|
|
05 Feb 2007: Happy 2007, and thankyou to those who attended our Oxford gig. While we were amongst the Dreaming Spires,
we popped into Truck studios and hung around in Oli's house annoying the lady next door. The results can be heard on our myspace
page. We're opening up at the Arts Centre on March 9th in the main auditorium, so get there early. We are currently working
on a remix for Trademark, which could find it's way onto i-tunes if we do a good enough job...
07 August 2006:We have a truck review from the marvellous peeps at Oxfordbands.com:
25th July 2006: We haven't updated this much recently, partly because Myspace is a bit easier, but also because we have
been rather busy. We returned to the Truck festival last weekend, playing the same stage as our dire 2003 performance. Luckily,
things have improved since then, both as far as the stage and toilet facilities go, and also us. We opened the festival at
12 noon, but as far as I could see had pretty much the biggest crowd of the day in that tent, with old friends and new, plus
the odd journo or two. There's going to be pictures up soon on www.underexposed.org.uk, plus we got a great ambient recording
of the gig - highlights soon to appear on myspace. We've been offered another festival appearance in August, and we're trying
to do the diary work at the moment to see if it's all possible.
19th May 2006: Plenty of live stuff in June. We are guests of Visceral Theatre (www.visceraltheatre.org.uk) for their
fundraising gig at the Marquee on 1st June. Then on the ninth we present a secret extravaganza at the Art School Bar possibly
involving acts from as far as Pennsylvania and Yarmouth!
2nd May 2006: At the end of the week we should have most of "There Were More Aliens Than I Thought" finished. Me and
Joe are doing the vocals and guitar on Friday. We then have to wait for Tony to do handclaps and other crap all over it, at
which point he'll probably complain about my bass playing, and re-record the whole song by himself with "more dark notes"
and Scottish Chris playing the spoons. We plan to do some more recording - possibly "Lloyds" - on Saturday in Mat's sealed
bunker in the countryside, using our tried and tested "layering" method (our efforts to record totally live have so far been
thwarted). We're still hoping to do MFS with Lol, but at present he's harder to find than Carlos the Jackal (before he was
caught). We have a plan to play in the Art School Bar at the end of this month, but you know what usually happens to our plans.
Hopefully it will come off, as Her High Heels (the emo it's ok to love) may be supporting, plus maybe Norwich's other Kaito-blessed
new!-wave! gang (but they're semi-famous and do tours and shit now so they probably can't do it). We'll have to see...
4th April 2005: We are recording with Lol at a secret location on Saturday. New songs and old will be committed to "tape".
The results will immediately be winging their way to various people (namely promoters, who I'm sure relish the prospect of
yet another post rock/art pop/punk funk/new wave mess darkening their doors) as soon as possible and may (examine previous
news items when gauging the validity of the following statement) form part of a Howlback Hum E.P. soon. While awaiting the
results of these sessions, why not examine the following link for a bit of amusement. I have discovered a review of my now-defunct
(and always terrible) teenage indie(remember when that word wasn't merely a dirty word used by dance DJs and boybands to describe
all music with guitars in?)band HiWiRE. Don't try and find the audio evidence - all the tapes have been burnt (a lie).
22nd March 2006: First Marquee gig was less than full, but went very very well. Gig the following Wednesday was twice
as full and half as good performance wise, but still pretty reasonable if audience reaction was anything to go with. The new
one is now titled "There Were More Aliens Than I Thought". Good story here. On route to the Marquee, we went to pick up Tony
and the stuff. He was still in his pyjamas, playing computer games. He insisted with pride we wait and watch him kill an alien
that he "knew" was hiding round the corner, and procede to inevitable triumph - i.e. the next level. As Tony (or rather the
big-breasted heroine of this cheap tomb raider style adventure game-yawn.) entered the room, he was confronted not by one
alien, but five, who preceded to kill him slowly and with precision. The look on Tony's face, accompanied by a little whince!
I have never laughed so much in my life. Just as I thought I could take no more, in a small dead-pan voice Tony utterred the
words "Err....there were more aliens than I thought." and shrugged. I thought I would have to be carried out to the car on
a stretcher, having lost control of my bowels due to hysteria. By the by, there was a particularly entertaining version of
said song at the Marquee on Wednesday, where Tony played the whole song in a completely different key to the rest of us. It's
the sort of thing that Nick Melia would probably think is amazing, but I just felt embarrassed. It was at this point that
the gig took something of a downward spiral (if it hadn't already) with the bass pedal and keyboard dying in consecutive numbers.
First half of the set was great though. Sorry if the above account sounds negative. It was a great night all in all, and if
you enjoyed our set, then we're happy. Contrary to popular belief, we're not miserable for no reason, we're just perfectionists.
Ironic since we somehow didn't manage to go through any of the songs we were going to play at our last rehearsal. Namely because...(da
da!) we have another, even newer song, called "You be Montgomery, I'll be Eisenhower" (are you seeing a pattern here? Book
your tickets now for Teknikov live @ the Pyramids 2009), which we spent most of last practice arguing over. Nothing more to
say except this: If you can get us a gig somewhere interesting , Please get in contact.
27th February 2006: We play the Marquee on Friday, with the Gore Vidals, Feral Being and AKA @-@. Those of you didn't
manage to squeeze into take 5 can hear the new one, with the added incentive that you won't have to put up with Chad's DJ
set this time. Incidentally, Chad wrote this entry AT THE VERY SAME TIME THAT I WAS TRYING TO POST THIS NEWS. How spooky is
that? c teknikov/ j teknikov
30th Jan 2006:Our Secret Gig is in the cellar of Take 5 tonight! We play at 9.30pm. (I have just realised that, by revealing
this info, I have rendered the gig "unsecret", but I'm sure Take 5 can handle the extra four people who may come to the gig
as a result of reading this announcement).
10th Jan 2006:CHANGE OF DATE: Our secret gig is now on the 30th January because Heather's a plonker and forgot she was
flying to Malaga on 4th February.
4th Jan 2006: Happy New Year. We have lot's of music on Myspace. Check out "This Version is an Edit", "Walk Down The
Line", "Larousse "(Live Feb 05) and, for a limited time only, a brand new four-track demo of "Buildings" (which will be replaced
by a proper version once Laurie's studio is built). Don't say we never give you nuffin'. http://www.myspace.com/teknikov
20th December 2005:
RECORDING>Well, the recording was a bizarre experience. We turned up at 6 to find the booking was wrong (thanks Tony), and
"had" to go to the pub for 3 hours before we could start. Anyone who knows us knows that this is a bad idea when recording
is to be done (if you don't, check out the "classic" early teknikov "hits", recorded on Special Brew in my basement), and
our "lo-fi 4-track aesthetic" (or whatever the NME's phrase for "shite" is these days) resulted in something that sounded
somewhere between Lightning Bolt and "White Light White Heat". After some stressing on my part and several listens, I've decided
that a couple of tracks are vaguely usable. Joe thinks it's all "fantastic", so there's a good chance some of it may see the
light of day. There's a particularly entertaining version of "Buildings" where the keys and bass are so distorted that the
snare and guitar cut in and out periodically over the top - could toss that one off as a remix. The long and the short of
it is; we plan to go and cut "proper" 8track versions, once Laurie B's studio is finished in the new year (I'm putting my
week's building site experience to good use by giving him a hand).
THE SECRET GIG> Our secret gig is in Norwich on 4th Feb. It's on the event of my flatmate Heather's Birthday, and the venue
only holds 60, so it's on an invite only basis. To get invited, email us at teknikov@lycos.com. We will then provide you with
the venue and time. Strictly ltd places. See ya in the new year! Cx
15 December 2005: TEKNIKOV IN RECORDING SHOCK! On sunday, we're doing a bit of the old rec/play/pause/rewind/fastforward/rec/play.
As usual, we'll be utilising the latest in recording technology - a cassette four track - for that "live" sound (sadly inauthentic
without the patronising sneers of our peers and the snap of chad's bass strings breaking), subsequently transferring the results
to laptop for hundreds of overdubs for the purpose of making Tony sound taller. Expect some results at some point next millenium.
Brace yourselves - We will be playing a secret gig in Norwich in January - details to follow. I'm well behind with pics but
will put up the best of this year soon - the site will soon light up like the preverbial s*itmas tree. Happy Hannukah or Chinese
new year or whatever.
04 November 2005: Marquee was ace. Crowd and band were uncertain...nervous at first. But we danced and fell in love.
Best gig in a while, I think. We may be doing the Arts Centre in Jan 06, but that's still a whisper in dwarfs ears, rather
than anything concrete. We're gonna do some recording and writing for a while. then who knows...
22nd October 2005: Ok, London Gig No.2. White Heat @ Madame Jojo's, Soho. KaitO headline with the sound that has been
wowing audiences on the Bloc Party tour. As if that weren't enough, you get the X-Vectors too - Adult Baby's storming new
signings. Plus us as the appetiser. I like to think of us as half an avocado with Cottage Cheese (or thousand island dressing
if you like). This lineup is absolutely unmissable. Email whiteheat@irlondon.co.uk to get in for 3 quids. Otherwise it's a
fiver. Doors 8. We're on soon after. Dancing til 2. Cheep(ish) beer.
3rd October 2005: We're planning to unveil some new stuff at the Marquee on November 2nd for the Cozys' last hurrah.
They're planning to get Nick Jones (former sticksman for both them and us) up from Bristol for the night, which could be fun.
Another mystery band will also be playing. (No one famous or anything...it's just that Mike hasn't found another band yet.)
20th September 2005:
We've got a review in Disorder magazine for the KaitO gig:
My Birthday this Sunday. "Old man, look at my life - 24, and there's so much more..." Thankyou Neil, that really f*ckin cheers
me up...
18th September 2005:
Thanks to all those who stopped by the Buffalo bar the other day. It all went by in a flash, but I reckon we did pretty well.
Crowd was amazing, and sound was very good. Thanks to KaitO and Guided Missile for having us.
Working today on brand new stuff. Got two newies now, one of which was nearly played in London - had to return that one to
the microwave (wasn't quite cooked in the middle). Also in the offing -i.e. some point b4 xmas- are: 1)A gig with the Cozys
for the last Balloon Aloft. Prob last Norwich gig til next year. and 2) recording of songs, including "Lloyds" for our Howlback
Hum cd.
In other news, the demo recording of "Walk Down the Line" will feature on a free cd compilation aimed at UEA freshers this
week.
CJMx
15th August 2005:
Hey, just putting my head over the parapet. No news is usually good news in Teknikov land, but can also mean we haven't been
practicing a hell of a lot recently. I see with some dismay that I've been characterized below as a parasitical gadabout,
but was far more appreciative of the naivety of CJM's assertion that I was "probably writing songs" while I was out in Italy.
I wasn't.
Live in London? Free on the tenth of September? Come along to the Buffalo Bar. It's gnu be ace.
JK xxxx
4th August 2005
Hell, we can throw caution to the winds now,je pense, and reveal that we will make our London debut on September 10th
at the Buffallo Bar, playing with Les Incompetents, Two Tears, and, of course, the night's headliners KaitO. It's all Part
of Guided Missile's monthly club night, and they are marvellous folks for having us. How much is this veritable feast of Norwichness,
I hear you ask? A mere fiver, and you can get plastered and dance til two - you know it makes sense.
1st August 2005
Things back on the move. Joe is back in blighty, and after my recent solo forays, I've returned to working on the recording
of "Larousse". Tony is counting his winnings, after a particularly busy night at the Underground this month, but is hopefully
going to put down his parts this wk. Matt's finishing off The Bells The Bells' recordings as we speak. We're heading into
the rehearsal room this month to polish the new stuff for upcoming gigs. Hopefully we'll be recording as we go on four track,
transferring to laptop later for the overdubs. With any hope, the HH cd club thing will be out at the end of the year - 6
or 7 tracks. The plan is to save "Walk Down The Line" for a seperate 7" in the new year, backed with one of the neweys. Check
back here for details soon Cjm x
24th July 2005
Good news and bad news. Joe isn't in the country at present, so, somewhat frustratingly (is that a word?), Teknikov can't
do the Ed VII (bad news). Instead, I'll be playing (again), this time (judas!) with full electric backing band. (not the good
news you were looking for, I'll bet). An exciting thing may or may not be happening on 10th September in London. Still TBC,
and I'm not giving details until it becomes un TBC - don't want to Jinx it. If it does happen, it will be a "really coowel"
night, as Tony might say. No seriously, it's going to be amazing. That's the good news. Cross more fingers now.
Cjm XX
7th July 2005
'Fraid we're not playing the N.A.C. on the 20th after all. I will be putting in one of my middle-of-the-road solo appearances
instead, at the earlier time of 8pm. We will definitely, without fail, be appearing at the Edward VII on Aylsham rd on the
31st, though. We're up against Babyshambles @ the LCR. Piece of p*ss! Oh, and we might be putting a single out later in the
year. Please cross all your fingers and toes now! cjm x
2nd July 2005
Norwich Live Aid has unfortunately been cancelled, due to UEA Students Union insisting on charging £2000 for a charity
event. Hmmm, nice guys. Our next gig will be 20th July at Norwich Arts Centre.
18th June 2005
Interesting week. We got cut off four songs in at the Marquee on monday (bl**dy non-Scottish licensing laws), mid way
through newey "MFS". I tried to make good of a bad situation, and threw my bass across the stage. Joe followed suit and kicked
his keyboard into the crowd. Luckily both instruments are Ok. Truth be told, I haven't checked the casio, but they're made
of stern stuff - they usually have to survive children, after all. In another bizarre twist..actually the previous item was
in no way a twist of any sort, so let's start again. In A bizarre twist(that's better), we've been added to the NPUC bill
on 3rd July. We'll be playing at the Marquee yet again, so we can make up for last time. We're on 2nd, so we should get at
least ...ooh...five and a half songs out this time. In an even more bizarre twist.....sorry...In another bizarre twist, we've
actually finished some recording. It's winding its way around the country as we speak. that's a lie. It might end up on the
our HH cd club release (late summer/autumn), or not, but the main purpose is to secure some gigs outside the safety of the
Norwich ring road. (not the Brickmakers, mind!)July will be busy - check the gigs page. Currently sweating to death in the
Woodstock-like retreat of Abingdon to prepare. August we're on holiday. have a sticky summer. cjm X
8th June 2005
Get yourselves down to the Marquee on Monday. There will be new songs. And, as usual, there will be badges. Check out
our...er...space on MySpace:
28th May 2005
The Marquee gig on the 7th is now on the 13th. The Coldfront have now been added to complete the bill. We may play a
new song. Or a cover. Either way, it's worth checking out for amusement, if nothing else. After all, we're not "cool" enough
to play certain local music "conventions". Neither do we use long sentences. We're in the process of updating the site. There
are some new pics in the photos section for a start...
16th May 2005
Sorry for lack of updates recently - much has been going on. First of all, we had a great time supporting KaitO @ the
marquee on 5th May. The first of many we hope...much praise was heaped on our heads by those in the crowd, several of whom
are usually very hard to please! We will endeavour to live up to it in the coming months...speaking of which... we're currently
still recording, and Mummywheresthemilkman (who have been responsible for both our compilation appearances so far) are interested
in releasing an EP of our own soon. We next take to the stage on 7th June @ the Marquee.
1st April 2005
Another enjoyable one last night at the Arts Centre. More than made up for december. We have now reached a point where
we can play a decent set, despite potential problems surfacing 2 minutes before we go onstage - eg. discovering that our effects
pedals are still in a bag at Tony's house. More importantly, on the strength of last night, we may soon be playing some gigs
of a higher profile than we are usually accustomed to. I don't want to jinx it by saying any more, except that we are quietly
very excited. More updates on the live page, by the way.
18th March 2005
Well, hello. What news...did the Soundsplash up at UEA- played well but equipment was a let down. I was too busy showing
off my belly in a sexy Pierre Cardin shirt. A few days later we played on the monkey bars at the Ferryboat and got a recording
of the too-sincerely-named "No More F**king Ugly Buildings" which we think is coming out on the bonus CD of the second Howlback
Hum compilation. Incidentally, Shane has put up a plush new website for the Howlback venture which features lots of lovely
photos, except they all seem to be of Andre and Naomi and none of my Cardin-clad exploits, indicating a predilection for photogenicity
(or whatever the word is) at HBH HQ.
We're playing the NAC main auditorium with Cortez on the 30th, whose masterclass in media manipulation last month (the
Soundclash affair) impressed me greatly. Petite Roberte and Violet Violet are also playing. I look forward to it.
Also, congratulations to Alan Bennett-esque mitherer Chad Mason, whose handwringing camp has won him an award from
Willy Russell (of Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine) fame, which he is picking up as I write.
see you soon,
jx
1st March 2005
Pinch punch, etc. We've just confirmed for the Ferryboat on Wednesday March 9th with Lark and the Cosies. We're probably
playing a slightly longer set than usual, which is kind of against the Five Year Plan, but manifestos were there to be stretched.
I think I'd rather play for five minutes than fifty, but forty sounds almost acceptable.
Of course, we also have Soundsplash coming up on Sunday when you get to see us tackling the sound at UEA. Apparently
it sounds better out front than on the monitors, but I won't know until famous playwright Chad Mason relinquishes some of
the old live recordings from the National Archive, Norman Road, Abingdon, Oxon. I hope he's right.
In still other news, it's not winter anymore (if you calculate the season on a quarterly basis) which is cheer enough
for anyone.
teknikov x
21st February 2005
THIS IS NOT A CHURCH FETE
According to his blog, Chad has just been awarded a large sum of money for his playwriting talents. Going on what we've
seen on the news pages, we can safely assume that the judges were John Betjeman, Syd Barrett and the Vicar of Dibley. A la
my famous namesake, Stalin, I've decided to obliterate his version of the Marquee gigs and replace it with my own, one which
will employ a few less words culled from the pages of "Boy's Own" and "Commando"...achtung! Der CommandoMagazin ist der excellent
magazin!
On a sad note, I've also deleted the news from the early days. Call it scorched earth. I'm with Mark Twain, who called
nostalgia "mental masturbation", and it makes this page look tacky. Only news dating back to the arrival of Matt remains.
The two gigs at the Marquee were a lot of fun, as Chad said. We went out of tune and/or out of time on a number of occasions
but that now looks like part of a progress rather than stasis. The lack of PA and stage lighting at the second gig (thanks,
Christo) wasn't so good but it could have been worse. And the packed Underground later on gave the impression, albeit fleeting,
that things were very exciting round our way. We SERIOUSLY appreciate every single person who comes along and, to the people
who made both, we salute to the point of hip-hop. "Shouts" also to Dirty Protest for all the good designs, the Cosy Cats (in
particular Laurie, raking out gold from muck), I Don't Know for putting us on, Wombat Wombat for putting us on at their Christmas
party and various others.
As you'll see below, we have more gigs coming up and more new stuff. My tips for coming to a Teknikov show: a) don't
stand at the back, b) dance. If you do these things, we play better. If we play better, you enjoy yourselves more.
We will be decamping somewhere soon to record about seven or eight songs. More news to follow.
Thanks again,
Teknikov x
MORE GIG NEWS
We're doing Soundsplash @ the LCR on March 6th. Main support
to local legends Magoo, with Elsub also making a comeback appearance. Plus we're doing a Howlback Hum date with Cortez on
March 30th in the Arts Centre Bar. We've also been asked to do the "Live Aid" event on July 9th/10th. More details soon.
20
Jan 2005 02:07
TEKNIKOV BIG IN BREMEN! We've made it onto the playlist for the Popscene radio show on Radio
Bremen (alphabetically, we're listed just after Tegan & Sara, which should please Lisa). This means that host Jalal played
"U-Bahn" at some point over the christmas period. Check out his site, and listen to his show online:
http//www.popscenewithjalal.com
15 Jan 2005 05:12
Bit more gig news. The Marquee gig with
the Cozys has been moved to the 8th Feb. We are also playing with I Don't Know at the Marquee on the 10th. I'm calling it
a residency. At the Marquee. Just like the Who. Well, sort of. Oh and I'm playing a solo gig next Fri at the NAC bar. 8.30ish
(sorry for the shameless plug. It does not reflect approval of my solo material by anyone else in the band)
11
January 2005 23:38
2005! whaaat? Well in summary, we're not doing Meltdown Live, but we are doing the Marquee
on Feb 2nd with The Cozy Cat Club Band and special guests. More news very soon...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
