14/12/04
Ahhh the new year approaches and its time to take stock of the year and
ruminate on what's to come.
The last 3 shows of this year have passed.
The Amsterdam and berlin shows were
real nice due to all the other artists that were on the bill. It really
makes a difference when you have a possie of like-addled minds to piss-about
with.
The paradiso show was cool apart from a tired projector (it was bad-ass
last time we played) that was flopping images on screen instead of blasting
them on. Sound was a bit sucky at both venues (berlin was terrible) due
to not having our regular soundman jamie at the helm. What really sucked
was that warp refused to put their hands in their pockets to hire a decent
sound dude for all the artists, all of whom all of whom are on the label.
As the 2 shows were big adverts for the warp-vision dvd, one would think
that they would have the decency to put something towards the shows. It
seems that they still don't care about how artists are presented live,
both audio-wise and visually. I guess they don't make any money from a
live show.
anyway i step down from my soapbox and present some photos Dom from funkharma
snapped of the 2 shows.
Latvia was was a different plate of spuds.
As it was our last show for a while i wanted it to go well, as a poo show
would stick in my mind and leave us all on a downer.
Wanting to go out with a modicum of class i decided to get a Latvian translation of new family done, as expecting people to read english in latvia is a bit fresh.
After getting woken up in the hotel by some pissed up rich dude and his new (paid for) friend trying to get in my room with a duplicate card (always put the chain on yer hotel door) me ed and jamie (sound man) had a real early 9.30 (what?) sound check at the venue. On the way to the venue the driver took exception to the farmers van behind us (if you hear the story from jamie it was full of latvian mafia) and started a game of slowdown to piss em off that ended with us full tilt on the pavement trying to get in front of them before we hit a lamppost.
The venue was a tasty warehouse with a big ol stage and real good production. The production was so good in fact that they had read the rider and done everything we had asked, a real, real rare thing in 3 years of doing shows.
The show went really well. Ed had no crashes, andy was playing fast and loose with his mixing and was all the better for it, jamie tweaked the sound out front and to my surprise the lighting engineer did a perfect job of doing exactly as i asked (super-super-rare) and the audience dug it!
a good show to go out on.
anyhow, that's it for this year, im planning a move to san-andreas (gta) from tomorrow so its goodbye for now and have a peaceful crumbly and a new new year
bob
19/10/04
The 3 of us have decided to take a break from the live shows for a while.
The robot arm broke a while back, ed has to do a little voodoo dance to get his laptop to work (i also have a feeling that he was replaced a year
ago by a being made of drum mild and aftershave) andy is worshiping/becoming
the "hod" once more and all my gear has either been nicked or
or is falling apart.
We have 3 shows left, and the riga show will be our last.
Ed and andy will still be dj-ing and i am going to split my time between
finishing the dvd and getting some gigs with other bands/clubs.
We will return next year (sometime) with a new live show and also
the greedy baby show will rise again.
Thanks to all that have come to the shows and all the promoters/
crews that have put us on.
On a different tip, i finally got the super 8 transfer thing i have been
waiting
months for.
OOOh its a lovely thing.
taste it...................
take it real easy now!
bob
04/10/04
never a dull moment,..........well actually that's
not true>
on the way to moscow we were flying in a cool old ilushin areroflot plane
(cool apart from the smell of piss at the back).
We landed with the usual applause
for the pilot, and stepped out onto the tarmac
just in time to see a standoff between a large middle aged russian man
(who i had
seen destroy a whole bottle of vodka on the flight) and a young cop who
took
offence to the pissed up dude smoking when the plane was being refueled.
I cant speak russian but my natural ability to translate led me to think
the vodka
man was stating that by the power of booze he could do anything he wanted
too.
In passport control we lined up like good little tourists (we had no work
visas).
When ed got to the little window he was told to stand to one side and
his passport
was taken away. I was amused untill the same thing happened to andy then me.
Sitting on some seats watching the last few passengers from our flight
filter through
what looked like the head dude came out and informed us that our visas
were
for the next day and we would have to pay a "penalty" for being
bad boys
and wait 3.5 hours in a secure area till the clock struck midnight.
our new home for a time.
andy uses his x-ray vision to read his book.
had we died and this was purgatory?
after convincing the customs that tourists need
flight cases
full of cables, we were free.
take it easy
bob
22/09/04
well im a bit embarrassed at not touching
the site for nigh on 5 months,
but allot of things have happened in that time and i just aint had the
energy
to think about some of the stuff again for fear of overloading my noggin.
Blurting out all the last 5 months mulch would result in a rather large
ungainly lump
of pictures and text, so im going to split it all up much like a dude
who has a big
cake to get through slices it for more convenient scoffing.......
28/03/04.....24/04/04 head down, cork/dublin, head down,
deadbeat.....like really
26/04/04 qeh2...the
greedy baby rises again
30/04/04.....15/05/04 Istanbul and agatha Christie, a surround sound show
round the corner, and bedtime for plaid in a cell.
19/05/04.....21/05/04 old school rave in lyon, pain from satan, geneva.
29/05/04....03/07/04 plaid vs primal scream, a muddy quiet glastonbury,
the stand in band strike again.
I have decided to give the surround sound show /dvd a section of its own.
So those with a wish to gaze into that pot of chunks.....here
you go.
so that brings me up to date i guess.
Currently im lathering up the pieces for the dvd that are close to the
finish line, and
looking for funding for the last 2 films we have planed. If i dont find
some money
for the project soon im gonna have to put a lid on the thing and release
it
with the films that have been already done. (plus a real tasty super8
plaid on the
road thingy and some cool-arse extras)
After that it should get a release on warp come nov-dec and perhaps they
will finaly
get behind the project once they have the work on their little desks.
Post that we hope to take the surround sound show on the road (if apple
ever get round to releasing the g5 laptops that we need to run the show)
and twisting heads a bit further afeild than london-brighton.
the greedy baby will ride again!
take it easy
bob
ah yes......i forgot that those nice people at dj mag did an article on
me
(came out months and months ago) i just found it, so here
it is
if you fancy more slack jawed jibber jabber from the mouth.
22/03/04
we got booked for another show at
the q.e.h!
means i gotta get my head back down and make that
sucker 5 times as good as it was before. urrrrghhhh.
on a different note, bbc2 10.50am 23rd march.
something andy ward (my co director and amazing
illustrator on the super barrio project) plaid, mara, ian,
and myself worked on an age ago.
but please, dont feed any elephants
buns.
nice one
bob
11/03/04
damn, the show went allright, despite the fact
that all 3 of us could hardly stand up due
to lack of
sleep. A full report when i can think straight again.
More live shows have crept up when we were not looking
check the live section
for the dates.
take it easy.....
bob
24/02/04
the qeh show is sold out and im officially shitting
my pants.
Im about 2/3 finished with under 2 weeks to go.
A huge amount of respect to Andy-w and the folks
at slinky-pictures for hammering away at project-"s.b"
to get it done in time for the show.
The dates in Belgium were superb, as was the warp night
in amsterdam (one of the best shows we have ever played)
Thanks as usual to anyone who came, all the shouting
made us feel very humble.
take it easy.....
bob
10/02/04
The french leg of our european campaign has passed
with a raft of shows that went rather well.
Highlights for me were to-rocco-rot's set and terry riley's
suprise 20 min set in lille and the Paris and Strasbourg shows.
A big thank you to all the people that came.
Also big shouts to the plex crew and Jean-Luc Chansay for getting
us drunk in paris with fine french wine and being all round nice cup-
cakes.
Next shows are in Belgium and Amsterdam.
take it easy.....
bob
13/01/04
Happy new year to all and sundry.
I’ve had me head down, working towards the ether festival show
On the 7th of march. Those familiar with the plaid live show should
See a significant amount of new work, and some of the old stuff
Remixed into surround sound by those plaid boys.
Go to the ether
festival site for ticket booking action.
(i just took a look at the seats left and it looks like its 3/4 sold so
i you
want em, get em quick)
Being chained to my desk I hadn’t realised all the gigs that were
Fast approaching, check the updated live dates for the target
Areas for our shows.
I just got my super 8’s back from the American tour with plaid/
vibert
and Clark and there is some great time-lapse action of some of
The huge drives we had to do between shows, hopefully the footage
Will surface on the plaid dvd (if I ever finish it) or I will bung em
up on this site when I got a moment to telecine em.
Anyhows, the after effects render ping is my cue to
Stop pissing around with me web and get on with more
Pressing stuff……..
take it easy,
bob
