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News From Howl Griff - Free MP3, new single, new album, more festivals.... Inbox
By Ceri Shaw, 2011-07-01
"Bloody lush... a new band we love" 6music's Lauren Laverne on Howl Griff
Welcome to July, and isn't it (intermittently) lovely? We'll be spending some of it in fields, some in pubs and some in the studio. Sounds good to us.
NEW SINGLE
Having already had extensive BBC Radio airplay, the summery splash of Sunrise is released as a single on Mon 11 July. It's available at iTunes < http://tinyurl.com/iTunesHowlGriff > and if you can't wait a week or so, get some sunshine in your life by listening at HowlGriff.com < http://HowlGriff.com > or watching the video on our YouTube channel < http://youtube.com/HowlGriff >. Smiles guaranteed.
GIGS
Having already racked up four festival appearances this summer we've got a couple more this month, our biggest so far.
Next weekend we're playing at the Penn Festival in Buckinghamshire with Dodgy and The Farm. We're playing early evening on the Saturday (July 9) which is fine by us, we can get drunk after that - we'll be there all weekend, come and say hi.
< http://www.pennfestival.com/ >
Two weeks after that we're off to Devon to play Chagstock, supporting headliners The Magic Numbers. Again, we're on early Saturday evening (July 23, 6.45pm) so that's dandy.
< http://www.chagstock.info/ >
In between times, on Thu 14 July we're back at the White Lion in Streatham, and we may well be tempted to unveil some of the new songs we've been recording this month.
< http://www.whitelion.org.uk/ >
NEW STUFF
Yep, we've spent some time recording with the excellent Ollie and Gareth at The Fold Studios in South London, and it's coming along nicely.
We've recorded basic tracks for a dozen doozies, including some which are already live staples (including Puppet Operation Time, Leave On Your Own and Fragile Diamond ) and some which will doubtless become so (including Runaround , which isn't about the Mike Reid programme, and International Dateline , which is about the, er, international dateline).
There's more to come we've got those lush harmonies to record yet, and various "toppings" instruments but it's already sounding so ace, we're jumping up and down with excitement. Maybe you will, too.
Thanks for your support. Keep in touch via Twitter, Facebook and the HGHQ (see links below) and spread the word. See you soon!
SUMMER DATES (see http://howlgriff.com/gigs. html for more info)
Sat 9 July Penn Festival, Buckinghamshire
Thu 14 July White Lion, Streatham
Sat 23 July Chagstock Festival, Devon
Sun 7 Aug Cloud Cuckoo Land, Somerset
Website: http://www.HowlGriff.com
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/HowlGriff
Twitter: http://twitter.com/HowlGriff
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/HowlGriffBand
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/HowlGriff
The Steve Williams Interview by Alan Evans
Steve Williams is one of the best comedians in the U.K. at the moment. Steve hails from Newport and takes a lot of his inspiration from observing people. He is having great success with the BBC series Russell Howards Good News. I interviewed Steve by telephone during a break in his successful U.K. tour. I began by asking Steve how the tour was going.
Steve: Brilliant, its all up and running and exciting. Its coming to Wales and Im coming home. Im really looking forward to it. Your down in Carmarthenshire arent you? Ive worked with Rhod Gilbert quite a bit hes a great bloke, and Carmarthenshires finest home grown talent.
What got you into comedy?
Steve: If you live in Wales you know what gets you into comedy. Wales is such a funny place and you grow up being funny. To come home and tell the stories about what you see is a real privilege. Observations of people make you laugh. I make mental notes in my head. I was reading the paper the other day and it said that policemen put a bouncy castle under a suicide jumper in Swansea.
Who is your favourite comedian?
Steve: It has to be people like Eddie izzard, Dylan Moran, Billie Connolly and Frank Skinner. They are all great in their own right. I was brought up in the politically incorrect days of Benny Hill and Bernard Manning.Has comedy moved on a long way from that or has it just placed a more polished faade over the taboo subjects such as sex, race and religion?
Steve: Im 34 and I was brought up on comics like Lenny Henry, Alexei Sayle. It has moved I dont think that comedians try to offend people these days. Those comedians are victims of paradigm shifts in attitudes. Thats how things were then but comedians play by different rules now. Comedians have a code and I would never do anything, which offends. We write our own stuff and its more interesting for the audience and me.
Do you use any material about the Welsh or being Welsh in your routine?
Steve: Yes of course. Sometimes you cant help it. The day Welsh people stop doing dopey things will be the day I stop talking about them.
Are you looking forward to performing in West Wales?
Steve: I love it, its brilliant but you still have to pay on the bridge when you are going home.
Will you be sampling the delights of Welsh cooking whilst you are here and if so, what is your favourite Welsh dish?
Steve: My favourite dish? Welsh rarebit but its just cheese on toast isnt it.
Do you have a favourite place in Wales to visit?
Steve: I love Newport and Cardiff theyre great cities and Swansea has also gone up in my estimation. When you go further west like Tenby and Narberth its pretty cool. The camping sites and coastline its so pretty and its a lot Welsher than Newport.
Is there anyone in comedy you would like to work with as a double act?
Steve: I would like to work with Billie Connolly Ill just sit on a stool behind him. You dont want to tamper with his genius. I would just pick up the gate receipts for his sell out tours. I write for a programme called Russell Howards Good News and that satisfies my appetite for writing at the moment. It is a massively successful show and I have been fortunate to be part of it
Could you tell us what the key to being a good comedian is?
Steve: I think observation and enjoying the behaviour of other people and recording it in your mind. Having the confidence to tell the story later that night. Comedians have a code I wouldnt say anything thats deemed racist or offensive. If you say something that is funny you say it and you should be prepared to stand behind it. You let the audience be the judge. These are the things I saw and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Have you ever considered coming to perform at the Laugharne weekend?
Steve: Id love to; Im just waiting for my invite
What are your plans for 2011?
Steve: The tour for February, Russell Howards Good News series four and series five in the autumn so the year is mapped out.
More information on http://www.stevewilliamscomedy.com/
Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow - Steve Williams
Spencer McGarry Season (SMS) are a three-piece rock outfit based in Cardiff, Wales. Their new album 'Episode 1' will be released recently in Februaury 2009. Read an interview with Spencer in The Von Pip Musical Express .
Size matters
For instance we can't imagine what it's like
To be Russian, we'll never know
What it's like to live in a country
With an unassailable language
And a monumental culture spreading
Across nine time zones,
So much space it drives men mad.
We've just the one field in Wales,
Small and green, with a copse of myths
And a boggy bit in the middle;
An apple tree and a pig,
A church and twelve chapels, also
A hut which is home to three anchorites,
Two of them devising the country's history
Always a little faster than the third can read it;
And there's always a gang
Drilling for something by the gate,
Forever a promise of gold or maybe
Yet more mud.
By Lloyd Jones
...
Examines the life and work of the Rev. Robert Williams (1810-1881), a Celtic scholar and antiquary who was born in Conwy, Wales, and spent most of his working life as a rural clergyman and private tutor at Rhydycroesau (formerly Llawnt Ucha), near Oswestry. The book uses his diary and his correspondence with other Celtic scholars to reveal the extent of his Welsh and Cornish studies, and to bring to life the man behind the scholar and cleric.
Buy ''The Llawnt Williams'' here
...
The Rev. Robert Williams lived the quiet and uneventful life of a mid nineteenth century cleric and this book which relies heavily on his diaries does much to illustrate the lifestyle. What is significant about Robert Williams however, is that he wrote three books in his time, two of them important contributions to 19th century and contemporary Celtic studies.
Such was his devotion to his scholarly pursuits that he may occasionally have neglected his pastoral duties. We learn that during his time at Rhydycroesau ( where he preached for forty years ):-
"It was said by some that his stock of sermons was limited, and seldom increased; that he went through the series about once a year, and then turning over the batch would begin again. Some of the old folks used to say, on coming out of the church, "Oh, we''ve heard that sermon afore, many a time."
This is not to suggest that he was a poor parish priest and his diaries afford numerous examples of his dedication to his parishioners. Nonetheless it is difficult to avoid the impression that he was overwhelmingly preoccupied with his scholarly pursuits.
His magnum opus was undoubtedly the Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum. Although Roberts has been criticised for allowing himself to be ''misled by Welsh analogy'' in the compilation of this 400 page reference work. It has also been said that his dictionary was ''a great advance toward the preservation of the ancient tongue'' and that it was the most ''painstaking and thorough presentation of Cornish as then known''.
Derek Williams has gifted us with a masterful account of the life of an important and much neglected Celtic scholar. This short book also sheds significant light on the composition of Williams major works and in particular on the Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum. Essential reading for all serious students of Celtic Studies.
Free digital versions of the Rev. Robert Williams works can be found below:-
Enwogion Cymru: A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Welshmen
The History and Antiquities of the Town of Aberconwy
...
Christ Church at Rhydycroesau. The Rev. Robert Williams Preached Here For Forty Years
Peter Craine [ CC-BY-SA-2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons
...
Address: 116 Santa Monica Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90401
Telephone: (310) 451-1402
Fax: (310) 393-6869
Email: contact@yeoldekingshead.com
A message from Dave Lewis:-
Just made the Top 10 in Amazon free poetry book charts with my first book - 'Layer Cake'Only put it on KDP yesterday!Cheers
Dave Lewis
Ctrl-Alt-Delete by Dave Lewis
e-book bestselling novel available for just 1.53
http://amzn.to/s9c6qU
Reviews:
'James Patterson for the Facebook generation'
'Could do for Wales what Stieg Larsson did for Sweden'
