Free Downloads, an Album Launch and a Machiavellian Magpie

Hello Autumnkinders, how the frickin’ devil are you?

Well well, it appears you are still here … and you miraculously didn’t lose your will to live thanks to the John Terry scandal (all together now, deep breath, BIG who cares?),  Well done you! Its great to see you, and might I add how splendid you are looking today? That hat/shirt/skirt/tie/mankini and those jeans/trousers/socks/neon legwarmers REALLY bring out your eyes. You look happy and healthy, which is a massive coincidence as … well … so are we. Apart from Caleb. Who broke every bone in his feet and consequently went bald in a freak triangle-playing accident. Or was that a dream? Anyway,  reasons to be happy for us? Well …

Reason to be happy #1. Well, firstly we are very happy to finally be able to offer you some free stuff, as promised. It took five days (actually about 7 minutes) of intense negotiations to decide that we should start giving you some free songs because … well, you are excellent and we heart you and want you to hear our songs. We want to give something back in return for the love and support you ceaselessly give us. The link is on our front page and the music page … just click the download button, fill in your details (we ABSOLUTELY wont spam you, sell your details to Russian Bride websites etc) and then you will get an email with the link to download the tracks. We hope you like them. We are very proud of them, and wanted to share them with you before the album comes out. Talking of which …

Reason to be happy #2. As the above alludes to, we are very nearly at the end of the recording for our debut album ‘The Shipping Forecast’. We are working on the last 3 tracks this weekend, and are aiming to have a fully completed album, complete with fancy artwork and all that malarkey, available by the end of March. And we have already decided we will not be asking the earth for it – we will be selling it as cheaply as possible, both online and in physical format, and will try to personalise it as much as possible. It has been a fantastic journey for us, which started 9 months ago when we had a different drummer and next-to-no experience. Since then we have learned from every track we recorded, every session in the studio, every late night recording session (with accompanying cheese on toast and Becks beer) … i really feel we have improved in every aspect as time has gone on and we are all very excited to have this album to give to you with a pretty bow on top. Oh yes, that’s how we roll. We will keep you informed here, and at MySpace and Facebook … all I can say is that anyone who has bought the EP, downloaded the free tracks or signed up to the mailing list will be prioritised and treated like royalty … or at least given a free packet of jelly tots with the album. We dont know yet. But we love to reward those who have been there with us on this journey, offering advice and gig attendance, slices of pizza, excellent photography services, comments and views of our numerous websites etc. Stay tuned folks, it wont be long now … and when it’s ready we will be organising a HUGE album launch party, where you will be treated to an evening of such excellence you may well wet yourself a little*

(*wetting of one’s self optional)

Reason to be happy #3. We had a fantastic night at Bungalow 8 on Tuesday with a great band called Trail (find them on MySpace, you’ll be pleased you did), and have some great gigs coming up … the next one is at The Garage in Islington on March 10th, followed by 333 in Shoreditch in April. The Garage replaces the gig we were due to play at Camden Underworld … but the venue is just as good, as will be the night. More to follow, including hopefully some weekend jollies in the North of our fair isle.  Tuesday was a great atmosphere – so many of you came down to enjoy the weird and wonderful celeb haunt that we took over for the night, and that good vibe transmitted very strongly to us on stage … we were all in agreement its one of the best gigs we have ever played, in terms of quality and fun.  A MASSIVE thank you to all who came along, especially Ally and his wonderful crew dressed in tuxedos and top hats. Ally has been a regular at all our gigs and, along with a motley crew of mates, dressed up for every gig (this time he arrived in a tuxedo and top hat) and encouraged all to dance, cheer, clap … and invade the stage to make us all wear hats for the final song of the set. We will miss you whilst you travel the world buddy, take good care and see you in six months. Autumnkind gigs are becoming more and more fun for everyone involved, so be sure to get yourself down to one soon … details are always on our gig page, Facebook or MySpace so get yourself signed up for a great evening out … as mentioned above, you increase your chances of free stuff immensely by doing so!

Ok, well 3 reasons to be happy is good enough for now. And i know you all have busy lives to lead and cant sit around forever reading our thoughts and little brainparps … hope everyone has had a great week, and that transfers into an all-round awesome-covered weekend. We will be working our various-sized butts off to get this album done … our behaviour when recording and finding something to make these tracks better is often akin to that of a 5 year old’s when discovering biscuits hidden in the back of the cupboard. So here’s raising a glass to many of those moments over this weekend. Hope you have one or two yourself.

Until we meet again, have a wonderful time and watch out for the magpie who sat on my windowsill this morning at 5am and woke me up … if he tells you he is on the Autumnkind guestlist and just wants to be friends DO NOT believe him. He really just wants to get into your room and steal your bracelets …

Love and Peas,

Us x

ps to all those who used the link on our frontpage to donate money to Unicef and the Red Cross to the Haiti appeal, we salute and admire you. Thank you for doing your bit

Tags: Autumn Kind, Autumnkind, becks beer, Bungalow 8, Caleb Hill, Camden, Covent Garden, Exclusive, Gig, Haiti, Indie, indie rock, islington, itunes, James Gruber, John Terry, Kings Cross, London, magpie, Marc Ozall, Music, Punk, Red Cross, Relentless Garage, rock, Russian Bride, Shipping Forecast, Shoreditch, Simon Treasure, The autumnkind, The Garage, Trail, Underworld, Unicef, Water Rats