FISTS

Our new song 'Big Wave' for FREE download.

2011-05-24T01:43:00.000-07:00

We were back in the studio last week to record a couple of new tracks with Rory. We're building up a big pile of songs to choose from for our debut album and are in the process of seeing how stuff comes out. Anyway here's a song from that session. It's called 'Big Wave'.

J x

Show Time

2011-04-17T05:41:00.001-07:00

It's been a while.

We've been busy with all the other stuff that comes with life like making the bed every single day and getting terribly jealous because the next door neighbour's got a persian rug delivered.

Anyway Summer is almost upon us which can mean only one thing. It's show time.

Here's what we've got in the can so far:

21st Apr - w/ Let's Wrestle @ The Bull & Gate, London

7th May - w/ Over the Wall @ Spanky Van Dykes, Nottingham

10th May - w/ Obits @ The Lexington, London

24th June - w/ Joan of Arc @ Spanky Van Dykes, Nottingham

12th Aug - Summer Sundae Weekender, Leicester

13th Aug - Leave Me Here Festival, Whycliffe, Durham

We should hopefully be adding some more dates soon.

J x

New Vid

2011-03-09T05:09:00.001-08:00

FISTS - Ascending from Dan Toporowski on Vimeo.

Check out this video our friend Dan did for us. It's some old commons license cine film that a family shot on vacation in Disneyland in the 60s or 70s. Mickey got censored because it makes him look creepy and a bit porn but mostly because Disney are total litigation gangsters when it comes to appropriating the mouse. All the other stuff like the demon band leader, the birds and the winking dog are Dan's doing. You can check out more Dan Toporowski videos here.

Ascending b/w Stag - The Details

2011-01-17T15:08:00.000-08:00

Stag b/w Ascending will be released on Monday 21st February 2011 as a strictly limited edition 7" on hand numbered, light green vinyl (500 copies - single pressing only). It comes in a beautiful, full colour, 300gsm, matte finish, card sleeve and will include a download code for high quality digital versions of the songs.

Additionally each copy will be screen printed by hand (by Pete from the band) with some lovely logo typeface designed by our friend Norman (www.wasteyourself.com).

To pre-order head here

Have yourself a very metal xmas

2010-12-16T13:49:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we went to the Earache Records annual Xmas party which was held this year in this recording/rehearsal facility on Carlton Road called Doghouse Studios. I’d never been before and wasn’t really sure what to expect beyond a 90% male audience geeking out to face ripping Death which was actually way off the mark.

We got there late and went into this dark room that stank of Jack Daniels and damp. The room was packed with label fans, industry types, photographers, comedians, burlesque dancers, a promotional team from an energy drinks company and Earache employees. On stage was new Earache signing Savage Messiah who sounded like a fan boy amalgamation of the big four. They were OK. They had a gaggle of girlfriends one of which was doing a slow sexy dance in front of the singer which was at odds with the mad thrash tempo. She was wearing a kind of cocktail dress and stilettos. It was a weird 80s moment.

After Savage Messiah a comic got up (who I'm sure I recognised from the New Foresters) and judged a drinking competition which he littered with bitchy asides and homosexual innuendo. It was a weird situation that felt like a kind of sub-cultural social experiment. Basically a room half full of pubescent teenage metal fans being plied with drinks and then verbally abused by a fearless old queen. The whole thing worked and everyone seemed to dig his routine. After his skit he introduced a Canadian guy called Jason Rouse. Rouse’s set was mostly bad-taste exploitation gags with punchlines about necrophilia, bestiality and stuff like that which he’d occasionally punctuate with that devil noise that Bill Hicks used to make. Rouse bowed out to a mixture of groans and cheer (which I suspect is what he ultimately aims for).

Next up was Sirens, a burlesque dance troupe with tattoos and stuff whose act seemed to involve pouring bottles of Jack Daniels over their masking taped breasts and into the mouths of the crowd whilst gyrating to hard rock music. It was a bit like a heavy metal version of that film Coyote Ugly. They ended the show with a pillow fight and the feathers got stuck to them which reminded me of those Catholic women who got tarred and feathered for fraternizing with British soldiers in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. The whole thing bummed me out so I headed outside for a cigarette.

The highlight of the evening came watching Dave completely lose his shit to Enforcer who are a gang of skinny, 20 something Swedes with peroxide blond hair playing 80s era Thrash. They had good musical chops and the sort of stage energy that causes Dave to enter thrash metal rapture inadvertently ruining the muscles around his neck and spine for at least 4 days.

Afterwards we got chatting to one of the Enforcer guys about touring and stuff but I was heading into that listlessly drunk stage where I start repeating questions so I decided to give it up and head home.

J x

PS - The metal odyssey continued on Tuesday with the Municipal Waste/Saviours/Ramming Speed show at the Rescue Rooms. The show was weirdly without security (cost cutting perhaps?) which meant that kids were free to throw themselves repeatedly off the balcony head first into the crowd (something I've personally never seen at Rescue Rooms before). Both a thrilling and slightly distressing experience that reminded me that I am always getting older and that my awareness of my own mortality is that little bit bigger since the last time I checked.

PPS - Come to the Damn You xmas covers party on Saturday 18th at The Bodega. It's always awesome.

Hitchwind/Google translation

2010-10-21T15:21:00.000-07:00

Hitchwind is a Korean blog (I think) that did a piece on us. I tried to translate it using Google translator. Below is the result. I am unable to tell whether it's a positive or negative review!? Any Korean speakers out there willing to give it a better stab than Google translator please give us a shout.

4 songs hyperopic revealing look diligently to create a stake
Live syokkaji happening amongst the estimated own-ending
The next year, to recruit two new members becoming nakyeo personality is known as a band.

And move to a strange interview with the BBC to start an interview look

DIY music had different tastes of interest below.
Comic Books, 78 years, art, friends, dogs, Cuba, the family,
Scott Walker and musical style of music to inspire
Noise, low-fi, acoustic pop mix says.
Affected, but anyone from a variety of music (Link Wray, Woodie Guthrie) with
Is unlikely that it was a full band is confident and bold.

But one word captures the music interesting.

Anyway, originally thought to be a young man in so many places lined with
They do not have much interest in fashion
Rather than the reverse.
Nottang not looking too 50's for a past emotional
Helplessly in the spirit of kids are left scattered on the music scene.

I really can not measure. So stars can not be.
For fun on a forced ...
Summer is about to.
Weeks, there was adults fed rice! Jjeop ~

NEWSFLASH/// The Vaselines + Fists (lame innuendo heaven)

2010-09-15T12:45:00.000-07:00

Hola,

This coming Monday (Sept 20th) we’re playing with indie pop LEGENDS The Vaselines at Rescue Rooms in Nottingham. Right now as I type this I’m reliving the time when I was an angsty, sexually repressed teenager pouring over the first Vaselines record back in 1995 sobbing about girls and stuff. Weird times...

Here’s a few Vaselines facts:

It’s their first proper UK tour for 20 years (I think).

Kurt Cobain was a Vaselines super fan covering no less than 3 of their songs with Nirvana (Molly’s Lips, Son of a Gun and Jesus Don’t Want me for a Sunbeam). Cobain even went as far as naming his child after Frances McKee from the band.

My friend recently sold their ‘Dum-Dum’ album on Ebay for insane money. It went a good chunk of the way towards the purchase of his new Fender Telecaster.

They have a brand new record out called ‘Sex with an X’ which is their first for 20 years and is supposed to be completely ace (I haven’t heard it yet).

Frances McKee is looking totally sexy these days. She’s gone all 40-something, yogic, hipster mum which I’ve just discovered I’m totally in to.

Money saving idea #1:

Come to the show and buy two copies of the new record on vinyl and politely ask the band if they’ll sign them. Sell one on Ebay to a half-crazed Japanese collector for loads of £££ and keep one for yourself to treasure forever thus effectively bankrolling your whole evening, covering your record buy (probably) and also helping to line the pockets of totally deserving cult indie royalty.

Money saving idea #2:

E-mail your name (or names) to fistsmusic@googlemail.com and we will add you to our special discount guest list meaning that you can get in on the door for just £6 on the night (advanced tickets are £10).

Peace

Fists x

New track preview...pre-listen?!

2010-08-26T16:14:00.000-07:00

Hi,

We recently finished recording with the totally sweet Rory Brattwell down in Hackney. It went real good. The easiest recording session we’ve ever done. We recorded everything live in a day (5 songs) with only the vocals done separately. The next day we sat down with Rory and drank tea and mixed it (well Rory did) and then gave him some money and drove home with the masters in our pocket. We didn’t fight or get psychological about the recording process or anything and we’re all really pleased with the results. Anyhow, we’re looking to get this lot out as soon as possible. I’m hoping it will be on snot green vinyl although I haven’t discussed this with the the rest of the band yet so we’ll have to see.

Here’s a sneak preview of one of the songs we did. It’s called ‘Stag’. It’s supposed to sound a bit like druggy Highland battle music filtered through the Velvet Underground. Imagine dangerous shaven headed men in kilts running amok through the streets of Govan smashing up shops in slow motion. Well that’s what I imagine. I'm a bit gutted that we didn't get a bag piper doing some drone all over the top of it.

Stag (Unmastered Preview) by Fists

J x

October Tour w/ Sparrow & the Workshop

2010-08-26T11:20:00.000-07:00

We’re playing these dates with the awesome Sparrow & the Workshop who we ambushed at Y Not Festival and foisted a CDR onto. Our secret plan worked!

The secret plan is still yet to work on Damian from Fucked Up and that guy from Future of the Left. They must have lost our e-mail or something...

Anyway here’s the dates we're doing:

Mon Oct 4th King Tut’s Glasgow

Tue Oct 5th Night and Day Café Manchester

Wed Oct 6th Brudenell Social Club Leeds

Thu Oct 7th Stereo York

Fri Oct 8th Bodega Social Nottingham

PS - People from Nottingham please come to the Bodega show. We can get you in ridiculously cheap (£3), it’s on a Friday night and we basically don’t want to look like a bunch of losers in front of our new friends by playing to 6 people in our home town. Oh and of course it will be really good!

Here’s a pop video that Sparrow and the Workshop did for my favourite Sparrow song:

25% Discount for Truck Festival which is in 2 weeks time!

2010-07-08T11:36:00.001-07:00

We've been given this tickets link to share with you for a 25% discount off a weekend ticket (normally £80 but available for £60 from this link) to Truck. These are only available in limited numbers so if you've decided you're going then it's probably best not to dilly dally.

Here's the link for those discounted tickets.

http://www.gigantic.com/imwiththeband

For those of you who haven't heard of Truck. Truck is a little festival (about 5000) on a farm in the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside. They're into biodiversity and supporting the local community. Profits from the festival go to charity. The local vicar sells the ice-cream. The Rotary Club do all the catering. Despite sounding a bit village fete it's actually a festival for cutting edge alternative music, hosting stuff like 16 piece space-drone orchestra Flowers from Hell, noisy bastards like Fucked Up and Future of the Left and old hands like Teenage Fanclub and Mercury Rev. There's also buzzy, teen indie from the likes of Egyptian Hip Hop and Pulled Apart by Horses as well as tonnes of other stuff from pastoral folk and Americana to bleepy electronica and Grime. It's probably best just to read the line-up.

http://www.thisistruck.com/truck-festival-lineup.aspx

We'll be playing the Last FM Stage at Sunday lunch time (11:50-12:20). Our stage is by the Village Pub. If you're anything like me you might well be still lying in your tent, baking half to death, completely naked from the waste down with the mother of all hangovers at that point. If you're not like me (or you got lucky) and you feel good and are out and about in the sun (hopefully) then pop along and give us a bit of support. We'd be well grateful.

Take care folks and hopefully catch some of you there.

x

Other news...

2010-05-26T14:36:00.001-07:00

As you may know some of our members are also involved with other stuff. Firstly Theresa has formed a new band with Joey Chickenskin called Burly Nagasaki. They're an oddball mash up of surf rock, twee-pop, rock n roll, power-pop, horror soundtrack, homage and conceptual art all jostling about together in a weird stew. They're really good fun and will be playing at Dot-to-Dot Festival (Nottingham) on Saturday 30th May at the Trent Uni Glo Bar at 2pm. Make sure you check them out.

Also, Dave our bassist (who we share with the fabulous Cult of Dom Keller AND Cuban Crimewave) was recently in the studio with Cult of Dom Keller to record their debut album with legend guitarist/producer Doggen (Spiritualized/Julian Cope). Dave says it was the best recording experience he's ever had in his life and that they did most of the songs in a single take!! Needless to say I'm totally desperate to hear (be sick with jealousy about) the results. Keep your eye on their Myspace.

Finally, Pete will be watching football for pretty much ALL of next month. He's been waiting for 4 years for it so please do not attempt to book us for any shows (unless of course they are actually at the World Cup). That goes to you as well Eavis with your empty Friday night slot at Glastonbury this year.

J x

Festival season innit?

2010-05-26T14:03:00.001-07:00

Ola chicos (Festival update and my second ping.fm test),

We're playing Splendour Festival in Nottingham (July 24th) this year and for me the most important bit about that is that Terrorvision are playing! Terrorvision were the very first band I ever saw live. I was 14. I don't remember it being a very good show at the time to be honest but I kind of feel like I've completed some kind of important circle in my life by sharing a bill with them. Does anyone remember reading about that weird punch up they had with QOTSA? Probably one of the weirdest rock punch ups in recent memory (I'm also quite fond of the Axl Rose/Tommy Hilfiger punch up from 2006 but that isn't exclusively 'rock' so I guess that doesn't count).

We're also playing at Y Not Festival in Derbyshire, Nr Matlock on the 1st August. It's a little one (about 8'000) in a beautiful location. Lot's of indie bands hawking new records like Los Campesinos, Blood Red Shoes, etc. It's also a pretty cheap ticket and our good friend Petebox is also playing. He's what the press call 'must see'. It's like an amazing musical magic show done exclusively with mouth muscles and lungs.

J x

New songs and musing on new songs

2010-05-26T13:47:00.001-07:00

Hi folks a little update (but mainly a test run of Ping.fm).

We've been keeping a bit of a low profile lately to concentrate on writing some new stuff. It's turning out pretty good. It's a bit darker and weirder than we've ever sounded before. If I was a rubbish hack I would say that the new Fists stuff is the soundtrack for the 'age of austerity' and a howl at cold war ghosts, North Korea! Obviously that's total nonsense like most music journalism these days and of course it doesn't sound anything like that at all. A more realistic clue on how I think one of the songs is shaping up are the words 'sister', 'ray', 'shitter', 'poppier' and 'Fists' if you can imagine such a thing. We'll be committing the whole lot to tape in a mad flurry of sweat and valves this coming July somewhere in Dalston after which you can make up your own minds.

We'll keep you posted.

J x

Vids

2010-05-04T11:29:00.000-07:00

Live vids from our EP launch at The Rescue Rooms back in April. x

Video for 'Ace is the Way' by Little Kingdoms

2010-04-05T05:12:00.001-07:00

Brand new video for 'Ace is the Way' off our new EP 'Olympic Hits'.

Fists 'Ace is the Way' from Little Kingdoms on Vimeo.

EP Launch Party. April 9th 2010 @ Rescue Rooms.

2010-03-22T17:22:00.000-07:00

We're having a big party to celebrate the release of Olympic Hits EP. Out on Hello Thor Records on March 29th 2010. Here's the poster and deets.

FISTS' sound is a sprawling, ever-shifting amalgam of DIY music genres spanning the past 50 years. From the skiffle punk of '6 5 Special' and the country twang goes indie-pop of 'Cockatoo' to the Stereolab/Velvets drone of ‘Skit’. Live, Fists are a woozy, kaleidoscopic and riotously fun affair. www.myspace.com/fistsmusic

SWIMMInG// have managed that rarest of things. An avant-garde left field approach to making music that incorporates experimental field recordings, binaural art, electronica and post-rock elements but remains accessible, uplifting and righteously pop. www.myspace.com/swimmingband

PILGRIM FATHERS have been described by someone else as: ‘a 50 million-year neo-psychedelic death trip through all the galactic touchstones: Orion’s Belt, Destiny’s Rainbow, Brocchi’s Cluster, Pegasus’ Great Square’ and by themselves as “The same sound as when you open a door and there is another dimension behind the door and there’s a band playing behind that door to the other dimension”, and finally by us as ‘awesome slabs of mind melting psychedelic post-rock’. www.myspace.com/thepilgrimfathers

ESCAPOLOGISTS have been on a weird secretive trip over the last 2 years. A trip that has seen the line-up shrink and expand again whilst their sound has undergone a radical evolution, from epic stabs of proggy, indie rock about the universe and science to a new, synth-heavy, drum machine backed, dark pop vehicle that segues oddly disparate touch stones like psychedelia, hip-hop and electro together in ways that absolutely work!!

PLUS...After-Party in the Red Room:

Frank’s Vintage Metal Disco playing: Budgie, early ZZ-Top, AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Edgar Broughton Band, Blue Cheer, that weird heavy metal Osmonds tune ‘Crazy Horses’, Judas Priest, Deep Purple, early Queen, etc.

AND...very special live guests!

Advanced tickets £5 available from the Rock City box office and at www.alt-tickets.co.uk. / more on the door.

Advanced ticket holders will receive a FREE copy of the brand new Fists EP (just swap your ticket stub at the merch stand on the night!)

LONDON March 26th & 27th!!!

2010-03-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

We're down in London this weekend for a couple of shows. First one is at the Buffalo Bar in Islington with The Leaf Library, Marcel and our good friend Andy aka We Show Up on Radar. £5 ticket. Second is on March 27th as part of an all-day line up at The Stag's Head (also Islington I think) with a load of bands from Nottingham and elsewhere and it's FREE!!

We're also hoping to head down to the 6Music protest at Broadcast House on the same day and might try and do some songs at that too.

J x

Weekend by Fists (Just testing out SoundCloud)

2010-03-15T14:40:00.000-07:00

Weekend by Fists

Save 6Music/Asian Network!

2010-02-26T11:22:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd add this message from our record label Hello Thor. We're totally gutted about the likely end of 6Music as they've been massively helpful and supportive of us since the very early days. There just isn't a platform of this size and as indiscriminate as 6Music for weird little indie bands like us.

Here's Hello Thor's original message with some pointers on what you can do:

As you may be aware, a document was leaked this morning (26-02-10) detailing BBC plans to close 6Music, along with the Asian Network, and parts of the BBC website. For a label like Hello Thor, 6Music is a valuable outlet and one of the few places where small, independent labels can get their music heard. If 6Music were to close it would be a great blow to us, artists associated with us, and labels/bands up and down the country.

It would be great if you could make your feelings about the proposed closures to the following people:

BBC Director General Mark Thompson: Markthompsonandpa@bbc.co.uk

The Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw bradshawb@parliament.uk

The BBC Complaints Department www.bbc.co.uk/complaints

And please sign the following petition opposing the closure of 6Music & The Asian Network

http://www.petition.fm/petitions/6musicasiannet/1000/

You can also join this Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=278123313911

Thanks

Thor
x

Roll Back my Eyes

2010-02-08T15:35:00.000-08:00

'Roll Back my Eyes' sung by Angi in our rehearsal room.

New cover!

2010-02-08T11:30:00.001-08:00

Here's what the Olympic Hits EP is going to look like when it's released on March 29th. The photo was taken by a guy called Steve Mays at a party in the late 70's somewhere in Missouri. Steve's been totally ace about letting us use some of his old photo's which we became completely obsessed with after discovering his blog The Basement Diaries

The Archivist

2010-02-04T10:35:00.000-08:00

The Archive from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

Look at this guy - he's got the largest record collection in the world and he's crying! It's quite touching really.

Tez x

Loudon!!!!!!!!

2010-02-03T15:47:00.001-08:00

I fucking love Loudon. He should be so much bigger than he is. Motel Blues melts my heart with it's desperation and then it melts my brain with how incredible the word play is (this is the same for so much of his stuff but Motel is a great starting point for newbies).

Here's some of the choicest cuts I've found on You Tube so far. How punk rock without being remotely punk rock is Dump the Dog!!

< br/>

Merry Christmas

2009-12-27T09:20:00.000-08:00

Hello,

As an antidote to Christmas activities I've locked myself away from family and near to a computer, where I've been watching stuff like this on youtube:

It's from a short film called 'lucky three' about the genius depressive song writer Elliott Smith, who stabbed himself dead in the heart several times in October 2003. Not sure if there's a winter-warming Christmas tale in that, but it is brilliant none-the-less.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Tez x

Shambling Xmas performance & other stuff.

2009-12-15T11:16:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

First of all thanks to all who came down to the Hello Thor Xmas party on Saturday. Half of us were way too shambling drunk to be on a stage that night but had a great time regardless. Thank god no one filmed it. If it was the first time you’ve ever seen us play then we would suggest that you give us a second chance by coming to our Rescue Rooms show this Friday (Dec 18th) where we will be Prince slick and Cliff Richards sober. You won’t recognise us! People consider us to be a heavy metal ‘Earth Wind & Fire’ when we’re sober.

Dave plays bass like this guy

and I pull off vocal shit as good as this guy.

However, shambling will recommence at the Damn You! xmas covers party (December 19th at The Bodega Social). The covers party is one of our favourite nights of the year and is usually a messy affair for everyone who comes along. It involves lots of terrible, inebriated covers that are completely at odds with the usual music of some of Nottingham's favourite local bands. This year will see live turns from Wax Stag, Din Din, Ulysses Storm, Wander Phantom, Burly Nagasaki, Savoy Grand and more. If you fancy it then you might want to get an advance ticket because it's well on it's way to completely selling out! Tickets for both shows can be bought from Gigantic.

In other 'news', we became mega famous the other day when Artrocker included us in their top 100 singles of 2009. We're at #34 for Cockatoo/Skit (which is still available on vinyl in limited numbers from these guys: Hello Thor). Artrocker said they liked it because it sounded like we don’t really know what we’re doing but in a good way which is actually mostly correct. Check out the full list here.

We’re hoping that we’ve extended the ‘not knowing what we're doing but in a good way' formula to the new stuff that we've been recording. More news about new stuff soon.

If you've read this far well done. I probably owe you something.

James

Recording...Nov 2009

2009-11-30T04:21:00.000-08:00

We've been back in the studio this weekend for the first time forever. This time we used First Love Studio in Nottingham which is run by musician, producer, teacher and father of two Pete Fletcher. Pete is a totally great, massively enthusiastic and extremely talented studio engineer and it was a real pleasure and relief having him around for the weekend. The studio is an off the chain, DIY labour of love filled to bursting with beautiful equipment such as a 200 year old harmonium, a harpsichord, xylophones, analogue synthesizers, a Selmer amp head, etc, etc. You can get a better look here

Also on board was our best friend Andy Wright who is producing as well as helping with the engineering and also mixing the record too. We should have the fruits of all our labour out on the 29th March through Hello Thor.

Here's Andy showcasing our new direction. More vid's to follow.

Broken Shackle Tabernacle

2009-10-16T15:35:00.000-07:00

We're playing The Broken Shackle Tabernacle in Famp at the end of the month.

The Associates 'Skipping'

2009-10-07T14:49:00.000-07:00

A friend of Angi's turned us on to this which has blown my mind!

OBIIIITTS!!!

2009-10-06T11:16:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who came down to the Obits, Tropics and of course Fists gig last night at The Chameleon. Tropics and Obits kicked my face off (metaphorically). Can't wait to see them again next week in Bristol (we're sharing the bill with them at the Thekla on October 12th, if anyone in Bristol would like adding to the cheap guest list then send us a message and we'll put you on) Also wanted to say thanks to Damn You! for their help with getting the word out about this gig. It would have been half as full without their efforts. Also thanks to Hello Thor for letting us piggyback on their mailing list again and finally a big thanks to Alex (and friend) from High Soc for covering the door for us all night long.

We owe you one.

J

PS - Check out this little piece of film I took of Obits playing 'Two Headed Coin'. The guitar solo at the 2:00 mark is face ripping. Sorry I didn't get the whole song.

OBITS + TROPICS + FISTS @ The Chameleon (Oct 5th)

2009-10-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

OBITS - Hail from NYC and feature a couple of true indie rock veterans in Rick Froberg (formerly of Hot Snakes and Drive Like Jehu) and Sohrab Habibion (formerly of Washington D.C. indie greats Edsel). Their early 2008 shows caused ripples of excitement and speculation around the indie rock communities stateside which culminated in a frenzy of bootlegging and blogging. This year finally saw the release of debut record 'I Blame You' which is out now on Sub Pop Records.

Sound wise OBITS are pure, white hot, valve-amp rock that draws straight from the heart of original proto-rock n roll luminary Link Wray but with obvious nods to the hardcore scenes that Froberg and Habibion came from.
http://www.myspace.com/obitsband

TROPICS - Also a new band composed of veteran indie rockers but this time from the UK scene. Featuring members of the shortlived but critically loved Meet me in St Louis and Jodie Cox from UK hardcore veterans Bullet Union. Enough said really.
http://www.myspace.com/tropicsmusic

FISTS - A tumbledown fusion of country twang, soft-psyche pop harmony and noisy fuzz tone.
http://www.myspace.com/fistsmusic

£5 / £4 High Soc

Doors 8pm (first band 8:30) @ The Chameleon, Long Row (Market Sq above Clinton Cards).

You Dudes FREE at Pineapster.

2009-08-06T03:34:00.000-07:00

Hola,

We're playing at the Summer Sundae Fringe Festival over in Leicester next Thursday (August 13th). We've also contributed a track to a sweet Fringe highlights album which the promoters have put together which you can download for nada over at Pineapster now.

Here's the link

Glastonbury

2009-07-05T05:10:00.000-07:00

A week after being there I'm still trying to re-live the bands we saw, and catch up on bands we missed by looking at footage on the bbc site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/glastonbury/2009/lineup/

Thank the lord we saw these though http://www.bbc.co.uk/glastonbury/2009/artists/nickcaveandthebadseeds/ felt like a privilege to be there.

Tez x

We're on telly!

2009-07-02T02:29:00.001-07:00

Check these out. We look like we're properly on telly and everything.

2009-06-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

A glossy highlights thing that Hello Thor did with footage they filmed from our single launch.

Bouli Lanners 'Sunny' cover.

2009-05-03T13:50:00.000-07:00

I'm totally obsessed with this clip from the film 'Aaltra' which I'm yet to see featuring Bouli Lanners singing Bobby Hebb's 'Sunny'.

Marble Valley + Wonderswan + Red Shoe Diaries - Fists = This blog entry.

2009-04-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately we've pulled out of the line-up for this because we realised it was total madness dealing with bands and food and money and stage times AND worrying about having to play to. Anyhow, this is what's happening minus us.

Fists Music Presents…
@ The Chameleon, Long Row (just above Clinton Cards), Nottingham, Friday 10th April. £4 (£3 conc.)

Marble Valley (ex-Pavement / Silver Jews)
Marble Valley is the multi-national (English/Dutch/American) sextet brainchild of former Pavement-er/Silver Jew, Steve West. They make music that’s been described as “together” and “out there” at once. Music that careens rambunctiously from krautrock to hip hop to psyche rock without a care in the world for sniffy purism or music industry trends. With two UK releases under their belts in the last 12 months alone including a re-issue of 2006’s ‘Wild Yams’ and the excellent brand new record ‘Slash & Burn’ they’ve decided it was about time they finally got round to a UK tour.

“Playing in the Valley is like hanging with a barrel of monkeys on crack. If we all hold together, it's a bit punk. If one lets go, it can get a bit punky, flunky and floppy.” Steve West
www.myspace.com/marblevalley
http://www.searecords.co.uk/
http://www.indikatorrekords.com/

Wonderswan
Leeds band Wonderswan are dab hands at turning out perfectly formed nuggets of pure 90’s noise pop nostalgia. Lately they've been gathering proper momentum with a slew of glowing reviews for their recent single 'Hey Nature' on Dance To The Radio and a number of high profile supports. If you like things loud, textured and ramshackle a la Dinosaur Jr or Urusei Yatsura then these guys are definitely for you.

"A beautifully shambolic fuzz laden racket...the sound of beautiful chaos" The Guardian
www.myspace.com/wonderswanband

Red Shoe Diaries
Nottingham favourites Red Shoe Diaries make sophisticated indie pop that joins the dots from Jacques Brel to Darren Hayman in epic, Morricone-esque broad strokes. We reckon they’re quite possibly the most exciting glittery-literary indie pop band to come from the city since Tindersticks. Catch them now in an intimate surrounding before they bolt the stable.
www.myspace.com/redshoediariesmusic

DJ's too but we're not sure who just yet.

Apologies, gigs, etc.

2009-03-22T04:46:00.000-07:00

Please accept my apologies for the shameful shameful neglect of this page. We've been hiding under a rock for 3 months trying to regroup and plan and write. The writing's gone out the window but we've got some sort of plan kind of in place so not all down the toilet. In the meantime here's some gig's that you might want to go to:

March 27th

Friday March 27th will see Nottingham’s first ever Zaireeka playback party @ The Maze. For those unfamiliar with Zaireeka it’s a Flaming Lips record released in 1997. Each of its eight songs consists of four stereo tracks, one from each CD. The album is designed so that when played simultaneously on four separate audio systems, the four CDs produce a harmonic or juxtaposed sound. On the night there will be 4 PA systems for the playback! We were supposed to be playing too but had to cancel. Most of us will still be there though helping John Sampson (Swimming) out on a Flaming Lips cover which should be pretty unconventional. We Show Up on Radar will also be playing an acoustic set.

Saturday April 25th (the big one with tonnes of bands - more info to follow)

The official launch party for the Cockatoo/Skit single at The Arts Organisation on Station Street in Nottingham. There’s going to be loads of other bands, DJ's, video work, etc. It’s also the recession friendly price of ‘free’.

We'll post up all the info and stuff about the Cockatoo/Skit 7" including the cover art and Dan T's ace promo video as soon as everything's properly finalised.

Take care all

Fists

Sore Thumbs?

2008-12-02T10:47:00.000-08:00

Saturday saw us play a show that turned out to be one of the most surreal and weirdly affecting (and most interesting) we've ever done. When we agreed to play I was under the impression that Holy Trinity was an Arts Council owned, former church with sofa’s, exhibition space and a resource centre that was a bit like the ‘Pitcher & Piano’ in Nottingham but filled with art instead of nearly naked women and dangerous looking men in shiny shoes. With that in mind it was a bit of a surprise to find a fully functioning church complete with Christian’s, pews and a half-drunk homeless man sheltering from the cold when we arrived.

Sharing the bill were Red Trees (delicate folk), The Amber Sleep (rousing experimental indie chamber music with choral singing and a string section) and The Declining Winter (experimental, drum heavy, post rock from Richard Adams of Hood fame) all of whom played musically flawless, meticulously arranged sets that sounded like they were written solely for performance in grand spaces such as a church. Naturally we got a bit worried because we knew that soon it’d be our turn in front of the altar and we wouldn’t be playing mesmeric pastoral folk or sombre, classically tinged chamber pop but 25 minutes of clattering indie rockabilly with two practice amps, a keyboard and a washboard, music that felt painfully at odds with everything else we'd watched from the pews that night.

Despite being out of our comfort zone we got our heads down and made the most of it. At one point Joe got weirdly religious and told the audience that he was “deeply moved to be playing in a church because he’s a Catholic!" He then filled me in on the significance of the holy trinity to most christian faith groups whilst we played the next song (I'd got concerned about it being a non-catholic church). It was a strange moment but more so for Joe I imagine who I suspected was trapped in some kind of catholic guilt reverie triggered by the surroundings. Joe spent his formative years in the catholic education system. Another moment saw the homeless guy burst into life and start shouting about a dead daughter who died of kidney failure. He asked us to dedicate a song to her so we dedicated ‘Skit’ as it was the only one left in the set. Afterward he approached me with tears in his eyes and hugged me and told me he was very grateful. It was a curious moment, standing there in front of an altar, a 60’s b-movie projected on a ceiling high above me, hugging a teary-eyed homeless man whilst trying not to spill beer.

James

10 things that got taken from me...

2008-10-10T02:52:00.000-07:00

1. Tonsils

2. Adenoids

3. Foreskin

4. £20 birthday money (aged 8) so my Mum and Pat (stepdad at the time) could buy 40 Benson & Hedges and some Breakers Lager.

5. A pair of binoculars (aged 9) given to me as a Xmas present 3 weeks prior.

They were sold to Jim Donovan so Mum and Pat could buy 40 Benson & Hedges and some Breakers Lager. Jim needed binoculars for a pilgrimage he was making to Ballinspittle (Ireland) to witness the miracle of the statue of the Virgin Mary 'moving'. Fortunately after the expense of travel, binoculars and a lifetime of church donations the statue was doing a lot of moving when Jim got there, so much so in fact that East Anglia News dispatched a camera crew to meet him off the coach on his return.

Weird times.

6. A small metallic figurine by a pretty girl in my infant school. I liked her, she liked my small metallic figurine. A valuable lesson was learned.

7. My blood (from ages 5 to 10) - I turned this into the shittiest part of a nurse's working day by making it as difficult as humanly possible. I was a squirming, double jointed eel of a child with an under developed sense of morality making it easy for me to justify kicking a nurse in the face, blacking her eye and bloodying her nose for trying to do her job. How shitty that makes me feel.

8. Ideas I have had.

9. My hair (and my dignity) - An alcoholic guy called Davey managed to convince my Mum that he was a fully qualified hairdresser and would cut my hair for some booze money. My Mum agreed and left me at Davey's house. 11 minutes later I was handed back sobbing and completely bald.

10. Virginity - By my first girlfriend in a tent aged 14 in sub-zero temperatures in the Corby greenbelt. A group of us lied to our parents about where we were staying so we could spend the night smoking fags, drinking Thunderbird and having sex (see the pattern here - lying for fags and booze, take heed parents of the future).

James

J Mascis (1) - Nottingham (0)

2008-10-09T07:54:00.001-07:00

Last night we played a great show with really good sound to an almost empty room which was the complete antithesis to our show on Sunday night where we played a half decent show with terrible sound to a room so packed with people that many couldn't even get in. And so goes the musical paradox of our fair city.

Our gig last night was as support to the excellent Thalia Zedek whose nigh on 30 years in the music underground has saw her graduate from the New York no-wave scene of the early 80's alongside Sonic Youth and Swans with her band 'Uzi' (and later with 'Live Skull') to the heady heights of the 90's indie rock explosion (or Grunge movement if you will) as part of the Sub Pop roster with her band 'Come'. In a nutshell Thalia has been central to some of the very biggest developments in the whole history of indie rock. J Mascis (Dinosaur Junior) is such a big fan that he's personally requested that she opens for Dinosaur Junior on their forthcoming US tour. Despite all these accolades she got to play to a grand total of just 15 people (including 5 members of Fists) last night. I really hope Nottingham's proud of itself. I found myself getting pretty down about this (partly because we'd only played to 15 people as well) and was planning on saying something after the show like "Forget it Thalia. It's Nottingham" (a'la Walsh to Jake Gittes in Chinatown) but quickly learned that I really didn't have to do this at all because she'd really enjoyed it regardless. It dawned on me at this point that this is how artists should be. Art before ego. This was a valuable insight into how this woman had survived and continues to survive the highs and lows of nearly 30 years as an artist in the underground. I went to sleep last night feeling pretty good in the end because despite the poor turnout I'd got to play and learn from someone who has actually lived through a large part of my record collection.

James

Old Blue Last, Wildside & Favela Chic

2008-10-07T10:46:00.000-07:00

The Old Blue Last

We got to play at The Old Blue Last on Tuesday (Sept 30th) courtesy of ‘Amusement Parks on Fire’ who orchestrated a bit of a Nottingham love-in down in London for the final date of their tour. Situated on Great Eastern Road the Old Blue Last is a bombed out, old-school East End boozer that was bought by Vice magazine a few years ago. Inside, wires hang from walls; furnishings have been rescued from skips and regular flooding from the toilets has left it pissy. In other words: Punk as fuck! A quick trawl on YouTube brings up all kinds of great looking live gigs they've put on over the last few years from Nigerian grime to sludge metal. The barmaids are super sexy and the PA is pretty good too. Despite the good signs I was still slightly apprehensive because loads of people I spoke to described it as ‘a Nathan Barley pub’ which instantly filled me with images of jeering edgy art dicks wearing ironic paedo T-shirts and mirrored eye visors. Obviously it was nothing like that. In fact it was the opposite. A really good pub that puts on everything from Nigerian grime to sludge metal without any of the nonsense.

Wildside

On a bit of a tangent, if you want to go on a slightly wrong night out then you should go to Wildside which is this once monthly cock/sleaze/glam rock revivalist night at Junktion 7 in Nottingham. It’s mostly filled wall-to-wall with dysfunctional hard rockers who get crazy drunk whilst getting emotional about it not being 1986 before dropping to their knees for an Eddie Van Halen solo and then disappearing into the toilets to have sex and drink Jack Daniel’s and fall out with each other due to fringe scene claustrophobia. It’s like going to a special zoo that houses dying musical sub-cultures and is one of my favourite nights out. The last time I went a Goth girl prized a guys penis out of his pants and started licking it while he was on the dance floor “crab dancing” to Buckcherry. Stuff like that happens all the time at Wildside. You should definitely go.

Favela Chic

Despite a relatively anodyne Old Blue there were certainly a few rubberneck moments further along Great Eastern Road that made me consider my small city mindedness. My favourite was a place called Favela Chic which is basically an upmarket bar/restaurant a couple of doors down from the Hoxton Bar & Grill that’s been decked out in the style of a Rio slum!! Next week see’s the opening of 'Junta Gourmet', a fine dining experience inspired by the Burmese rat famine.

James