Fatbwoi Live @ The O.U. 270412

word up you crazy cats!!! y'all good...

took to the stage with with the most-excellent 'monkey kettle' crew t'other night, at the OU in the sunny borough of milton keynes...

bit of a bumper set, which was running a bit late owing to some technical issues during the headliner's sound check... add that to the recently finished quiz next door, and the mission was to get everyone from one room to the next... lady linenwrecker did some fine work in this department (thankyou chica xxxx), as did the voice of the mysterons...

one sotto voce rendition of 'istanbul was constantinople' later, and we were ready to start the party...

it was a bumper set from me... opening with the chicken, jazz-hands and the faux brass section... it was like a triplet fire-punch to the crowd... there was dancing. it was fun...

it was a nice uncluttered stage area, so i even got to throw in a few crazy-legged dance-moves of my own without fear of destroying something valuable... which is always nice!

swung it up with a couple of covers, even dropped a bit of 'fresh prince' at the end of 'CYHMN' - which has had very few outings this year, it seemed to nuzzle nicely into its new mid-set spot... [this does however increase the importance of a post-CYHMN swig of something, as the whole extended chorus thing is a killer, and now there's much further to go...]

then it all got a bit stompy again... before a temporary reprieve for 'modern condition' - really enjoying playing that one at the moment, although i am fighting a bit of a urge to drop octave'd distortion onto the riff bits... 

closed with 'forces'... having been told that no-one in the room had ever woken up and felt like the fate of the world rested in their hands, which  frankly i don't believe for a second...

all-in, a top top night... there was dancing and merriment, and some new friends made...

oh, and did i mention that there was free cake?! you can't beat a bit of free cake...

and the provision of such, when coupled with the provision of free croissant too, made it possible to create a luxury pain au chocolat...

made even better by the removal of guilt for eating too much of the free cake, as a luxury pain au chocolat is only one cake...

peace-out y'all

Hoodwinked

it has been said, on occasion, that i have questionable taste in films...

there maybe some truth in that...

but in contrast to my usual zombie-related fare, i am currently 'proper feeling' the hoodwinked vibe...

and if you haven't seen it (i'm not known for being especially up-to-date, so chances are it may have gone global with me none the wiser) - i recommend you check it out!

its like a post-modern take on little red riding hood... and in a bizarre take on the way things normally go, its got songs in it and i like it! i've seen/heard the 'd-na-me-tay' joke somewhere before - but i'll let it off...

[as an interesting aside, i heard the jo brand hignfy "make the cockneys love abu qatada" gag before on the wireless... they were both broadcast by the bbc, hence the 'cross-referencing, by punt and dennis' execution was much better]

anyway, assuming you haven't seen hoodwinked, i shouldn't really tell you anything more about the plot than i already have...

i like the goat...

thing is, i tend to listen to hoodwinked a lot more than i watch (you know how it goes)...

and i've come to the realisation that its almost certainly one of my favourite in-film soundtracks ever...

it has been said that i have questionable taste in film soundtracks (although much less often), just putting it out there - also on the list is the billy corgan 'dicking around' on mel gibson vehicle 'ransom'...

but i digress... the opening number (aside from the dvd music which is pretty funky the first 20 or so times) sounds like something on mr e's first solo album with a really nice melody... later on there's 'red is blue' which has a proper 90's ethereal shoe-gaze vibe about it... and there's even some angular punk...

nice...

oh yeah... and the goat.

i like the goat.

he's been cursed, and has to sing everything...

he also has interchangeable horns...

i'm not normally big on the banjo/buegrass/yodelling, but its impossible to like the goat without likin' his song - because of his affliction...

he's a pretty darn melodic goat - check it out
 

and of course, here it is again - backwards!!!

so does this sudden liking for 'goat music' mean there maybe something bluegrass-y coming off of planet bwoi soon?! probably not... 

unless its going backwards... 8)

NEXT GIG - 27/04/12 The O.U. Cellar Bar...

word up you crazy cats...

just a few short days till i shall be taking to the stage supporting 'the bitter suite' @ The O.U. cellar bar, in milton keynes... that's right not only can one get themselves a night of quality music... but its an SU bar too...

***of course, when i say cellar bar, what i actually mean is pavillion, a bit like it says on the poster below with the monkey... its is however comparably easy to find, being located on campus by the cricket pitch - something which is always in need of a pavillion (of sorts)... now back to the random wittering...***

SU, O.U. - that's a lot of u's...

its not the room where i went to my 6th form summer ball and declared ben the "best-dressed worst-dressed fashionista wannabe of the year 1997"... but it is just round the corner...

i shall be shaking that thang at about 19.30... i do believe its free/very-cheap in, so excuses not to come down and have a lil' boogie are obviously limited...

see you there!! i'll be the face-pullin' one with a guitar 8)

Fatbwoi Live @ Sunnyside 170412

"but i guess first up i have to apologise to anybody on this side of the room, as owing to being unable to hear out of 'this' ear, tonight i am only receiving (and therefore also only transmitting) in mono..."

"should be all right if you scooch round a bit though..."

allo!! 'ow the devil are you?!

took to the stage tuesday, to shake a lil' thang at sunnyside, with the wildfire sessions crew...

its an ace venue, not one that i have played before, but i certainly look forward to playing there again...

also playing were KRAB, i really enjoyed their feature-set, where-in one half of the duo did christen his first new guitar for 45 years... which in itself is pretty gosh-darn mind boggling...

immediately before me was a short open mic set from andreas rose... he had some funky bluesy grooves, which he delivered in a nice upbeat style... (i think he 'set the stage' quite nicely for me) - i'll definitely be keeping an eye out for him in future...

and as for me...

opened with the one about the chicken, before lurching off into the one with the dance moves... i quite like this as an opening combo, i think it can be a bit mood dependent whether i go with this or the stompier 1-800 combo... but this way round is currently doing it for me...

and it also leaves a nice lil' "bite me" (brass section included) sized space... before i generally pause, and try and figure out just what the hell is going on...

although, to be fair, that's probably just my 'default' setting...

there was another outing for new-one 'modern condition' too... i really enjoyed playing that one, especially as its moved into the 'live mutations' phase of being... i know it fits because i know its alive...

all-in, a top night... i even forgot that i was only receiving in mono once i got into the swing of things. maximum thanks must go out once more to stevie and the wildfire sessions crew for having me over, and to all the crazy cats who came out to play... i had a  lot of fun... i hope you did too

so, until the next time (270412 @ The O.U. Cellar Bar)...

peace-out y'all

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Fatbwoi Live @ Kettering Arts Centre 140412

word up you crazy cats!!

its been a fun (and also hectic) couple of weeks here on planet bwoi... which is, as ever, just how we like it... complete with good friends, thang-shakery, and songwriting - happy time

first up - some of the thang shakery...

saturday 14th was wildfire sessions 1st birthday festival at kettering arts centre... a birthday party like none other, one which the wildfire crew deserved for the quality work they always do, complete with a whole pile of quality tunage...

i caught sets from the legend that is kevin hewick, and budding for-ex trader stevie rigsby (who needs to work on his bartering a lil' bit), as well as my jaike, before dropping some tunes of my own...

opened with the one about the chicken... moved onto the one with the dance moves... as one does, but hereabouts we should perhaps rewind a lil'... for when i took to the stage, i was not alone...

making their first appearance since last summer at the cross keys was the midgetbwoi army, armed with shakers and some funky-ass dance moves...

you have not seen soulful grooving like it (no really - you haven't!!)...

but they (and i) had an ace time, so who can knock it?! there was even a (sort-of) harmony on some of the random bits that they've picked up...

i reckon with the energy expelled by the three of us during that set, we probably could have powered the building for a week - now that's ecologically friendly! 8)

back to the music...

there was a début outing for newbie 'modern condition', which i think went down really well. its a lil' bit slower than some of the others, although still heavily up-swung... fun to play too. its got two riffs, and a lil' bit of "oh dear, what can the matter be?" - fair to say its definitely a bwoi tune...

there was also a first ever acoustic outing for 'wrong', which had previously only ever seen the light of day as an fb5 tune... enjoyed playing that too, without a backing band its a slightly more melodious affair (in that it feels inappropriate doing the shouty bit on the chorus without the bwois behind me) - but all good fun!

finished off with bullet and forces, my dancers exhausted...

all-in it was a really good day, i enjoyed myself (as did the midgetbwoi army) and big love and props go out to stevie and the wildfire sessions crew, not just for putting it on, but for all the work they do year-round providing quality nights at which to enjoy some quality tunes...

thanks guys! and happy birthday

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bite me...

word up you crazy cats!!

i hope you had a good easter weekend, and didn't overdose on too much chocolate... me, i was egg free, but did indulge in a bag of my favourite fruit flavoured sweets on saturday - them not being eggs, i didn't have to wait!!

but i am not here to discuss eggs... unless you really want to that is...

no i am here to present a new video, which i found lurking on my memory card...

si! its a version of 'bite me' recorded live at NB's... and personally, i love the camera angle!! its the backstage angle, with a full and glorious view of the fruit machines immediately stage left and very little bwoi... well you can see my *ahem* rear, and my face pops into shot briefly at the end. there's something nice and fly-on-the-wall about it...

so without further ado...

everybody need a little help sometimes... 

peace-out y'all 8)

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