Top 5

This week, Ben has assumed the guise of the all-seeing-eye.

His omnipotence has assembled the following 'Top 5' list of his favourite corners of the creative industries.

enjoy.love

EXPATRIATEBAND.com


1. Planes - www.flightradar24.com
My favourite computer game as a kid was Flight Simulator. Boy-nerd I was. Apart from music, aviation is my greatest enjoyment and fascination.

I can spend much time, particularly late at night, clicking on different planes and observing where each of them have come from and where they're going to. I imagine what its like on board as they fly across the black-milk sky, who are the passengers and what are their life stories?

2. Wonders of the Solar System - http://bit.ly/9KAdeB
This recent BBC series is a true gem. You can just imagine the enrolment lines for next semesters astronomy class winding out the university gates.

In my mind, Brian Cox would make the best older brother - wise and cool. I'd watch this before going to bed and would fall asleep dreaming of the universe and my diminutive place in it.

3. Eating cake by yourself on Sundays (only) http://bit.ly/d5YwwM
Time alone is a good thing - at least for me it is. Spending it with a piece of cake, on a Sunday, is even better.

4. M.I.A Born Free: (Warning: the violence in this is extremely graphic) www.miauk.com
Like everyone who watches this I was shocked. But, I believe its a pertinent statement to make - especially, in this day and age of the 'Gaga' video-commercials. It's political, it's punk-rock and, while stylised, you can feel the pathos that both MIA and the director are trying to bring to the piece. The sad thing is, it's likely to cause more controversy than seeing images of the real thing. www.miauk.com


5. Richard Wright - http://bit.ly/5UvdsN
Most artists, in whatever domain, hope for their body of work to occupy the physical realm in some way for eternity. Be it on canvas, a brick wall, a gallery space, on a CD or in sculpture. A part of you lives on after you don't so your life's work can be hailed, denounced or whatever...

I'm fascinated by this British painter - not just because he won the Turner Prize for his abstract, wall-covering painting in gold leaf. Because, Wrights ethos regarding his work is the opposite from the one just described. He intends for his works to be temporary and, in fact, they should be destroyed after being exhibited. It's the viewers memory that is his intended vehicle for parking his life's work, so to speak. See this while you can at Tate Britain - before destruction reigns. I think its beautiful.

An electrocution or two, is trivial really...

Hello.

Hope you've all dined on rivers of chocolate over the last few weeks. Happy Belated Easter - if you celebrated it.

A brief update as follows and we hope it finds you well - wherever you are and whatever you're doing.

We're currently in Berlin and have been back here since February - we came home right after our brief but busy time in the UK. It should be said that time spent off the road can go one of two ways. You are productive or you aren't. Luckily, we fell into the former category. And so it is, we've been hard at work rebuilding a rehearsal/demo studio that we initially had in 2009 but broke it down to take all our gear on tour.

The studio that we've just built is a beauty and excels from our effort from last year. At heart, we are a bunch of nerds that enjoy wiring things together, despite our lacking in proper knowledge of what exactly we're wiring together. No matter - an electrocution or two is trivial really. Moving on. We completed the studio at the beginning of March and we've been in there just about every day - working hard on a long list of songs/demos/ideas for album number two! I can't tell you how much of relief it is to begin the process of working on album TWO.

We have uploaded some photos of the building and subsequent creation process, so come and take a look around the new space...

HERE

The way it works is thus: we have an A list and a B list. Holy shit - complicated right?!

As you can probably deduce, the songs on the A list are definitely headed for our next record. The songs on the B list have required work with the intention of - via a democratic vote - moving them onto the A list if they are worthy or throwing them out. Obviously, some fall by the wayside and others make it. Always, it's the unexpected ones that make it first round the bend before the more obvious choices.

Apart from that, Berlin life is treating us well. Today the weather was a sparkling 18C and, for those of you who've just stumbled through a harsh Euro-winter, I'm sure you can appreciate the smile each and everyone of us was wearing today.

We're coming back out on the road in the summer so look out for dates soon.

Take care everyone.

Ben. Cristo. Damian. Dave.

p.s we have put together a video of the jouirney from our home in Berlin to the new studio, come and watch it now:

http://www.vimeo.com/10954442

Space And Time

Well well - here we are, in a space and time called 2010.

That used to sound like such a far off place. A befitting title for a god-awful and beastly sci-fi movie surely. Can you believe its nearly the end of January already?! We can't.It must be said, having a purpose to your location makes a hell of a difference to your head-space wouldn't you say? The exception to this rule is when you just want to chill-the-fuck out and go on a holiday. And that's exactly what we've been doing. Myself and Dave returned to Sydney while Damian and Cristo stayed in Berlin.

Now, after that well-deserved hiatus, we are back at headquarters with the map out on the table so to speak.What's animating our week you might ask? Well, we begin our first ever national headline tour of Germany next Monday. Hamburg is first up on the 25th of January. After that, we assign ourselves to the venues of the UK in February.

We're also swimming in a sea of new songs; going out with the tide and loving it.At the start of a new year, whether you like it or not you can't really help but to look back over the previous one. So, like a computer dealing with a thundering volume of data it must spit out and process into an experience for its user, so too have we. Looking back over our collective shoulders, we had an amazing year in 2009, to say the least. It was bold and magnificent and had us out of our comfort-zone. But that's what you're meant to do isn't it.

The death of any artist (and human-being) is to stay in the coccoon of what you already know for too long. A slow death anyone?And so it is, that 2009 shall be illuminated in our minds as a mega combination of virgin-like experiences. The people we met, the sights and sounds from the window of our tour bus, the bands we supported right through to the police-on-bicycles-escort at a certain Belgium festival whose name escapes me at the moment! Jet-lag = memory fail so I apologise dear reader. Anyway, we thank you for being part of any of those experiences we had. Let's do it again in 2010. See you out there in this big wide world.On behalf of all of us - peace and love.

BK


P.S. We get told we don't do this enough - posting messages and blogging. So - it is here and now we say we'll try to do more. Please tell us if we get slack. We have a lot to give in the right way.

End of Summer

Well here we are and its all about where we've been on this one.

Yes - the end of our first European summer of touring is just about upon us. I guess I'm writing this because it has been nothing less than amazing - oh, and hard work too of course! A range of experiences have been had. A drop of sweat into the mechanics of the pedals leading to everything going astray, a police escort on bikes through to people singing songs not even released yet. Rock n roll...sweet rock n roll.

Many things still to look forward to nevertheless. A couple of small events on the horizon...you know like our record coming out in October followed by us supporting Placebo on over twenty dates throughout Europa in Oct/Nov.

So, thank you to all over here who've come to see us play.

Power to the music.

- BKx

Kadir

Everyone - please meet Kadir (the man with the mo). He's pleased to meet you too!

We met him not long after our move to Berlin. The apartment we moved into, lucky for us, is above a cafe and Kadir was, and still is, working behind the counter serving up food with his charm and smile.

Our grasp on the German language was limited at the time (an understatement) and he quickly realised we weren't exactly from around town and started speaking to us in English. Since then, we've become great friends with him. He is much like an older brother to us. Always making sure we're healthy and asking if 'everything is ok'?

Here is a man that has led a very interesting life indeed. I don't want to go into too many specifics but in the last ten or so years his life has dramatically changed. Years ago he was helping manage construction works in northern Africa and was surrounded by family. Lets just say he's had to start again.

Kadir is Turkish and when we mentioned we were playing a show in Istanbul, back in June, his eyes lit up and it became his mission to join us. He hadn't been back there for fifteen years and had lost touch with many of his friends.

It turned out he couldn't afford a flight and was going to drive all the way there! I had a friend who worked at an airline and upon enquiring if there was anything she could do for him, replied she could get him a return flight from Berlin to Istanbul - for free! It was a gracious gesture, to say the least, from her end - she had never even met him but still made the effort.

So our big bro joined us in Istanbul for our show with Placebo, held at a beautiful venue on the Bosphorus Sea. The night before the show we went out for a big dinner and was shown around by a wonderful host (Ziya - also in the shots) who is Kadir's friend from childhood - hadn't seen eachother for fifteen years. The next night, after the show, Ziya organised for us and Placebo to be taken out on a boat for two hours around a most stunning harbour that is Istanbul at night. We then docked at a club with an entrance off the water and went clubbing - with Kadir!

It was quite surreal being there with him and seeing the affect this trip has had on him since - he's a different man. There is a belief in him that life, no matter how old you are, will always have something to offer. Perseverence and belief in the human spirit will keep you going.

More shots from Istanbul...

Hanging out by the side of the venue waiting for all the equipment to arrive.

The view from a bar we took to for a couple of hours

Entrance to one of the Sultans' Palace

Down to our last rehearsals before touring begins next week. The Siesta Festival is first up on May 29th. All our dates (confirmed thus far) are up on our Myspace page.