Huxley Boon

Yep, so it took forever to do and it’s taken me forever to say anything about it but The Steal finally released our first 7″.

We actually originally recorded the songs about a year and a half ago. It turned out totally crap though because we were even more under-prepared than we usually are. For example I managed to forget my snare AND cymbals for the recording, and lindsay forgot his guitar… no joke. Dave was also recording us, the first time he’d recorded a full band. All in all it was a ‘learning experience’.
We then did it again a couple of months later, recording the music for the songs on the split and the Lightyear covers (that will come out within 10 years) in a day at a rehearsal space. It was intense, we had an extreme technical metal band rehearsing in the room next to ours that actually managed to play constantly the whole 9 hours we were there, also added to that was Dave House’s double duty on playing and recording heightening the cabin fever. It was fun.
The vocals then took an age to get done, we didn’t even have words for both songs sorted out. We only managed to do it by forcing ourselves into Dave’s room in Kingston months after doing the music, working it out as we went along… using his bed as a vocal booth, going stir-crazy (again), deciding at about 1 in the morning a part was ‘missing something’ so ending up with me delivering my first spoken word performance on record, with buses very audibly going past the window and fights kicking off outside. We’ve still yet to do all the vocals for the Lightyear stuff, it’s going to be interesting… Recording things yourself is cheap and flexible but not necessarily good for your mental health sometimes.

It was originally going to be with those cheeky northern scamps in The Mercury League but they went and broke up which delayed the whole process even more. We had the recording done for months and didn’t really know what to do with it, several ideas were floating around including creating a fictional band, recording fake songs and effectively releasing it with ourselves, using the same music but writing different words for the b-side, doing it as a split with Top Chess… unfortunately none of these saw the light of day.

Around this time I had started playing with Beat Express and the other guys suggested doing it with them, I was of course well into this idea and after a bit of activity it is now out. I wrote a bit more about why i’m so stoked on doing it with the Beats on The Steal website.

Anyway, I’m real pleased with how it turned out… The artwork looks amazing, Will Exley has done a fine job indeed. The sleeve is actually an A2 2-colour screenprinted poster, screened by pavey himself (he IS a busy man) and the songs actually sound 100% better being on vinyl.

We got 300 made and I think about half of them have been sold already so you’d better be quick! You can get them from The Steal site or Banquet Records at the moment. ok.

451. go.

A side - Distance

B side - Over and Over

So the stupid internet is back on and I have a ton of stuff I need to put up on here. I’ll start with a couple of paintings I recently completed. The first is a present for my good friend Nick Horn, it is a painting of the majestic Peregrine Falcon -

The second is a study of my friend Luke. When I get frustrated with a painting, I find trying something that could easily completely ruin it can sometimes save it from being whitewashed and started again. This is one of those paintings -

Apologies for the light reflections on the paintings, these were the best photos Luke and I could get with the equipment we had. One day I’ll get some decent photos produced… one day!

Hopefully I’ll catch up with the other stuff i’ve been up to of late over the next few days.

But I would like to quickly re-direct you to the new improved At Home website I just put together and the band Aradia, who I’ve been listening to for most of this morning… good stuff indeed.

x

This no internet except at work is really putting a dampner on this thing eh?

I’ve been slack at best at helping promote this, i’ve been a busy boy indeed… more on that another time though. For now, COME TO THIS -

ok?

The Internet came, then it went, then it came back at the speed I remember it being when I was 15… then it went totally and now it appears to be back again. whoop.

MEGAFEST VIII was amazing. Playing was a blur, I think I forgot how to play bass for most of our set and without a drumkit to hide behind I was pretty meek inbetween songs… however I think we did good and it was most importantly a lot of fun, yeah. The rest of the evening/night was the best, it was brilliant seeing so many friends down there having a good time… there was sun, a barbeque, beer, kid dynamite and descendents covers, a man rolling around in soil, glass and humous… The bands were top notch, a few highlights - Burning Times were incredible, maybe not for the reasons that i’d previously been impressed by them, but for making me smile so much throughout their whole set. A perfect example being totally fucking up halfway through their first song, stopping with the choice quote, “we’re a bit pissed… uh, go from the break” then kicking right back in. Cold Ones and Party Garbage were also a LOT of fun. The Shitty Limits totally ‘killed it’ as the kids say and i got totally over excited by the fact i wasn’t wearing glasses i got well involved and received a bloody nose and a lump on my head for my efforts. I’m still recovering now, my old out of shape body can’t handle it no more… all that standing at the back for all these years has weakened me. ha.

It definitely was a good reminder of why living in Brighton is a good thing, the whole day the atmosphere was so good and the karaoke at the end was beyond words. FUN x 100.

Matt Devine you will be missed.

Apologies to anyone that has tried to make internet contact over the last few weeks because it hasn’t been working my end. A lovely man came over yesterday, called us all students, then asked if it was our Dad’s house for some reason, then fixed the internet. Since then i’ve been hastily checking up on all the pointless stuff i normally look at, see that it’s all pretty much carrying on as it was and feeling quite tragic at how incapacitated i was without my dear world wide web.

Important things -

1. Chris and I’s Zine - Sweet Shop Syndicate 3 is now OUT, you can buy it direct from me, it’s absolutely amazing… chock-a-block full of stories and fun and stuff.

It’s about 48 pages for £1 direct OR paypal £1.50 to sweetshopsyndicate@gmail.com OR mail me about postal/mailing arrangements.

2. This gig is happening -

It WILL be ace. The North Pole are on at 5:30 downstairs, we’re all really looking forward to it. It’s well good I feel like i’m about 16 again playing an instrument for the first time in front of people… exciting.

3. The Steal / Beat Express split is back from the printers, Mark is going to get the artwork printed very soon… it is by this Incredible talent - Will Exley (i still can’t find his website) he is good. yes. Then we will sell them! There are only 300 mind, i’m sure they’ll go pretty quick.

4. I have been offered and taken a ‘proper’ job from Carousel, I am going to become Music Co-ordinator for the charity, which is exciting stuff. I’m really stoked on this and I’m sure it means due to more time spent in an office my blogging will go off the map.
The negative side of this though is i’m having to stop working at the After School Club which i’m pretty upset by. The whole thing makes sense but it’s still really sad and i’m going to miss all the kids there, the last 2 years i’ve learnt so much from being a playworker and it’s easily been one of my favourite jobs ever…

I mean getting paid to do this? Ridiculous.

My good friend Mark Pavey being the highly motivated and organised individual he is has set up something called the Art is Proof Press. This will inevitably become his burgeoning empire in a matter of years but for now his first enterprise is setting up an exhibition of screenprinted posters. Now not only is he setting up and organising the whole thing but he’s printing all of the posters himself… yes, he is mildly insane. There will be (I believe) 12 artists in total exhibiting and each poster will be limited to 40 signed editions. The exhibition opens on the 6th of June and runs until the 16th (probably?? I’ll check these  dates as i think i’ve just made them up) and it’s at Castor and Pollux on Brighton seafront. Bonzer.

Oh yeah, the other reason why i’m telling you this other than to promote a friends endeavors is that I will have a poster in the exhibition… and this is it -

x

Have a holiday and my innate slackness comes to the fore… shocking.

Tons of stuff has been going on and it keeps piling up and piling up and not being placed on here for all to read about, why do you care? why do I care? I have no idea but it’s been bugging me… although not as much as my extremely strange and intense argument i had in my dream last night. It was really weird.

Anyway, on with the blogging…

Munich/Ingolstadt was ace. I realised I hadn’t actually been on a holiday in a long time, a holiday being defined by not actually having to do anything at all, therefore resulting in midday drinking in the sunshine outside the Rathaus surrounded by old men and meat.
The first few days were spent in Ingolstadt, a fact for you - The Reinheitsgebot, which is the German beer purity law, was signed in Ingolstadt in 1516… this is the oldest food quality regulation in the world. So it’s not actually even for food, the oldest food quality law is for beer.

We then spent the next few days heading in and out of Munich seeing plenty of stuff… These lovely people were my companions for the escapades -

Sexy.

It was great hanging out with two of my best friends in a new and exciting location. We were witness to Munich’s finest whilst out there, highlights include - Student Riots, The Future, the Palace of Knowledge and Mega Foliage.

We also saw this. Which was amazing.

Lots of walking and getting lost was done, plenty of underground train action was had, a bar that only played alternative hits from the years between 1996 and 1998 was found, “I’m just a sucker with no self esteeem, oh waaaay oh… etc”. Lots of Japanese cuisine and lots and lots of pretzels were eaten. The beer was enjoyed and will be missed, and so will this guy…

That’s all you’re getting out of me for now, i’ve got to go to work.

Ich bin ein Kunstler.