A lot of people we've spoken to have said that Enablers at Chameleon was their gig of 2011. Can't disagree with that. They enjoyed themselves so much that vocalist Pete is coming all the way back again for this solo show with a stellar supporting cast...
PETE SIMONELLI
"In addition to being the vocalist and co-founder of the San Francisco-based band, Enablers, Simonelli is a published poet, writer, and playwright. A native Californian, Simonelli spent eighteen formative years in San Francisco, documenting, observing, drinking, reading, loving, betraying, working, and writing--- attributes and setbacks that, over the years, have led to many a Second Chance, for which he is very grateful. And call it birthright, boon, or bane, but as one who too often veered in westerly directions (much to the amusement of his friends and bandmates), Simonelli moved east in 2008 and now makes his home in Brooklyn, New York. These shows will see Pete reading from his past book 'One Brittle Nerve' and he will also have new material on offer."
If you saw his spoken-word performance at Lee Rosy's just over a year ago you'll know you're in for a rare treat.
Felix is the musical pseudonym for Lucinda Chua, joined now (in classic power trio style) by Neil Turpin (Yann Tiersen, Bilge Pump, Quack Quack, Enablers) on drums and long-time collaborator Chris Summerlin (Lords, Kogumaza) on electric guitar. This 3 piece line-up has just recorded the second Felix record, entitled Oh Holy Molar to be released on the Kranky label in April 2012 after which the band embarks on a US tour with Yann Tiersen.
"INSECT ARK (NYC) is the brand-new solo project from Dana Schechter (Bee and Flower, Angels of Light, American Music Club). Drawing from her decidedly more aggressive and experimental musical side, INSECT ARK is composed and performed as an analog-electronic hybrid: one woman, a sampler, a bass, a lap steel, and a keyboard. Just off a Fall 2011 European tour with Enablers, she is currently recording her first EP"
If the idea of a band consisting of just 2 drummers brings to mind a hippy bongo nightmare then you've obviously never heard Rattle. Comprising of 2 of Nottingham's most unique and recognisable drummers (Theresa Wrigley of Fists and Katharine Brown of Kogumaza) and aided by Kogumaza's Mark Spivey they create a hypnotic and danceable music form that recalls This Heat or ESG even whilst remaining completely their own.
What a line up eh? We're going to decide on running order on the night. The thinking is to perhaps have Pete's spoken word going on throughout the evening between bands or to somehow mix it up differently to a normal gig. We'll keep you posted on that one.
As usual, we're keeping this cheap and cheerful so it's FIVE POUNDS ON THE DOOR.
Pete Fletcher at First Love Studios really saved our collective hides recently with some very generous studio time to complete the Kogumaza LP. Nice to return the favour and be asked to put together this sleeve for the first release on Pete's label Denizen Recordings by Nottingham's own Hhymn. They supplied the wonderful Ian Chatburn underwater photos and some design direction. Maybe my hungover brain was operating on half power but it was a real struggle to find space and colours to make text work well over such detailed and high-contrast images without ruining the images or making the text illegible. I thought about resorting to boxes or worse still, shrinking the pictures and putting the text underneath. Some Monster Munch and a lie-down later and I went mental with the crop tool and cut the images to quite extreme levels in an attempt to place the divers contained within them on the periphery of the image, making it somehow a little spooky and taking the emphasis away from the human involvement in the images (and isn't that always the best music too: made by humans but with as little trace of their grubby paws as possible, like something in nature just laid it right?). Some blue and red tints later and I'm very happy with the results. I think Peter Saville was on my mind or at least a low-rent version of him. Out soon. In the meantime watch Hhymn's video here: http://vimeo.com/21108423 and marvel at the lovely blue Fender Jaguar contained within...
Here's some more images of the sleeve, click them to be magically transported to a world where they're bigger.
Forthcoming on Low Point on clear vinyl. Katharine Eira Brown took the cover image (of the coast at Aberdyfi) on Kodachrome slide film and I added the minimal graphic elements.
Throughout the 1990s and early 00s I never went anywhere without my trusty Olympus Super Zoom AZ300. I have boxes and boxes of photos of gigs, most of them pretty awful. Ignoring this, I decided to scan them a few weeks ago and chuck them up on Flickr. They are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sumlin/sets/72157625712202359/with/5360811013/ And here are some of my favourites: Fugazi; Nottingham Marcus Garvey Ballroom Bob Tilton; Nottingham Dubble Bubble Deerhoof; Nottingham Maze Fugazi; Nottingham Rock City Godspeed You! Black Emperor; Manchester Amigo's Cafe (first ever European show) Jamie from Scarfo (now from The Kills) enjoys Ligament's last gig (it wasn't); London Upstairs At The Garage Mogwai secret show opening for Ligament; London Upstairs At The Garage Shellac; Camber Sands Sweep The Leg Johnny; Birmingham Jug Of Ale Sonic Youth; Shepherd's Bush Empire The Make-Up; Notting Hill Arts Cafe Trail Of Dead; Nottingham Social
As you can see, I finally got to see a De Tomaso Mangusta as well. Maybe I need to write an entry about how I've never seen a million pounds in non-consecutive notes sitting on a pallet wrapped in clingfilm and then I'll stumble across one of those in a car park too? It looked just as good as I thought it would:
Originally planned to be NATHAN BELL (of Lungfish) with Kogumaza and Dusty Bible, we found out this morning that Nathan was refused entry to the UK at immigration and sent home. This is something of a colossal downer.
Let us not wallow in this bad news though. Kogumaza will be unrestricted by a 30 min opening slot for the first time ever for their last Nottingham show before hibernating to make an LP, Low Point's Gareth Hardwick has been coaxed out of gig hiatus, Dusty Bible got through immigration about 15 years ago, Chameleon is booked, the door price is lowered, Nick's got a load of booze in from Lidl and we demand your attendance.
Here's the blurb:
DAMN YOU! in association with RAMMEL CLUB presents...
► KOGUMAZA Kogumaza is people from Bob Tilton, Lords, Wolves Of Greece and more making thick, shimmering riff cycles pitched somewhere between a budget Black Sabbath and Spacemen 3 on half speed playing forever. Frequencies are shifted, drums are echoed to infinity and beautiful patterns emerge from the fuzz and stay trapped in your brain for weeks. http://www.myspace.com/oogamaza http://www.honeyisfunny.com/kogumaza/
► GARETH HARDWICK Low Point Records (Machinefabriek, Strategy etc) owner Gareth Hardwick returns to the live arena at long last. "While many experimental artists tend to shy away from intimacy...the cliched presumption of instrumental music being incapable of dealing with private issues in a specific way was effectively disproved by suggestive soundscapes which burned with joy, pain, elation and desire – even if they hardly ever rose above a whisper" www.low-point.com
► DUSTY BIBLE Hoarse blues with a whiff of sulphur and three day oldbooze.
THURSDAY 11th NOVEMBER The CHAMELEON Arts Cafe, Nottingham (Old Market sq / alleyway next to the Bell Inn, above Clinton Cards) 8pm doors £3 on the door
We'll send the proceeds onto to Nathan Bell to help pay for a little of the wasted airfare so be sure to come down.
The L&S014 7" has it's own ordering page at the L&S website here: http://lancashireandsomerset.co.uk/index2.html Head to the Bands link for info on other L&S artists like Enablers, Nathan Bell, Mugstar and more...
The annual Christmas Covers Party is a chance for bands in Nottingham to murder some classic songs whilst boozing without care for dignity or coolness and in the process make a massive pile of cash for Cancer Research. Simmo put together this Database Project on Facebook to assist the memories of those who have taken part or whose ears have suffered over the years. It's taken me ages but my photos from the 2009 event are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sumlin/sets/72157623714141387/
Car Of The Day for today is the "classic" 78-93 Saab 900 series and more specifically, it's "Sven" - my 1986 Saab 900i Automatic. I owned Sven between early 2004 and sometime around late 2005/early 2006. Registered D21 XJF, Sven was the 3rd and final 900 I looked at one Saturday afternoon. The first was a minty fresh 3-door 90 GL in grey but it looked like shifting out of my price range as the owner had it on EBay and wouldn't end the auction early. I remember he showed me a complete set of spare fuses in a Saab carry case that came with the car. The second was a 900 Turbo in 2-tone black and grey. It looked amazing but just as I was about to lay the money down, the owner began nervously detailing worrying faults with the car until he bizarrely talked me out of the sale. Finally I went to see a metallic blue 5-door 900i Auto in Leicestershire somewhere and after a short test drive I walked away with the keys. I'd wanted a 900 for ages. They're stereotypically architects' and Guardian readers' cars and I don't mind that. My Grandad had an absolutely killer 99 Turbo in black with the checkered alloys and a deep orange velour interior (registered "6 GOA" which is now on a Fiesta according to http://www.mycarcheck.com/). My friend Alex swore by them too and the band I was in borrowed his 900i one evening to shift some equipment and were won over by it's size, grunt and lovely velvety heated seats. When the head gasket blew on my shitty Citroen AX there was only one car that I wanted to replace it.
The honeymoon period lasted precisely 25 minutes. "The fuel gauge must be fucked" thought I, watching the needle visibly plummet as I sunk my right foot into the shagpile on the way home. Nope: 21 mpg if you're lucky. This thing weighed the same as a tank, was an automatic and probably wasn't in factory-fresh condition under the hood. No problems, I thought, what I saved in buying an older car could be used to fuel it. I remained optmistic. My friends and girlfriend all loved it too and christened it "Sven" on account of it's Swedish heritage. The Sunday after buying it I took my housemates out to a car boot sale in it. The sun was shining, the electric sunroof worked nicely (as did everything electrical unlike my current Peugeot which electrically shits the bed almost weekly) and it felt like driving a beautifully engineered and very, very rapid tank. The automatic box took a bit of getting used to (Alex's was a manual though it was identical in every other way) but at least it meant I could pick my nose and drive in complete safety. And the illuminated floor-mounted ignition was the coolest thing imaginable. Other drivers nodded and waved, we got to Calverton in what seemed like three minutes and went and bought some tat and a dirty burger. But come home time and Sven was dead. I may as well have put my key up my arse and turned it. Lucky for me that I am not more mechanically minded as my answer to this was to sit and try the ignition again and again for about 15 mins. Eventually (and as if nothing amiss had gone on), the engine fired and we were off. Suspecting something hideous was occurring, I took Sven to the lovely folks over at Volsaab in Derby (I don't think they exist anymore). They couldn't find anything wrong with it and so started the biggest problem with Sven. Periodically, the ignition would be dead - nothing. Then give it a few minutes and it'd be fine. This is not so bad on a Sunday afternoon but when you're late for work it's agony. And when you give your car a persona and a name you can't help but feel "he" is just fucking with you on purpose. I finally got to the bottom of the ignition problem after a drunken friend of a friend overheard me discussing it and declared he could fix it "in 5 mins". Which he did. Something to do with the starter motor. But by then, Sven had all manner of other problems in the engine department that were slowly turning him from an excellent vintage car into a nice extension to my lounge in that he was very comfortable to sit in but didn't go anywhere. I finally relented and put him on EBay where I received the princely sum of £31 from a mechanic and his Dad from Wales. The EBay listing fee was £22. I treated myself to a takeaway with the proceeds and bought an Astra Estate with blacked out Barry windows that smelled of cum from an "adult entertainer" I went to school with. The last I saw of my Saab 900 was on Pullman Rd in Sneinton, where I lived and where I left the aforementioned mechanic trying to get it started to take it away. I didn't look round, I just gave him the keys, took the money and walked away. It was a sad moment. It wasn't there the next day so he must have got it moving. A quick registration check shows it's not around anymore though, unless someone with a sense of humour put a personal plate on it. This has been my only (so far) foray into classic car ownership and it dented my wallet and my heart severely. However, despite it being the oldest car I've owned, it was also the fastest as I found out when I nudged 120 on the A1 before looking at the speedo. Prior to that I thought to myself "Wow, the Saab's feeling nice today". It felt better and smoother the faster it went. Pottering over Nottingham's speedbumps seemed to be slowly killing it, but wind it up on a straight stretch of road and it barely wobbled. I slept in it's cavernous boot on several occasions (Simon Feirn once managed to fit a mattress in there for a good night's sleep in Norwich) and I'd never tire of it's gadgets or it's front-hinging bonnet. It's also the only car I've ever owned that drew admiring glances from strangers. I was once at a party and people were talking about how rubbish modern cars were. A young lady piped up that the only car she liked was "the blue Saab on Pullman Rd". I nearly choked on my Red Stripe.
So there you have it, COTD 2 is the Saab 900. I see a young chap driving a red one in Nottingham from time to time and a sharp stab of jealousy hits me as I notice him grinning in traffic. I don't think I'd ever ask him to loan me a fiver though. Or give me a ride anywhere important.
Value now: In 2006 it was £31.00 evidently. You can get a near-perfect one now for less than £2000 though.
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