Dec 28th, 2008 Best Albums of 2008

Some very nice people have put GLUE amongst the ranks of the hit makers of today..

5 - Goodtimes Goodtimes, Glue

Technically, this came out in 2008, but I really got their album in January, so this makes the list. Goodtimes Goodtimes blew me away when I first heard their first track, Kids, with it's bright and optimistic beat that still gets me moving fifty listens later. The rest of the album is just as good too. Each song here sounds fantastic, with some excellent guitar work and lyrics. Every time I pop this into my car's CD player, I sing along, and feel good afterwards.

http://carryyouaway.blogspot.com/2008/12/best-albums-of-year.html

Dec 20th 2008, ttfn

another round is over. thanks to all of you coming to the shows this week; we had a blast & hope you did too. off to the country till next year for a mental regroup and new song blitz. things are looking up for 09..note to self; dont look down, there's plenty more to come.

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

Dec 2, 2008 MEI Festival

Always a treat to get to go home for a show. Fun was had at the mei festival in faenza this weekend. Apart from the usual talks of whether CDs now belong in the Natural History or the Science Museum , was a good hear different ways that people are making things happen on starship music biz. it seems the old girl isnt nearly as dead in the water as some might have you believe. the showcase itself was in a church..never had a the pleasure to play my music in God's house but it was a joyous affair. the vino kindly laid on by the good folks there didnt go unappreciated either. I shared the bill with three truly great artists and i urge you to go and visit their homes..

www.myspace.com/gatss
www.myspace.com/wendymcneill
www.myspace.com/davidhope

just a couple of days left before the big smoke beckons again..rest assured time is being used wisely. new songs on the way to you very soon.

24th Nov, 2008. end of an era

Sad today today. my beloved recording machine drew it's last breath. i've had this machine for years and it's always been good to me. "glue" was recorded on it...every little tune i've dreamed up in a the last few years has been laid down on the "aw2816" and today, no more. i've spent the last four days recording parts pretty much non stop only to wake this morning to find all six of my new songs have been replaced by a fantastic sheet of white noise. this, my friends, truly sucks. will i remember what i did these last four days? chances are, no. i'll dream up new ones but that's not what's rattling me right now; from now i'll now resort to laying down demos before the studio like everyone else...on a magic lantern without a big red button record and an over sized fader for "very loud". i'll manage. not to worry , gtgt by name, gtgt by nature so onwards we trot, and thank goodness for the boss (forever my favorite lesson in songwriting) having a new song i can lend an ear too today.
new dates up on the site very soon,
be good kids.
fx

Nov 16 2008 - Cameras

I was hoping to show you some footage from our show at the Cobden Club the other week but the cameras are m.i.a so for the time being you'll have to put your imagination to work and dream up the wondrous event that was :) New tunes are coming out of all sockets these days and i'm doing my best not to forget them; some of them i've put up on the site - the new "downsized" gtgt page that hopefully should give you a quick snapshot of everything that's going on. Demo recordings for the new record are coming along and some things are bubbling away in the back room; it's all very exciting and i'll report back when i can tell you more.
Home to Italy next week to play the MEI Festival which , as i understand, is a shindig that brings together labels and music types. we'll see how it goes; i'll try not to misplace the camera this time so i can show you what went down. that's it for now kids. it's sunday night and last night's thunderous clapham review with your favourite drummer seems not such a great idea. cheers phil .
x

26 Oct 2008 - New Shop

We have some new goodies; let me know what you think of the designs in the new SHOP

If you're in London this week come and see us play on Wednesday...
Entry is guest list only so reply to this if you'd like to come..


GOODTIMES GOODTIMES
WEDNESDAY 29TH OCTOBER
THE COBDEN CLUB
170 Kensal Rd
London W10

Nearest Tube: Westbourne Park
Map Link:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=170+Kensal+Rd,+Kensington,+London,+United+Kingdom&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=14.776252,29.443359&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FZU2EgMddtr8_w&ll=51.52295,-0.201573&spn=0.007583,0.014377&z=16

http://www.myspace.com/thisisgoodtimesgoodtimes
http://www.goodtimesgoodtimes.co.uk

FREE DOWNLOADS:
http://www.musicglue.com/goodtimesgoodtimes

LINK TO BUY THE ALBUM:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=507572

And We Moved!

here's a new song .. And We Moved!

the 19 hour "slow boat to china" round trip to play a show in bath last week was nothing short of unncessary...thank goodness for the fleet foxes and "on the road" to keep me company.

We've lost a member of our gtgt travelling family band this week; not to worry , all is good and things are sounding better than ever...we're getting ready for the show at cobden club at the end of this month..it'll be a new troupe and most importantly, new songs from this new record that yes, i know, i've been going on about for a while now but it'll be worth the wait.

this wednesday..

A GREAT LINEUP!! Hope to see you there..i'm on at 9pm.



Choir of Young Believers
Choir of Young Believers’ songs sound as if they’re coming straight from the heart of the two song writing brothers Jannis and Noya Makrigiannis; the music itself sounds equally heartfelt and thoughtful. The songs build up slowly, constantly adding one brilliantly clear element after another to end in intense (often loud) climaxes. Choir of Young Believers are an example of the singer song writer genre taken far above the coffee house chain friendly level, to become grander, more unorthodox and much more insisting.

http://www.myspace.com/choirofyoungbelievers



Good Times Good Times
Is the moniker used by a darkly handsome man simply known by the name Franc. He writes the lyrics and tunes for the bluesy/ folky songs Good Times Good Times play at times in the shape of a 4-5 man band and other times acoustically.

http://www.myspace.com/thisisgoodtimesgoodtimes



I Got You On Tape
Imagine you’re sitting in a luxury car, insulated from the city out side by that particular quietness.. I Got You On Tape are a bit like this; their dark, smooth sound insulates the listener from the outside.The melodies are strong and shift between hard guitar driven and more trippy organ based. Lead singer Jacob Bellen’s voice is deep and warm, and the inner city poetic songs slide softly in the most beautiful manner. This is rock in the vein of Interpol, but with a distinctive introspective Danish touch.

http://www.myspace.com/igotyouontape




The Lofty Heights
The brainchild of a Californian transplanted in to worn down Dalston, Greg Griffin's London project The Lofty Heights revolves around the genius idea of combining the laid back sounds of his native state with the traditional folk song of the East End. The results are rather spectacular; wistful surf dirges that talk about lost loves, home sickness and the ancient people of France, that all have a cockney sing-a-long quality about them. A bit like the Shins deciding to cover Chas and Dave songs.

http://www.myspace.com/theloftyheights


8.40pm Choir of Young Believers
9.25pm Good Times Good Times
10.10pm I Got You On Tape
11.00pm The Lofty Heigths

get ready

i've just posted three new demos on the myspace page; have a listen and lemme know what you think! i'll be putting up some more at the end of this week.


http://www.myspace.com/thisisgoodtimesgoodtimes

x

new tunes

the first six songs for the new record are now set in stone. it's taken a couple of months of writing alot of tunes, around 30 i think from which i've taken these first six and have endless lists and little bits recorded here and there for the 2nd half of the record. when i made my little "glue" last year, most of those songs i'd been playing at shows for ages so it was really easy to decide which songs i wanted to lay down, apart from a couple that came at the very end. but this time i round it felt like i had something to prove...only to myself that i could string together a bunch of songs that work together as a unit. something you can listen to from start to finish for 40 minutes or so and get taken to different places .. a little trip of observation, nothing more. so i wiped the slate completely clean and decided i wasnt going to work on any tunes that i'd written before this summer. it's almost there. thank goodness. spending days..and days on end working on new stuff trying to kick start creativity and then you kind of forget what sunlight looks like. it's not the easiest thing in the world trying to make something that's going to make others enjoy it hopefully as much as you do and not be too self indulgent in the songs. especially the lyrics. me me me. no one wants to hear it little man. i do have stuff i can post already but i'm going to wait till all the arrangements are finished and then you can listen to the end result. which i know you're gonna love ;) also this time round i have a band so arrangements and getting parts down takes more time. i dont like just arranging new songs in the practice room 'cause what usually happens is songs get arranged "from A to B' so if the drummer plays something everyone's going to play around that , likewise for the guitar part or whatever. so i'm working with everyone individually first and getting them to play what comes natural and see how they each interpret the part..then, left to my own devices i mix and edit everything and what comes out at the end should hopefully be what no one expected in the first place. that's the plan anyway. so just thought i'd give you a little update on what i've been up to as i dont really "blog" as much as i should. there's a reason for that though, people that enjoy talking about themselves are usually wankers so it's best left to others to do the talking.
havent got many shows lined up in the next month or so, i'm playing the edinburgh fringe festival next week and a couple of random shows in oxford and the midlands..i think. touring should start again in october, there's a week of shows in november in italy that i should be doing with the whole band and then i'm sure a few months of random train journeys and sleeping on strangers' floors to get my music out to all you good good people.
stay well
xx

Download our music free

some very clever people at MusicGlue.com have devised this very cool little gadget the lets you download our music for completely free...all we kindly ask in return is for your email address. That way we can keep in touch with the people that dig the tunes and let you know when we're playing near you.

We've set up these five tracks for your FREE downloading pleasure..just click on any of the links...



KIDS

SEA SHANTY

DESIRE

SUNSHINE SUNSHINE


GLUE


if you're magically inclined to BUY the music you listen to then go to http://www.goodtimesgoodtimes.co.uk to download indvidual tracks or the whole record or get the cd.


In other news, the new record is coming along nicely and we'll have some brand new tracks for you within a couple of weeks..

stay well & thanks for tuning in
gtgt
x

WIP

this is the first blog in quite a while so just in case you'r ewondering; am still very much here. been working on a new record, the songs are all set, just laying them down now and then we'll see. i'll post some new stuff up soon enough. it's been work in progress for a couple of months.
playing a show tomorrow night with the band in london..
The Good Ship, 289 Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JR

alright. back soon
x

onwards

hiya,

FREE show in Shoreditch, London tonight...going to Italy on Friday for another little tour, more dates to be added for next week. Radio session this saturday night from Rome which you can listen to on your computer thingy.

stay well
franc
xx


May 28th The Shebeen Sessions @ Three Blind Mice 8pmLegion 8pm
5 Ravey Street (off Great Eastern Street)
Shoreditch, EC2

May 30th Casa 139 10pm
Via Via Ripamonti 13, Milano

May 31st Radio Uno, Roma. Live Session 12pm-2am
Listen : http://www.radio.rai.it/player/player.cfm?Q_CANALE=1

June 1st Circolo degli Artisti 8pm
Via Casilina Vecchia 41, Roma.

June 14th 12 Bar Club 8.30pm
Denmark Street, London WC1

http://www.goodtimesgoodtimes.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/thisisgoodtimesgoodtimes

London...next week

so back from my travels now..almost...playing some acoustic shows in London next week, the band is away so i'll be flying solo on these ones..will be a good chance to play some new tunes i've been working on during my travels..and throw in a brucie bonus or two! hope to see you there! I've a few places for each on the list..but only a few..so just let me know.Tickets for the Replay Festival at The Barfly have almost sold out so get in there quick !! Ticketweb link at the bottom. rock steadyxx

Monday 12th May 8.30pm
Curious Generation @ Source Below
78 Brewer Street, London, W1F 9TY

Wednesday 14th May 8.30pmLegion Bar
348 Old Street.Shoreditch EC1

Friday 16th May 9pmPanda~Power! Vs Kooba Radio @ The New Cross Inn
323 New Cross Road, SE14 6AS

Saturday 17th May 9pmReplay Festival @ The Barfly
49 Chalk Farm Road NW1
http://www. ticketweb. co. uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=265071*

:::::::ALBUM AVAILABLE FROM THE SITE:::::::::
http://www. goodtimesgoodtimes. co. uk

10 shows. 11 days.

Alright. so the first gtgt "european tour" has come to an end. 10 gigs in 11 days. it was only meant to be three dates away, but as with most of the best things..this tour just happened and i'm really glad it did. playing my hometown, rome last night, was a grand way to the end the tour. A few hundred people all graciously lending me their ears for 40 minutes or so. i've now taken refuge in the tuscan hills to sleep and finish making a new record...and letting normality sink in again ;(
Try this..if Gram Parsons was from Palermo.. and lovely chaps to be on the road with too!
http://www.myspace.com/thesecondgrace

Italy

Note to self: avoid 11 hour night trains wherever possible! The trip from Konstanz in Germany to Modena Italy via Zurich and Bologna was a very forgettable one!! but i arrived in one piece on sunday at 7 a.m - feeling positively mullered.
the show last night, in Parma was my first ever on home soil and was alot of fun - although i think i made the audience a little nervous when i said this was my first ever show in italy - as i was speaking to them in italian, and oddly enough , found it quite easy, and they knew nothing about me, they were a bit confused with the whole affair. as in , what's your story & what rock have you all of a sudden come out of hiding from. but they dug the show - the two "how good the show was" indicators were both positive - no one heading to the bar and (almost) no one talking through the set. and in keeping with the theme of all things new, i threw in a couple of brand new tunes i'd never played before. to my ears, it seemed like they were enjoyed the most. The promoter bringing out a tray of lasagne and wine after the gig was, although extremely kind and a heartfelt warm gesture; a moment of such italian-ness that it made me giggle a little. genius ;) A brief "pilgrimage" to Correggio this morning and then glorious sleep..that i've missed for a while now. No show tonight, more tomorrow.
ciao
xx

tour blog

nothing quite like a week of shows to get you smiling again. played the beautiful bush hall venue in london with the whole band on monday - there were nerves and speculations before the gig, we were trying out a few new things and it all came together nicely. the gig was being filmed as well, first time that´s happened , thought it might put me off but it felt like we were on stars in their eyes which was pretty cool. that was also the last gig in which we´re only going to play songs from the record, i´ve played them so much now. so it was really fitting to say goodbye to some old friends in such a beautiful place. next day at the abbey tavern in kentish town, we tried something different - Phil wasnt playing the whole kit, just a snare and a tambourine with brushes and doing his best Johnny Cash drums for me - and then just me on acoustic and alex playing cello. it somehow felt more at home with this smaller arrangement so we´ll give that a try when i get back. When do I get back? right now i´ve no idea. my head is a little frazzled right now. I flew in to frankfurt on wednesday to play three shows with Get Well Soon http://www.myspace.com/youwillgetwellsoon which has been one of the most enjoyable tours i´ve done. it´s pretty cool that our paths managed to cross and i got to know their music quite well in a short space of time. they were all super nice to me and i´ve had a blast. there were i think about 300 people at each , which does make for a welcomed change to dragging my mates down to the 12 bar club on a random tuesday night. it´s a pretty hard gig to play..and especially listen to when it´s just voice and acoustic..and harp. you have to give it all your attention and listen to the stories..there´s no drums to nod your head to and no interaction between musicians like when there´s a whole band pushing each other to their best..when it´s just a solo gig..that´s all there is so it´s not always easy to win people over - but all in all, the Germans dug goodtimes goodtimes! they lent me their ears and i gave them my best. another good thing about playing shows here..there always jeager in the rider. good shout boys! UK promoters..please, if you wouldnt mind, thanks!
So now i ´m cathing a train from Konstranz, Germany to Parma in Italy where I´ll play my first ever shows in my home country. to say i´m excited about this is somewhat of an understatement. parma tomorrow, then two shows in bologna and then two in Roma!
i´m using as much of my "waiting around time" at the gigs to write new tunes. so expect some new stuff from me really soon.

i took the photo on stage at the show in biberach two days ago. goodtimes ;)
alright, cant miss this train or i will be truly screwed .

fxx

tunes

Alright? Couple of weeks now , been deliriously writing tunes, scrapping them, writing some more , scrapping those and now some keepers have decided to show up which is a relief as i was almost at that point of opening up the beatles chord book for some...cough..cough..inspiration. nah, it's not been like that but spending ALOT of time trying to stick chords together can make you go a little loopy after a while. there's tunes i'm looking for, i can hear, but i cant find. they're there. it's just a case of looking in the right place! i think it's half written, the new record that is, we've had a couple of rehearsals jamming some new stuff and i'm pleased to say we're about 2 and a half records away from being a southern jam band. No, not at all, but the thought is quite a nice one though. This week..and next..is all about the gigs, a couple of great ones lined up with the band this friday and monday..bush hall..beautiful venue..(sounds like a vaccum when you're on stage ;) ) and next week off to germany for a few dates with Get Well Soon, which will be fun. not lease 'cause i've never been to the country before. it's always fun to have a poke around where you've never been. And all things going to plan, Italy in a few weeks..anyway.

Here's your tune for the day,

DESIRE
F/// Am/// A#/// Gm///

that's it. have fun

xx

Ligabue

been writing lots for a new record , so very pleased to playing some shows next week and conversing with people again.

I just found out Ligabue is playing two nights at koko in camden next month. First time i saw him play was in some field a few hours outside rome when i was 15. my cousin drove us there...and almost all the way back..on her trusted little vespa. happy days.

Indy Awards 2008

Some lovely people decided gtgt was worthy of an Indy Music Award nomination. Marvelous! Yes, do vote for us please, that would be grand. Just click the banner to vote and please forward this along to your friends. It means a lot to be nominated and your vote will be a big help...thanks! xx

Hiatus Over

Alright. Apologies for this month and half blogging hiatus. Dont be heart broken, it's not you, it's me ;) Needed a little break from computers and all the lack of fresh air & sunlight that they bring. Selling ice to eskimos is all fun & games but once in a while it's good to remind yourself why you wanted to come and live in an igloo in the first place! And i've been doing just that. So, hi! hope you're well & happy. Loads of things to let you know about and share with you all ... to kick things off....here's a dodgy little video i made of my time in new york a few weeks ago... cheap ticket + place to stay = go play some shows in new york!

gtgt-palooza!

morning music fans! To celebrate my new york shows next week, i've organized a three day event of sorts here in London, playing three gigs Friday - Sunday, really hope to see you all there. happy days.

Friday night, I'm playing a solo acoustic show supporting Christopher Rees at Powers Acoustic Rooms in Kilburn, entry is 3 pounds & i should be on for 8pm.


Febrauary 15th Powers Acoustic Room 8pm
332 Kilburn High Road, NW6 2QN


Saturday night, we're playing a full band show - that's all 5 gtgt-hootineers at the Barfly in Camden 8pm. If you would like to get on the cheap entry list , just send me an email at franc@goodtimesgoodtimes.co.uk . The Barfly is a great band venue to play as it's one of those rare places where you can hear yourself on stage so I'm really looking forward to this.


February 16th Barfly 8pm
49 Chalk Farm Road. London NW1 8AN


Lastly , by by no means least, the last event of the weekend , which will no doubt leave me with a scorching head to board my plane with, we're doing another full band show at The Abbey Tavern on Kentish Town Road. It's a night put on by the lovely people at Soundbites who've invited us to play , it's free entry, get there for 8pm.


February 17th Soundbites @ The Abbey 9pm
The Abbey Tavern, 124 Kentish Town Rd. London


Ok, that's it for the gtgt-palooza! The album "Glue" is avialable from the site
in CD format as well as itunes and DRM free downloads. There's a pretty gtgt tshirt you can show off to all your friends as well ;) www.goodtimesgoodtimes.co.uk

JOIN THE FACEBOOK PAGE:



http://www.facebook.com/pages/Goodtimes-Goodtimes/9987666332

Pete Towshend-itis

Played the windmill in Brixton last Friday, all good fun and very memorable gig apart from the fact my left ear wasn’t working. Hmmm…yes, not good really. It had been getting worst the last couple of weeks, just hurting more and more and felt like there was a big buzzing fridge floating right behind me. I tried that time-proven problem solver “if I don’t think about it it’ll go away!” but it wasn’t giving in! I eventually dragged myself to the doctor the other day & excuse my French...thank fuck I don’t have tinnitus or pete towshend-itis. Both my ears are fine I just had general illness for a while and general ear unpleasantness, which I wont bore you with as I’m sure it’ll put you off your tea! Antibiotics for the last couple of days…it’s all floaty and lovely now.

So I’ve decided I need to make changes to ensure my ears don’t crap out on me for good. Being a musician, ears are quite important, you know. Every track on my ipod has been given the special +100% volume feature you can get on itunes to make it all, well, REALLY loud so that’s gonna have to come down – which I’m not looking forward to at all. I enjoy listening to music LOUD, and where possible I also like to dance around like a loon when I’m listening; just two little things that give my everyday some “bonus features” . I don’t think I could dance around like a loon if it wasn’t on 11. No dancing would then mean increased boredom; boredom and I aren’t the best of friends so…that’s not gonna happen. Scrap that idea completely. Come on ears, suck it up you can handle it. And when we have band practice I like for us 5 to be in a circle and I stand right in the middle so I get “hit” in all directions but my band. That’s another GREAT brucie bonus of my week I wouldn’t shed for anything. Hmmm. So I didn’t plan that one out too well I guess. Onwards…

KIDS

Here's the chords to Kids. have fun. ;)

KIDS
($ = REST)

INTRO:
(acoustic only) C/// C/// Dm/ F/ C/// Dm/ F $
(drums & bass) C/// C///

VERSE 1 C/// C/// Dm/ F/ C///
C/// C/ Dm/ F/ C/// *
CHORUS Dm/ F/ C/// Dm/ F/ C///
Dm/ F/ C/// Dm/ F/ C///

Dm/ F/ C/// Dm/ F $
(guitar riff) C/// C///

VERSE 2 C/// C/// Dm/ F/ C///
C/// C/// Dm/ F/ C///
CHORUS Dm/ F/ C/// Dm/ F/ C///
Dm/ F/ C/// Dm/ F/ C/// C//.r{}*

Dm/ F/ C/// Dm/ F$ C///

MIDDLE Am/// C/// X2
G/// F/// C/// C/// X2

Dm/ F/ C/// Dm/ F $
C/// C///

VERSE 3 (quiet) C/// C/// Dm/ F/ C///
C/// C/// Dm/ F/ C///
CHORUS Dm/ F/ C/// Dm/ F/ C///
Dm/ F/ C/// Dm/ F/ C///
Dm/ F/ C/// Dm/ F/ C///

(lift) Dm/ F/ C/// Dm/ F/ C///
Dm / F $

END RIFF: C/// C/// C/// C/// Dm/ F/
C/// Dm/ F/// F/// C.

* On this line the second C is half a bar only – only time this happens in the song. a bit weird, I know!
** Extra bar on C to follow the vocal .

somedays it's different

shouldnt be so long between blog posts i know. apologies kids. the last couple of weeks, with gigs , rehearsals and a new found love of garage band have kept me pretty busy. the band show at the troubadour was alot of fun; despite our man with the licks being ill and not being able to play , and the four of us not being able to hear a single note of what each other was playing..it went down really well. the 60-odd turn out surprised me a little bit..i probably shouldnt say that ;) . but for all of them to turn out on a rainy tuesday night for a 10.30 show put a big smile on my face (the rider kindly provided by the promoter also helped in that department). This next week's shows, starting this afternoon on brick lane will be with all five of us - i've yet to do more than two shows in a row with the same line -up. That's a good thing for me, and where possible i'll try and go the same. it just gives it that extra bit of excitement not having a completely sense of how the 45 minutes on stage will turn out. it's probably not the best for "marketing" a band, on a side note i've lost all understanding of what that even means for a songwriter in 2008 - but that's for another time - but that's not why i wrote these songs in the first place. no one writes a piece of music or picks a guitar for the first time thinking it'll lead somewhere. that would be just silly and the music you'd make would no doubt be junk. anyway, i digress..band shows..solo shows..me and Alex on the cello shows..Phili drum solo shows..it's all goodtimes goodtimes!

Photo from the Troubadour Jan 15th.
From left; Alex Beamont, Phil Baer, DJ Yoda, Matt Webster

troubadour jan 15th.

rehearsals full steam ahead for next week's show at the troubadour. it's gone from me playing solo shows to a little three piece band to now a fully fledged six headed machine. i'm a little dizzy from going through the tunes so many times this week. thought it'd be good to just get straight into so we'll have a grand total of one rehearsal all six of us before the show; it's best that way..keep everyone on their toes for the show. ha! i have full faith in my boys..and girl. they're amazing musicians and i'm, quite lucky to have found them. cellos guitars pianos drums & bass all swimming together. it's all velvety and it flows like it should. i'm working with everyone individually all week and then all together on sunday at rooz studio in old street. come down..bring a shaker & join in.

because she'll only turn 21 once

i only found out about the blog world a few months ago (tut tut tut). when i put my record up on tunecore to go on the download stores , the "how to make noise about your music" page said mp3 blogs is about the most important thing i could do. i know what it is now...blogs will rule the world (if they already dont) . so i've been writing to a bunch and some kind folk have been helping me spread the goodness. I like it, and , i'm hooked...Soccer mom's Tuesday morning school run dilemmas and antipodean garage rock records rediscovered all but a click away. i love it.

from the old..

before we get started on the new blog page..here's a round up of all the past blogs....

December 18th
Great to see so many people at our first band shows last week. The 12 bar show especially was a very special night. There's some footage from it that i'll put up here soon. It's a different way of doing things when i'm playing as part of a band instsead of playing just me. It's a bit like living by yourself for a while and geting used to doing whatever feels right at the time - a kind of "anywhere the eind blows" way of doing things which suits me comfortably....and when you're in the company of others, that might not always work; you know, table manners and what have you. better that way though, there should be - i would hope at least - one road map or other to follow. There'll be lots of other band shows in the new year, and some tours which should allow us to grease the wheels & finely tune our machine. A trip over the pond is also imminent, although i'm not looking forward to the bone crunching freezing cold of february in new york city, i am looking forward to just being there. For now though, i'm spending the holidays writing some new tunes which , presuming they're any good i'll share with you very soon.




December 6th
gigs. Couple more days to go till the first goodtimes goodtimes band shows. "excited" would be an understated - being 5 in a free candy shop shouting gimme gimme gimme would be more of an appropirate description. I've never played in a band like this, with just a cello and a drummer. it's a suprisingly big sound for the dynamic it is. With my friends Simon Riley on the drums and Alex Beamont playing cello; two hugely talented musicians. the privelege is indeed mine! and these band gigs couldnt have come at a better time, i'm a little "out of steam" for the solo shows, i've just done loads this year and to wrap things up for the year with two band shows and then have a bit of time off to record some new stuff puts a big smile on my face. hope to see you there next week; tuesday 11th, 9pm 12 bar club & wednesday 12th windmills, 9pm.

November 28th.
itunes. as of this week , the album is available on itunes. it seems it took forever to get it on there but its up now. if you've already got a copy of the record,..or imagine it to be something already..you can write your own review and it will get published on the itunes page. here's the link,

or just search "goodtimes goodtimes". If you get a chance, click "email to a friend" as well and let some of your friends know about it

November 20th.
It's been a week of interesting gigs ending in a great one last night opening up for Wallis Bird at the soho revue bar. the venue looked like something out of goodfellas, i think it used to be a strip bar or something. I accidentally walked into another soho revue bar before soundcheck. It was quite different to where i played although it works in entertainment as well. these things happen.

I set off last sunday to play a show in worcester, no i didn't know where it was either, what i DO know though is that i'm never taking buses to gigs ever again. those days are gone. happy days! but apart from the 6 hour bus ordeal to get there, the gig was great and lots of people wanted cds. hooray!

The strangest gig of the week, and probably the strangest i've ever played was the "battle of the one man bands" at bardens boudoir, there were guys on the bill that had kick drums and hi hats and hammond pedals they played with their feet and guitar and keyboards and harps with the upper limbs, it was actually a bit surreal, but fun nonetheless. i scraped together the loudest noisiest set i could which i thoroughly enjoyed....when in doubt, put it through a 4x12. hallelujah!! the next one is thursday in london.

NOVEMBER 22nd The White Hart, Whitechapel, London 9pm1 Mile End Road Whitechapel, E1 4TPfree download up on my page. impress your friends, buy my record.be good! fx

November 16th
free stuff? this is how it is... artists/fans/bands/songwriters/suits/whoever put up full length high quality mp3 on their relevant sites for FREE for you, the music listener/fan/heckler/rinser to press play and give it a listen, see what you think. you might like the song enough to go and check out what else that band has done.., videos, photos, interviews whatever, and you might also like it enough to go buy the album...in a perfect world, you'd like it so much that you'd go see the band live and above all, you'd even tell all your friends about it. a game of pass the parcel, of sorts, and music lives. which bring us to the chocolate bit...

There are 4 tracks from GLUE now up on the FREE MP3s page. Give them a spin, if you like them..email it to all your friends and ask them to do the same! you get free TUNES! be good.fxx

November 6th
Why do I play live? Some things happen for a reason, others don't. Some things present themselves to you; like a song and you just think, man, this makes me feel good, like I never felt before. In short, that's the answer to the "why do you play music live" question. I really cant remember when I 'decided' I was going to be a musician, I have vague memories of my older brother giving me a tape of highway 61 revisited on the bus to school to listen to on my walkman, more than anything I think it was just a way for me to zip it and sit quietly on the way to school. There's no way I could know how to write about what drew me in completely. But it did, and that's all that matters to me. I've spent pretty much every day of my life since then looking for something that would make me feel that way again and the closest thing I found is putting my thoughts and questions to music and sharing that with people; with anyone that wants to listen, and maybe some that don't! Playing live for me is about two things; communication and reaction. I try as best I can to communicate to people what goes on in my head. I put picures to lyrics and melody and perform them, with everything I have to generate a reaction from the people there that night. And it'll be different people, different songs, different nights, and different reactions. That to me is as exciting as pressing play for the first time.

I find it difficult to explain what my songs are about it words, so I don't. If I like a song from any artist, it's because I can draw from it and I can relate it to whatever is going on in my life at that point. So for a songwriter to give a literal explanation of a song is about as close as you can get to killing that song for me. It then means absolutely nothing to me. Hooks or no hooks! The live experience for me is everything I desire from music. Recording is great, but I get cabin fever so quickly playing the same parts over again. Why do musicians lay down the same parts over and over again in the studio? Becausie when you're recordng all you're trying to do is capture the same intensity and spontaneity that happens at a gig. At a great gig. When I was making my record this summer, all I was really thinking about was taking it out on the road. The record is just a means to an end and that end is being in a room full of people and there's your chance..there's your 30 or 40-minute oppurtunity to let rip. Dig your heals in, sing like your life depends on it. If you're music is genuine, chances are that is does. But that's all easy enough to understand if we're talking about mega rock star person that plays in front of thousands of people a night..but what if you're starting out and doing long..long tours up and down the country to sometimes even 3 people in the room; the bored sound guy, someine woriking at the bar and two people in the "audience". Or maybe a room full of people not there for the band and not really paying much attention. What does that feel like? For a start, if you've travelled 5 hours on a bus to get to the gig..or half way round the world, it can be, well, not the best. But the gig is still ON. There's the mic, the speakers are on, go and dance and tell your stories, play to that one person in the room that's listening and really gives a shit. If they're there, then the least you owe them is the performance of your life.

Being a touring musician is like what Levon Helme said in The Last Waltz about New York City, you go in for the first time, you get your ass kicked and then you go home. You let it heal up and when you're ready you go in for a second serving, and after a while you fall right in love with it. Any other kind of life would justmake no sense to me whatsoever.

November 8th
We have a band. That was quick! The gtgt band is formed..(entourage to follow). The group is me on a gibson v, two other electric guitars – probably both double necks, two drummers a keys player that plays with his hands and feet and everything will get put through Lesley speakers at gigs. No, don't be silly. It is however, yours truly, a drummer and a cello player and (for now) a moonlighting guitarist as well. It sounds pretty special and I'm rather excited about it all. The first band shows will be in December, on the 11th at the 12 bar club and the 12th, to be confirmed, at the Windmill in Brixton. Tell all your friends.

October 31st.
Musicians wanted. So the time has well & truly come for me & the voices to have a little company on the road. Well, it's not so much wanting company it's more the need to make a racket. I love doing shows by myself, me , acoustic & harp & the occasional tambourine on the floor..i know it's a bit of a difficult listening experience for people listening to the songs for the first time that way but there's an edge to these shows that keeps, me at least, on my toes for the duration of the gig. i'll always keep on playing these solo shows not least 'cause to do a tour that way it doesnt really cost much and i'm free to play where ever & whenever i want without having to rely on anyone else. that's a good feeling. in an ideal world , my band would have a drummer that's loves levon helme and is happy to play different styles; from big sounding whole kit parts to just brushed on the snare. a piano player that's dusted off his wurly and a pedal steel player that's listened to as many neil young & gram parsons records as i have!! but that's in an "ideal" world and we arefar from that, so i guess what i just looking for is musicians that above all like tunes and would enjoy playing them live. and if there record collection is very different to mine, well i think that's all the better for when there's new songs to toy with.

October 12th
GLUE. It's all done and ready for your ears to tear it apart , the first goodtimes goodtimes record, "glue". So I thought i'd tell you a little bit about & i hope you'll be up for giving it a little spin! there's ten songs on it; there's lots of songs I've written and I picked a group of them that work as a whole LP. There's a thread that runs along it not that it's all one big song or anything but different colours and stories that tie it all together. I started recording the songs a couple of months ago – just here in my bedroom with a track recorder that I've had for ages , it's not anything famcy but it has a big red button for record and a volume fader so I can work it easily enough! I'd never sat down and recorded stuff completely by myself so at the risk of making the worst prog rock ever made I ask my good friend joel de'ath to help me produce it. It isnt always easy working closely with a friend on something you care about this much; when there's a sound in your head I think it takes great skill to be able to voice it and explain in such a way that others might input theirs and make something better than youÍd imagined. I think it's just lazy, to just be like oh, I wrote it so itÍs gonna be like this. But opinions and directions can go all over the place and throw in a stella and things can go pear shaped pretty quickly. But we had a blast and got all the songs to where they needed to be – man, to be honest, if I had done this completely by myself have the songs wouldÍve been a million minutes long with moog strings over pretty much all of it and guitar solos galore! Wait , that doesn't sound bad at all actually. next time ;)

I played most of the instruments myself, I wasn't planning to , but that's just how it worked out –I would've liked to have done it all in a big room with a band playing together but I love how it all came out so it doesn't really matter. Some other musicians played on it as well; my friend Keith Witty was over from NY playing a few shows with nom de plume and was staying over at mine, luckily on the same week that I was laying down the album opener and closer ; "summer" & "every song" ; he rented out this beautiful double bass that was like 200 years old and just sounding incredible – in an evening , without really knowing the songs too well he layed down these parts that I loved straight away – the thought was to get him to record a bunch of stuff and then I'd cut it at some point. There wasnt really any cutting needed, it was all there; simple, to the point and it just worked. Then my friend Ivor Sims played some electric guitar on a couple of songs; heÍs on the record under a different name ..not sure I know exactly why but something to do with his band lucky soul and his label. Anyway, the name is a blast – nice one ilario! Him too though, talented little so and so, just waltzs in one evening what are the chords ..yeah, you like what IÍm doing? Yep, good, nice , done. There not too much on electric so I THOROUGHLY enjoyed having an old fender amp recorded nice & loud; the neighbours werenÍt too happy, but hey what are you gonna do right?? Oli McKeirnan who I played in bands with for a few years played bass on desire and did all those little keyboard sounds; that was the first song I recorded "properly" at home – fair to say it works ;) . Ah, last but by no means least – one of my best mates Phil Baer played drums on that song and on a bunch of others too. Him and I played in bands on and off since I did this little seven inch called baby youÍre a rich girl. it all truly started with the last waltz; most good things do.

So after all the parts were finished, John Mitchell at outhouse stuios mixed the whole album – he usually works with bands that are well, how do you say, ROCK! So all my tunes ended up getting this like kick up the bum and they've come out sounding like grown ups; all busy with their own stories and all their own feel. After that me and joel went to Neak's studio in Wales to get it mastered – to be honest, I haven't quite figured out what mastering is but I think in "modern records" terms, you make the fucker as loud as it'll go! (enter sound of engineers and studio people gasping in disgust!) . It wasn't quite were I wanted it to be though, maybe I was just a bit reluctant to accept the record as done and wait for peoples' opinions to roll in. so I again, off I went on the train..this time to devon where George Shilling mastered it agan and gave it a little gloss. I'm really happy with it and really look forward to hearing you thoughts.

I should tell you a little bit about the songs and what they're about / where they're from blah blah blah. that would bore me to tears as i expect it would to you too! So I'll pass for the time being and hope you enjoy the songs for what, if anything, they mean to you.
I'll no doubt let you know when the record will be available in it's entirety. Here's the tracklist..
Summer,Kids,Sea shanty,Temporary Freeze,Desire,Sunshine Sunshine,Shake!,The Red Sky & The Spanish Coast,You Know Why,Every Song

October 1st
New site. Hello t'internet. So welcome to the gtgt site, I was starting to lose track of all the different networking sites around & most of my friends cant access any of myspace or facebook or whatever so here's the site you'll all hopefully be able to access and keep up with all things goodtimes goodtimes. The debut record has recently been finished and is available to purchase from this site. It'll be available from itunes and other outlets in a couple of weeks, I'll let you know when. Tours are being booked so check the gig page regularly for updates and hope to see you at a show soon. There's a new band too. We'll be doing shows towards the end of the year, till then it'll be the regular acoustic & harp shindig. stay well. Hope to see you soon.

Fxx