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Newsletter
No. 8
Frimaire CCXI
A fecund yet secular mid-winter missive
from British Sea Power
• Flirting with The FANYs
• Friendship with the French
• Recording with Will Sergeant
Winter
is creation. Spring is release. That is
what they say and who are British Sea
Power to argue? So, fret not, even when
the wind cuts right through and the last
blackthorn fruit has been stripped from
the branch. While the frost takes hold,
British Sea Power have been laying down
fat and hidings acorns in the ancient,
furrowed bark.
The
band’s debut album is now all but
complete. The Decline Of British Sea Power
is all but ready to head out into the
world. But, for the moment, let us take
you over recent events.
November
saw BSP’s first concert in France.
This engagement was as part of the
attractive Les Inrockuptibles
magazine’s Les Inrocks Festival
&endash; an event featuring Ms Dynamite,
David Lynch, The Streets and the Coral,
among others. British Sea Power played at
Paris’s Divan Du Monde alongside
fellow Rough Trade glee-boys The
Libertines, Baxter Dury and Jacob Golden.
The night went well, with the Gauls liking
BSP so much that they seemed inspired to
strike up a whole new rock entente
cordiale. “Tranchante et
passionnante, brouillonne aussi!”
declared the Les Inrockuptibles review.
The
French excursion was immediately followed
by willing congress with Damien Hirst and
Keith Allen. On 9 November, this
duo’s stage play, Glastonbury, was
staged in Brighton. Over the course of the
play’s run, a range of bands
including New Order, Electric Soft Parade,
UB40 and Ocean Colour Scene had been
chosen to play the part of a band
performing at the festival. Thus, BSP
began this particular evening’s
performance with their typical
to-the-moooooon! concert closer, Rock In
A. Plastic crows were booted into the
audience, while the band ritually
assaulted each other with an equally
plastic grey heron. Little surprise then
that the play’s cast &endash;
including Allen and the lovely Bronwyn
Davies and Kate Ford &endash; presented
the band with a standing ovation.
“That was great!” exclaimed
seasoned pro-rogue Allen. “Easily the
best band we’ve had on.”
November
also saw leading rock primalist
publication Kerrang! celebrating the power
and glory of BSP. There was a full-marks,
KKKKK review of BSP’s October show as
London’s 93 Ft East. In fact, BSP
were the only band awarded the prestigious
max-K rating that week. Oh yes, stick up
your kohl-splattered pig-techno
lederhosen, Herr Alec Empire. The review
was followed by BSP playing at the opening
night of Kerrang!’s London K-Fest
event. Pleasingly, the heroic former Judas
Priest frontman was spotted in the
audience, watching intently for the
entirety of the BSP set. Might there now
be the possibility of BSP joining Bob to
recast such Priest classics as Hell Bent
For Leather and Wild Nights, Hot And Crazy
Days?
At
the end of November, BSP headed to Bryn
Derwen studios, near Bethesda in North
Wales. With ravens flying overhead and
surrounded by the gloriously oppressive
bulk of the Penrhyn slate quarry, the band
recorded three tracks. One was a new
version of A Lovely Day Tomorrow, produced
by the redoubtable Echo & The Bunnymen
guitarist Will Sergeant. There is still a
little work to be done on the remaining
two tracks, so full details cannot yet be
revealed about the top-secret production
duo at the helm. For now, this illustrious
pair can only be known as Force 10 From
Commander’s Cottage.
The
band returned from the studio to find a
fond hosanna from former Newsnight
presenter Jeremy Vine. As Mr Vine prepared
to take up his new role as fulcrum daytime
DJ on Radio 2, MOJO magazine asked him to
select his all-time favourite ten tracks.
Naturally enough, he saw fit to include
BSP’s Remember Me.
As
we draw to a the end of year and look
forward to receiving numerous book tokens
over the Baby Jesu period, we would like
to recommend one book that has been
engaging BSP of late. It is Between Silk
And Cyanide by Leo Marks, first published
in 1998. With an audacious mix of passion,
mental brilliance and super-sly camp, this
autobiography delves into the
author’s work as a cryptographer in
World War II. Between writing such
glorious code-poems as The Life That I
Have and saving many brave young lives,
our hero expends his remaining energy
flirting with the FANYs (First Aid Nursing
Yeomanry, of course) and confusing his
lumbering superiors. “Incunabula and
intercourse,” he ventures when asked
about his hobbies at his interview for the
secret service (look it up &endash; we
sure had to).
So,
let us bid you a happy mid-winter and let
us all look forward with hope. This band
are soon to release an album that will
celebrate music in all its complexity and
simplicity, ease and difficulty. As the
journalist Matthew Sweet recently wrote in
British daily newspaper The Independent,
“Balls of fire, crested grebes and
Kellogg’s Frosties are great. Britain
is more complicated than that.” This
is the way that we feel about popular
music. And, despite the terrible,
reductive, retarded by-ways that rock
music has been led into of late, such
thoughts can still resonate in this world.
Never
forget that a little thing can make a
difference. After all, the launch of
Viagra is now thought to have brought a
reduction in the illegal hunting of
endangered species. That’s right, my
friend, the scientific community has
detected a decline in the trade of such
traditional aphrodisiacs as the penises of
harp seals and the nice velvet covering of
reindeer antlers. Suffice to say, the BSP
album will not come clad in velvet.
Hail
to all. Get pissed, destroy. Then, come
2003, get ready to build.
Yours,
‘Old
Sarge’
Newsletter
No. 7
Brumaire CCXI
• Chocoate bars
• Potatoes through the air
• Joint BSP-Interpol rail
initiative
• British Sea Power single in the
shops
Across
the land, gales have blown. And, for
British Sea Power too, the windsock is
full. This week sees the release of the
band’s latest single, Childhood
Memories. There is also the band’s
first concert in France. Meanwhile, the
world looks on with surprise and
admiration at the arrival of the British
Sea Power chocolate bar. Available in both
vanilla and milk chocolate. But, if we
backtrack slightly, the omens were not
necessarily so kind.
As
British Sea Power made ready to set out on
their October tour, disturbing news
arrived from Germany. In Munich,
zoo-keepers had been suspended for killing
the zoo’s Tibetan mountain chickens
and barbequeing them at Children’s
Corner. Bad zoo-keepers. But, despite such
disquieting portents, the tour started
well.
The
first night found British Sea Power
playing a one-off show in Liverpool with
hygienic and well-pressed New Yorkers
Interpol. Marvellous, thought the people.
Two Joy Divisions for seven pounds only.
Most reasonable. The night went well. In
an encouraging outbreak of lucidity, an
NME review of the concert would remark on
the “inescapable beauty of British
Sea Power’s music”.
The
next day, some members of the BSP tour
party found themselves travelling south on
one of Dickie B’s new Virgin Voyager
trains. The particular locomotive pulling
BSP’s train was named Leif Erickson,
after the Viking explorer who is said to
have crossed the Atlantic to North
America. Here, lovers of astonishing rock
coincidence will shout ‘Ha!’
After all, Interpol have a song called
Leif Erickson. Not only that, but the
Voyager line also features an engine
called Charles Lindbergh, named after
Erickson’s fellow trans-Atlantic
pioneer. Lindbergh is, of course, also the
subject of BSP’s own Spirit Of St
Louis. Ai carmaba! Even now, the two bands
are planning to take command of these
locomotives and stage a titanic rock-rail
race to the end of time itself.
After
this sign from above, the tour was bound
to procede victoriously. It concluded with
two paticularly memorable shows. The
London night sold out with ease and saw
the public emergence of the BSP chocolate
range. Created in conjunction with Lindt
of Switzerland, the initial, extremely
limited BSP chocolate bar sold out
instantly. Mmm. Lucky purchasers have not
only secured a delicious treat, but also a
confectionary-based keepsake that is sure
to mature into a priceless rock artefact.
The show itself was remarkable. For an
almost eerily insightful review, please
see the following URL:
http://www.thestereoeffect.com/onstage/display_live.php?LiveId=93
The
next day, e-mails poured in, offering
congratulation and enquiry. Perhaps the
most pleasing came from one Mark Spry.
Wondering about the sound effects and
recordings that the band play as part of
the show, he asked. “Who sang Oft In
The Stilly Night on the sample? Of old
tenors that I recall, it sounded most like
Gervase Elwes or Walter Widdop?” This
is the stuff. One can only hazard a guess
as to whether, say, The Vines are subject
to this quality of inquisition from their
audience. In fact, the voice in question
was the poet C Day Lewis, recorded in
1941. Nonethless, Mr Spry has thrown up
interesting possibilities. The renowned
Edwardian tenor Gervase Elwes was born in
Hove and is now best known for his
promotion of Roger Quilter, author of
Songs Of The Sea, among other works.
Walter Widdop is BSP to the core. Please
see the costume ideas at the followig
URL:
www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Widdop-Walter.htm
The
tour concluded in Bristol. It was an
especial evening, albeit marked by a mass
Wild West-style brawl in the audience
during Lately. Apologies to the unlucky
audience member who the band managed to
accidentally bombard with first a baked
potato and then a plastic owl.
And,
so, now to Paris, where BSP will be
playing alongside The Libertines, Baxter
Dury and Jacob Golden, on 7 November. We
hope the French enjoy their potatoes both
baken and upon their heads.
Newsflash!
BSP will be playing live on Zoe
Ball’s show on XFM on Weds 6
November.
Foodflash! Initial stocks of BSP chocolate
have been exhausted. An all-new edition
will soon be available, both via the
website and in the concert hall.
PS.
Remember, purchasing Childhood Memories
will not be seen as a regrettable act.
Rather, it is a rare opportunity to
convert base metal coinage into pure
golden glory. Our true intent is all for
your delight.
Newsletter No. 6
Vendemiaire CCXI
• UK tour
• New single
• All comers’ prize competition
• Exciting addition to BSP stage formation
Like
the ptarmigan, they are ready for
everything.
Ho,
grapple fans, and welcome to the glorious
autumnal goosefair. Remember, birch logs
are good for immediate use. But, when
making sloe gin, don’t pick the fruit
until after the first frost.
British
Sea Power have recently supported The
Fall, recruited a new member and completed
their next single, ready for November
release. But, first, a slightly belated
report on the end of the festival season.
After open-air shows from Germany to
Glastonbury, the band’s final two
festival dates were at the Reading and
Leeds Carling Festivals. The first passed
well enough. But the Leeds show was
remarkable. At Leeds, the band also formed
an allegiance with multitudinous Texan
alt-choristers The Polyphonic Spree. This
alliance culminated in some bold
in-concert participation from BSP guitar
man Noble.
Imaginatively,
Noble decided the best way to pay tribute
to the Spree was to dress as a tree. With
chestnut branches gaffa-taped to chest,
arms and neck, the guitarist spent the
first half of the Polyphonic Spree’s
Leeds set swaying charismatically in the
stage pit. Then, emboldened by audience
encouragement, he began to climb, climb,
climb, to climb ever higher. First he
could be viewed moving steadily up the
lighting truss. Soon he could be seen
dangling from the top of the stage canopy,
his tree arms waving benevolently toward
the audience. How the crowd cheered. It
nearly ended in disaster, with the
guitarist being led away by bouncers and
only being saved from ejection by his
pitiful cry: “But, I’m in a
band.” Even then, the crowd’s
salute could be heard echoing into the
night: “Come back Trepan… We
want Treeman!”
British
Sea Power’s third single for Rough
Trade Records will be released in November
on CD and seven-inch vinyl. The A-side is
called Childhood Memories, the other two
tracks being Favours In The Beetroot
Fields and Strange Communication. These
recordings range in mood from concise
cave-rock incision to left-field pop
straight from the Captain’s table.
One of them sounds a bit like Felt. The
songs’ subject matter is, of course,
equally diverse. It takes in an ill wind
from the Ukraine, eldritch semaphore
signals and an oblique nod to Viscount
Montgomery Of Alamein. This is where the
competition comes in. Field-Marshall
Montgomery, with his insistence on wearing
as many cap badges as possible and his
determination to act with humanity in
inhumane circumstances, of course, bears
direct comparison with British Sea
Power’s determination to act with
decency even in the realm of modern
alternative rock.
The
competition question is: which of the new
BSP song titles alludes to Montgomery and
why? The best answer will win a one-off
haute couture version of the band’s
bespoke woolen touring jacket. Three
runners-up will win unique, customised
copies of the Childhood Memories single.
Answers, marked Childhood Comp, to:
bspnews@hotmail.com
Through
the month of October, British Sea Power
will be touring the land. Naturally, these
will be memorable nights, as the band
maintain their mission to turn Sheffield
Barfly and Southampton Joiners into
strange grottos full of unearthly wonder.
Music and myth really can be machines to
suspend time. Fate willing, on the these
nights you will know so. To further ensure
such transportation, British Sea Power
have recently recruited a fifth,
auxiliary, member. He is called Eamon.
This man hails from Brighton and Canada
and makes his own music, occasionally with
Sigur Ros. Already, at support slots with
The Fall and good old Gene, he has
inspirationally augmented the BSP live
gang-show. Such has been Eamon’s
contribution that one seasoned observer
immediately supplied him with his now
official stage name: The Official Fleet
Reserve. Come see BSP, come see TOFR. It
will remind you of exactly what rock music
can be. As rollingstone.com recently
observed of British Sea Power’s
performance at the Reading Carling
Festival:
“Fuck
this puerile drivel, we're going to see
British Sea Power, who are everything that
Weezer are not. British Sea Power are mad
as fuck on every level. All of them have
the crazy Kristin Hersh acid-fried stare,
the bass player is wearing tree branches
on his head, and one deliriously
psychodelic tune concludes with singer Yan
beating on the drum kit with a large
stuffed owl. British Sea Power
rule.”
The
tour dates are as follows:
14 October Liverpool University, as special guests of Interpol (0151 256 555)
15 October Oxford Zodiac (01865 420 042)
20 October Colchester Arts Centre (01865 420 042)
21 October Cardiff Barfly (01206 500 900)
22 October Manchester Night&Day (0161 832 1111)
23 October Glasgow King Tuts (0141 221 5279)
25 October Leicester International Arts Centre (0116 255 4864)
26 October Brighton Pavilion ( 01273 709709)
28 October Southampton Joiners (023 8022 5012)
29 October London 93ft East (020 7344 0044)
30 October Bristol Louisiana (0117 929 9008)
31 October Sheffield Barfly (0114 220 3618)
On
these dates, British Sea Power will be
supported, variously, by Cat On Form,
Florida, The Martini Henry Rifles, The
Obsession, The Tenderfoot and Scout
Niblet. You may not have yet heard of
these groups. You will soon hear much more
from all of them. See BSP website for full
support details.
So,
goodbye for now. And, do not worry. We are
passing through times when the mediocre
and malfeasant are widely celebrated. This
situation cannot last. Remember, the
superb sculptor Jacob Epstein was once
attacked and harangued by the National
Vigilance Society. His stunning sculpture
Jacob And The Angel spent 1942 as a
sideshow at a Blackpool Funfair. British
Sea Power now sit in the wings with
similar latent power. Like the ptarmigan
and stoat, with feather and fur turning
white for winter, BSP are ready for the
coming season. They are equipped for all
conditions. They are ready to send the
charlatans into eclipse. They are ready to
turn this world on its head.
Newsletter
No. 5
Fructidor CCX
•
Live reports from the Fatherland
• Gamely rubbing along with The
Libertines
• The benefits of a complimentary
massage
With their debut album all but
completed, a reconnaisance mission to
Germany just completed and a variety of
British tours being finalised, work and
pleasure continue to pile up. But, don't
be afraid, British Sea Power can take
it.
In
mid August, the band played their first
concerts in Germany. The first show was at
Cologne Stadgarten, alongside The
Libertines and Ikara Colt. While perhaps
not equalling the impact of the original
Big Three - when Stalin, Roosevelt and
dear old Winnie memorably rounded on bad
Adolf in 1944 - the tripartite Stadgarten
show was a fine one. British Sea Power
took the stage first, happy in the
knowledge that they were playing to a
star-studded audience, one that that
included Interpol, various former members
of The Verve, world goalkeeping number one
Oliver Kahn and Inger and Ties from
Duisburg progressive industrial rock group
Kapitan Slut. British Sea Power played
with grace and determination, concluding
with waves of feedback and singer Yan
repeating the enigmatic mantra, "Why don't
you save a sausage for me, yeah?" But,
then, all the British contingent disported
themselves with style. The remarkably
affable Ikara Colt played with impressive
brute vigour. Bassist Jon boldly wore an
Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster T-shirt,
telling us unequivocally that IC are fully
paid-up members of the Official Brighton
& Hove 2002 Contemporary Music Scene.
The Libertines beamed proudly through a
boozy fug, gradually enraputuring the
crowd with such impressive new songs as
Well, Hello There! and I'd Rather Have A
Guinea Than A One Pound Note.
British
Sea Power's second German show found them
100km to the north, near to the Dutch
border. The Bizarre Festival was sited at
an ex-military airfield, the former RAF
Laarbruch. Where once this area had
resounded to jets such as the Buccaneer,
that most piratical of ground-attack
aircraft, today it would echo with the
combined sonic boom of The Chemical
Brothers, Nickelback, Badly Drawn Boy,
some 50,000 beauteous young Teutons and,
of course, British Sea Power. No doubt
helped by the remarkable backstage
facilities - personal caravans, masseurs,
laundry services and unlimited seltzer
waters - BSP's performance was
inspirational. It concluded with
beautifully cauterising amp sounds and a
truly unhinged melee, in which bassist
Hamilton managed to break his hand. The
show was filmed for German television and,
if you should see the footage, you will
agree that it could have been a lot
worse.
Now
back in Blighty, BSP are putting the
finishing touches to their album. Release
is now set for January, to be be preceeded
by a single in late October and another
single in January. Fear not, it will be
worth the wait. Working titles for the
album now include If Not Now, When?,
Here's To The Bielski Brothers and Gortex,
Drugs And Rock'n'roll. In coming months,
the band will also be touring widely.
There will be a full British tour in
October and some other remarkable
engagements, to be confirmed as we go to
the electro ether with this newsletter.
And, of course, this weekend will see the
band play at Reading Carling Festival on
Friday (23 August at 5.25pm) and Reading
Carling Festival (24 August at 5.15pm).
Will we see you there, will we smell you
there? We can only hope so.
With kind regards.
Yours,
Old
Sarge
Newsletter
No. 4
Mesidor 2002
Pulp,
pine trees, ornithological delight and a
trip to Germany with pop's foremost boy
contortionists.
Having
just returned from Cornwall and the show
on 5 July at the Eden Project, British Sea
Power have now completed their quartet of
glorious outdoor shows with Pulp. These
happiest of days are now at an end, but
they did not pass without incident. There
were rainbows and strange birds in the
sky. There was nocturnal citizen's arrest
in the depths of the Norfolk woodland.
Perhaps most of all, there was the rare
pleasure of touring with a band whose
manifest decency was there even amid the
traditionally brutish ranks of the
roadcrew. The humblest footlights
operative could be seen sharing a glass or
red wine with Jarvis Cocker and, no doubt,
discussing the best place to get
reproduction William Morris wallpaper for
one's backwoodsman's outhouse.
British
Sea Power's first show with Pulp was at
Roseisle Forest to the west of Inverness
in the Scottish Highlands. BSP arrived the
night before the show and set up camp by
the sea. As the Summer Solstice approached
and this long day gradually drew to a
close, bottle-nosed dolphins swam amid the
waves. Meanwhile, other species - the
sound engineer and stage technician -
colonised a rocky outcrop which they
quickly named Spliff Island. What pleasure
these honest, simple creatures seemed to
draw as they supped their prescribed daily
pint of beer and fashioned their rough
tobacco substitutes into primitive
cigarillos.
The
next day, BSP guitarist Noble failed to
locate any Crested Tits in the forest -
the birds scared off, one might imagine,
by his own intemperate squealings at
soundcheck - but the show went
well.
Arriving
the following day at Dalby Forest, North
Yorkshire, BSP were alarmed to find
regulatory concert notices banning both
fires and gazebos. As the band unloaded
their drum stools, Jarvis was enjoying a
quick nap on the grass, evidently at one
with nature. As British Sea Power took the
stage, they looked out to see a double
rainbow across the field. Given such
ambitious lighting effects, it wasn't that
surprising to see BSP follow with an
exemplary show. But even this performance
was eclipsed by Pulp. Though safely
sequestered from their Britpop-era
commercial peak, this show gave
unambiguous proof of a remarkable band at
the peak of their powers. As they moved
toward the conclusion of Underwear, Jarvis
offered advice at once sensual and
sensible: "I hope it's
thermal…"
The
final show in Pulp's Forestry Commission
tour was at Thetford Forest in Norfolk.
Even before the show, portions of the
British Sea Power collective had enjoyed
the rarest of moments. Noble, together
with Old Sarge, the band's ancient
technical assistant and rock psychologist,
had walked out into the woodland dusk and
secured an amazing vision. With its
deranged mechanical 'churring' call and
strange moth-like presence, the Nightjar
is an unreal sight, a bird even as full of
wonder as Pulp's sylvan odyssey. After
this had been followed by BSP's set and
another majestic performance from Pulp,
extraordinary celebration was in
order.
Heading
out once more into the woods, BSP located
an ambitious forest adventure feature
consisting of steel hawsers forming a
dramatic aerial walkway some 40 metres up
in the forest canopy. Though this fun-spot
was clearly closed from the night, Noble
some how managed to climb his way up. As
admiring cries of "Monkey! Monkey!" rang
through the night, another exhortation
sharply sounded out: "Stop! Don't take one
more step! If you fall from there, you
won't be going to hospital. You will be
dead." The next day this forest ranger
would reappear to give further
admonishment, but also to express
amazement at the guitarist's primal
climbing skill. Indeed, praise is due.
While other musicians are merely exposed
to such familiar agents of rock mortality
as narcotics and light aircraft, only
British Sea Power dare risk death by Scots
Pine.
The
Eden Project brought BSP both the
knowledge that the Manilla Hemp plant can
be used to make tea bags and that Jarvis
was to be married a week later - something
he announced onstage and then artfully
worked into a version of the age-old Pulp
song I Want You.
Will
such days ever come again? Who can say,
but British Sea Power continue to strive.
In mid July, they enter the studio, aiming
to complete their debut album. In August,
they head to Germany to play some shows.
The first of these will see them
performing alongside Ikara Colt and The
Libertines. Followers of rock form will
perhaps be familiar with these groups.
Ikara Colt are a most potent force and
clearly the best band ever to share a name
with an Australian anti-submarine missile
system. The Libertines, meanwhile, are
among the most industrious bumarees
currently working London's tidal reaches,
and easily the best band ever named after
a Gene album. In October the three bands
are scheduled to re-group for a further
set of German concert dates. This tour
will henceforth be known as Operation
Vittles, a title, of course, originally
used as official codeword for the British
arm of the Berlin Airlift.
Best
wishes and bye for now.
Yours,
'The
Bad Boy'
Newsletter
No. 3
Messidor 2002
Welcome all to the latest news from
British Sea Power
The days are reaching maximum duration,
Nightjars are churring boldly on
Lullington Heath and Lidl supermarkets are
currently offering four large white
sandwich loafs for £1 only. It is
time for British Sea Power to set out on a
series of open-air concerts. But first,
something of more clear and present
danger...
British Sea Power Friday-night artkunst at
London's ICA
On Friday 14th June, British Sea Power
will play at the ICA alongside
Electrelane. In a desirable, one-off
event, both bands will be presenting live
on-stage soundtracks to their own choice
of film material. BSP will be playing to
Ron Fricke's stunning 1992 ecological
parable, Baraka. With shimmering images of
monkeys, monks and other natural wonder,
this remarkable cinematic work relies on
moving picture-postcard beauty and
stunning time-lapse photography as the
incredible camera work swoops across the
world in a parade of astonishing imagery.
Electrelane will be playing to a 30-minute
selection of their own gorgeous film
material. Completing the night, the heroic
DJ ensemble includes the well-dressed John
Moore of Black Box Recorder, Earl Brutus,
Club Sea Power's much-loved Old Sarge and
Ian Harrison of SAS Dirtyman, Japan's
leading Earl Brutus tribute band.
Friday 14th June
British Sea Power and Electrelane
Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA)
The Mall, London SW1
8pm-1am
Admission: £8/ £7 concessions /
£6 ICA members
Tickets available in advance from ICA box
office: 0207 930 3647
Come and have a look, remembering that the
less you gamble, the more you lose when
you win. After the ICA, British Sea Power
will head, unafraid, out into the wilds
for the following dates with Pulp:
Friday 21st June: Roseisle Forest, Near
Elgin, Scotland.
Saturday 22nd June: Dalby Forest, Near
Pickering, North Yorkshire.
Sunday 23rd June: Thetford Forest, Near
Brandon, Suffolk.
These support slots with the imperious
Pulp have just been confirmed and, with
every chance of sighting both Poplar Hawk
Moth and Capercailie, the band are
understandably excited. These majestic
engagements will be followed by an
appearance at Glastonbury Festival.
British Sea Power will appear in the New
Bands tent on Friday 28th June. This will
be followed the next day by the British
Sea Power sports day. The first ever
International Rock, Dance And Pop
Greco-Roman Physical Culture Day will take
place at Glastonbury Festival on Saturday
29th June. Designed to find the fastest
man and woman in contemporary popular
music, the event will also include the
popular Under-12s yard-of-ale race. Staged
in aid of Amnesty International and The
Stricken Mariners' Relief Fund, this pop
sports day will include conventional speed
trials over 150 metres and there will also
be the 12-inch disco discus competition,
for which Norman Cook is already
ear-marked as a strong contender. The
organisers have already invited
participation from Coldplay's Chris
Martin, Misteeq, Gold Blade, Isaac Hayes,
Cornershop and Belle & Sebastian's
noted middle-distance runner Stuart
Murdoch. All competitors will be asked to
pay an entrance fee of five pounds, with
all funds to be divided evenly between the
chosen charities. Logistics dictate that
the event will also have to take place in
the artists' camping area, but a full and
frank report will run in the Glastonbury
on-site daily newspaper and on the British
Sea Power website.
The Glastonbury weekend will be followed
by another show with Pulp, this time at
The Eden Project in Cornwall on 5th July.
Premier German-based electricist Gonzales
will also be performing.
Finally, good news for The Official
Brighton & Hove 2002 Contemporary
Music Scene, the bold rock initiative
founded to ensure that all East Sussex
music makers are all working towards a
common agenda and pursuing utterly
identical artistic goals. Lewes resident
Arthur Brown, renowned Number One hitmaker
with 1968's Fire, Brighton-based Gene
frontman Martin Rossiter and Brighton
noiseniks Coin-Op have all insisted that
they be included The Official Brighton
& Hove 2002 Contemporary Music Scene.
It is a happy time for Martin. All at The
Official Brighton & Hove 2002
Contemporary Music Scene HQ were heartened
to see Mr Rossiter recently featured on
Channel's excellent domestic-makeover
programme, Other People's Houses. Moving
from a Brighton flat to a an Edwardian
terrace in Hove, Martin's TV re-jig went
well. All television viewers will have
been pleased to see Martin tinkering on
his piano and then to see his spirits
visibly lift with the arrival of his new
floorboards.
For further information on the Pulp forest
tour and the Eden Project, please go to
the following links:
www.pulponline.com
www.edenproject.com
Newsletter
No. 2
Floreal
2002
Welcome
all to the second BSP
newsletter
Come
in, and put the soup on the stove. If we
may, we would like to bring you the latest
incident and eventuality from the nation's
most Cumbrian rock band.
The
date 29 April has seen notable event in
the past. In 1967, it was the date of
which Aretha Franklin released Respect. In
1813, it was the date on which rubber was
first patented. And now 29 April sees the
release of British Sea Power's new double
A-side single, The Spirit Of St Louis/The
Lonely.
The
subject of the record's opening track is,
naturally enough, The Spirit Of St Louis,
the monoplane is which Charles Lindbergh
flew the first solo crossing of the
Atlantic Ocean. All well and good, but now
we learn something that can't help but
give us pause for thought. A quick search
of an internet chronology has revealed
that construction of the plane was also
completed on the date of 29 April, in
1927. While not wishing to claim psychic
or precognitive ability, isn't it a little
strange that, because of accident and the
vagaries or record production, British Sea
Power's new record should also come out on
the same date? Perhaps the fates are with
us. Whatever, in all honesty, we can say
that, prior to this moment, we were
completely unaware of this happy
coincidence.
This
news also means that this year is the 75th
anniversary of Lindbergh's flight.
Bringing further kindly portent, it seems
that Lindbergh's grandson, Erik Lindbergh
is re-creating his grandfather's historic
flight, albeit in a modern aircraft. He
will be carrying with him a Swiss Army
knife once owned by his grandfather. This
is the stuff. There will also be a replica
of the original Spirit Of St Louis landing
at Paris's Le Bourget airport on 20 May.
Naturally, British Sea Power will be there
to meet it.
On
a more earthbound note, British Sea Power
have just completed a tour of England,
Scotland and Wales with Six By Seven. The
tour was a happy one. Highlights included
the night Yan, Hamilton and Noble slept
outdoors under the pines in the Peak
District's Snake Pass Wood. The concert in
Cambridge was attended by one Kevin Hands,
a man who organises natural-history tours
of Europe, including trips to the
Bialowieza forest, the oldest primeval
woodland in Europe. We are currently
working with Mr Hands in an attempt to
organise a European tour that will combine
dates in Central European cities with
excursions to various sites of natural
amazement.
We
are also glad to see that, with Pulp's
tour of forests, the coincidence of rock
and woodland is ever increasing. We are
also happy to see that Jarvis Cocker has
cited British Sea Power as one of current
favourite acts. The venerable Cocker joins
a list of noted BSP admirers that now
includes Newsnight presenter Jeremy Vine,
Julian Cope and Jon Savage, the exalted
author of England's Dreaming. Mr Savage
attended BSP's Capital Sea Power night at
The Spitz in London on Thursday 4 April.
He bought a T-shirt and a compact
disc.
Thanks
for all those who came to Capital Sea
Power. There were no injuries. Not to
Noble after his perilous dangling from the
balcony, and not even to compere Percy
Hobart during his lengthy and somewhat
over-enthusiastic spot. Well done,
Hobo.
British
Sea Power enthusiasts may be interested to
know that the radio edit of The Lonely
appears on a cover-mounted CD with Q
magazine. The relevant issue has Oasis on
the cover and goes on sale on 22
April.
Finally,
we must announce that Club Sea Power will
grace Brighton's Freebutt for the last
time on Friday 17 May. We are going out on
a high point, with special guests The
Copper Family. Purveyors of the English
Southern Harmony singing style, the
Coppers have lived in nearby Rottingdean
for 200 years. Their inspiring
unaccompanied singing has been heard in
the Royal Albert Hall and the US Library
Of Congress. We are honoured indeed to
have them at Club Sea Power. They will be
led by Bob Copper, now 87 years of age.
The penultimate Club Sea Power is held on
Friday 26th April at the Freebutt,
Brighton. Guests include Brightons all
girl gang The Fairy Traders and one man
band Beetroot Pete all the way from
Newport, Wales. DJ Young Nathan will be
playing us his favourite 30's big band
records.
For
detailed info and news
on-the-hour-every-hour, visit Joe Seal's
unofficial BSP website.
There
is also a competition on Joe Seals
website. The prize is an ultra rare promo
video of The Spirit of St. Louis which
unfortunately wont be shown anywhere due
to strobe light hazards.
Newsletter
No. 1
Floreal
2002
Good day and welcome to the first British
Sea Power event update, for transmission
via the versatile electro-ether.
To mark the recent dissolution of the much
loved shipping-forecast sea area
Finisterre, British Sea Power will be
travelling to the end of the Earth. . . to
Stoke Sugarmill, where, on Wednesday 27
February, British Sea Power will continue
their tour with the heroic Kraut-dub
surgeons of Clinic. The dates are as
follows:
Wednesday 27 February, Stoke,
Sugarmill
Thursday 28 February, Edinburgh, La Belle
Angel
Friday 1 March, Nottingham, Boat Club
Saturday 2 March, Liverpool, Stanley
Theatre
Monday 4 March, Cardiff, Ifor Bach
Tuesday 5 March, Exeter, Cavern
Wednesday 6 March, Northampton,
Roadmender
Thursday 7 March, Oxford, Zodiac
After this, BSP will travel to Dublin for
a concert at the POD on 9th March
alongside Gemma Hayes. This will be filmed
for later televisual broadcast called No
Disco on Ireland's RTE network. Then, BSP
will travel to Amsterdam to play the
two-day London Calling Festival at the
Paradiso on Saturday 16 March. Artists
appearing include Rough Trade man Jacob
Golden, the Isle of Wight's The Bees and
the Electric Soft Parade, fellow members
of the Official 2002 Brighton & Hove
Contemporary Music Scene.
April will see the release of BSP's second
single for Rough Trade. This will be a
double A-side consisting of The Spirit of
St Louis and a remarkable new song, The
Lonely. Both were recorded at Willesden's
2KHZ Studios with the indefatigable
Norwegian Mads Bjerke.
Press wise, the eager mind may care to
look out for an introductory feature on
British Sea Power in Uncut magazine in
April. Barring disaster, the BSP recording
A Wooden Horse will appear on the
magazine's free cover-mounted CD.
Regarding the Uncut article itself, in the
spirit of Swallows & Amazons and the,
Special Operations Executive, the Uncut
writer was directed to the interview
location by train timetable, secret letter
drop and a 5'x3' notice posted in the
window of Cherry's News. Nonetheless, our
man made it, and nearly on time. He
eventually appeared, rosy cheeked and full
with the joy of confusion, to be served a
nice cup of tea and bun by the homely
refugees at Emmaus.
(www.emmaus.org.uk).
What else? What else? Club Sea Power will
return on Saturday 30 March at The
Freebutt, Brighton. The evening will
feature a local marching band playing
tunes ancient and modern, plus a unique
presentation from glam-munitions ladies,
The Patrick Mooreheads.
Club Sea Power will be followed by the
launch night of Capital Sea Power at
London venue The Spitz on Thursday 4
April. Presented in association with
Strange Fruit, the line-up will include
British Sea Power, Chimp, prestige compere
BBC Brian, plus the astonishing
audio-visual presentation Songs And
Stories With Earl Brutus.
For detailed info and news
on-the-hour-every-hour, visit Joe Seal's
unofficial BSP website at
www.bsp.eg.st
Or see the band's own prehistoric site at
www.britishseapower.co.uk
A major website re-fit is currently being
undertaken. Then, the band will reveal
their ultimate theme: that even when the
sled dogs have been eaten and socks and
underslips turned to stew, there is still
room for the banjo. It will, fate willing,
offer medicine for the mind.
Yours,
Messenger
#32
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