Visog

11.03.13

We’re moving to a place called England

by A plastic Rose

Dear friends, fans and loved ones,

APR was born and bred in Belfast over 7 years ago and we’ll always be a Belfast band but the time has come to spread our wings and start again on foreign soil (wink). We have built an incredible team of people working for us who feel it would be more beneficial for us if we lived in England and we realise that these opportunities don’t come to every band so we’re gonna give it a go. We’ll be leaving in May.

We want up thank everyone in Belfast who has supported the band over the years (WAY too many to list) and every band we’ve ever played with or seen play live. We love this city so much and you’ve given us lifelong memories.

We have one last Belfast headliner as residents before we leave in SU Radar Apr 25th come wish us luck.

04.10.11

There’s a culture of musicians in Northern Ireland right now who can be regularly ‘scene’ riding about on strange bicycles. Although these artists are usually eccentrics and troubadours, there is one in particular who seems to draw attention as he travels with abandon along the Belfast cobbles. His name is Gerry Norman, and his bike is bright pink.

Boy cycles girl’s bike. Boy wants BMX by Gerry Norman

In this blog I’d like to ask the age old question on the lips of every boy/man on the planet…should we cycle girls bikes? It’s easy just to day ‘no’ but, like dressing up as the ‘Ladyboys of Bangkok’ on a Saturday night, don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it.

I’ve come across some seriously vicious sleggin over the past couple of weeks because I’ve had to use a purply, pinky girls bike to go to work and it’s really cramping my frickin style man! I’ve been the victim of tweets from randomers noticing me as ‘the singer from A Plastic Rose’ with hash tags including ‘#mangina’ so now this has become an urgent band and label issue. My friend has promised me a BMX and I’ve been waiting for him to cough up on the offer so hopefully he’ll be reading this and it’ll speed things up 😉

Personally I’ve never really given a crap about how I get from A to B, as long as I got there quicker than on foot.  When I was in college in Sligo I had an awesome blue BMK Ovetto moped followed by the classic red and white Honda 50, which turned a few heads for the wrong reasons, so this new found attention doesn’t bother me. It’s still pretty interesting to see how it annoys some people and I have a weird sense of humour so I find it hilarious. This one ‘jock’ type guy was walking by and told me ‘it suits me’. Another guy Yesterday (I think it might be the same guy, or maybe all pricks just look the same to me these days) was driving with his mates, pulled down the window and said….wait for it…..”nice bike”. Man these guys are clever! The only thing that’s saving me from a proper Belfast style beating is that I’ve long hair so most of them just think I’m a girl..in fact, maybe my friend in the car was coming on to me? Damn he was pretty cute too, we could have gone to a Crusaders match together followed by a cruise in his over vamped, cheap, Honda Civic. A girls dream date.

Look, to be honest girls bikes are way more fun than boys and that’s a FACT! They’re lower so your knees go up to your chest while you cycle, they have that little bell for making old people get out of your way and the brakes rarely work which makes going downhill an adventure. Plus who the fuck would steal a girls bike so you’ve way more security?

I’ve really enjoyed my time on the bike but I think it’s now time to get the bike I’ve always wanted since I was a wee lad in Sligo….a freakin BMX! Come on mate make it happen.

Things I’ve been lovin’ lately:

The Guard

Bridesmaids

X Men:1st Class

Aston Villa

Jools Holland

VerseChorusVerse

Animal Disco

Space Raiders

Kettle Chips

Ham and tomato sarnies with mayo and MAYBE a little salt.

What Gerrys bike might as well look like

20.09.11

I read somewhere that the week ‘Nevermind’ came out, Kurt Cobain was so poor he was living in his car. I never really believed someone with all that talent could be so poor, until A Plastic Rose  signed to Di Di Mau. Never have I met a group of people with as little cash as APR, so when it comes to improvisation they are the masters. When it comes to cookery……well find out for yourself.

A Young Person’s Guide To Eating While Becoming A Rockstar #1 – Faux-Mediterranean Roast Chicken with Pasta by Ian McHugh (A Plastic Rose)

Having been asked by Rory to do a blog for the Di Di site, I couldn’t resist whinging about poverty or concentrate without thinking about food, so here’s my contribution for the morbidly poor aspiring rockstar.  It’s the first of a series that will probably never be continued.

Disclaimer – I know nothing about nutrition or food safety, there’s a good chance eating like me will earn you an early, chubby death.  None of the views or practices in this post are representative of the views of A Plastic Rose or Di Di Mau, but are delicious, and cheap, so you probably have no option.

Ingredients

One Chicken – for the chicken, one will need spend some time lurking in the local Co-Op; fortunately, time is not something we’re going to be too short of, unless it’s gig day, more of which below.  Just keep checking that meat section until you get something last minute reduced, and comfort yourself with the knowledge that you’re saving the world from more wasted food!

Pasta – Some nice, dirt cheap pasta.  600g.  My favourite is Trattoria Verdi (also, see ‘wine’) available in Tesco’s, but by all means go for the ‘value’ brand stuff if you can stand it!

Basil – for god’s sake, buy a plant.  It makes you look dead sophisticated and you get lovely fresh basil from mother nature, instead of a dried out tasteless mess.

Oil – naturally, I should recommend Olive Oil, but I’m not made of money, so just use whatever you have.

Lemon Juice – I normally use the bottled stuff, as you can’t be buying bloody lemons every couple of days.   But you’ll need a real one here, more on that later!

Garlic – lots

Chopped Tomatoes – Two cans – preferably the ones with herbs in them from Co-Op for laziness sake.

Chorizo – mmmmm, chorizo – may double the price of the meal though, better scrap it!  Get yourself a green Pepperami!

Cheeze – parmezan for the Bourgois, Italian Shakey cheeze for us.  Don’t but the real stuff, are you mad?  Also, chedder, or whatever’s in the fridge.

Wine – a bottle of Trattoria Verdi from tesco’s, start drinking while cooking to enhance taste – you might need it.

Preparation (cookin’!)

1 – Stick the oven on to 200.

2 – Open the wine.

3 – Boil the lemon in some water briefly, puncture it a few times; then get that chicken and just pop that lemon gingerly into it’s nether regions.  Whack a couple of garlic and loads of basil leaves in there too, why not, compared to the indignity of industrial farming, a premature death, plucking and being eaten this can’t really hurt.

4 – Now baste!  Throw some oil on top, and squeeze some lemon juice on.  I slice into the breasts then and put a slice of lemon in.  Throw it in the oven with some tin foil round it.

5 – Drink some wine.

6 – Cook the pasta in boiling water with a little oil and some salt.  Cover etc, you know how to cook pasta surely.  Leave it very al dente (italian for ‘with bite’ I assume) as we’ll be baking it!

7 – While the pasta is in, put the tomatoes (with herbs if needed) into a big oven dish with the Pepperami and some parmezan.

8 – Drink more wine.

9 – Add the pasta to the oven dish, cover with cheeze, and place in the oven for 20 mins; until the chicken is done, really.  You’ll know when the chicken is done because it looks done.  Also, remove the tin foil from the chicken at this point.

You can use this recipe to share with three or four people, or store in the fridge/freezer for later.  I’m putting some in Tupperware (I love Tupperware) for gig days.  Enjoy.

Something Ian prepared earlier

27.08.11

We at Di Di Mau really wanted Dutch Schultz to be the first to post here as quite simply; no Dutch Schultz – no Di Di Mau. Di Di Mau also promised that we would not edit anything that was posted by contributors to this section. So Dutch Schultz saw fit to take advantage of this by self releasing LACF and posting the following within a week. We love them more than ever. Enjoy

BANDS & BEARDS & BEARDS IN GENERAL by Willy Mundell (Dutch Schultz)

Do bands with beards/facial hairs sound better than bands without?

A hell of a lot of musicians (men) in rock/alternative music sport some sort of whiskers (myself included), it seems that if you don’t have any it’s probably because you are incapable of growth. Some may agree “the more hair, the more riff power behind the geetar!” – Gravy Davy (a wise drunk I met on tour).

Why do most of us men involved in rock/metal grow them, do we look cool, do we need them for the band image and to intimidate puny men in other bands or young fans, are we being different like all the others, are we hiding a fat face or lip with a mind of its own?

I don’t pretend to know the answers, though I do know as fact that a lone moustache upon a rockers beck will not go unanswered. I took a notion and shaved my beard at the weekend. I look younger and feel fresh; this is good? Why then am I willing the hairs to grow back at the speed of light?

Imagine there’s no heaven
Its easy if you try
No hairy Rockers
Above us only sky

Am I a dreamer? I like to imagine a time before blogs… Willy – Dutch Schultz

Remember the beard dye ‘Just For Men’?

If you follow Di Di Mau on Twitter then you’ll know it’s more than just a chancer trying to release some tunes, it’s a community of artists, songwriters, graphic designers, journalists, film directors AND a chancer. This is the page where you will hear the words of the bands on Di Di Mau and the thoughts and visions of the people that surround them. Their words and visions, unedited….it could be the end of us, but if it wasn’t for them you wouldn’t be here in the 1st place. Anything could happen in the next 5 years, and everything probably will…it was nice knowing you.