Funky Friday!

It's Friday!

What? Oh, you know its Friday..well, consider this confirmation! :)

I am not sure how I will get on blogging next week because you see I have plans!

Tomorrow I will be attending the Olympic Torch Relay Concert in Birmingham. My mother won the tickets through work. Its going to be a long day full of all sorts of entertainment and culminating in a concert with the boy(man) band 'The Wanted', R&B artist 'Loick Essien' and indie dance act 'Morning Parade'! What a crazy mixture.

I had already bought tickets to see LIGHTS in Birmingham on the Monday and so I decided to stay in Birmingham until the gig and come home on the Tuesday morning. LIGHTS is a funny one, I have listened to her old stuff and I hate it but her Siberia album was OK. I am sure it used to sound better than it does now and am curious to see how she fares live.

Sunday may be a lazy day or a lets get up to mischief day!

Then I found out that my attendance has been requested at the annual family holiday, to be held this year on the Kent coastline. So from Birmingham I will go to Kent for the rest of the week, where I will most likely be nagged, cuddled, jumped on and run ragged by my naughty but nice nieces.

I am hoping to go to London on the following Saturday too for something (watch this space as I am still deciding - you know how I am with decisions of no consequence!).

So, its likely that if I can't blog at some point mid-week then you will be inundated with gig reviews and concert accounts and pictures of the beach on my return!

I hope you all have a great weekend and an eventful week of your own.

Kate x

Alas poor yorick!

Ok, so the last few posts have been music reviews and if I am honest the next few will be too. I love music. But I need to practice writing and I had hoped that by writing them, then it would keep me writing and would stop me from getting writers block. I have read a fair few posts lately and people have all said how they have had it, but they have then been funny with it – you won’t get that here, hells no! blud.

So, I wanted to write a post to go inbetween the music reviews and gig reviews. I was looking for inspiration and every stone I turned over had nothing underneath. So here I was, pondering upon the idea, umming and ahhing and reading other people posts and thinking, hmmm – is that something I feel I have something to say something about, I mean it could be something…

My sister sent me these two pictures which reminded her of me, of ME! Despicable (you have to say that life Daffy duck or, well, it just wont work any other way.)

Sounds a bit like me actually...

Quite harsh! but quite accurate.

Then, I was inspired, I received a prompt sent from fate or destiny or whoever it is sends prompts in the form of idiocy.

This may make no sense, so let me start by telling you how I came to be at this point, the story that prompted this post’s eventual subject.

I wrote my first music review about a band called Amida. I posted it. I tweeted it. I liked it and a couple of people commented on it. It was a good day.

A day or so later I received answers to my questions from the next review that I was writing, the band the Mutineers. So I posted it. I tweeted it. No comments! I didn’t expect comments from anyone except maybe some existing followers who always take pity on my comment status and throw me a bone (almost daily! ‘cos they’re that bloody wonderful!). But nothing. Sad face.

Then yesterday after posting the third band Slow Readers Club.  I posted. I tweeted. I waited. No comments. Sad face.

Then I discovered that a couple of friends had been unable to view my blog..hmmm…then I remembered that I had altered the URL! I know I shouldn't have, but after the blog was referred to as Suddenly Seeking (remember that original name) I decided to make it match the actual blog name because Suddenly Seeking has that desperate widow vibe going on. I foolishly assumed that if you were following my blog, and I changed the URL then blogger would automatically update all followers links. Yeah, naïve I know and subsequently disappointed.

Luckily, I only had to send 105 emails to let people know.

If it had happened on Monday it would have been 106 emails but I lost a follower yesterday, its a sad day and being a Wednesday I am full of woe and I feel like I should be in mourning. I don’t know if its because they couldn’t find my blog anymore and thought they would just delete it or if they just hate new music and incompetent bloggers who write drivel instead of writing critically acclaimed, informative, life changing, soul speaking, introspective, extraverted, new age, scientific fabulousness. 

I think I feel like I would have benefited from a leaving note, like a letter of resignation….maybe something like this;

Dear Kate

I have been following your blog for a few weeks now. I started during the A to Z challenge just to be sociable really, and I didn’t want you to feel like a complete failure, at least not right off the bat.

After a week, I knew deep down that it wasn’t going to work out between us. I just didn’t feel that we made a good fit. Maybe I am just too intelligent, witty, gorgeous and inspiring and was unable to see those characteristics in you that I felt that my talents were overshadowing yours and highlighting your inadequacies.

Yes, it was funny at first, short flippant posts about how you could and could not do particular jobs, if I am honest, I laughed along with you at your total incompetence, your dislike of staying up after 7pm and your inability to wear vest tops.

When you took me travelling to New York, Budapest & Devon, I’ll be honest there were moments when I thought our mutual hatred of abbreviated words would be enough to get us through, the glue that would hold us together as word soldiers but really you just need to get out more!

I won’t lie, when I saw a post with VIP in the heading my eyes lit up, and I thought we might be star crossed bloggees after all – but I only discovered that you expect too much from places, from people, from everything. Expectations that I could not possibly fulfil. You may say that you just want me to glance over once in a while and that is all but when I do, I worry that I will get distracted by your confusing sentences and incessant YouTube clips, fall into a coma and never be able to enjoy the pleasure of my own company again.

It;s you.,..not me, and honestly, its always been you.

Goodbye.

And all this lead me to think that I really should write a post about abandonment!

The Slow Readers Club: Music Review

So, this is the last Manchester band for a while (at least I think so) but I really do need to review them and finish off the Manchester hat trick! Especially as they appeared on my radar at the same time as Amida and Mutineers.

So, lets say hello to 'The Slow Readers Club'

The slow readers club consists of;
1. Aaron Starkie - Vocals / Keyboard
2. Kurtis Starkie - Vocals / Guitar
3. James Ryan - Bass
4. Neil Turvin - Drums

Whilst Amida leaned toward being everything-esque, The Slow Readers Club (SRC) have the monopoly on the everything-ish describer. Puressence-ish, Doves-ish, early Killers, Interpol, Arcade Fire, Editors and Pigeon Detectives are all bands mentioned in reviews and on their website. Naturally, I needed to check out the comparisons.

The Comparisons

I listened to all those listed above and I personally thought that the similarity with Arcade Fire and Pigeon Detectives was too tenuous for me to include here, but feel free to disagree. There was also 12 seconds of an interpol track that was very SRC, but it was only 12 seconds and I need to leave space for the band clips too. Lets check out the remaining bands and see what you think.So first up...

Puressence - I Suppose

Ironic, that when I listened to Puressence I thought, I suppose they do sound a bit similar. For most of the comparisons it is the music as opposed to the vocals and lyrics that they are reminiscent of.

Killers - Somebody told me

Its the strong vocals from the start with no build up that reminds me of SRC.

Doves - Willow's Song

The introduction to this song instantly made me think of the introduction to 'Block out the Sun', just a slightly slower version - scroll down the page if you want to compare them!

The band that I found to be the most similar were Editors and their track All Sparks...

Editors - All Sparks

I also have my own comparison, which I came up with all on my own! Its probably the most controversial too but when I first heard SRC, the vocals reminded me of someone else, but I couldn't quite put my finger on who. Whilst listening to all these other bands I was struck with inspiration, I really think that Aaron Starkie sounds very similar to Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode. Do you agree? Here is an example;

Depeche Mode - A Pain That I'm Used To

Time for the music under review!

My favourite track from the whole album is 'Feet on Fire', this is somewhat influenced by me singing it whilst walking to work. It has a fast tempo and I find myself racing along, it is also really easy to change the lyrics from she to he!

Feet on Fire

That being said, there are many others that I also enjoy. Their latest single release is Block out the Sun. This track was not one that I instantly clicked with, but after listening to the album multiple times it has quickly moved up the ranks to take the coveted 3rd spot, only pipped to second place by One More Minute.

Block out the Sun

 One More Minute

Another track that I have learnt to love (see what I did there?) is;

Learn to Love The System

Two more that I really like are Sirens and Follow Me Down, and I am completely biased because I do like the whole album. But, I thought I would have 3 minutes of objectivity and let you listen to the track that I often skip! until I discovered there is no clip - check it out here.

 She Wears A Frown

There is no video :(

I only dislike it because the subject matter is quite depressing, 

I might like it better if there was a video!

Being such lovely lads from Manchester, James agreed to answer four questions from me. So I dug really deep into my stash of 'questions to ask bands', I dug so deep that you may spot a repeat question from an earlier post! (I am just making sure you are paying attention.)

**********

It’s a funny and memorable band name that you have, where did the band name come from?

The band name is something that took a bit of time as we all wanted something that we liked and that suited us. It comes from being at school and realising that you get pigeon-holed from an early age. They have departments that kids get put in to more or less straight away in their school life and we tend to write about the struggles we face in life and about how we all get pigeon holed. Anyway, that's where the name comes from.

When bands release an album they usually follow it up with a tour. Can we expect to see you guys on tour any time soon?

That's the plan. We've got our album out there which has taken a lot of time to happen but we're really buzzing about it and the next thing is to sort out a tour. We plan to get dates on our website some time soon so keep coming back.

The music industry is notoriously difficult, and I imagine that some days it must be hard not to become despondent with it all. What keeps you motivated?

We don't really get despondent with it. Yeah, it's hard seeing other acts playing all over the world and basically doing what you want to do but we're motivated by writing new songs and doing gigs. No matter how hard it is or how many hours you have to practise, writing new stuff and playing live are the main reasons to be in a band. Simple as that.

Finally, I am always curious as to which song bands would cover if they went on the radio show 'Live Lounge'...so, which song would you like to cover in that situation?

This will open a can of worms with the band as we have this conversation at least once every couple of months. When in practice we might fool around and play a riff from another song and that starts the debate as to what song we would cover if we were to do one. We can never agree and that's part of the reason why we have never played a cover. The Live Lounge show tends to be bands playing a cover of a song that's currently in the charts or has been recently released so I suppose that would narrow down our options. If you're forcing me to answer then I'd say Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5. It's not the best song in the world but it would get the crowd dancing about  The rest of the band will probably kick off but they're not answering the questions are they? ;-)

**********

I don't know when I will get to see this band live, but you never know, so keep an eye out for the gig review. If you like what you hear check out some of the links below and share this blog post.

Links
http://www.theslowreadersclub.co.uk/
http://www.myspace.com/theslowreadersclub
http://www.reverbnation.com/theslowreadersclub
http://theslowreadersclub.tumblr.com/
http://www.soundcloud.com/theslowreadersclub/
Twitter: @slowreadersclub
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theslowreadersclub/

Reviews
http://louderthanwar.com/optional-wallace-mount-fabric-slow-readers-club-live-review/
http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/music/reviews/album/The+Slow+Readers+Club-240090.html
http://metmusic.wordpress.com/2012/05/17/the-slow-readers-club/
http://all-noise.co.uk/2012/04/09/the-slow-readers-club-album-review/
http://www.indiependude.com/2012/05/introducing-slow-readers-club.html
http://www.piccadillyrecords.com/products/TheSlowReadersClub-FeetOnFire-Extenso-81635.html
http://themancreview.com/2012/03/the-slow-readers-club/

Other links
Check out http://www.theslowreadersclub.co.uk/the-slow-readers-club-press.html

Stitchy Update

So, I started something new on Friday and stitched that night and most of Saturday. Sadly, you wouldnt know it by looking at it!.

Here is what I am aiming for...                                          and how far I have got!

Will keep going :)

Mutineers: Music Review

I could very easily have created a post by purely adding a list of links to all the reviews that are out there about this band - but this is my take on what they have to offer. I know, I know, its all me me me!

So...let's start at the beginning!

I was alerted to their existence via twitter and I am so glad I was. This is a band that, as soon as I heard their music, I was instantly hooked on. There are four members in the band;

1. Nicholas James Mallins on Vocals
2. Iwan Gronow on Bass
3. Michael Reed on Guitar &
4. Jack Mitchell on Drums - at least for the debut album/ Charles Salt & joining them live Thomas Twemlow.

All have been in other bands before coming together to form the Mutineers (If you check out this link it gives you the bands official bio) and they have been working hard to make it in a notoriously difficult industry. Having formed in 2008, their debut album 'Lovers, Friends, Rivals' was released in 2010 - why am I only hearing of them now?- and they are currently working on/recording? their follow up album.

http://www.tri-tone.co.uk/mutineers/ 

The first thing that you notice when listening to them is definitely the vocals. The lead singer Nicholas James Mallins (damn, that's a long name, so I will refer to him as NJM from here on) has a distinctive sound, with his accent coming through strongly he is often compared to Brett Anderson in his Suede days.

Having read an interview with NJM, as the song writer he seems to have that arty, self-reflective, philosophical vibe down pat. I like singers who have a distinctive sound but sing with total conviction and I believe that he does this. The album is easy to listen to and I think all the songs have something good about them. But the songs that I enjoy the most are:

You Used to be OK

A favourite line is 'What if you paid more attention, during sex education ', mainly because when NJM sings this, sex sounds like sext, which makes me thinking of sexting and the thought of kids having lessons on sexting is just too funny for words - or wrong, or funny and wrong!

My words desert you

I like the music more than the lyrics on this track, and as soon as I hear the start of the chorus I bust out some head swaying and bobbing. Lovely melodies too.

Landlords Daughter

Initially the landlords daughter was just ok, but now when I hear the intro, I inwardly smile - its like an old friend - quite odd seeing as the lyrics are quite dark. A lyrical highlight for me in this song;

He said “listen up son, I won’t sit on the fence

You’re a hideous pig of no consequence

Inside your head lies a cloud of dust

And your vile face offends the both of us”

Are any of them love songs? Are they all love songs? You will have to decide for yourself, but one line I find romantic is from the following track and is;

'But only I would die for your cause' 

Stick Together

Of all the songs, the lyrics to 'Alone in our ideas' are my favourite, as a stand alone poem and as a song (Check out the lyrics here).

 Alone in our ideas

Having been so taken with them, I was quite pleased to see that they were going to be playing a gig in August. It is in Manchester, which is about 150 miles from where I live and a City that I have never been too. So I have decided to combine a weekend away with my BFF (Lol) with seeing this gig. The added benefit is that Amida will be playing too. The tickets haven't gone on sale yet (have they?) which worries me because everything else is booked! I hate planning so far in advance for things and this is stressing me out. What if I don't get tickets?! I am going to have to draw up a Plan B - what do you mean, you already know what Plan B is? Huh?! Cocktails? Well, OK then, if you say so.

Anyway...

I checked them out on YouTube to see how they were live and they sounded better than good - which isn't always the case with YouTube clips, have a listen. I was going to post a clip of them performing Foolish Endeavours (YouTube is so temperamental - more than me! - and wouldn't let me), so follow the link instead (I really like this one, but I am assuming it never made the final cut, fingers crossed it squeezes onto the second album) or check out the live version of probably their biggest track from the album, bear in mind that this recording was done in 2009 though.

Hyde Road

Most of the reviews I found are made up of interview questions - and yes, I have read them all! So did I really need to ask the boys any questions? Hadn't they been asked everything already? Maybe, but I had some different questions of my own, and do you think they answered? Sure, they love their fans.

**********

Q1: I have been reading that from the end of June, you won't be performing any of the 'Friends, Lovers, Rivals' tracks but will be focusing on your new album. Does this mean that you will be releasing the new album around this time? Will people going to the August gig recognise any of the songs?

Not sure where you heard that but i think it'd be very stupid to not perform the songs that people have bought tickets to go and hear, so of course we'll be playing our best known tracks. The 2nd album has been written but it just needs a little honing in the rehearsal room before we go and record it...we'll be playing 6 or 7 from the 1st album and 3 or 4 from the new album at the show in August.

I may have misinterpreted the answer to question 7 of this cool interview, but glad to hear it.

Q2: There is a studio blog on YouTube from when you made 'Friends, Lovers, Rivals', can we expect one from the making of your follow up album?

It'd be nice to document the process again but nothing has been decided yet in terms of things like that,we're still in planning stages....there's loads of unseen footage from that period in the studio, would be cool to go back and do another edit with some of the other stuff...a lot of it is pretty funny.

Q3: Close your eyes and imagine 12 months from now and you are headlining a huge gig, what 5 things are your must haves on your rider?

We've never really been a picky band in terms of a rider....we're usually happy with a few beers, a bit of food and a kick up the arse from the promoter....but i think if you're going to be having fun with getting riders together, you may as well request stupid things...like socks and underpants....maybe a life size cardboard cutout of our former drummer would be fun to have, he's very handsome.

Q4: I met a band for the first time ever a few weeks ago at a meet and greet before the gig. It was beyond awkward. Do you find these difficult or do you enjoy meeting your fans? Whats your best ice breaker joke?

We're usually drunk by the time we meet any fans and it's usually after a show, so you'll have to ask them whether we're nice people or not. The best ice breaker is usually just to do something rude, maybe break wind....

**********

OK, so the questions weren't earth shattering or rocket science, but for more serious questions checkout the links below. So what would you have liked to know? Let me know in the comments.

Don't forget to come back and check out (fingers crossed) the gig review in August, or just keep coming back for the music reviews coming up, I promise not to make it all about me...well, sometimes ...ok, occasionally... alright, when I remember. :) If you like what you hear check out some of the links below and share this blog post.

Links...( I stopped after the first 10 google pages!)
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/mutineersofficial
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mutineersofficial
Tumblr (lyrics): http://mutineers.tumblr.com/
Twitter: @Mutineers__
Last.fm: http://www.last.fm/music/Mutineers
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/armstrongthomas

Articles:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/content/articles/2008/05/21/mutineers_introducing_feature.shtml
http://www.surfgirlmag.com/2012/03/08/bands-to-keep-an-eye-on/
http://www.oneononemusic.co.uk/#/one-on-one-with-mutineers/4559864105
http://nme-europe.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/myspace-magic-mutineers.html
http://www.lostateminor.com/2011/08/16/the-mutineers-letting-go-live-at-the-aftershow-manchester/
http://www.isthismusic.com/mutineers
http://www.youngacademic.co.uk/entertainment/mutineers-madchesters-next-big-thing-340

Blog reviews:
http://indiedunes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/being-mutineer-can-lead-you-to-be-bad.html
http://musicgetsmeby.wordpress.com/tag/mutineers-band/
http://michael-barwise.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/mutineers-interview.html
http://andreaperezarduna.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/essays-on-mutineers.html
http://theonlyboleynboy.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/up-and-coming-mutineers-manchester-uk.html
http://www.panicfilms.com/2012/02/new-music-mutineers/
http://paulburns07.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/mutineers-band.html
http://barbiesajunkie.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/manchesters-best-kept-secret-the-mutineers/
http://sundaysmile23.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/discovered-new-bands-mutineers.html
http://michael-barwise.blogspot.co.uk/

Other Links:
http://www.tri-tone.co.uk/mutineers/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iwan_Gronow

Inaugural Music Review: Amida

I was going to throw caution to the wind and just skip an intro - but then I thought, that's SO not my style!

For the last couple of weeks I have been intending to post a review of an EP I recently received, the first I had hoped of many, but who knew it would be so difficult! Oh?! You did? Well, I (as usual) expected it to be pretty darn easy. It hasn't been. Hence for the last two weeks it has been mainly me thinking about it. Admittedly, last week I began writing it.

• Step one, was to have a look at existing album/EP reviews and see if any of those styles had attributes that I wanted to include in mine. They all seemed a bit brief and I am anything but brief.
• Step two, involved googling the band in question and reading everything that I could find out about them. That went well, until I started to feel like some kind of stalker and decided I probably had enough information for this review. 
• Step three, was listening to the bands that the band I was reviewing supposedly sounded like. 
• Step four, was to start writing...I started..I stopped...I started and then I stopped. I left it unfinished and went about my daily life and posted about other things that were much easier to write about.

So here I am, at this place again, only this time I am going to finish it. I would like to add at this point that all views are my own, you can agree or disagree but that's the point. I only say this because my film review was heavily criticised by a commenter who actually hadn't read what I had written properly, or maybe it was poorly written by me. In any case, I wasn't about to debate this with them. After all, they are allowed an opinion as much as me.

So...are you ready?..

A fair few weeks ago I wrote a post about bands using Twitter as a promotional tool. I mentioned the technique of following people (at random?) and then relying on them to check out your music and decide if they want to follow you back. As someone who likes to listen to music, old and new, I find this quite a fun way and bands that would never appear on your radar suddenly do. In the last month, I have been subjected to a veritable banquet of music and it’s been (for the most part) rather delicious. Another great thing is that the bands are not only UK bands. But I am starting with one that is.

It's Amida!

Amida were formed in 2005 in Manchester and they have released 4 EPs so far.

1. Arts & Crafts (2007)
2. If the wave loves two suns (2009)
3. The Spite House Plot (2011)
4. My Life as a Trashcan (2012)

The band has five members; John Ammirati, Andrew Beswick, Scott Challinor, James Aran Cooper and Sebastian Hood.

Here they are kindly spelling out the bands name for us through the medium of mime.

Courtesy of Amida Band 2012

During my research, I came across some comparisons made by other reviewers and they had described Amida as sounding like early 'The Wedding Present', early Sebadoh, similar to the pixies, pavement-esque and courtesy of my mother punky.

I will hold my hands up and openly declare that I am terrible at matching up who people sound like and who they don’t. So, I listened to the bands that Amida were supposed to sound like. I agree that they are very much like early 'The Wedding Present' - check out the song below, its not the one I wanted but its the only one I could find. If you use spotify, check out a song called Swimming pools, movie stars.

Early The Wedding Present

I also agree that they are pavement-esque, but I think this is only in relation to the singers voice. The singer of Amida is American and I think this is where the similarity lies. Have a listen:

Pavement - Here

The intro to the pixies ‘Where is my mind’ definitely brought Amida to mind but don't ask me why! I wasn’t convinced about there being any similarity with Sebadoh, and yes they are a bit punky.

After all is said and done, there may be similarities with the bands above, but they have their own sound too. I think Amida have interesting lyrics, and I like that they keep the tracks short. Many of their songs have made me smile and some of them will make you go, huh?! The song lyrics aren't available on the internet anywhere and as much as I like to reminisce about writing down the lyrics to songs in the 80s/early 90s and how great cassette tapes were, I didn't have the time to do that.

So...are you really ready?

When I first heard of Amida, I listened to all their back catalogue and on the first listen through, I starred all the tracks that I liked instantly from each album. Their first EP, Arts & Crafts (2007) had the most stars. I also love the cover art work that is done by their bassist Andrew Beswick. Am I biased in that I love arts and crafts and thus the album title?, for any stitchers out there, do you not think that the cover is very Michael Powell-esque? Here is just one of the tracks from that album.

It started in Naples - Amida

I was about to write that this track is my favourite from this EP, but in reality I couldn't decide. I like them all and every time I listen to these guys, I find that I have a new favourite.

Their EP in 2009 called 'If the wave loves two suns' has a track on it called 'You've Changed, Baby Girl' and this was the first track of theirs that I spontaneously started singing. I have had to add a link because YouTube told me to bugger off!.

You've Changed, Baby Girl - Amida

Next up was their EP in 2011, 'The Spite House Plot', standout tracks for me on this album are Box Office Poison and Oleander. The following YouTube video is a pretty cool animation, so you have to watch this one!

 Oleander - Amida

So , I hope by now you have an idea as to what they may sound like? Well, here is a track from their latest EP ('My Life As a Trashcan') and its called 'Starstruck Forever & Ever', I was going to post the title track but YouTube refused again! Grr!

My Life As a Trashcan

This track from the album is one that I have on repeat 'I was rude, you were fast'. The first line of the song always makes me laugh, and what an introduction.

I was rude, you were fast

 

Via the twitterverse I have been lucky enough to hear these guys and I hope you will give them a decent listen (i.e. more than once). You can even get a free download of their Arts & Crafts EP. They may not be everyone's cup of tea, but what band ever is?

But, if that's not enough, I have tweeted the band and they are really nice, so nice in fact that the lead singer John has agreed to answer a few of my questions....dum dee dum dee dum!!!! He is brave being the inaugural interview for this blog.

AND an interview!?

I am a new listener of Amida, and there are probably a lot of readers that haven't heard anything other than those tracks that I have posted - is there a track that you would recommend they listen to from your EPs to date and why?

John: I can't speak for the band, but for me personally, I guess the song I would put forward to new listeners would be 'Starstruck Forever and Ever' from the new record. I think it's "greater than the sum of its parts", and for some unconscious reason, I like it.

I read in the Berlin Beat interview (see link below) that as a band you all contribute from your own musical influences, writing the music first and then adding the lyrics later, who writes the songs?

John: The songs start from any random point, musically, and hopefully bubble up into something that tickles us. But what feels fun or adventurous to us might sound to anyone else just like more landfill-indie, so it's embarrassing to talk about.

So far, what has been the most memorable gig/event that you have performed at and why?

John: There are some obvious highlights, like playing NYC Popfest and Indie Pop Days in Berlin last year, but as far as memorable, we've played a lot of shows to empty rooms, or with faulty equipment, under-rehearsed, bad atmosphere, drummer falling backwards off the stage, etc, and those are the shows really stick with me.

Finally, I am always curious as to what song bands would cover if they went on the radio show 'Live Lounge'...so, which song would you like to cover in that situation?

John: It would be difficult to find a song we could all agree on, we'd probably just cover the theme song to 'Postman Pat' or something.

**********

I won't lie, I am keen to see how they sound live and I am heading to Manchester Academy 3 on 10th August 2012 to see Amida and the Mutineers perform, so keep an eye out for the gig review.

If you want to know anything about the band, or what other people think of them then check out any of the links below: If you like what you hear check out some of the links below and share this blog post.

Links:

Twitter:            @amidaband

MySpace:        http://www.myspace.com/amidaband

Tumblr:            http://amidablog.tumblr.com/

Soundcloud:     http://soundcloud.com/amidaband

Last.fm:            http://www.last.fm/music/Amida

Bandcamp:       http://amidamusic.bandcamp.com/album/arts-crafts

Reviews and other links:  

http://berlinbeat.wordpress.com/2011/09/07/interview-amida/
http://alayerofchips.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/amida-my-life-as-trashcan-jigsaw.html
http://www.bluesbunny.com/Reviews/ReviewDatabase/tabid/122/xmmid/474/xmid/1850/xmview/2/Default.aspx
http://www.citylife.co.uk/news_and_reviews/news/363_double_date_for_power_poppers_amida
http://www.mdmarchive.co.uk/archive/showartefact.php?bid=3534
http://www.anotherformofrelief.com/category/music/best-of-2007/
http://www.listentomanchester.co.uk/amida
http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/interviews/pop-scene-manchester-12351
http://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Amida_(band)
http://indiedunes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/lets-not-die-wonderingamida-marner.html
http://www.howdoesitfeel.co.uk/kindwords.html
http://artistwiki.com/amida
http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/MagSitePages/Review.aspx?id=7897
http://www.pebblerecords.co.uk/node/1421

Monday music :)

I took this photo in the garden yesterday.

Today I have been listening to music that has 'Love' in the title - which has been interesting to say the least. They were all randomly generated by Spotify! Here is a favourite...the video stars Kristen Wiig...so funny :)

What is your favourite song with 'Love' in the title?

The Visit

The Visit

Dreaming

Hoping

Planning 

Smiling

Waiting

Listening

Knowing

Smiling

Moving

Opening

Hugging

Smiling

Playing

Singing

Laughing

Smiling

Eating

Drinking

Sharing

Smiling

Kissing

Waving

Leaving

Gone.

11 things you didn't want to know about me and 1 thing I want to know about you!

These last few days I have been looking for inspiration for a blog post and hence (if you saw) my previous post about the soundtrack to my life.

Well, while reading some stitchy blogs that I follow, I cam across Serendipitous Stitching latest post where she asks the following questions:

1. Watch the film first or read the book first?
2. Which book would you most like to see made into a film?
3. Who would play you in the story of your life?
4. What was the first live band you saw?
5. Who is the most famous person you have ever met?
6. Did you embarrass yourself by blushing/clamming up, saying something stupid?
7. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner or Breakfast, Dinner and Tea? or some other random names for your meals?
8. Does your family have a word for something which no-one else in the world uses?
9. What is the worst job you've ever done?
10. How did you get out of doing it?
11. What is the theme song to your life?

which I am going to attempt to answer!

1. Watch the film first or read the book first?
This one is tricky, I sometimes will read a book and discover that there is a related film (which I then MUST see). If I have read a book that is later made into a film it is usually just a coincidence..so lets say film first.

2. Which book would you most like to see made into a film?
There isn't one book that I have read and thought, this must be made into a film. But I would like to see the film version of Barbara Kingsolvers The Lacuna, if only because I read this in tandem with Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the time of Cholera and have seen the film version of that (not as good as the book!) and I saw the film of Frida (related to The Lacuna) and seeing The Lacuna would just tie it all up nicely for me.

3. Who would play you in the story of your life?
Tough question! But I am going to go with Sandra Bullock - I think she would be able to handle my personality and the funny parts of my life as well as the serious stuff.

4. What was the first live band you saw?
Take That in 1992! 

5. Who is the most famous person you have ever met?
I havent met any famous people - I wont include Miike Snow (its a band) - but I once was within spitting distance of Kenneth Branagh (I was too shocked to say anything and I didnt spit at him either!

6. Did you embarrass yourself by blushing/clamming up, saying something stupid?
Oh, no in the case of Branagh, I just took it all in my stride - I do think that if I met someone who I was mad about - not just liked, but really admired then I would most likely blush, clam up and say something stupid!

7. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner or Breakfast, Dinner and Tea? or some other random names for your meals?
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner - but also use Tea - I think it depends on the time of day.

8. Does your family have a word for something which no-one else in the world uses?
Erm, not that I know of.

9. What is the worst job you've ever done?
Customer service helpline - *shiver*

10. How did you get out of doing it?
I just left.

11. What is the theme song to your life?
Another tough one...hmmm...I don't think I can think of one.


So, I am a little too lazy to write my own 11 questions for you if you want to play tag with me, so use these and a 12th question from me is...

If you were abducted by aliens, and they said that they were going to remove all your memories so that they could upload their knowledge to your brain, but you were allowed to keep just one (which would be the only memory you would have as there would be no space left in your brain for new memories), which memory would you choose? and why? It has to be a single event, you cant opt for a whole decade!

At last..a finish :)

Its been 24 days! Wow..to be honest it does feel like that long too. I have been blogging on my other non-stitchy blog.

My good friend Keebs (who I met through this blog!) told me that it was IHSW this weekend. So I thought I would do a quick stitch. i had bought the latest World of Cross Stitching magazine and was rather taken with the Bang on the door (c) Groovy chick. I had meant to stitch something for the Queens Jubilee but failed miserably. I do enjoy watching the Olympics, mainly the opening and closing ceremonies, athletics, swimming and gymnastics and so I checked my stash to make sure I had the supplies.

I had a piece of aida that looked big enough (i'm not a measurer), found some red, white and blue and some yellow. Not the same shades as the pattern but it didn't matter for this design. The guide said that it would take approx. 12 hours. It is all block colours so I knew it would be straight forward.

Then yesterday (Friday) it occurred to me that I hadn't seen any blog posts on my reader from anyone getting ready for IHSW and Joyce hadn't posted about it either..so I thought it probably wasn't IHSW. The last IHSW I stitched on my Santa WIP, but I did so little that I didn't bother to post an update. Its has been so long since I have felt like stitching that I didn't want to pass up this opportunity. I was rather looking forward to it.

So yesterday afternoon I started and when I had finished most of the trousers in an hour, I pretty much figured that this wouldn't be a weekends worth. All the stitches without the backstitch took about 6hrs and the backstitch another hour, most of which is taken up threading the needle :)

And here she is...I do intend to add 'London 2012' to her...

And, just to spoil you all..here is a beautiful song ....At Last..by Etta James...

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Katy

Soundtrack of My Life

I was reading blogs as a distraction from actually doing what I am supposed to be doing and came across this post by Michelle.

As I like anything music related (I really can't say no people) I thought it would be fun. Join in if you want a laugh. As she says on her blog, all you need to do is:

Put your MP3 player (or Media Player) on Shuffle. I used my starred tracks on Spotify. Then, as the songs play write in the song and artist that corresponds with the following list. Finally, post your list in the comments for us to see. Most of all have fun with it! Oh, and no cheating. :)

Here is my list..I was giggling away to myself at work..much to people bemusement. Most of the tracks are strangely relevant, if only by title. I was shocked that my flashback track turned out to be a really old song! I hope someone will join in the fun and let me know how they got on!

Here are my results:

Opening Credits: My Life Would Suck Without You - Kelly Clarkson

Waking Up: Human - The Killers

First Day of School: I'm getting ready - Michael Kiwunaka

Falling in Love: Dream a little dream - Mamas & Papas (weird! how can random shuffle create this!)

Fight Song: Till the Morning - Father Tiger

Prom: Serpents - Sharon van Etten

Life: Mountains - Biffy Clyro

Mental Breakdown: Smoke and Mirrors - Gotye

Driving: How we roll -Loick Essien

Flashback: Bob Dylan - Black Diamond Bay

Getting Back Together: Dirty Little Secret - The Skateboard Losers

Wedding: Road to Joy - Bright Eyes

Birth of Child: Beautiful People - Cher Lloyd

Final Battle: Feel - Newton Faulkner

Death Scene: The Edge of Glory - Lady Gaga

End Credits: The Boy is Mine - Brandy duet with Monica

and here is the Spotify playlist if you want to listen along :D In the words of my illustrious american cousins, Happy Hump Day!

I’ve always wanted to Kick Ass!

A while I go, I was reading some blog posts (I always lurk when I don’t have time for commenting) and I kept coming across posts by bloggers about blogging awards.  Now, I can only assume that May was Award season in the land of Blog. I remember reading plenty that started with…I am no longer accepting Blog Awards.  Some bloggers even said that they were akin to chain letters of old. Whereby you receive a letter and then you send it to 5 people and they send it to 5 people etc. and there is some unwritten code that if you don’t continue the chain then the sky will fall in. I am not sure this is the same in terms of Blog awards but you get my drift. Anyway, at the time of reading these posts it was also common to see people who said, I have received these before and I just don’t have time (or can be bothered) to award others.

Now I get that, I really do. But I also think that it’s a big slap in the face to someone who follows you and thinks you’re the bees knees. Or maybe they don’t! Maybe you are just the newest follower they have who hasn’t been awarded with one. I think they are fun things to do, especially for new bloggers, it’s like a hello, how do you do? I understand that if you have been blogging for seven years and often receive awards because you are so fabulous that it can become repetitive.

But I have a suggestion: Add a page to your blog dedicated to awards, answer ten or 7 questions about yourself and post them there or maybe an acceptance speech. Maybe post all the award titles there too in some kind of tally sheet so you can keep count of all those thousands you have been given. Then all you need do is add a small thank you when you receive one – is it really taking that much time away? Maybe even, once a month nominate a few blogs of note that you have enjoyed that month. I sometimes get the impression that there are some Bloggers out there who write blogs but don’t read them. As a new blogger it is nice to feel like you aren’t just talking to yourself, although I like the anonymity sometimes of being able to write things for my own pleasure. 

It would be nicer though if you were awarded the blog award for a valid reason..such as, you always write such funny stuff, I loved that story you told last week, I am totally with you on your views on equality..just something.

So, taking my own advice, I hereby propose that awards are given for particular posts of note only, and not just blogs in general. And I have decided to award the Katnip Kick Ass Kudos* Award!  It will be awarded once a month to a blogger, in relation to a post they have written, and the only rule is that when awarded a proper explanation of why I liked the post and why it was my favourite for the month. If you accept the award then fell free not to do anything about it! To smile smugly to yourself and be quietly pleased that your talent has not gone unrecognised by this random brit. If you feel compelled to respond then acceptance speeches are accepted! Either email it to me or I will reblog your post. I don’t have an image for this yet, I cant draw – so if anyone wants to make me a logo for this? Really?! No takers! Ok, well please be patient whilst I attempt to draw it free hand with my mouse and paint!

All this award talk arose because three lovely people awarded me with some awards, although I am not entirely sure why, although one did actually say it was because I was a new follower.  Anyway, I fear that I may have made those people who awarded me squint, tilt their heads, maybe even a pftt and at a push stop following me. Although Blogger has made it practically impossible to remove peoples blogs from your reader. So they are stuck with me! :D

Because I am now at risk of being a spoilsport here are some answers related to those awards I was given, and which I cordially give to ALL my followers!

Questions from the Versatile Blogger: Well, I’m nothing if not versatile!

What is your favourite song?
What is your favourite dessert?
When you are upset, what do you do?
What was my favourite pet?
What do you prefer to wear, black or white?
What is your biggest fear?
What is your attitude mostly?
What is perfection to you?
What is your guilty pleasure?

I decided to leave out the ten random facts. Why? I have always had on my ‘about me’ page a sentence about feeling free to ask  any questions and to date have received absolutely zero questions. Which does kind of make this all redundant as people don’t want to know, but in the spirit of social media, brace yourself!

What is your favourite song?

This is subject to change every three and a half minutes on average, yes with every song. But today I heard a cute, upbeat, fun song about being in a love triangle. Now some of you may remember my mini-rant on love triangles…wait..no, I mini-ranted on someone else’s blog! But I really hate them. But contrary to that opinion, I love the song. It is from Jimmy Cliff’s new album Good Life and is called Take Your Time. I can’t find it on YouTube, it’s on spotify. The lyrics are brilliant. It’s about a woman being asked to choose between two men, Len or Jimmy.

“take your time if you want, but don’t take mine

Waste your life if you want, but don’t waste mine”

What is your favourite dessert?

This is pretty tough, I guess…erm…damn..really tough. Cake and custard :D Yep, that’s the winner.

When you are upset, what do you do?

I read someone else’s and they said that they sleep, that’s probably what I eventually do. I either talk some poor person to death about it, or revert into myself and lock myself away. Or watch a sad movie. It depends what’s upset me. I upset myself last weekend and vented on Twitter, then an hour or so later, I deleted the tweets. No-one mentioned it, that’s how I know people rarely read them. To be fair, I’m not re-inventing the wheel or anything.

What was my favourite pet?

I never had a favourite, I had a cat in Ghana who I called Buffy. She followed me everywhere, stayed with me when I was ill and was a true friend. That does sound ridiculous as she was a cat, but she was my companion and I miss her. She died. I had another cat Jimmy. He was a wonderful cat too. He loved cuddles. He died. It’s all rather sad, I miss them both equally.

What do you prefer to wear, black or white?

I wish I could wear white – not the right figure, although I believe it doesn’t matter, wear what you want, but also I am really clumsy, if I wore white I would be facedown in a muddy puddle before you could say boo to a goose. So black but always with something bright.

What is your biggest fear?

That I have already lived the best days of my life and its downhill from here.

What is your attitude mostly?

Happy, positive, outgoing, upbeat, energetic, quiet, reserved, sarcastic, whingy. I think my personality is equally shared amongst them.

What is perfection to you?

Wow, that’s hard… I can’t even answer it, if I was perfect maybe I could..;)

What is your guilty pleasure?
I tend not to feel so guilty these days, I feel like I have passed the point of no return and if I want to have something then I will. So, erm…..watching bad films?!

So, you made it to the end of this ramble, you learnt about an awesome new award that you are just dying to win and you found out a few things about me. No I am off to read some blogs!

*so called because the post has to attract me to it, then kick my ass with the content and leave me in a haze of impressed.