‘Hey, listen to me, I’m on the stereo! Stereo!!’

Howdy All,

So, this is the first post I’ve made since we were played on Radio 1 (which obviously went straight to the top of our ‘Amazing Things to Have Happened to Us’ list). I just wanted to say thanks to Huw Stephens and the show’s researcher who put us forward, and hello to anyone who has found us through that, as quite a few people have been really positive about us (Which we all just lap up…). Obviously one of our main aims is to rock people’s worlds and we’re always really happy when a few more people invite us into their worlds so we can rock them.

Thanks to anyone who came to The Garage, we had a great time and felt like we did a pretty good job of making it fun for people. Personally, I had a great time (More songs with me free to roam guitarless methinks!). We actually got a recording of the gig but it’s only one track (33mins), which makes it difficult to get to ‘favourite bits’, but it’s probably the best overall live recording we’ve made so we are looking into possibly tacking it onto our next demo.. Many thanks to Jamie of End of the New (www.endofthenew.com) for the Keane cover request that has been immortalised on the CD, obviously we don't play covers, but find suggestions funny especially when they are creative.. (we were going to play Chromatic until you said that by the way..).

Anyway, main band news is that we’re off to rock the Italians on the 9th June and we can’t wait. I think we’re only playing 4 songs and it’s in our contract that we have to play 2 on the demo or something which is hilarious..

US: ‘Do we have to play the ones on the demo? We’ve got better ones..
FESTIVAL PERSON: ‘No. You play pigeon sheet’
US: ‘Pigeon Street? What?’
FESTIVAL PERSON: ‘No, itsa in your contract! Pigeon sheet!’
US: ‘Oh yes, you mean British Summertime (N18) my good man, no
problem we are only too happy to oblige.. (Stu starts..)

Sorry...

We are going to record again in the middle of June back at the Mill Hill Complex where we made Demo 2 (Chromatic, Party Trick and BST (N18) for those who don’t know!) and will be recording with Netti who did that one too so we’re all rather excited. We talked about waiting until we have enough money to spend on a professional studio but we worked out that it would be about 2012 so we thought we’d go back to where we were happy and we could afford. In theory, we are now better and know what we are actually doing so it should be much quicker, we certainly won’t be wasting time pursuing anyone’s whims by doing handclaps that sound crap (Bloody singers eh?.. I think I said at the time, ‘Isn’t it ok to try out a bad idea that might be good?' That's probably what Mick Jagger said in the 80s a lot.. I now know that these ideas should be done in rehearsal.).

Anyway, can’t wait for that now, oh the harmonies in The Cockroach Soul…

Right, I’m going to watch Liverpool win against AC Milan now hopefully!

Until next time, ‘Walk on, walk on with hope in your…’ etc.

WFA

Another day another pain in the ass...
Welcome folks, Stu's in and is very tired and very ill (well, I have a headache) and this is my first night in to myself for weeks and weeks and weeks!

I spent last week locked up with the students at Butlins in Bognor Regis (and yes it was as much fun as it sounds - if you think fun is being subjected to the worst bands in the world playing crappy 1970's Elton John covers is fun...)

Then it was my dads engagement party. Yes, you heard right, engagement party. Selfish! Once wasn't enough, though I think its more an excuse to have his bi annual lager shandy - though it is quite disturbing when you discover your parents have more fun than you....

And then I lost my memory stick thing for the computer doodah that had the entire website on it. Bloody marvellous. Still, spending an entire afternoon salvaging what I could then lovingly filling in the gaps is what work is for! Education? Not here missus...

God, I've realised how borng this blog is tonight. I'm sorry people - I WILL try harder next time. Maybe throw in a few "Bollocks..es" or "Goddam Motherfucker's" next time, proving that swearing IS big and is MOST DEFINATELY clever. Maybe I'll beat someone up just to relay the experience for you blood hungry folks out there. But being a chicken of the highest order, I probably won't. Shame really, a bit of blood lust is theraputic so Stalin told me in my dreams....

Hey ho, see you tomorrow at the garage I guess -
Fooking yes!

Me again.

Well, things are hotting up as we approach our second visit to the Garage. We might even have a set list for this one! We shall be playing a good mix of old classics and shiny new tunes to get you all humming along I'm sure.

Let us know before hand if you wanna come, we'll save you a couple of quid that way!

We have a new review online at a website called i shot the deputy which has loads of cool music and current affairs stuff, a lot of which is over my head. The review is here; http://ishotthedeputy.com/?q=node/view/252

So you can check it out and see if you agree with their judgment of your favourite band. It's us I'm refering to there you see.

What else? Stu went to Butlins for the week, looking after young offenders as part of his community service. That's why it's been a bit quiet around here! We now have a mailing list thing on the site, where you just put your details in and it sends them to us so we can send you copies of our heart-wrenchingly beautiful masterpieces. It's quite good, thanks to everyone who's made use of it so far. Stu's sending out quite a few demos at the moment (he won't let any of us have any, they're like his deformed babies or something), which is great. If we keep him busy he's less likey to re-offend according to the social worker. It's our burden of responsibility.

I don't know if stu's decided on a winner for the free garage tickets from all the hilarious entries we had? I'll moan at him for you, I'm sure you're all dying to know.

Stevenage Borough are through to the conference play-off final! Woo Hoo! it's against Carlisle tonight at Stoke City's ground. I've got my ticket I'm gonna have to leave in a bit cos it's a bit far to travel, but if we win it'll be AMAZING!

Other news, we're sorting oput the summer schedule at the moment. We're looking to record at the end of June, and play some good gigs over the summer including another one at the Hertford Marquee, and maybe one in Brighton? we've been talking about it for ages maybe we'll actually make it happen!

Anyway, can't think of anything else right now. Some company called Chromium Records offered to release a download single for us. I emailed them a few questions regarding the contract and we never heard from them again! It's a shark-infested cess pool the unsigned music scene! Danger lurking at every corner! I think that company relies on arts council funding, so I might write them a letter and screw those cunts over. Ha!

Well I'll think about it anyway. see how I feel tomorrow...

Come on the Boro!

Brown

That's the spirit! keep these pointless entries coming I say!

Brown here, just to confirm that when stu rang me at half eleven last night to tell me we were gonna be on Radio 1 at some point in the night I said something along the lines of 'that's nice Stu' rolled over and fell asleep.

Little did I know then that Pearlymania would be sweeping the nation in under 12 hours time!

2 people heard us!

They emailed us and said they liked it!

This is a great day for Pearly. Like a strange seed that little cd has taken root and now it's bearing it's terrible fruit.

So we were very happy. We have all smiled a lot today in the knowledge that however shit anything is we were very randomly on radio 1 last night.

To listen follow this link http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/listen/
You need to find One Music with Huw Stephens broadcast on tuesday 3rd of May at 11pm.
We are about 1 hour and 13 minutes from the start.

It's just British Summertime, you've heard it all before, but somehow it sounds better on Radio 1. Maybe they've mastered it for the radio, maybe they've made it a bit more shiny? Either way it doesn't sound too shabby, so we're very pleased.

Thank you all for your support.

Brown

Blog Marathon!

Well well well, would you adam and eve it? I'm trying to think of an analogy that doesn't involve buses and waiting - but I can't but I also won't be that predictable.

Well, I guess its my turn, as B Diddy (bruce to you !) prefers to present himself as the strong silent type (he's not...)

I quite like writing on this board as opposed to my cell, because I have to be self disciplined for fear of being abused by the rest of the band....

It looks like I got to write this just as the excitement is taking hold - Did anyone hear us on radio 1 last night?!!!
I couldn't believe it! I sent them the demo a few weeks ago, and just on the off chance I checked the email before I went to bed last night, and there it was
"Sorry for the late notice... You'll be on the show between 11 and 1"
Get in! - oh, guess I can't sleep for another two hours then. Natch.
So I immediately turned on the radio - and listened... no....ooh, is that? - no.....maybe now - arghhh WHEN?!!!! And just as I was about to give up all hope - there it was, on my stereo, coming out of the speakers, on national radio! OH FUCK YEAH!!!
I ran around the flat turning all the radio's on, like a school kid who's OD'd on Sunny D...
Now I've heard British Summertime hundreds and hundreds of times - but listening to it over the cackle of radio static was absolutely magical - and there was no one around to hear it with me at 12:35 am on a Wednesday morning.

So our moment of fleeting national fame flittered by and even the rest of the band weren't up to enjoy it. And all I have left to prove it is a chewed up cassette and flashbacks of a 25 year old regressing back to infanthood.

Blog Marathon!

Well well well, would you adam and eve it? I'm trying to think of an analogy that doesn't involve buses and waiting - but I can't but I also won't be that predictable.

Well, I guess its my turn, as B Diddy (bruce to you !) prefers to present himself as the strong silent type (he's not...)

I quite like writing on this board as opposed to my cell, because I have to be self disciplined for fear of being abused by the rest of the band....

It looks like I got to write this just as the excitement is taking hold - Did anyone hear us on radio 1 last night?!!!
I couldn't believe it! I sent them the demo a few weeks ago, and just on the off chance I checked the email before I went to bed last night, and there it was
"Sorry for the late notice... You'll be on the show between 11 and 1"
Get in! - oh, guess I can't sleep for another two hours then. Natch.
So I immediately turned on the radio - and listened... no....ooh, is that? - no.....maybe now - arghhh WHEN?!!!! And just as I was about to give up all hope - there it was, on my stereo, coming out of the speakers, on national radio! OH FUCK YEAH!!!
I ran around the flat turning all the radio's on, like a school kid who's OD'd on Sunny D...
Now I've heard British Summertime hundreds and hundreds of times - but listening to it over the cackle of radio static was absolutely magical - and there was no one around to hear it with me at 12:35 am on a Wednesday morning.

So our moment of fleeting national fame flittered by and even the rest of the band weren't up to enjoy it. And all I have left to prove it is a chewed up cassette and flashbacks of a 25 year old regressing back to infanthood.

Yes maybe we will.

The thing is that any time anyone tries to start a discussion regarding band direction and ideas for future projects it always ends up as a discussion about money which no one really wants to have.

The main reason being we've all been through it a million fucking times already.

So home recording might be a goer, or some old cheap recordings like the 'BST, Chromatic, Party Trick' sessions. Either way I think we should get new stuff down soon and move on.

Anyway, I'm off to see Stevenage Borough play in a minute. A chance of entry into the football league! What a game it'll be I'm sure.

So anyway, the situation at the moment remains that if you wanna hear some great pearly tunes you have to come to see some Pearly gigs!

Tickets on sale now, wadda ya waiting for?

'Oh Alexander, I stood underneath the archway of aerodynamics..'

Howdy to one and all. Well, well done Brown for posting I had actually started writing this on Friday with every intention of putting it up, but was delayed and then Brown put in a cheeky one!

Before his, it was a month and a half since our last blog post which is quite pathetic really, and even that one was Stu’s padded cell breaking out into the band blog with some Phil Collins role play. We are in agreement as a band that we should be doing it regularly so this should change. Obviously it is our duty to keep any people checking out our site up to date with Pearly happenings so the rota starts here…

We are currently rehearsing regularly again after a little lull in band activity. We were starting to look at recording in the summer and getting a wonderfully sounding, well-mastered demo to bombard record companies, journalists and the like with but we ended up working out that it will take quite a while for us to have the money that we need for the demo we want. So recording again is on the backburner for a little while but we are looking at other ideas, Stuart and I will be starting the medical trials very soon in order to raise some money... maybe. We are also now looking into possibility of home recordings.. but there's many a band discussion to be had before anything happens.

You may be aware that we have been selected to go to the Trimis festival, we’re all rather excited about this but are holding back a bit because we still haven’t been given the full details. We hope that there will be an arrangement with expenses being paid because that’s what they have said in theory, but as we all know often in the music industry people don’t really mean what they say. A few of my favourites: ‘Soundcheck will start at (Insert Time) promptly’, ‘You’ll have half an hour to soundcheck’, ‘It’s a great bill, we think you’ll fit in with the other bands’.. etc. Anyway, we are waiting for a response to a few queries about the festival from the organisers, but personally I can’t wait to go to Italy and the festival looks a lot of fun. We’ve never played a battle of the bands before, I generally think they seem a bit lame to me but hey, I’m a bit cynical about that sort of thing.

In my opinion, things are starting to get better again with us: musically we’re starting to experiment more and I think the gigs we will play will be more interesting from here on.. Can anyone say Country influence? Yeah! What can I say.. 'Heartbreaker' by Ryan Adams has bewitched me..

Anyway, I'm listening to all sorts of stuff at the moment which either makes me want more ambitious arrangements in our set or really stripped down stuff.. I could have just said er.. yeah, like I really want us to sound like I hear it in my head.. like...

Roll on The Garage gig!

WFA

So far this month we have had 75 hits on the website from the Czech Republic.

Nazdar! Jmenuji se Brown!

Good shit. Anyway, we're a bunch of cocks for not writing more blog stuff, we're gonna draw up a rota so this is updated at least every week. I'm starting off with this, Bill fancy doing next week?

Tomorrow I shall be going to the good old White Horse beer festival in Hertford should everything go to plan. Today I have been very lazy, but I did play some appalling snooker.

Now I'm going to sleep. Just to clarify though, yes we are still going we haven't given up, we may record again soon we don't know, no Stu isn't really German he just lived there for a year or so.

Last night, or early this morning, cat asked me how to spell 'yikes'.

I spells it like this; 'YIKES!'

Nashle!