Subculture, Leeds

It’s been too long since we made the trip up to Leeds, in fact it’s been nearly 12 months., and for a band that used to pride themselves on their nationwide touring habit it’s down right disgraceful. Fortunately there’s more than a handful of decent people in Leeds and they didn’t hold it against us. Rocking Fish hosted a suitably heavy night at the stickiest bar I’ve been in for some years, Magnificent supports from Xi (my jaw dropped, my heart broke)) and Swimming With Sharks (like an angry swarm of bees). Xi had in good grace lent us their gear and when I plugged into Daz’s Marshall the Strat made a massive roar, much louder than the lady Laney I use, but the stage had been set and you just can’t turn down. Unsophisticated though it is volume to some extent equals excitement.

There we were onstage in a cube of reflective surfaces, part deaf and completely blinded by the stage lights we open with Excuse Me. Don’t mistake this for the dull dull dull “I could’nt hear myself in the monitors” or “I’ve got a soar throat” style whining, I’m just letting you know what it felt like, and it felt amazing! Onstage with two people I know I can trust implicitly, we all know what we’re doing and just DOING it, blind and deaf, like running along a cliff top in the fog. Palpable tension coupled with total abandon, and that’s what we did, for the full 40 minutes, swaggering through the set part deaf and totally blind. Despite kicking the cables out of my pedals more times than I wanted the whole show was storming.

I wasn’t massively chatty on stage that night so I’ll make my thanks here, Pete, Steve, all the Xi and Swimming with Sharks, Katy, Sarah, Mark, Ben, Tony and Kog, THANK YOU! X

Bar Sonic SWINGS

This swinging little corner of London, technically the Lower East side, has attracted little crowds of music lovers for years. It’s got an impressively late license and there’s an amount of crowd exchanging between it and the Amersham Arms late late at night. When Jim and I are driving back from a gig we always pass this joint and more often than not there’ll be a diverse collection of faces, fags on the go, watching the world drive by. I’ve been one of those people on many occasions and it really is magical, how did this slice of New York evolve here? Less than 200 meters from entirely more sinister looking situations how does this harmonious corner retain it’s identity? Big question, no answer.

The set list went like this…
Morning Morgantown – aaaah Joni
Inch Me In – it has been a very long time since we played this, it felt great and Jim, using an unfamiliar guitar really underpinned the whole thing with that solid, insistent and swinging intensity that runs through his veins.
Maybes
Pariah –this was a request from Shey, who had been complaining about its long term absence from the set. Again it was really energizing to play this song after many months of resting it.
Excuse Me – Jim tells me this track gave him ‘the chills’ it was sounding so perfectly formed, the guitar chiming it’s introduction, Bob’s elastic bass line and the drums irresistible invitation to move your feet, I should say so.
Don’t Make Me wait
Miss Bigfish – my amp was sounding throaty and deep, lots of power behind it, and I really felt it in this song. It’s very exciting to give your guitar strings a glancing blow and FEEL the growl of your amplifier build up behind you, almost projecting you forward.
Only You – here’s where I turned to jelly, three part harmony, not so much Flying Pickets, more Beach Boys meet Breeder.
Nobody Else
Silver Machine
Blue Line
Emilie – I am so keen to demo this song up, it’s got such momentum despite being arranged for two acoustic guitars. We’d got a fair amount of feet shuffling and girl dipping going on in the audience. I do remember catching a view of someone playing the ‘air drums’ here, it’s good for the heart.
The Northern Line – I’d really like to mention Katy, who has an amazing memory for Bruise lyrics and had been singing along with impressive accuracy for most of the set. She’s asked if it puts me off, which it doesn’t; it’s a massive complement that always makes me smile. And for your reference Katy it goes,” You’ll be fine, I’m just 10 minutes on the Northern Line. Don’t waste your time, I’m just 10….” X
Coldburn – it felt very definitely that things had taken off; I remember a good friend standing open mouthed at the bar for remainder of the set.
Girls Best Friend – we sucked it right in…
The Game – we pumped it up…
I Don’t Like You – we splattered it all over the room…
Mr Rat – we all slid around it in self indulgently, weeeee!

There were cries for more so we obliged with Silvertown, (you’re very welcome Rupe).

It was a fantastic night, well supported, and one of those musical and emotional experiences that live music should always be. Thank you Dave for doing a fantastic job on sound. See you all in Leeds? Love X

And all who sail in Her

Ooooh My Gawd, that was spectacular wasn’t it. I had such a great night, you lot blew me away! The Heels gig was very much fun, with the clapping and the dancing, and Bob himself on such fine form. I feel very lucky to be bass player in such a fine band. Then for the Bruise set, we got such a warm welcome. So many people liked the dress and told me so, I felt very lovely. I do enjoy transforming from bass player to front man (though obviously not a man last night), there’s something superhero-ish about it. Because the new album has much more or an acoustic feel we wanted to start with a few tracks with just two guitars and that felt so good to me, a lovely response to three fragile songs. Then Bob the Bass came onstage and I slipped on the Strat, now that felt great with Don’t Make Me Wait and Mr Rat. Thank you Ian for your constant appreciation of that song and Josie for pointing out that gold high heals may look great but when you can’t hit your Wah-Wah first go, the shoes have got to go. I’m going to skip over the tuning debacle except to thank Steve Morrison for translating for me and those of you who said you enjoyed it, you are sick and twisted human beings and I like you very much! We really had a magnificent time, the last few songs…the encore….the big cheer for my guitar solo. A super launching for Nobody Else, God bless Her and all who sail in Her, eh?

PS John, Sean, Judy, Jess and Brian, special thanks!

Neee-naaaaa Neeee-naaaa Woooo-wooooo-woooo

I’m writing this blog from Limehouse police station, it’s a first for me. Blogging from here I mean, I’ve spent hours here over the last few years but that’s another story…

Monday’s gig at the Vibe Bar on Brick Lane, was turning out to be what we had anticipated, another tune-fest of an evening, self possessed people soaking up the atmosphere, very nice, what could be nicer? Jim and I sauntered into the red room, which is what they call the green room there (you rule breaking bohemians you) and there was something missing, MY Guitar. Gawd Almighty Jim turned grey and I felt like I was moving through water. We were whisked up by the management, questions questions, a search of the room , talking about times the room was empty. Jim and Martin went out looking for anyone with a guitar and demanding that they open up and identify what they were carrying. I sat in the office checking the CCTV with Greg and talking to the police, who made all the right sounds….”we’ll be with you right away” vrrooooommmmm, neee-naaaa neee-naaa neee-naaaa it was an episode of …. Nevermind, because they never showed. Hence my current situation.

Anyway under the circumstances, one guitar down and Jim a bit smashed after many free drinks, we sounded great. Winging it a bit, but we played, at times it was very exciting at times it was very funny.

If anyone sees a short man, indeterminate age or colour with a guitar case, I’m looking for my Taylor “Big Baby”, bugged up with hand carved bone nuts, you heard me, bone nuts…

Thanks for all the drinks Paul! x

Bar Sonic

I’d been nervous about Friday’s gig for days, my heart was pounding at the thought. For those of you not familiar with Bar Sonic, it’s small and in Deptford. You wouldn’t think it would be so daunting, the thing that was getting me was the knowledge that every face in there would be a friends. Though all of them have come to gigs at one time or another for some of them it had been quite a while, for others it was their first electric gig. The important thing to me was it actually mattered that each individual had a good night. Normally someone’s not going to get it, you can’t please everyone and I don’t expect to, that night though I wished we could.

We started with a new song “Emily” , I finger pick it and Jim comes in with driving complementary chords, it really took off. I like it when a new song feels that good first time out. Then there was a bit of fooling around. I get a bit of stick for not saying what songs are written about, I’m not being cagey I just think people would rather listen to the song than me talking about the song. It turns out I’m wrong. To test this theory I made up a couple of signs, sort of subtitles, one word descriptions saying ‘Sex’ and the other ‘Death’, this covers all bases. Once Bob joined us onstage I’d stopped holding up the cards and I was still getting asked for clarification, I’m going to remember this lesson. There was a bit of instrument swapping over the next few songs and a mood shift over the evening that ended up with dancing, not bad at all.

We played 2x45 minute sets and we had a bunch of friendly faces some singing along and we had the bar staff jumping, the landlord bought both the albums, and we all left feeling richer, or was that just me?

I've got a good feling about this

All day Friday Jim was saying “I’ve got a good feeling about this” and I like to hear that, but as we were approaching the venue I was beginning to question his sanity. Yes it was beautiful, rural Essex, with thatched cottages in painted pale colours and covered in patterned plasterwork. Yes it was a beautiful evening in the perfect setting to enjoy a beautiful evening, trees, rolling hills, fields of sheep, but when I’m about to play a gig I want fields full of tents, or smoky old cities. I want PEOPLE. So, situated in the middle of this bucolic backwater was the venue, High Barn, Great Bardfield.

Now I’ve been known to use the word ‘barn’ as an insult when talking about a venue. Sound tends to get lost in the roof or bounces around the place till it’s muddy and indecipherable. But when we got onstage for sound check I was blown away. The sound was incredible, so human and intimate, I can not remember the last time I sang into a system that perfectly set up for the venue. Lovely lovely lovely, by the time James the Sound had balanced our guitars and vocals my heart was beating like a drum.

My faith in Jim’s intuition restored we were given the next blinding bit of info… the night had SOLD OUT. 160 seats in a village that might not have 160 houses in it and the venue was rammed – how are these people getting it so right, tell me how? There were four acts booked that night, a bit of folk, something jazzy, a solo pop person with a show tune twist (nice hat Stuart) and Bruise.

What can I tell you other than it was proper? I’m serious, it felt amazing. Candles everywhere, a sound system that made us feel as comfortable as if we were on our own sofa. The audience was so attentive I could whisper into the mic and feel it impacting on the whole room, ooooOO. No one had a long set, no one needed one. We played 6 songs and when we got off stage strangers were quoting lyrics back at me, and you know you’ve made an impact when that happens. I think that was the most musical experience I’ve had this year, and unless we get booked to play the Barbican Center or possibly the Royal Festival Hall I cannot see us having a more musical experience this year.

If you’re interested in the Tec specs for High Barn check out this months issue of Audio Media, they’re front page. And if you’re interested in hearing us live check out the gig listings on our myspace and get yourselves in the audience! X

Narrow Street

So it’s the day after the Narrow Street Fete and I’m left with this warm glow. It could be sunburn, but it’s not. It was a beautiful day and it started in the best possible way. The Fete was opened by the stunningly lovely Cleo Roccos she was very nice to me) then our fab friend and bass player Bob Kelly’s band Kellys Heels opened up the musical proceedings. For those of you not in the know, Jim and I are the rhythm section for Bob’s brand of million mile an hour power pop. And despite some blundering bass from me, the Heels were much appreciated.

Promoter Paul did the right thing and whisked us off to The Grapes for a pint (I went for the Timothy Taylors, YUM) then we had half an hour before Bruise went on. I had brought my old Ampeg amp but Tim the sound engineer had set up a glorious old valve amp which I just HAD to plug into. After a bit of pedal shuffling … there’s got to be at least one tec head out there interested in this … my pedals generally go Tuner – Delay – Boost – Distortion – Wah – Tremolo – and a second boost set to compensate for the baritone being a bit quieter than the strat. After swapping the boost and distortion round for a cleaner sound we were ready to go.

Onstage it was an utterly beautiful sight to see, loads of sunny faced locals enjoying the canal side scenery and shaking a hoof to our set. There were so many individuals who beamed their approval at us while we were playing, but a few stick out in my mind. There was a little group of very young boys sat cross legged on the ground enjoying some serious rock gurning when we were rocking out, that makes me, a comparatively old girl, very happy. Then the Pearly Queen who seemed to dance through the whole last half of the set, she was brilliant. And finally the stilt walking women, 10 feet tall, dressed in luminous colours and really cutting loose to the last part of the set. It was such joyous thing to be a part of. During our last song “I Don’t Like You” we were surrounded on all sides by these gorgeous giants wigging out, they added a surreal glamour, the perfect end to a fantastic gig.

Thanks to those who bought albums and thanks to the organizers.

Keyed Up

I could have sworn I had a gig last night, I spent most of the week mentally preparing, hassling Jim for acoustic rehearsal time and generally getting keyed up. It was Thursday when Jim put me straight, the gig I was anticipating is next Friday.

This left me with a dilemma, because I had promised myself I would write something and post it after last nights gig… that never happened… I felt foolish enough having not played but to not blog as well seemed wrong wrong WRONG.

So here goes yesterday…

We’ve got an electric gig coming up on Monday, some Bank holiday shin dig in Wapping, we haven’t played an electric gig since Glastonbury and that feels like months ago now. So we booked some local rehearsal space and made some real noise. I love these afternoon rehearsals, you can really focus on details and iron out the uncertainties, then when you take it on stage it flows so naturally. Playing the guitar becomes as thoughtless and instinctive as dancing. We only had a couple of hours but we worked hard and I left the rehearsal room feeling exhilarated by the physical and mental work out. I also left the rehearsal rooms with with my head in the clouds, we loaded the car with everything, amp, pedals, kit, cymbals but forgot my guitars….ouch, the panic was painful. Fortunately they were just where I’d left them , behind the door of the room we rented.

I love my guitars, don’t get me wrong here I don’t have a 3000 pound Gretch from the 60’s I have a cheap cheap single pick up Squire Strat. It makes a straight forward sound, dirty when I distort and clean when I want it, it just responds to what you give it, we have an understanding, I am not a subtle player and it is not a subtle instrument. The other guitar I use is a bit rarer, but no less cheap, the Danelectro Barritone, fundamentally made of paper, but being longer scale than the average guitar it handles down tuning with grace and aplomb. Lovely low tremulous voice. The initial reason I became attached to this motley couple was simply the weight of them, they are as light as a feather. When I’m on stage I’m singing 95% of the time, I’m playing ALL the time, and if you haven’t noticed I’ve got 7 pedals in line so my feet are working pretty hard too. I’m not complaining about this, it is an amazing feeling, but do have a problem doing all those things whilst carrying a guitar that weighs more than a small child.

We are playing on Monday, I know it for a fact, unless it’s absolutely tipping it down… hmmmm X

Rocking in London

Our new cd, BRUISE nobody else

“This album was written and recorded in Currie House, home to Bruise for seven years. The building and what happened to it has influenced us greatly. Watching this home turn from a haven to a nightmare has broken my heart, then mended it again, then…you get the picture.” Isobel - April 2007

It’s a fifties classic. Shabby glory on the Eastern edge of Tower Hamlets. As residents left or were moved out the flats were claimed by organized crime, by squatters and finally by looters. Surrounded by neglect, robbery and drug abuse in a malevolent atmosphere of crushing failure and threat this collection of songs took shape and Bruise recorded a remarkable album. A derelict building is a moody place. Hollow and hopeless. Jagged, glittering and defiant. Doors slam in vacant flats. Rainbows form in the spray of ruptured pipes in sun-filled stairwells. The songs absorbed those moods, light and dark, and now these recordings reflect them.
Come see us at the Spice of Life on Friday 19th October 2007