Fyfe Dangerfield - Content tagged by Blog

TOUR MUSIC

Sun, 26 Sep 2010 12:47:00 +0100

Yo.

Feel obliged to put this up here - sorry for not posting in ages. My manager is going to love that my first post in ages is going on about someone else. DIG!

But a lot of people have been asking - the track that plays over the PA before I go onstage at the gigs is Dinah & The Beautiful Blue by Thomas Feiner. The album it is from is called The Opiates (revised). Go and buy it, seriously, it's amazing.

Also playing before that is the soundtrack to the Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 by David Shire.

And that's it.

I'm having a lovely time on this tour. Really am. Such busy times at the moment - straight back into mixing the new Guillemots record when I return, but all good...

Was going to post more today as I have a (kind of, except for playing 3 songs at a "ladies lunch" .. yes, honestly.. ) day off, but i can't get online in me room and can't be arsed to sit down in reception of the hotel all day. That's how i roll. But I'll really try to get more up here soon.

Love to you all

X fyff

KCRW session, and Claire's future husband?

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 11:00:00 +0100

I keep meaning to write an extensive diary of my recenttravels in America on here. Well i say travels but I mean 12 days or so playinga few gigs, doing a few sessions and eating some nice food. Hardly travels. ButI never seem to quite find the time.

Suffice to say I had a really great time.

****** THERE IS ACTUALLY A LINK TO SOMETHING TO DO WITH MYMUSIC AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS SO JUST SKIP DOWN, IF, LKE, YOU'RE IN A RUSH ORHATE FOOD ********

And, first things first, can heartily recommend these eatingspots. (from henceforth,capitals often mean a link. but not always. god to keep the world guessing)

PANE E VINO in LA - YES! i had Gamberetti alla santa margarita - shrimp sauteed in cognac,honey, scallions and curry served with grilled polenta, and then Tortelloni diMagro al Burro Bruciato - pastafilled with dandelions greens, ricotta, parmesan, burned butter and sage.mmmmmmm

mmmm

mmmmmmmmm

mmmmmmm

MOLE, NYC - and get a mojitoooo which comeswith sugarcane in it - i'd never had sugarcane - or a jalapheno and cucumbermargarita. mind bogglingly good. All about the BAJA STYLE FISH TACOS

and finally , actually I can't remember the other reallygood place. A sushi place near Venich Beach in LA. Hama maybe?

And music - didn't see loads but enjoyed the band GROUPLOVE and their song Naked Kids. Please read on, they're not dodgy though that mix oftitles isn't exactly an invite. But they were a charming band, had this sort ofmix of Neil Young summery haziness and Pixies raw energy live, and a kind ofArcade Fire bigness. If I was in Grouplove I'd hate that description but hey.They're onto a good thing there though. And well done for getting lobster intoa song too.

The point of this was actually to promote myself wasn't it.The video of my radio session at KCRW in LA is up online now, featuring Tom andLeslie on da strings. It was a good one for me so I'm glad it was filmed. Notso glad I was so hot I had to fling off my shirt and reveal my exciting darkgrey vest half-way through. Casual style. But there you go.

HERE IT IS! ********* THIS IS THE LINK BIT TO SOME MUSIC! *******

And finally, another hate mail about my Billy Joel cover.Even better perhaps than Claire H.

"I have never heard of you before, and will not beupset if I never do again.

Billy Joel's song "Always a woman to me" is aclassic, and clearly too good for someone with an average singing voice. Pleasechoose your songs more carefully, songs that have simple monotone will be muchmore suitable!

Regards,

Gary P.

Operations Director. "

DIG!

Should i send Gary and Claire each other's email addressesand give Cupid a nudge?

Must get off to rehearsal now anyway. We start recording newGuillemots album on Monday. Very, very, excited.

Xxxx

ONE BENEFIT...

Wed, 19 May 2010 19:47:00 +0100

One benefit of doing a fairly straightfoward cover of a great Billy Joel song is that it really connects you with, I suppose, a new "demographic" of people.

Such as Claire, below, who sent me this email through yesterday.

Hi

I have never sent an email like this before, but I have just heard yourcover of Billy Joel's She's Always a Woman and it was SO dreadful I hadto write to you.

Not only is your vocal awful, but you have more or less copied theoriginal note for note (although yours are all bum notes). Firstly,why feel the need to cover such an already perfect song and secondly,if you are going to cover it, at least do something different (andthirdly, while you are at it, sing in tune!).

Sorry to write such a negative email, but I notice that this song is onthe Radio 2 play list and I am now going to have to endure it over andover again for the next few weeks. How depressing.

Yours, a Billy Joel fan,

Clare H.

PS At first, I thought it was Damien Rice "singing" and then I wouldhave understood why I didn't like it. I like your other songs!

I like Claire but I don't think I'd want to actually go on a date with her.

Will be writing yous all soon from Americland!

X

GANNETS / CELLO!

Thu, 06 May 2010 08:49:00 +0100

HELLO AGAIN.. . a little note to say firstly i'm playing at the Vortex tonight with Gannets - hey, I'm on such borrowed time I'm not even going to link to it, just type in "VORTEX GANNTES MAY 6th) and I'm sure you'll find what you need.

The Vortex is just off Kingsland Road in London.

Secondly, I have a cello piece being performed on Sunday, and indeed some other days. I've just written it and need to decide what it's called today. I think I'm going for "Poco & The Cage", though I'm not sure why.

Here's stuff about it .. please do come along, it sounds like a really interesting night.

Okay. Boi.

Macca!

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:36:00 +0100

Wow - thanks to everyone who came to my two Bloomsbury Theatre shows this week. Had a bit of a surprise at the 2nd show, last night, when 5 minutes before I was due onstage I got a knock at my dressing room door with my manager saying there was a somewhat important visitor to see me, and I opened my door to Paul McCartney standing there! Just saying hello, like, and explaining he'd have to leave before the end and so if I saw him leaving it wasn't because he didn't like it. . but that he was looking foward to catching a lot of it.

It was almost so surprising it felt vaguely normal, if that makes sense..

But I can't really put into words what it means to have someone who's music I've listened to literally as long as I can remember come and watch a gig of my own. Especially when it's someone who's had such a huge huge influence on music all over the world in the last 50 years. And someone whose songs are constantly swimming around in the back of my head, pretty much every day. But I can say this - it feels PRETTY PRETTY COOL.

So I found myself in the strange position of playing "The Fool on the Hil", which I'd covered a couple of times before and had already put into the setlist for last night too, in front of the man who wrote it. I don't think that's a memory I'll be forgetting.

Anyway - yes - more from me soon. Back into writing and piecing things together for next Guillemots record now. But a massive thanks to Sir Macca for giving me his time, and again to everyone else who came along and showed their support, and last but not least to Marie and Charlie who have been bowing strings beautifully onstage with me the last few months. These last two gigs were a real joy to do, even more than usual.

A bientot

X Fyff

A Brief Update, More Soon..

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 23:29:00 +0100

Yes, I really need to sleep now but had vowed to at least write a "will write more soon" note when I got back in. So this i do. Just back from three gigs supporting Corrine Bailey Rae which has been fun. They've made us feel most welcome and, tonight, backstage in Leamington Spa, we encountered Tammy Wynette's old caravan, which just seems to be there because the owner had the chance to buy it, and apparenly build an entire backstage area around it. Fair enough, if you can, you can.

Done a bit of promo these last few days and had a great time today with Hywel and Jamie recording some stuff for both their Key 103 podcast and their Kerrang and Q shows .. most fun I've had in an "interview" ( I wouldn't really call it that though!) in a long time. ..

Life has been very hectic of late - my head's been mainly focused on getting ready to start making Guillemots Album 3. We now have a month or so to go before we begin to record properly. We made a list of potential album songs the other day, and reckon we have 40 to 50 so far, not counting about another 30 or 40 ideas that we need to work on more. We just need to figure out which ones fit together the best! But a nice position to be in.. .still want to write some more new ones though. . .you can always do better ...

But in-between that I've been having fun doing gigs for my own record, I was in America last week, at the mentalfest that is South by Southwest. At some point I'd like to start putting some links up here and so on but for now just a brief list will have to do - I really enjoyed a band from just down the road from me by the sound of things called Kasms, went to see a band everyone in the industry is apparently talking about Local Natives who despite all the hype / as the hype would suggest (delete as appropriate) were actually pretty good, likewise a band from Australia called The Middle East - although my favourite things that they played were apparenly new songs so I can't hear them anywhere, and also a band from somewhere in America called Fictionist, who were great, a proper old fashioned pyschedlic rock band and all the better for it. I was also a fan of the way their guitarist took the time between songs to start introducing himself to people in the front row and shaking their hands. Very suave. A guy called Boy Eats Drum Machine also played the same night and was very entertaining. So yeah - glad I got to see some new music that I'd never heard about before.

Apart from that I largely stuffed my face.

Live music-wise in Britain, I've also enjoyed wonderful gigs recently by Wild Beasts at Koko and by a wonderful Canadian songwriter called Eric Cheanux at the Good Ship in Kilburn.

I also have a special little record with I Blame Coco coming out, we covered "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" by Neil Young and it turned out really nicely. There will be a video appearing online soon, and a video blog too. The hat I am wearing in said videos, I should add, was just lying around the studio, and I was persuaded by everyone there to wear it. I do not, repeat, not, actually think that I am a cowboy.

Right, well this will have to be it for now. But I will soon return to this electronic space and post some links to good stuff that has been floating around my head of late.

Until then, stay awake when you've got things to do, and enjoy sleep when the time is right

Xx Fyfe

IF YOU'RE VISITING INDIA, READ ME..

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:32:00 +0100

Well you can be re-assured that my lack of posts on here of late has been entirely down to business, and nowt else. we're really enjoying being guillemots again . . and we're also hatching a few more plans for my record - think we're going to be announcing some shows very soon. . .. so yeah. . .and what else can i tell you. this morning i am drinking strong coffee and a Nair Dosa from last night's meal at Rasa that I had to take home cos I'd stuffed my face. Nair Dosa? Wha? Well, look it up kids. It's good.

Anyway, I should have put this link up here a long time ago. I had an amazing holiday in India at the start of the year, with, amongst other people, my friend Ben. I will hopefully put some photos up here soon. Anyway, as well as being my HOTSTEPPER friend, Ben is one ot the PEOPLE behind HOME AND HOSPITALITY, who are basically a fairly new and extremely, well, good company who decided that hotels In India are usually dead over-priced and that there should be better and more personable alternatives. So they have set up a range of wonderful places to stay in India, from B&B style stopovers, to living with families in their homes, to independent self-catering loveliness..

And yes I am entirely bigging up my friend's company but hell, it's my website and I can do with it what I will.. . and if you're thinking of visiting India, which I can't say enough - YOU SHOULD. . so what if its cliched coming from a musician . it's amazing and i so want to go back .. but anyway, yes. . . look HITHER for somewhere to stay. You may even be lucky enough, as we were, to have a man living with you who makes omlettes that are so tasty they make you question whether you had ever truly eaten an omlette before. True fact.

THIS IS THE THING TO CLICK ON IF YOU WANT THE MOST EXCELLENT BED & BREAKFAST OR HOMESTAY IN INDIA KIDS! SO CLICK IT!!

YES! Seriously. More people need to know about H&H. And you, reader, are a people. As one. So, spread the word. The word is the link. And the link is good, kids.

I guess you're not all kids are you. Oh well. Who is, really? Who is?

Well I am going to finish listening to Greig's new song megamix - he's just the kind of guy, he likes making DJ sets of unreleased material for us all to listen to - and then off to play, write and rehearse with me possie

By the way, if you haven't bought my album yet, buy it! It's good! (i think)

HERE"S A LINK TO IT ON AMAZON!!!!

Okay.

More soon
XXXX

The Shark Ballads

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:30:00 +0100

i found these today in the flat, some poems that my rather wonderful friend Robert wrote a few years back. He will probably demand i remove them from here as soon as he knows they're up, but until then, enjoy -

_______________

THE SHARK BALLADS
_________________

THE SHARK ARRIVES

Cool down the rocks in fresh water
Do not burn the guest
He is about to arrive

Present him with pre-shelled pistachios
Gold-leafed pine cones
Whiskey over iced champagne

Remove the dust, paint the halls
Bleed the carpet red
The shark has come to visit

What a day for me and mine
The shark slumped on my sofa
No more second rate bovine guests

What grace at the table
What wit in his speech
How elegant the cut of his suit

But please move your God eyes
Slightly to the side
You are here for supper not for my mind.

THE SHARK'S HARP

Today I have learnt how to play the Shark's Harp
In a narrow corridor of ocean
Somewhere south of Polynesia

It has charmed men and fish
Lured even sirens
It has drowned birds and monkeys

Whale and squid have shook hands
And shyly circled each other
Building courage to dance

Mighty Architeuthis reduced
To school disco shame
By my novice fingers

What gift for the shark
Kind enough to share this
His greatest creation

I shall, unlike the others
Not make him my slave.

THE SHARK'S HEIST

He has slyly robbed me
His jaundiced gills slapping my face
Knocking me out with his stench of rot

We should never have met
Never have circled with his family
Made plans to swim the moon

All hail the magnificent shark
Silent mugger
Coarse breathed friend

THE SHARK DIES

I've made heavy cordial
Of the ocean
The shark is dead

His head is staked
As a subtle warning
To a thousand blind fish

No one is grieving him
A cruel master
Deposed, reborn, deceased

Dropped in the struggle
The harp is lost
Somewhere beneath the Pangean ghost

Silly that we bothered
To become such friends
For nothing

But I shall still say a prayer as I fall asleep
That you are safe out there in the mist.

IF YOU WANT TO WATCH SOMETHING

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:24:00 +0100

well, hell, why not watch this.

it's a session i did the other day for absolute radio, with three songs from me record and a cover by some liverpudlian band that that thomas tank engine dude used to be in called the tootles or something

http://www.absoluteradio.co.uk/player/7553/live_session.html

(i can't work out how to embed it, so we'll have to be old skool about this)

and an interview, herein

http://www.absoluteradio.co.uk/player/7552/interview.html

alright that's it for now my luvvies

a very very good song

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 19:26:00 +0100

well this kind of got me welling up. wow. i keep thinking i'm getting bored of songs and singers, that i want to fill my head and days with blips and samples and future sounds, and then a song like this arrives and just makes me play it over and over again, and reminds me how i'll always, whether or not i actually want to, be drawn more than anything to the emotions rather than the mathematics of music. this song seems especially resonant at the moment. and i'm playing with them in january in glasgow at the abc.. i can't wait.

now i really need to get out of the house and do my christmas shopping...

Craig Hutchins Photographs

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 12:02:00 +0100

guess i'm a little bit biased here, but if you're looking for a late Christmas present, the above title, as well as many great photo books by my friend David Robinson, is to be found HERE.

I just found my copy of "Photographs" last night whilst rummaging, and, well, they are really beautiful photos.

X

THREE GANNETS GIGS

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:19:00 +0100

got three Gannets gigs coming up this week, Bristol, Cheltenham and Birmingham. . .

details as ever are on our Myspace

meanwhile i'll be popping into radio some local radio stations in the day and recording some
interviews and acoustic songs relating to the Fly Yellow Moon Affair..

a week of fun but confusing contrasts, then..

in the meantime, i leave you with, possibly, the voice, and words, of God.

STILNESS IS THE MOVE

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 14:20:00 +0100

let's pretend this doesn't play havoc with my website borders. it's SO good.

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Larry is Back!

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:04:00 +0100

THOMAS FEINER AND ANYWHEN

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:13:00 +0100

I was just finising up tidying my flat whilst listening to Late Junction - going against everything I said before, but needs must - when this track came up and absolutely stopped me in my tracks. To the extent that I nearly flooded my bathroom, as i was also running a bath at the time and forgot.

I won't try to describe it, it's just amazing. It's by Thomas Feiner and Anywhen, neither of whom I know anything about, and it's called Dinah and the Beautiful Blue

I can't find it anywhere else on the web so you'll just have to listen to it back on Late Junction. Go in at 00.59 minutes.

Wow. Not often you hear a voice like that.

****** OKAY THAT LINK DOESN'T WORK ANYMORE. SO JUST GO AND BUY IT ON I TUNES OKAY! IT'S THE BEST 79P YOU'LL EVER SPEND... *******

GORDON HUTCHINS THE POET

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:59:00 +0100

HERE IS A LNK TO MY SOME OF MY DAD'S POEMS ONLINE, CLICK ON IT

they're good in't they...

he's a bit lazy but i reckon if he gets a few visits to his site he'll put some more up ..

The Number is Two

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:15:00 +0100

my friend adam was recording with the real version of one of these men the other day.

why do beatles related comedy sketches never get boring..?!

A fairly surreal TV appearance..

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:07:00 +0100

not sure letterman knows quite what to say afterwards?!

okay i am sounding a bit obsessed with this song. but i like obsessing over songs.

Urchin Studios

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:04:00 +0100

HERE IS A LINK TO URCHIN STUDIOS, CLICK ON IT

Have been meaning to post a link to this place on here for a while.

If you're in London and want to do some recording, come here. It's where we did most of Fly Yellow Moon and I just love the place. My two favourite studios are Air Studio 1 and this place. . .very different, but both really make you feel at home. Maybe with Air this is even more a feat as it's a really posh studio, and I would whole-heartedly recommend both for being highly condusive to forgetting you're really in a studio and avoiding red-light syndrome.

Strongroom Studios too are another great place to be - a very relaxed and friendly bunch of rooms in which to make music and also just "hang!", (man.. boom boom).

But if you're on a bit more of a budget or only need a smallish place anyway, then I would say Urchin is the place for you. The room sounds amazing, there's a Wurlitzer and a proper McCartney Hofner bass, which we ended up using on everything, and the place just, I don't know, I can't describe it, it just has some magic about it I think.

And Matt Ingram, who's one of the owners, drums on 3 songs on the record too, including When You Walk in the Room. And a very fine sticksman he is too. He HAS the groove. So basically, yeah. . even looking at photos of this place makes me happy..

Mornin'

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:02:00 +0100

(you can see it bigger on YouTube actually, but if we make it bigger here the whole text and video extend over the allotted border of the "stuff" section and suddenly it looks like the phychedlia within the song has actually taken over my entire website .. but here's the link if you want a bit more of a cinematic VIBE)

but yeah . .i LOVE LOVE LOVE everything about this song and video. It's my new have-to-listen-to / watch all the time thing. . .

i remember the first time i heard Merriweather Postman Pat or whatever it's called, the latest Animal Collective album, i was fairly disappointed - though to be fair i was cooking at the same time and i think especially with a record like this you have to give it your full attention .. . but it really really creeps up on you until you realise that actually every song has really simple, beautiful melodies. but it's the feeling they provoke more than anything else .. . not many other bands give me such a feeling of freedom . .don't know what it is about them.

i love it when the harmonies come in in the verse of this too - reminds me of Revolver-era Beatles. Anyway, you could read me spurting on about them or just watch the video. I would watch the video. Which is amazing in its own right. In fact I'm going to try tracking down the directors NOW. I need to know more people that can make things look like this.

Sorry for the outpouring the other day. Will try to put things up here more frequently and less insanely. Wore earplugs for maybe half the rehearsal the other day anyway, for anyone interested in my ear saga. Wasn't too bad actually. Think i can deal with wearing them at least some of the time when we're rehearsing, so i guess that's a start. Part of me thinks I should stop fretting and ignore the whole issue, but then i want to be making the most mental, assultive music of my career when i'm 90, if i live that long. So keeping my hearing is pretty important. But yes, perspective. Not my strong point.

But we had a great play on Thursday anyway. We have another new one now, with a working title of "Save Me" (!) . .it's a dark horse this one. Seems really moody in the verse - the NME-journo description would maybe be "The Cure playing in the Sahara Desert in the dead of night, with Robert Smith shifted to keyboard duties and replaced by a wannabe Frank Sinatra on vocals".. but then suddenly clatters into a really up and catchy chorus but without, i think, being too bouncy bouncy Annie Let's Not Wait-y. .. (it has to be said that's maybe not Guillemots favourite Guillemots song) ..

And there's another one we found from a couple of weeks back with this real hypnotic slow gospel-y / r'n'b sort of beat and a constant held chord my Magrao through the whole song that sounds like an organ. We're going to work on that one next week. I'm in love this one not just because of the way it sounds but also because i don't even play anything in the first minute of the song, i just sing. .. i so rarely get to sing live without playing an instrument, so it's something i relish with childish glee whenever i get the chance, and inevitably, however hard i try to not be a cock, end up pulling some sort of rock star poses and imagining our South Bermondsey rehearsal space is actually the main stage at Glastonbury, at 11 at night. Well, maybe one day..

X

Late Junction and Other Tonics

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:52:00 +0100

Last night, after making an actually not too bad pasta sauce for one (certainly better than my previous attempt at a nice home-made tomato sauce, which ended up tasting of vomit .. it's hard being in a band with a former chef, he makes it all sound so easy.. . ) .. anyway, yes, after that I actually managed to sit down for at least an hour or so and listen to most of Radio 3's Late Junction. I really do love that programme.

It reminds me, funnily enough, of John Peel's Radio 1 show back in the day, which I adored. My old band, god - this was 10 years ago now - met Mr. Peel once, and he was incredibly supportive of us, as he was to hundreds, thousands of young people whose dream was getting played on that show. .. but I'm digressing .. anyway, Late Junction's softly spoken "mellow" atmosphere might seem a world away from John Peel's white label ragga/drum'n'bass 45s playing at the wrong speed, but they both shared an approach of just airing music that you wouldn't really hear anywhere else on the radio. I suppose now the internet has muted the importance of radio programmes such as this, but that just seems to make a programme like the Junction, that's been going for what seems like ages now, seem even more relevant.

Anyway, everytime I do listen to it - and listening to it is much better done sat down on a sofa and not doing anything else, rather than on in the background while you wash up / email / whatever it might be - I always hear piece after piece of music that I'm intrigued by and think I ought to run off and buy.

Last night there was a beautiful piece by BJ Cole, the pedal steel guitarist, followed by a serene tune called "The Child Within" (okay - some of these things do have "typical" Late Junction titles, but being able to parody something is generally just a sign that it's good and it has it's own identity, right?) by the Tord Gustaven Ensemble .. . there was also a track by the Dirty Projectors, who I've heard of but never heard. . and didn't even know on one listen if I really liked or not, but it was certainly compelling - if I was a tagline-grabbing 90s NME journalist, I'd maybe say it sounded like "Frank Zappa producing Jeff Buckley in Senegal" or something like that.. .

Then later came a completely nuts tune by Lukas Ligeti, son of the composer Gyorgy Ligeti (whose music I need to listen to far far more of) . . but yes, this Lukas Ligeti piece was mental, but in a very good way. I want to make more music like that. . .I really, really, want to start making more instrumental music. This is something I've been thinking about a lot recently . .it's strange because I love singing songs, but I don't really think of myself a singer, it's just something I do .. so I sort of come to stuff from the perspective of making music but then for most people, the thing they're bound to notice first is the voice, and probably the words. Which are the two things I feel least secure about. . anyway. . this is a topic for another day. . .but yes, Lukas Ligeti, and then a peaceful, hauntuing tune for what sounded like a celeste and voice by Nancy Elizabeth, and shortly afterwards, the Kronos Quartet, making noises I'd never heard a "classical" quartet make before, as they played what I think was some sort of Iranian Lullaby.

And this is just a few that I remember, but there was virtually nothing I disliked on the programme at all. I've just remembered another one, there was some sort of lamenting sea shanty that I really loved, but I can't figure out which one that was in the tracklisting. And Miles Davis playing The Concierto De Aranjuez from Sketches of Spain, which I've loved for years. Jesus I'm prattling on. But anyway, Late Junction is where it's at - and this is what I mean about it reminding me of John Peel - this is just one show and it provided me with so much music to feast on. . his show was exactly the same. Any night you tuned in you'd be guaranteed to hear at least one or two things that would knock you over.

So go listen, I recommend - link to last night's show is HERE but no doubt tonight's show and subsequent ones will be equally enriching on the ears.

Actually my ears have been causing me some concern this week.

THERE NOW FOLLOW TWO OF THE MOST BORING PARAGRAPHS YOU WILL EVER READ IN "BLOGLAND", BUT I HAVE VOWED TO SPEW OUT WHATEVER I FEEL LIKE SPEWING OUT ON THIS PAGES, SO THERE YOU GO. MAYBE JUST SKIP THIS BIT THOUGH .. UNLESS YOU PLAY MUSIC AND HAVE SIMILAR CONCERNS..

This always seems to happen, I'm getting really into something and then something else, some demented rabbit of a worry, jumps up from behind the garden fence to remind me that life's never simple. Doing what I do is obviously always going to be a bit taxing on the ears, and 2 or 3 years ago I really started noticing ringing in my ears after a stupidly loud fesitval in Spain. I have no idea if that festival caused it or I just became aware of it then, but since then I've noticed that I have mild tinnitus - but really mild, only audible when there's hardly any noise around at all .. I tried using in-ear monitors on stage after this, because they're supposed to be better for your ears then big monitors, but after 3 or 4 months I gave up on those, I was using them in Guillemots in the first half of 2008 and found it really hard to feel a connection to the audience in the same way.

And then we played Hop Farm with Neil Young and I just couldn't be arsed with fiddling around with them again so tried monitors again, and couldn't really hear any detail in anything, but had a great time. .and that was that.. . but anyway, in Guillemots, we've recently moved into a new rehearsal space, and it's really cool but it is very small and, there's no other way to put this, a triangular shaped room. And this weekend, after a week of rehearsals, I really noticed the ringing again. . now, it may be no worse than usual and actually I'm just re-noticing it again - tinnitus is entirely neurological you see - but of course now I'm worried about it which makes it even more noticeable. And yesterday I tried using my earplugs that I had made a couple of years ago but I just find it so hard to play music with things stuck into my ears. It's just not natural! So of course now I'm living in fretful land - I either try to get used to wearing plugs but struggle to enjoy playing music for potentially a good while, or tell myself I'm worrying about nothing and just carry on regardless, but then risk damaging my ears even more. A QUANDRY. Anyway, I'm sure this will resolve itself somehow, these things usually do. But my worried genes are certainly getting plenty of action at the moment...

Anyway, enough moaning.. . these are small small problems in the overall scheme of things.. if i have to start wearing earplugs, i have to start wearing earplugs. Deal with it. I do have this awful habit of not only spying a problem, but then going "hello problem, you big cuddly panther, come on in, let me cook you dinner!". It's not my best trait, i'm not going to lie.

But there's much to be positive about at the moment too.. .not least the music that we're working on in Guillemots. I won't try to describe it but we're all very excited and feel this record could be a chance to make a really defining record for us. It probably seems really odd to have had so much time out of the "spotlight". . especially as we haven't even started recording yet, but I think you need time to dream things up. With our last record we kind of rushed straight into it without having time to take stock, and this time round we've had the time to just become four friends playing music together again, which is so important. So all is good in this respect.

And there's also a lot of exciting stuff starting to happen with regards to my own solo record. We shot a video this week - I love the pair directing it, they're called KOJA and we have a mutual friend of a friend, David Robinson, who took the photos on this website, and a lot of the early (and to my mind, best) Guillemots shots too. I'm not quite sure how my performance in the video was, I always find it incredibly odd to be walking around singing along to myself with about 10 people following you with cameras on a trolley and stuff. I mean, again, it's not really very natural. .! But they seemed happy and i trust them.. it's really good to work with directors who seem genuinely excited and passionate about what they're doing, so that gives me a lot of hope that the video will look great. A wee bit psychedelic, I think..

And we're soon going to be announcing four gigs in January - am starting to have a think about what I'm going to do in these concerts. Well play songs from my record obviously - DUH - but I'm trying to think about things in a bit more detail than that.. instrumentation, etc.. Any ideas, put them in the comments below, anything you'd like to see in the shows, I'm very open to requests.. ! Or you can email me too, via

fyfe@guillemots.com

In fact yes, show suggestions, and also any music that I should be listening to. These are subjects I would welcome your thoughts on. ..

Well, I now must stop writing and get ready to leave the house for Guillemots rehearsal. The last two days I have been an hour late, although Tuesday was not my fault - it was the fault of the London Transport Police, who swooped on the 149 bus like puffed up Studio Ghibli demons and demanded to see everyone's tickets / oysters. Now I have no problem with the idea that people ought to be paying for their bus journeys, but these people are just INSANE. One guy tried to leg it off and the next thing, five of them were pinning him down on the pavement. I mean, this is over one pound. And I was whisked off because my oyster showed I hadn't paid - now I genuinely, on this occasion, had tried touching in twice but both times it had beeped back at me so I presumed I was out of money. They then checked my card and showed I did have money left, so I'm not sure why that happened. But that's just about fair enough.

But then, I didn't want to pay on the spot as I wanted to be able to contest the fine, so they needed my address, which I gave them, and they then said they couldn't find it on their records and that unless I paid on the spot, they'd have to drive me back to my flat so i could prove I lived there..

I then told them the names of the other people living in flats in this building, and got told that it could be where I'd lived before. So I then opened up my computer and showed them a folder on the desktop with my address on it, but the guy was still iike "yeah mate, but how do i know that's not some place you've lived before?" I mean, would I bother going through that much of an act? Anyway, eventually they agreed to let me go without bundilng me in a police van to prove where I live over one pound. You just sort of wonder, would these people not be put to better use somewhere else? Do we really need 20 people waiting by the side of the road to do this?

DO WE???!!!!!!!

DOO WEEEE????!!!!!!!

Social commentary is not my strong point as you can see. I have written far too much, anyway, and not said nearly enough. i've wanted for ages to write about how Leonard Cohen has been saving my life recently, but this will have to wait for another time.

Anyway, thanks as ever people.. more news and more "stuff" soon..

X Fyfe

Oh, one last thing - we've just got the go ahead (we had to check chart rules etc) to have our bonus disc (in the deluxe album edition) the full length we wanted. So this means there'll be another 10 tracks available if you pre-order this edition of the record, so - kind of - a double record! Just don't call it a double record , this may induce breakdowns in a some of the hard-working people around me.. . .But yes, that's good news indeed. We're just trying to finalise the designs for this special edition at the moment, but again will have more news soon...

Right. . bye for now Xx

In the meantime...

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:26:00 +0100

There will be more stuff soon. In the meantime: