in recovery..

Gd evening! First i gotta start by saying thank you to all you who came to Komedia on thursday it was such a great crowd, very warm and smiley considering all the teething troubles we had! Yep it was an INTERESTING evening esp for me cos i was trying out some new things - some which worked, others which didnt, so much learning going on there! But i did feel helped thro.. thanks for the lovely messages.. and esp about my foot as i kind of forgot myself after doing 'This is Heaven' at the end and jumped over the speakers landing on something and twisting it bad! Boy did i feel like an idiot hobbling off to the dressing room yowling in pain calling for "ICE!" Anyway i am now pretty much recovered altho i'm not telling that to everyone else cos its nice having them say "no dont YOU do that", or "I'LL get it" and such like.. Hope you all enjoy the ep, you got it really upfront cos its not coming out for another 3 months! Please let me know, i need feedback cos its all for YOUS u know. Gonna leave you now and o yes i think i may have solved my transport problem and train seat obsession all in one.. tell you about that next time.. all my love, Rx

The EP is finished! Being pressed up as we speak ready (i'm praying!) for you on thursday..! I'm just hoping youre gonna love it and will anxiously await your comments! its great to finally hand it in tho and send it on its way into the ether. So now we can concentrate on the rest of the album.. Had a final rehearsal last night with the full band (miracle!).. so great to have clan mummer back together again.. string music flying about, squabbling over tambourines, new songs pulled apart and then quickly put back together again, feathers, scarves and fairy lights assembled, a whole heap of tangerines eaten.. and all in what seemed like 2 minutes! And then rushing for the last train home, and being so hyper by the time i got back that i couldnt sleep AT ALL and spent the night reading music magazines and the sunday observer which is a luxury really, the house being all spooky quiet...

Heres some pics and stuff - sorry theyre a bit dark but it was dark..

i'm gonna cut this short now and catch up on zzzzzzzzzz

xxxxxxxxx

Musicians Mummer

hi y'all its sunday night and i'm just putting together the set order for the Komedia gig on thurs. i shoulda done it earlier but got side-tracked in Camden Market looking for 'accessories' all day (didnt find much - the market has got so touristy on sundays u have to fight thro the crowds which is sooo annoying..) Anyway we are definitely going to do our new song 'Teardropsfall' and possibly 'Lorca' but theres going to be an element of flexibility to this show..! So let me introduce you to the musicians who are gonna be playing. They are: LINDSEY OLIVER on double bass, JOTE OSAHN on violin, TESS GILLES on violin (heres her myspace), JOE GIDDEY on cello, LOZ THOMAS on drums, PAUL on guitar and percussion, MARK on Keys and ME! We were also thinking of having CHARLOTTE GLASSON come in for 2 songs on flute but unfortunately she is booked up to see Prince that night. What a choice. How COULD she??!! :)

Another thing to say is that our EP is pretty near finished.. looks like we'll be in time for thurs! The mixes are pretty much there.. just a bit of fine-tuning now..

Hope you're all doing good.. it felt like summer today..long may THAT last..x

the addiction of morning routine beautifully broken by ones manager

As i've been getting the train from Victoria most days i've been finding that i am always drawn to the exact same carriage and lately the exact same seat! (2nd carriage from front away from the toilets and with the close together seats where you can hideaway without having to stare at someones paper or (yuk) pimple) How did i get so predictable? I even get so cross if someone is sitting in MY seat that it spoils my whole journey - because its MY OWN SPECIAL TIME and it has to be just so! Anyway today i was wondering whether if i get the train at exactly the same time as the day before will it be the same train and the same seat..and i thought i should leave a little mark on the seat so i can find out the next day... (ooooo nooooooooo stop!!!!!!!!!!! help me plse someone) dont let me grow old its gonna be worse!
Anyway so i'm all set in my own seat with a little bag of raw salmon from the sushi stall - always good for a late breakfast- and i'm getting busy with my headfones on listening to the ep so far unmixed as yet and wondering what changes should be made and drifting off into musicalness when brrring brrrrrring the fone goes and its our manager - the first of a series of calls that last until i get to nearly Three Bridges because he has worked out EXACTLY when i'm gonna lose signal from the moment my train leaves.. THATS the sort of guy this manager is! But let me tell you that i do seriously believe he is the best manager in the world because not only does he never let you forget what you're meant to be doing but he comes up with mad crazy ideas that actually seem to work! (Once his band - cant mention the name sorry- dumped a whole load of used cars painted with his band's logo in the middle of Oxford Street in front of Virgin during morning rush-hour so nobody could get to work - it took hours to move them, got all over the tabloids and was on the national news!) However i think he may have calmed down a bit these days...
So there we are a short introduction to The Manager (he'll get funny if i say his name) but i gotta mention him, as he is an integral part of what we do - musically and non-musically - which is very helpful after the hours we spend winding ourselves up sonic paths and getting stuck in knots!

Love to you all, and talk to you over the w'end xx

understanding goosebumps

Having got back to London late last night (i seem to spend my life on trains!) I left the others in 12A for the day rehearsing new drummer Loz, fixing amps and organising fliers. It was an unexpectedly sunny morning and i was with my 2 yr old boy in the park and i found myself reflecting on those first gorgeously rambling sessions in Treehouse where everything was an experiment and it was like stepping into the unknown (with new baby in tow..) and there was so much time and no pressure from anywhere! Its kind of different now we're doing gigs and have started to put records out and theres more people around us instead of us 3 (and our trusty manager)... its getting busy and for the first time we have deadlines! And as i'm thinking all these things .. goodness, whats that strange feeling in my stomach.. is it... NERVES? So i played toddler football for as little as i could get away with and rushed back home to practise the new songs in the set which i have to say i dont really know 100 percent.. yer know - structures and all.. and tried to visualise the whole thing.. and i started to get EXCITED! It got me thinking about music in general and during a 10 min cuppa tea break i pulled out the sunday papers (typically unopened as yet)and by chance came across a really interesting article called "Why does music affect us like no other art?" in the Culture section.. It was a review of a book called 'This is your brain on music: Understanding a human obsession' by Daniel Levitin who when i looked into it found out that not only was he a professor and writer of music psychology but that he'd actually designed and built loudspeaker systems for bands like Steeley Dan and then The Grateful Dead during the late 70's and 80's - you know that real experimental movement in San Francisco that was based around Berklee Music College - before engineering and producing (Santana amongst others) and running record labels. Now THAT'S alot to do in a few years! Anyway this article was saying that the whole of this guy's research is directed at understanding his goosebumps .. now isnt that what we all want to know? i also think its kind of emotional when clumsy science attempts to understand art.. i'll try to find the article online and post it up so you can read it!

Till next time..gotta prepare for tomorrow.. g'nite x

mello cello

This is Joe Giddey ( i said i was going to introduce you to clan Mummer didnt i?) in the studio recording 'Hush' - one of the songs we will be doing live next week. Hows that!!

Rehearsing with Lindsey

Its back to me again.. and i'm doing rehearsal schedules (starting from tomorrow!) for this crazy band where no-one seems to be able to be in the same place at the same time! But never mind, cos well once we're all in the room all squashed up and blaring out this stuff all raw u just forget about everything else and whooosh ure transported somewhere else and you come out of it all tingly and flushed in the cheek! I love it and i love these guys who turn up just for the hell of it - for fun (I love that word "fun", nice and warm and basic like "bun"). I'm going to introduce you to all of them but seeing as i have a little clip here i'll start with our latest bass-player - gorgeous Lindsey Oliver (here's her own Myspace).. who we originally found when she was playing with Doon MacDonald at our first ever Sussex Arts Show in April. Check out Doon - her sound is very 1970's Laurel Canyon and she has a most unusual voice. Linzz also plays with Shoreline who are supporting us on the 20th - another of our favourite local bands - you will hear why! And also The Miserable Rich who are excellent. Anyway Linzz is tall like her double-bass, addicted to bananas like me and will read a book in any environment..o yes and her bass-playing is wikid...

string terrorism

Hello Paul here..

Was with Mark yesterday when he found an ancient cello and even older violin in an old wardrobe in his mum's garage. You see us In the clip playing them after we'd cleaned them up a bit. hopefully with tons of practice we can use them on recordings at some point, but at the mo they do sound a bit like fingernails on a blackboard.. Still, practice makes perfect..

(yeah right Paul...rice :)

12 days to finish ep!

Hello hello we are back in the studio again with Mark busy sorting out string and woodwind parts ready for live recording and Paul fussing over arrangements and me just getting in the way and talking in a bossy voice and wondering whether it would be a good time to try some vocoder.. But we have decided that the deadline for this EP will be the day before our Komedia gig - Sep 19th! Just 12 days to go! We have a new contender which is a song we call 'Lorca and the Orange Tree' very upbeat and joyful and comes from an old poem i wrote when i was in Spain once..The only problem is that the beginning sounds a bit like Madonna.. not that that is sooo bad i mean i used to adore her and still have the crucifixes and leggings stuck in the back of my wardrobe.. so well never mind - who says a bit of cheese aint right every now and again!? But seriously its just momentary and the song soon reverts to true mummers styleee with some nice breakdowns with piano and flute (again Charlotte!) and lovely double bass line from Lindsey Oliver(more about her later..)I'm wondering whether to post a clip up at this early stage - i dont want to put you off..O well s** it here we go remember this is JUST A DEMO!!!

mp3: lorca and the orange tree

xx

Fri Aug 31st Gigs and new toys

OMG its officially the end of summer and it's back to school! And not long to go now till our two very important shows.. headlining at the KOMEDIA Brighton on the 20th and then MONTO London on Oct 4th! We're getting very busy rehearsing all our musicians and preparing the new songs to do - specially for the faithful few who have been to every gig so far! So we've had to put the EP on hold for a week or so cos theres so much to do! And i can now definitely say i will be playing some new instruments live.. an extremely cute baby accordion that we found in that ever-so-handy percussion shop on Trafalgar Street, Brighton.. + my latest greatest expense (thankyou credit card!) - the shiny, analogy, o-so-portable KORG R3 - see here!! Its a vocoder and synth all in one and I am now going to pile vocoder fx over all and sundry as soon as i learn how to use the damn thing.. i HATE manuals my eyes go all blurry after a few minutes so its going to be hard but goodness me i did get a buzz getting on the bus to Turnkeys in Charing X Rd last Sat and then trying out all these instruments pretending i knew what i was doing!
Love and speak soon (heres a bit of me messin about v badly on the accordion in an unusually tidy 12A.. ) Rice x