My Writings. My Thoughts.
Tour Note #4: The Great Frequency Robbery
// November 19th, 2011 // No Comments » // News
Poor, poor microphone.
As our German tour winds to a close in Eislingen tomorrow night, we find ourselves contemplating life without our best friends around. By that I don’t mean each other, for much though we love our fellow Magnets, a bit of time away is always good. Instead we will soon say farewell to our beloved and long suffering radio microphones.
These beautifully weighted black tubes of sound conductivity were a massive investment for us back in our early days as a professional band, requiring a hefty bank loan and the expert knowledge of our newly acquired sound technician Dr John Milner. For over a decade they have survived spit, sweat, coffee breath, Brunei airport lost and found and the disrespect of a platoon of budget airline baggage mishandlers, and can thus truly be said to have suffered for our art.
Alas they are now to be thrown on to the scrap heap of electro-acoustic history in a massive frequency grab by the mobile phone industry that will render almost every radio microphone and in-ear monitor in the UK obsolete. Our faithful mics must go or else we’re going to get more of the drop-outs and pops that we’ve been becoming all too familiar with on this tour of Germany, where the frequency sell off is already more advanced.
We’re costing up the new kit at the moment and it’s not looking pretty, but then at least we’ll be safe from having our concert interrupted by someone tagging their cat on Facebook on their brand new iPhone 5. Furthermore those brand new cylinders of wireless loveliness will be splendidly hygienic. I love my old mic, but it’s spent ten years in front of my gob without a proper clean. Yuck. Next please!
Michael
Tour Note #3: Im Schwimmbad
// November 14th, 2011 // No Comments » // News
In our ten years of touring Germany we’ve found ourselves playing in some bizarre locations, from the top of a mountain to the bottom of a salt mine. So the fact that our show in Oberhausen last night was a rather fine ex-swimming baths came as no great shock. After all, not only have we already gigged at another such venue in Wolfsburg, but in one German spa town we found ourselves singing poolside to an audience of recreational swimmers who would occasionally pause to watch us between lengths. Our performance going down like a pair of oversized swimming trunks there was only one thing for it. On hitting the very last chord of the show we ripped off our suits to reveal our underpants and leapt into the pool.
Inventive performance spaces do appear to be a German speciality. In the UK the venues we play usually fall into one of two categories, both built exclusively for performance. There are lovely traditional velvet and gilt theatres such as the Theatre Royal in Winchester and the Harrogate Theatre, and modern concrete and glass arts centres, of which The Sage in Gateshead and the Walker Theatre in Shrewsbury are among our favourites. While both these types of venue do exist over here in Germany, we are more than likely to find ourselves performing in a converted old factory, pump house or engine hall. It seems that while in the property hungry UK we turn our old warehouses into executive flats, over here they like to replace industry with art.
At the very least it is an example of waste phobic Germany’s love of recycling. They were separating their rubbish decades before us Brits, and we’ve always loved the fact that over here they still give money back for returned glass bottles. If only we’d hoarded all the beer bottles we’ve emptied touring here all these years we’d be rich!
Michael
Tour Note #2: A Talent For Survival
// November 7th, 2011 // No Comments » // News
Here’s a blog Michael’s been writing while on the tour bus for The UK University A Cappella Blog.
A while back The Magnets, and a number of other British a cappella groups, were contacted by an enthusiastic researcher from a TV company with plans to make a UK version of The Sing Off, a kind of X-Factor for American a cappella groups and a surprise hit for the NBC network. “Oh yes, it’s definitely been commissioned” she said sensing our scepticism. “Would The Magnets be interested in competing?” We politely declined, thinking forward to the ignominy of a professional group being beaten out of sight by a group of cute 16 year-old performing arts kids and their simple but energetic Grease medley, but added that we would of course be very interested in a role as mentors or judges. Alas for the UK a cappella scene the next time the researcher called the concept had shrunk to a Christmas special featuring only professional groups (raising the delicious idea of The Magnets duelling The Swingle Singers for best Yuletide medley), before the idea was unceremoniously dropped all together. Definite commission my arse. Continue Reading
Tour Note #1: Memory Lane
// November 5th, 2011 // No Comments » // News
Our annual autumn tour of Germany is rapidly becoming a nostalgia fest. We visited the first two towns on our itinerary (Goslar last night and Schwerte today) way back in 2001/2, as we took our first baby steps into the world of international touring. All the super-friendly volunteers (happy birthday again Gerhardt!) who run the Kulturkraftwerk Harz Energie in Goslar seemed to have seen us first time around, and one even produced a newspaper review featuring a large picture of an extremely fresh-faced 2002 Magnet Continue Reading
UK Tour Afterword
// October 30th, 2011 // 1 Comment » // News
And so our 2011 UK tour drew to a close over the weekend with shows at superb venues in Chesterfield and Aberystwyth. Thanks to everyone who came, and the lovely staff at both venues for making us so welcome. If they’ll have us we’d love to come back next year.
In fact those sentiments extend to everywhere we’ve been over the last two months. The tour has been a real buzz, and a genuine success (by no means a certainty in these tough times) to the extent that we’re already putting together more UK dates for April/May and September/October 2012. Hopefully we’ll see many of you again then.
In the meantime watch out for news about a new album, and follow our progress opn tour across Germany, Australia and the Netherlands. Fraser’s also extremely hard at work preparing a live DVD (at last!), which he’s been filming all tour. We’ll be posting some trailers from that soon. Plus, if you really can’t wait to see us again, we’ve got a full show in Burgess Hill (Sussex) on 25th November, and a guest spots in London’s West End with the Horne Section (26th November, Criterion Theatre) and Frank Skinner’s Credit Crunch Cabaret on 24th January.
Good Morning Sunday! Radio 2 session with Hardeep Singh Kohli, 16th Oct
// October 15th, 2011 // 1 Comment » // News
Hardeep hearts The Magnets, we heart him back.
BBC London Tonight!
// September 14th, 2011 // No Comments » // News
Tune in tonight to hear The Magnets interviewed on BBC London radio from 10pm. We’ll be chatting about our upcoming UK tour and singing a few songs.
You can listen on 94.9fm if you are in the London area, catch it on DAB Radio, or on the internet here.
The Magnets at the BBC
// August 23rd, 2011 // No Comments » // News
Hello! We are doing some BBC interviews this week so you can tune in & check us out!
We are guests on:
- The Richard Bacon Show (5Live, Wednesday, 2pm)
- The Review Show (previously Newsnight Review, BBC2, Friday, 11pm)
- The Graham Norton Show (Radio 2 on Saturday, 10am – 1pm)
We’ll keep you up to date with any links to watch online on our facebook or twitter feed.
The Magnets on Dave Gorman Show
// August 22nd, 2011 // No Comments » // News
We were delighted to guest on Dave Gorman’s show yesterday morning on Absolute Radio. What a lovely chap – and proper funny. You can catch up with our interview and performance on the show’s podcast via this link. Dave’s performing here at the Edinburgh Fringe as well, nightly at the George Square Theatre. Catch him if you can!
Back on the Fringe
// August 22nd, 2011 // No Comments » // News
We’ve had a fantastic first two weeks here in Edinburgh perfoming at our 6th Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The reviews have been lovely, we’ve just had three sell out shows in a row over the weekend and its even stopped raining for a few hours.
As usual we’ve been up to lots of extra stuff, guesting on shows hosted by Hareep Singh Kohli, Neil and Christine Hamilton, The Horne Section, Dave Gorman, Nicholas Parsons and were honoured to close the show at the 20th Anniversary of Mervyn Stutter’s Pick of the Fringe.
We’ve also been filming some video-blogs for the Daily Telegraph website while we’ve been here, singing songs in beautiful parts of Edinburgh away from the arty bustle of the Fringe. Check us out singing Girls & Boys by Blur on The Meadows and Grace Kelly by Mika up on lovely Blackford Hill.
Tickets are still available for our remaining week of shows here, but are selling out fast, so get in there quick if you want to join in the fun.
Adelaide Fringe
