Hello there you lovely SUBSETTERs you!

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed a new page tab atop this very site cunningly called ‘GIGS‘ – guess what that shows you when you click it?

And, on the subject of gigs, once you have allowed your peepers to be pleased by the informative page, you may have spied that there’s a glut of gigs being held in the wonderful capital city of ours – London.

No fewer than six shows over the next few weeks shall be hosted by this future Olympic city so there must be ample opportunity for you to drop by a SUBSET show or two.

Live outside London – why not make a weekend of it?

The Fuzztastic Four are even spreading the love around – hitting as far south as Streatham and lingering a while around Camden, Tufnell Park and Holloway.

Don’t worry though. They do pop out for a visit to Dunstable and Newport Pagnell amongst all of that

So, London is defintely calling – hopefully you’ll answer with a “yes!”.

Here’s the when and where’s:

• May 27   The White Lion – Streatham
• Jun 18   The Hideaway Bar – Tufnell Park/Archway
• Jun 26   The Dublin Castle – Camden
• Jun 30   The Wheatsheaf – Dunstable
• Jul 14   The Boston Arms – Tufnell Park
• Jul 15   The Queens Head – Brixton
• Jul 16   The Fuzz Cave – Holloway
• Jul 22   The White Lion – Streatham
• Jul 23   Parklife Festival – Newport Pagnell

Remember to keep an eye open for the Facebook Events that pop up on the SUBSET FB page – facebook.com/SubsetBand

We thought it was about time for another update so you know what’s happening on planet Fuzz.

The lads had a lovely sea-side break on Saturday afternoon and made the most of being based in Shoreham-on-Sea over night.

They ended up on the south coast as they were invited down to play Sussex University’s East Slope Bar on Friday. The boys were joined by the incredible ‘Sassy Judy’s’ and the extremely heavy ‘This is Massacre’.

There was dancing, there was beer – there was good times… oh and a lightening storm!

After a stroll on the beach and a nose around the town’s pubs (had to happen didn’t it?) the fuzzy foursome headed back north to land in Luton.

Saturday night saw them rock The Castle with an extended set – mainly because the tightly packed crowd wouldn’t allow them out of their gig area (no stage here).

After the show the crew from The Luton Scene dragged the guys away (in a friendly manner of course) for an interview:

Subset Interview by thelutonscene

SUBSET are back in Dunstable this Thursday to play The Saracen’s Head and are set to bring the fuzz to The Enterprise in Camden the following week – check out the gig listings page.

We all look forward to seeing you there!

Keep it fuzzy!

SUBSET

Calling all SUBSETTERS ………..

We’ll be playing the Saracens Head in Dunstable on Thurs 12th May with local heroes & all round nice guys LOZ JONES.

Get down there ………. ’cause you know we love seeing you

Drink, Dance & Listen to Subset!

Cheers & Beers

Rob, Rom, Jay & Steve

So, it’s another Spring day in London – that means it’s raining.

The lads are pumping themselves full of coffee in order to numb the reminders of the weekend’s indulgences.

Even though they’re looking like they’ve been sleeping rough for the last few days (I’m afraid to ask just in case some of them actually have been) the mood is good here at SUBSET HQ.

The fuzzy foursome (quite literally this morning as they appear to have all dodged the razor as well as the iron today) are joking around and don’t look like a band that has spent the last four months holed up together and been forced to be creative.

In fact, talking to Rom, there was no sign of being forced to do anything:

“We’re constantly writing and recording ideas, this is why we sent 14 tracks to Expats when we only needed 5 – then we let the SUBSETTERs choose their 5 favourites”.

The guys are also bouncing around like excited kids as they are back doing what they love best – playing live!

“Don’t get me wrong, I actually enjoy working in the studio with this lot” says Jay, “but my whole point of being in a band is to play in front of a crowd and SUBSETTERs are the best crowd to do this for”.

Rob adds: “and our first few shows are on home turf for me and Steve so they’re going to feel more like ‘welcome back’ parties even though we’ve been keeping the bars warm here when we’ve not been in the cave”.

I asked Steve, who has spent the last 20 minutes trying to convince the others that it must be “beer o’ clock by now” (it’s not even 11:00am yet!):

“it’s been a blast getting the new songs recorded and then, over the last few weeks arranging them for live but I want to see how the new tracks hit the crowd. ‘Av it!”

If you want to see how these new songs sound then you only have to wait til Thursday April 7th when they hit The Four Kings in Dunstable (or Funstable as the Fuzztastic Four have re-christened it) and then, so that everyone gets a piece of fuzz ‘n’ roll, SUBSET are doing a gig for 13-17 year olds at Grove Corner on Sunday April 10th.

Keep you eyes on the listings as there will be more shows added now that they boys have tasted freedom…

… you have been warned

Hey hey hey SUBSETTERs!

As you know, we’re a fairly interactive playful bunch in the SUBSET gang and we also know that you lot have impeccible taste – well, you must have as you’re here for a start

We are planning to be getting out and about fairly soon and as we’re just fine tuning the 5 special tracks that will be making it onto the EP we realise that you might want to hear our new creations played live, up close and raw.

Unlike most bands we are about to give you all access to our rough drafts and ideas which we sent over to Expat Records so that you can see what we’ve been up to since December and….

… you get to choose which songs you’d like us to add to our 2011 set list!

Obviously and ideally we’d love to play them all but, to be honest, we’ll need to relearn them and arrange them for playing live and also rehearse them a little bit too

We are totally looking forward to partying with you all in the summer – can’t wait!!

Here are the 14 tracks (13 seemed to be too much like asking for trouble) – feel free to let us know what you think about them as well as picking what you want to hear live.

Expat EP Songs by SUBSET

If you follow the lads on Facebook or Twitter or, better still actually bought shares, you will have already heard the incredible news.

If you still need help in understanding what the heck I am talking about – The sexiest, most gorgeous and generous SUBSETTERs have helped your favourite fuzzy four-piece raise the funds they needed to be able to record and produce their upcoming EP.

The guys have been completely blown away by the generosity of fans, family and friends since they started the campaign in October – just 4 months later the €4,000 has been raised.

They are not taking this lightly we hasten to add – they know that expectations will be high as over 300 SUBSETTERs have invested in this EP.

The boys are really excited about the news and here at SUBSET HQ we’d like to say a huge thank you on behalf of Jay, Rob, Rom and Steve – you have really made their weekend, month and possibly year

Hey ho SUBSETTER’s!

As the lads are getting remarkably close to achieving their target — thanks to you lovely people buying shares via SellaBand — they have been interviewed by the share site and the full Q&A can be read here.

Below is a snapshot from the full interview.  We hope these give you a little bit more of an insight into what goes on in the minds of the Fuzztastic Four

Do you already have plans how to celebrate reaching your funding goal?
We’re already writing new tracks for the EP and have been locked away in our Fuzz Cave since New Year so we’d love to see some daylight. There will be a release party but we’ll need to let off some steam before that. We’re looking at getting some shows sorted for May/June, when it’s warm and everything just looks and smells better. Our shows are parties thanks to the people who come to see us and join in. We definitely want to party with those that have put their money where their hearts are.

Romain, your vocals are said to be sounding like a manic Kurt Cobain. Is he indeed somebody who influenced you musically?
Most people of our age will have been touched in some way by Kurt and Nirvana. Just as the likes of Jim Morrison, Ian Curtis, and the list goes on, have – Tortured poets that truly bared their feelings only when writing and performing. That’s as true as it gets.

The sound of Subset has been mentioned in the same breath as Joy Division and The Strokes. Is this the type of music you like to crank up on your stereos yourselves?
We all identify with different music. But we do have a crossover point else there’d be no band. The Strokes will be one, with The Cribs, Wet Dogs, Japandroid but you’ll see us dancing to Joy Division, Anthrax, Slayer, The Ramones, Metallica, Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, Magazine, Adam and The Ants, Nine Inch Nails, Artic Monkeys and Bauhaus…

In your opinion what is the biggest obstacle to success for up and coming bands these days?
The fact that live venues keep closing doesn’t help. The veiled ‘Pay to Play’ promotions are leeches sucking dry those that want to get out there – you MUST sell X amount of tickets, etc. Fortunately there’s a lot that bands can do themselves which only cost time and if chart success is your thing; that’s more accessible now than ever thanks to download sales being counted. Things like transport are getting more expensive so to tour and visit SUBSETTERs hurts the wallets. The greatest thing is belief in what you’re doing and once you have 5 others listening that hold that same belief – then you can do anything.

Your plan is to release a new EP with the help of your fans. Do you already have a title for this record yet?
No title yet. We’ve got a few songs drafted which we’ll rate 1-10 when we have them more or less stitched together and then the highest rated 5 will go through to the 5 track EP – sounds a bit X Factory doesn’t it? We have already had requests from SUBSETTERs what they want on there but we’ll all have to wait and see.

Are you working on any concept songs?
Our concepts are pretty real. We write about things that affect us, that have happened to us or our friends or that will be a lift off point. We’re not exactly what could ever be described as being prog…

Where was the first time you performed in front of an audience? How big was the audience?
We ventured out in March 2009 for our first show. All our friends were there. The second show, same venue, we played to bar staff. We’ve played to the other bands and bar staff quite a few times actually. There was one gig when we had to wait for Top Gear to finish on the big screen just so that we might attract one or two people’s attention.

You are based in Dunstable, UK. Are there any British acts that impressed you lately?
We have to say we’ve shared venues with and become friends with Dutch Order, Right of Rebellion, The Nimblewits, The Flexy Boys and Muscle Mobile and they’ve all impressed us more than once.

What is usually to be found on your Hospitality Rider? Any specific types of ales or Indian curries?
Isn’t that some kind of community bus? If we have beer, lager and/or cider then we’re happy gents. We got sandwiches at one festival and thought we were kings!

If Guy Richie made a movie about Subset, what would be the title of the film and whom would you like to see play the roles as you?
ROM: The only actor that can play my role as SUBSET’s singer is me, nobody else, unless one day I can’t be SUBSET’s singer anymore or dead, which is the same thing really, in which case an actor will be cited.
JAY: Rhys Ifans could rock a long black wig. He’d make me cool – or, perhaps Pauley Perrette, the chick from Navy CIS if he wanted to mix it up a bit.
STEVE: Dave Grohl.

ROB: Subset and Guy Ritchie would have to be transported back to 1972 for that one. “Ambrosia” – Starring Al Pacino, James Caan, Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro as Subset!

If you could cast musicians participating in “I’m A Celebrity. Get Me Out Of Here!” – who would you like to see sleeping with cockroaches in the Australian jungle?
Bono probably. But then he’d just get all self-righteous about that as well.

Well, we’re back to work in the secret SUBSET bunker in deepest, darkest North-West London after a break at our favourite free-range Web Monkey and Email Monkey reserve. We have been fed well and allowed only to access the internet for social and entertainment reasons for almost three weeks – luxury

Our first duty was to clear away all of the cans, bottles and pizza boxes from when the Fuzztastic Four “kept things ticking over” – eventually we could see the top of the desk. On it was a scribbled post-it that read:

SUB-set sail to the US!

It turns out that the lads have been signed!

Chicago-based Indie label, Ex-Pats, have fallen for the guys unique and distorted charm and asked them to put pen to paper.

They’re now spending every available moment holed up in a studio frantically writing and recording the tracks that will appear on the 5 track EP that they’ve promised you and the label.

This all happened at the right time as the SellaBand campaign will allow them to do the best possible job and then it will be up to Ex-Pats to publish and distribute their wares.

It’s great to know that even folks over in the US of A have gotten wind of SUBSET.

This is yet another milestone for the fuzzy foursome!

The four amigos are looking forward to a fuzzed up 2011 and sharing it wilh you all. Until the EP has been recorded all SUBSET gigs will be temporararily on hold.

Festive greetings SUBSETTER’s!

We have sent our web and email monkies back to the farm for the holiday season so it’s actually us writing to you this time!

We’ve had a great year and, even though there has been a number of challanges for SUBSET to get through, the amount of good times and high points totally out number those little hiccups.

Whilst we’re all sat here in our Christmas jumpers drinking mulled wine we got to thinking back over the year and fondly recall the feeling of hearing Ambrosia on BBC Radio 6 Music – this sparked a conversation of what was everyone’s ‘sticks-in-the-mind’ moment of 2010.

Rom’s favourite moment was performing a live session on BBC Introducing where Rob totally destroyed a kids bike in the studio.

One of Rob’s high points of the year was playing Dunstable Festival which is home turf for him and Steve – we had already played Luton Aid 6 earlier that day and we were well up for it! The sun was out and the beer was cheap. A great day.

Steve loved it when we travelled to Newport Pagnell and landed at The Cannon’s open mic night with all of our gear only to discover that it was an acoustic night. The organisers lets us play with Steve setting his kit up next to a table occupied by a group of ‘nice’ people. Thankfully they were nice as one of the group had to keep pushing the kick-drum back to Steve!

My (Jay) high point would be the first time we played 93 Feet East totally not knowing how we’d be received and then being asked back to play another twice. I really felt that we had won the crowd over.

But it’s you. Yes, you SUBSETTER’s that make these memories – playing Shane’s birthday party, Sean giving me and Rom somewhere to stay when we got caught out in the snow, Arran and Debi battling their way to get to the Craufurd Arms when the rain was coming down in Biblical proportions and, we will never ever forget the amount of support you gave us during the Surface Unsigned compeition. When we played in the first round we had only just been together for a year and to reach the semi-finals against bands who were well established just proved how much you SUBSETTER’s rock!

We wish you a very merry Christmas and look forward to hanging out with you even more in 2011 – we have plans for more gigs, at more venues and hitting more towns and cities!

Have a great one and we raise a glass (or 3) to all SUBSETTER’s!

Jay, Rob, Rom and Steve

Hey ho SUBSETTERS!!

How the devil are you all?

Here at SUBSET HQ we’re looking out at a muted, rainy London but all is action-stations inside!

There’s some exciting things cooking away in the background which we’re not yet allowed to mention as there’s signatures still to be scribbled but needless to say that some of the lad’s hardwork has caught the eyes of some interesting people

Even though that news has boosted the team after what some saw as a disappointment at Surface Unsigned – the guys never saw getting further than almost 12,000 other bands as having a downside.

Things were as they should be last Monday as the Fuzztastic Four unleashed new track ‘Tachycardia’ on The Gaff crowd.

October 2nd see’s the crazy quartet drop in on The Wheatsheaf in Leighton Buzzard. You can find The Wheatie at 57 North Street by-the-way

SUBSET will be appearing once again with The Spartans and Fabulous Weapon so expect a whole night of explosive punk rock!

Best of all – it’s all completely FREE!!

Even cheaper than when The Clash played Leighton Buzzard at the Tiddenfoot Leisure Centre in 1976.

WOLLOP!

The Facebook event is HERE so you can RSVP

See you at the bar then?

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