'Who R Ya?'... the party continues!

Comrades have been rejoicing in anticipation of the release of ‘Who R Ya?’ It’s been a busy week that seems like a blur. It all kicked off with the single launch party at the Alleycat on gentrified Denmark Street on Tuesday. Anyone who knows us, knows our views on the sicken process of slowly forcing residents from cities out, in place of luxury properties, fancy restaurants and shopping centers etc. Thus, there couldn't have been a more fitting place for us to play than Denmark Street; a road in the heart of London's West-End, filled with studios, venues and shops selling instruments for the most well-known musicians to those kick-starting their way to stardom. The street has seen the likes of Hendrix, The Stones and The Sex Pistols record and play, so replacing it with a five star hotel (as our inside sources have told us), is outrageous.

Funnily enough, the demo for our anthem against the establishment led process, called ‘Gentrification’, which we recorded down at Universal a few months back, has been made Radio X’s ‘This Feeling Track of the Week’ and was played by Phil Clifton last Wednesday. It’s also been championed by the Music Venue Trust, who are currently arranging a big event at The Roundhouse in Camden next month. Find out more and support their cause here (they’re doing some great work in supporting music venues across the country):

http://musicvenuetrust.com/

So, back to Tuesday night… the Alleycat was absolutely rammo and as we popped our heads 'round the door to catch support act The Pearl Harts. The Pearl Harts are great… two girls. One guitar. One drummer. They make a lot of noise and have some killer songs under their sleeves. They got the crowd moshing early doors. As we saw people pile their way from the street to the venue after an interval, we soon hit the stage. It was a mad affair and at times the band and crowd blended and crowd members ending up on stage and band members in the crowd. To be honest, it’s all a bit of a blur now but the new single went down particularly well. We threw in a couple of new tunes too… ‘Queen’s English’, a pop at the monarchy and aristocrats and ‘Famous for Nothing’, which does exactly what it says on the tin. The party went on ‘til God knows when and it was a great night all 'round.

There’s no rest for the wicked, as it was down to Waterloo for ‘Big’ Bob Morris’ Mod Exhibition on Wednesday, with great photos from Bob’s Mod days, dancing and music. Met the legendary Gary Crowley, who’s been a massive champion of the band, having given us a big platform on BBC Radio London, so that was an honour.

The party then continued at The Amersham Arms in New Cross on Thursday. The night was called #Jam4Jez, a ‘Momentum’ organised event in support of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour leadership campaign. There was a great, friendly vibe at the event. Dedicating ‘A Wise Man Said’ to Jezza and ‘Who R Ya?’ to Owen Smith seemed to go down well! Found out a few days later, our mate Jane had been 'purged' from the Labour Party, supposedly for sharing a photo of the 'Fuck the Tories/Love Sisteray' flag. Jane's honestly one of the most down-to-earth and active members of the Labour Party, going door-to-door, campaigning for the party; proving how utterly-ridiculous and undemocratic this exercise the NEC are undertaking is!

We’re keeping the activism going this Wednesday (21/09), as we are playing an event at The Water Rats in Kings Cross for ‘Musicians Against Homelessness’ in aid of ‘Crisis’. It’s a great cause, kick started by Creation Records founder Alan McGee, with all profits going towards supporting the homeless. On the bill are the outstanding Bang Bang Romeo; great friends of ours who are amazing live; as well as Burnz, Ben Denny Mo and This Feeling DJ’s spinning the top tunes around (as they always do!).

The next ‘Welcome to the Monkey House’ show is this Friday (23/09) and it’s also in support of ‘Musicians Against Homelessness’. Heading the bill are the stunning LOCK, who release their debut EP ‘Everlasting Road’ on the same night. Also on the bill are good mates MOSES and Lighthouse with yours truly on the decks. Again, it’s a great cause, so show your support!

'Who R Ya?' was released last Friday on 1-2-3-4 Records (16/09). The music video is one of the best things we've ever done... filmed and directed by the genius that is Albert Jagger. Check it out...

It's F*@KIN' Friday [playlist]

If you ain’t interested in what we’re listening to, well, you should be. 

Updated Spotify Friday playlist feat. The Wholls, BANG BANG ROMEO, Trampolene, Killing Joke, The Pearl Harts, Asylums, Public Enemy, The Barratts, Nirvana & more...

 

The Road to Reading ended in Leeds...

Well that was a bank holiday.

Began at Leeds Festival on Friday in the mud and an amazing night in the #JackRocks This Feeling stage. We played just before headliners Trampolene and although they played a storming set we thought Jack looked a bit off colour but it was only reading one of his enlightening tour diaries that we realised that he has more challenges up on that stage than most. So bigger round of applause for that and makes us feel even worse that ONE of us sneaked off to see... the The 1975 - Jack truly rocks!

Had a great time on Sunday at the ★ Hackney Wonderland Summer Bank Holiday Bash ★ we were a last minute addition to the line-up and headliners Little Barrie even later.
As it turns out it was a great day and thanks to organisers Hackney Wonderland for having us. Loads of real ale/beers at the London Fields Brewery, a bunch of great bands and a Caribbean Barbeque (the jerk chicken wrap was a hit amongst the non-vegans in the band) - what more do you need for a Bank Holiday?

Caught up briefly with The Wholls we were worried that they'd have burned themselves out playing Reading and Leeds festivals but turns out they were only buzzing on it and had been on BBC TV as one of they highlights the previous night. If you haven't seen them yet, do.

Also caught a bit of Bo Ningen, the Japanese four piece who seem to throw in every musical genre under the sun and then come out laughing at the other end. Taigen rules the stage and leave a packed venue mesmerised.

Sometimes your own gigs can surprise you and this one did because it felt like one of the best we had played. Why is it though that when we ask any audience "Who is Owen Smith 2016 ? No one seems to know. Anyway, we dedicate 'A Wise Man Said' to Jeremy Corbyn and two of the new songs 'Queens English' and 'Famous For Nothing' go particularly well.

All in all, exactly how a bank holiday should be. Oh, and we had such a good time that yes, we invited everyone there watching us to get in touch about FREE guest list for our single launch - rather rash according to our manager but unlike most politicians, we keep our promises so if you were there get in touch.

Bands... you have a voice; USE IT!

Why are there so many bands out there today who do not get involved with politics or think it’s ‘uncool’ to have a political voice? When you’re in a band you have a great platform to involve the youth of today with the political situation going on around them. Bands have big influence on impressionable youngsters and can use that influence to drive a great feeling that they have a chance to change the world, therefore you’d see a surge of youngsters running to the polls to make a difference.

What this referendum has showed us is that the youngsters that voted, voted remain. We are a generation that lived next door to Polish kids, went to school with Romanians, played footie with Bulgarians, ate in Greek restaurants. We have lived with, laughed with and fallen in love with people from all walks of life. And when we moved to the polls, we rejected fear. We rejected racism. We rejected Xenophobia!

Today, it’s more important than ever to install hope and desire in to youth culture. We have the power to change the world. If you have a voice, bloody well use it!

Here’s a great article from a few years ago, written by Billy Bragg. He talks about the importance of bands being actively engaged with politics:
http://sabotagetimes.com/…/billy-bragg-interviewed-bands-ne…

At this moment in time we are the most divided we have ever been in any of our lifetimes. The vote has split us pretty much down the middle, there was a campaign of hate against the unknown 'foreigner', England voted out, Scotland voted in, Northern Ireland voted in, London voted in, Boris will be forever in the life's debt of Farage, the old has distanced themselves from the young as out of touch and to have decided our future for us. We have to communicate and come together through music and make our voices heard...

Gentrification continued...

Camden Town… our spiritual home and what used to be our physical home; now laid waste to multi-million quid developments which are sure to house the wealthy and the minuscule percentage that fall in to that weirdly obscure-generalisation of ‘affordable homes’. An unfortunate legacy left-behind by floppy haired, charismatic but utter dangerous former-Mayor Boris Johnson. A situation, that due to time spent building new affordable homes, won’t be solved by the current mayor, Sadiq Khan, for at least another two years.

The famous Hawley Arms isn’t just our favourite joint in Camden Town but was the after shenanigans choice for Billy Bragg, Carl Barat and others last Saturday. It was also the late-great Amy Winehouse’s favourite pub in NW1. The Hawley is still the great venue it always was and our set there at Camden Rocks Festival last Saturday was our favourite show to date; an amazing atmosphere filled with crowd surfers galore… it’s a day we will never forget.

But while we were having our pre-gig cigarettes on the balcony, we were looking over a construction site, which used to be home to the Lock Market and Scar Studios. Scar was a special place to us. We’d spend hours upon hours there… 3, 4 sometimes 5 times a week. It’s where we feel in love with being in a band, learned our craft, wrote songs, learned our instruments, bonded as a band. It wasn’t the cleanest place in the world but it had great character, a great vibe and truly represented the spirit of what Camden is all about. Now what’s left? Years of a construction site, a new railway line, probably Shitfucks coffee… Slavemark?

As a young band with a platform we have an obligation to voice what we feel is right… but you have a voice to so don’t let our beautiful city be made in to a UK-version of Dubai; a place for only the rich and fortunate.

Anyways, to leave you on a brighter note… Camden Rocks Festival was out of this world. Much affection to all that bought tickets and came down to see us, it was an unreal experience! Onward and upwards to Isle of Wight Festival this Sunday (This Feeling/Jack Daniel’s stage, 5pm if you’re there)!!

Peace,

Dan xXx

Picture courtesy of The Zine

It's Gentrification!

Hello... Ciao... Hola... Salut

We've kept you waiting a while... we've been a tad busy over the past few months but we've recently seen an article that we've felt warranted a blog post. This could've been the inspiration for one of our more recently tunes but if you've seen us live over the past couple of months, you'd know we've had it in the bag for a little while.

We have a song where we mention that a monstrosity in Shoreditch, overlooking the station and it's actually called Avant-garde Tower - we couldn't resist name checking that one in the lyrics.

Basically the people building and buying these developments do not care about London, whether it's Shoreditch, Walthamstow, Berwick Street, Soho or Manor House.

The real crime is the number of units bought and left empty while local families struggle to afford/find somewhere to live ‪#‎gentrification 

Avant-Garde Tower is not the one specifically mentioned in the article by the way but as you can see below, it is a fine-looking piece of shit.

Peace xXx

London gigs - on a flyer

Sisteray have a big London gig coming up in week or so (as if you didn't know ;-) and one of the agreements we have with the promoters is that we would get out and about and hand flyers out at a few gigs. So the past week, in between rehearsals, we have been doing just that, the fact that we also managed, by fair means and foul, to actually get into some of these gigs is somewhat of a bonus.

The special guests at our gig @ The Black Heart on December 3rd are The Bulletproof Bomb, they are without doubt, one of the most exciting live bands around at the moment and if there's any other band we would like and expect to break through in 2016 other than ourselves it's TBB, and on Tuesday we all found ourselves around Chalk Farm.
Maximo Park were playing @ The Roundhouse , we couldn't afford tickets or find a nice person to put us on the guest list for this one, so we just went along and handed out flyers to people in the queue,  Some Maximo Park people look like our people, though there were a few looking like they had just come from 'the office' (no offence) and some smiled and politely took flyers from us. From the heady heights and size of The Roundhouse (one day friends) we popped over the road to The Monarch where The Bulletproof Bomb were actually playing, supporting The Scruff Club.

It was free to get in The Monarch as it was a launch event and there was a decent sized crowd. Glad we got to catch opener Veronica Bianqui all the way from LA apparently, who certainly knows how to open eyes and ears and has a stand out tune in 'If Love Is A Gun'. It's a fast catchy tune, deserves a listen and sets up things nicely for The Bulletproof Bomb who are next to take the stage. Before they did we managed to step outside for a beer and good to meet the boys from the band Lighthouse, who will be the opening band at our Camden gig. We're just on the first rung of this rock and roll ladder but it became apparent that things don't change and we shared stories of dodgy record labels and unscrupulous promoters.
The boys from The Bulletproof Bomb took the stage and smashed it with their speedy energetic songs and even with instrument swaps and guitar strings breaking, showed what an infectious bunch they are, it was the first time we had all caught them live together and are pleased that the bar is set high in the quality department for The Black Heart on December, with a great lineup of really charming blokes. Can't wait.!

Wednesday night was a good night for gigs in London but the two that really shone out for us was Reverend And The Makers at Koko and Hidden Charms @ The Lexington. We were torn and as only two of us could come out, we were a bit thin on the ground to cover both and The Lexington is a great venue but you really have to get inside to hand out flyers.
There is a new 'Poll' function on Twitter, has anyone discovered it?
Don't quite know how it even actually works but you can set up a poll between two choices (eats into your 140 characters) - Anyway, we did a poll, The Reverend And The Makers or Hidden Charms and The Reverend sneaked it so it was Mornington Crescent rather than Pentonville Road.

Actually, we're learning a bit about this flyering malarkey, one thing is, handing out flyers to crowds coming out of a gig is generally a lot more difficult. People are buzzing about the gig, snogging their partners in the hope they get invited back for a bit of inbetweeners or rushing for transport. However, get to a gig nice and early, where a few tickets have been sold and there's usually a queue of people who are much more amenable to having something to peruse and chat to us about what's on the flyer. This is the bit we like best. This was Wednesday's plan, though to be honest we did get a little bit waylaid in the pub. It was pointed out, that talking to two young ladies in the pub over one flyer and buying them drinks for half an hour, with 250 flyers in your back pocket while the queue quietly sneaks into the venue, is not the most productive way of tackling our task in hand. Eventually we made it with the full intention of heading up to The Lexington where we thought we had a much better chance of actually blagging into the Hidden Charms gig and hearing some music but there was a buzz on the phone and it was news that Koko had put Sisteray on the guest list for the Rev, so thank you Koke, you made our night.. well, you and the #RevArmy

What a gig! But first a bit of a shout for Franko Fraize who was supporting, came on dressed in a bright yellow kagoule and spoke a few words, could have sworn blind it was Danny Dyer but when the band kicked into the first tune, the crowd got into it instantly, infectious chorus paired with rapid fire lyrics and he nailed it, certainly won over the #Revarmy. A nice surprise and we'll definitely keep an eye out for any other gigs coming up.

Grabbed a few beers before the Reverend took the stage and dipped in and out of albums with the set list, particularly enjoyed new songs Black Widow and Mr. Glassalfempty with it's Bruce Foxton bassline and a classic Heavyweight Champion of the World and that was before they were half way through their set.

The Rev is irrepressible live and has the tunes to back it up, they kept on coming and didn't look like stopping. In fact, they didn't, the plug got pulled. That didn't stop The Reverend though and we all piled outside the venue, as he did an alfresco acoustic encore. It was a special moments, not least because we got to meet some lovely members of the #RevArmy and were able to have a chat and hand out a few more flyers.

Thursday, it was to The Black Heart in Camden . The Jacques were playing and we had a great gig playing there with them the other week (which is how we come be headlining there in two weeks time ourselves) .

On Friday, the weather started to turn, winter is coming people, time for wooly hats. Didn't get out until late, so went up to the Forum in Kentish Town where people were coming out of The Enemy gig @ The Forum and then hot foot down to Camden @ Koko again for The Sherlocks at Club NME. The Sherlocks have had a great year and looks even better for them next year - they've just taken a step up with a new booking agent so no surprise they'll be supporting The Libertines on their UK arena shows, can't deny a few pangs of jealousy when we saw that but hey lads we fancy doing a few shows with you too, so we'll try to get in touch. Their recent single 'Heart Of Gold' was certainly a standout live and for the second time in a week spent a lot of time talking about Sisteray at the Koko bar. Wouldn't have it any other way. So that's last week

This week, there's more rehearsals than flyering as the gig is less than two weeks away but we're definitely going to check out The Vaccines at Brixton, if you're there come and say hello. We have also had a long discussion about Courtney Barnett, who is playing two nights at The Forum on Tuesday and Wednesday, some of us really like her tunes, others not so sure but the main crux of the debate is around whether it is worth us going to hand out flyers and if her audience, might or could be our audience, if you know what we mean - what do you think?

Finally, on Friday, 27th Nov, we will definitely be trying to get ourselves along to The Dexters at The Lexington, looks like it is sold out which is great for the lads. We going to do something special for this one, although we'll no doubt have flyers in our pockets, each band member has got 2 Golden VIP / ace face tickets for our gig to give away, criteria for getting one is, well, obviously we've got to be pretty sure you'll come and make use of the ticket, but also a music fan and someone we think might enhance the overall quality of the night or some other such bullshit, we'll see. One way or another we are going to make 3rd December special. Please join us.