QUICKLY ROUND ME UP PLEASE BEFORE WE MOVE ON

I want to get into the habit of writing something everyday whether it be typed on here or written in my sketch books and scanned in. I go through phases of wanting to write about what i'm doing and phases when i don't, i'm always thinking about the best way to do this. I'll try some new things starting from tomorrow.

OK, so this is a very quick short round up of whats been happening with me over the past few months before i start to post daily. Let's see what happens. I'll be putting more effort into everything, apart from my grammar and spelling. For now this is just a boring blog entry i'm afraid.

For the last 6 weeks i've been working. A JOB! SHOCK! I won't say where but if you follow me on twitter you'll probably know. It's a very very very normal standard job. The kind of job a 16 year old would do on a weekend for a few extra quid to buy a comic. There's not much to say really other than it's keeping me afloat just about. I start my shift at 5am and finish around 11am most days. This means i'm having to go to bed at about 9/10pm which is very hard, especially when my room is downstairs and connected to the living room. I don't know how long i'll be there, i'm gonna start looking for other work soon. Jobs meh! Rather than boring you with any tales from work i'll glue them in my sketch books and you'll have to suss out what's happening.

It hasn't really sunk in yet but just over a week ago we (OLO Worms) supported Steve Mason in Bristol. You can have a look at the photos HERE. Read what i wrote on the OLO blog HERE (pretty much the same here). In the Beta Band Steve Mason was a bit of a hero of mine growing up so it was a big deal when we got asked to do it. I won't go on anymore about him as it's embarrassing, i'll keep it to myself. I was soo pleased it all went really well. It was probably our best gig we've ever played. It felt like everything clicked into place, the songs were stronger, the lights looked good, we were more confident...i think this mayhave been due to the Pink Panther intro music we walked onto, it really put me at ease. We got a really great review in Venue magazine which you can read HERE.

The gig before this last one at the Bristol Harbour Festival was less successful. We weren't at our best and there were errors. It was a good day though. Photos can be seen HERE, the report on the OLO blog can be read HERE, and a review can be read HERE.

OLO Worms won't be playing live again now til we have something recorded. We really need to focus on recording. We have soo much to do.

We recently chose to finish OLO Radio. I'll write a blog about that later. I have a few new things starting soon. 'Hoops' and 'And Then...Aliens'. Watch this space. World Cup Squad's finished music is being worked on now. Hopefully it'll be posted up soon.

Big Brother is nearly all over. You won't believe me but i'm pleased. I love it but i need it to stop. I'm gonna post up a special BB blog tomorrow ahead of the final.

I really need Artie Byrd to come rescue me. I'm soo unfit and out of shape. This will change! Everything will change this week!!

It's my big countdown to 30. I'm thinking about it alot at the moment. 30 years on earth. WOW!

CARRIE VANILOW - THE END?

CLICK HERE to watch what could be the final moments of Carrie Vanilow - the band that never really started. This is a cliffhanger! What happened next? I'll let you know when the time is right.

CARRIE VANILOW MINUS 1

3 VANILOWS

021209 > 041209

Dreamt we sped up 1 of our new songs while we watched the world cup on a bed...that's for worms. 'Honey Oats & More' is my favourite cereal at the moment. I have decided because i love my new nipple plaster pot sooo much im gonna take it on next years OLO tour. Might give out nipples to fans. God, Mark Lawrenson looked awful on the football highlights, he looked like he'd just been dragged out of bed. Been wearing a pink t-shirt and bad stubble, i am a bum too. Solange Knowles is my new favourite celebrity, you really need to hear her amazing Dirty Projectors cover (below). I've lost 2 lbs in 2 days. After a tip from Twocsinak i'm gonna rent out the film 'David Holzman's Diary' pronto! He's says it's like my life.

We confirmed the 1st Carrie Vanilow gig! Sat Feb 13th. Keep that date free or i'll be your date the following day! THAT'S A THREAT!! I'll post up more details in 2010.

Ate tasty club sandwiches at a fancy restaurant with my Dad, Grandad & Aunt, had a lovely time. Laughed at today's Daily Express (front page!!!?) headline - 'CHRISTMAS TV IS 600 HOURS OF REPEATS'..the outrage!!!!!!! Been cooking sausages whilst juggling the running. "Hello, is that Don Luis Lopez?". Steve Mason and i twittered about hoovers.

Gorlkeepers (OLO side project feat. ML & GJ) are playing @ The Lanes (bowling alley) Bristol - Sat Dec 12th (about 6/7ish?).

This has been the best year for music since 1999 or 2003 in my opinion. Very much enjoyed John Lydon on Culture Show, i could listen to him talk forever. Tuned in for one of the last ever 'Special Half Hour's, it was an honour and privilege Richard - i will miss SHH sooo much! Watched 'Jeremy Kyle Confronts Knife Crime' in which Jeremy Kyle confronted a few naughty teenagers, acted all tough then and got a bit scared and ran off. Cleaned the house drains, GLAMOUR! Got sent a 3D xmas card from Japan! Genki hey!!

Sat down to watch the World Cup draw..well i thought i was, i turned on the TV and Jasper Carrott was doing the world cup draw!!!??...oooops! wrong channel, its 'Golden Balls'. 'Golden Balls' is soo confusing!?? whats going on!? STOP TALKING!! Back to the real draw..Charlize Theron!? Acting all funny. What was she doing? Was it dumb or fake dumb? GET IT ON WITH IT!!! Why the hell didn't they get Paul Gambaccini to commentate on it!!!? It would be sooo much more fun. Shame Alan wasn't in charge of the draw too. Good draw for us English failures, let's get carried away all over again!

To bleed or not to bleed, that is the 3mm design question..OLO design work probelms. Got an amazing offer! Something i've always wanted to do. I Won't say anything unless i jinx it. Felt a bit glum that i missed last night's Ariel Pink, SJ Esau, Bass Clef gig AND Jamie's karaoke party. Listened back to recordings of last weeks OLO session and the new song 'Disney' - its DARK and gives me the creeps. LOVE it.

Scraps
I love Robin Cooper. here is new stuff.
Robin Cooper/Robert Popper is my hero again.
Animal Collective curated/guest-edited the new issue of Fader.
Ghetto interview (on the great Dont Watch That/Tim & Barry).
I like these pics.
Possibly the best tweet ever! Mr Tim Westwood!
Nice idea.
1 of the best albums of the year that NO ONE is talking about / has included in a list.
Solange Knowles - 'Stillness Is The Move'.
King Midas Sound interview.
The Aliens recording.
New Animal Collective film details.
Neon Indian live session.
King Creosote talks about his 2009 and innovative forthcoming album plans.

Soundtrack
Dam-Funk - 'Toeachizown'
Radio Spiritworld (Inter-dimensional) & other Robert Popper podcasts.
The Kinks - 'Are the Village Green Preservation Society'
Vitalic - 'Flashmob'
Aidan Moffat & The Best Ofs - 'How To Get To Heaven From Scotland'

271109 > 291109

Went to Bristol again for the weekend. On the tube there was a guy who wanted everyone to watch him complete a rubix cube..he reminded me of what i'd be like if i didn't have the internet to show off on. Ate a dirty McDonalds (instant regret). Nearly choked on my big mac listening to the Collings & Herrin podcast, if you don't listen already, you really should! My favourite bit this week was when Richard Herrin talked about how he likes to confuse people by pretending to be Sam Beckett in 'Quantum Leap' just after Sam is transported into a new body. I'm gonna try it one day (hopefully you won't have read that). When in Bristol i popped over to see my Carrie Vanilow bandmate Jamie. We ate naughty cheeky cheesecake and went charity shopping. I found a handbag which i transformed into an elephant's head for that evening's fancy dress party. Went to another Carrie member's flat to listen to a new Carrie demo. Sounded really good! Not at all what i was expecting, there were beats and weird sounds. I wrote verse for the song on my way down on the coach which may get squeezed in. No doubt i'll put on a stupid voice and ruin the song like i do with my other band. Had a great time at Francois' album launch at the secret warehouse. Francois is a little French musician based in Bristol and a little gem! He's on Fence Records too and helped us Worms recently by playing trumpet on our new song (see video a few posts back). He wore pink tights! Not sure if it was as good as his recent gig at the Croft but maybe my bag of booze had something to do with my judgement. The elephant had to be deheaded after i got too hot and bothered. I kept the trunk on though. It was a real stroke of luck finding that just an hour before leaving for the gig. I was gonna be a mole before the trunk.

Had a long walk in the morning, in the rain, in my wet shoes, to our new practice room. The room was freezing! We did manage to come up with a couple of new songs though. 'Disney' & 'Motor Phone' are the working titles. I really really like 'Disney'. I do a spoken vocal over the music and i sort of sound like an old welsh man talking about the past. I called Gareth MUM! Hahaa! Got a KFC zinger meal and sat with all the Sunday night travellers. On my walk up the 'rat run' in the dark in Bengeo a duck quacked at me, just when i needed a thought in my head about the new 'Disney' song confirming. Well..it sounded like a quack, could have be a laugh.

Soundtrack
The Clash - 'Essential Clash'
The Jam - 'Sound Affects'
Beach Boys - 'Pet Sounds'
Max Tundra - 'Parallax Error Beheads You'
King Creosote - 'Flick The V's'
The Welcome Committee
F*** Buttons - 'Tarot Sport'
Collings & Herrin - podcast
Micachu - 'Jewellery'
King Biscuit Time - The 2 EPs

THE WELCOME COMMITTEE - LIVE (8th Nov)

A report can be read HERE.

081109

BIG day of recording! Got to the studio room early and proceeded to waste a few hours recording wet limp drums (it's all good now). Our French friend Francois & his friend Amaury turned up and saved the day! Francois played trumpet, Amaury played drums. Together they sprinkled their magic over 'Back From England' and now it's spicy!! You gotta love the French! Later that evening i went and caught fellow Carrie Vanilow's play as The Welcome Committee at Mr Wolf's which was shambolically splendid! I heard a thump behind me, i turned round and thought i saw a big black poodle slumped on the floor..not another dead dog i thought..the dog turned out to be a Brian May look-a-like..she just carried on drinking at the bar, i don't think that had been the first time she'd fallen over that day. They were doing 2-4-1 noodles at Mr Wolf's, i couldn't argue, 2 bowls of noodles later i couldn't talk. I ended up drinking cans of cider watching DJs press buttons.

CARRIE HALLOWEEN

Halloween with my new POP band Carrie Vanilow..

THE WELCOME COMMITTEE - LIVE (10th Sept)

CLICK HERE to see the rest of this set of photos over on BEANSNAPS.

LIVE GIG PLANS

CARRIE VANILOW ALBUM COVER DESIGNS

I was out with my new band Carrie Vanilow. We discussed the album and EP cover. We've never had a practice or anything. Drawing below helped by J.Atkins & M.Morrison..

080809

> hard practice session today. up & down. very tired. another 1 tomorrow before the toybox studio recording on monday night.
> just had a transatlantic chat in the bath.
> debating whether or not to go out tonight. feel like i need a few drinks. im drained. wanna be outside drinking.
> just been given a bag of camping pegs by @camprnews and offered a pig by @natalieeeJ.
> came up with a load of lyrics for 'Back From England'. very anti-England. pro WORLD! stuff about Mexico '86 and Henry Hoover..& the DIRGE!!
> good to see football back on the BEEB! sat afternoon football on the BEEB!
> ahh beautiful. drinking on our roof watching hotair balloons listening to Smog. off out to get everyone more booooze.
> trying to watch Malcolm Tucker on the Wii. not really working. going out now to meet Carrie Vanilow.
> spent most of the night talking about (Beastie Boys) Carrie stuff, we might call the 1st EP 'In Concert With..'
> i work in the room with 'vibes' yes its vibes on slides.
> people think i tweet / facebook / blog too much. pah! i know what im doing. seriously. i know when to stop or hold back.

010809

> got woke up by my bro and his girlfriend.they had been charity shopping & bought me a horrible shellsuit top with 'diana' on it. nice!
> i'm getting signed up to a online dating thing, i'm not doing it..my brother's girlfriend wants to do it. i cant pay for dates though!!
> i got rolls, i got bacon, guess what i'm gonna make? i got TV, guess what im gonna watch?
> we have an OLO hard drive now. 1 TB! Whole histort is gonna be transfered.
> just finished off my DON SIMON juice.
> motor booked for tour.
> wanna go out and meet friends but i'm too sick. meh. baaah.
> oh no. i think the girls in the flat below are having a party. every few mins i hear giggling and sreecking as new people arrive.
> ahh! just remembered i met the new singer of Carrie Vanilow last night for the 1st time. nice guy, very very tall!!
> keep getting buzzed for the party downstairs. i might fit a joke water squirt to the buzzer soon.
> beansontoast for the sad man sat at home alone while the rest of the world has fun at their parties.
> they're playing 'Bell Boy' by The Who at the party downstairs. earlier they played 'Daydream Believer'. hope they dont knock on my door.
> really enjoyed this week's 'You Have Been Watching' esp the Jeremy Kyle bit and Josie Long.
> been watching Richard Pryor stand-up. bed now. sooo tired.
> BB10 - ha! i like this Halfwit fake story about someone throwing something at him and him having to go to hospital. Davina was fooled.

230709

* Wild Beasts 'Two Dancers' - i cant stop! soooo good! not as in-ya-face as the 1st album. it gets under your skin.
> i wanna see this film.
> NEW Carrie Vanilow (my other band) song titles.
* Radiohead 'Amnesiac'
> t-shirts are ready! but cant pick them up til tomorrow. oh.
* The Very Best 'Mixtape'
> oooh i think on im to a winner with this new poster! gonna take ages to make though. Flinstones x On The Buses.
> i picked up my tipp-ex thinking it was my cup of tea and tried to drink it! i'm soo engrossed in this poster. out of the 5 tipp-ex's i've found in my drawing suitcase can u guess how many still had usable correction fluid in??
> block colouring on photoshop is the most fun thing in the world!!!
* Hot Chip 'The Warning'
> BB10 - ha! weird! Mr Wolf's (a Bristol bar) just got a mention on Big Brother!?? i like it when Marcus talks about smashing someone's face in,makes me laugh.Kenneth is scared of the public,thats why he jumped the wall.
> i'm having soooo much fun with this poster! i dont wanna go to bed.
* Flying Lotus 'Los Angeles' / James Yorkston 'Year Of The Leopard'

ST PAUL'S CARNIVAL TEXTS

CLICK HERE to see the rest of this set of photos over on BEANSNAPS.

'UNNATURAL ACTS' SHOP GIG (30th May)

Below is the poster i made for the gig..

After the cup final we headed down the hill with our crate of booze and set up shop..in 'The Shop' (the venue, it's called The Shop, it's actually a shop, a shop selling..ermm..what was it selling? i can't remember? Old clothes i think). Dale French was ill so no Gorlkeepers, just the Gaz Love solo experience. But didn't he do well!? Yes very good indeed. I helped out by making little sounds on 'Copybook' & 'Germs Stand Up'. I can't remember all the setlist, i'll ask him and get it put up on the OLO blog soon. The Welcome Committee which is Mr Atkins (of Carrie Vanilow..my new band..that havn't done anything yet) was also splendid! I joined in by woooping/yelling during the Carrie Vanilow song 'Rooftops'. Shanks Pony (Mr Ashley) and Poppy were also in good form. We all had fun! Yes i'd like to see another night put on there sometime. The rest of the night is a bit of a blur. Ended up at a house party eating cous cous.

I'll post up some video footage from the night over the coming weeks.

CLICK HERE to see the rest of this set of photos over on BEANSNAPS.

HAND TO FANS

PONYTAIL & THE WELCOME COMMITTEE - LIVE (8th March)

Had to work this night so missed 4 or 5 other bands. I caught The Welcome Committee (my new Carrie Vanilow bandmate Mr Atkins), then spent the next four hours wondering round the cinema then returned just in time for Ponytail. They were really great! Alot of screaming and stomping of feet. Much FUN! The Welcome Committee were wonderful! I'm slightly bias now, ha! But seriously, Mr Atkins has a way with words. He also did a Carrie Vanilow (you'll heard more about them over the next few months) song called 'Rooftops' which was brilliant!

CLICK HERE to see the rest of this set of photos over on BEANSNAPS.

The Welcome Committee (AKA Jamie Atkins)..


Ponytail..



Where's Wally??..
You can have a look at some drawings and twitters from the night HERE.

Thanks to K.Dane for the photos.

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