Download Rodrigo’s remix for free here (right click/Cmd+click and select Save As…). If you missed any of the previous weeks’ releases you can download all three in a single zip file here.

Remember, if you enjoy any of the music released by Efpi please consider making a donation to support our work by clicking on the yellow ‘Donate’ button to the right of the page – we’d be most grateful!

Download the ‘burnt’ remix for free here (right click/Cmd+click and select Save As…) and don’t forget to check back next week for the next remix…

Remember, if you enjoy any of the music released by Efpi please consider making a donation to support our work by clicking on the yellow ‘Donate’ button to the right of the page – we’d be most grateful!

The 265 Quartet

Anton Hunter – guitar/fx
Ben Cottrell – clarinet
Graham South – flugelhorn
Rod Skip – cello

Brought together initially by Anton to explore a quieter alternative to HAQ, the group has developed to feature original music by all the members, all from different viewpoints but with improvisation at it’s core.  The group makes it debut (under this name) at Manchester Jazz Festival on July 29th.

Download the demo here.

01 – From Here I Saw What Happened (A. Hunter)
02 – Burrowed (A. Hunter)

Download Tullis’ ‘broken-hearted-boy’ remix for free here (right click/Cmd+click and select Save As…) and don’t forget to check back next week for the next instalment!

Remember, if you enjoy any of the music released by Efpi please consider making a donation to support our work by clicking on the yellow ‘Donate’ button to the right of the page – we’d be most grateful!

You can download (for free!) the first remix by Tullis Rennie now and we’ll be making one more available every week so check back every Wednesday to download the next… As always we’d love to know what you think!

Keep up to date with Efpi Records news along with breathtaking insights in to my day-to-day existence over at twitter.com/efpirecords

And, for similarly exciting updates from the mind of Ben Cottrell, including (but not limited to) the crushing disappointment and bitterness that comes from being a Liverpool FC supporter head to twitter.com/beatsnpieces

And click “follow” whilst you’re there ok? Thanks.

Anton

P.S. Sam doesn’t know what Twitter is, but if you’re around the Stockholm area, keep an eye out for pigeons with two or three sentences stapled to their backs. It might not be reaching the biggest audience ever, but if you can get your hands on one it’ll change your life…

I for one was pretty nervous about the volcanic ash but fortunately Sam, Fin and Eero were all there by Sunday evening for some night-time drinking in the park, perfect way to mentally prepare ourselves for the first day of rehearsals…

We rehearsed a bit, ate a lot of bananas, made some sandwiches, and drove to Sam’s mum’s where we saw this weird bug thing outside a pub…

Then the gigs started. Matt ‘n’ Phred’s in Manchester was a good start, first time I’d actually played there an all. Eero managed to silence the crowd with his bass solo in Punky Tango (which became a live favourite, download it on the Aaargh! EP too, just click the link on the right)

After the intense first two days, everything chilled out a little bit. Long drive down to and from Bath on Thursday, I felt better about the tunes as well, starting to relax into some of the new material a bit. Quite a small crowd, but really attentive, and it’s a great space to play in, if you find yourself in Bath head to St. James’ Wine Vaults – I think there’s jazz on every other Thursday.

And on to the Lake District, not much to report other than we all had to sign CDs (for Fin’s girlfriend Bryony’s mum). Played new tune “With The Same Eyes” for the first time, which is only the third proper co-composition between Sam and I, it didn’t sit quite right but with a bit more playing in it should be a good addition.

Sunday – recording starts. With Ben Cottrell taking the role of producer very seriously indeed; a few interventions over our headphones left us wondering when we’d actually asked him for an opinion, but several times over the two days he got better stuff out of us so all is good. Spent a good hour or so practicing “Why Why Em?” and still didn’t get it right, ended up arriving late for our Hillary Step gig which, due to the bank holiday was rammed and made us wish we’d brought a bass amp. Nice klezmer version of Punky Tango, but a lot of the quieter sections got lost unfortunately.

Monday – FULL day of recording, we did pretty much everything we’d been doing on tour, including “Introduction” by Fin’s flatmate Jordan, a proper good funky-rock-out tune that sits nicely alongside our heavier tunes. I’ve still no idea what any of this sounds like, it felt ok on the day but we’ve been a bit nervous to listen back yet, it’ll be better given space.

We also uncovered evidence that Ben was redoing parts overnight when we weren’t there.

But under pressure from Eero (and a power-tool), he erased his contributions so it’s all on us again.

The next run of gigs were by far the best, and with the pressures of recording off our backs, Leeds and London went really really well, we even managed to give up writing set lists, which felt pretty good (although is going to make filling in our PRS forms tricky). Leeds was a landmark; first HAQ gig when we’ve all been able to go drinking afterwards due to the amazing Wardrobe venue letting us leave the gear there. And London was great in that seemingly everyone I know came to watch, including the wonderful Kate Findlay who so kindly lent Eero her double bass for the fortnight. London also offered a great chance to see Normal Gimbel again, I heartily recommend seeing them if you get the chance, I can’t even begin to describe them…


More photos of London (including several with our eyes closed) can be found on Richard Kaby’s Flickr site.

And then it was on to Birmingham (after spending tour earnings in Ray’s Jazz in London). Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, Sam had to leave us for the final date but we were fortunate enough to have local trumpet supremo Aaron Diaz stepping in. After a hurried rehearsal/soundcheck and some noodles we opened the first set as a trio, playing the only few tunes I know the melodies to, then Aaron joined for some of the old favourites, plus “Technojoshi” by Food, which I’d not heard before but shall definitely be checking out. It was a shame we couldn’t end our first tour with Sam, but hopefully this has opened doors for some cross-city collaborations.

And that was that. Eero flew back the very next day, Fin returned to Liverpool and I went to see Mr. Scruff at the Band On The Wall (much better than I thought it would be, I was worried about the balcony-and-carpet vibe but it turns out Mr Scruff brings the noise wherever he be…).

More photos on our Flickr page. Massive thanks to everyone who booked us, came to watch us, put us up in different cities (Ben and Henri and Jim and Adam), put up with us all in our flat (Toni) and lent us stuff (Kate and Rod and Dave and Rob).

Here’s to the next one…

This one’s going to be brilliant, Rodrigo Constanzo will be taking us through building a couple of home-made instruments, on the first session (Sun 9 May 7pm – THIS WEEKEND) we’ll be experimenting with a contact mic-based instrument, and for the second session (Sun 30 May 2pm) we’ll be doing a string-based ‘third-bridge guitar’ one. They are both suitable for beginners to DIY and have scope to develop and go beyond the basic for those “more abled” students… :-)

You’ll need a certain amount of materials, so head to www.thenoiseupstairs.com and click on the “Workshops” tab for all the details.

If all this sounds intriguing, then e-mail workshops@ thenoiseupstairs.com to sign up for one or both of the sessions.

9 May (7pm), 30 May (2pm)
Fuel Cafe Bar
Withington
Manchester
M20 3BW

See you there!

Anton & Rodrigo

www.thenoiseupstairs.com

Efpi Records is excited to be sending both of its flagship bands out across the UK (except Scotland – any promoters out there want to make a last minute booking??) from the end of May right through until the middle of July. Dates for HAQ and the Beats & Pieces Big Band are as follows:

HAQ

Tuesday 25th May – Matt and Phreds (Manchester)
Thursday 27th May – The Cellar Wine Vaults (Bath)
Saturday 29th May – Zeffirellis (Ambleside)
Sunday 30th May – Hillary Step (Manchester)
Tuesday 1st June – The Wardrobe (Leeds)
Wednesday 2nd June – The Others (London)
Thursday 3rd June – The Yardbird (Birmingham)

Beats & Pieces Big Band

Friday 21st May - The Forge (Camden)
Saturday 5th June – Groove on the Green (Liverpool)
Tuesday 8th June – Dempseys (Cardiff)
Wednesday 9th June – Jazzland (Swansea)
Thursday 1st July – Bridgewater Hall (Manchester)
Saturday 10th July – Marlborough Jazz Festival (Marlborough)

For more details check out the events listings at the right hand side of this page, the Beats & Pieces website or the facebook event pages for HAQ and Beats & Pieces. Both amazing posters have been designed by the ever wonderful Angela Guyton.

EPs for both bands are available to purchase from the Releases page – better buy yours quick as supplies of the limited edition handmade CDs are now extremely limited and will not last long once the bands head out on the road!