Random thoughts, scribblings, lists, annoyance issues - Mr Roar needs to get some things OUT there...

2007

ON.

After over TWO years of gigs, many amazing bands and memorable nights, THE ROAR CLUB is going on a break. We wrap things up with 3 great gigs through March / April - show your appreciation. Turn up, jump around, get down, ETC.

OFF.

DECEMBER wibblings...

BEgiN >>>>

And another year passes by and what a year its been for Bedford's live scene, loads of quality bands played our town and saw the Roar Club switched venues from The Angel to Esquires. January went off like a bomb and it carried on from there. January 2007 will be similar to last year...hint hint - i can't say too much at the moment.

Our older readers may be interested to hear about the fantastic compilation 'CD86' that recently came out. If any of you got the original NME c86 'tape' way back in 1986 then this recent 2 x cd release is a must. It doesn't feature all  of the bands on that legendary compilation (no 'STUMP' goddamit!) but adds plenty more of the "shambling" scene bands. Great name for a scene that.... shambling. Wonky guitars and rat-a-tat drums feature heavily and of course, the rather wobbly vocals, for this was in an age where studio trickery had not quite perfected how to make a drain sound like Dusty Springfield. So if you need to revisit these bands; The Mighty Lemon Drops, The Shop Assistants, The Soup Dragons and The Primitives then this is for you. Also the best  Primal Scream song ever - 'Velocity Girl', 1 minute of pop perfection, yes ONE minute is included and its one of the very few songs that Mr Roar knows all the words to.

Listening pleasures (all albumic)...

       GYM CLASS HEROES - As Cruel As Schoolchildren - one of my albums of

                                           the year, must. see live when they come over in 07.

                                                   Various artists - CD86   20 years old, *shudder*

  Agent Sparks -  Red Rover    (Band from US release ace album : boy/girl harmonies (Kim Deal vs Thurston Moore - ish), not as Pixies influenced as their earlier stuff).

       The Fall - A sides  - something kinda christmassy about The Fall doncha think?

                                 Brakes - The Beatific Visions    

              The Cooper Temple Clause - Make This Your Own

    Only Joking
    How do you pull a fat bird?
             > PIECE of CAKE! <

   Enter Scrooge...
    Time for a rant. NME why do you keep letting us down? Your 'coolest' person in music is so cool that you daren't go with her on the cover. You then give us 3 free cd's from 'independent' labels. Get lost - they all get massive funding from majors, independent my ass! And finally... your choices for the tour(s) next year are so LAME. You're meant to champion new music - instead we get THE AUTOMATIC???? How long does 'new rave' have? Why do 'Panic At The Disco' exist? Ahhh... pathetic.

New Year Wish-list (not much too ask for...)

1. More people to come to gigs, WAKE UP BEDFORD
2. Sykes from Men Of Unitus goes on Celebrity Big Brother. And wins!
3. Henry & The Bleeders go NEW RAVE
4. Pat from Knievel Genius gets a jumper sponsorhipfrom GAP
5. Trev from Media Blackout to get his own TV D.I.Y show
6. The tambourine man from The Kool-Aid Electric Company starts a solo (tambourine based) project
7. Drakey from Delphian Complex eats a full meal and puts on an ounce in weight
8.The Parade stop asking Mr Roar to be their manager
9. Fruition straw hats become a best seller
10. Local bands to start supporting each other at gigs

New Year Predictions
1. Beaslie Gang to be first local band to have knickers thrown on stage
2. Bowfinger somehow find even tighter trousers to wear
3. Quinny from New Groove Formation breaks more bones, in ever more foolish ways
4. Barbs from The Antec Sonata gets to see The KlaxTons (are they a tribute band?)
5. Black Ramps sign to Sony. In Japan. And get paid in Lego.
6. Lt Sparklehorse from The Smoking Hearts stops looking 15 years old
7. Robbie from  Scratchplate stops looking 13 years old

8. Shabba gets a (nice, pleasant) girlfriend. Offers?
9. Ronnie from The Ravines stops being a hermit
10. Guy Ultra Sonic joins his 5th, 6th and 7th bands
 

ThE eNd <<<

OCT 23 quick rant...

Congrats to JAMIE T crashing into the charts at no.13 this week and also for him packing out venues up and down the country. He's a top fella and after the ROAR gig he came down the Pad for a bit of a wind-down. A good night was had by all - but of course Bedford people were probably all washing their hair or something when he played due to the small audience in attendance.

With loads happening in November - Art Brut (finally!), Tiny Dancers and the return of Mr Swidenbank we have a bit of  TOP SECRET  news that we can sort of share with you.. added to the Nov 18th bill is a rather exciting band and although the name won't give any clues... oh i've said too much already (for now).

Don't forget to hit our myspace page which will always have the bands playing our upcoming gigs in the 'top friends' section. www.myspace.com/theroarclub

Heather Mills eh... what a gal. Proof that care in the community is dangerous. If only she'd target Pete Doherty as her next conquest.

Over urn out

BEGIN...again....

Oops, haven't done one of these for a while. Ok, like you noticed.

Things have changed a lot over the last few months for Bedford's promoters, we've all had to cut down putting shows on as the people (that's you!) just don't turn up in the numbers for some of the smaller, scene type bands. The Roar Club doesn't put bands on for the sake of it - we hand-pick the bands we want to work with. This is also true for the local bands who take the first-on slots. What we really need is a bit more trust in our judgement - or things will just grind to a halt, and you'll be left with covers bands or just youngsters playing heavy rock. For instance, everyone wants to go see Fratellis, Razorlight, The View because those bands had broken to a certain degree. But who came and saw Jamie T, The Young Knives or Captain. No doubt they're names people now recognise and think "why didn't i go and see them in a small venue when i had the chance?" Well, there's a few more of these "waiting to go big" bands appearing at Roar Club nights so get energised, get educated, get motivated and get ROARing.

Look out for an after-show party after THE VIEW gig. Limited entry.

Kill apathy!

Stop.

START...

The WORLD CUP is upon us and everything shuts down, well, apart from pubs of course, but your humble gig promoters put their feet up as we all know you just can't damn well compete with the nation's obsession. Hey, i'm not knocking it - COME ON ENGLAND.

Talking of the ENGLAND team, its well known that they always ship their own favourite food brands out with them for tournaments. One such item they eat large quantities of is JAFFA CAKES. Now, i like a jaffa cake as much as the next person but really don't much like dark chocolate - so imagine my glee on discovering you can now buy MILK CHOCOLATE JAFFA CAKES. Deep joy, i bought 2 packets. Erm... after just one bite i realised it was a big mistake and you just shouldnt mess with some traditions - promptly throwing the horrible things in the bin. Stay dark.

Listening currently to...

                                The goddess that is NANCY SINATRA (Greatest Hits)

        The new MUSE album - although it's not nearly half as mad as you'd hope.

                                The Young Knives album - packed with curious little oddities.

          The Amusement Parks on Fire album (thanks UPSHOT - it aint out til Sept) - shoegazing marvelous-ness and plenty of sonic cathedrals* in sight.

                                                                                         (*old shoegazing joke no.3)

                                      David Bowie - BBC sessions 68-72. Sublime.

WORK - gets in the way doesn't it. I mean, there's football on the TV - in the AFTERNOON. Sod your deadlines you oppresive bastard.

Festivals - is it me or is there a new one springing up every time i flick through the music press. Ridiculous. How many times can you fleece the public with the same old bands? The cost is high enough, without factoring in all the alcohol, foodstuffs and travel costs. Rip-off Britain part 168.

             Anyone tried the lemon & lime jaffa cakes?

No time for jokes, the football just started...

Toodle Pip

CUT.

REBOOT

APRIL.... has gone. And onto May. Its been a while since i last babbled on, but some of you like to read this nonsense so here i am.

Roar has been busy, the gigs have been well attended and people are realising that we're committed to putting on three quality bands a night - none of this "stuff on a local band who can barely string their shoelaces together let alone 2 chords" for us, no sirree bob. So - its well worth turning up to get a full nights roar in (roarin!)

WHAT? am i listening to? Well, mostly these 4 albums...

   The Zutons, Dirty Pretty Things, The Raconteurs, iForward, Russia!

Yeah, they're all new. No old albums on the list this time. Added to that list are the 10 Bromheads Jacket tracks that are available freely on the tinternet. Get searching.

Two other recent albums that have had many a spin - The Concretes and Hundred Reasons - hows that for a bit of diversity?

 Having been in the States for 2 weeks, i missed several things - all my roar friends, daily tinternet ab(use), The Fratellis packed out gig and of course, baked beans. Over in Florida the nearest thing resembling a gig was the Pussycat (tranny)dolls and i just really couldn't lower myself no matter how in need of that live sound i was. Luckily i met Spiderman at Universal and this took my mind off such things. Yeah i'm a big kid. Tan my ass.

GET. into. FRUITION. What a great band. We had to rebook them alongside Larrikin Love. They have a 3 track E.P out and its well worth the £2 asking price. I offered to pay but y'know - being a serial blog artist, they gave me a free copy. If you're a girl you might have a chance of blagging one as well. Report back!

JOKE. Mildly amusing. Depends on mood. Beware.

A cowboy and a biker are on death row, and are to be executed on the same day. The day comes, and they are brought to the gas chamber. The warden asks the cowboy if he has a last request, to which the cowboy replies, "Ah shore do, wardn. Ah'd be mighty grateful if'n yoo'd play 'Achey Breaky Heart' fur me bahfore ah hafta go."

"Sure enough, cowboy, we can do that," says the warden. He turns to the biker, "And you, biker, what's your last request?"

"That you kill me first."

Apologies if too corny for you!

Theres a new KEANE single. I mean, come on, in the list of unnecessary things, that must come up high. Yeah, but have i been affected by some mystery ailment coz, like, ahem.... i quite like it. ENOUGH. change subject...

WATCH. 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' - i laughed loads. It funny. Val Kilmer as a gay cop is a scream. And :- 'Slither', i viewed this in the USA (where you can drink beer in the cinema - beeeyatch!), also very funny, if you like B movie hi-jinks.

I'm off.

SNIP

Begin...

FeB 03 (Razorlight dominated - NO APOLOGIES, hang on that was Radiohead..)

Razorlight, a night that will go into Bedford's rich musical heritage as a legendary night. How good were they? Better than I thought, for sure. A fantastic night that proved that The Angel is a great little venue that can successfully provide a new and better sounding option for the gig-going public. Oh and the promoters did a grand job as well   **pats own back**

So what did Razorlight think of the night - well, they lurvvved it dudes and dudesses. Of coursewe asked them to come back, but whether we get that lucky TWICE we'll have to wait and see.

SET LIST
1. In the morning
2. Back to the start
3. Stumble and fall
4. Bright lights
5. Not I/Who needs love
6. Vice
7. I can't stop this feeling I've got
8. Golden touch
9. Wilfred Owen
10. Fall to pieces
11. America
12. Kirby's house
13. Somewhere else
encore:
14. Pilot (Johnny solo)
15. In the city

I SEE STARS (sorta)
The ROAR had its first sleb. Yep. At the Friday gig for Joseph Swidenbank we had a visitor from the world of pop - one of LIBERTY X. Unfortunately for us red-blooded gENTLemen it was the blonde geezer who showed up. Next day at Razorlight we had our 2ND sleb… Sarah Cawood **sighs**. NEXT? I did see one band had Tom Cruise on their guest list, but sightings of the diminutive, quasi-religious thespian proved fruitless.

Big shout to Whiskas from iForward, Russia! For sending me the amazing 'Dance To The Radio' compilation. Out on 27 Feb it features 22 bands(!) and some pretty HOT ones at that. All releases on this uber-cool label sell-out in weeks and end up on ebay for extortionate rates. Featured - iForward,Russia! / iLiKETRAiNS / Komakino / Kubicheck! / O Fracas etc etc - oh and the best named band of the moment : WHORES WHORES WHORES. Buy it. www.dancetotheradio.com

SMASH HITS R.I.P

.....SNip

Jan 24
Start transmission.…

Razorlight. Ok then, should be interesting. A lot of work has gone on behind the scenes for this gig. The tickets sold out in under 10 minutes - not sure why they sold way quicker than Oxford, Cambridge etc - maybe coz it’s a Saturday night? Contractually the Roar were not allowed to promote / flyer / advertise the show before the big announcement from the Razorlight website. The Roar had to distribute tickets to regulars rather than put on general sale - only fair as most would agree. We have even turned down the repeated requests from 'The News of the World' to get in!

Ebay bastardo's - as soon as tickets went on sale for Razorlight, they appeared on Ebay. Great - the honest punters can't get a ticket for the stated price due to greedy wannabe touts. One small victory was secured as 3 people had their orders cancelled and 12 tickets were retrieved as the ticket agency were able to trace who these t0ssers were - be aware, they are also now barred from using seetickets.com.

This week - we love.... DRUMMERS >

Q: How do you know if there is a percussionist at the door?
A: The knocking gets slower.

Q: How can you tell when there is a drummer at your front door?
A: The knocking gets faster.

Q: How do you know when a drum solo's really bad?
A: The bass player notices.
 

Listening To these AlbUmS:-      

                                       The Open - Statues

            The Fall-Out Trust - In Case of Floods

                                                                         Cat Power - The Greatest

                            Mark Gardener - These Beautiful Ghosts

                                               Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
  

MEDIA BLACKOUT knock the ROAR for six. Yep, like a full blooded Freddie Flintoff swipe, they came and they rocked. Hard. Hailing from St Neots, they will be back on Feb 24. Do not miss 'em.

Arctic Monkeys No1 (non)shocker. Weird int it. Too Easy this Monkey Business.

In my non-ROAR spare time I like to indulge in a bit of film watching. Just recently I managed to get a few documentaries under my belt - 'Inside Deep Throat', 'Overnight' and 'Dig'. The first two deal with the medium fo film, whereas 'Dig' concerns the rise and non-rise (respectively) of The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre.. Check it out for examples of how to really f*ck up a musical career. And if you like that then get hold of 'Overnight' where a gobshite with a script becomes an overnight sensation in the film-world with a megabucks deal only for it all to fall down around his arrogant, egotistical fat @ss. 

QUESTION >>>> There's a five pound note on the floor. Which one of picks it up?              (1) a thrash guitarist, (2) a drummer who keeps good time, and (3) a drummer who keeps bad time

ANSWER >>>> The drummer who keeps bad time. The other drummer doesn't exist, and the thrash guitarist doesn't care about notes anyway.

We get quite a few emails from bands wanting to come and play in Bedford, the problem is with cost.. will they bring a bus-load of fans - probably not. Therefore its just not cost effective for promoters to put them on, especially as every band you book through an agent these days wants to bring their own touring support. On top of this you very often have to make a contribution towards adverts - not only that but the agent also (a) sets ticket price and (b) allows only ONE local band to go on the bill. Agents = power!

Over and OUT

DEC 31

No notes for a while, so heres a brief recap of the last few weeks...

iDISASTERS! Yep, next year theres a remake of The Poseidon Adventure and the good ship ROAR suffered its own little helping of calamitous luck when the license application got messed up between the Angel people and the council (busy)bodies. Then Art Brut pulled their gig due to illness, despite the fact a new venue had been found to house the gig (props to Mr Burridge for his efforts). Next! Uh, yeah, like Humanzi went and re-arranged their gig as well. Oh well...

                           Did you hear about the short-sighted circumciser?

                                                                            He got the sack.

Lately i been a-listenin to....

                    the Doctors, coz i've been nothing but ill, ill and ill

                                                                     iDEXY'S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS! - Too Rye Ay

                            iTHE STROKES! - First Impressions of Earth

                                            iHumanzi! - album sampler

                                                           iAMPLIFIER! - The Astronaut Dismantles Hal

So we had this little shindig at iTHE PAD!. A makeshift stage was constructed, a P>A hired in and tha bands did play. Check the photo's section. We had a stage invasion - YEAH! As 30 odd people invaded BLACK WIRE'S encore, the roar club held its breath - damn that stage was well made!!

iFirst! stage invasion, then, first CROWD SURF - at the iForward, Russia! gig. What a great night, lovely people and yes, Whiskas announcement that he was born in Bedford is very much true. A bit of a homecoming for him, although he did move away at a very early age.

What will be iBIG! next year. Let me know. Oh, go on.

Bit annoying with so many bands cancelling gigs of late - whats going on? Have BABYSHAMBLES made it fashionable or something.. hmmm... we even had a local band cancel on the very day of our Xmas gig. Hardly the way to build a fanbase, endear yourselves to promoters is it? The Roar saw Kaiser Chiefs play at the Barfly this time last year - the drummer was very ill - did it stop him.....NO.

   Just remember, if you got a GUN for Christmas, it'll only take 2 bullets to reunite The Beatles.

So its iNEW YEARS EVE! and all that, whoopee doo, have another drink, fall over, repeat. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO THE SUPPORTERS of iTHE ROAR CLUB!

iSNIP!

NOV 5

begin..

Fireworks. Bloody fireworks. Whizz bang and a puff of smoke. Pretty colours. Yes, now can we move on. Ok, this week i have mostly been listening to....

                                                                      STARS - Set Yourself On Fire

     AMPLIFIER - Amplifier

                                              CRASHLAND - Glued

     BLACK WIRE - 48 Crash 

                  AMUSEMENT PARKS on FIRE - album

                        .......and of course, the wonderful GIANT DRAG.

                                                 I saw Saw II too. You know.

 Babyshambles. Listen to the album, or don't. Once may well be enough. People still buy into this cult of Pete thing. How long before we have Pete 'n' Kate dolls? Talking Pete. Smoking Pete. Life-size scarcrow Petes? For Pete's sake. LEAVE IT.

New bands are springing up everywhere, cracking debut singles, great new sounds. How many will last and carry this early promise through to make a good (if not GREAT) album. Hmmm, not many i would guess. Shame - what happens? So let's name some names here now and check back in 6 months and see how they're all doing.... ShitDisco, Captain, Kalev, White Rose Movement, Shy Child, Foreign Born, Guillemots, The Maccabees, Battle, The Automatic, The Longcut, The Kooks, Louie, Larrikin Love, Komakino, Field Music, Fear of Music... No that wasn't just a lame attempt to get noticed in more search engines!

                JOKING

   I saw a man who reminded me of my dad the other day.

                       He said to me "Remember to go visit your dad"

I can quite happily sit and watch a subtitled film y'know.If you want a decent horror then you go Korean or Japanese. Or maybe French - try 'Haute Tension' for a truly great (and nasty) slasher film. If you don't do subtitles then you've missed out on the amazing 'OLDBOY', 'INFERNAL AFFAIRS', 'Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN' and 'SHAOLIN SOCCER' to name but three. OK, Hollywood remakes are in the works (certainly of the first two) but it just ain't the same - check 'The Grudge', 'The Ring' etc etc. So this week i got to watch my first Russian film. The biggest box office film ever in Russia. Its called 'Night Watch' and concerns the battle between light and dark (includes vampires, shape shifters, amazing effects, lord of the rings style battles etc). I couldn't understand it though (even with the subtitles) - any help with explaining the ending or the "Funnel" would be welcomed!

Are we all Arctic Monkeys fans? Do you have to sign up?

>SNIP

OLD musings...

 OCT 21

start...

 GIANT DRAG - that kinda sums work up, but hey, i'm referring to the American band of that name, the        album is fantastic and rarely off the cd player of late. Journeying to and from London every week day leaves a lot of spare time for listening, so here's a brief of list what's been on the walkman (OLD TECHNOLOGY ALERT #1) - well, simple really it's been like this......

               1. DAVID BOWIE - Aladdin Sane

                         2. DAVID BOWIE - Ziggy Stardust

                                        3. GIANT DRAG - Hearts and Unicorns

       4. THE ROLLING STONES - Some Girls

                5. JIMMY EAT WORLD - Futures

   .....strange listening list, but all good, nay GrEAt albums. IMHO.

   Demo's have found their way to ROAR HQ, many thanks to the Poppy CoDeans, The Cleo Whip, Magic  Skool Bus and the simply marvelous THE RAVINES. Look out for support slots from this lot soon.

If you had to pick one, which would you rather exist? GHOSTS or UFO's? Hmmm...

Read Chuck Palahnuik - (Fight Club) he's sick, twisted, very funny and a bit challenging. Jim Bob is a massive fan and encouraged me to read 'Diary'. So far it ain't as good as 'Choke' but hey...

Meanwhile IN THE NEWS, some very dull men are fighting it out to be leader of the Conservative party. Be more fun if they had to be elected pop idol style wouldn't it. Maybe not.

JOKE, i love this joke. The simplicity is astounding,

WHO's THE COOLEST BLOKE IN THE HOSPITAL?   

                                                        The ultra-sound guy, of course

You know, it doesn't always pay to complain, occasionally it opens up a whole world of hurt, or maybe just excess paperwork. But. BUT. BUT! A taxi driver tried to decapitate me yesterday - and he had the audacity to have one of those "HOW'S MY DRIVING" plates on his car. So i take down the reg, driver number and phone no. of the complaints service. When i ring up they ask "what taxi firm was it" ERM... on the back of the notice, it says take down the reg - i DON'T KNOW the firm. For a minute we to and fro, the admin person taps at her computer, takes the details i has and replies "No, can't do anything without the taxi firm" Well, thanks and fuck you very much. Give me my 3 minutes back please. It doesn't pay to complain.

Until NeXT TiMe

...........................................SNIP

             For hire

           Not Whiskas is it?

      Soon be Xmas

  Turn this into a film. Now!

    The Pad management team

I said "bottle him"