Back in the shire

I'm back home today. Literally home. Didcot. My Dad got a new laptop and so I'm sitting here to the sounds of "loose women" on the TV (not my choice), the dog asleep on my foot while my parents are both asleep or falling asleep. It's hot and sunny and I have nothing to do at all, no errands to run, no work to do and only a guitar with 5 strings and it's awesome. Any more than a day like this and I'd go crazy, but today I'm happy with my lack of progress and accomplishment. I realised today though that the D string is essential and that the only guitar shop in Didcot has closed down. Probably because they only sold shit guitars and amps and didn't stock anything that anyone who knows anything would buy.

Kieran announced "Manchfester" today - 12 bands in Manchester for £6. I can't wait - I get edgy during all day events but the line up looks solid and I'm stoked to be part of it. Check it our here.

Time to go lay in the garden with Ben.

Dan

Ipod situation udpate.

A haiku, about my ipod situation.

IPod Touch was great.

2 weeks of complete heaven.

Lost it K-Fest.

Dan Bond

At Work

Greenwich, 2010

Purple Turtle, Tomorrow

Tomorrow we play the Purple Turtle in Camden with Dirty tactics (USA) Bangers (Cornwall) and Pacer (Somewhere in the UK. I have no idea where though).

As previously discussed, I like the Purple Turtle and I like Bangers. I don't really know tons about Dirty Tactics and I had never heard of pacer before seeing the flyer, but I am quite excited about this show. I would recommend attending, but my opinion is biased based upon the fact that I like playing shows, I like the venue and I love Bangers.

Needless to say, I'll be there.

Dan

Re-arranging The Dust.

I like playing this song. We’ve been playing it now for probably almost two years and I think I’d be happy to play it every night, every single show, every time I got my guitar out. The first time we played it we were a two piece and, well, we were still getting to grips with playing with consistency and I remember breathing deep and my heart racing as we went to start the intro. It was in Oxford, near where me and Josh used to live, at the Wheatsheaf which is a tiny and awesome venue which was where I think I went to some of my earliest shows. It was at the time when we would play as well as we could, replicating what we had done so many times in practice, sort of hanging on as hard as possible not to make mistakes, focusing tightly on exactly what we were doing and we generally did pretty well at that. These days I feel a little more comfortable playing shows, my body seems to take over and I can actually concentrate on enjoying the feeling of playing, instead of gripping on till the moment we turn the amps off and pack up. This song, more than most that have survived in our set this long, is the one I notice that feeling with when playing.

This song is about my Mum who has Multiple Sclerosis and my Dad who is her carer and anchor.

Dan.

(thanks to Ian at strikeachorduk.blogspot.com for the video)

Tour help - June/July 2010

Hi. In June and July we’re going to be heading into Europe with Imadethismistake (www.myspace.com/imadethismistake) for a few weeks.

I.can.not.wait.

The plan is looking like this at the moment:

• 22/06 - Caen, France
• 23/06 - Laval, France
• 24/06 - Dijon, France
• 25/06 - Geneva, Switzerland
• 26/06 - Gland, Switzerland
• 27/06 - TBA Italy
• 28/06 - TBA Italy
• 29/06 - Ljubljana, Slovenia
• 30/06 - Wiener Neustadt, Austria
• 01/07 - Oberwart, Austria
• 02/07 - TBA Czech Republic
• 03/07 - TBA Berlin, Germany
• 04/07 - TBA Germany
• 05/07 - TBA Holland/Belgium/France/Lux
• 06/07 - TBA Holland/Belgium/France/Lux
• 07/07 - TBA Holland/Belgium/France/Lux
• 08/07 - Paris, France

Obviously we have a few dates left to fill, some of which are just still in the process of confirming 100%, but basically, if anyone can help us fill the dates in that are above that would be awesome. If you can help, please get in touch! bookings@apologiesihavenone.co.uk

Imadethismistake are streaming their new record here. (It's great)
We’re streaming our new 7" here. (It's great?!)

I'll talk more about why the new IMTM record is awesome and how all this came to be pretty later. I'm real busy man!

Dan
apologiesihavenone.co.uk

K Fest was pretty oK.

Hi. This weekend was pretty fun. Angela and Alf (not sure how much input Alf had, but he's a dude anyway) put on K fest - a sort of semi-weekender across Friday and Saturday night in Kingston, just south of London. Dear Landlord played the Friday night and apparently sold out the Fighting Cocks and it was awesome. So I hear. I wasn't there, I went for dinner on a bus instead with Ema and got drunk instead. I know, I know, I missed a great show, but seriously, the Tofu stack from here is worth missing ringing ears and sweaty pits for. Dear Landlord are real good though, I hope you made it to a show. Or got drunk instead. Actually, I do not advocate drinking. Make your own bloody mind up.

So yeah, after last years K Fest went, well, pretty badly for us, I was more nervous than usual to play this weekend. It's somehow worse to fuck up on a proper stage with monitors and stuff than it is to fuck up playing a floor show. I guess real stages mean real bands and real bands don't fuck up. We didn't fuck up. At least not in any kind of major way. I was pretty happy about that. Someone filmed us playing Vicky Park and it's below. Can someone film us at a show and just focus on PJs feet? The guy is a windmill and headspin away from being a full-on dancer. He's got them happy feet.



So that was K fest, at least, the Apologies bit of K Fest. I should add right here that El Morgan stole the whole show and put on one of the finest performances I have ever seen by someone with a guitar. She's amazing, I don't think anyone said a word through her set.

Josh drummed for Calvinball because Conor is sick and in Brighton. He practiced for like 3 hours at home with the Calvinballs on his electric drumset and it sounded pretty cool considering the fact that they refuse to tune their guitars. After some serious Ipodding and drumming the air between bands, he went on to play real well. Maybe Calvinball should becoming a five piece? If Josh can't drum for them he could rap instead. Just a thought?

Anyway, thats all for now. OH YEAH! Pj fest is happening! Finally! Check this out!

Insane.

Dan
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Apologiesihavenone.co.uk

"We'll never make it to the next level!"

We put one side of our 7" up to stream on our Myspace page which you can check out here: www.myspace.com/apologiesihavenoneAREAWESOME!

I also figured it was time for us to step into the modern age (ie, life post-myspace) and get us a Facebook. And a Twitter. I can't help feeling a bit dirty about all this presence on the internet, but I guess people prefer using what they are used to using and I can't force everyone to actually just hang out with us in real life rather than tweeting us and poking us. Come chat to us! (in 140 characters or less, please)

Anyway, check this shit, I am going to try to embed a widget.

• Sat In Vicky Park
• 100 Club
• Apologies, I Have One
• I Hope This Is Quick

Apologies, I Have None on iLike - Get updates inside iTunes

Did that work? I hope so. You can hear our new song right there.

Welcome to 2010.

Dan
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Trends. But not like that.

Sometimes when I’m bored I read the “have your say” page on the BBC website. They ask open questions there that often generate answers based on personal stance rather than fact, the kind of questions that attract the hardest, most fanatical viewpoints to battle it out over the internet with no possible winner. It’s not far off posing the question “Is there evidence for God?”. Quite frequently they post up questions relating to MMCC (man-made climate change) and the responses are fascinating. Whilst there is serious debate over how fast global temperatures are changing, how much those changes are directly related to the human love of oil and how accurate the data is, it’s pretty widely accepted by anyone who has studied MMCC that it exists and that we need to do something about it. Today I found this comment, essentially attempting to prove MMCC wrong:

“We have just had one of the coldest winters in my 60 years, its the middle of May and I can see frost on the grass when I walk the dog each morning….I am not afraid, repeat, I AM NOT AFRAID.”

I just love this comment and I think, worryingly, this is how a lot of brains work. It’s hard to see the bigger picture sometimes when the only proof you can actually see is right in front of you and conflicts with the general consensus. If all you ever saw was beautiful beaches in Cornwall, it’s easy to forget the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and if you can keep buying tuna in Tescos its easy to forget that certain species are almost completely extinct now. I sometimes think that disasters like the huge oil spill currently leaking into the Gulf can actually be a good thing, despite the terrible damage to the ecosystems in that area. At least we are being reminded that we do have a direct, measurable effect on the earth and the more we fuck about, the more damage we do.

I don't really have a point with all this, I guess I just hope that the people that make decisions about this stuff can look at the bigger picture. Any decision that goes the other way is basically siding with our friend above unless I am missing some monumental scientific evidence that proves MMCC is a load of crap.

For more terrifying, unscientific reading, please read this and this.

Oh, the picture is me, looking sweaty. If trends are correct, this could be me ALL THE TIME!

Radio! Radio! Radio! Radio!

I'm sitting at my desk where I work for a large (very large) music corporation, listening to Beyonce on my mass produced iPod and checking my online bank statements when I get a facebook message that a song of ours just got played on Radio 1 last night. I listened to it online.

I think thats the least punk-rock way to find out that we just got played on the Radio 1 Punk Show.

Lame.

Anyway, if you fancy having a listen, you can for the next 7 days here: bbc.co.uk/PUNKROCK!!

Thanks Mike Davies!

Dan

GARB is a Pillow-Head.

Josh drove something like 13 hours this weekend. London > Manchester > Dorking > London. At least half of that driving was hungover and off the back of about 3 hours of disturbed sleep. Hero. Thanks Josh, I'll get a driving license before this band is done, I swear.

I have this friend at work, I don't think he really gets our band, he talks about getting "backstage" and "getting tickets in advance" and "groupies". I wish he could have seen us when we were driving to Dorking after the Madchester show and the subsequent afterparty at Kierans house. Josh has his head slumped on one shoulder, eyes fixed hard on the bit of the road that seems to be in focus, fighting off the inevitable. Joe is well-gone in the back of the van after sleeping on a cushion-less sofa, hood up, eyes sinking. I'm drinking as much water as I can so I might have a hope of singing that night between dozing off and rubbing my face back to life. Bidder is in the back with a sleeping bag around his face, pen all over his face, puke on his breath. PJ is napping and generally feeling close to ok because he actually managed to sleep. We all have dumb shit written across our knuckes and acid building in our stomaches. I wish my work friend could have seen us then. Any ideas he had of us being rock-stars would have vanished quickly, we clearly are not cut out for this shit.

Maybe it's best he never finds out.

Anyway, Dear Landlord are awesome and Kieran and his flatmates are also awesome for letting us all come over and party to classic punk rock anthems until every beer was drunk, 50% of all showers had sick in them and 2 people had been wrestled into tapping out. Good times. Good times. We're done till K Fest this weekend, where we will be fresh and ready. If you see my work friend, tell him I'll meet him backstage and I'll leave his tickets at the box office.

Laters.

Dan

Apologies, i have none

Punknews Stream

It happened. www.punknews.org/article/38173

No need for an awkward e-mail exchange now.

*phew*

Dan

"Stubbs-Gate" and streaming.

I think Punknews is streaming the 7inch starting from tommorrow. This is perfect, I guess, for people who think our band kind of sucks but are interested to hear how bad the new stuff might be (I do this sometimes) or people who think our band is OK but aren't sure if we're worth £4. I suppose some people might be planning on picking up a record and hearing it streamed might swing it either way (and possibly kill the excitement to hear it I suppose). Either way, you won't need to pay us to form an opinion on our newest songs from tomorrow. Thats good for democracy, and this band is nothing without democracy (despite it being run much like a dictatorship...fuck it, like a dictatorship). I hope people like it. I genuinely think it's the best thing we have done. Even my Mum thought it was ok (except the swearing in Vicky Park) and I'm pretty sure she didn't like our previous record at all.

Sooo yeah, check Punknews tommorrow and it should all be running. If it's not up tomorrow then I'll send have to send the good people at PN a friendly e-mail that says something along the lines of "Yo, Punknews, theres like 8 people reading my blog, expecting to hear some shit via the infoweb and it ain't happening! Sort it out!" and they'll say something polite like "Yeah sorry Dan, we have real bands that we're covering and we forgot about you guys, I'll sort it out, Sorry". I'll feel like an asshole then and reply "Hey, sorry Punknews, you guys do a great job and I hate to bother you. Any time you get it working is good with us" and they won't reply because, like they explained, they are busy covering real bands and stuff and I'll feel awkward about e-mailing them again in case they missed it, but be worrying about appearing to hassle them.

I'm rambling today. Maybe yesterdays info-blog about hearing protection used up my self-control and bullshit filter for the week. I should ask Josh and Joe to write on here, they are pretty stand-up guys who could probably write witty and clever things that I just won't understand and find myself quietly nodding along with in the hope no-one ever finds out. Pj writes his own blog, he's way too cool for this.

Moving on, I just thought I should mention "Stubbs-Gate" and my personal opinion on it. Well, I got kind of bored of Leatherface about 10 minutes into their set and left to talk shit with Get-A-Grip Kay and Mega Games 2. I missed the whole thing. I guess I was gigged out by that point of the evening. I have been at a lot of gigs recently, it's giving me a headache.

That is all.

Dan
x

ps: Dorking, Saturday. We play EARLY if you like that kind of thing (I am talking about our band). Ema did the flyer and it's ace. Cue the insect puns! It's a spiracle this poster even got finished with how busy Ema has been recently!

Tinnitus.

If you are going to a lot of shows, or find yourself stuck near the PA at a gig, you are likely to damage your ears eventually. I have no idea or understanding on how it works, but it happens and it’s avoidable. A lot of shows I go are really loud, like, so loud I have no idea how people stand near the front without earplugs in. Maybe they are tougher than I am. Maybe they are already suffering hearing loss. I SAID MAYBE THEY ARE SUFFERING HEARING LOSS. The problem with ear plugs is they make everything sound kind of crappy, so it’s hard to enjoy music with them in. It’s even harder to play shows with them in because everything sounds different and it’s hard to connect with your music and the people around you. Well, both of those things are kind of fact, and kind of not. With the right ear plugs, things don’t have to sound crappy and you definitely can get used to playing with ear plugs if you give it a chance. I’ve used a bunch of different styles of ear plugs over the last few years and here is my review of what I have used.

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Foam ear plugs suck. They strip out almost all the guitars and vocals and seem to leave the bass frequencies where they are. For dance music this isn’t a problem as much, but for guitar/vocals, they are the worst, except for, maybe, toilet paper in your ears. I only use these as a last resort, I figure it’s better than tinnitus.

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Docs Pro Plugs aren’t designed so much for music as sports and other noisy environments. Josh really likes these because they don’t bring the volume down too much whilst still leaving the guitars and vocals intact. These have to fit well to work, mine didn’t seem to do much and I didn’t like them because they felt like they might fall out. They fit right inside your ear and that’s a good thing and if they fit, you'll probably like them.
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ER20s sound ok for gigs, but they stick out of your ears quite a bit, which made me uncomfortable to kick off a shows with them in. The string means losing them is less of an issue though. Probably best for band practice and low-impact shows. They do them in smaller sizes too, which seem to fit girls a little better.

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Alpine Music Safe Earplugs are the ones I use now. They are just like ER20s, but they go right inside your ear, so I feel safer when busting out pyramids and yelling “Wolinski” at Calvinball. They sound great for gigs and are pretty cheap and comfortable, easily the best ones I have tried. The only tip I have for anyone using them in a gig situation is to try getting your amp off the floor and more at waist-height. You’ll hear your treble better. They are about £25 and totally worth it. If you can afford custom ear plugs, I hear they are completely worth the £150 or so they will cost, but losing your ear plugs is inevitible, so bear that in mind.

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So, that’s todays blog. Completely unfunny and entirely non-fact based opinionated consumer advice. More of that tomorrow when I shall be discussing the pros and cons of differing gauge strings on your guitar and why Flora Light tastes just as good as regular Flora in your sandwhiches.

Laters

Dan