Hi Peoples. The good news is we'll be playing an End of the Road warm up at The Prince Albert, Brighton on September 1st. Tickets available here
Tuesday, 9 August 2011
Monday, 25 July 2011
End of the Road/Al's Music blog
Sunday, 13 March 2011
Electric Soft Parade Residency at The Albert
Alex and Thomas will be performing their entire back catalogue plus some new material at 4 shows over the next 4 months. First up, Holes in the Wall in it's entirety on March 23rd. More details here - http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/The-Electric-Soft-Parade/183443655029908
Monday, 7 February 2011
Monday, 24 January 2011
BRAKES ~ In the studio
Howdy. We're now about halfway through our session at th'legendary metway studios here in Brighton. We've tracked about a dozen songs with hopefully more to come in the next few days. Last night we took time out to play a short notice gig at the green door store. Thanks to all who came. It was a laugh. New songs were included in the set; Hoodoo Voodoo which we've played before, and Rat In a Can which we haven't played before.
Good times.
Good times.
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Saturday, 22 January 2011
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
MAXIMILISM!
Tom and Alex White plus friends present an evening of musical delight in benefit of Martlets Hospice. It will be Awesome, please come! Click here for more info.
Thanks.x
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Monday, 25 October 2010
Saturday, 24 July 2010
GIGS/MERCH OFFER/NEW ALBUM
Hello Everybody, firstly, apologies for our absence and general lack of activity. We've been jumping through international red tape, pursuing solo careers, moving house, raising children, embarking on fishing excursions... the list goes on. Life admin basically. But the good news is that there has been a McFlurry of activity lately, and we've some exciting news to share with you all.
As you may know the kind folk at End of the Road festival have invited us back for what will be our 5th appearance in as many years. We will be playing in the big top stage on Saturday 11th September at 8pm. For more information and tickets click here.
Our appearance at End of the Road will be our first show for the best part of a year, and not wanting to appear like a rusty bag of snakes we've decided we should probably do a warm up. So we'll be playing at Brighton's Prince Albert on September 1st. Support and all that still to be confirmed but tickets will be available here and also from Rounder Records and Resident Records both of Brighton. To celebrate our live return we will be offering a merchandise lucky dip at both Rounder and Resident. Both shops will be holding a limited amount of stock and each ticket bought will be worth one item of merchandise. Good luck!
We are also in the preliminary stages of working on a new album. As usual various demoing sessions have been taking place in certain rural locations and a handful of tracks have begun to take shape. Plans are now in place and our new album should appear early next year with some touring most likely too.
That's all for now. More news as it comes.
Thanks
BRAKES
As you may know the kind folk at End of the Road festival have invited us back for what will be our 5th appearance in as many years. We will be playing in the big top stage on Saturday 11th September at 8pm. For more information and tickets click here.
Our appearance at End of the Road will be our first show for the best part of a year, and not wanting to appear like a rusty bag of snakes we've decided we should probably do a warm up. So we'll be playing at Brighton's Prince Albert on September 1st. Support and all that still to be confirmed but tickets will be available here and also from Rounder Records and Resident Records both of Brighton. To celebrate our live return we will be offering a merchandise lucky dip at both Rounder and Resident. Both shops will be holding a limited amount of stock and each ticket bought will be worth one item of merchandise. Good luck!
We are also in the preliminary stages of working on a new album. As usual various demoing sessions have been taking place in certain rural locations and a handful of tracks have begun to take shape. Plans are now in place and our new album should appear early next year with some touring most likely too.
That's all for now. More news as it comes.
Thanks
BRAKES
Thursday, 29 October 2009
MEGABLOG PART 1 SEP30/OCT01 2009
“The brakes are jammed!” exclaimed the driver as we tried to pull out of the driveway. This was not a good start to the day. It was 6:30 am and the guy I’d hired to drive us to Heathrow was having a crisis of confidence in operating my parents’ van. I had visions of us tentatively jolting our way round the M25, only getting to Heathrow in time to miss our flight. He got the hang of it eventually though, it just required a certain lightness of touch, and after picking up Tom and Alex we were on our way.
The flight was pleasant enough although as It was a day flight certain efforts had to be taken to curtail the onset of boredom. I’d picked up a free copy of the outrageously pompous Guitar Aficionado magazine at Heathrow. Jimmy Page was on the cover but it turned out that the article inside was mainly just about the clothes he was wearing in the shoot and how effortlessly stylish he is. The rest of the magazine was sort of like guitar porn. In flight movies were thin on the ground and low on quality but a Jim Carey comedy did have a scene or two filmed at LA’s Spaceland venue; our final show of the tour. I took that as a good omen.
Several hours later we touched down at Raleigh Durham International Airport, North Carolina where Eamon was waiting for us after taking an earlier flight down from New York. It was warm and there was still a scent of summer in the air. The plan was to meet up with the Fat-Cat bus the next day at Local 506 in Chapel Hill, but until then we had a night off in a hotel to enjoy. After a few drinks in the hotel bar we went to a barbecue restaurant and ordered copious amounts of alcohol and meat. Jet-lag ensued and back at the hotel my waking day was done.
The next day started about 6 hours later with a jolt. 3:30 am and I was wide awake. Attempts to get back to sleep were futile so I read the paper and watched TV until the sun came up. After a shower and a few cups of coffee we checked out and made our way to the venue. Unfortunately we arrived there about an hour before the bus did so we had to wait in the baking sun with all our luggage and instruments piled up on the pavement. This attracted a fair bit of attention from local passers by. The usual ”are you guys a band?” leading to “are you British?” and so on. But judging from our conversations Chapel Hill seemed like a nice little town.
The bus pulled up a little later and we made ourselves acquainted with our new touring companions. The Twilight Sad and We Were Promised Jetpacks had both spent the last couple of weeks supporting Frightened Rabbit at shows on the west coast and in the south. Frightened Rabbit had now gone home and we were joining the tour to take the middle billing with The Twilight Sad (who I’ll now refer to as Sados) headlining from now on. There were a lot of names to learn, Sados and Jetpacks had nine between them and then there was the tour manager Esteban, sound engineer Steven and driver Terry. We picked our bunks and got familiar with our new home for the next 10 days. I picked a top bunk, pretty much because I thought it’d be easier for me to get in to because of my height. I'd later regret this choice though. It was particularly difficult to get up there when drunk and rocking from side to side. Lying there I realised how tired I was, but I was also hungry and seeing as we had time to kill we went and got some lunch.
The show that night was almost a blow out. It didn’t take long for our sound engineer Steven to realise that the sound system was in a serious state of disrepair. “It worked fine last night”, said the thoroughly rude in house engineer who was more interested in throwing his (considerable) weight around and maintaining some sense of authority than actually being helpful. Sados were getting impatient while people fiddled around trying to make things work, and understandably so. It seemed remarkable that a venue that hosts bands from all over the world on a regular basis can’t keep their PA to a working order. Eventually stuff started to work and Sados wearily got on with their sound check. Such progress was short lived however as half way through a song the drum monitor squealed violently forcing drummer Mark Divine to storm off the stage and out of the venue in disgust. The rest of them weren't far behind either.
Things seemed to smooth over a little eventually but our sound check wasn’t much better; the problems that had been supposedly rectified earlier on soon re-emerged but to be honest we were so jet-lagged that just getting through the show was going to be a result. Jetpacks took to the stage and started their set but everything was oddly quiet and the vocals weren’t coming through at all. Looking round I noticed that instead of being behind the desk with the master faders up, the fat sound man was at the bar eating a pizza, blissfully unaware that the first act had gone on. What a prick!
Our time to take the stage eventually came and I didn't exactly have my gig head on. I'd been abstaining from the alcohol throughout the afternoon in order to combat the lag. This wasn't a notion shared by my fellow bandmates however, who all seemed totally rat arsed, especially Eamon who, as we took the stage, was trying to convince our new sound guy Steven to do a shot of Jaegermeister with him. I'd only met Steven several hours ago but I was pretty sure that, as testament to his obvious professionalism, he was not the drinking type. The set got going, it sounded strange, it felt strange. Mistakes were made and confused glances darted across the stage. At one point Eamon must have decided that the audience were due an explanation as to why we were so loose. "We're all jet-lagged" he said. This was hilarious of course because while Alex, Tom and myself were indeed jet-lagged, Eamon was just plain drunk and was trying to get away with somehow tagging along with the excuse that the rest of us had. At this point I decided to spend the next two songs stood behind my bass amp, not because I was trying to escape the shambolic debacle of our gig but more because i couldn't hear the drums and it sounded better from behind my bass amp. This got me back in the mood and the rest of the show was enjoyable.
The Twilight Sad were up next and I was looking forward to seeing them properly having only caught a fraction of their show at the Fat-Cat night in Brighton earlier in the year. But it seemed their luck was going from bad to worse. Halfway through the second song the drum monitor went again then the entire PA went down. Mark Divine stormed out of the building again and all was looking bleak. Several discussions took place between the venue owner, sound guy, our tour manager Esteban and singer James. From the little I heard it just seemed that the sound guy was still stirring shit, calling people unprofessional and generally being defensive. Amazingly the crowd stuck around and their patience was rewarded when about 20 minutes later the PA was re-set and the band went back on stage to finish where they had left off.
Afterwards we stood about drinking, chatting and generally getting to know each other better. It was a surreal start to the tour. We'd only met all these people properly a few hours ago and we'd already seen them go through some testing times. Load out took about 5 minutes, one advantage of having 15 men on a bus, then we sat on the bus drinking, eating Pizza and trying to forget about the awful gig we had all just had before the bus set off for the journey northwards. At about 3am I realised I had been awake for 24 hours and thought it best to ascend into the lofty confines of my bunk.
The flight was pleasant enough although as It was a day flight certain efforts had to be taken to curtail the onset of boredom. I’d picked up a free copy of the outrageously pompous Guitar Aficionado magazine at Heathrow. Jimmy Page was on the cover but it turned out that the article inside was mainly just about the clothes he was wearing in the shoot and how effortlessly stylish he is. The rest of the magazine was sort of like guitar porn. In flight movies were thin on the ground and low on quality but a Jim Carey comedy did have a scene or two filmed at LA’s Spaceland venue; our final show of the tour. I took that as a good omen.
Several hours later we touched down at Raleigh Durham International Airport, North Carolina where Eamon was waiting for us after taking an earlier flight down from New York. It was warm and there was still a scent of summer in the air. The plan was to meet up with the Fat-Cat bus the next day at Local 506 in Chapel Hill, but until then we had a night off in a hotel to enjoy. After a few drinks in the hotel bar we went to a barbecue restaurant and ordered copious amounts of alcohol and meat. Jet-lag ensued and back at the hotel my waking day was done.
The next day started about 6 hours later with a jolt. 3:30 am and I was wide awake. Attempts to get back to sleep were futile so I read the paper and watched TV until the sun came up. After a shower and a few cups of coffee we checked out and made our way to the venue. Unfortunately we arrived there about an hour before the bus did so we had to wait in the baking sun with all our luggage and instruments piled up on the pavement. This attracted a fair bit of attention from local passers by. The usual ”are you guys a band?” leading to “are you British?” and so on. But judging from our conversations Chapel Hill seemed like a nice little town.
The bus pulled up a little later and we made ourselves acquainted with our new touring companions. The Twilight Sad and We Were Promised Jetpacks had both spent the last couple of weeks supporting Frightened Rabbit at shows on the west coast and in the south. Frightened Rabbit had now gone home and we were joining the tour to take the middle billing with The Twilight Sad (who I’ll now refer to as Sados) headlining from now on. There were a lot of names to learn, Sados and Jetpacks had nine between them and then there was the tour manager Esteban, sound engineer Steven and driver Terry. We picked our bunks and got familiar with our new home for the next 10 days. I picked a top bunk, pretty much because I thought it’d be easier for me to get in to because of my height. I'd later regret this choice though. It was particularly difficult to get up there when drunk and rocking from side to side. Lying there I realised how tired I was, but I was also hungry and seeing as we had time to kill we went and got some lunch.
The show that night was almost a blow out. It didn’t take long for our sound engineer Steven to realise that the sound system was in a serious state of disrepair. “It worked fine last night”, said the thoroughly rude in house engineer who was more interested in throwing his (considerable) weight around and maintaining some sense of authority than actually being helpful. Sados were getting impatient while people fiddled around trying to make things work, and understandably so. It seemed remarkable that a venue that hosts bands from all over the world on a regular basis can’t keep their PA to a working order. Eventually stuff started to work and Sados wearily got on with their sound check. Such progress was short lived however as half way through a song the drum monitor squealed violently forcing drummer Mark Divine to storm off the stage and out of the venue in disgust. The rest of them weren't far behind either.
Things seemed to smooth over a little eventually but our sound check wasn’t much better; the problems that had been supposedly rectified earlier on soon re-emerged but to be honest we were so jet-lagged that just getting through the show was going to be a result. Jetpacks took to the stage and started their set but everything was oddly quiet and the vocals weren’t coming through at all. Looking round I noticed that instead of being behind the desk with the master faders up, the fat sound man was at the bar eating a pizza, blissfully unaware that the first act had gone on. What a prick!
Our time to take the stage eventually came and I didn't exactly have my gig head on. I'd been abstaining from the alcohol throughout the afternoon in order to combat the lag. This wasn't a notion shared by my fellow bandmates however, who all seemed totally rat arsed, especially Eamon who, as we took the stage, was trying to convince our new sound guy Steven to do a shot of Jaegermeister with him. I'd only met Steven several hours ago but I was pretty sure that, as testament to his obvious professionalism, he was not the drinking type. The set got going, it sounded strange, it felt strange. Mistakes were made and confused glances darted across the stage. At one point Eamon must have decided that the audience were due an explanation as to why we were so loose. "We're all jet-lagged" he said. This was hilarious of course because while Alex, Tom and myself were indeed jet-lagged, Eamon was just plain drunk and was trying to get away with somehow tagging along with the excuse that the rest of us had. At this point I decided to spend the next two songs stood behind my bass amp, not because I was trying to escape the shambolic debacle of our gig but more because i couldn't hear the drums and it sounded better from behind my bass amp. This got me back in the mood and the rest of the show was enjoyable.
The Twilight Sad were up next and I was looking forward to seeing them properly having only caught a fraction of their show at the Fat-Cat night in Brighton earlier in the year. But it seemed their luck was going from bad to worse. Halfway through the second song the drum monitor went again then the entire PA went down. Mark Divine stormed out of the building again and all was looking bleak. Several discussions took place between the venue owner, sound guy, our tour manager Esteban and singer James. From the little I heard it just seemed that the sound guy was still stirring shit, calling people unprofessional and generally being defensive. Amazingly the crowd stuck around and their patience was rewarded when about 20 minutes later the PA was re-set and the band went back on stage to finish where they had left off.
Afterwards we stood about drinking, chatting and generally getting to know each other better. It was a surreal start to the tour. We'd only met all these people properly a few hours ago and we'd already seen them go through some testing times. Load out took about 5 minutes, one advantage of having 15 men on a bus, then we sat on the bus drinking, eating Pizza and trying to forget about the awful gig we had all just had before the bus set off for the journey northwards. At about 3am I realised I had been awake for 24 hours and thought it best to ascend into the lofty confines of my bunk.
Saturday, 17 October 2009
A long way from home.....
Greeting from America
We're resting up in Salt Lake City, Utah, (about 1000 miles from the nearest ocean) 3 shows in to the second leg of our US jaunt.
I'm up early having been woken by some suspicious creeking coming from next door. Lets just say i've stayed in better hotels and leave it at that.
Anyway... joining us on this tour are Rachel Goodrich from Miami FL and Ezra Furman and the Harpoons from Brooklyn NY. Both are outstanding and i've been watching their sets every night so far.
It's a travel day today and we're heading out of Utah and into Idaho on our way to Washington State and eventually reaching Seattle sometime tomorrow afternoon.
Just four more shows to go before we head home; Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and LA. If you're making it down to any of those then come say hi. We've still got cd's, vinyl, t's and tote bags for sale, all at a good price. Looking forward to seeing you.
Cheers
Marc
BRAKES
We're resting up in Salt Lake City, Utah, (about 1000 miles from the nearest ocean) 3 shows in to the second leg of our US jaunt.
I'm up early having been woken by some suspicious creeking coming from next door. Lets just say i've stayed in better hotels and leave it at that.
Anyway... joining us on this tour are Rachel Goodrich from Miami FL and Ezra Furman and the Harpoons from Brooklyn NY. Both are outstanding and i've been watching their sets every night so far.
It's a travel day today and we're heading out of Utah and into Idaho on our way to Washington State and eventually reaching Seattle sometime tomorrow afternoon.
Just four more shows to go before we head home; Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and LA. If you're making it down to any of those then come say hi. We've still got cd's, vinyl, t's and tote bags for sale, all at a good price. Looking forward to seeing you.
Cheers
Marc
BRAKES
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
CHENEY!
Well... he's finally gone.
Here's a fond farewell from us.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1tYToHB36os&NR=1
Animation by AlbionEdd, thanks, whoever you are.
Brakes
Here's a fond farewell from us.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1tYToHB36os&NR=1
Animation by AlbionEdd, thanks, whoever you are.
Brakes
Saturday, 14 February 2009
BRAKES BLOG - Snowy tour Jan/Feb 09
Tour got off to a leisurely start with two shows and a day off after each. First up was London's Proud Galleries in the Camden Stables. We'd played here before a while back but the venue has since been relocated to a different building, much further from the stable's gates. The load in was pretty horrible back then as it involved heaving your gear up a narrow and dangerously steep staircase. But now, with the veune housed in a stable up to the right, the load in was a lot more difficult, just in an entirely different way. Camden Stables has cobbled streets. Cobbled streets and flight cases on wheels are about as compatible as the British transport network and snow. Cue Brakes and crew manoeuvring all our gear up a cobbled street, shoving and heaving cobble by cobble whilst simultaneously trying to stop it all from toppling over. If I thought this was hard it would be a lot harder going the other way at 1am. We set up, sound-checked and then went for some food. Grace Jones was playing at The Roundhouse up the road. Part of me wanted to pull the gig and just go and see her. It's not every day you get to see Grace Jones, but duty called and we headed back to the venue for what would be our first gig of the year and the first outing for a handful of songs from the new record. There was a healthy sense of anticipation in the audience as we took the stage and we kicked off proceedings with new song Red Rag. It felt good to be back after not playing together for a few months and the crowd sang and danced along appreciatively. Post gig we had a few drinks with some mates before tackling the load out from hell once more. All in all a good first gig of the year.
The next day we had an early start for a photo shoot with photographer Nic Shonfeld. Location was a public byway in Brighton on a hill between KempTown and the racecourse. Nic was using an old medium format camera making the most of the available light and surrounding scenery. Doing a simple outdoor shoot with no digital processing or false light was a welcome change to the usual protocol of photo shoots these days. It was biting cold but Nic wasn't overly fussy and the shoot didn't take all that long once we'd worked out a good setting.
The next day saw our debut gig in Guildford. After a short drive from Brighton we arrived at The Boileroom; a friendly little venue on the side of a busy road. After sound check Eamon, his wife Koren, Matt (of ESP and Restless List fame, guitar tech-ing for us) and myself went on a little pub crawl. We had a drink in a pub called The Live and Let Live which was one of those places where everyone turns and stares at you in silence as you walk in. All except the pub dog; a large old Alsatian who gave us a couple of feebly obligatory barks as if to say "I'm supposed to scare you off but I really can't be bothered and would much rather sit here by the fire". We drank up quick and moved on further into town.
A pub called The Keep near Guildford Castle (dont worry, I didn't know Guildford had a Castle either) looked like a good old ale drinkers pub from the outside but inside it had been raped of any character it once had and strongly resembled an Ikea showroom. The bar maid greeted us by telling Matt and Koren that they'd have to show her some ID. Koren wasn't drinking so it didn't matter but Matt had no ID. Matt (who is 26) and I tried to reason with her and we could tell that she realised she'd made a mistake but the bar manager stepped in and said "If you've been asked you have to provide ID". We decided to leave. By this point we were fearing that there were no decent pubs in Guildford but then we found The King's Head; a large busy tudor pub that had obviously been there for a long time. After a couple in there we headed back to the venue. On the way back we passed some sort of youth club where through the window we could see a loud band playing to an excitable bunch of kids. We watched for a while before we realised that the band were doing an emo-punk version of Rhianna's Umbrella. Very entertaining.
Our gig was good that night despite a few strange feedback issues early on in the set. We played for a bit longer taking a few requests and slotting some extra songs in at the spare of the moment. A good debut for Guildford.
After another day off in Brighton on the Saturday, we set off on tour properly on Sunday and made our way north to Manchester.
The reports said snow and snow it did. Pretty much as soon as we got on the M25 the flurries came and it got heavier the further north we got. It really started to settle after we'd arrived at Moho Live and within hours Manchester was turned white.
We'd never played this venue before but it had a good on stage sound and we had a good sound-check. Support that night came from Airship and Ten Bears who were both really good and some very friendly bunches of lads. Our set was highly enjoyable and we played for even longer again. The general consensus now is that the longer our sets are the better.
The snow fell hard all night and continued through the morning. We'd opted to leave our gear in the venue overnight so before we could set off we had to load out in the snowy conditions. Once packed up we headed south to Cardiff to play at Tommy's Bar. The white wash hadn't hit the south west yet but the snow seemed to follow us down. A short while after we'd got there a thick layer of snow began to settle. The venue was in Cardiff University's art school, a little way out from the centre of town. We were expecting it to be the usual soulless Union bar but the place had a nice character about it. We managed to get our back drop up for the first time (all the other places so far had been too small) and it looked good.
Support that night came from the wonderfully named Gindrinker; a two piece consisting of a guitarist who also operated a drum machine and a guy spouting Fall-esque rants and occasionally blowing a cornet. They were uncomfortably satisfying in their own special way and ended their set with the guitarist sitting and playing on the bar. We had probably our best show of the tour so far that night, and probably our best ever show in Cardiff. There was a nice intimacy about the venue and the crowd were with us all the way. The snow continued to fall during our set and after the gig people were out in the quad having snowball fights.
The next morning the snow had compacted and frozen and people were finding it difficult to exit the M4 services car park. I watched out my window as cars slid around and generally didn't move anywhere particularly fast. Luckily our tour manager Ric had the foresight to get the van out of there before the rush so we left the service station with relative ease.
It was off to Exeter for us, only a couple of hours down to M5 so seeing as we had a bit of extra time we decided to hunt for a somerset cider farm. It was ridiculously easy to find one, we turned onto the A38 and almost straight away spotted a sign for Sheppy's cider shop. It was a nice and sunny afternoon when we found the place. We had some tea and cake in their tea shop, had a look around the museum which mainly consisted of old farm tools, and then hit the shop to taste and buy several types of cider and cider related products. It was a perfect mid tour activity.
It had been about 5 years since any of us had been to the Exeter Cavern, except for Eamon who played a solo show there last year. It hadn't changed much, tiny dressing room covered in lurid graffiti, awkwardly shaped stage and the lingering smell of human faeces emanating from the toilet. Still, Brakes had never played here before so we were up for it.
The in house sound guy was late so there was quite a bit of waiting around before sound-check. Somehow we just couldn't get the sound right and we ended sound-check feeling a little apprehensive about the gig. We were glad to have our mates Johny and Sally, together known as Cottonmouth Rocks, supporting us that evening. They used to live in Brighton before moving to the west country a couple of years ago. Johny is also known in his solo incarnation as Thirty Pounds of Bone and is also a founding member of Drift Records who put Tom's solo album out last year. It was good to see them and their set was excellent.
COTTONMOUTH ROCKS
Also attending were two of Eamon's brothers Josh and Ross and Ross' wife Rhea. Both brothers had been living abroad in New Zealand and Taiwan respectively and myself, Tom and Alex hadn't seen them for quite some time.
The first 20 minutes of our set were a bit of a roller-coaster. The sound was all over the place and we had to re-level a lot of stuff. But once we got into it it turned into a pretty good gig. The venue had looked sparse before we played but with everyone in the room it felt quite packed. An enthusiastic rocker with long, curly ginger hair called Victor head banged down the front.
We sort of got chucked out after the gig. Obviously with family present we wanted to have a wee drink and do a bit of catching up but the security got a bit shirty with us. There was a slight stand off and a bit of word slinging between the bouncers and the Hamilton brothers who never need an excuse to question authority, but eventually we managed to talk security into backing off as long as we looked like we were actively getting ready to leave.
The next day wasn't a gig day but we had a BBC 6 Music live session with the wonderful Marc Riley. After a leisurely drive back up to Manchester we loaded in to the studio and did our thing. Marc always manages to make live radio feel pretty relaxed, more like you're just playing a private gig to him in his living room. After the session we got some dinner and had a few drinks in the glamorous Travelodge bar.
It was off to Sheffield the next day and although Sheffield and Manchester are a stone's throw apart we had to keep an eye on the roads because the weather had caught up with us again. Our preferred route of Snake Pass was closed so we took the non scenic route and sure enough when we got there Sheffield was deep in snow.
We've played the Fuzz Club a couple of times before, and were honoured to be playing their tenth birthday party. Support came from the brilliant Slow Club, a local boy girl duo who we'd met briefly before at the At Home by the Sea festival in Brighton last year. Whilst setting up we realised we'd left our drum stool at the BBC, whoops! And in pure ironic brilliance Slow Club's drummer Becky drums standing up. You couldn't write that shit! It wasn't a complete disaster though and Alex managed to fashion something drum stool-ish out of a seat and a flight case.
Last time we played Fuzz Club there were kids going mental ripping the monitors off the stage. However this time it was little more reserved and attendance had obviously suffered from the weather. We played well though and by the end we had a wee mosh pit going and i think we'd won over most there. We all got a bit pissed after the show. Glover and Zed from past support band Tiny Dancers were present and it was good to see them again and have some drinks. Turned out they were mates with Slow Club so a bit of a Brakes/Sheffield posse partay went down.
We eventually left and drove to our designated travelodge which was busier than usual due to the Pussycat Dolls playing at some local stadium somewhere. Shortly after parking up a crack lady came to the driver side window. "Have you got any tools?" she asked Ric. We didn't have any and upon Ric questioning as to what she needed tools for she gave us a bizarre sob story about her card being swallowed by the ATM and that she needed the tools to get the money out. "I know the moneys in there, i just need to get it out" We all started pissing ourselves laughing. "I've called the bank but they wont send anyone out", she was now crying. It was sad that someone can feel so desperate for drugs that they have to come up with a story like that. She wandered off eventually and across the snowy car park we could see she was with a man who'd obviously sent her over to turn the water works on and suss us out. Another addition to the list of dark things that happen in hotel car parks late at night on tour.
We eschewed the nearby Little Chef in the morning, however what we ended up eating halfway down the A1 a few hours later was just as expensive and still made me feel sick. It was icy going on the roads but eventually we got to Cambridge for our penultimate gig of the tour. The Junction is a big venue by our standards so to make up the numbers the promoter had booked 4 local supports. This meant the place was full of screaming teens, excellent! The weather was an issue too and in order to make sure people could get home the whole gig was running early and to a tight schedule meaning we'd be done by 11 and could drive back to Brighton without it getting too late.
I'd noticed on our facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/BrakesBRAKESBRAKES/21107817478?ref=ts) someone had posted a message that seemed to state they were coming all the way from Phoenix, Arizona to see us that night. I assumed that must mean they were in the UK already for some other reason. "Why would anyone come so far to see us?" I thought. But sure enough Scott and Jess had come all the way from Phoenix, Arizona to see us play on a snowy night in Cambridge, in fact they wanted to see us in Brighton but left it too late to get tickets. Well.... we were so flattered that we added them to our guest list for Brighton straight away. Not only were they possibly the most dedicated fans we'd ever met but they also loved WEEN! If you're reading guys- thanks again, great to meet you! Hopefully see you in Phoenix.
The gig itself was good although most the screaming teens went home and someone through a cup at Eamon's head. This was even more poignant seeing as pre-gig we'd been watching youtube footage of Nickleback's Chad Kroeger being stoned off stage in Portugal. Obviously a plastic cup isn't quite as severe as a tirade of rocks so we took it with a chuckle and a pinch of salt. We left the stage and were instantly begged to go back on and play more due to a party of people from Norwich arriving late and missing most the show due to the snow. We obliged.
Brighton's legendary Prince Albert was the venue for our final night of the tour. Manager Will used to run The Free Butt, the venue where Tom, Alex and myself first cut our teeth in this rock business some 11 years ago. Tonight's show was sort of a testament to Brighton's musical community. My nephew Patrick came down to sound-check. He is 3 months old and although he and his parents had to go before we even played anything, he got a chance to hear some amplified bass and sit behind a drum kit looking cute and slightly confused in his lime green ear protectors.
Stuart Flynn and the Dirty Cakes were brilliant in support and Kinema were sublimely poppy. The place was heaving for the entire night and I don't think i'd ever seen it that full. We took the stage and started sweating, the heat was bewildering but we rocked hard. Hometown gigs are always slightly strange. Its hard to gauge how well they go because you just feel ultra paranoid performing to all your friends and family but post gig reports were good. Will gave us a lock in afterwards and laid on a good many crates of beer. Tour was over, all was good.
Cheers
Marc
The next day we had an early start for a photo shoot with photographer Nic Shonfeld. Location was a public byway in Brighton on a hill between KempTown and the racecourse. Nic was using an old medium format camera making the most of the available light and surrounding scenery. Doing a simple outdoor shoot with no digital processing or false light was a welcome change to the usual protocol of photo shoots these days. It was biting cold but Nic wasn't overly fussy and the shoot didn't take all that long once we'd worked out a good setting.
The next day saw our debut gig in Guildford. After a short drive from Brighton we arrived at The Boileroom; a friendly little venue on the side of a busy road. After sound check Eamon, his wife Koren, Matt (of ESP and Restless List fame, guitar tech-ing for us) and myself went on a little pub crawl. We had a drink in a pub called The Live and Let Live which was one of those places where everyone turns and stares at you in silence as you walk in. All except the pub dog; a large old Alsatian who gave us a couple of feebly obligatory barks as if to say "I'm supposed to scare you off but I really can't be bothered and would much rather sit here by the fire". We drank up quick and moved on further into town.
A pub called The Keep near Guildford Castle (dont worry, I didn't know Guildford had a Castle either) looked like a good old ale drinkers pub from the outside but inside it had been raped of any character it once had and strongly resembled an Ikea showroom. The bar maid greeted us by telling Matt and Koren that they'd have to show her some ID. Koren wasn't drinking so it didn't matter but Matt had no ID. Matt (who is 26) and I tried to reason with her and we could tell that she realised she'd made a mistake but the bar manager stepped in and said "If you've been asked you have to provide ID". We decided to leave. By this point we were fearing that there were no decent pubs in Guildford but then we found The King's Head; a large busy tudor pub that had obviously been there for a long time. After a couple in there we headed back to the venue. On the way back we passed some sort of youth club where through the window we could see a loud band playing to an excitable bunch of kids. We watched for a while before we realised that the band were doing an emo-punk version of Rhianna's Umbrella. Very entertaining.
Our gig was good that night despite a few strange feedback issues early on in the set. We played for a bit longer taking a few requests and slotting some extra songs in at the spare of the moment. A good debut for Guildford.
After another day off in Brighton on the Saturday, we set off on tour properly on Sunday and made our way north to Manchester.
The reports said snow and snow it did. Pretty much as soon as we got on the M25 the flurries came and it got heavier the further north we got. It really started to settle after we'd arrived at Moho Live and within hours Manchester was turned white.
We'd never played this venue before but it had a good on stage sound and we had a good sound-check. Support that night came from Airship and Ten Bears who were both really good and some very friendly bunches of lads. Our set was highly enjoyable and we played for even longer again. The general consensus now is that the longer our sets are the better.
The snow fell hard all night and continued through the morning. We'd opted to leave our gear in the venue overnight so before we could set off we had to load out in the snowy conditions. Once packed up we headed south to Cardiff to play at Tommy's Bar. The white wash hadn't hit the south west yet but the snow seemed to follow us down. A short while after we'd got there a thick layer of snow began to settle. The venue was in Cardiff University's art school, a little way out from the centre of town. We were expecting it to be the usual soulless Union bar but the place had a nice character about it. We managed to get our back drop up for the first time (all the other places so far had been too small) and it looked good.
Support that night came from the wonderfully named Gindrinker; a two piece consisting of a guitarist who also operated a drum machine and a guy spouting Fall-esque rants and occasionally blowing a cornet. They were uncomfortably satisfying in their own special way and ended their set with the guitarist sitting and playing on the bar. We had probably our best show of the tour so far that night, and probably our best ever show in Cardiff. There was a nice intimacy about the venue and the crowd were with us all the way. The snow continued to fall during our set and after the gig people were out in the quad having snowball fights.
The next morning the snow had compacted and frozen and people were finding it difficult to exit the M4 services car park. I watched out my window as cars slid around and generally didn't move anywhere particularly fast. Luckily our tour manager Ric had the foresight to get the van out of there before the rush so we left the service station with relative ease.
It was off to Exeter for us, only a couple of hours down to M5 so seeing as we had a bit of extra time we decided to hunt for a somerset cider farm. It was ridiculously easy to find one, we turned onto the A38 and almost straight away spotted a sign for Sheppy's cider shop. It was a nice and sunny afternoon when we found the place. We had some tea and cake in their tea shop, had a look around the museum which mainly consisted of old farm tools, and then hit the shop to taste and buy several types of cider and cider related products. It was a perfect mid tour activity.
It had been about 5 years since any of us had been to the Exeter Cavern, except for Eamon who played a solo show there last year. It hadn't changed much, tiny dressing room covered in lurid graffiti, awkwardly shaped stage and the lingering smell of human faeces emanating from the toilet. Still, Brakes had never played here before so we were up for it.
The in house sound guy was late so there was quite a bit of waiting around before sound-check. Somehow we just couldn't get the sound right and we ended sound-check feeling a little apprehensive about the gig. We were glad to have our mates Johny and Sally, together known as Cottonmouth Rocks, supporting us that evening. They used to live in Brighton before moving to the west country a couple of years ago. Johny is also known in his solo incarnation as Thirty Pounds of Bone and is also a founding member of Drift Records who put Tom's solo album out last year. It was good to see them and their set was excellent.
COTTONMOUTH ROCKS
Also attending were two of Eamon's brothers Josh and Ross and Ross' wife Rhea. Both brothers had been living abroad in New Zealand and Taiwan respectively and myself, Tom and Alex hadn't seen them for quite some time.
The first 20 minutes of our set were a bit of a roller-coaster. The sound was all over the place and we had to re-level a lot of stuff. But once we got into it it turned into a pretty good gig. The venue had looked sparse before we played but with everyone in the room it felt quite packed. An enthusiastic rocker with long, curly ginger hair called Victor head banged down the front.
We sort of got chucked out after the gig. Obviously with family present we wanted to have a wee drink and do a bit of catching up but the security got a bit shirty with us. There was a slight stand off and a bit of word slinging between the bouncers and the Hamilton brothers who never need an excuse to question authority, but eventually we managed to talk security into backing off as long as we looked like we were actively getting ready to leave.
The next day wasn't a gig day but we had a BBC 6 Music live session with the wonderful Marc Riley. After a leisurely drive back up to Manchester we loaded in to the studio and did our thing. Marc always manages to make live radio feel pretty relaxed, more like you're just playing a private gig to him in his living room. After the session we got some dinner and had a few drinks in the glamorous Travelodge bar.
It was off to Sheffield the next day and although Sheffield and Manchester are a stone's throw apart we had to keep an eye on the roads because the weather had caught up with us again. Our preferred route of Snake Pass was closed so we took the non scenic route and sure enough when we got there Sheffield was deep in snow.
We've played the Fuzz Club a couple of times before, and were honoured to be playing their tenth birthday party. Support came from the brilliant Slow Club, a local boy girl duo who we'd met briefly before at the At Home by the Sea festival in Brighton last year. Whilst setting up we realised we'd left our drum stool at the BBC, whoops! And in pure ironic brilliance Slow Club's drummer Becky drums standing up. You couldn't write that shit! It wasn't a complete disaster though and Alex managed to fashion something drum stool-ish out of a seat and a flight case.
Last time we played Fuzz Club there were kids going mental ripping the monitors off the stage. However this time it was little more reserved and attendance had obviously suffered from the weather. We played well though and by the end we had a wee mosh pit going and i think we'd won over most there. We all got a bit pissed after the show. Glover and Zed from past support band Tiny Dancers were present and it was good to see them again and have some drinks. Turned out they were mates with Slow Club so a bit of a Brakes/Sheffield posse partay went down.
We eventually left and drove to our designated travelodge which was busier than usual due to the Pussycat Dolls playing at some local stadium somewhere. Shortly after parking up a crack lady came to the driver side window. "Have you got any tools?" she asked Ric. We didn't have any and upon Ric questioning as to what she needed tools for she gave us a bizarre sob story about her card being swallowed by the ATM and that she needed the tools to get the money out. "I know the moneys in there, i just need to get it out" We all started pissing ourselves laughing. "I've called the bank but they wont send anyone out", she was now crying. It was sad that someone can feel so desperate for drugs that they have to come up with a story like that. She wandered off eventually and across the snowy car park we could see she was with a man who'd obviously sent her over to turn the water works on and suss us out. Another addition to the list of dark things that happen in hotel car parks late at night on tour.
We eschewed the nearby Little Chef in the morning, however what we ended up eating halfway down the A1 a few hours later was just as expensive and still made me feel sick. It was icy going on the roads but eventually we got to Cambridge for our penultimate gig of the tour. The Junction is a big venue by our standards so to make up the numbers the promoter had booked 4 local supports. This meant the place was full of screaming teens, excellent! The weather was an issue too and in order to make sure people could get home the whole gig was running early and to a tight schedule meaning we'd be done by 11 and could drive back to Brighton without it getting too late.
I'd noticed on our facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/BrakesBRAKESBRAKES/21107817478?ref=ts) someone had posted a message that seemed to state they were coming all the way from Phoenix, Arizona to see us that night. I assumed that must mean they were in the UK already for some other reason. "Why would anyone come so far to see us?" I thought. But sure enough Scott and Jess had come all the way from Phoenix, Arizona to see us play on a snowy night in Cambridge, in fact they wanted to see us in Brighton but left it too late to get tickets. Well.... we were so flattered that we added them to our guest list for Brighton straight away. Not only were they possibly the most dedicated fans we'd ever met but they also loved WEEN! If you're reading guys- thanks again, great to meet you! Hopefully see you in Phoenix.
The gig itself was good although most the screaming teens went home and someone through a cup at Eamon's head. This was even more poignant seeing as pre-gig we'd been watching youtube footage of Nickleback's Chad Kroeger being stoned off stage in Portugal. Obviously a plastic cup isn't quite as severe as a tirade of rocks so we took it with a chuckle and a pinch of salt. We left the stage and were instantly begged to go back on and play more due to a party of people from Norwich arriving late and missing most the show due to the snow. We obliged.
Brighton's legendary Prince Albert was the venue for our final night of the tour. Manager Will used to run The Free Butt, the venue where Tom, Alex and myself first cut our teeth in this rock business some 11 years ago. Tonight's show was sort of a testament to Brighton's musical community. My nephew Patrick came down to sound-check. He is 3 months old and although he and his parents had to go before we even played anything, he got a chance to hear some amplified bass and sit behind a drum kit looking cute and slightly confused in his lime green ear protectors.
Stuart Flynn and the Dirty Cakes were brilliant in support and Kinema were sublimely poppy. The place was heaving for the entire night and I don't think i'd ever seen it that full. We took the stage and started sweating, the heat was bewildering but we rocked hard. Hometown gigs are always slightly strange. Its hard to gauge how well they go because you just feel ultra paranoid performing to all your friends and family but post gig reports were good. Will gave us a lock in afterwards and laid on a good many crates of beer. Tour was over, all was good.
Cheers
Marc
Friday, 9 January 2009
Winter Brake
Greetings!
Winter is cruel and cold and this year has been no exception. But at least the sub-zero climate has forced us in the Brakes camp into our holes to ready ourselves for the upcoming tour.
Those of you who live in or around London, Guildford, Manchester, Cardiff, Exeter, Sheffield and Cambridge will be welcoming us back soon, and we really can't wait. It's going to be the first chance for us to try out some more of the songs from our new album TOUCHDOWN, as well as songs from our ever increasing back catalogue.
Speaking of the new album; every aspect of TOUCHDOWN is now fully complete. The artwork is done and looks great, it is now just a case of sending it all off to be manufactured.
It's still a little way off before it's released (April 20th) but in the meantime we'll be releasing the lead single 'Hey Hey' on March 2nd.
Some of you may have heard Colin Murray play the track on his Radio One show already. You can also catch it on Xfm who have added the track to their evening playlist.
We'll be touring the UK extensively in April and just this week we've been putting a preliminary run of dates together that will see us play north south, east west....... all over the shop.
Then in May we'll be out in Europe for a bit before returning home for festival season.
Details of all this activity will be published soon so watch this space!
Thanks
Marc
Brakes
Winter is cruel and cold and this year has been no exception. But at least the sub-zero climate has forced us in the Brakes camp into our holes to ready ourselves for the upcoming tour.
Those of you who live in or around London, Guildford, Manchester, Cardiff, Exeter, Sheffield and Cambridge will be welcoming us back soon, and we really can't wait. It's going to be the first chance for us to try out some more of the songs from our new album TOUCHDOWN, as well as songs from our ever increasing back catalogue.
Speaking of the new album; every aspect of TOUCHDOWN is now fully complete. The artwork is done and looks great, it is now just a case of sending it all off to be manufactured.
It's still a little way off before it's released (April 20th) but in the meantime we'll be releasing the lead single 'Hey Hey' on March 2nd.
Some of you may have heard Colin Murray play the track on his Radio One show already. You can also catch it on Xfm who have added the track to their evening playlist.
We'll be touring the UK extensively in April and just this week we've been putting a preliminary run of dates together that will see us play north south, east west....... all over the shop.
Then in May we'll be out in Europe for a bit before returning home for festival season.
Details of all this activity will be published soon so watch this space!
Thanks
Marc
Brakes
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
TOUCHDOWN-EXCLUSIVE FREE TRACK DOWNLOAD!-OTHER NEWS
Greetings Brakes Chums
NEW ALBUM 'TOUCHDOWN' IS COMING!
EXCLUSIVE!!!!
Q Music Online have made Touchdown album track 'Crystal Tunings' their track of the day, today! (3/11/08).
Download it here:- http://news.q4music.com/2008/12/brakes.html
Touchdown's foundations were forged almost a year ago at Truck Studios in rural Oxfordshire. Here we froze our derrieres off whilst writing and demo-ing what would become a few of the album's many standout tracks.
Following the Truck session we took some time off, but kept writing, and when we re-grouped in May '08, the album's character took shape even more.
It was now high time for us to return to the stage, and so followed a sold out 100 Club show in June. Straight after the gig we ventured out to the country. The road was dark and wet, the van only had one wiper (not on the safest side either) but eventually we made it to Stroud, Gloucestershire, where we'd built a studio (Youdio) in order to complete the demo's for Touchdown.
After two more subsequent sessions at Youdio we were ready to hit the studio properly. But prior to that a stint of Summer performances transpired including an End of the Road residency at Bush Hall, Madrid's Summercase, Brighton's Beachdown and End of the Road itself. After End of the Road we drove north to commence sessions with ex Delgados drummer, Paul Savage at Chem 19 in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire.
Three weeks later the album was complete. Mastering took place a few weeks after that at West West Side Music in a foggy New Windsor, north NY State with mastering legend Alan Douches (Misfits, Animal Collective).
Touchdown will commence in spring time '09, but before the invasion you'll have a chance to peek into the soul of this other worldly new offering with a plethora of photos and videos documenting it's creation. From it's inception in various rural English studios, to it's completion in New York City, nothing from this mission has gone unlogged. Keep checking our myspace site for details.
(myspace.com/brakesband)
Needless to say the album is already causing a stir.
Our buddy and fervent supporter Colin Murray already played lead single 'Hey Hey' on his Radio 1 show on Monday 1st December. 'Hey Hey' is out late Jan/early Feb.
Listen again at 0:39:00 here:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fqhf6
Looking ahead- Expect a run of dates to coincide with the single release. Confirmed bookings so far include Camden's Proud Galleries on the 28th of January and Sheffield's Fuzz Club's tenth anniversary on the 5th of February.
Hope to see you there. More shows to come.
Thats all for now
Thanks
BRAKES
NEW ALBUM 'TOUCHDOWN' IS COMING!
EXCLUSIVE!!!!
Q Music Online have made Touchdown album track 'Crystal Tunings' their track of the day, today! (3/11/08).
Download it here:- http://news.q4music.com/2008/12/brakes.html
Touchdown's foundations were forged almost a year ago at Truck Studios in rural Oxfordshire. Here we froze our derrieres off whilst writing and demo-ing what would become a few of the album's many standout tracks.
Following the Truck session we took some time off, but kept writing, and when we re-grouped in May '08, the album's character took shape even more.
It was now high time for us to return to the stage, and so followed a sold out 100 Club show in June. Straight after the gig we ventured out to the country. The road was dark and wet, the van only had one wiper (not on the safest side either) but eventually we made it to Stroud, Gloucestershire, where we'd built a studio (Youdio) in order to complete the demo's for Touchdown.
After two more subsequent sessions at Youdio we were ready to hit the studio properly. But prior to that a stint of Summer performances transpired including an End of the Road residency at Bush Hall, Madrid's Summercase, Brighton's Beachdown and End of the Road itself. After End of the Road we drove north to commence sessions with ex Delgados drummer, Paul Savage at Chem 19 in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire.
Three weeks later the album was complete. Mastering took place a few weeks after that at West West Side Music in a foggy New Windsor, north NY State with mastering legend Alan Douches (Misfits, Animal Collective).
Touchdown will commence in spring time '09, but before the invasion you'll have a chance to peek into the soul of this other worldly new offering with a plethora of photos and videos documenting it's creation. From it's inception in various rural English studios, to it's completion in New York City, nothing from this mission has gone unlogged. Keep checking our myspace site for details.
(myspace.com/brakesband)
Needless to say the album is already causing a stir.
Our buddy and fervent supporter Colin Murray already played lead single 'Hey Hey' on his Radio 1 show on Monday 1st December. 'Hey Hey' is out late Jan/early Feb.
Listen again at 0:39:00 here:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fqhf6
Looking ahead- Expect a run of dates to coincide with the single release. Confirmed bookings so far include Camden's Proud Galleries on the 28th of January and Sheffield's Fuzz Club's tenth anniversary on the 5th of February.
Hope to see you there. More shows to come.
Thats all for now
Thanks
BRAKES
Thursday, 16 October 2008
HOOTS MON! NEW ALBUM, NEW LABEL for BRAKES
Greetings all Brakes Lovers
It gives me great pleasure to officially announce that our third album is complete.
Our new album was recorded and mixed at Chem 19 Studios, Hamilton, Scotland by Paul Savage.
This record is the first in what i hope will be a long and fruitful relationship with our new label, Fat-Cat who we signed to yesterday.
Tracks recorded include:- Hey Hey It's a Beautiful Day, Crush On You, Cigarettes go Down, Don't Take me to Space (Man), Leaving England, Eternal Return, Worry About it Later, Crystal Tunings, Big Guns, 7th Seal, First Dance, Gimme Two Shocks, Consumer Producer Chicken or Egg and Do You Feel the Same?
Not only did we record a studio album whilst there but we also laid down some acoustic versions of new and old songs as well as mixing a live album. Both will be available to buy and download when we commence touring in the new year.
We are now going to get the mixed tracks mastered, finish the artwork and plan the coming year. It's going to be a busy one for us so keep your eyes peeled for tour schedules coming soon.
See studio snaps below. Vid footage coming soon
I know it's been a while so thanks for waiting.
All the best
Marc
BRAKES
Coffee=Bass fuel, Healthy Scottish Fodder
The Savage, working hard
It gives me great pleasure to officially announce that our third album is complete.
Our new album was recorded and mixed at Chem 19 Studios, Hamilton, Scotland by Paul Savage.
This record is the first in what i hope will be a long and fruitful relationship with our new label, Fat-Cat who we signed to yesterday.
Tracks recorded include:- Hey Hey It's a Beautiful Day, Crush On You, Cigarettes go Down, Don't Take me to Space (Man), Leaving England, Eternal Return, Worry About it Later, Crystal Tunings, Big Guns, 7th Seal, First Dance, Gimme Two Shocks, Consumer Producer Chicken or Egg and Do You Feel the Same?
Not only did we record a studio album whilst there but we also laid down some acoustic versions of new and old songs as well as mixing a live album. Both will be available to buy and download when we commence touring in the new year.
We are now going to get the mixed tracks mastered, finish the artwork and plan the coming year. It's going to be a busy one for us so keep your eyes peeled for tour schedules coming soon.
See studio snaps below. Vid footage coming soon
I know it's been a while so thanks for waiting.
All the best
Marc
BRAKES
Coffee=Bass fuel, Healthy Scottish Fodder
The Savage, working hard
Friday, 3 October 2008
Studio Fun Time
Hello Boys and Girls
Brakes have been busily beavering away in the studio for the last 3 weeks, hence the lack of communication. Rest assured the new album is shaping up nicely and we cant wait to get it out there, just need to sprinkle it with magic dust and smack it on the arse as it runs out the door.
A collection of vids and snaps documenting our time recording will appear shortly so watch this space.
And finally, a quick word about the marvelous End of the Road festival who for a third year in a row gave us our best gig of the year. Thanks guys, and thanks to all of you who came to see us in the big top on the Sunday night, how i stayed upright that late into the festival is a miracle.
Until next time.
Ta-ra
Marc
BRAKES
Brakes have been busily beavering away in the studio for the last 3 weeks, hence the lack of communication. Rest assured the new album is shaping up nicely and we cant wait to get it out there, just need to sprinkle it with magic dust and smack it on the arse as it runs out the door.
A collection of vids and snaps documenting our time recording will appear shortly so watch this space.
And finally, a quick word about the marvelous End of the Road festival who for a third year in a row gave us our best gig of the year. Thanks guys, and thanks to all of you who came to see us in the big top on the Sunday night, how i stayed upright that late into the festival is a miracle.
Until next time.
Ta-ra
Marc
BRAKES
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
News Brake
Howdy Doody
It's almost studio time for Brakes. As of next week we'll be safely tucked away, busily furrowing away on album 3 which now has a working title of 'THUNK'.
But before work begins on 'THUNK' we have one more festival appearance to make, and it's none other than our favorite end of season event; End of the road Festival.
End of the Road commences on Friday 12th September at Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset.
Tickets are now sold out but for all other info go to:
http://endoftheroadfestival.com/
Brakes are booked to play the Big Top stage at 22:45pm on Sunday 14th September. See you there!
In other news a new remix of All Night Disco Party is now available to listen to from The Toddler of New York City. I think you'll all enjoy it's childish charms.
Check it out here: http://www.myspace.com/toddlerremix
Just to clear the air, 'Royworld' is NOT the new single by Brakes, but 'Brakes' IS the new single by London and the South East's Royworld, who's recent reviews have been somewhat questionable. We had a shock whilst driving recently when after said song the DJ announced "That was Brakes...". There was a moment of pure panic, had we all blacked out for several months and morphed into a generic, half time, anthemic pop rock group? "......by Royworld" the DJ continued. Panic over. Phew!
Lastly some of you may have spotted our very own Tom White on channel 4's popular daytime words and numbers quiz, Countdown.
We're now trying to convince him to apply for Deal or no Deal, or maybe we should all apply as a group for Eggheads.
Cheers
Marc
It's almost studio time for Brakes. As of next week we'll be safely tucked away, busily furrowing away on album 3 which now has a working title of 'THUNK'.
But before work begins on 'THUNK' we have one more festival appearance to make, and it's none other than our favorite end of season event; End of the road Festival.
End of the Road commences on Friday 12th September at Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset.
Tickets are now sold out but for all other info go to:
http://endoftheroadfestival.com/
Brakes are booked to play the Big Top stage at 22:45pm on Sunday 14th September. See you there!
In other news a new remix of All Night Disco Party is now available to listen to from The Toddler of New York City. I think you'll all enjoy it's childish charms.
Check it out here: http://www.myspace.com/toddlerremix
Just to clear the air, 'Royworld' is NOT the new single by Brakes, but 'Brakes' IS the new single by London and the South East's Royworld, who's recent reviews have been somewhat questionable. We had a shock whilst driving recently when after said song the DJ announced "That was Brakes...". There was a moment of pure panic, had we all blacked out for several months and morphed into a generic, half time, anthemic pop rock group? "......by Royworld" the DJ continued. Panic over. Phew!
Lastly some of you may have spotted our very own Tom White on channel 4's popular daytime words and numbers quiz, Countdown.
We're now trying to convince him to apply for Deal or no Deal, or maybe we should all apply as a group for Eggheads.
Cheers
Marc
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Brakes Blog 27/8/08
Two blogs in as many weeks is eager, i know, but we've been up to so much recently that it's hard to keep from blabbing about it all.
After recovering from the enjoyable yet damp Beautiful Days festival, we retreated to 284 studios once more to write and rehearse more for our imminent third album sessions. The songs are really taking shape now and we just want to get into the studio and start recording properly. This process will begin up in Glasgow straight after End of the Road festival.
The following Thursday we were back in 284 rehearsing for Brighton's new Beachdown Festival. Alex wasn't able to make the gig due to a previous commitment playing a festival near Carlisle with The Pipettes so we were rehearsing with a replacement. And who did we get to fill Alex's mightily rhythmic shoes? Mr Damo Waters, current ESP drummer, also known as The Muddy Suzuki;- his solo project alter ego. I highly suggest you all get your hands on his album Meetoo. It's brilliant. We'd never played with a replacement member before so we thought it was going to be weird, but after a few songs it was clear that he was more than capable. In fact, more than capable is an understatement, he was pretty much faultless and he hadn't even played any of the songs on a kit before. Due to sound and space issues in his new flat he'd only been able to listen to the songs on his headphones whilst tapping out the beats on his legs and memorising them. But here he was playing the songs pretty much perfectly. It put all our minds at rest for sure. After rehearsal we had a few pints in the Hand in Hand and called it a day.
The next day Eamon and I went to our old flat in Kemp Town to do some recording with our old flat mate and BSP bassist Hamilton at the legendary Princess Studio. Princess has been Hamilton's audio laboratory for the best part of 5 years as well as being the location for recordings by The Tenderfoot, Actress Hands, Good Morning Captain and numerous Brakes b-sides. It's dark, slightly smelly and just a little bit scary like you know something bad happened there once long ago. Its intimate atmosphere really forces musicians to listen to each other and play off each other more, always with brilliant and unique results. Eamon wanted to record a new romantic blues number called "I Could Be Your Fifth Gear". I played some drums and some guitar and Eamon did some singing. We drank some whisky and then i had to go.
That night I watched some of the BBC's questionable coverage of the Reading Festival. I felt sorry for Edith Bowman who was co-presenting the show with Zane Lowe. Lets just say there wasn't much chemistry there. I was shocked and insulted by MGMT who, after a full band set, sang their big hit Time To Pretend (undoubtedly a quality pop song) along to a backing track. A fucking backing track? Pure lazy. What really got my goat about it was that the tens of thousands of Top Shop clad hapless fools in their stupid fucking slitty glasses were lapping it up without a question. Muso rant over. Queens of the Stone Age were good though, or what you could make out of them through all the digital interference.
Saturday came around and it was a beautifully typical English summers day. We drove up to Devil's Dyke, the south downs location for Brighton's new Beachdown festival. We were booked to play the main stage at 2:30 p.m and from the car park I could see a stage that I just assumed was the main stage. I headed in that direction and found the stage manager. He confirmed what time we were on and told me that our dressing room wasn't ready yet. The others turned up and after standing around for a moment someone else told us that we weren't playing on that stage at all. I don't know what that stage manager was on about, obviously trying to mess with my head. We were directed out into the field where we could now see the true scale of the festival site. It was huge. Most the stages and food vendors were perched up on the hill by the road with a huge line of punter tents lining the adjacent hill. As we walked down the hill it was clear what a beautiful site it was. The green hills of the south downs meandered up and down all the way to the horizon where a large dark blue sea met the vibrant sky. The hill got steeper and before long we were descending on the main stage which was nestled right in the dip of the valley flanked by two steep hills.
As soon as we arrived and dumped our stuff the first act took to the stage. They were a samba band called Carnival Collective and they were very loud with their troop of drummers and such. Next up were Brighton based Doll and the Kicks and then it was our turn. I wasn't really nervous despite having many friends and family there. The stage sound was good and the crew helpful. We had fun. Damo played a blinder and basically we all had a great time. It was early in the day so attendance was thin on the ground but towards the end we had 3 or 4 hundred dancing down the front. There was also a great deal of people slumped on the hills obviously recovering from the night before.
After the show we watched Lightspeed Champion and Hercules and Love Affair who were both good. I got a bit stressed out running around trying to get extra guest-list for people. This was particularly annoying because it involved running up and down that hill several time until I just thought "why should i bother" and had a beer instead. Hunger pangs began to set in but no-one had told us where artist catering was. There was no way I was going to pay for my own meal so off i went searching, with my food voucher in my hand. After about twenty minutes I finally found it and I was overjoyed. We filled up on lamb shanks, turkey escalopes and as much free soup, bread and pud that we could. After some digestion time we went off to watch Restless List. Then we caught a bit of The Maccabees before going to see Yokoko, a new band made up of some mates of mine. There set was fun if not a little short due to the band being so new that they've not got many songs.
It was dark and cold now and me and the Mrs decided to make a run for it. We hadn't really considered how we were going to get back to Brighton but we were willing to get a cab if there was one available. We hiked up that bloody hill one last time and made our way to the front gate where luckily a cab was just dropping someone off. Soon we were back in Kemp Town where we were to meet up with some friends. The taxi driver said we'd been the nicest two people she'd driven all day which was nice. We drank until the early hours of the morning.
After recovering from the enjoyable yet damp Beautiful Days festival, we retreated to 284 studios once more to write and rehearse more for our imminent third album sessions. The songs are really taking shape now and we just want to get into the studio and start recording properly. This process will begin up in Glasgow straight after End of the Road festival.
The following Thursday we were back in 284 rehearsing for Brighton's new Beachdown Festival. Alex wasn't able to make the gig due to a previous commitment playing a festival near Carlisle with The Pipettes so we were rehearsing with a replacement. And who did we get to fill Alex's mightily rhythmic shoes? Mr Damo Waters, current ESP drummer, also known as The Muddy Suzuki;- his solo project alter ego. I highly suggest you all get your hands on his album Meetoo. It's brilliant. We'd never played with a replacement member before so we thought it was going to be weird, but after a few songs it was clear that he was more than capable. In fact, more than capable is an understatement, he was pretty much faultless and he hadn't even played any of the songs on a kit before. Due to sound and space issues in his new flat he'd only been able to listen to the songs on his headphones whilst tapping out the beats on his legs and memorising them. But here he was playing the songs pretty much perfectly. It put all our minds at rest for sure. After rehearsal we had a few pints in the Hand in Hand and called it a day.
The next day Eamon and I went to our old flat in Kemp Town to do some recording with our old flat mate and BSP bassist Hamilton at the legendary Princess Studio. Princess has been Hamilton's audio laboratory for the best part of 5 years as well as being the location for recordings by The Tenderfoot, Actress Hands, Good Morning Captain and numerous Brakes b-sides. It's dark, slightly smelly and just a little bit scary like you know something bad happened there once long ago. Its intimate atmosphere really forces musicians to listen to each other and play off each other more, always with brilliant and unique results. Eamon wanted to record a new romantic blues number called "I Could Be Your Fifth Gear". I played some drums and some guitar and Eamon did some singing. We drank some whisky and then i had to go.
That night I watched some of the BBC's questionable coverage of the Reading Festival. I felt sorry for Edith Bowman who was co-presenting the show with Zane Lowe. Lets just say there wasn't much chemistry there. I was shocked and insulted by MGMT who, after a full band set, sang their big hit Time To Pretend (undoubtedly a quality pop song) along to a backing track. A fucking backing track? Pure lazy. What really got my goat about it was that the tens of thousands of Top Shop clad hapless fools in their stupid fucking slitty glasses were lapping it up without a question. Muso rant over. Queens of the Stone Age were good though, or what you could make out of them through all the digital interference.
Saturday came around and it was a beautifully typical English summers day. We drove up to Devil's Dyke, the south downs location for Brighton's new Beachdown festival. We were booked to play the main stage at 2:30 p.m and from the car park I could see a stage that I just assumed was the main stage. I headed in that direction and found the stage manager. He confirmed what time we were on and told me that our dressing room wasn't ready yet. The others turned up and after standing around for a moment someone else told us that we weren't playing on that stage at all. I don't know what that stage manager was on about, obviously trying to mess with my head. We were directed out into the field where we could now see the true scale of the festival site. It was huge. Most the stages and food vendors were perched up on the hill by the road with a huge line of punter tents lining the adjacent hill. As we walked down the hill it was clear what a beautiful site it was. The green hills of the south downs meandered up and down all the way to the horizon where a large dark blue sea met the vibrant sky. The hill got steeper and before long we were descending on the main stage which was nestled right in the dip of the valley flanked by two steep hills.
As soon as we arrived and dumped our stuff the first act took to the stage. They were a samba band called Carnival Collective and they were very loud with their troop of drummers and such. Next up were Brighton based Doll and the Kicks and then it was our turn. I wasn't really nervous despite having many friends and family there. The stage sound was good and the crew helpful. We had fun. Damo played a blinder and basically we all had a great time. It was early in the day so attendance was thin on the ground but towards the end we had 3 or 4 hundred dancing down the front. There was also a great deal of people slumped on the hills obviously recovering from the night before.
After the show we watched Lightspeed Champion and Hercules and Love Affair who were both good. I got a bit stressed out running around trying to get extra guest-list for people. This was particularly annoying because it involved running up and down that hill several time until I just thought "why should i bother" and had a beer instead. Hunger pangs began to set in but no-one had told us where artist catering was. There was no way I was going to pay for my own meal so off i went searching, with my food voucher in my hand. After about twenty minutes I finally found it and I was overjoyed. We filled up on lamb shanks, turkey escalopes and as much free soup, bread and pud that we could. After some digestion time we went off to watch Restless List. Then we caught a bit of The Maccabees before going to see Yokoko, a new band made up of some mates of mine. There set was fun if not a little short due to the band being so new that they've not got many songs.
It was dark and cold now and me and the Mrs decided to make a run for it. We hadn't really considered how we were going to get back to Brighton but we were willing to get a cab if there was one available. We hiked up that bloody hill one last time and made our way to the front gate where luckily a cab was just dropping someone off. Soon we were back in Kemp Town where we were to meet up with some friends. The taxi driver said we'd been the nicest two people she'd driven all day which was nice. We drank until the early hours of the morning.
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