Presenting the first crop of Without Feathers tunes – three demos that you can download right now. Pay what you like, including nowt:
http://withoutfeathersuk.bandcamp.com/
Hope you like em! We’ll be at this summer’s Indietracks Festival with more dates tba.
I received an email today from someone in Australia, asking me what on earth the story behind MSTU’s Gravestones is. I remember when The Casket Letters was released Kev’s dad saying something along the lines of ‘I really like that Gravestones song but I’ve got no idea what it’s about.’
So this was my reply to Australia. I thought I would share in case it was still bothering anyone else after all these years. I did sometimes force Kev to tell the story on stage but he would inevitably cause trouble and do it wrong.
“It’s based on a (not particularly good) ghost story I was told when I was about 11. The story, in its shortest form – I can’t remember the long version if there ever was one – was:
“So the song is written from the ghost’s point of view and is speculation on what might have happened here. The ghost knows that his body isn’t here, where his name is on the gravestone. He knows his body is somewhere else but he doesn’t know where. He also doesn’t know why whatever happened to him has happened - there’s nothing worse than to not know. His ultimate punishment for doing something while he was alive, whatever it was, is to not know what he did but to know it must have been something so awful that he has been left in this limbo, not even being able to find his body. Why are the stones there? Who put them there? We don’t know. The ghost dreams too; the people I see in my sleep - they know something. Are they the people who did this to him, or the other villagers? Or are they people living now? We don’t know.
“I’m sorry this isn’t a more satisfying explanation, but it’s deliberately vague with the intention of giving the same sense of unease and fear of the unknown that the original story gave me. For an extra bit of trivia, in my mind’s eye it’s set at a particular spot in Beeston Parish Church, Nottinghamshire.”
Whilst I’m being nostalgic, I was thinking recently (perhaps because of starting out on this new adventure with Without Feathers – more on that shortly) about one of my favourite things in my MSTU scrapbooks. It was fairly early on, we had done a couple of gigs as a five piece but Kev and I were still mostly playing as a duo. On this particular occasion Kev and I were playing in a bar in Derby and after our set, someone from one of the other bands handed us a folded piece of paper, saying that someone who had had to leave before the end of our set had asked him to give it to us. I unfolded it and it was this, now taped into my scrapbook along with the set list:
This remains one of my most treasured possessions. What a touching and thoughtful thing to do. If I ever have to leave during someone’s set that I really like, I plan to do similar. Thanks, whoever you were!
See, we’re on Facebook and everything! See/hear for yourself:
I am VERY excited about this. Of course I am, I’m getting to make music with two of my favourite musicians and good friends, Emma Kupa & Rory McVicar. Happy Nat.
The Newcastle gig is in some kind of tower in the city walls which I’ve never been in before, that’s pretty exciting too. And Norwich sees us in the appropriately named Birdcage. Figurehead Chris’ new band Public School Battalion will be supporting in Sheffield – they’ve got a new demo out to download here.
And if anyone was wondering about the name, I borrowed it from Woody Allen (via Emily Dickinson – “Hope is the thing with feathers”).
YESTERDAY: I’m in the studio and I’ve been trying to record the guitar and vocal of this five minute + song in one perfect (read acceptable) take. It’s just not quite coming together. I go into the control room with producer Dave to listen back to how it’s sounding, trying to get why it’s not working out.
I go back for another take but – hang on – my capo is still on the second fret but now it’s pushed right back towards the first fret instead of being clamped up near the third. How’d that happen? I put it back in its place on the second fret. Another take. It’s still not good enough.
Lunch break.
Time for another take, but hey – my capo’s moved again! It’s back near the first fret! Maybe ‘someone’ is trying to tell me something. Without telling Dave, I move it to the first fret. Another take.
That’s the one.
I tell Dave what’s happened. We think maybe it was because of the way it was hanging on the guitar stand, so we put it back where it was and leave it awhile but the capo doesn’t move. There’s clearly only one explanation…
Thanks, Studio Ghost!
I feel obliged to repeat my friend Graham’s ‘Ouija (fret)board’ joke: “Don’t tell me – the chord progression was Eb, F, Bb, Eb, and the capo was moved down a fret?” (If you get this, well done)
I’d also like to thank Neil here, who kindly came to the studio last night with no notice to play on a rather complicated song he’d never heard before because for some reason I had presumed I could drum. Not only that, but that I could drum well enough to record it. Because obviously, if I can do something in my head, I can do it in real life. Always the dreamer, eh?
Encouraged by Simon from Beat Surrender, I filmed a video for Couch by Couchwest which is now up on their site here.
It’s a song called ‘Dog’, which I wrote a few days ago. This was the first time in ages I’ve had my loop pedal out.
This is my favourite of the other CXCW videos so far.
The Figureheads stuff I mentioned previously has arrived!
Firstly, you can get a brand new track, ‘No Connections’ here. You can pay as little or as much as you like.
Secondly, if you missed our gig at the Lantern Theatre, you can now watch it* here.
I recommend a gin and tonic to accompany your viewing.
I’ve also been interviewed recently by Backseat Mafia and I’ve added a solo show with the wonderful Neil McSweeney to my gig listings>>
*well, a great deal of it anyway. It has been edited to spare you any songs with sound issues/incompetence through drunkenness.
I’ve been writing a (sleep)waltz. Today I listen to other waltzes/songs about waltzes.
Tisso Lake “It’s hard to do, but it is rewarding”:
I really like this chorus:
Connie, of course:
(There’s always the Chicken Fat Waltz too).
Also, a drawing. Future dogs:
Hello. This is my new website blog wotsit.
It made sense (to me at least) to separate some stuff out and keep the Figureheads site over here. (There’s a bit of Figureheads stuff on the way but it’s not ready yet, so wait please.)
Aside from that, I can tell you this much: as some of you know, I’ve been doing shows as ‘Nat, John & Son’ with Emma and Katherine since our appearance at Sheffield Cathedral last summer. We like it and we want to do it some more. You can hear our version of Connie Converse’s ‘Roving Woman’ over here.
I’m also planning some shows in some as yet undefined collaborative form with Emma and Rory McVicar. We’re called Without Feathers. Dates appearing before your eyes.
Recording-wise, I’m working on solo material. I’m excited about this, even though it’s early days.
So, as you can see, there’s a whole bunch of stuff going on but all you get at the minute is this new website. I might post some drawings or something to keep you mildly entertained until music happens.
Nat