Big Hand <bighandmusic>
| ||||
 | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
 | thoughts on change | 6 dni temu | ||
| ||||
| Chips and dips my toe tapping chums, ive spent the last few days juggling things in my cap of contemplation and have come to the conclusion that life really does chuck some proper random situations at us all and unless we're switched on 110 % it will creep up liberating yer mind and rationality....however, their is an upside as it does put things into perspective, drives those in the gallows / firing line to make harsh and needed choices ultimately leading to a reshuffling of commitments in both love, work, life and ambition to a chase that dream of a long and happy existence. There are many choices we can be faced with in this life and when tredding the decision making process their is a need for release, a step back so to speak and you may find an ever growing desire to turn speakers up to 11, concoct more obscurities, go with the flow and want to take more control. Do we focus on the trivial? what trually is important? What can every person on the face of this earth do to improve? Do we all need to improve? Is this it? How far can we go? Do we really know the way? Can we find peace in what we already have and can we find the strength to let it go? Just some deep thoughts their, on a lighter note the gig on saturday in Gosforth civic hall went down an ale and cider powered storm. Faced with 16 types of ale, 8 types of cider a little taste of valhala was bestowed upon us and after having not gigged for a while the euphoria was rife amongst us and the crowd where we witnessed some (very high) knee to the sky action. Again tony, ye are a legend man, always a pleasure, never a chore. Catch the rest o' ye in edinburgh on the 27th. Phil | ||||
| ||||
| 0 komentarzy | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| phils rant | 12 dni temu | ||
| ||||
| yo ho ho and a bottle of jimmy's old eyebrow tweeker. Thursday again and a gig lays before us in the fine town of newcastle, kebabs, beers, full blown frollics and debauchery shall be afoot, an arm, couple of fingers and maybee a leg or two. This gigs been sorely needed by yours trually as due to a lack of (constructive) madness ive found the cheese has begun to in all honesty "slide of my cracker" so im kinda fired. On a totally random note i heard a story today about some guy who was arrested in edinburgh for 'cracking one off' at his window and get this.....his surname was cumming! You really cant make that stuff up man. Nice to see the world/fate has a sense of humour eh? Right im off, its getting hard to write this while walking in the dark (seriously): Phil | ||||
| ||||
| 0 komentarzy | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| weekend skanking | 42 dni temu | ||
| ||||
| Top Tuesday tongue flappings to ye all out there, been a while since weve updated this interweb contraption so here i am with a wee update following last weeks show-downs in glasgow and newcastle. First off was pivo pivo in Glasgow playing alongside ol' ska demons 'Esperanza' sweet as night likes so big ups tae Gary for booking the bands and also big ups tae their fruit machine that paid me a nice wee earner tae! Really cool bar, friendly staff and foods pretty tasty, cannae wait to get back actually. Newcastle to be honest was a bit on the quiet side but that never stops the hand goin as nuts as possible and cracking it tae 11 on the ska-ometer. Seemed like a group of old school skankers so it was good tae see the heads bopping and bods shuffling in appreciation tae our off beat rhythmical wonder machine. On top o' all this its always good to be playing gigs for the ska monkey lot, top blokes (and lass). Plans for the next wee while are minimal as we are taking a weekend or so off tae grow hairy bottoms and learn latin. happy holidays everyone. p.s !!!!!!!our new video for let it out is done and looks amazing, keep yer eye's at the ready for the release date!!!!!!! x Phil | ||||
| ||||
| 0 komentarzy | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| New news i never knew, or is it? | 71 dni temu | ||
| ||||
| Evening all, hope yer weekends been as rocking and as sunny as ours. For those of you that didnt know we where down in Bristol on friday playing at Mr wolfs new venue called the junction. The venue itself is still in development but is already showing signs of becoming one of the best venues to gig in Bristol and as soon as the pizza oven is installed its just gonna make it even better to be there so watch out for it folks, well worth a look. Also while in Bristol looking around a charity shop with pabs i found an amazing bargain in the form of an old school stylaphone (Rolf Harris tastic) for £2.50, needs a wee bit work but i cannae wait to get some obscure noises out of it onstage  Saturday saw us in london for again another sunny day (weather seemed to be following us, not that we complained of course) and a fairly early show in the camden barfly with support from the loveable toe tappingly jumpy euphoria enducing beats provided by 'fight the bear' and the awe inspiring mind altering skank machine of the 'New town kings'. Barfly as usual never fails to dissapoint, the crowd skanked hard, the beer flowed well and i came off stage covered in lovely black ming from rolling around the floor for shits and giggles, good times. As the night ended the band and co all fired up tae jamies, joe's and toms flat for some tea and scones and general merry goings on, again, good times. would love to stay and type but my brain needs another coin in the meter.................................. ...... Phil | ||||
| ||||
| 0 komentarzy | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| And now the end is near | 89 dni temu | ||
| ||||
| well as I sit feeling slightly hazy in an internet cafe in Inverness (which also happens to be a laundrette). I'm overcome witha sense of pride mixed wih extreme fatigue. It has been one hell of a month for the hand and the sense of shellshock in playing this many gigs in such a short space of time might take a wee while to wear off. I'm really looking forward to getting back home to London to my lovely lady and family and friends. It is however hard not to feel like you want to just keep going. The heaven for those of us who love playing live would be a never ending road full of new fans, odd and exiting towns, amazing resturants and hotels where they don't kick you out at 10.30am. Playing live music and touring is one of the most addictive things I can think of. I really hope that we've bought pleasure to all who have seen us over the past month. I'll see you London and Bristol folk over the next few weekends. Really looking forward to tonights gig with Bombskare. We haven't played with those boys since Feb and I don't forsee it being a sober affair.... Oh well my credit is running low so better split. Much love L x | ||||
| ||||
| 0 komentarzy | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| First impressions, | 92 dni temu | ||
| ||||
| Bit of a weird one as late going up n this head of mine. Obviously the fact that we played 16 gigs in 15 days with the bulk of them between the hours of 3 and 5 in the morning puts you in a certain headspace. However I’ve been touring most of my adult life so it’s not exactly a feeling that I’m not used to. Back to the weirdness, it turns out that alot of folk that like to hang out with us before an after our shows become suddenly mute when a controversial point or some slightly risqué humour is used. Now we’ve always been a band who love to hang out with everyone. We have universal music so why the hell should we filter who we socialise with around our shows. Why indeed? There’s no reason, so I fully intend to continue treating the world as an extended family. As long as individuals don’t give me a reason to dislike them then I won’t. (and now to the point…) If someone does say something that offends me or upsets me I tend to do one or both of 2 things: 1) Challenge them on the point and see if it can be discussed. Lets face it the only way that opinions can evolve is via taking life out of the black and white and getting down to the grey in which reality exists. 2) If option 1 fails I walk away and go find someone else to chat to. If I’ve been particular upset or annoyed by what the person has said to me I make them aware that this is the case. Bizarrely folk often aren’t aware they’re being offensive especially if large amounts of booze are involved. Simple eh? You’ll notice at no point was there a secret option 3 where I stayed there for a few hours, said nothing and then bitched about the person to their mates or manager about it a few days later…. I’m not a fucking pop star and it takes balls and strong opinions to be part of a band who are outspoken on issues. In fact it takes balls to stand up on a stage in front of people and play music. So if you want to come chill before or after a show I welcome you with open arms (it’s one of my favourite things about being in the band). Just remember that not everyone in the world thinks in the same way…….. | ||||
| ||||
| 0 komentarzy | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| Edinburgh festival | 93 dni temu | ||
| ||||
| And so it ends, a full 15 nights of late and live playing to a variety of crowds and keeping them drunk and dancing from 3am till 5am with some regular visits to the scotsman / penny black chucked in for good measure. Im well happy we survived with minimal injuries apart from the standard hangovers, mild blisters, scrapes, ulcers etc. On a healing tip for those hand fans who are performers themselves here's a few i heard of and learnt during the festival to cure those ailments : Guitarists- getting blisters on yer hands from too much playing? Try sticking them into a half lemon. Horn players- mouth breaking out in ulcers due to excessive playing, late nights etc? Multi soloution is rinse out the mouth with salt water, take strong vitamin C pills and vitamin B, for ulcers slightly on the outside of the mouth apply some blistex cold sore cream and keep playing through the lip pain, it will toughen up. So advise aside, this is a time of mixed emotion happy that i can get some proper rest but sad our run is over, after playing all these nights in a row and seeing the same people its almost as if they have become family over the short while we played, thanks to the likes of Bavash, Bobby, Lisa, Jade, Mek, Fish and many others for pouring our drinks and helping us get pissed on fine cocktails. Big up to All the comedians who stopped to have a chat with us and who were genuinely all a bunch o' legends, Patrick monaghan, Phil Kay, Phil Nichol, John Bishop, Dan, Brendan Burns, and all the rest!!!! And last but not least our extended family for the 15 nights we played, Emma, Bruce, Tim, Neil, Sarah, Sulu, Rich, Martin, Stuart, Steph, Scarlett, Morveyn, Amy, Spanks, The list is almost endless, Pretty much EVERYONE CONNECTED TO LATE AND LIVE WE GOD DAMN LUVS YA!!!!!!! Im heading into teviot tonight to hang out with fight the bear who are bringing their ska vibes up from bishops castle. If anyones interested its exactly the same set up minus the brass so get yer ass shaking down tae late and live from 3 tae 5. All the best ya skanking weebles. x Phil | ||||
| ||||
| 0 komentarzy | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| memories | 111 dni temu | ||
| ||||
| This may be the last blog i write before my brain capsizes into a realm of festival euphoria so i better make this important. having survived my recent trip to london and missing the edinburgh train on the way home ive been mainly focusing on 3 things: 1) bourbon consumption 2) earning pennies 3)mastering my skills at risk All of which go hand in hand with my fiendish plan of creating a gambling version of a war based strategy game whereby you gamble with alcoholic beveridges (due for world wide release early spring, year of release 'undetermined') So yes indeed festival is about to start for us and deep in the realms of my mind i recall so many fun times which i know we all shall be re-living yet again whilst living the life of nocturnal hedgehogs, expect to see either some or all of the band most nights( sorry mornings) in either the penny black or the scotsman sharing stories of tantalising adventures, surreal situations and rhymes of revelry. If anyones kicking about the festival and is looking for some top comedy may i recomend the effervescent mr phil kay whos show starts at 6.30pm, im planning on firing up with some of the crew and going for brews after, any fans of the hand are welcome to come and booze with us Only thing is though is the bar we shall be getting smashed in has not yet been defined. (penny black?) | ||||
| ||||
| 0 komentarzy | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| DJ DJ | 113 dni temu | ||
| ||||
| Oooooh boy I’m hungover, Djed at the Kerrang awards last night and there was ALOT of free booze. God bless Red Stripe for trying to brand themselves as a beer that metalers drink (probably down to the large metal scene in Jamaica). Anyways you’ll not hear me complaining. Still this rainy London day brings with it something of headache, I guess you only live once eh? As much as for me absolutely nothing can beat a gig I’m really getting into my Djing at the moment. Bizzarly in contrast to the rock awards aftershow last night a few weekends ago I played at a wedding after the band had played and there is just a great feeling in getting people dancing even if it’s not to Big Hand tunes. Sooo I’m gonna make an effort to play out more. Look out fort Big Hand DJ sets coming to a venue near you and if you happen to need some tunes (from cheese to chalk) playing then let me know. A couple of handy tips for you if you fancy DJing: 1) Only play tunes that you enjoy, I love music from every genre but if you only like Thrash metal then only DJ that. 2) DJ in the same state as the crowd (I’ll leave this up to your imagination). 3) Try not to get too into mixing stuff, just play good tunes it’s not about showing off. Woop woop | ||||
| ||||
| 0 komentarzy | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| Rock the Boat | 117 dni temu | ||
| ||||
| Hey there folks out in ye olde world of the internet hope this sunny Friday afternoon sees you well and looking forward to the weekend. We’re at Hoots in Brixton tonight so if yer bopping down we’ll see ya in a few hours. Apologies for the lack of blog yesterday but it is with good reason….. ..we spent a wee 12 hour stint in Trouble studios in Kilburn yesterday working with the great Jonny C and Will Worsley (you’ll know them best as producer and mixer of Big Hand & Oh No). Now as has been hinted at in past blogs the next album is the first thing on our mind at the moment. As any of you that are in bands will know that sorta thing takes time and money. However about a month ago Tim wrote a song in reponse to the BNP getting 2 seats in the European parliament. I’m not gonna drone on about it but we’re really not happy that the far right seem to be edging their way back in. The song is called ‘Rock The Boat’. Sooooo basically we couldn’t wait to get this one down. It will be coming out hopefully over the next few weeks and is a stormer both lyrically and musically (not to blow our own trumpet*) and I kinda just want to walk around with a set of headphones playing it to people in the street. We’ll have a new set of T-shirts to go with the tune so stay tuned to the site. Right I gotta splat and drive a our gear down to Brixton, look forward to seeing you all ASAP. Lay-tar L x | ||||
| ||||
| 0 komentarzy | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||