#09 Married to the Sea: Exceptions

Oh, hello. The 5th of October will see the final Used Vinyl Club release and will be the final Used Vinyl Club show. We're a little bit sad and a little bit excited. We'll have the first ever Mean Jean show, we'll show off Silent Sleep's skills to our Used Vinyl mates and Married to the Sea will throw tracks from their 7 track rarities and remixes EP at our ears:

Whilst trying to decide what to put together for our UVC release, we realised that over the past few years we seem to have somehow managed to accumulate a small, but interesting collection of musical bits and pieces. Songs that we've recorded in our practice room or in the back room of our flat or recordings from live radio sessions have tended to just float around without being able to find a proper home.

It seemed a shame to let them stay in the wilderness, so we've brought them all together, given them a title and created what will essentially be a collection of rarities and remixes.

Initially we wanted to do a kind of acoustic EP for our UVC release but despite abandoning this idea, one of the recordings has made it onto the CD - a brand new track 'Save it for the field' - Alongside this we've dug up tracks from our live session on Radio 2 with Janice Long, long lost alternative versions, an 8-bit cover of 'Metropolitan' by the very awesome ArcadeComa and a mini collection of remixes by some very talented friends.

It's always weird hearing a remix of one of your own songs - you kind of feel a bit violated but in a totally cool way. Its great to get to hear a song torn up and reassembled - like a musical Robocop, but with less acid.

Hopefully this EP will bookend what has become an amazing musical project and we'd like to take this chance to thank all the bands involved for being really supportive and encouraging and especially to Andy Donovan for having a great idea and seeing it through with such dedication and love.

Over and out, Married to the Sea.

#08 Guild of Defiants: 2000 - 2005

Hey! On the 7th of September we'll release our penultimate release and have our penultimate Used Vinyl Club show. This one promises to be a riff spectacular with support sets from Spanish Announce Team and Avenging Force. Words from Guild of Defiants on their 16 track anthology release:


Between 2000 and 2005 Andy Donovan, Mark Donovan, Paul Durand and Stewart Scanlon made up and recorded the following songs:

Variables is about this - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_%28computer_science%29 - in relation to my bank balance.

Playschool is about a recurring dream where I'm younger than I actually am.

The Gauntlet is about Takeshi's Castle.

Joey on the Jetty is the type of song we imagined hearing on Dawson's Creek. Stew said we should call it Joey on the Jetty.

Undo is about an imaginary real life undo button.

I Used to be a Pioneer then I Wrote a Song About love is about writing normal songs, then writing a love song which was not very interesting.

The Gene Rally is about 'politics' or something like that. It's the first and last song we tried to make up about 'politics'.

Game Over is about the sadness end of anything. Specifically a computer game which is more enjoyable than the real life. Namely Zelda - Ocarina of Time.

Lucy Jackson is about the family cat Lucy and family dog (at the time RIP mate) Jackson and their relationship. Lucy was – and still is - the boss.

Rekordmeister is about Bayern Munich on Pro Evolution Soccer 4. Or Rekordmeister as they were called for legal reasons.

Scrabble is one of three songs on this record about drinking and the surrounding artefacts and effects. Plus, Mark wanted to call a song Scrabble.

Bits and Pieces about breaking up with my girlfriend then offering to cut myself into bits and pieces if this was somehow desirable. I was 19.

The Less I use my Brain is another of three songs on this record about drinking and the surrounding artefacts and effects.

Vis a Vis is the third and final song on this record about drinking and the surrounding artefacts and effects.

Penny is about perceived lucky charms and panicking when you lose one.

See No Evil is about a friend in denial and comparing them to the See No Evil Monkeys. It was also written for my friend (different friend) Jessica because she got a drawing that I did of the See No Evil monkeys tattooed on her body.

Andy x

#07 - Voo, People We Know EP.

#07/09 of the Used Vinyl Club releases. We're delighted to bring you a brand new Voo EP! This will be available to download for FREE (From here: http://rekordmeistermusic.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/07-voo-people-we-know-ep.html) from Friday 3rd of August. That night we'll have another massive party in the form of our Used Vinyl Club nights. All of the usual fun will follow!

A few words from Voo...

'People We Know' is a brand new song recorded just last weekend, the first featuring Steve Carpenter on drums. It's been a while since we've been in the studio to record any new music & we had a boss time doing it. We're really excited for everyone to hear it & hope you like it loads.

Besides 'People We Know' there are two songs we recorded for inclusion on our latest album 'Songs We Used To Dance To' but, when it came time to putting the track-list together, found they didn't really fit. We always wanted to put them out at some point so we're made up to be releasing them as part of our Used Vinyl Club EP.

At one stage our Used Vinyl Club release was going to be a mini-album of new acoustic songs produced by Andy Donovan (the copper-flecked bearded genius behind Used Vinyl Club). Those songs will probably see the light of day at some point but for now here's one of a whole bunch we did, a cover of Hammer No More The Finger's amazing song 'Shutterbug'. This came about due to a split EP we did with HNMTF last year. Initially the plan was that we'd each do a cover of the other's songs, an idea that was entirely abandoned in the end but we love HNMTF & we love this song so check both of 'em out.

'Do We Go Now' is the first song on 'Songs We Used To Dance To' and, for a while now, we've talked about getting our guitarist Chris (McIntosh of Silent Sleep, 28 Costumes & Hallo..I Love You! boss-ness) to do a remix of it. At the time of writing, I've only had a sneak preview - it's sounding dead good, I can't wait to hear the rest. There's never been a Voo remix before so we're eager too see what you all think!

Being number seven in the Used Vinyl Club series Voo have gotten to see six amazing EPs and albums come out and the bar has been raised incredibly high by such an awesome group of bands and friends. Me, Paul, Steve & Chris all hope that this EP fits in alongside the rest of the Used Vinyl Club releases & we're proud to be a part of something so special.

#06 - Hallo...I Love You! - self titled album

#06/09 of the Used Vinyl Club releases. It’s a delightful 8 track album at. This will be available to download for FREE (from here: http://rekordmeistermusic.bandcamp.com/album/06-hallo-i-love-you) from Friday 6th of July. Also, that night will be the 6th Used Vinyl Club show featuring House that Jack Built & The Swapsies.

A few words from the indefatigable Christopher McIntosh:

“Hallo...I Love You!

Hallo! All of these songs were recorded around 2 years ago in Whitewood Studios, Liverpool by our very own Robert Whiteley. The songs were mostly written by Christopher McIntosh with the help of both Robert and Andrew Donovan and we roped Annamarie Owens to come and splash her lovely voice across them. None of us had done this type of music before and I guess that's why we wanted to do this band. All of the songs are total fun-time pop-fests and we're strangely proud of the results! We started to think that maybe these songs would never be released and we were kind of upset at the thought of all that fun going to waste but then when the idea of the Used Vinyl Club release came about, we were really excited and jumped at the chance to get the album out! We really hope you enjoy the songs as much as we enjoyed making them - hopefully we'll be making more soon.

Chris x”

#05 House that Jack Built - A Study of Reading Habits

The Fifth (blimey!) Used Vinyl Club release and a 10 track album at that. This will be available to download for FREE (from here: http://rekordmeistermusic.bandcamp.com/album/05-a-study-of-reading-habits) from Friday 1st of June. Also, that night will be the fifth Used Vinyl Club show featuring House that Jack Built & Down & Outs.

A few words from Mark Donovan of House that Jack Built:


A study of reading habits is a collection of songs, or rather a collection of thoughts written over the past couple of years. It’s not exactly autobiographical but the opinions, feelings and circumstances in these songs are all about who I am at this very moment. The books I love, the films I never get round to watching and the music I hate! It’s sometimes self assured and sometimes a bit scatty and uncertain but all written safe in the knowledge that me, Andy, Paul and Aaron will look back in 15 years confident in how much we’ve changed much like we look back smugly at how different we are from 15 years ago. This right now the ‘inch thick specs’ stage as Larkin wrote.
House that Jack Built has been a great way for best mates to play gigs and make friends with loads of brilliant bands and even more brilliant people, packing the gear away after shows and drinking the rest of the night away. ‘Get stewed’ is always the inevitable conclusion.

#04 DoubleDoublePlusGood & Meow Meow - Split EP: by Meow Meow!

The fourth Used Vinyl Club release. A split EP this time around. 4 tracks each from Meow Meow! (Marko Magill, Anna Maconald and Andy Maton – so the best bits of SSS, Down and Outs and Fight Fight Fight) and DoubleDoublePlusGood (Tony Keenan, Graham Jones and Andy Donovan – the worst bits of Tokyo Adventures, Voo and Elle s’appelle trying their best!).

This will be available to download for FREE from Friday 4th of May. Also, that night will be the fouth Used Vinyl Club show featuring both bands playing live.

We asked Meow Meow! for some words:


So, Meow Meow! had a chat, and we are pretty sure we started out in 2004.  We can't be sure if it was definitely in 2004 and there is no way of knowing when in 2004.  It's not that we don't care, but more that we are dead forgetful.  I think if we did all this again we'd write more stuff down.

 2004 does sound like a long time ago, but its also fair to say that MM are in no way prolific.  We meet up sporadically, and gig infrequently.  We aren't lazy, it's just that other stuff gets in the way.  This approach means we've hardly built up an archive of material - a download only single on  http://www.wiaiwya.com/ in 2010, followed by a track on their Xmas record of 2011.  That's why it's super nice for us to be involved in the Used Vinyl Club split with  DoubleDoublePlusGood.  Meow Meow ! don't see much of the world, so the opportunity to go out on a Friday night - well, how could we pass that up?  Big props to UVC and DD+G for having us along.

A couple of important things about Meow Meow!
i) I only just found out about the '!' at the end of the band name and for that I thank UVC - I thought there were 2, and then I thought over time it had completely fallen off.
ii) I reckon we are named after a club in Portland that Mark liked the name of, and not the fertilizer drug that causes men to irreparably damage themselves*
iii) We have a strict caffeine rule - if it's after 6pm tea has to be decaffeinated**  This is ironic given the confusion over point (ii).


See you on the 4th

Love
Meow Meow!
x

*http://www.metro.co.uk/news/802002-meow-meow-made-man-rip-his-scrotum-off
**http://www.taylorsofharrogate.co.uk/teaitem.asp?itmid=746

#04 DoubleDoublePlusGood & Meow Meow - Split EP: by DD+G

The fourth Used Vinyl Club release. A split EP this time around. 4 tracks each from Meow Meow (Marko Magill, Anna Maconald and Andy Maton – so the best bits of SSS, Down and Outs and Fight Fight Fight) and DoubleDoublePlusGood (Tony Keenan, Graham Jones and Andy Donovan – the worst bits of Tokyo Adventures, Voo and Elle s’appelle trying their best!).

This will be available to download for FREE from Friday 4th of May. Also, that night will be the fouth Used Vinyl Club show featuring both bands playing live.

We asked Tony for some words:


DoubleDoublePlusGood consist of 3 lads, havin' a laff. Andy Donovan plays drums and sings. You may recognise Andy from havin' laff in a boss band called Elle S'appelle, and another boss band called House that Jack Built. Graham Jones plays bass and sings. You may recognise Graham from havin' a laff in a boss band called Voo. Actually, the pair of them ALSO have a laff in a boss band called 28 Costumes too! Their heads must be chocka! The 3rd lad havin’ a laff in DoubleDoublePlusGood, is Tony Keenan - that’s me… hello!... I play guitar and sing by the way.

Anyway, what happened was… I was playing non stop (not literally) in bands for about 10 years. I became a bit jaded and decided to take a well deserved break from carrying heavy amps up and down various staircases around Liverpool. I assumed I'd just naturally get back in to the whole 'song writing/playing in bands' thing at some point, but didn't know when.

Years passed. I tried, now and again, to write some new songs but it all felt a bit forced/rubbish, so I'd usually just watch the telly instead... or go to the supermarket. I like supermarkets.

Long story short, after receiving some much needed encouragement from some kind friends, I finally got my act together and made a demo of new songs. In late 2011, Andy and Graham bullied me in to starting a band with them so these songs could be heard. And so began DoubleDoublePlusGood (or DD+G... if you value your time). With hindsight, I’m extremely grateful to Andy and Graham for their relentless, and sometimes violent, bullying.

Andy Donovan (like Timbaland with a cuppa) recorded/produced the 4 songs that appear on this split release with Meow Meow!, who were kind enough to let us share a disc with them. The DD+G songs are all essentially about not doing anything creative for an extended period of time. It turns out that you can create something out of not being creative. Who knew?

We're extremely psyched about our recordings and the split release in general. We hope you enjoy it.

To those who encouraged - thanks for the encouragement.

tk x