The sun sets on 2009...

...and we've done our last gig of the year, probably. We only have one more rehearsal left, and John's gone swanning off to Antigua for a fortnight, while Sharon, James and I have another tELLEY gig next Saturday, so there's not much chance we'll get much done in December. The pressure's off a bit, though, as it seems we've only been rehearsing for gigs, and thus neglecting our back catalogue of tunes a bit. True, we pulled a couple of oldies out of the hat - Red Nose Day got played again for the first time in three years, The Little Sisters of The Poor got two outings including Berlin - but we've had so many new songs pouring forth that we've not had time to adequately rehearse some of the lesser known songs that we've started and forgotten about or just stopped rehearsing.

At some point in the year, I printed off and laminated a sheet of A4 with every Flyers song we'd tried live or recorded and it totalled nearly 50 songs. For a band with one album and three singles, that's quite a lot of stuff. Some of it has gone forever; though officially I think the only song we've all said we're never playing again is Falling Down, I can't foresee a time when Cat Hits Car, or Rat Attack (which hasn't even been released yet!) make a reappearance. It's hard enough trying to coax Sharon into playing anything she has no enthusiasm for - even Frittata, which appears on our upcoming EP, has been added to potential future sets under duress, so anything we've mothballed for a couple of years has no chance. The fact that the three songs I've mentioned were all my compositions is neither here nor there, I'm sure...! saying that, we did dust off Pretty But Not Beautiful and Suits at the last rehearsal and they both sounded OK, so we might give them a chance sometime. It's easy to forget that out of those 50 songs, only about 15 or so have actually been heard on record, so balancing the new, unheard stuff with the old 'classics' remains an eternal battle.

But it's all about the future, I suppose. And looking back, 2009 was pretty cool for us, so 2010 has much potential. We've managed to get four new songs out this year, play abroad, do more gigs than we've done in a single calendar year, got our music on the telly (if you're not Welsh, you will have missed Blackpool being played - twice!- over the footy highlights a couple of Saturdays ago), shared quite a few rousing car journeys, and generally done all the things that being in a band should be about.

Next year, we've got a new EP, a track on a Jonathan Richman tribute, and most excitingly, plans to put two new full-length studio albums out. One is the official followup to Sex With Strangers that we've been recording over the past two years; at the moment it's probably 60-70% complete, with just a few more songs needing to be recorded. But before that will come our second album. This album has no songs written for it, no titles, no preparation yet, nothing. All that exists is the deadline; the album must be finished by Sunday, February 28th 2010. And we're not doing any work on it bar some loose 'pre-production' (i.e. talking about it) until February 1st.

Does it sound daft? Certainly. Is it possible? Yes. For the past three years, John's made a solo album each February as part of the RPM Challenge; an international event where participants must craft a full-length LP (10 songs or 25 minutes) in 28 days. Last year, James and Martin made one each as well. This year, we're going for a Flyers one. With any luck, we'll finish it, then put it up on iTunes or something, but also press up a few physical CDs to sell at gigs. Whatever; it'll be an official Flyers LP. We've resolved so far a couple of limiting factors:

i) Collaboration. So far, every song we've made has been the result of one person completing it from start to finish and showing it to everyone else in rehearsal. That's why the songs are all credited to individuals. This time, we're bringing in half-finished bits for everyone to add to.

ii) Drums. James wants to play more guitar and less drums for this. We're resolving to find additional means of percussion, be they human or programmed. I have a feeling this will have a big effect on our working methods. If it makes us sound more like Saint Etienne, that's great.

We haven't got much further with it than that, but after our last rehearsal, we have our annual meeting/ slap-up feed. I'm sure it'll be discussed there.

In the meantime, I'll try and keep blogging if anything comes up. All that's left to say is that 'Misteltoe Misadventure' is appearing on A Very Cherry Christmas Vol. 5. James wrote and sang it, and it's got a brass band on it. Enjoy!



Thom

The wibbly-wobbly world of The Gresham Flyers, summer-autumn 2009.

The wibbly-wobbly world of The Gresham Flyers, summer-autumn 2009.

Christ, I’m not very good at keeping this stuff updated am I? As luck would have it, I have a free evening, after a few post-work drinks with John at the George in London Bridge. After all, what else am I going to do on a Friday night? I’m 30 now.

So. My usual style is the old feast-or-famine routine wherein I detail everything that’s happened since the last update. But to be honest, we’ve had so much going on that we’re starting to feel more like a real band, as in one that goes out and gigs and people like and stuff, that it’s all melting together. So I’ll try and pick out some highlights.

Try these:
- John in vest, jeans and headband (was it a tie? Probably.) at the launch night for the Bruce Springsteen tribute album. Ten bands played, and we somehow ended up with the headline slot above people who deserved it far more than us. But hey, that means we’ve had Darren Hayman support us! Woo!). It’s all credit to the bands and Sean Price (Fortuna Pop) and John Jervis (Where It’s At Is Where You Are, who put the album out) that all ten acts managed to play and still run ahead of schedule. I was impressed with the breadth of acts on show, my favourites probably being Hillary & The Democrats and a band whose name I’ve totally forgotten, but do a stunning version of Darkness On The Edge Of Town. Is it Vatican Cellars? I want to say The Leisure Society, but it’s not them though they’re similar. Anyway, we did our cover of Magic that’s on the album, and a hastily learnt medley of Factory and Factory Records Museum. John says he thinks it’s the best gig we ever played, even if it was only three songs long. Band opinion on the actual album is very much mixed; those with a thorough knowledge of Springsteen aren’t a enthused about some of it, whereas I find it all pretty cool. We’re mostly agreed that it is a bit too long though (38 tracks, plus additional singles/ downloads/ an entire album of Springsteen covers by The Wave Pictures).

- Back at the Buffalo Bar a few days later, singing my first lead vocal with the Flyers on a cover of Trouble In The Message Centre as part of a Blur tribute night. The other bands, Resigned and The Overcoats, brought along a tremendous crowd, and the place was rammed with curious Blur fans. We weren’t lynched, so I think we did okay.

Oh, I haven’t mentioned our first ever international gig! This is a story in itself, but the upshot is we played in Berlin with the superb Pocketbooks. The things that stick in the mind are things like the wait between our post-pub arrival at Stansted airport and finally taking off to Berlin at 6am. This time was spent holed up from midnight in a strip-lit Ponti’s café, nursing bottles of grim cheap red wine and disgusting coffee. We were far from the drunkest people there, that award going to a pair of overly-refreshed young men, attempting to slyly lure attractive young ladies to their table with the promise of free alcohol. Unfortunately, they’d reached the point of no return, drink-wise, and any attempt at skillful patter was merely reduced to a repeated bellow of ‘IGOTTABOTTLEUHWINE’ at anything in a skirt. Emma from Pocketbooks later told us that shortly after we’d left, the pair starting throwing muffins about the place. Needless to say, we were very glad they weren’t on our flight (if they made it onto any flight at all?).

We also got to look very cool walking through Berlin airport with our guitar cases, like proper rock stars. Only the fact that my case contained not only my guitar, but a hefty amount of badges, CDs and vinyl (not to mention the wah pedal that got used on all of one song), and therefore weighed a bloody ton stopped me from enjoying this experience fully. Getting off at the wrong stop and having to walk the last mile to our hostel was also a literal pain – by the time we arrived, it felt like my hand had been put through a cheese grater for an hour.

Since I’ve mentioned it, the hostel we used was called The Transit Loft, and we recommend it to everyone. We know it has good pedigree – last time I was there, Architecture In Helsinki were staying – and its cheap, clean and comfy. James and his girlfriend Lizzie were lucky enough to stay with a friend in a proper house, while the rest of us shared a room at the hostel. I can report that no-one snores.

The gig itself was very very good. Once we’d fixed Martin’s guitar amp (which made the intro to The Little Sisters Of The Poor quite protracted), we were onto a winner, playing all the hits and a couple of new-ish ones too. The merch flew off the table, as we sold our last copies of Berry Buck Mills Stipe and quite a few Factory Records Museum 10”s. Simon from Soup Studios had forewarned us that Germans like buying vinyl, and by the end of the trip, there was literally none left to take home!

Speaking of the return journey, I can now attest that dragging three drunken sleep-deprived musicians from hostel to airport is not an experience one should have to endure; while James, Lizzie and I spent our free evening exploring the culinary delights of Berlin, and marvelled at the wildly differing architecture of the east-west divide, Martin, Sharon and John managed to behave in true rock n roll fashion, eschewing culture and sleep in favour of alcohol and a table tennis club (I am assured this is far wilder than it sounds). Next time, I’m leaving them there…

Once we were back in Blighty, it was on with the serious business of recording our third annual Christmas song. James volunteered to pen this year’s contribution, and upon talking to Rachael at Cherryade, we discovered that since this volume of A Very Cherry Christmas was getting a full release (i.e. in shops rather than just via Cherryade), we had a mere two weeks to rehearse and record the song. Only trouble was a) Martin was going on holiday for most of those two weeks and b) James hadn’t written the song. Somehow, though, James put pen to paper and mouth to iPhone, we absorbed his demo, recorded the song at Soup Studios in about three hours and made it our own. The result is pretty special. It’s not as epic (i.e. long) as our previous tracks, but it still beautifully layered and arranged. I can’t give too much away without asking James’s permission, but it’s out in about three weeks.

As you’ve also probably seen, there’s a new Flyers offshoot band called tELLEY, featuring me, Sharon, James and Jim Parsons, whose day job is playing guitar for Spearmint. The band isn’t new; when James joined our ranks in late 2006, he was drumming for them, but then the band went on hiatus and their bass player left after releasing one corking single. Over the past three years, Jim has been piecing together an album of tunes, with James on drums, and a few other talented folk, including Sharon on backing vocals. The album was released a couple of months ago; it’s called Now I’m The Big Sister, and it’s cool. There’s even a Sparks cover on it. One of the best songs ‘All The Girls Want To Love You’ got played on BBC 6 Music, which is more than the Flyers have ever had. I’m not on the album, but I’m playing with Jim, James and Sharon in the live band. We’ve done two gigs so far, and have a third at Ryan’s Bar in Stoke Newington on November 21st. It’s cool being able to just play without having any artistic investment in the material; the songs are all top notch, and the bass playing is fun, and involves stuff I wouldn’t normally play. Thumbs up!

And then there’s the new Flyers EP. If all was going to plan, I’d tell you about that now. But the release has been pushed back to early 2010, so I’ll save all the juicy stuff for the next blog. All you need to know right now if that it’s called ‘There’s Been A Murder’ and it has four tracks on it. The lead track is called Taggart and it’s superb. Listen out for it soon.

Lastly, there’s our next gig on November 1st. It’s at Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes as part of PopArt London’s day-long tribute to David Bowie, wittily titled The Man Who Bowled The World. As you might have guessed, we’re doing a Bowie cover or two in our usual set, and it’ll be a once-only opportunity to see it. What’s more, it’s free!

Blimey, that went on for a bit too long. Hopefully I’ll be quicker next time so I don’t have to ramble on so much.

Thom

P.S. I forgot to mention we’re releasing a new album next year. We might even be releasing two new albums next year. I’ll tell you more about that next time. Promise.

Six songs! SIX SONGS!

Happy days! Or rather, happy day! Per our last blog entry, we set aside some time in the studio today; John's off gallivanting around the country so there was just four of us today, and even then Sharon didn't show up until 3pm. So, with little else to do, James, Martin and I managed to work our hardest in the studio pretty much ever.

We initially planned to try and put down the three tracks that we have scheduled for our new EP. One track is already in the can (albeit in need of a minor tweak), so the other three were our top priority.

We managed to put the first one song down in two takes. The other two went down in pretty much one take each. It was barely 12.30 so we still had five hours left and Sharon wasn't showing up for another three hours! Not only that, but there was a tasty looking hollow bodied bass I wanted to try out.

So, after a break for bagels (mmm, salt beef with mustard and pickles) and a chocolate eclair, we resumed work. In one take, we got the bass and drums down for a fourth song. Martin got his guitar down on that, and we started song #5. Once we realised that we really did need John for the intro, we skipped that bit and came in on the verse where we all play. Again, one take. I got to play the hollow-body bass to give it a nice clunky sound, which suited the slightly loping groove.

There was still half an hour before Sharon showed up, so we had a go at James's newest contribution, this time with a nice fuzz tone on the bass. Alas James and Martin got it in one, but I had to re-do my part just as Sharon arrived. Needless to say, she was good enough to get the keyboard parts on five of the songs down in record time.

And yet, it was still only 5pm. I managed to indulge myself and put down some electric piano and glockenspiel. Always a joy!

We've got another session scheduled to finish off the most pressing songs, but there's still plenty of work to be done on them, not least of all John's guitar bits, the singing (sometimes more than one version as there's a couple of songs that we want to try with James singing lead whereas Sharon or John sings them live) and the extra fun bits like percussion and other twiddly bits.

I guess you'll get to hear them soon enough, but for us, it's almost unbearable to not be able to get them out to you now! You'll love em, I'm sure.

Have a nice weekend,
Thom

Being The Bloguine

Hello all,

I’m writing this to the soundtrack of multiple versions of Begin The Beguine; my granddad once told me a story about how when he was on shore leave and at a dance, a sailor hopped up to the bandstand, gave the band a key to play in, and sang a version of the song so brilliant, it topped any other version he’d ever heard.

Fast forward 60-odd years and we have no similar stories, since no sailors on shore leave have invaded our stage and asked to sing (were they to do attempt such a feat, I do believe Martin would give them a thorough shoeing, and rightly so). What we do have is a satisfying, energetic result from the first third of 2009. In short, it’s been a helluva success; since the last blog, we’ve played five more gigs, meaning that we’ve already played more gigs this year than last, and we have a few exciting ones coming up. The best gig of the year so far has probably been 93 Feet East at the end of last month, not least because we’ve got to tread the boards where Radiohead and plenty others have previously trod, but also because we sounded terrific and shared the bill with three ace bands, namely Little Ghosts, Strange Fruit and 18 Carat Love Affair. It wasn’t until after we’d played that we found out that Peter Perrett from The Only Ones was in the audience as his boys are in Strange Fruit (and used to be in Babyshambles apparently). One can only ponder what he made of the Another Girl Another Planet-esque intro to Blackwall Tunnel. 18 Carat Love Affair were definitely my favourite band of the evening though; they’re a bit Art Brut, a bit New Order, a bit 586 (Stephen the singer’s old band, funnily enough) and other things I can’t bring to mind right now. They also have an electronic drum kit, complete with fab drummer. And a bassist with the same bass as me. And they’re jolly lovely people, all of them. Whether they do a cover of Begin The Beguine, I’m not sure. Top marks.

We’ve also ventured out to Oxford last Friday, uncharted territory for us. It went well enough that we were asked for autographs. If you missed us, we’ll be back.

In the meantime, it’s all rehearsing and songwriting. It’s been a while since we debuted any new songs, but the three that we have – Taggart, Trouble At The Garden Centre, Your Friend – have all started feeling like old friends already. I submitted five new songs back in March, and we’ve finished working up one of them, which we may play next Friday if Sharon’s as confident with it as the rest of us are. Speaking of Sharon and next Friday, she’s taken the plunge and finally written us a song. And, as we all knew it would be, it’s ace. It’s very Flyers, but also something totally new – I certainly don’t think anyone else in the band could have written something similar, so it adds a new string to our bow. It’s called Weekend Works. Look out for it.

More excitingly, we’re returning to the studio on Saturday. It’s been over six months since we recorded anything, so the backlog is growing again. We’ve got a new four-track EP in the pipeline, so we’re recording for that, and if we’ve got more time, we’ll put some other backing tracks down. I’m especially looking forward to walking along Brick Lane in the sunshine and grabbing a bagel for lunch. James, meanwhile, is looking forward to three or four lunches from the food stands near Rough Trade. Alas, there’ll only be four of us in the studio as John’s away, so we can’t finish anything, but it’ll be nice to get some songs at least half finished.

Oh, by the way, what do you think of the website? Isn’t it pretty?

Thom

2009 - so far, so fine...

A thousand apologies for the lax updates. It's not that it's not been busy since, more that we've all had too much to do and there's been no time to sit down and string together a few coherent sentences about what we've been up to.

It seems that the old adage about finding something the minute you stop looking for it came true after the despondency of the last entry; the day after I posted it, we got about seven gig offers from all over the coutry, which in turn led to more gigs.

In the end, a few of them fell through and we only managed to cover seven gigs in all of 2008 - including a three date Christmas tour that got shortened to two dates, then finally just one evening in Manchester (which was still one of my favourite weekends of the year) - but we've come into 2009 with all guns blazing. We've played three gigs so far; two in London, one in Brighton, and have plans for many many more. Now that Sharon has a handle on her teaching timetable, it's easy for us to plan around her, and take on more ambitious schedules. We've also had a few firsts - James made his vocal debut in Manchester, we played our first set of entirely post-album material (with one-exception) in January, and last night at Gramaphone saw the resurrection of Red Nose Day, which we haven't played live for nearly three years. With a necessary instrument reshuffle, it meant that last night was the first time John's played bass onstage with the Flyers, while I played guitar. In the end, it sounded delightful.

The last two gigs we played were with Hari & Aino from Sweden, who came over this week for a short tour; aside from being an incredibly accomplished band, they are all wonderfully friendly people and it was a joy to see them both times. I sincerely recommend that you check them out when you can. Due to circumstances outside of everyone's control, we had to absent ourselves from a gig in Cardiff, and our first interational gig in Gouda, both of which would have also been with Hari & Aino as well, but hopefully both of these can be resheduled. In fact, we're starting to look at gigs outside of the UK for either easter or summer. If you can think of anywhere, let us know!

The big news of 2009 is that we're putting out more music than you can shake a stick at. Although it's not an album like last year, it will hopefully amount to about eight or nine tracks. Given the rather subpar standard of releases so far this year (the new Franz Ferdinand album is truly dreadful, alas), I'm sure this will come as a big relief, especially as this avalanche of quality material will begin in less than two weeks!

On February 25th, we're releasing our third single Berry Buck Mills Stipe as a split single with The Pale Corners (who're contributing a song called Steve Buscemi). We're particularly excited about this since it's being released on the legendary Cloudberry Records, a US label run by a gem of a chap called Roque. Cloudberry's calling card is the format of their singles - limited edition 3" CDs in little sleeves and zip-loc bags. If you've been to any of what the kids seem to call 'popshows', there's always a few on the merch table. Anyway, we're particularly pleased about this one, not only because Roque seems like a genuinely lovely bloke, but because we're in good company - some of our favourite bands like The Deirdres, The Hillfields and The Give It Ups (featuring early Gresham Flyers member Jess) have all had wonderful singles out on Cloudberry. Also on the single is B-side Blackwall Tunnel; both songs have been played at most of our recent gigs and received rapturous applause, so hopefully this should prove a popular release. As I said above, it's an extremely limited release; I think there's going to be 120 copies, of which we're getting less than 20, so if you're not at a gig, yo're best off trying to get it through the Cloudberry website.

We're also planning an EP later in the year, back on our regular Cherryade label. We've unainmously nominated our newest song Taggart as the A-side, so unless something drastic changes between now and summer, that'll be the lead track with three other songs - Martin suggested that we have one song by each writer in the band, which would make for an interesting contrast, and show our development since the album was finished (which is nearly two years ago now!).

On top of these two singles, we've got our annual Christmas contribution to A Very Cherry Christmas to consider. Last year's Perfect Christmas Snow (Perfect Christmas Kiss) earned us some pretty good reviews ("a swooning boy/girl duet capturing the giddy feeling in their bellies that two lovers get as they travel home to spend Christmas eve together, it's the sound of Hefner waltzing gently with Belle and Sebastian on icy station platforms. Gorgeous." according to God Is In The TV, "a tale of stolen seasonal moments, lost loves and heart hurting reminiscences that taps loosely into similar pop sentiments as once approached by the Human Leagues’ ’louise’ - will cut you deep." from Losing Today), and this year we've been given advance notice to get it done by August. James has volunteered to write this year's song, and if we ask nicely, he might even sing it (as he did for part of last year's song).

More pressing, though not yet with a confirmed release date is another cover version on the upcoming Bruce Springsteen tribute album "Play Some Pool, Skip Some School, Act Real Cool" on the mighty Where You Are Is Where It's At label. With John and Martin both being fanatical followers of The Boss (and the rest of us are pretty into him too), this was genuinely a dream come true. After our usual bout of fighting and arguing about what we'd contribute (someone had already done our semi-regular live cover Candy's Room, I wanted something from my favourite Springsteen LP The Wild The Innocent & The E-Street Shuffle, but alas Darren Hayman had already picked Rosalita), we plumped for a vastly rearranged version of Magic, the title track of Bruce's previous album. We've played it live once or twice and in all, it's probably one of the best recordings we've ever made. Certainly our heaviest. We're dead excited about hearing it in context of the rest of the album.

I'm also in the process of getting our non-album material - the Shiftwork and Factory Records Museum singles, and our Christmas tracks - online for digital release. We've had a few requests for them from folks who don't have record players or don't buy compilations (and to be fair, the third Very Cherry Christmas compilation with our Diamond White Christmas on has nearly sold out), so it'll be nice to get them out. Alas, copyright issues mean that we won't be able to release our cover of Are 'Friends' Electric (which was on the B-side of the factory Records Museum 10") as we don't want to be sued by Gary Numan. Everything else should be just dandy though.

Last piece of news is that we've commissioned a new 'proper' website. Like grown-up offspring still living with parents, we're all a bit sick of MySpace, after initially having our own site, then losing it, and will be glad to have our own site to muck around with, and it'll be ready soon. Rest assured the blog will still be on there.

In the meantime, I hope you're all having a lovely February. All of the band are currently beavering away on individual albums for The RPM Challenge. We've promised to do a Flyers album next year, but for now we're crafting our own records. It'll be interesting to see what we come up with...

Thom

Please arrest us...

...cos it doesn't seem to be happening elsehwere. I would have thought with the power of a very good, positively-reviewed album behind us, at least a new album's worth of new material, a free single to give away (on vinyl too), a string of really excellent gigs behind us, and a newly-qualified teacher on keyboards who knows when her terms dates are that we'd have little trouble in securing a few decent gigs around the country.

But it doesn't seem to be working like that.

I don't think it's anyone's fault exactly, but for some reason we cannot get any gigs. Part of it is that things seema bit quiet at the moment. Part of it is the fact that the site where we found our main contacts -and the reason why we formed- has closed down; we're really grateful for the time we were on there and it's made us loads of friends as well as useful people to know (often these people are one and the same), but its absence has limited our ability to progress further in the live arena. And I really, really hate spamming people on MySpace for more gigs, especially people we don't know. First impressions are everything, and I've no doubt that everyone who's advertising a clubnight or promoting gigs gets hundereds of emails a day from bands far less talented than us requesting a slot. How do they sift through it all? I don't blame them for getting sick of it.

Nonetheless, it's a shame because we've got a string of cracking new songs to test out - in fact by the time our next gig rolls around (October 23rd at Brixton Jamm, in case you forgot!), we could populate the entire set with new material. Between the four of us who're writing, we pretty much composed an entire album in about a month, and it's all very exciting.

So what's the answer? We can try and keep asking nicely; we could put on our own gigs; we could rely on our current contacts, but we don't want to pester them to death...it's tough to say. But something has to be done.

On the plus side though, like I mentioned above, the new stuff is sounding good. After a few consecutive months in the studio, we're having a bit of a break before we go back in and put the new stuff down. But look at this for a welter of new material:

Razzle
Give It Up
Rat Attack
The Little Sisters Of The Poor
Berry Buck Mills Stipe
Blacwall Tunnel
Aggregate Horse (If Any)
Those Are Not My Arms
Troopy

are all the songs we've recorded the first few of them and played live since we got the album finished. On top of that, we're working on the following new ones:

Split
Your Friend
Frittata
Trouble At The Garden Centre
Your Heart Will Never Hold Out
Don't Tell Jenny
Johnny Boy
Motorsnake (Pts 1,2,3,4,5)

especially Motorsnake. We're fired up by the new stuff, and the creative process is still going strong. All we need is an outlet to try them out.

More good news is that we'll be contributing a new song to the annual Cherryade Christmas compilation. Since John provided last year's tune, he's delegated responsibility, so I've decided to turn my hand to this year's submission. I've just finished it, though it's still lacking a title. Nonetheless, I'm very pleased with it. Whether it works or not is a different matter. Cross your fingers!

Thom

Our Triumphant Return!

Sweet Jesus & Mary Chain, as it really been six months since the last proper blog? It seems we’ve been so busy, yet not done very much at all – the gig calendar is at its lowest for many months – only three this year, and only two on the horizon, but on the other hand everything seems to be building up with the release of the album being the icing on the cake.

So, let’s see. Six months of not much to write about. Let’s start at the end of last year – we were probably a bit down in the dumps to be honest; our last show of 2007 was at the Bull & Gate in Kentish Town. As those of you with long memories may remember, we had a pretty crappy show there in 2006, what with the near-fisticuffs with the soundman and Kerry announcing her departure around then. We hoped to rectify this with a blazing performance a year later to show how far we’d come. We invited all and sundry and were buzzing about being able to sell the newly-pressed copies of A Very Cherry Christmas Vol 3, featuring Diamond White Christmas (as detailed below). Of course, it didn’t work out like that – we didn’t get a soundcheck, the drumkit fell apart during the second song, the CDs didn’t arrive in time, and we nearly ended up in even more fisticuffs for using another band’s amps, all in front of friends we’d so enthusiastically invited. While it certainly put a damper on an already-washed out evening, it also strengthened our resolve, and come the new year, we’d decided to focus our rehearsals a bit more – the problem with having over 30 songs in your catalogue (and growing very rapidly!) is that you simply can’t do them all in rehearsal and do them justice. So, we devised an A list of ten songs we know we can play well, and practice every week, then a B list of songs we can bring out regularly and a C list of songs we’ll rarely play, or haven’t rehearsed enough. Alas the last list includes some old favourites like Falling Down and the rarely-played Red Nose Day (which now features Sharon on bass), but if there’s enough call, we can dig them out. I’d love to give Red Nose Day another crack.

This new work ethic served us well at our first gig in February up in Leeds for our old chum Lauren’s club night. Not only did we turn in a sterling set of revitalised classics, but debuted two new songs (Berry Buck Mills Stipe and Rat Attack) from our clutch of pre-Christmas songwriting, which went down very favourably with the punters of Leeds, especially Rat Attack which is equal parts Bearsuit-go-thrash and Massive Attack at their most dub. An odd combination, but it’s one of my favourites (well, I would say that, since I wrote it). The songs have kept coming, and we added three new tracks at our London gig at Bardens Boudoir, not only giving Berry Buck Mills Stipe a good airing, but also John’s slow opener The Little Sisters Of The Poor (the song John referred to as his album closer in the blog below), James’s Troopy, and Martin’s Blackwall Tunnel, which features our first ever key change. Fancy that.

Our last gig was on Thursday, which was not only our first ‘proper’ headline gig, but served as a warmup for our collective jolly to All Tomorrows Parties, along with Dan. Martin and John had not experienced ATP before, but I can safely say that all of us would already put it as one of the best things to happen to us in 2008. I could write volumes about the lovely weather, the mind-blowing quality of Ween’s two and a half hour Friday set, Caribou’s magnificent drumming, but you’ll have to imagine it yourself. So many good bands, so much fun, so little sleep.

One good thing about the recent gigs is that though there’ve not been many, they’ve all been of extremely high quality, and it’s been absolutely ace to share the stage with the likes of The Deirdres, The Argonauts, Arthur & Martha, Das Wanderlust (albeit with a poorly singer!), and Sparky’s Magic Piano and The Scaremongers. Make sure you catch each and every one of those bands at some point – you won’t be disappointed. The Scaremongers were especially interesting, having as they did a notable frontman, and a camera crew from The Culture Show turn up. Luckily, their performance (their debut no less!) threw out any doubt about them being hyped. They play absolutely perfect pop music, and very well indeed; make sure you catch them if you can!

We’ve been back in the studio too – with this backlog of songs (since we’ve become a five-piece we have roughly twelve new songs), we figured that we should try and get them down quickly before we get bored of them or they slip through the cracks. So, even with our debut album looming, we’ve been spending one Saturday a month back at Simon’s studio. The fruits of our labour have been impressive so far – the following five songs are all complete:

Razzle
Those Are Not My Arms (three versions)
Troopy (four versions, including my debut as a lead vocalist!)
Give It Up
Berry Buck Mills Stipe (two versions)

and we’ve also put down the two tracks for our next single release. I can’t reveal much about it now, but it’s going to include our first ever cover version. We’ve got more to come at the moment – I’ve got four works in progress, Martin has another one up his sleeve, James just told me he’s demoed another new song, along with the four or five of his we’ve briefly tried, and we’ve barely touched the grand finale I mentioned below. Exciting times ahead.

The rough aim at the moment is to record about 20 songs then pick the best ones for the next album – any surplus will be good for compilations and other releases, as I’m always a fan of bands who don’t recycle album tracks for B-sides or release singles that aren’t on an LP, or are different versions, and hope to stick to that philosophy for our own releases. We had a rough plan to do the same for Sex With Strangers and record surplus material (indeed Give It Up was being worked up for the album), but circumstances dictated otherwise and we only ended up with two or three extra tracks that didn’t make the cut. Hopefully this time, with four of us writing songs – five if we can convince Sharon to have a go- we’ll easily be able to get there.

Of course, I’m saving the best until last – we are now Proper Pop Stars as we have released our debut album! It was released on Cherryade Records on Monday, and you can either buy it from the site, or from one of us if you ever see us in the street or at our gigs (and if you don’t see us at our gigs, well, you’re not looking hard enough). As Monday was the day we were coming back from ATP, we had a lovely Harvester lunch to celebrate. So thanks to all the staff at Ashford (Kent) branch of our favourite chain restaurant for helping make it a super day. The album will be in the shops and on Amazon and iTunes pretty soon (if it isn’t already), so you won’t have any trouble finding it. As always, you can let us know what you think by dropping us an email or whatnot. We always like to hear what we’re doing right or wrong. And of course, if you want to put us on for a gig, we will play anywhere that isn’t The Bull & Gate. I’m trying to fix some gigs outside of London at this very moment, so all contacts are very helpful!

Have I said enough? I’m going to try and keep this blog slightly more active while we wait for someone to be kind enough to make us a proper website. Hopefully I’ll be able to tell you all about our other ker-azy adventures, or at least I will when we have them. In the meantime, just buy our album, and also listen to Andorra by Caribou and Marquee Moon by Television. Two of the greatest albums ever made, honest.

Thom

A funny thing happened yesterday

I was walking to Windsor, through the fields of Eton College, having finished work and on my way to meet a friend for a drink. I'd been walking for about ten minutes in the relative darkness, as a light drizzle started falling, listening to 'Fill Up The Room', the new album from Saturday Looks Good To Me. I'd got onto track three, called, I believe, When I Lose My Eyes, the longest song they've done, one that builds up with a series of climaxes that never quite resolve themselves; very clever for what it is, and possibly my favourite on on the album.

I was just about to cross the wooden bridge that separates Slough from Eton, from the suburban cul-de-sac known as The Myrke and onto the green playing fields of Eton- ample room for rugby, cricket and football, and an athletics centre, as well as the odd pedestrian like yours truly.

Suddenly I heard something. I can't recall if it was something that happened in the song, or maybe something that happened that reminded me of something else, but my brain felt like it had opened some sort of floodgate. All of a sudden, a song fell out, perfectly formed; melody, theme, lyrics, arrangement, the whole thing. As the thinned patience of the rest of the band will attest, my usual composition method is to come into rehearsal with the barest of ideas, try out a series of changes as a band until it sounds good, then try to complete it from there. This time, it was all already there. Despite the rain, I pulled my phone out and started to make little text messages with note of lyrics, arrangement ideas, things that could be used and remembered. Rather than the natural progression of one idea leading to another, this was like being stuck in the Crystal Dome with the timer running down, haplessly grabbing at any shred of inspiration that was available before they were lost forever. This, I felt, could be our Classic. The one song that stands head and shoulders above anything we'd ever done before, or would do since. Delusions, of grandeur, perhaps, but that's what I was thinking. The only place this song could exist was as the closing track of our next album. Whatever sonic delights the album held would be topped by this mighty masterpiece that would leave the listener breathless with joy, finding worth once again in the power of music.

I wandered on, replaying my notes and the song, refining, twisting, perfecting. All the way through Eton high street, I could hear this thing. By the time I got to Windsor, with ten minutes before I was due in the pub, I felt I HAD to formalise it further, or it really would be lost. I ducked into Starbucks and ordered a coffee, grabbing a fistful of napkins and borrowing a pen from the bemused schoolie working the counter. I scribbled down as much as I could, feeling only mild guilt at the logo on the napkins – "Less Napkins, More Trees, More Planet" – until I was scraping my memory for anything that would've sufficed. The job done, I gently folded the napkins into my bag and spent a distracted, but enjoyable evening in the pub, catching up on old times.

By the time I got back to my Mum's house (where I was staying for the evening instread of returning to London), I felt more in need than ever of trying to do something with this. Alas, with no musical instruments to hand, I could only vent my frustration by informing some of the band about my evening. I sent a text to John and Sharon, proclaiming "I've just written the closing track for the second album. Epic doesn't even come close", and went to bed.

Not twenty minutes later, my phone vibrates. It's John:

"You bastard! So have I!"

I let him know I'd settle for the closing track of Side One.

Thom

What Do You Want For Christmas?

The Gresham Flyers spent last Sunday at our favourite (well, only) recording studio. Given that it was such a wonderful day, it only seemed fair to tell you about it…

It’s been months since we’ve seen the inside of Soup or its proprietor Simon, and since the album’s finished we’ve not had much call to visit. We’ve got about seven new songs in various stages of completion, but none that have required urgent taping. This all changed when we got an email from Cherryade Records, who asked us to contribute to their annual Christmas compilation. To my mind, there was only one song that we could do- a song that I’ve badgered the others to rehearse for the last two Christmases, but has never been taken up. The song is Diamond White Christmas, which was written by John a few years ago, and released as a charity Christmas single by his old band The Milburns- not to be confused with the derivative and rather terrible Milburn. The recording is a wistful, melancholy affair, with a military drum-beat holding together the duet between John and guest vocalist Tricia Stubberfield (who is currently using her graphic design skills to rustle up artwork for our album) as the guitars swell to a joyous but eye-moistening climax. I’ve loved it since I first heard it and rate it as one of John’s finest compositions.

There was debate over whether we should try and write a new song. After all, Diamond White Christmas had already been released as a single by another band, so we were effectively ‘covering’ the song, despite it being written and sung by one of our own. Seeing as we’d raided John’s archive for earlier songs- Red Nose Day, Blackpool, and the riff to Cricket Bat all pre-date the band’s existence- it was finally agreed on that we would re-do Diamond White Christmas in Gresham Flyers style. We sent the Milburns’ version to Rachael at Cherryade, who loved it. We rehearsed the song a few times in between our other new stuff, and it stuck enough for us to devote a lot of time honing it down. Sharon, slightly daunted by Tricia’s vocal and melodica performances, managed to pick the song up quickly enough and make it her own. The countermelody she sings to John’s lead at the climax is spine-tingling. James- whose abilities as a human drum machine are unsurpassed- managed to break the choruses up, giving it a more graceful feel. I alternated between trying a soft bass-line or leaving out the bass completely and sticking to extra drums and sleigh-bells, but really wanted to give the song a drone- I was thinking bagpipes and Mull of Kintrye. In the end, I was so desperate, I walked into a shop on Denmark Street and plonked down a hundred quid for one of the six remaining E-bows still for sale in the country, after about two minutes’ fiddling around with it. They told me it wouldn’t work on a bass. They were wrong, though it takes a lot of patience.

Come the day of the production, it was obvious this had to be big. We’d booked the whole day to do one song, contrary to our previous days where we’d do two complete songs, or lay down the basics for four songs to come back to later. Not this time- all the focus was on Diamond White Christmas.

After all the equipment was set up, introductions made (this was James’ first recording session with us, and he and Simon hadn’t met) the click track was aligned and James, with Martin and John on guitars set down the basic track. For six whole minutes, they played the song flawlessly and it was down in one take. It was slightly faster than the original, but still powerful. A great start.

John goes back in with his guitar and added some extra to the climax of the song. We’d agreed that the song needed to have a ‘Salvation Army’-style feel on the drums, which meant we’d have to put more than one drummer on the track. When we first discussed this, I mentioned we could get Andrew, Kerry and Dan back to play on the song, in the spirit of Christmas, but we decided that would work a bit better if we did that at a gig. Instead, John put down a military snare of his own from the second verse, and I doubled James’s part on the third verse with a slackened snare. Although John and James are far better drummers than me, the differing styles and competencies make it sound far more ‘real’.

The rest of the day was spent putting various things on top of the track to make it sound enormous- a Hammond organ, two basses (one drone using the e-bow, the other coming in after the first verse), the hook played on a vibraphone and Rhodes piano, more guitars, the inevitable sleigh bells and a choir. Yes, a choir.

Simon was the catalyst for the choir; instead of multi-tracked Sharon and John, he suggested it might sound better if we had different voices of varying abilities to make it sound like Midnight Mass in a small church, with the traditional churchgoers and the drunken revellers singing together. Simon, James and John took the middle part, beefing up Sharon’s heartbreaking refrain. Sharon and our friend Lizzie, who’d dropped by to say hello were assigned the top end, sounding like the most innocent child’s choir (one missed opportunity occurred when Launette from Strange Idols happened by the studio; alas we hadn’t got round to the vocals yet, so didn’t get the chance to have her to sing with us…). Martin and I were on the bottom end, adding extra depth. Listening to each of these parts in isolation may not have been awe-inspiring, but put together and mixed, it was beautiful.

We took two hours to mix, and after various tough decisions- choir upfront or mixed back? Where do the sleigh bells come in? - we arrived at 5:58 of sheer beauty, the best thing we’ve yet to put down. John spent an hour listening to non-stop, and sent the rest of us emails detailing his favourite parts (for my money, the greatest moment occurs at the climax, when the sleigh bells join the choir, shortly followed by the melodica refrain). Everyone that’s heard it thinks it’s wonderful. My Mum played it four times in a row and suggested a video for it.

You really should hear this song. It’s coming out on November 26th on Cherryade Records’ A Very Cherry Christmas.

Thom

The Gresham Flyers: Missing In Action?

I’ve got a CD in front of me- nothing very special to look at, just a standard Sony CD-R. The significance of it is probably lost on the majority of the global population, but to at least six people, it’s the final piece of a jigsaw that has been slowly put together over the last 13 months. With a couple of false starts, and plenty of drama, we can now confidently say that we have finished recording our debut album. The last two tracks we did were new versions of Shiftwork (titled Shiftwork2, in true New Order style) and Factory Records Museum, which we finished mixing last night. Despite being recorded with a slightly depleted lineup (see below), we can certainly say that both versions are a vast improvement on the previously recorded versions, even if the 7inch version of Shiftwork is already a classic (apparently)

All that remains is to decide on a track sequence, do a bit of sweetening- the odd new vocal or bass part here and there and then let the inhumanly talented hands of Mr. Simon Trought do what they need to do to make it sound like a coherent Proper Album. Nonetheless, the actual task of agreeing on an album title, and which track(s) should be left off may very well be the final nail in the Flyers coffin- we’ve all been putting sequences together of the 13 nominated tracks and we’re all very stubborn!

I realise that in the interim between this blog entry and the previous entry, four eventful months have elapsed. The actual machinations of the band have been at work as normal- we’ve paid two visits to the studio and put down a further six songs, and played out hat-trick of North London gigs, and kept up the rehearsals with a fervent zeal. But, underneath all of the successes, there’ve been changes afoot.

First though, to set the scene, the trio of late November north London gigs were about as active as we’ve ever been; we played all three in a fortnight to a mostly enthusiastic reception. The venues and billing increased as we went, from the opening band at Archway tavern, to a spectacular show at the Bull & Gate (undertaken after a full day’s recording) to a suitably ramshackle finale headlining the superb Mixtape night in Stoke Newington, complete with our own freebie CD called ‘The Gresham Flyers: Under The Influence’, which collected tracks chosen by us from other influential bands and an exclusive new Flyers song. We got to play with some excellent bands along the way, such as Opaque, Foxes!, and (especially) the highly entertaining Bonsai Kittens, and we did ourselves proud I’d say. Every silver lining has a cloud, though, and as you may have noticed, where we were once six, the departure of Kerry means we are currently five.

This unfortunate parting of ways with our newest member was certainly not what we expected or wanted, especially after such a successful year together. But, it has happened, and though she’s gone, Kerry has left a very definite stamp on our sound. It’s not been easy to replicate her superb drumming, and as you hear from the tracks we’ve put on our Myspace page, she’s made an invaluable musical contribution. Luckily for all of us, she played on just about every track on the album (apart from the two above- the drumming was done by Andrew and me), so we’ll have a very firm lineup throughout and a fantastic document of how we sounded throughout 2006, not to mention a fucking great album. Despite the split, Kerry’s also assured us that she’s happy to fill in if we need a drummer in the future, so there may be an opportunity to play with her again. I would hope so.

For now, however, we’ve added James to our ranks. Whilst things are still being ironed out in terms of whether James can balance being a full-time Flyer and continue to provide his drumming skills to his long-term band tELLEY, it’s a certainty that we’re all very glad to have landed on our feet with another excellent multitasking drummer, and one who fits in with us on a personal level. I first met James about four years ago when both of us were traveling around Australia. We ended up sharing a dorm in Sydney and a cleaning job that meant both of us could stay rent-free in the hostel, whilst spending the evenings in salubrious indie clubs in the King’s Cross area of the city. He stuck around after I went off up the coast, and we lost touch, despite his gift of the first Scaramanga Six album which he played drums on, and got repeated spins on my Antipodean road trip. A serendipitous chain of events last year, which involved finding a new copy of that album in my office, and both of us finding each other on myspace at exactly the same time meant that we’ve stayed in touch, to the point where James was the only serious consideration to fill the Kerry-shaped hole in our ranks. As above, it’s too early to say whether James can commit to the band full-time (he won’t be on the new album, but we’ll try and get a new EP recorded sometime this year which he will be on), hence his name’s missing from the band lineup or photos, but it’d certainly be a boon for us if he does decide to stay. Aside from his excellent drumming, he is a thoroughly decent bloke.

Which brings me neatly onto our future plans. It’s definitely all change round these parts as Andrew plans to revamp the website, the album gets put together and we look forward to some new gigs. We’ve got an exciting gig that we’ll be announcing in the next week, but for now, the band is still incomplete as Sharon recovers from her recent tonsillectomy and we’re currently rehearsing without her. Hopefully she’ll be back up to speed in no time and we can get ourselves back out there! In the meantime, if you feel you have a mild Flyer deficiency in your life, we’ve got an exclusive album taster on the new Tasty Fanzine compilation Tasty Tracks Volume 3. Find yourself at a Tasty Fanzine gig around Nottingham or Leeds, and blag yerselves one of these (lineup below)

Enjoy!

Thom

Tasty Tracks Volume 3:

The Gresham Flyers - Suits
Days Like Postcards - Whispers and Raindrops
Pocketbooks - I'm Not Going Out
Lardpony - Who Loves Sol?
Postal Blue - For You
The Argyl Wishlist - Weatherwerk
Lorenzo Snow Collective - Three Drunken Brothers
The Solvents - John Lennon
Finlay - Phantasmagoria
Of Saints and Liars - Where Did Ya Go
The Loves - I My She Love You
Airport Girl - Hold Me Through the Night
Sodastream - Reservations
Spring Hill Fair - A New Road
Stagecoach - Giddy Up
Hemsted - Charkdisco
Moogle Charm - The Old Men
Frankie Machine - Gyproque (Plans & Apologies Frankie Panky Mix)

Tourbus japery

It's me again! I'll keep it short as I'm at work and even though I've done my work I want to go home and have a shower because I smell. Sorry to tell you, but it's always important to set the scene…

Andrew's away in Croatia at the moment (or he may have got back, I can't remember), and John's off on holiday next week- somewhere ridiculously exotic no doubt- which means we're sort of on hold for October. This is, for me, a bit of a pity, as one of my friends is over from California and is enough of a fan to have bought five copies of Shiftwork, but never had the opportunity to see us live. She leaves the day John gets back, so until we get that US tour going, I fear she'll never see us! Sorry Kelly!

We have been playing gigs since the last entry though- two of our best, in fact. And it's all down to a message we got on myspace about five months ago from a chap called Neil in Edinburgh who runs the Teviot live shows for the uni. Veteran readers will remember that last year we had a jolly time at Teviot playing with Lucky Luke thanks to Amy's generosity and trust in a pushy band she'd never heard (can we ever repay her? No, I don't think so). So we decided to repeat our tour for 2006. This year, learning the lesson of last year's day-long drive from Glasgow to London after the second date of the 'tour', we decided to play it slightly safer and find a gig in our native country so that Sunday wasn't too packed with six disgruntled, grouchy musicians. Luckily, another fellow called Neil came up trumps in Leeds and we were on for The Cardigan Arms

As last year, Andrew managed to secure us some luxury transport- a nice six-seater van with plenty of room. Even better, since Kerry decided she'd drive up in her car with her friends, there's be ample room for the remaining five. Right? Wrong. Once all the guitars, synths, laptops, cymbals, last-minute bass amps and glockenspiels were in, it was small wonder there was room for all of us (had Kerry actually travelled with us, we'd have had to have left some stuff at home. Like Sharon.). Nonetheless, we somehow traversed the highways of Great Britain, making good time to Edinburgh and no road rage incidents (that's me).

The gig itself was amazing. As I've noted in the gig archive, the stage was enormous, the lighting machine was very professional and the smoke machine was just great. From where I was stood, I had a space the size of the Windmill stage all to myself. And I made damn sure I used it! Being acustomed to have to stay still, lest I accidentally batter anyone's face with my guitar, this was akin to being let out of my cage. We all certainly felt that freedom which was reflected in our spirited performance- one of our best, as I said- and the sheer joy of getting our teeth into Cricket Bat, which is probably my favourite Flyers song now. Likewise, it was a nice thing to finally perform Higher Education live, a whole 15 months after it was initially slated to appear.

After Martin, Sharon and I stayed with our pals Kristin and Jonny again (though sadly not again- they're moving out of their beautiful flat very soon), we picked up Waz, Andrew & Kerry, we made our way to Leeds- again without incident, other than some cross words from everyone else when I talked over the football scores. The Cardigan Arms, where we played was, by contrast, a smaller place, with an upstairs live room. It did smell a bit, but it didn't put us off. Kerry's friends were impressed with Friday night's performance, and equally impressed (I think) with Saturday's set, which we managed to make almost totally different from Friday's. I think there were only four songs that got played both nights. What was even better was that Sharon's entire family turned up to see us. Only her parents have seen us before, and that was at our first gig, so it was quite a treat for them all to see her belting out Foolscap and Red Nose Day. Even without them however, I think we drew quite a crowd- my friend Georgie (who I havne't seen for years) bravely showed up on her own, as did our hosts for the night- Lauren Christopher and Ker. Even Jens managed to put in an appearance from Berlin! We certainly have Lauren and co. to thank for letting us have their beds, and also for taking us to their local post-gig, which remained open suspiciously- but not unwelcomely- late. Hooray!

So, all that excitement in one weekend has meant it's been a hard couple of weeks without anything going on. We spent all of last practice playing Martin's new one 'Give it Up' (bit of a polish and it'll be ready, I reckon), and we'll be back in the saddle on Wednesday for more rehearsal-room japes. We've got three London gigs coming up, and a spot of recording, though I'm still looking for Christmas gigs and stuff for January. If you have any ideas, let me know!

Hopefully see you at
Saturday 11th Nov: The Archway Tavern, Archway, London
Saturday 18th Nov: The Bull & Gate, Kentish Town, London
Friday 24th November: Barden's Boudoir, Stoke Newington, London

Thom

Where were we? Here we are.

My my, time flies. It’s been an absolutely band-centric six weeks since the last blog entry, but in reality there’s not much I can tell Johnny Public that’ll be of any interest, I reckon. Our first birthday has been and gone without much fanfare, but we’ve managed to record four new songs (all of which are available to listen to in varying versions at our Myspace site) including our best recording so far. Go and take a listen to Foolscap and you can see why we feel like proud parents.

The actually quality of the recordings belies the fact that the initial recording was quite a trying task. We decided that instead of doing our usual trick of recording and completing two songs, we changed tack and decided to put down four basic tracks in one day, then come back a bit later and polish them off. This was technically more convenient; Sharon tends to spend most of the day sitting round adding her keyboard and vocal parts at the end of the day, which means seven hours of boredom for her. This time, it meant a day at home for her while we did the basic stuff.

So, we booked a usual ten til six session at Soup Studios with Simon, whose magic fingers and endless patience are an asset we always value. Since it takes about an hour to set the drums up, I decided to take a leisurely train journey up and get to London at ten. 9.55, my phone rings- Kerry’s having trouble getting into town, so has to head back out to get some more petrol. Fine, I say, I’ll see you in an hour. By the time I get to the studio, Waz, Andrew and Martin are there, so we set up the guitars. Kerry calls- she’s stuck in traffic. So we start telling some stories, and before we know it, it’s midday. Kerry is slightly closer, but still inching along. A coffee break follows, and by the time we’ve called Kerry again (still in traffic) and got back to the studio, it’s one. My famously cool temperament is starting to melt a little- we’re nearly halfway through the session and nothing’s been done. We later find out that there were anti-war demos, a triathlon and a carnival all in the very local vicinity, so it’s not Kerry’s fault, merely a horrendous stroke of bad luck.

So, 2pm rolls round and at last Kerry’s here and the drums are being set up. Options are being weighed up; do we stick to Plan A, or just choose two tracks to record and admit defeat? We decided to see how we’d go. And somehow, we get Theme… down in three takes. Everyone Has To Meet… takes four goes, Suits manages to go down in one almighty take. Foolscap is slightly tougher, as the basic track has to be done to a click-track and my psyche-damaging guide vocal (no, it hasn’t been preserved, masochists). Still, seven takes is pretty good going, and by now any pent-up anger I’ve stored in response to the horror of the morning’s events has swiftly dissipated and replaced with an unreserved love for everyone in the room. And it’s still only 4pm! Overdubs (Andrew, Kerry and my synth parts, Martin’s guitar, some other stuff) go quickly and we manage to run over time by a mere 45 minutes. Simon, sympathetic to our cause, waives the overtime.

It takes a couple of re-arranged sessions to finish them off, but given the nature of the sessions, we decide to take a few risks; on Foolscap, I’m allowed to add not only my live MicroKorg part, but also a Rhodes part that I hadn’t worked out until I actually sat down at the thing. For Theme… the beers and wines consumed by Sharon, Waz and Martin (not teetotal me, though!) were enough to coax us into the vocal booth to improvise some ‘Bonanza’ vocals for an otherwise-instrumental performance. In the end, Simon refined our two takes of unpolished bellowing into something quite listenable- check it out! For Everyone has To Meet Somewhere, the plan of having a lead vocal by both Sharon and Waz as a compare-and-contrast exercise worked so well that the band is split down the middle as to who’s provided the definitive version; we’ve put Sharon’s attempt up, which is the first time she actually sang the song properly. I prefer the ‘proper’ version of Waz singing. Andrew says that if Sharon’s vocal were more polished, it’d be the keeper. Sharon says she can’t do it live and play her keyboard parts, so Waz’ll have to do it for now, but it’ll be fun to chop and change at some point. Martin, who wrote the song, remains uncommitted. Kerry only realised there were two versions last night.

On the live front, we’ve veered wildly; our second appearance at the Bowlie all-dayer the day after my birthday being unanimously nominated as our best show ever, whereas we agree we didn’t do our prestigious slot at the launch party for the How Does It Feel compilation justice. We’ve added a new song to our set, which is one of Waz’s, called Red Nose Day. Kerry gets to show off her bass-playing skills, while I get to do my best Stevie Jackson jangle on the Telecaster. We’ve got another three songs entering our live repertoire- the long-threatened, never played Higher Education (which was supposed to be in the set for our first ever gig), the Pulp- inspired Clockwatching, and Waz’s absolutely storming Cricket Bat, which I cannot wait to get my teeth into onstage. The lucky denizens of Edinburgh (Teviot Hall- Friday 29th) and Leeds (The Cardigan Arms- Saturday 30th) will get the first airings of some or all of these songs. On top of this, we’ve still got the mythical Aggregate Horse, Waz’s Farnborough Trolley Dash and FOUR new songs from the pen of Mr. Martin Hall. By the time we hit London again in November, we may not be recognisable…

Thom

P.S. This just in: we've been asked/ put ourselves forward to possibly appear on a Sparks tribute album. We're not sure entirely what we're going to do yet (though the tantalising prospect of recording The Number One Song In Heaven in a Wedding Present-esque arrangement has been mooted), so if anyone has any nominations or ideas, just send em in...

Happy birthday to us...

So. 365 days have passed since The Gresham Flyers first got up on the stage as a nervous, inexperienced sextet, and Martin struck the first open E string that beings 'Theme From The Gresham Flyers'. Since then, we've had 15 gigs, eight completed recordings (including three officially-released songs), one lineup change and a welter of congratulatory words from our friends, converted fans, other band members, record label owners and proud parents (not to mention the turned-up noses and 'this is shit, Thom' faces of my younger siblings). As a celebration, I've spent the evening copying all our blogs from the homepage onto our myspace page, to make it a more interesting read instead of the rather businesslike fount of information it is now.

It's been one absolute cracker of a year, and it only really feels now that we're getting into our stride. The single has been out for two months, and we've sold about 100 copies. Rough Trade, Sister Ray and HMV Oxford Circus are all stocking it, and sales have gone surprisingly well. Rough Trade were startled at the speed with which it sold out, so much so they had seven people waiting for it when we brought the next batch in!! We've also managed to get practicing with our autographs;, which feels both immensely gratifying and a bit silly at the same time.

If you haven't bought our single yet, you can buy it from our homepage- just type in www.thegreshamflyers.co.uk and follow the instructions- you can get it on 7inch or mp3 as you wish...

We're keeping the momentum up this weekend with another visit to the recording studio to put down the bones of four songs; if we manage it, that puts us up to 12 properly recorded songs, but only eight for the album (about 2/3's then I suppose).

And still we roll on; the end of September's return to Edinburgh will be a most welcome gig, as last year's Lucky Luke support slot was one of the highlights of our live show (and the photos from that gig are among our best). We're still looking for a place to play on Saturday 30th September in Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham...anywhere between Edinburgh and London, so if you know of anywhere we can play, let us know!

That's all for now, other than to say we're still putting together the new tunes; two are nearly finished, two are in need of lyrics, and another is yet to be rehearsed. We're also entertaining the idea of a couple of cover versions...you never know what you'll hear!

Thom

What happened next...

We spent the first three or four hours after the last blog entry in absolute inner agony. Having waited for roughly three months for the records to show up (artwork issues- our fault for being new to this, GZ Media's fault for not being clearer in their demands), here they were. But we were all at work, and only Waz had them, in an office with no turntable. His first email:

From: John Waring
To: Thom, Sharon, Martin, Kerry
Cc: Andrew
Date: 31st May 2006 14.37
Subject: *quietly*

The singles are here…

was met with frantic emails from Sharon, Martin and I alternately hyperventilating over their early arrival (we'd been told they'd be shipped on the 31st, not delivered, but had been fobbed off by GZ with dates before), and ensuring they looked okay. Mercifully, Waz assured us they looked great, and, even better, we would be rehearsing that night. Come half six, Andrew, Kerry and I were sat in Running Frog studio in Windsor, impatiently awaiting the London contingent's arrival with a box of freshly minted singles. Trepidation filled the air. They looked okay, but how did they sound? When John, Sharon and Martin rolled up, we marched over to Phil the proprietor's office, set the 7inch in the deck, turned it on, put the needle on and held our breath…

Our mouths fell open when we realised they were running too slow. Oh no!! Mercifully, Andrew noticed the pitch control wasn't set properly, so we adjusted it to the right speed, and we had a note perfect, loud, rocking Shiftwork. The collective grin that overwhelmed us was almost too much as we stood there listening to something we'd made, on our own, pressed 500 times onto beautiful blue vinyl. I'd advise anyone who's thinking of joining a band or making a record or starting a record label or doing something musical to do it simply for a moment like that.

So the initial hyperventilation-inducing shock of receiving our own record has subsided, and we're done checking every milimetre of the sleeve, playing it twice both sides to ensure it's not been pressed backwards, admiring the deep-blue of the vinyl, and giggling childishly at the etched text we've put on the run-out grooves (if you care to hazard a guess at their meaning, feel free…), and now it's time to get on with being a Proper Band. After all, we have a record to sell. We were hoping to have the single ready for our gigs at the Windmill for Fortuna Pop! or our last minute fill-in at King's Cross Water Rats (with Michelmas who also have their own single out about now), but it wasn't to be. We also played up in Nottingham the weekend before the the singles arrived; truly one of our best gigs with the superb stylings of Lardpony, The Scarlet Tuesday (on their farewell tour) and Pete Green.

Fortunately, fate seems to be doing us some favours at the moment. Lizzie, who helps organise the Conceited nights at The Pleasure Unit (which we played in January) ran into some trouble that meant her proposed headliners The Loves had to pull out. Fortunately, being the wonderful person she is, she asked us, and of course we were only too happy to oblige. So, Saturday June 10th saw the first public sale of Shiftwork, and our first ever headline set. We got to play with Pete Green again, as well as the impressive Josh Weller & The Availables, and Strange Idols, who're probably our new favourite band. Despite the prestige, our performance veered from inspired to daft as we ran through every song we curently have in our current catalogue (and I'm afraid to report Plastic Bag may not be making a re-appearance). It was so hot up there! Even in my best Hawaiian shirt, I was still sweating like a beast, and rambled a bit during Cat Hits Car. The synth decided that it would make a bid for sentient life and made decisions when to hold down notes by itself- mostly contrary to what notes were required. Waz told a funny story about his couch being set on fire, and blaming Hale & Pace. You know, the usual stuff. The sound out front hampered the vocals a bit, but the general impression from those watching was a good show, and a big increase in confidence. That makes me happy.

We even sold about twenty copies of the single, and some of Andrew's spiffy badges. Mostly this was due to Sharon's irresistable grin charming the punters who were clearly under the influece. Well, I hope they like it. If you want one, keep checking the page entitled 'Music'. They'll be ready soon.

Now, after the false start of a cancelled gig with Bricolage on Sunday (alas), we've got possibly the biggest gig of our career to look forward to. US Merge/ Elephant 6 legends Great Lakes and Ladybug Transistor are playing their sole UK date at Water Rats on July 13th, and we're opening the show. Sharon- who's a big fan of a lot of Merge stuff (and who isn't?)- is especially exuberant. So even if you're not familiar with our stuff and came here by accident, hopefully you'll come along and see this great double header and dig our set. You can buy tickets here.

Did I mention the recordings we did at Soup Studios? No? Well they're ace. Detailing the recording process has been done before on here, and it's uninteresting to the outsider, but we put down our two set closers (Factory Records Museum and Pretty But Not Beautiful), and they're amongst our best recordings. I got to drum on the former, while Andrew played bass, and we swapped over on the latter. Kerry, against all odds with a car leaking petrol, managed to make it down and spend enough time in the studio to put down the best glockenspiel part I've ever heard anyone play. Sharon sequenced her MicroKorg to make Pretty… sound like it's been recorded while we're sitting on a beach with the waves lapping around us. We've put the former up on myspace, so let us know what you think. We're going back in August to put another four tracks down, which will pretty much give us a complete album (though we've got a few more tricks up our sleeves yet…)

Onwards and upwards, we have four songs on the go right now, only one of which has a definite title of 'Red Nose Day'. It's a gentle little thing and sounds more twee than anything we've done yet. On the contrary, the new one we tried last night has the potenntial to be the noisiest, squelchiest thing in the world- like Oasis humping Goldfrapp. You have been warned.

Thom

Special delivery?

Waz has just taken a special delivery.

Can you guess what it is?

Hint;




















Keep checking the main site over the next week or so for more details!

Stu-stu-studio

Enough of the Phil Collins references already.

Last Sunday the Flyers went to Soup Studio to record Falling Down and Student Nurse. These songs have come ALIVE!

But you're not having them yet.

Instead, here's some Flyer action in picture form:

Kerry's first recording with the Flyers, whipping Student Nurse off in one take (oo-er)

Thom and Martin action shot


Discussions on the merits of more cowbell


Sharon makes herself useful


The money shot

Phil Collins would be dead jealous.

Hurrah! Against no odds at all, people still took a look at us yesterday at the Windmill in Brixton; a highly enjoyable gig for all concerned, with no disasterous wrongdoing on anyone's part and a lot of good fun. Fortuna POP!'s bigwig, head honcho, grand fromage, el presidente etc Sean Price was kind enough to put the Flyers on slap bang in the middle of a Fortuna-fest, and it was only fair of us to repay his kindness with a decent set, notable of course for Sister Kerry's first Flyers outing. Anyone of less fortitude would have crumbled under the pressure, but the Flyers' latest addition displayed nerves of steel, and pushed us forward, making us play as well as we ever had. Well enough even for random people to approach us after the gig and say what a great drummer we have. Hurrah again!

Alongside a few classic oldies, we debuted three new songs; two from Brother John and one from Brother Martin, all of which went over well. We dropped Pretty But Not Beautiful from the set for the first (and probably only) time, since some people noted its' absence, and voiced complaints. Instead, we closed with John's F.R.M.- this went down well enough to have people coming up and asking if it was available yet. We take this to be a good thing and may have to push it ahead in the recording schedule. Meanwhile, three older songs have been dropped, and one or two may not return…if you miss Suits, Plastic Bag or Blackpool, let us know and we'll think about rehearsing them again.

I even managed to sneak behind the decks to spin a few choice choons, and though it no doubt outraged every attendee to be subjected to 'Come On Plane' by Silver Feet (aka 10cc), I hope that the rest of the tunes (Dexys, Deerhoof- yes, Deerhoof- Architecture In Helsinki, The Move's 'Fire Brigade', 'Statue Of Liberty' by XTC etc) made up for it.

Looking forward, the single is to be delivered shortly, and we were thinking about having a party when it does arrive. After all, people have parties when they have babies, and since this particular child has been the subject of a tumultous gestation, it deserves a welcoming celebration. A celebration of sorts, with live music, DJ sets and a free copy of the single to all attendees. So, here's a challenge for you, dear reader:

If we were to play a cover version, what would you want us to play? Obviously Run To The Hills would be top of the list, but there must be some others…let us know in the comments!

We're back in the recording studio next weekend to make some more beautiful music, aided as ever by the magic fingers of Mr. Simon Trought. Falling Down and Student Nurse are the two nominations to be immortalized forever on the 21st-century equivalent of magnetic tape. In June we'll put down Pretty But Not Beautiful and that'll then be our original set recorded in full, bar Dan's song Carefree, which we never finished. You'll also be pleased to know that alongside the single, another of our recent recordings will soon be available to buy. I can't reveal any more right now, but when it's out, I'll let you know…

Brother Thom

P.S. Nottingham residents; what better way to spend the end-of-May bank holiday than watching us play at Junktion 7 with Pete Green, Scarlet Tuesday Lardpony? Be there!

"I'm just double-tracking the maracas"

Hello again!

I’m working on the premise that more news is good news and should at least keep you interested, dear reader. If I’m writing too much, let me know.

There’s not a lot going on visibly, but behind the scenes, things are going into overdrive. Firstly, we’re waiting for confirmation of our next gig, which will mark the stage debut of The Gresham Flyers Mk. II. I’ll know more by the end of the week, so keep checking back. We’ve settled on a setlist now which is a mix of the ‘classics’ and newer stuff and is apparently ‘very pop’ according to Andrew.

Also of interest is news that the most recent recordings are finished. Due to horrendous traffic and studio nerves, we ran over time on Thursday so were left with very thin-sounding unmixed versions of Blackpool and Plastic Bag (we didn't have time for Theme... and since Kerry couldn't make it to the studio, there seemed little point in doing it). Sharon, Martin, John and I went back to the studio last night to polish the tunes up and add sundry percussion parts- handclaps, tambourines, double tracked maracas all went on and spiced the track up no end. Sharon doubled her vocals, and John added a few harmonies. The largest offender was my own backing vocal on Blackpool, which was hurriedly added at the end of the initial session. I could ascribe the horrendous results to nerves at being in front of a vocal microphone for the first time, and under considerable pressure, but even so it’s taught me to damn well practice singing before doing something like that. In the event, part of it was useable enough to paste over the woeful parts and it sounds okay now. But listening to the original in isolation and on the rough mix is akin to walking naked into a room full of strangers. Ouch. However, the experience hasn’t dissuaded us from doing it all again, so the next studio session is booked for late April.

A late arrival for today's news is our radio debut! We received an email from The Unofficial Student Internet Radio for Greenwich, who apparently downloaded Falling Down from our Myspace page and played it on the 51º North show last Sunday. You can download the show from the site above- just choose show #9 from the 12th March. We're played third apparently. Anyone who heard it- your views are most welcome!

On the social side, last weekend was significant for two ex-Gresham Flyers. Our former keyboard/ sax/ bass player (and now chief Flyerette) Jess Shaw got married in a lovely ceremony in Shifnal (which I’m told is near Telford), and is now Mrs. Andrew Rowson. Sharon, Andrew and myself represented the Flyers, and Sharon has posted a detailed account of the day on her blog, and hopefully will put some more nice pictures of the day on her Flickr account. Congrats to Jess and Andrew! In other news, Dan made the brave first step of his travels on Sunday, and has a fantastic, insightful blog which everyone should watch for updates.

Lastly, the single is being pressed for sure. We apparently have artwork issues to sort out, but I assume that means that everything else is going smoothly. I’m counting the days!

More news as it comes in, but for now that’s yer lot.

Thom