The Xtra Mile Recordings Tour of North America

After a little encouragement from my boyfriend and my mum – the latter a surprisingly big Xtra Mile fan – I decided to try and come up with something to enter into the recent Xtra Mile poster competition. I am a graphic designer afterall, plus I hadn’t done much music-related design work in a while.

‘Calling all artsy XMR fans! We want you to design the special, limited edition, screen printed lithograph for Skinny Lister, Beans On Toast and Will Varley’s North American tour. We are looking for an unique and original piece of art for this special #XMRtour, happening in March and April of 2016. Anyone can submit a design. You are allowed to create whatever you see fit for this poster…’

I had an idea fairly quickly (using the Skinny Lister flagon) but spent a good few hours moving things about and changing colours. Entries for the competition closed on Friday so I didn’t feel too reluctant to share my design here… and now I’ve just found out that I won! I’m so pleased.

The Art of Punk

After dabbling in gig review writing (here and here), I've landed myself a weekly feature on Colin’s Punk Rock World. This is definitely all down to my writing ability and ideas rather than the fact I’m his girlfriend, obviously!

Every Tuesday I will be posting an article under the theme ‘The Art of Punk’. My first post went out earlier today and is a bit of an introduction to the whole concept, but also features London Calling by The Clash.

Alongside working on my own posts, I’ve also designed some banner-style images to head each blog post on CPRW – for each category: album reviews, gig reviews etc. These also appear down the side of the blog (see above!) and offer quick links to each category.

…I’m not taking over, honest!

The Complete Gig List

I’m one of those weird people that likes making lists (and playlists). I also really like music and live music in particular. Anyone that knows me well knows that I go to quite a lot of gigs – five in the last month and two more later this week! Which is quite a lot compared to the average person and especially so considering that I don’t live in London (or any other major city for live music, ie. Manchester).

Some years ago I sat down and worked out every gig that I had been to: dates, where it was, who was supporting, who was headlining. I couldn’t always recall the support acts and for some I didn’t want to recall them, but I managed a pretty complete list. Ever since I have been making sure that I keep said list up to date. The list doesn’t include all of the small random local shows in Falmouth nor any from my Pitz-going days as a teenager in Milton Keynes. It does however include gigs that I wouldn’t shout about having been to, but it is honest.

The list used to be published online in a last.fm journal but since the website is having a major re-design (and has been for the last few months) the journal feature isn’t working… So, I’ve posted the list here on my blog instead. And there is also a separate ‘Seen Live’ list that simply lists bands and how many times I’ve seen them.

My current task involves adding to a Spotify playlist containing songs by all of the bands in my gig list – well, all of the ones I deem decent enough to still listen to – in chronological order. I’m still adding to it (and will continue to, as I don’t intend on ceasing going to shows!) but take a look/listen if you fancy it…

It gets progressively more punk.

Colin’s Punk Rock World

Last month I met a man named Colin who loves punk rock about ten times more than I do – and I really love punk rock myself! He just so happens to have an excellent blog compiling album reviews, gig reviews and top tens called Colin’s Punk Rock World. It was always really well-written but, being the keen graphic designer that I am, I immediately asked if I could offer my design expertise. I initially designed a new banner for the Facebook page and tonight I tweaked the blog to match.

Yes, I am also plugging my own review that I wrote for the blog a few weeks ago. At least, it’s kind of a review but mostly me babbling about how The Gaslight Anthem ‘changed my life’ or something like that. Colin was kind enough to think it worthy of being posted anyway.

ps. Colin is also now my boyfriend but that’s kind of irrelevant here.

12 x FT

I was super lucky to attend the release day party of Frank Turner’s sixth album, Positive Songs for Negative People, last night at the Garage in Highbury, London. It was definitely one of the best Frank Turner shows I’ve been to, which is no mean feat – I’ve been to 12 of his gigs over the past five years!

Those 12 gigs have really ranged in size and location – one was even in another country! This has got me thinking that it would be interesting to gather together a photo from each show and share them all together. I, of course, take photos at every gig I go to – I even used to use an actual camera, before the iPhone/Instagram…

24/03/10 @ Camden Roundhouse, London

The first and probably one of the closest I’ve been. Will always be special to me.

16/07/10 @ 2000 Trees Festival, Upcote Farm, Cheltenham

Frank’s first festival headline. My first festival. Our favourite festival.

BONUS PHOTO!

12/12/10 @ Brixton Academy, London

Venue size increasing rapidly. Dad was my gig buddy for this one – his first (of six) FT gig(s).

04/04/11 @ White Trash Fast Food, Berlin (Germany!)

Conveniently he was playing in Berlin when I was there. This was a solo show.

25/08/11 @ Roadmender, Northampton

A Reading warm-up show. Too close to home to even consider missing.

27/11/11 @ Hammersmith Apollo, London

Travelled up from Cornwall for this one. Only time I’ve ever been seated for a FT show too.

13/04/12 @ Wembley Arena, London

A real special show – both for me and Frank!

01/07/12 @ 
Eden Sessions, Eden Project, St Austell

Frank Turner? In Cornwall? A few days before I left Falmouth for good? Sure thing!

26/11/12 @ O2 Academy, Oxford

I won guest list spots for the venue of my choice. This was a tour without a London date.

[2013 was unintentionally a Frank-free year]

12/02/14 @ O2 Arena, London

Massive, but massively awesome.

17/12/14 @ XFM Winter Wonderland, Brixton Academy, London

Frank and the boys were awesome as always but wouldn’t go to an XFM thing again.

07/08/14 @ The Garage, London

Last night. Closer to the stage standing at the back of the venue than several of the above!

Clearly almost all of these are pretty bad from a photographic point of view… but it’s interesting to see how Frank – and the band (note how they don’t become known as The Sleeping Souls for a while) – have evolved. And the logo/stage backdrop too!

It actually feels like I’ve seen Frank more times than this: he’s made guest appearances when I’ve been watching Beans on Toast and Billy Bragg, plus another Billy – Billy the Kid – on multiple occasions. Not to mention the times I’ve stood next to or near him at other artist’s shows!

I’ve got at least one more gig lined up in November but I don’t doubt that I will continue to go to even more Frank Turner shows after that. He’s just that good.

WORKOUT [punk-style]

I’m not particularly good at making playlists. Sure I can cobble together a selection of songs and bands that I like… but that normally involves whole albums rather than individual and carefully selected songs – by which I mean one by each artist and maybe even in a specific order.

So, I am quite please with my ‘workout’ playlist that I have put together for myself. (Read my recent post about the fitness bug I’ve caught.) Pleased enough that I felt the need to share it with the world. Particularly because it’s a workout playlist with a twist – all of the songs are punk rock or folk punk based. A lot of the songs are loud, short and fast which, of course, is great for exercising to!

I’m not saying I’m the first person to put together a playlist of this kind and I’m sure there’s lots of other people out there who exercise to punk music. But I couldn’t find anything half as good as this on Spotify! Perhaps I’m being a little biased, please judge for yourself…

The playlist currently has 42 tracks and I am adding to it as and when I come across something suitable. I’m open to suggestions!

Vagabond

I think someone has taken a leaf out of Frank Turner’s book for their new lyric video. I’ll let him off though, because he’s CHUCK RAGAN. Plus, this is my favourite song from his last album and it’s a features neat little doodles as well as the lyrics. And it is a re-recorded version with guest vocals… although I still prefer the original anyway.

Chuck Ragan. Donor of shoes, father-to-be, all-around nice guy. Last year, he released a solo album called Till Midnight that kept him strummin’ across the country. Now, he’s working on a split with fellow Revival Tourer Rocky Votolato called Kindred Spirit and re-recorded Till Midnight’s ‘Vagabond’, but this time with the help of Ben Nichols of Lucero as well as Jon Snodgrass and Chad Price. Enjoy the gravelly rustic sounds of the song’s collaboration while you train your chocolate lab to build a shed or carve an outhouse out of a single block of wood. – Noisey

Tim Vantol @ The Craufurd Arms, Milton Keynes

It’s been a little while since I’ve posted about a specific gig on my blog. I used to write a blog post with an assortment of photos after every show I went to, but now I go to a lot more gigs. Plus, I have Instagram for sharing my bad gig photography! BUT, last night I went to a gig that was just a little bit special. Special firstly because it was in my hometown, Milton Keynes, at the Craufurd Arms and secondly because it was a free show that I certainly would have paid good money to go and see.

My parents and I went to see Chuck Ragan in London about a month ago (you may recall this blog post about the poster I bought at the show). Supporting Chuck Ragan was a guy from the Netherlands with an acoustic guitar and one hell of a voice – Tim Vantol. Personally, I had heard of him before the Chuck show, as I knew he’d been on the Revival Tour with Chuck and co. before, but I had never actually listened to him. He wowed us there and then with his passionate acoustic (but certainly not quiet) music. And so it was when I was posting my gig pictures to Instagram later that night, and had started following Tim, that I discovered he was going be playing in Milton Keynes about a month later.

Milton Keynes, and the Craufurd Arms, always seems like an odd choice for bands to stop on their tours of the UK but I’m grateful that some artists do stop by. Even though I don’t live in Milton Keynes anymore, and Bedford does have a fairly decent music scene of its own, it was nice to return to my hometown for a spot of live music on a Tuesday night. So, along with my parents, I had an awesome time watching Tim Vantol play his heart out in the bar area of the pub. Tim had brought his band along for the ride this time too. And even though they were playing for a rather tiny audience – there can’t have been more than 20 people – it didn’t stop them from playing super enthusiastically.

Although I always take a few photographs, I have never been one to record videos at a gig. I always assume they’d come out rubbish or that I’m too far away or too short to film anything decent. Besides, I can’t be bothered to hold my phone still for 3 minutes when I could be bopping along to the music and singing along. However, given that there were so few people in the Craufurd Arms last night and I had the prime spot standing in front of the stage without anyone blocking my view, it was the perfect opportunity to film a little gig video. Plus, Tim and the band played two very different cover songs…

I didn’t catch the song from the beginning and only really filmed this snippet to share with my friend, Kat, who took me to see the Old Crow Medicine Show last year. I was surprised by how well this came out. I should have stayed filming a bit longer as the guitarist pulled off a magnificent solo. You’ll have to take my word for it.

Before playing Wagon Wheel, Tim had asked if anyone knew who OCMS were – I did, as did a few others. A few songs later, he asked if anyone knew who Against Me! were. To which I responded with an excited ‘Yes!’, whilst everyone else in the room remained quiet. They then proceeded to play one of my favourite AM! songs, Sink Florida Sink. Again, not the whole song as I wanted to enjoy it with my own eyes and ears, rather than through my iPhone. (I posted a clip of this video on Instagram/Twitter and got a favourite from AM! singer Laura Jane Grace herself – plus Tim!)

After the show, I knew that I had to tell Tim how brilliant the covers were – as well as the whole set in general – even if it was a little daunting to speak to a musician I admire. I bought a copy of his newest album on vinyl and my dad bought the first album on CD. We chatted to him for what seemed like far longer than we perhaps should have done! I said we’d seen him with Chuck last month and mum told him I was educating my parents in good music. Not strictly true as they’re already very well educated. Tim wanted to know what was good in Milton Keynes, so we told him about the greenery and parks, and then he gave mum some tourist tips for Amsterdam in exchange.

All-in-all, he was such a lovely guy and seemed genuinely pleased to be playing in Milton Keynes – he had noticed the excessive amount of roundabouts, by the way, if you were wondering. I’ve never been brave enough or had enough to say to a musician at a show before, but I’m pleased that last night I did. I look forward to seeing Mr. Vantol again someday soon…

Pedal Down

I had the pleasure of seeing Chuck Ragan, one of my most favourite musicians, live in London last week for the fifth* time. Chuck and his band, The Camaraderie – comprising of bass guitar, pedal steel guitar, fiddle and drums (plus Chuck with the acoustic guitar and harmonica) – put on an outstanding show. Probably even better than when I saw them last May. This time I didn’t have my usual gig-buddy-boyfriend with me, but I did have both of my parents! And they loved it almost as much as me.

The support acts Tim Vantol and Skinny Lister are absolutely, 100% worth a mention too as both were excellent. The latter I had listened to prior and was excited to see. The former I had heard of but never properly listened to – he’s playing in Milton Keynes later this month so I’m going to go to that (with the ’rents again!). I would also highly recommend the Scala music venue. It’s fairly small, the sound is great and they played the best between-sets music I’ve ever heard at a gig – although, I am not sure if that was their doing directly or the people with the bands.

I picked up this beautiful screenprinted A2-sized Pedal Down Europe tour poster at the show. I’ve always wanted to buy a nice gig poster but there have never been any that really caught my eye until this one. At least not actually at the gigs I’ve been to – there’s loads online that I like the look of. I haven’t got a frame for it yet so had to masking tape it to the floor to take a decent photo!

I spent about 10 or 15 minutes, this evening, trawling around Google and Google images trying to find out the designer of the poster. I had no such luck finding out myself (I couldn’t even find the poster, let alone its creator), so I asked Chuck Ragan on Twitter instead. Which turned out to be a much better solution as he replied within minutes.

Devan Power is a ‘jack-of-all-trades’ designer and illustrator based in Toronto. He’s previously worked with Hot Water Music, Chuck Ragan’s long-standing hardcore punk band, and a number of other music-related clients. I’m now following him on Instagram. He posted this poster himself a few days ago – apparently they are from a limited run of 100 prints. All the more awesome.

* I paused writing this post to check my ‘seen live list’ and find out just how many times I have actually seen him.
I initially thought it was four, not five!

Frank’s back!

…and sounding better than ever. No, seriously. This is classic Frank Turner and I’ve only listened to the song once so far! Because the video is pretty neat – writing the lyrics as he sings them (or, the recording of him sings them!) – I thought it was worth a share here.

I’m looking forward to reading Mr Turner’s new book when it’s released in April – dad’s got a copy on pre-order for me birthday. I imagine, as the master lyricist that he is, that it will be a good read. I’ll need a break from fantasy books anyway…

The Mariner’s Revenge

I know I posted a blog, only yesterday, about The Decemberists… I’m not obsessed, honest… but I just came across this amazingly well animated adaptation of The Mariner’s Revenge Song. It’s even better and more fitting than the Lego version even, so I just had to share it. The style used is just perfect for the story.

What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World

Last night dad and I went to see, American-alternative-indie-folk-band, The Decemberists play at Brixton Academy in London. They are a band that we have both been itching to see play live for several years now, but never had the opportunity to previously. We were seated upstairs in the circle – I’ve never been upstairs in Brixton Academy before – which meant we were by no means close to the stage. However, that didn’t matter one bit as we were directly in the centre and had a clear view of the stage, albeit at quite a distance, and the sound was perfect.

We knew they’d be great live, having seen a few videos of them playing in the past and having listened to their live album (which for a live album is actually really good – I say ‘actually’ because I’m not usually a fan of live albums). But I don’t think either of us expected them to be quite so incredibly good. I would definitely say that last night was up there with the best gigs I’ve ever been to. They don’t just play their songs, they perform them. I’d never really considered it before but they are a pretty theatrical band, in terms of the themes of their songs anyway.

This song, which was the [second] encore last night, pretty much sums up what I mean. (The Lego version is particularly good too!)

A lot of the songs that the band played last night were, unsurprisingly, from the latest album – What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World. The album came out in January and, although I’ve been listening to it on Spotify, I hadn’t actually bought a physical copy. Yet. So, I decided to splash out and buy the vinyl version last night. It’s a double LP, which is a first for me, and it is beautifully packaged.

Back in November last year I posted the video for Make You Better, the first single from WATWWABW, here on my blog. The kaleidoscopic-style imagery is taken from the album artwork (also featured in that blog). But now I can hold the beautiful vinyl packaging in my own hands – and listen to the record(s) of course, which I’m doing as I write this.

 I particularly like the framing on the back.

I was quite surprised to find the image on the inside of the sleeve to be this way around.

 The two inner sleeves, each a slightly different design.

As there aren’t actually enough songs on the album to fill four sides, only three, the fourth is
simply a laser-etched design (not to be played! because that would end in tears).

Now playing!

2014

2015 is going to have to try really damn hard to beat 2014. I’m almost certain it isn’t going to be as good but that’s okay, because this year really was a great year.

• I went to Japan, and for that alone 2014 has been better than all years previously. Japan is somewhere that has always been top of my list of countries to visit. It’s still top of my list now, because I can’t wait to go back! (I’m currently putting together a book of my travels – much like the digital version).

• I moved out, and although only 20 miles or so down the road, I no longer live in Milton Keynes nor with my parents. I live closer to work, and my job/workplace is pretty darn great too, by the way. Not wanting to move back home yet, although it has been nice being ‘home’ for Christmas this last week.

• It’s been an awesome year for music (last years resolution accomplished). Almost all of my favourite bands had new albums – I vote Chuck Ragan’s Something May Catch Fire as my album of the year but The Menzingers’ Rented World was the soundtrack to my Japan trip so that’s special too. And Against Me! at the Electric Ballroom last month was my top gig. Although, again, that was closely followed by The Menzingers closing WTFest in Southampton. I had a top gig buddy (boyfriend) too. :)

2015 will be alright, probably.

Kaleidoscopic

The Decemberists released this new song, Make You Better, yesterday and the video to accompany it is beautifully mesmerising.

www.decemberists.com

They also announced a UK tour for February next year, following the new album release in January. This is a band I have been wanting to see live for a long time but, until now, haven’t had the chance. Also a band, like Band of Horses and Arcade Fire, that both me and my dad love – so that’s my gig buddy sorted!

New album artwork – clearly where the video imagery comes from.

And there is a mural too.

The Menzingers & WTFest 6

On Thursday, last week, I left work and headed off to London to meet my boyfriend, Steve, and go to a gig. This is something we do a lot – ‘school night’ or not – but for once we actually had the day off afterwards! Though not simply to sleep in…

The gig was The Menzingers, pretty much my favourite band (not to mention the reason me and Steve met last year), at the Electric Ballroom in Camden and it was damn good. Electric Ballroom is not so small, 1000+ capacity, yet I wandered on over to the barrier at the front and decided that that was where we would stay all night. And stay we did. Throughout the excellent supports, The Holy Mess and The Smith Street Band – big fan of the latter already – and throughout The Menzingers too without getting pulled into any mosh pits.

Snapping a few Instagram-worthy photos:

The Smith Street Band

The Menzingers

I often leave a gig thinking ‘damn, I wish I could do that all over again’. Well, this time we did! The next day, we drove to Southampton for a little three-day (it was actually four, but the first day was Thursday!) punk rock festival called WTFest. I’d seen the poster a couple of months before and was very impressed by the line up – we don’t really get punk festivals in the UK, certainly not like The Fest in Florida! So, I persuaded Steve that we should go (not that it took much, he loves much of the same bands I do).

On Friday evening we saw: Milk Teeth, Bleach Blood, Creeper, Great Cynics, Moose Blood and Apologies, I Have None.

Great Cynics (The highlight. Apologies, I Have None were good too but no photo.)

On Saturday afternoon we saw: Doe, Pale Angels, Bangers and Harker.

Bangers (My favourite band from Cornwall, especially since Crowns broke up.)

On Saturday evening we saw: Dear Everyone, Muncie Girls, Onsind, Caves and Andrew Jackson Jihad.

Muncie Girls (Already a fan. Not a bad performance at all.)

Onsind (Definitely the surprise of the day. Excellent acoustic duo.)

Caves (Bloody awesome. Second time I’ve seen them and can’t wait to do so again.)

Andrew Jackson Jihad (Viewed from the back. Wasn’t a massive fan but pretty good live.)

And on Sunday afternoon, we took some time to explore Southampton (I’ve been a couple of times but not seen much), and then repeated Thursday night with The Holy Mess, The Smith Street Band and The Menzingers but in a much tinier venue. I claimed the same spot – left side of the stage, in front of guitarist/vocalist Greg – as in London but could literally touch the stage in Southampton.

The Holy Mess (Having barely listened prior to seeing them twice in a few days, now a fan.)

The Smith Street Band (It could have been their own show. Everyone loved them, us included.)

And the main event… The Menzingers (I didn’t think it was possible to beat London. They did.)

Steve asked Menzo’s tour manager, Scott, for one of the set lists for me at the end.

I’ve never had a set list from a show before and this is the first time that I have ever seen a band more than once on a single tour. The Menzingers deserve to be that band for me. Now. Sleep…