Wow!! What can I say about 2013!!
It kicked off with us in the studio again in
January. We had a 4-day session booked back at Off License Recordings in SE
London for our second release through Delicious
Junction Records. Our Bass wizard Rob Pyne had re-joined The Rifles so we
were in the market for a new bass player. Rob had let us know, at the tail end
of 2012, of his plans and as we had the session booked, had agreed to be on the
EP with us, which we were over the moon about.
We had ear marked 4 tracks from the live set to
make up the EP but I really wanted to write something completely new that had
not been heard.
I'd been given an idea by a walk in the sunshine
with my daughter, Lyla, when we were playing silly games such as eye spy. I
asked her what game we were going to play next and she said to me " Ok Daddy, Don't Stand on
Shadows". I thought it sounded really great and conjured all kinds of
imagery in my head. I sat on it for a while but with the EP session coming up,
it all fell in to place.
The icing on the cake for the new EP was that
friend of the band, the Rt Hon Steve Diggle from The Buzzcocks, had agreed to play on NEVER FORGIVE YOU which we were chuffed to bits about.
It was around this time that the first prototypes
of THE TROUBADOUR shoes were ready to cast our eyes over. With a few minor
tweaks they were ready to go in to production!! How's that for a start to the
year!!
The EP launch was booked for April, which left
the small task of finding a Bass player to replace Rob. Our friend Alex Gold
from DARLING BOY came in and sounded great in the rehearsal studio.
Unfortunately it became apparent that due to Alex's commitments, we were going
to have to go back to the drawing board.
A chance meeting at the Ocean Colour Scene after
party with Tony Marshall resulted in us having a few drinks the following week.
I asked Tony if he would be interested in being our Bass player. He is a great
guitarist, and was confident of turning his hand to Bass to be in the band
which we were really pleased with.
Tony spent a week with the tracks working on the
Bass lines ready for a rehearsal the following Thursday. As fate would have it,
Dan Smith, who we had spoken to previously, now had more time on his hands for
one reason and another and was keen to join on Bass.
Dan is an amazing Bass player, and exactly what
we needed after having such a player in Rob.
So by the time poor Tony turned up at rehearsal,
fully rehearsed in the Bass parts, he was met by the news he was in fact going
to be an additional guitarist, which suited Tony far better.
We were now ready, with a fuller live sound for
the EP launch.
The launch was great! We made it an "All
Dayer" inviting several of our mates along to play at The Birds Nest in SE
London. If I remember rightly, there were 9 bands in total!! Not bad!!
We were blown away with the response the EP
received. Big thanks to DJ and all involved, and each and everyone that bought
the EP.
The summer threw up 2 of the biggest live shows
so far for TLOTT!!
The Isle of Wight festival was absolutely
amazing. We played the Sunday after spending the weekend at the festival,
missing most of the bands, opting instead to have a party of our own but
managed to catch sets from Paul Weller and the Stone Roses.
We cannot thank those that travelled down; to
support us enough, you know who you are!!
This was followed closely by an invitation to be
part of the Carnaby Sound festival, an all day festival with 2 stages on and
around Carnaby Street. The line up was great and on a personal level, the
feeling of walking on to that main stage and seeing the breath taking sized
crowed, with people as far as you could see, was a very special moment.
Our live shows came thick and fast in the
following months, with shows all over the place, from Essex to Milton Keynes
and back again.
October brought the release of our collaboration
with DJ 'THE TROUBADOUR'. We were
just so pleased with how great they looked.
Then our old TLOTT brother Rob got in touch and
asked if we would support his band The Rifles on the Northern leg of their UK
tour, which of course we jumped at.
The mini tour took in shows at The LeadMill in
Sheffield, The O2 Academy in Newcastle and The Cockpit in Leeds. Again, we
could not have asked for a better reception from all the shows, with some
fantastic comments and feedback.
The year was rounded off, as has now become
tradition, with an in-store show and huge after party. After the success of last
years bash at Pretty Green, this year we opted for Paper Dress Vintage in
Shoreditch, with our friends The Broxton Hundred joining the line up.
We took the opportunity to shoot the night, for
an up and coming video, for the track SHAME
ON YOU that we hope to have ready to release early 2014.
All in all, if someone had have said this time
last year that this year we would release a second EP with Steve Diggle
guesting on it, play the Isle of Wight festival, play to a sea of people in the
London sunshine of Carnaby Sound, tour with The Rifles and design our own shoe
with Delicious Junction I would have had their arm off!!
Huge thanks, as always, to everyone at Delicious Junction and everyone that
supports us at every show and by taking the time to buy our music!!
Here's to 2014!!
Love all round!!
JR
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