Alcopop!

What are you doing on St. Patricks day other than drinking masses of Guiness, trying desperately to obtain a novelty hat and falling over around 3am in a massive pool of vomit and wishing desperately that you’d taken the following day off, rather than proudly boasting “my great (insert great ad nauseum) grandad was Irish - I can take it”.

Well - Alcopop heartily condones all of the above, but also believes that you should be doing said drunkenness in London town at the Social, where a whole host of great bands (including Alcopop’s very own Data.Select.Party) will be jamming out modern day indie-pop classics, and Alcopop’s very own Jack will ripping apart the decks dropping Irish themed hits until the bitter end.

You want ‘Wild Rover’ on repeat, Dropkick Murphys, Ash, Turn, Simple Kid and B*Witched? Then get down - and please note there will be a ‘no Bono’ rule at all times. I thank you.

Click the handsome flyer to buy cheap advance tickets….

I really think so! You should have seen what was going on in the van (ahem…), and amidst a big cardboard cut-out of Lenny Henry (holding a duck), an odd metal dog with some balls, scouse stage invasions and mental dancers – the Boss Pop tour (with Elle S’apelle) has drawn to a close after leaving a trail of power-pop destruction across the country. But fear not, because not only are the boys continuing on their unremitting tour schedule around the country, they’ve secured 5 dates with close pals The Wombats and will be gracing massive venues in Birmingham, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Inverness and Sheffield with them on their upcoming tour.

What’s more – it seems that the boys have already made a pretty big impact overseas, and just a week after releasing ‘Flammable Leisurewear’ on strictly ltd (to 500) 7” on Alcopop – have gone on to sign a deal to release their debut album ‘Magazine Addictions’ in Japan – which is, quite frankly, awesome. Sadly, as this issue is Japanese only, it will set you back 20 sheets on Amazon preorder, but is likely to be cheaper for all our chums based over in the orient.

Meanwhile, although all the very special tracksuit-sleeved 7”s (first 100 of 500 copies) are long gone, some of the single still remain available from the boys on tour, or through the Alcopop shop. Buy now – or weep later.

HUSH THE MANY (HEED THE FEW)

RELEASE NEW SINGLE ‘REVOLVE’ – APRIL 7, 2008

It is with great pleasure, that we can announce that Hush The Many (Heed The Few)’s new single ‘Revolve’ will be released on April 7, 2008 on a limited release of 1000 7” vinyls through us at Alcopop Records.  Hush The Many, with their ability to capture people’s hearts and imagination through their heartbreaking and delicately dynamic music, have already been making waves - with the band having already received significant radio play from XFM and our pal Huw Stephens. In press they have also won the accolades of the likes of Metro and Drowned In Sound, who describe them as a “a band who threaten to grow and blossom…”

After recently selling out the famous 100 Club, Hush the Many (Heed the Few) have recently been playing a heart-melting , up-close-and-personal residency at the new Wilmington Arms in Clerkenwell. With a maximum capacity of 70, each show has been a chance for band and audience alike to look each other in the eye and get cosy, with no flashy lights, big stage, huge PA, and no separation. The last of the residencies is taking place THIS WEDNESDAY February 27 from 7-11pm. Tickets are £7 advance or £9 on the door, and will take place at the Wilmington Arms on Rosebury Avenue. For tickets please go to www.wegottickets.com

We’ll be popping down an it’ll be great to see you there… Support is ably provided by TRAIN CHRONICLES, SERAFINA STEER and REVERE and there are only a few tickets left.. So do hurry.

Hush The Many are Nima (guitar, male vocals), Alexandra (bass, female vocals), Joanna (cello) and Ruban (electric guitar)

8/10 “There are few bands that could pull off such a triumph in a live atmosphere” Drowned In Sound

Hush the Many…Fittingly, they hushed, and charmed, the sell-out crowd.” Richard Clayton - Sunday Times Culture Magazine

“On the brink of something special” Metro

I’m afraid you’ll just have to watch the video….

Awwww, just two months ago he was “edging them closer to slumber with a relatively inoffensive ditty….. zzzzzzzz“, but the good tug Sam Isaac seems now to have steadied the NME battlecruiser - and is setting their stereo alight! About time too… and tequila without the messiness sounds bloody brilliant, although i prefer a good bottle of Captain Morgans really! All good news - and coupled with his mountains of Radio 1 play, it seems that Sam is beginning to make thems in the know sit up and take notice. Go and take a listen to his new single (coming out soon on Another Music = Another Kitchen) or buy his single, released on Alcopop, - Sideways.

So it’s Monday (6th best day of the week in my general league table of days), the new goFASTER>> single is out TODAY which is great news - not least because they’re promoting it with a tour alongside Elle S’apelle, the first show of which ended in a big old stage invasion and much fun all round. Also, Martin from a Stockport radio station has been in touch to proclaim his love for the aforementioned scouse quartet and an update re: Johnny Dean suggests he settled down with a ‘phwoar - hot’ blonde, which is very good news… Because last i heard was a bruising mate of a mate of mine claim that he’d smacked him in the face during a London gig years ago - which is particularly unpleasant.

Other than that, caught Anathallo and Manchester Orchestra in Bristol over the weekend (great gig - and in a boat - boomers) and for anyone looking to get involved with the next big thing, pop over to 4 or 5 Magicians blog and check out all the opportunities they have for appearing in videos and such. Their new stuff is truly awesome (coming out on ‘This is Fake DIY Records‘ soon) and well worth getting involved in. Coupled with that, those lovely folks at artsWOM have featured my post about books an that - and, jesus there are a lot of links in this blog!

Now I’m off to eat some Chicken Kievs before getting a little bit fruity with some Jager - absolutely the drink of choice for anyone concerned that many more alcopops after last week may just take the enamel off’ve their teeth. But before i go, may i just proclaim my love for Chris Coleman - he has made me a very happy man today!

So, with goFASTER>> bundled off on a tour bus, trekking about the country with Elle S’apelle, the single out on Monday already receiving some damn favourable press (with plenty more to come no doubt) and the Liverpool music scene shivering with excitement at what it is to release on the world, what better time to talk of side projects. Have you seen the Flammable Leisurewear artwork? Well, it’s damn nice - and penned by handsome Paul Rafferty of Hot Club De Paris fame… Well, he and another member of aforementioned band have hooked up with our chums from gF (well 1 of them at least) to bring ‘Antlers’ to the world. A musical triumverate of ballsy heros set to bring sweet musical melody to the world in scouse pop form.

Are they serious? Well, i’m not entirely sure, but this video from their first practice kind of makes me hope they are - it’s lovely - and it looks like there’s hoovers involved too. Oh, and if you need a bass player lads, i’m in

Like this picture of Romeo, the worlds smallest bodybuilder, for example…

Awesome

Meanwhile, in between weeping for both Posh Fish and Ian Dowie this week, I caught a glimpse of this post on artsWOM asking for “people to submit their choices of books they would most want to read just before the end of the world” – which struck me as a rather cool question. So safe in the knowledge that goFASTER>>, 4 or 5 Magicians, Family Machine, Sam Isaac and DSP (amongst others) would be on the stereo whilst civilization crumbled – I decided I’d go for ‘Trout Fishing in America’ by Richard Brautigan as my novel of choice.

Why? Mainly because as the sun set on our dying earth, it would fill me with an ironic sense of humour, pity at the charming, and genuine parts of our lives that were being destroyed – and remind me that for all the brilliance this world provides, there’s a whole lot of crap that deserves to go down with it! Similarly, while this book embraces what is beautiful in the sanctity of nature, unlike those texts that naively paint only the cityscape as a brooding, dark and evil place – Brautigan reminds us that one cannot avoid the death and corruption – even amongst the shady glades.

Secondly, while Brautigan delights in exposing the pollution of nature and society as the result of urban expansion, one poignant scene at ‘The Cleveland Wrecking Yard’ sees a charming salesman selling slabs of the trout river itself amongst a stack of toilets, he does not deny that city life itself still may be fun. Despite their anti-social perceptions, drunken days on the city bench, and sharing happiness with the ‘Kool-Aid Wino’ bring a carefree positivity to proceedings.

A truly flawed genius, Brautigan’s seminal novel of a seemingly whimsical trout fishing journey through America, is in fact a disturbing, insightful and fantastic commentary on youth culture, the beat movement and general American politics. More than that though, it’s one of the most entertaining books I’ve ever read, packed with literary and historical references which mean there is always something new to discover (although this could perhaps be mildly frustrating if the world was about to blow) – and written in the kind of poetic prose that genuinely shocks, amuses and challenges the expectations of the reader – without ever appearing pretentious.

Yeah – so have that exploding world!

For all of those hundreds of people who have found their way through to the blog by typing ‘Tesco Value Valentines Day Card‘ (and they really have) - don’t be so cheap! Buy your loved one a tape this February 14th… heh heh