I’m pleased to announce that Liquidman will be supporting Leatherface at The Portland Arms in Cambridge on Thursday 24th June. Sweet.

I’ve not posted anything here for a while and I haven’t got any gigs coming up, but I have been reasonably busy. In the interests of brevity, here’s a quick roundup of what’s happened so far in 2010.

• I played guitar on a couple of tracks from the new Billy No Mates album, which I think is going to be called “Duck, Duck, Goose“. The album’s not mixed yet, but I’ve heard a rough mix of all the songs and it’s really good. Definitely one to look out for. I’ll update here when it’s finally released.
• Unfortunately the planned Billy No Mates tour in Germany fell victim to a bit of punk rock organisation and is no more.
• My new punk band, Liquidman, had a couple of really good reherasals with our new bassist, Damion Rice (formerly of The Killerest Expression). Rich switched from bass to lead guitar and it’s sounding great. We had a few potentials on the gig front, but they all faded away…then we all got busy and now it’s mid-May. Hmmm. Maybe things will pick up later in the year? Maybe I should schmooze more and go to gigs?
• The biggest news though is the fact that I’ve started work on a new Big Ray album. Yep, you heard that correctly. Let’s face it….the history of rock’n'roll is littered with pointless gestures, so what’s the problem with one more? The idea is to plug away and get it all finished by the end of the year. Over and above that there are no plans, but hopefully the process will get me off my arse and out there playing more acoustic gigs in 2011. I’m recording the acoustic guitar & vocal backing tracks with Rich Matthews in his studio in London and will then get the rest of the cast to add their material on top either in person or via the wonders of the Internet. So far lined up to play on the songs are Big Ray regulars Reado (drums), Paul Duncan (bass) and possibly John Ruscoe (guitar). In addition two of my favourite musicians, Michael Hampton and Dave Derby, both from New York will be continuing their Big Ray associations by sprinkling their own brands of fairy dust over the music from their respective home studios in the Big Apple. Michael in particular had a huge impact on “Business Class” so expect more of the same from him. Additionally I hope to rope in Mickey Trenter, Clive Watling, Li’l Lost Lou, James Allen and possibly some others to round things off. I’ll probably post odds and sods from the recordings as we go along before making the final thing available here for free as always once it’s done. In that spirit here’s a very ‘early days’ version of one of the new songs, “Shimmy“. Check it out now and then wait to compare it with the finished version in early 2011.

Our good friend and former K-Line drummer, James Sherry, was on hand at the Bird’s Nest gig last week to take some pictures and record a few minutes of video. Turns out the room was too dark for you to see anything on the video, but the sound quality was decent enough, so I cut that out and have uploaded the 2 songs as audio only. Squirrels cuts off a few seconds from the end, but you get the whole of Seams. I’ve also included a few of James’ snaps from the gig too.

Here’s a taste of the Cambridge gig from last night. The lights a bit irritating and mean that you can’t really make out Tom & Rich, but at least the sound doesn’t distort which is nice. We’re playing the old Sink song, Blue Noodles.

Liquidman - Cambridge 19th December 2009 from Ed Wenn on Vimeo.Liquidman playing an old Sink song, “Blue Noodles” at The Portland Arms, Cambridge on 19th December 2009. Ed, Tom & Rich. Filmed by Jacqui.

Thursday 17th: Liquidman

The Birds Nest supporting STFU
32 Deptford Church Street,  Deptford, SE8 4RZ
FREE GIG

• http://www.myspace.com/deptfordbirdsnest

I assume we’ll be opening up proceedings at this gig because Kev kindly agreed to slip us in at the last minute. That means we’ll be onstage at 9PM sharp.

Friday 18th: Billy No Mates

Wat Tyler
+ Billy No Mates
+ Ted Leo
+ STFU
£5 on the door. No advance tix.

• http://www.last.fm/event/1096866
• http://www.thegrosvenorsw9.co.uk/

Saturday 19th : Liquidman

The Portland Arms in Cambridge
Ciarafest 14 with Karmadillo, Puncture Repair Kit & The Pony Collaboration.
We’re on 2nd from last and will kick off our set at 9.30.

• http://www.theportlandarms.co.uk/mbbs2/calendar/event-view.asp?eventid=2226