This Town Needs Guns

Guess who made number 15?

Thank you very much to everyone that voted.

x

2008 has been a pretty up and down year for us. Thought it would be nice to do a bit of a summary before we head into ‘09.

February

We didn’t really get started on 2008 until February, when we headed out for 5 days with I Was A Cub Scout and Rolo Tomassi. It was pretty ace. We had so much fun playing a relatively small amount of shows with those guys. I think it was shortly after this tour, that Dan informed us he’d be leaving the band after we finished the record. Pretty sad!

March/April/May/June

Most of this time was spent writing and recording/mixing ‘Animals’, when Tim wasn’t busy working full-time as a primary school teacher. Somehow we also managed to fit in a few gigs, including a trip to Luxembourg to play Out of the Crowd festival. We also began the search for a new bass player and found Jamie

July

We finally played Truck festival. After years of being ignored by the organisers we were fortunate enough to be asked by Ady and Michael who were curating the Barn Stage on Saturday. Playing to a full barn is easily one of my highlights of this year. It was incredible to see so many people in there. It was a great way to say goodbye to Dan.

September/October

This was a great couple of months. We headed out on tour with our best buddies Jonquil. I really can’t describe how much fun it was to hang out with these guys for 10 days. It was really great to play to such fantastic crowds every night. We weren’t expecting to have such high attendances at all the shows (with only a few exceptions) especially after we said goodbye to the Jonquil boys and headed out on our own. Thanks to everyone who came to a gig.

October also saw the release of ‘Animals’. Not exactly the slickest of releases (i-tunes still haven’t corrected the tracklisting problem), but sales of the record have been exceeded our expectations, given the luke warm reception it got from some key areas of the press (I’m looking at you NME and DiS). We can’t thank the people who have bought that record enough. Thank you for your support it means a great deal.

November/December

Our first tour in Europe (well…Germany and The Netherlands) was awesome. We met so many nice people, we can’t wait to head back in spring ‘09. The BSM Christmas dates were a bit hit and miss. Working all day and then playing a gig is not the most fun in the world…especially when you don’t actually start playing anything until midnight. Brutal! Thanks to everyone who came along and stuck around to watch us play. Hopefully we’ll see you again in February

To summarise

We started off this year as a small DIY band that wanted to write and record an album. We hoped that a few people would like it and that we would have the opportunity to tour the UK a few times with our friends. I think we succeeded in that respect. We’re still by and large a DIY band. We end ‘08 without a UK booking agent/press agent and all that other stuff. Our album has largely been ignored by ‘the masses’ but hopefully we’ve managed to connect with the people that are really passionate about music and who actively seek out new and interesting sounds. I hope you’ve enjoyed listening to us on record/watching us live and I hope we see you again soon. 2009 is going to be pretty special.

Looking forward ‘09

Work has already begun on writing LP2 and you should all by now know about our UK tour in February. Plans for ‘09 include a trip to the US in support of the release of ‘Animals’ on Sargent House. I can’t tell you how excited we are to be doing this record with SH, they’ve got such an amazing roster. I can’t believe we’re on the same label as Omar Rodriguez Lopez, Maps and Atlases and Tera Melos. It’s just incredible.

As I’ve already mentioned we should also be heading back to Europe. This time we’re hoping to fit in a few more countries. I really want to play France and Spain/Portugal. We just have to see what happens.

Hopefully things will continue to grow for us and if it doesn’t then I can only hope that we continue making the music we love.

Says it all in the title really. If you want to go have a look at the list in full, head here.

Hello,

Head over to our myspace page to listen to ‘Pig’ and whilst you are there, you can look at our tour dates for February ‘09. They’ll most likely be our last dates in the UK for quite some time, so please try to make at least one of the shows if you can. We’ve hand picked a lot of our supports, so it’s sure to be a top bunch of gigs.

x

At some point in the early hours of Saturday morning, I’m woken by Lars and his girlfriend heading to bed. I think it’s around 6. We have to be up in about 2 hours so we can move our van from it’s parking spot (which according to the sign, says we can only park between 6 p.m. and 9 a.m.). It took a fair bit of persuading, but the guys finally get up at 8 and we’re all ready to go at 8:55. Time to wake up Lars and load out. This is where our problems began. You see…Lars has a pretty big dog in his room and none of us are brave enough to venture inside. After shouting “lars. Lars. LARS. LARS!” repeatedly for about 10 minutes (with no effect), Tim braves a few steps into the room. Jamie throws a bit of cheese in the direction of the dog in an effort to distract it and Tim makes his move.

With Lars once again with us in the land of the living, it’s not long before we load up and say our thanks/goodbyes/sincere apologies for waking up poor Lars. Onwards to our last gig of the tour; Groningen!

We make Groningen for about 1:30 p.m. This is great! The others are nursing savage hangovers, but I couldn’t be happier. Sat-nav says we have just 2 miles to go and we should have some time to actually have a look around the city. Excellent! Unfortunately, the Groningen road system is a mess. It appears as though the entire population owns a bike and has decided to take to the streets. I have no idea where I’m going (sat-nav has decided to become completely useless) and end up driving down a bunch of one way streets THE WRONG WAY. It’s at this point that I decide to pull over and see if the local police can help us out.

Jamie: “Hi, I’m really sorry but we appear to have gotten lost. Can you help us?”
Policeman: “Yes, you have come wrong way down forbidden road.”
Jamie: “Yeah, I’m sorry about that we’re trying to find a music venue called Vera. The sat-nav started playing up and we don’t know how to get there.”
Policeman: “Ah yes Vera. You have to go back, take a left, then a second right…but this is also FORBIDDEN! Anyway…goodluck.”
Jamie: “Er…yeah…thanks.”

It’s at this point that my brain is about to fry. I decide to go back and just park up somewhere. We could then walk to the venue and get help with the navigation. It wasn’t easy, but a couple of hundred suicidal cyclists neatly avoided later and we’ve managed to park.

Groningen is beautiful. Such a lovely city. I really hope we get to go back some day. It was really great to finally be able to see somewhere in daylight. As we wander into the city center we walk past a music shop and decide to have a quick look around. One of the shop assistants perks Chris’ attention and says the word “shnaffles”, much to Chris’ amusement. It’s now on our list of things to find out; What does “shnaffles” mean?

When we get to Vera we find no respite. No-one is there (unsurprising as we’re not really supposed to be there until 7), so we go get something to eat at Wagamama. Nice. My throat is starting to feel really sore, so a meal of spicy noodles certainly helps

Unfortunately we can only park in our spot for 2 hours, so we head back to the van and despite the daunting prospect of driving around Groningen again, we try to find somewhere else. We end up settling on this weird little car park underneath a fly-over. It’s fairly close to the city center and thanks to a lovely old couples intervention, we’re pointed in the direction of a free bus to take us back into town. Ace.

Much to our dismay, the bus drops us off right outside Vera. We take a look around the record shop a couple of doors down and see some guy and his girlfriend buy the Fuck Buttons record, before we try Vera again. Fortunately this time, Neil answers the door. Neil is our host for this evening and he shows us around the venue, before offering to help me drive the van back to the venue. Surprise surprise…Neil is really nice. Our walk back to the van takes us through the train station where I see an underground car park…for bikes. They litterally have thousands of the things, so they have to have somewhere for them to go. It’s sooo weird. Thousands of bikes stacked ontop of thousands of bikes. This youtube video I found, doesn’t really do it justice, but you get the idea:

Once we’re back at the venue, we get treated to a vegan chinese meal. It’s very nice We’re also introduced to Chris and a few other people who will also be helping out.

We’re playing a basement show tonight. Small room, but the sound is really good. I think we sound at our best in venues like this. It’s a good few hours before doors open so the guys start jamming some new stuff we’ve been working on. I’m too tired and opt for watching “Honey I Shrunk The Kids” followed by “Catwoman” on Dutch TV. Two pretty terrible films, but I thought it best to conserve my energy for what would undoubtedly be a late night.

10:30 and doors open. We really hope tonight is going to be well attended and luckily we’re not dissapointed. When we go on at 11:30, the place is packed. It’s such a great atmosphere and we play for almost an hour. It’s totally great and we have a wonderful time. After the show, I made an effort to stay awake for an hour or so chatting to Neil, Chris and some of the other guys at Vera. Apparently we have just missed Groningen’s St Nicholas Day celebrations. It would seem that in the Netherlands, the giving and receiving of Christmas gifts occurs on the 5th of December. St Nicholas (Father Christmas/Santa Claus) comes to town with his helpers and they give toys to all the children. Have a read…it’s pretty interesting.

Bed time. Tomorrow it’s another early morning. Neil will be here with breakfast at 7, so we can leave at 8 and make our train home from Calais.

P.S. “shnaffles” means “beak”. Although we can’t figure out why anyone would need to say “beak” in a music shop. Weird!

Tonight’s gig in Cologne is our last in Germany. It is also almost the entire width of Germany from where we are. So it’s another early rise, before we get ourselves together and head out on the road. Another plate of meat and cheese awaits us. Unfortunately on this occasion, the promoter has forgotten to include any bread. Great!

The night before we were informed that there is a massive wharehouse sized music shop in Dresden. A not so quick google search later and we have the address for Dresden’s Zoundhouse. This place is MASSIVE! Just when you think you’ve got to the back of a huge room, a doorway leads you through to another huge room full of all different kinds of musical goodies. I wish we had time/money to spend here. Unfortunately we have to just grab the cheapest hi-hat stand we can find and get back on the road…as far as the nearest McDonalds for breakfast/lunch. Personally, I hate McDonalds. Everytime I eat there, I feel really sick…that being said, I have noticed in the past that the quality of McDonalds does seem to vary wildly on where in the world you are. So I thought it couldn’t hurt to try.

Back in the van, I feel worse than ever. McDonalds was a bad choice, but seeing Chris ask for a “Chicken Mystic” made it all worthwhile.

Today is the second day we retrace our steps along Germany’s autobahn’s. We travel along the same road we took from Leipzig to Giessen, just a few days ago. No snow this time, but still beautiful. It was just so depressing knowing that we were covering ground we’d already travelled. If only we could’ve linked these gigs together better, we wouldn’t have had to spend hours and hours in a van driving on a motorway. We could’ve actually seen some of these amazing cities we were visiting. Such a shame.

After 4 hours we pass a sign that says “Giessen 1km”. Gutted! Cologne is an hour and a half away.

When we arrive at Limes in Cologne, we’re greeted by Lars and Benjamin. Once again two very nice people, and we are treated to some kind of pasta with orange, lettuce and onion dish, with a selection of different types of pesto to choose from. Yum. There is more free table football to keep us occupied and soundcheck is a pretty relaxed affair.

Tonight’s gig is really fun. Some guys have travelled from Luxembourg to see us play and one girl has driven 8 and a half hours from Switzerland. Incredible! The crowd are really lovely and make us feel really appreciated. It’s a great night. After the set, we chat to people at the merch stand for hours, before taking on all-comers at football. We suck! These guys are seriously pro. The Luxembourger’s seem to be the best, until Lars and Benjamin completely ruin them on more than one occasion. The Germans are seriously good.

I head to bed fairly early (1:30) and leave the others downstairs playing table football and drinking apple vodka’s, beer and amaretto, only to be woken at around 5 by everyone coming upstairs. Bummer!

The drive to Dresden is pretty brutal. It’s made even more disheartening when I realise after an hour or two of driving that we’re retracing our steps and are on the very same road that took us to Berlin 4/5 days earlier. The routing on this tour has been pretty savage. As it turns out, this is not the last time we will retrace our steps on this tour

When we finally arrive in Dresden, we’re greeted by a really beautiful city. I really like the look of it. I’d love to go back some time and have a proper look around. Unfortunately we’re late (again), so it’s straight to the venue for soundcheck and some hot food. Yay!

The venue is really cool. Apparently there is a much larger room which is the main venue. We’re playing downstairs tonight in a 100 or so capacity area. The soundman is listening to the most ridiculous music we have ever heard. He doesn’t seem to speak much English so we can only assume that he doesn’t understand what the guy is actually singing. Every song is misogynistic drivel about what he’s going to do to his variety of “bitches and ho’s”. What makes it so funny is that it’s all done to a bizarre backing track of entirely unsuitable funk-r’nb-hip-hop-lite rubbish. It’s so weird to hear this guy wax lyrical about the size of his penis, to this airy-fairy nonsense. It’s unexpectedly hilarious.

The band flat is amazing. It’s above the venue so we don’t have to go to far after the gig to get some sleep. Unfortunately the last thing any of wants to do after tonight’s gig is go to sleep. First off only about 15-20 people show up…which would’ve been totally cool, had it not been for the fact that Chris’ hi-hat breaks halfway through the set. We have no spare. What are we going to do?

We rig something together so we can kinda carry on the set, but everyone is out of their stride now and some songs sound really odd which makes it difficult to follow. Sorry Dresden.

After we play the few people there are still really positive, which is nice. We make our apologies before the bar is closed and we rush out to the nearest bar and drown our sorrows.

Another long drive tomorrow that I couldn’t be bothered to think about and we need to find somewhere tomorrow where we can buy Chris a new hi-hat. Great!

A few beers later and everything seems a lot more rosey. We chat to an ex-pat from the gig about life in Germany. He is really nice.

Jamie and Chris chat to some random metal head, who turns out to be a roadie for Motorhead who will be playing in Dresden tomorrow night. Jamie is unimpressed.

Sleep!

So after last night’s great gig, spirits are high. Snow fall’s lightly over the rooftops of Giessen as we enjoy a breakfast of (yeah you guessed it) bread and cheese. We’ve got a long journey north to Hamburg, but we leave Giessen nice and early. Unfortunately however, it’s only 5 minutes on the autobahn before everything grinds to a halt. If there was a light dusting of snow yesterday, then today it has been dumped on Germany like thick icing sugar. Everything is covered in it. It’s very beautiful…which is handy as we spend the next 2 and a half hours admiring the scenery, whilst we drive just a few miles down the road and through some road works that have caused a massive tail back.

We’re now late. Very late.

When we reach Hamburg we’ve been stuck in the van for the best part of 6 and a half hours. Brutal! I’m really tired and the last thing I want to do is play a gig. Fortunately we once again meet a very kind bunch of guys at the venue, who help us to load in.

Tonight’s support is a band called L. F. Singer, it’s their first outing as a full band having previously been a solo project. They’re a really nice bunch of guys and we chat to them about Hamburg and the music scene here.

There is a nice crowd tonight. Nothing too crazy, but maybe 40 or so people that seem to be really into what we’re doing. It’s fun. I think we played ‘Pig’ as an encore again.

After the show we meet up with a bunch of guys from Portsmouth in the bar upstairs. They’ve come over to Germany for a football match. They’re a nice bunch and we chat about music and stuff.

We’re treated to a dinner of very nice homemade quiche, with a selection of sweets and chocolate for desert. Yum!

I head back to the band flat at around 2 and promptly pass out in bed. When I awake at 10 the next morning, I find the guys in a second room of bunk beds. They had been up until 7 in the morning being shown the ’sights’ of Hamburg. Needless to say, they weren’t overly impressed about having to get up and drive another 6 hours to Dresden

…to let you know about the BSM Christmas tour. It’s already begun, but you can catch us playing 3 of the dates in the next few days. We’ll be in Brighton, London and Oxford. Hope to see some faces.

Waking up was a pretty interesting experience. Whilst Chris and Jamie got the room with the mattresses on the floor, Tim and I slept in a different room on some kind of weird ‘mezzanine-level-bunk-bed’ thing that is suspended about 7 foot in the air. Getting back down in the morning was a bit of a mission.

After we’re all washed and ready to go, we head back to last night’s venue and get one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had. Every breakfast we’ve had whilst ‘on the content’ consists mainly of cheese, bread and ham. This breakfast was 4 large plates full of a variety of different cured meats, cheeses, bread and fruit. I also got my first decent cup of tea since we set off from the UK

The drive to Giessen is relatively short in comparison to some of the other drives on the tour. A mere 4 hours of beautiful countryside, covered in a light dusting of snow. So many cute little towns and villages. It’s incredible.

When we get to Geissen, we pull into an industrial park out at the city limits and there (surrounded by car showrooms) we find tonight’s venue. It doesn’t bode well. We’re all a little deflated by the prospect of another poorly attended show, but then we remember that we’re in Germany and we have no reason to feel sad. Turns out that the venue tonight is actually an ex-Nazi communications bunker (thick walls and huge metal doors). This place has already gone up in our opinion! It’s definitely one of the more interesting venue’s we’ve played. We are welcomed by a whole bunch of staff who are all REALLY nice, very chatty and excited about tonight’s gig. There is a some “cold catering” available for us to eat and we start filling ourselves on the second of today’s meat-and-cheese-athons. Turns out that this was all just a starter. Whilst we’re now all full, the guys (and girls) at Muk have been busy preparing a main meal and dessert. Bonus!

it would appear as though every guy we meet tonight is called Stephan, which is good for us as we’re all pretty terrible at remembering peoples names. They have free table football here. AMAZING. It certainly keeps us busy…so busy in fact that we haven’t noticed the venue slowly beginning to fill up. When tonight’s support act start to play, there is somewhere between 80-100 people in. ‘Sometimes Go’ are really good. It’s their first show, but you certainly wouldn’t know it. They’re really tight and ply a good trade in mid-90’s emo. They remind us a bit of Braid. Nice.

Fortunately for us, the crowd stick around and we play really well. There’s nothing better than playing to a room full of people and for them to be enjoying it. When we finish we try to leave the stage, but Tim and Chris just meet a wall of people that refuse to let them leave. We play ‘Pig’ as it’s the only song we have left. We were hoping to get away with not playing it as it’s really hard live. I think we managed it ok though.

After the gig it’s back to a friend of the promoters. We stay up late chatting to new friends and sleep in Gabor’s room (that he has kindly sacrificed in favour of a mattress in the hallway). This time I get a mattress on the floor with Jamie, whilst Tim and Chris brave the dizzy heights of another of these single bunk bed things.