tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49303058232552716842024-03-08T16:10:50.456-08:00The Fake Death ExperienceChris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-21530745164341603422014-01-04T05:03:00.000-08:002014-01-04T05:04:09.898-08:00£10 well spentA few weeks ago I received a message in the Silent Sleep facebook account. It was from a guy who ran a music blog and the message started by telling me how much he enjoyed my music. He went on to say that he would love to do a feature on me on his blog in the form of an interview. I always try to cooperate and complete any interview that any blog or site offers to me as it's nice to think that somebody has heard you and likes you and wants to let other people know about your music. It's flattering and it's also a way of reaching out to an audience who otherwise may never have known you existed.
I went on to read the rest of this e-mail and the guy ended by telling me that for the interview to go ahead he would require a £4.50 donation. I saw my arse but tried to comprehend the reality of what was being offered to me. And asked of me. I posted the whole message on my personal Facebook page as a large number of my facebook friends are in bands or are promoters or are somehow involved with music, particularly what you might call the DIY side of things. The message generated a fair amount of interest so I continued to post each of the messages that the blogger and I went on to send to each other. I went along with what he was asking and before long, we'd agreed (at my suggestion) to forego his usual format and instead offer 'fans' the opportunity to ask me whatever question they want for a small donation of 50p. The more and more deep I got into the dialogue, the more I was convinced there would be a point when he would realised that I wasn't being completely serious. That point didn't come, instead he thought it was a great idea but insisted we split what money we make from the fans 60/40 (60 to him 40 to me. I think? I can't remember and it doesn't really matter) so on the back of the popular posts on my personal facebook I asked my friends to ask me some questions for the blog - the more ridiculous, the better. The questions <i>were</i> ridiculous but I still felt the interview made too much sense so I answered most of the questions using words used in the songs Safety Dance by Men Without Hats and Birdhouse In Your Soul by They Might Be Giants (and a whole load of Bukowski). When I read it back I thought to myself, 'This is it, this is surely the point where the guy suddenly sees what's happening and wants to batter me'. I sent it over anyway along with £10 via paypal not really expecting a reply or if I did receive a reply it would tell me what a huge dickhead I was and that he was going to keep the 10 quid anyhow...he didn't though, he's posted it. When I realised it was going to be published, I felt a sense of guilt. Perhaps this was a young lad who'd been taught in some kind of performing arts school that this was the way things had to be to make a living in music. The guilt didn't last too long, after all, I've paid him a tenner for it and besides, it's only a bit of fun.
Here's the full dialogue and the final, published, feature.<br />
<br />
Hi,<br />
I run the music blog Aldora Britain Records. We do interviews with up and coming bands/artists and also older underground bands/artists as well. Our sole aim is to help bring more exposure to the artists we feature and also to help them work towards their musical ambitions. We conduct our interviews mainly online and via e-mail. Anyway, I was just wondering if you would like to do an interview for the blog?
We do ask for a £4.50 donation which we put towards the cost of buying music to review and getting to gigs to review as well. We also hope to use some of this money to expand and we hope to give donations to bands as we grow and in the future possibly develop into a magazine.
You may ask what sets us apart from other blogs. Well, we post new material every day of the week and in theory this brings a brand new audience that could potentially be introduced to your music every day. We also provide in depth and in detail interviews for the artists that we feature in a unique style.
Finally, if you have any questions or want to discuss anything then don’t hesitate to get in touch. We hope that you’re up for it as we would love to feature you on the blog. Look forward to hearing back from you!
Thanks
Facebook.com/aldorabritainrecords
Aldorabritainrecords.blogspot.co.uk/<br />
<br />
8 November 2013Silent Sleep<br />
Hi,
Thanks for getting in touch. I'm really flattered that you 're considering us for the blog. When you mentioned the £4.50 donation I did indeed ask myself 'What sets this blog apart from other blogs? Other blogs that wouldn't dream of asking a band for a donation to be written about.', but when you described yours and I had a look at it, I saw that it was indeed very different from other blogs. I don't think there are any other blogs out there that post new music every day and provide in depth interviews with artists, it's a brilliant concept and I think you've done really well coming up with it! So, taking all of this into consideration, how do we go forward with this?
Best,
Chris
<br />
<br />
9 November 2013<br />
Hi Chris,
Firstly, sorry for the delay in getting back to you - been having a hectic time here! Also, thank you for having a look at our blog and the kind words!
We're really up for doing an interview with you and if you are up for it then the first step is the small donation. Let us know how you want to do this? (Paypal, bank transfer, whatever suits you best!)
Once we have this I'll personally put together an interview for you and send it over to you!
Let me know if this sounds good to you!
Regards<br />
<br />
10 November 2013Silent Sleep<br />
Hi,
Don't worry about it. It's absolutely fine!! I can imagine it must be busy running a professional music publication!! Do you have staff?
Anyway, enough of me.
I'm keen to go ahead with this - really excited, actually. I'm a bit hard up at the moment though so I wondered if instead of making a £4.50 donation, would you accept £4.10? Maybe you could knock a question off the interview? Or alternatively I could forward the remaining £0.40 next week.
Cheers, let me know what you think.
Best,
Chris<br />
<br />
10 November 2013<br />
Hi Chris, kinda - it's me and a mate that do it, don't think he thinks he's 'staff' though haha! And don't worry about it - we'll just make it a nice round £4 and we don't need to be knocking questions off the interview either. Let me know how you want to pay it and I'll get the ball running on it!<br />
<br />
11 November 2013Silent Sleep<br />
Hi,
Before I go ahead and arrange payment, I thought I'd better ask how many hits you anticipate the interview getting? What are your average figures? It's just that I've discovered some other blogs that are quite similar but don't charge for interviews and features etc.
Also, are you VAT registered?
Cheers,
Chris<br />
<br />
11 November 2013Silent Sleep<br />
One more thing...would you, hypothetically, take American Express?<br />
<br />
11 November 2013<br />
Hi Chris man, our interviews range in hits. The minimum hits an interview had got of ours is 27 but they usually get much more than that! We usually average around 100 hits per interview and our most popular interview with a band called The Most has 394 hits to date!<br />
<br />
11 November 2013<br />
We're not VAT registered as we don't really earn anything in the grand scheme of things to be honest! And I think we can take American express!?
Hope you decide to do a feature with us! Speak soon mate!<br />
<br />
12 November 2013Silent Sleep<br />
Hi,
Not a problem at all. Glad you can take American Express. 394 hits is very impressive and also it's hilarious that a band called The Most has the most hits! Who got the least?
Anyway, I've had an idea, I'd be happy to transfer some money across to you if we can do something a little bit outside of the box...Would you be happy publishing an interview where the questions come from our fans? I think it would work really well and bring a lot of traffic to your blog and instead of me paying the £4, we could ask fans to make a donation of £0.50 per question. That way, if we manage to get, say, 20 questions, that would be a tenner, which is well more than £4! If you're happy with 70/30 split in your favour I'd be more than happy to go ahead with this.
What do you say?
Best,
Chris<br />
<br />
12 November 2013<br />
Hi Chris, haha never actually realised that connection with The Most haha! There are actually a great European beat band though - you should check them out! I'd rather not tell you who got the least cos it'd be a bit harsh on that band!
I really like your idea though, it'd be nice to spice it up and get your fans asking the questions. Also, since it's your idea I think it's only fair we do like a 60-40 split in your favour, sound good to you?
Also, how we gonna organise it? Will you get in touch with your fans and then get the answers to me to post?
Regards<br />
<br />
30 December 2013Silent Sleep<br />
Hey,
Hope you had a good Christmas. I've got the interview here...20 questions asked by fans. It's turned out quite mad but it was really good fun to answer. I have £10 here for you. Where shall I send it?
Cheers and all the best,
Chris<br />
<br />
30 December 2013<br />
Hi Chris,
Hope you had a great Christmas too and have a good one tomorrow night! If you can send the interview to thomashilton4@sky.com and I'll get it posted, most likely, on new years day. You can send the money to me via paypal using the same e-mail address (thomashilton4@sky.com) also, I'd like to reiterate you don't have to give me all £10!
Speak soon man<br />
<br />
1 JanuarySilent Sleep<br />
Hi,
Did you get my email yesterday with the interview? I've stuck £10 into your paypal account. Let me know when it's up and I'll share appropriately.
Best,
Chris
2 January
Hi Chris, got it all! I hope to have it up by tomorrow - it's a new year and am already behind schedule haha! Will send you a link as and when! Speak soon man.<br />
<br />
13 hours ago<br />
Hello Chris, interview is now live!
Please can you share the link on the band's official facebook page and wherever else possible - http://aldorabritainrecords.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/walk-me-to-sea-something-bit-different.html
Also, if you personally have facebook can you give our page a like here - facebook.com/aldorabritainrecords
Finally, please do keep in touch and if you ever need a little bit of promotion for something then please do get in touch!
Regards and all the best,
AB Records
THE INTERVIEW.<br />
<br />
I think it's only fair that we give him the hits...Here's the link to the interview. If you read it out loud it sounds like you've lost your mind.<br />
<br />
http://aldorabritainrecords.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/walk-me-to-sea-something-bit-different.htmlChris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-4328714018220056172013-07-15T14:59:00.000-07:002013-07-15T15:00:54.312-07:00AustraliaIt's been well over a year since I made an entry in this blog. I think that's because now that I'm back living in Liverpool I kind of thought that it was a bit pointless as I originally started the blog so that family and friends could keep track of what I was up to whilst I was living in Berlin. Now that I'm back , it felt a bit daft to keep a regular blog because I was just up to normal things again, but recently I haven't, it's been a really busy and transitionary time in my life, so I think I'm going to start keeping it regularly updated again.
In May 2012 I played my first gig with the new line-up of Silent Sleep. We were supporting The Wedding Present in The Zanzibar in Liverpool. The line-up consisted of a load of mates and some guys that at the time I didn't know at all - we met through recommendations on Facebook, but have since gone on to be really good pals. Graham Jones played bass, Claire Heaslip played Glockenspiel, Andy Donovan played drums and John Gibbons and Elaine Sykes, they guys I met through Facebook played Trumpet and Violin respectively. Since then the line-up has changed slightly and David Johnson now plays guitar and Olly Gorman has replaced Andy on the drums. We've played about 10 gigs together now and it's been really great fun.
In September last year I embarked on a Pledge Music campaign to raise some money to record my debut album and it went really, really well. I had no idea what to expect and I was blown away by the response. It was a really interesting experience and one that I enjoyed greatly. I raised the money and I went into the studio with Rob Whiteley and made my first record, Walk Me To The Sea, with the help of a lot of good people.
I think I'll save going into too much detail about the whole pledge music lark right now and save it for it's own entry some other time.
So much has happened and I'm probably going to be remembering things of note over the next few months so I'll try and remember to write that stuff down here, even if only for my own sake.
What really gave me a kick up the arse to start the blog up again is the fact that in 2 days time I'm going to Australia to play some gigs. Even looking at that written down looks unbelievable. I'm going with the guys from The Anfield Wrap podcast and The Tea Street Band. The guys from The Anfield Wrap will be doing three live shows and I'll be playing at each of the shows - the last one being a show with Alan Fletcher and The Waiting Room. That's Dr. Karl Kennedy's band. Karl Kennedy from the Australian TV Show Neighbours. It's just too nuts to properly comprehend what is about to happen over the next 10 days - and I suppose that's why I'm going to write all of it down here. I think there'll be some really cool stories that you'll want to read about and hopefully enjoy.
That's if I make it through the flight. I've got valium and the booze is free.Chris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-72058538499306831352012-01-03T16:02:00.000-08:002012-01-04T02:25:17.116-08:00Oh look! I'm back in Liverpool.It's been ages since I last posted a blog. I didn't realise it was 3 months...it's flown by and absolutely loads has changed. I'm no longer living in Berlin for starters, which is quite big news (in the context of this blog). I arrived back in Liverpool on the 3rd December 2011. I think I decided to come home after a visit to Liverpool just before my birthday in October and I made the decision in about 10 minutes and without a great deal of thought. The main reason for me coming back was because I'd spoken to Andy and Rob about starting a new band and initially we spoke about sending tracks back and forth via email and trying to do it that way, but I knew that I would never be able to work that way as I'm far too easily distracted by going out and getting lashed and having fun in Berlin. That was another reason for me coming home...I was just going out and getting lashed and having fun in Berlin way too much and not getting anything proper done. I was doing stuff, no doubt about that, but it was so hickledy-pickledy and skew-wiff and I could never concentrate on anything in particular. It's easy to get distracted in Berlin, especially if you're that way inclined - and I certainly am that way inclined.<br /><br />Loads of things happened in the last three months though and I'm going to end up skimming over them and probably forgetting a lot because it were so long ago now. Here are some things that happened.<br /><br />I had a great big party in Klub der Republik for my 30th birthday - a load of my friends came over from Liverpool for it, which was amazing. The manager at the club, Deacon, is one of the loveliest people I've ever met and is a great example of what a club manager should behave like. Always going out of his way to help if there was a problem...one time I had a mega bout of toothache whilst I was DJing there and I asked if he had anything behind the bar that could help - 2 minutes later he comes over with a drink that he said contained most of the spirits behind the bar. he set the drink on fire before giving it to me. Moments later there was no toothache.<br /><br />I went away, on and off, to Saarbrücken to work on a massive construction site with my friend Seb and a good lad called Simon, who I met in Berlin not too long before this - he played trumpet and sung on the last Silent Sleep EP. It was a big load of fucking hard work - 12 hours a day most days and absolutely hard graft. In a mad way though, although I <span style="font-style:italic;">FUCKING HATED</span> it at the time, when I look back now, I kind of look back on it with fairly fond memories. The three of us had a laugh whilst we were there and we ended up meeting some great people, too. Some completely terrifying people, don't get me wrong, but some nice ones too. One night we went out to the local 'Indie club' or whatever you want to call it and we got lashed and met a group of people on the way out who we got talking to. Cut to the chase, they ended up organising a couple of really brilliant gigs for us to play whilst we were over there and we stayed friends with them after we left.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DJ_2PjOcXiw/TwQo28fMLbI/AAAAAAAAAI4/32etU0q8VHM/s1600/IMG_0559.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DJ_2PjOcXiw/TwQo28fMLbI/AAAAAAAAAI4/32etU0q8VHM/s320/IMG_0559.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5693720753318145458" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />We had the last Liquidation Berlin just before I left for home. Jules came over and we had a dead good couple of days. The last Liquidation itself was amazing and for the first time in my life I blacked out because of drink. I remember leaving the club with Jules. We were on our way back to mine. Then I'm waking up on a train in a part of Berlin I never knew existed and it's 7.30am and there are parents taking their children to school and there are people on their way to work and there's me, wearing Jules' massive overcoat with no shirt on under it looking like a mad, pissed up flasher. I'm sure I remember kids cowering behind their parents' legs when I stood up and tried to make my way down the train to the door. Cowering and crying. Cowering and crying and screaming. I had no idea where Jules was. I made my way home and eventually, after a load of phone calls and google mappering, Jules arrived back too, wearing my coat, obviously. Turns out Jules can't remember how we got separated either but woke up in a park somewhere.<br /><br />It was sad to leave behind the people that I'd met over there. I met some absolutely wonderful people who I hope I'll always stay mates with. People who totally reached out and helped me when they totally didn't need to. I'll definitely miss living in Berlin and I'll definitely miss these people.<br /><br />I've been home 1 whole month now. It's good. It's great to be close to my friends who know me really well again. I'm living, bizarrely, in the same house that I lived in about 4 years ago with Graham and Claire, at the top of Penny Lane in Allerton.<br />I'm definitely going to continue doing my Silent Sleep stuff - I did think about jibbing it now that I've moved back but I realised that I really enjoy doing it, so I'm going to record the album properly with Rob Whiteley in his fancy studio. I'm absolutely looking forward to doing that. I'm more excited to get started on the band that I (mostly) moved home for though. We've got our first practise on Sunday.<br /><br />I watched The Human Centipede 2 last night. It's going to ruin the rest of my life if I don't scrub my mind hard enough.Chris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-27285429847676900532011-09-11T15:30:00.001-07:002011-09-11T15:54:28.638-07:00Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow TreeI've decided that I want to become dead into country music for a bit so I can learn how to play country guitar...I really want to - I enjoy playing it loads. I've become obsessed by 'Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow Tree' by The Carted Family, so I'm sticking it into this list. I've also added a few more.<br /><br /><br />Low - Over The Ocean<br />Elliot Smith - Waltz no.2 (xo)<br />The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize?<br />Elbow - Powder Blue<br />The Wedding Present - Spangle<br />Cinerama - Wow<br />Alton Ellis - I'm Still in love with you<br />LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great<br />Talking Heads - Pulled Up<br />Billy Bragg - Sexuality<br />Hefner - Hello Kitten<br />Pixies - My Velouria<br />Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye<br />Radiohead - Black Star<br />Big STar - Thirteen<br />Weakerthans - Aside<br />Otis Redding - These Arms Of Mine<br />The Carter Family - Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow Tree<br />The Dears - 22. The Death Of All The Romance<br />The Notwist - Pick Up The PhoneChris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-28386412349650108612011-09-04T08:35:00.000-07:002011-09-04T08:46:23.905-07:00sluggish entryLast night was the launch party of Silent Sleep's 2nd EP. I finally got round to finishing it but it was really close to the bone. I'm so disorganised. Actually, no, swerve disorganised and replace it with lazy. I knew for about 2 months that I'd said it was happening on the 3rd September yet I still left it so that until 1 day before I was still recording it and until 1 hour before we were still making the sleeves!! What's the matter with me?? Anyway, it was a boss gig, loads of people came to see us and we had a lot of fun playing it. On the last song I got everybody to play drums on whatever large object was closest and everybody did it so it sounded amazing!
<br />
<br />I'm settling into my new place really nicely...the people are both dead sound and sociable and we have a laugh - it feels so much more relaxed than my old place for some reason.
<br />
<br />Ermmmm, I'm struggling loads to write anything good here because I'm well hung over and dead tired. I played at the opening of a vintage clothes shop yesterday afternoon too. Maggie, the girl that owns it, is really sound and she gave me a lovely shirt for playing. I had a nightmare on the way up though...well, maybe nightmare's a bit much like. My chain came off my bike. That doesn't sound that bad like but I realised there and then that I haven't put a chain back on a bike for about 20 years or something and it absolutely ruined the afternoon almost! I was already late for the gig so I ended up turning up super, super late, covered in sweat and oil. I was disgusting. The shop was full of absolutely cool looking people too so I felt like a right meff.
<br />
<br />I've got quite a big beard at the moment that i'm getting into. I like it. I think I'm going to keep it.
<br />
<br />I'm enjoying living in Berlin, you know, it's a fucking brilliant place to be and I've met some really, really good people here. I love Liverpool too, don't get me wrong, and I've got all of my best and closest friends there and obviously my family who I do miss loads, but I just can't see me coming back anytime soon.
<br />
<br />It's my 30th birthday next month so I'm having a party and I'm gonna combine it with a few of my friends' birthdays too. Loads of mates from Liverpool are coming over for it so I'm really excite about it.
<br />
<br />I can't think of anything else to write because my mind's slowing down really quickly.Chris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-33389988990723074842011-07-27T03:27:00.001-07:002011-07-27T03:53:33.523-07:00Paul Green visits.It's now the end of July and I've moved out of my place in Huttenroderweg with Paula and Angeline. I've taken on a room in a shared flat not too far away with a guy from Australia and a girl from Austria - both seem like nice people with a similar sense of humour. I don't move into this flat until the 12th August so for the time being I am homeless. I've got places to stay though, James has gone away until the end of the month and Seb and Charlotte have also gone away on holiday for a few weeks and both have very kindly left me the keys to their flats. So I write this from the relative luxury of Seb and Charlotte's brand new massive sofa bed.<br /><br />One of my best friends ever, Paul Green, has just been to visit me and we had such a good time. It was great to see Paul. Paul suffers from manic depression (I don't think he'll mind me writing this as he was diagnosed a few years ago and also he told a lot of people here that, in his own words, he has mind problems) and at the moment he has just come out of a long spell of depression and is in a manic stage. Paul and I have known each other since I was 19 which is nearly 11 years now and we've been through quite a lot together. We've had some absolutely amazing and magical times and we've also had some really shitty and frightening times together. This trip to Berlin can be counted amongst the amazing and magical times (as are most tbh)...we had such a laugh from the moment he arrived here holding a sick bag with my name on it in the air. He helped me out at Liquidation on Thursday night (which was one of the busiest ever), then we had a great day on Friday drinking and playing pool and giggling and singing and then on Saturday, Pete turned up with his band, 'Pete Bentham and The Dinner Ladies', so we hung out with Pete and co all night and watched them do really great gig.<br />By Sunday we were both pretty done in so we just hung out at my place and ate some proper food (not kebabs, not pizza, not ale) and then on Monday we pretty much done the same and then I put Paul on the bus to the airport in the afternoon. It was a bit of a whirlwind but it was so, so good to see him and I hope it happens again soon. He's a beautiful person. If you want to see around 600 photographs of Paul's visit, you can go on his facebook and have a look. <br /><br />Last week I had the responsibility of finding the cast for a video shoot that James was directing for a band called Twin Atlantic. I had to muster up 20 people to fill out a Berlin street. In the weeks/days leading up to the shoot I had gathered up the troops and managed to get 20 of my friends to promise that they will be there at 7am on what could have been a cold and wet July morning. I was so, so worried in the days and hours leading up to the shoot because if the people didn't show up then the whole shoot would have been a disaster and I would have gotten into loads of shit. The night before I didn't sleep at all worrying about it. Anyway, I needn't have feared as on the morning of the shoot there were about 25 or so people that turned out for me and the weather was boss!! I'm hugely grateful to all those who came along and did such a good job!! It was, at times, very boring with lots of waiting around and it was so hot too, but everyone was totally awesome and I think overall, we all had a really good day. The shoot went well and we had a big ol' BBQ afterwards and then went down to the canal for a bit of Kubb.<br /><br />Right now I'm going to crack on with recording and then I'm going to go on a bit of a bike ride alone. I think I gained about 5 stone in ale whilst paul was over and I've just watched The Fighter so I feel dead motivated.Chris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-71253795919903954522011-07-08T06:30:00.000-07:002011-07-08T06:49:19.201-07:00Just information.Time seems to move super-fast-warp-speed-turbo boost here. I think I'm 54 years old already. No, that's not true. Sometimes I feel like I'm 54 years old though. My liver in particular. A 54 year old tramp. It's impossible to stay sober in Berlin. If you really want to stay sober I've found the best way is to not leave your bedroom. At all. You have to stay in there. Even if you leave, there might be a flat mate with a bottle of wine or some beers. If you actually go outside the house then there's nothing down for you - you're going to be pissed within minutes. It's cheaper to buy a bottle of beer here than it is to buy a bottle of water. Anway, I'm being dramatic and of course you don't <span style="font-style:italic;">have</span> to drink if you don't want to, it's just way easier to find yourself drinking if you are that way inclined.<br /><br />I've been working with James a little bit the last month on a music video for a norwegian band called Katzenjammer. I've recently seen the final edit and it looks cracking! I'll stick it up here when it's ready. I was mostly preparing the sets for the shoot - drilling and hammering and painting and re-wiring stuff. Good fun though and it was great to work with and meet loads of boss people.<br /><br />I played a gig a couple of weeks ago at a kindergarten. I was a bit sceptical at first but once the hangover had been shaken off and we started playing it was kind of amazing! The kids all wandered over to us like tiny zombies and we had layed down a load of percussion instruments on the floor for them to grab, which they did...they went mental!! It was boss! We're doing it again tomorrow afternoon and I'm really looking forward to it.<br /><br />It's been nice playing more with Silent Sleep. We went to Trier last week and played a couple of gigs there. It was so nice to see Alex and Katrin and Marius and all of those guys again - they're some of the best people in the world and I'm glad I can call them friends. The gigs were great and we had about 47 laughs in total. One of the things I like best about playing with Silent Sleep is that we can pretty much turn up anywhere and do our normal set - we've done quite a few gigs in parks recently and it's so much fun. People just turn up with a bottle of wine and some butties or whatever...it's absolutely one of the most civilised things ever. I've been recording the 2nd part of the trilogy too. It's taken me way longer than I expected but only due to me being too easily distracted. I'm looking forward to finishing it and getting it out there. James is going to make a video for the song 'Love Never Lasts' which is going to be great. I think that song is my bleakest ever song. I enjoy playing it to the children in the kindergarten. It's a valuable lesson that needs to be learnt.<br /><br />I have to move out of the place I've been staying in since March at the end of this month so I'm looking for new places. It's tricky though - I've sent SO many emails replying to ads and out of maybe 40 I've had 1 reply. Not panicking just yet though.Chris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-74498225475186309902011-05-29T05:26:00.000-07:002011-05-29T06:10:57.704-07:00Abandoned theme parkThis weekend, Friday in particular, was one of the most fun weekends I've had, which is saying something because I've had quite a few bits of fun recently. But Friday was fun for loads of reasons. I was supposed to be djing in Prenzlauer Berg at 10pm but I met up with James in the afternoon and we had a dead cool time having casual ales in a few different bars around Neukoelln. We met some friends who own a cafe and sat with this dead nice guy who I'd never met before but can't remember his name, then we went to a bar around the corner and sat with this ex professional footy player who James and I met a couple of weeks ago in a turkish betting shop and had a few drinks with him. It was 9pm by this point and I remembered I had to go all the way back to mine to get my records before heading off to DJ (Prenzlauer Berg is about 30 mins by bike). We were both a bit boozy by this stage and James decided to come with me to DJ. We grabbed our bikes and my records and started pegging it towards the train station. We got on a train but it booted us off after 2 stops so we legged it from there to the tram and jumped on a tram. Eventually we arrived at the bar, 45 minutes late, only to find out that I'd been told the wrong date and it was actually the next day I was DJing. I couldn't believe it, I was dripping with sweat and totally out of breath and all flustered and what have you. The guy was sound though and apologised and gave us both a pint and me a packet of fags too. It wasn't that bad though because earlier in the day we were talking about this event that was happening at an old abandoned theme park so now, what with me not having to DJ, we could go. We cycled back from Prenzlauer Berg to Treptower Park singing Roy Orbison songs and Beach Boys songs and Beatles songs dead loud. It was about midnight now. Finally we made it to the park and to get the old amusement park we had to bike through the park in total darkness for about 20 minutes. It was kind of fun but I don't mind admitting that there were times when I was frightened. Anyway, we made it, but we only made it at the very end when it was emptying out and locking up for the night but James knew somebody who worked there and she let us in anyway so we decided to just get a bit lost in there. It was magic. All the old shacks and stands where all still there from when it last opened it's doors 20 years ago. Everywhere was a little bit battered and all the plants and grass and bushes where dead overgrown. There was even a couple of massive plastic dinosaurs left lying on the ground. It looked mad. We went past a pond that we thought had some speakers near it playing animal noises and then we realised that the pond was just full of frogs and the frogs were all croaking their mad little heads off!! We went past a really beautiful black horse (not real) and it was on a track so James and I took turns pushing each other around the track on it. It was completely overgrown with thorn bushes though so we got toally shredded whilst doing it, but it was really good fun and we made it all the way around. We carried on walking, avoiding the security guards and all that and eventually we found a group of people sat around a fire and drinking booze so we went over and sat down with them. Turns out they're all lovely french and german people so we sayed there for an hour or so, chatting and drinking and stuff. We decided to leave them to it and we headed back to our bikes. <br /><br />Something a bit weird happened on the way home. not totally, totally weird, but defo a bit mad, like. We were biking, again through the dark - actually, just remembered that we both nearly absolutely fell off our bikes when we drove at a good bit of pace into a bit of tree that someone had left lying across the path - anyway, yeah, we were biking to Kreuzberg because we were going to meet some friends, by this point it's probably about 2.30am or something, and we came to this massive stretch of road that was closed to cars so we started pegging it dead fast, racing each other and then this guy who was going the same way started to join in the race and the three of us raced down the road until we came to where the road blocks where and then we slowed down and had a bit of a laugh and introduced ourselves to this guy who was gegging in on the race. Lovely fella, he was, Italian dude from Florence. Anyway, James and I split off and when we got to Kotbusser Tor I saw this girl I know called Lisa. She was just standing there smiling at me as if she was waiting for me or something, but she wasn't, like. So we stopped and said hello and a bit of a chat etc. She was waiting for her friend. Then her friend showed up whilst we were chatting. It was the Italian fella who we'd just met 10 minutes before!! How mad is that?!?! Is it mad or is it just me? That's well mad.<br /><br />But yeah, it was just a dead nice day, spontaneous boozing, biking round, abandoned theme parks...mega.<br /><br />I DJ'd in Mokum last night, which is a bar I've started playing in once a month. It's absolutely good fun and I really anjoy playing there but everytime I do it I stagger out at like 7am completely off my head on alcohol. Don't really remember getting home or leaving the bar but I'm here in my bedroom now and I managed to not get my records or my guitar robbed off me. I had my guitar on me because I played a gig at this open-air event in Schoneweide earlier in the day. I feel a bit ropey now though so I'm going to go and watch some more of the american version of the office before heading out later to eat delicious vietnamese food, which is my favourite thing to eat in Berlin.<br /><br />p.s. can not be bothered to re-read that so probably loads of grammar and spelling mistakes. I always try and start off proper but then the faster I type and it all starts spewing out it just goes to pot.Chris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-82074125755109541892011-04-26T09:43:00.000-07:002011-04-26T09:44:27.752-07:00This came in the post this morning...<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Christopher,<br /><br />Greetings this fne day. Thanks for getting back to me.<br />Regarding the questionairre. Please don't fret over the final couple answers. I Will have plenty to go on with the answers you've already finished. It's not supposed too be difficult. Just relax and let go and the answers will come out naturally. Not to worry. <br />Please send a picture.<br /><br />Regarding the pricing, let me give you some perspective on your idea that the prices are high. There are some people that think the prices are too low. They understand the spiritual energy that I put into each picture. I've been an artist for most of my 55 years. So when I approach a subject I bring all those years of practice to bare. Each picture usually takes about 4 hours to complete. At $50 per hour that is <br />$150. I'm worth probably more like $150 per hour with all my experience, so I'm giving people a great deal at $150. And I offered you $50 off. This is considered a fantastic value!<br /><br />I hope this helps you to see the oppurtunity in front of you. <br />Right now I have several portraits I'm working on so I'm getting busy. I can offer you this great price of $100 until tomorrow. Then it goes back up to $150. To make it an even better deal we can do a payment plan. $50 now and $50 in a couple weeks from now. We can spread it out for your convenience.<br /><br />There is one more discount option I can give you. I''ll do it for $75 if you pay me all it up front right now by tomorrow.<br /><br />So, we have one more day to decide.<br />Thanks so much Christopher!<br /><br />Best,<br /><br />€rial</span><br /><br />I'm going to reply tomorrow.Chris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-71989464290720472322011-04-25T02:01:00.000-07:002011-04-25T02:23:10.427-07:00More CelestingHad a great night at Liquidation on Thursday just gone! It was totally busy and the people were dead nice too. Loads of dancing 'til the sun came up and then even more somewhere else! Friday was a write off for me but on Saturday I met up with a few guys and we went to play Boules just down the road from where I live. It was a really warm night and after we played a bit of boules we sat down by the canal and lit some candles and drank a few beers. It was great and it's little beautiful moments like these that remind me why moving to Berlin was definitely the right thing to do. The next day was Easter Sunday and me and James and a few others headed up north to a place outside of Berlin called Liepnitzsee, where there is a huge lake with an island in the middle, surrounded by a dead nice forrest. We lay down on the banks of the lake and had a little picnic and tried to swim a bit but it was dead icy so we only got in for about 16 seconds. Apparently my shorts were really see through so I might have inadvertently showed everyone my willy. I loved that day.<br /><br />I've been continuing my dialogue with our man who makes celestial soul portraits. Here they are...<br /><br />This is from Erial, as I didn't reply straight away to his last mail...<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">C<br /><br />Just wanted you to know one other person just got in line for a possible portrait.<br />Since you were first in line I wanted to give you the first chance to get started.<br />What can you afford my friend? I'll work with you now if your really interested.<br />It's like a spiritual quest. You need to have a passion for it to work. the energy<br />is in the air now. Let's use it to ignite your soul portrait into illuminated manifestation!<br /><br />E</span><br /><br />To which I replied...<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Hi Erial,<br /><br />So sorry I've not been in touch recently. I've been spending most of the time thinking about it all, hard. I've gone through your on-line questionnaire and I've answered all of the questions apart from one, which I'm stuck on. It's the one about who I would be if I was sat at the round table. I just can't make up my mind and it's tearing me apart right now!!<br /><br />I do want to go ahead with this if we can find the right price. I feel you're asking a bit too much if I'm completely honest (and I swear by a policy of truth at all times and I expect the same from others). Could you tell me a little bit more about the process and why it costs so much money??<br /><br />I'd be so grateful if you could and perhaps it would ease my concerns regarding the money.<br /><br />I wish you a very happy time.<br /><br />Chris<br /></span><br /><br />I'll let you know when he reaches me.Chris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-43431067782149225252011-04-13T03:33:00.000-07:002011-04-13T03:38:37.929-07:00CelestialisationSo, our celestial artist friend has got back in touch. I'm starting to think that the whole thing is a joke and he's actually some hipster who probably has a blog like this and is posting dead similar entries but obviously with the roles reversed. Or maybe I'm wrong and I'm communicating with a lunatic.<br /><br />Chris wrote:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Hi Erial,<br /><br />Thanks so much for getting back to me! I'm really excited about this!<br /><br />My only problem is with the cost and I hope you don't mind me asking this question but why does it cost so much? Do you think you could come down in price? I would really like so much to begin the transformational process.<br /><br />Also, my second concern is a little silly but I have to ask it anyway...will the portrait lose any of it's celestial beauty when being sent by email?<br /><br />Kind regards Erial, look forward to moving along with this hopefully.<br /><br />Christopher </span><br /><br /><br />€rial wrote:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Hi Christopher,<br /><br />I was just thinking about offering you a discount because of a recent dream I had. So it's funny you should ask. What I could do is take off $50 and make it an even 100. Can you do that? Is this within your budget? Then I will send you an 8.5 x 11 high resolution art file that you can print on your end.<br /><br />There is no loss of detail or spiritual energy sending you a computer file. The colors are vibrant and alive. The portrait contains celestial energies that will assist you in maintaining a high vibration whenever you look at it.<br />A great meditation tool for spiritual growth.<br /><br />So please send me a picture of you to work from so we can get started.<br /><br />It would be nice to have the full payment amount all at once if you can swing it. If you pay through paypal and say it's a gift then I get to keep the full amount we decide on. <br />So let me know how this all sounds. I'm excited to begin the process!<br /><br />Best,<br /><br />€rial</span>Chris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-74438816394687962762011-04-12T14:48:00.001-07:002011-04-12T15:06:55.373-07:00Celestial ChrisJust got back home after a the first practise with Aude, a girl I met here. She's from near Paris and she sings like a mad french angel - really beautiful voice! It was a good practise. Seb came too, so slowly but surely we're making forward steps towards being ready for our first show, which is planned to be a show in a park by a pond on June 5th. There should be 8 people in the band I think.<br /><br />A couple of weeks ago my good friend Andrew Donovan came to visit me and he told him of this great website. It's called Celestial Soul Portraits and it's run by a guy who, for the reasonable price of $250, will take your bog standard portrait photograph, taken here on planet Earth, and turn it into a portrait of you in Unicorn-land, with a staff, pink stars, other-worldy atmospheres and Unicorns. The site is incredible. He demonstrates how he can bring out your higher celestial being with a few before and after shots. One is of him and he basically turns himself from a man standing in a garden with a rake into Jesus fucking Christ.<br /><br />I was interested in getting one done so I sent him a mail.<br /><br />This is my mail and the response.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Hi,<br /><br />My friend told me about your magical portraits and I'd like to know more about this.<br /><br />What do I need to do to find out more about my higher celestial presence?<br /><br />Many thanks,<br /><br />Yours,<br /><br />Christopher</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />Hi there Christopher,<br /><br />Thanks for asking about the celestial soul portraits.<br /><br />All we need are 3 basic things.<br /><br />First you decide which size portrait you would like, either 8 x 10 for $150 or 12 x 16 for $250.<br /><br />Then you send me a high resolution photo to use as the basis of the image.<br /><br />Second we need you to answer some questions so I can see into your highest spiritual nature.<br /><br />Finally I need you to send me 50% down for me to begin the transformational process.<br /><br />The image comes to you as a high resolution file unless we make other arrangements.<br /><br />I can't wait to begin!<br /><br />Thanks again,<br /><br />Erial<br /></span><br /><br />I'll continue to stick up our little celestial dialogue. I might actually even get one!Chris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-38112163109687888052011-03-21T07:27:00.000-07:002011-03-21T07:53:19.882-07:00What started out as Boo-hoo ends up way-hay!I haven't been keeping this as up to date as I would have liked recently because there have been so many changes happening. Changes I didn't foresee happening. This and that happened and I've found myself living in a small room in a shared flat in Neukoelln with two girls from New Zealand. The room is ok, it's bright and warm and has a bed and a desk and the two girls I'm sharing with are very friendly.<br /><br />We've got the 2nd Liquidation party coming up on Thursday night and I so hope it goes well. I'm kind of relying on it going well if I'm honest! I don't know how much longer I can keep myself over here right now. I ran out of money a couple of weeks ago and when I say ran out, I really mean ran out! I've had fuck all for a over a week now! It's definitely the poorest I've ever been. I can't really moan too much though - I mean, it's obviously shit having no money at all and does your head in like but you can't be all boo-hoo when there are people in Japan who've just lost their entire family along with everything they own in one fell swoop. <br /><br />Things have changed for me here and it's been and it's going to be tough. I don't know what's going to happen but I'm going to stay here for the time being and try and make a few good things happen.<br /><br />I've just been given a job on a music video project that, providing I do a good job, will be a great start to the new chapter here. After that, I'll be doing the Liquidation nights (hopefully) every week and whilst all this is happening I'll be practising with the new band which, should things go to plan, be ready to gig by the start of summer time. <br /><br />Sorry if that reads a bit wanky - I think I had to write it all out like that for my own benefit really!<br /><br />Andy and Lucy came last week and it was so good to see them both. It was real nice to catch up with them properly as the last few times we'd seen each other it had been at parties or at gigs etc, so it was great to spend some time together doing pretty much none stop gabbing at each other. It was weird, when I was waiting with them for their bus to the airport to catch their flight home, I kind of forgot that they were going home. I think I was thinking that they were just going home as in home around the corner and they'll be back later or tomorrow or something and then when the bus did show up, I just said 'ta-ra' as if that was the case, and then realised that of course they were going back to Liverpool and I wouldn't see them again for ages and it made me dead sad.<br /><br />Jules is coming on Wednesday though and then Graham is coming at the start of April. There're always people coming over to look forward to and in the mean time I've made some fairly decent mates over here too. It's just so easy to get bogged down in your own little world sometimes and over-think things far too much. You end up worrying and retreating instead of getting yourself involved in everything and making things happen. <br /><br />I thought this blog was going to be dead morbid and depressing but as it's turned out it hasn't at all! I'm glad I wrote it now.Chris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-23862480176991088192011-03-03T11:49:00.000-08:002011-03-03T11:51:16.676-08:00updated list of songs that I would probably call a favouriteLow - Over The Ocean<br />Elliot Smith - Waltz no.2 (xo)<br />The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize?<br />Elbow - Powder Blue<br />The Wedding Present - Spangle<br />Cinerama - Wow<br />Alton Ellis - I'm Still in love with you<br />LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great<br />Talking Heads - Pulled Up<br />Billy Bragg - Sexuality<br />Hefner - Hello Kitten<br />Pixies - My Velouria<br />Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye<br />Radiohead - Black Star<br />Big STar - Thirteen<br />Weakerthans - Aside<br />Otis Redding - These Arms Of MineChris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-28153801549085851372011-02-22T02:06:00.000-08:002011-02-22T02:32:19.026-08:00Good eggs.I'm sat in my living room about to have some eggs which I hope I've boiled perfectly. Just eggs. No bread. Actually, with an orange. Eggs and an orange.<br /><br />Probably the most stupid first line to a blog entry ever!! Anyway, little update - we had the first Liquidation and it went way better than we expected to really! We had a dance floor until about 5am and then gradually people started drifting home. Me and Jules were both lashed by this point anyway to be honest and were ready for calling it a night, which we did about 5.45 I reckon. But yeah it was boss and the guy who runs it was dead sound and kept bringing us beers and vodkas and tequilas all night! We're doing another one there in April and in May but we need to find another venue for March as he'd already booked it all up. I'm meeting a guy called Pascal at a club called Dazzle at 2pm this afternoon.<br /><br />I worked with James on Monday, shooting a video involving a Smart Car entirely encrusted with mirrors (most camp thing I've ever seen), and two men dressed in really glittery all-in-one suits (actually, that's the most camp thing I've ever seen). One of the two men was the keyboard player in the band A-Ha. It was nuts. He was nice enough guy though, although I'm sure he nearly knocked me out when one time during lunch I was sat next to him and made a light-hearted quip about his glittery all-in-one outfit (which he was wearing at the time). I think I was only spared his fist (and possibly my job) by the laughter of everybody else who was there, but there was definitely a split second when nobody was sure whether to laugh or not and he shot me a look.<br />I really enjoyed the day though - started off helping to build a massive kaleidoscope!! <br /><br />Graham was over for a week too and it was dead nice. Because he was here for a week, it meant there was no mad rush to do everything all at once so we just took it easy and had a slow burning boozy time and loads of fun.<br /><br />This weekend just gone, the lads from Hot Club came to stay too because they had a gig here on Friday night. It was boss man, I hadn't seen them play in over a year and it was so good watching them. Free the Pterodactyl 3 is, I think, probably their greatest ever song. It's fucking brilliant and beautiful. Very considerate house guests too for future reference.<br /><br />Here's the video I did too...Matt, who made it, is such a gem and all the people who feature in the video are either friends of ours or kids that Matt babysits. See if you can guess which ones are which. Share it too. Pass it around the whole earth and make it a sensational internet smash hit.<br /><br /><iframe width="480" height="295" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aT4A2D9_C9Y?fs=1" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen=""></iframe>Chris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-2976700852066853522011-02-01T01:35:00.001-08:002011-02-01T02:07:55.920-08:00Where did the good times go?Well it's only 2 days now before the very first Liquidation. I'm nervous and excited and all those usual feelings you get when you just have no idea how something is going to go. There are about 110 people confirmed as guests on the facebook page but that's not really an accurate figure. I think about half of those people live in countries very, very far away from Germany so the likelihood of them actually attending is very slim. Jules is arriving tomorrow night just in time to go watch the Liverpool game somewhere and Liverpool have just sold one my heroes, Fernando Torres, to Chelsea for a record £50million and bought another record signing, Andy Carroll, from Newcastle for £35million. Nuts. So the game against Stoke on Wednesday night is one I really want to watch (not to actually see Andy Carroll play - he's injured at the moment, but to see ANOTHER one of Liverpool's new big signings, Luis Suarez).<br /><br />On Friday Hendrik started to film his documentary and spent the whole day following me around. It's nowhere near as daunting and as intrusive as I thought it might be. In fact it's the opposite and I very rarely noticed he was there at all. In the morning I went to play football as I always do on a Friday and he filmed the whole game from loads of different places. I normally play an OK game of footy but for some reason, even though I honestly didn't notice him filming so much, I played atrociously!! Every shot was spooned west and...oh man, it was awful. I'm going to have to insist that he comes again when I play better!!<br /><br />After footy I went to practise with Nick and Mic, the 2 lads who are going to play guitar and bass with me when I do the Silent Sleep EP launch party on the 12th Feb. Again, Hendrik blended into the background and we cracked on without giving him a thought. <br /><br />The gig later that night was really nice. The venue, Antjes Oekselund, is mad. It takes yo uages to find it because it's in this courtyard with no lights and it's tucked away in a corner, but when you walk in it's kind of like this magic space. The first thing I noticed was this dead creepy manequin child holding a load of helium balloons. Through the back there was a bar and next to the bar was a smoking cubical. A tiny room with an ashtray and a stool in. Royalchord, the band I was supporting where absolutely lovely...2 girls and a load of dead nice old keyboards (including an omnichord, which I want badly) making beautiful and sad songs. One song that stood out was called 'The Good Times'. I'll post it here at the end of this.<br /><br />A few months ago I spent the morning chasing a Brazilian dancer around Berlin whilst being photographed. It was for the Go! Team's new video for their song 'Rolling Blackouts' which was made by James and Violetta, who are becoming really good mates here. I don't think you can see the video in the U.K. just yet but I'll stick it up here when you can - it's great...all photographs and stop motion and dead stylish.<br /><br />Here's that video and some photos of the gig from Friday...<br /><br /><iframe width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zcqAmGanHSs?fs=1" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen=""></iframe><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FZwllirNoTc/TUfY9I120fI/AAAAAAAAACc/PZnmZwuVvsI/s1600/antjeschrisplaying1.jpeg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FZwllirNoTc/TUfY9I120fI/AAAAAAAAACc/PZnmZwuVvsI/s320/antjeschrisplaying1.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568658009123901938" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FZwllirNoTc/TUfZRMJj7bI/AAAAAAAAACk/FBQbS9mWReE/s1600/antjesmanequin2.jpeg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FZwllirNoTc/TUfZRMJj7bI/AAAAAAAAACk/FBQbS9mWReE/s320/antjesmanequin2.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568658353609239986" /></a>Chris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-84786607903583526972011-01-27T02:05:00.000-08:002011-02-01T01:34:59.241-08:00doing all the stuff and scoring goals, saving the planet perusing a grandma.Loads has happened recently which I haven't been writing about mostly because I've been too busy doing those things I just mentioned there. Ermmmmmm...Let me see if I can remember any of them in no particular order. Loads of mates came over from Liverpool as it was Stiffy's birthday so all the hot club lads, grays jones and murray, david spoons, steve carpenter as well as a load of others all came to Berlin for the weekend. That was the 14th to 16th I think and we spent the whole time drinking beer. It was relentless. The day they all left was the day I was shooting the video for 'You Can Colour Me In' (apologies for the poor grammar and punctuation in this blog I've just had too much coffee and i'm just spewing it out). So yeah, the day they left was the day I was making a video and I looked rough as fuck. I looked like I'd been fighting all weekend. more specifically like someone had been punching my face for two whole days. Not the best preparation but maybe because the song is so dainty then it will add a bit of much needed grrrrrr to it. The video is going to be class though. Matt Greyson, a canadian guy who I met here through playing footy directed it and pretty much did everything else but be in it. I was really impressed - I'd not seen anything that Matt had done before so I didn't know what to expect but it was incredible and i think it's gonna be awesome. <br /><br />This week i've been working on a music video with my friend James. It's for a singer from L.A. and I've been cutting out lots of japanese things. <br /><br />Tomorrow I'm playing a gig here with a band called Royalchord who sound great from what ive heard and apparently it's in a really cool place too called anjes oekelund or something like that (sorry, im too lazy to open another window and look properly). Hendrik, one of Edda's friends who I've also become friends with is going to be filming a documentary about me over the next 6 months and tomorrow is the first filming day. Well, he filmed the video shoot last week so it's not really the first one. I think he's just going to follow me around for a bit seeing how i go from doing music stuff to doing manual labour and all that...I think so anyway, I'm still not entirely sure.<br /><br />I played football on tuesday and scored what might have been the best goal i've scored for ages. I was in goal and I noticed the other keeper was way off his line and I thought to myself, 'if the ball comes back to me I'm WELL having a go at that' and right enough one of the lads was under a bit of pressure so he knocked it back to me and I didn't even look, I just side footed it high into the air and sailed over the other keepers head and into the top bin! I couldn't believe it! Even though I meant it I didn't think I'd pull it off but i did! I could definitely hold my own in the premier league*.<br /><br />Anyway, it's one week to go until we have the first Liquidation party and I'm psyched. I'm psyched and I'm nervous too. Never done a club night here before so I've got no idea how it's going to go. I hope it goes well, obviously.<br /><br />I'm doing a photo-shoot on wednesday too. It's with James' girlfriend, Violetta, and she is going to take some photos for her project first, which is about getting people as soon as they wake up and then afterwards, when i look normal again she's gonna take some for me too, as silent sleep kinda thing.<br /><br />I'm off to put posters up in berlin.<br /><br />*I wouldn'tChris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-54250960267795702492011-01-08T04:36:00.000-08:002011-01-08T05:13:59.659-08:00best nightWhen Roy Hodgson's name first started getting used in connection with Liverpool I was horrified. Even though he'd just been voted manager of the year he just always struck me as a journeyman, an average manager and certainly not someone who could take Liverpool back to point of competing with Man Utd and Chelsea for the title again. And I was proved right!!!! What a massive pile of balls the last 5 months of been!! I know the season before was dismal but Jesus Christ he made a mockery of two shams of the club!! <br /><br />Anyway the only reason I'm posting this blog is because Kenny Dalglish is now the manager of Liverpool Football Club once again and I know that these romantic ideas of former heroes and icons of any club coming back to save everyone very rarely work out but let me state this here and in public (well, i've got 8 followers so if it turns out to be wrong I can still just edit it and hardly anyone will notice)...I've got a really strong feeling that this is going to be good. I'm not basin it on any facts or stats or anything, purely just a feeling but I really think that Kenny Dalglish's return is going to be very successful.<br /><br />I met him once too. In 2008 I managed to blag some wristbands to go backstage (where all the ale was free - me and Edda were drinking PINTS of white wine) at the MTV awards when they were held in Liverpool. One of my mates, Skinny, pointed out that King Kenny was about 2 meters away from us having a chat to Duffy, the awful Welsh singer, so I went over with Rich from Go Faster>> (great Liverpool band, now defunct) and waited for a gap in the conversation. Duffy looked at me and smiled and said 'I'll be with you in a minute'. Rich and I looked at each other dead confused, she's obviously got the wrong idea. Anyhow, their conversation ends and Duffy comes over, all hair and teeth, 'what can I do for you fellas?'. 'Nothing', we reply, marching straight past her to our hero, Kenny Dalglish who greeted us with a big smile and a strong hand shake. His wife said she thought she recognised me from somewhere so I told her I was in The Killers (I had a moustache at the time, it was plausible). We took some photos with the King and left him to it and then got absolutely wankered on pints of fine, white wines. A truly great evening.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FZwllirNoTc/TShi851Sl5I/AAAAAAAAACU/DyhbkvK2dbA/s1600/chrisandkingkenny.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 275px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FZwllirNoTc/TShi851Sl5I/AAAAAAAAACU/DyhbkvK2dbA/s320/chrisandkingkenny.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559802538444887954" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v373/29/98/635460018/n635460018_4760085_451.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 604px; height: 519px;" src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v373/29/98/635460018/n635460018_4760085_451.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Chris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-45926881520306260242011-01-06T07:24:00.001-08:002011-01-06T07:40:59.080-08:00ResolutationsRight, I'm going to be well more consistent with this blog this year and perhaps I might even start to make an effort to write it a bit better instead of just vomitting words all over it as fast as they come out of my mind. Actually, I'm definitely not going to be doing that as I think it's impossible for me to because I'm mostly stupid.<br /><br />These are some things I'd like/like to happen in 2011.<br /><br />1) Turn Silent Sleep, which at the moment is just me, into a full band playing concerts at music venues not only in Berlin but in places far away too.<br /><br />2) With above band, record an astonishingly brilliant and beautiful album that will make girls cry.<br /><br />3) Always make sure I always have some money enough to live (i.e. rent, food, socialising, buying exotic and rare gems)<br /><br />4) Get a projector so my girlfriend and I can watch movies in a big way.<br /><br />5) Get Liquidation Berlin going once a week. This will help me fulfill number 3 and be a ton of fun to boot.<br /><br />6) Be more cool.<br /><br />7) Get fit not fat.<br /><br />8) Cover Fleetwood Mac's 'Everywhere'.<br /><br />9) Visit a dentist<br /><br />10) Get a 28 Costumes EP done.<br /><br /><iframe width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ThbMaq8hDEo?fs=1" frameborder="0"></iframe>Chris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-16169780104826372682011-01-06T02:50:00.000-08:002011-01-06T02:56:32.095-08:00FestivingI've been at home in Liverpool now since the 16th December. I was supposed to leave Berlin on the 15th but I missed my flight because of snow. So I've been here for almost 3 weeks now and in that time I've played a show with 28 Costumes and Voo, DJ'd at Liquidation, caught up with nearly all of my friends and family, got plump, drunk absolutely loads of booze almost continuosly hence getting plump, finally saw my girlfriend in the flesh along with Claudia and Rolf who are some friends that came to visit from Germany, got the ferry across the Mersey, had my i-pod wiped and got more plump.<br /><br />Hope you had such a good time.<br />xChris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-23995758199026151022010-12-10T13:31:00.001-08:002010-12-10T14:02:21.192-08:00Better days!Wow, that last one was a laugh wasn't it! It's weird here, you notice the ups and downs perhaps more than when you lived at home. Been working away on the 'This Scissor Disaster' EP that I plan to release on Feb 14th. I'll have a launch party/gig to celebrate the release on the 12th Feb and hopefully, fingers crossed, legs crossed and thumbs pressed, Graham is gonna come to Berlin and play an acoustic Voo set to boot! That would be so good and it would make me the happiest little sausage in the whole of East Berlin, and that's saying something because Germany is a place where the sausage is king of the kitchen. Germany's national dish is a giant sausage in ketchup with curry powder on it. Germany! Power-house of Europe! Not in the culinary globe you're not! Anyway, so yeah, that will be great if he can make it over. I've slowly but surely been assembling a band too. Very slowly. When I told people I wanted to get a band together when I first moved over here back in April, nearly everybody said exactly the same thing...'you're in the right place, son.' or 'you'll have no problem finding musicians here, they're EVERYWHERE.' Let me tell you right now...I've been here for 8 months now and I've met 3 to 5 musicians. That's not counting the lunatics doing things like sitting on the floor with a sampler looping their painful wailings whilst having a fit. So it's taken me a bit longer than I anticipated. But I think I've found a bass player who is also a good mate and a I think I might have found a Violinist and a Flute...I've just realied that I don't know what you call somebody who plays the flute...hang on...ok, now I know that a Flautist is somebody who plays an instrument in the flute family, such as a piccolo and loads of other types of flute. So I might have found a flautist. Hopefully, when I get back home from Liverpool after Christmas i can find a drummer and maybe a piano player or an accordian player and we can start rehearsing. Boss!!<br /><br />Worked a couple of long shifts helping to build the new ikea here this week and I'm djng on Tuesday night at a bar underneath a hostel.<br /><br />Some more good news...Liquidation Berlin, which I've been trying to get off the ground basically since I came here to no avail now has it's first night booked!! After all the emails that I sent without reply I finally got a call from a club that is dead into the idea and on the 3rd Feb 2011 the very first LIQUIDATION BERLIN will happen. I was so pleased when I got the call I could have started crying but fortunately I didn't as that might have ruined everything. I really can't wait for it, Jules is gonna come over and dj it too.<br /><br />I finished recording this today, I'm very pleased with it.<br /><br />http://soundcloud.com/halloiloveyou/you-can-colour-me-in-by-silent-sleepChris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-65942158919334927192010-11-22T05:32:00.000-08:002010-11-22T05:50:56.452-08:00Blog gone wrongI've been fairly busy the last couple of weeks or so. Last weekend I went back to Liverpool to play with 28 Costumes at Toria Buzza's birthday party. It was boss to go back and I managed to cram alot into the visit. Drinks with mates, footy on Saturday morning like the good old days of 7 months ago, an acoustic set in a hairdressing salon, the party and the afterparty. I think I pretty much managed to see everyone who I would have liked to have seen in the space of 2 days, which was great. When I left though I realised I'd left my phone in Paul Jones' house which is a massive pain in the dick - it's still not arrived yet and it's been a week since he sent it. This is crap for loads of reasons - Edda left to go to Köln for 4 weeks so without it I'm totally unable to get in touch with her, I can't work without it as the company I work for call me when I'm needed. Also, I was meeting Jules, who came to Berlin for a few days just now, at the airport on the Sunday so I was totally freaking out although I didn't really need to about that. Been really good having Jules over though, we managed to sort a few things out regarding Liquidation Berlin, which is defo going to happen soon, plus have a whole lot of fun too. <br /><br />I've just decided to not continue writing this blog entry. It's not funny or interesting, although funny and interesting things definitely happened but my head isn't working properly today and it hasn't really been working properly for the last few days. I don't know whether it's because I'm really worried about money (as per usual), or I'm really missing Edda\hate being on my own in the flat or just in general worrying too much about what is I'm supposed to be doing here or in Liverpool or anywhere - just generally. Obviously 28 Costumes and Hallo...I Love You! aren't doing much right now what with me being in another country a thousand miles away and Silent Sleep, my new thing I've just started here is going well but slow and there's not much banter and laughs when it's just you practising. I haven't got a job so to speak, well I have some work occasionally but it's not enough to call a job and the club night, which I'm excited about, has just taken loads longer than I thought. It's difficult to try and always write funny and interesting blogs to let people know what you're up to when it's not always DEAD GOOD and GOING GREAT like most people want their friends to think. I mean, alot of the time it is but obviously there are going to be shit days and today is defo pretty pooey. I miss my family and I miss Edda and I miss how easy it was when I lived in Liverpool but I know this will pass and tomorrow I may feel tonnes better so I'm going to sign off until tomorrow and write something ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS then.<br /><br />However, I will write this before I go: I spent this morning chasing a Brazilian dancer around Berlin in the pissing down rain! In't life MAD!Chris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-59873720505555785252010-11-08T01:53:00.000-08:002010-11-08T02:05:32.887-08:00Good WeekI just had probably one of the best weeks ever in the history of me. Starting in Trier and playing that gig I was on about in the last blog, then coming home to Berlin and playing again on Saturday night at what was defo the busiest gig for me yet. It's not saying that much really...I normally attract a crowd of approximately 25-30 people but on Saturday night, at Laika, there was probably about FIFTY! YEAH! I'm doing it!! I'm DOING it! I enjoyed the gig so much, although my decision to knock a couple of songs out on the piano was almost certainly not my best ever decision but it was still fun and I enjoyed making loads of mistakes and ruining my own music. It was terrific amounts of fun and I hope to play more like that. <br /><br />Yesterday, a little bit fuzzy in the head from over celebrating after the show, I went to the Blarney in Kreuzberg to watch Liverpool F.C. demolish Chelsea. I'm proper gay for Torres - sometimes, if you see his face on a flag and you see the flag from behind, it's easy to mistake him for a fit girl so it's not that weird.<br /><br />On the way home I stopped off at a Vietnamese takeaway place and brought home some tucker for me and Edda and it was just boss! Looked a bit iffy from the outside but I still took a chance and the rewards were delicious.<br /><br />Just a mega weekend.<br /><br />I'm cracking on today with recording the first Silent Sleep E.P. which will just be a series of demoes of new songs that I'll record in my flat. <br /><br />I'm going to Liverpool on Thursday to play a gig for Toria Buzza's birthday party which will be amazing mostly just because I'll be seeing all my best friends all at once in the same place having fun times.<br /><br />I'm almost halfway through reading 'The Complete Works of Reginald Perrin' which my friend Claire Heaslip gave me as a leaving present and I think, after the Adrian Mole books, it's my favourite ever thing. I've just finished reading 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' which is also excellent but made me feel really uncomfortable and a bit awkward the whole way through and I was relieved when I finished it.<br /><br />That's it.Chris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-48817766257954703282010-11-03T10:42:00.000-07:002010-11-03T10:56:22.741-07:00a little hiya aus Trier ExhausI'm in Trier right now at an internet cafe next door to the Exhaus, which I've just realised, after 6 years of coming here to play, that it's actually called the 'Excellenzhaus'! I'm no german but I reckon that means 'House of Excellence' in English. I got to Trier last night after a delayed flight from Berlin and I realised that since the last Ryanair flight I took, which nearly freakin' crashed upon landing, that I'm now terrified of landing. This one was fine but the last 30 seconds before we hit the ground I was gripped with fear. <br /><br />My head stinks. I've had my big dear stalker hat on for hours now because I refuse to take it off in public once it's gone on. The hat smells a bit wrong now because of this mad rule I've bestowed upon myself. <br /><br />I just soundchecked and I think it sounds really good...I'm using Alex's lovely telecaster instead of the usual acoustic and it sounds dead sparkly and crisp and different. Infact it sounds exactly like Billy Bragg's guitar does which is gonna be weird when I cover St. Swithen's day later - I'll have to try and sing it differently. An octave higher maybe? Like a young girl. Or me when I was 7 singing 'We're walking in the air' or whatever it was called off The Snowman. I used to have a brown Fisher-Price tape recorder, probably like most kids my age then, and I captured many a glorious moment on it. From that song, which I remember recording, walking around the house in Hartsbourne Avenue, to a recording of The Clash's 'Should I Stay or Should I Go' which I was obssessed by even at that age due to the fact it was on that Levi's commercial at the time. It consisted of one of the preset drum beats and one finger on the dirtiest sound the keyboard had (probably something like harpsichord) doing the chord bits. Oh yeah and me singing like a posh girl over the top of it. I even hit the '16ths' drum pattern in the should i stay or should i go now bits. I brought it into school on the Monday too and showed everyone.<br /><br />Marius and Hanso have been cooking up some delicious vegetarian tucker nextdoor so I'm going to go and eat that now and then play the show. I'm really nervous - this is the first gig I've ever done where I haven't got anyone else with me, no band, no girlfriend etc. I'm 29 years old so I know that's totally stupid, but I am all the same.Chris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4930305823255271684.post-3240710490733373762010-10-26T07:13:00.000-07:002010-10-26T07:32:10.223-07:00birthday vizitzLast week was my birthday and I had some visitors in the form of my family. My mum, Mike and my brother and sister Josh and Chandre came over to Berlin to visit little old me on my birthday. It was dead nice too! I haven't really seen them properly since I came here - when I went home in the summer I mostly spent the time staying at friends' houses and it was especially nice because my mum and Chandre and Josh had never been to Berlin before. We had a super-cool time and did all the usual sightseeing and what have you and then on the evening of my birthday we met up with Rolf, Edda's dad, who came all the way from sleepy Saerbeck to big, crazy Berlin. We had an absolutely delicious meal at a restaurant called Kirk Royal which is just on the bridge over the canal that links Kreuzberg to Neukolln. It's freakin' incredible. You should go. Twice. One of the things I loved most about it was the fact that they didn't force smokers outside to smoke in the freezing cold, au contraire!! You got to go in a dead amazing room downstairs under the restaurant with log fires and leather couches!! It was incredible! I well should have ordered myself a brandy and had a cigar.<br /><br />It was dead sad when they left and my mum started crying, which is horrible to see. You don't wanna see your mum crying! It's too upsetting. Anyway, I felt really homesick over the next few days and it kind of sent me into a hole al through last week that I just couldn't get out of. At one point I think I lost the ability to speak at all - I just could not think of anything to say whatsoever...I don't know how Edda put up with it sometimes. <br /><br />We're totally moved into the new flat now, too. It's boss, it really is nice. It's definitely the nicest flat I've ever lived in. Plus, I'm quietly proud of all my DIY achievements and whenever I go past the sink, I actually give it a little shuffle of acknowledgment and sometimes, when I just turn on the light switch, I have a little smug chuckle. That really happpens.<br /><br />I'm getting into this playing alone lark too. I played at a place in Neukolln the other night and it was maybe the busiest gig I've played so far. I mean, it was still only about 30 people or so in a tiny little cafe (which, I think, used to be a butchers??) in Neukolln. Next week I'm going to fly to Trier to play with Geoff farina in the ex-haus. Feels dead extravagant. <br /><br />I'm also going to start to record the Silent Sleep album next week. I don't know what it will turn out like, but I just want to get the songs down and out there and move on to either doing this 28 Costumes EP or the Hallo...I Love You! EP/Album. I have 10 Silent Sleep songs that I'm pretty pleased with, so for now I'll crack on with that and hopefully have it out by Jan/Feb.Chris Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09186387858369958483noreply@blogger.com0