Jun 30, 2009

Glastonbury 09

I got back from Glastonbury last night about 8pm. It took 11 hours to get home, 4 of those were spent sat in the car park waiting to get out onto the road. The car was hot, the roads were busy but we made it home safely.

The festival was excellent - one of the best in sometime. There was a really nice atmosphere about the site, the rain was not too bad, the sun was hot and everyone there seemed to be really happy.

I saw beardyman, the mojo fins, lily allen, neil young, the boss, dodgy and blur ... I did probably see a few other acts but they were the main ones. My highlight was neil young and blur. Both of who I love.

Blur I have seen about 12 times and were excellent and Neil Young is an all time hero and it was great to finally see him play. Lovely grungry bassy gritty guitar sound ... mmmmm.

I also spent a lot of time in the circus fields and just plodding around the site.

Today - I am back at work and its horrible. I cant wait till Glasto 2010.

Jun 22, 2009

Help me Flyer....

http://amongstthepigeons.info/docs/atp-lp-flyer1.pdf

The above link will open a PDF version of my album flyer - its A4 and has 4 flyers on it.

The reason I have posted this is to see if anyone can print these out and stick them up at local venues, festivals and shows.

There are laws about random flyering so please make sure you are putting them up in legal places. I dont want a fine on my door step.

You will need scissors, tape and an adult to help you.

Festival Time

I am going to Glastonbury Festival this week. Sadly I am not playing - I am just a punter.

One of my life ambitions is to play at Glastonbury and I hope over the next few years I may be able to acheive this.

I first went to the festival when in 1995 when I was 15 years old, since then I have been 10 times, this year will be my 11th time. Its quite strange to think that when I first went I was half the age I am now ... madness.

I am also going to The Big Chill this year which I have never been to but am really looking forward to.

I love going to Festivals and really hope that maybe next year I can play at a few. We'll have to wait and see.

This year at Glastonbury I will be bringing a few ATP albums with me to sell and give to industry type people in the hope they listen and like it.

If you see me there - say hi .... fingers crossed the sun is out.

Jun 16, 2009

Buy My Debut Album - Now .....


Well here it is .... The debut Amongst The Pigeons album 'music to brush your teeth to'.

Officially released on 10.08.09

YOU CAN BUY IT NOW BY CLICKING HERE!

It's £7.99 and postage (£1uk / £2.50 rest of world)

Jun 15, 2009

MTBYTT : Track tales - pt.4

The final 4 tracks of the debut ATP Album are:

13. Love Pigeons

At one of the cinemas in Brighton lives a couple of pigeons, they are love pigeons and were first seen by my good friend Ollie Barron. These love pigeons sit in the stairwell and kiss and poo on everyone below. It seemed only fitting to write a song about them.

I made the backing track and sent it to Ollie whilst he was travelling SE Asia, he then recorded the vocals on his mobile phone and emailed them back to me in Brighton where I cut them up, added effects and played around with them.

This song was the result.

I am making a video for this song and may well release it as a single towards the end of the year. The video is going to be great so keep your eyes peeled.

14. ATPDNB

A very short little DnB track. The song plays hommage to Brighton through the use of a sample in the song. I made this song whilst sitting on my sofa eating pizza.

15. Wings Wings BeAt

Wings Wings Beat was the title of my first EP released back in 2005. This song is based around a sample from the children's show Pigeon Street in which the lyrics go ' on pigeon street, where sings, wings beat'.

It was one of the earlier songs to be finished for the album and I think it was a very summery feel to it. Quite floaty in its delivery.

The capital A in the song title is there for a reason. The reason for that reason may never be told.

16. The Red Lights That Guide You Home (pt.2)

I wanted to close the album with part two of the red lights. Part one is the end of side A and this one in turn closes the whole album.

It features Steph MacGregor on vocals. Go check out her stuff - it's great! We recorded the vocals in my parents conservatory last December.

It was the last song to be finished for the album and that concludes my track tales for this album.

I get 1000 copies of the album back tomorrow and will begin selling it thru the ATP eStore on Wednesday. So please buy a copy and ask your friends, family and anyone you happen to meet in the streets to also buy a copy.

Many Thanks

Cat x

Jun 12, 2009

MTBYTT : Track tales - pt.3

When I made MTBYTT I really wanted to have a definitive A side and B side to the record - as though it were a vinyl release. So side two opens with

09. On A Train (In Holland)

Last year I spent quite a bit of time working in Holland (Tight Ya?) and one day when I left Mrs Pigeons set me the task of starting to make a song at Gatwick and having it finished by the evening. OATIH was the result.

I was happily working away on the track on the plane and on the train when all of a sudden a voice came across saying 'the trains were all delayed' in Dutch. I did not know what to do. So when the ticket lady came along I asked her and recorded her response so that I knew where I was going.

I cut up parts of the conversation and hey presto = I got a song.

10. If You Unwrap The Wrapper You Leave Me Exposed

The longest track title on the album and the second to use a clip found on youtube. In this song there is a South Afrika lady talking about racing Pigeons. There are also Pigeon chants from some other people.

Those aspects along with the backing track is what makes this song. Can you tell I dont have much to say about it?

11. The Trial & The Beats

The trial and the beats was first worked on in Brighton Law Courts. For anyone who has ever been to court you will know it can be very boring. I took my laptop to keep me company.

I have previously written about this song when I did the post about the video for the song.

But to sum it up - the song featues clips from an old animated movie called Hugo The Hippo which is one of the best films ever made. If you have not seen it get yourself a copy and watch it.

The director of the film gave me permission to use the clips.

12. The Old Bill Move Fast

The trial and the beats, the old bill move fast and love pigeons all merge into each other on the album. Its kind of like a mini 3 act play - the trial - the fuzz and the peace at the other end of it all.

The Old Bill features words and the voice of Tim Lay and is basically an extract from his book 'The sewerside chronicles' set to music. I worked with Tim many moons ago and he wrote SSC around that time. It got published last year after he won the Discovered Artists award.

Its a great read and I would recommend everyone to buy a copy from his site.

The song was created on a train back from Bangor and Tim recorded the vocals over a Skpye telephone call.

The final 4 songs will be talked about soon ...

Jun 11, 2009

MTBYTT : Track Tales - pt.2

I did the first four tracks earlier and here come the next four on the album.

05. Bird Flew

Bird Flew is a jumpy beat driven little number. The song features a sample by Beans On Toast. The bass in this song was done by Mrs Pigeons!

I first saw Beans on Toast live years ago when he was supporting Frank Turner - his songs are so catchy, funny and I really wanted to use his track in mine. I sent him the song and he said he loved it and was happy for it to be used.

06. Pavlov's Pigeon

Almost until the album went to press this song was called 'Behavioural Devices' but I changed it at the last minute. The song is one of two on the album that feature pigeon related samples I found on YouTube.

This song is all about teaching Pigeons how to be clever and learn - much like the idea of Pavlov's Dog. The running theme is that "repetition leads to reinforcement".

07. Larkin About

Larkin About takes its lyrics from a Philip Larkin poem called 'Pigeons' and will be the first single from the album - released 03.08.09

The song features Frank Turner on lyrical duties and was recorded in a pub in Copsale in April 08. For those of you that don't know Frank - where have you been?

I made the backing of the song whilst in Holland and sent it over to Frank with some very bad guide vocals - we then met up before one of his gigs to record the vocals.

The track has been approved by the Larkin Estate and Larkin Society and I am hoping it will get some radio play as a single.

08. The Red Lights That Guide You Home (pt.1)

Red Lights One was originally just a single track before a conversation with a friend of mine made me realise that it would be good with vocals and so it became a two parter.

This track closes off the A Side of the album and in turn Red 2 closes the album proper.

The title is all about being stuck in a traffic jam on the way home from work when all you see is a line of red lights going down the road and all you want to do is get back home as fast as possible.

Not really sure what else to say about this one - it probably took less that an hour to finish it.

So these first 8 tracks make up side one .... more to follow.

MTBYTT : Track Tales - pt.1

Yesterday I posted the track listing for MTBYTT and a while ago I thought of writing a bit about each track so you, the reader will know more about them when you buy the album and listen to the songs.

Here goes - I think I'll break it down into 4 posts, each with 4 songs .. some of them are probably not very exciting but I'll try my best.

01. Music To Brush Your Teeth To

The opening track has the same title as the album, generally something I dont like but in this instance I think it works.

The track has the voice of Radio One DJ Rob Da Bank on it. Many years ago Rob played one of my old songs on his show and I recorded his voice - it seemed to fit in really well as an album opener. A bit like Mary Anne Hobbs on the Mr Scruff album. Rob gave me the go ahead to use it on the album so I thank him.

The teeth washing and gurgaling sounds were recorded whilst I was in a hotel in holland. And the reason I called the album 'Music to brush your teeth to' is because a lot of my old demos were all 2 mins long - the ideal time to brush your teeth for.

I also use this track to open all my DJ shows.

02. Deep Housey

Deep Housey is a nod to the old school house tracks of yesteryear. It was one of the first tracks I recorded for MTBYTT and took one of the longest times to finish it.

A large part of the song was recorded whilst I was in a hotel reception in Austria following a Ski Trip. I then continued the track on my EasyJet flight back home.

DH was released as a low key download single last year and the song has had a fair bit of radio play since then. The likes of Mary Anne Hobbs and a number of 6 Music DJs have aired this tune.

03. Hold Tight: Brighton

This song was the first ever ATP song - made in 2001? It was originally on my now sold out 'wings wings beat ep' and was called Firefly. I decided to add it to the album as I really liked it and wanted more people to hear it.

The song was featured on a Brighton Council tourisim advert a few years back which is why it got renamed to Hold Tight: Brighton. Which is a nod to the Chemical Brothers song Hold Tight London.

04. Trouble On The Deathstar

People who know me will know that I am a rather large Star Wars fan. This song was another of the really early MTBYTT tracks. Most of the song was recorded and finished in just one day. I had originally hoped to use the actual sample from Star Wars, A New Hope in the song but was pretty sure George Lucas would not allow it.

So I re spoke the lines that Hann says when they first board the Deathstar and rescue the princess. There is also a video for this song kicking around on youtube - the link for that is somewhere in my previous posts.


So thats the first 4 tracks - I'll do the next four soon! Hope you enjoy these little insights.

Jun 10, 2009

Tracklisting for MTBYTT

The CDs will be back next week!

Officially released on 10.08.09 but the record label are letting me sell them as soon as it's back ... so more on that next week.

Before then I wanted to give you the tracklisting for Music to brush your teeth to - it is as follows:

01. Music to brush your teeth to
02. Deep Housey
03. Hold Tight: Brighton
04. Trouble On The Deathstar
05. Bird Flew
06. Pavlov's Pigeon
07. Larkin About
08. The Red Lights That Guide You Home (pt.1)
09. On A Train (In Holland)
10. If You Unwrap The Wrapper You Leave Me Exposed
11. The Trial & The Beats
12. The Old Bill Move Fast
13. Love Pigeons
14. ATPDNB
15. Wings Wings BeAt
16. The Red Lights That Guide You Home (pt.2)

So there you have it 16 lovingly crafted tracks for your listening pleasure. I may write a bit about each of the songs over the next few weeks, I may not...

Jun 8, 2009

Pigeon Watch 04 : Simon De Glanville Photos

Hi Folks.

To lighten the day I wanted to share these photos with you.
They are by a guy called Simon De Glanville and are totally amazing.

He like me is a fan of Pigeons and i am hoping to work with him in the future on artwork for a future ATP release. I have added links to his website and the Telegraph paper which as a lod more on it.

www.simondeglanville.co.uk

www.telegraph.co.uk





Political Rant

I don't like Politics all that much - I try not to get too involved.
However I am sick and so disgusted that the BNP have got seats in Europe.

That's all ... :(