If the spirit of the band needed to be elevated in last weeks, the best thing possible happened to us during the end of this week. We started recording of the second album and in the first two days we have recorded four tracks plus having two already recorded in a past in a can. We finally choose Dušan Neuwerth as a producer and we had a fantastic time collaborating with him. Recording in studio Moskva at Barrandov Film Studios, Prague we took all advantages of this vintage/modern vintage studio and achieved sound and atmosphere we were dreaming about from the day we finished the debut album. With a support of sound engineer Lukáš and manager of the studio Risto we had everything we needed being focused just on music. We recorded some really heavy stuff, some really weird stuff and some quite exceptional stuff for a post-punk band. See for yourself:

Festival season just started (yesterday we played Mezi Ploty in Prague) and one of the most important european music projects and festivals – Europavox – just released their annual compilation of the best european music. We are proud that our song Don’t give a Damn was chosen as one of the most interesting songs in the Rock category and is a part of this double CD containing 31 songs from the whole Europe.

As these control-addicts in Brussels go nuts (and if all countries sent people like we sent, no fucking wonder – it has to be an unbelievable mighty brain-trust), we are facing more and more of really clever and time-proven directions which make Europe a very strong competitor to USA and Emirates for example. Scotland has to put their pipes down as they are too loud and can damage your ears. That’s probably the reason behind their strange English accent. So the new European direction should change it and help people of Scotland and mainly tourist from Brussels to enjoy traditional Scottish music with no fear! Brilliant. What about these kilts? Aren’t they a bit, y’know what I mean, like transvestite? Is a transvestitism a norm for Europe? No! I think I can be a parliamentarian in Brussels. I am just worried if my English is not too good for that. I think that all amplifiers with power over 5W should be banned and acoustic drums too, including tambourines and cow-bells. So all cows should be equipped with electronic beepers instead to avoid a hear-loss for all Austrian visitors. Lets stick to electronic pads and chinese-made amp-modeling gadgets for the ultimate rocknroll music (I mean the European version of course – I don’t play the US version as I don’t want to break the import quotes). Next time: Do you have a piano at home? You will be sued!

Here is the whole article in TimesOnline

(if the pictures included in this post don’t animate, click them for gif slideshows. there may be a bug in wordpress.com right now)
photos (c) Soulmate, Stevie LFO, Destroyer, Ringwraith

Three days on road last week. Party bigger than bang and Adrian found himself exhausted and I found myself today…

Zlín was simply fantastic. We starred later than planned because people were unable to get in so we were waiting. When we finally showed up, there was a lot over a thousand people in Golem club looking eagerly for music, dance and entertainment. We had a great night though. Amazing crowd, pogo dance and reaction. A gig you will remember.

Day before, in Ústí, we had a chance to see Control (film by Anton Corbijn) and it’s not so bad as I heard. It’s a nice film with just a little too much literality expressed through the connection of the actual story and music, resp.lyrics of Ian Curtis. But it is touching and true-to-the-reality biopic, plus a great visually aesthetic entertainment. The after-party had a atmosphere of the film as the whole town looks a lot like Macclesfield. We had a good time and so the people who came to see us after the film. Tucznak and his father showed up as well as Tcha-Tcha and her boyfriend (is he called Martin?). Stevie performed Máj by K.H. Mácha and The Prostitutes hazard their reputatiton by playing She’s lost control live.

Ostrava welcomed us with a big article in Mladá Fronta Dnes newspaper and we expected quite a lot. Especially when some of our posters covered Daniel Panda’s ones. My phone, lost in Zlín and found by Stevie again, was finally totally broken so I spent some time by shopping for new one (unsuccessfully). Boomerang is closed, so instead of this traditional place for rock concerts, we played in Templ, the place where I attacked our prime minister last year. Soulmate and Ringwraith showed up. Thay had a little anniversary with us as he had a 20th and she had a 10th gig of The Prostitutes in Ostrava. We bought them to their surprise a bottle of sparkling wine during the concert inviting them to stage to celebrate. We agreed that we will turn our concert in České Budějovice in a little party staying there with Soulmate and her friends. Then we went t the car and we took off to our country road. The rest is in Adrian’s previous post.

As you can see on the pictures above, I had a first live appearance with my new Fender Telecaster ‘52 beauty I bought last week which plays so clean, so dynamic and overall so well that I was floored immediately. Big thanx to GuitarPark.cz for help, support and good taste for guitars! Looking forward for a strat this week coming from US. Then the Gibson/Fender forces will be in balance again.

Anne Marie sent me an email saying she is finishing a music video for Don’t Give A Damn with The Dad. I am so looking forward.

This week we have a couple of really important meetings concerning the recording. Cross fongers for us please!

There is a repotage (in three parts) done by Pavel Kučera for Knokaut, TV Óčko from our concert in Lucerna Music Bar:

We do plan some gigs, so stay tuned. In couple of days we will confirm first club dates as well as some first summer festivals. We are also going to play a charity gig for our beloved Bumbaris Paris, announced while it will be finally confirmed, and 26. March (finally some real confirmed date) we will play in Plzeň, Pod lampou, together with Kill The Dandies (looking forward!).

Adrian and his wife Bianca invited me and Eleonora and our children to a cottage in a mountains for couple of days. We nod with a pleasure and we go. And we are taking all the recording stuff with us. We have a lot to record, so hopefully we will nail couple of tracks during our stay. “Yes, but we will have to ski as well.” says Adrian and I nod with a recording machine hidden in my ski-gloves.

After two months, the Ric is back from a service, being in a better condition than ever. God bless Mr. Kobrle! New acquisition is the Moog Little Phatty. The best sounding analog beast (you can afford) and you know what, I don’t mind the name!

Download here the set of icons/avatars made by Kaki Bonham if you like. You can use them, for an example, as profile pictures on your network profiles and support your favorite band by that.

The funniest title of an album in a perspective of today’s music business? Beatles For Sale, for sure.

First of all, thanx! The atmosphere was great and so the after-party! You were so electrifying that i smashed my most beloved guitar on the floor finding it later on in two peaces. The head is broken and half of it is separated from the body and the body is cracked. What a destroyer… Hopefully a glue and Mr. Kobrle will join the forces and make miracles.

There is a link, where you can download Slap Your Plastics warm-up set from Akropolis as a mix-tape:

LINK

And Tucznak aka SYP did also a couple of pictures during the show and captured two lo-fi videos.

PHOTOS

And this was the setlist of that night:

WIRED TO KILL
SHE’S A PROSTITUTE
THANK YOU
DISTORTION DANCING DESTRUCTION
EJECT
DON’T GIVE A DAMN
SPIDER
HOLIDAY
SHE’S DEAD
SUNSHINE

BLUE FRIDAY
GET ME OUT OF HERE
SUBSTITUTE

SHE’S A MONSTER

Oh my, we started and finished the second week of our tour. It means – we are still alive. Ústí nad Labem at Ulita and Hořovice at Labe. Cool gigs with you really enjoying the show. We felt we played well yesterday and we enjoyed the show. Despite that, Adrian is ill, I am still a bit out of full service and we had to cancel today’s appearance at Sázava fest. The second week of tour also opened a chapter called “On the road with Clou”. Good guys with the right sense of rock’n'roll. Music very different to ours. But in backstage this seems to be not very important. Very good musicians and fine lads. Our technician Švadla provides unbeatable service and most of the time takes care not only of our instruments but also of a good mood provided by his relaxed and highly professional attitude and edgy sense of humor. Adam was quite impressed and so other guys. We changed our stage layout and we are quite alright with that. But still, it seem strange to Adrian and Stevie has a bit too much bass standing in front of Hiwatt/Ampeq 4 channel amplifier. Heading Morava again next week we are full of expectations.

By the way, for gear-geeks, I am very excited about my new Gibson ES-335. It is a Memphis custom shop and it’s the fat neck version. I am getting old probably but this old-school blues/rock suits my feeling right now. I spent tonight some time with this guitar recording couple of new ideas into Logic Pro 8 which seems to me still quite complex but despite that way more user friendly than ProTools. Also Luk’s new/old Ludwig drums make him sound way better than before. They are all-original 60’s custom shop drums with brand new hardware and they sparkle:-)

Yes, out of the pictures Tucznak gave me there is one more kind of interesting. There is Adrian, Smity and Stevie, so these two pictures cover the whole band. There is also Matej, son of Stevie and last but not least this is the first picture where you can spot Smity’s new Hiwatt Custom 200. Guess who’s the maker of the cabinet underneath… Yeah, Hiwatt endorsement program manager should definitely do something with that!