Adventures, artistic genius and... Ants

Alliteration has never been my strong point. Especially not in threes.

We're fresh off a 'tour' of the North... 'tour' in inverted commas because we only did two dates. One at the Greendoor in Leeds and one at the Live Lounge. We also did a photoshoot in Cheltenham (courtesy of the increasingly useful Zoe Shannon) which heralded the first time we've been in a proper studio. This inevitably turned us into bumbling morons but (more due to Zoe than us) we got some pretty cool shiz out of. Results on the way.

If anyone wants us to get us more gigs up north, feel free, we always go down well and we always have an ace time - Leeds courtesy of Josh Pontin, who put on the night with us and some D 'n' B and Dubstep artists which kicked the after party off real nice. I can't think of anything that makes you feel more famous than getting VIP entrance to a club afterwards, which definitely happened. We still had to pay to get in but that's beside the point.

I don't remember getting home.

The day after was live recording in Leeds, which we may or may not see results from; we finally got the chance to record "Smash & Crash" so hopefully it turned out ok!

We also saw this GIANT worm.

That kind of links into ants... it's an invertebrate creature.

In other news, songs are up on the facebook, the lovely lovely facebook. Head on over to www.listn.to/thestacks to check it all out! 6 tracks on there that will feature on our EP which SHOULD be coming to us very very soon! Although I keep saying that... We just need a design.

Which brings me to my final point, which is my magnificent EP cover designs. I'll be posting these consistently so keep tabs. I know I will be.

 

Sponsored by Hayabusa fight gear, and Windows paint. Thoughts and feelings would be greatly appreciated.

Your friend in time - Ben

It's so cold in this house!

I'm not lying, it's pretty baltic in my house because the boiler has broken again. I also got royally dicked over by the public transport system today... that's what happens when you try and give something back...


On a better note, gig listings are growing and also our songs (Live & Studio) can be found at http://www.rootmusic.com/s/TheStacks . Also we're doing two dates in the better half of the country next week, Wednesday the 23rd February at the "Green Door" in Leeds (with a shitload of D 'n' B artists) and the 25th at the "Live Lounge" in Blackburn, where we've played before and it was ace; the further north we go, the better gigs we have.

We're also staying in a hotel on friday night, so expect TVs to be thrown out of windows.

(Although admittedly we really can't afford the fine for that so we'll probably stick to free soap and any perishable items we find in the room.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE

I've got nothing more to say, I'm just bored and can't sleep...

 - Onehand

Just a load of pictures, really

Firstly, Dan in 20 years time. I'm on a mission to find this shirt for him as well just so he can really live the dream.

I don't think it's that questionable that we have a Cliff Richard calender in our student house. It shows our sensitive side.

2011 is underway. Another gig at the o2 Academy 3 down with The British Kicks. 
Predicatably this was awesome, thanks to the other bands that played (Bungalows and Slim Fit Gym Kit) and we even have some lovely photos courtesy of Zoe Shannon, who keeps following us around... so long as she keeps pumping out stuff like this we don't mind.

Captured at the exact moment that two of us tried to escape the stage.











Jim looking suitably epic.





















Also another Kasbah gig under our belts, we'll let everyone know when the next one is. (Although that would be more functional if anyone actually READ this blog, it's more for my own amusement than anything. So it's fine for me to say things like, Dumbledore dies at the end of the 6th book. And Gok Wan is a tosser.) 80p drinks on a student night! Such an ace night out! And for anyone else with a short attention span, the lasers in the main room are magical.

Also on the way from us is a 6 Track "E.P." although technically it'll be a mini album at 6 tracks. We spent two days in Moonbase Studios in Coventry recording three new tracks forthis sole purpose, with John Lotshaw who is not only an ace producer he's also a ridiculously nice guy. And he has a Vox AC30.
We're getting these printed as soon as possible and will be selling them for £4 a go -any ideas for a good E.P. launch venue?
Moonbase also looked really goddamn cool.

 That'll do, probably... Back to a serious session of season 6 of Lost and the prospect of getting on it tonight because it's Chinese NY and that's as good an excuse as any... plus it'll mean a Chinese Takeaway.

Finally, some artwork courtesy of Dudders -

And a picture of the man himself.

What a dickhead.

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.

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

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...

[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