London Underground Map

I’ve always wanted to see this tube map. It is the map of the different underground lines as they lie in London.

Lovenite 2010

Now on the fourth year Kevin Hylands and Cormac Heron return to the 12 Bar with guitar and banjo for their annual Songs For Lovers performance celebrating the best and best of love songs ever written. This year they will be performing classics from the likes of Turner, Tyler and Houston.

Last year’s performance was a riot, literally. Some girl got up on stage and tried to upstage them. (She was found beat up in some police cell the following morning.) This year’s promises to be just as eventful for they shall be joined with Seb on drums.

£4 entry with a picture of this page on your phone if you arrive before 8pm. Performance begins as ever at 8.04 pm. Bar open til very late. (You can print out this page for a discount if you prefer.)

You can catch a preview of Live And Let Die.

N.B. Due to my pending marriage this could (and probably will) be my last gig for the next 7 months.

The Moon Is On Fire

Photo by FatMandy

Saw The Moon in Montague Arms a couple of Fridays ago. In fact it was the night before I went to see U2 in Wembley. The Moon have been going through a number of line-up changes lately but now they seem to have hit on a great line up.

Big Jim is still on guitar and Seb is on Drums. Now Phil has moved from other guitar over to bass and Joe Moon is still providing the vocals.

The Montague Arms is a great venue. Recently been voted the best rough pub in Britain. It’s a cavern of unpredictability and the perfect scene to see The Moon perform. Joe Moon was on fire that night. Bucklepping like a wild eejit on crystal meth he lit the place up with his energy. The band were sitting the grooves down as solid as anything.

I was there with my mate Dave who was in total awe of the Montague. (If you haven’t been there, go!) Dave then turned round to me during The Moon’s set and said, “These guys are great. Every song is completely different to the next one.” We then talked about the overall sound: Stooges; The Fall; Punk; Ska; Michael Hutchence!

Between The Moon and Zombie Met Girl, there is a musical greatness happening in South East London. Unfortunately I missed ZMG who were supporting that night – though I have seen them and they are awesome.

The Moon are on fire. If you haven’t seen them, do. If you get an opportunity to see them in the Montague, go. If Zombie Met Girl are on the same bill, be there.

At Notting Hill Carnival

Playing The Building – Roundhouse, Camden, London

I went to check out David Byrne’s Playing The Building art installation today in the Roundhouse in Camden. The Roundhouse was built in the late 19th century as place to turn around trains. There are tunnels that stretch from the basement to the stables market. This was used to ferry horses up to turn the trains around. Then after there was no need to do this the building was turned into a factory for producing gin. Now it’s an art piece.

There was a bit of a queue to get in but it didn’t take long, maybe 15 minutes. We were warned that it’d take about 40 mins to get to actually play the thing. The thing being an organ which when played triggers off three different types of sounds: motors; pipes and pillars. The keyboard of the organ is in fact a control panel which switches different valves sending compressed air through a bunch of pipes. At the end of each pipe is a different “machine” which manufactures the sounds. The bass keys control motors, the mid range sends air through pipes which make a flute noise and the trebels trigger hammers which hit the pillars.There were no speakers being used in the space.

Seeing the queue was so long I lay down beside a pillar. It was strangely relaxing to feel the pillar being banged every so often. I noticed that the pipes (flute sounds) were mostly coming from the other side of the room so I moved over there and lay down again.

The different members of the public playing the thing created different feels but mostly it just sounded like a strange racket. It wasn’t as loud as I was expecting but it was good. My friend who came with me found it so soothing she fell asleep. But she loved it.

Towards the close of the day – about an hour later maybe – I noticed that the queue was quite small. I joined it. The lady informed us – the last people in the queue – that she was supposed to turn it off at 6 but she’d wait til we got a go. Very nice of her. We jumped on and played away. I found the motors to be the best sounds, they were properly placed in the bass keys. I noticed that the pipes were seemingly in tune but after some tinkering they weren’t at all. The pillars in the treble were just a bit too much – I had heard enough of them over the previous hour.

I found the whole thing as I say strangely relaxing. Probably more art than music. But hey, what the hell is music? Just a bunch of sounds at the end of the day.

Did you play it? What did you think?

Front End Developer Position In London

My friend Anney from Prospect is looking for a front end developer. Given the current state of the economy I said I’d help her out. Here’s the spec:

The role requires the following:

- Great PHP front-end development skills/experience

- Knowledge of symfony and web services

- Strong demonstrable OO skills

- 2+ years experience of developing solid successful web applications

- Bonus skills: Flex, Flash, Java

This is for a magnificently creative company who have developed a next generation UGC platform, which is one of the many innovative ideas that they have brought to fruition. The two founders are impossibly creative, wonderfully anarchic and have published a successful diary that has now, in it’s 6th year, built an internationally (verging on cultish) devoted following…..they also received funding end of ’08!!

Really terrific opportunity for someone with great skills and who is looking to join a left-of-field innovative outfit. The salary is low £30′s but there is potential equity for the right person.

If you know anyone who is looking or may just fancy a chat about it please forward my details to them and of course should we place someone that you have introduced then we will of course make sure that you are rewarded for the introduction (make sure that the person you recommend mentions your name!)

I hope all is well with you!

All the best

Anney

Anney Wyner

Prospect, 3rd Floor Charles House,7 Leicester Place, London WC2H 7BY

T +44 (020) 7439 1919 F +44 (020) 7437 1791 http://www.prospectmsl.com

“enabling better futures.”

Eggtimer Gig Cancelled But I’m Playing St Patrick’s Day!

Due to unforeseen circumstances Eggtimer will not be playing the Marlborough tonight. However I will be playing 12 Bar Club on St Patrick’s Day. More info later.

U2 Regent Street Gig Review

Having read that U2 were going to play a secret gig in Upper Regent Street between 18.00 and 18.15 to promote their new album No Line On The Horizon I made my way in the direction of where I thought the gig was going to take place – somewhere around the Apple Store. When I got there there was no sign of anything U2ey. I checked my Twitter and was able to establish that the band were on the Chris Evans show so then I realised that it must be up at the more northern part of Regent Street where the BBC broadcasting house is. D’oh!

Sure enough when I got there at about 17.30 there were people in florescent jackets trying to look cool and casual but to no avail. Nonetheless I realised that this is where the show was to be.  After some surveying of the area I established that the best place must be opposite the broadcasting house and on the east side of Regent Street so I mounted the stairs of the church opposite.

18.00 came, and went.

The band were introduced by Chris Evans at about 18.45 GMT. Bono did his usual thanking and then they launched into Get On Your Boots which works really well live. I couldn’t help but notice that the bass is more complicated that Adam’s root note delivery – is he getting paid more money per note now or something?

Magnificent kind of reminded me of a weird disco version of Achtung Baby‘s So Cruel in its laid back delivery. I thought I could feel it dragging a bit at times but then I thought that this track, like the new album, was going to be a grower. I thought it was admirable of them to play something that wasn’t 900 miles per hour. They obviously really like this new stuff. All this reminds me of Actung Baby.

Having read on Twitter and on various blogs that they were due to play for 15 minutes I was expecting the third track to be their final one and with that I was expecting it to be something off their new album No Line On The Horizon. It was a bit of a surprise therefore when they played Vertigo. The whole crowd joined in on the for “Hello! Hello! I’m at a place called Vertigo!” and then promptly forgot the rest of the lyrics. That was funny to notice. (Note to Bono: Write choruses like that guy who wrote “Ruby! Ruby! Ruby! Ruby! Aahhh!”) Vertigo reminded me of how a great a song it was.

To be honest even though I saw the Vertigo tour, and was absolutely amazed by it I should add, I couldn’t help but be disappointed by the album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. It seemed to lack energy or cohesion or direction – or something! It was all just a bit flat for me. After having listened to No Line On The Horizon on Spotify today I can tell already that the album has a greater depth to it and one that should be granted greater attention. All that said, it was great to hear Vertigo again.

So then just when I thought the gig was over, and the band seemed to think so also with their goodbye waves, on came Chris Evans to welcome the band back on for “another quick one”. Again I was expecting them to play something off the new album, and why not, but The Edge started the intro to Beautiful Day. The crowd went wild in a restrained on Regent Street kind of way. It was great to hear this track also – though I do rate All That You Can’t Leave Behind as a greater body of work than How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.

All in all I would say that U2 are definitely relevant, they definitely kick it and have a place in our world as they approach a half century each – regardless of their age. I heard somewhere recently that U2 releases are not just album releases but are events. Today, whilst it wasn’t exactly The Beatles on top of Apple it still was something monumental and I am glad to have been a part of it. Actually come to think of it it was probably better than The Beatles as no one could actually see the band play could they? Nor hear them.

The setlist:

• Get On Your Boots
• Magnificent
• Vertigo
• Beautiful Day (Encore)

Go here to listen to the album now legally and for free!

Go here to see my YouTube footage.

U2 To Play “Secret Gig” In London Today!

U2 are to have Upper Regent Street cordoned off so they can play a secret gig between 18.00 and 18.15 GMT.  It will be interesting to compare the crowds to the time  when F1 came to London.

Meanwhile read this to hear U2′s new album Now Line On The Horizon right now!

More importantly however Eggtimer will be playing their improvised rock in the Marlborough in Camberwell, South London. I am going to be at both.

Src: Twitter & Phone

Lovenite! TONITE!

I can’t wait. Plus I have loads of things to learn between now and then so physically I have no choice. Last nite Kev and I decided to throw in a couple of songs that were not on the list. Stick them along with The Cult song we decided to do on Tuesday and you have a couple of heads with limited boxes quickly getting filled. Woohoo!

Fri 12 Dec 2008 – World’s First Web 2.0 Gig?

I am playing in the 12 Bar Club in London on Friday at 8.04 pm.

In 2005 I wrote a song with John Devlin called Welcome To The Paul Gadd Institute Of Child Psychology, or rather John wrote it and I threw in the odd comma and full stop, and then in December I performed a musical comedy show called Welcome To The Paul Gadd Institute Of Child Psychology – The Nativity Rock Opera! OK it wasn’t a real rock opera but it had songs, some gags and a vague plot.

I have decided to stage the show again to mark the former Glitter king’s release from prison.  To be honest as it was my first proper “show” I ever staged and it was well rough round the edges. So how could I do it again and keep it fresh along with the edginess?

For the last 12 months I have been intrigued as to how a Web 2.0 influenced gig would work. As in, the audience would write the content and therefore guiding the performer, as well as interacting with the space in a more performerlike fashion. Well the way I saw it was that if the audience were to give me come content and play some songs then maybe it might actually have more sense in it as well as sounding nice. So here it is: my first Gig 2.0 gig. Is it the World’s first? Not sure but I haven’t heard of any of this before.

Come on down. I wanna hear you play.

18th Sep 2008 World Tour Of New Cross: Tonight!

Hey there! I am doing a Phil Collins by playing two gigs tonight in New Cross. One in Montague Arms, the best rough pub in the country! Come on down! Also I am playing two gigs on Saturday at the Placard Headphone Festival – see gigs section for more details.

Thurs 18 September 2008

• Act: Cormac Heron
• Event: The Ticket That Exploded
• Venue: Montague Arms
• Time: 9pm
• Address: 289, Queens Rd, London, SE15 2PA
• Entrance: £3 (Cheap)

Thurs 18 September 2008

• Act: Eggtimer – Improvised Rock (Cormac on bass)
• Event: South Of The River Electric
• Venue: Goldsmith’s Tavern
• Time: 10pm
• Address: 316 New Cross Road, London, SE14 6AF
• Entrance: Free

Madonna Complaints

Madonna played Wembley last night and many are complaining that the sound was awful as well as the fact that her show started late and therefore ended very late leaving many people stranded and even some having to sleep rough on the streets of London. So where to complain about Madonna concert?

Those wishing to complain about the Madonna gig should write to info@livenation.co.uk stating their full contact details (name, address, phone number, email), the nature of their complaint (please be specific, e.g. what you could or could not hear etc.) and your seating and booking reference numbers (these will be on your tickets).

Warning! Live Nation are only able to deal with the purchaser for those of you who bought off eBay. (That includes me!)

You can also write to Madonna via her website here.

Live Nation will be handling Madonna’s new studio efforts, tours, merchandise, DVD releases, sponsorships, licensing agreements, fan club, Web site, and TV and film projects until 2017. They also other large acts including U2.

Madonna Review: Wembley Gig – September 11 2008

 

I’d never seen Madonna before so I was going to this gig with high expectations. I mean this girl has been around the same amount of time as Prince!

The video intro sequence set the whole thing up – it was amazing. A candy-styled pinball extravagansa. You could see that this five minute intro was a project in itself. From the video content to the way it was displayed on moving screens. It really set the gig up. Dancers appeared and then the Queen of pop was revealed on a throne turning on a platform.

The opening ‘Candy Shop’ was Madonna informing everyone that she is still working on delivering her best material. Then she followed it up with another one off the new album ‘Beat Goes On’ and then ‘Human Nature’ so when ‘Vogue’ kicks in the crowd are well up for it. Madonna is in great shape and is dancing flat out.

An interlude follows where two of her dancers perform a mock boxing match which Madonna slips into something less comfortable and presumably catches her breath. She reappears with a black Gibson Les Paul and plays ‘Into The Groove’ complete with Keith Haring-like video content broadcast behind her. Another new one ‘Heartbeat’ follows and then she’s back with another Gibson for ‘Borderline’, this time it’s a pink SG complete with a whammy bar!

‘She’s Not Me’, ‘Music’, Video Interlude (with Eurythmics’ ‘Sweet Dreams’), ‘Devil Wouldn’t Recognise You’, ‘Spanish Lesson’ and ‘Miles Away’ are next. ‘La Isla Bonita/Lela Pala Tute’ get the crowd going frantic and then there is a strange Romanian folk interlude where Madonna is sitting whilst being serenaded by the eldest guitarist of the folk group. Quite touching and nice to see Madonna take a much needed rest – she’s really been giving it plenty! ‘You Must Love Me’, Video Interlude, ’4 Minutes’ and then ‘Like A Prayer’ which is electric. So retro it’s great though I would have liked to have seen the backing choir instead of hearing them recorded.

‘Ray Of Light’ is awesome. And the projections behind seem very current what with CERN’s LHC recreating the Big Bang this week. Then Madonna tells us she’s up for doing requests but “I’m not doing that one cos I can’t remember the lyrics…I can’t even remember the words to the new ones”. Then, with just the drums backing her, she delives a quick rendition of ‘Express Yourself’ with the audience providing a very convincing accompaniment. “This is why I love the UK!” she explains, then dropping into the opening guitar riff of ‘Hung Up’.* She’s been having the craic with the audience throughout.

Ending with ‘Give It 2 Me’ Madonna is definitely stating that this is no farewell tour and that she these new songs are just as relevant, timeless and anthemic as the classics she didn’t play. In fact she didn’t even need to play ‘Material Girl’ or ‘Like A Virgin’ or ‘Holiday’ or ‘Lucky Star’ or Crazy For You’ or ‘Papa Don’t Preach’ or… you get the idea.

Great gig and the Queen of pop she is… but she ain’t no Prince.

* Girls take note! For this track Madonna used an open tuning and just played the 4 bass strings meaning she could rock out with just using one finger. She’s definitely a worthy guitarist though as she proved with ‘Borderline’.

Footnote: Many people seem to have had an awful experience because of the sound. Those wishing to complain should write to info@livenation.co.uk stating their full contact details (name, address, phone number, email), the nature of their complaint (please be specific about what you could or could not hear) and your seating and booking reference numbers (these will be on your tickets). (Thanks Martyn!)

Live Nation will be handling Madonna’s new studio efforts, tours, merchandise, DVD releases, sponsorships, licensing agreements, fan club, Web site, and TV and film projects until 2017. Yikes!

You can also write to Madonna via her website here.

The Last Gig In The World

Eggtimer play their special brand of improvised rock to celebrate the end of the world as reported here.

Venue: New Cross Inn

Address: 323 New Cross Road, London, SE14 6NF

Admission: Free. (Even if it’s not you can just come and storm the place. So what if you get arrested. We’re all gonna die anyway.)

Sex Pistols Live In Apollo 03.09.08

SEX PISTOLS HAMMERSMITH APOLLO JOHN LYDON

Originally uploaded by wheelzwheeler

Saw the Sex Pistols on Tuesday night and am glad to report on how amazing they were. Let’s not kid ourselves, Sex Pistols are a rock’n'roll band… but they are a rock’n'roll band with a difference.

On July 3 1973 whilst David Bowie was retiring his Spiders From Mars on their last ever gig, pre-Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones was burglarising Mick Ronson’s Gibson Les Paul backstage and here was Jonesy tonight playing that same guitar in the very place where Bowie sacked Ronson playing a gig with Johnny Rotten who was actually banned from playing the venue 30 years ago! This was historic.

The guitar sounded awesome. OK the man playing it is as fat as he is tall but he certainly had all the chops. The guitar sounded more monstrous than any of Iggy’s guitarists – of whom I have heard many.

“Your band is only as good as your drummer!” you’ll often hear from wise old stranger during a pub soundcheck and Paul Cook was on form. No heroin addiction for this boyo. And Glen Matlock was there to play the bass. (I would have preferred him with a plectrum and plenty of middle with less bass but hey.)

Johnny Rotten (as he’s currently calling himself) was the main ingredient (after the sound of the guitar and the songs). Whilst hearing Rotten/Lydon sing it struck me how utterly inventive the man’s melody structure is. I realised that there has never been anyone who sings like him either before or since with maybe an exception of Captain Beefheart.

And the power! He blasted his vitriol with hurricane-like ferocity. You knew he was a 50-something old geezer but when the crowd was shouting things like ‘You fat bastard’ he just replied “Which one?”. He didn’t give a damn about the (plastic) bottles of beer being thrown at his head. He was intent on delivering a memorable show. And what an awesome performer. Theatrical gestures and spaslike body pops. Utterly grool. (Whatever that word means.)

The crowd were up for it too. As Johnny Rotten remarked, it was good to see that the balcony had standing room only. And it was heaving!

They played the entirety of their one album as well as Did You No Wrong, Stepping Stone, Baghdad Was A Gas – renamed version of Belsen Was A Gas. An unlikely but great track in the encores was Hawkwind’s Silver Machine. Sex Pistols hippies? Of course they are. They always were. Just a hippy rock’n'roll band… but with a difference. And what a difference!

Eggtimer Live In London

Eggtimer will be performing their live improv rock on Sat 23 Aug in Spice of Life, London at 10pm. I’ll be on bass with Joe Moon on vocals. Apparently there’ll be a couple of guitarists and we’re still looking for a drummer. Gonna be a great gig!

Fri 14th Feb 2008 – Hylands & Heron! (Back By Popular Demand)

• 12 Bar Club Denmark Street, London, WC2
• Date: Friday 14 Feb 2008
• Time: 8.04 p.m.
• Price: £4 b4 8 with a picture of this page on your phone; £5 after 8 with a picture of this page on your phone; £6 if you are stupid

The genius thing about playing a gig on Valentine’s Day is that it’s already genius. The sad thing is that only lonely saddos come and see you play. Well Kev and I have decided to play the songs from our Valentine’s Day gigs of this year and last year in what would be The Best Of The Valentine’s which will actually be the worst of the music of both shows.

We put in so much work for both shows that we are putting none in to this one. Still we are overrehearsed for it. Come on down. You will laugh your wet pants off.

The Calm Before The Storm

Tonight the south of England is expecting “the worst storm so far this winter.” Apparently this storm started off in Canada and is due to arrive here tonight and leave on Wednesday. Wednesday! What a drag. Meanwhile, everything seems strangely peaceful tonight. Usually you can hear the blaring sirens passing by. (It’s seems to be a popular soundtrack to south east London). 

Animals go underground when they sense a storm coming. Apparently they have this other sense that we do not have. Aye. The sense to get the hell out of the way before a big storm. I knew I should have brought my laptop home on Friday. Going to work tomorrow will be an experience.

Valentine’s Day Gig In London

Valentine’s Day is looming. Only four days to go. Confused? Are you in London? Well come on down to Songs For Lovers in the 12 Bar Club, Denmark Street. I am preparing a special show with Kevin Hylands. Punk love songs on the banjo. See the gig section.