Ben 'The Studio Wizard'Hooper on drums, jack 'The Knife' Smith on guitars, Vienna 'Anti-Gravity'Shilling on bass & vocals & 'Ian 'The Subliminal Kid' Brzozowski on guitar and voice.
Influences
Coffee, tea, beer, 2 for the price of one offers, hats, cheese, toys in crackers, sloe gin,house parties, comics,heartbreak, sickies, 4-tracks, bagels, cats, William Burroughs, bee husbandry, wine, oology, clairaudience, Xenoglossy,
breakfast cereals, jokes on lolly-sticks, house plants, photo-montage, abject misery, British weather, vague nostalgia, abandoned buildings, un-returned phonecalls, nameless euphoria, letters never sent.
Sounds Like
Mash potatoes on fire in a kitchen made of glass, with a robot chef drinking beer through a straw aiming a fire extinguisher wearing a tweed hat with a feather, listening to the Shadows on a record player sitting on a shelf of ice melting into a fish tank full of tropical fish watching a persian cat standing on a pipe rack. Unfortunately, our recordings aren't finished yet. When they are, you'll see. YOU'LL SEE!
Hello there.
Probably time for an updated biog here: Yes, we are a smallish group of four, Ian (The Subliminal Kid) Brzozowski, Ben (Studio Wizard) Hooper, Jack (The Knife) Smith & Vienna (Anti-Gravity) Shilling. We all reside in fairly close proximity in London’s sprawling and beautiful South-East. We meet regularly to infuse one-another with ideas of a musical nature. We sometimes have to clamber over knotted wires, salvaged electrical goods and broken instruments when we visit each other’s pads, being extra-careful not to knock over an empty beer can or cup of tea. We are sometimes joined by the Min[[[[[iframe]]]]]s, Jess (cello), Dawn (Violin) & Xandrija (violin). Sometimes Tarqs comes along and plugs in his keyboard. We were thrown out of our old studio (The Polling Station) by indifferent bulldozing capitalist androids, bent on nothing but mechanical annihilation & a faceless concrete take-over of SE8, SE14 & its surrounds. We moved temporarily down the road, rehearsing underneath an independent clothing/record/odds ‘n’ ends shop, (although word has just reached us that our comrades have now too been evicted) & just wherever we can. We have recorded an album completely under our own steam. We recorded it in a squat in Whitechapel over Halloween. The Mystery Calculator is currently undergoing a thorough mix & polish & will soon be complete. We will put some of it up here soon.
The nature of the tunes & lyrics is echoed in the bands choice of scarves and other winter clothing. Sometimes the songs are itchy like woolly socks; they rub and make sore the forehead like a thick, rough hat. Some moments it's more like wearing a blue balaclava through salved lips. We can be a satanic lover that flies at night and appears as a fiery light, a will o' the wisp, or as a bird of fire. Some songs become worn and have to be darned. Sometimes we use elastic bands to keep our socks up. Sometimes we wear a hat with a feather. Sometimes during rehearsal there is the appearance of ball lightning in the room. It does not look like lightning. Instead, it usually appears as a mysterious glowing sphere, which drifts horizontally through the air. It is typically the size of a grapefruit, but sometimes appears as small as a pea, or as large as a bus. It sometime hovers over us at a few feet or tens of feet altitude, but can also bounce along the ground. It usually lasts only a few seconds, but sometimes persists much longer. Sometimes it changes colours, and sometimes it has internal structures such as glowing layers or moving sparks. We like to strum and thrum with electricity. We do minor repairs. We also like to read, do collage or paint. Although none of us ever weave baskets, paint enamel figures or stuff animals I don't think. We own several cats between us. We endorse the use of four track tape recorders. We endorse not song composition, but song decomposition. Some of our music, when collectively worked on over a period of weeks, is in an advanced state of decomposition. We play these works in live contact with other people. We smile inside when disseminating abroad these. Sometimes we are lugubrious. Sometimes this takes place on a slightly raised platform. It's easier for people to see us there. We don't like mean, nasty venues that pinch the pocket, thumb their nose, and raise the devils bouncer. But their empire is crumbling, and the day is not far off when it shall break apart entirely. On that day, the old stone gods will rise from their long forgotten wreckage and rub from their eyes the dust of a thousand years' sleep.
It's a beautiful day out here in space my friend & you are indeed a beautiful soul, Thank you for all that you are & thank you just for being you for no-one could be it better...
here I bring a thought for your day
much peace, love, light & infinite blessings to you....
Big Bad Love at 93 Feet East July 10th Doors: 7pm £6.50
This is our first 93 Feat East gig and we’re happy to be gracing this illustrious stage so look out for special door price offers a few days before the gig… Or you can buy in advance here: http://www. wegottickets. com/event/32336
Join us for another Big City Redneck Presents! Another wonderful eruption, nay, ejaculation of good music at the Buffalo Bar this month!
What can I say? We won’t disappoint.
Buffalo Bar June 19th £6 on the door… 8.30pm till they kick us out…
Mama Shamone http://www. myspace. com/mamashamone “Put Mama Shamone on at any venue and they are likely to take the roof off, this was one of the best live shows I’ve seen in years - certainly one of the best in London. In my opinion these guys are destined for greatness, it felt like I was witnessing history being shaped-something was just so right about what they were doing up there.” Vibe Bar
We Yes You No www. myspace. com/weyesyouno “We Yes You No sing about the end of the world, the end of everything. But in an apocalypse that would sound like this I would buy god’s last EP” – Big City Redneck
Language http://www. myspace. com/languageuk “"The verbosity of funk, the poetic twang of intelligent pop. The bridge between Franz Ferdinand and Smashing Pumpkins perhaps" – Bugbear
Click on poster for tickets! visit Gin Palace's MySpace Profile visit The Jooks Of Kent's MySpace Profile visit Black Mekon's MySpace Profile ...Surely you know what Country Teasers sound like... been ages since they played anywhere, eh...!? ;->
DON'T FORGET! Big City Redneck Presents the third installment of our ongoing series of showcases for up and coming swellegant, magnificent and downright stupendous bands on Thursday April 17th (this thursday!!) at the Buffalo Bar in Islington.
Interviews with the band will be available on www. bigcityredneck. co. uk shortly!
Big City Redneck Presents! Doors: 8:30pm - 1am Nr. tube: Highbury and Islington £6/£5 concessions
Rosalita http://www. myspace. com/rosalitaband http://www. rosalita. co. uk/ "Madness meets the Mode/Depeche Madness. On Manga Girl the singer even yelps, you know, like Adam Ant used to. They love 1981. " - Paul Lester, Guardian
The Laurel Collective www. myspace. com/thelaurelcollective ***Just signed to Domino Records!*** “The Laurel Collective are 6 nice, affable young bachelors and two sick, ultraviolent delinquents who play a simmering stew of musical influences. ” – Channel 4
The Great Statesmen http://www. myspace. com/thegreatstatesmen ***XFM Unsigned/BBC6Music Unsigned WINNERS*** “The Great Statesmen live show is more than just a gig - it a full body workout with a massage at the end. Go and see them!” – Clubfandango
as i have said, you really ought to change the band's name to 23 Hated Children, and change your style to Death Gore. In the meantime though, the newer stuff is sounding intense.
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