Showing posts with label Istvanski. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Istvanski. Show all posts

Monday, 25 January 2010

Istvanski's Killercast: Depcast #14


Below is a link to Istvanski's Killercast: Depcast #14.

For the uninitiated, Istvanski's depcasts are his podcast radio shows. This particular one features songs about killing and murder as chosen, and discussed around the kitchen table, by Istvanski, Colin Gillman and myself.

I hope you enjoy it. You can listen to it, and/or download it, here:

Saturday, 16 January 2010

Rock til you drop, not just til Christmas


I've made a lot of new friends as a result of setting up ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP. Nice people that I expect to keep in touch with for many more years. A particularly special friend is Colin Gillman. And the other night, before the arrival of another new friend, Steve 'Istvanski', with whose recording equipment and expert knowledge we would all later that evening be recording a podcast radio show of songs about killing and murder, Colin and I were discussing music that we wanted played at our funerals. No surprise that we both picked eleven minute songs.

While we were talking on the subject, it reinforced for me the deeper meaning behind the 'clever' name, ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP. The fact that most of us really mean it. That we're in this together now. We have created a loop. A social circle. We now know where to find each other, at least on-line, if not on the telephone, and in the real world too. We have each other to turn to for advice. For information. For counselling. This is for life, and not just 'til Christmas.

This common ambition is what brings us together; Me, Colin and Steve, for example, around that kitchen table the other night. The commitment. The shared love of making and listening to rock music. That is what we have signed up for. For the duration, for the longevity. Because we all believe that this is one of a very few things that is certain. The fact that we will be rocking 'til we die; give or take a few days, when we may well be dosed up to the eyeballs with morphine and won't be able to remember our names, let alone what 'rock' is.

To that end, I have set up a temporary home for the Members' Obituaries. Not wanting to tempt fate or anything. But before long, someone will 'drop', and it'd be nice to be prepared, and to have a place for others to share their memories, and pay tribute.

As well as Facebook, I mean.

Saturday, 19 December 2009

The Stabilisers open the Xmas-Punk-Rock-Til-You-Drop night


It was a pleasure to have the Stabilisers open the Xmas-Punk-Rock-Til-You-Drop night on Thursday at the Hope & Anchor. Led by the charismatic Jon Stabiliser, they were playing for the first time in ten years or so with RTYD member Steve 'Istvanski' on guitar. Playing though a ginornous Line6 & Trace Elliot guitar rig, Istvanski played like his ten year solo career had never happened, and came on like a feedback-toting, Tooting and Mitcham-supporting Pete Townshend.

They kicked off with the hilarious I Feel Like Jimmy White, and 30 or so energetic-minutes later closed with the wonderful Piss. Their sound seemed to borrow from late-70s/early-80s US punk/new wave bands like the Ramones and the Dickies, as well as some of their British counterparts such as (early) XTC, and those legends of the Hope & Anchor, The Stranglers.

They bought a loyal following and generously handed out copies of their current 5-track CD. I hope to have them back in the New Year. Don't miss that show.

Sunday, 12 July 2009

Magic Ship at the Club'ouse


Went to Twickenham last night to see Magic Ship play a pub gig at the Clubhouse.

They sounded great. Their two sets included a mix of material from the first album Love Tel Motel, and the second as yet untitled album, which is in-the-making. Set two was particularly strong and dynamic, and gathered a great momentum by its culmination which saw Colin taking a dramatic leap from his amplifier to end the final toilet flush of the evening and tearing a bloody great hole in the ceiling of the venue in the process. Rock and fucking roll!

Colin and Sam were in top classic-rock form, pulling plenty of familiar rock poses and actions - foot on monitor, Townshend-style windmill guitar-playing - and just generally indulging in guitar hero emulations. And I was touched by Colin dedicating a version of my favourite Magic Ship song, Black Holes Don't Everything, to me. I was also pleased to meet Colin's good friend, fellow mature musician and serial blogger Istvanski, who is clearly one of the good guys.

The night ended in Colin's living room, with Colin and me in a fair stupor, playing his acoustic, and his old song demos. My kind of end to a great evening.