tisdag 24 Aug 2010, 9:08

It's been a very long time since I wrote a journal on here or in fact anywhere. My blogging has become pretty much non-existant these days.

Anyway, basically I just wanted to give whoever may read this a little heads up about my new band. If you're my neighbour, especially, you might just enjoy us! We're called Mitford Rebel and after a few months of breaking in our new drummer and bassist, as well as recording our EP, we're ready to launch ourselves onto the world. We've already got our first gig…it's this Thursday! I am very excited. It's not like I've been completely off the stage in the time it's been since I finished university…I've been playing guitar in a ska/reggae covers band since about May 2009, but it's just not the same! I mean I enjoy it and everything because I love playing guitar and I love the material, but it's just not a patch on being able to perform your own music to a crowd. Anyway, it'd be great if you could have a listen. Hopefully we'll be playing live somewhere near you soon!

I went to two festivals this Summer…firstly, RockNess, which I was mostly drawn to by The Strokes and Vampire Weekend, who were both brilliant. I don't think there's any better band around at the moment for enjoying in the afternoon sunshine than the latter. Although there were only three of us that went up to Scotland, we had a great time. The initial plan was to get a big group of friends to it but after we'd already bought our tickets, it turned out that everyone else had decided they wanted to go to Kendal Calling instead.

This was my first year at Kendal Calling and it was also loads of fun. I like the small/medium festivals, and I think it would be a shame for this one to get much bigger, as it has a great atmosphere the way it is. However, I think it does suffer slightly with the line-up it can manage. Don't get me wrong, I saw some great artists over the course of the weekend, but I just don't think Doves and The Coral stand up very well as festival headliners. They're both great bands but they just don't have that epic quality that really resonates when you've been hanging around in a field all day just to see the final band of the day. And of the weekend, in The Coral's case.

It didn't matter though. There was a crowd of seven of us this time, and it was my friend Charlotte's birthday on the Saturday, so we all dressed up like idiots and squeezed as much fun out of the day as we possibly could. We'll be playing there next Summer, you just watch. :)

Elsewhere, I am waiting with baited breath for the new Manic Street Preachers album, Postcards From A Young Man. I've heard a couple of tracks so far…one of which I thought was quite brilliant and the other I wasn't really sure about at first. I have every faith in them, however, and I have my signed copy pre-ordered. Can't wait to see them live again in October, either!

Caz xxx