Monday, November 21, 2011

Ladies First... ("Ladyfest 2011")


www.facebook.com/ladyfest.nottingham

That's what happened on Saturday the 19th of November in Nottingham, lots of different acts and all that ingeniously put together by Nathalie Caulton who also plays the bass in "The Smears".
I only arrived when Kerosene Queen started playing, I was standing in the toilet nearby queuing but I heard it all and it was really surreal to actually hear those girls play from the room next door. They sounded loud and grungy, the perfect mixture, with a trashy Marilyn Monroe on the vocals, and it was one of the girl's first gig that night so well done them.
Check them out : www.facebook.com/pages/Kerosene-Queen/222489541108423?ref=ts

I didn't stick around long enough to write about all the bands from that night, I did stay quite a while to watch Pussycat and the Dirty Johnsons, they played just after us. I've seen that band lots of times before and I've always enjoyed their set. The singer is dressed in a cat outfit with creative make up which could remind of Siouxie and hair shaped in cat's ears and I don't think you'll ever see any front woman who looks like her, she has a real iconic image. So she's Pussycat and she's backed up by a very good band too, "The Dirty Johnsons". They have dark and edgy moments in their songs but they always manage to roll back into the wild and madness which makes their sound so unpredictable. Performance wise you can't take your eyes off Pussycat, her stage presence is incontestable.

Their facebook : //www.facebook.com/thedirtyjohnsons


photo by Steve Iles

Then we had Obsessive Compulsive on next. One of my favourite band of the night with The Smears. I listened to OC's album quite a few times so I became familiar with the songs pretty quickly. I had their Machinery track in the head for days, and still does actually. Kelly's voice cut through anything, reaching some highs and lows and I suppose that's what their music is about, going from one extreme to the other, lyrics wise and music wise too. They definitely put me back in the 90's on some of their tracks, with a fresh approach though and that's what make their sound so unique.

Go listen to them : www.facebook.com/ObsessiveCompulsiveBand


photo by Steve Iles

Then it was The Smears, and they delivered an awesome gig as usual, a review on them is available on one of my previous articles, they did all the songs I wanted to hear, dragging the audience into their world... yeah go girls !!

and if you haven't already, go and see what those girls are about, you won't regret it : www.facebook.com/pages/The-SMEARS/115664515898


photo by Steve Iles

And to finish with here is a video of our brand new song, Play Me, filmed by Steve Iles, a big thanks to him too for all the content, pics wise and for the videos too !! This Ladyfest was a fantastic night.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Altercation in south east London

I'm not talking about riots I'm afraid, only a band. ;)
This is one of the last gig Altercation did, filmed by Brigeoo :



The Unicorn gig's pictures by Neil (www.wildblanket.com), alongside with Le Reparateur and Goat's cheese, two really cool french bands from Lyon who were on the same bill :

Goats Cheese : www.facebook.com/goatcheeese37/
Le Reparateur : www.facebook.com/pages/Le-R%C3%A9parateur/221475223906?sk=info



Now in preparation to record the first album "Take it or leave it".

Monday, September 26, 2011

"Sick Note" release party


picture by Lubert Daz.



The one and only album launch for Healthy Junkies... don't miss it, on the bill will be the great punk rockers Bubblegum Screw and rock'n'roll youngsters from The Palace of Justice.

Healthy Junkies 10.15pm-11pm Big Cheese magazine "Taking the best qualities of rock,punk and grunge, these London rockers create a flawless old-school sound.”

Bubblegum Screw 9.15-10pm Vive le rock magazine “They deliver a good helping of sleazy fun with no strings attached“

The Palace of Justice 8.30-9pm Sailing sounds.com “Combining gypsy folk melodies and Spanish guitar strumming with military tight drumming and heartbeat bass lines”

Facebook's event : www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=277472842267316



Bubblegum Screw : www.facebook.com/pages/Bubblegum-Screw/128037558045

Healthy Junkies : www.facebook.com/pages/Healthy-Junkies/128020360589230

The Palace of Justice : www.facebook.com/thepalaceofjustice?sk=wall

To be on the £3 cheap list contact us on the facebook event's page and give us your names.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Rockumentary

Altercation @ Proud Gallery, pictures by www.wildblanket.com










Healthy Junkies @ The Old Police Station in New Cross, pictures by Brigeoo



SET LIST MOMENT...





A video of Manifesto from the New Cross's gig, filmed by Optical Radio :



To be continued... future Healthy Junkies gigs :

2nd of September : target="_blank">www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=243690792327051

17th of September : target="_blank">www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=142736102482055

future Altercation's gig @ The Unicorn on the 18th of September, FREE ENTRY.


Monday, May 16, 2011

Tour Diary



Trust me for talking of my band again...tsss
It's Monday afternoon and there is a feeling of emptiness floating around me. The end of the tour that's what it is. It looks like I could get used to play every day, although I must say I was happy when it ended in Cambridge just because my voice was about to give up.
We've shared the road with Blend 71 who came specially from Switzerland joined by Kopperhed for one gig in Hull. There was a family spirit by the end of our tour.

So we started off with the Bridgehouse gig on the 7th of May. We never know what to expect when we play there due to the location of the venue which is literally lost in the middle of an industrial zone, and even though we've been there twice before we still got lost on the way. We shared the bill with Blend 71 and Gundogs, so it was an all female fronted night, Rebel City Radio were supposed to headline the night but they couldn't make it that day, I think we're playing with them at our next gig at St Morritz Club for losers, looking forward to it as I really like their sound...
Fortunately Gundogs had a dedicated fan base that came all the way from Birmingham to see them. So there were enough people there to make it a good night.
First time we saw Blend 71, it is a bit like a mixture of metal and sorta Queen Adreena by times, a good sound with excellent musicians to surround Ciny who has a hell of a voice, operatic and powerful, she carries it throught and there's no stopping her, by the end of it her sing lines got stucked in my head for the whole night.
We played, didn't rehearse for a month, it was more of a jam, warm up gig where we could find our marks again. Good to see Steve who was driving for Gundogs that night, he also came to the Hull gig and if it wasn't for him I wouldn't have any pictures of the tour. (need a camera!!)



Gundogs delivered some ingenious songs remeniscent of Hole and all the riot girls power chords.

We then did our gig at The Boston Arms which was to me one I've enjoyed the most, in spite of the fact that one band pulled out (again!) and another band supposed to play that night apparently split up so it affected our attendancy but it was the third time we played there too so it feels kinda familiar now. I'm used to the sound system more, the only thing I will say is about the lighting, there should be more really, I didn't notice it on stage but when I watched the video Zac kindly did for us it is pretty obvious.
There it is, 20th Century Boy in the dark :



HiroshAmour and Blend 71 played at The Unicorn the next day, taking the day off which was much appreciated.
Then we all departed to Hull on the next morning, leaving London in the sunshine to arrive under the rain in Hull.
Hollywood and Vine it is, great venue with friendly people, arty and crazy, just down our street, a metal crowd should I say which worried me a bit to start with. I thought no one would like our pop shit, which is why I presented Little Groupie as our pop shit song. It went down well when we did it, we woke up some pop roots out of those metal heads. :)
The owner was setting fire to plastic skulls and destroying everything in his path while the bands were playing.
We were given plenty of alcohol, shots, snake bites and pastice (a bit like absinthe)... we then crashed on the floor until the early hours of the morning. I think it was probably our favorite gig, so different from the London audience where you have to jump in people's face to get a reaction.
Here are some pictures Steve did, thanks again for that. :)








Blend 71


Ciny from Blend 71 with Steve and...me

Then final gig was Cambridge. We woke up pretty early and I stuffed myself with creamy cakes and croissant to cope with the drive. We arrived in Cambridge pretty quickly to then find Man on the Moon, our next venue, set a bit further away in a residential area.
We visited a bit of this city that I've never seen before. Very old school style with a lot of universities type buildings, it seemed clean and quite yellowish.
That night we were playing with Never a hero who kindly lended us all their equipment. They did an amazaing set, are very good at what they do (quoting Phil) and have a promising future ahead of them I would say.
It was a chilled night with no pressure, a familial atmosphere, we got to play longer in Hull, that night in Cambridge neither of the bands felt like doing a prolonged set.
Even though I think we've played the 13 songs of our album during the course of this tour, alternating set list, including songs we've never played before, it was a good experience.
At the end of this last gig we all stayed drinking late at the venue, sharing farewell drinks.
Here we are now, in London again, preparing for our album pressing, rehearsing to include some new material in our next gigs and I can also say we have a french tour in the making at the end of June and a launch party in September.
Until then let's go back to the grey and buzzing London. Love it and Hate it.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Tour etc



HEALTHY JUNKIES ON TOUR with BLEND71:

7th of May @ The Bridgehouse2, LONDON
11th of May @ The Boston Arm, LONDON
13th of May @ Planet Hollywood, HULL
14th of May @ Man on the Moon, CAMBRIDGE
3rd of June @ St Morritz, LONDON
21st of June @ The Bowery, LONDON
24th of June @ Café de la Mairie, LILLE, FRANCE
30th of June @ L'Opa, PARIS, FRANCE

Check out Healthy Junkies interview in Bitchslap Mag issue number 4 and Fault Magazine :
www.faultmagazine.com/2011/04/healthy-junkies

Also ALTERCATION will be playing in June on the 19th @ The Unicorn with new line up and new songs. :)



Hoping to get some time off... soon.
Hoping to buy a camera so I can take pictures and make this blog more interesting, I've been too busy gigging, promoting, supporting other bands, obsessed with the whole music thing, and I forgot to live and take a bit of time for myself.

Well folks, I'll make sure my next blog isn't about music. ;)

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

New Year's Calendar



Healthy Junkies are on the move with a UK tour in preparation starting off with some London dates... The album will be released soon.

Altercation are also playing a few dates with Jim and Joe on drums and bass as part of their new line up. A debut album should be released later on this year.

New resolutions ?... play more !

Here is a list of the gigs to come, it will be updated regulary I hope. :)

JANUARY




* Friday the 21st of January @ St Morritz CLUB FOR LOSERS
Healthy Junkies, on stage from 11h30pm, club afterwards until 3am.

* Tuesday the 25th of January @ Anam Bar, Criminal Records night, ANGEL
Altercation, on stage from 8h30pm.



FEBRUARY



* Wenesday the 2nd of February @ The Rythm Factory, WHITECHAPEL
Healthy Junkies, on stage from 8pm

* Thursday the 3rd of February @ Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes, HOLBORN
Altercation, on stage from 8pm, Criminal Records night

* Thursday the 10th of February @ Punk, WEST END
Healthy Junkies, on stage from 8pm, TFTV live show

* Wenesday the 16th of February @ Proud Galleries, CAMDEN
Healthy Junkies, on stage from 8pm, Criminal Records night

MARCH




* Thursday the 3rd of March @ The Bridge House, CANNING TOWN
Healthy Junkies, on stage from 8h30pm, Hot Vox promotions

MAY



* Tuesday the 10th of May @ The Gaff, HOLLOWAY ROAD
Healthy Junkies supporting BLEND 71 and KOPPERHEAD, on stage from 8pm

* Friday the 13th of May @ Hollywood vines, HULL
Healthy Junkies supporting BLEND 71 and KOPPORHEAD, on stage from 8pm