Goodbye TPC3, Hello ATP
Current mood: enthralled
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

This Saturday (19th April), in the not-what-it-was confines of The Freebutt, Brighton, THE PHIL COLLINS 3 will play their final gig. Grown men will weep, small girls will giggle hysterically, and a being of no fixed gender, possibly wearing a huge cardboard nuclear missilie on their head (or similar), will launch into "Greenfly Ate My Dog" one last time, no doubt with much hindered playing capacity due to the unweildy nature of the construction propped precariously on their head.
 The passing of TPC3 will be mourned at VG, but they did their bit. Good lads !

On a much happier note : Victory Garden will be attending the Pitchfork Camber ATP. Hold that thought people, we're all attached and spoken for (even previously lovelorn Erika, who's finally found a romantic match in Eddy, the plumber from Catford who she met while he came to "fix the ladies" on VG Towers third floor - the middle cubicle became insufferably blocked at some point during the VG NYE knees up, and while we managed to procure a reel of "POLICE STOP"  tape and a half dozen of those traffic cones that flash in time which ought to have been enough to ward the most inebriated of revelling attendees off from the dilapitated facility, there appeared to be an increased overflow over the course of the early morning. The Gents, by strange and ironic contrast, appeared mostly unused - the floor a near arid expanse of unwetted tiling and even the extra toilet rolls provided remaining in place, dry and usable to the end. I tend to view this as a social commentary on the sad decline in feminine decorum , but Erika insists it was because Stu had the key to the Mens stashed away and was using it as his own personal locked dressing room.), but we will be found either frugging away to the likes of Sebadoh, Times New Viking and , of course, our own Hot Chip. Later on in proceedings we may be found dancing on tables in The Vic to the strains of Comet Gain, or similar.
 Actually, while on the hot topic of Hot Chip, you may be best to find us at the famous "Proper Indie Sunday Market" which normally kicks off on the pub tables outside the Vic from about midday on Sunday (weather permitting). I can let blog reading friends of VG into an exclusive secret here - we will be offloading the last few copies of Hot Chips rare as bat's teeth debut CD "Mexico EP" at a knock down £10 a pop (they do up to £30 on ebay !!). Buy us a pint, and we'll knock off a quid - fair ?

 Cheers !!

 Philm c/o VG

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Sid Newby

Sid Newby
11th May 1946 - 29th Jan 2008
 R.I.P

Currently listening : Hawkwind By Hawkwind Release date: 27 August, 2001

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Welcome new SOUL friends...

...(in no particular order) :
The Original Beekeepers
The Fog Is In The Fir Trees.

Greetings and Happy New Year in advance.

 

Currently listening : The Henge By Steve Moore Release date: 30 October, 2007

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Gruelling work
Current mood: satisfied
Category: Art and Photography

We've nothing planned in the VG Community Block for the next eight or nine days, so we've decided to take a well earned office break.

 Philm fancied a camping holiday in the Lake District, but both Erika and Stuey were after a bit of sun, sea and sand - possibly slightly hopeful in the UK this year, but there you go...if we want to cut down on global warming, then short haul flights to the sunny Greek islands need to be limited to two or three times a year.

 Aaanyhooow, we've plumped for a week in Cornwall, with a leisurely couple of days travelling there and back, taking in Avebury on the way and avoiding Gloucestershire.

 Any emails, messages or friends requests will be stacked up in an orderly fashion in our intray awaiting our return, and anarchic tip of the week is that if you post a lewd or bawdy comment on our comments board in the next couple of days it'll be up there for over a week.

 Oh, larks !

 We'll send a postcard.

 VG Leisure & Travel Dept.



 

Currently listening : Local Color By Mose Allison Release date: 01 July, 1991

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Quizspace Supersport - Championo...
Current mood: jubilant

Yup, a month later and we're STILL banging on about being the undoubted kings of the music pub quiz scene. Did we tell you about trouncing 30 (that's three-oh) other tables at ATP in May ? And thus winning a four berth chalet to the Dec fest (that's the one with Portishead), a case of beer and assorted ATP freebies. We didn't ? Surely, you're one of the last to know...
 The margin of victory isn't important I guess, but it was a whopping eight points. Them other playas got one hell of a beating.

 So...El Del, Johnnly, Stuey Baby and Boy Philm - the glory quartet of  popular music based knowledge - hereby challenge allcomers. Mobiles off, eyes down, 50's to Noughties...bring it on.

 You feel lucky, punk ?

 

Currently listening : Saunders Hollow By Tanakh Release date: 13 February, 2007

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Gone
Current mood: Gone.

Gone.

Currently listening : Real Gone By Tom Waits Release date: 05 October, 2004

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Further proof, if needed...
Current mood: accomplished
Category: Parties and Nightlife

...of the VICTORY GARDEN RECORDS TALENT SCOUTING DEPARTMENT genius for picking up exciting, new DEBUT releases can be found by checking these links...*

 http://www.playlouder.com/review/+pigeon-english/
 http://makenoiseanddance.com/2007/605
http://drownedinsound.com/release/view/9715
and stunningly...
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article1580147.ece

 Good, eh ? And I promise I haven't just focused on the gloss and left all the slaggings and slatings to one-side - nope, the love of ONE MORE GRAIN's "Pigeon English" has been seemingly universal. Did I mention that "Northern" was the Guardian blog site's "Song Of The Day" last Tuesday ? Ho, yes - VG goes all bleedin' highbrow !

Plus there have been numerous radio plays that we're faaar too modest to list here, but they include Tom Ravenscroft, Tom Robinson, Tom Anjerry (hmmm, you sure about that one ? Ed), Resonance FM including a live session on Glass Shrimp, and stuff.

  And lastly on the trumpet blowin' tip, it sold 25 copies through Amazon in March. That's the month before release !! The virgin VG territory of pre-sales  !!
Hey, it excites us...

 So there goes. The moral of this story ?

 "Trust us - it's quality goods..."

 Erika (A&E Dept)



 *Which obviously will not work, cos I think myspace has some sort of link blocking system in place so as you're eternally trapped in this seedy little virtual world of murdochian ipod advertising and arms-length-phonecam-shots-in-crowded-bars solipsism. Still, I guess it's all our x-factor fixated generation deserves, hmmm?

Currently listening : Satta Massagana By Abyssinians Release date: 01 March, 1993

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Plugging One More Grain
Category: Friends

Wellp, a couple of weeks to go before One More Grains "Pigeon English" is officially released on VG, but things seem to be going well so far. A pretty good review can be found right here :

http://www.whisperinandhollerin.com/reviews/review.asp?id=4637

 there's been radio play on the Tom Robinsons 6Music show and Glass Shrimp on Resonance 104.4fm (on which they have a live session on the afternoon of Wed 4th April), Tom Ravenscroft's "Slash Music Podacast" (!?) PLUS - and this was particularly exciting in a kinda highbrow sort of way - "Northern" was featured as The Guardian blog site "Song Of The Day" on Tues 20th March !!!

 Gosh, this is all heady stuff.

 Can we suggest you go order from your local record emporium, poste haste ? Don't worry, none of us are liable to get rich out of this venture in the near future (we only pressed up 500 copies), it's an almost totally philanthropic gesture to the music loving public in general, which is nice of us.

 Cheers !

 Erika

Currently listening : Astronaut House By Beatnik Filmstars Release date: 18 April, 1995

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bloody typical
Category: Quiz/Survey

Bloody typical.

 Not two weeks after Southall Riot decide to call a dignified end to their tenure as " London's resident lo-fi psychedelic rock institution" (@Karen E. Graves - the cheque is really in the post), then what happens ?

 Time Out ("London's Weekly Listing Bible") place The Riot at NUMBER 5 in their all time list of bands who've named themselves after places in London. That's number FIVE, as in Chanel...a mighty FOUR places above All Saints, a crafty one place above Merton Parkas, and a slightly lacklustre three behind East 17 (the list was topped by Kilburn And The High Roads, which is fair enough). It's all there - Page 23, lower left hand side, Issue 1895 December 13-20 2006, a very reasonable £2.50.*

 Where was this swell of media recognition when we needed it most huh ? All those years of hard graft and slog with not so much as an inclusion in the giglistings in the back, then 12 days after our WIDELY MOURNED demise, comes the much deserved but all too posthumous place in the limelight. Gah !

 Myself and Stuey baby (as I call him in private) are seriously considering a quick reformation and tour of Wales (where we disappointingly never got to strut our stuff live). All we need is that first reasonable offer to get the ball rolling...

 Philm

 *For any interested parties, or those too slow off the mark to have picked up their own copy of this now sought after and highly collectable issue, we've posted a scan of the list in our pics section.

Currently listening : Metro Music By Martha and the Muffins Release date: 01 May, 2003

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New VG Release !! One More Grain !!
Current mood: ecSTATIC, dear
Category: ecSTATIC, dear Movies, TV, Celebrities

We're going to release a cd EP by ONE MORE GRAIN very very soon. Playlouder had this to say about them a couple of months ago...

Saturday catches The Social Worker at the Betsy Trotwood witnessing One More Grain's second ever gig. They have a thing about playing the basements of pubs, this lot, after their debut in the derelict Milton Arms that so flabbergasted me a couple of weeks back. Suffice to say, tonight is even better - how often do we catch a band on the London circuit who are so tight, so quickly? For a start, the rhythm section are fantastic, working the electric upright bass and drums with such relish that 'Tropical Mother In Law' would get even Bernard Manning moving. The shimmering, Krautrock-tinged melodies are complemented with a defiant Englishness to Daniel Patrick Quinn's deadpan narrative lyricism, with talk of "Pina Coladas in Carlisle town centre," listing the market towns of the near-West Country: "Cheltenham, Hereford, Gloucester," or announcing 'Northern' with "this is the romantic song of the evening, dedicated to my beloved. She's called the A701, a beautiful road." I really can't get enough of One More Grain right now.

Currently listening : Stay Inside / Feel Everything By Air Formation

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