Try to watch this without laughing or grinning

It's impossible!!

Tonight I'm gonna have myself a real good time...

... I feel alive ah-ah-AHHHH!!!

The weather outside is frightful... indeed it is! I was blown down the street this morning and hid under my hood to stay warm. The cold air is blowing through the window too, cooling the entire office. I'm sat here shivering...

I still feel good though. I feel in the general hyper mood I've had for most of the week. I drew up some more tracks for my playlist, including a band I saw supporting The Cribs last June. Speaking of support bands... a list of gigs I have been to and the supports:

March 9th 2007 - The Cribs - Pavilion and The Research
April 5th 2008 - The Hives - Henry Fiat's Open Sore
June 7th 2008 - The Cribs - Televised Crimewave and Last Gang
September 1st 2008 - Serj Tankian - InMe
September 20th 2008 - Scars On Broadway - Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster and Paradox
October 11th 2008 - The Subways - Twin Atlantic
December 19th 2008 - The Futureheads - Cornshed Sisters, Uncle Monty, Viva City and another b(l)and
December 28th 2008 - We Are The Physics - Fangs and John McFarlane

My two favourite support bands ever were Televised Crimewave and of course Viva City!
Right, next show is the Kaisers with Black Kids in support. From what I've heard about Black Kids they are far too commercial for my liking, making music for the scenesters and the radio. I hate scenesters.

And yay!! It's sorted!

I'm now on a £15 a month contract, after waiting days for my order to go through. So I'm happy again. They took their time like but I'm all sorted now. In a happy, hyper mood again!

COOOOKIESSSSSSS!!!

Turning into the Cookie Monster a bit here, shoving the things into my mouth, running around screaming, not knowing what the hell I'm doing...
I had another 'hyper' moment last night and ended up with another silent disco, looking for remixes while on the go. I found a club mix of Somebody Told Me by The Killers which had loads of bass but apart from that it was really flat. I did find another mix which was a bit more synthy, this which I preferred. Viva City were played again, their next show is at The Other Rooms near the Life centre in Newcastle on Friday 27th February. I am really looking forward to their album. All I have to listen to at the moment is what's on their myspace and a mix they did with Don Diablo called Audio Endlessly.
I heard the new Franz Ferdinand single last night and was suprised at how they've just lost it. The first album was brilliant, the second was also really good but this is just really bland and, dare I say it, what I'd expect from an average band of today such as The Ting Tings. Having said that, I've listened to it just once and probably won't bother giving it a second listen. I've just experienced too much bad music to really care.
I shall leave you with this, labeled as the future rave-rock anthem and is due out soon.

No alarms and no surprises please

Today was strange. I go from being weirdly depressed to this sort of elated happiness in which I am practically dancing around the room to music I would never usually have admitted to liking. And ELO. I've been in a rave of my own this evening and it's been fantastic!
I recall an English lesson at school in which we played pass the parcel to Firestarter by The Prodigy, good days...
Speaking of which I again am brought back to today. It started off on a low, by afternoon I was fine and after tonight's silent disco I'm in a fantastic mood!!

T-Mobile

So, their service doesn't seem that good after all...
On Monday evening I signed up for a Solo 15 contract and received an email acknowledging my order along with my contact details and arrangements for deliveries. It also said I would receive another email when my order had been processed... this of which I am still waiting for so I emailed them back asking what was happening to which they sent an email of receipt saying an advisor would get back to me soon, which hasn't happened. I just expected to get a text or something through on my phone saying the contract had been started, not this irrelevant malarkey. Online shopping is the future? Not if stuff like this is going to happen. I may as well have just gone into the shop and I would've been on the contract within an hour of signing up. Now I have almost no credit left on my phone. What's going on?!

UPDATE: I tried calling the team using the phone number provided in the email which was there for enquiries and apparently they couldn't help me anyway! I'm probably best off going to the shop, explaining my situation and seeing what they can do.

What in the name of Peanut is that!!

The homepage of HMV.com

I mean, what the hell? Again I refer to 'Popularity does not equal quality' and if they think I'm going to listen to Duffy or watch Sex In The City (girly rubbish, it's basically just a load of perverted old women) then they have got another thing coming. As for Duffy, she's just extremely untalented!

Top 5 worst acts of 2008:
5. 30 Seconds To Mars
4. Fall Out Boy
3. Duffy
2. My Chemical Romance
1. The Ting Tings

LOST Series 5

New series starts on Sunday, 9pm.

Corn Flakes + Sugar = Frosties

I sat down for breakfast this morning to find a bowl of half dry corn flakes in my place. There wasn't much milk and I ended up having to submerge as many corn flakes as possible. Dry corn flakes are baaaaaaaaaad.

In my younger years we used to get given cereal with sugar just piled on, I used to like it when the milk went all lumpy because of the sugar. These were the days when corn flakes were good. However, I came to realise that all cornflakes were was Frosties minus the sugar. Therefore putting sugar on corn flakes is a bit pointless really because you can just buy Frosties.

THAT advert used to really annoy me. "They're gonna taste great...!" NOOO!! They never will!!! I'm so glad it's not shown anymore.

On a happier note...
Last night's silent disco was mint, until my computer started playing around. The playlist looked something like this:
Mando Diao - Dance With Somebody
Viva City - Kate Bush
The Killers - Human
Viva City - Hot Wax
The Killers - Mr Brightside (Techno Version)
Viva City - C4
Ash - You Can't Have It All
The Long Blondes - Giddy Stratospheres

I can't wait to start DJing again!

The Blinding

This is in no way a blog about a song written by My Mate Pete so if you were expecting that then you'll probably leave now but no bother.

My desk is in the corner of the room, the corner between the side wall and the full front window and I can barely see my screen because of the (rare) sunlight that is shining bright through the window. Everytime I look outside I'm just like 'whoa'. The sun is shining in my eyes, I can't see a thing. The best thing is, though, the sunlight is WARM! I could just lean back in this chair and sleep in the warm light. It's really nice that it's not cold for once, I'm usually sat here shivering. Makes a lovely change.

Following on from last night I am still in a really bouncy, dancey mood. Top 5 songs to dance to:
5. The Killers - Human
4. Viva City - Kate Bush
3. Pendulum - Propane Nightmares
2. Mando Diao - Dance With Somebody
1. Viva City - Hot Wax

Preparing again for my own silent disco. Any requests?

I'm gonna dance with somebody, dance with somebody, dance dance dance....

So I have just listened to the 'new' Mando Diao single after it was labelled as rubbish on The Hives forum for sounding like it belonged on the radio. To be honest, I don't care what a song sounds like so long as it's good. And I must say, this song sounds fantastic! It made me want to get up and dance, it's the sort of song I've been waiting for in ages. The video fits the song, and looks brilliant. Split screens are used to show different angles against and behind various other bits of imagery... and dancers during
I'm falling in love with your favourite song
I'm gonna sing it all night long
I'm gonna dance with somebody
Dance with somebody
Dance, dance, dance


Along the lines of Newcastle's Viva City only, clearly, not as dance orientated. But you get the drift...
I think I've made my point. Great song. Great video. Looking forward to the new album.

MTV Cribs with lmm

Okay, so not really. It's shows like this that have destroyed MTV. The channel became famous for bringing the music video to viewers and now it doesn't even play music videos! But rather, to keep it still music related, plays shows that have musicians and rappers as the main focus; MTV Cribs, Meet The Barkers, The Osbournes... etc etc...
I went to see a house in Fenham on Saturday for when I get into Uni, and we're going to get it! At the moment it looks like typical student accomodation; dirty kitchen utensils all around the sink, rubbish all over the floors... well, what can you expect from a load of lads really? Okay, so I'll be the only girl living there (although maybe not the only female presence) but I'll make them all keep it clean. How do students make so much mess? If they are supposed to be working then all they'd need out really is books and a computer. Anyway, I'm losing focus. Maybe it's just easy to live in a mess...
(I just looked at the screen of my phone... it's filthy and scratched)

WAKEFIELD CRIBS WITH SOME FANS
The Cribs Live at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds - 3 Cribsmas shows in December 2007 to raise funds for Cystic Fibrosis. Fans were also encouraged to make a donation for the cause. Each night had a different set list, made up from the track listing for each of The Cribs albums and also included a support set from the band themselves playing the relevant b-sides. The same equipment and clothes from each Cribs era was also used.
Last night I spent with The Cribs, the fairly unknown (by newer fans) first album. The crowd's reaction to it was amazing, especially with songs such as Another Number (in which the crowd started singing the riff to directly at the end of Things You Should Be Knowing). The DVD had been put together brilliantly. I liked the idea of showing two live songs, then backstage footage which included interviews as well as special Cribs bingo and Jarman vs Barman (exactly what it says on the tin). Each album's era was discussed backstage, from clothes to the record label who released their early records.
Support for night one came from The Cribs and Franz Ferdinand (how Franz did I've no idea but saying that, last time they played here too many people turned up and that was when they played under a different name!).

"Why are they shouting 'Yorkshire' when we're in Leeds?"

Adam Flannigan

n. perfect, sexy, funny
Adam Flannigan is 19 years old and can be described as a man of many surprises. The guitarist from Newcastle has arranged many secret meetings and parties for myself to see the look at my face; which he now always tries to attempt himself. I like it when he surprises me, particularly my birthday party in which he invited all my friends and they all hid behind the door for when we got in.
Adam plays guitar. He doesn't think he is all that good but he is, and I keep telling him this. I keep telling him off also for playing guitar when I around because I want other stuff! How naughty!
When we first started going out it was summer and we would spend a lot of time in Exhibition Park in Newcastle. It was from then on that I knew he really loved me and I was very happy.
He has a strange sense of humour which makes me giggle.
Why did the monkey fall out the tree?
It was dead.
Why did the cat fall out the tree?
It was stapled to the monkey.
The fact jokes like that aren't funny is what makes me laugh the most. There was this time we were laughing for about half an hour over a tube of chocolate sauce. It's still funny now.
Anyway, the purpose of this blog is to talk about Adam's qualities and why he's such a lovable person. He's really hot and gives great hugs. He's a good kisser (in all senses, he knows what I mean if you're not Adam who's reading this) and he always takes my needs into account when we're together, checking he's not hurting me or anything like that. He has brilliant blue eyes which always seem to be in my direction; I think his eyes are the first thing I really noticed about him. Sometimes he forgets to shave and ends up looking like a paedophile but I don't mind really. He could look like a right ponce and I'd still love him.
Adam has given me the life I waited so long for. After we started to go out I was introduced to his school friends who I quickly made friends with myself. I'd never really had proper friends before so I became really happy. I think I was always 'one of the lads'.
Adam is a very special person and makes people believe they CAN do stuff. He had a similar life experience to myself and has been able to help me through life's problems. He is usually cheery and comes out with stuff I would never even dare say. Not because it's embarrassing stuff but because I was never a confident person. Adam, however, is.
I like how I can talk about absolutely anything with him. He listens to me and doesn't make me feel embarrassed, particularly if sex is the subject. I never thought I'd feel comfortable talking about stuff like that with anyone, particularly with a boy.
System Of A Down have taken over Adam's bedroom, the walls molested with posters... a large amount of Cd's are placed along the top of his drawers. SOAD are a band Adam is very passionate about and it's because of this that we ended up at Glasgow. We were never ones to rush into anything but he knew I was the one. And I felt the same about him. He is a perfect being, there's nothing I would want to change about him. I think he must be crazy to love me but I am glad he does. There is only one bad thing and that is the distance apart we live. But we're gonna change that. And the best thing ever is being able to be by his side and hold his hand.
Adam, you're a brilliant person. Don't forget that. I love you. x

And songs will be sung in the park by us the young

In my last blog I slated the music industry for turning into a dreary money-making machine. This is the reason that Dirty Pretty Things split up. They were making music because they wanted to, not because they were getting paid well for it. They said the music industry was becoming more 'business like' and I must agree.
I have spent the last week embracing the last dregs of good music. The Spinto Band. The Futureheads. McFly. All band's recent efforts are brilliant and, especially in the case of The Spinto Band and The Futureheads, these are bands that have to work hard to get where they want to be. And this is a big middle-finger to the music industry. The Futureheads new album opened with the lyrics
It's time to wake up
It's time to change
Let's get it started
I feel like there's so much to rearrange
The Beginning Of The Twist symbolises a new start or era; the path taken by The Futureheads was one where they decided to travel the road on their own. Track two on the album, Walking Backwards, tells the story of how the record company tried to stop them being the band they wanted to be. The video shows the bands as puppets to explain that the record company was trying to make them do what was needed to make them more 'corporate'. When their contract with 679 expired in November 2006 they decided not to re-sign but to become what they wanted, on their own.
McFly left Universal Records after their contract ended. This move, and the starting of their own label Super Records, was highly publicised because this was quite a strange career move for a band like McFly having had the success they have had. The reason they decided to go alone was similar to The Futureheads and that being they wanted everything to be directly from them to the fans; the decisions and the music being the main examples. They wanted to make releases with no middle man telling them what to and what not to release.
The Spinto Band release music through their own imprint 'Spintonic', under Virgin Records. They have released two albums mainstream, Nice And Nicely Done (2006) and Moonwink (2008) although they released 4 albums before them, the first of which was released under the name of Free Beer. This is another band who aren't making music for money but just for the purpose of making music.
“It’s just really fun to play shows to people who care about your band. And that’s what I look forward to. There’s people out there who we’ve made impacts in their lives like all the musicians who made impacts in our lives. And there aren’t too many jobs we could have that we could say that.”

It is coming to the year of the Ox... which sounds prospective in the case of underground music. The Ox is a symbol of working hard and being patient, rarely driven by the prospect of financial gain. These people aren't playing music for money, but for the sake of music's sake.

Much ado about nothing

2009. A new year. I flicked through this weeks copy of NME to find it was full of bands I've not heard of but I know they will all be generic indie bands. Bands this year will be aiming to be the new Ting Tings which just says it all to say the least. I'm looking forward to the new album from Maxïmo Park, I'm hoping it will shed light on the horizon.
Music has just deteriorated into this bland landscape of dreary bands playing the same songs, wearing the same clothes and modelling the same style bangs. I think the music era is over, unless someone is able to bring about a revolution, an uprising of sorts and change music from this commericial indie pap to lesser known bands who are likely to do anything to get their point across.

The film industry, however, is currently blaring! I went to a viewing of the new Seann William Scott flick on Saturday and I have to say it was one of the funniest films I've seen. I even thought it was better then Scott's previous offerings in the American Pie series as Stifler. Wheeler (Scott) and his 'friend' Danny (Paul Rudd) are threatened with jail after Danny has a bad day. To keep out of the slammer, they are forced to do 150 hours community service at Sturdy Wings, a centre that helps disadvantaged children by pairing them with adults in a big-brother style scenario. At first they can't connect with their 'littles' but when they do things start to go wrong which leads to Danny and Wheeler being banned from Sturdy Wings and again facing a jail sentance.
Role Models is an hilarious film with a good plot and a great cast all of who seem to fit their roles. Much of the soundtrack is provided by Kiss, which has quite a large part in the storyline. We learn quite a lot about the characters as well as what a whispering eye is. Role Models is in a similar vein to Adam Sandler's Sandler's Big Daddy (1999, 10 years old, already!) but with adult humour. I recommend it as one of the best American comedies of the decade so if you haven't seen it yet I suggest you go.
9/10

And again...

It's awards time!! Nominations can now be received for the NME awards, prior to the announcement of the shortlists for the awards ceremony. There shortlists are made up of the top 5 selected in each category. Could I please ask you to vote for The Futureheads?! If any band deserve an award then it's them. They aren't even signed and look how far they've come! They convinced a lot of people that they aren't just an average indie band. These guys have made something special. Please click here to vote.
I'm sure they will thank you for it and make you feel proud for making history.

I'd just like to make one comment about bands leaving record labels and then releasing music on their own. The Futureheads did it and managed to get far with no publicity at all. And then, a few months later, McFly - don't get me wrong, I love this band - did it and everyone was fussing over how they were doing it all on their own as if they were the first band to ever do that! And that kind of annoyed me.
Anyway, vote Futureheads! It's a vote you'll never regret!

Bringing music back home

The north east: a place of culture, creation and in some cases, general weirdness.
The best thing about this area of England has to be the music. Bands like The Futureheads and Maxïmo Park have put the North on the map as the centre of England's music scene.
In the last two years, special Christmas shows have been put together to commemorate just how good the area is. Both nights were headlined by The Futureheads and have featured support from Field Music, This Aint Vegas, Viva City and Uncle Monty to name a few.
A celebration of sorts is held each year in Middlesbrough town centre which brings together the people and talent from all over the world. The festival has been given a name impossible for use elsewhere which could be quite clever; Middlesbrough Music Live. I have been to two of these annual events, in which I enjoyed bands including Ash and Kubichek!. Bands such as Razorlight, The Cribs and Kaiser Chiefs also played the festival themselves in early days thus producing some sort of stepping stone for their careers. A lot of time from local bookings company, Ten Feet Tall, is put into presenting yet another successful day out.
Further north, located at Newcastle quayside is the annual Freevolution event, last year priced at £3 a ticket, therefore warrenting a name change to 3volution. 2007 saw headliners Maxïmo Park, Echo & The Bunnymen and The Enemy grace the main stage to great applaud. I myself have not been to this event but it has been reported as a great day out, enjoying the river views as well as the music, again talent from around the world is booked to play.
The weather is generally nice, however even rain doesn't manage to grey people's day out; they have the music to revel in and enjoy, nothing will stop their enjoyment. The only thing that will is ever these festivals are cancelled or discontinued. There are bigger festivals all over the country which people from all over the world attend but Middlesbrough Music live and 3volution are just an example of what the North East has done for music, and for the country for that matter!!

One final note...
As I wrote the other day, Newcastle Carling Academy has gained a name change; Carling seems to be losing a lot of 'advertising' at the moment as the brand was also removed from the Reading and Leeds festivals starting last year. The weekend was originally called Carling Weekend: Reading and Leeds festivals. o2 took over the Academy, who knows what they'll take over next?
I'm out of here.

I didn't get high, he did

Dear blog reader,
I intend to get this band up and running!! Finally. We still need to fix upon a name, which we have already changed twice. Will we get as good as The Subways? I don't know, I should practise my bass more and start learning Subways bass lines perhaps. Girls make better bass players.
Time to strap on our guitars and make history. We're still minus a drummer, still thinking about that advert in Windows? I've got us on a tour supporting We Are The Physics, I asked Michael M in secret when no one heard us.

This isn't so much of the review style of my previous blogs so here goes...

With slamming guitars, crashing drums and a few Subways-style 'URGH!'s, Alcohol is destined to become [Insert band name here]'s title track. Alcohol has one of those riffs that will stay in your head for days and making you mad for more. If you don't end up falling out of the pub singing this on a Saturday night then what's the matter with you?! Putting that aside, let's just celebrate what [Insert band name here] have given us. The lyrics are genius; "Alcohol, yeah it's good" is something everyone will be singing in the masses, along with the repetitive riff which will be hummed and whistled in a galaxy far, far away.
[Insert video for Alcohol here]

Okay, so I lied about the Physics support!! But you knew that, right?
On a final note, it is with great grief to bring upon you that Newcastle Carling Academy has been taken over by O2. A new logo has taken shape for the name change. Please don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger.

Whoo! We made it!

It's 2009, merry new year to all peoples reading this. Time to tell you my top five albums of 2008.

5. McFly - Radio:ACTIVE
This album includes elements from all their previous albums as well as combining ballads with 'bigger' songs. The album flows nicely and IS an album rather than a bunch of songs thrown together.

4. We Are The Physics - We Are The Physics Are OK At Music
Well, what can I say? It's loud and full of noise. Best song has to be You Can Do Athletics, BTW.

3. The Subways - All Or Nothing
The bass is fucking excellent. All hail Charlotte Cooper!!

These last two were a hard choice to choose between as both are brilliant, although both albums are each musically at the other sides of the spectrum.

2. The Spinto Band - Moonwink
Aaaaaahhhhhh, it's excellent. I was hooked from track one. Great lyrics, nice music to relax to, and dance to at the same time.

1. The Futureheads - This Is Not The World
My copy came late but after hearing it I knew it was worth the wait. Their best offering so far, self released. I can't fault a single song.

Top 5 songs? Hmmm...

5. We Are Scientists - After Hours
4. The Subways - Girls And Boys
3. Kings Of Leon - Sex On Fire
2. We Are The Physics - You Can Do Athletics, BTW
1. The Futureheads - The Beginning Of The Twist

Also, go to see a band in Glasgow.
I'll leave you with this.