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Rule #1. Always play a flash chord when having photo taken. Oh, and standing in a pond is optional.

• Mitzi Caspar
• Frank's Party
• Carwreck Chicken
• Monkey In Space
• Neon Vibes
• Half Baked Quartet
• Stumak Acid

We like...

Marseille Figs

Marseille Figs at Viva Cake

Check out the Dirty Canon. My photograph of the band appears under the CD in the digipak.

www.marseillefigs.org

Amy Lavere

Amy Lavere is a wild gal from Louisiana who plays double bass and sings in a breathy southern twang. She also plays Wanda Jackson in Walk the Line, and is also in Black Snake Moan.

www.amylavere.com

DM Bob & Country Jem

A raucous collision of Country and Sci fi.

www.elrino.co.uk

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis

Accompanied by their mum on Double Bass, and their dad on rhythm guitar, the Durham family band play scorching and authentic rock n roll. They've just been signed to Sunday Best and have put out one of the most original and exciting Rock n Roll compilations around, Called A–Z with Kitty, Daisy & Lewis.

www.myspace.com/
kittydaisyandlewis

Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins

Jenny Lewis used to be the distinctive vocal sound for Rilo Kiley. Her own band is much more raw, gospel based and soulful.

www.myspace.com/
jennylewiswiththe
watsontwins

Mirrorball

Barry Sutton (The La's) and co. delivering some lovely pop – made the way wot it ought to be made.

www.myspace.com/
mirrorballfc

living brain

Living Brain was a Liverpool based band in the 1990's.

The story of the band has yet to be told. Influencing countless other bands, including The Coral, the story of the 'brain contains more dark irony than anything Spinal Tap could come up with.

If you look hard, you'll be able to track down a copy of their album 'Life Sentence on Planet Earth'. It is an amazing piece of Liverpool angst on a backdrop of, at times, psychedelic sounds and with some sharp social commentary. It is hard to explain, check 'em out.

www.livingbrain.co.uk

Archive

I don't want to define them, but trancey mesmeric synths and heavy guitars that go into a more minimal space might be a way to describe them. They came out of the Trip Hop movement. Comparisons with Massive Attack were in order back in the day, but they have a progressed the sound and had a few shake ups in the sound and line up along the way.

www.archiveofficial.com

Forty Thieves Orkestar

Forty Thieves mix Balkan style gypsy music with modern electronic dubby beats. The effect is pretty interesting. Especially as they use Clarinet, Oud, flutes and other interesting instruments.

Lady McCrady

Lady McCrady was a Liverpool band in the mid 1990's.

They featured songs about living in messy houses and one in particular was all about a trombone, which they used in the band – along with guitar, keyboards and crazy drums

Glitzy Bag Hags

I found the Bag Hags at Bestival in 2005. I found them in a tent next to an articial beach on the camp site at about 3am. They play scratchy 1920's dance tunes, with a bit of skiffle and gypsy style thrown in for good measure.

Os Mutantes

I found there CD at the wonderful Real Groovy records in Auckland in January 2000. It was hard to tell from the CD whether they were a real band, or a piss take. Even a quick listen in the shop proved puzzling. I bought the CD as it was only NZ$3.

I didn't get a chance to play the CD for about a month - when I was back in the UK. I put the CD on and got in the bath with the door open to listen. Two tracks in, I was out of the bath and dancing around the living room like a loon. To say that I love this band is an understatement.

Having broken up in about 1972, I never thought I'd ever see them live. They amazingly reformed. I missed them by one day in San Francisco and was cursing for months.

However, I was blessed to see them in Liverpool 2007 with some of my best friends - and went mental. It was ace.

Olivier Tremor Control

Quirky 'pop'. The band swap instruments and wear funny costumes on stage. 'Nuff said.

Blonde Redhead

Elephant Woman is one of the best songs ever written

In the mix…

I am passionate about music. I have worked almost continuously in the music industry since I was 15 because of this - including working as the Editor of one of Europe's most popular music video websites, www.video-c.co.uk
I have worked as a sound engineer, roadie, groupie, manager, photographer and designer for many bands.
I currently play with two bands and have a whole host of 'side' projects.

Mitzi Caspar

• Miranda Mahalo – vox/ukulele/bass
• Tiia Jaakola - vox/melodica/keyboard
• Nathan Jones – vox/bass/guitar/ukulele
• fiona murdoch – vox/drums

Mitzi Caspar at the Mr Kite party, June 2007

Named after a 19th Century Viennese prostitute, who was the mistress of the crown prince Rudolf, who on comitting suicide, left all his wealth to her.

recently, I have been writing new material for the band. the group consists of Three girls, who, along with playing ukulele, melodica and drums, sing gorgeous bubblegum pop harmonies, as well myself playing gorgeous boomy bass.

the current line up was formed in time to play at One Deep Breath's Mr kite birthday party - a slightly twisted victorian circus themed event that lives on in legend - partly due to the free bar that was kindly supplied by Pernod Ricard.

pop history was in the making and we played clapham or bust a few weeks later and had already built up a loyal fanbase.

miranda and myself are currently both in melbourne and played a hangover cure gig at Ding Dong Lounge on the 2nd January 2008, which included new songs and we played 'Ukulele Love on with a resonator ukulele!

There will be more to come, possibly later in 2008, but currently we are all involved in other things - on different sides of the world.

www.myspace.com/mitzicaspar

Melbourne Poke

• Lucy Gorman - vox/guitar
• Nathan Jones – vox/bass/guitar/drums

Melbourne Poke

Melbourne Poke is a little musical collaboration from Wonderland. Most of the songs are written by Lucy

www.myspace.com/melbournepoke

Frank's Party

• Danny Cooke
• Rob Vandeven
• Nathan Jones

Frank's Party mixes at midnight

Frank's Party is a bit of a surprise project. the heavy electronic sound is completely different from everything the three musicians involved with the project produce elsewhere. It is almost like its own beast. The sound is heavy South London dance beats, with a sprinkling of social conscience on top.

The track 'Last Night in Spain' stands out as it comes in at an epic 9 minutes long, and will shortly be the soundtrack for a film.

The band is extremely democratic (or argumentative, but a lot of fun!) and it would be hard to say who does , or plays what.

Danny Cooke (one of the UK's most talented video editors) is very much the beatmeister and builds the structures, which Rob Vandeven and myself pull apart, or add to.

Rob Vandeven was a member of the legendary The Lucy Show in the 1980's and has an almost singular claim to have licked Grace Jones on the nose.

Frank's Party also produces sound design for TV and broadcast, including intro and theme music for the BBC. You can contact us through the myspace page, or here if you'd like us to make you a sound theme.

www.myspace.com/franksparty

If you are a Crackbook, or iLike user, you can add us to your profile:

Facebook Frank's Party
iLike Frank's Party
LastFM Frank's Party

Car Wreck Chicken

Carwreck Chicken ♥ U

Car Wreck Chicken was born from a frustration of becoming uncomfortably intimate with my mortality every day cycling to work in London. i have to thank all those people who think nothing but of themselves as they manouvere horrible pieces of metal crap towards myself and others attempting to go about our daily business.

So far, I have written all the songs for Car Wreck Chicken, and collaborate with talented indiviuals for the purpose of recording, or gigs. I have made recordings all over the world with some great musicians - with a laptop as I travel. Ultimately, I'd like to put this stuff down on proper tape, with a big plate reverb and ribbon microphone. Maybe even put this down at Sun Studios in Memphis...

The sound is a South London take on old style barn stomping Country and Rock n' Roll, as well as bawdy barroom Blues. It has no reverence to any of these musical genres, and the songs tend to not quite 'go' the way they are supposed to. I have upset some purists in the past, but I think they are missing the point. I started this as a kid in Battersea, South London. I am not from Memphis, so drop it. However, on playing my songs in a Tennessee backyard - looking out over the rolling hills towards the Kentucky border, one of my tennessee cousins remarked to my friend, 'He sure sound Country, don't he?' So there you go, I'm bona fide.

www.myspace.com/carwreckchicken
Facebook Carwreck Chicken
iLike Carwreck Chicken

Monkey in Space

• Lars Gabel
• Nathan Jones

Get funky with the monkey

Monkey in Space is a rather ad hoc project. It is a long term experimental venture of Lars Gabel and sometimes myself. The music, like Frank's Party, has an electronic base to it. Many of the loops and effects were recorded during intense jam sessions, and then chopped down mercilessly into funky monkey beats. Having originally met on enrolment day for the same art course in Liverpool, Lars and I have applied the same Dada sensibilities and notions to our music making. We have used many incidental sounds, including a scanner (these used to be clunky noisy devices that could shake themselves off a desk), that decided to warm up its lamps and purr during a separate recording. This purring mechanical noise became a whole break section for one of our songs. The monkey project continues today. It began pre internet over the geographical distance of Liverpool and London. These days, Lars is in New Zealand, but good music software and the internet keep things together much better than Royail Mail and a COmpact Cassette in a Jiffy bag.

www.myspace.com/monkeyinspacemusic

Neon Vibes

• Ged Lynn
• Nathan Jones

This are Neon Vibes

Neon Vibes was a lo fi compact cassette 4 track project. A noisy, dirty paranoid project that was all recorded in about three weeks of a particularly tumultuous time in Liverpool 8. I am proud to have recorded this with Ged Lynn of the Stairs, living brain and Privileged Few. ged is one of the most ferocious guitar players/singers/drummers I have ever heard.

www.myspace.com/neonvibes

Half Baked Quartet

• Tom Chant
• Jane
• Nathan Jones

It was Bonny's bath we nicked

Half Baked Quartet was a semi improvised collection of songs based around some poems of the nonsense variety. The quartet consisted of soprano saxophone, cello, guitar and hand drums. Along with this, we had a dog bath full of shakers, rattles and those laser guns that fire sparkles, which the audience was welcome to use.

All of the musicians involved have become involved in interesting music projects. Tom Chant plays for the magnificent Marseille Figs, as well as Cinematic Orchestra and Eddie Prevost Trio.

Here are the lyrics to one of the Half Baked Quartet songs - as played in Zarathustra on Lavender Hill, London, accompanied by hand clapping from all four members. We also had a pencil in our ears…

Occident in Accident

©MCMXCII Nathan Jones

Occident had accident
Worse than I fear
Occident had accident
Really quite queer
Occident, bad accident
Pencil stuck in ear

Occident in accident
Could not decide
Occident in accident
Though he really tried
Accident to occident
He nearly died

Occident had accident
Nearly came to nought
Occident had accident
When pencil got caught
Occident had accident
Writing out a thought

Occident had accident
It hurt I'm told
Thought of
Occident in accident
Turns me cold

Occident in accident
How did it occur?
Occident in accident
Said it was a blur
Occident in accident
Didn't see where pencil were

Accident to occident
Really quite severe
Occident in accident
Only half hear
Can you hardly blame him
Pencil in one ear?

Occident in accident
Never do it again
Occident had accident
Though thought did not wane
Occident in accident
Channels thought straight from
his brain

Stumak Acid

• Peter Burke
• Raman Rai
• Nathan Jones

Peter Burke

Peter Burke RIP

Stumak Acid was speed /thrash /punk/ noise metal before these genres really got mixed together. The trio comprised of Peter Burke, who resolutely refused to be known as a singer - preferring to be described as a 'vocalist', Raman Rai, who knew no chords, but could play his no chords, loud, fast and heavy, and myself on fuzz bass. The lyrics tended to be whatever crap had been thrown at us at school that day and then ad libbed in a sneering and condescending manner. Sadly no known recording exists, but I still remember, by heart, some of the lyrics:

Die

©MCMVXXXVII Nathan Jones & Peter Burke

Scientists say…
Eat chips, full of protein
get fat
drink water
die of chlorine
eat eggs, full of nutrition
die of salmonella!

Die of swimming in the sea
die of eating food
die of anything you want
Die of something rude!

Yes, that's the whole song.

to the stars!

      ___           ___           ___           ___           ___           ___       ___       ___     
     /\  \         /\  \         /\  \         /\  \         /\  \         /\__\     /\__\     /\  \    
    /::\  \       /::\  \        \:\  \       /::\  \       /::\  \       /:/  /    /:/  /    /::\  \   
   /:/\:\  \     /:/\:\  \        \:\  \     /:/\:\  \     /:/\:\  \     /:/  /    /:/  /    /:/\ \  \  
  /::\~\:\  \   /::\~\:\  \       /::\  \   /::\~\:\__\   /::\~\:\  \   /:/  /    /:/  /    _\:\~\ \  \ 
 /:/\:\ \:\__\ /:/\:\ \:\__\     /:/\:\__\ /:/\:\ \:|__| /:/\:\ \:\__\ /:/__/    /:/__/    /\ \:\ \ \__\
 \/__\:\/:/  / \/_|::\/:/  /    /:/  \/__/ \:\~\:\/:/  / \/__\:\/:/  / \:\  \    \:\  \    \:\ \:\ \/__/
      \::/  /     |:|::/  /    /:/  /       \:\ \::/  /       \::/  /   \:\  \    \:\  \    \:\ \:\__\  
      /:/  /      |:|\/__/     \/__/         \:\/:/  /        /:/  /     \:\  \    \:\  \    \:\/:/  /  
     /:/  /       |:|  |                      \::/__/        /:/  /       \:\__\    \:\__\    \::/  /   
     \/__/         \|__|                       ~~            \/__/         \/__/     \/__/     \/__/    

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