Showing posts with label places. Show all posts
Showing posts with label places. Show all posts

Sunday, 31 August 2014

polite podcast no.8



This is the last episode of the second series of the polite podcast. It is a tour diary of the Frozy/Nervy Betters July tour 2014. 


Weds 9th July - The Nest, Bath 
Thurs 10th July - Gwdihŵ Café Bar, Cardiff 
Fri 11th July - House Show, London
Sat 12th July - The Vagina Stereolodge, Birmingham
Sun 13th July - Gulivers, Manchester
Mon14th July - 13th Note, Glasgow
Tues 15th July - Mystery Day 
Weds 16th July - Traveling Man Bookshop, Newcastle

There will probably be one more series of podcasts in the new year.

credits

from Polite Podcasts, track released 31 August 2014 
live recordings of Frozy and The Nervy Betters by Nicol Parkinson 
field recordings by Henry Ireland 
photo by Steve Brett

Thursday, 17 July 2014

polite podcast no.7




This is the third in this series or season of the Polite Podcast. It's being published at 8AM on the 16th of July. There is one more podcast in this series, which will be published at some time in August.

credits

from Polite Podcasts, track released 16 July 2014
Thick Like Snow - Oh Peas! (ohpeas.bandcamp.com)
One - Attacked by Wolves (attackedbywolves.bandcamp.com)
Folds - Nick Gunzburg (www.nickgunzburg.com)
Big Sound - Glowy (glowingcateyes.bandcamp.com/releases)

Interview: A-J

Friday, 7 March 2014

we're planning a tour!

photo by Steve Brett

Over the weekend on 18th - 22nd of April, we're planning to play in London, Brighton, Birmingham, Cambridge/Northampton with: 

photo by Steve Brett


photo by Rhiannon Parkinson
photo by Roxy Brennan

Tuesday, 7 January 2014

torquay sketch


I have this little sketchbook. I think this year I will try and do more little sketches.

I have this little sketch book. I think this year I'm going to try and do more little sketches.

Monday, 30 September 2013

polite podcast no.1



Hello, so this is the first polite podcast. It contains songs by different people, oral histories and field recordings. I will be releasing an episode in the last hour of every month until the end of this year. So that's four episodes in total, okay? Okay!

coffee machines: palomica
the whole town watching: here is the river (liz melia; blake gifford; ben meschko)
the river: two white cranes
glimmer: we wanted to be lions

interviews: marion ireland; maggie willans
field recordings: henry ireland; nicol parkinson
edited: henry ireland 

Sunday, 1 September 2013

two white cranes/nervy betters tour 2013

 

I'll try and keep this short...

Bristol
We play at Aaron and Roxy's house and Kano and Ohne are there. We have a pizza party. The next day, we pick up the car. Super sporty with a spoiler. The rental men are excited for us. We see Rachael and Shuki. We pick up Roxy from work and drive to Birmingham

Birmingham
We listen to podcasts in the car. The show is at the Ace Bushy house (the Vagina Monolodge). Eve made us a tasty vegan cake. Jen Schande plays a lovely set then runs away. Everyone is super nice. We have fun. Next day, we go to have breakfast with lovely people. We do a crossword together.

Peak District
Friendly people at the youth hostel. We walk to Lud's Church. It is a big ravine all covered in moss. I guess it might be the Green Knight's castle. Steve makes such a great miso soup and stir fry dinner. We have a band practice by the river and scouts come with a chainsaw. We are afraid they might bully us.

Manchester
Liam makes us such tasty burgers and we meet Natalie. Roxy has an essay in her zine. She gives us vegan pie and cookies. LLION SWYD are so great. "Only dickheads win the lottery". We thought we had food poisoning but really we are just nervous. We stay up late and chat and then sleep in luxury. I have a chocolate milkshake with my breakfast.

Oxford
The light is prickly and nice on the drive. The owners of this house are both called Matt. We play to a little living room of people and then have a nice time chatting. In the morning, Steve and Roxy swim in the river. I sleep in.

Norwich
Anna takes us to a tea room. Me and Franky want to move here maybe... I am pretty exhausted. We get food at the place and set up with our own things. Stephen and Tammy arrive. They are so great! This is probably the best we play on tour. We have lost our minds at this point. I swap records with Anna. Her 10" has my favourite Middle Ones song on it. We eat breakfast at a raw vegan cafe. Anna picks up a shelving unit off the street.

Seaford
Nicol is waiting outside for us. So good to see him. We walk to the beach and swim in the sea at sunset. Roxy - a vegan - goads me into eating a battered sausage. We each play a song and then go to bed. Verity's room is very comforting to sleep in. In the morning, Nicol records some drums for the album.

London
Driving through London is intense. Holy shit. we stop for pizzas. I'm so happy to see Franky. We set up the flat and people start arriving. Olly plays first. He is great. It's his album party and he's made a good album. It's really hot and we have such a fun show and sing happy birthday to Olly. So many lovelies there! After I wave Steve and Roxy off I go straight to bed and sleep.


Friday, 30 August 2013

oliver watson, two white cranes, the nervy betters in our living room


So Last night was the last stop on the Two White Cranes/Nervy Betters tour and also the album party for Oliver Watson's 'loosestrife'. We had it at our house and it was lots of fun!

Friday, 16 August 2013

great people we're playing with on tour

 Bristol



Birmingham



Manchester



Norwich



Seaford



London



Super exciting! Here is the facebook page for the whole thing. Lots of them are house shows, so just contact me if you want to come to one of them!




Friday, 9 August 2013

two white cranes + the nervy betters on tour


So later this month I'm going on tour for the first time ever with good humans Steve and Roxy. I'm pretty excited! More dates TBA!
 
B R I S T O L
house show | thursday 22nd august

B I R M I N G H A M 
the vagina monolodge (houseshow) | friday 23rd august
facebook event

M A N C H E S T E R 
 house show | sunday 25th august
facebook event


 O X F O R D
house show | monday 26th august



N O R W I C H 
 the bicycle shop | tuesday 27th august
facebook event

S E A F O R D 
house show | wednesday 28th august
secret location

L O N D O N 
house show | thursday 29th august
secret location



Wednesday, 7 August 2013

a new lino project


Proofs from a couple of new panels. I'm having a go at a slightly longer story this time. I don't know when it will be done...

Tuesday, 6 August 2013

i think it's ok to start thinking about autumn now


Friday, 1 March 2013

studio walls




I put these up on the wall a while ago because I thought they went well together. Only one of them was made on purpose (if you can believe even one of them was deliberate).

Monday, 28 January 2013

nervy betters recording











Last week I stayed at Lisa, Steve and Sam's house in Bedminster and Steve and I recorded most of what we hope will be the first Nervy Betters album. I had lots of fun. We worked pretty hard most days and recorded a lot. We're pretty excited with the results!

Sunday, 7 October 2012

prfstival uk

this image from here (lots more photos here)

Last weekend Grizzly and the Bears played at the uk PRFstival, at the Bristol County Sports Club, organised by members of the Electrical Audio forum. It was lots of fun and we danced to bands and when we played, people crowded around and sat on the floor and were super nice to us.

They recorded the entire show and streamed it online, so you can watch videos of all the performances.

They've also made a compilation of songs by the bands who played. You can buy it for a price of your own choosing and it contains a rough mix of a new Grizzly and the Bear song from ongoing the Yew Tree Sessions.
    

Wednesday, 29 August 2012

brussels

photo by Frances Dixon

We arrived sleepy and happy into Brussels and perhaps we were caught off guard by the complicated (was it complicated) layout of the station. We got stressed out. In the end, a friendly man helped us back to Brussels Midi. We got a taxi to the hostel instead and things picked up from there.

We changed out of our two night old clothes, had showers and went to the bar for a beer. We walked around the block and had chips with mayonnaise next to the church. I can see the church out of the window now. I can't believe we've made it this far. I know it's not far really but it's the farthest I have traveled on my own planning and I'm pleased it has worked out.

It was a long day but we are on the train home and I am thinking about what a good time we had. It was so good to be with Frances on this big adventure. I have had some of the best experiences of my whole life and that's not even an exaggeration and I'm so happy I could share them with Frances.

Tuesday, 28 August 2012

kino residency: august


 photo by Frances Dixon



I spent August staying at my parents' house, working and putting on Cafe Kino events. Here are a few photos to summarise the whole thing. I'll make more detailed posts for the two main events (write good songs and music and movies) later. Also, here is a summary of the month in list form.

Frances and I found a place to have our wedding reception just before she left for China, so we parted in a great mood.

I spend the first week listening to old CDs and tapes, hanging out with my brother and his girlfriend and driving around visiting friends and their babies. I even caught Lauren between Afghanistan and somewhere else. Then my parents came home and we all went to the pub and I told them what was what for about two hours.

There were two weddings. One was of my old flatmate and friend Mark Slade, to Kerry, his girlfriend. Lots of babies there and lots of old pals. on the drive back, we visited my Grandparents and Aunt and Uncle.The second wedding was of Phil Dodd's brother, Pete and his girlfriend Lana. Grizzly and the Bears played!

Mostly I was working on projects and preparing for my week in Kino: 20th-25th Aug. The weekend before this, I stayed with Steve and Lisa and Sam in Lisa's house and we had a band practice for our new band The Nervy Betters in preparation for a new bands event on the following week. The next day, Lisa, Steve and I jumped on a big inflatable Stone Henge on College Green in Bristol.

Frances came back from China and I got to spend some time with her while looking for more Polite Records stuff to take to the British Library. We stayed up late Sunday night making a mixed tape for Cafe Kino. I made it on a blank tape my friend, Amy - 'primary care giver' - Parsons gave to me out of all the old CDs I had left behind when I left home.

For the next week, I spent time in and around Cafe Kino chatting and writing and drawing and preparing a story to be read out on Saturday the 25th of August. I stayed with the super generous Sarah and George and made them spinach and spring onion vegan pancakes for dinner as a thank you. 

Frances and I had an amazing curry with our friends Sarah-Jane and Daniel at Sarah-Jane's house in Yate. Daniel is going to go to Berlin to do an MA. He has been trying to do this for the last two years.

That week in Cafe Kino, I put on two events, with massive help from George and all at Kino. The first was called write good songs and was an evening of new bands and music ideas. The second was called music and movies and was an evening of songs and short films from Rachael Dadd, Ichi and me. It was also Rachael's last show before having her baby and she was joined on stage by a Skype video of Aaron and Kano in Japan. Kano is having a baby too!

Anyway, It was a fantastic three weeks and combined being busy with being on holiday in a way I wish I could make happen more often. I feel three years older, in a good way. I'm very grateful to everyone I got to spend time with over this month!

Thursday, 2 August 2012

lindau

photo by Frances Dixon
maybe this photo was by Frances?
photo by Frances Dixon

It is raining like the last time we left Berlin. We give Ana a text as she had recently moved to the city. It is nice to see all of Berlin one last time on our train ride to the station.

We are on the bottom bunks of a couchette to Munich. We tuck ourselves onto little shelves and lie on our backs in the dark compartment as lights all manner of colours and shapes flicker on the ceiling from the night through the crack in the curtains. It is like a zoetrope. It is a beautiful riot of noise and light but its frequency is hypnotic and I sleep well, though lightly.

We have a tea and a coffee in Munich and head straight back out in the direction of Lindau. Spindly legged conifers gather densely around a river, mist still collecting on its surface. The train crosses a little bridge and there is water all around.

When we get out the town is very quiet and the air is slightly bitter like it gets when winter is coming. Out at the edge of the harbour is a gate guarded by a lion and a lighthouse. Beyond them are the Alps. 

The alps are pitch black and mist hangs about them, the only thing defining them in three dimensions.