Thursday, March 08, 2007

Stringnet Liquids, jah?


thanks to Jan

Uh, so... steal update, wow. let's go!

First off, a well-wisher pointed me in the direction of an internet forum where we got described as "totally the biggest dorks in hardcore", how cruel... even if it is meant in a nice way. As of late we've been trying to cultivate a more macho orientated image; i got some old school tattoos, dave stopped shaving for a while, Pavey invested in some 'Rollins style shorts' and Lindsay has been taking his top off more frequently, so to hear this is a severe disappointment to say the least...
Also, as i got distracted looking around this forum i stumbled upon an argument over the use of the word 'shows', apparently it's a major faux-pas these days to use such an Americanism... dang, we're screwed. Or should i say "bugger, we're done for". Lingustic Xenophobia eh? it's a funny old game.*

So we played a couple of Super Happy Party Times this past week and the overall verdict has been... amazing!
we played in Dorking last friday and it was 100% fun-o-rama, they have themselves sorted out with a rad scene there, the show was put on by a collective of volunteers who not only were nice as pie but also sold vegan ginger snaps, wowzers. The money made from the Super Happy Party Time (SHPT) is going towards a local charity called "Us In A Bus", here is a little bit about them -

"Us In A Bus is an independent, not-for-profit organisation working with people who are often isolated and can seem ‘difficult to reach’.

Our clients are people with profound learning difficulties. They may find the everyday things that we take for granted – talking to friends, sharing a joke, choosing what to eat – a huge challenge. This may also be because many will have complex needs, often physical, which can make life difficult.

What Us in a Bus aims to do is to cut through some of these complexities and concentrate on what makes us all the same: the need to connect and communicate with each other in a way that means something to us."
Which i think is an amazing thing to be doing, not only because it's something i have had first hand experience with and can understand how important and life-affirming these things can be, but also because it's something involving their local community. I think sometimes these days the concept of charity has been skewed somewhat, more often than not you could be way more helpful giving up your time volunteering somewhere that is trying to improve your local environment or community rather than sending your money off to some far-flung place that has no relevance to your own life.

Anyway, that's enought of that... The other concert we performed at was in Kingston at our beloved Peel. We played with Comeback Kid and the place was, as they say, "Rammed". More Art, more fast and it took a while but the ex-ska kids were teased out eventually... BINGO!

Uh, over the course of these days we sold-out (bar, 4 shirts i think?) all of our merch, the tote-bags went down a storm... leaders not followers, trust us. So you'll have to wait again till the dagger deems it appropriate to stay up all night intoxicating himself with ink and fabric.

We have a few gigs aligned up... the 31st in Southampton at THE HOUSE, now this is going to be the last ever show at this place and the time we played before was one of my favourite gigs EVER, so we're all dead excited... also playing are Gordon Gano's Army (amazing!!!) and Little Flags (pete miles playing drums... amazing!!!). We are also playing on the 29th of April with our chums Capdown at the Concorde 2 in Brighton, sunny day by the beach anyone? I think there are more... i willl find out for you all, lovely.

Also... we are waiting for vocal takes and mixing then the records will be complete, waiting, waiting, waiting...

BIG LOVE.

THE STEAL.
x



*P.S. 'show' is way easier to rhyme with than 'gig'... twig, pig, lig, jig

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Dave and Designs.



as promised here is the new t-shirt design courtesy of xthe daggerx

go here for specifics...

++++

In other news, Dave has recently completed his second album, "See That No One Else Escapes" and it's getting released on the 16th of April... it is on pre-order now, along with a split 10" with "the other white meat" jenny owen youngs. The album looks and sounds beautiful and the 10" has Dave's frankly incredible cover of Kid Dynamite's 'Death & Taxes' plus the first song off the album, which you can hear here... i think it sounds like the Beatles which is no bad thing for sure.

Congratulations Dave!

++++

Monday, February 26, 2007

Dream kiosks

ello and welcome to yet another incarnation of our website... personally i think this will work the best so far. At least i hope so because i'm not getting embroiled in any more html nightmares... seriously.

We played a couple of gigs this past week, one with Capdown, Howards Alias and The JB Conspiracy at the drinking establishment of the capitals intelligensia, in which we showed off our slick professionalism in all it's glory... we were quizzed afterwards about whether we had just played a show or had performed an art installation. no joke. and honestly i couldn't tell you either way but if somebody wants to submit it to the turner prize, that'd be grand...
We also played in south london at another drinking establishment but one where the clientele may not end up working in positions of extreme power... This was lots of fun and we got to play with the lovely 11IQ or eleven IQ... i have no idea how they would prefer to be known. Here we also sorted out the next few concept albums we have in the pipeline, get your excitement hats on that's all i can say. Thanks to all individuals involved in making these events happen, it is much appreciated.

At these shows we had a load of new shirts and bags for sale produced by the hand of dagger in his underground porn dungeon, i believe he has images and these will be on here soon enough with plenty of details and ordering gubbins... if you don't care what will be displayed on your breast and need one now, now, now... email us here - thesteal@gmail.com to get one.

Other, frankly astonishing, news can wait for another time.
Have a nice day!

x

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Squarks?

The Cowley Club...







yes.

Thanks to Tess for the show, it was much fun, way better than the walk from home with all my stuff, that was rubbish.

ok, so next week we're playing with Capdown at the ULU in London... last time i was there i saw Andrew W.K. who was frankly incredible, i was even involved in a stage invasion at some point... i mean who can't love someone whose encore is just 10 minutes of headbanging? nobody, that's who. nobody. so i guess compared to that it'll be a total disappointment. c'est la vie.

Rough mixes have been done to songs, progress is being made, etc, etc...

One request, if anyone reads this thing, is that with the Lightyear 7"/10"/whatever it ends up being... we're going to have a booklet of stories & photos n' that and we're currently trying to gather as many as possible, if you have a lightyear story, remembrance, photographic evidence, whatever, please could you send it to us here - thesteal@gmail.com.

thank you.

Friday, February 09, 2007

appropriate behaviour.

we are playing our first gig of the year tonight. whoop. It is being looked forward to...

It is at the Cowley Club in Brighton, on London Road and it is with
Astpai (who if are like of any of the other Austrian bands i know will be really tight, have plenty of literature and will show us up for the charlatans we are)
Andy Fiction
and los mendozas
prepare for technical wizardry ahoy-hoy

i'm sure we will see you all there. ok.

Other stuff - we're going to be ripping off someone else's idea soon (yeah i know, us? crazy) i think if i say more i'll curse it. We have a zine we made aaaages ago that might see the light of day at some point in the near future AND we want to play 2 weeks worth of gigs on the east coast of America in the summer and we need help. If you think you can help us please get in contact - the steal@gmail.com. We need transport, equipment and gigs. not much then... haha.

up the punx.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

facts, factoids and information.



thanks to cazz


We've now had 2 whole practices this year so far... wow. We've also begun the recording process for the next 2 releases... In what seems now our customary fashion we bundled into a practice space for a couple of hours with at least half of what we needed (thank you to my housemates who lent us the stuff we forgot) and Dave's new fangled recording machinery to 'lay down' the drums for 5 songs. Despite a touch of red light fever we were pleasantly surprised at how it all turned out. Hopefully we'll have it all done and dusted in a month or so but then again who knows...


We have t-shirts on their way... hooray! We have some gigs coming up and a few other projects have been in discussion, could you ask for more? yes? ok, here you go...


Tuesday, January 23, 2007

funkyzeit

andy is a good egg and allowed me to waffle on at length, not even drawing the line when i came out with 'perpetual discourse with no action was a bit futile'... . haha. You can get the rest of the fanzine by emailing him at thatsnotskanking@hotmail.com.

GAZE UPON IT NOW







THANK YOU VERY MUCH



Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Sk8bored kIcKfLiP!

I went skating for the first time in years the other day... it was amazing. It made me feel like i was 16 again but also at time made me realise i'm sadly not 16 anymore, muscles and bones ached to buggery the next day. managed to get a few ollies over the funbox which i was stoked about (god, i sound like someone on t.v. who's 'down with the kids') and fun was had. The point of this rambling though is to say i am very happy that i can now be associated with some good skateboarding at last...

summer promo



this is from the chaps at The Geek Mafia and if you know where that concrete park is let me know, it looks amazing... also do as they say and support your local skater owned shop (they may look intimidating at first but i'm sure they're lovely people.) do it. now.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Less fighting, more writing...



We now have some gigs confirmed... go to the word 'SHOWS' up there and 'click' on it with your 'mouse' then use your 'eyes' to 'see' where they are. great!

In other news we had our first practice in absolutely ages on saturday and it went swimmingly. We got loads done despite pissing about for ages and making mark do his face. All this hard work will eventually be channelled into 2 new releases we have planned... A 10" split with The Mercury League and a tribute 7" to Lightyear (if you go to that link, i think it has some of the finest message board fighting i've ever seen... my favourite quote -

"how about i elaborate cumming on your face you little cunt. i'm sure chaz could do a nice big shit in your mouth. if you don't like ska, don't listen to it bitch. i don't go around whinging about poppy american bands or miserable metal bands. i like bein happy and havin a fun time so i listen to ska you fuckin animal. fuck you and your sick ideals cunt features. south london if u want a fight."

Brilliant.
Anyway. so they'll coming out soon enough... we're even planning practice #2 as we speak. We have no merch at the moment but i'm sure the hand of dagger will be busying himself soon enough down in his dungeon to produce the finest product for you to buy.

Enjoy your day!

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Bloody hell this is incredible!

new website? shit.

me? i'm flabbergasted...

mark.