Selemat Hari Raya from Etc :: Buzzcocks Gig Starts Early!

It's Hari Raya in Singapore and -as you may already know- we're spending our holiday (Nov 27th) opening for beloved music greats, BUZZCOCKS, and our fab friends from Thailand, Abuse the Youth. 'Tis an honour.

If you're going, please note that the show is scheduled to start at 6.30pm. Looks like we'll be doing a sundown set. So we might even be getting an early night then eh? Well, that's quite usual for me on a Friday.

Etc's Facebook page for this is here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=179281121695

Hope you have happy holidays where ever you are.

Ben

Happy Thanksgiving from Etc :: New Recording Up

Howdy Pilgrims! The subject header says it all really. But sincerely, and wherever you are: HAPPY THANKSGIVING from Etc. And there's a lot that we're thankful for. Like being able to share our music with you - such as the extended version of DUMB WAITER that has just appeared here (on our myspace page) for your holiday listening pleasure. Not mixed, so lots of Harrison guitar racket that maybe shouldn't be there, and Harvey has a go too: you can hear him hitting the guitar with his drum stick as a way of finishing the song. 

Thanks again

Ben Etc

Etc :: 'Supporting Guest' to BUZZCOCKS

 like it says on the Facebook Event page here 

Our next show happens on 27 November, 2009. 

It's a quickie for the Etc duo.

Then comes the fab Thai threesome, Abuse the Youth.

And then, the main event: deservedly beloved pioneering punk-pop quartet: Buzzcocks.

 

The poster looks like this.

 

Has anyone else ever made the observation that Shelley is a Romantic Poet? 

 

Etc & the Bennyman instead of Echo & the Bunnymen?!

Back from Indonesia to bad news for Bunnymen fans. But maybe good news for Etc?



It's odd/potentially-flattering that Etc's photo gets used rather than, say, one of international superstars like Muse, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Coronas, Buzzcocks, Angela Chang or Budak Pantai. Could it be that our bandname has worked in our favour for once - because it helps make for a readymade headline? And surely some credit to Kamal's dynamic photography.

The story shown originally appeared here.

Etc :: Seeking Eastern Promise / Meet the Deniros

A new flyer and further info for one of this weekend's shows reveals that The Deniros really ARE a Pixies tribute. It says here that they will be "bringing you a full double set show of PIXIES classics such as Where Is My Mind, Here Comes Your Man, Gouge Away, Debaser, and much, much more -- including some fresh new songs that we've never performed before! 

"... But that's not all! Veteran Psychopop Rockers ETC will be opening up the evening's festivities with a daring, innovative fusion of alt-rock, pop, and psychotic sounds in the vein of The Replacements, Sonic Youth and The Bad Seeds". 

In the vein of who? Talk about giving us a lot to live up to! But at the moment Ben Etc will just be relieved to get there in one piece (turbulence is expected en route). And making it out alive will be good too.  

Etc :: INDO-A-GO-GO in Jakarta :: 'Dangdut Hanyut'

Like is says on the Facebook event page (here):

Etc's plans go south -literally- because we're bound for Jakarta where we hope to continue our happy tradition of playing our songs to people who have never heard of us; and where Harvey will also bash the skins for SONGS FOR THE DEAF (playing songs you may already know) at their farewell show. 

Where: EASTERN PROMISE Kemang Raya 5, Kemang, JK, Indonesia. 

What/when:       

6 Nov (Fri): SONGS FOR THE DEAF - Farewell Show

7 Nov (Sat):  Etc and  MR JASON BLAIR & THE DENIROS 

(Thanks to Lens of THE MISKINS for making this happen)

A message: "ma'af untuk rosak-bahasa saya (tapi saya fikir saya mesti cuba): SAYA GEMBIRA BERMAIN DANGDUT HANYUT KAMI UNTUK SAUDARA DI NEGARA SAUDARA. SAMPAI JUMPA!"

And here's the logo. Some playful bahasa on an Indonesian flag background. Dangdut is a form of music that's popular in the region. Hanyut is a word that can be translated as 'adrift'. I got that from a Joseph Conrad. Probably Lord Jim. 



Am dreading the mental arithmetic challenges ahead. All I know so far is the taxi from the airport is $150,000. 

John, But Not Forgotten :: Keeping It Peel in 2009

Ben Etc writes about the closest thing he's had to Hero he's admired from afar:

For over twenty years of my life there was at least one constant I could count on, no matter where I went or what I did. It was John Peel.

I might have gone long periods without hearing the voices of my parents or brothers, but there weren't many weeks when I didn't manage to somehow hear the deadpan tones of John Peel, the pioneering British DJ who died suddenly in October 2004 – leaving an irreparable gap in the lives of his loyal listeners and fans across the world.

Peelie –as he's affectionately known– was already an institution when I discovered his show. At first I tuned-in hungry to hear the reggae, dub and seemingly unintelligible rap of Jamaican "Toasters" he would feature; but before long almost everything he played suited me – especially since we shared an appreciation for twangy guitars, whether they were playing the blues, surf, rockabilly rumble, Zimbabwean jit-jive, Congolese soukous, or adding to the drama of The Smiths or the Bad Seeds, overwhelming the songs of Sonic Youth and Jesus & Mary Chain, or calling the girls to get up and dance with Franz Ferdinand.

And then there was rap. And techno. And garage, gabba, grime, grunge and grindcore. Plus dancehall, speedcore and happy hardcore. Drum & bass, dubstep, ambient, country, folk and –oh– those heartbreakingly yearning 70s soul ballads. Not to forget the impassioned hollering of the Riot Grrl movement; or those cowgirls recorded yodeling all high & lonesome, long before your parents were born.

And what of artists like Ivor Cutler? To put this Scottish songwriter, poet and humourist in a category like "spoken word" doesn't do him justice… But whatever it was, it was all good to me.

Ask "What kind of music did John Peel play?" and you could reply: he played good music. Or at least, he played what he thought was good. And I still naively think that's the whole point. It sounds like a blazing simple concept to me, and it's what I assume a DJ should do: Play music that they like. Except... I don't know how many working DJs actually do this. I certainly can't tell if those I've heard on Singapore radio even have any passion for music. Maybe they do. But the sound of their own voices seems to be their primary love.

And when evidence suggests that to be a radio DJ today requires a fake accent that no ordinary person in any country would ever normally speak with, we can assume that the likes of Peelie would now have difficulty getting a job on radio. Maybe he also contrived radio persona for when he was on air; but if he did, it was a good one. It was good enough to make us feel like we'd lost a member of our family when John Peel died.

When the news broke I knew I wasn't alone in feeling like I'd lost a slightly befuddled but incredibly wonderful uncle. And I knew immediately that I'd miss him. He was an incomparable and sincere enthusiast – a man who didn't have eclectic taste simply for the sake of it, but because great music isn't limited to specific genres or countries. He didn't seem concerned with the tedious pursuit of attaining hipness. His shows really WERE about the music.

I'm never quite sure what people mean when they tell others to "keep it real" – especially if they're vulgar, gold-drenched showbiz sensations whose sense of reality appears to have long since split. But if you're going to tell me to "Keep it Peel": please know that I already did. And I don't intend to stop any time soon.


John Peel Day is commemorated on every 2nd Thursday of October. This year it's being done in Singapore like this (click here for the Facebook event page)