And so our journey through Collider ends where the Great Men story began: our first ever track.
CW- I’m not interested in football, so when the World Cup approached in 2006 and I realised I’d lose my friends, housemates and living room for the summer, I took action for the positive and decided that when football left me under siege in my room I would have the duration of the match to write, record and mix a track. This project, which has also spanned the 2008 Rugby World Cup and 2010 Football World Cup, is called “Widdleman VS The World Cup”. The very first one I did was “England 1 Paraguay 0”, which a couple of years later became the first song Regan and I would learn to play together. R-Man - 1st thing ever. Debuted in my living room to 3 people who I think were honestly expecting us to be pointless noise. We sure showed them... CW - For other Widdleman Vs The World Cup victories, check out our Live in London EP, or Shazam session videos, for a couple of tracks that came out of the 2010 World Cup: Spectators at an Execution (England 0 0 Algeria) and Messerschmitt (bits of Uruguay 2 3 Netherlands and Germany 0 1 Spain).
CW - The heavy riff and guitar solo in this one originally came from a track I did in my room in Lincoln Hall at the University of Nottingham, called ‘Night of the Badger’. It was inspired by a news story about a badger going on a rampage and attacking people; one witness said the badger had “no fear of humans at all”. The commanding bass line is all R-Man, and the post-rock second half was born from jamming in Regan’s living room back in the early days when I used to use his Akai Headrush (long since retired).
R-Man – Heavy, Heavy, Heavy– I remember a friend of ours who was a big fan of Zero 7 telling me the quiet bit in this was their favourite bit. I felt a bit sick. The logistics of getting the manual switches for the drum machine right always turned Chris into some form of nodding tap dancer...and...now! CW - He said Tap dancer.
CW - I wrote the original version of this in 2008, with a whammy bar, slap bass, and samples from superlative 60’s TV series The Prisoner (hence the name). Recording this was great fun; I got a little silly on the solo and looked up to find Benn creased over laughing, which only encouraged me to get sillier (and try not to fall apart whilst recording)!
R-Man – This is a classic example of Chris’ dream of a percussive funk classic being ruined/improved (delete as applicable) by my smearing a kilo of sleaze all over the bass track… CW - Some years after writing this song, I also watched the recent Battlestar Galactica series. This song hence has no relation to the Number 6 Cylon, and is all about Patrick McGoohan. The Prisoner is a tremendous piece of work that still reverberates through TV now. And the theme tune is one of all my all time favourites.
Track 1 of Collider is Lady Cakes. Here's what Mr Regars and I have to say about it: CW -I think this might be the finest song we’ve written together. In terms of recycled material, only my clean guitar part comes from a previous composition, everything else was written in the spare room at Regan’s house. I’m especially fond of the guitar solo in this. A friend of mine said the first time he saw us live that when we hit the unison riff in this track, he nearly fell over.
R-Man - It’s not until I’ve tried to explain it that I realise quite how complicated this track is. It’s doing about 5 different things but always driving. I couldn’t begin to remember how it came about- the pieces just happened while we were at the height of our powers. It’s something I’m immensely proud of. Some time between the recording and the release of Collider, we did a live session for Shazam and Lady Cakes was the only album track we included; here's the video:
CW says - The riff that comes in halfway through the track is one that I wrote in my university room sometime in 2002/2003. 6 or 7 years later I played it in Regan’s living room and he told me it sounded like Manic Street Preachers. I was abhorred; as a former teenage metaller I had catalogued the Manics (based on ‘Design For Life’ and ‘If You Tolerate This...’) under “wuss music”. After being thrust a copy of their Holy Bible album, I was forced to recant any previous opinions: Holy Bible is now one of my all time top albums. MSP is also the airport code for Minneapolis-St Paul.
R-Man - THAT riff is a super pop hook, and sure fire million seller. We’re just a bland vocal and a dodgy haircut away from never having to work again.
There is a moment after the intro where we had a choice of which guitar track to use...if you listen carefully you can hear some string buzz on the one we chose. A little organic garnish on a bed of machine mash!
CW - Oh yeah, since I’ve not mentioned the dweebery yet, the guitars on the whole album are my Gibson SG Special and Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster (the ‘Black Lodge’ Tele with my custom paint job, but before we rewired it I think), basically just into a Rat into a Vox AC30. For pretty much the whole album there’s just one track of each guitar, playing the same thing, however Benn decided to mix it!
This week you get not only myself and R-man's liner notes for the track Riots, but also a brand new exclusive video from award winning directors the Turrell Brothers!
C-bomb - This has its roots in a track of mine called Hot Riots, but is rawer and heavier. I really love the interplay between the guitar and bass in the middle section, it’s one of our most beautiful bits as a duo I think. Benn and Regan did the first mix of this without me and to my surprise and delight they’d gone for a “space bass” sound in the mid-section (a hallmark of my solo work that is usually shot down well before it makes it onto a GM track!).
R-Man – The unmistakable sound of small arms fire; this highlights the mixture of inspiration and mundane practicatility that goes into creating a GM track. We used to listen to a lot of Thelonius Monk who was famous for a stop/start technique with really heavy percussive attack. Riots reminds me of this, but i think its sound actually lies in my sloppy playing. When I was a kid I listened to and learned to play along to Reggae and Dub and so in Chris’ ears I was coming in “late” (or “right” as I was concerned) I recall having to really exaggerate the on beat in songs to get out of the habit, with this as prime example. The middle section is pure Jah Wobble of course...
Continuing our meandering journey through Collider, here's some insider info on Track 5, Hot Meat.
CW says- This is a descendant of a track I did a few years ago called OHM In A Storm. For the first guitar “solo” I had the idea of rigging up a Marshall cab as an extension to the Vox AC30 we were using throughout, and boxing me in between the two on my knees so I could get a bit silly with feedback without disturbing the mics on the Vox. We called it the Feedback Den, and an early favourite title for the album (from me anyway) was Postcards From The Feedback Den, until the Manic Street Preachers pipped us to the post with Postcards From A Young Man. Here's a photo of the action...
R-Man - Ridiculous name, stupid solo. I Laugh my head off every time I hear it remembering C-Bomb scrabbling around on the floor like some shredding mole-man. The name was cheerfully stolen from the starter of a curry we had while breaking from the writing sessions this came from. We tend to end live shows with this, by which point I’m reduced to shouting “ Hot Meat Hot Meat Hot Meat!” like a crazed restaurant owner/ bordello pimp.
In the absence of a lovely paper booklet with loads of interesting stuff to pore over as you listen to the album, and because we love spilling words out in front of you, we're going to use this here blog to throw some extra commentary on the Collider album. To mix things up we'll start with the closing track, Ghost in the Machine. If you haven't made it that far through the album yet, now is a perfect time to pop it on and listen while you read!
CW, he say: This one grew from R-Man’s bass solo, in fact most of the parts in this one were from his fair hand. Counting enthusiasts will notice that the drums and bass are operating in two different time signatures for the first half of this track, and the guitar has a go on each. I have fond memories of the 2 of us in Regan’s back room practising this and concentrating intensely to make all 3 parts wind together at the right time. We’re idiots.
R-man: This is one of the most beautiful things I have ever been involved in. When we play this live there is a moment in the intro where the whole song hangs on the edge of feedback before crashing back into drums and riff. Its what I imagine that moment when you jump off a cliff might feel like: genuinely heart stopping.
The recording doesn’t quite catch it but the smoothness of the whole track more than makes up for it. If there is an archetypal Great Men sound this is it for me. It sounds complicated and angular but actually Ghost is pretty damn whistle-able.
I’d like to claim that the title was inspired by Koestler and his take on Descartes’ Mind/ Body Dualism and the artwork certainly was...however the truth is that I really like the cover for The Police’s Album of the same name. It was suitably retro sci-fi in a Bladerunner sort of way, so we nicked it.
After much anticipation, Great Men are delighted to announce that earlier this week we released our debut album Collider!
You can download it for free on our brand new website, what R-man crafted himself from rocks and earth: www.great-men.co.uk
We recorded the album in London with Mr MCG of Ulterior, who kindly contributed chrome production, huge snares, cyborg pterodactyls and man screams. We then shipped it off to Amsterdam for Mr Zlaya (producer of Sonic Youth amongst many others) to master. Big thanks also to Mr GWM, bourbon drinker and nonsense-tolerator, for designing the graphics.
We're tremendously proud of Collider and would love to hear what you think. If you do find something you like, please tell your friends!
Today's blog is the story of the above slice of nonsense from Berkshire-based eBay idiot missybeemer (real name withheld due to decency she doesn't deserve).
Regular readers will know that R-Man and I are no strangers to buying, selling, repairing and indeed rocking used guitars. Sometime in early 2010 I picked up this (my second) Hondo II Les Paul, made in Japan in the 1970s. It arrived grimy and semi-functional, par for the course in such an endeavour. A new set of pickups, strings, and a bit of time with the soldering iron and a damp cloth and a sweet guitar was ready to rock.
In 2011 it became my main gigging guitar, here I am playing it in gigs in July 2011 (just 4 months before it was deemed "in horrible condition"):
Looks horrible doesn't it?
But Chris, I hear you ask, isn't it possible that the "completely worn frets" made it unplayable and sound terrible? Well it's a fair question, as clearly in all my years of guitar playing I have absolutely no concept of what a playable guitar feels like, and with the ample collection of guitars I have to choose from I opted for this clearly worn-out plank from the 1970s instead of my 2010 Telecaster or 2009 Gibson SG out of complete ignorance. Let's listen to a live recording of me playing it in October 2011, just a month before missybeemer passed her questionable judgement:
I'll let y'all be the judge on whether that guitar works.
So anyway, due to my impending move to faraway lands, lamentably I had to cut down the guitar collection; I'd rather they went to be played and loved by someone else than sit in a storage room somewhere. Which is where our friend missybeemer comes in, winning the auction on eBay for a bargain price of £127:
missybeemer: Hi, is it OK to send my own courier to collect the guitar? It would save me a long drive. Please let me know the collection address if OK. Regards
yours truly: Yep that's fine - the address is [GM HEADQUARTERS LONDON] - Wednesday or Thursday evening is best for me, or over the weekend?
Will you be sending cash with your courier?
Also if you're interested I have a hard case for Les Pauls which I'm going to sell too?
missybeemer: Hi. I can send the money via PayPal before the guitar is collected. I have a case but could you wrap it in some cardboard so it gets here in one piece? Regards
yours truly: Hi, No problem - I'll pop it in a padded gig bag for protection if that's ok with you.
cheers
missybeemer: Thanks but without some tough protection on the outside (cardboard) it will most likely get damaged in transit. Let me know if you can get hold of some cardboard. Just want to avoid potential problems. I hope this is OK. Regards
yours truly: I have some cardboard here, no problem
Notice here dear reader that I'm offering protection appropriate to a guitar. Notice also that resident fusspot missybeemer is footing none of the bill for the "Packaging" part of P&P.
missybeemer: Any chance for a weekday between 9am and 5pm? I think these are the hours they work. Possible to collect from the work address or something??
yours truly: It'll be quite awkward as I'll have to lug it in its cardboarded glory on the tube, if they can do 9am I can wait at home for them and get to work late though?
missybeemer: well, I cant really specify the time but they can collest from a 'safe place' if there is any. would that work?
yours truly: I'd rather not leave it lying around anywhere! I'll take it to work - let me know the day
So 20 minutes of walking and 20 minutes of tubing later, with a guitar sized cardboard box under my arm:
missybeemer: Hello. The guitar has just arrived. Unfortunately it's a wreck and I am not talking about transit damage because there isn't any. There are problems you have not described in your listing like taped cavity at the back, pretty much ended frets, various cracks and damages to the finish of the guitar.
Basically I can't imagine playing this guitar even if I decided to clean it which I am not prepared to do. There is some jam left on the neck pickup... I hope we can resolve this without much trouble. Please have it back and refund. Best regards.
Permit me, friend, to refer you to the photos and recording at the top of this blog.
yours truly: Hi,
Sorry to hear you're not satisfied with the guitar. Let me address your points:
taped cavity - sorry, honest mistake not mentioning this; there was no backplate on the guitar when I got it so I covered in card and taped down to protect the wiring. It didn't even occur to me to mention it as being on the back I never see it!
frets - I find no problem with these frets whatsoever? I have been playing this guitar live, in rehearsals, and on record for the best part of 2 years and never had any problem anywhere on the neck
finish - this guitar is over 30 years old; I wouldn't describe any of the finish as "damage" - it's worn as you'd expect any guitar to be that's been played for 3 decades!
jam on the neck pickup - I don't even know what you mean?
So other than the taped cavity, which I do apologise for, and doesn't affect the playability, sound, or look of the guitar at all (being on the back), everything else you've described is what I would describe as well within fair wear and tear for a guitar of this age; I was pretty clear in the description that it's from the 70s.
If you really feel however that it isn't for you, then I'll accept it back; I've sold a lot of my guitar and amp collection lately and am keen that they all go somewhere where they'll be played and loved. If you'll organise shipping back to my office (the address I shipped from) then I'll sort you a refund out on PayPal.
JAM ON THE PICKUP?! Weird because I normally only smear honey and maple syrup on my guitars.
missybeemer: Hi, thanks for replying. I will send the guitar back asap. I would appreciate if you could cover the postage as it feels unfair to pay the delivery again just because the guitar turned out to be misdescribed. Despite the disappointment I am happy to leave you positive feedback once we have all this sorted. Paying the postage will also work out for you money wise as we can mutually withdraw the sale and you will be refunded £12 of ebay fees. Please confirm you are happy to cover the return postage (£10) and we'll take it from there. Best regards.
yours truly: hi
I've never had to do a refund before, do you know if PayPal also refund their fees? If not then I'm out of pocket - if so then how about going halves on the postage? I don't feel the guitar was misdescribed, though I appreciate you were expecting something different - also I went to the time and trouble of packaging it and lugging it across London to be picked up, and have lost the opportunity of having it relisted or bought by someone else this week (and time is of the essence to me as I'm leaving the country in a month hence the sales!)
I may not get chance to reply again today, but will be on my emails over the weekend,
cheers
missybeemer: Hi, yes PayPal will refund your fees and I can also make ebay return the £12 by cancelling the transaction. Cover the postage and you have the fees back, the good feedback and a good chance of selling again as the new buyers would not be put off. You could actually go to interparcel.com and book the courier for £6.99 +VAT if that's eastier. I'm in most of the time so any day is good for collection. Regards
On reflection I was really being too nice here. But then that night I went to see Stewart Lee at the Leicester Square Theatre and he reignited the anger and indignance that was lacking in my attitude.
yours truly: Hi,
I've had a think about this overnight and whilst I will let you have a refund if you want, I'm really not happy with incurring any further costs to this; the guitar is in excellent working order and has no physical defects that are inconsistent with its age, all of which was clear from the listing. You'll not get a better instrument for the bargain price you paid! There's 6 and a half minutes of evidence here that the guitar is eminently playable: http://greatmen.bandcamp.com/track/hot-meat
If you still want to send it back, please ship to my work address and I'll refund when I receive it,
cheers
missybeemer: Hi, no worries. My offer was designed to save me money, save you money and conserve your 100% feedback score. Your offer will cost us both extra and clearly is not a win win situation but if this is how you want it then so be it. I will sen it back on Monday. Regards
yours truly: Ok I will process the cancellation/refund when it arrives back.
It sounds like you're threatening to give me negative feedback because I won't pay for the postage - you should be aware that this falls under Ebay's "feedback extortion" policy http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/feedback-extortion.html - there's no need for this to turn ugly; I'm being gracious in allowing you a refund, which I'm not obliged to do, to my own inconvenience and opportunity cost.
After missybeemer gave me negative feedback I reported the above to eBay and they agreed.
missybeemer: Well I think I am being gracious by not opening a claim and not reporting this to ebay. I can take the photos of the guitar and let the ebay team confront them with your description. As an established seller/buyer I have a direct access to the ebay support team. To be hones I could just run this through them and not even address you directly. I hope this shows that I am trying to resolve this in possible easy going manner. The feedback system is in place to allow users express their opinion about each transaction. If I sold an item that is not as described I would apologise and cover all associated costs, but thats just me. I will not allow this to turn ugly. If you wish I will cover my costs and you will cover yours. Simple as that. I was only trying to be helpful. Regards
I need to buy a new dictionary, my definition of "helpful" is somewhat archaic it seems.
yours truly: I think covering our own costs is the only way of doing it, as we seem to be at an impasse of opinion. I've apologised for the oversight on the back cavity (which I don't believe counts as a "significant" issue), and because of this and the fact I want people to be happy with their purchases , I've agreed to do a refund to my own disadvantage.
I maintain that the guitar is as described (unless something's happened to it since I handed over the package); I've evidenced that it's perfectly playable, and the description is quite clear that it is over 30 years old and Used ("The item may have some signs of cosmetic wear, but is fully operational and functions as intended."). As a guitar player and collector of some years my advice to you in the future is to go into a shop and buy a brand new instrument (for several times the price) if you want something that doesn't have signs of wear and tear (signs that it's been played and loved!).
Have a good weekend
missybeemer: Hello. THe refund has just arrived. You have not refunded the postage which set me back almost £20 and yet you are requesting the seller's fees to be refunded. I am sorry but I made my position clear from the very beginning. I will refuse the request and leave appropriate feedback. Best regards.
yours truly: Hi,
Glad the refund has arrived. I refunded you the full amount of the transaction, and as per our previous emails we agreed to cover our own costs. The seller's fees are a transaction between myself and eBay; you're bearing no cost from them, in fact they now represent money that eBay has made from me for NOT selling this item.
As I made clear myself, the guitar was not misdescribed and hence I have no obligation, legally or morally, to refund you the postage - this is the cost you bear for exercising what has effectively been a long distance "try before you buy". Indeed you are unable or unwilling to refund me the cost of packaging, admin, carrying the guitar across London twice and the time lost in reselling this item (note had you not bid it would have sold for only £2 less to someone else, who in all likelihood would not have completely askew expectations of what a quality vintage guitar for £125 would be). I was under no obligation to issue refunds but do so out of respect for other people and love for my instruments. Unfortunately the grief I've had from you means I will probably change this outlook in the future. Congratulations, in a simple mouse click whose ramifications affect you in absolutely no way, you have dealt another blow against civil society.
Finally, thanks for everything: I believe the most valuable commodity today is not gold, nor platinum, nor oil, nor data, nor Higgs bosons. The most valuable commodity is anecdotes, and you've provided me with anecdotal value that will see me through trips to the pub, office chit-chat, and a healthy blog entry.
Cheers
So there we have it friends. Sellers beware.
As a footnote in case you suspect I may actually just be a complete lying bastard peddling dodgy guitar equipment, here's some of my other recent feedback for guitars and guitar paraphernalia (our good friend missybeemer has good feedback sure, but it's all for selling car parts...) :
Final note: after this big waste of time I now have to go and store it after all as my time to resell has expired. At least it means some time in the future I'll be enjoying strapping it on once again.
Let's cut to the chase: Great Men are going to be playing 2 shows in London this month and you and all your friends should come for the following reasons:
These will be our last shows for quite some time.
We're going to play a completely different set list at each show, covering our entire back catalogue between them.
You can submit requests for which songs you'd like to hear at each show.
At the gigs we'll be selling the last of our Springsteen VS Stallone t-shirts at the bargain basement, holiday season friendly price of £5 each!
Here's the lowdown:
On Thursday November 24th we've been invited by the excellent Motherhood to play at their EP launch at the George Orwell on Essex Road (near Islington and Dalston).
What, another blog post so soon after the last?! Verily!
I wanted to tip y'all off to an exclusive, insightful, and possibly life-changing interview that Mr Coloquix conducted with us. It's right here on his blog. It's the only place to go to find the answers to questions like:
We played a gig in London last week and with lightning quick, even haphazard, speed, and with little regard to the guitar malfunctions within, we've put out a download-only 6 track EP called Tart Hoof. You can even have it for absolutely free.
Our next appearance will be at Dashwoodstock 2011 in Thamesmead on Saturday October 22nd, at the totally rock and roll time of 4:30pm. Apparently loads of films were shot there, like Clockwork Orange and Harry Potter And The Den Of Feedback. When I say "next appearance" I really mean "next live gig" because, neither of us being invisible, we appear constantly.
Looking forward to November, we're playing at Camden Rock (not a real rock) on the 30th, details to follow closer to the time. We might also be joining our new friends Motherhood for their EP launch sometime.
In my ongoing quest to be a man who owns less guitars (ongoing parallel to my quest to be a man), my 1989 Fender Stratocaster, made in Japan with a humbucker and a Floyd Rose, and rewired by an idiot (hello!), is up on eBay. Get yourself a treat.
Regular readers will know that I love a photo of us out and about eating. Here we are in Ed's Diner:
Wow is it already a year since our triumphant triumvirate of our Camden show with Ginkinta and Monsters in the Attic, our Shazam session, and our blood, beer and flames glory in Nottingham with Ulterior?
This October might not be quite so adrenalised, but we are playing in central London on Wednesday October 5th at The Comedy courtesy of Dead or Alive Promotions. We're aiming to record the gig so if it comes out okay and we don't have any massive disasters I'll put some stuff up for download soon. There's a Facebook event here.
It's been quiet here recently as I've been over in Sydney and R-man has been realising his dream of adventure on the high seas by borrowing a narrowboat. I tend to check in on Twitter when possible so do come and say hello to us there.
As you may well know or suspect, Great Men enjoy a good book. I thought it would be a nice idea to throw a few recommendations at you that we've read recently. I asked R-Man for 2 or 3 reviews; in fairness I did not specify a word limit and in typical thoroughness received the following:
How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered the World by Francis Wheen
The fascinating element of this book is that in Wheen’s view perhaps the most dangerous foe of science and reason is the very modern thought prevalent in almost every single western university.
The explosion of Post Structuralist Relativist literary criticism would seem to be an odd place to look for an enemy of reason. However, Wheen explains with clear irritation that the academic fashion for considering almost any interpretation on any subject as valid, erodes our ability to understand the absolute truths that Science deals in. Starting with the original thinkers Derrida and Foucault, the idea that a text could be re-interpreted from a myriad of points of view and that each of these views brings further insight into this text is a strong one. It is how I was taught history as these ideas spread throughout academia. Comparing Marxist and traditional explanations of an event of the past did indeed bring greater insight into why that event happened.
I do recall the moment of realisation of their limitation, however. Someone, deeply in earnest tried to convince me that all Darwin had done in his Origin Of The Species was to re-interpret the natural world through the eyes and beliefs of a mid-Victorian white establishment figure and was more of an act of hegemony than it was biology. The idea that his years of exhaustive research had led him to these findings or even the fact that he was right, simply didn’t occur to them.
Wheen quotes Professor Alan Sokal (then of NYU) who sums it more perfectly.
“…anyone who believes that the laws of physics are mere social conventions is invited to try transgressing those conventions from the windows of my apartment. (I live on the twenty-first floor.)”
Glib as this sounds – it is a fundamental issue for post-modern thought when it is considering scientific truths. Absolute Zero is just that, absolute, everywhere, forever. Scientific ideas are not constructs but provable. For example the idea of supersymmetry in particle physics rather nicely solves many of the issues that Dark Matter creates for the standard model of the universe. It has interpreted the universe in a way that makes it work and has been accepted as a useful way to explain the natural phenomena we experience.
There is one issue with this theory - It probably isn’t true. Latest results from the LHC have cast huge doubt on supersymmetry and as physicist are not post-modern they do not argue that their construct de-constructs their own concept of self, relative to the cultural signifier* and therefore still equally as valid. They throw it away and come up with a better idea.
This started me wondering about how post-modern thought had affected other areas and affected me directly. Music and fashion now seem caught in a loop of retro-interpretation with bands seemingly spending more time splicing their “influences” (do you really all listen to Can all day on the tour bus, really?) on press releases than actually learning to play. Irony has been reduced from the subtle discipline so cherished by Kierkegaard into a brash dumb monster for the use of people to insulate themselves from real life. The actual irony of reality TV is that it is probably the least real thing available. But that’s OK, cos it’s “it’s so bad it’s good”
In letters to a young contrarian Christopher Hitchens advised the budding polemist that it is not what you think, but how you think that is important. Wheen’s book is good just because it encourages you to do so, it is accessible, witty and enjoyable to anyone who enjoys the provocation of their enquiring mind.
*I have simply no idea what this is supposed to mean – I merely copied and pasted a couple of lines from the post structuralism Wikipedia page. It is a queer addiction of post-modernity to wrap itself in un-intelligible guff.
You've probably read enough for one day, so I'll save my own choices for later. Instead, in keeping with the above, here's my favourite Ween:
On July 1st we played a gig in New Cross, South London courtesy of Chamber Club. Due to some technical hitches it was something of a shambles, but a lot of fun and we were probably just more punk than usual.
On July 8th I saw banjo hero, and comedy legend Steve Martin, playing with bluegrass band the Steep Canyon Rangers. They were phenomenal and if you get chance I recommend you get down: great tunes, great musicians, great sound, hilarious banter.
If I were to list my top bands of all time the top 3 would probably be Queen, Guns N Roses, and Primus. Freddie's sadly long gone, Axl and Slash have yet to reconcile their differences, and Primus haven't played in the UK for 14 years. Until this month. My associates and I rocked up to Brixton Academy like giddy schoolgirls and had an awesome 2 hours. Highlights for me included Tommy The Cat, Over The Electric Grapevine, and Is It Luck?
About 6 or 7 years ago I saw one of the greatest gigs I've ever seen: They Might Be Giants at Manchester Academy (and was especially pleased to play on the same stage myself a little while later playing guitar with Swound!, supporting The Crimea). So when I heard they were playing just down the road from me in Camden I jumped at the chance to see them again, and was not disappointed. As my companion said in delight halfway through the show "this band has charisma!". Some of my highlights were Alphabet of Nations, Birdhouse In Your Soul (is there really anything more joyous than a room full of people united by a blue canary in the outlet by their light switches?) and, after spending the whole gig saying "I hope they do Fingertips", out it came for an awesome finale. MystEEEEEEEEErious whisper!
Finally Great Men rounded it off with a show at the legendary Dublin Castle in Camden. I recommend the Deuchars (trivia: a million years ago I was barman at a pub called the White Hart in Quorn; Deuchars was one of our best beers). By the way is everyone else digging R-Man's rock stance as much as I am?
Hopefully picked up a few tabloid readers off the strength of that title.
Great Men have 2 gigs in London in July, and being the generous folk we are we've engineered them to suit every demographic:
Friday 1st July - Chamber Club @ New Cross Inn with Saturday Kids, Pet Scenes, Plantagenet 3 and Partly Faithful. This is on a Friday night, is only £3, and the party goes on as late as you like. Perfect for out-of-towners and Londoners alike.
with Peanut Butter Lovesickle, The Beast, and more. We're on at 8pm in this conveniently located venue in the heart of Camden. Perfect for working folk after a hard day at the office, and layabouts after Neighbours has been on. Bring a copy of the flyer below for 25% off the entry price!
We've also started the long, turning an aircraft carrier-esque, process of thinking about gigs in the Midlands and the North again. If you'd like to help us out in anyway, give us a holler. Cheers!
On June 18th 2010, my friends went to the pub to watch England play Algeria in the World Cup. I retreated to my feedback den and, in my ongoing Widdleman VS The World Cup tradition, over the course of the match I wrote, recorded and mixed this track:
Some geeky points to note are the dual drum machines (one of them hand triggered - the out of time one!) and the feedback duet that I finished just moments before the neighbours knocked on the door...
Shortly thereafter, R-Man and I learned the song and incorporated it into the Great Men set. We dropped the initial World Cup name in favour of something a little more us (with some conceptual continuity of course - there's a present for the first person to spot it). You can hear our version on the Live in London EP and here's a video of us playing it in the Shazam live lounge on October 22nd 2010:
At some point, I'm not sure when, I started noodling about on an acoustic guitar and over time this solo acoustic version came together:
As you may know, in recent months I relocated from a vast palace in Nottingham to a pigeon hutch on a Holloway rooftop. As such I need to jettison some of my life. I figured I'd offer these delights up to y'all on here before putting them on eBay. Email great-men@hotmail.co.uk if you're interested in any.
Marshall B65 Basstate with Celestion speaker. Could use some TLC.
Fender Dual Showman 4x12 cab on wheels with outward angled front
Fender Dual Showman 100w valve head, twin channel with reverb. Beautiful and loud. Battle worn around the country with Swound! and Great Men and will do you proud.
Marshall JCM 1960 2x12 cab, used live once (An Evening With Great Men)
Jackson Performer Dinky Reverse from 1997 with Dimarzio Evolution pickups
Kay through-neck
Jackson Kelly Professional with GFS pickups - coil-tapped bridge humbucker and neck P90.
Well it's been a busy week in Great Men's registered office here in Holloway.
We had our first high volume practice in months, then followed it up with a gig at Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes. Thanks to the folk that came along (including you Frank Skinner)! No photos have surfaced yet but I'll let y'all know when they do.
On Friday we sadly waved off The Fabulous H-Town Savage as she has gone to conquer the Australian music scene. We dealt with it in our own ways: Regan overcame his fear of heights and climbed to the top of some trees at Kew Gardens (rumours of faeces flung at passersby have yet to be confirmed or denied). Then we went and hung out on a wall in Hackney with that Scottish one from Ulterior and ate sausages.
The natural way to follow a night spent sitting on a wall was to hang out in a cemetery. Here's the proof:
The weekend rounded off with some CD shopping at the mighty Music Video Exchange in Notting Hill with Hugh Grant and that naked guy. Then we went to see Obzerter, Regan's very first metal gig. I'm not saying it was a revelation, but here's what he looks like just one day later:
