Friday 24 December 2010

With some brief time off...

There it is! The mark of our first gig at the Birmingham o2 Academy 3. We've been breaking in to Birmingham a bit, and this seems like a pretty solid place to start. Thank you very much to the lads in 'Mezzotonic' (http://www.myspace.com/mezzotonic) for putting on the gig and asking us to play, and 'Fly by Nature' (http://www.myspace.com/flybynature) for providing support as well. We also got to bimble about in a dressing room and, way more importantly, we got free beer. Also there was a spoon stuck in the light fitting, which must have taken a considerable degree of effort and genius thinking.

If you missed this gig, or just want to come down again, we're supporting the British Kicks at their E.P. launch on the 26th January in the same locale. So please get in contact with us if you want more details!

Being that it's the festive period and we've got a pretty successful year under our novelty bottle opener and Batman belts, esteemed friend and father of the band Mr. Jack Russell threw us a 'Stacks Christmas Bash' a week previous to Christmas day. Most bands host Christmas gigs with cheap drinks as a get together for friends and family, but we threw our callousy fingers up at this idea and decided we'd just get shitfaced on our own and alienate the population of Burbage in the process (including a landlord that didn't appreciate our version of 'Angels'... at all). It ended in Peckleton with a buffet of manly food, The Prodigy's greatest hits, a massive amount of drunken dancing and 72 cans of lager.

There are no photographs.

 Final shout out goes to Dec O'mara of Redbox Film, who shot, edited and created our first music video for 'The New Era' in a workshop in Barwell; the trailer and his other works can be found at http://www.youtube.com/RedBoxFilm. We'll have the video available shortly, it looks ace! We also took the opportunity for the standard moody photo shoot:

The Set:


"Look angry at life in general." 





...Jump around:




Come on, lads. Keep it together for ten fucking minutes.

From a fledgling foursome at the o2 arena London to where we are now, gig wise, set wise and fans wise, we've had a great 2010, a big thank you from all of us! New E.P., COMPLETELY new merchandise and gigs being booked up for 2011 are the next things to look out for. 

Festive high fives all around! 
Your friend in time - Ben

 www.myspace.com/thestacksuk

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Stacks/111971585493489
*Photographs courtesy of Zoe Shannon, Dec O'mara and Andrew Benge. And Ben's Phone.

Tuesday 7 December 2010

Nonchalance, and it's benefits.

I wouldn't say my existence is meaningless, but I will say it's fairly uneventful. Considering my only commitments are gigs, practises and studio time (their own frequency aside) it's no real surprise that having an analytical essay to do has shcoked me to the point that I've had to get drunk to deal with it. In my time of a writing crisis, I've turned to beer, and I'm still on a voyage of discovery to see if the two things compliment each other. So far this is going pretty well, it's making it much easier to 'blog'.

Also winter has decreased the gig scene a huge amount. Quick gripe there. But things are picking up for the new year; so I can not only be shocked by having to do some work to further my third year degree course, I can forget about it with very little guilt or battling with any kind of conscience.

Conscience is something that a healthy alcohol diet for a couple of years has eradicated, so no worries about point number two. It also brings us back to what will be a running theme of this post: How intoxicated Ben is, and how he's about to begin on wine. I don't like wine, but I'll drink it now I'm out of beer.

Coming back round the gig thing, we've still got the Birmingham Academy 3 gig coming up on the 15th December and tickets are still on sale. So, anyone reading this blog on the offchance, get in contact if you need tickets. Other than that we're setting gigs up for the new year in Birmingham, Leicester and Coventry,
as well as hopefully revisiting our preferred locales such as Northampton and Blackburn. The land that time forgot.

Is it a new discovery to me, or is chatroulette a forgone conclusion? There's a lot of pressing next and the occasional reaction of "OH, that isn't RIGHT". It's serving as tonights entertainment in my house. That and Comedy Central, the cause of my academic downfall. Personally, I'd want to do something more fulfilling, like going on our myspace and checking out our tunes.

A cat. Just a Cat.

Merchandise on the way for the 15th December, and recording time early January, so stay tuned, and check your local listings.

Your friend in time - Ben

Wednesday 1 December 2010

That horrific time of year.

The cursed season is most definitely among us. Snow has already made it difficult to do anything except stay indoors, and it isn't even good snow that you can use to create amazing structures with...



Commendations to the hardworking music students at Wolverhampton University. But so far we've had a gig cancellend on us cus of the cold. I'm so bored of winter messing up my life!! I can't even wear shorts indoors anymore, I can't LIVE like this.

Unfortunately, there aren't any pictures to visually represent what happened last weekend. Northampton SU is a venue that we have to play at again, the crowd is mental and the venue is niiiice and roomy so we have lots of room to jump around like idiots. Archives were absolutely on it again, who've just made some recordings that can be found on www.myspace.com/archivesarchives! Also everyone seems to know the words to our tunes...
If anyone did take any pictures (and I saw some flashing cameras) please let us know. There was an obligatory party afterwards that a) i can remember very little of and b) it's probably best that we keep it that way.

Secondly, a big big thanks to everyone that came down to Nuneaton's Queens Hall for us on the 27th; people literally came from all over the country and we really appreciate it! Made the gig insane to play, it's been a while since I've seen a good gig at the Queens Hall and everyone there made it happen.



Lastly, I'd like to celebrate the birth of this idiot -



22 years old on Tuesday the 30th.

Twenty. Two.


We'll see anyone in Coventry this Friday at Taylor John's House; please please contact us if you want tickets for the o2 Academy 3 gig on the 15th December!


Regards...

Monday 22 November 2010

[Insert witty title here] - 22/11/2010

Searching for something entertaining to write around the topic of our upcoming gigs has (based on a shoddy night's sleep and an early morn) become difficult. I'll get the ball rolling with some digital evidence of what happens when you mix rain, a very unforgiving self-timer function, four simple people with quickly diminishing imaginative ideas, and a complete lack of balance. In other words, this is basically what happened when a few months ago we tried to do our own 'photoshoot'.


Most people would say that should be confined to a private joke and not published on the internet.

I disagree.

Also, this blog can be read on the much harder to find 'Myspace blog', where it shall read identical to this except you can listen to our music simultaneously. And they say Terminators won't be in production til 2024...
Head on down to www.myspace.com/thestacksuk. Gig listings will also be present!


Friday night (26/11/2010) we're playing for the second time at Northampton's Avenue Campus Student Union, which was an absolute barnstormer last time. I mentioned before a set of 'excellent gentlemen' called Archives who'll be playing, as well as established Northampton band 'The Francis Jetty' who will be headlining the night. And I will say again; £1.80 per PINT. That's value for money.

Saturday night (the 27th...) we return to our own homeland, at the Queens Hall in Nuneaton to support 'Jesus Deluxe'. Also on the bill are Just Morale; not £1.80 pints but it's still a great venue. Nice and big and in the middle of Nuneaton! (Much like Abbey Green, except the function of the Queens Hall is clear.)

Lastly, has anyone ever SEEN so many caterpillars in one place?!


On that note, I'm going to invest a lot of my day watching 'The Last of the Mohicans' and I'm really goddam excited.

Your friend in time - Ben

Kasbahs, a Robbery and a Zulu - 8/11/2010

We've been busy bears over the past four or five weeks. I managed to condense it into the phrase "Kasbahs, a Robbery and a Zulu" (around a hardcore Solitaire marathon and the prospect of a new toothbrush) which beyond being a potentially mint EP title actually does sum it up quite well.

The toothbrush thing I mentioned basically means I've sent someone out to get me a new toothbrush, because I've somehow managed to lose mine today and in the interests of dental hygiene and maintaining friendships, I feel it's best to replace it.

Kasbahs refers to our most recent gig at the very shiny "Moseley Arms" in Digbeth, with headline and all-round excellent gentlemen "Black Market Empire". A DJ from Walsall's "Wharf Bar" DJ's at the gigs and turned up with a box of vinyl gold, including The Clash playing Live in Jamaica. During 'Rock the Kasbah' a firework goes off, and is somehow panned across the speakers and sounds mint. It was a highlight.

Also, 31st January, The Stacks are playing The Kasbah again, It's never been a bad gig so get down!

At a battle of the bands at the Northampton Avenue campus, we met an awesome band called "Archives". Great lads with a great set and an awesome guitarist, and we'll be gigging with them again on the 26th November at the same venue! So Students, get yourselves down. Pints of Fosters for £1.80, bargain!!

The Robbery part of the title refers to my guitar being stolen with all my gear in it, which we recently got back so all is well. the cost of it aside, it has sentimental value, and i'm broke. The orange strat lives on!!


And Zulu simply refers to this. Another incredible chapter in "Dudley's greatest hits".


Check your local listings...

 - Ben

Some insightful... stuff - 4/10/2010

Back at uni in Walsall for Ben and Dudley, so it's perfectly acceptable to still be in bed at half 12. Unless you're Dan, Mr "I always get up at half 8" or whatever he wants us to believe...
 Based on this picture, I don't trust that statement. This does make me laugh way too much though, including our good friend chubbsy who's in the background there!

Last night we played an 18th birthday party which went absolutely mental. Being the responsible 20 year olds that we are we used a massive PA system to encourage an 18 year old to drink shots until he was sick. The power you have when you've got a microphone! Also as soon as we started climbing on the scenery it immediately made it ok for everyone else to as well. We're a good influence.

and now, the weather.
Thankyou Stafford for letting us abuse your green screen facilities. Well, thanks for leaving the door open so we can just wander in.

Nothing much more to say for now. Looking forward to two UFC events in 2 weeks, October 16th in London!

For our gigs, as always, check the listings on www.myspace.com/thestacksuk! We've had some really good feedback over the mountain of gigs we've been working through recently so thanks everyone for the appreciation - keep listening, keep watching, keep following, keep talking to us! We're a lovely group of morons!

Thanks for watching. Ben

The Fun Bus - 23/08/2010

The fun bus. The new stackwagon.
To be honest Jimmy's face says it all. Arguably a bit suggestive about the mental state of us when put together, but that aside, it's the best bus we've ever been in. It fits all the gear in, along with 10 people, an electric wheelchair lift on the back (which we broke... almost immediately), some questionable electrical work and a pretty piss-poor collection of CDs.

This picture was just before our gig in Burbage at the Cross Keys, a nice pub in effectively the quietest town ever. Dudley got heckled for eating a pasty right before we played, and we did try and get 'rosie' from the local co-op to come and watch us play but with no results.
Further proof that the fun bus (a.k.a "Stackwagon") is awesome. The simpletons of the rhythm section have never BEEN happier, and neither will you be if you see it around.

You stay classy.
- Ben