TGE

It's been a while, sorry. Nothing worth reporting has really happened. Still promoting, still updating contact lists, still designing newsletters, still sending those newsletters out.

But this Thursday we will grab our backpacks, take our eagerness to learn, aim our concentration towards the speakers and unleash the excitement at The Great Escape festival in Brighton! On Friday we're putting on our The Animal Farm showcase and the rest of the time we'll go from conference to conference, one gig to another and take in as much as we can. This year's theme is DIY which is quite fitting as that is how things are done at the Farm.

Our line up is:
19.00 - 19.30 The Rocket Dolls
19.45 - 20.15 Little Signals
20.30 - 21.00 Violet Bones
21.15 - 21.45 iremembertapes.
22.00 - 23.00 The Manic Shine

It's going to be fantastic! I will obviously give a full report next week of how amazing it was.

I found a website for a company called City Academy who have musical theatre classes and singing classes and dance classes and such. I really really want to go to a musical theatre class! The beginners classes that last 6-10 weeks are between £200-300 so a bit much for my finances. Maybe I should try one of those online money raising sites and have people fund me! If even a handful of people would pitch in, it would help tremendously. I'm thinking of doing it around my birthday so there's that going for me instead of just randomly asking people for money ;)

I also had a quick meeting on Skype with my academic instructor and it seems that I will eventually graduate (I knew that, now it's just more real). My thesis idea was approved at this time, but it is just a vague idea still and needs a lot of work. And academic backing. I need to hit the library and start researching. Oh dear, soon enough I will have a degree and have to let go of my student-ness and need to find a grown up job with a grown up salary and grown up responsibilities. Scary thought!

Here's a very awesome video from our very awesome The Manic Shine!

The Animal Farm Club Night

The Animal Farm Club Night happened last night at the fabulous Zigfrid von Underbelly of Hoxton Square. It was a night of fantastic music, good wine and great company! I don't have photos (still happened!) because my camera battery is dead and my adapter for the plug is temperamental and refuses to work. Also because I'm lazy and haven't bothered to buy a new charger with an English plug. But YouTube has videos.

The first band to take the stage was The Counterpoints; new band from Reading releasing their first single April 30th. That's an exciting release as we're releasing five songs from five bands on the same day as a collaborative effort on everyone's part. Their music was good but stage presence is something they still need to work on a lot which isn't surprising for a new band; no one is born a master. Warning: the following song will get stuck in your head. That's an earworm if I ever heard one.

Next up was Red N Pink, two loud chicks from London town. To be honest, I didn't like them too much before. I thought they were a bit in-your-face trying too hard to be tough and cool. But seeing them live has now changed my opinion completely! They sounded great, were very comfortable on stage, interacted with the audience well and delivered a good show overall.

Then it was Violet Bones' turn. As always (she says based on two shows) they were fantastic! I liked them a lot last time but now that I have their album on my iPod and know all the songs, it was ever better. They have awesome energy, fun! The album is a great exercise soundtrack! Those kettlebells are getting it! Although it feels slightly wrong to be swinging them around while my iPod is blasting "let's get drunk and stay that way forever!" into my ears.

Wrapping up the night we had iremembertapes. and their fun electro-indie set and slightly homosexual dancing. We went to see them in St Albans the night before; a gig where no one in the audience remembers tapes. That was enjoyable despite some technical difficulties but last night was about 127 times better! They should definitely play more dancey clubs instead of standard rock gig venues; places where people will actually move their tush instead of standing and watching in admiration (to be fair, they're nice to look at). They're touring atm, coming back to London on Monday. Check out the website or this picture for all dates and go to a show! Here's their 80's influenced (as opposed to everything else) latest single 'All I Know'.

And here's a bonus tribute to some band who also played at St Albans and whose lead man reminded me of Corey Hart. The fact that I know Corey Hart and this song so well that random people remind me of it is probably a sign that I need to stop watching VH1's I Love The 80's. Then again, nah.

Brian stew

I joined a boxing gym. Bought a 3 month membership, got the rest of this month free. Fucking finally! I've been feeling so bad about myself for not working out and eating unhealthy and just not taking care of myself like I used to. So Tuesday morning I got up a bit earlier and went for a little jog, popped in, had a quick look around and decided to start training there.

The owner is a middle aged Irish bloke with a really strong accent so I'm not quite a 100% sure what I've gotten myself into and what my membership actually includes. But the place seemed like a good place for getting the most out of the workout. It was old school, it was sweaty, it was rough. Not some girly fitness gym where women wear pretty things and smell like flowers. Saturday noon I went for my first ever ladies only boxing fitness class! It was so fun and so hard. Although I thought it'd be a lot harder on me since it's been about a month since I've really exercised but I came to realize that a few week break really isn't the end of the world when you've been working out actively before that, it doesn't just disappear in a few weeks time.

On Tuesday night the girls from the office got our pretty brains together and took part in a pub quiz. They had difficult questions about capital cities, mediocre questions about random shit and easy intros in the music round. There was only one song we weren't absolutely sure about so we randomly guessed it right! It sounded a lot like a boy band song so we picked Westlife. Then we randomly picked the word "love" for the song title. It actually was Westlife and the song was My Love! Good instincts.

Franco chillin'

Si of Violet Bones rockin'

On Thursday a bunch of us went to see Franco and the Dreadnought in Camden and on Saturday I went to see Violet Bones in Buffalo Bar, Islington. Franco gig was fun enough and the guy is very likable and I really enjoyed that night even though I'm not much into all that "guy and a guitar" sweetness. Then on Saturday the Violet Bones were soooooo good! And attractive. They could well be in my top-something list of my favorite bands, and probably will be eventually. First I need to hear more. I'm so glad I get to work with them. They had cassettes on sale at the merch table but I forgot to buy one. Yes, forgot. I don't know what happened, apparently my brian went "PRIII" and everything I was about to do was just suddenly gone. I remember walking towards the table and then got distracted and went home instead. I'll have to ask around if I can get one somewhere still. This is the video for their latest single "Chamicals".

On the weekend I finally got into the flow of some retail therapy. Saturday I went to King's mall and Sunday to Oxford street. I now have such pretty things in bright colours! There's still some stuff I didn't have time to look for but there's always next weekend! Now that I still have money I might as well put it to use and buy lasting things instead of spending it all on takeout indian food and everything else that's bad for me. I definitely need shoes. To go with my new pretty things. Which reminds me: