Swindon Music

It is dad, we'll have to catch up soon

Hi folks,

Hope all's well

Been a while, so here's an update...sorry it's so long and hope it doesn't hurt your eyes

We kind of lost a mini tour this weekend but have luckily, at the last minute, found a couple of replacement gigs.

TONIGHT:
We're back down to The Duke in Neath, South Wales for our 2nd time.
We played there in April and it was a great crack so we're glad to be coming back!!
Support tonight comes from Struck Out.
Cheers to the good people of The Duke for helping us out

TOMORROW:
We've been lucky to be squeezed on to the bill of the Noz & Spitfest (or could be Spit & Nozfest ha ha) at The Stamford Arms, Stalybridge.
Massive thanks to Dave Fungalpunk & Noz for bailing us out, nice one!!
We're on at 9pm for a 30 minute set. Also on the bill (from headliners down..) are: 3 Black Dwarfs + Thracia + Pop Fosters + RBH + Razor Cuts + Rebel Conspiracy + Mardi Gras Bombers + The Kirkz.
It's gonna be a cracker!!
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=140250807274&ref=nf

Right then, 500 not out!!!!!

Yep, we've almost made it to 500 gigs (492 tonight, 493 tomorrow).
It's been a while coming but we are more than well chuffed that's it's nearly here.
The 500th gig will be at The 12 Bar, Swindon, supporting The Sex Presleys (on tour in the UK from USA) on Thursday October 15th, anyone in or near the area please come along and party with us, it's gonna be such an ace night!!!!
When we first started this band it was only to do a one-off gig, so to have done this many and in so many crazy places (France, Germany, Holland, Poland, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia, Bosnia, Serbia and, of course, England, Scotland and Wales) has been absolutely amazing!!!

Big big thanks to everyone we've met along the way, all the bands we've played with, all the places we've stayed at (and some great places I've slept at too ha ha) and everyone and anyone who has helped us in any way at all....we really, really appreciate it....thankyou!!!!!

That may well sound like a goodbye but it isn't...we've got to 500, next stop 1000!!!!

Thanks for reading and here's a list of everything we've got coming between now and the end of the year.

11th - The Duke, Neath, South Wales
12th - The Stamford Arms, Stalybridge
25th - Ryan's Bar, Torquay
26th - Westhill Community Centre, Brighton - Benefit for SCHNEWS
27th - Nowhere Inn, Plymouth
29th - Riffs Bar, Greatfield supporting ZEROSCAPE!!!
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=131098928020&ref=mf

OCTOBER
2nd - Wagon & Horses, Digbeth, Birmingham supporting EASTFIELD!!!
3rd - Conspiracy Fest 2 All Dayer, Sawyers, Kettering supporting INNER TERRESTRIALS!!!
9th - The Furnace, Swindon - supporting PETER & THE TEST TUBE BABIES!!!
15th - The 12 Bar, Swindon - 500th GIG!!!! supporting SEX PRESLEYS!!!
22nd - Mini Tour of Europe @ Venue TBA, Holland
23rd - Mini Tour of Europe @ Juz, Mannheim, Germany
24th - Mini Tour of Europe @ Venue TBA, Germany
25th - Mini Tour of Europe @ De Koevoet, Antwerpen, Belgium
29th - Douglas Vaults, South Shields
30th - The 3 Tuns, Whitehaven, Cumbria
31st - The Fishtank, Durham

NOVEMBER
8th - SLWC Promotions All Day @ The Windmill, Brixton, London
21st - The Jockey, Wakefield

DECEMBER
11th - TBA, JAPAN!!!!
12th - TBA, JAPAN!!!!
13th - TBA, JAPAN!!!!
19th - SAS Crazy All Dayer @ Thatched House, Stockport

Take it easy folks and hope to see ya at a gig somewhere

Pete - 2SM
http://www.2sickmonkeys.com
http://www.myspace.com/2sickmonkeys

I know i always sez I loves ya, but you rule!

Ha ha cheers Mark, love ya too

Just wanted to point as well that the 500th gig is now at The Furnace on October 9th (supporting PETER & THE TEST TUBE BABIES).
It's been brought forward a week as we've added a gig in Brighton for this coming Saturday.

The gig at The Furnace is a memorial/tribute for Mick Love and is being put on by The Charred Hearts, it's a cracking line up too....so hope to see some of you there.

Dad i need your help

If it's about the cd printing, I'm just about to send you the templates

Good news & bad news....

Aint updated this for an age, so thought I'd better do something about it now.

Bad News:
We were due to be going to Japan this month but due to circumstances well out of my control we are not going now...this WILL happen in summer 2010 though.

Good News
Writing and rehearsing of new material for the second album and a new EP and 2 tracks for a Rudimentary Peni tribute album is going great and it will all see the light of day in 2010.
We have also found a great live recording of a gig we did in Villnius, Lithuania in the summer, so the live album will definitely happen in the new year too
And we also managed to pass 500 gigs (currently on 512) which we're well chuffed with.

Here's the gigs we've got coming up in December:

10th - Meze Lounge, Newport, South Wales
11th - 12 Bands Of Xmas @ The Vic, Swindon
16th - The Junction, Bristol
17th - Riffs Bar, Greatfield (supporting Staring At The Sun!!)
18th - The 2 Pigs, Cheltenham
19th - The Thatched House, Stockport
23rd - The Alsager Arms, Alsager, Stoke-On-Trent

Forgot to add a new review from our gig in Wakefield a couple of weeks back....

"The night was closed with a musical exhibition of bassism and drumming, and how to combine the two and rock some serious bollocks off. A simple lesson in words but musically you need to be a real artiste to master what the 2 Sick Monkeys rattle forth. This outfit, two-piece, duo, couple, pair - whatever you will - are a seriously good unit who work darn hard and are a total asset to the punk scene. This is the yardstick to judge by - does your band apply themselves so much as to produce a show of such intensity? Is your band willing to clock up 500 gigs in such a short space of time with a view to reaching the 1000 barrier in the not too distant future? A couple of questions well worth considering. This is the 7th 2SM appearance on the SAS Tour and in that time they have never failed to do the business. The drums provide a steady backdrop to the mesmerising bass work and both components work in gratifying unison and bring forth a punk treat. The songs excel in many areas with various intricacies and twists that add to the holistic enjoyment. The best tonight - f**k off they are all good! The banter was especially good with one heckler completely stumping Pete and leaving him speechless. Ha, ha - that'll teach ya to talk to strange women.
So a good night with an average turn-out that dwindled off towards the end thus in my mind insulting the skill and artistry of the incredible 2 Sick Monkeys. It still went well though and thanks to Noz and Karen, Steve from Phoenix, the MLTF boys and Ian from the Despondents for dropping by."

Review by Dave Fungalpunk

Full review of the gig can be found at:
http://www.fungalpunknature.co.uk/FUNGALPUNK/SAS/SASReviews/21NovWakefield09.html

haha, tell us more about this heckler Pete!!!

Dave at Fungalpunk is a one man punk media machine, bless 'im.

Hi,

Been a while but then it always is I suppose

Right, we haven't been out gigging much lately but that's not to say we haven't been busy...but then I would say that, wouldn't I?

We've just finished recording our tracks for the Rudimentary Peni tribute album being put out by the lovely people at Pumpkin Records.
We've recorded Poppycock and B-Ward and they sound pretty bloody good.
Not sure of the release date yet but as soon as I find out I'll pass it on.
There are some cracking bands on it and it's gonna be a bloody good tribute to a top band!!

We're also half way through recording tracks for the next EP.
It's gonna be a 6 or 7 track affair and will hopefully be out around March on Smegma Records or Pumpkin Records or both ha ha

We have also been writing and rehearsing stuff for our second album.
We still need to get the lyrics sorted on a few of the songs but the tunes sound great and it's shaping up nicely.
We're looking at a summer release for it, more than likely round August time...again we'll let you know as soon as it's ready.

The Live Album that we've been meaning to do for a few years now is finally gonna make an appearance this year.
Tomas Verbaitis, the soundman at X1:20 Club, Villnius, Lithuania, recorded our set when we were there last year and it sounds great!!
So we are, hopefully, gonna release this with a Live DVD featuring loads of live footage we've had filmed over the years and also a couple of promo video's too...should be a nice little package

I'll update the gig list on the first page of this thread sometime later on.

Right, that's more than enough for now...hope you're all doing well and thanks for reading.

Take it easy

Pete - 2SM

Edit - Gig list in first post now updated...thanks

2SM - Website
2SM - Myspace
2SM - Facebook Smegma Records Pumpkin Records - Website Pumpkin Records - Myspace

Some new reviews.....

The Green Rooms, Treforest - May 8th 2010 by Vick

Headlining an exceptional night were the larger than life ‘2 Sick Monkeys’ . As it says in their bio, they are a small outfit with a big sound. I’d go as far as saying that they have a huge sound and a massive impact on the audiences that they play to. High energy, fast paced, attitude punk, they are playing everywhere and with everyone including some massive names such as ‘Anti -Nowhere League’, ‘The Buzzcocks’ and ‘The Vibrators’. They seem to be able (with just a bassist and drummer) to incorprate well timed, complex punk with more tuneful and catchy punk riffs. A band who run their bass though two amps to replace the sound of a guitar – they are exprerimental and yet captivating, with an amazing stage presence and a candid, outspoken frontman definitely a band to see live.

2 Sick Monkeys - "Why?" by Goda Raibyte

Once upon a time, drummer Fred Nus bassist Pete Butler from Swidon town, UK, gathered for a support gig for a friend Darrin Mooney (Primal Scream). Soon they became 2 Sick Monkeys, and now have released four albums and rocked over five hundred gigs in thirteen countries around the world.
My first live clash with 2SM was last summer. After the first few chords it bacame clear to me – it‘s impossible not to believe them: two honest and as we, Lithuanians, say simple as "two pennies“ and a little mad British monkeys on stage completely gave theirselves. Live perdormances of 2 Sick Monkeys - the load of positivism and energy, that turns the band and the audience into one body.
Album: "Why?" - the latest 2 Sick Monkeys' work, released on their own independent label Smegma Records.
"Why?" has only five songs, but it‘s enough to understand the „language“ of 2SM.
The group speaks clearly: they are not looking for sophisticated literary expressions and are totally able to analyse complicated social issues so for everyone to understand. This is one reason why 2 Sick Monkeys cought me - among the artists whose texts often seem like random expressions, a „patchwork“ of metaphors, such outspokenness of 2SM is like a proper refreshment for my soul.
As for the technical side, 2 Sick Monkeys are also striking: both Pete and Fred has really great playing skills, experiment a lot with different sounds, Pete and Fred sings right in the place and time, with the necessary emotions and tone. One of the largest 2 Sick Monkeys inspirations - Nomeansno, whose influence on the sound is clearly visible.
The first song, the same as the album title "Why?" 2 Sick Monkeys ask - why? Why we kiss America‘s ass, why we produce so many bombs? "Why?" – it‘s a brave persons rhetorical question - do we know why this is? Whether we NEED this?
"Big Words" - a hint of Henry Brown – a famous slave in XIX century, who managed to escape from slavery, to become a famous orator, but later was silenced by slaveholders. "Big Words" – empty loudly yelled words.
"Walk A Line" - a great instrumental "jam session" type of work, shuts up all those who doubt these two monkeys are talented.
With another track from the album - "Retro Age" - , honestly, "2 Sick Monkeys surprised me: when most of older punks often worship the past, 2 Sick Monkeys say what's so good in the past? Move forwards otherrwise you‘ll spend your life whimpering for the past.
"Me Me Me" - the last, personally, the best song of the album. Rebellious side of 2 Sick Monkeys the best sound and the strongest „taste“ of NoMeansNo.
Two instruments, two personalities - a wonderful group.
"Small outfit - big sound!

I recommend to all "Nomeansno" and positive punk rock music fans.

Goda is from Litunania, she's a top lady and thankfully did a lovely translation for us.
If there's any lithuanians floating by you can find the original version at: http://www.bernardinai.lt/straipsnis/2010-03-30-2-sick-monkeys-why/42754

Still Kicking Against The Pricks - Spit & Sawdust - Deadlamb/Fungalpunk Compilation - Review by A Man Called Moose

Hold the phone! 2 SICK MONKEYS - WHY. Dispelling that myth that only Honda cars come from ..Swindon.. these 2 very diseased primates grab you by the throat and give you a swift knee in the bollocks to get your attention. Heavy Metal Punk Drum n Bass style. A song that asks the eternal question WHY? ANIMAL MAGIC!(is there a track on here better than this one, more than likely so lets press on)

Cheers for reading folks, much appreciated

News just in....

Big update to the original post...please pop back to page 1 to see what I'm on about...thanks

And we're playing The Edinburgh Fringe Festival at the end of the month, gonna be a fun night I think!!
Sunday August 29th - C (-1) (venue 24), Chambers Street, Edinburgh (midnight start)
End Of The Fringe Punk Cabaret - Anti Racism Gig w/ Dirtbox Disco + Very Special Guests www.edfringe.com

Edinburgh Fringe gig cancelled...gutted!!
Only blessing is that we found out now rather than Sunday night

It's time to take a break, once we finish this years gigs we're not doing any more for a few months..we're knackered!!
Need a rest before it's stops being fun.

We've been quite busy these last few years & need to take some time out to recharge our batteries & make sure that we really want to keep doing this.

Thank you's go out to everyone we've met over the last few years, even the bastards, it's been fun and we love ya x