Hello me lovelies. After a quiet period we’re gearing up for some action.
We’re playing at The Bell in Bath this Wednesday and at Canteen in Bristol this Thursday, but the big news is that album number 3 is going to be out early in 2012, on March 5th to be precise.
We’re getting a bit hot under the collar already of course but it seems we’re not the only ones:
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 ….
… first off, it’s not the end of gtb activity. portishead are going to be supporting us at a festival in slovakia (Bažant Pohoda 2011 since you asked). obviously they will look very cool playing with the pheads but we believe they will look cooler still in their suits with us ….
… we are also playing at the very famous jamboree club in barcelonia in august. I’ve played there before (loooong time ago) and that was really very hot indeed but we will take towels and water…
… and pete is doing some gigs with his fantastic new band three cane whale and his fantastic but not quite so new band eyebrow. I will be stretching myself with the great trumpeter Nick Malcolm and with the excellent pianist Mike Willox (the Magnificent 7 is at Bristol’s Harbourside festival on july 30, thanks for asking) and with the equally fantastic Denny Illett (we’re playing at El Rincon in Bristol on July 22 since you’re interested)…
… but none of these will quite satisfy our cravings for blessing so we’ve set ourselves some homework and we’re going to write some tunes. absolutely no idea yet what will come out of it but there you go. and we’ll be finishing off the next album which is nearly ready. we have 8 or 9 tracks waiting to be polished, mixed and mastered and we have cellophane waiting to be photographed…. and there may be some very welcome and very surprise guests on the record … it will probably come out when phead is tucked away back into its cupboard so expect a release early next year and various tourings in england and europe (and hopefully scotland wales and ireland and america and canada)…
….there may also be a sneaky gig or two which we may or may not tell you about ….
…. and watch out for clive in his hugely exciting new guise as co-drummer with radiohead. wet myself have you? can’t tell you how excited I am and I’m not even him!
so here are some good and some not so good photos from the recent and not so recent past to keep you amused and keep having a look at the website for new tracks which I will put up when I get bored of these ones ….
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 ?
well…….we’ve eaten plums in Agen ,
sampled the delicate curd cheese and donkey sausage and intense guest singers in Ajaccio ,
had a drunken whale hippy mum stage invasion in Macon ,
drunken crazy dogs and thrown up in litter bins in Paris ,
eaten tapas the size of houses and drunk whiskey and rum till 6 in the silvery dawn in vanelles,
laughed so much that pete almost broke his neck falling off his chair in Nice ,
bought cigarettes and lighters to get free champagne and felt vertiginous and dizzy looking up at the tallest building in the world in Dubai ,
nearly destroyed the stienway in Berlin ,
done yoga and eaten cake by the river in Passau ,
rocked with robert the rock soundman in a sold out unterfahrt in Munich ,
spent some time in the jazz museum bunker and eaten fresh pancakes and wurst in Hamburg ,
been awe-struck my the surrounding mountainousness and extreme generosity of apelonias clean shirts and fine wines in Innsbrucke ,
met the new CEO of nestle and climbed the cathedral in colgne ,
drank applevioine ( shout it loud and raise your fist at the ceiling ) till 4 in the morgen with the mad old ladies of frankfurt ,
joined a sect of experimental social fernet branka consumption and very quiet music in linz ,
played frisbee and turkish kebabs with local kids till sore arms in mannhiem firestation ,
infested a porn cinema and eaten argentinian bratwurst in vienna ,
enjoyed some medieval jousting and birdwatching in a castle in ludinghousen ,
managed to leave st georges hall in bristol fairly intact .
trieste … ah trieste !!! took part in jellyfish racing and ate the finest ham and cheese with truffle honey .. james joyce AND samuel bucket both in the audience .in camberwell we ate saveloys and peas in the brixton sunset ..
in trowbridge … errr … not much , oh yeah , too much cider …
in aberystwith ate frozen welsh tapas off a roof tile , then very fine turkish kebab .
along the way we have engaged in high level espionage in order to get our poor little instruments onto blue and yellow aeroplanes .
in-between times , days in the studio have been shoehorned in , and somehow we seem to have recorded an album …. again .
three is the magic number .. but so are 13 , 12 , 5 , 7 , 6 … obsessive compulsive ambivalence , low flying satellites , speciality coffee , strange illusory nebulous death sentences , beautiful lands where everything is measured in a semi decimal system , mozart and his ethiopian lamb wot , bakers dozens . all these subjects have been carefully studied in order to produce something well balanced , but tasty for the 21st century palate .
a kind of existential maths and extreme emotion sausage is what we’ve come up with .. its surely pretty tasty , but will it be possible to digest ? only you can say .
the whole shooting match is gonna be packed up into tea chests and moved from hammersmith to salisbury quite soon , and a bright new world of creativity is gonna open like a night scented stock in the crepuscule of our year .
late autumn or early spring ? dried leaves , misty evenings .. or baby lambs gambolling in the dewy dawn ? … not sure ……………
schnoody and captain ad hoc are off to do some off shore drilling for late 20th century miserypop .. rich viens of which are deposited in europe and america .
so .. the GTB onslaught is to be interrupted briefly .. but … if it doesn’t kill you .. it makes you stronger …
the next show is at the 100 club and we are hoping for some friends to come and join in .
come and join in … please .
oh .. and thankyou for not asking ” is it really jazz ? ” , how very european of you . thanks .
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.
Deutschland und Österreich! Dreizehn Konzert in dreizehn Tagen. Wir kommen sehr müde aber sehr glücklich nach Heimat zurück.
Erstemal müssen wir sagen: Fliegen Sie nicht mit Ryanair! Danke.
Also, jetzt kann Ich auf der gute Sache schreiben, und das war alles (aber nicht Ryanair). Vielen dank zu viele Leute für viele Hilfe. Unser Reisen war sehr leicht. Die Deutsche und Österreiche Zuge! Pünktlich und schnell, und wir haben viele gute Mittagessen gehabt.
Und der Musik: es ist sehr schwer die besten Konzert zu erinnern. Nicht weil Ich es vergessen habe, nur weil es gab so viel. Berlin war besonders, weil es war erste und so haben wir ein bisschen Angst. Vielleicht nur Ich (weil Ich auf Deutsch sprechen muss). Aber erste übe Ich mit Rosa und unsere Freunden von Kurdistan. Hamburg war ein sehr historisch Klub mit die besten Wurst. Wir freuen uns auf Komischen GTB Hamburg T-Shirts.
In Dortmund haben wir Spass mit der Klavier, und in Köln mit der Dom und Murphys (es war St Patrick’s Tag). Karlsruhe hat der besten Rotwein und Klatschen. München: ein sehr schön Klub und es war sehr Voll. Wir haben die besten in München gespielt, denke Ich. Und Ich habe mein besten Deutsch gesagt auch. Hoffentlich David Beckham werde für Bayern München spielen und dann werde ich berühmt.
Und nächste ist Sonntag und jetzt sind wir ein bisschen müde. Wir brauchen ein Tag auf dem Land. Und so wir reisen nach Lüdinghausen, eines schönes Dorf in Münsterland und spielen wir in unsere Schloss. Wieder bitte.
Natürlich wollen wir in der Sonn in Lüdinghausen bleiben, aber wir müssen Apfelwoi drinken. Also reisen wir nach Frankfurt und Brotfabrik. Es gibt keine Brot, aber es gibt viele schöne Leute und woi von Äpfeln. Apfelwoi ist nicht so gut für Frisbee und so wir müssen in Mannheim spielen für unsere alte Freunde Schott und Schock.
Österreich und die schönsten Stadt: Innsbruck. Wir müssen ein sehr grosse Danke zu Loni sagen: Ein fantastisch Konzert und unsere Wäsche auch! Entschuldigung Passau: Du bist auch sehr, sehr schön, aber Innsbruck hat die Bergen. Aber du hast die schönsten Leute! Ja, alle die wichtigen Leute in Passau hat GTB getroffen, der Staatsanwalt und seine Freundinnen, zum Beispiel.
Nach Österreich zurück und die letzten zwei Konzert. Erste in Wien, vielleicht der schöne Stadt in der Weld. Aber wir haben niemand Kaffee mit zu trinken. Nächste zeit? Und Endlich kommen wir nach Linz mit der grosse Dom (in Österreich), Linzertorte und Oxymoron, der ruhig Konzert.
So, sehr fantastisch, und für nächste Zeit werde Ich die andere David Beckham joke üben.
We done played loads of gigs in Germany and Austria and they was all wicked.
we are returning to pizza express where we did our first ever gig outside london, the beginning of our road to infamy. it was a very lovely gig and mr jack massarick really liked us. so we are looking forward to the gig. plus we love the m4.
tonight is a double bill with the hugely excellent arun ghosh and we are playing the first set of the first gig of the launch weekend of the first britjazz tour of germany 2011.
then we are playing in berlin and hamburg and cologne and karlsruhe and dortmund and mannheim and frankfurt and munich and ludinghausen and innsbruck and passau and linz and awww vienna.
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.