24/12/2003

The final news update of the year! I'll be going back to Colchester tomorrow to stuff myself silly on dead bird.

The Wolves! (of Greece) 10" is being endlessly delayed at the manufacturing end. Saw Kill Yourself recently and they were terrific. Giles had some fancy gas mask on. I've heard talk of a split single with This Ain't Vegas, with both bands covering Devo. Designer Babies have finished recording a 7" for us with the help of James from Seachange. We're also going to be releasing the second album by Polaris. Polaris are of course from Leeds and feature Neil and Joe from Bilge Pump among their number. Talking of whom, they had to cancel their recent gigs as Neil was suffering from deep vein thrombosis.

Been plenty of website updates, especially on the artists pages. A Damn You! website is in the pipeline.

26/11/2003

Lots of new tour dates have been added. Bilge Pump are heading up to Scotland and playing with The Ex in Newcastle. Kill Yourself are going on a Christmas tour of the UK and the Low Countries.

The Wolves! (of Greece) should hopefully be with us by Christmas. They are planning some dates early next year with The Unit Ama. Tremendous.

Seachange are now going to be releasing records with Matador. An EP is out any time now and an album will follow next year.

A Gringo chalet has been booked for the first weekend of All Tomorrow's Parties. See you on the beach after Lightning Bolt.

For all you Notts folk, sadly the Black Eyes gig we were promoting on December 6th has been cancelled due to a double booking.

05/11/2003

Bilge Pump have recorded a new John Peel session which will be broadcast on 5th November. Which is tonight! Late breaking news or what? All new tracks too!

Our other major news is that Gringo will be releasing the much anticipated Wolves! (of Greece) record. This will take the form of a one-side 10" and will be sent off for manufacture later this week. Wolves just finished the mastering at Abbey Road and hob nobbed with Paul 'Macca' McCartney's guitarist. Phone numbers have been exchanged and a possible support slot at the Albert Hall will hopefully follow.

Other future Gringo releases include 7"s with Designer Babies and Clambake.

The next two Gringo Singles Club 7"s are also about to be sent off for manufacture, so subscribers should receive these before Christmas. Massive apologies to anyone still waiting for the Erase Eratta / Red Monkey and Electro Group / Hirameka Hi-Fi records, I have been having major difficulties teaching myself how to screen print, but the problems have been ironed out and the backlog of records will be sent out next week. Maybe I should send you a wee treat too...

Elsewhere, Hirameka Hi-Fi are back practising and will play their first gig for over a year in Ipswich sometime in December. Kill Yourself are going on a mini tour of Belgium and The Netherlands before Christmas. Designer Babies are playing with Melt Banana at the weekend.

Gringo was interviewed for the last ever issue of Careless Talk Costs Lives. I believe it has just hit the shops, haven't seen a copy yet, but presumably the interview is in there!

I'm hoping to go part time at my job soon in which case I can make this site a whole lot more up to date and interesting. Tom Hirameka and I are also planning on resurrecting Damn You! as a webzine, if anyone wants to contribute please send us an email.

01/08/2003

Some of you may have noticed that the Gringo website has been down for a few weeks. As Diskant is no longer hosting sites (sniff) we've been in the process of transferring the domain to a new server. It took longer than we expected, but we are once more fully operational.

John Peel's show on fabulous BBC Radio One FM has been going Gringo Crazy. He's played Seachange, Kill Yourself, Clambake and the Singles Club releases in a matter of weeks. And to top all that, Bilge Pump played live from Maida Vale on 23rd July as part of the Twominutemen II festivities. It was a great night, as not only did the Pump rock, we were also treated to sets from Twinkie, I'm Being Good, Charlottefield and Joeyfat. If anyone wants a tape, get in touch!

Bilge Pump Euro dates in August / September are up now! They'll be visiting The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic and Germany. They are on tour with Brown Owl of Leeds.

Kill Yourself are touring with This Ain't Vegas and The Wow in September. They got a cracking review in this month's Terrorizer!

Clambake have turned their amp up to 11. They wowed an Artrocker audience in London and then hit... Mansfield.

Eska may be playing a 10th anniversary gig in Glasgow in August. I can't believe they have been together for ten years! It seems like only yesterday I saw them at the Camden Crawl. They've sent me tracks for the split 7" with New Radiant Storm King and we'll go to press when I come across some spare money.

Three new Damn You! promotions in Nottingham coming up. On Monday 25th August we have The Gossip supported by Milky Wimpshake and Science Bastard. On Tuesday 2nd September we're doing the Kill Yourself, This Ain't Vegas, The Wow tour at Junktion 7. Finally, Lungfish are touring for the first time in donkey's years. We're putting them on with The Unit Ama at The Social on Monday 22nd September.

30/06/2003

The Erase Errata / Red Monkey record is back from the pressing plant. The faithful Gringo art monkey has screen printed the sleeves, damaging his forehead in the process. They are works of sheer beauty. Just subscribe now why don't you?! We've had to up the price on the US subscription because the postage costs proved to be more than we estimated. Sorry about that! We've also set a subscription price of 35 Euros for our European cousins which is now on our online shop. I really need a keyboard with a Euro character on...

We're very close to confirming the dates for the Bilge Pump European jaunt in August. In the meantime they'll be playing out and about around the UK, including a new date in London, and something very special happening towards the end of July. Kill Yourself are also on tour at the moment and Clambake are supporting The Black Keys in Nottingham.

We recently went to the Amnesty International benefit weekend organised by the Chinchilla folk in Leeds. It was a terrific event, highlights including Soeza, The Unit Ama, Brown Owl, Kill Yourself, Wolves! (of Greece) and a virtuoso display from Polaris.

Damn You! is back! We're going to start promoting shows in Nottingham again after an enforced absence. First one will be on Thursday 17th July at the Rose of England with This Ain't Vegas and Paper Cut Out from Sunderland. Public demand is such that DJ Gringo will be in the house. Damn You! may also be returning as a fanzine in online form. If we get the time.

Finally, congratulations to Pete Heddle from Hirameka Hi-Fi for being found not guilty of committing public order offences on an anti-war demonstration in Plymouth earlier this year.

03/06/2003

We have two new releases out this week! Seachange and Clambake are both now available from our updated online shop. The Kill Yourself EP is officially out on June 30th, but you can order copies from us now.

At fucking last, the Gringo Singles Club is here. Copies of the Hirameka Hi-Fi / Electro Group 7" will be sent out next week. The Erase Errata / Red Monkey record should be back from the pressing plant within a fortnight. Other bands contributing tracks are - Eska, New Radiant Storm King, Soeza, The Intima, Hella, El Hombre Trajeado, Empire-Builder and Thunder! Thunder! Thunder! Subscriptions cost £20 / $35 and you get all sorts of goodies through your door - badges, slipmats, posters. Practical items. Go visit the shop and spend your money.

Kill Yourself, Bilge Pump, Seachange, Clambake and Soeza are all out playing shows. Erase Errata are touring with the Ex-Models in Europe.

Bilge Pump are touring Europe between August 22nd and September 13th. They'll be releasing a split 7" with Brown Owl (their touring partners, another wonderful band from Leeds6). The Obscene Baby Auction are doing the honours.

Gringo recently went to see Bruce Springsteen.

21/04/2003

This news update has taken so long to get together that I'm not going to bore you with our pitiful excuses. Gringo has moved! Our new address is Gringo Records, PO Box 7546, Nottingham, NG2 4WT, UK. The observant among you may also have noticed that to compliment this new dawn we have www.gringorecords.com as our website address.

Things we have coming up in the remainder of 2003 - a Clambake mini-album, a Seachange single, a Kill Yourself mini-album, the Gringo Singles Club, an all-encompassing GB underground comp, ad fingers crossed a couple more very tasty album releases..

CLAMBAKE's 'Gator in the Pool' mini-album is available from us now, and in the shops from April 29th. The 'Bake rock (and roll). Primal punk meets rockabilly, country and blues - the new rock and roll is rock and roll, so don't let anyone tell you different. Four string guitar and stripped down drum kit compete with the shouty delivery of the two protagonists - brothers since 1972, comrades in arms since 1995.

SEACHANGE - Gringo is very excited to be releasing the next single by Nottingham's most community minded citizens on May 12th. They've made a splash locally with their Why Can't We Just All Get Along? club night, and nationally with their debut single 'Superfuck' (played all over the shop by Radio One), a live set on Radio One's Rock Show, and an XFM session. There's something almost classically British about them (I can't decide if it's Mary Chain or Joy Division) and in full flow they are a visceral thrill. The single is available on CD and 7" and we will have copies to sell any day now.

KILL YOURSELF are from Leeds. They have perfectly orchestrated stage moves and a nice line in hard rocking. They'll be releasing a 10" entitled 'The Soft Touch of Man EP' on their own label, Obscene Baby Auction, while Gringo is releasing the CD version. Available later this week!

Everyone loves BILGE PUMP. Some say they are the most exciting band in Britain. Diskant voted their album as NUMBER ONE of the year. Not Bad. They played with Erase Errata late last year, and wowed all comers. The gigs were packed, sweaty and exciting. They have contributed tracks to the second Twominutemen compilation on Jonson Family records and to an Obscene Baby Auction 10". Next stop: European tour with Brown Owl in September, Easter 2004 tour of the U S of A!!! You can buy their album 'Let Me Breathe' from our online shop.

News on the other Gringo bands - HIRAMEKA HI-FI are busy, depending on the band member; traveling the world; getting arrested for public demonstrations; studying; or busting kids who run the wrong way up escalators in department stores. ESKA are writing new material for their next album. Chris Mack's alter-ego, the JAMES ORR COMPLEX, will have an album out on Rock Action soon, as well as European jaunt with Mogwai in May. Owen from SAN LORENZO has released his second solo album on Sacred Geometry, which we hope to have copies of to sell soon. Liz and Nick also have new bands rocking out and about. REYNOLDS have finally released their follow up to 'Field Recordings' on Errol Records.