We love The National and we love Neil Young. When Rob TWLITF’s Dad told us about a new Manchester band who sounded like The National and were influenced by Neil Young, well we couldn’t help but be intrigued. Turns out The Slow Show are really very good. Check them out. http://www.theslowshow.co.uk/
Bitterscene gig - 25th April 2012, Chelmsford
We are delighted to be playing at Bitterscene once again, in Chelmsford at The Bassment.
Wednesday 25th April 2012
http://www.facebook.com/events/336777936384873/
We will be supporting DINGUS KHAN
So here we are, at the twenty-fifth letter of the alphabet. We’re getting perilously close now, and we’ve had our ups and downs, but now is not the time to dwell on it. Now is the time to listen to one of our favourite songs by one of our favourite artists of all time. So what are you waiting for?
X is a hell of a letter, ladies and gents. The twenty-forth letter of the alphabet, also used to designate ‘10,’ and whole host of other things, including ‘extra.’ You may not realise, but X-Rays are, in full, ‘extra-rays,’ and the X-men are actually the ‘extra-men.’ It’s true. In celebration of this little-known fact, we’ve recorded a song.
The very best thing about what we do, by far, is making music. Every once in a while, when funds dictate, we get to record our music too. Recently we’ve fallen back in love with some songs that have been kicking about for a while, so we’ve decided to share them once again with the world.
When we first began, Dave produced all of our recordings, making use of some facilities in another shed in Essex, and then spending many months burrowing away in his bedroom honing the results. Though not as polished as the Humming Birds and Police Dogs sessions, we are still very proud of these recordings, and we hope you enjoy them.
You can now listen to Hospital Doors, Low Winter Sun and The Trigger on our Soundcloud and Youtube accounts, just by clicking the links below. Youtube has pretty artwork, Soundcloud allows you to download and keep for free. Both are good options
- Hospital Doors - youtube - soundcloud
- Low Winter Sun - youtube - soundcloud
- The Trigger - youtube - soundcloud
The mighty and popular Covers Club has been a bit delayed because we’re trying to think of something we really want to play for ‘X.’ So today seems like a good day, I think, for talking about ‘Satellite of Love’ by Lou Reed.
The song itself was on Reed’s second album ‘Transformer,’ released in 1972, and produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson. It was written prior to this, though, while Reed was still in the Velvet Underground, and is apparently about a man watching a satellite launch on television whilst contemplating the actions of his unfaithful girlfriend.
That’s all fairly straightforward, but for me, the lyrics and meaning play second fiddle to the music and arrangement. When Bowie and Ronson produced this album, they were right in the middle of Bowie’s ‘Ziggy Stardust’ glam period and, even though it’s not evident in ‘Satellite of Love,’ it really pays off at the end as vocal after vocal comes in, building up a fantastic, multi-layered ending.
This is what I like to imagine: Lou Reed is sitting in the middle of a recording studio in front of a microphone, wearing his leather jacket and shades, and singing a muted, understated vocal. Near the end of the song, however, the door opens and a line of half a dozen David Bowies, all glammed up, come high-kicking, clapping and prancing in and proceed to gather round Reed, all singing their vocals right into his face, while Reed sits there, expressionless.
And once you have that image in your head, you’ll never get it out.
Another week goes past and, like a skydiver who packed their rucksack with adorable kittens rather than a parachute, we come plummeting down into the cornfield that is W. In this case, though, the cornfield is a marvellous song that welcomes us with open arms, and the whole metaphor kind of falls apart.
Don’t worry about the kittens, by the way. They all survived the fall with naught but a bruised paw.
Friday 9th March, Club Fusion, Chelmsford. More info to follow soon…
The Covers Club rolls into its final stretch now. We can almost taste that finishing line, the podium, the medals, the hangers-on. The interviews, the magazine spreads, television. Then the slide, the scandals, the recriminations. The soup queue, the madhouse, then the box.
Got a little Nick Cave at the end there, but that’s never a bad thing. I expect you want a video, right?
Yes, we’ve had a few problems recently, and we weren’t able to record a proper Covers Club for a while. You’ll be pleased to hear, however, that Stu and Dave are back; what’s more, they had a opportunity to record a special, on-the-road episode of the Club, and it’s presented here in all its glory.
Did you know we put up our lyrics on this website? Granted, they are in a slightly unconventional manner, but they are there none the less.
We’ve just put up a new piece of Lyric art for Low Winter Sun, which you may or may not have heard before. It’s new, but it’s old if that makes sense? We recorded it the year before last, and as if often the way with us, as time went on new songs came and took it’s place. But Low Winter Sun remained there in the background, waiting, patiently, for it’s chance. And like a faithful dog we’d all but forgotten about it, it returned, and we opened our last gig with it.
Funny how the life cycle of songs work out isn’t it?
Anyway, have a listen to it on our Soundcloud and let us know what you think
A bigger, better quality version of the ‘Last of the Hummingbirds’ artwork.
Just over a week now until our first gig of 2012… Hope you can make it down to Chicagos Regent Theatre on Thursday next week (2nd Feb). Stage times have been announced:
The Brights - 11:20 – 11:50 PM
Things We Lost In The Fire - 10:40 – 11:10 PM
The I.D - 10:00 – 10:30 PM
The Ok Club - 09:20 – 09:50 PM
Doors 9pm, be great to see you there
https://www.facebook.com/events/321597927858232/
Bands that begin with ‘The’ should never use that definite article for alphabetical filing; this is my philosophy. The Beatles should be filed under B, The Knack under K, The Carpenters under C, and so on a so forth.
It is with regret that I announce a departure from this philosophy, if only for one week. We’ve bent the rules of the Covers Club before, but this one is on the verge of breaking. You don’t need to worry about it, just enjoy the songs we’ve slaved over for your pleasure. We are the ones who have to come to terms with what we’ve done.
I hope you all have a lovely time over the festive period, and that the new year is bright and hopeful.
Happy Christmas from all of us in Things We Lost In The Fire.
We’re getting dangerously close to Christmas, so while we back off a bit and find some safety rope, feel free to feast your eyes and ears upon this.
This week, Stu and Dave tackle not only the finest Christmas song ever written, but one of the finest duets ever written to boot. I can’t see what can possibly go wrong with this…
Yes, we’re ploughing forwards towards the end of the year. ‘S’ is the next big hitter to go down and, let’s face it, there are a lot of good bands that begin with S. It was always going to be a difficult choice, so it was fitting that we didn’t make it. Craig suggested this song, and it was such a good suggestion, that we couldn’t pass it up.
Football. It’s not big, and it’s not clever, but it is something that 3/5 of us in Things We Lost In The Fire enjoy. And it so happens that 1/5 of us (Rob) is a Manchester City fan, who put forward our song to sound-track a Goal Of The Month competition. And blow me if MCFC only bloomin’ used it? So, have a click and enjoy the surreal sight of footballers scoring goals to the sounds of our music. http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Video/Features/Manchester-City-November-goals-of-the-month
So how did Rob justify entering this competition when he knew Craig was a West Ham fan and Stu a Tottenham fan? Well he did it the basis of simple numerics. You see Dave and Si could give two hoots about football, which meant the majority was in Rob’s favour. That, and he did it on the sly so no-one knew. He didn’t actually expect it to get used!