Getting to know the boys from emerging act Mike Fantastic
It’s quite a big thing for us as we’re rather ‘underground’ in our music policy (and also because we don’t advertise.) We’re a commercial station that doesn’t play ads (save for the Christmas DAB trails) and we only play new and emerging artists (who have popped their stuff over at amazingtunes.com.)
I’ve written about my job in many a post on this blog, but if you’d like to go straight to the source you can check out our website, follow us on Twitter or even join our Facebook Group and join the ‘New Music Revolution.
… the first of the new recordings from Newcastle based four piece Holy Mammoth arrived!
And suddenly my day became very good indeed!
The occasionally lovely* boys from Holy Mammoth sent me over their new track Years complete with embedded artwork of the boys (it’s a individual portraits of all of them, which is a rather unexpected coup).
It’s not just because I’m lazy and hankering for my duvet, but also because I want you to make up your own mind about the track that I won’t say much about it, other than YOU NEED IT. Luckily YOU CAN GET ITby emailing h.mammoth@gmail.com (useful that).
I think I’m particularly enamoured with the track because I listening to it virtually on repeat whilst kneading the dough that was to become the loaf of olive bread pictured below. (I couldn’t actually change the song because I had sticky, doughy hands but I think it’s testament to the track that I fisted, slapped and banged my prospective bun in time to Mark Atwill’s drums without tiring of the bright, well worked guitars and enigmatic vocals).
Holy Mammoth... a good band to make bread to
If you ask the band nicely enough, I’m sure they’ll be more than happy to send you over singer/guitarist Andrew Davey’s lyrics too. There’s a couple of songs in the Mammoth songbook that seemingly deliberate origins and indentity (such as personal favourite Suggester) and this is one of them. It makes a refreshing change to hear a song that can say what it wants to say with little words and a lot of musicality. I like it very much.
It seems that Holy Mammoth have also found themselves a ‘tribute act’ in the form of surreal kidnap victims Hurly Mammith. I’m not sure if this band is incredibly ugly or simply not human, but the above video suggests that wicked scientists have thrown Holy Mammoth, Fang Island and an Asda carrier bag into a blender and come out with something miraculous sounding (rather like I ‘threw together’ the following berlotti bean chilli at the weekend).
Berlotti bean chilli (it took it three point five billion years...)
So anyway, enough about my culinary achievements… you should really send that email now. (Then you should tell the world/tweet/facebook/blog about it, because it’s free and all that.)
*Will be lovely on a full time basis once they make me soup. Or cheesecake. I’m not particularly fussed either way.
I haven’t thought too much about Christmas too much, although there are a few ‘dream’ items I’m er… day dreaming about.
My birthday is December 27th so I often get ‘joint presents’ – or simply none at all. I mean, it’s not all about the gifts of course, but this is a ‘lifestyle’ blog type thing so I gathered I might as well pop some pics online!
Vivienne Westwood Anglomania & Melissa booties
Now, these boots may seem excessive at £80 – £90 a pop but they’re exactly what I need to get me through the next four months up in the snowy, snowy North East! I’ve been walking in the snow for the past few days and it seems that my flowery George @ Asda wellies just aren’t going to cut it anymore. I hate having to carry spare shoes around with me too – but with rubber booties this glam and special I simply wouldn’t need to!
I’m not sure which design I prefer most! I originally wanted the gold version but having just found the cream booties I’m beginning to sway in my preferences!
River Island hooded fur coat
I found this ‘fantasy fur’ coat in River Island on an emergency winter coat shopping trip the other day, but alas! They did not have my size – in the picture below I’m wearing a coat three sizes up!
River Island hooded fur coat
I love this coat because of how amazing and large the hood is. The coat is gorgeous and amazing to touch. I’ve not seen too many fake fur coats that I’ve felt I could wear because of the sheer bulk of them, but this version is sleek, smooth and lovely. I’m a tad depressed that I can’t find it online either – as usual, I’ve hyperlinked all photos to the ‘home’ of the products but I had to link this picture to a cream version.
This melodica has ‘button keys’ which keep the melodica nicely neat and compact in size. I could easily keep it in my handbag for gigs too! (Plus loads of my favourite bands, such as Tuung, use this particular model for gigs and recordings.)
They were taken by the lovely Faye Green (guitarist Todd’s sister.) She’s currently studying art at the University of Newcastle. I don’t know if she has a blog but if you’d like to get in touch with her, leave a comment and we’ll pass it her way!
Yours truly: Frankie WardDavid Mabbott (bass)Mark Edwards (drums)Neil Andrew Smith (keys)Todd Green (guitar)Get Frank
If you’re interested in seeing us live please check out our Facebook page. You can get in touch about gigs by emailing me at frankiepromotes@gmail.com.
I’m still wondering how we should release it so it’s currently set to stream online. If you have 79p spare and would like to help reimburse recording costs then you can grab Vacant from our amazingtunes.com profile page.
My friend and very talented illustrator/graphic designer/musician/legend Brendan Kearney has kindly offered to help us out with the artwork for the EP. You can see his artwork for his band Broken Boat over on their myspace. It’s all rather lovely! Hopefully I’ll pop some stuff on here soon – the stuff he’s done so far looks amazing. The illustration below is quite similar to what he’s working on.
If you think you’d like a CD copy then please let me know – I think it would be quite nice to create some hard copies. Maybe we’ll do one of those ‘official EP launch’ things… Our first gig is Thursday 25th November so please do come check us out in the flesh. I’m hoping we’ll get offered some support slots – if you’d like to book us then just email me; frankiepromotes@gmail.com.
I’ve always dreamed of finding that ‘perfect Little Black Dress’
I thought I found it for a mere £9.99 in H&M today but when I got to the dressing room it just didn’t fit right.
I had places to be so had to leave the strapless, shiny black pleated bargain behind with the shop assistants. Feeling down I moved to leave the shop but stopped in my tracks near the exit… By Jupiter! I had found it!
It was wrinkly, not in my size and made of fake leather! I had to buy a size up but it means it will be perfect for casual winter layering (for the Amazing Radio office) whilst not being a too tight and ‘fetish’ looking. Once off the hanger and on my body the wrinkles disappeared and gave an almost smooth look.
Faux leather dress, £14.99, white shirt both by H&M
It’s the perfect day-to-night dress too. Here I toughen it up a little with my Peacocks grey hiking boots.
Boots £20 by Peacocks
I quite like it with my red heels too; there’s plenty a pair of shoes that would work with this dress which is why I adore it so.
The flash of my camera has made the underskirt of this dress look a lot shinier than it actually is. It reminds me of a Peacocks dress I saw in a magazine (but it’s a lot nicer in the lace detailing department and £8 cheaper.) I have to wear it with a belt because the empire line design into the full skirt is so unflattering I was tempted to take it back. The swift addition of the belt made me have a sudden change of heart.
I think that the leather look dress might be better for The Union Choir gig, and the crochet dress for my first Get Frank gig on the 25th November – but again, I’m not sure.
There are some reasons why this is extremely bad timing, but I won’t bore you with those.
I seem to be having a great run of bad luck recently – like the world has said to me “right, we’ll let you record with Get Frank after two and a half years of desperately trying to organise something, but we’re going to have to compromise on everything else.”
For example, last Saturday morning at approximately 2am (I went to bed before 11pm in the hope of being ‘refreshed’ for my Halloween gig with The Union Choir), I woke up with severe stomach ache which was followed by vomiting etc… I got food poisoning on the morning of the night of the gig I’d been looking forward to for six weeks! And I’d missed the previous gig with tonsillitis. Wonders never cease.
Top by Gap £7.99, Shoes by H&M £14.99, Capri pants £19.99 by Zara, Bag £16.99 by Interacionale
Yes, in this picture I look distinctly unhappy with the universe. I’ve decided to try and cheer myself up by wearing red heels in the daytime. I’m not standing very well here and something distinctly nappyish is going on with the trousers… I attempted to iron them. (It’s not my strong point, ironing.) The trousers are a bit big on my legs but they’re one of the best fits I can find. I really love the Gap t-shirt though. Gap t-shirts are the best quality I’ve found on the high street, with a nice comfy fit.
Hair flowers £1.99 a pair by H&M, 'Frankie necklace' bespoke by ladyluckrulesok.com
My mum gave me the cherry earring after one of her many fancy dress events (she’s a fancy dress genius, and I do not use those words lightly! She is incredible.) I only have one ear pierced so always get people being ‘helpful’ and telling me I’m missing one etc… The necklace is from Ladyluckrulesok.com. I followed the site for seven years before designer Leona Baker decided to move onto a new project. The shop was hugely successful so maybe she wanted to feel more independent again – who knows?
The light is deceptive in this picture too (thank you attic sky lighting!) My hair and face are both messy today. I appear to have developed acne at the late age of 21. The flowers are a desperate attempt to look like my hair is deliberately big and ‘fizzy’ (I hate that word but feel it’s appropriate here. Vogue may get away with it, I do not.) ‘Rah’ girls spend ages backcombing, hairspraying and boofing up their roots to get ‘just out of bed’ hair to match their uggs and jogging bottoms. Again, they and their Jack Wills jumpers are part of an exclusive club that I just don’t get.
Wig by Smiffy's, jacket by Religion, top by H&M and faux leather trousers, £38 by Topshop
I was going to go as a convict before realising that I should probably have some kind of matching stripy hat. I’d already ordered the handcuffs for less than a pound from Amazon so I invested another pound in a bandit mask. I don’t think I’ll wear the mask over my eyes much because it covers my nose and is a bit too wide for my face! I decided to keep the handcuffs for my costume by pretending that I’m a robber that has been ‘picked up and put in a police van in cuffs, but escaped en route to the cells.’ My amazing manager Kev at Amazing Radio found the wig in a cupboard and said I could have it so I’m wearing it to ‘up the bad girl status’.
If there’s any night of the year that you can go ultra vampy with deep, dark lips and messy black eyes it’s Halloween so I’m preparing to go all out with my crayons!
The Union Choir are playing last and I’ll only be practicing with the some of the band for the first time on the afternoon before the gig so personally, it’s going to be nerve wracking stuff! I’ve also been known for writing and interviewing bands for the radio so to suddenly make my Newcastle stage debut in front of a lot of them will be quite terrifying.
Me and Anna, the cellist from The Union Choir will be carving a couple of pumpkins before practice tomorrow so I’ll pop some photos of them on shortly. Apparently South Shields (where many band members are based) is all out of pumpkins so we may be a few jack o’lanterns down!
The doors for the gig open tomorrow at 7.30pm so I hope to see you there! And don’t forget to leave a comment telling me what you’re dressing up as!
This weekend was spent in the studio at the University of Newcastle with the rest of the Get Frank guys recording our debut EP Awake, Not Drifiting.
I realised after looking at the track listing that three out of the four tracks are connected to the theme of ‘bed’ so it seemed apt to name the EP after the line ‘When I’m awake/Not Drifting’ from one of our quirkier numbers, Next Door.
Here’s a short ‘behind the scenes’ video of us in the studio. It was shot on my Kodak Zi8 and my new Casio Exilim camera (final shot only). You can occasionally hear my voice, but I’m the one behind the camera.
We recorded the EP live with me singing guide vocals behind the screen in the control room. I then rerecorded the vocals the next day. The trickiest track was Next Door as it features a variety of tempo changes – unlike the rest of the band however, most of the vocals used in the final mix were done in one take (which can’t be said for the other tracks!) We only used a click track to record ‘1 minute 20 second wonder’ It’s Not You.
We haven’t got an order yet but the EP will feature.
1. It’s Not You
2. Bedspread
3. Next Door
4. Vacant
I think one of the biggest surprises about working with the new lineup is that Vacant (formerly known as Untitled), which was the first song I wrote as ‘Get Frank’ back in Summer 2008, has become a firm favourite to play with the band. Having a real piano (and an expert musician in Neil Andrew Smith on keys) makes a real difference to the sound. Neil and Todd Green (guitar) both have solos at the end of the track and they both sound gorgeous.
The guys with Producer Rob
There have been multiple incarnations and lineup changes of Get Frank (I still feel that core member James Chester from the last couple of Birmingham lineups is present in the form of his friend, bassist David Mabbot), and it’s quite surprising that our current group has only been together for about six weeks.
I always feel slightly overwhelmed when I hear what other people bring to my songs. I love that feeling of realisation – when you hear the track as you imagined it, with extra flourishes (such as David Mabbot’s ‘sensual bass-line’ in Next Door that felt like the natural progression from the ‘orgasma-bass’ of former player Richie B Brookes in Brum). Our last Brummie lineup felt quite ska in nature, whereas in Newcastle we’re heading towards a more organic, acoustic jazz feel. The unmixed recordings sound chaotic, but very much alive – hopefully our producer Rob Blazey will have an idea of what to do with them!
It was always a dream to record – I don’t think it’s set in that we’ve done it yet!
Regular readers of this blog (and people who know me) will probably know that I’m a massive Peacocks fan.
I often look online to check out for new products (and am a regular in both the Gateshead and Newcastle stores.) I recently bought these loafers in brown and these Victorian boots that I’m itching to wear more.
Pearl Lowe's new Christmas range for Peacocks, released November 14th
I’ve been indulging in X Factor and Facebook this evening, and earlier on noticed that the Peacocks Facebook group was getting active over the fashionable side of X Factor. It was then than I noticed that preview pictures of Pearl Lowe’s new Peacocks collection had been revealed and a few new bags. The picture above has really excited me… I am obsessed with the dress on the far right. It’s beautiful! I hope that champagne colour will suit my skintone… I also really hope I’ll manage to get my hands on one. I have some purple 5 1/2 inch Irregular Choice heels that will go perfectly with it! Fingers crossed.
The Beatrice bag... arriving mid November
This bag is also on my wish list. I absolutely love the colour, the fake ostrich texture and the clasp – the perfect Mad Men inspired bag combined with this season’s ‘it colour’ of red (check out Jess Cartner-Morley’s Guardian article here). I haven’t really got any ‘little’ bags so for me I have an excuse to run out and grab it the day it hits the stores…
I really am obsessed aren’t I?
On a music/fashion note I’m looking for band T-Shirts to start ‘styling up’ for this blog so if you’d like me to write about your band and wear your t-shirt then please get in touch!
Get Frank 