An Experiment On A Bird In The Air Pump

A sad announcement from The Birds......

2010-01-27T03:19:00.000-08:00

C-Bird and X-Bird:

After two years, we have decided to call it a day with The Birds. We've experienced some great moments with this band but feel the time is right to concentrate on other passions. We want to thank everyone who has supported us these past two years and those of you who have taken the time to listen to our music, read our blog and meet us at our shows! We've met some great people along the way and have some fantastic memories! It's time to move forward positively into the future and launch ourselves head first into whatever is in store for us. The past two years have been an exhilarating whirlwind and we will continue to live our lives without regret and full of creative thought and positivity!!! A big thank you for all of your support!!!

D-Bird:
After almost 2 years together, we lay to rest one of the most exciting, exhilarating and exhausting projects I have ever been involved in. It all started off from an impromptu jam, an impromptu band formed and within such a short time, the impromptu band went full time, touring the world, recording with the likes of Steve Albini and meeting people I could only ever dream we'd meet.

Rather than dwelling on the reasons for ending I think it's important to look back and reflect on a proud achievement. We had FUN, I adored instrument swapping and more than anything, I loved being on stage. The time has now come to move on and focus on my new band Blue On Blue as well as my club Decasia Club, to thank those we've met along the way, enjoy new projects and take all that we have learned into a new direction. It has been one hell of a ride!! Thank you all for the support!

Over and out....
xxxxxxxxxxx

Girl Chewing Gum

2010-01-11T04:29:00.000-08:00

from John Smith..

I remember watching this years ago when I was studying film...recently a video artist friend of mine shared this video link on her page. It's been a while since I've seen 'Girl Chewing Gum' but watching it again has reminded me of how great this video is. The simplicity of the video highlights for me the magical illusionary aspect behind the craft of film and video making. It's such a genius yet simple idea. Everyday life is a film set and you're the director!

X-Bird

Men Don't Protect You Anymore

2009-12-29T14:40:00.000-08:00

People who read this blog know that Nirvana are one of the greatest personal inspirations for me. Besides their obvious talent as musicians and songwriters, they were also a very political and opinionated band. Race, sex and sexuality were issues which they discussed frankly both within and outside of their music.

I recently interviewed Sune Wagner of The Raveonettes for P.I.X Magazine and one of the questions I asked him was how he'd thought the music industry had changed in the last decade since they first started out as a band. His reply was that it was so much easier to communicate with fans and this was a great thing.

I completely agree. Back in the days when articles in Melody Maker and NME were more critiques and structured essays rather than 2 sentence rants about which indie star was spotted in a football kit in Tesco, a feature length interview with a band would be at least 4 pages long. In those 4 pages you would read everything from the latest release, to upcoming gigs, to bands' thoughts on current topical issues. I knew everything about my heroes and this was pre-Google days. The journalism was informative and beautifully descriptive. I honestly felt reading and watching Nirvana interviews that Kurt was talking to me, to us, to his fans. He was a person, a musician, an artist who contemplated, discussed and speculated. He wasn't some too cool for school robot who just watched his bank balance grow all day and couldn't be bothered to communicate both on and off stage like some current bands.

Use of blogs, bulletins, messages these days is a great way of communicating with like-minded people. Unfortunately we will never receive the Everett True or Paul Morley type-interviewer as they are very few and far between these days. This is why we write and post our thoughts out. Because we will always be mis or under represented elsewhere. We don't want you to give us your money by buying gig tickets and records and that's it. We have commenced an open forum for discussion through our music, through our opinions....Whether you want to respond to it or not, that is not our concern. Our main concern is to create, explore and discuss.

Personally I find bands who think they are to cool to communicate directly with fans totally off the radar. Being faux mysterious does not fill me with an ounce of inspiration however someone with an opinion always does. My dear friend Dario gave me an NME Original Nirvana magazine for my birthday which has every single Nirvana interview, review and photo that was ever published in NME from their first ever London show and release up until Kurt's death.

It is littered with beautifully, poignant and inspiring quotes, some of which I have posted below.

'I like the comfort in knowing that women are the only future in rock and roll'

About The Breeders:
'They're strong women but it's not that obvious. They're not militant about it at all. You can tell they love men at the same time'.

'I hate tie-dye t-shirts...I wouldn't wear a tie-dye t-shirt unless it was dyed with the urine of Phil Collins and the blood of Jerry Garcia.'

D-Bird

Oh gawd this neighbourhood! I'm scared rats are gonna come out and bite my new nylons!

2009-12-28T14:22:00.001-08:00

Glam up party people NYE is only a couple of days away!

I'm currently watching Female Trouble for dress up inspiration for Decasia's John Waters extravaganza at The George Tavern on Thursday!

I'm hoping however that I don't celebrate New Years with a black eye similar to the one Divine is sporting in the following clip. Having said that, by the end of this excerpt she's worring about more than just a black eye... This clip quite frankly symbolises the dinner party from hell- dinner guests who won't eat your food, a petulant child, a crazy neighbour...and Christmas dinner is barely a distant memory!

FEMALE TROUBLE- JOHN WATERS CLASSIC!

Hmmm spag bol anyone?

See you for New Years folks!

X-Bird

Garbadge Man

2009-12-27T16:00:00.000-08:00

Hole reunion in 2010?

BRING IT ON
D-Bird

Merry Christmas All!!

2009-12-25T06:26:00.000-08:00

Here's to a great Christmas and New Year!

We promise lots more muzak and gigs in 2010!

Scotland and America here we come!!!
xxxxxxxx

Desperate Teenage Lovedolls

2009-12-24T05:30:00.000-08:00

I love films about scenes - whether documentaries or parodies. Surely everyone at any one time belongs to some scene somewhere? Isn't it a part of our innate sense of being to cherish the feeling of belonging?

A girl band composed of teenage runaways. Black Flag and Redd Kross feature heavily on the soundtrack plus there's a cameo from Slash pre-Guns N' Roses days.

What the hell else could you possibly want in a film??

D-Bird

Stark(ey) raving mad...

2009-12-23T23:42:00.001-08:00

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog post, I’ve been watching a lot of David Starkey's documentaries on Tudor history. The man's pompous style of story telling is riveting but in wanting to find out more about this guy, I did what is usual these days...I searched him on Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Starkey

The following snippets are taken off his enlightening wiki page...

I particularly like his view on the Queen...

More recently, he (Starkey) received considerable attention when he compared Elizabeth II unfavourably with her predecessors, calling her an uneducated housewife, and comparing her cultural attitude to Joseph Goebbels, by suggesting that she gave him the impression that every time she heard the word culture she wanted to reach for a gun (in fact the line is most commonly attributed to Hermann Göring, but was really written by the lesser known Nazi playwright Hanns Johst).

But as a woman of Filipino descent I find his views on multiculturalism frankly shocking...

Formerly a leftist, Starkey is now known for his right-wing views. For example, he says of multiculturalism: "What's striking about our problem ethnic communities is that they are the ones with the least commitment to self-betterment."

Yes Starkey, of course us ethnic communities 'fresh off the boat' have no commitment at all for self-betterment. We left the shores of our homeland in favor of foreign privileged countries not for self-betterment but for other reasons? But if by 'self-betterment' you mean in a cultural and intellectual sense then in this regards we are on a par with royalty it seems... I suppose it is a well known fact ethnic communities are illiterate and lazy, yes Starkey? ...ridiculous.

Starkey also offended some viewers of BBC One's Question Time in April 2009 when he criticised Scottish, Irish and Welsh nationalism and described these nations as "feeble".

However, others, including some of the studio audience, supported his attacks on politicians. (Small victories Starkey, eh?!)

Damn and I'm in the middle of watching his 4 part documentary on Henry VIII...

X-Bird

I don't eat squirrel!

2009-12-23T10:31:00.000-08:00

I've spent a large portion of the day on my arse in front of the computer. I have a headache and my eyes hurt...I could spend the rest of this post bitching and moaning about certain things but I wont. Read the following link and you'll feel better about the world in general.... http://www.britneyspears.com/2009/12/theyearinbs.php

It's comforting to know Britney Spears does not eat squirrel, that her dad is not drugging her AND that she loves Australia.

I was however upset and frankly shocked to find out that the story about her two young boys trashing a hotel room turned out to be false. Or in Brit's words 'BS'. Where's the rock n roll in that?

And finally for the record like Britney I DID NOT set up fake auditions to pick up male models. IT'S ALL LIES.

Over and out.

X-Bird

Death of a queen...

2009-12-23T01:24:00.000-08:00

Another cozy night indoors…

I know it's Christmas when I actually enjoy staying indoors more often. My main highlights of the week include me vegging out and watching films and erm...vegging out and watching films. I'm beginning to think I'm turning into a couch potato or maybe I'm more of a couch potato than I’d like to admit!

I spent last night watching the entire series of David Starkey's documentaries on the six wives of Henry VIII. I've always had some fascination with this area of history. I think this primarily stems from childhood memories of visiting places like Hampton Court Palace on school trips (and puking during the coach journey back home much to the horror of the classmate I was sitting next to at the time- my sincere apologies…). The idea of some tyrannical larger than life king killing his wives is compelling stuff for an 8 year old! I understand most of it was sensationalist melodrama befitting for a class of easily distractible 8-year-olds but the grand history behind the Tudor dynasty is utterly fascinating. There's sex, violence, drama, love, death- EVERYTHING.

Last night I also watched a documentary exploring the relationship between Elizabeth I and Mary Queen Of Scots. It was a bit of a Tudor history marathon last night in the X-Bird house!

Executions were commonplace in Tudor England. Henry VIII was obviously infamous for beheading two of his wives but what I found most intriguing was the execution of Mary Queen of Scots. I think my fascination with her demise stems from trying grasp and understand how she endured 24 years of imprisonment before her death warrant was finally signed by Elizabeth I. It was reported that her death warrant was signed with much trepidation. A trepidation, not born out of remorse but from the predicted repercussions of how signing such a warrant could affect the political sphere for England and Elizabeth I at the time. The religious/political climate during the time of Mary Queen of Scots’ execution put Britain in a state of unrest, her death would again be a tactical execution but could also give way to more political uprisings against Elizabeth and spur revenge from Mary’s son who would later be James I and unite Great Britain.

Mary Queen Of Scots was a tragic queen whose royal career was one tragic blunder after another, it was only at the time of her trial and subsequent execution that she seemed to carry the strength and composure of a woman in absolute power.

Mary Queen Of Scots appeared on the scaffold on 8 February 1587 and with the composure and dignity befitting of a queen knelt gracefully by the block awaiting her fate. It took two blows of the axe to severe Mary’s head from her body. The first blow striking the back of her head, at which point she was reported to have cried, 'Sweet Jesus!'. As her head fell away from her body after the second blow a small thread of flesh remained where her head once was. This was later cut away from her body as the executioner used his axe as a saw! Mary Queen of Scots’ head was then held up by her infamous auburn tresses, her lips apparently still moving. It was later reported that her lips moved for 15 minutes in what some regarded as, 'in silent prayer'. As her head was held high to the executioner’s cries of, 'GOD SAVE THE QUEEN', Mary’s severed head then fell to the ground. People were shocked to find that the auburn hair that the executioner held on to was in fact a wig. Her auburn hair being a symbol of her infamous beauty had become after 24 years of imprisonment, short, grey and stubbled. At this point cries were then heard coming from underneath Mary's skirts. Under the folds and layers of her clothing Mary’s lap dog was found covered in blood, mourning her master's demise. The dog then later, unable to overcome the death of her master, refused to eat and died soon after...

X-Bird

A few more favourite things....Simon Price

2009-12-22T08:00:00.000-08:00

I love year-ends and year-beginnings...it's the only time you really think hard about the past and the future as everything hits the wayside during the year and you rarely have time to stop and take anything in.

Being in this profession, it is not just talent alone that gets you anywhere. We Birds have worked our arses off and continue to do so. We don't rely on nepotism or previous bands we've been in or anything like that to get us off the ground. Therefore we really appreciate it when people help us of their own accord.

One of those such people is Simon Price of The Independent. He's been a great supporter of our band since he saw us play at Durrr back in January 2009. I deeply admire Simon. He is a great writer and they are such a dying breed especially in the music industry. He is also a die-hard music fan. He wrote a great biography on the Manics and seems to possess what few other music journos have these days - genuinity, intelligence and real zest for music. My respect for him increased even more a few days ago when I saw he posted out a rant referencing Rimbaud and Keats and the great masterpieces they wrote aged 25 and in comparison and at the same age, certain young TV/radio personalities are such imbeciles. Hear, hear...my sentiments exactly. The continual moral and physical destruction of the English language is unbearably painful and I am glad a few people out there acknowledge this.

Anyway, here's to Simon Price and I hope he continues to write and support many more bands for many, many more years.

D-Bird

Unearthing little gems

2009-12-22T07:34:00.000-08:00

A hobby of mine...

D-Bird

Snow...

2009-12-19T23:36:00.001-08:00

Ok I can completely understand that you are now fed up with ALL the twitters, blog posts, facebook updates about the snow. Well I ain't over with it yet...

There's another fresh layer of snow outside and I am considering buying myself a sledge. I'm all cozy and warm indoors, hot mug of tea, fag etc and all seems perfect with the world until my dreams of a sleigh ride are (partly) dashed due to the fact that i can't literally leave my front door without a shovel. But hey, I NEED this much snow for my sledge right?

Aside from doing actual work today (I'm in the middle of editing a new video project and it took me 6 hours to edit 30 seconds the other day...technological nightmare!!!) I am going to make time for building a snowman and possibly an igloo conservatory at the back of my house for my parents. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

In fact I have enough snow here to build a whole village of igloos, i might even build a fancy ice hotel like like the one in Sweden.

I HAVE GRAND PLANS....

X-Bird

DJ of the Year: John Kennedy XFM

2009-12-19T06:53:00.000-08:00

Here's a little shout out to our favourite DJ, Mister John Kennedy:

We did a session for his Xposure show back in October and last week we were summoned to XFM Headquarters to play some favourite songs and talk about our new EP.

John has been a staunch supporter of our band since the very beginning. He's an old school genuine alternative music fan and it's great to see such people still around in the industry today. It gives us all hope.

I wrote a post a while back about John Peel and it seems to me that the person picking up the pieces of such a legacy is John Kennedy.

Check out his show, phone in/text in, request songs and bands as your voice is being heard by someone out there and that's a great thing.

D-Bird

Mourning a legend

2009-12-18T08:50:00.001-08:00

This month we've lost a local hero - Harry Diamond, a superbly talented photographer, friend and regular at The George Tavern.

He was one of the few who kept me company at The George last Christmas when I had nowhere else to go.

Our gig on New Years Eve will be dedicated to him. In the meantime, search and explore this remarkable artist that deserves to be remembered and adored.

Thank you,
D-Bird
xxx

http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?LinkID=mp19713&role=art

http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/content/towerhamlets/advertiser/news/story.aspx?brand=elaonline&category=news&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newsela&itemid=WeED07%20Dec%202009%2012:06:37:630

Pictures Of You

2009-12-18T08:32:00.000-08:00

Perfectly apt - snow, death and pictures...my week epitomised....

D-Bird

Death Shovel EP download

2009-12-18T04:25:00.000-08:00

Death Shovel was the band that came together for just one day to record a live EP and do one live gig...All improvised....

Martin Selfish Cunt
Matthew Selfish Cunt
D-Bird

Artrocker have reissued the EP for a short time so download here if you want to hear it:
http://www.artrocker.tv/features/article/artrocker-tv-sessions-2-selfish-cunt
xxx

Favourite videos of the year

2009-12-17T03:36:00.001-08:00

1. Too many good Fever Ray videos, When I Grow Up:

2. Gentle Friendly Lover's Rock

3. Sonic Youth - Sacred Trickster

4. Fever Ray - Triangle Walks

5. Lou Barlow - The Right

D-Bird

Help I'm in rom com hell and I kind of enjoyed it...

2009-12-16T15:34:00.000-08:00

Its a Wednesday night and I’ve spent the past week completely rushed off my well heeled feet, so much so, the other day I actually fell over as I was so exhausted! I was concealed under some shrubbery for about 2 mins concerned about where the hell my shoes flew off to during my decent into the wild shrubbery of a London alleyway. It was a pretty comical way to end the night I must say and to think I was more concerned over my shoes than the gash on my knee, ughhh I hate to think this says a lot about me...anyways if I lost my darn shoes I'll be walking around London bare foot which you will have to agree is not ideal in this weather. Anyways...yes it's a Wednesday night and I think to myself I have got to get away from the computer, all day working, working, working (which I have to admit as much as I complain...I actually enjoy), I digress AGAIN...so its a Wednesday night...I finally tear myself away from the computer and decide to sit down and watch a film. A pretty normal way to end the day relaxing eh? So I decide to go all 'Bridget Jones' on myself and watch a rom com and I ain't your rom com kinda gal, AT ALL. Yep, I have actually spent the last 1 hour and 30 minutes of my life watching some hybrid of Four Weddings, My best Friends Wedding and Pretty Woman. I imagine that was the exact pitch the producer used to sell the film as well...'it's gonna be a hit' etc etc. And I put my hands up...I enjoyed it. Yes, this hard arsed Bird enjoyed a rom com AND i was happy the guy and the girl got in on and will live happily ever after. I even found myself smiling at the end of the film, COMPLETELY INVOLUNTARILY I may add! Shock, followed by complete horror.

Am I a romantic at heart?! Or has my judgment been severely impaired by lack of sleep????

Ok, so there isn't much intellectual deep rooted symbolism over whether Richard Gere gets with the sex worker or if Hugh Grant gets with the hot American Lady or whether Julia Roberts does what ever she needs to do at her best friend's wedding but I have to admit, I just spent the last 90 mins of my life hooked on whether the chick from Will and Grace was gonna get with the guy from My Best Friends Wedding in another rom com flick about a single woman attending her sister's wedding with a male escort to make her ex fiancé jealous (fiancé is also best man at said wedding). Hmmm I see a rom com pattern here..... Complete plagrism aside, I don't care that whoever wrote the screenplay for this film is a rip off merchant, all I care about is whether or not I was entertained AND I was entertained. I was entertained by the sheer cringiness of it and the complete brazen approach to constructing a storyline based on our stereotypical outlook on love and relationships. We're all aware that something as intimate and complex as forming human connections is the most beautiful and at times destructive part of our human instinct but simplifying a complex connection like this in someway leaves people feeling hopeful in a sense. It lulls us into a state of euphoria, even for a moment. Everything with the world seems so much more simple and clean cut in films like this. The biggest problem is whether or not the bride will get jilted and not whether she can pay her bills or feed the kids.

I disengaged my brain for an hour and a half and why not? We’re all allowed our guilty pleasures and I was entertained and in some ways felt cleansed by the complete escape from reality.

I think I’m going to sleep easy tonight knowing the chick from Will and Grace got with her male escort and more than anything…I find this pretty surreal...

Rom com hell, heaven, hell, heaven?

Whatever, I'm off to dream about male escorts and weddings now. Night, night.

X-Bird

Send help quick, for our words are dying......

2009-12-15T07:30:00.000-08:00

I have received two lovely messages today. Not messages asking about whether I can DJ/play/go out somewhere for a wild night but instead I was sent beautiful, personal, constructed words. Yes, I was sent two beautiful poems.

Myself and two friends have been sending each other some of our poems today. For me, I think I love poetry even more than I love music and I guarantee you, that's a whole lot of love there. I first fell in love with words and as I became older, fell in love with the way words were arranged to music. Most of my lyrics are based on poems I've written in the past.

I used to be involved in spoken word and my last spoken word performance was at Patti Smith's Meltdown Festival in 2005. Getting up and reading poetry in front of Patti Smith was no easy feat. Since then, I've thought about getting back into it but a growing lack of confidence and fear for something I once loved so dearly has overwhelmed me.

Anyway, I have begun taking little steps towards reacquainting myself with the old, lyrical me. This poetry correspondence is one of those ways.

It's always nice to find kindred spirits in whatever you do and the hardest battle is finding them. Personally, I feel that poetry is a dying art form and want to devote a lot of time next year into regenerating it in whatever way I can. I hope I am proved wrong and that words are out there thriving and I am just an unaware, simple soul.

D-Bird

Favourite Albums of 2009

2009-12-14T03:58:00.000-08:00

Some great releases this year. My favourite ten below.

1. Fever Ray - Fever Ray
2. Projekt A-Ko - Yoyodyne
3. Sonic Youth - The Eternal
4. Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions - Through The Devil Softly
5. Hatcham Social - You Dig The Tunnel I'll Hide The Soil
6. Lou Barlow - Goodnight Unknown
7. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz
8. The Raveonettes - In and Out of Control
9. The Whitest Boy Alive - Rules
10. Beirut - Live at the Music Hall of Williamsburg

D-Bird

For All We Know

2009-12-14T03:25:00.001-08:00

Amazing singer....Amazing drummer....

Karen Carpenter, I love you!

Coupled with the superb songwriting skills of her brother Richard Carpenter and the legendary Burt Bacharach, The Carpenters wrote such beautiful, beautiful pop songs.

I would love to collaborate with Richard Carpenter - anyone know where he lives?

D-Bird

XMAS

2009-12-13T08:24:00.000-08:00

I can hear carol singers outside my bedroom window as I type! There's something about this time of year that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. All I want to do is basically curl up under the duvet, eat chocolate and watch 'Home Alone'.

I did the whole eating chocolate in bed thing yesterday which made me think of Barbara Cartland for some reason... I wasn't wearing a frilly nightie or a gown with a caribou trim but I should have...

The carol singers are getting progressively louder....

I'm thinking of going to my local carol service this year, haven't done it for years. It always amuses me when people get over zealous with the singing, song books shaking as they hit the high notes! Oh yeaaaah. I'm definitely going this year!

A friend of mine recently went to her nephews school nativity play where he played the role of a star to dramatic effect so i am told! Oh how i miss the excitement of the school nativity! I once played Mary when I was 5/6 years old. The role meant I had to sing a christmas carol to the Jesus dolly i was cradling quite haphazardly i must say. For example I'm pretty sure babies, even those who are the sons of God should not be carried upside down etc etc... I remember how as I was singing a rendition of Away In The Manger I forgot the second verse of the carol. Children being so honest about things, I just stopped singing, put my hand against my mouth in overly dramatic shock and exclaimed, 'Oh dear!!! I don't know the words!' I have to say I got a lot of 'ahhhs' and 'how cute' for that little escapade. Major drama and what a drama queen! I even have the whole thing on video somewhere. These days I'm happy to say I'm a lot more professional about things... C-Bird was an angel at the same nativity and had to hold her arms up in the air like a halo for 3 or 4 minutes, quite some feat for a 5 year old kid! haha But the ol' girl got through it, even though her costume consisted of a white bed sheet and a tinsel halo that kept falling over her eyes. What a pro! At least she didn't have to wear a tea towel over her head like our shepherd friends in the nativity.

I have a 2 year old nephew and I can't wait until he's old enough to be part of the school nativity. Moments like these are pure gold. My parents still go on about it!

The Christmas tree is up and my house currently looks like a giant ball of tinsel, probably a major fire hazard but if every inch of my walls aren't covered in the stuff then it ain't Christmas.

HO HO HO MERRY CHRISTMAS!

X-Bird

Last Show of the Year

2009-12-13T07:24:00.000-08:00

Will be at Decasia and The George Tavern's New Years Eve Party which is John Waters themed!

Join us and this great line up!

A DIRTY SHAME NEW YEARS EVE!
A very unique tribute to the one and only JOHN WATERS!

We will have everything for your absolute pleasure - performers, live characters, musicians, DJs, flamingos! Let's go sexing? Hell yeah!

Guests are encouraged to come dressed as their favourite characters.

The performers on the night will be as superb and eclectic as ever!

We will tantalisingly be revealing the line up in the next coming weeks. The George is the best pub in the world and there is limited capacity so get your tickets NOW!!

DJs:
*** DECASIA CLUB
http://www.myspace.com/decasia
"Decasia typifed the multidisciplinary culture shuffle that thrilled boom-time clubbers" DAZED & CONFUSED

*** DIVINE INCEST - Dee 'Cry Baby' Fodor and Miss Felicity 'Babs Johnson' Hayward!
http://www.myspace.com/divineincest
"I am Divine Incest, a monthly club night and occasionally an irregular gender bending sex mess."

*** Princess Julia
http://www.myspace.com/wearethemost
LEGEND
“the face of a goddess” - (Boy George)

***Dorian Cox (The Long Blondes)
'They produced two great albums (Someone To Drive You Home and Couples), and a pretty weighty stack of classy singles and b-sides (Ten Reasons To End It , Christmas Is Cancelled and Long Blonde to name a few). These, along with their sense of fearlessness (in their music, attitude and look), will be their legacy.' The Guardian

*** Adam Dineen (Death Disco)

*** Reeperbahn
http://www.myspace.com/reeperbahn_uk
SYNTH / NEW WAVE / ELECTRONIC BODY MUSIC / ITALO DISCO/ 80's ALTERNATIVE / MINIMAL WAVE / FRENCH COLDWAVE & FUTURE

*** Jungs and Technik
http://www.myspace.com/jungsundtechnik

*** The Liberty Snake

*** Brave Exhibitions
http://www.myspace.com/braveexhibitions
"Brave Exhibitions is cold/minimal/no wave muzak club that happens sporadically in east London and east Berlin. Bands, performance artists, and guest DJs play. People dance. Then we all go home."

LIVE MUSIC:

**************************************************
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OMG Just Confirmed::::::
AN EXPERIMENT ON A BIRD IN THE AIR PUMP
http://www.myspace.com/anexperimentonabirdintheairpump
"In times when everything seems sewn up, we need someone to tear it apart. In an age of smoothly sellable corporate indie, we need someone to take a knife to the façade. At the start of 2009, the band stepping up to that challenge is An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump." The Independent on Sunday
**************************************************
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*** ORAL ORAL
http://www.myspace.com/oraloral
"This bunch of demented faggots really rocked Brave Exhibitions last night. They're like Crass with John Waters as creative advisor." James Lowry, Brave Exhibitions
A PRINCESS
A BIRD
AND A WHIFF OF DIVINE INCEST

***MORE TBA!

BOOK YOUR PLACE FOLKS! ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY OF COURSE!
£10 in advance on We Got Tickets
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/66510

The Girls Are Podcast

2009-12-01T05:03:00.001-08:00

I've just done my first podcast for the amazing The Girls Are.

Click here and download away!
http://thegirlsare.blogspot.com/2009/12/podcast.html

The Girls Are Podcast No. 1

Fever Ray - If I Had A Heart
Mika Miko - Take Hold
Lydia Lunch - Spooky
The Shermans - Dumbhead
Dum Dum Girls - Ship of Love
Mazzy Star - Ghost Highway
Blue On Blue - See You In Day
Camera Obscura - Eighties Fan
Theoretical Girl - O Holy Night

D-Bird
x

Theoretical Girl

2009-11-30T14:37:00.000-08:00

Theoretical girl sums up all that is inspiring about British females in music...great songs, great voice, great musician....

D-Bird
x

Perfect for a gloomy Sunday afternoon.....

2009-11-29T07:03:00.000-08:00

LOVE
x

FREE Bird download!

2009-11-26T09:01:00.000-08:00

You can download new song, I Bask In Dreams Of Suicide for the next 7 days via Fact Magazine:

http://www.factmagazine.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4050&Itemid=99

Enjoy
xxx

BROOOM BROOOOM

2009-11-15T13:59:00.000-08:00

Currently watching 'Scorpio Rising' by Kenneth Anger. 60's pop songs, men in leather and motorbikes. A different kind of love story.

Kenneth Anger I <3 you and your love of a Hollywood Babylon that no longer exists.

X-Bird

Buying a life soon to be a reality....

2009-11-15T10:37:00.000-08:00

On Thursday December 10th to be precise. Come along to see some of the best female fronted bands around - VERONICA FALLS and BATTANT. I love them!

Plus a whole heap of amazing DJs:
NO PAIN IN POP
PRINCESS JULIA
DIVINE INCEST
GOD DON'T LIKE IT

Be seeing you,
D-Bird
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AND THE AWARD FOR THE WORST BAND OF ALL-TIME GOES TO....

2009-11-13T17:27:00.000-08:00

Japanese Voyeurs. Watch the video below and it's all pretty explanatory.

I actually had the misfortune of seeing them live once and wrote about it here:
http://anexperimentonabirdintheairpump.blogspot.com/2009/04/too-cool-for-school.html

England really doesn't need its own version of Avril Lavigne 10 years after the genuine one married and divorced some dude from Sum 41 and turned into a blonde polished white teeth monstrosity. One is enough and may she dither in peace.

Bands like Japanese Voyeurs skillfully make both men and women seem like criminals in music. We have the stereotypical blonde nauseating frontwoman who does the most annoying thing ever - playing fairweather guitar i.e. she can't play and therefore doesn't play when she 'sings' badly as that much concentration would blow her tiny pea brain. You then have the 4 long-haired 'I'm-going-to-wear-a-Kiss-tshirt-to-prove-I-know-about-music' dumb imbecile backing band ie. session musicians who are past it and not talented enough to create original music for themselves.

UGGGGHHHHH!

Dumb? Couldn't have said it better myself.

If you want even more of a laugh, go to their Myspace and read about their songwriting technique. Bands this bad have to be named and shamed for the sake of modern music and for my own sanity.

D-Bird

Small town pub pickles my liver

2009-11-07T19:29:00.000-08:00

Just recently discovered that the local pub in my hometown serves the biggest shots ever...maybe I should venture out here more often? Ah...saw some old school friends at the weekend and I was surprised to find my local country pub gets a lot more rowdier than a central London Wetherspoons. Even more surprised to find out someone I went to school with is on his way to becoming a surgeon...'so what are you up to these days?...' It's always a bit weird when you're confronted by the adult versions of people who you remember once peed themselves during the school nativity play, even more shocking when you realise that they have the memory of an elephant and will during the course of the night, after giant local pub shots of tequila, regail everyone with stories of when you used to do embaressing things for shits and giggles at school. All in all, the whole 'school reunion' experience was a good one and it was fun re-establishing past connections. Oh how we've grown...

X-Bird

Now that every band ever are reforming....

2009-11-04T09:14:00.000-08:00

When is it going to be the turn of The Shop Assistants?

I continue to hold my breath in great anticipation...
Dee

GRRRL SOUNDS

2009-11-04T09:05:00.000-08:00

Check out an interview with Boston-based blog GRRRL SOUNDS here:
http://grrrlsounds.com

Covering all the best in women and music internationally, I really like it!
Dee
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From The Inside Out

2009-10-29T15:07:00.001-07:00

I remember talking about doing this on leap year day 2008 and it will all commence tomorrow.

I feel that no matter what people say and where their allegiances lie, something very exciting has been happening on the London music scene in the last couple of years. I feel that being a musician in a few bands right now is exciting even though the main crippling fact about it is the lack of dough on offer...However every interview/article that I read on the London music scene doesn't satisfy me and people still get it wrong despite you spelling things out in black and white. Hence I've decided to do a film documentary on it - From The Inside Out.

I haven't scripted or planned anything. I don't think that's the way I want to do it. I just want to be an observer but probe those who I feel can shed more light on everything. It's just going to be me, my camera and London's music. That's all there needs to be really. No flashy sets or staged antics. Just life, the way I have seen and lived it over the past year.

Filming commences tomorrow on my return to London.
Dee
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The Exorcist versus Audition

2009-10-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

We reviewed our fave Horror films for Artrocker:

http://www.artrocker.tv/features/article/artrocker-phantom-movie-guide-2009-part-ii

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Helloween Weekend!

2009-10-29T07:51:00.001-07:00

We DJ at Reeperbahn this Friday October 30th at Lati Bar on Rivington Place - free entry all night - come along!

We also host our own Halloween party at The Griffin on fright night itself - Saturday Oct 31st from 8pm-11pm free entry!

Come along or DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
X

Keeping you in the loop

2009-10-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

We will be releasing our new EP, Buy A Life very soon!

Here's the info:

Mon 23rd November - You will be able to buy it on vinyl exclusively from any Rough Trade store and before anyone else!

Mon 30th November - iTunes Worldwide release!

Monday December 7th - Vinyl release worldwide!

Yep yep!

We will be announcing some new live dates for both the end of this year and for 2010. Looks like the night owl lifestyle and all the highs and lows that come with it will carry on for a while longer....

D-Bird
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Favourite covers!

2009-10-17T02:41:00.000-07:00

There is more than one way to skin a cat….

DO YOUR OWN THING!

The Breeders doing ‘Happiness Is A Warm Gun’ is one of my favourite covers. I love how they add an extra ferocious, raw energy to the song. It seems so much more brutal and unhinged but in quieter moments, there’s this lulling quality about it before it rips your guts out. Wow!

The Breeders – Happiness Is A Warm Gun

THE ORIGINAL! The Beatles – Happiness Is A Warm Gun

In another twist why don’t you make a video about it?

Video artist, Pipilotti Rist used the opening lyrics as a basis to one of her video pieces. ‘I’m Not The Girl Who Misses Much’.

X-BIRD

BUY A LIFE

2009-10-16T12:39:00.000-07:00

COMING SOON........

All Your Sisters

2009-09-25T10:56:00.000-07:00

And I knew I was close to you
And I knew
Catch me flying in the sun
Catch me drinking of your wine

I'm gonna put something in you
Make the devil feel surprised
All your sisters wanna fly
Around my golden sky
Around my golden sky

Just because you feel, hollow inside it's real
Just because you feel, hollow inside it's real

I'm gonna put something in you
Make the devil feel surprised
Make the devil feel surprised

And I knew I was close to you
And I knew
Catch me flying in the sun
Catch me drinking of your wine

Goodnight x x x x

2009-09-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

I had the most perfect evening today with the most perfect person I've ever met. I thought I'd never get the chance again....but someone somewhere was watching over us...

D-Bird
x x x x x x x x

A little dedication....

2009-09-02T14:37:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy to announce we will be supporting The Raveonettes in London on Monday Sep 7th! It will be their first UK show of the year and not only am I excited to be playing for them, I am also excited about hearing their new material, 'In And Out Of Control' which is released on October 6th.

I've mentioned how much I love the band in various interviews/blog posts in the past but I don't think they know just how much they mean to me. I've been a fan of Sune's work for half of my life. I heard his first project, Psyched Up Janis whilst barely in my teens when their song 'I Died In My Teens' was played on the radio. I bought their album and was totally obsessed with them. I followed Sune's other pursuit, an amazing surf band called The Tremolo Beer Gut and the first Raveonettes song I heard was 'Beat City' which was the only amazing song on a Q Magazine compilation I acquired. I bought Whip It On and Chain Gang and I had found my most perfect band since Nirvana.

When I met Sune and Sharin over 4 years ago, life was very very different for me. I was a very shy and awkward fan of theirs and interviewed them for my fanzine, Soma Soma Scene. I emailed their lovely manager Scott telling him about my amazing new web fanzine only thing was that at the time, it was yet to be put into practice. I'd got a small team of people together but we hadn't even got a single web page up. I didn't have a clue how to do it. However Scott immediately replied and agreed to an interview and asked if I wanted to do it by email or face to face. I jumped at the latter and had to wait a good 3 months before they were going to be in the UK. I was so excited in those 3 months and plotted every single question I had ever wanted to ask them.

I interviewed the band in March 2005 and meeting them and seeing them live was a pretty seminal moment in my life. At the time I was studying for a career I later detested and I was torn between following my brain and following my heart. Thank god I am now doing the latter. But at the time, I was totally new and naive to the music industry and bands...The Raveonettes were the first band who supported my fanzine. This initiated the confidence I later developed for writing, which had been a passion of mine from a young age however I had neglected it somewhat at university. They were such great sports that I felt confident to carry on writing and carry on with my fanzine. Through my fanzine I met other like-minded creatives for the first time in my life and started doing showcases of upcoming artists we had interviewed..this has now developed into Decasia and Sick Club. I was completely touched and inspired by Sune's own personal blogs on his Myspace that I felt it was important to do the same for our fans - hence I began this blog.

Since that initial meeting on a cold spring day in March 2005, I've kept in touch with Sune, Sharin and Scott and cherish them dearly. They are one of the few genuine bands out there that I know. They are constantly writing and releasing amazing music, constantly touring, constantly keeping in touch with all their fans...they have a real passion for what they do and do it for all the right reasons. They are just so so inspiring.

You can read my original interview with them here:
http://www.somasomascene.com/raveonettes.html

And buy tickets for the London show with us in support here:
https://crowdsurge.com/theraveonettes

Love love
D-Bird

Take and shake your soul!

2009-08-27T15:51:00.001-07:00

Today was the first day of filming for the Maaike Mekking film which I'm providing the soundtrack for. My project is called Blue On Blue and it consists of me playing instruments/singing with a few special guest collaborators. Jerome Watson from Hatcham Social is producing it. There are no other permanent members at the moment (yes, don't believe everything you read....).

Anyway here are some pics from the shoot. A cold summer's evening on an east London rooftop...buckets of blood, virginal girls, lights, camera, action!!

The team assembles in Maaike's studio:

Cue bucket/pan of blood:

Cue Maaike's naughty little pup Seymour who tries to eat all the dresses and/or my toes. He's obsessed with feet:

Cue Maaike, her stylist and the dresses:

Cue ethereal beauty who has no idea what evil is in store for her:

TO BE CONTINUED...!
D-Bird

The Dying Game: B-Sides

2009-08-25T02:55:00.000-07:00

I've been listening to Do You Love Me Now Jnr on repeat since we got back from Austria. A rare Breeders B-Side which J Mascis remixed and added vocals to. Justin from Weekender told me about it and I tracked it down and fell in love with it.

This has reminded me of yet another one of my rants about music these days. What the hell has happened to B-Sides? Gone are the days where you would stick a 4 song single on and fall in love with ALL the songs and not just the single. One band whose B-Sides were always phenomenal, was Belly. Their astounding B-Sides as well as album tracks just confirmed what an amazingly talented band they were - they didn't just bung a crap remix on for a laugh. They gave their fans real music everytime. This is why I admire bands of old so much - the music, the ethos, everything was just so much more genuine then.

It may sound extreme but I think a large part of this genuinity died when John Peel died. No matter what people say, I definitely believe this. I grew up in a tiny steel mining village in the north east of England. 40 miles from Newcastle and 30 miles from Durham. Seriously, it was in the middle of absolute nowhere. However, I managed to fall in love with my escapism of music through the radio. I heard Urusei Yatsura, Mazzy Star, PJ Harvey on Radio 1 and managed to track down all their early releases in an indie record store in Newcastle. Seriously, listening to good music changed my life. The infamous Peel sessions were aimed solely at pure music fans - hearing bands play album tracks, covers and B-Sides. It just feels like no one really cares anymore and that hurts having finally given up a lot to be where we are right now. I really wish we met John Peel and would've given anything to have done a session for him....

I never want to release anything with just a remix as a B-Side. I think remixes serve their own purpose but being in a band, you need to constantly challenge yourself and give people as much as you can. You should never feel you are wasting a song by putting it out as a B-Side. Go away and write 5 more great songs instead.

D-Bird

Do You Love Me Now Jnr - download it here:
http://www.noaloha.com/breeders/index.php?page=8&album=6

Check out the entire Peel sessions back catalogue here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/artists/

Album of the Year

2009-08-23T17:05:00.000-07:00

Hands down for me, is 'Yoyodyne' by Projekt A-Ko, a band composed of 3 former Urusei Yatsura members - Fergus Lawrie (guitar/vocals), Ian Graham (drums) and Elaine Graham (bass/vocals).

Go to http://www.projektako.co.uk/yoyodyne/, buy the album and you will have a great life.

More songs up on their Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/projektako

I am so happy that there is a band like this out there, creating this type of music and doing it so damn well!!

D-Bird

GOLD SOUNDZ

2009-08-23T16:37:00.000-07:00

PJ HARVEY - SNAKE

URUSEI YATSURA - FAKE FUR

ASH - PETROL

ROBOT MONK - The Paper Boy whose Mind and Paper Round Expanded

D-Bird

MAAIKE MEKKING

2009-08-17T13:28:00.000-07:00

Today I met up with my friend Maaike in her Whitechapel studio. Maaike is an amazing womens fashion designer who I've known for a few years through the London club scene. Her and her boyfriend Michael used to run the best club night ever - Jack & Ginger at Bethnal Green Working Mens Club. It still remains the best club I've ever been to - great music, great bands, great performance art and great punters. I used to look forward to the last Saturday of every month SO much!

But alas, life always pulls us in different directions and for Maaike it was fashion that lured her to adventures far and wide. Her work is absolutely stunning - her clothes have a very timeless, classic yet quirky feel - a real reflection of Maaike's own unique style and personality.

I was very happy when she approached me about working together a few weeks ago. I'm very excited to be collaborating on a short film for her London Fashion Week show which takes place on September 21st in London.

This collaboration involves another collaboration of which more details will be revealed soon.

Stay tuned!
D-Bird

It's all about collabs, baby....

2009-08-12T16:56:00.000-07:00

I've been very excited this week. Mainly because I've heard some new music that's really stirred me. It rarely happens so I get terribly over-excited when it does.

I heard Faris' new project, Lumina's cover of 'I'll Be With You' which I love. You can hear it here:

http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/13225-ill-be-with-you-black-lips-cover/

I love the original Black Lips version but this is a great cover which sounds nothing like the original...that's what makes a cover for me. It currently serves as a B Side to 'Drugs', the new single by Black Lips.

Also this week, I was played some amazing songs by Finn (vocals and percussion) and Jerome (guitar) from Hatcham Social. A great little side project that also features Stephanie Min on vocals. It is the best thing I've heard all year. Fact. I can't wait till it's unleashed on the masses....

I've been busy consummating some ideas with a few friends which are certainly coming to fruition which is exciting. Hopefully as soon as next week....As usual, watch this space for more info!

D-Bird

Current Musings

2009-08-04T15:45:00.000-07:00

APATHY.

Boy, that's a somewhat overused and underworked word. I hate being consumed by it. I think it is the fear of it which drives me. What makes me get up in the morning as I haven't had a stable job for almost 18 months and the fear of going back to one sends me into overdrive of what I can do within my own power and ability to make me a successful person in my eyes and in my world.

But there's only so much I can do to keep it at bay. Ultimately I always succumb to it on some level. I detest it when it happens. It's such a damn awful feeling...a state of numbness....waiting for it to pass sure feels like hell in a timeless bottle.

I've been out of action for 3 days. Before that I was head first into the action of everything. Launched myself into a hectic social life at full throttle, not out of choice but more out of necessity; a means by which to earn some keep.

I keep complaining about how bad this summer is but it really is so bad. The worst on my memory's record. Today, the highlight of my day was penning a letter of complaint to my landlord. Yes, it made me sound like a frigid, spinster prude complaining about people having sex on the stairs and 'youths' smashing up vodka bottles but hell I was happy when I got a quick reply back and informed there was a meeting about everything taking place on Friday of which none of the residents are invited to. Bummer. Our correspondence has made me question paying what I thought was reasonable/cheap rent to live in the middle of goddamn hell but Mister Landlord is quick to play this down and blames it on the police of course:

'We have tried to get this situation rectified sooner and have been in touch with the police countless times over the youths hanging around but have now been told in no uncertain terms not to contact the police regarding the youths unless they are actually assaulting someone. Quite outrages I'm sure you will agree.'

Outrages? Don't you mean 'outrageous'? This spinster has got her red pen out at the ready and is marking you down, boy! Jesus, at least it makes me feel alive when I spot all your grammar and spelling mistakes. This certainly IS the highlight of my day. I don't know who to pity more - me or you, Mister Landlord.

This is not right and it's not fair. Now I don't want to move for another 2 weeks or encounter any humans unless it's via the medium of 2D and screens.

Apathetic summer...I will grow to love you..

D-Bird

Young Love

2009-08-04T14:31:00.000-07:00

Top 5 loves from girlhood:

1. My bed- I still have the same bed now, ok so the mattress has changed but the bed post is still the same. It was originally a bunk bed when C-Bird and I shared a room when we were 8 years old. When we were kids C-Bird and I were having one of our petty arguments over who was going to turn the light out as we were both already tucked into bed and too lazy to get out and flick the switch. She tried leaning out of her top bunk to turn off the light but fell head first out of her bunk and on to the floor. On her way down her brow hit the top of my bottom bunk. There was blood everywhere so as you can imagine pretty horrific for an 8 year old but I remember feeling extremely jealous when she got back from the hospital after getting her brow stitched with a bag of sweets and a couple of days off school to boot. SNOT fair AND she dented my bed frame. Pah. Actually I still think my bed is the love of my life.

2. Michael Jackson- It was all because of the cover for 'Bad'. Leather studs, perm, tight pants, smooth dance moves...but I was only 6. I must admit in adulthood I'm no longer a fan of perms, tight pants scare me (basically they're leggings right?) as for smooth dance moves…I’m still hook, line and sinker. C-Bird and I had a life size poster of Michael Jackson on our wall which faced our bunk bed but my father insisted we take it down after a while as it used to scare us at night…true story.

3. River Phoenix- ok who DIDN’T fancy him?! As with most people, you tend to copy your older (much cooler) siblings. C-Bird and I have an older sister, who we thought was the coolest person in the world. If she wanted to wear stonewashed denim (de rigueur) and not wash her hair…then we wouldn’t either because it was COOOOOOL and she thought River Phoenix was hottest guy alive so naturally we did too. I’ve recently been watching his films again, ‘Dog Fight’, ‘My Own Private Idaho’ and ‘Stand By Me’ (which was a personal favourite growing up!) and yes that tweenie crush I had is still there. RIP.

4. Keanu Reeves- Again because of the big sister. In my ‘Own Private Idaho’ you get a River and Keanu double fix. Yes it’s a film that must be revered for its artistic merit etc etc, Gus Van Sant etc etc but lets cut to the chase here I’m pretty sure a million girls swooned over this union in the 90’s. I wouldn’t recommend ‘Point Break’ though unless you’re a Swayze fan because frankly Patrick Swayze’s blonde hair and beard in the film is wrong.

5. Christian Slater- ‘Heathers’, need I say more? Ok so there’s a psycho in the school, there’s a f***ing psycho in the school! But…he’s actually fairly attractive and he talks like Jack Nicholson (why is this attractive?)…oh my god- there’s a psycho in the school and we want to be Winona Ryder. Fast forward 15 years…let’s just forget about what he looks like these days after all, those arched eyebrows DIDN’T seem creepy when he was 20.

Honourable mention: Johnny Depp- because we still fancied him when he had scissors for hands (again we wanted to be Winona Ryder…) AND he wore a crop top in Nightmare On Elm Street. Look!

I was obviously planning on marrying all of them but you know how plans change.

X-Bird

FADER TO GREY!

2009-08-04T14:01:00.000-07:00

I love this little write up in Fader Magazine. I know I always champion the zines but I get really excited when music mags hit the nail on the head and the writer of this piece certainly gets what we're about...My So Called Life, Obama and Oprah?! I couldn't have summed it up better myself!

http://www.thefader.com/2009/08/04/video-an-experiment-on-a-bird-in-the-air-pump-go-to-america/

I have yet to see the articles in V Magazine and Nylon but do check them out.

Also a big shout out to my newest partner in crime, Miss Princess Julia! We've been hanging out all week and causing trouble all over town...hell yeah! Julia is amazing - a real inspiration and east end institution....we are planning some future projects which is very exciting!!

In the meantime, read Julia's new Vice fashion blog here:

http://www.viceland.com/fashion/2009/07/princess-julias-style-counsel-fig1/comment-page-1/

And here's Julia in one of the many iconic videos she was in. Perhaps in a Bird vid some day? WATCH THIS SPACE!

D-Bird

Foot in mouth

2009-08-01T02:24:00.001-07:00

Social faux pas number 1- never introduce a friend you’ve known for a few years by completely the wrong name. If this happens turn it into a joke and make out the reddening in your cheeks is due to over zealous application of blusher….actually there isn’t really a way out of this one. Shame on you! Apologise to friend profusely- you owe them a pint…actually make that two.

Social faux pas number 2- you’re walking down the street and the wind blows your skirt up exposing you not only to the elements but to the men on the building site nearby…pull skirt down and pretend it never happened even though the builders close by are wolf whistling you to social death. Curtsey, give them a wink then walk on by.

Social faux pas number 3- you’ve decided to break into those ridiculous shoes with the 6 inch heel- why on earth you decided to wear them on a shopping trip is the most stupid decision you have ever made. On entering a shop being off kilter you knock into a rack of bags which in turn develops into a domino effect knocking another three racks, one…after….the…other. You watch aghast. By this time you’re on the floor (stupid shoes). Show no fear, it’s obviously because you’re feeling very faint and definitely coming down with something and need a glass of water (NOT because of stupid footwear). Down that glass of water in one, take shoes off and run out of the shop then eventually home…or pub for a stiff drink.

Obviously, these are merely examples and not situations that have happened to me…ahem…ahem.

I was mindlessly googling today and found a whole page dedicated to reversing a social faux pas. So read below and reverse your social faux pas in four easy steps (after you’ve initially recovered from embarresment of course).

From this website: http://www.ehow.com/how_2202478_reverse-social-faux-pas.html

• Step 1
Don’t show fear. The minute you realize you’ve committed a social faux pas, which will be obvious by the stares, the awkward clearing of throats, the winces passing over people’s countenances or even the pregnant silence, your first instinct will be to wince back, stand stilted or return the silence. This first crucial moment after a no-no often determines how long the humiliation will last. Cut the apparent tension in the room right away by laughing or making an off-hand comment. Sometimes a smile does the trick.

• Step 2
After releasing the initial tension with a laugh or a joke, address the social wrong you’ve committed. Pretending you yourself didn’t notice it is almost as embarrassing as the social faux pas itself. Use an appropriate tone to rectify the situation. For example, if you called your boss the wrong name, seriously apologize with a legitimate-sounding explanation. If it’s an outfit malfunction, come up with a light, witty explanation.

• Step 3
Don’t hide or act meekly for the rest of the meeting, evening or event. If you keep your cool, engage in charming conversation and make yourself present and unashamed, others will follow suit and keep their cool. If you act shy and bumbling the whole night, your behavior will be a constant reminder to everyone else that you did something worthy of shame.

• Step 4
You’ve addressed the situation, behaved with aplomb throughout the event and now it’s time to forget the social faux pas. If you find yourself re-living the embarrassing blunder, talk it over with friends who you know will make you feel foolish for ever dwelling on it.

Good luck!
X-Bird

VAMP NIGHT!

2009-07-27T11:23:00.000-07:00

We're getting together with Hatcham Social to bring you VAMP NIGHT!

A tribute to Grace Jones and the amazing film!

VAMP NIGHT
SUNDAY AUGUST 2ND
THE LEGION
OLD STREET

6-8PM: Record fair/jumble sale - bring along whatever you want to sell and keep your eyes peeled for little treasures!

8PM: VAMP screening

10pm-12am - Birds/Hatchams DJs

FREE ENTRY ALL NIGHT!

Good times!
D-Bird

Hatcham Social Vs Lights Out

2009-07-20T03:35:00.000-07:00

I've been listening to Hatcham Social's remix of Lights Out quite excessively, we really love it! You will be able to hear that and some other remixes shortly so stay tuned!

In the meantime, the Hatcham boys' Crocodile single is available now so is their album You Dig The Tunnel I'll Hide The Soil, go buy it! Check them out! www.myspace.com/hatchamsocial

This is their song Sidewalk which we also love:

Also keep your ears to the ground for a Hatcham/Birds club night coming your way soon!

D-Bird

Slouch rock

2009-07-19T06:45:00.000-07:00

My term to describe the current few good bands emerging from London. You heard it here first. Now answer me this, why are only about 2 of them playing 1234 festival?

COME ON.

Sort this out and break out of your comfort zones.

For the sake of modern music, it'll be worth it.

D-Bird

Karate Chimp

2009-07-18T16:37:00.000-07:00

Ok, so we all know I totally dig chimps....Check this one out!!!

Nutso!!

I want one!!
D-Bird

Sick, Broke Piggies

2009-07-16T17:18:00.000-07:00

Isn't it funny when things you always hear about but never thought would affect you, begin to impose on your everyday life?

The recession, recession, recession is all you hear about and you then realise that being unemployed in the literal sense of the word but being a full-time musician, is damn tough. Would we be in the same position if we made music 2 years ago? I think, probably not. Even upto a year ago, there seemed to be more money floating around in the industry. Go back 5 to 10 years and if we'd been in the same economical and musical climate then I'm sure there would have been no Lily Allen and Arctic Monkeys. They just broke through at the right time and I think they will be the last of the major artists for some time. Yes there is Florence, Little Boots etc but they have all rushed out at once this year and I don't think many will be remembered in a year's time. They are all of the same ilk with little that separates them I feel.

Currently, swine flu has hit Shoreditch life. At least 3 people I know have it and usual faces at my club night send me apologetic 'I really think I'm coming down with swine flu, I'm really sorry' messages. This damn global pandemic is now infringing on my social life! What I want to know is, what are the risks of dying from it now that Cherie Blair has it and more importantly, what the hell happened to Bird Flu?! Wasn't that meant to wipe out the entire planet last summer?!

Boy. Times are hard. Life is hard. It's like the plagues of Egypt all over again. Plus there were flying ants all over Shoreditch today! Sin city definitely feels very sinful...

D-Bird

An Angel At My Table

2009-07-14T11:53:00.000-07:00

During our stay in Chicago, we had access to lots of DVDs in the studio we stayed in. I was incredibly happy when I saw a copy of 'An Angel At My Table' which is the film version of Janet Frame's autobiography.

I'm a huge fan of Janet Frame. I have a real connection with her work and those of other confessional writers such as Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. I love raw, honest, passionate writing and find it very inspiring to be able to write about your feelings to the world in such an open way.

If you have yet to check out any of Janet Frame's writing then her novel, 'Owls Do Cry' is a great starting place as well as her poetry.

The Suicides
It is hard for us to enter
the kind of despair they must have known
and because it is hard we must get in by breaking
the lock if necessary for we have not the key,
though for them there was no lock and the surrounding walls
were supple, receiving as waves, and they drowned
though not lovingly; it is we only
who must enter in this way.

Temptations will beset us, once we are in.
We may want to catalogue what they have stolen.
We may feel suspicion; we may even criticise the décor
of their suicidal despair, may perhaps feel
it was incongruously comfortable.

Knowing the temptations then
let us go in
deep to their despair and their skin and know
they died because words they had spoken
returned always homeless to them.
Janet Frame

D-Bird

Home truths

2009-07-12T07:36:00.000-07:00

So we’re back from our travels!

D-Bird has posted up a few photos in a previous blog entry and as she mentioned, yes we look so happy! We had an amazing time over in Chicago and I have been bending any free ear around me to talk about how spectacular the city is. We ventured downtown and admired the Chicago skyline on an open top double decker. The city looks just how you would imagine it to look in the days of Al Capone. I took a few photos of the city which will be up once I’ve finally gotten over the jet lag. I’ve been slobbing it the past couple of days in bed and waking up just in time for quiz time on Channel 5… with all the other insomniacs. I’m usually an early riser so I’ve been somewhat out of sorts the past couple days since landing home. I’ve also come to realise how annoying the presenters on those quiz time shows are and in my delirium have had to strap my hands down in order to stop myself from dialling in on the shows in an attempt to win the £30,000 prize for guessing secret numbers and words on grids etc. It kind of takes me back to when I became mildly obsessed with Deal or No Deal…oh my.

Back to Chicago…the whole place for some strange reason reminded me of denim, the stone washed kind. The street lighting gave the whole city a completely different hue and atmosphere from London. As much I love London, Chicago had a warm feeling about it- it could be because we were there in the summer and not during their arctic winters…but I loved it! The people were so friendly from people on the street giving us directions to acquaintances and new friends we met/made during our time there. There was a sense of openness I haven’t really experienced in any other city I have visited before. The city shared the feeling of a 'don’t just save a smile for your friends' attitude which I have to admit I was compltely sucked in by. Hook, line, sinker- I was smiling and saying 'Hello' to strangers on the street and in our hotel by day 4. Being open, friendly, kind…major basics in forming long standing relationships at times in the past had eluded me not out of rudeness but more out of shyness in turn making me appear stand-offish/rude/etc, etc. These are aspects of a personality I most definitely do not share but through ways of acting with certain people in the past and at times present has meant that I have been viewed in a not so flattering light leading to words and actions becoming misconstrued and misinterpreted. I’m not the most self-centred person I know but I am not saint enough to say I haven’t been on many occasions. What struck me the most whilst being out in Chicago was the open friendliness of the people there, whether it was for landing bigger tips or an actual genuine act of friendliness the point that stands is- if you smile the world smiles with you. No more of this I hate the world, my world, my life, bullshit. If I am ever in that state of morose mind then I’m not going to sit on my arse or fester in bed and blame every social aspect surrounding me for making me feel this way. I’m going to face it head on with a big up yours to social deterioration, after all my finger is better up in the air than stuck up my arse.

X-Bird

Sweet Talk

2009-07-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

I love this song...

D-Bird

Candy says I've come to hate my body
and all that it requires in this world
Candy says I'd like to know completely
what others so discreetly talk about

I'm gonna watch the blue birds fly over my shoulder
I'm gonna watch them pass me by
Maybe when I'm older
What do you think I'd see
If I could walk away from me

Candy says I hate the quiet places
that cause the smallest taste of what will be
Candy says I hate the big decisions
that cause endless revisions in my mind

I'm gonna watch the blue birds fly over my shoulder
I'm gonna watch them pass me by
Maybe when I'm older
What do you think I'd see
If I could walk away from me

Chicago Diaries - Part 2

2009-07-11T18:35:00.000-07:00

The Chicago Diaries Part 1

2009-07-09T12:18:00.001-07:00

Stay tuned for more dudes!

D-Bird

Back To Blighty

2009-07-09T09:30:00.000-07:00

We arrived back in Heathrow this morning at 8am and landed smack bang in the middle of London rush hour. Drove past all of London's tourist sights and sounds on the way back so that made me fall back in love with it quite quickly.

I've had one of the best weeks of my life. We all had such an amazing time in the States. I've come back elated but also a little sad it all came to an end and we had to leave. C'est la vie, non but I couldn't have wished for anything more. I have 3 living idols and I've met them all, 2 of them since being in this band. I never ever thought I would let alone work with one of them. He was everything I thought he would be and more. A true professional and a true gentleman.

I've uploaded some pics from the trip that I took on a $10 digital camera that's the size of a keyring that I bought from Walgreens, our favourite store over there. What struck me the most, is how happy we all look in the photos.

Good times...So thrilled we had this opportunity...

D-Bird

TRAVEL LITERATURE

2009-06-30T08:40:00.000-07:00

The big day has arrived! Off we go to Chicago...the first time two thirds of us have ever been to America and all to experience musical adventures currently unknown....

Now having more or less packed (if throwing some pants and tshirts into a suitcase count), it is time for the most important part of travelling - what reading accompaniments deserve to make the journey from the dusty bookshelf in your room across oceans to lands new?

I've realised that in the last year or so due to severe lack of funds, I haven't bought that many books. Most I have acquired from my school and university days and some have come by means of presents. Books and records are my most favourite presents to give and receive!

I've just been towering over my much neglected bookcase trying to find something that will hold my interest for more than 5 minutes and hopefully will also be quite appropriate for the journey ahead.

Immediately I spot Jack Kerouac's On The Road which was a present from my sister after she first visited the States. Yep, couldn't be a more damn obvious choice but I am yet to read it so it will do nicely. Next to that I see City Lights Poets Anthology - sticking with the American theme, in the suitcase it goes.

Finally as I was turning away from the bookcase and preparing myself to jump over the drum kit in the corner of my room back to where there is actually a bit of space on the floor, I spot a coverless ancient book and have no idea what it could be. It is in fact JG Ballard's Concrete Island. I haven't a clue how it arrived in my bookcase. It is coverless and has no identification marks except the following number scrawled on the back: 07780 611631.

Dare I ring it? Perhaps after I have read the book as I am so keen to dig into it!

Farewell London! I feel so drained of people and this town...I have been dreaming of this in all my past lives...

D-Bird

PS I remember one of the first blogs I ever wrote was The Birds Book Club blog on our Myspace which had great input and feedback from you all! Feel free to suggest any good books you are currently reading as I am always interested. Thanks!

2300 Jackson Street

2009-06-27T15:34:00.000-07:00

It would be a real shame not to visit it when we are in Chicago in a few days time.

Gary Indiana, here we come...

D-Bird

Where is the love?

2009-06-24T20:22:00.000-07:00

Today I've been thinking about matters of the heart again. I'm wondering, where did all the love go? Not in the boring, idealised sense of romance, no sir. But where did all the stormy, trashy, turbulent, sexually-charged dalliances of yesteryears rock stars go? We need to bring this back!!

I'm not condoning or condemning any set lifestyle at all. I am merely thinking aloud - curious as to where misspent youth and energy are spending their time. Perhaps it's because we are too tame these days or the fact that people seem to be more and more introverted and more and more insulated. Boring! I have my firm few intellectual friends that I love and care for so much but sometimes I feel totally out on a limb with my views on other stuff. More than anything, I have constant battles with myself as to what is 'correct' behaviour. I may say one thing and do the complete opposite. I tend to do this a lot and it's pretty frustrating. I suppose I'm a real hypocrite underneath it all.

At the end of the day, I suppose we all must calm down. I mean, look at Stephanie Seymour. She went from playing Axl Rose's bride in the November Rain video to marrying this in real life:

Yes, an overweight fiftysomething billionaire banker.

Eeeeeeeeeeeek.

Personally?

I would have stuck with Axl.

D-Bird

Dalston Days and celebrity spotting!

2009-06-24T13:27:00.000-07:00

Today we went the short way down to Dalston, to the Pix HQs to be exact, for an interview with Princess Julia and Hanna Hanra. It was fun! Look out for it and something else very special very soon! Only in Pix of course!

We then stopped off for a yummy turkish meal (don't know what it was but there was potatoes, bread, olives etc) and then walked into a shop and saw.......!!!!!

T-Boz from TLC!

Diana Ross!

And.....Beyonce!!!

All in a day's work...
D-Bird

CHICAGO CHICAGO CHICAGO

2009-06-24T03:17:00.000-07:00

NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm looking forward to hanging with these guys:

D-Bird

Fbk lol.

2009-06-23T07:11:00.000-07:00

I haven't written on here for a while, under the ethos that if you ain't got anything to say, it's better holding back than posting a blank page. So here I am talking about something that is making my mind's eye dribble slightly. At the moment my only company is facebook, bed and now blogger.com. We've just finished the last week of our tour and on my return i have spent the past couple of days under the duvet in the foetal position with facebook on the laptop arms or stumbles length away. Facebook quizzes are my new internet thing, fuck You Tube or online scrabble- these pointless quizzes are actually helping me tick away the time. Reading a good book or watching a film, whatever. For the past couple of days my mind is a zombie. I'm keeping it blank, I'm playing the 'dumb blond' until I decide I'm ready to play the 'intelligent brunette' or whatever. Through these facebook quizzes I can assess how gay i am (65%), what will happen on prom night (I will get arrested) and when I will have a baby (14 March 2014). Amazing. For next couple of days facebook is my social life. Don't call me, facebook me. You want my attention? Superpoke me instead and in return I'll send you a vodka cocktail via the applications section. Lets fbk chat and lol all night. Hey, you know what? I'll even 'like' your facebook status updates.

X-Bird

The Zine That Never Was

2009-06-22T14:54:00.000-07:00

We'd planned on doing a fanzine for our tour but unfortunately, it never came to fruition.

I've posted some stuff below that was meant to go in it. As people took time out to submit stuff, it's a real shame for it to just lie on my laptop and not to share it with the world.

Also on other news, I have launched a new magazine and community blog today! It is called The Quiet Riots - named partly after the Bird song and partly after the inspirational, pacifist ways of Mahatma Gandhi. Basically a lot can be done just through exercising freedom of thought...you don't even have to leave your bed. I do most things from my bed - organising club nights, writing, promoting, playing bass - I think people who think lying in bed all day is lazy need to open their minds. For me, my bed is my office. All my wondrous thoughts, strange ideas and darkest despairs surface there.

Anyway, check it out and let me know if you want to contribute. I've been inundated with talented people getting in touch today about it. I'm so happy! It seems like it's touched a nerve. All those who I was hoping would get in touch have. It's all very exciting.

D-Bird

THE ZINE THAT NEVER WAS

I asked a few friends to submit their current Top 10 songs.

FARIS, THE HORRORS:
1. Del Shannon - Keep Searchin’
2. Harry Nilsson - Everybody’s Talkin’
3. Bobby Vee - The Night Has 1000 Eyes
4. Rosa Yemen - Larousse Baron Bic
5. A Number Of Names - SheriVari
6. David Bowie - In The Heat Of The Morning
7. Robert Ashley -Automatic Writing
8. King Sun - Coming Soon
9. The Alliance - Your Idol
10. The Sapphires - Where Is Your Heart

JON, THE RULING CLASS:
1. Sisters Of Mercy - Amphetamine Logic
2. Fields of Nephilim- Preacher Man
3. The Horrors- Mirrors Image
4.Pale Fountains - Unless
5.The Associates - Party Fears Two
6. Cocteau Twins - Cherry Coloured Funk
7. My Bloody Valentine - Strawberry Wine
8. The Telescopes - Perfect Needle
9. Spacemen 3 - Revolution
10. The Charlatans - 10 Ignition

SHAUN, V.E.G.A.S WHORES
1. SONIC YOUTH - Theresa's Sound World (Live USA)
2. BARBARA MORGENSTERN - Morbus Basedow
3. MY BLOODY VALENTINE - Realise
4. SUICIDE - Station
5. THE FALL - Dead Beat Descendant
6. VELVET UNDERGROUND- Venus In Furs
7. PAN SONIC - Machinist
8. THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE - God Is my Girlfriend
9. APHEX TWIN - Quixote
10. ANDRE LOO - Introvert Dancer

JAMES, BRAVE EXHIBITIONS
1. "Ex-Yugoslavia" by Table Manners
2. "Next to Nothing" by Savage Republic
3. "Machismo" by Gene Loves Jezebel
4. "Les Anges d'Aujourd'hui" by Trop Tard
5. "Glory of the World" by Gloria Mundi
6. "Le Soleil S'est Noye" by Exces Nocturne
7. "Sex Hex" by Nurvuss
8. "Grossstadtalarm" by Plastikstrom
9. "Acid Burn" by White Car Pet
10. "Saturday Nite" by Central Unit

C-Bird's Top 5 Bonanza!

Top 5 Women who rock

I’ve include a colourful array of artists in my list who have inspired me in my quest of rock and roll enlightenment.

1, Tina Turner

Tina Turner will always be number one on my list. Her voice is like a hurricane ripping through your soul. She exudes so much energy and sexuality the woman stands alone.

2, Annie Sprinkle (Performance artist)

Annie Sprinkle has worked in every part of the sex industry. From prostitute to film producer she has done everything. Relaying her past in performance and through sex education she uses her experience in the sex industry to enlighten the curious. In her most famous performance piece called “My Public Cervix Announcement” she invited audiences to inspect her cervix with a speculum and a flashlight. She celebrates the female body with a no holes barred attitude that I find fascinating. We are in world where image is so important and at times it can be hard to feel comfortable in your own skin. This is why Annie Sprinkle is unique she breaks all barriers and carries on living.

3, Carol Morely (Film maker)

The Alcohol Years, chronicles Morley’s life throughout the years she spent as part of the Hacienda scene from 1982-1987. Writing an ad in a local Manchester paper she asked people to contact her if they knew her within those five blurry alcoholic years. The film is almost parallel to how most women feel when they become absorbed into a “scene”. The music, the party, the people you meet became part of your life and what starts out to be a harmless obsession becomes suffocating something that Morely later finds out.

4, Maya Deren (Film maker)

A voodoo High Priestess and a regarded founder of the American avant garde she once stated, “I make my pictures for what Hollywood spends on lipstick”. A firm opposition to the Hollywood mainstream her film “Meshes of the Afternoon” has not only influenced me in my video work but also through music aswell. Teiji Ito who composed the score was her husband and concocted a stream of minimal tribal drums that carry the film into a different dimension. It was orignally a silent film. A sureal coil of images reflecting the different sides of a woman. The film never fails to enchant and hypnotize.

5, N I C O

In a documentary I watched about Nico someone described her as a freak for being so beautiful. I wonder what it must be like to be recognised firstly for your appearance and then of your achievements. But her beauty was something quite mythical. Even as she aged and her looks began to fade the myth and legacy surrounding her never melted away. Her voice etched with melancholy a deep and monotone voice that evoked so much emotion. The songs she sang with the Velvet Underground are my favourite tracks. All Tomorrows Parties and Femme Fatale still hold my attention like the first time I heard them.

2009-06-22T09:24:00.000-07:00

NO THANKS

NEW HORIZONS

2009-06-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

This week brings a close to our tour. It couldn't have ended on a greater high - Wrexham with Martin and our friends Ira and Kristina in tow was one of our best gigs ever!

Last night we played a great club called Twee Off which is at Norwich Arts Centre which is a huge church. There was a very cool crowd and we saw some amazing bands - Men and Fever Fever who both supported us. It was a really cool night.

Now we rehearse for about 10 days before we head off to record our album. Unfortunately we still can't give much away about it due to instructions from the greater powers that be which sucks a lot. However we're planning on it having 12 songs and it is being produced by one of my all-time heroes. It's so exciting I'm going to burst!

Anyway, it is Father's Day and I'm a bad daughter as I'm so exhausted I can't make the trip home...Here's some random photos I've found on my phone from the last few weeks.

Camilla Ghost School/Creep Club is the coolest girl around!

Favourite new pass time is milkshakes!

My best milkshake buddy wearing the scarf I knitted for him

Lovely message from Twee Off!

Which I can't help defacing....

Norwich Arts Centre

Coliseum

Venice Square

The saltiest margherita pizza ever....

D-Bird

Dazed and Confused

2009-06-18T22:34:00.000-07:00

Here's an interview I did with Dazed writer Mark Smith as part of Dazed's Young Creative Entrepreneurs feature which is out in this month's issue of Dazed and Confused and also online.

You can peek at it here. It also has Ciaran from Experimental Circle Club as well as Milo Merok/Big Pink plus some other very interesting souls:

http://www.dazeddigital.com/article/3511/1/Rip_it_Up_and_Start_Again

D-Bird

Some cool blogs/websites I'm into

2009-06-17T15:44:00.000-07:00

http://facetattoo.me/ is bloody brilliant! Really makes me think that I'm not using my mind, body and creativity at their utmost capacity.

Zombie Boy is a particular fave. Must be because I'm a goth of course. He's actually quite good looking and takes time out to drink slush puppies in the sun. So he's sensitive underneath it all. Don't let the cold exterior fool you!

http://edwardcrutchley.blogspot.com/ is a great read. Ed is a really good friend of mine. In fact, he co-founded Decasia Club with me back in the day. Here's a bit of trivia for you - for a while Decasia was run by 4 of us including Andy Needle (who is now guitarist in The Ruling Class) and Ollie Evans who is a music video director and did Atlantis to Interzone for Klaxons amongst others. Haha, looking back we were quite the creative crew!

Off to Wrexham tomorrow with a certain Martin Selfish Cunt in tow...can't wait! Ross from Don't Die Just Yet always treats us so well and we've always had such good times there. Really looking forward to it! I must remember not to swear as it's a 14+ gig. The first problem is how am I going to introduce Martin on stage without saying the C word?!!!!

D-Bird

PRESENTS FROM US TO YOU!

2009-06-17T04:37:00.000-07:00

We've got a few new live recordings which you can download here for absolutely free!

We have 2 new Bird songs:

Quiet Riot
C-Bird - Drums
D-Bird - Vocals & Bass
X-Bird - Bass
Quiet Riot.mp3

Devotion
C-Bird - Vocals
D-Bird - Drums
X-Bird - Bass
Devotion.mp3

And 2 covers:

Rebellion (Lies) by Arcade Fire
C-Bird - Bass
D-Bird - Vocals & Bass
X-Bird - Drums
Rebellion Lies.mp3

No Fun by The Stooges
C-Bird - Drums
D-Bird - Bass
X-Bird - Vocals
No Fun.mp3

Enjoy!
D-Bird

RyanScare Vs The Pixies

2009-06-16T15:13:00.000-07:00

Jesus. RyanScare is an absolute disgrace. I don't understand why people think that if something has the word 'budget' or 'low cost' in it then it's alright to be treated like a piece of crap. I believe that any service provided, even a free service, should have a standard level of respect for its customers.

Ryan Air don't believe this. No sir. Their policy is: if we don't say anything, it never happened. So when you go up to a young Italian trolley dolly and demand to know why you boarded the plane 2 hours after it was meant to take off and hear the engines being switched on an hour and a half after you've been strapped into your chair and made to stare at orange tanned slick back pony tailed grumpy air stewards floundering their arms about with a demonstration life jacket on, you are met with this response.

Did you hear that?

Yes.

That was a resolute nothing as a response.

Anyway, the only thing that cheered me up a semi tone was a call from a dear friend telling me that The Pixies concert was about to start in under an hour. Of course I was not even in the air let alone anywhere near east London. Ahhh. But it felt so good to know that my dearest friends were thinking of me and wishing me to be there.

This one is for you. You know who you are.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

D-Bird

SICK! SHOW U.S. YOUR BOOTY!

2009-06-16T14:36:00.002-07:00

Save the date! Monday June 29th - The Birds' Independence Day party!

I'm going to play the likes of this:

D-Bird

The Perils/Liberation of London folk

2009-06-11T18:07:00.000-07:00

Today I decided to stay in and spend some time by myself as it all kicks off again tomorrow - London gig, Rome, final tour dates and then locking ourselves away in the studio for a couple weeks. Then America and then my holiday in Amsterdam!! This is my last day off in a long while. I really enjoyed my evening.

I'd planned on attending 2 different gigs but there were people at both gigs I really didn't want to see. People from my past and people from my present....I felt the best option was to stay at home and get familiar with our new bass amps. I believe people are transitory - I don't keep a real, strong connection with them. I've lost the need to be sentimental and my stamina to preserve friendships is rapidly deteriorating. There are those special few that I have and those people will have my all. Over the years I've come to find that the more chances you give certain people, the more they will fuck up. It's better to bite the bullet after the first time and look forwards to new people and new horizons. This may seem like a ridiculous way of living but I have my reasons and many scars to prove it.

I have a real issue with people disrepecting each other. As much as people think I'm a scene queen and flutter about from one club to the next every night, this really isn't the case. Apart from gigs and DJing, I spend a lot of my time at home or at random pubs and places away from the thick of it so to speak. I keep myself to myself and especially out of gossip. It seems like everyone has something to say about everyone else and no doubt despite trying to shun myself away, news travels and I'm surprised when I hear what certain people allegedly get up to and particularly shocked when I hear supposed news about me.

Haha. You have to laugh. I'm not going to reel out the expected Oscar Wilde quote at this point but being talked about in any capacity besides our music irks me. Forgot to put that on my irk list from the other day....

Sometimes you can feel like a complete ghost in London and other times you feel so hounded and claustrophobic. I find it interesting that there are so many scenes and groups within the relatively small music scene of London. These factions are so easy to spot and everyone knows exactly which one they are in. The girls and I find this fascinating. We're friendly to everyone yet we remain an island to a large extent. Not really sure why. Perhaps we're a bit too weird or perhaps we are yet to find the right people we completely click with.

Who knows. Who cares.

THE SHOW MUST GO ON.

D-Bird

Check this shit out!

2009-06-10T16:43:00.000-07:00

Perfect after you've had one too many beers and can't afford a kebab - suck it in through the screen!

Loads of other food monstrosities here: http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/

I'm bored. I need more gross websites to entertain me aside from the obligatory normal porn. Start swapping ideas with me folks!

D-Bird

Current Irks

2009-06-09T15:43:00.001-07:00

Craving a milkshake and ordering a smoothie instead. There's a big damn difference! My bad.

People who call themselves 'writers' but in fact they never write.

People who say they are shy, sensitive beings but in reality they enjoy making nice people feel like shit.

Not realising that past the end of your nose and past the end of today, good things are awaiting you.

Not being there for genuine people who really need you because you give all your energy to unappreciative idiots.

D-Bird

Pan Kun

2009-06-07T14:04:00.000-07:00

I love monkeys. I've always wanted one since I saw Michael Jackson with Bubbles back in the rocking 80s.

I was introduced to this Japanese show about a year ago. It is amazing, Pan Kun is a true legend who takes his best friend, bulldog James out on missions like doing fire training, cooking noodles and boarding a train.

This is one of my favourite clips:

Go Pan Kun!!

D-Bird

Who's Afraid Of Virgina Woolf?

2009-06-04T00:45:00.000-07:00

Originally a stage play, 'Who's Afraid Of Virgina Woolf' caused a stir in the 50's due to the powerful themes it delved into- marriage, mental illness, family, career, children, alchoholism. These issues today are still very much top of the agenda but the way in which these themes were dealt with caused quite a sensation. The idea that the desire to have the perfect marriage, family, career, love (aspects of life that most will assume are just givens) can in fact strip away a person's self-esteem and uniqueness was something completely unheard of, blashpemous, impossible. But it's this desire for an 'ideal' that comsumes a person and can eventually destroy them. Failing to achieve these ideals renders you a social failure.

The film adaptation sees a dishevelled Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton verbally and sometimes physically battling it out for the duration of the film over marriage, love, children and promiscuity in the presence of a pair of new weds who on first glance represent the 50's ideal- young and ambitious. It sounds like 90 minutes of Jeremy Kyle but it's done in such an intelligent, impassioned way, the intensity can cut through you like a knife. For the duration of the film you're drawn into the characters' descent into a muddy drunk fuzz where reality and fantasy merge and bombshells are dropped left, right and centre. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. As 'THE END' fades onto the screen it'll take you at least the whole night to get your breath back.

Martha and George are at it again...

I watched this film a couple of days ago and it is still stuck firmly in my mind. Films I have seen that I feel share this same level of intensity are, 'A Street Car Named Desire' and 'Replusion' both of which I watched for the first time a few years back. Once the closing credits roll on screen you are left in such a heady state as each film is such an emotional explosion! When we get back from tour I'll post up a few more of my must-see films and as ever, film recomendations are highly apprieciated!!!!!

X-Bird

MY NEW HANG OUT

2009-06-03T16:16:00.000-07:00

Cheap, good wholesome food and always a vegetarian option.

Great books, records and cards on sale.

All the money goes to charity.

D-Bird

LET'S

2009-06-03T15:52:00.000-07:00

FUCK
...AND...
...GET WASTED...
...MASHED...
...PISSED...
...HAVE STUPID CONVERSATIONS ABOUT NOTHING...
...AND DO IT ALL AGAIN TOMORROW...

If there's anyone out there who thinks outside the above box, then please do drop me a line.

Stimulating intellectual, political, artistic conversations are a big no-no these days.

Apparently.

D-Bird

Body bag/hand bag

2009-06-03T12:37:00.000-07:00

We hit the road again tomorrow, next stop BRISTOL! It's absolutely outrageous the amount of crap I will attempt to fit into a bag big enough to fit an adult human body. I tell myself over and over, 'I need ALL OF THIS SHIT and the extra shoes', obviously this is a load crap seeing as I'll only wear one pair of shoes for the next couple of months until I get bored of them or until they fall apart - whichever happens first, usually the latter. Note to self: being Emelda Marcos and the woman who lived in a giant shoe- not good. But yes, packing is not my forte and I hate it. Oh what a life I live to actually worry about packing... It makes me feel dirty like a piece of shit.

I used to absolutely hate taking a handbag out with me and now I walk around with a mammoth sized atrocity carrying a lot of pointless objects for those 'just in case' moments. Maybe it's an 'age' thing. My sister who has a 2 year old son, leaves home with a smaller bag than I do and she carries a box of Pampers and an industrial sized tub of E45 Cream with her at all times.

What else do I need to do before tomorrow? ...

Ugh I abhor 'to do' lists, mainly because I can never complete them but I have this constant urge to write them then eventually write them off. They're usually penned before bedtime in some neurotic fevered way. Like a pre-bed head cleanse before I close my eyes for the day. I cleared out the draws by my desk the other day and found about 60 unticked, unfinished lists of importance. It's really quite questionable how important these, 'to dos' were seeing as a few of those lists were over a year old and were all practically unfinished. I noticed, 'find a job' was on one of the lists, underlined, circled and highlighted TO FUCK.

Ok so I don't actually need to pack all this shit do I?

X-Bird

THE BIRD YEAR SO FAR....

2009-06-02T05:22:00.000-07:00

ADD US ON FACEBOOK C-BIRD D-BIRD X-BIRD!

In the meantime...some snap shots of Bird life....Click on the photos to see them in full!

NO YEARS EVE JAN 09 W/MARTIN SELFISH CUNT

NO YEARS EVE JAN 09

DECASIA CLUB GRUNGE NIGHT JAN 09

MILAN FEB 09

GILES DEACON FEB 09

GILES DEACON SHOW W/KAYNE! FEB 09

X-BIRD AND KEEX FEB 09 CATCH

BARCELONA MARCH 09

DECASIA CLUB HACIENDA NIGHT MARCH 09

i-D MAGAZINE GILES DEACON SHOOT MARCH 09

PARIS ARPIL 09

RECORDING WITH TIM BURGESS MAY 09

GREAT ESCAPE MAY 09

LEEDS MAY 09

XXX

This is a public service announcement

2009-06-02T02:34:00.000-07:00

Smokers Cough

Splutter, weeze, retch, splutter, splutter, splutter....

Time to give up the menthols perhaps? I have to admit, as I type this I have a fag pinned inbetween my middle and forefinger. Yeah and I just coughed...

I have been talking to friends of mine who have recently given up the evil nicotine sticks- they keep telling me, 'honey, you won't quit until you REALLY want to!'. But I do, I seriously do......I kind of do....really......inhale, exhale, stress over.

At the moment due to major wallet malfunctions (i.e- zero money), I've had to smoke roll ups. There is something ritualistic about pulling out a rizla, neatly lining up my tobacco in the paper and just rolling. You anticipate the smoke, nicotine and all the glorious crap that goes into making a ciggarette filling your lungs....... A roll up isn't as instant a fix as a regular pack of smokes, you have to work for it. 'Work for it'? How ridiculous! How obscene! People who quit smoking have such backbone in them.

A morning ritual- heave body out of bed, wipe sleep from eyes, scan the room for lighter, fag, ashtray, light up...good morning. I actually enjoy it, fuck it, there I said it...I ACTUALLY ENJOY SMOKING. I am aware of the health implications and that my lungs are probablly held together by a mass of tar and crap- I say, reaching for another.....

I tried giving up the other week with C-Bird. We kept telling ourselves, 'we don't need one, we don't need one!!!' By the end of the day we were screaming the house down. Operation: Clean Lungs lasted one day and one night. Also it didn't help that in order to switch our brains off the nicotine we watched a docuamentary on the Manson Family. It's funny how a documentary about horrific mass murder makes you want to reach for a 20 pack... Next time I think we'll read a book instead.

X-Bird

Has anyone out there heard of an amazing invention called an 'iPod'??

2009-05-31T14:37:00.000-07:00

Since the epic 7 hour journey from Middlesborough to Bethnal Green on Friday, I've started becoming addicted to something I've never done before - that's right, listening to my iPod.

Those that know me know that it's vinyl all the way with me and that I don't really listen to music on my laptop (only got into last.fm when everyone else was already on Spotify) or whilst I'm on the go. I've always used travelling time as time to think a lot, read and do anything but listen to music. I suppose it's the few hours a day I break myself away from it.

Anyway all the above is now poo as since Friday I've been iPod hooked on every journey I've done.

Here is the latest favourite playlist:
Before We Begin - Broadcast
Black/White - The Raveonettes
Ceremony - New Order
Everybody's Talkin - Harry Nilsson
Eighties Fan - Camera Obscura
Feel Like A Woman - Selfish Cunt
Floyd the Barber - Nirvana
Gingerbread - Frankie Avalon
Hey - The Pixies
I Know I'll See You - A Place To Bury Strangers
I Wanna Be Your Dog - The Stooges
Passover - Joy Division
Spooky - Dusty Springfield
Ubasti - Futurism Vs Passeism

And also a load of Bird songs including Smear, Only In Death, Silent Hour, Violets of Dawn, False Fright and Just Walk.

I couldn't find Frankie doing Gingerbread but here's him and the amazing Annette Funicello doing what they do best:

I need loads more songs! Let me know what you're listening to and feel free to share your ultimate playlists!

D-Bird

Love Vs Solitude

2009-05-30T06:05:00.000-07:00

I wrote an article for Artrocker's Vagabondo festival entitled 'Love: ruined hearts and minds' which sums up the way I've been feeling about a few things recently. Having just come back from a few gigs up north, I've returned home to an empty flat and I'm prepared for a solitary weekend ahead.

Usually this fills me with dread but I remembered a book that meant a lot to me a few years ago and have decided to re-read it again. It's Rainer Maria Rilke's 'Letters To A Young Poet.' I love Rilke as he is such a writer's writer. If you are interested in writing then I suggest you read his work as it is very inspirational and sums up the worries, creative mind and positives that embrace writers. What I find particularly comforting, is his words on solitude. Rather than being afraid of it and dreading it, Rilke encourages enjoying it and channelling it into one's own creative pursuits:

'...it is good to be solitary, for solitude is difficult; that something is difficult must be a reason the more for us to do it.'

Sometimes things make you feel insecure and unstable when you don't have a proper sense of routine, you are cautious of new people and their intentions and those who you deeply trust can't be around you all the time. It makes you feel on edge a lot and therefore tiny trivial things feel like huge earthquakes until you wake up the next day and realise that you hugely overreacted to absolutely nothing. Also if you feel you are growing increasingly distant from those around you:

'....if there is nothing in common between you and other people, try being close to things, they will not desert you, there are the night stills and the winds that go through trees and across many lands....'

At the moment, I'm trying to train myself to adjust to this lifestyle and the people around me and mostly to have realistic expectations of those around me. Whether anything will change greatly or whether life will carry on as it is, I have no idea. All I know is sometimes by reading the words of others, everything is not as awful as it initially first seemed. Whether I spend the next few days completely alone or with people, I am accepting of both.
D-Bird

I am cool, I am also not cool but mainly I am cool.

2009-05-26T10:19:00.001-07:00

Dancing, gyrating, body popping. Laugh out loud, dance to the 'Love Shack' barefoot, stick a picture of Beyonce on your face, eat those chips, go to bed in last night's clothes and make up and wake up with an eyeliner mono-brow (hangover optional).

Ring-a-ring-a-roses on the dancefloor, cool. Joining the conga line, cool. Dancing around a handbag like a drunk woman at a hen party, cool. Falling over and just missing the dog turd on the pavement by a millimeter is lucky...and cool. Having a hangover the morning after the night before as a constant reminder of things you wish you didn't do the night before, unfortunate and not so cool. Having a hangover the morning after the night before as a constant reminder of how much fun you had the night before, cool. Eating illicit donner kebabs afterdark, cool. Waking in the morning to the stench of conjuled fat and kebab stink on your clothes, not so cool. Renewing a childhood love of Juicy Fruit, cool. The morning after the night before's first fag of the day, cool. Health implications 5 years down the line, not so cool. Drinking tap water, cool. Bottled water is over priced, not cool. I was told i was 'funky', cool. I was told I was an idiot, this was cool also. I was told I was 'chunky'- I prefer curvy, not so cool. I was told 'lady your skirt is too short', my brain is telling me I need a shorter hem line, cool. I am constantly falling out of my top intentionaly and unintentionaly, I don't care- this is cool.

Last night was fun.

X-Bird

From My Understanding Part 1

2009-05-26T10:13:00.000-07:00

From My Understanding... Part 1
By X-Bird

Magenta Melodrama

There is beauty in melodrama…

What is the fucking point of living life in black and white? Is it not better to understand your misgivings in technicolour? A wave of failures and triumphs illustrated by a rainbow. A shade for every joy, a tone for every sorrow. A colourful life.

Live life like a Hypercolour t-shirt. You come alive when you’re touched, reacting to human warmth with an explosion of colour. Whoever invented those t-shirts was on to something. I remember them being popular in the early nineties during the height of rave culture. Bodies pushed up against each other moving, gyrating to a unified rhythm. Body warmth reacting to the chemistry of the fabric. Everyone in love with each other.

You’re so cool, you wear black. You’re so cool, you think in black. You’re just so damn cool. Bring back the Hypercolour t-shirt, save my sanity!

I want to walk like a fucking rainbow and blind you all with my magenta.

I want to be Joseph in that dream coat, walking around like some big man on a mission from God. I want his life. Even Dolly Parton made a song about a coat of many colours...

It’s all about breaking out and being coloured, any fucking colour you want. I want to be magenta.

It’s funny I talk of colours now as I’m staring at a black and white photo, ‘Le reve des objects’- DREAMING OF OBJECTS. A woman in white, her head out of frame, a cocktail glass filled with black liquid placed where her cunt should be. It’s beautiful. I’m mesmerised by it. The cocktail glass, the liquid, her cunt an object of so called desire. But you know all I want right now is for magenta to take me away and make me colourful. I want to fill that cocktail glass with a rainbow. I want to fill my own personal, impersonal cocktail glass with my own multihued colour explosion. I want to blind myself with colour and live life like a Hypercolour t-shirt and react against your warmth, react against the grain of being alive. It’s all chemistry after all and if I just alter my chemistry maybe one day, just maybe I might be MAGENTA

Four Eyes

2009-05-26T09:30:00.000-07:00

I got some new glasses today.

They look purple but they are actually brown. They make me feel like everything is uphill and a little bit dizzy. I'm going to wear them on tour. Uh-oh. I look really tired here as I haven't slept properly for a week and have been DJing every night. Excuses, excuses....

I'm looking forward to a night in tonight. It's been a really hectic week since Stag & Dagger with loads of DJ sets/club nights. Sick Club last night was amazing fun and all involved had a great night despite the last minute move to Catch. Thanks for that people at Catch! Everyone is recording or on tour at the moment so it was great to see some faces I hadn't seen in a while. Thanks for coming down people!

Afterwards we ended up at Joiners Arms. It's becoming the end of night spot at the end of every night now as it's open til late and the music is pretty cheesy and fun.

Tomorrow we'll be in Manchester for the first date of the tour. We're really excited and have been looking forward to this for so long. I don't mind car journeys that much anymore after our epic drives all over France and just hope we get to stop at a Little Chef on the way as my dad always used to stop at them when I was younger. I'd always demand a chocolate milkshake and would hurl it back up as soon as my dad started the engine.

Good times ahead...

I'm now going to pack some DVDs and CDs for the van. Looks like it will be good road movies like Midnight Cowboy, Heathers, Chris Cunningham videos, Extras and lots of porn. As for music, I have Ciccone Youth on repeat but only have it on vinyl. Think it will have to be the usual staple of stuff like Pavement and PJ Harvey. I wonder what the others will bring.

I'll leave you with one of my favourite songs of the moment. People always go crazy for this in clubs when I play it. Long live The Knife!

D-Bird

Stumbleine

2009-05-24T09:27:00.000-07:00

I love this song from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Couldn't find an acoustic live version but I suppose this will do:

I'm doing a 5 hour DJ set tonight. I had a major panic attack last night when I was out which I've been getting quite frequently again. Pisses me off. I think it's when I go out by myself and it's too loud and there's too many people and I can't have a decent conversation. It makes me feel uncomfortable, like I'm wasting my time and uneasy. It sucks. Anyway, I'm looking forward to it tonight. I can play a totally random set to a room full of people I don't know.

Bring on the hecklers
D-Bird

Presents!

2009-05-22T17:20:00.000-07:00

I had a great time at Decasia last night. It was great sitting in The Griffin with good friends, good conversations and good music....bliss! The perfect way to spend a Friday.

Andrew Not Cool, Charlie Mirrors and I.

I never get presents. I probably never give any too. I get so excited when I get presents and this one was no exception.

I love Charlie from Maria & the Mirrors. We've been randomly bumping into each other lately and it's great to hang out with him. He's got amazing music taste and is such a kind generous soul. He went home to Cornwall for a few days and came back tonight and did an epic DJ set at Decasia playing everything from The Fall to Janet Jackson and dancehall, I really enjoyed it.

He also brought me back a present:

Yes, authentic Cornish scones!

I also got another present from my friend Dario this week - loads of wool.

So that means I'm going to get back on the knitting on tour.
ROCK N' ROLL
D-Bird

The ultimate supergroup!

2009-05-22T03:20:00.000-07:00

Composed of members of The Mae Shi, Teeth, Abe Vigoda, Chapter Sweetheart and The Birds. Amazing!!!!!

We had a superb time at Stag & Dagger last night. A huge thanks to both Toms from No Pain In Pop. The room was swarming with people and everyone had a mindblowing time.

Abe Vigoda:

Next stop for The Birds....UK tour time!! Tour kicks off Wed May 27th at Night and Day Cafe, Manchester. You can grab tickets here and read an interview we did for them:
http://www.nightnday.org/detail.php?list_id=1762
D-Bird

QUIET RIOT!

2009-05-20T15:45:00.000-07:00

We had an amazing rehearsal today! Wrote 2 songs that we love, both have 2 basses.

Quiet Riot:

Hush
Start a quiet riot
You make me blush
I feel like I'm on fire

But I've got a crush on another
I've got a crush on another
And it feels good

D-Bird - bass and vocals, X-Bird - bass and C-Bird drums.

It's a really fun song. For once I'm not singing about harming myself or others! What's going on?!!

I'll get X-Bird to post up the lyrics to the other new song. It's really heavy! Proper Birds rocking out! X-Bird on bass and vocals, C-Bird on bass and yours truly on drums.

Today just confirmed why I love our band so much. I can go from singing and playing bass to playing drums in the matter of a few moments. I love the freedom and energy it creates. Yes, lots of other bands have started swapping round and good luck to them. We all know who did it first. Just remember that!

I'm really craving one of these right now:

However it's almost midnight and I'm tucked away in bed. I'm going to have to try and dream of one whilst I fall asleep listening to Darklands....
D-Bird

IS THIS SHIT?

2009-05-19T15:56:00.000-07:00

Don't like something because someone said it's good. What the fuck's the point in that? Only like something because it moved something in you which in turn made something in you. Otherwise you will still feel numb when you are wearing the right band tshirt, have bought the right CDs and are hanging out at the right places.

Yep.

That's even worse than having no passion at all - the greatest crime is having fake passion for things. Then you become obsessed with the wrong angles and create shit music and think you're cool but know you're a twat.

This blog is pure conjecture. I personally use it as a way of talking to people as I can never really communicate well or what I actually want to say unless it's via a written medium. But that is just me and most humans can do the whole conversational face to face thing way better than I can. For me this is the best way I feel people can get to know me. In person I am too intense, I get embarrassed by this intensity and then act distant and aloof in an attempt to disguise it when all I want to do, if I like you, is spend hours around you and in your company. But you will never know that.

Anyway, please don't read this thinking that the artists mentioned are the only thing I like and if certain artists aren't mentioned, then I don't like them. Not at all. Also don't read this and think you need to go away and listen to bands I've mentioned. You may listen to them and get nothing out of them and still feel numb. For me, these artists I talk about have pulled me out of numerous black holes in my life. They could or could not do the same for you. Challenge the words on this page. Don't think these words are right. I may be wrong. I most probably am wrong.

Just whatever you do....Please just make your own mind up. For that is something which must be embraced, celebrated and preserved. One's own beauty of thought. Not mine.

For some reason, I think Alain De Botton would agree. He's a legend and I want to hang out with him.

D-Bird

Can't You Want To

2009-05-16T01:53:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed last night. Lauren and Kerri are great hosts!

My DJ set last night for those vaguely interested (in roughly the right order):

Bjork - Army Of Me
Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
Hole - Garbadge Man
The Knife - We Share Our Mother's Health
Pavement - Rattled By The Rush
The Breeders - Safari
Nirvana - Aneurysm
The Raveonettes - Attack Of The Ghost Riders
Ciccone Youth - Making The Nature Scene
Telepathe - So Fine
Rogers Sisters - Never Learn To Cry
Wildbirds and Peacedrums - There Is No Light
Patti Smith - Kimberley
The Pixies - Tame
Pearl Jam - Even Flow
Hole - Jennifer's Body
Nirvana - School

D-Bird

NOKI!

2009-05-13T12:12:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we get asked about fashion influences/designers we like. We are all into a range of stuff (mostly old band t shirts and vintage - me, and sex shop stuff - X-Bird and C-Bird) however we have come across a wonderful designer based in Brick Lane who we all love called Noki.

He gave us some stuff to wear for shoots and gigs a few months ago and we shall in fact be wearing some more of his stuff for upcoming gigs/shoots. We felt it was important to support local designers and as our requests to wear clothes by well-known brick lane vintage shops were turned away, we were very happy to be taken under Noki's wing and show our support in return.

His clothes appeal to each of our tastes. They are recycled vintage pieces that are really spectacluar. Check him out if you are interested: http://nymag.com/fashion/fashionshows/designers/bios/noki/

Keep it real, keep it east!
D-Bird