September 17th: And having only moments ago said I wouldn't be updating anymore, I realised there are a few Production Notes outstanding. Here's one.
September 16th: It's a year since the final show at the Zodiac, and I am using the anniversary to unveil my new material at
The Sad Song Co. website. There isn't much more that I can add to this website, so it will probably fester away for a while, before being wound up in a few months. If you want to download anything, do it soon, because the mp3s will be going bit by bit to make way for the new songs on The Sad Song Co. site. See you over there...
August 21st: The shop had stopped working, so you can now buy
Misc. Music through oxfordmusic.net, link on MIsc. Music page. Sorry for the long gap in updates, I've been working hard, exciting development to come soon, if your email address is
Registered, you will be informed as soon as it happens.
July 15th: Another couple of Misc. Music songs added to
Production Notes.
July 9th: A new
Download of the History/Fiction acoustic version mentioned in
Production Notes. Due to site size restrictions, the live version of From This Height has been removed, but there's a lovely version of it on 'Misc. Music', so you can get it there if you want.
June 6th: Unimaginatively, there's another update of the
Production Notes. Sorry for the long gap. Been busy.
May 5th: Last update entry was kind of a false alarm, now there really is a new bit in
Production Notes. Thanks to everybody for your patience in the whole domain theft episode. We're back and running happily now.
April 27th: Another of the Misc. Music unreleased tracks added to the
Production Notes.
April 20th: The second of the non-contenders for Misc Music in the
download section.
April 10th: It's been promised for a long time but now it's here, a
download of one of the songs that didn't make it onto "Misc. Music". It has meant the Portsmouth mp3 of 'I Can't Wait' has disappeared into the ether, but with any luck Daylight or Arrogant Humility will put it back up...
April 1st: Some other
gigs featuring UBT members, and a new instalment of
Production Notes. Sorry about the self pitying "if anyone cares" bollocks last time. I sometimes foolishly allow my self image to spill over into what I imagine other people think of me. It won't happen again, no siree.
March 25th: Second half of the Misc Music live
production notes, if anyone cares.
March 11th: A tiny update of
gigs page.
March 7th: A light dose of
production notes page.
March 5th (2): Hoorah! The
Message Board returns!
March 5th: First IMPORTANT THING: Mark Mulcahy has been told they want him to do the gig on the 7th as a solo player, so me and Jase won't be there, and the CD will not be on sale. Sorry. Hopefully we can do some more shows with him when he comes back for a proper tour later in the year. Sorry I haven't had time to fix the message board. It doesn't seem to be anything simple, and getting all the orders done has taken up all my time for the last few days. If any of you web experts out there have any idea what it might be, don't hestitate to get in touch. There are some updates in the wings (Misc. Music Production Notes, downloads, a quicky tour diary from the Oxford MM show), but they also will have to wait until the initial rush has calmed.
March 3rd: The world outside Europe mailing problem with the shop is now fixed, but the message board has broken, I'm trying to figure out what's wrong, hopefully it should be back and pumping this weekend sometime.
March 2nd: The shop is now open. I hope everything is running smoothly, although it must be said the shop is very ugly. Oh well. Got to rush off to soundcheck with Mark Mulcahy now.
February 27th: Still the credit card thing eludes me (two working days for them to sort it out, eh? Pah.), but the mail order details are now up, so you can order that way if you so desire.
February 25th: As hopefully you noticed on the front page, apart from the website sales, if you're coming to the
Mark Mulcahy shows (the ones that Jason and I are definitely playing have changed slightly, follow the link for details), you will be able to buy
Misc Music there from me for £15.
February 22nd: To try and ameliorate the depression that must be sweeping over all of you since the announcement of the delay of Misc Music, here's a fun little
download to keep you going.
February 15th: Hello there, time for another quick update. There's
Production Notes for all the unreleased tracks on
Misc. Music, but so as not to let the cat out of the bag too early, today's are just slightly extended versions of the Advice b-side production notes put up when that was meant to be coming out as a single. And thank you to the people who sent me emails thanking me for my diligence in keeping the site going, but in the interest of full disclosure, I feel it's my duty to point out that it's actually because I'm a sad no-mark who can't let go of the past. Or something. More downloads soon, oh joy of joys.
February 13th:
Links replaced, and dates for
Mark Mulcahy's tour posted. Also the date for "Misc. Music" release has unfortunately slipped a few days, I'm struggling with the credit card acceptance gubbins, but since it doesn't have to be a Monday, hey, any day will do. Any French fans may be interested to know that it will be available through FNAC in France sometime at the start of March. The last
biog has been slightly revised since somebody pointed out that I left a few details out. And since people were asking, here's a little activity update. Me and Jase are helping my brother out by being a rhythm section for Interseed for the time being, I'm also drumming for Congress, which is basically Dustball with a different drummer (that name will mean something to Oxford residents...), plus an acid jazz band on the side, lot's of very talented student musicians making me feel both old and academically overwhelmed. Me and Jase have also been writing and demoing busily, at the moment with me on vocals. Nothing very concrete yet, but it's early days.
February 4th: Well what a surprise, another
download waiting for you. I've also found out that the oxfordmusic.net shop still has some of the singles around, I'll replace those links soon.
January 27th: That nice surprise I mentioned is waiting in the
downloads section.
January 21st: Trying to keep the excitement level up for 'Misc. Music' hopefully means a slightly higher frequency of updates for the next month. Here today is a
download of 'Too Many Things To Learn', which I'm sure for most of you requires no introduction. Nice surprise waiting for the next download, just got to go finish mixing it now...
January 18th: It is an update, but nothing to really look at I'm afraid, just a long overdue weeding of dead links, particularly the ones to the Boxman shop, and to the sold out Oxfordmusic.net shop. For those who have asked, there is still stuff to be added to the download page (yes, including Too Many Things To Learn), so don't despair, although it may take some time since I don't want to slow down progress on new material with this.
January 12th: Bloody hell. Anybody had the 'flu that's been going around? I was pretty much unconscious for two days. But now I'm better, and here's the long promised update with details about the huge double album full stop underlining of our career, entitled
"Misc. Music". Hopefully all questions will be answered on the dedicated page, if not I'm sure you won't be shy in using the message board to ask anything else. And to show that I do answer those questions, someone asked about the artwork for Advice To A Lover, well being environmentally friendly we've recycled it and are using the same photo for Misc.Music, so it's not lost forever. And Ed's questions about demos, are (whirring as he searches memory banks) Almost Here, Don't Ever Mention This and Dune Sea were all demoed in late '96, I think. Finest Little Space, depends on which version you mean, but I think a perusal of the gigography or the biography should give you your answer, Higher Than Remix came from jamming on a part of the song at rehearsals in March or April '98, so I guess I did it not too long after that, Nigel's Corner was done during the sty sessions (the piano bits) and the AH sessions (the drumming bit), and the original demo of R#1 was done in 1994, I think, although again the answer should already be on the site somewhere.
January 2nd: Happy New Year everyone, and a new millenium, for proper this time. A little new morsel in the
downloads section, just to keep you going. Mastering the live / unreleased / b-sides double this week, and doing the artwork, so hopefully tracklisting and cover posted next week, with some Production notes and the like to follow. Stay turned (sic).
December 16th: The fourth, last, and very long-awaited
Biography finally arrives. And I've never censored the message board.
December 12th: Another huge gap between updates there, but I have been very busy. The mixes for the live half of the upcoming album are all done, I'm just gathering up the umixed unreleased material into a form where I can mix it here, so hopefully it will all be done in the next couple of weeks. This means it should be available through this site in mid-February. I'm also sorting out the artwork and such as we speak, and inbetween I managed to record another band's last gig (Scrambler, from Oxford) and get the recording from the '98 Bloomsbury show in a position to mix. I'm considering using this as an "on-demand", I'll-burn-it-when-you-pay-for-it CD, but that won't happen until after the 'proper' live album has been out for a while. In fact, once all that's done, if a) anyone's interested and b) I can be bothered, I might post up my extensive list of live MDs, and run a similar system. We'll see.
When it's settled I'll start posting up details of the new album (a tracklist to start with, but there's production notes for all of the unreleased gubbins as well...). Due to the length of CDs, a few tracks from the gig will have to be left off, but any that don't make the CD will be added to our MP3 warehouse. For the moment, however, here's another
download from Oxstock, this time Who's To Know.
November 22nd: An addendum to the previous addendum to the
tour diary.
November 21st: An addendum to the previous
tour diary.
November 20th (2): As promised in the
tour diary, a
download, featuring Tyre Tracks from 1998s Oxstock Festival.
November 20th: A big long new rant, plus live / unreleased double album information on the increasingly misnamed
tour diaries page.
October 23rd: Another new
Download, a different live version of I Can't Wait, from Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms.
October 13th: A new
Download, an early demo of Stone, and links to where the songs we no longer have room for have gone.
October 10th:
"Tour" Diary type of thing.
September 28th: Bad news, I'm afraid, although there doesn't seem to be much else on this site. Shifty Disco have decided that due to the utter lack of the slightest whimper of radio play for Advice To A Lover it would be an unnecessary drain on their finances to release it as a single, and I can't say I blame them. The b-sides, Some Of These People and Whose Side Are You On? will of course be featured on the forthcoming live / b-sides / rarities double album, so they are not lost forever, and there are also quite a few promo copies of the single, that might be made available through this site. Insult + Injury = Unbelievable Truth.
September 26th:
Fansite link to Deborah's site updated.
September 25th:
Production Notes for the Advice To A Lover b-sides.
September 18th: Some stuff generally cleaned up a bit, and a new
tour diary.
September 9th: New
download as promised, an old old unreleased demo. The HTR Remix has gone from the archive, but it is intended that it will be on the rarities / live album that may be released.
September 8th: Not strictly an update, just to say (since some people have been asking) that we'll probably be on at the Zodiac around the 9.15 pm mark, and playing for 1 hr 45 mins. Maybe it'll be boring that long, but we want to play pretty much everything, so live with it. Support act Catherine Tran, who I can highly recommend, will be on 8.15 or thereabouts, so be there early. Unless you've passed out in the Turf and are unable to move. Another download tomorrow, although something will have to be removed from the archive. Suggestions on the message board (think of it as a musical version of Big Brother).
September 6th: A short
diary. And don't forget the
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
September 5th: New
download, a live version of Agony. And don't forget the
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
September 4th: News of new single up. And don't forget the
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
September 1st:
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
August 18th: Jason's equipment added to the
live production notes section.
August 16th: A new
download, this time the demo of Dune Sea from the archives, plus support announced for
Zodiac Show.
August 13th: Another instalment of sorrythankyou
Production Notes.
August 10th: Roadside#1 live in Portsmouth up on the
download page, plus contact details for the Zodiac added to
gigs page. There is now an album's worth of stuff (10 songs) to download. If you want Roadside # 1 in two different versions. Still more to come though.
August 9th: Andy's equipment given the treatment in
Live Production Notes.
August 8th: David Poe's site added to the related
links section.
August 7th: A couple of good press
reviews for shows on the sorrythankyou tour.
August 5th: New
Download, yet another live track from the sorrythankyou tour, this time Home Again.
August 4th: New
Production Notes about sorrythankyou tracks Home Again and Daylight.
August 3rd: Final
lyrics page up for Almost Here and b-sides.
August 2nd: Zodiac show on September 16th announced on front page and in
tour dates
August 1st: Final
Tour Diary from the sorrythankyou tour, the London show.
July 30th (2): New
Tour Diary up from Birmingham, Leicester and Sheffield.
July 30th: Sorry about the mistake on the
download page, it's now fixed and correct. Tour diary up in 12 hours or so.
July 27th (2): New
download, Daylight live from Portsmouth on 24th July.
July 27th: New
Tour Diary from the sorrythankyou tour Nottingham and Northampton. Also, I'd draw your attention to the note below about merchandise...
July 25th: New
Tour Diary from the sorrythankyou tour Portsmouth. And just to let you know, we've found various bits and pieces of stuff that we're going to sell at the shows along with the T-shirts, being the rare live 7", some Almost Here Japanese and Promo copies, and natrually sorrythankyou for people who haven't already got it. Just so's you can come prepared.
>July 24th: New
Tour Diary from the sorrythankyou tour Truck festival.
July 22nd: New
Tour Diary from the sorrythankyou tour.
July 18th: New
production notes, more tracks from sorrythankyou.
July 16th: New
download, a live version of 'I Can't Wait'.
July 15th:
Tour Diary from Abingdon instore.
July 14th:
Tour Diary from Cardiff and Oxford HMV instore.
July 13th: The first of the sorrythankyou
production notes up. No more tour diary for this week just yet - I'm afraid that I've been absorbing so much negativity that it would only be bitter and depressing. I'll wait until I've cheered up a bit before writing another one, eh?
July 11th: Some new pages up on the
Fansites link page, including the official site of the unnofficial fanclub. Some
reviews snipped from various sources for you also. Someone from the band Vivid, who are on the bill for our show at Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms, has asked if we could tell you that on that night they are giving away 200 free copies of their 'Seed' EP. Which I now have done.
July 10th:
Tour Diary from London Borders instore.
July 9th: New
download, featuring the original demo of 'Finest Little Space'. Also, if anyone here hasn't got a copy of the first album 'Almost Here', we've arranged with Boxman that if you buy through our site you get a 10% DISCOUNT. Go to the
shop.
July 6th: NEWS! Just to let you know, there will be a couple of UBT related tracks on the exclusive 'Truck 2000' CD, available at the Truck festival in Steventon, Oxfordshire, on 22nd and 23rd July (we're headlining Sunday 23rd). The first track is credited to UBT, called 'It Blows My Mind', but it must be said it's pretty atypical, a cut up sample of Andy running around in a mental drum and bass playground. The other is 'Keep On Trucking (No Sleep 'Til Steventon)', by our very own Jim Crosskey, featuring Nigel on drums. Jim plays everything else on this randy slab of (what else?) seventies rock (guitars, bass, claps, vocals and, er, beer can), with various members of local heroes Whispering Bob, whose lead singer Robin is the engine behind Truck Festival, adding backing vocals. The CD is strictly limited edition, and as such will probably sell out at the festival itself, so get down there to ensure your copy!
July 5th: NEWS! After a lot of toing and froing, 'sorrythankyou' is to be distributed in France by Poplane. There will be a limited number available immediately, with hopefully a more concerted promotional and sales effort in September. Along the same lines, there is also distribution in Sweden by MNW, Benelux by Konkurrent and Germany by EFA.
July 4th: Jim's equipment dissected in
live production notes
July 2nd: Last part of the 'Almost Here' era
Production Notes, including the terrible truth about the oft-enquired about lyrics to 'Circle'...
June 28th: Second part of John Spinks
interview, where he talks about the artwork for the singles and albums.
June 25th: Yet another
lyrics section.
June 23rd: 'Pedestrian', a track taken from 'sorrythankyou', available as MP3 download from
nme.com because they love us so.
June 22nd: New
download up. If you're trying to buy 'Agony' and it's been out of stock at oxfordmusic.net, go to the
Agony page where there's a link to buy it from our Boxman partner shop.
June 20th: Another new couple of songs in
Production Notes.
June 18th (2): It's now easier to buy stuff in the
merchandise section. If you want. Link updated on
gigs page for tickets to Truck Festival, and the rest of the tour.
June 18th: A complete site redesign, that I rather hope you've already noticed...
June 17th: go
here to help fight world hunger. First part of
interview with John Spinks, the man behind the cover art available.
June 15th: Final part of the
gigography for 1999. Some changes to
gig page.
June 12th: Server was down over the weekend, beyond our control, sorry. Also, I'm going to have to calm down slightly on the updates, it'll probably now be only three a week, or so. Today, a new section,
Live Production Notes, starts with an in depth, and boring to a non-drummer, look at my drum kit. Also, lo-fi MP3s have been removed from the download archive to make some room. Sorry to people with slow connections, but we'd rather you listened to them at a good quality if there's only going to be one type available.
June 9th: More
gigs on sorrythankyou tour - instores in London, Oxford and Abingdon, show added in Nottingham on 25th.
June 8th: New
download. London date confirmed and Welsh date added to sorrythankyou tour in
gigs.
June 7th: Second page of
lyrics up.
June 6th: New
Production Notes featuring Landslide b-sides now up.
June 5th:
Page for
Landslide, the new single 3 / 7 / 00 up. News page removed. Face it, anything important gets put up on the front page and the main menu, and everything else is covered here.
June 4th: New
tour diary up.
June 2nd: The next in a long line of
downloads.
June 1st:
New
lyrics section up. sorrythankyou
tour slightly tweezed about in
gigs.
May 31st (2):
Another new
fansite added.
May 31st:
Some changes on the
gigs page. Part four of
gigography
(1998 June - December), including all the tour diaries from the Tori Amos
jaunt.