I usually hate acoustic, singer songwriter stuff..it reeks of 'pat-yourself-on-the-back' bullshit, but I have fallen head over heels in love with Bon Iver.
I don't mind admitting that if someone puts 'Skinny Love' on i'll be a crying, shaking mess by the end of the song, as i'm writing this i'm listening to his new Blood Bank EP, and it's making me quite emotional. But there's a hopefulness about it all, a sort of 'cry now but it's gonna be alright, don't worry'.
The first time I heard him on Jools Holland last year, I was fixated, mesmerised by this cut-up soul - who looked very much the mountain man - playing the most tender song. That was Skinny Love, and it makes me weep like a small child.
Thursday 29 January 2009
The Battle Of Cwmaman Hall
4 songs in. lights came up. fuck it. carry on. blast through the colossus. somebody is smoking inside. microphones go off. bar staff complain. fuck them. this is dangerous. builth wells with no vocals. old lady tries to stop mavis hitting the drums. very phoenix nights. owen mans the power supply. noise. life. thrashing. promise of an encore. angry faces of bar staff. there's no warmth where the body lies. feedback. raunchy. guitar porn. smiles. not alone. could carry on all night. microphone stands on the floor. broken glass on the floor. bass guitar sounds like a night time air raid. screaming. chaos. end.
Who The Hell Am I?
Who am I?!
It's a fine question, and something I will attempt to answer. Please forgive me if I balls this up though.
My name is Dorian Richard Holmes, some people call me Dorian, most call me Doz.
"Hello Doz."
I've decided to document what is happening with the band mainly, because at the moment things are quite exciting...but first, I must explain what came first.
1987: I was born on July 1st, to Lisa & Mark Holmes. Nothing notable happened for some years.
2000: On a random shopping trip to Cardiff, I bought 4 CD's...The Offspring 'Smash', Motorhead 'Overkill', Weezer 'Blue Album' and Kiss 'Destroyer'...
2002: I went to my first RAWK gig...Motorhead at Newport Centre, i still believe this permanently damaged my hearing. Started playing Bass Guitar.
2003: On January 31 I played my first gig with my very first band, Tick Box Here. We weren't very good but we were the only band to play covers of songs by The Pixies. We played on our own little scene with bands like Artificial Infection (ex-Spoonfed), Emend The Outrage, Polythene, Downturn and Frankie's Favourite People. We pretty much played exclusively at The Mount Pleasant in Aberdare. By the end of the year The Shot & Shell had started doing gigs. There was a banging scene going on. I had also joined another band, Souldriver.
2004: Tick Box Here split up on Valentine's Day, though would continue to play acoustic open mic nights for the rest of the year. I was relegated to just playing bass in Souldriver, so formed a grungey band with Dale Hawkins playing guitar and his cousin Rape Boy on drums, we were called Echopilot and were fucking shocking. But Dale would continue to be a presence in my life for the considerable future. Aberdare's music scene was still rocking in the Shot & Shell.
2005: Tick Box Here stopped doing any sort of gigs. Echopilot split up, then Dale re-started the band with other people, and we stopped talking. Souldriver were now my only band, again I was relegated to just playing bass, with the occasional bit of backing. The Shot & Shell stopped doing gigs, so they moved to the inside of a tin can...A.K.A. The Black Lion.
2006: I grew some balls. Completely tired of doing shit all with Souldriver I quit and started a new band, The Firebrand, with Dale Hawkins and my best mate, Mavis. I sung and played bass, we were disco-ish and grungey and punky..people seemed to like us. In October we were on the front page of the Aberdare Leader, it was strange.
2007: The Firebrand were going cool, we were doing cool gigs and had some awesome songs and an amazing EP. It never really took off with people. A week after recording our second EP in October we called it a day. The EP was never released...Mavis and I were completely gutted. We decided to start a new band, and begun writing songs as a two-piece whilst trying to find a guitarist. Wrote a groovy little number called Droids. Decided to not find a guitarist and become a two-piece. Recorded 3 songs in Burky's bedroom in Swansea, which was fun. Five days before Christmas we did our first gig at The Glandover, courtesy of Bronwen Davies.
2008: We buggered about for a few months, during which I became good friends with Boyd Clack. We recorded our first EP in February 'When I Was Your Age Pluto Was Still A Planet'. On April 18th we did a random gig in Dempseys in Cardiff. Out of the 5 people there, two happened to be Doghouse & Flapsandwich from Sicknote. They loved us, and invited us to play another gig that night at the very last Club With No Name gig. We joined Tantrum Records in the summer and played Workhouse Festival four days after my 21st birthday. With the Tantrum crew 100% behind us we soldiered triumphantly to the end of the year, supporting Jubilee in August, playing a bonkers opening night in Sub29 in November and a mad homecoming gig with Henry's Funeral Shoe and the reformed Serotonin on Christmas Eve.
That's me and my band history, I haven't got my first Bass 'Guitar 'cos I destroyed it at a Mount Pleasant gig. And I still fucking love Motorhead and Kiss...
It's a fine question, and something I will attempt to answer. Please forgive me if I balls this up though.
My name is Dorian Richard Holmes, some people call me Dorian, most call me Doz.
"Hello Doz."
I've decided to document what is happening with the band mainly, because at the moment things are quite exciting...but first, I must explain what came first.
1987: I was born on July 1st, to Lisa & Mark Holmes. Nothing notable happened for some years.
2000: On a random shopping trip to Cardiff, I bought 4 CD's...The Offspring 'Smash', Motorhead 'Overkill', Weezer 'Blue Album' and Kiss 'Destroyer'...
2002: I went to my first RAWK gig...Motorhead at Newport Centre, i still believe this permanently damaged my hearing. Started playing Bass Guitar.
2003: On January 31 I played my first gig with my very first band, Tick Box Here. We weren't very good but we were the only band to play covers of songs by The Pixies. We played on our own little scene with bands like Artificial Infection (ex-Spoonfed), Emend The Outrage, Polythene, Downturn and Frankie's Favourite People. We pretty much played exclusively at The Mount Pleasant in Aberdare. By the end of the year The Shot & Shell had started doing gigs. There was a banging scene going on. I had also joined another band, Souldriver.
2004: Tick Box Here split up on Valentine's Day, though would continue to play acoustic open mic nights for the rest of the year. I was relegated to just playing bass in Souldriver, so formed a grungey band with Dale Hawkins playing guitar and his cousin Rape Boy on drums, we were called Echopilot and were fucking shocking. But Dale would continue to be a presence in my life for the considerable future. Aberdare's music scene was still rocking in the Shot & Shell.
2005: Tick Box Here stopped doing any sort of gigs. Echopilot split up, then Dale re-started the band with other people, and we stopped talking. Souldriver were now my only band, again I was relegated to just playing bass, with the occasional bit of backing. The Shot & Shell stopped doing gigs, so they moved to the inside of a tin can...A.K.A. The Black Lion.
2006: I grew some balls. Completely tired of doing shit all with Souldriver I quit and started a new band, The Firebrand, with Dale Hawkins and my best mate, Mavis. I sung and played bass, we were disco-ish and grungey and punky..people seemed to like us. In October we were on the front page of the Aberdare Leader, it was strange.
2007: The Firebrand were going cool, we were doing cool gigs and had some awesome songs and an amazing EP. It never really took off with people. A week after recording our second EP in October we called it a day. The EP was never released...Mavis and I were completely gutted. We decided to start a new band, and begun writing songs as a two-piece whilst trying to find a guitarist. Wrote a groovy little number called Droids. Decided to not find a guitarist and become a two-piece. Recorded 3 songs in Burky's bedroom in Swansea, which was fun. Five days before Christmas we did our first gig at The Glandover, courtesy of Bronwen Davies.
2008: We buggered about for a few months, during which I became good friends with Boyd Clack. We recorded our first EP in February 'When I Was Your Age Pluto Was Still A Planet'. On April 18th we did a random gig in Dempseys in Cardiff. Out of the 5 people there, two happened to be Doghouse & Flapsandwich from Sicknote. They loved us, and invited us to play another gig that night at the very last Club With No Name gig. We joined Tantrum Records in the summer and played Workhouse Festival four days after my 21st birthday. With the Tantrum crew 100% behind us we soldiered triumphantly to the end of the year, supporting Jubilee in August, playing a bonkers opening night in Sub29 in November and a mad homecoming gig with Henry's Funeral Shoe and the reformed Serotonin on Christmas Eve.
That's me and my band history, I haven't got my first Bass 'Guitar 'cos I destroyed it at a Mount Pleasant gig. And I still fucking love Motorhead and Kiss...
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