Mum Locked In Castle

Just a quick note to say thanks to everyone who came to our gig in Scarborough last Saturday and sorry for it being cut short. I dislocated my knee and it was not possible to rock any more.
Not too sure if we’re going to be able to play on saturday for Scarborgeddon’, will have to see how it goes, but if you don’t mind crutches then maybe.
hasta

Today is a special day, my sisters babe is due, whether or not it actually decides to emerge today its still a pretty good day, not special, but still not bad.

We finally got the masters back today of Lions Led and it sounds ace. We would say that of course but that’s ok. It has taken a while and can best be described as a learning process, i’m fearful of saying more, a kingdom of fear indeed hunter.

However, whichever and whenever its done so its all good. After making some people wait for it we’ve decided to stick the whole EP up on myspace for you to listen to. We hope you like it, we think it is a prog record, well i do, i think we are just a prog band with some nifty time compression, thats time compression not time travel. I’d like to say some things like ‘i think its better then this….’ or ‘yeah get a load of this…’ however i shall refrain, we all have taste.

Right, in a whim of good luck we have also won another competition, although we did not think it was a competition we still won one, something however. You know when a band record, and release a CD or some tunes, they then get reviews in music press, we tried doing the sending the magazine a CD thingy to get a review, however we forgot the key factor, money. We can’t afford to pay a magazine to review us and thats pretty much how it all worked, its all very cleeeeeeeeeshay??? maybe thats not the word, i wish it wasn’t but it is. However in a stroke of good luck a national magazine we hold very dear to our hearts in its glorious knowledge of all things good has given us a review. Yes we sent a copy of Vultures to them August 2008 and we have a review this month in Sound On Sound magazine! We didn’t even have to pay them!!! It ace! They liked it as well which is even better, so much that they’re paying for us to get a 1000 CD’s all pressed up! We couldn’t be happier!! Good ole’ Sound On Sound!! We mean this with all our hearts, we send them a cd and they review it, it takes time but at least they do it!
Fuck the city.

This is all good eh! To close with a slightly sad comment though, our beloved transport, a Rover Estate recently died in Wales which leaves us grounded as regards to gigs for a little while (we’re students you know), we can play in Scarborough with the help of taxis and friends, however much further is a struggle, we shall have to see what happens. Maybe someone will like our new cd and buy us a van. If not you good always just go and see either Damn This Town or Blakfish, the two best bands in the world at the moment.

Yep. Right its been a while since we’ve posted anything. I’ve taken up golf, its ace so that’s why.

Have a listen and let us know what you think and then ask us when you can buy a cd and we’ll tell you.

xxx

Right. Via Beck i’ve found this site called Sound Cloud which lets you upload music in nearly any format, so here is the freshly mixed EP version of Soft As Thorns in a bloody great AIFF!

Haha. Right so yes.

We have 2 finished, one nearly finished and 2 still to be mixed, the ones that are mixed sound proper ace and we think you will like them.

We will be launching the new EP with some shows mid august:

14th Fat Surfer, Grays TBC
15th The Park, Luton
17th Blue Room, Ipswich

Should have the ep all done by then and ready to buy, well i hope so.

We’re also on that amazing tunes, and amazing radio jazz now thanks to some info from Andys dad…

www.amazingtunes.com

You can buy our stuff, but you may already have it.

When comparing our new tracks to other bands they held up pretty well, however in doing this we properly realized just how crap the quality of MP3’s are.
MP3’s are ace to stick on your portable music player but you really cannot beat CD quality. So. Right.
I read in the Daily Mail that we are the most dangerous country in the world and that the apocalypse is nearly here so, to saver these last few hours, days, minutes, we should scrap the ’save the planet’ thing and instead focusing on buying as much music as possible, because the end is near.
On a slightly serious note (i’m a christian lover so the apocalypse doesn’t bother me) i read in the daily mail that the equivalent of the soap awards for gadjets and such the winning stereo was a tesco own brand thing over stereos from Sony and JVC.
This was actually in the mail and i havn’t actually followed this up by a credible source (wikipedia) so it may not be correct.
However, everyone right now please stop buying Tesco own brand stereos.
You know that there was VHS, and then DVD came along and then everyone bought DVD’s because they were better quality. And that then Blu Ray beat HD-DVD because that was even better. Well, with each new medium for films the quality gets better then we buy it.
But with music not only is the quality of music getting worse, more people are buying shitty stereos to play the inferior music on.

This does not make sense. It can all come down to money, but if we keep buying own brand stereos from Tesco’s then the companies which spent the money on developing technology for better music playback and replication will lose out and we may loose them. Coupled with the fact that you can then buy the CD’s in supermarkets, who love to sensor and dictate what they stock (the latest Manic Street Preachers album being a recent examples) we will end up with inferior music, stereos and ultimately it’ll all be bad horrendous even!

This has turned into a rant about supermarkets now and not a post about our new ep, sorry about that.

Oh and anyone who thinks ID cards are bad and owns a Tesco Clubcard, Nectar Card, Boots Card, Fuel Card, HMV Card, Topshop Card, Debenhams Card etc. shut up.

But yes, our ep will be super! hurrah!

We are playing in Romford on Saturday and Ipswich the next day. Then after these shows we’re going down to London to get our EP mixed at Stakeout Studios by Jason Wilcock, which we are very excited for.
The artwork is in progress and i think we will have the MLIC vs Rude Mummy Not Daddy split 7″ out soon after this.
Its all very nice.

Its been a while. Have spent the last 6 days in the studio recording our new EP ‘Lions Led’. Its got five lovely tracks and we will be getting it mixed late this month at Stakeout Studios (Reuben/Blakfish/Ghost Of A Thousand) so it should sound nice!
Going to be releasing it on our own lovely little label ‘Medium Rare’ (www.myspace.com/mumlockedincastle) as nobody wants it apart from us! Hurrah! Will be pressing it up in lovely digipaks again with some more artwork from Sonny, looking for an August release both in physical formats and also on the money grabbing iTunes as well. We feel that iTunes is a necessity, however they take about 50% of the money from the sale and sell the EP for £7.99 whereas we’ll be selling the digipak for a fiver. It just makes it easier for people to buy around the world, even though i love going to the post office! We like Apple’s Mac’s though, so that makes things a bit better. I am a 8 year old and i am a PC.

So, as far as the label goes we’re looking to put out a little compilation of all our mates music as a sampler as well sometime soon really, its just monies.

We will also be getting in some new tshirts with a design from a lovely lass in Japan, good times.

Its been well sunny recently.

xxx

I like the moores, theres just nothing there just nothing, its ace, also ace to drive on lots of turns and hills, fun fun times! Had an awesome time at Uncle Alberts in Middlesborough last night, first time to the home of Malachai, a very interesting place indeed! Lovely sound, lovely bands and free food, choco,beer etc and operation! Ten Feet Tall promotions really should be looked to by other ‘promoters’ as the pinacle of good promotions lovely lovely lovely. We should be back soon. They have fake grass on a wall, you can’t tax that.
Back in Essex next week at the Civic Hall alldayer jazz for Front Magazine, playing with some ace bands, notably Murakami good times indeed!
Yes.
xxx

How many speed cameras! Mental!
Played a proper fun gig last night with iMMA at Rock City, such a nice venue and stupidly friendly staff, iMMA were immense so much charisma and personality and top top top top guys/girls fun times indeed!

So. We have managed to get on the bill for Guilfest with the likes of Motorhead, Brian Wilson, Pendulam, King Blues etc… we have some cheaper tickets to sell, if anyone fancies coming along with us send some 1’s and 0’s along to myspace.com/mumlockedincastle or band at mum locked in castle dot com that’d be ace, should be a good weekend!

Fruitella with real fruit juice.

10 shows, 11 days

We’re looking out of our window in Scarborough across the road to the Merchant pub, our first gig of the tour, where a fire engine is hoisting up a ladder to a flaming chimney. A good start, however the danger is dampened by the fact that the regulars seem oblivious to the events outside, which have closed the entire street, and are still happily drinking inside. As events develop, it appears that the brigade had been requested by a rather enlightened fellow from the pub up the street, a pub where children are made welcome with a jobseekers form and a pint of Buckfast. Good times.
There’s another gig in Scarborough tonight so were not expecting a grand turnout, however playing to your mates can’t be beaten and its all very relaxed. After being called Justin Lee Collins several times by an interesting fellow, I took up his suggestion of a shot of port with my Guinness, to help take the edge off his feverish wit. This was a success, with a side effect of allowing the audience the pleasure of witnessing some horrendous fretwork and some of my own incredible speaking talents. The night went on for quite a while, with Eddie closing the curtains, bringing out the ashtrays and sticking two fingers up to Mr Brown. We left at 4:30 in the morn to get up to hand some essays in to Uni for 9, this was not great, however we were under the impression that our gig in Hull later on was cancelled so we could sleep more, I then preceded to get a call at 1 to say it was on, which changed things a bit.

We’ve played in Sharkeys in Hull once before with the excellent Don Broco, it wasn’t very busy though, however this time there’s a good vibe and when we turn up the kit and bass amp are already set up and the sound is good which is nice. Some people had come specifically to see us, which was pretty amazing for us, and they bought some cd’s and t-shirts, which coupled with money from the bar started off the tour petrol fund nicely. It’s only an hour-ish drive back to Scarborough meaning we could sleep in our own beds, and the next day Andy proudly constructed a merch stand with a shoe box and duck tape, honing all his primordial skills it was built like a panzer!

Durham next, and the chance to drive through the gorgeous moors, however my little (its not that little but it is really?) rover estate found the road a tad tricky with all the hills and weight, yet it tackled them with all the muster and passion of an idiot in a chilli eating comp. After parking on a ridiculous hill by the venue it appeared that the other band had only just been asked to play so the crowd was limited, however Becca brought a legion of northerners all with amazing accents so all was good! Skin Up played a Slipknot cover that none of us have ever seen a band cover and it sounded really good, very impressive. I turned up my re-tubed amp up too loud though and Ben couldn’t hear his vocals during our set so he strained his voice a little, but it was good, lots of room to dance! After a fraught discussion about why were not leaving all our gear in the car outside a pub to get a pint after the gig we headed to Becca’s Nans house in a town just outside Durham called Stanley. It’s named after knife, to give you an idea of this metropolis (well not really but that was pretty good yeah?). Anyways, Junes house is nice and she makes us a massive fry up in the morn and stuffs us like only a Nan can. Becca’s cousin also pops over and addresses her distaste of my beard instantly, ‘so, what’s the crack with the beard?’ After some educating in the regional dialect we head off for a look at the Angel Of The North. Its rusty and there’s nowhere to park, and suddenly me swearing at these retards who were trying to play chicken with my car didn’t seem like a good idea, and as per Daily Mail styleee we did not venture too far from the car for fear of being attacked by an accent that matches German with equal ferocity.

Down the A1 to Leeds, a city that I love, but for me was the worst gig of the tour. The Royal Park Cellars is so dark, and with no bar open people venture upstairs after each band for a drink, and then get subdued by the ‘lol’s’ of karaoke. It is good fun though! We played with some really good bands though which was ace, Lifescreen, Mae’s Lost Empire (who we were to play with the next night out of coincidence) and Arcane Roots, from stonerish riffs to pedal stomping prog and popcorn hooks, some amazing music. We stayed at our mate Rich’s house, which is complete with a full sized snooker table and dartboard, which provided endless entertainment! A good English breakfast at a café and some catch up in the papers set us up for the short drive to Rotherham.

First impressions of Rotherham ended up translating into the actual image of the town as a whole but the venue is a nice size and quite busy. We have a 3 ½ hour drive to Norwich after the gig so I went out in search of some food and found a chippie that served me the worst tasting battered burger with hard grated cheese. I gave my chips to some dudes outside the venue and then preceded to entertain my stomach with the worst tasting J20 thing I’ve ever had. We had a good crowd due to a local band playing after us but then as soon as they had played everyone left for Mae’s Lost Empire who played to a pretty empty room. Its all politics I guess isn’t it, even the bands leave and I can’t stand that though, we had to explain to the last band that we’d got a mega drive so can only catch a few songs of their set and we feel bad. Band politics is a big feature not just in the punk scene but just in general to all live music and I can’t stand bands that leave after they’ve played, no no no.

Drive to Norwich was pretty swish and Abbi and Mike had turned their lounge into a boudoir of comfort for us, dreams! Spent the day looking round Norwich and got a Sunday roast in a pub, good times. The bands we were playing with were quite young, and as such had just found out that the venue was 18+ so none of their mates could come which was a shame for them as they were pretty good, with some tasty Bouncing Souls covers. We all had mates turn up whom we hadn’t seen for ages, as well as my cousin, which was cool, nice relaxed gig. Stayed a second night in Norwich at Andy’s friends house that was sweet and then drove down the A140 to Ipswich.

I was proper looking forward to the Ippo gig as I hadn’t played in my hometown for a couple of years, and I had organised the gig myself. My mate Chris had put together a band just for the gig comprising of all our mates who I had toured with in previous bands, they were super tight even only after a handful of practices, smooth and silky vocal harmonies, nice dreamy prog! We also managed to get Leon Smith who had just got back from Uni to play an acoustic set, even though he hadn’t played live for near two years, classic songs and Rumbleseat covers yes yes yes! It was like the old times again and we pretty much sold out the little 80 capacity Blue Room. We played our longest set and it was proper sweaty and tight, sold loads of merch as well, near on £130!
Taste taste taste, we stayed at my parents house and had a nice day off playing footy with our dog. It was well needed as we were all proper aching after all the dancing, was good to get some Look East news as well, which is definitely the most boring subdued news in the UK!

Our next gig was at Oxford Brookes Uni, which had been organised by Andy’s mate who studies there. Never having been to Oxford and hearing all of the stereotypical views that it would be full of ugg wearing, blazer wielding rugby boys we were actually not disappointed even though we actually were to see such a site! The first dude we saw was dressed in a casual suit smoking a cigar, amazing! The second dude we saw was a kid who wanted to be on my windscreen, I’m not a great fan of driving. After spending quite a frustrating amount of time during rush hour in the heat trying to get to the Uni we arrived, and realised that Music may be a harder degree but that they are all pretty screwed without Music Tech! The sound was pretty bad but the bands were good, the dudes nice and it was quite busy, just a bit spread out! Mr Luke Keegan, our flatmate in Scarborough had come down to gig as he lives down that way and it was all good times just hanging out drinking. We went to a club night, my first of the year which was fun but shit? Then all the fun really began. I ended up verbally abusing these stuck up dickheads in a Kebab shop after they tried cheating the owners out of monies, and then I woke up in the night to see Ben poised on a chair just pissing on the floor, and all over his jeans and my hoody. That was quite an interesting one!

Next gig was in Leicester in a really nice venue called The Shed, good sound, stage, video games (just 20p a go!) however without out any real promoter other then the bands it was dead. We played with a band who had travelled down from Preston to whom we felt for; they were stupidly tight, kinda like Elbow but with more balls, and The Legend Of Ron Jeremy from Luton who played good solid hardcore and were proper proper nice guys! CD’s were swapped then we set off for Grays, Essex.

We had big expectations for this gig, it was the third time we played there and it delivered. It was proper rammed, biggest crowd yet, all of Joe and Ben’s mates and more, they all had a good time seeing them again. In fact we all kinda know them all now ‘cus we’ve been down that way a lot so it was nice seeing the faces! I had got my ex band members new band Damn This Town to come down and play so it was just like one huge family. They were proper tight even after having not played since Feb, it was ill seeing them as I had yet to witness the might! The crowd were a bit odd though, as they didn’t clap or anything after songs. Its hard ‘cus they were a great audience for us, I think they were all just a bit excited at there being so many people to talk to, to really take notice of the band which is a bit of a shame but there you go, it’s still our home! We also had a short set as Forever Never performed a DJ set to promote their new album so it all kinda went pretty quick, it was like oh right, that’s it done! Got some ace pics from Richard Crooke’s as always though, and the sound was the best yet.
And that was that really, had some beers in Grays then parted ways for Easter the next day.
I never thought we’d actually make a profit but we covered our costs and now have enough dosh to get some more tshirts and other fab stuff made which is really cool, all really stoked about that. Really want to say a massive thank you to everyone that put us up and fed us, and everyone that came and saw us, as well as the bands for letting us use your gear and being so sound, we didn’t come across a shit band, which is always nice! The generosity of strangers and friends can never be underestimated!

Yes yes yes, we spoke to Leeds Music Scene about stuff and its up here take a read….

www.leedsmusicscene.net/article/10568/

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