OLD NEWS
"He broke his ankle executing a hairpin turn at the mini bar"
RIP HST
Leeds Fenton, April Fools Day 2005. Lord Elvin on cusp of soiling himself. Picture by Andy.
MARCH 4 2008
Hi all.
It went a little quiet over Christmas. Sorry about that. Let's just say the nature of playing rock and roll music has never been made to look more pointless in the big picture than it did over the Festive Season.
But somehow, like the aforementioned shining phoenix with 6 cocks, we rise from the flames and erm... play some gigs and put out a second record soon.
In preparation for that we're putting some of this new 'record' up to have a listen to at our Myspace page, 2 tracks at a time, probably changing them every few days or so or when we can be arsed.
The two up there at the moment are:
GOOD DOG BAD DOG: A strangely hard to type title for a song if ever there was one.
CREATURES: about skin and insides and all that.
WWW.MYSPACE.COM/LORDS TO LISTEN TO THEM
Listen and feel free to leave supportive comments about our endeavours. Lords is a hater-free zone. Bear this in mind. Also, bear in mind the words of Why Don't You?, the popular kids' TV show. "Why don't you; switch off the fucking internet; and go and make your own fucking music instead?". Or words to that effect.
ALBUM
Song titles confirmed:
GOOD DOG BAD DOG
THE THINGS WE DO FOR MONEY
HORSE/DONKEY/MULE
CREATURES
THE BOAT DON'T FLOAT
PAW PAW KING
I SHOOK THE ROYAL THRONE
A PIONEER
THE REMEMBERER
Album mastered by Steven Ward. Artwork proving a small hurdle at present but being sorted.
GIGS
We have a special one off THIS SATURDAY THE 8TH MARCH in LONDON at the CROSS KINGS:
Our first gig in nearly 6 months is with CHRIS LEO (The Lapse/Van Pelt/Vague Angels/Native Nod), DEAR THIEF and EMBERS.
www.myspace.com/gunghoclub
TOUR
We tour with our big brothers Bilge Pump in March. They have an album out entitled RUPERT THE SKY with artwork by meself.
THE GRINGO MYSPACE has a track for your earholes.
MARCH
20 NOTTINGHAM ROSE OF ENGLAND (also with Not In This Town) - GET THERE EARLY.
21 LONDON BUFFALO BAR - Silver Rocket Half Dayer (also with Who Owns Death TV, Herzoga, An Emergency)
22 BRISTOL COUNTY SPORTS (also with The Wailingest Cats)
23 HOUSE PARTY IN LONDON
24 MILTON KEYNES BLETCHLEY KILN FARM SOCIAL CLUB - with some naked Miltonkeynsians hopefully.
25 LIVERPOOL KOROVA (also with Youthmovies)
26 LEEDS BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB
MORE GIGS
We're having a weekend of it in may playing at the Two Days In Stereo fest in Glasgow on the Saturday 24th and then back down south for another festivity performance on the Sunday hopefully.
THE FUTURE, SO TO SPEAK
Lord Elvin is moving away from this fair island in the summertime, sumtime to reside in Ireland from now on. The lure of the waves is so strong that, like David Hasselhoff in Baywatch, he needs to be by the sea. Whilst this does not spell the end of Lords, it certainly means that gigging at short notice is a no-goer. We will be tightning our collective organisational skills to bring you well-planned, efficient touring from this point on inspired by our friends Lafaro who have the same conundrum on their plates too.
There will doubtless be a very messy party-styled scenario prior to the furry one's departure.
OTHER NOTABLE NEWS
CELLULOID
We have a song in a feature film that is coming out soon. Full details as it happens. This sparked an obsession with film that has led to Philippe moving into the world of acting and my own recent employment as a fluffer. I jest.
It does mean we're getting a video made for a song on the new record. Gringoboss excitedly told us this means we'll be on MRP or STD or HRT or something. He says this is "good for our careers" and that "a good video is worth 6 months of touring". With this in mind, we're considering taking the route of You Slut! and replacing ourselves with hot ladies for the video instead:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ohhss3V10rA
Ooof!
EXTRA CURRICULAR MUSICAL PURSUITS
Elvin and myself are in the process of making an album as members of FELIX: www.myspace.com/mybeautifulfelix
Ian Scanlon is at the helm and it's going to be something of a logistical bastard but the basic tracks are done and we all even found time to play a gig opening for the Cave Singers in Nottingham.
Pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sumlin/sets/72157603892194389/
I have my first solo-ish gig in ages on May 22 at Chameleon in Nottingham. I say solo, I mean 'duo'. Patrick Farmer and myself will be doing something of an improvisational nature in support to the lovely Rob Lowe aka Lichens. www.damnyou.co.uk
I'm also in the process of putting together another band to satisfy something of a rhythmical obsession at the moment. You know, Lungfish, Can, Oneida etc. If you fancy doing something like this then message me.
Also, myself and fellow ex Wolves Of Greece pensioner Neil Johnson played as part of Glenn Branca's Hallucination City Orchestra in October last year.
It looked like this:
And sounded like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8D6jxhTG7k
Neil went back to Rome to do again last week as well. It's addicitive like that.
Luckily, while we're all galavanting about like French dandies, Phil has been writing a sackfull of new Lords material which is reassurringly excellent and may get an airing in gigs coming up. But we have to learn the album we just did first.
BLOG
Updated with some new music recommendations and the like: LORDS MYSPACE BLOG THINGY
LORDS' STEREO
Hmmm. Extra Golden, 13th Floor Elevators, Elevate, Obits live bootleg, David Candy, Mitch Hedburg, Ripping Yarns, new Bilge LP, Tren Brothers, Nuggets, Shitty Limits, these crazy Ethno-music tapes that Elv gets from a guy in Essex, Van Pelt, Pifco. Some more no doubt. I can't remember.
That's about it I reckon.
LOVE,
sumlin
Penmanship by THAD
DECEMBER 19 2007
Some time has passed. I'll keep it brief and to the point.
100TH GIG
Thanks to everyone who came out to this.
Thanks to folks for playing and putting it on and loading all our gear out the next day when we weren't about.
Thanks to ZZ Top for writing the last song of the set.
Thanks to boss_kitty for reviewing it here:
http://fraser.typepad.com/boss_kitty/2007/09/lords-100th-gig.html
And to Palmer Eldritch for reviewing it here:
http://www.palmereldritch.co.uk/gigs/index.asp?dest=3&id=53
and capturing it like this:
And thanks to Daniel who not only crashed his car and then drove round Derby for an hour looking for a parking spot but also captured it all thusly:
TALKING OF 100TH GIGS, IT WAS SILVER ROCKET'S 100TH GIG TOO WASN'T IT?
It was indeed. On October 13th. We played, it looked like this:
TALKING OF SILVER ROCKET 100...
The good people at Silver Rocket released this beautiful 3 CD boxset to commemorate their centenary in style. That's right: 3 CDs and 72 bands. No shit. We contribute our roughhouse version of Cheap Sunglasses by ZZ Top. It sits snugly alongside other Lords related gems like Twinkie, Last Of The Real Hardmen and an exclusive new song by Reynolds.
Best get yourself to here: http://www.myspace.com/silverrocketclub and buy one then as they're only a tenner.
Here's a pleasant review from Skyscraper Magazine in "America":
Talking of reviews and press and such, you can find a review of Silver Rocket 100 here:
http://www.drownedinsound.com/event/view/30112
There are a couple of interviews about recent Lordly activities here:
http://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/2311923
http://www.impactnottingham.com/?q=node/787
And a very nice article about us here:
http://www.andcream.com/Content/Lords1.htm
GENERAL UPDATE STUFF - SHORT COMPENDIUM OF 2007
2007's highs were stratospheric, the lows unimaginable. It has been the strangest year of our lives for all of us. Thanks to folks for continued gig offers and warm and friendly prodding to get the new album out to buy.
Much appreciated.
Things of late have been somewhat hectic and so matters of music and the like have been forced into the backseat where they remain.
As Xmas approaches and things look a little brighter we're just working the mastering details out on the new album. Once this is done, we'll post 2 tracks on our Myspace account and at the Gringo website to wet the whistle as it were. Then we enter the lengthy Housing Benefit-style queue and ticket system to get the album released with the attention we reckon it deserves. We would imagine some form of 'live performance' might occur to coincide with this spewing forth of fresh recorded matter but we haven't worked that out yet.
So: forward to 2008 with good cheer, a healthy lack of common sense and a possible erection. Early 2008 sees Elv and Chris begin work on an LP's worth of recordings with Felix. You may have seen Lucy from Felix playing cello with Stars Of The Lid recently too...
Our 2007 thanks go out to Chris & Shannon for their immense hospitality in Texas; Team Dubrek for their patience with our ever changing plans; Bilge Pump as ever; our respective 'other halves'; Silver Rocket; Trans Am, Shellac, The Groundhogs; Gringo; Simms; Mart; Chris Tree; Chua etc etc...
JULY 4 2007
SECOND ALBUM UPDATES
Where to start? The world of Lords has been a dark, sonically dense one for the last few weeks as we holed up in DUBREK in Derby and got on with making another record. Initial findings can be digested in the OLD NEWS SECTION OF THIS HERE WEBSITE . We reconvened and got all the recording finished last week. Such was the majesty on offer that upon receiving the last of the soundwaves destined for the album, the trusty Dubrek mixing desk promptly keeled over and expired.
Luckily, Ollie amused us with his finger-moustache tattoo and the desk was hot-footed to London for surgery. So we just have the 'mixing' to do. 'Mixing' is where Jay or Ollie pushes the button marked "good" and everything just becomes amazing. It better do anyway.
RECORDING FILMS OF THE UTMOST EXCELLENCE FOR YOU TO ENJOY. OR NOT
We have noticed keenly that other, more 'proper' bands include little films of how they made their latest opus on the CD or on their website. As we move Lords towards the arena marked 'professional' we thought it would be good to share audio/visual matter with you "The Fans". Here are 4 professional, detailed, high quality, artistic movies that we made about the recording process. Enjoy them. We suggested they could be on a seperate DVD to accompany the next album but Gringo told us to "Get the fuck out of my office and take your shitty little films with you. Can't you see Gringo is all about "Rupert The Sky" by Bilge Pump right now".
I know. They're amazing aren't they?
ANYWAY, AS WE WERE SAYING, THE ALBUM...
We recorded 8 songs at Dubrek. We could excitingly reveal titles if they had any yet. In addition to these 8 gems, the album will also feature 'I Shook The Royal Throne' because we love it. We thought about re-recording it but we really like the version we did and Elvis has lost his ships bell so it just wouldn't be the same anymore. So that's on it, as is 'Lords Prayer', a banjo and acoustic ditty recorded by Lords Philippe and Christophe in 2003 that officially marked the beginning of the band. We wanted it on the last one but it didn't sound right so we wrote an entire new record to fit around it so you better fucking like it right?
We have some potential album titles at present and they are as follows:
EVERYONE IS PEOPLE
TWAT POLICE (as in "We're the Twat Police and you're nicked")
LORDS FOR LOVERS
LORDS PRESENT "SPOOKY"
Hard though it is to assess your own creations, we conclude that (following scientific research) the new record is darker, somewhat heavier, more rock & roll and more vocalised than it's predecessor. Initial comparisons made by studio visitors and friends are detailed thus: it is our "dark pop record", it is a "proper guitar record", it sounds like "Soundgarden", "MC5", "PJ Harvey", "Doc At The Radar Station", one song has a guitar part that is "none more Billy G", it features a song with a "James Bond string section".
We can tell you for definite it is a concept album about the balance between money and love. FACT. Anyway, we'll have some sound samples and whatnot soon and hopefully have it out asap.
RECENT GIGS. OTHER GOINGS ON. PHOTOS. AND THE LIKE
In the middle of all this Phil Spector action, we managed to actually play some gigs. Luckily, the world of Flickr means much of this activity was recorded and we can share it with you now. Click the photos and you can go and see more from Flickr as that's the way that brilliant website works. Kudos to you Mr/Mrs Flickr (if that is your real name).
MARGATE
We went all the way to Margate and it was a right laugh. Loads of bands played, we had fish & chips, we played, we drove home. Thanks to everyone involved...
CRICKFEST
Next day we got up early and opened proceedings at Crickfest at the ungodly hour of half past 3. We covered Waiting For The Man by famous midget Lou Reed and his band The Velvet Underpants. As penance for making too many nob gags in the studio we made Jay from Dubrek sing it, a moment captured by Malcolm below:
Didn't he do well? Elvis was a busy man, duelling with Martin Younogodie on double drums for a cover of 'Fireball' by Deep Purple by Hollandaise Pets which you can watch below in all it's poorly-lit glory:
Then he bust out some Han Bennink and almost ate his own kit for God Has Tits:
And then Twinkie became a 5 piece with Paul Crick himself on vocals:
Busy day...
KOKO
Then we experienced the joys of a large crowd at Koko in Camden when the good men of the rock band Shellac asked us down. It looked like this:
For the full size horror have a look here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/peapods/530346182/
And it sounded like this (Martin filmed this):
Thank you to Lord TT Trainer for sorting this out, Mart, DRC, Jay and Ollie for their sterling 'crew' efforts and to Lord Markus Zimms and Lady Claire for sonic doctoring of the highest order in the face of the world's most terrifying automated sound desk.
GROUNDHOGS
And as if that wasn't pant-shitting enough, we ended up opening for Tony McPhee's newly reconvened Groundhogs on May 25th in Nottingham. Good times. TS and Joanna were great folks and it was a pleasure to meet them, have a look www.thegroundhogs.co.uk for the plentiful upcoming gigs and go see.
Yes, it is a cave.
SPY MISSION TO SPAIN
After the excitement of the previous week, Lord Christophe was packed off to Barcelona to infiltrate the samba drum teams of the region and bring back new beats for the new record. His work was top secret but it involved fire, lots of fire:
GRINGO 10
And so to the 10th anniversary of Gringo Records. The day involved intense heat, volume, boozing, a pile of destroyed Euclid heads and cabs and Joe Totale playing air plant. A picture speaks a thousand words so here are some:
OTHER NOTABLE NEWS
CHILDBIRTH
Lords Philippe and Lady Joanne are expecting their firstborn in December. CONGRATULATIONS should be extended to them both. We have offered him £50 to call the child 'Lord' but he has graciously declined the offer thus far.
WE'RE ALL GOING ON A...SUMMER HOLIDAY. NO MORE WORRIES FOR ME AND YOU. FUN AND LAUGHTER ON A...SUMMER HOLIDAY. ETC
We are not here between July 22 and Sept 8. So don't ask us to play a gig.
BILGE PUMP
The Bilge have a new record coming out called RUPERT THE SKY. Lords have been granted small, teasing, audio portions to nibble on and it has left us wanting more. We are confident that once the main course is 'served' by Gringo Records, you will be stuffed full like the 'wafer thin mint' man in Monty Python.
100TH GIG
After the SUMMER HOLIDAY, NO MORE WORKING FOR ME AND YOU, the next gig we play will be our 100th gig. A special time for everyone. Not sure where it will be yet. We tried to support Chris Cornell but it's not looking good.
TALKING OF CHRIS CORNELL
The man is back, he's sacked off that Audioslave horseshit and is back on the road. OK, Lords Thayil, Shepherd and Cameron are not with him. Lord Cameron is with Pearl JAM for Christ's sake, come on Matt - we all have to pay bills but I dunno, get a job in a call centre or something. No, he is Garden-less but yet he is performing the songs of the mighty 'Garden backed by some able session dudes. Chris Cornell: you are a Norse God Of Thunder in rock vocal form and we salute you.
MULATU ASTATKE
YES!
TED LEO
We don't know if it's possible to send cosmic love vibes across the water but if it is, we're sending them Ted-ward right now
THE GLOSSARY
Has been updated a few times with some new terms. Here you go: THE LORDS' GLOSSARY OF TERMS
THE LORDS' STEREO
A fucking HIVE of activity I tell you. How good has this last part of the year been sonically?
ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING BY MULATU ASTATKE - especially the reissued 'Instrumentals' and 'Ethio-Jazz' LPs
EARTHLESS - covering "Cherry Red", woooooo!
THE FALL - live in Barcelona
PEARLS & BRASS
NEW BILGE PUMP
TED LEO - Living With The Living
ISLE OF EWE - the old Dubrek demos, that band were onto something. The grunge revival starts here.
SOUNDGARDEN - Superunknown (the song, the album too actually)
MOONDOGG - compilation on Honest Jon's
STRANGE BREW - covers comp from the Atlantic Vaults
AC/DC - Baby, Please Don't Go
POWERHOUSE SOUND - Chicago/Oslo Breaks
WHAT'S NOT ON THE LORDS' STEREO
THE RACONTEURS - doing 'Cheap Sunglasses' with the Reverend Billy G (You Tube it). Billy: we're here! Hi! We're here! We know the song, just give us a call.
WOLFMOTHER - STOP RUINING THE MUSIC WE LOVE! YOU'RE WRECKING IT FOR EVERYONE.
Phew
APRIL 26 2007
ZZ TOP
To celebrate Phil's 29th birthday (for the 2nd year running) we morphed into ZZ Top for one night only in Leeds. Video exists but may remain in the Lords' vault. The setlist was: Gimme All Your Lovin', Cheap Sunglasses, La Grange, Precious & Grace, Just Got Paid, Legs, Sharp Dressed Man. Click Philip Gibbons for more photos
SXSW
Talking of ZZ Top, we went to Texas. It was a laugh.
We are eternally indebted to Lord Carruthers and Lady Shannon, king and queen of the lunchtime margherita, for making the whole thing amazing for us and for letting 4 stinking, drunken Brits into their new home for a week. We love you.
A million photos can be located here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sumlin/collections/72157600069320294/
SECOND ALBUM
We did some demos and writing in Twinkie's practise room before we went to America (above) that yielded about 100 unconnected snippets that all rocked but if you put them together to make songs they would sound like a Jive Bunny version of Lords. This worried us. Even when eating ton after ton of Mexican Food in Austin.
We thought about trying to record the new record in San Fransisco following a gracious offer of engineering/production wizardry from Brother Phil Manley before realising that we were all more completely broke than any time in living memory.
Audio sunlight provided by Jay Dean and Ollie Toogood at the desk as per normal though.
We devised a plan:
1. Begin polishing a song (with Jay and Ollie on hand on stand-by like some aural formula one pit-crew)
2. Approach boiling point
3. Get the song to tape before the whole thing curdles.
We set ourselves an unrealistic target of having the basics for a 9 song record done in the week. All 3 of us secretly believed this to be impossible and braced ourselves for crushing defeat, without mentioning these fears to the others.
Amazingly, it all went fairly swimmingly.
We believe in the mental power of placards with key words on them, posted around the studio to keep our minds on the job. Last album the keyword was TRIUMPH. This time it was a name: FRANK BEARD.
We aimed to keep the groove this time. To make the songs swing like never before. To get the riffery and the tunage perfectly balanced. Team Dubrek got in on the enthusiasm and invented two large carpeted sound walls filled with sand to protect the glorious soundwaves of the drums from the inevitable guitar roar. It worked. Lords also enforced Marshall Law for the first time ever and literal walls of amplification were utilised.
We completed a day early and went to a gig where Jay made us drink whiskey, thus effectively making the last day a hangover write-off anyway as we all got severely Frank Bearded.
We just have to do vocals and a million juicy guitar overdubs. Plus, the inevitable special guests. We have a shortlist of shit-yourself amazing musicians we would like to play on the record. Begging emails are being written as we speak. Peter Green: check your email mate. I don't care if you're 'tired'.
Our poverty means Uncle Gringo (Records) will be stumping up the recording cash. He doesn't know this yet. Some of us have been on the label in various guises for 10 years now though so it's about time someone got paid for something.
Photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sumlin/sets/72157600073039135/
GIGS
May sees a lot of them, including one at Koko in Camden thanks to Count Trainer of Minneapolis so get there early if you're going, it's going to be a good night. Then June is the mighty GRINGO 10TH ANNIVERSARY at The Art Organisation, which is the large art gallery/space in the disused hardware store right next to Nottingham Train Station. You get Part Chimp, Bilge Pump, the mighty Unit Ama and all the usual suspects plus a reformed Hirameka Hi-Fi and Reynolds. Plus stalls, food, drink and the inevitable raging house party where Joe Mask is convinced to do 'Fannyman'.
THE LORDS' STEREO
Apart from listening to ZZ Top over and over and over again trying to work the riffs out, we've have been recently sonically pleasured by:
Ethiopiques Compilations as usual
Soundgarden - Superunknown
Qui - live
Erase Errata - Night Life
New Twinkie sound matter
New Bilge Pump soundwaves
Earth - Hibernaculum
Jandek - it should be noted this is purely Lord Christophe, Lord Elvin reported blissful, calm sleep during his set at SXSW
Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis: Bold As Love
Charles Caldwell - Hadn't I Been Good To You
Bob Log III - Boob Scotch
The Black Keys - Have Love Will Travel
OLD NEWS. FEBRUARY 23 2007
It's been ages since we have updated this. We blame Myspace. It's so easy to use, it lures you in and then BAM! you're like Svenonius - "I WAS WORKING FOR RUPERT MURDOCH...AND I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IT".
Talking of the Ian Svenonius, someone at Vice TV had the incredible good sense of giving the simianesque one his own TV show. It's like an alternate reality where the TV shows you think up in your head come to life. SOFT FOCUS: http://www.vbs.tv/shows/index.php?show=Soft%20Focus
Anyway, where were we? Answer: we were in the studio. "No you weren't, you were in the pub". "No! We were in the studio!". "Prove it"
DEMO RECORDING, JANUARY 2007 - PICS BY MARTIN
HARMONY
SHIT BEARD. COMETS T. NEW GIBSON.
As the old saying goes, "If Mohammed won't go the mountain, then Martin will come down to the practise room and set all his fancy mics up and sit around watching you desperately try and write a second album"
We squeezed into our beloved Bakery (where a tremendous record was written a few years back), left the big amps at home and spent a very long day spewing forth fresh soundmilks. It was a very productive blast and the basics are in place for a second long player, possibly to be called "EVERYONE IS PEOPLE". Phil woke up one morning with this truth scrawled on a piece of paper in his pocket.
Initial analysis suggests a load of riffs thrown together as though by a randomising riff machine. Deeper analysis shows 10 nuggets of raw rock ready to be moulded into actual gold. We've been listening to lots of the MC5 and those Ethiopiques collections. It's all seeping in there somehow. Philippe seems concerned with his income also, a concern the rest of us sympathise with. It is colouring the work we do somewhat.
Should you wish to have a sneak preview then go befriend Martin at his Myspace page - www.myspace.com/martinmartinmobilerecording where 2 of the demos lurk, like little pieces of dogshit in the tread of a trainer that you just can't shift.
PHIL DRESSED FOR THE BEACH
Elv, before having to play the same riff 407 times in a row and then watching his brain leak out of his nose.
LEADS/PEDALS/CRACKLING/DRUMS
TEXAS
We will be playing this years annual SXSW Festival-conference thing in sunny Austin, Texas. Which is in the United States Of America. Much confusion has already arisen over the fact both us and our Louisville brothers are playing. We will be playing at 8pm on the Thursday at Bourbon Rocks. Come down. If you're American you may never get to see us in your lovely country again. Work commitments mean we're only there for 3 days as a band (though some of us are there for a week. Will we be at the Qui show on the Sunday? Of fucking course we fucking will).
There are 2 schools of thought regarding SXSW:
1) It is an important networking time, a time to further your career in the music industry and set up contacts that will propel your music to the audience it deserves.
2) "The show's are shitty but you'll have a good time in Austin" (Preston Long). We go with the second, needless to say.
What is worth saying is a big THANKS to the Performing Rights Society. The lovely PRS have bailed us out of the financial crud on many occasions over the years and they helped us fund the trip to Texas with minimum fuss and maximum friendliness. Have a read about what they do if you're in the same boat as we are (i.e. poor).
PRS FOUNDATION - BRITISH MUSIC ABROAD
Also, Christine at The Tour Company in Glasgow has the patience of a saint and Chris from Ativin doesn't need us to tell him how much he rules.
We look forward to meeting ZZ Top, we heard Texas was a small place, we're sure we'll run into them.
OTHER NEWS RELATING TO FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Before we get on an aeroplane and go to The Americas, we have a little duo of gigs with Trans Am thanks to Lord Manley. We will be joining them in Liverpool and Glasgow. We've never played in Liverpool before so make us welcome if you're going. Glasgow is an early gig too so we'll be on before we get there.
Gringo Records is 10 years old this year and to celebrate there will be a weekend of shennanigans in Nottingham in either May or June. Watch this space.
THE LORDS' STEREO
Merv and our respective home stereos have been rocking to the following among others:
ETHIOPIQUES COMPILATION SERIES (mainly 69-75)
MC5 - LOOKING AT YOU
MELVINS - A SENILE ANIMAL
CHRIS CORSANO - THE YOUNG CRICKETER
YOUNG JAMES LONG - YOU AIN'T KNOW THE MAN
PW LONG - BLESS THE DRUNKARD'S DOG
CHARLES MINGUS - TOWN HALL CONCERT
DANIEL (A.I.U) HIGGS - INTERDIMENSIONAL SONG SEAMSTRESS
NIRVANA - IN UTERO
BO DIDDLEY - WHO DO YOU LOVE?
BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD
THAT CRAZY HAZELWOOD/SINATRA SONG WHERE IT KEEPS SLOWING DOWN AND SPEEDING UP. YOU KNOW THE ONE.
LOADS OF 60S GIRL GROUPS ON A COMP THAT JO DORAN MADE
FELA KUTI - EXPENSIVE SHIT
We missed Archie Shepp play London. Damn it.
OCTOBER 15 2006 - THE NEWS READ BY SUE TURTON
THE MOTHERFUCKER IS DEAD! LONG LIVE MERV!
After bombing around Cornwall for a couple of weeks in the Motherfucker (Elvis' old Citroen and trusty Lords' wagon) "like Mikka Facking Hakkinen", Elvis was alarmed to be told by a mechanic that the Motherfucker, rather than being a bombproof, dependable, solid beast of a car, was in fact a death trap and we were all lucky to be alive. Lots of things had occurred. The Lordy amps had buckled the suspension. The front wheels were about to fall off. One more trip in it and it could have snapped like a twig. So, alas, the Motherfucker is no more.
However, welcome Merv to the fold. She may look small and the blue seatbelts take a bit of getting used to, but she can fit all the gear, do about a million miles to a gallon and doesn't piss LHM fluid everywhere.
Merv: we salute you.
RECENT GIGS - REPORTS
As part of the new Gringo Records policy, we are obliged to fill out a full assessment and report from each gig we do to aid with market research and sales demographics with the label. We took lots of photos and they are ALL HERE AT CHRIS' FLICKR PAGE FOR YOU TO LOOK AT IN YOUR WORKING DAY WHEN YOUR BOSS ISN'T WATCHING
LINCOLN BIVOUAC SEPT 16
Click the photo for more photos...
First of 3 with Awesome Color from Ann Arbor. First time we'd been together for 2 months. Quick Derby practise. Familiarisation with new Lords' wagon Merv. Testing of equipment. Efficient drive to Lincoln. Discovery of off-putting army camo netting onstage. Initial concerns about soundman prove totally unfounded and the man is a prince. Awesome Color=awesome folks. Lincoln Sam present and cheery. Heavy Fenboy contingent of Ross, Kev and Kai much appreciated. Lovvers on form and enjoyment dispersed with ease. Nervy Lords performance generally deemed to have been 'not bad considering'. Awesome Color administered heavy jams eagerly gobbled by us. Elvin earned horrendous blisters following lack of drumming for prior 8 weeks (see picture). Possible dogging men spotted at filling station. Bad sandwiches eaten by Kevin. In conclusion - day good.
MANCHESTER STAR & GARTER SEPT 20
Click the photo for more photos...
Disappointment at venue change felt heavily en route. Meeting with Philippe successful. Star & Garter unchanged since last visit with Wolves Of Greece & Twinkie rock bands. Awesome Color still awesome folks. Soundman monosyllabic, possibly retarded. Much awkwardness felt at soundcheck. Very little communication or help offered. Reasons for doing a band or playing music questioned. Former Bullies raised spirits immensely and dished out quality. Lords performance hampered by previous bad vibes and skin-frying onstage lighting rig. General apathy felt towards performance but much love and appreciation felt towards friendly crowd and promoter folks. Beer drunk. Chatted to Jo from Jackie O. Awesome Color still rocking though perhaps suffering from same soundman induced self-doubting. Soundman tells us he enjoyed it and didn't realise we were one of them Part Chimpy bands. You never asked us mate.
NOTTINGHAM ROSE OF ENGLAND SEPT 23
Click the photo for more photos...
'Home gig'. Soundcheck boomy. Gig fun. New songs attempted and not badly. Kushal in attendance boosting spirits. Lesson in rock taught by Bilge Pump. Much awesomeness. Awesome Color on top form. Best of the 3 shows with them, completely rocking. Air guitar played. House party. Drawing on Joe Mask. Slight feeling of illness etc.
LONDON BARDEN'S BAR SEPT 30
Click the photo for more photos...
Lord Elvin injured in freak surfing incident earlier in week. Concerns about his feet. Pleasant journey in the Fast Mouse piloted by Lee By Lazer. Amps working. Kev and Ross in attendance. Notorious Hi-Fi Killers totally rocking and covered 13th Floor Elevators. Sailors 101% excellent. Lords show hampered by injury. Elvin's feet causing distress. Ill advised leap by Lord Chris ends in knee dislocation/relocation location location. Immediate vomit in mouth. Conclusion reached of being too fat to jump and down. New songs done not bad. Rachel Silver Rocket's medical knowledge called on. 2/3 of Lords-a-limping. The Heads frazzled and fried. Daisy promoter very pleasant. Doig very drunk and with lady. Comforting hugs dealt out by Lord Cedar. Crushing, painful, 92 hour drive up M1 breaks spirits of everyone.
LEEDS JOSEPH'S WELL OCT 1
Click the photo for more photos...
Gracious offer of tour support by Archie Bronson Outfit. Work in the way so this was the only one we could do. Archie's extra friendly. Mental note made of their top-ness. Sometime Part Chimp horn blower Luke added to Archie's line up. Good times pre-gig felt and appreciated. Friendly promoter, generous booze allocation. Paul and Jo locked in lift. Best soundman we've ever had - much respect to him. Easy, fun gig. Hampered in the rock stakes by previous night's injuries but no real problems. Luke solo as Joe Gideon & The Shark most excellent. Archie Bronson Outfit proper rock band with immense, killer songs. Lords 'merch' forgotten. Heads slapped. Fast journey home. Feeling that all gigs should be more like this one.
Over and out.
EXCITING T SHIRT HAPPENING
We're getting shirts. S, M, L, XL. Limited quantities. Royal blue, bright yed, golden yellow. Monster from 10" sleeve on the front. We'll post a picture when we get them back but we should have them in Ireland where they will be on sale for the equivalent of £7 in Euros which is 200000 right? Or available online from GRINGO RECORDS
NEW INTERVIEW
READ AN INTERVIEW WITH LORD CHRISTOPHE AT DROWNED IN SOUND HERE
GO AND LISTEN TO OUR ZZ TOP COVER FOR THE FORTHCOMING TRIBUTE RECORD ON FARM-GIRL RECORDS BY CLICKING HERE ON THIS ENTIRE SENTENCE
OLDISH NEWS
AUGUST 21 2006
(YOUNG) LADY HOLLY EMERGES! IS IMMEDIATELY DRAFTED INTO FIXIT KID
Congratulations to Debs and Alex!
LORDS: A DREAM
by Katharine Eira Brown
"The gig began with you all eating fruit off a plinth without using your hands. First a banana than an apple.
Then this big train contraption came onstage and drove you across the stage and then some dwarves painted white came out and lead everyone on a clapping dance to another venue.
Then Philippe did a performance piece on why art was rubbish and he was eating some cake.
I don't think any music started.
It was in Derby"
AUGUST 1 2006
NEW NEWS NEW AND DIRECT
Hello again. It's been ages since this site got updated with news and stuff. Forgive us.
THE MUSIC PRESS
We have garnered many fine reviews for our first album. We started building a little page of them for you to see. Then it got a bit boring. So they're up on our Blog thingy on our Myspace page.
Read the blog stuff at www.myspace.com/lords
And here are some links to stuff to read as well, most of it's in the old Blog thing. Told you we'd been busy. Not bad for 3 people who can't read or write properly:
Interview with Christophe at Left Lion
Interview with Philippe and Christophe at the BBC
Interview with Christophe from Rock-a-rolla and nice Lady Chua photos too
Another interview with Christophe, this time from Subba-Cultcha. I wonder which Lords doesn't have a job eh?
Album review from Losing Today
Album review from Sandman
Album review from Throwaway Style
Album review from Drowned In Sound
Live review and album review from The Organ
Live review and pics from Nottingham Boat Club
Review from Nottingham Evening Post (!)
Review from London Buffalo Bar
Elvin sells his sofa from Stool Pigeon
Review from Kerrang!
Review from Rocksound
Review from Ride BMX
Review from Die Shellsuit Die
Review from Uncut
Review of Sunderland Pure gig at New Noise
Nice album reviews and for that we are thankful. We just have to write enough songs for another one now. We estimate 2 years. Anybody who wants to license the record out of the UK then get in touch please...
LATITUDE FESTIVAL 2006
Huw Stephens from Radio One invited us to play his stage at this years Latitude Festival in Suffolk. It was a supreme laugh. Trying to do justice to it in words would be impossible so:
HERE'S A LOAD OF PHOTOS ON FLICKR.COM
And here's a snippet of "Show Me Your Palms" by The Coogatron
TALKING OF MOVING IMAGES AS WE WERE
Here's a couple of snippets from our recent Cambridge gig from damnsavage's You Tube profile
"The Ballad Of The Sightless And The Outstrech'ed Hand" with Philippe turning into a glowing spectre
New song played for the first time. It shows.
PHOTOS
We were going to upload the millions of live photos and stuff to this site but it started taking ages and a bit boring so they're all to be found at Christophe's Flickr Page which is here:
www.flickr.com/photos/sumlin
So have a look for exciting tour photos such as the one above.
LAST FM
Can someone who's a member of this shitty thing tell them to sort out 2 Lords pages as our songs are on our Louisville brothers page at the moment and I am sure they'd probably not like their rock diluted down by our faffings. If you sort it out we'll give you some free stuff.
CURRENT ACTIVITIES
August is a Lord-free zone. Elvin is down in Cornwall surfing and running a chip shop whilst meanwhile Philippe and Christophe are in the pursuit of money and gainful employment.
Just before Elvin left we managed to record a ZZ Top cover ("Cheap Sunglasses") for a forthcoming tribute record (more details soon). It was recorded by Dr Michael Ward, a freshly qualified sound doctor who had previously been in our employment as a master of wheels and also an expert party-arranger. Turns out he is quite the renaissance man as the Top cover sounds fat as hell. It still remains only approximately 1/100th as fat as the real song but we were always fighting a losing battle.
Lord Christophe has not one but two solo records in the pipeline. First is the travel diary record "10,000 Miles" on Birdwar.com and the second is "Another Country" on Unlabel.net as part of their Series 52 project. In addition there is a song called 'Ron Asheton' on a split lathe-cut 8 inch record on Low Point .
Lord Elvin has just completed some recordings with the Development Of Shape, the project of guitarist Steve Little that you might have seen with Lungfish a couple of years back. Not sure what's going on with them but Elvin reports they are "smoking".
Lord Elvin's activities with the Twinkie rock band are on hold too as Lady Debs awaits the arrival of her first daughter with Lord Alex Grant. Meanwhile the mighty Doktor Coca Cola McDonalds avoids the inevitable lawsuit and has a recidency at the Hollyrood Tavern as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Our amazingly belting, Zeppelin-killing floor filler "I Shook The Royal Throne" is on a new CD compliation called "Oh Yeah!" on Gringo Records . It's about the price of a pint, has stuff from loads of bands and a sleeve of a drumming bear drawn by Christophe.
The Groundhogs seem to be playing again. Or an incarnation of them. Have a look at Farmer Phil's Festival. Tempted...
THE LORDS' STEREO with added CAR NEWS
The Motherfucker has been driving so sweetly that Elvin even hot footed it from Sunderland to Cornwall in one go. That car is the very backbone of our band. The incline of Lord Christophe's street has been giving the LHM leak some shit of late but it rises above.
Here it is. In the sun at Latitude. Semi-naked Elvin lounged next to it.
The Motherfucker's stereo has been busy too and we are digging:
NINA SIMONE - Funkier Than A Mosquito's Tweeter (live)
SERGE GAINSBOURG - L'Histoire De Melody Nelson (it's a good job we can't speak French)
THE GROUNDHOGS - Hogwash LP
BRIAN TURNER'S LIVE MIX OF MISSISSIPPI QUEEN - from his WFMU radio show. He mixed two different versions of the Mountain song in ear bleeding style.
HALLELUJAH CHICKEN RUN BAND - Take One LP
EXTRA GOLDEN - Ok-Oyot System LP
US MAPLE - Live
SAILORS - 2x CDRs
AWESOME COLOR - S/T LP
ALEXANDER TUCKER - Old Fog LP
COMETS ON FIRE - Blue Cathedral LP
NEIL YOUNG - Zuma LP
NIRVANA - Blandest (demo)
THE FLAMING LIPS - Live supporting The Who
BLUE CHEER - Summertime Blues
KERSAL MASSIVE VS SLAYER - Remix ( here ). Kick it Kev...
FEBRUARY 11 2006
COMMERCE in the face of STARVATION: Remaining 2/3 of Lords in employment by "The Man" strike out alone!
Lord Elvin has long enjoyed the freedom of the self-employed man. The King of his own castle. Recently, the MAN delivered the redundancy blow to Lord Philippe and Lord Christophe. Slender is their pocket-pickings. You may know both Lords as masters of joy through music but what you might not know is Lord Philippe is a photographer of some repute and Lord Christophe a fine poster maker and general designery type.
Lord Philippe is a whizz at all things photographic and has taught the young in the field for some time. He studied live music photography under the watchful eye of Lord Steve Gull'ck too. He has a website where you can ch-ch-check his work and then dip into your own pocket-pickings to employ him to do some work for you. Go to www.philipwelding.co.uk .
Lord Christophe's posters have long been stolen in the town of Nottingham only to resurface on house walls. A mystery indeed. You can now commission your own stealable prints and get them printed too if you want. Record sleeve design is also welcomed, in fact anything you fancy really. Have a look at the history of his posters at www.gigposters.com and email him at honeyisfunnyATfastmailDOTfm for quotes.
THIS AIN’T A HATE THING, IT’S A LOVE THING
That’s right. With no small amount of fanfare, grinning and flag waving we are pleased to be able to tell you our ALBUM is now available to purchase from GRINGO RECORDS .
DOWNLOAD "THE UNFORTUNATE DEATH OF THE LORDS" BY CLICKING HERE
The CD is the little yellah fellah and the gorgeous slab of wax, or "long player" as it should be called, is the meanie greenie. We decided to make them different colours so we know which to put on the turntable and which to put in the CD machine in the car.
BOTH FORMATS ARE AVAILABLE NOW FROM GRINGO TOWERS AND THROUGH CARGO TO THE RECORD STORES ON APRIL 10 . Should you be thrown into a state of panic upon browsing the Gringo site and realising that the new albums by THE UNIT AMA and POLARIS are also available, you may wish to take advantage of the thoughtful package deal that our beauty label is offering where you can purchase all 3 on CD or LP for a reduced rate. Bargainous.
Should you wish to review the CD or LP versions and maybe write a little something nice with or without our help then you should contact our 'mouth', aka ** GOLDSTAR ** who will gladly furnish you will downloadable press kits, photos and the like. We salute them.
GO SEE OUR PAGE AT CARGO RECORDS
Have a looksy at pictures of us wasting loads of money in the studio making this erm... "masterpiece" (scroll down to the bottom)
OTHER GOINGS ON
Christmas is supposed to be the time of the Lord. A time when the Lord is on people’s minds and people praise the Lord. WAS IT FUCKING BOLLOCKS. The yuletide season proved a testing time of great adversity for us. Illness descended. Gig dates were quashed by circumstance. Digital cameras received did not work. Oslo was "cold" for one of us. Cornwall "testing" for another. The Fens "bleak" for the third. Our once beauty faces are now ravaged and aged. Our golden locks grey. Our feet smelly and our steering wheels covered in cum.
The gig year of our Lord 2006 didn’t start off much better either. A fire alarm broke up our not-going-too-bad show in Leeds with the frankly terrifying Stinking Lizaveta. And the last one of 2005 (in Leeds too, a pattern emerges) was halted mid way when a shard of drumstick pierced Lord Elvin’s retina and he went to ground like he’s been taken out by a sniper. Cue a gaggle of people poking Elvin’s eye and Elvin screaming like someone was branding his little Lordy bollocks.
IT’S ALL OK THOUGH! aka BUY STUFF FROM US
In the middle of January, in the dead of night, a delivery truck arrived at Gringo Towers and it brought with it treats of immense pleasure. That’s right - our ALBUM . It’s not out officially until April 10 where it will be available everywhere through the lovely people at CARGO. But in the meantime the CD is available from GRINGO or from gigs and the vinyl will be available from February-ish and can be pre-ordered too.
You may wish to examine the details of this record in our comprehensive, illustrated DISCOGRAPHY
BADGES
40p to you guvnor. Or 3 for a quid. Can’t say fairer than that. Get them from gigs or speak to GRINGOBOSS
SPLIT 10" OF MONSTROUS PROPORTIONS
The split 10" with our beloved brothers and sisters PART CHIMP, TODD and HEY COLOSSUS exists a thousand-fold. The official release date is February 20th but you, like many others already, can purchase them from our gigs or from GRINGO , JONSON FAMILY , ROCK ACTION or SOUTHERN .
You may wish to examine the details of this record in our comprehensive, illustrated DISCOGRAPHY
ART AND ALL THAT
If you have got this far down the page you will have already viewed a whole load of wonderful illustrations by JAY HOWELL . We suggest you pay this man a visit properly at his website PUNKSGITCUT.COM and download the free fanzine there. We hope to have some copies of his NEGATRON book in stock soon to be bought from our well-laden "MERCH" table at our "SHOWS" "DUDE". Jay: we salute you for garnishing our records with such visual honey.
BUMPER NEWS UPDATE CONTINUED
So that’s the record situation at the moment. "What else is going on?" we hear you yell. Well, if you give us a chance we’ll fucking tell you alright. There’s no need for aggro.
TOURING-ISH
We have just got back from a busy double weekend of gigs with our 10 inch compadres PART CHIMP, TODD and HEY COLOSSUS. We saw the sights, we rocked out, we played as a duo in Brighton, Elvin collapsed in Glasgow, Chris Thrash? and Steve C got a kicking later the same night. It was all go we tell you.
Our launch party styled affair in Nottingham was a laugh riot of large proportions. Fortunately, some people had the good sense to bring a camera.
Have a look HERE!!! at the lovely Ali's photos of the gig and dig on the David Lynch/Twin Peaks decor
and then CLICK ON OVER HERE!!! to see Captain Stockers' photos of the gig and most importantly the carnage that followed , though he does seem to have taken down the picture of Lord Joe Mask dancin' on the ceiling. Fortunately we saved it and here it is:
Bob Colossus and GRINGOBOSS took loads of film and photos too so they'll be up when time allows.
Obviously, driving around in a Citroen for the best part of 2 years has led us to be experts in one single area and we want to share our expertise with you in this
CONSUMER REPORT: SERVICE STATIONS AND THE GOODS THEY OFFER
by Lords.
COFFEE
