lots of gigs n stuff

The practice on Friday with Viva players (Andy, Tim, Matt and Deidre) was great fun, between us we started to piece together our ideas to create the new piece for Sunday. It was a long day as we set up at 1p.m and then practised till 8.30 and then had to shift a PA around, but worth it. 

Sat we went to Off the Tracks and had a quite chilled out time, sitting around in the sunshine with Kev the stage manager until our turn to play. Andy and the crew who did the sound for us did a great job. The marquee filled up and it was all jolly:) 

We played again on the acoustic stage at about 7p.m, a mellow early evening gig. Then we headed off for Snaith, Scott drove me and Sam to the gig, this was brilliant cos we were pretty tired by then. The Snaith Fest gig at 11p,m went really well and there are some lovely people in Snaith who always make us welcome, Got home about 2.45 and got some sleep.

Today we arrived at Darley Park and had sound check and a run through the new piece, the stage was really nice, The weather was too until about 3 pm ish and then it started to rain.

Loads of dedicated people turned out with umbrellas and picnics for the concert anyway. 

We played at 5.30 and it all seemed to go really well, looking forward to doing more of the Paper Aeroplanes project with Viva 

It has been a really good weekend, Off the Tracks was a nice surprise gig and Darley Park was brilliant despite the rain, next weekend we are playing acoustically on Friday in Derby and then at the Grassroots Fes in Peterborough.  byeeee kx

Solfest 2008 write up - Sam's take (now with added pictures)

Fuck Reading and Leeds, Solfest was the festival to be over the August bank holiday. It's like a smaller, friendlier version of Glastonbury without the overcrowding or crime/drugs. It's been voted Britain's most family friendly festival of '07 and I have to say it's a lovely way to spend 3 days.

After a 5 hour drive up to North Cumbria, near Carlisle, and another 45 mins stuck in a queue to get onto the site we were finally ushered out of the line into the 'artists car park' and yes, we felt very smug and special bypassing the waiting masses in their cars. We are a fucking rock band after all! Unfortunately it was pretty late in the day by then and the artists' camp site was full... as were all the others so we still ended up in a makeshift site farthest from the main site. Not so smug now are we?

Friday night we set up camp, myself, Joe and his lady friend Eve, Kate and her son and Simon our God like driver for the weekend (Dan came down with his lady friend on the Sunday due to having a wedding to go to). After the setting up we wandered up to the main site and caught Alabama 3 who were pretty good fun, watched a bit of Bad Manners on the Bar Stage where we were playing on Sunday and then left when Roisin Murphy of Moloko fame took to the main stage as by this time we were all pretty knackered.

Thank God we had some neighbours in the camper van next to us willing to keep the festival spirit alive  by playing utter crap on their car stereo at full volume until 2am, we were worried for a second there we'd have to go to sleep or something. Aging hippy bastards.

Luckily we didn't have to wait long in the morning for the party to recommence again. 7:30am and we awoke to the sounds of  Moonlight Shadow by Mike Oldfield.

The sounds of Joe shouting "Can you turn that fucking sonic diarrhoea off!? C***S!" carried across the campsite rather satisfactorily I thought. Slight echo. The sonic diarrhoea continued throughout the weekend with Kate's son Torrin suggesting we spray paint "GARY GLITTER - ON TOUR 2008" down the side of their van. I loved him for that.

 

Saturday we spend the whole day pretty much getting sunburned, shopping in all the little festival stalls and watching as many of the bands we we could.

Around midday I got a call from the Bar Stage supervisor asking if we'd like to swap our set on Sunday for a Main stage set on Saturday as a band from Austria couldn't get there until Sunday. We were tempted but obviously Dan wasn't at the festival yet so it would have had to have been an acoustic set, at an earlier time than we'd have had on the Sunday so we said thank-you but declined the invitation. We'd have lost the chance to play a full band set and that's what we were there to do, plus it would have been a shame for Dan to miss out on playing altogether. Of course, we sacked him when he arrived the next day yet again. He takes his sackings like a man, I'll give him that. Was pretty cool that they thought of us to fill the gap on the main stage though, I thought it boded well for chances of being invited back next year maybe? So long as we played well on Sunday.

Saturday was fancy dress day at the festival, a tradition they always have on the Saturday and I thought it was a great idea. There were some truly inspired costumes wandering about the place. Joe made friends with Jack Sparrow and a group of girls all dressed as Wally (as in where's Wally). I saw an 8 foot tall man on stilts dressed as the BFG and even some guy who'd obviously thought to himself "Who can I go as that won't have been done before? Fuck it, I'll go as Noo Noo from the tellytubbies". And he did just that. My fancy dress extended to wearing a hat.

We caught a few songs of Chas and Dave but I felt they didn't live up to the hype as there's only so many cheeky, cockney piano songs you can listen to in a row really. We did have some rather lovely sautéed potatoes and garlic mushrooms down by the acoustic stage though. Num num. We checked out the dance tent as well and Joe vowed to jig the night away after the bands were finished, apparently he was "up for it" that night.

We watched the Pipettes on the main stage who were pretty fun in a 50's 'do wop' kinda way. the headliners that night were Supergrass who were really rather good, although you were sort of hoping they'd skip the newer stuff and play the earlier singles, which is bad but then again it was a festival... we expect the hits damn it! Richard III was my musical highlight I think, tune.

We waited around to meet Joe to go to the Dance tent but couldn't find him in the crowd so decided bed was the better option only to find him back at the camp site chilling out with Kate... up for it my arse.

We awoke to find ourselves trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not our own and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. Wait, no that's not right, we woke up to Ozzy Osbourn at full blast again at 7:30am. Bloody hippies and their camper vans!

We drove Joe's car up to the site to be ready to unload the equipment later in the day and when we got to the site watched a bit of Tiny Tin Lady playing a chilled out acoustic set on the main stage. Their rendition of every 90's dance hit rolled into one song divided the JWP troop with me being quite impressed and Joe wishing he'd never heard it. We also discovered we were entitled to a free meal. Result. It wasn't very good. Damn.

Dan arrived with his lady and her dad. We rejoiced. Then fired him.

I'd booked us in to play a short set on the festival site radio station the previous day so we showed up there and played a couple of acoustic songs for them. We dedicated Ode to the donor card to the hippy couple back at the camp site.

After a bit of dosing by the acoustic stage it was time to get ready to rock, we re-hired Dan and set up all our crap in the Bar Stage. Unfortunately our soundcheck was at exactly the same time as Misty's Big Adventure were playing the main stage, who were one of the bands I was really trying to check out. We even had to start our set before they had finished theirs as the main stage was running 5 mins late. However, we played a good set, kept to the upbeat tracks and hopefully made an impact on the slowly growing crowd.

I attempted to throw a banana into the crowd on the line "'ave a banana" in one of our new songs, in an effort to look cool but ended up throwing it into one of the drapes hanging from the ceiling where it possibly still is to this day. But the main news is that I had my first ever pair of knickers thrown at me! That's right, I am now officially a sex God, although as the compare stated "If you get a pair of knickers thrown at you on the first day of a festival you're in luck, if it's on the third day of a festival you're in trouble".  After baying from the crown I donned said pair of knickers and continued to look a twat for the remainder of the gig. All good clean (?) fun though.

Some great feedback from people after the set was over, lots of hello's, thank you's and 'cheers for watching's. Sold out of albums and made enough money to treat ourselves to some of the profits rather than sticking it back into the JWP money machine, which was really nice as it very rarely happens.

A quick pack up of the tent later and I was off back home, hitching a lift back with Dan as I had work the next day (bank holiday, double pay, not to be missed). We waved goodbye to Solfest and the rest of the band. "Bye bye Solfest and rest of the band" I said to myself as we pulled out of the site. "I hope I never see you again you bunch of arseholes". Only kidding, I'm such a card.

A quick stop off at a hideously over-priced motorway services where I managed to evade paying for my chicken and bacon panini. Well I told the guy it was a ham and cheese and got 50p knocked off it. That's now utterly rock and roll I am. Well he wasn't paying attention and I was annoyed.

Home at 2am and back to the dull cycle of getting up early for work. Sigh. Still, great weekend.

You'll have to ask Kate and Joe what happened for the rest of the festival. I'm hoping hippy couple didn't let them down and amazed them with yet more bilge at 7am, I'm also hoping Joe did something unspeakable to their van as punishment, but at this time that's all speculation.

Sam
XXX

Road to music video - part 1

It has begun, money has been exchanged for insurance purposes between the band and Mr James 'I direct music videos' Sharpe. See below for more details.

The first JWP music video is nearly upon us.

So is anyone reading these blogs yet? Would it help if we tried to make them interesting? Ok, we'll give it a go. I'll give it a go.

Last weekend Joe played a lovely little set at the Belper Alldayer with his side project 'Little Show' which is Joe solo playing a few of his own songs and some select James Warner tracks. I didn't realise he was playing until I'd got there, I'd come along to see Lucy Day play, who was also very good by the way. Fun times were had by all but I had to leave early to get my Sunday bus back to Derby... I'm starting to see the appeal of driving. Only on Sundays though.

Things are finally pushing ahead with the music video shoot after a few false starts. Had talks with James Sharpe, the 'to-be director' and it all seems to be shaping up nicely. We're going to be hopefully shooting in the Belper River Gardens on the 13th & 14th September. It's all still to be finalised but we're going to need a crowd for the band shots to be filmed on the Sunday 14th if any of you fancy coming down, being filmed and maybe even getting a free packet of crisps.*

If you haven't seen any of James' previous films check out his website here or watch his video for local heroes Plans & Apologies which they made last year. Ours will be cuter.

I am looking forward to making this video, I used to make a fair few films myself back at uni and I do kinda miss the process from time to time. But not the ball ache involved in getting them made.

On another note, we're also gearing up for the big gig we have at Darley Park opening the huge outdoor classical concert they stage there every year. Here's a piece on the 2003 concert by the BBC to give you an idea of what it's all about BBC ARTICLE. There are usually around 30,000 people there so I think this may be out biggest every audience. We're playing with Viva Sinfonia again, performing 'Paper Aeroplanes' and a tighter version of the improvisation we played at the Assembly Rooms gig earlier this year. We've also been asked to write a new piece which is pretty daunting as we only have one, albeit long 9 hour, practice. We will see how that pans out I guess. Come down to watch us if you can spare an evening on Sunday 31st August, it's free and a lovely night out. Bring a picnic.

Here's us performing Paper Aeroplanes at the Assembly Rooms, pic by Chris Redshaw

 

Until next time. BUY AN ALBUM!

'THE JWP SHOP' - Go have a looky.

Sam
XXX

*We will revise this and think of something more appealing to offer as a thank you. Maybe a choice of flavours?

Ive had an AWESOME week!

Hey guys, it seems like a long time since ive been on here or even the internet. This is becuase this week, i had kind of a holiday week, where i just went out a lot to different places and spent some time with my lovely girlfriend vonny. Ive been doing all sorts! I went to see the dark knight and joe is right, it is AMAZING. The best film ive seen in donkeys! Been to a place called The Deep in Hull to see some bloody huge sharks and fishies, that was well fun! Thursday was a chill day, also teaching drum lessons, and then went out to pizza hut at night, which was mouth watering! (As many of you might know, pizza is my favourite food of allll time!). On friday we went to London to see an awesome show and go shopping. It was lovely.

All in all, this week has been ACE, and the way I'm feeling right now, can't wait to get back to doing some awesome gigs coming up with viva orchestra, and some big festivals with James Warner! I'm enjoying this break we have for sorting out the single etc, but also can't wait to get back out there and hit some pots and pans with wooden sticks, also in my new attire which i can't wait to wear!

See you all soon, Cheers, Dan xxx

Sam moves house and gets his Internet back.

I have a lovely new house with a nice big bedroom and my beloved Internet back, finally. Now hopefully I can get the temp new James Warner site up and running in the next few days if I have time.

Next few band practices are going to be based around the Solway Festival set we have to come up with. I have a few ideas of what I want to do, I'm thinking something bouncy for the festival crowd. Fingers crossed it won't felt it down with rain like all the other festivals we seem to play. We're supporting Bad Manners, Sham 69, Supergrass, Chas and Dave, Rosilin Murphy and Misty's Big Adventure to name but a few, all tickets have sold out now as well. Looking forward to it!

Here's some shots of me and James looking manly while I move house.

Sexy manly men we are.

joe knocks over flip chart in an unashamed act of rock n roll

Its been great so far working with joe on the TIU music project this week, during break whilst telling all the students to chill out and take it steady the door opened and i saw joe hurl himself at a flipchart knocking it flying, we are so Rock n Roll!! 

:) kx

practice

Really enjoyed practice tonight, partly because Gez has purple hair and makes the best strong coffee ever! and also because we went through some new and some of our older songs like Never been here gone, I put a flute part on it as i was fed up of tamborine, think i will stick with that. We also played have yourself a goodnight and some song criminal which i love playing on keys. Judas stone is one of Joes newest songs that we have played live only a couple of times and as yet i am not really stuck on a particular flute part but Sam has an mp3 of the coalville Hard drive fes gig version of it that i like so it will hopefully end up like that. 

That was a really good gig, in fact that was a great weekend. We saw Andy Nutter and Evil Eye tattoo at the Tattoo convention and the sound there was great (thanks jamie:) It was a really nice event with a good atmosphere and some great tattoos. 

We also played another gig that weekend, but i have forgotten where ... oh ive remembered! It was at the final for the Ynot battle of the bands and that was also a nice gig, on a wooden stage infront of a quarry rock face/cliff. 

anyway bla bla bla bla bla bla byeeee!

fun weeks

Hi, last week was great fun, working in the theatre with awesome artists and kids. We made two different stories and some lovely music, sound effects and stories. It was lovely working with a classical singer and guitarist, aswell as the actors/dancers and the farmer!!

Anyways this week hopefully will be fun too its working with Julian, Joe and the rest of the Turn it up crew. Ive worked with TIU for a very long time time, in fact since the days it was nail it down with the legend that is Sam Murray. It is always fun:)

Heres some pics from last week

Kate xxx

Witty and interesting title!

Still no internet at home, so I'm on a mates laptop. I'v come to the conclusion that my computer is pretty boring when not connected to the internet. Ah well, maybe I should use the time to do something constructive on it, like editing some videos or graphic design.

Quite looking forward to the concert at the end of the month in Darley Park with Viva Sinfonia again, having a 6 hour practice session on the Friday with them for the set on the Sunday. Apparently work can't 'authorize' a day off for the friday for me, however, I have a plan to get around that problem. Not turn up.

The whole classical concert is free so come down if you can, especially if i' sunny, its a lovely evening out in the park. We're opening the event at about 5pm.

Anyone know the cheapest place to pick up  freeview box? The house move has gone very well, jut putting pictures up on walls, sorting out the details etc. Internet on Thursday, fridge on Tuesday and a TV ariel on Wednesday. The sodding corner shop closed for two weeks the moment we moved in though. Netto it is then. Oh and the toilet flushes now.

But yeah, freeview anyone? Oh and a cheap DVD that plays date AVI discs?

Thanks darlings

Sam