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Friday 6th March 2009 @ Lakota, Bristol
Featuring Sets From: Benga, Blackmarket, Youngsta, Fearless, Chef, Gemmy, Sinden, Ratpack, Fake Blood

For those not acquainted with some of the cruder lexicon of today’s youth, ‘shit the bed’ is nifty piece of slang used to express delight and a certain element of surprise – something you’d proclaim if, for example, you found out that your sister’s new boyfriend was an AAA pass-wielding Erol Alkan. Or when, say, you discovered like many of Bristol’s chuffed bass lovers, that the phenomenal quartet of Benga, Sinden, Ratpack and Fake Blood were due to headline Bristol promoters The Blast’s latest Lakota dancefest.
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The Tobacco Factory is one of the few survivals from the great Imperial Tobacco site on Raleigh Road, Ashton, Bristol. It was saved from demolition by Bristol architect George Ferguson who has turned it into a model of urban regeneration. It is now a multi-use building housing a cafe/bar, an oriental bistro, creative industry work spaces, work loft apartments, animation and performing arts schools, a dance studio and one of the most exciting small theatre venues in the country.

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Thursday 26th February 2009 @ The Fleece, Bristol
With Support From: Young Husband

No sooner had I sat down in the backroom of The Fleece to have a chat with Emma Lee-Moss of Emmy The Great ahead of her performance, than I was presented with the naked, broad butt-cheeks of Joe from support band Young Husband. Two wholesome slabs of ham that were red-raw from a brutal spanking the night before…

SY: Owww – what had you done to deserve it?
Ric (violin/bass): He didn’t sell enough merch!

SY: Erm…eventful tour then?
Emma: I have become too comfortable with Joe’s genitalia and nether regions. This is the longest tour I’ve ever done - we’ve been going for 4 weeks and we’ve done 25 dates. This is our penultimate gig!

SY: Was the spanking yesterday a peak?
Joe: I’d say it was a low point…
Tom (keyboard) and Ric: Peak! Peak!

Emma: Alright! I’ll shout out an event from the tour and you’ve got to say whether it was a peak or a trough, OK?
All: Haha! OK!

Emma: Joe taking a piss in the middle of my photoshoot? (I got my photo taken in Hull and they wanted to do it in the toilets. Joe got his dick out to draw as much attention as possible and started pissing into the urinal from as far as he could…)
Joe: That was a peak. Definite peak.

Emma: Breaking up with your girlfriend?
Joe: Oh, trough.
Emma: But meeting another girl?!
Ric: Wayhey!
Joe: Definite peak!

SY: There’ve been a lot of peaks then?
Emma: Newcastle was a great gig – ooo – and a great meal.
Tom: Yeah, but it did give me food poisoning.
Ric: Oooo – trough.
Tom: Yeah, eating it was a peak, then I went to the toilet and it was a definite trough.

Emma: Euan’s guitar breaking?
Tom: Ah, definite trough.
Ric: Trough of hell.
Emma: Utter trough.
Euan (guitar/bass): I was fucking pissed off.

Emma: I got a Frisbee thrown at my head in Leeds when we were packing up…
Voice in the distance: Do you guys wanna come and just check on the stage setup cos there’s a problem?
All: *huff*….trough. Definite trough coming up.

And so the merry band of indie/folksters scurried off to prepare for their gig, leaving me to contemplate their tour of nudity and physical assault, and looking forward to what peaks we could expect that evening.

Onstage around ten o’clock the gig did, however, start with an unwelcome trough. The first three songs, including the perky single We Almost Had A Baby, were frustratingly hampered by a mic that kept on cutting out, sound levels that fluctuated more than Joe from Young Husband’s trousers and the occasional screech of feedback. Things were sorted out quickly though just in time for what was the peak of my evening; a gentle acoustic number called The Hypnotist’s Son which Emma played solo with some subtle backing vocals. It was just a truly beautiful song; lovely, desperately fragile and sad whilst also being genuinely and honestly funny; “Can’t tell if this is love or a stomach disorder” - causing ripples of laughter through the warm smiles that flowed over a crowd whom watched respectfully, gently swaying and softly mouthing the words themselves.

The end of the song was answered with such a positive roar from the entire audience that it perked and loosened us all up. The rest of the gig was all the better for it too because after hearing the stunning, pure beauty of Emma’s voice stripped down like that, we were able to really appreciate the compliments of the full band.

www.emmythegreat.com

Matthew Whittle www.matthewwhittleblog.blogspot.com

Photos: Alex

After being shortlisted into the final eight cities tussling for the accolade of the first ever European Green Capital, Bristol has just missed out to the winning city of Stockholm, Sweden.

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It was mid-February – that cold, grey, miserable time of year. Not wanting to go bankrupt by turning up the heating to the Saharan levels we deserved, we decided to brace ourselves against the cold by instead sleeping with a triple duvet-blanket combo in bed and covering every inch of skin just to go outside became a necessary habit.

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A fantastic video documenting graffiti art in Bristol in 2008 by the fab people at Threenine.

www.threenine.eu

www.fiveononemagazine.com

People’s Republic of Stokes Croft interview community bobby Dan.

www.prsc.org.uk

Friday 16th January 2009 @ Thekla, Bristol

Featuring: Fischerspooner, Matt Walsh, Joe & Will Ask, Portmanteau

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