gareth Campesinos is probably my favourite lyricist of the past god-knows-how-long and I’ve fallen massively in love with Kim Campesinos’ vocals. When her vocal comes in on ‘The Black Bird, The Dark Slope’ it’s just brilliant. If I could level any criticism at the album, it’s that there isn’t enough of her vocals. But in reality, they’re perfect for the songs, I’d just like to hear what the band sounded like with her vocals a bit more prominent, like on their older songs with Aleks singing.

I saw them at The Barfly in Camden and KCLSU and both gigs were so good. It really feels like they’re a cohesive unit and only getting better with each new album.



Bangers – Small Pleasures

Awesome, straight-ahead catchy punk trio. I was a fan from the opening line: ‘How could any conscientious soul with a brain to call its own give in to nesting instinct for a night and say Baby I’m so bored, why don’t we create a life?’.

Caves – Homeward Bound

I discovered Caves at the start of the year, when one of the shows on my tour was cancelled. We wound up in Leeds instead at a gig with Caves on the bill and from the first note I was a fan. Simple songs. Catchy as fuck and loads of power. They’re a wicked live band and this album is pretty damn close to the experience of seeing them live.

Fucked Up – David Comes to Life

Late to party with this band. When I was piecing the band back together at the start of the year, Naomi mentioned them (she worked on the DCTL website) and I duly went home to check them out on the internets. The first thing I saw was a youtube video of them performing Baiting The Public on Canadian MTV, complete with their fans running amok. Utterly brilliant.

Great Cynics – Don’t Need Much

I first saw Great Cynics when it was just Giles playing as Cynics, supporting Bomb The Music Industry!. While I liked his set, I wasn’t blown away. The moment I heard the Dave and Angela EP with drums and bass added, it totally clicked into place. Another great, solid album. This is a band that are only going to get better and better with each new release.

Bomb The Music Industry! – Vacation

I love BTMI! If I remember rightly, I checked them out after my friend Dave Hughes put a show on for Jeff on one of his iPod tours. From there I actually wound up stumbling upon Allison Weiss (who is really really fucking great) doing a BTMI! cover on youtube and subsequently a shitload of other awesome bands/musicians also. So BTMI! have been hugely important in indirectly influencing my listening habits. This is their most cohesive album and the closest they’ve come to a ‘normal’ band record. I love this band and everything they stand for. Check out Quote Unquote records where you can download all their stuff for free/donation.

Dave Hughes – Despite The Blackout

The pedant in me wants to exclude this because it’s only 14 minutes and six songs long (So more of an EP in my eyes). Also, it’s only on CD, thus making it look I have massive freak hands in the photo above. However, Dave is a DIY punker and great songwriter and I’m clearly a dickhead, so it gets on the list.

It also gets on the list because it’s arguably Dave’s strongest collection of songs and features the best recording quality of his releases to date (It’s a totally DIY home recorded effort). I can be heard yelling in the background on the title track too. Decide for yourselves whether or not this is a good thing.

Jon came by today to record some final bass parts. Here’s an obligatory ‘studio’ photo. Note Jon’s sexy new bass (slightly wonkily distorted by the app I was using). I think he’s extremely smitten.