So.. me, Jeri and Charlotte had the big-ass idea of putting on gigs so we could meet cool bands. The first thing we knew we needed though was money. Luckily we remembered that Mr Panton, the business teacher, had access to an enterprise fund so we could afford to pay the bands and advertising etc.
We are actually planning a gig for charity now in October! It's so exciting. We haven't settled on a date yet as we're waiting for the main band, The Rumur, to get back to us on a date that they're available. I don't actually think they believe us, seeing as a) we're 14/15, and b) it's at someone's frickin' school. So far though we have heard that two other bands, Chimps With Lipstick, and Charlotte's friend Tobias' band. We're going to have to audition them first, to see if they're 'appropriate' to play in front of our school-only under-16 audience. Not that I find much 'adult' stuff inappropiate or unsuitable for me anyway. It doesn't influence me really.
It'll be in the new drama studio (which hasn't finished being built yet!) which fits 100 people, so I guess we're starting off small, as we should.
Jeri also found out that we could hold some at the Plough (the local theatre) if we worked in conjunction with the booking manager, and that all the profit goes back into the theatre fund, henceforth the more money we make the bigger the bands we could book as they get more expensive. We're going to go and find out more next week I think.
It's like the dream job, except we're not making any money yet. It will be an amazing experience I think, to see all your hard work pay off on the night, and to feel like a VIP pottering around backstage all the time. To carry on, I think we'll have to wait and see how it goes first. I've learnt that a lot of this organising thing contains a lot of wait-and-seeing, because you have to talk to so many people about each part of the night, from the bands to security through to supervision. In the end though I think that makes the whole organising experience better because there's a lot of suspense, and you can see each part being pieced together when someone says 'yeah, I'll do it'.
If only I did this for work experience..
-listening to - Johnny Come Last - The Fratellis
Surely the best band on the plnaet at this moment in time? Their appearance at Glastonbury last night was phenomenal, as is their fantastic new album Here We Stand. It starts off with a cracker, My Friend John, complete with escalating bongos and a championistic riff before their typically silly lyrics take off. As Q says, it finds singer Jon in self-analysis mode, with the lyrics 'my friend John was a serious one/ buttoned up the back and a job half done'.
Track 2, A Heady Tale, is an amazing introduction to the band's new addition of piano. Lovely spangly piano builds up to continue with surging guitars, up to the whimsical stomping chorus. It just makes you want to dance round and round in circles.
Shameless, the next song, perhaps has some of the cleverest lyrics on the album, focussed on the frustration of so many young bands that are at the same stage that they are at now, even with the 10 year age difference. It has an amazing crunchy riff to begin with, but in my opinion it isn't the best song on the album.
Look Out Sunshine! is to be the band's next single. I can see why, it is incredibly singalong in the scream-along-while-no-one's-home vein, and that's what the people like about and expect from The Fratellis.
Here, at track number 5, it seems that The Fratellis are musical magpies with the Pink Floyd-esque Straggler's Moon, which Jon says is his favourite. It has charring guitars to begin with and a soft chant of 'she can't help it, the girl can't help it', until it progresses to an effectively tapped out verse and swirly, psychedelic leads in the chorus, it is one of those summer songs.
The lead single from the album so far, Mistress Mabel, is often dubbed as the bridge between Costello Music and this album, and so be it. It has the nonsensical rooftop singalongability of the first album, yet the hammering piano and hidden progressive maturity of Here We Stand.
I have dubbed Jesus Stole My Baby the 'Doginabag' of Here We Stand, seeing as they both take a long time to grow on you and when they do you realise just how amazing they are. It's been a while since they brung out the harmonica and it really helps add to the bluesy atmosphere of the song.
Babydoll, the eighth track, is an incredibly sweet semi-acoustic gem. When the lead comes in over the top, it raises up the fragile voice of the verse, and it is ultimately a song that makes you feel allw arm and tingly inside.
Straight after that comes the rock crunch of Tell Me A Lie, which I think over time will become one of those crowd favourites, with shouts of "Ah ah ah ah ahhh" over the riff and "He's a liar! He's a liar!" in the somewhat Kasabian-esque chorus. The verse reminds me of Creepin' Up The Backstairs a little, with a frantic guitar lead and bass line.
Another semi-acoustic singalong, Acid Jazz Singer, follows with more tales of drunkeness and girls. I think I could sing this at a campfire and get away with it.
The penultimate song, Lupe Brown, has a cracking introduction which somehow reminds me of an Irish jig, I don't know why! The lyrics in this one are OK, but ultimately it's the mighty guitar solos that weave in and out of it that make the song.
Milk and Money is left til last but definitely not least. It starts off on intimate piano and soon leaves shivers up your spine. After the second chorus drums, bass, guitar, piano and keyboard collide towards hysteria, before echoing back to the piano of the beginning. It's there to make you think wow.