Strong Arms by Elephants is out today!

And by gum it’s a cracker… Limited to just 100 hand made polaroid fronted sleeves of friends, family and lovers (each one different of course), it’s an edgy, raw emotion-fuelled romp through delicious indie-pop and well, you can see what The 405 think of it right about here! The digital artwork features little Matty Stagecoach, but you can take a look at every photo which will feature on the front of each of the CDs below…

Who will you get? Well, it’s a veritable mix of heroes, but you’ll just have to wait and see… Luck out with a member of Stagecoach and they’ll give you a tee if you drop em a line. Get an Elephants member and you win their last single on vinyl. Get the photo of Alcokitten on the front of your sleeve though and know that she chose you as her favourite popper of all (and that’s a prize that can’t be beat!)

Observe… And pick up your copy before it sells out x

My First Tooth learn lessons….

Did you miss part 1… Goodness me, come on now!

I wake up in a tent surrounded by bits of drumkit and bits of Ross Witt. It is bloody boiling. Over the next few hours I will learn a valuable lesson – namely, drinking three beers before noon on the hottest day of the year will lead to a headache and an increasingly slapdash attitude toward sunblock application. We laze like fat dogs in the sun and discuss The Beautiful South at surprising length. We are playing in Bournemouth later and everybody seems pretty excited by the idea of going to the seaside. At some point I become aware that I am very sunburnt. It would be funny if it didn’t hurt so much. Thankfully, I’m not alone in this as it would appear that everyone was almost as stupid as me. Mine is the best though.

As we leave Wood there is a buzzard circling above the car park. I think we picked the right time to get out of there. The drive to Bournemouth is broken up by an M&S sponsored service station picnic and a wasp entering the van with the express intention of attacking Sophie and disrupting her exam revision. We get to Bournemouth and hit the beach. Sophie has her cossie and wants to go in the sea. Ross has no trunks but decides to go swimming in his pants. He is concerned that the water will be so cold that it may cause his penis to retreat inside his body.

As a non-swimmer who was fairly sober at this point (after all, it’s not Southsea Fest), I opt to merely soothe my suburnt legs in the water before sitting on the beach and smoking fags with Jo. After Ross and Soph have finished fannying about in the water (to refer to it as swimming would sully the good name of Duncan Goodhew) we get ice creams. As I stood on the beach with my trouser legs rolled up, eating a 99, I realised that I was only a knotted-handkerchief-on-the-head away from being the most English person ever. Sadly, the frolics had to end because when you’re on tour you have to play some gigs, even if they get in the way of all of the fun that you’re having.

We head to Champions, which is run by the nicest people in the world, from the soundman whose unique approach included soundchecking the drums last, to the overtly friendly doorman who suggested that Jo bathe in milk to help her sunburn. After soundcheck we witness incredible scenes in a Pizzeria staffed entirely by people in Inter Milan shirts watching the Champions League final with Italian commentary. The place nearly exploded when the first goal went in. We still had to pay for our pizzas.

The show went really well. Definitely one of the best that we have played in a long time and the crowd seemed to love it too. We mull over the promoter’s offer of a place to crash but Ross decides to brave the epic drive home and we depart. It has been the longest day in history. Bournemouth, you will be forever in our hearts. In four days we’ll be back in the van, by which time school will most definitely be out for summer.

Sophie: “All he tweets about is food. ‘I just swallowed a fly’ – that’s food!”

Ross: “Why can’t you three decide? I’m sick of being Hitler.”

Gareth: “You’ve been talking since birth? You came out of the womb complaining about how bad your day was?”

My First Tooth got Wood!

Jack Pop asked me to write a blog about our exploits over this most recent weekend. So I did. To paraphrase Meat Loaf, I will do anything for Jack (and I will do that).

This is the story of two hot boys, two hot girls, and two extremely hot days.

The faithful Toothmobile is loaded with gear, tents and booze, and rolls out of Northampton early Friday afternoon to the summery strains of Weezer and Saves The Day (JP’s note – I’m pretty sure this is just Gammers trying to sound cool. For standard tooth in-van scenes, please see the video below…). I am getting over the cold from hell. Jo’s voice is so croaky it barely exists. She sounds like Mariella Frostrup. Thankfully, Ross and Sophie seem to be in rude health. I’ve always thought that a strange term. We are heading to Wood Festival, situated in rural Oxfordshire, where we have the honour of opening the main stage. The journey passes without incident but it is worth noting that Sophie still slays at popular tour game ‘Horsebox or Burger Van?’ and I still suck.

Upon arrival at Wood, it becomes apparent that it is ridiculously hot. A man unaccustomed to dressing differently season to season, I have not owned a pair of shorts for many years, yet even I have to admit that this is not the weather for full length strides and duly roll my trousers up to the knee (this is not the last piece of tooth flesh that would be on show this weekend) in preparation for tent erection. Ross’s pops out of its bag and goes up with no trouble. Mine, once up, looks a little wonky but seems fully functional. Our tents are in pretty good shape too. I quickly discover that having a mallet makes me king of the campsite. Showtime looms so we attempt to drive the van around to the back of the stage. Cut to a disagreement with a surly security guy who says that no vehicles are allowed there. Cut to aforementioned surly security guy being overruled by his superior who tells him that he is wrong.

Tooth 1, The Man 0.

We play a good show to a small but appreciative crowd and head back to the campsite to get our drink on. Wood is a really great festival with a dead friendly atmosphere. If it were up to me I’d probably chuck in a few flushing toilets but maybe that would ruin the rustic vibe somewhat. Sam Isaac turns up. We watch Fionn Regan headline the Wood stage. He is brilliant. The rest is a bit blurry but at some point Ross and Jo get separated from Soph and I. They got the best deal because they met Mr. Regan and sat around a big fire whereas we danced for about two minutes in a discotheque tent before deciding it was rubbish and heading back to the campsite.

Part 2 of the Tooth Wood diary tomorrow, in which thy head to Brighton and Gareth considers nude night-swimming

Are you sending me model motorbikes? Someone is sending me model motorbikes!

Gosh I love post – and one of the ace things about running a record label is the number of sometimes awesome/ sometimes not so awesome demos I get through the post. I always listen to every one, and as I’ve previously explained on the blog – the more lavishly packaged they are the better… Ah, I’m just a sucker for grand packaging I can’t deny.

What I have never been sent before is little model motorbikes – one of which appeared amongst this weeks lot of demos.  You can drive it with your fingers and in truth it’s rather cool. It arrived on Monday (pictured). By Wednesday I had received a matching ramp – god knows where this is going, but by the weekend I imagine I will have received an entire race track with which to play. I can’t deny. I’m excited…

This is pretty rad – I think… Although I must admit to confusion? There’s no branding, band name or whatever anywhere on the packaging that I can see… So if you’re the one sending me the bikes let me know right. Personally I suspect My First Tooth have a hand in it, although Ross always strikes me as more of an equestrian kind of rider… ?

Anyone gonna tell me what this one’s about?

Stagecoach play live in Adapt Barbers in Brighton

All going on at TGE… Check this out Alcochamps! Why are there not more shows in barber shops? Probably because the boys had to assault the door just to get the Bass Am in! Stirling work though… Anyone notice Alexi from JoFo up the front. He is such a legend!

Aspen Sails single out this week

For any of you not aware of Gloucester’s finest, Aspen Sails, well come on now, why not. Recently crowned BBC Gloucestershire’s Band of 2009, and purveyors of some of the freshest acoustic pop this side of well… Anywhere really – Aspen Sails release their debut single on Alcopop yesterday. And it’s really rather lovely. Yup.

Having shared stages with the likes of The Magic Numbers, Adam Green, Slow Club, First Aid Kit, Jay Jay Pistolet, Wild Beasts in the last 12 months, as well as touring with US favourites Chief, Aspen are gently carving out a band of loyal followers, well and truly captivated by their sound.

Blurring influences from all the finest in folk pop but breathing their own tender life into the genre, they bring the tradition mix of melody and heartache folk guitar, whilst building and narrative lyrics into something overly intimate and overwhelming. An insight into snatches of bohemian life that paints vivid pictures without every revealing the whole truth.

Think Fleet Foxes, Turin Brakes and Iron and Wine – and you’re someway towards capturing the sound of Aspen Sails – but you’ll really have to listen to truly define it… It can be purchased as a limited edition 2 track single from our shop, or on all your favourite digital e-tailers.

New Alcopop column on Rock Midgets… Sure, sure

It’s been a massive weekend, there’s a new Alcopop single out tomorrow – and I had perhaps the best weekend ever at The Great Escape.. Huw Stephens came to hang out at Stagecoach, I heard perhaps the most exciting demo of all time (Elephants delivered) and met the Momeroths, soon to be release pals with My First Tooth. Meanwhile, friends from everywhere came down to drink and make merry at the Alcopop showcase, Kev BSM put on a blinding sesh at Belushis on the Thursday – and we sung reggae tunes with a great busker.. A GREAT busker.

But for now – as I’m about to lapse into Brighton fuelled dreams of gigs, jager and on-pier gambling, I shall leave you with just this… My latest column on Rock Midgets about a few festivals – most notably Sziget in Hungary. It really is bloody awesome. More tomorrow, most notably the lovely Aspen Sails…!

My First Tooth body art…

Handsome of face, and cracking of ass – My First Tooth are a fine band. Oft representing the good ship PoP, they meander the country entertaining the masses with their folk tinged melodies, and general artistic magnificence. Sober however they are not – which often leads to scenes similar to the below occurring in dressing rooms, venues and vans across the land.

I could not possibly pick one from the other, but take a look below and see if you can work out one tooth from the other – snapped at Live @ Leeds last week while Stagecoach were hanging with Darwin Deez… Sure, sure! See it as a game… the first to reveal the correct answer gets a long sold out copy of the Margaret Yen Christmas single (literally last one, ever!)

Strong pics all – ink them in right!