The play a special show at the historic Madame Wongs venue tonight 29th and at the Echo tomorrow 30th. More details on http://www.theansweringmachine.co.uk

A wave of excitement flowed through the normally calm cavernous halls of Heist Towers today as time came to tell a drooling world of the newest member of the Heist family, Rapids!
(And for once the exclamation mark at the end of a band’s name falls grammatically correctly at the end of our sentence)

Rapids! play ‘dark indie’ in their own unique style. Hailing from the perhaps un-indie town of Bournemouth, the band have quickly come to the notice of bands and radio alike. Opening shows for the likes of The Chapman Family and Errors, the band have a live show that transfixes audiences. Without any team around them in the early days, the band impressed by gaining notice from Steve Lamacq, John Kennedy and Tom Robinson with Steve Lamacq interviewing Matt Holliday on air on his 6Music show.

Expect the first release from the band in September 2010, in the meantime listen to them on http://www.myspace.com/listentorapids

Heist expects great things from Rapids! even if the exclamation mark does make a mockery of Heist’s previously perfect grammar.

Rumours that Heist signed a band from Bournemouth in the height of Summer just for the free holidays on the south coast are completely unfounded.

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/the-answering-machine/id379383212?mt=8

A special prize goes to the one millionth downloader……….

Oh and whilst we are getting all tech’ie on your ass, why not follow Heist on Twitter (@heistorhit) plus The Answering Machine (@theansmachine), LoveLikeFire (@lovelikefire) , The Crookes (thecrookes) and Pomegranates (@pomegranatesart)

The Answering Machine at the JD Set courtesy of Shirlaine Forrest

Fresh from completing the tribute to the Buzzocks JD Set on Channel 4 together with Tim Burgess, The Answering Machine are off to the mixing studio next week to start mixing their second album. The album, recorded in Manchester by the band themselves and produced by vocalist Martin Colclough, suggests a mature progression from their first album. The following are Martin’s thoughts on what the band were trying to achieve with their sophomore album.

We ended 2009 with a wonderful feeling in our hearts. We had created the debut album we’d been dreaming of since the band formed. It packed a punch and we believed it captured the boisterous energy of the infancy period of The Answering Machine. We spent the month of November 2009 hanging out in an apartment in Brooklyn, NY, feeling somewhat anxious as to the new direction of the band. As any band will say, the pressure placed on a second album is like nothing else. There’s a sense of finding some middle ground between the start and end product. We explored a few avenues, creatively. Beginning with a raw Sonic Youth-eque track called ‘Winter Without You’. The intensity and passion was there, but we just didn’t feel it reflected where we were at.

At this time, there was a certain sense of anxiety within the band. Not with each other, but more a reassessment of who we are and what we want to be. Something of a mid-mid-life crisis struck me, and the result was a song called ‘3 Miles’, the first track we completed as a band for the new record. It draws on emotions like we never have before in The Answering Machine, and is a ‘heart-on-sleeve’ account of where my head was at. It was also the creative spark we needed, and it triggered an outpouring of ideas and themes that would ultimately shape this second record.

I write this on the final day of tracking. We have produced the record ourselves, something which we felt strongly about. It means alot to me that we have full control over the finished product, as I want people to hear these tracks how we want them to be heard. No egos here, we are just extremely proud of what we’ve achieved.

The band will be assisted in the mixing process by the infamous Manics/Idlewild producer, Dave Eringa who produced their first album. The album is scheduled for release worldwide later this year.

Here’s a list of sites in the US which will have the album:

24-7 entertainment
Play.com
7Digital
Amazon
Bleep
Boomkat
Deezer
DJTUNES.com
eMusic
iTunes
Juno records
Lala.com
Medianetdigital
Mflow
Napster
Nokia Music Store
Spotify
Vidzone

There’s also a bunch of LoveLikeFire shows coming up as the band travels to SXSW. These dates are as follows:

11th March – Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco
13th March – Kilby Court, Salt Lake City
14th March – Urban Lounge, Salt Lake City
15th March – Burt’s Tiki Lounge, Alburquerque
16th – 19th March – SXSW
23rd March – Silverlake Lounge, LA

To celebrate LoveLikeFire are playing the following UK shows. See you there!

September
15th – The Portland Arms, Cambridge
16th – Louisiana, Bristol
17th – The Social, Nottingham
18th – Friends of Mine @ KRO Bar, Manchester
19th – Southsea Festival, Portsmouth
20th – The Flapper, Birmingham
21st – Fibbers, York
22nd – Capitol, Glasgow
23rd – The Cluny II, Newcastle
24th – Madame Jojos – London
25th – Pure Groove Records Instore – London – 1.15pm
26th – 93ft East, London
27th – Brixton Windmill, London
28th – Ten Ft Tall, Cardiff
29th – Freebutt, Brighton
30th – Joiners, Southampton

October
1st – Boiler Rooms – Guilford
2nd – Cargo, London

Available in good record stores/newsagents now!

Let’s be totally honest with you, from time to time we download albums for free but our moral compass means we will go out and buy the album afterwards. Here’s a good example, I gave the new Horrors album a listen after all the praise it has been receiving. Fair enough, it’s great so I’m going to buy it soon, plus my brother will be getting it as a birthday present. Just because we can take something for nothing, does not mean we should.

You can give it all the ‘major labels are scum of the earth’ spin as you like. Ultimately taking someones hard work for nothing is illegal and wrong. More so, what does it say of your appreciation of this art form. I know that LoveLikeFire and The Answering Machine have spent years learning their instruments, practicing, writing songs, channeling all their efforts into their music. Not only has money gone into recording these albums but hours of hard work.  But hey, if you can download the results in 10 minutes for free why shouldn’t you?!

If anything we are getting less out of the music by having too much of a good thing. Remember when you had to save up for an album and it meant so much more to you? When you didn’t have a computer with a hundred new releases you can maybe give half a listen to as you are too busy? When you persisted with something and realised how great it was because you had spent time and energy and money buying it? Would I enjoy Neutral Milk Hotel as much as I do now had I just given it a casual download listen? No fucking way. Are they one of my favourite bands in the world as a result of the work I put into their music? 100% yes.

Falco from Future Of The Left is a great man and put his point across well in this blog which is well worth reading.

The Heist Or Hit Honesty Box is open now to help people put right their wrongs.

Thanks a lot

Heist Or Hit