enter the spook haus: (psychic) adventures in electro
Ceredigion, October ’23
Exciting developments: been working on new, electronics-based tracks with producer Gethin Pearson (Bloc Party/The Enemy/Tankus The Henge/Charli XCX, among many others) at the Institute of Sonic Architecture in Wales, with a co-writing assist from Paul Hopton. It went beautifully well, and I aim to share the results quite soon…
Meantime, got a couple more gigs in a few days:
Thur 19 Oct at The Prince Albert w/ The Last Vinci, Nil By Habit & Ahsoka
Sun 22 Oct at The Brunswick (Cellar Bar) w/ Grunt Work, Be Kind Cadaver & Fae As Folk
more faces, Aug-Sept ’23
angst, neck chains & pulsing veins… a drummer, 2 stages, a narcissist in the toilet:
photos by Leroy Brown, Rob Trendy, Chris Hibberd &c
Barelife / MF / Nancy Cancer: the faces, June ’23
photos by Chris Hibberd (The Pipeline, Brighton, 29 June)
That was a phenomenal night – maybe one of the best ever. A superb gig with lovely people – oh the atmosphere! Thanks to Nancy Cancer for a terrific debut performance and Barelife for a throbbing industrial climax. Grunge, post punk, techno: all the good stuff. It’s gigs like these that make it worthwhile. More to come!
one life to live…
So it’s been a while, and so what – we’re all busy. Anyway, not been idle: recorded 12 new songs at Third Circle, did some gigs… it’s a good life.
The guy who runs the studio worked with Steve Albini for a couple of years and has a similar live energy ethos – very happy with the results. Hope to have something for you soon x
cadavers, monkeys & agony: the evidence
Some photos from Thursday’s gig at The Pipeline, courtesy Chris Hibberd: pic 3) Be Kind Cadaver, pic 6) The Organ Grinder’s Monkey, pic 8) by Mik Hanscomb.
x
gig or 50’s Communist jazz club rally? YOU decide
Thanks to Leroy Brown Photography for these noirish shots of last week’s gig with Austerity (fig. 5) & Blue Spectre (6)… Here you see me modelling the “epicene villain” look… Was a great night, very intense, and these capture some of that dark energy. Behold!
Eight Miles High, Sept ’22: pixxx
action shots by Charlotte Horton – Eight Miles High Club, Brighton, 30 Sept ’22
Here are some photos from last week’s Eight Miles High gig at the Prince Albert… Also features Barney on drums, Be Kind Cadaver getting all up in yr bizness & 2/5 of Codex Serafini being incredible. It was a very nice night – if you weren’t there I pity you, I really do x
same room, different nights (plus tour news)
purple = pix by Mike Hackett * blue/green = Mik Hanscomb
It was fun to lose our minds in a small, packed room – photos from two gigs at The Pipeline in Brighton.
Back there again in August, plus some out-of-town dates:
Wed 10 Aug – Peer Hat (Manchester) – w/ Kodak Kid & Good Boy Niko
Thu 11 Aug – Pipeline (Brighton) 8pm, £5 – w/ Nil By Habit & The Wondering Weskits
Fri 12 Aug – Paradiddles (Worcester)
Sat 20 Aug – Yuck Club @ Trinity Bar (Harrow) 8pm, £5/4 – w/Astoria, Pest Band & Elliot Cook
…Might be a few more to add, we’ll see. Onwards into the airless, sweaty void xx
Graham Duff’s Mixtape & random pixxx
My new track Eerie World got a play on Graham Duff’s Mixtape (Totally Radio) for 13 April – listen to the programme here – good company I’m in.
And here, just because, are some recent live pix – they have that blurry nightmare feel I so enjoy:
live vid! (London, Feb ’22)
A rough & ready phone vid of the recent gig at Biddle Bros in London, courtesy Sad House Daddy. It captures the atmosphere – my guitar’s out of tune, the lunatics are slamdancing, the music’s very loud: it’s the full set. Enjoy!
new Safehouse album: MNO (plus gig pix)
Another improv album from Safehouse Brighton – I’m on tracks 1, 17 & 19. This is the fifth in a series of remote collaborations started over lockdown (am on every one except the first), so I’ll skip the blurb; enough to say it’s a big listen and a deep dive into freeform sound adventure. It’s also possibly the lightest, most accessible volume so far; who knows what’ll happen when we reach the end of the alphabet…
That’s one extreme, so here’s the reverse – from the Rossi Bar gig in November showing the other end of what I do:
1) MF – 2) La Pequena Em – 3) Austerity – 4) Austerity/Gulls (photos by Jimmy Guest)
It’s been a blast, somewhat against expectation given how bleak things looked in January – hope to do a lot more next year, and that everyone’s 2022 is utterly fucking fab.
x
visual riches, Oct ’21
A brief whizz of noise from Bar 42 the other week – song is Ugly Man.
Here’s the recent Eight Miles High Club gig in Brighton… had some good gigs lately, but this one had to be the most fun in a while – with 2) Fane 3) Melt Plastic Group & 4) the edge of an energetic crowd: all fantastic.
Eight Miles High Club on instagram
germ-free studio session: video
So what’s it like, doing live tracking in the age of Covid? Here’s some footage from Church Road Studios a couple of days ago…
Masks, hand sanitizer and tape on the floor – also, I’m not allowed to touch an amp or mic stand myself, which makes it feel like we’re filming at the BBC in about 1970 (quite fun, actually).
These are preliminary recordings for an album due out sometime next year… not yet clear exactly when… The first track featured is called Schooling, the second’s Derision (which is meant to be about 4min of freeform… we got nearly half an hour, so I look forward to the edit).
It’s a strange new situation all right – but not impossible, thankfully.
Rec Rooms streamed gig on Youtube
Here’s the recent streamed gig courtesy The Rec Rooms, for anyone who doesn’t like Facebook. It’s only the second time I’ve performed this way, and can’t deny it feels odd playing a set at home to dead silence (a bit like radio, but on yr own and with less reliable tech)… Still, reckon it went pretty well – see what you think.
All these lo-fi home gigs are going to make a weird little time-capsule once the immediate crisis passes… A historical record of people with hair that needs cut, staring at cameras in their bedrooms.
For anyone who fancies a deeper dive, here‘s the #SaveOurVenues gig I did for The Brunswick (fb only unfortunately)… Having crossed a line, I’ll probably do more of this kind of thing in future – but still prefer actual in-reality gigs.
So here, because I’m feeling maudlin, are a few that never came to pass:
…Hope to reschedule with some of these bands, some day!
Feb gig review / visuals
“Matt played his guitar with menace tonight”
The gig went really well – thanks to Leisure Tank and headliners Skinny Milk. We got reviewed, too, courtesy Plugged In Brighton – link here. A brief video:
And a few pix (thanks to Mik Hanscomb. The out-of-focus shots of the other bands are mine – I’m a musician, not a photojournalist… clearly):
…Onward to the next one.
in the studio, Jan ’20
noises (Church Road Studio)
burnt orange (Church Road Studio)
lights! (Audiobeach Studio)
…more on these developments soon
Resonance FM session, 16 Nov
pic(s) by Dexter Bentley
Here’s the live session & interview we did for Dexter Bentley’s HelloGoodbye Show on Resonance FM – it’s very close to the start of the show, and is four uninterrupted songs (including a brand new number) followed by some chat:
(That was our afternoon. Later on, we went to Biddle Bros in E5 for a very loud gig. An ideal day.)
the band: new photos
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- Stephen
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- Barney
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- ensemble
7 Aug ’19, The Prince Albert (Brighton) – CCZH Photography
Thought it was about time for some action shots of the band, to go with the recent overhaul of the site… This new collective focus is reflected in the next EP, which was recorded pretty much live in the studio earlier this year; it’s not just a one-man operation anymore. Anyway, there’s more to follow, audio & visual.
Perilous Seat vid exclusive
The video of Perilous Seat can be seen exclusively via Pure Grain Audio, here. It’s a DIY epic of indifferent miming, lurid colours and general dislocation – every penny’s up there on the screen. Hope you enjoy… If not, you can claim back the 3min 47sec of yr life from me at a gig, with this handy token:
gig / studio session / new single: pix
So the gig went well…
…and three days later, we went into the studio to record as a band – which also went very well (more on that later)…
…but meanwhile, there’s a new single coming out next month:
Due 8 March, accompanied by a video (one of my no-budget, lo-fi specials) – link to follow.
…
