Owner: Blog Scary Monsters URL:http://blogscarymonsters.blogspot.com Join Date: Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:41:44 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: The day to day ramblings of an independent record label. Blog Scary Monsters is what goes on behind the scenes at Oxford based record label, Big Scary Monsters. Check it out for exclusive videos, downloads, photos, stories and rants about post offices, th Site statistics:Click here
Radio killed the video star 2007-11-14 06:54:00 Screw video
, we own the radiowaves!Monday Steve Lamacq played Sam Isaac on his Radio
One show, last night Colin Murray did the same (for the third time!) and this lunchtime, in a shocking turn of daytime radio events - as first reported on the Alcopop! blog - Jo Whiley has jumped onto the bandwagon/pledged her allegiance/added us as a friend/whatever term is currently popular to effectively say "hell yeah!"Describing the single as "gorgeous", as well as promising to play it again, we're all pretty chuffed. Buy the single now from www.bsmrocks.com/shop - Make Jo happy! The good news radio vibes don't end there either... Tune in to John Kennedy's Xfm show tonight to hear Meet Me In St Louis live in session, recorded just 24 hours ago in their Leicester Square studios. The four tracks, all taken from the band's 'Variations On Swing' record, will be Toby's final recorded output as a member of the band. Don't miss this little piece of history. Grab your wireless or click to www.xfm.
Blompetition 2007-11-14 06:07:00 It's been a long time since we last ran a competition, so how about we make up for that right now? If you'd like to win copies of the as yet unreleased CDs from House of Brothers and Sam Isaac, plus some posters and other bits and pieces (ie whatever I decide to grab and throw in with the package), simply answer the below question:On this very blog, I recommended a Chicago band described as a cross between Sufjan Stevens and The Polyphonic Spree - who are they?Email your answer to bsmrocks@googlemail.com - Winner drawn at random on 1st Dec.Another post is coming later including some pretty nice news
Exposed 2007-11-11 16:43:00 My jeans are broken. 2007 has seen me go through my three favourite pairs of jeans as I look set to end the year in tatters. Literally. And what mates it even rougher is that I didn't even get to replace any of them. My number one, favourite pair ripped, so my number two was promoted. Soon after, they were also destroyed, which saw the previous number three find it's way into the dizzying heights of the top spot. Clearly struggling under the pressure, not only do they now look like something from Jon Bon's wardrobe, my flies are broken. The stupid things just won't stay up. Roughly every 5 minutes/20 footsteps (whatever comes first) they will creep down, often leaving me unknowingly flashing some poor old woman in the street, a close family member or anyone else I happen to strut past. I've already lost count of the amount of embarrassed zipping moments I've had to endure, let alone the number of half confused-half aroused looks I've had from strangers. Unfortunately the salary
Announcement 2007-11-19 03:25:00 9am Monday morning seems an excellent time to make a statement: Meet Me In St Louis have announced details of their final show with vocalist, Toby. It takes place at the Enterprise in London (Camden) on 26th November, rudely intruding on the already confirmed BSM Meet & Greet launch show. The band, who will be continuing instrumentally after this show until they find a replacement singer, will play a special, longer headline set, rolling out the fan's favourites from their debut 'Variations On Swing' record, as well as hits from their previous EP.Support comes from The New 1920 (celebrating the release of their new single), Sam Isaac (as heard on Jo Whiley) and Tubelord (who are just finishing up their stunning debut single right now). Doors are at 7pm and tickets can be bought right hereSeeya down the front Read more:Announcement
Defeated 2007-11-18 09:09:00 It's been a good couple of weeks since I last recommended you, dear listener, a fine new band, so please accept this by way of an apology:The Defeat hail from Reading, well, at least that's where they're based, I've heard rumours that they actually originate from Norwich. Wherever, the fact is that they're great. They straddle the post-rock and indie genres in an Appleseed Cast-esque way, offering moments of instrumental beauty side by side with toe-tapping melodies which almost sound like early Biffy Clyro. Still early days but keep an eye on these.Download: A Sad Mass' Mountain from www.myspace.com/thedefeatuk
Peru, pull your socks up! 2007-11-16 10:07:00 I've just been having a quick look at the blog stats and it makes for quite shocking reading. To this date, apart from the thousands from Europe, hundreds from North America and assorted few from Australia and Japan, we have only received one viewer from Peru, one from El Salvador, and one from Vietnam! Frankly, it's just not good enough. Thanks to the three people from Bahrain who've made this post possible. Much love.
Yndi Halda guest blog 2007-11-22 06:04:00 I've decided that my rants and ramblings simply aren't enough to give you a true reflection of what's going on at BSM, so I've decided to invite the bands to join in and post guest blogs from time to time, telling you about what they're upto and talking about whatever happens to be on their minds.The first one up is James from Yndi Halda...Hello world,here are a few things:1 - We are very much looking forward to our final shows of the year.One of which is the Electric Lands Festival in Lagny-Sur-Marne, Paris,on the 15th of December. Details are here 2 - Another last show of the year will be on the 22nd of December at the Holy Trinity Church in Leeds. We tend not to do one-off showsoutside London because they're often difficult to get to, but thisbeing a church and a charity event we couldn't turn it down. We aregoing to make this show as special as we can. We may play the entirety of enjoy eternal bliss in order, and we'll probably film it.3 - We have one more show planned, but
Holidays are coming... 2007-11-29 08:45:00 December is but a few hours away now and BSM is celebrating the festive season in style this year!We've joined forces with our friends at Xtra Mile Recordings to put together a Christmas tour package featuring Dartz, Secondsmile and This Town Needs Guns, with a little cameo from Frank Turner in London! Dates can be found on the tiny flyer below, click it and you'll see a bigger one...At each of the shows you'll be able to pick up a FREE sampler CD, featuring 8 tracks from each label. Click here to check out the tracklisting.And as if that wasn't enough, we've just launched our new Friend of The Family mini-site. Joining costs nothing and it'll give you access to loads of free MP3s, videos, special offers and more, including the BSM Advent Calendar (which begins on 1st December, giving you even more free stuff everyday throughout December) and the first BSM podcast (which will be up online in the next couple of weeks). Everyone who joins Friend of The Family before the end of 2007 Read more:Holidays
Meet Me In Camden 2007-11-28 06:18:00 It feels like ages since I last wrote on here. Sorry for the neglect. Today I'm struggling with my second hangover in as many days, this one twice as bad as it's predecessor. A half-empty bottle of horrific, toxic-looking TVX Blue is sitting in front of me. It symbolises the error I made in drinking again last night, but will probably be finished by the end of tonight. Learning from mistakes was never one of my strong points.Monday night was the Meet & Greet launch night at The Enterprise in Camden
. It was a fine evening of punk rock fun, featuring awesome live sets from Meet Me In St Louis (their last with Toby), The New 1920, Sam Isaac and Tubelord, plus Jack (Alcopop!) and Ivano (BSM) laying down some phat beats between them all. Despite everything which could possibly have gone wrong, going wrong, we made it through and finished the evening dancing on stools with a bottle of champagne in hand. The venue floor, which usually holds 100, bowed under the weight of 150 people, the
Podcast love 2007-12-06 03:19:00 So yesterday I received an email from Stu, the singer from This Town Needs Guns and it read "Anathallo are incredible!" having heard them on the new BSM podcast. "Yes" I said "you're right." A couple of hours pass and I receive another email, this time from Bret of Anathallo fame: "The podcast kept me entertained all afternoon. Who's that first band right at the start? That song's so good." What a coincidink. "Well Bret, that is This Town Needs Guns." Gotta love the way a podcast unites. Read more:Podcast
Bus Fare Home 2007-12-04 05:50:00 Bus fare home. BFH. Bullseye was so ahead of its time. SMS was purely a miss-spelt ship back in those days, not the crazy vowel-hating text message language of the modern day.Anyway, our recent competition is over and it's time to announce the winner is.. Drum roll please... Robert Hirst! Robert wins copies of the House of Brothers EP and Sam Isaac single by correctly answering Anathallo to the question which can be found below, if you want to.However, do not dispair all you non-Robert Hirst's, as we've just started up a new competition, and it's a biggie! This time we're giving away a copy of everything we've released in 2007. Ev-er-y-thing!! That includes Meet Me In St Louis' album, EPs from House of Brothers and Richard Walters, splits from This Town Needs Guns/Cats And Cats And Cats and MMISL/Secondsmile, 7" singles from Sam Isaac and The New 1920 plus 2 compilation CDs! I know, I know. Wow doesn't cut it!To stand a chance of winning, all you need to do is email and tell us
Kev 1 - Gravity 0 2007-12-03 06:40:00 I've fixed my BSM storage unit/tired old wardrobe. Last week the thing cracked under the weight of good music but with the added support of some old books (including a palm reading guide, a cook book and a couple of old diaries) it's business as usual round these here parts.I've had a bit of a podcast moment. Much of my morning has been spent learning how to upload a podcast to itunes (rss-what?) in preparation of the first BSM episode, and just as I conquer that challenge I learn that everyone's favourite daily rag, The Sun, will be featuring Mr Isaac in their podcast next week! That's on top of him being a featured artist on Myspace and having his video (you've seen that now, right? How good are those cakes?) featured on there the week after. A joyous Monday morning thus far.New issue of Rock Sound comes out on Wednesday and between you and me they've got at least one of their tips for 2008 right. House of Brothers y'all. It's the future. And on the subject of HOB tips... Fr
D, I, S, C, O 2007-12-02 04:31:00 Last night I went to a roller disco. A fricking roller disco! I spent two hours literally walking around rendering my 8 wheels effectively redundant except for the times some idiot would crash into me and they'd suddenly start spinning out of control, sending me hurtling towards the barrier, a group of people or the floor. Sometimes all three. The majority of skaters there were pretty good, despite the terrible retro clothing, there were a couple of complete novices like myself and there was a small group of afro and vest-clad show-offs zipping in and out of the crowds and spinning around like the Warriors turned gay. When my time clumping around on wheels was over I put my shoes back on and for the first time all night my feet started to try and slide. My brain works in funny directions sometimes.Just updated the BSM advent calendar and I'm going to let you into a little secret: Behind door 2 is a free MP3 of Meet Me In St Louis' 'Eins Zwei Drei Hasslehoff'. FREE I tell ya. Go ta
Pinch, punch 2007-12-01 04:04:00 The BSM advent calendar begins today! Each day throughout December we'll be offering free MP3 downloads, gifts, special offers and more. All you have to do is sign up by entering a username, password and email address. It doesn't cost anything, and we'll even give you a £1 gift voucher when you do it, in the spirit of the season and all that
We'll get bicycles 2007-11-30 05:22:00 Promotional video for 'Sideways' by Sam Isaac. Directed and filmed by Nicholas Bentley. Food by the women who built a Skoda out of cake for that TV advert. Believe.
The history of Christmas 2007-12-12 05:48:00 We're getting closer and closer to Christmas
but I'm not really feeling it yet. Perhaps it's because I don't have any decorations up? Perhaps it's because I haven't bought any presents yet? Maybe it's because I'm getting old and Scrooge-like? Even the couple knocking on my door to tell me about the wonder of Jesus Christ a few minutes ago did nothing for me.I plan to launch myself head first into the spirit of the season tomorrow with the first date of the BSM / Xtra Mile Christmas Tour (with Dartz, Secondsmile and This Town Needs Guns). It's at The Luminaire and sold out sometime over a week ago. Our huge guestlist on top means that the place will be cosy to say the least, and I fear Santa may have his work cut out for him trying to make his way through the crowds. If years gone by are anything to judge it on he won't mind though. This will be the 5th BSM Christmas Party and they've never failed to disappoint: 2003 - The Verge in Kentish Town, with My Awesome Compilation an
The Big Day 2007-12-10 06:09:00 So today's the big day. Sam Isaac's 'Sideways' single is finally out. We've worked our butts off on this one over the past couple of months and it's been a lot of fun! 15 Radio One plays, a bunch from Radio Two and 6 Music, playlisted on Xfm and Virgin, artist of the week on Myspace and so much more. To celebrate the release we're giving away free posters to the first 10 people to order it, as part of our ongoing Advent Calendar promotion. Also, if you have a spare 79p and fancy helping a brother our, 'Sideways' is available now on itunes and we're looking to shift as many as we can this week. Just click here to purchase it. Christmas number one looks a bit above us, but I've got my eye on the number 200 spot!The video for 'Lose Yourself' by House of Brothers is up online now. I really like it. See what you think:The BSM/Xtra Mile Records Christmas tour (featuring Dartz, Secondsmile and This Town Needs Guns) starts on Thursday in London, before moving onto Oxford, Middlesb
You know you're Billy Big Balls when... 2007-12-07 06:40:00 ...NME write this about a show you put on: "Hadouken, The Subways and The Rakes could all be found crushed into Camden's Enterprise for Meet Me In St Louis' last show with their current singer. Anyone looking to apply for said role should apply in writing on their Myspace site"You also know you're Billy
when Sam Isaac is the main featured artist on Myspace this week, clocking up literally thousands of hits within the first few hours alone.And you really know, beyond any shaddow of doubt, that you are indeed Mr Big Balls
when you receive an email from Rawle D. Lewis, AKA Junior Bevil in Cool Runnings, and he ends it with the line "Peace, Music Man"Sheer bliss.I'm now off to warm up some cold fish and chips from last night and to ready myself for dancing to goFASTER at Koko tonight.
House of Brothers blog 2007-12-22 11:23:00 The second of our guest blogs from bands, this time from Andrew Jackson, AKA House
of Brothers
:"It happens that the stage-sets collapse. Rising, tram, four hours in the office or factory, meal, tram, fours of work, meal, sleep and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, according to the same rhythm - this path is easily followed most of the time. But one day the 'why' arises and everything begins in that weariness tinged with amazement. 'Begins' - this is important. Weariness comes at the end of the acts of a mechanical life, but at the same time it inaugerates the impulse of consciousness. It awakens consciousness and provides what follows. What follows is the gradual return into the chain or it is the definitive awakening. At the end of the awakening comes, in time, the consequence: suicide or recovery. In itself weariness has something sickening about it. Here, I must conclude that it is good. For everything begins with consciousness and nothing is worth anyt
Tan Zhizhou 2007-12-20 21:21:00 Doesn't it just piss you right off when you keep getting stopped in the streets of China and asked if you are Rowan Atkinson AKA Mr Bean? Well thankfully it doesn't offend the resourceful Tan Zhizhou. So used to the numerous autopgraph requests he receives, Tan plans to open a restaurant to capitalise on his fortunate, and may I add, uncanny, looks.You can read more about Tan by clicking here or if you like, you can check out another Mr Bean lookalike at the impressively titled website: mrbeanlookalike.com
Oasish 2007-12-20 20:29:00 What are you doing on 20th December 2008? WRONG! You're coming to The Limelight in Crewe to see Oasish and The Stereotonics
Class of 2007 2007-12-20 09:02:00 So many of you enjoyed the Class of 2006 promotion we ran last year it seemed only right to bring it back for a second term, suitably updated, of course...Click here to purchase or here to peruse the shop... And then purchase, obviously :-)Last night, after my delve into the forthcoming live music events of New York, I moved onto sports and tried to purchase tickets for the Knicks v Celtics basketball game at Madison Square Garden. The $10, 5 tier high, bearly-visible-but-remember-the-cheap-as-chips-price-so-can't-complain seats immediately jumped at me and I tried to purchase a couple. Refused. Ok, I'll upgrade, it's still only about £12. Nope. An hour later and I'm still having no joy. Two hours later and I'm on the phone to Ticketmaster in NY, furiously answering their stupid questions whilst angrily clicking through website after website of touts who have bought up all of my $10 seats and are now selling on for 5 times the price! Those damn pirates, I was livid!Well, Knicks,
Decisions decisions 2007-12-19 17:35:00 So I'm off to New York for a much needed holiday in January. It seemed rude not to check out the gig listings and I'm delighted to say that on my 2nd night there I have a choice between the following, in amongst hundreds more...Blonde RedheadThe Karma Police (Radiohead tribute, obv)Isaac HayesThe QueersKevin DevineMission of BurmaA Doo-Wop nightNot Waving But DrowningSome jazz guys 75th birthday partyJudas Rising (Judas Priest tribute, omg)What a night. What a decision. Any help?
Mess 2007-12-17 08:30:00 What a disgraceful weekend that was. It all started Thursday night in London where we had tears, fights, blood, stitches, dancing, road accidents, a kebab shop argument and, of course, way too much alcohol. The tour then moved to Oxford Friday, seeing us all beating our hangovers by going for much of the same, but this time with the addition of being thrown out of a club for sleeping in the toilets, a musical tramp and basically no other memories. And just when you think it couldn't get any worse, the tour moves up north to Middlesborough whilst I decide to stay in Oxford to join Gemma's brother and friends for a night out drinking. After 7 hours in expensive bars, mixing all manner of wine, cocktails and spirits I find myself watching breakdancing and invisible skipping ropes in the back room of a club, in much the same mental state as the nights before, yet somehow only £5 poorer than at the beginning of the evening! Sunday, I'm pleased to report, was spent in front of the footba
Tubes 2008-03-12 07:08:54 When running a record label every now and again you can't help but get the feeling that certain bands are starting to rule your life. For much of last year it was Meet Me In St Louis. This Sunday is exactly one year to the day from when I first received the recordings for their glorious debut, and only, album 'Variations On Swing'. From that day on, and many before it in all honesty, I thought about that band, spoke about that band, wrote about that band and listened to that band constantly. There were even a few occasions I had dreams about the band, as much as it pains me to admit it! They pretty much ruled my life in 2007, for better and for worse.2008 is shaping up to be a busier year than last with more bands, releases and tours booked into the Big Scary Monsters stable for the next 9 Read more:Tubes
Two quick thoughts 2008-03-11 13:31:11 Today's been a typically non-stop rollercoaster of fun and breakneck working speeds. Here are two of the highlights:As you can see from the above visual aid, NME described BSM as an "ever impressive DIY titan." They said some stuff about Tubelord as well, but come on people, lets focus on what's important here: Ever impressive DIY titan.The second highlight also comes in picture form:Give your eyes the second they deserve to adjust and then sit back and enjoy this feast of beauty.After three hours of careful consideration I'm still unsure as to what my favourite part of this flyer is. Is it:a) The Word Art in the centre, last spotted in 1994?b) The Vintage Rockbar venue's name and the wonderful images it counjours?c) The fact that it was a personal invitation to me - a resident of Oxford - Read more:thoughts
Tubelord on tour 2008-03-11 05:32:12 Tubelord head out on their first proper UK tour this week including four dates over in Ireland and the BSM St Patrick's Day Party in London on Monday. The band are featured in the new issue of Rock Sound, have a lovely little mention coming in NME tomorrow and been enjoying some nice airplay from Xfm. Oh and Subba-Cultcha have just reviewed the debut single and said "it’s been a while since a UK post-hardcore band offered so many ideas in such a short amount of time!". Members of We Are Scientists, Mystery Jets, Hadouken, The Subways and other indie-street-cred-cool bands have been spotted rocking out at recent London shows and I'm going to take myself off of the fence and say that they're going to be a very important band over the next 12 or so months.Basically, I'm telling you this in
6 Machine winners (cheats never prosper) 2008-03-10 09:51:27 The winners of the 6 Machine
competition are... drum roll...1. Blakfish, with 312 votes2. Minotaur Explode - 291 votes2. My First Tooth - 2914. Caesura - 2635. The Defeat - 2316. Colour - 205Overall slightly more than 2500 people casted their vote, whilst lots of people wasted there time as 7000 votes were recorded from people who'd already responded. Personally I like the image of one of the band members staying up for 3 days straight pressing refresh again and again and again and again... But I guess we'll never know who.Just ate too much chicken and my body feels like it's falling apart. It's the end of the world as we know it. Read more:prosper
The Weddingmakers 2008-03-10 04:39:14 Good weekend? It was birthday season round these 'ere parts. My mum's celebrations Friday night followed by three friends Saturday (not to mention a couple in other parts of the country I couldn't make it to) made it an eventful, food-filled couple of days before Sunday's standard day of kicking back infront of the TV. Saturday afternoon I bet on 8 teams to win, £2 staked to net £150 profit. With 25 minutes left to play in them all, all 8 were going to plan! A very anxious 20 of those minutes passed, with my fingers boaring evermore into the sofa, before it happened. Up stepped Jimmy Bullard to knock in a free kick against Blackburn, bringing his side back to level terms and sending me out with another disappointing 7 out of 8 hit rate. Good going, in one respect, not so good in the fina
6 Machine shortlisted bands - Part 6 2008-03-07 10:33:35 Voting ends on Monday and here are the 11th and 12th bands which make up our shortlist of 6 Machine
contenders. Don't forget to hit Last.fm to listen through them all and cast your votePS. New Secondsmile album artwork:Our Own Devices1. Introduce yourselvesAdam who does the bass, Dan who does the drums, Rhys who does the moaning, Kareem who does a guitar and Luke who does another guitar ...and we're based in London. Hello lovers2. How would you describe your music to someone who has never previously heard you?Its moody, muscular and moving. Check the alliteration. Explosive noise with subtle spaciousness. It can be pretty bleak at times and thats how we like it. We've been compared to bands such as Fugazi and Shellac, Isis, At The Drive-In and Mogwai, but we only really listen to two of th
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