Re: BluePlanes Digest, Vol 110, Issue 2

[Chris Sharp <chris.sharp4@vi...net>]

He can’t make Glasgow or Exeter. 100% confirmed for all the other 12 gigs 
though

> On 4 Jan 2017, at 12:12, John Murray <jm60owl@gm...com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Chris
> 
> Can you confirm that Wojtek will be with you on all the tour dates? It's 
> never quite the full experience without him....
> 
> Looking forward to getting to the Nottingham, Sheffield, and (hopefully) 
> Edinburgh gigs!
> 
> John
> 
>> On 4 Jan 2017, at 11:59, Chris Sharp <chris.sharp4@vi...net> wrote:
>> 
>> AGMP are promoting the tour and they will generally liaise with each 
>> venue to choose supports so we don’t really have any involvement. As 
>> far as requests go - good luck with that! Gerard hardly ever takes 
>> requests from his own band members let alone the audience!! We’ll be 
>> playing a 90 min set on this tour so expect most, if not all, of the 
>> new album plus some of the usual old favourites and maybe one or two 
>> surprises!
>> 
>> Also just a heads up - make sure you get a copy of The Guardian Guide 
>> this Saturday. That’s all I’m allowed to say for now!
>> 
>>> On 4 Jan 2017, at 11:42, Mike <mike@ma...plus.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I'll second that request about supports - nothing announced for 
>>> Glasgow or
>>> Edinburgh yet but given that the supports announced for other dates on 
>>> the
>>> tour are all different, I'm assuming that they're all local-ish.
>>> 
>>> Did mean to punt Life Model for the Glasgow show - not just because of 
>>> the
>>> name but because they're a smart, young dream-pop band.
>>> 
>>> Mike M
>>> http://manicpopthril;s.wordpress.com
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: BluePlanes [mailto:blueplanes-bounces@bl...org] On Behalf Of
>>> blueplanes-request@bl...org
>>> Sent: 03 January 2017 12:00
>>> To: blueplanes@bl...org
>>> Subject: BluePlanes Digest, Vol 110, Issue 2
>>> 
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>>> Today's Topics:
>>> 
>>> 1. Re: Gerard interview #2 (Andrew Keulemans)
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> 
>>> Message: 1
>>> Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2017 11:59:45 +0000
>>> From: Andrew Keulemans <keulies@gm...com>
>>> To: GORDON WILHELMI <gordon.wilhelmi192@bt...com>,  A Discussion
>>>   list for The Blue Aeroplanes <blueplanes@bl...org>
>>> Subject: Re: [BluePlanes] Gerard interview #2
>>> Message-ID:
>>>   <CACBzWQf0GzztNMKC_CBt+r+_BsM-HziU0AL=4-bFQCKwTqLH=A@ma...gmail.com>
>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>>> 
>>> Whilst acknowledging that it could unleash a torrent of similar 
>>> requests,
>>> but on the basis that the voodoo rooms is the first time the band has 
>>> been a
>>> mere bus ride away from me since Cardiff university back in the 
>>> eighties,
>>> can misfiring, pony boy or up in a down world elbow their way into the 
>>> set?
>>> Who is the support, BTW?
>>> AK
>>> 
>>> On 30 Dec 2016 3:11 a.m., "GORDON WILHELMI" <
>>> gordon.wilhelmi192@bt...com> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> At one point, many of the faithful began calling for standards.
>>>> 
>>>> 'Colour Me'
>>>> 'Weightless'
>>>> 
>>>> Gerard pointed at his watch.
>>>> 
>>>> 'Have you seen the time ?'
>>>> 
>>>> G
>>>> 
>>>> ----Original message----
>>>> From : keulies@gm...com
>>>> Date : 29/12/2016 - 23:47 (GMTST)
>>>> To : blueplanes@bl...org, nickw@bl...co.uk Subject : 
>>>> Re: [BluePlanes] Gerard interview #2
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks nick, great stuff
>>>> AK
>>>> 
>>>>> On 29 Dec 2016 3:41 p.m., "Nick Walters" <nickw@bl...co.uk> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> I've cut and pasted my interview below as Virgin email is being wank 
>>>>> about emailing hyperlinks.
>>>>> 
>>>>> NW2
>>>>> 
>>>>> ----------------
>>>>> Interview: The Blue Aeroplanes? Gerard Langley
>>>>> 
>>>>> *?  The cult indie band?s frontman talks to We Are Cult about the 
>>>>> new 
>>>>> album and what 2017 may hold for the Blue Aeroplanes.*
>>>>> 
>>>>> I?ve been following the trajectory of the Blue Aeroplanes for nigh 
>>>>> on 
>>>>> thirty years, and so I was honoured to have the opportunity to talk 
>>>>> to Aeroplanes frontman Gerard Langley before the band?s traditional 
>>>>> Christmas gig at the Fleece (which they own) on Friday 16 December. 
>>>>> An instantly recognisable figure, in his ray-bans, black garb and 
>>>>> tousled black hair, Gerard looks every inch the rock?n?roll beat 
>>>>> poet 
>>>>> that he is. A man with an encyclopaedic knowledge of music and vast 
>>>>> experience in the music business, Gerard is Head of Songwriting and 
>>>>> Music Business Tutor at the Bristol branch of the British and Irish 
>>>>> Modern Music Institute. Gerard lives in the same part of Bristol as 
>>>>> me, so I have encountered him quite a few times in shops or out and 
>>>>> around the area (he once walked past my kitchen window as I was 
>>>>> doing 
>>>>> the washing-up), and conversed with him before and after gigs, but 
>>>>> this is the first time I have actually formally interviewed him. As 
>>>>> my experience of interviewing rock stars is zero (I drunkenly 
>>>>> interviewed indie band The Wood Children at Wolves Poly in 1988), I 
>>>>> was quite nervous, but I shouldn?t have been, as Gerard is an 
>>>>> affable 
>>>>> dude, clearly proud of his band, and excited about the new album and 
>>>>> what
>>> 2017 may hold for the Blue Aeroplanes.
>>>>> 
>>>>> We talked in the attic-like dressing room in the Fleece whilst other 
>>>>> band members such as Chris Sharp (bass), Bec Jevons and Mike Youe 
>>>>> (guitars) came and went. I made a lame joke about Christmas not 
>>>>> being 
>>>>> Christmas without a Blue Aeroplanes gig. ?Not in Bristol, anyway!? 
>>>>> said Gerard. I started the interview proper by drawing a comparison 
>>>>> between the Blue Aeroplanes and The Fall.
>>>>> 
>>>>> *NW:** It strikes me that the Blue Aeroplanes are a lot like The 
>>>>> Fall ?
>>>>> both bands have been around for a long time and seen many line-up
>>> changes.
>>>>> However, the current line up of both bands is quite stable; with the 
>>>>> Fall it?s ten years, with the Aeroplanes, it?s..?*
>>>>> 
>>>>> *GL:* Four and a half years. The main difference between the 
>>>>> Aeroplanes and The Fall is that we?ve had a lot of members, but they 
>>>>> tend to be line-ups that stick around for a bit, make a couple of 
>>>>> albums, then it all changes. It?s not people constantly drifting. 
>>>>> But 
>>>>> we haven?t had a stable line-up really since, probably, 
>>>>> Swagger/Beatsongs [1990-91]. People stick around for a long time but 
>>>>> they never overlap a record, so I was always putting out a record 
>>>>> with one line-up and touring it with another. So this is the first 
>>>>> time really since the early albums that we?ve had a line-up that?s 
>>>>> written the stuff, recorded it, and is now playing it live. The other
>>> difference is, of course, I get on with former band members!
>>>>> 
>>>>> *NW:** I know you see yourself as a national band first, and 
>>>>> international band second, but you are synonymous with the Bristol 
>>>>> music scene, you own the Fleece, and Bristol often turns up in your 
>>>>> songs. Does it bother you that when articles appear about the 
>>>>> Bristol 
>>>>> music scene, you are seldom mentioned?*
>>>>> 
>>>>> *GL:* Well, Bristol decided it was gonna go trip-hop and not guitar 
>>>>> bands! We can?t do anything about it. Apparently we?re included in 
>>>>> RyanAir?s guide to Bristol, alongside Bananarama!
>>>>> 
>>>>> *NW:* *The new album is extremely poppy and accessible, in direct 
>>>>> contrast to ?Anti-Gravity? [the band?s previous album, released in 
>>>>> 2011] Was this deliberate?*
>>>>> 
>>>>> *GL:* To an extent, yeah. ?Anti-Gravity? was done a lot around jams 
>>>>> with various different musicians, but ?Welcome, Stranger!? was 
>>>>> fairly 
>>>>> stable. It was basically, initially, me and Bec and Mike, working on 
>>>>> loads of material on stage at the Fleece. And the material we came 
>>>>> up 
>>>>> with was so immediate and really strong. It?s a long time since 
>>>>> Anti-Gravity, so I had a lot of words, and I was picking up all the 
>>>>> best ideas from those to make it quite hooky and strong. And then we 
>>>>> thought, well, we?ve got all these really good songs now, so we?d 
>>>>> better record them properly. So we actually went into a really good 
>>>>> studio with a really good engineer, and thought, right, we?re going 
>>>>> to
>>> record this to a major label standard, just a lot quicker.
>>>>> 
>>>>> *NW:* *The production is absolutely beautiful, very sharp and clean, 
>>>>> it really brings the songs to life.*
>>>>> 
>>>>> *GL*: But it?s still basically the all band playing live ? two or 
>>>>> three takes, max.
>>>>> 
>>>>> *NW:* *There?s a very sixties, psychedelic sound to the album.*
>>>>> 
>>>>> *GL:* Sixties but punkier.
>>>>> 
>>>>> *MY [Mike Youe, Aeroplanes guitarist]:* It was recorded at Vale 
>>>>> *[Worcestershire recording studio situated in a Georgian manor house 
>>>>> renowned for its retro
>>>>> equipment]* using a vintage Neve console, and ?classic? microphones, 
>>>>> so that might contribute to it.
>>>>> 
>>>>> *NW*: *The production on ?Swagger?, your most acclaimed album, in 
>>>>> comparison, at least to these ears, sounds awfully flat and 
>>>>> uninspired. It seems to smother the songs.*
>>>>> 
>>>>> *GL:* To be honest this is one of the first albums we?ve ever done, 
>>>>> apart from ?Bop Art? *[the band?s first album released in 1984]*, 
>>>>> where I actually really like the production. I always thought the 
>>>>> production on our albums sounded a bit tame ? it should have sounded 
>>>>> louder, on things like Swagger.
>>>>> 
>>>>> *NW:** I like the cover, it somehow reflects the playful mood of the
>>>>> album.*
>>>>> 
>>>>> *GL:* Yeah ? I was trying to get people to do artwork based on 
>>>>> retro-friendly aliens and rockets, but it nothing seemed to work so 
>>>>> I 
>>>>> just bought a rocket myself!
>>>>> 
>>>>> *NW:* *The guitar riffs in Sweet Like Chocolate, and in other places 
>>>>> on the album sound remarkably like the distinctive style of Angelo 
>>>>> Bruschini [former Aeroplanes member and legendary guitarist who 
>>>>> featured on Massive Attack?s Mezzanine album]. Was this a deliberate 
>>>>> attempt to sound like the ?planes of old or was it? how can I put 
>>>>> this? alchemy?*
>>>>> 
>>>>> *GL:* Well whilst we were jamming, I played Bec *[Bec Jevons, 
>>>>> Aeroplanes
>>>>> guitarist]* some early Aeroplanes?
>>>>> 
>>>>> *BJ:* And I said, Wow, this is just like the stuff my band is doing! 
>>>>> I?d not really properly listened to the Aeroplanes before, but it 
>>>>> just came out that way, kind of semi-accidentally.
>>>>> 
>>>>> *GL:* With Mike* [Youe, Aeroplanes guitarist]*, there?s a mutual 
>>>>> influence, in the shape of Richard Thompson, who played modally. So 
>>>>> did Angelo, and so does Mike ? so they?re going to sound similar 
>>>>> because they?re coming from the same place.
>>>>> 
>>>>> *NW:* *Is the album, and the upcoming tour, a conscious decision to 
>>>>> try to get new fans on board? To ?welcome strangers?, as it were?*
>>>>> 
>>>>> *GL:* Let?s put it this way. This Christmas gig used to do all 
>>>>> right, 
>>>>> but never used to sell out. Three years ago, it sold out on a 
>>>>> walk-up, so on the night. Last year, it sold out a few days in 
>>>>> advance. This year, it sold out six weeks in advance. So, there?s a 
>>>>> curve, and if I can get that curve into other cities and promoters 
>>>>> go 
>>>>> with it? Because normally, if a band who?s been going a quite a long 
>>>>> time like us, like Theatre of Hate, draw 250, then that?s their 
>>>>> audience ? 250 people. But we?re actually growing an audience here, 
>>>>> and in London, places where we play regularly, we?re building an 
>>>>> audience as if the Blue Aeroplanes was a new band. We?ve got a 
>>>>> promoter on board with that, and if we can get the venues on board 
>>>>> with that, and give it a go, like a new band, say right we?ll play 
>>>>> 150 in Liverpool then 300 next time, we?ll see where it goes. At the
>>> moment we?re literally just writing the songs.
>>>>> 
>>>>> *NW:* *After the forthcoming tour, are you planning further dates 
>>>>> later in the year?*
>>>>> 
>>>>> *GL:* One of the reasons for this tour in January, apart from that?s 
>>>>> when the album?s coming out is, I don?t know if I can manage it, but 
>>>>> I want to have a go, is to get two albums out in a year. I can?t 
>>>>> guarantee it, because the quality?s got to be there, but if I can, 
>>>>> I?ll get another out in October/November.
>>>>> 
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> The Blue Aeroplanes mailing list
>>>>> BluePlanes@bl...org
>>>>> http://www.blueaeroplanes.org/
>>>> 
>>>> 
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