White Town – How Love Feels
Here’s a new pop video! It’s for the song ‘How Love Feels’ off my current album, ‘Monopole.’ You can buy it on iTunes here or the CD here.
The vid stars White Town backing vocalist Natalie Alice Barratt and she’s done a wonderful job, she’s a great actress. Even to the point of falling over for her craft which was, of course, totally necessary for the shot I wanted. It was fun directing her! *evil director laugh* š
The song is about summer and love and pure, pure happiness. So ENJOY! And I hope you like it!
If you do, please share it anywhere and everywhere! š
Kill People You Like Fanzine
Just got this yesterday and it’s a great read! There’s a White Town interview and it also comes with a comp CD (including my track ‘She’s A Lot Like You’) AND a patch to sew on your bag / dufflecoat.
It’s lovely being in a paper zine again! š
And look at this lovely note they sent:
You can find the Two Carnations peeps here but the zine is already sold out, sorry!
Indietracks Festival 2012
Last weekend (or the one before, depending how you count) was Indietracks 2012!
Again, I had a fucking amazing time and saw some amazing bands like ORCA TEAM, The Vaselines, The Monochrome Set and… well, too many to remember. It remains the best British music festival for the atmosphere, the people, the sheer FUN of the whole shebang!
I also had the privilege of playing on the the train on Saturday the 7th. And, for the first time in some years, White Town wasn’t just me: I was joined by Miss Natalie Alice Barratt:
If you’re a regular reader, you’ll have seen a gazillion pics of my mate Nat but you might not know that she sang backing vocals on my current album, Monopole. She sings on the chorus of this track:
And she’s starred in two other White Town vids, here and here.
I felt it was high time for a baptism of fire so I asked her to sing *the day before the gig.* And, bless her, she did! It can’t have been an easy first gig because the train carriage was rammed. I was thinking, ‘ooh, what if there’s only three of us in there?’ But, in the event, it was heaving and a beautiful, friendly gig! Definitely an amazing atmosphere, the crowd were all the loveliest of lovely people which is, of course, only natural for Indietracks! You can get a sense of their friendliness in this vid, taken by Chris Gillies:
I’ve played so many great gigs this year, Athens, Thessaloniki, New York and then on this little steam train, chuntering through the rainstorms of an English summer. It was a tiny magical moment. The audience was sooo quiet, luckily enough as it was only me, Nat and my guitar, no PA! And the crowd loved the new songs as well as the one big hit, which always charms and disarms me.
If you were in the audience on that terribly humid train, thank you for coming along and being so wonderful! š
wiaiwya – it’s the taking part that counts: White Town – Theme For Olympic Weightlifting
wiaiwya – it’s the taking part that counts: White Town – Theme For Olympic Weightlifting.
Head over to the linky above to hear my contribution to this fabulous Olympic-inspired comp. And thanks to John for having my track on there, it’s an honour, sir!
Why I Love New York
On the 18th May, I flew out to New York to play NYC Popfest, accompanied by my soundman Robbie and his girlfriend, Rach.
Iāve never been to New York before. I have been to the US, very briefly: in 1997, I flew over to Los Angeles to talk to some publishers. I was only there for three days and the jet lag was horrendous. I remember falling asleep while some lovely guy from Maverick was trying to entice me to join Madonnaās company.
So, different coast, new city.
From the moment we left JFK and caught the cab to Brooklyn, where we were staying, I was struck by both how alien and how familiar everything looked and felt. Every Briton, hell, every European has grown up with New York. Itās the lead character in so many of our films, TV shows, comics and pop songs. We may never have set foot in it but weāre simultaneously native New Yorkers.
The first night, when Rob and Rach had gone to their place, I decided to start my stay in style and went to the KFC a couple of blocks from where I was staying on 4th Avenue. As soon as I spoke, the three girls working there were so amazingly friendly, asking me where I was from, why I was over. GodDAMN but New Yorkers love English accents. This was repeated throughout my stay ā I didnāt have even one negative experience in terms of unfriendliness.
Yet, the stereotype of New Yorkers that Iāve seen so many times is that theyāre tough and hard and surly and fuhgeddabadit. Not true. We were tourists, we ambled round Brooklyn and Manhattan, being annoying, taking pics, rubbernecking. Not once did we receive anything apart from the friendliest, warmest treatment. Even the crazy people in the subway stations were nice! If Americans think New Yorkers are hard and unfriendly, they should spend a day in London on Oxford Street where people will knock you over and think nothing of mugging you as they walk over your prone form. Easily, easily in terms of relaxed friendliness, New York 1, London 0.
Saturday the 19th was all about aforesaid rubbernecking. We went to Central Park, Robbie and Rach went rowing, I tried not to fall in love with every cute girl sunbathing. Then on to THE SHOPS. Oh yes, judge me for my vapid consumerism but I love shops and shopping. We went to the Apple Shop and I was a bit underwhelmed. Apart from these two pretty girls:
There wasnāt that much there. I mean, I can buy Apple shit here. There werenāt any special or marvellous items, it was all just stock.
Then we went to FAO Schwarz because we wanted to see the piano that Tom Hanks dances on in āBig.ā But we got sidelined by FAO Schweetz, the best sweetshop I have ever been in ever. SO MANY STUPID SWEETIES. I spent $81 on sweets. Yep.
Then we rounded the day off with a two hour bus tour. As the bus rose on the Manhattan bridge, we looked to our right and there was New York laid out, twinkling and glittering and lovely and warm. We could see the Statue of Liberty in the distance, a tiny cheerleader rah-ing it up for her city, pompom in hand. It was a magical moment.
The next day was NYC Popfest 2012, and Iāll do a separate post about that, just too much to fit in here. And the day after that was a bonus gig! Wooohoo!
But, back to the touristing. We came, we saw, we ate, we felt a bit ill, we ate a bit more. Whether it was the sublime pizzas in Grimaldis or the meat overload of Katz Deli, we overdid it. But it was all good.
The memory Iāll have of New York is of walking through Brooklyn at around 4.30am, in the rain, mainly along 4th Avenue. I felt completely, utterly safe and at home. I could have walked those streets forever. Back home, I feel homesick for NY. Thereās not many cities that give me that feeling.
New York, a set on Flickr.
Please, if youāve never been: GO. You have to experience it, TV and films are not enough. Get to NY, NY and fall in love like I did.
Long Division Festival
Long Division Festival 2/6/12, Wakefield, a set on Flickr.
On Saturday, I played Long Division Festival in Wakefield. I had a great day, it’s one of the best-organised events I’ve ever played. I even got a goodie bag of Lush stuff! :-O
Have a squint at some of the pics and thank you if you came to watch me play! š
Why I Love Greece
Around an hour ago, I put the kettle on after returning from a gigging trip to Greece.
Rich (my soundman) and I left for Greece last Friday. I can’t believe it’s not even been a week. We’ve packed in so much into the last five days. It feels like I’ve been away years.
Tonight, this minute, I feel completely energised and alive. The last five days have changed me, they have displaced ruts of behaviour with an impatient shove, replacing them with new experiences and new friendships. It’s 2.13am as I’m typing this but I’m still on Greek time so it’s actually 4.13am and, to be honest, I’m fucked. So… bear with me. š
The major reason I went to Greece was to play two gigs. I was invited by Le Page to play with them and I was flattered that they asked me. Le Page is Antonis and Terpsichori, two lovely people I’d met at that strange attractor for lovely people, Indietracks Festival. The fact that I’d get to gig with them was a big part of why I accepted because I love their music.
They met us at Athens airport at 2am and we immediately started rambling on. And we never really stopped. Most nights, we just chatted till 4 or 5am.
Saturday was sight-seeing time and we couldn’t have had better guides than Terps and Tony. We wandered around Athens which is currently this strange mix of ancient classical architecture, modern capitalist uniformity and layers of anti-government and anarchist graffiti. The juxtaposition of these elements is often jarring but always energising: this is a city that is obviously in turmoil, as is the rest of Greece due to the vagaries of capitalism and the uniform corruption of politicians.
As we walked and coffeed and caked, Terps and Tony told us about the protests in Athens, the anger of ordinary citizens at the massive fuck-up their government is making of everything and how these same people were often caught up in repressive police violence. In Greece, the role of the police force in protecting capitalism and its state is nakedly, shamelessly obvious.
On Sunday the 25th, I played at Tiki Bar, Athens with Le Page. The show went beautifully, the audience were friendly and funny, singing and clapping and dancing along to songs. And not just ‘Your Woman!’ People also came and had a natter afterwards (yaaay!). I love when that happens post-gig. That night, after the gig, we all went back to Terps’ apartment and we never actually stopped chatting at all, we talked through till when we had to catch the train. We were all just too wired and happy after the gig.
We mostly dozed on the five hour train up to Thessaloniki. When we arrived, the difference between the two cities was palpable. Whereas Athens feels on the edge, alive and scrappily defiant, Thessaloniki seems more isolated from the current unrest. It also feels far more prosperous. I kept asking how you could compare the two cities: was it Glasgow versus London, Manchester versus London or Gothenburg versus Stockholm? The answer I got more than once was that it was more like Barcelona versus Madrid which I have to agree with.
That night, the 26th, we played at CooBar. Again, the gig went hugely well. The audience all seemed into both the bands, shouting and singing and I even had song requests from the very first White Town album, which kind of amazed me. Unfortunately, I tried to play a cover of Felt’s ‘Bitter End’ and I fucking murdered it. Lawrence, I apologise and hang my head in shame. š
After the gig, we hung out in the bar and had competitions to see who could walk most convincingly like a boy (girls only) and vice versa. I now realise I simply cannot sashay, I just haven’t got the pelvis for it. Terps and her friend Chrysanthi looked so cute when they were trying to walk like tough blokes, I think my heart did pop a little bit. But as well as being silly, I had intense conversations about postmodernism, the nature of human intelligence (the old Penrose versus Turing again) and the best way our future AI overlords could wipe us human scum off the planet. Another perfect night mixing music, politics, singing and no-holds barred chats.
Tuesday, we trained it back to Athens. We’d booked a carriage and so we were free to play music (on my doody iPod amp) and talk shit. And, believe me, much music was exchanged and much shit discussed. Some surprise revelations about who enjoys fucking monkeys shocked and impressed us all. You would *never* suspect!
That night, Terps, Tony, Rich and I spent hours wandering round Athens after a particularly tasty load of Goody burgers. We ended up sat in a park that was entirely constructed by the local community in ????????. Apparently, the land was earmarked for yet another car park (there are many car parks in Athens, sprouting up in the empty spaces left when buildings are demolished). Instead, the local people fought the authorities and made a park that is both useful and full of fun. Of course, the police regularly hassle people using the park. *sigh*
Back to the apartment and more chat. We covered transitions of meaning over time in language, the sociolinguistics of gender in Greece versus the UK, indiepop and, of course, love. Always love.
Yesterday, we had a final lunch outing with Tony and Terps before we all headed to the airport. Even then, the time flew by because we continued to just talk and talk and talk over coffee and treats. So often, I feel like I’m boring people when I’m talking to them because, basically, I’m a massive geek and fascinated by pretty much everything. So I love to talk about Hugh Everett or Robert Mapplethorpe or the etymology of the word ‘quim.’ As I’m rambling, I’ll see the person I’m talking to begin to look bored and their attention wander. Inevitably, that will make me feel intensely lonely.
That feeling never happened once in the past few days. I ranted and raved, I had chats, discussions and out-and-out arguments. But through it all, the people I met engaged with me. As my music is basically me, I include the gigs in this: I felt a real sense of dialogue when I played. That is sadly rare.
Today, I’m missing Tony, Terps and all the other lovely people that I met over there. I do love Derby but sometimes I feel so isolated here because that I can’t talk about what fascinates me. But, being more positive, 2012 is my year of pushing myself as hard as I can, of taking risks (which is why I went to Athens in the first place) and already it’s brought me this marvellous experience and people I would be proud to call my friends. If I’ve had such a fantastic time by taking a risk, this simply means I have to take more risks and be braver. After all, wonder is worth pursuing.
The interactions I’ve had in the last few days, the things I’ve seen and the stories I’ve heard have made me re-consider so much of my life. I really am a different person now, I simply have to try and work out who that person is.
Thank you Terpsichore, thank you Antonis and thank you Greece!
whisperinandhollerin review
Yaay! Here’s a review of ‘Monopole’ by Tim Peacock for whisperinandhollerin. I’m very flattered! š
“I tend to blanch at the phrase āone hit wonderā, but sadly poor old Jyoti Mishra (aka WHITE TOWN) will probably always be identified with his against-run-of-play hit single āYour Womanā and itsā attendant decent-selling album āWomen in Technologyā released on Chrysalis/ EMI in 1997.
There again, while Mishra may not have dented the charts since, I doubt his fifteen minutes in the spotlight have actually affected him in too adverse a fashion. The reason the āhitā seemed such a surprise at the time was because he came from a staunchly developed DIY background, so rather than chase his tail desperately trying for the elusive āmassiveā follow up, heās simply said āta-raā to the majors, retreated to his own space and continued to release relevant new material in his own time. Lest we not forget that while his last two albums (āPeek and Pokeā and āDonāt Mention the Warā) may not have been āheadlineā releases, they both garnered plenty of critical acclaim.
Released on his own Bzangy imprint, his latest, āMonopoleā has plenty to recommend it too. Breezy and eminently personal, none of itsā 11 tracks busts the 4-minute mark, while sonically the menu is almost wholly pop-oriented and highly immediate. The fact Mishra is in the process of making a video for every track suggests heās confident many of these little blighters could do the biz on the single front.
Brisk synth-popper āCut out My Heartā gets us underway, though the defiantly hurt lyric (ācut out my heart and throw that shit away/ Iām not gonna use it after todayā) goes resolutely against the Moroder-like thrum of the music. Like most of what follows, it simply breezes past and while Mishra can sometimes veer a little close to tweeness for my liking (āMissing Her Againā, the Jack PeƱate-ish āSheās a Lot Like Youā), tracks like the pissed-off, almost Mary Chain-ish attack of āHave I Gone Too Far?ā, acoustic confessional āI Donāt Want to Fall in Love Againā and the wonderfully evocative, OST-style āTheme for Turku Central Stationā are all bracing and memorable on their own terms.
While it would be easy to suggest Jyoti Mishra came out of nowhere and went straight back there, āMonopoleā again reminds us that he has actually long since cracked the art of longevity and gives not a fig which way the fickle winds of the zeitgeist are blowing. Long may he retain his uncompromising stance.”
Crimbo Pressie – Acoustic Version of ‘Cut Out My Heart’
HO HO HO! Hope everyone has a Festive Whatever and a great 2012! Here’a a little pressie from me, a free download of an acoustic version of ‘Cut Out My Heart.’ If you like it, please share it! Love and Crimbo kisses from Jyoti!
EDIT!
And here’s another one!
Leftdance Interview
Yaay! Lovely interview with Spanish music blog Leftdance, click here to see it or here for the English version! š
