The Magnets blog

I Love The Edinburgh Festival

2007-08-11T04:00:00.000+01:00

I love the Edinburgh Festival. Where else do you come off stage and randomly get asked to host a karaoke night in the venue bar! We had a ball. Andy did his version of Angels, Steve sang Billy Joel, James and Derek were immensely cool, and I even came up with a few choice lines. Hooray for improvisation and being up for a laugh.

Our show here is going well now, after a bit of a slow start. Tonight's audience rocked, and it feels like the festival is really rolling now. Wish you were here!

Michael

Six Mics, No Luggage: Back in Edinburgh for Fringe 2007

2007-08-01T17:29:00.000+01:00

We're back in our second home, Edinburgh, for our third go at the Fringe Festival. Despite our year off in 2006 it certainly feels like we're almost an integral part of the Fringe now. Everyone knows who The Magnets are, we've got a great part time slot in the Assembly Ballroom - one of the top venues, and we've even sold some tickets!

That doesn't mean we'll be resting on our laurels though. The secret of Fringe success is in hard work. We'll be here, there and everywhere, guesting on shows for anyone who invites us, and promoting the show everywhere from the free stages on the Royal Mile, to swanky corporate dos in the evening.

As a band we've been through a lot since the last time we were here in 2005. Our last Fringe show 'Magnetude' brought us a major production deal, and a world of trouble. We still don't really understand what happened. One minute we were playing to packed houses in Berlin with our show Vox Pop, with gigs in the diary into the next year, and a production company for whom money seemed no object. The next we're left high and dry, with no gigs, and a large debt.

So, once again we've found we're better off doing things our own way. The gigs are rolling in, nobody is trying to make our show into something its not, we've all gained lives outside The Magnets, and Edinburgh awaits. Six Mics No Luggage? Six Guys, No Worries.

OK, OK

2007-05-07T17:50:00.000+01:00

I admit to being a rubbish blogger. Sorry we haven't been updating this site for a while. Apart from regular corporate gigs and a couple of superb nights at the Kitsch Lounge Riot pictures below), things have been quietish for The Magnets with no big announcemnents to make. We've even lost a member - Steve - albeit temporarily. He's off in the jungle for a couple of months looking after Orangutans.

However, with our return to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival drawing closer, things are hotting up in time for the summer. Look out for some warm up gigs in the UK and Germany in July, and then we'll be at the Assembly Rooms Ballroom in Edinburgh for most of August. More details to follow, promise!

Michaelx

A Small Update

2006-08-22T18:40:00.000+01:00

Thank you to everyone who has been in touch asking about future plans for The Magnets. We're currently developing plans and seeking investors for a new show, and hopeully we'll find somebody rather more reliable than Back Row Productions, who let us down badly despite the obvious success of Vox Pop in Hamburg and Berlin in terms of both audience numbers and reviews.

Unfortunately, the news about the cancellation of our German dates came too late to rebook dates for this summer, or return to the Edinburgh Fringe, which is very frustrating. This is an industry in which bookings tend to happen six months or more in advance, so we'll be looking at getting back on the road towards the end of this year, or the start of 2007. In the meantime we're all keeping busy in our different ways, and will be coming together soon to begin work on the new show. We'll keep you posted.

Rotterdam and Beyond

2006-06-09T13:11:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone....

I thought I'd put a picture from the Musicals in Ahoy series that we did in Rotterdam. The picture is actually posted on http://www.musicalsinahoy.nl -- hopefully they won't mind that I'm putting it here too!

The picture is from our "Jersey Boys" medley that we performed in the second half. For those who couldn't make it to the show you can see from the photo that the production was absolutely massive!!

Luckily for us, we got to sing on a 50m wide stage with 42 dancers around us...ahh it's a tough life!

Now that we're back from Rotterdam we are having a well earned break. Some people will know that we are now not going to be performing in Germany this summer, and in fact we won't be doing Vox Pop again. Sadly the relationship with our production company did not work out. That leaves us with quite a long break in our diary, but also provides us with time to think about what we are going to do next.

Fear not, all is not lost and we're working on one or two things for the future. No news yet, but when we have something to announce we will of course make it public as soon as we can.

In the meantime we're retiring to our gardens, slapping on the sun cream, opening a few beers and watching the World Cup.

And yes, England will win. In Germany. On Penalties.

Nic

Back Rehearsing B4 Amsterdam

2006-05-10T21:44:00.000+01:00

We've reconvened in London for the last three days to rehearse our part in the 'Songs from the Shows' fortnight that we're about to perform in Rotterdam. We're only doing a couple of tunes so it was really nice to be able to rehearse without the kind of pressure we had before the opening of Vox Pop. Learning 20+ songs in three weeks was no easy matter! We're off tomorrow early, and I'm looking forward to the first three days in Amsterdam, which I haven't seen since I was about 11.

If you get the chance, check out some of the new songs we've posted on the web here: http://www.overplay.com/band.asp?band_id=1002158&page=songs. For what it's worth we're in their top 10 at the moment, so play the tunes and keep us there!

Rotterdam Details

2006-04-20T11:06:00.000+01:00

Our next step is a guest spot in Rotterdam's 'Musicals in Ahoy' 2006', from 17th - 28th May. It is a night of songs from the shows in which we'll be peforming a medley from current broadway show 'Jersey Boys', and our favourite from Edinburgh 2006 'Sit Down You're Rocking The Boat'. So don't expect to see us on stage for too long! We're basically there to generate interest in the Vox Pop run we'll be doing in Amsterdam in the Autumn.

You can find more details about the show here.

Berlin VP Pics

2006-04-18T17:10:00.000+01:00

It looks like Mikey beat me to it but I thought I'd add a couple of my own thoughts about the Berlin Vox Pop experience.

I think we'd be very able to say that the Berlin run exceeded everyone's expectations. Initially we were worried about attendance numbers but in the end the attendances were fantastic. 1000's came out to see the show and we loved playing in the Schiller Theatre.

Kudos definitely should go to the publicity team at Semmel and Backrow who did the most fantastic job in promoting the show. There were posters all over Berlin, including this one from the underground.

It was very exciting to travel on the busses and U-bahn's of Berlin and see our posters everywhere...and we mean everywhere!

Thank you to everyone too at the Schiller who were great to work with.

Now to three weeks of serious relaxing and catching up with friends who thought we all moved to Abu Dabi or places further afield...yes we do still exist!!

I leave with a picture of the band just after a show...and yes we are all wearing our makeup still...we kind of liked it!
Nic
xx

Vox Popping in Berlin

2006-04-18T16:08:00.000+01:00

We returned to the UK yesterday after two very successful weeks in Berlin where initially 'catastrophic' ticket sales were turned into a near sell out in the last week at the Schiller Theatre. Brilliant work by the promotions team got us some of the best TV and radio publicity we've ever had, and we were thereby able to convince 1000s of hard-to-please Berliners that our show was worth a try. Thanks to everyone who came to see us, and we hope you'll follow our progress as we develop Vox Pop the show, and The Magnets music.

We've certainly been delighted to be able to sustain such large audiences in Hamburg and Berlin, way beyond what we've been able to achieve before. Our next stop is Rotterdam in May, with bookings after that dependant on the hard work being put in by our production company, Back Row. While there are still improvements to make in the new show, having only had three weeks to develop it before the Hamburg run, it feels like we're on the right track.

Like the other boys I'll certainly be taking a few days to rest and enjoy some time at home. Then we'll be working on the songs we need to arrange for Rotterdam and thinking about some new tunes for Vox Pop. Then sometime we need to think about recording the songs from the show. Also, Nic has promised to update the website, so look out for that in the next few days.

VOX POP opens in Hamburg!!

2006-03-13T14:47:00.000Z

Well we made it! Phew!

After only 12 days rehearsal we opened our show Vox Pop in Hamburg last Wednesday, and what a trip it's been.

We lost Colin in the first week of rehearsals (we didn't misplace him, but rather Robbie grabbed him!) and had to find a new bass in 4 days! Derek stepped into the breach and has performed amazingly.

Then we rehearsed like mad for only 12 days before flying out to Hamburg to open the show to over 600 people. Yikes! During our rehearsal period not only did we have to learn 22 songs and dances but we were also interrupted by press trips to Berlin and a gig in Portugal. It's been a completely crazy time.

We arrived last Monday in Hamburg to see that the town had indeed been painted blue and yellow (the VOX POP colours), as promised by our German press agents. We stepped off the plane and went straight to radio and TV interviews and arrived to the theatre late that evening to start the technical rehearsals. Pictured left are some of us outside the theatre underneath our billboard (??!?!?!! a billboard of the magnets, how weird!!).

By this time we were panting for breath and almost collapsing from exhaustion, but there was to be no rest for the wicked, and believe you me, we are certainly that.

Anyway, on to Tuesday night, the preview night and it was the first time we'd ever run the show in full. Despite being very nervous we managed to pull the show off and the audience when mad...what a relief. After long hours in the rehearsal room to know that the audience liked what we did was a massive relief.

Wednesday was press night and gladly the show was improving in look, feel and performances and again the audience went bonkers. Again relief all round!

For the rest of the week the show was running better and better and we've now all settled into the show and can relax a little bit.

The weather here has been incredibly snowy (as evidenced by the authors self protrait) and we've been playing in the show like the boys that we are!!

Another three weeks here and then we're off to Berlin for two weeks. After that who knows!!

Thank you to all the friends and fans who have already seen the show. We really appreciate all of the support you give us.

For more info on the show (in German and in Germany) go to: www.voxpoplive.de

Nic
xx

Colin says goodbye, and we welcome our new bass Derek

2006-02-16T20:42:00.000Z

As those who came to the last night at the Riverside will already know, we've undergone our first change in personel for over eight years. We're extremely sorry to see Colin go, after he was offered a six month tour as a backing vocalist with Robbie Williams. It was a very tough decision for him to make, and we'll miss him very much as we go forward into our new theatre show beginning in Hamburg in March.

Finding out Colin was leaving just a few days before rehearsals for the new show left us with a tough task to replace such a vital member of the group. With the help of a number of contacts we were able to bring in 8 auditionees at very short notice. All very talented, in particular we'll always remember Bruce, the 6'4, 46 year old ex-US Marine who sang Georgia to us and gave us tingles down our spines.

However, the man wot won it was the marvellous Derek Green of Derby who impressed us not only with a lovely singing voice, but fantastic dancing ability, and an irrepressable desire to make silly noises on microphones. A similar size and age from Colin, Derek has been a theatre performer and mime artist for many years. So far he's fitted in very, very well, picking up parts fast and singing low and in tune. He certainly needs to. We open in less than three weeks!!

Riverside Run Report

2006-02-16T20:31:00.000Z

Thanks to everyone who came to see us at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. We enjoyed some fantastic gigs, particularly in the last week as audiences numbers built up nicely after our TV and radio appearances. It was wonderful to have so many new faces in the audience, as well as many die-hard fans. We hope to see you many more times in the future.

We were also lucky to have our favourite celebrity fan Elle Macpherson down on two occasions with several of her friends and family. Thanks for all the texts and emails telling us about the coverage having her around got us in Heat magazine, the News of the World, and the Daily Telegraph to name but a few. Also in the audience on the last night was film and West End star Ewan Macgregor. Amazingly he came because he is in an a cappella group, even more amazingly given that it was formed, just The Magnets all those years ago, while he was performing in Guys'n'Dolls recently. There must be something about that musical...

The final concerts were particularly memorable for us as they marked Colin's last shows as a member of The Magnets before he joins up with Robbie Williams as part of his backing choir. More on this in a further post.

GMTV & LK Today -- Today

2006-02-01T15:14:00.000Z

Hey all --

Thanks to everyone who sent in messages after seeing us on "GMTV" and "LK Today" this morning. We actually recorded LK Today yesterday, but did the GMTV slot live in the studio. 5.45am calls don't bother us!!

For those who didn't catch it we performed an edited version of "This Love" on GMTV at 7.40am and then "Crazy Love" at about 9am on LK Today. Everyone at the studio was lovely to us and we're very pleased to have been on the show.

Hopefully people who saw it will be inspired to get tickets to the Riverside show!

Nic
Xx

Getting Ready For The New Year & New Career

2006-01-13T23:24:00.000Z

In a couple of weeks we'll be embarking on two new exciting projects, one short term and the other long term. What could be so exciting, I hear you cry, that Nic would stay in on a Friday night and write? Well, regardless of my (very quiet) social life I thought it important that the world knows what we're up to.

OK, number 1, we're doing our first London residency. Whilst we've always played "one-offs" all over the world we're actually going to be staying in one place, for three weeks and it's in our home town! Hoorah. We're going to be playing from Wednesday, January 25th until Sunday, February 12th at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. We're singing every day except for Mondays and it is going to be a great warm up for our second project, more of which later.

You can expect some of the old magnet faves as well as material that we're working on for the brand new show.

There was an advert in today's evening standard and more details can be found the Riverside Studios Website.

And, number 2, we're changing our career! (oh, only that...!!)
As Michael wrote in an earlier post we're changing the focus of what we do. We've teamed up with a renown production company to produce an internationally touring theatre show. A sort of "Stomp" with voices. VOX POP is the name of our new show and we're going to be having the World Premier (cue..."ooooooo") in Hamburg on March 8th.

At the moment we're still working with the director on the final concept but it is going to be an absolutely spectacular piece of theatre (we hope). Along with us we are working with a Tony and Olivier Award winning designer, an award winning director and the production company who found, produced and toured the multi-award winning show "Tap Dogs". Needless to say we're hoping that their collective experience coupled with our talent and experience will make a fabulous show.

Tickets for the Hamburg run are already on sale....check out the following links..

www.fliegende-bauten.de
www.semmel.info
www.voxpoplive.com

So we hope to see you all in London, Hamburg or one of the other places we're taking Vox Pop this year. At the moment it looks like we'll be visiting Germany, Holland, South Africa, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and that's all before christmas.

Anyway, enough for the moment, I'm sure, really sure that my phone is going to ring any moment with a hot date...surely...somone...anyone....!!

Nic
x

The Bride and Groom

2006-01-03T18:07:00.000Z

Steve and Sarah's wedding was a wonderfully romantic affair, with very many memorable moments that reflected the amount of effort and thought that they had put into it. Didn't she look gorgeous? And he even toned down on the orange in order to match her dress. They said their vows in the church where Steve has sung at services for many years, and rode off in a horse and trap, only to double back when they remembered there was free wine at the reception.

Nic and Steve gave wonderful, funny speeches, James sang and DJ'd splendidly, Colin compered with aplomb, and Michael and Andy didn't burn the church down or spill mulled wine on anyones dress. We did however sing very badly, having consumed a fair amount of that wine by then.
Most importantly Steve and Sarah had a wonderful day, celebrating their life together with all their friends and family gathered round. Now they are on honeymoon in South Africa feeding themselves to sharks.

The Stag

2006-01-03T17:46:00.000Z

Needless to say Steve's stag do went off swimmingly - literally in Nic's case as he was the only one to fall into the icy depths during the white water rafting. Boyish bonhomie was the order of the day and a lot of bad drunken singing by Michael and Steve in the wee small hours, though the locals strangely impressed. Even Guy was seen to consume the odd flamming sambuca, and that will explain what he was doing with that pool cue.

Stag Party! Weyhey!

2005-12-02T12:43:00.000Z

As many of you will know, Steve is getting married in December, so this weekend is Stag Weekend. Because Nic is mad, we're off whitewater rafting in north Wales. If there is a Magnet or two missing at the next concert you'll know who to blame.

Now, where did I put those handcuffs and that sexy nurse outfit?

End of an era

2005-11-30T18:25:00.000Z

As those who saw our recent concerts in Germany and Belgium will know, The Magnets are at a major career turning point. Those concerts were the last under our faithful promoter of recent years, Olli Tillmann (who we have to thank for earning us the largest part of our living in the post EMI years). and were our last independent headlining shows, as we change tack towards a more theatrical medium.

We've been moving in this direction in our shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the last two years, with the aim of building a show that can support residencies of several weeks at theatres across the world. No more will will we race helterskelter around Europe, driving 500km a day, seeing a new hotel room every night, and playing for 1000 people here, and 50 there. Touring like that has been a wonderful experience, seeing wonderful places big and small, and so many great people. However, we've told the same stories in the van about 100 times and it's time to move on.

Staying in one place will enable us to develop a better sounding and looking Magnets experience, in which you'll hear some old favourite tunes, and many fantastic new numbers, set in some surprising new ways. The show will debut in Europe (most likely Hamburg, Berlin and Amsterdam) in March to May, following rehearsals in February and a last three week outing for our straight pop show at the Riverside Studios here in London in Jan/Feb.

See you there!

Award Winning Magnets!

2005-11-30T18:04:00.000Z

The Magnets had a fantastic day out to Edinburgh last week to pick up the Forth Radio 'Pick of the Fringe Award' for our show at the Edinburgh Festival. We've sung at a few of these ceremonies around the UK, but this was the first time we've ever attended to pick up an award of our own. Our favourite camp comedian Craig Hill was on hand to present the plaque, impecibly dressed in pink suit and rainbow tie, and not for once in his usual kilt.

Despite spending most of the day on the train we made the most of the hospitality on offer (as ever) and even ended up jamming with Daniel Bedingfield. He later joined us on stage for a rendition of This Love, and we were all very impressed by both his enthusiasm for music and the sheer power of his singing voice. Other performers were Tony Christie singing Is This The Road to Amarillo, Simon from Blue, and that bloke from Savage Garden, while Lulu was also in attendance.

It was nice to bump into some old friends, including Jo Hart, our radio publicist from EMI days. However, it certainly made me think that it is much more pleasant to be attending to pick up an award for a show that we're very proud of, than to be attending in a doomed attempt to win airplay for a latest single.

Thanks again to all our friends at Forth Radio for the award, the hospitality and all your support both years we've attended the festival. We may well see you again next summer. Book us a table for next year!

Brunei Airport Transit Lounge

2005-09-30T09:54:00.000+01:00

Hello from...well OK, it's a quiz -- who can name the airport in the capital of Brunei?? Answers to nic@themagnets.com.

Well here we are waiting for a transfer to our flight back to the UK having well and truly DONE Singapore. We arrived almost two weeks ago and spent the first five days acclimatising, doing TV and Radio appearances, live PA's, school workshops and finally, last sunday our debut performance at the Victoria Theatre. And wow, what a gig! Over 800 enthusiastic Singaporeans turned out to make us feel truly welcome. We like to think that we returned the favour by putting on one of our best shows for a long time. There is certainly a very strong mutual love affair going on between The Magnets and Singapore.

After the concert last week we left Singapore for a holiday in Malaysia. Because we've been working pretty much non-stop since May we had always planned a few days r&r on a tropical island.

Thanks to some expert recommendations from Singapore friends we booked into the Sea Gypsy resort on Sibu Island. We had the most fantastic time on the island and were very well looked after by Linda and all of her team. We cannot recommend this place enough -- www.siburesort.com.

When we get back to the UK we'll post some pics of the concerts and our holiday.

Anyway, I think they're calling our flight...yikes, better run.

Nic
xxx

Back From Edinburgh

2005-08-31T18:17:00.000+01:00

Edinburgh 2005 was an incredible experience for us. It really started back in June when we started learning more songs in a few weeks than we've learnt in the last two years. Then in July we went into intensive rehearsals with a director, a writer and a choreographer. The result was Magnetude: a fantasised version of our history that required us to act and dance, as well as sing in ways we have never imagined before.

Anyone who saw the show (thank you all!) will know how different Magnetude was to our previous 'concert' style performances. Now we hope this show will become the first hour of a Magnets touring extravaganza that will tour major cities around the world. We've already had an offer from a major company that has toured shows such as Tap Dogs and Gumboots, exactly what we were looking for. We meet them next week, so hopefully discussions will move forward speedily.

As always in Edinburgh the wait for a first review is the most nervious time. We were therefore delighted to get full marks from the Scotsman (the major festival paper) within the first week. I've published the review in the post below. What it doesn't say is that Colin completely dried on his opening speech on that night, so thanks must go to the reviewer for being so sympathetic. The words "errrr, ummmm and it's all based on the bible" will be an indelible memory from this year's festival for all of us, and one that he will never live down.

It was a shame we didn't get reviewed in the London based press. Apparently the Guardian came in twice, but never bothered to publish a review. I guess they see us as not 'arty' enough to warrant serious attention from the quality press. But they reviewed our friend Nicholas Parson's who is hardly cutting edge these days, so how about us? Grumble, grumble.

Living in Edinburgh for a month has much to recommend it, particularly when one has all day to watch England winning test matches against Australia. We also had the wonderful Teuchers Pub to go to round the corner from our venue after each show. Colin and I even played for the pub cricket team (thanks to grumpy Rich), with Colin demonstrating some serious skills in a man of the match performance.

The most lovely thing about being in one place for a month is that you get to make friends amongst the other acts and venue staff. Our thanks go out to the party animals in Balagan and the Ashton Brothers, Rebecca Carrington, Boothby Graffoe, Antonio Forcione and his fantastic quintet, Ingrid, all the ushers, box office and promotional staff and backstage crew at the Assembly Rooms, and all the groups that came to see us including fellow a cappella groups Out of the Blue, In The Pink, Fitz Barbershop, the Swingles and Naked Voices.

Our Edinburgh prize for getting with the spirit of the fringe must go to our Producer Matthew Mitchell, who had managed to completely reverse his body clock by the end of the festival, such was his dedication to the cause. In second place was our director Laurie Samson, who came back not once but twice, so little could he bear to be apart from The Magnets. A real three pint hero, who has enriched our lives hugely in the creation of Magnetude.

Our 5 Star Scotsman Review!

2005-08-31T18:05:00.000+01:00

The Magnets- Magnetude JAN FAIRLEY
THE SANCTUARY, ASSEMBLY@ST GEORGE'S WEST (VENUE 157)
A BOY band to outwit all other boy bands, The Magnets are dazzling. Following the path of The Flying Pickets and Cuba's Vocal Sampling, this six-man a capella group doesn't just stick to inventive harmony singing.
Defining themselves wittily as a V'n'B (vocals and beats) group, two of them are vocal percussionists layering in backing instruments. Colin provides the very cool bass, while Andy uses lips and throat to create the sound of beatbox, scratching and ultimately a full drumkit with high hat and cymbals.
The joy of this show is the way the singing is inserted into a tongue-in-cheek pastiche documentary with cinematic overtones. In pre-recorded epic voice-overs, actors Jacqueline Pearce and Ian McKellen describe The Magnets' sharp-suited existence from the time of Biblical oracles.
We learn how, as "chosen ones", they abandoned aspiring careers to become Magnets - one gave up being a Tom Cruise look-alike pilot (cue Take My Breath Away); another eschewed double-glazing sales to become a vocal percussionist.
Not that any song given the Magnet treatment is sung straight. More re-creations than covers, each piece is as brilliantly choreographed vocally as it is physically. The storyline allows them to dip freely into eclectic grooves, from classics like Rocking the Boat (from Guys and Dolls) to Michael Jackson's Billy Jean.
Their sense of timing is breathtaking, their musical arrangements subversive. The sound engineer who facilitates the split-second vocal effects deserves an award. Both Toby Davies' script and Laurie Samson's production include an abundance of ironic and witty pop culture references.
A breathtaking, sexy and postmodern show.

Back in London...

2005-07-13T09:29:00.000+01:00

I just wanted to post a quick note to say thank you to everyone who send emails to The Magnets after the terror attacks in London last week.

At the time of the attacks we were driving from Frankfurt, Germany to St. Moritz, Switzerland and so we were far, far away from the danger. It was however a very bizarre day because despite the fact we were so far away from the trouble we really wanted to be back home in London contacting our friends and families to see if everyone was safe.

Thankfully everyone we know and our extended circle of friends are all safe and well.

Once again, thank you for all the kind emails and messages -- we are fine.

Nic
Xx

Edinburgh Looming....eeek!

2005-07-01T17:57:00.000+01:00

So it's a month and five days until we open at the Edinburgh Festival.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAah!

But we're not panicking. Oh no. Not us. Not a bit. Never. Nope.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAah!

Actually, I'm being melodramatic, which to those of you who know me be a surprise. The preperations for Magnetude are progressing nicely. After gigs in the next weeks we will be locking ourselves away in a rehersal studio with our director and writer and attempting to create a show of mind blowing quality for a second successful year at the Edinburgh Fringe!

We are learning songs at an alarming rate, efficiency never known before in The Magnets, and we are polishing our dancing shoes, sharpening our wit and (in Andy's case) whetting (or is it wetting) our lips for a month of song, spitting and um....some other things.

On another note, the album is almost done. I thought I'd add a couple of photos from the studio so you can all see where we've been spending our time....

This photo is of our intrepid producer John. Vibing away to one of our new tracks, no doubt.

And this is Jim. Of course.
Either he's heard a track he really likes, or maybe the atmosphere in the studio became a little...ummm...manly.

Nic
Xx

Thoughts on the Albert Hall Show - 9th June

2005-06-14T09:21:00.000+01:00

It's nice to feel like a regular at a venue like the Albert Hall. The doorman recognised us as we went in on this, our fourth show there, on this occasion for a Barnardos charity gala. (It was actually my seventh concert there - if you include two youth proms and singing the Messiah there at the age of 13!). It was also nice to be headlining, but that is more of a statement about the 'up and coming' nature of the bill than about our success.

We had to arrive pretty early for us - at 10am to set up and be ready to soundcheck and rehearse with the large kids choir. A few technical problems kept John our sound engineer busy, but we managed to have a good rehearsal of 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight' from the Lion King. Yes it is a bit of a cheesy song and a departure from our usual repertoire, but the kids love it and really yell it out.

A long day of hanging around enables us to get some rehearsals in, and we talk about the Edinburgh show a lot. Our ideas are starting to crystalise and we've got some fun new vocal stunts as well as plans for a lot of new songs. With Steve, James and I all arranging now we're starting to be quite productive, and not before time.

A pizza delivery alleviated the waiting and the show started early for the kids - at 6.30pm. That the concert went on till well after 10pm was typical of charity events in that it was massively over programmed. Each of the six acts is given three or four numbers in each half, a massive 18 songs or so (we would normally do about 9 in a half!), so what with changeovers and the compares nattering etc. the evening drags on rather.

Being experienced these days and not at all precious we volunteered to cut a couple of numbers. We've learnt that it is better to leave people wanting more, rather than to force feed an audience that has got the fidgets and is worrying about getting the kids home before midnight. So we hit them with Happy Together and Boogie, and the disappointed murmurs when we announced the cut quickly turn into massive cheers - and of course that is what everyone will remember.