The Dawn Chorus / The Retrospective Soundtrack Players - Blogging all over the World

Thursday 18th December 2014
The Brunswick, Brighton

The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
Tom Williams
Salter Cain

Sunday 14th December 2014
Swindon Victoria

The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
Coasters
Oxygen Thief
Charlie Bath

Friday 12th December 2014
Manchester Star & Garter

The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
Helen Chambers
The Lion and the Wolf
To Anywhere

Sunday 7th December 2014
Portsmouth Square Tower

The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
The Day of the Rabblement
El Morgan

Friday 21st November 2014
London Camden Monarch

The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
Elliott Kozlik

Friday 14th November 2014
Southampton Joiners

Solemn Sun
Youth Man
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players

We did this as a warm-up before out Xmas headline sets. Whoever runs our website seems to think we were going to be supporting a solo act called Solemon Sun, it's probably still listed that way. Sounds like the world music act you flick channels during on Jools Holland.

We were very sketchy playing a full Xmas based set, but we got through.  This was the first gig for a while when we didn't get paid - we didn't sell 20 tickets! We weren't given any tickets to sell, nor would we have taken them if asked to. The fact that we were paid £100 earlier in the year to play there was long forgotten, and I certainly wasn't going to remind them. It was a rather bleak reminder of the kind of local support slots  we used to do about 7 years ago though. £1 per ticket for every punter you get through the door, as long as it's over 20. Grim grim grim. Just give the support act £20 minimum and don't ask them back if they're twats - a better system surely? So glad those days are behind us now that we all have yachts and travel round on a gold plated tour bus.

Sunday 24th August 2014

Sunday 3rd August 2014
Southsea Show, P&V tent

The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
The B of the Bang
The Boy I Used to Be
Andy Foster

A quite unenjoyable set as I lost my voice for the first time in ages. No idea what we did differently but it was very annoying. Lovely free pie from P&V though, can't knock a free pie.

Thursday 10th July 2014
2000 Trees Festival, warm-up day

Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip
Gnarwolves
Johnny Foreigner
Ben Marwood
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
Oxygen Thief

Another happy 2000 trees post! This summer we didn't seek todo any gigs as my wife was expecting our firstborn, but we couldn't turn down trees when we'd been requested by fans of their Facebook page to come back and play.  It was a scorcher of a day and the benefit of playing the Thursday is that there are no other stages running so you have a captive audience! Not that we've ever played to a crowd at trees that could in any way be described as inadequate.

There was a huge love-in with OT, us and Ben during our last song (pictures below), and I also remember the St. John's ambulance staff being incredibly helpful when my wife needed to breast feed. Baby Win was only a couple of weeks old at the time so we left straight after Ben's set, but the boy can say he went to his first festival aged two weeks (admittedly he slept through our set - I'm sure he's not the first.)

CCLXXV - Portsmouth Edge of the Wedge
21/03/14

The Bottom Line
Midday Committee
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
Caught in a Crossfire

I can't remember how we got signed up to this pop-punk show, but it was enjoyable enough, we played to a non-familiar crowd and went down quite well, and the promoters were very pleasant. And I had some nice chips after the gig.

CCLXXIV - London, Camden Monarch
18/02/14

Ban Marwood
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
Oxygen Thief

And so, the Valentine's Tossers tour came to an all-too-soon end - and what a way.  The charming Jay aka Beans on Toast was our host for the night, and as always it was a pleasure to play the Monarch - once the struggle of trying to park somewhere in Camden had been managed.

Our old chum Barry Oxygen Thief opened the show, adding to the family vibe to the show.  Knowing it might be our last show for a while to an actual audience for a while, we gave this show stacks, and it was glorious fun.  The main man Frank Turner even came down to watch the show - missing his tourbus to Europe in the process. That's the kind of dedication we appreciate!

I'd really love to do another tour like this with Ben, I can't stress enough how much of a pleasure it was to go on a completely ego-free, bullshit-free tour to 50-100 a people night who just really want to be there.  What a marvellously enjoyable experience, if we never do another tour I will have these memories to retire on.

CCLXXIII - Swindon, The Vic

CCLXXII - Southampton, Joiners
16/02/14

Ben Marwood
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
Happy Accidents
El Morgan

Woke without hangover - joy! - and watched quite a lot of the Sochi Winter Olympics, in this case men's cross country skiiing (the one where you have to go uphill and downhill.)  Hit Tesco for some breakfast before tackling the long drive from Leeds to Southampton, which was actually much smoother than it should be. We must be becoming hardened travellers.

Stopped in to see the good wife and have a bit of cake before heading on through to the Joiners.  I hadn't played the Joiners in ages, certainly not as a full band, and this was hands-down the best show I've ever done there.  The supports, again, were superb, and we had an absolute ball.  Supporting Ben certainly improves the touring experience.

CCLXXI - Leeds, Fox and Newt
15/02/14

Ben Marwood
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
Helen Chambers
Joe McCorriston

Woke in a truly horrid state in a Travelodge in Cheltenham.  The mood was not improved by a monumentally bad breakfast in a Harvester restaurant next door to the T-lodge.  Ben decided not to join us for breakfast, wisely choosing a few hours' escape from our endless mad bants and in-jokes.

We then decided to find the cars, parked at the previous night's venue, by foot.  It was nice to have a bit of fresh air, but we were pretty much just walking in and endless trail of eachother's hung-over farts.  But eventually we found the cars, and after half an hour of Kelv trying to find his lost phone (this happens most gigs) we set off to Leeds.  One of the party was sick into their own hands at a service station somewhere in the midlands.  I think this was the lowest moment of the day.

The gig in Leeds was even better than the night before, once we'd got past the overpowering smell of frying burgers upstairs where the live music was.  Joe and Helen were great, and we blew away any lingering cobwebs of the morning's hangover to play one of our best ever shows.  The singing along to Ben's set was possibly the most passionate I've heard, and we had a great time backing Ben up on 2 or 3 songs from his set too.

Afterwards we hung out with our Leeds chum Charlie Barnes, and when we were all in the chippy something something monumental happened - Marwood became the first person ton complete the 'Pauly A Pauly B' game.  What's this game, you ask? It works thusly: over a reasonably brisk beat (usually provided via the mouth of another player) you must simply rap the words: 'Pauly A, Pauly B, Pauly C, Pauly D....' until you either get to Pauly Z, run out of breath or make a mistake.  It's much harder than it sounds, indeed nobody had completed it up until today.  We all went bonkers in the chippy, then went home (Travelodge) to bed.

CCLXX - Cheltenham Frog and Fiddle
14/02/14

*START OF THE VALENTINE'S MANLOVE TOUR*

Ben Marwood
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
Joe Summers

We had been looking forward to going on tour with Ben for years (read: badgering him to let us be his backing band), and we finally got round to doing it - eventually.  The weekend the tour started on followed a week of relentless rain, flooding huge swathes of southern England ie our route between our homes and Cheltenham.

I have to mention that on the way to the gig, somewhere near Oxford, we went over a toll bridge that cost 5p. Has anyone else been on this toll bridge? We were quite amazed and found it all rather hilarious, to the obvious chagrin of the teenager manning the toll booth.  We gave him 20p and told him to keep the change, which we thought was hilarious, but probably the behaviour of most people going over the 5p bridge.

We didn't have time to soundcheck, so we had to get to grips with the stage sound as we went, but the show still went pretty well.  Certainly it was a huge thrill to play to a fairly packed Frog & Fiddle, having only ever played there before to single figures. It's nice supporting someone popular.

Ben was superb and after the show we all went and danced to power ballads at 2 Pigs (it was Valentine's Day after all.) There is video evidence somewhere of us emoting rather passionately to Aerosmith's 'I Don't Want to Miss a Thing' - I'm sure it will see the light of day eventually. I think we got taxis back to our Travelodge - suffice to say that we were in various states of disrepair come the following morning.  Nothing like overdoing it on the first night of tour.

CCLXIX - Portsmouth, Edge of the Wedge
22/12/13

Chris T-T
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
Christopher George Whitear

It was my great pleasure to put on Chris T-T for the last show of his solo tour, and what a lovely relaxing gig it was.  No rushing around with crazy full bands to set up, just a quick soundcheck, lovely bit of dinner, three great sets, lovely job.  Then off to enjoy a big fat christmas.

CCLXVIII - Manchester, Star and Garter
07/12/13

Larry and his Flask
Crazy Arm
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
Jimmy Islip

Our annual Christmas party - and what a belter.  For some reason I have since forgotten this was a matinee show, which meant we had played, watched Crazy Arm and loaded out in time to get a Toby Carvery christmas dinner on the way home.  We needed to do a good Manchester show as we'd had a few toughies in recent months, but we played to a packed house and we were on great form.  I'd even go as far to say that the gig itself was better than the Christmas dinner - praise indeed.

CCLXVII - Southampton, University SUSU Bar 2
18/11/13

The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
Rob the Liar

I did my PGCE at Southampton Uni in 2005.  At the time, we even played a gig there, at the Stag's Head.  I think it was my 3rd or 4th gig ever, if you fancy reading back that far on the blog.  I have to say it was very strange to be back, but Phoebe and all the guys who put us on were lovely, the crowd all had a good time and we went home (not very far) happy, so a winner.

CCLXVI - Reading, Rising Sun Arts Centre
16/11/13

Bellyeyesmile
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
+1 other

We seem to play Reading every fireworks night/weekend, so hopefully we will again next year.  What happened at this one? I'm really struggling to remember... I know that Bellyeyesmile were incredible and we all bought their t-shirts and EPs. Beyond that, no idea.

CCLXV - Devizes, The Lamb

CCLXIV - Manchester, The Black Lion
05/10/13

The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
Dancing Years
Zombie Elvis
+more

On the positive side, Jenn and the other people who put this gig on were lovely and very accommodating. On the downside it was painfully quiet, and although we didn't play too badly, I did have a particularly dark 15 minutes watching the band before us (although they were good) and posted a few 'what's the point?' type tweets.  I then felt instantly sheepish and decided never again to be tempted to vent my 'first world problems' on the twitters.

CCLXIII - Southsea Fest, The Atrium (Xtra Mile stage)
14/09/13

Beans on Toast
Crazy Arm
Ben Marwood
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
Oxygen Thief
Fighting Fiction
Christopher George Whitear
Elliott Kozlik
The Day of the Rabblement
George Ezra
Sean McGowan
Rex Domino

Where to even start? Me and Pauly B were running the stage (when we weren't playing on another stage - see above, or below), we set the stage up at about 8am and I think we left around midnight. The Atrium is a tiny crappy little wine bar above a much bigger, better venue, The Fat Fox.  The Atrium smells of old chip fat and has the stickiest floor you could possibly imagine. Like walking on a highland toffee bar.

I can't possibly list how excellent everyone was, but I must give a brief mention to Crazy Arm, who nearly broke through their second Southsea Fest ceiling.

CCLXII - Southsea Fest, King's Theatre

Veronica Falls
Foy Vance
George Ezra
MMX
Sons and Lovers
Kimberley Anne
Joe Black
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players

Regular reader(s) will know that I've played every single Southsea Fest in on band or another, and this was another highly enjoyable notch on the bed-post.  I was actually running my own Xtra Mile stage across the road, so we had to pop out for an hour to open up the King's Theatre with a full band set.  The atmosphere was slightly odd after we had played the same slot the previous year when we were doing the last ever Dawn Chorus gig, but still excellent fun.

CCLXI - Bristol, Mother's Ruin (VALFEST!)

CCLX - Petersfield, Uncivilisation Festival

CCLIX - Portsmouth, Southsea Bandstand
11/08/13

The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
The Day of the Rabblement
Electric Eden

Playing the bandstand is always risky business, as the weather can quite literally decide whether you play to a couple of hundred punters in glorious sunshine, or the show gets rained off and cancelled. Today was really touch-and-go all the way through the morning and the support acts, but luckily it just about held out.

We were meant to be playing both of our albums in full from front to back, but somehow that message got lost on the day and we just did an hour or so, which I'm sure was quite enough.

CCLVIII
01/08/13
Wickham Festival

I'd never been to Wickham Festival before, much less played it. This is possibly the closest gig I've ever done to my house. We go to the butcher's next door to it and they do a lovely sausage. This wasn't really my kind of festival set-up - there was basically one massive tent where largely quite dull 'rootsy' acts played very long sets, and a smaller tent where tonnes of 'local' bands played short sets with five minute intervals. The thrill of being there was our payment.

Because we were rushed on with a 15 minute turnaround and no particular stage crew (and following a ten-piece funk band), our on-stage sound was awful and really didn't help us to play that well. But some people seemed to like it, we sold some stuff and we got to go and watch Dexy's afterwards - they even played 'Come on Eileen'!

*historical note - Rolf Harris was arrested for noncing when he came off stage on the Sunday :(

Friday 12th July 2013
Two Thousand Trees festival, Cheltenham (Camp Turner)

Ben Marwood
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players

Camp Turner was a little campsite ring set up by some VERY enthusiastic and lovely Frank Turner fans. I managed to find it after Frank's set, though I didn't have a guitar and once again I was 2.5, if not three sheets to the wind. After about half an hour of fannying about someone had found a guitar and I played 'In the Aeroplane over the Sea' by Neutral Milk hotel, the title track of the greatest album ever. After I'd finished someone whispered in my ear: "Ben Marwood is here but he's in a rush to leave." So I had the dubious pleasure of having to re-start my set after Ben had played his. It's a good job I love him so much and was a bit pissed.

When I got the guitar back I managed to knock out 'Why Bother?' by Weezer and a few DC and RSP requests before handing the guitar to Kelv when my stupid bastard hands finally gave way to the gin. Good fun all round.

After this my new best buddy 'John who looks like Seth Rogen' and I set off on an (admittedly unfilmed) bromance-comedy to find his sister and my bandmate. We gave up on this pretty quickly and decided to go to the secret stage, where some truly awful acoustic goings-on were taking place, then went to the main arena to dance to the silent disco without headphones. Apparently there is video evidence of this, though I really hope that's just a vicious rumour.

Another excellent Trees festival, and the moral of the story, as always, is: the dog won.

Friday 14th July 2013
Two Thousand Trees festival, Cheltenham (Main Stage)

Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls
King Charles
Funeral for a Friend
Jim Lockey and the Solemn Sun
Nine Black Alps
Crowns
The Crimea
Park Bench Society
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players

There were some definite heavy heads on the morning of this when we emerged from our tents, but that blessed sun came out and we had a whale of a time. The last time we played the main stage must have been 2009, to about 50 people in the miserable rain, so it was great to see a great swarm of people around the main stage, especially as we were first main stage band of the whole weekend.



Here's how the rest of my day went:

• Spent about an hour after the set dying in a sweaty heap.
• Recovered and met my sister and nephew somewhere in the shade.
• Caught a little bit of the Crimea, including 'Lottery Winners on Acid', my jam from about 2002.
• Watched Oxygen Thief slay the Greenhouse, which was living up to its name in terms of immense heat.
• Stayed at the Greenhouse for a little schmooze with Chris T-T, Frank Turner and the Xtra Mile gang, before watching Crazy Arm's superb acoustic show.
• Wandered down to the main stage for home town heroes Jim Lockey & the Solemn Sun.
• Trekked back up for a bit of Ben Marwood, but it was so busy that I couldn't see him, and the crowd were singing every word so I couldn't hear him. These are both great things for Ben, and for the universe in general, but not so good for me, so I went back down and watched Funeral for a Friend, or at least the ones that are still going (singer and beardy for sure, the others... not sure.)
• Had a little sleep waiting for/during King Charles and did that jerky thing where you spasm as you're falling asleep. Some people laughed at me.
• Had a few more Badger's Bottoms and watched Frank Turner do his thing. Probably about the 15th Frank set I've seen. Or 20th? Who knows. Great as always.
• Then wandered up to try and find 'Camp Turner'.........

Thursday 11th July 2013
Two Thousand Trees festival, Cheltenham (Addistock Stage)

Fighting Fiction
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
some others (I was a bit drunk)

I think most people know by now how much we love 2k trees, so I won't gush any more here. We did a set on the new secret stage, which was lovely and busy, in fact if I'd known how busy it was going to be I would probably have had one fewer Badger's Bottom (deadly cider) during the day.

We did about 5 or 6 RSP numbers and a truly atrocious drunken slaying of Ring of Fire, during which I had to yell so much that I lost my voice. I wanted to play for longer and fulfil a few requests for DC songs, but Paul dragged me off to rest the voice before tomorrow, which was fair enough, really.

Wednesday 10th July 2013
Camden Monarch, London

The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
John J Presley
Oxygen Thief

This was a warm-up gig for the Two Thousand Trees festival, though we had to do it as a stripped-back three-piece so it wasn't really useful as a warm-up. BUT it was great fun, most importantly. We're getting much better at these acoustic shows now, and we had to be on our game because the two supports were very good indeed.

Our good friend Fred from the USA was in London with his new friend Carolina, and he asked us to play an old DC song called 'Carolina' to help him, er, 'seal the deal'. Paul and I managed to blag our way through it, and it was actually quite fun, a good little pop song that I'd forgotten about. Did it work for Fred? A gentleman never tells....

Here is a link to a picture. Yes, that's right, I allowed Kelv to play in shorts. I must be going soft.

http://instagram.com/p/bmbFeCFMFr/

Sunday 26th May 2013
Castle Road, Southsea

The B of the Bang
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players

A lovely free day out for all the family. We were asked to play this street party by our good friends at Pie & Vinyl on Castle Road, for which the whole street was filled with vintage stalls, antique merchants, lots of booze and sunshine. Here's a link to some photos from the day:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16695682@N05/sets/72157634586343917/

As you may notice if you look through those photos, there was one quite bizarre moment when what looked like a girl band came and did a photo shoot in front of us while we were playing. Which has to be some kind of first.

After the gig my wife and I and some friends went out for a drink, which became dinner, which became karaoke at an old man pub until kicking out time. I sang 'Jessamine' by the Casuals (the song my wife was named after) and also 'Love Shack' (just the guy part, my old DC buddy Matt kindly took the girl part.) My wife sang 'Never Ever' by All Saints, which I never knew was about 7 minutes long.

Here's Castle Road while we were soundchecking:

4 or 5 Magicians, 900 Spaces, A-Custom, Acropolis, Action Speaks Louder, Joshua Adams, Phil Adams x 2, Afrosnatchers, The Agitator, The AKA Band, All The Shapes x 2, The All-Singing Razorblades, Allo Darlin', Lee Almeroth, Amongst the Pigeons, Analogue Manilow x 3, Becky Anderson, Matt Benham, Andy and Jack, Angelgear x 5, Apologies I Have None, The Arkwrights, CM Arnold & the Delta Breaks x2, Arty Karate, Ashford, The Autons x2, The Aviators, B for Butterfly, The B of the Bang x 38, B-Sydes, Rob Ball, Philip Barebones, Emily Barker, Charlie Barnes x 3, Chris Bath, Batrider, Caz Batten, Beans on Toast x 4, Bear and the Woods, Bear Cavalry, Beatamax x 2, Belligerence, Bemis x 2, Bendigo, The Beneski Murder, Billy Vincent x 2, Bipolar Empire, Black Carrot, The Black Lodge Band, The Steve Bland Assembly x 7, Blue Fox, Emit Bloch, Bodyhost x 2, The Boicotts, Boss Caine, Adam Boucher x 4, The Boy I Used To Be x 4, Jack Boyd, Brenda, Loz Bridge, James Bright, Brown Torpedo, Evelyn Burke, Burn the Witch, Buswell, The Cadbury Sisters, Capelle, Captain Fantastic, Carlos and the Jackal x 3, Carmen Rosa, Carmichael, Carnivores, Cassette Culture, Cats:For Peru, Helen Chambers, Citizen, Lester Clayton, Clockworks, The Clowns, Cocos Lovers, Aisling Coderoy, Collect My Years, Contra, Kurt Cooder x 2, Alex Cornish, Covernote, Creepythinguy, Crowns, Cymbiotic, Dali's Cat, Steve Dalzell, Tom Dangerous, The Day of the Rabblement x 4, De Squeran x2, Dead! Dead! Dead! x 2, The Deads x3, Deadbeat Descendent, Del Nil x 3, Stanton Delaplane, Delboy French, Depot, Deville, Different Day, The Dirty 38s, The Dirty Roger, Dive Dive, Dlugokecki, Dr Bluegrass and the Illbilly 8, Dropstone, Dumbfounded, Alex J Dunne, Dutch Husband, Echobeat, El Mariachi Pinche Gringo, Elaine Dismissed, The Elements x 2, Elle Milano, Emptifish, Enjoy Destroy, Erin and the Foundlings, The Extenders, Fade Out x 2, Fake Ray, Luke Ferre x 4, Find X Then Party, The Finds, Fine Lines, Max Fletcher, Fly Monkeys Fly, Food Fighters, Tom Fossum, Andrew Foster x 2, Frank and Jules, Fresh Legs x 3, Frisbee in the Jewel Box, Funk Yer Mum, The Gallery, Jack Garratt, Geko, Get Amped, Gilbert, Gilkicker x 2, Gintis, The Glad Rags, The Gleebs, Glen Belt, Glossary, Nick Glover (The Seal Cub Clubbing Club), The Golden Hairs, Golden Section x 2, Luke Godwin, David Goo x 2, The Good Intentions, Gary Goodman, Alaistar Goodwin, Paul Goodwin Band x 3, The Greasy Strings, David Greeves, GROOVE, The Gun Show x 5, Luke Haines, Emma Hallows, Frank Hamilton, Dave Hause, Zoe Hazell, Headstrong, Hey Sholay!, Elliott Hanan, Hardly Heroes, Hats are for Heads, The Heights, Hexicon, Higgy, Rob Himself, Chris Hobley, Hobos and Eskimos, Hold Fast x3, Holy Roller, Hometown Show x 2, The Hornblower Brothers, The Housewives, Hudson 10 x 2, Dave Hughes and the Renegade Folk Punk Band, HUMANS, I Am Jack, I Am Not Left-Handed, Idiot3, The Incredible Flight of Birdman x2, Sam Inglis, The Inklings, Introducing: Emergency Music, Ivan Campo, Ida Jacobsson, Jake and the Jellyfish, Joey Nightmare, Johnny Foreigner, Roxanne Johns x 3, Judith and the Charmers, Jukebox Vandals, Jumping Ships, Justice Force Five, The Kabeedies, Karmatribe, Kate Goes, Rich Keam, Kenarban, Kid Idiot, Kill Kasper, King Charles, Kody, Last Days of Lorca, Alexandra Legouix and the Sunflowers, Leptany, The Levels, Life of Byron, The Light Divided, Lion and the Wolf, Lisa Lindley Jones, Lines in Sand, The Lights Shine, The Little Ones, Little Things, Living in Cities, Jim Lockey x 2, The Lonely Cardinals x 2, Looking Through Glass, The Long Goodbye x 2, Long Lankin, Lost Aura, LoveLikeFire, The Lowland Runners, Austin Lucas, Peter Lyons, Richie Madisun, Mama Smokes, Mantis and The Prayer, Mantra, The Marvellous Mechanical Band, Ben Marwood x 9, Elliot Mason, The Masters x 3, Mark McCabe, Jo McCafferty, Dave McPherson, Melodramas x2, Men Diamler, Mercy Alexander, The Metropolise, The MFV, The Mindless Ones, Misty's Big Adventure, The Model Village, Momentum, The Momeraths, Mono, Monsters Build Mean Robots, The Mopes x 2, Neil Morris x 3, Rae Morris, Moses x 2, Mr & Mrs, Mr Christopher, Mrs Poopars Automobiles, Mull Historical Society, Mumble, My First Tooth, My Name is Ian x 5, The New Root, Danni Nicholls, Owen Nicholson, Franz Nicolay, Ninja Horses, No Skidoo, Nut, Stuart O'Connor, Oh Stockholm! x 2, Andy Oliver, One Suspicious Monkey, Operahouse, Openroom x 2, Ornament Birds, Otaka, Ottersgear, Ou Est Le Swimming Pool?, Out Like A Lion, Over the Wall, Oxygen Thief x 7, Matt Park, Mrs Burns, Palais x 2, Palehorse, Jackie Paper x 2, Paper Aeroplanes, Joe Parker and the Power, Chris Perrin and the Minor Falls, The Plans, Plantagenet 3, The Plymouths x 2, The Pompey Pluckers, Poppy, Porcelain Coins, Race Car Hearts, Race Horses, The Racketeers x2, Kyle Rage, Random Impulse, The Rapids, The Real Raj, The Rebs x 2, Red Campion, Red Mercury, Reikidogs, Relentless, Retrofect, Revere x8, Anna Rice, Andrew Ricks, The Ridgeway, The James Riley Band, Rivers of Sound x 3, Roadside Poppies, Rockshore, Roco, Roland Shanks, Rolling Dog, Room 6, Roshambo, Rosie and the Goldbug, Rossco x 6, Round Ron Virgin, The Rudimentary Confusion, Rue Royale, Rushing With Apathy, Sallyforth, Salvage, Sarah & Lewis, Saturdays and Sundays, The Shake, Sharks Took The Rest, She Makes War, Shit Hot Llamas!, Silent Radio, Silhouette Showgirls, Timothy Simpson, Sine Star Project, Sister Divine, Six Nation State, Skirts, Sleep Centre, The Adam Smith Effect, Dan Smith, Something Pretty, Sonic the Comic, Charlene Soraia, Spearmint, Jessica Spencer Band, Niall Spooner-Harvey x 2, Stages of Dan, The Stations x 6, Jimmy Stewart, Leigh Mary Stokes, The Strange Death of Liberal England x 6, Straylings, Subzar, Joe Summers, The Summons, Sunday's Child, Super Cannes, Supergrass (DJs), Surprise!, Surviving Sunday, Sweet Plum Trio, Sweetheart, Swift Manouvre, Chris T-T x 6, Tali Trow & The Well Being, Tamborines, Tag Team Preacher, Tamerlane x 2, Paddy Taylor, Temple, They Don't Sleep, Thomas Tantrum x 2, Three Blind Wolves, Tim and Sam's Tim and the Sam Band with Tim and Sam, Tomboy, Transcend, Trinity, The John Trowbridge Band, Frank Turner x 5, Umdongskulen, The Undefined, The Veils, Venice Ahoy!, The Vice, Videosprint, The Visitors, Jon Walbrin, Roo Walker, The Walkmen, The Wave Pictures, The Waves, The Way, The Waysters x 2, We Walk in Straight Lines, Rich Webb, Steve Wheel, Whitewash, Wilf, Ben Williams, Ieuean WIlliams, JD Williams, Tom Williams and the Boat x 2, Winners, Wireless, Wiservice x 2, Wood Wire and Words, Michael Wookey, Wyldside, Yellowgroove, Yesterday's Notion, Youthless, James Yuill, Zegema Beach x 2, Zodiac

Saturday 18th Manchester 2013

Friday May 17th 2013
Camden Monarch, London

Ben Marwood
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players

Once I had got past the hell of finding a free parking space somewhere vaguely near Chalk Farm Road this became hugely enjoyable. It was just me and Kelv doing the show for the first time in a while, but we've got quite a good chemistry down now and it's really enjoyable to do our harmonies in a live acoustic setting. I did 'That's not Love' to open the show, it's an old DC number that I'm really gutted we never got to play much. I enjoy playing it so much that it makes me want to make a solo album. I won't though, it would probably be the most niche release since, well, the last RSP album.

There was a nice friendly vibe to the show and some people even knew the words which is lovely. There were actually almost too many people to catch up with after the show, but I think I managed to say hi to everyone I meant to. I also got to meet the band Murder By Death afterwards - they came by after their gig at Dingwalls and I managed to have a quick not-too-fanboy chat with their singer Adam and a few of the other guys. A swell evening all-told.

Sunday 31st March 2013
Lexapalooza @ Boston Arms Music Room, London

Jim Lockey and the Solemn Sun
Carnivores
Palehorse
Oxygen Thief
Skirts
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
Amongst the Pigeons
Ben Marwood
El Mariachi Pinche Gringo
Mark McCabe
Emma Hallows
Carlos and the Jackal

A wonderful day/night for a brilliant cause. I saw a huge amount of brilliant people and artists, bought a Springsteen 5-record live set for a bloody tenner - which went to charity anyway! - and played a supremely enjoyable set.

These were the acts I saw:

Carlos and the Jackal - quality folky singalongs from our good chum Addis & co.
El Marichi Pinche Gringo - insane mariachi adaptations of all your favourite pop hits. 99% enthusiasm, 1% competence. 100% enjoyable (sorry, unlike professional football managers I don't go past 100%. I'm a mathematician.)
Ben Marwood - a reverential reception for the Bard of Berkshire. Is Reading in Berkshire? I hope so.
Amongst the Pigeons - making the big dark room feel less like North London at 3pm and more like some cool club or something at a later/earlier time. Basically it was not a band of blokes or a folk singer.
Us - we had a ruddy whale of a time. I danced a jig with the audience during 'Send me the hell back home' and my glasses fell off.

Sadly I had to leave after this as my parents were heading home and offered me a lift, which I gladly took having harboured a slowly growing hangover from the previous night's festivities. Cheers folks!

Saturday 30th March 2013
Brixton Windmill, London

Austin Lucas
Glossary
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
+ Unknown (several)

The Brixton Windmill is a favourite venue of ours with a high success ratio - in keeping, this was excellent fun. Every bank holiday they put on superb themed all-dayers - just be aware that there is a potential risk involved when eating from the BBQ. I haven't personally had a bad experience, but a bandmate who shall remain nameless has certainly 'shit the place to pieces' - as the French say - after a Windmill BBQ. And their toilets are not exactly the friendliest in which to have a 'rusty water attack'.

However, musically the place is superb and the main booker Tim is a really top guy. Lots of our good chums came down and all of the acts I saw were great, though sadly I had to leave before Austin had played. Hopefully another time...

Saturday 26th January 2013
St Philip's Church, Cambridge

The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
Subzar
Rue Royale

Negatives:

• This gig was in a church and hence ridiculously cold.
• The PA was terrible, and although the sound guys did a valiant job, it just wasn't appropriate for a six-piece band.
• We didn't have time to go to Fopp or Nanna Mexico :(

Monday 31st December 2012

Saturday 1st December 2013