fatbwoi live @ the sunflower lounge 230711

word up y'all...

done did play me a lil' set on saturday night, downstairs at the sunflower lounge in central birmingham, where the air is hot and humid, and there is an interesting array of scaffolding and fairy lights...

although i think the more appropriate architectural term would probably be someting like 'feature'...

if ya wore it on your head, it'd definitely be a fascinator...

the occasion?! G (of mighty boomshadow fame)'s nth birthday, or 'living wake' as he preferable to call it... and i for one cannot think of a better reason for a bit of celebration...

G opened the evening's entertainment with a solo set, quality tunage delivered on his stratacoustic... and i haven't seen the big G t-shirt before, but i like it... i noticed that there were no covers in my man's set, but put it down to the shorter-sets-to-wedge-in-as-much-entertainment-as-possible nature of the night...

next up was the man-god dale perry, with a short solo set... haven't seen the man d play for a while, and i really enjoyed his set. i could still here some of the dub-no basslines i applied when i stood in on the four-string for 'I Am Locutus' at 2009's Worcester Music Festival... they probably didn't need that much dub at the time... but you can't stop a bwoi in full flow... 8)

g returned to the stage, backed by two guitars, a bass, and the living legend that is paul carroll on the skins... then delivered a supreme collection of (mostly) who covers... it was nice to see g letting his hair down, and busting some move sans guitar, and the PC groove machine in full effect is a truly excellent sight to behold, and i defy anybody not to shake their thang to his infectious rhythmic stylings...

and then i...

my man laurence (1k that's his name) welcomed me on with a properly heart-warming intro (thanks dude!!), and i was fully ready to 'do it to it'...

i played my set by request, it being G's birthday after-all!! this meant the order was a bit odd but all the goodies were there... opened with a jazz hands (my choice), and then deferred to the birthday boy...

there was some CYHMN, a bit of the kinks, and an ultra-rare outing for the tune that is 'crack whore'... (i think i've actually played that more times since christmas than in the two years previous... maybe i should write an extra verse or something, its still a big dumb bludgeoning riff, and my favourite bit has to the 'crack rocks' section) - i reckon its probably safe to put it back on the shelf for a bit...

finished with the chicken one, in duet format (with the G), and a fat pile of crowd participation right about there... and left the stage having (by request) over run my 30mins slot, covered in sweat and barely able to talk... you gotta love it!!

(the mighty) Boomshadow took to the stage to close the night's proceedings, and from the bit of their set that i saw, they were on blistering form... it was nice to see all four of them onstage (for the first time this year i think), 2011 mBS have reworked some of their stuff jus' a lil' and were really good... they're playing at the bandstand in bearwood soon (i'll try and find a link), and are always definitely worth a look-see if you haven't already...

had to make a slightly early break for the wild, to avoid the wheels being impounded... the normally safe island bar car park having been turned into a(n) (admittedly cheap) pay and display car park... with nasty warnings about tickets, documents and letters - boo.

all in, had me a really good night, especially nice to see 1k, PC, PH, dale, sam, and of course the G... (thanks for inviting me dude!)

i love his new shirt!

me next one is at worcester music festival (20th August)... and the thang is already primed and ready to go... 'sgonna be like a super-coiled spring by the time we get there...

in the meantime...

peace-out y'all

fatbwoi live @ the hollybush 130511

‎"Are you one of them?" "NO!"
"Are you sure?" "Yeah!"
"Well you'd better not be..."

word up you crazy cats? how the devils are ye?

friday, as well as being a day for hockey masks also saw the combined forces of g (of mighty boomshadow fame), less for murder, and yours truly take to the stage at the hollybush...

jason - looks great in a hockey mask, can't play  guitar for sh*t

and yes, the magic curtain is STILL in place! (gotta love the curtain)

g (in a rothwell font) opened the show... taking to the stage brandishing his spangly new tele-coustic, sounded nicely dirty blastin' out through the ole kustom... esp enjoyed 'jackie o', always do... 'man kills wife' is sounding quite visceral at the moment, but well played geezer... 8)

next-up, those crazy cats less for murder... i think 'pill' is my favourite lfm tune, it has a bit of an eels vibe (albeit with a different vocal) to it... the vocal has a nice driving quality to it, digs its way into you brain... i like.

and then i... opened with the chicken, then god, love... nakedness in a wood... "you know the coup..."

took the opportunity to drop a couple of different ones... 'bite me' (complete with more-trumpet-than-before), 'higher level' (with the twist-and-shout-stylee bit on the chorus... all on my lonesome) 

there was a rare outing for (the morally and ethically incorrect, cudgel of a track) crack whore... which, i have to be honest, i quite enjoyed, so much so in fact that in true bwoi at the bush stylee, i stuck an (another) extra chorus on the end...

which in turn lead to something that i never expected... a request from the big o for that other ole' bush favourite 'krshna says'... and who am i to turn down such a request/blow against the wind?!

if i'm totally honest, i can't actually remember the last time i played it... but got away with it, i think i did a couple of verses in the wrong order (but tbh i did that with 'sunny afternoon too, and i only played it last week - 'sall very post-modern)... but his divine grace woulda been proud...

bhativedante swarmi prapu parda

we are the children of the guru kala

happiness expands by meditating harder

gather all your sons and bring them to our father

it has become apparent to me, i may never actually have to learn all of the words to 'take on me', 'sonly the second time i've played it out and it went down a storm...

i reckon hitting 'the note' helps...

all-in, it was a most-top night... and maximum thanks to all you crazy cats that came down, i had a blast - i hope you did too...

peace-out y'all

fatshadow

init jus'... for real

had me one of those multi-instrumentalist moments last night... right on.

got me invited to play at Jess's 30th bash last night (Happy Birthday Jess) by the e'er ineffable G (of mighty boomshadow/boombwoi fame)... and after our duo outing, for my birthday, on monday night we decided to drop another one of those 'once in a life'-ers again...

Omar played (really enjoyed that as i haven't seen my man play for some time... the big O is just too cool for so many things) ...and you gotta love that open shirt look 8)

[so cool is he that we even managed to drop an impromptu locomotion... which both a: made someone very happy b: taught us that we must never do this again, it is sealed with a kiss or nothing!! uhm...?!]

the big O - oozing cool

G played, and quite possibly scared of the dude from the scouts by opening with beastiality (billy bragg and phil jupitus)... and even whipped out his solo YMCA

i played, held off the nandos til the end of the set (damn weird feelin' that)... then G joined me for some nandos with a bullet on a sunny afternoon - although tbh drunk G had made an appearance by now, and there was some seriously enjoyable arms-outstrectched theatrics...

and then i did strap on a bass to join G and PC, and our powers combined...

FATSHADOW

hell yes.

take 50% mighty boomshadow add a smidgen of fatbwoi on the bass, don't rehearse and just drop it like its hot (drop it like its hot)... and that is how we roll!!

ja, for sure....

can't actually remember the last time i played bass with a band, and i had a most enjoyable time 8) (even when G went off on a mad solo during a song i didn't know/hadn't played and had to try and guess the key off - this is how we roll mo-fo!!).

but yeaman, i like, is nice... is nice, i like

really diggin' some of the incidental stuff PC and i were up to... bit of jazz, don't mind if i do, more a case of this is our thang, thus we must work it, doin' a bit of the ole' link-up shizzle - of course my horse 8)

properly enjoyed it though, nice addin' a bit of jazznofunknoswingnotechno bass to the mBs material... but then you gotta love the bass in general...

more bass...

the boombwoi fatshadow soundclash @ broken amp 280311

hear ye! hear ye! words and forsooth... uhm, something and fie for the other stuff...

or alternatively... damn right! bring it on... (he's actually writing one about music) *shock horror*

hell yes... last night was the night of the epic boombwoi fatshadow soundclash! this one, and g (of mighty boomshadow fame) onstage together at the broken amp...

and i think its safe to say - it was a lot of fun!! although i don't think i'll ever forget the look on paul's face when he offered to buy us drinks and we both requested soft ones (lemonade for me, diet coke for g)... priceless

there was a bit of bwoi, a bit of boom, and sure some of it was a bit 'rough around the edges' (a common theme of boombwoi gigs?!)... but we made up for it with gormless charm...

...especially enjoyed the upbeat swung 'sunny afternoon'!! i do believe this is something the g and i must do again... (we should probably/probably not do the whole thing again depending on your stand point...)

dropped an unexpected (fairly off-beat) version of 'take on me' at the end, and i have to be honest... i never thought i was gonna hit that note, let alone be able to hold it for that long...

rediscovered the joy of beatboxin' to beat-matched lights... (i think rich liked that too - although it did feel a bit epilepsy when rich left them on and we started up the guitars...)

g wouldn't beatbox (gonna have to work on this, he did however "rip it")

happy time