Leicester, much later

We didn’t get round to a blog post after playing at last month’s fantastic Leicester Indiepop All-Dayer. Or is it Alldayer? I’m never quite sure whether to hyphenate that or not any more. Anyway.

In short, we loved everything about it. OK, we loved everything about it except the beer at Firebug. But the beer at the Criterion and the Ale Wagon kind of made up for that. We loved the other bands (it’s kind of harsh to single anyone out but Anguish Sandwich were sensational). We loved the room: Firebug is definitely better with the stage at that end. We loved the organisation: Simon Sweeping The Nation was on top of everything and a delight to play for. We loved the crowd, because at a lot of all-dayers a lot of the punters only turn up towards the end, but in Leicester maybe three quarters of all the folk who came were there by mid-afternoon.

And we were pretty chuffed with how we played in our last gig before returning to full-on four-piece pop proportions.

A Leicester cityscape
Leicester, city of pop. Photo: kev747 (cc by-nc-sa 2.0)

I’ve always been disproportionately fond of Leicester because of the fabulous gigs I saw at the Princess Charlotte in the 1990s and 2000s, from Boyracer to the Moldy Peaches to the Hidden Cameras. So I’ve always been disproportionately keen on the idea of playing popshows there myself. The other year I played solo for the lovely people of Twesta Promotions (when the stage at Firebug was at the other end). Now at last The Sweet Nothings have played, and it was great. It feels like a mini-ambition fulfilled, a bit like when I finally got to play Hull Adelphi, all that time after seeing 14 Iced Bears and the Field Mice there.

So if anyone’s reading this in Sweden, that’s the next ambition on the list…

Good times… in Leeds!

I wouldn’t say I’ve always had bad times in Leeds. There were just the hour-and-a-half waits for taxis in the city centre. The man taking a shit in Carpe Diem who couldn’t be bothered to close the toilet door. And the post-popshow party in Headingley that got gatecrashed by a couple of nutcases threatening to beat everyone up.

But I always say Leeds isn’t just like that – there are lots of good things and lovely people in Leeds as well. We were reminded of this the other week when we played a set at the Don’t Falter clubnight.

Don’t Falter takes place once a month at a bar called Baby Jupiter. We were a bit worried when we looked at the Baby Jupiter website, which, in a spooky echo of the lyrics from ‘Subterranean Moseley Blues’, says it’s “the coolest bar in town”. But the cool kids didn’t have rubbish hair; nor did they dance to Huey Lewis and the News. There was a lot of great pop, including a lot of great indiepop, and just about everyone we met was delightful. (And pretty. Not that it matters, but y’know.)

Don't Falter flyer

 

Mark Don’t Falter couldn’t be there, as he was tending to his wife and their newborn baby, but we were looked after excellently by Owen Don’t Falter, who was wearing a quite superlative T-shirt based on the Shipping Forecast. We played a kick-ass 25-minute set which included our brand new, fizzy, toe-tapping tune ‘If You Ever Need a Shoulder’. The place filled up most pleasingly about halfway through it (possibly just after the end of the Cribs gig at Leeds Met the same night) and we went down jolly well.

Leeds being Leeds, something had to go wrong at some point, and Amber Cars charged us 63 quid for the taxi home, having quoted us 40. But hey – we had such a fine time that even this breathtaking act of extortion failed to take the shine off the evening. Next time I think of Leeds I’ll probably think of the charming folks we met at Don’t Falter, instead of the man in Carpe Diem.

● Our next popshow will be this Saturday at the Leicester Indiepop All-Dayer with Tender Trap, MJ Hibbett & the Validators, and several more! You really ought to come.

● If you’re of a West Yorkshirely persuasion, get yourself to Don’t Falter at the earliest available – it’s on the first Saturday of every month at Baby Jupiter and it’s free to get in!

Our first single is here!

Yeah, we know. We’ve been banging on about it for most of the year. So here it is at last: our first single!

It’s a jumble of contradictions. It’s strident, fierce and full of tenderness. It’s in love with an accountant and it wants to hang the bankers. It’s 90 seconds and it’s four and a half minutes. But it’s heartfelt, real and kind. It’s got some smashing catchy tunes. And it’s got some beautiful artwork. It’s She’s an Accountant and Subterranean Moseley Blues!

artwork for Accountant/Moseley

Well now, isn’t that a thing.

It’s a compact disc released on Precordial Catch Records. It’s gonna be available to buy on our Indietracks Tour of Awesomeness. And it’ll be in online stores after that, so if you want a copy but you won’t see us live this month, keep listening and we’ll let you know how later.

Oh, and if you’re into that iTunes thing, we’ll probably do that later on at some point, when we’ve got our breath back.

Is that everything? Good. What are you waiting for? Tell your friends, hang bunting from lampposts, have a sip of something nice, and name your children after us. The future of pop music is here. And once it’s been and gone we might even think about making an album.