Hello me lovelies. After a quiet period we’re gearing up for some action.

So … jim and clive are now in portis headland (duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh) … denmark poland slovakia … making intense dark beautiful but not very happy music … but what about pete and me I hear you fry? well ….

get the blessing … transitory rock jazz .. soundtrack punk circus band …in transition …. transit … trance … trampoline … tranquillisers .
exodus of jazz people .. are we jazz people ??? EU standard or wiltshire fatback rollneck ? or are we just gimmicky glock whackers ?

http://www.bluesfestlondon.com

Wednesday 29th June
at the 100 Club

We’re delighted to be invited to play at the very first London Blues Festival, and especially to play in the 100 Club, one of the most famous (infamous?) venues in the world. Lush.

Whereas in Paris…platter de poire…rustique, mais aussi sophisticated.

Corse. Magnifique. Les montagnes, les gens, les voix polyphoniques, et…les fromages

Photos taken by Manu Pagand at our gig in La Cave à Musique, Mâcon, France on Feb 6:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/epagand/sets/72157625873456643/

We’ve been talking about coming to Paris and having a platter of fruits de mer for 10 YEARS. And here we are.

Back in France. First stop Agen for some theological study.

this big?

We’ll always have Paris. Well, the French will.

Us (them plus Josh who has two thumbs) on French telly

A bit of the other band, a bit of us (them plus Josh who has two thumbs) playing, and then an interview with them (all two-thumbed) including Jim saying something incomprehensibly wise and important about Trip-hop …

So it turns out I must have damaged the tendon when I cut my left thumb in The Great Coconut Debacle because I managed to snap it completely in a bizarrely trivial washing up accident last week. Not recommended.

So France swiftly followed by Colchester, Coventry, Copenhagen, USA and Slovenia. In little over a month.

Le petit speck de Blessingmobile continue a faire une route circuitous en travers de France enorme.

Qu’est-ce que c’est? Oiseau? Avion? Non, c’est Le Blessingmobile, et il fait “le criss-cross”, avec beaucoup de Franglais, a travers FRANCE! Vachement cool, uh?

We have our first ever gig in the USA coming up! We’re playing at Joe’s Pub in New York on 16 June.

Since we’ve never been to the US before we don’t know anyone. So if you’re going to be there or know anyone who’s in NYC on that date please tell them about it. They can get tickets from the Joe’s Pub website

We’re also playing the following day at the Rochester Jazz Festival in upstate New York, and before that at the Jazz House in Copenhagen on June 10. It’s all go…

Buttress wins.

In the depths of rural France, between Rennes and Nantes, lives a fearsome creature known to the French only as Deamer au Citron…

Sooo, here I am, awake at 3am, without much excuse for insomnia except a few pints of normandy cider some hours ago and a moderately involving, if essentially tedious, book. And it’s funny how tunes pop into your head and won’t let go at this time of night.

well, well, 2010.

Mornin all. Jake here. Been a busy few weeks. We had ein gutes gig at the Enjoy Jazz festival in Heidelberg. Jim got the t-shirt. Then a weekend at the Bodega in Cork for the jazz festival, spent investigating the hallucinogenic properties of guiness. Then back into the studio for the first time in a while. No less than five new tunes began their gestation. And the cakes were bleachy. Last night we were in Liverpool at the philharmonic. Good gig and a great hotel. London Jazz Festival next. See you at the jazz cafe for jazz coffee, jazz currant buns and jazz not jazz (ha ha) next thursday.

Just a quick note to let you know that our gig at the Jazz Cafe in London as part of the London Jazz Festival has been moved to Thursday 19 November. Better.

http://www.jazzcafelive.com/newsandevents/templates/bookings.aspx?articleid=790&zoneid=1

the colston hall in bristol has a new staircase of awesome proportions.

http://www.youtube.com/thisistheblessing

“… a breath of fresh air”
Jeff Beck

there are times when one would really like a drink …..there are times when the drink one would really like is guiness …..then there are times when the number of guinesses one would really like are too many for one man alone to imagine …..

The first course comes in to the fanfare and clamour
of blasting [ blasted?] trumpets hung with trembling banners,
then pounding double-drums and dinning pipes,
weird sounds and wails of such warbled wildness
that to hear and feel them made the heart float free…
[The bassist is] a mountain of a man, immeasurably high
a hulk of a human from head to hips…

(review translated by Simon Armitage)

like gold laden norse gods bloodied and returning … we arrive demanding a feast .

(For Cheltenham Jazz Festival)

“If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way.”
Bertrand Russell

yes I said yes two sneaky warm up gigs before the album comes out next month

speen some time

the bugs have been languishing in the fossilized sap for some time now .

unaware of the impending weight of public opinions being courted by thier imprisoners

the excitement and warm glow is long gone .

whats kinna happened ?

Sevilla

¡Que ciudad! Sol en el cielo. Naranjas en los arbres. Muchas tapas en los platos. Y muchas personas simpaticos en el Teatro para el concierto de La Benedición.

all is yes greatest hits christmas special 2008

nother gig nother dinar

return to knobs dials and michael phones and dead phones also .

Clive belts us in and forces us to listen to Count Arthur Strong until we are weak with hilarity and in dire need of assistance from St Ann’s Jombulance. The Blessmobile follows a chain of Ms. Our in-depth survey of Europe’s service stations continues with Tamworth (4.3 on the Max Richter scale). We while away the miles knitting, basket-weaving, and lino-cutting. 

Und so haben wir in Chemnitz gespielt. Und ich habe der announcements auf deutsch gesagt. Der audience hat geunderstood und es hat gelaughed.

arrive by sleazy jet flight number blah blah blah to berlin schoenfeld .

hmmmmm

here we go … the plan is watery tight .

set awf in the pete four wheel scooter … it still has a wing mirror …yes !

soon it becomes apparent that clive has crashed in a field .  ( his undercarriage collapsed )

Pete says Jim looks like Barry Gibb in this photo:

WE HAVE JUST WON THE BBC JAZZ AWARDS 2008 ALBUM OF THE YEAR.

A PICTURE OF US

SORRY FOR SHOUTING BUT WE ARE VERY HAPPY.

Oh, and here’s us on the BBC

Touring for us is a meticulously planned, smoothly operated, well-oiled machine.

fibbers, york, 4 july / the wardrobe, leeds, 5 july

motorway, motorway, motorway, york.
soundcheck, food
(japanese bento box, thai green curry)
walk, gig

june 28

June 20

June 12

Hey Suzie Satnav! Load up yer “in 700 yards, take the second exit”, cos we’re heading for Guildford!

June 7

a good salad nicoise is worth its weight in ….. food ? gold ? oil paint ?

All Is Yes has been nominated for album of the year in the BBC Jazz Awards. You can vote for it (or one of the other albums of course) on the awards website. Click here to see the list of nominees and vote

… Jim and Clive have been touring the world with the Potting Shed and Pete’s been flaunting his theatrical talents in South America with Kneehigh. I’ve been writing music for a new project with guitarist James Chadwick but I did get to do a gig with Portishead a few weeks ago on Taratata, the French equivalent of Later. I had fun screaming and honking on baritone sax. Was rather stressed by having to play cowbell.

Other than that the lovely people at Music Bridge have been very busy filling up our diaries for June, July and August. More to come. In the meantime have a look at us trying to look cool for MusFlashTV…

Feb 14

After the stadium rock euphoria of The Thekla could we produce the smooth jazz appropriate for a cold night in Cardiff? Hmmm, Valentines Day. Maybe a set of smoochy ballads. All is Yes.

Tuesday 12th February

Susie satnav is given the night off in her sexy zip-up neopreen style bag jacket thing!

10/11 Feb, 2008

Loooong drive from ‘stol to ‘ghton but jump jive got us there in good heart. New mic still playing up. Or was that the battery? Or the pedal? Or the leads? But enough speculation and technicalisation, an evening jaunt through the labyrinthine Lanes took us past a shining Komedia and into Carluccios. Long meal meant we missed both support acts (sorry guys).

2 Feb, 2008

Jake has a cold.

I forget my suit but manage to organise a panic-stricken reunion. Couldn’t play without it.

And so this is Bracknell. What have we done.

30 Jan, 2008

well ……… the second hand missile guidance system weve hired to locate manchester failed spectacularly , we had to turn back on the outskirts of st petersberg and get there only using our rudimentary knowledge of northern star systems .

26 Jan, 2008

Mmmmm… No sign of Taylor John but lots of lovely people cheering us on in his living room. First gig on the first tour for the first album. Well, third, depending where you start counting from. But this is definitely the first blog entry.