It’s been a long time coming but, finally on 2nd August 2008, we signed a record deal with Transcend Media Group. We could have got signed time and time again (indeed, we were first offered a deal in 2003!) but, requests to compromise and tone down what SLT was about - even change the name - forced us to walk away from previous negotiations. SPiT LiKE THiS has always been a band that has it’s own unique vision and, if other people do not share that, we will not play with them. It is that simple. What is the point in having another bland rock band around when you can have a band like us, that offer just a little bit more.
We started talking to Transcend just after we finished recording our album last October. They were interested but, still a bit dazed by the recording experience, we wanted to wait and let the dust settle a bit. There was also a potential conflict of interests that needed to resolve itself.
Talks with the label really got serious in June and an offer came forth in July. As all parties wanted to move quickly, it didn’t take long to knock the deal into shape. It is weird though, when the deal came through, as it was such an anti-climax. For so long now we have been working toward this goal and, when it happens, you are just left staring at bits of paper. And bits of paper are rarely exciting!
Of course, before we would sign, we had to come up with the ideal location to do it, to make something special of it, and we found that at Skin Deep Magazine’s Tattoo Jam. We were there headlining it anyway so, a quick word with the editor and he let us hijak the tattoo judging stage for a couple of minutes. It was perfect, we had a stage, a table, an audience and, even better, a massive screen above our heads broadcasting the whole thing.
We never do things by halves!
Things have been crazy for the last couple of weeks though, ever since we knew we would sign this deal, we (ie the band, management and the label) have all been moving forward getting all the wheels in motion for the exciting post-signing stuff.
We have our debut single coming out on October 20th. As I write, I am waiting to receive the final treatment from the video guy. The remit I gave him was “imagine if Quentin Tarantino directed an 80’s rock video” - they have come up with something pretty special. Cannot wait to start filming it - we will be doing that in the next few weeks. There will be a full report when that happens!
The label, manager and PR (Roland Hyams, Work Hard PR who has worked with people like KISS!) are pushing the single to break Top 40. Obviously, this is something our manager has achieved 3 times before with his other act, Koopa, so we are in good hands. If this happens, who knows what could be just a few months away. We are cautiously optomistic! Of course, if it doesn’t go Top 40 it isn’t the end of the world or the end of the road for SLT. That is the great thing with Indie labels, you are allowed to grow. Majors just chuck you out with the trash if you don’t perform as expected. Our label is 100% behind us though and is investing an unusually high amount of money in the promo of the single so, watch this space!
We spent Weds and Thurs of the week just gone in the studio with Paul Tipler, the guy who recorded our album, recording the B-side. Won’t let you in on what that is yet but it is the perfect accompanyment for the A-side and is one of the most popular songs we play live. The recording we have made sounds amazing. So good. On the second day in the studio, we bought in one of our fans to do a write up on the experience. That will be posted up next week. We did originally have 3 days booked but, unexpectidly ahead of schedule, we did the whole thing in just 22 hours. That has to be some kind of world record for us! The track will be mastered this Monday coming, followed by a meeting with Roland our PR guy and ending with us playing at the Underworld in Camden in front of some important industry people. Monday is gonna be a busy day!
Following the single on November 17th is the album. We now have a title for it, “We Won’t Hurt You (But We Won’t Go Away)”. The title was first bandied about in the studio about a year ago when I wrote it as a new line in the song “Young, Dumb & Full Of Fun”. It struck a chord with me but we wondered if it was too long. Other ideas have come and gone but that was has always remained top of my favourites list. When the deal offer came through, there was a space for the album title name so, it was make up our minds time. I did a bit of market research with friends and family and, lo and behold, out of all the titles, that one came back as the most popular.
*Phew*!
Especially handy as I had already worked out a concept for the sleeve. This has now been refined and, last week, we employed the talents of US artist Ed Mironiuk to realise my vision. It is going to be pretty special and I cannot wait to share it with you all.
Once the album and single has been released in the UK, we will start concentrating on other territories. We will be sub-licensing to places like Japan, Europe and the USA so will start looking for partners later this year.
They say that it takes 7 years for a band to break big. Well, we’ve been at this as a live band since May 2003 so, maybe we have to wait a tiny bit longer to get huge. But, that’s OK. We’ve had fun, we are having fun and have some truly exciting adventures ahead of us. Come along for the ride!
I’ve read a couple of really good books lately, so I thought I would share them with you. I am guessing that a few of you do like to read - if you don’t, you really are missing out. Without wanting to sound like a teacher / parent / old fogey, it is through reading that you really learn a lot about life. All the information in the world can be absorbed by reading so, find the sorts of books that you like to read and expand your mind.
I have a general rule-of-thumb when it comes to reading - it has to either educate me or be something factual. For example, I read a lot of business-orientated books (currently reading one called “The Art Of The Deal” by Donald Trump), a lot of “how to take over the world” style books (it’s not Hitler-esque, more about understanding human beings and then learning what to do with them), autobiographies tend to be fascinating (especially if they are written by someone you really admire) and anything by Kevin Smith, Danny Wallace and Dave Gorman.
And it is the Danny Wallace and Dave Gorman books that prompted me to write this, because I enjoyed them so damn much!
Dave Gorman “America Unchained”: If you do not know Dave Gorman, get to know him. I’m not going to say he is a genius, but he isn’t far off. But he is a slightly twisted near-genius as all his best ideas are grounded in ridiculous notions. He is the guy that went on the “Are You Dave Gorman?” mission (to find as many namesakes as possible) and his “Googlewhack Adventure” which, somehow took him around the world and produced a hysterical DVD. In “America Unchained”, Dave’s plan is to drive coast to coast across the USA without using ANY chains. So, for food, he could not go in places like McDonalds, KFC etc, he wasn’t allowed to stay in any chain motels/hotels (so no Holiday Inn) and, hardest of all, he had to fill up his car using unchained petrol. When was the last time you saw a totally independent petrol station? Well, the USA is even worse. I’m not going to spoil the book for you but his quest does not go smoothly. There is a DVD of it but it is nowhere near as funny as the book.
If I had only read the above book, I wouldn’t have bothered with this blog, but it is Danny Wallace’s latest book that has got me all Richard & Judy’s Book Club on yo’ ass! I love Danny Wallace - in a totally manly kind of way. I’ve read all his books and they keep getting better. You probably know Danny from his “Join Me” book / cult (too lengthy to explain here) or his “Yes Man” book (which has just been made into a movie starring Jim Carey). I just gave my “Yes Man” book to a fan who is in hospital, in the hope it might cheer her up, but I will be getting another copy soon as you can never read it enough.
But it is his latest book, “Friends Like These”, that has gotten me to write this blog. The premise is simple: as Danny approached 30, he started looking at his life, where is was, where it was heading and whether he was ready to be a grown up. He then pondered if all his old school friends felt the same. Like most of us do when we leave school, we soon lose contact with our “best friends”. In fact, as if to prove this, I have just ONE friend left from my school days. So he sets off on the adventure of tracking down these friends and then trying to visit them, wherever they are in the world, before he turns 30. Again, I am not going to spoil what is a great read, but things do not go smoothly.
I did finish reading it and wonder about some of my old best friends. Stephen Sugg, Warren Davis, Colin Wooldridge, Steven Chatfield, Stephen Butler, Ryan Coates, Mandy something, Tracy Wood, Wayne Hemmings… I don’t speak to any of them any more, even though, at one time in our lives, we were inseperable and did everything together. Riding to Littlehampton with Stephen S. Having a daft drunken party with Warren Davis and a couple of girls, one of whom bit his nob and made it bleed. Walking dark streets discussing life with Colin Wooldridge. Endless visits to the cinema with Steven C. Being taught how to wank by Stephen B. Aborted attempts to get me into football with Ryan. Running away from home for 2 hours with Mandy. Eating worms with Tracy. Shoplifting with Wayne. You know, nothing spectacular but things that bond you in life.
Nearly all of the above were school friends. In 2008 though, I do not know if they are all alive, if they are married with kids or murderers. It’s weird, but I don’t mind. I did try and look a couple of them up on Facebook - and did find one or two - but didn’t make contact. I don’t really want to live in the past - those glory days can never be recaptured and, getting in touch with them again would only sully the memories. They are best left in the past.
And that’s the funny thing with friends, something I realised quite a while back: friends are NOT for life, and that isn’t a bad thing. OK, you might have one friend who you have forever, but, normally, you do not. Friends kind of serve a purpose at a particular time in your life. When that moment has passed - whether it is months, years or decades - recognise that and move on, without regret or guilt.
Right, I’m hungry, the sermon is over. Stop reading this and go pick up a book.
Being in a band does have some great perks sometimes. As Peavey Artists (ie a band that has an endorsement deal with Peavey - we get their stuff for free in exchange for telling you lot how wonderful they are) we were invited to join them at this year’s Download Festival, complete with full Access All Areas ViP passes. Oh yes.
So, we (me, Vikki and one of our merch ladies whose name I shan’t mention for security reasons) set off on Thursday arriving at about 4pm. Immediately we were taken to the backstage area and parked our dumb blue bus right next to Kiss’s road crew’s buses. All 4 of them. Just for the crew. Opposite them were the 5 HUGE trucks containing all Kiss’s gear. And to think people complain when we show up for gigs with all our toys!
Anyway, we soon found out that we were going to be located backstage. Up until this point, we assumed that Peavey had a stand in the main area and that the punters would be able to come along, meet us and look at amps n stuff. But, no, we were located in something called the Warm Up Tent. Essentially a big marquee where bands etc can come in, check out gear, try out gear and sometimes ever borrow gear.
There was a lot of hustle and bustle and, once we were settled in and knew who everyone was, we went for an exploration. Having Access All Areas (hereafter known as AAA) is great as you can wander ANYWHERE, flash your pass and people just let you get on with it. So we went and explored the stage being built a bit and generally wandered around taking everything in. Festivals are odd without tens of thousands of people in them!
We soon got bored so fucked off back to our hotel. Next day up bright and early (ugh!), got to the backstage bit and had a further look around. This was when we discovered the food hall which is where most of the other bands hang out before or after their show, along with other VIP’s. Tucked away in the corner though was Woody and his gang from Woody’s Tattoos. And they were doing FREE tattoos all fucking weekend! Damn, I wish I’d known this beforehand! Vikki had wanted to get “Miss Spit” tattooed on her fingers for a while now so she booked herself in for the next day. Further exploration unveiled a place that did FREE hair cuts. I’ve not been to a hair dresser since I was 8 years old but, looking at the wall of the famous people they did, I figured I was in safe hands, so booked an appointment for the Saturday. Such a tart.
Vikki had to do some demonstrating, so left her to do that whilst I wandered around a bit more. Saw Lemmy - he looked at me in a “I’m sure I should know you but not sure I do” kind of way and said Hello (just to be on the safe side), so I said Hello back. I’m not a massive Motorhead fan (although much respect to them) but it was cool to meet him. He was in the food bit playing pool later on - he wasn’t so good at that. Also bumped into the drummer from Kid Rock’s band, Stephanie, who we’d seen in concert just a couple of days before. I’m a big Kid Rock fan so chatted to her for a bit then ventured back to where Vikki was and in walked Jimmie Bones, also from Kid Rock’s band. He is a fellow Peavey Artist so was looking to borrow some gear. Within half an hour though, it was announced that Kid Rock himself was “ill” so they wouldn’t be playing. Hmmmm.
The thing about the back stage bit is you think it will be full of rock stars - and it probably was - but no-one looks like a fucking rock star any more so I didn’t recognise anyone. However, there are some people you couldn’t miss and, when KISS are in town, you know it! But, AAA or not, you ain’t getting close to them. All of a sudden, the backstage bit was full of security and you couldn’t go anywhere as Kiss moved from their dressing room to the Media tent. Once they were in there, you could go into the food bit (next to the media tent), so we saw them coming out, but you still couldn’t get close. I did get a snap of Gene and Paul as they were leaving though.
The post-Kiss excitement soon died down again so we went to see if we could get side-stage whilst Kiss were on (the AAA means that, for most bands, you can actually be on the stage, tucked away at the side, whilst they are playing). Not with Kiss though! All the rules are different; we couldn’t go up “because you will get blown up by a pyro”. Wow, what a way to go!
For the first time, this meant venturing out into the main area whilst it was full of punters - totally different from the night before, but a great atmosphere. Almost immediately we were recognised, which is nice, and then the “when are you guys on” questions started. Very flattering but equally frustrating!
And now the main event: Kiss headlining the main stage on the Friday night. And they did not disappoint. I’ve seen Kiss a few times and this was one of the best - they played all the old hits and did all the stunts you want to see them do. I have movies taken on my camera of every set piece, so I’m chuffed with that. It was such a huge, amazing, visual show. If you weren’t there, you should have been. If you were there, how cool was THAT?!!
Went backstage as soon as it finished, you know, just in case they decided to hang out but they had already fucked off. All that was left was their crew packing all their gear away. It was all very dull so we left for the night.
Next day and first job of the day was Vikki’s tattoo. I thought, as it was free, they’d be rushing but, nope, they took their time. About 2 hours in total and they did a superb job. There seemed to be more people around today; the guys from Pendulum (looking for a Peavey endorsement), Saxon, Bullet For My Valentine and so on.. Kerry King from Slayer was in the warm-up tent, even though Slayer weren’t playing. Dimebag’s wife was there too. I don’t really get star-struck, but it is quite cool to meet someone who is a bit of a legend or you have a lot of respect for.
Went to watch Ace Frehley play. Annoyingly, it was another closed stage but, despite having to rough it out front (ha!), he put on a great show. Although the bass player soooooo wanted to be Nikki Sixx. You couldn’t help but draw comparisons between his set and the Kiss set the night before, especially when he played some of the same songs. Good show but it just wasn’t the same.
At 7 both me and Vikki had hair appointments. Like I mentioned, I haven’t been to a hairdresser since I was 8 and had a bad experience (ie, he did not do exactly as I told him). So, at 8, I decided that all hair dressers were Nazi’s and I wanted nothing to do with them, preferring to hack away at my own locks. The poor girl designated to do my hair had to put up with me informing her that the fate of all hairdressers rested on her shoulders and that she had to do EXACTLY what I said. Bless her heart though, she did. All I wanted was the dead ends cut off and a few layers put in, so nothing drastic, but she did do that. She then also gave me a shed-load of free (expensive) hair care product. Being a big tart, this was much appreciated!
Happy with my new Do, we went to watch The Offspring and promptly nearly fell asleep. Now, I kinda dig the Offspring, liking a lot of their stuff but their headlining performance on the main stage was so lacklustre, it was pointless. OK, you don’t have to go completely Kiss to put on a great show but, hey, what about a backdrop and what about using the whole stage? As there was nothing to watch, we wandered off to explore all the shops and food things, got bored so went backstage again.
At this point, I must say, the BEST thing about being backstage - beyond the free tattoos and haircuts - are CLEAN toilets with NO queue. How I felt for those poor souls queing, desperate for a slash when all we had to do was wander backstage. I was almost suprised there wasn’t someone to hold your pecker for you whilst you pee’d!
Final day, Sunday, was easily the best day for me. We finally took full advantage of AAA and went on the main stage to watch Apocalyptica from the side stage. They had use of the front half whilst, behind them, the set was being built for Lost Prophets. It was weird being so close to centre stage knowing that I wouldn’t be performing today. And quite annoying! The view was great though and Apocalytica were interesting.
After that, there was a lot of activity in the warm-up tent as Total Guitar bought some people in for photo sessions and jamming sessions. If you have ever been in a room full of ego-fuelled guitar players all battling it out on the assorted amps around the tent, you will understand what kind of hell that was! So we fucked off out of there to go and do something less boring and noisy.
One of the only other bands I was interested in seeing that weekend was The Wildhearts, a long-time favourite of mine. Again, our AAA got us full access to the side of the stage which was amazing. Being feet away from all the action but, this time, feeling much more a part of it (they were on the smaller stage so we were much closer to the band, able to pick up the vibe better). Ginger encouraged the crowd to “throw everything” onto the stage, which they duly did. Someone through a whole raw egg, which Ginger caught without it breaking! It broke when he plonked it on the ground though. Someone else threw a phone, another a shoe. Mainly though, it was bottles. And bottles and bottles. But all for the crack of it. They must of had one of the biggest audiences of the weekend, despite being on the smaller Tuborg stage. Amazing show.
It all died down backstage pretty quickly so we decided to leave. Just as we were saying our goodbyes though, Ginger walked in so I took the chance to introduce myself as we are opening for The Wildhearts in August at Skin Deep’s Tattoo Jam. Thankfully, he knew who the hell we were and started asking about the band, saying he was looking forward to our set at Tattoo Jam. I’ve always thought that SLT & The Wildhearts would make a formidable live combination - I guess we will find out!!
Spent the last hour or so chatting to Woody (tattooist) and having a pose on his hog before leaving for the long journey home. All-in-all, it was a great weekend and a good reminder of how far we have come: both backstage and out front, people knew who we were, knew our band and were asking when we were playing. Next year, eh?!
For many more pictures from our weekend, visit the Gallery on our myspace page at http://myspace.com/spitlikethisuniverse
