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

fb 8)

not getting eaten by bears...

following the whole 'Bullet' experience, i think its safe to say that i don't always have the best time of it when it comes to woodland... (but really... how the hell does a mermaid get up in a tree anyway?!)

but i'm aware that this is my dysfunction, and as such have been taking steps to tackle it...

one such step was the scheduling of a photo-shoot with the lovely jo masey, in that most dreaded of locations... nature.

my mission, was simply not to get dive-bombed by a mermaid...

one of the key differences between this and the bullet video being that this time i was dressed... the other, and probably most important was that this time i was armed... i had a guitar! this simple fact opens up two interesting possibilities in the event of mermaid/fantastical creature attack...

1. i could sing at them, hope that the dig the thang-shaking thing (it being a new sound completely unheard in their natural realm) and that i can distract them long enough for something shiny/not me to appear and catch their attention

2. use it as a club... although i love my guitar, so this is very unlikely... i could wield it and make like an angry gaz from supergrass (so i've been told) in the hope that they go away... 

did i feel less 'safe' when my guitar was out of reach?

uhm, yeah... slightly

did i stop me from resting my ass up against a tree and getting down with some nature groove?!

hell no...

i was like [to the guitar] "you sit hear a sec while i space me out some jazzy beats..."

and there was this definite kind of jazz thing going down... well that, and a slightly disturbing feeling of unsure footing... that'll be the logs, and the chips, and the foiliage...

all in it was a lot of fun, you can view the full album via the magic of bookface, here...

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150407386988470.383327.15364453469&type=3

and just in case you're wondering what in the devil this mermaids and fantastical creatures business i keep going on about is, well, here's a lil' reminder...

if you go down to the woods today...

peace-out y'all 8)

fatbwoi live @ the cross keys 210511

1x setlist - check 

2x capo, 2x plectrum - check (one of them is blunt)

sneakers (pair) - check

lemonade - check

...well kind of it's on the table... with the set-list 8)

rapture or none, had me a most-excellent time shakin' that thang last night at the cross keys... i reckon we did the apocalypse party in still, and big-love to all the crazy cats who came down...

but back-up a lil' bit, and i had a proper weird moment... 

sipping on my stripe-shandy was i, when a small girl in a lilac dress did approach me and ask "where is the bear?"

proper caught me off-guard that did... (turns out she was the landlord's daughter, and she'd just watched the bullet vid upstairs... and paul had intimated i might bring the bear with me).

but then in a flash (and with a lil' help from joey) i remembered that the bear suffers with 'terrible travel sickness' and won't generally spend 'more than ten minutes in a car' - oh yeah effective counter!!!

i woulda been good if she'd asked about the mermaid, its easy to explain how she got up a tree... but down the motorway - c'mon, she's a mermaid!!!

bear : strength - great dancer, weakness - 'travel sickness'

opened with the chicken (for a shocker), although given the occasion i maybe should opted for '1-800', which i proper enjoyed playing, complete with its added crazy-american-geriatric-predicting-doomsday resonance - right on...

additional air-con provided by stevie - check

its mk, so natural law dictates that i have to play 'back in the day'... although i was distressed to discover that the field, which used to be orchard hall back in the day,  is being redeveloped as a range of luxury 2, 3 and 4 bedroom homes - bad times

played me a bit of 'sandman' for paul... i'm a bad dude (sorry paul), and for obvious reasons i was rewarded with a wry shaking of the head... i think paul would prefer it with a bit less swing, and a bit more metallica :P

another rare outing for 'krshna says' too... the apocalyptic vibe of the evening seemed more than fitting, and it went down pretty-darn well (in addition to the usual benefit of bringing you closer to the godhead)...

played newbie 'bite me' too... am seriously loving the bwoi-the-trumpet bit at the end, i feel i may have to this more (natural law)

ended on 'forces' (natural law), and handed control of the 'fate of the world' the girl dancing at the front... fairly confident that this was a good move as there are very few things i can actually be trusted with...

all in a top night, thanks to stevie for inviting me... was a bit 28 days later drivin' up the m1 with the street-lighting off, but it was dark (its only dark in the north in 28 days later) and far too windy... so i figured we were probably safe from the cdc predicted zombie outbreak in the event of the rapture, as when it happens its gonna look far cooler

happy time  

the fatbwoi tetralogy

Ladies and Crazy Cats... it is with great pleasure that i present to you...

The Fatbwoi Tetralogy

a series of four hand-painted silk cushions carrying a selection of bwoi related motifs... bringing to you the greatest of comfort, and the ultimate of band accessories...

bring the pinnacle of design home to your crib...

The Bwoi (streetstyle)

 the first two designs in the series feature logo's for both bwoi and bwoi's, mixing occasionally edgy 'street' vibes with funky psychedellic design...

The F5 Logo

  the latter half of the series references songs taken from a typical fatbwoi live set...

The Spinning Bird Kick

take the elegance of the spinning bird kick... what can you say but wah-ow?!

The Code Red/Bullet

and the all encompassing brilliance of the code red/bullet which not only has a zombie on it (stick-a-zombie-on-it), but also makes a sly nod to some cape-clad shenanigans, whilst acting as a subtle reminder of what to do in the event of the inevitable zombie apocalypse...

i make that a win/win

...this is a collection no home should be without!

"these truly are one of my favourite things ever..." - fatbwoi

this most-excellent works were crafted by the immensely talented heather collins...
with black and white designs by woody shearwood