The Importance of Sharp Footwear in Wonderland

Long term Speed Of Sound artistic collaborator Natalie Paddick has a new website which has a feature on the work we've done together over the years & yes; the stunning T-shirt is back in stock on our 'shop' page and via Bandcamp again. 

I'm quite sure there are many lasting relationships that begin with footwear and fortunately all is explained within, but suffice to say shoes are essential. 

The Wonderland Clockwork Orange crossover images worked superbly in the Checkered Land video:

and the building 'renovation' scenes fitted Shut All The Clubs equally, gig posters and assorted website elements followed. Enter sinister Bunny stage left.

You can find the piece here and we're happy to say despite viral interventions there is more mixed media collaboration on the way... 

Cut off their tails with a carving knife... (or some sharp scissors) ...Snip snip snip...

We're going to take you through the looking glass...

The video for Checkered Land:

Filmed by Music Videos Manchester, mixing live footage with John Tenniel illustrations from Alice Through The Looking Glass plus additional images by Natalie Paddick of NPME Style.
We had a lot of fun making this, MVM 'got' what we wanted to do and had some cool input too, but they still indulged us by sticking to the precise frame image placement instructions we gave them. Natalie's photographs look spectacular anyway so it was fabulous to have them to play with, I thought the 'on the table' shot would work but ...wow. Thanks to MVM and NPME. Teamwork rocks.
Watch, enjoy and spread the word. Thank you!

Radio session and a video

Just been having a chat and playing a song on AllFM 96.9 here in Manchester, we're back again doing a full live session on 15th for Caroline Boyd.

Meanwhile, here's the  video for Girl On The Roof, the first 
A-side of the double-A-single, its at the vinyl pressing plant now:

Checkpoint Charlie - the video

The video for Checkpoint Charlie was filmed in Berlin; between Alexanderplatz, Fredrichstrasse and Berlin Hauptbahnhof. 
The S-Bahn remix includes ambient sound and some additional percussion provided by train doors.

The passenger at the end is an unplanned echo of the man-on-fire on Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here' sleeve; but we kept him anyway. Serendipity.
Checkpoint Charlie will appear on the third album when it is released in 2014.

You can watch the video on YouTube here

Day In Day Out - the video

There is a new addition to the video-bar: Day In Day Out, from The Speed Of Sound At Tree Level. 

If you can't see the video bar you can watch it here 

Filmed in colour overlooking Manchester.
Had to get up 'a bit early' for filming, but the light was just right and the birdsong at the beginning was recorded live with the video shoot and left in because it sounded as if it should be there.

Uhrwerk

"If you want to go forwards then go twice as fast, you'll need that pace to keep standing still..." The video for Uhrwerk (German for clockwork). 

The song is an anguished snarl at the so-called work/life balance and the mechanical nature of work; it was another permanent fixture in the live set. 

Written in April '87 (there is a July 1987 studio recording still in existence) Uhrwerk was re-recorded in May 2011. All previous recordings of this had the tick-tock and the chimes played as harmonics. This is mostly Hutchins Retro Star with 'a bit' of bowing and Dano'63 bass.

No Kicks

 

One picture for each verse; No Kicks is about being trapped in a dead one-sided relationship, deep down knowing they should go but refusing to believe it is over.


Originally these was a Garage-Punk feel to this, but it mutated into powerpop. It was a constant in the live set, written in January '89 and re recorded in April 2011 with Rickenbacker, Italia and Dano.
The sink and washing up is from an advert in a 1970 copy of National Geographic, the cowboy on TV is from a 50's ad, and the lips, man and smoking girl are all from the excellent image library pulpcovers.com.

You've Got To Move Too

You've Got To Move Too was written in July 1988 and often started the live set, so is a fitting opening piece for the 2nd album. It is about the world of fashion and the continual thirst for 'new' - the only way to perpetual newness is to continually reinvent the old - and the constant need to be ahead; not just keeping up. The overlapping vocals don't give the last line time to finish before moving on to the next 'thing'.

Lord Litter described it as "A cool mix of punk and The Byrds 5th dimension LP" and played it in his Magic Music Box show in December 2011 on Radio Marabu - Europe's Alternative Radio (and elsewhere).

Guitar-wise this is the Hutchins Retro Star and the Rickenbacker 620-12, with a few seconds of violin bowing on the Hutchins bwfore the break. The bass is the Danelectro '63.

I See You Everywhere That I Go - Video

The Video for I See You Everywhere That I Go has found its way onto the NME website, watch it on there here

The images are from very early 1990, the audio is plus twenty years from The Speed Of Sound At Tree Level 

Love - the video

The video for Love (from The Speed Of Sound At Tree Level).

Some stills taken during filming and to use as overlays

Love - Japanese poster

There is something about Japanese script that just 'does it' with film posters.

The Wargame

There've been several reported incidents of trawlers being dragged by submarines of various nationalities. It is shocking imagery that would have appealed to Edgar Allen Poe.

  

Written on 3rd October 1989 it does not relate to any specific event and was re-recorded in May 2010.

The Lyrics:

The map below is on the Scottish Governments' website and shows all military training areas around Scotland, it does not show transit routes and areas liable to have 'visiting' submarines.

I See You Everywhere That I Go

I See You Everywhere That I Go - The first song on the first album. 

The video shows The Blood Oranges one night in early 1990  

(Without Christine which happened sometimes) so the video features John, Paul Shaw and Denis Duffy 

The Audio is The Speed Of Sound recorded in 2010 for The Speed Of Sound At Tree Level.  

  

Q: What is it about? 

A: A paranoia song, or is it a love song? Or is it a song about paranoid love?  

Written on 7th November 1989 - two days before the Berlin Wall came down - this was in the live set throughout. Re-recorded in April 2010  

Paul is playing a BC Rich 6 string through an octave pedal which effectively gave him a 6 string bass. When he did that there were 18 strings ringing, instead of the more usual 10. He normally played a 'regular' 4 string bass - also a BC Rich. 

The Lyrics: