Two-date tour complete

General News

On my personal visit back to the UK I ventured into the public eye for two shows.  Leeds and London, as mentioned below. A short summary as far as I can remember is as follows:

(Brudenell Social Club + (2 x Cheese Savoury Sandwiches) + (2 x pint of booze) / Stack of milk crates) + Neil Turpin = Biggest bruise ever on inside leg just below the knees.

((Lexington + sell-out) / babybel cheeses) + Banana + renewed sense of self = Slow-motion rock cliche.

There are still some A2 size posters available. I will update shortly with a way to order some signed ones, if the desire so approaches you.

Keep your eyes peeled for some movements later this year.

ADDENDUM: I may have turned into one of those guys who in no way acknowledges their support act.

Many thanks to Maggie8 for stepping in to open for the Brudenell show. They have been making ‘Hindi Indie’ for a while. My first chance to hear… find them here: www.maggie8band.com

Big thanks to Geese for Lexington. My new favourite band: geesemusic

Get into this!

General News

To cheer up those post-Christmas blues and the sadness of embarking upon yet another year, I will perk you up with two exclusive performances while I’m back over.

Thursday 12th January – LEEDS – Brudenell Social Club.

Leeds:
http://www.brudenellsocialclub.co.uk/Event/Details/283

Friday 13th January – LONDON – The Lexington.

London:
http://thelocal.tv/listings/eventdetails/13-jan-12-david-thomas-broughton-plus-special-guests-geese-the-lexington/

I know what the superstitious of you are all thinking…  It will perhaps be unlucky for some, yes.  As you know, I do ‘divide audiences’. I’ll be as inclusive as I can be.  Don’t worry your little heads.

Bandcramp

General News

Back in 2007 David and Katrine went on a tour of the UK, David playing some shows. Much of the time they stayed in nice Bed & Breakfasts, or more often in some promoters spare room or even more often in their actual bed while they took the couch, such is the way…

One stop was Edingborough, in Snotland. In this ancient haunted city, David and Katrine were kindly welcomed by Emily ‘tracer trails’, treated to the frail delights of The Wee Rogue, recieved a CDr of what has now become a favourite record (My Kappa Roots) and all kinds of other things that playing a gig entails… The venue was the Bedlam Theatre, a converted old religious edifice, a great performance space. Katrine sat in the audience and held the microphone. This show was kept on minidisc and only briefly listened to in the years betwixt then and now.

Now, to the amazement of two or three people, the show is available to be heard. In it’s entirety. On Bangstamp, the new user friendly music sharing platform. Sorry, Bandcamp.

So.  The announcement:

The Estate of David Thomas Broughton have gone and done a Brandcamp:

davidthomasbroughton.bandcamp

It will be populated with live shows.

These will be available for download for you to keep. Shut your eyes. And listen.

Lord Don’t Use Cusswords by David Thomas Broughton

Well… so… erm…

General News

Here we are then, a while it has been.

David has been busy away from music although the music is still busy away from David.

Outbreeding has a scheduled release in the USA – on 4th October: With what seem like incredibly decent chaps and chapesses at Paper Garden Records: http://www.papergardenrecords.com/bands/records/david-thomas-broughton

I just wanted to share – as I was perusing the archives during a spare hour clutching my guts and wishing I hadn’t eaten so much the night before – this unreleased EP of music I made at some point over the last few years.

Futile and Precious EP by dtb

It is actually some short pieces prepared using a broke version of Ableton which quits every two or three minutes (so I have to be quick) along with some cuts from the first session at Press Play studios where we just ran through some ideas in one take.

Bon vivre and violet beauregardes to you all.

David

(yes I did refer to myself in the 3rd person back then)

And the final installment…

General News

A restful few days off in London, where I mostly didn’t do much. Felt I was getting ill in Cardiff a little so the rest proved of value. So this brings me to Saturday 28th. This was the Brainlove all day event in the Windmill Brixton. I went early intending to be part of some filmed sessions which never happened, I helped decorate the place in its stead.

Musically Brainlobe attracts affable oddballs like Mat Riviere, Pagan Wanderer Lu, Napoleon iiird, Bastardgeist from Chicago, some nuts Estonians he encountered recently in Tallinn Music Week, and myself. It was nice to see Bear Driver and Rob St john too. Recommended.

After the mess and magic of the previous night it was going to be difficult for Norwich to pull anything out of the bag. Well it did. It was a shopping bag from the market, and it was food what was pulled out. Thank you Ros for what I can now officially call best in tour. The show was long and a struggle against some tiredness I had accumulated. I tried to liven or perhaps just change the formula a little for this one time and asked Tawny Owl if they wanted to join in towards the rear of my set and they jumped at it.  Some lovely lads what played a Brainlove, huddled around one amp in the rain, now had their individual amps and some space in the dry. Drone and distortion backing band. Well done.

Onwards, after an outburst at Norwich Train Station where I thought I wouldn’t make it to the Manchester show. I apologise again to the station staff for that. The next train got me there just in time so no worries, silly David. The rail journey up to Manchester is really nice, you go through the lowlands of Norfolk and Cambridgshire which are fine in themselves, I swear I saw a bullfinch on a wire, when I was looking at the collard dove, it was just there. Then you pass through the Peak District a little later, like great cross section of British Countryside or what? Then, for all you brick fans, you go into Manchester via Stockport…

I arrive with just enough time to get off at Oxford Road Station, fly down the steps and cross to the Palace Hotel to sign in and get my pass for ‘Eurocultured’ Festival – I am in the Arch, and it is a stage set up in a massive railway arch (I was just on top of this arriving by train). With genuine stalactites and filth. Oh, and appalling sound and five engineers struggling to find out how to make it work. We all survived it though. I caught the end of Spokes (who I have liked in the past) and watched Kyrie Kristmanson and Bushman’s Revenge. Amazingly the festival had rooms at the Palace Hotel (big rooms – highest ceilings – unnecessarily large windows – history).

The next morning I just make it to my train after a breakfast at the ‘Spoons. And so to Oxford. I arrive in warm sunshine and I don’t need to tell you how much better anywhere looks with this factor at play. I laze around for a bit admiring some old college or church or something. I find out where to go for the gig and go there. This lovely little church where our show was the first of it’s kind in the place. Delightful. Rob and Emma looked after me very well and it was a pleasure to meet them.

It would be hard to beat this high. The show was accompanied by Sebastian from Braindead Collective on the piano. Not to mention a cameo from Rob towards the climax. I enjoyed this one immensely.

It was not beaten by Cambridge the next day. Cambridge, I’m afraid, did not have the pleasant atmosphere of Oxford. They had my last show for a while and it was intense. And having residence for the night in Girton college, not to mention a fry up in the refectory in the morning. I must say that James put a lot of effort into the show and it was a full room so he did well. AND, the Padang Food Tigers were excellent. I guess, over time, I will reassess my opinion of the place. My mind was already on the plane back East.

 

 

 

 

Tour continues…

General News

Where did we get up to. I think it was Leiden in The Netherlands. Well, De Burcht is a little medieval tower on a hill, next to it is a bar and performance space, like an arts centre or something.  There was a big wedding going on in the church next door and a mobile disco was arriving as I returned from my wander around the town. If you ever visit Leiden you should visit Leiden. It’s a pretty place. The calmness of the Dutch is somewhat disconcerting, but you’ll get used to it. Thank you Vincent Klinkenberg for being so hospitable.

Vincent kindly put me on a train the next day to Rotterdam. A stark contrast, a mess of skyscrapers and construction work. Luckily, De Machinist, is in an area where you have to pass through some genuinely old streets. It is an impressive cultural centre built out of an old warehouse/factory. The guys who put on the show had an idea for a kind of show…introduced by a song about the nights proceedings, then an interview on stage with the performers before they played their sets and a tombola, prizes of dubious quality swiped from their own flat.  Two guys from Poland had come simply to see one of the support acts: Buddha Machine 2.0 – which was a buddha machine played through the PA for half an hour. So I sometimes see if support acts will join me in my set a little. Buddha Machine 2.0 agreed (which was nice since I’d separated from mine in Lille).

In the evening following the show I endured a Eurovision Song Contest party, it happened to be where I was staying, so I had no choice really. The apartment was infested with mice and reeked of stale cigarettes. Every room was filled with ashtrays brimming with butts, even the loos. “I’m running, I’m scared of Breathing”. They were sweet kids though.

My next stop, after sneaking out of Rotterdam, was Ghent. I arrive in the evening and leave first thing in the morning to get the Eurostar from Brussels, so I don’t see Ghent/Gent, which is apparently a shame (but I wouldn’t know). But what a challenge playing in such close company is. I enjoy it though. See this. Kris Bauwens is definately who you should go to if you need to play in Gent. What a gent.

Eurochunnelling back to London.

My first show back in the (not so) United Kingdom is in Reading. What a great show, venue and staff. Liz Janes was really good, I only caught one song because I was busy in the dressing room….dressing of course. I also peeped out for a song of Wild Swimmers, which I enjoyed. My new favourite prop is the ice cube. And downing two litres of water during the set. Adds new meaning to the term ‘the wee hours’ when I get back to London.

Brighton next: I am tired and on my own and it is starting to catch up with me. Sarabeth Tuceck plays, I listen. She scoots away, I play, some people listen. I stuff my own face into a pint glass of water. The people at Shhh promotions will cook some nice food for you.I get back to London in the wee hours.

Liverpool Sound City. I arrive to find an empty bar with Al Highton and Liz Janes sitting happily waiting for something to happen. The show is a pleasant and quiet affair – Liz and Al have to play their beautiful hushed sets to the sound of fat scouse men walking right in front of them, creaking the wooden floor, loudly. I would like to hope that when I cam on I did make those fatties listen. After my show I go for a nightcap with Luke Drozd and Graham Pilling, yes, the poster dudes from Leeds (well Luke’s in London now) and after yawning through Yuck we opted for pizza and bed.

I go for my train when I wake, a coffee and pastry from Upper Crust before going (the cheaper way to train from Liverpool to London) via Birmingham – you get to walk through central Birmingham to go to what I consider the nicest little station: Birmingham Moor Street. I treated myself to a latte and baked potato in the cafe in Moor Street, sit down, admire the old GWR map on the wall, eat, then go to board my train to London.

So to London. Flippin’ London. Big Ol’ London. I have enough time to get back to where I’m staying and have a shower before getting up to Kings Place, the new place…by Kings Cross…where the Guardian now have their offices. Oh, near Farringdon? No they moved. Despite some confusion as to where the dressing room was, initially being crammed in with a clump of classical musicians eating neat sandwiches, we prepare for a show with Howard on drums and Johnny on bass. Two Wings are checking. And Liz Janes comes to play again. T’was nice to see the old colleagues from work, and other familiar faces. Two litres of water drunk again. Bursting at the end I was.

London was over. Hastings was next. Well, St Leonards on Sea. This one came about simply because I share a sir-name with someone. Challenged him to put on a show, and a show he did put on. This was one of the nicest. They were real kind and all their friends lovely. Despite some characters in the crowd I think I came out on top.

I was given a house of my own, in the morning I cooked some eggs. The house was on the side of the old town, up by the funicular, where it gets illuminated by the evening sun. I had to run off to the station

Wales was, well read this. It turned out OK and I discovered genuine decent people in the forms of Joe Coleman, The Gentle Good and Meilir:

http://soundcloud.com/meilirmusic/shifting-time

I have some Lunch, A Welsh Rarebit (cheese on toast with mustard, to you and I), and a wander with Meilir. If you are in Cardiff and want to feel like you are from Cardiff go to this wonderful exhibition, at the old library, you’ll reaise that Cardiff is a real place after all. A regular Stagecoach, single deck, bus, with no toilet, hired by Megabus, takes me back to London.

There is a break of a few days before I play again…