Leonard Smalls

It'd be nice! But we're making more money than we did a year ago... And playing to bigger audiences which hopefully means we'll build a bigger fanbase leading to more people paying to come and see us until finally, we take over the world. Unfortunately, it's a bit more difficult with originals bands and takes longer (or perhaps never!) to become profitable. Our merch has just about paid for itself, now we're in profit on that so if we get say £100 for a gig (we sometimes get more, sometimes less) we may sell tshirts, cds, mugs, keychains and assorted tat as well which makes it worthwhile.

Our nearest possible gigs are an hour away - local pubs will only have a very occasional covers band and then only the cheesiest of shoutalong song choice is popular... Our next gig is 1.25 hours away, next 2 hours, after that we've got one in Hereford (1 hour - nearest). Then we're looking at 2 that are 4 hours away - we'll lose money as we'll stay the night and not get paid enough to cover hotel; we'd need to camp! Still, we see it as a hobby and hobbies usually cost money...

Indeed! However, it's difficult to take lectures on poverty seriously from someone who spent $1700 flying a forgotten hat first class to Italy...

Brighton noiseniks:

Aye! Perhaps they also do the "Shreds" series as a side project! However, if you're going to mangle a classic it's not easy to destroy it as well as this!

A mate of mine sent it to me! Here's the blurb that was with it: Bandleader David Kant teaches a machine to hear pop songs, and the Happy Valley Band plays what the computer hears. FREE DOWNLOAD of "Like a Prayer" from ORGANVM PERCEPTVS: indexical.bandcamp.com/album/organvm-perceptvs Buy ORGANVM PERCEPTVS on vinyl + digital: indexical.bandcamp.com/album/organvm-perceptvs ORGANVM PERCEPTVS is a deconstruction of popular music through the use of state-of-the-art machine listening technologies. It is a collection of 11 songs composed over the past five years for the Happy Valley Band, an experimental music group formed specifically to play this work. ORGANVM PERCEPTVS asks the question: how do we hear, and how can machines help us hear differently? The Happy Valley Band is the Great American Songbook heard through the ear of a machine. The project is a deconstruction of popular music through the use of state-of-the-art machine listening technologies. It's about machine learning, listening, pop music, and copyright. Custom-built computer software written by bandleader and composer David Kant "unmixes" recordings and transcribes them into musical notation. The Happy Valley Band is an experimental music ensemble formed specifically to play this music. https://www.indexical.org/releases/happy-valley-band-organvm-perceptvs

This is how a computer hears and then notates Madonna's "Like a Prayer". I'm liking it - better than the original in a WTF freejazz sort of way. Sounds like some of my own offerings 😁

We booked 'em once without Shane (about £10k cheaper!) and they were excellent, possibly better than with The Drunken One - loads of hilarious (and worrying) stories about The Troubles.

I saw 'em twice in the 80s, once on the October tour, where they were pretty good, then in 85 or 86, when Bono acted like the Messiah himself ("every time I clap my hands, another child dies" "Then stop $£*&in' clappin'!" etc), which was rather irritating. We all knew he was just a very naughty boy!

Here's a whole song from our last gig at Going Feral Festival...

There's a scale of fees depending on where the music is... Frinstance we get charged more because our office area is on a mezzanine - as we can hear music in the "employee area" as well as the "public area" they want more. And as I said, PRS had absolutely no interest in having a copy of our playlist - I offered but they flatly refused! I'd also thought about joining PRS - they want £100 flat fee, plus a further £100 for MCPS membership for recorded music playback. However, their rules for distribution are so complicated that I have to idea how much we'd make, or how long it would take to pay back the initial fee. And what if we do a cover?

That's my understanding too... I spoke to PRS about this a few years ago when we started playing music in our shop. I asked if I should submit our playlist to ensure that the right artists got the money, but they said it didn't work like that - basically the artists received money as a percentage of how much they'd previously made. So if I played, say Sugar Minott or the Monochrome Set, then Paul McCartney or Ed Sheeran would get the majority. Which I feel is a bit appalling!

It's actually a new cultivar, Echeveria agothavoides that is always black and only comes out after dark...

They're not! But the Weeds drummer was their manager, and we all fancied a country gig, though I lived there so easy for me...

Chapel Lawn!

New venue for us in Brecon, 5th October. Not sure who's headlining!

I had the error of my ways explained to me when visiting Bass Direct once; despite having played 4 strings for 30 years I was assured that wasn't good enough and that I had to have a fiver. But being a contrary sort I did just the opposite and stuck with my four. If I need to go down a tone or two I can just programme a patch into my Helix - that's the only new trick this old dog learned!

Here's me playing with the Bang Bangs before they even had a bass player! This was at a tiny village hall in south Shropshire...

You should have mentioned it - our shop is about 400m away!

We're nearly as out in the sticks as you, and our solution is to drive to BrightLightsBigCity... Round here a dream night out is Lady DJ playing hits of the 60s70s80s90s at the Horse and Jockey, with a medley of Wurzels and Quo songs, a punch up between farmers from Knucklas and Rhos y Meirch followed by a lovely big vomit outside Costcutter.

In my occasional series of updated covers, here's my take on Rihanna's "Umbrella" reworked for a Noisecore audience.

New Trouble Funk single!

We once played a gig to a cardboard cutout of Marc Bolan... The sound man had gone into the bar next door, which is where the barpeeps were. To be fair, the other band came in about 1/2 way through which added 4. But that's what happens on a rainy winter night in Abertillary!