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!

Get yourself some Alcopop on Spotify

At the turn of 2008 I, with a million others no doubt, found Spotify, and since then we’ve all been tear-stained on our grass stained knees, wringing our hands in humble awe – thanking them for bringing x billion songs to our unworthy ears via the joy of streaming. Songs that we can then discard as over-hyped balls, or trot off to our nearest online e-tailer to purchase (maybe anyway)…

Well now, it is with great delight that I can announce that Alcopop related tracks are a-headed up thick and fast. No that’s not to say that the whole back catlogue is up there, far from it (although that’s not to say it won’t happen in the future) – but what I can tell you is that I’ve created a nice, none-to- imposing Alcopop playlist ‘Alcopop Tarts’ featuring some of the magnificent bands of the last year or so who have done us the service of releasing with us…

And you and your pals can now stream it, simply by clicking this link  – if you have Spotify of course (if not, get it, it’s great!)

We need your face!

There’s a man called Dave who presses our records at DMS (can’t recommend highly enough) who’s very patient, lovely – and often feeds us booze. He’s kindly offered to do a whole run of Alcopop samplers for us, and we want to use it to show off everyone involved in the handsome Alcopop community (aka you).

Therefore, we’ve got a team of top designers (aka the lovely Gem) to put together a cover featuring all the faces of everyone involved on all sides of Alcopop. If you want your visage to be featured – just send us a pic via info@ilovealcopop.co.uk, and we’ll put you on the cover baby.

Don’t be shy – you’ll be in fine company! And we’d be delighted… Plus then you can give a copy to your mum for Christmas, and she’ll be so proud….

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.

Candle Thieves ‘Sunshine EP’ out today…

A guilty pleasure for deep thinkers, the Candle Thieves reside in a very wonderful, weird and whimsical place. Gentle, poppy pleasures and soft-hearted sentiments with sinister undertows reside – and undulate deliciously through the ears.

Here at Alcopop therefore we are just delighted to be proudly heralding release day for their debut EP – The Sunshine EP, a marvelous collection of 4 delicious tracks ready to fill your heart with joy, and stereo with the kind of lush sounds not heard in this green and pleasant land for some while.

You can purchase it on limited edition (to 1,000 copies) CD or in digital format from the Alcopop shop… (75p straight up p&p however many things you order) And make October the cheeriest month of the year.

Viva Las Candle Thieves…

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…

The Candle Thieves gardens are a-springing – a children’s story

Far across the country they meandered, always gravitating inexorably to the most beautiful gardens… For where flora and fauna was in abundance, The Candle Thieves loved to venture… Oh, they were not empty of fist or lung either – and were welcomed at each evergreen paradise with joy, bringing, as they were, their own steady-handed delicacies with them. Fresh steamed indie pop served with scrumptious side orders of luscious ice-cream melody was on the menu, with whimsical pop hits about sharks, sunshine and love filling the late summer air.

And lo, far away from the dank sticky floors of popular nightclubs they roamed children of Alcopop – and if the kids at the shows liked them just enough, they pulled out handfuls of golden coins and exchanged them for compact discs, resplendent in a shiny orange cover – presented with badge, bag and sticker with love from Alcopop. The music was reward enough, but in the bag lay something else… A small collection of seeds (just big enough to see) so that everyone who loved The Candle Thieves from the bottom of their hearts could create their own little Candle Thieves mini-garden, watch it grow and be reminded of Scott and Glock, and all the nice things that happened at their party.

Sure, no doubt some drunkards ate the seeds, or spat them at their pals with an air of hilarity (that cannot be denied), but others persevered – and now they’re bearing fruit (not literally). So check out these awesome pics via Kerry from the Mesh 29 (the boy’s old band) forum… And see how they grow… Any other pics, send em in!

Stagecoach don’t need guns, when they’ve got videos, dub mixes and tours

All’s excitement in the Stagecoach camp as the band prepare for their first EP launch with Alcopop, and in amongst the 1000’s of emails that fly around each day from Team PoP to Team Coach – a few extremely exciting updates have appeared.

Firstly – the mysterious Oxfordshire based DJ known only as Henry has emerged from his underground lair with just enough time to blink at the glaring sun, drop a remix CD in the postbox and scuttle back to his hiding place to concoct more dub mayhem. The results, a scintillating mix so juicy, it’s had Coach’s drummer Matt two-stepping round his house with a massive joint for the last 3 weeks solid. It will be on the EP and is, quite frankly, brilliant.

Secondly, finishing touches are just being sprinkled on a rather juicy tour to bring the record across the country. Full details can be found on the MySpace site, but make sure to leave a special place in your hearts/diary for 10th October which sees a magnificent Alcopop inspired bill including Candle Thieves, My First Tooth and The Coach themselves. Meanwhile, they’ve also recorded a video – which isn’t available for our greedy eyes just yet, but promises to be a cracker…

Screenshots below…

Hold those demos!

I received a really good demo last night… I’ve been listening to it pretty much all day, and the more I give it time, the more I fall in love with it. This is great… But also leads me to think that I should really let any bands thinking of sending us a CD over the next few days that Alcopop HQ is moving…

New address will be up in a few weeks, but while rainbows are painted on the wall and kittens are purchased, I’ll be pretty much living from a suitcase and couch surfing across Oxfordshire and beyond. This won’t affect the label at all – operations are progressing at break neck speed, computers are all OK and mail orders travelling with me for speedy dispatch… But as far as demos go, it would be best for the moment to submit electronically, or hold out a few weeks.

If you’ve just sent one fret not – I’ll be asking new residents to pass on all mail, but on the slim chance that they’re mail-hating, envelope hungry bitches – perhaps better safe than sorry…