Tim BENCH

Aw man that was truly one of the greatest gigs I've seen in Aberdeen! Up there with Explosions at Drummonds. The turn out was fantastic for this too and full of "listeners". Kudos to Ross and Stephen for a fantastic show and great hospitality. Still trying to get over that embrace with Yogi. Mmmmm

Shot on 2 different Cameras. My JVC GZ HD-7 (3CCD HD but not the best camera) and a SONY something or other 3CCD HD camera we borrowed it from a friend. Both Cameras had DOF adapters. We used old Russian M42 mount 35mm SLR lenses on a home made static ground glass DOF with the JVC. And I forget the make of the spinning DOF on the SONY. But we used old 70s Cannon 35mm lenses on that one. We wanted a very vintage feel, hence the 70s lenses. We found that the 5d mkII gives you almost too good an image, and finding two people willing to lend them out would be almost impossible. Capturing from the SONY is straight forward from the DV tapes. But the JVC was a faff with the .TOD file clips stored on the Hard Drive. What is a .TOD? Who knows. It seems to be exclusive to these particular models. We had to use Mpeg stream clip to convert them to something useable. The whole thing was edited on Final Cut Pro with a Magic Bullet looks suite treatment.

This gig is going to be amazing! I saw them support Sigur Ros and they were mint.

Cheeky wee bump

A few friends and I started a film production collective a couple of years ago. We mostly do short films. But I couldn't resist doing a video for CODES IN THE CLOUDS. We finished it ages ago but had to keep a lid on it for magazine and website exclusives. But here it is and its out now. So have a gander at this; Codes In The Clouds Distant Street Lights (iambic Remix) Official Music Video on Vimeo

I've got them in to do a ONE UP instore on sat 12th at 4pm. Pimpin!

I've just confirmed that the band will be doing an instore at ONE UP on SAT 12th, 4pm! These shows will be blinding

It pretty much picks up where AEREOGRAMME left off. But who would have it any other way? It is a grower too so stick with it Huw Gurden! I guess we missed playing amazing gigs like this so we wanted to get back to it. Then this was the first offer we got in two months of radio silence. Its like a higher power calling to..... ok I'll shut up now.

Who said Katerwaul were dead? Mwahahaha I laugh in that person's face. Was it Michael Vennart of Oceansize fame's last attempt to ruin me? Seriously though we took a lot of time out (four months) to see if we still wanted to do it. I guess we really over did it with that last album taking so long then the mixing, then the advertising then the gigs. Then our last gig was so soul destroying we just wanted a break. So since we had no contractual obligation to gig or even practice we did just that.... but then we all went a bit mad and decided that it was time to come back. And now we're all refreshed from the break. We've two new songs in the works, but we're not trying to over work the machine. At the moment this is the only gig we've booked. But we're hoping to have gigs in June onwards.

This gig was amazing. I really felt like I was part of something special. The atmosphere was just how I'd always hoped Kilau would achieve but until now never quite did. Amber was her usual quiet self but because she had the entire audience eating out of the palm of her sweet little hand it was a great set. Her new stuff has matured, lyrically and in structure. I'm looking forward to seeing what she does next. "The Boy Who Trapped The Sun" surprised me. I'm not a huge fan of his soon to be released single, "Home" (I think it's called) but seeing him close with it tonight certainly made me realise how over producing a raw talent like Colin's on a record does him no justice when experiencing it live in front of you. His lyrics at times are twee but at other times so heart wrenchingly organic, honest and well crafted that you excuse any other traits you saw as flaws. He also knows when to impress with his technical abilities and when to hone them in. This not only shows his musical ability but that he knows how to let a song breathe and not over complicate things. When he does show glimmers of guitargod its not there to show off but is as one with the melody. He was accompanied by Stacy, a cello player from the same village he is from on Lewis. She was there to bulk out his sound with simple un-intrusive sweeps of the bow and great vocal harmonies. You can catch them supporting Fionn Regan on sat if you're in Glasgow. If you weren't there tonight... you really missed out.

To be fair in my opinion I did prefer Oceansize to ASIWYFA. But it was just a musical preference. They came across as nice lads on stage unlike my new GP Mike Vennart.

I'd like to see his reaction if every body did as he would do and left.

Ok time to finally put this debate to rest. I replied to Oceansize's message both with sarcasm (it has to be said) and also with my main points being that the room was full of fans that felt let down. And here is what Michael had to say to me; Hello chap I'm not really convinced that a couple of off-hand onstage sarcastic comments -meant with the best of intentions: to raise a smile - warrant the two puerile and incoherent comments left on this site. Comments which frankly boarder on the hysterical. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the show. We play every night to the best of our abilities, and we pretty much consistently enjoy it. However, much of the audience at the Tunnels were simply not interested in hearing us. That's fine - some people are easily distracted. Some people just aren't gonna like us. Personally, i find that if i'm not enjoying a band, i'll leave the room, rather than stand in the middle of the crowd shouting at my mates. That's not to say i don't like hecklers - i embrace them with open arms. I'm a fair believer in the reciprocal nature of live performance: The audience have to try too. Also, I'm sorry you didn't get to hear your (former) favourite songs ON YOUR BIRTHDAY. Here's an interesting article from Crack.com that may help you. Peace and love, Michael James Vennart ---------------------------------------------------- #1. Internet Asperger's Syndrome (a.k.a. The Troll) We can't take credit for this one, blogger and Internet entrepreneur Jason Calacanis coined the term "Internet Asperger's Syndrome" to describe the utter loss of all social rules and empathy that seems to hit some people for no other reason than that they happen to be communicating via keyboard and monitor at the time. We don't need to retell all of the horror stories. A kid commits suicide on webcam while the trolls cheer him on, Anonymous mocks a suicide victim, some kids fire a baby out of a giant slingshot for a YouTube video (we're not sure if that last one actually happened but it's really just a matter of time). Normal kids, good grades, no criminal records... but get them in a chat room and suddenly it reads like the transcript to a Charles Manson parole hearing. In Real Life it's Called... Asperger's Syndrome. This rarely diagnosed but often claimed disorder is a mild form of Autism that comes with what seems to be a biological inability to show empathy for other human beings, as well as (and maybe stemming from) an inability to recognize nonverbal cues. They continually do weird, upsetting things because they don't know it's upsetting you. That part of their brain is broken. People cringe when they hear this term because they know that a large number of the teenagers claiming Asperger's are, in fact, merely dicks. So Why Does it Happen on the Internet? Calacanis figured out that people who do all of their communicating online wind up mimicking Asperger's behaviors because they are imposing the same disadvantages on themselves. In both cases, when the ability to see nonverbal responses and facial expressions goes away, so does empathy. Soon the thing you're communicating with isn't a person, they're just a bunch of words on a screen. A bunch of words that the little bastard didn't even bother to spellcheck. So basically I have Asperger's or mild autism. I'm off to the doctor first thing tomorrow.

I swear I saw the drummer kiss his bicep at one point... or did I imagine that?

One that doesn't mind being treated like a barren cunt.