stereo sounds

monotonix at stereo
monotonix

A couple of comments on gigs we attended at stereo in August.

First up was a bit of a punt on Crystal Stilts with Veronica Falls in support. They were actually a bit crap, quite messy and not as good as their studio work – cool brooklyn kids who weren’t that interested.

A couple of days later, in a vindicated a spur of the moment decision we went to see Israeli punks Monotonix. They were totally mental and it was absolute madness madness with four hairy sweaty guys in speedos traipsing all over the venue, playing on the bar, getting audience members to support their drum kit and stool above their heads while they played! As well as (or perhaps in spite of) their great show they also happened to be good musicians.

monotonix at setreo
monotonix at setreo

the lakes weekender

Ullswater from Side Famr
Ullswater from Side Farm

The annual mountain goats weekender headed south this year to Ullswater in the lakes district. The campsite was the incredibly located Side Farm with amazing views across the lake (Above).

Eschewing the energetic hill walks or mountain biking expeditions to nearby Helvellyn Chhay & I opted instead for a more lesiurely sail on the lake in true Swallows & Amazon’s style.

Sailing on Ullswater
Sailing on Ullswater

Miserable weather on the Sunday kept us to a short lakeside walk before a languid afternnon tea in nearby Pooley Bridge. Oswald proved very popular with the kids who claimed him as their castle during the days.

some australia nostalgia

We dragged a bunch of our mates along to The Luckmiths farewell gig at Stereo. Chhay met up with them before the gig (they were pretty impressed with Stereo’s location right next to Central station and tasty selection of vegan food) before we headed down to catch the very twee supports.

Their set included all the classics and their typical high quality banter – they left our friends suitably impressed and a little sad that this was the only time that they would see them.

Chhay & I really appreciated the chance to see them before they disband, I think the Australian shows would have been amazing.  See if you can spot us in the photo below!

i heart hiroshima

Way back in the dark ages we popped in to the twisted wheel to catch Brisbane pop rockers I Heart Hiroshima. We were incredibly tight  and played an entertaining set to a tiny audience. Their drummer was as incredible and hypnotic as ever.

On their tour blog they noted this show as the best of the tour – I hope they at least got a few more people to see them at the other venues!

eiff

We made the first of many jaunts across to Edinburgh over the festival season to sample some of the Edinburgh Internation Film Festival. Unfortunately most of the films we wanted to see were sold out, so we killed time playing hopscotch in front of the castle and trying the rather expensive (but pretty good) dumplings at Chop Chop

We did manage to catch the quite surreal but fairly entertaining low budget flick ‘Modern Love is Automatic’, late in the evening to justify our trip.

indie poptastic at the flying duck

The Smittens at the Flying Duck
The Smittens at the Flying Duck

The Smittens have defined the soundtrack of our trips in Oswald thsi year with their song The Interstate, they are friends of our firend Katie’s band the Zebras, and we missed them at Indietracks last year so we were reuqired to attend this twee pop extravaganza.

We were packed into the back room of the Flying Duck (decked out as a kitchen, although there was no toast) and the cardigan count was pretty high, but everyone had a good time.  Locals the  Just Joans were just so, while the Specific Heats were great (and cute) possibly the best act on the night.

By the evidence of this bunch its seems a requirement that all twee pop bands have female drummers.