Newsletter - March 2013

It's been a while! Here is some news from The Left Outsides:-

New Album - 'The Shape of Things to Come' digital download release

Brought to you courtesy of Xemu Records, our new album titled 'The Shape of Things to Come' is now available for digial download from the following online stores: emusic, Amazon, and itunes.  The album was mixed by Martin Noble (British Sea Power) and Graham Sutton (Bark Psychosis).

Summer show announced

We're pleased to announce that we're playing at the Woolf Music Festival at Cleeve House, Seend near Melksham, in Wiltshire, England, on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th August 2013.  Cleeve House is a rambling country manor that has historic associations with Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury group of artists. Woolf Music is "a celebration of underground rock in a magical setting." Hosted by the people behind the wonderful 'Terrastock' festivals, the line-up also includes Sharron Kraus, Bridget Hayden, Ellen Mary McGee, Sofie Cooper, Plinth, United Bible Studies, Deej Dhariwal (Thought Forms), Silver Stairs Of Ketchikan, Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance). 

More summer 2013 shows to be announced very soon. Here is a review of the show we played with Cheval Sombre and Sonic Boom from back in November 2012 (a Sonic Cathedral night).

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter

You can now follow us on Facebook and on Twitter (@theleftoutsides) for the most up to date news from The Left Outsides.

and finally... our song 'The Chameleon' from our debt album 'And Colours in Between' is to feature as part of the sound track to a new US indie film titled 'Last Weekend' due for release later in the year.  More news when we have it. 

And that's the end of this newsletter. As always, you can get in touch with us by email at  mailto:the_left_outsides.yahoo.co.uk or via our facebook or twitter pages.

Thanks for listening. If you wish to unsubscribe from this newsletter, please use the links below.

The Left Outsides

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The Left Outsides newsletter - April 2010

Dear friends,

It's been a while since we were last in touch - we've been busy holed up in our new basement studio working on some new material over the last three months or so. But we have news of a couple of events in April and in May to bring to your attention…..

Stand and Deliver - screening at the London East End Film Festival - Monday 26 April

At the centre of the woods lies the body of a young woman. What happened last night? How did she get here?.......

'STAND & DELIVER is the third collaboration from the award-winning Director, Writer and Cinematographer Team Gus Alvarez, Paul Nash & Neill Phillips, and is produced by the award-winning independent producer Emily Blickem. Stand & Deliver stars Alexa Brown (The Secret Philosophy, Return to Ravenswood, Mirror Mirror) as Anna, plus Emma Deakin (One Little Step, Black Box) and Darren S.Cook. The pitch-perfect soundtrack is provided by The Left Outsides.'

This new short film, described as 'lyrical, dream-like and unsettling ' is being screened as part of the East London Film Festival on Monday 26 April at the Rich Mix, Bethnal Green, London. You are invited to attend - tickets can be purchased from the Rich Mix website . The film has also been nominated in the 'Best UK short Film' category in the festival awards competition.

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Live and Direct - Friday 21 May - café Oto, London with Mathew Sawyer and the Ghosts and Comet Gain

Announcing our first live date of 2010 at Café Oto, Dalston, London on Friday 21 May 2010.

We are chuffed to bits to be playing with friends Comet Gain and Mathew Sawyer and the Ghosts, who will be using the occasion to launch their new album titled ‘How Snakes Eat’ on Fire records. We would highly recommend that you use some of your hard earned cash to purchase a copy of this fantastic record, and that’s not just because our own Alison Cotton contributes her viola skills to the recordings.

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Finally, you can now follow the Left Outsides on Facebook, if you are into that kind of thing. Go visit our page and be our friend or something.

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Err, that’s it! We hope to bring you more news of forthcoming Left Outsides releases in the near future, and as always you can keep in touch with the band at the_left_outsides@yahoo.co.uk

Bye for now,

The Left Outsides

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The Trimdon Grange Explosion - Live on BBC 6 Music - Friday 8 January

Greetings dear friends, and Happy New Year!

May we suggest you tune into BBC 6 Music on Friday 8 January to listen to 'The Trimdon Grange Explosion' play a live set on the Tom Robinson show from 7-9pm. Simply click on the 'listen now' button on the 6 music website on Friday 8th, or visit the website after the event and click on the 'listen again' button.

The Trimdon Grange Explosion is our 'other band' with our good friends (and 'Outside Left's') Ben Phillipson and Karl Sabino. The name is taken from a mining disaster which occurred at the Trimdon Grange colliery in the North East of England in 1882. 72 men and boys lost their lives as the mines collapsed due to a natural gas explosion. A song was written by Tommy Armstrong, a local man known as ‘the pit poet’ as a fund raiser for the grieving families of the dead. The song was recorded by Louis Killen on topic records in the 1960s.

Listen to our songs on our myspace page

The Left Outsides

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Flyer for Clientele Show - Thursday 19 November 2009

Here' a Great looking flyer for our show with the Clientele on Thursday 19 November at London's Luminaire. Tickets are available from We Got Tickets . Stage time 8.30pm.

November shows in London

Some news of two new shows in November for your diary:-

--o--

Saturday 14 November, The Windmill, 22 Blenheim Gardens, Brixton, London SW2 5BZ. With Le Volume Courbe, Matthew Sawyer and the Ghosts and The European. Tickets £4.50. Further information from We got Tickets. 9pm.

And....

Thursday 19 November, The Luminaire, 311 High Road, Kilburn, London, NW6 7JR. With The Clientele. Tickets £8.50 from We Got Tickets . 8pm

--o--

We are over the moon to be playing with these shows with two of our favourite bands right now - The Clientele and Matthew Sawyer and the Ghosts. Check out their wonderful songs at the myspace links.

--o--

The Left Outsides

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Newsletter - Autumn 2009

Hello dear friends, here is the August 2009 edition of The Left Outsides newsletter....

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The Left Outsides in London
We're back with a show in London Town, Dalston to be precise, as support to the wonderful Damon and Naomi and 'Amor De Dias' (Alastair from the Clienteles' other band).
Friday 4 September, Cafe Oto, 22 Ashwin Street, London. Tickets are priced at £7 from WeGotTickets. Show time 8pm. Bought to you by 'Secret Knowledge'.

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The Left Outsides in London (again)
This time at The 12 Bar Club, 26 Denmark Place, London with Anton Barbeau on Wednesday 9 September. Tickets £6 on the door. Show time 8pm

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Stand and Deliver
We've been busy over the past few months putting the final touches to our soundtrack to a new short film by Gus Alvares, called 'Stand and Deliver'. Here is a trailer for your enjoyment, and a few words about the film:-
At the centre of the woods lies the body of a young woman. What happened last night? How did she get here?

Stand & Deliver is the third collaboration from the award-winning Director, Writer and Cinematographer Team Gus Alvarez, Paul Nash & Neill Phillips, and is produced by the award-winning independent producer Emily Blickem. Stand & Deliver stars Alexa Brown (The Secret Philosophy, Return to Ravenswood, Mirror Mirror) as Anna, plus Emma Deakin (One Little Step, Black Box) and Darren S.Cook. The pitch-perfect soundtrack is provided by UK folk band The Left Outsides.

This lyrical, dream-like unsettling short will be touring the UK and World film festival circuit this year and 2010.

--0--

That's about all for now folks, hope to see you at a show soon. You can always drop us a line at mailto:the_left_outsides@yahoo.so.uk too....



The Left Outsides
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Newsletter – March 09

Hello dear friends, here is the March 2009 edition of the Left Outsides newsletter.

--o--

Left Outsides in Berlin – Friday 13 March

A quick heads up to our friends in Berlin - we are heading your way later this week. We will be playing a show at Madame Claude’s on Friday 13 March. Please come along it will be wonderful to see you there.

Friday 13 March
Madame Claude's
Lübbener Str. 19
Berlin
Germany
Stage time 9pm


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The Third Light 7” single

A quick reminder that we still have copies of our debut single, 'The Third Light' . The 7"s are individually numbered and packaged in unique fabric sleeves with card insert. Get yourself over to our webshop here to order your copy.

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The Shape of Things to Come

Our new album is almost in the bag. Martin Noble from British Sea Power and Graham Sutton spent most of last week getting the final mix ready and we are super pleased with the results. We are now looking forward to the release in the Summer time. ‘The Shape of Things to Come’ will be released on the marvellous Track and Field label. The art work is being designed as we speak by our good friend and regular artwork designer Dave Underwood from Wax Ethic. Watch this space for more news on the release very soon.
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Stand and Deliver

We have been busy working on a new project over the past few months, called ‘Stand and Deliver’ . Filmaker Gus Alvares (director of the ‘Ring Out the Bells’ video ) asked us to contribute a soundtrack to a new short film of his called….er, ‘Stand and Deliver’. The soundtrack is a departure from the traditional song structures featured on previous Left Outsides material. Instead this is a more experimental direction, of drones, washes of feedback, backwards sounds and percussion. The music is mostly instrumental, but the film also features ‘I Have Always Been Inclined to Follow my Dreams’ from the ‘And Colours in Between’ album and ‘Out of Time; Out of Place’ a new song from our forthcoming album ‘The Shape of Things to Come’. It is in the final stage of production and we hope to be able to upload the film to our website very soon for your viewing pleasure.

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The Trimdon Grange Explosion* – Friday 27 March

Something for our London friends now. We are playing in a brand new band, called ‘The Trimdon Grange Explosion’ and we are playing a show at the Buffalo Bar , in Highbury, London on Friday 27 March, as part of the Fortuna Pop ‘Beat Hotel’ night.

The band features Ben Phillipson on Guitar and vocals, Karl Sabino on drums and percussion, Mark Nicholas on Bass guitar and vocals and Alison Cotton on viola and vocals. It promised to be a great night, we would love to see you there.

We are going into the studio in a few weeks time to cut some new tracks which we hope will be released very soon, so watch this space.

Friday 27 March
The Buffalo Bar
259 Upper Street
London
N1


*The name is taken from a mining disaster which occurred at the Trimdon Grange colliery in the North East of England in 1882. 72 men and boys lost their lives as the mines collapsed due to a natural gas explosion. A song was written by Tommy Armstrong, a local man known as ‘the pit poet’ as a fund raiser for the grieving families of the dead. The song was recorded by Louis Killen on topic records in the 1960s.

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That’s all for now,


The Left Outsides
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Left Outsides newsletter - December 2008

Hello folks, welcome to the December 2008 edition of The Left Outsides newsletter, bringing you news of.... err.... The Left Outsides!

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*The Gower Wassail*

First up, the good folks at Where It's At Is Where You Are records asked us to contribute a song to their online Christmas themed compilation. We obliged with our interpretation of the seasonal traditional song 'The Gower Wassail'. Visit their website to stream or download the song for free.

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*New London show announced - Track and Field Winter Sprinter - Thursday 15 January 2009*

We are pleased to announce our first show of 2009, the Track and Field Organisation's 'Winter Sprinter', supporting the excellent Damon and Naomi (ex Galaxie 500). This show will also feature 'The Outside Lefts' whose current incarnation includes Ben Phillipson (electric guitar) Karl Sabino (drums) and Matt Ashton (bass guitar).

We'd love to see you there, here are the finer details...

Thursday 15 January - 7.30pm

TRACK & FIELD WINTER SPRINTER VOLUME 10.4

DAMON & NAOMI (Ex Galaxie 500) plus THE LEFT OUTSIDES

The Luminaire

311 Kilburn High Road

London NW6

Nearest tube: Kilburn / overground: Brondesbury

Tickets: £7 advance, available from:

We Got Tickets

Ticketweb

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*Planting Seeds Records - “Blue Skies Daisy Days” compilation*

We have an exclusive track included on Planting Seeds Records latest compilation release – “Blue Skies Daisy Days” (PSRCD-058). It is released on CD and digital format through Darla distribution. The featured track is the full studio version of our song 'Out of Time; Out of Place'.
Some of our friends are also included on this compilation - The See See, The Tamborines and The Fischers. They all provide great tracks - well worth your attention.

The collection also includes the International Jetsetters (members of The Jesus & Mary Chain + Ride) The Ocean Blue, Linda Draper, A.M. Vibe, The Voyces, Pinkie (Sarah Records), The Loose Salute (members of Mojave 3), Loz Colbert (Ride), The Primary 5 (members of Teenage Fanclub), Nic Dalton (Lemonheads), John Moore (Black Box Recorder, JAMC).

A Portion of the proceeds from this benefit record go to San Diego based The Keep-A-Breast Foundation. The Keep A Breast Foundation is a non-profit organization. Their mission is to help eradicate breast cancer by exposing young people to methods of prevention, early detection and support.

Order your CD copy by visiting the Darla Website .

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*New album set for release in Spring 2009*

More news on this next time......

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Finally, we would like to thank everyone who has helped and supported us over the past 12 months.

Thank you, its been a blast. Here's to more next year!

The Left Outsides
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New London show announced - Track and Field Winter Sprinter 15 Jan 09

We have just confirmed a new London show, the first for 2009. Further details below.

Thursday 15 January - 7.30pm
TRACK & FIELD WINTER SPRINTER VOLUME 10.4
DAMON & NAOMI (Ex Galaxie 500) plus THE LEFT OUTSIDES
The Luminaire
311 Kilburn High Road
London NW6
Nearest tube: Kilburn / overground: Brondesbury
Tickets: £7 advance, available from:

http://www.wegottickets.com/event/40302

http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=300234

Visit the Track and Field website for more details about their excellent record label here.

Planting Seeds Records - “Blue Skies Daisy Days” compilation

The Left Outsides have an exclusive track included on Planting Seeds Records latest compilation release – “Blue Skies Daisy Days” (PSRCD-058). It is released on 2 December 2008 in CD and digital format through Darla distribution. The featured track is the full studio version of 'Out of Time; Out of Place'.

The collection features both Planting Seeds Artists’ and friends from around the globecontributing exclusive tracks along with remastered favorites.

International Jetsetters (members of The Jesus & Mary Chain + Ride) The Tamborines, The Ocean Blue, Linda Draper, A.M. Vibe, The Voyces, Pinkie (Sarah Records), The Left Outsides (Eighteenth Day of May), The See See (also featuring members from the UK’s Eighteenth Day Of May), The Loose Salute (members of Mojave 3), Loz Colbert (Ride), The Primary 5 (members of Teenage Fanclub), Nic Dalton (Lemonheads), John Moore (Black Box Recorder, JAMC), are just some of the excellent artists featured on Planting Seeds’ latest collection of timeless pop music.

A Portion of the proceeds from this benefit record go to San Diego based The Keep-A-Breast Foundation. The Keep A Breast Foundation is a non-profit organization. Their mission is to help eradicate breast cancer by exposing young people to methods of prevention, early detection and support.

Pre-order your CD copy by visiting the Darla website .

Left Outsides - Newsletter Autumn 2008

Hello dear friends, here is the Autumn 2008 edition of the Left Outsides newsletter.

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Left Outsides on the radio

We will be performing live on Tom Robinson's BBC 6 music show next week – Friday 3 October to be precise. You can listen live from 19h00 to 21h00 on the BBC 6 Music website or via digital radio, freeview or satellite TV. You can listen again after the event by visiting the website and clicking on the 'listen again' button.

We have assembled a brand new version of our band ‘The Outside Lefts’ for this special occasion, adding the wonderful Ben Phillipson on guitar who joins Outside Left stalwarts Karl Sabino (drums) and Matt Ashton (bass guitar) for this line up. We will be performing new songs from our soon to be released second album ‘The Shape of Things to Come’.

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Luminaire show with Bevis Frond and nick nicely

We are getting extremely excited about our show at The Luminaire in London on Saturday 11 October with The Bevis Frond and nick nicely. I kid you not, its being billed as a 'psychedelic summit' by the people at Terrascope online. Further details below. Get your tickets soon because this sucker is sure to sell out!

Saturday 11 October, The Luminaire, 311 High Road, Kilburn, London NW6 7JR.

Terrascope Tea Party 6 featuring a rare performance by psychedelic acid-rock guitar gurus The Bevis Frond, a one-off show by the legendary nick nicely (of ‘Hilly Fields’ fame), and local psychedelic folk heroes The Left Outsides. Buy tickets from WeGotTickets. Left Outsides stage time 8pm.

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DJ set - Sunday 19 October – Salmon and Compass, London

If you are in or around London town on the afternoon of Sunday 19 October, may I recommend that you pop in to the Salmon and Compass boozer at 58 Penton Street, London, N1 9PZ. Why? because The Left Outsides are playing their favourite records at 'The Hangover Lounge' from 1pm to 7pm. FREE entry!

--o--

Brixton show, London - Monday 20 October

We're at The Basket Club at The Windmill, 22 Blenheim Gardens, Brixton, London, SW2 5BZ on Monday 20 October. Stage time 9.30pm. Hope to see you there.

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The Third Light 7” single

A quick reminder that there are copies available of our debut single, 'The Third Light' on the Hi-Beat Records imprint. The first 100 copies of the 7" format are individually numbered and packaged in unique fabric sleeves with card insert. It is also available as an MP3 download.

The single is available directly from our webshop at http://www.theleftoutsides.com/Shop.htm

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That’s all for now folks, we hope to see you soon!

The Left Outsides x

New single 'The Third Light' - released Monday 21 July

We are pleased to announce the release of our debut single 'The Third Light' on Monday 21 July 2008 on the Hi-Beat Records imprint. The first 100 copies of the 7" format is individually numbered and packaged in unique fabric sleeves with card insert. It is also available as an MP3 download.

The single features a new recording of 'The Third Light', backed with the track 'Deep Rivers Move in Silence; Shallow Brooks are Noisy' remixed of by critically acclaimed Scottish band Found, part of the Fence Collective.

The following is from the Hi-Beat records press release:-

'Lead track 'The Third Light' is a minor key treasure, driven by haunting gypsy viola. The mysteriously enigmatic lyrics mask the song's true nature. 'Deep Rivers Move In Silence; Shallow Brooks are Noisy' tells of the feelings of guilt and remorse after reading the diary of someone now departed. The title pays homage to the author of this diary, a character who spent his life waiting in the wings with the frustrations of being overshadowed by the more brazen people of this world. Critically acclaimed Scottish band Found remix the song, shadowing their own experimental electronic folk sound'

The 7" single is available directly from our webshop at http://www.theleftoutsides.com/Shop.htm

Read a review of the single on the Sounds XP website.

Germany Tour - Day 7 - Monday 31st March, Cafe Vinyl, Wetzlar

Outside of Cafe Vinyl, Wetzlar

Well, I could say that I've played at some pretty good venues before but never have I ever been greeted at a venue with champagne on arrival. As we arrive at Cafe Vinyl in Wetzlar, Siegmar Roscher, the promoter of the night enters the room holding a bottle of champagne and opens it to celebrate the arrival of The Left Outsides to Wetzlar. We all drink to Siegmar and Cafe Vinyl. We love the guy and this place already. 

It was a spectacular journey on the train to Wetzlar, a historic city in the south west. I lost count of the amount of times I wanted to disembark the train and run away into another world to explore the enchanting castles that we passed by. But entering Wetzlar was almost like a fairytale in itself. Full of narrow, winding cobble-stoned streets with half-timbered houses it was so picturesque and striking. 

Wetzlar

Cafe Vinyl is run by the lovely Jens and the charming Anita. Something that I just love about the places we visit on this tour is how venues are created as almost an extension to the owners personalities and this again is evident here. Jens is an avid vinyl collector, hence the name of the bar (as well as the record sleeves which adorn the place, everything played in this bar is on vinyl and there is also a stall of records for sale - Mike stocks up on his collection here!). There is also a shrine to his favourite football club in the corner. 

After soundcheck, and a fantastic spread of food provided by Anita, Siegmar leads us up the steep, winding cobble-stoned streets to his house. On the way, he gives us a guided tour of Wetzlar, pointing out Goethe's house and the cathedral. So beautiful, I feel as if I am on holiday rather than on tour! His house is very much in keeping with the rest of the old town, a half timbered building, I feel almost giddy walking the stairs as it feels slightly uneven, with it's wood structure. We drink campari in Siegmar's beautiful house and then receive a frantic call from Jens at Cafe Vinyl. The venue is full of people awaiting our arrival and we should have taken to the stage half an hour ago. 

With haste, we make our way back to the venue and are greeted by a packed out Cafe Vinyl. People enjoy the set and we speak to some lovely people after the show. Jens plays some great music after we play - It's a Beautiful Day, Syd Barrett and Kaleidoscope amongst others......fantastic! 

On the main square 

Mike and I talk about how it always inspires us to want to own a bar of our own when we visit some places. I think he was particularly inspired by this place and understandably so. Siegmar tells us that he has cooked a meal back at his house. Like I said, Siegmar is so instantly likeable. Our friend Andre Herman Dune (Stanley Brinks) noticed that we were playing at one of Siegmar's nights and had already told us what a lovely guy he was. Back at Siegmar's place we look at photos of previous gigs that he has put on and see that we are in good company, not only with Andre but also other bands like The Wave Pictures. 

Anita and Siegmar 

We sit down to a fabulous meal cooked by Siegmar, with his lovely partner Michaela and their friends who were great company. As we eat, we listen to Of Montreal and talk to Siegmar about music and discover to our astonishment that Jamie Oliver is very famous in Germany.

A great day and night was had by all.

Until next time, 

Alison x 

Germany Tour - Day 6 - Sunday 30th March, Noch Besser Leben, Leipzig, Hamburg

And so to Leipzig by train, direct from Hamburg,  a 3 hour journey made all the more easier by the comfortable Deutchbahn trains, and the Neu! and Can soundtrack in my headphones. Well, when in Germany..... 

Hold on tight, its gonna be a long trip...

Leipzig is the largest city in the Saxony region, and is famous for its music and culture (it was once dubbed 'the Paris of the East'). The city was once home to the composers Bach and Mendelssohn and is the birthplace of Wagner. Its an extremely grand city, which is immediately apparent by the opulence of its train station, once the largest in Europe. It has two main entrances and exits, and it is extremely easy to get lost inside of it, which we did as soon as we disembarked the train.

After maintaining our composure and finding our way out of the station, we managed to hail a taxi to the venue for tonight's show at Noch Besser Leben. The stage was the upstairs room of a cool bar, frequented by a mixture of hipsters and locals playing chess. The walls were full of old photos from East German days. The room was probably one of the smallest we played on this tour, but it made for a cosy atmosphere.

As we set up our gear for the soundcheck, a strange man suddenly appeared. I didn't hear him enter the room, he was just there. He spoke no English, and beckoned us over to a table where he laid out three photos of Alison and I, including the Left Outsides logo (copyright Karl Sabino) which looked like they'd been hastily put together on photoshop. He had a pen and wanted us to sign them. I bet they'll make him a fortune on Leipzig Market next week. I assumed this was a set up by Mike and Matt, but apparently not.  He left the room as mysteriously as he entered. I never actually saw him leave either, which worried me a bit. One minute he was there, the next he was gone, a bit like the the shopkeeper in the kids cartoon programme 'Mr Ben' except with a beard, a beer belly and a German accent.

The soundcheck was one of the best we've ever had, made all the more easier by the fact that there was no soundman - he was running late. Personally, I've never really seen the point in having over elaborate soundchecks. Just check that the equipment is working and that's all there is to it really. So thats exactly what we do, and that leaves us plenty of time to taste the local beer. We quickly find a cinema bar across the road and we get stuck into the erdinger weissbier. This beats weak Fosters lager any day of the week. There is also the interestingly named Duckstein, and Lagerbier Hell.....

No ducks were harmed in the making of this beer

Whilst necking our German beer we get talking to one of the locals, a very small man called Klaus, who worked at the local art gallery. He was tremendous company and regaled us with tales of old Leipzig from times gone by. He was charming, and we enjoyed Klaus's company very much indeed.

Leipzig by night, outside the venue

And so to the show. Quite a crowd had gathered, some had seen our feature in the local Leipzig paper and came to check us out. The cosy atmosphere made for a intense show, and the sound was awesome (well, it would be wouldn't it?). We debut a new tune for the encore, the traditional North East English mining disaster balled, 'The Trimdon Grange Explosion', taught to Alison and I by our dear friend Ben Phillipson back home. It goes down well. 

After much merryment and more weissbier we are shown to our accommodation for the night, next door to the venue. I won't dwell on this too much, besides to say that it'll be a lovely room when it gets finished next year.....

More soon, stay tuned...

Mark

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Germany Tour - Day 5 - Friday 28th March, Hasenschaukel, Hamburg

l-r: Alison Cotton, Mark Nicholas, Matt Ashton, Mike Smoughton

We were all really excited about playing and spending time in Hamburg and we certainly weren't disappointed. 

We had a day off here, so we had booked ourselves into an upmarket hostel (so my brother informs me, he's almost a connoisseur of such things) for two nights. St Pauli is an area crammed full of cool bars, cafes, and vintage clothes shops. Matt had disappeared off to explore the wonders of these streets before we had even checked in. 

Mr. Matt Aston - outside of the hostel, shopping

Hailing down a taxi to take us to the venue proved a difficult task but we arrived at the venue and I immediately had such a good feeling about the place. Everywhere we had played so far on the tour were places that I would be a regular at if I lived in the city in which they were located. This one, well, I'd be sat at the bar, or rather, reclining in one of the antique armchairs in the back room every night if I lived in Hamburg!   

Two very cool guys named Tanju and Julian welcomed us to Hasenschaukel and I was just in awe looking around at a place that had obviously been designed with such individuality and such personal touches. Full of baroque furniture but with quirky details such as dolls hanging above chandeliers and wallpaper in the toilets as if from taken from illustrations in a children's book. 

When we arrived, this was written on the blackboard in the venue. They must have seen us two Camberwellians coming

And then there was the music. As we set up to soundcheck I recalled how often I'd been deafened by soundmen inflicting their bad taste in music upon me, blasting awful heavy metal from the speakers. It hardly puts me in the mood to play a good gig. Here, Tanju played 'Scott' by Scott Walker (I'll never forget tuning up my viola, staring out onto the streets of Hamburg, looking at Mark and my friends and hearing 'Montague Terrace in Blue') and then, after soundcheck, Bevis Frond started playing on the stereo! So, at this point we were completely sure that this was a perfect place for us and we were playing at a venue most certainly run by like-minded people.

The stage - photo (like most you see on this blog) is taken by Matt Ashton

After a delicious meal that the lovely Anja from the venue had made us, we took to the stage. The stage was situated by the window of the venue so anyone walking by could look in and see us play. But we had a wonderful crowd and we met some truly lovely fans in Hamburg that once we started playing I didn't notice the passers-by at all. Again, we played a long set, a couple of encores, and I dedicated 'Ring Out the Bells' to Chris as it was his last day with us. 

It was a Friday night, and after the show we were certainly in the party mood. This mood was driven even more by the music that the djs this night began to play. We all sang along to Martha & the Muffins, Duran Duran, Steely Dan, Human League and Squeeze. One of the djs came over for a chat and we were highly amused that he thought Mike resembled a young Michael Caine. 

The night was still young (well, for Hamburg anyway) and Mark had just received a text message. It was from our good friends Dead Meadow who had been playing just round the corner in a club on the infamous Reeperbahn. They had invited us to join them for a beer so Mark and I braved the scary crowds of 'stag do's' and euro-drunks who all seemed to congregate on the pavement, hanging out, drinking and we walked briskly to Molotov, the club where they had just played. Jason from the band met us at the door and we went backstage with them. It was great to see them and we watched videos of a gig they'd played the previous week - in a castle in Italy - it looked amazing! So, after a few beers and a good chat we said our goodbyes and made our way back to Hasenshaukel.

Mark and I try to fathom out a route to Molotov avoiding The Reeperbahn. Good wine it was too.....

We asked Tanju when we arrived back what time Hasenshaukel closed. He told us that it stayed open all night. I'm not sure what time it was by now. I had a few fascinating conversations with people who were so passionate about music I could have talked so much longer - with Julian from the venue about Syd Barrett and with a guy named Norbert who ran another venue in Hamburg about the early recordings of Townes Van Zandt that he owns that were recorded at his venue. I could have talked for hours, but it was time to go.

We were asked to sign a guest book at Hasenshauckel. Art work by Matt Ashton.

So, one of the best nights of the tour and I hope to return to Hamburg very soon.

The next morning I had a slightly bad head but I couldn't let this get in the way of a day off in Hamburg. 

 

Stay tuned for our tales of Leipzig very, very soon.

Alison

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