Alcopopping Xmas party @The Social, W1: Tellison, Stagecoach, My First Tooth and Aspen Sails!

MONDAY 14th DECEMBER in London town!!!

Christmas time again – what joy! So we thought that it was probably our duty to throw a nice festive bash in London town – and make it as damn sweaty as we can! So we invited 4 of the finest bands this good nation has to offer, grabbed a piece of intimate venue (The Social, W1) and prepared some pretty tasty goodie bags for the first 20 people through the door.

Expect snow, Christmas decorations and general loveliness too – as well as a lush 7 track Alcopop sampler free for every person who comes through the door. 

Where else do you get all this for a fiver?



(Father) Tellison – need no introduction! And this is their only London show of what remains of 2009…. Indie pop deliciousness from utter legends! 



(Rudolph the red nosed) Stagecoach – Seminal popstars from deep within the Surrey hills, and even deeper in the Alcopop heart. Imagine Americana pop lavished in melody, harmony and rock n roll sensibilities.

(We wish you a merry) My First Tooth – Prettier than a whole barrel of peaches and dearest siblings of Team PoP, My First Tooth will treat your heart to its biggest workout since Bambi. Folk-kissed indie pop you will literally die for. 



(Frosty the) Aspen Sails – Newest kids on the block, Aspen Sails are a lush duo who pedal lovingly crafted folk pop, ideally enjoyed with a sherry or two. 



Plus Alcopop DJs will be battling excellent online music boys The 405… Expect bombs dropped from all sides!

Would be delicious to see you… You can pre-order tickets (that will be a smidgen cheaper than on the door) here! It’s gonna be a cracker! Tellison have rocked up already see!

Stagecoach and Alcopop to part company?!?

Ah – who says good things can last forever! It is with great sadness that I must announce the departure of Alcopop Records and Stagecoach, due to a significant change of direction. You see, in love as we are with these charming Americana indie gents from the rolling hills of surrey, we just couldn’t commit to releasing their new single – which their drummer, Matt, dropped on our doorstep today (video can be seen by clicking here, still below), before flexing a sinewy bicep and thrusting himself powerfully away.

We loved a bit of dub-step, acoustic was awesome with us, and pop is of course much loved in the Alco quarters… But the ‘sexy fun’ direction they had taken just didn’t quite lay entirely in tune with our current roster.

In better news however, The Coach have signed up with former early 90’s dance star, and one-time muso Ray Slijngaard, formerly of 2 Unlimited, and failed record label owner Kevin Campbell, and are working on a disco/ R&B album of anthems. A change in direction perhaps, but expect it to be topping the charts pretty soon….

ps: Hehe Back in real life, look for a new release from Stagecoach a-coming (albeit with less biceps and more guitars) muy, muy soon… You’re seriously going to love it!

Pop in the City

Ah music industry biased events – how I doth love you… The booze always seems to continuously flow, I never see enough bands, and proud ideals of going to all sorts of fascinating in-depth discussions from fascinating types often seem to go by the wayside. That’s not to say we don’t usually have a super time though. Just the other week Kev and I visted Manchester’s In The City. It was fun; Stagecoach and My First Tooth partied like animals and we joined in, although the event itself didn’t really seem that vibrant.

But I blather on – if you fancy reading a full account, and my poorly educated take on the event, pop over to the ever-delicious Rock Midgets where my third column has just gone up.

Meanwhile, I won’t go too much into it yet, but keep your eyes peeled over the next week or two for some announcements. We’ve got T-Shirts on the way, 3 new CDs to be released before Christmas and a few must-go-to gigs a coming (specifically in December time). Shit, actually, looking at the schedule, December is going to be insane.

Ah well, at least an Alcopop themed Christmas is well on the cards…. Rudolph was clearly always on the Hooch Lemon, and he came off all sorts of good. Prime, prime. Meanwhile, here’s a picture that somehow surfaced off the back of the great Coach/Tooth/Pop takeover of Manchester just the other week.  Props to anyone who knows who the blonde girl is, though it looks like we were all getting on famously…

Hope you’ve had a good weekend!

Pop show @ RoTa 10th October

It wouldn’t be an Alcopop show if everything went to plan, and despite last Saturday (and a bit)’s show at RoTa being quite a remarkable rock n’ roll orgy of ace (busiest RoTa’s been in months according to the organiser – get in Team PoP ) it was not without it’s teething problems. Gigjunkie will explain from their point of view….

“After searching for forty minutes [for the venue], I received a text from Scott McEwan of The Candle Thieves; informing me they had broken down on the M25 and might not be able to make it at all – a rather bad start to the day!
However, despite the initial problems, all turned out well. The RAC rescued The Candle Thieves, and the venue [which we'd walked past dozens of times] opened it’s doors as if to say sarcastically “Yes, I’m here – you haven’t looked foolish trying to find me at all.”

But despite the difficulties – with a generous double fisting of free beer bottles, it was plain sailing… And as the all-Alcopop line up took the stage, and the punters poured in, we were rockin’. The Candle Thieves, fresh from the busom of the RAC, delighted the crowd with honey sweet melodies, delicious faces and hand claps galore, My First Tooth launched into a veritable marathon of folk-fused modern day classics – do you dance? Do you laugh at the lush melodies or cry at the bitter sentiments hinted at? All three at respectable levels (perhaps simultaneously) recommended.

Then it was time for Stagecoach, who showcased a new stage show which really rocked – with crowd pummeling Nick furiously thrashing within the crowd while Tom became perhaps the first Mandolin player to pull a flying leap from atop a bass drum ever… In short, breathtaking… On decks Nathan T Pyle kept the punters entertained with a smattering of The Candyskins and Arrows of Love, whilst Richard from Ten Speed Photography took marvelous photographs.

All in all, a splendid day – and a favourable setting for the launch of the Stagecoach We Got Tazers EP… Strong times ladies and gentlemen, strong times…. Oh, and cheers so much for coming y’all!

Under Siege is on Kev’s TV…

We’ve just got back from a startlingly fine weekend at ITC, and unbelievable tiredness is tearing at my eyes like a rake to leaves… Therefore, this will be a short post. More to come tomorrow, but for now let me delight and entertain with this magnificent video of Stagecoach, playing Good Luck with Your 45, live in Dorking.

Now – terrorists and big chefs…

Stagecoach EP out now.. Now… NOW!

Plucked from the Surrey Hills, 5 piece Stagecoach write powerpop for BMX kids about the usual things – hot dogs, girls and cars… But gosh don’t they do it well. Harmonious, balls out indie rock with more hooks than an octopus said we, and We Got Tazers EP is out on Alcopop Records now!

Ole! say some.. Eat My Goal say others.. All are pretty set on one thing though, and that’s that the EP’s bloody ace. The first 100 all come with a lovely extra bonus disc of the EP too… It’s in black and white rather than vinyl look, but it’s there so that you can pass on the EP to your most musically competent pal – and share the love of Stagecoach around…

Brilliant times! Brilliant Stagecoach times that have been shared by some epic blogs as well – We always love Come Pick Me Up, they don’t come much more handsome than Rock Midgets, Musos Guide pwn, Winston’s Zen is literally the finest blog this side of Rumania, Another Form of Relief (kiss kiss kiss) and Belfast Calling are ace too.

In other less brilliant news though, I must apologise to anyone who hasn’t received their pre-order yet. They are now in the post but went out a couple of days late due to Jack PoP being temporarily homeless, and Kev being busier than a barrel load of monkeys who have just been set to a treadmill with not a moments rest for their tiny little monkey pins.

Many apologies xx

Excellent poppers part 6: Mixmaster Henry – our dub overlord

Tell your friends, rouse the neighbours – the most irregular feature ever to grace the side of a blog is back, and this time it’s in stereo. For you see excellent poppers, this is excellent poppers – where we look at some of the brilliant folk who help us, buy from us – or are just generally around the lovely world of Alcopop.

Today – we meet Henry, who’s mashed together two fine mixes for goFASTER>> and latterly Stagecoach… Normally you might think out paths would not cross… Alcopop would be drinking merrily in a dimly lit indie dance club, whilst Henry would be wedged in-between 2 fire engine-sized speakers at a smoky dub session – you’d be wrong though.

Now tell us….

1.) You are Henry and we’ve heard your face is magnificent… How do you plead? That’s a compliment indeed from the glowing visage of Alcopop – this is actually my “game face”, I have a barn full of alternative faces which I interchange for various purposes. I’m like a Worzel Gummidge for the E4+1 generation. I can’t get E4 round our way, reception’s shite.

2.) As a ‘mixmaster extraordinaire’ who recently put together a magnificent re-imagining of stagecoach’s ‘We Got Tazers’… What was your inspiration behind the mix? It was the result of a horrific cultural car-crash involving too many robot movies, the deconstruction of various words and phrases in the lyrics, a bloody-minded determination to crowbar a vocoder in at any opportunity, a creeping sense of impending apocalypse, and too much red wine. The short answer is- I got a bit carried away….

3.) And where else do you ply your musical trade? I work as a DJ in merry olde Oxford, occasionally London “and surrounding”, skipping between the overpriced corporate cocktail-sucking swanky places and the slightly hipper dives, such as the Po Na Na in Oxford. For it is there I play fortnightly Friday’s, which is a lovely mix of old and new indie, electro and eclectic beataroonies of many persuasions. Truthfully though, I’m at my happiest sitting for days on end in front of my funky old PC making beats and getting amazing and freaky sounds out of my lovely machines. They’re me bezzie mates they are.

Part 2, tomorrow…. Where we talk Collapsed Lung, Milli Vanilli and the possibility of a free phat Henry track… Ole!

Stagecoach – We got Tazers… On VHS

Well not quite, although perhaps there’s something to look into. I had a Silver Sun VHS once with four of their videos on it, and it was absolutely superb… I watched it until the spools near melted i seem to recall! Anyway I digress. You should really, if you’re only going to watch one Alcopop Records video today, take a look at this one! It’s called We Got Tazers, it’s by a lovely band named Stagecoach and it features the StayPuft marshmallow man…. Click on Luka below to see and if you love it lots, you can even pre-order the EP, or a megadeal, from the shop…

We Got Tazers! from Helsinki Films on Vimeo.

Stagecoach EP up for presale!

Dear Lord – with young Kevin away sunning himself in Cyprus, and release after release to plan it’s proving a pretty damn busy week at Alcopop… But here we are, fresh with news so ace that one can barely contain it within the walls of this blog.

You know Stagecoach right – handsome lads, strong of face… Well, their brand new and bloody ace EP is now up for pre-order from the shop. This is cool for many reasons, not least that we have a limited number of mega deal packs (T-Shirt, Tote bag, stickers – you got em!) – but also…. We know you poppers are friendly types, so we’ve furnished the first 100 copies with a bonus disc copy of the EP in dual case, so you can pick a pal with sublime taste and spread Coach Love by passing the extra copy on. Ace!

Not only that, but the boys are also we’re also gonna be off on their first UK tour in October, “partly to promote the record, but mainly to have some good times and get drunk in Crewe.” Tour poster is below, and I promise you will be made to feel most welcome… There’s one or two particularly special shows on their, but I’ll post about those in the next few days.

Free download of Stagecoach cover of The Lemonhead’s ‘Buddy’

Like the Lemonheads/ fancy listening to a nice little acoustic cover track from recent Alcopop signings Stagecoach…? No.. Oh, well this is probably the wrong post for you, and I suggest looking at a picture of a cat booting a dog in the face.. If you do though then nice one… Now’s the time!

You see, being the benevolent bunch they are, our good friends at the Coach got together to jam out a cover of the ever so epic Lemonheads song Buddy, and are offering it up as a free download – in hot anticipation of their EP ‘We got Tazers!’ coming out on Alcopop Records on the 5^th October.

To download, simply click below on my cleverly doctored image of the band and enjoy-joy-joy…