The King Is Dead

The King is dead. Long live the king: Michael Jackson RIP.
Fuck! Another one bites the dust!

Since our last blog I shot off to Athens for the weekend to play the Ejekt Festival for the third year in a row, closing after Two Many DJs. It was fucking amazing! I want to thank everybody who was there; the crowd was off the hook as usual. Athens has definitely got to be one of my favourite cities in the world. I spent the next day eating seafood and swimming in the sea, watching the sun come down followed by the most amazing waffle and ice cream restaurant - a spectacle I’ve never seen in any country before: about 1000 people out just wallowing in ice cream delight – the perfect way to end an amazing weekend.

Then it was back into the studio. I’ve had a a really productive week. I’ve been working on some of mine and Gavin’s tracks, including a vocal version of “Heavy Drug” which is on the mix comp, then I met up with a really talented video director – Anthony Dickenson who is definitely doing some really cool shit. You should check him out. He has been working with my wife on some really interesting projects. I also had some meetings about potential soundtracks one in particular which would be cool as this would allow us to work on some hip hop tracks which Pablo and I would love to do because we have all these tracks at the moment which would really suit rappers but don’t really fit the direction of the new album, so who knows? This could be a really interesting proposition - I’ll keep you posted.

I then spent yesterday working with Lisa who joined us at the end of the last tour. You should check out her band “Dark Horses” - www.myspace.com/darkhorsesofficial who are absolutely amazing and have just recorded a new record with Richard Fearless. They have been opening for Kasabian recently. Lisa is one of the most talented singers I have met in a long time. We worked on a few tracks which have come out great so it has been really productive and exciting.

Today I am off to meet up with Warren and Nick regarding album artwork. We are in the process of coming up with ideas for both images and packaging and then we’ll be chilling.

I am playing Inverness tomorrow and then back in the studio on Monday with Gavin.

Also I thought you might like to see the covershot and track listing for the forthcoming global mix.....

Have a good week. Until next time!

Tonight - The Other Club @ Mau Mau Bar W11

Just want to send a quick message out to say check this night out:

It's called The Other Club, on the last Wednesday of every month at Mau Mau bar 265 Portobello Rd W11. It's in association with Honest Jon's Records and The Trilogy Tapes ( Will Bankheads label ). Flyer attached. DJ's coming up are Mark Ainley ( Honest Jons ) Alan Schofield ( Honest Jons ) Will Bankhead ( The Trilogy Tapes ) Joe Goddard ( Hot Chip ) Jagger ( The Other Club ) Toby Etheridge ( The Other Club ) and more special guests each month.

8-12 Free

Cheers!

Whirlwind

Fuck me it has been a mad couple of weeks! Firstly I want to thank everybody that came down to Sankeys in Manchester, that shit blew my mind, crowd were incredible and the atmosphere beyond! Definitely one of the best gigs of the year. I just wanted to reach out to Jeff from Black Marquee, his mother died two weeks ago and I just wanted to send all my love. It was good to see him in Manchester when I was there.

Manchester was then followed by Cluj in Romania for a proper after hour’s underground session, again just one of those really special nights. Got to say though, I am pretty sick of sitting in airports waiting for lay over’s but it is worth it when you get to play in such great places.

The back in the studio, we are writing away, things are moving on, vocals are getting done, tracks are progressing, more keyboards are being bought, bla bla bla. I will keep you posted as soon as there is some more concrete information on what is happening.

Then spent a long weekend in Bangkok for the Global party at Club 808. Had a great time, the club and crowd were awesome. I was so surprised how up for it and eclectic their musical taste was. We did seem a bit cursed though as every time we tried to do photo shoots for the record we were hit by tropical thunder storms. It was a definite assault on the senses for three days. But any way looks like that whole record is wrapped up - cover done, party done - check press for details.

On a record note, watch out for the remix we have done for Big Pink 'Too Young to Love' and our exclusive 'Heavy Drug' track for the comp. They have really been blowing up in the clubs. I am so pleased with the reaction. I hope you are going to dig them.

So there is news RE Surrender Arts. After the last 4 years as some of you may know we have decided to change tactics. No more regular lines, there is a sale currently on the site, I suggest you check it out and as things develop I will let you know what our future projects will evolve. I want to thank all those that have been involved over the last 4 years but as I said we all think it is time for a bit of change.

I want to say a very very very very big thank you to my wonderful assistant Charlene who is sadly moving on to better things. She has put up with me for the past 4 years and I just wanted to send her all my love and wish her well on her journey.

Lastly off to Greece for the weekend, playing with Soulwax which has been a while so really looking forward to that. Thats about it for now - until next time!!

PS - Here are a selection of photos from Manchester - like I said off the hook!

Sankeys, Manchester

Apologies

Firstly I want to apologize to anybody who turned up to T Bar in Liverpool Street last night. Due to a miss communication on our end we confused the dates and put July's provisional date in June by mistake. Again I would like to apologize to anyone who came down and especially to the T Bar. We are looking to re schedule a date in September, hopefully we can make it a special one.

Next - don't go and see Terminator!! What a horror - can't believe how much they fucked that one up!

As far as what's been going on in my life, we've been still writing in the studio, nothing much to say on that level other than we are heads down and cracking on. I wrote a new column for URB which should be out next week. Global has been totally put to bed now so track listing should follow soon.

I've got a really hectic weekend but really looking forward to it. Manchester tonight and Romania tomorrow. Going to be a long one. And then next week I am off to Bangkok to play the Global gig which I am really looking forward to so I will let you know how it goes. As far as everything else all quiet on the western front.

Until next week - Later.

PS There is a couple of shots from where me and Gavin were writing in Ibiza, you can see why we went, the perfect head space for lyrics!

Click on the photo below to view more.

Writing in Ibiza