Records Make Great Pets

I’m organising a gig…and it’s gonna be awesome!

It’s been years since I put on a gig, but here goes. Me and Paul from Scared To Dance (whose club night I make the flyers for…look at them HERE) are co-promoting a night of awesome bands at my favourite small venue in London, Power Lunches. Playing are three of my favourite UK indiepop bands… … Continue reading »

Gig flashback – Fleshies (Barfly, Glasgow, 3rd June 2004)

I’m well aware that I’ve been neglecting this blog for almost two months now. There are no particular reasons behind the lack of updates; I just haven’t been in the mood for writing. But, today I thought I’d make at least a half-arsed attempt at getting back into it. What inspired me was Street Eaters, … Continue reading »

Durham punk hat-trick: T-Shirt Weather – Having a Bad Time

It might seem like I’m actively seeking out records that deal with misplaced love, failed relationships and similarly sappy subjects, but it really is nothing new. I’ve been into that shit for what seems like forever. It’s just classic pop-punk territory…or any music, really. Those are the things people write songs about, right? Photo by … Continue reading »

Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

I’m going through a bit of a weird phase at the moment. I spent the last couple of years watching pretty much nothing apart from exploitation/horror films and now all I want to do is watch sappy love stories. I’ve been meaning to watch Lars and the Real Girl for years, but with a movie-watching … Continue reading »

This week blows…

When I’m feeling shitty and my head is a mess I like to listen to the same artist/band obsessively over and over again. Last.fm tells me I’ve listened to songs by The Blow close to 600 times in the past seven days. This is pretty bad even by my standards, but I just haven’t felt … Continue reading »

A Film Noir kinda morning – Possessed (1947)

I’ve never really had much of an interest in film noir and haven’t seen a whole lot. But, for some reason I decided I should at least dip my foot in the genre…see what all the fuss is about. It’s kind of like giallos…where the hell do you start? There are so many films out … Continue reading »

This Many Boyfriends – Tina Weymouth

The other day I went to Leeds to shoot another music video for This Many Boyfriends. This is the result. Let’s see how many band/musical references you can spot in the song/video. There are ALOT of them! Winner gets a majestic prize of some sort. The band is about to go on tour supporting The … Continue reading »

Remember mumblecore? Nights and Weekends (2008) – spoilers and nudity!

There was a time when I would just lap up everything that was labelled ‘mumblecore’. Films like Andrew Bujalski’s Funny Ha-Ha (2002) and Mutual Appreciaction (2005) felt so refreshingly real and imperfect and resonated with me on so many different levels. I remember sitting in near-empty press screenings of films like Dear Pillow (Brian Poyser, … Continue reading »

Deserving of the hype? Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973)

Some films take on a life of their own, with their hype and notoriety getting bigger and bigger over the years. Thriller: A Cruel Picture is one those films. Still banned in its native Sweden, it’s one of the films people like to name-check when talking about European revenge cinema. And of course Quentin Tarantino … Continue reading »

Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

I finally got round to watching Silver Linings Playbook last night and I must say it left me in a bit of a state. It’s not often I cry at movies, but towards the end I was all teary. Apart from that, I don’t feel I should, or can say much about this film. I … Continue reading »