Wednesday 27 January 2010

A sad announcement from The Birds......

C-Bird and X-Bird:

After two years, we have decided to call it a day with The Birds. We've experienced some great moments with this band but feel the time is right to concentrate on other passions. We want to thank everyone who has supported us these past two years and those of you who have taken the time to listen to our music, read our blog and meet us at our shows! We've met some great people along the way and have some fantastic memories! It's time to move forward positively into the future and launch ourselves head first into whatever is in store for us. The past two years have been an exhilarating whirlwind and we will continue to live our lives without regret and full of creative thought and positivity!!! A big thank you for all of your support!!!

D-Bird:
After almost 2 years together, we lay to rest one of the most exciting, exhilarating and exhausting projects I have ever been involved in. It all started off from an impromptu jam, an impromptu band formed and within such a short time, the impromptu band went full time, touring the world, recording with the likes of Steve Albini and meeting people I could only ever dream we'd meet.

Rather than dwelling on the reasons for ending I think it's important to look back and reflect on a proud achievement. We had FUN, I adored instrument swapping and more than anything, I loved being on stage. The time has now come to move on and focus on my new band Blue On Blue as well as my club Decasia Club, to thank those we've met along the way, enjoy new projects and take all that we have learned into a new direction. It has been one hell of a ride!! Thank you all for the support!

Over and out....
xxxxxxxxxxx

Monday 11 January 2010

Girl Chewing Gum

from John Smith..



I remember watching this years ago when I was studying film...recently a video artist friend of mine shared this video link on her page. It's been a while since I've seen 'Girl Chewing Gum' but watching it again has reminded me of how great this video is. The simplicity of the video highlights for me the magical illusionary aspect behind the craft of film and video making. It's such a genius yet simple idea. Everyday life is a film set and you're the director!

X-Bird

Tuesday 29 December 2009

Men Don't Protect You Anymore



People who read this blog know that Nirvana are one of the greatest personal inspirations for me. Besides their obvious talent as musicians and songwriters, they were also a very political and opinionated band. Race, sex and sexuality were issues which they discussed frankly both within and outside of their music.

I recently interviewed Sune Wagner of The Raveonettes for P.I.X Magazine and one of the questions I asked him was how he'd thought the music industry had changed in the last decade since they first started out as a band. His reply was that it was so much easier to communicate with fans and this was a great thing.

I completely agree. Back in the days when articles in Melody Maker and NME were more critiques and structured essays rather than 2 sentence rants about which indie star was spotted in a football kit in Tesco, a feature length interview with a band would be at least 4 pages long. In those 4 pages you would read everything from the latest release, to upcoming gigs, to bands' thoughts on current topical issues. I knew everything about my heroes and this was pre-Google days. The journalism was informative and beautifully descriptive. I honestly felt reading and watching Nirvana interviews that Kurt was talking to me, to us, to his fans. He was a person, a musician, an artist who contemplated, discussed and speculated. He wasn't some too cool for school robot who just watched his bank balance grow all day and couldn't be bothered to communicate both on and off stage like some current bands.

Use of blogs, bulletins, messages these days is a great way of communicating with like-minded people. Unfortunately we will never receive the Everett True or Paul Morley type-interviewer as they are very few and far between these days. This is why we write and post our thoughts out. Because we will always be mis or under represented elsewhere. We don't want you to give us your money by buying gig tickets and records and that's it. We have commenced an open forum for discussion through our music, through our opinions....Whether you want to respond to it or not, that is not our concern. Our main concern is to create, explore and discuss.

Personally I find bands who think they are to cool to communicate directly with fans totally off the radar. Being faux mysterious does not fill me with an ounce of inspiration however someone with an opinion always does. My dear friend Dario gave me an NME Original Nirvana magazine for my birthday which has every single Nirvana interview, review and photo that was ever published in NME from their first ever London show and release up until Kurt's death.

It is littered with beautifully, poignant and inspiring quotes, some of which I have posted below.

'I like the comfort in knowing that women are the only future in rock and roll'

About The Breeders:
'They're strong women but it's not that obvious. They're not militant about it at all. You can tell they love men at the same time'.

'I hate tie-dye t-shirts...I wouldn't wear a tie-dye t-shirt unless it was dyed with the urine of Phil Collins and the blood of Jerry Garcia.'

D-Bird

Monday 28 December 2009

Oh gawd this neighbourhood! I'm scared rats are gonna come out and bite my new nylons!

Glam up party people NYE is only a couple of days away!

I'm currently watching Female Trouble for dress up inspiration for Decasia's John Waters extravaganza at The George Tavern on Thursday!

I'm hoping however that I don't celebrate New Years with a black eye similar to the one Divine is sporting in the following clip. Having said that, by the end of this excerpt she's worring about more than just a black eye... This clip quite frankly symbolises the dinner party from hell- dinner guests who won't eat your food, a petulant child, a crazy neighbour...and Christmas dinner is barely a distant memory!

FEMALE TROUBLE- JOHN WATERS CLASSIC!



Hmmm spag bol anyone?

See you for New Years folks!

X-Bird

Sunday 27 December 2009

Garbadge Man

Hole reunion in 2010?



BRING IT ON
D-Bird

Friday 25 December 2009

Merry Christmas All!!

Here's to a great Christmas and New Year!

We promise lots more muzak and gigs in 2010!

Scotland and America here we come!!!
xxxxxxxx

Thursday 24 December 2009

Desperate Teenage Lovedolls



I love films about scenes - whether documentaries or parodies. Surely everyone at any one time belongs to some scene somewhere? Isn't it a part of our innate sense of being to cherish the feeling of belonging?

A girl band composed of teenage runaways. Black Flag and Redd Kross feature heavily on the soundtrack plus there's a cameo from Slash pre-Guns N' Roses days.

What the hell else could you possibly want in a film??

D-Bird