7 posts tagged “a new breed of monkey”

SURFACE UNSIGNED - SEMI FINALS HERE WE COME!!!!!!

Hello again music lovers.

Great news! We have gone through to the semi-finals of the Surface Unsigned national competition to find the UKs best unsigned talent. Thanks a lot to everyone who came along to support us at the Dry Bar, Manchester, you really made it an enjoyable show!

The next stage is the Northern semi finals and its being held at The Club Academy in Manchester on Friday the 18th July. For those of you who don't know, it is an intimate venue and should be a great night! We need to take an army of fans to this one so we can show them we mean business. So if your not too busy, or too scared, get on the coach with us and lets have it! Just incase you can't make your mind up, here are 10 reasons why you SHOULD come:

1- A new breed of monkey are a top live band

2- Theres bound to be fit birds/lads there, you might pull!

3- We will be giving away exclusive CDs that you won't get anywhere else

4- Friday night TV has gone down hill, Jools Holland isn't even on anymore!

5- A new breed of monkey are playing, and they are shit hot

6- There will be alcohol on sale, and alcohol makes you feel great!

7- There's a good chance we might get to the finals and you could be part of our history

8- If you don't come, you could end up a sad lonely recluse who never gets any sex, endlessly masturbating and talking to your pets

9- Manchester is a cool city, and there will be time to visit a few different bars or shops (if your a girl)

10- A new breed of monkey  

Tickets are available from us and will be about £8 so get in touch either through myspace or anewbreedofmonkey.co.uk. Bring it on! 

thanks again for your continued support

much love Joe

NOW< SPECIALLY FOR YOU LOT - HERE'S OUR NEW VIDEO:

Its been a while since we did any blogging on Vox, the idea of reporting on each gig is getting a bit tedious - so for a bit of a change Joe did some blogs about forthcoming events. Here they are, reproduced in full. Enjoy!

13 May 2008 T:PARTY NUMBER III Current mood: high Roll up, roll up! It's that time again! aNBoM are holding our (nearly) famous event once again! For anyone stupid enough to have missed out on the first two, here's a quick re-cap. T:Party is an event run by aNBoMs management and all the bands are hand picked by US! So you don't get those fuckin awful bands who are only there because they bring 12 coaches of fans. The first one we ever did was late last year, when England didn't qualify for Euro 2008. ah yes, remember that miserable Wednesday night. Well we brightened it up for about a hundred people with our good friends from across the pond in Atlanta, Georgia 'Gringo Star' (check em out on MySpace, they'll be back later this year) The only teething problem was that it was a rainy Wednesday night and we held it at the Kestrel Suite which is far too big. The second T:Party was better than we could have hoped for, with a smaller venue, the Attic in Accrington, the place was packed from start to finish and everyone enjoyed quality sets from Lotus Circle, Kings of the Delmar, Hungover Stuntmen and us. (of course) You can check out all the bands on MySpace. A big thankyou to Foxy for letting us have our shinnanigans at his place and I'm sure we'll be back at the Attic in the near future! Fuck, feels like I've been typing for six years and I haven't even got to the point! The point is this: T:Party numero III is coming THIS Friday (16th May) We are trying a new venue in Burnley which seems very promising for up and coming bands. It's at the massive new building Koko's in good old Burnley, in the basement bar which they have called 'the Cavern' Very original innit! Seriously people, if the last two T:Partys are anything to go by, this is going to be a fuckin top night! It will kick off about 8pm with some top class indie tunes from the likes of the Stone Roses, the Smiths, Oasis etc. to get you in the mood, then an amazingly brilliant band called a New Breed of Monkey will tease and tantalize you with a set of our best loved tunes. And if thats not enough to get you soaking wet, after that our guests will take to the stage. They are 'The Tongues' all the way from San Francisco USA. This band are sure to rock you. Trust me, you don't see this calibre of bands every weekend in Burnley. They are currently on a European tour and have had rave reviews everywhere they play. You can listen to the Tongues, as always, by looking on MySpace. Oh yeah, and best of all entry is FREE!!!! I've got myself all excited now, I better go and have a shit. So we'll be seeing you on Friday! Til then keep listening to shit hot music. Joe

SURFACE UNSIGNED FESTIVAL..........ROUND 2! (ding ding) Current mood: confident For those of you who don't already know, Surface Unsigned is a music magazine for unsigned bands/artists. Every year they hold a music industry event providing a gateway for artists to perform on international stages in front of industry representatives. It is a nationwide battle of the bands held over 5 rounds, with the winner recieving £1000 plus recording time in a top studio..... but we don't really care about all that!!! What it really means to aNBoM is the chance to play in new venues and cities in front of A&R men and other industry people, and get as much publicity as possible! Which is why we were delighted to advance through to the second round. Thanks a lot to everyone who came to support us, it was a good turn out for a Tuesday night in Leeds and it was much needed because a lot of the points depend on crowd votes! We couldn't have done it without you! (Even if we were the best band by far!) However, in the next round the stakes are even higher. The worst of the bands have been kicked out and only four out of the seven bands will advance. It is being held on Thursday the 19th June (plenty of time to save up your pocket money) at the Dry Bar in Manchester. There will be a bus going and we REALLY need the support! Don't give us the usual bullshit, 'I've got work in the morning' or 'I'm skint' DONT BE A PUSSY!!! So thats it. Hopefully in just over a months time I'll be updating this blog letting everyone who couldn't make it know we are in the semi finals! Til then, peace and keep believing! joe

Haven't been on here for a while now, so need to update the reviews. Lazy or too busy? A bit of both really. Still, here goes.

Bacup Borough Football Club (19th April)

Last night, so we're up to date now. Played in a small bar at the football club to about 30 people. Not bad, for a gig in a town where no one heard of us. All paying to get in too! What was excellent about this was that everone there was listening. No talking, no heading in and out to smoke. An audience who were enthralled. And the promoter booked us for a Children In Need gig at Bacup Leisure Hall in November. Another result! 

Night & Day Cafe, Manchester (17th April)

Playing a gig for promoters 'Speechless With Sound' at one of the best Manc venues with Daniel Orlick, Them Next Door, King Kayak and The Manyanas. We went on early in the line up (2nd) and before 9 oclock, so again, not many there. Those that were appreciated it though. And SWS confirmed us for the Hide And Seek Festival in Manchester on 1st June (at Jabez Clegg - don't miss it) so not all bad. 

Dirty South, Lewisham, London (12th April)

The gig at Dirty South was good. The crowd got a lot smaller when the other bands finished, as usual in London and it was obvious we didnt take any fans but those who were there were impressed, including Mike Joyce. He said "I only caught the last 2 songs but that was good" His quote something along the lines of "If bananas are the fruit of love then I'm a Northern Monkey!" Not too sure what he meant but it sounds funny.  I had a word with him later and told him we were all big Smiths fans and he said "Thanks a lot, I like what you lot are doing, its good. Better than them Courteeners" I laughed and he said "but thats not really hard is it. Good look with it all, its a shit world out there but good luck" Very encouraging to hear from one quarter of the best band ever, sincere or not. A woman (who me and Jods were saying was Jo Whiley, (shame it wasnt) approached Matt with a flyer for a bands myspace page (which he probably lost) and said she was really impressed and if we get in touch on that myspace page she could get us a few gigs round London like Barfly etc. All that said, Im still fuckin knackered. It was possibly the worst journey we have ever endured. Bring on the next one.

Joe (Bass)

King Edward VII, Blackpool (5th April)

Take a busload of fans travelling to sunny Blackpool (sic) add a New Breed of Monkey and bring on a bike club on a run... what do you get? An eventful night! Nina booked us for this pub gig on the strength of her son in Canada who heard us on the internet. The bikers liked the music but something sparked a riot late on in the evening and we had to take a break while the police sorted things out, returning to the stage to do the final half hour when they'd gone (Police, not bikers). Overall, and eventful but good gig.

North Bar, Blackburn (4th April)

Sharing the billing with a great band called The Xcerts, who are from Scotland. Small venue but

Rumours

Ronnie who runs it is a real muso. Not many there though, and Ronnie seemed to think it was because we played a gig in Blackburn a month back. We disagree - being from Burnley doesn't bode well for us in Blackburn at any time. Football rivalry and all that. Listen to Rumours and you'll get the gist.

Commercial, Harle Syke, Burnley (30th March)

Home turf and a full boozer. This is one of our regular haunts and, as expected, it was packed. Bored with doing the usual pub thing of two 45 minute sets full of covers, we launched our 'new' style for all future such bookings - a blistering 80-90 minute set with our full repertoire and just 3 covers of our personal favs. Went down well too.

WA1 Venue Bar, Warrington (29th March)

When you think about it, a venue usually has an audience (or should have) yet so many bars these days call themselves venues, either because the owner loves music, or because they think they can book bands (good or bad) who will bring their own audience. Despite having a line up of which The Cavern Club would be jealous - The Shooters, Julia Martov, Exit State, Hans Island, Guru Sales, and a New Breed of Monkey, this venue was relatively empty. Still, as Tony Wright once said to our manager "If you play to a nearly empty room and just one person like what you do, you made an impression", we had a good gig.

Burnley Town Centre Bandstand (29th March)

A very wet and windy day when Burnley tried to emulate Boscastle... Channel 4's BIG ART PROJECT culminated in a BIG GIG featuring Milky Bobbins, Say, a New Breed of Monkey, The Earlies featuring Lucy and the Caterpillar.Half hour set saw the band fighting getting blown off stage by the elements, and a few die hards willing to brave the storm to listen to them. Then it was (wet clothes and all) off to Warrington...

So thats it. Up to date... off now to todays gig (will review this one later).

Some 100 people packed into the newly refurbished Attic venue in Accrington last night for the much awaited second T:PARTY event (hosted by a New Breed of Monkey) and what a great night it proved to be. Inevitably running over time, there were four diverse and outstanding bands performing to a very enthusiastic crowd.

First up, LOTUS CIRCLE, hailing from Blackpool this eight piece are surely the Pleasure Beach of fun rock. With 'good time' written right through it. From the raunchy Kitty, female vocalist to the antics of the 6 foot something harmonica playing pogo jumping mountaineering (yes he climbs up the walls) geezer, this band are a joy to watch and are very very tight. The electric violin and the Page style bow playing lead guitarist are a fine example of the outstanding skills of these guys. Not to be missed if you get a chance to see them.

Next, KINGS OF THE DELMAR, punky psychobilly four piece with ex-UKSubs Wayne as frontman they powered through their set with gusto. " Don't know how long we've been on but it feels like hours" he said at the 25 minute point. It may have seemed like hours to them, but not the audience who clamoured for more. Nice to see another Sub - now Boomtown Rat - in the audience, come to give them some support - not that they needed it!

Then yours truly, a New Breed of Monkey, took the stage for half an hour, running through their repertoir and adding their latest writing - A House - to much enthusiasm.

Finally - all the way from Newcastle - the much lauded HUNGOVER STUNTMEN enthralled us all with a blistering set of their post-Jam mod rock. These boys are to watch out for, already having toured with Weller, been "discovered" by Simon Donald - cofounder of Viz magazine - who not only manages them, but drives the van and helps with the equipment, they've recorded at Studios Ibiza with Andy Taylor, and have a video on MTV produced and directed by Nick Light. Their highly polished 30 minute set which included the single Inside Out, left the audience baying for more and even though the Mirror said it first, these are a band not to be missed. We didn't, and hopefully we'll see more in the coming months. They are on tour, playing every single night in May so get to see them if you can! If not, get their album, released 28th April. You won't be disappointed.

" We're a New Breed of Monkey... You are Blackburn... This is Laughter"

06 - a New Breed of Monkey - Laughter

Matt has an enviable ability to make veiled comments with a deeper meaning. Having said that, the football rivalry between Burnley & Blackburn wasn't all one sided on the night. David, the landlord of The Hordens, had seemingly received a few comments from his regulars about a band from Burnley coming to play so had told them not to come because he didnt want trouble. Really that wasnt necessary because the music speaks for itself.

Anyway, the night began with Blackburn band The Versatiles, young lads who perform a bunch of covers pretty well. They're just starting out and in all honesty need to rehearse more but nevertheless they produce a full sound and individual musicianship has potential. The pleasure on the face of the one selling demos for a quid when our manager bought one was worth everything.

Next up, after a six and a half hour drive from Colchester, the City Joy Cons. Their experimental sound is interesting, and the enthusiasm fantastic. Not sure what the crowd thought, but they seemed to go down reasonably well, despite a sticky ending when the (am I going on too much about this?) lack of rehearsal meant they lost it slightly. They knew, laughed it off, and stopped. Overall a good set, and we'd love to gig with them again.

So we then got our half hour on stage and generally went down well. David said he'd have us back, and we could have given away/sold a load of CD's but have stopped doing that. Folk will have to wait for the 'A Million Doors' single to be released on April 28th by Downhill Records. Just to make sure they don't forget, we gave away fliers advertising th release - and it's going to be playlisted on radio in Blackburn.

Thanks to all who came, to David and his lovely wife, the barstaff, The Versatiles, and especially The City Joy Cons who stayed for our set before setting off at midnight for the long drive back to Colchester! 

So we are back on the road again after taking time to write and rehearse. And what better than to start off in our town - the wonderful Burnley.

The venue is new, having been refurbished and renamed - it used to be a club type pub called Paradise Island, now its a venue type pub - and it was absolutely packed. Estimate 2-300 people jammed in the place. We played for an hour, no support acts, and we ran through our own stuff like we'd never been off the road.

Honestly the sound was impared by the shape of the place - too many different ceiling levels meant that you really needed to be up front to get the benefit of the PA, but hell it was a great night anyway.

Thanks to the dancers, and the pole dancer too. We'll be back.