..not to be confused with The Star Wars Holiday Special. For those who haven't, don't, I'm never getting those two hours back.
It's our annual Christmas gig (or, at least, I'm hoping to make it an annual event), and this will be taking place on Saturday 13th December at The Wheatsheaf. Usual stuff, doors at 8pm, about £5 on the door etc etc.
We'll be playing, with excellent support from local heroes Borderville and ace Bristol export McDowell. Both bands are well worth coming down early for.
I know it's cold and dark and everything, so we're putting on free mince pies and Christmas snacks, and there'll be a lucky dip - who knows what you'll find in there (if you find my house keys please let me know).
I also made a poster. All I can say is sorry. Very very sorry.
Don't forget you can now listen to all Witches releases for free on Last.fm. We'll also be at the NYE Your Song on 31st December - more details on that nearer the time.
See you on 13th.
Cheers
Dave G
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Obsessive-compulsive organization traits
I really ought to get out more, but I keep on finding things that need labelling correctly.
I'd downloaded A Quantum of Covers from iTunes, burnt it to CD, and was about to rip it to my preferred format (Ogg Vorbis).
It turns out that I'm the first person to try this particular manoeuvre, as neither MusicBrainz or FreeDB have the track listing for my CD ripping software to use - so I was compelled to go and fill it in at MusicBrainz.
Generally I don't mind doing this, as a little effort by me can potentially benefit a lot of people who subsequently don't have to type in all the info themselves, but this time the tedium/benefit ratio is not looking good. I'm probably the only person in the world who's likely to download that album, burn it, and then rip it with software that uses MusicBrainz - plus virtually none on the performers on the CD were in MusicBrainz, so I had to create records for them as well!
Doing this may be a "useful" outlet for obsessive behaviour, but I'd recommend all bands releasing music on CDs or other formats to add their entries in FreeDB & MusicBrainz (there's also Gracenote for iTunes, but I frown upon that for political reasons) - that way when your punters put the CD in their computer they'll rip it with the right names and titles, and stuff like Last.FM will work all the better.
And I won't have to do it ;-)
Anyway; in the end, we have A Quantum of Covers on MusicBrainz, and a few more Oxford bands with an entry there as well, so it's all good really :-)
Laters,
Dave B.
PS. Martin's studio is well labelled, but that's not my story to tell...
I'd downloaded A Quantum of Covers from iTunes, burnt it to CD, and was about to rip it to my preferred format (Ogg Vorbis).
It turns out that I'm the first person to try this particular manoeuvre, as neither MusicBrainz or FreeDB have the track listing for my CD ripping software to use - so I was compelled to go and fill it in at MusicBrainz.
Generally I don't mind doing this, as a little effort by me can potentially benefit a lot of people who subsequently don't have to type in all the info themselves, but this time the tedium/benefit ratio is not looking good. I'm probably the only person in the world who's likely to download that album, burn it, and then rip it with software that uses MusicBrainz - plus virtually none on the performers on the CD were in MusicBrainz, so I had to create records for them as well!
Doing this may be a "useful" outlet for obsessive behaviour, but I'd recommend all bands releasing music on CDs or other formats to add their entries in FreeDB & MusicBrainz (there's also Gracenote for iTunes, but I frown upon that for political reasons) - that way when your punters put the CD in their computer they'll rip it with the right names and titles, and stuff like Last.FM will work all the better.
And I won't have to do it ;-)
Anyway; in the end, we have A Quantum of Covers on MusicBrainz, and a few more Oxford bands with an entry there as well, so it's all good really :-)
Laters,
Dave B.
PS. Martin's studio is well labelled, but that's not my story to tell...
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Many thanks to Nightshift for reviewing our Halloween promo launch. They've recently had a website revamp, so go check it out and download the latest issue: http://nightshift.oxfordmusic.net/. Here's what was said:
It's Halloween, so obviously Witches are playing. Except tonight the band are dressed variously as ghosts, vampires and slaughtered Victorian brides. And, hey, check out those song titles: 'Dead As A Ghost', 'There's A Darkness', 'At Night I Dream Of Black Dogs.
The wonderful thing about Witches is that despite all this, they're a world away from gothic pantomime or naval-gazing melancholy; if anythingthe costumes detract from the often genuinely haunting nature of the music. Given we haven't caught the band live for a year, during which they've undergone a line-up change, it's a timely reminder just what a fantastic band they are.
Set opener 'BOK' is oddly exuberant despite its apparently morose nature, while 'In The Chaos Of A Friday Night' is fevered, maraca-led splendour; even the more downbeat 'There's a Darkness', relatively stripped down from the band's typically opulent sound, manages to soar.
It also showcases Witches' real secret weapon: trumpeter Bernard Chylinski who, as much as Dave Griffiths' plaintive vocals or Martin Newton's nonchalantly abrasive guitar fuzz, takes each song to a higher level. The Bunnymen-like scurry of 'Dead As A Ghost' particularly benefits from his Mariachi squall.
Amongst a swathe of new songs aired tonight from a promised second album to come next year, stand-out songs are the sludgy, harpsichord-led grunge shimmer of 'Church Beds' and the horn-drenched 'Leave', Witches climaxing the set with the frenetic punk blast of 'Stammer', frontman Dave leaping about, maracas aloft as if performing a suitably pagan Halloween ritual.
What makes Witches such a great band is the carefully controlled balance between musical intimacy and overwhelming chaos. Songs build and erupt, often violently, but within each is a seductive, soulful melody, without which none of them would survive. On a magical night, this is magical music.
Dale Kattack, Nightshift, November 2008
It's Halloween, so obviously Witches are playing. Except tonight the band are dressed variously as ghosts, vampires and slaughtered Victorian brides. And, hey, check out those song titles: 'Dead As A Ghost', 'There's A Darkness', 'At Night I Dream Of Black Dogs.
The wonderful thing about Witches is that despite all this, they're a world away from gothic pantomime or naval-gazing melancholy; if anythingthe costumes detract from the often genuinely haunting nature of the music. Given we haven't caught the band live for a year, during which they've undergone a line-up change, it's a timely reminder just what a fantastic band they are.
Set opener 'BOK' is oddly exuberant despite its apparently morose nature, while 'In The Chaos Of A Friday Night' is fevered, maraca-led splendour; even the more downbeat 'There's a Darkness', relatively stripped down from the band's typically opulent sound, manages to soar.
It also showcases Witches' real secret weapon: trumpeter Bernard Chylinski who, as much as Dave Griffiths' plaintive vocals or Martin Newton's nonchalantly abrasive guitar fuzz, takes each song to a higher level. The Bunnymen-like scurry of 'Dead As A Ghost' particularly benefits from his Mariachi squall.
Amongst a swathe of new songs aired tonight from a promised second album to come next year, stand-out songs are the sludgy, harpsichord-led grunge shimmer of 'Church Beds' and the horn-drenched 'Leave', Witches climaxing the set with the frenetic punk blast of 'Stammer', frontman Dave leaping about, maracas aloft as if performing a suitably pagan Halloween ritual.
What makes Witches such a great band is the carefully controlled balance between musical intimacy and overwhelming chaos. Songs build and erupt, often violently, but within each is a seductive, soulful melody, without which none of them would survive. On a magical night, this is magical music.
Dale Kattack, Nightshift, November 2008
Monday, 17 November 2008
Doing the last.fm thing
Yo!
Finally I've got around to setting our previous releases to full preview on last.fm - so now you can listen on-demand to Taking Myself Home Again - Dead As A Ghost and In the Chaos of a Friday Night.
Share and enjoy!
Dave B
Finally I've got around to setting our previous releases to full preview on last.fm - so now you can listen on-demand to Taking Myself Home Again - Dead As A Ghost and In the Chaos of a Friday Night.
Share and enjoy!
Dave B
Monday, 10 November 2008
A Quantum of Covers on BBC radio
Yo!
The latest edition of the always entertaining BBC Oxford Introducing is available online until Saturday, and is a Bond special, featuring all 11 tracks from A Quantum of Covers - the Bond theme covers fund-raiser for Children in Need. Go and have a listen...
You'll be able to buy A Quantum of Covers from iTunes next week - make sure you get a copy, it's for charideee!
Laters,
Dave B
The latest edition of the always entertaining BBC Oxford Introducing is available online until Saturday, and is a Bond special, featuring all 11 tracks from A Quantum of Covers - the Bond theme covers fund-raiser for Children in Need. Go and have a listen...
You'll be able to buy A Quantum of Covers from iTunes next week - make sure you get a copy, it's for charideee!
Laters,
Dave B
Teh Intarwebs 2.0
To coincide with the Big Hair Halloween gig and giving out the new CD, we wanted to update the look of the website - so we got in touch with Emily - who created most of our artwork to date - and put a new piece together. I think it's rather good as well, so many thanks to Emily :-)
After getting the new artwork on the site, I finally found some time to get all Web 2.0 and finish implementing a Flickr photo loader on the gigs page. This will pick up the three most interesting pictures tagged with "witches" and the relevant Last.FM event id, and automagically show them next to the gig listing.
So - for a concrete example - jinty took a pic of Jo at the halloween gig, which I saw on the Oxford music pool. I added the Last.FM event id for that gig: lastfm:event=719073, and bingo - it appears on the gigs page.
Since then I've uploaded and tagged a bunch of photos taken by various friends and family at various gigs, and tagged some pics already on Flickr so there's photos appearing for a fair few gigs. I'm hoping that everyone will get in the habit of tagging their pics in Flickr so they appear automatically - hint, hint...
I've got more photo archives to tag and upload, and then I'll see what other bits of the site could benefit from some love. News of further captivating band logistics coming when it happens...
After getting the new artwork on the site, I finally found some time to get all Web 2.0 and finish implementing a Flickr photo loader on the gigs page. This will pick up the three most interesting pictures tagged with "witches" and the relevant Last.FM event id, and automagically show them next to the gig listing.
So - for a concrete example - jinty took a pic of Jo at the halloween gig, which I saw on the Oxford music pool. I added the Last.FM event id for that gig: lastfm:event=719073, and bingo - it appears on the gigs page.
Since then I've uploaded and tagged a bunch of photos taken by various friends and family at various gigs, and tagged some pics already on Flickr so there's photos appearing for a fair few gigs. I'm hoping that everyone will get in the habit of tagging their pics in Flickr so they appear automatically - hint, hint...
I've got more photo archives to tag and upload, and then I'll see what other bits of the site could benefit from some love. News of further captivating band logistics coming when it happens...
Friday, 7 November 2008
Audioscope warmup
Good gig last night at The Cellar - the Audioscope08 warm-up, featuring ACTION BEAT + 50ft Panda + FROM LIGHT TO SOUND + EGYPTIAN DEATH.
Great stuff from Egyptian Death (Oxford's answer to Shit and Shine, with added brown note) and From Light to Sound (good mix of restraint and onslaught , love the name), but 50ft Panda were standout awesome, I need to go see them more often :-)
I wasn't really getting into Action Beat, but I think they were all ill and only played a short set, so maybe worth another look some time...
Anyway, make sure you get to The Jericho Tavern on the 15th for the main event! (Witches are on around 6pm.)
Laters,
Dave B.
Great stuff from Egyptian Death (Oxford's answer to Shit and Shine, with added brown note) and From Light to Sound (good mix of restraint and onslaught , love the name), but 50ft Panda were standout awesome, I need to go see them more often :-)
I wasn't really getting into Action Beat, but I think they were all ill and only played a short set, so maybe worth another look some time...
Anyway, make sure you get to The Jericho Tavern on the 15th for the main event! (Witches are on around 6pm.)
Laters,
Dave B.
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