Down the Rabbit Hole - Issue 4 - MAR

Down the Rabbit Hole

Issue 4 1st October

Feat: Love Zombies The Beatles Sausage Party

COntents: Contents: Editors Notes: This month is packed with goodies! We have not two but three interviews for you to read. These include two exclusive interviews with the bands of The Amorettes and Love Zombies. Go and give them a read. We also have album reviews, Spotify playlists and our usual artists in review.

Check out the contents list to see what we have in store this month’s issue.

Happy Reading, Editor, Rachel Colley.

Mad Alice Records.

Contents: Production: Piano Mic’ing - 4-6 Interview: VoirVoir- 7-9 Love Zombies - 21-23 The Amorettes - 25-27 Reviews: The Beatles - 10-11 Die Antwoord - 14-15 Sausage Party - 18-20 In Review: Black Surf - 16-17 Lost Gloss - 16-17 Blood Orange - 16-17 Robocobra Quartet - 16-17 Top 5: Top 5 of the month - 12-13 Gig Guide: October Gigs - 29

Production:

Mic’ing mic’ing Piano Piano: Pianos come in many different shapes and sizes and therefore each are played differently and recorded differently.

Other than the electric piano, there are two main types of acoustic piano, one is Grand Piano, which is probably one of the most famous types and is usually use in big areas as it needs space.

The second is an upright piano. This is another well used kind as it sounds good but is a lot more compact as the strings are vertical in the piano instead of horizontal. This allows it to be stored in smaller areas compared to the grand piano.

One major check you need to do before recording the piano is tuning. This is because pianos are very hard to tune, and usually you would pay someone to come in and tune it for you, but you can do it yourself with the right tools. One other major reason it changes tuning is moisture in the air and the temperature, as these can change how the strings sound. One certain piano you can get a machine that monitors the moisture levels and can change it so that the piano stays in tune.

Mic’ing mic’ing Piano Piano: Recording upright piano is one of the easiest techniques to set up, as all you need to do is set up two microphones facing down towards the strings. These should be around three octaves apart and should be centred around the ones the player is playing the most. Another way is to fully open up the back of the piano, this allows sound to reverb a lot more around the room. When recording like this, still have the two at the top facing downwards, but also add a room microphone, facing the strings from around a meter and a half away as to help pick up the sound of the room.

Similar setup can be used with the grand piano, with two microphones placed above the strings (around 15 to 20cm above this time) again, try and place them around three octaves apart as it helps capture a wide spread. Feel free to place them closer or further away this time to really capture the desired sound.

Another trick I like to do is to place a microphone at the bottom of the piano facing towards the top of the piano at around a 45 degree angle. This is because it can nicely capture parts of the piano the other two miss and can capture a really nice reverb the piano creates.

VoirVoiR: VoirVoir:

Voir Voir: First off, welcome! Hope you guys are doing well. So, how did Voir Voir come about? Can you give us a little background on the band?

Matt M + April: Thanks for talking with us! VoirVoir started as a kind of break from other bands for April and myself. We holed up in the studio and wrote simple songs, entirely for the love of making something together. I (Matt had played with Matt J in a band before and recorded Josh’s band at our recording space so they were pretty much a shoe-in.

You were recently featured on the front page of BandCamp Daily blog posts. How was this experience for the band? Did you find it surreal when you saw the article on the front page?

Matt M: I respect how bandcamp is helping level the playing field for DIY bands and have used it for years, so it was amazing to get texts and messages from people freaking out that we were on the front page. I had no idea when we sat down with Daniel Ralston to chat that it was going to be that big!

Josh: Being featured on the front page of BandCamp was so cool. I use Bandcamp a lot, so seeing myself and something I'm a part of on a site that I frequent definitely felt surreal. The short interview with Dan felt comfortable and the least bit awkward, as some interviews can seem.

Matt J: it was cool to see on the front page of BandCamp. It's great to be recognized for any hard work you do.

Voir Voir hails from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the US. What is the music scene like there? Is it a close-knit community? Are there any bands from that area that we need to know about?

Matt M: I’m always over-enthusiastic and hopeful for our little music scene--there are as many good, forward thinking bands, artists, and people as you can find anywhere else, in any scene in this country. I think two factors that limit what you would call unity is how spread out everything/everyone is(and lack of robust public transportation) and a lack of local media support---our entertainment press is old and a little out of touch. I think if these things were improved, it would be a more united scene. But still, bands from Bethlehem (and neighbouring Allentown) are made up of local people, and Philly people, sometimes even Brooklyn people, which I think speaks to the calibre of artists here.

Matt J: Bethlehem music scene is very full and bustling however there's no real "unity" and the music scene will always be a clique and popularity contest unfortunately and it leaves only a handful of bands/people who are really in it and support ALL the musicians/the scene. It could be greater than it is.

The majority of the active working bands in Bethlehem are worth checking out. Lots of different tastes....just Google "Bethlehem, PA bands" I’m sure you’ll find something you like.

Josh: Bethlehem is a real tight community for sure. We have a lot of folks here that are committed to supporting the arts and providing spaces and services for artists to perform and be themselves. There are so many bands around Bethlehem that rule, but two of my favourite bands from the area are Explorers (math rock/progressive) and Cold Fronts who are more Philly based, but still rule.

‘There are no Good Goodbye’s’ is your debut album. How was the recording process for this album?

Did you know exactly what kind of record that you wanted to produce beforehand?

Matt M: We went into it wanting to faithfully capture the songs we wrote and share a story--how it all came about sonically happened live, very raw--all the swirling feedback was how we sounded when tracking it in our studio Shards, the same place we practice. I still don’t know what kind of record it is!

We did some refining and sweeting after the live recording but the idea was to let the songs breath.

Your album definitely has a 90’s feel to it. What artists from the 90’s have influenced you to create this sound?

Voir Voir: Matt M: What I love about the 90s (some90s) is how you can almost hear a lack of pretence in something like a Kurt Cobain guitar solo or Steve Malkmus lazy rhythm track. To me they’re saying that they’re not as important as what they’re conveying with their songs. Musical Anti-heroes.

Josh: I have always loved Weezer and Superchunk. And always will.

It was stated in the article in BandCamp that you are important in the music scene in your hometown. Would you want to gain that respect from other places, even outside your state, in the next few years or are you content with being important in your neighbourhood?

Matt M: Of course it would be great if we were respected far outside our local sphere, and it would be wonderful to go to those places, but if we cause anyone, anywhere, at any point to make a solid positive choice, pick up an instrument and, write a song, or just play and feel a little better, that’s all I could ever hope for.

Matt J: I'd like to be important everywhere not just in the tiny tiny world of Bethlehem, PA. Josh: I would love to get out more and be part of other music scenes. It would be great to have a following in more places than just Bethlehem, especially in places like Philadelphia and New York City, but...

Bethlehem is home to me so I'll always be content playing here for a few friends no matter how far our reach goes.

Would you ever consider touring in the UK at some point? And if so, when do you think that would be in the bands’ career and why?

Matt M: YES! I’ve already looked into hypnosis so I can get myself to fly and boat rides in case the hypnosis doesn’t take.. I feel like we could do a small UK and Europe tour sooner than later, at least from what bands we’ve met from there say--we’ve had 2 from Italy and one from Spain come thru our town in the last 9 months!

Matt J: i want to tour everywhere all the time, ASAP.... especially UK & Europe!

Josh: I would tour the UK in a heartbeat. No questions asked. In fact I'm already packed, can I sleep on your floor?

Dreaming big now, how do the band see themselves five years down the line? What are the band hoping for in the long term?

Matt M: I would be content being able to tour 2-3 months out of the year, return to write and work to save money in-between, then repeat.

Matt J: 5 years from now I want to be making music and not struggling to support myself as an artist and musician. Would like the band to be stronger and have greater success Bringing the band back to reality a little bit, what are the band’s plans for the foreseeable future?

Any tours planned, new music to be created?

Matt M: I’m writing you on the Monday after a long weekend of April and I wrapping up the skeleton of writing for the next album, which we’ll start practicing and pre-producing in the next few weeks and hopefully recording it soon thereafter!

Matt J: In the future... more albums, tours and good times are in the foreseeable future.

The Beatles:

The THe Beatles: If there was one band that I never expected to be reviewing, it’s The Beatles. However earlier this September a remastered live album was released.

Recorded live at the Hollywood Bowl over two performances in August of 1964 and 1965 and originally released in 1977, this latest version has been remastered and expanded for this year.

It features 4 bonus tracks not included in the original release including the classic ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ (although I’m pretty sure all of their songs are considered classics these days).

This live album is a real glance into the past with the screaming fans audible for the duration of every track a testament to the heights reached by Beatlemania in its time.

Although the original release had been delayed over a decade due to poor sound quality, this remastered re-release has near perfect sound quality, especially considering that the masters are over 50 years old. The work was lead by Giles Martin, the son of The Beatles original producer George Martin.

For devoted fans this will be a definite buy, as not only is it a perfect remaster, but it’s also the first time ‘Baby’s In Black’ (one of the aforementioned bonus tracks) has been available on an album or digital download, as it could previously only be found on the ‘Real Love’ single CD

Top 5:

Top 5: Robert Glasper Experiment – Thinkin bout you As a jazz enthusiast, it was great to see more material from Robert Glasper as he keeps on building his reputation. A jazz pianist that pushes the boundaries of jazz & hip-hop to become a true contemporary of the modern era.

YouTube/Instagram: Even though this may be cheating slightly but I am dedicating this segment to a YouTube channel rather than a video or photo. Unfortunately, I have had no wifi most of this month but a channel that I can usually rely on cheering me up or inspiring me is the channel of Lindsay Mead. She was a daily vlogger now turned daily vlogger and was featured in our Instagram and YouTube wall last month. Now I believe she deserves a spot in this month’s Top 5 for just being the amazing lady that she is. Well done Lindsay!

Battlefield 1: Open Beta Open betas for games are used to get an idea of how the game will play and look overall, but is not the finished game, although there were some obvious things that needed fixing, the beta actually worked quite well and was a very fun game to play, although it did run very similarly to Star Wars: Battlefront… and played like it… and looked like it…

Mr Robot The finale of the second season of Mr Robot recently aired, and just like the first season it was a shocker. I had expected this from the show, but given the massive twist mid-way through the season I was sort of thinking it would be more lowkey. Phase 2, teased throughout the season, was finally revealed as was the fact that Tyrell Wellick is still very much alive.

If you haven’t yet got onto the Mr Robot bandwagon, now is the perfect time as the show has been renewed for a third season next year.

The Greatest by Sia This month I reviewed ‘The Greatest’ by Sia. The song stands alone as an emotive motivational piece. But the music video adds an extra dimension, paying tribute to the victims of the Pulse Orlando Shooting, Maddie Zielger wears rainbows on her face as her and her cohort of young dancers perform in an empty nightclub before falling to the floor. The video opens with the hashtag, #weareyourchildren.

Die antwoord: Antwoord:

Die Antwoord: antwoord: South African Zef act Die Antwoord’s new album, ‘Mount Ninjia and The Nice Time Kid’, follows suit with their usual, subversive (slightly sexual, at times) fast-paced rap. Simultaneously, the double act Ninja and Yolandi vi$$er challenge their old work with some slower, more seriously themed songs.

The album kicks off with ‘We Have Candy’. The only way I can find to describe this song is by encouraging you to imagine the most colossal, XD face emoticon you can imagine. The song is a bit cringey, with lines such as ‘come to the dark side, we have candy’. Luckily these are countered by Ninjas gruff, ‘Yes, but do you have coffee’. The song combines Die Antwoord’s usual heavy sound with comedic opera sections about how hot Ninja drinks his coffee like a ‘f***ing psycho’.

Comedic elements run through most of Die Antwoord’s songs, my favourite collaborative artist on this album is none other than Jack Black. The actor/musician provides an amazingly funny, croaky chorus about the reign of rats in the song ‘rats rule’ The album is also home to many new club anthems, including ‘Banana Brain’ and my favourite, ‘Gucci C*****’ which was released earlier on the bands Mix Tape remixes. The song features Vita Don Teese’s sultry narrative, ‘she gets everything she wants, she gets everything she needs, she will fuck up your whole life’ which precedes a bassy dance section.

‘Shit Just Got Real’ is a slower song featuring Sen Dog, Yolandi’s vocals are fuelled by anger. Lil Tommy Terror features on two tracks, it’s a bit odd that a young child is rapping about his genitals, but Die Antwoord have been known to feature their own child in their rat-filled music videos and never shy away from taboo.

The two songs that struck me as a little different for Die Antwoord were ‘Alien’ and ‘I Don’t Care’. Both tracks fall close to the end of the album. ‘Alien’ feels similar to the tracks first hit, ‘Enter the Ninja’, with a slow creepy nursery rhyme sounding introduction. Yolandi describes feeling like an alien due to her exclusion from normal life and the bullying she went through as a child. Though the song is sad, she reclaims her experience by owning her differences. ‘I Don’t Care’ is one of many romantic songs that the couple share. The song is, once again, a dance track. But the verses focus on the pair’s devotion to eachother, as clear in the lyrics, ‘even if the world turns against us I don’t care’.

Overall, the album is a fantastic addition to Die Antwoord’s portfolio (one that I must admit, I was already in love with) if you’re looking for something different, give Die Antwoord a try. Their style is explicit and controversial, but the Zef genre consistently questions norms and provides incredibly fresh sounds.

In Review: review:

In Review:: review: Black Surf – Let’s Pretend it’s summer It’s difficult enough being in a band, but being across two continents seems to be the key. The Fuzz rock band Black Surf proves that tenfold. With catchy riffs and lyrics, their EP ‘Let’s pretend its summer’ is sure proof that they’re a band to keep your eye on going forward. Give it a listen on Spotify and check out our review of their EP on the Mad Alice website.

Lost Gloss I do love finding new bands with a really strange sound and the review of Lost Gloss’ EP easily pointed out what I was looking for, something very lo-fi, which still produces some really nice hooks. One other point I love about the EP is the videos that accompany their music, reminds me of the post-rock band, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, as all of their shows have accompanying videos to go along with the songs.

All in all, the EP from start to finish is a really interesting concept, with experimental themes and strange alternate indie rock sounds, it honestly strikes as an amazing idea and Lost Gloss has really pulled it off!

Blood Orange Blood Orange is the pseudonym of British R&B musician Dev Hynes. He recently released his third album under that name, ‘Freetown Sound’, a brilliantly produced modern R&B record touching on the issues of the times, such as ‘Black Lives Matter’ in the US, feminism, and the racism that is seemingly everywhere.

Blood Orange is his first project focusing on alternative R&B, however Hynes has previously been involved with dance-punk band ‘Test Icicles’ from their formation in 2004 to their split in 2006 (citing that they didn’t like their own music). Following this Hynes began solo work as ‘Lightspeed Champion’ recording Indie music in Nebraska.

Freetown Sound is possibly one of the finest albums of 2016, and a highly recommended listen.

Robocobra Quartet – Correct Punk rock is a well known genre and musical combination. Experimental punk Jazz isn’t for me! With an at the Drive-in vibe from the screaming words of the drummer, who’s surrounded by menacing Sax’s. The track is a sneak peak of their upcoming album. And it’s certainly one that’s on our to-listen to list. Keep an eye out for further reviews as well as giving our previous article a read.

Sausage Party:

Sausage Party: With what I can only assume is the correct amount of caution and concern any sane human would have surrounding a film named ‘sausage party’, I sat myself down with some snacks, which became progressively harder to eat as the film went on. The trailer for ‘Sausage Party’, as you probably know, went viral some time ago with many mistaking the first minute as a kids film, knowing I was going to be watching it at some point I researched it to see how inappropriate it could really be, and was worried to see that I was in for watching many, many sex scenes between animated hot-dogs and buns.

This film aims high. It has a stellar cast, mainly composed of Seth Rogen’s usual collective. Many of which features in ‘This Is The End’ (a film of which I’m not too fond). As far as animated films about the inanimate coming to life go, this film had a lot of potential to explore. If food can become animate for the sake of entertainment, surely we have to question the fact that animals are, indeed, animate before being processed into the sausages that form our main characters. With loads to explore in the way of the food industry and greedy shoppers, the film instead focuses on cultural stereotypes. Most notably, transforming the Gaza strip into a baked goods aisle in which a lavash and a bagel feud before falling into a homoerotic relationship – reasonable, right?

It seems that the producers of this film felt that by depicting cultural stereotypes as food, they can be explored with less overt racism. Afterall, by picturing a native American as a bottle of Firecracker, can you really insult the indigenous? (of course you can).

In my opinion, depicting a bottle of German Mustard as a nazi reich ordering to ‘kill the juice’ not only forms the most forced pun on planet earth (and we’ve all made quite a few awful puns), but characterises the simple domestic products of a country as its worst stereotypes.

The film is wacky. It’s the sort of film my dad would tell me to stop taking so seriously, just enjoy it. But when the premise focuses on the taking down of the human as ‘God’, and the existential crises which occur for the characters wherein (whether this takes the form of allowing the lead hot-dog bun played by Kristen Wiig to explore her sexuality without tainting her value for customers or for Micheal Cera to accept himself as deformed despite his lowered value among humans) its hard not to take this film seriously.

Sausage Party: My main worry when watching this film was whether there would be a scene as insensitive as the ‘devil possession’ scene in ‘This Is The End’ – in which Jonah Hill’s character is sexually assaulted on screen for the sake of a punchline, which falls flat. (Jonah Hill has recently had a clash with a French Weather Presenter over this scene, see here: (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3787952/I-mglad-came-ridiculed-local-weather-girl-Jonah-Hill-irritated-French-host-makes-butt-joke-awkward-intervie w.html?0p19G=c) ). My worries were met with one of the most disturbing scenes in the film. The villain, Nick Kroll – a literal douche - (Kroll also plays DJ ‘The Douche’ in Parks & Rec) attacks a juicebox what can only be described as an abstract, but nevertheless horrific, scene of sexual assault. This character dies whilst piloting a human, let’s just say, rather like a puppeteer.

There are some genuine laughs in this film, most of which come from (Kristen wiigs) character standing up for herself, and the scene in which a young stoner’s abuse of bath salts allows him to see the food as an audience can. One of my favourite characters () a Mexican taco shell, a strong character and a clear bisexual who’s love for (Kristen Wiig) is unashamed. In the end, Seth Rogen calls for all food to unite despite its differences, ending in the murder of a fair few shoppers. This unison is something the film could’ve done with striving for earlier, but it’s a nice afterthought, which does well to dismiss some of the race related tension which has gathered so far.

Following the films resolve, the film concludes with a gigantic orgy and a meta acknowledgement in which the characters realise that they are cartoons, proceeding to mock the actors that play them.

Although the film is far-fetched, and at times way too crude, it does hold some merit in the existentialism it explores. I wouldn’t suggest this film to the faint of heart, but if you’re a fan of dark humour then it may be worth a shot.

Love Zombies:

Love ZOmbies: Zombies: It’s your first night on tour with The Amorettes. What are your expectations going to be of this tour?

Obviously to have a good time. That’s my expectation. Who knows. The equipment doesn’t work but just to have a good time. There’s so much work that goes into it that’s all I expect from a show.

Will the fans be hearing some of the songs from the new album ‘Passionfruit’?

Yes, definitely. We’re playing almost all of the new songs. Yeah, we’re going to be playing all the ones from Passionfruit except from one or two may not be on there. But mostly all of them yeah.

You’re single ‘Birthday’ was released earlier this month. Does this represent the sound of the rest of the album?

Yeah, Birthday’s a pretty good representation of it. They’re all pretty fast, punky and fun.

Before Passionfruit you released songs on BandCamp. What was the difference between releasing a full album then releasing songs?

Well, everything that we released on BandCamp so far has been kind of up until this point like kind of demos. Our EP came out and that wasn’t on BandCamp. BandCamp is a kind of testing thing though and we’d put up a song. So the difference between this was that we really wanted a studio. We paid a lot of money. We got it mixed, we got it mastered.

You recently played a stripped down show at the beginning of the month. How different was it from a regular show? Was the atmosphere different?

It was cool, I really liked it. I really enjoyed it. Definitely different, I mean we played a lot of songs that aren’t even on Passionfruit. That no one even heard yet. There were more songs that were kind of adapted acoustically better so that’s why it was different. But I think the energy was still there, we still played a lot of up beat stuff. Yeah, it was good. Stripped down it’s just two voices and a guitar. The atmosphere was intimate. Which some of our shows are intimate because they are usually smaller venues so they’re kind of intimate but yeah it was definitely a different atmosphere but I really enjoyed it as well.

What TV shows have you guys recently been into?

I really don’t watch TV. I feel like there was something. I’m really bad at television series. It’s so bad it’s really bad American shows. The Bachelorette it’s so bad it’s literally my guilty pleasure. It’s something that after a long day I like to watch but I don’t really watch TV too much.

What past times do you have when your on tour?

It’s full on really. Social media’s a past time. We’re always doing something so it’s hard though in England since there’s not a lot of internet service. You know, we try to do it so that’s the main past time. I read in the van from time to time. Social media is the main thing.

If you could learn a different instrument from the ones that you already know which ones would they be and why?

I mean I play the bass a little bit but I wish I could get better at it. I would become a better bass player.

One because I think I’d always get a job because everyone needs a bass player it’s so hard to find a bass player. Also drums would be cool. I can play a little bit, I can do a beat. I’d like to play the rock instruments you know, bass. I want to play them all. I play the guitar a little but not very well. I’d like to play piano and drums.

Love ZOmbies: Zombies: Do you have a lucky charm or anything that you bring around with you on tour?

I feel like we did. You know what we have that little Love Zombies doll. We started bringing her and I think we’ll always bring along. You know, we’ll see if she’s lucky. Who knows? After this tour she might not be.

What’s your typical day like on tour? Could you describe it to our readers?

It’s hectic. It’s fast and frantic like our songs on the CD. If you can get into the flow it’s not too bad but it’s just a lot of driving and social media and things. It depends. It can be relaxing if you get organised and it take a few days to be organised.

Do you have any plans for the future of Love Zombies and can you share any of them with us?

After this tour we’re definitely going to start doing a music video. We’re in the process of mainly looking for a record label. Hopefully getting some money for later. Money makes a lot of your plans. We’re totally self-funded band. We’re all independent. We did a pledge so our plan is to really, no matter how long it takes, to make it work. So, we’re going to go back to America after this and we’re going to start to do shows. Our agent will probably be looking at some stuff there. We’re going to be doing a video. We’re definitely going to be recording a second album. That comes later. But first we have to get this one off the right way. It’s kind of exciting because we don’t know exactly what is the plan. But the plan is going to be a lot of shows. We’re working on the merchandise, vinyl and the video.

If you could give some advice to our readers for trying to get into the music industry what would it be and why?

I guess the biggest advice is that you can’t wait for anyone to do it for you. You can’t be thinking you’re going to be a rockstar and someone’s going to come in and do everything. You can’t think like that. You have to do everything. You have to get in there and not be afraid. Do everything yourself and eventually the help will come but there’s no form of ticket. There’s no short cut. That would be the biggest advice; just don’t quit it’s gonna suck its going to be really hard. But if you continue on you’re going to get through it and then just don’t give up. And write good songs. That would be good advice if your in a band.

Become good at your instrument. Don’t worry about your clothes. That’ll come but get good at what you do. If you’re a songwriter, write good songs. That would be my advice.

The the amorettes:

The amorettes: For people who might be new to you can you give us a brief history of the band?

Yeah so we’ve been together for about six years. It’s me, my sister and Jo(?). The two of them met at Music College and were sort of spurred on by the sort of lack of female musicians around so they decided to start an all girl band and they roped me in as well. Yeah, that was about it really. We played as much as possible and released a few albums.

You’re going on tour with Love Zombies at the moment. How did you guys get to know each other?

Just through management really. We know Ginger Wildheart quite well and he was back in the country for a while so it was just through that really. Just through management and stuff. This is the first time we’ve met them today. We’ve never actually met them before.

You’ve been on the road touring before. Are there any stories you can tell us from tour?

Too many. When we were on tour last we got proposed to on stage that was quite funny. It was basically their tech, the band had dared their tech to go up and propose to us on stage mid set. So he did and that was pretty funny and now he’s my boyfriend. Yeah that was quite nice. That was one of my best memories from last year anyway.

What songs from your new album are you looking forward to playing on tour?

Well, our latest single “Let the Neighbours Call the Cops” that’s always a really good one. A lot of the songs from this new album are just very sort of very fast very hard hitting. It’s how we really like to do it.

What can the fans expect from coming to one of your shows?

A lot of sweat. A lot of broken shoes you can’t see that on radio but yeah just high energy. Rock n roll.

You released your new album “White Hot Heat”. What was the production and recording like and was it different to when you produced “Game Over”?

It was a lot more I have to say sort of professional this time. We had a producer this time. This guy from a band called Thunder. I don’t know his name. He was basically writing with Jill who is our main songwriter in the band. It was the first time ever collaborating with anyone. So that was different yeah. It’s a bit of a different album for us in that it’s a bit of departure from like “Game On” was very very punk driven really.

This one’s a bit more variety. Bit more pick and choose from different influences. It’s the best sounding album we’ve ever had.

Do you have a playlist while you’re on tour? Do you have any favourite songs you like to listen to on tour?

We all listen to different stuff. We all put our headphones in and don’t talk to each other really. We’re all into quite different stuff really. I’m very much into like sort of old Glam like you know like David Bowie and things like that. Hannah’s very much into AC/DC. We can’t really agree on what to listen to so we just listen to our own stuff.

Are there any home comforts you bring along with you on tour?

I always bring a pillow. It’s very important. Always bring a pillow on tour with you if you’re traveling in a van. A hot water bottle and a flask. So basically just prepare for winter and you’ll be fine.

The amorettes: What would a typical day on tour be like for you guys?

Like this really. Sitting around in a really dank cold building with no windows in it. Yeah it mainly involves a lot of traveling a lot of driving. Get to the venue and load the gear and set up at sound check. Sit around and wait for your stage time and then you break it all down and put it all in the van and that’s it really.

You’ll be going back on tour in March next year with Black Star Riders and GUN. How will this tour be different than the current tour your on?

Well, we’ve been on tour with them before so we know them. And it was our first ever tour that we did.

It’s a slightly bigger venue I think we’re doing as well. It’ll be a whole different vibe really than like gigs like this are in such smaller venues where everything’s a bit more DIY where everyone chips together. I don’t know. A tour like that they have their staff that are doing things. It’s just more professional really.

Are there any future shows being planned for yourselves that our readers should know about?

Yeah we’ve got Hard Rock Hell at the end of November. I’m sorry, that’s all I remember. It’s on the website. I just turn up.

Apart from future shows have you got any big plans for the future that you can tell us about?

Another album. We’re working on new stuff now actually. Hopefully we’ll be recording in April and bring it out after the summer. Just more touring. More writing.

Gig GUide: Guide:

Gig Guide:

Saturday 1st October – Antonio Folk Art – Riverside Festival – Devon 1st October – Handsome Dan and the Mavericks – 7.30pm till 10.30pm – The Trades – Rotherham.

Saturday 1st October – York CD and Record Fair – The Basement – York – 10.30am – 4.30pm – Free Saturday 1st October – Open Mic Night – The Basement – York – 7.30pm – Free.

Saturday 1st October – UK Foo Fighters – ‘Nothing’s Set in Stone’ Tour – Fibbers – York £12.50 – 7.30pm – 14 + Monday 3rd October – The Lottery Winners, The Blueprints – Fibbers – York - £10 – 7.30pm – 14 + Tuesday 4th October – Diamond Head, Chasing Dragons – Fibbers – York - £13 – 7.30pm Thursday 6th October – Buzzcocks – Fibbers – York - £22.50 – 7.30pm – 14 + Friday 7th October – The Birthday Massacre, Among the Echoes, Steroe Juggernaut, Lesbian Bed Death – Fibbers – York - £16 – 6.30pm – 14 + Saturday 8th October – Whole Lotta Led – 20th Anniversary Tour – Fibbers – York - £13 – 7.30pm – 14 + Sunday 9th October – The Pretend Beatles (Beatles Tribute Band) – New Roscoe – Leeds – Doors: 8pm – £7 (Available from Crash Records or Jumbo Records) Wednesday 12th October – The Kenneths, Waco (Co-headline) – Fibbers – York - £6 – 7.30pm – 14 + Thursday 13th October – Jess Morgan – The Octagon Chapel – Norwich Friday 14th October – Jess Morgan – Huxley House Session – Farnham Friday 14th October – Balaam & The Angel, Skeletal Family – Fibbers – York 14th October – Gaz Bailey – The Old Function Room – Darwen – 5pm-12am Saturday 15th October – Band of Friends – Fibbers – York - £15 – 7.30pm – 14 + Saturday 15th October – Ian Kay’s Soul Dream: – Dunnington Reading Rooms Monday 17th October – Jess Morgan – The Greys – Brighton Tuesday 18th October – Stacie Collins – Fibbers – York - £10 – 7.30pm – 14 + Wednesday 19th October – Jess Morgan – 44 Harpur Street – Bedford Thursday 20th October – Please Please You Presents Tom Brosseau – The Basement – York – 8pm - £8 ADV/£10 OTD Friday 21st October – The Complete Stone Roses, The Slamm – Fibbers – York - £14 Friday 21st October – Ultimate Daft Punk Tribute Show (11pm) – Fibbers – York - £6 early bird – 11pm – 18 + 21st October – Ferocious Dog and The Bar, Sherward Sons of Val Doonican – Birdwell – Barnsley – 7pm till 11.45pm.

Saturday 22nd October – Ferocious Dog – Fibbers – York - £12.50 – 7.30pm – 14 + Wednesday 26th October – WSTR, Milestones, One Way Street – Fibbers – York - £8 – 7.30pm – 14 + Thursday 27th October – We Are Scientists, Beverly – Fibbers – York - £16.50 – 7.30pm Friday 28th October – Glass Caves, Alley Ways – Fibbers – York - £7 – 7.30pm – 14 + Saturday 29th October – Everlate Album Launch – The Basement – York – 8pm - £5 Saturday 29th October – The Southmartins – Fibbers – York - £10 – 7.30pm – 14 + Sunday 30th October – Halloween Bonanza Feat. Kymberley Kennedy + Ramona Rose + Special Guests – The Basement – York – 8pm - £5