Right then. I’m really happy to say that our collaboration with Michael Weatherburn from The Half Rabbits is finally being released in 2 weeks time on Monday 12th November! Not only that but it will be accompanied by a selection of brilliant remixes from some of my favourite current producers including Space Heroes of The People, Death of Hifi, Unit 27 + more. This is going to be a seriously great little package!
If that wasn’t great enough for you, Michael will be joining us live on stage at our gig at the O2 Academy, Oxford on Saturday 16th November. If you haven’t got your tickets yet, get them from here!
Michael from The Half Rabbits posted this a little while back on their website. Enjoy!
Just as I enjoyed joining the Winchell Riots for Reading and Leeds 2011, I enjoyed joining Tiger Mendoza for a one-off special gig in May. We played the famous Oxford Punt, a special one-off music festival, run by music magazine Nightshift, which annually takes over the city’s music venues for one night only. The venues are then filled with the city’s hottest new bands, with music fans swarming from one venue and band to the next.
Tiger Mendoza is principally the brainchild of Ian De Quadros supplied with guitars from Daniel O’Driscoll and vocals from Helena Markou. Their most recent coup was a great set supporting DJ Shadow at the O2 Academy in Oxford. Some of you will know Ian for the excellent remixes which he did on our recent remix album, ROTATE. It was Ian’s remix of Gasoline which the BBC chose to air back in March. There’ll be more updates on that album soon.
Much of Tiger Mendoza’s music is instrumental but they asked myself and the famous Asher Dust to contribute vocals to their newest songs. I was presented with a wonderful piece of dystopian electronica which sounded like a combination between the Blade Runner and Dr Who soundtracks.
I used some downtime during the recording of our Machine Triumphant EP in London to work out the melody, vocals, and lyrics on a battered old acoustic guitar while the others recorded their parts for the EP with Pat Collier. Pat actually has five recording studios in one old factory, so this gave me plenty of space to work in. I tentatively named the song Prometheus Unbound, which, given that the song is about liberation and freedom, I thought suited the lyrics very well (see below). The others agreed.
The gig at Punt itself was great fun, and took place in the Oxford Cellar on Wednesday 16 May. There was a really great live sound and a wonderful audience. I thought that Asher gave a great performance too, and it was wonderful getting my first ever experience of singing live without playing any instrument.
We’ve already laid Prometheus Unbound down in the studio, complete with mr g on backing vocals. There are still guitar parts to be added before it’s finished, so it’ll still be some time before you’ll be able to hear it. As a kind of taster, here are the lyrics:
—
PROMETHEUS UNBOUND
Gazing from my tower
Inside my iron cage
I long for escape some day
Breaking all the railings
And bending all the bars
I hope that special day is ours
When I’m falling. I’m falling down, down, down, down
It’s between gravity and me. And I won
Now I have clarity
You bring me clarity
You bring it to all around you, I know
All around you, I know
You bring me clarity and take me to reality
We see it in all around us, we know
All around us, we know
Flying from the tower, with my angel wings
I soar above the earth and sing
‘I taste the air and I’ve touched the sun. At long last, I’ve won’
Now I’m climbing. I’m climbing up, up, up, up
Now I have clarity
You bring me clarity
You bring it to all around you, I know
All around you, I know
You bring me clarity and take me to reality
We see it in all around us, we know
All around us, we know
It’s between gravity and me
And I won
It’s between gravity and me
And I won
It’s between gravity and me
And I won
It’s between gravity and me
And I won
I won
—
That’s all for now, but much news coming soon.
Over & out.
-Michael
Cheers Michael! More news on release dates, etc for the song and some other new stuff coming very soon!
The Half Rabbits’ remix album “Rotate” (which features 2 remixes by Tiger Mendoza) is now available to download for FREE! Download link and full tracklisting below:
If you follow Tiger Mendoza on twitter this probably isn’t really a surprise but I can confirm that Michael from The Half Rabbits and Asher Dust will be joining us live on stage for our set as part of this year’s Oxford Punt. Here’s a lovely picture of the two of them together:
There are a few all venue punt passes available for £8 from here and this month’s Nightshift includes a full run down of the night. This is gonna be a riot! See you there yeah?
Ta Da!
So the bandages are off a little later than planned but here’s the new look site. Not a much different I suppose but definitely better. Hopefully there will be more frequent, smaller posts and obviously we’ll share news about upcoming gigs, music and stuff.
A few “quick wins” as they say in business:
It’s the opening track on their new remix collection ‘Rotate’ which also contains our remix of ‘When The Rain Stops’
We’re also working on some brand new tracks and hopefully we’ll be playing some bits and pieces at the upcoming shows. Which is nice.
See you all soon 
It’s safe to say that the gig was a genuine success which to be honest I’m still a bit amazed about. All of the feedback so far has been incredibly positive and there was really a great atmosphere. In total the gig raised £416.57 for Oxfam which is just brilliant and Dan and I are just amazed with everyone’s generosity. I’ve been told that I’ve been saying thank you a little bit too much but we wanted to put together one last post to say Thank You to everyone that helped us out:
The Bands:
The Half Rabbits, Phantom Theory, The Prohibition Smokers Club, Helena, Swindlestock and Kt and Ky,
Sarah Mayhew (from The Oxford Castle for letting us do the gig at the castle in the first place) and Helen Statham (for letting us move the gig to The O3 Gallery with one day to go), and The Real China.
Mel Skinner, Sarah Kenway, Ashleigh Toll, Mez Flint for minding the bar and helping us tidy up afterwards (+ the rest of the Oxjam crew!)
Stu Smith, Mark Wilden, Neil Smith, for loaning us the audio equipment
And everyone that braved the rain to come along, listen to some great music and donate!
There are some pictures up on the pictures page and Dan Paxton has some up on his Flickr profile. There may even be some video soon too. Dan and I have already started talking about whether or not we’ll do it again. We shall see….
Please keep supporting Oxfam and Oxjam and good luck to anyone else that’s organising an Oxjam gig this year!
Ian and Dan
[Updated 02/09/10] Now with Video!
This is very exciting. Dan and I have been thinking about putting on an Oxjam gig somewhere in Oxford and the lovely people at The Oxford Castle have said that we can put on there as part of their summer acoustic nights on Wednesday 25th August from 7pm to 10pm. Win!
Lined up to play are:
‘How much will this wondrous event cost?’ you ask. Well, nothing. That’s right entry will be FREE. But we will collecting money for Oxfam and our fund raising target is £100 so any and all donations will be very much appreciated. We’re also hoping to arrange some food and drink promos but that’s still tbc. We’ve just had confirmation that The Real China will be offering discounts on cocktails and food for everyone that donates. Isn’t that nice of them?
Here’s the Oxjam event page. See you there.
A couple of new TM remixes for you:
Stately Homes Of England – 1000 Blinking Lights (Tiger Mendoza remix)
The Half Rabbits – When The Rain Stops (Tiger Mendoza remix)
Downloads available from The Half Rabbits’ website.
In other exciting remix related news, Stately Homes of England have also done a great remix of Hope Sick:
Also a reminder that Helena, Sally and I are doing a ‘semi-acoustic’ live set at Café Tarifa on Cowley Road, Oxford on Tuesday 9th February. Also on the bill are Kat Gadsden and Nigel Brown & Friends. Doors are at 9pm and it’s free entry so come down, drink booze and watch the first PROPER TM gig. Info and stuff can be found here.
My remix of The Half Rabbits‘ when the rain stops is now available to download from their website. If you’d like a listen first, here you go:
It’s also been added to the remixes page.
Also we’ve confirmed our first Tiger Mendoza live gig at Bar Tarifa in Oxford on Tuesday 9th February. It’ll be the first gig that Helena and I have done together that will feature acoustic and laptop stuff so should be fun. Should have more details and maybe a poster image soon.
And other fun? How about this.
