Lobster Boat Freebie!

Hello! If you send an email to the following address you will receive the mp3's of the BBC6 session in return for free! This includes the song Dogs, which I don't think was broadcast. Do it now!


lobsterboatband@gmail.com

 

Autumn Round-up

With the latest batch of WP's activity pretty much finished, it seems like a good time to round a couple things up.

The illness which Tattersall appeared to be fighting off when I saw the Lobster Boat Band in Nottingham apparently took a firmer hold as the tour went on. The wrap up show by The WP's at The Bull and Gate in London had to be cancelled and he was absent from the Marc Riley session they had last week. For a couple days more you can hear Howard, Franic, Billy and Jaune get by without him:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00c72y1

I'd be interested to hear if he had to miss the LB shows as well. As well as they did on the session without him I imagine his absence would have left quite a hole in their touring plans.

On a more positive note, the first new WP's material is on the horizon!

http://wiaiwya-7777777.blogspot.com/2011/09/masters-for-first-two-singles-have-been.html

WIAIWYA have a single series planned for next year and the WP's are the first release, on January 7th 2012. According to the link above, the 7-inch will feature 3 new songs, Salt, Sugar Maple Charcoal and New Born Deer.

So the bitter and the sweet - as they wind down with illness the new shoots of the future are already rising. Let the campaign for "God Save The Wave Pictures" t-shirts begin here!

Live Review: The Lobster Boat Band

Nottingham 21st September 2011
The Chameleon Arts Cafe

The Lobster Boat band sailed into Nottingham this past Wednesday and played a terrific set against the odds of illness, poor promotion and a occasional sound problems.

Running through most of the new LP, an a cappella Will Oldham  cover, and a couple songs I didn't recognize (but presumed may be Coming Soon tunes) I was stunned by how tight the band was. Stand-up drummer Jaune pounded the skins like Mo Tucker on speed and instantly became my favourite sticksman, Howard Hughes and Billy Jet Pilot looked like proper rock stars from the 60s while Tattersall and Franic flanked the stage in a twin guitar attack. As my upcoming review will testify I really love the new album so I was amazed to find the songs sounded even better live - the drum break of the title track, the Beatles-like "yeah yeah yeah's" of He Has Come Back Home and David ignoring flu to shred as only he can over pretty much everything. They also played a new song, which hopefully means this collaboration will continue.

That said, I could forgive them for not carrying on. The Chameleon can be a magical little venue when filled but when it's mostly empty the wrinkles really show. Sadly less than 30 people made it out to this decrepit room, the sound-man seemed to struggle controlling feedback and the whole event had the air of being engineered by the support band in order to play in front of their friends. I left feeling elated with the performance whilst simultaneously depressed with a musical industry which rewards marketing over substance. I'm sure it's not their goal, but if they got to play just one of these songs on Jools Holland, or some similar exposure, people would flock to see them. Hopefully, their day will come and their continued good nature, Tattersall being as funny as ever between songs, shows they must still enjoy doing what they do and won't let indifference put them off.

The Lobster Boat UK Tour and news snippet!

The UK leg of The Lobster Boat tour kicks off in Birmingham tomorrow. All being well I should be seeing them in Nottingham the following night.

Stay tuned to http://lobsterboat.tumblr.com/ for their latest thoughts and experiences and buy the lp if you haven't already because it's a cracker. Check out Franic getting in ahead of the Tintin-movie hype with his Captain Haddock beard below...

News-wise WIAIWYA have announced a singles club for next year and the first one is by The WP's. No word of whether this will be new material but I can only imagine it must be.

Go here: http://www.wiaiwya.com/ for further details.

THE WAVE PICTURES - In Her Kitchen

1. In Her Kitchen
2. The Worm Inside The Brain

Released on August 22nd 2011 as download on Moshi Moshi Records, and 7" by Where It's At Is Where You Are Records

Catalogue number: moshi124 / WIAIWYA041

THE WAVE PICTURES - Blue Harbour

1. Blue Harbour
2. I Walked Past Them Sleeping

Released as download and 7 inch on Moshi Moshi Records, June 13th 2011

Catalogue number: moshi124

Rarities CD Tracklist Confirmed

After yesterdays out-of-the-blue news, Acuarela have confirmed the tracklisting of this rarities collection, with some wise words from Mr Tattersall:

http://mireflejosonoro.blogspot.com/

1: Watching Charlie's Angels
There was a period of time when I had no job and no schoolwork. I used to get up every day at noon and watch Charlie's Angels in my green dressing gown. They were repeating the original series on English television, and the song refers to this and not the recent film version with Cameron Diaz in. I am thinking of Farah Fawcett era Charlie's Angels here. Perhaps I would summon up enough energy to prepare myself a bowl of cereal during the advert break. This sounds like a depressive period of my life, but it wasn't. I like having nothing to do and I like doing nothing.

2: Time To Leave Town
This was an extraordinary recording session. The piano was upstairs, in the Duke of Uke ukelele shop in East London, the recording studio was downstairs, underneath the shop. So Franic and Jonny played their drums and bass down there, and I played and sang up above them. Long cables, snaking down the stairs, linked us together. It's a live take, but recorded on two floors. The song was written many years earlier, when I worked as a labourer on a building site. That job gave me plenty of time to think. It was hard on my body but my mind was unoccupied. I wrote this song very quickly in my lunch hour, probably because I had been thinking about it all morning, and then went back to work.

3: Our Perfect Lovers
This song came out of a conversation with Stanley Brinks in which he said 'It's a full time job, to keep a dog happy'. The whole song came from that one sentence that he spoke.

4: Puncture My Pride
One of Franic Rozycki's all time favourite Wave Pictures songs. It sounds bitter, but it isn't.

5: Swimmimg
'I wouldn't suck your dick even if I was drowning and there was oxygen in your balls' - John Waters.

6: If You Leave It Alone
A superior, alternative version of one of my least embarrassing songs to the one we released on our second album.

7: Holding Hands
A very sad song. I always knew it when I was with the wrong person at the wrong time.

8: Hear The Ferries Mooring
Inspired by the film His Girl Friday, directed by Howard Hawks and starring Cary Grant. Now that some time has passed, it is impossible for me to remember what it was about that film that made me write this song. The story in the song is completely different to the one in the film. Sometimes I can't for the life of me remember where these things come from. I would, however, recommend His Girl Friday. Well worth watching.

9: The Worm Inside The Brain
The influence of The Four Brothers, that most magnificent of Zimbabwean guitar bands, shows a little on this one. The lyrics were partially written by a good friend who inexplicably thinks the tune is reminiscent of Jimmy Cliff.

10: I Thought Of You Again
We recorded this again for our 'If You Leave It Alone' album. This is an earlier, more rock and roll version. This song is a rare case; I remain fairly pleased with the lyrics even after singing it several times.

11: I Walked Past Them Sleeping
The image of walking among the sleeping comes directly from Walt Whitman. I think his aspirations were somewhat higher than mine though. He was trying to uncover the commonality of the human experience. I am leaving a girl. I also wanted to allude to the philosophy of The Wave Pictures' approach to making music. I did, but I'm not telling you where, and Jonny and Franic know nothing about it. It's a secret.

12: This King Business
The title of this song comes from a story by Dashiel Hammett. It has the same riff in it as Sister Ray by the Velvets, or Jonathan Richman's Roadrunner, or Breaking In My Heart by Tom Verlaine or.... lots of songs.

13: God Bless The Reverend Gary Davis
Gary Davis is one of my guitar heroes. I love his playing. I love his voice too. This song is for him.

A fascinating tracklist - some old ones, some vinyl only tracks, a couple alternate takes, and a song I'm unfamiliar with (This King Business). Sounds like an essential purchase. Just have to learn how to do that now.....