NOST8MENT NEWS ARCHIVES
2005 NEWS

28/6/05

Reading festival. What can I say? We don't normally go for the music, we go for the *ahem* atmosphere and the campfires. But this year we saw some ace bands. Finally getting to see the Pixies and Dinosaur Jr after all these years. And, even if Kim Deal and J Mascis do look your parents (or grandparents depending on your age) both bands still ruled and Dinosaur still sound ten times more interesting and relevant than many of the main stage acts over the weekend. Also loved the magnificent Ladytron, the excellent Fourtet, and Sleater Kinney were ace, The Dwarves we love but hewhocannotbenamed really should put some fuckin pants on once in a while! Goldie Lookin Chain had us in stiches … but the two bands of the weekend in my opinion were M.I.A. and the outstanding Arcade Fire. Both ace. Unsurprisingly, we gave Iron Maiden a miss.

COPYRIGHT LAW?
So, with the news that Nike has taken, without permission, the 1984 album design of Dischord Records artist Minor Threat and turned it into a skateboarding poster for the company's "Major Threat" East Coast Tour (!!) … the subject on my mind is COPYRIGHT law. Who does this protect and should it? Should we control the distribution of art? Should we be allowed to protect the art we create? The comments below were made to me in a conversation on the subject (by gareth) and I thought I'd share them because to me at least they ring true …..

i hate the way art and music is turned into 'product' too... and this is from a man who has no problem with consumerism, trade or all the other facets of capitalism. i think that it's copyright law that turns these things into product. and my objection is not that i like these things and i want them revered rather than somehow defiled by pricing and marketing, but rather that copyright gives such things an artificial protection. your house, your clothes, your body... these are tangibly, sensibly considered your property, and there are good reasons to call the protection of property legitimate ; the same isn't true of emanations from one's imagination. murray rothbard was the most radical libertarian i've ever read, and even he said that copyright law is justified because it protects private property... well i think his extention of the notion 'property' to such ethereal things is specious.

not only that, but copyright law gives legal sanction ( and all the coercion that accompanies that ) to the highly contentious idea that a person is responsible for, or to be thanked for, the product of talents that came to them by accident. actually, bollox to "highly contentious", i say it's wrong. you can praise someone as much as you like - i do it - but you cannot seriously say that, ultimately, they deserve it. whatever genius they possess, they got by a lucky roll of the dice. copyright law bestows upon them a further boon by saying that not only are they the source ( which, ultimately, they're not ) of whatever enriching work they produce, but that you owe them money for the privilege of owning a copy of it. laws like this, i think, distort common ideas of reality and force the idea upon people that individuals are the source not only of genius, but, in the case of criminal law, of the evils that cause aggressive acts... while individual responsibility is surely the soundest basis for ethics, it need not be assumed that the goods or evils we observe originate or are somehow created in or by the subject individual.

secondly, without copyright law : artists and authors could still profit from selling their originals ( and copies they arranged ), musicians and comedians could still profit from gigs, inventors and researchers from their creations and discoveries. they would lose the artificially inflated dividend of those works. furthermore, while copying and imitating other ( more talented ) people's works would occur, the tradeoff is that people would have to hone their own sense of what genius really is... to know when they see the real thing. so talent would become more genuinely, rather than conventionally, valued.

thirdly, on a libertarian note, it seems to me unfair that people with no involvement in the production of what we call the arts should be forced to pay for the privilege of such protection. not only that, but, admitting little knowledge of the history of these laws, i suspect they originated in the same manner as many other protective laws : namely, a successful attempt by big businesses ( in this case record companies ) to win the favour and force of law to permanently cartelise an entire area of the economy, solely for their own benefit.

30/8/05

The new Final Coil album is sounding fantastic and will be out soon. Catnap’s ‘Have You Seen Larry?’ is now on sale in Edgeworld Records, brighton. You can, of course order from us, but bear in mind there might be a delay in me sending things out, because I am a tad busy right now. I will try, of course. You can also get Miami Vice on Ice, the new Baron Bum Blood album, from us right now.

New material is expected from Fridge Magnet in the near future, and T11 might bother to release something pretty soon.

Sorry about the lack of updates and all that recently..it’ll be worth it in the end.

28/6/05

Right you lot..you know us, we like to persuade you to part with your money for a good cause..and the great Mr Ives of Calculated Risk Records is doing a the Great Gorilla Run for the Dian Fossey organisation , which is a bit good as they work to help the few remaining mountain gorillas in the world escape extinction.

The Great Gorilla Run will see hundreds of people running around a 7km course in Central London on the 25/9/05, dressed in gorilla outfits to raise money that will go directly towards the preservation of gorillas in Central Africa. SO.. go here, which is Martin's justgiving site and help the gorillas, or we'll set a gorilla on you and that wouldn't be very nice at all.

Catnap's 'Have You Seen Larry?' and Baron Bum Blood's 'Miami Vice On Ice' will both be out in the next few weeks, and in August T11, Fridge Magnet and others will be joining the Final Coil in a studio somewhere to record some fabulous things for you.

17/6/05

QUICK UPDATE SEEING AS WE SAW TRENCHER LAST NIGHT

They might not be one of our bands but I feel the need to tell you all about some future dates when you can see Trencher because they are really rather good..

21st June London White Heat at Madame Jojo's Tigers!, Scarecrows, Cutting Pink With Knives

25th June Leeds The Fenton Tigers!, Whores Whores Whores

23rd July London The Swan Duracell, Cutting Pink With Knives, Hades, Midas Girls

29th July Lincoln The Bivouac Lee Malvo, Mormons, Bonsai Kittens + loads more!

TRENCHER WEBSITE

Also, big noise to Cherry Tombs, who are sounding fabuolous xxx

Mav 17/6/05

10/6/05

Tragically one whole day's news from this section has been eaten by the interwebbe and I can't remember what it said. Oh well. We have had a couple of excellent nights of sounds and noises at the Free Butt, and you can now see pictures of Wolf Eyes that we took on Monday, in our lovely images section. Wolf Eyes were fabulous, and particularly loud if you were standing next to a speaker for the whole gig, which i was. I recommend it.

Yeborobo were as wonderful as always last night, also at the Free Butt, with an inflatable shark. i say it was a shark, others say it was a dolphin. Maybe it was, in fact having had a look at the photos..i think i was wrong.. Anyway, there's pictures from that as well. Fabulous.

Also, I hereby promise to try and not break the website again. Yeah. Noise out.

10/6/05

Hello weekend Foolishly those in charge here at nost8ment hq have given me the power to update the front page. So for my first attempt at spreading chaos lets kick off with something that's been causing a few arguments in some parts .... here's my opinion. do with it what you will:

Smallville flash are playing at this years Thurrock Music festival. We understand that this event requires bands to purchase a number of tickets from the promoter. The band then aims to sell these tickets (and make a profit). If the bands fail to sell enough tickets they lose money. Nost8ment considers this 'PAY TO PLAY' and as a result we feel we are unable promote the flash's gig. Pay to play events are the enemy of the underground and don't believe people who tell you that 'its the only way of doing things'. Its not. Its a shame that this way of doing things is still around, that headline bands and promoters still cover the risk of not getting paid by selling dreams to small bands. And of course quality suffers as result.

Of course we do still wish the flash all the best with their gig and hope they play a blinder. We also hope that the thurrock music festival organisers eventually come round to our way of thinking, but until then i for one certainly won't be showing my face.

Things to remind you about for next week:

Wolf Eyes @ The Free Butt on 13th June, Yeborobo @ The Free Butt on 14th June, Spirit of Gravity @ The Albert on 15th June, Trencher & DJ Scoth Egg @ The Free Butt on 16th June, Miss Pain @ The Free Butt 18th June and Wrong Music @ The Free Butt 19th June. No, the Free Butt didn't pay me to say that.

Jay 10/06/05

20/5/05

First off, thanks to Spirit of Gravity for having Monkey Knife Fight at the Albert on Wednesday, wicked night, can’t comment on us but the other music was fabulous. What’s more it was amazing to be able to play with no pressure whatsoever to get a certain number of people there and to still have a crowd of people in the room. Photos should be here by Monday if not before.

The Final Coil are due to record in August, with some ‘guest’ input from various nost8ment people. The new EP is to be called ‘Moving On’ and will feature the following tracks: Motherfuxxer, Fucking revolution#, Feeble minds, Intro (demo), Endgame v.3 (demo) and Balls (feat T.Wolski). Final Coil have a nice new website which you can view by clicking here , they should also be doing some gigs in September.

Mr Pip from Final Coil is also playing with punk/prog/rock band Metanoia, who also have a website which you can see here.

Smallville Flash can be seen at the Standard in Walthamstow on 10th June, and there is talk of L’Oblong Fantastique playing with them at some point, in Romford, but that is all very much to be confirmed.

For those not in the know, Oblong Fantastic are Monkey Knife Fight by another name, and consist of Jay (Fridge Magnet, GIAC, First Violence), Jack from Catnap, Nikki aka Maverick, one bass, one guitar, some machines and a fine exhibition of effects pedals.

CATNAP have finished mastering their new CD which will be out in conjunction with nost8ment some time reasonably soon. Catnap are playing at the Freebutt, with Yuchi and Blood Red Shoes on 31st May,

Some things that aren’t really anything much to do with us but that we have to tell you about are that BEARSUIT are playing at the Free Butt tonight, with DJ Scotch Egg. YEBOROBO are playing on 14th June at the Freebutt as part of a Slightly Off Kilter thing. The day before that (13th June) WOLF EYES are going to be at the Freebutt which is rather amazing indeed. HUNTING LODGE are playing on 4th June as part of the Venn Festival in Bristol, click here for more info along with Acid Mothers Temple, Oneida, Phil Minton and Vetiver. Hunting Lodge can also be seen at the Croft in Bristol on 12th June (with the lovely Trencher), 17th June Upstairs at the King Alfred in Southampton and 6th July at Bar Unlimited in Bristol. MISS PAIN are playing at the Spitz in London on the 26th May, and at The Concorde 2 in Brighton on 30th May. HOT RODDY can be seen at the Amersham Arms in New Cross on 25th May. SAME ACTOR will be appearing at the Prince Albert in Brighton on 15th June, Audio (Brighton) on 22nd June, the Amersham Arms (New Cross) on 29th June, and The Red Rose (London) on 7th September.

Have a good weekend.

5/5/05

I’ve been a bad web mistress and I know it, so here’s a new front page ramble for your viewing pleasure. Before I start, I do hope everyone is enjoying themselves on this General Election Day. Enough has been said about politics elsewhere and I am not going to talk about that here.

In recent times we have seen Catnap play at the Hobgoblin and they were rather good as always. Monkey Knife Fight are not going to be called Monkey Knife Fight after the 18th May because they are going to be called Oblong Fantastic, which isn’t the name of a song as far as anyone involved knows. In case you’ve forgotten, whatever they are called, they are playing at the Albert in Brighton on the 18th May.

Elsewhere on the great interwebbe which has clearly survived being absorbed by a Dalek over the Bank Holiday weekend, a debate has begun about what ‘alternative music’ might be. I am not sure what the answer is. Mainly, as previously reported right here, I am not entirely sure how to answer the question, “What is Music?” and thus cannot see how you can answer more specific questions. But I’m difficult like that.

T11 proclaimed in a pub recently that, “The next album is going to be fucking mint”, which had something to do with beer and Korg power, the results remain to be seen. Fridge Magnet are making progress with a new album and we will be bringing Baron Bum Blood’s Miami Vice on Ice to you in the very near future.

Finally, this is happening tonight:

24/3/05

After two pints of snakebite and black I thought it was a good idea to write out 101 reasons why anyone reading this should go and see the Moulsecoomb Sword Gang. After another two pints I found that I had not got very far with this task, and now, sober, I can tell you that you should see this band because of the following reasons which I collected from people I harassed in the Free Butt:

• They’re a bit good
• They have a PURPLE telecaster
• Drummers who use only a bass drum, floor tom, snare, hi-hat and one cymbal tend to be more interesting than those with lots of drums
• We played Who Wants to be a Millionaire with them and can tell you that THEY KNOW THEIR WORMS
• THAT is how to play bass
• If I was better at sampling and made interesting hip-hop I would sample them
• You like Fugazi
• They don’t know what song to play next
• They are not one of those miserable bands who seem to hate playing gigs, which applies when they are being Yeborobo as well, and we like that sort of thing
• They don’t play for so long that you get bored, but you wouldn’t even if they did
• They are like a box of chocolates
• They base themselves on chairs..actually I think that says chavs, I can’t read my own writing..
• Because the lights are on
• Because they got me drunk by proxy
• Because they’re my mates
• They are the epitomy of everything that is wrong with the Brighton music scene and kids today

20/3/05

This is my Sunday night. There’s a guy with what appears to be something along the lines of an 808 and a 909, but might be something else, strapped around his neck, along with a guitar. He’s playing what seems at the time like the most wonderfully random stuff. If I didn’t know better I’d say we’re in stoner techno territory now, like the Butthole Surfers doing Altern8 and then remixed by doomsday Apocalypse Special in collaboration with Pink Star. It’s what I thought IT was like when I was a 14 year old with Experience and some flyers I got in some dance shop. It’s like being behind that curtain at Pontins, when it was ATP, and we dancing in total darkness and it was fucking fantastic, but it’s Sunday night and it’s work tomorrow and so, so it’s different, but in the best possible way. It’s even interrupting the stuff that usually interrupts whatever it is that is going on here, and it’s why I love this place.

I stopped being surprised, I stopped having expectations..I don’t know when. Maybe it was Blackfoot and the Voola, maybe it was just watching the Butthole Surfers DVD. Something happened. A point came when music stopped meaning what they taught us at school, when it warped with art, and even then, it wasn’t what art teachers said it was, it became something altogether different, something special. Beyond explanation. It’s finding yourself dancing with glowsticks outside a double decker bus at 3am, it’s all that random stuff that just happens to happen. THIS IS BASICALLY WHAT WE HAVE TO DO.

Anyways..I saw a poster in a shop today and it told me that DJ Rubbish was playing at the Ocean Rooms, in Brighton, on 1st April. Aside from the fact that Smallville Flash are NOT playing at The Standard on Friday like we previously told you they were, that is the most important thing I have to say at this moment. Take note.

16/3/05

Thu 20th January 2005
7:45-8:15 		MAGNUM OPUS
8:30-9:00 		MURMUR
9:15-9:45 		HUNTING LODGE
10:00-10:30 	HILL MISTERS
10:45-11:15 	ACNO