bookmark_borderHypnotic Brass Ensemble

I’m always wary when I attend a gig by chance, having not heard any music from the artist in question. So when 10 guys bounced on stage, brass instruments reflecting the stage lights, and announced they were here to “make some motherfucking noise”… well I was even more confused.

Then they started to play and it all clicked into place.

Underpinned by heavy hiphop influenced beats (delivered from an American Euphonium), the trombones and trumpets soon picked out some … yeah.. hypnotic melodies. As the band members sway and spin in time to the music, it’s hard not to match their movements.

But the real key to their live act was the interaction with the audience, whipping us up between tracks, call outs and yells, reminding us that these guys know how to party, and when they started dropping lyrics with some slick rapping leading into and out of some of the track, the place went nuts.

Having such a hugely enthusiastic band, producing a booming, throbbing groove in such a small place is always a recipe for success, the energy was tangible and I was booging and swaying along without even realising. All too soon they were finishing up.

I picked up their CD on the way out and unfortunately the production isn’t great, losing all that booming bass, but this is a band that you DEFINITELY want to catch live, and the magic of the internets allows me to provide this video from Glastonbury this year to give you a flavour:

bookmark_borderFriday night

To celebrate the recent release of our product, the Development group had a wee night out, as is our wont.

A few of us (you know, the sensible ones) congregated in a Pizza Express for some food then nipped across the road to catchup with everyone else in Stavka, a vodka bar. It was a good laugh, and we managed to stay out of the trap of talking about work… well not too much anyway. And, as is the mark of a good night out, there are some details that are only emerging from the fuzzy depths of my brain today.

For example I’d forgotten when Alan licked the foam off the top of Joan’s Guinness, when Shelly fell on the dancefloor later on, and that Sid and Davy ended up having a snog. That’s a good night out, when everyone is in the same happy go lucky mood.

Ohh and, obviously, the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

That said it turns up that one of the last shots of the night WASN’T raspberry vodka after all… I’m not sure what it was but it was DEFINITELY that drink that tipped me over the edge.. honest.

Now just need to figure out who ended up going home with whom and I’ll have ALL the gossip. Hey, I work in ‘communications’, it’s important!

bookmark_borderLondon Calling – Take 2

Back from Spain, unpacked and back into the routine. The next few weeks will be busy, preparing for a new kitchen, finishing off a website (two on the go at the moment) as well as a few other things that have cropped up in our absence that need dealt with.

However, before all that and as I’ve already mentioned, I’m in London this coming weekend. Friday evening will find me in Charing Cross in the Ship and Shovell pub from around 4pm.

At the request of some, I’ve setup an Upcoming event for this momentous occasion. As I was told (or at least this is how I remember it) this is an incredible opportunity for you all to meet and greet the 17th most important blogger in Scotland. OK, maybe I’m over-egging it a little but I’m DEFINITELY the most important blogger in my house.

If you can be bothered to come along, and you have an Upcoming account, then it would be handy if you’d sign up to this event so I know how many people to expect. I know the pub has a maximum capacity so this will help me gauge the interest in what may be a once in an evening occasion.

I realise the location won’t suit everyone but as I’m hauling my ass down from Scotland, it really would be a little rude of you to complain, so suck it up. I will bring some signed photographs and if you are really lucky I may even let you buy me a drink. It’s only fair.

Hope to see you all there.

bookmark_borderI don't like Halloween

(Tell me why! I don’t like… ohh, wrong song)

I’m not quite sure why but I’ve never really enjoyed Halloween, and I still don’t. It may be because it seems like such a sham these days with strange kids disguised as unruly teenagers turning up at your door and demanding their goods.

Occasionally you still get a witch or a ghost, or a domino (c’mon, everyone was a domino once, right?) and they even make an effort to do a turn (translation: sing a song, do a dance, tell a joke). When they do you politely laugh, or nod and smile, then present them with a tangerine and usher their bemused faces out the door, ignoring their pleas for sugar-based goods.

Actually, that last bit is a lie. On Halloween I sit upstairs, reading a book or surfing the interweb, whilst my darling wife liberally coats every waif and stray with candy skulls, sugar coated coffins, and jelly spiders. Did I mention that I don’t like Halloween?

I wonder if it can be traced back to my childhood (ohh go on, indulge me), being dressed up and taken round the neighbours to be patronised… I mean to entertain them purely for the reward of their applause. OK, a lot of the time it was just for the sweets. Although when I grew up it was mainly monkeynuts.

I hate monkeynuts.

Well that’s not strictly true, I quite enjoy opening them but that flaky skin that gets stuck to the roof of your mouth? ICK.

I now indulge (a little too often) in the adult version, pistachios. Only I no longer have to dress up and sing a silly song to get my hands on them. The joys of adulthood, eh.

God I sound like some old curmudgeon. And no, I’m not thinking of anyone in particular, honest Lyl… er… honest.

I’m not completely averse to dressing up, but it has to be for the right reasons. The last time I dressed up was to attend a medieval banquet as a wizard, at the behest of a co-worker who was celebrating her birthday. The fact that she was rather cute, curvy and had shown me a photo of the wench outfit she was hiring was, I admit, a factor. Which reminds me, I think I still have those photos in the loft… I HAVE been meaning to start scanning them all in…

I guess it’s fair to say that I don’t really hate Halloween as much as I dislike the forced nature of it. But then I dislike any form of organised fun. You know the type I mean, it’s usually led by some cheery-faced idiot who can’t begin to fathom that, rather than repeatedly ducking your head into a basin of cold water in the vague hope of being able to retrieve an apple (why do they always buy the biggest apples they can find?) you’d much rather just hold them under the water until that smirk was removed from their face.

You know, this is why I like writing this blog. It brings some issues of my personality to the fore, don’t you think. Yes, it seems I harbour a deep-seated suspicion of those with a permanently cheery disposition and, you know what, I’m not going to deny it. In fact, to my eternal shame (and I’m being serious now) I once pushed over a kid at school because he had the gall, the audacity, to smile at me and wish me good morning whilst I was in a bad mood. Sorry about that James! (er… MacDonald I think..??)

Maybe it’s jealously, or maybe these cheery nutters just bring my psychotic tendencies to the fore. Thankfully my bad moods are far less frequent these days, and don’t ever stretch much beyond a glare. Either that or I’ll just completely ignore you, you leering, smirking twat. Ahem.

If you are dressing up tonight then please enjoy yourself, have fun, go wild! Just, whatever you do, don’t mind me and please don’t try and involve me.

Ohh and definitely, DEFINITELY, no monkeynuts.