19 June 2007 by Jon

Hello to you all, I’m going to try and give you an insight into an amazing time for us currently. The reason for such an upbeat intro to this blog is that I’m kind of reeling at some of the incredible music that is being conceived, written and recorded in super human bursts of creative energy/and some great live performances too!

As you may know from looking at the website we are currently writing new music, and we have reached a stage that has reached a direction. To watch this in full flight is a total joy! As I have mentioned before the songwriting is very collaborative but at the same time there seems to be an individual personal element to the feel of these songs, an insight into our whole collective musical lives maybe? This is when music can truly be a wonderful companion instead of sometimes an inclusive friend.

As we progress we forge ever-closer ties with Alan McGee, his input and his direction to the bands' growth is inspiring. Alan has introduced us to some very creative people; music production is best when people are in harmony with each other and we seem to be working with people who are on the same vibe as us. It doesn't seem like the right time to mention some of our collaborators yet, but there are some surprises on the cards.

We had the pleasure of playing at Swansea’s Liberty Stadium with The Who recently. We have a long-standing relationship with Swansea and have spent a lot of time in that part of Wales and many friends were there to see us. We also met the new owners of Monnow Valley Studios who are tempting us to a return visit to a place of many ghosts, memories, and adventures; some good, some not so good.

The Who gigs were a surprise to us, but they came at a time that would break up the summer into recording/writing...! "All work no play". Next we will be going to Wembley with The Who, and Tim and Mark are to take part in Pete Townsend’s radio show.

The shores of Loch Ness in the north of Scotland hosted Rockness, a recent arrival to the UK festival scene. A place of such stunning natural beauty, and a capacity crowd ready to give us a warm welcome; rock/dance/indie music of any type was made to be sent echoing down the valley flanked by those mountains and that dark foreboding body of water, With the help of the Chemical Brothers and Mark Ronson on the bill we made the most of our time there and the added sunshine gave the location the celestial seal of approval.

This leaves me to mention our Delamere forest gig on a very wet Friday night. It seemed that the whole country was being swept away by near monsoon rains. Storm clouds were visible from every direction and as we wandered around backstage we began to fear the worst as a lighting storm began to gather over the treetops. As the rain pelted down we watched as the crowd began to appear, to my amazement some people only wearing t-shirts, others had taken the time to study local weather forecasts.

There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing?
From where I was standing: definitely the former.

To our delight none of this seemed to damper anyone’s determination to have a good time including the band and crew (!!!) In combined "Shackleton's spirit" we all made it one of the best gigs performed by us for some time, if anybody would like to add any further comments please respond.

Thanks again to everyone who has been to see us recently. A big thanks to Cat and to Pete Mallet for the photos.

Jon

10 May 2007 by Tim

Totally enjoyed The Charlatans gig at KOKO on the 20th April/Camden Crawl ya know… loved hanging out at the Hawley Arms (Michelle's London local), we love our London mates & those that voyage there to see us!

Another 'natural' high for that week was singing 'Blood Thirsty Bastards' and 'North Country Boy' with the Dirty Pretty Things at Shepherds Bush Empire… cheers to them for having me!

I mention 'natural' high, because there are several rumours floating around about my social status & the fact is - is that I'm a goodie two shoes! I don't drink, smoke, coke, toke, etc. I just like Diet Coke & brown rice. Yet, I am still fun/dizzy/messed up, no matter what anyone thinks!!!

Went to Hollywood County (my other Hollywood hot spot!) in Wicklow, Ireland with Mark and Tony for 10 days to write some songs/music and came back with 5 songs – titles (TBC): 'Bad Days – 2', You Cross My Path', 'NO – 1', When It Happens', 'Cold In Here'. The Charlatans manager - Alan McGee thinks 'You Cross My Path' is the best Charlatans' song since 'One To Another'! I might have to agree, especially since it's only a demo! 'NO – 1' is a personal favourite cos of the lyrics (a true, weird dirty tale). In total we have 9 finished songs… hold yer breath for more, cos they are coming!

For news back in the hood - as of Monday the 6th May, me and McGee started mixing for Joaquin Phoenix and Antony Langdon's new record in LA (I think they are going to call themselves The Lady Is A Tramp?). How we hooked up with them isn't exactly clear, but the fact is – so far we are all working quite well together, and it really is an incredible record/sound! We are a team, not to be messed with – we might just have to storm a trendy LA hotspot tonight, after our work is done!

Courtney Love was quoted as saying - "So, when did McGee and Tim Burgess become 'The Mixing Guys' of Hollywood?"

For the summer - looking forward to The Delamere Forest gig, def. The Who shows & Spain will be lovely! Also, I am trying to go to Glastonbury this year, haven't been since the last time we played, maybe in 2001…?

So folks… see ya in the studio, forest, field, club, pub, airport, fishing boat, 7-Eleven, garage, Wembley Arena, etc.

Cheers, Tim xo

01 April 2007 by Jon

Hello to you all!

Let me open my first blog after a beautiful hibernation by saying a huge thank you to all the people that attended the recent Manchester V Cancer concert at the MEN. It was a fantastic event in an amazing venue, a place that has seen some great gigs by THE CHARLATANS. We would like to pass on our heartfelt thanks for the support and generosity to all those that purchased a ticket, as you all know anything that can be given in order to research and combat this disease is of real value to us all!

The line up from start to finish was excellent, we arrived at 1pm to do a sound check and the place was electric with instigation. Whilst walking around the gig I bumped into many old friends, a real sense of camaraderie was evident and all egos were left at the door. Our brief set with Paul Weller was a highlight of the evening, the reaction of the crowd when Martin dropped the intro to "A town called malice" was a real buzz. It’s difficult to judge a response visually from a drum stool but the noise that we heard in the arena gave us all an incredible feeling, and with Denise Johnson adding vocal support on the John Lennon tune "Power to the people" we all felt that we had made a special contribution. We sincerely hope that Andy Rourke has raised plenty of money and that his vision and determination will result in many more nights like that one.

We have been keeping busy during the last few weeks of winter with the song writing process in full effect with sessions in LA and Walsall, culminating in a recording session at big mushroom with James Spencer at the controls, the results are as usual a closely guarded secret. This helps us in reaching a collective direction and although it’s tempting to give new music to people to gauge a response, it’s better to let time be the final judge. As a person in such a privileged position I can tell you that the songs are once again a surprise to me, with the benefit of close collaboration, inspired inspiration and interesting influences! I’m sure that we will bring together a collection of songs that will intrigue and excite the listener.

As for the immediate future we will be playing a limited amount a of gigs in the UK this year, Delamere forest and a few one off festival gigs to be announced as soon as we can. We will be heading overseas to hopefully new destinations to play a few gigs and gather more interesting stories to bore friend and family with, as always I will save the best bits for my blog contributions and I’m looking forward to writing more very soon.

Thanks again to Cat for running this site and for her photos of the Manchester V Cancer gig. If anyone has any photos they want to send us email them to cat@thecharlatans.net.

Cheers for reading this
JON B

21 February 2007 by Tony

Los Angeles, the City of angels, Well What can i say, it's always fun to take a trip over to the west coast, Arrived on Friday 9th and pretty much got straight into the thick of things, didn't bother gettin any sleep on the plane or after i landed, decided to try and work through it which was a bit of a mistake really, Crashed and Burned on sat afternoon and didn't rise till Sunday. We Stayed at Oakwood Apt's on sunset and Vine, great location, Great appartment with The Cat and Fiddle on Sunset only a 5 minute walk.

Myself, Tim and Mark Went to the William Morris-Grammy party with Tims Wife Michelle and Alan Mcgee, saw Prince (just about) and Tim met Paris at Pinks Hot dog stand, Myself and Mark dont remember too much about the whole affair. According to Alan Mcgee the ride home was something to be remembered, an instant hit on youtube had it been recorded. which will tell what kind of state we we're in, well you couldn't expect anything else, it was a free bar and we wanted to own it.

Anyway, Had a total blast, came away with 8 strong tunes, working titles :
Hit & Run/ Set Me Free/ Blank Heart Blank Mind/ Intrigue Me/ Oh Vanity/ Acid in the Tea/ Bad Days/ Little Wild of course some of these are only working titles and do usually change, Martin and Jon will be coming down to my Studio this week and then we'll be going into big mushroom to record them as a whole band possibly around the 5th march, thats it for now,

Will Keep you all posted,

Thanks

Tony x

16 February 2007 by Tim

Hi-ya… so I have been 'home' for 2 months now… I have to say living in LA does produce great weather & with that brings the UK peeps - Mark n Tony have been here for 2 weeks now & it has been totally worth it. Our flat in Hollywood/self-made studio is brilliant, like home, but we can literally disappear into the fa..ade of the Hollywood streets/canvas. LA is the place to be right now – for us…

Me, Mark & Tony went to the William Morris - Grammy Party with Michelle and Alan McGee (My 'DC 'Mate for life). I got to speak to Paris Hilton - who at the specially set-up Pink's hot dog stand, held my hand & told me 'to enjoy my hotdog'… Hollywood/LA is a 'secret society' & if you don't know, sorry.
The flat (APT.) is amazing… Sunset & Vine…

We have 5 songs as of today & by the end of the week, we will have 8... the 5 we have: They are all very unique, & might not be what is expected from us (The Charlatans); even though, you never know what you are gonna get, so here we are… us.
(workin titles are.... Hit n Run / Blank Heart, Blank Mind / Set Me Free / Acid in the Tea / Little Wild…

I am coming back to UK next week for 3 weeks to work on our Demos in our personal studio (Big Mushroom) with the whole band… we are gonna see/decide who is going to put out our next record. I think the songs are good/pure, so I am in no big rush (ha, only I could say that).

Starting on something else, also producing tracks for a London based band - Hatcham Social, who I think are the next lovely provisional state of the Post Card era… We will be working with Jim Spencer at the Big Mushroom, hope it does us all proud.

I heard that Tony Wilson has been sick and am really upset about it, as he was my hero when I was growing up & I still get nervous to talk to him when I see him around Manchester. He was ingenious & hopefully people will respect, hear & realize Tony Wilson and the world that he created & lived in. He makes me proud to be me, Manc, & know the beautiful music & experiences that have touched my life; My heart goes out to Tony & hope he gets well soon.

Cheers all. C-ya then. Tim x

19 January 2007 by Tony

Hi all,
Just Got back from Ireland, managed to get a ferry crossig at 8.55pm on friday night, all the previous sailings were cancelled due to the storms, was meant to be back on the wednesday, Anyway, numerous phone calls later and i was on the ferry crossing the irish sea and you'd never have guest that the previous 48 hours had grounded not only the ferry services but all the flights to UK too.

Had a productive time plus some quality time with my daughters Tanya and Lauren.

Started writing towards the latter end of the singles tour Nov/Dec 06, so it was great to get christmas out of the way and dig deep knocking them into some shape.

Martin Blunt is coming down to mine tomorrow (monday) should have 4 or 5 done by the end of the week, Martin has a great sense of musical direction and always manages to place the tunes on the right side of cool, Jon will be joining us mid week, then it's off to LA to Listen and work on Tim and Marks ideas.

We'll Keep you posted,

Take care, T

20 October 2006 'the basement tapes' by Martin
Well where do we start. At the beginning of October Jon and I spent a couple of days on the Wirral at a studio suite to finally sift through our own past. There was almost six hours worth of different film formats to align. God those haircuts: the good, the bad and the questionable (mind you they felt right at the time). Big thanks to Graham and Melanie for being able to access everything and to Kim Peters the man who designed all the early artwork and produced several of the bands videos.
 
Kim has been ever present with filming the band right up until the present day and this was the first time nearly all this footage had been seen by any of us. It was very surreal to say the least to see certain people sadly no longer with us on screen and to see totally euphoric crowds out front in total pandemonium. Just to say a very big thank you to everybody concerned that these moments through the years have been captured for posterity. Because of this, and recently more archive video/DVD coming to light, we feel it all needs to be put into some logical order to understand the time, the places and the emotions everybody was going through. Work on this will start in December.

13 October 2006 by Tim

Hello from the first few dates of the ‘Diet Coke ‘n’ Bananas’ Dj Tour! People are wondering why Alan McGee & myself (Tim Burgess) would want to dj across the UK, travelling long distances only by train.

We are doing it really for fun. For us to see Britain outside of London & hang out in all sorts of clubs/hang outs/venues etc without being on stage/backstage is cool. Finding out what people get up to, get off on, make new friends, plus meet in person the hundreds/thousands of people who contact us on MySpace, all while getting high on Diet Coke & rock ‘n’ roll. I’ve been playing The Charlatans ‘You‚re So Pretty’ (Youth Remix) every night once, twice, three times. It’ll be released on our new record. Forever. The Singles.’ out November 6th…

I don’t think anyone really knows what to expect from Me & McGee, but so far we’ve had a lot of laughs, positive feedback & only one verbal attack (let's keep it that way eh).

Day 1
The first gig in Hull, I don‚t think anyone really thought we were going to turn up. Yet, we did show, both in great moods, guess it rubbed off, because the bands that played were great, plus the Paddingtons showed up and added some hometown support. It was a great first night, then I went back to the hotel to my new drugs of choice - 2 Tylenol PM and a load of DCs. crashed... got to sleep off the jetlag.

Day 2
Breakfast with the Paddingtons, then off on an 8 hour train trip from Hull to Aberdeen to the Thistle Hotel. I can't explain entirely how out of control Aberdeen was, but to start, it was actually a village called Ellon, 18 miles outside. We were told it was a corrugated shack in the middle of the country, but thankfully it turned out to be pretty much a very modern club filled with the most up for it & out of control McGee/Burgess/Charlafans!!!!

We kinda knew what we were getting ourselves into, but personally I felt loved and these days, I like it when it gets messy, now that I don't live in a haze of drink and drugs I really vibe off the euphoric madness! For me, it's realistic adulation, spinning Paul McCartney -Jet, to The Fall - Totally Wired to Primal Scream to Blondie to Toots and The Maytalls.

McGee is the coolest, he has the patience of a saint, seriously he gets asked/told the craziest stuff, and he definitely has some tales to tell (if you are lucky enough to hear/get in on one). Even though it has been promoted as a DJ Tour, the rumours were that Tim Burgess‚ was either a Charlatans tribute act, or Tim
Burgess was doing a solo acoustic set and Alan McGee was going to be giving an hour long motivational speech about his life! Ha!

Day 3
Glasgow (1-0 to Scotland)! Afterwards 1,000 rowdy folks showed up to see us at Stavka on a Saturday night! It was a party that ended in MDMA madness for most and utter bemusement for us. Also great to see Jim Pearson, his crew, Jason and Slaughter Joe.

Day 4
Train (again) to Inverness in the Highlands 6 hours. Again the Scottish fans were all happy and pished pickled and ready to rock. We got picked up by Chris McCormick, then went for dinner with the owner of the club, an old mate - Paul Mather. Seeing him totally knocked me for a loop, and McGee was completely gob smacked! Alan walked up & said to him, “I thought you were some where sleeping on a park bench. I thought you'd done a Syd Barrett!”

We hadn’t seen or heard from him in 10 years, but now we know – he’s alive & well, living in Inverness about as far away from London as you could get. He was the first person to ever write about Oasis.

Just a note: The Charlatans first gig on 21st Nov. for the start of the UK tour is at gonna be at Paul’s club - Iron Works & the tickets sold out in 3 hours just by word of mouth. We could do another 2, that’s what this DJ tour is all about, going to places that nobody really goes, checking out the scene & falling in love again with what we do. We hang out, we play records, we make new friends & we drink diet coke! I actually get to talk to people about The Charlatans and hear/find out what the band truly means to people, and it makes me even more inspired to keep making music! This tour according to Alan is a film in the making, or at least a book!

Day 5
Sunderland. Basically we booked a lot of this tour through people on MySpace. I have already djayed for MySpace/the Artists Page and gotten a few gigs through MySpace. Maybe one day I will only want to exist through MySpace? Best song for me tonight was, ‘Boys Want To Be Her’ by Peaches and Yeah!‚ (Crass version). LCD Soundsystem seems like the thing to do if you’re a lad in Sunderland & getting naked on the dance floor while knocking back pints and Sambuka.

North Country Boy‚ is the song for me so far, it’s turning out to definitely be the Tour anthem. I know it was a big single for the band, but I never realized how big, now I’m thinking we always play it too early in the set - might end up becoming one of the encores!

Day 6
Spending a couple of days with The Charlatans in Manchester. Gonna talk over what we’re gonna play on the tour, think we might go old-skool‚ ya know we have the material/songs! Playin’ all the Singles on for this tour might be cool, because, I doubt it will happen again.

The Charlatans have always been about the feeling of the moment, we like to do it once, then move forward & not look back. Got to rehearse ‘Indian Rope’ and all the singles we haven’t played in years & then hopefully take the tour over to Europe next spring. If not Me And McGee will try the adventures on the wheels of steel train tour‚ once more in Europe, Japan & probably America/Canada. Spreading the songs of others (& ourselves) across THE WORLD!

Mark, Tony and Myself are supposedly doing an acoustic tour in North America in February, but if the entire/full band carries on in Europe in March, well that would be awesome for all!

One of my favourite records of the year is, Joan As Police Woman‚ she is from Brooklyn/NYC and is playing in Manchester at Night and Day on Friday night. It is the most beautiful record - very deep, very sad, but in a good way. So going to check that out then play Newcastle, going to take Mark Collins with me to Oldham then off to London to interview my dear mate, Mr. Carl Barat, we are doing a piece for the NME Yearbook.

Cheers for reading this & we’ll see ya on the rails, da clubs & behind the decks.
So far, this tour has lit my soul!
Come dance with us & bring some DCs (Diet Cokes)!

28 September 2006 by Jon

The only time my wife and I have been moved to the point of spending a ridiculous amount of money to see a famous rock & roll band was in 2002, when with the help of close friends we bought four tickets to see the Rolling Stones at Twickenham. The tickets were part of a package that included lunch at the Ivy restaurant and rooms at the Savoy hotel, this was a very special occasion and when the 'lot" came up we started the bidding!

The motivation was clear to all concerned we were there to raise money for a sick child; Joseph Foote was a four year old boy who was struggling to overcome a very serious illness. His life depended on monies raised to afford unique treatment, he like other sick children are constantly at the mercy of lack of funds and medical sciences ever more challenging problems. As we raised our hands for the final time we were shocked to hear the auctioneer announce us as the successful bidders and see everyone stare with pride and disbelief, to the sounds of the Stones blaring over the PA. That was my first encounter with the Stones, although The Charlatans did a TV performance with Ronnie Wood but that is a whole other story!

If asked what my number one stadium in the world for a gig was it would be The Hawthorns, the home of one of the football leagues founding teams, West Bromwich Albion. But sadly the Hawthorns is not the most rock & roll venue, so my next choice would have to be Wembley stadium sadly not finished!  With the options very limited the offer to play Twickenham and Hampden Park as special guests of The Rolling Stones was well within my top three! As you can see from the pictures here, we were truly thrown into the arena and enjoyed the whole experience, including a rare meeting with the men in question, who were very gracious and slightly surreal in the flesh. It was fantastic to have gone full circle and walk onto the stage in front of those people, and to receive a phone call from Lloyd my friend (who was with me the last time) to wish me luck.

We will soon turn our thoughts to the forthcoming tour which I hope has gathered some attention, the tour starts in November and is to coincide with the release of ‘Forever’ our singles CD which is a collection of our single releases (all record labels) and music from nearly two decades, including rare mixes, sessions, live recordings, unreleased music and a special DVD culled from hours of personal super eight / video footage. This was a very amusing and moving task to look through 'old movies" and come up with interesting clips, every member of the band, past and present are represented, this is also evident in the artwork and packaging. We have re-recorded the song 'You’re So Pretty’ (produced by Youth) for inclusion on the CD, this tune always had the potential to be a single, I think the result is stunning. It’ll have a video that will be change of direction for us, although I'm not sure how much to give away as these things change constantly.

Thanks for reading, check out the photos
JON

18 August 2006 by Jon

Can't believe it happened again, the day of our flight out of LHR and there's chaos!! As we empty our belongings into transparent carrier bags and stand in line to get body searched, a feeling of 'deja vouz' spreads among band and crew alike. When at last we board the plane bound for Tokyo we look ahead to the Summersonic festival, taking in gigs at Tokyo and Osaka, a world of super technology (that is applied to everything, including washroom hand-drying!) And more packed out gigs in a place that is very important to us.

Japan has played a long and important role to the band, every opportunity to play overseas has been rewarded with a trip to one of Japan's many fascinating cities. After sixteen years of visiting it still holds close it's secrets, language being a real obstacle to finding out the world within, but again we are not without friends! To be greeted at the hotel by familiar faces is a good feeling and that night as we head into Tokyo, it feels strangely inviting as the jetlag and alcohol work there dependable magic.

The first night went well although we thought it could be improved in a few places before we were ready to play Japan's second city Osaka the following night. The festival was very diverse with bands including Daft Punk, Scritti Politti, Metallica, Jonny boy and Massive attack performing over the two days. With a short trip of only four days it was all over too quickly (a limited number of highbrow photos are included)...

The Tap & Tin played host to The Charlatans (and Lupen Crook supporting) with Dean Fragile being the man that made it one of the best gigs of the summer, anyone who came got to see it all really up close! In downtown Rochester (Kent) the place is run by "brother John", a refuge from chav central, an oasis of art and culture, an independent thinking institute for all! (some photos here)

Next stop was the Electric Gardens festival in Canterbury, set in Kent’s finest orchards, a red hot day with an up for it crowd, the summer sun bringing that extra ingredient to the day. The festival is set in the grounds of some large house, with people allowed to wander around at will, as the sun gave up her last rays we came on to a great reception! (more photos)

Next stop was the Electric Gardens festival in Canterbury, a red hot day with an up for it crowd, the summer sun bringing that extra ingredient to the day. Set in Kent’s finest orchards in the grounds of some large house, with people allowed to wander around at will, as the sun gave up her last rays we came on to a great reception!

After such an amazing two gigs: at the Tap & Tin - being looked after so well by Dean and John, and then in the Kent countryside at the height of summer, what could be next? Belgium!... yes!!!...from infrared to ultra violet, that is the only way to sum it up.

Following Belguim we arrived back in London where we spent a day working with producer Youth on the re-working of a track, one which we all wanted to be a single... The results of which we think have been pretty astounding.

Coming up next: V this weekend and we'll be announcing a new tour along with the release of 'Forever. The Singles' an 18 track singles compilation and limited box set with really rare and unheard footage from the past 16 years, demos, BBC sessions and lots more... details will be announced soon.

Thanks for reading... Jon

03 July 2006 by Jon

I never thought that I’d miss the symphonic sound of simultaneous snoring and the continuous rumble of a bus engine, broken only by the occasional out bust of laughter or the passing of another monster American truck. This is how I recall our last trip to the states, the first for quite a while. The last tour was cancelled due to the horrific twin tower attacks, as I stood in my kitchen ironing and packing my clothes with the news channel on I saw the whole horror unfold. I wondered if anything would ever get back to normal, I guess it never will, but for me a month in the states is a good place to start.

So it was great to be on tour again, five band, five crew and one driver named Marty! We did seventeen gigs in twenty-six days including two gigs in Canada. In nearly all of the towns that we visited old friends would be there to greet us and make us feel welcome, that is one of the many amazing things that we are able to enjoy.

All the gigs were good and we also had the pleasure of being accompanied on some of the tour by our new "gaffer" Mr Alan McGee. I won't bother to fill you in on his history, but suffice to say there is a book available to do any research you may require, just don't ask him to sign it! If anybody wants to look I’ve got a couple of photos from the USA to accompany this blog, please understand that these are to be filed under "artistic".

After the tour we returned to the UK for a few days rest before heading to France. We were asked to play a gig at Le Mans, we thought it would be a little different from the normal rock & roll crowd. I managed to see some of the race but everyone else thought it was boring, noisy and a waste of petrol. (Sorry no photos... lost my phone charger in the states).

Next weekender was a two day trip in Spain, a place that seems to be the perfect companion to our love of late nights and afternoon sleeping .We were joined by the ever astounding Primal scream in the port of Santander, with the boys in total up for it mode, we haven't seen them in a while (that explains everything!). Sorry no photos... couldn't focus

It's always a real buzz to play gigs away from home with people like The Scream, and on the second day in Madrid we were there with Paul Weller. Paul Weller is an inspiration to many people uncompromising in his view of music and his role within it. A fantastic gig by both bands, good to see each other and hang out for a while.... check out the photos.

That all for now, thanks for reading this.
JON B

16 April 2006 by Jon

Welcome to this pre-tour message! With the record due for release tomorrow (Monday 17th April) and the process almost complete, there is one last thing for us to do and that is to transfer the recorded music back into live music - where it all started in the first place.

This live interpretation of the record is one of the most enjoyable parts of being a musician, that is to play in front of an audience and this is the real high point of the process. The instant feedback that is received, positive/negative is the real test of the bands endeavors. With an 11 track LP we are hoping to play most of the new material. Discussions have also been underway about what songs from our previous albums we should play. This I'm sure you can appreciate causes much 'heated debate' with 5 people all having personal favourites (for various reasons)! Although the main consideration is always that the live set always feels ‘seamless’ and not too over indulgent. In other words FAST, LOUD and PULSATING - just the way I like it!

Without the safety net of the studio and luxury of being able to meddle with the tunes, a gig is a place where it should all come together. This tour finds us travelling around the UK, visiting some familiar places and hopefully some familiar faces.

We also intend playing more overseas concerts, including a North American trip to follow soon after the UK shows. Our recent trip to Texas to play SXSW was fantastic - 1000 bands playing all kinds of venues. We ourselves did 4 concerts in 2 days including a rare matinee 'Charlatans Performance' - shades were optional. Also muted are trips to Europe, Japan and Australia. We have also had confirmation of UK festivals including T In The Park, Oxygen and the V festivals. No summer is complete without standing in a field or queuing for the loo!! (not that I would!)

Now back to the record, 'Blackened Blue Eyes' made its presence felt in the Charts, enabling us to do some TV and radio sessions, a fantastic opportunity for us to play some other tracks from the album which judging from the reviews that I've seen has polarized the music critic fraternity. The reactions have been incredibly positive or in some cases the music has completely gone over their heads, which gives us much satisfaction. For those who buy the record I hope you can see where we were coming from, the boys came up with some fantastic tunes and I feel that we have done what we set out to do.

Thanks for reading this, I hope the picture is clearer as to what makes us tick, really looking forward to the shows, always feels like the first time!

See you all soon

Jon (Chair)

01 February 2006 by Martin

This weekend we head to Los Angeles where we will be shooting the video for Blackened Blue Eyes.

We are all very excited about the ideas for the video, Charles Mehling is going to be directing. Inspired by the 60's film 'Blow Up' (starring David Hemmings), the story line follows a young couple who through circumstances out of their control, find themselves in an old warehouse where The Charlatans are playing...

Charles has been a friend of the band for many years, whilst living in London in the late '90's he spent a lot of time with us filming several gigs. He has always wanted to do a video for the band. Among his work he has done several videos for the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and also for the Stereophonics last album. We are going to be in LA for most of the week and when we get back we'll have some video footage and photos to put up on the website.

We're also going to be announcing some more dates in the very near future.

All the best,
Martin

20 December by Jon

Welcome to this, the last instalment of The Charlatans studio updates for this year.

Needless to say the whole year has gone by far too quickly. It seems pointless to mention how fast time moves on, so I won’t bother to mention the fact that it really does only seem like yesterday that we were at Big Mushroom listening to ideas for this album.

As you can appreciate the record has taken many twists and turns in its short life, an interesting occasion was the live debut of ‘Blackened Blue Eyes’ and ‘NYC’ at Glasgow Academy. After time spent in the seclusion of Hook End studios, we went to a rehearsal facility in South London to prepare for the gigs, including a long overdue appearance at Reading - which was a blast. This had its own problems as I suffered a mystery dental illness (you will be pleased to hear that I returned to solids after only 2 weeks on a liquid diet).

October was spent in London where mixing and socialising were given equal amounts of time in order for a good balance to be achieved. After the gigs that we played in the summertime it seemed to be a good opportunity to meet up with old friends while mixing the album. Nightly playback parties were held in order for us to gauge the level of volume needed to induce involuntary vomiting!

This seemed to be the ideal time for a photo shoot and the services of Roger Sergeant were called for. The man’s work is second to none, and his photographs will form the artwork for the album. Extra tracks have been recorded at Big Mushroom during November again with the help of Jim Lowe, and a good time was had by all (although at times I think the claustrophobic nature of the place did his head in - maybe that could explain some of the strange things I’ve seen over the years!)

With a sense of sadness and relief I am now able to conclude this short look back over the last 12 months, casting my mind back has revealed some very emotional moments that will always have a musical backdrop. ‘Simpatico’ is a record that has seen all members of the group “stepping up to the plate” and no one holding back. I hope you can hear this in the music, as I said there have been some real twists and turns, but all of them good.

Finally, in the New Year Cat will be re-designing the website, with the addition of some new features (hopefully including more band gossip). We will be putting some new tracks online for you to listen to - exclusive full length demos - different to what you will later hear on the album, an accompanying short film made whilst recording ‘Simpatico’, as well as announcing tour dates and album details…

Thanks for keeping in touch.
All the best for the New Year, see you in 2006........
JON.

22 November 2005 by Martin

Greetings everyone. Well after a three week stint in London’s Townhouse studios the mixing of the “Simpatico” sessions are virtually at an end with the song “The Road to Paradise” finishing proceedings on the 10th October. A big thank you to all our dear friends who attended the impromptu weekly playbacks of the tracks in the small hours and to Jim Lowe the producer who accommodated the congregations gathered there.

We shall be reconvening in November to compile the album and to finish off the exclusive tracks for the forthcoming singles. So in December, details on artwork, release dates, plans for a proposed download and for touring in the new year (which we are very, very excited about) should be posted.

It was a special feeling at Glasgow Academy this summer (yes we can feel a Barrowlands coming on in the new year) to air new tracks for the first time (“Always A Clue in a Dead Man’s Eye“ and "Blackened Blue Eyes”) I know at this point we were itching to play more gigs but the album needed finishing!

Anyway that’s it for the moment... best regards Martin.

13 October 2005 by Tim

We all just got back from London, mixed the new record at the Townhouse, with producer Jim Lowe. Had a blast, the songs sound great! We are all very happy w/ the results... The studio vibe was good, we had the company of The Zutons in the next room, The Secret Machines down the hall, plus many vistors/guests who got a sneak listen. Along w/ the 3 weeks of work, we managed to have some r'n'r moments - Me, Tony & Mark djayed one night at club No.10, hung out w/ Carl Barat & Shane McGowan at the Boogaloo..., had a photo shoot for the album cover, as well as press shots (looking very sharp, I must say), watched some football, ate a few curries & drank a bit of beer - good times for all in Londontown!

To sum it up - the album rocks, can't wait for you all to hear it!

Will keep ya posted...
Cheers & Tra, Tim

11 August 2005 by Jon

Hello and welcome to the third studio diary.

With our feverish work pace coming to an end, in this our fourth week at Hook End, it's good to able to tell you that the record is starting to sound amazing or in the words of Tim "sick".

This I feel is due to the fantastic vibe in which the recording process is taking place, and as you can see the studio is quite a place and we have all enjoyed wandering around the building. This has had a positive effect on everybody and I’m sure you can appreciate that committing musical ideas to tape for eternity can sometimes drive you nuts (more on this later).

The sound or vibe of the record is very true to the band, in as much as this time we've recorded the whole group together live. This in my opinion has made the band sound harmonious and it's very strange that after so many records, to have chosen this, the oldest of techniques. With the twelve tunes that have been recorded the album has taken a kind of "dubby" twist, but this is all the information I can give at present, as I will surely be shot for giving the game away.

Well as I mentioned a little while ago we have had a blast making this record, and I think this will be obvious to anyone that listens to it. Everybody has been able to kind of float about; some of us are quite good at that! Also I have to say a big thank you to the people that have helped us, namely Taz Mattar in the studio and Jim Lowe who's had the toughest task as our producer. That leaves me with a chance to say thanks for reading this and we will see you soon somewhere!

Take it easy,
Jon

31 July 2005 by Martin

So into the second week of our ninth studio album and things are on track to finish the basic recordings in the next ten days. Cat has mentioned that Xfm reported the album would be surfacing towards the end of next year, I can assure you that this is not the case and the mixing of all tracks (scheduled at present to take place in London) will be finished by September.

We are looking at a very early 2006 release. As we now have a worldwide deal again the album will be released nationally in the U.S.A and Canada. We were as disappointed as anybody with the no show of U.A.T.L. This was to do with talks in North America to get the album released independently and not on Universal records that went horribly wrong with certain parties who we were in contact with at that time...

Today (Sunday) most of the band headed back up the M6 for our day off with Tim inviting top D.J Dean Fragile and Carl Barat and girlfriend down to the studio for a Sunday social hangout, with Monday morning approaching I’m sure the decks are still spinning!

Other completed tracks put down this week included "The City of the Dead" and the track "For All Others". With everyone concerned here at the moment there are definitely big smiles all round, even if that was due to finding out that our producer once worked on the recordings for one of the people we greatly admire, the actor Christopher Lee!

Best Regards,
Martin

25 July 2005 by Martin

Hello and welcome to the first update on the proceedings of the new album here in southern England. We started the recordings on the 18th of July after two weeks of pre-production on the songs at Big Mushroom to go through a batch of about twenty. Here with Jim Lowe, who came highly recommended to us as a producer and long time fan of the band, we started to find a direction for the tracks and to bring together everybody’s ideas on the sounds.

All this foundation work has given us fourteen songs that we will record during this session at Hook End Studios, as of last Monday twelve backing tracks have already been recorded. With everybody being around 24/7 we’ve found inspiration to embellishing these formative tracks.

What are they sounding like? Well just listening now to Jon’s drums and bass, a very much dub by influence has joined The Charlatans sound so everything is very much back on a groove with even hip hop elements coming through on the rhythm tracks. Without giving too much away right now songs like “For Your Entertainment” and “N.Y.C (There’s No Need To Stop)” sound unique and refreshing with the latter being aired at the Hammersmith show in London at the end of April.

Anyway the exciting news is that we have started and I am sure other certain band members will be adding their accounts in the coming weeks, and with Cat our ever present web designer/editor coming down in the next few weeks I am sure some of the questions that have been raised over the past months can be answered by the band more in-depth.

We are all very much looking forward to the Reading / Leeds festival and with Glasgow on the Bank holiday Monday which is our last UK date this year no doubt new songs will be aired!

Regards to you all,
Martin