This Song is Actually Banned Throughout Zones 1 to 5....

I just wanted to share one of my most scarring early childhood memories- 'Nothing Ever Happens'*by Del Amitri. A certain member of my immediate family bought this tape single and proceeded to play it on repeat for about a month one summer... It's like some kind of Freudian primal scene I remember nothing about- except that when this song came on in some grimy old man's pub in Bath the other day it was like slipping into one of my worst, forgotten nightmares....

Justin Currie clearly thought he was somewhere between Schopenhauer and Karl Marx with this critique upon modern society and consumerism. I particularly love the line about American business snapping up Van Goghs for the price of a hospital wing... so fucking profound!

Am I being harsh? Did none of these ideas exist before the intellectual salon of Del Amitri was formed in the 80s? What I despise the most is the sense of moral superiority coming from this middle-of-the-road sell out pop-rock act who chose to make their money by flogging absolute bile the 'ignorant people' they are insulting in the song and have probably never donated any of their ill-gotten gains towards building hospital wings.

Put all of this against the Bob Dylan-esque whiny protest song style and repetitive, acoustic guitars. IT__IS__HIDEOUS.

*(I would highly recommend clicking on the song's link just so you can see Justin's grave, pouting face and werewolf sideburns!)

Nothing Ever Happens
Post office clerks put up signs saying position closed
And secretaries turn off typewriters and put on their coats
Janitors padlock the gates
For security guards to patrol
And bachelors phone up their friends for a drink
While the married ones turn on a chat show
And they'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow

Gentlemen time please, you know we can't serve anymore
Now the traffic lights change to stop, when there's nothing to go
And by five o'clock everything's dead
And every third car is a cab
And ignorant people sleep in their beds
Like the doped white mice in the college lab

Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all
The needle returns to the start of the song
And we all sing along like before
And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow

Telephone exchanges click while there's nobody there
The Martians could land in the carpark and no one would care
Close-circuit cameras in department stores shoot the same video every day
And the stars of these films neither die nor get killed
Just survive constant action replay

Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all
The needle returns to the start of the song
And we all sing along like before
And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow

Bill hoardings advertise products that nobody needs
While angry from Manchester writes to complain about
All the repeats on T.V.
And computer terminals report some gains
On the values of copper and tin
While American businessmen snap up Van Goghs
For the price of a hospital wing

Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all
The needle returns to the start of the song
And we all sing along like before
Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all
They'll burn down the synagogues at six o'clock
And we'll all go along like before
And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow

Summertime...



Rainbow at Field Day



Budapest

 



Black Lake- Black Lake- Black Lake

 

Trophy Wife, Standon Calling.

Artist Studio, Hackney Wick. 



Little Boots DJ Set, Standon Calling.



Really Hot Guy, Field Day.



No-one Predicted a Riot

It seems wrong to continue without making some mention of the fact that last week a huge, fuck off riot hit London and other cities across England.

On a personal level, it was really upsetting to see so many local businesses being hit in an already poor area like Hackney and to hear about residents being terrorised in the streets and on London Fields. A friend of mine living at the heart of it was effectively barricaded inside her home for two days. St Josephs Hospice- based on Mare Street where the trouble began- actually had bricks thrown over the walls. As if stopping people from visiting their dying relatives inside wasn’t bad enough.

Hackney was lucky though when set against the chilling levels to which violence escalated elsewhere. In Croydon a young man was shot in the head whilst in his car. Three men were deliberately mowed down in the street in Birmingham. And a 16 year old boy has just been arrested on suspicion of beating a pensioner to death in Ealing.

It makes me really sad that there are apparently so many horrendous people living in my city and my country. But the sheer numbers of people involved is scary in itself- and with it, the suggestion that this comes back to some fundamentals in human nature.

Psychological studies have found again and again that we are all capable of getting caught up in mob mentality and that ordinary people are capable of partaking in unthinkable atrocities. (Nazi Germany being the prime example of this.)

Whilst I am not excusing the behaviour of rioters, you also have to accept that poverty has always been a massive factor in criminality. And without coming over all Miliband, the crumbling of ethics in this country is and always has radiated from the top down.

The sad thing is that this entire incident is already being harnessed by right wing forces as a justification for further curtailing our civil liberties and scapegoating vulnerable groups. Seems like British politics is gearing up for a big 80s revival.

To help support some of the local groups and businesses who have been affected by the riots in Hackney and elsewhere, please see the links below:

http://riotscleanup.wordpress.com/
http://www.helpsilva.com/

FIELD DAY

No matter how big it gets Field Day will NEVER sell out by investing in a decent sound system. This would suggest that it was actually a music festival rather than a celebration of fake vintage fashion, delusory middle-class arrogance, being hammered by 11am and not changing your clothes until bedtime on Sunday.

Rather than boring you all with a photo of the instantly-forgettable Wild Beasts who headlined, a selection of people wearing ironic, Hitler Youth wigs, or a group of girls sitting in a line pissing on the ground, here is a shot from The Wicker Man.

YOUR OTHER LOVER



Left to Right: Si (Bass) and Ben (Guitars) in London Fields

Playing together as a four-piece since October last year, Your Other Lover have already recorded with David Burn from Detroit Social Club and caught the attention of BBC Introducing, Amazing Radio and MySpace.

The band are: Dan (vocals), Ben (guitars), Si (bass) and Keiran (drums). They describe their style in terms of ‘noise pop. A lot of Harsh, distorted sounds.  What we want to do is find something really simple- whether it's one riff or something kind of surf pop sounding. Then we put it into a completely different bracket and move it into this 80s noise sound... hopefully managing to collaborate the two.'

There have been comparisons with both Interpol and Joy Division. As the band point out, a major factor in this is the fact that Dan’s voice is naturally 'low and baritone'- the echoes of Interpol's lead singer Paul Banks are particularly striking.

Vocals aside, Your Other Lover's music is intoxicating and multi-layered; carrying subtle resonances of these and other iconic groups, whilst at the same time sounding wholly distinct from all of them.

Songs like 'Wolves' have a heavy and psychodellic feel; not least due to the shamanic quality of the lyrics.

‘Dan writes lot of lyrics about death but he always tries to give it an expression of hope or having something more behind it.’ Ben explains. 'He reads a lot of books about Native American history and he's really interested in how the body works with drugs. He writes a lot about the state of your mind when you're dreaming. The Doors kind of thing. ' 

Your Other Lover Playing Live in May: Photo taken by Claudio Sampietro

In amidst the darkness are more playful elements; with catchy, uptempo guitar
riffs somewhere between 80s post-punk and Springsteen. For Si, this is a natural end product of the band's influences: 'We like a lot of music from very simple pop songs to heavy rock stuff. We draw influences from everything we listen to and if we can bring those two sounds together that's great.'

Your Other Lover have recently recorded a double A-side, produced by David Burn, which is due to be released in September. They plan to release their first EP in December. When it comes to signing with a record label though, they are holding out for the right opportunity.

'Being signed doesn’t mean anything unless it meets with the band’s aspirations. In terms of getting it out to as many people as possible, having someone to promote it would be great but we’ll only do it if it’s on our terms. We want a label that actually likes what we do.'

Your Other Lover will releasing a double A side single (produced by David Burn) on 1st September. A follow up EP is planned for December.
  
For further information you can visit:

http://myspace.com/yourotherlover

http://facebook.com/yourotherlover

http://soundcloud.com/yourotherlover

Art is Short for Artist...

So I was at an East London gallery the other Thursday looking for free alcohol, when I came across a really interesting exhibition. The basic idea was giving every day objects deeper significance and it was all going well. It was warm, personal, quirky... And then you came to around the fourth or fifth piece- which was a receipt.


The artist's explanation was as follows: ‘I go to hardware shops and sometimes I wonder what other people buy there. So I dug this receipt out of the bin just outside.’ We are talking about a space the size of a broom cupboard and this artist still felt the need to come up with filler pieces. Worst of all- it was First Thursday the gallery charged money for drinks.

And so it goes full circle… you come to a gallery and pretend that you're there for the art when you're actually there for the free drinks. The gallery pretends they want you to come in and look at the art but they are actually trying to trick you into paying for alcohol.


The Hunter becomes the Hunted.

CAMDEN CRAWL 2011



British Sea Power at Koko Sunday 1st May



Giant Straw Man was loving the attention a bit too much and had an eye for the ladies... kind of sinister in the way that clowns are.