Don’t forget that the EP launch is Thursday 20th October back at Band on the Wall (where else!) and it’ll be an amazing night – get your tickets in now, they’re cheaper in advance. Also if you’re coming down, say hello on our facebook event!

You’ll also have seen that we’re releasing an extremely limited edition DVD alongside the download which will initially be available exclusively at gigs – you’ve seen pictures of the box, now its time for a preview of the video! Check out queen spark below…

See you on Thursday! We start at 8pm sharp, don’t be late…

This first one was taken by Robert Piffer, a photographer from Burghausen. Think its great how he’s managed to fit the entire band into one shot, and especially with me being mid air at the time!

This one I like for the posing going on – all very boy band…

I think this one captures how we were all feeling whilst watching the other bands in the competition after we’d played our set – pretty nervous to say the least

…whilst this one captures how we were feeling after it was announced that we’d won! (photo again by Robert Piffer)

And I like this one as you get a feel for how beautiful a place Burghausen is – sun was shining, by the river, castle at the top of the hill… Nick and Owen just look like they’re taking it all in!

Finally wanted to put up this video of us walking down the main street in Burghausen, which has plaques of all the jazz greats that have played at their festival over its 42 years – its incredible the names that are there. Playing over the video is some audio recorded when we played before Chick Corea and Gary Burton, recorded by Bayern2 radio.

Thanks again to everyone at B-Jazz for treating us so well, and thanks to everyone we met in and around Burghausen! Hopefully be back soon…

Some of you may know that my Efpi Records co-founder Sam Andreae is studying across Scandinavia at the moment, currently in Aarhus. He sent me back a CD of an amazing Danish band called the Blood, Sweat, Drum n Bass Big Band and I’ve been listening to it quite a lot… Check them out on myspace (Redrum/Asa Nisi Masa is particularly cool) or there’s a taster video of their live show below.

One of my biggest musical heroes is Django Bates, and I was really excited when I heard that he was releasing a live recording of Loose Tubes, the band that bred a whole generation of British jazz musicians including Julian Arguelles, Steve Berry, Mark Lockheart and Iain Ballamy, whose music up til now has only been available on second hand vinyl (I got mine on eBay…). That CD, called ‘Dancing on Frith Street‘ is now out (as of today in fact) and I’ve been playing it constantly since it arrived with me on Saturday due to the eagerness of HMV to deliver – cheers!

Also while browsing the London Jazz Festival programme it was a nice surprise to see that Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society are coming over from New York. I first heard about Darcy and his band about 18 months ago and their debut CD ‘Infernal Machines’ is great – you can also download full recordings of their live gigs from their website. Secret Society are playing at Cafe Oto on Thursday 18th November, see you there…

P.S. I couldn’t mention the London Jazz Festival without pointing out that we’ll also be playing… Sunday 21st November, 7pm, Spice of Life in Soho!

groove on the green, liverpool 05/06/10

Graham in Wales

bridgewater hall, manchester, 01/07/10

I also made these little animations from the Bridgewater photos, mainly for my own entertainment. Each is a little disconcerting in its own unique way…

(via A Blog Supreme)

Also here’s a nice picture of Sam and Anton taking a quick paddle in the river with the ducks, isn’t that nice…

I went down to Birmingham on Saturday for the Mostly Jazz festival, which was a really great event – highlights of the day were Led Bib, Polar Bear and headliners the Sun Ra Arkestra. Thought I’d put up some of the pictures and video I took of the Arkestra’s set, it was awesome…(video bit shaky in places as I was dancing, sorry!)

The Arkestra are at Cafe Oto in London tonight and tomorrow (5th and 6th) so if you’re in the big smoke make sure you’re there!

We spent the day in between the two gigs camping and hanging out in the countryside outside Carmarthen at Sam Andreae’s uncle’s amazing house (thanks again for hosting us Mike & Celia!), complete with ping-pong, pool, darts, bbq, campfire and lake – equipped with rowing boat and kayak. Hopefully more photos of our exploits to come, but these videos of Sam Healey (saxophone) and Paul Strachan (bass trombone) attempting to get to grips with the kayak should give you some idea of what we got up to!

Once again, cheers to everyone we met – can’t wait til we come back!