00047 // 31/07/11

side one of the record is now finished. most of side two is recorded. more news to follow.

00046 // 28/06/11

thanks to everyone who preordered our record through our pledge music project. it was looking grim for a while, but you people really came through in the last few days of the project and we met our target. i am in the process of making demo versions of songs for the EP and preparing all the bundles. i will continue to make demo versions and other stuff available exclusively to pledgers in the lead up to the record release in september. it will be available in vinyl and download formats. the 7" will be on green vinyl and all pledgers will be listed in the liner notes. i will be going on about the details of the record some live dates around the time of the record release on twitter so feel free to follow me for updates.

i played shangri-la at the railway last night with tom burgess, john bennett and artgruppe. artgruppe were particularly impressive, with their new members, a cellist and a new bass player, on good form. i was on first and i played:

tell me what to do
wwf
pr machine
my body the temple and i the iconoclast
dirty words & dusty corners
tattoo
if you see her, give her hell
beautiful mental patient
marty feldman eyes

00045 // 30/05/11

the last few weeks have been all about our pledge music project. we are putting out a new EP in the autumn but we can't afford to pay for it, so we need you to preorder it. there are a few different pledges ranging for £10 (which gets you a signed copy of the 7" on green vinyl, download code and shipping) to £250 (which gets you all that plus a tumbledryer babies gig in your house). all pledgers get their name in the liner notes as a thank you for helping us put the record out. you can see the full list of remaining exclusives at pledgemusic.com/projects/thetumbledryerbabies.


by preordering the record through pledge music you get access to exclusive songs, videos and features, and you will help us reach our target which would mean a lot to us. that said, if we don't reach our target we will have to start again and find another way to fund it, so please preorder the record and tell everyone to do the same.


on the twentyseventh of april i played a set at the sunrooms which is always nice. here are the songs i played:


now the geeks have a union
my body the temple and i the iconoclast
man obsessed
just like pigpen
marty feldman eyes
island in the sun
if you see her, give her hell
there's no smoke without you
chelsea hotel #2


then on the sixteenth of may i played at shangri-la at the railway hotel with tom burgess, micky denny and darren jones. again, i always enjoy playing at this night so thanks to the shangri-la people for inviting me down. i played:


wwf
my body the temple and i the iconoclast
chelsea hotel #2
i told him it was wrong
island in the sun
beautiful mental patient
don't spoonfeed my heart
just like pigpen
if you see her, give her hell
marty feldman eyes

00044 // 15/04/11

april started with a gig in aid of the benjamin foundation in king's lynn on the first, which for various reasons ended up being a solo gig. props to lindsay and matt of primakova for putting on the gig and for consequently raising money for this excellent cause. i played:

now the geeks have a union

first song on the setlist

wwf

dirty words & dusty corners

beautiful mental patient

chelsea hotel #2

just like pigpen

happy birthday, richard hell

there's no smoke without you

if you see her, give her hell

nowadays we are so very different

marty feldman eyes

now for some big business. since our 7" single was so well received we are desperate to get another record pressed. this time it will be an extended player rather than a single. the only problem is this: we are broke. our trip to sxsw cleaned us out. that said, we still want to put out physical records, and the solution i've come up with is pledgemusic. basically, by preordering the record you will help fund it. and your name will appear in the liner notes!

and if you want to go a step further, there are various exclusive bundles & experiences including (among other things) a day out with the band, limited edition framed cover artwork, a gig at your house and the chance to be the subject of a future tumbledryer download EP.

the whole thing kicks off in the next few days. during the two months of fundraising there will be downloads and other giveaways exclusive to pledgers to make it all the more pleasurable for you to help us fund this. remember, without your funding we can't put out the record!

keep up with pledge progress on facebook (/thetumbledryerbabies) and twitter (@tdb_andrew) and look out for tumbledryer gigs coming in the summer.

00043 // 23/03/11

we just got back from playing sxsw in austin, texas. we got to see a little bit of austin and tonnes of great bands, including some of my absolute favourites in the shape of jad fair, mike watt and daniel johnston. also we got to see the likes of cults, la sera, dum dum girls, das racist, bearsuit, fever fever, etc etc etc etc etc. and we got to meet a lot of very interesting people. it was heavy going but so fun.

it was stressful leading up to the gig, what with it being a real chore to get our visas sorted in the first place as well as our first ever overseas gig, but dave and all the staff at the velveeta room were really friendly and helpful and kind which helped a lot. nevertheless i was terrified. but it went ok. the setlist went like this:

forget the past #6

now the geeks have a union

first song on the setlist

man obsessed

tell me what to do

wwf

dirty words & dusty corners

retail therapy

beautiful mental patient

ugly babies

happy birthday, richard hell

just like pigpen

i can't see the stars

there's no smoke without you

if you see her, give her hell

nowadays we are so very different

marty feldman eyes

big thanks to everyone who watched us play, especially the sweden and boston contingents! if you happened to see us on a whim or by happy accident while you were in austin you can download the majority of our back catalogue for free from our bandcamp page. hope you like it. our next gig is on friday the first of april at bar red in kings lynn. this is to raise money for the benjamin foundation and we are happy to be involved.

more news soon.

00042 // 11/02/11

because it's february i am currently recording an album for the rpm challenge (between sorting out visa stuff for sxsw and other headaches & traumas that is). so far i have written and recorded two songs for the album. it will be available for download as soon as it's finished, so some time towards the end of the month. you can download last year's effort for free from here.

we have had a couple of gigs since the last blog entry; on the last day of january i played solo at shangri-la with one of my favourite southend bands, son of buff. i played lake of fire by meat puppets on a whim, it was a bit ropey. here is the setlist:

wwf
now the geeks have a union
lake of fire
just like pigpen
if you see her, give her hell
beautiful mental patient
chelsea hotel #2
man obsessed
marty feldman eyes

next we opened for the lovely eggs at the railway hotel. they were so great live and their new album cob dominos has been on very heavy rotation on our stereo ever since the gig. plantman and ten tigers also played so it was a very nice lineup. we would like to thank culture as a dare for letting us play. we played:

first song on the setlist
tell me what to do
man obsessed
now the geeks have a union
wwf
i told him it was wrong
just like pigpen
happy birthday, richard hell
there's no smoke without you
if you see her, give her hell
beautiful mental patient
nowadays we are so very different
marty feldman eyes

last night we played goo nite at the wilmington arms. thanks to everyone who came along. we played:

first song on the setlist
tell me what to do
man obsessed
now the geeks have a union
wwf
dirty words & dusty corners
just like pigpen
happy birthday, richard hell
there's no smoke without you
if you see her, give her hell
nowadays we are so very different
marty feldman eyes

the next tumbledryer appearance will be the twentyeighth of february at 93 feet east. we really liked playing there last october so we're glad to have been asked back. then we are off to austin for sxsw. keep up with us in the lead up to that on twitter (@tdb_andrew), facebook (/thetumbledryerbabies) etc.

00041 // 06/01/11

happy new year to you all. we want to make this year the year of the tumbledryer, which means lots of free downloads, more recording with other people, lots of gigs and a general good feeling towards all those we encounter on our travels. we started the year by releasing a new album on the first called oneoneoneone. you can download it for free from bandcamp. then on the fourth we were back at 12bar, this time for a blang records night supporting television personalities. also playing that night were sgt buzfuz, who played lots of songs about popes, and the guitaranddrummachine playing a.r.s. hellden. our set went something like this:

first song on the setlist

tell me what to do

if you see her, give her hell

now the geeks have a union

turbulence

just like pigpen

wwf

happy birthday, richard hell

nowadays we are so very different

my true geology is not stone but fear

beautiful mental patient

dirty words & dusty corners

there's no smoke without you

marty feldman eyes

we always love playing there. thanks to blang and to everyone who came along. next up is shangri-la at the railway hotel in southend, then a few gigs in february in the lead up to sxsw in march. more dates will be announced soon. in the mean time, keep up with tumbledryer announcements and mindless inane comments as they happen on twitter, download the new album for free from bandcamp and be nice to each other.