New Waves from California are crashing on British Shores.

This week I had the pleasure of seeing The soft Pack at the Hoxton Bar and Grill. Formerly known as The Muslims, this band has fast become a Tuckshop Community Radio favourite. Hailing from California they are over playing at a host of venues around the uk at the minute and will even be supporting Franz Ferdinand! If you haven't had the opportunity to hear them, you really are missing out. We love them so check out their myspace page and have a quick peek at this wicked video which I believe is the b-side to their awesome single



Also Check out Japanese Motors

Who are also one of the hottest (excuse the pun) bands doing the rounds from the sunshine state. This band make records which are keeping many a surfer content through those infuriating flat periods. Bright colours, catchy hooks and a fresh whiff of board wax will pump through your stereo everytime you hear Japanese Motors. Mark my word if this band was a wave, Kelly Slater would definitely ride it. Check out their myspace page and live the west coast dream by tuning into their video for single fins and safety pins.

Stacie Willoughby is one AMAZING artist

Way back in September of last year (which now seems like a lifetime away) I embarked on a wicked road trip along Highway 1 on the West Coast of the U S OF A , from LA to San Francisco. The trip was full of many memorable days, superb weather, absolutely stunning coastline, big, wholesome tasty food a little bit of surfing for me and excellent thrift (2nd hand) stores. However alongside coming face to face with three humpback wales, one of the things that stayed in my memory was the inspirational gig poster that was posted on a noticeboard at a campsite I was spending a night at in Big Sur.























Immediately, I thought to myself "this is amazing, I have to have it, what a momento" However, as I reached to pull the poster down from the board, my independent music loving conscience got the better of me and I reluctantly turned away to toast marshmallows on my campfire waiting for the sun to disappear.

Waking up early the next morning to embark on the next section of my trip, I once again stopped to look at this poster, this time there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to take it, however once again as I reached carefully to take it away, I pictured a poor music promoter, with no guests, having had their poster sabotaged by some greedy English Tourist. With this thought fresh in my mind, I quickly scribbled the myspace address onto my notebook and hopped into my car.



























Now back in England, I now know that this amazing artist is a young lady called Stacie Willoughby and having spent quite a while on her myspace page staring deeply into her incredible creations, I deeply regret not taking that poster. I am an absolute loser, no doubt about it, even more so, as I have a nice new space on my wall which would have been perfectly filled with that Stacie Willoughby Poster!


Check out more of Stacie Willoughby's drawings on her myspace page here.

Excellent Jimmy Fingers video features talents of astro physics Wizard!

Jimmy The Fingers is a talented man who resides in the fine village of Brighton, not only has he been busy recording his rich blend of electro pop, but he also has gone and done himself quite a fantastic video for his upcoming single "Grace". This video is brilliant as it not only features a bunch of his friends finely choreographed to a standard that would keep even the likes of Eileen Phillips happy, but also is done in one take AND.....features the talents of young cosmology hot shot DR Land. Not satisfied with debating hot scientific topics such as Dark matter in the company of Patrick Moore on his show "the sky at night", Dr Land has stunned audiences with her floor shaking moves, taking center stage alongside Jimmy Fingers.

Watch this Video below, and if you don't believe a word I've just said, check out Dr Lands Website now

Interview with the Momeraths

As you've probably gathered. The Momeraths are hotter than a "vindaloo in Hell" at the moment. They took time out to answer some questions for me ahead of their Club Ugly Gig

1 - Hello Momeraths, we hear that you've just done your first music video, was it a fun experience?

yes it was great fun, it took two days to shoot and was a bit odd as we'd never done a video before. The first day was freezing and we were in kids pyjamas one cold evening at the beginning of january and claire, richard and paolo had to shoot some scenes where they were sitting on the floor! And the second day was like a big party in the pub where we run our mad hatters night as we had a lot of friends there who were playing parts in the video.

2- With 2009 already under way, excluding the incredibly fashionable bum bag, what would be your style tips for the upcoming season?

What about knitwear for cd's?

colour! colour! colour! colour! and knitwear for cds definitely, and always why not!


3 - A few weeks ago you did a session with Tuckshop Community Radio, during the recording Clare's bed was broken, has it been fixed? did the goldfish recover from the whole escapade?

yes the bed has been fixed and the fish seemed to enjoy it more then we thought as there were three more in the tank a week later!

4- As a band you are certainly very colorful, are there any colours which when mixed produce an Ugly pallette?

yes orange and blue make a sludgy brown erghh! and anything black ha ha!

5- If for whatever reason, something totally weird happened to our universe and we were all reincarnated as different flavours of Ice Cream, what flavour would the band be?

Any flakes with that?

we would be neopolitan, with three flakes.

6- You are a very pretty band, are you worried about playing to the Club Ugly crowd?

We have heard great things about the club ugly crowd, is it true half of them only have one eye and three legs?

7 - What makes the perfect dot to dot drawing?

a picture of tuckshops' wonderful presenter you jack! x

Cheers Momeraths!

8 - where can we get your brilliant ep and what is it called?

Our ep is available on iTunes and in a knitted cover goody bag pouch from various record shops up and down these lovely isles including...

Pure Groove (London)
Jacks (Sheffield)
Picadilly Records (Manchester)
Rounder Records (Brighton)
Resident Records (Brighton)
Banquet Records (Kingston)

Its also available from the banquet records website!

Thank you jack the momeraths send you all the love in the world.

xxxxxxxx

Get ready for "The Boyfriend Song " video by the Momeraths

Check out this little bad boy of a video, not only are The Momeraths creating some absolutely beautiful records, but they're also recording wicked music video's at the same time.

Feast your eyes on this little number, to accompany their single which is out to buy NOW

Moonlighting with The Momeraths

It seems that Kingston is a fantastic place for those who like to spend their hours participating in sci - fi role play. Walking down the dimly lit street early on a Friday evening, the bright halo of the local Games Workshop offers a warm invite on what otherwise is a misearble wet introduction to the weekend. The long haired White Dwarf fanatic looks at me sympathetically through the thick glass window, as I meander past his shop, leaving his world of little orc like figures and armies of battling droids from other worlds. Thankfully, I have better things to occupy my mind and it's not long before I get the nod from Paulo, who sings and strums for Kingstons current hottest export "The Momeraths".

"Hope you weren't waiting long" Paulo says as he leads me into his local cornershop. quickly adding "Would you like a wispa?".

The Momeraths are wowing crowds with their wonderful, sweet, pop perfect songs, Their debut E.P colouring crayons has quite literally received rave reviews and the demand for their limited edition, handmade, knitted (by band member Clare) cd cover has boosted the local economy of all the wool shops.

"the popularity has certainly kept me busy" Clare tells me, handing over a much needed cup of tea, twinned with a couple of digestives, "my knitting skills have now way up there".

The hospitality was such that we nearly forget about "my last train out of Kingston" deadline, however both Paulo and Clare delivered not only three beautiful melodies but co hosted yet again, another memorable living room session.



As we say our goodbyes, I leave the momeraths pondering their upcoming e.p launch tour,"it's going to be fun, we have to all fit in my mums Toyaota Yaris!"
"Crikey", I reply, "How many Momeraths can you fit into a Toyota Yaris?"
" Five hopefully" Paulo chips in "with space in the back for a drum kit, guitars and a couple of amps!"

The Momeraths Colour Crayons E.P is out now, to purchase a copy and to check them out, visit wwww.myspace.com/wherethemomerathsgo

Sara Shiralli = Awesomeness!

Despite the Snow, Sara Schiralli stunned the crowd to virtual silence at the second Club Ugly down at the Social. For those of you that couldn't face battling the ice, you really did miss a real beauty of an evening despite the fact that the poor "Hornbower Brothers" couldn't get their van on the road and that Hexicon also found themselves minus a drummer and bassist.

The night kept up it's reputation with more fun and games from the Boom Jennies. Yet again the raffle proved to be extremely popular and we even had an inpromptu set from Tobias of "The Zetland Players" fame.

Hopefully we'll see you all at the next installement in March and Seriously go and buy the Sara Schiralli album, you won't be dissapointed!