The Mummers

The Secret

2008-05-31T23:37:00.003+01:00

I've just been sorting out our myspace page a bit and put up our latest track which is called The Secret. Its actually a bit of a surprise that one as its a lyric i wrote a while back and wasnt considering it at all till i accidentally came upon it and immediately thought Yeees this is totally right for my introverted theme of adventure, childhood and fantasy we gotta do it! And so off it went to the great orchestral laundry for a good rinsing (ya get me?) and out it came glistening like new with warbling flutes like angels and horns and tubas like heaven and a big secret at the end with a trombone fanfare (thank you Ashley Slater you are amazing, as are you Charlotte Glasson) and some neat shiny, skippy n crashy drums form my old mate and ace drummer Tim Weller.
The lyric came straight after i first watched one of my now fave films 'Wings of Desire' directed by Wim Wenders and i just love the idea of this angel coming down to earth to observe but not experience, falling in love and wishing he was human and how the whole colour of the film changes to sepia at that moment..
Speak soon x

Je reviens et je ne regrette...

2008-05-19T21:44:00.004+01:00

Ok peeps we're back! back in the wired up n wireless world of y'all, back from under the channel, oui mes enfants j'ai le desir de devenir une francaise doucement,lentement..But best of all i now have my new Macbook- which means i am free from my broken-down world to roam comme je veux, and that is all i need! altho now i have to teach myself not to wipe my whole hard-drive by mistake as i did the other day with my fumbling impatient fingers.. yes a steep curve of learning is being learned..So thank you for the lovely offers of help with elastic bands and 2nd hand washing machines, but i dont need that s*** no more cos i got a mac ok no credit crunch for me!!??:)AlrightAlright so another two tracks are being mastered at Masterpiece in Fulham London on Wednesday to add on to the 6 trax we already have,and there i think we are going to leave it..and then we are to prepare for a secret live show with our luscious new line-up which will start it all off again.. now Brighton has recovered from the Great Escape crazyness..
Its good to be back!
Rx

total disaster

2008-04-30T23:03:00.002+01:00

i've been cut off from practically every technical device in my home and havent been online for 3 weeks now which is killing me so if youre wondering why my myspace has been left high and dry now you know. thats what happens when you dont open your post for 3 months! Anyway they have promised me tuesday so hopefully then i'll be back in touch regular again. anyway, despite no computer, tv, a broken 4-track, fridge, washing machine, and disconnected phone, life has been great (no really!)
We have had another writing spurt for the rest of the album now the EP's done and really tying it up to be finished for June 1st. Meanwhile photos have been done (i'll post some up when i'm back online..) and artwork being developed..so its all good. Gotta go before i'm kicked off my mum's computer. Speak to you Tuesday!!
Rx

its in the bag!

2008-04-08T23:43:00.005+01:00

..and finally..we have our 6 trax mastered.. and ready to be turned into an EP. We ended up going to lovely Simon Francis at Masterpiece yesterday just to get them all sittin nicely - and yes we have reverted to our EP plan so all 6 songs are equal and some are not more equal than others! Which i think this is the best way it can be. Great to have a finished product cant believe it. Happiness

are we done yet?

2008-03-28T23:26:00.005Z

evening all! back to the mastering today as we had to tweak a few things, but Wonderland and its B-side Teardropsfall is done and dusted, since Mark decided at the eleventh hour to add in a whole lot of orchestration (sounds amazing tho..!) And the rest will be in the bag on Monday! But of course you musn't hold your breath (i can hear gasping and spluttering from you all) because after all this is The Mummers which is synonymous with 'nearly done but not quite lets change sum stuff no sod it lets start again'. So well lets just wait till monday eh?
Anyway heres a pic of me practising in the studio with my toy piano which was going on whilst said orchestration was happening ( i never play adult instruments as you know) with my new red-indian jacket i'd just found in the lanes and am very proud of even tho my good friend jess who likes to give me good style advice says it makes me look like a sack of potatoes with a pin-head on top. Nice! Thanks! As you can see i've overdone the blusher on this occasion but never mind, at least it covers up my "sallow skin" as my mother always told me..
Hope you're all good, i think i am..
x

2008-03-14T22:19:00.002Z

Salut! Had a good rehearsal just the three of us today with Paul trying out new guitar sounds and Mark playin 3 keyboards at once (dont ask me how) these being the rhodes + space echo, the moog (wikid analoguey sounds), and the old classic Korg M1 (which was the first keyboard i discovered how to write music on..) And me on Glocks! We're preparing for tomorrow's full band rehearsal with our new line-up which includes Pete davison and Charlie buchanan on trumpets, and Tessa Gilles and Maddy Rix on violins. we are trying to play EVERYTHING live this time and therein lies the challenge!
Then we has a meeting with a friend of ours who may make a short film of Wonderland, and then we had a meeting with the manager who gave us all smacked bums for being so slow finishing our album.. but art is art we cried, and cannot be rushed!
Bon nuit. x

Its 11pm on sat night..

2008-03-08T22:26:00.004Z

.. and i just got in from Brighton. Have spent every day in the studio for weeks and now i keep forgetting what day it is, i haven't seen the news, i havent had a meal that isn't sandwiches for longer than i can think, and everyone back home has forgotten who i am. But I'm sure its going to be worth it because our album the first is very nearly finished! We've been doing loads of last-minute recording of our live players - a totally amazing new trumpet solo on the end of 'Nightbus' and 'Lorca' - his name is Pete Davison everybody and he is awesome, as is our Joe Giddey on cellos... Only two things to do tomorrow - vocal production on 'Nightbus' and revisiting a mix of 'Somebody Said' and then hey presto off to the mastering suite it is! Well just upstairs really because our trusty Edz who does alot of our sound is going to be doing it as he has the full gear in his control room.
So anyone who was wondering what happened to our EP that we were working on last year.. well its turned into this mini-album because we just couldn't decide what tracks to leave off but this way we can have just what we want on there so thats much better!
On the live side we've been ripping everything apart and have now Pete on trumpet for the next few gigs which is soo coool, and trying to refine everything a bit so it might sound a little different to you if you've been to the others.. but in a good way i hope!
Love to you all, i gotta go and do something else and check out the trains to Brighton tomorrow cos i've heard theres going to be a BIG STORM tomorrow so you know what that means - the whole of England will come to a stand-still..
PS o yes also i want to say sorry to all u myspacers who've left us such nice comments recently.. i'll get back to you all after this bizness is over and my eyes stop popping out of my head! Love u, Rxx

new plan

2008-02-19T23:34:00.003Z

ok so sorry y'all for not writing more regular like.. we got deadlines! Its been manic in the studio as we have 3 new tunes to finish by next week including recording all the live instruments - brass, strings, harmoniums, pianos and saxes. This is because we have a new plan now for Wonderland as a single not an ep, closely followed by... ALBUM! And there is more to this plan but i'm not allowed to tell u yet but its good good good! And at last we can get our sound out there and send it ringing into the ether..yo yeah yes yeeees!

rehearsing in a brixton pub before the Slaughtered Lamb gig..!

2008-02-15T22:57:00.002Z

heal me sun

2008-02-10T22:12:00.007Z

amazing gorgeous day today and so warm! I've been stuffing myself with vitamins and anti-cold medecine to try and get rid of this streaming cold so decided sun was the next best thing and took myself and the boys to Brockwell Park in Herne Hill. this is THE BEST park in London I swear, you always bump into somebody, the crowd is so mixed and chilled, and you can sit outside the caf at the top of the hill on a bench and look across London in 360 degrees. Its quite something especially when youre soaking up the rays whilst eating the most delicious (and CHEAP) home-cooked food.. i believe the chef is quite well-known now. Anyway i think i may be beating this cold now thanks to this miraculous bee nectar called Propolis one of my friends gave me which is good cos i've alot of singing to do in the next few days.
O yes and we'll be doing a little pre-gig gig on tuesday in a pub in Brixton at 3 O'clock just cos we couldnt find anywhere to rehearse, so if you are one of the 6 regular drunks in there u might be in for a surprise..
and finally paul just sent me a vid clip of us backstage(in the corridor with 4 bands coming in and out all trying to store gear whilst we get changed) at Monto when we were just about to go on stage. So i'm posting it up just for my own amusement. Oh the glamour of it all!!

the quiet life

2008-02-08T12:29:00.000Z

Its a beautiful sunny day and I got up late today for the first time in sooo long and feel great! I've been running on about 5 hours a night recently and yesterday when i got up i had no voice (much to the joy of everyone around me) and after a rehearsal in brighton that ended at midnight last night and a horrible drive through the fog back to London i thought i deserved a little treat! Aah the peace in the morning as the rest of my house left at 9am and i lay there with the sun streaming through the window dreaming and just letting my mind wander.. then waking up again after a dream in which my car got towed away in brixton an i got ANOTHER 3 points on my licence which means i'm banned cos i've already got 9. Well nothing wrong with a good dose of reality i guess..
Anyway rehearsal was quite lovely- its for the unplugged gig at The Slaughtered Lamb on tuesday and its just with 2 violins, cello, rhodespiano and me on vox! And as its just us we rehearsed at Marks tiny but perfectly formed top-floor flat with cups of tea and candles and no loud stuff to contend with and i must say its great to actually hear the parts for once! So i'm very much looking forward to tuesday and trying out The Mummers songs in a very different way..o yes and we're also gonna do the new ones we've just written..
So heres to sleep and sun, quiet music, and life..!
x

a new old song

2008-01-31T22:28:00.000Z

hey hey we have new music! remember when i said we were re-visting a song from the past? well heres a clip of the instrumental, mark is working on the brass parts as we speak.. and paul and i have changed the verses completely, u will hear it shortly! Its light-hearted n tongue-in-cheek and in complete contrast to the oh-so-sad 'nightbus' (see the rehearsal clip a few days ago)
And.. thanks all who came to the water rats on tues, nice to see new myspacers there..
love luv lv x
[URL=http://www.zshare.net/audio/7065296a8855a5/]walk blog clip.mp3 - 1.27MB[/URL]

rehearsing for Water rats gig..

2008-01-28T16:49:00.000Z

trying out a new song..

2008-01-24T22:21:00.000Z

Evening! Just a clip of us trying out one of the new songs that emerged from our recent writing session...its slow, it feels a bit 50s, its gonna have gorgeous strings in the Henry Mancini style and its called 'Nightbus'

growing pains

2008-01-23T23:20:00.000Z

Sorry but this isnt really about music.. but am just noodling away after having turned on the tv whilst putting away a month's load of washing..
Newsnight was on and i found myself tuning into a discussion on climate change and economc 'growth'. Cos for ages I have considered the word 'growth' as a bit of dirty word.. like when the news reports that "consumer spending is up" its like encouraging a foul disease in my high n mighty opinion. But AT LAST HALELLUJIA (how do you spell that?) the big guys are talking about the need to slow growth in the traditional sense to tackle our planet's problems, and instead find a new SUSTAINABLE type of growth which does not necessarily use more energy and resources, just more labour.
Obvious init? Back to the good old days?

Laterzzzzzzzzzzz

Hello friends

2008-01-11T23:46:00.000Z

..and a Happy New Year to you too! Yes i know its already the 11th Jan and all that festive stuff is sooo over - dont know about you but it seemed just a mere blip this time with everyone ready to go again by about jan 3rd, albeit slightly tired and wan-looking after the communal illness we have all shared.. eugh! So after the few days of indulgences and a brief trip to the mountains for some fresh air we are back in full attack!
It is very nice to be having two writing weeks - both this week and next.. all three of us and also The Manager are working in our separate places emailing stuff back and forth, playing stuff down the phone at midnight, discussing beats, tempos, key-changes and finding bits and pieces preciously discarded from our Mummers archive that now somehow seem right! We think that we have moved on with our style since 'Somebody Said' and we are EXCITED..
Also as an experiment we are re-working an old song from the past which never got a proper release but seems to suit what we are doing at the moment.. will keep you posted on that one.
So, looking forward to this year which feels like a year if change (those ones always start by pretending everything is as normal)with everyone becoming more aware of the world around them dont you think? Or am i just hallucinating from the after-effects of norovirus?
Anyway Heres To You me dears..
Ricex

Bye bye 2007

2007-12-24T00:03:00.000Z

And finally for this year..
Marks been preparing new string parts for our 'unplugged' shows and Paul's been putting finishing touches to '1979' and 'Hush' drumwise and I've been sorting out rehearsals for jan (no mean feat with 8 players let me tell you!) whilst each of us has been struck down with the flu one by one!
Anyway gonna give ourselves a bit of a rest now so we're fresh and ready for the january onslaught! Can't wait tho.. it really has been a good year.. and much appreciated are all the comments and messages we've had.
So enjoy your CHRISTMAS mes amies and see you all next year!
Love
Rice and The Mummers

2007-12-19T22:12:00.000Z

Heres a clip of the don of tromboning Mr Ashley Slater, recorded last week on 'Somebody Said'..

'Somebody Said' has come alive

2007-12-15T21:32:00.000Z

Hooray.. its up on the myspace profile! All live instruments have finally been recorded on 'Somebody Said' and Mark was busy mp3-ing me mixes all day yesterday till finally we were happy with this one. And i hope you will agree with me that it has so much more energy and life than the demo! So let me tell you who the wonderful musicians are: Trumpet - Rob Heasman, French Horn - Ben Simmons, Trombone - Ashley Slater, Cello - Rob lewis, Violin - Jote Osahn. All layered up to the max of course!

Meanwhile i was at home having a 'writing day' on a new song - the instrumental of which i posted up a week or so ago - 'song x' and whilst the melody came quick, the lyrics were proving a bit of a struggle, as the first lyrical kernals i had kept leading me off on weird tangents that ended up with something like The Owl and the Pussycat for some reason!(I love that poem btw so here it is..) So i did the only decent thing in those circumstances and turned off the mic and made myself a nice cup of tea and went for a cold, brisk walk through twinkly Dulwich with all the fairy lights in the trees and i felt very english and rejuvenated wrapped up in a million layers humming abstract ideas to myself in a slightly Lear-ish fashion..

Have to get back on track next week!
Luego x

mwah

2007-12-07T22:57:00.000Z

I've been banned from the studio for most of this week as Mark n Paul have been writing out parts and recording live instruments on 'Somebody Said', they can concentrate better without me you see.. so apart from fitting in a rehearsal with me and mark multi-tasking our way through the songs ready for our mini-gigs, i have had a chance to catch up on domestic things like washing and paperwork and bills. As i have left all these for about 6 months (well 3 for the washing) you can imagine what a wondrous mood i've been in especially with all this festive cheer starting up. But its ok becos i'm anti-consumerist so no-one is getting any presents this year, sorry kids! However i have just seen a rather nice dress...
On the bright side we have booked gigs for the new year, and we have a title for our album, and we have just started another new song :) based on a guitar riff this time..
And then theres MySpace - I'm still loyal despite everyone's efforts to seduce me away and drag me into facebook instead. I cant get into that for some reason, i guess i've never been much of a networker. Anyway we've made some supacool friends on MS recently and i'm really enjoying meeting them, so if you happen to be reading this HELLOOO AGAIN! HOWDY! LOVE YA!! MWAH!!XX

if music be the remedy for consumer sickness play on!

2007-11-30T22:12:00.000Z

Back to the train again and as i walked across the concourse at Victoria station trying to avoid the mobile phone shop (i've been in there looking at phones for the last 4 weeks because i cant decide which one to get, i mean i was perfectly happy with the same one for 3 years but now they've put the idea in my head i'm ever so slightly obsessed. There's an inviting feeling of euphoria as i enter the shop that is swiftly followed by a hot sweat developing into panic.. is this what consumerism does to you? its awful. And now i find myself compelled to sneakily have a peak at everyone's phone to see what mega-pixel the camera is, or how big the screen is or if its a flip, slide, clam, classic, candy bar type.. OMG! Please DONT GIVE ME CHOICE ITS SUCKING AT MY SOUL.. so i have now banned myself and walk the other way round the coffee kiosk, also avoiding the Sushi stall since realising the reason my purse is always empty.. oh the battleground that is Vic Station!) its almost a relief to be on the train again.
So, back to the studio today in Brighton to rehearse just Mark and I, and was great to get rid of the sickness with playing music. And i must say we managed to create quite a full sound with Mark playing rhodes, analogue synth and samples all at once and me on vocals and accordion - still the baby one which isnt really good enough - but never mind - i'm not exactly an expert (only about mobile phones). And we were beginning to hear how we can perform the songs another way and it was a bit exciting!
I'm now trying to work out a plan for next week and how we can fit in rehearsing, recording all the live parts on Somebody Said, writing new stuff etc etc oh and shopping.. NOOOOOO!! Enjoy the weekend, only 4 of them till Christmas xx

'Somebody Said'

2007-11-28T22:01:00.000Z

Hi again.. well whilst working on 'song x' i wrote this vocal at home on my 4-track (i'm soo up-to-date its unreal) and was really getting into it and thought i'd done a rather fine job till everyone else started making comments like 'can't hear the music' and its a bit 'overpowering' which immediately sent my deflated self-satisfied self slumped back into the sofa. UNTIL... someone had the great idea (i think it was The Manager) of turning that vocal into another song which for the last few days we have been working on in great spirits! (And i hope you can tell we had fun doing it with all that brass marching band stuff..) We deliberately kept away from the strings on this one and used horns for the chords mainly which gives it a lovely rich sound, clarinets and flutes in pairs, bassoon in the intro and break (which is my favourite bit), a sprinkling of guitar and bass, and of course soaring sparkly trumpets. The drums are Paul playing live on our mini-drum set-up at 12A, and Mark's orchestration is fast becoming a Mummers trademark! The lyrics i'd also deliberately tried to make as straightforward as possible which is quite unusual for me, but because the melody was in my head for days before writing the song i knew it had to be simple to make it fit that exact chorus line. So what do you think? One of the others has already put it up on the Myspace profile so enthusiastic is he - though the live instruments haven't been recorded yet - and that is one of our many tasks for next week..

Meanwhile rehearsing up in London tomorrow with the full band - which will be very nice to be playing together again..tell you more about that another time.

love luv x

2007-11-21T16:29:00.000Z

song x clip

We are working on two new songs.. so here is a clip of one - its just an instrumental right now - vocals are coming. It conceals a riff from a well-known song from the 80s (tho i'm not going to tell you what it is). Ecoute bien!

my new home

2007-11-01T21:29:00.000Z

So do you remember me saying a while back that i was on the verge of solving my train obsession in one? Well here she is the beauty!
Well yes i know she's a little old and rather shabby (aren't we all) but she can do 70mph down hills honest! ! Anyway i took her down to Shoreham beach the other day cos we were doing a photo shoot down there and it was such a beautiful day - cold but warm in the sun, and it was most handy to have my travelling boudoir with me! I have to say that Shoreham beach is my new favourite place, and even good for a little impromptu rehearsal! There was no-one around all day, the sea was glorious and we sat and drank tea watching the sun go down, leaning against the rows of empty white beach-huts; the feint outline of Brighton in the distance looked like Hong Kong in comparison to this huge deserted expanse of stony beach.........o yes and then i had to drive back to london in the dark overshooting the garage and nearly running out of petrol panicking like a crazed fool, praying to a god i really believed in whilst doing 45 uphill with horrid mean (mainly) male drivers blasting their horns at me in their equally horrid shiny FAST cars.

Meanwhile starting rehearsing again next week for a slightly different version of The Mummers.. all will be revealed later! Till then! x

Live Bait

2007-10-11T22:11:00.000+01:00

In search of a gig..

rehearsal in a round

10 mins before showtime..hairstyling by drummer loz

my beautiful strings

Percussionist Paul

2007-10-07T20:22:00.001+01:00

Gosh and golly i've got to apologise for it being two whole weeks since the last blog. Its not that i've been lazy (well maybe a bit), but theres been tings appening honest! But first of all i am going to introduce you to one of the core mummers members (eeuw) - guitarist/writer/producer/ Mr Paul Sandrone - who co-owns studio 12a where we work in brighton. Blessed with a natural gift for a fine chorus this man was born in hooksville, catchywick in a remote suburb of Bristol which was in fact where we first met many moons ago. Since then he has become a fully-fledged brightonian and is more often than not to be found fishing on Shoreham beach with a packed lunch like his mum used to make him. (whilst humming his latest 'sticker tune' to catch the sticklers if course). Recently however mr sandrone has learned to play percussion and drums and is now rather obsessed with hitting as many objects as loud as possible in the studio , as you can hear on (finally!) 'This is heaven'. Check out the military drums in the breakdown - a Sandrone special! Dont worry i am going to post a clip soon as i get it thro but those who've been to the gigs may know what i'm talking about..
Which brings me to live shows and again a big fanx to all who came to Monto in London last thursday. Less shambolic than Komedia and the crowd were yet again lovely; it all ran a bit smoother - with all limbs in place this time!
Love to you all. mwah xx

in recovery..

2007-09-22T20:31:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-18T21:43:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-16T22:47:00.001+01:00

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

2007-09-14T21:30:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-12T20:01:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-11T22:34:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-10T22:19:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-09T22:15:00.001+01:00

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!

2007-09-07T11:56:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-03T22:17:00.001+01:00

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

damp n drizzle august photos at TH

2007-08-24T22:46:00.000+01:00

Wet grey drizzly damp greeted us yesterday when we paid our respects back at TH (treehouse) and ran our fingers along the dusty keybaords looking distinctly untouched and unloved since our decamping to brighton to finish the Wonderland ep. Anyhow here are some shots Paul took with his supacool digi camera whilst attempting a hyper-realistic ep cover :)

Gd evening y’all..

2007-08-17T22:45:00.000+01:00

Its Friday night and the end of a long hard week (sigh sob sympathy..!) Been in the Brighton studio which is called 12A all hours working on and trying to finish our EP which has now 5 tracks on it. Seems to have a lighter more silvery feel than the album stuff we’ve been working on.. have a listen – this is a clip from the newest one ‘Teardropsfall’ .. it’s a bit messy but we got this amazing flautist called Charlotte Glasson (she sounds like her name!) in for a day and just piled tons of flute everywhere all over.. to be sorted out later! Anyway this song is really just a bundle of knotted threads..made up of glocks, old Kemble piano, rhodes, cymbals, pizz strings and double bass.. and .. flutes!

mp3: 'Teardropsfall clip'

We’re nearly finished so I can reveal the order:

Wonderland
Teardropsfall
35 Degrees
Nightbirds
Let it Roll

More later! Off to pick up the remains of my friday night…..

Welcome to Wonderland

2007-08-16T17:10:00.000+01:00

We’re in our other studio in Brighton which we use to ‘finish’ stuff,
putting our EP together which is like a mini-album and is coming out soon..
Wonderland will be the lead track..
This was one of the first songs we wrote together at treehouse.. and it all started with a melody and acoustic guitar chords that Paul and I had and loved but didn’t know what to do with.. the chord structure is a circle of 5ths where the bassline goes down a 5th each time and ends up at the beginning. My first idea for it was a slinky bond-type theme tune or something but when I got to the treehouse I knew it had to be about me growing up and dreaming but being a bit scared cos that’s what the place made me think of..and well Alice in Wonderland was one of my favourite books.. so we put it down bare bones n all with a sketchy lyric whilst Mark jammed about on the Rhodes. This gorgeous thing has such a lovely magical sound – its soo big and old but has soul! We do loads of stuff with Rhodes – and now - well the other night - I found a totally rare 54 key rhodes which is smaller and more portable so we don’t have to break our backs lugging it up and down stairs at gigs anymore! look at this beauty here!
Anyway the song aint finished here cos we wanted a ‘Brighton’ element in our songs.. being originally from South London and seeing Brighton from the outside gives me a real feeling of escape and freedom.. So after our sessions Mark went away and out of the blue came up with a whole orchestral piece based on an oom pa pa marching band theme with trombones, flutes and strings etc..

mp3: 'Wonderland' clip

This totally blew us away and also made me think of the Salvation Army (there was a HQ in my high street where I grew up), and The Mummers Parades in Philadelphia..
This awesome (well I think so!) piece of work became a yardstick by which we measured all our other songs (do they live up to it??). It took ages to record live.. heres some pics of the players:

Pics of the Treehouse

2007-08-16T16:55:00.000+01:00

Treehouse

2007-08-16T16:30:00.000+01:00

We started writing it with Mark at the treehouse studio near Brighton nearly 18 months ago where we were inspired by the surroundings (lots of pine tree woods, countryside and sea!) and the atmospheric ram-shackle studio that he had stuffed with old keyboards and percussion. We didn’t really have any pre-conceptions as to how it was going to be but just decided to see what came out.. tho I had bundles of lyrics and bits n bobs of half-written songs from years previously (one of which I spent totally at the piano teaching myself how to ‘write songs’ as opposed to my normal method of closing my eyes, blanking out and singing a load of gook). Mark and Paul just went instrument hopping in their new candy shop and we recorded a load of ‘jams’ which became the foundations of our sound..