Reflecting on Bristow

Simply put, the Dirty Bristow launch party & fete fookin’ rocked!

That about sums it up and no surprise when you have a beautiful new boutique publication launching, brought to us by a pair of amazing gentlemen, a room full of lovely people and a bonkers idea set in the perfect venue. Everything from the cross-dressed door man, Danny’s dad with his face painted like a dart board for the retarded, the various games and stalls, and the broad selection of entertainment made this a really wonderful and memorable event! It was a lovely thing that left me feeling warm and hopeful for the future.

Of course this is about a magazine at the end of the day. One I hope to see flourish. A brave/stupid venture, brought to you by two very brave/stupid individuals and their band of willing supporters. Respec’!

Ooh, and for my part I pulled some silly faces…


Thanks to Pete Ashton for the great photo

Glatze, live and thrice live

Last weekend I played a thoroughly enjoyable gig at the Frog and Fiddle in Cheltenham. It wasn’t as well attended as I’d like but the room was ace, the sound system was storming and everyone who was there was there was lovely and seemed to really enjoy it! BINGO!

Having been concentrating on other things for a while I now find myself with three gigs in three weekends. Following on from Cheltenham I will be playing at the Dirty Bristow Fete this Saturday and the Whales EP launch party on the 5th of September. I’m really chuffed to have been asked (!) but I also have my concerns…

Apart from the usual nerves and self-doubts I am also a little worried about both gigs, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I worry that people who have heard my EP will expect me to sound like that. In fact I am billed as a “Romany Surf Step Supremo” by Bad Egg (see flyer below), which is cool / true but I only do one tune from my EP in my liveset. Secondly, I might be a bit of an odd act for the Dirty Bristow bill. I am particularly concerned what the Dirty Bristow lot are going to make of my raucous antics at 9:30pm…ho hum! Both of these might be non-issues and I will give it my all regardless but I just wanted to get these thoughts out in the open. Either way Glatze does what he does, so nehhhh!

Event flyers below (click each flyer for more info):

Wasson?

I’ve been on holiday. Half my time was spent at home working on projects and for the other half I was forced to enjoy myself by leaving my shed and studio behind, to visit my home village of Par, in Cornwall.

Here is an update (in list form) of what I achieved:

  • Got airplay of my debut Glatze EP on The Big Paws, Brumcast, Phantom Circuit and Brap FM – I thank you very much for your support!
  • Got lots of positive feedback about my Glatze EP. People seem to choose different tracks as their favourite, which can only be good news?
  • I even sold a few copies so far through my Bandcamp. This means a lot – cheers!
  • At the fantastic Port Eliot Festival, which I thoroughly enjoyed attending with my ueber-cool dad, I handed copies of my EP to Grayson Perry, Gavin Turk & Deborah Curtis, Tim Smit and Jarvis Cocker. For some reason I was too scared to give one to Martin Parr.
  • I have had a couple of Glatze live dates confirmed. I will be playing my reworked liveset (including the song “Glatze” from my EP) at The Frog and Fiddle in Cheltenham on the 20th of August and then at The launch event for the fabulous Dirty Bristow magazine, on the 28th of August.
  • I have been working hard on my midi-octopus to get it sorted and music written for it, for my debut performance at The British Science Festival, in September. The associated workshop is coming along nicely too!
  • I have been in working on updated noise box / optical theremin designs for my workshop at The Digital Media Centre in November, and I will soon be announcing another similar workshop and performance(s) at an upcoming festival (a favourite of mine), once details are confirmed

So, all in all it’s been a busy holiday. Rather productive though and I did nearly finish reading a book too…