Just getting back to reality after a fantastic few weeks. Let's recap... We launched the new EP Roots on 26th June at the 360 Club in Leeds (the EP was mixed by Roni Szpakowski of Peak USA...in Chicago) and then played a load of gigs around the UK over the next two weeks on our “Get Out of Bed” tour.  We then managed to sell over 250 EP’s (which certainly helped the finances...mixed in Chicago) We've since sold over 150 songs on itunes and had a couple of tracks played on a Canadian radio show. (Chicago...huh?) Then, you know, casually, we went to the O2 for the Live & Unsigned Grand...

"It'll be a laugh." I said. I'd just told the band about the Live & Unsigned competition. Audition was mid January in Dewsbury at the Town Hall. "If you get through all the rounds you get to play at the O2 Arena...in London." They were sceptical, I was sceptical but at that point it didn't matter. Nothing ventured nothing gained. So we rocked up on the day of the audition, cranked out What's She Gonna Say and got told to stop playing half way through. Not the best of starts. We went to wait outside and watched the organisers come out one by one to explain that various bands hadn't got through...

Live and Unsigned Votes Needed Can you believe it’s just over a week to the Live and Unsigned Grand Final. Obviously the performance on the day is paramount but there are other factors taken into consideration; there are also competitions within the competition. There are two ‘Video Views’ competitions (MUZU.tv and Youtube) and a text vote competition. Text Voting is now live for the National Grand Final of Live and Unsigned 2011. As well as performing for the judges on the day, the public have the opportunity to vote for the act who they believe should win Live and Unsigned 2011. Each...

What a hectic and fantastic start to our Irish leg of the ‘Get Out of Bed’ tour. Best laid plans and all that… We got off the Ferry about 4:30pm and the plan was to go set up camp (literally) at a campsite in Naas, equi-distant between Dublin and Portlaoise (the location of the next gig). We hadn’t figured on the Dublin vs Kilkenny hurling final. Naas is south of Dublin, Kilkenny is south of Dublin…aarggh! After 1hour and 1 mile travelled we turned back and headed for the first of our two gigs of the evening - Saucy Sundays at The Grand Social. For some of the guys this was the first...

So fresh from the EP Launch we ventured over the border, well Manchester. The Night & Day to be exact, a cracking music venue. This was one date Dan couldn’t make so after bumping into Mr Dawkins at the 360 gig we asked him to step in – “Yeah man, I’ll vibe it,” he said – so that was a yes then! It was good crowd, happy to make plenty of noise which is always good. It’s nice to know your audience is actually listening. We must mention Jonny on the door (top man) and a particular thanks to Joe for working wonders on the sound desk – cheers guys. I really like the feel...

Okay there were no rocket-propelled grenades but we did launch the EP, sell CD’s and get recorded by the BBC! Yeah really - the performance was recorded for BBC Introducing and will feature on Alan Raw's show, which goes out on BBC Radio Leeds. Alan is a well known supporter of new music. He had us on the show previously for the launch of the ‘Speak Easy’  E.P. and we’ll be back for an interview next Thursday – don’t miss it! It was a top night with three other great acts: Neve, Nigel Passey and Love of the Brave [There was something familiar about the guy on the semi-acoustic but I can’t...

My wonderful girlfriend keeps telling me – “Men can’t multitask” (apparently reading on the loo doesn’t count!) However – On Sunday we shot and edited a promotional video for our E.P. Launch. On Monday after getting the EP mixes back from Roni I took them down to Warwick Pilmer & Tony Bonner at Clipstore in Kirkstall to do the mastering. Took all afternoon but really pleased with the finished product.  Left the boys at Clipstore to do the copying and printing of the CD and went home to upload the tracks to iTunes ahead of the launch on Friday.  Finalised the design for the inlay...

When the bard penned the immortal words ‘All the world’s a stage’ I wonder if he had the White Horse in mind. You see there isn’t one! But that’s fine – we like it like that. One week on a pitch in front of 14,000 people the next at the end of a room with 100 or so in your face. It was a great atmosphere you really know whether your audience likes you or not when they’re so close you can tell what aftershave they're wearing. Feedback is fairly instantaneous when people are two feet away. So it’s somehow all the better when an intimate crowd like you, especially when they’re...

It’s 1:30 am and my phone vibrates. 1 message received from Roni Szpakoswki, it reads; mixes nearly finished just emailed you some rough mp3s let me know ASAP what you think. I’m excited. Roni runs Peak Studios in Bradford as well as his own studio, Peak USA, in Chicago. Yeah, you heard. Chicago. And he’s there mixing the EP. In Chicago. Did I mention it’s being mixed in Chicago? I check out the mixes, couple of things to change, check the time again, it’s almost 2:00 am. Resigned to wait until tomorrow for the final results I email the rough demos to Dave, Dave and Jamie. They’ll get back...

It’s been a busy year – Going live on iTunes, a new E.P. Launch imminent, a summer tour of U.K. and Ireland all topped off with winning through to – ‘Live and Unsigned Grand Final at the O2 arena on July 23rd’. With so much happening we thought it was time to completely renew the website. Time to introduce a new, clear, crisp, fan-friendly website. When considering the new site we had a wish list: A good blogging platform making easy to keep fans up-to-date A good music player Fully integrated social media Youtube integration A Gallery  A method of featuring the very latest breaking...