Bit of a weird day today.  took a long time to get not that much done.  Part of this was cos the not one, not two, but three interviews about the Madingley Fundraiser.  Im stoked that people are taking interest.  But i find it bizarre that a local paper, or in fact, all the local papers, would want to cover this so fully, but dont cover the the fact Kids In Glass Houses or Mystery Jets are playing Kingston or whatever, but so be it…

So we had a photoshoot for the Kingston Informer.  The highlight of this was having Clement Marfo & The Frontline and most of the banquet staff posing together outside the shop.  Clement proved he was gonna become a star by the way he refused to get out of the way for the bus.  Pretty jokes.  Then me and him (as the leaders of our respective gangs) had a one on one photo.  Clean cut black youth vs scruffy white and white bearded 30-something.  I hope this is as striking an image as it was in my head.  And i also guess this is what makes the appeal important.  a cross sections of society who give a shit.  Maybe.  Hopefully.

The latter part of today was tied up with meeting with Bacchus (who may finally be sorting themselves out) and then the Madina Lake show.

You may or may not know that Matt from Madina Lake got beat up whilst stepping in as a hero at home, to a wife getting, erm, wife-beaten.  He’s had multiple brain surgery, appears to be getting well, but he obvs couldnt tour but the shows went on without him.  The three left from Madina Lake made up for it.  A really good show, and all our staff and all their crew did their jobs perfect, but it was nowhere near as busy as i’d hoped.  In fact we lost a massive fee on it, but of all the shows to lose money on, this was probably the best one, as im glad the money has gone to a band that need it (for matthew’s medical bills). 

At least all the crew were safe.  Your Time Is Mine opened it and did well and i thought The Wild had a little something which could see them big in a year or so.  Strong front girl…

Shop-wise we got the new Sky Larkin album in today.  its well good and im stoked for their shows on Thursday,

and late in the day we got copies of the new old Matt Skiba (of Alkaline Trio) release.  We’ve sold lots of these already.

good times a plenty.  and to think there was a time we were talking about not even opening on a Tuesday…

I went to K’s vs Fulham last night.  It was pretty rubbish and all the reasons i hate pre-season friendlies.  on the way back we walked through the Cambridge Estates and Madingley looks so sad all empty and dark with a big fencing keeping everyone away from it. 

I dont know where those people are living right now…  now this story isnt in the news etc.  But know that this New Slang appeal will do something good in our town…

Facebook link is here…  http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=138976326136686

do us a favour and help spread the word?

so, when i started this i knew it would fall to the bottom of the priority list.  I make no apologies tho…  but today its time for an update.  Been a bit busy…  and a couple of weeks back i was best man at school-to-present-day-friend Gary Ekins wedding…  Can’t wait to see it all on video!!!  best man’s speech had some killer one liners on.  and a one liner on a killer.  

It’s 5:00pm on a nice day.., I’d normally go skating at this time, but its school holidays so KTown park will be packed and yesterdays skate was so good (pro-standard nollie heel shuv manual i swear) i dont want to ruin its memory by going back to the same place and skating not as well.  which would be likely.

There’s been quite a few sick shows recently.  Mystery Jets at new slang was a long time coming. Over the years they’re probably new slang’s number one band favourite band.  Its stupid to think that, apart from instores, they haven’t played Kingston since playing Bacchus about 5 years ago.  It was great to have them back.  Of course the show sold out but it wasnt really anything to do with banquet or new slang, just on the merit of the band in the week they released their third album.  And rightly so.

There’s been some other great shows at new slang recently.  The Cribs was amazing, as i particularly love them, Darwin Deez and their rad dancing was also a higlight, and Young Guns at The Hippodrome (albeit not new slang) was also brilliant … 500 kids at a 14+ concert… the lighting in there really makes a difference altho its hard to know if its worth the £9k or so to buy it permanenently or whether we should keep hiring…

But the one thing im most proud of in recent times is the new slang on the 8th July with Primary One headlining.  Its still early days for them and i reckon only about 70 or specifically turned up hoping to see the band, but thats not terrible for where they are right now.  We had just shy of 400 in for the night.  And there were people around, banquet and hippodrome staff included, who looked on this as some kind of failure.  Yeah, it is a low number by New Slang standards but the vibe was bang on.  The fact is that over 300 came out to our club night just to have a dance.  In mid July. In the new slang between darwin deez and mystery jets.  And the playlist was totally as me and Sean would want it.  No selling out to pack the dancefloor, just playing songs we, and our crowd, wanted to hear.  Three seperate groups asked for Tegan And Sara that night, and the vibe on the dancefloor and the songs they were dancing to was as good as its ever been.  I was so happy with New Slang that night.  And still am.

Having said that, i’m well looking forward to upcoming shows from Man Like Me, 65 Days Of Static and all the other bands im not allowed to mention yet.  And also to our fund raiser on August 19th for the Madingley fire…

… this was the fire in the Cambridge Estates (interestingly the correct terminology is to pluralise it)…  an amazing sight - i had to stop work that day and wander down and gawp at it.  One of Kingston’s defining landscape features ablaze.  Thank God no-one died in it, but 60 people are still homeless from it.  Loads of people have lost all their worldly goods, but the thing that gets me is how much certain groups of people from Ktown seem to not give a shit about it too much.  I cant help but think that if this was 60 semi-detatched houses in Surbiton there would be way more people calling in to help…  And its partly for this reason that we’re doing the fund-raiser.  Thats on August 19th, and may well be all announced and proper by the time you read this..  We should be able to give over a grand to CREst from it.  and we’re happy to do so.

so yeah, stay tuned to that…  http://www.newslangkingston.co.uk and http://www.facebook.com/newslangkingston and http://twitter.com/newslangclub

seeya next time

Plenty of great releases and such a varied bunch out this week.  New albums from .Pulled Apart By Horses, Sleigh Bells, Example, The Dead Weather a Caspa mixed dubstep comp, Kele from Bloc Party and plenty of great and limited singles from the likes of Vampire Weekend, Funeral Party, Nice Up!, Chief and plenty more.

Couldnt be more excited that The Cribs are playing New Slang this week.  A band who’ve probably been played at every one of the club nights we’ve done, so we’re stoked that one of our fave bands is coming to play our club night in the biggest Kingston gig since, and maybe including, Vampire Weekend.  Come to this, and help spread the word about these great bands coming to Kingston in the coming weeks.



Some amazing instores recently and we have a great last minute one THIS WEDNESDAY with disco punk dudes from America Funeral Party. Click on the image to view their latest video and fall in love with this band!





Again a number of decent singles out this week…  Former new slangers Vampire Weekend  release an extended mix of the already pretty lengthy ‘Giving Up The Gun’, there’s a new hard to get 7” from shop faves and impossible to google Holy Fuck and its great to have the return of Chief.

However, the biggest single of the week for us this week, and probably most exciting for a while, is the 7” from Funeral Party who play a hastily arranged instore for us here on Wednesday.  Disco-punk groove that fans of LCD Soundsystem, !!!, The Rapture or Youves should come and check out!

 

A great mixed bag of new albums this week.  Bloc Party’s Kele puts out quite a bangin side project album, the “grungy dance pop” of Sleigh Bells, the chaotic beauty of Pulled Apart By Horses and the new LP from the Jack White driven Dead Weather.

Always plenty of stuff to order to get to your door for day of release or to make sure you get one of the all too limited copies. Couldnt be any more excited to hear the new album from Mystery Jets and we have a brilliant album/ticket combo available ahead of their New Slang show in July. Plenty more just around the corner too!

 

The third Gaslight Anthem album is out now. Click on the album cover for an interesting rockumentary about the making of it. We love this band, and their progression and we have plenty of bonus freebies to give away upon purchase. The new Off With Their Heads is a contender for album of the year… check out a few tracks and listen and love. Also look at this Dave Hause (not to be confused with Dave House) 7”…

We’ve had such a sick run of shows recently, check out the footage of New Found Glory at The Fighting Cocks and the Four Year Strong instore!

Pretty excited about this week.  The Cribs have been a favourite of ours for years and there cant have been one New Slang night that hasnt played at least one song from the Wakey trio turned 4-piece thanks to a certain Johnny Marr.  Massive show for us and something of an accomplishment.  We hope as many of you as possible can make it out to what will be a memorable show, and the biggest Kingston gig since ( or maybe including) Vampire Weekend. 

The day before we have the brilliant disco-punk talent of Funeral Party playing in the store and we round off the week with three rooms of DANCE anthems at The Hippodrome.

We are beginning to stock tickets for events that Banquet customers could well be interested in. Tickets for selected local shows, or London / nearby shows from some of our favourite bands should be gettable from here. We currently have tickets available for Frank Turner and more!

For more info on Banquet run events we have a more detailed listings page over in the Shows / Clubs section.

Any promoters wishing to sell tickets via this page, we welcome you to get in touch.

If you need a PA system for a party / gig / whatever then give us a call on 020 8549 5871. We should have something that’ll meet your requirements. Small set ups from £50 a day! Also available Pioneer CD-DJ / Basic Mixer combo, Shure Microphones & even a soundman if you need one. Get in touch for a quote!



Cheers and have a great week!
JT (in tom’s absence) & the rest of Banquet Records

This band’s been on my radar for a few years but, for no real reason the first album didnt really grab me even tho Sean Haughton was going mental for it at the time.  This new album has blown me away tho.  Its what i like in a punk rock album, and it has all the things that first attracted me to bands like Dillinger Four, Broadway Calls  or even Face To Face…  We booked them for the support to Paint It Black in August, and now im so stoked on this.  Album of the month for me, for sure.

1.Drive 2.Their Own Medicine 3.Trying To Breathe 4.ZZYZX 5.The Eyes of Death 6.Old Man 7.All I Can Do 8.I Need You 9.Spare Time 10.I Just Want You To Know 11.My Episodes 12.Clear The Air

The new album (and the first for Epitaph) from the Minneapolis punk rockers.  Don’t worry the fist pumping, sweat drenched sing-a-longs are still there. Can’t wait!

At the moment the UK release is only on CD, we’ll import the LP but it’ll be in a little after the CD!

ALSO, the Refused album got the re-issue treatement this week.  A stunning album you shoul really get for historical importance even if there’s something about the album you don’t want.  The album that gave ‘new noise’ its name, its a lovingly repsented document

 CD1 1.Worms of the Senses / Faculties of the Skull 2.Liberation Frequency 3.The Deadly Rhythm 4.Summerholidays Vs. Punkroutine 5.Bruitist Pome #5 6.New Noise 7.The Refused Party Program 8.Protest Song ‘68 9.Refused Are Fucking Dead 10.The Shape of Punk to Come 11.Tannhäuser / Derivè 12.The Apollo Programme Was a Hoax  CD2 1.Shape Of Punk To Come 2.Refused Party Program 3.Circle Pit 4.Worms Of The Senses / Faculties Of The Skull 5.Hook, Line And Sinker 6.Summer Holidays vs. Punk Routine 7.Rather Be Dead 8.Burn It 9.The Deadly Rythm 10.Coup d’Etat 11.New Noise 12.Tannhäuser

Released 7th June 2010

One of the most important albums in punk / hardcore history gets re-issued in deluxe 3-disc CD / DVD & Double LP formats.  Both the CD and LP versions have a full live set (the LP has the live set as a download) and the CD package contains the “Are Fucking Dead” DVD to top it off!

how can anyone not like this song?  stoked t(he)y come(s) to Kingston in a few weeks

a real highlight of last year’s New Slam…  can’t wait till tomorrow!